Yet another recommendation - Raindrops

Okay. So it started out with Sam 'liking' their facebook group. And I went googling about them. It seems like it's a nice place to chill out and eat. And just nice that I'm meeting Sam yesterday so I decided that we should try out this place.

It's actually quite a small restaurant/cafe, probably about 10 tables indoor and 5 tables outdoor? But the outdoor seats look romantic with a candle. Haha. If you wish to have a candle-lit dinner. ;)

So we ordered dishes with a rain drop beside the name. Pardon me again because I still cannot remember dishes' names. Well, they are Salmon with Asparagus and Fish n' Chips. The serving speed was really fast. I think we only waited for less than 10 minutes.

The Salmon was nice because it doesn't taste fishy and it's not dry and hard. I couldn't figure out what the sauce was but according to Sam it was nice. And the mash potato was nice because even though without sauce, it has a taste by itself. The texture was just nice, not too powdery, not too soft. Just a pity that there isn't much asparagus.

The Fish n' Chips was also a surprise, because it doesn't taste like those you find elsewhere. According to the menu description, it's beer battered. At first when I tasted I felt it tastes like fried banana. Then I realized it's beer. Haha. Nothing much to mention besides the beer taste. Perhaps that the green salad could have been better with some sauce. It was just plain vegetables and tasted quite bitter.

Lastly we ordered a tiramisu-alike dessert, I think it was some mousse or something. I think there was liquor inside, oh of course there is because it's tiramisu-like. So it was not fantastic, but acceptable given the fact that I couldn't stop eating it. Actually I wanted to try the chocolate cake with ice cream but they didn't have it yesterday. )=

We felt that the service was good but just one part that is quite annoying. They kept approaching us to clear our plates when there's still some food left on the plates. But other then that their service is good.

I think if you don't mind paying a bit more it's a good place to go to. The salmon was $16 and fish n' chips is $12 and the mousse was $9. But they're having 20% off now so after GST the total was $32++.

Give it a try!

Visit them at 2 Orchard Link, Scape, Singapore 237978 or their website.


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Another recommendation - The Soup Spoon

Okay. I have been to this place once long ago, but I totally did not remember how it tasted, so I thought it wasn't great. Well, I was wrong until another friend recommended that place to us.

So I went to the place once again. My friend recommended the beef soup (again I forget the name it has on the menu) beef goulash (updated 14 April 2012) and I ordered a meal with it.

Beef goulash with ham and cheese sandwich

The soup is good! It has substances and the taste is there. I thought $7.90 (or so?) for a bowl of soup is quite expensive, but it actually feels like a main dish more like a appetizer. And I quite like the sandwich too, because it tastes different from the ham and cheese sandwich elsewhere. Of course it can't quite fight with Subway. Haha. The full meal for the beef soup is $11.40 I think. Oh yeah, and you get a stamp for every $5 spent. Collect some amount and you get some goodies, which I can't quite remember. =P

Actually nothing much I want to recommend here, because I can only say it's worth the price for its quantity and quality. You can just give it a try!

Visit them at their outlets listed on their website.

Cheap Lobang - Redhill Market Chicken Rice

Opps. I actually forgot what's the name of the chicken rice stall, I think it's 85 Hainanese Chicken Rice. Anyway, as I'm currently working around Redhill, and once in a while I visit the Redhill market during lunch, I found this $2 chicken rice stall by accident.

Why am I recommending a $2 chicken rice stall when it's everywhere? Because it's a different one that I have seen. Usually those I visit, they serve a very tiny little portion of chicken meat. But this is different, the serving is comparable to a $2.50 or maybe $3 one. Where can you really find a filling lunch which costs only $2 nowadays? Taste wise, honestly, how wrong can chicken rice go? So this is considered edible. Oh, and instead of serving you cucumber, they serve you preserved vegie. Although it's nothing great, it's still different from other chicken rice stall you see. Yeah, this does sound a little funny.

Pay a visit to them at Redhill Market. I guess they're the only $2 chicken rice stall there? The only other clue I can provide is that their signboard is white words on blue background. Haha. Enjoy.

Visit them at 79 Redhill Lane Singapore 150079.


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Another recommended baked rice - With A Pinch Of Salt

Yes! This is the one I have been patronizing very frequently recently. So they actually sell this very nice baked rice. Since it's quite recent I can describe the dish better in details. ^oo^

Actually nothing much to describe. First is that there is no GST + service charge! I love places with no GST and service charge. This baked rice costs only $8.90 without all the extras! =P Anyway, talking about the taste, I like the sauce because it doesn't taste like the normal baked rice sauce we'll get elsewhere. I think it's some herbs which I don't know and mixed with some other spices. Well, I don't really care as long as it tastes good. Second thing is that the rice was cooked just nicely. Usually the rice in baked rice is quite hard and dry, but this is different. It's soft and juicy because of the sauce. And of course the layer of cheese is quite thick too. Meat wise I think it's okay, since everywhere they are having a small serving of meat on a large serving of rice. I am satisfied with the meat serving. One word, yummy~

Second is the fish and chips. Actually nothing much can go wrong with fish and chips. But I just want to mention that their fish and chips is worth it in the sense that the fish fillet is very thick not for the crumbs but for the meat itself. You know some places have very 'thick' looking fillet but it's all just crumbs. So this one they are selling is considered the better one. And it tastes quite fresh and juicy so I think it's considered good for the price of $8.90 if I remember correctly.

Last is the dessert called 'Choco Lava'. I supposed it's brownie? Actually I don't really care what it is either, as long as it tastes good. So it's a brownie in a cup, topped with vanilla ice cream and most importantly, filled with hot melted chocolate~ When you dig into the brownie the chocolate flows out and together with the ice cream you send the spoon to your mouth, fantastic taste. I really love chocolate. XD And it's $4.90 only. Don't think that it looks like a small serving, because after the main course you probably need to share it with another person.

Choco lava

This is really quite a good place to hang out with friends and chit-chat, because they serve you one big jar of ice water the moment you step into the cafe, so you won't need to worry of getting thirsty after talking too much.

Yup, and the best is they are not a franchise, so they don't serve like robots but are quite friendly. Give it a try! I don't know the exact address, but it's along Tanjong Katong Road, alight at the Tanjong Katong Girls' School bus stop and walk a few shops down the road. It's a corner shop. You will see very cute cartoon figures and probably will know that's the place. Hope you will enjoy the food there~!

Visit them at 297 Tanjong Katong Road, Singapore 437080, or their website.


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First on the recommended list - NYDC

Actually, this shouldn't be the first on the list, but it's the first that came across my mind, and I want to blog something about recommended food, so I just make do with it and make it the first. =P

Well, I can't remember when exactly was the first time I went to NYDC, but should be quite a long time ago. Actually we had some dessert which was not nice, that was the mudpie. But I don't remember why it wasn't banned and I still revisited the place.

So one dish I want to recommend is the Mushroom and Ham Baked Rice. I don't know why I love baked rice so much. It's full of carbs (rice) and fats (cheese), but it's tasty. So this Mushroom and Ham Baked Rice was nice because of the sauce and the cheese. I can't really describe the taste but it was just very appetizing. And I like the part that the cheese tastes a bit like meat, because it's thick (LOL). The serving portion was quite filling too, I usually shares it with my friend.

It costs $11.90 before GST + service charge. I'm not sure if it's worth the price, but I do go there once in a while with my friend, because we both love the baked rice. As for their desserts, mudpie aside, I haven't really tried them all, so I can't give any comments for now.

Maybe you can give it a try and tell me how great/disgusting they are. ^oo^

Visit them at their outlets listed on their website.

First on the banned list - Crystal Jade La Mian and Xiao Long Bao @ Suntec

I have decided to put this on the first of my banned list, given its poor food quality and poor service and very expensive price.

The first time I tried Crystal Jade was probably around 4 years ago. I vaguely remember that the xiao long bao was nice and the la mian was not bad too. Once in a while I do go back for revisits and so far they haven't failed me, until I visited the one at Suntec.

I'm not sure if it's because of that branch only or all their restaurants' quality have drastically deteriorated. When I stepped in, no water was served. Why do I bring this up? Isn't it quite common for some restaurants to not serve water at the beginning? No, I'm comparing this with Ding Tai Fung. They served me hot tea at the moment I was there. Okay Ding Tai Fung aside, back to Crystal Jade.

So I was looking through the menu, nothing really great actually. I eyed upon this chicken soup (I don't really care what's its real name on the menu), and wanted to try it out with plain la mian, since the soup was about $7 (I think) and I didn't want to order another bowl of la mian. I asked the waiter how much it would cost if I order a plain bowl of noodle. He came back to me with a price I totally could not accept - $7. WTH? Plain la mian costs $7? So their chicken/pork/beef are almost equal to nothing because a bowl of chicken la mian costs around the same? Anyway, so I decided not to order that plain la mian anymore.

Eventually, my friends and I decided to order the chicken soup, still, with beef soup, so that we can try a variety (actually there's a few). Then we ordered some spring onion la mian (I can't be bothered with its name either), which supposedly looks quite good from the picture.

To our surprise! It was all too disappointing. The soups were not hot, they were just lurk warm. The taste? I really don't want to talk about the taste. I think Myojo instant noodle's soup can do better. I really felt like I was drinking some lurk warm water seasoned with AJINOMOTO and colouring and a few chunks of meat. DISAPPOINTING. I don't even want to talk about the la mian. It was just a simple la mian fried with spring onion and some oil. Oh I remembered, it was supposed to be topped with shrimps. And it was just a few bits of dried shrimps.

I swear I'm not ever going back to that place again. And I publicize this among my friends and warn them not to go near this place. This is the first restaurant which has disappointed me with expensive price but food that cannot even be compared with those in hawker centre. Even my school's canteen sells tastier and healthier soups.

Friends, if you are sane, don't go to that place. And not that their xiao long bao was really great. I can go elsewhere for that, and I will find that place soon. Please ban Crystal Jade! At least the Suntec branch was lousy.

Disgrace to the restaurants. Tsk Tsk Tsk.

Don't visit them at Suntec City.

First post!

Yes this sounds a little cliche, but still, welcome to the first post!

As someone has commented that I shall just open a blog and introduce all the eating places I like and I have banned, I shall just do this out for fun. No guarantee that it will be updated regularly, because as probably all my friends have come to realize, I am such a lazy pig. ^oo^

Hope you will find my recommendations (or warnings) useful!