Thai Tanic @ Jalan Besar

Located at the ever busy Jalan Besar where cars zooms past every now and then. Lucky, is how you get to park your car nearby.

Went on a Friday night, and the place was full. The only seats available was outdoor and almost blocking the walkway. Numerous newspaper cuttings were pasted on its glass door.

front entrance (newpaper clippings on the left)

large menu of its best dishes displayed outside

thai iced tea and milk tea are actually same same

We were in a party of 5, so we ordered a couple of items to share. Previous reviews were almost always about its BBQ steamboat but majority didn't want to eat steamboat that night, so we decided to go ala-carte items. Pineapple fried rice, green curry, fish cakes, stir fried chicken with basil, stir fried kai lan with pork, oyster omelette, phad thai and for desserts, we ordered red ruby, coconut jelly and glutinous rice with mango. And for drinks, thai iced tea.

thai iced milk (aka milk tea)

For me, the epitome of a good Thai iced tea is that it must have a strong tea taste, milky and smooth (but usually tends to be quite sweet) and if use crushed ice, then all the better! Here, it tasted pretty much like a glass of very sweet milk tea. I'm still yearning for my Amari Watergate's cafe thai iced tea...

Anyway, our food soon arrived in quick succession and our tiny table couldn't accommodate so many plates! I think it was Raymond who noticed that, and offered to join another table next to us, as soon as the previous diners left. Thanks! A table for my so-called 'photoshoot' before the dish is devoured. Muahahaha!

pineapple rice

green curry

fish cake

stir fried chicken with basil

Liked the pineapple rice because the rice was not too soft, has ample ingredients like floss, cashew nuts, diced pineapples and raisins. Tasty and goes well with the green curry. Speaking of green curry, it was quickly polished off by us famished few. Milky and spicy, and served hot! A very agreeable taste and good as gravy for the rice. Hmm, found the fish cake and stir fried chicken with basil as so so only. The basil chicken was quite spicy as well.

stir fried kai lan with pork

oyster omelette

The stir fried vegetable looked innocent enough, but there was a few pieces of chili lurking inside. Everyone loved the oyster omelette. Quite a lot of oysters in this dish.

phad thai

condiments for the phad thai

However, one of our discerning makan kaki detected that the phad thai had an 'unusual' smell, which she described as "noodles that were kept for far too long inside a cupboard' kind of smell. Musty. Perhaps. So we sniffed and sniffed and all four concluded that yes, indeed, it had. So we sent it back to the kitchen and they offered to refry a new plate for us. Good service recovery.

coconut jelly (agar agar)

mango with glutinous rice

The coconut jelly was agar-agar like texture and only a hint of coconut taste. Nice, not too sweet. Liked the glutinous rice with mango. Glutinous rice was served warm, slightly sweet and saltish due to the coconut milk. Tasted very rich too. The sprinkle of sesame was nicely decorative. Mango was not very sweet and perhaps if it was chilled, then it will taste superb with the warm rice. Yums!

Next, was our mysterious bowl of red ruby. At first, we were served this:

wah.. such a big bowl of red ruby

But we were busy eating other stuffs, so didn't have time to deal with the red ruby yet. Then it was taken away from us. We heard something like need to change the bowl. Ok, we thought. So, it came back looking like this:

red ruby.... with more coconut milk and different bowl?

Hmmm.

red ruby which tasted rather nice and waterchestnutty crunchy

Unfortunately, there was an incident with regards to the red ruby dessert and again, we had to send it back to the chef but this time round, we did not have the mood to eat it anymore. The lady boss apologized and this item was struck off our bill.

So all in all, our meal costs about $80 in total for 5 pax. The service staff here are all very likeable and earnest. Perhaps we were just a tad unlucky in encountering two incidents in one meal.

Kusabi @ The Central, Clarke Quay

Located at Level 1 of The Central, this place is quite small in size. Attempt #2 to eat there. Went there at about 1+pm on a Saturday, and the place was practically empty except for another one or two occupied tables.

table setting

nice ambience

Nice to have the entire restaurant to yourself. Hahaa.

history/origin

limited offer menu

Our lunch time still qualified for the 'limited offer' even on a weekend, so we chose that. For the limited offer, we can select a bowl of ramen (half-size), then select a side dish and finally a drink/dessert from the list. All these for $12++. Not a bad deal mah, since ramen (full size) per bowl is already $9+ onwards.

My friend ordered Uobushi Tonkutsu Shoyu Ramen (add $2 to upsize back to normal size, otherwise it is half-sized), with unagi don as his half-side dish and a goma ice-cream for dessert. I had the Toribushi Ramen (chicken based soup) at half-size, side dish was gyoza, and orange juice for drinks. Added a plate of char shiu as well ('coz I was worried that they'll give me half piece of char siew for my half bowl ramen... which to my delight, it wasn't the case.. hahaha!)

chopsticks, awaiting to attack the ramen

Iced water was served without any fuss. Service was very good that day. Our friendly waitress was very polite and everytime she was about to serve us something, she'd say, "Shitsereishimasu" and she always have a smile on her face. Such a sweet girl.

After a short wait, our food arrived. Makan time!

half-sized toribushi ramen (bottom), regular sized uobushi ramen (top)

gyoza, drizzled with vinegar

Uobushi Ramen

Toribushi Ramen

Looking back at the ramen pictures, just realised that I forgot to take a picture of the noodles. Oops. The noodles for Uobushi and Toribushi are different. The soup for Uobushi (with fish powder/stock, I think) was an acquired taste. I liked my chicken-based soup Toribushi ramen more. It came with a piece of good sized charshiu and half an egg, and lots of spring onions. The noodles were springy and well-cooked, and soup was warm and just nicely salted. Gyoza was pretty run of the mill but its fillings were a tad dry. Perhaps need more vegetables.

chili oil

Add a few drops of the chili oil onto the noodles, and immediately, the taste was transformed. More kick! But be careful. Just a drop or two will do (per bite).

egg

yummy charshiu

The charshiu was mostly lean meat but it was tender with some fats at its side (yummy!), and has a nice smokey flavour (subtle). For the additional side dish @$5++, you get 3 pieces of charshiu.

serviettes served on a tray...

goma (sesame) ice cream at icy cold

It was a filling meal. Total costs came up to $36 for 2 pax.

Wild Oats @ Punggol Park

Located at Hougang Avenue 8, Punggol Park. My friends suggested this place, probably because it was opened by Chef Willin, one of Singapore's celebrity chefs. Hahaa, or rather, maybe I wanted to visit this place because of that! =P

We made reservations for the eve before National Day. Was late, but encountered no problems in pushing back the reservation time. Carpark space was scarce, so depends on your luck. Arrived at 8pm (original reservation time was 730pm), and there were many unoccupied tables.

main podium is first destination

The dining area seemed to be separated into 2 main areas. One that is near the water (where the podium is), and another that is its opposite side. The smoking area is not the one near the water and lush greenaries.

indoor

i was outside the glass door...

menu

The menu really really does have just a few items only... We ordered otah bruschetta, mushroom soup and chicken chop with garlic mayo sauce to share. For drinks, I had the 'Breeze in the Park'.

smoking area

dine by the waterfront

cutlery

order chits

It was pretty hard to get someone over to take our order. The service staff seemed to be quite focused on their task at hand...So, you just gotta wave harder...

mushroom soup

breeze in the park

otah bruschetta

Mushroom soup tasted quite healthy (maybe deemed as a little too bland for somebody). Not as thick as some other places but retained the nice wholesome flavour of mushroom. The cocktail tasted pretty diluted. Everyone on my table liked the otah bruschetta. Nicely spicy, goes well on toasted bread.

chicken chop with garlic mayo sauce

fries

The chicken chop (we chose garlic mayo sauce out of 3 options), was tender and juicy. The sauce was likeable but our breath probably smelled of garlic thereafter! Served with baked beans, chopped cabbage and shoestring fries. Overall, was quite yummy.

chendol

Chendol was sweet and refreshing on a warm night. The gula melaka was sticky and oh-so-yummy! Stir the whole thing till some of the ice melts, and it tasted even better. The red bean was neither too soft nor too hard. Just nice. Sweet, but not overly.

cranberry cooler (i think that was the name, not sure) non-alcoholic

finished the food, and the drinks and one of our friend was still not here yet...

mango margarita

Conclusion, the cocktails that I tried that night, all tasted pretty weak... Food was alright, but limited selection. We liked otah bruschetta and chendol.

The total bill was about $80+, and my share was $30 for 2 alcholic drinks, the food and desserts. Should have ordered the chicken wings.. because I was hungry again when I got home after that.

Hong Kong Street @ Novena

Been to this place a few times. Sometimes for lunch, sometimes for dinner. But almost with some certainty, there are just that few dishes that we ordered, over and over again. And, this place was always busy and bustling with diners.

signboard

utensils and chillies (not very spicy)

a glass of cold barley while waiting for the food

As usual, we ordered a large 'san lao he fen' or 'sam lou hor fun', 'har jiong gai' or prawn paste chicken and a fried fish noodle soup (small).

san lao he fen

closer view

San Lao He Fen, a pale white looking dish consisting of 'hor fun' (flat kway teow noodles), lots of beansprouts, and fish slices (non-fried) that doesn't score any points in the looks department, but tasted yummy! It has a good dose of 'wok-hei' (that smokey charred smell/taste of the strong wok fire). Unfortunately, the fish slices does taste quite bland.

'har jiong gai' (prawn paste chicken)

deep fried goodness

Prawn paste chicken doesn't taste very strong, served piping hot with crispy skin but inside was still moist, tender and juicy. Not overly salted, so can be eaten on its own. Smear it with some of the sambal chili and it's addictive.

In my haste to devour the food (was hungry!), realised that I didn't take any pictures of the fish bee-hoon soup. That dish is a favourite of another friend. It has milky soup base, with ginger and vegetables in it. The fried fish was chunky and meaty. Comfort food.

This meal fed 3 girls and 1 guy comfortably. Total cost was about $13 per pax.

Sashimi House SAKURAYA @ Anchorpoint, Alexandra Road

Went on a weekday during lunch hour. Did not make any reservations, hence we were asked if we mind the counter seats. Nope. Not at all. The counter top/table surface/width was quite spacious. There is a daily set lunch that changes everyday and there is also a ladies lunch set (~@18++).

counter seats table setting

We ordered a Bara Chirashi and a salmon butter set and the food took some 15 minutes to arrive. Prior to that, the lady beside us who came much earlier than me, was asking the waitress the whereabouts of her lunch!

salmon butter set

tasty salmon butter

Tried my friend's salmon butter and the fish was nicely moist. Good choice! The salmon butter set was the cheaper one amongst our two lunches.

bara chirashi

My chirashi came in a nice lacquer bowl. So pretty.

full of goodness!

closer view

Plenty of fish in my bowl. There were the usual maguro, sake, white fish, tamago, cucumber and crabstick. The rice was nicely vinegared. First bite, the tangy sourness crept onto the tastebud and after chewing the rice, gradually it tasted of sweetness. The fish were fresh but don't really fancy the crabstick though.

seaweed layered ontop of the rice

The meal costs about $33 for two pax, and no charge for green tea.