Hong Kong Sheng Kee Dessert @ Clementi Mall

Located at B1 of the mall, it is one of those kiosk shops with seats. We visited on a Thursday night and the place was rather packed. The set lunch menu was available for dinner as well. There are two types of combo. Type 1 is where the main dish is a rice dish and served with a drink. Type 2 has a main dish (usually noodles) and served with desserts (sweet) and savouries (for example carrot cake). Both sets are priced at less than $10.

My friend ordered a rice dish of preserved vegetables and pork with iced-coffee for $6.90. I wasn't feeling hungry, so ordered their mango pomelo sago dessert ($4.90).

preserved vegetable with pork rice

mango pomelo sago

My friend commented that the rice dish was tasty. I liked the mango pomelo sago but wished that it was more chilled though. The dessert sweetness was just right and thick with mango flavour. Yums.

However, this is one joint that you have to eat and go. We were chased away even when my friend still had more than half a cup of his drink left...

Ma Maison @ The Central

Located at Level 3 of The Central. Go to level 2, pass by Billy Bombers, another shop that sells nasi padang place and just follow the escalator nearest to Ramen Santouka, upwards. Leads you straight to the restaurant. Made a reservation prior to our visit as we've heard that Ma Maison here, is rather small.

shopfront

cosy interior

I've always liked the ambience of Ma Maisons. Dim lights, heavy furnitures, dark wooden theme...feels cosy and intimate. Haven't been to Ma Maison for many years and this was my first time to this branch. Was amused by the number of menus displayed on our table when we got seated.

our table, reserved

an array of menus on the table

food menu, the red rectangle one is for drinks(incl. alcohol) and desserts

We ordered assorted sausages for appetiser (when I really wanted scallop carpaccio! But had a friend who didn't want that... *sobs*), and for mains, we ordered large hamburger steak, beef stroganov omurice, and mentaiko pasta.

Iced water is served freely and topped up regularly.

assorted sausages (@$11.80++)

The sausages were really tiny. Came with a small serving of sauerkraut. Everyone had 2 pieces of the sausages, one chipolata type and the other is the red coloured ones. Not sure what sauce it had, but it tasted sweetish. This is one appetiser that you can skip. Better stick to escargots or salads or scallop carpaccios.

Next, comes our mains! Large hamburger steak. During taking order time, the waitress will ask if you'd lke Japanese or brown sauce. We remembered the picture in the menu showed a sunny side up with this dish, so we asked our waitress. She said, "Oh, the egg is only if it was ordered with brown sauce." =_='
Ok, next time remember to order brown sauce instead or you'll lose an egg...

large hamburger steak with Japanese sauce

Beef patty was still moist but not as juicy as I remembered it to be, many years ago when I first had this dish. Things do change, I guessed.

beef stroganov omurice

First time having beef stroganov omurice. The egg was fluffy and light. Very yummy. The sauce was nice too, with a hint of smokey bitterness. Goes well with the rice. Beef slices were tender.

mentaiko pasta

The mentaiko pasta was likeable. The noodles texture was just right, not too al-dente. Ingredients included small clams (tiny la-la), thinly sliced mushrooms and spicy cod roe. Not spicy at all, and flavourful. Nice.

Next, desserts. The friendly waitress brought the various available tarts to our table, when we wanted to order.Tarts are one pricey dessert. Ranges from $6.80++ to $8.80++.

blueberry tart

closer look

The blueberries were encased in jelly. Much like the usual fresh cream fruit cake. Blueberries here looked bigger than the usual but that could be because I'm too used to see shrunk dried version of blueberries? Hahaa! Not too sweet, easy to eat. But my friend complained that it was too sour for her.

Total bill came up to $77 (after 10% Stanchart credit card promo) and it fed 3 pax.

ps: pictures taken by blackberry camera phone

PappaRich @ Kajang

Located near Kajang town (small town in Selangor, Malaysia), occupying a space that was previously selling furnitures and plants. The compound is large, and its decor is mostly dark brown and green. These kind of modern kopitiams/cafes seems to be thriving in Kajang.

inside the cafe

menu

We went there at about 4+pm, and decided to have an early dinner. To order, simply press on the buzzer/bell at your table. Someone will attend to you shortly after that.

Ordered curry chicken noodles and iced lemon tea for myself. Mom ordered dry kway teow with steamed chicken. Sis and dad had fried rice and bro chose rice with rendang chicken. They had iced coffee and iced milk tea.

chicken rendang with yellow rice

kway teow with steamed chicken

tiny portion for fried rice

curry chicken noodles

with cockles, bean sprouts, steamed chicken and beancurd

The curry chicken noodles was one of the better dish amongst the ones that we've ordered. Best in terms of value and portion. Pricey at RM9.90++. The rest of the stuffs were pretty run of the mill yet expensive. Can get better stuffs elsewhere for much less.

Total bill came up to RM70 for 5 pax. Good news is, this place has free wifi. Not very good news is.. sometimes the wifi connection doesn't seem to be working well....

Jack's Place @ AnchorPoint

Located at Level 1 of AnchorPoint, this place always seemed packed during lunch time. Likely need to wait for a while before their service staff gets you a table.

table setting

cutlery

My colleague ordered the executive lunch set of ribeye steak while I had the Friday daily set lunch. All set lunches came with soup of the day, dessert and coffee.

Today's soup of the day was cream of spinach.

cream of spinach with garlic bread

dunk it in!

The spinach soup was alright. Healthy tasting. Warmed the tummy before our mains arrived.

ribeye steak done medium (@$16++ executive set lunch)

chicken chop with garlic sauce (@$11.30++ Friday daily set lunch)

The daily set lunches usually have a choice of two mains and for Friday, the other choice happened to be fish and chips. The executive set lunch has about four mains to choose from. Can't remember the rest though.

looked a bit more rare than medium

The ribeye tasted beefy, and I thought those with fatty bits were quite nice. The chicken chop had a dry/charred surface but the thigh meat underneath those skins were tender and moist. Not bad.

baked potato from the steak plate

dessert

The dessert of the day was a fruits mini bowl with nata-de-coco. I thought it was quite exotic to have nata-de-coco with fruits...

Service tends to be slower during peak hours and you may need to repeat your reminders more than once. We had to alert two different service staff before our dessert and coffee were served.

Total meal costs about $32 for two pax.

Ippudo Tao @ Mohd Sultan Road

This place is located next to En Grill and Bar. Concept colour is red and black. Went on a Saturday evening. Had to wait a bit, probably 10 minutes before we got seats.

super blurry shot of the indoor dining area

We had ramen the previous time at Mandarin Gallery. Ippudo seems synonymous with ramen, so we ordered an Aka Ramen here as well. Had some skewered items such as tender beef, teriyaki chicken and enoki buta. To start off our meal, we ordered a potato salad and two beers. Sapporo beer is on draft here.

at Ippudo Tao!

beer to cool down *burp*

potato salad

The potato salad was a nice slow start of our meal. Tasty and with coarse bits of potatoes. The noodles came next. We had one bowl to share. Thin noodles that were still springy, spicy soup that tingles the tongue but not numbing it, a single piece of chashiu and added a flavoured egg.

Next, came our skewered items.

tender beef, done medium

teriyaki chicken

juicy and tender yums

enoki mushrooms wrapped in thin pork slices

There is a chef selection of 5 yakitori sticks at $21. The waitress told us that usually the items would include beef, and maybe pork, chicken and chicken skin. Hehehe, we were hungry and chicken skin is not going to fill us up, so we opted ala-carte. Actually wanted chicken wings but it was out of stock so we got the chicken teriyaki (@$10++ per skewer). We loved the teriyaki chicken. Was super tender, smooth, sweet savoury and yummy!

Had high hopes for the tender beef (@$7.80++ per stick). It came out looking beautiful (slightly more rare than medium) but unfortunately, it was still chewy. The grilled spring onion that came with it was nice. Skewered items price starts from ~$3.80++ and above.

With Japanese yakitori's, expect a higher price to pay. Bill came up to $88 for two pax.

Bacchus Bistro and Bar @ Robertson Quay

Been there two times. Same row as Bar Bar Black Sheep and next door to Merry Men. This place is usually not crowded during Fridays.

Tried their new generation wines (Germany) @ $39++ per bottle. Apparently, usual price is $49++. Hmm.. the prices must've went up quite a bit. Saw from their website that during February promotion, new generation wines were going for just $29++. Hmmm.

We ordered a bottle of white called Cheri (apparently made from a combination of varieties). Cheri is almost like a Moscato but with more rounded (blunt) taste. Sweet, ripe and very palatable. We also tried a bit of Novicius, which on the other hand, was still sweet but has a sharper edge. More acidic but still easy to drink.

Cheri

Seated by the riverside, we watched as the world goes by while we sipped our chilled wine. Warm breeze gently caressed our faces, and bit by bit, our worries fluttered away... Hahaha, we wished!

Very soon, our bottle was left empty. We ordered another one, and this time a new generation red, Beerus.

Beerus

I liked Beerus. Not tannic at all. First taste, first thought was, "Wow.. this tasted just like the white we had only this time round, it's a red!" Hahaha. Sweeet! The alcohol for this was just 7%, if not wrong. Cheri was 10%. Feeling peckish, and we had a friend who joined us later who has yet to take her dinner, so we called our friendly service staff for food. But alas, the kitchen had closed by then.

We tried to persuade him to help us find food 'coz our friend was really really hungry! He said he'll try. And true to his words, he came back with chicken wings! Woohoo!

chicken wings, the chili sauce rocks!

If you happen to be at Bacchus, do look for Lee (with tattoos around his neck). Friendly chap, always with a smile and goes the extra mile for his customers. Cool, bro!

Total bill for the night: $120. Good for 4 pax to chill. We stayed till 1.30am.

Arnold's @ City Plaza

Located at Level 2 of City Plaza, this place was sure packed. To enter the shop, one would have to get a queue number first. Its menu looked like any other regular fast food joint, but one can find certain local desserts like iced-kachang with ice-cream, here as well. I spied banana boat ice-cream...

For our Friday night dinner, we got the combo meal for 3 pax.

combo meal

For the sides, we had coleslaw, french fries and mashed potatoes. We got 3 pieces of chicken each and a fried bun. We had coke for as our drink. How sinful was that...

mashed potato

french fries

sweetish coleslaw

I was actually late for the dinner and my friends had already started. They were onto their second or third piece of chicken when I arrived. But surprisingly, the chicken were still hot! So, probably it's not a good idea to sink your teeth right into the meat once it's served. Caution.

deep fried and oily

thigh meat is the best!

The fried bun, for some unknown reason, had a 'hard' base. Maybe too compressed prior to frying. Not sure. The fried chicken was hot and nice, especially if it's thigh or drumstick meat. Its skin was thin and crispy and oily. Breast meat was difficult to finish as it was quite dry.

This meal costs us $13 per pax.