Serangoon Ave 3 Food Court (opp NTUC)

10th May, Sunday

There's another food court just down the road, also on Serangoon Ave 3. This one is beside Block 237, opposite the tiny and cramped NTUC Fairprice.

Fishball noodles (利发面家)



I ordered bak chor mee, but this came instead. Well, it was a pleasant surprise. The seasoning was excellent, the noodles were the right texture, and the fishballs were tasty. I haven't had such good fishball noodles in ages. And it's cheap too! $2.50 / $3

V's verdict: 8/10
K's verdict: 7.5/10


Roti prata (Afrin Indian Muslim Food)

Ordered kosong. Not very special, but still tasted all right. I didn't like their curry though; it had a sour taste to it. $0.70

V's verdict: 6/10
K's verdict: 5/10

Canopy

9th May, Saturday

Eggs Benedict



This tasted a bit different from the other Eggs Ben I have tried at Coffee Bean and also in Australia. The eggs are poached, so vinegar may be added to the water in order to prevent the egg white from dispersing. But I also read that if the egg is fresh enough, the egg white will stay clinging to the egg yolk.

So Canopy also added vinegar when poaching the eggs for this dish. But I think they added too much; the taste was a bit overpowering. The hollandaise sauce was also not thick enough, but the bacon was good. Overall, not really my kind of Eggs Ben. The price was a bit steep too. $12

V's verdict: 5.5/10

Update: This dish will taste better if you ask the chef not to use so much vinegar when poaching the egg! Will update the score the next time I visit.


Eggs with bacon and sausages



The bacon and sausages came as a side order, just like last time. Along with the sunny-side eggs and toast, this dish was fantastic. It's quite easy to make though, as the most important thing is to get good quality bacon and sausages. Sunny-side up eggs are easy to prepare, assuming your eggs are fresh enough. A bit on the expensive side though. $7 + $3 + $3

Note: Don't order your eggs to be fried on both sides unless the chef Desmond is around! I ordered it before and it came out as a disaster.

V's verdict: 7.5/10

Chiew Kee Noodle House

8th May, Friday

Located at 32 Upper Cross St. Just a few steps away, there's another eatery called Chew Kee Eating House, located at 8 Upper Cross St (Notice the "Chew", without the "i"). There were stories that these 2 eateries were run by a brother and sister, who went separate ways after disputes.

This outlet is the one supposedly run by the brother. Honestly, I only came here today because Chew Kee was closed.

Dumpling soup



(Ah, I was in a hurry taking this picture that I didn't notice the light reflection!)

This was disappointing. The soup was too plain and bland, and tasted strongly of vegetables. In fact, it seems like just a bowl of vegetable soup. There wasn't anything special with the dumplings too, and even their chilli, which can be a big saving factor for lots of food, wasn't good. Give me Chew Kee's soup anytime over this.

V's verdict: 4.5/10
K's verdict: 4/10


Soy chicken



Ok, they managed to redeem themself partially with this. The gravy is dark and goes well with the chicken and rice. The chicken flesh was also quite tender.

I ordered it with some chicken liver, and it was quite good too.

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

Aroma's Cafe, Mei Xuan Food Centre

7th May, Thursday

Aroma's Cafe:

Omelette with sausages



This wasn't the exact name, but it's quite long and I forgot to take it down. -.-

Located on the 5th floor of OUB Centre. We ordered this at 845am today. We were the only customers in the cafe, but this dish took twenty minutes to come! I was thinking, "it had better be good."

It wasn't.

The dish wasn't hot enough. The sausages were dry. The eggs were bland and tasted a bit stale. The tomatoes were also dry. Thumbs down for both the food and the service! $5.80

V's verdict: 4.5/10
K's verdict: 5/10


Mei Xuan Food Centre:

伊面 (Xin Heng Hand-Made Noodle)



I ordered this as takeaway after my gym workout today. This stall always has a long queue, but they are quite efficient and the queue moves along quite fast. This tasted okay, although I think the egg inside doesn't seem to fit the dish. The soup was not bad. $3.30 + $0.20

V's verdict: 6.5/10

Choo Chiang Roasted Meat Noodle House, Tiong Bahru Chwee Kueh

6th May, Wednesday

Both are located at Toa Payoh Central, behind Singtel.

Choo Chiang Roasted Meat Noodle House:

From some forums, it seems that this place was actually quite famous, and there was even one copycat that sprung up, calling itself Zhu Jiang. But during dinnertime today, there was only a handful of customers, and we even took up a table meant for 6. The restaurant nearby had many more customers.

Emperor's herbal chicken



I am a sucker for herbal stuff, and it must be very concentrated and strong. This wasn't strong enough at first sip, but it got better and better after that. The chicken was fresh and tender, and even the breast meat tasted excellent.

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


Roast duck rice



From the picture, you can gather one thing --- the presentation sucks. It looks as if the duck meat was hastily tossed onto the plate! The meat was a bit tough and didn't taste good too.

V's verdict: 5/10


Tiong Bahru Chwee Kueh

One of its outlets, at Toa Payoh.

Chwee kueh



A bit oily, but then, most chwee kueh are quite oily. It tasted quite good; the texture of the kueh was good --- soft and yet not too sticky. The radish was also delicious, a far cry from Serangoon Garden Market's.

V's verdict: 7.5/10
K's verdict: 8/10

Soup Spoon

5th May, Tuesday

Lunch today was at Soup Spoon, the outlet at Raffles Place MRT. Their soup was supposedly prepared beforehand from a central location, so I would assume their standard to be more or less consistent. In fact, a copycat has sprung up, also at Raffles Place MRT, but I can't remember the exact name now.

Beef Goulash



One of my favourites from Soup Spoon. Not too thick and yet full of flavour, mainly from the beef and vegetables inside. Today's soup seemed to have a disproportionate amount of vegetables inside, though. The sore point was the bread --- it didn't seem fresh and was a tad too hard. $8.20 for Grande

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


Caesar's salad



I only started loving Caesar's salad recently. Theirs was quite good, with the right amount of dressing. I ordered this as part of the Souper upgrade --- $3.90 for half salad and a drink. The bacon bits weren't too good though; I think they used artificial bacon. The croutons were crispy but not tasty enough. But everything else was all right.

V's verdict: 7.5/10
K's verdict: 9.5/10

Killiney Cafe

4th May, Monday

The outlet at Golden Shoe Car Park. It's the first time I visited this outlet for lunch; normally I would only come here for coffee.

Curry chicken with rice



One of my colleagues recommended this, so I decided to give it a try. The gravy was not bad, but there was a thick layer of oil on top which I removed (it filled up one whole sauce plate). The rice was hard, so I had to add more curry onto it in order to soften it. The curry wasn't spicy enough though. The chicken was decent, while the potatoes were quite good. $7.80

V's verdict: 6.5/10

Canopy

3rd May, Sunday

Omelette with ham and cheese


The omelette was not bad, without excessive ingredients inside. The cheese was added in the right proportions too, so the omelette wasn't too thick and filling. The ham wasn't really salty though, so I had to add some salt. $13

V's verdict: 7/10


Bacon and chipolata sausages


A side order; the bacon and sausages cost $3 each. The sausages were quite juicy and tasted strongly of herbs. I thought the bacon would be streaky bacon, but it was back bacon, which was supposedly more expensive and of better quality. True enough, it was juicy and not too salty. $3 + $3

V's verdict: 7.5/10

Serangoon Garden Market

2nd May, Saturday

Fried carrot cake (Hock Kee Fried Oyster)



The first time I ordered this was out of sympathy --- this stall had just opened (I think in 2007?) and didn't have many customers. But I was pleasantly surprised. The carrot cake is tasty, a bit crispy and yet not too oily, and the service was also good (much better than the other stall selling carrot cake, I think it's called Ang Sar Li). Will order their white carrot cake and post it in a future entry.

V's verdict: 7.5/10


Chwee kueh (Stall 22)

From the only stall that specialises in chwee kueh. Located opposite the Garden Street kway chiap. My goodness, it tasted horrible. It's definitely the worst chwee kueh I have ever tasted in my life, and it doesn't help that I just had the famous Tiong Bahru chwee kueh 2 days ago for breakfast. The kueh was stale and tasteless, and the toppings were also stale.

V's verdict: 2.5/10
K's verdict: 1/10 (she loves chwee kueh a lot, so she's very disappointed)

Crystal Jade Kitchen

1st May, Friday

Had dinner at the Ngee Ann City outlet. We didn't really order anything fanciful today. Things to note are, they charge plain water at $0.30 a glass, and also charge you if you eat their pickles/peanuts etc. I don't really approve of such practices --- putting the snacks under your nose and charging you if you eat them, without informing you beforehand.


明火白粥



My favourite plain porridge. Although it's plain, it's very thick and tasty --- I think it was cooked using scallops? I never fail to order this whenever I visit Crystal Jade Kitchen. Today's was a bit less tasty, but it was still good nevertheless. K loved it! $1.80

V's verdict: 7.5/10
K's verdict: 8.5/10


Pig liver noodle (dry)



One very important thing about cooking pig liver --- it cannot be overcooked, or it is ruined. For this dish, the texture and the doneness seemed to be contradicting, because it wasn't overcooked, and yet it was a bit tough.

The noodles were decent, though their chilli was fantastic. In fact, I ordered this mainly to eat it with their chilli. One thing Crystal Jade definitely wins over Din Tai Fung is this chilli --- Din Tai Fung doesn't come close. Not even a little bit. $7

V's verdict: 6/10
K's verdict: 7/10


Roast duck noodle (dry)



Crystal Jade's roast duck is usually quite good, but I found today's to be a bit disappointing, mainly because it was dry. $7.80

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