New York New York
a return for sandwiches

As i promised myself, i'll always return for more of their superb sandwiches! My parents also liked the food and reasonable pricing there.

Crunchy Mushrooms ($6.90)

Golden needle & shitake mushrooms, coated in a batter and deepfried to a pretty goldenbrown shade. The outer coating was firmly crispy, resembling the japanese tempura. I especially like the shitake ones, which remained soft and juicy under the coating.

Turkey and Cranberry Sandwich ($6.90)
"sliced turkey, cranberry sauce, sauteed mushrooms & onion, cheese"

Truthfully, i didnt like this that much. No change in the wonderfully toasted bread, but the turkey was disappointing.


Everything else (the cheese, cranberry sauce, mushrooms & onions) went well, but the turkey slices were unbearably salty! Every bite of it gave a powerful aftertaste of sodium, which covered the taste of the other fillings. I am certain i wouldn't pick this again in future.

Long Island Salmon Steak ($16.90)

Grilled seasoned salmon fillet cooked with tomato herb sauce. A huge clump of buttered mashed potato given as well.

London Style Fish and Chips ($9.90)

Large slab of battered deepfried fish with french fries and tartar sauce. Bad comments given by my mum about it, and she didnt actually finish it up (which was really rare of her). By inference, this is dish really bad.

Overall: I guess this is our worst trip to New York New York so far, but we still plan to go back - all for the sandwiches! (: The service was also well-maintained, with friendly staffs making you feel welcomed.

New York New York
Citylink Mall #B1-47A

Bravissimo
gold label italian icecream


Look at those tempting gelato flavours smiling at you!

Double Flavour Cup ($4.30)

Bon Bon Rocher & Pistachio

The bon bon rocher tasted just like Ferrero Rocher,and it also had the crunchy nut bits. I felt that the pistachio one was rather weird, but it was still a delightful blend of sugary sweetness & creamy milk.

Besides these flavours, there was also greentea, mango, strawberry, vanilla, tiramisu, chocolate, chocolate mint, crunchy mania and many more. Yea, and of course D24 durian.(Yucks!) Prices start from $3.20 for a single flavour cup.

Overall: 94% fat-free for the milk flavours & 99.5% fat-free for the fruit flavours, they say. Take it as guilt-free sugar boosts!

Bravissimo
Plaza Sinagpura #B2-39A
http://www.bravissimo.com.sg/

Secret Recipe
the sweetest secret ever

The PS outlet is located right in the middle of the mall, with only open dining areas. One thing i hate is that they only have a few varieties of cakes everyday, and the ones i want are sometimes not available.

Chilled Stawberry Cheese ($4.90)
"frozen cream cheese blended with strawberries"

Was hesitant between this or a signature marble cheese, but this turned out to be my final desicion. i'm a strawberry lover (: The baked cheese layer in the middle was pleasantly nice and goes well with the chocolate biscuit base. I was quite disappointed with the strawberry portion due to the intense sweetness and sticky texture. Also, i could tell that they put in a lot of gelatin as the frozen cheese was coagulasive. Perhaps the marble cheese would be a better choice instead.

Chocolate Indulgence ($4.90)
"creamy and rich Belgian coverture chocolate and white chocolate filling. Absolutely a luscious, luxurious, sinfully rich chocolate lover's dream"

This is listed as their bestseller. Just look at those luxuriously rich chocolately layers; its enough to win you over. But, its too bad im not a great fan of chocolate desserts.

Overall: Yes, they may have an extensive list of cakes stated in the menu, but there are limited choices available. So look into the display refrigerator before you make your orders. ooh, i love their yummy apple cheese slice!

Secret Recipe Cafe
Plaza Singapura #03-18
http://www.secretrecipe.com.sg/Default.asp

Aglio Olio
Singapore's version of pasta

Its my second visit here. This place had been featured on many magazines and food guides for its Singapore-style pastas. To suit to local tastebuds, they add chilli padi to all of their pastas served. 4 levels of spicyness available - mild, normal, spicy & extra-spicy; based on your personal preference.

Soup of the day ($2.90)

It was a creamy soup but i have no idea what it is called.

Garlic Bread ($2.90)

Baguette slices with garlic spread and toasted till it becomes totally crispy.

Sotong Balls ($5.90)

If you are thinking of those springy and chewy ones with bits of cuttlefish, this may disappoint you. Their version is completely different; over-soft, mushy and lacking in texture. It is probably home-made ones but we think its pretty bad.

Chicken wings ($6.90)

Crispy skin, juicy meat. Not bad.

Sotong Olio ($8.90)

I ate the exact same dish as my first visit. I simply love their Aglio Olio pastas! It is uniquely tasty with a special garlic flavour, and superly spicy because of the killer chiili padi. Normal spicyness, and it got my lips all numbed up. Their spaghetti is expanded to thick strands but was not too soft. ooh, plus all those huge chewy slices of fresh sotong and sliced mushrooms!

Mushroom Olio ($8.90)

Dad's order, which was another repetition from our first visit. Tossed only with sauteed sliced button mushrooms, but costs as much as my sotong one. A tad less value-for-money.

Seafood Cream-based Spaghetti ($9.90)

Spaghetti in cream sauce, with sotongs, fish pieces, a clam and a prawn. According to my sister, the prawn was not fresh and she actually preferred Pastamania's to this.

Seafood Tomato-based Spaghetti ($9.90)

Seafood spaghetti in tomato-based sauce instead. My mum liked it, but also had complaints about the prawn.

Overall: Friendly service shown, and they even asked for feedback after our meal. The pastas took a long time to be served, with large time intervals between each one. Perhaps there was only one chef on duty. Wonderful version of Olio-style pastas (:

Aglio Olio
China Square Central #01-40/41
3 Pickering Street
11am-11pm, closed on Sundays

Ramen Ramen
lifestyle's top 10 ramen


A bright and pleasant looking ramen restaurant, with both indoor and alfresco dining. The illustrations on the walls looked kind of cute and kiddy. Oh, and the place was rather empty as well. It is stated on the menu that the soup broth is boiled for a total of 25 hours! Whoa, thats like more than an entire day. And so, it had to be good, shouldn't it?

Ramen Ramen Ramen ($7.90)

I chose to have their chef-recommended signature ramen. Standard ramen in soup with charsiu slices, seasoned egg, black fungus and seaweed. There was nothing special about the tasteless pork slices actually, so i cannot figure out why they made this their signature dish. But oh, the soup broth was really rich in taste - slightly sweet and peppery.


The ramen was cooked soft, without any al-denteness.

Mushroom Ramen ($7.90)

The only difference was the replacement of the charsiu with shitake mushrooms. The mushrooms were juicy, and soaked in a tasty shoyu marinade. The egg was also well-seasoned and had a nice flavour.

Gyoza ($4)

Deep-fried dumplings with a fish paste filling. The skin was completely crispy and was not too oily. The filling was slightly too little but i actually spotted bits of prawns in it.

My order was a promotion set, which includes the Ramen Ramen Ramen, Gyoza and a Mochi for $10.90++

Here's the icecream mochi;

its black sesame flavoured (:

Overall: Service was prompt due to the small number of customers, and they were especially efficient in refilling our iced water. Open concept kitchen. Good soup, but honestly speaking, i prefer Ajisen Ramen's springier noodles.

Ramen Ramen
The Atrium @ Orchard #01-16A
(Beside Plaza Singapura)
11:30am-10pm
http://www.ramenramen.com/

Ice³ Cafe
new-found dessert hideout


I got to know about this through a local food blog. It is located within the serangoon garden estate, and opens only from 4pm in the evening. Very sophicated modern decor and furnishing, plus a special room with cosy sofa seats inside the cafe.

Be prepared for an overwhelming range of desserts; from cakes to icecream to waffles to mudpies to fondues. They have basically all you may wish for, and you'll just find yourself getting caught in a fix while choosing from the wide selection of icecream flavours.

Apple Crumble ($7.90)
"warm apple crumble served with apple cinnamon ice-cream, drizzled with rich caramel sauce & garnished with apple crisps"

Very meticulously prepared, with every detail to build up the ultimate sensation seen to. The thin layer of crumble was good; with crunchy chunks of apples as its filling. Apple cinnamon flavoured icecream was used to complement the flavour but i felt that it caused an overkill of sweetness. I would say its well done but still a grade lower than n.y.d.c.

Waffle with Rocky Road Icecream and butterscotch sauce ($7.90)

The waffles were made upon order. Light crispy outer; soft and moist inner without being too dense. Nice (: The rocky road icecream was richly chocolately with marshmallow and nut bits but a tad too sweet.

Overall: Wonderful ambience, perfect for a comfortable after-meal dessert session. Its a really successful dessert cafe in all aspects. Some items are pretty pricey though.

Ice³ Cafe
11 Kensington Park Road
4pm-1am
http://www.ice3cafe.com/

Botak Jones
damn good food at a damn good price

They claim to offer authentic american stlye, restaurant quality food. Although located in a coffeeshop with few other vendors, they seem to have stole the entire limelight. 98% of the customers go there specially for Botak Jones' plates of western sets.


It looks just like a humble western food stall but theres big business going on in there. First, you find a seat, then make your orders at the counter. Payment will take place only after your food is served to you. Waiters in their Botak Jones tee will then bring a range of sauces and cutleries wrapped in serviettes to your table. haha, all attempting to make it seem like restaurant service.


Bar-b-qued Chicken Wings (4pcs, $1.50 each)
"If you happen to be in Brazil and notice a lot of chickens flapping nothing! You'll know why. Char-grilled wings with our own B-B-Q sauce. These are messy. Messy is good! (hand sink is in the back y'all)"

erm okay this was not fantastic, and neither was it messy. The wings were pretty dry on the outside but the marinade was alright. The meat was quite moist but it had a kind of un-cooked taste.

Cajun Chicken ($6.50, for regular)
" This is the second most popular item. After you get over the shock that the chicken breast can be tender and juicy when cooked properly, you realize that it also absorbs the flavour, which the leg and thigh do not. These are char-grilled with mozarella cheese and topped with our spicy cajun sauce"

The chicken was indeed quite nice, but it was not exactly very tender nor flavourful. Well-grilled on the outer, with juice oozing out whenever i cut into it. However, it would be better if there were more cheese and cajun sauce.

NZ Ribeye Steak ($13.90, for 200gm)
"I don't think we can be any more complete unless we start raising our own cattle. We trim whole ribeyes, hand marinate and tendrize them (without chemicals), then cut them into 200gm, 300gm and 400gm portions. These are fresh, fun and flavourful- comes with our own brown gravy with black pepper"

This order is obviously not mine and i am unable to try it as well. So i'll just let the photo tell the story.


The medium steak, still pink but not bloody.

Spicy Fries

oh yes, another thing i have to specially mention is their fragrant spicy fries. Crispy crinkle fries with soft interiors, dusted with a flavourful yet not too spicy spice mix.

Overall: I can easily see how hard they are trying to make us feel like we're in a restaurant and not a coffeeshop. haha. They are pretty ego-istic with the descriptions but i find their food quite up to mark. yup and very very american. The only problem is that its very hard to get there.

Botak Jones
Blk 608 Ang Mo Kio Ave 5 #01-2771
Yue Hua Food Place
http://www.botakjones.com/

N.Y.D.C Cafe & Restarant (Part 2)
desserts sent from heaven

There is no doubt about it; the desserts here are absolutely heavenly!

Apple Crumble with French Vanilla Icecream ($6.95)
"Genuine Crumble, served warm with a scoop of homemade French Vanilla ice-cream when you eat in. If eating at home, heat each slice in the microwave for 45 seconds on HIGH."

I've tried sooo many apple crumbles around, but this is still the NO.1 Apple Crumble in Singapore! I shall start my raving..Served warm, it is pure crumbly delight. Every layer (the crust, filling and base) blends so well in texture that it totally melts-in-the-mouth.


There were completely no hard or overbaked parts, and the dough is soft and moist. Each bite of it just crumbles smoothly in your mouth~ There was also a chocolate cinnamony layer for a twist of taste.The icecream flavour i chose was French Vanilla. It came smooth and not oversweet, adding an extra oomph to the crumble! this is what i call genuine. BEST.

Cookie Monster Mudpie ($9.95)
"Because the only thing better than cookies is a cookie mudpie. Double Chocolate chip and Mocha Almond Fudge icecream with homemade cookie chunks. In an oreo cookie crust, with chocolate sauce and whipped cream, of course"

Okay this sounds really sinnful. But its definitely worth it for a rich and indulging mudpie! It looks sooo damn tempting uh?

Overall: Seriously satisfying desserts. I want more apple crumble! (:

n.y.d.c Cafe & Restaurant
The Heeren Shops #01-K3/K4
http://www.nydc.com.sg/

Xin Wang Hongkong Cafe
looks good but ain't too good
-Outside Heartland Mall Kovan



This hongkong cafe have been operating in kovan for quite some time and i've eaten here a few times.I like the general outlook of the restaurant -the open concept and modern comfy furnishing. The food was average but the service was always disappointing.


The menu was filled with long lists of dishes but i have no idea why there were many repetition of some items within the menu. They offer rice, maggie noodles, mee suah with various types of sides, dimsums, baked dishes, sandwiches, snacks and beverages.

Just last week i returned for some toasts. Service attitude was slightly improved on but the food still took a long time to be served.

French Toast ($3.90)

The french toast was seriously thick. Colour was nice, but it was exactly well-fried as the outer was not crispy and the inner dough was clingy. Mild egg taste; drizzled with syrup and butter, the taste turned out still alright.

Butter & Condensed Milk Thick Toast ($3.90)

Its pretty well toasted; the edges were lightly burnt but crispy and the inner was fluffy. Turned out too bland because they were too stingy with the condensed milk.

Hong Kong Iced Milk Tea ($2.90)

Pretty interesting to find it served in a metal mug; but nothing special about the milk tea though. I find it totally overpriced.

Other food from my previous visits..

Boluo Bun ($1.90)

A sweet bun with a crumbly sugary crust. It was called boluo bun simply because the pattern resembled pineapple but this cafe actually adds a slice of pineapple inside it. weird.

Hargow ($2.50)

Steamed shrimp dumplings. Average tasting, but a little too starchy.

Deep-fried Sesame Balls ($2.50)

Compact glutinous balls filled with redbean paste. I didnt really like the skin as it was way too mushy.

Chicken Congee ($6.90)

Served sizzling hot in a claypot and the porridge consistency was not bad.

Hong Kong Wanton Mee Soup ($6.90)

This is a pretty bad version because it didnt exactly resembled the HK style. The charsiew used was different and the wantons were not great either.

Cheese Baked Mushroom Rice ($8.90)

Rice with mushroom slices in tomato-based sauce, topped with plenty of melted cheese. It was quite nice actually.

Fish Fillet with Egg and Rice ($6.90)

Steamed white rice drizzled with a savoury sauce, topped with fried fish fillets and egg. I think this it probably my favourite main here so far.

Spicy Pork Dices with Egg and Rice ($6.90)

This is actually fried rice with pork dices. Sad to say, the pork dices used are actually the canned ones found in supermakets.

Mango and Pomelo Sago Dessert ($6.90)

Pomelo and sago in a fairly thick mango puree, completed with a scoop of mango icecream.

Overall: Foodwise, they are considered really average. The prices are still reasonable and is actually cheaper than some others. But i feel that they should do something about their service in order to stay competitive with the many Hong Kong cafes around. Fyi, this is the main branch and the other outlets are at Marina Square and Cineleisure.