Kiat Lim Vegetarian

A random dinner with grandma, mum and sis. Settled for a Cze Char meal at a coffeeshop along central Ang Mo Kio.


Steamed Cod Fish

I found this simple steam of mock fish the most remarkable dish. The codfish was delicately soft and all went well with those tofu cubes and preserved vegetables.


The rest of our orders were all made tasty in their own ways and fared pretty well. One thing we noticed about their dishes was the general use of chiili padi for every one of them, and it sure managed to spice things up. Grandma especially liked their stir-fried potato leaves while sis' favourite was the "frog legs" (which was actually just deep-fried abalone mushrooms).


Claypot Tofu


Gong Bao Frog Legs


Stir-fried Fu Yu Potato Leaves

The bill came up to about $32, still considered reasonable for their large servings. and generally good dishes.

Kiat Lim Vegetarian
Blk 728 Ang Mo Kio Ave 6

Ho Kee Pau

I happened to spot this stall down the stretch of Upp Serangoon Road.



More food for me since after-meal snacks are hard to resist. Tried a couple from their range of dimsums here, they had all from steamed to baked to fried.


Charsiew Pau ($0.70), Charsiew Soh ($0.80) & Egg Tart ($0.80)


Yam Cake ($0.80)

Absolutely nothing to praise about the egg tart- fragile crumbly crust with overbaked filling and a weird hole out of nowhere. Charsiew soh, lightly flaky, was just passable. The worse had to be the atrocious oil-logged yam cake- a foolish choice of mine since i never fancied yam.

Alas, something to save the day. That neatly-wrapped signature pau was fortunately not bad with sufficient chunks of savoury meat.



Char Siew Pau

Not only did the food disappoint, the attitude from the staff was also annoyed me. A revisit is most unlikely, or perhaps just for the sake of their buns.

Ho Kee Pau
Upper Serangoon Road

AMK House of Teochew Noodles

If i ever had a craving for some meat in the middle of the night, i would certainly head down here. Bright lights shine throughout this coffeeshop along Upper Serangoon Road, all thanks to a 24-hour noodle operation- one of my favourite Bah Chor Mee stalls so far.



It wasn't 3am, but 12 in the afternoon-and i happily walked here from home with my maid. The coffeeshop was relatively empty as usual, since all the other stalls only serve the night crowd.


Mushroom Minced Meat Noodle ($4)

All meat lovers will be satisfied with their generous showdown of pork in each bowl of noodles. Pork slices, pork liver, minced pork, pork balls and some braised mushroom slices- nothing more to ask for.

Just dig beneath and you will find more treasures; both their mee pok and mee kia are worth a mention. The broader ones are adequately springy while the thin ones gave unique bites. It can be taken as a narrow mee pok or flat mee kia but whatever it is, it best appeals to me.


Mee Kia

Call this a narrow mee pok or a flat mee kia, whatever it is, it best appeals to me. The sauce's got oomph especially with those sinful lard cubes, but the most impressive component had to be the soup.. so thoroughly boiled for a robust flavour. I was so glad the uncle obliged to my request for a second helping.


They may not be the best around, but their standard of this local dish is sufficient. Most importantly, they possess that power of making me walk out under the scorching sun. If meatballs aren't your thing, fishball noodles are also available.

AMK House of Teochew Noodles
Mei Sek Foodcourt
985 Upper Serangoon Road
24 Hours

Waffles...

ahhh, its been long since i had one of these bakery-style waffles..


Plain Waffle ($0.90)

One of my favourite childhood snack with the most alluring fragrance.. its pandany aroma never fails to draw me over. I love them piping hot off those waffle machines.

Common but as delectable as ever.

Hard to go wrong with the making, as long as a batter and machine is present. This one from Lucky Bakery along Tanjong Katong Road wasn't exactly fluffy like the way i wanted, but at least it had a distinct crisp surface.

C.Nai Hong Kong Cafe

Back for some hong kong cuisine with my fellow taitai diners- Shilin, Sarah & Serene. Due to its close proximity from Shilin's place, we usually come here for dinner after our mahjong sessions.



Their menu was so extensive that we took a long time before deciding. The starving us absolutely pigged out this time- a personal main course and drink each plus 2 french toasts for sharing! Fisrt began our gastronomic meal with a sweet headstart...


French Toast with Fresh Banana ($4.50)



This was a good one showing some masterful execution of deep-frying. I wonder how they were able to coat with such smooth thick batter without any hint of oozing grease at all. The interior was fluffy throughout and offered a tastable fresh banana centre. Sweetness was kept minimal but maple syrup was provided for self-drizzling- we all loved this dish!


Following that, our main dishes arrived...



Fish Fillet Rice with Garlic Sauce ($7.50)

My safe pick from their HK Popular Rice series- a piece of battered fish fillet and cauliflowers atop a large heap of steamed rice. The fish seemed to be very bland (it used to be better last time) and that final drench of orangey sauce was nothing to shout about. It beared no hint of garlic flavour at all.



HK Famous Stewed Beef Brisket Rice ($7.80)

Sarah's rice with some beef and potato chunks in gravy was ordered for the sake of the term famous. She ended up being quite dissatisfied with those tasteless potatoes.


Szechuan Spicy Chicken Lamian ($7.50)

Here's one dish under the New Arrivals Menu attempted by the adventurous Shilin. A clump of soft white noodles bathed in a spicy gravy, then literally buried under a blanket of steamed chicken! Meat seemed rather bloody to me but she claimed it was delicious.



HK Fried Black Pepper Seafood Spaghetti ($7.80)

Serene's order of pasta with prawns and squids stir-fried in a light gravy.

Drinks Galore! Serene and Sarah both had the cold Perfect Match, which was basically a mixture of coffee and tea. Purely iced for sarah while serene's one was an ice blended variation with durian icecream and sprinklings of coffee powder. That creamy red bean blend of Shilin's was also well-praised by her.


Cold Perfect Match ($2.50)



Tea & Coffee Mixed Ice Blended ($4.80)


Red Bean Mountain ($3)

I decided to go for something less fanciful, yet claimed to be the most famous and best in HK- the stockings tea! I have no idea if it was really sieved through stockings but it did achieve that fine and smooth consistency. So thickly rich of both the tea and milk taste.. just could have gone easier on the sugar.



Cold "Si Mud" Tea ($2.50)

Their french toast had this power- of making us crave for more. One of such good stuff is never enough so.. we decided to order one more to share!


French Toast with Kaya ($3)



Settled for a locally-infused flavour instead of the common peanut butter. Excellent egg-dipped bread once again but with a layer of brown kaya spread this time. A milder taste from this, gladly not too sweet but our former choice was still preferred.


Shilin also got some buns for her family which came nicely packed in a presentable case. I shall try these out on my next visit.


HK Char Siew "Bo Lo" Bun ($1.80 each)

This was sure a great meal with such fun companions! The food may not be way fantastic but the whole experience was enjoyable for us; we did see an improvement in their service too (:

C.Nai Hong Kong Cafe
378/380 East Coast Road
6pm-5pm

Toast

Finding this place can be quite a challenge. Nestled in a deep corner away from the vibe of Ngee Ann City was Toast- a quaint cafe under The Marmalade Group. The setting here is simple, comfortable and heartening to have a cuppa or afternoon tea.



I arrived at 6pm, only to realise only sandwiches were left due to their 7pm closing time- thats very early! My order took probably 15 minutes to arrive- but it was worth the wait. The quality toasting here makes all their breads and wraps a delight to bite into.


Masala Chicken Wrap ($7.90)

Just look at those brown charred areas of the tortilla sheet-those are signs of effortful grilling. The result was a nice crisp surface with the inner layer still remaining moist. Futhermore, the wrap came filled with generous pieces of chicken thigh cuts, fresh mango slices, sauteed romaine lettuce and real mint leaves.


I find the chicken just acceptable; sufficiently tender, slightly lined with fats but had no hint of indian spice. Caesar dressing, mango and mint leaves were right additions to complement the bland meat.


The overall atmosphere here is quiet and gave a sense of privacy. Most suitable for tai-tais who need a break after some long hours of shopping.

Toast
Ngee Ann City #02-11
391 Orchard Road
8am-7pm

Mcdonald's Grilled Chicken Foldover

A self-studying session at Macs meant junk-food meals. This time at the Chinatown Point outlet, i got a Grilled Chicken Foldover EVM for lunch. Foldover, medium fries and a hot tea.


Grilled Chicken Foldover EVM ($5.90)

A round piece of folded flatbread spilling with two chicken patties, lettuce, tomatoes, mayonnaise- all in a convenient ready-to-eat packaging.


Grilled Chicken Foldover

The white flatbread consisted of two distinct layers; one side wonderfully toasted to a dry charred surface, while the inner remained soft and chewy. There was also a touch of indian spice to it.

Chicken patties with well-marinated minced and meat chunks were generally tasty but those shrivelled unfresh lettuce shreds were bad.


I must mention about those long-lasting quality fries- they were able to remain crisp-crusted even after hours. Barbeque sauce is one of my favourite dips for it.

Sitting in there for so long would make a valid excuse for more sinful fastfood indulging. I couldn't resist getting myself a sugar fix as well.. my usual.


Vanilla Cone ($0.50)

Mcdonald's
Chinatown Point

Back to Cedele!

You could call this an obsession. Dad and i are back.


Coriander Shrimp & Cheese Sandwich ($9.80)



-with wholemeal linseed bread. Same soft healthy bread for me with lots of melted harvati cheese clinging onto the inners; it is lighter and very much less sharp than cheddar. The shrimps this time appeared more shriveled and was nothing to rave about with average oil-tossed coriander. Just pretty palatable on the whole.

I love side salad with that delicious dressing!


Looking more like a burger was dad's new pick with oatbran bread. He like this neat combination of bacon strips, avocado, mustard and mayo- with his usual organic soymilk of course.


BLT Avocado Sandwich ($9.80)

in simple, WE LOVE CEDELE
and i can already foresee a next revisit.

Cedele
Wheelock Place

Sushi Tei

Japanese food for lunch with dad at Sushi Tei.



The best scoring factor here had to be the hideous ambience- dim, yet illuminated by cosy lights. All tables in the area away from the conveyor belts were also ensuring of privacy. oh, and i sure took a long time picking my orders from their menu!


Hiyayako ($3.40)

This is one of the most boring rendition ever. A huge slab of heavy-textured cold tofu served PLAIN with any complementing dressing. Furthermore, the bonito shreds and cucumbers were far from fresh.



Mini Salmon Don ($6)

Something just struck me out of the blue to have something raw and cold. Butthese fresh cuts of sashimi and handful of salmon roe over seasoned sushi rice did excite... Salmon, together with robust flavour bursts of those beautiful roe balls all went well with the slightly sweet grains. Coat the salmon slices with some fresh wasabi and get an extreme sensation with every mouthful, oooh...



Miso Soup ($2)

A bowl of warm miso to go along... mediocre one, but made a delightful combination with the don. Sipping down hot soup with chilled rice builds up the contrast and gave good moisture.


Dad's orders... Protein, protein and finally a carb! He started with a delicately steamed egg topped with those balls of goodness, followed by some cold buckwheat noodles. Last to arrive was his really thick portion of grilled salmon.


Ikura Chawanmushi ($7)



Salmon Shioyaki ($9)



Cha Soba ($6.50)


I wouldn't be full of praise for their service, except perhaps the apology given for their delay in dad's salmon shio.

Sushi Tei
252 North Bridge Road
Raffles City Shopping Centre #03-12/14