makan critics!

Botak Jones @ Clementi

2008-12-28T22:23:00.001+08:00

been a long time since my last update..
my most sincere apologies for being missing for so long....
gosh~ terribly sorry! hope you like the one below :)

not forgetting that it has been a very long time since i've tasted Botak Jones "Cajun Chicken" and it was tasty as usual.. simply YUMMY~!!!

what surprises me were their change of side dishes (more choices to choose from!!!)... hehehe... m so loving their baked cheese potatoes!!!!
~ slurps ~

overall price level: 2 money bag (for large portion)
overall yummy level: 4 kisses

Koo Kee @ Century Mall

2008-08-04T13:09:00.006+08:00

stumbled upon this place while shopping in the east and was instantly attracted to their promotion for steamed fish in spicy sauce for $18.80~! so we decided to give this a try since there's 10% discount for DBS/POSB card members!
if their food's good and there's a discount for it, WHY NOT?!

we decided to order 3 dishes...

1. ginseng chicken soup

yummy~! this herbal soup does not have a very overpowering herbal taste which is really acceptable for all ages esp. children! their chicken meat is soooo tender... we just loved it!

2. spinach with 3 types of eggs; century egg, salted egg and chicken egg

one of mr. lee's favorite dish - century eggs! LOL, this is a good one too cause their vege's not "bitter" though i felt that their gravy sauce's alittle salty hence it goes well with plain rice :)

3. steamed fish with spicy sauce

promotion of the week, loved their spicy sauce... simply yummy hence blending well with the fresh succulent fish~ will definitely try this again!

Koo Kee Dumpling and Ramen House is situated at Tampines, Century Square @ B1-27. they have branches in Bugis Village and Parkway Parade.

Overall price level: 2-3 money bags (dependable on your choice of dishes)
Overall yummy level: 3.5 kisses

Pasta anyone?

2008-08-02T22:35:00.005+08:00

this is one place i'm sure many Singaporeans been to.... Pasta Mania~! they were introducing new dishes and we tasted it, not bad for the 1st try :)
placed our order and while waiting, i took this photo; new shirt bought from Baleno for less than $15 ~ jus lurve the colors... hehe.. ~

here what we've ordered:

something usual: Chicken Bolognese, Fusilli
pretty common dish with QQ pasta but too little sauce (as per mr. lee's feedback :P )

something new: Pinenut Dory Riso
both of us liked this dish, good in taste and fresh dory fillet... though i would've preferred more cheese and black pepper; which you can add onto it as per your liking! comparing the Pasta Mania's Riso VS the one i had in Australia, personally i feel that our local chef's lacking abit of skill... Riso's a little "malnutrition" ~ wahaha... must add more liquid to achieve a "FATTER" riso lah~!

overall, not bad for both dishes .. so if you're round the corner, you can give this a try too :)

sha-bu ~ sha-bu hot!

2008-06-30T23:29:00.002+08:00

it's a nice little joint along Tanjong Katong, actually it's right opposite Katong Shopping Mall :) very easy to spot!
each diner has his/her own's steamboat.. in terms of size, it's bigger (with much depth) compared to the one @ Suntec City... sweee!
as for the cost? their buffet dinner is approx $22 per head after tax with many about 5 types of soup choices to choose from!

their special sauce, not that spicy but smells and taste real good~!

the various soups (tom yum, chicken, spicy 麻辣, seafood flavor) are heated via electric cooker "aka warmer" which as a user, you get to control the heat whenever you wish ~ excellent!

it was our everywhere-can-go driver's BDAY and we got slices of cake to celebrate~ such a sweet gesture from "Rain's" gal... hehehe!

we had lemon cheese cake, tiramisu and dark chocolate cake: excellent choices for they were YUMMY~!

however, their service was rather disappointing.
let me explained ....
it was a crowded weekend night but they were shorthanded hence we waited quite a while to have our food served to us. ya know~ a HUNGRY person is an ANGRY person ~!
we were hungry but not angry lah~ luckily for us, we had cakes 1st...
so it's more like.. desserts before the main course!
LOL

it's still an enjoyable makan experience~!

overall price level: 2 money bags
overall yummy level: 3 kisses

desserts @ City Hall

2008-06-22T12:14:00.001+08:00

met mom for desserts one evening after work @ City Hall and we decided to try a new spot, HK Streets Cafe Restaurant @ Basement 1. it was quite disappointing when they told me they're not serving mango pomelo!
serious ~ please tell me this is not happening in a so-called HK cafe!

wanted to give this place another chance... so we ordered 1. Vanilla ice-cream and 2. Aloe Vera Wolf Berry drink to share.

the ice-cream's normal.. SO-SO only lah~ but their drink's really not bad~!
for a moment, somehow my opinion has changed towards their lack of mango pomelo... the drink's not very sweet so it was just right for my taste.

however i was really surprised when i asked if they served any plain water, their response... plain water is free ONLY if you order any drinks ~ huh ~ what the?????

conclusion... i don't think i'll visit this place anytime soon/near in the future!

white dog cafe @ Vivo City

2008-06-03T14:55:00.003+08:00

this is a new joint stumped upon while looking for CHEAP beer @ Vivo City :)

White Dog Cafe

CHEAP beer (esp on a weekend) and great food thus far~!

Tiger @ $3.5o (1/2 pint)
Heineken @ $5.5o (1/2 pint)

White Dog Salad (chicken, honey baked ham, duck, salad... great taste!)
Forest Pizza (Honey baked ham, mushrooms and onions.. absolutely so YUMMY ~!!!)

and to prove it..... the after pic!

we simply clean off our plates! hahaha~

overall price level: 1 to 2 money bags
overall yummy level: 4.5 kisses

cheap & good WESTERN

2008-05-21T14:25:00.007+08:00

highly recommended to visit this makan joint located along Sembawang Road... i didn't know that they're so POPULAR among the residents around the vincity!

it was FULL booked @ 6.30pm! WOW~!

we were quite lucky though, waited for approx 5 - 10 mins and were shown to our table. free flow of caramel popcorn, ice water while you wait for your food to be prepared and served. on top of that, there's NO GST and NO Service Charge at all~!
YIPEeee!!!
simply easy on the wallet :)

check out the food -->

chix drumsticks for starters with BBQ sauce at the side ~ really crispy!
by adding $3.90, you get to upgrade your main with soup of the day and drink of your choice (coffee, tea or iced peach tea!)

smooothhhh cold beer on a super HOT weather :)

1st main: BBQ chicken
2nd main: Herbs & Spices grilled chix

each main course comes with your choice of 2 sides with approx 8 to choose from.

unfortunately, we were alittle too distracted by the taste of our main course that i've forgotten to take pictures of the other 2 selections! arrrggghh~! nobody reminded me..! faintz~!
this just shows how yummy they were! hahahaa~!

3rd main: Salmon dipped with soya something... it's really quite oriental, abit fusion but a little salty for my taste!
4th main: Seafood Alio Olio (spicy!)

i like ALL of our orders! i'm definitely going back to this place!

last but not least... dessert for the sweet tooth!

bread and butter pudding with scoop of ice cream :)

overall price level: 1 to 2 money bags (dependable on what your main course!)
overall yummy level: 4 kisses

Homemade Italian @ Market Street

2007-10-06T15:29:00.000+08:00

one GREAT find from my dear fren, whom was introduced to this Italian cuisine from her client~! cheap and good.. not to mention a healthy portion for such a CHEAP price!

Baked Garlic Fish cooked in olive oil, a side salad and grilled egg plant for less than $7 ... such big portion too! TASTY!

Pizza for $5.90, with any of your 2 choices hence i decided for "HAWAIIAN" pizza to share with my dear fren!! added ham and pineapples with the current toppings of parmesan cheese!!! YUMMY!!! veri THIN pizza base!
not bad for the price we paid!

and how can i ever 4get my FAVOURITE dessert? TIRAMISU!!!
yummy!! super CHEAP by my standard, $3.90 for such a big slice!
their cake's really soft with quite rich hint of RUM :)

hint: order your dessert LAST cos' that's the EASIEST to prepare :P

overall price level: 1 money bag (VALUE for money!!!)
overall yummy level: 4 kisses

Anything~ Watever~!

2007-06-19T14:31:00.000+08:00

i know i should have post this entry earlier but was kinda busying (err.. surfing You-Tube! wahaha) and i was kinda lazy lah~ :P

something new in the market *for sometime*, a very interesting "branding" concept which the consumer will not know what they've purchased - we won't know what's in our can until we had our sip!

decided to give it a try and surprize, surprize ~!
whatever was green tea and anything was pepsi/ coke which i can't really tell the difference but gracie was telling that it was pepsi!
hahaha.. shrugs~! aiyah... not my cup of tea lah~!

overall price level: 0.5 money bag (and below~!)
overall yummy level: 3 kisses (for the fun of it :P )

AMK tim sum 点心

2007-05-23T13:09:00.000+08:00

was having "tim sum" cravings but with no urge to travel to town from work - it was mid week and i'm just lazy.. hahaha! so the next best thing to do was to search the web if there's any good recommendation for "tim sum" in the north area.

found a pretty impressive one with many recommendation(s) for.

香港仔点心 actually has 3 branches (AMK/ Toa Payoh/ Bukit Merah) in Singapore so i guess they must've been good right?!
so, off we go to try it out :)
we visited the branch in AMK Ave 5, Blk 151 and ordered from 2 main stalls - 1 is for "tim sum" aka 点心 and the other is for "cze cha" aka 煮炒.

our main dish was Hong Kong E-mee from one of the main stall 香港街珍记 - in comparison of the other E-mee that we've seen, theirs appear to be much lighted in color and not as salty. their seafood selection; fish slices/ squid/ prawns were fresh too!

not bad in taste and cheap in price at only $3 for a pretty big helping as well~!

overall yummy level: 3.5 kisses
overall price level: 0.5 money bag

our side dishes were simply steamed "tim sum" and mostly SEAFOOD :)

香港仔点心 has many to offer, from which i've ordered a couple of our favourites and tried one dish (seafood crepe) that's new for me :P

my all time favourite - "chee chong fan" steamed rice sheet wrapped with prawns, topped with sesame and soya sauce to taste. again, fresh ingredients aka prawns were used in this dish hence the flavor's real good :)

handmade "char siew bao" (see pic above) aka flavored BBQ pork bun taste alright (the skin's soft but rather "thick") though i think i've better ones before :P

ordered a bowl of century egg + pork porridge 皮蛋瘦肉粥 which tasted OK!

it's a really a small bowl but for a dollar (considerably cheap!), smooth in flavor however just too little century egg! the seller was telling me that she cannot customize my order with more century egg ~ duhz! i wonder why!

i'm hoping for the stall owner to improve on this area which i trust will benefit many of the other food lovers of century egg.. really!
it's gonna taste so much better ~!

last but not least, something that's new for me! a must try!
seafood crepe (see above) - taste wise is pretty good. fresh seafood wrapped in crepe and steamed to perfection.

overall yummy level: 3 kisses
overall price level: 0.5 money bag
(based on what's been ordered. price per pax)

yummy prawn noodle @ Bishan S11

2007-04-25T14:42:00.000+08:00

highly recommending this dish to anyone who loves prawn mee - soup or dry type :)

Adam Road prawn noodle
nope, it's not sitting in Adam Road for this stall however is located in S11 coffeeshop @ Bishan, just behind the National Library. their noodles are very Q, with crispy fishcake on top of their fresh & succulent prawns which i'll usually just order PURE prawn noodes - i'm a fan of prawns lah ~!
soup or dry? doesn't matter. they taste just as good.
of course, not forgetting to put more red pepper powder to complete the taste :)

go on... try it TODAY ~!

overall yummy level: 4 kisses
overall price level: 0.5 money bag

Wanton noodle @ Bishan

2007-03-27T15:58:00.000+08:00

there was a line Q-ing right in front of the stall and everyone's just waiting to place their order... being a "K-PO" Singaporean, i decided to find out why :-

PONTIAN WANTON NOODLE - 60 years of history
there were news paper clippings, laminated posters of celebraties, food reviews etc pasted on the walls/ stall frames around it.

my 1st thought... are they sure? is it really this good?

my 1st impression
WOW ... such a SMALL bowl of noodles for $3. overall presentation's not bad, plenty of greens and BBQ pork aka char siew.

my 1st taste
their handmade noodle's not bad, quite Q in texture and their chilli is pretty special. spicy hot; pretty unique in terms of taste and their fried wanton's not bad too!
however, 'm not impressed by their soup wanton - perhaps due to its funny taste.

overall yummy level: 2.5 kisses
overall price level: 0.5 money bag

Assam Fish Head @ AMK Ave 3

2007-03-08T22:05:00.000+08:00

Hua Long Fish Head Steamboat's hidden at a corner of Chew Union Eating House (coffee shop) - discovered by our "anywhere can go" driver, serves up a pretty HOT, spicy & fragrant ASSAM Fish Head. it's located @ Blk 347 along AMK Ave 3.

what a surprize for me, i say~ the assam gravy was thick, spicy and yummy.... ahhhh.. i can't get enough of the gravy... WOW! our fish meat (serving portion's quite good too!) was fresh, thick and tender...! highly recommended to anyone who loves spicy hot and sour taste esp ASSAM...! each order of assam fish head comes with thick gravy and vege selections such as capsicums, brinjals, tomatoes, onions and lady fingers. though yummy, i would love it even more if there's more vege (in qty) in our serving ~ well, vege's good for you, ya' know!

anywayz, i'll definitely go back there to try their "YU TOU LU" cos while we ate our tasty, yummy assam fish head, i see many others ordering this dish too! it's a "Fishy" business after all?! (haha.. their specialty lah ~!)

overall yummy level: 4 kisses
(i wonder if ASSAM crab's gonna taste just as good?! hahaa)
overall price level: 1 money bag
(based on what's been orderd . price per pax)

chocolates @ Paragon

2007-02-23T14:50:00.000+08:00

found a new spot in Paragon selling a pretty good selection of sweet desserts and chocolates. the place "Canele" is located @ B1, next to Crabtree & Evelyn. their chocolates are mainly dark bitter ones which is GOOD since these little "devils" with high cocoa contents (70% and above) are considered to be of LESS fat content which in other words, is lots healthier (less guilt for every bite?!) and so, my FAV :P

being my 1st visit, i couldn't resist trying their Tiramisu (my all time FAV cake.. hahaha) however, the result was not exactly up to my expectation. perhaps Tiramisu is not their top notch best seller. i saw many other selection of cakes available however those were not my 1st choice. the sponge cake was alrite but there was not much taste of liquor as expected in any Tiramisu cake.

ambience is good with soft lighting and nice jazz music to sooth the mind. their staff's friendly however, i do feel that they are kinda slow in serving up our order. to be fair, i will make a mental note to try something chocolate-y next time before making a comment.

PLUS point for my virgin visit to "Canele" ~ i saw "Chen Han Wei" in person. hahaha. couldn't recognize him at 1st glance but he's tall and doesn't look as skinny as we thought on TV. not bad looking lah~!

overall yummy level: 2 kisses
(based on my order of Tiramisu cake)
overall price level: 1 money bag
(based on what's been ordered / price per pax)

1827 Thai Restaurant at Arts House, Old Parliament Lane

2007-02-21T17:32:00.000+08:00

Had our company CNY dinner @ 1827 Thai Restaurant at the Arts House on Old Parliament Lane.

This is considered one of the pricey places that we don't normally go so when we get a chance, a review is definitely necessary! :)

Nice atmosphere and those who is going to the Arts House for the first time, i would recommend that you walk walk around the Arts House (they have a shop on level 1 and sometimes art shows on the 2nd level) to get a sense of the 'arty' air.

We were seated outside (rather than inside) since there were not really anyone so we had the whole veranda to ourselves which is nice.

HOW TO ORDER!

Boss advised that ordering a-la-cart is rather ex at 1827 so its best to go for the 4 course meal priced @ $40 per person.

We can choose any appetizer on the menu, any soup, any main course etc etc which is definitely a better deal then a-la-cart!

SOUPS

1. Tom Yum Soup with Prawn

Started off with my favourite Tom Yum soup of cos!

Taste rather spicy (without taking the cut chilli, i hear that if you eat the cut chilli, it will be very spicy), although soup is clear, taste was good! Not so sour, not so thick etc, just nice!

2. Fish Maw Soup

My colleague had this fish maw soup which she said tasted good.

APPETIZERS

1. Fresh Maguro Tuna Served Rare
with mint & sweet basil in rice paper roll

Appearance was great, though wasn't very impressed with this dish. A bit bland and i didn't know there were tuna inside at all, tasted all vegetables (the carrot mainly).

Would not recommend to try unless you like something light.

2. Home Cured Salmon
with Coriander, spicy pomelo salad, lemon dressing

mmm... this one is tasty!

Salmon was fresh and having it with pomelo and a bit of lemon was interesting and added a bit of fun into eating salmon.

A must try for salmon lovers!

3. Grilled Chicken Satay
with Thai peanut sauce

This is good, chicken was well grilled.

A can try!

4. Sugar Cane Prawn
with plum sauce

Well, everyone at the table likes this dish apparently, the prawns were minced and mix with some other ingredient i think, not the usual fried prawn by itself and just wrap around the sugar cane.

Interesting, unique preparation and according to my boss, its a must try!

MAIN COURSE

1. Grilled Black Cod

Cod was fresh though serving was a bit small (may be little for guys). I thought that the cod was pretty bland which luckily they had some kind of thai sauce (which was not spicy) together with it so it doesn't taste as bland.

Think for those who wants a simple and healthy dish, this will be good for you.

2. Ribeye Steak - served well done

My colleague had this and she said it was good!

3. Crayfish Curry

This was ordered by my boss's mum. Looks nice and according to her, it tasted good.

DESSERTS

1. Tapioca with coconut milk

Typically Thai dessert, tasted good, at least the coconut milk was fresh and not salty nor too sweet.

2. Fried Banana with ice cream

Didn't really tried this dish, my boss was too full to have this by the time it came and not much comments was made on this for thos who tried.

I wasn't a fan of bananas so i skipped this dish!

3. Mango with glutinous rice

Boss's mum had this dish and seriously, i can't remember what she said about this dish. Anyway, all dishes at 1827 had a standard so it all taste nice, none was really bad to the extend that the price was not justifiable.

4. Pandan Tiramisu

Hehe... i ordered this... thought that it sounds the most interesting on the menu.

Cake and pudding like combined dessert with sago and coconut milk... interesting combination and it was pretty nice. Though i thought the sesame biscuit wasn't very good and didn't go well with the pandan tiramisu. I would rather just take the panda tiramisu by itself.

Overall rating

Yum level: 4 kisses
$ level: 4 money bags per pax

Note to Drivers: there are not many parking lots here (beside Victoria theatre) so you may have to park at Raffles Place or boat quay and walk over. The best is to just grab a cab ba.

QQ noodle @ Jia Xiang

2007-02-14T13:33:00.000+08:00

gracie's favourite dish is Abalone noodle - i tried it and i liked it, YUMMYZ!

Jia Xiang Kuching's noodle is similar to our maggie mee in terms of outlook, very Q in texture and comes with a few different choices to choose from (with prawn, chicken curry, with wanton fried or soup etc). however, i feel that its BEST when served dry.

branch: Vivo City B2-38
(there are other branches located in Singapore)

Abalone, wanton, prawn noodle
their signature dish 招牌面 – with sweet seafood like abalone and very fresh prawns. not to mention their “crunchy” fried wanton. add on alittle of their chilli to increase the spicy-ness, very tasty *yummy*

Wanton, prawn noodle
can't say more about their noodles but you've just gotta try it yourself ~ 'm missing it already!

both soups from your choice of DRY noodles were great but too SMALL ...
feedback: can we have bigger bowls next time *hinting the boss~!*

Curry chicken noodle
very spicy gravy ~ thick and not those diluted kids that we sometimes find in the markets. worth a try if you're a fan for hot stuff. chicken parts served was tender.

Fried Wanton dumplings
being greedy hence ordered an extra bowl of fried wanton to share among the gang. crunchy SMALL bites they were ~ skin was so thin and crispy that with every bite, you can hear it go *cruch crunch*
comparing the fried dumplings VS soup based ones ---> i would prefer the latter. much beta in taste! try it yourself ~!

overall yummy level: 3.5 - 4 kisses
overall price level: 2 money bags per pax

Tim Sum @ Geylang Lor 17

2007-02-13T17:33:00.000+08:00

it has been a long time since my last visit to "Wen Dao Shi" 揾到食, located at Geylang Lor 17. their standard somewhat remains the same which is really good for all people who lurve good food ~!

our orders for that day

"Char Siew Bao"
BBQ sweet pork that's really juicy and succulent. you MUST remember to eat it HOT if you're ordering this dish.

"Fu Pi prawns"
deep fried tofu skin wrapped with prawns. very QQ prawns that's fresh and yummy!

"Sweet & Sour fish maw"
deep fried fish maw that's really crunchy - served with garlic, abit of lime, chilli and spring onion. you MUST consume this within minutes when served to enjoy the BEST taste of this dish!

"Chicken wing"
was coughing hence i skipped the chicken however my kakis were telling me that they tasted OK. perhaps will give it a try the next time i'm there :)

"Steamed Garlic Crab"
one of our favourite seafood --- CRABS! simply cannot resist (well, considering it being a long time since we go for CRAB feast ~ haha), even if it means eating it outside the comfort of our homes! we ordered one, filled with tons of garlic and the meat was fresh. cheap too. only SGD 6 per plate!

if you're there, you can also try their silver fish porridge (ordered by our neighbour at the next table) which looked really good. their home cooked barley (with winter melon) drink was good too!

overall yummy level: 4 kisses
overall price level: 2 money bags
(based on what's been ordered / price per pax)

MakanPrintz ->officially launched!

2007-02-12T17:01:00.000+08:00

Clap clap... welcome to makanprintz.blogspot.com.

This is our official opening day! Remember this day!