Gyoza Bar

This week, time seems to fly faster than usual as I over-committed myself to a host of activities so that life is more productive and progressive. I'm waiting to watch Tottenham vs Manchester United as I'm typing this. Can't wait to watch the Premier League LIVE when I'm in London. We might as well call this week a sports week since I'm heading to the indoor stadium tomorrow for the WTA Finals.

This mid-week, I finally managed to meet the ever busy Fat Fat for dinner. Apparently Fat Fat was in Raffles Place for Yoga which she somehow 'missed' and thus we ended up dining at Gyoza Bar. This is an interesting bar cum ramen venue, hidden in an obscure stairway. It explains why the place is fairly quiet and empty when we got there. It's like a secret hidden haunt, and I'm feeling a bit selfish about sharing this to be honest.

We kicked started our meal with gyoza. Obviously right? Given the name of the restaurant....

So greedy Fat Fat and I (trust me, we almost always over order), ordered the 15 pieces Yaki Gyoza ($19.90) to share! I found the gyoza very generous with the meat, taste is on the milder side but the dish seems to jump to life when we dip it with the salt on the side. I'm certain it will appeal strongly to those with a lighter palette.

For mains, I ordered the Chicken Soup Ramen with Egg ($15) and Fat Fat settled for the Mazesoba with Soft Boiled Egg ($12.30). I pretty much enjoyed my chicken soup ramen. I found the soup to be sufficiently flavourful, ramen Q enough and the egg and char siew well prepared. I definitely felt some hearty satisfaction after my main.

Fat Fat too enjoyed her Mazesoba with soft boiled egg. The noodles were well prepared, seasoning sufficiently tasty and the overall dish definitely provided the adequate balance to the lightly flavoured gyoza.

Of course, Gyoza Bar as the name suggest meant we also enjoyed some hot sake to go with our food. There's a range of alcoholic selection and it's an awesome place to catch up with a friend. I liked it that it is quiet and cozy. You can sit there for hours without the stress of a hurried meal with long queues and many pairs of eyes staring at you to finish your meal.

I'll certainly be back again with another companion on another catch up session. I highly recommend this place if your companion loves the occasional alcohol indulgence with a fairly presentable dinner. I even think this is an awesome place to bring a first date! It is inexpensive, cozy with food and wine to complete the night out.

Gyoza Bar
7 North Canal Road, 048820

.Elia

This is a throwback post for Deepavali, It was quite a long awaited rest from running around due to work. I took the time to do some shopping for winter clothing. In any case, anyone who wishes to buy winter clothing in Singapore can visit Uniqlo or Universal Traveller. They have the most stylish winter wears from my observation. Universal Traveller is having a sale at Changi City Point now for interested parties. I'm looking forward to my first trip to London and hopefully catch Manchester United live in the stadium!

.Elia is one of the new kid on the block along the long stretch of cafes in Keong Saik Street. The restaurant is considered huge with two stories. .Elia serves homemade pastas and sandwiches and have earned some strong approval from the food blogging community so far. To be honest, to hear raving reviews about food in new cafes these days is few and far between. So given the rarity of finding such a place, I was raring to give it a try on my first break.

Usually, I won't bother to blog about the beverages because I tend to stick to boring flat white. What's there to write about flat white right? In this instance, this is one of the best flat whites I've had. The .Elia flat white ($5) comes in 3 different sizes - 3Oz, 5Oz and 7Oz. The one I picked was the standard 5Oz. I've tried multiple flat whites in cafes everywhere, some lacked the sweetness which meant I needed to add sugar, some used coffee beans I deemed too bitter, blah blah, just not perfect. This version on the other hand got the mix just right. I didn't have to add sugar because it was sweet enough. The coffee beans was aromatic, and didn't have an overwhelming bitter taste. I enjoyed the creaminess of the milk which meant that the balance of coffee, sugar and milk was just right before it was served. It really made me look forward to give their other coffees a go now.

One thing I need to gripe about is how cafes have weekday and weekend menus. Seriously for working adults, we only ever get to try the weekend menus but most of the much raved about food is on the weekday menu! Does the cafe really think people will visit them to eat their food on a weekend if they work nearby or specially take leave or taxi/drive over on a weekday if their workplace is faraway? There's no logic in appealing to different crowds on weekends and weekdays.

Due to their weekend menu, I settled for the Spice Girls ($16.90), This pasta is made up of fried chicken with curry sauce. The curry has a very authentic Indian flavour, just like how a good curry chicken would taste. It's definitely an interesting way to blend it with pasta. I felt that while the sauce, pasta and chicken was well executed, the combination didn't work for me. It reminded me of curry noodles in Hong Kong cafe with thick mee pok. Not a good match in my opinion.

On the other hand, Vain Pot chose the Italian Job ($16.90) which was a combination of brown butter and egg yolk cooked with generous chunks of Italian Bacon. This combination is very delicious and gives me the eagerness to devour the food. A perfect choice if you love pastas.

.Elia has shown a lot of potential in terms of food execution. I would love to try their weekday menu some time but it's really a bad idea to offer different menus for weekends and weekdays in my opinion. I noted that the waiting time is really long. I finished my flat white before our food arrived. Vain Pot finished her pasta before mine arrived. I wonder how they coped with a weekday lunch crowd with their current efficiency. So good food with slow service, you can give them a chance if you aren't in a rush!

.Elia
10 Jiak Chuan Road, S089264
(remember your parking coupons if you drive here)

Brawn & Brains

It's Saturyay again! Okay, I spent my Saturday working. Yayy because I managed to be home in time to watch Liverpool face off with Manchester United. Man Utd kept their streak of zero losses so yayy to that as well. This week is pretty much a throwback post where I pampered my stomach with brunch after a really long time. For a period of time when I went missing from this blog, I had a hard time finding food that convinced me they are worth visiting. So I dallied for really long with no real craving. Despite the hiatus, I grew fatter. Can't explain why...

I visited Brawn & Brains while on my way to purchase my Surface Pro Core M3 Model. Yes, I'm typing this out with my Surface Pro at the moment. Located in a very much run-down former Singapore Badminton Hall, Brawn & Brains is known for fresh bakes, coffee and awesome brunch selections. When we visited over that weekend, it was packed till the staff had to tell us the waiting time for food was 45mins.

For those who are familiar with my style, I typically do my research on food before making my way down. Coincidentally, the stuff I wanted to eat was exactly the same as Vain Pot so we shared. The food that enthralled us were Bacon with Open Face Toast ($15.90) and Oven Baked Molten Eggs ($16.80).

The Bacon with Open Face Toast came with loads of generous grilled bacon strips on sourdough bread with slow cooked egg on the side, along with cherry tomatoes and greens. I felt this was one of those dishes which starts off really well but becomes overly 'jelat' and difficult to finish. If I were to break it down in parts, the bacon strips were grilled well, perhaps leaning towards the salty side. The slow cooked egg was perfect, the yolk runny if you break it. The toast was great too. Portions are big so maybe it's me but I couldn't finish my meal.

The Oven Baked Molten Eggs with a side of smoked salmon, avocado and melted cheese (full name), was a more balanced dish. I found the eggs very delicious, the melted cheese on it definitely gave it the added oomph! Avocado and smoked salmon taste exactly as it should but it lightens up the richly baked eggs and it makes the meal a lot easier to finish.

 

Another highlight of the place was said to be good coffee so we definitely had to order. Vain Pot ordered the iced version of caffe latte while mine was hot. Iced latte cost 50 cents more. In any case, her feedback was the ice version tasted a bit too diluted. I had no complains with my coffee so perhaps you might want to stick with the hot drinks when you visit. Coffee tasted like what it should but nothing out of this world.

Would I return for another go at the food? I probably won't make a special trip down but I would pop in for breakfast if I'm nearby. I was pretty attracted to the fresh bakes I saw during my research and they were sold out by the time I arrived. That says something about the quality of the buns there, so I would like to try. I found the brunch menu to be above average and the food wins on the eggs. If you love eggs a lot, you probably would wish to try here at least once!

Brawn & Brains
100 Guillemard Road, #01-02 Guillemard Village, 399718

3D2N Taipei 2017

Been ages since I last blogged because of being overwhelmed with work and hobbies. For those who still don't know, my first love is still investment and finding new ways to make money. I like the thrill and empowerment that it brings. Recently, I've been dabbling in the ICO space and it's taking up my play time when I'm not doing my day job. In any case, I'm proud to announce that I'm on track to fulfilling my 4 holiday trips this year. As of now, I've been to Rome, Hong Kong, Taiwan and end of this year, I'm going London.

Given that I've written about Taiwan before and the trip is so short this time round, I've took the opportunity to revisit some of the food I enjoyed and tried very few new food. Our first stop was actually a company dinner at Shin Yeh 101 at the top of Taipei 101. As it's a customized menu, I felt it won't make effective sharing. If you wish to see photos of it, visit instagram and search @bluntandfussyeater. 

The highlight meal I brought my colleagues to was Wu Lao Elixir Health Pot. In my view, it's a must try when you are in Taipei! This is the original beauty in the pot. The experience is exquisite top down from the service, the value for money, the freshness of ingredients to the taste. 6 pax with an over-generous boss ordering freely only resulted in a $200 SGD meal. 

Wu Lao Elixir Health Pot

No 143, Section 3, Civic Blvd

This Lu Di Handmade Shaved Ice is one of the unique experiences I had when I wandered around Taipei myself. The sun in Taipei now is very unforgiving. Treating yourself to shaved ice now will make it taste 10 times nicer than usual thanks to the scorching sun. In any case, Lu Di Shaved Ice isn't easy to locate. Searching for it on google, you need to type its Chinese name 路地冰怪物台北. Take note of the cute shop front to spot the shop! 

The ordering process basically consist of the flavour of the shaved ice and 2 toppings. I settled for milk shaved ice with oreo cheese and red bean with dumpling balls. The milk shaving which looks like tissue paper on first glance tastes really good. I'm not sure if I'm bias because I was soaked head to toe with sweat by the time I found the shop. Creamy and sufficiently solid, I liked it that it doesn't melt easily so I didn't have to gobble it up. The eyes are made of cookies so you can eat it too! Toppings wise if I have to choose again, I'll do away with the oreo cheese. Cheese with ice cream doesn't match at all. The red bean with dumpling balls works fine but I prefer the shaved ice with none of them to be honest haha! The damage was about $10 SGD. Incidentally, some Taiwanese food bloggers were filming a vlog when I was there. It's the sort of thing you'd like to show you did something different and cool in Taipei on Instagram. 

路地冰怪物台北

106, Taiwan, Taipei, Da'an District

I felt the content of this post must have something different besides what to eat there. I'd like to share some of the gifts I brought back from Taipei as well. One of which is Yu Chocolatier, winner of International Chocolate Award 2016. There's a mixture of alcoholic and non-alcoholic flavours. Being lazy, I asked the sales staff to select the award winning flavours for me. One interesting observation my colleague made was how the box was designed like a Rolex box. I guess it adds the premium shine to it. 1 box of 6 cost about $30. There's a bigger box of 12 that cost about $60. They offer a total of 14 flavours. They also have a dine in section where you can try the in-house cakes. Personally, I think this is a unique gift to bring home as everyone else would be busy buying sun cakes and pineapple tarts for friends. 

Yu Chocolatier

No 10, Alley 3, Lane 112, Section 4, Ren'ai Road, Da'an District, Taipei 106

Given that I've been to Taiwan before and participated in the Sun Cake frenzy before, I did quite a bit of research to decide what to buy this visit. Sun Cakes has always been a fight between Li Yi, Chia Te and Sugar and Spice. During my last visit, I already bought Li Yi and Chia Te so this trip I settled for Sugar and Spice. It's a pleasant surprise to know Sugar and Spice won some awards before and the general feedback by those who tried all 3 felt that Sugar and Spice's version of Sun Cakes got the balance just right. Not excessively flaky, not too sweet and sufficiently addictive. 

Sugar and Spice

No 158, Section 1, Dunhua S Rd, Da'an District, Taipei City 106

Yong He Eating House

It's weekends and the welcoming of hopefully a much better month. I didn't really enjoy my August :( In any case, today is Saturyay! My favourite day of the week. This month is probably going to be my busiest month this year and it's going to be a fun ride. Largely due to the stress, I'm paying no heed to the budget and eating whatever makes me happy. So... I ate pasta from Once Upon a Thyme, feasted on a treat by my boss at Orchid Live Seafood, ate lots of Taiwan Railway Bento at Woo Ricebox. To see photos of those visit my instagram @bluntandfussyeater.

This week, again due to our crazy week, Vain Pot and I only managed to squeeze time to eat at one of our favourite comfort food stops - Yong He Eating House. Yong He Eating House is a 24 Hours taiwanese cuisine eatery that is based at Geylang. Geylang which is more famous for its redlight district also has a strong reputation for street food particularly suppers! In total, we have frequented Yong He Eating House probably 4-5 times over the past 2-3 years. The menu at Yong He Eating House has some semblance to the Yong He Dou Jiang Da Wang conceptually. Having tried both, the one at Taiwan is still many times better but this is the closest you can get for Shao Bing, Dou Jiang Youtiao in Singapore.

For this visit, we ordered the Taiwanese Mee Sua ($4), Fried Spring Onion Cake with Egg ($2.30) and Steamed Dumplings ($5.80) to share. Of course soya bean drink ($1.50) is a must! I found the Taiwanese Mee Sua to be edible, average if you aren't picky but a far cry from the famous Ah Zong Mian Xian if you ever tried it in Taiwan. It's nevertheless comfort food when you just want something simple.

The Fried Spring Onion Cake with Egg was enjoyable to eat. It's very flavourful and adding the egg made the entire pancake dish perfect. Be warned that it's more on the oily side. It's street food so it shouldn't be surprising. I liked it!

Finally, my must have. The Xiao Long Bao at Yong He Eating House is surprisingly good. If you envisage those hot broth meat filled Xiao Long Bao at Ding Tai Fung, then you would be disappointed. The broth in this Xiao Long Bao is close to non-existent. However, I felt that the meat really soaked up the flavour and the meat portion is very generous. It's very good for street food and may even put some restaurants to shame.

Yong He Eating House remains my comfort food Asian brunch food stop whenever I got a Chinese food craving in the early morning. Its drawback is its location where I always get annoyed with the Geylang parking. Other than that, I really enjoy eating there and I'll recommend anyone who would like a simple inexpensive brunch or breakfast even supper to head there.

Yong He Eating House
458 Geylang Road, S389417

Supply & Demand

This week for Saturyay I finally got to meet Vain Pot after work has kinda overwhelmed us. The month of August hasn't been my favourite month but it also marks the beginning of a new project I've just embarked on... so exciting times ahead! This week, I wanted to go to the National Design Centre to see the lego exhibition there but heard the queue is more than 2 hours! Then there's the Night Festival at the National Museum but I heard it's spilling with human traffic. I think I'll stick to food... seems safer!

Supply & Demand is known for Italian Casual Dining. I've shortlisted them since last year but never got round to trying them out so I'm really glad I finally did! It's also great they have a constant stream of business but their venue is big enough that there's always pockets of seats around which doesn't require much waiting time. On a weekend in the heart of town, it's awesome!

I wanted to order a feast but Vain Pot stopped me. Thankfully she did, I'm really getting rounder. We kicked started our meal with garlic truffle fries ($17) one of their specialties. Truffle seems very popular in this place, the entire place was oozing of truffle aroma. We found the fries to be very generous, sufficiently garlicky with salsa and tartar dips to satisfy you in every way fathomable. The truffle wasn't overwhelming, in fact, some may find it insufficient. I'm not a fan of truffle so I didn't mind. I liked the potato cuts which were chunky and not overly soft or crispy. Just right!

We had a very late lunch thanks to Vain Pot's uber that took an hour to send her over and my work schedule. Hence we tried our best not to over-order. We shared a tasting portion of the Al Granchio ($20) which was made of crab meat, aglio olio, cherry tomatoes, capsicum and white wine. It was very rich in flavour and the portion is just right if you are eating other stuff. I enjoyed the tangy spiciness which wasn't overwhelming and it wasn't too oily unlike some aglio olios. The crab meat flavours gelled well with the white wine making the dish very addictive to eat.

We also ordered the Truffle and Egg Pizza ($21). The pizze is very delicious. The truffle infused taste was distinct and I enjoyed that the black truffle paste spread across the pizza gave the pizza as much flavour as one topped with veggie and meat. I'm impressed by the simplicity of the dish and it's quite a joy to dip the pizza into the soft boiled egg yolk smacked in the middle. Normally, I'll only settle for 2 slices of pizza but with this pan, I see my hands going back for more.

Would I be back? Yes! I think this is an awesome place for gatherings because you can share food and try lots of very good Italian cuisines. It's the perfect kind of place for group outings where you chill, talk and relax over good food and wine. The location is perfect too!

Supply & Demand
277 Orchard Road, #02-13/14 Orchard Gateway, S238858

Le Sucre Du Patisserie

So last week was Vain Pot's birthday and we had a mini celebratory dinner. It's probably the only bright spot for the both of us with insanely packed schedules. Don't even have time to meet up and hunt for food! Hopefully, the coming weeks are better... In any case, we tried Beauty in the Pot, my first time and technically her second (she was ill the first time so didn't enjoy the food). This year, I was lucky enough to try both Hai Di Lao and Beauty in the Pot for the first times and interestingly both on our birthdays! I declare Beauty in the Pot the winner in every aspect besides their booking system which is really hard to get through. You can see the bolded words...  no exaggeration, what's so nice about Hai Di Lao besides the price?

For most years, the cake was the least emphasized part of Vain Pot's celebration. I mean, it's just for blowing of the candle, making a wish, sing song and then we don't even bother finishing the cake... so why bother with such a nice cake right? But me being me, I grew bored of ordinary cakes and last year was the beginning of making the birthday cake a bigger deal. I baked my first ever cake the previous year and I'm proud to say, Vain Pot asked me where I bought it from! This year, I wonder why she didn't ask. Heh!

I ordered this customized cake from Le Sucre Du Patisserie ($145) for 5 inch cake. It's an online shop and their main business lies in macarons. So the story goes that initially I asked them for a quotation for a cake with 2 pusheen cats, 1 lapras and 1 bulbasaur. I was told cannot because minimum order for the pusheens which they didn't have was 12 pusheens. I had to salvage their business for them by suggesting giving me my cake as per my order based on the price of 12 pusheens and have the 10 pusheens packed separately.

See my 10 pusheens?

The cost breakdown of a customized order like the one I made is as follows:

5" Cake Base
$65 Rainbow frost
Macaron $5 per piece

I think the wordings might have cost some money but I didn't bother to ask.

Given that this is my first time ordering a customized cake, I had a number of apprehensions. What if they failed to deliver on time? What if the cake taste horrible? What if the design doesn't look as nice as what I see online? What if they don't deliver at all?

I'm glad that most of my fears are unfounded with Le Sucre Du Patisserie. A few things that deserves praise. Prior to ordering from them, I tried a few other online bakeries and to be honest, I really really wanted to go with a friend's sister's shop but she didn't seem excited to take my business and took hours to get back to me (weirdly at the point, when I was ready to place the order). Le Sucre Du Patisserie was prompt in responsiveness, something which I valued as a paying customer. I also got the date mixed up as I ordered the cake to be ready on Vain Pot's actual birthday but I forgot I was celebrating a day earlier. I'm glad they were accommodating and managed to give me my cake a day earlier. I also appreciated the fact that the whiskers of my pusheen cats are twisted because the cats in my carriage have twisted whiskers thanks to soft toy abuser, Vain Pot. Finally, I'm happy that the cake turned out nicer than I expected and Vain Pot had a happy birthday. I'd recommend ordering from them if you want a cake which is presentable and every bit easier to eat. Most cakes are made of fondants which looks good but basically you are eating sugar. Macarons characters are definitely a healthier choice to fondant cakes. Having said that, even for Le Sucre, make a request to have the cake less sweet because the sugar seems a little too much.

Le Sucre Du Patisserie
http://www.lesucre-macaron.com/