R burger

I am a sucker for a good burger any time.

So when I met a friend for lunch and she suggested R burger, (which I have never tried) I said yes immediately!

It's cute that all the buns are stamped with an 'R'.

I got the avocado cheese burger. Well, it should have been a safe choice. Avocado - I like. Chesse - I love. Beef - I want!

But it turned out pretty disappointing. The avocado was unripe! Hard slices on the burger, not the nice and mushy texture I was expecting. Beef was a little dry and sad. But I thought the mun-tou bun was pretty clever from the usual sourdough bun. But this was not enough to save the burger.
The buckwheat tea was a drink that tasted healthy. i.e. No sugar, slightly bitter almost herbal taste. Something that is an acquired taste.
Also pretty disappointing were the chicken toufu nuggets. There were just overly oily! I would take the fried toufu at Japanese Restaurants any day over this.

at the $2 shop

Everything going for $2! The sign outside the shop screams.

Turned out to be quite an eye opening experience. $2 buys you shampoo that "make your hair softness and lightness"

and also leggings that keep your legs "super doper warm"

Hand Burger

Now, I am a HUGE fan of the hamburger. Nothing is more satisfying than a thick juicy slab of beef between 2 toasted buns. So while walking at Somerset 313 with a friend, I saw this new (new to me) burger joint and I had to try it!

The concept is up market canteen. Customers sit on benches without back rests (boo) and are served on custom made wooden trays with holders for the plate, drink and flatware.
I choose 'The Works' from the menu - beef, onion rings, sunny side up egg, cheddar cheese & bacon all sandwiched in between 2 buns. (or so I thought)
Turned out that the burger was piled too high with all the ingredients that it was almost impossible to balance the top bun on top.

So, the verdict? The burger was passable. Good, no doubt, but it lacked oomph. Bacon wasn't that fragrant and crispy, beef wasn't that juicy. And the burger is a working man's food meant to be enjoyed by eating it with my hands! Even for 'gourmet' burgers. Eating it with a fork & knife just robs us of this pleasure. And I cannot mix all the stuff in the burger into one satisfying mouthful!

Side dish of buffalo wings was HOT! The 'super duper extra hot' chili sauce that the wings were drenched in burned my lips and tongue and effectively numbed my taste buds for a good 15 minutes. No go.
Fries faired somewhat better... But would I revisit this place? Probably not.

It is just not worth it

This happened to my Aldo shoes in February. The heel gave way.

So I sent it to the cobbler. And he fixed it.

Fast forward 1 1/2 months later...

Now, the front sole gave way.

I think it's just not worth sending $150 shoes to the cobbler for repair.

The GSS is coming up.

It's a good reason to get nicer pairs of shoes.

Japanese Marvelousom Cream

In Somerset 311 is a Japanese Marvelous Cream ice cream shop. Tried their ice-cream. Not too good. Perhaps I prefer the dense variety of ice cream. Here, it tastes pretty airy and unsatisfying.

coz all teenagers love it

Also in People's Park food court is a dessert stall. The auntie manning the stall turned out to be my colleague's friend's mom. And she was quite chatty when we visited her stall.

At first I picked out my dessert: a almond fungus soup. But she said:

"you should try this: coffee jelly. You will surely love it"

me: "Auntie, why do you say so?"

Auntie: "Because all teenagers love it"

Wasn't too sure if I was just complemented or made fun of but Of course I had to try it!

the Japanese Coffee Jelly was quite delicious. Coffee flavour was shiok and the milk & sugar syrup provided a nice creamy & sweet kick to the slightly bitter jelly.

Minty Green

Seems like the pictures didn't display nicely when this was first posted. So here is the post again!

Fashion comes and goes. But a well made shirt lasts forever. This might just be my new mantra.

Yay! I just tailored myself a shirt.

It's not from the trendiest of names - I first heard of the brand from my Dad after all - but they do have a long and proud history of shirt making. And I am quite proud to be able to participate in it.

Walking into their shop was quite exciting! So many fabrics and designs to choose from! I think one must really know what they want in their shirt before stepping into the shop, otherwise, the lunch hour is definitely not enough to order a shirt.

The fabric was a mint green 70-30 cotton polyester blend with a little texture to it. Think it's coz of my room's lighting. The colour is a little yellowish here.

Under certain lighting conditions, I would say it looks turquoise even!

I chose a classic semi spread short collar, to go with the slim cut of the shirt.

And instead of loud french cuffs, I went for pointed cuffs.

And the 2 weeks it took for the shirt to come was quite a wait! Finally I received the sms to collect the shirt and with excitement, I went down to try it on.

Well, I loved the fit of the shirt. Just that when I tried it, I reliased it's a little bit see-through - might be a bit too sexy for work... haha. Then the polyester blend fabric makes it a little warm too. But all in all, I'm quite excited to wear a mint green shirt - it's a colour that I've been trying to find off the rack but failed! It's the cool colour for Singapore's summery weather.

I think this is the beginning of an addiction to tailoring shirts.

My wallet moans.

the best vegetarian cai peng!

My colleague was always eating brown rice for lunch. And she would walk 10 mins to People's Park's food court to ta-bao it almost everyday. And she insists it's the best vegetarian ever. Well, I was a little apprehensive when we went there to try it.

But I am sold!

The food tastes great! The brown rice was nice and fluffy, the vegetables were really fresh and everything just tastes great! Yum!

It's comfort food (for me at least) at its best! Definitely worth more visits.

it's Fashion 101

you don't have to attend Parsons to know...

stripes on stripes is a big no no.

another Koran place!

Just discovered another Korean place.

What's good was the beef & mushroom hot pot. $35 per pot (large) it could feed all 9 of us. What lacked in quality for the beef was more than made up for in quantity. Soup base was a little too sweet but mushrooms were plentiful and delicious.

The seafood hotpot wasn't as great. The soup base tasted too seafoody and salty. But they were pretty generous with the seafood.

The pancake - well, it was alright too. But at $16, I thought it was a little steep.

Well, perhaps I'm not a big fan of the hotpot and I didn't find the food particularly interesting. That said, the prices there are pretty reasonable, so perhaps I won't kick up such a big fuss if people suggest to go there again.

it's all about the attitude

What first caught my eye was his socks. Bright orange & yellow socks.

Then I looked at who was wearing the socks. That's when I saw his turban! At probably 40ish, this gentleman is rocking a turban and bright orange socks!

Isn't he cool or what.

new found appetite for Korean food

I was not a big fan of Korean food. It stirs up images of a big pot of kimchi soup where everything is thrown inside and boiled...

But all this is thrown away when I visited this little Korean restaurant in Peck Seah St for lunch.

The starters was pretty good. Although I didn't get why fishcakes were there, and the spinach was a little fibrous. But the Kimchi (zinggy!!), anchovies and egg-vegetable thing was really good!

But what's REALLY good was the grilled mackerel. Oh... The outside was grilled to perfection! It's skin was thin and crispy. When poked with the chopsticks, it breaks easily to reveal the fish's moist flesh. Put the fish in your mouth and it literally melts in it! Eat it with the wasabi and soy sauce and you'll be in heaven. Yum!!

The best thing? It's unbeatable price! $9.50 for a get lunch like this. A similar meal in a food court would already cost $7 to $8. But here, it's restaurant service, free flow of Korean tea (it's got quite a unique flavour - almost like lightly burnt caramel.) and also free flow of appetizers! I'm definitely coming back!

ketchup and chilli sauce noodles

In Republic Food Court is Asian Kitchen - a La Mian and Xiao Long Bao restaurant.

The Zha Jiang La Mian was quite disappointing. It was as if ketchup and chilli sauce were mixed together and poured over minced meat. There was no black bean taste whatsoever. Well, at least the noodles were of a nice texture.

The Xiao Long Baos were also quite bad. Too dry inside. It's supposed to be nice, juicy and soupy inside but these didn't quite hit the mark.

prawn noodles

$4 Prawn & Pork slices noodles at a Ta Lu Prawn Noodles.

Soup tasted like it was made from msg, and I had to drink buckets of water after. The mee pok was pretty nice and had a springy texture. Oh, the prawns were peeled so I didn't have to use my hands - nice touch. I guess it's catered to the crowd who wants a cheap bite but don't want to head to the hawker center. Would I revisit the place? Perhaps not.

Italian Cai Peng

Also in Gold Shoe, not too far from the Curry Chicken Noodles store, is an Italian store that sells quite yummy stuff. The concept, as my friend quite rightly put it, is 'Italian Cai Peng'. Where for $7.50, one can choose 5 dishes (soup & lettuce & cherry tomatoes are thrown in free) or $5.50 for 3 dishes.

Well, the food turned out pretty decent. Eggs were fantastic, as were the mushrooms. Eggplant could be grilled to be softer and more aromatic. Chicken Milanese was a disappointment. Dry and not tender at all! I think I can make better ones. Fruit salad - so so...

But perhaps it's because I choose the wrong stuff. I'm not going to write off this stall just yet. There are so many other stuff that I didn't choose that looked quite yummy too!

I believe I am beginning to like American Food

Yes America may be fast food central. But there are some good old American restaurant that serve good old and hearty American food. And one has open it's branch in Sunny Singapore! Chili's at Tanglin Mall

The Mushroom Jack is simply fabulous. Chicken breast, bacon, mushrooms, melted cheese served on a hotplate. Visually pleasing, smells mouthwatering, sounds sizzling, tastes delicious and fills the soul with comfort food. All the 5 senses satisfied with one dish!

The ribs were the next fabulous thing that we can't get enough of. Juicy, tender with a slightly spicy kick to it. Yum!

The mini chicken burgers were also rather good, but not was good as the previous 2 dishes.

But the buffalo wings were a little disappointing. I'm not a big fan of buffalo wings to begin with. Not even when I ate them at the restaurant that supposedly invented them in Buffalo. Those at Chili's were not as dry coz they covered it with sauce. But I guess plain fried wings can only get that good.

But all in all, it was my 2nd visit to Chili's Singapore and you bet I'll be back for a 3rd!

my godson grows!

Isn't he make you wanna pinch his cheeks & squeeze him?

part 2 of 7 on Club!

My friend on the other hand (the same one who had little luck at Ichibantei with the Miso Ramen) continued her streak of bad food choices at restaurants.

Her starter of fried salmon slices & couscous was something to be accustomed to. While we appreciated the effort put into slicing the salmon really thin and then frying it to perfection (texture was like potato chips), the whole combi of fried salmon and couscous was not something that we were accustomed to.

Her main dish of seared see bass with black bean sauce was decent. The fish was cooked really well. But black bean sauce - it's basically tau jio sauce lor. Fusion with too much of a eastern influence perhaps. But it might be quite difficult to 'westernise' black beans - being to strong and distinctive in its flavour.

Her dessert she liked, but I preferred mine. It was apple crumble with vanilla ice cream.

Well, I must say that it was a pretty good experience at Restaurant Week. Wished it were held quarterly. It'll definitely be something to look forward to each time!

Restaurant Week @ 7 on Club

When I learned that it was restaurant week, I told myself I had to participate. So I arranged a lunch at 7 on Club with some friends. The verdict? It was worth the effort!!

The meal (for me) started with an appetizer of squid with black ink sauce. The squid was fresh & springy and the tomato base, squid ink sauce added the nice sour-sweet flavour to the dish.

My main course was my favourate! Beef tenderloin, roasted to perfection - nice and crusty on the outside while juicy and tender on the inside!!!

Dessert was a nice surprise. I was a little apprehensive about ordering the passion fruit tiramesu. But it turned out really well! The tangy & acidic passion fruit added a unique punch to the creamy tiramesu!

Check out tomorrow's post for my friend's experience at the same restaurant!

something bought at Zara

Inspired by th Prada perforated knits, and also the concept of layering with sleeveless cardigans in general, I was pretty happy that I saw something at Zara that fits the bill. It looks something like that but in black.

Ok, this picture is from the Hermes Spring 2010 show.

But when I got home, I realised that it's too BLACK. It kinda does not match anything! Strange coz we are always told that black matches everything. But looking forward to wearing it nonetheless!

Photo credit: style.com

a Looong way to go

Spotted at Ion Orchard

I guess it's a loooong way to go before I can get myself one of these. But where would I park this monster? It certainly won't fit into a multistory carpark.