d'Good Cafe @ 237 Holland Ave

Was there just before the Lunar New Year holidays. This was our first pit-stop for that week's cafe hop. Together with fellow kakis; Ivan, Hence, Kris and Tiara, we journeyed to the west (finally!). Took the MRT to Buona Vista and from there, change to Holland Village via the Circle Line. Take the Exit B and walk about 5 minutes to reach.

look up for the sign

Walk up that flight of stairs and you'll end up at the ordering counter at Level 2. There are more seats at Level 3.

The alfresco area at Level 3 was nice. Pretty too. But we opted for the cool comfort of airconditioning indoors.

alfresco dining (in a tent)

mini waterfall

perusing the menu

Was there to try the Deutsch skillet pancakes. First time in trying dutch pancake. Usually, we see lots of waffles, normal pancakes with maple syrups or egg bens during our cafe hop.

interesting toys in the shop

ooh, our table was mod from a sewing machine

The style at d'Good Cafe is self-service, so order up at Level 2 and you'll be given a buzzer. Collect from the same place. Think we got somewhat irritated when we were buzzed multiple separate times as our pancakes and drinks were completed at different times although it was ordered at one go.

8 Upon 8 on Toast @$13.50

there's leafy greens and ham in there

Was commenting about how awesome it would be if the fried egg was wrapping a poached egg inside of it, so that the yolk oozes out once it is cut. No sooner than said, we knived it gently and voila, out flowed the golden yolk! Awesome and totally unexpected as I didn't do any research on this cafe prior to the visit. Haha!

golden

Next up, were the dutch pancakes. Here's the wiki link to dutch pancakes, for the curious. Had no idea of what it was prior to the visit. Very thin, and mildly sweet on its own.

I think it is actually quite similar to Chinese pancake that my mom used to make at home. We'd mix the flour with egg and a bit of water or milk, add a tiny bit of sugar and salt and mix till a good consistency. Put some oil on the wok or flat pan and fry a thin batter with hae bee (dried shrimps) or anchovies or sardines (mashed) and spring onions. Yums.

At d'Good Cafe, its dutch pancakes are actually more sweet than savoury as it is loaded with lots of citrus, leafy greens and fruits.

Pomegranate Citrus Smoked Duck @$13

CNY Special - Asian Skillet Pancake @$13.80

Loved the use of fresh fruits in both skillets. In the spirit of the lunar new year, we got the CNY Asian Skillet as well. The Pomegranate Citrus Smoked Duck skillet has savoury slices of smoked duck, chunks of walnuts, some greens, segments of mandarin oranges, slices of pear, sweet pomegranate and some baby radish. The CNY skillet has generous amount of meat floss, pear, orange segments, small minced cubes of bak kwa, little bit of greens and some wolfberries. Many didn't like this but I thought it tasted quite nice though the ingredients seemed repetitive and a tad too sweet.

this is how the underside of the dutch pancake looked like

This was quite a cosy cafe to visit with friends and its food are worth trying. Not too sure about its drinks though as I didn't order any.

Expect to spend about $15 per pax for a shared skillet and a drink.

Here's wishing everyone, may you enjoy Good Fortune, Good Health and Good Food all year-round. 恭喜发财，万事如意。祝您人日and 情人节快乐。

d'Good Cafe

Address: 237 Holland Ave, #02-01/02, Singapore 278992
Contact:  6219 9807
Website: http://dgoodcafe.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dgoodcafe/
Business Hours:
Sunday to Thursday: 10am to 10pm
Friday & Saturday: 10am to 11pm

The Square @ Novotel Clarke Quay

Usher in the Year of the Monkey at The Square Restaurant at Novotel Clarke Quay. Buffet dinner is competitively priced at $58++, and one gets to enjoy free-flow of soft-drinks for buffet dinners on 8th and 9th February. Not only that, there is also a do-it-yourself yusheng station for that toss of prosperity and good health.

The Square is located at Level 7 of Novotel Clarke Quay which is just beside Liang Court.

interior

ready for the year of the monkey

DIY Yusheng station

The Square has included a small little print-out describing the "11 Steps to Lo Hei". A very nifty little guide, if I may say, that's complete with auspicious phrases for each of the step. How useful!

ingredients prepped and ready

fast forward to #10 - 甜甜蜜蜜 (sweet and loving relationships)

and finally, for floor full of gold (满地黄金)

Huat ah! 发啊！Prosper!

For this yusheng, we had it with sashimi grade air-flown fish. Hmm, I wonder if yusheng can be mixed with say the prawns or oysters from the cold seafood section? It is a buffet after all.

lovely prawns and oysters

For those who loves their roasts, The Square will be rotating the meats on a daily basis. On our day of visit, there's roast chicken and lamb.

For crab lovers, they do have chili crab on the menu.

chili crab

The Square also offers live-cooking station, where one could order local delights such as laksa, clear noodles soup or tom yum, or a hot off the pan risotto and selected pasta from the western counter. These are ala-minute portions.

to be cooked upon order

Found ee-fu noodles and braised sea cucumber with mushrooms. Of course, must sample. Don't miss the chance to grab those collageny sea cucumber and braised-till-soft mushrooms. Yums!

braised ee-fu noodles

braised sea cucumber with mushrooms

Don't worry as there are still international dishes to cater to diners whom would like to have salads, cheeses and breads. Discovered lamb tajine and it was quite good, in terms of the tender meat. However, this could be a tad too gamey for some.

cheeses

bread

lamb tajine

Here was what I had, at the buffet.

white wine (non-buffet item)

鱼生 (yusheng) - salad for starters

oysters (slurps) and prawns - appetisers

chili crab, lemon fish, braised fish maw and mushroom, chicken wrap, roasted lamb with mint jelly, mustard, relish and onion jam - main course

Oh, there was fish maw soup as well. Do get the black vinegar to go along with the soup. So comforting.

For desserts, the must-try for me, was still the durian pengat. Not to be missed! On top of that, I had all sorts of favourite kueh and biscuits. Some festive ones too.

dessersts from top left (counter-clockwise) - bread and butter pudding, chicken bak kwa, tartlet, nonya kek lapis and pineapple tart

festive goodies - love letters, green pea biscuit and not sure what's the name for the white one

Check out Hungrygowhere for The Square Lunar New Year promotion and to reserve a table.

Thank you to Novotel Clarke Quay's team for having us and HGW for the invite. Gong Xi Fa Cai, 万事如意!

Rochor Thai @ Novena Regency

Friday evening meet-up with gal pal, and we went for Thai Food. Novena Regency is about 12 minutes walk from the office, so it was pretty convenient. Not a stranger to that area, having frequented Hong Kong Street and Nickeldime Drafthouse.

Made a reservation via Chope the day before, as we weren't sure of the crowd.

logo

The restaurant was fairly relaxed before 730pm on a Friday evening. The place isn't that big so, might be a good idea to secure a table prior to visiting. The alfresco dining area would be quite humid in our weather, so we opted for the cool indoor air-conditioning and was seated at the counter.

indoor dining

counter top

A good thing about being seated at the counter area? Vantage point where I could watch the chefs. Quite heartened to know that most of the staff there, are Thai natives. It added authenticity to the food that we were about to partake.

young chefs in action

Since there were just the two of us, we ordered three dishes to have with rice. The recommended dish was the cabbage with fish sauce, cashew nut chicken and grilled iberico pork collar. Went with two of the recommended and got ourself tom yum goong as well. Our Thai food experience wouldn't be complete without tom yum soup!

good plates, good food?

The food arrived quite quickly as there weren't many other diners at that time. The ceramic bowl for the tom yum soup was pretty looking. The soup portion was just nice for two pax.

tom yum goong and grilled iberico pork collar

The MSG-free tom yum soup was tasty. One sip and you could already taste the spices, the taste-buds awakening sourish taste plus seafood goodness. Good to the very last sip, but be careful as the bottom of the bowl seemed to have all the spices congregated. Having that glass of iced-water nearby would be helpful. Oh, and the manager revealed that this version of soup that we were having, was already the toned-down version. Oh my, can't imagine how fiery it would be, if we were to have the original!

Tom Yum Goong ทอมยำกุ้ง @$14++

 The best dish of the night was certainly, the tender yet enjoyably bouncy chewy Grilled Iberico Pork Collar. So tasty on its own but superb with the magic sauce. This plate of meat, goes very well with a pint of Kronenbourg Blanc draft.

Grilled Iberico Pork Collar (KorMoo Yang คอหมูย่ำง) @$19++

Cabbage with Fish Sauce (KalumPad Nampla กะหล่าผัดน้าปลา) @$12++

On the other hand, the cabbage with fish sauce, which its menu touted as the 'Best in Singapore', was just ok for us. I think my father does a very good rendition of stir fried cabbage though minus the fish sauce. Nevertheless, glad we had a healthy dose of vegetables.

We spent $30 per pax for the above meal. On the average, do expect to spend about $40++ per pax for dinner, plus a drink (half pint) or a shared dessert.

Din Tai Fung 鼎泰豐 @ Junction 8 Bishan

Do you have a favourite outlet of Din Tai Fung in Singapore? It is pretty easy to find a branch, regardless of whether you are at the North, South, East or West side of Singapore.

It was lunch hour, and there was just the two of us. It was a hot day, so we went for the cool comfort of modern world air-conditioning. Ordered a pork chop fried rice and the all-time-favourite and must-order, the original steamed pork dumplings (猪肉小笼包).

steamed pork dumplings (猪肉小笼包) @ $10.90++

The xiao long bao (steamed pork dumplings) felt a tad smaller and less juicy, and somehow the fold slightly not so refined. It still tasted good though and that was all that mattered. Tiny parcels with tiny burst of robust pork flavour.

pork chop fried rice (猪排蛋炒饭) @$12.90++

The pork chop fried rice surprised me a little. Usually, the flavours of the fried rice was really mild. This plate of pork chop rice was the tastiest of all Din Tai Fungs thus far that I've ever tried in Singapore. Not to say I've tried many but at least when compared against the ones at JEM, Serangoon NEX, Paragon and Resorts World Sentosa. The pork chop did not dissappoint. Wonderfully tender and tasty.

Expect to spend from $15 onwards for a meal here.

GRUB @ Bishan Park 1

First time visiting during lunch hour on a weekday. To get here, one could take a cab and drop off at the Bishan Park carpark. Informed the taxi uncle to take us via Sin Ming Avenue.

The days of the long queues might have passed, but this place is still pretty busy during lunch hour. Lunch sets are priced at $15 and $17 and you'll get additional cake, on top of your burger or main course. Quite a good deal, considering that the average cost for a burger is about $13, so that $2 extra would nett you a decent slice of cake for desserts. If you get a pasta dish, for example one that costs $17, then with the lunch set, the cake would practically pay for itself. Free, even better!

lunch set

Had tried the fish burger and the cheeseburger during previous visit, so this time round, went for the Har Cheong Gai Burger. I can almost imagine how it would taste like. Yums.

Food was served pretty fast. All burgers come with fries, but one could opt for a small salad as well. Needed my greens, so no prize for guessing what I had. Tangy vinaigrette and pleasingly sourish.

The patty for the har cheong gai was fried till a deep brown colour. Very very crispy batter. Am thinking that if the burger was served with those fragrant sambal belachan, then the oomph factor would probably have shot up by twofold!

Har Cheong Gai Burger @$13++ (ala-carte), or $15++ (lunch set)

are we ready?

Liked the portion of the meat. Easy to slice through and it was juicy thigh meat encased in crispy prawn paste batter. The prawn paste taste was rather mild but one could still detect it. The crispy batter somehow reminded me of luncheon meat chips.

juicy thigh meat

For the cakes, there were adequate options and variety to choose from. On our day of visit, there were about 6 cakes options and a key lime pie.

rainbow cake, key lime pie, lavender earl grey, ondeh-ondeh and milk tea cake

The top two cakes for me was the rainbow cake and the ondeh-ondeh cake. Don't you feel happy, just by looking at those colourful layers of soft sponge?