Inle Myanmar Restaurant

Rachel introduced me to this quiet restaurant tucked away in the basement of Peninsular Plaza some time back. They claim to serve authentic Myanmar cuisine - I am not too sure if it’s really “authentic” as I have not been to Myanmar before. In any case, I think the food tastes great! Plus the price is quite reasonable for an air-conditioned restaurant with proper services

Here’s their exact address:

111 North Bridge Road
#B1-07 (A/B)
Peninsula Plaza
Singapore 179098

You can visit their official website for more information - it’s a very well-developed website with a comprehensive introduction to all the items offered on their menu.

The bulk of their customers seems to be of indo-chinese origins, judging from our visits there. Maybe not many Singapore know of the place yet. Either that or they are probably not adventurous enough to try out alternative cuisines.

Me ordering my lunch

Oun Nau Khau Hswe

Butter Rice with Myanmar Chicken/Pork Curry

Sorry about the yellow lighting… it makes the food looks strange, haha. A meal for two should cost no more than S$30 inclusive of drinks and appertisers, quite worth it.

Technorati Tags: singpaore, myanmar restaurant, myanmar cuisine, burmese food, inle myanmar restaurant, peninsular plaza, basement, burmese food, singapore myanmar restaurant

Tampopo Ramen

Tampopo. It used to be a family restaurant situated at the basement, and Rachel and I were disappointed to find a tiny deli instead of a restaurant when we went to Liang Court to catch Kinokuniya’s 20 per cent sale two months ago. By the time we’d discovered Tampopo on the ground floor, housed inside the unit which used to be Swensen’s, our bellies had been stuffed with deli food.

We vowed to return. On the day Karen Cheng went to Indochine@Forbidden City we decided to have lunch here. For those interested, the new address is 177 River Valley Road, #B1-50, Liang Court Shopping Centre.

The ramen was taking a tad long to arrive and Rachel was ravenous, so we started with dessert first. This is a green tea red bean cream cake, if my memory doesn’t fail me.

It was so yummy Rachel licked clean the clear plastic sheet wrapping the slice of cake. (Yucks!)

Good thing the ramen arrived, or else she’d have eaten the aluminium foil. Rachel ordered Kyushu ramen with kurobuta pork. I think. The thick soup was so thick that it was almost like milk. Very tasty. According to the info on the menu, the pork bones are boiled for 30 hours to make stock. Someone who knows this please correct me if I am wrong.

I ordered something more conventional. Hokkaido ramen with kurobuta. The stock is different from the Kyushu stock. Slightly piquant. But the Kyushu noodles are more springy.

All in all, it was a good meal.

Technorati Tags: tampopo ramen, singapore japanese food, good ramen, liang court, river valley road, green tea cake, kyushu ramen, kurobuta pork, japanese cuisine

Dallas Chicken & Ribs (Halal)

Fancy great fried chicken at rock-bottom prices? Forget KFC, have you tried Dallas Chicken & Ribs? It’s a UK based halal fast food chain, but has only opened it’s first outlet here in Singapore.

Located at 12 Upper Cross Street (near Chinatown MRT station), the small, but cosy fast food restaurant used to offer all-you-can-eat buffet at just $8 per pax! They have recently revised their price to $10 per pax though, but it’s still a great bargain.

Even without the buffet, all the set meals cost under $5 with a generous serving of fries and a free choice of soft drink to go along. Very worth it. See the menu below:

Rachel and I went there a few weeks back to try it out. The young boss politely informed us they were out of onion rings before we ordered. (Apparently, a previous buffet crowd had swept his kitchen clean of onion rings.) I opted for a fillet burger meal while Rachel went for the two-piece chicken meal. Total cost was less than $10 and the portions were definitely bigger than KFC’s.

Check out the piping hot and tender chicken pieces. The only fried chicken fast food outlet comparable will be old-timer, Arnold’s, which also happens to be halal.

I like that they do not salt the fries when served. This way, you can determine how salty you want your fries with the salt sachets provided.

The fillet burger is like twice the size of the puny, ever-shrinking-in-size, KFC’s fillet burger.

For both items, the meat is juicy, flavourful and so yummy! It’s not even half as oily as KFC or may I say, Arnold’s. Go try it!

Technorati Tags: Technorati Tags: dallas chicken and ribs, fried chicken, kfc, arnold’s chicken, halal fast food, singapore, dallas chicken singapore, cheap food, good food, fast food chain, french fries, saltless fries, fillet burger, kentucky fried chicken

Dining at Swenson’s

Boliao blog entry for a lazy Sunday.

I seldom eat at Swenson’s restaurant any more since my JC days. The previous few times I visited was when I was working at Youth.SG. We dined at Swenson’s for quite a few birthday celebrations as it’s one of the more commonly accessible halal restaurants.

A few weeks ago, Rachel and I went for a simple meal at Swenson’s, Toa Payoh Entertainment Centre as I got some vouchers to use up. I took some photos of the food we ordered, and they turn out looking surprising good, haha.

Taste-wise… since Botak Jones is just opposite of my work place, I already found a cheaper and better alternative to unhealthy, hi-cholesterol American food. Hence, no thanks. I probably won’t be going back in a while. :p

Technorati Tags: alvinology, swenson’s, swenson’s reataurant, singapore, botak jones, burger, sandwich, sundae, american food

Vote for the “4 Heavenly Kings” of Chicken Rice in Singapore

Click on the image above to find out more and cast your vote. Voters stand to win a 3D/2N accommodation (with daily breakfast) for two persons in a Cabana Room at the Harris Resort Batam; including shuttle transfer from Waterfront City Ferry Terminal to the hotel (sponsored by Wotif.com).

Closing date for Voting: 5 July 2008

My vote goes to Wee Nam Kee at Thomson Road. How about you?

Technorati Tags: singapore, good food, singapore cuisine, singapore hawker fare, chicken rice, hainanese chicken rice, wee nam kee, thomson road, singapore’s best chicken rice, 4 heavenly king, most popular chicken rice in singapore

Tao’s Restaurant

It isn’t everyday that Rachel and I eat at restaurants, so when we do, it had better be damn good or inexpensive. Tao’s Restaurant happens to fulfill both criteria, and has an added bonus oft neglected by Chinese restaurants: creative presentation.

However, let the bright red menu not fool you into thinking that they serve common Chinese fare. It’s actually “modern pacific cuisine”, as stipulated by their tagline.

There is no a-la-carte menu. Each person pays $19.80++ (for a six-course lunch) or $28.80++ (for a seven-course dinner). Diners can customise their meal by choosing the dishes for most of the courses. You can view their menu here on their official website.

We started off with bacon and mushroom gratin, which was served with thick slices of toasted white bread. Technically speaking, the first thing we tasted in Tao’s was a refreshing floral tea (not photographed) that was served free-flow. It was the forerunner of better things to come:

Pumpkin soup - thick, savoury, lightly flavoured with scallops.

Sharkfin melon herbal soup - the melon is called “sharkfin melon” because its flesh peels off in strands.

This is huai san (Japanese yam) salad, served on blades on pandan leaves and accompanied by wasabi and Japanese soy sauce.

Farm Boy Splendour may appear to be normal roast chicken salad, but the meat was so tender and expertly marinated that it was piquant, sweet and tart at the same time.

Baked Atlantic flounder with cheese - the flavour of the fish was thankfully not usurped by the cheese.

Oven roasted steak. Exactly like what Violet Beauregarde described when she was chewing on Mr Willy Wonka’s fantastic four-course gum (the one that went wrong during blueberry pie). Served with mashed sweet potatoes and a single yam chip.

A small pot of ice rose apple tea on the left and ice tropical grapefruit tea on the right.

Refreshing! It helps to clear our palates from the heavy taste of the main entrees, so we can properly indulge in the desserts.

Green tea ice cream served with shredded sweet potato chips and some baby powder looking topping which I can’t figure what it is.

Yangsheng (养生) poached pear. I was having a slight cough that day and Rachel suggested the pear may be good for my throat.

Here’s the venue for Tao’s Restaurant if you are interested to visit:

1 selegie road
b1-19 paradiz centre
singapore 188306

Technorati Tags: tao’s restaurant, singapore food, alvinology, modern pacific cuisine, bacon and mushroom gratin, thick toast, floral tea, pumpkin soup, sharkfin melon herbal soup, huai san, japanese yam, wasabi, farm boy splendour, baked atlantic flounder, oven roasted steak, violet beauregarde, willy wonka, ice rose apple tea, ice tropical grapefruit tea, main entrees, deserts, green tea ice cream, yangsheng, poached pear, selegie road, paradiz centre

Modern Toilet Restaurant in Taiwan (便所主题餐厅)

Eng Shan introduced me to this restaurant, prior to my Taipei trip and I went there with Rachel, Mark and Meiyen.

In this toilet-themed restaurant, the seats are all made from toilet bowls, not chairs. Sink faucets, wash basins and various toilet-related decors adorn the place. Currently they have a chain of 12 restaurants in Taiwan and one in Hong Kong. You can find out more about Modern Toilet via their official website.

Here are some pictures we took during our visit to their Ximending (西门町) branch:

Waiting to order

Toilet bowl salesgirl

Hand basin to wash hand; not to shit into

Mushroom soup - pretty ordinary looking

Pork chop rice - looks nice hor?

The serving is very big - as big as Rachel’s head

Seafood baked rice in basin

Appertisers

Chocolate shake in urnial bottle

Mark and Meiyen act cute

Shitheads

Ultimate ice challenge

Mark and Meiyen embark on their gastronomy challenge

Rachel looking happy being served with two lumps of shit

Rachel looking unhappy with two small lumps and one giant lump of shit

Rachel and I embark on our gastronomy challenge

Tada! Look at the mess we left behind!

Group photo

My drawing 1 - guy shitting

My drawing 2 - Girl see guy’s shit and puke

Parting shot outside the restaurant: Rachel and me, looking satisfied

Parting shot outside the restaurant: Mark looks constipated while Meiyen smiles on

Technorati Tags: ximending, taipei, modern toilet, marton restaurant, modern toilet restaurant, alvinology, chua eng shan, hua meiyen, mark tan chet siang, alvinology, rachel chan, gastronomy challenge, shit, urinal, toilet bowl, wash basin, seafood baked rice, pork chop rice, ice cream, 西门町, 便所主题餐厅

放天灯 (Sky Lantern)

During our trip to Taipei, Rachel and I travelled to Ping Hsi (平溪) to release a sky lantern. According to the tourist pamphlets, the Shih Fen (十分) area used to be coal mines and are tucked in remote mountainous area not easily accessible by transportation. In order to let their family members know they have safely arrived at the coal mines, the miners will release these sky lanterns.

Over time, the releasing of these sky lanterns became a custom to seek for blessings and well-wishes from above.

Here are the photos documenting our journey to experience this tradition.

When we got off the train at Ping Hsi, the area was pitch dark although it was only slightly past 8pm. Most of the shops were closed and the lights in the residential dwellings were mostly switched off too.

Here’s what the place looks like in general:

There’s also a large creepy mural painting depicting various scenes of how to be a good citizen sprawling a full five metres wall.

Rachel and I were very hungry at this point as we have not eat anything since around 12 noon and the cold wind, coupled with light drizzling rain does not make it better for us. Hence when we saw a sole desert shop still open, we dashed in.

A kindly granny greeted us and serve us with sweet potatoes and yam balls. They were damn delicious! It’s probably because we were starving. I am not sure, but for that moment, those simple balls tasted like the best cuisine in the world for us.

Granny’s store also sell fruits. They look good too, but we have to rush off as we have to catch the last train back at 9pm and we have yet to achieve our objective of releasing a sky lantern.

Along the way, we encountered a few provision stores like the one below, offering sky lanterns for sale.

For some inexplicable reason, we settled for this hardware store below:

We were presented with a large red sky lantern by a stout looking shopkeeper. He passed us a brush and a bottle of ink for us to write and draw blessing messages onto the lantern.

To make things simple, we chose the chinese characters - 平安, 幸福, 快乐 and 大吉 (safety, bliss, happiness and prosperity) and Rachel wrote them onto the four sides of our sky lantern.

The shopkeeper then fixed the solid fuel into the sky lantern. The lantern is now almost good to go.

A final inspection was done. A small hole was discovered on the surface of the lantern and the shopkeeper promptly fixed it by just sticking a few layers of scotch tapes on the hole.

We are finally ready. With lantern in toil, we marched with the shopkeeper to a nearby bridge to release our lantern. Countdown…

3…

2…

1…

and up in the air it soared!

We watched as the lantern flew higher and higher into the air…

Higher and higher till it was just a tiny flicker of light in the dark sky…

And it was gone.

Technorati Tags: sky lantern, ping hsi, shih feng, taipei, tian deng, coal mines, coal miners, alvinology, rachel chan, yam balls, sweet potato balls, 放天灯, 平溪, 十分

SoShiok.com BETA

Last Friday, I attended the trade launch for SoShiok.com, the newest food site to come under the wing of Singapore Press Holdings (SPH)’s family of websites.

For food lovers, SoShiok will be another place to visit to search for exciting new places to dine, wine, as well as to share food reviews and interact with others.

Mini SoShiok Cupcakes

Food! Food site launch of course must have good food!

The site is still in it’s beta stage. How do you guys find it compared to other existing local food sites (including omy’s Eat!)? Do leave a comment.

Technorati Tags: so shiok, soshiok.com, shiok, singapore, food website, sph, singapore press holdings, omy, omy eat, food lover, food reviews, famous cuisines

Mister Donut in Taiwan

The ads are so kawaii!

We seldom see such cute ads in Singapore do we? Taiwanese are culturally similar to Japanese in their penchant for over-the-top cutesy stuff.

Oh, and the donuts are delicious too! I am sure Mister Donut will be a hit if it’s available in Singapore. You can find out more of their products at their official Taiwanese website or the original Japanese one.

Technorati Tags: mister donut, donut, singapore, taiwan donut, japanese donut, sheep donut, lion donut