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