Are you a fan of waffles and burgers like me? How about a waffle burger? I was told by a service crew from Griddy Gourmet Waffles that they are the first with the concept of waffle burger. 

This is their chef recommendation - Griddy Burger. The beef patty was handmade and secured inside the mushroom waffle. It was an average burger, I was hoping that the waffle could be more crispy. 

We also ordered one of their dessert waffles - rocher banana. It has a scoop of rocher gelato on top of caramelized sliced bananas. The waffle was crispy and all of us love it! In fact, we dug in too fast and nothing left to be photographed. 

Westgate

3 Gateway Drive

#B2-K12

Jurong East, 608532

Oriole Cafe & Bar, located at the Pan Pacific Suites, was once a rather hidden gem in the busy Orchard Road. With the opening of Somerset 313 right beside the cafe, it is now a popular place for shoppers to rest their feet. The cafe is well known for its coffee. The owner, Keith Ong, was awarded the best barista in the Singapore National Barista Championships 2010.

With both indoor and outdoor sections, this cafe offers the best of both worlds.

Dimly lighted up by the warm lightings from the Chandeliers, the indoor section  provides a cozy hangout place for the diners. 

We ordered philly steak & cheese. It has a few slices of medium well beef striploin, some onions, peppers and swiss cheese sandwiched between the hero bread. Hand-cut fries and greens were served as side dishes.

We actually came here for the St. Louis' pork ribs. Our friend told us that the taste of their pork ribs was reminiscent of the ribs from the famous Naughty Nuri’s Warung in Bali, Indonesia. These pork ribs were marinated with kicap-manis, served with sweet potato fries, greens and sambal matah. Although we felt that it is still a far cry from the char-grilled ribs done by Naughty Nuri's Warung, we like the combination of sambal matah with the ribs. The sambal matah was not visible from the picture, it is hidden behind the rack of ribs.

I like mocha, but chilli chocolate mocha? I have yet to try until today. It is a blend of double ristretto with fresh chilli juice, chocolate and steamed milk. The steamed milk was poured conscientiously on top of the coffee to produce a beautiful latte art. The chilli, although quite mild, added an interesting twist to the mocha.  It comes with a cinnamon stick as a stirrer.

Their meals and coffee were all served on colourful plates and cups, as how our life should be- colourful.

Oriole Cafe & Bar

96 Somerset Road

#01-01 Pan Pacific Serviced Suites,

Singapore

Malaysia Boleh! litereally translates to Malaysia can do it!. The slogan portrays the Malaysian's spirit to endure, pursue and excel. A foodcourt, naming after this popular slogan, is located at JP2, #03-129. The foodcourt was decorated in an old heritage setting, resembling the Malaysia Food Street at the Resort World Sentosa. You can find various Malaysia specialities here such as the chicken rice, Hokkien Mee, Penang Laksa etc.

The Penang Fried Kway Teow stall was always crowded with long queue. Today we had finally made up our mind to try it no matter what. Since we had queued for so long, we ordered the biggest portion. It is the kiasu mentality at work, lol.

Ham and lak chiong they have none. Instead, there are many prawns and tow-ge. I don't like ham, so I am totally happy with the food. Considering the price, this is quite a good deal.

This is the Malaysia version of Hokkien Mee- thick noodle stir-fried in dark sauce, with lots of lard. It is very unhealthy, but it tastes good.

This is Hainanese chicken rice, the chicken looks very tender and juicy.

This place is always very crowded, so make sure you bring some friends to chop seat for you (It is the kiasu mentality at work again, lol)!

We were patronising the newly opened Westgate at Jurong East and were looking for something to fill our growling stomach. Osaka Ohsho, which translate to 'The King of Gyoza in Osaka' caught our eyes. We saw this chain of restaurant during our trip to Japan but we were not in time to try it.

As we were ushered to our seat, we were greeted with loud irrashyaimase from the service staff. For those of you who wondered what are they shouting about, it means 'welcome'. 

The restaurant adopt the self-ordering system using iPad. However, they still provide both the physical and digital copy of menu. With the iPad, your orders can be placed, just within few clicks, and you will be able to view the total amount spent on the food ordered.

This is the appetiser we ordered -the mix 3, from left - chuka wakame, baby octopus and chuka hotate.

As the restaurant name suggests, gyoza is their signature dish. The gyoza was pan fried to golden brown crisp at the bottom while remain tender on the top (they usually display the crisp-bottom facing up). The succulent fillings were packed with flavours from the cabbage, ginger, garlic and pork. It makes a perfect nibble. I ate the whole plate of gyoza by myself.

This is Fuwatoro Chicken Tenshin Han. It kind of reminds me of mui fan in Chinese cuisine. I am not a fan of mui fan so I kept my expectation low for this dish. 

As I dug in to the dome of egg, I was taken by surprise, a pleasant one though. The egg on top was so thick and fluffy and the rice was soaked in savoury broth. We sprinkled some shichimi togarashi (seven flavor chili pepper) on the egg to add a tad of spiciness. 

This is fried chicken, ordered by a friend.

This is the egg soup accompanying the set meal. It has a hint of ginseng taste.

What else can I say? Totemo Umai desu!

McDonald is sharing the Kampung Spirit! At first glance I thought it is a Kampung Chicken burger, but on second thought, very unlikely, lol.

Kampung Burger with muffin bread and pineapple.

BBQ chicken drumlet, a little bit spicy.

French Fries, just the normal version.

Today is Dong Zhi (冬至), or Winter Solstice Festival. My mom always tells me that I grow a year older during Dong Zhi, she says that too during Chinese New Year and on my birthday. That makes me wonder, I grow three years older in a year??

That aside, Dong Zhi is one of the most important festival in Chinese Calender. It literally means 'Arrival of Winter' (冬-winter, 至- arrival), a time when farmers celebrate their harvest. It falls on the day with the longest night time/ shortest day time and it marks a turning point to welcome more daylight. It is also a family get together time and Tang Yuan (sweet glutinous rice balls), which symbolize reunion, are usually served.

These are Tang Yuan with black sesame fillings in sweet ginger pandan broth. 

These are the original (white color)  and special pandan (green color) and pumpkin (orange color) Tang Yuan, made with 100% natural pandan juice and pumpkin puree, 0% artificial coloring.

Have you had yours today?

Would you like to have some free ice-cream? It is right here, at Just Like it! @ Westgate.

Simply like their Facebook page and show it to them, it is just that simple. It is kind of ironic though, there was no queue when I redeemed my free ice-cream, whereas another ice-cream shop which was  having a 1 for 1 promotion was filled with long queue. I almost missed this huge standing poster too.

Usually, if you purchase ice-cream from them, they will make your ice-cream on the spot, right before you, by mixing the liquid ice cream with liquid nitrogen and whisk till frozen. They claim their ice-cream to be 0% stabilisers, 0% additives, 0% colouring and 100% natural. The service crews are all dressed up in lab coat, and the whole ice-cream making process looks like an experiment in chemical lab. It is quite a visual pleasure to watch your ice-cream made right before your eyes.

This tank is filled with liquid nitrogen.

Meanwhile when they are giving away free ice cream, they store the ice-cream in tubs (usually, you will not see tubs in their shops as all the ice-cream are freshly made).  There were various flavours to choose from, rum raisin, hazelnut, mint and many others. This was my free mint ice-cream.

I am not sure how long will the giveaway last, so hurry up and pay them a visit!

Are you familiar with Singlish, colloquial Singaporean English, or you have never heard of it before? Singlish is not an official language, but it is the standard English under the influences of other languages used by the major ethnicities in Singapore i.e. the Malay, Chinese and Indian. Singlish is commonly used in Singapore but it is generally regarded with low prestige and is strongly discouraged by the government on its usage.

To some it is a broken language, others a unique blend of languages full of colors and spice, what is your take on this?

How about reiterate your childhood story ' The Three Little Pigs' in the Singlish version? 

Here is a sneak peek of the book :

A fun book to read indeed!

Today is Friday and weekend is coming, shiok ah! So, relax lah, don't overwork yourself. Go have some fun tonight and enjoy your weekend!

Shiok ah -showing great satisfaction

Lah - an expression that punctuate almost any sentence

Prawn is an auspicious dish in Chinese Cuisine, probably due to its vibrant color and also its pronunciation in Cantonese, 'har', which is similar to laughter.  Cooking prawn with cereal is one of my favorite. The cereal is stir fried to a golden brown perfection, complementing the vibrant red color from the prawn. This is an all time favorite dish which is usually served in wedding banquet and also Chinese New Year eve reunion dinner.

Here comes the tricky part of preparing this dish: many have mistaken oat for cereal. If oat had been used in place of cereal, you will end up with a plate of gooey oat prawn (sounds yucks, I know)  instead of crispy cereal prawn. For this dish, the best cereal to be used is the Nestum All Family Cereal (original flavor).

The cereal prawn I made here is a healthier and children friendly version, i.e. no deep frying of prawn and no chilli added. Feel free to modify this recipe to your liking and do let me know your feedback. 

Ingredients

Cereal mix

1 cup Nestum All Family Cereal (original flavor)

1 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon milk powder

400 g medium size prawns, devein 

vegetable oil for stir frying

2 tablespoon salted butter

5 sprigs curry leaves, stalk discarded

Directions

Mix all ingredients for cereal mix and set aside.

Heat vegetable oil in frying pan and stir fry prawn till just cooked. Drain and set aside.

Using the same oil, stir fry curry leave till the color turn dark green or crisp. Drain and set aside.

Heat butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Add cereal mix. Stir constantly till golden brown. 

Toss in curry leave and prawns and mix well. Serve immediately.

There were a few slices of leftover bread in the kitchen and i was craving for something sweet for breakfast. Then I remembered bread pudding, a sweet and lightly spiced dish which is also very easy to make. Bread pudding can be served with sweet sauces/ toppings such as a scoop of ice-cream, a dollop of whipped cream or simply dusted with icing sugar. As for me, since the dish was meant for breakfast, I chose to serve it alongside warm, creamy vanilla sauce. 

Ingredients

Bread pudding

3 slices bread, allow to stale overnight

1 tablespoon butter, soften

1/4 cup raisins

1/4 cup sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon or nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Vanilla sauce 

2 tablespoon sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 tablespoon cornstarch

2 teaspoon butter

1 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Bread Pudding

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (or 177 degrees C).

Spread butter on bread and cut the bread into cubes. Arrange the bread in a baking pan and sprinkle raisins all over.

In a bowl combine cinnamon and sugar, then add eggs, milk, and vanilla. Beat until well mixed and pour the mixture over bread. Gently press down the bread so that it is well soaked in the mixture.

Bake in oven for 45 minutes.

Vanilla sauce

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan. Heat over medium heat and stir until the sauce thicken. 

To serve, pour over bread pudding.

Notes: Overcooking the sauce may produce lumpy texture.

This is the newly renovated Chez West restaurant, located at ITE College West. Who are the chefs? You are right, they are the Technical Diploma in Culinary Arts with Restaurant Management students. This is part of their second year A La Carte cooking module. Lets see what are they up to!

The warm lighting, along with a nice flower decoration on the table create a cosy dining ambience.

The bread was free flow throughout the meal.

Smoked Salmon with Cheese and Mango Chutney. I always like smoked salmon, especially with cheese. The mango chutney added a hint of sweetness to the salty dish and kick it up a notch.

Duck Rillettes with Cornichons, Finger Bread Brioche and Honey Dates Salad. Instead of mashing the meat to a creamy texture, the duck meat was finely peeled so that we are still able to enjoy the texture of the meat . The rillettes is actually very addictive, I wish I have more bread to go with it. The bread, baked to a golden finish, crunchy on the teeth and melt in the mouth.

Butternut Squash with Smoked Seared Scallop and Vanilla Oil. The vanilla infused olive oil gives a sweet, subtle vanilla flavour to the soup. The scallop, pan seared to golden brown on the outside, still retained its slight chewy texture inside. 

Slow Baked Cod Fish with Braised Lettuce, Barley Pilaf and Truffle Almond Milk. An interesting combination of ingredients. The side dish was baked tomato with thyme and bacon with lettuce. Although the fish, barley, asparagus and side dish are all delicious on their own, each has its strong flavour that trying to overpower each other. This dish is on a saltier side too.

Marinated Beef Flank with Burgundy Oxtail Ravioli and Onion Marmalade. This one was ordered by a friend who loves to have everything to go with chilli sauce. I know, we tried to stop him, we really did...

Crunchy Chocolate Raspberry Mousse Cake with Berry Compote and Pistachio Ice Cream. The refreshing raspberry jam, sandwiched by the sweet chocolate mousse, wrapped in the bitter sweet dark chocolate and crowned with a fresh raspberry. As the name suggests, the classy crunch was created by adding feuilletine praline to the soft mousse cake.

The chef and students are preparing two set menus for lunch and dinner. The above was the 4-course dinner costing $25, serving from 9 Dec to 20 Dec 2013. The next set menu will be served from 6 Jan to 17 Jan 2014. 

The weather was good this morning, the sky was partially cloudy but it was not raining. A good day for hiking up the Bukit Timah Hill.

After getting all sweaty and hungry, someone craved for Korean Food. There we go, Kim's Family Restaurant, which is located around 15 minutes walk from the foothill.

Side dishes are free and can be replenished. They gave a generous 12 different types of side dishes.

I personally like the bean sprout most.

The bean paste soup that came with the set meal.

Sam Gae Tang (ginseng chicken soup). Unlike those with glutinous rice stuffed inside a whole chicken, this chicken is already broken apart. 

 

Bulgogi beef served on the sizzling hot plate.

 

Lastly, free oranges and cinnamon tea from the restaurant. The cinnamon tea is very strong and sweet. Took me a while to get use to it.

 

Overall, we are satisfied.

This cake has such an irresistible, oh-so-shiny exterior look! Can you see my reflection there? Seven bright red macarons lining the side of the cake and 4 pieces of nicely printed chocolate cut-outs lying on top. The cake is deliciously moist and slowly melt in the mouth. The intense chocolate flavor make it perfect for the chocolate lover!

That said, a bit disappointed with the macaron though. It is too sugary for my liking.

Moonlight Cake House

No.77, Jalan Sutera Tanjung 8/3,
Taman Sutera Utama, 81300 Skudai, Johor.