Tim Ho Wan (Toa Payoh)

Chef's recommendation

Phoenix city quail eggs

$5

The boiled quail eggs were overcooked, cold and tasted rather dry. The dish would have been better if the eggs were slightly runny.

braised chicken feet with abalone sauce

$5

Absolutely love the chewy texture of the chicken feet. However, the abalone sauce was pretty diluted.

part of the big 4 heavenly kings

baked bun with bbq pork

$4.50

Finally a dish that didn't fail on me. I'm not a pork bun lover but the sweet crispy crust and the bbq pork made a perfect pair. It's a dish everyone has got to try!

prawn dumpling

$5.50

Another must have staple for prawn lovers that didn't go wrong. yay! 

wasabi salad prawn dumpling

$5

Fried to perfection and the wasabi sauce was the icing to the dumpling.

rice with beef and fried egg

$6

I love it that they allowed the egg yoke to ooze out and drizzle onto the rice and beef. 

spring roll with egg white

$4.20

Crispy on the outside and soft on the inside

Vermicelli roll with bbq pork

$5.50

Vermicelli was smooth and cooked well. Thumbs up to this dish! 

mango pomelo sago

$5

A cold sweet dessert which helped to provide a refreshing end to the entire meal.

Verdict

The dishes that scored well surprised me as they were not the star attractions. 

I enjoyed the wasabi salad prawn dumpling the most. Sadly, the chef recommendations fell short of expectations. The quail eggs were overcooked and the abalone sauce was rather bland. 

Having tried the outlet at Plaza Singapura, I do feel a difference in quality between the two outlets. If you have time to queue or do not mind reaching as early as 9am, I would advise you to head to main outlet at Plaza Singapura. I remember my food being fresher and tastier there.

Tim Ho Wan

ERA centre 

450 Toa Payoh Lorong 6

#02-02

Have you heard of the queues at blk75 Toa Payoh Lorong 5?

Such long queues.... the food must be good right? 

It was only 6.30pm on a Sunday evening but yet, the stores were sprouting snaking long queues. Where could I be? Was I at the popular tourist hunt called Newton hawker centre? Or was I at the famous Chomp Chomp food centre? I was in fact at neither. Instead, I was spending my Sunday evening at a quiet neighbourhood. 

This neighbourhood was brought to life by this one hawker centre. It was beaming with food activity. Despite only having two parallel rows of stores, the huge variety of food allowed the centre to compete with her bigger siblings, Chomp Chomp and Newton. 

It had your usual bbq seafood store and famous local delights such as Char Kway Teow and Fish soup beehoon. Not to be outdone, it had speciality stores serving claypot rice and even a store boasting Thai traditional food. Perhaps, the wide variety served as one of the many reasons why this place was so crowded.

However, foodies will tell you that variety alone will not buy the crowds. When you see a queue in front of a food store in Singapore, the food has either got to be really good or people are just (sadly) following the herd mentality of queuing. Having eaten numerous times here before, I can testify that the queues here formed, are due to the tasty food the store owners serve. So the next time you need to satisfy your hawker craving, blk 75 Toa Payoh Lorong 5 is the 'go to' place to get your wide variety of good hawker food! 

What's the name of this fruit?

While many flock here to fulfill their restless tastebuds, I was actually here to get my antioxidant fix from a special fruit (green fruit above). This special fruit was once highly popular in Singapore but is sadly now, an extremely rare breed. It's my secret to curing that niggling flu bug of mine. Any guesses what this fruit is called? 

It's actually called 'balonglong' by most hawkers and also known as ambarella. A quick google search shows you how powerful this cheap yet effective fruit is

+ used to treat mouth sores

+ used to ease discomfort in diarrhoea

+ seeds are proven to lower high blood pressure

+ antibiotic content able to treat respiratory symptoms 

+  used to treat headaches, constipation and diabetes

Why is this fruit so powerful? 

That's because it is loaded with niacin, Vitamin A, ascorbic acid and carotene which boosts the immune system and fights against cancer. 

On drinking the juice, there is this powerful wakeup call to your brain and it refreshes you instantly, allowing you to feel more energize. I wish there were more drink stalls in Singapore that sells this healthy refreshing drink. But for now, I shall be contented with the stall in Toa Payoh that serve this drink. 

Porridge goodness in Singapore - Tiong Shian Porridge Centre

Was talking to a friend on my blog and she suggested having a post on coffee shop food. Hence my dear readers, here's presenting my first dive into a coffee shop food post. 

Hidden amongst the HDB blocks at Whampoa, Tiong Shian Porridge Centre serves a variety of porridge and add on dishes for the hungry eater.  

So what makes them stand out from the crowd? Or more directly, why should you patronize them?

Well apart from the usual porridge dishes, one can expect to order other exotic dishes such as frog legs and fried intestines!!

Being adventurous vultures, we order both the frog legs and fried intestines.

dried chilli frog leg

$16 for two frogs / $8 for one frog

Crunchy yet succulent, this frog leg dish did not fail me. The meat was chewy and it wasn't mushy or stale. If you one who is particular about getting fresh frogs, this is one place to check out. 

Fried intestines (What you normally eat in Kway Chap but FRIED)

$4

I'm honestly not a fried intestine fan but my dinner companion seemed to be enjoying this dish loads. The crispy texture was similar to biting into a fried piece of keropok, just that it was fried intestines this time around. 

Stir fried Vegetables

$4.50 

As the saying goes, we always need a little bit of greens in our daily diet. I liked the oyster sauce as it masked away the usual bitter vegetable taste. The stalks were also crunchy which gave it an added bonus. 

Century Egg chicken slice porridge with a mixture of fried intestines poured in

$5 bowl 

The porridge is cooked cantonese style so expect a thick broth unlike the watery teochew style. We had a myriad of ingredients swimming in our porridge and that added to the tastiness of the dish. 

Blk 82 Whampoa Drive

#01-973

Mon to Fri: 9am - 12noon, 4pm - 12am

Saturdays: 9am - 12noon

Upcoming post: Searching for the best food during my braces journey. It hurts a lot!

♥

Din Tai Fung

Din Tai Fung is a restaurant synonymous with Xiao Long Baos.

Unknown to first timers, these "Baos" are filled with not only meat fillings but also hot steaming gravy. I once had a tourist who was so excited to devour the entire thing and placed the entire "Bao" in his mouth, only to realize that the hot gravy would ooze out and scald his tongue. So for first timers, let the buns cool first. Blow a bit and take bite size mouthfuls to allow yourself to slowly enjoy the whole Xiao Long Bao tasting experience. 

A small basket of Xiao Long Bao comes in a set of 6

$6.80

These "Baos" are best eaten with vinegar.

One of the rare few restaurants that serve century egg without having to buy the bowl of porridge.

$3.80

freshly brewed chicken soup

$9.50

pork chop

$7.50

pork chop fried rice

$9.90

On a side note, I ordered other dishes too but after my incessant photo taking, I was told to stop being so anti-social :P Oh wells...I wonder if other aspiring food bloggers get such comments too. 

Anyhow....... here's more info about Din Tai Fung

Din Tai Fung

Junction 8 Shopping Centre

9 Bishan Place

#01 - 41

Tel: 63565228

#OOTD to Din Tai Fung

White top from loef.sg

Leopard prints skirt from H&M

Gold bangle from lovisa

Pink necklace 

Hai Di Lao - Steamboat experience

Nestled on the 2nd floor of a shophouse along Clarke Quay, Hai Di Lao provides a steamboat experience with excellent customer service. If you are one who is particular about good service, this restaurant will definitely make your experience a memorable one. 

Knowing it was going to be crowded, I reached Hai Di Lao at 5.30pm. I was ushered to my table and given a warm towel while being seated. The waitress promptly asked if I needed a drink and proceeded to pour me a cup of winter melon tea. I was definitely taken aback by their warm welcome! Firstly, the warm towel definitely scored points for a tired me. I was also so glad I wasn't coerced into deciding what I wanted to eat straight away. Instead, I was offered a welcome drink :) 

Next came the introduction of the iPad menu. I was told that I could order through the iPad in either Mandarin or English. Hooray to the pictures on every dish which helped in me deciding what to eat. 

I was also given an apron to protect my clothes and a ziplock bag to protect my phone! One is usually given aprons in most restaurants but a ziplock bag to protect a phone was definitely a bonus!

From the looks of it, each waitress was assigned to a designated area. Thus, this indeed helped to build rapport with the customers as I could easily signal to a familiar face when in need of help. Interestingly, the tables around us were mostly filled with Japanese people. I reckon they have a handful of Japanese patrons.  

Fruits and tea being served before our steamboat session.

YAY to eating fruits b4 meals and healthy living!

My steamboat soup base

The bf chose the Mala and seafood flavour

Hai Di Lao provides a buffet spread of sauces for you to choose from.

They have the usuals like garlic with sesame oil to non-Chinese ones such as barbecue sauce.

A steamboat is not complete without whacking the beef!!

More beef and more food.

Slurp Slurp :)

The expensive $26 fish which tasted weird.

 Prior to this, we had ordered a cheaper fish which cost us $13 and it tasted dam good. 

So being humans with irrational behaviours, we assumed that more expensive = better tasting.

However, when this $26 fish came, low and behold, it tasted weird with the bones still inside the meat. 

My kind and macho bf told the waitress about our bad experience with the $26 fish. 

To our surprise, she waived the charges of the $26 fish and gave us another plate of the $13 fish. 

I just wanna say, all throughout the conversation, she patiently listened to our side of the story and never once did she rebut us. 

SUCH EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE.

10 brownie points :D

The final bill came up to $120 for two people which works out to $60 per pax.

FREE manicure service is also provided for patrons. As the queues for the manicure service are spiraling long, they allow you to come back another day just for your free manicure! 

The whole experience reminded me of my time in Taipei because of the quality of food and service. Looking forward to having more of such restaurants in Singapore.

Hai Di Lao Hot Pot

3D River Valley Road

#02 - 04

Tel: 82636674

On to my #OOTD which I wore to Hai Di Lao

Peplum top, Klarra

Blue Jeans, Aeropostale, Ngee Ann City, B2-36

Heels, Nine West

Golden Aztec bangle, Louvisa

No Signboard Seafood - Geylang branch

Introducing the red hot spicy chilli crabs from No Signboard Seafood restaurant.

Being a crab lover, a random Saturday night saw me heading down to the No Signboard Seafood restaurant at its Geylang branch. The sauce was thick with egg and chilli. Although a tiny winy bit spicer than usual, the sauce was certainly a heavenly combination with the crab. 

I ordered a coconut too to quench me from all the spiciness. It was ice chilled so that really helped to queer the hotness that was floating through my mouth.

A crab here costs $55 per kg so prepare to be generous with your wallets!

No Signboard Seafood

414 Geylang Road

Tel: 6842 3149

Opens: 12noon - 1am daily