Akashi

28th June, Sunday

A Japanese restaurant at the basement of Paragon Shopping Centre, right beside Din Tai Fung.

Oyako Don


This is still the best Oyako Don I have ever tasted. I tried the Oyako Don at their Tanglin outlet, but didn't find it as good. This was delicious! The rice had just enough gravy and egg, and the chicken was tender and fresh. No hint of the "defrosted" taste at all. The chicken skin is full of fat though, so don't eat it if you are health conscious.

It comes with some pickles, soup, and 2 slices of watermelon. $13

V's verdict: 9/10
K's verdict: 8/10


Kitsune Soba

Nothing special about this at all, just some soba in plain soup, and with some kitsune floating around. Too bland for me, but K found it okay as she wasn't feeling very hungry. $12

V's verdict: 5.5/10
K's verdict: 6/10

The Buffet

26th June, Friday

A buffet restaurant at M Hotel. They serve international buffets during lunchtime, but for dinner, they serve steamboat buffet. Came here today with my colleagues for lunch.

The octopus sashimi was quite good, and I love octopus sashimi especially. It's not that commonly served in buffet restaurants, unlike salmon sashimi. The lamb steaks were quite good too, and my colleagues liked the corn chowder a lot. They didn't try the oxtail, but I thought it was not bad too.

There was tempura too, which was quite good. Only the chicken cutlet was horribly dry.

They offered durian pengat (excellent!) and ice cream cream for desserts, so that bought me over immediately. Heh.

Overall, it was quite good. Variety was bit lacking though. $36

V's verdict: 7.5/10

Kowloon HK Cafe

25th June, Thursday

A small cafe at China Square selling HK food.

Stir fried beef hor fun


This was quite okay. The beef tasted a bit too tender too, probably due to tenderizers. Other than beef, all the other ingredients used were vegetables. $7.80

V's verdict: 6.5/10

Nam Seng Noodles & Fried Rice

25th June, Wednesday

This stall is actually more famous for their wantan mee. They used to be at the food court at Far East Square, but have since relocated when the food court was renovated. The location they are at now is not as accessible as before, so their business isn't as good anymore. It's at 25 China Street, #01-01 Far East Square.

Venision Hor Fun

They used to serve beef hor fun, but ever since they shifted here they switched to venision. I have no idea why though. Beneath the gravy, the hor fun was dry and stuck together, which was one of the sore points. The venision was tender but I suspect it was due to the usage of tenderizers. At least the gravy was not bad. $4/$5

V's verdict: 6.5/10

Empire Cafe

23rd June, Tuesday

First time I tried this. The inner layout of the restaurant looked so much like Seah Street Deli (also in Raffles Hotel).

Fried hokkien mee

This cost me $18, but at least I had my AMEX card, which gave me 50% off. It didn't taste very good actually. It was a bit too bland, and the chilli wasn't very good too, so even after mixing it in, it failed to help much.

V's verdict: 6/10

Cafe Brio's

22nd June, Monday

A buffet restaurant at Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel. Brought K and my cousins here for dinner. I have been here many times, and the food has been quite good most of the time.

The roasted sirloin steak was quite good. In fact, I even asked the chef to slice off a piece of fat (slightly burned and crispy) on top of the beef for me. And the person behind me also requested for the same thing. -.- But the fat was absolutely delicious (and sinful)!

The salmon sashimi was good too. I think my cousins ate 2 full plates combined. Oh man. The mackeral sashimi was good too, but none of them could appreciate it.

They had a beef noodle soup, but I thought the soup didn't taste natural enough. Pacific dory fish was average, paella was dry and quite tasteless, cream of pumpkin soup tasted more of cream rather than pumpkin. The black chicken soup was okay though. Basically, I just kept on going for the sashimi and sirloin steak. And ice cream, of course. I can never resist ice cream. $46

V's verdict: 7.5/10

Modesto's

21st June, Sunday

Treated my family and some relatives here (Elizabeth Hotel outlet) for Father's Day, and they allowed me to use a 30% coupon I cut out from TODAY newspaper. The menu can be found here.

Pane Al Burro D'Aglio

Garlic bread. Simple and delicious! They added black olives too, and the bread was charcoal grilled. It tasted so much better than normal garlic bread! My mother loved it. $7.50

V's verdict: 8/10

Potato Wedges

I don't know what kind of potato they used, but this was fantastic. Thick, slightly crispy, and the potato flavour was still intact. Again, my mother was very impressed with this and claims that she has never eaten such delicious potato wedges before. $8.50

V's verdict: 8/10


Capricciosa pizza

Ingredients were tomato, cheese, cooked pork ham, mushrooms, and artichokes. I thought there wasn't anything special with this, though most of the rest seemed to like it. $22.50

V's verdict: 6.5/10


Spaghetti alla Carbonara

One look and you can tell how creamy it is. My cousin took one bite and said that "it feels like the cream is solidifying inside my stomach!"

This dish is for the cream lovers. It's a must-avoid if you don't like creamy stuff, because this is ridiculously creamy. It's guaranteed to fill your stomach even if you are a big eater! Overall I thought it was okay, though I would still prefer Prego's. $20

V's verdict: 6.5/10


Penne Alfredo con Funghi

Penne is the short tube pasta. A cream based pasta too with shiitake and button mushrooms. The mushrooms were very good! This was creamy too but not as creamy as the Carbonara. $21

V's verdict: 7/10


Cannelloni agli Spinaci

Pasta filled with spinach and cheese, and oven-baked with a tomato and cream sauce. This was good too, especially if you like spinach. And this wasn't as heavy as the previous cream pastas. $21

V's verdict: 7.5/10


Crepes alle Fragole

Strawberry ice cream wrapped in crepes, served with fresh strawberries and light orange sauce. Strawberries and ice cream together = best combi. Nice! $13

V's verdict: 7.5/10


Tiramisu Modesto's


This wasn't as strong as I liked, but it was still okay. $12

V's verdict: 6.5/10


Cassata di Ciliege con salsa Cioccolato

Translation: Home-made Italian cherry cassata served with chocolate sauce. If you were to take away the cream, cherry, and chocolate sauce, I think it wouldn't even look like a dessert. Nothing special about this, if you ask me. $11

V's verdict: 6/10

Hog's Breath Cafe

20th June, Saturday

Had a class gathering at Hog's Breath Cafe at Chijmes. It's an Australian steakhouse that is supposedly more well known for steaks (duh), but I ordered fish instead. The steaks my mother buy and prepare herself taste so much better than outside steaks, and only cost a fraction! From what my friends say, I think the steaks weren't anything special anyway.

Battered Fish Dinner

Nothing special; it's just like a normal Fish and Chips. The corn was hard and dry. The curly fries were good, though!

V's verdict: 6.5/10

Ponggol Nasi Lemak Centre

19th June, Friday

This is the supposedly original Ponggol Nasi Lemak. They even came out with an advertisement several years ago, declaring that "Old Ponggol Nasi Lemak" and "New Ponggol Nasi Lemak" have absolutely no relationship to them. Reminds me of Hong Lim's curry chicken noodles (Heng Kee).

They are located along Upper Serangoon Road, just 3 minutes walk away from Kovan MRT.

Nasi Lemak

The first thing that you notice is the queue. It can be freaking long and stretch out of the hawker centre. But I must applaud their efficiency; they are fast, really fast. So even though the queue was long, my turn came in a relatively short while.

Ok, for nasi lemak, they are freaking expensive. Just this plate and another plate (without the 3 fried fish, ikan bilis, and add 2 sotong balls) cost me an eye-popping $11.10. But it was good, I must admit. Their fried eggs were fried very nicely, with the egg yolk still round, intact and runny. The fried fish was crispy and the whole head can be eaten. The drumstick was not bad, though I would prefer their chicken wings (sold out). And the chilli was good too!

V's verdict: 8/10
K's verdict: 9/10

Prego

19th June, Friday

I came to Prego again because I was craving for their Carbonara pasta, but was told that during this whole Asian Youth Games period, they wouldn't be serving pork. Sigh. So my friend and I settled for something else instead.

Tagliolini al nero di seppia, gamberotti e salsa arrabbiata

Translation: Homemade squid ink tagliolini tossed with tiger prawns, chilli, and basil tomato salsa.

Initially I was worried that the squid ink will stain my teeth, but it didn't. The texture felt a bit like Japanese soba, and was actually quite delicious. The sauce was well balanced too; the tomato sauce wasn't overpowering. There was a generous serving of big prawns (too many for me, in fact). Nice! $30

V's verdict: 8/10


Polletto alla griglia, salsa al limone e verdure di campagna

Translation: Roasted free-range baby chicken served with green asparagus, farm-grown vegetables, lemon and extra virgin olive oil salsa.

This was not bad. The breast meat was very tender. It wasn't very juicy, but it wasn't too dry either. The skin was a bit crispy. On the whole, I think it was a tad overdone, but still quite good nevertheless. $33

V's verdict: 7/10

Golden Shoe Food Centre

18th June, Thursday

(Now all the pictures I upload are center-aligned, even though I tried pressing left-align and right-align and whatever-align. -.- )

Fried rice with salted fish (Fried rice Cantonese Flavor)

This is on the third floor, stall number 03-20. The owner is a Chinaman who was quite friendly. After frying the rice, he asked if I wanted any chopped spring onion to go with it. I declined. The truth is, I was afraid that he will use his bare hands to take the spring onion.

Well, he thought that I didn't like spring onion (I love spring onion, actually), so he said he will add just a bit for me to try. And he started rambling about how healthy spring onion is, and once I should try and get used to it, etc etc. I could only nod helplessly and thought of how I am going to scrape away the spring onion later.

Fortunately, he simply tapped the side of the container and let some spring onion drop inside. Whew! A hygienic Chinaman!

Taste-wise, this was okay. Not enough salted fish though, in my opinion. $3.50 + $0.20

V's verdict: 6.5/10


Roast pork (Wing Garden Roasted Pork & Herbal Soup)

I asked if they sell $2 worth of roast pork, and the owner said the minimum is $4. I offered $3, and he agreed. And that's a lot of roast pork!

The meat was okay; I have had better ones. But their skin was deliciously crispy. Not bad!

V's verdict: 7.5/10

Straits Kitchen

17th June, Wednesday

A buffet restaurant at Grand Hyatt Hotel. From how it is always fully booked, even on weekdays, you can see how popular it is. And one more thing --- it costs more than $50 per person, after GST and service charge. For just local food! No sashimi or other expensive stuff.

But their food was excellent. Of special mention is the fried rice, fried kway teow, and fried carrot cake. All were great and were much better than the hawker centres I have tried. And their Indian food was good too --- their tandoori chicken, curry mutton, and another chicken. Prawn noodles and roasted duck were also quite good too. But their laksa was disappointing; the gravy was too thin.

Other stuff were decent, like their satay and grilled chicken wings. Nothing special. The otak wasn't good though. Desserts were also not very good; I tried one innocent mango-pudding-like dessert and always spat it out. Upon enquiry, I realised that is Indian Rice Pudding Soup. It tasted icky!

But buffets serve such a huge variety of food, and Straits Kitchen serves an even larger variety compared to other buffet restaurants. So it wouldn't be reasonable to rate all their food. In fact, it is sufficient just to have a few good dishes. Not everything has to taste excellent.

V's verdict: 8/10

Tanjong Pagar Food Centre

17th June, Wednesday

Herbal chicken (Herbal Kitchen, 大厨帝皇鸡）



This was too diluted to taste good. The chicken was quite tender, but honestly it was ruined by the taste of the soup. $3.50

V's verdict: 5/10
K's verdict: 5/10


Laksa (Ah Seng Laksa.Prawn Noodle)



I must say this laksa tasted rather... unique. I think they added lemon or lime into the gravy, which served to neutralize the strong taste. It tasted quite refreshing, actually. $2.50

V's verdict: 6.5/10
K's verdict: 6/10


Fried hokkien mee (Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee)

(For some reason, I couldn't align this picture to the left. And no matter how many times I delete it and re-upload it, it stubbornly stays in the centre.)

This hokkien mee is the sticky kind, which means that it's quite filling. If you were to eat too much of it, you would probably get too stuffed and may even get sick of it. The plate was quite small though, so the portion was just all right for me.

The taste was not bad, and the noodles were very sticky, as I mentioned earlier. They added pork, but I think 90% of the pork was fat. -.- $3

V's verdict: 7/10
K's verdict: 8/10

Thye Hong Cafe

16th June, Tuesday

Thye Hong Cafe is a small coffee shop along Philip Street.

Tom yam sliced fish bee hoon (旺盛)



Okay, I am glad I had an early lunch at 1130am today. Because by 12pm, the queue at this stall was so long that I probably wouldn't have bothered trying. Apparently, this stall has built some sort of reputation already for serving delicious sliced fish bee hoon.

And I was not disappointed. The tom yam soup was delicious; just spicy enough and yet not too sour. The best part was its fish; I don't know what kind of fish they used, but it was so smooth, sweet and delicious!

I can't believe that I only tried this after working around this area for almost 4 years. Definitely coming back to try their normal sliced fish bee hoon next time. $4

V's verdict: 8.5/10

Prego

15th June, Monday

An Italian restaurant at Fairmont Hotel. My AMEX card gives me a 50% discount if I were to dine here with one more person, so it's very worth it.

Vitello tonnato e giadiniera ortolana



This is basically poached veal salad. The ham-like meat at the bottom of the dish is the poached veal, and beneath that is a layer of tuna. Nothing special with the poached veal and tuna. The sauce was a bit too sour for me, so I didn't really enjoy this dish.

V's verdict: 5.5/10


Manzo alla salvia con patate artosto



Roasted ribeye. This didn't look too appetizing, I must admit. But it turned out ok. I asked for it to be medium rare, but was told that since it is roasted, it can only be well done. Oh well.

The meat was a little tough, but still okay for me. Tastewise it was all right too. The potatoes, however, were too dry. Oh, and it wasn't well done, by the way. It was medium well.

V's verdict: 6.5/10

Chuan Yi Pin (川一品）

14th June, Sunday

This is a bbq and steamboat restaurant, run by Chinamen. It is located at 530 North Bridge Road, just opposite Bugis Junction.



We chose tom yam as the soup base, and goodness, it came with a thick layer of oil on top, which I had to scoop out. The meat was a bit different from other BBQ restaurants like Seoul Garden; there's a meat counter, and when you request for meat (beef/pork/lamb) the staff will take a chunk of meat from the freezer and slice it into thin slices using a machine.



The plates were very hot, so I was at least a bit more assured of their cleanliness. I think they use very hot water to wash their dishes.

It was not bad, overall. Their meat (chicken, beef, pork) were not bad. Drinks were free flow, and there was ice cream as well (I am always bought over by ice cream). They had other standard stuff like vegetables, fish balls, crab sticks, etc. As for seafood, there was actually crayfish, which tasted quite good, despite its small size.

They also served some cooked food, like pasta, prawn crackers, etc. They had a stir-fried crab which was actually quite good too, though it was a bit too troublesome to eat. One of their beef internal organs (I dunno which part) was horrible though, both cooked and uncooked (for the steamboat). The cooked one was practically soaked with oil and I had to spit out the oil (discreetly, of course). The uncooked one, after cooking in the steamboat, was so tough that I felt like I was chewing rubber. So obviously I had to spit this out as well.

One last thing --- it's freaking hot. $21

V's verdict: 7/10
K's verdict: 7/10

Block 514 Bishan Place Food Court

14th June, Sunday

A food court at Block 514 Bishan Place, right behind Junction 8. It was always very empty on weekend mornings, so today we decided to give it a try.

Fishball noodles (顺兴鱼圆面）



Okay, this was quite funny. The uncle boasted to me about how good his fishball noodles were, and how popular he was at something-something plaza (I couldn't catch it and couldn't be bothered to clarify).

When I brought my noodles back to my table, my mother took one look and said critically, "One look and I know that it's not good. The colour is already wrong."

True enough, one bite and I was like, URGH. Why was it so sour? It had tomato ketchup, but ketchup alone wouldn't make it that sour. And the noodles were apparently cooked too long and were too soggy. The fishballs tasted okay, but the texture was far from bouncy.

Well uncle, I don't know (and don't care) where you came, but I think you should go back to your old place and sell your sour fishball noodles to your old customers. I don't appreciate it at all, and I don't expect anyone else to. K and my mother both tasted it and disliked it as well. (K says that it tasted... mouldy!) In fact, the best part of the meal was the soup! $3/$4

V's verdict: 3.5/10
K's verdict: 1/10


Nasi Lemak (SJ Nasi Campur)



See how tiny this nasi lemak is? Before you start condemning it, I should state how much it costs first --- $1. All it had was rice, cucumber, and a chicken wing. And some chilli, of course.

I didn't try this, but K's description of it was "cannot make it".

K's verdict: 3.5/10


Fried bee hoon (Tong Luck Economical Mixed Rice)



This was not bad. The bee hoon wasn't too oily, and the vegetables were decent. The luncheon meat was a bit too dry, but their chilli was quite good. I don't mind trying this again next time. K said that it was tasteless and wasn't special at all, though.

V's verdict: 7/10
K's verdict: 5/10

Ah Seah Eating House

13th June, Saturday

Ah Seah Eating House is a small food court at 9 Yio Chu Kang Road, at Kovan Centre.

Roast duck



Bought this as takeaway for lunch. As usual, this was fantastic. The duck meat is delicious and juicy, and there's a herbal taste to its seasoning. This is definitely recommended!

V's verdict: 8.5/10
K's verdict: 8/10

Bishamon, Ah Chew Desserts

12th June, Friday

Bishamon:

Located at the basement of Bugis Junction.

Oyako Don



From the picture, you probably can't tell how big it is. Well, it is tiny. It definitely wasn't enough for me!

Taste-wise, it was still all right. The chicken was average, and at least it didn't have the defrosted taste like the Oyako Don I had at Waraku (Central). $7.30

Something interesting --- do you know what does Oyako mean? It means 亲子 (parent and child). Why this special term? Because this dish consists mainly of chicken and egg --- the parent and the child!

V's verdict: 6.5/10


Ah Chew Desserts:

Outside Bugis Junction, along Liang Seah Street. The exact address is 1 Liang Seah Street, #01-11, Liang Seah Place.



Ah, the cold desserts granted me a brief respite from the sweltering heat. This had large pieces of honey dew inside, and topped up with a scoop of ice cream. Overall it was quite all right and wasn't too sweet even after taking the ice cream into consideration. $3 + $0.80 for ice cream

V's verdict: 7/10

Southbank

11th June, Thursday

A Thai restaurant at Boat Quay. Thai food doesn't really appeal to me, but my colleagues felt like going, so I just went along. We ordered the set lunch for $10.50 each, and top up another $2 for Tom Yam soup. Depending on the number of people, you may actually get a "bonus" side dish --- 3 of us had 4 dishes.

Chilli Fish Fillet



This was quite okay. The chilli didn't taste like chilli at all though, it was absolutely not spicy at all! But the fish was fried until it was just crispy and yet not too dry. And it wasn't too oily too.

V's verdict: 7/10


Thai Green Curry



Is green curry supposed to be spicy? Well, this was once again not spicy at all. The chicken was tough though and didn't taste good.

V's verdict: 6/10


Chilli prawns



All the spicy food in this restaurant don't taste spicy at all! GARR. Other than that, this sauce was not bad and had lots of egg inside, reminding me of chilli crab sauces. The prawns were quite fresh and were not bad.

V's verdict: 7/10


Tom Yam Soup

Not bad, except that the squid was a bit tough.

V's verdict: 6.5/10


Bean sprouts with salted fish

The salted fish didn't taste strong enough, but otherwise it was all right.

V's verdict: 6.5/10

Some food court at Hong Leong Building basement

10th June, Wednesday

Porridge



The porridge was too watery for me; I should have asked for less water. The vegetables were old and tough. The beansprouts were ok. The pork was a bit tough and didn't taste very fresh. Overall, quite disappointing. $2.70

V's verdict: 5/10

Food Junction (Junction 8)

9th June, Tuesday

Pepper steak (Pepper lunch Express)



This was on offer ($7.90 instead of $8.90) so I decided to give it a try. It was not bad, especially since I love bean sprouts. The steak was quite all right, though you have to be careful not to overcook it. But compared to Pepper Lunch, they obviously used lower quality beef (not surprising, since it's around 50% cheaper). Still, I was quite satisfied.

V's verdict: 7/10
K's verdict: 7/10


Cheese roti prata



Prata with cheese. It was prepared very nicely, and the dough was crispy. Cheese prata isn't really my type though; I still prefer it plain (kosong). The gravy could be thicker too.

V's verdict: 5/10
K's verdict: 5/10

Baikohken (梅光轩）

9th June, Tuesday

A ramen shop located at 7 North Canal Road. I have walked past it before but have never even considered trying it until my friend suggested going there. It's very near to Boat Quay.

Shio Char Siew Ramen



This was one huge bowl of ramen with countless pieces of char siew! The char siew was a bit too salty though. Otherwise, it was not bad. The soup and the noodles were ok. Nothing special though. The most prominent thing about this is simply its size. $16.50

V's verdict: 6/10

Urban Fav Cafe

8th June, Monday

A small cafe near China Square Central.

Claypot beef horfun

This tasted quite horrible. The beef was artificially tender, probably due to the use of tenderizers, and had no taste at all. The horfun sauce was arguably decent, but the vegetables were old and tough. $5

V's verdict: 4/10

Cafe Galilee (sigh)

5th June, Friday

Roastary Chicken Leg



(I finished the chips and salad before remembering to take the picture... that explains the poor presentation)

Okay, I used my student card again (my NTU student EZ link card is priceless. It has granted me access to student meals from Seoul Garden, McDonald's, Burger King, and now Cafe Galilee). The price of this dish is usually around $7, I think. With the student promotion, it is only $4.90. With a can of coke on top of it!

I was surprised when the dish came. The chicken leg was HUGE, with lots of sauce. They added some chips (Pringles, sour cream and onion) and some salad garnished with cheese powder.

But one bite into the chicken leg and everything fell apart. The chicken was tasteless and had absolutely no flavour at all. It was dry, and the texture was like... a mix between tough and chewy? I wasn't expecting much for this price, so I wasn't too disappointed. They obviously used frozen chicken legs, though how long it has been frozen is a mystery to me.

The sauce managed to save them a bit, because it covered a bit of the (lack of) chicken taste. If this was a main course without any discounts at all, I would definitely complain. But since it's so cheap (and I am not a student actually) I thought I had better refrain from doing that.

OK, NO MORE CAFE GALILEE --- until my next exam, that is.

V's verdict: 3.5/10

Ya Kun Kaya Toast

5th June, Friday

Half boiled eggs

As usual, Ya Kun has the best half boiled eggs around. I have tried half boiled eggs from several places --- Ah Mei, Wang Jiao, normal coffeeshops --- and none can compare to theirs. Their half boiled eggs are just nice and taste good not only to the stomach but to the eye. Just look at how beautifully it is prepared! And their standards are quite consistent too.

V's verdict: 8/10


Kaya toast

Some other factors would determine whether kaya toast suits a person's taste --- thickness of the toast, and amount of butter? I know I like my toast to be thin, but my parents prefer thicker toasts. And obviously some people just love a lot of butter on their toast, but I prefer just a moderate amount (for health reasons as well).

The kaya toast here is the thin kind. The kaya tastes all right, though I think I wouldn't mind them to spread a bit more. The butter is one big chunk, but you can inform them beforehand not to put so much butter.

V's verdict: 7/10

Canopy, Cafe Galilee

4th June, Thursday

Steak sandwich (Canopy)



After the fabulous bacon sandwich I had here last week, this was a total let down. A different chef prepared this today, so that could be part of the reason. The bread was dry and tough. The onion sauce used tasted a bit too sweet and didn't suit me. And the ribeye steak they used wasn't too good too; it didn't have that kind of fresh beef flavour. At least the fries were good. $16

V's verdict: 6/10


Fish and Chips (Cafe Galilee)



The $5.90 meal again that came with a drink. Once again, how bad can deep fried stuff get? This was okaaaay, although the pasta still had the same yucky hard carrots and the artificial-tasting sauce.

I am starting to get quite sick of the food here. Tomorrow will be my last visit to Bishan Library; my exams will be over on Sunday. So there will be one more update tomorrow on Cafe Galilee again.

V's verdict: 5.5/10

Cafe Galilee

3rd June, Wednesday

Galilee Special



Spent the whole afternoon at Cafe Galilee, inside Bishan Library. This was one of their lunch specials, which was pretty worth it. It cost $7 usually, but if you order it during lunchtime (12pm to 2pm) it only costs $5.90, and they give you a drink on top of that.

Taste wise, the sauce tasted a bit artificial and wasn't too good. The carrots were too hard. The chicken... well, it was deep fried, and deep fried food usually taste quite okay. (If deep fried food tastes horrible, it just shows that either the chef is terrible, the food quality is terrible, or both the chef and food quality are terrible.)

Conclusion: Not too good. But for the price, it's arguably okay.

V's verdict: 5/10

Kovan Food Centre

3rd June, Wednesday

Laksa (Teochew Fishball Mee)



This is the thick kind of laksa, which may not go well with everyone. For one thing, it's very filling. A lot of dried prawns were used in making the gravy, so the result is a very tasty and thick gravy. It has fishballs too, which is different from traditional laksa. Overall, this was quite good! I used to have this every time I finished a badminton session at Paya Lebar Kovan CC. $3/$3.50

V's verdict: 7.5/10


Carrot cake (Geylang Fried Carrot Cake)



This is an extremely popular stall at Kovan Food Centre. The carrot cake is fried by an old man (does food seem more delicious when cooked by old people? Perhaps people get the impression that old people have more experience) and the queue was quite long, even on a weekday morning when most of the other stalls were quite empty.

So what's my opinion? I think it was decent only. The taste is not strong enough, and some of the kweh pieces were cut too large for my liking.

V's verdict: 6/10

Kim San Leng Food Court

1st June, Monday

Steamed Chicken [ (Bugis St) Ming Kee Chicken Rice - Porridge ]



Ok, this is the supposedly famous steamed chicken from Kim San Leng. I went at 520pm, and true enough, this was the only stall that had a queue of 5 to 6 people. The other stalls had either no one or just 1 person queueing.

Well, I must say this wasn't as good as I expected. The chicken was tender and smooth, but it wasn't so good that I was bowled over. The flesh was okay, but not sweet enough. They were saved mainly by their sauce, but it had a tinge of sweetness inside which my father didn't like. I didn't taste it at first, but as I ate more it started to become more obvious.

Overall it was not bad, but I would take Pow Sing's steamed chicken anytime over this. $22 (whole chicken), $11 (half chicken)

V's verdict: 7/10