14 Feb 2012 - Valentine's Day specials

Re-visited ChongQing Grilled Fish, still as crowded as ever. Waited for about half an hour before they got seated. So squeezy that you had to remove the table before you could get into the seat, and pull the table in again so that no one's way got blocked.

Red grouper was sold out, so they decided to try grass carp instead. Bad choice, meat was bland, and full of fine bones. Should have opted for the sea bass. Choice of soup, "numbing and spicy" flavour. Spent $53.10 for a huge fish and several slices of kelp.


Went across to Ji De Chi for icey mango dessert to douse the fire. $5 for mango mian mian bing (cottony ice), $4 for mango sago. The mian mian bing tasted weird, very buttery and had a strong doughy taste. Disappointingly different from the refreshing one they had in the past.

Mian Mian Bing, looks as creamy as it tasted, maybe more. Liked the syrup pellets in the foreground though.


Mango sago was more normal...


After that, returned home to some awfully sinful braised pork trotters. The skin (maybe more of fats) was enjoyably gelatinous at the start, but things started to get heavy later.

What a day.

14 Jan 2012 - Chinatown trip

McSpicy Double meal, mochaccino with cheesecake to start the day. You know it's a late start when the McSpicy goes up on the menu. About $14 in the stomach.

His doubly sinful burger. Crispy, spicy and wholesome chicken meat. Yum.


Mochaccino for her.


Cheesecake to go with.



Headed down to Chinatown to "soak" in the atmosphere. So crowded he almost soaked his shirt in sweat.

Mala cold dish for snacks at Chinatown. Numbing, spicy, savoury, just can't get enough of it. Got kelp, beef, pork and "phoenix claws" (chicken feet actually). Cost around $6.


Saw this interesting brand of dried durian, a pun on Andy Lau's Chinese name. It probably means the "essence of durians".


Went to Bugis to meetup her friend and it was food again. Desserts at Tang Shui Xian, because Ji De Chi was too crowded. Totalled slightly more than $10.

Mango shaved ice for him who needed to cool down.


Super Lemon Tea for the thirsty girl. The friend's soup dessert Cheng Tng in the background.

17 Dec 2011 - Xian De Lai Shanghai Cuisine and Ji De Chi

Was supposed to have dinner at Chong Qing Grilled Fish, but he got distracted upon noticing "free-flow crabs" advertised by Xian De Lai (XDL) Shanghai Cuisine. No prizes for guessing where he went for dinner.

XDL offered steamboat (hotpot) ala carte buffet. Each serving was a small portion, help you reserve enough space to have a bit of everything. $19.90++ per person, $5++ surcharge for the soup base.


Some items were quite good. Scallops were sweet and did not have traces of sand, and meats were well marinated, tasted good even after cooking in the soup. Crabs came in halves. They were small but well cleaned and really sweet. Vegetables came wilted and protruding out of the plate, touching the tray and table. Very unappealing.


Did not like the service much though. Had wanted to sit inside, but the waitress lied that there were no more seats. She then joyfully proceeded to usher the people who arrived after them to levels 2 and 3. While taking his orders, she skipped away to pull customers into the shop, very rude. Orders never arrived in full, reminders were like you speaking to thin air. The only reprieve was one polite lad, who would top up their soup and drinks, and also repond to thank yous.

She claimed to be on diet, but prodded him to move up several shophouses to Ji De Chi (JDC).

Durian Sago, $6. Rich, fattening stuff for her.


Beancurd came free, Christmas promo of Durian Sago and Beancurd. Smooth and had a nice smokey flavor. Made him regret ordering his Mango Sago.


Mango Sago, $4. The pomelo bits balanced out the sweetness of the mango puree. But he was already too full to enjoy this...


All in.

06 Mar 2011 - Grandma's Birthday Lunch et al.

Grandma's 84th birthday lunch was held at Gim Tin Grassroots' as usual.

Their table opted for the a la carte buffet, where you can only order once per dish. Around 20 selections, excluding 5 starters. Let's go straight to the pictures...

Smooth and succulent soy sauce chicken, and lean barbecued pork. Could have done with more chicken, his favourite meat.


Then came salad prawns, not as cold as he would have liked. Enjoyed the honeydew and melon chunks though.


Took a photograph of the chinese tea while waiting for the rest of the dishes to be served. The color turned lighter with each refill.


Next to arrive was the fried Soon Hock (Marbled Goby). This was gone in no time, tells you how well-received it was huh.


Steamed Tilapia that still had some redness in the bone, and also had a muddy taste. Didn't really like this one.


Nonya-inspired stuff. Kueh Pieti cup with seafood filling of stir-fried prawns, conpoy and egg white.


There were a whole lot more, but the glutton bug kicked in again. Too engrossed with eating to take pictures.

Later on, they would go to town. Bought his first bottle of vitaminwater from Carrefour. $1.65.


The missus made some noise throughout the trip and got to buy 2 pairs of shoes. Debt dollars added *cash register sound clip*

Felt tired and was about to leave for home when she spotted Ji De Chi (JDC) dessert shop. Thinking about the durian ice shavings had them walking in half-consciously. He wanted to get durian again, but she wanted to try other flavours, and settled for mango ice shaving, $5. This serving here seemed smaller as compared to the one at Liang Seah Street. However, the place is bigger and it's probably a little more comfortable.


Weird sequence, but after their dessert, he wanted to have dinner. She claimed that she didn't want to eat, so he thought of going home for instant noodles (with the current damages in mind). But they still ended up at Pastamania. Small portions coming up...

Mussels and clams for her $9.90, no match for the cream based one from Grill and Pasta at Sembawang Hill Food Centre. Should re-visit some time soon...


Turkey bacon aglio olio for him, $7.60. Not too sure if the garlic wasn't enough, or it was not done well, felt that it lacked the fragrance and spiciness.


Makes him want to buy some spaghetti and try cooking aglio olio next weekend. Or maybe he should just stick to visiting Grill and Pasta...

09 Jan 2011 - Dim Sum and Dessert

Woke up at noon today and she wanted to go for brunch of dim sum at Esplanade Xchange. He took his shower, finished up chapter 6 of PMP and then prepared to go out.

The name of the eatery that they had visited before, Xing Cha Lou,the receipt suggested that it's part of Banquet.


It was easy to get seats as it was empty except for one couple, perhaps because of their bad eating timings.


Then the procurement process started, and the constraint was that the payment was cash terms when he was hoping that it could be paid by credit...

Steamed pork ribs that had tender meat, though the sauce they were in was a little too oily. He is still wondering how they keep the meat tender, as the pork ribs he uses to make soup always turn out to be tough.


Her bowl of steamed mixed meat rice, comprising of rice topped with chicken and pork. Good blend of colors huh.


Soup dumplings (xiao long bao) that were served in cake cups. He's probably mentioned this before, good for catching soup that spill out of the dumplings.


Pork dumplings (siew mai) that had succulent prawns and topped with fish roe. These were different from the usual pork mince dumplings in that the pork used were chunky resulting in a firmer bite.


Close up of the roe, each one is a flavourful burst when you bite into it.


"Claws of the Phoenix" - chicken claws actually, again, stuff that both of them like. Somehow the shin part was omitted.


Next up on the list... she remembered that the dessert shop Ji De Chi was too crowded the other day after they dined at Lai Lai Family Restaurant, and suggested that they head there to try their luck. Arriving at Liang Seah Street...


He had read off a blog about a certain green tea mango dessert and flipped through the menu in an attempt to find it. The green tea roll consisted of the mango fruit and glutinous rice as fillings.


Let's take you closer to the fillings part, mango chunk and glutinous rice within the green tea roll.


Not one to resist the durian temptation, the snowy ice durian dessert also arrived at their table. This is not your regular ice shaving, it was layered in sheets and the ice was really snowy soft, without the irregular ice bits that you have to bite with your molars. Served with refreshing lychee pearls and pomelo pulp.


Close up on the sheets of "snow"...


The damage that left him with 50 cents that you partially see on the left...

30 May 2010 in Taiwan

2nd day in taiwan on their own expenditure. woke up not too early, and headed round the corner for a breakfast set.

ji ma chen 吉马陈 mee sua shop at ximending 西门町


fat, succulent oysters and braised pork intestine in vermicelli soup. ah, heaven...


the breakfast set came with lotus dumpling and a drink. all for 89NT. dumpling's not as oily as back home, and also smaller in size.


next, they headed to long shan si, and after that, went to the nearby huaxi market.


near the end of the street, a few of them wanted to stop for some chinese dessert. the shop owner was well bearded, somehow, seemed highly skilled.


just next door was a sinful shop. and look what they got. brought this over to enjoy with the dessert, and got chided. the dessert master mentioned that his was a vegetarian shop, and no meat was allowed to be consumed on his premises. the drooling stopped and the meat eaters had to move elsewhere. 70NT


took the mrt somewhere else (can't remember) to head for another famous mee sua shop, chen ji 陈记


ordered the 60NT big bowl, and wow. just typing this post makes him hungry at midnight. oysters were even fatter, and were coated in dough. the intestines however were not as good as ji ma chen 吉马陈. still, it was just as enjoyable to have good oyster mee sua.


took a little walk to ease the stomachs, but the heavens were not willing to let them rest. they strolled right into a dessert shop! mango ice with pudding, every bit of ice was heavily flavoured with condensed milk, don't be fooled by white ice, and the mangoes were ripe and sweet. the trip so far was sweet to the mouth, hard on the stomach. 70NT?


and after fooling around, or being fooled around by food, it was almost time for dinner. formosa chang 胡须张 as recommended by one of the dudes. seemed like they had a special offer, 10NT for braised meat rice!


for the whole of the trip, it seemed that their braised meat meant braised fats. small bowl of rice topped with fats. sauce was good, gobbled up in no time. oh the toll on the heart...


as if it weren't enough. he ordered pig trotters. something must have been wrong somehow, virtually no lean meat on this, just skin and thin layer of fats on big bones. around 80NT


a healthier dish of toufu


body builder didn't like fat pork, so he ordered 2 lotus dumplings instead. no prizes for guessing if he ate the pork belly in the dumpling. (ok, ok, he gave it away and guess who ate them? keeps you guessing...)