Foodie Paradise

328 KATONG LAKSA

Three outlets:
216 East Coast Road;
51 East Coast Road;
Soul Food By Makansutra, 30 Biopolis Street, Matrix Block

Ratings: 5.5/10 

Pardon me if my description on 328 Katong Laksa is brief.  I had tasted the laksa a few weeks back but have only gotten down to blogging it today.

A popular Peranakan dish in Singapore, Laksa consists of rice noodles in thick aromatic gravy made from coconut milk, spices, dried shrimps and chilli, topped with cockles, prawns and sliced fish cakes.

I was expecting to slurp the rice noodles with chopsticks and down the piping hot and spicy gravy with spoon.  However, I was surprised to see that my bowl of laksa had only come with a spoon.

The rice noodles has been cut into smaller pieces by scissors, thus only a spoon is required to eat the bowl of laksa.  Instead of the piping hot laksa I was expecting, my laksa is only slightly warm.  The gravy is sweet, a taste which I had never associated laksa with, and was not as aromatic as I had hoped.  My laksa is also not spicy even though I had added quite a few scoops of chilli into it. 

The only redeeming point: There are plenty of cockles in the bowl of laksa that costs only S$3.   

Personally, I feel that 328 Katong Laksa is pretty over-rated.  The laksa just lacks that "x factor" that will make me go all the way to Katong to try it again.  Katong Laksa is famous in Singapore, especially with the hyped-up Laksa war that also involves 328 Katong Laksa.  But sadly, my first taste of Katong Laksa has left me disappointed.

Corduroy and Finch
779 Bukit Timah Road (Near Sixth Avenue)
Singapore 269758 
Website

Ratings: 6.5/10

Café  Latte

Set in the corner of Sixth Avenue, Corduroy and Finch is a continental European upmarket deli-cafe.  Besides serving food, this restaurant also has a walk-in wine cellar and a food aquarium.  

What I love most about my Corduroy and Finch experience is the chic decor of the place - a predominantly wood decor that is complemented by tall glass panels that allows in ample of light into the restaurant.  The place exudes a laid-back atmosphere with a modern touch to it, making it a comfortable place to laze the afternoon away.

Afternoon tea, selection of patries and sandwiches, $15

In terms of food, there were hits and misses.  The sandwiches that came along in for the afternoon tea selection of pastries and sandwiches tasted decent.  The cookies, on the other hand, were a delightful addition to the afternoon tea.  Tasty and crunchy, I love them so much that I was so tempted to grab a packet of these cookies on my way out. 

 

 
Corduroy’s Cheese Cake - S$5.50

I also tried the Corduroy’s Cheese Cake and the Grand Cru Chocolate Carre.  The Corduroy’s Cheese Cake was delicious.  Glazed with berries, there was a lingering lovely taste of cheese on each bite.  The most sinful treat of the day has to be the Grand Cru Chocolate Carre.  I was hit by the divinely taste of chocolate on my first bite.  Each subsequent bite was filled with thick and smooth taste of the chocolate.  The sweetness of the cake was also just right, not overwhelmingly sweet as one might expect of a cake that has three different textures of chocolate in it.  It is a definite must-try for chocolate lovers.

Perhaps I did have a higher expectation on the quality of food at Cordoroy and Finch before stepping into the restaurant, considering that it does have the help of the German chef Ralf Spika, who has two Michelin stars to his name.  The only things that had gotten me raving about the place was the cookies, the Grand Cru Chocolate Carre and its decor.  As for the rest of the food that I had tried, they were mostly decent but forgettable.   

However, I will definitely be going back to Cordoroy and Finch again, simply because the décor of the place has totally bought me over - the laid-back atmosphere that is perfectly integrated into the "shopping area" within the restaurant.  I am a sucker for restaurants that have a chic decor and ample of natural lighting.  This sort of décor always makes me feel like relaxing my afternoon away while watching the world goes by with a good book in hand.  I supposed I would definitely be back again to try the breakfast, as I am sure the place will have that perfect breakfast feeling that I am absolutely love.

Good Year Local Hainanese Chicken Rice Ball
庆丰年海南鸡饭团专卖店
Blk 111 Lor 1 Toa Payoh #01-366

Ratings: 6.0/10

While I was briefly scanning through my blog archive, I realised that the dish that is most often blogged about in this blog has to be the chicken rice.

It is inevitable that chicken rice will be the most blogged about food in this site.  The popularity of the Hainanese chicken rice is unrivalled in Singapore.  If you are a Singaporean who is currently reading this blog, just start thinking whether you have been caught in at least one of the situations listed below:

1. Have cravings for chicken rice or have to eat chicken rice at least once a week/month
2. Have gone around trying the different highly-recommended/famous chicken rice stall in Singapore
3. Have found yourself in a debate/discussion of which is the best chicken rice stall in Singapore
4. Have mocked about the expensive chicken rice sold at Chatterbox.

It is an almost irrefutable fact that Hainanese chicken rice is Singapore’s national cuisine.  

But wait…Hainanese chicken rice balls? 

For this stall that I’m going to blog about, instead of chicken rice, it is chicken rice balls that are served.  The rice balls are actually rice that is pressed together to form the shape of a ball.  The rice ball is also the most unique feature about this stall that has differentiated it from the plethora of similar chicken rice stalls in town.

The rice balls taste soft and mushy.  Personally, I prefer the usual rice that is being served to these rice balls.  One characteristic of a good chicken rice - plump aromatic rice with lingering taste of the chicken stock and pandan leaves that has been used to cook it.  Sadly, I feel that this important characteristic is missing from these rice balls.  The rice has been pressed too tightly together causing the rice to lose its characteristic fragrance and taste. 

The chicken is soft and tender, but it is a bit uncooked, as seen from the reddish tinge on the meat in the photo above.  As for the char siew, I found its texture tough and hence not sufficiently chewy. 

The chicken rice is served together with a tasty bowl of soup cooked with peanuts and chicken feet and three different sauces - garlic, chilli and dark soy sauce.  I especially love the chilli sauce.  Though it seems to be more watery as compared to the usual chicken rice chilli, it tasted good and spicy.

Another complaint of mine about the stall: I was really thirsty after eating it for lunch.  I guess that signifies the amount of MSG that has been used during the cooking.

On the whole, the chicken rice tastes decent and definitely above average.  This is the stall to patronise if you have a craving for chicken rice but want to try something that is slightly different from the usual run-of-the-mill chicken rice, simply because these rice balls have added such an interesting twist to our national dish.

Today is the first time I rein the kitchen, simply because no one else is at home. (Let’s not count the other times that I had cooked instant noodles for myself when my parents were not at home.)

From going to the market to the final preparation of food, it is the first time that I had done all of these all by myself.  There were no nagging instructions from my parents about what I should and should not do while I was cooking and no additional help from them when they simply cannot bear what I am doing to the food.

To people who are wondering if there is any mishap or little funny incident along the way, the answer is that the entire process had gone smoothly.

The end product….

I suppose I can term this as fusion food.  It is actually Japanese cold noodles with some of our local yong tau foo and a chicken drumstick.  It is extremely simple to cook.  For the Japanese cold noodles, I just scalded them for less than a minute before running them through cold water.  As for the yong tau foo and the chicken drumstick that I got from the market, I just boiled them for about 15 to 20 minutes.  Finally, I just mixed the noodles in some Japanese sauces and my lunch is ready. 

It is just a very simple and healthy meal, but I can proudly proclaim that I have prepared them all by myself. =P

Red Star Restaurant  
Blk 54 Chin Swee Road
#07-23
Singapore 160054
Tel: 6532 5266 / 6532 5103

Ratings: 7.5/10 

Congee

How can you tell if a particular popular eating-place really serves a lip-smacking meal? 

One method that I use to judge is to observe the kind of crowd the eating-place draws (Note: this method is only applicable to our local hawker fare and Chinese food).  If the crowd is predominantly young, i.e. the below-35 crowd with the occasional tag-along kids, there is usually a higher chance that the food will not be exceptionally mouth-watering.  However, if the crowd mainly consists of people from the pre-1965 era, then there will be a much higher chance that the food served will be lip-smacking.

Red Star Restaurant is located in an inconspicuous office building in the old HDB estate of Chinatown.  There is only a cranky lift in the building. The next alternative to get to the restaurant that is located on the seventh floor will be to take the stairs. 

Eating at Red Star seems to be a three-generational affair, where the grandparents will join their grown-up kids and their grandchildren for a weekend get-together meal.  Occasionally, you can also spot elderly couples enjoying their dim sums or groups of middle-aged friends who have decided to gather for a delicious dim sum brunch. 

Do these signs point to a delicious meal?  You bet. 

Fried Dough Fritters with Mayonnaise 

Dim sum, a Cantonese term, is literally translated to mean "dotted heart", meaning to order to one’s heart’s content.  A variety of small food items made up a meal of dim sum.  Personally, I feel that the literal translation, "dotted heart", is a very apt description of dim sum itself.  Dim sum is called dian xin (点心）in Mandarin.  "Dian" in mandarin means "little" or "dotted".  "Xin" in mandarin means "heart".  Lots of hard work is devoted into the preparation of each of these exquisite products.  It is as if the chef has put his heart into preparing these savoury dishes for your tasting.  Thus, the dainty works of art served in bamboo skewers that are finally presented to you on your table are actually "little hearts" presented to you by the chef. 

 
Siew Mai, or steamed pork dumplings

Red Star Restaurant has been a long time favourite of mine to savour these delicious "dotted hearts".  Unlike many Cantonese restaurants these days, where you order your dim sum on paper menus, the dim sums at Red Star are still served in the traditional way where the waitresses will push mobile carts piled sky high with bamboo skewers filled with different dim sums around the restaurant.  When one of these mobile carts are pushed to your table, you can then order the dim sum directly from the waitress who will never hesitate to visually whet your appetite by showing you the different items she has on her cart while giving her recommendations at the same time.  The cluttering of trays and noisy chatter create a friendly and heart-warming dining ambience that is a characteristic of traditional Cantonese dining. 

However, rest assured that there is also no stereotyped rude service associated occasionally with Cantonese restaurants.  The service at Red Star is friendly and prompt.  My family wanted a certain combination of dishes.  However, this combination of food was not present on the particular dim sum cart from which we are ordering.  My dad wanted roasted duck while I wanted to try some of the roasted pigskin.  The waitress promptly went to get that particular combination of roasted duck and pig skin for us so that each of us can get what we wanted.

 
 
Roasted Duck and Pig Skin

Of course, the main reason why I love Red Star’s dim sum so much is the palatable dishes they serve - exquisite and scrumptious.  Almost every dish that I called never fails to surprise me in terms of their delicious quotient.  At the end of the meal, I seem to have tasted a myriad of tastes, each as memorable as the next.     

One of the best "taste" experiences a person can have is when the food literally melts in your mouth when you taste it.  The extremely crispy pigskin almost melted in my mouth when I bit it.  Similarly, for the taro root dumpling, it was so light and fluffy that they seemingly melted upon tasting.  Even for the egg tarts, after biting through the flaky outer crust, the sweet egg custard that fills the middle of the tart melted the moment I tasted it.  Egg tarts are one of my favourite dim sums and so far, the egg tarts at Red Star are one of the best that I have ever tasted.

Egg tarts 

Fried Wantons with Mayonnaise

Xiao Long Bao, or Pork Dumplings

The only dish that I had some nit picking to do was the Xiao Long Bao or Pork Dumplings.  I was surprised to find this Shanghainese cuisine in a Cantonese restaurant.  I supposed this was an addition to the menu because of the growing popularity of Xiao Long Bao in Singapore.  Sad to say, this dish was the only dish that disappointed that day.  Although the skin of the Xiao Long Bao was delicately thin, it seems overly stuffed with pork and the most important characteristic of Xiao Long Bao, that steaming soup that spurts out of the Xiao Long Bao upon the first bite, was missing.

Finally to round off the meal, it was dessert time.   

 
Mango Pudding

 
Black Sesame Paste

The desserts made it to the crème of the crop of the meal.  It has been a long time since I have tasted such mind-blowing desserts.  Yes, you had not read wrongly.  It is mind-blowing desserts.  My first reaction upon tasting these desserts was a big "wow". 

Instead of the usual coconut milk that is added to the Honeydew Sago, condensed milk was added, making the Honeydew Sago taste like liquid ice cream.  The mango pudding has a strong but not over-powering taste of mango in it, making it simply yummy.

Black sesame paste is one of my favourite desserts.  However, I have not found one that tastes satisfactory to me, except the ones that I had tasted in Hong Kong some time back.   They are either too thin for my liking or taste crumply and thick that makes me feel sick eating it after some mouthful.  The black sesame paste that I tried at Red Star tasted just right.  It has a silky texture and a strong sesame taste to it.  It was just absolutely delicious. 

I was a happy and satisfied customer when I left the restaurant.  Did I just grumbled about Singapore being a lost food paradise and that the last delicious meal that I had enjoyed was in Sydney?  I guess these grouses of mine were happily forgotten by the time I left the restaurant.  Gabriel was just asking me why I give such low food ratings.  I suppose I tend to nit pick more than dishing out compliments most of the time.  However, when I do come across an eating-place that truly deserve a high rating, I will never hesitate to dish a good rating out to it.  This is definitely one of the rare moments where I am going to give a high rating to a restaurant, for letting me enjoy a truly satisfactory meal in Singapore since a long time. 

N.Y.D.C Cafe and Restaurant
1) #02-19 Wheelock Place
2) #B1-012, Fountain Terrace, Suntec City
3) 30 Lorong Mambo

Website 

Ratings: 4.5/10 

From left to right: Dynamite Pizza, Mushroom Madness Spaghetti, Parmesan Pizza ($13.95 each)

Many years ago, when I was still a teenager (suddenly I feel so old), my friends and I love to frequent N.Y.D.C.  The pull factors that brought us back again and again to the place were obvious – the latest pop songs blasting through the speakers of the restaurant, young waiters and waitresses, hip décor, decent baked rice and spaghetti dishes that cost below $10 (not counting the GST and service charge), and the sinful desserts, especially the Mudpies and the cakes!  I still remember those days where I used to scroll through the menu looking at those innovative names for the dishes, such as the Romeo and Juliet Baked Rice, Destiny’s Child Baked Rice, Jedi Mudpies, etc.

Many of these pull factors that used to draw me to the place are still there.  However, some of these essential pull factors are gone.  There is now a new but still creative menu.  However, the prices of the food have increased.  The food there, sadly, has deteriorated.  When I was back there a few months back, I was so upset with the food that I ate there, so much that I left brusque comments in their feedback forms.  The baked rice seemed soggy and the spaghetti was lacklustre.  I was so disgruntled that I no longer enjoy my food there as I used to during my teenage years.

I was back there with my friends last weekend.  This time round, I ate Dynamite Pizza.  There was too many chicken slices in my pizza such that I got rather sick of my pizza quickly.  The pizza was average and unimpressive.

Maybe I have over-pampered my taste buds over the years, hence explaining why I cannot find that joy in eating those food that I used to adore in my teenage years.  Somehow, I no longer find the factors that will pull me back to N.Y.D.C to eat again.

Settler’s Cafe

Outlets:

1. 39, North Canal Road (Clarke Quay MRT Exit A), Singapore 059295
2. Blk 15 Holland Drive #02-98 Singapore 271015
3. 107 East Coast Road Singapore 428799

Ratings: 6.0/10

Settler’s Cafe is a cafe where you can munch on food while playing various board games in a cosy setting.  The game list there is really extensive (you can check them out on their website).  Furthermore, the friendly staff there will also never hesitate to offer you advice and help on what games to choose and how to play the various games.

I have always wanted to visit Settler’s Cafe ever since I heard about the place last year.  Finally, I managed to visit the place with my friends last weekend.  

My conclusion about the place: lots and lots of riotous fun! 

Organising group activities are always a headache.  I always have problems thinking about what to do, where to go and how to accommodate the entire group.  There is always the usual coffee sessions for gossips-trading, the movie outings that are entertaining but solitary activities, the KTV sessions where only some people in the group will hog the microphones while the rest watch in boredom, the drinking/clubbing session that is not always a popular choice among many.  

Settler’s Cafe, on the other hand, offers an excellent alternative hangout for group outings.  It’s definitely one of the better outings I had with that group of friends for a long time!

There is nothing to rave about the food there at Settler’s Cafe, since the focus of the place is on the games.  However, I do feel that having better food there will definitely not hurt the business of the place but might promote business instead.  The food is a tat on the pricey end, especially when the food there isn’t nice.

The key way to enjoy the visit at Settler’s Cafe: let the inner child in you out.  

P.S: Just remember to make reservation beforehand as the place can get really crowded during the weekends.