Mahamoodiya Restaurant

Met up with Steven the other day for dinner since we both didn't have dinner at home. Steve had his craving for muslim food again so we ended up at simpang bedok. This time we went to Mahamoodiya Restaurant, which is actually a solitary stall by itself, on the opposite side of the road. I like to come here because it's usually less crowded, though its been noted that at night a lot of things are sold out. Popular place? Well I'm not sure...

I've been looking for nice nasi goreng ikan bilis so in my quest for nice nasi goreng I decided to give this place a try! Steven settled for sup kambing (mutton soup), which he always has a liking for, and 1 plain prata.

Maybe cause this place has less people, so the food actually came pretty fast. Prolly less than 5 minutes. After my horrific experience across the road the last time, the nasi goreng didn't disappoint at this particular shop. Rice texture was in between grainy n soft which was ok. Taste wise was much better though.

Sup kambing is normally a very rich and salty dish. This version sold here though, was surprisingly not as such. Maybe they opted for the healthier choice, so the soup wasn't very salty. It still was quite tasty, just not as tasty as some others I've tried. Wasn't very thick either, but I guess I pretty much enjoyed it. When it's too tasty you feel so thirsty, plus its bad for you. The mutton was tender too. Not for those purists though I reckon.

And of course, to finish the course, what else but to drink teh cino peng! I really think they're going for healthier choice here at this stall. Even the teh cino peng is not so sweet! Still quite milky but prolly about half the sweetness of other stalls I've tried. Guess its better for those that don't enjoy extremely sweet drinks, and those worried about getting diabetes.

Quite satisfied after the meal, especially since I drank quite a bit of Steve's soup since he's more of a purist. Haha...

Mahamoodiya Restaurant
Simpang Bedok (on the opposite side of the road, next to the lan gaming shop)
Opening hours: 24 Hrs

Al-ameen Eating House

Ok updates again. Sorry I haven't been regularly updating the blog in the past few days, been busy. And when I get home I usually feel too tired to do so. Anyway, a few days ago I made a trip to the west for supper after a fruitful mahjong session. Winson are you reading?? I went to the west to eat ok? Just for you! Though I'm sure you've been here before. Haha. Anyway its pretty standard that supper beckons after a late night mahjong session, and since Sean stays in the west, Terence and I had to be accommodating.

Made our way to Al-ameen eating house. It's pretty standard that we come here for supper since food is always pretty good and it's opened like 24hrs?

Sean ordered 2 kosong (plain) pratas while I settled for my usual telo bawang (egg onion) prata. My reasoning for always ordering telo bawang prata is that the prata is usually served to you hot since not many people order it so they have to make it fresh. It's my standard whenever I go to any prata shop.

Anyway, the prata here is pretty standard la, hasn't gone wrong whenever we eat here. Its a bit crispy on the outside and some what fluffy. Quite a lot of onions inside too! Great for farting or belching. Haha! =X The fish curry served that day was rather disappointing though. Don't know why it was so so so salty! Maybe it was over simmered or they accidentally spilled a whole bag of salt inside. Need some QC for that man but otherwise prata was pretty good.

Terence ordered his usual fried chicken too. Its a set meal that consists of chicken, fries and some salad. Being greedy, Sean and I also had a piece each. Chicken is nicely fried to a golden brown. Be careful when you take your first bite, its usually very hot and can burn your lips. The chicken is nicely marinated and battered before being fried, giving it good flavour and fragrance. Meat is tender and juicy. I guess you can't really go very wrong with chicken wings. Fries and salad were SOP, nothing to shout about. I remember getting more fries last time though.

Another one of my standards is the teh cino peng. Seems like I always drink it when I'm a muslim food stall. Their teh cino was sweet and creamy, pretty good for a sugar rush but can't drink too much of it. Will be quite jelak.

Overall, food here is pretty standard except for the curry which let me down. Service was ok though a little slow, plus they got our orders mixed up a little bit. Guess they were quite busy that night. Prices are quite ok as well. $0.80 for kosong prata and $1.50 for telo bawang prata. The 2 piece chicken set is $3 and teh cino is something like $1.60? I think prices are Simpang are a little more expensive.

Al-ameen Eating House
2,3,4 Cheong Chin Nam Road (Opposite Beauty World)
Opening Hours: 24 Hours

Breakthru Cafeteria

Ok my bad I've been quite busy the past few days haven't really had time to update my blog. Been out catching up with friends and relatives, when I get back quite tired and lazy to update the blog. Got quite a bit of backlog to blog about actually. Well lets start with something rather interesting. Went out with my aunt and her friend the other day for lunch to this place called Breakthru Cafeteria. Breakthru Cafeteria is run by Breakthrough Missions, a Christian organisation that helps ex-convicts. The cafeteria is fully run by ex drug addicts. They show videos of the testimonials of the ex-cons in the cafe as well. A pretty interesting place! They serve stuff like dim sum and nasi lemak. Quite an extensive range of food I must say.

Seriously, for just the 3 of us I think we over ordered. There was so much food we had to tao bao some. First up was nasi lemak. The chilli was good man and the rice was fragrant. Too bad it got cold really fast because we were directly under the air-con.

We had many different kinds of dim sum dishes and there were all pretty good too. All the dishes are freshly steamed and served hot. It would be a pain to individually describe all the dishes cause they were all good so I'll just make mentions of certain dishes.

Above is the siew mai

The xiao long bao had soft tender skin and a juicy centre with soup. Great with the vinegar!

Yam Cake steamed with some sauce

Chicken Feet. Not really my kind of thing. Didn't eat it but my aunt said it was good. I trust her taste because she's quite a foodie herself.

Chee Cheong Fan with prawns. They also have it with char siew or scallops.

I liked their char siew baos because the outside is soft and fluffy. What's inside is usually secondary to me, but the char siew also tasted pretty good.

Century egg and pork porridge was a big bowl. Leans more to the grainy kind of porridge so it's doesn't have such a smooth consistency like crystal jade but it still tasted pretty good. You get the creamy taste of the century egg along with bits of minced pork. The spring and fried onions also make it very fragrant.

Har Kow

On their tables are nicely laminated newspaper articles that put something like: "Last time I used to get charged by them in court, now I serve them food in court." Quite a fitting statement for these waiters and cooks at Breakthru Cafeteria, and it's great to see them being accepted back into society. They may look a little scary with their tattoos and gruff exterior, but they are friendly and service is pretty prompt and efficient. Even the famous defence lawyer, can't remember his name.,Supras or something like that was there for lunch. Prices here are also inexpensive. Dim sum items usually cost between $2.50 to $3.80. They also serve good coffee shop kind of tea and coffee.

Breakthru Cafeteria
People's Park Centre #01-02c(opposite subordinate court)
Opening Hours: Mon to Fri 7am to 7pm, Sat 7am to 3pm
Closed on Sunday and public holidays

Mellben Seafood Restaurant

Once again went for supper with Krystal, Uncle Steven and Terence. This time we went to Mellben Seafood Restaurant. Its just a stone's throw away from Rabbit Brand Seafood. Apparently this shop is some famous crab bee hoon place that relocated recently from Ang Mo Kio. At least that's what Krystal said. It could just be a branch that spawned off the main outlet.

When I took a photo of the sign board the grumpy shop aunty said that I'm not allowed to! -.-" After I told her in my broken chinese that I was sorta like advertising for her on the internet she just kept quiet and walked away. Hmmmmm....

Another lady (she looked nicer, did I mention younger too?) took our orders. We were pondering over what to order, partly because Krystal couldn't really eat spicy food. We already knew that crab bee hoon was the order of the day, but what would accompany it? Finally settled for dua tao (some kind of mussels or clams) and luo han chye (mixed vegetables).

The luo han chye was a really small plate. Can't believe we paid like $8 for such a little amount of vegetables! It did taste nice though, no complaints about that.

Next up was the dua tao. The sauce was a little spicy but nothing we couldn't handle. The clams were abit rubbery though, not sure if the texture is meant to be like that or if it was overcooked?

And finally at long last the crab bee hoon came. This was served by the grumpy aunty. Surprisingly this time she suddenly became very nice! She told us to let her know if we wanted to add soup. Later she even added extra bee hoon for us at no extra charge! Wonder if it's because of what I told her in chinese... Now what exactly did I say? Haha.

Anyway the dish was served in a claypot, though I scooped out a bowl and put the crab claw there to take the picture. We ordered 2 crabs and they turned out to be huge! Not sure if they were sri lankan crabs or what but they were big and had a lot of roe underneath! The crab was fresh and the meat was firm and sweet. The soup was milky, slightly peppery and very tasty. Not sure if its the MSG though, but it was really satisfying!

The whole meal worked out to be about $70, considering that we had to large crabs, I'd say was pretty worth it. Anything for crab bee hoon man! Don't suppose I can find this kinda good food served at "Mellben" if I go to Melbourne right? Haha ok bad joke. =X

Let the feasting before I leave continue!

Mellben Seafood Restaurant
Corner Coffee Shop along Joo Chiat Road (Next to Miki)
Opening Hours: 6pm to 3am

Sinma Seafood Restaurant

Frog chronicles part 1

Since I'm going overseas soon, I figured that I better eat whatever local delights I can before its too late. So.... I started my search for good frog legs to eat. Terence said we should try this place called Sinma since his friend recommended it. So we ended up at Sinma Seafood Restaurant to check it out!

The restaurant has 2 shops located opposite each other so it's quite common to see their workers shuffling between the 2 shops to serve food and drinks. Once again we were stumped when ordering food because the waitresses are all from China. Couldn't really understand what she was saying, especially when she was trying to recommend some dishes to us. Thankfully menu had english so we just point and ordered from there.

First up was the sambal (a type of chilli paste) potato leaves. It is stir fried with garlic and hae bee (dried little shrimp). Dish was quite spicy but I loved the taste. Potato leaves have a nicer texture than kang kong, though that's my personal preference. Its less stringy and slightly softer. Love it man!
Next up was the special made tofu. This dish was really good man. The skin outside was crispy and the tofu inside was soft and silky. It was topped off with this minced meat and hae bee mixture, and drenched in sauce. Very tasty and great to eat with rice! Just thinking about it now is making me drool.

And last but not least was the chicken essence frog legs. Wah this was heavenly man! In fact the soup tasted just like turtle soup that I always crave! Very strong herbs taste and very rich. In hokkien they always say "jiak por" (add heat i think). Frog legs are great la, so soft and tender.... Why must they be so expensive???? =(

At the end of the meal we were super satisfied la, can't imagine we ate so much for supper. I was even contemplating having a second bowl of rice! Supper was a little pricey as the frog legs costs $24 but I guess it was worth it. Terence almost ordered fish la, that would have just killed me financially. Thankfully I stopped him and ordered the tofu instead. I think this is a good place to visit! Must try!

Sinma Seafood Restaurant
Geylang Lor 3 (It's the 2 corner coffee shops)
Opening Hours: I think they open from 6pm to 3am
website

Cafe Oliv

Some time back my family chanced upon a newly opened cafe along East Coast Road. Cafe Oliv is a small homely restaurant. By the looks of it, the restaurant is a family run establishment. They even have a young boy barista. Haha. Business surely has been picking up for them. When we went there last sunday the cafe was fully booked. Luckily we made a reservation!

Cafe Oliv serves western food, drinks and desserts reasonable prices. They also have their set meals which are value for money. Going there with family is great because I get to try everybody's food! Haha.

The only disappointment of the night was the pan fried cod fish as shown above. The fish wasn't so fresh so it tasted a bit weird. Fish was a bit slimy or sticky, didn't leave a good impression there. The presentation was nice though.

The grilled chicken leg was marinated with bbq sauce. Very tasty and juicy. Plus it was such a big piece! Skin was also some what crispy on the outside which is a plus point!

My brother orderd the tenderloin steak set meal as it was supposed to be less fatty than rib eye, or so the waiter said. I have no idea though. The tenderloin steak was done to a medium done-ness. It was quite a thick cut. Meat was tender and juicy as well.

Just FYI, set meals come with soup of the day, the main course, dessert of your choice and coffee or tea (you can also change your drinks to one of their iced versions or something for a small price).

Beer battered fish is one of the specialties of Cafe Oliv. A big piece of battered fish served with wedges and garden greens. One of the better fish and chips I've eaten. The batter was crispy and you could savour the wonderful flavour of the beer batter and fish. The wedges were a good compliment to the fish as well.

This was my main course. I had the half rack of bbq pork ribs set meal. The sauced used for the pork ribs were the same as those used for the chicken leg. The meat was surprisingly soft and tender. Didn't take much effort to cut or remove the meat from the bone. The taste was also good. It was served with some boiled vegetables like carrots and long beans and those cute mini potatoes.

Because my dad, brother and I all had set meals we were entitled to 3 desserts. So far Cafe Oliv only has 3 types of desserts which are the mud pie, brownie and creme brulee. Or you can just have ice cream. Ice cream served is from Uzumaki, the japanese brand you see at some shopping centres.

Their mud pie consists of 3 flavours. Vanilla, coffee and surprise surprise.... Red Bean! The red bean is sandwiched in the centre of the pie. The ice cream was good, but I must say the ice cream was literally kinda "hard" to eat! Got to use quite a bit of force to cut into the pie.

The brownie on the other hand was really soft! Not to mention that they heat it up so its warm and moist, and served with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream. My dad's favourite! He can finish it by himself if we don't stop him. Haha.

Lastly, we have the creme brulee. Creme brulee is actually supposed to be burnt cream. The top layer is burnt caramel while the underneath is a soft and creamy custard. The custard wasn't too heavy nor overly sweet. Very nice!

One can expect to pay about $10-$15 or a meal here, and set meals cost anywhere between $20-$25. The coffee served is also good. Probably a cheaper alternative to starbucks or coffee bean! Cafe Oliv also has other interesting stuff on their menu like the mini trio burgers and a range of pastas and such. Be sure to check it out!

Cafe Oliv
220 East Coast Road S428917
Tel: 6344 3114
Opening Hours: 1130am to 1100pm

Coconut Macaroons

Here is a recipe I found online for a non egg based coconut macaroon. The ratings were very good which prompted me to try it out. Anyway just in case you're wondering what's the difference between a macaroon and a macaron, please click on the following links.

Macaroon
Macaron

Anyway I might have to give up on making macarons because it's too difficult to make. I can't even get the conditions right because Singapore is very humid, and I don't have air-conditioning in my house either to regulate the temperature. Maybe when I'm in Tasmania I can try it out. It's tough work but any brave soul that wishes to try please let me know. I'll give you all the macaron recipes I have. Anyway this is probably way macarons are so expensive!

Coconut Macaroons

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 5 1/2 cups flaked coconut
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or aluminum foil.

2. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, coconut and salt. Stir in the sweetened condensed milk and vanilla using your hands until well blended. Use an ice cream scoop to drop dough onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about golf ball size.

3. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, until coconut is toasted.

Above is the mixture after I have stirred in all the ingredients and mixed it up well.

Instead of using the ice cream scoop as advised in the recipe, I follow what some members said to use your hands instead. I think I made a mistake of compacting it too tightly though. I was thinking more of the shape so I could dip it in chocolate than to realise too compact might make it hard.

The done product before putting it in the oven! They look like fish balls or sotong balls! Haha. The mixture was enough for 22 golf ball sized macaroons, I think next time should make them smaller though, so it's easier to eat.

After baking in the oven, this is the result! Top was quite nicely browned. The smell was really nice and fragrant, guess it's because of the coconut.

After which I melted semi dark chocolate and coated some of the macaroons. Wah these are really decadent desserts man.... You only have to eat one to get the jelak (too rich) feeling. The macaroons were sorta crispy on the outside and flaky on the inside. My test subjects/guinea pigs tell me that it was a little too hard because it was so compact. Gotta take note of that next time, as well as to make it smaller so it's easier to eat. Overall I'd say it's not bad but got room for improvement in my technique.

Really cannot eat too many seriously jelak! Haha.

Rabbit Brand Seafood Restaurant

One must always plan ahead when it comes to supper. Need to map out the feasting route for the days ahead and be focused on the task at hand. Tough work right? Haha. Anyway, saw Rabbit Brand Seafood Restaurant quite a few times when driving past joo chiat, and found out that they serve supper till 3am! So I had to mark it down as one of the places to try out. Apparently Krystal likes this place so this time round supper was a bigger group. Krystal and her dad (uncle Steven) came along with Terence and myself.

This restaurant has it's own website which I was viewing prior to going for supper, gee was pretty surprised that they offer cheap meals. They even have their set dinners for one person which costs from $5.50 and onwards. How's that for a cheap seafood dinner?

Above is the mini buddha jump over the wall. Priced at a reasonable $8.50 it comes with abalone, sharks fin and some other delectable goodies. I've never eaten buddha jump over the wall before but this wasn't thick or starchy.

This is the braised sharks fin with bamboo fungus soup. Also not thick or starchy, and had quite a lot of bamboo fungus, sharks fin, crab and mushrooms. Decent stuff for a reasonable price of $5.50!

Crispy fried shishamo is battered and deep fried till it was very crispy yet juicy when you bite in. Shishamo is basically a type of fish with it's belly full of roe. Went well with the chilli dip.

Hot and spicy sea cucumber didn't really have much sea cucumber actually, just a lot of celery. But where can you really find sea cucumber dishes for $6? And it was not bad too. Chilli was quite spicy.

This dish above is what they call spicy skinny lobster. It's like bigger than a cray fish but smaller than a lobster. Not much meat inside even though it looks quite big. This is really spicy, very peppery but shiok. I bet anyone can eat one serving or more by themselves though, since there was not much meat.

Salt and pepper soft shell crabs were also nicely deep fried. Crispy on the outside but soft and juicy on the inside. Served with a mayonaise dip.

This last dish was a bit disappointing though. Fried mian xian (mee sua) was tasty, but didn't have any ingredients at all except for the green and red peppers! And it was kinda pricey for this too. The only thing that sorta spoiled the supper I must say. Everything else was pretty good.

Rabbit Brand Seafood Restaurant has dinner set menus as well as supper specials. Good for cheap seafood dinners or those hunger pangs in the wee hours of the morning. Do note that supper specials starts after 10pm. If you're feeling richer you can also check out the ala carte menu for more pricey stuff.

Rabbit Brand Seafood Restaurant
325/327 Joo Chiat Road S(427582)
Tel: 6348 8772
Opening Hours: 6pm to 3am
website

Hong Ji Yun Tun Mian

After church yesterday, was headed to parkway with my parents. They needed to do some grocery shopping and I needed to fix my watch, and most importantly, we needed lunch. Popped by to the Marine Parade Food Centre just next to parkway to get some chow. This food centre is home of the famous Apollo Char Kway Teow, though I must say it's a matter of personal preference because some people swear by it and others hate it. Well today wasn't about char kway teow, it was about wantan mee. Located further in the food centre is Hong Ji Yun Tun Mian. It's not everyday you can have cheap meals anymore and this is one such place. A plate of wantan mee only costs $2, or you can have an upsized version for $2.50.

You will be surprised that even for a mere $2 you still get a decent amount of ingredients! The amount of noodles is substantial enough, and there were quite a few pieces of char siew. The char siew is quite lean but thankfully not dry and flaky like some horrible ones I've eaten before. Not the juiciest but still decent and pretty yummy. It's only $2 after all! Noodles are not bad either, chilli has got kick and the noodles are quite springy.

I must say the wantans were good though! Tasty and a generous amount of meat in each wantan. And for $2 you get 3 wantans, which is pretty generous. Soup is not super tasty but at least you don't feel thirsty like some others which put a lot of salt or MSG.

Another worthy mention is their home made barley. You get a real big cup for only $0.70. Wah yesterday really was a budget meal man. Total damage only $2.70! Budget meal but pretty satisfied. =)

Hong Ji Yun Tun Mian
Marine Parade Food Centre #01-142
Opening Hours: Not sure (I think they cater more to the morning crowd though, probably not open for dinner)