What's That Stink @ Food Junction, Lot 1, Choa Chu Kang

The smelly specialty has finally arrived in the west, making it easier for the western dwellers to try one of my favourite food of all time.

As you can see from the picture, this smelly tofu is of the Taiwan variant. Not my favourite strain but with smelly tofu being so scarce in food-rich Singapore, ANY smelly tofu is desirable.

Other than the lack of a strong, nose-piercing smell, the smelly tofu here was really not that bad. Like low fat milk, i would term it as a lighter version.

Besides the smelly tofu, we ordered fried dumplings! Crispy on the outside but disappointing for the inside. The minced meat filling just wasn't flavourful enough.

The Taiwan food stall sells other popular dishes from Taiwan!

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Location:

At Lot 1 (besides Choa Chu Kang MRT station) and within Food Junction (Level 4).

Rider's Cafe - Where Horses Trot @ Bukit Timah

Unlike most cafes with fanciful names that may not necessarily relate to anything visible, Rider's Cafe stands out for offering what you hope to see when you are dining there; horse riders.

Due to its close proximity to the saddle club, it is not surprising to see horses trotting leisurely along the dirt path. The laid back atmosphere gives an impression that you are overseas, far away from stressful and fast paced Singapore.

The cafe itself is located within an old, black and white building that hails from the colonial period. So you can imagine, all the aforementioned factors point towards a place that is so different from what we thought we had in Singapore.

Enough about the cafe's outlook and surrounding!!!

In food-abundance Singapore, the most important factor to assess an eatery is the taste of the food. For budget constraint ME (i am just a poor chap), another equally important factor is the price for dining.

Peanut Butter & Raspberry Jelly Milkshake

It's been so long since i had such a fabulous milkshake!! On one hand, both Kon and I love it when we can suck up (using the straw of course) the partially solidified peanut butter with a noticeable hint of raspberry. On the other hand, both Alex and Van find the taste to be too weird.

Crabmeat Vin Blanc

I ordered this. The pasta was nicely done and should have been a good meal for me. Unfortunately, i found it to be too spicy... although i had to agree that a lot of crabmeat were given! Definitely worth the price!

Seafood Marinara

This dish is commonly found in many western food stalls in the hawker centres. Personally, i tried a really good one in Sembawang Hills Food Centre. The one served in Rider's Cafe was definitely not bad but with so many competent competitors that offer a lower price, its seafood marinara did not stand out.

Gorgonzola Ravioli

Not the best i had; the taste was nothing exciting. The Ravioli i had in La Petite was definitely more memorable.  Poor Kon.... He ordered this. :P

Death By Chocolate

My recommendation? Eat this after everything else. Although the title of the dish might sound a little exaggerated, four of us almost died after eating it.

Yes, FOUR of us!!!

The large slice of chocolate sponge cake drenched with bitter-sweet chocolatey sauce....... Oh, and a scoop of vanilla ice cream which always go SO well with chocolate.

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Overall, we spent roughly S$90.00 on this meal. I would have been able to give all of you a price breakdown but our dear Alex had happily dumped the receipt into the dustbin (i knew of this only two hours later).  My review on Rider's Cafe may not astonishing but one thing i am pretty sure, i would be back there soon.

Location:

51, Fairways Drive.

Motorists can turn into this road from Eng Neo Avenue.

Additional Information:

Always call for reservation!! Tel: 64669819.

The place might be booked for private functions. In addition, making a reservation is good when you prefer to have a seating area near to the window, where you can have a better view of the surroundings.

Since the cafe is quite far from the main road, driving would prove to be more convenient. Of course, exercise freaks may consider walking in. 

For drivers, drive carefully when you turn into fairway drive! Horses do appear suddenly and you would not want to know the implications if you ever knock them!

Do look carefully when you walked outside the cafe. The horses are not toilet trained and their output is not small.

Lastly, for those who cannot do without air-con (yes Karen, i mean you!), the place is NOT air-conditioned!

French Sweets Parfait @ Marvelous Cream

In addition to my posting HERE, i forgot to mention that Marvelous Cream is now available at Ion Orchard and 313 @Somerset.  

And i think it's only fair that i should show all of you the arduous effort used to make the final product (shown below) affectionately named as Twinkle Night Cinderella.

Enjoy this pictorial process by a really pretty (and polite) lady.

By the way, she's too tall for me. Or i am too short for her.

The second sentence is more believable though.

Censored!

I didn't notice anything amiss when i took the following pictures.

The first one: Mother (grandmother in fact) was looking for something within the unholy cavity. This thing was causing the baby much distress! Hence, the helpless look!

The second one which I assumed on behalf of the baby.

Finally, she found it! 

Old Fashioned Hamburgers @ Wendy's (Lau Pa Sat)

 

To tell you the truth, never had i heard of this fast food chain from America until our dear Mr Kon told me about it (psst. especially the humongous hamburgers and how popular it was supposed to be).

A google search revealed that it had over 6,000 outlets (Year 2006) worldwide and that generated a question: why did it take so long to come to Singapore?!!?!! Hallo!!!

Oh ya, it was here more than 10 years ago. The death must be pretty fast then (nods nods). That explains why i never know about it.

Brought in specially by Kopitiam this round, we needed a dinner fix after our three-hours fight in Left4Dead 2. Being so near to Lau Pa Sat and no specific plan for dinner venue, Wendy's the one for the five of us.

The slogan for Wendy's is "Quality is our recipe". Not a good one since I deeply believe that "Taste should be the recipe".

The fried chicken was bland, dry and normal; definitely not comparable to my all time favourite: Arnolds Chicken.

However, as the name suggests, Wendy's specialty is on hamburgers.

Using uncommon square-shaped ground beef patties which were thicker than those in Macdonalds and Burger King,  the hamburgers were really nothing to scream about.

Not to say there's nothing good about Wendy's though. I love the frosty float!!

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Location:

At Lau Pa Sat. Singaporeans who don't know where this is, go kill yourself give yourself a knock on YOUR head. For foreigners, please visit http://www.laupasat.biz/.

Opening Hours:

7.30am to 10pm.

Other Information:

For those who drive, please do not park at the double zigzag lines!!! Get the car into one of the many carparks within the office buildings.

The traffic police department just sent the letter of offence today!

=(

Bak Kwa (肉干) - The Way to Eat It

Discussions on Bak Kwa (肉干) or dried meat have always been intense and insighful, judging by the thousands of search results on google. Especially so during the Chinese New Year period, when it's a MUST to have a piece, many pieces of bak kwa!

Usually not very picky with food, most bak kwa tasted pretty good to me; regardless of its thickness, smokiness, subtle differences and.......... fattiness.

Nevertheless i do have some personal favorites. Lim Chee Guan (林志源), during non Chinese New Year season and Fragrance (香味) during Chinese New Year. No, I shan't go into the nitty gritty fights on which brand is the best in the whole of Singapore.

The mouth is yours; you decide.

With an approaching Chinese New Year (CNY) in less than two months, it's best that all Chinese embark on a diet as CNY has always been a festive period of binge and drink. For me, bak kwa takes a really big, yet special place in my stomach. 

Aside from eating Bak Kwa by itself, i found another healthier way!

1. Toast the bak kwa till it is sizzling but not burnt.
2. Slice the cucumber.
3. Place all the above on a piece of wholemeal or softmeal bread.
4. Cover with another piece of bread.

Viola, a more nutritious meal!

*craving for it now*

but no more bak kwa......

The Dream On Pigs

In case you are thinking of the freaking cute three little pigs, you are so so wrong.

Don't even think you are right if you are thinking of the "Terrific" Wilbur from Charlotte's Web.

Some of you might think it's related to food; the used-to-be-favourite suckling pig. Somewhere there but not exactly right!

It's something more sinister than the above; the only common trait they share with the one i had in my dream is their color. Pink... light pastel pink.

In this dream, i had a change of job. From a desk-bound job to a chef in a tze char stall. If you think "chef" is too grand, you can use cook. But i like to use the chef designation.

Sounds more high class.

Anyway, i don't know why but in my dream, i have to chop up this pig (whole) on a long alumunium table. Being a 'high class chef', the cleaver must be used professionally in order to achieve my aim.

Aim of this dream

Chop up the pig and arrange the parts according to the head, the ears, the ribs, the trotters, the intestines, the heart, the liver etc etc etc.

(As i am typing this, i am controlling the half-digested food in my stomach from spewing out)

Alas, i failed....................

I was thinking then; place this male pig (correct term: boar) with its back lying on the table, cut the skin from bottom-up, strip the layer of skin and proceed to chop up the parts.

To spare you from destroying your LCD screen, i am going to stop here. Message me for further details!! Wahahaha. You will also understand why i said the pig is male.

The finale of this dream?

It's impossible for me to continue this food preparation so i did what i know many people will do.

I ran up to my house (apparently the tze char stall is very near my house) and asked my mom for help. 

Mommy ALWAYS knows.