Gourmet Plus, Frankel Avenue

Last weekend we celebrated one of our close friend’s birthday and she chose Jigger & Pony at 101 Amoy St for drinks and catch up.

Prior to going, I wanted very much to get the birthday girl a cake, and decided to head to Flor Patisserie in Siglap for one.

Decided on a rich chocolate one for her.

Since we had to grab dinner before heading to the drinks, we went to Gourmet Plus along Frankel Avenue – a restaurant we’ve not been back since probably 2008. That’s a really long time! The restaurant front and interior had changed, and there were improvements and updates on the menu.

There were chalk boards on the walls showcasing the latest, the chef’s recommendations and the specials.

We settled for a squid ink calamari with aioli dip as an appetiser. Just warm water throughout the entire dinner since we were bound to have drinks later at J&P.

The batter on the calamari rings were a tad too soggy for my liking and it seemed to floury as well, making it not too pleasant on the palate.

We went directly to mains after that and it was the cod fish (specials) that caught my eyes. Very well prepared and I enjoyed it.

The better half chose a steak with garlic butter sauce, medium rare. After tasting it I wasn’t sure if I preferred my mains or his better.

Overall it was a great dinner, would come back again but not in a terrible hurry to do so. This place is worth checking out though if you’re out here in the East and hanging out around Katong/ Siglap area. Gourmet Plus is located at 117 Frankel Avenue.

The Humble Loaf – Weekend Specials!

This weekend’s specials. I am so going to try the Shashuka Eggs and Sausage Roll!! This is for 27-28 July!

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Ahhh will be missing this weekend’s specials at The Humble Loaf cos I will be away!!

6-7th July 2013

Sharing it with you all instead!

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Just an update!!
The Humble Loaf’s weekend specials (22-23 June) photo taken from their Facebook account:

Pork And Pumpkin with Beer Stew, Signature Quiche.. I am going for their Not-so-Humble Eggs, Ham Sandwich (Foccacia) or Roasted Mushroom Sandwich, Japanese Sweet Potatoes!! And treat myself to a Genmaicha Creme Brûlée yummmm!!

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Just a VERY SHORT POST!

Weekend specials at The Humble Loaf, Katong Shopping Centre basement, junction of Haig Rd/ East Coast Rd/ Amber Rd/ Mountbatten Rd, Singapore!

Ok Tata!!!

The Humble Loaf – 3

I am sitting here now at The Humble Loaf as I type this, so this might be a very short post.

Came here after lunch with the husband for “lunch part 2” on my own because I had some serious cravings for their Not-so-Humble Eggs.

As you can tell, I really have quite an appetite and love food! Just had a bowl of Tom Yum Vermicelli with Seafood just now at Maekhong Thai Cuisine.

Read my previous post about Maekhong Thai Cuisine here: https://makanmusings.wordpress.com/2012/02/28/maekhong-thai/

Came here for a quick perk me up as well and had a piccolo latte to go along with the eggs.

One of the new house specials introduced by Dillon is the Genmaicha Creme Brûlée which I had the chance to try out today. My stomach still had space even after the Tom Yum noodles and the eggs!

Somebody ordered a Beef Pastrami sandwich and I managed to request for a snapshot of it 🙂

Last but not least I tried a piece of the Citrus Financier, because it looked too lovely and it was a smallish piece so I was sure I could finish it in a couple of bites.

Here’s the Financiers.

Some of this weekend’s specials, you have about 3 and a half more hours to come get these!!

Mushroom Gruyere Quiche on display

Updated portion! 20 July 2013!

Started work this week and was quite depressed that I couldn’t get my The Humble Loaf fix the entire week, so we went for brunch today and tried some of their Weekend Specials.

The husband ordered a Jamon Serrano Sandwich as well as a Mushroom Bruschetta. These are on their daily menu.

I had the Grilled Hokkaido Scallops, Candied Bacon on Guacamole Toast – one of their weekend specials.

Their Kim-Cheese Bun with Toasted Scallions and Caramelised Onions was a spicy winner!

Next picture was taken from their Instagram

My previous posts on The Humble Loaf

The Humble Loaf – 2

The Humble Loaf

Enjoy!!

Remember that The Humble Loaf is closed on Mondays!

Short review of 112 Katong

A very gloomy, wet Sunday late afternoon, coupled with a freezing mall (112 Katong here in East Coast Road) – there’s no better way to just wait for the rain to subside with a hot drink in your hands…

The husband and I just got back from our short trip to Phuket (another couple of posts will be up with my take on the Thai food we tried there!) and cleaned the house for a bit before heading over to 112 Katong for a quick meal. By the time we got there it was close to 230pm so we headed over to Food Republic for some makan-makan.

Rojak @ Food Republic, 112 Katong

What I learnt today, is to NOT order soup based mee pok, and to never order the dry version of this noodles because they make it with ketchup. Yuck. The fishballs were excellent though, springy and delicious.

Li Xin Teochew Fishball Noodles @ Food Republic

We ventured down to the basement and we found Canton Paradise that had some savoury & sweet Chinese pastries for sale and the husband was keen to try their Bo-Lo Bau as we had had some in Hong Kong just earlier this week.

"Pineapple Bun" @ Canton Paradise

(Here’s an insert of the gorgeous Bo-Lo Bau we had at Kam Wah, Bute Street, Hong Kong!)

Bo-Lau Bau w Chicken Chop @ Kam Wah, Bute Street, HK

Back to Singapore and reality now.

As it had started to rain while we were having our lunch, we decided we had to stay on and wait for the rain to subside a little before heading home. An unplanned trip to Max Brenner became a plan for a small part of the afternoon.

Max Brenner brings back memories of Australia back in 2005 when I visited the husband who was still doing his Masters in Melbourne; and also a birthday celebration back in 2006 here in Singapore.

Hug Mug @ Max Brenner

The husband ordered a little Hug Mug of dark chocolate with milk, while I had the Suckao of dark chocolate. Staff here were friendly, very attentive although it was clear they are pretty new and their bosses were just as alert as well and making sure that everything was running smoothly.

Suckao @ Max Brenner - DIY drink

After Max Brenner we headed over to Katong Market Place on the same floor to check out the new supermarket and buy some groceries for the evening and rest of the week. To our dismay, even spending a considerable amount of time in the supermarket the rain had not stopped so we made one final stop at 112 Katong – Gloria Jeans Coffee on the 1st floor. Cappuccino skinny please!

Cappuccino

Now, the rest of this post is about RamenPlay, same owner of BreadTalk and ToastBox. The food here is actually really quite disappointing and their drinks are their saving grace. The egg that came with the ramen had lots of room for improvement but it’s still a notch better than Ajisen Ramen’s HARD boiled tasteless egg.

You won't miss a thing by not eating this

The soup broth was extremely fatty and salty and the serving of ramen was quite pathetically small.

Yaki Dango (I think, I need to check again for its proper name)

And finally, the saving grace of the Yuzu Yogurt drink which was quite delectable.

Yuzu yogurt & green tea

112 Katong/ I12 Katong is located at the cross junction of East Coast Road & Joo Chiat Road. Other makan places in it include Soup Spoon, TGI Fridays, Din Tai Fung, Seventh Heaven, Obolo, Xiao La Jiao, Da Paolo Gastronomia, BALIthai, Little Cravings etc.

Buses that come here:

East Coast Road: 10, 12, 14, 32, 40

Joo Chiat Road: 16

Marine Parade Road: 31, 36, 76, 48, 43, 196, 15, 197 (I’m sure there are more)

Looks like 112 Katong can give Parkway Parade a run for its money especially with Golden Village’s official opening on 22 December 2011!

Update: GV is open for business! Woohoo!!!

Double-Up Chicken! Aston’s Specialities

There’s actually no such word as ‘specialities’ but I guess the people at Aston’s wanted to be “special”. The one here at East Coast Road has a huge life-size cardboard standee of Moses Lee at the front of the restaurant, which honestly, is NOT very inviting but we’re here for the food anyway, so here goes.

The husband reminded me about this place because he and his colleagues went over to the Aston’s at Cathay and had a “double up chicken”. I was curious about that and was eager to try. Essentially, as the name implies, it’s 2x the boneless chicken leg but at a very special price of about $11.90. Extremely worth it!

For starters I ordered a Mushroom soup as I was too hungry to wait!

Mushroom Soup with Garlic Bread

Double Up Chicken!

The husband ordered one with Teriyaki Sauce and the other with Hickory. Both were equally good but I felt that the Teriyaki one was a little too salty for me. His side dishes were the Jacket Potato and a Pasta Salad.

Chicken with Jacket Potato & Pasta Salad

For my side dishes, I chose (predictably) the Mashed Potato and a Coleslaw. I had one of my chicken Chargrilled and the other with Black Pepper Sauce.

Chicken with Mashed Potato & Coleslaw

To finish it all up, I had a freshly brewed coffee with a bit of milk and went home happy & satisfied.

Coffee

Service is not the greatest here but I guess the very affordable steaks, meat, dishes do make up for it.

Here’s where you can find all the Aston’s outlets: http://www.astons.com.sg/index.html

 

The Loft, East Coast Rd – part 2

Now this place left a very good impression with us and we were willing to go try it out once more despite the less-than-desirable service in my previous post. However, the staff’s attitude were so much better compared to our last visit so I think maybe they read that post? *wishful thinking*

Previous tweet: https://makanmusings.wordpress.com/2011/10/30/the-loft-east-coast-road/

Anyway, we went there again a couple of weekends ago and picked out even better dishes than our last round, including a dessert – we really seldom take desserts especially at night!

The Loft

Not like I really needed to add this photo, but we were waiting for our food so I snapped away.

Pretty blue cups with our water

Our appetiser did not disappoint at all in fact I was so keen to order another one right after this but we had mains coming very soon. This is called Teppan Calamari served with a spicy, tangy & sweet sauce. The squid was grilled to a tender perfection and it was the perfect start to our main course.

Teppan Calamari

The previous time we went, we saw this chicken dish that was served to a young couple next to us. The husband remembered that, and he ordered the same for his dinner today. Behold, Spring Chicken served with Olive & Raisin Rice and Potato Salad. The chicken wasn’t dry as we thought it could be, easy to cut and the potato salad’s gravy wasn’t too thick. The rice was not as desirable as it sounded.

Spring Chicken

The dish I chose was one from the seafood category. A chef’s recommendation, I did have my hopes pretty high and it did meet them. Loved how the fish meat tore away from the bones easily and that the sweetness of it still maintained. I picked Mashed Potatoes & Sauteed Roots Vegetables as my side dishes and they didn’t disappoint either.

Denmark Dab with Caribbean Salsa

As a nightcap we decided to try a dessert from their pretty limited selection but I guess if you’re specialising in something, concentrate on a few and do it right. We chose the Valrhona Flourless Chocolate Cake that was served warm & moist that literally melted in ones mouth. Vanilla ice-cream came together as an accompaniment and I absolutely loved how simple and pretty the presentation was.

Valrhona Flourless Chocolate Cake

It didn’t look at all like the picture on the menu but it was OK!

The Loft

http://www.theloftcuisine.com/

 

 

The Loft, East Coast Road

Unassuming shop front which many people seem to walk by it without noticing. However we weren’t disappointed and will surely be back to try at least a couple more dishes.

The Loft, situated here at East Coast Road, serves delightful food, although the service by the Pinoy staff could be better.

Here’s a glimpse of their menu:

Menu at The Loft

The Loft menu

The Loft menu

 

For starters, we ordered the Norway Live Blue Mussels which are seasonal – so I guess we, I mean, they, are in season this time of the year. Wasn’t a shockingly good dish, maybe I am so used to much bigger mussels, but the wine, garlic clear broth it was sauteed in was really good.

Norway Live Blue Mussels

The husband loves his seafood and I secretly think that it is lifetime goal to try seafood pasta at various places we go to. Seriously. Here is The Loft’s Seafood Marinara – fresh shrimps, Norway Blue Mussels, rock lobster with linguine al dente in pomodoro sauce.

Seafood Marinara

The dish I chose was the recommended Fiordland NZ lobster pasta and I chose linguine as well, done aglio olio style. The lobster was served with this green mint sauce which was tangy sweet and went so, so well with the lobster.

Fiordland NZ Lobster Pasta

Loved the food there and would be keen to go back there to try more. Ordered a chocolate milkshake to cap the night and I suspect that they blended it with chocolate ice-cream and drizzled with some chocolate sauce. Yummy nonetheless!

Chocolate Smoothie

Find this lovely place here!!

http://www.theloftcuisine.com/

 

Jai Thai – little gem in the East

We used to stay even nearer to this place and came here so often that the ladies always recognised us and greeted us with a friendly wave and hello. Previously within walking distance & now a short bus ride away, this place has never disappointed us once, and I’m pretty sure the husband and I have been here at least 30 times in the past year.

Jai Thai offers a very inexpensive but very impressive set lunch meal that costs about $7-8 on the average (depending on choice) and it comes with a drink and a dessert (usually jelly or tako). Our usual drinks selection is either the lime juice or the ice lemon tea, sometimes I will get a coffee instead, like today. Set menu found here (not updated): http://www.jai-thai.com/menu-individual-set.php

Coffee, Cendol & Ice Lemon Tea

As we went after the lunch crowd today, it was easy to get a table and our food came pretty quickly too. One of my favourite mains at Jai Thai is their Tom Yum Seafood Noodles in clear broth. It is important to let them know that you wish for clear broth lest they forget to let you know that you wish for this. I prefer this over the chilli one which usually (as with any Thai restaurant) tends to be a little too oily for comfort.

The prawns, squid, fish & oyster mushrooms cooked in this dish are always very fresh and quality is very consistent. Fresh chilli padi, lemongrass, some parsley and others are used as well to make it flavourful.

Tom Yum Seafood Noodles in Clear Broth

Here’s another pic:

Looks mild but it's spicy, sour!

The husband’s usual order is the Pineapple Rice Set. Now this dish is also my favourite as well because of the selection of mini-dishes that comes with it but I don’t usually go for this as it pairs up with a rice.

The mini-dishes encompass: chicken chunks in green curry, fried spring roll (popiah), pandan-leaf wrapped fried chicken, fish fillet, served with a gorgeous mound of pineapple fried rice topped with chicken floss.

Mini-dishes with Pineapple Rice

The pineapple rice is fragrant!

Pineapple rice with chicken floss

Served together, the combination is very colourful and inviting:

Pineapple Rice Set

This is usually not enough for the two of us and we do order a side dish to go with our mains. Told you we were big eaters.

One of the favourites that constantly appears on our table is the Fish Fillet cooked with Basil. The aroma from this dish really teases the nostrils and the palate as the fresh basil, garlic, chilli that is tossed in seeps into the fish batter and the sauce that comes with it blends in really well.

Even if you want to just eat some white rice, a small serving of this fish fillet dish will be enough to make one really happy. This can be found here http://www.jai-thai.com/menu-jaithai.php

Fish Fillet with Basil

How to get to our favourite neighbourhood Thai place:

205 East Coast Road
Singapore 428904

Reservations 6258 0228 (Clover) 6346 4940 (East Coast) 6336 6908 (Purvis)

Buses: 10, 12, 14, 32, 40 along East Coast Road; 13, 55 along Still Road

The Devil Wears Prata

Loving all their funky aprons!

Indian cuisine – don’t even get me started! The husband and I were simply blown away when we found this gem of a place here in Katong, along East Coast Road. Just a stone’s throw away from where we live, within walking distance or about 2 and 1/2 bus stops away. One of my favourite colours is orange and I particularly love how they have played with that rosy pumpkin tone paired with a shade lighter than charcoal gray.

At the front, you’ll be greeted by an alfresco dining area – though I really wouldn’t recommend sitting here especially in the early evenings when there’s quite a bit of traffic. It gets a little dusty at this point.

Well-lit, inviting, with decor of an eclectic taste – blend of rattan cushion seats on wooden chairs, high wooden tables with metal stools, a very unique multi-bulb “chandelier” above a long table at the side for party of 10 and a little play-corner for the little ones if they’re not really into the whole prata-curry-dosai thing.

Chef's recommendations & eclectic decor!

Now the husband and I were here 3 times this month to a point where the supervisor actually greeted us with “Welcome back! You’re here again!” (something along those lines). Well, having worked in a restaurant before, it actually does pay to notice & to remember patrons because there is always this feel good feeling. I’ve always made sure I remembered faces of the regular customers during my time.

Indian food is not complete without a naan or a dosai or a briyani or a prata. No seriously. It’s not. Here’s a couple of snapshots of these items.

Garlic naan

Egg prata

Now the meat dishes here are absolutely gorgeous and we were not disappointed with the items we have tried so far. The skewered chicken tandoori and the tikka dishes were fragrant and bursting with taste & spices.

Tandoori Chicken Malai with mint dip

Mutton Mysore - a little fatty and some may not like too much of spice in their dish

One of my favourite vegetarian dish from the Indian cuisine is the very healthy palak paneer. Taken from sailusfood.com here is an accurate description: Palak Paneer is a delicious, hearty North Indian dish prepared with spinach and Indian cheese. This traditional greens based vegetarian dish is a rich, smooth, creamy curry where paneer cubes are cooked in a onion-tomato-spinach based gravy which is moderately spiced with Indian spices.

I cannot agree more. The spinach blend was creamy but not choking, with the right amount of spice to really bring out the richness of the greens. Cottage cheese was cut in chunks that was easy to scoop and soft to cut & chew.

Palak Paneer

Here’s some other pictures of the place… Another post is due with pictures of the other food! Soon…

From the inside - packed on a weekday night

Zaffron Kitchen - East Coast Road

Geylang/ East Coast Rd food trip

In the past and even now, I’ve always liked to plan mini food trips like the one that I had with Faith, found here: http://faithraagas.blogspot.com/2009/05/warning-this-is-very-long-entry-su.html when one day we just met up, ate, ate, ate, ate and ate some more… till we absolutely could not move anymore.

Similarly, when a couple of friends came to visit, I planned another short one (given the previous experience which rendered us immobile for some time) and we headed to a few places in Geylang/ East Coast Road.

1 stop that we went to was the ‘famous’ Geylang Lorong 9 beef hor fun. Nearest MRT is Aljunied, along the green East-West Line. The beef slices are not fatty, tender & easy to chew, whilst the noodles are not too starchy. Added chilli is recommended. Do ask for less salt though.

Beef hor fun

Seafood with crispy noodles

And as always, the oyster omelette on hot plate is also a “must-order” dish when you’re there. The oysters are juicy and not overcooked, while the beaten egg is bubbling away on the hot-plate, just waiting to be devoured.

Oyster omelette on hot plate

The food just didn’t stop there. Over the next few hours we also treated ourselves and our overworked stomachs to more food. Bring it on! Our next stop: Five Star Kampong Chicken Rice, buses that ply this area: 10, 12, 14, 32, 40 along East Coast Road.

Five Star Kampong Chicken Rice

Nothing much to shout about, but food is still food and if it’s something good or very bad, it’s always worth mentioning. My friend did this to his rice. The rice is fragrant, having being cooked with, I suspect, chicken stock, sesame oil and maybe some ginger.

Didn't your mum teach you not to play with your food

Jia xiang do fu - worth mentioning!

The toufu was soft to cut and still had the springiness within. The minced pork drizzled on top gave it the extra oomph. Steamed chicken was tender and the meat came away from the bones easily. Love.

Half steamed chicken shared by 3 of us

Next up, we went to Glory Catering, a few shops down the road. It is owned by the Tan family and has been there for a good number of years. They are famous for their festive cookies and has been awarded best Pineapple Tarts numerous times. I’ve tried their tarts before and they are generous in the filling but not overpowering while maintaining the right balance of dough VS filling.

This time, we went there for their Popiah, which is by far the best popiah I’ve had in Singapore. They also have special mention in LadyIronChef’s blog: http://www.ladyironchef.com/2011/01/singapore-hawker-food-best-popiah-singapore/

Making the popiah

Oozing with goodness

Pineapple tarts ready to be baked

We ended our trip with a bowl of laksa at 328 Katong Laksa. As mentioned in my previous post on Katong Laksa (https://makanmusings.wordpress.com/2011/09/16/katong-laksa-roxy-square/) this is NOT GOOD at all and you should all head to the original Katong Laksa at Roxy Square 1, ground floor.

Here is a picture for you in any case but don’t bother, really.

Not yummy 328 Katong Laksa