Thai Express @ J8

Had my last dinner of Year 2012 @ Thai Express! The service was fast and efficient! Food came quickly after we placed our order too! All the foods are hot,nice but maybe a little pricey above average, a pax is about $17 or so.

What I had ordered are:
1) Thai-Style Roasted Chicken Thigh , $9.90
2) Phad Thai Talay, $10.90
3) Sa-nook Thai Honey Chicken, $8.90

#lastdinnerofyear2012

Clarke Quay Haato & Co.

Haato&Co. is located at Clarke Quay, Central Shopping Mall #01-74. 6 Eu Tong Sen Street. Tel: 62256956. Opening hours are 11-11PM, Sun to Thur & 11-1AM , Fri to Sat. In addition, they have two more branches at Nex and Dover.

It serves fusion food and desserts. Reason why I love this place is because it is located along the Singapore River and it is quite a quiet, dark place. Hence, you can chill there as long as you want! 

I tried their Java Chips and my friend's Apple Italian Soda! I really really loved their java chips, my top 1st favourite among all coffee shops! The java chip is aint that sweet and I can taste the fragrance and bitterness of the coffee! The price is affordable too, about $5.50! We also ordered their gelato, Lemon! I find it quite sour but it is refreshing! They got different cup sizes at different prices for their ice cream!

Great place! Def worth going again, a great hangout place to chill and relax!

Chin Mei Chin Confectinery

Chin Mei Chin Confectinery is located at 204 East Coast Road. Its opening hours is Tue to Sun, 8-4PM (Closed on Mon).

It is a shop that has the olden days style which has been around for 80 years! The price for a pax is about 4dollars.

It sells those breakfast items such as tea, coffee, eggs, pastries and bread. One special thing about their bread is that it comes in bun instead of normal slices! The bun is crispy and toasted while the inside is fluffy! The kaya aint that sweet, one of the best! The popular items in the shop are Kaya Butter Bun, Custard Bun and Sugee Cakes. The last two items are usually sold out quite early.

If you are alone or in pairs, there might be a chance that you would need to share tables with people as it is a pretty small shop.

The Reading Room @ Outram

Reading Room 

Vintage Items

Games

Tea

Apple Crumble with Vanilla Ice Cream

The Reading Room is a small cosy cafe located at 19 Bukit Pasoh Road. The nearest MRT is Outram MRT (North East Line). Tel No.: 62209019. Its opening hours are Mon to Sat, 12PM-12MN & Sun 12PM-6PM. Their menu items have tea, coffee, finger foods, cakes, desserts. Each item cost about $5. I tried the Chamomile Dream and Earl Grey Lavender Tea, the amount of sugar are adjusted by your own. Also, I tried their Apple Crumble with Vanilla Ice Cream, they served generous amount of apple filling and it is not too sweet! In the cafe, there are many books and games that you could play for free. Games they have are Pictionary, Taboo, Reversi, Snack and Ladders, Ticket to Ride, Monopoly Deal, Game of Life, Mastermind, Pool Table and Dart! One more thing I like about the cafe is that there are many vintage items in the shop! For e.g. telephone, rocking horse, typewriter! If you would like to have a quiet place to chill, this place is definitely worth the choice!

Current Top 3 Favourite Laksa Stalls

Out of all the laksa that I had tried, I had pick out the current top 3 favourite of mine which are:

1) 328 Katong Laksa
- Located at 53 East Coast Road
- Price: $4 (Small) , $5 (Medium) and $6 (Big)
- Served with spoon, No chopsticks given
- Rich and creamy laska gravy, not that spicy
- Generous amount of fish cakes and prawns
- Order an otah to complement the bowl of laksa

2) The Dragon Tree Katong Laksa @ Bugis
- Located Opposite OG, 60 Albert Street
- Price: $3.50-4
-Served with spoon, No chopsticks given
- Laksa gravy aint that oily and spicy, have strong coconut fragrance
- Homemade chilli sauce
- Include fish cakes, cockles, prawns
- Order an otah to complement the bowl of laksa

3) Terry Katong Laksa
- Located at Chinatown Hawker Centre,
335 Smith Street #02-094
- Price: $3 (Laksa) , $0.50 (Otah)
-  Should you not want cockles, the boss will kindly request
to change it to tau pok for you
- Thick and Creamy Laksa Gravy
- Include tau pok unlike other laksa
- Order an otah to complement the bowl of laksa

Plaza Sing Manna Story Korean Cuisine & St. Games

Manna Story is a small restaurant in Plaza Singapura that sell Korean Cuisine Foods. Second time eating here, my first visit is at their Jcube Outlet. For different outlet, they sell different foods in thwir menu. This time round we ordered Kimchi Soup with Tofu, Cabbage and Pork, Bibimbap-Beef, Kimchi Pancake, Beef Hotplate and Chicken Hotpot for the 5 of us. This meal cost $13.20 for each person. The side dishes are bean sprouts, ikan bilis, potaoes and kimchi. There are water available for customers. Overall, I think this place sell foods that is nice at a reasonable price and foods are being served fast too. It's a good place for gathering!

After the dinner, we think that it is too early to head home. Therefore, we went to Cathay St Games to play Rock Band and Kinect for 2hours. They had this package for 4pax which cost 48dollars. And 14dollars for 1pax. We got these two packages. And first timer would have to add another 3dollars more.

Marine Parade, Jack Reacher and Night Cycling

Had dinner at Marine Parade Hawker Centre today and there is a particular food stall that is worth recommending! The stall is called 'Mr Wong Seremban Beef Noodle' , their noodles price range is from $3.50-5, unless you request for more ingredients to be added. It had won awards from Makansutra and Pai Pai Zhan Cha Cha Kan etc!

Beside food, a movie worth watching for December is Jack Reacher! It is a 2hour action movie! I totally enjoyed myself during the show! Its a show where you investigate a crime and all get to see those cool fighting actions! And Tom Cruise is the main character!

Another activity of the day is Night Cycling! Double bike! The price for Double Bike at a bicycle rental shop beside Burger King is $10/hr. However, if you go before 6pm, they have this offer 'Pay 1 hour, Get 1 hour free'. Cycling at night is awesome because of the sound of the waves and the breezy wind!

Fun-filled Thursday ^^

Making of Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

 Before Frosting


After Frosting


After Garnishing

I had always wonder why does red velvet cost so much and what does people like about it? So instead of buying one, I decided to make my own cupcakes! Baking is my passion which I really love doing so. Therefore, yesterday was quite a free afternoon..thus I got all my ingredients and equipment ready and I baked!

Recipe of Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
Garnished with Mini Marshmallow and Chocolate Chips

Serves 10

Cupcakes:
125g of Cake Flour (Sifted)
1/4 tsp of Baking Powder
1/4 tsp of Salt
10g of Cocoa Powder
57g of Unsalted Butter (At Room Temp)
135g of Castor Sugar
1 Egg (Large)
1/2 tsp of Vanilla Extract
120ml Buttermilk
1 tbsp of Red Food Colouring
1/2 tsp White Distilled Vinegar
1/2 tsp Baking Soda

Cream Cheese Frosting:
227g Cream Cheese (At Room Temp)
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
50g Icing Sugar
170ml Whipping Cream/Double Cream (Cold ; 35-40% Butterfat)

SIDE NOTE: I made my own buttermilk as it is quite pricey at Cold Storage. Buttermilk could be easily done by adding 1 tsp of White Distilled Vinegar to 120ml of milk. Leave it to stand for 5-10 minutes before using

Method

Red Velvet Cupcakes: 
1. Preheat oven to 175 Degree Celcius.
2. In a bowl, weigh cake flour, baking powder, salt, cocoa powder and sift them (Mixture A)
3. In the bowl of the electric mixer, weigh and cut them unsalted butter into small cubes.
4. In a small bowl, weigh castor sugar.
5. Beat the butter using the electric mixer till soft (About 2 minutes).
6. Add in sugar and beat till light and fluffy (About 3 minutes).
7. Add in the egg and mix well. Then add in the vanilla extract.
8. Weigh buttermilk and add in the red food colouring into the buttermilk. Mix well. (Mixture B)
9. Alternatively, add Mixture A and Mixture B. Begin and End with Mixture A.
10. In a small cup, add white distilled vinegar to baking soda and allow it to fizz before you quickly fold them into the batter.
11. Divide the batter into 12 cupcakes cases (Fill till about 3/4 full)
12. Bake them in the preheated oven for about 23 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean.
13. Cool them on a wire rack. Let them cool completely before frosting. For frosting, use either a piping tip or a spatula.

Cream Cheese Frosting:
1. In the bowl of the electric mixer, weigh cream cheese and beat it till smooth.
2. Add in icing sugar and vanilla extract and beat till smooth.
3. Using a whisk attachment, add in whipping cream slowly and whip till the frosting is thick enough to pipe. If it is not thick enough, add more sugar or whipping cream to get the right consistency.

The pictures of the cupcakes could be seen as above.

Starting up of a Food Blog

Food has always been an interest to me! And therefore, I'd decided to start up a food blog of mine.

URL: http://dishplatebowl.blogspot.sg/