Foodie Paradise

I haven’t been a good girl lately. That’s because I’ve been…..skipping my breakfast.

Yes, I can begin to hear nagging right now, about breakfast being the most important meal of the day, or important facts about having to feast like a king for breakfast.

But the fact is, I hate breakfast, or rather, what I usually have for breakfast. I’m sorry to say, I hate the humble loaf of white bread which my breakfast is made up of for most days.

Why I hate the white bread can be traced back to my childhood. I grew up at my grandparents’ place in the Tiong Bahru area when I was young, and basically, that equates to glorious and delicious food. That’s the days before many of those delicious food stalls in the markets went missing. Breakfast to me means having delicious meals of Lor Mee, Fishball Noodles etc.

Thus when I back at my own home and have to eat the humble white bread with butter for breakfast, I simply refuse to do so because it tastes so relatively bland. So much that I told my grandfather that I had refused to eat my white bread because it’ll cause me to become a mute if I eat too much of it (….ok that’s a lame excuse that I’d coined up at age 4, and it’s still the “joke” during family occasions).

Come to think about it, there are many “very-Singaporean” food that I hate. I hate the durians and I try to avoid kaya if I can.

Then again, I love bread when it’s added with its “frills”. For instance, toasting and then savouring it with a thick layer of arteries-clogging butter (instead of margarine), adding tuna and lettuce to the bread etc. However, they require additional effort so I don’t have them often. Therefore, I’ll rather go without breakfast and have an early lunch instead. Otherwise, I’ll just grab a piece of bread for sustenance if I know that I’m going to have a busy day ahead.

It’s 11 am now and I have been up since 7.55am (yes…to watch the simultaneous US telecast of “The Amazing Race”…just to add with no spoilers, my current favourite team is last today but I’m really supportive and amazed by the team who has arrived first in this leg of the race). I haven’t had any food yet. So I better go get some now.

P.S. Sorry, there will be no food porn for the time being again. I had this major “nuclear explosion” yesterday when I had another computer failure. Erhm..that’s the case when the computers decide to turn against a lady who is having her exams while also suffering from PMS and a bad flu bug.

Parkway Thai Restaurant
Centrepoint Shopping Centre
#01-59/62
Tel: 6737 8080

Ratings: 4.0/5.0

Thai cuisine is my favourite cuisine in the world, simply because of one reason - Tom Yam Soup.

(Well, another reason is because Thai dishes tend to be spicy and I love spicy food. Thus it’s not surprising that Indonesian food has a pretty high rank on my favourite list too.)

To me, the best Tom Yam Soup should be extremely hot and spicy. Thus, it’s not unusual for me to request that my Tom Yam Soup should be extra spicy when I am dining in a Thai Restaurant. The spicier my Tom Yam Soup is, the more kick I get out of it. Furthermore, a great Tom Yam Soup should be very appetising, as a result of this tinge of sourness in the soup. It’ll really make my day if I do find such nice Tom Yam Soup that has these two criteria.

Parkway Thai Restaurant is one place where I can find such lovely Tom Yam Soup in Singapore. I remember going to this restaurant when I was around six years old, and I am still patronising the place now, simply because of the great Thai food it serves. However, the best dishes here are best savoured ala carte. I tried the buffet before, but it just doesn’t taste as great as compared to calling individual dishes. It has been eons since I last patronised this restaurant (haha, I’ve been busy trying out new places), and I was pleasantly surprised to see the new menu it has. I wasn’t very hungry that day when I was there, so I hope to try the new dishes there soon!

I think this is the papaya salad…I can’t remember the exact name of this dish.

Fried Vermicelli

Tapioca with Coconut

Another reason why I always patronise this restaurant is because of the great desserts it has over there. My personal favourite is the Tapioca with Coconut dessert. I have tried this dessert at some other Thai restaurants before, but none seem to taste as nice as the one I always has at Parkway Thai Restaurant. The tapioca is steamed until it is just right, thus it is very soft and chewy, as compared to the harder version sold in many other places. The coconut sauce that accompanies it is just right and not too sweet, thus it doesn’t has this “sickeningly sweet” feel to it. However, when I went to try this dessert a few weekends ago, it didn’t taste as good as I used to remember, though it still tasted fantastic. Thus I suppose one flaw about this place is that the standard of the food is not the best in terms of consistency, though on the average, it usually tastes great.

At the Food Centre next to Allson Hotel and Opposite Bras Brasah Complex

Ratings: 3.5/5.0

This is a stall that I happened to chance upon when I was looking for some cheap food in the area.

Perhaps I wasn’t expecting to taste anything delicious that day, thus I did have a lower expectation when I was eating this bowl of noodles. When I first tasted it, I had to admit I love it. However, I realised that it tasted “normal” after a while. It lacks that “lingering taste” that makes you hanker for the food long after you tried it. This is definitely a decent place to have noodles, but not a place for great noodles.

I guess my favourite minced pork noodles stall currently is still at Sim Lim Square.

The Fullerton Hotel (Singapore)
The Courtyard
1 Fullerton Square
Reservation: (+65) 6877 8129.
8pm-11pm (only on Fridays and Saturdays)

Ratings: 4.0/5.0

After three months of hard work (alright, not as "hard work" as I had hoped), burning midnight oil for the past three weeks (with an average of less than 6 hours of sleep), I had finished my thesis finally. Though I seriously think that my thesis is pretty crappily done, I had passed it up and there’s nothing more that I can do about it.

Thus, sorry for not updating for so long as I’ve been really busy.  However, do check back often recently, as there’re quite a few entries saved as drafts, waiting for me to complete them as soon as I have the time and inspiration to do some blogging.

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What is the best way to wind down after being hard at work for so long?

One way is definitely at the absolutely decadent and sinful chocolate buffet at the Fullerton Hotel.

There are over 20 different chocolate desserts that are featured at the buffet table, the definitely unforgettable Chocolate Fountain, where you get to dip marshmellows and fresh fruit into the chocolate fondue, and a drink station where chocolate-blended drinks are made right before you.

What I love most about this buffet is that the sweetness of the desserts is all perfectly just right. I was so afraid that after eating so many different chocolate desserts in one night, I’ll be absolutely sick of chocolate for the next few days. That definitely didn’t happen to me. Every dessert was perfectly crafted and absolutely delectable. My favourite that night was this green tea flavoured chocolate dessert, which had left me with such an unforgettable taste that I would have eaten a few more of it, if not for the fact that there were many other tasty desserts for me to try that night. The drink station where chocolate drinks are blended right before you is also a delightful addition to the buffet. Greedy me decided to indulge in this really concentrated chocolate drink (I think it was 70 %?). The drink was the ultimate indulgence for me, though some might feel that the chocolate is way too thick for them.

I also love the atmosphere at the Courtyard. It’s definitely a great place to chill out and unwind for the weekend while enjoying sinful desserts, and a place to have a great chat.

There is also a choice for the diners to complement the chocolate delights with Michele Chiarlo Nivole, a sublime and delicate dessert wine. I’m no wine connoisseur especially since I seldom drink, but I love that wine lots. It gives me this really sparkly and bubbly feel to it. Thus to me, it’s definitely a great addition to the table that night.

Edited: The buffet costs $32++ w/o the wine and $40++ with the wine.