For full review: http://www.iisjong.com/2013/05/soon-heng-rojak-toa-payoh.htmlI frequent Toa Payoh a lot since I have a bus home from there. I love exploring the place because there are many interesting finds! Soon Heng Rojak was one of them. Going down to Gourmet Paradise, the basement food court at Toa Payoh HDB Hub, the first thing anyone notices is probably the long queue.Being Singaporeans, my mum and I also queued to see what the fuss was about. We had to fill our tummies anyway! The queue at the stall is not to be reckoned with; it took us about 10-15 minutes queueing on a Saturday evening.Apparently they have been featured on many media publications and TV shows before. I suppose that was what lured people in!Almost every table had this plate of rojak. For $3, I found the serving very generous! There were lots of peanuts, sauce and my favourite youtiao ^_^ I found the sauce slightly too sweet to my liking though, but wasn't watery!I think what made them popular is other than the generous serving, you could taste that the ingredients are very fresh. The coarsely chopped ingredients bring out the flavours within each. The youtiao was crispy on the outside and oven-baked before it's served.

This rojak is a great value for it's taste. Bring your foreigner friends here; it is definitely a true Singaporean food experience!This is probably one of the best rojak in Singapore. It is priced at $2.50 / $3.00 / $4.00 / $5.00.

Have you heard about the new "IT" cafe at Cathay Cineleisure Orchard? Eighteen Chefs is the latest addition to the youth hangout mall, with their posters plastered on the walls, escalators and even lifts of the mall!

Eighteen Chefs was founded by Chef Benny Se Teo in 2007. It is a social enterprise which employs and trains delinquents and drug offenders, because Chef Benny himself was a former drug addict. He hopes to inspire youths-at-risk to find alternative and positive ways of integrating into society.

Did you know? He was the FIRST Singaporean to be trained at Jamie Oliver's restaurant, Fifteen. Now, that's something huge and I am tremendously jealous!Homemade Ice Lemon Tea

With the right sweetness, this drink was an addiction!Garlic Bread

Literally. Not a fan of garlic, so I gave that a skip and had the bread only. What caught my eye in the first place was actually the plate. It definitely brought back some memories as my grandparents used to have them!

This dish was pretty unique because it wasn't your usual type of Garlic Bread where you could spread the paste. The crunchy crisp taste was evident that this was served fresh out of the oven!64 Degrees Egg

You're supposed to eat this by slurping it using a straw. I wasn't aware of that, so I just swallowed the entire egg =.= Even so, this egg is cooked at specifically 64 degrees, thus the name. It had a runny texture similar to hard boiled egg, but was slightly softer in terms of texture.Heart Attack Fried Rice

I strongly recommend this! This one we had was the 400g of New York steak, meant for 2 person. There's also a 200g portion for 1! This dish is one of Eighteen Chef's signature dishes, dedicated to Chef Benny's late mum. No wonder these was a homely feel to it. I loved the meat, it was done just right for my taste. Also, the juice of the beef and black sauce is soaked into the rice, making it extra fragrant and irresistible!Black Beauty

Delicious homemade brownie with 2 scoops of ice cream is one you should look out for when your sweet tooth is craving for a bite! The brownie was warm and moist. Drizzled with chocolate sauce, it was a good combination with the ice cream.Raspberries and Vanilla Ice Cream

I didn't taste much of this, but just a spoonful of it made one thing for sure - I LOVED the raspberry sauce that goes well with the vanilla ice cream! This dessert was a good mix of something sweet, sour and plain. The waffle was soft yet still holds the crunchiness to it.Just Chocolate in a Jar

This dessert was definitely a head-turner. It was colourful, and it comes in a cute jar. Definitely screams unique! Fans of chocolates would love this. Even though I am one, but I found the chocolatey taste too overpowering and sweet. It's worth a try though!

Calling all students! At Eighteen Chefs, there's a $6.40 Student Privilege that anyone can afford! Choose between Pasta or Cheese Baked Rice and you'll get Lemon Tea + Ice Cream!

For full review and more photos, please visit http://www.iisjong.com/2013/07/eighteen-chefs-opens-cineleisure.html

Was at Manhattan Fish Market earlier this month to try out what they had for their Independence Day offer.Fancy an accompaniment to your meals? I had the Cream of Mushroom soup. There were lots of mushrooms in it which I loved! I found it a bit watery though, but it wasn't too salty!Poached mussels in signature Garlic Herb sauce, served with baguette to soak up the delicious sauce. The Garlic Herb sauce was bitter sweet but tantalizing, lingers well on the tongue. However, I felt that there was too much sauce and too little bread!Hand battered fish fillets drizzled with garlic herb sauce, my tender dory fillets have improved in taste ever since the last time I had them. I found the garlic herb sauce pretty unique. My only concern is the fries that are rather salty to my liking.

For full post and more photos, please visit http://www.iisjong.com/2013/07/the-best-deal-in-town.html

For full post, read it here: http://www.iisjong.com/2013/07/just-like-it-revolutionary-f.html

I am always at Ang Mo Kio hub after school, because there's a bus home there (now y'all know where to stalk me, lol). A little over a month ago, the place started to change. There are new push cart shops beside the bus interchange area now!There's this shop with staff clad in scientist robes doing "experiments", similar to what you'll see in a scientist's lab. It caught my eye for a long time. Initially, everyone who walked past took a glance, walking away eventually.

However, I noticed that it has been increasingly popular these days! Huge crowds gather as onlookers were curious what this mysterious shop was all about. I was one of them. Like they say, Singaporeans love to queue and be kaypoh, right?I completely didn't have a single clue what they were selling. Drinks? Food? There were no signs, until you push through the crowd and look at the menu.Turns out it's a new ice cream shop, and these were their claims. "How to make ice cream like that!?", were my first thoughts.What they do is make ice cream fresh from scratch, so you have to wait for quite a bit. No worries because there is a queue number system. They put the ingredients into the ice cream mixer machine first. Cold liquid nitrogen gas was then blasted over the liquid mixture to freeze it.Was pretty interesting to see the smoke mist coming out, which was what captured my attention and probably everyone else's in the first place.My Say:

The ice cream had a velvety and smooth texture compared to normal ice cream. I feel that it was also "healthier" since there were no sugar added, bringing out the natural sweetness of the ingredient. This Durian Durian ice cream I had was made from pure D24 durian; you could taste some of the meat! It was pretty palatable.New PopCorn, one of their signatures.

The balance in flavours was well-tipped and there were popcorn bits in the ice cream to give it a gritty texture to the smooth ice cream. There wasn't much of the popcorn taste though, it was pretty mild? You could also see that as compared to the Durian Durian, there was a huge difference in the amount of 1 scoop.

Apart from the gimmick concept of seeing your order freshly made before you, did the liquid nitrogen ice cream taste better? Hmm.. I would say it's so-so. Moreover, I think they made the ice cream cup by cup, taking up a lot of time. But to each his own!

Located at Selegie Road, it is just a few minutes walk away from Little India MRT Station. Finding the place was pretty easy since it was located near a traffic junction. It was quite interesting to spot this Western cafe so near Little India! There's free Wi-Fi access in the cafe.

Stepping in, the cafe felt comfortable with the warm lightings and good choice of music. I liked how the tables were arranged; there was this area for dining, another area for catch ups, and there's also tall chairs for customers to enjoy their drinks. I felt that the staff were really friendly! Also, I saw a lot of couples enjoying their meals during dinner time.

Baby Back Ribs (Half)

Meat wise, it was tasty, and the good taste lingers in your mouth. However, I felt that the portion was a little bit smaller than expected, and the meat was slightly harder for my liking.

Fries wise, it's not very soggy although I'll prefer it to be fried till more crispy brown.

Vegetables wise, they all tasted fresh and crunchy to me!

Classic Colonial Chicken

Meat wise, it was very juicy and roasted well! I'm not sure if they used the same sauce as the Baby Back Ribs, but the sauce was indeed addicting. I felt that it tasted better on the chicken. Personal preference!

The vegetables and fries tasted the same as the one above.

You should order beer when you're there because it complements most dishes really well!

Overall, I felt that the meals were pretty burp-worthy!

Colonial Bistro Cafe
235 Selegie Road
Singapore 188347

Opening Hours:
Monday – Thursday : 11am to 1am
Friday & Saturday : 11am to 3am
Sunday : 11am to 12am