Hotpot @ Broth & Beyond

It has been just over a month, nearing two, that I came to this place at Chijmes. 

But I haven't forgotten the food.

Neither have I forgotten the route I had to take to get there.

It is not difficult to get to Chijmes- the place is indeed one of the most iconic landmarks in Singapore's Downtown where the nearest MRT stations include Bencoolen, Bugis and City Hall, and where there're plenty of buses to drop you off in a five-minute walking radius.

It is, however, a different story, once you get into the grounds of this place that once served as a convent, as well as a school for girls, once upon a time. 

Perhaps the alma mater ladies might have no challenge finding their way around the beautifully restored place. 

But visitor that I am had a whirlwind of a time trying to find hotpot place Broth & Beyond that Google Maps said was at the basement of the grounds at Unit #01-02. 

Trust me when I say that the basement was like a maze. 

Then again maybe it wasn't as complicated as I make it out to be, but I was hungry, I was wondering just what sort of a hotpot place this was to plonk themselves at what is generally perceived as a pub, izakaya, Michelin-star restaurant kind of place, and would the meal be expensive. 

I have come out of the experience not knowing how much the meal costs- it was a birthday meal and the only thing Hedgehog would tell me was that 'it's not expensive'. 

But I have also come out of the experience having a new perspective of what hotpot is, and what it can be. 

Broth & Beyond grants you one of the most refined, elegant experiences there are when it comes to hotpot. Location, ambience, decor, everything, it is the kind of place where you can have a quiet date, a casual business chat, a long-hour catch-up with a friend, a corporate lunch, a marketing lunch, or even a ladies' brunch, which, from what I saw that afternoon, seems to be very popular. 

No more are hotpot places heavy on the fabrics and grandeur. Where once hotpot places used to swing on the extremes between the royal and the workman, now the decor has reached middle ground where the furnishings are contemporary, the light is gentle, and there is a general sunniness about the place that brightens your spirit, whets your appetite, and keeps you there.

The website tells me that their hotpot is Yunnan-inspired. 

To be honest, whilst I have heard of Yunnan and have heard a fair bit about it, I should like to know what a Yunnan-inspired hotpot means. 

Perhaps it means that the ingredients and flavors are very close to nature. 

Perhaps it also means that there're interesting broths and foods to be had along the way. 

Their broth is, I have to say, wonderful. 

Seldom is it that I get to taste unusual soups like this one, which, although has the color of a bright orange pumpkin, is really a signature broth of Golden Fungus Chicken. 

There were other soups- three others, I think- where there was probably one with mala, and one with mushroom that they call the Black Truffle & Eight Mushroom. The truffle and mushroom broth actually sounded interesting- I mean, eight different types of mushrooms- and I had thought I might have that, but then in the end the collagen broth won. 

I mean, it's got Yunnan golden fungus and even dried scallops at the bottom of the soup for that wee bit of seafood sweet. 

This afternoon we chose the Wagyu Beef Set for the hotpot. 

Now, how much this set costs, I don't know, but included in the price were the aesthetics, where the set arrived at the table on two wooden trays placed in a sort of a two-storey cage where the top floor held the vegetables and the lower, the wagyu beef. 

What this meant is that you were greeted by a bright, refreshing array of colors where nicely laid out on the wooden tray were the sliced tomatoes, the sliced chilled bean curd tofu, pieces of black fungus, lettuce, and cabbage. There might have been some other vegetables hidden beneath the bean curd, but I don't quite remember. 

Perhaps I was already taken in by the bright green lettuces all so prettily placed on the wooden tray. 

Or the cabbage, which, although I don't always have, I don't hesitate when I get them. 

Of course there was the bright vibrant red of the meat too. 

It is amazing how they managed to slice the meat up in such a way that each piece was neither too thin nor too thick. Not just that, the meat was shaped in such a way that each piece looked as if it were a beef tongue of sorts.  

Maybe it was meant to help the diner cook better. 

Hotpot, after all, can be quite a science when it comes to cooking your food. Very often we think all we need to do is to just chuck it inside the pot, but there's actually more than that. 

Beef cooks really fast, for instance, and so absorbs less of the soup. 

Chicken, on the other hand, can take a fair bit of time to cook, so the soup's all inside the meat by the time the piece is cooked and ready. 

Same goes for the vegetables. 

Fungus takes a bit of a time to soften. Cabbage also takes a bit of a time to soften. Lettuce, however, cooks faster, and tomatoes, well, they get cooked almost instantly. 

I can't remember whether I threw the tomato into the soup. 

I might have. 

Or I might have eaten it fresh with the cooked beef, either or. 

One thing about this hotpot is that all the ingredients, be it meat or vegetables, they all cooked fast. 

Whether it were the wagyu beef, which my friend and I were very careful to cook it shabu shabu style- swirling the slice inside the soup instead of dropping it inside and letting it cook by itself- or whether it were the bean curd, the fungus, or the vegetables.

There'll be friends who cook their vegetables the same way they cook their meat, swishing the leaves inside the soup until they soften. 

Not so me. 

I chuck them all inside the soup and let them simmer.

Doesn't matter to me whether the vegetables become smushed or, as some may say, discolored. 

I like them that way. 

In fact the more smushed and limpy they become, the better. 

Because that's when I know they've absorbed as much broth of the hotpot as they can have, and in one vegetable leaf alone, I can have a bit of crunch, a bit of soup, and the vitamins of greens all at once all at the same time. 

I guess it is the burst of soup out from the leaves that I especially love. 

It was a very lovely, pleasant celebratory meal that I had here at Broth & Beyond. 

What made the experience even lovelier was the Market Table, which, I later found out, you didn't actually need to order hotpot to have. You just needed to order a main- any main- top up bit of an extra- and you got access to a charming array of appetizers, condiments, and desserts. 

Mine this afternoon, if I'm not wrong, came automatically with the hotpot. 

So, besides a little bowl of condiments that for me was sesame paste, sesame oil, and a huge heap of parsley, I helped myself to a dish that included kimchi, and cherry tomatoes. There were a few other appetizers to be had from the counter, mostly spicy ones, I think, that featured foods from different provinces around China. 

Perhaps next time I'll try those, but this afternoon the (very red) kimchi, the (very red and fresh) cherry tomatoes, and some Yunnan bean curd jelly that I thought looked interesting was good enough for me.

I've started planning my next visit, by the way. 

It might not be one where I'll take the hotpot, but it will definitely be one where I'll have a main- whatever it might be- and the Market Table. 

For the main, if it isn't this dish they call the Yunnan Spice Wagyu Jerky, then it will be the claypot rice that this afternoon I had, and liked. 

Don't underestimate this dish despite its appearance of simplicity. 

It was full of flavor and texture. 

How it was done, I don't know, maybe it is the way they controlled the flame, maybe it is the way they had estimated the cooking time. Whatever method it was, it certainly called for some skill. 

The rice not only had the faint hint of smokiness as if it had been left to gently cook in the pot over the stove, the texture of the rice was light and crisp and mixed so well with the other ingredients that every mouthful made me feel like I were eating fried rice- without the oil- and claypot rice- without the burnt. 

Trust me to say it was one of the best claypot rice dishes I have ever had. 

Not just the mains, I've too planned out how my dessert next time will be. 

First I'm going to go back for more of these jellies. 

This time I had taken an entire bowl full, added a few ladles of evaporated milk, plus a drizzle of condensed milk, but there were other desserts that I still wanted to try. 

At the counter there had been a few kinds of jellies, including strawberry, osmanthus, and almond (if I remember right) and there had been plenty of toppings that diners could have. 

For some reason this afternoon I didn't take the taro balls. the little cubes of fruit- all of which looked like the fruits from the fruit cocktail- and the clear balls that I now realize were actually water chestnut balls. 

But I'm going to go for those next time. 

I'm also not going to leave out the ice cream. 

Never mind that I had already had a single serving of vanilla, which, when the gentleman server brought to me (the machine had been out when I tried to do it myself), came with a cute little bear biscuit and a few small jellies around the ice cream. 

But I want to try the ice cream with the taro balls, more of the little cocktail fruit, some M&Ms, maybe a slight drizzle of the condensed milk, and maybe even some of the freshly cut fruit. 

Fruit and ice cream might go together good.

Back to Cine's BBRC

I know I wrote about this lunch deal meal not too long before. 

And whilst the meal here this time was no different from the meal I had the last time, still I think it worth writing, because this place is (indeed) worth visiting. 

There are those amongst us who feel that repeat experiences need not be mentioned, but I don't agree.

What with life being what it is these days, every experience is a precious one, and ought to be cherished and valued and held. 

I went for the same menu at Cineleisure's BBRC cafe today. 

It had not been my intention. 

I had wanted to try the chicken- I had been thinking of fried chicken for a while- but it wasn't available today, so back it was to the pork ribs and the spaghetti. 

Was it good? 

Did it meet my expectations the same way I had had mine the last time I came?

Yes, of course.

If there is one thing about this place, I should say it is their consistency. 

It might not be same chef in the kitchen, it might not be the same servers, but the food is the same. 

Whether it be the salad of those vegetables I call the bitter bitter lettuce, or the sour dressing that I don't know what it is, but it actually makes the salad refreshing and easy to eat. 

I wouldnt 'know what to do if the salad came just by itself without any form of dressing. 

That would be so raw. 

Along with the salad of raw, bitter bitter vegetables came a small dish of steamed gyoza dumplings, both pieces of which were really cute, but I didn't take a picture. 

In any case they looked same way like this they looked last time. 

Same ingredients, same level of chew. 

I however forgot to inform the staff to make my Bulgogi Pork Ribs Pasta less spicy, so yeah, it was a heck lot of a kick I got (again) after the first bite. 

May I say that my threshold for spice this afternoon seemed to be lesser as compared to the last time I ate? 

It didn't diminish my enjoyment of the dish, it didn't take away anything, but a part of me decided today's spice was a bit too overwhelming and better it be that I space my spaghetti out instead of eating it all at one go. 

Let's say I took two hours to finish all the spaghetti. 

I didn't take that long a time with the Pork Rib though.

The meat was tender, soft, literally falling off the bone, and the sauce of bulgogi (if there be one) was both sweet and savory, making every bite of the pork pleasant to the palate. 

So good was it that when it came to the last part I put down decorum, put down table etiquette, and reached for the rib with my hands.

Eating with hands does make it more enjoyable, so they say, but it is the flavor that makes this rib completely stand out. 

See, I'm used to my meats either savory or sweet, one or the other.

This one was an excellent calibration of both balanced out so well where the meat of the pork was neither too sweet nor too savory. 

Such a joy for a weekday afternoon, I tell you.

I'll be coming back here in future. 

I haven't yet tried the Fried Chicken with Japanese Curry. 

What's more, there's another dish on their main menu that I want to have.

It will be at RRP of at least $25nett, I think, no lunch deal of $9.90++ for their Fish & Chips, but from what I love about their Bulgogi Pork Ribs Pasta, and their Chargrilled Sirloin Steak with Fries- which again this afternoon was the meal choice of my friend- I'm quite sure it will be satisfyingly good. 

I like the fish of Fish & Chips battered, not breaded, anyway. 

More Selfies

I have- all of a sudden- been taking more and more selfies.  

Not for any reason save for the fact that the s**ttier I feel, the more tired I feel, the more makeup I put, the more selfies I take. 

It's one thing to look and feel confident.

It's another thing to try look pulled together and able to go about your day when your mind doesn't let you feel the same way. 

Thank God then for such things as skin tint, foundation, eye shadow, color changing lip balm and fragrance mist. These little babies aren't just cosmetics. They're an arsenal of modern-day corporate female ammo. 

Did I feel better after that? 

Maybe, maybe not. 

The one thing I knew- at least- was that I didn't look like s***.

These selfies confirm that. 

In some of them I feel okay, some of them I wish I were feeling better. 

But that's life. 

It is life that you attire yourself in black Uniqlo tee and black cardigan and plonk on a face of makeup because you need to look presentable as you go tell a person of legal authority you have reasonable ground to not withdraw a particular suit. 

It is life too that a week later, despite having your hair odd-shaped because of static (or something) you wear the same arsenal and go meet a person whom you hope to work with for a project that you know is your expertise and will boost portfolios. 

One of the pictures here I snapped when I was on the patio upstairs. 

Probably one of the mornings where I had to make myself push through things rather than dropping into despair. 

I don't think I ever have had to hype myself up as much as I have done in the mornings past, and this particular selfie- with me still in my brown Decathlon pajamas T-shirt- was one of them. 

You can see the bedhead anyway.

When it was that I took the last selfie I don't know. 

Funny thing is that I'm quite sure it didn't happen very long ago. 

Very likely it was either at a Starbucks or a restaurant or someplace where the lighting was particularly bright. 

But yeah definitely I had the ammunition on, I had the lip balm on, some color on my eyelids and my cheeks and all I can say is that I'm uber glad my hair was good that day. 

It not always is! 

Afternoon Tea @ Jen Tanglin

The afternoon tea we had here at Hotel Jen Tanglin had in fact taken place a couple of months ago.

Yes, (what with everything and anything) it has taken me this long.

Perhaps a part of me didn't want to be reminded of this lovely meal, and how things had evolved since then.

Perhaps a part of me didn't want to be reminded of how I tried to not think about things and yet, they were still there. 

Having a meal here at this hotel is a comforting, cozy experience. 

Not merely because I love the vibes of the hotel, but also for the fact that their afternoon tea offerings are so delicious, and so carefully calibrated, that there is something for everyone at every age. 

We began this afternoon with a plate of crab.

This humongous plate of crab claws was precisely what Hedgehog had come here for, and that was what we were going to have. 

I'm neutral to crab.

What that means is that I don't have particular cravings for it, but neither will I push the dish away when I get to eat them.

I am scared of the shell though. 

Like, I have heard horror stories of people having unknowingly broken their teeth on bits of shell whilst working their way through parts of flesh they thought were clear. 

Thankfully the way Hedgehog likes his crab is a wee bit different, and by the time we came to eating the meat itself, it had all been hand-shredded, and dropped into this big bowl of delicious laksa soup. 

It's a painstaking process, mind, but totally worth the effort, and whilst I'm pretty useless at getting the flesh out, never mind hammering the shell, I help in the stirring, and eating, the stirring, and eating.

Of course I go get the bowls of laksa gravy from the counters too. 

You don't see it, but there're no noodles inside this bowl. We decided to go without them, choosing the quail eggs (For me) and tau pok (for Hedgehog) instead. 

I liked this combination. 

It didn't diminish the fragrance of the laksa. Neither did it take away any of the spice, the taste or the creaminess of the gravy steeped in rich coconut milk. In fact I wonder if the shredded crab enhanced the taste a little. It might have, it might not, but additional texture was definitely there.

Thinking back now, I'm starting to wonder whether I really do like eating my crabs fresh, clean, unadulterated this way, or whether I still will go for the traditional gravies of chili crab, salted egg and black pepper. 

I don't know.

I haven't had the other forms of crab for a long time. 

But if otherwise, well, I certainly love this one, specifically, this one here at Jen65 where for the afternoon tea I have varieties of cooked food so much more. 

In between us hammering, peeling, stirring, and eating from the laksa bowl, I went to the counter for more food. 

There's a lot to be had here, by the way. 

At one end, right close to the noodle and laksa station, there is the Indian food area where one can get briyani or try out a piece of vadai if one should want it. There're a couple of curries here too, except I can't remember now what they are. 

Next to it there's the mee goreng station and the satay station. They usually have something more, but right now I also can't quite recall what it is they have now. Maybe it's sayur lodeh. Maybe it's something else. 

This afternoon I helped myself to a very little bit of mee goreng, a couple sticks satay, some fresh vegetables in the form of corn kernels and cherry tomatoes and what I think is a tiny little dollop of mashed potato. 

Small portions they might look, but I've since learnt not to take too much at one go. 

Given my appetite these days, I fill up fast and if I take too much I won't be able to try anything else, so small portions of my favorites it is. 

I like the mee goreng and satay here at Jen65. 

Not only are the noodles tasty and the satay with that hint of smoky grill, there's a cleanliness of taste about them both that I don't always get to have elsewhere. 

One doesn't feel the smoke from the satay linger on the palate. Even the satay sauce, where at other places might have plenty of oil, here there's more peanut than oil and every dip of the meat inside the sauce lets me have more of the chopped peanut than the actual sauce. So thick is the chopped peanut that I almost feel like it is a dip rather than a sauce. 

Then there's the mee goreng. 

Sure, it's pretty commonplace, one might say, like you might it at any stall in any coffee shop or hawker center, but the ones here have a smooth texture where I find myself tasting more of the dark soy sauce than the oil. 

What's more, it's the dry type, which I absolutely love. 

Of course, the mashed potato on this plate might seem a little out of place but oy, I walked past the serving tray and the bright yellow smoothness made it impossible not to grab the serving spoon and carve out a small bite. 

Food with fresh vegetables too make a whole lot of difference when you're having cooked, stir-fried stuff.

I didn't think I'd like fresh tomato juice with mee goreng or buttery mashed potato but it was pleasantly refreshing, and it gave the dry fried foods that burst of extra zing. 

Onwards it was to the other stations of Jen65's afternoon tea now. 

One area had been dedicated to the salads- they had corn, lettuce, tomatoes, green olives, black olives, onions, even couscous. 

One area had what I call the sushis and sobas, which, if I may add, were a particular hit with some of the diners especially since it isn't frequent here that sushi has the halal stamp, or that Indian families bring their kids to casual sushi joints. 

Then there was the area around which I walked three rounds over. 

It was very hard to not take the halal dim sum- especially since they had a favorite of mine the crystal pau. Then there were the soups- today, if I'm not wrong, they had pumpkin, or it might have been something else, I'm not sure. 

I looked for a while at the pasta that had dozens of mussels sitting snugly amidst the delicious-looking thick sauce of cream. 

But in the end went back for another dollop of the mashed potato. 

Too hard for me to resist the buttery smooth. 

I took more from the other section close by the potato and the pasta. 

This one had what I call the dry foods, where on one side stood the kueh pie tee station, the other side had the sandwiches, and then at the corner there were the quiche. 

This afternoon on my plate there was one piece of sushi maki- I got attracted by the pinch dollop of crab on top- then a second heap of salad from which I chose more corn, and a couple more cherry tomatoes. From the dry (pastry) side of the buffet I helped myself to a single slice of spinach quiche, and a whole grilled ham and cheese sandwich. 

Trust me when I say I took great joy in cutting up the spinach quiche into smaller pieces, and when I saw the cheese stretch from the toast of the sandwich. 

The taste, of course, was just as good. 

Think of it as a ham and cheese toast with veggies of corn and tomato in between. 

By this time, what with two full plates of food, plus the crab in the laksa and a copious number of quail eggs, I was, no doubt starting to feel full. 

But there was the kueh pie tee.

And that is something one must never ever miss- not when you're here at this afternoon tea- for the very simple reason that you can customize your own kueh pie tee- and that it won't come out meagre on the fillings or even soggy on the pastry. 

So I took three.

I didn't put all the ingredients- this afternoon I didn't want the turnip nor the tiny little prawns- so my pastry cups only had chopped hard boiled egg, heaps of parsley, and a wee drizzle of the sweet sauce. 

The parsley made a huge difference; I don't know if it is the texture of them cute looking leaves or how the taste balances out the flavors of hard boiled egg so well. 

So much did I like these that I went back for another three, so yes, I had six, altogether. 

I'm just so surprised that one doesn't need the entire gamut of turnip and sesame seeds and prawn and everything else to make this kueh pie tee taste so good. 

It was time for dessert after that. 

My appetite this afternoon leaned towards the cakes. 

Why, I don't know. 

On hindsight it feels rather silly that I only went for the cakes and not the self-customized ice kachang, the jelly that they had in the chiller, not even the scones or the ice cream. 

Perhaps I had thought the cakes were great enough.

And they were.

I think I took two variations of cheesecakes. One was the New York style cheesecake without anything else on it, just the cheese and the cake alone. The other cheesecake I took however had a raspberry on it. Then again it might have been another cake altogether (but which I now don't quite remember).

There was an Earl Grey cake.

This I know because I'm a fan of Earl Grey cakes and I like it when they serve it with a thin layer of blueberry jam. It adds just a hint of sweetness to the cake, a bit of moisture even, but without overwhelming the palate or making one feel like they can't taste the light flavor of Earl Grey sponge. 

I had a slice of kueh lapis. 

Whether it was considered good quality or not didn't matter.

I have a thing for kueh lapis (always have had) and with the freedom to take as much as I wanted, I wasn't going to drop the chance. 

So I took one slice for starters, and another slice afterwards. 

By right I should have been full and not able to eat anymore, but there were these two bright-looking matcha-raspberry mousse slices on my plate and no way was I going to do them away. 

There's something very special about having a sip of black coffee with a spoonful of cake on a pleasant weekend afternoon in a nice, cozy space. 

Perhaps next time I'll make sure to make room for the ice cream and the scones. 

It feels super silly to not appreciate a nice baked scone with fresh cream and jam. 

(Light) Dinner @ Sushi Express

You know how there are some times in life where you want an early dinner whilst the sun's still high but you don't have much of an appetite?

Yep, today was one of those days.

We had just come from a meeting, my colleague and I, and we thought we would have dinner together before going our separate ways afterward.

It wasn't easy trying to decide what to have. 

There's a lot to be had at Bugis. 

Whether it were Thai, Malaysian, or grilled fish Sichuan-style, whether it be fast food or Western or Japanese, there's a lot one can choose. 

But today I wanted something light, so whilst the mood called for something spicy like Thai, something fun to eat, like Subway or McDonalds, or even something like a big bowl of curry noodles, the tummy didn't, so up to Sushi Express at Bugis Junction it was. 

It's funny that I didn't realize just how much I missed having casual conveyor belt sushi until I stepped into the place. 

Might have been the sense of familiarity.

Might have been the part where I always have had a thing for conveyor belt sushi and the ding ding ding sound it makes. 

But it was nice settling down on the neat, compact plastic chairs and reach out for both the teas, and the wasabi. 

You might think it normal, non-descript, no big deal, but let's just say that it does speak to someone who, for one reason or another, hasn't been back to Sushi Express in a while. 

Our meal this evening was predominantly salmon.

Which I got absolutely delighted with. 

First up was the sashimi, wonderful, given how today seemed to be a day for something cold and refreshing.

I dipped mine in wasabi and soy sauce, no need limes. 

Then after that, off the conveyor, I took a plate of Aburi Salmon with Mentaiko. Offhand now I can't remember if it were one plate. There might have been two. 

But there was, definitely, the salmon belly. 

That, my pictures tell me.

The fried salmon belly, complete with fin, has been a favorite of mine since we began eating at conveyor belt sushi places like this. It's not the cheapest item on the menu, mind, but it gives you an oomph which sits unique on its own.

I don't know if it be the tender flesh of the salmon, the crisp of the skin, or the oil that drips down from the fish every time I take a bite, but there's something very satisfying about eating this hot from the plate. 

It's amazing how the fish melts in your mouth at first bite, and you don't have to worry about whether there'll be bones big or small otherwise. 

That's one of the reasons why I like having this. 

Bones terrify me, and I have no skill in picking them out from the flesh of the fish with my chopsticks. 

One is recommended to have this fish with the limes they provide, though. 

Some people find the salmon fishy. Some find it not. 

Taste is very subjective. 

I don't normally have mine with the limes- I like the taste of the soft, tender salmon belly all on its own- but maybe I'll try a piece with the limes one day. Maybe it will enhance the taste even better. 

These be all the pictures of the meal I had this late afternoon at Sushi Express. 

There aren't more. 

Perhaps the next time I go I'll have more variety of sushi, like the Sweet Corn Gunkan, or the Hana Maki, which are in fact some of my favorites. 

But that will have to wait- when I next go to a conveyor belt sushi place again. 

Zichar @ Lengkong Tiga

A bit tragic, but I can count on one hand the number of times I ate at this coffee shop here. 

It doesn't usually happen.

Not when it comes to hawker centers or coffee shops. 

Sure I may not always take a picture- I don't always document my meals like that- but very, very seldom is it that I only patronize a coffee shop once or twice or thrice and then hardly at all. 

I shan't critic it- there already aren't that many hawkers and stall holders in coffee shops now. What's more, each person has their own preference and appetite- some may like it, some may not- but let me just say that there's significant difference between this coffee shop here at the block of Lengkong Tiga versus the coffee shop at, say, Chinatown near Chin Swee Road. 

I'm not sure if the food has anything to do with it. 

But in the two years I've been here, I've only had the food of the coffee shop three times, at most five. 

Most of my meals here are the zichar, of which I am exceptionally particular. 

I am the sort who won't take a plate of Yangzhou Fried Rice just for the sake of the fried rice. 

I am also the sort who will get very ngiao about the size and freshness and quality of the fish in the dishes she eats. 

Maybe even whether or not the gravy is extra starchy. 

Blame my favorite zichar places (that I also haven't gone in a while)

I don't think I took a picture of the first zichar I had here at this coffee shop in the 'hood of Lengkong Tiga. 

But in recent months the zichar stall changed hands- and I wanted to try. 

So we did, two separate occasions, two hot afternoons, both enroute to the MRT station.

First time we ordered a plate of sweet sour fish and rice. 

The picture doesn't look much- we see more of the rice than the fish- but it actually wasn't too bad. 

For one thing the rice wasn't very hard. 

No doubt it wasn't as soft and fluffy the way I think rice should be, but it wasn't as hard as I thought it might be. 

The fish too, was thick enough to make one feel full. 

Five pieces of fish there were, each with some soft parts, others with not. The taste wasn't too bad either. Maybe the sauce covered up the fresh-not fresh type of taste but the texture wasn't hard or dry either. 

Only thing, of course, was that because we had it shared between the both of us, my friend took 3 pieces whilst I took 2. 

It were better with the second time we went there. 

This time we decided to go for two separate dishes. 

My friend chose the black pepper venison, I chose the sam lor hor fun. 

I don't have a picture of the black pepper venison but my friend said it was reasonable- not as tender as he would have hoped- but thick with sauce and the black pepper was strong. 

I do, however, have a picture of the sam lor. 

Did I like it?

Well, I didn't dislike it. 

The rice noodles were thick and they had that bit of wok hei chew, especially at certain parts. The fish too was, thankfully, thicker, and fresher than the one of the previous stall, and that made a huge difference, considering just how I'm the sort who values the freshness of fish in my sam lor more than anything else. 

At another place I might have been able to dip the fish in fresh grated ginger. 

Here, no ginger, but the whole plate had plenty of gravy which fish was literally drowned in. 

I'd have loved the gravy to be a little tastier (maybe I'm biased) but the noodles were good, the fish was good enough, there was a small portion with the wok hei, and all that got left on the plate after I finished was the gravy, and the tau gey. 

The Hawker of Toa Payoh Lorong 5

First time here at the hawker center of Lorong 5 in Toa Payoh, and can I say, I'm surprised, delighted, and absolutely glad. 

See, I don't know my way around Toa Payoh.

As in, I don't know what good food there is, I don't know where those good food are, and I don't know what exactly is considered good and what exactly is considered not good. 

So eating at Toa Payoh is very much a trial and error. 

Sometimes it's a hit.

Other times it can be a better hit. 

Thus far I've had the food from the Central, and from the Lorong 7 side. 

Maybe because I've no idea just what's good at the hawker center of Lorong 7, or maybe I haven't had much of a chance to explore the rest of the stalls, but I seem to have had more of the coffee shop zichar rather than the food of the hawker stalls.

We were intending to have Thai food this particular evening.

But life be such that the place wasn't open when we headed there, so off it was to the hawker center behind instead. 

What makes this side of Toa Payoh so interesting is that the Lorongs are all so intersected, so let's say you're presently at Lorong 5, but whilst Lorong 5 is a single stretch of road, you're actually a short walk away through the blocks from Lorong 6, and Lorong 4.

Maybe Toa Payoh is such an estate that the roads are the circumference or the semi-circumference, or the loop. 

I never knew how short the route was from the Central to Lorong 7, but it's completely walkable, and on a comfortable windy day, thirty minutes tops cutting through the blocks via Lorong 4, 5, and 6.

But I digress. 

The food of the hawker center here at Lorong 5 was lovely. 

It's not a very huge hawker, mind, literally just two rows, but what they lack in size, they supply in variety. I didn't have enough time to explore all the stalls- my friend and I were much too occupied in getting ourselves a table- but from where I sat there was a char kuay teow stall, a cooked food stall, a stall offering a variety of noodles- wanton noodles, dumpling noodles, laksa etc, and then another stall offering the dishes of double-boiled soups, and, surprisingly, chicken curry. 

We'd tried the chicken curry and one of their soups before, so this late afternoon we decided on some other foods that we hadn't had before. 

Actually my friend had come here for the chicken rice. 

But the stall owner happened to be away (always a hit and miss when it comes to the good food, it seems) so we hunted about a bit. 

As an alternative I had thought of trying the Ban Mian and the Mian Fen Guo- these seemed to be really popular- but three or four stalls away on the other side my friend discovered the nasi lemak stall, so decided we'd eat that instead. 

Will it surprise you if I tell you that this plate here cost not more than $5? 

It wasn't just the food nor the ingredients of the nasi lemak itself that made one feel warm and stuffed and happily satisfied. 

There was also the presentation, the plating, the colors, the way the stall owner had had everything arranged on the medium sized plate. 

Just the sight of this nasi lemak alone with all chosen ingredients laid atop the bed of white coconut rice was enough to whet the appetite. 

It didn't matter that the rice didn't release whiffs of fragrant coconut. 

It didn't matter also that the sambal tucked underneath one corner of the heap had the peanuts and ikan bilis swimming inside it. 

Everything was packed in such a way that it just made you hungry, ready to eat. 

Which I did, beginning with a scoop of plain rice first, then a roasted peanut for crunch, then the orange-colored, mildly spicy, slightly chonky otah mushed together with the rice. 

I loved how the spice of the otah gave the fragrant rice that wee bit of oomph. 

And then there was, of course, the chicken wing. 

Hardly a nasi lemak (to me) is complete without the presence of the fried chicken wing, and what made this one particularly special was the marination of the chicken, inside and out. I had wondered if the meat would be a little dry- sometimes they are- sometimes they aren't- but this turned out to be a mix. Some parts of this little chicken wing were drier, but the batter of the chicken skin was good overall, leaving one with the taste of fried chicken wings sold ayam goreng style way back in school canteen days. 

I had thought this plate be enough for dinner, but then my friend thought we should try out the satay- it had seemed popular amongst the other diners last time we came here- so off he went hunting for the stall and came back armed with a plate of satay, onions, and cucumber. 

There was a little bit of smoke, a little bit of burn, but the burn sat at all the right places, it gave the meat the kind of charcoal-grilled feels, and we had a lovely time pulling the meat off the stick. 

The onions I ate dipped inside the peanut sauce, which, by the way, was good, save for that slight sheen of oil that to this day I can never get used to. 

We finished off the meal with a plate of BBQ chicken wings that, if I may say, we bought on impulse. 

I don't know, maybe we missed the wings over at East Coast Lagoon, maybe we missed our suppers at Fengshan 85, or maybe we so happened to be sitting right in front of the stall. 

But the fragrance got to us, so we got a plate. 

It was so good. 

Not only did they make me think of BBQ nights down at my grandfather's house during Mid-Autumn and Christmas, these here were so perfectly roasted, the marination so evenly spread. 

I loved the tender meat of the chicken, the glistening sheen of the oil, the smokiness of the BBQ over the smooth, crispy skin.

A wonderful way to end the meal, I really wished I could have had more. 

Chap Cai Pngs

There are only two pictures of chap cai pngs in my collection for the year 2025. 

It's not because I took only two pictures.

It's because I ate only two times. 

Yes, chap cai png, or mixed economy rice, is a popular go-to meal amongst local Singaporeans and generally just about anyone who has been to a coffee shop or hawker center.  

Perchance there might be those who have it three times a week or maybe four. 

But I run around a lot, I vary my meals a lot, and so rare does it become that I get to have a plate of chap cai png for lunch, or dinner. 

What's interesting about these two meals here is that I'd had them at the same place only one week apart.

Had I expected it? 

No, of course not.

I might have ordered different dishes otherwise. 

But that's life.

That's how life with chap cai png is. 

You never know what it is you want until you're in front of the stall, eyes skimming quickly through the dishes on display whilst the uncle or aunty stands there impatiently armed with plate and tongs as you frantically try to make up your mind. 

First box at the Kangkar Mall Kopitiam food court I'd gotten stewed lettuce- or is it cabbage- and then unsure me had dawdled a bit trying to decide if I should get meat or eggs and whether it should be fried or stir fried or steamed. Eventually I decided on brinjals and omelet.

Meat is expensive these days. 

Having mostly vegetables however didn't mean that the meal was compromised. 

On the contrary, the food was easy to eat, there was great taste, and because it had been prepared with the diner in mind, there was even a good chew. 

You know how some places like to make their food really small, or slice their pieces really thin? 

Not so here. 

The lettuce (I think it's cabbage) was cooked perfectly well with a little bit of bean curd skin and some black fungus hidden amongst the vegetable. I liked how they had the vegetables all chopped up to small little bite size pieces so it was easy to pick up. And the lettuce/cabbage wasn't hard either. 

When it came to the brinjals they were sliced thick, and slant, making them pieces soak up the gravy and again very easy to pick up and chew. I loved that I didn't get mushy brinjal pieces but the thick, soft, slightly chewy ones. 

Perhaps the only dish that was familiar was the omelet. 

Tell the truth, I actually had no idea what kind of omelet I was getting. 

I didn't get to ask the uncle. 

Sometimes one gets spring onions, sometimes one gets onions, sometimes one gets long beans. 

I had thought I would be getting the long bean kind. 

As it turned out, it was more of an onion and spring onion kind. 

But I don't mind.

Onions and eggs are one of the most fragrant dishes ever, not to mention tomatoes, but you don't get tomatoes in omelet very much. They mush up the whole egg, making it so hard to fry. 

Onions are easier.

It was a very comfortable, comforting meal, one that really spoke and appealed to me. 

Perhaps the best decision I made for this meal was to have all my food in the dabao styrofoam box instead of having it on a plate. 

The sight of everything piled up squished and squashed inside the box made me feel so much fuller than had they been spread out on a plate. 

The impressions of this meal stayed with me so much that the following week when I found myself back at the same food court again I went back for the same stall. 

What's funny is that I could have gone on to have other foods, like YTF Laksa, Ban Mian, or even dumpling noodles, but $7 for YTF Laksa seemed a little high. (Perhaps I still remember a time when it was just $5) 

Moreover, I felt like having the joy of having all that variety of food in my dabao styrofoam box again, so back to the same stall I went. 

The great thing about chap cai png is that you can order whatever you want depending on your mood, so it were different dishes for me this time, save for the cabbage/lettuce that I really, really like, and which I saw glistening so prettily at the counter. 

So first things first, I got back the lettuce/cabbage, ignored the uncle looking over willing me to make my decision, chose the sweet-savory stir-fried hot dogs with potatoes, a portion of soft bouncy steamed egg, and then had the cashier uncle ladle curry all over the rice in my box. 

I had a need for something spicy.

And I wanted something warm.