Sunday, October 25, 2009

Sultan Kebab, Inglourious Basterds, Food for thought

It was a Friday and after morning rounds we were supposed to attend happy flower's tut at 2pm but when we found out it was an invite to join another group (no need for so much vigorous thinking of ways out) and that my effort to ask around for other groups' happenings (another case presentation at 1pm) were to naught, we decided to head far away for lunch. Anyway the journey here was most roundabout. We thought of Whampoa Market again, but somehow we went to Little India - got lost, not finding the Tekka Market carpark and landing up instead at Mustafa, curse the one way roads, and cos the other car decided not to have lunch at Komala's and suggested a pay-as-you-deem-fit vegeterian place which didnt pick up calls, we landed at Sunshine Plaza where the Thai food was closed and finally we ended up walking over to Sultan Kebab (1 Sophia Road #01-15 Peace Centre). Hell of an unexpected journey.

What Kelly and I wanted to try was the beef kebab here, cos the first time we were here in the evening for dinner only the chicken was left - so we tried the chicken with rice and the iskender chicken. Hence this time, we tried the beef kebab roll - and it was lovely, with the tortilla being toasty and warm, with generous slabs of beef kebab. It seems really healthy though, with no compromise to taste - it was extremely tasty.

The iskender beef, on the other hand, packed even more beef on the plate - and is on a piece of toasted bread. If you eat it fast enough, you might be able to eat some toasted crusty bread before the sauce sogs it all up.
Along with some old school kacang in a cone from the uncle hawking outside...
We then walked over to Le Cafe Confectionery & Pastry (264 Middle Road Elias Building) to try the soya bean tarts - as strongly recommended by Dedrick who said that it was like a taste of heaven - and it seems popular for each customer was only allowed ONE box of eight tarts (preferbly to call before collection). They sell a range of pastries of which their pineapple tarts in the shape of golf balls seem to be most popular.


The soya bean tart was a contrast of textures - really smooth, wobbly silky soya bean custard on a hard buttery crust. It was almost as if the crust was premade and the custard was just poured in on order. There were other flavours for the soya bean egg tart and we'd love to try the grass jelly soya bean egg tart the next time round.
Kelly got innovative and cos we moved onto Rochor Original Beancurd (2 Short Street) for tauhuay later on, she scooped some of her tauhuay into the hard crust (after she sucked up all the original custard) and concluded her own invention was tastier! Note that the hot tauhuay here is much better than the cold (probably in storage for too long).
Looks like our CG mates were getting really too innovative. (and he was then having tauhuay-orrhoea through all the created orifices....gross) Marc's dad unknowingly finished this up when he saw this tart....lol ignorance is bliss..
Luckily I decided not to join any of the 2 tutorials cos they ended up being 1/2 hour apart from each other so decided to hurry to watch Inglorious Basterds with Kelly at the Cathy (yes this is a dated entry, this was way before surg started), and we were amazed by how sadist we were at the sadism. I mean, I was wincing from my behaviour. This movie comes in 5 parts, in each character's perspective and talks about how it all finally culminates in an act, which was reminiscent of War of the Worlds - this movie, if you are a movie buff, has plenty of references to other films, Quarantino style.
Introduced Kels to my new finding.....the Diet Cream Soda Root Beer is DAMN FRIGGIN AWESOME.
Tried the portuguese egg tarts at the Mooncake Festival at Takashimaya at this stall called Yah Weh Confectionary. This is almost like eating a sweet eggy curry puff for the crust was extremely flaky yet thick, and the custard itself was also blowtorched to form this lovely crust. The main outlet is at a really secluded place in Yishun so I guess this is the first and last time we're having this.
Took the train down to Raffles City cos we were still on a quest to find that kaya toast at Beach Road when we stumbled upon these creatures..... there are almost always strange walking advertisements around - the last time round we spotted naked people in cardboards advertising for Ikea.
Finally nailed down YY Ka Fei Dian (37 Beach Road). This is the row of shophouses along Beach Road that is behind Raffles Hotel, on the way to Shaw Towers. The teh ping (Kelly's) and my hot yuanyang was really shiok! They still use stockings to brew their coffee, no less.
Their kaya buns are just what you expect - lightly toasted, with steamy soft bread within. Not spectacular - for I think if I practise enough at home I can achieve this too! Note that they do not have the thin kaya toast here - if you want the flat bread its pretty much the normal Gardenia variety they use. Popped by the National Library again and managed 3 books - The Pig that wants to be eaten, Book of God and Physics, The Thing around your neck. I just finished the Hour i first believed... not great.
After the library visit, we went to Food for thought (420 North Bridge Road #01-06 North Bridge Centre) . I dined here with Matt and Chiara (desserts only), and subsequently Jillian (dinner - sandwich and soup set), so I roughly knew what I liked at this place. What I didnt try though during my previous visits, was this very interesting tomato garlic soup - this had a layer of olive oil atop the soup and when stirred around this was a symphony of all the condiments as mentioned, and was lovely with the chewy bread that was provided, which soaked up the soup very well.
The mushroom soup here didnt come with any cream, and you can taste the earthiness of the mushrooms in this soup.
We then had desserts - if you get a chance try the Brownie-Expresso-Marshmallow-Chocolate-sauce-icecream this dessert rocks my world. But I decided to try something different and had this peach butterscotch crumble which turned out to be rather disappointing. Warm peach pieces taste strange (prefer the frozen cold ones in condensed milk!), and the butterscotch got too cloying amidst the (very little) crumble pieces.
But the red velvet cake tasted as good as ever - sour cream cheese layers amidst the red flour - its a tad like a carrot cake minus the nuts and other condiments. Kels said the colouration is cos of the vinegar treatment to the flour. Imagine your friend's surprise/horror as she slices the whole cake to find the cross section to be as such!

3 comments:

Alicia said...

I really like the red velvet cake as well. Too bad there aren't too many in Singapore that do red velvet cakes.

My BFF's mother just got back from LA with red velvet cupcakes so I will be heading over to her place to get some. Yum! Looking forward to it.

*Harris said...

So many good (-looking) things in a single post. Wow!

julie said...

yup Food for thought's the only place i know that serves red cake...

thanks harris!