Ayam Penyet Ria

We meant to eat at the nearby Ci Nai Hong Kong cafe, but it was raining and we decided it would be better to stay indoors. We saw the poster for this while waiting for our waffles at ButterCup, and thought why not? For the food enthusiasts, this is the same branch as the one in Orchard Lucky Plaza.

Ayam Penyet with Rice: 7.5/10


Directly translated, it means "smashed chicken", which is also reflected in the menu. Odd because it wasn't entirely smashed, just a tad flattened.


Somehow I felt the chicken here was cooked better (compared to Lucky Plaza) - it was not overfried and the extra crisps, tempeh (fermented soybeans) and tofu were cooked to a nice golden brown. Be very careful of the chilli served at the side though, I came prepared from my previous experience and so took it bit by bit. Taking too much at a go could very well numb your tongue, and taste, for the rest of the meal!

Service
Good. You've got to fill your order in some paper and pay at the cashier first though.

Price
$6.50, it could be slightly cheaper if you ask me, considering it's just chicken, tempeh and tofu.

Place
Novena Square 2 #B1-01 to 05
Also: Orchard Lucky Plaza, #01-45 and #04-25;
Jurong Point #B1-06 and Tampines Mall #04-27.

Additional Comments
1. It's Halal.
2. I saw quite a few people enjoying the gado-gado as well as the mee soto. The fried fish seemed quite popular too.

ButterCup

Daphne wanted to treat me today, a sudden feeling of altruism that I decided to exploit as little as I could. We saw this interesting (it's the colours I tell you) little shop at the corner of Novena Square 2 before we went up to the foodcourt for lunch, but I'm sure it was on her mind throughout because of the yummy looking waffles. And since it's in the midst of opening, there's always room for discounts!


Cheap eh? Click on the pic for a closer look. It kind of took the business away from the lil bakery beside it, but then the bakery's part of a chain anyway. They're still moving things in, someone asked for a coffee and they told her to come back next week. Ha!

Waffles with Peanut Butter: 8/10


Give me crispy waffles that are warm, thick and has the crisp-on-the-outside-and-soft-on-the-inside touch and you've got yourself a very satisfied boy -grin-


Peanut butter's ordinary (aren't they all) but the waffle's good. It's just that I haven't been that adventurous, because if you scroll back up to the menu, you realise they've got fruits up for grabs. The special banana chocolate mix looks enticing doesn't it? Soon! =)

Cheese and Chocolate Taco Balls: 6.5/10


I was surprised Daphne has not tried or heard of this before. It seems this little favourite snack of mine which I used to buy when I was way much younger is finally making a comeback. Little semispheres of soft batter with either cheese, chocolate or kaya fillings inside. Anyone remember these?

Pity the taco balls weren't served very warm, and Daphne felt the cheese filling was too little for her to really savour it (she loves her cheese yes). I tried to give them a second chance by coming back in the evening, but it was near closing and I got myself pretty cold ones. Unlike the waffles, I suppose these are baked slightly too early in advance, left there to lose their warmth. Should feedback to them, coz the ones I had last time were usually sold at those little pushcarts where you wait while it's cooked right there in front of you.

Oh, and I forgot to mention why there's only three, not ten. We were so hungry, we ate seven of them on the way haha!

Service
Good.

Price
$1.30 for the peanut butter waffle
$2.00 for 10 taco balls

Place
Novena Square 2 #01-19

Additional Comments
The cupcakes look great too. Daphne bought two home and liked the banana-flavoured one a lot.

Lotus Thai Restaurant

The very first thing I have to say is that no, I did not go to the actual restaurant at Murray Terrace, but instead I had my taste of Lotus Thai at the Fork & Spoon foodcourt in Novena Square 2!

Bearing news reviews and pictures of celebrities not only from the usual Channel U or even Utt from MTV, but also dear ol' Thaksin (who's now back in Thailand to face the rap for his corruption charges)! I wonder if Manchester City is honestly waiting for him to go on a spending spree like Abramovich did for Chelsea.

Khao Phad Thalay | Seafood Fried Rice: 7.5/10


Man this tasted awesome, especially with the dash of ground Thai chilli that I added for the extra zing. Not too oily, not salty, but instead very rich with flavour, you could like taste the herbs used to cook this. In a food court man!

Service
They forgot that I didn't want veg, but they were so profuse in their apologies that hey, it's alright =)

Price
$5.

Place
Novena Square 2 Level 4
Website: http://www.lotusthai.com.sg/

Additional Comments
If they have good fried rice, then I should come back soon for their phad thai ;)

Beard Papa Sweets

Me and Daphne were walking around after dinner when we went past this quiet Beard Papa Sweets outlet (compared to Donut Factory and J.Co Donuts). I suppose I took a few seconds longer than usual to linger and stare at the mochi flavours, though we've always been wondering what this mochi ice-cream thing is, especially after seeing it so often at Plaza Singapura. Daphne immediately wanted to buy it for me, probably feeling she needed to buy something after my treat an hour ago at Shokudo.

Mochi Creamery Ice-Cream: 6/10


We had the Azuri Red Bean and Mango mochis, as you can roughly tell from the colour. The lady told us to eat our little frozen goodies after seven minutes, but after twelve it was still pretty hard. In fact, the mochis turned out pretty ordinary, especially the ice-cream, but of course the outer layering was quite sweet. A bit rubbery too, if you ask me. A 6 because it isn't much value for money.

Service
Alright.

Price
$2 each, which for that size and taste, isn't worth the money at all.

Place
Raffles City Basement
B1-60
Website: http://www.beardpapa.com.sg

Additional Comments
If you want something better from Beard Papa, just get their cream puffs, it's awesome. I particularly like the Cookie Cream Puff thing, which is crispier than the original one and oh so yummy!

Shokudo Japanese Food Bazaar

Work has been piling up recently, and I had to cancel clubbing for tonight because I couldn't fathom the thought of waking up half a day later and rushing through an essay all tired and blur. Since Daphne already had clubbing scheduled and subsequently had to push quite a number of plans away, I felt it was only right of me to treat her to dinner. Judging from the rather interesting reviews on Shokudo from various food blogs, I decided that we too should have our first taste of the new food bazaar in town.


The very first thing you find yourself doing is comparing this place to Marche, because the first thing the girl at the entry does is to explain to you the concept of cashless buying and using the card as a means to go about with your self-service orders. And then she would (try to) end quite firmly (if not threateningly), that a loss of the card would result in a $100 fine. I always wondered how it would be if we consolidated all our orders in one card, spend much more than $100 in that card, and then lose it, leaving us with the empty ones. Haha.


As you can see, even the stalls bear the semblances of Marche. In a recent interview with the general manager of Marche however, he expressed that he did not see Shokudo as a "copycat" and added:

"The Marche concept is not defined by swipe cards and cooking stations. For the past 25 years, we have built our reputation on our total commitment to freshness and quality" [Stomp Foodies Club]

Well, with that remaining outlet in Vivovity and pretty disappointing food now, I hope that commitment could be relooked into!

Well, let's not ramble any further shall we. Here's the food.

Shokudo Mushroom Cheese Burger: 6/10


By far one of the hot sellers at this food bazaar, this burger bears high expectations for anyone who reads about it (like me) or simply those who walk around the restaurant and see it almost on one in every four tables. I'm not kidding, it's that popular.

However, and hopefully not because of the prior high expectations, this burger was not warm enough to my liking and felt pretty ordinary actually. The beef patty admittedly was good, very rich and well flavoured, and the buns well-toasted. Went well with the sunny side up. However, I've had better ones, and to say the least, even Botak Jones is better than this. I would return to Globetrotters at United Square sometime soon, because their burgers are actually a hidden specialty.

They were pretty much stingy on the fries too, don't you think?

Iwate Mushroom Soup: 4.5/10


I had my reservations when Daphne suggested having mushroom soup. Not only was this meant to be a Japanese restaurant, I somehow had this sense that it wouldn't be good. And it wasn't, instead quite like its name "iwate"... watery (geddit? haha); very diluted and lacked the thickness and richness necessary for good mushroom soups. Even pepper couldn't save it.

Sausage Omu Rice: 7.3/10


Omelette on tomato flavoured rice with a yummy looking pork sausage. Too bad I can't touch that, but then again, it looks quite pale compared to the beef ones. Still, Daphne liked it, though her complaint was that it was not hot enough. Funny though, since I saw the guy put it straight from the grill. They really should do more about reheating.

Homemade Cheesecake: 9/10


Ha! The winner of the day. This small wonder (yes, it's smaller than my palm) eased my slight disappointment really, and Daphne too went high on this. Very smooth and soft texture, nicely mixed with the crisp of the biscuit base. Sweet, and goes down your throat delicately. Ooh la la.

The bill wrote that it is "Shokudo Tofu Cheese Cake", as compared to the display as merely "Homemade Cheesecake". Maybe that's why it's as soft as beancurd.

Service
The usual Japanese greeting, but I realised the staff appears to have a majority of Chinese nationals! *Gasp* Chinese manning a Japanese restaurant, interesting.

Price
Shokudo Mushroom Cheese Burger: $7.80
Sausage Omu Rice: $7.80
Iwate Mushroom Soup: $3.80
Homemade Cheesecake: $3.80
* A can of Sprite: $2.50

Place
Raffles City Basement
#B1-44E

Additional Comments


1. Yeap I mentioned self-service, but the usual 10% service charge still applies.
2. Long queues from 7.15pm onwards, so be sure to be early. No reservations allowed!

The Pizza Place

Daphne introduced me to this place some time ago, and this is actually our second visit to this little outlet at Raffles City. No guesses why we went back, I literally had a craving for more after the first because this is really one of the yummiest pizzas I had so far - the common fare of Canadian or PizzaHut pale in comparison to this fresh out of the pan experience. And oh, they actually make their pizzas right there rather than oven bake the refrigerated... stuff.

Hawaiian Pizza: 8/10


Ooooh, I can still feel the warm cheese in my mouth. This is really good pizza and you can feel the freshness of the ingredients.


Look at the crispy crust, not thin but just nice and a pleasant golden brown. On taste, it's not too hard like biscuits nor too rubbery like some others.

Service
Friendly.

Price
Below $20 for a regular sized pizza, ideal for two.

Place
Raffles City
Basement B1-16

Additional Comments
1. No pork, no lard.
2. No service charge, no gst.
3. I preferred the Mediterranean pizza (beefy goodness) that I had during the first visit. I would give that 8.5!

Ben & Jerry's

Tucked at a seemingly quiet place, the Ben & Jerry's at Dempsey's was quite packed and has this cheery feeling when you step in. Whether it was the sweet B&J girls or the homely country decor, you just feel comfortable and ready to soak in some ice-cream delight.

Daphne has never been to Dempsey's before, and I thought a little car-ride there would be nice. It was good that she was excited, especially when half the time she was chanting "Dempsey" and cooing after the all girls' current fav of Patrick Dempsey, the lead actor of the Grey's Anatomy series. The drive up there was challenging, because the lighting was so bad, and I even drove into the lane of an oncoming car haha. Still, we reached there alright.

Mix and Match Sundae: 9.3/10


Come on, Ben & Jerry's always make me a happy boy, and for Daphne, a delighted lil girl. The sweetness, the sugar rush, and the colourful decor would never fail to make us smile and lighten our hearts. The girl serving too was equally sweet, scooping like there was no tomorrow and had such a wide smile on her face.

We had:
His fav ~ Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
Her fav ~ Strawberry Cheesecake
We also tried ~ Chunky Monkey

Toppings: Hot Fudge and M&Ms

Service
Purrrrrfect. Shan't say too much of the B&J girls *weak shy smile* They were pleasant!

Price
$13.80 for every outlet. But this outlet particularly charges a 10% service charge.

Place
Block 8, Dempsey Road #01-14
Website: http://www.benjerry.com.sg/

Additional Comments
There's a also a bar and a restaurant, CA California, under the same roof.

Kobayashi Hangul

Kobayashi is very much like a Japanese-Korean fastfood outlet that's pretty much popular with the younger generation. Usually if you're thinking of going budget, here's a place to go. Of course, even if you aren't, there's a wide variety of food here to go on a spree.

Japanese Curry Chicken: 7/10


Very ordinary, to be honest the curry tasted like it was out of a can (but in fact, scooped out and poured over the chicken from a small pot) and was very sweet. It wasn't entirely filling too.

Ramen with Tempura: 7.3/10


The ramen looked very much like maggi noodles! Haha. Daphne liked the soup base, found it very sweet. She liked the tempura too, though in the end she pushed half of the stuff at me because she thought it would be fattening. Haha.

Service
Well, language barrier, since the place is staffed by Chinese nationals. When I asked what was the tempura looking thing on their bento sets, she said (very amusingly to me I would say) va-gee-ter-ble, and probably thought repeating it over and over again in the same pronunciation would help. Heh.

Price
Less than $10 for each, inclusive of a regular drink. Around $6 for the food each.

Place
Basement, Orchard Cineleisure.

Superdog

I have been meaning to eat this for quite some time now, it's been quite a long way back since I had Superdog's hotdog haha. This is your "atas" sort of sausage buns so they tend to be a tad more pricey, well, comparable to Carl's.


Oh look, their Dos and Don'ts for hotdog etiquette! Haha, "sacred food" indeed. Ever saw that lttle Japanese guy stuffing hotdogs in his mouth in that eating competition? Think he was the defending champion for quite a while. But I digress haha.

Hot Dog Ripper: 7.5/10


I ordered this plain and added an egg, so it's really quite difficult to give a rating on this. Fried eggs and hotdog buns all taste the same. Still, the hotdog was nicely warm and didn't have that "plastic" sort of feel when you bite into it. It's tasty.

American Classic Beef Cheeseburger: 7.8/10


Daphne's favourite at Superdog, I don't remember her eating anything else than this all the time. She liked the juicy tender beef patty in the burger, and felt it was yummy as a whole. Good enough for a 8.5 according to her.

Beef Cheese Chilli Fries: 7.5/10


Even before we ordered this, from past experiences we knew this couldn't match up to the one served at Carl's Junior, and indeed things haven't changed despite the hiatus. Still, it beats the plain fries. The portions of beef were too little for our liking, and it was more gravy based, somewhat tasted a bit like beef stew too if you ask me. Some people think it's worth more praise because of the special chilli recipe but we differ on this.

Service
Fast food concept, but very friendly and polite staff.

Price
$4.00 ala carte for my hotdog (inclusive of $0.80 for an egg)
$4.80 for the burger.
$2.90 to make it a set meal.
[For more, see menu with prices online]

Place
VivoCity #B2-40/41
Website: http://www.superdog.com.sg/

Additional Comments
I'm tempted to try the Superburger and Fish and Chips soon ;)

Al-Ameen Eating House

One of the most popular place for Westies to satisfy their supper hunger pangs would definitely be along Cheong Chin Nam Road, and for many of us Al-Ameen needs little introduction.

Indian Mee Goreng: 3.25/5


I found this really good, although some may rightfully comment that it may be a little soggy. I like the mutton cubes and eggs fried so nicely together with the noodles.

Fried "Thai" Beef Kway Teow: 3.25/5


I put "Thai" in inverted commas because this is what Al-Ameen calls it to be but I have my reservations about thinking this dish is anywhere ethnically Thai. That aside, this is one of my usual orders here because I like the sweet dark sauce used to cook the noodles.

Do take note that although Fried and Goreng mean the same thing, essentially if you order, "Goreng" would get you something akin to the Indian style of noodles - orange and slightly more spicy. "Fried" on the other hand here would give you their style of "Thai" noodles, not really your Char Kway Teow or Phad Thai mind you, but more like Malay style fried noodles.

Mutton Murtabak: 3/5


The low point of this was that the portion should have been bigger, considering I got the $6 murtabak and here it looked more like a $4 portion. Tastes alright, though it would have been better if they could have been more generous with the mutton fillings.

Nasi Goreng Pattaya: 3/5


Pretty much okay, nothing to shout about. The fried rice was pretty sweet because of the tomato sauce used to cook it.

Service
Very brisk. Sometimes it could be frustrating trying to get their attention, especially on Friday and Saturday nights.

Price
Around $5 for each dish.

Place
Cheong Chin Nam Road, Bukit Timah.

Additional Comments
Open 24 hours =)