Today, Boss S and I went to check out Yi Gen Mian (一根面) eatery at Plaza Singapura's basement.

I was attracted by the name of the eatery, which also literally means 'One Strand of Noodle'!Menu featuring their set noodle page

You can order the noodles ala carte, it costs anywhere from $7.80 to $10.20 a bowl. For bigger eaters, you can opt to select the set meal (shown above). The set meal consists of a main dish + sides + drink + dessert! The dinner set menu you see here is only available from 5pm to 10pm.

On the menu, there are also other food items, like Spare ribs rice, etc. But hey, you're eating at a noodle eatery, so check out the noodles!

So boss S ordered the jajiang mian (炸酱面) and I ordered the spareribs soup noodles (无锡排骨面) since it was highly recommended to us by the waiter! The noodles costed $8.80 and $9.50 respectively. We were given 2 choices for the type of noodle, 1 being the signature 1 strand of noodle (一根面) and the other being knife sliced noodles (刀削面).

We both went for the signature strand of noodles.

Here are some interesting facts about it:

1. It is literally made from 1 strand of noodle. A very long strand.

2. It is 10 metres long. (What?!)

3. 100% freshly handmade - as soon as you order.

4. Lastly, my favourite.... NO MSG! Wheeeee!

And here, the noodles came:jajiang mianSpareribs soupy noodles

Honestly, for me, I felt that the winning factor in the whole bowl was the pure elasticity of the noodles. It was the right type of springy and was cooked just right. I loved the noodles very much. For the condiments, like the saucey minced meat in jajiang mian and the spareribs soup did not really surprise me that much. I guess, the lack of MSG did play a part, since Singaporeans have salty tongues due to the kinds of foods we are used to.

So the soup tasted quite light, despite all the sight of the oil floating on the soup (which came from the spareribs). I welcomed the refreshing combination. There were also slices of ginger apparent in the dish that I was not able to taste.

We also order their guo tie (5 for $5.80), which was really very well done. Honestly, I'm not really a guo tie person but I liked this dish as the meat inside the dumpling tasted really nice.The guo tie!

All in all, I would highly recommend this place if you have some non-msg noodle cravings.

Rating: 4 / 5

Dear all, just to let you know that Bornga (본가), is now having a business set lunch promo!Their stews go for $9.90++ now. This also includes side dishes house dessert and tea! I love the (wheat) tea they served!

As usual, I went for my doenjang jjigae (된장 찌개) today. They will cook/ heat this up in front of you!!Ta-dah! Its done and ready to eat!Laced with sesame oil, the bornga way would be to eat it mixed with rice and doenjang jjigae, like bibimbap (비빔밥)!Something like that, I think! Mine doesn't look too reddish because I didn't put too much chilli paste Our normal potato salad banchan (반찬) ran out when we asked for a refill. But what was served was a very refreshing sweet purple potato salad banchan!In it, there are small red pepper and black bean bits, topped with peanut crush. LOVELY. Couldnt stop eating this despite me being too full after my chiggae.

My friend was also very pleased with her dolsot bibimbap (돌솥 비빔밥) a.k.a stone pot bibimbap!!Happy!!

Visit Bornga here:Rating: 3.8 / 5

After painting lessons, I met PJ for lunch at Nana's Green Tea restaurant. It's a modern looking Japanese restaurant with a yellow lighted theme. By the time we finished our food, there was a long queue of people waiting for seats.

Anyway, I liked the design of the restaurant, plus the chairs, goodness, it was very comfortable to sit in.Privacy for people sitting in the middle of the restaurant, as tables are separated by a makeshift wired wall.Cool tables with no legs. Hangs from the ceiling.

I wanted to try the signature dishes of this place, but there was so much good looking food on the menu, I almost could not decide. This wasn't the main menu - but was the every day set lunch menu. It was quite a good deal as you get a drink with the main course. Their drinks are expensive if you order ala carte, and can easily go up to more than $7 for a glass of beverage.We ended up ordering from this set lunch menu anyway as most of the main courses we wanted to try were listed in it.We both ordered the cold thin green tea, which is served with no milk and sugar in it - good for the health and weight conscious. I added an additional topping of vanilla soft serve in my drink, which costed about $1 extra. Of course, if you feel that it's quite bitter, they also serve with liquid sugar which you can add into your drink as you like.For salads, we had the recommended Chicken Karaage Salad ($6.80). I loved it! It had Chicken Karaage, tomato, lettuce, cucumber and half boiled egg. I ordered the roasted sesame dressing. Next up, the Salmon & Cream Sushi Roll ($5.80 for 4 pcs, $10 for 8 pcs). It contained salmon, egg, avocado, cucumber and topped with cheese mayonnaise. Delish and very filling!One thing about the lighting in this place, is that it's too yellow. My photos turned out quite yellow for this dish, but I assure you that it's more towards the cream looking colour. haha.

This dish, called the Seafood mentaiko udon with cream sauce ($15.80), lived up to its creamy name. I love mentaiko - aka walleye pollock roe. Its flavour infused into the creamy concoction and made it very yummy indeed. Seafood, which included prawns, scallops and squid, were worth it as they were generous with its servings.This Chicken Cutlet Curry ($13.80) was a really generous serving of Japanese curry, warm japanese millet rice and a huge chicken cutlet. The fried chicken cutlet was fried nicely and the meat was tender and the skin was the right kind of crispy.

I should also mention that rice served in this restaurant are all millet rice. On their menu, they shared that it uses an ancient rice receipe containing 10 different kinds of cereal mixed with polished rice and it has many nutrients, such as minerals, vitamins and dietary fibre, which are good for the heart. [Plus points for being super healthy and remembering to take care of their customers' hearts!]Just opposite their restaurant, there's a mini cafe counter with the kitchen, also part of their restaurant. It's easier as people can just order the drinks for takeaway without having to crowd in the shop while their drink is being made. Also, as the kitchen is apart from the sit down area, customers don't reek of food smells after their meal. I appreciate that very much.

Location:

The Atrium @ Orchard, Plaza Singapura (New Wing)

60B, Orchard Road, #03-80/82 Singapore 238891

Tel: +65-6684 4312

Operating Hours: 11am - 10pm (Last order: 9.30pm)

My Ratings (the higher the score, the better it is!)

Food: 4.3 / 5

Ambience: 4.2 / 5

Bang for your buck (Value): 4.5 / 5

Service: 4 / 5

Average scoring via my F.A.B.S rating: 4.28 / 5 (Must try!)

Today, I'm going to talk about my trip to Maison Ikkoku Cafe!Image taken from Google Maps

My friend, Hannah, introduced this cool place to me! As I went in the evening, I couldn't take a good shot of the exterior, hence I used this image instead, from google maps. What can I say about this place - I love its coffee! Honestly, I like coffee which is light and not too acidic.

Well, this place has one of the best coffee I ever tasted, at least for people like me, who just wants a cup of nice, smooth coffee brew without having to feel so sour at the end of the day. This is their menu! Just a one page food menu. But their specialty is coffee! So my aim was not to be so fixated on what they have to offer on food.

Hannah says they serve good sandwiches. But I'm on a diet (ackhem), so this time, I ordered salad instead. (What? Seriously? Salad?) The salad turned out to be WONDERFUL, okay? We had the Caprese Salad ($16). I loved the mozzarella and everything else about the salad. It was light on the palate and was delicious.Hannah has a sweet tooth, I realised. Haha. So we ordered a Molten Lava Cake ($7.50) and a Red Velvet Cake ($9). If you only can choose one cake, order the molten lava cake if you're up for a thick, rich taste. It was very nice.The red velvet cake was nice too, but I would still choose the molten lava over it anyday. I felt the taste texture of the white chocolate flakes on top of the cake could have been further improved, while the cake itself was fluffy and light. The amount of cream was just right too.I seriously thought that the decorations on the plate were mustard and ketchup, under the cafe's lighting. HAHA. Of course it's not, hello! Its raspberry sauce and something else, I forgot. Hannah had the Signature MI Latte ($6), which turned out to be a very good choice. Halfway through the drink, the foam was still in the cup and did not dissolve. That's some nice barista skill right there.Here's my Brew V60 Pour Over Coffee ($6)! I ordered it over the counter, where there were 2 flavours (Ethopia Konga and Guatemala San Antonio) for choosing. I went with the popular choice, Ethopia Konga (and now I do understand why it IS the popular choice). It was very smooth - ever have coffee just glide down your throat nicely? This is THE ONE which will totally satisfy your coffee craving. It has a floral aroma and the coffee has a strawberry cocoa finish.

Because I loved this so much, I looked around the shop and saw they had the V60 coffee machine up for sale too - but the total cost (filters, machine, etc) came up to about a few hundred bucks. I rather travel here for a cuppa and to chill out!

It is really nice to go to a place and find something you really like - which in this instance, I did. I really like this coffee and only have good things to say about it. Well, okay, the only bad thing is that the cup is not big enough for me! hahaha. Wish I could have more If you want to know what other drinks they sell, here's the list:Did I also mention they have a bar on the second floor? Maybe next time I will check that out too!

Directions:

Take train to Bugis MRT Station (Go to Downtown Line), go up exit C. Walk along the road of Rochor road (You will see Bugis Junction right in front of you). But instead of going to Bugis Junction, turn right and go down North Bridge road all the way. When you reach Masjid Sultan Mosque (which will be on your right hand side), turn right and walk further down. It should take you about 10 minutes (max) to get there from Bugis MRT Station.

Here's how I got to the cafe (see red highlighted path).Address: 20 Kandahar Street, Singapore 198885

Tel: 62940078

Operating Hours:

The cafe @ Level 1Mon-Thur: 9am~9pmFri-Sat: 9am~11pmSun: 9am~7pmThe bar @ level 2Sunday - Thursday: 4pm ~ 1amFriday, Saturday & Eve of PH: 4pm - 2am

My Ratings (the higher the score, the better it is!)

Food: 4.5 / 5

Ambience: 3.8 / 5

Bang for your buck (Value): 4 / 5

Service: 3.5 / 5

Average scoring via my F.A.B.S rating: 3.95 / 5 (Must try!)

Just yesterday, I visited Sun with Moon Japanese Dining & Cafe at Wheelock Place, Orchard Road.

It brought back memories of one friend as she was the one who first brought me here about 5 years ago. (Alice, I hope you're doing well!)

The place still looked the same as how I had visited it years ago, with nice, comfy chairs that really provides comfort while eating your meal. Also, I like how tables are well spaced out, so that you're still able to have a, somewhat, 'private' conversation with your friends.

I came here with two ex-colleagues-cum-friends and this place was really great for us to do some catching up.Big sisters of mine with 2 garfield soft toys they collected after the recent Garfield Run.

The set meal here is expensive - one set meal for example (which I had wanted to order), was the Sukiyaki & Tempura set, which comes with sliced Aus beef and vegetables in hotpot, a cracked egg, rice, soup and assorted deep fried tempura.

I did not order that as I was worried it might turn out too much for one person, on a diet too, to be having.

So....

I ordered the ala carte sukiyaki ($17.80)! The beef was served raw with soup broth. It cooked pretty quickly, about a few minutes or so. From this...To this! YAY!! Finally ready to eat. Big sister Serene felt that she likes the pork here - so she ordered an ala carte Pork Shogayaki ($12.80) instead of having the set, which comes with soft shell crab tempura, soup and rice. If you order rice separately, each order will cost you a hefty $3, which every Singaporean knows is expensive to pay for a bowl of rice! Big sister Christina ordered a Bara Chirashi set, which came with a soup, (a super small sized) chanwamushi - steamed egg - and the main dish (Sushi rice bowl with grilled eel, flame-seared salmon and scallops!). This set cost $28.80.When dining in a Japanese restaurant, how can you leave out the salad? I ordered the Bacon & Mozzarella Caesar Salad ($12.80). The appetising dish was well presented in a really huge bowl and was served with a special sauce, which I just poured it all over the salad without thinking twice. (Here goes the diet plan!) The salad tasted fresh and came with fresh mozzarella cubes which really added flavour to the otherwise typical mix. What also gave it a winning edge was also its thick cut bacon strips, that came with some fat on it. It tasted really good and I would seriously recommend this dish to anyone not on a diet.

Lastly, it's dessert time! You cannot leave Sun with Moon restaurant without trying out their desserts. It's one of the most lightweight desserts I've eaten and this is one of the top choices of my review tonight.What else? DESSERT TIME!!

For people who love variety in their food, I recommend the dessert trio ($9.80). The dessert comes with a goma pudding, a small slice of tofu cheese cake and green tea ice-cream topped with red beans. You will not regret this.

My favourite was the goma pudding (also known as black sesame pudding). They managed to marry both rich black sesame paste and silky milk pudding together, making the smooth and bouncy texture of their matrimony that much more exciting to eat.I also ordered a Matcha Tiramisu (Green Tea Tiramisu), it costs $6.80. It tasted so light and fluffy, it was a perfect end to the heavy meal.In summary, I like the food in this place, but I feel that most food items are really expensive. I would only return if I have more money to spare!

Location:

Wheelock Place

501 Orchard Road #03-15

Singapore 238880

Tel: +65-6733-6636

Directions - From Orchard MRT Station (red line), exit the station on facing Ion Orchard. When you've exited, just turn towards your right. Walk straight and follow through to the underpass and when you've reached the end of it (there should be an escalator), use that to get to level 3. The restaurant is on this floor. (Even if you can't find it, just ask any Singaporean locals. They'll be happy to direct you to Wheelock Place.)

My Ratings (the higher the score, the better it is!)

Food: 4.2 / 5

Ambience: 4 / 5

Bang for your buck (Value): 3 / 5

Service: 3 / 5

Average scoring via my F.A.B.S rating: 3.55 / 5