Redhill Porridge - the queue continues

Below is a picture of the Redhill porridge queue at 7 am this morning. The queue nearly doubled 20 mins later ........




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Lunch at Ikea Alexandra

The lunch time crowd at Ikea is crazy especially on weekends. The queue can be easily more than 50 people. I really wonder if it's the food or furniture that people go to Ikea. Many of us will go for the laksa. Very reasonable prices at slightly more than $5. Comes with a couple of big prawns, a big ipecac of fried chicken. And it's real good. Ikea is also famous for the meatballs but I go for the laksa anytime.














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Marks and Spencer cookies

On the back of the packaging, it is printed "Cranberry and Orange cookies - melt in the mouth cookies with cranberry pieces flavored with orange". Melt in the mouth? I was skeptical. When I took a piece out to eat, my wife immediately told me not to re-seal the package as I will definitely take another piece. Well, not quite melt in the mouth, but the cookie is real good. It is not the crunchy type but soft and full of flavor. The cranberry and orange bits go very well with the milky flavored biscuit. Thanks to my good brudder who bought them for me because I happened not to have a certain credit card that can have some discount. Now looking forward to the Pistachio & Almond cookies and the Blueberry & Oat cookies.




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Chef Alba leaving Alba@Keong Siak Street

I have only been to Alba once and that was when it was owned by Nicholas. I remember it was a wine tasting event and my impression of the food was so-so only. But I kept hearing rave reviews of the food by Chef Setia, a young Japanese chef who spent years working the kitchens in France (so I was told).

Finally, managed to lunch there today and guess what happened? Chef Setia is leaving Alba and today is his second last day! He will be going to a new Italian restaurant owned by a Japanese guy in the hedge fund business. We had a word with him and he said that the new restaurant will be higher end and at Boat Quay. It will be opened in December.

Now back to the food. We had sea bream carpaccio as starter,







followed by roasted Hokkaido scallop in a red casserole,




and then some type of pasta.




The main course was crusted roast lamp




and finished with a tiramisu.





As Chef Setia is moving to a new restaurant, I find it no point to elaborate on the food except to say that it was wonderful. Should have been there earlier. But am looking forward to his new restaurant and expecting it to be much better as he confidently stated.





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Mr Bean for breakfast

Tired of the usual hawker centre breakfast fare, mom bought Mr Bean for us - soya bean milk with zi-ma and peanut tan-yuans. The soya bean drink was good, refreshing, smooth and not too concentrated. The tan-yuans went very well with the soya bean milk. Refreshing change.







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West Co'z Cafe

Everytime I walk passed this cafe, it is likely to be almost full of customers and there will be fish head curry on every table. It must be pretty good to attract a crowd and I remind myself that I have to try this soon. Well, managed to patronise them today and it sure is pretty damn good and cheap some more ;-).



They have 2 versions of fish heady curry - one is the typical coconut base and the other assam base. Tried the coconut base this afternoon. It was sizzling hot, spicy and fragrant. Coconut was not used extensively unlike those in many restaurants. The fish head was fresh and streamed just right. The meat can be easily picked up from the bone in chunks. The price of the fish head curry? A low $15 and the portion is good enough for at least three persons. Will definitely go again - many times.

West Co'z Cafe
#02-23 West Coast Plaza


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Early morning raw fish and porridge at Redhill

Finally we have a weekday which was a holiday. Woke up at 5am to rush down to Redhill to meet the Redhill porridge kakis. Hey I am the one who has to literally travel cross country to reach there! And guess what, reached there at 6:30am n the kakis still at home. Promises were made via mobile that they should be there in 10 mins but alamak the queue was moving too fast. I ended up facing 5 bowls of porridge and one huge plate of raw fish!




Obviously, I was getting some curious looks from early risers when I started digging into the porridge. Wah, this guy is consuming five bowls man!




But I was not able to complete the feat because all four of them turned up. Had to go back into the queue cos five bowls were not enough. We all ended up having 10 bowls! Now hen is the next weekday that is a holiday??


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Founder Bak Ku Teh

There are not many good bak ku teh stalls in Singapore that are comparable to those over in Kulai, Malaysia. One shop that many people frequent is Founder over at Balestier. You will always see a queue during lunch time and you will see many tourists especially those from Hong Kong and China seeking out this place.

The walls inside the shop are filled with photos of local, HK and Taiwan celebrities that had eaten at the shop. So well, is Founder that good? in my humble opinion, I certainly think that it is one of the better ones in Singapore but is no where near those over in Kulai in which the "teh" is more concentrated, more fragrant with lots of ingredients and large meat bone.

But of course it is not everyday that one goes over to Kulai so one of the next best alternate may be to pop over here and queue and enjoy the company of the many celebrities that filled the walls.



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Cockles Kway Teow @ Banquet - Causeway Point

Working in the north of Singapore can be pretty miserable when come to food. One of the better kway teow that I found is Banquet foodcourt at Causeway Point. As we all know, Banquet is halal and you can usually find a queue of muslims and non-muslims at this kway teow stall. The kway teow is tasty, the wetness is just appropriate and the chilli is hot.







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Tatsuya

Was at Tatsuya last week. My guest was thoroughly impressed with the quality of the food and services that he is bringing his wife there when he next visits Singapore. Mind you, this is a very well travelled person. Anyway, will not go through detailed run down of the food here as I have already done that several times. Below are some poorly taken photos of what were served to us using my iPhone 3GS. Definitely did no justice to the food. Sorrie.




















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Oswaldo@Maxwell Chambers

Was at Oswaldo for lunch today. First time there. Heard extreme views of the place. My colleague had a bad experience with them just the other week and I think it had something to do with one rude waitress. Anyway, I went there with an open mind.

The place was packed with Shenton Way crowd and mostly of the foreign type; lots of ang mohs. And it was noisy; more like a typical Hong Kong coffee shop.

The waiter came by and rattled off the specials for the day. Way too fast for our liking. Anyway, we decided to share cold cuts and cheese for starters, a first course of aglio olio with truffles and a main course of t-bone steak.

The cold cuts were atypical of cold cuts served in western restaurants here. Definitely not authentic Italian. I thought the aglio olio looked and tasted like no aglio olio I eaten before. After checking with the waiter, we realized that they did not served us aglio olio but some other pasta which I did not catch the name. My host wanted to complain but "forget it" I said, since they have no courtesy to inform us of the change; just don't go next time.



The t-bone steak was okay but not great. The steak came wholesome and I asked them to slice it so we can share. But it came back in three plates for the three of us. I was not amused as I definitely told them that we are sharing. Sharing means you put them in the centre of the table and we dig in ourselves. I don't know what's wrong with the waiters and waitress here. It was the second time they heard wrongly. Either I spoke too soft or the place was too noisy or both! No wonder my colleague was pissed the other day.

Overall, if you want to have some western food, this place is a-okay. But definitely not authentic Italian and I suspect they are promoting this place as such to cater to the business crowd. Will not go again unless being invited.



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Lovely mocha at Waffletown

One of my favorite spots in the last two months while waiting for my wife to finish her work assignment was to park myself at the open section in front of Waffletown and iPadding (is that such a term? Maybe I can claim to be the first one to coin it ;-) ;-) ;-) ) and with a glass of mocha from good old Waffletown. This mocha suits me nicely. It is not too chocolate concentrated like those over at Starbucks and not too sweet. Simply my type of mocha.

iPadding - the act of using the iPad; be it reading emails, playing games, listening to music, watching videos, reading news, working or just simply surfing the Internet.

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Bedrock@96 Somerset

Ever since a couple of ex-colleagues brought me to Bedrock a month ago, I have been there another two times - once with my wife and the latest was with my two school mates from way way back to celebrate my very backdated birthday.

I didn't know that the restaurant has been around for nearly two years - gosh where have I been. The food is a-ok lah but there is a couple of stuff that I would highly recommend - their home-made bread, the jamon and the Australian tomahawk wagyu beef.

The home-made bread is soft and fluffy with a nice fragrance. It is simply lovely with some butter spread on it. The jamon is of course delicious. I have no idea why the AVA took so long to allow such heavenly meat into Singapore. Everytime I eat jamon in Singapore, it reminds me of my visits to the supermarket section of Galeries Lafayette in Paris and sitting down with my buddies consuming (yes consuming ;-) ) loads of jamon accompanying by some cheap table red wine while the wives are happily shopping at the other end of the building. Imagine the truckload of $$$ that we would have saved (on the wives' shopping) if jamon were available in Singapore then. The tomahawk is simply fantastic. Always ask for medium rare so that you can simply enjoy those juice (some call it blood) flowing out of the meat when you are chewing it.

Unfortunately no photos taken as the place was a tad too dark for the iPhone. It's really high time that I get a camera.


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Suckling piglet at Hua Ting

We all felt the suckling piglet at Hua Ting tasted funny when we were there last Sunday. We thought the meat was not fresh and we think we were right. Upon feedback from the captain, we were told that they brought in frozen piglets and all along until then, I have always think that they bring in fresh ones.

And it maybe that that they have new chefs as their usual chefs maybe helping out at their new restaurant over at Grand Copthorne. Well, i am giving them the benefit of doubt and hope this is just a one-off bad pig.


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Burghound on Twitter

Just found out that Burghound is on Twitter. Now I can get updates of Burgundy wines from his tweets. See his latest tweet on his latest tasting below.




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Redhill Porridge

Colleague went to queue for Redhill porridge early in the morning at 7am. He was kind enough to pack about 12 bowls for us plus yutiao. As usual, it was filled with fresh and generous portions of meat and liver. Best breakfast for me for a long time.



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Heliocare

They were distributing Heliocare pills out to us to consume last week during a golf tournament. According to them, these pills can help us protect against the sun for a couple of hours. These pills are supposedly made from extracts of plants that look like ferns to me (plenty of these lookalikes in S'pore especially in the nature reserve areas). Some of my friends said these are good and effective. I popped two and felt that my body was not feeling hot after the game even though it was an extremely hot day. Not sure if there is any long term effects.




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Max Brenner Chocolate Bar @ Esplanade - 17 Oct 2010

After having a satisfying foot massage at Kenko, we decided to have a quick bite and wandered down the escalator to Max Chocolate Bar.

The wife chose a chocolate souffle while I ordered the banana split chocolate waffle.

The waffle was nice, my type of waffle. Not too soft but warm and crunchy. It went very well with the banana and the chocolate. But atlas, the strawberries were a tad unripe and sour. This would be excellent but unfortunately spoiled by the strawberries. Why wouldn't they at least sampled the strawberries???




The soufflé was a big let down. It tasted like it was not given enough time in the oven and one can easily taste the rawless of the flour. Quite disappointing actually.





Go back again? Only when I have a serious craving for chocolate and this is just close by.

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Prawn Noodles at Geylang Lorong 1

Recently, I went to the above place to eat the prawn noodles after a long long time. I was surprised that prices have almost double but I was very disappointed with the quality of the prawn noodles. The soup was simply very diluted and the taste was not even close to what I used to have. I frequented (in fact very frequent, like almost once a fortnight) this place when I used to work near there. It has become simply average. Maybe I go back again in the near future to see if the standard is still that bad, to give them the benefit of doubt.


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Hong Wen Mutton Soup - Beauty World Shopping Centre

Once in a while, we will go over to the hawker centre at the roof top of Beauty World Shopping Centre to dig at the Hong Wen Mutton Soup. This is the Chinese herbal style with lots of ginger and their special sauce. The stall is run by a Teochew man and I think his mother. There is usually a short queue. The soup is full of flavour and I love the tender mutton in it.

Also should order the rojak which is just next to Hong Wen. It is good.








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Farm restaurant at Yushan Mountain-Shanghu Lake in Changshu

Went for dinner at this restaurant at the Yushan Mountain-Shanghu Lake. This place is said to be very scenic and cooling with the river flowing by the side of the mountain. The local authorities are trying to do up the place to be like a mini West Lake Tiandi over in Hangzhou. But I think they are long way off as Changshu is not a popular tourist destination with tourists.

The restaurant serves local produce and watch catch. One of the dishes was wild turtle and they served it wholesome. A couple of my colleagues did not even touch it as it looked gruesome.I didn't enjoyed the dinner except for the local Chinese wine. They have a "6 star" loo and my advice is to finish dinner before you visit the loo as you may not have the mood to eat ;-).

Whole turtle dish.....

Dismembered......

Big bowl of oily chicken soup and enough for three bowls per person for a table of 12!

Verdict - no way I am going back to this restaurant.


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Song Helou Restaurant, Suzhou

Was in Suzhou last month. Was invited by my bankers to this restaurant - Song Helou. Understand that it is one of the oldest and pretty famous restaurants in Suzhou. As usual, the bankers ordered much more than enough for all eight of us. Here are the photos featuring some of the dishes. Some of the dishes are seasonal and thus one cannot have them whole year round. I should say the dishes were pretty decent and do not mind going back there again.














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La Pala Amarone 2003 - 16.5% alcohol content

Came across this Amarone which has 16.5% alcohol content. Gosh, this is the highest % I ever come across for a red wine. Surprising good but very strong. Goes well with a medium rare T-bone steak :-)




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Redhill Market Porridge

What would make 3 lawyers, a banker, a tax adviser, a CFO and a CEO to wake up early in the mooring and meet at the Redhill market at 6.30 am on a weekend to queue for breakfast??? Yummy Cantonese porridge will be it! The sizzling hot porridge comes with lots of large minced meat balls and liver. The meat balls are full of flavor which make the porridge very good. Be warned that one has to be there early (very early) and has to be patient with the queue. But the wait is well worth the waiting. The porridge usually sold out by 9 am. Also should try the kopi at the end of the row to the left of the porridge stall.

Note : Redhill porridge is closed on weekends! Serve me right for not paying attention to my friend's advice on opening hours and went on a Early Sunday morning. But how could one imagine that business is so good for the porridge stall to sell out by 9 am and can afford not to open on weekends!!!


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Location:Redhill

I AM BACK

Finally and hopefully I will start blogging again. It's been some time.


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Local Coffee Powder

Despite being surrounded by Starbucks, TCC, Coffebeans, I still prefer a refreshing cup of local coffee. And this is where I faithfully go and get my supply of the coffee powder - this coffee stall, Mei Ya, is at Blk 159 Mei Chin Rd #02-37. One kg for $12.



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Sum's Kitchen Hong Kong Roasted Meat

If you are up north in Singapore and looking for great roast duck and pork to eat, you should try Sum's Kitchen at 3 Jalan Legundi off Sembawang Road opposite the Sembawang Shopping Centre.
The restaurant has been around for many years and I believe the owner cum chef hailed from HK. Must trys are the roast duck and the steamed soon hock. Roast pork is only available on Fridays and will be the first to finish as they make only a small amount.
The roast duck is very juicy and tender and you can dip the meat into a nice home-made ginger spring onion sauce or plum sauce. The soon hock is always cooked perfectly and is my favourite. The reataurant also serves a type of bottled root beer that we don't seem to be able to find it elsewhere on Singapore. Below is a bowl of kung bak and a plate of bean sprouts with fried with small silver fish. Both were nice. Did not take pics of the roast duck, roast pork and steamed soon hock as we were busily walloping the dishes.



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Dinner at Pietrasanta

Went to Pietrasanta for dinner just now. Second time within 6 days but with different friends. The one kg wagyu T-bone steak was real good and we agreed it was better than La Braceria. This is mainly because La Braceria uses prime rather than wagyu. Of course, Pietrasanta's price is almost twice that of La Braceria due to the higher grade of beef.







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Dinner at Nicolas Le Restaurant - 15 Jan 2010

We had a wonderful evening at Nicolas Le Restaurant.  The wines were all from Maison Roche De Bellene and Nicolas excellently paired each course with the wines.

crumbled menu - cos i kept it in my back pocket;-0

The best dish was the Tasmanian field rack of lamb which was so nicely done even though it was a thick piece. However, I felt that Nicolas was a bit off with the black truffle and steamed egg cocotte in that the flavour of the black truffle was not fully infused into the egg.  It would have been perfect. 

black truffle and steamed egg cocotte

I was also a bit disappointed with the small portion of pigeon meat in the pigeon bolognese even though it was tasty with a little game flavour.  No complaints about the rest of the food ;-).

langoustine bouillon

The wines were all very good.  I love the two old Meursaults (1993 and 1995) the best.

The dinner and the wines were good, but what made the dinner so enjoyable and successful was my guests.  Even though they do not really know one another, everyone enjoyed talking and engaging one another.  We found out a couple of new things about ourselves that night when we indulged into more wines. Yes, we had a truly great evening!

Pietrasanta restaurant - 14 Jan 2010

Was at Pietrasanta for lunch to welcome the new year.  We had a piatto di salumi (traditional italian cold cuts), fried anchovies, aglio olio and medium rare lamb chop.  Every dish was superd.  My lunch kaki ended up paying for lunch as he got promoted to equity partner in his law firm.  Congrats MC ;-).  It was his first time there and he definitely is going to bring his wife there.

piatto di salumi

Jia Xiang mee pok lunch at Vivo city

I am live blogging while eating Jia Xiang mee pik at Vivo City. A first for me. I am hungry and being alone was looking for a quick fix lunch. Walked into Jia Xiang Sarawak restaurant and ordered the mee pok.




This is tasty and shiok. The mee pok is dried but QQ. It goes very well with the char siew but the two wantons are a tad small. The slash of pork lard give the mee lots of flavour. Love it.

where's the mee pok???

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Foot Massage at Kenko, Vivo City

Now having a foot massage at Vivo City. It's been many months since since my last foot massage. Used to do this almost on a weekly basis. Now trying to endure the pain. This is called pay money to suffer....ouch ouch ouch



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