Short Hiatus

Hi guys, I wont be able to post that much these days due to my studies. Got quite a few project and report deadlines to meet. When I got some free time, I will def post! So continue to come back to this space for updates yeh! (:

P.S.: You might want to follow me on Instagram @thatsmecrystal ! I would cont be posting photos there

Crystal

Cheap and Nice Ipoh Hor Fun

Cheap and nice can be find at Changi Village Hawker Centre which had been recently renovated! One plate only cost $3.50! The queue of this stall is alway long! The most popular dish is Chicken Chop Ipoh Hor Fun!! The hor fun is soft, moist and silky! Yummmmy~

Saizeriya Italian Cuisine

Saizeriya Italian Cuisine is cheap, affordable and nice! Fast, Efficient, Friendly Service! Food ordered are being served within 10 minutes, like instant! Hot and nice. It is always crowded and packed, quite a noisy environment though. It is originated from Japan. In Singapore, they have 5 outlets now! The lastest outlet is located at Hougang 1 (45 Pekin Street Singaproe 048775). Other Outlets available can be viewed here http://www.saizeriya.com.sg/outlets/ !

What I love most is that this place is ideal for gatherings and celebrations! You can get to eat a wide variety of foods at a cheap price, about $10 per pax. I tried their steak, baked rice, chicken wings, pizza, foccaccia and soup so far! Will definitely eat there again!!  Their main are the one that are really cheap i.e. $4 or so as compared to their other foods like appetiser.

Their website: http://www.saizeriya.com.sg/

Home Cooked Meals on Wednesday Night!

Simple meals are always the best when you are at home the whole day!
In the noon, my mum and I cooked porridge tgt! Whatever ingredients we managed to find we dumped them in! So my porridge consists of dried scallops, braised peanuts, eggs, minced meat, cabbage and sausages! Simple and nice!
Followed by dinner, we cooked lotus root soup, broccoli with oyster sauce, steamed fish with asam sauce and dark soy sauce pepper prawns!

The Chicken Rice Shop @ Vivo City

The Chicken Rice Shop is located at 1 Harbourfront Walk #B2-37 Vivocity. Tel: 63769388 & Fax: 63769388. Operating hours: Daily: 11:00 - 22:00. It is a chain of Halal Family Restaurant operated by TCRS Restaurants Sdn Bhd, a company incorporated in Malaysia. 

The chicken rice is fragrant and moist, chicken is tender. What I like most is their 3 layer tea, a must try! Service is fast, foods are served within 15 minutes after you placed your order. I ordered their Set A which include Grilled Butter, Nyonya Pai Tee, Pak Choy with Oyster Sauce, 1 bowl of rice, Soup of the day and 1 12ox Soft Drink- which I paid extra $1.50 to change to the 3 layer tea! And ala carte Roasted Chicken Rice. Oh and if you order any of their value meal, you can order their dessert at the price of $1!

They serve breakfast and tea time too, go on to their website to take a look at the menu.

Website: http://www.thechickenriceshop.com/highlights.html

Steam Sia @ 5 Hindoo Road

Steam Sia is located at 5 Hindoo Road, about 10 minutes walk from City Square Mall (North East Line- Farrer Park). Tel: 63966585. Operating hours are Mon-Sun 10-1AM daily. The theme of the shop is kind of old school and retro, to reminisce the old good times. The cafe/bar is quite small therefore reservations are highly recommendation to be made. The cafe/bar is a relaxing and comfortable place.

I happened to hear about this cafe/bar from Kaykay's blog and through my poly friend. Therefore, when I saw there was a groupon deal, I immediately bought it! When I stepped into the cafe/bar, I was very fascinated by those vintages shelf and table and chair which are used in the olden days! I tried both their specialties in their cafe: Tom Yam Spaghetti served with mussels, mushroom and prawns, $16.90 & Curry Chicken, Potato and Carrot with Rice, $12.90 (For 1) & $20.90 (For 2) ! Really love how hot, thick and creamy the curry is, a absolute good match with rice! And it was served on a chopping board, how unique it is! Tom Yam Spaghetti is quite spicy for me (I can't really eat spicy) but is really nice and satisfying! Prawns and mussels are both fresh. The drink I ordered is Iced Mocha topped with Mövenpick Swiss Chocolate Ice-cream, $7.90. Oh and we are allowed to play the games and eat the snacks at the front of the shop! E.g of snack Whell-Shaped Snack and E.g. of game is Five Stones.

Their website can be viewed here: http://www.steamsia.com/

Ssikkek BBQ at Novena

It is Korean BBQ cuisine which is located at 275 Thomson Road#01-01/02 Novena Ville. Tel: 62548123. Operating Hours: Daily 1130-0230PM and 5-1030PM. The price for lunch is: $15++ for Adult, $12++ for Child and for dinner: $22++for Adult and $15++ for Child.

 I love this place a lot a lot!!! Because it is not very expensive and is value for money $$! Foods available are korean soup, fried foods, cooked food and raw foods i.e. meats (huge chunks of it), bacon, potato, vege etc! And drinks are free-flow. However, this place is always packed and you would have to queue. It could be quite noisy and smokey, but there is indoor and outdoor seating available! Staffs are friendly too and kind enough to come around and ask whether do you need to change your aluminium foil.

Home-cooked Monday Dinner

Home-cooked food is always the best because love and effort were put in! Nth beats coming hm w yummy foods aft a whole busy day out, for sure!
Today my family cooked fish head soup, broccoli with fried shallots and oyster sauce, pan fried fish, dark soy sauce chicken with potato and carrot and spicy crayfish!

Roxy Square Yun Tuen Noodle Stall

Yun Tuen Noodle Stall at Roxy Sq has already been there for a very long time! Their yun tuen noodle is springy, moist and wonton was crispy. It costs $3/3.50. You can also order a mackerel otah for $1.10 to go along with it.

Sarpino's Pizzeria 1 for 1 deal

Sarpino's Pizzeria has this 1-for-1 deal! For regular 10" is $25, Medium 12" is $30 & Large 14" is $35. Choices are Aloha, BBQ Chicken, Butcher, Chicken Pesto, Double Pepperoni, San Remo, Egg Feta, Teriyaki Chicken, Spinach Pesto (Veg) , Pepper Ham and Kalamata Delight (Veg)
I ordered Double Pepperoni and Butcher for three pax. These two are quite similar just that Butcher is more meaty and Double Pepperoni is slightly more spicy! I think 2 10" Pizza for the price of $25 is quite worth it! Pizza is crispy, colourful,appealing & tasty!
Their hotline is 62626767. Opening hours are 10AM to 10PM.  Delivery takes about 1h+. No delivery charges and able to change crust according to your preferences.
Oh and online order is available now at www.sarpinos.com.sg

The Roti Prata House @ Upper Thomson

One of the best place to go for supper in Singapore is Upper Thomson. One of the shop that I often goes to is The Roti Prata House which is always crowded. It is located at 246 Upper Thomson Road. Tel: 64595260. Its opening hours are Fri to Sat: 24 Hours, Sun to Thu: 7AM-2AM. Each person need to pay about $10 per pax.

Drinks that are popular are: Teh Tarik, Teh Cino, Ice Limau
Prata that I had tried are: Milo Prata, Double Egg Cheese Prata, Tissue Prata etc
Oh and not forgetting their mutton soup, $4

Their prata is crispy and tasty. Mutton Soup though quite oily but mutton meat is soft and chewy. Drink is sweet and refreshing. Would always go back there for supper!

My 2 Favourite Picks in Pastamania

In Pastamania, there are 2 dishes which I always ordered! They are 'Turkey Bacon Cheesy Crumble' which cost $8.10 and Apple Crumble Pizza which cost $4.80. I love it when I got to pour as much cheese as I want on the pasta! It is so creamy and cheesy and a bit salty taste from the bacon bits, just so nice. The apple crumble pizza was hot and sweet, such an innovative way to turn a apple crumble pie to a pizza.

View their website here: http://www.pastamania.com.sg/

BbubleK @ 684 Hougang Avenue 8

Happened to chance upon BbubleK via Groupon's deal. They have this deal that cost $11 for Free flow of Bubble Tea or Soda Drinks, Ji Dan Zai and 2hrs of Board Games. If you wanna add on munchies/snacks, you have to top it up. If you don't have the groupon deal, you can order ala carte food items and play board games for $0.80 per hour.

It is located at Hougang Avenue 8 Block 684. The shop is pink in colour which is quite catchy!

Things I ordered:
1) Peach Green Tea with Ice Cream , $4
2) Hazelnut Caramel Milk Tea with Ice Cream, $4.60 (Which I really loved)
3) Chicken Chunks, $5
4) Cheesy Fries, $3.50
5) Fried Icecream, $3.50
6) Ji Dan Zai, Original $2 (Which I really loved too)


The food was warm and acceptable , but I really loved the hazelnut caramel milk tea with ice cream and ji dan zai! The price was a little pricey I feel. Staffs are friendly but not very efficient. It is good to just hang out and chill if you live nearby there.

Hong Kong Style Egg Tarts

Hong Kong Style Egg Tarts

Serves 6

Ingredients for the Crust:
130g Confectioners' sugar
280g All purpose flour
230g Butter
1 Egg (Beaten)
1 tsp of Vanilla Extract

Ingredients for the Filling:
65g White Sugar
180ml Water
4&1/2 Eggs (Beaten)
1/2 tsp of Vanilla Extract
120ml Evaporated Milk

Methods:
1) In a medium bowl, weigh confectioners' sugar and all purpose flour and mix together.
2) Weigh the butter in a small bowl and cut it into small chunks.
3) Mix in butter into the medium bowl with a fork until it is in small crumbs.
4) Weigh the egg and vanilla extract in an another small bowl.
5) Stir in the egg and vanilla extract until mixture forms a dough.
6) Knead the dough till it does not stick to the bowl.
7) Shape dough into balls and press the balls into the tart molds so that it covers the bottom and the sides.
8) Preheat oven to 230 Degree Celsius.
9) Weigh the white sugar and water in a medium saucepan. Bring it to boil and all the sugar is dissolved. Once done, remove from heat and let the solution cool till room temperature.
10) Break open the eggs and beat them slightly. Strain the eggs through a sieve and whisk it into the sugar mixture.
11) Weigh the evaporated milk and vanilla extract in a small bowl.
12) Stir in the evaporated milk and vanilla extract into the sugar mixture.
13) Strain the filling through a sieve and fill the tarts shells.
14) Bake the egg tarts for about 30 minutes in the preheated oven until golden brown and the filling is puffed up by a little.

Note: Leftover can be put in the fridge for later use up to 3 days.

Last lap of Sem 3.2 in TP

Term break holiday had ended! Thus, I am gonna grad soon aft this last lap of Semester 3.2! Then I will be grad with a Diploma in Applied Food Science and Nutrition from Temasek Poly in May!
I will still try my very best to post oftenly. A short post for today's lunch, I whipped an easy dish up! Macoroni and Cheese with Scrambled Egg and Hotdogs! Prepared in 30minutes! Yummms~

Qian Xi Restaurant @ Tanjong Katong Complex

Located at 845 Geylang Road, #04-09 Tanjong Katong Complex. Tel: 67458822.
Opening hours are 11-2.30PM, 6-10.30PM Daily

Went there for my Ah Ma's 82th Birthday Celebration this Year! Today marks the first day of a new year, 2013! We got a private room for the family as we needed two tables. In our own room, there is karaoke too. Two tables cost us about $1200. Foods was hot and the serving given was too much! Service was alright though a little slow.

We ordered these dishes:
1) Lotus Bun
2) Cold Plate Dishes
3) Shark Fin Soup
4) Roasted Chicken
5) Spicy Steamed Fish
6) Cereal Prawns
7) Coffee Pai Ku
8) Vegetables with sea cucumber and mushroom
9) Noodles
10) Yam Paste with Ginkgo Nuts

It is a great fun for bonding with family and friends! All of us enjoyed singing together and blasting music and sang out loud Happy Birthday Song to our grandma! Had an awesome night, day 1 out of 365 days of 2013!

Yum Cha @ Serangoon Country Club

Yum Cha is located in Serangoon Country Club, 22 Kensington Park Road which is open to public. Tel: 63431717. Opening hours are 11-3PM, 6-9PM on Mon to Fri and 9-3PM, 6-11PM on Sat, Sun and PH. It is closed from 3-6PM daily.

It serves a wide variety of dim sum! The place is quite packed but I did managed to make a reservation at the very last minute. You can walk there for about 10minutes from Serangoon Gardens. Each dimsum cost about average $4! Each plates has 3 servings.

What I had ordered are:
1) Steamed Custard Bun
2) Century Egg Porridge
3) Seafood Tarts
4) Prawn Dumplings
5) Xiao Long Bao
6) Chives Dumpling
7) Siew Mai
8) Fu Pi Juan
9) Prawn Rice Roll
10) Prawn and Mango Fritters

Each person cost $14 bucks. Including paper towel and chinese tea.

Overall, I think this place is really not bad! Foods are served quickly and service is great! Ingredients used are fresh i.e. Prawns. Def will go back and eat again! (:

#firstmealofyear2013