Friday, June 29, 2012

Lai Heng Prawn Noodles

When i was younger, I used to follow my dad to this really old school looking shophouse kopitiam along upper bukit timah road for breakfast.  That stretch of shop houses had since been evicted in place of a condo , The Linear. We would always go to the coffee shop just for one dish, their prawn noodles. I remember quite vividly that the noodles came in a "rooster bowl" and we were always served by an old man who walked around bare-footed. These memories were a good 15 years ago at least.

The current stall now sits in a little corner of a coffee shop along Teck Whye Lane in a more modern setting compared to the one I experienced years ago. They are still attracting quite a crowd. When I went the other time on a Saturday morning, I had to wait around 20 minutes for my food. Definitely, speaks volume of their popularity.
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Prawn noodles - SGD$3.50

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Prawn Noodles with intestines - SGD$4.50

A big bowl of noodles with dark sauce gravy, complemented with fresh prawns, fish cakes and pig intestines. The secret to the dish is their noodles. It is cooked to perfection. It has a "bouncy" texture yet when the noodles are in your mouth, it feels like they are melting on your tongue. And because the noodle is very well cooked, it is able to soak up the richness of the dark sauce gravy unlike many of those tasteless noodles you get out there. Anyone can add fresh prawns and ingredients to make a dish better but not every one can cook the noodles this well. This is the taste of my childhood. I would say. still as good as ever. 

143 Teck Whye Lane

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Love , X

X's rating of Lai Heng Prawn Noodles: 8/10

Monday, June 25, 2012

Rolleyes

Advertorial

Have you heard of Rolleyes?

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If you haven't, its high time you do! Rolleyes.com.sg is something new and exciting that has taken the F&B world by storm and is definitely gonna change the culinary scene in Singapore. Rolleyes.com.sg introduces and brings to the table something that has never been seen before in our sunny little island. Are you excited to find out more? We're sure you are!

X and I had the honour of attending a baking class organized by Rolleyes and one of their partners, Caffe Pralet. Chef Judy taught us how to make healthy yet palatable chocolate zucchini cake! During this session, we were exposed to the wonders of Rolleyes.com.sg and how their innovation will impact Singapore. We'll like to first, take this opportunity to thank the people behind Rolleyes, Chef Judy and the crew at Caffe Pralet for a wonderful afternoon.

Let us first, tell you how the name Rolleyes came about. You must be thinking of mean girls rolling their eyes with sarcasm aren't you! Haha but this has totally nothing to do with that. Rolleyes emerged from the idea of a camera ROLLing and how our EYES are used to appreciate visual elements. Rolleyes.com.sg is essentially a site that brings to you reviews of restaurants, not in pictorial, nor written form, but in video form! You get to see really exciting and extremely well-made videos of different eateries. Not only do you get up-close and personal with delectable food, you also get to see the restaurant space from the comfort of your home and also experience the atmosphere and ambience of that particular eatery. You can see in detail how the restaurant really looks like and know what to expect when you decide to visit the restaurant. As compared to pictures, a video definitely has an upper hand as it allows viewers to gain awareness of the entire layout of the restaurant while pictures, more often than not, try to show an "all-encompassing" perspective without much success. Rolleyes.com.sg is revolutionary. Their videos are captivating and allow their viewers to have truly, a bird's eye view.

Here's one on Jimmy Monkey(one of our favourite cafes)


In addition, footages of preparation of food gives you an idea of what the restaurant serves, in a dynamic manner. You see many different items dished out right in front of your eyes. As each dish flashes by, you'll inevitably hear your stomach growling (I was a victim of that haha) Food is now being presented in an enticing manner that will make you crave for them like never before. There is indeed no better way of knowing an eatery than watching an attractive video that leaves a deep impression which also magnifies details that pictures and words are not able to capture. You will be surprised, and delighted at how their videos will tempt your taste buds.

Just look at this


Aren't you impressed!
We were blown away by the videos that Rolleyes have came up with! They are fun, informative and engaging! And they surely do make you hungry, don't they!

For more videos: check out Rolleyes on Youtube


Well, that's all about Rolleyes.com.sg. Nothing too impressive. OH, WHO ARE WE KIDDING? Rolleye.com.sg has so much to offer! Their site is easy to use and navigation is as simple as ABC. You can view videos of restaurants or cafes under the respective tabs. They also have tabs like Specialties which feature vegan or organic eateries. That's right, they cater to people of all tastebuds!

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They also have numerous videos that will teach you tips and tricks on how to be more successful in the kitchen! For example, they have videos that teach you how to make an avocado milkshake and this! How to efficiently slice out mango skin. Now I can show my grandmother how to slice a mango and she'll certainly be impressed haha



In addition, these awesome videos can be shared on social media platforms with your friends and families! I've always been told that good things are meant to be shared. What better way to spread the love than to share these fantastic videos with your loved ones? Now now, we have to share wonderful things with the world, so hit those SHARE buttons!


Just when you think that Rolleyes.com.sg can't possibly get anymore awesome than this, we have another surprise for you! Rolleyes has in store for their subscribers special discounts and privileges from their respective F&B partners. Subscribe to Rolleyes.com.sg now to be entitled to incredibly unbelievable privileges that are not offered anywhere else!

What are you still waiting for? Subscribe to them now!

P.S: You're gonna subscribe one day anyway, so why not now! Especially when you get another perk of receiving Rolleyes Sticky candies for free!

We can't do a better job at describing and portraying Rolleyes.com.sg than an experience there itself.  So head on over and be amazed right this instant (:


Love,

X and K

Friday, June 22, 2012

(CLOSED)Cafebiz

I was checking out credit card discounts when I came across a 1 for 1 buffet promotion at Cafebiz! I was immediately drawn to it and went to their website to take a look. The offer stands for DBS/UOB/OCBC and Maybank card holders. I called them to make a reservation for 6 on a Thursday night. The promotion runs from Mondays to Thursdays.

We were really excited to see what they have to offer!

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Counter to get drinks. Free flow of coke, sprite, coffee and tea.

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Japanese section : sushi and sashimi
The variety is pretty limited. There were only tuna and salmon sashimi and simple sushi

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Seafood section : Prawns, clams, mussels, lobster, crabs

What shocked us was the non-existence of oysters.
Which hotel buffet has no oysters ):

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Chinese and Indian section: Laksa, tea eggs, roast meat, roast duck, naan, satay
Nothing really left an impression

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Dessert section : Chocolate fountain with fruits and marshmallows and hollow puffs.

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Simple fare like pandan cake, kueh lapis, and jelly
There were fruit tarts, opera, eclairs, chocolate cakes and swiss rolls too

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The prawns were juicy and pretty fresh.
The legs of the crabs were hard to tackle but were pretty good.
The highlight has gotta be the lobsters which were fleshy and juicy
The clams and mussels didn't taste very fresh
The scallops were alright
The norwegian salmon was pretty delicious

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The sashimi were refilled quickly and were generally quite fresh.
The cold cuts were alright. The taste of the spices were overpowering

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Chefs went around tables passing certain items which were not available on display to us personally. This hotdog was quite good!

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Pasta which was creamy and delectable.
The fish was cooked in an earl-grey infused sauce which was pretty interesting.
I felt that the seafood pudding was pretty unique but wasn't very tasty.

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Sashimi again

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Laksa, which I barely touched

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Nothing really impressive.

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One of my favourite sections was actually the bread section which boasted a few types of bread, along with butter or garlic butter. I ate a few of them hahaha the garlic butter was yummy! And as you can see, we made chocolate bread haha.

The hollow puffs were a disappointment. They were like "lao-hong"

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Marshmallows and fruits drizzled in chocolate.
The selection of fruits ran out but were not re-filled

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The chocolate cakes were good! The opera was not too bad and the eclairs were alright too.

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I asked for a cup of milk tea but they told me that that's chargeable so they offered me tea with milk.

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Icecream with nuts and fruits

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Gummies

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My friends felt that the selection was pretty limited. And they were disappointed at the absence of oysters. Some of the dishes on display were refilled promptly but most of them were not. For example, the black pepper chilli crab container was always empty and I did not even get to see one crab. And we did not have the opportunity to try that too. But I guess, given what we pay, $38 per pax, we can't really complain much. And also maybe because this buffet is kinda a fusion one, so several of the items were not as appealing. The quality of the food was generally alright. Service was good and the staff were friendly. I doubt we'd be returning anytime soon though

Traders Hotel, Level 1
Daily: 6.30am–10.30am, 12pm–2.30pm, 6.30pm–10pm

---
Love, K

K's rating of Cafebiz: 6/10

Monday, June 18, 2012

Lawry's

Lawry's has been around for a really really long time and I'm sure everyone knows about it. I've never dined there before but have always secretly wanted to haha. I chanced upon a 1 for 1 promotion at Lawry's for DBS card holders! So X and I seized the chance to visit the renowned restaurant.

Located at Mandarin Gallery, Lawry's is easy to locate.
We were greeted by friendly service the moment we entered the restaurant
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Red Wine, Rosemount - $13

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Hot chocolate - $9
The hot chocolate was not bad! I drank it very slowly and a waiter came to ask if the hot chocolate was not up to standard as I hardly touched it haha

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Bread and butter
The bread was warm and fragrant

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Still water - $7 a bottle(we got a bottle each)

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Their famous original spinning salad

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X said it was pretty good!
The salad fork was chilled to make sure that the salad was eaten at its best. So elaborate and definitely impressive.

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I didn't take the salad as i don't take vegetables so I was offered a bowl of mushroom soup. The mushroom soup was tasty and the texture was just right.

From the checking of my hot chocolate to the offering of a bowl of soup, Lawry's service was top-notch so far.

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Oyster- $6

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At $6 for one, the oysters were a steal! They were huge, fresh and juicy. SO SO SO GOOD. Never expected oysters to be so damn awesome at Lawry's! Please please try it if you're visiting Lawry's!

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Yorkshire Pudding

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Horse radish

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California cut- $68
Medium

I felt that the presentation of the steak was not very pleasant. I think that they should have let us poured the sauce over the steak ourselves. But I enjoyed my succulent steak nonetheless, and particularly took a liking to the eggy yorkshire pudding. My steak was nicely done and delicious. I also liked how the horse radish enhanced the taste of the steak!

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English Cut - $78
Medium
 
X felt that the slices were too thin to really "experience" the steak haha. He was offered more sauce when he was halfway through his steak. I must say that the staff at Lawry's are extremely attentive!

We should have gone for the traditional Lawry's cut but X tried that the last time he was there. I think that should be better than the English Cut!

It was a pleasant afternoon at Lawry's, especially when the service was so good. We definitely felt like royalty! We really appreciate the staff asking us how our food was and being so warm and friendly. And also, the friendly manager who offered to take pictures for us haha so nice of him! Such service really makes an impact on the dining experience. I'll be back again someday!

#04-01/31 Mandarin Gallery
Sundays - Thursdays: 11.30am - 10.00pm
Fridays / Saturdays / Eve & Public Holidays: 11.30am - 10.30pm
(Last Order at 10.30pm)



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Love, K


K's rating of Lawry's : 8/10