Three 90-g Beef Patties :: 挽肉と米

Hopped in for a late dinner at Hikiniku to Come (挽肉と米). I giggled at the name. It meant nothing very much in English, but it's a word play on the romanji. It's rather cute. At 8.15pm, we still had to wait about 20 minutes for a seat. The husband had no idea what this was about. He was absolutely keen on trying. It isn't common for him to be willing to wait an hour for a table.

It was a 'set menu' sort of thing. There's nothing to customize, and every diner gets the same thing. At S$25 per pax for what we get, it's a pretty good deal. You only need to choose a drink if you wish, and add on some side dishes. The restaurant offers chilled water at the side counter; we get a glass ourselves. 

Three cute and fat 90-gram hamburger steaks/patties filled me up nicely. These patties were grilled over charcoal in front of diners. As freshly cooked as can be. The marinade was delicious. There were plenty of condiments and ponzu, and grated daikon. The husband loved the patties. They were well grilled — just about well-done inside without being chewy. They were still tender and juicy. He liked the miso soup so much that he ordered another bowl, along with extra kimchi and potato salad (with minced meat).

They offer unlimited refills for rice, but a bowl is more than enough for me. It was good rice too. A bowl of rice seemed to be about 150g. I most certainly had no issues with tamago kake gohan, something that I eat often. Paired with beef, it was really a most satisfying meal.

Spicy Tom Yam Soup on A Hot Day

Only mad Asians would sit outdoors in the 33°C mid-day heat for lunch, eat a ton of chillies and still drink HOT SOUP. We met at Krapow on Zion Road. Hellooooo Thai spices! Not every dish is a hit here; some could be greasy. But we've gone through the menu enough to know what to order and what to avoid.

An appetizer of som tam wouldn't be counted as mad isn't it? It's not a hot dish although the chillies are fiery. We asked for extra spicy. Ahahahah. The kangkong was for fibre, and prudently, I ordered it NON-SPICY. Heh.

The table's 'Devil Fried Rice' is cray-cray spicy. I don't like it because while it packs a punch, I'm not interested in spicy rice. I don't want want every mouth to be like chilli + chilli. I opted for a regular pork krapow, with plain gorgeous jasmine rice.

What took the cake was the tom yam soup. Opted for normal-spicy. It was a good one. The perspiration was max. We were definitely thankful for that overhead fan and metal roof that kept out the heat a fair bit. The plants helped to block us from the full-on traffic dust. Luckily the wind direction at this point was kind and didn't blow the ashes of those burning Seventh Month offerings in a tall giant burner over to this side. Imagine if the haze is here, and we get more smoke and ash from paper offerings lingering in the environment. Tsk.

Claypot Rice from Boon Tong Kee

The friends gathered us to dinner at theirs, and picked up food from Boon Tong Kee at Balestier. It had to be at this branch because they wanted the claypot rice. I never knew that Boon Tong Kee offer claypot rice at dinner at this outlet! Takeout orders are ready only from 6pm onwards, so we couldn't pick it up earlier.

Of course we didn't get the claypot rice in a claypot. But the plastic tub didn't dent any flavors. They even dug out the crisp bits to pack it into this portion. It was seriously tasty. Claypot rice like this has to be shared. There's no way we could inhale it between two people at one sitting.

There were other dishes of tofu, prawn beancurd, marmite ribs (better eat them all now before marmite is replaced with something else), spinach and eggs, and such. The table of food was predictable and comforting. I hadn't eaten this much rice in a while! What a happy meal. We're thankful for the friends' ever-generosity in having people sit around their dining table. 

The baby ate earlier and obediently went to bed. The bigger kiddo didn't want his dinner; he wanted to get onto the floor to roll around with Choya. The Smol Girl wanted cheese, and for cheese, she deigned to suffer the kiddo's hugs. Maddie strolled around to inspect everyone. Hahahah. We kept an eye on all of them. Everyone co-existed peacefully.

Fisherman Iwashi Maruboshi Assam Laksa at Morsels

Zipped in for a quick lunch at Morsels with N. She was away for months and it was time to catch up with her. We had coffee earlier, and decided to adjourn for a bite to fill the stomachs before going about our day. 

We shared a cabbage with sunflower seed emulsion, dukkah and gruyere. N opted for a bowl of Canadian manilla clams with bread. She quite liked the lemongrass broth and laksa leaf oil they sat in. The clams went well with the bread. A light enough lunch.  

This week's noodle rotation was Fisherman Iwashi Maruboshi Assam Laksa. That worked for me. I like Morsels's iteration of this. Don't talk about authenticity; it wouldn't taste like any assam laksa you know. The portions weren't huge, so it made for quite an ideal lunch, since I'd have to return to field more work calls and couldn't fall asleep.  

N's on a pescetarian diet for now (before transitioning to a vegetarian diet and then vegan). Morsels has plenty of seafood items for her, and a few vegetarian options. When many of us are swopping out diets and such at this age, we must find restaurants that can cater to all our diet preferences.

Decker BBQ at Bukit Timah

Decker Barbecue at Robertson Quay has been around since 2015. Last July, it was acquired by the PSGourmet and Sun Venture. With the injection of funds, they opened a huge 4000sqft second outlet at the old Bukit Timah Fire Station. 

This second outlet has an expanded menu, and is much much bigger. Its pet-friendly al fresco patio has been thought out and made comfortable, replete with overhead retractable canvas shelter, overhead fans, portable fans and such. However, parking sucks. The lots are limited, and there's no nearby parking available. It would be idea for people to walk to and fro. This means that for us, we won't go on weekends and Friday nights. 

That night, we didn't make a reservation. We walked in at the right timing, and got a table immediately. Ordered a platter for one, and added on things to share. There's no way we could finish a platter for two. That would be too much. The grilled meats were great. Sides were good too. Not too salty. Wagyu brisket, chicken thighs, pork sausage, and chicken liver pâté, along with sides of roasted potatoes, salsa, coleslaw and dirty basmati rice. 

The husband had to order the smoked garlic butter pizza, and a portion turkey breast. They do their pizzas (pies) crisp and thin. Had to pack home half of it. Too much carbs lah. The turkey breast was surprisingly delicious. Brined and done easy, it was tender. I'd say, skip the mac and cheese. At its current mix, the cheese ain't fun enough. 

The husband eyed the dino ribs. Next time. 

Tasty Brioche at Standard Bread

The only reason why I wanted to have a meal at Standard Bread, was to taste its brioche, not because it's a famous Korean bakery. They had savory items too, so these all appeal to me. I'm quite in love with their brioche. I would drive there to buy it again. 

The husband wanted a creme brulee caramel French toast. He loved it. That bread was great, and he said that the sugar wasn't too much. I opted for a chicken pesto pasta. It surprised me because it wasn't swimming in cream. It was done dry, and tasted really good. The pesto was on point. That was quite a good brunch. We also got a chicken avocado sandwich (with brioche) to-go. 

Our first meal there was great, so we went there for three mornings in a row. Hurhurhur. It was a good lunch venue too, after hanging out at the beach for a bit. The coffee is perfectly fine too. The to-go items were stored in the fridge and great for in-between nibbles, or even for breakfast for the husband if he deemed the resort's breakfast options that morning as utterly morose.  

We did our staycation during the week, so on these week days, nobody sat outdoors at the bench. We got the whole space to ourselves. The staff was so kind to our floofs. Our floofs were pleased to hang out in peace. Although one morning, they peered at the going-ons and busy things at the pre-launch and the opening of Pop Bakery.  

The 9th Sentosa Grillfest

The Sentosa Grillfest is back at Siloso Beach for its 9th edition every weekend from 23 July to 16 August. Tbh, we never bothered about it till maybe four years ago. But the earlier iterations were middling. We only really noticed the better quality in its 7th edition. 

It's also much better organized and planned this year with plenty of tables and seats at the Emerald Pavillion, as well as outdoors on the side. The beer counter in the pavillion had a logical flow. I don't know how the vendors feel, but at least for diners, it's a super improved experience from last year. 

The husband really likes this sort of grill events. Well, he likes meats. This year, they've set up an air-conditioned tent at the far end of the beach for its 'Chef's Grill Experience'. It's an 8-course set presented by different kitchens. At $128++ each weekend, the menu rotates. It would be fun, but the husband isn't keen enough to ditch the dog to stop by for it, so we didn't bother. 

We went with the dog, and she was so pleased. She wasn't interested in the food. The moment she got there, she pulled and made a beeline for the beach — to feel sand under her paws. She hopped and sprinted. For a short bit, I let her run free. I wasn't about to spill my beer while trying to hold her. 

She was in a really sociable mood; greeted plenty of floofs. Every floof was really well-behaved. She rolled and rolled around on the sand, dug it up and kicked it around. She was the happiest little thing. Luckily I have plenty of water for her to drink and wash the sand out of her nostrils and mouth. Tsk. 

Note, if you bring dogs, the short bit of fireworks from next door's 'Wings of Time Symphony' at 7.40pm and 8.40pm could scare them. It's a daily thing. 

It was hardly surprisingly to know that our stomach space was limited. We really couldn't eat that much. We weren't fixated on which 'famous' vendor to buy from. We've tried their food over the past few years at different pop-ups, so there wasn't a 'I MUST HAVE THIS' idea. We didn't want to queue forever for the food either, so we went with stalls that had no queues or short queues. The food turned out equally fine too.

To my own surprise, I wanted an ayam bakar of sorts. Bahahaha. Well, I took an antihistamine, so I was sort of free to have a nibble of chicken and shellfish. But I didn't go OTT lah. I wanted the $18 ayam bakar, not the $32 version. I got it. It came in its usual cut of a big chicken thigh. It was honestly tasty.  

The husband went for broke and had a lamb shoulder. It was a huge portion! He ate it all. Then he had two giant prawns. Whoa, all that protein. He was stuffed. Two beers gave him all the carbs needed. He couldn't fit in anything else. LOL

Fresh Food Boxes Delivered, At 5.30am

I wanted to give myself a break from cooking and food prep. It's more of me being unable to cater to the husband's wants in eating 4-5 meals a day; and they must all be different items. OMG. We could buy it, we could be judicious, but my gawwd. So I decided to try out fresh ready-made meals delivered to the door. Opted for Nutrition Kitchen for two weeks. 

I wouldn't bother subscribing for a month since we don't need to. It has to suit our timings and meal schedules for the week. There're many of these 'healthy boxes' caterers around. I just wanted to delve deeper to ensure that it's indeed separate entities and brands instead of one corporate company owning several brands, or one central kitchen shilling out their menus to different brands. The tiffin caterers have got a bad name doing this sort of stuff.

Some people we know didn't have a good experience with Nutrition Kitchen, and would recommend other brands. But for us, at this juncture, it has been going decent so far. The husband likes the flavors, choices and quality of food. The macros are properly counted, of course. 

At $20.20 per meal (more if sometimes you swap out items), they don't come cheap. But it is cheaper than if I buy ingredients to prep meals for two persons. The economics don't work out. We could get takeout, but it's too much of a fuss too. Sodium levels, grease and such. Decent quality ingredients cooked for us always come at a price. Fish is always an issue. It's like they didn't indicate where their salmon comes from, but it's likely Tasmanian (gosh the controversies...). It's not what I would prefer, but it would have to do. But of course many wonder how tough the steaks would be done this way. Well, the husband ain't complaining. Food is already delivered to the door. These steaks were surprisingly done medium… nearly medium rare, allowing space to be reheated; not at all tough or rubbery-inedible.

I don't leave the food in these environmentally-friendly sugarcane boxes. I transfer them to a glass container. They seem to keep well enough. At least some of the 'lunches' became dinner for the husband when he's got a couple of calls and late nights at work. 

Nutrition Kitchen indicated that since we chose the morning delivery slot, the food boxes would arrive daily for the week between 5.45am to 10am. We got a delivery dude whose route put us on a damn early arrival timing sial. Well, he has been consistent and dependable; he also texts me daily the moment he drops off the bag. For the first week, the boxes arrived by 5.20am. This is the second week, and he's been driving through the estate's gantries at 5am. I'm more or less awake by 5am too. YAWN. 

Good Old Pasta Fresca

After a quick visit with the friends, we were going to get a casual dinner on our own. Then the friends decided to join us too. We didn't want to get takeout or have them cook. So we trotted out with the floofs to the Pasta Fresca round the corner for an easy meal. 

Pasta Fresca Da Salvatore has been around for ages, since 1988. The original Guthrie House oulet, then the Siglap outlets have been synonymous with my teenage years. Ha!

The wines were priced really decently. So we got a bottle of pinot grigio. We shared an easy burrata with grilled vegetables, and a pizza. The friends also had their own pasta bowls. I couldn't resist the lobster pasta. Had it with linguine. NOMS. No complaints at all. 

This outlet's al fresco area is more or less sheltered under the extendable canvas. They also had two giant fans that cooled the area pretty well. Tonight wasn't so warm. It was bearable. There was some thunder and it drizzled steadily for 20 minutes. So we simply stayed to finish up the bottle of wine before calling it a night. The rain stopped quickly enough and made for a pleasant after-dinner walk. 

Hotpot, Beer & Lobster Paofan

When the birthday boy requested for hotpot, we obliged. He wanted an easy fun meal that nobody needed to dress up for. Casual is the buzzword. The husband and I rarely do hotpot Chinese-style because we just can't eat so many items on our own. Of course we super welcomed the suggestion of hotpot. Tonight, we went to Broth and Beyond (汤之境) at Chijmes.  

None of us are fond of mala or Sichuan peppercorn or Sichuan food. Along that line, no Hunan cuisine either. I think we'd all starve anywhere in Sichuan (Chengdu), Hunan (Changsha) and Chongqing. Tonight's hotpot restaurant indicated 'Yunnan'. Perfect. The table opted for chicken broth with white fungus. I took the pork and tomato. It was pretty good!

I love it that Broth and Beyond offered individual hot pots with our own little induction plates. They also kinda 'force' you to pay S$4.99 for the dips. You aren't served any sort of dips, not even soy sauce or pepper. But you pay, and you get a selection of loads of stuff at the 'bar'. That $4.99 also comes along with appetizers of edamame, kimchi and the sorts, and a small spread of dessert that included mochi, fruits and odd puddings. Not too bad. I got all the minced garlic that I wanted, along with soy and chilli padi.

There was plenty of food. Beef, beef tongue, fish, celtuce, beancurd skin, loads of cabbage, pea sprouts and mushrooms. The chicken was available for us to choose either half of the breast and the wings or the thigh and drumsticks. In the end, we had both. 

We also got a small Boston lobster (which was alive!), and had the shells steamed over rice, and added that to our soups like a lobster pao fan (泡饭). Nobody minded a spoonful of rice or so to finish up. That was a satisfying dinner. The birthday boy was pleased with food that his stomach likes. We needn't drink like crazy. We split three bottles of beer among us for the night. The Tsingtao was so light that it tasted refreshing with the food. 

I kinda said okay to the server's suggestion of having one item of dessert since they would plate it as a birthday thingy. It was this Yunnan-style milk ice-cream with flower pastry (云南鲜花饼). Quite cute lah. Very flower, very ermmm China. I didn't mind Yunnan flower cakes, although these were far from the best. What a fun night!

Fried Stuff & A Steak

An impromptu late dinner meant that we simply swung out to the convenient Wildfire for some beautifully grilled medium-rare hanger steak, fish and chips, and fried chicken (two pieces in a portion; thigh + drumstick). We had to have the coleslaw too. NOMS. The restaurant takes the last orders at 9pm, and closes by 10pm. That totally works for us. We weren't staying later than that. 

Often, our dinner timings would complement Choya's final bedtime pee before she heads home. She absolutely hates being woken up after supper for one last night pee. She prefers to pee, eat and sleep. She said no issues with her bladder. Okaaaaay. I just have to make sure that her supper doesn't contain a crazy amount of broth or water. 

Tonight we had drinks though, wine and a glass of Manhattan. Nothing too crazy. Something to go along with the meal. We all have to go home for the floofs to have their supper and they like to be in bed by 11pm. We just wanted to have an easy chat since we hadn't seen E for weeks. 

Beers at People People

After the newly opened People People Brewing Co found footing with the food and crowds, we finally stopped by tonight, a month later. We wouldn't be here on weekends because it's packed full of kids. The sheltered al fresco area in the atrium is ripe for kids to run about; that's a bad idea for my dogs.

Choya is so comfortable here because there's mild AC and it's totally sheltered even in a thunderstorm. The floor is acceptably clean. However, there isn't any sort of appropriate greens here for her to toilet. We'll still have to pee her first before coming.

The husband was curious about the beers this brewery produces. We had a tasting flight before settling on a half pint of whatever we preferred. He liked the lager and California IPA. The oatmeal stout was oddly light. It didn't pack a punch like what I expected of an oatmeal stout. I guess they might have brewed it for our weather. The chocolate notes and rich layers didn't come through. 

I'm cool with the easy Poolside Pilsner. I can't do beyond two small glasses of beer. Anything extra = laosai. The woes of IBS. The combination of alcohol, gluten, carbohydrates, and natural plant resins (hops) irritate my GI tract. For the small glass of beer I drink, I simply made sure I drink double the amount of water at the same time to ease the system.

Food is as expected of a a 'brewery' in Singapore. The kitchen is supposed to be good, but it's the usual pizzas, burgers and fried things done okay, and an expanded offering on the menu. They do have pasta, miso beef short ribs, pulled pork and eggplant parmigiana and the sorts. 

Tonight, we had half a rotisserie chicken peri-peri and with their lager. You could have it roasted in jerk, soy or lemon thyme too. Opted for rice over fries. That was delicious. Had that with broccolini and parmesan. For fun, we ordered a salt and pepper squid to go along with the beers. It was nice, but to me, it was just another fried thing I can skip. I don't do deep-fried often; it gives me the runs too. 

We lack breweries in Singapore. The vibes of the breweries we love are very hard to recreate in Singapore. Even this one doesn't fully have it. Being on Sentosa, and at Weave, they would be restricted to tourists in the area, or people who are actually keen to come over for night out. I hope this one survives. 

Crab Roe Noodles (蟹黃麵)

It has been a while since we stopped by Lo Hey Seafood at One Holland Village. They have downsized the menu and narrowed the offerings, which differentiated it from their sister outlet Hey Kee at Guillemard Road, but still offering good familiar items. I prefer to come to Lo Hey for a simple reason — the floors are more conducive for my floofs. Hey Kee's floors are rough af, asphalt-like. Ugh.  

The menu refresh offers claypot things. Sure. As long as they don't douse everything in oil. The husband blinked at the signature hairy crab roe noodles (蟹黃麵) and immediately ordered it. I laughed. It's such a C-drama dish! #IYKYK I don't bother with hairy crabs, and certainly no crab roe. Not today. But I like the noodles loads because they it's pretty much scallion noodles (蔥油麵)! It was delicious! At S$23++, these noodles are pretty good! 

Also had claypot wagyu black pepper angus beef slices. I'm usually wary of ordering beef or 'venison' at these restaurants because the meat always taste damn weird. I have no idea what they marinate it to 'soften' it, but it's gross. This version didn't turn out too bad. The salted egg Japanese pumpkin in claypot was delicious! They fried it dry and crisp. Lovely. Although at this point I laughed. You could just wok-fry everything and dump it in a claypot, and call it a claypot dish lorrr. 

Had a pork rib soup with uhh one tiny abalone. Blink and you'd miss the abalone. LOL I wouldn't have minded another dish of pork-something. But they use all belly. I wasn't interested in a sweet-sour pork tonight. Never mind. I'm not particularly keen on pork belly in this amount. Anyway... we had leftovers of beef and pumpkin. So we ordered an egg fried rice, and packed it all up to-go. 

Spices at Wild Coco

It was a hot afternoon, but lunch was made comfortable by the lovely staff of Wild Coco at Boat Quay. There is an overhead fan that's struggling against the mid-day heat, so the staff brought out another floor fan, and that was really helpful in circulating air around. 

The restaurant has a few locations now. There're two outlets at Hamilton Road and McCallum Street at Amoy that are convenient to us too, but this Circular Road outlet is the most conducive outdoors for us and the floofs. The sun does hit at noon, so a table of four seated outdoors is not feasible. Two pax is fine. 

This hot weather has no bearing on whether our cravings for hot soup and spices. It's weird not to have spices in our bowls. Hehehhe. A premium laksa for me, and ayam goreng berempah (breast meat) for the husband. The laksa is really pretty good, so much better than the weaksauce bowl that degenerated at PS Cafe before they took it off the menu. The husband really liked the breast meat option here. We also shared a burnt green chilli eggplant, and a house-made thick mackerel otah. They were all super satisfying.

It was a sweat-fest. But lunch was soooo satisfying. It stormed this morning, and oddly, it was still cloudy at mid-day. It wasn't as blistering as we expected hot today, so we took an easy stroll around the area for the floofs to make a piddle before retreating back to air-conditioning, chilled water and some lunch for them.

A Bún Chả for Lunch!

While Co Chung has an outlet in Plaza Singapura, It's nice to see that Co Chung is still around at Boat Quay because it has an al fresco area. I kinda like that location. They bothered to put a canvas shelter over the outdoor area, and added on like four air coolers. Those really helped with easing the mid-day heat and all. 

Importantly, they've never minded Choya at the outdoor tables. The floor ain't the cleanest, but it would do. Although I have seen children eat here, and they leave a mess of vegetables and food remnants after they leave. My dog is definitely quiter and cleaner than they are. 

The food has been dependable. The menu is quite extensive and covers many items. The man likes the pho here, and would add on beef slices and meatballs to his bowl. I'm not keen on pho, so I usually order a bún chả or bún thịt nướng of sorts. I like their lime soda since it came as a cute little can for me to add on and top-up to glass. I like these extras.

This afternoon, we ordered what we usually do — beef pho, and a bún chả Hanoi. The man enjoys pouring the broth over to blanch the raw thin beef. That works well for him. I can't say no to fish sauce. I love that piquant dipping broth and cold rice noodles, grilled pork and patties. That's more than a sufficient volume of lunch for me.

A Halibut Burger

It has been an intense and long work week. I'm pretty fine physically since it wasn't that exhausting, but my brains are fried. Tonight I wasn't really hungry, but I needed to eat, of course. Wildfire Burgers do last orders at about 8.45pm. I had reports to draft later tonight, and would be working through the weekend. 

I went home to retrieve the dog and the husband and we toddled off to dinner. We got there in time for a satisfying meal. The husband went for a 200-g hanger steak. He likes how the kitchen fires it up. He had a side of roasted vegetables of mushrooms, zucchini and capsicums in balsamic glaze. He's still on his low-carb diet and wants plenty of protein. So this sort of food is perfect for him. But the cholesterol level is a question mark. 

The restaurant now offers nibbles for floofs too. That's a really nice touch. It's unseasoned patties with no oil or garlic or onions. It might be a bit fatty in terms of the cuts of meat — say, chicken thigh and wagyu beef. But if a few dogs share nibbles, it isn't an issue. Or if yours is a big dog whose stomach can manage the portions fine in relation to the patty eaten. I didn't bother ordering for Choya. She's not allowed these cuts and she doesn't bother to eat outdoors either. 

I didn't feel like having cooked vegetables tonight. Hehhehe. I had a regular chopped Caesar's. I didn't want beef or a beef burger. The restaurant offers up a fish burger that suited my stomach. They use a delicious beer-battered Norwegian black halibut. But tonight, I didn't want buns. Opted for a low-carb version with lettuce. It was delicious. 

Noodles & Soups at Nooodon

This is a totally new-to-us hood and area — The Shoppes at The Venue Residences at Tai Thong Crescent. It's quite amazing how many casual eateries there are in the area. That's a great concept because the chain restaurants aren't here, and the smaller eateries cater to exactly what people want to eat. For example, Springleaf Prata, Hoe Nam Prawn Noodles flagship store and Nat's Chicks that moved from Chinatown to Tai Thong.  

We have stopped by Nooodon for a few times now. Last orders at 8.10pm or so. Get there before that. We usually sit outdoors with our portable fans. Never go by on a weekend unless you want to wait up to an hour for your food. At peak, the kitchen has limited capacity to churn out bowls fast when orders come in 4 to 10 pax per table. 

Yes, there're plenty of noodles on the menu, including their bak chor mee and such. Our friends told us to skip the dumplings and all versions of kimchi noodles and soup. We've wisely followed that advice and never bothered with those. Their dashi is okay too, so I assume the udon soup-whatever versions would be fine.  

We like its spinach and egg soup, and the bittergourd soup. Their soup base is lovely, unlike the rubbish powdered stock used at many of the stalls at the kopitiams and food courts. The husband prefers the spinach soup, quite exclusively. I like the bittergourd soup, and especially enjoy the broth, and all the fishballs and meatballs. We'll just add on a slab of tofu if we want extra protein. 

Chinese Razor Clams for Protein at Lunch

We go to Geneo at Science Park 1 because there're three restaurants which takes Choya at their comfortable outdoor seats — Nan Yang Dao, Putien, Din Tai Fung. They're sited in an atrium with a high ceiling, well-ventilated and cooled with giant fans. It's a perfect lunch spot. We rarely go there for dinner since it's a long drive up to the west and the crazy traffic jams on AYE don't make sense. 

Today, we popped by for lunch at Putien. It was raining like mad, and this was an ideal venue. The dog would be fine too. She managed to make a pee before the rains hit this side of town. Then she was happy hiding in a corner to watch the world. Luckily there wasn't thunder during lunch. 

Given the husband's low-carb/high-protein diet, he still found things within the menu that are suitable for him. Putien has its Chinese razor clams this month — duotou clams (多头蛏), so he was very happy.  The husband went all out. A 100g serving of Chinese razor clams would have about 7-14g of protein, low in fat and calories.  

He had clam soup, a whole plate of clams with minced garlic, cabbage rice (of which we had to tapau), and a sweet and sour lychee pork that was mainly for me. Clams kill me. So I dare not have more than two pieces. The pieces of pork and a bit of cabbage rice would do nicely for me. 

Loads to Eat at Pin Xiang Kitchen

The friends were traveling loads. Waited for them to come back for a makan! We stopped by Pin Xiang Kitchen at Tai Thong Crescent for a casual zi char dinner. The parking at this area is insane, so we simply parked across the shophouses at The Venue Shoppes. 

The easy venue meant that they didn't mind our floofs at all at the outdoor high tables. The overhead fans make it bearable on a humid evening. Sit at the table away from the motorcycles, and it's pretty okay! Space is limited, so the floofs have to be mindful not to block up the entire five-foot way. 

The range of dishes offered in their menu ensures that everyone had something to eat, something easy and tasty, but not to have to stuff our faces silly. Needed low-carb options and such too. 

Our one dish meals were seafood vermicelli, sambal seafood kway teow, and really decent wonton noodles. Added on hometown tofu with minced pork. Couldn't resist the daily soup of the day — pork ribs with old cucumber. There were also loads of protein by way of a whole steamed chicken for the husband.

At the end of the night, the restaurant gave us a complimentary pack of prawn fritter and sardine puff to-go. So nice! The friends said that this restaurant usually does that at the end of the night and give them to the last few diners. The husband liked the sardine puff — he said that it was chockful of sardines, the most he has ever had. 

Lunch with My Smol Girl

I do enjoy hanging out with my Smol Girl at lunch. She's really quite the sweetest thing. Well, dogs chilling out at cafes are a thing, but not quite everything.

There're many dogs who can't quite do cafes, and that's okay. These floofs can stay at home. It's taxing for owners who insist on their dogs adapting to their preferences, and these dogs bark their heads off at every passing dog or human, and try to nip servers. 

Of course I would need to walk Choya before sitting down so that her toileting is settled, her sniffing sorted and she could exercise another aspect of her brains and maintain her training. I'm not fussed about her being on the floor. She always gets wiped before getting into the car, and a thorough wipe-down and brushing at home. I just don't want horribly dirty floors littered with grease, food remnants, cigarette ash and rat/lizard poop.

That day, Smol Girl and I went out to lunch at Acqua e Farina at Keong Saik Road. Along this whole stretch, this is the only restaurant that bothered to extend its canvas to shelter the outdoor tables from the noon-day sun. The sun hits full-on and even a 10am coffee at Tong Ah next door is quite unbearable. The overheard fans at the restaurant also made the humidity bearable on days I don't have portable fans. 

Lunch specials at restaurants are always fun. You don't have to eat that much. I feel slightly less pressurized to have alcohol. Hahaha. Well, it's all about self-discipline, isn't it? I had none of it that day, and got a glass of white to go along with my pasta. 

I decided to have an aglio e olio with mushrooms and pancetta. The flavors are always a winner when it's done dry. I really like how the restaurant does it here — casual and hearty. The kitchen threw in big chunks of garlic, along clear big chillies, not that much spaghetti and everything doesn't simply drown in oil.