tgif at tbc

what better way to celebrate xj's last day of call break than a three hour pampering session, followed in quick succession by an afternoon at the beach. we planned this looong ago, from the confines of our shared cubicle, and all too soon call break was upon us. 

couldn't have picked a more perfect day to head to the beach and just as we tired of the blue skies (it's possible, believe me...) the clouds rolled in and we'd perfect cloud cover.

when we'd our fill at tbc, i decided it was high time that xj went to restore. funny story: the restore recommendation first came from xj herself and after i became a regular, she still hadn't gone! this just goes to show how she's a A+ employee and works way harder than i ever did. anyhoos, it'd be a blooming waste to be so near and not stop by so we whiled away the rest of the evening over waffles, deep in discussion about return of investment. 

yay to girlfriends! and fridays! and NOT HAVING TO WORK :D

roadhouse round two

did indeed return for the set lunch and was not disappointed. the place is prettier in the day with natural light flooding in so i snapped a few shots before lunch.

but the best part of lunch was checking in one year on with a very special friend. not that we don't hang out enough, hardly, seeing how we're next door neighbours meet up every few weeks or so. yet the last time we'd a heart-to-heart was over a year ago. hmm. maybe that just goes to shows how little heart we have ;) 

having grown up literally across the street from each other, said friend went so far as to ferry me to school, and then we saw each other through break ups and make ups, keeping each others' deep dark secrets that (fingers crossed!) will never see the light of day. thus, it was nothing short of awesome cakes to squeeze lunch now we've both got some down time.

yvie comes home

with three lovely friends in tow!

yvie's my oldest friend 20 (!!!) years and counting and hand on heart my absolute favourite person on earth. she's goodness and light, has the driest sense of humour and is fantastically brilliant to boot. but you'd never know she was a big a brainiac as she is because she's so unassuming and not in the least bit braggy boots. she's finally home for good after six years away and her coursemates saw her home. talk about an awesome sending off haha - her friends came home with her! 

and because they were visiting over a weekend, i was only too happy to traipse around with them. these troopers landed bright and early on saturday morning and we hit the ground running. after a gas station breakfast (necessity > epicuriosity), they dived head first into their dempsey tour.

we started with lunch that gave jenny, kathy and ashna their first taste of snail!

and then moved on to visit the white rabbit, promising to return for drinks because the girls fell in love with the place, and the swing. don't they look pretty sitting there?

didn't know they were big ben & jerry's fans but yay to cooperative models and a cute van

you might guess by now that we've a thing for swings...

after dempsey, yvie and i showed them around emerald hill for some perserved heritage and peranakan architecture

frangipani tree!

yvie is ever graceful - this was just after we were chided for trespassing at our old school, also at emerald hill. teehee the doors were open so we strolled right in and managed to take some photos before an angry, official-looking person chased us out. boo :(

from emerald hill, we just had to ride the outdoor escalators

and no trip to orchard road is complete without ice cream from the push cart uncle.

happy campers!

Thursdays With Vidhya

Speaking of traditions, one tradition that I’m so glad to have begun is “Thursdays with Vidhya”. We’ve an ongoing lunch date every Thursday and meet at the big Chevron House screen at 1pm. Usually Vidz gets there before I do and seeing her resplendent in her office chic glory is a sight for sore eyes. Much as I enjoy visiting new places, with Vidz I become a creature of habit and we go to the same few places and eat the same few things. And because this was our penultimate Thursday together, I can safely say we go to either Cedele or Wang. We’ve ventured to Philip Street once or twice for the exercise, and another time she condescended to having Arcade fish soup with me. But it’s really not about where we go, because looking forward to Thursdays with Vidz has been a big part of my time as a pupil. Sure, we all look forward to Friday, but to go to bed on Wednesday night knowing that we’d be lunch in 12hours is always such a mood-lifter :) Double dose of anticipation ftw! Another cute thing about Thursdays with Vidz is that no matter how tired we are, we make a point to dress up for each other. Nothing like having a girlfriend check you out and validate the look…

And whilst we like to keep lunch “just us”, Dr. Pravin was a more than welcomed addition today.

the comprehensive raffles place lunch list

To those who’ve wandered into InternshipLand, or have found themselves clueless at lunchtime – this is just for you.

When we started our training contracts, we had no clue where to go for lunch. The practice trainees would meet in a huge group outside the building and when we reached a critical mass, we’d follow the first person who spoke up and amble to said lunch place. Needless to say, this usually wasn’t very appetizing and after leaving Banquet (underground food court with non-existent ventilation system) reeking of food exhaust one time too many, we decided to explore Raffles Place on our own. We’ve listed out almost every place we’ve lunched at in the past 5 months and asterisked those we really liked.

Most of the options are unexceptional but it’s just lunch and we just have an hour so the places listed have been included for accessibility and variety rather than quality. Of course, we’ve not listed any truly terrible places (like Banquet…) but don’t expect a Michelin starred experience either. We’ve also been relatively budget conscious in the compilation of this list, budgeting about $5 per person for a one-dish lunch on average, unless otherwise stated. Happy eating!

XJ and J xx

p/s If there’s anything you like that we’ve missed – please leave a note. We’d like very much to know!

Coffee shop style i.e go armed with packets of tissue to ‘chope’ your seat

Philip street

Tom yum* / regular fish soup 17 Phillip Street #01-01 /02 Grand Building

I usually ask for “sao la” (less spicy) so I can enjoy the flavour without having to drink a reservoir after.

Fish soup and roast meat 15 Philip Street #01-00 Tan Ean Kiam Building

Good for bigger groups because the boss reserves the tables upstairs for big group walk-ins

Hans at Great Eastern Building 1 Pickering Street

Also able to accommodate big groups

China Square

Da Lu Prawn Noodles* 22 Cross Street, #01-54/55 China Square Central

Don Pie shop also sells, surprise surprise, great claypot pepper crab bee hoon

20 Cross Street, #01-34/35/36, China Square

Puay Heng Fish Ball Noodles/Bak Chor Mee 23 China Street

Nam Seng Wanton Mee/Hor Fun/Fried Rice  25 China Street #01-01 Far East Square

Hock Lam Beef Noodles 22 China Street some of our friends go more for the cute waitress than the noodles…

    

Market Street Food Centre 50 Market Street

sit on the third floor, easier to get seats, less smelly.

Tiong Bahru Wanton Mee #02-32

Transit Market Claypot Rice* #03-13 the chicken with lapcheong is divine

Seng Lee Cai Fan is $2+ #03-17

Nurnanmi Nasi Padang* #02-07 the chicken goes superbly with the achar

Mei Xin 50 Market Street #01-32 (food court on ground floor of Golden Shoe) for dinner to go. The porridge is very smooth. A bit pricey ($6) and long queue but really yummy.The ban mian is not bad and I swear by concoctions no. 10 and no. 4 at the fruit juice stall.

Cafes

Market Street

Bao Jin Tian (Bao Today) for noodles and dimsum 55 Market Street #01-01

Kiraku Japanese restaurant below Bao Today (pricey, the beef salad is about $12 and that’s about the cheapest item on the menu)

  

Coffee Shop Style

Arcade

108 Eating House #01-08

Bak Chor Mee

Laksa

Chicken Rice

Hup Lee Cafeteria* #01-35

Fish Soup – my low-carb option is sliced fish soup without noodles / rice.

Arcade Fruits (next to Hup Lee) Fruit and Fruit Juice. The lao ban niang is a PR whiz. Every time I buy juice, she’s such a sweetie I tell myself I will forever remain in juice monogamy with her. The avocado milkshake is decadent, and I usually have the carrot apple ginger juice.

Chinese soup to go ($4) if you’re in a rush. There are a few shops with vats of soups on display.

3^rd floor coffee house (E-something) has great horfun but awful service

Cafes

Clifford Centre

Platypus Test Kitchen* for pasta #02-02 always something new.

PiNK NutriDeli Cafe for set lunch with brown rice  #02-05

Chevron House 30 Raffles Place

Wang Café* #02-37 Chinese style kopi / the and simple lunch time food like laksa, macaroni soup etc. Once asked the smiley Filipino cashier for a “hot iced lemon tea” and he had the decency not to laugh in my face. +points for customer service!

Cedele* for soups, salads and sandwiches I like the Soup Set A ($10 for big soup and small salad) #02-34/35 and the days when they have pumpkin and apple soup, I’m extra happy J

The Sandwich Shop  #02-07 good option for a light lunch. The “All Day Breakfast” in sandwich form is yums, as is the ½ sandwich option if you’re not very hungry.

Joe & Dough #02-05

Black for coffee and sweets (Drew employees get 20% off!!!)  #01-11/12

Dimbulah for soup and wraps #01-31

Green Bar* the smoked duck salad is a winner, as is the chilli crab salad

The Soup Spoon for more expensive soup – cheaper Chinese soup option at the Arcade

#01-37

Chevron House Basement

Subway

Yoshinoya

Mos Burger

The Well dimsum

Sun & Moon – they’ll juice the fruit you pick on the spot

The Palace (Korean Restaurant – only hazard if desperate at night

Boat Quay (more expensive)

South Bank Authentic Thai Restaurant 35 Boat Quay

Thai food! Decent set lunches about $12. if x is the number of diners (x must be >1), you’re entitled to x+1 dishes.

Penny Black for pub food 26/27 Boat Quay 6538 2300

Red Dot for Green Beer (!) and Bar Food 33/34 Boat Quay

Moomba Tuckshop for sandwiches and salads 4 Battery Road, #B1-01 Bank Of China Building

Circular Road

Sinar Pagi* 13 Circular Road

Awesome Nasi Padang – if you’re in a big group, call in advance to book a table (seats upstairs for bigger groups) and pre-order. The tauhu telur is AMAZING. Also like the beef rendang, sweet potato leaves, curry chicken (very good!) and sambal prawns.

Molly Malone’s 56 Circular Road 6536 2029

tcc 51 Circular Road

Cafes

Raffles Quay Underpass

Chopsticks Asian Kitchen - The simplest option is the $7 char siew noodles (with gravy), and if you're feeling extravagant, the $14 crayfish noodles in milky stock is delicious.

Cedele

Restaurants

Marina Bay Link Mall  8A Marina Boulevard (pricier, at least $15/person or more depending on what you order)

Standing Sushi #B2-51 6634 7068

Ding Tai Fung #B2-05/06

Youmenya Goumon for Japanese Pasta #B2-03 good value pasta sets and a salad bar (1 serving only) in the middle

Munch* for salad from an extensive salad bar with generous servings and soups #B2-19

Republic Plaza Basement (pricier eg iFreshCo set will come to about $13)

A few restaurants “food court” style but more atas. I like iFreshCo* for fusion Japanese food without MSG. There’s also Asian Kitchen!

Coffee for that 4pm drowsiness

Chinese style eg kopi / teh, not the Americano type

Coffee&Toast Raffles Exchange 5 Raffles Place #B1-17/21/22

Fun Toast One Raffles Place (OUB Centre) #B1-13

Teh Tarik Cartel 1 Raffles Place OUB Centre #B1-04

Arcade ground floor on the left as you walk in from Raffles Place

Dilys’ Creation at Clifford Centre ground floor

Stall between Dilys’ Creation and the glass doors opening onto Collyer Quay has yummy toast with home made peanut butter too!

Western coffee i.e Americano

Black**

Dimbulah**

Starbucks at Singapore Land Tower

Coffee Bean at Republic Plaza

**see Chevron House above

Sweet Tooth Satisfaction

One Raffles Place (OUB Centre)

Once Upon A Milkshake #B1-03E

Brownie Factory #B1-01B

Famos Amos Cookies #B1-02A

SwissBake #B1-01

Arcade

Dessert Hut* #01-06

Mao Kong Bubble Tea (opposite Dessert Hut)

Chevron Basement

Yami Yoghurt #B1-K1

Each-a-cup #B1-06A

Royal cake shop with sliced cakes

Mirana cake shop with sliced cakes

Republic Plaza 9 Raffles Place

Awfully Chocolate chocolate ice cream and cake #01-16

TWG macarons #01-22

Oriole (also sells coffee) #01-23

Eskimo Café & Fruit Dessert Bar 146 Market Street, #01-32A

Post-work Drinks

Five Izakaya Bar 16 Collyer Quay for cheap shots

Roku (6) at 146 Market Street

Harry’s Market Street

Level33* at Marina Bay Financial Centre for high altitude al fresco drinks

Oosters China Square for Belgian Beers

Lantern* Fullerton Bay Hotel

Post Bar* Fullerton Hotel

OneAltitude 63-64 floor One Raffles Place (OUB Centre)

Nueva Cuba Customs House #01-03

OverEasy* One Fullerton

The Blarney Irish Pub Marina Bay Financial Centre Tower 1

Boat Quay pubs (again, Red Dot is good)

The Atas Section (some have set lunches for $30++, all more upmarket)

Customs House

Sabai Thai #01-02

Kinki #02-02

One Fullerton

Sansui Sumiyaki & Bar #01-05

Forlino #02-06

Marina Bay Financial Centre

Rock great steaks and chic interior

Far End of Boat Quay (nearer South Bridge Road than Raffles Place)

L’Operetta Italian cuisine cooked with deft touch of Japanese chef. Chef trained extensively in Italy, and is interested in opera, too. Hence the name. Suggest ordering a pizza set and a pasta set then sharing between 2.

*our pick

jan 2012 edit: have since left raffles place for the rolling hills of the united kingdom. if you'd like to swing by, the blog continues over at http://doctorlawyerindianchief.blogspot.com

ta chi's

teewteeewteeewW!

and the ramly burger materialises.

ordered enough for an army at ta chi's and washed it all down with a ramly burger from the pushcart across the street. i like how we brought our 'the best or nothing' approach with us up the causeway, ordering a ramly special with the works. figured whatever the RM1 extra was to cover would be worth it, even if it was protection money to keep the ramly man from spitting in our burgers. it boggles the mind how the ramly man transforms rock hard frozen solid patties that land on the griddle with an unceremonious THWACK into succulent juicy burgers in a matter of minutes. also appreciate his judicious use of spices, it was like watching performance art the way he seasoned the burger with just enough and not one shake more.

persistance pays

foie gras X 6 having a party in my tumtum

green pea risotto

white asparagus with poached egg and truffle sauce

all washed down with early grey and mysterious blue leaves

had a hankering for lunch with a view and called the one restaurant with free flow foie gras but alas, they were fully booked. this, of course, only served to make me want to eat there more. so most embarrassingly, i called at 10 minute intervals asking if any space had opened up. no such luck. finally conceded defeat and dragged my feet to my "back up", a cute french creperie around the corner.

of course, the moment i sat down at the creperie and was mere seconds from placing an order for 3 massive crepes to drown my sorrow at foie gras deprivation, said restaurant rang and indeed, there had been a last minute cancellation.

in pidgin french (wanted to +brownie points for effort!) i feigned remorse to the proprietress and somehow promised i'd be back with an army of friends in tow the next time. and then a hop skip and jump across the street, whizzed up to the 68th floor where the spoils of persistence awaited.

most times, my sheer gluttony and inclination to excess is cause for deep shame. however, this time, i was pleased as punch to stuff my face to my heart's content :) didn't help that after lunch i naturally succumbed to food coma, only to wake for cardiac arrest on a plate a.k.a korean bbq dinner at sean's.

what's not to like about long weekends :)

yut kee kuala lumpur

(l-r top then bottom)

1. complimentary swiss roll (because it was the "shop anniversary")

2. soft boiled egg from happy hen

3. kopi

4. steamed bread with kaya

5. life-changing fried mee sua

6. hainanese pork chops

while i'm proudly peranakan, professing a closer affinity to malacca and penang than i do to KL, there's something to be said for yut kee in KL. as an aside, i've made it a point to get better acquainted with hainanese fare because they seem to have been the most blessed in the culinary department. colbar in singapore is a personal favourite and i was determined to sample hainanese fare in malaysia. a friend of a friend who knows his stuff, a mungen son of the soil as they call it, recommended yut kee. thankfully, it was a stone's throw from where i was staying.

rolled in around noon and my eyes were bigger than my tummy. picked from the menu scrawled on the walls and ended up struggling to finish a mountain of food. but everything was good and to make up for the morning's excess, i walked back to the hotel. found it pricey by malaysian standards (fried mee sua was RM6!) but well worth the splurge :)

and definitely worth a repeat visit.

ripped the details off time out's review.

Open time: 7.30am-4.45pm daily.

Address : 35 Jalan Dang Wangi, KL

Tel : 03 2698 8108

lunch at lucio's

on a recent trip to sydney, we hit the ground running after arriving on the red eye. well, running to the best italian restaurant, that is! this little gem is tucked away in the most picturesque neighbourhood in paddington and it felt just like italy. ordinarily wouldn't have liked the kitsch decor, but in this particular setting it was all charm. lucio, the man himself, and his team of bona fide italians (sorry, i'm such a sucker for authenticity) were themselves on charm offensive, and within seconds they'd seated me, whisked my precious bag to safety on a pretentious bag hook and served a three hour meal in double-time, only because there was a harbour cruise to be on within two hours. props for their grace under pressure, not to mention mega efficiency!

absolutely adore the painting of the coquettish girl by the gate.

and then the onslaught began, not that i minded.

burrata con prosciutto di parma served with focaccia

it was my first taste of burrata and ohmyword i fell right in love. it's the lightest cheese i've tried, love the semi-solid texture but minus the overpowering headiness that comes with french cheese. it's delightfully un-overpowering, if that's even a word and matched with prosciutto it was heaven on a plate. i could eat mountains of it without tiring of its delicate, subtle taste.

gamberi & carciofi - salad of raw artichokes and grilled yamba bay prawns

ostriche naturale - sydney rock oysters from merimbula, new south wales

it sounds excessive in retrospect, but at lunch it seemed only naturale to have a dozen each.

fazzoletti neri al frutti di mare - black handkerchief pasta with cuttlefish, mussels, prawns & chilli;

pappardelle di zafferano con capesante - saffron pappardelle with queensland scallops & zucchini flowers

both pasta fresca fatta di casa, the magic words meaning fresh pasta made in their very own kitchen. don't leave home without it! the carbohydrate queen that i am was suitably satisfied by this out-of-this-world offering. not had anything like it before (handkerchief pasta? helloOO! where have you been all my life?)

scampi alla griglia - grilled scampi

again, fresh fresh fresh and a plateful each :)

now this pesce al sale (whole snapper baked in rock salt) was an absolute masterpiece. it's tetsuya-san's favourite dish at lucio's and one cannot go wrong following tetsuya-san because he is the authority on food. i could not believe my eyes when this baby rolled out of the kitchen. and then lucio personally unveiled it and plated it for us. the salt cast around the fish did not make it salty but instead let the fish be baked to sweet perfection. there was the slightest hint of the natural sweetness of the snapper and it was plated very artfully with some salsa to set off the natural juice of the flesh. the fish flaked at the slightest pressure and it melted in my mouth. dare i say, mama mia! was catapulted into outer space in sheer gastronomic glee. the rest of lunch got a little fuzzy after this...

and the joys of not having places to go or people to meet was that we got to stay on for dessert! stuffed as i was, another part of my tummy magically opened up for chocolate and prune pudding with chocolate sauce and chestnut ice cream and...

roasted pear with polenta cookie and gingerbread ice cream. mind you, i single-handedly finished both desserts. mine all mine :) i love new tastes! like who'd have thought of polenta cookie?! am a big fan of savoury polenta, especially when it's under a lamb shank sloooow cooked to perfection. but this polenta cookie was pretty darn awesome toO! and the gingerbread ice cream felt like christmas came early...

and as if this first lunch was not enough, we somehow found ourselves back there thrice for lunch in three days. much as i love new places and new experiences, even i knew lucio's was a good thing when i saw it. perfectly content, we went back the next two days and lucio served us completely different menu each time. don't know how he did it but that man is magic. by far the best italian i've ever had - nothing else compares, despite being in tuscany this summer, this was even better! it was so good that there was some serious banter about buying the restaurant (my host was a little bullish) but just before they could start negotiations, lucio threw his wife in to sweeten the deal and one look at her, we figured she was worth her weight in gold and too expensive for us casual connoisseurs.

third and final lunch at lucio's

after the second lunch at lucio's, we went to tetsuya's for dinner. but tetsuya's is my grand finale piece in the series of sydney food posts so apologies but you've  gotta wait awhile before its published. moving on to lunch on wednesday, it was back to lucio's. to be absolutely honest, if i was the one calling the shots (and footing the bill) i'd have tried buon ricordo (also in paddington) instead. but i wasn't so i went to lucio's somewhat reluctantly. so many restaurants, so little time! and there we were going to lucio's for the third time in as many days. how different could the food be, i wondered. and were we going to -gasps- repeat dishes? should've known better than to second-guess senor lucio and his astounding repertoire. admittedly, we were a demanding party (who in their right mind has a ten course italian lunch??? and three days in a row at that!) but he more than rose to the challenge, continuing to surprise us with his rusty, hearty italian cuisine.

rosemary focaccia

ostriche naturale

sydney rock oysters from merimbula, new south wales

(my third dozen in three days. you know how they look like already but this is one staple i was more than happy to slurp down again)

burrata con prosciutto

burrata & prosciutto di parma

same as the first day, but by request. it was just too darn good to pass up, plus we didn't know when we'd next taste the light yet creamy goodness that is burrata, our new-found love.

capesante alla griglia

grilled queensland scallops with braised fennel & lemon salsa

granchio ai due modi

lightly fried soft shell crab

salad of mud crab & avocado

fiori di zucchini fritti

lightly fried zucchini flowers

tagliolini alla granseola

fine green noodles with blue swimmer crab

risotto all'arragosta

risotto with lobster

pesce del giorno

grilled fillets of john dory

this was so good i doggy-bagged three portions and had one later in the day when the munchies hit!

after such a heavy meal, i needed some grappa to wash it all down. must say i developed an embarrassing dependency on digestifs while in sydney. blame it all on the company, my mama included.