Family Mart Taiwan - Mystery Bag for the Year of the Dragon!

Back when I was a kid, a lot of mama shops would sell small black bags that had a picture of a question mark. Known as mystery bags, I would buy just for the excitement of wanting to be surprised although many a times; the items inside were absolutely useless!

Fast forward to a few decades later; right ahead of me before I stepped into a family mart branch at Taipei was an eye-watering display of red paper bags that were known as prosperity bags even though their function was similar to the mystery bags of my childhood. 

I purchased a bag for 249 Taiwan dollars (about S$10.68) and brought it back to Singapore! p.s. the lady who collected my money did warn me that inside would mainly be snacks, with maybe some coupons which I could only use in Taiwan!

Excitement of tearing apart the paper bag and peering to see what "treasures" I would be bestowed with! Time to unpack everything to the table for a closer look.

The full glory - a bottle of drink, two packs of kinder bueno, one bowl of instant noodle, three packs of snacks, one postcard, a pack of wet tissue, and two tiny black bags of don't know what. p.s. Alex loved the cheeze bits whereas I preferred the squid biscuits. 

Not pinning too much hope on these mini mystery bags.

Turned out to be two key chains of what appeared to be a tapir? Don't think I would be using them given my penchant for losing key chains. Who knows if they could fetch a fortune in the future!? Neh. 

Behind the postcard was a redemption coupon for two bottles of drinks worth 38 Taiwan dollars each! I would have to miss out on the deal since I wouldn't be returning to Taiwan until maybe a year later. My travel calendar is already quite full. 

Almost threw away the emptied bag when I noticed this envelope stapled to the inside of the bag. Would this be the biggest gift for the entire mystery bag?! Let's tear along the dotted line! 

A lucky draw coupon with more discount vouchers, including a 68% discount voucher for Pizza Hut! I was more attracted by the million dollar (I guess) lucky draw and happily scanned the QR code.

Okay, sure, I will download the Family Mart app.

Sadly, I am unable to do so as it is currently not available in my region / country! Oh well, not that it matters as the whole point of buying the mystery bag was born out of an excitement and curiosity to find out what's really inside. 

红美人 (Hong Mei Ren) - The Red Beauty Oranges

Lunar New Year takes place in about a month's time and we have already started seeing boxes after boxes of mandarin oranges stacked up at supermarkets! Apart from the usual species (like lu gan, jiao gan, peng gan etc), a special one appeared to have been marketed earlier. 

红美人 (Hong Mei Ren) - directly translated as the red beauty, I had noticed this special species, said to be a "hybrid between tangerine and orange" last lunar year and a friend passed me one to sample. Thing was: it's expensive and if memory didn't fail me, one fruit cost between S$2 and S$3!

 Lucky me, NTUC Fairprice has a promotion these two days; a box of 10s with an original price tag of S$19.95 now cost S$8.90, a hefty 55% discount! With no shopping bag, both Alex and I can manage, sadly, only two cartons.

Unravelling the red beauties within. Individually covered with two layers of protection, I can't wait to rekindle the taste I first experienced almost a year ago! 

Do handle with care as the beauties are delicate.

One key advantage of the red beauties was the ease of peeling off the skin! To be fair, that's quite easy for most mandarin oranges but can be a feat for normal oranges. In addition, the skin for the red beauties was so thin! 

Another noticeable feature of the red beauties was the reduction of the white spongey fibrous substance that connects the orange segments. Known as piths, I don't mind them but a friend of mine detests them for reasons unbeknownst to us. 

Look how "clean" it was! 

As mentioned earlier, please handle with care. The red beauties were literally bursting with juices and it's quite easy to damage the edible parts. Not that it matters that much to me as it would eventually end up in my tummy. 

See how juicy it was! The taste was definitely on point; with losing the sourness from typical oranges, there was a sweetness similar to the lu gan species of the mandarin oranges. My friend who introduced me to red beauties told me this brand isn't as sweet but honestly, I am still happy consider one fruit was less than a dollar! 

Get yours soon as promotion ends today!

While stock lasts! 

Henryfry Fried Chicken @ Chinatown in Bangkok [Thailand]

As a faithful lover of fried chicken, it's interesting to realize that I seldom seek fried chicken whenever I am overseas. Things are going to change with this Henryfry Fried Chicken in Bangkok! 

Located within walking distance from Hua Lamphong MRT station, it commanded a high review rating of 4.4 from over 200 reviewers. Since I was staying at the nearby Hotel Royal Chinatown, why not a visit?

The eatery was pretty packed but expected given that we came during the lunch peak on a Sunday. Nevertheless, I was expecting a longer queue which would have appeared better for Alex whom I had dragged along for the meal.

Table setup - hm.... I don't eat fried chicken with knife and fork; you have to eat with your fingers to know if the fried chicken were "finger licking good"! 

Root Beer - friends are usually aware I don't drink carbonated drinks but closer ones would know I have a weakness for root beer! This one from Henryfry tasted herby and the creamy sweet kind that I enjoy.

Fried Chicken - our delish looking chicken parts! The chicken joint sold the chicken parts individually, and there were three sets; small, medium and large giving you two, four, and six pieces respectively, and will include potato wedges, pickles and henry's signature sauce.

Best of all, we could choose the parts we want! We ordered a small set of chicken thigh and wing, and topped up with another chicken thigh. That would have been sufficient to try out the chicken, and leave some stomach room for other eateries in Bangkok! 

Problem was: the portion was huge! Alex's thought was that this one piece would be enough for his stomach even though knowing him; should it fail the taste test, he would discard it aside. 

Thankfully, the chicken meat went beyond our expectation; screaming of fresh juiciness, it was obvious from the swirling steam (or smoke as Singaporeans love to call it) that the chicken parts were deep fried only upon ordering! 

And the chicken skin was so crispy! Don't deny a chance with the henry's sauce; it was adelicious concoction of like thousand island sauce, Thai chilli, paprika etc. Use it to hype up the flavor of the chicken! 

For someone who dislike potato wedges, these were acceptable as they were served piping hot and had a crisp texture without the soft and mushy insides that I dislike. 

As I get older, I grow fonder of such pickled vegetables, especially those that continued to have a crunch that gave way to burst of sourness and sweetness! 

Leaving the crispy chicken skin to the last.

I always believe in leaving the best for the finale. 

Homemade Pineapple Ice Cream - how not to resist a dessert when it was available on the menu!? This seemed the most unique compared to the rest which included strawberry parfait, panna cotta sour jam strawberry, coconut ice cream. 

Well, the texture was more a paste than ice cream. Below the paste was a slice of pineapple sitting on a biscuit base. Not bad tasting but if ice cream lovers would likely be disappointed. 

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Strongly recommended and if the fried chicken craving strikes whenever I am in Bangkok, I would definitely pay a visit to Henryfry Fried Chicken! 

Address

747 Charoen Krung Road, Talat Noi, 

Samphanthawong, Bangkok 10100, Thailand

Map

As above. 

Facebook Page

https://www.facebook.com/henryfry.eatary/

Menu

As above.

Pricing

Root Beer - 110 Baht

Chicken Set A - 220 Baht

One Piece Chicken - 55 Baht

Homemade Pineapple Ice Cream - 90 Baht

Talad Thai Banana @ AMK Hub in Singapore

In the past, there were just Chinese style fried bananas and Malay style fried bananas. In recent years, another style is getting to be more common in Singapore; the Thai style fried bananas, and they are going to the heartlands of our little red dot! 

This branch of Talad Thai Banana just opened a month ago and thanks to the information from my elder sister, we decided to check it out after our hair treatment this morning.

Featuring a very open kitchen concept, I am wondering if some of you would be turned off by the huge amount of oil used to fry the bananas. It wouldn't affect lovers of deep fried food though; we are sorely aware of their unhealthy aspects. 

At the moment, the menu was limited to just thai fried bananas and thai yam chips, deep fried using their signature batter! They did look appetizing behind the counter and we got a bag each since my mom was with us and she enjoyed yam.

Good enough for me to secure a second bag of Thai fried bananas to bring back home and let Alex try! p.s. a bag cost S$5 for 8 pieces of banana or S$4 for 6 pieces.

Look at that golden, caramelized sheen from the piece of fried banana that was dotted with sesame seeds! p.s. it's better to eat right after purchasing as the batter lost quite a bit of its crispiness when I reached home about 25 minutes later.

Compared to Bangkok Michelin Bib Gourmand Fried Banana Rama 5, it's no doubt that these from Talad Thai Banana were way better! Banana was juicier, the crisp batter was thinner; overall tastier than what I had in my last trip to Bangkok! 

And I absolutely loved the free additions of batter crispies! Aside from sesame seeds, I think there was another kind of nuts that were added; sadly, my amateurish taste buds can't discern what they were! Whatever the case, I think a pack of Talad Thai Banana shall be purchased after my monthly hair treatment session at Ang Mo Kio in the future! 

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Address

53 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3, #B2-17, 

AMK Hub, Singapore 569933

Menu

As above.

Additional Information

100% vegetarians; for all races and religions! 

Mel's Western Chicken Chop @ Marsiling Mall Hawker Centre in Woodlands [Singapore] #marsilinghawkercentre

Alex had been talking about a chicken chop from a stall called Mel's Barbecue Western at Marsiling Mall hawker centre for the past few weeks, and given my love for chicken chop; I was finally persuaded to check it out this evening! 

Ordering was a breeze but without a paging system; you literally have to pop over whenever you hear the call bell being hit. Thankfully, it was just a 10-minute wait and we were seated nearby; Alex went over no less than four times though before securing the above plate of classic looking chicken chop.

Attacking the coleslaw first and I wasn't disappointed; crunchy, creamy and sweet, the way I love it! And even the fries were the traditional shoestring kind, fried to a crisp and fresh from the boiling oil. Only issue was that they went soft pretty fast! 

The expectation on the chicken chop was heightened and I happily cut a slice and popped it into my mouth. Drenched in black pepper sauce, the meat was juicy yet its marination failed to impress; most of the taste came from the sauce which was salty and overly peppery. 

I told Alex this wasn't a bad chicken chop; however, it was maybe just a 6.0 for me. After a long day at work, I was looking forward to a good dinner and while I was digging into this chicken chop from Mel's Western; I was thinking of the Western Barbeque's chicken chop at Old Airport Road Hawker Centre!

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Address

4 Woodlands Street 12, 

#01-37, Marsiling Mall,

Singapore 738623

Menu

As above.

Pricing

Chicken Chop - S$7.00