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theyummyyak
This is theyummyyak . I work in Raffles Place.
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Showing 1 to 5 of 19 Reviews in Singapore
Pretty good beef kway teow. Smile Nov 26, 2013   
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Categories : Singaporean | Chinese | Coffeeshop

For complete review and pictures, please visit: http://theyummyyak.wordpress.com/2013/11/05/cheng-kee-beef-kway-teow-%E6%B8%85%E8%AE%B0%E7%89%9B%E8%82%89%E7%B2%BF%E6%A2%9D/

Cheng Kee Beef Kway Teow is one of the few places I remember my parents bringing me to, as it was within walking distance of the centre my brother and I had our weekly gymnastics sessions at. Incidentally known as Tumble Tots. Then we grew older and a mall was built right across the street from our place, so it's been at least 13 years since my last visit here. It's quite a famous stall in its own right, having earned a spot on the 2007 edition of Makansutra.

Beef kway teow (soup), $4.00 - This was a belly-warming bowl of beef noodles. The beef slices were tender and juicy, and the slightly herbal broth aromatic. I dipped the slices of beef into chinchalok, a fermented shrimp paste that's the Malaccan equivalent of Korean saewoojot - the similarity between the two condiments was a discovery which totally geeked me out. Then again, these beef noodles have Hainanese (a provincial group of people in China, and also one of the dialect groups of Singaporean Chinese) roots, yet to the uninitiated you'd probably be able to get away with calling them Vietnamese pho.

But back to the taste of the chinchalok, which added a tangy and rather refreshing dimension to the beef. Very interesting. I found myself slurping down spoonful after spoonful of the soft kway teow until nothing remained, although I'm supposed to be scaling back on carbs. On such occasions I tell myself that I'll compensate by having salad the next day. I didn't.

I remember the beef kway teow at Cheng Kee to be tastier in the days of yore, but you know how we tend to immortalize foods we grew up with. I'm trying to discount the nostalgia and not hold the food to an impossibly high standard that may not even have existed. Objectively speaking, it was good. Not wowWwwW fantastic, just better-than-okay good.

In any event this was still a way better bowl of beef noodles than the Hock Lam stuff I make do with on weekdays: Functional, yes, but commercialized and hardly satisfying. Alas the sad truth of life for an office minion is that your lunch options are restricted to the area you work in... meh, the stuff we do for money.

 
 
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Categories : American | Singaporean Western | Café | Desserts and Cakes | Burgers and Sandwiches | Brunch

For complete review and pictures, please visit: http://theyummyyak.wordpress.com/2013/11/23/flock-cafe/

Flock Café is one of the more unassuming players in the thriving Tiong Bahru cafe scene. Somehow it feels genuine and laid-back, which can hardly be said for nearby establishments like Forty Hands and Open Door Policy, both of which have amassed loyal cult followings (quite deservedly) and lost their chill factor in the process. Well I suppose crowds are a good thing for cafes to have, though it would be nice to be able to have a meal without feeling like I'm in someone else's way all the time.

These crowds were absent from Flock when we visited one Saturday afternoon for tea. Bit of a welcome change from having to wait in the sweltering heat for a table. It wasn't that the eatery was devoid of people - there was a steady trickle of customers, and the staff looked hard at work.

Portobello, mozzarella & rocket sandwich, $13.50 - Since this was supposed to be tea we ordered one of their sandwiches to share. T'was a pricey sandwich, but I liked that the juicy portobello shroom was so big it occupied the entire pocket of ciabatta. This was quite delicious and would have made a substantial lunch for one, though y'know, the pig in me wishes they had fries on the side.

They have other interesting offerings on their sandwich list like prawn and avocado, as well as pork cheek and gruyere.

Orange bundt cake, $5.00 - Having had a disappointing encounter with a bundt cake the week before, we decided to give the orange bundt cake here a shot. I thought it had a nice citrusy fragrance and crumbled quite satisfactorily, but the others found it to be a little too dry.

Mocha, $6.00 - Flock sources its beans from the ever-reliable Liberty Coffee, which pretty much ensures quality coffee brews. The mocha we had was frothy, chocolatey and every sip was laced with a pleasant hint of bitterness.

In line with their philosophy of providing a "deliberately relaxed" ambiance conducive for weekend catch up sessions between friends, Flock was modestly, yet comfortably furnished and I loved the warm lighting. The food here is above average, and it's a lovely place to spend a lazy day, as all my weekends tend to be. Wouldn't mind coming back at all.
Beans sourced from Liberty Coffee Roasters.

Beans sourced from Liberty Coffee Roasters.

 
Totes chill.

Totes chill.

 
 
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Ugly but delicious Smile Nov 19, 2013   
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Categories : Coffeeshop

For complete review and pictures, please visit: http://theyummyyak.wordpress.com/2013/11/17/beach-road-scissor-cut-curry-rice-%E7%BE%8E%E8%8A%9D%E5%BE%8B%E5%89%AA%E5%88%80%E5%89%AA%E5%92%96%E5%96%B1%E9%A5%AD/

Food doesn't have to look good to taste good. This is particularly true of scissor-cut curry rice, which has to be one of the sloppiest looking dishes ever, but also happens to be one of my favourite foods. This dish has both Hainanese and colonial origins, as most cooks who worked for wealthy British families back in the early 1900s were Hainanese, and put an inventive twist on the pork cutlet by pummeling it flat, snipping it up over rice and coating it with curry.

My order the first time round comprised a fried pork cutlet blackened with gravy, a ngoh hiang (five spice pork roll), chup chye (stewed cabbage) and a fried egg. They're cut into bite-sized pieces with a pair of metal scissors, following which gravy from the lor bak (stewed pork) and then curry is ladled over, which renders the individual components of the dish quite unidentifiable.

The layering of the lor bak gravy and curry create a hybrid gravy that's... magic. It's only slightly spicy and possesses a starchy texture, which works as its meant to be drizzled over plain rice. It was the gravy which elevated the individual ingredients from okay to amazing. Honestly I found the ngoh hiang soggy and the blackened pork cutlet to be on the wrong side of salty. Also tried a bit of the lor bak and found it too tough. A fried egg isn't too hard to do, but the chup chye was great. Soft, sweet and distinctly shrimpy. Nothing goes better with curry than perfectly stewed chup chye.

I returned a couple weeks ago and we ordered dishes to share. The only new dish I had was the chicken chop, which was freaking awesome. The sesame seeds it was coated with made it super fragrant and it was snipped into itty bits which made it so moreish with the curry. I declare my second visit a complete win.

In short, stick with the fried egg, chup chye and chicken chop.
 
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Disappointing. Cry Nov 12, 2013   
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Categories : Bakery | Desserts and Cakes

For complete review and pictures, please visit: http://theyummyyak.wordpress.com/2013/11/11/maple-market/

There are some places that you really want to like. I'd been an occasional reader of Sarah's Loft for about a year prior to her setting up Maple & Market, and the cakes baked by Sarah always looked so pretty. Her style, like her blog layout, is incredibly minimalistic and very Japanese-influenced. I believe she went on trips to Japan to hone her baking skills as well.

Maple & Market isn't located in an extremely convenient location for me, but the opportunity to visit it arose when we happened to be having lunch at the nearby Old Airport Road hawker centre. Its chic exterior stood out in stark contrast against the surrounding heartland area, and throughout the couple hours we spent at the cafe we saw numerous passers-by eye the cafe curiously.

Let's start with the good: The interior of the cafe, though capable of handling a dine-in crowd of 12 at best, had a clean yet rustic and homely vibe to it. Staff were pleasant and well-informed, and didn't hesitate at all with their answers when we quizzed them on the key components of each cake. It's a perfect setting to fritter the afternoon away. If you can secure a seat, yes.
Popcorn caramel cake, $6.50 per slice.

Popcorn caramel cake, $6.50 per slice.

 
Popcorn caramel cake, $6.50 per slice - I could barely mask my excitement at seeing the signature popcorn caramel cake on display. What a visually stunning piece of work. This was a vanilla cake covered with caramel cheese frosting, then topped with a drizzle of caramel and of course, caramel popcorn.

We attacked it with our forks and what followed was a period of prolonged silence where all of us tried to think of something polite to say. "I like the frosting!" chirped S, one of the nicest people I know. We nodded in agreement - the frosting was creamy, buttery and really quite delicious.

The cake, on the other hand, was unexpectedly dense. I'd thought it would have the airiness of Japanese cakes - y'know, all chiffony and stuff - but instead found myself eating what resembled a waterlogged, vanilla flavoured huat kueh. In terms of taste it wasn't bad, but texture-wise it was heavy and sticky. Also the popcorn was from Garrett's, and they were lao hong (soggy). I really wanted to like it, but I just couldn't.
Blossom, $5.50 per slice.

Blossom, $5.50 per slice.

 
Blossom, $5.50 per slice - We also had the Blossom, which was a rose cake frosted with raspberry cream cheese. In between the cake layers there are bits of raspberry and caramelised pistachios.

The rose water lent a wonderfully light floral scent to the cake, and the raspberry cream cheese frosting was excellent. However, the texture of the cake itself suffered from the same flaw as that of the popcorn caramel cake, save that this huat kueh was rose flavoured.

We had flavoured iced teas to go with our cakes, so no reviews on the coffee here. Their brews are from Nylon Coffee Roasters.

As I've said multiple times I really wanted to recommend this place, but in all honesty this was quite a disappointing experience. Other blog reviews on Maple & Market are largely positive though, which makes me hesitant to write off this place as a no-go. I'm such a wuss. Hopefully my next encounter with Maple & Market will be a better one.
 
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Categories : Singaporean Chinese | Hawker Centre | Claypot Rice

For complete review and pictures, please visit: http://theyummyyak.wordpress.com/2013/10/30/lian-he-ben-ji-claypot-rice-%E8%81%94%E5%90%88%E6%9C%AC%E8%AE%B0%E7%85%B2%E9%A5%AD/

There's nothing that warms the belly more than a steaming hot bowl of rice. That's probably why I've learnt to associate claypot rice with nighttime fare. Try consuming it in the afternoon in our climate without disintegrating into a puddle of sweat... confirm heatstroke lor.

The reason why Lian He Ben Ji's claypot rice is a cut above its competitors is precisely because it doesn't compromise on cooking time and ingredient quality. Each pot of rice is steamed for 5 minutes, after which ingredients are added and the pot left to sit over a blazing charcoal flame for the next 20 minutes. That guarantees you a minimum 25-minute wait per order, which can stretch to a waiting time of 45 minutes during peak dining periods. To get around the wait, regular diners know to call to place their orders in advance. Unfortunately we weren't as savvy.

Was the wait worth it? Abso friggin' lutely.

Mixed claypot rice, $10 for a portion that feeds two - After drizzling some sweet soya sauce over the rice and mixing everything together, the first spoonful of rice I had can only be described as a flavour explosion. The pieces of chicken were succulent, the lup cheong (Chinese sausages) and waxed meat firm and juicy, but the rice - the rice was in a realm of its own. You just have to taste it to know that charcoal makes one hell of a difference in cooking this dish. The rice in the claypot was smoky yet fluffy, and when drenched in sweet sauce was just... wow. We kept mumbling "so good, this is so good" in between mouthfuls of rice. It got even better when our spoons hit the bottom of the pot, where burnt rice, or what we call guo ba (锅巴), was clinging to the sides, just waiting to be scraped off.

And the chilli! The chilli here is the bomb okay. It was spicy, sour and caused beads of sweat to form on my temples, but I kept going back for more.

To be fair, the slivers of salted fish in the rice could have been less mushy. Plus the soup (lotus root with pork ribs) and stir-fried veggies we ordered were very average. But who really cares? It's a hawker centre, and there're about 50 other stalls if you must have your sides to complement this... claypot of perfection.

Now into its second generation of owners, Lian He Ben Ji is an established business that started off as a roadside stall in the same area back in 1979. The founder of the stall handed the reins over to his daughter-in-law, which I think is a really heartwarming tidbit of news in a society that unfortunately still tends toward the patriarchal. The daughter-in-law now runs the stall with her two younger sisters, which is why this place is also known fondly as "3 sisters' claypot rice".

Lian He Ben Ji gets my seal of approval for their dedication to their craft. I'll definitely be recommending this place to everyone I know.
 
Recommended Dish(es):  Mixed Claypot Rice
 
Spending per head: Approximately $5(Dinner)

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