BBQ BBQ Box

A friend told me about this place on East Coast Road that served really great BBQ skewers, and since I'm always interested in foods that have a bit of burnt burnt taste, I was more than happy to go. 

BBQ Box is a franchise with outlets dotted here and there all over our island, including one at Clarke Quay, and one at Geylang. 

First thing about this place that struck me when we walked in was the decor. 

I don't know about their other outlets, but the one here at East Cost Road had on their walls some of the most fun decor compared to other Chuan Chuan Xiang places that I've seen. 

I had half been expecting to see the usual beer posters on the wall. 

But there weren't any.

Instead, on little shelves mounted high on the walls, there were model trucks and transport-themed decorations that made me think of little toys.

What's more, if I hadn't been already surprised by the sight of the model of MAERSK container truck in front of me above my head, I was even more surprised by their earnest Christmastime decor. 

Perhaps I would have appreciated the warm feels and the cozy Christmas decor more had I had been planning to have a couple bottles of beer. 

But, alas, I was there for lunch. 

On a weekday.

And as with a typical weekday lunch style, for drinks I had to forgo literally everything there was on the menu, and stick to a single bottle of self-brought cold green tea. 

The absence of alcohol stopped me not from enjoying the skewers that we'd ordered, however.

It's a great thing to come here for the meats, and on this occasion, there were several kinds of meat that we ordered, amongst which, if I'm not wrong, there were lamb, beef, chicken, and maybe pork.

Don't ask me which meat belongs to which skewer, however. 

I can't remember, really, and most of the time, I'm so hungry that I just begin eating whatever it is the server has placed in front of me.

I'm not that bad with the perspective, however, and I've got the feeling that on the metal skewers were beef and chicken (with varied marination), and on the wooden skewers were lamb.

We were advised to eat the lamb skewers first, and rightfully so, one should, because lamb tastes best when it's warm where the juices all burst out and you can taste a wee bit of the lamb's delicious fat.

What I remember most about these skewers were just how tender all of the meats were. 

You know how some places do their Chuan Chuan Xiang really tasty but then the meats are hard, dry and difficult to chew? 

Nope, none of that here. 

Yes, there were a couple pieces which seemed a little hard (at first) but then after a while they became really easy to chew. 

Out of all the meats we had that afternoon, let me say that I liked the lamb and the beef best. 

The texture was done right, the taste (especially the lamb) wasn't gamey, and the spices were just enough that I could feel them blend with the juice of the meat without being overwhelmed. 

Best part about these skewers were that they were really fun to eat. 

Unlike my friend who likes tugging his meats off the skewers onto the plate to pick up with chopsticks, I go the more barbaric route and munch them straight off the skewer instead.

It's more fun! 

Except that from time to time, I end up not knowing just how many skewers I've eaten, and I rely on my dining companion to tell me whether I've taken one too many. 

That hardly happens, however- it's usually an equal count- and more often than not, I find myself able to enjoy not just the grilled beef, grilled lamb and grilled chicken, I'm also able to savor the distinctive flavors of their other dishes too. 

Some of them are really good, like this popcorn chicken, or was it chicken skin, that we ordered and which came with a most delish yellow-colored sauce that we think is some sort of mayonnaise but aren't really sure.

But perhaps we might reconsider ordering this stew/soup the next time we go there.

It isn't that we didn't like pumpkin or that the flavor wasn't good. 

On the contrary, we really enjoyed the meats that had been cooked shabu shabu style in the soup, and the heap of slippery, smooth tang hoon that I happily discovered at the bottom of it.

But that, together with the skewers (which is what we actually prefer), might be a tad too much for us to make in one afternoon, and we have to decide between one, or the other. 

Maybe one day I'll just have less of the skewers and an entire dish of soup. 

Or I might just order the pumpkin soup to go. 

Don Don Donki

DDD, Don Don Donki, is one of the places I come to whenever I want a bout of immersive grocery shopping. 

Doesn't matter which outlet I go to. 

It can be the one at City Square, the one at Orchard Central, or the one at Harbourfront, JEWEL or Suntec City. 

Whichever it is, I know I'll leave with the sound of its in-store jingle ringing incessantly in my ear, and a happier, cheerier mood overall. 

We happened to be at Vivocity this particular afternoon, and because we hadn't been to DDD for quite a while, decided to hop over to their outlet at Harbourfront above the Cruise Centre up on the third floor. 

The place wasn't crowded, and even though I was a little surprised, it didn't take long before I found myself wandering happily between the shelves stocked full with foods, snacks, toiletries and household. 

There is a lot to see at DDD, and anyone who has ever been there will understand what it means to have nearly all your senses (happily assailed) by the colors of reds, yellows, blues, pinks, greens, purples, oranges, browns, and the music of their piped-in jingle. 

Anyone who has ever been to DDD too will not forget the picture of their cute penguin mascot on the shelf labels here, there, everywhere. 

I tend not to pay a lot of attention to the mascot. 

Not because I'm disinterested, but because I'm usually more caught up by the sight of all the instant noodles, the bags of snacks, the pretty looking shampoos and the packets of sweets arranged on the shelves. 

There's never been a time that I don't find myself looking at the Nissin instant noodles on the shelf, wondering what new flavors there are, and whether I should stick to the cup noodles, or go for the UFO range of truffle carbonara that reminds me of pasta. 

There's also never been a time that I don't find myself looking at the sweets and chocolates and drinks and snacks, wondering if I should get myself a bag of potato chips, or those gummy sweets, or the KitKat chocolates that look so pretty in their uniquely designed bag.

Some of the drinks I've got from DDD have been the UCC bottled sugarless cold brew coffee, a beautifully bottled lavender tea, and a bottled salted lychee drink that's delicious and surprisingly cools your body heat down on a very hot day. 

Another thing that I've got a couple of times is their rice topping which, having already tried, I can tell you greatly enhance the taste of even just a bowl of plain white rice. 

But it's not just the instant, packeted, processed and bottled foods that I buy.

I've bought milk.

I've bought juice.

And when it comes to their raw foods, I've had lots of their beef slices for shabu shabu and yakiniku. 

One, of course, cannot leave DDD without taking a look at the cooked foods that they offer.

There is their salmon sushi, salmon sashimi, salmon belly sashimi, and aburi salmon sushi that you must seriously consider, especially when they stick the Special Price sticker on it. 

There is also their desserts, daifukus, mochis, ice creams and crepe cakes, all of which are affordable and great to snack on.

And then their yakitoris and their bentos. 

I think I've had a daifuku several times. 

And more than once I've gone for their cream puffs (perfect when eaten cold) and their mochis (dusted with all flavors of powder) 

There're still certain foods I've been eyeing a while but haven't had a chance to try. 

Like their pre-packed, pre-prepared bentos. 

And their cups of fruit jellies. 

For the fruit jellies, it's the peach one and the orange one that I want to try.

Then for the bento boxes, I want to try the omurice. (The egg omelet looked so good), the takoyaki, the huge piece of tonkotsu (with rice) and the one that came with the fried udon. 

Cast Iron Basmati

So, at first glance this might look like an unimportant, insignificant, nothing-to-talk-about kind of picture.

But, behind this ordinary-looking, common-day picture of rice in a pan, there is actually a lot to tell. 

There's so much to say that I don't know how to begin.

Like, ought I to begin from where this meal was had?

Ought I to begin from the pan that's being used?

Or, ought I to begin, from the oil that we see at the bottom of the pan, and the little heap of rice that we see on top of it? 

My mind is a little befuddled now- it's been one of those days- so let me just say that this meal of leftover basmati rice that we re-fried in a newly bought cast iron pan on the patio of the officetel will be a meal happily remembered to come.

I can't say it was the first meal that we had in the newly rented space.

(I'm not sure if it is)

But definitely it was our first cooked meal that we had on the upstairs open air patio, which, whilst making the renting decision, we had decided this space would be. 

And the first meal that in this space we brought out the Little Black Grill (I didn't get the picture) and this cast iron pan to try.

The cooking was a bit of a test- we'd never cooked outdoors before- but, really, other than having to keep going up and down and up and down the stairs, I think overall our experience went rather well. 

There was no need to worry about smoke from the stove filling up the kitchenette and the rest area. 

There was no need to worry about the oil splattering on the stove, table, here, there, everywhere.

And there was also no need to worry about the scent of foie gras-infused basmati rice wafting through the air.

Cooking here under the open skies all we had to do was to let the smoke and the scent drift into the wind (and, umm, maybe into the neighbors' space next door.)

We had a great dinner.

I can't remember from where we got the leftover basmati rice from. 

It might have come from a meal that we had at Sakunthala, where, with our usual order of mutton briyani, we got served a mountain of rice that we couldn't finish. 

But, spiced as it already were, it went smoothly with the oils of the fatty goose liver that we stirred the grains in, and, eaten with defrosted chicken breast pieces boiled hotpot-style in green curry paste (bought from the Thai supermarket in Aperia Mall), made for a delicious, homecooked, heartwarming dinner. 

Stevens & Balmoral

So it happened to be one of those Saturdays where I was in Orchard, I knew I wanted to do something different rather than wandering around malls, but didn't know what I wanted to do. 

At first I contemplated going to the library at Orchard Central, but then it seemed kind of far and I didn't feel like making the walk all the way down and all the way back up to Yotel again. 

So since in Orchard besides the malls there's really little else other than the salon, the coffee joints, the cinema and the library (all of which I didn't want), I thought I'd go for a walk around the 'hood instead. 

Orchard Road (on this end) technically borders on Scotts Road, Paterson Road, Tanglin Road and Holland Road, but there're also a couple of other roads that lead to other parts beyond this central zone. 

Orange Grove Road, for instance, and Bideford, and Grange, and Claymore. 

But I wasn't going to take these roads this afternoon. 

I mean, I already knew where they led to, especially Bideford, Grange and Orange Grove. 

So for a while I contemplated taking a walk along Orange Grove, but then I looked at Google Maps again and realized Draycott was just behind. 

So I decided to walk over there. 

It was one of those blistering blue sky hot days that make you question if you've made a right decision to be wandering about the streets of Singapore simply because you've got nothing else in the vicinity you want to do. 

But Goodwood Park Hotel looked so pretty in her spot upon Goodwood Hill. 

And Far East Plaza, with its distinctive 70s style design on Scotts Road from this angle- didn't look that bad too. 

Draycott- and her connecting Ardmore- can be said to be one of those areas that are distinctly expatriate. It might be the presence of The American Club or the Tanglin Club that lie within the radius. It might also be the presence of the (historically) Goodwood Park Hotel that sits directly opposite them on Scotts Road. 

Once at Ardmore I stopped for a while to take my bearings, then, after walking past a couple of high rise condominiums, found myself heading down the slope toward what I think was Stevens Road. 

To my surprise, other than the condos, there wasn't much else, save maybe a couple of small little drains coming down the hill to the road.

This was an extremely quiet neighborhood.

It might have been a Saturday afternoon but there wasn't anyone coming out of their condos, there wasn't anyone walking out their dog, there weren't even domestic helpers out and about. 

I was the only person there. 

Enroute however I passed by what I think must have been the back of the former Raffles Girls' School. It's quiet now- the entire school has moved to Bishan- and there's not a pitter patter of sound within its compound, but I managed to see a building that previously from the main road I never had had the chance to see before. 

You know how local schools have been said to belong to the era that they were constructed in? 

Like how some schools have 60s design whilst others have 70s or 80s? 

All along the Raffles Girls Secondary School that I knew looked like it was built around the 80s, 90s even, just like most of the schools built around that time.

What I didn't know was that they had a rather nostalgic looking structure at the back of the school, beyond the main road, and which you wouldn't see unless you were trundling along Ardmore or Draycott, which, if you ask me, how many of us would? 

Looking at these pictures now, a strange thought occurs to me.

Perhaps Stevens Road, Scotts, Draycott and Ardmore hold more stories than we assume we know. 

That afternoon I didn't stop to think much, however.

I simply carried on, going out onto Stevens Road, then making a left where I caught sight of Anderson Road. 

I know Anderson Road. 

I've traveled along it before. 

But I'd never noticed the road from this direction before. 

Rising beyond the canopy of lush green trees were the towers of Shangri La Hotel, yet standing here I felt strong old-road vibes. 

It made me wonder what this place was like before all the condos and the hotels moved in. 

Did it look more rustic than how it is now?

What were the houses like? 

What sort of houses were they, and, more importantly, who was it that lived here? 

There were so many questions I had. 

Maybe because I didn't know this area very well. 

All I knew was that it connected from somewhere near the PIE around the Raffles Town Club junction towards Scotts Road towards Orchard Road, Paterson Road, and beyond. 

And that interlocking it were roads that led you through to Bukit Timah Road, Dunearn Road, Chancery Lane and Novena. 

I had a choice that afternoon. 

I could either keep walking down Stevens Road until I got to the end of it. 

Or I could try one of the interlocking roads that would lead me to the other side. 

I chose the latter. 

After all opposite Anderson Road was Balmoral Road, and I'd not walked along that particular stretch for a very long time. 

How long, you ask? 

Let's just say that it has been more than twenty years since I last walked the entire stretch from Barker Road to Orchard Road via Cluny Road. 

And that VIP Hotel- this exclusive, uber quiet hotel with dark green carpeting and the deepest pool ever- was there the last time I came. 

It wasn't just the VIP Hotel that was still here back at that time. 

There was still the Tudor-looking hotel- which I've since forgotten its name.

Both hotels are gone today. 

The Tudor-looking one (I never got to visit it) has been demolished. 

The VIP Hotel is still there however.

But the glass doors are sealed, the whole place looks abandoned, and a sign on the door says they're closed till further notice. 

Seeing how things are, I'm not sure if it will ever reopen again. 

Especially when there's (still) the YMCA Metropolitan (they made it through COVID), and the newly built Mercure Stevens a mere stone throw's distance down the road. 

It's not all cold and concrete though. 

There's now a lovely pedestrian path shaded at parts here and there with small hanging trees- very rustic- and even black and white houses here behind their fences. 

EN Dining @ Capital Tower

Came here for dinner a couple of months ago on a Monday evening and can I say that this place has now become one of my new favorite places to dine on Japanese cuisine? 

There's a wee bit of ordinariness to the menu when you first look at it, yes, but it doesn't take long before you realize that it is this familiarity- this ordinariness- that makes the charm of this place here on the ground floor of Capital Tower. 

I had been told that this was a buffet.

An ala carte buffet.

And it was. 

For a price of $58++ per person (adult), you could come here on weekdays after 6pm, on Saturdays between 11 to 3pm, or after 5.30pm onwards.

And if you wanted to bring the kids, you could, too.

Never mind that EN Dining at the edge of Shenton Way on 168 Robinson Road opposite the former CPF Building has more of a corporate, business-like feel than a family-like one. 

Never too early for Japanese food (and culture).

There was quite a lot that we ordered this evening. 

So much so that I cannot remember exactly what it was that we had and have to rely entirely on the pictures that I snapped that evening. 

One of the first few things we ordered was the sashimi. 

If I'm not wrong we had the tuna and the salmon, maybe more salmon than tuna, because even though I've heard tuna's the more coveted choice, my palate is more familiar with salmon than with tuna. 

Another thing I'm pretty sure we ordered was the Salmon Harasu Yaki, which is grilled salmon belly with salt, and even though our portion looked kinda sleek and small compared to the rectangular-sized one shown on the menu, there was no letting up on the taste, and we know we are going to order more of this the next time we come.

Middling appetites like mine mean one needs a bit of strategic planning when eating here.

Because even though I'd really love to, there is no way I am going to be able to try out everything on the menu and still have enough space for more of the foods I like. 

There is also no way I can finish a Kani Fried Rice, a Beef Garlic Fried Rice, a bowl of Kitsune Udon and a plate of Mentaiko Spaghetti all at the same time. 

So there were no Noodle dishes nor Rice dishes that day. 

A bit of a pity- I would have loved to try out the Mentaiko Spaghetti. 

Am sure the codfish roe, as popular as it may seem these days, would've made the pasta taste especially well.

It wasn't that bad a decision to miss out on some of these mains.

We had more room for other foods, like the Renkon Chips, the Ebi Tempura, and the Truffle Fries.

I liked the Truffle Fries and the Ebi Tempura- the fries were fragrant and crisp, the tempura batter of the prawn was hot- but, if you ask me, it were the Renkon Chips that drew me in way, way more. 

Maybe because I'd always been attracted by deep fried lotus root chips and there hadn't been any opportunities to try.

The chips here were light, crisp, crunchy and tasty with just that little hint of salt- perfect as a snack, and perfect for the restless, peckish person that I am (these days).

Best part, they weren't oily or greasy either. 

So good were they that we decided not to finish them all at one go but nibble on them slowly, steadily even as we worked through the rest of our dinner on the table. 

One of the best dishes we'd ordered this evening was the Tori Nanban.

So it might sound commonplace and ordinary- I mean, it's just pieces of chicken- but can I say I was taken aback by the size of each piece when the plate arrived on our table?

That even though I'm familiar with Tori Nanban and Tori Karaage, and that even though Japanese-style Deep Fried Chicken is one of the most oft-seen staples when it comes to casual Japanese dining, for some reason, most of the chicken pieces that I've seen at other places tend to be rather small. 

Not so here. 

The pieces at EN Dining were huge (no small chicken thigh) and so well fried were they that we fell in love at once with the crispy yet thin delicious chicken skin and we happily munched through them all. 

We were starting to feel rather filled by this time, and no surprise, for we'd eaten our way through two platters of sushi, a serving of beef, and a serving of Negi Chashu. 

Ordering the sushi had been a deliberate choice. 

It didn't matter to us whether they could be found elsewhere at other EN outlets or even at other places. 

We have a special liking for Maki, and we were going to have that. 

The hard part, of course, was trying to decide what we wanted to have. Should we go for something familiar, like what we like, and what we always have, or should we go for something different, something we haven't tried before? 

It was hard trying to decide between the Ebi Fry Roll, the Samurai Unagi Cream Cheese Maki, the Teriyaki Chicken Maki, or even the Salmon Gaga Maki. 

I mean, one of us wanted to try how cream cheese with unagi (eel) tasted like, then the other thought teriyaki chicken in sushi didn't sound too bad. 

In the end we went for none of what we thought we might have, and went for the Avocado Maki, and the Salmon Mentaiko Maki.

It was a good choice. 

The avocado maki had crabstick, egg and cucumber, complete with slices of cold avocado, and a little bit of flying fish roe. 

Then the salmon mentaiko maki had, well, mentaiko cheese sauce over gently torched salmon, and also, flying fish roe. 

If we had thought that filling ourselves up with sushi was a good idea, deciding to have the beef wasn't too bad either.

I had liked the idea of it being prepared shabu shabu hotpot style but then there were all these vegetables, which, whilst refreshing and delicious, I was sure I couldn't finish. 

So we opted to have our meat grilled. 

What I remember most about the beef was the marbling. 

It's not always that I get to see that many streaks of (white) fat in a single slice of beef.

But it didn't overwhelm.

There was just the right amount of fat, the right amount of meat, and the right amount of skill- as demonstrated by my friend who worked the grill rather well. 

We decided to close dinner with a dessert of matcha ice cream and vanilla ice cream (which I didn't take picture) but before that, before deciding to call it a night, we went for the Negi Chashu. 

Because it sounded interesting. 

I had thought we would go for the Beef Carpaccio (here they serve it with citrus soy sauce) but Braised Cha Shu with Leek and Spring Onion done in the traditional Okinawa style seemed like a wiser, more unusual choice. 

So we went along with that. 

It reminded me a little of the braised pork belly in Kong Bak Pau- you know, the one that's got a thick layer of fat, is made with soy sauce, which you stuff between plain white steamed buns- but cleaner, lighter, and perhaps, healthier. 

I don't usually take braised pork, much less braised pork belly, but I took this one, and quietly I wished I had enough space to hold in more. 

Next time. 

Next time I'll try to have the Mentaiko Spaghetti, the Chicken Wings, the Soft Shell Crab, the Rainbow Maki, and more of the Salmon Harasu Yaki.