These were the side dishes that were served to us. I like the beancurd, egg and ikan bilis. The beancurd didn’t have much taste on its own so it was more likely that I liked the sauce that came it.

None of us had eaten here before so we spent some time looking through the menu. Finally we ordered 3 meat dishes and a plate of kimchi fried rice. Halfway through the meal, we added on a bowl of plain rice. I wasn’t very fond of the kimchi fried rice cos I don’t like kimchi.

For the meat dishes, we were asked whether we would like to cook them ourselves or to let the restaurant cook them. We decided to let the restaurant cook them so we could just concentrate on eating. All the meat dishes were served on hot plates.

First was a plate of beef ribs. The ribs were marinated in a sweetish-savory sauce. The meat was very tender and the only troublesome thing was there’s a piece of bone in every cut.

The plate of bulgogi beef was nice and was more savoury than the beef ribs. It was stir-fried with onions and spring onions.

We ordered the cow tongue last because we did not know if Keropi would eat it. Keropi had not tried it before but she was pretty open to trying out new food so we ordered it. Besides, if she didn’t like it, there were Mao Mao and me to finish it. The cow tongue was very thinly sliced and slightly chewier than meat. It was simply grilled with some onions. Keropi liked it, yeah!

Korean Garden Restaurant
34 Tanjong Pagar Road
Tel: 62217153

It was a small little place and there were very few seats. Even though it was a small place, it felt cheery because it was brightly lit and the whole color scheme was predominately white with some purple. It sold milkshakes, ice-cream and some snacks. But the main draw is the milkshakes. When I was there, over 90% of the customers were drinking milkshakes. Many people also walked in, brought their milkshakes and left.

At Mao Mao’s recommendation, Sayang and I tried the grumbling raisins (rum and raisins) and chocolate truffle castle (chocolate) milkshake. We bought the mini cup ($3.60) which was very small, no taller than my hand. At first it didn’t seem like much, but each milkshake was packed full of goodness. My chocolate milkshake was very rich and thick, almost as if I was eating chocolate ice-cream instead. It was even richer and thicker and Billy Bomber’s milkshake, which for a long time had been my No. 1 milkshake in Singapore. After drinking this, I had to agree with Mao Mao’s husband that this is the best milkshake in Singapore.

Sayang had the rum and raisins which was just as good, full of creamy goodness and a taste of rum. If you like rum and raisins ice-cream, you will love this.

After we finished our first cups, Sayang and I decided to try other flavors, much to the horror of Mao Mao. We tried vainilla pot (vanilla) and spooky mocha (mocha) milkshakes. We felt the vanilla was too creamy to be enjoyable. The mocha was quite nice but our favorites were still rum and raisins and chocolate.

Once Upon A Milkshake
32 Maxwell Road #01-08 Maxwell Chambers
Tel: 98233779

Sayang, Mao Mao and I went for dinner. At Mao Mao’s suggestion, we went to Tanjong Pagar where Mao Mao said there were a lot of small eateries that we could try. We walked around the area and looked at all the places before Mao Mao decided on a restaurant called Bukang Tuna. It called itself a Korean style Japanese restaurant. I’m not sure if there’s any difference if it’s the other way round, like a Japanese style Korean restaurant.

When we opened the menu, we were astonished that the prices of sashimi dishes were not cheap, especially flounder sashimi. There’s a tank near the entrance containing live flounder so you are guaranteed the freshness but still, we found the price too expensive. So we decided to do without any sashimi and go for the cooked food, which was cheaper.

It appeared at all the dishes on the menu came will a bowl of rice. We didn’t know that at first so it was a good thing we decided to stick with 3 dishes.

We were given some crab porridge as appetizer. The bowl was so small that it was more like a cup. The crab porridge was pretty tasty even though there was no crab meat in it and I found it a bit too thick and starchy.

As with all Korean meals, there were around 5-6 side dishes, containing kimchi, egg rolls, etc. We liked some of the sides and asked for extras after we finished them.

Bukang Tuna seemed to be famous for its tuna. We were not that fond of tuna sashimi so we ordered a tuna cutlet. The tuna cutlet came with a salad and potato wedges. Tomato sauce was poured over the tuna cutlet. In appearance, it looked similar to the Hainanese pork chop. Unlike the pork chop, which in the hands of the wrong cook, could turn out too dry and hard, the tuna cutlet was soft and moist. It was tasty and I felt that I could eat this whole dish on my own, even the salad and the peas.

We also had stir-fry beef with onions, carrots and cucumbers on a hot plate. I like the beef and the onions but I’m not sure about the carrots and cucumbers. But that’s just a personal preference. The portion is quite generous and the beef is tasty.

We also had spicy cod fish soup. Mao Mao and Sayang drank most of it. I can’t really take spicy food but I also tried a bit of the soup. It was tasty although I can’t take too much of it. There were also a lot of other ingredients in the soup besides cod fish.

We spent about $30+ each for this meal.

Bukang Tuna
28 Maxwell Road #01-06 Red Dot Traffic Building
Tel: 63274123

Mao Mao and I met for an early lunch at Wendy’s at Jurong Point. It was a small place and there were ledges and stools along the walls. It wasn’t the kind of place to stay for long; just eat and go.

Since we skipped breakfast for the early lunch, Mao Mao and I were feeling super hungry. We ordered a meal each. Mao Mao had a quarter-pounder cheeseburger while I tried the half-pounder cheeseburger.

The half-pounder had two beef patties and was big. The first thing you noticed was that the patties are square instead of round. The cheese was nicely melted and gooey. I liked the taste of the bun which was a pale yellow on the inside. The burger tasted less salty than say, a McDonald’s double cheeseburger. All in all, it was a pretty nice burger. But it not so special that I would make a special trip down to Wendy’s just to eat it.

The fries felt similar to McDonald’s fries in taste and texture. The funny thing was, it tasted much better plain than dipped in ketchup or chilli.

Mao Mao and I shared a cup of beef chilli. It was something different from the rest of the fast food outlets so we wanted to try. It turned out to be a big bowl and was so hot that I had to blow on it to cool it down lest I scald my tongue.

As far as I can tell, the chilli was made with ground beef, beans and onions. There was also some spices added. It was pretty nice but we were glad that there were two of us to share. It was too rich for one person to finish everything.

After we filled our stomachs, we took a bus to Jurong Bird Park. Her husband got Mao Mao two tickets to the bird park for her birthday. It’s been years since I went to Jurong Bird Park and I was quite amazed that the entrance looked so nice.

Two black swans and some ducks were swimming in pond before the entrance. As we walked near to take a look, they swam over to greet us. Probably thought that we had some food for them.

Visiting the bird park was pretty fun. There were some new stuff while some parts was still as I remembered it. It was a good thing it was a cloudy day. It looked like it could rain but it didn’t, and the clouds blocked out the hot sun. We walked a lot and I was feeling pretty tired after two hours.

I wonder why there were always so many flamingos. There’s a flamingo enclosure at the zoo too. Are they easy to keep? I have to say they make a pretty sight. But they stink too. Pretty but smelly.

Some of my favourite parts of the bird park were places where the birds could wander freely. It’s always fun to see a skittish nicobar pigeon suddenly running across the path in front of you. Mao Mao and I tried to remain quiet and walked slowly so the birds won’t be scared away. But they were wary of us and inched away whenever we tried to go near them.

I think the colorful parrots were probably the most tolerant of our presence because they were so greedy. Unless you were really loud, they refused to move from the feeding stations. I managed to take some pretty close up photos of them before a loud family came along and scared them all away.

This greedy parrot had bits of food stuck to its beak!

I felt sad while looking at the eagles, ostriches and toucans. They were big birds and even though they occupied the biggest cages in the bird park, there’s just not enough room in the cage for them to soar. So they ended up sitting around, looking pretty sad and bored. And who could blame them? In the wild, they would probably have a whole forest or plains for them to fly around in.

My favorite place in Jurong Bird Park is the Lory Loft. It was such a bustling place. The moment we stepped inside, we could hear the cries from the lories. They were pretty loud for such a small creature or maybe there were just many of them? The lories were quite adorable and had lots of personality.

There was a kiosk selling cups of lory food which people could buy for $3 so one could really get up close with noisy little creatures. Of course not everybody appreciated it. Mao Mao bought a cup and we couldn’t help noticing a lory that sat on the counter and stole a bit of food from every cup that was sold. Greedy but clever little thing.

Mao Mao held the cup and a little lory landed on her shoulder. It freaked her out and she just stood there, unable to move. After a while the bird moved from her shoulder to the cup and Mao Mao made me take it so no more lories would land on her.

We moved away from the crowded entrance to a less populated part. A bossy lory grab hold of the cup and pulled it close. It wouldn’t let go so I had to chase it away so other lories would get a chance to feed. It complained loudly as it left.

Two lories also landed on my arm in their eagerness to eat. A third one happily sat on my thumb. Their claws were sharp but not really painful. One of them took an experimental peck of my arm to see if it was edible.

There were less lories in the area. Mao Mao took the cup as she felt that there was no longer any danger of “a lory attacking her”. She even tried to coax a shy lory to eat. “You are so skinny. You must eat more you know,” she said to the bird.

Then we moved to the central platform. Suddenly the their cries became deafening and they were so excited that they kept flying around, some missing hitting my face by inches. Then we saw the keeper bringing a bucket of food and we knew why the bird were so excited.

The lories were messy eaters and food flew all over the place. It didn’t help that their food were semi-liquid so there were a lot of splashing. Then Mao Mao felt something wet landed on her head. I laughed at her. Later on, we decided that it could be bird poo or it could be the liquid food. We never did find out.

Next we saw some birds about the size of a pheasant. They were not pheasants but pigeons. Mao Mao exclaimed that they were such big pigeons.

Mao Mao liked the scarlet ibises because they were so red. It shared the enclosure with another less colorful species from the ibis family. This enclosure smells too, but maybe not as much as the flamingos.

I was very tired by then and had stopped to sit down several times. We made one last trip to view the man-made waterfall. Well, there’s a photo of it. I wasn’t very impressed but maybe it was because I’m too tired to care anymore.

We left the bird park after seeing the waterfall and back to Jurong Bird for dinner. Then I went to Mao Mao’s house, had a shower, changed into some clean clothes, scared her queen and played with the tom before heading home.

Chennai cabbage ($5)

Bell liked this dish and had eaten it many times. She was surprised when I told her that I had not eaten it before. The indian vegetable dish that I usually eat is palak paneer, and besides I don’t really fancy cabbage. This dish was the spicest dish we had. Despite it’s mild appearance, it was quite spicy. I don’t know where the spicyness came from as I didn’t see any chilli.

Butter chicken ($10)

We had the butter chicken because we wanted some gravy to go with the rice. Bell wasn’t sure which dish had gravy so I suggested the butter chicken because it’s the only dish I know for sure that has gravy. Even though I had eaten it many times, I still liked it. The chicken is tender and the gravy goes well with the rice.

Tandoori chicken ($11)

Bell liked the tandoori chicken which was tender and not too dry.

We also had sambal sotong. Forgot to take the photo for that. It was surprisingly not very spicy and the sauce was watery, definately not the same kind of sambal sotong that chinese cooks.

Muthu’s Curry
138 Race Course Road
#01-01
Tel: 63921722

We treated Pooh Bear to lunch in celebration of her birthday. Since none of us has a car, we took the free shuttle bus to West Coast Plaza. We were the last few people to board the bus and there were just enough seats for the 6 of us. Then at the last minute, an auntie cut in front of Pooh Bear and boarded the bus before her and taking the last seat available. The driver refused to take on any more passengers so Tong Xiang got off the bus and waited together with Pooh Bear while the rest of us went on to the restaurant. Mao Mao commented, “So it looks like we will be celebrating Pooh Bear’s birthday without Pooh Bear.”

Pooh Bear had chosen beforehand a restaurant she wanted to try so we went to Live @ Teppan to get a table first. There were no other customers in the restaurant when we arrived. The waitress tried very hard to sell us the lobster set lunch. She told us about it twice; once when we are standing at the entrance and once when we sat down. It’s no surprise that it’s the most expensive set meal in the restaurant at $45. It was a bit irritating because we already told her that we are not interested.

Meanwhile the other two who were left behind, took a public bus and arrived after we placed the orders.

The restaurant gave each of us a small dish of pickled vegetables as appetizer.

We felt the beef was the best dish at the restaurant but we had definately eaten better elsewhere. The beef was tender and juicy and covered in sweet teriyaki sauce.

The salmon was cooked together with egg in the pan.

A plate of beansprouts came with every set. Since we ordered 6 sets, there’s a plate of beansprouts for everyone. I gave my share of beansprouts away.

The chicken was tender and also covered in sweet teriyaki sauce.

Tong Xiang said the duck had a gamey taste. I agreed that there’s a strong taste of duck which not everybody will like. Like the rest of the dishes, it is covered in a sweet sauce.

The restaurant gave us a 2 pots of cold water and 6 white tablets.

On closer inspection, Mao Mao noticed the word “tissue” was on all of them.

The moment they touched water, they started to expand. We had a bit of fun watching them grow as if we had not seen anything like it before.

Conclusion: The meat portions were not big and food was mediocre. While the food was not yucky, it was not anything special either. I doubt we will go back again.

Live @ Teppan
154 West Coast Road
#B1-49 West Coast Plaza
Tel: 67789690

After we bought the tickets, we went for lunch at Tonkichi. We were hungry so we overordered and ended up feeling very very full.

Lunch

First we had dashimaki tamago, the Japanese styled scrambled eggs. I expected the eggs to be sweetish but it wasn’t. It came with a pile of grated radish. We added a little soy sauce to the radish and ate it with the egg. Pooh Bear liked the combi and thought it tasted quite nice.

Spider roll ($15.90)

We also ordered a spider roll which was very nice. It was like california maki but with soft shell crab. I enjoyed it as there was a quite a bit of the crab and not too much rice.

Ramen set ($24.90)

Pooh Bear ordered the ramen set which came with a bowl of ramen, a pork katsu and a side dish. Pooh Bear chose the char siew ramen and adegashi tofu. It was a big bowl of ramen. The char siew in the ramen melts in the mouth but it is a fatty kind; about 50% fats so I think not everybody will like it.

Rosu katsu curry set ($23.90)

I had the rosu katsu curry set. I chose the rosu over the hire because rosu is fattier. The meat was quite a thick cut and filling. The curry was nice and a little peppery.

Alice in Wonderland

Liked

• Alice has a purpose – I must mention that I wasn’t a big fan of the original Alice in Wonderland which always felt to me like a story written by someone on a drug high. Tim Burton’s version gave a purpose for Alice’s presence in Wonderland/Underland rather than just a lost tourist who wanders around. I felt it made the story more exciting.
• Beautiful images – Like other Tim Burton’s movies, the graphics is beautiful yet a little haunting and a little dark. Even though there was quite a lot of computer animations, it works well because Underland is a little surreal. Part of the beauty in the details.
• Voices – Not only a treat for the eyes, this movie was also a treat for the ears. I enjoyed listening to some of the voices in the movie in particular Alice’s father, Cheshire Cat and Tweedledee/Tweedledum.

Disliked

• 3D – There’s many things I hate about the 3D starting with the glasses which were not meant for people wearing spectables. It was felt awkward and heavy and I kept adjusting it thoughout the movie. Pooh Bear and I also felt that the 3D effects were not very impressive although it could be due to many other variables like lousy 3D glasses or maybe our eyes are not 3D capable.
• So dark - What I cannot stand about wearing the 3D glasses is that it cuts out so much light and made everything looked dull and boring. It was as if someone changed the brightness and contrast all the way to zero. I was distracted during the movie because I kept thinking “It’s too dark… It’s too dark…” I was so fed up that during the proposal party, I took off the glasses and watch it in non-3D instead.

Sweet ending to the end of the day

On the way home we stopped by Marvelous Cream and bought and shared a small cup of ice-cream. We were so full from lunch that both of us skipped dinner.

Places visited:
Tonkichi
3 Temasek Boulevard
#B1-009 Suntec City Mall
Tel: 63394231

Marvelous Cream
1 Raffles Link
#B1-04 Citylink Mall
Tel: 62381683

So in the end, since Sayang couldn’t give a definite answer, and also because all the ramen restaurants in The Central are crowded, Tong Xiang suggested going to a ramen restaurant at Liang Court.

But first, we had desserts at Azabu Sabo. Just Sayang, Tong Xiang and I. We left work earlier than the rest, who left office after 7pm.

We shared the desserts. I chose a strawberry ice-cream, soft ice-cream, red bean and fruits combo.

Sayang suggested a soft ice-cream and baked Japanese sweet potato. The sweet potato was hot and the ice-cream had already started melting.

Then we met AC and walked over to Liang Court. Tong Xiang suggested Yu Sai Shoku, a restaurant at the basement of Liang Court.

I had shabu shabu ramen which was quite nice. The soup was made with pork bones which gave it a rich meaty flavor. In shabu shabu ramen, the meat was thinly sliced.

Besides ramen, we also ordered some side dishes. We had gyoza but I don’t particularly like gyoza in general so I’m not sure if it’s nice or just ordinary.

The rosu katsu is not too bad. The meat wasn’t too dry and the breadcrumbs coating was crunchy and not too oily. But I felt it can’t beat Tonkichi.

Same comments for the hire katsu. Actually I still can’t tell the different between rosu and hire.

Places visited:
Azabu Sabo
6 Eu Tong Sen St
#01-68/69 The Central @ Clarke Quay
Tel: 64109578

Ichibantei
177 River Valley Road
#B1-50 Liang Court Shopping Centre
Tel: 63380393

I saw these on the shelf and since I’m not sure about the different between muffins and crumpets, I bought both of them to try. They were $4.90 each. I toasted one of each and buttered them. After eating them, I realized that my parents bought unsalted butter. Sigh.

The crumpet is spongy with lots of nooks and crannies. The texture is more more cake-like and dense, somewhat like a thick spongy pancake.

The muffin is more bread-like in texture. Marks & Spencer sells butter muffins and when I toasted it, it gave off a fragrant buttery smell. It was soft and fluffy. Even with only butter (I added some salt to the butter), it tasted quite yummy.

The packet of double chocolate chip cookies from Marks & Spencer cost $9.90. There were 10 cookies in the pack. Even though they were larger than normal cookies, I felt that it was a bit expensive. I also felt that the cookies just taste like normal chocolate chip cookies and not really that full of chocolate. To me, double chocolate chip must mean something like Famous Amos’ double chocolate chip cookies.

I had beef curry. It’s nicer than the one I made on Sunday. It’s also the only item left. Besides beef, there were also carrots and mushrooms in the curry.

Mao Mao had chicken kaarage udon from the stall next to the curry rice stall. Like the curry rice stall, most of the dishes were already sold out. So Mao Mao just ordered curry udon and added chicken kaarage to it. The curry and the chicken is quite nice. Mao Mao said that the udon stall also sells curry rice so I might try their curry rice the next time.

We shared a bowl of oden. The ingredients were quite tasty, with fish cakes, seaweed and radish. The soup was sweetish so Mao Mao did not like it a lot.