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The month of February was filled with so many events and projects that I could hardly find time to get down and mess around in the kitchen for long. Firstly, there was the 15-days long Chinese New Year celebrations (lots of food and photos, I’ll get to posting them soon, hopefully!) and then, I had a couple of Valentine’s/Friendship Day celebrations with my dear friends (photos again, soon!). On top of that, I’m also tied down by a record amount of school projects and assignments in this final semester of college. That explains my absence from February’s Daring Bakers’ Challenge which I heard took 10 hours to complete! Great job you guys and gals!
It wasn’t till the week long mid-semester break last week, that I could find a little time off from all the slogging to bake this Banana Phydelity. The “break” came in time for me to catch up with and finish up some work and at the end of it, I felt like treating myself to some home-made desserts. SZ and I went on a dessert hunt the other day and tried the “Baked Banana in Phyllo Pastry” and signature dish, “Grand Marnier Soufflé” from Infuzi at Biopolis. The desserts were pricey and quite disappointing. The only saving point was the vanilla ice-cream that came with both desserts. It was really light and smooth, and I could see all the tiny vanilla seeds in it. We preferred the Baked Banana over the Soufflé, which we thought was too ‘egg-y’ for our liking and had only the slightest hint of Grand Marnier. You have to be really lucky to scoop out a spoonful of soufflé that had Grand Marnier in it.
Island Creamery is a great place for students and friends to hangout at. Located at a prime location where many schools reside, it has become as a favorite haunt for students to chill at. Upon entering the shop, you are greeted with a plaster of photos on the walls. They are mostly photos taken by the customers at the shop, creatively decorated like what you find on Neoprints. What you do is take a photo using your phone or digicam and send it for printing on the spot using their photo-printer.
Ikea has always been one of my favorite places to find simplistic yet classy homewares. In fact, I am contented with just flipping through the pages of the catalogue book that they send to my mailbox. My trips down to Ikea will always involve eating at their restaurant. I mean, who can resist their piping hot and fragrant fried chicken wings? Almost everyone in the queue ordered the wings. I think they added Tumeric to their wings, which gives it that extra punch. At only $1 a piece, this cheap delicacy is definitely a must try at Ikea!
Chinese cuisine with a difference indeed!
I had dinner with my family and relatives at Taste Paradise last night to celebrate my dad’s birthday. My mum had been raving about their delicious codfish and shark’s fin soup ever since her first visit there a few months back.This posh restaurant located in Chinatown advocates fine dining where food is served with passion and glamour. Every dish served was elegantly decorated and colours were interestingly paired (my sis noted that they love to pair Red and Green).
Dinner with XY at Melvados - The Original Brownie Cafe.
Mushroom Soup - A little bland, and was not as creamy as I liked it to be.
Chicken Lasagne - The spinach complemented the lasagna well, but overall, the dish lacked the strong cheesy taste I think good lasagnas should have.
I went on a date with SZ on Monday for an early birthday celebration. We were going to head to Hooha Cafe in Pasir Panjang Village for lunch because I’ve been looking for an opportunity to visit this much acclaimed restaurant since the IA days. Hooha was an accidental find actually. I was googling for places that serve good steaks in Singapore (nah, I still don’t take beef, the search wasn’t for myself it was for Kenneth) and found Hooha in a many results. However, SZ didn’t feel well that day and we decided to eat somewhere nearby instead.
It just happened that PGP’s new canteen was ready for business that day and it dawned on us that we HAVE to try the stall opened by Aston’s Steakhouse! So we went to the canteen but were faced with disappointment as we did not find the Steakhouse and only a handful of stalls were opened. After some thought, we agreed to go back to Hooha.
As we made our way into the restaurant, we were greeted by a waiter with a friendly disposition (both SZ and I thought he has some resemblance with JJ Lin and as always we came up with all sorts of stories about this). The restaurant was pretty dark inside which made reading the menu a little tough and taking photos impossible without flash. I already knew what I was going to order - it was an easy task since I have been poring over their menu on their website ever so often since months ago. SZ ordered the Chicken Enciladas and I had the Chicken Burrito from their Tex-Mex section.
Celebrated Mung’s birthday at Sizzler Toa Payoh with the same ol’ bunch of kakees. Settled for this location after a long discussion over MSN. The very first time I had a meal at Sizzler was years back at the Bishan branch (it’s no longer there). I love Sizzler for their amazing salad bar (the Cream of Mushroom is fabulous!) and generous portions of main course!
I had the Chicken topped with Apricot Glaze, served with baked potatoes. The apricot glaze was lovely - sweet and tangy! It gives a refreshing feel of Spring on the tastebuds.
Met up with XY for dinner before our Fireworks rendezvous at the Marina Bay. That’s the finale of the Fireworks Festival 2007 on the 18th of August. Mung and Val were at their NOC dinner and Cindy was at her Aunt’s birthday party, so it was just me and XY. She suggested Changing Appetites because of the cheap set meal they had (which included a soup, main course and dessert).
The food looked nice, but taste wise it was just okay…nothing fantastic.
The Cream of Mushroom
To celebrate the end of my internship, I decided to treat my family and relatives to some dimsum. I settled for Chinese cuisine since my parents, aunts and uncles advocates Chinese food. While I was Googling for good recommendations, I read about a chic dimsum restaurant called Cherry Garden. Awesome! First of all, the name…. secondly, photos of the restaurant made me go “Wow!”, then reviews of the food were great too. Quality dimsum buffet for only $38+++ per person…. pricey but totally worth the money! This had to be it! Didn’t hesitate more and went ahead to make reservations for 15 people.
My verdict after the visit: Totally in love with Cherry Garden!
Woke up to a cold and rainy Tuesday morning to meet some friends at Toa Payoh Lorong 1 Market for breakfast. I took a short walk over since the market is just a stone’s throw away from my house. We had already planned what we were going to eat - the usual fried carrot cake, pork meat porridge and Baos. These were just some of the famous and nice delicacies you can find in this hawker centre. To our disappointment, the fried carrot cake was closed for business that morning!
Wanton Mee
My second visit to Chomp Chomp with the same group of friends (the first visit was about a year ago). We sat at the same table too! The food wasn’t as great though, I’ve had better Hokkien Mee at Toa Payoh Lorong 1 Market and the Egg Beancurd was rather tasteless. I can’t comment on the BBQ seafood since I did not try them. Though, according to my friends, the quality just isn’t there anymore. Oh well, it was a fun night out with or without the food!
Hokkien Mee ($3.00)
I was invited to an Indian wedding reception on Sunday at the Banana Leaf Apolo Restaurant in Little India. I’ve never attended an Indian wedding, so I wasn’t sure what to expect besides the usual bling bling clothes and flavorful Indian cuisine. As I entered the restaurant, I realised that they have a larger crowd then the other restaurants we walked passed. I was rather pleased to see that as it could be an indication of GOOD food!
The reception was held at the function room on the second level of the restaurant, so I headed upstairs together with my friends. As we entered the room, I saw a few familiar faces and of course the groom and his beautiful bride! The bride and groom were standing on a miniature stage welcoming their guests and receiving well wishes. The group of us went up the stage to gave our blessings to the bride and groom and took a few group shots with them.
