Good Good Assam Laksa

This hidden gem was found mainly due to my hungry stomach wanting to snack between lunch and dinner. As I scour the taman Berkeley area looking for good food without comprising on my calories I stumbled upon this little gem. 

Started myself off with Chee Cheong Fun. Which I thought was not bad coz I did not have any expectation set on it. Surprisingly it was decent and just right. It's actually the Penang style version for those who like it doused with plentiful 'Heiko' sauce.

 

This was the reason why I came here for and it definitely did not disappoint. It really did taste close to the real thing in penang so I give it a thumbs up!. Well for one, the name of the restaurant boast their reputation of good good Assam laksa and I guess they have to make sure they get it right. In klang if you assume you are good cook and your food is not good, be prepared to close your shop as the taste buds of the locals in klang are very evolved due to their heritage of a town known for great food. 

This restaurant is located at:-

21 Leboh Bangau

Taman Berkeley 

41150, Klang

Selangor

Malaysia

Yik Kee Restaurant

We got introduced to this place by one of our aunty. She fully recommended this joint mainly because of their giant prawns. Set in a simple chinese restaurant we came here on a weekday lunchtime. It wasn't really packed with lunch folks but maybe because we came here pass 2pm where these hungry working mouths have been well fed before heading back to work....

Sweet and sour pork/ wild boar meat

I was abit skeptical about this dish when we ordered it. To my surprise it was really really good compared to most of the sweet and sour pork dishes. The wild boar meat really packs in a good flavor and it wasn't too gamy taste to it.

Stir fried baby Kai Lan

Straight forward classic greens which we need on the pairing with all our chinese dishes. Can't go wrong and it was full of wok flavor to it. 

The superstar was obviously this Sang Har Meen dish which they were popular for. Just look at the size of the prawns and you will salivate before you start tucking into it. Well I know I did. The gravy was superb and not overwhelming but the prawns were the show stealer with its juicy tenderness. I reckon there is a secret art to cooking prawns coz you can't over or under cook it. Hence its a skill to get it just right so you don't waste such good quality prawns. Fully recommended and what we heard from the chef and owner himself is that all their prawns are imported from Indonesia for great consistency of freshness and size. Go check it out if you are around TTDI for lunch! :)

This restaurant is located at:-

38, Jalan Datuk Sulaiman

Taman Tun Dr Ismail

60000, Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia 

Lola's Cafe

We were on a lookout for great brunch places around Singapore and it had to be good value. Found this little gem in the heart of Kovan. Such a cool little cafe with cool decor. Also not to mention as you walk in you are welcomed by the side fridge displaying their lovely cakes before you start with your main meal. 

We went on a weekday just before lunch time. And just look at the picture below..... feels like everyone is actually on public holiday. And this place is not in the CBD area..... so I guess the food is definitely good judging by the crowd.

Green Tea Macha Latte

Very nice creamy Macha Latte. It wasn't too sweet nor too creamy. Well done!

Butter Croissant

This was the popular dish in the whole cafe. You could see everyone's table definitely have this dish on their orders. It was definitely good and tasted full of buttery goodness! Also I thought it was cool how they mix some of them oregano herbs in their scrambled eggs to give it a unique taste. So easy and yet so good. Definitely recommend you order this when you come this place. 

Honey Papprika Chicken Wings

This however was a very good surprise! I am a fan of chicken wings and having chicken wings for brunch was probably not my main choice. Thought I give it a try and it did not disappoint! I am craving for it as I am typing this. I think honey and deep fried chicken really does go well together. I am definitely coming back here just to eat this dish. AWESOME! - nuff said.

This restaurant is located at:-

5 Simon Road

Kovan

Singapore 545893

Artistry Cafe

Chance upon this cafe when the missus had some cravings for cakes. I swear to you she could smell peanut butter from a mile away.
When she saw they served this Peanut Butter Reese Choc cake, she was sold and told me to find a place to sit right away. 

The cake was how we imagined it to be and more. You could definitely taste the distinct taste of the Reese peanut butter and the cake itself wasn't too dry. In fact it was just right and how I know it was good was my daughter did not even let me have a second bite on the cake. Pretty much I had only one chance to remember how it tasted.

Peanut Butter Reese Chocolate Cake

Really cool long table dining style. Makes you feel like you are in library and funnily enough everyone in the cafe was also actually very quite. Not sure if everyone else felt the same.... :S

Gingerella Ale (100% Made in NZ) 

I thought their Gingerella Ale soft drink was pretty neat. A full kiwi import and you could really taste the ginger it. The branding on it was so simple and obviously got my attention. Simple, qwerky, cool and taste good at the same time. 100% Pure Kiwi.

This restaurant is located at:-

17 Jalan Pinang

Singapore

199149

Beach Road Scissors Cut Curry Rice

Heard so much rave about this Scissors Cut Curry Rice and told myself I have to give it a try. And so I did! At first impression, it does not look much as the shop or restaurant looks like any typical coffee shop selling mix rice.

There weren't many options for side dishes so we ordered pretty much what we see other people ordered in the shop. When you first look at it, it really doesn't look appetizing at all. 

Basically your rice is drowned with their curry. And if you were to tell them to put the curry on the side, you will probably get the weird stare from them...haha. It does not taste spicy and in fact it actually complimented the rice very well. Superb!

For the other dishes, I felt they were a tad bit starchy for my liking. Its almost like everything were drowned in starch as to make it their signature style. To those whom doesn't like starch in their food, please be warned! I found the chicken cutlet meat was tough and cold. They don't warm their food so its basically like canteen style eating......scoop food to your plate....and then move along for next customer. Simple as that!

Overall, I think the rave and hype is overrated and I reckon they could definitely improve on their side dishes.



This restaurant is located at:-

229 Jalan Besar

Singapore 

208905

Ricciotti

We figured we venture out west today to see what's in store for us around Star Vista. Stumbled upon Ricciotti which was a great place to brunch out on a lovely Sunday morning. 

We opted for their buffet brunch menu which was very good value for its price (less than SGD $30). And what a terrible mistake we made! With all the carbs we packed in our stomach it was definitely impossible to walk after the full meal! Thankfully it was for brunch and not dinner.

Pizzotto 

The pizza was slightly soggy underneath but apart from that the bacon and egg gives a good touch to it since we weren't having any bacon and eggs for breakfast today. ;)

Rustica

This pizza was an unusual surprise as we were skeptical about the goat cheese. Definitely surprised us there and everything blended very well! Thumbs up to the chef!

Spaghetti Marinara

They were very generous with the seafood and the spaghetti was done al dante the way it was supposed to be. 

Linguine Al Granchio

This was the highlight of all the dishes we had. This crabmeat linguine definitely stole the show with its well balanced sauce and crab meat.

Spaghetti Carbonara

I felt this was probably the least favourite and maybe I guess it was too rich and creamy for me. 

Chocolate Lava cake

Red Velvet cake

Tiramisu

Overall the desserts were ok. Nothing really stood out but definitely got room for improvement. Maybe we were all too full after feasting on the carbs hence it definitely wrecked our stomach for desserts! haha.


This restaurant is located at:-

1 Vista Exchange Green

#01-33 #01-K2

The Star Vista

Singapore 

Red House Seafood

This restaurant has always been the usual option for us when we head out to East Coast Seafood Centre. Mainly because we are always skeptical with the tourist trap Jumbo Seafood and Long Beach Seafood restaurants which are always packed with bus loads of tourist behind kettled to these 2 establishments. And we will always get a seat here in Red House without having to wait! ;)

It was only both of us today and we just wanted to kill a quick seafood craving. We started off with their signature custard prawn and we weren't dissapointed! The prawns were crunchy and not soggy albeit the sauce were smouldering all over it. Thumbs up to the chef who recommended it! Definitely something new instead of the usual prawn dishes we have tried before.

Signature Creamy Custard Sauce prawns 

Second up is their famous braises spinach tofu. I must say this was a definite surprise coz I didn't expect the dish to be this pretty. I have to say it taste as good as it looks! :)

Braised spinach Tofu & Honshimeji Mushroom topped with Crispy Conpoy

Lastly of course we all must have their crabs. After all that was the main reason we came here for. The crab was drowning in the delicious Singapore chili crab sauce and it was not too spicy as well. The balance was just right and the crab was as fresh as you can get for the whole 1.3 kilo of it! Yum!

Red House Chilli Stew

This restaurant is located at:-

Blk 1204, #01-05

East Coast Seafood Centre

East Coast Parkway

Singapore 449882

Brussels Sprouts

Had a tough time figuring out where to bring the kids and have a good meal at the same time. So we thought we go the distance by heading down south to sentosa cove. Full of space and water! What they are lack of is probably humans which was great and all we needed to de-stress! Haha

Brussels Sprout was great for a place for kids. Beat part of all kids eat free! Can't complain about that. We ordered a few different array of spreads.

The seafood pasta was awesome and they were very generous with the mussels and prawns. It's swimming in their seafood bisque which I thought was perfect and not too salty. Very strong creamy broth. 

The lamb shank was not bad either. The shank was generously huge surprisingly!

To be honest the sizes of the dishes here are pretty generous big portions. Just have a look at the pic above of the fish and chips I ordered. Pretty much had the whole fillet of a large fish! Haha. The batter was light and not too puffy but the fish inside was slightly soft in my opinion. Other than that it's a decent good portion  of good ol fish and chips. 

Next up we definitely have to have space for desserts. And like I mentioned about their portions.... HUGE! The waffle came to us crispy and crunchy and after a while when the ice cream melted you would think it be soft but it wasn't. So I give it a thumbs up for that! 

The vanilla creame brûlée was ok. I definitely had better but this is not to say it's not good. Out of all their dish we had, this is probably my least favorite. Maybe they are better for their mains in this restaurants.  

Overall I think the food here is decent and if you ever have a tough time thinking of where to take your children. Look no further this place caters it all and you can just sit back relax and have a beer in your hand while watching the world pass by or your children tiring themselves out! ;)

This restaurant is located at:-

31 Ocean Way, 

#1-01 Quayside Isle, 

Singapore 098375

Hanare

You know when you walked into a true blue good Japanese restaurant when you are:-

1) Greeted by Japanese waiters

2) All the rest of the patrons were Japanese!

Hanare has been around for a while and they are just located around the working district of tanjong pagar. It's definitely a hidden gem coz it's not on the ground floor but the first level above the street. The restaurant is small so you definitely have to come early to get your seat otherwise you risk waiting to eat by the stairs. It's not even enough room for you to stand in the restaurant so please be warned to go early. 

There are a few option of buffets here and we came here for one reason and it's their Bara-Chirasi Don. So we opted for their Bara-Set which comes with free flow of 4 dishes while you wait for you chirasi as the main dish.

I am not sure if they change their free flow dishes every day but when we were there we had crispy deep fried salmon skin, lettuce salad, edamame peas and meatballs. The free flow of dishes were good enough to keep me company before the chirasi. I had to control the intake coz I want to enjoy my chirasi.

Finally our chirasi arrived and it looked spectacular view of raw sashimi meat galore. The amount of meat we had on it overwhelm the whole bowl of rice so that says it all. Now I know why people come here! The sashimi meat was really fresh and there was a light glazing sauce that went on top of it which complimented it very well. Warning on their wasabi, coz I got a feeling it's home made and it went straight up my head! Haha. And it was darn great! There were several mixed of sashimi in the bowl from squid to fish. It was an array of raw goodness all in one bowl!

Overall i totally love it and I love this place. Definitely a die die must try and don't even get me started on the value. At SGD 17.90 for the Bara-set, I doubt you even have the right to complain.... Haha. Enjoy! ;)

This restaurant is located at:-

Hanare Japanese Café
99B Tanjong Pagar Road Singapore 088520 

Burnt Ends

This is a very late entry but it's better than never! 

I had the pleasure of being surprised by my lovely wife for a great birthday dinner. She took me to Burnt Ends which is a cool bar restaurant catering to a lot of the swanky business folks in the CBD. As you walk in, you could almost kinda feel like you are in a Japanese Izakaya restaurant but a western twist! Everyone all sat on a bar like concept watching the Chef in all it's glory cooking or barbecuing your awesome meal.

We started it off for appertizers with their famous quail eggs. Which sadly I did not managed to take a photo of! But It is totally recommended as they are actually smoked to perfection. You can taste the oakey smoke taste on every bite and it can become very addictive!

Next up we had their sautéed leek with brown butter and topped with hazelnuts and capers. You can also taste the smokiness on it too. The butter wasn't overwhelming and everything complimented very naturally. Who would have thought that hazelnuts goes well with leeks?! And it did! Perfect!

It's a very tapas like concept here in this restaurant. Most of everything looks really good and of course we can't afford to eat the whole restaurant. We settled for another one of their selected signatures - 'Pulled Pork Sanger Burger/ Sandwich'. It was superb and the meat was very well barbecued and tender. Again you could taste the smokiness on the meat as well! :)

Now for the main superstar - 'Wagyu Cube Roll'. I have been waiting for this the whole night and when it arrived I just wanted to tuck into it almost forgetting to take a pic! I know it looked like a really simple dish from the picture but to me it was simple and deliciously plated. All you need while having steak is a speck of slight greens on the side to make you feel you had a balanced meal! Haha. The meat is super super tender as you can cut it with a butter knife. I guess they don't call it wagyu for nothing! It was very well seasoned and you could taste the whole meat for how it is without ruining it. This how I love my steaks and I am very particular about how I like having my steaks for those who knows me. This was done perfectly well for me and I totally enjoyed and savored every small bites to make my meal last longer! Haha.

Of course we can't leave without having desserts. The oven roasted banana was awesome and it was not overdone so the texture was soft but not mushy. And the caramel ice cream was not too sweet and it makes you feel that one bite is just not enough whenever you sink your teeth in it. The balance of hot and cold on one plate was just right. I know from the pic it doesn't look that appetizing but it was definitely very flavorsome for me and it's a good finish for the end of a good dinner.

Overall. Make sure you pay a visit to this place. Need not say much more. The food is that great and what's more better is that you can see the bearded chef in action preparing and cooking your meal! :)

This restaurant is located at:-

Burnt Ends 

20 Teck Lim Road 

Singapore 

The Sushi Bar

My wife and I had been craving for some good chirasi lately. The thing is with this dish that there are not many Japanese restaurants whom can make it well.

We particularly were drawn to this place from the rave we heard about how good their chirasi was. The restaurant was in Far East plaza shopping centre and who knew there was a Japanese restaurant situated on the 4th floor. Of course unless you are a regular here! The restaurant is not big so if it gets packed be prepared to queue up for your meal.

We kicked it off with an order of salmon ebi mentai roll. It was delicious with just the right amount of their kewpie mayo. It definitely provides a good starter to share.

We also ordered a chawanmushi for the little one and that was scoff down in less than 5 mins. Maybe our daughter was just hungry but she sure did polish it up. I had a quick taste and it wasn't too salty and they added roe eggs on the top to give it a good punch as well.

Of course in a Japanese restaurant you must order their fried chicken karage. It was probably the most least appetizing out of all we ordered. I guess it was just standard fried chicken in batter.

For the finale, of course we had their signature chirashi don. After all that's what we came here for. Boy it didn't fail to dissapoint. It was surely tasty and all the meat was super fresh. And the sashimi was in thick cuts as well. I had to say it lives up to its name! Fully recommended and you must give it a try. For SGD 24.90 it was surely all good value for what you get! :)

Overall from the pics above needless to say you must come here to try their chirasi don as it is one dish I am definitely returning here for! 

This restaurant is located at:-

The Sushi Bar

14 Scott's Road

Far East Plaza #04-28

Singapore 228213