Yi Zun Noodle 伊尊老字号拉面 @ Joo Chiat

Was doing a staycation nearby, so suggested to the Easties to try Yi Zun for lunch. It's about 12 to 15 minutes walk from the hotel. With weather soaring, it was nice to have a meal in an airconditioned place. The interior of the restaurant was lovely. It wasn't busy yet on a Saturday afternoon as people seemed to be congregating more towards cafes and the newly opened Banh Mi places.

interior

we were seated at the round table

nice decoration

Staff was super casual and friendly. He informed us that we could order via the QR code on the table or just call him over when we are ready.

First things first, we ordered a jug of the sour prune juice (酸梅汤) to quench our thirst.

Sour Prune Juice @$5++

refreshing!

We ordered appetisers, a bowl of signature beef noodles and some skewers to try. Staff informed that the skewers need longer time to prepare hence, it is better to order it early.

Pickled Cucumber 酱黄瓜 @$4.80++

Chilled Shredded Beancurd Skin 凉拌干张丝 @$3.80++

Chilled Pickled Black Fungus 凉拌木耳 @$3.80++

Spicy Beef Tripe 香辣凉拌牛肚 @$7.80++

My favourite appetisers would be the pickled cucumber and the spicy beef tripe. Both are so yums! Black fungus was good too but the cucumber was best.

Signature Beef Noodles 伊尊牛肉面 @$10.80++

thin lean beef slices

scissors to cut the noodles

We chose the thick noodles as the wide noodles either sold out or not available. It was a good choice. The beef broth was clear and flavourful. Mild and not overly seasoned. The noodles were QQ and lovely to eat. If you're used to fattier cuts of meat, then the slices here will be overly lean. However, it provides a good mild taste to the overall dish. 

Can add some chili oil provided on the table, to elevate the flavours up a notch.

chili oil

I was impressed when the skewers were served to the table. Such big skewers! We ordered a variety of skewers; chicken, beef, mutton and lamb chop.

assorted skewers

The best skewer was the mutton skewer. Well grilled, juicy meat and adequate seasoning on the meat. Very good! Must order. 

Mutton Skewer 红柳羊肉串 @$3.50++ (per skewer)

If you prefer something fattier, then go for the lamb chop.

Lamb Chop 羊排串 @$6++

Overall, the signature noodle was a comforting flavourful bowl if you prefer something soupy. The chilled appetisers were good too, especially the pickled stuffs. For skewers, my must eat would be the mutton skewer. So good.

Price is rather reasonable too. 

Yi Zun Noodle 伊尊老字号拉面

Address: 60 Joo Chiat Rd, #01-08/09, Singapore 427726

Website: https://www.yizunnoodle.com/menu/joo-chiat

Contact: 6909 9287

Business Hours: 

Daily: 11 am–9:30 pm

Poulet Bijou @ Jewel Changi Airport

First time trying Poulet and foodie gang decided on the Jewel outlet. My colleague was once raving about the tender chicken of Poulet Bugis outlet, so let's see how Poulet Bijou fares.

Went during the weekend for lunch sometime in Dec 2022. The restaurant was fairly relaxed and not crowded.

menu

specials

Of course we ordered their famed chicken, and also got ourselves the Seafood Stew which appeared to be a special/seasonal item. The Stew was meant for 2 pax. We are in a group of 5 pax. Some of us arrived earlier so we got ourselves a bowl of fries to start.

Truffle Fries

To our surprise, the fries was served lukewarm. Which meant that it could have been sitting out for a while. Requested for the staff to reheat it and she was slightly taken aback by the request. Nevertheless, she did bring it back to the kitchen and some minutes later, it reappeared again and this time, the fries looked slightly darker, and at the right temperature.

refried fries

For drinks, I had the cucumber fizz. Refreshing as expected. Good. Hence, had the exotic Homemade Brazillian Lemonade that looked milky.

Cucumber Fizz

Homemade Brazillian Lemonade

Signature Roast Chicken Set with Diane Sauce (whole chicken)

Seafood Stew

served with garlic bread

The seafood tasted alright. Tangy and light. Whets up the appetite. The signature roasted chicken was lovely with the meat tender as expected. However, my friends mentioned that the meat should be more tender than what we had that day.

tender meat

Diane sauce is a brown sauce cooked with turkey bacon. Nice but I could do without it as well. The chicken was well marinated and holds pretty good on its own. Lovely chicken skin!

We ended on a savoury note with a crepe. I liked it but would prefer more chicken!

savoury mushroom crepe

Poulet Bijou - Jewel Changi Airport

Address: 78 Airport Road Jewel 01 - 227, Singapore Changi Airport, 819666

Website: https://www.poulet.com.sg/

Business Hours:

Daily 11:30 am–10 pm

[Bandung] Strawberry Farm and Saung Gawir Restaurant

First visit to a strawberry farm. Yay to easy peasy activities! It was a peaceful bus ride to the farm. Weather was good and hopefully, there'll be enough strawberries for us bus load of people to pick!

scenery on the way to strawberry farm 

The strawberries are planted onto its own container and these containers are arranged in neat rows. So many of these sections all over the farm. Some are newly planted hence, either they are still green or very small in size. Walk around to scout for those ripe and bigger ones. Some say those nearer to the huts has bigger strawberries.

a section

select wisely

There are those straw hats that one could wear when picking the strawberries because you'd likely be spending about half hour bending over and selecting those that you like. A small scissor and a small basket will also be provided. Once done, just head over to the weighing counter to see how much it'll cost. Mine came up to about SGD4.80.

my pickings

There is a cafe next to the farm and one could get strawberry juice or strawberry milkshake from there as well. It has clean washroom plus resting area.

working hard for the next harvest

Nearby (about 5 to 10 minutes bus ride away), there is a restaurant called Saung Gawir so one could have lunch there.

interior of the Saung Gawir

Before lunch, one could take a stroll as this place has nice surroundings. It overlooks the hill and there are many interesting plants around it.

hill top dining

otak otak

Our lunch at Saung Gawir was Nasi Liwet. The rice was served in a separate steel pot and in it, there are some chilies. Our guide said that there are some coconut milk cooked in the rice as well. Oh, then it is similar to nasi lemak except that it doesn't have a strong coconut milk taste in it.

Nasi Liwet Set (to feed 4 pax)

The dishes for the rice was served altogether on a tray with banana leave. It has grilled chicken, lalapan (fresh lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes), fried beancurd skin, tofu and crackers. Its center was a dish of sambal.

On the side, there was an extra plate of fried indomie and one small whole fish ikan asin (salted fish).

fried noodles

salted fish

Communal dining with delicious dishes at Saung Gawir. This was our second most delicious meal after the one at Boemi Mitoha.

my plate

Saung Gawir Restaurant

Address: Jl. Raya Ciwidey - Rancabali KM.6, Alamendah, Rancabali, Bandung, Jawa Barat 40973, Indonesia
Contact: +62 22 85920675
Business Hours:
Daily: 9am to 5pm, Sat and Sun closes at 7pm

[Bandung] Kawah Ratu and Wilujeng Sumping Balibu RM. Khas Sunda

It rained in the morning and just before our excursion to Kawah Ratu. Kawah Ratu or also known as 'Queen's Crater' is located at Tangkuban Perahu. A trip to the volcano!

Our tour guide described it as an easy trek. It was quite tedious actually. Slippery paths due to the early rainfall, made it all harder.

interesting looking cooking cyclinder, so cute

It was quite a long bus ride to the mountain top.

a hotel in the middle of nowhere

going higher and higher

ok, this was where we left our comfy bus seats

ticket for shuttle bus to bring us up somemore

on higher grounds

anyone wants a pony ride?

he's so gentle

The pony was really gentle. Such soft silky fur on its body too. It only cost Rp50,000 to ride one. The handler will hold the reins and lead the pony around the area and for the last lap, the pony will break into a faster trot. Final burst for the finale! Hahaha!

mountain view

time to get down there

bubbling hot

The whole trip was us trekking down on a jungle trail with a guide, and towards the crater. Just need to watch where you're stepping otherwise, it was easy to fall on one's butt. Probably an hour to get down and once you're down there, it was basically relaxing and soaking the feet into one of those hot spring. The temperature of the hot springs in Kawah Domas varies. Some hot, and some not so hot. Mine was the not so hot ones, and hence, lesser people was at that area. Egg is sold and your guide will likely ask if you want some. If yes, he can help you to get some from the vendor and put it to boil in one of the boiling hot springs. The guide would also offer his service to help you massage your tired calves with mud.

After resting for about 30 minutes, it was time to trek back up again. Yes, what goes down must come up again. If you are too tired, there are people who would fetch you back to the bus parking lot area on a motorcycle/scooter. Yes, the transport service is available for a fee. It'll cost about Rp10,000 for a short trip.

saw this guy on the way back

The trek downwards started around 10.30am and we were back up on our bus at 1.30pm. All, in all, we walked for about 2.5 hours.

It was then time for lunch and we were hungry after all the strenuous exercise. The sulfur hard boiled egg did help to stave of some of the hunger pangs.

restaurant

lunch time

The food at Balibu consist of mostly fried items. By this time, I realized that for every meal, there will be lalapan which is essentially a plate of Sundanese raw vegetable salad served with sambal. Usually there'd be lettuce, sliced tomatoes and cucumber. The sambal chili is usually pretty powerful. Loved the vegetables in Bandung as they are so fresh!

The fried chicken and fish at Balibu were dryer than the first meal that we had. I liked the beancurd skin item. Satay was eaten with a bit of fear as on the way to the restaurant, our tour guide said that the people in that area loved to eat monitor lizard satay. Eeek..

Kawah Ratu

Address: Jl. Gn. Tangkuban Perahu, Cicadas, Sagalaherang, Kabupaten Subang, Jawa Barat 41282, Indonesia
Business Hours: Daily 8am to 5pm

Wilujeng Sumping Balibu RM. Khas Sunda

Address: Jalan Raya Tangkuban Perahu 423A, Lembang Bandung – 40391 Jawa Barat
Website: http://www.rmbalibu.com/
Contact: (022) 2789582