Crispy pata craving on a Saturday night...

Last Saturday, one of my good friends here in SG said he was craving for crispy pata. I dun really know where to get crispy pata in SG except in Lucky Plaza and at Gerry’s Grill in Cuppage.

My friend then suggested we go to the Filipino food place across i12 in Katong. However, I told the pair that that place is no longer (I think).

Somehow, we ended up going to one of my fave zi char places in Singapore - Le Chasseur. Thankfully, the place offered crispy pork knuckles. That alone was enough for the group to decide to go there. PG Boy is not a fan of anything oily and he also avoids pork most of the time. The good thing about Le Chasseur is that they have a lot of other dishes to offer.

In addition to the crispy pork knuckles, we also ordered coffee pork ribs, prawn paste chicken and coffee pork ribs. We initially ordered kangkong with samba but meiyou already. Sad, sad.

Le Chasseur used to be located at New Bridge Road across Clarke Quay Central. Some time last year, it moved to Eunos industrial estate. For what reason, I dunno. The Eunos place is a lot bigger though with no AC. Hehe. Also, I’m not sure if the owners added any staff to be able to serve the number of customers. It took some time for the dishes to come out of the kitchen.

Thankfully, the food is still good and enjoyable. It was also not expensive. There were five of us and each one only had to shell out about $15. Not bad at all.

From Le Chasseur, we headed to a newly-opened drinking place along Guillemard Road near Sunny Spring. The name of the place is Tuckshop and it’s located at the corner of Guillemard and Lorong 36. It was extremely warm that night so we all enjoyed the ice cold beer. Also, we decided to stay there since we weren’t heading anywhere else after. It was okay to be a little sweaty. Haha! The place is actually nice. It has that feel of a pub in Club Street but in this case, it’s tucked in some corner along Guillemard.

Great Saturday night!

The Tuckshop
403 Guillemard Rd S399795
thetuckshop.com.sg

Le Chasseur
27 Eunos Road 2
Singapore 409387

Arlyn and Ryse in SG...

Despite the haze that choked the whole island for days, the week still ended on a good note because of visiting friends.

Sisters Arlyn and Ryse, who I both met through my best friend Tey, were in town for a holiday. It was Arlyn's first trip to Singapore (surprisingly). I wasn't able to ask Ryse if it was the same thing for her.

It's always a happy moment for me whenever friends from Manila come and visit. Aside from the catchup, it is also an opportunity to play tour guide to friends.

Hmm, personally, I'd like to show friends the not-so-touristy parts of the island. I know that Orchard, the Esplanade and Merlion Park, Bugis, to name a few, are mandatory places to visits.

But if possible, and that is if visiting friends are interested and they have the time, I'd bring them to Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, or cafe' hopping at Tiong Bahru, or even cycling at Pulau Ubin just to see another side of the island-state. It's not really Singa-bore.

Thankfully, the air quality improved somehow by Friday night and we were able to do a bit of both.

Originally, Arlyn and Ryse wanted to try chilli crabs and cereal prawns. No Signboard or Jumbo Seafood could have easily been an option. Instead, I suggested instead we go to the chilli crab place in Ghim Moh.

However, because of the PSI readings that day, it was better that we dine indoors. We sacrificed the chilli crab and just went for the cereal prawns (and coffee pork ribs, ngor hiong, and fried rice! Hehe!). I brought them to Le Chasseur, which was right across Central, and is one of the nicer zi char places.

Afterwards, I was ready to go to Clarke Quay, which is really not my fave place and is not my scene for obvious reasons (hehe), but I know it's a must-visit for tourists.

Instead, we ended going to Club St. in Ann Siang Hill since Ryse's SG-based friend was there. I forgot about that area as a (better) alternative to Clarke Quay (again because it is not my scene). Hehe!

We took the bus from Central and had to walk a bit to Club St., but it was also an opportunity to show Chinatown, Maxwell area, Neil Road(!) to the sisters before leaving them at Club St. with Ryse's friend.

Saturday, I met up again with the sisters. PG Boy had class and I didn't have anything scheduled so I was able to hang out with them before they leave for Manila. (I was tentatively scheduled to play museum tour guide to Tipz's folks, but they had other plans, I think. Hehe!) Simon, a common friend who's SG-based as well, joined us, too.

That day, we did the touristy activities, which was still fun. We started the afternoon by shopping at H&M, followed by a long, good lunch at Din Tai Fung in Paragon, and then going to Ion for more shopping for them.

Simon and I agreed that it was a short visit. There were still more to do, more to see. Hehe! Arlyn and Ryse said they will be back when friend Rej visits from Dubai and when JoAnn gives birth months from now. Yay!

This coming weekend will also be a busy and happy one because another two friends - I-van and Moi -are flying in.

Zi char night...

Richie, Mon and Coly have been going on weekly night walks around the city.

First, it was at the Gardens by the Bay. The following week, it was at the Botanic Gardens. Then it was at the Geylang area.

Tuesday afternoon, Richie called and invited me to go along with them for a Wednesday night walk. With no plan yet and because I've been really meaning to join them in one of their walks, I agreed to go.

The arrangement was to meet at Marina Square at 730PM. From there, we would take a route that they already planned (I think).

Upon reaching Marina Square last night, I had a slight panic because the lights at Richie's workplace were already off and there was no one around.

What happened was Richie and Coly got stuck at Forum and it took them awhile to get to Marina Square. Good thing Mon was already there and we got to hang out and talk until Rich and Coly arrived.

Though we started late, we still went for the walk. We followed the Singapore River and headed to Clarke Quay. From Clarke Quay, we crossed over to Fort Canning and that's where we spent most of the walking time.

The real event of the night was dinner at a zi char place in North Bridge Road. As in the previous night walks, the highlight usually is the post-walk dinner. The walks would conclude with good food, as Richie would post photos. Hehe!

Last night, we decided to go to this zi char place right across Central in Clarke Quay.

A little trivia: zi char refers to the home-style cooking at a Chinese stall. You have a variety of ala-carte dishes and you just choose whatever it is you want.

Le Chasseur is one of the more popular and raved about zi char places based on what I've read. The first time I went to the place was with Pg Boy and his friends ages ago. The food was great. The price was even better. Hehe!

For the dinner last night, we ordered stewed peanuts, kailan, claypot chicken rice, prawn paste chicken, coffee pork ribs and hot plate tofu.

Guess how much the bill was??? It was only $64!

That already includes two extra servings of steamed rice and six glasses of lime juice.

Not bad, eh?!

Apparently, there is a list of the best zi char places in the island. I remember Pg Boy mentioned another zi char place along Siglap Road. Hmm, must try that one as well.

A good Wednesday night indeed.

Le Chasseur
31 New Bridge Road
Tel: +65 6337 7677
Daily: 11am – 11pm