Ootoya

It was Monday of week 5 revision, with a morning lecture of hemopty and t hc's quick tut, and afternoon k thia's excellent tut - scurried off to meet Carol at Somerset.

We wanted to try Kaiho Sushi, or Ooi Sushi at Cuppage (cos of it being featured in the BT and as pointed out by Mich) but the former was closed and we decided to go to Ootoya (Orchard Central), also highly recommended by Mich. There was a 35 minute wait (on a Monday night!!) and we decided against eating at a Korean place opposite (cos I just had Korean on Sat) so we decided to kill time by us walking back to 313 (meeting my family otw) to draw money - in the end I had to walk all the way to Somerset MRT cos 313 AND central has NO POSB ATM whilst Carol went to pick up her vest (and I forgoed my dress=P)

We were very lucky cos by the time we finished all our errands, 34 got us a seat at the common seating area, from which we shifted to a corner when the couple left. Carol sat at the tatami area, which is rather huge to trudge around.. but otherwise, the common area is really very communal dining, you sitting rather close to other diners.

Grated yam with tuna ($6) - when we first tucked into this - we really liked how raw it was - it was a mildly cooked soft boiled egg over grated yam, beans, lady's fingers and tuna, and it was a great symphony of the most simple ingredients.

Anyway, the great surprise came later.

Soy milk porridge with mixed grains ($12.50)- a soup that we shared, in addition to the first dish. This is homecooked, wholesome food at its best, and it feels like a Japanese oatmeal, with some chunks of chicken. This comes as a set but honestly its extremely unfilling as there is very little grains, and plenty of soup.

Does this look familiar??

Part of my Ootoya Mixed Rice set - it was rather incredulous that I only discovered at the end of the meal that its components are EXACTLY THE SAME as the first appetiser!!!! Tuna, check. Beans, check. Grated Yam, check. Lady's fingers, check. except that all the above lies flat above rice....can you believe i was so blur as to only realise this right at the end???

That said, I should have ordered the appetiser x 3 and the rice and I think i might have much much more ingredients....nonetheless I liked the mix and so wasnt so chez off

Carol's Mackerel set - this is their recommended fish and I must agree I liked how soft and oily it was.

I STILL CANT BELIEVE I ORDERED THE MINI AND BIG TOGETHER!

Was quite full after a mains each, and sharing appetiser and another mains so we skipped dessert but would love to try them when I'm here again (and its not so crowded)

Post dinner, the shops at 313 opened till really late (past 1030pm) and we browsed at Uniqlo, HMV (tempting cheap S M's CDs) and Zara (bling big bag and cuter small one).

Carol was due to fly off the next day to India, and it was great catching up - her ending school a week ago and prepping for India, looking for those mysterious altitude pills (and the co-relation to those impossible gorgeous heels). It was most enjoyable hearing her stories, and her joke on the mural painting at the village...All the best for your climb babe, and may you stay safe and diarrhoea free!

Tiong Bahru Market, Udders

It was a tuesday of week one revision - after the morning round and the intensive crf long case, we headed out to lunch before dr tien's tut on fever in the afternoon... to Tiong Bahru Market.

Tau kwa pop - this is the MOST AMAZING ROJAK EVER! Gorgeous presentation aside, what was unusual was the addition of thin papery fish crackers and long slices of raw mango adorning the dish. Even the basic musts of rojak are done perfectly - chunks of you tiao were crisp and pillowy soft dough within, most freshly fried.

Jian bo chee kwuay - grease bomb this was, kinda felt the other stall at TBM had better chee kwuay. Nonetheless, this stall is quite famous!

Ipoh hor fun - this was alright, just that the aunty was super nice, and super generous with the ingredients.

Went to Udders (Goldhill Plaza) with Kels cos Marc (going to see his ortho boss) Kels (going to collect stuff from Pharmacy) and me (getting a letter) shared a cab to ttsh. Marc met us later, so Kelly and I dug into Earl grey, chocolate whiskey with waffles. Bliss!

Fish and Co Part II

This must be the most dramatic meal ever, for us to walk away once, and for us to be back to the restaurant, only to be almost summoned back. Kudos to M, for his moment of chivalry. Poor thing, being more traumatised by the aftermath instead of the true happenings!

A lunch at Fish and Co ( # 03-11 Velocity @ Novena Square) with Justin, Chern Hao, Sharline. And a hobbit like fellow who ran away. Met Agnes here too.

Chocolate pecan pie - desserts are often the best appetisers, really. This sticky chewy version - sticky caramel with chewy chunks of brownie, and generous fillings of nuts is a great way to dispel all that stress, with the wonderful endorphins running around your system to kick start your git.

This is the Baked Ginza Salmon and was most delicious because of the sesame seed coated crisp layer around the fish, that was a great contrast from the smooth fatty pink flesh within.
Coriandar Dory was Justin's and it was really a tad too herbish for my liking.

NY Fish and Chips - essentially cheese stuffed fried fish. I must say I'm quite a fan of their crisp and light batter.

I guess you can tell now Fish and Co is a franchise I really don't mind patronising.... its been eons since I went to their Glass House outlet to eat their Seafood Platter, and the infamous birthday sabo there on Saturday nights.

Fish and Co

With the rain at sgh and the need to go pick mom up and catch up on our shopping saved us from the massive bukit timah floods. We went shopping in Wisma/Ion and got absorbed in Bebe and (cheap!) silver shoe madness. Had to drag ourselves home soonafter cos next day was an early day!!

Mom felt like fish and chips so we ended up in Fish and Co (Ion Orchard, B3). For the month of November there were $ 9 deals of which we had 2 of those. Fish and chips with cheese - a tad salty from the runny and not so viscous cheese.

Thai fish with rice - the sauce tasted really asian, and was slightly spicy. Have always been a fan of their fried rice (although it is supposed to be paella) - its not oily and is fragrant, and perfect with the sauce.

They're running some deals to promote their desserts as well - 50% off on certain new cakes like their key lime pie. tried their pecan pie before (which i guess I'll blog about next) and it was surprisingly good...

Kim's Family, Udders, Allanbakes

Today a nong nong quiz and interesting syncope videos led onto a masala thosai lunch (and marc and I getting tempted about one for one at Forlino's with Women's Weekly!!!!), before some shorts and bleeding (we were......internally =P) before I set off to collect the cake.

Kim's Family (Lorong Kilat) has got to be the find of the year! Been here with James (thank god he tolerated my nonsense when our spanish quest gg), the old CG, Kheng/Nat/Newman, and now finally with the family. And I learnt that making a reservation gets you a place in a separate room in the restaurant. Complimentary sides - whats new here is the coleslaw at the forefront (with fruits!) and this brown slices of ?taukuar which tasted more like fish cakes.

My seafood kimchi soup - plenty of squid galore.

THE AWESOME OCTOPUS FRIED RICE (which my dad thought was too sweet, but I like!!)

Brother was overwhelmed by the Spicy Beef Soup, with the massive od of vegetables and giant beansprouts. So ended up putting it in the middle to share... no guesses who was the happiest

If you like your beef soup a little sweet go for the Bulgogi stew beef (with glass noodles). Generous chunks of beef.

Mom went for the Bibimbap which was rather bland cos you had to add the sweet chilli yourself, and the variety of veg is not as awesome as the Seoul Yummy Express outlet at Food Republic at Suntec (which imho has the best, value for money Bibimbap). No kimchi either. Thats why I suggest a meaty hotplat or soup dish cos there are already so many free flow veggies in the complimentary sides.

Rice cakes are so so super chewy my brother didnt think it was meant for swallowing - still prefer those at Hanseang Korean Restaurant at Square 2 but the sauce here is still nonetheless quite good (and sweet lar, thats why I like!)

Seafood Pancake - I am a big fan of theirs.

Anyway, Udders at Lorong Kilat is doing so extremely well! Poor Frutta La Viva down the road had not a single soul....and we passed by the Korean Fried Chicken......Kels up for it yar??
We were SO FULL we could only pop by Udders to buy 2 pints back. Baileys and orange chocoloate bitters (only cos chocolate whiskey was too expensive)

Allanbakes' White Chocolate Strawberry Cheesecake - as creamy as ever but a mixup meant double this. Dun know where the dude is moving to after Village Square goes man.

So now I have 2 cakes and 2 pints of icecream. My fridge is so congested Its blocking the lights of the fridge.

Hatched, Coffee Nations

Morning started off with powerpacked neuros back to back from stroke to gbs to pd ( where it was too obvious why we didnt have the presentation =( ) and latest obsession with the thosai at housemen's, rounded off with insane ideas on bowel prep for buffets (irrigation and catheterization, manual bladder wash out) to laters after butterfingers and reese's about lunching getting full after suntanning (K will win hands down and I'll just wither and decompose =P). After Dr RT's pckd (poor disturbed soul) and Dr T's on his pet topic and another interesting tof and a long convos with my dad's colleague I was off to meet James, with a dead phone and troubling ppl on the way.

Anyway, I suggested either the new roast meats place by La Petit but cos James couldnt find its location online (think its ?Cluny court) but anyway the other place was Hatched (Evans Lodge, 26 Evans Road#01-06), and was somewhere in between tt, sgh, and where we live. Its next to the 24 hours The Prata Place (which was for once, closed in time for Hari Raya Haji!!). And we were wondering who actually stays at Evans Lodge. The Wine Company was next door and was quite lively, with the crowd enjoying the pre-long weekend.

Ordered Poached eggs- one with salmon and the other with corn wagyu beef. And the reason why we have one of each here is cos we requested so! =) My's with potato with onions and a big bunch of salad which James refused to eat so I had a garden to myself...

His with mash potatoes - anyway, we thought that the corn wagyu beef was a little too hard for our liking. But otherwise it was alright, not that mind-blowing- the English muffin was a little too soggy for my liking, love my bread a little more toasty. Somehow J and I always end up at Eggs places like the previous time at Choupinette (boy was it long ago, right after his eopt at tt).

Had to pick mommy (darn that dead phone gotta koop his mrsa infested phone) so after that we then first headed to be wowed by the halloween like lights before trying KPO (crowded with supercars) and trying Laurent's at Robertsons (closing - and forgot coupons !!) and then we landed at Blujazz at Haji Lane (no live music) and FINALLY The Coffee Nations (17 Haji Lane). Here at Hari Raya Haji heh, how appropriate.....ly lame. Anyway, its super happening, this little cove - had trouble squeezing in between a red Carrera and J was more concerned about it than the one behind =P Smoke pipes everywhere, the sweet aroma is real compelling.

Anyway, must say that this place is a great place to hang out till late(till 1am!) Some people were even boardgaming/carding and its really homely, with signature brews to boast. The owners source coffee beans all over the world and bring in only the best. Was supposed to chill here with K/chong but somehow think this place is a little too far flung!

And the service here is super attentive - they even asked if we wanted water before we started ordering - this despite the fact that the selling point is their drinks and coffee. Excellent service man. Will return to try the Beef Lovers' special (meatballs and sausages!!) and their finger food platter, and of cos their really interesting drinks (spotted some with orange , others with whiskey etc)

Affogato - vanilla in expresso with caramel sauce. It was too tiny a scoop of icecream amidst a really strong bitter brew! But J was sensitized by his whittakers dark choc so this was no challenge. I dun know why I cant power up even with my obsession with soy lattes.

Chocolate lava- this in turn, has a double serving of icecream. No lava in this, but J really liked the texture of this - he feels they got it just right, slightly moist but chocolatey nonetheless. I think I like my brownie grossly drenched in sauce, and as wet and nutty as possible..

We also ordered a signature brew - the Chocolate Rum coffee - no decaff drinks here so we just had this. J is super sensitive to coffee (tachycardia comes almost stat) so we thought the alcohol will negate the coffee effects. This was served with a cinnamon stick - and J gamely used it as a straw when I asked him to....heh. I did it with my Chilli Chocolate Mocha at Oriole previously.

Eventually I did a Macs thing (overturn my ice cream cone into my apple pie = instant Macs apple crumble - which S used to think was rather disturbing and disgusting to watch!! ), and I drenched the remaining expresso in my affogato into the cake. Then eventually I added the Chocolate Rum drink. Final straw, I crushed up the complimentary cookie with the coffee into the affogato cup, added some chocolate rum coffee and added some brownie and it sent me to Food for Thought heaven for a while - the chocolate/expresso/marshmallow brownie there is FRIGGIN AWESOME!!

Anyway, on the way back it was quite philosophical before our usual unwind and chill in the car before zooming home (not before sensible him knocked some sense into flighty self....heh. Reinforcing the lack of plans and mood swings:topics). NO WORK NO SCHOOL! =) Happy Hari Raya everyone!

Laurent Bernard Chocolatier, Playhouse

Mag, Yiks and I took off after morning rehearsals - supposed to start at 11am but nothing happened till lunch, when an insipid DeliF's smoked salmon sandwich did no justice to the day's work, and we had to scot off somewhere for some good coffee and icecream. So we packed into Yiks car and zoomed to Portsdown Road, where we had a really luxurious tea break (whilst the rest Sub-ed!) at Laurent's Cafe & Chocolate Bar ( 5B Portsdown Road #01-02 Wessex Village Square)

We loved that we started the tea break with some complimentary chocolate pieces in the cold room =) whilst Laurent the man actually came out to make conversation (or check on us =P)

Blackforest cake, really light with a thick layer of cream, and raspberry puree, with bits of chocolate lightly dusted above.

Chocolate tart - a Ferrero Rocher compressed neatly into a pastry that disappears half as fast..

Chocolate and Caramel icecream

The waitresses got the order wrong (we wanted coffee icecream) so we got a complimentary scoop of coffee icecream. Loved the thick caramel icecream here though, the chocolate and caramel melts to form a really sweet sludge that we savoured right at the end.

Coffee icecream, tasting like a frozen creamy form of the illy's double expresso that Mag ordered ie extremely bitter. Poor babe had a mini concussion after that from the chocolate and coffee od.

Plenty of overlaps from last year's playhouse with huilin as my double, my sluts getting cut off, except that this year instead of a mini fight choreography there was the zeng tambourine dance - thanks to grann and mummy for making time to come by!

And today was the day I od-ed on Macs - for supper at West Coast and for breakfast with Chongs and soft serve od too =P bad face injury made great excuses at butter, no doubt.

Big D's, Haato

Meetup with the Aussie gang at Big D's (Blk 46 Holland Drive #01-359). Many troubles finding the place till it was known that it was at the coffee shop housing the XO fishhead beehoon. But totally worth the find!

Love my eggplant lasagna - oozing with cheese all over my firmish eggplant. Super thick layers of cheese, tomatoes and eggplant, this was lip-smacking good.

Signature crabmeat linguine which indeed lives up to its name.

Anchovies Pasta - a tad salty for our liking

Snapper -the sauces here are most amazing!

Beer Battered Fish and Chips - of which my dad is a fan of. Snapper is used here.

Beef Goulash- this is really good - thick layers of beef chunks in a piquant sauce, and the consistency is almost stew like, most flavourful.

56 chicken - hey this is really really good - the sauce over baked chicken was super tasty with the rice.

Popped over to Ridgewood for haato (5 Ridgewood Close Unit G1) - parked semi-illegally outside the condo. quite a search, but luckily sat in V's car. Shared these with Rous - chocolate banana and sesame.

Rockmelon, Greentea and red bean.

We relived Aussie days with stacko again! and laters to my house to collate photos and mj.

Botak Jones and 4 Fingers Bonchon Chicken, courtesy of K's iPhone

This post is courtesy of Kel's iPhone...most of my thoughts are in the previous post.

It was a cloudy day (threatening to rain) when Kels and J went to get tickets to 2012 and I met them at Botak Jones (Youth Park, Orchard). Plenty of birds flying around Youth Park, sometimes swooping damn near us, but still quite breezy and pleasant to have a meal. Will try the Philipino food next door the next time round! The meats look damn awesome.

Massive with 4 slices of cheese. With potato salad and cheese mash.
Fish and Chips =)
J's favourite Cajun chicken. Pasta salad, fries.

Free chocolate cake courtesy of Jeremy's loyalty card... Will only eat if it's free.

Anyway, the sides here are of quite miserable proportions, compared to the Clementi branch. The workers at the next table though, had towering proportions (upsized?) and left so much pasta behind!! So much that it was probably the same amout we got before we started eating.

Met Marc at level 4 and the disaster started cos we first got the venue mixed up, and then we lost the tickets to 2012! First step to recovery was when we found 4 tickets at the counter but they were not ours, and the second was J ran down to find them.... but i think even if you lose them, you can still let them know and they might let you in (i think absent minded me had such an incident before). My thoughts on the show in the previous post.

Mad shopping frenzy buying shoes and bag for mommy and highlight of the day as below...

Presenting the 4 Fingers Bonchon Chicken (Ion Orchard, Basement 4) !!! 3 Soy garlic and 3 Hot and Spicy ($9.95 combo set)- drumlets or wings of your choice. This is the 6 piece combo set. The hot and spicy has much more kick to it, and the skin in phwoah! most crisp, tasty to the bone.
Calamari and Prawn combo set. ($6.95 Combo set)The batter went better with the chicken though.

The fries are really awesome! The straight cut fries with some seasoning sprinkled atop, freshly fried on order. Sauces were self service- there was the thai chilli sauce and a ?mustard.

And according to their official website (according to Kelly, stat), your fingers are not supposed to be sticky cos the sauce adheres to the chicken skin damn well!

Botak Jones, Frolick, Provence

Marc, Jeremy, Kelly and I the biggest eaters in our group went for the 5 - for -4 offer at Botak Jones (Clementi). Massive.

Anyway, decided to dig up these photos of Botak (I think during Paeds! Why was I so busy then doing what??) cos we went again TODAY (Monday of week 2, gen med..only a ccf lect in the morning with some otot neuros) ! but no more 5 for 4 cos Marc wasn't around went to meet his dear ortho boss and lunched with his parents at the place I missed out. And I didn't bring my camera!!! So part 2 of Botak madness at Youth Park is gonna be sponsored by Kelly's iPhone. We had the same 3 dishes as the top 3 ones in this entry.

Fish and Chips - the breaded fish was most crisp

Cajun Chicken is Jeremy's favourite

Smoked Turkey Sandwich is a new favourite for me! More slabs of meat than the Cold Cut Trio at Subway, defos.

Steak.

The rojak at the stall next to Botak at Clementi's just your regular ones, if you need a rojak fix (we were greedy =P)

One of the boys drove so they headed straight to school to sleep so Kels and I continued over at Frolick (Holland V) where Kelly had her first taste of it...WE LOVE THE ZOUK ONE FOR ONE! Peach and Original - $1.80 with the zouk card.

Need to kuai kuai go collect my new one so we can max it out at the Cineleisure branch of Frolick! Sure very thirsty after all that popcorn

All our breads at Provence (Holland Village) for the CTS lecture later - Hazel and Chris were in front of us and were most amused....Kaya Wassant, Brazilian Cheese, Chocolate, Milk Pan.

Part 2 of Botak Madness - at Youth Park this time - coming up!

Watched 2012 today too...Makes us ponder if indeed there are contingency plans that governments are planning to save humanity in case of a calamity - and the issue of eugenics in saving who within mankind. Do we forget the many other species sharing this planet?

This kinda corelates to my reading of Thomas Friedman's (Cool surname!) Hot Flat and Crowded and it is amazing how many species are getting extinct every day... and each loss is a tragedy, a loss of a relative to mankind. Take for example, the mammal, the baiji Yangtze dolphin - one of the few freshwater dolphins in the world and are not longer in the waters of the Yangtze River (bless my ignorance, I didn't know dolphins swam in rivers!) Are we gonna do a Joan of Arc feat when calamity strikes, when we cant even save our own kind?

THe book moves on to talk about how humans built a really inefficient environment with the greatest efficiency ever known to man. What will we trade for convenience, connection with our other fellow human beings, and globalisation? It is ironic that we are as estranged to each other more than ever (not to mention other species), resorting to technology for solace. When was the last time you ever saw an eco-system in its entirety, something that is not planned or planted by your government (haha). And to power this race, all our power sources from below the ground- or 'hell' - like coal, fossil fuels are all polluting Mother Earth, and irrenewable, whereas the future should be towards energy sources from 'heavens' - from above ground - clean, renewable sources such as hydroelectric and solar power, and biomass.

Enough about the environment and natural calamities already, Marc and J left us and I walked with Kels to the Prologue - the new Popular at Ion (most surprised in my Chinese books phase), and before that we were rather depressed cos NO MORE A&W ROOT BEAR CREAM SODA !! SCREAMS WHO WIPED IT OUT!!!

Checked out shoes at Cole Han and the other crazy headache inducing shoe shop before we ate the BEST MINI FRIED CHICKENS EVER!! 4 Fingers Bon Bon Chicken, you are my new crave. Laters!