Sushi on a weekday dinner

Yesterday, I happened to help out with my mum's grocery shopping at Fairprice Finest@Thomson Plaza when I chanced upon the Sushi Promotion. Each sushi platter cost S$5 and it comes in an assortment of sushi in the packed tray.

Since I haven't had sushi for a long time and somehow I am craving for it, I persuaded my mum to get one so the whole family could have sushi for dinner. Fortunately, my mum agreed. It was quite nice to have sushi for dinner at some point of time. However my dad didn't really like it and he decided he will eat the more traditional dinner food. Bah!

Sunday Dinner with Cousin and Aunties

Over the long weekend, I met up with my cousin, Yi, her mother and the latter's sister for a dinner at Thai Express@Thomson Plaza. Due to a public holiday the next day, some of the eatery were pretty packed with people and after walking aimlessly at the equally small shopping centre, we opted for thai food.

There weren't many people at Thai Express when we first entered the shop and we got ourselves comfortable at the corner table. We took a long time before we decided what we wanted to eat.

For our appetisers, Yi suggested Thai Mango Salad (S$6.90). After mixing it and tried it, it was fiery! Never underestimate shredded mango and crushed nuts. Those who can't take spice, please refrain from eating this dish.

Then she even ordered Prawn Toast (S$6.90). It's actually prawn paste spread on top of the bread and subsequently, get toasted. It comes with a sweet and sour dip.

For the main dish, I had Beef Noodles (S$10.90). It comes with a pippin hot beef broth and inside the broth are stick noodles (which is like kway teow but the smaller version of it) and slices of beef. I had to put chilli flakes to spice the broth up otherwise, it has a very strong beefy taste. Apart from that, I couldn't finish all the beef slices.

At the end of the dinner, we were drinking more water than before because of the spiciness of the salad and other stuff. I think we all learnt our lesson. Never underestimate Thai food, even in Singapore.

Reminiscing of a Rum Ball and BBQ Nite

Prior from my previous post on High Tea Buffet at Goodwood Park Hotel, I had an interesting breakfast and also dinner that Friday.

As I didn't have any morning class, I had Rum Ball (S$1.40) from Han's with my favourite cup of coffee. This Rum Ball reminded me of my childhood days when my late grandfather would never fail to buy this cake for me especially whenever I pestered him. It has been ages since I last ate this cake. Whenever I sees Rum Ball on display, it would remind me of him.

But when I tried the cake, it was a total disappointment. It was hard and unpleasant to eat. I struggled to finish the cake actually.

Then in the evening, I went to my faculty's BBQ at one of our senior's house. One of the seniors organised the BBQ party a few weeks back and I thought, perhaps, it would be a good bonding time for everyone. I didn't really take many pictures of the BBQ as I was busying eating and talking to people.

Here was what we cooked at the BBQ. At this moment, the fire wasn't big enough to cook any food. However, we managed to get most of the food cooked. The food on the menu were Pork Cheese Sausages, Otah, Stingray, Chicken Wings, Prawns in Butter Herb or Black Pepper, Sotong, Corn and Sweet Potato.

The party was pretty fun and I had my fill, of course.

High Tea Buffet at Goodwood Park Hotel

On Friday, I met up with Charlene for high tea buffet at Goodwood Park Hotel. That was my second time having high tea at the hotel. The first time I had high tea buffet was with my mother at Marriot Hotel. However, that was an International High Tea Buffet whereas at Goodwood Park Hotel, it was an English High Tea Buffet. The reason why we went there was to check out the place for Charlene's wedding next year.

We went into the Coffee Lounge where the High Tea Buffet was held at around 2.45pm, just in time for the buffet. We sat at the patio of the lounge instead as to enjoy the scenery and also the weather (it was pretty cooling and cloudy at that time).

This is the patio where we sat and had our food. This picture is taken from Charlene's camera.

This is where the pool and the courtyard are situated.

Charlene and I went inside the lounge to get our food, excitedly. We picked whatever we felt like eating. Since it was High Tea Buffet, everything came in 'mini' portions. Anyway, we came with an empty stomach.

Here was my first plate.

Mini Croissant with Ham and Cheese. The combination between the ham and the cheese fitted perfectly well.


Mini Prawn Vol Au Vent. Besides the mayonnaise mini prawns, I realised that there was a little spread of avocado. But I couldn't taste the avocado at all.

Chicken Tortilla Wrap. Initially, the outer layer looked like an egg crepe but after looking at the label, it was written as Tortilla Wrap. Even after tasting it, I couldn't tell the difference. Bah! I like the shredded chicken though. Wish I could get some chilli sauce for this.

Bacon Sandwich. The meat that was sandwiched between the two slices of bread was actually parma ham. It was raw but it tasted great!

After eating this plate, I went back again to get another serving, just like a typical buffet-goer.

Vegetable Penne Pasta. I decided that I needed something heavy instead of all the breads and the pastries. The pasta tasted good, in fact.

Raisin Scone. In every English High Tea Buffet, there will always be scones, apart from the sandwiches. Just like an English, I tried out the scone as well. I spread it with cream and butter. Surprisingly, the scone tasted amazing.

Throughout the session, we didn't really gorged ourselves with just food. We did catch up with one another and personally, I felt that it was a good time to mix conversation and food as well. However, once our stomach grew hungry again, we went back again to the lounge to get our food.

(L-R) Chicken Salad Kueh Pie Tee, Sausage with Bread, Lightly Toasted Chicken Ham Sandwich. I enjoyed all three of them.


Alright, now for the sweets.

Creme Brulee. One of my favourite desserts of all time, this mini creme brulee, which is a custard that has been sprinkled with sugar before placed under a broiler to get a brown effect on the top pf the custard, came in a small portion. But overall, it was good too!

Chocolate Fondue. When I saw the chocolate fountain, my heart went screaming, "I am going to eat this later!". Hah! Next to the fountain laid a few plates of fruits and marshmallow to choose from. I picked two strawberries and a marshmallow to share with Charlene. There were even toppings such as rainbow beats and almond slices to choose from. Yum.


Cakes and Pastries. (L-R) Chocolate Eclair, Lemon Meringue, Raspberry Cake and Fruit Tart. The Lemon Meringue tasted really sweet and lemony!

After eating so much, we felt quite satisfied. However, I felt that the selection of food could have been more. After getting the bill, we explored the hotel premises and Charlene told me of another swimming pool which I captured a shot of it.

This is the hidden pool. It's gorgeous! I love the serenity and tranquility of it. I may make this my writing space the next time!


Goodwood Park Hotel is located at 22 Scotts Road. The High Tea Buffet starts at 2.45pm till 5pm. It costs S$30++ per person.

Big Barley

This afternoon, I had lunch with Ellie and Cheryl at Golden Wall Centre's Kopitiam. While Ellie and Cheryl went ahead for a full lunch, I opted for dessert as I had a heavy lunch before that.

I ordered Da Mai (literally translated, Big Barley) which costs S$1.50. It's actually a hot dessert and the barley is usually cooked till soft and to perfection. It is often eaten with coconut milk. But when I tried it, it wasn't really nice at all. It was more starchy than what I thought.

Nowadays, it's hard to find places that sell this kind of desserts. The last time I know of such place was the Queen St. Market which is now in renovation. There was an old couple who sells Da Mai and Tau Suan - two of the most well-known desserts in the desserts arena - in the market and the desserts cost about S$1. However, they only opened the shop at random timing and day. Once it's sold out, they would close the shop. Thus, there was always a frequent long queue in that stall. I wonder if they still sell these desserts.

Anyway, I didn't finish up my Da Mai dessert.

Roast Pork for Dinner

My father roasted some pork over the weekend and I managed to try it for dinner today. He marinated it with garlic and the usual soy sauce and pepper. I believed he roasted it for a few hours before the skin got crackled up and hard.

The meat was juicy and succulent. I didn't really chew a piece of meat for very long in my mouth. The only thing I wish was that the skin could be more crackled up and crispy. That would be doubled 'Yum!'.

Fab food at Liang Court and about a frog

Over the weekend, I decided to let my hair down and not to allow assignments to spoil my precious weekend! Hence, I went for the CLV Retreat@River Valley which I was very much involved in. A day before the retreat, I asked my mother if she would like to bake a cake for the retreat as a refreshment item and she agreed. I grinned subsequently. So here I was, carrying a heavy bag and a homemade fruit cum carrot cake with my hands to the place. But it was satisfying.

After preparing the place nicely, a few of us went for lunch at Liang Court. To think about it, I have only been to Liang Court for a few times for a few practical reasons: mainly because I used to work around River Valley area or I am there for a casual meeting. Anyhow, it appeared that the place has been given a serious makeover with new and interesting shops.

We went to the basement to source for food and we chanced upon this Japanese lookalike foodcourt which offers Japanese Food like curry rice, Don Rice, Sushi, udon and etc. It was kinda packed when we went there so in the end, a few of us had to be separated into two places.

I had Chicken Katsu Curry Rice (S$10.20). It comes with a piece of crispy chicken cutlet lying on top of the fluffy Japanese Rice and a curry sauce in an Aladdin's shape bowl!

To my surprise, it was really good! The curry was spicy and the chicken was crispy. Yum.

Dawn had a Croquette Bento Set (S$10.20). It comes with 3 pieces of deep-fried potato croquette, two special sauces and a side salad. Dawn even requested for more pickles which was also my favourite!

After my satisfying lunch, I realised my stomach wasn't exactly satisfied. So while waiting for the rest to finish up their lunch, I went ahead to source for some desserts. Then I chanced upon this shop that sells chou pastry (sorry, forgot to take down the name of the shop). It comes in two flavours - ordinary and chocolate chou. But I chose the ordinary one.

This was the chou pastry (S$1.50) Cheap and good!

Soon after that, Annabelle was tempted to try as well and bought one as well. I should become a chou pastry salesperson. Hah!

Then another friend of mine, Chris bought a piece of chocolate chiffon cake (S$5.80) and a light green tea cake.


As for these two cakes, it wasn't really cheap but after tasting the chocolate chiffon cake, it was truly light and tasty. The light green tea cake was for Dawn who is heavily pregnant and also being well-loved by us.


During dinnertime, the participants and the main core team went for dinner together and we had it at a local coffeeshop along the River Valley Road that sells Zhi Char.

The Spicy Tofu, also known as Mapo Tofu (S$6). Sadly, it wasn't really numbling spicy for me.


The Kangkong (S$6). Quite spicy and good.


The Prawn Paste Chicken ($6-$7). I did tried a few of these wings but it wasn't exactly what I like though.


The main highlight of the day: Stir-Fried Frog Legs (S$8 per frog). First of all, it tasted like chicken and the meat is soft. It just melts in your mouth.

Overall, it was an enjoyable meal. I came home with a filling stomach.

An Old Food Post

It just occurred to me that I haven't been updating my food blog for like the longest time and in order not to let my blog die of natural death, I have been taking pictures of food which I have eaten recently. So here is an old food post which I should have posted two weeks ago.

9/10, Thursday - I met up with Ping after her office hours and subsequently, we went shopping for my black dress. It was for an event that happened over that weekend. Unfortunately, she managed to knock off from her work at around 8.30pm and so it left us about 2 hours before all the retail shops in Orchard Road closed. After I managed to get the black dress, we realised our stomach was complaining. Given the present situation, we went to the Xin Wang Hong Kong Cafe @Orchard Cineleisure for our late dinner since most of the eatery were already closed for the day.

The place wasn't really packed on a weekdays and we managed to get comfy seats. Since I have visited this same eatery many times, I decided to try something new and different. After studying the menu, Ping and I ordered the same thing.

Our Spicy Zha Jiang Noodles (S$8.90). It wasn't really spicy as indicated and instead, it was more salty than spicy.

At the end of the meal, we washed down those greasy gravy with our milk tea. Anyway, we were all tired and we just can't wait to hit our pillows.

Ramen Ramen

Before heading to the VM performance last night, my friend Cynthia suggested an eatery called Bishamon Sapporo Ramen at Bugis Junction Basement One for our dinner. I know that there is another outlet at Raffles City Shopping Centre (also at Basement One) but I never got around to try the food at that place. So anyway, it was nice to try out another ramen outlet in the marketplace since I adore eating ramen.

We studied the menu carefully and since Cynthia was hungry, she ordered the set meal which consists of a small bowl of entree, a side dish, a sushi set and a drink (S$12.90).

I ordered a bowl of Shio Ramen as my main. There was a slice of pork, a few strands of shredded radish and spring onions. I felt the meal was just satisfying. However, there wasn't any seaweed found on the soup which I wanted badly. Maybe they have it in the ala carte menu.

This was my side dish which was two Seafood Croquette and two pieces of sushi. Cynthia couldn't wait to sink her teeth on the Seafood Croquette. Heh!

This was what Cynthia ordered for her sides. Two pieces of Fried Chicken and two similar pieces of sushi.

As we were enjoying our meal and fellowship, people started to stream in gradually and soon the eatery was packed. We drank at least two cups of green tea before we leave the place.

Hari Raya Feast

Today, Ping and I celebrated the Hari Raya festival with Wati and her family at her place this afternoon, just like the previous years. Unlike the last two years, we decided to visit her house in the afternoon on the first day of Hari Raya this time round. We used to visit her in the evening and she would whipped up steamboat for us. But I think we have already troubled her much.

Surprisingly, there wasn't many people at her place today. Before I stepped into her house, her grandmother noticed me and informed Wati of our arrival. We were being ushered into her living room to taste all the cookies that were all laid beautifully on the coffee table. That was sufficient to whet my appetite.

I munched a few of these M&M cookies. At first, I thought it was ginger cookies as the shape and the colourful chocolates reminded me of ginger cookies. But it wasn't. It was a chocolate cookies, toppled with mini M&M chocolates. Not too sweet. Quite nice.

I also had some Honey Cornflakes cookies. In fact, I ate many of these. Wati used to make this in the past but due to her hectic working schedule these days, she stopped making it. Instead, she buy it from the shop itself. Though these didn't taste as good as hers, it was still edible.

And the crunchy peanuts. These peanuts are totally addictive! I couldn't stop munching on it. It's so good and yummy.

Now, for the main meal. Her dining table was lined up with trays of traditional Malay cuisines, just like eating buffet in the restaurants.

Sambal Fishballs and Chicken Rendang

Vegetable Lemak and Beef Rendang

How can one eat Malay cuisines without the one and only important food? Ketupat! It's actually a type of dumplings and people would usually eat it as an accompaniment to Satay and Rendang. Wati and her family made it using the palm leaf for the festival.

My favourite food of all time, Sambal Fishballs. One of Wati's aunties cooked it specially for the occasion and I have always love this dish ever since I first tasted it many years ago. However, what was so unique about this simple dish is that there was meat inside the fishballs and it caught me and Ping by surprise. Nonetheless, it tasted great!

This was my plate filled with all the food. The chicken and beef rendang weren't that spicy so I didn't managed to burn my tongue but those were still good. I love eating it with the ketupat.

After all the scrumptious food, Ping and I couldn't move and we just sat down at the dinner table, chatting away on this lazy afternoon.