Dinner at Desmond's Creation...

It's been a crazy week at work and I'm just glad it's already the weekend.

This week is possibly one of the most memorable weeks in my life here in Singapore since I moved in 2011.

To celebrate the end of the toxic work week and the arrival of a weekend, I had dinner with PG Boy, Mon, and Richie.

Err, wasn't sure whether MonRich would be able to join PG Boy and me, but I'm glad that they managed to move some appointments tonight to accommodate us.

Or maybe PG Boy and I just didn't want to decide where to eat... or maybe I was just being too clingy.

We decided to eat Desmond's Creation. It turned out to be a good decision as I was craving for the superb food at the simple place.

After about two hours of dinner and chitchat, we decided to call it a night. MonRich had to meet with their real estate agent as they were moving houses. PG Boy headed back, I also headed back because I need to do my laundry. The weekend is going to be packed because Mom is arriving on Sunday.

Relaxing Friday night!

Por Kee dinner with the guys...

Zi char - one of the things I have grown to love when it comes to eating in Singapore.

Maybe because it reminds me of how meals are done in my home in Manila (or in almost every Filipino home, I guess). Maybe because any zi char meal is a great opportunity to hang out with family or friends and have a great time.

I can't remember the first zi char place I went to in Singapore but I do remember some of the goods ones I've been to.

Last night, I invited the guys to dinner at Por Kee Eating House in Tiong Bahru. It's one of my favourite zi char places in the island. They have really good coffee pork ribs but I believe the one dish everyone must try is the homemade beancurd.

It is super!

I'm glad that most of the guys haven't been to Por Kee. It was only Sarge who had a memory of the restau. I'm guessing we ate at the place a loong time ago, possibly during PG Boy days.

When I arrived at the place at 730PM, it was already busy. No, it was extremely busy. It was a good thing that I called a week ago to make reservations. Otherwise, it would've been a disaster for us. Hehe!

The guys enjoyed the food. I enjoyed the food and their company. Too bad Chris and Jin weren't able to join us as they are on holiday in Surabaya.

After dinner, we bought some desserts at Tiong Bahru bakery and took the bus to JB's and Ian's new place at Redhill for dessert, drinks, and more chitchat.

Last night was a gooood Saturday night!

Daily Cut for lunch...

After having rice for lunch yesterday, I decided I should eat less carbs for the next few days. LOL!

Tbh, I can actually go for days without rice in my meal.

I'm okay with just having a wrap or a sandwich or boiled chicken breast for lunch, and yogurt plus fruits for dinner.

This is actually budget-friendly since I prep my own food. I would do my grocery on a Monday and the food I buy is enough to last me for four days. The fruits I would get from the wet market near my place. There is also a stall that sells bean curd. I would usually buy from the friendly aunty on days that I would buy my fruits.

Yesterday and today, I spent a lot more for lunch. This was mainly because I worked at the office. I was tempted to go for the salted egg chicken fillet with rice from the usual stall but my spirit triumphed. I decided to go for The Daily Cut. The price for my lunch is three times than what I usually pay for for lunch. However, I just tell myself that I'm eating healthy. Hehe!

Tomorrow is Friday. I'm quite excited because I can and I will be having rice tomorrow. Rice in my meals usually starts on Friday and last until Sunday.

I hope the Filipino food stall at the kopitiam near my place will be serving really delicious Filipino food.

Dinner at Naughty Nuri's...

Some of the dishes from one of the welcome dinners for JB... hehe.

The other Sunday, we had a random dinner with JB. They suggested Naughty Nuri's at Capitol Piazza.

It was my first time at the place and I have to say, I want to go back. The food was gooood!

Nice dinner...

Kelong dinner with fellow MVs...

Who says museum volunteers don't have time for other things but museums?

A trip to the kelong for dinner was proof that MVs do know how to have fun outside of the museum.

Volunteers from Asian Civilisation Museum, Singapore Art Museum, Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall, The Peranakan Museum, and of course, my beloved National Museum of Singapore, took a break from museum guiding for a yum dinner at the kelong. Aside from the food, the other exciting thing for me was catching our dinner (even though the snappers came from a sure-catch pond... hehe!)

Thank you to Diana for organising the outing. It was a nice experience!

The good food continues...

The good eating continues today...

But only for dinner. Haha!

For breakfast and lunch, I really didn't eat anything except for cereals and a bun. This was to hopefully offset what I had yesterday. Haha! But seriously, I should get into some exercise tomorrow or this weekend.

Tonight, I was treated to a nice dinner for helping out a friend. Hehe!

Yay!

Oh, btw, hello June!

Today was all about good food...

Today was all about good eating. Hehe!

Good thing I decided to do some workout this morning.

For lunch, the department headed to a restau in Bugis for a wonderful meal. Beef rendang, fried ayam, tahu telor (?), and so many other yum local dishes.

In the evening, I met up with a few fellow museum volunteers.

We had dinner at a Turkish restaurant in Bugis called Sofra.

Again, the food was gooooood!

What a nice way to end the month and say hello to June.

Let's makan...

We had a department lunch earlier.

It was at a feast of local Malay dishes since the food had to be halal. I'm not complaining as I love Malay cuisine! If I didn't worry so much about my waistline expanding, I'll have beef rendang or ayam as often as I can. Hehe!

Weekend of happy meals...

Weekends are for happy meals. Haha!

Friday night, PG Boy and I went to Jollibee at LP. He said he was feeling down that day because of work stuff et al. I told him he needed a two-piece Chicken Joy. I also told him about Jollibee's tag line, "Sa Jollibee, Bida ang Saya!" Haha!

From LP, we walked over to neighbouring Paragon for dessert. PG Boy suggested we go to Bakerzin. We took a look at the cake selection. I selected my chocolate piece, PG Boy did the same. When the cakes arrived, whoa! We were both surprised! Haha! I ordered for a cake slice and what arrived was an art piece. I told PG Boy, "I'm quite sure this is priced differently from what was indicated on the cake display case. True enough, we were charged double the price. Hahahaha!

Saturday night, PG Boy and I joined his gang for din din. We went to Nam Nam at Suntec. The food was quite good. I want to go back to try the sandwiches. Dinner was followed by coffee and dessert at Pacific Coffee. There, PG Boy's friends regaled us with their adventures in Taipei during G5. Lol! If one is single and is into chinitos, forget Songkarn. Go to G5! Seriously.

Today, PG Boy's housemates and I headed to a neighbouring kopitiam for lunch. Gav reco'd the Western food stall. The man behind the counter was an unfriendly Filipino. "Koya, ngumiti ka naman!" Haha! I ordered the mixed grill plate. Initially, I thought one would either get a chicken chop or a pork chop with the sausage. Nope, to my surprise, it was a plate of artery-clogging goodies. For $8.90, it wasn't bad at all.

Tonight, I'm having a light dinner - probably just a bun and my black cherry juice.

For the next five days, it's definitely back to no rice and healthier choices (salad and yong tau foo.)

Five & Dime Eatery...

A food shot by an IG friend of what he ordered at Five & Dime got me interested to try out the place.

I told PG Boy about the place and we agreed that we should go try it out.

Our first attempt was a fail. Haha! It was a Friday. It was drizzling. There was a mad jam. And neither of us had any idea how to get to the place, even with the guidance of GoThere. (Or actually, it was just the thought of having to be stuck in a jam or walking an unknown distance under the rain that made us decide to ditch the plan. Hehe!).

Our second try was successful but with a minor glitch. Hehe!

After finishing my session at the museum, PG Boy and I were WhatsApping on where to meet. He was at the Orchard area. I was in a bus coming from Bras Basah. It was only past five and that's when it occurred to me that we should go search for Five & Dime. We agreed to meet at Somerset and from there, we followed the directions to 297 River Valley given by Google Maps.

It wasn't that far at all. Maybe an 8-10 minute walk.

Five & Dime was easy to locate, too. It was right next to a bus stop and a row of beautiful old shophouse style.

The first thing that we were asked when we entered was whether we had a reservation. That's when I saw that all the tables had namecard. LOL! Why did it not occur to me that a reservation was needed? However, the guy who attended to us checked his schedules and told us he can give us a table but we had to leave by seven thirty. We were both okay with it since we just wanted to have dinner and then head somewhere else for dessert.

After getting our table, I took a look around the place. It was easy to understand why the cafe/eatery has been such a hit. The setup was very nice. I really liked the decor of the place. Cafes in Singapore have been doing a good job in creating a unique feel and ambience giving customers several options. If you want a setting that's industrial, go to Chye Seng Huat. If you want a garden setting, go to PS Cafe at Dempsey. If you want something modern and cosmopolitan, go to Wild Honey at either Scotts Square or Mandarin Gallery. That's one thing I really like about the cafes here.

Back to Five & Dime, the food was also quite enjoyable. For starters, we ordered homemade meatballs. It was about $8 for five pieces. Not bad at all. I even daresay it tastes better than the one served in Ikea. Then we shared a salad and grilled chicken. It was quite filling and we both enjoyed the food. Uhm, I would have wanted steamed corn on the cob but that's just a personal preference.

Overall, I would still say that the first Five & Dime experience is enough to get me to want to go back and try it again. The service was also quite good. There was this one girl, whose name I forgot to get, but she was really good. She paid attention to diners and was ready to assist. Also, on the next visit, I would like to try the brunch. I've been reading quite good revs about it.

Five & Dime
www.fiveanddime.com.sg/
297 River Valley Rd Singapore 238338
9236 5002
Weekdays -12 noon to 12 midnight (Closed on Tuesdays)
Saturday - 10 am to 12 midnight
Sunday - 10 am to 10 pm
Last orders for lunch at 230 pm. Last orders for dinner is 930 pm.

Keisuke Tonkotsu King and Group Therapy...

A stone's throw away from the Tanjong Pagar MRT is a ramen shop that always has a long queue.

The ramen place, Keisuke Tonkotsu King, located at Orchid Hotel is one of the places I've always wanted to try. There was never a time I passed by the shop and not see a queue outside the small shop. The fact that the queue is always quite long made me really curious to find out just how good the ramen at this place is.

Last Friday, PG Boy and I finally got to experience the ramen. The shop can only sit about twenty people. This is not the place to go to if you want to hang out and chitchat with friends over dinner. This is a place where you just eat your ramen and go.

Before you are given a table, there is a piece of paper where you can already indicate the ramen that you want. You have the following choices - Tonkotsu Ramen ($10.80), Black Spicy ($11.80) or Red Spicy ($11.80). You can also select your choice of toppings (seaweed, egg, char siew), how you want your soup (light, strong normal), the amount of chicken oil to be used (less oil, etc.) and the type of noodles (soft, hard, etc.)

I went for Tonkotsu Ramen Special All Toppings ($14.80) just so I can try everything. Hehe!

The ramen was quite delicious. Some may say that the soup may be too salty. Coming from a country that has dishes that are rich in flavour all the time, I found the soup to be quite good.

Overall, I would say that the ramen is oishii and enjoyable. However, I don't think I'd be queueing for thirty minutes just to satisfy my ramen craving. I could go to the other ramen shop just around the corner - Menya Sanji - and still enjoy my bowl of ramen.

After the very quick dinner, PG Boy and I headed to Duxton for dessert. I felt like dinner was too rushed. Hehe! It was a nice Friday night and it would be such a waste if we just headed back immediately after dinner.

So we decided to head Group Therapy - the cafe just above Etna Italian Restau along Duxton for some coffee and dessert.

I enjoyed it more because it wasn't that crowded, and we were able to take our time in having dessert and drinking coffee while talking. Hehe!

Good Friday night.

Keisuke Tonkotsu King
1 Tras Link, #01-19 Orchid Hotel, Singapore
Tel: 6636 0855

Group Therapy Coffee
9 Duxton Rd 089513
6222 2554

Ramen place at Tanjong Pagar...

Had dinner last night with MkSurf8 at a fairly new ramen shop at Tanjong Pagar area.

To be specific, it's at the Orchid Hotel. There are two Japanese places just outside the hotel. First is Keisuke Tonkotsu King, which has a very loooong queue. The other one is Menya Sanji.

I was intrigued by the food at Keisuke because of the queue. It's definitely a good sign. However, I think I will try it on another day and I will definitely be there vearly. Hehe!

Anyway, a few steps away from Keisuke is Menya Sanji. It's a very tiny shop. There was also a queue but it was definitely shorter than the one at Keisuke. I've never been to Japan. However, Menya Sanji looks like the shop of the guy in the documentary Jiro dreams of Sushi. The place can seat less than 20 people I think.

From what I read, the ramen served by the shop is called Kagoshima ramen aka tonkotsu style ramen. I tried the original Sanji Ramen with roasted pork topping and I liked it. The pork was a bit dry, but it was still okay. I'm glad that it didn't have any fat at all. Hehe.

The service is also good and fast. For a small shop, they have about 5 or 6 people behind the counter. One guy who knows how to smile (!!!) checks the queue and takes people's orders. Another person takes care of clearing tables. The rest are behind the counter preparing your happy bowl of ramen.

Itadakimasu.

Menya Sanji
Orchid Hotel #01-14 1 Tras Link
11:30pm – 3:00pm, 5:30pm – 11:00pm Daily

Coffee afternoon at Chye Seng Huat Hardware...

PG Boy and I finally got to go to Chye Seng Huat Hardware to see what all the fuss was about.

I've been seeing the cafe in a number of blogs recently so naturally, I was curious to go and check out the place.

The cafe is very near where PG Boy used to stay. It's a very short walk from Lavender MRT. After grabbing lunch from the Thai foodstall from the kopitiam at the corner of Tyrwhitt Rd and Horne Rd, we made our way to Chye Seng Huat Hardware.

Despite being a lazy Sunday early afternoon, the place was kinda full. We still managed to get a place though so yay! :)

Prior to going, I read somewhere that the breakkie/brunch stuff weren't that spectacular. My bad for quickly believing. When I saw the brunch plates coming out of the kitchen, I actually thought the food seems worth a try. Note to self: next time, try the food yourself. Don't rely on reviews too much. Hehe!

I did like the coffee very much. I ordered the hand-brewed - Balanced. I liked it so much I had two cups. Haha! More than that, I also loved the interiors of the place. It was well done. I guess the charm of the place starts right even before you enter. The people behind the cafe retained the facade of the hardware store that it used to be (??). This gave the place its own character. Hehe!

I also like that there is a shop just above the cafe that sheels nice bags and other quirky items. Do check out the Tyrwhitt General Company store for the pieces.

Meanwhile, PG Boy was looking around every bit of detail of the cafe while he enjoyed his latte. He liked the interiors very much. Plus, he was very impressed with how the baristas handled the coffee. They really knew what they were doing.

It was definitely an enjoyable early Sunday afternoon hohol.

Must definitely go back to try the brunch and the pastries.

Chye Seng Huat Hardware Coffee Bar
Address: 150 Tyrwhitt Rd
Contact: 6396 0609
Opening Hours:
Tue - Thu: 9:00 am - 7:00 pm
Fri - Sun: 9:00 am - 10:00 pm
Website: http://www.cshhcoffee.com