阿嫲的私房菜 (Granny's Secret) @ OG Albert Complex

Hidden in one corner of OG Albert Complex along Rochor Road, one would never have expected to find a small restaurant here. I'm no stranger to this restaurant because the godma brought me here 1.5 years ago. We have our quarterly ex-svcrians dinner this time round at 阿嫲的私房菜 as suggested by the godma.

There were not much crowd on a Thursday night. For shoppers in OG, this would be a nice place for them to have a snack/tea. Fyi, this restaurant is affiliated to 一口味 (yi kou wei) which is the famous popiah stall located at the basement of Takashimaya. 

We were given the menu and had a hard time deciding on what to order. Most of the dishes are those home-cooked creative dishes. The prices were a little on the high side too.

So we place the orders through their iPad system, quite high-tech now right? It's a pity Marvin could not join us this time round! Nevertheless, we still had loads of fun whenever we get together!

Here are the dishes we ordered and it is really those type of 家常菜, not salty and quite healthy too! 

Popiah

Assam Fish Head

Chicken Soup

Salted Egg Cereal Tofu

Prawn Roll

Eight Treasures

Pig Trotter

The dishes are generally quite healthy and I guess the bunch of us do enjoyed it especially with the right company. :) 

They do sell steamed egg cakes too!

My support & strength

We pay around $21 per pax after some discounts. 

Granny's Secret (阿嫲的私房菜)

60 Albert Street

OG Albert Complex Level 2

Tel: 6336 7785

Opening hours: 11am-8.30pm daily

 

Chye Seng Huat Hardware

There are more cafes appearing in the neighbourhood of Jalan Besar and Chye Seng Huat Hardware is one of these cafes which was opened in the early stage. Nope, it is not a store selling hardware, but a cafe itself! I believed this cafe is already heard/frequent by many others. 

It is a little inconvenient by public transport to Jalan Besar area though I know bus 130 from Ang Mo Kio interchange do go there too, but maybe I'm lazy.

I was on a half day afternoon leave one of the days to meet up a few of the ex-colleagues to run an errand in Kallang and we decided to go for afternoon session. Mr Yip suggested Kallang leisure park so we drove there in 2 cars, but kind of lost so when we passed by Lavender area, I suddenly suggested to go Chye Seng Huat Hardware so here we are! 

I know where Tyrwhitt road is as I always advised tourist that Jalan Besar swimming complex is the nearest public pool when I were working in SVC in the past. We parked the cars and walked over to this cafe.

By looking at the building of Chye Seng Huat Hardware, it's hard to believe it's a cafe!  

Chye Seng Huat Hardware building from a distance away

Entrance is not here, you have to enter from the side

It looks old on the exterior but looks differently inside. 

We were given the menu on a cardboard. 

Menu with limited choices

Instead of cappuccino, it was espresso + milk stated in the menu. So we ordered 4 cappuccinos ($5.50 each) and 2 homemade lemonade ($5 each). Mr Yip & me were hungry so we ordered the Italian Breakfast ($12) and the rest ordered the pastries which were available on shelf. 

 

 

Cappuccino with coffee art

Almond Croissant $3.50

Carrot cake ($3 each) + cappuccino

Ang Ku Kueh ($1) + homemade lemonade

Italian Breakfast - 2 poached egg with pork bolognese sauce on toasted foccacia

I would go there for the coffee but not the food. The italian breakfast were served cold, nothing fantastic except that it was pork bolognese sauce which was kind of special. The almond croissant was good, no strong almond taste which I do not like. The carrot cake was a little overpriced, which I feel it was not worth.

I also saw many people order the Cold Brew ($7) which was coffee in a "cough syrup bottle". I ordered it out of curiosity and I regretted it after the first sip. It tasted sour and feel a little "siap siap", even the others tried it and do not like it too. One time for this is enough. It's a little pricey too. 

Here are some pictures of the surroundings.

Back of the cafe

Outdoor seats available too

We always have so much to catch-up whenever we meet

Joanna, Uncle John, Jessie

Chye Seng Huat Hardware

150 Tyrwhitt Road

Singapore 207563

Tel: 6396 0609

Tue-Fri: 9am-7pm

Sat-Sun: 9am-10pm

Closed on Monday

**Kitchen closes at 5pm   

BlissHouse Theme Restaurant @ Clarke Quay

It was Florence's birthday and I chose this place for the celebration, as I've heard of this garden theme restaurant for quite some time already. I have known her for 10years and she is like a mum to me, always giving me the best advice in life including my past relationship. She knows my character really well.

It happened to be Mother's day too so I got 2 stalks of carnations for her & Jia respectively! 

This restaurant is located conveniently on the 3rd level at The Central @ Clarke Quay.

Exterior of BlissHouse Theme Restaurant

Entrance - as if we are walking into a garden as shown in fairytale

It is quite beautiful, even the ground are made of grass carpet. We are in a tranquil garden having our dinner! I made reservation a week ago so we were shown to our table, good service I would say!

We were given the menu and had a hard time deciding what to order. When I looked through the items, they were a little overpriced especially for their theme drinks would cost around $12 per glass.

The gifts we got Florence

We were busy snapping away using our mobile phones, and took our own sweet time choosing the food. 

   
3 of us ordered chamomile tea ($6) respectively. Jia ordered a wild mushroom soup ($8) & chicken roulade ($20), Florence ordered a soup of the day - Tomato soup ($6) & a tropicana pizza ($17) and I ordered a wild mushroom soup too & a Prawn and Scallop tagliatelle ($23).

The drinks & food were served pretty fast. 

Chamomile Tea

Soup of the Day

Wild Mushroom Soup

Chicken Roulade

Tropicana Pizza

Prawn & Scallop Tagliatelle

Everything was good except for the Prawn & Scallop tagliatelle which I ordered. The pasta is dry & bland, taste a little tough, but the prawn was quite fresh. Both the soups we ordered were good, the chicken roulade meat is tender and the pizza crust is thin & crispy. I liked their pizza alot! 

We were there till around 9pm and we chatted a lot, we always have so much to talk whenever we met up. :) We decided to settle the bill then go around the restaurant taking photos. 

The necklace gift we got for Florence

 

BlissHouse Theme Restaurant

6 Eu Tong Sen Street

#03-21

The Central

Tel: 6225 5532

Mon-Sun: 12pm-11pm