Chinatown Food Centre on 08/12/08

五十年代 02-048

Traditional Kaya Toast $1

Floss Thick Toast $1

Kaya Thick Toast $1

Food / Beverage 7
Value 7
Pictures displayed and what was actually served differs a lot. The toast in the displayed pictures are thick with spread but the ones customers got is different.
Toast is good, no wonder the queue but the spread could have been thicker. Yes it is only $1, what do you expect? but if that is what you have put in the pictures, shouldn't it be consistent?

Long Ji

Egg Century Porridge $2

Food / Beverage 7
Value 8
Much to my amazement, the porridge here serves are very cheap! For the scallop porridge, it's going at only $1.20. And they have quite a lot of choices available.
Got the egg century porridge to try, it was surprisingly good.
At only $2, they are not stingy with their ingredients. They sliced up 1 whole egg century. The porridge is soft, taste is mildly sweet, have those homely feel.
Nice!

$2 noodles from Top 1 Handmade Noodles

Food / Beverage 8
Value 8
I heart the noodles from Top 1. It is smooth, slippery, not too strong of a flour taste. The price of their noodles usually goes at $2.50 and up so when i saw this going at $2, decided to get it.
Turns out to be just a normal noodle, with all the basic ingredients - pork chunks, ikan bilis, mushroom & a lot of veggies.
Still taste excellent though!

Duck Rice from a very Long Queue stall

Food / Beverage 6
My daddy being a typical Singaporean - "long queue, must queue, food must be good" went to queue and got back 2 plates.
Taste?
Normal, disappointing. The braised duck meat flavor isn't strong enough for that kick and in my opinion, if food is served in a Styrofoam plate, it is pretty annoying. The scraping, the anytime plate might fly off as the food is finishing.
Their chili is good though. Specially made i supposed.

Fu Cheng Homemade Springroll

Popiah $1.20

Food / Beverage 7
Couldn't really remember anything special but it's good.

From some stalls selling traditional Hong Kong Dim Sums

燕饺

Food / Beverage 7
First time eating it, taste something like wu xiang. Except this is bigger.
The veg inside gave the dumpling a pretty fragrant taste and though it is fried, it isn't overly oily.
Good.

Chee Cheong Fun

Food / Beverage 6
Normal

Chicken Claws

Food / Beverage 8
This is good!!!
The sauce they have marinated their chicken claws with is superb! The claws upon chewing is filled with the taste of the sauce. The sauce is spicy but not overly spicy till it will get you running off for water. The spiciness gives you that kick.
Yummy!

一一五糖水 02-206

ieat reviews here
hungrygowhere reviews here

Black Sesame, Peanut & Almond Pasta and Gingko Barley

Cantonese style desserts are all specially grounded with mill which is rare, allow me to repeat RARE in all desserts shops.
Yes, all might claim that their desserts are authentic blah blah, traditional but their desserts ultimately are still made from machines.
Therefore the desserts served here are soft, like really soft, while sipping, you can have the picture of the mill grounding what you are drinking therefore the impossibly soft taste.

Black Sesame
Food / Beverage 6
Being a fan of black sesame, this was not up to standard. It taste burnt.

Peanut
Food / Beverage 7.5
Yes, good! Peanut taste is not too thick not too watery, nice!

Almond
Food / Beverage 8
The almond taste is strong, one more bowl please!

Gingko Barley
Food / Beverage 8
I heart the Gingko Barley here. The tiny slices of tofu or egg skin, with abundance of soft gingko and barley is wonderful!
Sweet but not overly sweet.
Heart!!

Overall
Food / Beverage 9
Value 9
It ONLY cost $1.20 for a bowl of really good desserts
Service 8
Auntie & uncle there are warm & friendly despite the long queue.

Bukit Timah Food Centre on 07/12/08

Ala Matriciana
(Bacon in Tomato Base w a touch of chili(optional) )

previous try here
hungrygowhere reviews here

Food / Beverage 9
Matriciana in tomato based sauce with hickory smoked bacon, herbs and chilli flakes was recommended by the chef and man the taste is lip-smacking!
The bacons, tomato, spag, sauce was a great, marvellous combi!
I am seriously addicted to Mien's pasta!

carrot cake $2 from Seng Kee Carrot Cake 02-182

previous try here

Food / Beverage 8
Yes, it still taste awesome & seriously addictive!

Heng Leong 02-180

black carrot cake

Food / Beverage 6
The cakes are not in small pieces unlike other stalls, making it more flavorsome and there was also enough black sauce on it.
Wont get be running back for more though.

Fried Hokkien Mee 02-184

hokkien mee w chili

Food / Beverage 6
Pretty big plate with prawns & squids.
Nothing unique in taste except it is quite watery which i happen to fancy my hokkien mee to be.

Grass Jelly & Lime juice from Soyako 02-166

Shredded Grass Jelly

Food / Beverage 6
The lime juice is not really sour enough to give you the kick and the grass jelly is surprisingly in shredded state.
Is that how grass jelly is supposed to be in?
Suggestions? Stick with what they are famous for - beancurd & ah ballings!

Sweet Hub 02-141

White Fungus Red Date $1.50

Food / Beverage 6
Was expecting to find red date inside but i guess it's the sugar syrup that is made from red date.
Taste likewise pretty normal but the ingredients inside are quite a lot.
Honey tadpoles, white fungus, nata de coco, gingko nuts.

Pasta de Waraku on 06/12/08

Maccha Cake

Food / Beverage 8
The green tea ice cream in Pasta taste different from other Japanese restaurants because theirs is imported from Japan.
the flavor is not too thick, not too light.
However for their Maccha cake, it taste heavy, thick not to my liking.
My suggestions will be not to try their cake but their desserts instead. It's superb!

Provence on 06/12/08

Their list of products here
hungrygowhere reviews here

Choco Twist, Raisin Bun $0.70, Brazilian Cheese Bun $0.80, Petit Croissant $0.50

Raisin Bun, Brazilian Cheese Bun, Petit Croissant Food 6
For these 3 I packed it back home to eat and much to my disappointment, all 3 taste pretty normal but I am sure it will taste much better if it is fresh from the oven.

Cream & Chocolate Wassant

Cream & Chocolate Wassant $6 per pack

Cream & Chocolate Wassant Food 9
“These little breads are anything but boring. Soft and fluffy, sweet and tasty, a favourite for all ages.”
These is the bread that got them famous and I guess everyone taste is different. For me, this is the 2nd time I’m having and the quality seems to be consistent.
It is still soft and fluffy, sweet and tasty, and indeed it is a favourite for all ages as my parents heart it too and agrees that Provence do bakes remarkable bread!

Choco Twist $1.40

Choco Twist Food 7
“A sweet bread with chocolate swirls and almond crunch.”
Had this in the café and yes it taste sweet but normal but i like it!

Latte

Cinnamon Bun $1.90

Cinnamon Bun Food 9
After getting the wassant and the buns, it rained big and my friend and I were stuck. So we sat in the café and he ordered a latte. The Cinnamon Bun which I thought I can resist initially seems to be calling out loud for me and so I gave in.
Picked one and asked the lady at the counter to heat it up for me.
When it was served, I went crazy. The smell of the sweetness of the Cinnamon was overwhelming and the sugary glaze was melting!!!

Cinnamon Bun cut opened

so soft, sticky and full of flavor!

a view of the Cinnamon in the Bun

cinnamon spices well spread in the bun!

No wonder almost everyone who came in had this on their tray when at the counter. The taste goes totally well with the cinnamon spices.

and as Provence's claims for their bread "The ingredients we use at Provence have gone through strict supervision and of the highest quality."
"Provence is fully equipped with necessary baking tools for in-house made-from-scratch products so you get only the freshest bread hot off the oven."

Indeed, as they have confidently claimed and achieved, the taste of their bread all have one in common – splendidly soft!

Ambience 7
Provence's claims for their cafe ambience "Take-out, eat-in, up to you. The moment you step into Provence, there is a real sense of feeling at ease as the aroma our wide selection of breads welcomes you. The ambience of the cafe by the patio is typically Europe, as you enjoy your tasty bread and freshly brewed coffee, what more is there to ask for?"
Seating is available inside with air-conditioned as well as alfresco with wall fans however if only the size of their café can a bit be bigger with more seats available would be better though.

Value 7.5
Price at Provence is a few cents for your normal price bread at $1.20 but for good quality taste, this is definitely worth it. And for people who are dining in there is No GST, No Service Charge. Worth the money!

Service 8.5
Food and beverages are served, little wet towels are provided all at no extra cost for dine-in customers. And they will gladly warm up your bread upon requests. The ones at the counters are all Japanese and they are very polite. Especially the one who helped me to warm up my Cinnamon Bun and served it to me. She asked me is the air-con too cold for me. How nice is that?! thumbs up!

Hankook Rice Cake House on 06/12/08

한국 Rice Cake House

Off Upper Thomson Road
Singapore 574737
Tel : (65)456 3456





hungrygowhere reviews here

Extra Information quoted from here
--> "In Korea, there are different types of duk(traditional rice cakes), with ingredients, shapes and tastes varying from region to region. Specific cakes are served at specific occasions. Duk is made mainly from rice or glutinous rice that has been ground up, steamed, turned into dough and stuffed with a variety of sweet fillings before being transformed into dumplings or bread-like cakes. The taste and texture is similar, perhaps, to certain types of nonya kueh or mochi, the equally chewy Japanese version of glutinous rice cakes."


In Hankook, for their duk milk, eggs, butter or preservatives are not used. Therefore it is healthy and suitable for vegetarians.
They have a box of samples and i tried
시 루 dduk which consists of red bean.
Unlike the red bean we tried, the taste of 'si ru dduk' isnt sweet.
The lady recommended me to try 바 람 dduk which is a crescent-shaped dumpling filled with red-bean paste and air, sealed in like a balloon.
Though 'ba rum dduk' like 'si ru dduk' consists red bean, the latter one taste better.

Overall the taste wasn't much to my liking even though i like korean food and unlike ladyironchef, i did not bought any back home.
Thumbs up for the service and for Mrs Kim to set up an authentic rice cake stalls!