My Top 3 Fave Cheap Eats

Once a cheapskate, always a cheapskate. Here are my top choices to satisfy my cravings without burning a hole in my pocket.

My fave list may change from time to time, but for this season, below will be my top 3 favorite comfort food / places.

3rd place: Saizerya Ristorante
If I'm craving for cheap italian eats like pasta, gratin, risotto, steaks, salads etc, the best place to go is Saizerya Ristorante located in City Square (Farrer Park mrt). I've tried the Asari Clam Pasta, Bacon & Mushroom Risotto and their signature Doria (cheese-baked rice with chicken or seafood). Each dish costs as low as 3.90sgd and probably max at 5sgd. Food court-priced food at resto ambiance.

Below pix: first is the Risotto.
I dont have a pic of the Doria, grabbed a pic from net, source indicated in the pic as well.

2nd place: Seafood 21 @ Kovan
If I'm craving for my favorite creamy butter crab, the best place to go is Seafood 21 @ Kovan (Kovan mrt). So far this is the cheapest crab place I know, 3 small crabs for just 18sgd! (max at 21sgd)  The taste is pretty much decent, tasty! The crabs are small yet the crab meat is firm. And for the fact that it's an enclosed place with aircon, the price is really a steal. (A big 1kg crab served in a resto would normally cost 35sgd at the very least, and you have to pay GST).

I'm actually tempted to put this as 1st place, just that crab is not something you can eat frequently (high cholesterol!). The sauce for creamy butter crab is made from: milk, butter, curry leaves, few red chilli. Best to order mantou (fried steamed buns) to dip into the sauce.

It's best to go with companions for hawker fare food like this so that you can order different dishes and share. After having a taste of creamy butter crab / salted egg creamy butter crab, you'd give pepper crab and chilli crab a break. I have already created successful converts who are now fan of this dish like me. :)  I guess I will have to blog separately for all the nice places for trying creamy butter crab.

1st place: I Love Taimei
This year I've discovered my new cheer-up food at I Love Taimei at Bugis Junction (Bugis mrt), fell in love again with milk tea with pearls, and the taiwanese inspired fried crispy breaded chicken fillet. A lot of places selling this fried chicken fillet, just that the I personally prefer the aromatic flavor from Taimei. I've also found a new favorite side dish from them, their Tofu fries in seaweed flavor - very fresh concept for me, never imagined you can use tofu to make fries!  A set meal of chicken+milktea+fries is roughly 8sgd. Yummy.

Let's go Vietnamese

Joo Chiat - Never did like exploring food here, as I thought it's just another 'pok(2x) area' loaded with lots of Malay food. Never a fan of Malay food, never did like spicy food. But yeah, looks like I am wrong. You can get decent authentic Vietnamese food at very reasonable prices, again another one with long queue - Long Phung Vietnamese Restaurant.

Let's not talk about ambience, we're just in a simple restaurant with aircon - that is sufficient enough for me.  You'll get some views of hot Vietnamese 'call girls' strolling across the street. (You can ask for their prices if you want to, but they're not included in the menu. :p)

Vietnamese dishes that will always be on my fave list: beef pho and vietnamese spring rolls. Ooh delicioso! Nothing much to comment, every dish below costs just about 5-6sgd per dish, I'm sold.

New discovery: I again of course went for something not-so-conventional: the nutty tamarind juice, just nice!

Other dishes include Member Chicken (chicken pieces wrapped in wanton wrapper and fried) and some traditional Seafood rice noodle.

3 pax sharing, my overall damage is just 10.50sgd, winner!

Breakfast is a lifestyle!

Never really fancied breakfast. To be exact, never had time to sit down, relax, drink some milk/coffee and eat sandwich for a relaxing breakfast at home.. on a weekday, for the last 4+ years. My typical weekday breakfast would be preparing a sandwich in a hurry, rush to office, then prepare my instant oatmeal drink and eat my sandwich in haste within 5 minutes on my table.

And much to my surprise, breakfast is becoming a fad nowadays. You have breakfast-all-day-concept from new restaurants in Orchard. Most of the food addicts will surely not give these 2 famous breakfast places a miss. So here I am, unfortunately joining the bandwagon. :p

Wild Honey

Interior speaks for itself. Ambience is expensive. White waiting for my food, I was given a Vogue magazine, cool. Been to a few western restaurants and I have made a haste (unreliable) conclusion, when you see menu written with chalk on a blackboard, you are 'in' and you can price high. Wild Honey serves breakfast all day.

Like I normally do, I asked for what's the best-seller. I chose European breakfast which is nothing but Eggs Benedict (18+) paired with their signature Hazelnut Latte. It's the first (and probably the last) time of ordering gourmet coffee. Because unfortunately I could not really differentiate a Starbucks latte with an expensive latte. (actually not really too pricey, just 2-3sgd more than regular Starbucks price)  Pardon my taste buds because I am not really keen on coffee. Coffee for me just serves one purpose: for socializing/for dates. :p I like it, I drink it, I enjoy it, but I am not addicted. Gotta be tough to take me onto addiction level.

Going back to my 'eggs', they were nicely and elegantly done, there were actually 2 of them, 2 egg yolks wrapped with salty bacon placed on top of toasted bread. However it's too late that I somehow realize I'm not really an egg person. It's actualy a little oily to have 2 big egg yolks in one sitting. I guess it's just one of those 'wrong orders' resto moments for me. I'm not putting the restaurant down.


Jones The Grocer
Another Australian resto, interior again is nice, with all those dangling classy glassy stuff. Again you'll see menu written on the blackboard.

This time we were lucky with the orders. Had their signature wagyu beef burger (26+) and jones club sandwich (13+). The beef burger had blue cheese and the beef was cooked medium rare. (blue cheese by the way is expected to taste like rotten sour cheese, well things you pay more usually have some kinda weird taste).  Wagyu beef burger also comes with truffle fries. (again truffle oil is considered gourmet ingredient, tastes something like burnt oil)  I personally prefer the club sandwich, the sourdough bread was quite firm and chewy (or was it just me?). It had some chicken fillet and fresh veggies, tastes quite tasty.    

Next time you happen to pass by Mandarin Gallery in Orchard, you know how to be 'in' by stepping into these 2 breakfast places. Mind you the review comments for these places have circulated like crazy in the small community of Sg.

For the Love of Singing

I’ve always been fascinated with singing, though no one seems to really know :p

After photography, I’ve also met another guru, this time in the field of music. It’s the first time I know of anyone who actually sings in a pub in Sg (ok used to be one of my crazy dream jobs!). He’s the same Filipino guy (married) who referred me to my current job. I was curious about his singing antics so once and for all, we decided to go to KTV. Yeah he is quite good. He told me this: usually there are only 2 kinds of people who are KTV addicts:
1) Those who have a voice
2) Those who sing very lousily and are just going to KTV to shout with friends

After hearing me sing, his verdict: I belong to the first type! Yey! And he did point out my problem: ‘namimili ng kanta ang boses mo’. True enough, I can only sing comfortably in songs of average ranges, the easier ones to manipulate. I can barely sing a fast song or rock for that matter. Unlike him, he seems to carry any types of song, any genre so well. Well that’s a ‘paid’ voice, so it is expected. I’m just a leisure singer.

For the past few years in SG, I’ve been to KTV several times, but most of them were with 1 or 2 friends only. I enjoyed every moment of it. Before it is just a sort of a stress outlet, but later on I realized it’s something I love to do and wouldn’t mind wasting time on.

Recently I went to KTV with a group of new friends. Because I have a member card promo which I feel is a waste if I don’t get to use frequently, I asked them to tag along. I have long forgotten the feeling of a lot of people in a KTV room, last one being in Redbox 3 years ago during some teambuilding I guess.

More people attending actually means less chance of singing actually.

Other people singing uberly bad is ok, sometimes people can still carry it through with a cute attitude. Cute is subjective though :p

There are people who can sing very well and who seem to confidently overflaunting it by raising the key to 2 or 3 notes higher. It doesnt seem necessary too? Or maybe it's just me, I'm just a leisure singer after all. :)

The more unpleasant:
*If people who don’t hold a mic prefers to shout along and sing his/her own, I guess everyone’s eardrums are nearing hemorrhagic bleeding. I don’t find it funny or enjoyable.

*Coming across ‘buakaw’ people continuously queuing 10+ consecutive songs, shows lack of consideration!

*Personally I don’t finish the whole song (perhaps I will stop the song at the end of the first chorus, to give others a chance, besides, repeating the whole song is quite boring. I only finish the whole song for a few favorite songs) – Anyway, I didn’t know some people could consider this ‘bastos’ not to let them finish the whole song.

*And one person asks me how many people have confirmed attendance, I said ‘I think 3 or 4’ – she answered ‘maybe we want to postpone it some other time, because the more the merrier dba’. Is 3 or 4 considered too small a crowd for KTV?? Seems like nowadays, majority of people equate KTV to group singing and shouting sporadically.

Perhaps that is also the reason why some guys don’t like going to KTV to accompany their girlfriends. I suddenly pity those who are forced to participate in such mini-chaos.

And I was laughed at when few people knew I had gone to KTV alone for a few times before. Well all I can say is we all have different satisfaction levels, especially for people like me and kumare. Buti na lng, two of a kind. And I did stop doing so, nagpa-apekto naman. :p

I would still consider my best KTV moments as those with my kumare friend. It makes KTV more enjoyable when both of you know the songs each one is singing (I guess we have the same preference and follow the same artists). Strangely our chemistry is extremely good, unspoken agreement and yet we seem to jive well. Rules don’t have to be explicit at all, else it lacks the fun and excitement! If everything is told to you, then it's a waste. The key is just to be responsive and sensitive and spontaneous.

As mentioned a couple of times already, I always prefer quality over quantity in terms of crowd! But of course, on certain occasions, I don’t mind going to KTV in large groups of close friends, I wouldn’t mind the chaos if the company is worth the few bonding hours.

Ok enough of the talking, here’s a few sample clips from yours truly (kapalan na ng mukha!). Disclaimer: I’m not good, just tolerably average. Have a nice weekend everyone as I sing to the world. Let's toast to that. :) No, I am not drunk.

A chinese song:


An English song:

My Dream Resto

My first post for 2010. Been quite long since my last post. Started the year as usual in Manila, nothing much to share.. or should I say it's better to keep my blog for generic reviews...


One new discovery from my Manila trip is the new Chinese restaurant called Golden Bay. It's just a few minutes away from MOA. Initially I thought this was just one of those forgettable ones, I was mistaken. For me, it is the most 'posh' Chinese restaurant in Manila serving authentic Chinese food at reasonable price. Comparable to Century and Gloria Maris, the top 2 fave spots of Filchi for banquets, Golden Bay is a strong competitor I would say.


The figures - not so sure how accurate the hearsay is. Golden Bay seems to be owned by 10+ filchi businessmen, with a whopping 300M+ php investment. It's a 3-level resto, manned by 100+ crews.


My 2 cents:
1. Classy decors - from the chandeliers to the tall curtains, the long spiral staircase, the sofa, everything looks perfect and elegant. Simply put, everything is new and shiny, makes you feel you are inside a 5-star hotel. Probably it just opened that time, just that not sure whether they would be able to maintain it, as wear and tear comes into play in a few more years.


2. Biggest - when I was there, first level was having some organization committee party, 2nd level was a wedding, 3rd level had a lot of individual parties ala private function rooms. Each level can hold up to say 80-100+ pax i think. The only difficulty is that I feel the noise from different functions can be annoying for the guests. Like when I was in level 1, I can hear the noises pretty well from the level 2 party. (geesh, as if I am really a consultant :p)



3. Quality Food - we were actually invited by a rich neighbor, so there was no damage to our pockets :). We availed of the 12-seater 'complete' panto style lauriat. If my memory serves me right, the dishes were:
-cold cuts combination (soy chicken, asado, jellyfish, cold cuts, etc)
-shark's fin soup
-scallops
-steamed crabs
-steamed prawns
-steamed live lapu lapu
-roasted duck
-noodles
-desserts (gata and fried crispy puffs)
Servings were huge, seafood was fresh, food was tasty. The standard cost for this set menu per table is 11k php. (+12% tax, then -10%discount for suki/cash basis). Price is considered reasonble as per market standards. 11k div 12, means each person is less than 1k! Whew now I can set aside the cravings for buffet :). But it would be hard to find 11 willing lamon-level person to dine with me.


So far I like every dish. It's been a long long time since I had attended any pan-to. Nothing beats the natural tangy taste of fresh seafood that are cooked simply in steamed manner. *drools*


4. Extras - maybe what help enticed my taste buds is the fact that they were playing Jay Chou's songs when I went there. It's a BIG plus for me. :) Good taste for music as well, I'm impressed :)




















































If I were to tweak it a little more, I'll add one more level for fine dining:

-a good view with glass ceilings that allows direct access for star gazing. (of course it should have some switch that allows another wall to be pulled in). Not sure if u get what I mean, main thing is I want to see the sky when the weather is good, good as outdoor sans the polluted air of Manila . If it's raining hard with thunderstorms, it would be better to pull back another layer of wall to cover the ceiling.


-a few musical accompaniments belonging to the olden Chinese classical genre. With my odd fondness of guzheng, it tops the list :) Maybe hire some part-time students to play on nights with special occassion, and charge a higher fee for minimum consumption :D


-nothing much to say about food as they already have the finest. Maybe add more expensive stuff like buddha-jump-over-the-wall soup, low-grade bird's nest, etc. Anyway, this is just an add-on targetted on class A market, so I'm making a dream-what-you-want proposal. And I believe there is quite a number of willing-to-spend individuals in Phil. Just a side comment: funny thing is, looks like GI has become a substantial portion now of this class A. That time when I was there, the wedding banquet in level 2 is no other than GI community! Oops can't be too choosy with the cultural refinement of the crowd lol.


Overall experience is very delightful as it was more than what I expected.


***Author's note:
I felt strange that night staring at the resto. It looks close to what I picture, I have this strange familiarity and attachment lol. Sometimes it's not so bad to dream. Dreams keep us alive, and I had fun making one and dreaming about it. Though I know I never will be able to fulfill it, it's just one of those crazy dreams that I have. Like I wanna be a singer and perform in a crowd maybe? Like perhaps I wish to have a walk-in closet? It's just something close to my heart. At least I'm happy someone fulfilled it, even if it doesnt belong to me. It doesnt matter anymore. I'm happy that a fine idea once crossed my mind. I guess I should wake up and make another dream...

Pearl River Palace

Here are some of the must-try dishes in Pearl River Palace. Immerse your taste buds in the wide variety and freshness of Chinese food, just point any item in their menu and they will cook the food as you order, as many times as you want! (except for buddha soup, fresh prawns and peking duck that are limited to single order per person). Service is excellent, the crew will keep on replacing your plates whenever they find it necessary. Best value for money.


>Salmon Sashimi & Fresh Prawns


Fish Fillet, Steamed Seabass, Oyster Beef & Scallops w/ Pea pods



Buddha-Jump-Over-The-Wall Soup.
(It is a type of highly complex Chinese soup or stew consisting of many ingredients like bamboo shoots, scallop, sea cucumber, abalone, shark's fin, chicken, ham, pork tendon, ginseng, mushrooms)



Peking Duck Wraps, Crab Vermicelli



Dessert Section