ji dan zai aka tumour

Whenever I watch TVB dramas I always think to myself how wonderful the food in HK looks. In particular, I wanted to try the curry fishballs and ji dan zai oh-so-badly. (not so much the smelly tofu. they stink way too bad for me to try them.)

When I first went to HK, I told Tina that I wanted to try the ji dan zai. She replied in surprise that Singapore sells these at Plaza Singapura and commented that they look horrible and resemble tumours. That's how we coined the term tumour and that's how this term became synonymous with ji dan zai. Sometimes I even feel like telling the Auntie 'tumour' when she asks me what I want.

I recommended this to Sharon and Sharon is even more in love with Tumour than I am. For the uninitiated, Tumour (or more accurately ji dan zai, which is loosely translated as 'egg boy'), is a sheet of many golf-ballish erm well, balls made from waffle-like batter.

It tastes like the waffles that you buy from Prima Deli (not the belgium waffles) with the kaya/peanut butter/blueberry/chocolate/red bean/whatever spread you can think of. But it's less coconut-milky and more eggy. It's still very fragrant and incredibly tasty. I don't think it's bland at all, even if you can't add a spread to it. It's perfect the way it is. (although I think that the stall sells it in an assortment of other flavours too)

It's very crispy, crunchy almost, especially at the fringe of the sheet, where the batter spreads out thinly. But even the tumours themselves are perfectly crispy on the outside. The inside is slightly hollow and therefore very light. It is also super spongy and dewy, although some tumours at the periphery are just crispy and hollow inside. It is very good.

I just don't understand why no other place sells this. I've never seen it anywhere except in PS. When I was in HK, they sell it everywhere! You'll find a vendor selling this around every nook and corner. It's easy to make too, it's simply a matter of putting the batter into the mould and voila! Tumour!

Ok, so it may not be easy to replicate the perfect HK version but I'm sure even the imitation will be good and can't go very far off. So why not? Singaporeans are so peckish and into snacks; there's no reason why this will not take off in Singapore. It tastes like waffles, is cheap, light and delicious. It tastes very traditional too and has a certain nostalgic ring to it (even though I first ate them last year). I can see many Singaporeans taking it as comfort food because it's a very familiar taste.

There are days when I crave Tumour but I can only find them in PS. I wish more vendors would sell this. It's really good and I believe Singaporeans will love them.

Ji Dan Zai store (beside D'Bun, stall no.2)
Plaza Singapura
Kopitiam Level 6

the canopy@Aramsa

I can't believe it took me this long to come to this gem of a restaurant. It's nestled in the heart of Bishan Park II and so very convenient. I read a few bad reviews of this place online but I've also heard some good stuff about this place from friends who have been here so it was with mixed feelings that I came here. I loved it.

For one, the ambience is amazing. Stashed away from the glaring street lights, shrouded beneath the lush green foliage of the park, all within the vicinity of your own home. From the moment you step out of your car, you're greeted by the warm light that beckons you towards the restaurant. You're in the heartlands but it feels nothing like it.

It's so peaceful and quaint; and not in the least bit pretentious that many restaurants in Singapore are like. Even in the restaurant, people were joking and laughing merrily, clinking of glasses and hearty guffaws could be heard from tables all around us. It was very comfortable and yet very elegant. No forced hushed whispers or anything like that. I see joggers and dog-walkers ending their day off here, it is such a fantastic whimsical joint.
Grilled Snapper Fillet with Moroccan flavours served with rice pilaf. The fish was way way way too overdone. It was hard. Normally when I eat fish, I can cut the fillet using just a fork. I had to use my knife for this fish. It was so tough it was more like chicken. Snapper tends to be tougher but this was obviously way too overcooked.

The moroccan sauce was unusual. I quite liked it. It was a very intense tomato-based sauce with roasted red peppers undertones. I liked how tangy it was and the slight spicy punch the peppers gave. It was not fantastic but it was unique. Sharon HATED it. She wanted to gag because she hates hates hates roasted peppers. I guess that means no moroccan food for her in future.

Now, the star of the meal is not the fish, not the sauce but the rice. The rice is amazing. I don't know why but it tastes like chicken rice. It's probably cooked in chicken broth. It is amazingly fragrant and gorgeously savoury. Raisins were sprinkled into the rice and anything with raisins works for me. The raisins gave a nice burst of sweetness when bitten into and that complemented the rice very nicely. It was very refreshing, to say the least. I also liked that they added toasted almond slices to it. The rice was fluffy; the raisins were plump; and the almond's crunch really pepped things up. It brought a fascinating contrast to the already differring textures. The rice is the thing to go for here.

We also ordered Duck Meatballs with Fettucine and fresh herbs.

The pasta was overdone but it was very tasty. It was engaging and sapid, with a faint aftertaste of the duck.

I thought that the meatballs tasted of duck but Sharon thought that they tasted like normal meatballs. I could smell the distinct aroma of duck as I bit into the meatballs. I think this dish is not bad at all. The only thing is that it was a bit oily.

The serving is small and I think deliberately so, because one gets very jelat of the taste after a while.

We wanted to order the flourless chocolate cake but they were out of it so we opted for strawberry shortcake as recommended instead. It's more like apple pie than strawberry shortcake, except that in place of apples they used strawberries. I wouldn't say that it is spectacularly good but it is pretty good. It tastes very homemade, old-fashioned and is exceedinly comforting. The vanilla added a wonderful warm touch to this dessert and I was properly satisfied by it.

All in all, I enjoyed my dinner very much. I guess the bad reviews stemmed from people ordering the wrong dishes (as is the usual case) because the food was really not bad! So the trick, is to order what the restaurant is known to be good for, and not hazard a guess from the descriptions. That's why food reviews are important, so you know what to order and what not to.

The Canopy @ Aramsa
1382 Ang Mo Kio Ave 1

Bishan Park II

THE legendary zhen zhen porridge

There was a time when I thought that I had no fate with Zhen Zhen Porridge. I have gone to Maxwell SO many times, specially to try the porridge famed as Singapore's best. Unfortunately, they're always either closed or sold out.

But my luck has changed for the better. I have managed to try THE porridge. No more Tuesday boo-boos for me, going after lunch or going at lunch or going on days with only an hour to spare.(They're closed on Tuesdays and they sell out quick on other days and you almost always have to queue) Today, before 8am, I was savouring the legendary Zhen Zhen Porridge. I feel privileged.

This bowl of porridge is not Singapore's most famous bowl of porridge without a reason. The porridge is supposed to be the Hainanese type, which means in between the Teochew grainy version and the Cantonese creamy gruel. It is definitely not as creamy as the Cantonese chok I'm used to (can't find those around anymore, you have to cook it yourself for a full day to get it right); but close enough. The rice grains in Zhen Zhen's porridge are not totally dissolved to form a thick velvet paste but cooked long enough for the grains to partially disintegrate into a smooth consistency. It is definitely more Cantonese than Teochew. For sure.

I like congee so I liked this one. I think it might be a bit too smooth for some people, they may think it's like drinking soup rather than eating porridge. But I think true blue porridge-lovers will like this. Because porridge is not water + rice. Porridge is a completely different substance altogether. It takes on a different dimension. Cooking porridge is an art.

I like my porridge to be really really thick and smooth, the really old school chok that my grandmother used to cook. First you have to soak the rice in sesame oil. Then she would boil it for a full day till the grains have dissolved completely into a thick paste. Throw in some pork (or whatever ingredient you fancy, ) a dash of pepper, a lot of sesame oil, a raw egg.. Her porridge was good enough to beat any top restaurants. But proper chok requires so much work I can't imagine anyone willing to put in that effort. Only dear old grandmothers who love you so much would go to such extent for you.

So anyway, Zhen Zhen's porridge is really smooth and nice, the way I think porridge-lovers will like it. Look at that consistency! It's really quite hard to find a place that sells it this thick.

They are also very generous with their ingredients so its very good.

The fish was a bit overcooked but it can't really be helped since the fish will continue to cook in the steaming-hot porridge, after the initial douse in hot water. I don't understand why they gave so much ginger too, it almost felt like I was eating ginger porridge than fish porridge. I like my porridge to be infused with the fragrance of sesame oil and there was not enough sesame oil so my porridge wasn't very pang initially. Luckily, the stall offers you extra sesame oil in a saucer if you request for it. Other than that, no complaints. Zhen Zhen's Porridge is really quite a formidable bowl of porridge and I fully understand why it's hailed as Singapore's best.

Zhen Zhen Porridge

Maxwell Food Centre

Stall 54

tapioca cake @ maxwell

Our next introduction is the humble tapioca cake and we will be introducing the best one that we know of at Maxwell Food Centre. I didn't what the shop name is till I took notice of it this time round, we just know it as the Maxwell Tapioca Cake. (I'm not even sure why we know it as Tapioca Cake. It's obviously a steamed kueh.)

The most striking thing about this tapioca cake is the texture. The tapioca cake here is the softest thing ever. It's a downy pillow showered in coconut shavings. It's so soft that when I press it, I feel like it's melting from the pressure. My fingers are moist from just handling it because its so full of water. It's really more like gel than kueh. These darlings melt in your mouth AND in your hand. This place is extremely generous with the amount of coconut they give so the kueh is very coconutty. A few hours later I could still taste the coconut in my mouth. The coconut shavings are very very good. The top-grade kind of coconut without the sour aftertaste of stale coconut. This kueh also had the very distinct tapioca flavour; very clean, subtle and light. I could eat 10 of these!

Xing Xing Tapioca Cake/Ondeh Ondeh

Maxwell Food Centre

Stall 31

p/s- Remember to go early because this place sells out quick!

sun moulin II - Sharon's virgin post

The following post is written by Sharon:

Disclaimer: Just in case any of you were wondering. Yes, Sharon exists. See I wished I had a good excuse for my silence thus far. Maybe some fantastic story about how my fingers had grown too fat from all the eating (in a bid to start out this blog) and so I had to wait till I had slimmed down some to regain my shapely, slender, and not to mention, keyboard-friendly fingers. But sadly, no. I think the word we're all looking for here is: LAZINESS. (Right Sheryl?) Nevertheless, Sharon is here to stay. Hopefully. Reminder, Sharon is Lazy.

Here goes my first post. Damn my hands are clamy.

So Sheryl and I paid another visit to Sun Moulin. No, it's not because we were blown away from our first visit there but more because there's a shortage of good bakeries in town. Save for Breadtalk (which anyway can be found at any mall in the heartlands) and maybe Four Leaves at Takashimaya, (Sheryl: erm, Four Leaves good meh?) there just aren't any other good bakeries in the city area. Someone should really tell Provence to open an outlet in town.

Well, the truth of the matter is that I was feeling snackish and craved the Brazillian bun from Provence. Sun Moulin's cheese mochi was the closest substitute to be had, hence our decision to go there. (Again, someone please tell Provence to open an outlet in town. Someone. Anyone! Just SOMEONE please tell them!!) (Sheryl: ok people, forgive Sharon. She's a bit passionate about Provence.)

My craving for just the cheese mochi gave way to greed once I was presented with the delightful spread of breads that were for sale. Everytime I go to a bakery, I feel like a two year old girl in a sweet shop. I see everything and I want everything. I know they're bad for me, but I still want everything. I know I can't have them all, but I still try to get away with as much as I can. Today was no different. After a very full lunch, I still bought three breads to try, the snow custard, the an pan and the cheese mochi. (Yes Sheryl, you shared them with me so it cannot be counted as me having eaten all by myself. I know the drill.)

First up, the snow custard. It's a cake. No, it's a bun. No, it's a cake. No, it's a bun. Actually, its neither a cake nor a bun. It's BOTH a cake AND a bun. Think a rich custard bun enveloped in butter cake with the top encrusted like a hokkaido dome from BreadTalk and you would come close to the textural treat this provided in your mouth. Can't imagine it? Well, you know where you're headed for this weekend. Trust me, this is Gooooooooood.

Sheryl: The custard is the same as the cream coronet, which we reviewed in the last post. I still can't get over how fantastic this custard is. It's eggy and milky and eggy and milky.. it's the perfect cross between Provence's milk pan and custard pan. There's also a slight hint of lemon in it which made it all the more invigorating. The only thing I wish they could do is to make it cold, the way Provence does theirs. Oh if only it could be cold. Imagine cold delicious custard, smooth and satin-like, milky and sweet, oozing out of a warm freshly baked bun. Oh I know! Even better, put it in a mochi-donut!! A mochi-donut is a little donut ball (much like the size a Dunkin Donut ball) that's chewy. I've had it in HK and it was darn friggin' good. Combine that with the custard, lip-smacking I tell you. Lip-smacking. Just imagine it!

Sun Moulin has a few offerings of an pans and we decided to try another one of them, just for the heck of it. I had remembered this to be quite good from a previous visit but boy were we disappointed. Then again, that was before Sheryl introduced me to the an pan from Provence. Since then, I haven't found one that even comes close to matching it. Well well, another one bites the dust. (Seriously now, do we need more reasons for Provence to open an outlet in town?)

Sheryl: The an pan was, as you can see for yourself, clearly too dry. They might as well have given us a lump of an-pan flavoured clay. They're obviously not very consistent. Anyway, the main reason why we chose this was because Sharon said that this an pan uses hawaiian bread and which is incredibly soft and fluffy. I agreed that it was soft but it was a bit dry and (I can't believe I'm saying this) yeasty. I did not think that it was exceptional. I thought it was quite normal actually.

Disclaimer: Lest any of you are tempted to call me out for being lazy and not reviewing the cheese mochi, I didn't review it as Sheryl had already done so in our previous post on Sun Moulin. Ah-huh!
Sheryl: Yes, we tried the mochi. Just an update though, the mochi was considerably a lot more chewy than we remembered so that was good. But the cheese taste was very strong too and it was too overwhelming. Again another testimony to Sun Moulin's inconsistent standards. Nonetheless, its a great bakery.

In an ideal world, there would be a bakery that sold the fiery floss and steamed green tea cake (yes, we do like those too), the snow custard from Sun Moulin along with the Brazillian bun from Provence, amongst other things of course. Remember, little girl in the sweet shop?

hooked on hooked!

ok people. I eat my words. I said that there was no good food in the North. I said that when right across Meng Kitchen, there was Hooked!

This is not their flagship outlet, the original is at Upper Bukit Timah but I've never tried that. To be honest, it would never have crossed my mind to even consider this place. We wanted to try the Vietnamese place along Upp Thomson Road but it closed down. It was late, we had just gone to the gym and I was starving. I'm positive Sharon heard my stomach growl.

I must say they have a very extensive menu. I think there were 700 plus items in their menu! I deduced this because the last item on their menu had a number 700-something. Although I must admit that their first item started on 100-something. (Ee. Play cheat) But really, in all honesty, their menu is very interesting and very extensive. I was quite blown away by the variety.

After we ordered, we waited a long time for our food to come. I fell asleep at the table. Yes, I did, like Goldilocks.

We ordered Salmon Wonder rolls. Thin slices of Salmon fillet spread with Medelov sauce, wrapped with asparagus carrots, topped with fish roe and slow-baked till just under-cooked. 3 for $10.90. (Kill people set fire)

But, it was good. Boy did they deliver. Wonder rolls they say? Wonder rolls they are. It was not fishy at all and salmon normally is. The crunch of the asparagus complemented the salmon's molten texture perfectly. The sauce was brilliant and the fish was done just undercooked, just like they promised. I enjoyed this thoroughly.

Roasted Cod in Lemongrass Miso. This is how they described it: Generous portion of Cod steak roasted till the full aroma of the lemongrass miso comes through.

When this first came, I thought to myself. This dish is not going to be good. I've never been so wrong. It is ohmygawdicantbelieveit-good. If I thought the wonder rolls were good, these were magnificent. I have nothing but glowing reviews for it. This cod is truly ambrosial. It was remarkably fresh and the miso sauce was sensational.

I think the service staff thought we were weird. We kept stuffing fish into our mouths all the time muttering "wahlaueh this is damn good". (Eh. When I say wahlaueh, its really wahlaueh.) Utter disbelief at how good this tasted.

The texture was faultless. It was so tender you can't pick it up with a fork. That's not all. Despite the fish being so gloriously tender, the skin was astoundingly crispy. As I chewed on it, I literally heard the crackling of the skin. And that magnificent collagen-providing fat under the skin was so succulent so soft. "Oh. my, gawdddd...." (like Janice from Friends)

Seriously, this is possibly the BEST cod I have had. The texture was so good it was surreal. This fish died a martyr. It was a monumental moment for me there. Other fish I have had were good, they were fresh and sweet and succulent. But none gave me texture like this. This beats the like of Fish and Co. hands down. Hands down baby, hands down. Oh what the heck, feets down too if there's such a thing.

The only thing I can say is that the portion is pathetic. Look at that anorexic slice of fish and tell me is it a generous portion like they said it would be? I left the place still hungry. Otherwise, I'm coming back here. For sure. I love fish and seafood, and the food here is relatively healthy. Steamed, baked, roasted, grilled.. My daddy's going to love this place.

Thank you Hooked for giving us Northies hope!

Hooked!
203 Upper Thomson Road

loong fatt v 603. may the best tau sar piah win.

Today, we bring you the battle of the tau sar piahs. Actually, we wanted to review Loong Fatt only but Sharon decided that we should do a comparison with the only other stall that was open, 603.

Everyone knows the best tau sar piahs are found along the Balestier Road stretch. (You there shaking your head.. Don't tell me you don't know. You're lying.) And the most famous of all is of course Loong Fatt.

You cannot claim to have eaten tau sar piah till you have tried these. No, don't show me those pandan flavoured tau sar piahs from JB. Don't show me those dry and coarse ones in the pink paper wrapping. Those put tau sar piahs to shame.

And what is the deal with these tau sar piahs? They are very very smooth and buttery. Did you not know? Haven't you heard? It's the love story of when Chinese-Flaky-Pastry (Huaiyang) met Butter, fell in love, got married and had kids.

(you know that was a joke right? Sharon thought it was a Chinese fable)

trivia: Did you know that the Huaiyang pastry is basically made up of two separate dough, the water dough and the lard or shortened dough? After the water dough and lard dough are mixed separately, the lard dough is wrapped inside the water dough, then the combined dough is layered by rolling and folding. Did you also know that the 'water dough' also has lard? No wonder its so bLARDy oily. (did not mean to swear)

Loong Fatt is more famous for its sweet than salty tau sar piah. Their tau sar piah is really one of a kind. The crust has the melts-in-your-mouth thing down pat. Normal tau sar piahs are flaky. This is crumbly. Normal tau sar piahs are dry and tasteless. This is buttery. See the difference? Yet the crust is not so buttery that it sticks to your teeth when you eat it.

The lotus paste is very smooth and sweet and oily. It's pure oily decadence. Have it when it's still warm, it makes a world of a difference. It's well, comforting. Yummy-yummy-yummy-I've-got-love-in-my-tummy childlike comfort.

This is the 603 tau sar piah. It's also nice just not as good. The pastry was not as fragrant and crumbly as Loong Fatt's. Sharon suspects that they gave us overnight tau sar piahs instead of fresh ones because it was too early in the morning. The paste fared poorly compared to Loong Fatt's delightful smooth one. According to Sharon, "overall its a 'rougher' tau sah piah than loong fatt".

The first thing you notice about Loong Fatt's salty tau sar piah is that it is very thin. It's almost flat! The next thing you will notice is that the filling is not the usual salty filling. Instead, it's almost difficult to tell the filling apart from the sweet ones. I think they mixed the sweet filling and the salty filling. You can tell because the filling is more pasty than powdery. (Look at the photo below)

Not only does it look like the sweet one, it even tastes like the sweet one. You can't really tell the sweet apart from the salty. The difference is minuscule. The only way I could be sure it was salty was because the sweet one had sesame seeds on it and this one didn't. For Sharon, this had a placebo effect. After noticing the absence of sesame seeds, she started to appreciate the savouriness.

This is the 603 salty tau sar piah. I preferred this because I like salty tau sar piah and this tastes properly salty the way it should be. I quite like the way the filling disintegrates into minced portions as you crush them between your teeth and you have to scramble to catch the random bits that fall out of your mouth. Messy, old-fashioned goodness, I say.

Sharon thinks that 603 sweet tau sar piah is better than their salty ones but I'm biased towards the salty one (no one fed me the sweet one when I was growing up so the salty tau sar piah is like childhood food to me) so I liked the salty one more the sweet one. But for Loong Fatt, it's clear that the salty is inferior to the sweet.

We also tried the egg tarts from Loong Fatt. One look at it you know it's not what they're famous for.

Sharon: dun need to review la... nothing good to say about them also.

Well, what else can I say? The boss has spoken. zip.

Maybe just this bit, the crust at 603 was better. But don't waste your calories.

Loong Fatt Eating House and Confectionary
639 Balestier Road

and

603 Tau Sar Piah
603 Balestier Road

tonkichi

We heard that Tonkichi has better katsu-don than tampopo and have been wanting to check this place out. I've always wondered which place could have better katsu-don than Tampopo?!

Trivia: Tonkichi means 'lucky pig' although I wonder what's so lucky about a pig that gets savagely murdered and devoured.

First up, my sliced pork with rice set. I really liked this one. It tasted like teppanyaki, especially with the fried beansprouts and all. The pork was very well-done and the seasoning was flawless. It was so flavourful and so full-bodied.

There was a lot of that wondrous savoury gravy, enough gravy to envelop each grain of rice entirely. The rice, however, was a little soggy. Also, I got a bit bored of the taste after a while. It was spectacular at first bite, but I soon grew weary of it. That did not stop me from polishing off the entire set though.

This is what we came for, the hire katsu-don. I do not think it is better than tampopo. Not at all. The katsu-don at tampopo is so good, the egg is so well-done, it is as if it melts into the rice, amalgamating into perfect unity and symbiosis. The rice is infused with the katsudon sauce. That is the perfect katsu-don man.

The rice here was nothing like that. The egg was overdone and the amount given was meagre. The katsudon sauce was also lacklustre and insufficient. It tasted more like katsu + don than proper katsudon. (Of course, I'm comparing it to Tampopo which has excellent katsudon)

One thing for sure though, their katsu kicks ass. This is one of the best katsu I have had. It is so crispy and yet so light. It doesn't taste cloying or oily at all. It is the elite of elite of katsu. When you bite into it, the bread crumbs literally sputter and crackle. You can feel the breadcrumbs giving way helplessly to the pressure of your teeth and then sprinkling mercilessly into your mouth. I am not kidding.

What amazes me is how NOT oily it tastes. The meat is so lean and yet so tender. Look at how lean it is! It looks a bit dry, I know, but trust me, it is very very good.

The texture is unbelievable. It is so crispy but not the least bit cloying, not at all. A superb katsu. It also helped that they were crazy-generous with the amount of meat they gave. Sharon almost couldn't finish it.

The next time I'm here, I will definitely have the katsu.

Tonkichi

Isetan Scotts,

4th Level

350 Orchard Road

Shaw House

Singapore 238868

granny's pancake, coconut explosion

When I think of Min Jiang Kueh, I think of Granny's Pancake. Not that my grandmother can make Min Jiang Kueh. But because this is the BEST the BEST coconut Min Jiang Kueh. I have yet to come across another stall that even comes close. Balestier/Whampoa dwellers will almost always know this stall, it's like a household name.

The queue is very long, especially on Sunday mornings around 9am. I was there at 8am, 8!! And there was a relatively long queue already. Not to worry, the queue moves fast. They do not sell out till around noon, so you still can get your fix if you go later.

The coconut is goodness-gracious-me-super-shiokkk (with three Ks). It's so juicy and unbelievably fragrant. Bess (the store owner) says that the secret is in frying the coconut first. I can't overemphasize how juicy it is. When I first bit into it and the coconut fillings fell apart in my mouth, I could literally suckle on them and it was good. It was so good. It is so good we crave these almost every weekend. I could taste the coconut, the sugars.. It's so juicy the coconut filling lumps together, so you get morsels of extreme coconut goodness.

Another reason why this pancake is so good is because they are very generous with the amount of coconut filling they give. Just look at how the pancake is bursting and the filling overflows! Most other places don't even give half the amount of filling.

We should also highlight that the kueh is very good. It's very very fluffy (as you can see), like they beat pockets of air into the batter. Sharon likens it to a honeycomb, which I find very apt, because it is so light and not overly dense like many other commercialised places (go figure). It is superbly moist with a hint of sweetness so it's good by itself.

They don't put it on the pan for very long, so that only the tip of the top is browned, and it is perfectly and evenly browned throughout. It looks like it's a separate layer all by itself, as if it is wearing a golden crown. The rest of the kueh is deliciously white and cushy, a little undercooked and moist. The batter is mixed very evenly so don't worry about lumps of flour.

The red bean pancake. It's more like an pan than tausar, because it's not very sweet. Elderly folk particularly like this because it's not very sweet at all. Shally loves these and will have them every week if she could. Sharon, on the other hand, did not take to them. She felt that there was not enough filling and that the tausar was not aromatic. I thought that the tausar was good, the kueh was good, but the combination of the two wasn't not good, because the tausar was a bit too genteel for a traditional kueh like this. It was neither oily nor robust enough. It was too mild-tasting.

The peanut pancake was average. The peanut was not pang enough, like it was not sufficiently roasted. The peanut taste was shrouded and did not shine though. The texture was good though, because the ground peanut was neither too coarse nor too fine. The filling was very crunchy because they used coarse sugar instead of fine sugar. Combine that with the plush, moist kueh, and you're set for a sensory rollercoaster. (You can actually see the sugar granules mingled with the ground peanut.)

With the like of Granny's Pancake, I don't understand why people are still eating those mass-produced min jiang kuehs. They taste half as good at twice the price. Someone should do a Breadtalk, and bring a proper good traditional min jiang kueh into Orchard Road, package and market it well, twiddle thumbs and watch his bank account grow.

Granny's Pancake
Whampoa Market
# 01-28

childhood carrot cake fries. :D

I grew up adoring these fries. Deep fried carrot cake fries. I used to hate carrot cake as a kid but I adored these with a vengeance. How ingenious of them to think of cutting up carrot cake as fries.

This stall used to be perenially crowded and I used to queue for at least half an hour everytime I had a carrot cake fries craving. It is no longer as popular but still good.

These do not taste like normal carrot cake. As I said, I used to hate carrot cake as a child but I loved these. It does not have the "oomph-sei" of carrot cake and actually tastes more like kueh. Sharon prefers the normal carrot cake because this is not strong-tasting enough for her.

Why do I like these then? Because these are exceptionally and utterly pang. Just a sniff of its redolent aroma is enough to make me salivate. They are fragrant to a fault. The aroma is ridiculously powerful. I remember dashing downstairs from the upper level in church because just a whiff of it was enough to bring about effusive waves of hunger pangs.

The carrot cake is very firm, not hard but firm. It is very smooth and you will not spot the occasional carrot cake shreds so highly treasured in other carrot cakes. (As I said, it does not taste like the normal carrot cake!) Children will love these, I did!

These are utterly scrumptious, utterly deep-fried and so sinful. They are fried at extreme temperatures till they are splendidly bronzed, crispy on the outside yet still so wondrously moist and soft inside. Eat it freshly-fried when the outside is slightly scabrous and firm.

If you leave it for too long, it becomes limp and does not do its initial state justice at all.

Deep Fried Carrot Cake

Whampoa Market

#01-36

(oomph)atico's

There's a reason behind the title of this post, or rather, why this post is spelt this way. The place is called oomphatico's, but there is no oomph. Not in the least bit.

I've been to oomphatico's before, about a year ago and thoroughly enjoyed my nice breezy lunch. A year later, I visited this place again, this time much to my chagrin. They changed the menu and the food there is quite nasty now.

Props to them for decor though. This cafe is extremely pretty, with rainbow chairs and funky signage like this. It is difficult not to feel cheery just being in the cafe. There's indoor and alfresco seating, and the place is generally bright, sunny, chipper and pleasant. This place is designed with the fairer sex in mind and it shows.

Lok at the cute "saucers". Talk about eye-CATching.

ok, bad pun, sorry.

The chicken caesar salad was not that bad, the egg was a tad over-cooked but nonetheless it was a very laudable attempt. It was almost just-right, just that underneath that glorious golden runny outlook, the yolk was unfortunately a bit powdery.

*Sharon, on the other hand, says that it is very easy to cook the perfect egg. She says, just give her 5,6 tries and she will get it right. It's either, 2, or 2.5 or 3 minutes depending on the size of the egg. (talk big only la she)

The croutons were fried to a gorgeous crisp and tasted fabulous. The chicken was beautifully roasted and very fragrant. It tasted a bit like barbeque chicken. :) The vegetables were fresh (but also uncut and huge and difficult to eat.)

The salad dressing though, was ghastly. It did not taste like caesar dressing at all. It was acrid and not palatable at all. I like tart-tasting food and I didn't like it. I only had it because the salad would be too dry otherwise. Pui.

The farmer's club sandwich. The rye bread had only a faint aftertaste of rye and otherwise tasted like normal wheat bread. The texture was nothing like bread and instead more like an extremely dense teacake.

The chicken was very very tough and much too dry for my liking. It tasted gamey and nothing like the chicken in the caesar salad. I have only one reaction to it. pfftttttt!

The only redeeming factor was the grain mustard spread. However, they were stingy with it and the sandwhich ended up exceedingly dry and unappetizing.

The chicken and the sandwich was so bad Sharon ended up eating only the avocado.

Another grouse is that while the description said chicken, tomatoes and avocado, the sandwich came in three mini sandwiches of chicken and tomato sandwiches on the sides and a plain avocado sandwich well, sandwiched in the middle. We had to deconstruct and reconstruct the sandwich ourselves. (Sharon: I did not pay $18 to make my own sandwich ok)

Where's the oomph in oomphatico's?

Oomphatico's!

Tanglin Mall

#01-03 & 01-35/36

163 Tanglin Road