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I am sure everyone deserves a cold treat to bring down the heat of the day especially after all the shopping along Orchard Road. Why not treat yourself to a cup of frozen yogurt at Sour Sally instead?

At Sour Sally, they have a few varieties of premium frozen yogurt to choose from such as melon, green tea, candy and more than 20 toppings to choose from. They offer shaved ice and smoothies over here too!I tried their new Pinkilicious Twist (Strawberry with Original yogurt) with Fruity Pebbles topping and it seems to be a perfect match. The frozen sour yogurt has a citrus taste and texture of a sorbet. Together with the fruity pebbles, it adds crunch and sweetness to it.

Why not have a cup of yogurt or shaved ice from Sour Sally to refresh your senses today?

SGD 4(Tea)

For the main course, I had a Beer Braised Lamb Fore Shank . The aroma of the lamb fills the air as it was served right in front of me. However, there isn’t any taste of the beer as the alcohol contents will have already been mostly evaporated during the process of braising the lamb. The lamb fore shank was served with onion slaw and Russet chedder mashed potatoes.

The onion based sauce complimented the mashed potatoes very well. The huge lamb fore shank tasted just nice at the outer layer of it as it was tender and juicy but the inner layer of the lamb was quite dry and the meat was tough. The lamb taste fine when accompanied by the onion sauce.

The Seared Salmon looks very colorful accompanied by various ingredient. The seared salmon fillet was neatly arranged on top of the herb roasted Fingerling potatoes and topped with tomato salsa. The salmon have a very distinct saltiness on the outer layer due to the light crisped from being overcooked on the pan. That isn’t an issue as the sourness from the salsa tomatoes complimented the fish very well.

SGD 25(Lunch)

According to Chef Clement, he mentioned that it is important for us to have a balance colour diet by eating natural food of all the 6 colours as the body requires all of the above to fully function in tip top condition.

With his wise words, I had the Eden Rainbow Salad. This salad consist of orange, blueberries, mixed greens, cherry tomato, 8 grain multi grain bread and dressings made from calamansi, apple cider vinegar and honey. This is a sample portion of what is usually served in the menu.

The colours on the dish were very pleasing to the eyes and appetizing for the stomach too. It’s a light starter with fresh fruits and vegetables. A simple dish yet consist of all the goodness of the 6 colours. The light sourness from the cherry tomatoes and blueberries, sweetness of the orange and the crisp freshness of the mixed greens complimented very well with the tangy flavour of the dressing.

This is another customized dish which consist of Balsamic Vinegar, Ambrosia Late Harvast Wine, Boneless Chicken Leg, Blueberries, Butter. Salad Dressings made from Ambrosia, Olive Oil and Lemon Juice.

The chicken thigh have been marinated for a day which made it taste so good. Its little fats on the skin just melts away when I took a bite at it. Together with Chef Clement’s secret ingredient in the sauce, the Late Harvest Ambrosia wine made it even more heavenly with a tinge of fruity sourness alcoholic sensation on the taste buds.

Chef Clement is able to customize the menu and recipe according to your needs. If you like to have a group function, you can call up to make a reservation and inform him what you like for your menu. He can even whip up a good meal according to your calorie intake, diet and also any allergies if you have.

SGD 10(Dinner)

Don’t be surprise when you see a long snaking queue in front of Lor Mee 178 during peak hours. Especially on Sunday mornings, people staying at all different corners of Singapore flock down to Tiong Bahru just to eat this Lor Mee. There are other stores selling Lor Mee too! However, at Lor Mee 178, the queue can be so long that sometimes it will take you about 30 minutes just to slurp it in your mouth.

The shark meat fritters were deep fried in batter till it’s so crispy on the outside and soft at the inside. Somehow, it tasted like good quality battered fish fillet to me.

On top of their specialty which attracts so many customers, they have a huge generous portion of noodles and ingredients too! There are some slices of crispy fried fish, ngoh hiang and a generous amount of crispy flour bits, fish cakes. As for the gravy, it’s thick and flavourful with traces of egg white. I can’t deny that it was so good till I finished up everything!

SGD 3(Lunch)

The menu consist of different Asian and Western items to choose from Monday to weekends. So, there’s always a reason to visit Café Pralet to try out their special set of menu for the day.

I was eager to try the Tofu Burger ($8.00) which was awarded the “Healthier Choice” by Health Promotion Board. The burger patty is a thick slice of pan fried tofu prepared using tempeh, herbs and their secret mix of healthy seasoning. It’s topped with caramelized onions, fresh tomato slice and crisp lettuce, sandwiched right between the two soft wholemeal buns, baked by their own chefs. Best of all, there’s no egg in it and it’s free of trans-fat. So this dish is suitable for all vegetarian friends.

At Café Pralet, how can I not try their all time popular signature Pralet Cake ($4.50) created with love and passion by Chef Judy? It’s a must-try chocolate cake which consist of rich decadent layers of French dark chocolate a crispy Hazelnut waffle layer at the base and topped with a smidgen of edible gold.

The moist layers of French dark chocolate tasted delectably heavenly as it slowly melts in the mouth with the chocolate cake. With the crispy waffle at the base, it added an interesting texture in the altogether. This cake will definitely please the eyes and stomach of all the chocolate lovers out there.

SGD 12(Dinner)

Although EwF have a fast food concept, all the food that they serve are handmade from scratch using only the freshest and finest ingredients. Even the buns used for the burgers are freshly baked daily! Quality checks are conducted from time to time to ensure that the quality and portion of their food is up to the standard to be served.

How can one visit EwF and not try their Fries? I had the Sour Cream & Onion Fries ($2.90) which is one of the more popular choice. It tasted very familiar just like the Pringles Sour Cream & Onion flavoured potato chips. It wasn’t very salty and the fries were deep fried till golden brown. There wasn’t even a single soft or soggy fries. Every single strand of it was crispy to the bite.

The Nutella Slice ($3.50) is a smaller serving of their Nutella Tart served in their restaurants. Where can you find such good looking, sinful nutella slice at a steal? The quality of it is as good as the larger version of it. It’s very addictive too as one of us couldn’t stop eating it. It’s perfect to share the joy of nutella with your friends after a meal!

SGD 6(Lunch)

Hidden in the Singapore Post Centre Mall, it’s a tiny shop with lots of sweet, tempting and eye catching cute little waffles displayed outside with more than 30 flavours to choose from if I can recall. It’s very cheap too with prices ranging from $1.20 for the basic flavours to $2.50 for the D24 durian flavour.

I had a Mini Waffle Ice-cream ($2.95) which I was given a few choices of ice cream like vanilla, chocolate, strawberry and green tea. I chose my favorite which is vanilla and it was topped with trails of chocolate syrup. Ice cold vanilla ice cream served on warm waffle was so simple and classic.

Overall, I feel that it’s very ordinary and it didn’t feel anything special about it. I also tried the Super Waffle Set ($4) which includes a waffle of my choice (except the premium ones like D24 durian, chicken patty and nutella chocolate), some chips and a soft drink of my choice. I ordered a root beer and my favourite apple cinnamon waffle. I have not tried the spaghetti or other main course before but as the name of this place goes, it’s better to just stick to having their specialty which is their waffle.

Other recommended flavors of waffles includes White Chocolate Pistachio, White Chocolate Oreo, D24 Durian and Cheesy Nacho.

SGD 4(Tea)

Upon entering their restaurant, you will be able to see pictures of a guy with tattoos all over the wall. Do not feel intimidated by it as Eighteen Chefs is a restaurant founded by Chef Benny who wish to share his life experience with youth ex-convicts.

If you have been to Eighteen Chefs, you will realize that they do not have waiters or waitress to take your orders. This is because, the ordering process is all manually done by yourself but the good news is that there isn’t any service charge.

I ordered a 9 Inch Turkey Hotdog Set ($7.50) which looks really good, classic and simple. Well, a classic will never go wrong right? The Turkey sausage was very flavorful in between the hotdog bun which is slightly fried to give it a light crisp and taste. Smothered with a generous amount of teriyaki sauce, it gave new meaning to the western hotdog bun which is usually tomato and mustard sauce. Well, it added a new twist in it and it was great.

The salad was very fresh too and I love the crunchiness of the tomatoes and bell pepper. They have my favourite type of french fries too!! The chunky criss cross fries with no added salt on it. Classic and irresistible!

SGD 8(Dinner)

I visited the restaurant for lunch on a Saturday and surprisingly, it wasn’t as crowded as what I thought it will be. The restaurant was only about 30 percent occupied. However, I waited for quite some time before I was being seated and was curious what took them so long. The service is very bad as it look a long time to get the service staff's attention to order and settle the bill. Worst of all, the service staffs weren't apologetic at all.I had a Chicken & Ribs Set ($23.90++) which I requested to be served with potato salad and fresh vegetables. The main highlight of this dish is their ribs. It was sweet, juicy and tender. It’s so nicely done that the succulent meat around the bones just came off so easily which much wrestling with it. As I blog about it now, I can’t wait to have more of it.

The chicken was quite nice as it wasn’t very dry at the inside and the outside is lightly coated with black pepper sauce. It was tasty yet nicely done. Not a single bit overcooked at all.

Overall, I would say that their food is slightly above average but they should look into their staffing problem which caused the unpleasant service which I experienced. Furthermore, it was on a Saturday afternoon which they should have expected a lot more customers.

The long waiting time and poor service attitude from the manager resulted them to lose points for their restaurant. I hope that the management can look into this area to improve the level of customer service.

SGD 15(Lunch)

I met my overseas chef friend as he was in town and we decided to have a Hi Tea Buffet ($12.80++) at Lao Beijing to catch up after so many years. Having high hopes that they serve good Chinese food, we entered the restaurant and were seated by one of the waitress.

Some of the food items on the buffet menu were self service style at the buffet counter. The hot food was placed in heater trays and the appetizers were displayed on huge plates on the buffet table. The soup, which was Sichuan style soup (not pictured) was in a huge heater pot which didn’t taste nice at all as it tasted quite blend and too much corn starch were added into it.

The Appetizing Cucumber, Beijing Style was very light and crunchy. It was lightly seasoned in some finely chopped chili slices, garlic and a bit of vinegar. This dish had nothing too special about it but it was something light and appetizing.

This dish, Zhajiang Noodles is also one of their house specialties also one of Beijing’s dishes was disappointing. I had better Zhajiang mian out there at smaller eateries compared to this from Lao Beijing. The noodles tasted very flourish and filling and the sauce wasn’t fragrant enough to bring out the flavor of the “zhajiang”. Perhaps, it was done this way to make customers filling during their buffet?

The Beijing-style Juicy Shao Mai is worst than those you can find at coffee shops. There were many of it in the steamer on the buffet table and it has been in it for a long time. It was very dry and not juicy at all. From the looks of it, its machine made and the pork meat in it tasted hard and dry. The overall gave me an impression that it was frozen exactly like those found in the supermarket. My friend agreed too and I was speechless that a Tung Lok Chinese restaurant is serving dim sum of supermarket frozen food quality in their restaurants.

The Steamed Juicy Meat Buns (Xiao Long Bao) I have to say it was the most decent dim sum I had out of all that they have to offer and it is also one of their house specialties. It took a while before it came out of the kitchen after I ordered it. The skin on the outer layer was a little dry which shows that it was over steamed. Overall, I find that it’s the best out of all the items in the dim menu.

After this experience, I don’t think I will ever step into Lao Beijing again for their hi-tea buffet. I guess I'll be heading to other renown restaurants for dim sum instead.

SGD 14(Tea)

I bought myself a Chewy Brownie ($2.60) which is being packed in a very creative packaging. The brownie tasted good and chewy even though its not being heated up. They also have them in many other flavours and you can even customize the design on top of it. Every single bit of topping, design and customization are painstakingly done by hand which makes it look more like brownie art to me.

P.Osh specialized in their brownies but they also have cakes and cookies too. Find out all the delicious flavours of brownies P.Osh have to offer on their website and do visit their shops too!

SGD 4(Supper)

The service staffs were very friendly as one of them stood at the entrance of the restaurant right next to the menu with a smile, ever ready to welcome hungry customers. The restaurant has a very nice, warm and cosy set up with orange lights and Victorian style lamp posts. The ambience made me feel very relax and comfortable to have a nice conversation over dinner.Primo Combo ($12.50)
The soft shell crab was a disappointment as I only tasted fried flour. The crab was tiny and became very soggy with oil after a while. I did not like it as it left a heavy after taste of oil lingering in my mouth. Nothing much to rave about here and I’m sure you can easily get better soft shell crabs elsewhere.

The calamari rings did not turn out as good as I expected it to be. It is just hard, rubbery squid rings coated with some batter and deep fried in oil. My jaw became very tired after chewing on it for a while and I decided to give up eating it. Even the cheaper Chirpy takeaway serves better calamari rings than Spageddies.

Lastly, their mozzarella cheese sticks ought to be the most decent food in their Primo Combo. It’s not overly battered nor soggy with oil and it had tasty mozzarella cheese in it. Something Italian finally!For the main course, I had a Grill Chicken Primavera ($16.50) which was serve tossed with wood-grilled slice chicken, broccoli, peas, mushrooms, & carrots in garlic & olive oil with a hint of chilli flakes. The mix of all the ingredients gave this dish a very delightful outlook.

The spaghetti was very well done aglio olio style and was nicely cooked and tasted perfect with the mixture of all the delicious, balanced and hearty ingredients in it. The chicken slices had a smokey flavour and it remained tender. The combination of all the other vegetables gave this dish additional crunch and sweetness to it. I would say that this dish will be better if the chicken slices can be a bit more juicer.

SGD 15(Dinner)

Whenever someone mentions the top best Claypot rice, this store will be in the top 5 choices as it has been around for so many years. Many customers have been patronizing this store for their authentic rice cooked in the claypot for the excellent so to produce that familiar aroma when stirred together with the sesame oil and dark soy sauce.The rice in the claypot is cooked individually over gas until it’s about half cooked and then transferred it into the claypot to cook over charcoal fire. The chicken and Chinese sausage then it's added into it to cook till its tender yet retaining the juiciness within the claypot. Also, there will be some traces of burnt rice at the bottom filling providing some crispy bite.

If the claypot rice is not enough to fill your stomach, this store also offers many other side dishes and soup to complete your meal! I will strongly advice to call in advance to make reservations as the wait will be long during dinner.

SGD 7(Dinner)

If you're craving for some home made cakes, you will be able to get it at this little kiosk at this coffee shop. Located along Bukit Merah, Happy Chardes offers a variety of healthier cakes of various sizes so that you can grab a light bite of even a whole cake for a special occasion.The Apple and Raisin cakes is a wonderful choice if you do not want something creamy. The cake is best eaten when it's heated up so that the fragrance of apple and raisins will be stronger. If you're buying it home, it's also a great alternative to the sinful brownie as it goes along well with ice-cream very well too!The chocolate banana cake may sound very sinful but it's made using dark chocolate so it is not so sweet. The tiny banana slices adds a tropical fruity flavour to the chocolate so that it will be too overwhelming to stomach a whole slice of it. This cake is best eaten heated up too.

You can have coffee at the coffee shop and cakes from Happy Chardes. The friendly owner, Charlene will be more than happy to heat up the cakes for you. Do also check out "Happy Chardes" on Facebook to find out more about the cakes here!

SGD 3(Tea)

It is a quiet place especially in the afternoon chill out, catch up with friends or study. The sofa seats were very comfortable the I love the relaxing chill out music they play over their studio system. The service staffs were friendly and very helpful for recommending their coffee to those people who can’t make up their mind on what to have.One of my favourite drink, the Macadamia Nut Specialty Latte is what I usually order visit Gloria Jean’s. I love the nutty flavour of macadamia, which complements the aroma of the coffee. The coffee is very smooth and the taste is not too overwhelming like those dark kinda coffee. It’s a good balance of acidity and body. Making it a drink suitable for casual coffee drinkers.I had a Double Chocolate Mousse cake to indulge in the dark and secretive nature of chocolate. The chocolate mousse of the cake is just nice and not too chocoate-ly and it’s very creamy, tasty and of course, sinful. I am not a big fan of chocolate but this cake sure looks tempting and irresistible to begin with.

SGD 8(Tea)