Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

29 Sept 2013

Maccha House 抹茶館 - If there is such a house, I would want to live in it


Being a hard core Matcha fan myself, needless to say, Maccha House naturally attracted my attention and
automatically registered in my 'must try' list. The name Maccha House made me fantasize a house of
entirely green/brown furnishing, scented with the aroma of matcha, decorated zen style with tons of matcha
food products! Before my imagination could get any wilder, here's a picture of my friend's Matcha and
Vanilla soft serve cone. (He already started licking his bi-coloured tower before I could snap a decent

shot.) Although the matcha taste was intense, the price was a bit unfriendly to his wallet. 

As for me, I decided to try something unique and ended up picking Ice Matcha with brown
sugar syrup. I was quite shocked upon receiving my tall glass with a mess of cream that has

such a horrible texture and looking split. After stirring the cream for a brief moment, I took
a sip and immediately fell in love with my drink! A strong intensity with bitterness not too
unbearable for my taste buds. (My resistance to Matcha's bitterness could be a little high
though.) The brown sugar syrup only helped to sweeten the drink a little and imparting a
bit of malt candy flavor. I tried slowing down my drinking pace but to no avail and in no
time, the glass was empty with me trying to suck every last drop of the drink with my
straw. I would definitely be back for more in future!   

7 Sept 2013

Rakuzen - A Jap dinner with mum!


My mum and I were already starving and I was on a verge of having stomach cramps due to excessive
hunger. It was already 7+ and we still have not eaten our dinner! I seriously disliked the feeling of
starvation but I still led my mum all the way from Suntec City to Millenia Walk, believing that there would
be yummy food existing around that area. I was right! There were quite a couple of restaurants in there as
well as hidden around the bends. My mums choose Rakuzen, which I had in mind since I had cravings for
Japanese food. The place was rather quiet and dimly lit, so I felt my eyelids getting heavier every moment.
I shake myself up, trying to enjoy the peaceful ambiance and the beautifully designed furnishing around
me.  

My mum ordered the Tonkotsu Ramen which looked like an ordinary bowl of ramen. (Instant
noodles would be more liked it.) How do you actually present a bowl of ramen to look
more appetizing? Tough one I supposed. Despite the non-attractive presentation, the soup
base was really superb! It was soothingly light and the umami flavor was irresistible. My mum
really enjoyed her ramen but the greatest disappointment was that the Tonkotsu Ramen here
had no Tonkotsu in it. Therefore, it was basically a plain bowl with only some vegetables to
go with!   

As for me, I had a craving for sashimi but wanted something more filling. So I ended up 
picking the Sakura Chirashi Don - Mixed sashimi over japanese vinegared rice. Pardon
me as I really could not tell if the sashimi were fresh all because I did not get a satisfying
feel after consuming them. All I knew was that there were no traces of any fishy smell
emitting from them. The prickled ginger slices were unusually good with mild pungentness.
I guessed the pink sugar I left behind was sakura sugar as I did not like additional artificial
sweetness in my don. On the whole, the price tag was something I should consider before
stepping into any Japanese restaurant, which my mum would be oblivious to.  

2 Sept 2013

12 Cupcakes - Just another 3 of it


YAY! 3 more cupcakes tried from the variety of 12! Mocha, Cookies and Cream and Strawberry
Chocolate. Typical girls would definitely go crazy over these lovely cupcakes. Although I felt the pinch
over the price, I felt that the ingredients used were of decent to good quality. The flavoured cupcake bases
were of constant denseness and richness and a generous dose of flavour infused cream was piped neatly
on each of them. I was quite thankful that the colours were not too artificially vibrant as compared to other
outlets which could have turn me off easily. Simple designs are usually alright for me as long as quality is there.

Another shot of the trio of cupcakes! Luckily the buttercream did not smudge too
badly yet! 

21 Aug 2013

A kelong kitchen at Batam


Hi! Let me start this post with a panoramic view of harbourfront centre jetty!These photos were taken by
my newly bought Samsung WB800F camera from the electronic fair at Expo, a week before this trip (last
month). Bye Sg, Hi Batam!

I would prefer to directly go into my main point as I don't think I would want a 'travel' section in my blog.
More pictures can be found in my facebook album here, which I had already change the settings to allow
public viewing. By the way, this was the jetty to my kelong stay! 

After about a 15 mins rocky boat ride, the destination that came into view! I was like OMG....so cui r?

Bye boat, see you tomorrow!

Went to take a peep at my lodging and I went Omg again...

The place was rather beautiful and I tried hard to enjoy the nature and the fresh constant
gentle breeze as much as I could.

My first time enjoying and swinging in a hammock! It was so uncomfortable and my butt hurts after
that. I don't quite understand why everyone else enjoyed it.

Another panoramic view. It looked like 2 parallel corridors but actually it was just a straight line! 

The orangey hue which was caused by the setting sun. Such a beautiful scenery that I stared at blankly
for a long long time.

This was actually my favorite shot! When the sun goes down, it looked so romantic that I almost melted
down too! How I wished I had a girlfriend to spent the night with, admiring the vast blue sea and relishing a
bbq dinner with her. The fire has already started, dinner soon! 

Time to introduce you the kitchen! No fancy stoves or good storage place. Lucky no hygiene check or els
sure fail. You would not want to see the amount of houseflies hovering in here too.

The red container - Where fresh food were stored, chilled by ice for up to 2 days only.

Other ingredients...

The auntie who did all the cooking for us. I kept dropping by the kitchen since I got bored staring at the sea. I really felt like helping her! At least I help to stir a bit and serve the dishes out! Does that counts?

I am no minions from despicable me but I never say no to snacks! Banana for... 

Pisang Goreng which I tried frying them myself in the kitchen! All you need would be a simple flour batter
and hot oil. I ate 5 pieces as they were just so addictive - Crispy, light batter, a bit oily and sourish (65%)
sweet (35%) bananas! Sliced and fanned out for crispier texture!   

Went for a short fishing trip in a boat and I only caught a sea bream as they rest were caught by my
friends. Thankfully I caught only 1 as I could not stand the sight of the snagged fishes struggling in agony
with the hook piercing through their mouths.

Since this cute little fish was not confirmed to be edible and it was still alive, we quickly tossed it back into
the sea to resume its life. 

Some of the simple yet delicious dishes I had for lunch and dinner! Flower crabs that were fresh but little
meat.

Gong Gong shellfish which I tried for the first time.

Pulled the flesh out to savour and it was slimy! Ewwww, I really do not know how to appreciate such stuff.

Curry chicken with potatoes. The curry was quite good I must say!

Simple vegetable were crunchy and fresh.

Fish fried to perfection! Slightly crispy exterior and super moist interior!

Prawns in tomato sauce!

Another fresh vegetable dish!

Chicken drumlets and wings fried with sweet sauce resulting in a little charred surface.

A shot with aunty! Thanks for allowing me to help although I am a visitor on holiday!

Last but not least, a camwhore shot of myself in one of the many new shirts which I
bought!  

15 Aug 2013

Creamier Ice Cream and Waffles - Unlink choice


Omg so busy recently that I have no time to blog! I just came back from a short (3 days)
getaway trip to Batam during the National day holidays and am now flooded with 2
major projects from school. Anyway, let me change to a more chill topic of an ice cream
dessert which I had with my friend. I brought my friend to this outlet which was just
walking distance from his house and he did not even know this place existed! Since my
previous visit I did not have a chance to try their home-made waffles, we decided to
order it with 2 scopes of ice cream! It was rather crowded that day and we had to wait
quite a while before 2 near-perfect round spheres of ice cream, balanced neatly on top 2
squares of in-between-crispy-and-fluffy waffles arrived. Was glad it came in 2 squares as

it saved us the trouble of portioning. I picked the Sea Salt Gula Melaka which had a lovely
palm sugar sweetness, enhanced by the saltiness of sea salt. My perfect combination of
sweet-salty! My friend decided to go for the tropical fruity Mango Passion Sorbet. It
was tangy, deliciously refreshing and it had an obvious fruit puree taste. I felt the mango
was dominant while my friend actually thought the passion fruit was more overpowering.
(Who's right?) The main agreement that we both had in unison was that these 2 scopes
totally do not compliment well with each other, like the opposite polarity of North and South.   

31 Jul 2013

Tonkutsu King Four Seasons - Artificial beauty blossoming


The moment I stepped into Tonkutsu King Four Seasons, I almost went OMG aloud. I was awed and
impressed with the effort involved to furnish the restaurant into so Japanese-like. Artificially beautiful
cherry blossom hanging along the walls, round lanterns, wall paintings as well as the open kitchen concept
made me felt like I was entering a ramen outlet in Japan.

An urge to risk, I ordered the Japanese green tea cola to try as it was a rare beverage
option in Singapore and it was my first time coming across one. Upon reading the label,
realised that the brand was from Tonkutsu King itself. Fizzy and tasting like an
ordinary can of cola, except that the colour was more towards the darker tone of
olive green.

My friend's bowl of 'Autumn' arrived with colour so vibrant that it reminded me of the
season's departing leaves. The bright warning colour was a mix of spices and meat
cuddled into an orb, slowing diffusing its fieriness across the umami broth. A mouthful
of soup was already too much for me to handle and I was thankful that this bowl was
not my choice! Not to forget, there were free flow of hard boiled egg and marinated
beansprouts (just like Ramen Keisuke Tori King) to bring down the heat. 

My 'Summer' arrived shortly after my friend's 'Autumn' and the colour contrast
reassured me that I would not have to sweat over my meal. Unlike Autumn,
Summer's broth was intensified by a lovely load of mushroomy bits which
emitted an unforgettable earthly taste. I felt like I was eating a high class 'bak chor
mee' (minced meat noodles) with springy and relatively medium-hard noodles. As
for the char shu, it was towards the leaner side with minimal fats, posing a slight
challenge for a lazy person like me to chew. On the whole, I would definitely be
back to try out the other seasons!