Black Angus

I unknowingly agreed to go to a farewell/cum welcome lunch without the main actress inside (the person leaving). And to such an expensive place - Black Angus!

The food is terrible, the service mediocre and the ambience zilch at the One Fullerton branch. Now Black Angus is supposed to to be famous for its steak though I did not try steak, I looked at my boss' steak and was totally disgusted. It's just ordinary.

The salad was not fresh as they had the cheek to serve us several yellowed vegetables with less than five miserable croutons...

I ordered the turkey, avocado, bacon sandwich but felt totally let down. It's just a normal sandwich with normal fries and horrible salad. Cost me $21!!! Goodness... It's robbery. I could have gone to Swensen's for a better meal lo or some other places for steak. Argh. Just cos no pork, no lard was required but I am sure there are nicer places than Black Angus. EEEeeee....

Really got bitter aftertaste in my mouth. And if I knew the main actress wasn't going, I wouldn't have gone after all. Blah.

Sucky fish soup at PS

I ate at the Kopitiam foodcourt recently at Plaza Singapura & it was not satifsying at all. Chose fried fish soup with milk from "Chen Rong Fish Soup" as I heard from a friend that it is good.

However it was a big let-down! The soup was laden with MSG & the fried fish pieces (though generous portions of fish) tasted too strongly of bicarbonate soda. Although bicarbonate sode is commonly used in cooking to tenderize meats but fish?! In any case, there was too much of it added inside such that I ate a few pieces and left the rest untouched. I felt like bringing back the bowl to tell them that it tasted horrible. Anyway this chain of food stalls is run by Chinese migrants and workers. Don't like and not a good first impression. Don't know why STOMP can write such a good review!
http://www.stomp.com.sg/stfoodiesclub/hawkerfare/57/index.html

In any case, I have come to the conclusion that food sold in foodcourt sucks, especially Kopitiam. Besides being expensive, hawkers in Singapore take alot of shortcuts when it comes to preparing food. I understand if some MSG is used but to substitute a good natural broth (eg boiled for long hours with fish bones, yellow beans or pig bones or ikan bilis) entirely with MSG is horrible. Perhaps my tastebuds are more particular, as I can really taste MSG in soups or foods. In addition, I must have fresh ingredients in my meals. I hate it when hawkers are lazy and used frozen meat or overnight ingredients. I can taste frozen meat or overnight ingredients, you know!

How I wish hawkers in Singapore take as much pride in serving fresh good food like Japanese do. Sigh.

Hong Kong Tea House

The Sunday Times just ran a feature on HK “cha chan teng” in Singapore and I totally agree that this fad has proliferated our tiny island. However, nothing tastes quite like the original ones in HK (of course the prices too – more expensive in Singapore).

Recently I decided to visit this “Old Hong Kong Tea House” at Katong or rather it is situated at the old Joo Chiat Police Station. The premise is much bigger compared to HK Café at East Coast Road but I did not like the ambience or decoration. Too sparse and empty and the aircon was blasting away. The posters of 80s era artistes were too small to warrant attention. It is also more expensive compared to HK Café for the quality.

We ordered oven-baked chicken spaghetti and dumpling la mian but the food was very disappointing. As you can see from the pictures, the dishes looked quite plain and uninviting. The taste was even more ordinary. The dumpling la mian was bland and the baked spaghetti was too cheesy. The flavours tasted quite artificial. So quite a bad experience. Somehow the Japanese Restaurant (Waruku) felt more appetizing.

Al Fungi

- Delifrance's new pasta dish

I love pasta and was just craving for it when I passed by Delifrance for lunch. Hence I decided to try their new menu of interesting pastas! There is creamy salmon pasta, al fungi, aligio olio, just to name a few. I was really very tempted to have the creamy pasta but decided to try al fungi as a healthier version, or so I thought.

Anyway the pasta dish “al fungi” may sound weird (fungi = mushrooms/ plants that eat rotting food, sorry to gross you out) but the food is really tasty! “Al fungi” is a mushroom spaghetti dish mixed with olive oil and silvers of red, green and yellow peppers. I couldn’t quite make out the condiments though I think there is some fried garlic and salt which gives it much flavour. I found the “al fungi” dish slightly oily but it was irresistibly delicious such that I finished the whole plate!

Thereafter, I relaxed with a hot refreshing cup of tea (albeit Lipton tea) and instantly felt as if I was sitting in a sidewalk café people watching. France? Hah. Sometimes I think too much. Tsk, tsk, the after effects of eating too much good food.

By the way, you can add on certain side dishes like a cup of tea, soup or standard dessert for only $1 each! Very worth it!!

Hanabi Japanese Restaurant (Odeon Towers)

Had a craving for Japanese food and sashimi and thus I scooted off with my family to Hanabi Japanese Restaurant at Odeon Towers to fix my gnawing need. When a girl has a craving, she definitely has to curb it or give in to it! Sashimi. Tempura. Chawanmushi. Wasabi. Yummy! Drool drool drool.

We reached there about lunch time on a Sunday and the place was empty. Maybe the crowd has not come in, I thought, as the restaurant only opened at 11.30am. Anyway Hanabi is quite spacious and I like the Japanese-inspired fountain outside the restaurant. It feels good to dine amidst tranquil surroundings. There was even a standee displaying all the food available. It looked super delicious! Can’t wait!

The wait staff were quite helpful and willing to introduce you the food items and get you more food; a trait which I find lacking in many buffet restaurants here. Anyway the first dish we had was of course sashimi! The wasabi is wonderfully fresh and potent (not like those at Sakae Sushi) and the sashimi, especially the salmon and maguro (tuna) pieces were very good and fresh. They literally melted in my mouth. However I must state that there is one ugly act that this restaurant engages in. Only the first three dishes of sashimi were good, the quality of subsequent ones dropped. Either poorer quality sashimi (those that felt mushy when eaten) were mixed with better quality ones or we were served not-so-good sashimi. A big let-down.

The chawanmushi was delicious and hot and extremely light. You could taste the broth used to cook it too. Heavenly. The shisamo, chicken teriyaki, kimchi beef were average. The curry rice tasted like it came out of a packaged box as the curry was too powdery. In addition, the tempura did not have the quality of authentic Japanese places and we could not taste the tempura batter; it was pretty tasteless. We could not taste the sweetness of the tempura prawn or vegetables either. Other than that, the other dishes were just average. There's heresay that the Bukit Timah branch is better.

Well, I couldn’t help but compare it with Ikoi in Miramar. I think the food at Ikoi serves better quality Japanese food and the dishes come in small portions so you can have a variety of food without ill-treating your stomach! Speaking of which I think I may want to go Ikoi again!

Apologise for the lack of photos of food, was kind of concentrating on eating & forgot to take pictures till the last few morsels!!

Arirang Korean Restaurant

Well, well, well. I know this blog has not been updated in a long long time and needs some contributions from its creator. Frankly speaking, I have been to many eating places but my computer was spoilt, I forgot to take pictures, I was too busy, etc, etc. Excuses.

Anyway, I popped over to Arirang recently for a Korean lunch as it is located near my office. The home-run place looks minimalistic, like you have just stepped into someone's dining room. However, the food is really good and authentic as it is cooked by 2 Korean ladies. I had presumed that the lady boss' husband worked in Singapore and the mother-in-law was helping her out. The lady boss was very friendly and spoke to us with a smattering of English and Korean. The cutlery and crockery used were Korean style too so I like the experience as it feels like you are in a small eatery in Korea.

Oh, a very good sign that I noticed at the eatery was that it is frequented by Koreans. The natives would know where the good food is!

My companion and I ordered 2 set lunches - the Korean bibimbap (or loosely translated as mixed rice) and the Beef Bulgogi set. Side dishes such as "ikan bilis", kimchi, pickles were served alongside.

The food is very delicious and though I am not a very big fan of Korean food (as I think some dishes are weird), I can feel the homecooked quality and the effort put into cooking. The lady boss even gave us some cold seaweed soup to drink and commented that it was good for our skin. Erm, good for the skin perhaps but it was cold soup and kind of sour, not exactly entertaining to our tastebuds. Nonetheless, it was kind of the boss to do so and it's really hospitable of her. In addition, we were served ginseng tea which is a refreshing drink to accompany the food. Supposedly good for your body too.

As for prices, the set lunch menu is really worth the money as 1 set cost less than $10 each. Next time when I go back, I will try the kimchi tofu soup with rice. This is my favourite. Yummy. Can't wait!

Arirang Korean Restaurant
Located @ 93 Amoy Street

Botak Jones!

Craving for Billy Bombers and the like? Find it in the heartlands!

With a recently opened outlet in Clementi, Botak Jones operates from a food stall located in your neighbourhood kopitiam. It serves a wide array of western food from burgers to sausages, ribeye steaks, fish and chips and even dessert!

It is no ordinary kopitiam fare of course. The meat used is succulent and serving portion is sufficient to guarantee some satisfied burps. Pricing is reasonable, ranging from $5+ for a plate of fish and chips to around $7 for a Cajun Chicken burger.

Do watch out for the weekend crowd though. My friends and I went on a Sat and had to wait an hour for the food to arrive. To quote a staff, it was "worth the wait". Their staff are friendly and helpful; they even make rounds to ensure that their customers are happy with the food.

The Clementi outlet is located at:
Block 325 Clementi Ave 5 (Kopitiam) #01- 129 Singapore 120325

They have two other franchises at Tuas and AMK!
http://www.botakjones.com/