Pastamania @ Shaw Centre

4/07/09, Saturday - My cousin, Yi and I went shopping on a humid Saturday in a bustling town called Orchard Road. It has been a long time since I went shopping at the shopping arena and now, ION Orchard is almost open for business.

After hours of shopping, we went to have our dinner at Pastamania@Shaw Centre. The food eatery is located on the fifth level and there are smorgasbord of food eateries on the level, namely, KFC, Long John Silver and Subway. As a result of the unconventional food dinning, Pastamania doesn't sell pizza in this outlet and the serving doesn't come in the usual plates and other metal utensils. Instead, it comes with black plastic box which will house the pasta and plastic fork and spoon.

I had the Chicken Sausage Linguine (S$7.90). The sauce was creamy and slightly spicy.

Yi had Spicy Chicken Spaghetti (S$6.80). I used to love to eat this pasta but after a while, I had hop on to other things.

An Annual Report on a Soup Spoon Meal...

2/07/09, Thursday - A year ago, my friend, Ivy and I had a slightly unpleasant meal at Soup Spoon at Raffles City. Perhaps, it was the meal I had or the place which was packed almost every other day. I'm not sure. So we went back again and one year on, things had definitely changed.

The place was packed as usual and we had to stand besides a nearly empty table but with two people still chatting away and who were oblivious of our presence. However, the two people were gracious to leave the table for us to have our dinner.

This time round, I didn't order the Velvety Mushroom Stroganoff which obviously resembles a face mask after quite some time. Instead, I ordered a regular bowl of Beef Goulash (S$10.80) and since I ordered the SouperValue Combo Meal which consists of two sides, I chose a Chicken Tikka Wrap and a glass of Homemade Iced Lemon Tea which comes free with the meal.

The Beef Goulash was really nice and hearty. The beef cubes were soft and chewy. The staff asked me if I wanted a scoop of sour cream in my soup and I agreed. The combination between the tomato-based soup and the sour cream worked really well. There were even bits of potato, carrots, celery, celery and etc swimming in the soup. Yum. of course, I polished the soup off my bowl.

Ivy ordered a plate of Spicy Herby Cheesy Potato Wedges (S$3.60) as an additional dish for the both of us.

Well, other than the mushroom soup, I would definitely come back and try the rest of the soups, perhaps, another time.

Botak Jones - An Authentic American Meal

30/06/09, Tuesday - My brother and I headed down to Botak Jones@Ang Mo Kio for a late lunch after a traumatic morning. The both of us thought of eating at Botak Jones since two years ago before he entered the national service. However, we didn't have the chance until today.

The place is not a restaurant. Instead it's a humble middle-sized stall situated in a coffeeshop. When we went there, the place wasn't packed at all. Perhaps, lunch time was over and people might have already migrated to somewhere else. So we took our time to look at the menu and see what we want to order. As the both of us weren't hungry at that point of time, we ordered The Botak Jones Burger Set and a Mini-Me Cajun Burger to share.

The Botak Jones Burger Set (S$8.50) comes with a choice of several side dish items. We choose Colesaw and a Cheese Potato. There is an additional charge of S$1 for two slices of cheese in your burger. Since we like the ozzy feeling of the cheese melting in our mouth, we don't mind the additional charge.

When the food arrived at our table, we were hoping for some fries but my brother told me that if we didnt order the set meal, there might be fries as our side dish. Oh well. The beef patty was pretty thick and juicy. The taste of the beef is definitely different from the usual fast food joint.

Here is another upclose angle of the burger.

Then the Mini-Me Cajun Burger (S$4.00) arrived at our table at the same time as the Botak Jones Burger Set. My brother loved the spicy taste of the Cajun Chicken. I think this burger isn't that bad.

However, the only bone I would pick is the cheese on the beef patty which wasn't melting and ozzy enough. Other than that, I think this meal is worth the money.

There are several outlets around the islandwide including this outlet at Ang Mo Kio. For more information, please check http://www.botakjones.com/locations_angmokio.html

Father's Day

21/06/09, Sunday - I had Cheese Scones (S$1.30) for breakfast. My brother bought it from Sun Moulin Bakery at Isetan Orchard.

The shape of the scones was a little irregular. Instead of the usual round shape, it was a triangular shape and there was a strong cheesy aroma coming out from the toaster. I spread butter and jam on each side of the warm scones. I love the taste of the cheese in the scones.

On this day, I also celebrated Father's Day with my family. I bought a Cappuccino Cake ($16.00) from Dino Cake House and Cafe.

This is the innard shot of the cake. Love the cappuccino cream which gives off the mild coffee aroma.

Italian Raviolli

12/4/09, Sunday - For dinner, I had Italian Raviolli which my dad brought it home from his working place. He said that one of the chefs cooked the Italian pasta onboard of the ship which he was working on. So he came home with a big tray of these huge Italian pasta.

He heated it up in the oven and within 10-15 minutes, we were all ready for dinner. Inside of the raviolli was all cheese and I think the chef used buffalo cheese which is more creamy and salty. Apart from that, the chef even sprinkled some parmesan cheese which makes it even more salty and gooey.

Here is my bowl of raviolli. I sprinkled some chilli flakes on the pasta to spice things up.

With the combination of the tomato sauce and the huge amount of cheese, I couldn't elaborate more. Yummy!

Food Celebrations!

23/02/09, Monday - As everyone has worked extremely hard for our Backstage Pass production over the last two weeks, all of us decided to go all out to celebrate our hard work. And one of the ways was, of course, binged!

We went over to this newly-revamped shopping centre called Pomo (it was formerly called Paradiz Centre) and after viewing a few eateries, we decided to settle for Thai food at Lerk Thai.

There was a lunch promotion on that day where two persons who purchase two set meals (S$11.00 e.a) and the third person will get that extra meal for free.

The set meal consists of a soup, starter and a main course. Sam, Pet and I decided to go for the set meal deal while the rest decided on the ala carte meals.

First stop, the Tom Yum Soup. It was really good. There was a huge chunk of fish and other seafoods swimming in the red and spicy seafood broth.

Then the starter arrived and I chose the Deep Fried Prawns which resembled Japanese Ebi Prawns. They gave the papaya salad as the side dish to compliment the greasiness of the prawns.

For my mains, I chose Green Curry Chicken. It wasn't really fantastic after all. Instead of chunks of chicken, there were only slices of chicken and the curry was mildly spicy. I could only wish the curry would be spicier.

As for Sam, she chose Thai Fishcake as her starter. I think it looks really good although I didn't really taste it.

Pet ordered Fish Fillet with Hot Sour and Spicy Sauce yet to me, it appeared more like a Sweet and Sour Fish.

Halfway through the lunch, Sam suggested we eat dessert at Peace Centre. So after lunch and where we leave some space in our stomach, we hopped over to the Dessert Lover at Peace Centre. It has been a long time since I went there. The last time I ever went there was with 5ofus. We used to eat desserts whenever we have breaks in between our classes.

Anyway, the prices of the desserts have increased. For instance, a bowl of Glutinous Rice Ball in Peanut Soup cost S$2.20 whereas previously it was only S$2.00. After studying the menu, I ordered the Black Glutinous Rice Porridge (S$1.50). I like the way how the coconut cream is being drizzled on top of the blackly porridge. Yum!

Here was what we've ordered. [L-R] Yam Paste, Mango Sago, Walnut Cream, Almond Cream, Black Glutinous Rice Porridge and in the middle, Black Glutinous Rice Porridge with Ice-cream.

All of us really had a wonderful time eating those wonderful desserts. I still love my Black Glutinous Rice Porridge.

After our bump out that evening, some of us went ahead with dinner at PastaMania. Apparently, I learnt that PastaMania has become a Halal-certified establishment thus one of our classmates, Ila can dine with us. As my stomach was filled from the super heavy lunch, I could only eat something light.

In the end, I ordered Garlic Bread (S$1.80) and Aglio Olio (S$4.90).

Somehow, I regretted eating their garlic bread because it wasn't really nice. There wasn't enough salt and butter. The garlic taste wasn't there as well. Oh well.

As for Aglio Olio, that was my first time trying it and I had a mixed feeling on that dish. Overall, it was still edible. Here is an ordinary shot of Aglio Olio.

Here is another shot of that dish but one can see the pippin hot steaming of that pasta dish with all that smoking presence. Hah!

Strangely, that day was a day where all of us eat to our heart's content. I guess that is called satisfaction.

New Year Day's Feast

1/1/09, Thursday - Happy New Year! On this day, I woke up with excitement, embracing the new day in a new year despite the fact that I went to my church for countdown the night before. A few of my relatives will be coming to my place for dinner, thus, I have to garner some energy to clean the house before they arrived.

Halfway through my breakfast, my next door neighbour popped by our place and gave us a box of Apple Strudel, one box of Chocolate Eclairs and a box of Chocolate Puff. It was nice of them to gave us something for New Year Day. :)

Anyway, for our New Year Day's Feast, my dad baked turkey as it is our family tradition to eat turkey, not on Christmas Day but on 1 Jan (don't ask why). He even baked potatoes, pumpkins and sausages. By mid-afternoon, the aroma of the turkey and the side dishes had surrounded the entire house.


On the other hand, my mum fried Bee Hoon as the other main dish. She threw in some Char Siew (roasted pork) which she bought from the market and assortment of vegetables into the Bee Hoon.

My plate. I was pretty hungry when dinner time arrived. The turket meat was moist and tender. I really love eating that turkey. The sausages and potatoes complimented each other. I love the Bee Hoon too.

After the dinner, my relatives and my family sat around the television to watch the much-awaited drama serial, The Little Nonya. An interesting way to end New Year Day.

Pre-Christmas Homecooked Dinner at My Place

Last night, I opened up my place for the 5ofus group - Gin, Ellie and Zoe came over for dinner. However, Cheryl couldn't make it as she was down with food poisoning. Hope she recovers soon though. :)

I spent two whole days cleaning my place for their arrival and also planning on the menu. But eventually, these were what I churned out last night:

Roasted Chicken. I marinated it with salt, pepper, basil leaves and garlic and kept it for two hours before I spent another one hour plus on roasting. I decided to chop up on the chicken into a few pieces rather than having to roast the entire chicken. I did so in order for the guests to eat with ease.

Roasted Potato and Carrots. I chopped up the Russets Potatoes and the baby carrots into different pieces and then boil it for about 10-20 minutes. After that, I placed them into the oven for extra crispness.

Linguine with Mushroom Sauce. I decided to substitute this with rice.

For desserts, my mum prepared these colourful Konnyaku Jelly on Monday - it's basically a Japanese brand of jelly - and my friends love it.

I also scooped some chocolate ice cream with slices of bananas on a bowl for them but I guess they were too full to have some ice-cream. Heh.

We spent the entire night catching up with one another and eating food. It is always nice to have friends around to celebrate this festive season before we usher into the new year.

Unpleasant dining experience at Pizza Hut

11/12/08, Thursday - I met up with my good friend, Wati for dinner at Pizza Hut@Marina Square. She decided to celebrate my birthday at Pizza Hut as she enjoys eating pizza and moreover, it's a Halal establishment. A few years back, she celebrated my birthday at Pizza Hut too but at different place.

By the time we stepped into the restaurant, we were so hungry. We discussed about what we want to order and so we decided to have our mains and a large Cheesy Lava 3 Stuffed Crust Pizza (S$24.50) to share as Ping and her boyfriend would be joining with us at the later part of the dinner.

I had Beef Lasagne (S$9.20) because I had not eaten lasagne before and I thought perhaps I should try eating one. But to my horror, when the lasagne arrived on the table, the portion was so small and I wondered, " this cost me, S$9.20?" I'm not trying to be cheapskate. I just want to make my money worth. Anyway, the lasagne wasn't really fanastic after all.

Wati had Sausage Mania Baked Pasta (S$9.80). I didn't really try this dish but looking at her eating happily, I presumed she enjoyed it.

Given the small food portion, I felt hungry again. I asked Wati if she wanted to have Garlic Bread (S$3.50) as I haven't had for a long time. She agreed.

Meanwhile, we informed the wait staff that they can get our pizza ready as Ping and her boyfriend were making their way to the restaurant. However, we also contemplating whether to have medium or large pizza as we had so much stuff yet we want to make sure that Ping and her boyfriend can have the pizzas well. Eventually we stuck to the medium-sized pizza. Halfway through our Garlic Bread, the restaurant manager came and asked us about our orders twice. She didn't really looked friendly. Well, it was true that we changed our orders a few times and it seemed like we were difficult people but then for service staff, they should have know that some people would change their orders once in a while. We also tried our best to be nice to her as well. Oh well.

Subsequently when we want to refill our drinks, the wait staff also took a long time to get back to us about the water. In the end, Wati and I weren't pleased about it.

Now, I will think twice about going back to the restaurant.

An Advance Birthday Treat at Fish and Co.

I am not kidding. I have not been to Fish and Co. - one of the hot favourites eateries with the yuppies and young people - until last Wednesday. You see, on Wednesday, Zoe and Ellie celebrated my birthday in advance at Fish and Co.@The Glass House as I have requested. Sadly, Gin and Cheryl wasn't around for the dinner if not, it would be so much fun! Thinking of that, I miss them!

Anyway, my other friends told me that the common food which people would ordered whenever they dined at Fish and Co. is Seafood Platter for Two (S$37.90). Nevertheless, I still studied the menu carefully before I start ordering the food. As Ellie and I were famished (we actually skipped our lunch just for this meal!), we almost wanted to eat everything that is on the menu. Hah!

Zoe told us that the Seafood Platter for Two can be shared among three people or more because the portion is really big. True enough, when the platter finally arrived, it was huge. But prior to that, I order Soup of the Day - Fish Chowder (S$3.90).

The Fish Chowder surprised me as there were chunks of dory fillets, carrots, onions and etc. in the creamy soup. Yummy!

The Seafood Platter for Two consists of an assortments of seafood, together with French Fries, sprinkled with Cajun Powder and Butter and Raisin Rice. They even drizzled a little of their signature sauce, Garlic Butter Cream Sauce.

I quite like the big chunky fries which has the Cajun Powder on it. The Pan-fried Fish Dory Fillet wasn't too bad; the texture of the meat was soft and tender. I didn't really like the Grilled Prawns as it wasn't really fantastic at all. But I like the way how the Squids (Sotong) were cooked. It was soft and it didn't take very long before the squid slid through my throat, unlike some places where the Squids are as hard as a stone. Ellie and I gave all the mussels to Zoe as the both of us don't take mussels at all.

The Pan-Fried Fish Dory Fillet

The Grilled Prawns

The Squids (Sotong)

The Mussels

Ellie was afraid that we didn't have enough to eat so she ordered New York Fish and Chips (S$15.90) for us to share.

The batter for Fish and Chips was pretty heavy; it was more salty than the usual fish and chips and moreover, the Lemon Butter Sauce which was on top of the fish made it even heavier and rich. But I must say that the fish was cooked it its perfection.

As for dessert, Zoe and Ellie made me choose a cake for which I chose Dulce De Leche Colossal - a cheesecake toppled with Caramel Sauce (S$6.95).

It was sweet of them to put a candle on top of the cake slice and sang a birthday song for me. Thanks gals! As a result of all the heavy and rich main course we had, we had a hard time finishing the cake. In fact, we took a long time to polish off the cake from the plate.

In order to ease our heavy stomach, we took a long walk along the streets of Orchard Road under the night breeze and colourful Christmas glittering lights.

Supper at Mr Bean's Cafe

27/11/08, Thursday - Two of my good friends, Zoe and Ellie came over to my school to render support on the production which I was working on and it was good to see them again after we last met each other a few months back.

After watching the three hours performance and waiting painstakingly for me, we went over to Mr Bean's Cafe at Selegie Road for supper and destress. Initially we wanted to have our supper at other places, however, most of the cafes and eateries were closed by then. Thus, we went to Mr Bean's Cafe.

As we were hungry, we ordered a Platter (sorry, I forgot the name of the dish!) which consists of Prawns, Vegetarian Spring Rolls, Chicken Wings and Calamari. It costs less than S$10. Since I didn't bring my camera along, this photo was taken from Zoe's beloved camera.

Funnily, the three of us had our supper at this same place six months ago and it was also after a performance. Perhaps, we have an affinity with this place.

Mr Bean's Cafe is located at 30 Selegie Road, Singapore 188351.

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.