Reason (s) for The Lack of Posts

I know i haven't been blogging as much i used to and the key reason is because of a lack of time since i do have an official employment and in the past few months; i have undertaken a very important regime at night.

Jogging! It's an exercise i used to enjoy a lot when i was younger and that explained an adult waistline that was 26.5 inches at its slimmest and my lightest weight at 47 kilograms.

While i continued to exercise at home with push-ups, pull-ups, crunches and weights, my calorie-burn could never match my calorie-take; it doesn't help that i am a lover of delicious, good food and that's aplenty in Yishun!

After my birthday in April, the frustration got to me and i decided to kick-start my jogging again even though it has been a hiatus of no less than eight years. And for a person who doesn't have gym membership, my 'circuit' starts from the void deck of my housing block.

Night jogging is always preferred for the following reasons; i am working in the daytime, there's no sun, you may get the occasional cool breeze and you don't see as many people / cars on the streets / roads.

The disadvantages are that visibility is lower and it can get dead quiet at around midnight. Some areas (like the surroundings of Yishun Pond) can be quite eerie and i recently had had a chill running down my spine.

My circuit can be relatively random although it usually involves around Yishun Ring Road. While i have yet to conquer the about 6.5-kilometer ring, i am happy with my present achievement.

Sometimes, i do see strange things which are not altogether that rare in a town that's notorious in Singapore. A delivery man on PMD who was taking a snooze at the traffic junction and once, an elderly man who pulled down his pants and took a dump at a grass patch near Khatib MRT station!   

End-point - nothing's better than to be bombarded by air-conditioning at the new Yishun bus interchange! Again, i am never that consistent but would make it the end of my jogging route if the supermarket is still open. 

The trickling sweat from the head and body that always feels so good to have after a run! Since i rekindle my joy in jogging, i am glad to have lost about 4 kilograms and my pants did seem looser!

Free Tracker from Health Promotion Board showing distance, maximum heart-rate and timing. I am not too concerned about the distance as i have always been a slow jogger taking small strides; however, i try to maintain at least 30 minutes for each jog.

That's not all; i still have home exercises to conquer after the jog! My weight currently stands at close to 60 kilograms and i am hoping to reach an ideal of about 58 kilograms. Good luck to me! 

Guan's Mee Pok @ Bishan's Junction 8's Food Junction [Singapore] #guanmeepok

It's Thursday afternoon and i badly needed lunch before attending the CPR course at Singapore Heart Foundation; a food court would be the best bet and i recalled there's a teochew fishball noodles at Junction 8's Food Junction!

I couldn't find the fishball noodles stall although i was still drawn to the queue outside Guan's Mee Pok and the long line of newspaper clippings on its glass facade.

At that time, the name didn't register in my brain and it was only when i was intending to blog about it; that i realized i had in fact reviewed its now-closed branch at West Coast two years ago. Oh well, i am not going to waste the photographs!

The ingredient that was staring at me; the large piece of fish maw! Soft and tender, it's highly nutritious and known as the ocean's ginseng! While i would discard it when i was younger; the older me was a lot acceptable (given the fish maw's health benefits) and the taste wasn't repulsive.

Onsen egg - with that gooey middle, it was again served cold but on second thought; i think it's the norm for onsen egg to be not hot as the higher temperature would have cooked the yolk.

Mee Pok was surprisingly only average and for someone who prefers tomato sauce (ketchup) with mee pok; the option isn't available and i had to make do with chilli. Well, the saving grace was definitely the generous serving of crispy pork lards; and the bowl of plain yet flavourful soup.

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Address

9 Bishan Pl, #04-01 Junction 8,

Food Junction, Singapore 579837

Menu

As above.

Pricing

Guan's Mee Pok - S$5.50

The Authentic Love Seafood Restaurant (Halal) - Fresh, Yummy Steamed Seafood in A Large Pan @ Tanjung Piayu Laut [Batam, Indonesia] #loveseafoodbatam

The drive from Batam's city centre to our lunch destination took us about 45 minutes and i was praying extremely hard that food would better be good as i can just imagine the sarcastic expression on my sister's face should the taste fail to make her expectations!

Well, the building didn't look too promising with the second level in a work-in-progress state. What's heartening to note was that despite its isolated location and the fact that we arrived past 2.00 pm; the restaurant wasn't empty.

Greeting us right after the entrance was the knee-height tanks; brimming with live seafood! That's always a draw for potential customers but given the easy access, there's a notice stating that only the staff can take the seafood out from the tanks.

My sporty family!

If you are good in choosing, you can take your pick from the tanks! I usually leave it to the experts since i only know how to eat.

Seating at the main arena; no air-conditioning although it wasn't much of an issue for me that day since i was cooled by the strong sea breeze!

Prefer to feel like you are dining on a floating kelong?

You can do so right here at Love Seafood Piayu!

Let's walk over to check out what's in store! Actually, this kind of concept is quite common in Indonesia and i already knew what else i would find, aside from the dining space.

The abundance of live fishes and seafood (prawns, lobsters etc) kept in netting submerged in natural seawater; this would be the kind of traditional fish farming common even in Singapore a few decades ago before urbanization hit us.

Loving the provision of swing chairs! After a meal, this would be a great place to take a snooze before taking the long journey back to the city centre.

Now, time for food! One thing i don't like generally when i dine is not knowing what price i am paying for as the typical Singaporean mentality tells us there's a chance we might be cheated as tourists.

My objective was to try this steamed seafood in a pan and knew from a website that it would cost only about 400,000 rupiah. However, i was quoted 700,000; a huge jump and thankfully, a picture along the way clearly stated 400,000 rupiah. My guess is that there's a misunderstanding and it didn't help we don't speak Bahasa Indonesia.

You can also consider the set menu, which had its price and package clearly indicated. For me, i am rather insistent we should get the steamed seafood in a pan!

Juices - Joyce was extremely pleased with her alpokat (avocado) juice as there's none of the chocolate syrup commonly found in other restaurants and even for the soursop juice; additional sugar syrup was added and you get a natural version that's both sweet and sour.

Hotplate Tofu - a bit too spicy for the kids and those who have been following my blog would be aware that i generally wouldn't order this unless i am with my niece and nephew.

Nasi Goreng - nicely fried, with the wok-hei flavour that many desire. I only took a few mouthfuls as it's to be shared and i prefer to leave my tummy space for the seafood!

Steamed Seafood in a Pan - when it was placed on our table, the first sound you hear from everyone is "wow" because there appeared to be a ton of seafood in the pan!

There were like flower crabs, clams, prawns and gong gongs! Although there are many ways to cook seafood, i personally enjoy the steaming method as it's the best way for you to ascertain the freshness!

The steamed seafood didn't disappoint in terms of freshness, in terms of taste and my family was totally overwhelmed yet immensely satisfied! Even the flower crabs were sweet and meaty; throwing away my age-long perception that they were not.

Interestingly, the broth wasn't sweet as expected and was in fact quite salty; which means i wouldn't be gushing it down the throat and risk a stroke.

Burps; left behind were just plates of shells!

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Address

Kampung Tua Tanjung Piayu Laut RT.02/RW.10 Sei Beduk, Kabil,

Kecamatan Nongsa, Kota Batam, Kepulauan Riau, Indonesia

Map

As above.

WhatsApp Contact

0812-7777-2692

Pricing

As above. From the above (the first few items), it's obvious the steamed seafood was charged by their weight instead of as a package. Hence, it may be better to just order whatever we want from the live tanks.

Additional Information

There's a halal sign!

I was sharing with a few friends about the restaurant but their reviews were not as good. Turned out there were imitations; to spare yourself the disappointment, do keep in mind that the one and only Love Seafood restaurant is at Piayu! Just refer to the map i shared above! 

Click here for my 3 days, 2 nights itinerary to Batam (including a day with a driver)!