Clementi

Was going back for acute abdo pain but Kels decided not to pangseh lunch - whilst the group lingered around science we decided to take 96 right outta Clementi.. to eat at Brothers Rojak (Blk 449 Clementi Ave 3 #01-211 See Lam Hern Coffeeshop). This is at a coffeeshop facing the entrance to the car park, not in the main shopping centre.

The clincher here is the excellent sauce, and there was even raw mango inside the rojak. Only if they had bean sprouts it'd complete the dish. The youtiao is toasty and yummy, and you'd have to wait for it to be as such.

Bought the popiah ($1.40) from the stall next to it (actually, it was a kueh tutu stall away), and Kelly liked the vegetable filling, plus how it stayed together even as she dissected it. I still prefer the one at Qiji, if not for the fact that the auntie snapped at me as I said I wanted more crunchy batter ! ('Ger ah! Next time tell me earlier!!! See, mess up the order !) geez she really likes her routine man.

Decided to bring Kel's to Fong’s Special Chicken Curry Puff (Blk 448 Clementi Ave 3#01-45 Clementi Central Market & Hawker Centre). This curry puff is excellent - the crust in between buttery and flaky, with the curry innards feeling up the entire space within (no air pockets).

This is the dessert stall that faces the outside (and is a few stalls away from the mixed rice stall with the long queue). We tried Michelle's favourite dessert- Red tea iced jelly - but it came all mushed up! (Hence, my vote goes to the dessert stall at Changi Village, for preserving the integrity of the red tea iced jelly) Otherwise, with longans and evaporated milk galore, we had no complaints.
What was yummier was their Durian Chendol which had durian puree which was very authentic and creamy. And it was not cloyingly sweet, with the coconut and gula melaka taste just right.

Kelly spotted the Granny Pancake stall at the coffeeshop opposite the hawker centre- nothing escapes her supersonic vision and we were in for a treat cos the uncle just unleashed a new batch of scalding hot fresh minjiang kueh. Mine was piping hot peanut minjiangkueh and the batter just melted to release the gritty bits of peanuts (the kind I like, not the commercialised creamy ones =p). As we mused about Mr HK actor (not sure if its the same one still!) we sure hope there wont come a day when such lingering amongst coffeeshops cease - either the lack of time on our part, or the time has come, for yet another upgrade for the centres.

Golden Mile Food Market, The Cove

It was an early day after RM's tut on Communication with elderly (which turned out to be osces revision on ng tubes, falls which were really useful) and no grand ward rounds meant no insane sweating and inching to hear the mumblings of the tortured, hurrah!

After reading ieat and sistablog reviews about Bugis (Long House) Lim Kee Beef Noodle (B1-27) at Golden Mile Food Centre- and extremely enticed by the peanut topping atop - we decided to go to Golden Mile to try.

Actually we were there cos we ended up at Beach Road cos we took the AYE and ended up exiting at Rochor - at first we were thinking of exiting at Alexandra to try the Lengkok Baru's dim sum and beef dan dan mian - then somehow we seemed to have scarily drifted off to Beach Road to find the kaya toast place (on our minds the entire time) - but failure to locate 37 Beach Road (we were in the hundreds, lingering outside CBD), so ended up second time round at Golden Mile after a difficult wait.

This beef noodle turned out to be too watery for us still and the peanut seemed to have vanished, dissolving into the black gravy- the best part of it is probably the tender beef balls.

Kelly had a case of one too many beef balls.

Couldn't resist the Zhao An Granny Grass Jelly. Crushed ice instead, please. We were totally amused by the pair of old ladies selling grass jelly and for awhile, imagined us selling grass jelly all day long. Our bubble burst when we realised we would be quite grumpy too.

This is the best find of the day. Yam, Tapioca, ONDEH ONDEH, CHEESE TOAST! This fried food heaven can be found next to the 91 Fried Kway Teow Stall (the one with no pork no lard and a huge serving of veg) -its on your left when you climb up to the upper level.

The latter 2 was the best - the batter of the cheese toast seemed merged with the bread of the toast, and inside laid melty cheddar cheese. The ondeh ondeh had such an ingenious contrast of textures- the gelatinious kueh with shreds of coconut all in a pillow of crisp batter. Pwhoah this is fried food PARADISE. Even though it was kept in the warmer and not straight out of the pan. I must go and try the fried cheesecake at Fromage. Fried, frozen cheese blocks. Fried frozen Patisiere Glace's Rin Rin cheese tarts. MMmmm. Idea.

Reality check when this totally blocked my car. Warning, gluttony to be kept in check.
Watched The Cove - this had fantastic 4 star reviews but Kelly and I decided that documentaries are not for us. (like Mad for English). Not in a cinema, anyway. The whole controversy of this film was that it was shrouded in secrecy as the scientists-activist group were trying to expose the atrocities committed by the J fishermen in Taiji, and the means they'd exort to, for their prize - of a dolphin, alive as a show specimen or dead meat to be distributed as school lunches. I don't know which fate is worse for the dolphins. Show dolphins are subject to massive noise pollution (for they've an astute sense of hearing, and get extremely stressed by the noise of the filtration system in their tanks), and the sheer stress of living in a fixed place, not speeding through waters in their natural habitat and eco system causes depression and shortens their life span. Yet the manner in which their other peers get killed (if not selected) is savage, stabbing amidst the hemorrhagic red sea of a cove.

To me, the show chronicled how life comes full circle, and how the dolphin trainer tried to redeem himself eventually after a turning point. The trainer of Flipper, the show which popularised dolphins and the cuteness and humane side of the animal, dolphin and seaworld shows and attractions started gaining popularity. But the turning point was when his own dolphin died in his arms, when it stopped breathing spontaenously. Dolphins are in full conscious control of their breathing, and it was depressed enough to want to go to a better place, a heart breaking, turning point of the trainer's life.

Got very excited about the freshly popping popcorn which came in clusters - if you take it straight off the popper. Anyway, wanted to watch Away from Her with Kelly but Marc and Jason couldnt loan us their houses so away we went (got Kels a little hopeful when I called her back thinking I lost my car key.)

Ion, Tokyo Sonata, First Thai

It was a startling short day - morning being the invisible beings (as much as possible) we are again but a keep the ball rolling tutorial and after that we rolled out off sgh cos all the tutors seem to be busy with the aus visitors (?) so early day = outside lunch.

Went to Ion Orchard (cos Kiliney was full - no chance with Freshly Baked) so we ended up in Food Opera - tried the Scotts Beef Noodles. This is comfort food from secondary school days - i ate it almost every time I was in town in the old Scotts Picnic Food Court that Kelly remembers it. My mom and I can eat 3 bowls of beef noodles collectively last time.

I always took the set previously - dry beef noodles with beef ball soup - and in the good old days it was under $5 - tough luck now, a similar set cost $6.50. I thought I'll try something different today so I took the beef noodle soup ($5) and indeed the soup is still as good as previously - but its abit hard to douse your noodles in the chilli and chinchalok like you can normally do with the dry noodles (I just dump the whole lot in and mix it around) as the the chilli just dissolves away into the soup. Kelly enjoyed the dry version tremendously, cos she likes her noodles in thick gravy. She thinks its a little like lor mee.

Went to hunt around for dessert but after spying the tiny mountain of ice kachang on one of the tables we decided to go to Mei Heong Yuen (Ion Orchard, Basement 1) for the durian ice. Tried this before at the Chinatown branch and liked it enough to recommend it to Kelly again - but she prefers if they use a more authentic puree (the durian paste was bright yellow, really artificial looking, though its supposed to be made from D24). Well, I thought it was perfused enough with the durian flavour - the milk ice and the durian paste. Probably one of the better durian milk ice imho.

On the way out we passed by Wisma's Food Republic and we just couldnt resist Rojak there! We had the biggest version there before and it was $5 - there was only $4 and $5 to choose from and a whole range of add-ons - cuttlefish, mango, stuffed taupok. But since we already had a full lunch we decided to just go for the $4 one...though I was thinking $1 difference might as well...but of cos I listened to the more rational Kels...

Anyway, she thinks this version is a little too healthy tasting cos each ingredient taste distinct from another - Rojak to her must be a little messier lol. Whats missing for me is the beansprouts, though I'm a big fan of the sauce and the generous peanuts here.

We found a Mr Ten Thousand Year shirt and found a new nick already (hahaha) and we tried to inhale as much popcorn as possible for we couldnt bring any popcorn into The Picturehouse!

Proceeded onto watch the movie, Tokyo Sonata. It is a family drama about a typical Japanese family - parents and 2 sons who were all trying to run away from their 'home' where normalcy and sanity was stretched when circumstances outside home were perturbed. It was as if they were trying to seek an equilibrium at home, but it was not a place where they sought solace and comfort in each other. You must have plenty of tolerance to sit through the entire movie (or alternatively just read the synopsis off Wikipedia) for you to understand what I'll be talking about in the following paras (or you can just skip it, just for Kelly and my reference)

This movie brought me back to the days when I read Japanese novels (Haruki Murakami, Kazuo Ishigaro, Natsuo Kirino) - it explains the isolation one feels even as globalisation happens, and civilisation seemingly enforces the density of the population - the more urban you are, the chances of you being in a dense population, being close to other humans, being in an artificial man made city, being far from nature (which reminds me,the director of Moon is directing a show dealing with this isolation too). But, physical distance is definitely not drawing us closer, technology and technical convenience is not bridging that distance either. In the movie, I kept questioning - who is the most isolated in the family? Who is trying the hardest to run away from reality and home, and what is repelling them from the most seemingly stable and orderly unit of society, the family when an open conflict doesnt even exist?


It makes you think - is the facade you maintain within and outside your home different? How is it you can regress to being strangers despite history? - in the context of divorce, meeting family in the outside context - running into them and discovering their secrets

Then you question how important is the family unit if it is there for the sake of being there? With the age of multitasking - is the fundamental unit of the society, the family still efficient or viable? Life is mostly incentive driven - we seek love cos we fear loneliness, we seek wealth because we fear poverty and hunger. Taken in this context, a family was practical in the olden days of agriculture and farming, because it meant a consolidation of manpower, and a organised delegation of duties and manpower. Laughter is multiplied and sorrow is divided, simple needs attained - but in the modern fast paced, incentive-driven world - can we truly share joy and laughter, sorrow and woe at the same frequency, at the same level of intellect and emotion?

Truly, in a human's quest for what he wants, realises what he needs ultimately. Question your motive for your thought, behaviour, and action frequently - and you realise you might be chasing the wind, doing everything but carpe diem ;D

For in the movie, I wondered if individual family members be better off alone - for being in the family is keeping them FROM being sane, and restricting their freedom. The movie describes a savage vision of family life as a charade that’s long since stopped meaning anything to its participants - the participants act as independent entities, simply being physically present in the household cos they function as part of a regime, an unspeakable, unquestionable routine. What drives us to maintain this status quo, and the hum and drum of daily living, daily routine? Do we all crave for a form of order in our lives, or do we delight and thrive in chaos, encouraging change?

What subjects humans to authority, and willingness to submit to them? What controls us from stepping across the line? Respect to me, is when someone exceeds the moral threshold and expectation we formed of the person, and that is when - to put it simply, someone's behaviour, action or thought impresses me. But we are human after all, and this expectation we have of people, is often biased and might not be even taken in the right context. The circumstantial meeting of the wife and the husband in the shopping centre when neither comprehended each other's situation (and hence misunderstood) is a clear illustration of this point. We saw the breaking down of barriers - father-son (questioning the protection of country vs the protection of the family) and teacher-student - how far does a role model have to practise what he preaches? Should a doctor too, practise what he preach?
Wanted to eat at the vegeterian place at Fortune Centre but we couldnt find it (we made an effort, went to the fifth floor where this equally lost student asked us about night classes) so we went straight to First Thai at Purvis Street, my second time here after Matt and Chiara and I ate here, last year.

The service was much better today, and there werent so many people (F1 phobia?). Maybe you can try again, Michelle!

I remembered liking the mango salad ($8) very much. Tangy, with a good dallop of prawn paste sauce. One of the rare sour dishes I like (I can do Thai anytime, for that matter)
Tom Yam (Prawn) here ($7 for a one person rice bowl portion) is clear, and deceptively spicy. When I was here previously and had the $15 one, there were +++ straw mushrooms.

The phad thai ($8) was wonderful. Plenty of wok hei, and there was alot of fish sauce in the eggy parts, with the greasy noodles going well with the fresh shredded carrots and peanuts.

Green curry ($8) was okay, though it was murky in colour and not as creamy as I like it to be.

Kelly's green bandung and my iced coffee . Pandan flavoured bandung which she liked and I absolutely liked my thick coffee.

Mango sticky rice - salty glutinous rice, with saltier barley bits atop and coconut. Kelly's favourite

Wanted the mixed ruby (looks like mix of chendol jelly and jackfruit) but had to order this red ruby. Not impressive, the ice came in chunks and was a little difficult to much on. Otherwise it was red ruby and coconut milk. Just go for the mango sticky rice and stop there. (or go to Tom's!)

Brings us back to the days of admiring the city skyline in Hong Kong, except we're in aircon comfort (not in Starbucks overlooking the waterfront of Tsim Tsha Tsui!) and looking at the brightly lit F1 tracks, far away from the toxicity of burnt rubber and crazyloud engines =)

Good Morning Nanyang Cafe, Barcook Bakery, Yami Yoghurt

Had a super insipid Jap curry salmon lunch at the Jap place at YIH (i cant even remember the name!) with the CG minus Marc and Jeremy meeting a friend at Subway, after morning ward rounds and a super-quick falls tutorial with R.M. before having to vacate the place for the incoming HOs where we found out there was this baby bear book equivalent for the NUH HOs by HOs. And it turns out we ate the insipid lunch for NOTHING cos the afternoon orthoG tutorial got cancelled (postponed to Sports Day, Doh).

So Kelly and I arranged our own tutorial with the dolphins, wanting to catch the Cove but its a whooping 10 bucks at Cinema Europa at Vivo so we're waiting for a good time to watch at PS (so that 10 bucks can buy us student price ticket plus popcorn). Meanwhile we almost wanted to go back but a glimpse at Toast Box rocketed us down the NEL line to Chinatown to...

Good Morning Nanyang Cafe (133 New Bridge Road #03-01 Chinatown Point)My second time here. I discovered a new blog sistablog and the writers do seem to like the same stuff as Kelly and me! Actually we wanted to try the peanut thick toast (below - as recommended by the blog) but we still ordered the Ciabatta Kaya toast anyway. Today's was DAMN FRIGGIN GOOD I proclaim this to be my top Kaya thick toast. The kaya is eggy and lumpy (mixed with the butter) and the bread is crusty, with the soft in betweens. Kaya heaven, for a while.

The owner gave the writers of sistablog a sample of this Peanut butter with condensed milk thick toast - we had whole meal bread with this. Kelly spotted that they use Skippy's Peanut butter but overall, we couldnt really discern the taste of the condensed milk and this is quite replicable at home (the Ciabatta Kaya toast is not replicable though and warrants repeat visits)

We couldnt resist going to Barcook Bakery ( Blk 531 Upper Cross Street #01-54 Hong Lim Complex) to eat the Raisin cream cheese bread. Today's wasnt as awesome as the first time we ate it - we rationalised that its cos we were sharing that very time - sharing makes everything taste better. Company matters! Maybe also cos the bread wasnt straight right out of the oven - the cheese wasnt scorching. But the bread is as soft as ever, the sweet rummy raisins taste awesome with the cheese.

However, we tried a new bread, the coconut bread - which we shared and it DID taste better in Kelly's opinion...has a crusty layer, and the coconut doesnt fall apart easily (like the grated kind I had in Hong Kong which was IMHO much better than this) and Kelly postulates that the coconut was prob mixed with custard. She proclaims this is the best bread of the day.

Actually the whole excuse of getting to Chinatown was cos we were going to Ocean to get toiletries (dropping by.........) and we were aunties for the later part of the afternoon..

Headed down to Bugis to the National Library where I happily borrowed the Omnivore's Dilemma (finally!) and couldnt resist my third icecream of the day (after Mr Bean, and Milo icecream) at Yami Yoghurt (B1, Bugis Junction)- this is the peach flavour. Being $2.30 its much cheaper than Frolick (at $3.50 a pop if its not for the one-for-one Zouk offer). Its slightly creamier than the sorbet like Frolick, but not as creamy than Yoguru (which is still my favourite cos its the creamiest and sweetest and biggest).

Later on met JM at Starbucks whilst getting my mandatory Soy Latte. Must meet up soon! The last time we met was when we were having chicken rice at Margaret Drive Food Centre and fantasizing about that abominition of a Awfully Chocolate-Island Cremery - Chocolate sauce- M&Ms all in one dessert. Lets go for it.

Fromage, Uncle Sam's Claypots

The boys planned way way ahead for Sports Day today cos the teaching in afternoon got brought forward, so the plans for bowling and badminton went on...Kels and I didnt take the badminton one too seriously so we didnt bring our PE kit, but nonetheless the insane crossing of the bridges at Clementi from the West Coast Recreation Centre to Clementi Stadium was enough exercise (and sun, thank god for auntie pink brolly).

So after the morning rounds and the case studies meds tutorial (a very young and enthusiastic reg) and the postponed community services lect we took off to Clementi where I got a bit lost going all the way to Pandan Loop.

Decided to have lunch so walked to Clementi where I met the brother at Clementi Stadium where the boys booked the badminton courts. Final destination for lunch: Uncle Sam's Claypots.

Whilst waiting for the orders at Uncle Sam's, Jeremy was getting hungry and wanted to get fried cheese downstairs for appetisers. So, Kelly, Jeremy and I went downstairs to Fromage (3151 Commonwealth Ave West #01-K4 CityVibe) - ordered a dozen of Mac and Cheese. This is really really good - fried thick batter wrapping the pasta and liquid cheese, I loved this to bits.

They took some time with this (waited for 2 rounds of frying) - Kelly said the first round's leaked cheese. I must imagine it must be quite difficult for the entire parcel to remain intact through the frying as the cheese is very fluid and the mac and cheese wont hold together as such.

This is the cheese combo ( $10.90) - there is blue cheese, camembert, Edam, Mozarella, Brie. I tried a bite of the blue cheese but gave it back to Jeremy cos it was too pungent to eat too much(its just me). I tried two more - the far left and far right - but I must reiterate that you must eat it fresh off the fryer for once it settles and cools down and coagulates - its not that great anymore! The cheeses that I ate were really dense and went fantastically well with the bread crumb coated batter.

At Uncle Sam's Claypots (3151 Commonwealth Ave West #02-11/12 CityVibe), I had the Thai chicken claypot ($8 before 15% VIP card discount). The portion is huge! The claypot gave the rice a smokey flavour, and I liked that the rice was rough and the sauces well infused into the rice, and the chicken pieces extremely tender and well marinated.

My other friends had the boneless chicken (house special) and tom yam noodles (rather sour, in my opinion but Dedrick and the others liked it).

Cos there were 6 of us dining, we managed to get a VIP card (15% off on weekdays, 20 % on weekends - yes you didnt read it wrongly) but even better, the students set at $5.50 has the boneless chicken set, ice kachang and a drink (we didnt see the offer).
Went for a round of bowling - paired up with the most understanding Wee Ming (striker+++) and Marc, I was counting the number of times I actually hit one. Need more practice!

Kelly and I then suffocated in our work clothes at badminton - couldnt hydrate myself enough it was massively underventilated - whether in the Sports Hall in Clementi or in NUS. Need aircon!! Maybe drag the brother to the country club to play in air con comfort. =) A strange showoff tried to pay us to join our group. STRANGE.

Hooked!

My phone finally dieded this weekend giving me mirror image on my screen (and i don't mean to say, the mirror like effect of the screen) and blue cherries.

Went to Hooked! (390 Upper Bukit Timah Road The Rail Mall) Parking at Rail Mail is very tiring, circling around and around and we admired the gusto to which some people squeeze in their giant cars. Luckily James was behind the wheel if not I'll be sure to drive off. Anyway, the original plan was Hooked but because it was eerily empty, we walked the entire stretch considering Sweet Salty Spicy, Galbiati, Blooie's Roadhouse and even Eat but ended up still sticking to the original plan cos James insisted I should try since he tried before and said it was worth a first try (implying not that worth a return visit).

By the time we settled down, the other family left, leaving us all alone in the restaurant.

Ordered a fish pie to start with - its a shephard pie with fish inside - salmon belly was especially good. I enjoyed the crusty layer right on top (a mixture of cheese and bread crumbs?) and the chunks of potatoes and fish went very well together. A pity about the large egg in the midst of all that tasty concoction - quite a big waste of space.

For dinner, you can opt for the dinner sets which are either $13.90 or $16.90 depending on the mains you choose. I chose the Poached King Salmon - which tastes exactly like the one at Ikea (where I eat two portions to be full). I should have been more adventurous and tried the other more interestig options on the menu like James did. But I guess being in an empty restaurant makes me want to choose the safer options instead.

Well being adventurous did pay off after all. James had the grilled seabass and this was a wiser choice. The skin was fried to a crisp and the meat nicely salty.

We wanted to be adventurous and travel to the new nature reserve at Dairy Farm, which was right about the corner. But we followed the terribly tiny signs till we had the option of turning to the BKE towards Johor (got too humji) or the PIE towards Changi Airport and no guesses where we headed to...Somewhere more familiar ie Adam Road Food Centre! Yes we had the Cheng Tng here. James was rather surprised to find no queue at the stall. Quite happy to find a dessert stall that opens late for supper.

This version was quite refreshing - and there is a sweet potato amidst all that ice. Dig for treasure! Good luck in your journey to the east, James.

Holland Village - El Patio Mexican Restaurant, Frolick, Coffee Club

Met up with E and Jas at El Patio Mexican Restaurant (34 Lorong Mambong Holland Village)- slept the entire day only for E to be my alarm clock! Zoomed down stat to meet them at Ya Kun and handing her two matching shoes and apt Garfield late-ness card before moving down to the restaurant.

Sat at the al fresco area with red lighting so its terrible photos, and worse still, the dark shadown on the bottom right corner. Ugh, lurking everywhere! I refuse to photoshop.

This place is one up against Cha cha cha for its complimentary chips and salsa!

The sizzling smoked chicken fajitas is the house favourite and everyone seems to be having it (you hear the sound almost every other minute) and yes you might end up smelling like smokin meat too. I thought it was pretty average actually, tender chicken chunks to wrap in the soft tortilla wraps.
We didnt have enough of the chips so had a Nachos Grande to share - this has chicken, cheese, guacomole. The nachos at Cafe Iguana is much missed!

Salmon and Prawn Burrito - this is my favourite for the night. Rich in creamy sauces and meat, this was a real delight. Portion's a tad small though.

Cheese Quesidillas - it tastes exactly like a cheese prata foldover. EXACTLY. The oily, crisp flour especially.

The original plan was to go to Mykii for desserts but the dessert menu looked limited and wasn't tempting enough so we decided to walk out. Couldnt resist a trip to Frolick (Holland Village) despite NOT BRINGING THE ZOUK CARD!!! (I think I lost it actually.....) And this time its cos there is a new blue berry flavour that I haven't tried! Only tried the peach and original. This one is real sweet.

Had round 2 of desserts at Coffee Club (Holland Village). Mudpie - this looks huge but perfectly conquerable. The best part is the dense oreo base amidst oreo crumbs and the sinfully rich chocolate sauce. The icecream actually had icicles within so not the dense creamy ones at Udders.

Walnut Nougat Parfait - my bad for ordering this for it tasted like fluff after the mudpie.

Somehow the Holland V area lacks good desserts...... 2 am dessert bar is just too inaccessible for a big sugar rush..probably just a ripple in my bid for hyperglycemia.

Epicurious, Oriole, Bon Gout, JiDeChi

Picked up the girls from their houses and Orchard (in my sleepiness I had to retype that for i said orchards at first) and headed down to Robertson Quay to Epicurious (60 Robertson Quay #01-02 The Quayside) . The other time I tried to come here I had a nasty accident walking straight right to a lamp post right in front of Epicurious sustaining 7 stitches and I had a big phobia of Robertson Quay after that. Hell, the lamp posts served no function, forming a quadrangle in the courtyard in front of Epicurious and it being not lighted at all in all the subsequent times I went back. I swear its there to make people trip in their blindness or in darkness.

Anyway, the owners promised me a free dessert the time I had the accident and bleeding copious amounts - imagine I still wanted to have brunch - c'mon, no LOC and frigin accident doubly depressed. Well, thanks but no thanks, but here I am back again for the third time and finally getting to eat the brunch in one piece.

Reserved an indoor seat - you can only book 15 minutes in advance, which is totally illogical imho. Jas reserved first, and Eliza reserved next - 15 minutes one after another - but to be fair, they do hold the table for quite some time before letting it go (cos when we were there they kept the other table empty for some time!) so they are quite nice about it, not even asking for the contacts of the person making the reservation.

Anyway, had green eggs - with smoked salmon and a layer of thin toast right at the bottom of it all. I totally enjoyed this meal - an open face sandwich with plenty of creamy, salty protein right on top. Eggs were creamy without being soggy nor oily, and the basil aftertaste made the omelette really unique. Even the accompanying fried potato chunks were excellent. Everything, save for the watermelon (my most hated fruit of all time) was perfect.

Jas loved her smoked salmon with cream cheese bagel.

My 2 other friends had salads so didnt take no pictures of vegetables...a little sad came all the way here to eat greens lehh!!

Choco nana sandwich is an ingenious combination of nutella, bananas and strawberries on sugar dusted and buttered toast - think I'm gonna replicate this at home.
Cheese platter of 3 picks - Brie, Harvati, and Blue. My favourite was Harvati - a semi hard cheese which is salty without being too pungent. Love the creamy Brie too, amazing with the crackers - which by the way you can request for more (just not too many more, be nice =P)

Actually we went all the way to Tanjong Pagar cos wanted to try the cakes at Glace (which has moved to Ion Village). Note to self: extremely expensive parking at public carparks and Ion Village - $2 for half hour!!!!faints. posh car parks come with a price, there was a friggin gorgeous fountain INSIDE the carpark so damn ostentatious. So future cake indulgence = take train = good for Julie to gain some calorie credits.

So we drove to Pan Pacific Suites at Somerset and again friggin expensive parking at the public car park at Cineleisure (didnt know it was $1 per 30 min before 5pm and half price after that) and didnt wana risk getting a shit-loaded car again (rem that time, Chong - no joke its real potent unscrubbable shit) and double ex parking at Orchard Building...so went to....secret park which saved me a bundle. Huffed and Puffed under my aunty pink umbrella but don't care, save $$, chalk up calorie credits right?

Excuses. Off to Oriole (Pan Pacific Suites, Somerset Road) I went... My second time here, mental note during the first visit to come here to try their coffee - their baristas were famous for winning the national barista championship. First course: Hand cut fries - excellent, dusted with oregano and freshly fried it sends you to potato heaven (to think I'm gonna meet potato later).

Even as conversation droned on the fries still tasted good after listening to all the girl and investment talk. Mmm.

There was a sweet young family of 4 dining in front of us (with the husband carrying a suitcase, no less) and of cos that brought on the subject matter of families and children. Well guys, just don't get outnumbered.

Honey crumble affogato was something I had the first visit too and this is excellent - vanilla icecream doused in bitter expresso - it has honeycomb and chocolate bits that was an amazing contrast to the smooth creaminess of the beverage and the icecream.

Grilled Lemon Pound cake - honestly I never thought I would crave about something sour but this was exceptional. The cake was nicely dense and this subtle lemon taste - to the point of it being sweet.

Not a fan of this bread and butter pudding I've yet to find one that wows me. At least serve one that is piping hot, won't ya?

Stir your chilli chocolate mocha with the cinammon stick, before it turns cold, commands the waitress. And so I listen, forgetting I'm not a biggie about cinammon...oh well I'm a typical Singaporean, what to do?

Anyway, the coffees are potently bitter, strong, and full bodied. The chocolate did little to steal the limelight from the coffee, but the spiciness of the chilli only hits you as the coffee crawls down your throat and that sensation is quite unique. I must go and read more about the anatomy of our tastebuds - Kels was teaching me about the physiology of taste - if spiciness was actually a flavour that the tongue could detect - and if we do have separate receptors for MSG and that umami taste?

Anyway, do you know that the the sensation of the spiciness of chilli, capaisin is unique only to humans? This is because our digestive tract destroys the seeds of the chilli, and the smart chilli, in a bid to ward off its enemies, ie us humans, has its poison the capaisin, which make us realise its actually painful and we will refuse to eat it. Other animals - such as birds, whose digestive tracts do not digest the seeds, actually DO NOT have these receptors - hence they do not perceive pain, eats the chilli, and disperses the seeds for the chilli. Nature is extremely interesting, in wiring our phyiology and anatomy towards the whole food chain concept, and evolution.
Picked Pam up and headed to Bon Gout to have dinner. Her eyes litted up the moment she stepped into the shop, and considerate her decided not to pounce on the books, making conversation and enjoying the lovely dinner before I had to practically force her to browse (which she gladly did, buying 3 Jap novels, no less).

Anyway, Bon Gout (60 Robertson Quay #01-01 The Quayside) is this quaint Japanese restaurant cum library-bookshop of Japanese manga and novels. There are shelves and shelves of Japanese books and you can browse and read the books as you eat. Many of the books are still in pristine condition and the number tags on the books are the prices of the books, much to the delight of Pam who initially thought it was some code numbers of the books, since it was much too cheap to be the actual price.

The moment you enter Bon Gout, the aroma of the curry just hits you and its almost next to impossible to not order the curry rice. I had the curry chicken stew rice and the curry was thick and not overtly sweet. The rice stuck together in chunks after a while, making it even more delightful to eat with the curry.

Pam had the beef stew curry rice and we finished every.single.drop. and grain of it!
We managed to snag the coach seats by the window and looking out the insanely cute shaggy brown dog on the benches outside (now I know better than to sit on those alfresco seats at the brunch places at Robertson Quay, dogs everywhere!). In our own private corner, it was cosy browsing books (in Pam's case) and Men's Health (in my case - its definitely a much more interesting read than Shape, being much more scientific and factual than : Look, do this step by step workout). We sat till closing time, when we saw how the staff then assembled in one row and ate at the counter.
Wanted to eat at Laurent's but the queue and crowd was insane, so we drove to have Chinese desserts but Ah Chew's had a queue (horror of horrors, no first come first serve and chope your seat, now gotta wait to be assigned to your table!) so we ended up at JiDeChi (8 Liang Seah Street #01-03) across the street, with a smaller crowd.

This is my second time here, the first time being here with B. We didnt have a good experience cos we didnt fancy the durian puree here so I never had repeat visits (unlike Ah Chew where I kept going back to). But today it was surprisingly good.

The surprising find was this black glutinious rice with sesame and walnut paste - despite the paste being very rich on its own already, it can really get to you when there is too much sweet goo but the contrast of the gritty plump black glutionious rice laced with coconut, this was totally amazing.
Had the steamed milk egg white, which we had served hot - the wholesome milk taste is better appreciated this way. Tasted similar to Ah Chew's, and a level up was when we topped up this with the black glutinious rice left over from the first dessert and I was back to Hong Kong for while when this option of glutinious rice with steamed milk was actually an option in the menu.

The mango pomelo sago was pretty dilute for me, doesn't beat the one at the Hong Kong Desserts at Far East Plaza level 2 thats still the best!

Ready, Get Set, Go! Drop drop.
Potus and Julie's =)

Its been a long time, Married Wives Club.