Sin Kee Famous Chicken Rice

It has been a long long loooong time since i last had my chicken rice fix. I used to love chicken rice, and of course I still do. But with all the bad publicity about how unhealthy, how fattening chicken rice is, I have stopped eating chicken rice for many years. The only chicken rice stall that I go to, if i ever have an intense craving for chicken rice is Tian Tian Chicken rice@maxwell market. 

One fine Sunday... with mum, aunty, cousins and grandpa we decided to pay a visit to Sin Kee Famous Chicken rice at margaret drive, which is a stone throw away from where grandpa lives. 

This is the tender chicken that went into our tummy...

Too lazy to remove the garnish, so ended up with a photo that focuses on the parsley instead of the chicken =/

Our generous portion of condiments!
Very flavourful rice! hmmm yummmmy!!
Sin Kee Famous Chicken Rice

40A Commonwealth Ave / Margaret Drive Food Centre

02-548

S(140044)

10:30-21:00 (closed on Monday)

Tel: 64710355

Marutama Ramen

The first time we had ramen here was when the restaurant just opened. Really didn't like the previous try. The soup & egg  were way too salty. Noodles I thought tasted more like wanton noodles, mee kia. 

We decided that since this tiny restaurant in Central has received much raves and reviews from people, today shall be the day for second chance. 

I asked for no spring onions, no coriander and in case they add any weird greens into my ramen i quickly added no 'anything green' probably i said it too fast, the waitress didnt hear me and here came my bowl of ramen with all the greens. Eeeks! i hate the overwhelming smell/taste of parsley, spring onions and coriander... i know it is mean, but i just had to send it back for a new bowl of 'no anything green' ramen. 

Here... here is my new bowl of ramen. K that green thing that is peeking out from the soup is the seaweed. Yup they bothered to ask... so do you want seaweed? Yes! i love seaweed, no adverse reactions toward this 'green stuff'.Both of us ordered the house special, some 7 nut flavour soup, at $15 each bowl. I love the soup, especially with a tinge of the tangy lemon that comes with it. It is lighter, more refreshing and seems healthier than the usual pork-based soup that we are used to. Friend on the other hand prefers the Kyushu pork-based, milky collagen soup. Texture of noodles, i prefer the Kyushu region kind of ramen. I still maintain the stand that this type of ramen tastes too much like mee kia. This bowl of ramen comes with chicken balls, which we felt were too dry and tasteless. Give us back our usual fatty char siew anything!
This is the egg... a bit of a disappointment. Still prefer the one at Tampopo. Egg yolk too cooked, and the egg on the whole is too salty. I wonder why do they have to make it sooooo salty! 
The side dish of char siew that we ordered. Also too dry... uh well.
Will i be back? Certainly... Is it value for money? Definitely not. So why would i be back? I love ramen!

There are days I wonder why do i love ramen so much... a bowl of dry mee pok is much cheaper, more flavourful but....

Marutama@Central

11:30 - 22:00

Zi Yean Restaurant

We have decided that this would be our first and last time at Zi Yean. Simply overrated.

Pasta Waraku @ Novena Square 2

Tired of typing, so only one comment: I think the portion is a little bit too teeny weeny for a PIG like me!
I had the Prawn and Octopus with Basil-based sauce. L had the sea urchin, salmon roe, squid.

Pasta Waraku@Novena Square 2

11:30-23:00 (last oder 22:30)

Beyond the Usual

After Tampopo with The Owl on Friday, we went over to the Botanic Gardens. Our initial plan of the ZOO was spoilt by the weather. You know the constipated type where it looks like its going to rain, but it doesnt rain? Well so instead of heading to the zoo we went over to the Botanic Gardens after our meal. Had to digest our food and not feel so guilty after our carbo-loaded meal. Well we, or rather I concluded that the most eye-candy, pleasant looking thing in the Gardens was Allan Wu and his kids feeding the swans! Too bad, it was just unfortunate that I did not bring along my 18x zoom camera!!! SHUCKS! 

After an hour of walking around the garden, the useless, fatty, piggy us headed down to Holland Village shopping centre for some window shopping and yes... food again!! Initially the plan was just to have a drink, then the Owl suggested finger food, but the finger food at Cafe 211 looks miserable, all deep fried food, so we decided on pizzas. I remembered cafe 211 having a 1 for 1 promotion for pizzas and pastas, so well in times of financial crisis we need to take advantage of promotion like that right? so yeah... had another pasta too... haiii pigg...

Sat: another beyond the usual day. Met L for tunch at pasta waraku. Wanted to head over to Valentino at Rifle Range but they were close, so we immediately made a reservation for the 29th October. Anyway after pasta waraku L was going for her painting class. I offered to send her there, only to be convinced, tempted by her offer of attending her painting class too! 

Yes me! the one who hated Art lessons (second to Math), who remembers vividly horrors of painting apple during art lesson, who remembers getting hit on the knuckles with the teacher's 1 metre rule, the one who got a F for art, the one who gets laugh at when she attempts to draw trees, ox-bow lake, meander. Yup so here is my first time attempt on acrylic painting:

Guess who i was trying to imitate??

well....this is it... erm this is the original painting by Van Gogh... *ashame*

I still cant reconcile with the fact that I cant seem to draw trees!

Tampopo Restaurant

Went to tampopo twice in 2 weeks! First was with ah T n the second visit was with the Owl. Why do i love tampopo? Seriously I don't know. I think there are better ramen out  there like, Ken Ramen, but still I find myself frequenting Tampopo. Anyway havent had the ramen craving for quite some time. But i am back with vengeance! 

K anyway this was the Ramen I had with Ah T and little S last week. Original Black Pig Shabu-Shabu ramen. Mmmmm it is GOOD! I like milk-based pork bone ramen! Very flavourful! And the black pork is thinly-sliced, shabu shabu style, unlike the usual slab of char siew. The noodles is springy, but not too springy, just the way i like it. Ahh the highlight of the meal was the egg! You add $1.20 for the egg as it doesnt come with it. The egg is lightly flavoured with soya-sauce. Once you sink your teeth into it, the yellow, runny yoke would peeked out of the whites. Best Tamago amongst all the ramen joint!

This is our side of black pig Gyoza. 
I had the original Kyushu Ramen on my second visit to Tampopo with the Owl. Again milk-based pork bone ramen top with cod roe, a slab of char siew and an egg. I am a fan of Kyushu Ramen, dont really like the Hokkaido Ramen as much but I can't wait for my Hokkaido trip in Dec where i would go on a Ramen binge.
Very fatty slab of char siew

This was what the Owl had, black pig (dont-know-what) ramen. Hmm actually if i were to do a taste test of normal pork and black pig, I wonder if I would be able to tell the difference. Ermm anyone willing to sponsor my taste test??
Tampopo Restaurant

Liang Court

11:30-22:00 

You can write 200 words in 4 minutes, you can attempt 2 questions in four minutes, you can light the burner 100 times in 4 minutes, you can doze off in four minutes, you can draw 400 lines in four minutes, you can write your name 2oo times in four minutes. There are many things you could do within four minutes...

I was a little amused at how blur a cock could be, I was shocked at how dumb a cock could be, I was appalled at how stupid a cock could be, I am afraid how idiotic a cock could be. I wonder what weird brain could miss what is in front of her. Huge blind spot? 

They all say, its over, you can't do anything about it so stop thinking about it. Yes I know that too and I kept telling myself that too, but...

Guilt stricken. Four minutes could mean a lot to the other. 

19 minitues - Piccoult

"Nobody wants to admit to this, but bad things will keep on happening. Maybe that's because it's all a chain, and a long time ago someone did the first thing bad, and that led someone else to do another bad thing, and so on. You know, like that game where you whisper a sentence into someone's ear, and that person whispers it to someone else, and it all comes out wrong in the end. 

But then again, maybe bad things happen because it's the only way we can keep remembering what good is suppose to look like."

Sushi Tei@Holland Village

Skipped to Holland Village for lunch with a Japanese Food Crazy woman, here is what we had. And this is also what I ALWAYS order. 

I simply cant resist it! I Love Unagi.
Sashimi platter. First time eating Otoro! Sushi Tei is having a promotion for this sashimi platter at $25. Lovely oily Otoro, Salmon Belly and Sword Fish! All my favourite! 
Had the potato croquette, Opps forgot to take a photo before tucking into it. 
Erm cant remember the name of this grilled fish. Whatever it is, if you are looking for grilled fish, just head to Sakuraya, fresher and certainly more satisfying. 

And.............. within 3 hours, I am feeding again... this time round went to the other side of Singapore, Bedok South Market Opposite TJC for their fishball noodles. I am usually not a fan of fish ball noodles, but i kinda want something light and the fish soup stall was closed so... no choice... being a sucker for queue (well the mentality is if there is a queue it must be worthy of the tastbuds) so here I am eating the rather boring fishball noodles. 
so is it worthy of the tastebud? no! The Kway Teow was mushy and glooey, the sauce was alright but should have asked for more vinegar (much more since we have already asked uncle to add more) Oh to be fair to the stall, the fishball was good, bouncy and yummy! Then again, hmmm i am not a very fishbally person. So yes, why did i even bother to patronise this stall.... the QUEUE!

There are days where all you feel like eating is good old hawker food. Here we are at Chinatown Food Centre - Smith Street. 

Always start of with one of my favourite Chee Chong Fun and Yam Cake stall Jia Ji Mei Shi. I love the yam cake and the sweet sauce! The yam cake has a very distinctive taste, maybe a bit of a charred taste but i really cant make out what it is. As for the Chee Cheong Fun there is another stall which makes the Chee Chong Fun on the spot. It is tastier and smoother unfortunately  can't seem to locate it today. 

Had the Song Fish Head too, not bad =) I love song fish head, especially the fatty tummy area. 
Queue up almost 30 min just to get my tongue on this ba chor mee. First time trying it though I have heard quite alot about it. Not too bad but Tai Wah at Crawford Lane is still the best!!
Super Duper Oily, with lots of Vinegar and Chili oil

After the pigging out session at Chinatown, we went to watch Mama Mia, I must say it is pretty entertaining but of course I am bias towards the show cause i simply love ABBA songs! The only gripe I have though is of course Pierce Bronson playing the lead actor! I think he should just stick to his suave, cool, handsome, calm and compose persona in movies like James Bond. He looks really awkward and stiff acting in a musical and erm he cant dance... he is certainly not a 'dancing king'. I cringe when he broke into a song. simply a weird feeling. Meryl Streep on the other hand put up a relatively commendable performance.