Pasta and More Pasta

The restaurant said that they had lobster that week. It complemented a night when we were rustling up some friends for dinner. They were like, 'we should get pizzas together soon!' Alriiiiight. We all could make it on this random week day night for a casual one. It has been a while since we saw one another. These friends aren't on social media much, and a face-to-face conversation with them is always much better. 

So we toddled over to D.O.P for some decent pizzas and pasta. The haze is lingering, but the PM2.5 ain't too bad for these few days. Sitting outdoors at D.O.P wasn't too big a problem tonight with the friends. 

Everyone wanted pasta. Lobster linguine it was. I could never say no to lobster pasta here. The kitchen split it into two portions for us. We also had a seafood linguine with bottarga. There were sides of grilled cold vegetables. Added a main of grilled seabass for everyone to share too. Protein! That's always welcome. Nobody wanted pizza at dinner, but we ordered three pizzas to go. Heh.  

Oddly, nobody wanted red wine tonight. White wines then. Two easy bottles. Conversation flowed easily, and we came away from the night very inspired. The friends have taken an early retirement (if it's defined it by our newly raised retirement age) from the corporate office hours, and we wanted to know what they've been up to, and how they now define what's fulfilling to them. 

Sushi & Highballs

The PM2.5 isn't any better over the weekend. It was hovering at 75, not too bad really. We went out for dinner anyway. How many days could we coop up at home? We went to Sen-ryo at Vivocity. That's always a tasty and convenient option. We took a 6pm slot so that we would have plenty of time to hang out. It wasn't terribly crowded outdoors, and our eyes felt okay. 

The dog went upstairs to the Level 3 skygarden do her toileting, and chilled out for a bit. She likes that area. I never want to rush her when she's happy watching the world go by. We must have stayed for some 15 minutes. Then we went down to join the table for drinks.

We didn't over-order. We had sushi, and cooked food. There were tenderloin and grilled squid. The table had the big botan ebi done in two ways. I skipped it. I couldn't resist and had to have a small bowl of cold udon. Mmmm. My carbs! 

There's always something comforting about having a hotpot to end the meal with. It was tori nabe (chicken hotpot) tonight. It wasn't too big, and it was perfect to share. Tofu was always welcomed. Nobody minded soup that wasn't overly salted. 

We had a few highballs each. Nothing heavier. None of us seem to be able to do much sake nowadays. It gives us a terrible headache and a hangover. We had things to talk about. Easy drinks were ideal. Catching up with one another and exchanging stories about life's curveballs inevitably made for heavy topics. To be able to talk about them, is testament to the two decades plus of genuine friendship we share.

Deshelling Those Prawns

We hopped out to a late but easy dinner at Dumpling Darlings. It's a really convenient dinner venue, especially when Choya is comfortable there too. Sure we had dumplings. I only liked the original or veggie iterations. I could eat 10 pieces and call it a meal Also ordered a bowl of XO prawn noodles — since it was to be shared, I added extra servings of jjajang pork, mushrooms and prawns to it. However, those prawns aren't de-shelled. They arrive with feelers and full shells.

Grinned when the husband started peeling prawns this way. What were they saying about having your partner peel prawns for you? Like it's an unspoken gesture of affection or a division of labor thing at the dining table. Whatever it is, it isn't applicable to me.

I'm not just intolerant to shellfish, I'm deathly allergic to it. LOLOL To the point that the home doesn't welcome raw shellfish and would definitely not be washing and cooking it. The whole thing about peeling prawns as a love language is negated in my view.

The 'orange peel' theory isn't applicable to me either. Ha! I do not eat mandarin oranges or oranges. I like the fruit as freshly squeezed juice. I'm the one who would slice and peel oranges at home for the husband since I'm faster and way neater than he is.

The husband peeled all the prawns before tucking in to dinner. That was way more satisfying than dealing with the prawns one at one at time. The restaurant used decent prawns and the husband said they held some crunch. The prawns didn't matter to me. I only wanted the noodles and some mushrooms. Wheeeee.

Paper-Wrapped Chicken

Our dear friends had us over for chicken rice, a chat and some wine. It was again, a much appreciated gesture because it provided respite from the haze and scorching heat (yes, even in the nights).

The friends picked up food from Boon Tong Kee at Balestier. This outlet somehow has claypot chicken rice in the nights, but it's off the menu and in limited portions. You'd have to ask for it. However, the chef was on leave that day, and there was no claypot rice available. So they got the paper-wrapped chicken (紙包雞) instead. Still very tasty! I was really tickled that it came individually wrapped. 

There was the usual portion of steamed chicken. The friends ordered well. There was more than enough food and variety for all of us. The deep fried prawn toast was yummy — since I took antihistamines, I had one piece. We had poached Chinese spinach with assorted eggs too. That's always a lovely accompaniment to the meats. 

The friends always generously host us in their home; we drink loads of their wines! Tonight, they even picked up the food from Balestier in the pouring rain! Awwwwww. Thank you for the love. We asked if we could at least get dinner or split the food bill! So they did. Ooof.

Gin, Whisky & That Pork Jowl

It's hard to sit outdoors for a meal when the haze shrouds the island and the PM2.5 readings rocket. Our eyes and nose feel it, and it's worrying what remains in our lungs. There're very few places that would take Choya indoors and meet our expected food standards. So we end up getting food to-go and staying at home. 

We were so glad that M and E opened up their home and invited us over for the evening. They provided respite from the polluted air, and offered Choya mental stimulation and love, and fed us. They refused to let us split dinner! We couldn't be more thankful!

The friends said it would be Thai food. I didn't ask where they were getting it from. But when I saw that pork jowl, I was like, 'wait a minute, isn't this the leanest pork jowl on the island??' Indeed it was. It was tasty food delivered from good old Little Elephant. Apparently the restaurant delivers island-wide!

The floofs were happy chilling out. Ozi was so pleased to have us there that she kept coming to us for sniffs and such. Too cute. She also took a shine to the little coaster under my glass of gin. At every opportunity that the coaster was free, she seized it and made a run for it like it's a frisbee. Hehehe. She took it as a little game. I let her, but not before asking her momma if that was okay because the momma said she needed four proper coasters, not three and ¾ chewed bits. 

Pork Rib Noodles, No Prawns

Sent the dog to the grooming salon for her her bath, and while the man and I waited for her, we needed lunch. There're a number of eateries along the stretch. I bravely stepped into Geylang Prawn Noodles. Apparently this store has been around for two decades. I don't know if they're good or whatever; I don't particularly care. I just want a decent lunch. I figured that a prawn noodle eatery would likely offer pork rib noodles too. 

I was really glad to see that I didn't have to have prawns. They had pork and some fried stuff. Ordered century egg, tofu and fishcake too. I had thick beehoon with pork ribs. It came dry, with a little chilli and loads of extra kangkong. The ribs were nice and lean. Decent. It came with a small bowl of soup at the side; full of prawn stock. I wisely left it alone. So even if they blanched the pork and noodles in prawn stock, I wouldn't keel over from this amount of histamines.  

The man had a big bowl of prawns and pork rib, without any noodles. He totally enjoyed his. He was pretty happy peeling his prawns, drinking his soup and mine. He doesn't have an issue with shellfish. The issue is the sodium in the soup! It's a tad salty. The soup here can afford to go lower on sodium, but otherwise, the flavors packed a prawny punch. 

Geylang Prawn Noodle
327 Upper Paya Lebar Road
Singapore 534947 (non air-conditioned)
Hours: 8am to 7.30pm (closed on Mondays)
T: 8092 3327 / 9117 7527

Greasy Fun

J kept saying how decent OBBA BBQ is. So the gym-mates made a date to mark N's birthday, and we all toddled down for a bite at its 63 Tanjong Pagar Road location. I realized that this brand has outlets that included the name 'Jjajang'. I'll skip those. I've no interest in Korean jjajang or Chinese zhajiangmian, or even Kuala Lumpur style dark Hokkien noodles. They're same-same to me. 

Somehow we end up with Korean cuisine as a choice. Can lah. When we eat in a group, each of us have got our preferences; I don't need to eat things that I don't care for. Beef and rice is always a great combo. I can't ever order pork because Korean restaurants keep trotting out pork belly and super fatty cuts. Luckily, nobody at this table likes fatty cuts of meat. 

We got tiny room and felt like VIPs. Hahaha. Well, the open hall isn't any more well ventilated if you ask me. In the room, there's an air conditioning unit and two ceiling fans. With the two exhaust, our eyes didn't smart too much. But we all left stinking of meat grease and oil.

Don't bother with a la carte orders here. Just get a meat set or two if you want. The meat cuts were okaaaaay. But it's certainly nothing fancy. This is a casual place. The meats are over-marinated and too salty. The flavored rice balls (jumeokbap) were really tasty. They cleverly rolled up several balls in a giant steel bowl of rice and ingredients. That sort of salt, I couldn't resist. 

It was a fun time catching up. We hadn't sat down like this for a bit. We only zipped in and out of classes and get in a few quick lines. Sure, we're on the group chat, but with these mates, it's always nice to chat a little more outside of our classes. The icing — no pressure to have alcohol. We adjourned to a cafe, and had super refreshing coconut water thingies to cap off the night.

Prata with Sambal Please

Sometimes I wonder why prata stalls in Singapore don't offer sambal along with the prata. Curry at the side is the standard. I very much prefer fish curry to chicken. And I always would like to have sambal along with it. Now that sugar. I don't understand the sugar. Why! Why would anyone eat prata with spoonfuls of sugar. Walao. 

Mr and Mrs Mohgan's at Joo Chiat offers sambal ikan bilis along with their prata. This is probably about the only stall that the husband would have the patience to queue to order, then wait an hour for the food. The only problem is, for the long wait, all we could stomach is one prata each. Gone are the days we could do two pieces even. 

If you can turn up at 6.30am or 7am, that would be the best. Anything after this timing means that you have to wait for at least 45 minutes for your food. It's normally a one-hour wait. Weekends are mad. Bring portable fans. Bring cash. It's cash only. Or you'd have to beg to borrow cash and PayNow the kind soul.

That day, we wanted coffee, and a walk for Choya. Popped out to Joo Chiat. That was already 11am. Just a comforting glass of kopi-o-siu-siu-dai iced. It was pretty decent. The queue for prata was manageable, so the husband ordered, and his queue number was 177. By 180, they closed the orders and told everyone else it was sold out! By 11.30am! We got our food only at 12.15pm. They did serve till 12.45pm and called it a day.

I'm not super keen on prata. It's tasty but I won't do more than one. So I wouldn't waste my carb quota on random prata. Today, I wasn't in the mood for it, except for a bite. So I had the caifan. This point-point rice stall is decent, but it doesn't beat my favorite Everton Park stall, only because this one's sodium levels higher.

I had to pee mid-way. That was the first time I used this kopitiam's toilet. It's super old school sial. It was surprisingly clean. I suppose it's fewer stalls/staff using as well. And IT'S A SQUAT TOILET> OMG. I was so pleased! No wonder it's clean! Nobody wanted to use it! Bahahahhaha. 

I love it that Choya is perfectly fine chilling with us at the kopitiam. Our table that day was right at the street corner. It wasn't that near that road, so we didn't get a full blast of dust and vehicle exhaust. The haze wasn't present this morning; there was a little breeze that stirred occasionally. She was really happy to watch the world go by and didn't want to snooze at all. 

Mrs and Mrs Mohgan's Crispy Prata
300 Joo Chiat Rd, Singapore 427551 
Tin Yeang Restaurant (non-air-conditioned kopitiam)
Hours: 6.30pm to 1.30pm. (Closed on Wednesdays.)

Pork Jowl :: คอหมูย่าง

Pork jowl is never going to be a lean cut of meat since it's heavily marbled with layers of fat. It's not a lean low-fat protein option. It's probably fattier than pork belly. Hurhurhur. Yet it's sooooo tasty. I like this in the form of Thai Issan-style grilled pork jowl (คอหมูย่าง / khor moo yang). 

However, I want the excess heavy fat trimmed away as much as I can. And that is dependent on the butcher or the line chefs in the kitchen. Most restaurants give diners to full fatty chewy oily shiny slices. There're very few restaurants who try to do it the way I like it — with as little excess fat as possible. An oxymoron, I know. But they can do it by scoring the skin and slicing it thin across the grain to distribute the fat evenly.

Years ago, I found my ideal pork jowl dish at Little Elephant. They've always been consistent in the way they slice it and render the fat. Till today, it's still gorgeous. I have bravely tried pork jowl at the restaurants around the island, and even in Bangkok. Few can do it the way Little Elephant can. I know their menu so well now that I know what dishes the kitchen seems to be stronger in, and what I absolutley would not order there, say noodles, they can't seem to do noodles well. 

I always order pork jowl at dinner. I was very pleased to see pork jowl now offered on the classic set lunch menu too. Little Elephant has a few options for set lunches on week days, and it's fairly popular with the office lunch crowd. It has no air-conditioning. The fans provide ventilation, but at mid-day, it's hot. So if you go to have lunch, go prepared to sweat. 

The waiting time for a grilled pork neck is stated as '20 minutes'. They do need to grill it. It's faster than that if your timing doesn't clash with a ton of orders going into the kitchen at the same time. At lunch, I come in at 1pm, and I always get my plate within 15 minutes. 

The grilled pork neck comes with a tangy dipping sauce of naam jiim jaew (น้ำจิ้มแจ่ว). It's mostly sweet and sour instead of spicy, made with tamarind, fish sauce, lime juice, chili flakes, and toasted rice powder. Little Elephant's version is sweeter. I'm not fond of it. I leave it be. If I want spicy, I'll take the chilli padi in fish sauce. It makes lunch so satisfying. Just don't ask me about the fat content, nutritional value and such. The egg gives me more protein. 

Minced Meat Noodles

I didn't realize that the brand 'Macpherson Minced Meat Noodles' is 'famous'. Well, I'm not a fan of bak chor mee per se, so I don't particularly care about it. I ate at this one because it was convenient and the husband was curious about it. 

Apparently, all the stalls named 'Macpherson Minced Meat Noodles' aren't the same. They're not franchises or related to one another. The OG Uncle Yap's stall is now in Potong Pasir Block 136. But I can tell you that stall's version isn't nice. I bravely tried it thrice and it truly sucked, even for a regular plate. The meat really really stank, and the ratio of sauces was terrible. 

I very much prefer the iteration across the road done by Uncle Yap's disciple at the corner of Tai Thong Crescent. I kinda eat bak chor mee as minced meat kway teow, 'dry, white white'. LOL That's non-negotiable. I wouldn't eat it if it's drenched in sauces. So when I eat it like this, I'm not bothered about vinegar or type of chilli of whatever. I can taste all the flavors clearly. I know this is a caloric bomb, with all the grease and very little protein. So I don't eat it that often. 

Now that kway teow. That day, the kway teow came brown. Walao. NO. DUNWAN. When I said that I wanted 'white-white', I mean it — no sauces, no vinegar, no ketchup, no gravy, nothing. I dislike those flavors. I emphasized on white-white. So when the bowl of kway teow came back with a bit of sauce, I promptly went back to the stall, paid a $1 to get another bowl of white-white kway teow.

Do I like this brand's bak chor kway teow? No. I prefer the flavors at Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodles. The soup offered is much better too. 

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!