Another Famous Donut

I have been thinking of uploading this for a few weeks but didn't have the motivation to do so. Hahaha. Anyway, i bet most of you remembered my blog entry about Donut Factory, the one i queued for a bloody few hours! The donuts im gonna talked about have attracted quite a lot of discussion on whether Donut Factory is better or "the one im gonna talk about soon" is better.

Yes, its KRISPY KREME!!

I read quite a few reviews on Donut Factory and people were comparing it extensively to Krispy Kreme! Unfortunately, it is not available in Singapore but it was my fortune that my bro-in-law's brother happened to be in Australia and he bought a few boxes back!!!

Thank you Jordan, my deepest, utmost thanks!

My sister had no knowledge the storm this brand has stirred in US and when i told her, her reaction was nonchalant (Her reaction: Oorrrr)!! Sighz......

Anyway, from the pictures, the donuts were already been in my sister's fridge for 2 days but the lustre, brightness of the donuts remained (see above). I cannot resist sharing one with my friend Weeyuan. First impression, it was hard from the cold condition synthesized by my sister's fridge. Second impression, it was sweet! VERY VERY SWEET!

 

I tried a few in the next few days (my younger sis, as usual, had her fair share). Overall, impression was that Americans love their stuff sweet. For a sweet tooth beholden guy like me, i found the sweetness too overbearing on my taste buds. Almost every donut had a sugary freeze to it (see above).

Now i know why i gained so much weight recently.

White Rabbit Creamy Candies (大白兔奶糖)

How many of the kids from 80's and before remember this widely popular sweets? I remembered how i loved to pop piece after piece of this delicious creamy candy into my mouth. Hahhaa.

I remembered it used to come in a large bag and kids like me then will snatch with cousins and even aunties and uncles! We will quickly unwrap the candy and eat it, chewing on it, awaiting for the sweet taste and the aroma to spread and dissolve in our oral cavity!!

But as we grow older and older, the popularity of this candy is overtaken by the so many choices that we have now! My memory got rekindled when it was involved in a food recall! My gosh, beside dog and cat food, even an animal-branded candy is not excused!

It was claimed by the Philippine Food and Drugs authority that it contains formalin, an ingredient used to embalm corpses! Luckily it has been cleared by our dear Singapore AVA, which HAS to be highly credible right?

And luck will have it that i saw the candy again in National Museum Shop! They are currently selling things from the past and i really feel old looking at those toys and games that we used to play. They even have a book on it!!

Sighz...... Back to the candy, beside the plain creamy, milky taste flavour that Big Rabbit brand used to have, they have introduced flavours like Chocolate, Red Bean, Yogurt and Strawberry!

I am very very TEMPTED and even though it was selling at 6 bags for $4.80, and each bag has around 6 sweets, i grabbed it! Yes, i paid for it as well. The sales assistant even kindly informed me it was cleared by AVA even before i asked about it! I guess sales must be badly affected. Hahaha. But like wat my colleagues say, formalin SHOULD be able to help preserve youth!

I tasted all the new flavours except for chocolate but i heard it was not bad. I especially liked the strawberry and yogurt flavour! The strawberry becoz contrary to most strawberry candies nowadays, the Big Rabbit brand was not too sweet and the taste was really mixed well!

My only reservation was the Red Bean Flavour (give me Red Bean ice cream anytime) and the Big Rabbit Brand candies seem to be harder than before!! I used to be able to chew thru it, now i had to wait for a while for dissolution to occurs before i can sink my old teeth into it~!

I just surfed the website and realised that beside the 5 flavours available in Singapore, there are flavours like coffee, toffee, peanut, coconut, lychee, mango, butter plum and fruit have been introduced!!!

Gosh!!! When will they be coming in!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Dulukala Peranakan Restaurant @ Beauty World Centre (Upper Bukit Timah Road)

It was  a normal Saturday and the usual 4 of us were pondering where to eat. Weeyuan suggested a place that was always packed and somemore, its makansutra-endorsed!! I will like to mention that anything endorsed by tv shows lah, famous people lah, are always worth going to. Why? Becoz sometimes e food is really so bad that you can always gossip about it. Of course, reasons are plentiful as to why the food does not taste good;

1) Tastes differ from individuals (tat i agree, Van taste buds are weird, Alex's taste is anything sweet and full of MSG or just junk food).

2) The stall owners give money to the tv shows producers to feature them (this one im not too sure but hey, money is everything).

3) It is a different person cooking (this i agree; alot of time, once a stall becomes famous, they employ more ppl to cook for them)!

4) The place becomes so crowded after the show premiered that they cannot cope, hence the drop in qualiy and taste~ (same point as point 3)!

5) The person that is taking your orders dun like you (tats why i seldom offend those ppl in the food industry. Only offend them after you have eaten their food and u are at least almost sure they will not add/eliminate stuff from the food).

Anyway, back to the topic, i have only eaten Peranakan cuisine a few times and do not really count them as my favourite food. However, the food from the above mentioned restaurant really did make my taste buds yearning for more of their Rendang. And if its not for the fact that im still slightly sick on the day of the food session, i bet i can savour more and can detailed you with more of the food.

So how's their food, you wonder? Hm....... I will begin with the bad points of this place first. We ordered only the dishes with the star, which obviously mean recommended. Hm.... Just wondering if restaurants have a highly NOT RECOMMENDED dishes list. Hahah.

Keluak Curry

The Lychee Looking Stuff.

Anyway, one of their recommended dish is Keluak, a strange ayam curry dish that has some lychee looking fruit which u can dig black stuff out (sounded like nose digging). The taste was just weird; abit salty and abit like eating charcoal but the curry itself was fortunately sweet and flavourful. Hahaha.

Inside of the Omelette

Another strange dish was their Omelette Chichalok, which looked like those normal Furong Egg we see everywhere on the outside. Dissection of the egg revealed pieces of chilli, small prawns and the ingestion revealed a taste that was quite sour. We din not manage to pinpoint what it was.

Burbur Cha Cha

Their Bubur Chacha looked beautiful with its 4 different color/types of potato/yam but it was too tasteless. Most Bubur Chacha have a sweet, coconut taste that flows smoothly down your throat but this one tastes almost like water. A bit sad though because i have not eaten any Burbur Chacha that has tasted this bad.

Now the good dishes:

 Ayam Rendang

The tender Ayam Rendang with its not too spicy, and yet fragrant and flavourful curry was great for our tastes buds! The portions were disappointing though... Only 3 pieces!!! And there were 4 of us!!! Sighz..... Luckily we did not killed ourselves on how to divide it. Hahaha.

Ngoh Hiang

Their Ngoh Hiang was also worth mentioning. Though the amount of meat in this Ngoh Hiang was minimal, it won with its crispy beancurd skin and the sweet sauce that came with it. Beside that, at least it came in 8 pieces.

Chendol

Furthermore, i love their Chendol!!! Its not too sweet and just right to the taste buds! Their crushed ice was just enough to melt the moment the heated surrounding in your mouth did their work.

Chap Chye

Finally their Chap Chye, which means mixed vegetables. I found it to be quite normal. I guess its becoz im sick bah. Nothing to complain about this dish, just plain normal. Shrug.

FINAL REVIEW

We ordered a total of 5 dishes with rice, drinks and desserts that cost $46.10, which i personally think to be on the high side. The biggest disappointment we had though, was that the portions were not enought for all of us!!

However, though the presentation of most dishes was bad (everything is almost brown or yellow), the tastes were really fabulous~!

The restaurant is situated at the top of Beauty World and at first look, the ambience is really simple. Service is not bad though and i guess i will be back there again!