Akashi

28th June, Sunday

A Japanese restaurant at the basement of Paragon Shopping Centre, right beside Din Tai Fung.

Oyako Don


This is still the best Oyako Don I have ever tasted. I tried the Oyako Don at their Tanglin outlet, but didn't find it as good. This was delicious! The rice had just enough gravy and egg, and the chicken was tender and fresh. No hint of the "defrosted" taste at all. The chicken skin is full of fat though, so don't eat it if you are health conscious.

It comes with some pickles, soup, and 2 slices of watermelon. $13

V's verdict: 9/10
K's verdict: 8/10


Kitsune Soba

Nothing special about this at all, just some soba in plain soup, and with some kitsune floating around. Too bland for me, but K found it okay as she wasn't feeling very hungry. $12

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

The Buffet

26th June, Friday

A buffet restaurant at M Hotel. They serve international buffets during lunchtime, but for dinner, they serve steamboat buffet. Came here today with my colleagues for lunch.

The octopus sashimi was quite good, and I love octopus sashimi especially. It's not that commonly served in buffet restaurants, unlike salmon sashimi. The lamb steaks were quite good too, and my colleagues liked the corn chowder a lot. They didn't try the oxtail, but I thought it was not bad too.

There was tempura too, which was quite good. Only the chicken cutlet was horribly dry.

They offered durian pengat (excellent!) and ice cream cream for desserts, so that bought me over immediately. Heh.

Overall, it was quite good. Variety was bit lacking though. $36

V's verdict: 7.5/10

Kowloon HK Cafe

25th June, Thursday

A small cafe at China Square selling HK food.

Stir fried beef hor fun


This was quite okay. The beef tasted a bit too tender too, probably due to tenderizers. Other than beef, all the other ingredients used were vegetables. $7.80

V's verdict: 6.5/10

Nam Seng Noodles & Fried Rice

25th June, Wednesday

This stall is actually more famous for their wantan mee. They used to be at the food court at Far East Square, but have since relocated when the food court was renovated. The location they are at now is not as accessible as before, so their business isn't as good anymore. It's at 25 China Street, #01-01 Far East Square.

Venision Hor Fun

They used to serve beef hor fun, but ever since they shifted here they switched to venision. I have no idea why though. Beneath the gravy, the hor fun was dry and stuck together, which was one of the sore points. The venision was tender but I suspect it was due to the usage of tenderizers. At least the gravy was not bad. $4/$5

V's verdict: 6.5/10

Empire Cafe

23rd June, Tuesday

First time I tried this. The inner layout of the restaurant looked so much like Seah Street Deli (also in Raffles Hotel).

Fried hokkien mee

This cost me $18, but at least I had my AMEX card, which gave me 50% off. It didn't taste very good actually. It was a bit too bland, and the chilli wasn't very good too, so even after mixing it in, it failed to help much.

V's verdict: 6/10

Cafe Brio's

22nd June, Monday

A buffet restaurant at Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel. Brought K and my cousins here for dinner. I have been here many times, and the food has been quite good most of the time.

The roasted sirloin steak was quite good. In fact, I even asked the chef to slice off a piece of fat (slightly burned and crispy) on top of the beef for me. And the person behind me also requested for the same thing. -.- But the fat was absolutely delicious (and sinful)!

The salmon sashimi was good too. I think my cousins ate 2 full plates combined. Oh man. The mackeral sashimi was good too, but none of them could appreciate it.

They had a beef noodle soup, but I thought the soup didn't taste natural enough. Pacific dory fish was average, paella was dry and quite tasteless, cream of pumpkin soup tasted more of cream rather than pumpkin. The black chicken soup was okay though. Basically, I just kept on going for the sashimi and sirloin steak. And ice cream, of course. I can never resist ice cream. $46

V's verdict: 7.5/10

Modesto's

21st June, Sunday

Treated my family and some relatives here (Elizabeth Hotel outlet) for Father's Day, and they allowed me to use a 30% coupon I cut out from TODAY newspaper. The menu can be found here.

Pane Al Burro D'Aglio

Garlic bread. Simple and delicious! They added black olives too, and the bread was charcoal grilled. It tasted so much better than normal garlic bread! My mother loved it. $7.50

V's verdict: 8/10

Potato Wedges

I don't know what kind of potato they used, but this was fantastic. Thick, slightly crispy, and the potato flavour was still intact. Again, my mother was very impressed with this and claims that she has never eaten such delicious potato wedges before. $8.50

V's verdict: 8/10


Capricciosa pizza

Ingredients were tomato, cheese, cooked pork ham, mushrooms, and artichokes. I thought there wasn't anything special with this, though most of the rest seemed to like it. $22.50

V's verdict: 6.5/10


Spaghetti alla Carbonara

One look and you can tell how creamy it is. My cousin took one bite and said that "it feels like the cream is solidifying inside my stomach!"

This dish is for the cream lovers. It's a must-avoid if you don't like creamy stuff, because this is ridiculously creamy. It's guaranteed to fill your stomach even if you are a big eater! Overall I thought it was okay, though I would still prefer Prego's. $20

V's verdict: 6.5/10


Penne Alfredo con Funghi

Penne is the short tube pasta. A cream based pasta too with shiitake and button mushrooms. The mushrooms were very good! This was creamy too but not as creamy as the Carbonara. $21

V's verdict: 7/10


Cannelloni agli Spinaci

Pasta filled with spinach and cheese, and oven-baked with a tomato and cream sauce. This was good too, especially if you like spinach. And this wasn't as heavy as the previous cream pastas. $21

V's verdict: 7.5/10


Crepes alle Fragole

Strawberry ice cream wrapped in crepes, served with fresh strawberries and light orange sauce. Strawberries and ice cream together = best combi. Nice! $13

V's verdict: 7.5/10


Tiramisu Modesto's


This wasn't as strong as I liked, but it was still okay. $12

V's verdict: 6.5/10


Cassata di Ciliege con salsa Cioccolato

Translation: Home-made Italian cherry cassata served with chocolate sauce. If you were to take away the cream, cherry, and chocolate sauce, I think it wouldn't even look like a dessert. Nothing special about this, if you ask me. $11

V's verdict: 6/10

Hog's Breath Cafe

20th June, Saturday

Had a class gathering at Hog's Breath Cafe at Chijmes. It's an Australian steakhouse that is supposedly more well known for steaks (duh), but I ordered fish instead. The steaks my mother buy and prepare herself taste so much better than outside steaks, and only cost a fraction! From what my friends say, I think the steaks weren't anything special anyway.

Battered Fish Dinner

Nothing special; it's just like a normal Fish and Chips. The corn was hard and dry. The curly fries were good, though!

V's verdict: 6.5/10

Ponggol Nasi Lemak Centre

19th June, Friday

This is the supposedly original Ponggol Nasi Lemak. They even came out with an advertisement several years ago, declaring that "Old Ponggol Nasi Lemak" and "New Ponggol Nasi Lemak" have absolutely no relationship to them. Reminds me of Hong Lim's curry chicken noodles (Heng Kee).

They are located along Upper Serangoon Road, just 3 minutes walk away from Kovan MRT.

Nasi Lemak

The first thing that you notice is the queue. It can be freaking long and stretch out of the hawker centre. But I must applaud their efficiency; they are fast, really fast. So even though the queue was long, my turn came in a relatively short while.

Ok, for nasi lemak, they are freaking expensive. Just this plate and another plate (without the 3 fried fish, ikan bilis, and add 2 sotong balls) cost me an eye-popping $11.10. But it was good, I must admit. Their fried eggs were fried very nicely, with the egg yolk still round, intact and runny. The fried fish was crispy and the whole head can be eaten. The drumstick was not bad, though I would prefer their chicken wings (sold out). And the chilli was good too!

V's verdict: 8/10
K's verdict: 9/10

Prego

19th June, Friday

I came to Prego again because I was craving for their Carbonara pasta, but was told that during this whole Asian Youth Games period, they wouldn't be serving pork. Sigh. So my friend and I settled for something else instead.

Tagliolini al nero di seppia, gamberotti e salsa arrabbiata

Translation: Homemade squid ink tagliolini tossed with tiger prawns, chilli, and basil tomato salsa.

Initially I was worried that the squid ink will stain my teeth, but it didn't. The texture felt a bit like Japanese soba, and was actually quite delicious. The sauce was well balanced too; the tomato sauce wasn't overpowering. There was a generous serving of big prawns (too many for me, in fact). Nice! $30

V's verdict: 8/10


Polletto alla griglia, salsa al limone e verdure di campagna

Translation: Roasted free-range baby chicken served with green asparagus, farm-grown vegetables, lemon and extra virgin olive oil salsa.

This was not bad. The breast meat was very tender. It wasn't very juicy, but it wasn't too dry either. The skin was a bit crispy. On the whole, I think it was a tad overdone, but still quite good nevertheless. $33

V's verdict: 7/10