Nan Hwa Fish Head Steamboat

This weekend has been crazily packed with work. Imagine running at least 5 appointments from 10am-8pm around the East of Singapore the entire Saturday. Even had to sacrifice going for the ICC match between Chelsea FC and Inter Milan. I'm a little thankful Sunday gave me some breathing space and I managed to finally buy the Castella Cakes at Antoinette to try! For photos of the cakes visit my instagram under the handle of @bluntandfussyeater. Did you know that if you ate chocolate cake or sweet stuff for breakfast, you will be more likely to lose weight? No kidding, google it!

I brought my family to Nan Hwa Fish Head Steamboat for dinner. It's meant to celebrate a fantastic quarter at work. I've been wanting to try the fishboat ever since my ex colleagues introduced them to me about 1 and a half years ago. Alright, craving not strong enough, that's why took so long to come! Haha! Nan Hwa Fish Head Steamboat has a long history dating back to 1972. They are known for their flavour-rich fishboat broth.

I picked the medium size Pomfret Steamboat ($45) which consist of a very generous serving of the pomfret. I felt really full after the meal. The fish soup was rich in flavour but it's nothing out of this world. They added some yam into the soup to give it more flavour. The pomfret had lots of meat but also lots of bones. Definitely not suitable for kids consumption.

For side dishes, we settled for salted egg pork rib ($12), sambal sotong ($12) and fried beancurd ($8). I would say that all these zi char dishes are just average. I've even tasted some better ones elsewhere. I did enjoy the sambal sotong because it's one of the more tender sotongs I've eaten and the sambal makes it really addictive.

Would I return? Maybe. I did enjoy the feeling of having fish steamboat and zi char which I rarely have because I usually meet people one on one. The fish boat was decent and the price didn't feel too expensive. However, the service was rather uncoordinated and the sides came long before the fishboat. It's not a bad place for a family dinner. On a side note, I discovered there's an air-conditioned section in the eating house. I wonder if we need to pay more to dine there...

Nan Hwa Fish Head Steamboat
814 North Bridge Road S198780
(It might be an added perk that the HDB parking nearby is free on a Sunday)

Boufe Boutique Cafe

Pretty happy I managed to enjoy Saturyay! yesterday. Lately my weekends are pretty much packed with activities. Been very occupied working, pursuing other hobbies and trying to spend time with friends. In fact, this week I met the most number of people for food. I'm also pleased to share that unlike most other weeks where I indulge heavily in cafe and restaurants, I spent my week enjoying simple hawker and fast food. I foresee myself travelling a lot next year, so better cut down on the expenses.

This week I made my third visit to Boufe Boutique Cafe in 2 years. Very often, even if the cafe is tip top I rarely have the opportunity to return because of the wide variety of food available in Singapore. Boufe is one of the most consistent cafes I've tried and I'm pleased to vouch that over 2 years, the quality of food remains. In fact, they even introduced some instagram worthy desserts to their menu. Perfect for the 'camera first' client like me. 

Brunch food is a must at brunch cafes and the Triple B ($20) and Eggs Benedict ($16) were both winners in their own right. To be honest, nowadays I don't order big breakfast meals because I find it too ordinary and plain. I give the Triple B due credit for their creamy scrambled eggs, sauteed mushrooms and richly flavoured sausages and bacon. The choice of croissant to go with the dish is also a smart choice because their sourdough bread seems a tad hard. 

The Eggs Benedict is another awesome brunch dish done excellently. The eggs were fat and runny, meeting the requirements for a good poach egg. I liked it that the hollandaise sauce was generous and their bread choice was brioche. Brioche bread when properly toasted is very fluffy, a joy to eat!

For lunch mains, we tried Truffle House Breakfast ($16) and Tomato Crab Pasta ($19). The truffle house breakfast is a combination of truffle mushroom ragout on top of homemade sourdough. There's a corn on the side with butter and salt. The truffle mushroom ragout is very well cooked but I found the sourdough to be on the tougher side. The corn cob which is a gigantic corn can make it more difficult to eat with utensils. 

I enjoyed the tomato crab pasta. At the point of ordering, I was quite hesitant because I feel pastas are such boring choices. Still, I ordered and don't mind the bland appearance, they ran out of rocket leaves. The pasta was GOOD! I enjoyed the generous chunks of crab meat well mixed with tomato and chunks of chilli padi that made the dish aromatic, spicy and flavourful. No buyer remorse! It definitely ranks amongst the al dente, delicious pastas found in cafes. Not many cafe pastas make the grade. 

I had to try their new dessert menu and we settled for the Milky Way ($8.50) and The Rock ($8). Be warned, both desserts are very tiny and meant for a single stomach. The Milky Way is Boufe's version of a galaxy cake. It is made of white chocolate, yogurt mousse, honey genoise, chocolate sable and calamansi jelly. It's a good blend of chocolate with soft yogurt and a tinge of sour from the jelly. I enjoyed it. 

The Rock is made of 64% chocolate mousse, rum syrup, chocolate genoise, salted caramel, chocolate feullitine and grey milk glaze. I liked it more than the galaxy cake because I got a soft spot for all things chocolate that isn't chocolate itself. The Rock is an excellent choice for chocolate lovers especially if you like the mix of chocolate with a sweet biscuit base like how I like my cakes. 

Boufe is still my all time favourite brunch cafe. For its ambiance, the food quality and the free parking, I can't imagine another brunch place that ranks above it. If you love brunch food like me, you should at least try it once! Maybe you might become a regular...

Boufe Boutique Cafe

308 Tanglin Road, #01-01, S247974

Springleaf Prata Place

I'm savouring the last few hours of the weekend as I type this post. This weekend has been productive. I pretty much went shopping and educated myself with some online courses when my work decided to give me some unexpected time off.

I was first introduced to Springleaf Prata Place at its Upper Thomson outlet by a colleague of mine. He was pretty much telling me about some awesome prata I've got to try and I must say, I totally wasn't missold. This is indeed the real deal if you want some nice prata. Today, my mood wasn't exactly the best, and I decided to make myself happier and treated myself to another round of prata at their siglap branch.

So for starters, I'd like to introduce the prata that's been always on my mind ever since I ate there. Egg Prata! I can't remember the prices because I accidentally threw away the receipt and sort of ordered without looking at the price. The egg prata is really one of the best versions of prata I've tried in recent years. For a start, the prata being served in rectangle form is much bigger than the usual round or square ones at most prata shops or coffeeshops. I also liked it that the prata was really crispy but yet not oily. I felt that they toweled dry the oil before serving to customers so even the plate didn't have much residue oil. I found that the egg was well evenly spread and all in all, one of the more memorable, if not the most memorable prata I've tried.

I tried the Mee Goreng on my second visit. It is a far cry from the prata, please just stick to pratas when you do visit. The noodles was oily and sticky. The yellow noodles were fried till mushy. I felt that I was really putting oil into my mouth. Regretted my order :(

The Plaster Blaster which was introduced to me by my friend is really a very interesting dish. I'd like to call it Prata Benedict. The base is made of small kosong prata, topped with ham and poached egg and drizzled with a generous amount of hollandaise sauce. When you cut it apart, the poached egg flowed so perfectly that it really put some cafes to shame. It's a very indulgent dish but it tastes pretty good!

Of course, please remember to order yourself a hot Teh Chino. It's my favourite hot beverage and you can hardly find it anywhere else besides prata shops, so don't give it a miss!

Given that I've already been back a second time, I'm pretty sure there will be a third visit as well. This is really rare because I usually have so many food places to go, I don't make second visits. After eating the egg prata here, I kinda can't bring myself to waste calories on the coffeeshop prata near my house where I usually eat. Whoops!

Springleaf Prata Place
57B Jalan Tua Kong S457253
(You can visit the Upper Thomson branch or the Rail Mall branch too, address on their website)

Haakon Superfoods and Juice

It's healthy week! I love Saturyays because it's the day I give myself some breathing space from work. This week I went for a 10km hike at McRitchie Reservoir for the Tree Top Walk. The perfect activity when you are trying to lose weight but I'd prefer to walk elsewhere. All I saw was rubble and mud and branches... It's still one thing off my to-do list and a good 3 hour experience!

As I'm currently on diet after gaining a considerable amount of weight in Hong Kong, been on the food hunt for healthy delicious food. This week, Vain Pot and I head to Haakon Superfoods and Juice for our lunch.A perfect combination after our 10km hike! Haakon is a Swedish cafe serving clean food. When I was in Bangkok late last year, I went to a Swedish cafe there and was really impressed by their simplistic menus that tasted really great. You can read more here: Brunch Places Worth a Visit in Bangkok

We had a considerably light lunch because it was 3pm when we reached Haakon Superfoods and Juice. The truth was we accidentally took the longer route when we embarked on the MacRitchie hike so the 10km was really a result of a mistake... HAHA...

Vain Pot picked the Haakon Classic Acai Bowl ($7.90 for small) as she had a dinner early evening. She told me it taste a lot like all the other acai bowls she have eaten. Basically the composition is made up of granola, coconut flakes, chia seeds parfait, blueberries, banana and seasonal fruits. A typical health meal that tastes really good if you are a fruit lover.

As for me, I settled for the Salmon Salad Bowl ($11.90) and the Breakfast Smoothie ($5.90). Honestly, for foods like salads and acai bowls there's no one bowl that beats the other. It's pretty much raw food put together with sauce. My salad bowl consisted of Norwegian smoked salmon, baked egg, edamame, quinoa, tomatoes, feta cheese and lettuce. I picked the honey mustard sauce to go with it. Not exactly the healthiest choice. I give it to Haakon that their salad bowl combi was well mixed and I enjoyed the selection I picked.

The Breakfast Smoothie is what I would like to rave about. Basically I was looking forward to the Nut Milk which I read on Seth Lui but apparently they currently don't sell it. I was really disappointed and they recommended the Breakfast Smoothie which they claimed tasted like the nut milk. I totally enjoyed my drink! The smoothie is touted as an appetite suppressant and energy booster which explains why it's a breakfast smoothie. The ingredients include almond butter, oats, soy, whey protein and banana. It's really good! I enjoyed the almond soy milk taste and the crunchy bits of oats that is blended in the smoothie. Reminds me of ice cream with cookie crumbs. Tasty yet healthy!

I'll definitely visit Haakon Superfoods and Juice again for the breakfast smoothie and acai bowls. I'm not a hardcore healthy food fan but the smoothie really got me sold. They also have a range of cooked food like eggs benedict and other healthier waffle choices which I would like to be back to try too! I strongly recommend this place for the health conscious foodie.

Haakon Superfoods and Juice
118 Holland Ave #01-03 Raffles Holland V, S278997
(they have another outlet at 313 Somerset which might be more convenient to go)

Recommended Food in Hong Kong 2017

I skipped a post over the weekends because I'm away in Hong Kong. If you were following my instagram (@bluntandfussyeater) you would have noticed the overseas activity. This is should be my 5th visit to Hong Kong so am avoiding food I've tried before unless they are my hot favourite. Here's the recommended list from my most recent trip:

What's a trip to Hong Kong without dim sum? So the first stop was at this very instagrammable dim sum restaurant called Yum Cha. Most of the food on their menu is really meant to feed the camera first then the human. A quick introduction of what I ate in clockwise order, siew mai, prawn cheong fun, a combination shot, mango sago with blue cotton candy, piggy char siew bao, salted egg bao who can make vomiting and pooping expressions, spicy dumplings and pineapple bird tarts. I was pretty surprised that the food was surprisingly decent for this kind of novelty cafe. In fact, I'm of the view that Singapore Dim Sum tastes better but this is surprisingly close to our shopping mall establishments. If you love to take photos of food like me, then you can't miss visiting this place! Expect to shell out about $50-80 sgd for 3 pax.

Yum Cha
2/F Nan Fung Place, 173 Des Voeux Road Central

Another standard fixture of ALL my Hong Kong trips is a trip to Maxim Palace for this E-Fu Noodles that one can die for. Yes, plain looking, ordinary E-Fu noodles with mushrooms... yet, you can't find a dish that taste similar in Singapore. This E-Fu noodles doesn't have a strong oily taste unlike the ones back home and they have this addictive wok-hei tastiness that goes very well with the mushrooms that doesn't make me sick of having it.

 

To be fair, Maxim Palace serves up excellent Cantonese dishes. All the dishes at Maxim Palace was impeccably executed. For my mom who hates Cantonese food especially those in Hong Kong because they don't have chilli, she's full of praises of this place. This is also a must visit place for me and in my previous entry last year, I raved about the soups. I'll definitely be back again when I make my 6th trip to Hong Kong and I encourage everyone else to eat here at least once. At the very least, you should know how top quality Cantonese dishes should taste like. Expect a damage of $100-$150 SGD for 3 pax.

Maxim Palace
168-200 Connaught Road Central, Sheung Wan

Australian Dairy Company is also a repeat feature from my 2016 post. I love the milk puddings there. I think it's an acquired taste because my mom and brother didn't like it. Yet, Vain Pot and I vouch that it's heavenly and just have it along with the macaroni and scrambled eggs set. We have milk puddings at Ah Chew's Dessert in Singapore but if you tried it before, you will realise how far apart the standard is from the one at Australian Dairy Company. This is the best I've ever eaten! They have a custard version but I like the milk pudding a lot better. Expect a damage of $16 SGD for a set meal with custard pudding and milk pudding.

Australian Dairy Company
47 Parkes Street, Jordan

Another thing that have always been on my to-try list is rainbow cheese toast. In this case, I always thought that Kala Toast was a cafe-like establishment. I was quite surprised by the hole in the wall shopfront and being a hobbyist food blogger unlike the pros, taking the rainbow toast photo standing proved to be a hassle. The other highlight at Kala Toast is their galaxy drink which they placed luminous ice cubes inside the drink and it changes colour when you stir it. The rainbow cheese toast taste like an excellently prepared grilled cheese. The rainbow cheese makes it a little gimmicky but it's definitely a good representation of a good cheese toast. This is a snack rather than a full meal, you might wanna give it a try if you happen to be in Tsuen Wan for shopping. The shopping malls there are less crowded, making it a more pleasant shopping experience.

Kala Toast
4 Tsuen Hing Path

Before the trip, my mom who hates ramen actually said she will bring us to try a famous ramen place in Hong Kong. Wow! I was intrigued. Turns out that it was Ichiran which I personally haven't tried before but have heard loads of rave reviews on it. So we went to queue for it! When you first step into the place and see this long sneaking queue that extends past 2 corridors it's quite frightening. How long do we need to wait?! Thankfully it's only a 30min wait and we were seated with our food. The ramen lives up to its fame with a very rich and flavourful broth with a spiciness level that gives it its added kick. I very much enjoyed the noodles with the broth but didn't like the char siew which was hard and a little too dry. The egg was awesome, running yolk on the inside and the sturdy egg white to match. Would I queue to eat this again? Not really, I feel I can find equivalents in Singapore without the queue. It's still a good experience especially if you haven't tried the one in Japan before. Expect to pay around $50-80 SGD for 3 pax. 

Ichiran

G/F & Shop B, Basement Floor, 8 Minden Avenue, Tsim Tsa Shui

The visit to Lin Heung was honestly unexpected because I originally wanted to have tomato noodles for breakfast. Hong Kong's Independence Day along with Xi Jinping's visit caused a lot of shops to close on that day. Lin Heung is a traditional dim sum cha chan teng which requires visitors to share their seats and order their dim sum from pushcarts. While the food isn't fantastic, I enjoyed the old school way of having dim sum and the wider variety that I don't find in restaurants. It's also a more affordable way to feast on a lot of dim sum. Expect a damage of $23 for 2 pax. 

Lin Heung

162 Wellington Street, Sheung Wan

If you don't like the chaos of ordering dim sum, here's an alternative typical Hong Kong breakfast set which you can get at another Cha Chan Teng at Honolulu Coffee Shop. In Singapore, Honolulu Cafe is famed for their egg tarts which apparently has a wider variety than their original outlet in Hong Kong. Talk about innovation... However, the breakfast set, ordinary as it looks is really comfort food and I love it. I'm craving for it at the moment and wondering where I can get an equivalent in Singapore. If you want to know how ordinary food like good scrambled eggs, buttered buns and kong zai instant noodles should taste like, give Honolulu Coffee Shop a try! Then you will know the difference back home. Expect to pay about $15 for 2 pax.

Honolulu Coffee Shop
176-178 Hennessey Road, Wan Chai

You know I was quite upset throughout the trip because I didn't have any good authentic Cantonese soup and porridge this time round. So at the airport, I dragged my family to have lunch at Ho Hung Kee, Michelin Star for their Wonton Mee but serves up the best Cantonese Porridge I have eaten. This is a restaurant that I gladly agree deserves their Michelin Star. On the day that Xi Jinping was in Hong Kong, I happen to chance upon a Bib Gourmand restaurant which also served porridge and soup and seriously, that was an epic 'how did they get the Michelin recognition?'. You got to try their sliced fish porridge at least once. Then you will know how far it differs from the porridge in all the expensive restaurants in Singapore and this one is way way way better! I paid about $60 for 3 pax.

Ho Hung Kee
Hong Kong Airport