Ivins

Got to know about this place very very long ago... more than 15 years ago(if i didn't remember wrongly) and have loved the food there since the first time i stepped in. Food was affordable, very affordable and most of the dishes were really tasty. Dessert is nice too, ok there was once occasion where i had the dessert there and the coconut milk has turned bad.. but that didn't stop me from recommending this place to friends... finally, i took photos of the food and decided to post it here.

Ayam buah keluak, chicken cooked with the buah keluak nut. personally i dun like the nut but many friends actually love it, they will spend time to dig out the nut to eat however difficult it might be. this dish can be quite spicy.

Fried ngo hiang , actually this dish is quite normal, but i happen to like to have this dish with sweet sauce and they do serve it with sweet sauce (if you ask for the sauce).

Babi ponteh, quite a famous peranakan dish, you should know if you watch little nonya right? the one they have here is served with lean meat, dun seem sinful..

Honey pork, this is my favourite since the first time i put it in my mouth, doesn't look nice at all cos it looks like some charred meat, but it's sweet and somewhat reminds you of ba kwa. small serving, remember to order more servings if there's a large group.

Pong tauhu, another item on the menu that i will always order, the soup is really tasty with the bamboo shoots. pork ball is tender, probably because of the mixture with the tofu.

Garam assam fish head, we changed the fish head to fish fillet instead, cos felt that it's a little difficult to dig the meat out of the head. will order this if i'm there with a big group (say 4 or more) if you are in a small group, you can order the ikan masak assam pedas, almost the same, i feel that the gravy is the same, just smaller portion.

Daun keledek lemak, sweet potato leaves, cooked in a rather special way, cos there's quite a bit of gravy in this, coconut based but not thick, so you won't feel sick of it even if you have quite a bit of it.

Generally the dishes have quite a bit of gravy, unless if you order the fried stuffs, and the gravy is rather tasty, just nice if you are having it with plain rice.. they serve yellow rice (coconut) too, which will be more suitable if you are not taking the dishes with gravy, or if you like to have your rice dry...


address: 19/21 Binjai Park
contact: 6468 3060 (Website)
ambience: 6 (your clothes might smell a little after your meal)
taste: 8
service: 7
value for money: 8
overall rating: 8

Minoru Restaurant

A few of my friends go to this restaurant quite often and i finally had the chance to go down there to try it out for myself with them...
This place is small and cozy, tucked in a place where there's totally no crowd, you can have a nice meal peacefully, the restaurant is clean and the ambience is really nice. brightly lit, warm and friendly staffs. and of course, the food was good.





Yakitori, chicken was tender and a little crispy on some parts. must have it immediately when it's served, very nice when it's still hot from the grill.
Agedashi tofu, this one is normal, nothing special, just like anywhere else.
Deep fried oyster, i didn't try this cos i dun like oyster, but from the expressions on their faces, i think no need to try.
Curry rice. curry is nice and thick. i find it slightly better than average, didn't made me feel that it was really fantastic though.
Saba fish. so so...
California maki, never miss this if you are there, there were 6 of us and we had 4 orders of this. something special, they addes a bit of soft shell crab in this, so you get something crispy inside the roll...i do not have photos of the california handroll, or ordered that by mistake and it's as nice as the maki.

Haha i realised after writing the above that the california maki and handroll is enough to make me wanna go back there again...


address: 214 West Coast Way, Hong Leong Garden Shopping Centre
contact: 67758879
ambience: 8
taste: 8
service: 8
value for money: 8
overall rating: small and cozy, nice food, affordable

Lerk Thai

Lots of drinks to select from, i got the watermelon smoothie, which is refreshing, like watermelon ice blended, wise choice. friends were adventurous and got some drinks made of some thai herb and some thai flower, i find them tasting weird..
Vietnamese popiah, comes in a pair, prawn and chicken. nothing special, average tasting.
Pomelo salad. this is a must try, sweet spicy and sour, all in one, the perfect appetizer to start the dinner. quite expensive at $3 per serving though.
Prawn cake. another must try, the cake is really chewy, according to them, the prawn paste is freshly beaten and made into the cake upon ordering. not cheap too. $3.50 a piece. but it's worth it
Tom yum seafood soup, i quite like the tom yum soup, really sour, really spicy, really shiok to drink the soup. seafood in the soup are cooked just nicely too
Pineapple rice. nice presentation, but taste wise, not the fantastic. just another pineapple rice
Thai style fried glass noodles (tang hoon), not bad, but a little plain, it's only the tang hoon with some prawns on it, no other ingredients in it. so it's a little boring to have this item alone.. which i did.
Olive rice, again it's just like the olive rice you get from other thai restaurants, nothing special.



Generally, the food dun taste bad, and they have a few items that were really good, a place that i would definitely go again, i can say that it's my favourite chain thai restaurants around. if you haven't tried it.. go.. go.. check out their branches on their website.


address: 6 Raffles Boulevard, #02-202, Marina Square
contact: 63343323
ambience: 8
taste: 7
service: 6
value for money: 7
overall rating: some items are very good

SoShiok Gourmet Safari

Posted some entries on soshiok.com to try my luck in winning the gourmet safari about a month back and woah.. i really won, so called up 3 friends and off we went to novena square 2 for a sumptuous lunch on a sat afternoon.

First up, secret recipe. have tried the food here quite a number of times, and my fave has always been the lamb. today we chose the lamb again, and also the dory fish, lamb was still really tender as i have expected, and as a lover of potato, i find the mash quite nicely done. didn't really like the fish, probably cos the gravy was made from lobster broth and it gave a very fishy taste, the texture of the fish wasn't very great too. white choc macadamia cake was a little too sweet, the banana chocolate cake is still a better choice.

Next, we moved on to zhou's kitchen, a chain by the tung lok group, a general comment i would give is that the food tasted very homecooked, if you are a person who like the feeling of having home cooked food, this is a good place you can try. loved the sweet potato leaves, always prefer it to sambal kangkong, but you dun get it very often at the usual places. they cooked it very well here too, smooth and tasty. the xing hua noodle wasn't quite my kind of dish, a little bland, and the gravy was gluey. the pork was really good, tender but not fatty, soaked with the tastiness of the sauce, something nice to go with rice. dumplings were awesome, seldom you get to have dumplings with the skin so smooth so thin so silky, this is a must try.

Round 3, seoul yummy. The shrimp roe bibimbab with beef was ok, probably we were too full for rice, didn't really like this much, but i must say that their sliced beef was really tender and fill of taste, a little sweetness from the sauce, i think i'll have to try their beef alone the next time. didn't try the octopus cos i do not like octopus, dumplings were a little dry, the meat in it is not tender. dessert is really good, wanted to eat the items separately until we were told to toss them all together, the ice mixing with the yogurt ice cream was refreshing, a slightly different taste and texture from other desserts you get outside.

Finally, with a stomach that's already very full, we moved on to the last stop, lerk thai. pomelo salad and prawn cakes are a must. very spicy salad but the sweetness from the pomelo sort of mellowed the spiciness down a little. prawn cake was really good, freshly made, it had a really nice chewy texture. phad thai was too salty and i feel that the noodle was a little over cooked. didn't really like the pudding too, too much sago at the bottom of it and it made the whole thing a little mushy. if you are going there, remember to try the salad and the prawn cake.

Gotta thank soshiok.com for the wonderful lunch we had at novena square2!!

Food for Thought

Stumbled upon this place quite a while ago, and have been to this place quite a few times since then, but i think i have been busy and just realised that i have not wrote about the food here. it's a small eatery, about to hold around 20 to 30 pax. had attended a birthday celebration there and it was good, warm and cozy place very a group of very friendly staffs, you will feel good dining and chatting or just lazing there.

Their signature soup, mushroom soup. one interesting thing about their soup is that although it looks creamy, no cream or milk was added to it. i dun really like the mushroom soup cos i personally dislike the taste of the chinese and the shitake mushroom. but if you are a shitake lover, i;m sure you'll love this soup. tried the broccoli soup, but i felt that it was a little bland, had to add pepper and quite an amount of salt to taste. would love to try the potato and leek but haven't had the chance.

There were quite a number of us so we decided to take the platter for many, and i love the way they serve the food, we get to eat almost everything, they serve 3 different salads, and all the different sandwich fillings, a good way to sample all their food.

Tomato lemongrass corn salad, just realised it's tlc.. interesting. chinese chicken caesar and i cannot remember the last one. the chinese caesar is really interesting, the dressing was dark soy sauce, a very new taste for salad and it's really nice.. something you never get anywhere else.

Oven-roasted steak, i find it a little tough, and tasteless, very dry with the bread. braised pork, very chinese taste, spicy with dark sauce and tofu pieces which we thought was cheese on the first glance, this is good with the bread, with the taste gravy, the bread don't seem that dry anymore.

Grilled sausage duo, slow roasted pulled pork, basil pesto chicken. the pork was heavenly, so soft and tasty, goes really well with their homemade bread. sausages were just normal, nothing special. chicken was not bad too, favourite is still the pork here!!

A place i would go again just because of the friendly staffs they have there, of course not forgetting the nice ambience, do call them if you want them to prepare food for a small gathering for you, i suggest 20 pax, more than that will get the place really heated up, unless they have upgraded their air conditioning system.

Check out their website here!!.

address: 420 North Bridge Road, North Bridge Centre, #01-06
contact: 6338 8724
ambience: 8
taste: 7
service: 8
value for money: 7
overall rating: cozy place for small gatherings, very friendly staffs

Bab Noodle

A friend suggested having dinner at bab noodle at millenia walk, so went there for dinner with 5 other people. ordered a main each and some side dishes

Century egg with cold tofu, quite normal, nothing special, but i guess you cannot expect anything much from this, at least the tofu is fresh and the century egg is not mushy.

Chawanmushi, the egg seems more firm then the usual one i see. not as smooth and soft as the better ones.

Chilli soft shell crab, something interesting, the gravy is spicy, similar to the chilli crab gravy, only difference is that it's over deep fried soft shell crab instead of the usual large crabs. i find the gravy very spicy.

Tori karaage, fried chicken cubes, very tender meat and the skin is nicely done.

Ginseng chicken soup with vermicelli, the soup is really very tasty, very powerful. the chicken was totally cooked, the meat just breaks off from the bone easily. the glass noodles is just soso. but i really recommend this one. must try











The other items were ordered by my friends and i didn't get to try them, some were good and some were not.. i guess you'll have to go and try it for yourself to know.

address: 9 Raffles Boulevard, #01-20 Millenia Walk
contact: 6336 6770
ambience: 8
taste: 7
service: 7
value for money: 7
overall rating: Food is not bad, nice place for dinner

BBQ Chicken

Looking for a place for dinner before a movie and saw this new place at the basement of cineleisure, decided to give it a try since the chicken on the posters look really nice and juicy. the place is more like a cafe rather than a restaurant.
Jerk chicken, not as nice as i tot it would be, although the korean bbq sauce is not bad, a little sweet, but i still prefer the next one..
Korean charboiled chicken. this is very nice, totally recommend this. actually, if there's 2 or more person, you can order both the chicken i posted here and share them.

Their fries are very nice too, fat and crispy on the outside, warm and soft on the inside.. just like the ones you get at mos burger.

address: Cathay Cineleisure Orchard, 8 Grange Road, B1-04/05
contact: 68873638
ambience: 6
taste: 7
service: 7
value for money: 7
overall rating: Chicken and fries are quite good