When I first visited Ann Siang Hill, I was overwhelmed to see all the fancy high-end tapas bars and interior impressive cafes all perched up the hill. At the moment in my life, I was exploring the place alone and the weather was exceptionally humid and warm. I needed somewhere to rest my aching feet and quench my thirst.

Greeted by a cool blast of wind upon entering the cafe call Shots, I knew nothing what to expect from this place. Maybe a nice cup of iced tea followed by a cuppa of hot coffee? For all I care is just to take a rest and enjoy the air-con place!Being the only coffee house in the vicinity, I would say this is one cafe you must visit if you’re on your cafe-hopping spree.

There is without a doubt I could see myself coming down regularly if I ever need a strong cup of coffee to enrich my conversations with friends over tea. But the thing about being a food blogger is you’re always on the lookout for the next cafe to try out.

It was about a year since my first visit before I managed to drop by the place again. To my surprise, I find the former location of the cafe taken over by a bar. Now their current location, just a minute’s walk from the intersection of Ann Siang Hill and Club Street.It’s a totally new concept at the cafe now with artwork of various themes all neatly hanged along the walls. One could grab a nice cuppa and sit there for hours reading books and finishing your work or chitchat with friends what’s for dinner after tea. Irregardless of what you do within the four walls of the coffee house, you can be assured of the quality of Shot’s coffee to go with their gelato or cakes if you so fancy.

Forget about that expensive and unworthy Antoinette. Just make your way down to Shots Cafe and politely request for a personalised latte art instead. I think it’ll be an understatement to just say this is just another cafe on Ann Siang Hill. Wouldn’t you agree?

After all, this is the place where latte art meets real life art.

The agenda for the morning was to have a hearty breakfast at Next Door Deli and grab some of those old school buttercream cakes from Pine Garden as gifts for our lecturers. But life can be full of uncertainties especially when you aren’t sure what time will they start business. True enough we were disappointed to know that we came too early. We could have waited for an hour or so but why bother if we can head to another place right?

We managed to find another cafe just down the street selling mostly old school desserts of every kind and dim sum dishes. It’s quite easy to know what they sell since almost all their menu are laminated and stick onto every corner of the shop.It was a simple breakfast affair. Nothing too fancy or too expensive with most of their food menu ranging from $2 to $4. I didn’t expect anything out of this world until I tried their Honey Butter Toast. Just imagine tearing through crisp butter toast messily drizzled in honey, every mouthful is a bliss! They do have other variations but according to the friendly staffs, this is their best-seller and I have no doubts this toast deserves being called the best!I’m very well aware they have almost all my favourite old school desserts but it was just too early in the morning for one. Instead I opt for their Hazelnut Ice Coffee which I have to say it was well brewed considering this place resembles like your nearby coffeeshop. But with more variety from your plain cuppa. My partner ordered a nice smooth cup of milk tea which kinda reminds me of the days I spent in Hong Kong sipping tea at the local cha can teng after shopping.

For a person like me who treat drinks as secondary, this is one place I dare recommend for really good and affordable drinks. And the best part is you can order more without feeling a heavy pinch in your pockets since there’s no GST and service charge involved. If I’m around the area of Ang Mo Kio again, I might just step into this place again for their beverages or desserts.

That is provided I managed to reach the shop before they closes at 4.30pm.

Heaven came white and silky. Delectable but not sugary artificially sweeten. It's one of those moment I wished it would last just a bit longer. I mean come on lahh, how many times of the day do you have that kind of heavenly happiness feeling and at $1.50 for the plain and $2.00 for the almond, I can be assured of having bowls and bowls Beancurd without feeling that stringent pain in my wallet.

But ever since that first encounter, I can't deny my love for Lao Ban's Tau Huay so much so that I make it a point to get at least one bowl either for morning breakfast or late night dessert whenever I pay homage to the hawker centre. Even my family got addicted like all those who buy Lao Ban Beancurd by the plastic bags with each containing five bowls of heaven! I just can't help to wonder why. Either they have a big family who loves Tau Huay like mine or they stock their fridge with bowls of curded soybean milk just for pure enjoyment sake like I do? Do not be surprised if you see people queuing in front of the store even before they draw up the metal gates and start business. What about you? Would you bear the heat and time all in the name of good Tau Huay?

Such is the things we do for the best Beancurd...

Tampopo has been one of my personal favorites when it comes to Japanese cuisines. It's quite hard to miss the place unless your motive for visiting Liang Court is for affordable pastas.

It doesn't come as a surprise to know that Tampopo which in my opinion, easily serves the best tonkatsu. Thick cuts of the most revered black pig fried breaded and deep fried till it's perfectly golden brown. I just wish everyday is a day for tonkatsu! What a wishful thinking right?

Another main bulk of the attraction would be their ramen. Mainly two styles of preparation. Hokkaido and Kyushu. I won't be going through the differences between the two since I am no ramen expert to begin with. Deluxe is the way of life when it comes to the Black Pig Shabu Ramen. Extremely flavorful broth. Personally, the main attraction is still the Black Pig lying in wait. Tender and chewy but I have to say. Such stuffs are meant to enjoy at the start. Never leave the meat to the last. By then, it will be tough and laborious to enjoy. The egg were special though. Runny yolk encased in a hard-boiled egg. Impressive!Thick slabs of charsiu just waiting to be indulge in... What are you waiting for? Pick up your chopsticks! This Kyushu CharSiu Ramen is by no means comparable to the shabu ramen since it's a category all by itself. Slightly on the saltier end of the note though...

As I have proclaimed. Tampopo has been my favorite place to go GaGa over Japanese food. Sashimi that's seems almost straight from a Sake or Maguro airflown from the markets of Japan. Does it get any fresher?

I don't think so...

Surely you might disagree since there are other places such as Marutama or Ippudo which fare far more better than Tampopo's rendition. I can't really put a gauge since I am no ramen expert but given the portions and the price tags that Tampopo has to offer, it's definitely a better choice.

As westernised as I am, there's always a side of me looking for old school desserts. Pulut hitam, ondeh ondeh, ching teng just to name a few but the most revered of all has got to be chendol. It's really a simple dessert if you wanna talk about the ingredients that goes into the dessert. Ice shavings, jackfruit, red ruby, red beans, sweet corns, coconut milk, gula meleka and let's not forget those green strips rice flour which is what define chendol as chendol.

I tired many local chendols but sadly none were even comparable to those across the bridge and much less beyond. Simply because almost everything that goes into our local ones often comes out from a metal can and all these processed ingredients aren't making your dessert better especially if it's made by inexperienced individual. Chendol ain't your healthy choice of dessert either so if I wanna have one, it's has to be worth clotting those arteries or else it's a firm NO.

I gave up on local ones, seeking only what I thought were the best on the other side of the bridge (Malaysia, especially Malacca.) but good things are hard to come by especially when it requires your passport to be scanned and stamped.

Although Thai Express's rendition is still no where near the standards of those street side ones you find in Malacca, it is still one of the better ones I slurped/stirred/digged in Singapore but it's definitely my definition of good chendol. It's even more tempting to grab one after reading the description of the menu:

"Fragrant jackfruit slices, colorful strains of chendol and chewy flour bits in a sea of rich coconut milk and traditional Thai palm sugar."

I might not be a fan of Thai food but for the a good bowl cup of chendol, I wouldn't mind having tom yum or green curry for dinner or better yet.