76. Wah Lok Cantonese Restaurant

Pickles - tofu and peanuts @$3 Custard buns @$4

Mini egg tarts @$3.20
Century egg porridge @$3
Char siew buns @$3.20
Chicken feet @$3
Glutinous rice rolls (Chee Chong Fun) @$5.40
Seafood roll @$7
Char Siew @$8

Sio-bak (roasted pork) @$10

Fried Mango Ice-cream @$6

Hashima with red dates @$9/serving

Carpark redemption

Not just Macdonald for breakfast on sundays. Wah Lok is a cantonese restaurant. The cantonese love eating dimsum and yum cha (sip tea). Many of us love dimsum as much as the cantonese. If you want to eat dimsum at Wah Lok, please remember to make your reservations, else join the queue. The dimsum degustation begins......

The pickles (tofu and peanuts) were nice, not just a usual plate of peanuts served at many restaurants. The custard buns were not those with just the egg custard fillings but egg custard with coconut shreds. It was quite nice. The mini egg tarts with its fluffy crust were pretty good too. It was in bite size. I think the size was just right. If the egg tarts were of normal size we usually get at those bakeries, 1 egg tart would have half-fill the ladies' stomach.

The century egg porridge was good. It had salted egg, some ham bits, meat chunks and century egg. I didn't like the meat chunks. I would not have mind so much if they were made into bits. The char siew buns, all-time favourite. The chicken feet was good and cheap. The chee chong fun, I ordered the ones with scallops. I have expected a better one since it was Wah Lok, but it was just so-so. I guess the chee chong fun wasn't the best dumsim there.

The seafood roll was filled with shreds of cucumber, crab meat and some other ingredients mixed with mayonnaise. It was delicious. The char siew, I would say it was above average. Why? Though it may not be on the top few dishes of the list for many, it was near the top on my list. They used lean meat for the char siew. It was a much healthier choice. My brother agreed too.

The sio-bak was the best! Die die must try! I didn't know the sio-bak could go well with the mustard sauce. The mustard sauce had a pretty choking taste, could have been the american wild mustard type. The auntie with the trolley said sio-bak was always fast swiped off her trolley. The dishes on her trolley were the sunday's specials. They only made certain dishes that were off the menu on every sundays. I wanted to eat the yolk buns. But she said they didn't have it today. Aiya.....

Desserts were the fried mango ice-cream and hot hashima with red dates. The hashima was pretty expensive because there were not much hashima in the bowl. The fried ice-cream, it was a craze a few years back. The fried layer was thin and I think with the mango ice-cream, it was good. 1 serving at $6 was expensive though. I think it was not worthwhile to have desserts at Wah Lok.

Overall, I would say the dimsum I had at Wah Lok was pretty above the average. Compared to Yum Cha Restaurant, Wah Lok is better. The service at Wah Lok was really commendable. They will keep changing new plates for you and fill your teapots. What is more attractive, the carpark fee per entry on sundays is $6, but Wah Lok gives you free redemption for your car! Good deal!

Wah Lok Restaurant

Carlton Hotel 2nd Storey

76 Bras Basah Road

Singapore 189558

Lunch : 11:30am – 2:30pm (Mondays to Saturdays)
(Sundays & Public Holidays)11:00am – 2:30pm

Dinner6.30pm – 10pm (Daily)

Tel: 6311 8188/9

75. Baystreet 21

Soto ayam soup

Nasi Bojari
lemon cake



Claypot curry chicken with roti prata

Beancurd (Dao Huay)

Baystreet 21 basically serves a variety of cuisines. Thai, Chinese, Malay, Indonesian, Western, Nyonya etc. It's a bit like the HongKong street cafe but Baystreet offers more. I ordered the nasi bojari, an indonesian meal. Most of the main courses comes as a set meal, together with dessert, beverage and soup-of-the-day. I was yearning for pasta earlier on but at Baystreet 21, pasta and western cuisines are considered ala-carte. Also, for pasta, there are only 2 choices to choose from. So, it will be more worthwhile to try out those of the set meals.

I have no idea what is nasi bojari besides it's an indonesian cuisine. So, I researched a bit on it. Nasi bojari means coloured rice with 3 side dishes and they are fried chicken, sambal prawns and beef rendang. At Baystreet 21, it comes along with a fried egg. The soup that was served was soto ayam. Well, there were not much ingredients in the soup as compared to my counterpart who was served the chinese white radish soup. The soto ayam was yellowish (due to tumeric?) and a bit oily. Pretty bland as well. I was pretty hungry when I was seated in. It was roughly 8pm. So, when my nasi bojari was served piping hot about 10 minutes later and it looked delicious, I was glad. Haha. The fried chicken and sambal prawn was nice but the beef rendang was not so nice. The beef tasted a bit like mock meat.

My counterpart had claypot curry chicken with roti prata. It's a combination of the chinese and indian cuisine. One good thing about this restaurant was their food was served piping hot. The curry chicken gravy was a little too salty but just the right thickness. I think if it was served with baguette, it will be more appealing.

So, what's for desserts? There were 3 choices, the lemon cake, beancurd and watermelon. So, I chose the cake and my friend, the beancurd. The lemon cake was just those normal butter cakes. Though, it was said to be lemon cake, I could not taste lemon in it. The beancurd on the other hand was pretty good.

Overall, I would say the prices are reasonably cheap for a set meal. The nasi bojari @$14.90. The claypot curry chicken @$13.90.

Baystreet 21

IMM building

2 Jurong East Street 21

#02-30 Singapore 609601

Tel: 65612202

74. The Mussels Guy Restaurant

Tomato mayonnaise mussels
Fish & Chips

Cioppino
Clam chowder

How can we leave out the mussels from our order at The Mussels Guy Restaurant? The tomato mayonnaise mussels was very delicious. It is definitely fattening but don't miss good food, just exercise harder the next day. Haha. 4.5/5

Next to recommend, the cioppino. It was sort of like a seafood tomato puree. There were crayfish, mussels, prawns etc. I could taste wine in the cioppino. Maybe white wine. Accompanied by some toasted bread. They were some kind of oat bread but I do not know the exact name of them. Dipped into the tomato puree. They were very compatible. 4/5

The clam chowder and fish & chips were just so-so. 3/5

This was eaten some time ago and I didn't keep the receipt. I remembered vividly that the total cost added up to about $100. Spagetthi was ordered too, but I didn't take a picture of it. It was quite reasonable. The fish & chips came with a bowl of salad which customers can choose from a variety from their salad bar. Pretty worthwhile.

The Mussel Guys Restaurant

Vivocity #02-123

Tel: 6820 1800

73. Old Swee Kee Chicken Rice

Hainanese pork chop @$10
Hainanese mixed vegetables @$10
Kampong chicken @$20

Hainanese chicken rice. A favourite among many singaporeans and even tourists. A week before Singapore's National day, my mum passed me a newspaper advertisement and she said she wanted to try the food at that place. It was old swee kee chicken rice. Doctor blogger's blog has a few entries on this place too. He went to the one, originally at North Bridge road but was closed down and also this new outlet at Joo Chiat.

How can the chicken rice do without the chilli sauce? But I was pretty disappointment with their chilli sauce. The chilli sauce was quite watery and they added oil to it. It will be better if the chilli sauce is made pulp type like those in boon tong kee. Extra information from Doctor's blog entry about this place was we can request for the extra hot chilli sauce. And so I did. It was hot, I supposed it was made from chilli padi. But still, not so yummy shiok. Haha.

Ordered the kampong chicken between the choice of kampong chicken and the normal chicken. I asked my mum, a chicken infatuated eater, what is the difference between kampong chicken and normal chicken? The former has more tender and juicy meat and their skin is thinner because the kampong chickens are allowed to roam freely whereas the normal chickens are cooped in their coop. Well, I felt the chicken was just so-so and not really succulent. 3/5

I would give thumbs up for the rice. Fragrant. 4/5

Besides chicken rice, Old Swee Kee sells other dishes as well. The hainanese pork chop was said to be their signature dish by the waitress who served me. Wait? Isn't chicken rice their signature dish? The hainanese pork chop was also so-so. Onions was cooked in starch to make the sauce dripped over the pork chop. I felt it was nothing special. It was like nomal pork chops we have at tze char stalls. Same goes for the mixed vegetables. 3/5

My bill totalled up to $47.50 for 4 persons.

Old Swee Kee Restaurant

131 Joo Chiat Road

Singapore 427416

Tel: 6440 9037

Opens daily from 11am - 10pm

Closed fornightly on mondays

72. Nam Kait Chew Wine Merchant

I have found a place where you can get your wine at a much lower price than the supermarkets. Nam Kait chew wine merchant sells quite a variety of wine. Those hard liquor, red and white wine, DOM, beer and stout etc. Take for example, the yellow tail brand wine. It's approximately $20+ in NTUC, but you can get it at $20 here.

They specialise in packing and preparing hampers for celebrative occasions. You know, like those new year hampers etc. They are the wholesalers and retailers, that's why they can sell these wine, beer etc at a lower price.

The bosses are an old couple in their eighties and their son. The old lao ban niang and lao ban are still manning their shop well. Each sits at a table like bosses sitting over a counter. The lao ban niang really knows how to do business. A sweet talker. Haha.

Nam Kait Chew Wine Merchant

No.162 Joo Chiat Road

Singapore 427437

Tel : 63441833

71. Kimchi Chigae

How to cook kimchi chigae?

Kimchi chigae. It is those we commonly see in korean menus. Soy bean soup base with beancurd and kimchi. This is a very simple-to-cook dish.

Ingredients:

2 tbsps of miso paste

1 zuccini (cut into slices)

1 beancurd (cut into cubes)

2 green chillies (dice)

100 grams of pork or chicken (sliced & cut into strips)

kimchi (own preference)

a small pack of glass noodles

seafood (prawns, squids, clams etc)

1 egg

1. Add about 200ml of water to the miso in the pot and bring the miso soup to a boil. Use medium flame after boil.
2. Add in the strips of chicken/pork.
3. Add in the beancurd, zuccini, glass noodles and seafood. When the ingredients are almost cooked, add in the green chillies.
4. Add in the kimchi. The amount to add depends on your preference. If you want the soup to be spicy and sour, add more. Else, you can add korean chilli paste.
5. Bring the soup to a boil. Add the egg. If you do not like the soup to be murky, do away with the egg. Boil the soup for about 1 minute and it is ready to serve!

Serves 4

Cooking time: 10 mins

70. Shen Ji Seafood Garden

Tom Yam Steamed Fish @$13
Thai style cripsy chicken @$12

Claypot mushroom @$12

A simple dinner for me. The tom yam steamed fish was piping hot when served. The gravy was boiling! Though it was tom yam, it tasted more like curry. Must have been the coconut milk. I felt the gravy was a little too sweet as opposed to the sour and spicy flavour of tom yam. 3/5

The thai style crispy chicken was very good. The chicken was fried till very crispy. The sauce was just nice, not so spicy and sweet. I have tasted some others where the sauce was real spicy and made my tongue so numb that I couldn't make out the taste of the chicken. But this one was good. 4/5

The claypot mushroom was just normal. I'm not really a beancurd skin lover nor do I dislike it. But I'm definitely the one who will choose mushroom over it in this dish. Haha. 3/5

The food sold at Shen Ji was considered at economic pricing. The chef had won a few awards in his cooking. There were photos of evidence all over their menu. Haha.

Shen Ji Seafood Garden

Blk 177 #01-247 Bukit Batok West Avenue 8

Singapore 650177

Tel: 64252792

69. Liang Chen

The red bean pastry also known as tau sar piah. This was bought from Liang Chen. A few stalls away from Da Sheng Hong Kong Pastry located at sago street. The pastries sold at Liang Chen were 90cents each, Da Sheng sells at 80cents each. Well, both were selling basically the same things. But the taste was different. I felt the tau sar piah sold at Liang Chen were too sweet. The red bean filling was too much. The crust was buttery which I didn't like. I usually scrap off the crust to the minimum for such pastries. Haha.

68. Anderson's of Denmark Ice Cream

Apple crumble with scoops of
vanilla and belgium chocolate @$9.90 Anderson's sundae basket with 5 scoops

Melon(yellow), almond coffee, rum & raisin,

cookies & cream, macadamia nuts @$10.50

Banana split with scoops of banana and mint chocolate @$9.50

The apple crumble was good. Thick apple fillings formed the base and yet not too sweet, went well with the ice-cream which are supposed to be sweet. The sundae basket (waffle) was coated with chocolate at the linings. Much thicker and nicer than the waffle from the banana split. The melon flavour was the nicest of all flavours. It has a strong melon taste with bits of melon. The rum & raisin was the least to my liking. Ian brought out the best word to describe it. It tasted like superglue. Indeed. I think it was due to the rum. Excess of it.

Toppled with a strawberry and chocolate syrup, the later and the ice-cream brought the best sinister effects especially to girls. Sinful. Haha. Double up the intensity, it's exercise time after satisfying your sweet tooth!

6 Raffles Boulevard #02-207A

Singapore

Tel: 6334-4727

http://www.andersensofdenmark.com/w_sing.htm

67. Waraku

Nagoya Miso Hikomi Kishimen
Carbonara pizza
Hotate & Cheese Cream
Sukiyaki Nabe
Hotate Butter

Waraku- Japanese casual dining, as printed on their wet tissue. It came like a storm. A favourite dining place for the young people who have an affection for Japanese food. Pasta de Waraku, a fusion of the italian pasta and Japanese food. First launched in Singapore in 2000, more and more outlets sprung up these few years. Up to date, in Singapore alone, there are 6 outlets under waraku and 4 outlets under pasta de waraku. The 6th waraku and 4th pasta de waraku will make its launch this september @heeren.

Just like their opponent, the local brand, sakae sushi, covered every shopping mall in Singapore and even went overseas. This waraku holdings definitely has the intention of becoming a mega leader in the japanese casual dining field with the goal of having a total of 70 outlets in Singapore and overseas.

Nagoya miso hikomi kishimen. The kishimen is a flat and wide noodle. It's a bit like our hor fun. The nagoya miso seemed to be lighter as compared to the normal miso that was used. If you are a 'Japan Hour' fan, you would have watched the episode on nagoya miso. Nagoya miso differs from the those found in Tokyo and Osaka. The soup base didn't taste like the normal miso soup we usually have. Instead, it was more of like a bowl of kishimen in herbal soup. RQ had this and his comment was the tempura prawn was tasteless. So it's like what hokkiens always like to say "hoh kwah bo hoh jiak" (Nice to see, not nice to eat). RQ gave 3/5 for this.

The carbonara pizza. Carbonara, the thick creamy sauce, is no longer used in spagetthi. What was presented was a pizza made using the carbonara sauce and with bacon strips. My makan companions felt it was like roti prata because it's not the usual pan pizza we have at pizza hut. The crust was thinner. I felt the bacon strips they used were too fat. I think they were the first to come up with this new thing called carbonara pizza. So I 'upz' the rating from 2.5/5 to 3/5.

Hotate & cheese cream. I think many ladies are fond of cheese cream and will find this dish nice. It was udon noodles in the cheese cream sauce. I felt it tasted like carbonara...do away with egg but addition of lemon sauce. YQ ordered it because of her inclination towards hotate. She gave it a 4/5. PF had the same serving and she gave it a 3.5/5 as I would. Too much of the cheese cream will make one grow sick of it. By the way, the pasta was served in extremely big bowl, it was comparable to a wash basin. It may looked exaggerating but I think there could have been a reason behind it. "To prevent accidental splash of the sauce onto our clothes?" Or it was simply just for decorative purposes?

Sukiyaki Nabe. The soup base was soy bean. It was pretty nice at the first slurp. The beef ain't those marbled beef. Pss....I saw doctor blogger had nice marbled beef sukiyaki for a lesser price at Megumi. HaHa. The soup was overly sweet and salty. It was a little turn off when the soup became thicker and gluey after being continuously on the boil. 3/5

Hotate Butter. The hotates (scallops) were placed on a mini hot plate, served with lemon and a slab of butter. The hotates were fried beforehand to give the smooth and starchy taste (probably coated with starch flour). Together with the melted butter and lemon juice, it was a perfect match. If the hot plate was made hotter, and the butter sizzled with the hotate, it will definitely taste better. 4/5

The total bill added up to about $94 for 5 pax.

Waraku

6 Raffles Boulevard Marina Square #01-213

Singapore 039594

Tel: 6883-1123

11:30am - 11pm (Last order 10:30pm)

http://www.waraku.com.sg/