無老鍋 - 台湾必吃火鍋

Long time no see, my dear blog~~~ I have been busy & lazy to update new food places :)
I just came back some time ago from my week long Taiwan trip with Mum & Sis - we went to Taichung, Cingjing & Taipei! 

I'm suffering from post-holidays syndrome now.. Haha! I'm looking forward to Hong Kong trip in 7 weeks with my dearest gf, it's been a long while since I travelled with her on an airplane. 

I'm going to write about a steamboat - 無老鍋 in Taiwan today, I have came across reviews about this online and the sister also told me about it thus it became my "must-eat" during the trip. There's many outlets in Taiwan and just nice there is one outlet in Taichung so I went to eat for lunch on my first day in Taiwan. I walked a long way from 审计新村 as the mum wants to help her friend buy the famous 小林煎饼 snacks. 

**Credits to Google Image**

Waiting time was around 10 minutes as I reached there approximately 2.30pm. 

The moment we sat down, we saw this.

This is not drinks, it is soup for you to refill.

I love both the taste of the soup and there's free flow of Duck Blood, so so so love it!

There's not much varieties of food but the food standard are quite good especially the scallops!

Last but not least, when you have finished the steamboat, a special type of smoothie will be provided to you to cleanse your palate. I love the 水蜜桃 flavour, sour sour taste. :p 

The overall cost is about SGD 100 which is not cheap and can be compared to HaiDiLao. Of course, the service is also very good her, the staff keep bowing 90degrees like japanese service. 

台中公益店
Tel：     04-2319-1158 或 24小時線上訂位
Address：     台中市公益路二段74號  

Opening Hours: 11.30am t0 4am daily

I can't wait to bring the mister there during our March mini-honeymoon trip. 

Authentic Japanese Cuisine - Katananshi An

When we went to Vanilla Cafe one of the night for supper (I'm sorry I haven't blogged on  that yet), the mister chanced upon this small restaurant with a lot of Japanese customers. He said if there are so many Japanese visiting the restaurant, the food must be good and authentic to suit the Japanese taste. I took a glance at the menu, the prices were acceptable so we made up our mind to try it one day.

We went there on 2 separate occasions but there were no parking slots available so we were not fated to try the food. Finally on the 3rd occasion, we went there around 9pm and were glad to get a parking slot right across from the restaurant! 

I actually forgot to take a photo of the exterior but it is a small unit right at the corner of the shophouse.

Interior *credits to Google*

I was famished already by 9.20pm and I was thinking of rice which was not on the menu?! I  felt so *malu* to ask the staff if they serve rice or udon etc. The staff told me they serve items in small portion (like tapas?), so we took some time before ordering. 

Sashimi Salad  $8.90

Ika (squid) with Mentai Sauce $5.90

Agedashi Tofu $6.90

Grilled Chicken $8.90

The staff made some recommendations and we ordered the above 4 items to share. Although they were small portion, but it was quite filling at the end. I love the IKA with mentai sauce the most and that was the "special of the day", meaning that it is not available everyday. All I can say is the prices are totally worth and the food is really good that I want to bring my Japanese friends there next time! :)

Katananshi An

1 Boon Tat Street

Singapore  069611

Tel: 6221 5101

Mon-Fri: 11.30am-2.30pm

              5.00pm-10.30pm

Sat: 5.00pm-10.30pm

Closed on Sunday

49seats @ Bugis Plus

This is an outdated post since July and I thought I better penned it down first in case I forgot about it. I happened to chance across this restaurant online and suggested this place to meet up with Jia & Grace. 

49seats? I guess they only have 49 seats in the restaurant? This is a small restaurant located on the rooftop of Bugis Plus (Chef Daniel's restaurant used to be at the rooftop too but he has shifted to Chinatown Point). 

The exterior looks pretty good but inside is quite small and walking space between seats are quite limited though. 

This restaurant has a simple design but looks cozy enough. As Grace will be late, so Jia and me decided to order Cheese fries ($7.90) and the soup of the day (mushroom soup) + drink set ($4.90) first. 

 Each person will have to order a main course if you want to order the soup + drink set, so we told the staff we will order the main course later.

The soup taste pretty good, quite flavorful but a little salty. The cheese fries was good too, with plenty of cheesy sauce but we still can't finish it. 

After Grace arrived, we placed our order for the main course. Jia and me decided to try their famous Tom Yum Seafood Pasta ($14.90) and Grace tried the Creamy Smoke Duck Pasta ($14.90). I think the Tom Yum pasta was a little overrated? My verdict is I don't like it, it does taste sour & spicy but a little too creamy and I get sick of it after a few mouthfuls, I did not finish it. The Creamy Smoke Duck pasta was not bad but also too creamy. 

It was a good meetup with the girls and there were always so much topics to talk about! I'm really grateful for this friendship which I will always treasure them :D

Fyi, there's no service charge & GST at 49seats!

49seats @ Bugis Plus

#07-04 Bugis+

201 Victoria Street

Singapore 188067

Tel: 6884 4633

Mon - Fri: 11:30 - 14:30
Mon - Fri: 17:30 - 22:00
Sat & Sun: 11:00 - 22:00

Nakhon Kitchen - Authentic Thai Food

People who are close to me would know that I'm a fan of Japanese food and Thai food, I would travel to Bangkok for their cheap shopping and yummilicious food few times a year! I love the Tom Yum Goong and Thai Milk Tea the most, latest favorites would be the Stir-Fried Kang Kong in Thai Style! :)

Thai Milk Tea is exceptionally sweet in Thailand, therefore not easy to find a not-so-sweet taste when in Bangkok. I thought it would be the same in Singapore so I always emphasized "Thai Milk Tea, not so sweet" , but the taste will be so much different. I finally found one Thai Milk Tea in Singapore which made me craves for it always!

I have been to Kovan area a numerous times and always see a very long queue at this Thai restaurant - Nakhon Kitchen. To be exact, it is not a restaurant, but a small shop house with limited tables and chairs. 

I dated the mister to the outlet in Kovan one of the evening and I queued for 50 minutes for a table! Seriously -.-" ... Well, I'm quite well known for my "greediness" and "exploring" for good food so I really don't mind waiting!! If not, how I can share the good tasty food places with you? :p  

Queue would be formed from 5.45pm onwards and will last till around 9.15pm or so. Menu will be given when you are in the queue and you will place your order to the staff too, so that your food will arrive in minutes once you have gotten a table

I ordered the Pineapple rice ($6), Tom Yum Clear Soup ($6), Honey Chicken ($6), Kang Kong [Belachan on the 1st visit, thai style on the 2nd visit] ($6), Thai Milk Tea ($3), Tapioca with Coconut cream ($3) and a red ruby ($3). 

All I can said is the food taste very fantastic! The Thai Milk Tea is very fragrant and smooth, yet not too sweet.  I was hesitating about the Tom Yum Clear Soup which is not added with coconut milk (afraid it would be too sour than spicy), but it proves me wrong. It was sour then spicy which suit my taste. The pineapple rice was good and the honey chicken was crispy and sweet which is a must order whenever I visit the Nakhon Kitchen. As for the kang kong, it was crunchy and nice (be it the belachan or thai style version). I missed the kang kong in Bangkok which usually cost $2-3 only. :( 

As for the desserts, it was my first time trying red ruby so I cannot comment too much on it, it wasn't too sweet and the chestnut bits were crunchy. As for the tapioca, it was a slight disappointment when I saw it. I prefer a pale color tapioca though, the above ones were good but better if it could be softer a little. 

We paid $33 nett with no service charge and GST. :) It was a very satisfying dinner and I realised there's a branch too at few places including Ang Mo Kio. I also did tried the Ang Mo Kio outlet but the honey chicken was too dry so I guess different outlets taste would be different. I think the Nakhon Kitchen at Kovan would be the preferred one. 

Nakhon Kichen

Blk 212 Hougang Street 21

#01-341

Singapore 530212

Tel: 6286 8785

Mon-Sun: 12pm-3pm

                 5.30pm-10pm

(The AMK outlet closes every Wednesday)

Chir Chir - Korean Fried Chicken

Whenever I see Korean Fried Chicken, it will remind me of the K. Drama "My Love from the Stars" - Qian Song Yi who loves fried chicken with a beer! 

Nelly told me that a famous Korean Fried Chicken restaurant has opened at the basement of 313 Somerset, so we went there for lunch one of the days. Well, I will pronounced it as "Chir Chir" as most of the people would, but the actual pronunciation is "Chi-rei Chi-rei".

We were there early before the long anticipating queue outside the restaurant. 

Service was pretty good and friendly, the design of the restaurant was quite cute too.

Menu

The drinks were pretty unique, but since it was still during office hour, no alcohol please. 

I noticed something about the cutlery - the fork and a "tongs" so that you could "kiap" the chicken without dirtying your hands. How creative is that!

Nelly and me decided to order a mango salad and a portion of garlicky chicken to share (please note that the garlicky chicken is a whole chicken). 

We were amazed at how big portion the mango salad was when it was served. When I took the 1st mouthful, the mango was sweet & refreshing and the salad sauce was pretty yummy too! I fall in love with it!

Here comes the chicken! I really love the garlicky chicken which has very flavorful soy sauce & garlic taste.

The portion was huge for the 2 of us and we could not finish it, so I packed the remaining home for dinner..

I have forgotten the price but we paid around $48.00 for these 2 items inclusive of service charge and GST. 

I have also feedback to the restaurant that they should come up with a smaller portion as some people have smaller appetite. :p 

Chir Chir Singapore

313@Somerset

#B3-04/05/06

Daily: 10am-10pm

Bangkok Eats - GreyHound Cafe @ Siam Center

Sorry for my lack of posts for the past 3 months - I have been busy with work, travelling and yes, I started a new relationship since December! I guess I finally put down the past, and found the sweetest guy one could ask for, I'm happily attached to this guy of mine, will update more about him in future. I shall not disclose him in the meantime. Hehehe! 

I also went to Taipei with a gf in January, it was quite a rush & fulfilling trip. 

I'm gonna update the blog in a few posts in some of the restaurants I went to in Bangkok in November 2014. 

I remember coming across an article online recommending about GreyHound Cafe, so I planned this in the itinerary on the first day. I was having slight flu during my trip so there's wasn't much photos taken. 

*credits to Google Image

*credits to Google Image

The food is really good especially the chicken wings and pasta! We regretted ordering the sandwich though. The chicken wings cost around 120 Bhat whish is around S$4.80, that is so dirt cheap! We are lucky that the wings portion are not huge, we finished the pasta and wings leave most of the sandwich untouched. Yes, I admit it is quite bad to waste food but the sandwich was nothing fantastic.  I will go back to this cafe again pretty soon! I can't wait! Don't be deceived by the ATAS outlook of the restaurant, the price of the food are considered cheap.

GreyHound Cafe @ Siam Center

3rd Floor Siam Center

Tel: +66-2-658 1129

Mon-Sun: 11am-10pm 

 

Royal China - Top 3 Dimsum Restaurants in Singapore

I have been neglecting this space for quite some time because I was so so so busy! I went for a short getaway to Bangkok earlier this month, it was such a last minute trip planned 3 weeks ago with Singapore Airlines & Glow Pratunam. I'm glad that I have such a super ON travelling buddy who said OK the moment I asked her!

Thank you girl, travelling has always been so steady with you!

Back to the Dim Sum post, I have been wanting to try Royal China after I heard how good it was. The colleagues went in January this year when I was in Amsterdam, so when they know I wanted to go try the dimsum, they accompanied me there again this time round! I have super nice colleagues :)

The restaurant is located on the 3rd level of Raffles Hotel Shopping Arcade.

 

I fall in love with the Tiffany blue deco at first sight with the calming Chinese song in the background! It was raining and I was so hungry, all I had in mind was Liu Sha Bao! 

I think we ordered a number of dimsum which we liked, Liu Sha Bao is a MUST for me to those who know me well. :)

After seeing the above photos, I'm drooling now! I really really loveeeee the Liu Sha Bao so much, it won Taste Paradise both hands down. There's mango in the Liu Sha Bao but you can't really feel that strong taste, it mingles well with the custard. Another thing to praise is the Cheong Fun - it is stir-fried instead of the usual steamed type. It is pretty unique but it tastes really good! For the Har Gao, I'm not a fan usually because I don't like Har Gao skin which are too thick. The ones at Royal China were really good & tasty, skin is just nice with the freshness of the prawn filling inside. Yum yum! The 3 of us finished all the dimsum ordered! There were still room for desserts, I ordered the Mango Pomelo which was too sweet to my liking. :( Gab's dessert taste pretty good and refreshing, I can't remember the name but I know there's apple, aloe vera if I'm not wrong.

I can't remember the price, but we paid less than $30 per pax for 3 of us. I really love the dimsum here and would love ot bring my family to try one day. :)

Royal China

Raffles Hotel Arcade

1 Beach Road

#03-09

Tel: 6338 3363

Mon - Sun: 12:00 - 15:00

                   18:00 - 22:30