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