Bar Italia KL

When I was in KL to attend the NAPBAS 2011, I stayed back for a few more days to catch up with one of my best pal. He suggested that we visit Bar Italia since the french restaurant that I was planning to visit was closed.

Bar Italia is located alongside numerous bars and restaurants. It is very similar to our Holland Village. Bar Italia offer a menu very typical of any italian restaurants.

We started with the Seared US Scallops With Light Peppercorn Sauce(RM42). For a seafood lover like me, it's a perfect start... of course not forgetting some red wine to go with.

I picked Roasted Atlantic Cod With Baby Asparagus and Clams Saute(RM59) as my main course while my friend took the Gnocchi Al Gorgonzola With Fresh Rocket and White Truffle Oil(RM38). I personally like the gorgonzola better but both dishes are heavenly.

Of course a meal can't end perfectly without dessert. Bar Italia served their Tiramisu(RM24) uniquely, it look just like a piece of art and taste like a piece of art too.

Bar Italia is definitely above average although it may not the best Italian restaurant among the many that I had tried but I will definitely revisit it again.


Bar Italia
29 Jalan Berangan
50200 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: +603 21444499

Opening Hours
Mon-Fri: 6pm-3am
Sat: Closed
Sun: Buffet 6:30pm till...

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Crystal Cafe - Taiwan Porridge Buffet

It was my mom's birthday and my brother suggested having Taiwan Porridge Buffet so we went to Crystal Cafe located at Orchard Grand Court.

Crystal Cafe's porridge buffet cost $13.80/$15.80 for adults and $11.80/$13.80 for children. The porridge buffet are only available for lunch(12pm-2:30pm) and dinner(6pm-10pm).

Crystal Cafe serve very limited variety of dishes mainly the braised varieties and stir fried dishes. It lacks the fun that buffets normally brings.

They have nonya kueh too but only 3 types as shown on the photo.

At least it's dessert did not disappoint me, the tau suan is actually quite tasty although I would not say it's heavenly.

If you are not fussy about the limited choices, just wanted something cheap to fill your big appetite then you could try Crystal Cafe.

Will I go back again? Maybe not as I prefer buffet to be overwhelming! But that's just me *wink*


Crystal Cafe
Orchard Grand Court
131 Killiney Road
Singapore 239571
Tel: 6830 2020
Opening Hours: 7am-11pm daily

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Best Zar Cai Fan Stall in Ang Mo Kio

Zar Cai Fan (杂菜饭) are probably the most convenience choice when it come to eating out and saving cost. However most of the zar cai fan stalls out there do not serve anything near delicious.

Just as I was about to believe that there may never be a zar cai fan stall out there that serve decent food, I found this little stall tuck in a small eatery among a busy wet market. Not only do they serve awesome food, their food come at lower prices too.

If you ever visit this stall, you should always order their meatball and stir fried cucumber! I can only say that you are missing out if you fail to try this 2 dishes. It's that good!

One more thing to take note about this stall is to visit them around 11pm where most of their vegetables and meat dishes are cooked. Due to extreme popularity they usually sold out by 12pm and nonetheless expect to queue.


Lucy Eating House
Ang Mo Kio Ave 1
Blk 226C #01-665


**Update** Sadly, this zar cai fan stall has closed because the landlord has recollect the shop back.

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Ambush European Restaurant

Two weeks ago, we decided to walk around Bishan for somewhere interesting to dine in. We came across a nicely furnished european restaurant and decided to give it a go.

The first thing that caught our eyes when we got seated was their menu. Their menu is only a thin 4 pages presented in a newspaper format. They do not have a huge menu but all of their ala carte makes you drool.

Their set lunches are the "to go" for if you ever visit this place. With over 10 main courses to choose from, they cost only $9.90 or $19.90 inclusive of soup of the day and a drink.

We went ahead with the $9.90 set lunch. Jackie took the Vongole in White Wine Sauce Pasta(ala carte @ $12.50) and I took the Wild Salmon Fillet in Thai Basil Sauce Pasta(ala carte @ $12.00) as our main courses.

The pasta are pretty good! At first taste, the Wild Salmon Fillet in Thai Basil Sauce may come across a little weird but after a few bites it actually hooks you up.

As a side dish, we ordered the Mini Sausage Platter($8.80) which comes in a mixture of chicken sausages. The sausages are very juicy and we particularly love the cheese chicken sausage.

And of course how can we end a meal without dessert! Ambush do not have a wide choice of desserts so we pick the classic favourite, Brownie.

I will definitely visit Ambush again soon. With a nice deco and decent food, visiting Ambush during non peak hours is a good way to caught up and nom away with some friends.

Other than the Bishan J8 branch, Ambush also has outlets in Jurong Point and Takashimaya.

Ambush
9 Bishan Place
#02-19/20/27
Junction 8 Shopping Centre
Singapore 579837
Tel: 6353 9360

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CP Wanton Biggest Eater 2011 Heats

2 week ago, Jackie participated in the CP Wanton Biggest Eater 2011 competition! With lots of confidence, we went to Orchard Central that afternoon. Little did Jackie expected, speed eating is harder than it looks!

The heats consist of two days and out of the two days, the top 30 eaters will then proceed to the finals where they get to eat with 3 of the world fastest eater. Jackie was placed on day one heats late afternoon. We managed to reach early and caught sights of a few rounds of other contestants competing.

Even after watching other people having hard time producing good results, Jackie was still pretty confidence there!

Well, Jackie only managed to eat 38 wantons and he was quite disappointed about it. I believe Jackie could had performed so much better if he had more preparations and practices.

Well at least he got the goodies bag for eating at least 30 wantons and we had a great time!! Look out for Jackie in the next year competition (and I might join too xD)

The goodies bag contain lots of CP products: microwave ready meals, chicken wing, wantons.. The microwave ready spaghetti is very delicious!

Anyone else participated in the Cp Wanton Biggest Eater 2011?

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BAD2011: CoCo Ichibanya 313 Somerset

I had been a huge fan of Coco Ichibanya Bangkok! Those days where I travel to Bangkok as much as twice a month for Business, I never miss a chance to indulge in their creative curry cominations.

So guess my delight when I heard that Coco Ichibanya are now in Singapore!

After seeing so many positive review online, I marched down to its Somerset branch and prepared to be blown away. However it did just the opposite to me, their Creamy Mushroom Curry Omelette Rice($13.00) was way overpowering so much so that I couldn't even finish half of the plate. That never happened when I nom on Bangkok's.

Jackie had the Pork Cutlet Curry Rice with Cheese($14.00) which he thinks was too salty. He too prefer Bangkok's branch. We both didn't finish our plate and that NEVER happened when we was at Bangkok.

The staff didn't let us choose the spicy level for the Pork Cutlet Curry Rice with Cheese which was odd because I remembered only the omelette rice do not have the option of adjusting the spicy level, other curry do have the option of adjusting.

When we were halfway into our meal, the queue started to form outside the restaurant. We were glad that we came at a right time. Now that we had tasted their curry, we will never queue for it the next time!

Will I ever visit the Singapore branch again? Most probably not but I'm willing to pay for the plane ticket to Bangkok for a little Coco Ichibanya time!

P.S. Today is also the World Food Day and Blog Action Day where blog around the world blogs about food! Let's celebrate by eating more today!! (A very good excuse!)


Coco Ichibanya
313 Orchard Road
313 Somerset #B3-25/27
Singapore 238895
Tel: +65 6636 7280

Opening Hours
Mon–Fri: 10am – 10pm
Sat–Sun & PH: 10am – 11pm

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The Eastern Restaurant - Collagen Ramen

Media Invite

For 10 years The Eastern Restaurant has been serving traditional and authentic chinese cuisine. Although located at a remote corner of Centrepoint, The Eastern Restaurant has no lack of loyal fans. With only one branch in Singapore, you can expect nothing less than original from them.

The highlight of the restaurant is no doubt their ramen! Their noodles are handpulled on the spot after ordered. The most incredible part is that collagen are added into their noodles. Now you can eat to baby smooth skin, kill two birds with one stone!!

Jackie ordered the Za Jiang Mian($8.80) and I ordered the Pu Dong Wanton Noodle Soup($8.80). The Za Jiang Mian was good with hefty amount of minced meat, however the Wanton Noodle was too bland but their wanton are attractively big. Their Dan Dan Noodle($7.00) appeal to me as well, I might return to try that some other time.

Another signature dish is their Xiao Long Bao($4.00 for 4pcs). The Xiao Long Bao was average but at the price of $1.00 per piece it's very worth it.

Out of all the dishes we tasted, the Furong Special Scramble Egg($10.80) and Sauteed Green Bean with Minced Pork($9.80) are nicely done. We also had a plate of Sauteed "Shang Yao" which I couldn't find on the menu. Being my first time to eat "Shang Yao", I was sceptical about it's taste but was surprised when it turn out deliciously good.

Other than the dishes mentioned we also had Crispy Pork Rib($10.80), Chicken Marinated with Shaoshing Wine($6.00), Crispy Fried Chicken, Pan-Fried Pork Bun($4.00 for 3pcs) and Wanton with Hot Chilli Sauce($6.00 for 5pcs).

I couldn't think of a better way to end the meal than ending it with their Custard Buns($4.50 for 3pcs) which was good but not heavenly. Their Custard Buns are more on the sweeter side, whereby I prefer a saltier one.

The Eastern Restaurant collagen ramen are selling at a special offer price of $8.80, flavours includes Wanton Noodle Soup, Za Jiang Mian, Dan Dan Mian, Noodle Soup with Pork rib and Beef Brisket Noodle Soup.

Special Combo Meal from 12pm-5pm weekdays, Za Jiang Mian + 2pcs of Gyoza + Chinese Tea @ only $6.90

Like Eastern Restaurant on Facebook or Follow them on twitter to enjoy additional 5% discount.

The Eastern Restaurant
176 Orchard Road #01-57
Centrepoint Singapore 238843
Tel: 6736 2638
Opening Hours: Mon-Sun 11.00am-10.00pm

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Mid Autumn Festival Mooncakes

When we talk about Mid Autumn Festival, mooncakes immediately comes to my mind. But with more and more creative combi rolling in the recent years it's really hard to choose.

So I decided to share what kind of mooncakes my family had. There are three children(including me) with different mooncake favourite at home, you can imagine the hassle my mother has to go through to make sure everyone are happy.

I love the traditional double yolks mooncakes. Jackie love the traditional skin red bean mooncakes(seriously who eat those nowadays). Last but not least my youngest brother, Jeffrey, love snow skin mooncakes.

My mother brought the traditional skins from Bee Cheng Hiang(picture above), A double yolk and a four yolks for me. It's the first time for me to try a four yolks and I'd never want double yolk anymore! With double yolk sometime you get certain wedges that are without yolks, the problem is solved in the four yolks mooncakes.

The snow skin mooncake was brought from a factory outlet which I forgotten the name. Only red bean flavour was brought as both brothers love red bean paste.

This year for a change we brought the Haagen-Dazs mooncakes to replace other flavour of snow skin mooncakes that we normally buy. The mooncakes are like a piece of art and taste like a piece of art too. Although they cost way higher than the Swenson's ice cream mooncakes but it's well worth it!

Other than the usual mooncakes, my mother also brought this yam mooncake that look like dau sa biang. I love the taste alot but I hate that it flakes easily when cut!

This are all the mooncakes we stuffed our face with this year, can't wait for next year where more mooncakes will be tasted!

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