Friday, April 11, 2008

Minang House @ Lucky Plaza Shopping Centre

BA brought SF and I to the most famous nasi padang place in Lucky Plaza - Minang House. It's usually packed with locals and Indonesians.


He did the ordering while we girls sat down. We trusted BA to order some typically authentic Indonesian food for us!



Clockwise, from top left: egg omelette, fried chicken, fried tofu and cow's lung. He also ordered curry spinach and beef rendang (not pictured).



My favourite was the beef lung, it was tender and tasty.



Thanks for lunch BA!


Lunch @ the Tanglin Club

I'm so lucky! PC decided to take us girls to lunch at her club today, the Tanglin Club. It's a very exclusive club and membership is non-transferrable!



This restaurant that PC brought us to, it's very proper and british. You can't use your handphones here, and there is a dress code (no slippers, shorts, sports attire, jeans) and children under 16 cannot enter.



This is a poor shot, but it was the star of our lunch. It was an excellent ceasar salad. Just the right amount of dressing, tasty and crispy.


We ordered 3 soups to share - mulligatawny, french onion and lentils. The muligatawny is, as I understand, an Anglo-Indian soup so it tastes quite asian, with some beans and some Indian spices. The lentils was ok, we thought it would be creamy but it was actually a clear soup.


My choice of French Onion was rich and beefy. The cheesy toast on top was lovely.



It was Signature laksa day (friday), and lots of patrons ordered it, so I went for it as well. It was a very large portion, and someone with a less healthy appetite would surely have surrendered before finishing the bowl. I like the quai;s' eggs in it. It was very lemak (rich with coconut milk), but didn't taste like the Katong laksa type. It tastes more... homemade?


PL's fried Hokkien mee, also touted as a hot favourite here. It was also a large portion and she couldn't finish it.


PC had a very very English meal of Calf's liver with bacon. the bacon was nice and crispy. The liver was red and a little too bloody for me, but for PC it was just right.



Thanks PC, I really enjoyed our girls' lunch!




Monday, April 07, 2008

Lunch @ Hong Lim Food Centre

I am so into kway chap right now, I have been eating it at every place, maybe cos it's been pretty cold and I want to eat something steamy and hot, but am tired of fish soup.

This is the best best kway chap I have tried. the soup is fragrant and sweet and doesn't taste too much of garlic or salt. The braised meats are tender and not salty and just right. Love it.



2nd floor of Hong Lim food centre, near the crayfish hor fun lady.




Then I always have dessert here. I walk over to this 2nd floor place, where they serve sesame paste peanut paste and all kinds of hong kong desserts, including mango sago. I always have this - almond paste with glutinous rice balls (SGD2).


lovely!


Tenshin @ Regent Hotel

Sorry, I've been really busy so I think you haven't seen many updates on this blog.

Well, DH brought me to this nice restaurant at Regent that I have been wanting to try. Tenshin @ Regent Hotel is widely acknowledged to be the best at tempura. It specialises in tempura, unlike many Japanese restaurants in Singapore which try to do everything.



DH took a lunch set that came with Japanese prawns, very crispy and sweet.





This was the appetiser of kailan stems in shoyu and topped with fish flakes I think. It was costly, at SGD3 per person, especially since we didn't order it.

DH's set also came with sashimi. Quite lovely.
We both had a salad starter, which was very very nice. It was a sesame dressing, very fragrant and very appetising. I loved it.


This was what I was looking forward to. On the a la carte menu at SGD25 each, this is uni tempura.


Sweet uni is wrapped in seaweed, lightly dusted in batter and then deep fried. It is crispy on the outside but still sweet and cool on the inside. A delicious treat.




Our friendly chef who was very good at timing our food. My set came with prawns, vegetables and I think, pumpkin. And he didn't serve everything at once. He made sure I always had one item on my plate, but not the same thing in a row, ie, prawn, veg, prawn, pumpkin, fish etc.


My set came with plain rice, miso soup and pickles. I asked for a 2nd serving of pickles and paid SGD8 for it.
DH's rice came with tempura prawns bits in it and was tossed in some dressing.


DH and I both liked this. 2 types of tempura japanese mushroom.
We ended our set with a refreshing sorbet.


It was a pretty expensive meal, I think DH's set was SGD80 and mine was SGD30.

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Ma Maison @ Central Mall

This place (Ma Maison, Central Mall, Eu Tong Sen Street, #03-96) serves Japanese style western food... would it be nice? It is on the third floor, take the escalator in the corner from the santouka ramen joint.



The decor is like a little european house (the name means "my house" in French) so in keeping with the decor and the theme, they give you a metal key with a number corresponding to your table so that you can check out of the european B&B after paying the bill.


DH took the hamburg set with their signature sauce (SGD26). It comes with a small serving of salad, nothing interesting, just lettuce, tomato in thousand island dressing.

Then a bowl of cream soup. cream of what? cream of nothing. it was just cream soup.

DH wondering whether he would find clams or mushrooms in the cream of kosong soup.


I ordered the mentaiko pasta (SGD19), it's a signature dish but not available for lunch usually. The chef graciously agreed to make it for me because I wanted to try it.

This is my first time trying mentaiko pasta. My curiosity was aroused when Chubby Hubby blogged about making it. I was keen to try making it too because DH and I love mentaiko, especially when it is cooked with cheese on a hotplate. This version was disappointing however. It was salty and fishy, without any taste of little balls I was hoping for. I thought every bite would have a burst of fishy roe, creating an interesting contrast between al dente pasta and bouncy fish roe, but this was not to be.

Maybe this was just a version that I don't like. I hope to try more versions of this popular dish before I give my verdict.


DH's hamburger set was quite substantial, and quite nice too. I think there was an egg, and some sweetbreads with the hamburger, if I am not wrong. The sauce was tasty.

It was a late lunch for both of us, but the nice thing is that, whenever DH has a free moment, he would always call me first to ask if I would like to lunch together... so we ended up here to try this.

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

What I've been doing...

Oh I have been so busy, I haven't been able to update my blog much!

Sorry people!

I have been too busy to eat very well, since I am working on several projects at once... luckily there are always fruits in the pantry... This was my snack... juicy jambu and scrumptious strawberries... very enjoyable and healthy.

Weekend Activities

The good thing about my job is that weekends are sacrosanct and I never ever work on weekends. DH and I take Cutie out, to do fun stuff on weekends and I know Cutie looks forward to our time together.

Swimming



When the weather is nice and warm, we like to go swimming at Por Por's condo pool... doesn't he look adorable in his new scuba suit... He just outgrew the other one...


He's a bit grumpy here cos he doesn't want to pose for pictures, he wants to go swimming!




He looks so happy after his swim, with a glass of apple juice!

Driving Remember this? We used to be able to do this for 50 cents or 1 dollar at places like the open area outside Toa Payoh Library etc... Anyway, this is the Bedok South market, opposite temasek JC. We eat dinner, and Cutie drives around in a motorised car. Due to inflation and the rising costs of fuel... it now costs SGD2 for 10 minutes.

Cutie was pretty happy in his red convertible, then don't know how come, he ended up on a blue motorbike, and as he did a hairpin turn, he fell off, but didn't injure himself too badly. Sure, he cried... but only cos he didn't want to go home yet... He said he wanted to ride on the blue motorbike again... what a plucky little fella.

GYMBOREE



This is like, a darn expensive playgym / playground for kids, but it has its appeal since it's clean and padded and comfortable and airconditioned. We pay SGD8 for 1 hour of fun. But Cutie really likes the place... he asks to go there every weekend. He remembers all the songs he sings there and repeats them when we get home... And he really likes Gymbo the Clown too, picture above.

Me: What name shall we give Mei Mei?

Cutie: Gymbo!

Me: (Appalled) What? No no no!

Cutie: It's very nice you know!

Me: -_-"


I shall leave you with a video of Cutie having fun at gymboree.


Prive @ Keppel Bay Drive

DH was able to have brunch with me cos he was on leave... I was at work, but stepped out for an early lunch break...

Where should we go?

Vivocity is too boring... so I thought of Prive, that new restaurant on its own private island, near the Carribean. From my office, I can see it, and always wondered if it was nice. It was a lovely drive, down Keppel Bay Drive, which leads to the restaurant. There is Prive Bakery and and Cafe, Prive Restaurant and Prive Gastrobar (which serves drinks).

We went to the Bakery & Cafe, as the other 2 only opened after 12. They had cakes in the chiller (some very interesting ones, like Peanut Butter Brownie...), pastries, breads and muffins...

There were some salads, 2 soups, sandwiches and quiches.


DH ordered the smoked salmon and onion quiche (SGD12), above. The salad was dressed in balsamic vinegar and quite nice and refreshing. The quiche was toasty hot and fantastic. It was not too eggy and the crust was crisp and just nice (I dont like quiches to come in a thick hard crust!). The smoked salmon was not dry or salty and had a delicate bite. All in all, I really liked it.



Here is a close up of that delectable quiche.




A view of the harbour....




And the fountain in the driveway...


We'd like to come back for lunch (SGD32+++ for 2 courses, SGD38 for 3 courses, gourmet lunch at SGD65+++) sometime... it really looks quite nice.


:)