Foodie Times: Yong Tau Foo (Food to try in Singapore)

One of the food to recommend and commonly found in almost every food court/hawker centre would be Yong Tau Foo.

Have it for a heavy breakfast or lunch or dinner, it's a "any time can eat" choice. There is a wide variety of ingredients from fried to non fried, vegetables, beancurd stuffed with fish/seafood fillings, ngoh hiang, fishball, tofu, hotdog, etc etc

Basically the stall will have the food laid nicely at their front counter/rack. With a bowl and a tong, just grab the ingredients (usually I stopped at their minimum number of pieces needed to ordered). I always ordered it with yellow noodle without any soup or gravy and add on a lot of sweet sauce. But at times when I craved for hot and spicy, I will go for curry/laksa base. 

Previously, the stalls I visited would scald the ingredients in hot water. The fried items turned soggy after that. But nowadays, the fried items are separated from the non-fried ones. And some stalls actually re-fried those fried items. 

"Select your own" style, with sweet sauce and yellow noodle 

"Select your own" style, with sweet sauce and yellow noodle 

Koo Kee Yong Tow Foo Mee 高記釀豆腐面

A pre-selected set which comes with kangkong

How to order: 

1. Pick the ingredients you want from their display counter into the bowl. There is a minimum number of item for a certain price. After the minimum number of item is met, additional pricing will be added (based each additional item)

2. Choose base:
-> Spicy Gravy (curry/laksa dependent on the stall),
-> (Non-spicy) Hakka Gravy (only selected stall offer this),
-> Clear Soup based or
-> Plain (they either fried the ingredients or scald it with hot water)

3. Choose noodle/rice (dependent on the stall also):
-> Huang Mian (Yellow noodle)
-> You Mian (Thin Yellow noodle)
-> Guo Tiao (flat rice noodles)
-> Mi Fen/Bee Hoon (Rice vermicelli - thin)
-> Cu Mi Fen (Rice vermicell - thick)
-> Plain white rice
-> Plain (without any noodle)

Condiments to go along:

1. Sweet Sauce - I always go for this. Don't be mistaken, this is NOT ketchup. Although it is sweet, it is totally different taste (apart from being sweet) from ketchup.

2. Chili Sauce - This is for the majority of the people I know... But there are some who actually liked to mix both sauces together (a scoop of sweet sauce and a scoop of chili sauce)

3. Sesame oil/seeds - Make it smell nicer with a tablespoon amount of sesame oil or go for a less oily version with sesame seeds.

For Koo Kee Yong Tow Foo Mee 高記釀豆腐面, just select a set from their menu. The dish's ingredients is pre-fixed. For the condiments to go along, it would be the same as normal stalls.

Foodie Times @ TOBY'S The Dessert Asylum

spicy hot wings

 chicken cordon bleu

 German bratwurst and cheese sausage

 Seek asylum

D'Lover

Taste: 5 out of 5
-> Spicy hot wings (served with garden salad): 6 pcs in total, served with salad. Can choose to have the sauce on the side for your own dipping and we opted for it. Don't worry if you are not a spicy stuff lover because it ain't that spicy. The sauce felt like assam + tomato (Pardon me if it's not assam). But have it plain without any sauce, the freshly cooked/fried wings is good enough as the wings were served hot and crispy but not too oily. With the sauce, it is a new kind of taste which doesn't burnt the tongue or stomach and still give you plenty of space for your mains.

-> German bratwurst and cheese sausage (served with garden salad and choice of fries/rice or potato salad): It's hard to go wrong with this dish and their accompanying sauce brings the German bratwurst to a better level of taste. I can't really describe it. Got to eat it personally to find out.

-> Chicken cordon bleu (served with garden salad and choice of fries/rice or potato salad) - The outer crust is a bit thick but I am guessing because of the sauce, it would be better to be thick than thin or it will be too soggy as time goes by.

-> Seek asylum - Must try this! As much as I liked their sides and main, the dessert made me go WOW! Keep me going for more!! I had tried similar dessert of this but this is the first one that make you feel comfortable on the sweetness. Must be the Baileys Irish Cream (In the picture, I have not poured them so it's not visible)

-> D'Lover: Chanced upon a post in their Facebook about this durian with chocolate dessert and being a durian lover... I made sure I ordered it. This is not on their table menu but at their cake counter. This dessert would be great IF i didn't ordered the "Seek Asylum". Not advisable if you are already feeling very full from the main course because durian + chocolate combi can be very filling for some.

Service: Service is great. We were greeted even before we stepped in. The waiter explained to us on their their ongoing promotions and was very detailed in our orders. One thing to note would be their ipad has the pictures of the dishes. Would be great if we could see those pictures on the table menu. 

Anyway, despite the busy/dinner hours, they took notice of our empty cups and refilled them without us having to request them to. Will love to revisit. Keep up with the good service and good food! 

Location: It's situated in between the location of Jurong East MRT and Clementi MRT. A bus from either MRT station will get you there. 

Cost: $60+ for 2 pax. The dessert is almost the cost of a main but it's worth trying... Better bring a partner along to share cost! :D

Foodie Times: Sushi Tei @ JEM Jurong East

Sushi Tei

Tamagoyaki (Can't remember the exact name to it)

Taste: 5 out of 5.
Tamagoyaki - This is one of the basic Japanese dish that SHOULD NEVER go wrong AND it didn't go wrong so yeah. This is nice!
Potato Coquette - This is one of the basic Japanese snacks which can hardly go wrong (unless served cold).
Chicken Don: The sweet sauce quantity was proportional to the rice and ingredients. Meat is soft and quantity is enough to cover the bowl.. (but the bowl is not very big). Tasted even better with Shichimi (7 flavor chili pepper)
Tempura Don: This was during the period where I was SOOOoo into tempura don. The portion is decent but not recommended for the big eater unless with side dishes. The sweet sauce quantity was proportional to the rice and tempura. The tempura items was enough to go with the rice. The tempura was crispy on the outside, and the thickness/meat still retain it's fragrance and of the right texture.

Service: 5 out of 5. So far, Sushi Tei had always gave a good impression for service.

Location: At the 3rd level of the shopping mall @ JEM, beside Jurong East MRT
Price: $40 for the above (for 2 person)

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Just some blabbing..
Most of my food reviews:-

Taste grading are often given 4~5 out of 5 because of 1 main point. I can't cook better than the chef. Unless it was really awfully, below expectation, simply inedible, else the reviews will not be given anything lower than 3.5.

Service grading between 3~5 is for the average to excellent service. Anything lower than 3, it would be due to bad attitude, physical abuse (well I did got splash with a glass of watermelon juice because the waiter was a new staff who couldn't manage his tray of 5 glasses), etc etc

Foodie Times: Korean Dessert Bingsu Bingsu Bingsu

Location: Refer to the description below the pictures

 

Mango Bingu - Chicken Up @ Jurong East MRT

Taste: 5 out of 5. Served with whipped cream, it doesn't look like what is shown in their picture. BUT, the finely shaved ice is great. Melts in the mouth and no lumpy ice. A pity it was mango with whipped cream, mango chunks and mango syrup. But for the price, what's more can I ask for.

Service: 4.5 out of 5. For this Bingsu, it was fast unlike my subsequent visit at Chicken Up. 

Location: Located at the 1st floor of Jurong East MRT station.

Cost: $3.50 @ Qoo10 discount

 

Mango Bingu - JIJIM @ Westgate Basement

Taste: 4 out of 5. Wanted to impress someone with the fine shaved ice. Had my expectation up since I tried the bingsu @ Chicken Up. However, it wasn't as good. There were still small lumps of ice and it was a bit too sweet. Apart from the shaved ice, there were a scoop of mango ice cream and a lot of mango chunks.

Service:3.5 out of 5. Preparation was quick a long wait. Not sure what went wrong on that day of my purchase but could see the lady going around many times making this. 

Location: Located at the basement of Westgate, beside Jurong East MRT

Cost: $7.90 per serving. 

Coffee Bingsu (Size = Double) - Caffebene @ Vivocity

Finally get to try this. Been to the place once but it was full house and almost gave up waiting for seats again. There are seats outdoor but it was a hot weather so we didn't want to melt ourselves (and the bingsu) with the weather. To enjoy, push in the ice cream and mixed well. Then... just dig in!

Taste: 4.5 out of 5. This is the bigger size version since there were 3 of us sharing. I found it sweet when I was almost finishing it. It reminded me of the ice-blend mocha from McCafe. I guess I am really more of a tea person than coffee. But the nuts, cereal and chocolate/coffee beans ingredients keep me going as there gave a plenty of those.

Service: 4.5 out of 5. Since there were other orders ahead of ours, so we did wait for a short while.

Location:  Level 2 of Vivocity. (We got lost even though we had been there before).

Cost: $19.90 for the Double Size

Foodie Times Tim Ho Wan @ Westgate

Location: Tim Ho Wan @ Westgate

What I ordered

Signature Char Siew Pork Bun

Braised Beancurd

Every month special: Salt and Pepper Dory Fish Fillet 

Osmanthus with Wolfberries Jelly 

Taste: 5 out of 5  (Excellent). Everything served are hot (except the dessert which is supposed to be cold). Taste just right. Serving is good for me since my dining partner is a small eater.

Service: 4.5 out of 5. The staffs are fast and their dish serving is quick. 

Location: Alight at Jurong East Mrt and proceed to the 1st level of Westgate.

Cost: Around SGD $30+ for the above.

Must know: 

1. There are many outlets apart from Westgate. Find them here.
2. They have a special menu which featured seasonal dishes which changes every month. 
3. When it first open in Singapore, the queue is terribly long. So.. Order takeaways! But the price is different from the dine in menu and not all items at the dine in menu are available for takeaways.

Foodie Times Tonkatsu Ma Maison

Went to try Tonkatsu Ma Maison @ Westgate by chance and after that, I just can't stopped craving for more. After my visit to the outlet at Westgate, I went on to try the outlets @ Chijmes and Mandarin Gallery.

What I ordered

Tonakatsu - Ma Maison @ Westgate - Jurong East (Highly recommended)

Taste: 5 out of 5  (Excellent). Soup served is hot and taste great. Multigrain rice or white rice to choose from (I recommend to opt for multigrain rice). Tonkatsu served is crispy on the outside with not too thick or thin meat.

Service: 5 out of 5  (Excellent). The number of staffs seemed limited but they maintained their efficiency in providing service. When my rice/soup/cabbage/tea is almost finished, they quickly came to ask if refill is needed.

Location: Alight at Jurong East Mrt and proceed to the 5th level of Westgate, it is just next to the Kids playground.

Cost: Around SGD $27 for a tonkatsu (pork loin) 160grams.

Must know: 

1. The set comes with refillable soup, rice and cabbage. 
2. If patronize during lunch time, there is lunch time special price.
3. Flexibility in ordering the portions. Choose the weight of the meat from 120grams, 160grams or 250grams. 

Foodie Times Morgan's Field @ Star Vista (Bouna Vista) - Hickory BBQ Spare Ribs

It's my 4th trip to Morgan's Field and their service never fails to impress me.

I ordered a full slab Hickory BBQ Spare Ribs and requested to change the coleslaw to Mash Potato. When it came...

They forgot to change to my Mash Potato....

So...after informing them about it. The waiter brought me a bowl of Mash Potato and coleslaw is on the house.

Nice! Thanks!

Foodie Times Gelato Gelateria Italia from qoo10

Another hobby of mine~ Buying stuffs online..! Bought this e-ticket via qoo10 and it's a good offer if you are into gelato. The one shortcoming is the need to print out the hardcopy voucher.

What: Gelato from Gelateria Italia.

Choice: Except for the Durian flavor, free to choose any flavor (free flow toppings of chocolate chips, mini marshmallows and rainbow rice but it's difficult to take cos the gelato is quite a lot and not much room for the topping)

Size:
The smallest is Piccolo Cup - Choose only 1 flavor (Just nice for 1 person)
The biggest cup is 255g Cup - Choose 3 flavors (Good for sharing, too big portion for 1 to finish as I tried it and really it's a LOT!

Where to buy: Qoo10.sg
When to buy: Time sale! Lowest price I bought is $1.99 for Piccolo Cup and $3.95 for 255g cup

What to note:
1. The expiry date (Previously was 2 months whereas the last one I bought is till end of 31st Aug 2013)
2. Location. Although there are 7 stores in Singapore, this voucher can only be redeemed from 5 stores.

Foodie Times Ootoya @ Clementi Mall

Went there with my mom and sis and wanted to have Japanese food. After much consideration, we went to Ootoya @ Clementi. And indeed, "This is one Japanese restaurant with no ramen, sushi, sashimi, nabe or yakitori." Source

Despite that, we still go ahead with our plan.

Queuing is expected but if you are looking for someone to be waiting at the counter to guide you to where the queue is, don't! Ask the people where the queue is.

There were two things that surprised me though. 

Call me a "mountain tortoise" but I was amazed by the pen ordering menu BUT I didn't get to use it because I didn't even know about its existence nor did the staffs tell us about it. The pen was at the door entrance slotted nicely and even though the menu had instructions at the bottom of the menu but... Well, maybe it is still in testing phase and not available for use yet, I don't know. So, we had to call for them to take our orders and they memorized our orders! 

Another thing that surprised me is the free flow of rice. A pity I didn't get to refill my bowl since I felt quite full after 1 1/2 bowl of rice.

Okay, We started off with potato salad but it failed to impress my sis who is crazy over potato salad. Maybe it could be the portion, maybe it could be the slightly mild taste of potato...
The overall blend is towards a natural taste of fine ingredients.

 This is charcoal grilled pork fillet set. The pork meat is well done, slightly tough with slightly burnt charcoal taste(?) and without much spices or artificial flavorings (somehow I was reminded of char siew and bbq chicken fillet)  My mom sang praise of the meat sauce but never really tried the sauce. There were only 5 pieces of fillet accompanied with finely-sliced cabbage. (Not enough for meat eater like me!) But this set portion seemed just right for my mom.

My sis went for the grilled chicken with egg set. Reminds me of katsu don and oyako don. Didn't like how the rice was which was soaked with the egg and sauce but it could have been very soggy if not for the japanese rice grain used. Seems to use the same cooking method as the charcoal grilled pork because they taste almost the same except that this is using chicken and not fillet and with eggs. The portion is big so if you are a big eater, you might want to pay this restaurant a visit.

This was what I had. Fried pork fillet (coated with breadcrumb) with simmered eggs. I know it looks like baked rice but it's due to camera-man's lousy skill (which is ME) thus it looks weird. Now, this is really another BIG portion dish. The breadcrumb fillet was very compact (and so was the simmered eggs) and I was instantly reminded of Tonkichi (as in the fillet size). Everything tasted natural, comparable to homecooked food using quality ingredients.

Maybe it's due to culture differences or language barrier, service was not as expected. (as mentioned earlier, maybe the idea of using the pen to order was what we were expected to do)

Total expenses: $64.75 (for the above + 2 cups of hot tea)

Recommended for big eaters (as rice is refillable) or if you like fine ingredients and prefer natural food taste.