Super Shiok

Okay...Ready...Let's Go - My uncle pretty much functions like that. He loves taking out the whole family for meals, whenever he's available, and to wherever he wants to go. His selections, I must say, have been very good. He's like the Directory King of Hawker Centers in Singapore, and some say JB.

Most of the time they are dirty, ultra gross-ness, and dirt cheap (pun very much intended). So guess where we landed for dinner the other day? (Old) Lai Huat Seafood Restaurant. Say what? I know...I had no clue what the cuisine was or where it's at. In fact, I'm still figuring out what's with the bracketed prefix.

It's an open coffee shop space with a few fans that didn't really break their wind on us. All three generations were perspiring while the round table was being prepared. Being prepared for what you may ask? A lady started mopping up the humoungous table with a soapy piece of cloth which splattered everywhere, a lot more on my mum than she would have liked. And then a mega huge plastic in pink, covered the table before the orders were taken and the food were laid out. The plastic table thingey stuck to the surface easily, thanks to the foamy layer of soap.


It's the first time in my life that I've witnessed this spectacle in any eatery in the world!!! But I guess it makes a lot of scientific, chemical sense.

Anyway, moving on...we ordered a round of young coconuts and they were yummy. Sweet and fleshy. Although I still prefer Quayside's which are pricier (the one at Clarke Quay). Then my uncle, with an independent mind ordered what he wanted us to have for dinner that night - fried bass (I think) in sweet & sour gravy made crunchy with sliced onion wholes.

Then there were Sambal Kangkong which was super sambal belanchan-ized. Shiok. Meatballs and Fish Tofu. Very tender and smooth, yumsie-doodles. Also fried young squid. Fabulous, just fabulous. It's done old-school style and served on an assortment of orange melamine plates. Probably that's why the seafood here tastes better than the atas eateries which bank on air-con, reasonable location and an extensive menu to seduce the hungry ignoramus population here.

By far, this restaurant has exceeded my fussy expectations. Total Shocker : IT WAS WORTH IT. And if it does matter, the meal was extremely affordable.

Plus, I earned for myself a lifelong friend :)

Not-So-Secret Hideout : (Old) Lai Hust Seafood Restaurant

Address : #01-01/02, 223 Rangoon Road, Rangoon View

Tel : 62927375

NO POSEURS PLEASE - KL-Style Hokkien Mee

My furry friends, I just stumbled upon an amazing find! Thanks to Selene, the unassuming foodie - KL Hokkien Mee reigns in the heart of Orchard Road!!!

It's perfectly flavoured in kechup manis, stocky liver, saucy prawns and juicy sotong. Fantabulous...!truly yummy...I'm not even looking forward to dinner tonight. Cause nothing can really match up to these noodles...so worth the calories.

I didn't even crave for dessert after it...woo hoo! Where can you find noodles like this drenched in sweet black sauce? ISLAND CAFE - 320 Orchard Road, 4th Floor, CK Tang Tel: 6311 3424.

I am content.

I Am Definitely Not Staying Till 2 A.M.

If you're constantly sugar-starved like me, and become very snappy when sharing a box of assorted Van Houten chocolates with a bunch of like-minded grubby munsters, then you're probably understand how I felt at 2 a.m. dessert bar.

Yawn-sational.












I don't understand the concept of it at all. Is it a dessert joint or a bar - as in an alcoholic checkpoint? The decor stirred up mixed reactions - firstly of nostalgia, since the concept was very similar to a joint I love in Siem Reap called Blue Pumpkin. Secondly of yuckiness, since the colors clashed...white seats and cushions (pretty cheap ones really) with multi-earth-toned tables and counters. The place is not that large to begin with, so browns would just shrink the space more. Thirdly, the lights were yellow and too bright for a chill-out session with friends, that special someone or just to wind down after a hard day's work.

Regardless, my friend and I found a cosy spot and dominated the corner facing the window on the long daybed flanked on one side of the dessert place. The service, I must say, is timely and pretty efficient. Apparently, the owner herself even served tables that night, including ours. And the manager of the outfit was more than nice and chatty to us.

But see, that doesn't redeem them of the slightly bigger than miniscule desserts printed in microscopic font on the menu. Unforgivable, really. For a dessert joint that opens from 6pm - 2am, the dessert selection is seriously wanting of good old Granny Smith Apple Pie, Old-Fashioned Cheesecake with fun versions, and Molten Lava Chocolate; None of which could be found. Honestly, the desserts we ordered were teeny-weeny, and unsatisfying to say the least.

The chocolate warm tart with a thin, crispy crust cradled overflowing saucy chocolate - and this experience should have been divine for a chocoholic like me, but I found myself downing water to somehow save my throat after two small spoonfuls. The thin crust, in my opinion, should have been cake instead to absorb at least some of the molten chocolate, topped with frozen vanilla bean ice-cream. And the whole makan experience would have been savoured. Instead of ice-cream, blood orange sorbet was presented instead and boy, was it sweeeeet! Saccharine sweet. Only a dollop was served, I noticed, as opposed to a full scoop.

If this is designer dessert, then it really needs a makeover overhaul. "Designer" should infer genuinity, quality and lots of love. Not attempts at nouveau art and skinny creative servings. We ordered the Twix after that whole warm chocolate debacle to give them another chance. I mean, what are the chances of finding 1 indulgent dessert among a paltry 8 right? Guess again.

Expresso is described as warm mascarpone foam, Kahlua jelly, crumble with expresso ice-cream. How did that go? Forgettable. A top local food critic once said that if you can't remember what you put in your mouth, then it wasn't worth remembering anyway.

With names such as "Twix", "Green Tea" and "Cheesecake", no one could blame you if you can't recall them 5 minutes after having ordered them. The names are too generic.

It's time to bring back desserts as how they were created to be - fulfilling sizes, rich creams, decadent ice-cream and chockful of character.

I Want To Be Desert-ED

It is surprising to note that not many places in Singapore have a-ma-mazing desserts. How can?, you say. It's true mah. My family and close friends have been camping at the neighborhood ice-cream joint - Icekimo (8 Sin Ming Road#01-03 Sin Ming Centre). And for very good reason. Everyone related to me (except me) lurrrrve durians (yikes!). Icekimo has introduced the super durian waffle at less than six bucks. It's D24 durian,too (whatever that means). Man, WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE ANYWAY???

Sun with Moon (Wheelock Place, #03-15) also does a rockin' Green Tea Tiramisu which is both fluffy and seeped in alcohol. I'm a huge fan of matcha, so green tea with anything suits me just fine :) The portions at this restaurant chain is kinda small though. I have to admit I don't mind the teeny-weeni-ness of it all. But sometimes friends may not share the same views, as with most things in life.

Another heart-tugger is tofu cheesecake. At Sun, you can eat the WHOLE cheesecake and not feel jelak. In fact, you could eat two cakes and still feel on top of the world, instead of staring down your toilet. The healthy slice is presented in a "bird cage" of sorts, befitting the size that is morsel-ly. For the soft and light and "melt-in-your-mouth-but-not-in-your-hand" version, head to Miki Ojisan no Mise cakes in paper boxes sold within the Orchard Road area including Scotts Shopping Centre.

On the subject of light, there's a beautiful raspberry ensemble piled to hit the roof (of the restaurant) which I had the opportunity to get acquainted with quite intimately at The Universal (36 Duxton Hill). Crunchy with thinly slathered custard at each layer of yummy berries, it was simply sweet-ness. I could have it again and again and again. No sharing, please.

Love Notes

I’m in love. In love with a very special someone. Her name is Cambodia. I know. ALL my friends say I just can’t stop raving about it. Cambodia’s simply breathtaking. I just can’t get her off my mind. She’s made me drop all of my defenses and love again without apprehension, without looking forward to rejection, without false hope. I love her for all her humble and not-so-humble edible offerings every day and every night.

Particularly broth in any form. Khmer broth is addictive. Be forewarned. Best tasted in casual shorts and tees, with favorite flip flops. The most memorable sloppy slurps I experienced is with this bowl of locally made porridge. I had the opportunity to meet with the owner who ran a street joint that could hold 50-60 people easily. Palm-sized squares of white one-ply tissues are freely supplied at every table, as well as a small waste basket lays sturdy at each corner. So I guess one could rate the success of any food stall quite easily with the naked eye by the number of used tissues in the small bins and on the cement floor.

A bowl of the yummilicious “chok” saturated with cooked slices of chicken, pork, beef and chunks of vegetables can change your day from a so-so one to a very satisfied-with-a-toothy-smile night. All of which cost me US$1. The owner revealed that she boiled chicken and pork bones for a few hours every morning and added unidentified local spices into the whole mix. I could taste ginger, definitely pepper and a dash of salt.

But the broth is spectacular. Spectacularly a-ma-ma-zing. Absolutely unforgettable. Hence my love affair continues. I might just move over to this unforbidden city for a few months. And add more savory memories to the already overflowing ones. I’m in love. Can’t you tell?

Feels Like Home @ HOUSE

I HAVE DECIDED- I'm 30, so I shall just speak my mind and not go into great lengths to beat around the bush, so they say. So here's the deal, I eat like a freak at a rapid pace, and can be seen in a million places in a split milisecond. At such lightning speed that I'm living by, so should my blogs be. Swift, to the point, and very pretty xoxo

Presenting HOUSE on 8D Dempsey Hill - The menu's adorable and pretty extensive. I found Mexican, American, Italian and something-something influences which sometimes can't be seen, only tasted. My favorite is the peanut butter cake with such a gooey, crunchy texture to it, it should be slathered on everything you put your lips to.

Vintage plates, eclectic furniture, spacious surroundings, sleek bar, Turkish bath (jaw-dropper), and the romantic night sky can make for some serious merry-making with exquisite booze, velvety desserts and honest-to-goodness food. Like truffle oil fries (mmmmm...), tuna salad which smells Asian and lovin' it, dip-sters in adorable campy tin cans with toasty bread, tender medium rare steak slices which have been generously marinated and seasoned to break out into a scrumptious symphony of spicy flavors....really, you should be here.

I'm parked here almost the whole of next week. I'd be able to read off the menu in my sleep by then. The only thing missing here is a 1000-thread count bed fitted with gilded Cavalli sheets, Cleopatra pillows and a purring hairy-tailed feline in bed with me. Purrrrr....

How's that for swift-ness?...Haiyah, give me some time lah. Still a little chong hey (long-winded)

No Pain, No Love

If you’re Singaporean, chances are you’ve probably been to Hong Kong, at least once a year. It’s less than four hours away. And the food is delish!

I know, I know. The shopping’s ace. It really is. But the food is achingly gorgeous, devastatingly yummy and blindingly spicy.

There are so many makan places I attacked with my over-ambitious appetite in cute little dresses and knee-high black patent leather boots.

The one place you MUST go is the Agnes b. café. It is the only Agnes b. eatery in the world. Why Hong Kong, you ask? Well, I honestly don’t know. Maybe it is recognized for being the true foodie place in Asia where experimental art meets tasty sophistication. Price tags not included. Who looks at how much stuff costs on the menu anyway? Who?

You sit at a table and order whatever you like and then get ushered out after card’ing a check which you don’t even look at. Well, that’s how I do it.

Anyhoo, back to the Agnes b. café which is properly known as “Le Pain Grille” or literally "Toasted Bread". The minute you enter the wooden doors, you are transported to a charming little place in Paris. The white French curtains held up by wooden rods create a surreal feel to the Parisienne furniture. The special items of the day are written vigorously on a chalk board that plays a mobile role throughout the room.

Order the mussels…they are amazingly fresh and soaked in a aromatic broth in a cream-coloured bowl. All cutlery is branded with “Le Pain Grille”. How cute is that? And the bruschetta is oh-so-lovely. Chopped tomatoes are rosy and heaped onto toasted baguette which is crispy, soft and crunchy in the mouth.

The most memorable part of the meal, of any meal, are the desserts. I tried a few of them including the hazelnut praline and blueberry cheesecake. Ahhh….what is life without sugar? And the different ways they can be eaten makes life that much sweeter.

I am so very impressed by this unassuming café simply because I never expected it to be that good. It’s like when I was on a search for the best apple tart in Singapore and I ruled the former DKNY Café with the winning recipe. The café has since moved to the Club 21 I-shop in Cathay Cineleisure.

Remember these three words when in Hong Kong – Le Pain Grille.

Maa-Maa

I did it. I DID LES AMIS. The one in Au Jardin. The building is beautiful and very British, might I say. The servers look spiffy and smiley. I was there on a week day, I think Thursday night not too long ago. It was my first time at Les Amis. I know. I suck. But not anymore!


And to think I've waited all this time to revel in artistic gourmet. Poetic licence was lent to the menu. Romance was in the air. And it pretty much stopped there.


The table d'hote served was maa-maa, and the dinner companion was worse. No, I was NOT on a date. Let's just focus on the food shall we?


The amuse bouche was this weird-tasting egg shell cupping some egg thingey with potato broth. Hah? Eewness Central. It was not cold, neither was it hot. It was "just is". *confused* I didn't see any meaning or purpose in the broken shell dairy "nog"? Haiyah, don't know lah.

The crab meat was lovely. I had two slightly different interpretations of it. The temperature was perfect heat, if such a term existed. And yummy-doodles.

By the way, I soooooo forgot my digicam so I was using my laoya (a.k.a. lousy) cell phone to take pictures. Sorry...very boho, I know. I'm a really busy girl, okay!


I was seated facing the gardens. It was a gorgeous evening - balmy and cool. Both elements I didn't experience cause I was sitting inside. Alamak, I'm very Singaporean. Must have air con. I also noticed that Botanic Gardens gets super dark really early in the evening. So why do people still visit the place after 5 p.m.? You can't really see anything, and Cafe Les Amis closes fairly early. You're obviously not there for dinner - they're usually dressed casually.

So, what's the..Ohhhhhhhhhh..........Eew. Moving forward, please.



The wagyu beef carpaccio is ooh-la-la...really the STAR of the evening that brightened up my whole dinner. The King George which I ordered was not too bad. A little heavy for my liking. You know, I'm girly like that. But for a guy, I think they'd slurp it up in a few swift moves with the Cuteness Central knives. The broth generally for all the dishes were yumsies-daisies.

But I did have a sad moment - the desserts were so blah. Ugh. I had three. And they were so not hip, hot and happening. In fact, the additional dessert I ordered was not taken seriously at first. The server, in full official regalia (not tux lah, more like pretty suit) actually reminded me that it would be chargeable. DUH.


It's Les Amis. The minute you sit your cute butt down on one of those plush chairs in Au Jardin, you're so not counting the dollars anymore. And I definitely wasn't. So, hello? When you're in a posh restaurant, you are posh. So behave like it. I felt like a child been asked to show my bank acocunt balance just to prove I could spend a few more dollars after I've already racked up some hundred of 'dem.

If Les Amis @ Shaw Centre wasn't filled, I would have been dining my heart out and lovin' it. But that of course is a pure assumption based on feeling. The feeling that i'm meeting my friend in less than an hour for dinner. And I just can't wait to soup-size myself.

I'm not even going to show you dessert pictures cause they're just not worth it. The only thing that kept me going during dinner was the view.

Sigh.

SUSHI, SMOOSHIE

I never used to like rice but with sushi, I temporarily convert my dislikes into do-able. The Japanese can do that to you. It's pretty funny how I used to be so picky about what went into my mouth and now, I've become adventurous all in the name of "passione"...the tireless pursuit for ultimate happiness in the simple things in life - medium rare beef steak (wagyu, no wagyu, what's the diff?), reverse California maki (best done in Akashi), and steamed custard bun nuked by sunset-orange salted egg (of course, only at Imperial Treasure).

I totally dig when Madonna alerts me with "Get ready to jump now, baby. Get ready to jump."

Sitting in a restaurant, not knowing what you ordered and having no idea why, is like jumping into a seemingly calm lake with your clothes on. You don't know what's in the water, you don't care. You only know one thing, there's no turning back. Like when I was in Amici @ Holland Village the other day, I was in my usual "just because I feel like it" mood. But I really wished I could have turned back and headed for the nearest roti prata mama shop. I actually stayed on with my friend where we were adequately tortured with aglio olio which tasted like soggy salted pretzels, and a pizza with limp yellow slices of Asian tomatoes on Asian cheese - all these at a self-professed AUTHENTIC ITALIAN restaurant. Seriously. Seriously.

I don't know why I'm ranting. I guess I felt conned. Aiyoh.

SCANDALOUS

I LOVE EATING. I LOVE EATING IN HONG KONG. It's sooooo fabulous-o. I don't see why people here aren't as fat as they should be. They are constantly chomping on some carb-central snack in a local joint for breakfast or slurping smoky noodles at a popular cha tien. Expect to get shoved walking from one cramped street to another even more crowded one. Personal space is ignored by the middle-aged auntie rushing on foot to her yum cha lunch with her mahjong friends. Or by the busy city taxi driver who is grabbing his first meal of the day when the sun's blasting in all her fury, and the maddening tourist crowd thickens.

Of course, I joined in the thick of the masticating action the second I stepped onto this very yummylicious city. Wanna see? Amazing eats at plebeian prices. Check it out, folks. Must-see, must-try, must-cry mum-mum for the change in your pocket. Really cheap lah. Cheep cheep.

Sweetened pear tea is hot stuff in a mug, with a must-bite into french-like toast with a squarish slab of oily butter and drenched in home-made maple syrup. Very rich, very me :) Personally, the girlie version of carb-infested snack-ness is the butter toast interlaced with well-behaved condensed milk (i.e. not dripping at the sides).

Hawt.

Fashion On Your Plate

Have you been to Brown Sugar? It was my first time last week. It's in Stardus Clubhouse. A frosted door claims its name to makan fame, which I easily walked pass unknowingly, ending up at the end of the corridor. I found myself in the communal bathroom. Where was the bistro anyway?

I backed up a number of steps and ah ha! Found the frosted door and the not-so-conspicuous Brown Sugar logo smiling at me. It's not a very big space but I quickly nestled myself against

the soft couch and comfy cushions. If not for my friends' arrival to the table, I would have taken a well-sought-after snooze. Very tired that evening, man.

We ordered a sea of stuff, much to my delight! And everything looked gorgeous! (best said with a posh British accent)

Each plate had an equally gorgeous title attached to them too...hmmmmmmm...

Deconstructed apple salad with walnuts, Wagyu beef burger with tossed salad, fresh cod with slim-wedge fries, aglio olio made friendly with pine nuts, molten lava with Varlhona chocolate meshed with vanilla ice-cream, pear tartin paired with honey & fig ice-cream....the list goes on.

I'm gonna check out the lamb the next time I sashay my way to this Mohamed Sultan 'do. If they do good lamb, they must be good. I couldn't help but compare them to Wild Rocket though. Similar genre of food and emphasis on presentation and tastes. Which one I prefer? Ssssssssh...Let me lamb it before I reveal this succulent secret.

They were all yummy-doodles and oh-so puh-ree-tee. A must-do for a cosy third date or a fun reunion with close friends or even a casual business lunch to feed the hungry client.

Fantasize with these pictures. Very gorgeous, very me ;D

The More I See You, The More I Love You

Soooooo death-defyingly Jill-o-licious is the sticky toffee pudding I just had at Highlanders @ Clarke Quay. Just had, as in a few hours ago! A girlfriend of ours is in town for a few weeks from Sydney. It's so fun to catch up after a long while. And you know girls, we talk and talk and talk about every nitty gritty thing. Hah :)

Anyhoo, the sweet-o-rama dessert engaged with chocolate chip cookie ice-cream and bordered with a mini sliver of almond biscotti was ab fab, y'all! It's sweet enough to make you drool for more, and yet not overly sweet to cause you a sugar crash the next day.

I dislike toffee on its own. The candy looks, tastes and smells synthetic, very manufactured. Ugh. But this toffee was so NOT! This glossy remake from butter, milk and molasses or plain sugar was rockin' with the malt whiskey that was generously seeped into the toffee cake mixture.

Complimented with chewy chocolate ice-cream that was D to the E to the L to the I to the C-I-O-U-S, it was mighty fine. This was one plate you couldn't pull away from me, at least not for long. When the pudding arrived, everyone around the table wanted a taste. So the white china did do its tour and was voted "very good" by four gregarious, cuteness central ladies. "Very Good" really means wah lau, why I didn't order this? Now I have to watch her finish it but I can only have one bite. Pai seh mah, not my dessert.

Not bad for a debut appearance.

Loosen Up My Buttons, Babe

Sweet Surrender. That’s my theme song, you know the one from Sarah McLachlan. Thought I’d share with you some of the mighty fine-looking candies I’ve laid my eyes upon, and was moved to stab a fork into.

Starbucks’ strawberry tart is something, isn’t it? It’s so worth the money and the calories. The strawberry chunks are pretty big, so it does offset the sugar loaded in the rockin’ pastry...I think...I hope. Can share one. Looks teeny but really packed with grub-a-licious, so delicious, yum-in-my-tum from the L-I-C-I-O-U-S.

Carrot cake from Toast. I just can’t rave enough about it. It’s the best in the country! Crammed with chockfuls of pineapple, walnuts and raisins smooshed into real carrots and moist cake, this is the best treat to a long day or to celebrate the end of a crazy diet. Slathered with true-blue cream cheese, you’d be tempted to inhale the whole cake.

A really simple yummy-doodle treat is almond beancurd with longans, which I LOVE at The Ship. They don’t serve it all the time, but when they do, you wish they could serve it in a bigger sundae cup! It’s so smooth-tasting, very refined really. It doesn’t taste synthetic at all which most jello tend to be. And it gives off an aromatic almond smell.

Ooooh….the curd just glides into your mouth and skis into your tummy through your throat. So light, you’ll have space for more desserts…happy days are here again :)

Sweet Dreams Are Made Of These...

I love CANDY. I LOVE CANDY.
Anything that’s saccharine-sweet and smells extravagantly lovely, I naturally gravitate towards. Naturally.

One of my favorite yummy-doo-dum-dums, out of a gazillion million desserts which have toured my almost-30-year-old, well-used and weather-resistant intestines, is the most princessy cupcakes which seriously melts in your mouth and instantly makes you very happy. VERY HAPPY.

Sugar never looked so good. These cupcakes from Carnival & Co are so awesome, I kept ordering the regular and mini ones. A lot of them for myself, and some for family and friends. Alamak, eat until whole box finish lah (5 Big Pieces). I’m so happy my friends really enjoyed them, that almost all of them ordered more boxes for the Christmas season. The cupcake designs are so puh-ree-tee. Great as alternatives to birthday cakes! No more messy knifes and weirdly-sized slices of crumbling cake. Cupcakes are so now, you gotta have them for at least ONE birthday this year. Then you’ll get it!

And the other woo-hoo chomping favorite is the carrot walnut cake from Toast @ Ngee Ann City. Truly one of the best in the country. With Cedele Depot @ Wheelock Place running in tandem for the top spot. The cream cheese is wonderfully smooth, and unbelievably gorgeous with the main cake made of shredded carrots and embedded walnut chunks. The type of cream cheese makes all of the difference, as the temperature used to store these cakes. Very important lah. One of the grossest cakes I’ve ever tasted are at Coffee Bean’s. They taste old and the cheese on the carrot cake is eewness central. You can tell immediately by the stale-looking color. Maybe it was a one-off incident which I experienced with a friend who really didn’t mind forking her way through the eeky carb-mess.

But I just love chocolate. CHOCOLATE is the Champion of all desserts, folks! So I crown this the week of chocolaty pleasures. This means intense chocolate-blogging for a limited time only.

Come back every day before you get hit with sugar crash = chocolate feeding time.

Until then, feel the tiara, says Love Princess.

Chinatown Blues

Mediocre. Is what I would use on Chinatown, our Chinatown. It was a little drizzly and wet the night I was there with LG. I even bumped into a friend of mine who announced my name pretty loudly, but you know, no one really turned around or cared to find out which human-ling of the so-so-crowd belonged to the name. Whatever. *pair of interlocked V ‘s on forehead*

To the left already, a la Beyonce.

Aside from lacklustre atmosphere, wet furniture and a one-off appearance of cheesy trishaws transporting clueless tourist couples to wherever at rip-off prices in disco renditions of nineties’ pop hits, the food fare was BOR(E)-RING. Really, people. Ugh, ugh, ugh. *stomping silver Gucci python pump heels*

I went all the way there, in my favorite gold Roberto Cavalli drawstring tote, and cute Topshop Unique dress which I vacuumed-packed from Oxford Circus, to ingest fumes from the long line of standalone food stalls. AND. Swiftly chopstick my way from the plasticky plate of char kway teow (fried broad noodles in dark sauce), into my hungarian mouth. (I’m not really Hungarian, but what else could you call someone who’s hungry? Hun or Hungry-let? Duh.)

The color looked right and the taste was sufficiently balanced between the sweetness of the dark sauce and saltiness of the MSG. But the absence of lab cheong (Chinese sausage) was deeply felt and sadly missed. The school-canteen-like dish was drab-looking and depressing. Sad-o-rama.

The seafood selection looked happier and cheery but I wasn’t craving for crustaceans and friends. But I did check out the ah balling with LG.

Read her blog on : http://ladyglam.blogs.friendster.com/ladyglam/

Ah Balling refers to stuffed rice glutinous balls in hot soup. The store here was (wo)man-ned by two little old ladies who were struggling to get the orders right. It can be quite a challenge, folks! There were a bunch of stuffings and soup flavors which you, as a willing makan-ster, could choose from which promotes consumer empowerment. And extreme work stress for our senior-citizen aunties :( The price though is almost free! Two bucks for 6 balls…S-I-X…Cheap-o-rama. Yasui ne! Murah Lah. We shared a bowl of green tea, peanut and black sesame balls in ginger soup. The ginger concoction was heavily hinted with white sugar and some ginger oomph. Not very happening.

The green tea ah balling was mochi-like. The paste was clumpy even in hot soup and tasted blasé. As for the black sesame, LG, you comment since you ate ALL of them! And for the peanut ones, mmmmmmmmm, they punctuated the end of my dinner with a sweet and happy ending. Melt-in-your-mouth fluidity and crunchy texture cradled in gooey rice sold me to these things for life.

Come on now, get ballsy in the new year. *wink*

I Was Bait

The best Curry Fish Head I’ve set my eyes upon is discreetly simmering in an aromatic area of Singapore that is well-acquainted with me; Nam Kee’s chicken rice, Dino’s swiss roll, icekimo’s chempedak dessert and The Roti Prata House’s milk-injected-dough prata.

Follow the inviting smells and you would be in Upper Thomson – A nostalgic street especially since I’ve been fed paranormal doeses of siu bak, char siew and steamed chicken at Nam Kee’s ever since I was knee-high. My parents would drive us kids there almost every Saturday. I was reminiscing about this place with friends just the other day. They too have patronized this family joint for years, and watched three generations manage the business, and 2-3 restaurant renovations.

However, the hot and spicy focus right now is Hooked on Heads. What’s that? It does sound dodgy, doesn’t it? Hahahah! I passed by this restaurant at Sin Ming Plaza many times but never ventured to go in. Thought it was “Hooked on Beads”. Hello. Wake up and feel the tiara, Love Princess.

My daddy insisted we give it a go. I was so hesitant. FYI - My parents love processed foods…twinkies, Gardenia’s cream buns, random coconut-based kueh-kueh at the railway station…just plain gross lah. My mum *shaking head* text’d me when I was in London saying that I MUST try the custard tartlets sold in Selfridges. In the FROZEN section. Eewness Central!

But that’s not the point. Hah! Moving forward, I was bowled over by the fish head curry. REALLY GOOD. It’s not jelak-y (translation = won’t get sick of the taste), unexpected lightness to the gravy, and smooth-textured. Very shiok-a-rama. Want to know the secret to a great-tasting and refreshing curry dish? It’s in the milk. Apparently they add half of the normal dose of coconut milk, and the rest of the mixture consists of regular milk = you absorb only half the calories! The fish is majorly fresh too. And adequately spiced with green parsley and limber tomatoes. Ooooooh. The spiciness is happening lah.

I was seen constantly scooping with my stainless steel spoon deep into the tasty gravy claypot. I really can’t rave enough of it. And big GOLD STARS for daddy! He got it right (finally) this time.

People, it’s extremely affordable. Not bluffing. It’s the perfect place to share a yumster meal with the extended family and friends.

Until the next bite, too-dles.