iSteaks Diner @ MyVillage Serangoon Gardens

iSteaks had existed for so long at Holland Village but I've yet to try it. Hardly believable, yes? So when the gang decided to do a food trail at MyVillage and iSteaks happened to be at the same location, well what else could I do? To try it of course!

order and pay first

But of course, there was one tiny weeny problem. It was so difficult to get a seat on a weekend! Works similarly to a food court format, one basically need to stand close to the table that you think would be finishing their meal. For some reason, I felt like a vulture that day.

cowboy decor

It was our third meal for the day. Prior to that we had dined at Petaling Street and Hajime, so we decided to go modest in iSteaks. Ordered a 250gms NZ and AU ribeye, and an AU lam shoulder all with two sides. Hmm, I guess that's about 650 to 700 gms of meat for the 5 of us, excluding the sides. WoooOoo...we big eaters!

AU Lamb Shoulder @$16.50

The lamb shoulder was tough! Had to send it back to the kitchen to help us cut it. Think they saw that certain parts were rather rare and helped us to cook it some more. The lamb tasted much better when it came out of the kitchen the second time round. The spinach & sesame salad was good. Tastiest of the lot. The buttered corn kernel were rather normal.

AU Ribeye 100 days grain-fed 250gms @$27.50

Look at that thick-cut meat with nicely pink center for the AU ribeye. The Australian meat had a more beefy flavour, and of a texture that can be described as 'macho'. The sides of cauliflower cheese and sauteed brussels sprouts were enjoyable.

NZ ribeye 250gms @$23.50

However, I do prefer the NZ ribeye for its more genteel texture. The mac & cheese were off that day, so we didn't enjoy any of it.

give me more meat!

Not sure since this place is perpetually packed on the weekend. It probably wouldn't have a queue before 12pm. The queue continued all the way till 230pm on a weekend. The place seemed popular with families and young adults.

Hajime 初め Tonkatsu and Ramen @ MyVillage Serangoon Gardens

Hajime "初め"  means 'beginning'. Did you know that Chef Tan-san is the first tonkatsu chef in Singapore? Now we can enjoy this taste that has been mastered over the years at Hajime located at Level 2 of MyVillage Serangoon Gardens.

Bright and spacious but do go there early as there will be a crowd during weekends.

shopfront

what shall we have today?

Of course, one should be getting a tonkatsu. It was only a matter of which one. For meat, we chose the premium pork loin and the other a fillet. One with miso and the other without. Also took a bowl of shabu shabu to try.

grinding sesame

For appetiser, we tried the chicken skin. All agreed that these salty, crisp sinful bites are to be had with drinks. The edamame too was tasty with the generous sprinkling of salt over the charred skin. Someone please get me an Asahi!

deep fried chicken skin @$4.50

edamame @$4

Of course, the heavyweights are the much awaited tonkatsu. My goodness, please go for the premium pork loin. Wonderfully smooth and firm meat that's gentle to the jaw. Clean tasting and loved the crisp crumbed batter.

Nagoya Miso Fillet Set @$19.50

Premium Loin (ala-carte) $13.90

I love Japanese rice, and the Niigata rice served at Hajime satisfied the need for carbs. Could finish the rice even if it's with the occasional salty deep fried skin and lots of shredded cabbage with tonkatsu sauce dressing. So yums.

rice

Tried the kurobuta shabu-shabu and it had a mild pleasant flavour. Lovely broth and comforting to eat when the weather is colder.

Kurobuta Shabu Shabu Ramen @$15

lifted and ready for take-off!

Would definitely return for the premium pork loin tonkatsu.

Jalan Petaling 茨厂街美食 Famous Malaysian Food Street @ MyVillage Serangoon Gardens

The shop's name is quite a mouthful but hey, since it has Malaysian chefs cooking up street food, let's give it a try! Located at MyVillage Serangoon Gardens, level 2.

茨厂街 must-eats are chee cheong fun (steamed rice roll) that's paired with yong tau foo (tofu stuffed with minced meat), claypot lou shee fun (claypot bee tai mak with a raw egg in it), claypot chicken rice paired with ikan bakar (grilled fish) and so much more! Read about some of it here.

entrance

There's a couple of menus available; individual eats, or communal dining (zhichar) styled, or special menu of seafood hotpot. Seafood hotpot like this? A smaller version from its sister restaurant.

individual meal menu

So what did we try? Let's see the varieties sampled with Jennifer, Ivan, Alvin, Hence and Tracy.

curry chee cheong fun with yong tau foo @$6.80

pork trotters bee hoon @$8.80

The chee cheong fun was smooth and the curry complemented it well. And, how Malaysians like their local chee cheong fun? With yong tau foo, of course! The yong tau foo gave it some variety to avoid being too monotonous. The pork trotters were forgettable though.

Now, for the taste test. The KL hokkien mee. Ooh, don't forget the sambal which one have to take albeit self-service styled.

KL Seafood Hokkien Mee @$8.80

Happy to report that the hokkien mee came laden with lard bits at the bottom. So toss it up a bit before eating! The wok-hei was subtle but it kept us happy. Slurpiliciously good. The colour of the soy sauce was right. KL hokkien mee must be dark dark then nice.

round noodles? oh yes!

But of course, my preference of good tasty KL dark hokkien mee will always be the pork slices version with cabbage, chicken gizzard, crispy lard bits and fried with enough wok-hei.

Yong Tau Foo platter (own mix) @$1 per piece

Soy Sauce Chicken @$16 (small)

Another favourite of ours, was the delectable soy sauce chicken with its smooth gelatinous skin. The 滑滑 (wat wat in Cantonese) feels~. The marinade was good and strongly flavoured. Order this to satisfy meaty cravings.

All in all, we had a good meal and the service staff was friendly and has good knowledge of shop's namesake 茨厂街 (KL Chinatown).

Wishing you a happy meal at Petaling Street!

Jalan Petaling 茨厂街美食 Famouse Malaysian Food Street

Address: 1 Maju Ave, 556679 Singapore
Contact: 6509 9872

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JalanPetalingFamousMalaysianStreetFood/

[Media Invite] Long Jiang Chinois @ Orto Park

Address is 81 Lorong Chencharu, located right inside of Orto Park. I always see this place from the MRT tracks when the train passes by. Inside the park, there are more than one eatery and Long Jiang Chinois entrance is right at the drop off point near the carpark.

The restaurant offers healthy housebrewed drinks such as the pumpkin barley drink. It has a nice orangey hue and tasted pretty much like barley. There were some small pieces of pumpkin that has natural sweetness to it when chewed. Thirst quenching and of light sweetness.

pumpkin barley drink @$3.80

As I was late, my table-mates saved me a plate of assorted appetisers. The ngoh hiang has an easygoing taste with some refreshing crunchy waterchestnut bits in it. I enjoyed the fish skin tremendously. Good tasting and the salted egg in 'powdery' form still packed a punch.

ngoh hiang and salted egg fish skin

deep fried baby squids @$14

It's always nostalgic when eating deep fried baby squid. This was one of the first few zichar dishes that I had when I was a kid. Crunchy and savoury sweet with the sticky glaze.

Seafood Hotpot @$128 (4 pax portion)

The highlight of the meal is the Seafood Hotpot which feeds about 4 to 5 pax. Diners could add more items into the hotpot, depending on their preferences by topping up the item price ala-carte. For example, one could add more prawns, change the fish to some other type, other types of seafood or simply more vegetables into the hotpot.

The chicken soup base was already flavourful and sweet. With the seafood, its flavour was further enhanced. Very soothing and comforting on a cooler nights.

yummy tender squid

The soon hock fish was sweet and smooth. It was like eating steamed fish which sat in a hotpot. Very nice and goes well with a bowl of white rice!

Rojak Chicken @$16

Stir Fried Fine Beans & Crispy Shredded Yam @$14

The Rojak Chicken dish was basically chicken cutlet in rojak sauce. For the purist, we'd likely be looking the you tiao (fried doughstick). The stir fried long beans was so good. There were some bits of bak kwa in there that gave the flavour profile a light twist.

Also sampled the Cheesy Crab Bee Hoon which was presented in a large bowl, with crab and bee hoon submerged in a yellow-hued broth. I was apprehensive about the taste of cheese in the soup but it came out pretty well. There wasn't any overpowering taste of the cheese as everything had melded into the rich broth. Slurpilicious!

Cheesy Crab Bee Hoon with Crab Roe @$44.80

Wait, don't leave till you've tried the Orh Nee dessert or also known as the yam paste dessert. Shareable between 6 pax. This is a must-try!

Orh Nee @$12

[Media Invite] Montana Singapore @ POMO Selegie

 

Montana Singapore

Happy to know that Montana has launched its V60 Cacao Pourover. Yay! It's a tasty concoction of cacao nibs brewed in coconut water. Had the opportunity to have tried all the 3 flavours; original, mint and smoky infusion. If you have drunk mint on first sip, the taste of the mint was rather subtle. But when I've drank the smoky infusion first, then mint, the taste of the mint seemed to be more prominent thereafter. Very interesting.

V60 menu

V60 original @$6.80

There are also new additions or enhanced variation in its menu. For starters, we sampled the whitebait with fivespice seasoning, sweet potato fries with masala seasoning and the fried chicken wings with garlic mirin sauce.

(top, clockwise) - fried chicken wings @$12, truffle eggs rosti @$19, whitebait @$11, spicy bacon pasta @$17, cold crab truffle pasta @$21

whitebait with fivespice seasoning

fried chicken wings with garlic mirin sauce

If I'm having a beer, I'd go for the fried chicken wings as the starter. Very strong seasoning. The sweet potato fries was rather addictive. Once you've started, you can't stop!

sweet potato fries with masala seasoning @$11

From the All Day Breakfast section, we tried the Baked Salmon with poached egg, Truffle Egg Rosti and the Signature Mac & Cheese Waffle.

Truffle Egg Rosti @$19

Baked Salmon with poached egg @$18

Signature Mac & Cheese Waffle @$15

The plate that has the nicest presentation would be the baked salmon while the most nondescript looking one was the Signature Mac & Cheese Waffle. Taste wise, I absolutely adored the mac & cheese waffle. That mozarella cheese in there, mmm, so good. It has a rather straightforward simple taste, lovely mozarella cheese that's pulley, and subtly sweet waffles.

yummy

For mains, we had the Spicy Bacon Pasta and the Cold Crab Truffle Pasta. Happy to see that there was a generous amount of crab meat seen ontop of the truffle pasta.

Cold Crab Truffle Pasta @$21

Spicy Bacon Pasta @$17

These days, I was yearning for something spicy to perk up the tastebuds, hence the Spicy Bacon Pasta was love at first bite. The flavours of everything in there was just nice. It was like a welcome home kind of feeling. Familiar and comforting.

Lastly, a sweet ending to our meal, we had the beautifully plated dessert of Bianco and Rosso. The Rosso was impressive looking with the brownie encased in the dramatic spun sugar. The sauce is Irish whisky sauce.

Rosso @$13

Bianco @$13

My favourite dessert was the Bianco. Everything on that plate worked well together and the taste was just so agreable. The horlicks cheesecake has a lovely texture and tasted quite unlike horlicks yet has a ring of familiarity to it.

Thank you Kris for the invite and Montana for hosting the tasting session.

For previous visits, please click here: Dec 2015, Oct 2016

Montana Singapore

Location: #01-04, POMO, 1 Selegie Rd, 188306

Contact: +65 98331790