106. Yong Tau Food

Kway tiao (dry) is my usual order if I were to eat from the noodles stall. If I eat yong tau foo, it would have to be dry too. But my mum ordered soup yong tau foo and I make do with it. How to judge which yong tau foo is good? I think it all boils down to the soup and the sauces. The bittergourd, green pepper, chilli and etc were all pretty much the same for every yong tau foo stall, unless they made their own yong tau foo like wantons, ngoh hiang etc, that would become a comparable item. The soup was good. Sweet and clear broth. 7 pieces of yong tau foo for only $3. It was cheap. Only at markets, can you get such rate.

They also have the curry base yong tau foo. The curry base wasn't too heavy on its coconut content. It lacked the punch.

Lao Fu Zi Yong Tau Foo
Blk 254 Street 24 Jurong East Food Market

105. Four Leaves Bakery

Banana Danish

Four leaves bakery introduced the minis a few years back. The idea was very much welcomed by people. Bread is a staple food and to many of us, we have bread for breakfast most of the time. You can always see a long queue of people buying bread at usual knock-off hours, after 6pm.

My usual take from Four leaves is the mushroom and ham bread. But after the minis were introduced, I switched. The minis especially are a favourite among ladies. Firstly, 2 minis are equivalent to the price of a usual size bread. Instead of eating 1 kind, you'll get to eat 2 kinds of bread for the same price. Secondly, Four leaves came up with more varieties which pulled a greater crowd to their businesses.

I am not really a big fan of brownies. Or maybe I have not tasted one that really made me wow. Usually, the brownies I have tasted were too dry and I didn't like the feeling of gulping down water down my throat after the brownies.

I was pretty surprised when I tried out the brownies from Four leaves. It was quite moist and they have added generous amount of walnuts. I must say about the walnuts. They were not smashed to bits. It was a whole nut. This made the brownie nutty and thus created the crunch.

The new creation banana danish wasn't so appealing to me. I have tried the apple danish and I didn't really like it. Basically, it was because of the crust. It was not crispy but rather like left exposed to air for too long and it became soft. The banana danish was just a slice of banana wrapped in the middle of the crust with chocolate syrup dripped over.

The minis were sold at 1 for $0.65 or 3 for $1.80 or 5 for $2.50.

104. Malaysia - High King Seafood Restaurant

It happened to be a fine day together after the heavy rain pour at 3am this morning. It made a good day to travel out and this was why I was in Kukup, Pontian, a small fishing village in Johor. It is a favourite among Singaporeans and definitely not a strange land. Whenever there are any festive holidays, this small place will be overwhelmed with people. This is the seafood restaurant in Kukup which I will always patronise whenever I am in Kukup.

Frankly speaking, there aren't many restaurants to choose from. Only about 5 restaurants. The entrance to the restaurant has a ramp which enables cars to be parked into it. This is provided you will be dining at the restaurant. No valet parking but there will be someone to direct you, in case, you knock into something or someone. This is one good thing because if you didn't park your car at this restaurant, you will have to park it at the recently done-up and chargeable car park a few miles away.

The restaurant standing on wooden stilts, stretches out to the sea, able to cater to at least 30 tables. Dining by the sea is very comfortable as you will enjoy the sea breeze. No air-conditioner but sea breeze made the day. One flaw is the restaurant is directed located next to the jetty where boats will load their harvest from the sea and also load fish feed to their boats. The smell of the fish feed is quite a stench. I personally feel that it's a nostalgic feel, kampung style.
Fried prawn crackers were served. These prawn crackers were not those that were fried ready. They were fried on the spot from the dried and hardened paste. The prawn crackers were pretty different from what we usually have. It was harder and the smell of prawns was heavier. The ones we usually have were lighter and had pretty visible pores. The prawn crackers there were more compressed. There were hardly pores.

Fried Mee High King Style @RM8

This is a must-try! I can't resist the mee goreng sold in Malaysia. I think the malaysians have a better way of cooking a savoury plate of mee goreng. The mee goreng was very delicious. 1 of my makan kakis told me that the mee goreng wasn't this good previously. It was not too spicy nor too oily. It was very cheap. Look at that big portion for just RM8!!

Mixed Vegetables @RM12

The mixed veggies was just so-so. I was expecting to see glass noodles in this dish because the Singapore's style has it but there wasn't.

Fried kangkong with garlic @RM8

The kangkong was good. It was very smooth. I believe kangkong fried with sambal will be a better dish with the woolala effect but it is definitely not a wise choice. It will be laden with chilli oil which isn't good for the heart. Also, this dish was especially ordered for my aunt who didn't like spicy food.

Sweet & Sour Garoupa @RM60

We were a bit disappointed when we heard that the garoupa was a reared fish instead of sea-caught fish. The difference between these two. The reared fish's meat is not as tender as the sea-caught fish's. But we make do with the reared garoupa anyway because our purpose of visit was to eat seafood. I like the way they fried the fish till it was so crispy. A bite of the fish provened that the fish's meat was as expected to be. When I ate a slice of the pineapple, it was the taste of those overripe pineapple. Minus a few marks. However, the pineapple was just a side garnish. Given the price, I think it was quite a steal.

Fried lobster with oats @RM60

The fried lobster with oats was the lauded item of the meal. Must-try! The lady said they had only managed to catch two lobsters yesterday. One at 300grams, the other, 600 grams. So, we took the later. Butter was used to fried the lobster and the curry leaves made the dish so fragrant. The lobster meat was tangy, juicy and succulent. Together with the oats, it's just wolala. It was a great steal! You can never get lobster at such a cheap price (SGD24) in Singapore! So, if you do patronise this restaurant, always ask if lobster is available. Don't miss out this great steal.

The bill totalled up to RM157 (SGD66). I think it was very cheap considering that lobster and the garoupa were on the list. It was an enjoying meal on the sea.

High King Seafood Restaurant

No.7 Kukup Laut

82300 Kukup, Pontian, Johor

Tel: 07-6960259

103. Xi Tang Mooncakes

Tiramisu mooncake

German black forest mooncake

The mid-autumn festival was over but the mooncakes are still not finished. A couple of frequent visitors to my home brought these two mooncakes and so I tried them out. New flavours. Tiramisu and german black forest. It's like combining cakes into mooncakes. Haha. But not really, their names sounded like. The tiramisu mooncake had lotus paste and salted mung bean(yellow) filling. The lotus filling has coffee in it.The german black forest had red bean paste filling combined with chocolate. A cherry was added in the paste. But the mooncake skin of the german black forest was quite dense. I like these two mooncakes. They were good. They were from a place called 喜堂, the address of the manufacturing place printed is in Malaysia and I'm not sure if these mooncakes were available in Singapore during the pre-mooncakes sales.

102. Ananas Cafe

More and more retail shops filled the spaces at the mrt station. We can find food, clothes, drinks, hair salons, manicure salons etc at the mrt stations. Ananas cafe is the recent sprung up food retail chain that I have noticed. It sells economic food. Basically those fried bee hoon, nasi lemak, hot beverages and even laksa. I must say the variety of food available to choose from is quite a range. And with the spotlight shining on the food which made them appear so savoury, commuters definitely got an excuse to stop by for a meal. It's so convenient too. Many who are returning from work will be more than happy to get their food at the mrt station if they are not very concerned about the cost.

I was intending to go to gym with my makan kaki, wanting to shed a few kcalories. It turned out that the gym was full house. My makan kaki decided to try out the food at Ananas cafe instead and so we went. The above picture showed what my makan kaki ordered. Based on what I saw, the food was very oily. Instead of shedding the kcalories, more were added. LOL*

What's more, it cost $2.90. Taste wise, my makan kaki remarked it was so-so. If it wasn't for the convenience, I guess many will rather go to the market to get their packet of economic bee hoon. My makan kaki remarked that for $2.90, she could get 3 side dishes at the coffeeshop instead of 2 at Ananas Cafe. Is Ananas Cafe going to last and grow?