For photos, please visit Rubbish Eat Rubbish Grow: http://rubbisheatrubbishgrow.wordpress.com/2011/12/26/3-inch-sin-millenia-walk/

When I was there, waiting for Jasper Aston Lim and Melissa Koh, the aroma from the oven, the freshly baked scent, was killing me. I MUST EAT NOW. The thought of robbing the cakes crossed my mind.

Decor: The place has a L-shaped sitting area with a bar table at the back. While the focus here is on the food, the decor could be improved, maybe have a theme

The shop specializes in molten chocolate cakes ($6.50 for non-alcoholic, $7.50 for alcoholic). Celine, 1/2 of the owners, left her cushy job to pursue her passion. Very courageous and admirable. She was trained at Cordon Bleu and interpreted the cakes with molten middles in souffle cups. She uses 70% valrhona dark chocolate.

There are 11 flavors and we tried Original, Peanut Butter, White Chocolate, Bitter Orange, Raspberry, Lemon, Cherries Jubilee and Hazelnut. We all had our favorites but strangely no one picked the Original as his or her favorites.

Jasper’s favorite is raspberry and Melissa’s is white chocolate. However, raspberry,white chocolate, bitter orange and hazelnut didn’t work for me because the favors didn’t come through. This is partly because the flavors are concentrated in the center and I ate from the side (my bad). When I feedback-ed that the favors could be stronger, Celine explained that it may affect the overall taste. She knows her stuff. Don’t play play.I strongly recommend Peanut Butter, Lemon and Cherries Jubilee. Peanut butter is ALWAYS awesome, especially with chocolate; this was thick and chunky–like how I like my men to be. The Lemon was a huge surprise. Lemon and chocolate Who would have thought But the cake wasn’t sour, it was mildly sweet. There was a strong citrus fragrance, very refreshing. Perks you up from your afternoon lethargy. The alcoholicCherries Jubilee came with whole cherries. There was a subtle cherry-sweetness that pervaded the entire cake and the bitterness from the alcohol added another dimension to the cake.

In general, the cakes are (1) the texture was crispy on the top, but soft inside. And in the mouth, the cake felt very smooth. (2) they are not overly sweet. In fact, they are only mildly sweet, so the focus is on the quality of the chocolate.

The cakes are available for take-away. Just warm it up in the microwave for 15-20 seconds.

New to the menu are cakes, tarts and ice creams.

The ice creams ($3.50) are customized to be less sweet so that they could go well with the cakes. There are seasonal favors so ask for them. In general, vanilla ice cream goes well with chocolate molten cakes.

Mogador ($7) is a chocolate cake with dark chocolate mousse and chocolate sponge, glazed with–not chocolate!–raspberry. Most SIngaporeans, including me, have a predilection for airy Japanese cakes. The cakes from Celine–trained at Cordon Bleu–are more European. It was light but chocolate cakes in general couldn’t be as light as Japanese cakes. It tasted a bit like seaweed to me! Another friend tasted it too. I thought it was quite unique, surprising and fun.

Perhaps there was an overdose of chocolate, so I cannot really taste the chocolateness in the Dark Side ($6), a chocolate tart.

Overall, I’d still stick to the molten chocolate cakes, one of the best I’ve tasted, a scoop of ice cream, a cup of hot tea and a book on a lazy afternoon. Hey, if my hero Brad LadyIronChef Lau declares it’s the best molten chocolate cake in Singapore, it is the best in Singapore ok!

For photos, please visit Rubbish Eat Rubbish Grow: http://rubbisheatrubbishgrow.wordpress.com/2011/12/23/crust-pizza-upper-thomson/While Chef Peter Augoustis was studying to be an aviation engineer, he was making pizza as a part-time job. In 2001, in Australia, his cousin asked him to help in a pizza joint. In 2007, Chef Augoustis entered a nationwide pizza competition and came in tops! The competition organization sponsored him to Vegas for the World’s Best Pizza – he won and then spent the winnings at Vegas! Hey, it’s only world’s best pizza right No big deal. Don’t need to rush down here. In ten years or so, Crust Pizza has 100 over outlets in Australia and two in Singapore, Holland Village and Upper Thomson. The success is insane!

The decor of the place is – well – fuss-free, neighborhood eatery lor. The open concept makes it friendly but I wish there were aircon.

Some pizzerias claim to be fusion food by, say, just adding jalapenos and calling it Mexican pizza. But the idea behind of Crust Pizza is that it truly reinvents the notion of a pizza; it cooperates the food from a certain culture. For instance, the Roast Duck Pizza($22, duck breast, bak choy, sesame seed on hoisin base) and Five Spice Pork Belly($23, pear slices, wild rocket, crushed walnuts & balsamic glaze) are invented in Singapore and brought back to Australia.

The bad thing about having an event and a food tasting at the same time is we couldn’t take proper notes, so we are not commenting much about the food.

There are four types of pizzas: meat ($23, including pork, lamb & beef), poultry ($22),seafood ($25) and vegetarian ($21). Mr NGFL and Wise Guy tried one from each category.

Wild Mushroom ($21, wild marinated mushroom mix, asparagus, pine nuts, topped with parmesan & truffle oil on Bechamel cream sauce base). There are a few vegetarian options. The wild mushroom pizza has a distinctive, powerful taste of wild mushrooms. You really can taste the wildness or wilderness in the mushroom.

Moroccan Lamb ($23, Moroccan lamb, spanish onions & baby spinach, with mint yoghurt & lemon). This is the pizza that won the Best Pizza in the World. It was very delicious, and certainly reminded Mr NGFL and Wise Guy of lamb kebab, very Arabian. The flavors worked very well together and there wasn’t the stench of lamb. We can’t say in all honesty that it is the best pizza we have ever tasted but it was very excellent. This is a must order if you’re a kebab fan.

Spicy Pesto Scallops ($25, spicy sundried tomato pesto, scallops, spring onions, roasted red peppers & goat cheese with pine nuts). This was not memorable for us probably because pizzas (as dough) tend to dilute the taste and you need a strong seafood (like salmon) to make the pizza stand out.

Peri-Peri Chicken ($22, Marinated chicken breast, spring onions, roasted red peppers, caramelised onions & bocconcini (Italian white cheese) with Peri-peri sauce.) Now Joanne Peh doesn’t need to stomp out of Nando’s. She can do it at Crust Pizza. This is another favorite of ours. It was moist and the flavors came on strongly, sweet and spicy with a creaminess. If you have a second pizza, order this.

Kungpow Chicken ($22). Spicy-hot, decent and easy on the eyes. My one minor gripe is it markets itself as kungpow chicken. It’s hoisin-sauce with fresh red chili and cashews but it’s not dried-chili, sweet-sauce, stir-fried amalgam. It’s good by itself but it just isn’t kungpow-derful.

One of the important criteria for judging a pizza is the crust. Here, the crust is dusted with semolina, a coarse flour-like wheat substance, giving it that oomph and texture. The chef also revealed to us a secret: poke the crust with a fork: this enables the air to go through, fluffing it up, and giving it an airiness.

Overall, all the 5 pizzas ranged from good to excellent.

For photos, please visit Rubbish Eat Rubbish Grow: http://rubbisheatrubbishgrow.wordpress.com/2011/12/21/tatsu-teppanyaki-chijmes/

I’m super cheapskate. If you eat teppanyaki at food court, it can cost up to $20. Seriously Food court The set lunch here only cost $19 (including GST)! It includes salad , fried rice, miso, choice of salmon or prawns or chicken, bean sprouts, and fruits.

The Japanese-styled decor is a long bar-table with the teppanyaki chef, instead of bartender. It’s a little cramp but we were here for the food.The salad, miso soup and fruits were ok. But everything was AWESOME. Look at the fried rice. Every grain was coated by egg. It was not too dry, not too wet, not at all oily. A little peppery for me, but what the heck. It was tasty.

I picked salmon and Saliva picked prawns. The chef asked if we wanted to share, we said ok. And the chef automatically split the portions up, so we don’t eat from the same bowl. Plus points of being considerate!

The salmon was simmered in an aluminum “boat” on the teppan (or hot iron griddle) in an egg sauce and with a bit of sake, I think. It looked very gooey and ugly but tasted awesome. The prawns came with mayonnaise, which suited Saliva’s taste.

Most dishes came with a huge topping of fried garlic. Not so good for first dates, but, as Saliva said, “Who doesn’t like garlic” I know who, Edward from Twilight Vampires, avoid this place.

The dishes were cooked right in front of you, with the chef doing some kungfu stance. Very entertaining.

Good service, topped up the green tea often.

All in all, an intimate atmosphere with great food, value-for-money and good service.

For more photos, please visit Rubbish Eat Rubbish Grow: http://rubbisheatrubbishgrow.wordpress.com/2011/10/21/hui-wei-chinese-thai-cuisine-回味中泰小廚-lavender-little-india/

This new stall at a usual coffeeshop is going to be featured on 煮炒来啰 (Sizzling Wok)–the TV show Pornsak is hosting–so we, kiasu Singaporeans and one PRC, just had had had to be the first to go there before it gets super crowded! I read a food blogger’s entry on the stall and she didn’t seem to be very enthusiastic about the food. But wow! the food was good! and quickly cheered me up! So warm for the tummy tum tum on a cool day!

The stall, situated in an old kopitiam, with lots of old uncles around–old neighbourhood mah, me ah beng like the atmosphere! so comfortable, can chew with mouth open—is near Lavender MRT and Jalan Besar Stadium, which kinda reminded me of 14K because he works nearby. :~( My emo tear.

The first dish was “美人鱼” eggplant or mermaid eggplant ($7). I know it doesn’t look 美 (pretty) right? BUT you’ll be blown away by the taste! Hookerlily’s favorite dish – so addictive! It reminded me a bit of honey lemon fried fish, but it was more sweet with just a very small tinge of sourish. It retained its crispiness throughout our meal and as crispy as potato chips. There was an aftertaste of dried chili in the mouth so you just feel like putting another piece in..and another piece…and another. It would go so well with beer! If only I drink. Ah Beng who don’t drink beer=#fail.

Boss told us that this is one of the three dishes he and the chef created themselves for the tv show 创意料理 (Creative Cooking). He didn’t say if they won, but if they didn’t win, then the winning team can be Michelin restaurant already.The second dish the chef and he created is Signature Fish Head ($15). Look at the humongous size of the fish head! For $15 only! I felt like we were robbing the stall. This was Chiobu’s favorite. She said the flesh was very tender and the sauce! OMG. It was so unique, this is the only place you can eat such a sauce. We asked the boss what sauce it was–so delicious and appetizing–he said it was blended vegetables with celery as the main ingredient. Chiobu said, “DON’T BLUFF ME! I’m chio, not stupid! Where got celery inside??”

I know some people dislike the taste of celery but do you know it takes more energy to disgest celery than the celery contains itself? and it fights cancer, high blood pressure AND bad breath! If all these reasons don’t convince you to eat celery, then this sauce will. It didn’t taste like celery at all. It had ZERO vegetable taste and was slightly limey, very slightly spicy, slightly sweet with just a very, very mild bitterness that most people won’t notice. It’s 酸甜苦辣 all in it! It’s like life! A very good way for difficult children to eat their vegetables. My whole collar of my t-shirt is wet as I am writing this entry because my saliva is dripping. Yummilicious!

Thai Styled fried cuttlefish ($7) on the menu… or calamari! After the two awesome dishes, Chiobu and Hookerlily were, “eh… so-so nia.” I kept quiet. Then they turned to look at me and I looked down at the table. They said, “Don’t tell me you like this dish!!!” Peer pressure leh! How to respond?

I’ll give you reasons why I like it. Thick flesh, little flour, not oily at all. And the accompanying sauce–which tasted like Indian rojak chili sauce–was hot. Come on! Which stall will actually cook a fresh batch of sauce for you??? How considerate was that! I agree that the squid by itself was a little bland, but it was a good contrast to the very flavorful first two dishes. It was really not bad, and in fact, it’s better than most mid-range restaurants, and Hookerlily agreed that it was better than Merry Men, a place she loves.

Chiobu suggested they should serve it with mayonnaise. Actually, it would be awesome if they can create a tom yum mayonnaise.

Fujian mian, or Hokkien noodles ($3). This was our least favorite–but then again, I never like Hokkien noodles. To us, it lacked salt (but 8 out of 10 Singaporeans eat too much salt so it’s good for us it’s not salty). But Mao Mao absolutely loved it. He said, “Mao Mao xi huan!!! (likes) Veri smell lice (fragrant) andz got many zhu you zha (lard).”

we voted and decided to give this stall a high rating. The food was fantastic. Even now 6 hours after eating, my tummy feels so cozy and warm, like snuggling under the blanket on a cold day.

For more photos, please visit Rubbish Eat Rubbish Grow: http://rubbisheatrubbishgrow.wordpress.com/2011/12/18/makeshake-little-india/When people go to gym, they drink protein shake. When I go, I make milk shake. Because I need motivation for suffering. Over time, I make a mean milk shake. That’s right, “my milkshake brings all the boys to the yard, damn right, they’re better than yours.” (please get the Kelis reference, thanks.)

What makes a good shake? 1. The fatter the milk, the fuller the taste. 2. Quality of ice cream (usually vanilla ice cream because this is just a base for the ice cream to match with other ingredients). 3. Throw in whatever ingredients you want. For gym, I throw in bananas, peanut butter and protein powder. 4. Blend the daylights out of the shake. Consistency is important.

At MakeShake, they make their own vanilla ice cream as base for the milkshake, so the ice cream is less sweet. This is a good move because when the ingredients are blended in, the milkshake would turn out to be sweet but not saccharinely so.

When you order, you just have to pick the ingredients you want to add into the vanilla base. Each ingredient costs $0.70. The combinations are limitless. There are choices of chocolate (Kit Kat, M&M, Kinder Bueno, etc), fruits (banana, long’an, etc), tea/coffee (earl gray is a favorite among adults). Teenagers and studentswould love to mix their own favors, they are more adventurous than working adults. If you don’t want to customize, the shop has a menu you can order from. For the menu, the small sizes cost $3.90 while the big cups cost $5.40.

Hot boys, Jasper Aston Lim and Saunders Shen, customized their shakes. Jasper had a earl gray milkshake, which tasted refreshing. Saunders Shen had a peanut butter one; I forgot the taste. I ordered the shake on the menu, Peanut Butter Sandwich, consisting of peanut butter, banana and dark chocolate fudge. It was awesome! It tasted exactly like peanut butter sandwich, you can bite the bits of peanut in it. I love thick stuff–Saunders doesn’t–and peanut butter thickens the ice cream, which is fine to me. But the shake could be smoother. And towards the end, like all milkshakes, it got a bit excessive.

Ambience: MakeShake takes over the space for the horrible Cottage Waffle Place, so this is a kiosk with some tables and chairs to sit. The only bad thing about the stall is the location, inaccessible for most people.

Overall, it’s nice and fun especially if you concoct your own mix.