Sunday's Lunch

On Sunday, my church pals and I went to Xin Wang Hong Kong Cafe@Marina Square after an unanimous vote on this eating place for our lunch. I have been to other outlets since the cafe opens 24 hours on Fri - Sun. I must say that ever since Hong Kong Cafe have mushroomed all over our small island two years ago, we all are spolit for choice and meanwhile, ponder the authenticity of their food.

Anyway, I ordered the Chessy Baked Rice with Fish Fillet (S$9.90) which comes with a few medium-sized chunks of fish fillets. Previously, I would ordered Soup Noodles with Luncheon Meat and Egg whenever I am at this cafe. However, after I have seen Gin eating on Chessy Baked Rice with Black Pepper Beef, I was enticed by it and I said to myself, "I must try this the next time!"

Although it's not Black Pepper Beef, the fish fillets weren't too bad. Underneath the cheese was tomato-based sauce rice and the fish. They really put lots of cheese on top of the rice which makes it gooey and soft. As I was hungry, I cleaned the entire casserole up. So proud of myself for not wasting food.

Vana tried the Dry Noodles with Luncheon Meat and Egg (S$6.50). They have the soup version as well for people who like soupy stuff. To me, it looks a little too dry for my liking and the noodles are those instant noodles kind, not Mee Kia or Mee Poh. Strangely, Hong Kong people actually love eating instant noodles with Luncheon Meat and Egg. It's like their food sample for all meals. The egg is actually poached and people who like to burst open the wobbly yolk are welcome to do so. But I don't really like poached egg and normally in this instances, I would only eat the egg white, not the yolk.

After my meal, I ordered HK Milk Tea (S$2.70 (H), S$2.90 (C)) to wash down my main meal. The tea actually tasted different from our usual Lipton Tea or Twinning Tea bag and I believe that they used different types of tea leaves and a strainer to get hold of the tea essence. It tasted quite thick as well. Hong Kong people seem to have an obsession of drinking milk tea in the afternoon and I surmised it must be the influence of the English when the British government rule the island many years ago. So whenever I am at 'Cha Chan Teng' (literally translated, 'Hong Kong Cafe'), I would ordered milk tea over a cup of coffee.

An outing at the Sentosa

Yesterday Cheryl, Ellie and I celebrated Zoe's birthday at Sentosa with a picnic! We decided to have a change of location for our gathering for once as we usually organise our gathering in the town area (read: boring) and after much thought, we ended up at Sentosa. A few days before the gathering, Ellie and I discussed about the food items, like what food is required for the picnic and etc. Besides, it was our first time organising a gathering far away from the civilization world.

I woke up at around 8am to cook Fried Beehoon - a local famous food sample during a picnic - and it was a hard work! I threw some shredded carrots, mushrooms, cabbage and fishcake into the beehoon and mixed them all up. It's no easy feat stirring a huge portion of thin noodles all around the wok with a medium heat. Nonetheless, it was still enjoyable! At the end of it, I garnished it with some shredded fried egg and tada!

We took the Sentosa Express (S$3 for a one-day trip) to the island from Vivocity. It's actually the latest addition from the Sentosa Island. In the past, visitors used to take ships (yes, it's true), buses or walk to Sentosa. But now, we have train. Anyway, the train was practically packed with people. I had no idea where they come from.

When we reached at the Beach Station, the weather was pretty cloudy; it was neither sunny nor rainy. Nevertheless, Zoe decided to suntan at the beach. We went to the Palawan Beach for the picnic. We choose a nice spot which overlooked most of the scenery. We placed our towel and sheets of paper, as a substitute for picnic mats on the sand. We unpacked most of the foodstuff on the towel. We were all ready to eat when all of the sudden, we felt drops of rain started to pelt onto my head. Small drops of rain became big drops of rain and soon, arrows of rain started to fall onto the beach. Everyone, including us, ran for the nearest shelter. Well, our nearest shelter was Koufu Foodcourt. Cheryl heaved a sigh that our picnic had to end up at a foodcourt. I think all of us shared the same sentiment as her that our picnic had somewhat being ruined by the force of nature. Oh well.

After so many hurdles, we finally had our lunch peacefully against the raining backdrop. Halfway through our lunch, someone walked towards our table and asked us where we got our lunch from as he pointed to the box of fried beehoon. I kindly said that we brought it from home. Zoe suggested that I should have sold some of it.

Ellie bought two big packets of German biscuits from Candy Empire (S$9.80 for 2). This was one of the packets which we opened. It's called Desiree and it is so good! I wouldn't mind eating them all over again. Despite of the bad weather, we still had a good time chilling out with Lays Potato chips, German biscuits and fruit drinks.

At around 4pm, we decided to explore the Siloso Beach and since the rain had stopped, why not? We walked and walked and halfway through our journey, a strange passerby who didn't looked like a local to us, asked where is the Sentosa Station. Well, most of us giggled inside our hearts struggling with the idea of a Sentosa Station like our very own City Hall MRT Station. But we did a bad job in directing her to the place.

We managed to find a good spot at the Siloso Beach, lying down on the towel and feeling the wave crashing onto the seashore. It was a nice feeling. Zoe fell asleep for a little while.

Here is a picture of the beach. Gloomy clouds looming ahead of us.

And a picture of me and Cheryl's feet with our Havaianas flip flops.

By evening, we took a train back to the civilization world again. We had our dinner at Secret Recipe@Vivocity. It was quite packed when we went there and we waited about 5 minutes before we finally got a seat. In amidst of the waiting, we studied the menu and even ordered food in advance.

We choose two main courses to share: Chicken Cordon Bleu (S$11.90) and Pan-Grilled Catch of the Day with Lobster Sauce (S$11.50).

The Chicken Cordon Bleu is one of the strongest recommended dishes my friend usually tell me to order at the Secret Recipe. Inside the chicken is actually ham and cheese. So when one cut open the pippin' hot chicken parcel, one can see the melted cheese and the ham. Quite yummy!

The Pan-Grilled Catch of the Day with Lobster Sauce was the best. The fish tasted fresh and the lobster sauce definitely went well with the fish. Everyone on the table voted unanimously that this dish was the best.

As for dessert, we had both of their signature cakes - Chocolate Banana and Marble Cheesecake (both priced at S$4.90). Zoe, Ellie and I have a common eating cake habit - we usually eat the tip of the cheesecake first.

Cheryl would eat the bananas first in the Chocolate Banana Cake.


It was a pity that our dear friend Gin couldn't join us for outing but I bet Zoe was pleased with the birthday outing. I guess I should begin to think of an exotic place for our next gathering.

The tasting of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts

For the past few days, I have been tasting the Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Well, I really didn't eat all of them but my mum did share some with me as well.

On Monday, I had the Glazed Chocolate Cake and why it looked very caramelised in the photo is because I used the toaster to warm up the doughnuts. It tasted nice although it was too sweet. I have never tasted chocolate cake in a doughnut shape but it doesn't really taste like a cake.

Later that evening, my mum had the Chocolate Iced Custard Filled doughnut. Due to the prolong condition, the chocolate on the doughnut had melted. The doughnut still tasted good and pillowy. The custard goes really well with the bun. Heavenly!

On Wednesday, I had the signature Original Glazed. What can I say? Although I accidentally caramelised the doughnut due to my negligence, the doughnut still tasted so good! Now, I can understand why people can eat three at one go.

A Weekend Retreat @ SAF Yacht Club - Part III

Day Three, 6/7/08 - On our last day of the retreat, Joy told us that the brunch would be a good one. Given that we had local delights the last two days, I began to wonder about our 'good' brunch and how good it is going to be. True enough, we weren't disappointed. We came into the room and there laid a big box of curry chicken, chicken satay and Nasi Lemak in Bento Style.

I got a box of Nasi Lemak, took some curry chicken and a stick of chicken satay. As usual, the nasi lemak tasted really good. The curry chicken wasn't too spicy and the satay was quite good despite eating it once. This was my brunch. I even had it with a cup of coffee and it was heavenly!


When I returned home, something caught me by surprise. My loving cousin, Sharon gave me four Krispy Kreme Doughnuts and I was already madly swooning over it.

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts always make me weak in my knees. The thought of biting into the soft, pillowy bun just makes my mouth drooling. This time round, she gave me other flavours which I haven't try before. Flavours like Glazed Chocolate Cake, Chocolate Iced Custard Filled and Two Original Glazed.


People I know who have tasted Krispy Kreme Doughnuts told me that original glazed is the best flavour but I still love Strawberry Kreme Doughnut which has strawberry jam and creme inside the bun and a layer of white chocolate. I remembered I had it when my kind auntie gave it to me a year ago and I will never forget that experience.

A Weekend Retreat @ SAF Yacht Club - Part II

Day Two, 5/7/08 - I woke up to a bright and cheerful morning. Aside from the uncomfortable night sleep, I was still able to enjoy the fresh morning air at around 7am. From our balcony, I could see the clear sea view, yacht bay and the nice swimming pool.

The clear sea view


The Yacht Bay


The Swimming Pool


For our breakfast, we had Fried Beehoon in Bento style (S$2.80). There was a piece of otah, fishcake, three pieces of popcorn chicken, a spoonful of ikan bilis and two slices of cucumber. Not forgetting the chilli. I love the peanuts and ikan bilis the most. It was sweet and tasty. I could eat many mouthful of those.


In the afternoon, we spent our day exploring the place and we happened to pass by this friendly man who is also a fisherman. That day, he managed to catch a stingray from the sea. Of course, he took out the poison out of the stingray. All of us were amazed by the catch as we hardly see a real stingray. The man was nice enough to let us take some pictures of the fish and furthermore, posing pictures with the famed stingray. A few brave ones among us carried the stingray but they weren't aware that the fish was pretty heavy and sticky.


For our lunch, it was Nasi Lemak in Bento style which consists of chicken wing, otah, fishcake, two slices of cucumber and a spoonful of ikan bilis (S$2.80).


As for our dinner, we went down to the WaterEdge Cafe for our meal as dinner was not provided in the retreat. The cafe was pretty crowded when we went there. The wait staff was shuffling all over the place serving the food. The chef was also trying to churning out all the food orders.

After studying the menu, I decided to order Hor Fun (S$4.80) as I wasn't really fond of Western Food. Sadly, it wasn't up to my standard. I shall not elaborate further.


My friend, Vana ordered Fish Curry with Rice (S$8.90). When the fish curry arrived in Claypot, it just looked appetising to me. Surprisingly, the fish curry tasted spicy.


Another friend, Justine ordered Salmon Salad (S$10.80).


Then another friend of mine, Jo ordered Mango and Prawn Salad (S$10.80). Now, that was when our drama began. You see, when the salad finally arrived, she was expecting something big and good.

But to her horror, it came in three medium-sized prawns, a small slice of mango and a lettuce bowl filled with salad. And that cost S$10.80?! Everyone on the table wasn't pleased, so was Jo. Immediately, she called the waitress to cancel or change the order. However, the waitress said the dish can't be cancelled or changed. Hence, it enraged Jo even more. Unsatisfied, she demanded to see the manager. Thankfully, the manager relented and allowed the salad to be changed to fish and chips (S$10.80). That was not all.

Just when we thought the situation had turned for a better, Jo found two streaks of hair in the fish and the chips respectively. In the end, she only ate a few mouthfuls of it. What a disappointing meal.

A weekend retreat @ SAF Yacht Club - Part I

Just came back from a weekend retreat with church friends at SAF Yacht Club and I was pretty tired to blog about the trip till today. It's one of those trips when the minute you stepped into your room, you just want to sleep. Anyway, here are the updates on the weekend trip. Hold your horses!

Day One, 4/7/08 - We arrived at the Yacht Club in the evening and when we arrived at that place, everyone was waiting for us in order to start the dinner. We had our dinner in an alfresco-style where we were overlooking the black blanket of sea. We had the usual four course Chinese-style meal. Our first dish was Kung Pao Chicken.


There were some dried chillies, cashew nuts, ginger slices and onions inside the dish. Due to the natural dining lighting we had, most of us can't distinguish either the chicken from cashew nuts or the chicken from ginger. In fact, everything looked almost the same. My friend, Pheb accidentally mistook a few slices of ginger as chicken. I don't find the Kung Pao sauce spicy though. It's more sweet than spicy whereas, the dried chilli is supposed to spice the entire dish up.


Our second dish was Stir-fry Beef Kailan. The beef slices weren't too tough and the vegetables tasted just right.


Our third dish was Sambal Kangkong. Whenever I think about Kangkong, it just whetted my appetite. I just love the taste of the spiciness in the dish itself. However, this tasted more salty than the usual Sambal Kangkong. So it shows that it's not an easy feat to cook kangkong.


Our last dish was Fish Head Curry. When my friend, Joy told us that Fish Head Curry was next on the food list, all of us just commented, "Whoa!" Unfortunately, the fish head curry failed to impress me.

Halfway through searching for some fish meat, my kind friend Pei aided us by shining her cell phone's torch light so that we can see the fish clearly. This was how my plate looked like with all the dishes.


For our dessert, we had ice-cream. I choose chocolate flavour and to me, it's just an ordinary ice-cream.

The Secret is Out: Cornish Pie doesn't make one corny!

This afternoon, I had lunch with my friend, Christine and finally, we don't have to talk about piano or chat with a piano by our side. Anyhow, Christine suggested eating at Secret Recipe @ Henry Park Apartment which is near to her place and also my temporary workplace. But this particular cafe at this branch brings back memories as I remembered how my cousin celebrated my 18th birthday back then. I remembered I had Chocolate Banana Cake and Baked Cheesecake.

Since Secret Recipe no longer gives free ice water, I decided not to order any drinks. Yes, I am a 'cheapo' and I don't think I want to pay S$0.50 for a small bottle of water since I can bring a bottle of water from my home. As I don't have the mood to eat something heavy today, I ordered a plate of Spaghetti Bolognaise (Beef) S$8.90.


I was a little disappointed in this dish as they do not have chilli flakes which I was hoping they would've and the tomato-based sauce was too diluted. I felt like there wasn't any sufficient tomatoes in it. Worst of all, there was too little beef in the sauce but lots of carrots. Fortunately, the melting cheese did helped.


Christine ordered Chicken Cornish Pie (Spicy) S$4.90 which looks like a huge curry puff to me. The innards of the pie appeared really nice and especially when the pippin' hot air starts to rise up from the freshly baked puff, it's heavenly! But she didn't managed to finish the pie as her tongue couldn't take in the spicy fillings.