Chuan . Grill & Noodle Bar @ Clarke Quay

One of the things I love about Singapore is that we can get food from all around the world in Singapore. In fact I've friends from Japan saying that some of the high-end sushis in Singapore is even better than some of those they get back home in Japan. I've no idea how fortunate we are sometimes. Until the point when I look into the mirror and realized how much weight I've put on from all the eating and drinking. LOL.

One of my latest addiction is actually "Chinese Cuisine". We have this saying that the Chinese eat everything and technically speaking, given the fact that China is so huge and have such a long history in food, most of our food that are cooked at home can be considered as Chinese cuisine which is why i added the "". What I'm talking about specifically this time round is actually these amazing skewers as well as Mala!

Chuan . Grill & Noodle Bar @ Clarke Quay serves really good skewers and a variety of ramen. The ramen comes in both soup base as well as dry. It's surprisingly good.


The soup based Scallop Noodles.


The beef shank noodles dry. Which is chef recommended as well as me recommended. I went there because I wanted to eat some skewers but end up falling in love with this amazing noodles.

Besides these noodles, they actually have MALA CHICKEN WINGS! OMG! MALA EVERYTHING IS REAL!!!


The skewers are nothing uncommon to see at some of these skewers restaurant you might say. But what I like about them is that they actually served their skewers on a charcoal grill to ensure that the food are kept warm but not overcooked.

That being said, skewers are still best served hot! If you are gonna leave it there for too long, you can't blame the food for turning cold and not as good as you imagined.

Each of these skewers price ranges from $1.20 onwards. I must say it's pretty affordable for the food quality plus where it is located.

I've been to a few other skewers shop but they are usually in Geylang or some places that are difficult to reach and has lack of parking. Chuan . Grill & Noodle Bar is conveniently located in the heart of Clarke Quay.

If you guys are still not convinced, here are more images followed by the address. No better way to find out than trying it out right?



Address: Clarke Quay 01-01-A. Nearer towards Liang Court Side by the river.

Contact: +65 6253 8849

Website: http://www.chuangrillandnoodlebar.com/

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New Zichar in Punggol - 大佬 Dai Lou by Shi Fu Ge

One of their signature dishes - Honey Pork Cubes. Die die must try.

I've done a lot of crazy things online over the years. Some I still find it funny but some will make myself blush a little when people bring it up. One of those not-so-proud moments is when people still remembers my very old "sex blog" (trust me, nothing interesting. It's more like social commentary about anything sex-related in Singapore) and also my blog post about "Why I hate Punggol" which kind of went viral. I really didn't see that coming but trust me, I got the attention I didn't expect. 

It's funny how it has been so long and people still remember it, especially when it comes from people I recently meet. Recently, I bumped into this person when I was having dinner at this new restaurant – Dai Lou, which in Cantonese means big brother by the way, and he went "See, now Punggol got new restaurant for you lah, in case you still hate Punggol." The Internet never forgets, it's true. 

So Dai Lou is a new restaurant at Punggol Marina Country Club. It serves what we usually known as "zichar". It is newly opened by a few youngsters along with Shi Fu Ge. Yup, you heard it right, it's one of our favourite online ZiChar delivery team Shi Fu Ge. So if you are like me, a fan of food delivery, this name shouldn't be a stranger to you, and if you have tried it, you should know the standard of their food.



Coming from a restaurant named Big Brother, there is no way you can't expect some cheeky names from their menu. The above is the Dai Lou's Money Bag. You know how all dai lous have loads of cash from all their *cough* activities? In this case, it's a wholesome bag of yummy seafood with salted egg sauce. You have mussels, lala, prawn, and crab! Best enjoyed with their fried golden mantou!



If the Money Bag ain't enough to satisfy your craving for crab and seafood, then this XO crab beehoon will do it. You can smell the generous serving of XO in the soup the moment they put this dish on the table. Don't worry, from what I've gathered, nobody got drunk because of this dish, yet. Keyword – YET.

I know. This might not be the best picture but I'm telling you this is the best dish. At least in my books. This is their Thai Style Pork Knuckle. I'm a big fan of pork knuckles but sadly, most I've eaten are prepared in the ang moh style where the skin is crispy the way I like it but the meat in it often ends too dry and tough. Not only is this Thai Style pork knuckles crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, the sweet and spicy chili sauce is exactly how most Singaporeans will like their food. It's really appetising! I actually had this for dinner twice that week. Once again, I hope my trainer ain't reading this.

If you are planning to visit them, here are the details: 

Marina country club Singapore 828670
#01-0R (not a typo)
Opens daily from 12nn - 1030pm.
Facebook Page: Dailou

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$2 Chicken Rice - Lao Wang Bean Sprout Chicken Rice

Just look at those fried pork lard cubes on the beansprouts. Trust me, they look as good as they taste.

Located in the midst of hipster cafes and hotels along Tyrwhitt road is this newly renovated coffee shop. Like every decent coffee shop, there will be a chicken rice stall and in this one, we have none other than this 3-month-old Lao Wang Bean Sprout Chicken Rice.

As a kid, chicken rice has always been my go-to food. My mum hates me for it because I would ask for chicken rice at 8am. LOL. Carbs carbs carbs I know. I never knew the idea of balance diet and I was a really fat boy.



The chicken here is really tender and although I'm not big on breast (yes I said it) but I actually finished a whole serving of chicken breast as it was so soft.



So besides the local favourites "white" and "roasted" chicken, I tried this fried cutlet chicken rice as well. Just the way how everyone likes it, it's crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. YUM!

Good news?

When was the last time you bought a plate of chicken rice at only $2? And I'm not talking about a small plate of rice trying to meet the price. It's the real deal at the same price!



The Real MVP! (Most Valuable Player. I've been using this term quite a bit due to the kids I play ball with and I realised a lot of people don't get it.)



It's the chili. Their chili is actually made in-house and not purchased from any supplier. It's spicier than the rest of the usual stalls and I love it. I actually took a few servings. Heehee.



Details: 

BBC Coffeeshop
153 Tyrwhitt Road (Beatty Lane)
Singapore 207566

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Romantic date night restaurant in Singapore - Casa Tartufo

Tajarin - The must eat. It's basically fresh truffles (that you can see and feel) with piedmont thin egg-noodle

When I was a kid, I remember having 2 types of french fries. The ones that my mum fry at home because she always tell me how much cheaper to do it at home, and the other type being the ones known as the "expensive ones" that I get with my happy meal from Mcdonald's.

Singapore has since grown by leaps and bounds over the past 10 - 20 years, and so did our quality of life as well as quality of food. My sister grew up in the era where they have this thing known as the "cheese fries" which was somewhat like the holy grail of fries which soon got knocked off its seat by the real hipster fries - Truffle Fries.

When I first tried truffle fries at a hipster cafe, I remembered asking my sister if truffle is another word for petrol. What the hell did I just put into my mouth? I later found out that truffle is actually very rare, very expensive, and even those truffle oil that they used at cafes are mostly not "real" truffle oil. They are almost always generously mixed with olive oil for cost reasons.

It's not like I will crave for truffle fries after finding out that it's ho liao but I soon got used to some cafe's truffle fries which tasted less like petrol and somewhat more like truffle (or as much as I think truffles taste like) but I would never imagined myself telling anyone that I really love truffle. Which I very much did after having a dinner at Casa Tartufo. 

Casa Tartufo is this restaurant which is located at the sexy and romantic boutique hotel along Erskine Road - The Scarlet. The restaurant was started by Chef Alex who was born in Italy and his wife Tammy from Singapore. Tammy is such a character. We had so much fun talking to her during dinner the other day.

I've since recommended the place to quite a couple of friends who all came back and thank me for it. Not only is the place really pretty for date night but the food is amazing. It's one of the very few places in Singapore where you can actually see and eat truffle off the plate for a very reasonable price. The must try is the Tajarin which is my hero image for this blog post. I love the Capesante as well, it's scallops AND truffle fondue. I do not need to say anything more about this dish I suppose. IT'S SCALLOPS AND TRUFFLE FONDUE, HELLO!!! 

And the other highlight of this place has to be the gelato. *drum rolls* It's actually truffle gelato with sea salt. I might have been writing for a long while but I've no idea how to describe that taste and sensation when you first put the gelato into your mouth. It's like a burst of flavours and sensations all happening together at once. Your mind might not get used to it on the very first mouth but trust me, you will want to have more than what you ordered after that.

Besides the restaurant, the lovely couple also runs Aria roof bar which is (duh!) at the roof of the Scarlet hotel.

A great and luxurious dinner, followed by a romantic roof top bar at one of Singapore's sexiest boutique hotel. Isn't this the perfect plan to get laid date night venue? I mean Valentine's day might be over but you know what they said about every day being Valentine's day if you could afford love each other right?

More information:

Name: Casa Tartufo
Where: 33 Erskine Rd, Singapore 069333
Phone: 6836 4647

If you are interested in The Scarlet Singapore, you can checkout SLH.com where they not only have sexy boutique hotels like Scarlet Singapore but also similar luxurious, boutique hotels from around the world.

Good luck!

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NOX - Dine in the Dark

 A selfie of myself at Nox -Dine in the Dark. Girlboss told me I look beautiful tonight. Agree?

Nox - Dine in the Dark is one of those places that has always been on my to-try list but yet at the same time too lazy to make the arrangements. After all, it's fine dining and not like one of those places that you just walk-in randomly? So laziness got the better of me and we just never ever did it until I stumbled upon this app Quandoo? In short, Quandoo is an app that allows you to make restaurant reservations easily and of course it offers certain loyalty programs as well as discounts. You should check it out.

For the unaware, why is Nox so interesting? As the name suggests, you get to dine in the dark. It's not like the kind of dark where you simply turn off the lights at home to save electricity but imagine total darkness. The can't-see-your-fingers-even kinda darkness... where of course, I looked the most handsome.

Don't quote me but I guess the whole idea of the experience is not just to let you feel how it's like to lose sight but also to heighten your taste buds. You know how Daredevil got all super sensitive the moment he lost his sight? Something along that line I guess. So the challenge is that you will be given 4 small portions of different dishes at each course (Starters, Main, Dessert) without knowing what they are and you get to guess what you are eating at the end of the meal! So basically you will be served 12 different dishes.

The only food that you can see for the night. It's one of the starters before the lights went out.

What if I've allergies? 

So before you actually have your meal, you will have a short briefing at the beautiful (and well-lit) lounge. This is the part where they share with you what is going to happen and also for you to chicken out share what allergies you have or what type of food you do not eat.

How do I cut my steak? 

Everything is cut into small bites - think baby food. You can't see your spoon, your fork and definitely not your cup. You will be given a short time to orientate what's on the table with the help of the waiter/waitresses. If you are lazy like me, you can just put the bowl really near your mouth and simply push all the food into your mouth without scooping. AH! And the good news is that nobody can see how unglamorous you really are. Go ahead and chew with your mouth open or not wear any make up.

But my phone got light mah. I can just turn it on right? 

They have lockers before you enter the dining area on level two, so you actually have to surrender everything that illuminates which includes your phone. Pro tip, there's actually two very small red LEDs which are supposed to be on the exit sign if I'm not wrong. If you are feeling really uneasy you can actually look for that two LEDs to give you some comfort or like what I did, I had my eyes closed the whole time.

 A picture of our food.

Nox is a place that allows guests to have real conversations. You have zero distraction. You will not be looking at that hot chick across the room nor check out what's happening on Facebook. It's really one of those meals where you are forced to talk and listen to each other. Oh, to be honest, I've no clue how close the tables are and who were the people sitting around me. So I'm actually not sure how much of our conversation can the next table hear as well?

Me doing a hand stand on the table.

Did I mention that the waiters and waitresses are actually visually impaired? I'm really impressed by their service. They are very gentle and attentive and will often come by and check if everything is okay if they don't hear you eating or shifting the bowls.

Me with my pants off. Since nobody can see me anyway. No, I'm just kidding. And no, please do not try that. They might just have night visual goggles. This is actually a picture of me without my top, not pants.

A little reminder, if you do not like any of the food and wish to pass it to your friend, make sure he/she pass you back the bowl and not stack on top of their own bowl because this is actually rather dangerous for the staff as they wouldn't know it is stacked and might just drop it. Oh, and how did I know? erm... heehee.. *shrug*

So how was the meal? Our convo went something like this

"eh, what's this? I dunno leh. Is it duck?"

"Or is it beef?"

"Is there a chance it's horse meat?"

"Why not? We didn't say we are allergy to that anyway."

"What's this creamy thing? Tastes strange?"

"Could it be..."

"NOOOOO.. Don't say it. The chance of you having tasted it before is way higher than me you know right..."

"Oh, this is nice. Very familiar taste."

"This one tastes like..."

"Eh.. is this.. siao liao. I think I'm allergic to this.."

"wtf is this.. pui pui pui"

"give me lah. I like"

"where's your hand?"

"it's above my cup"

"where's your cup?"

"below my hand lor"

"Is it left or right?"

"left"

"your left or my left?"

"just stretch your hands out"

"what if I touch the wrong thing"

"just stretch it out lahhhh"

"ok ok, meet at your cup"

After the meal 

The waiters will actually guide you out the moment you are done with your food. You will be given a form to fill up and make some guesses which they will reveal the answers shortly after. That's when we went,

"realllly meh.. I didn't taste that lor"
"sure or not? did they serve us wrongly?"
"eh, actually if they didn't put we also won't know right?"

Verdict

The experience was awesome. The whole "surprise!" and "focus-on-your-meal-and-convo-and-not-handphone" experience was really fun. But I didn't like it at all as a dining experience. I guess I'm the kind of old school eater that believes in 色香味俱全 (loosely translate - colour, aroma,taste, altogether). Not being able to see the food just makes the food so much less appealing even when the food tastes and smells good. I was actually craving for a good old double cheeseburger when I was done. Which I didn't because I was really full from the food but yet I wasn't satisfied emotionally. The meal just didn't feel complete.

Will I visit again? 

I might visit again with my friends to enjoy the dining in dark experience but if I'm looking for good food, it would not be my first choice. Their food menu actually changes every few weeks and when I was there they were serving the X'mas menu.

#OOTD (Outfit Of That Day) 

"Eh, what's the point of you wearing so nice to dine at Nox? Nobody can see anyway"

"I feel confident lah. I like to look nice lah. Like woman buy such panties for what? people also cannot see. Same logic mah."

"How you know women wear what nice panties?"

"Eh.. Is this duck?"

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Star Wars Mooncakes from Mei-Xin

I'm not exactly the biggest fan when it comes to mooncakes. In fact I never ever eat mooncakes because of the oily after taste that lingers in my mouth. Not the traditional ones, not the snow skin ones and definitely not all the strange fusion ones. Every single time I said this, there will be this person that goes, "That's because you never tried XXXXX before. That's different.". So I will go and buy for my mum and try it as well, but nope. Still no. 

When I was a kid I would refuse to eat mooncakes but I still love the occasion. My mum will buy me lanterns and we will walk around the neighbourhood with it. I mean it's the same road I use to get to school (which I hated) but for some amazing reasons holding a lantern makes it all enjoyable. See, we do not need Pokemon GO back in the days for me to take a walk. 

The only reason why I picked up the Mei-xin mooncakes was obviously because they are the "Deathstar cakes". Check out the metal tin! Yes, I was in fact paying $65 for 2 metal tin. Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! It's actually very tasty. It tasted more like cakes than mooncakes. And look at their prints. It's damn pretty? 

See, Darth Vader and the storm troopers are happy!!

I know my post a bit late but you know when you have too many pictures to shoot and edit for your clients, you get a little bit lazy with it comes to my own. And for those interested, I got mine from Ngee Ann City/ Takashimaya the event square area. It's $65 for 2 tins but I got a feeling it's having some discount now since Mid-Autumn Festival is tomorrow.

Happy Mid-autumn Festival everyone!

P.S. Why isn't MAF a public holiday? Comon!

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Old School Breakfast - Tong Ah

Life has its strange way of treating us. Sometimes I think God (or any higher power you believe in lah) has this very strange sense of humour that probably only he(or she) appreciates.

If you guys have been following this space since my teenage years (okay I exaggerate) earlier days, you will noticed that there are a few things that I don't do (much) on this blog.

1. Take nice pictures
2. Proper Grammar
3. Food reviews (Not much at least. Less say with nice pictures and proper Grammar)

Life happened and I guess it's for the better. (I hope.) Met a client the other day and she was saying that she see a very big change in style on both my both and my Instagram. It's funny how life has made a big turn and now I'm taking so many pictures. I'm shooting something almost every other day be it casually for fun or for a client. To top that, I actually own a some sort food business. Fine, it's not exactly FnB but it's closely related. As for my grammar, it's still work in progress. Trust me, I'm actually reading a lot more these days and in fact I just got myself a basic grammar assessment book. No shame for not knowing but shame to those who stops learning I guess.

Heard of the saying "changes is the only constant in life"? Somethings in life will always need constant upgrading (like how facebook believes our app needs to be updated weekly. The little red bubble notification on my appstore icon irritates the shit out of me. Am I the only one? PUI!) while on the other hand somethings are best kept as how it is. We can't fight changes but we can only make the best out of it.

I grew up eating such toasts and eggs in the hood with my parents at Chai Chee area. For some strange reasons we always call it 香香面包. I guess it was due to the fact that it tasted a lot better than the white bread I just get it out of the packet. I remember there was once the uncle at the usual coffee shop served me with some bad kaya and I ended up calling it 臭臭面包. #Randommemories

I like how the toast at Tong Ah was crispy but yet at the same time not overly crispy that it loses the softness of the bread. And the must try at Tong Ah is the awesome milk tea. (Sorry no pearl)

If you are familiar with Keong Saik area, you will noticed that Tong Ah is actually no longer located at the building that has the big Tong Ah word above it. So I heard they were forced to relocate thus their current unit, which is a few units down the road at 35 Keong Saik Road.

The sad fact about such business is that it will eventually bite the dust one day and it's not just because of rental or manpower but the fact that nobody will take over such businesses. As much as the history of such businesses can go way back but how many generations can such business stay afloat as who they are? They may be able to stick around by selling their brands or even modernizing themselves, but are they who we like them for if they are no longer the same?

I know it's a very long long long long long time before my son can take over my blog businesses but would that be something I wish for him to do? Or would I just want him to do what he likes? See ah, I just talked about this a few blog post back  and here I am thinking about this topic AGAIN. I think this is indeed a sign of aging already. LOL.

创业难守业更难. I guess this saying will never get old.

P.S. See, I'm really a very lousy food blogger. After much talks I really didn't say much about the food at Tong Ah. In summary, Tong Ah is really a good place to visit on a Sunday morning for such nostalgia breakfast. And for the unaware, Tong Ah transform into a buzzing Zhi char stall in the evening that serves superb food. But that's another story for another day.

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A Cheese Tart better than BAKE

Few weeks ago when I was at BKK for work, I managed to steal some time out to grab a BAKE cheese tart. It was the same week when it came to Singapore with a reputation of being Hokkaido's best cheese tart. As a result, Singaporeans once again rushed down to the mall and queue like they have never queued before.

Oh, there was no queue at BKK. Not at all. I walked in and out with my tart within 3 mins. In fact, I finished my tart within the same 3 mins as well. Not too sure if tart was small or mouth is too big.

Fast forward to 3 weeks later, and guess what? The queue is still as disgustingly long. At least 2hrs wait to get your hands onto this cheese tart. I am pretty sure queuing for things is a national hobby.

Image Source: Unscrambled.sg's Facebook Page.

With the arrival of Hokkaido's best cheese tart, (which I found it so-so) many local bakery has also started selling their own cheese tarts. Remember the whole Bubble Tea nonsense? I guess it is the same thing all over again (just that I'm no longer 16 years old). But I would give more credit to cheese tart over bubble tea. There's really not much skill when it comes to making a cup of bubble tea. (I think. Just pour in only right.)

So the other day while I was walking down the road, thinking about life and suddenly got hungry, I stepped into one of the most mainstream restaurant and saw this normal looking cheese tart waving at me. I swear it was waving at me. Not like I was that hungry and started having hallucination.

I saw it there...

Then I bought it...

Then I ate it...

Then I.. WAHHHHH..  MOTHER OF GAWDDDD

You saw it right! It's from Hanis. If you have no idea, Hanis is the halal version of Hans. I've no idea if it is available island wide but I found it at the Wikie edge branch. It is going at $3 for a pop and currently it is having a promotion of buy 5 get 1 FREE!!

Guess who bought 5 after that. :D

And no, no code for you to quote and get discount. Smith also paid for them at full price lor. But I swear it's worth the money!!!

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