Chatterbox

15th December, Tuesday

Chatterbox is definitely most well known for its award winning chicken rice. But... the review for the chicken rice shall be on another day, because me and K didn't order it today. I suppose I should state that I only came here because I had the eat @ Meritus card, which entitles me to 50% discount for 2 pax. If not for the card, I would definitely not have come to eat overpriced food.

Nasi lemak

K ordered this. I took a few bites and thought it was a bit disappointing. The chicken rendang was average, but the otak tasted a bit... stale and spoilt? And the rice was a tad too sticky for my liking. The ikan bilis wasn't crispy too. $21

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


Lobster laksa

Initially, I wanted to order the fried hokkien mee, which cost $21. But their lobster laksa cost only $28, just around $3.50 difference after the 50% discount, so I ordered this instead.

The gravy was thick and probably chock full of coconut milk. I could still stomach the thickness (I was very hungry actually) but K thought that there was too much coconut milk. Tastewise, the soup was quite all right. The fishcake and taupok were okay too. The lobster was sweet; a pity it was rather tough.

V's verdict: 7/10
K's verdict: 7.5/10

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

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

Holland V.21 Nasi Lemak

23rd May, Saturday

Laksa



They call it Sungei Road Trishaw Laksa. Is it a kind of laksa, or is it laksa from a particular place? Anyway, you can just eat this with a spoon, as the bee hoon is cut into small pieces. It's quite convenient actually, and you don't have to worry about the laksa gravy splashing on your clothes.

This was average only. Nothing special. Compared to Hong Lim's Sungei Road Trishaw laksa, the gravy is a bit thicker, but it doesn't taste better in particular.

V's verdict: 6/10

108 Eating House, Select Cafeteria

19th May, Tuesday

108 Eating House:

Chicken Laksa



I heard people raving about their laksa, so I went to try it today. 108 Eating House is located at The Arcade, which is at Raffles Place.

I was disappointed. The soup was only average; it wasn't thick or tasty enough. I had to add chilli in an attempt to enhance the flavour. The chicken was tough and rather tasteless. They were saved partially by their noodles and beansprouts, which were not bad. $4.50

Without the chicken, it costs $3.50.

V's verdict: 6/10


Select Cafeteria:

Mee Siam



Select Cafeteria is located at the basement of Chevron House, which is directly connected to Raffles Place MRT. They are more well known for their western food, but I wanted to try their local food today.

Ok, the thick layer of oil on top of the mee siam was immediately a huge turn-off for me. I can't stand the sight of so much oil in my food! The tau kua was dry, tough, and tasteless. The soup was a bit too sweet and not spicy enough. Boo! $3

V's verdict: 5/10

Hong Lim Food Centre, Aglio Olio

29th April, Wednesday

Hong Lim Food Centre:

Laksa (Famous Sungei Road Trishaw Laksa)

Forgot to take a picture of this, damn it. Anyway, this stall is on the 2nd floor. The laksa tastes way lighter than other laksa. It may be good for those who don't like their laksa to be too thick and filling, but it didn't really suit my tastebuds. I prefer my laksa to be thick and tasty. K gave it a total thumbs down. Maybe it's because I didn't add the chilli? But the chilli tasted sour, so I didn't dare to put any of it into the soup.

But the service was good; the stallkeeper was friendly and even apologized that she had a lot of orders to prepare first for the previous customer. I will consider ordering their mee siam next time. $2.50/$3/$4/$5

V's verdict: 5.5/10
K's verdict: 2/10


Chicken rice (Boon Tiong Kee Hainanese Chicken Rice)

Also located on the 2nd floor. Okay, I found the name quite amusing. It's obviously a lame attempt at confusing people with Boon Tong Kee. K found it decent, but I didn't like it. The meat wasn't tender enough, and the chicken flavour wasn't strong enough. The rice tasted a bit... weird too, I dunno how to describe it.

V's verdict: 4.5/10
K's verdict: 6.5/10


Curry chicken noodles (Heng Kee)



From the famous stall on the ground floor. They claim to be the "one and only stall" in Singapore, and I believe that they are the original, since all the other curry chicken noodles I have tried elsewhere don't even come close to their standard. Everytime I go there, I queue for at least 15 minutes and always order the biggest bowl ($6, to justify my queueing time). Their chilli was also fantastic, though a bit on the salty side, so take care not to add too much into the noodles. I added too much before and ruined my whole bowl.

The chicken they use puts some restaurants or stalls specialising in chicken to shame. I don't know where they get their chicken from, but it was so tender and sweet! Finally, if you don't like your food to be too oily, tell the uncle not to add oil into your noodles. Part of the cooking process is that he scoops some curry oil and pours it over the noodles! $4/$5/$6

V's verdict: 9.5/10
K's verdict: 9/10


Aglio Olio:



Soup

The soup was honestly quite lousy. In fact, I think Campbell soup tastes better. At least the prices were reasonable --- $2.20 for soup and lemonade.

V's verdict: 3/10
K's verdict: 3/10


Garlic bread

Not too good, but not too bad either. $2.90

V's verdict: 5/10
K's verdict: 4/10


Sotong Olio



Ok, my main dish saved the day. I ordered spicy -- 3 chillies out of the maximum 4 --- and it was not bad. The sotong was fresh and tender too. The reason why it didn't get a higher rating is because aglio olio style isn't really my favourite. $10.90

V's verdict: 7/10


Cream Bacon Olio



This was done very well! The bacon wasn't too fat, and the cream was delicious and in the right amounts. K loved this dish so much that she gave it full marks! $10.90

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