MacPherson BBQ Seafood

12th May, Tuesday

This is located at the junction of North Bridge Road and Upp Circular Road, despite its name.

BBQ Stingray with Chilli Sotong



(Hmm... why are they using a Kopitiam plate?)

In my opinion, this is still one of the best places for BBQ stingray, though their standard isn't always consistent. For example, there was a period of time in 2006 where their standard dropped significantly and I stopped visiting them for several months. Also, the stingray quality is different for lunch and dinner; dinner seems to be prepared by someone else and the stingray is always overcooked and dry.

Today's stingray was a bit below the normal standards, but it's already better than many other places I have tried before. The rice was too hard. Their sambal chilli was good, though it could be hotter. The sotong today was better than usual though --- fresh and tender. $6.90 (without the egg)

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

Golden Shoe Food Centre

11th May, Monday

Lor Mee (Wei Nan Wang Hock Kian Lor Mee)



Located on the 3rd floor of Golden Shoe. My general impression of lor mee is that it is thick, heavy, and very filling. This one changed my mind.

I ordered this as takeaway. They packed the crispy stuff separately, which was a bonus. It came with lots of ingredients, including fish, so I was pleasantly surprised. The gravy is much thinner than other lor mee, but it didn't taste diluted. The only drawback is that their pork had the not-defrosted-properly taste, but it was quite mild.

The final thing is, it's dirt cheap. $2 / $3

V's verdict: 8/10

Canopy, Greenroom

10th May, Sunday

Canopy (again)! Saw their Mother's Day set menu yesterday, so we decided to try it today. We ordered 2 sets from Canopy and 1 set from Greenroom, a neighbour vegetarian restaurant which was also run by the same management.

Rare Tuna Salad



This came with cucumber tagliatelle and soya mirin dressing. The tuna was done just nice, seared on the outside but still raw inside. The dressing was light and complemented the tuna instead of overpowering it.

V's verdict: 7.5/10


Spinach Salad



This was served with roasted pumpkin and feta cheese, sprinkled with almonds. The feta cheese was excellent, but there wasn't enough of it. Overall, not bad.

V's verdict: 6.5/10


Wild Mushroom Potatoes Gnocchi



My father ordered this. It came with sugar pea, brown butter and lemon. I tried it and didn't like it; it was too bland and light for me. Maybe it's because it's a vegetarian meal?

V's verdict: 5/10


Braised Pork Cheeks



My main course. The description said it came with "crispy croutons", but does that piece of toast on top count as crispy croutons (plural)?

The red wine sauce was great; thick and delicious. The pork cheek was also tender, but depending on the direction you bite it, it can be very tough. For such meat portions, you would have to eat it along the "lines", which you can see if you cut it open. Great dish!

V's verdict: 8/10


Crab Meat Linguine



A light pasta dish, sauteed with spring onion and chilli coriander. The crab was fresh and good too.

V's verdict: 7.5/10


Pandan Panna Cotta



Served with brandy snap. I am not too good at rating desserts, but this dish was quite good; light and not too sweet.

V's verdict: 6.5/10


Dark Chocolate Mousse



The chocolate mousse was very thick, and is definitely not for people who dislike thick chocolatey stuff. I found it quite all right though.

V's verdict: 6.5/10

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