Monday 11 April 2011

Short Singapore Trip - Food Summary

Welcome Bunny & Shortbread Cookies @ Marriott Singapore

Sorry for the lack of updates of late people , I'm still here...still blogging (struggling, but I shall persist !) :P
Had to go to Singapore during the last week of March for a 3 day training course, which of course I extended into a week long trip ^_^

It was a week long of foods, mostly consisting of junk foods and cakes gathered from places called the food halls in Singapore's malls.
That is what happens if you are one of those people that just can't dine alone in restaurant, so take away is the best options - not complaining because there are so many yummy foods for take away there !

Dinner @ Sarang
Yin Yang Pa Jeon $5.80 , Drunken Pork $15.80, Steamed Rice w/ Pickles $2.80,
Kimbap $7.80, Ddeokboki $8.80 , C-Pop Salad $8.80, Bowl of Eggs $7.80
(all prices in SGD)

Went for dinner with my cousins on the night I arrived, since I was still dazed from the flight, left it to my cousin to choose a place.
Sarang is located on the 7th Floor of Orchard Central - the supposedly authentic Korean restaurant is unfortunately the worse I've ever had.
Seriously bad - the taste is far from authentic and not to mention very expensive, even compared to what we pay here in Sydney. The portions were small for the price charged as well - especially the pa jeon (pancakes) - used to seeing a frying pan sized pa jeon here, was quite shocked to see just 2 thin pa jeon the size of coaster on the plate. 
Needless to say we left disappointed and still hungry. 

Heavenly Compote Waffle  
Hokkaido Fresh Caramel & Rich Milk  +   Uji Matcha Rich Milk, Azuki & Warabi Mochi
SGD $3.00 each

Uji Matcha, Azuki & Warabi Mochi
(I forgot to take photo of the other one before I scoffed it down :P)


Bread Society

Drool worthy display of goodies

Bread Society is a chain of bakery by the same people who brought you Bread Talk chains of bakery.
The selections here is more of traditional French style bakery with a twist - a good mix of classic flavours and local flavours. Their consultant and head chef are Japanese, which would explain the cutesy presentation and packaging of their goodies.
Since I'm such a sucker for cute Japanese stuffs, I had Bread Society for breakfast on most days and sometimes desserts too :P
They also have freshly squeezed juices ready to go and the super addictive freshly blended strawberry milk - with real strawberries !

My Bread Society Intake
Forrest Berries & Custard Brioche , Chestnut Brioche, Strawberry Cream Cheese Brioche, Sambal Chicken Bun (Spicy !!) , PopCorn Chicken Bun ; Brownie, Black Sesame Society (so good!),  Lemon Madeleine, Bak Kwa Bun 

It has been a long time since I had so much carb intake in a span of few days LOL
I was scared for while...a very short while...then the carb onslaught continues for a few more days....

Best Strawberry Milk ever !!!

Sapporo Petit Doughnut
SGD $5.80 for 10 pieces

Inside the mini doughnuts

These bite size doughnuts were so dangerous, because they are baked, it's so easy to pop one after the other. So much for my plan for eating just 5 and kept the rest for a bit later - pfftt.....
The sakura filling is a seasonal flavour with a special Merlion shaped doughnut, it was a bean paste filling flavoured with sakura flowers, not too bad. 
My favourite would have to be the creamy strawberry milk and the sweet potato filled ones. The caramel filling was a bit of a let down as the caramel was burnt, dry and sandy :(

MOS Burger
Spicy MOS Cheeseburger $3.70,  Curry Hokkaido Croquette $1.80
Ichigo Bliss $1.60 for 3pcs , Unagi Rice Burger $3.70
(all prices in SGD)

Must have MOS Burger when you are at a country that have them !
Before you start thinking "OMG, she's such a pig, all those in one meal ??", one thing to note if you haven't had MOS burger before is that they are small burgers (at least I think they are tiny LOL).
Probably as big as McDonald's cheeseburger ? Hence it is justifiable that I have 2 burgers, a side of croquette and 3 pieces of cream filled frozen strawberries because Singapore is stinking hot.
Somehow they don't taste as good as I remembered them, or maybe the last one I had was the real stuff in Japan :P

Tori-Q Bento $5.80 (4 pieces of mixed yakitori, rice and pickles)
Ginza Bairin Katsu-sando $8.90

Tori-Q is a chain of fast yakitori store, usually located in most food halls in the malls. The bento are especially of good value - a generous portion of steamed rice, topped with 4 sticks of yakitori. 
I always add few extra sticks of.....crispy chicken skin yakitori !! They are oh so bad but oh so delicious and crispy and oily...chicken skin...mmmmm.....

Ginza Bairin is a branch of Tokyo Ginza's Tonkatsu Ginza Bairin - as the name suggest, they specialize in breaded pork cutlets a.k.a. tonkatsu.
Their restaurant in ION Orchard has a seat in area and also a quick takeaway area - grabbed a box of freshly prepared katsu-sando to go.
The tonkatsu was juicy with crispy crumb, wished they put some cabbage with it though, tonkatsu without cabbage is just incomplete.

Kopi-C from the hawker stall (SGD$1.00 ?)
(note : Kopi-C = coffee with condensed milk, hence the C)

After a few nights staying at the hotel for the work part of the trip, I moved to my cousin's house for the remainder of the stay. Miss i.eat.sweet took time out from her holiday in Jakarta to meet up with me in Singapore for a few days of eating spree hohohohohoho ^o^

Sent her off to grab some coffee from the hawker centre across the road since I'm too lazy to walk in the heat (I'm such a good cousin...LOL).
Where else but here that coffee comes in plastic bag tied with a plastic string - comes with plastic straw too...hahahahahaha !
I wonder if they know that plastic + heat = melted plastic = not particularly very safe ?
We quickly pour it into mugs after taking photos , laughing our heads off and spilling them all over the sink.

Sergeant Hainanese Chicken SGD $8.00

From ION Orchard food hall - had them twice during the trip. You get to choose between boiled of roasted chicken, thigh or breast, the meat was juicy and very tender. 

Yonehachi 

Another food chain from Tokyo that has found its way to Singapore food scene.
Yonehachi offers a variety of okowa - sticky or glutinous riced mixed with a variety of vegetables or meat. Here they offer them as set meals that comes with side dishes to make up a healthy complete meal or you can just buy the okowa on their own. 

Chicken Teriyaki Shokado Set Meal SGD$14.80

With the set meals, you get to choose the okowa, the variety on offer were azuki (red bean), chestnut, sansai (vegetables), hijiki (seaweed) or salmon. 
The side dishes we had were simmered vegetables, teriyaki chicken, hijiki salad, beans with sesame dressing, pickles and miso soup - I feel healthy already LOL

Sansai Okowa ; Chestnut Okowa

The glistening rice arrived piping hot from the steamer, served in the wooden box it was steamed in. 
Love the chewy rice and the vegetable and gingko nuts mixed in it - someone should bring them into Sydney !!

Suckling Pig Crepe @ ION Orchard Food Hall
SGD $6.00 for 5 pieces

Miss i.eat.sweet said she was full but that didn't stop her buying a box of the suckling pig crepe LOL
I must admit that they looked so damn good and hard to resist. The taste ? It's okay lah....
Not too flash, the suckling pig was a tad chewy and the crepe was dry :P

Mushiya Steamers @ ION Orchard
SGD $2.00 each

We are still in the ION Orchard Food Hall - I think I can survive for one whole week just eating from this food hall ahahhahahaha....There are so many things to try here....
Mushiya steamers is obviously from Japan and they sell steamed cupcakes - the moist dense type or the light and fluffy fuwa-fuwa style. 
The flavour combinations are interesting, from the Japanese flavoured matcha kintoki, kurogoma mochi kintoki, or the more classic combo of chocolate, caramel, strawberry and cream cheese.
Some of the flavours are a bit extreme though....curry steamed cupcakes or potato and corn cupcakes anyone ?

More steamed cupcakes

Taste wise they are a bit chewy and dry, the flavours were not that distinct either. 
At least they are pretty and cute to look at....

Wang's Cafe @ T3 Departure Hall
SGD $3.40 for a set of 2 toast + coffee

A trip to Singapore is not complete without having kaya toast !! We managed to squeeze a breakfast of kaya toast before we fly out :)
Kaya is a spread made with egg yolk, coconut milk and scented with pandan leaves, it's more like a soft custard than a fruit spread. 
Sandwiched between thin crisp toast slices were the kaya and thin slabs of cold butter....slab of cold butter....so healthy....ahhahahahaha....
Miss i.eat.sweet had Kopi-O (black coffee) to go with her toasts and I had the yin yeung, a mix of coffee, tea and evaporated milk.

That's a quick summary on what I've had during the 9 days trip - of course there are meals at work that I didn't take photos of, but fret not , they are also carb loaded meals -___-;
I was craving greens towards the end of the trip...no kidding.....
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Of course that's not all I had while I was in Singapore, but these 4 places we dined at deserves a special individual posts :)
Lunch at Jaan and Fifty Three and dessert overdosed at 2am:dessertbar and K-Ki. 

The upcoming special posts ^_^

Where to find the foods ^_^ :
ION Orchard - Food Hall
2 Orchard Turn, Singapore
  • Tonkatsu Ginza Bairin  #B4-39/40/41/42
  • Marvelous Cream  #B4-81/82/83
  • Modern Peking Duck  #B4-75
  • Mushiya #B4-68
  • Tori-Q # B4-80
  • Sergeant's Hainanese Chicken Rice #B4-03, Food Opera Stall #20
Bread Society @ ION Orchard  #B2-19


Takashimaya @ Ngee Ann City
391 Orchard Road, Singapore
  • Yonehachi - inside the food hall in B2
  • Sapporo Petit Doughnut - outside the food hall in B2
  • MOS Burger #B2 - 32

Wang Cafe
Changi International Airport, Terminal 3
Departure check-in hall
Open 24hours