Foodography: A Singapore Food Blog

With oriental Chinese restaurant chains on the rise, it is always possible to see hordes of people on the reservation list of those such as the Crystal Jade group, the Paradise group and Tunglok group. Of those, it is obvious that Din Tai Fung, originating from Taiwan, is becoming more popular with their affordable dishes. Long queues are always expected especially during dinners, and an average waiting time of 15-20 minutes is considered ‘average’.

Their noodles and dim sum are becoming a local hit. The Dan Dan Noodles ($6.30) is one of my favorite noodle dishes over there. The winning flavor of spicy sauce with sesame oil and peanut powder proves it all. I was really hoping that the noodles came in a bigger portion.

Other than their more famous ‘la mian’ they do have a few fried rice dishes as well. Yet, I believe that their noodles are a notch above the rice dishes. The Pork Cutlet Fried Rice ($9) was alright, the fried rice of a light taste incorporated with filling fried eggs, accompanied by fragrant fried pork meat.

Siew Mai with Prawns ($6.30 for 9 pieces)

I find the Red Bean Paste Buns ($3.30 for 3 buns) a little less than ordinary, with the paste not being as enriching as ones you can find from coffee shophouses. It could be said that they are not so specialised in these types of buns.

Behold the signature dish of Din Tai Fung, their Xiao Long Bao or Steamed Pork Dumplings ($9 for 10 buns). I never had these before until I tried the ones here a year ago. Since then, I had fallen in love with the pork, the skin, the soup in the buns and basically the xiao long baos. Be it the meaty filling, silky skin or soup, each ingredient is prepared till the best to produce the highest quality of xiaolongbao. A true blue signature dish that you MUST try at Din Tai Fung.

Service from the Chinese waitresses are quick as they try to maximise their tasks as much as possible, and ambience wise it has reached expectation points, considering their restaurant chains being in shopping malls.

Din Tai Fung (under the BreadTalk group) currently has ten outlets islandwide, with two more at the prominent Marina Bay Sands and the new 112 Katong Mall soon to come. Now, you can easily satisfy your Din Tai Fung craving almost anywhere!

NEX @ Serangoon Central

23 Serangoon Central

#B1-10/11/12

Singapore 556083

Introducing to you the frenzy bubble tea craze in the tiny island of Singapore. In the recent years and especially the past year, bubble teas have become the most popular drink of all time, following the opening, sprucing and growth of many bubble tea chain outlets including the popular Koi Cafe, Gongcha, Each A Cup and many many more. Now, the old chains like Sweettalk are rivaled and tumbling.

I, particularly, am not an exception. I was skeptical about them before but after getting to try them a little lightbulb in me went ‘ping’. My initial love for ice blended drinks are slowly being overcome and washed out by milk teas. No one can resist it. Generations are drinking it.

Let me just say this straight that my favorite bubble tea store in Singapore is definitely Koi Cafe. The long queues at the outlets are strong signs of their popularity. The prices of their teas and coffees may edge over other bubble tea stores but their taste would win over. They’re also the starting factor of this craze.

Usually, I go for the Pearl Milk Tea because the original proves the best. The reason why I love Koi is largely due to their lovely, silky pearls which are always soft enough for my liking. The ones from other stores are not as chewable. However, I still yearn for the return of larger pearls that were used some time ago.

I like their Hazelnut Milk Tea as well for a mild rendition of the hazelnut flavor. Once, being an avid chocolate fanatic, I opted for Chocolate Milk Tea (medium $2.90 large $4.30) but I find that the chocolate is overpowering the milk tea. In the end, I only tasted a chocolate drink but not the milk tea. Still, I find the pearl milk tea the best and hence the most well-received.

With more and more outlets opening, it’s business is definitely expanding. The new outlet at Compass Point has made it very much more convenient for people like me in the north-east to get my bubble tea fix!

A note to self to limit my bubble tea intake: A regular cup of milk tea with pearls can contain at least 350 calories. Yet this is not stopping some teenagers from having them as regular as thrice a week.

Outlets include:

Blk 83 Marine Parade Central
Compass Point
Blk 704 Ang Mo Kio Central
513 Bishan Street 13
Iluma @ Bugis
People’s Park Complex
190A Toa Payoh Central
Blk 442 Clementi Avenue 3
Blk 510 Tampines Central 1

Many of the commuters traveling to and fro town and the central business district would recognize Coffee Club as one of a “friendlier” place for chat over lunch. Among the other chains of coffee franchises, Coffee Club is slightly different from them, in the sense that they are more of a restaurant outlet serving all three meals of the day. The outlets are also located in town or business districts. For instance, I love how one of them is in Kinokuniya at Ngee Ann City.

It was disappointing to say that the Chicken Lasagna ($13) did not meet any expectation I had as one of my favorite dishes. The composition of the ingredients was not right, the pale orange color depicted a weird quality of the pasta. One word that came to my mind when I tried it was: weird. However I doubt that the other main dishes would turn out like that as well. Do tell me any good ones that you’ve come across at OCC.

I reckon that since the name O’ Coffee Club suggests a coffee chain, it might do some good to try out the drinks here as well. The Mocha Tropicana ($7.50) was great, a well blend of the right amount of mocha and chocolate. I couldn’t remember the exact concoction of it though.

I love how the desserts at Coffee Club are put a lot of effort into, especially in terms of aesthetics. Each one is presented to its prettiest. So the Gooey Choco Monkey Tart ($8.50) was very chocolatey, and the bananas inside was a pleasant surprise. It made the stuffing, filling cake bearable throughout. What’s better than that? Strawberries, icing sugar, a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a piece of waffle biscuit to top it off! (PS I heard the mud pie is a must try as well.)

The outlet I went to at Millennia Walk had an airy, fresh atmosphere with comfortable interiors and pleasant service. Other than the coffee chains there, chocolaterias lined side-by-side the many eateries are also worth a visit.

9 Raffles Boulevard
#01-47B/53/54
Millennia Walk
Singapore 039536

One of the greatest things in life is food. Of food, the greatest must be the buffets. Buffets are when you set your stomachs on ‘limitless’ mode to just do nothing but feast. People always like to ask for the cheapest buffet available in Singapore, but for a good buffet, you must never mention the budget. The Line Buffet at Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore is considered affordable compared with the other top notch buffets in Singapore, with prices coming up to $68++ at those hotels.

On my maiden visit to Shangri-La in Singapore to try out its buffet, I was satisfied by the spontaneous service by the staff over there. Plates were cleared very quickly, and the crew was friendly and polite. The dining area I lunched at was very white and airy, but I dislike the yellow, orangey and darker dining area nearest to the food – it seemed like a place where you can’t see your food properly. Al fresco dining areas are available as well. Besides the excellent service, the best part was definitely its food.

The two most popular stations are the seafood and Japanese food. The freshness of these two types of food gains its popularity. Oysters are opened by the chefs on the spot! Other stations include the local, Indian, dessert, Chinese and English (Italian)

(From L to R: Magherita pizza, pork & bacon pizza, German bratwurst, roasted potato, cheesy meatballs)

(Naan, seafood beehoon, roasted turkey with giblet sauce, dory fish.) The roasted turkey was flavorful and tasted much more than you would expect from turkey meat. The giblet sauce complemented it.

The roasted meats at the Chinese section are a must-try. The skin remains crisp and are as good as those from traditional street or hawker stalls. You can also choose between a selection of Chinese noodles and the chefs will have it cooked on the spot.

(Chocolate ice cream)

Desserts galore! My favorite section of the buffet would be their desserts buffet. I love how their ice-cream was of some quality, how big the selection of mini cakes and nyonya kueh was, as well as how the chocolate fondue captures my attention right away.

(Chocolate cremeux)

(Tiramisu)

(Lemon meringue tart): Definitely a favorite for people who not only want their desserts to be sweet, but a little sour as the lemon as well.

(Tiramisu log cake) A selection of log cakes were there as I went during the days of festive Christmas.

(Cheesecake)

(Pistachio financier): Small and dainty, pop it into your mouth for an explosion of sweetness

2011’s been one heck of a year, and this would be my last post for this… indescribable year. Thoughts, feelings.. I’m at a lost of what to say, I am just mindblown that it had passed so quickly, it took me a while to register that in my head.

Ministry of Food at NEX serves food of Japanese cuisine at affordable prices. Besides that, they are also famous for its Japanese High Tea Buffet ($19.80/pax for adult, $16.80/pax for child) everyday from 2-6pm. Due to my forgetfulness of retrieving the receipt back, the prices won’t be available for the food I had in this post. So I went to dine with my pretty cousin here, as she wants me to put it that way.

Talk about Japanese food, and chawanmushi (steamed egg custard) is a classic favorite that tastes great no matter where you go. No one dare says they don’t like it. The only thing people want is for that cup of delicious steamed goodness to be bigger. The same goes for this cup right here.

I’m not an expert with the different types of ramen, so having tried tonkotsu ramen all the time I tried the Chashu Miso Ramen for the first time. Somehow, the thick, curly and slightly chewy noodles did not appeal much to me and the miso broth was too heavy-tasting for me to slurp it all up. Perhaps it’s because I can only take a couple of spoonfuls of miso soup usually.

I could not remember the name of this dish but it was full of prawns and eggs. The small serving size of the shallow dish seemed insufficient for a cost of almost reaching 10 dollars.

This ricebox consists of chicken, mushrooms and egg but my brother did not seem to enjoy it very much.

We did not get to try it that day but I believe their more popular hotstone rice where you get to “cook” it together with your friends should be of quality.

I was glad that I picked the right dessert after a tip-off from a friend that the ice-cream served here was nothing special. The red bean mochi I ordered was the saving grace. I loved the crispy mochi skin with the tender mochi in it. Topped with red bean and paste, it was simply unique and worth the try.

Beside MOF is a western restaurant, LENAS, which is under the same group as MOF. I’ve heard some good reviews but have yet to try it for myself. Another joy is that Gongcha is just beside MOF as well! In fact I think they share the same unit.

As for now, I wish my readers a Happy New Year’s eve eve. Hope to rush out another post before school starts on the 3rd of January!

Serangoon NEX Mall

#02-04/04/06

First of all, Merry Christmas to my fellow readers! I’m a stalker who looks at my number of readers everyday and I’m nothing but full of delight when the number soars and people tell me how nice my blog is to read. And so because of all of you, I’ve decided to blog a post today as well! Hardworking mode 🙂 With only a few days left to a brand new year ahead, let’s do nothing but indulge in nothing and nothing but food. 😉
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Even people who frequent Plaza Singapura may not come to take note of this little, dimly lit cafe-cum-ornament store at the corner of level 5. People walking by may just note it to be a store selling angelic and decorative items for a lovely apartment, but on a closer look it also houses a dine-in area. I was dumbfounded by surprise when I came to know of this place selling comfort food, being a frequent visitor of Plaza Singapura for its Golden Village.

I find the Spicy Tandoori Pita Sandwich ($12.95) an interesting dish. At first glance, the reddish color of the chicken meat did not seem to attract my tastebuds. However, you will find that upon tasting, the pita and chicken fused well with the tomato and cucumber to create a great sandwich. The only bad thing about it was its meagre serving size, for I find it not filling enough. They were small enough to be considered mini bites.

Dessert time! Their cupcakes on display looked colorful but in the end I opted for the Ebony and Ivory (). One thing to say about this and that is, it was great! 4 bite-sized portions of sinful scoops of vanilla ice cream atop warm chocolate brownie – goodness. The serving was just right for a dessert: not too little to complain about or too much to feel fearful of.

Tea Cosy also offers a high tea set which is commendable as well. Other than eating, you can go shopping under the same unit! All the ornaments and items on display are for sale! It would be better if the place was brighter, for eating in a dim place really defeats the purpose of eating. Prices would seem a little high for less food, but I thought it was worth a try.

Hope you guys enjoyed your Christmas! Love, Crystal.

Plaza Singapura
#05-10

Haato is a Japanese brand in Singapore that sells its most featured gelato ice cream and other premiums such as waffles, cakes and coffee. Its ice-cream is manufactured in Singapore, based on recipes from Japan. Their main branch at Ridgewood Close offers Asian & Western meals for lunch and dinner as well. Currently, Haato even has a log cake to go along with the festive season.

I asked for some flavors to recommend from the employee and received the replies of Royal Chocolate, Cookies and Cream and Rum and Raisin. Their squarish ice-cream cones look pretty cool, but I decide to settle for a small cup of Royal Chocolate ($3.50). The adjective ‘royal’ was well-used to describe it, it being very thick, dark and just chocolatey. However, it has a similar/common taste as some other chains’ chocolate ice cream that I’ve tried before, so it was nothing too special.

At the same time, I thought that having just a midget cup of ice-cream won’t be doing justice to myself. I was delighted to find that they serve waffles too. You can choose to have gelato with your waffle, enjoy some special ones with whipped cream and berries and stuff but I like to have my waffles plain as well. The Waffle with Butter & Maple syrup ($5.20) did not disappoint, the waffle was thick and fluffy of a nice golden brown, and of the right consistency of how a waffle should be.

Overall, the waffle appealed more to me than the ice-cream did so a commendable mention to it. If I have the chance I would definitely be back to try some other flavors.

23 Serangoon Central
#03-K18
NEX Mall, Singapore

Located in a quaint corner of the quiet Mandarin Gallery, this restaurant’s location may not serve it justice. However, despite the small number of patrons there were that day, I heard that it is usually very packed during peak hours, having to wait for a seat. Furthermore, it doesn’t entertain reservations by phone. Anyway, Mandarin Gallery features a few nice restaurants that you might want to check out, such as Arteastiq Tea Lounge, Antoinette and Ippudo Ramen.

Wild Honey’s famous for its all-day breakfast — I love breakfast items! I’ve recently been trying out sandwiches, waffles, eggs and stuff, a little break from the pastas and pizzas and ramen. The place was dimly lit yellow, which is a downside for me since I do not like dining in dark places where you can’t see your food clearly and food photography is a notch more difficult without proper lighting. Their menu is viewable from a black board and iPad at the counter, from which you order your food.

So I got myself a Tunisian breakfast ($18) which is a sizzling pan of red pepper, onion and tomato stew with sliced sausages & two fried eggs, with two huge slices of white bread. The idea of the tomato stew was special, it’s taste was unique as well. After my first few bites of it I thought it was weird-tasting but after that I found it very new and refreshing. The chorizo sausages in the pan stew pulled everything together for a great mouth feel. I feel that the two huge slices of bread were redundant, it would be better if they could be replaced with a bigger pan of stew.

English Breakfast ($22) of creamy scrambled eggs, pork sausage, sauteed mushrooms, baked beans, bacon and tomato.

Their dessert of the day was the Passionfruit Cake ($6.50). The cake was light and airy, and very much spongy. For a passionfruit cake, it’s got the right texture and taste, and I veyr much applaud it for that. Possessing the right amount of sweetness, a plus point is that the cake is rather big for a serving (despite what you see in the picture), definitely worth its price.

Restaurant service was brilliant, with the friendly and approachable staff. Overall, the place gave me a great and cosy feel, very much matching it’s slogan – “Wild Honey – No Place Like Home”. There is also a bar area overlooking Orchard road great for people-watching.

333A Orchard Road

#03-02

Mandarin Gallery Singapore 238897