Toast

One of the greatest finds that I made two years ago was this sandwich restaurant called Toast. It's located at a secluded corner next to the office building of Takashimaya and it serves fantastic sandwiches, wraps, salads, cakes and cupcakes! (:

We went there a couple of weeks ago for lunch and we had a sandwich set each. Each set comes with a sandwich/ wrap of your choice + a salad/ side dish + their awesome blended ice lemon tea.

We chose to have a small bowl of chicken caesar salad ($3.50) as well as

a bowl of roasted pumpkin with tofu salad ($3.50) for starters. The caesar salad was very well mixed and the sauce wasn't too thick. Jeffrey liked the salad so much that he actually managed to finish all his leafy greens (although I must admit that greedy me helped him out a bit). Personally, I love the roasted pumpkin with tofu salad and I always order it whenever I visit Toast! I think the slight vinaigrette taste helps to give the entire dish an extra zing! You really should try it for yourself (: Pumpkin lovers will immediately fall for this dish!

Although Toast serves a wide range of sandwiches, I usually go for the egg and cress wrap or egg and cress sandwich. I chose to have the sandwich on the fateful day that Jeffrey brought his camera to Toast so photographed above is Toast's wonderful rendition of egg and cress sandwich ($6). The bread slices taste really healthy and I like how they are so warm and soft. It's a really good dish to have if you want something light.

Jeffrey opted for BLT sandwich ($7.80) and he said that it was very good! (: I think this particular choice of sandwich is quite popular among patrons because I see a lot of other people eating this! I guess you should order this if you're spoilt for choice when you visit Toast since it seems like a 'safe' choice.

If given a choice, I would love to eat at Toast everyday! I have yet to try all their sweet stuff so I'll definitely be making many more trips to Toast in the near future. Visit Toast if you want a hearty and reasonably priced meal! (:

Aoba/ Bachmann Japanese Restaurant

Most of the time, I prefer eating at somewhere not too crowded because I dislike having to speak loudly to be heard or feel pressured to finish eating quickly so that the other hungry people who are still queueing for a table can get a chance to eat.

However, I've come to realise that there sometimes exist a (few) reason(s) why a certain restaurant is always bustling with customers or has a snaking queue extending from the entrance of the restaurant. While it may be true that popular restaurants do not always serve good food (sometimes they just serve food that are worth-your-money), one can't help but feel inclined to visit a particular popular restaurant, just to see whether it lives up to one's expectations of 'good food'.

Aoba Hokkaido Ramen at Ion Orchard is one such (fastfood) restaurant. Granted I don't frequent Ion that often but Aoba seems to be perpetually crowded (at least whenever I walk past it!) and that made me wonder whether they really serve GOOD ramen. So far, THE best ramen that I've tasted is from a Japanese restaurant at Central (I can't remember the name of the shope right now but I know where it's located).

Last week, Jeffrey and I had the rare chance of being in town on a weekday afternoon so we decided to pop by Aoba for lunch. Thankfully, we didn't have to wait long for a table despite the restaurant being almost full.

Jeffrey decided to go for their special lunch set ($10.90) which includes a cup of hot green tea, a side dish (he chose to have three small gyozas) and a bowl of piping hot shoyu ramen. The gyozas were average but the ramen tasted better than it looked. Jeffrey especially liked the charsiew slices because they were tender and juicy.
Shoyu Ramen. Each bowl of ramen had an egg in it (:

Because we were being greedy, we decided to order a softshell crab ($7.80) sidedish to share. To be frank, I never expected them to serve us just ONE softshell crab! I thought that they would at least give us one and a half chopped up softshell crabs but no, all we had was ONE small little softshell crab. I was telling Jeffrey that this has got to be the most expensive softshell crab that I've ever eaten! Thankfully it tasted pretty good so I didn't feel like we wasted our money on this measly item!

Because I'm a lover of shio soup base, I opted to change the soup base of my shoyu corn ramen to from shoyu to shio. They charge $1 for changing soup base so my shio corn ramen cost $11.80 + $1 = $12.80. The portion was sufficient to fill my tummy but I didn't think the shio soup base was that tasty. The corn bits were, in my opinion, the best part of the dish! Love having corn in my food.

Although Aoba didn't live up to my expectations, it still serves relatively good and cheap ramen. Their lunch sets are value for money so if you're skeptical about eating at this place, perhaps you would like to go during lunch time so that you won't feel like you're putting a huge amount of money at risk. One downside of dining here is that they do NOT serve dessert! =( We had to source for desserts at other places after this meal. All in all, I was glad that I finally tried Aoba's popular ramen! =)

Comfort Food: That Boney Cake (NYDC)

Whenever I feel the need for some (emotional/ gastronomical) pampering, the image of NYDC's That Boney Cake never fails to appear in my mind. To me, this IS the best dessert that NYDC has to offer and everyone should try it! =) It's essentially made up of a slice of warm chocolate cake and a scoop of vanilla/ chocoate chip ice cream. This particular combination is simply divine and it gives me great pleasure to savour or devour (depending on how hungry/ greedy I am) this luxuriously rich dessert. Do try it when you need a pick-me-up! TGIF*

Boomarang Bistro & Bar

In an attempt to resurrect my sanity, I shall take a break from work to blog about FOOD! (: This week has been a rather foody week because we've a bit more time to go out for good food! It's really a privilege to be able to eat knowing that you don't have to do stuff that needs to be done before sleeping otherwise you'll be in a fix the next day. I also realised that I must learn to get better and faster at whatever I'm supposed to do so that I can have more time for leisure. Perhaps I'll have more time to hunt and explore more inaccessible food places when I get more used to my job.

Anyway, we kicked start our holiday with a trip to Boomarang! (:

Boomarang is tucked at the corner of a row of shophouses that are next to the Singapore River. I was attracted to it because of its Aussie name as well as its spacious floor area! Because it holds such a large seating capacity, it's hardly ever full (or at least I haven't seen it fully packed), which is ideal for me because I dislike waiting for a table.

We chose to sit indoors because Jeffrey can't take the heat outside! Most of their patrons chose to sit outdoors though. Personally, I think I wouldn't mind sitting outside IF it isn't too hot but I would prefer sitting indoors IF the aircon temperature indoors isn't too cold. I know, I know, I'm quite hard to please but I don't want to perspire or freeze while eating!

Their huge menu! I think their menu's pretty comprehensive - a lot of choices for meat lovers! Breakfast/ brunch lovers should visit Boomarang during the weekend so that you can order from their weekend breakfast/ brunch menu! (:

I've noticed that I tend to order eggs benedict when I can't seem to decide what I want to eat. I suspect it's because eggs benedict is more filling than pancakes/ french toast and its a savory dish, which means that it will balance the sweetness that comes from dessert (yes, dessert is a must! How can anyone resist dessert?). Fickleminded me decided to go for Boomarang Benedict ($16) in the end, and I was quite disappointed that it didn't taste as lovely it looked. In particular, the muffin base was hard and difficult to cut =( I was looking forward to having warm and soft muffins with eggs! Thankfully, the potato slices and the eggs were pretty okay.

Jeffrey decided to go for their chicken burger ($22) which comes with complimentary fries and salad. The salad was pretty normal but the fries were GOOD! (: I love straight-cut fries! The BBQ and tartar sauces were excellent dips for the fries. The fries were so good, I couldn't stop stealing them from Jeffrey! Unfortunately, the chicken burger wasn't half as good as the fries =( The grilled chicken patty was tough and hard so Jeffrey had a hard time chewing it. The bread was alright but I guess it's hard to make up for the 'main' dish on the platter when it's unexpectedly bad. Perhaps we'll try their signature burger in future.

Dessert was sticky date pudding with vanilla icecream ($10). The sticky date pudding was harder than most that I've tasted but the sauce and the icecream helped to soften it a little. I loved the fresh strawberry that came with this dessert! (: This was probably the best dish that we had that day.

I really liked the ambience at Boomarang and I think it's a good place to chill out on a weekend but I hope to savour better food the next time I visit! =)

Cafe Swiss

Hello! (:

I'm sorry for not updating this space for so long! Life's been really busy for me but thankfully I'm getting a teensy break this week so I can finally blog! =)

A couple of weeks ago, Jeffrey and I went to Cafe Swiss for their Sunday lunch buffet! It's been some time since we'd a good buffet so we were hoping that Cafe Swiss wouldn't disappoint us!

We were lucky to secure a corner seat, next to the window so we had some privacy to ourselves. Our table is separated from the next seating section by this veil! I thought that it's a pretty neat idea to separate seating areas using translucent veils!

At first glance, the food area didn't seem to be that big but we quickly realised that our first impression was wrong because there was more food than we expected! =) The seating area is so large that it simply dwarfs the food section! I guess it's always good to have more seating capacity so as to accomodate more guests.

The two predominant colours of this restaurant are white and red! Their table mats, glasses and cups are all red in colour!

There was free flow of coffee/ tea/ latte/ fruit juices. We shared a cup of latte and had two small glasses of fruit juice each!

As usual, we started off with some salad and light dishes! Jeffrey chose to have green salad, chinese stir-fried mixed vegetables and two cucumber sushis.

I started my feast with (in clockwise direction) green salad with ranch sauce, gnocci salad, beans salad, sauteed mushrooms and salmon sashimi.

I spotted a long queue at the crepe/ omelette station and decided to join in as well! Turns out that the station was for omelette with ham, mushroom and onions! (: The omelette was pretty average but I guess it tasted slightly above average that day because it was warm and freshly cooked. I also scooped a small bowl of cauliflower soup for us to sample. I felt that the cauliflower soup was a tad too bland and it wasn't thick enough.
If we had to vote the best non-swiss dishes served that day, I'm pretty sure Jeffrey will vote for stewed chicken (left) and fried seafood noodles (right). I must admit that the noodles were unexpectedly good! We'd quite a few servings of it that day!

Apart from the fried seafood noodles & stewed chicken, there were other interesting dishes such as tofu with prawn (right) and more ordinary dishes like sausages and beef. I felt the tofu and prawn dish could have been better because the flavours failed to complement each other to give a wow-effect.

My wonderfully arranged tasting platter (from left, in clockwise direction): salmon and sea bass roll, stewed mix vegetables with mushrooms, stirfried vegetables (yum!), tofu with prawns, smoked salmon pie (yumyum!), fried seafood noodles (yumyum!)

Jeffrey's platter (from left, in clockwise direction): stewed chicken, sliced sausages, smoked salmon tart, fried seafood noodles

There were many other savoury dishes which we didn't try because we wanted to try their desserts! I'm a trueblue dessert junkie so I don't mind sacrificing some savoury food for more desserts! =)

If you're a Movenpick icecream lover like me, you'll fall in love with their icecream section because there is free flow Movenpick icecream! (: (: (: Fortunately for them, they didn't serve Movenpick's swiss chocolate icecream that day otherwise I would have finished the entire tub! I love it that much! Jeffrey and I shared three scoops - tiramisu, mint chocolate and chocolate chip - of icecream! They were all very tasty but I think I liked mint chocolate most (:

I also tried their chocolate mousse cum orange puree shot dessert (top left). I felt that chocolate mousse and orange didn't really go together. Perhaps they should have just filled the entire glass with chocolate mousse! There was also mandarin orange puree with a slice of peach fruit and three pomegrenate bits. People who love citrus-y food will definitely enjoy this dessert! It's unconventional yet good. I also couldn't resist taking a slice of their 'cake of the day', which I suspect is matcha sponge cake with cream. I thought it was merely average because the sponge cake was a little too dry for my liking.

The best cake we had that day was probably their chocolate mousse cake (left)! It's not too sweet and the texture is just right so it was really a pleasure eating it. Their cream puff (background) was surprisingly good as well! I loved the custard that was sandwiched between the two fluffy puff thingies. They also served something like creme brulee except that this particular creme brulee had bits of fruits in it! I thought the sourness from the blueberries/ fruits gave the dish the extra zing.

Yet another slice of chocolate mousse cake and some other creamy sponge cake which I don't remember.

Finally, we ended our meal with chocolate fondue! (: We thought that the chocolate sauce was really well done! It wasn't too thick so we didn't feel like our throats were being tortured after eating all these. I liked the milkiness of the chocolate as well.

This meal made me a cheerful and bubbly person for the rest of the day! (: (: (: I was extremely pleased with the range and quality of food served at Cafe Swiss! =) The downside is probably the cost - $55+/pax - but there are credit card discounts to help buffer the cost of the meal so it's really alright (: I would love to return to Cafe Swiss sometime in the near future for more good food!

Alright that's all for now (: Will update again soon!

Xin Wang Hong Kong Cafe

Hello hello! (:


It's FINALLY Friday! (: I'm terribly sorry for the lack of updates! I've been very busy with school so I couldn't find time to update this blog. Thankfully, it's FRIDAY so I can take a little breather from work and blog about my favourite HK fast food restaurant - Xin Wang Hong Kong Cafe! =) Truthfully, I've never been such a huge fan of Xin Wang. It was only until I started cultivating a a love for their amazing thick french toast (will talk more about that later) that I started visiting their outlets more regularly.

As most of my close friends/ family members know, my favourite drink is Sprite and I usually order it unless there's an unusually tempting drink that beckons me to order it. Although most people wouldn't consider iced milk tea ($2.90) an exceptionally unique drink, I simply can't resist ordering this particular beverage whenever I'm at Xin Wang. I love how their tea is not diluted and its sweetness is just right for me =)

The red bean ice drink ($4.90), on the other hand, was pretty normal. I would have liked it better if the red bean taste was stronger.

Their orange juice ($4.90) is absolutely refreshing! =)

We ordered two vegetable dishes to share. The first vegetable dish was the belachan four season long beans ($7.90), which was extremely flavourful. I realise I'm quite a typical Hokkien when it comes to food because I dislike bland dishes and prefer things with strong tastes. My family members liked this dish as well (:

The second vegetable dish was probably the most interesting dish served that night. It's called HK chilled vegetables ($6.90) and it's essentially dark green vegetables served on a bed of ice! I've never had chilled vegetables before so I didn't know that they would look like this! How amusing. A small dish with tempura sauce and wasabi was served along with this dish. Apparently, we're supposed to dip the cold vegetables into the sauce and eat it! Initially, I was pretty skeptical as to how it would taste but it turned out pretty fine after all! (: If you're feeling adventurous, you should try this dish!

French toast with peanut butter ($4.90) was pretty decent though I doubt I'll be able to finish this entire thing on my own. The peanut butter is quite dry so you should try to drink more after eating this if you don't wish to develop a sore throat.

This is THE dish that I always order and polish off singlehandedly when I dine at Xin Wang - thick french toast ($3.90)! =) I don't know if it's the texture of the bread, the honey or the combination of everything about it that makes me adore this particular dish. It's one of my comfort foods and I highly recommend it!

Charsiew Soup Noodle ($6.90). The cook forgot to leave out the vegetables though my brother (Jeff) explicitly told the waitress that he didn't want vegetables or spring onions. Thankfully the boy wasn't being a brat that day so he ate the rest of his noodles after removing the vegetables. The noodles were pretty average.

Pork Chop & Fries ($8.50). My parents thought that this dish was surprisingly okay. They were expecting worse but I guess the meat was tender enough. The fries were good!

HK wanton mee ($6.90). Their wanton mee was slightly above average but their charsiew slices were a huge disappointment. Everyone at the table agreed that the charsiew slices were way too tough and they were inedible =( However, the sauce and the tanginess of the noodles more than made up for their charsiew.

Fish & chips ($8.50). The fish and chips, like the pork chop, was pretty good as well (: Although they only served one slice of fish fillet, it was rather big so it was still quite filling (though I think you should order other side dishes if you're very hungry).

Mushroom cheese baked rice ($9.90). My sister didn't like the rice because she felt that they were too hard. The best part of this dish is the top layer of melted cheese! Interestingly, there were quite a few chunks of tomato mixed with rice so the rice had a distinct tomato-infused flavour. Not the most interesting dish but nevertheless a safe one to have on a day when you're feeling indecisive.

Last but not least, GT ordered steamed papaya with almond cream ($5.90) because she couldn't wait to go to HK for the real deal! She said that her dessert was good and she liked it a lot! =)

I think Xin Wang HK Cafe is a convenient and fuss-free place where friends and family can go to enjoy a decent meal at affordable prices. Though it can get quite noisy at times (due to the crowd and the music that they blast), the general atmosphere is that of liveliness so it's quite bearable =) Xin Wang is definitely one of my favourite 'Chinese' restaurants!

Alright, I shall end here. Have a great weekend everyone! =)