Friday, August 7, 2015

Greendot @ Paya Lebar Square

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My colleague, whom does not eat meat by choice, had mentioned Greendot before. She liked the food there. That piqued my interest to find out more on what Greendot offers. There are currently two branches; one at Westgate and another at Paya Lebar Square. Convenient for both Westies and Easties. From what I know, the outlet at Westgate sees queues of customers on a daily basis. Quite popular!

healthy balanced meal

Greendot uses quality fresh ingredients and wants to make eating "green" fun, accessibile and affordable. "Eat Green, Feel Good" is its motto. In Singapore, it is heartening to see that there are now more meatless options available. Together with other foodies, we were invited to its Paya Lebar Square outlet to try out the dishes.

open-area seats
order through this


For lunch, I understand that customers would usually go for its customised healthy bento rice sets. From five types of rice, simply choose one and then choose 3 dishes to go with the rice.

choose the dishes to go along with rice
Greendot has a quite a good selection of drinks to choose from. How about some tea, lovingly handpicked from the highlands of Taiwan; the Alisan tea served in a pot. Or, the refreshing and thirst quenching White Peach tea? We enjoyed both.

The Passion Dragon Fruit Green Tea (@$5.50) was so pretty and very likeably sweet. This one was served ala bubble tea style, which was packed sealed to-go.

Alisan Oolong tea (in a pot) and white peach tea (sweetened)

For single pax diner, if you don't feel like having bento rice set, there are other options available. For example, the surprisingly good chicken, err, Lion's Mane Mushroom burger. The texture was right, and it tasted good. Will opt without the fries.

Lion's Mane Mushroom Burger @$8.90 ala-carte (or, $11.80 set with fries and salad)

If you'd like something more Asian, no worries. Try its Signature Rendang Rice Bowl. Plenty of greens (julienned cucumber and carrots), lettuce and broccoli, and one can't go wrong with mushrooms (sauteed and rendang). That rendang sauce, is something that I'd go back for. Again, the 'meat' in the rendang is the lion's mane mushroom. Delicious indeed.

Signature Rendang Rice Bowl @$9.50
Did you say that you prefer noodles? How about a bowl of laksa? The experience was complete as the laksa noodles tasted like it should, with all its 'lemakness' glory! It's one of those Chef's Recommended dishes. Couldn't agree more!

Laksa Noodles @$5.90
For those whom preferred a non-spicy noodles, Greendot also offers Herbal Noodles. Heard that it is one of its popular noodle dishes too! The soup has a strong herbal taste that's fragrant. Very soothing bowl of soup. The mock 'fishballs' and 'prawns' had interesting textures and that made it felt somewhat more 'authentic'.

Herbal Noodles @$7.90

If you are in a group of 4, then you may want to try Greendot's Mushroom Pot for 4 pax. In this set, one could choose two soup base options, comes with plenty of greens and mushrooms, plus that yummy side dish; that included a small portion of lion mane's rendang, fruits and a pot of tea. Oh, don't forget about rice. Each one gets one bowl of rice and one could choose out of 5 rice options. Spoilt for choice, indeed.

Mushroom Pot for 4 pax @$59.90

Loved the laksa pot. Liked my rice doused with laksa soup! The dried beancurd cooked till soft in laksa soup was so yums! That pile of greens would certainly boost our daily required servings of vegetables.

my love for laksa soup kept bubbling over~
Emperor Rice, Sesame Rice and Five Treasure Rice - which is your favourite?

For desserts, we sampled the Osmanthus Jelly. By far, this was the most Q osmanthus jelly that I've came across. Filled with dried osmanthus flakes and quality wolfberries (goji berries) that has subtle sweetness in them.

Osmanthus Jelly @$3.50

All in all, had enjoyed our Greendot experience where simple delicious food is made with quality ingredients, with care. Expect fresh greens, mushrooms, soya products, konnyaku; cooked fresh into homely tasty meals for customers to enjoy.

Special thanks to Greendot for hosting the dinner, and to Shannon and Hence, for the invite. Thank you Justin, Yong Hong and the crew of Greendot for taking care of us.


Greendot @ Paya Lebar Square

Location: 60 Paya Lebar Road, #02-15/16/17 Paya Lebar Square, Singapore 409051
Telephone: +65 67022221
Website: http://www.greendot.sg
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greendotsg

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Dinata & Hvala Waffle Bar @ 313 Somerset

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The last two stops in Tring 313 Food Trail 2015 adventures at 313 Somerset. Held in a single-day where 10 bloggers ate their way through 313 Somerset with 7 food stops in 5 hours. As Dinata and Hvala are both kiosk styled shops, will write about them in the same post.

shop front
pastries
sweets

Dinata is a shop that specializes in Portuguese pastries. Lots of interesting stuffs such as Cornucopia and coconut bread.

(front) chicken "drumstick", hazelnut cornucopia, (back) egg tart and doughnut

On the other hand, if you have a craving for waffles but do not want to eat the whole lot, then Hvala Waffle Bar would be perfect for situations as such. Oh, they do have soft-serve as well in case you want some ice-cream.

shop front
menu
apple waffle, tiramisu and original plus soft serves at the back

The tiramisu waffle was so nice. Chewy on its outside but soft inside. Loved it. I'd have the entire waffle to myself. Not gonna share.

tiramisu
let's dig in!

Dinata

Location: 313 Somerset #B3-42
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Dinatasg


Hvala Waffle Bar

Location: #B3-50, 313 Orchard Road Singapore 238895
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HvalaWaffleBar


With that, we concluded our Tring 313 Food Trail 2015. Once again, many thanks to the hosts; 313 Somerset, Tring 313 app, and owner/manager/PRs/staff of the respective shops (Soup Stock Tokyo, Chabuton, O'my Spoon, Pie Face, Chir Chir Chicken, Dinata and Hvala). To my fellow foodies and bloggers, it was a pleasure meeting with you guys. Take care and see you next time.

Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Chir Chir Chicken Fusion Factory @ 313 Somerset

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Korean Fried Chicken seemed to have taken Singaporean's tastebuds by storm. Chir Chir Chicken requires no further introduction and its relentless queues during weekends are testaments to its popularity amongst the diners. I'd think it's safe to say that the demographics of diners here ranges from the tweens to young working adults and the occasional families. Whichever demographic group that you belong to, one thing is for sure. Bring your friends along. Chir Chir Chicken serving portions are really meant for 2-3 pax. If you intend to order more than one mains, then 5 to 6 pax would be ideal.

let's all queue
Don't know what to order? Just browse through instagram or do a quick search in the internet. Loads of pictures and write-ups! The main draw for me, was obviously the chickens. The group managed to sample a variety and the amount of food that we had, could have fed 15 pax of big eaters!

Nest Snow @$32.90

The Nest Snow would be the most interesting looking ones, with that huge dollop of cream nested ontop plus the white sauce that was deceptively spicy. The boneless chicken tenders were more tender that I had imagined it to be. Enjoyable but watch out for that sudden spike in heat.

Speaking of which, there are some cool drinks or rather mocktails that one could order. For example the Tok Tok drinks (blue or yellow). Which was fizzy soda infused with flavoured drinks. Likeable.

the fizz infusor
Yellow Tok Tok (non-alcoholic) @$14.90
Coconut Milktail @$12.90
Coconut Milktail Redgizer (with Red bull) - for wakeup call?

On to the food. The original or just crispy fried chicken wings had quite a good crisp on its skin and still juicy insides. The salsa was fantastically tangy and refreshing. The garlic chicken wings didn't have much garlic taste and ended up tasting pretty similar to original fried wings. The Rosemary chicken looked a tad healthier as it was not deep fried but baked. Tasted of herbs and nicely tender. All the chickens be it deep fried or baked, had the non-greasy feel to it. Nice.

Crispy fried wings @$26.90 with mustard dip and salsa
Rosemary Chicken @$29.90 with baked potatoes and salsa
I saw what you're doing

The best drink for fried chicken, of course would be beer. Chimaek for the win! Here, one could order the Chir Cream Beer for that cream beer 'kiss'. I'd just get a Cass, 'coz no likey with cream.

Chir Cream Beer meet the pints - one (left) and half (right)

Speaking of cream, and if you want something sweet and termed as 'salad', do try the Honey Grape Salad. Mix the whole thing together and scoop up those yummy grapes with the honey drizzled pastry. The combo was so good!

Honey Grape Salad
Haven't had enough chicken? Here are some more.

Spicy Wings @$28.90 (sorry, we ate some already, not the full basket in pic)

What a feast to be shared amongst friends! The place was super packed when we visited on a weekend, and the chicken were good. Personal favourite would be the spicy wings. Yums. The spice level was enjoyable.

Chir Chir Chicken feast - good for 15 pax

Chir Chir Chicken Fusion Factory

Location: #B3-04/05/06, 313 @ Somerset, 313 Orchard Road, 238895
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Chir-Chir-Singapore/1551584908411319


Read about the experience at Soup Stock Tokyo, Chabuton, O'ma Spoon Korean Dessert Cafe, Pie Face, Dinata & Hvala Waffle Bar.

Monday, August 3, 2015

Pie Face @ 313 Somerset

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Many would have seen those pies with smiley faces on various social media platform by now. Pie Face originated from Bondi Beach Australia since 2003 and came to our shore in 2014. Currently, there are 3 outlets in Singapore and we visited the one in Somerset 313 as part of our Tring 313 Food Trail 2015, and was our fourth food stop.

shop front

Pies are baked fresh, and those smiley cheeky faces are hand-piped. There are 8 flavours for savouries and about 10 for sweet pies. Just pick your favourites and grab a drink. There are some limited seats inside the shop.

steak pies are crowd favourite
here are the sweet mousse pies
non-pies

Amongst the savouries sampled, were the Chunky Steak, Chicken + Mushroom and Spicy Chicken. It was actually quite apt. The Spicy Chicken indeed will nett you a surprised look. It was indeed spicy!

let's bring out the savouries
the sweet pies

The chunky steak was very likeable and pleasant but I think the spicy chicken was interesting. For those who love spicy stuffs.

For the sweet pies, I like the almond frangipane pie as its sweetness was just right. The other sweet pies were smaller in size, and I preferred the butterscotch flavoured one. The coffee mousse pie was also quite nice. Other flavours included green tea with red bean pie, raspberry pie, chocolate pie and apple crumble.

Pie Face

Location: #B3-10 313@Somerset, Singapore 238895
Website: http://pieface.com.sg/


Read about the experience at Soup Stock Tokyo, Chabuton, O'ma Spoon Korean Dessert Cafe

O'ma Spoon Korean Dessert Cafe @ 313 Somerset

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There were lots of first experiences during the Tring 313 Food Trail 2015, and eating bingsu was one of them. Didn't get to try it while in Seoul the other time, so am glad that we in Singapore, has that luxury of choice to eat foods that originated from other countries.

With a recent wave of hot weather, the idea of having ice-cold desserts was really enticing. Or, perhaps a necessity even. Up at Level 4, can't miss the neon-purplish signage. Oh my spoon.

striking colour!
order counter

It's an open-spaced shop, and one orders from the counter. Bingsu is actually meant to be shared with friends or loved ones, but if you'd like to enjoy it alone, there is a petite option as well.

from Korea, with love

O'my spoon is quite a lovely place to enjoy cool Korean desserts in a comfy environment. Mostly couples, and occassionally the family.

seating area
Want to know what we tried? As you may have guessed, popular items such as Injeolmi Toast and a variety of bingsu. Ah... but did you also know that the bingsu here is made out of shaved milk instead of ice? It was so fluffy and milky! That means, the bingsu here is actually of the Sulbing (雪冰) variety.

Let's try the breads. Injeolmi Toast is basically bread toasted with rice cake and coated with soy-bean powder. Hence, we get bread-like texture with some chewy and stickyness. The Choco Strawberry is basically Honey Butter Bread with ice cream. Would have preferred more choco sauce though. The addition of ice-cream to both of these toast is a good idea. Best combo as a sweet snack; bread and ice-cream.

Injeolmi Toast @$8.90
Choco Strawberry @$14.90

Next, let's roll out the bingsus! And, what a line-up we had. The Injeolmi Bingsu, The Green Tea Bingsu and my personal favourite, The Mango Cheesecake Bingsu.

Injeolmi Bingsu @$12.90
Green Tea Bingsu @$13.90
Mango Cheesecake Bingsu @$18.90

All the bingsu depicted above were meant to be shared amongst 2-3 pax. If not, then the price would be really really steep for a single-pax dessert.

Why I liked the premium bingsu of mango cheesecake? Let me list the reasons; the fluffy shaved milk that just melts in your mouth, the chunks of sweet mango, the dense texture of the cheesecake, some chewyness from the dried berry and the creamy ice-cream that when combined with the shaved milk flakes, magically turns into a condense-milk kind of flavour. Keke.

my love, from this star

Actually, the Green Tea Bingsu was also really good. Strong green tea flavour, with green tea ice-cream and that read bean...I'm a fan!

give me more
look, a layer of green tea powder inside

Very likeable, very good to share with friends especially during hot weather season. Hmm, Singapore is hot whole year round, isn't it?

O'ma Spoon Korean Dessert Cafe

Location: 313 @ Somerset 313 Orchard Road #04-20/32 Singapore 238895
Website: http://www.omaspoon.com/
Facebook: http://purple-eats.blogspot.sg/2015/08/soup-stock-tokyo-313-somerset.html


Read about the experience at Soup Stock Tokyo, Chabuton.
 
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