By a twist of fate, I landed at Yoshimaru Ramen Bar for dinner - which was not a bad idea because I love ramen anyway! This is the where the famous challenge is conducted - finish the ramen in 12 minutes and it's free... failing to do so you pay $35. The ramen bowl is really huge with 3 eggs. Challenge ends on 22 June 2014 - only three more days left if you are interested. Well, you can also opt to be a normal customer - there are many yummy selections too!Yoshimaru is one of the rarer ramen places that provide sesame seeds for grounding. Although it is not necessary, I like sesame seeds which give my ramen noodles more texture and layering as a whole.I opted for the Traditional Hakata Ramen which came as a pleasant surprise - it was better than most of the other ramen bars I have been to. Admittedly, I'm quite numb to the in-between standards, but when a good one comes along, I'll perk up immediately! This is one of them. I like how the soup base is savoury and not overpowering, soaked with the essence of pork bones for many hours. It is so thick with goodness, it's almost sinful. The ramen noodles are also springy and slurpilicious. I like how the portion is actually so big, I almost couldn't finish them even on my good appetite day. Of course, the egg was cooked to the gooey-yellow-gel perfection. Yummy!I was eyeing the Spicy Yuzu Ramen, but the word spicy and two chilli icons beside its name were quite intimidating! After asking one of the friendly service staff, he waved it off and convinced us that it wasn't all that spicy at all. Well, as it turned out - the soup base was an enticing blend of apparent citrus yuzu flavours and spices. The burning spiciness came as an after-aftertaste and would be pretty strong after say, five mouthfuls. But one mouthful of this soup base was very blissful even for a person who is afraid of spicy food. I love interesting ramen soup bases, it's like exploring a new place!Apparently Calpis is supposed to be a common drink but I haven't tried before in my whole life (hashtag, suaku) so... first try! Not bad... a bit like a hybrid between probiotic drinks and fruit juice. (hashtag, lesssuaku)And Asahi. Overall, Yoshimaru will rank pretty high on my ramen recommendation list alongside strong contenders such as Ramen Keisuke King and Suzuki Ramen Bar.

For full review: http://www.amiehu.com/2014/06/yoshimaru-ramen-bar-holland-village.html

Prior to this Between X OpenRice Food Tasting Session, my only experience with German-based cuisine had been a couple of visits to Brotzeit for some schnitzels and bratwursts. My Deutsch foodie experience was thus greatly enhanced during this Tasting Session, courtesy of Between and OpenRice.

Stuttgart Blackforest Boutique S-Café is a lovely little German eatery that appears to pride itself on delivering an authentically German experience to its patrons. This was evident throughout my visit.

While waiting to be seated, one already catches a glimpse of the exquisitely-furnished café interior. An impressive variety of pastas and spirits sits invitingly on large wooden shelves. Stepping inside, I was struck by the sight of large majestic trees scattered across the eatery, their branches reaching towards the lofty ceiling. Much thought and care was indeed put into the decorations, with a spinning water wheel and a wall of antique cuckoo clocks among the more outstanding features.Water wheel: attention-catching centrepieceWater feature complete with fishShelves upon shelves of specialty pastas

After getting to meet the fellow OpenRicers present as well as Joash, the General Manager (Singapore) of VCNC (which is behind the Between app), we were ready to choose our dishes from a selection of mains and desserts to accompany a Wurstsalat (SGD 18++), a salad with sausages, onions and gherkins.The Wurstsalat was simple yet satisfying in a understated way. The sausage slices possessed a unique mix of tastes, with a slight sourish tang adding some tart zest to the otherwise salty meat. The accompanying greens and cherry tomatoes added the finishing gustatory as well as visual touches.

For my main, I went for the Schwäbische Maultaschen (SGD 25++), which consists of two large pockets of Swabian pasta, each stuffed with savoury minced beef. These were served on a bed of sautéed onions and potatoes. Accompanying these was a mesclun salad complete with bright cherry tomatoes. The two maultaschen were generously sized and appetizingly presented, with the onions, potatoes and salad each adding a distinct dimension to the meat pockets. The pasta itself was soft and subtly fragrant, and provided a perfect foil to the more intense flavours of the minced beef. The maultaschen were well-complemented by the bed of potatoes and onions, whose tangy flavours I presume may be attributed to a vinaigrette dressing. It was indeed a flavourful and well-balanced dish.Flavourful minced beef within!

Accompanying my meal was a cappuccino (SGD 10++) which was easily the most frothy and fluffy coffee I have ever encountered. Check out the froth!

If you cut through all that fluff (literally), you will find that Stuttgart does really do quite a mean cappuccino. The coffee was thick and full-bodied, with intense aromas wafting up with every (divine) sip. Rounding off the feast was a slice of Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte (SGD 12++), a freshly-baked Blackforest cake that was fluffy, creamy, light and rich all at once. The spongy cake layers were interspersed with sweet and gooey cherries, with cream and chocolate shavings holding it all together. The cake was delightfully sweet and intensely flavoured with Kirschwasser, a traditional cherry liquor, making it a wonderful flavourful burst on the palate.

While service was reasonably attentive and polite to a fault, it was at times a little slow. We were made to wait uncomfortably long for some of the dishes, but this could be put down to the large group we were in. Overlooking this blemish, the homely ambience and quality of food were indeed top notch, making a visit to Stuttgart Blackforest Boutique S-Café an advisable one. Just be sure to visit only when not in a rush, and go prepared to spend a leisurely evening over some great-tasting German cuisine. Do also take the opportunity to take a few photographs (unintrusively of course), as the café is painstakingly decorated.

En Guete!

Chili's first joint opened in Dallas as a burger joint, and have been spicing things up since 1975. Way to go, Chili's!
It's VERY obvious in their decorations that they originated from somewhere along in the United States. Where exactly in the U.S? We didn't know until I research on it and found out that they started in Texas, which probably showed how their table layout (table is made up of tiles instead of the normal wooden table material) got inspired from.
Decorations
I love how detailed they are, even up to their lightings. When we first went in, the waitress didn't allow us to sit anywhere we wanted because of 'reservations', which apparently is another example of restaurant serving invisible guests. I'm getting sick and tired of restaurants who always have their tables RESERVED ONE OR TWO HOURS in advance, when their guests never arrived even after we finished eating. So she placed us right beside the kitchen, which had smells emitting from it and my dining partner (my mother) wasn't too pleased.The open kitchen concept, to me, was a flop because it really made me feel very uncomfortable.I love how they included the plastic bottle Heinz Ketchup rather than the usual glass bottle, which really changed the total feel of Chili's table dining presentation.Menu
Salad Menu
Chili's had an extensive menu of items to choose from, including different variations of salad! This made us very pleased because we have a lot of options. They are also very detailed in describing each set of food, and the service crew was very helpful in explaining to us each dish.
Big Mouth Bites - $24.00
These four savoury mini fresh beef burgers is made with USDA choice ground steak. It is also topped with applewood smoked bacon, cheddar cheese, sauteed onions and Ranch dressing on sesame seed buns. The buns were not as tasty, but the focus is really on the meat! Served with crispy onion strings and jalapeño-ranch dressing, big mouth bites is really delicious and definitely a MUST-TRY!Close-up of the Big Mouth Bite burger
The melted cheese mixing into the bacon, letting each carnivorous mouth be delighted with juicy tingling sensations.Overview (crispy onion strings & jalapeño-ranch dressing)
This is a dish that can be shared by two medium-sized eaters, therefore its' quite worth it! Country Fried Chicken - $19.00
This pork-tender battered chicken breast is served with traditional mashed potatoes and black pepper gravy. It is also served with corn on the cob and garlic toast, which I must place emphasis that the CFC is really my favourite. The chicken which was crispy on the outside, juicy and tender in the inside, gives me a verdict that it is the BEST CHICKEN I've ever eaten! The corn was really sweet and not too oily, and the mashed potatoes bathed in gravy sauce was a perfect combination to make me feel more full.They were a little stingy on their black pepper gravy though, because it tasted SOOOOO DELICIOUS, it was peppery and salty, making the chicken moist and a whole lot tastier! The potatoes were given in a right portion, sometimes certain restaurants give too much mashed potatoes or too little. Chili's do measure their portion for the asian appetite really well!Topical Sunrise Margarita - $16.00
A tropical sunrise margarita is a beverage best taken in summer (which Singapore has all year round) because it is refreshing and cools you down! While the alcoholic content was quite strong, the sweet sourness of the drink amplifies the flavour of all the dishes. I thoroughly enjoyed the refreshing drink kindly recommended by the waiter. Oh yes, you can share it with two or three people because the cup was as huge as my face, ha-ha-ha.

If you are looking for a meal budgeted below $50, I'd recommend that you order all three items that I've ordered. I can't ask for more, they are a perfect combination to a happy, blissful evening with the family! As for the service, I'd give it a neutral rating because I was pleased by the waiter who served us but not the waitress who handled us in our seating... really quite arrogant in the way she provides her service to us.

Sng Muay Pop is just another awesome drink I believe can be easily made at home though. It seems something like a slice of sour plum being placed in ice ball and mixed with calamansi and even soda drink to be served. Sinpopo's menu says to suck on the ice balls to relieve the childhood experience of sucking on the traditional ice popsicle.
Scissors Cut Rice, a popular street food of soft chicken wings, crispy pork cutlet, egg and cabbage, served with curry gravy. Thick gravy, crispy and soft, are exactly as they described in their menu. One thing that's not met is the egg.
Zi Pao Kai with Bee Hoon ($8.90). The chicken is really tender and juicy, to an extent where I think 3 pieces is soooo not enough!
Ngoh Hiang ($7.90). You do not get to choose in Sinpopo. It is fixed, and comes with fish cake, five spices meat roll, prawn fritters and chinese sausage. I do enjoyed all of it, except for the fish cake, which seems tasteless.
Pulot Hitam with Coconut Ice Cream ($4.90). This is one classic black glutinous rice dessert back in the coffeeshops when I was still a kid.
D24 Durian Cendol ($4.90). You can expect basic ingredients such as coconut milk, jelly noodles, red beans, grass jelly, corn and such, topped with shaved ice, palm sugar and mashed durian meat.
Ais Bor ($3.90). Very similar to ice kacang/cendol, but this time shaped in a ball. A ball of ice, with the ingredients like corns, attap chee, jelly noodles, red bean, etc within.

For more details, please visit http://foodesteem.blogspot.com/2014/06/sinpopo-brand.html

Amidst the recent sprouting of hipster cafe comes Old Skool Dessert House; a dessert cafe situated in The Odeon Katong that focuses more on well-loved local desserts that is familiar to all generations alike. Given the naming, the cafe adopts a more old-school theme with the use of chalk boards for menus, simple furnishings and comes equipped with its own “detention corner” for patrons waiting for seats or takeaways. Both warm and cold desserts are available, ranging from Black Glutinous Rice to Snowflake, with a small variety of dimsum available. Beverages include coffee, where Latte, Long Black and Mocha is strangely included in the largely local-based menu.We were rather torn between the Yam Cream with Gingko Nut ($3.30) and Black Glutinous Rice, so we went with our instincts by going for the former. It was decent and had a comfortable level of sweetness without cloying up as well as being smooth. Gingko Nuts were soft as well. While it was not too bothersome, it could do a bit better by being a bit thicker.XO Durian Lovers ($5.50) was one of the items that is highly recommended by the waitress for Durian lovers, and after a spoonful we could see the reason why. Thick, fibrous puree of XO Durian dumped in an equally thick and rich durian mousse, it was mildly sweet yet immensely flavoured by the pungent fruit with its strong flavour. So rich, so thick and so satisfying, it was moments before the entire bowl was finished and I was really hoping for another one more!For more photos and the full review, please visit: http://jiaksimipng.wordpress.com/2014/05/06/old-skool-dessert-house-the-odeon-katong/