Japanese Dining Sun @ Chijmes

This is the third time hubby is celebrating his birthday this year. Why 3 times? Because his Chinese lunar birthday happens twice this year. So I cooked mee sua again this morning. We went to one of our favourite Japanese restaurant, Sun @ Chijmes for dinner as they offer 20% discount and complimentary tofu cheese cake for the birthday boy. We tried some new dishes and they were splendid!

Kurobuta - The black pork specialty this month was a tad too salty. It tasted better with the veggies on the side.

Miso Gindara - Quite expensive dish but not too oily. We'd prefer the gindara @ Raku, Holland Village though.

Tskune mentaiko - Unbelievable extremely tender chicken meatballs!

Hokkaido Ramen - soup was very flavourful, meat was tender and the egg almost reached Tokyo's standard. Overall this was the best ramen we had in Singapore and could certainly rival the ramen we tried in Hokkaido.

Honey mustard avocado chicken - This is the fresh chicken version of a similar prawn dish they offer on the usual menu. Chicken bits were again tender on the inside and crunchy on the outside. The cream did taste a bit like the honey mustard sauce we get from Marks & Spencer though. But this dish was very filling.

The tofu cheese cake is their best dessert. We thought they will be giving us the tiny piece that they usually sell but no, a palm sized cake was given! This is really a great offer for birthday celebration :)

Happy Birthday to Hubby!

Today is the first time I am celebrating my hubby's birthday with him after we got married and I was very excited. Thanks to the Internet, the pregnant mum-to-be was able to execute all plans for the birthday celebration:

I pre-ordered the latest iPhone 3GS through Singtel's website and we went to collect it yesterday at Comcentre. My geeky hubby "made used" of my pregnancy and managed to skip the 4 hrs queue. We were able to purchase the phone, choose a free phone cover with the $30 Singtel voucher, trade in the old N80 and get a free scoop of Ben & Jerry's ice cream in an hr :P

Early this morning I cooked hubby's favourite wanton mee for breakfast before we went to the gynae to check up on the creation of our love. Chloe is now 2.5kg and we can see her hair floating in the amniotic fluid!

As it was still early, we went to hubby's favourite haunt, Sim Lim Square, to get a screen protector for the iPhone before we head to Purvis Street for set lunch @ Garibaldi Italian Restaurant & Bar. We started with fresh fruit juice at the bar. Only honey and no sugar is added to their juices.

Appetizer was tomato soup with plenty of crab meat. Soup was a tad oily but went very well with the crunchy bread which the waiters kept on refilling.

My main course, Cod Fish stuffed Ravioli, was pretty ordinary. But the pork ribs Johnson had was very tender though.

Dessert was mixed berries smoothie with a subtle sourness that suited pregnant mum-to-be.


The Pistachio and Chocolate Gelato was splendid and very flavourful. We found out from the Italian waiter that these were made by Deste which is under the Garibaldi group too. The waiter even offered us their chocolates when we asked for the name card.

The best part of the meal was a surprise Tiramisu birthday cake! I'd made the reservation online through their website and commented that it was for my hubby's birthday. They actually prepared the cake autonomously. Good service!

Extra: We saw minister Yeo Cheow Tong when we were about to leave the restaurant. He came with a broken wrist. This goes to show how popular the restuarant is.

After lunch, we went to catch the Ice Age 3 movie at GV marina. It is the first time we saw a movie in 3D! Feels wierd wearing the 3D glasses for 90 mins though.

Dinner was a family celebration held at Johnson's godmother's place. I'd specially ordered a Thomas & Friends designed Double Chocolate Pralines cake from The Patissier for the childlike dad-to-be. It was yummy!

Singapore Polo Club

My chubby hubby brought me to the Singapore Polo Club for lunch today after we went for the monthly checkup at Dr Sim Lee Ngor's clinic where Chloe is estimated to be 2.1kg now and has turned head down. We had the set lunch at The Mountbatten Room which was awarded as one of Singapore's Best Restaurant in the Singapore Tatler 2009 Best Restaurant Guide.

I ordered soup of the day (Pumpkin soup) since the rest of the entrees were partially raw.

Johnson had Salmon Tartare which was the same entree he had the last time he came with his colleagues and found it so good that he had to have it again.

Main Course was Pan Seared Black King Fish and Oven Roasted Chicken Breast. I find the chicken a bit dry but the mashed potato that came with it was smooth and velvety.

The fish was decently pan fried and not too oily. It was also good that the fish did not come with any carbo as my gynae has reminded me to cut down on carbo intake least Chloe becomes too big.
Dessert was supposed to be several choices presented to us on a trolley (based on Johnson's previous dining experience here). But today they simply served us Tiramisu directly on the table. We made known to the waiter that I can't take alcohol and the chef suggested to replace with Strawberry Sorbet for me. Being a non-coffee drinker, Johnson thought that the Tiramisu contained too much coffee. I found the sorbet sweet with plenty of fresh strawberries and to my liking. The experience would have been more splendid if there were horses galloping on the polo field.

Hill Top Japanese Restaurant

It was Boo's mum's 63th birthday on Monday. We wanted to bring her to Shangri-la to enjoy the huge discounts based on her age but it was fully booked by the time we called. Then we recalled that there is a nice Teppanyaki restaurant which a client brought us to 6 years ago. So we suggested to go to this Hill Top Japanese Restaurant located close to Jurong Bird Park for dinner on Sunday.

Before dinner, we went to Philips warehouse sale and bought Chloe a room/bath thermometer since we learnt at the Pre-natal class that she should be bathed in water temperature of 37 degree Celsius. Johnson then went for a haircut in preparation of the Sundown Marathon next Sunday. We went home to rest before heading for dinner with the yam cake we bought from Angie.

Dinner was great! Scallops and chicken were tender although it seemed like they were left on the stove for a long time. Garlic fried rice was a let down as the chef was frying the rice in bulk. But the udon was very tasty. We were busy marvelling at how fast the chef can deshell the prawns using the teppanyaki utensils that we forgot to eat. After dinner, we proceeded to a seperate area for complimentary desserts (choice of mango pudding, sago, chin chow, ice creams etc). After singing the birthday song, it was time to dig into the yummy yam cake. Even though the cake looked creamy, it was very light and fluffy. Boo's dad who doesn't take sweet stuff also had a bite!

Sashimi - Boo's Parents' All Time Favourite

It was awsome to watch the chef deshell these King Prawns.

Hilltop View

Tung Lok Classics @ Chinese Swimming Club

Johnson just bought a new Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 DX lens last Friday and was honing his photography skills when we went to Tung Lok Classics for late dim sum lunch on Sunday with Johnson's family. The restaurant is located in the newly rebuilt Chinese Swimming Club 2 blocks away from Johnson's cousin, Michael's place. Here are some snapshots of what he had taken with the new lens:

Egg tarts were nice and fluffy.

Can you believe this is tofu?

Complimentary special fruit juice concoction served as a good end to the meal.

Vesak Day

It was a busy weekend for us. Last Saturday was Vesak Day. As a yearly regime, Johnson will go to Buddhist Union to chant on Friday night till midnight. On Vesak Day itself, we went to the temple together to pray and have vegetarian food. Johnson also helped with the distribution of the vegetarian food to the visitors just like previous years. Ah boy, Boo's younger brother, was nice enough to watch over our house while the part time house cleaner finished up her weekly chores. We packed him a huge packet of vegetarian food and let him play PS3 & the newly upgraded Wii as a token of appreciation.

Sunday was Mother's Day. So we bought Boo's mum and family to dim sum @ Red Star Restuarant. Johnson feels the standard of the food has dropped but it could have been attributed to the fact that we were there @ 8am and not all the staff were working yet. Dinner was @ Long Beach Main Seafood Restaurant with Johnson's large extended family and cost a whopping SGD500. Mama Boo thought the food was not that fantastic for the price esp since she could not have any of those crabs which everyone else was raving about :P.

We also installed a Biometric digital lock at half the usual price on Sunday afternoon. It was such a good bargain. No more worries about forgetting to lock the door and no need to bring keys out from now on. Just need to swipe with our fingers and we can get into our house! Those who are interested can get the contact from us.

Monday was the replacement holiday for Vesak Day. We went for the 6th checkup and baby Chloe has grown to 768g while Mama Boo has ballooned by almost 10kg since pregnancy. We had healthy yong tau foo @ Chinatown for lunch. It was already long queue when we reached there @ 11am.


After lunch we went to Julia Gabriel to find out how many months in advance do we need to enroll Chloe in their enrichment classes as Mike told us that his friend had to wait a year on the waiting list. Their classes are popular as they teach the kids to build up confidence to speak up (which is much lacking in Asian kids) through drama and play. We got their schedule and fees before heading back home for a much needed afternoon swim.

Mama Boo went clad in the Billabong bikini hubby gave as birthday present last year since she can no longer fit in her usual tankini. Swimming was Boo's favourite sport but it has been a long time since we last swam (during early pregnancy) as it was not advisable to engage in strenous physical activities after the amnio. It was very relaxing despite panting due to "additional weight load". We should swim again more often :)

Yesterday's dinner was Ichiban Sushi @ Bt Panjang Plaza (BPP for short). The reason why we went there was so that Papa Bear could get the Guitar Hero from the game shop there. The entire set includes a drum set, an electric guitar and a mic. We spent the entire night jamming music till wee hours in the morning. It was an enjoyable weekend and how Mama Boo wished she didn't have to go to work :P

Food 101 Melbourne (Part 2)

Last night, I had a chance to travel into the suburbs of Melbourne for real chinese food. Andy, friend of Melven, organised a dinner at the Malaya Inn at Doncaster. I've heard Andy telling us how much similar the food tastes at the Malaya Inn so this has got to be a fabulous night. Here's a blow-by-blow account of the dishes:

Braised Tofu with Seafood in Claypot: Tastes exactly like the tofu dishes you get when you order from the neighbourhood "Cze Char" hawker, which was a good thing, considering that one is in Melbourne. The seafood consists of very fresh squid, prawns, fish and crab meat (I thought I tasted some but I wasn't sure as I wolfed down the tofu with my rice)

Curry Fish Head: Unlike the Singaporean styled of presentation, the presentation of this dish was disappointing. I was expecting a whole fish head but it was not to be. Overall, the curry is palatable but the lack of meat in the fish head had me disappointed. The only excuse I can find for the restaurant is that the usual meaty Red Snapper fish head that are so common in Singapore is not common in these parts of the world.


Oyster Omelette: The Oyster Omelettle is fantastic and can be compared to the better ones found in Singapore and Malaysia. Oyster was fresh and so were the eggs. I could not find a single flaw in the dish except that it was served with chilli meant for Hainanese Chicken Rice.


Crispy Yam Ring:
The chicken chunks were not plentiful but fresh and tender and the cashew nuts were crunchy. The yam ring was disappointingly smaller but overall, it was a flavorful dish.

Fried Carrot Cake: The Black Fried Carrot Cake was highly recommended by the waiter who took our order. It did not disappoint as well. The sweet black sauce gained its crispiness after frying with the egg batter and the carrot cake.

Guinness Pork Chop:Yet another dish recommended by the waiter, I find that the pork too tough to chew though. It does taste like Sweet and Sour Pork Chops and so full marks for the sauce, negative because the pork wasn't tender.

Sambal Kang Kong: The trick to good Stir Fried Kang Kong with Chilli is a good chilli paste. The chilli was good and this made the dish very tasty, that was until my teeth tried to chew on the stem and it would not break. On closer inspection, it was the stem that was very, very close to the roots. A definite no-no but the dish was saved by the fragrance of the sambal belachan.

Paper-wrapped Chicken:The usual paper-wrapped chicken in Singapore are small pieces of bone-y chicken bits wrapped in paper and deep-fried to the point that the paper drips oil by the barrels. It was still oily when the dish arrived, however the chicken pieces were very big,tender. Another plus point, they were de-boned. They were also juicy and I soon found out why: the chef added vegetables like mushrooms and carrots into the paper so the moisture from the vegetables must have added to the juiciness of the dish.

For desserts, I had the "2 scoops of Sesame Ice Cream" The sesame taste was strong, owing to the fact that each spoonfuls of the ice-cream carried bits of sesame with it. Alas, my dessert was served later than everyone else so I quickly tucked in and forgotten to take a picture of it.


The total bill for 10 diners was A$220.20. It was expensive (compared to hawker prices in Singapore and Malaysia) but overall, money well spent if you have a craving for Chinese Singaporean/Malaysian food in Melbourne.

Highly recommended: Oyster Omelette and Black Fried Carrot Cake, Braised Seafood Tofu

Recommended: Sambal Kang Kong (ignore the hardy stem), Paper-wrapped Chicken

Yet to try: Hainanese Chicken Rice, Satays (half a dozen chicken/beef satays costs A$8)

Location:
25, Village Avenue, Doncaster VIC 3108
(approx 22Km East of Melbourne CBD)

Food101 Melbourne (Part 1)

Food in Melbourne: A side-dish for this blog with regards to food.
After my run last night, I went up to the hotel and took a bath. Tried contacting Melven, my colleague who's putting up at the same hotel as me, in vain. (turns out he was out drinking with the rest of the colleagues)

So I wandered off on my own, in search of good food in the city of Melbourne, or so I thought.

I saw this restaurant that had named itself "Singapore Chom Chom". Now of course, in Singapore, the correct spelling would have been Serangoon Gardens Chomp Chomp. So I entered the restaurant and ordered myself a Sweet Barbecued Pork with Rice.

The picture here depicts the expected color/texture of the Barbecue Pork which I was expecting:

However, when the food arrived, it looked like barbecue sliced pork with sweet barbecue sauce.

Nevertheless, the A$7.50 wasn't worth it although the serving was huge and the presentation was "upmarket" compared to Singapore's SGD3 plate of "Char Siew Rice"

General tip #1: When eating in Melbourne. Never order food with reference to "Singapore". (E.g. Singapore Fried Rice, Singapore Chom Chom) (Tip courtesy from Melven)

On another note, I noticed that after dinner, there are more restaurants serving Cantonese Roasted pork and chicken in Little Burke Street (a.k.a Chinatown) and their Char Siew (hanging from the display) looked more authentic than the display.

General tip #2: When looking for Cantonese Roast Meats, do not rely on photographs. Look for the actual display.