Bugis Junction Food Trail 2013

Bugis Junction. Located at 200 Victoria Street, and above the Bugis MRT. Easily accessible, just that I haven't been visiting often since I no longer work around that area any more. Old office used to be at North Bridge Road. Nowadays, I think of it more as a mall for youngsters? Keke.

Opportunity to get re-acquainted, presented itself in the form of Bugis Junction Food Trail, organized by omy.sg and Bugis Junction. wOOohOOo!

Ten places of non-stop eating and feasting. Satiated. *pats tummy*

Bugis Junction Food Trail 2013

This event was held on 13 April 2013, and we chomped off starting from Everything With Fries, Platypus Kitchen, Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant, Siam Kitchen, Kazokutei, nydc, Fish & Co., Honguo, Yummy Bites and Maggie Moo's. We lasted six hours and slightly more.

Trail stop #1: Everything With Fries, located at Level 4, right next to the cinema!

All main courses here are served with fries, hence the name. Not just regular fries, but one may get flavoured fries like truffle-oil, garlic, or curry paired with the mains.

Steak with Tulang (Seasonal Menu)

Trail stop #2: Platypus Kitchen, located at Level 3.

Always wanted to experience gourmet-style dining, but not quite willing to bust a big hole in the wallet? Well, look no further as Platypus Kitchen aims to bring 'Affordable Gourmet' closer to us, the masses.

Spicy 'Diablo' Crab & Prawn (handmade egg tagliolini)

Trail stop #3: Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant （南翔饅頭店）, located at Level 2.

Fancy savouring some xiaolong mantou (or xiao long bao), from a brand that was established more than a hundred years ago? Of course, we'd love to!

hot, steaming xiao long baos (小笼包)

Trail stop #4: Siam Kitchen, located at Level 2.

Hankering for some halal Thai food? Siam Kitchen has it! Their version of tom yum talay, was really appetizing with its balanced sourish and spicy taste. Slurps.

Siam Siam Grill Combo Platter (from top, clockwise: squid, prawns, chicken and beef)

Trail stop #5: Kazokutei, at Level 2.

Hailing from Osaka, this place specializes in handmade udon. Liked the springiness and bounciness of the quality noodles. Simplest form of enjoyment.　ごちそうさまでした！

handmade udon

Trail stop #6: nydc (New York Dessert Cafe), located at Level 2.

Think nydc, think mudpies! And now, one could get a 3-some there...(eh eh, don't think astray! Naughty you) It's cold, it's sweeeeet~ and so satisfying. Licks lip.

3-some (strawberry mudpie)

Trail stop #7: Fish & Co., located at Level 1.

Has been quite awhile since I last visited Fish & Co. and am happy to see so many new items available in their glossy-magazine-like new menu! Impressed.

Seafood Galore (king prawns, butter curry clams, grilled white fish and chips)

Trail stop #8: Honguo, located at Basement 1.

Have you tried their speciality noodles, the 'Cross Bridge Vermicelli' (过桥米线)? Interesting dining concept with an equally interesting story behind. But if noodles is not your thing then probably seafood fried rice may tickle your tastebud.

Scholar Cross Bridge Vermicelli - 15 items
(状元过桥米线 - 15样)

Trail stop #9: Yummy Bites, located at Basement 1.

All things fried. Usually, I'd get fried bananas but nowadays, fried nian gao (年糕) sounds fine too. No, not that korean rice cake but the chinese type where its brown, sticky and sweet. For 'Snowball' or fried ice-cream, be prepared to wait as they'll only prepare it upon ordering.

Yummy Bites kiosk of deep fried goodies

Trail stop #10: MaggieMoo's Ice Cream and Treatery at Level 1, outer-side of the mall where the old box-office was.

Ice-creams, dizzying array of flavours, milkshakes and their promo of new flavours and sweet offers each month.

sweet treat

To know more about the individual restaurants and the food that we ate during this trail, do click on the hyperlink of each restaurant!

As usual, special thanks to the organisers and our various hosts for this Bugis Junction Food Trail. Thank you for the food, your time and the useful information! To fellow bloggers, pleased to meet you and till next time, take care!

Bugis Junction

Location: 200 Victoria Street, Singapore 188021
Operating Hours: 10am to 10pm daily
Website: http://www.bugisjunction-mall.com.sg

Ice-Cold Beer @ No. 9 Emerald Hill

Finally visited this place one fine evening. It rained and hence, the outdoor tables were scarce. Risked waiting for about 15 minutes, just to see if the sky clears and the staff would open up the outdoor area.

entrance

Last order for Happy Hour was 845pm. Got ourselves draft beer (half pint) for $6++ each.

bold Stella and shy Hoegaarden

Of course, the must-order of chicken wings. Had the half portion.

deep fried prawn paste chicken wings

closer view

The prawn paste wings tasted milder than I'd thought. Only a hint of prawn paste. Glad that the drumlets weren't anorexic though. Succulent but also just barely cooked. Had potato wedges as well. Regular ones served with mayo. Good portion for sharing. Thought the potatoes could do with another minute in the fryer as some pieces weren't that cooked.

Spent $35 for the above. The style here is pay as soon as the food/drinks arrives. Note that the outdoor area closes pretty early at 11pm.

Wan Chai Hong Kong Tea Room 湾仔香港奶茶店 @ Lot One

Located at basement of Lot One. Semi self-servicing joint, where one orders and pays at the counter, and get the drinks first. The food will be served to your table.

menu

view from our table

For drinks, we had 'Black Cow' (root beer float), chin chow and soya milk (仙草豆浆) and chinese tea (tea bag in hot water). Drink prices ranged from $1.30+ to $3+.

Root beer float

chin chow in soya milk

The food orders came in their own timings. The interval between could be anything from 5 minutes to 20 minutes apart, although the orders were placed together at the same time. The aunty waitress who brought us our orders was quite sullen that night and she'd dumped the food quite grouchily on the table.

steamed rice with chinese sausages and mushroom 腊味香滑鸡饭 (@$6.50+)

loaded with dry chicken breast, two slices of sausage and one piece of mushroom

 dumpling noodles 鲜虾水饺面 (@$5.80+)

plump looking dumplings

Signature fried rice 湾仔招牌炒饭 (@$6.80+)

Cheese baked chicken rice (@$8.50+)

beef brisket noodle 牛腩面 (@$7+)

closer view of thin yellow noodles

deep fried pork ribs in orange sauce 酥炸香橙骨 (@$8.50+)

Alot of the dishes that we ordered, were disappointing. Chicken breast was too dry, and hardly fragrant, the deep fried pork ribs were too hard and tough (tasty sauce though), and if their Signature fried rice looked like that, well...

Spent a total of about $54.

Ichiban Sushi @ IMM Building, Jurong East

Located at Level 2 of IMM Building. Took the shuttle bus from JCube (outside of McDonalds). Business seemed not bad at this outlet. Perhaps slightly more activity here as compared to JCube's restaurants.

ocha (@$1.10++)

Dinner with family so we ordered Sashimi Wazen, Ichiban Bento Wazen, Hotate Nabe Wazen, Tendon and Chicken Katsudon.

Tendon (@$12.90++)

Chicken Katsudon (@$9.90++)

If you're feeling like you could eat alot of rice, then the Tendon and Katsudon would be good. Plenty of rice! Only for the hungries. The chicken cutlet were pretty huge but the sauce was a tad too sweet for me. Unfortunately, the rice here wasn't sticky enough.

Ichiban Bento Wazen (@$15.90++)

The Ichiban Bento Wazen would be best value for money. It has slices of salmon sashimi, a small piece of saba fish, some tempura and a chawanmushi plus miso soup and fruits.

Didn't manage to take a picture of the Hotate Nabe Wazen ( @$15.90++ and served with chawanmushi, miso soup, mini teriyaki chicken don and fruits) but managed to try the soup. Nice and soothing for the tummy. The soup tasted like a combi of miso and sukiyaki. Mildly sweet and quite enjoyable.

Sashimi Wazen (@$14.90++)

The Sashimi Wazen was served with rice, miso soup and fruits. Why no chawanmushi? =(

closer look at the sashimi (salmon, akami, hamachi and mekajiki)

It has been quite a while since I last visited Ichiban. The rice, could be further improved. Overall, not bad and one could get quite a good meal for under $20.

No credit card promotion but for every $20 spent, one could get a chop on its rewards card. At certain milestones, one could get free items or exchange the card for vouchers.

rewards card

We spent about $89 for this meal for a family of 5 pax.

KungFu Paradise @ JCube Jurong East

Located at Level 1 of JCube. This restaurant is also under the Paradise Group, hence, membership can be used here to get points, redeemable on next visit.

menu

breakfast menu

opens till 4am

There was a time-limited offer for one dish; Japanese Black Pepper Curry Chicken Rice for $6.90++ (usual price is $10.90++). Sounds like a good deal, so we tried that. Also ordered the Prawn Paste Chicken, Chicken Cutlet Curry Rice and Lava Custard Bun.

honey lemon and water chestnut

KungFu Stylo Coffee

Japanese Black Pepper Curry Chicken Rice, served with some greens and half a lava egg

The time-limited offer dish does have an impact, visually, with its larger than life looking whole chicken thigh! However, the Japanese curry tasted somewhat like the curry for roti prata. There's quite some heat coming from the black pepper in the curry! It was also unfortunate that the thigh was overcooked.

The chicken cutlet curry rice fared better and the curry here was similar to the other dish.

Japanese Curry Chicken Cutlet Rice

served with sunny side up

The side dish of Prawn Paste Chicken (@$6.90++) was quite good albeit pricey for just 5 mid-wings. Well marinated, very tasty with still moist chicken and smells great. Just a tad too oily though.

Prawn Paste Chicken (5 mid-wings)

yums

how can we not try?

Lava Custard Bun (salted egg yolk bun) 流沙包 (@$3.90++)

salty goodness

The custard bun was pretty smallish, yet packed with all the right flavours, as expected from a good 流沙包.

Expect to pay around $15 per pax for a main course and a drink.