Lee's Taiwanese was first opened in Star Vista. Soon after that, their second outlet emerged in JEM, merely a year apart. This restaurant is not easily missed with its characteristic red lantern hanging down from all over the ceiling, bearing resemblance of Taiwanese night market.

Taiwanese Beef Noodle ($14)
One of the food that I almost never failed to order in Taiwanese restaurant is beef noodle. A year ago I didn't even like to eat beef but now I am drooling over every single delish looking beef noodle.

At Lee Taiwanese, the noodle used is the thick flat type, similar to the noodle used for dark-sauce Hokkien Mee. The thickness and fullness of the noodle was just right, with generous servings of tender beef slices laying on top of the noodle. Soup-wise, it was a normal one. Overall, I felt that the price leaning on steep side judging from the taste.

Salt & Pepper Chicken ($6.90)
I was expecting something like pop corn chicken but it proved me wrong. The chicken cubes were bigger than that of pop corn chicken. Encapsulating within the crispy fried flour were the juicy chunks of meat. The seasoning was done well, not too salty but still had its fragrant.

Snow Bean Curd ($3.8)
The beancurd was not as soft as what we usually had, it was actually kind of ...bouncy.

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Baby bak choy ($4.8)
The bak choy was served with pork belly, quite a new combination to me. The pork belly had been braised so it was rather tasty.

I always dreaded whenever a recipe that I am interested of calling for bacon. Why ar, some of you may ask. That is all because my lack of skill to fry a crispy bacon. I have tried to pan fry it with a little bit of oil, with lots of oil, or simply bake it but the bacon always turned out either too hard and chewy, or soft and undercooked.

Finally, I chanced upon this cooking method which is an eye opener to me. The secret of this method? Water. 

Water? Yes I know, water and crispy doesn't sound like going well with each other, right? But it works, which is what matter most, and there was not much spilling of oil. So that you can save your time cleaning and get to enjoy your food faster.

Firstly, boil a bit of water in a frying pan, just enough to cover the pan. When the water is boiled, lay bacon flat in the pan to cook.

When the water starts to dry up and you can smell the fragrance of the bacon, lower the heat.

Continue to simmer over low heat, flip the bacon once a while.

The bacon is now done.

Greek salad is our all-time favourite salad, a simple dish which is perfect to enjoy as it is, to accompany any meal, or to bring to any pot luck event. It is so easy to make, and yet so delicious that you would want to lick your bowl clean.

The secret of the best tasting Greek salad lies in the fineness of the ingredients. Other than that, you are basically just cutting and mixing everything together.

Making Greek salad is almost like presenting a piece of art. The more color combination, the more delightful your salad will look. 

Recipe

Serves 3-4 persons

Ingredients
(A)

5  medium tomatoes
2 medium size cucumbers
1 medium size bell-pepper (here I use 2 small size for the variety of color)
1/2 small onion

1 packet (around 100gm) of Feta cheese cut into cubes

(B)
2-3 tablespoon lemon juice
1 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon red-wine vinegar
1 teaspoon Oregano
a pinch of sea salt

6-8 pcs olives
optional: a pinch of black-pepper and thyme.

Method

Cut ingredients (A) 

Mix ingredients (A) and (B) into a big salad bowl, mix well.

Refrigerate for at least one hour before serve.

I had a craving for English muffin, you know, the type of bread that McDonald use for their sausage McMuffin. I missed the time when I would simply grabbed a English muffin with egg from the school canteen while on my way for early lectures. Somehow, English muffin is not a common item sold in supermarket, only a selected few carry it. Consider me lucky, I found a list of places carrying English muffin.

We bought few packets, some to be frozen for future uses. When I feel like eating it, I would simply thaw it to the room temperature and enjoy it as it is.

Mission accomplished, we settled for lunch at the nearby 363 Katong Laksa.

The restaurant had adopted a fully computerized ordering system. First, you place your order using the computer. Then, you take along with you a round device which beeps and lights up when your food is ready for self-collection.

Katong laksa ($4)
Although it was a hot day, we decided to bring the heat to the next level by having their laksa. My laksa cost $4. Despite its plain and simple look, the smell is tempting enough to get you dive right in. The laksa came with prawns, fish cakes, bean sprout, and laksa leaves (yes, I asked for no cockles. I can either choose to please my stomach or my taste bud, in this case my choice was the former one). The laksa tasted fragrant, there were ample laksa leaves, which I love. I strongly recommend you to add some sambal for that extra kick, it wasn't that spicy, at least to me.

That said, I still ordered a drink just in case....

Nasi lemak wing set ($3.3)

This is a standard nasi lemak set, it came with fried chicken wing, omelette, anchovies and peanuts. The anchovies were somewhere between crispy and chewy, certainly not the best that I have had.

Customized nasi lemak ($5.4)

We customize ordered this one.  It had been quite a while since my last visit here. Somehow, the nasi lemak that we remembered had a more fragrant coconut milk taste. It was either that the chef was not in the right mood that particular day or their quality deteriorated. I saw another customer barely took a few bites and left the table.

Next time, we would just play safe. stick to their laksa and you will do just fine!

Do you know that Saizeriya is a Japanese chain of Italian restaurant? I didn't. I was introduced to this restaurant by a colleague and we went there for lunch. My first impression of the restaurant was 'wallet friendly, ok food, comfortable setting.'

Today, I went there again with my family. I tried their pizza during my first visit and it didn't turned out well, so I warned everyone at the table. Me myself? I went for spaghetti instead, following the recommendation by my colleague.

Genovese spaghetti ($5.9)

The spaghetti was done al-Dante, paired with fresh basil sauce, olive oil and cheese. The sauce was on the oily side but was rather fragrant. Look at the color! It looked so green that I wondered if they had added any coloring. I topped my spaghetti with some powdered cheese, which I thought was Parmesan, but it tasted rather bland for Parmesan.

Spaghetti chicken bolognese ($3.9） 

The bolognese sauce was light and sweet, the perfect taste to entertain kids. The serving was just right, enough to make you feel full but still leaving spaces for sides or desserts.

Pork with black pepper chicken steak ($8.9)

If you can't decide whether you want to have pork or chicken, don't need to crack your head over it, this dish offered you both. The meat was fine, just like how it is expected from food court, nothing fancy but nothing screwed up either. We liked it that the black pepper sauce was served separately and not poured on the meat, so that we can enjoy the dipping games .

Seafood chowder ($3.4)

There were clams, and some vegetables in this creamy soup. At this price, I have tasted many worst off version. I was actually quite surprise that this one turned out fine. It was above my expectation given the price paid.

Butter corn ($2.9)

It was ... buttery! The corn was slightly overcooked though.

Focaccia with garlic butter ($2.2)

Actually it looked more like naan. The bread was rather chewy and we had it last. Just chew on and on .... while waiting for the rest to finish their food.

Chicken wing ($3.95)

We ordered the 4-piece set. The chicken wings were crispy, but not burnt, while the meat was juicy and tender. I can't find fault with this one at all, this is something that I will come back for.

For additional $3.9, you get to complete your meal with a small salad and get drink bar free refill. If you are not keen for the salad, you can just pay $2.8 for the drink bar free refill. Self-servicing at the drink counter was fun, there are any drinks for you to choose from, we usually like to mix and march few drinks to see how it tasted like.

Overall, the food here wasn't great, it was kind of sub standard but certainly worth the price you paid for.   As long as you adjust your expectation accordingly you will be pleasantly surprised. For us, we enjoyed our meals and we love the wide variety of food offered here. Yes, we will be back! But, remember, no pizza please.

I used to frequent Siam Kitchen as there was one nearby my previous staying place. The last time I came, I felt that the quality had somehow deteriorated. I wasn't sure if it was a one-time event, so I decided to give it a try again. 

Mix vegetable with tofu in signature sauce ($8.9)

If you are a tofu lover, you would agree that egg tofu is usually flavorful and silky soft, even though after fried. For this dish, the vegetable was fine but the tofu turned out mushy and bland. Understandably, we all took a bite and couldn't help but shaking our heads.

Hot and sour omelette curry with prawns ($10.9) 

Have you ever had a food that looked so different yet tasted so familiar? It took me a while to realise that this curry tasted like my favorite penang laksa. An interesting twist on this dish was the omelette, it was stuffed with acacia pennata. I think this was the only dish I like at the table.

Stir-fried kai lan with salted fish ($8.9)

A simple green for some fiber.

BBQ stingray with Thai sambal ($14)

The stingray didn't taste fresh, and the meat was kind of tough and chewy, as some would say 'logo'. We were expecting those BBQ stingray in Chinese Tze Char style but this was nothing like it. The sambal tasted just like plain chilli, we couldn't taste any belacan, shallot or other ingredients that usually attributed to a BBQ style sambal. Another round of shaking heads again. 

Oh... how I adore doughnut, but thinking about the calories accompanying each delicious bite always get me think twice before eating 'em. After reading many reviews and drooling over countless computer-screen-licking good photos of the Krispy Kreme doughnut, I finally made up my mind to try it. 

It was a Saturday morning, seems like the craze for Krispy Kreme had quiet down a little, the queue was not as long as I expected. Buying a minimum of 6 doughnuts entitle you to a box, but I decided that I am happy with just 2.

I love red velvet cake. Red velvet doughnut ($2.9)? Surely this is a must-try for me! The color was so attractive, I picked this up almost immediately. The red velvet doughnut was dunked in sugar glaze (or was it white chocolate? Pardon my ignorance, it was so sweet that I couldn't really tell) and sprinkled with crumbled red velvet cake. Biting down the doughnut, it felt like you are having a red velvet cupcake because of the dense texture of the doughnut. It crumbled easily and almost melt in the mouth. The milky white sugar glaze did not only perk up the look of the doughnut, it also gave me a real sugar rush. Imagine the explosion of sweetness in each bite!

I was attracted to this black and white combination - choco kreme cake ($2.9). After being placed in the paper bag, this doughnut was not at its tip top condition for photo. The doughnut was topped with soft whipped cream and oreo crumbs. Personally, I prefer this one over the red velvet one, because it was not as sweet and I could still taste the chocolate in the doughnut. The little kid in me was secretly begging for more.

It was love at first bite, the texture of the doughnut was simply awesome. But beware, it will surely send your blood sugar sky high!

What is the fun of having pancakes? To some it was the variety of toppings, others the taste, and me? The fun of making it!

A basic pancake batter at Slappy Cakes cost $8, you will be provided with a bottle of pancake mix, maple syrup and butter cube. For the batter, you can choose between buttermilk, wholegrain, peanut butter, chocolate and zucchini. Thereafter, you get to choose the fixings. Slappy Cakes offers both sweet and savory options for fixings. Our choice was banana and bacon bits which were at $1.5 and $2 each.

What set this pancake place apart was that you get to make your own pancakes. If you are bringing kids, this will be a fun activity over mealtime.

Here we go. Could you tell what those shapes were? We had a fun guessing game at the table.

Slappy Cakes offers whole day breakfast. The portion was rather big and surely provided us with enough energy for the rest of the day.

Classic breakfast $16.50
Feel the crisp in every bite! The bacon streak was fried to crisp and it goes perfectly with the soft scrambled egg.

Vegetable benedict $13.5
The 2 poached eggs were cooked just right. Poking through the egg with a fork, we watched the runny egg yolk flowed out effortlessly. It was so exciting try to scoop up the running egg yolk and bring it right into the mouth! The hollandaise sauce drizzled over the egg tasted slight lemony with smooth and creamy consistency. It was served with sauteed mushroom, caramelized onion, spinach and tomato over toasted brioche.

With our happy stomachs, we headed to our next stop - Pasarbella, a gourmet market place mirroring farmer's market in Europe/ US.

After our lunch at Slappy Cakes, we continued our journey to Pasarbella.

Pasarbella is surely not your usual market place. Spanning over 30,000 square feet of market space, housing more than 30 unique stalls from around the world, this is an up class gourmet market.

The style of this market is reminiscent of the farmer's market in US/ Europe. It has an interesting rustic design with assortment of specialty stores.

Organic fruits and veggies are available for the health conscious ones. The selection was not very wide but ample.

More organic food.

For a moment I thought I was in US. It invoked so much fond memories I had in San Francisco.

The cake that caught my eyes most was this pomegranate cake. It looked so delightful! Samples were available for those who wish to try.

Free-range and Angus beef sold here too.

 Gourmet kebabs.

 A Japanese seafood stall, the sushi counter was right beside.

I can vow for its freshness, I just saw it moved.

 A shop selling paella.

 

The gigantic paella pan.

They don't simply throw in the ingredients, the ingredients were arranged meticulously by the chef on the pan. I wonder how many people can this pan of paella feed.

 Meringue of this size, who is up to the sweet challenge?

This is a cheese specialty shop. We were welcomed by the cheesy smell lingering in the air once entered the shop.

Don't expect to find your usual cheese selection here, they sell rather specialised one.

  

The staff was arranging a cheese platter. So tempted to get one.

Drooling over the meat.

Ranging from flowers and balloons to seafood and wine, there are so many other shops that I didn't manage to take a photo of. The myriad of shops and the assortment of food and items sold here are indeed an eye opener. This place is recommended for all who longing for an out-of-the-city feel.

Pasarbella @ Grandstand Bukit Timah

200 Turf Club Road

 (S) 287994