Curry Fish Head @ Sri Veera's

Curry Fish Head

Couldn't resist a 5 course curry fish head set for 2 pax, at $15 only. Badly wanted to see the genuineness of the offer, because they say - good things don't come cheap.

Most importantly, the fish head is fresh and meaty! We were served a full Grouper fish head, in piping hot Indian curry. Side vegetables of the day, with our choice of Masala chicken and sweet fried fishes (we didn't choose the mutton) on banana leaves. What's not mentioned on the deal was their offering of fresh, crisp papadum crackers for us too! It was enjoyable.

You might be pleased, that the little eatery is pleasantly air-conditioned.

Cucumber in Yoghurt, Brinjal, Gourd (Day Vegetables),

Masala Chicken and Fried Fishes.

Lunch at Salute Coffeeshop

Stew Kuche - Signature pork knuckle (Served with rice)

Salute Kopitiam opened with a bang in 2014, splashing stories across blogs and Instagram. We weren't moved, because it meant loud crowd. And prices weren't exactly attractive for unproven food. It was Fave 1-for-1 set-lunch promotion that got us here today - $9.90 set lunch for 2, includes a good creamy mushroom soup.

The famous German pork knuckle from Stew Kuche gave us a hard time with its thick, tough skin. But beneath that hard baked cover, you'll harvest some flavorsome meat with lean melting fat. Nice. The acidic red wine dip is genius for helping to digest the heavy meal.

Jack the Ripper - Ripper’s Original Burger

Originally served with fries, the burger stall had ran out of it - we were offered corn chips, which was tasty enough to keep us satisfied. Then we were asked that the pork patty which was also not available, be replaced with chicken patty for the burger.

The chicken patty was heavily seasoned and moist. While we would have preferred natural meaty, grilled flavor. A burger with just lettuces and melted cheese is also quite plain. A definite no, if we are paying full priced meal.

Tonkichi (とん吉) Tonkatsu - Our best.

Hire & Rosu Katsu Set, deep fried Pork fillet and loin ($27.90++)

Chawanmushi ($6.90++, Add to set meal $4.50++)

Our best experience of Tonkatsu was at Tampopo where they serve juicy and flavorsome Black Pig, regrettably without freshly crushed sesame seeds.

Saboten and Tonkichi were the two others we tried - no black pig option, just your normal pork serving dipped into their traditional tonkatsu sauce with crushed sesame. We had thought Saboten was good enough, but until we do Tonkichi today.

The meat is simply juicier, than all our visits to Saboten. Even the lion portion which was deemed to be always drying, was wonderfully flavorsome. It even comes with a thin strip of fat that tastes oishii! We were pleasantly surprised to have found an alternative.

And we had the Deals promotion to thank for today - $15 for 1 set. It's a steal!

1 Market by Chef Wan - A return after 2 years.

My first and last visit here was 2 years ago. Today, we were riding on Groupon promotion at $37.50 for 2 pax lunch buffet, and were glad things remain fantastically so. The restaurant is fully booked.

Stayed faithful to sweet tasting seafood of fresh 'Gong Gong', prawns and crabs, and have my seconds; similarly for the Sashimi. Followed by some flavorsome roasted beef and chicken satay before proceeding to the long cooked food table! By now, queue had formed for the popular black pepper seafood platter - it had to be rationed and served by the chef :)

Before i rolled over with a bloated tummy, we stuffed up with eclairs, puffs, cakes and ice-cream on warm waffles! This is my lunch and dinner, altogether.  

Seafood on ice

Sashimi on iced bamboo mats 

Roasted Beef and Chicken

BBQ Beef and Chicken Satay

Black Pepper Seafood Platter 

Chocolate eclairs, Tarts, Cheese Cakes, Shot Glass Desserts, Cream Puffs and Carrot Cake!

Rainbow Cake! & Pudding

Nonya kuehs, Cream Puffs, Red Velvet Cake and Strawberry Cake

Beef Pho @ Madam Saigon

Special Beef Noodle Soup - Sliced Beef, Brisket and Beef Balls ($10.90++)

Late lunch at Millenia Walk. We couldn't feel our hunger until food was before us. The morning at the City Hall left us emotionally drained.

Having been reading up on Vietnam and their heavy use of MSG seasoning on Pho, i was looking forward to tasting some local beef Pho, tweaked to suit the local palate. So Ric readily purchased their online deal at $7++.

The soup failed to rouse appetite. It was less flavorsome than our Hainanese beef soup; and the added MSG demotes it further. Fresh herbs and vegetables were left raw when submerged into the lukewarm soup. We like their beef balls best; bouncy and well-textured.

We just took in everything to fill the void in the stomach. Emotional emptiness in our heart reminds.

Sliced Beef, Brisket Noodle Soup ($10.50++)

Mookata Steamboat at Rattana Thai

Was intriguing to start our first Thai Mookata BBQ steamboat at Rattana Thai after getting a 

Deal voucher at $19.90 (Add $2 for service charge payable to merchant) meal set for 2 pax. For big eaters, we don't think the portion of food is filling enough.

Seafood Menu 

Marinated Fish Slices

3 Tiger Prawns

Whole Squid

3 New Zealand Green Mussels

Chicken Sausages

Free Flow Authentic Tom Yam Soup

Green vegetables Platter: Cai Sim, Cabbage, Kangkong.

2 Fresh Eggs

Vermicelli / Glass Noodles

Soft Egg Tofu

Imitation Crab meat Sticks

Corn

Straw Golden Mushrooms

Carrots

Tomato

Inclusive Ala carte dishes:

Mango Salad

Deep Fried Calamari

Top Shell with Rattana seasoning

Ala Carte: Mango Salad, Deep Fried Calamari and Top Shell with Rattana seasoning

We enjoyed cooking the fresh ingredient in their Tom Yum Soup base, but towards the end of the meal, everything start tasting the same, and gets salty. On the hindsight, we should have just request for a top-up of plain hot water for the soup base to water things down.

Quite wonderfully, the 3 ala carte appetizers that came free with our deal actually taste great - the Mango salad and the Top Shell. It got us coveting - that their ala carte kitchen would serve us better than an all Tom Yam soup steamboat.

Now, camera off. As we start our steamboat with a rub of oil with a fat lemongrass stem; instead of pork lard!

Peranakan Buffet at Hotel Grand Pacific

Prawn & Fish Crackers, Deep Fried Squids, Fried Fish, Fried Ngoh Hiang (with sauce and sambal chili)

Within a span of 1 month, i actually came back to Hotel Grand Pacific (Sun's Cafe) twice, with different group of my family members for their Peranakan themed buffet. Prices were so affordable with Groupon, we didn't have to over-eat to make the money worth, and fare was palatable and exciting enough for the gathering.

On both occasions, i noticed that food almost never run out at this generously replenished buffet where we left with satisfied burps and rounded bellies. If you think varieties (shown here) weren't enough, don't worry, i missed out half their cooked food section - mostly seafood, and desserts - fruits, warm sweet soup and Swensen's ice-cream!

Fresh Salad, Nonya Achar, Chilled Boiled Streaky Pork with Cincalok

Fruit Rojak (Pineapple, Green Mango, Green Apple, Guava, Cucumber, Turnip) & Kueh Pie Tee Corner

Claypot Corner 

Claypot Corner - Babi Pongteh, Curry Chicken, Itik Sioh (duck), Beef Rendang

Cuttlefish Congee, Laksa, Fish Maw with minced Pork Ball Soup, Udang Lemak Nenas (Prawns with pineapples in coconut curry)

 Roasted Pork/ Roasted Duck

Assorted Nonya Kueh

Dairy Queen Blizzard Cake

Chocolate Chips Blizzard Ice-Cream Cake, 6" (Groupon Promo: $23.90, usual: $39.90)

This is our Frozen; not that animation Frozen, but kids should love this as much. It is sweet, very sweet, cloying sweet, especially its Chocolate fudge center and the Chocolate ice-cream. But without a doubt, the white Vanilla Soft Serve is yummy.

If you are still thinking of packing it home, make sure the Dairy Queen has an outlet within 15mins from your destination, because of their lack of proper packaging - just few dry ice packs in a common paper cake box, scotch-taped up. It wouldn't do.

Surely, we prefer any good ice-cream pints to this.

Crosta Pizza Delivery @ Crawford Lane

Latine Pizza, fresh Rucola packed separately ($24.20)

Ric returns to the waiting car as i catches strong whiff of Crosta Pizza's wood fired cooking, quite unmistakably. It smells deliciously wonderful!

Albeit the miserly seafood portion on their Capri (mixed seafood) pizza, ingredients used were fresh and rather top notch. I enjoyed their Latine piled with gorgonzola blue cheese and bitter crunchy rucola rocket.

That being said, we would patronize again when they are having a 50% deal. For it seems inappropriate for takeaways to charge restaurant prices? Even when they are very good takeaway pizza - never our regular P-huts or Canadian.

Delifrance Sandwiches - Oh! It's been too long...

Baguette Sandwiches with Seafood D'sire and Tuna D'licious (background), with thick Coffee Black

Why has we took this long time to revisit the simple Delifrance sandwich?

Price factor. With Subway coming in, offering much affordable and healthy sandwich choices; we simply jumped on the bandwagon. Even my neighborhood Delifrance closes down for a new Subway outlet!

But you can see how popular Delifrance still is, when they ran a $5.50 meal promotion with Groupon. It was sold out within days. Between us, we bought 4 vouchers, or possibly more.

It is a nostalgia for my first Delifrance sandwich in 1997. Often working late nights, my senior would suggest a Delifrance meal when we got bored with hawker takeaways. Fresh graduate like myself, certainly felt grown-up and fab to munch on sandwiches dinner. Today's proper sit-down lunch with mom tastes just as very good!

Bakes at Crusty Oven

Cherry Brandy ($6.40), Baked Banana ($3.80), Oreo Cheesecake ($3.50)

I have to buy a $8 for $16 voucher for some pies at Crusty to realize that not all pies are created equal; some are more equal than the others.

The priciest cherry brandy pie which the stall lady recommended was a disappointment; it was dry and flaky. In contrast, the humble banana pie which Ric picked, was deliciously moisten.

The Oreo cheesecake was by far, our strangest tasting cheesecake - it has the rich look of an American cheesecake, but tasted and smell so weak; it even turned slightly icy after we left it in the fridge for the night - water in cheesecake!? Forgive me.

Arirang Korean Restaurant

Chicken Ginseng Soup, Samgyetang ($20) + Rice ($3)

Korean cuisine is something i would craved for after an absence, so we bought a Groupon for the Arirang Korean Restaurant, thinking it shouldn't get too bad right?

And we were quite safe.

6 complementary side dishes of Banchan -

Anchovies, Cucumbers, Potatoes, Sweet Black Beans, Kimchi, Hot Green Chili.

Enjoyed the simple dishes of unlimited Banchan and hot Ginseng soup, albeit the missing glutinous rice which we considered mandatory in a Samgyetang.

Our first try of Korean dumplings made up of chives, tofu, Korean vermicelli and minced pork fillings were impressive. Overall food standard aren't stunning, but fairly comfortable for a repeat.

Steamed Korean Dumplings, Mandu ($15)

Sizzling Pepper Lunch

Curry Beef Pepper Rice with Cheese ($10.20)

Can't get enough of Pepperlunch after our last date here for their Teppanyaki pasta. So nothing stops us when Groupon offers a $13 for $20 of the Pepperlunch menu.

We need an order of their famous Pepper rice, and of course, my new found love for hotplate pasta. Had craved for something rich and creamy, but while i was on the cheese cream, i yearned very much instead for their tangy tomato puree which we last had... the one which i licked the plate clean.

Basil Cheese Cream, Chicken and Mushroom ($12.50)

Ply Baked Goods - Lesser fine baked goods

Mango Jivara ($33, 500gm)

A layer of mango mousse with generous amount of fresh mango chunks sandwiched between
moist chocolate sponge and creamy milk chocolate mousse, finished off with mango glaze. 

Ric met some haughty service at Ply Baked Goods when he went to pick up our order of cakes from their shop at Soo Chow Walk. It is a bakery like no others - you don't detect any traces of baking aroma at this shop? Eerie. Customer service is unfriendly and un-smiley, with the counter lady refusing our request to help slice up the cakes for easy serving at home.

Such arrogance can be overlooked if they have the stuff to be haughty, but it proved to be just good money wasted on lousy food. While i'm still puzzling over their business strategy - why open a shop that sells over-priced cakes; unless you plan to do just one-time business?

Their sponge cakes are thinly airy and the cheese cake crumbly; probably had just input of 50% real cheese? It tasted more like weak Japanese cheese cakes than the rich American version; but looked like one with the addition of a thick crust base.

This procurement is a mistake; even with a 50% discount throw in by Groupon.

Blueberry Cheesecake, 8" round ($42 per kg)

Rich and creamy baked cream cheese with swirls of blueberries filling with sweet dough crust base.

Pies & Coffee

Chicken Cheddar, Lamb Shank ($8.95+ per set)

Late lunch at Pies and Coffee probably had their duck confit sold out on us; we were left with their premium lamb shank and wagyu beef cheek pies. With the chicken cheddar being less cheesy wet than i had hoped and a muttony lamb shank; your safest bet would probably be the Wagyu beef cheek.

A discounted food trial with the Deal voucher, our pie set today includes a coffee or tea at just $7.90.

Long Black ($4+)

So while the food wasn't mind-blowing, the sight and aroma of the cup-staining coffee got us excited. Looking to the serving counter for clues, we saw large packets of Arabica beans from renowned Toby's Estate!

Toby's second blend, the Woolloomooloo is being brew, and it is truly excellent - rich, heavy body with a long finish. We had only wished, the added milk doesn't cool our coffee so much...

Wagyu Beef Cheek ($8.95+)