Green+on+Earth Cafe, Frolick

i keep reading about the rave reviews of the vegeterian food here (yeah, you got me right, it doesn't kill to be a herbivore once in awhile- no pun intended) so i dragged one of my healthier-eating frens along to try out the fare in this place...but gasp i realised he doesn't eat raw vegetables so oh well all the interesting avocado mango salads and vegeterian rojaks were kinda out (i don't think i'd wanna finish a whole salad for a dinner)

the modern hip ambience in Green+on+Earth Cafe is a huge contrast to the rest of the Beauty world centre that this cafe is situated in. the building looks very 1970 ish, with the grocery shops and old old family owned shops.. everything looks very old and the building looks like it can crumble...it was so coincidental that the day before michelle actually dined at the peranakan restaurant just next door and she was rather curious about this place also when i was chatting with her that night and i told her i was gonna try this place! michelle blog faster tell me whether if its better than ivins!

2 of us ordered 3 dishes to share - one noodle, one pasta and one soy curry set with brown rice...well even if its just vegetables it won't be all that boring *crosses fingers*

Al Funghi Ramen

(mushroom and fresh vegetables) $5.20

i like mushrooms but i noticed that there weren't exclusive mushroom dishes - they all came with tofu or vegetables and were rather pricey (around 10 bucks) so i decided to just order this carb dish. RAW VEG GALORE! my repulsed friend asked me to clear it before he actually started on it...we forgot to read the words in the parentheses oh well...

the noodle was doused in a gravy and i thought the crunchy vegetables complemented the gravy laden noodles. disappointingly there weren't that many mushrooms!! then don't call it Al Funghi Ramen how very misleading. it was not too salty but was rather unimpressionable. my friend commented it tastes like any other chinese noodles which is quite true..its just that the overall branding as a healthy eatery that led us to pay 5 bucks to eat noodles and vegs..

i prefer the vegeterian soba that secret recipe offers cos the soba is likely tossed in some dressing and there's quite alot of vegetables! now it'd be perfect if they could throw in some mushrooms.

Forest of Fungus

(Fresh assorted mushroom, potato cubes and pasta cooked with milk and mozarella cheese) $9.80

This sounded very promising (yes yes because it has mushrooms too!) and it did smell fabulous (my ramen didn't smell of anything) but overall i feel that the cream didn't permeate through the pasta so it still doesn't have enough flavour in every bite. my friend said that it was probably meant to be light and simple and not heavy like gnocchis. well...i guess this was a healthy place and they definitely cant dish out some super unhealthy fatty cheese and cream laden pasta..

Soy Curry Pot $10
(Soy milk curried vegetables, served with brown rice and mini salad) $10

okay this was rather interesting and it did save our meal somewhat. the bits of mock mutton inside taste uncannily like the true meat, and the curry was actually rather light. Interesting take on curry, since coconut milk is always considered to be indispensible in curries. It went very well with the brown rice, and there were bits of lady fingers in the curry too.

but after that i felt a sudden craving for the cottage cheese curry at krithikaa's dad's vegeterian restaurant Ananda Bhavan..oh i shall return for the naan soon...

we weren't really enticed by the desserts there so we decided to head to holland v for the yoghurt icecream at Frolick because i thought that the zouk card-tie up promotion was still on and i could get some free topping or free upgrade but alas...it was not meant to be..

standing in the place of an ex-newspaper stand, frolick is essentially a bar counter in a hole in the wall with prettily made up girls serving you the ice cream (tsk tsk all these local ice cream chains) in different Cup sizes A, B, C (im sure you can figure which is the biggest) and the cheekiness doesn't stop there with their slapstick slogans as you can see for yourself splashed all over the store and the table tops.. obviously attention grabbing tactics going on over here!

yoghurt icecream comes in 2 flavours - original and peach flavoured., which is slightly more expensive. Toppings like strawberry (they give alot!!!!) and granola and even fruit loops are available at additional cost.

Left: Original flavour with blueberry topping

Right: Peach flavoured

MINE! yup i couldnt resist a fruity flavour. This was sweeter than the sourish original flavour. I prefer my yoghurt icecream sweeter so i prefer this to the original flavour. The peach flavour also tasted similar to the one at yoguru, except the latter was creamier and denser.

Frolick has been rather proliferative, popping up in millenia walk and serangoon gardens...those 3 young entrepreneurs are really aggressive man!

Green On Earth Cafe 144 Upper Bukit Timah Road #04-03 Beauty World Centre
Frolick 241 Holland Avenue #01-02 Holland Village

Prive Bakery Cafe

a drizzly afternoon was a blessing in disguise as fungus and i ditched our tennis plans to take a lesiurely drive to Keppel Island..this must have been my third time there - the first being when it was first open and hence the clubhouse being under renovation and the other time with kums and kels to the tcc upstairs...nonetheless i still enjoy the ride down the mini causeway down to the island (its like a mini sentosa with no cover charge) and the awesome scenery (in more ways than one, interesting people watching as well!)

Prive Bakery Cafe serves fresh breads, quiches, pies, sandwiches, soups, salads, gourmet mik shakes and cakes. I'm eyeing the main Prive restaurant for its steaks which many have raved about..

Smoked Duck Salad. $14

a rather puny portion for the price, with some slivers of duck here and there (yes i know i shouldnt expect too much meat in my salads, i never learn my lesson). The dressing was rather tangy and i love the addition of fresh figs and pine nuts to the salad.

Blue Swimmer Crab and Prawns with Roma Tomatoes Wrap

Again another puny portion, the wraps are even smaller than popiahs and nowhere near the size of subway wraps (by now you should know i love my food portions BIG). The tortilla wrap however, was quite thick and it became quite floury especially at the ends (as michelle agrees). The crab meat was rather little too, the proportion of flour to meat ratio was quite skewed.. it was rather tasty but oh well would be great if it was BIGGER!

Rum and Raisin Cheescake $6.50

This was Rum and Raisin AND cheesecake. Because the cheesecake had no rum at all! it was just the normal new york plain cheesecake (unless im really that immune to alcohol) and there was rum-soaked raisins here and there. i must go and try the peanut butter crunch cake !!

we sat alfresco since the weather was superbly cloudy (i love gloomy weather). fantastic place for watching the interesting mix of clientele here - some obvious business brunches, girl friends (or tai tais =P) for a casual lunch affair, and of cos we were spying at the berth where those richies were disembarking from their GORGEOUS yachts! mothers with their (very lucky happily-fed) kids eating breakfast - all the alfresco tables were 4 seaters and by the corner of our (roving) eyes we saw 2 mothers and their tag along accessories ie prettily clad daughters and we wondered if we would be like that 10 years down the road?

Prive Bakery Cafe

2 Keppel Bay Vista

Marina at Keppel Bay

Brewerkz, Riverside Point

when 4 hungry girls descend upon Brewerkz post La una search party, this is what happens....

Soba Noodle Salad with Salmon $18.99 + $2.99 for Salmon

generous variety of greens, al dente noodles drizzled in vinnegraitte, a dash of fried wantan skin tops a very good salad. as recommended by kitchencrazydaffy who swears by this salad and im totally sold.

Soba Noodle Salad $18.99
Greens, soba noodles, teriyaki chicken with Asian
vinaigrette

As above, but chicken is dry, Salmon wasn't that succulent either, oh well. its called a salad for a reason, meat shouldn't have any business in it in the first place

Nachos $28.99

The cafe iguana one beats this version hands down. Go next door for the nachos.

King Brew Burger $31.99

Don’t tell your cardiologist—two patties (480 grams) of
beef with cheese, sautéed mushrooms and
beer chili

This is a sure monster. Look at all the beer chilli and beans spilling out! But it will really make a carnivore happy with the amount of meat in that thick beef patty drizzled all over by the excellent sauce and chilli. The meat is a little rare though..but still an excellent plus sized burger. if you are very hungry. or you are an american...you can attempt the feat of finishing it by yourself..

Mexican Burger, $22.99

A flavor fiesta with guacamole, sour cream, jalapenos andbeer chili—muy bueno

Of cos, nothing else measures up in size after the king brew burger. but i like guacamole and jalapenos so im quite a fan (actually the only fan amongst the girls who supper) of this burger. The others preferred the King brew burger. definitely more manageable and less jelat than the monster though.

Post Massacre

We were so full but we still caught a late night movie (and a movie is never complete without popcorn) after that...it was a huge effort not to concuss during Wall-e it was incredibly boring!!

a great place if you like heavy suppers.. and beers of cos..they stop serving food after a certain time, certain dishes with the clock sign next to it will be available after another certain time... yeah it gets quite confusing so do call to check first cos there was once we went all the way there to realise the entire row (cafe iguana, brewerkz, wine garage - all under the same company by the way) stopped serving food, and we had to settle for coffee club at clarke quay. the ambience is great, with tvs screening soccer matches (ie random screams at goals) and a pool table provides the needed entertainment...

and oh yeah, we went on a sat night ie CROWDED so we sat at one of the tables along the corridor, ie STARES at our King Brew burger and all the food..all the more reason to come earlier and get an inside table...eating in the sweltering heat is no joke (neither are rude stares nor looks of bemusement from passerbys...)

Brewerkz Restaurant & Microbrewery (Riverside Point)

30 Merchant Road #01-05/06

Da Paolo Gastronomia

Spinach Lasagne
Stuffed Portabello Mushroom
Mushroom Pizza

basking in the sunshine at the alfresco wooden tables makes a perfect lazy brunch. so sad for the demise of cho-lun, my favourite bookshop! well least a consolation is da paolo's dolci a few doors down....

Da Paolo Gastronomia

43 Jalan Merah Saga #01-74 Chip Bee Garden


Sun-Thu: 9.15am - 9pm Fri-Sat: 9.15am - 9.30pm

Satsuma Shochu Dining Bar, Laurent's Cafe & Chocolate Bar

an early day due to afternoon chemical patho lectures being cancelled (which must be due to the dismal attendance the past few days) and not like it matters anyway since we have been self declaring our holidays, Kelly, Jason and Michelle found ourselves in the lazy area of robertson quay when michelle suggested this place for value lunches... well it could have been super value if one of us had the amex card - its 1-for-1 with a minimum of 4 diners..
satsuma is in this cute circular structure so we sat in the core of this structure in our very own little booth..great for privacy - not like it matters, seeing how we were the only diners around and besides the echo and all that our laughs will still be deafening nontheless..

Salad Bowl, $4

something extremely healthy to keep away the pangs, we liked the brown bean paste dip very very much..the carrot sticks tasted very good with it. This comes when you are seated, so if you hate raw vegetables you better tell them otherwise you'd be charged for nothing..

Spicy Cod Roe Spaghetti, $12

Michelle and i shared this. We didn't think it was that great cos the pasta was a little overdone and hence soggy from all the cream. This dish made me miss the cappelini from Iggy's (a different genre altogether but somehow i thought of that) and michelle was reminded of the version at waruku which she feels is on par with this.. This is the only dish we ordered that wasn't a lunch set, the following few are, and comes with a lime sorbet.

Sashimi Bowl, $18

okay, now this dish makes me miss the chiraishi don at wasabi tei alot! i always have the compulsion to order the chiraishis from the jap restaurants i first try out..the sashimi was acceptably fresh i suppose, though i feel it is not as fresh and firm as the one from wasabi tei..

Oyster Omelette Rice, $13

This was Michelle's. It came piping hot in a hotplate of broth and it tasted as great as it looked! The rice was wrapped in the omelette, and the oyster was huge...the rice was lovely, it was thoroughly flavoured by the oysters and the broth, and the thin layer of omelette was tasty too...

Mixed Grill Rice, $18

This was Kelly's. The very blur waiter got stunned when i asked him what meats were in the mixed grill, and was staring to the high of heavens trying to recall what were the bloody components of this dish. blurr staff in a hotel restaurant!! tsk tsk...he was not only unfamiliar with the menu...he even served our dessert before we were done with our mains! aiyoooh...must send for retraining..

anyway, doesn't this dish look impressive? there's another mixed grill set also but that doesn't have fish, this does. It also has steak, cucumber wrapped in bacon, unagi, chicken ball, and mushrooms. The rice also has some meat floss and mushrooms..i tried abit of the unagi and it was not bad, though abit rubbery. The mushroom i tried was also not bad, reminiscent of Shin Kushiya's mushrooms. She enjoyed her set very much..

Lime Sorbet

This lime sorbet came before we finished eating so we (or rather I) asked to get it served later...so when it finally came (we were damn worried that they'd serve the ever generic watermelon in place of our sorbet cos we were so fussy) we (or rather I) were visibly relieved, and then being even more picky, jason wondered out loud whether the sorbet earlier was of a different colour so again we summoned the waitress who said it was the same flavour just that the other batch melted so they made it again..

okay this was rather refreshing, and leaves the bitter lime taste at the end, something which proves they used the real fruit instead of some flavouring. I'm not a fan of citrus fruits (especially oranges) so I really couldnt tahan the sourness of this sorbet... and yes i do not like watermelons...japanese restaurants should stop serving it at the end of the meals and come up with something more originial like this sorbet! This comes with the lunch set.

I like the architecture of the gallery hotel...oh this place is really really charming, the whole geometrical asymmetry and colour derangements of gallery hotel, the lovely apartments by the river along the pierside, and all the good eats around here...da mario's pizzeria is round the corner, and so is epicurious and brasserie wolf, I shall frequent these eateries more and pop into the cafes and chill out with a cuppa...

and cos of michelle's intense craving for her souffle, we moved onto Laurent's Chocolate cafe..the chocolatey aroma was strong man though we became immune to it after awhile..(when we were arguing which senses were the most important to us - and jason commented 70 % of the pleasure of eating comes from the smell )

the famous no photo taking policy stands, and these photos were the hard work of using magazine covers to shield our very indiscrete photo-taking action...the staff will oblige if you want them to take group photos though..

Chocolate Tart, $6.80

This was really really good! the dark chocolate layer and i suspect the middle layer is milk chocolate with hazelnut, and the base is this hard-flaked biscuit crust which I really really liked. The favourite of us 3 who shared this.

Flourless Chocolate cake

This was quite light, I still prefer dense and fudgey cakes better. Nonetheless, it was good if you like your chocolate cakes not creamy. That's cream next to the cake.

Chocolate Souffle, $15

a 30 minutes for this one (and the run to put extra parking coupons) was well worth it , i think this is the best souffle i've ever ever tried. It was huge (much bigger than iggy's) and the crust was fantastically crispy, and the inside was soft and super chocolatey. There's a mini jug of hot melted chocolate and raspberry sorbet accompanying it. I'm going to try the other souffles in the list, in particular the rum and raisin one.

This place is the perfect place to chill out with a book and just soak in the lovely scent of the chocolate and the lazy ambience...im reminded of the royce chocolates- cookies and cream coffee thing we did at pacific coffee, short =)

and amongst the things we talked about, the dream of creating a stoma where nothing we eat ever gets stored unnecessarily, marriage being slavery thats made to seem civilised, babies being parasites zapping up all our nutrients and money and resources (it doesn't count functioning as a stoma especially with its saliva circulating all around hahahahaha) got us in fits.... we terrorised jason with our cynical ideas and tried to educate him about the reality of relationships...wake up, jason!

we passed by this place and i thought of you, Chiara!

Ice-cream Mochi, $2 each

while the sleepys left for home, kelly and i continued our gastronomic adventure...we popped by Beard Papa at the basement of Takashimaya for their Ice cream Mochi. This time we tried the Chocolate coconut flavour (which taste like frozen Kueh) and the Sakura flavour (which is just like sugar dusted mochi encapsulating the vanilla icecream ie nothing sensational)

we preferred the other 2 flavours we tried previously..the chocolate peanut butter and the white chocolate raspberry ones, which I'd blog about later.

We went to catch Vicy Cristina Barcelona, armed with our usual extra large popcorn ($7) from Cineleisure. The popcorn was quite warm and nicely sugar coated! and the show was not bad as well, the scenery of spain was gorgeous and woody allen did a great job showing how the relationships become more and more entangled and how new relationships do change the dynamics of the existing ones, making you rethink whether you are really contented with what you have...fulfillment and contentment are just both relative states of mind, don't you think? just like discovering new restaurants, you think you might have found the one but no, there's definitely more to try, more to surprise, more to amaze the insatiable taste buds!

Champagne Grapes

We found this at the basement of Takashimaya at the exit point of Cold Storage and oh boy these grapes were fantastic! they are from korea. the skin peels off when you bite into it and the gummy like insides emerge, this was great if not for the irrititaing seeds in the middle...i bought 2 bunches of this for $10, each packet is otherwise $6.50. it doesn't get packaged by weight though, its actually by the bunch, so you'd have to choose carefully.

Satsuma Shochu Dining Bar 1 Nanson Road #01-10 / #02-10 The Gallery Hotel

Laurent's Cafe & Chocolate Bar 80 Mohamed Sultan Road #01-11 The Pier @ Robertson

Wasabi Tei

each time i pass by this tiny shop in a hole (if i ever do land up in the ulu parts of level 5 anyway) and i see the long queue, i always wonder what drew the people there..is it the food or the prices (certainly not the ambience) until i read about it online and realise that i may be in for a more interesting experience should i step into the land of no-smiles..

m, along with my temporary cg and i decided to come here after a surprisingly early day at nearby kk - far east was a great choice cos if plan A to come here fails we can always head to nambantei or su korean cuisine) - but we were like half an hour early before opening time so we headed to my favourite dessert stall over at level 2 (HK dessert solutions in my earlier post) to wait...nonetheless, we still went back 10 minutes before opening time and to our horror there were people queueing already!!!!!! and cos we were outside the kitchen of the next door eatery our clothes started to smell and other random things we noticed was this masseur that was opposite wasabi tei..how very strategic man.

here is the chef-boss, presumbly pouring in the vinegar into the rice. this place is a one-man show, he prepares everything cooked or uncooked, and if you go for the first sitting he prepares for everyone at one go so definitely you'd have to wait for your main orders unless you order side dishes to distract your pangs first... he really buys everything from scratch on his own..when we were there he was lugging in ice from somewhere else back into his shop, and i saw him at the Isetan Scotts supermarket before buying tons of red meat..it really is a small enteprise, for him to source his meats from a supermarket instead of a supplier.

seeing him mix the steaming rice makes me very hungry!

another lady was the other living presence in this shop and she does everything else other than the cooking - take orders, fills green tea - but she seems to be over-rided in authority by the chef - when some customers tried to clarify some orders she asked them to ask him directly..and by the way you must make all your orders in your first order, they don't do additional orders. and they converse in chinese.
this is the seaweed appetiser that comes with my chiraishi don set...this came piping hot and was really tasty - salty but not overpoweringly so and the bits of meat were especially firm in the broth.
as i said earlier..the mains were all prepared at one go and so this was for the 6 orders of chiraishi don..
as he filled up the lacquer box with more and more fish m and i got more and more excited, seeing how the slices were so generously thick, and the icing on the cake was when he took out the box of unmistakable uni and planted some in each box!!

Chiraishi Don, $20

This meal set comes with the earlier seaweed appetiser, and miso soup, and with a compulsory fee of $2 per seat you'd get a drink - either cold drink/soft drink or hot green tea thats refillable..there's no service charge or GST so im not complaining.

See how thick all the slices are? and they were very fresh too, especially the swordfish! There was salmon, yellowtail, tuna, swordfish, fish roe and uni - as well as tamago. Each slice was succulent and firm, and was certainly a delight.

m's and my very colourful chiraishi
don't think you can appreciate it in 2-d, but see how thick the slice is?? yum!

California Maki, $6

This was M's , and you can probably read about this in her blog

Salmon Teriyaki Set, $10

My other 2 friends had this..and it looks damn burnt - must be all that multi-tasking!

This best thing about this place is that the prices for the sets are the same for dinner as well so i'd definitely be back. i think this experience was really entertaining, watching the mannerisms of the chefs (heard he chased out a group of girls before - must be a nuisance creating a racket =P) and watch him prepare all, from our bar seats forming the border of his open kitchen. we also got to see the other diners' food (the unagi is hugeeeee and so are the codfish hotpots), priming our stomachs for more food in the very near future

and cos of all the waiting to enter, waiting for the food, we had to hurry rush our meal and hurry drive back ! oh the luxury of long lunch breaks i sure miss!

Wasabi tei
14 Scotts Road #05-70 Far East Plaza

Tel: 62388216 ( i don't suggest you call them)
Mon-Fri: 12noon - 3pm, 5.30pm - 9.30pm Sat: 12noon - 9.30pm