Hooked on Heads

After reading a more than favourable review of this place by a famous foodie, I decided to bring Daphne here for dinner. We initially wanted to have our crispy prata fix at Thomson, but eventually felt Hooked on Heads deserved a try.

The "famous foodie" that I mentioned is none other than Dr Leslie Tay, whose IeatIshootIpost food blog has one of the highest hit rates here in Singapore. It tells how good the review was, since Hooked on Heads has it placed as a large poster inside the restaurant itself.

Fried Beef Kway Teow: 7.8/10



The photos are before and afters, the latter of which was after I took away the garnishing haha. Pretty good stuff, very generous portion of beef and the black sauce used was sweet and tasty. For those who are not exactly sure, "kway teow" is a type of flat rice noodles.

Phad Thai: 7.4/10


Daphne had this, but felt that the one at Joe's Kitchen was better because it was nuttier (more crushed peanuts) and has her favourite "chai poh" (something close to pickled radish). Overall the one here at Hooked on Head's is good too, but could do less with the tomato like sauce that they used. Adequately moist without being too wet, and pleasantly fragrant and sweet.

Banana Fritters Special: 9/10



A splendid choice for dessert really. Yes, I'm gonna say it again, delightfully crisp on the outside, yet still soft and smooth bananas on the inside. The addition of chocolate ice-cream was great too, and having it with the hot banana fritters was just lovely. In fact, we ordered another scoop too =)

Service
Very good.

Price
$5.80+ for the fried beef kway teow
$7.00+ for the phad thai
$5.80+ for the banana fritters special
$1.50+ for a single scoop of ice-cream

Prices subject to 10% service charge

The menu can be found here.

Place
6 Sin Ming Road #01-01/02, Sin Ming Plaza Tower 2
Website: http://www.hookedonheads.com/

Additional Comment
All dishes are pork and lard free.

The Sail

Daphne's family wanted to have a small lunch get-together before her birthday, and they invited me along. The place we went to is The Sail Grill & Bar, which is located in the Raffles Place area. I hear it's pretty packed on weekdays, but on weekends, like our lunch here, it was very quiet. There's a special set lunch menu on weekends that costs a very very affordable $9.90++, which is what all of us had.

Mushroom Soup: 7/10



On some counts, this soup was a tad watery, but we were all surprised to find it tasty. It would have been much better then if it was thicker. For the weekend set lunch, soups and bread are on free flow.

Sirloin Steak with Black Pepper Sauce: 6.7/10


The meat wasn't a very thick piece and was quite tough actually. The high rating is largely for the black pepper sauce that was a bit spicy and sweet altogether.

Fish and Chips


Daphne had this. Pretty standard, nothing impressive. Fish was fresh though.

Chicken Chop


Her cousin had this. Looks alright. We compared this to be similar to V8 Cafe, though I would say V8's probably better.

Fried Banana Fritter: 8/10


An interesting dessert for a Western set lunch. This came out to be very good, cooked to a crisp golden brown but still yummily soft inside. Interesting addition of cheese too (on the top) but that didn't affect the taste much.

Service
Good. I heard the couple who heads this place is even friendlier, as Daphne's mother tells us.

Price


$9.90++ per set.

Place
25 Church Street #01-01, Capital Square 3.

Popeye's Chicken & Biscuit

It might come as a surprise, but this was my first time eating Popeye's! I heard a lot about it, even more after they opened another branch at the Singapore Flyer and more of my friends were getting a taste of what's on offer.

Everyone will, needless to say, compare this to KFC. Daphne's sister mentioned before that the chicken used at KFC is frozen, while the ones from Popeye's aren't, hence explaining why the latter taste better. I'm not sure how much of this is true, but after what I had, I think I would stick to my KFC. Why?

Two Piece Chicken Set: 7/10 (Fries: 8/10)


I usually order two chicken thighs at KFC, so it was no different for Popeye's. What was different though was that you're expected to pay $0.50 more for it. Fine, but then when I was peering over at another friend's drumstick, it somehow actually looked larger. The chicken pieces here are at times smaller than those from KFC.

The biscuit too seems like much ado about nothing, it was lukewarm, tasted a bit salty and plain, and adding the jam only added a bit more taste. I heard KFC was trying to roll out biscuits at some of its outlets too, but if the people from KFC are hearing this, please try to ensure consistency across your branches and you'll do better.

Popeye's saving grace comes in its sides - the mashed potato and fries. The mashed potato had more taste than KFC's, and as you can tell from the look of the fries, it's the same thing, added taste with the added spice. I didn't want the coleslaw, so they gave me an extra serving of fries. Good call.

Service
Fast-food type. Quick.

Price
2 Piece Chicken Combo Meal: $6.90
Change to double thigh meat: $0.50
Upsize: $1.00

Place
Changi Airport Terminal 3 (T3) #B2-LF1
Also: Singapore Flyer

You Know It's School Time When...

I'm not as adventurous as I usually am with food when I'm school. I usually follow a boring routine because it saves me the trouble to mull over what to eat, and all I have to do is walk to that same couple of stalls over and over again.

Chicken Cutlet


I eat this half the time, much because the queue is short and quick, and the food isn't as cold as the other places. My friend Helen says I may just die of heart attack *touchwood* if I eat this every day ha. I love it because it's crispy really, and it goes very well with the chicken chop gravy that I request all the time.

Price: $2.60 (add $0.40 for egg)
Place: NUS The Deck

Laksa Yong Tau Foo


Although this is a picture of Daphne's yong tau foo in laksa gravy (you will never see much, or any, green in my yong tau foo trust me), laksa is usually my preferred choice if I were to eat from this stall. But I don't usually eat here because it's very filling, and I will probably end up sleeping in class heh. This stall is probably the most popular.

Price: $1.80 (6pieces), $0.50 for gravy, $0.30 for noodles
Place: NUS The Deck

Katsu Toji Don


This is the chicken teriyaki set from the Japanese stall from the canteen. Very popular amongst students also. Off late the chicken had gotten a bit too oily, but it's still edible.

Price: $4.50
Place: NUS The Deck

Fried Chicken Set / Grilled Chicken Set



This is NUS' answer to Riverside Indonesian Restaurant from Plaza Singapura. Voted one of the best stalls too, with Channel U and Felicia Chin gracing their walls with celebrity pictures. The chicken somehow got reduced in size after the holidays, and a bit too oily for my liking. But good stuff nonetheless, especially for the price you pay.

Price: $3.00 (add $0.40 for extra egg, $0.50 for veg)
Place: NUS Techno Edge

Instant Noodles


And when you get bored of everything, you resort to bringing instant noodles! Indo Mie's "instant mi goreng" is the best! Heh ;)

It's the mid-term break now, or "recess week" as some others would call it. Hopefully I can take some time off to eat some real yummy food!

Cottage Waffle Place

It was a very very long time ago, but I first tried these waffles at a bazaar held in NUS and really liked what I had. This was the venue for our dessert after a pretty satisfying meal at Streets Cafe down at Raffles City, and just smelling the baked waffles made me (us) all hungry again!


Located at the corner of a newly renovated section of Suntec City, Cottage Waffle Place is one place you should go for a cosy dessert with your friends, and it's especially good if you don't want anything too pricey. The seats are pretty comfy, and you often find couples sharing a couple chocolate fondue ($15.90) or two, if not a small group of friends like us trying out different waffles. The walls are adorned with Post-Its from thier customers, some complimenting the waffles, others just complimenting themselves (and the occasional misplaced declaration of love).


There's quite a range in this little place. You can have Waffle-wiches, which are waffles with fillings like kaya, chocolate, durian, caramel, marshmallows, maple honey, bacon bits, ham and cheese etc etc. You can also choose to have ice-cream fillings, and if you ask me, pretty good ice-cream too, since it comes from Buds.

Cottage Ice-Cream Waffle: 8/10



Same waffles, different lighting haha. Daphne said 7.5, but I'd give it an 8. I really like the waffles here because they're very crisp on the outside but soft on the inside, my favourite yin-yang combination as it is for almost any and every food I realised haha. I like it to go a little browner than usual for that extra crisp, though if you don't like it this way, you could always request it to be less crisp I guess. Daphne wanted to have the "Triple Chocolate" flavour for the ice-cream, which went very well with the waffles.

Maple Syrup Waffle-Wich: 7.5/10


I know Daphne likes her sweet maple syrup, especially with her french toast, so I ordered this as well for us to share. Same type of waffles, only now sweeter with the maple syrup.

Rocky Road Waffle-Wich


I have an issue with food names that have the word: Rocky Road. For the more superstitious, or those with selective superstitions, rocky road doesn't sound exactly blissful you know, kinda like, "the rocky road ahead". So eventhough there's an ice-cream flavour out there called "rocky road", and this waffle-wich which sounded so inviting on the menu, I stay away from them. I'm not weird, just selectively superstitious. Okay, perhaps that's weird.

Let's not digress. The Rocky Road waffle-wich has chocolate syrup, nuts and marshmallow. If this does not seem inviting enough, I don't know what else does.

Service
Very friendly and approachable. I spoke to them for a while about how I first got to know them from their stall in NUS, and asked whatever happened to their intended venture in school. Turns out they got the green light much more easily from SMU (which they have a stall there now) than NUS, and I so hope they will set up camp soon.

Price
$5.50 if you get a waffle-wich set (includes a drink)
$2.50 for a waffle-wich
$5.90 for ice-cream waffle

Place
Suntec City Centre #03-025G
Near Toys 'R' Us and Wang Jiao Coffee

Streets Cafe & Restaurant III

Daphne really really wanted her pumpkin fries, and since I never did want to order it when it was just the two of us together, the fact that we had friends for dinner meant that she could finally order them. Other than Ci Nai, Streets is the other favourite of ours when it comes to Hong Kong cafes in Singapore.

Pumpkin Fries: 8/10


Alright, so IMM's portion is at least twice this. The rating belongs to the Daphne, terribly high as it is. Daphne (and a couple of our friends) liked this nonetheless, with one continually commenting that if the girls didn't take the fries quickly enough, he would finish them all. They all agreed it's a unique taste, with the salted egg yolk giving it a different kind of oomph.

French Fries: 7.5/10


Yes yes, you can get this everywhere. But the portion's very healthy, the fries came hot and crisp, and they taste good.

Streets Special XO Seafood Noodle: 7.7/10


I would not have ordered this if not for a lady nearby who seemed to be enjoying her noodles a lot. I pointed to it, asked what it is, and told the waitress, "I want that." And it tasted great too, not too oily and pretty generous with ingredients. The only minus point is that the XO is almost nowhere to be tasted, I believe they added only half a teaspoon (if not less).

Macau Fried Rice with Chicken Chop: 7.4/10


Daphne decided to have this again, and still likes it.

Black Pepper Beef Baked Rice


Kimberly ordered this, and it did look yummy. Very cheesy with tender pieces of beef. She said it was good.

Dry Noodles with Garlic Pork Ribs


Quite obviously I did not try this, but Huixiang was eating the ribs with much relish.

Service
If you can't speak Chinese, oh don't get me started.

Price
$6.50 for the pumpkin fries
$3.90 for the french fries (served with mayo)
$7.80 for the seafood xo noodles
$7.80 for the macau fried rice
$8.90 for the black pepper beef baked rice
$6.80 for the noodles with pork ribs
$2.00 for a can of coke
$3.50 for iced honey lemon tea

All prices not inclusive of the usual 7% GST and 10% service charge

Place
Raffles City Shopping Centre #B1-44C
Also: IMM Building #01-126

Additional Comment
Free Lime Tea Cooler for September babies.

Tiffany Cafe and Restaurant @ Furama City Centre

It seems that the Safra card (in new design and style) is getting better indeed. This month, it has a 1-for-1 promotion for dinner at Tiffany Cafe and Restaurant, which is held in conjunction with the fasting month. Of course, this promotion is not just open to Muslim customers but to anyone who has room for buffet! I persuaded my family to take me and Daphne there, eventhough my parents just had buffet from Carousel barely a week ago (their favourite buffet place, almost at least twice a month). Since none of us have been to Furama before, we thought it was worth a try.


Furama City Centre isn't exactly a very large hotel, but the setting in Tiffany is pretty good. You can choose to sit on the inside of the restuarant, or on the outside, just beside the hotel lobby. I learnt that Tiffany is also one of the three main Halal hotel buffets in Singapore, the other two being Carousel from Royal Plaza on Scotts and Straits Kitchen in Hyatt. Pretty good stuff all.

The Food






Admittedly the spread of food isn't that large (Sakura International Buffet Restaurant has at least twice the variety), but Tiffany fantastically makes up for the lack of range with good quality and great tasting food. The ambience is also very cosy, serene and comfortable. We couldn't take pictures of everything, partly also because we were busy eating so happily, but here's just some of the food on offer:

* Salad
* Fried Japanese Udon
* Mee Siam
* Pasta
* Fried Potatoes
* Butterfish in Cream Sauce
* Teriyaki Chicken
* Chilli Crab
* Beef Goulash
* Salmon in Cheese Cream Puff
* Sashimi
* Cold Crab, Oysters and Prawns
* Cereal Prawns
* Chocolate Fondue
* Ice-Cream etc etc.

There's really a lot more, just that I didn't quite remember their actual menu names. But trust me, the food here is really pretty good. As an overall rating, I would give Tiffany a comfortable 8.3/10.

Buffets can bring out the best and worst out of people sometimes. The best being those who can show they are able to push their bodies beyond the limit and get everything in and down haha. The worst though, are those irritating ones who pile their plates, and more so, those who select the food for a long time. There was this middle-aged man who spent 15mins digging the chilli crab dish, and grabbing all the biggest pincers he could find. I was the next in queue, the chef had just refilled the dish, and I thought I could get one pincer since it was the easiest to eat. Turned out Mr Greedy had taken at least nine large pincers at a go, leaving one tiny one for me, if it was intentional at all. Because when he reluctantly placed the thong down (he couldn't even pass it to me), he stayed there and surveyed me going through the remaining parts. I had wanted to poke his eyes actually, but stifled that thought within me. What to do, what to do haha.

Service
Service here is good. They're very attentive with cleaning up your plates, refilling your glasses of water, and refilling dishes that you particularly want them to refill. Very polite and smiley people too.

Price
$36.80++
Safra promotion 1-for-1 for Ramadan buffet dinner

Place
60 Eu Tong Sen Street
2/F Furama City Centre

Additional Comment
Certified Halal.

Foodbuzz Featured Publisher Program

As some of you may well know, I'm part of this food blogging community that is based in the US, and there's really quite a lot of initiative put in to unite and bond fellow foodies together. They've managed to rope in some of the Singaporean food bloggers as well, including some of my favourites whose websites I visit almost every day! I like Foodbuzz because the good thing about it is that they show they care, and to actually send a cute box of mini namecards all the way from the US is such a sweet gesture. On the cards they have my name and my food blog web address. I have no idea who to give it too though, but I'm sure it would come in useful next time. Till then, thank you Foodbuzz! =)

e. Black Board

After reading about this place on a fellow foodie's blog, and after passing it on the way to school, I knew it would only be a matter of time before I'm here to give the food a try. The opportunity came on a Friday evening when both me and Daphne were too hungry to travel much for dinner, and e. Black Board came to my mind at once. I was having a craving for beef as well, so yes, burger for me!

Black Board Burger: 8/10


This high score is especially for those who love hand-formed beef patties, and this is ultimately one thick beef patty trust me. It's so thick that your knife has to go some way to get to the bottom. And it's tenderly soft too oh yummy. Daphne didn't quite like it though, she isn't much of a beef fan, while I simply loved it haha.


Here's a closer look at the patty, it's minced beef alright. Good stuff. The bread was nicely toasted too, with a hint of butter. I ate them all separately though, since it was too thick a burger to fit in my mouth!

Cajun Chicken: 7.5/10


This was a rating that I felt was too high, but Daphne really liked it and felt it was justification enough. The chicken reminds me of those from Astons, tender and nicely marinated. There wasn't much of a cajun taste though, which explains why I was hesitant if it deserves an 8. The spicy "Tuscan" fries here aren't spicy at all, the ones at Botak Jones is much better in this case. I also saw quite a few people tucking in into fried chicken wings, looks damn good hahaha.

Service
As it is, it's the Chinese revolution where you've got to have a working knowledge of the Chinese language just so you could order food in Singapore. It's frustrating, because the foreign workers would just give you a blank stare every single time you try to modify your order, even if it means no coleslaw and fries, and end up mixing things up (if you realise from my burger, it was no beans replaced by mashed potato, and the coleslaw remained). Still, the staff were all smiles trying to please.

Price
$7.50 for the e. Black Board Burger (additional $0.50 for the egg)
$6.50 for the cajun chicken


We also ordered a basket of french fries for $2.50, and it was well worth it given the large portion. Served hot too, delightful.

And oh, they gave us a 10% discount, and I have little idea why. Maybe it's some student discount.

Place
San Po Food Court
Blk 431 Clementi Ave 3

Waan Waan Thai Restaurant @ Food Republic

There's this small Thai restaurant within the Food Republic food court at Wisma Atria, where you can choose to sit within its premises or out of it (but still within the food court itself). I ate the phad thai here before, it wasn't too bad, and now I'm here again for the same thing.

Phad Thai: 7/10


When Daphne had a first forkful of this, the first thing she said was, "Joe's Kitchen's Phad Thai is so much better." One of our friends had visited there recently, but she felt it wasn't as great as we made it out to be. This again shows us that taste is subjective, or that Joe's may not be as consistent as we thought it was. The phad thai here at Waan Waan was just normal, but I felt it was too moist for my liking. It would have been better if there were more ingredients than just the beansprouts.

Price
$5.50

Place
Food Republic
Orchard Wisma Atria Level Four