ARGH! I have not been blogging lately as my computer had died on me. Found out that it was due to a RAM problem. It's settled now! WHEEE! Praise the Lord!

So here I am, at Pu Tien Restaurant (莆田菜馆) as a form of celebration. Hurhur.Such a dark photo of me taken by Melissa.Melissa was already unhappy, waiting for Doreen's arrival for so long. haha.

While waiting, we were served with side dishes - Fried seaweed slices with peanuts, some sour radish appetizer.The fried seaweed slices and peanuts were very shiok ! (Very nice!) And without trying the sliced white pickled radish, we told them to change it to the seaweed and peanuts for us because we just couldn't get enough of it.Less than 10 minutes of ordering our food, it all got served up pretty quickly! AT ONCE! And yet we were thinking that we could wait for Doreen first. But anyway, it looked too good to be waiting for her, so we started munching away first. LOL.Melissa said the Putien Lor Mee ($8.90) here was good, so we ordered the small version of it. It tasted alright, but I felt it could have been a little more flavourful. I did like how there were tons of ingredients inside, like mushrooms, vegetables, fried fish, etc.

It's also good to have it with their signature Putien chilli sauce!100% Natural and Fresh! NAISE.It really tasted good! So please go ahead and try this if you do patronise the restaurant.My super favourite vegetable dish - Spinach with Eggs ($12.90 for small). The gravy is of a good consistency and has a tinted flavour of the salted eggs. The vegetables were cooked just nice. Everything about it made it a dish with flying colours.Here's one of my favourite dishes - Sweet and Sour Pork with Lychee ($12.50 for small). This has to be one of my favourite dishes in Putien. We also had stir-fried yam ($11.90 for small). It was good, but it tasted like a calorie buster as it tasted like it was coated with a fresh film of caramel.

Lastly, we ordered the shredded meat with bun ($11.70 for 3 pax portion), also another signature of the restaurant. We were served with this triangular plastic bags, and upon opening them...They were gloves! So considerate, they even provided gloves so you won't dirty your hands eating the dish.So... take some of this shredded meat...Put it into the centre portion of the golden deep fried sesame topping bun...TA-DAH! Ready to eat!

I would also like to add that I like the service of the wait staff. They were professional and friendly, despite having a full house of customers.

Location:

Putien Restaurant

4 Tampines Central 5, #B1-27, Singapore 529510 (Tampines Mall)

Tel: (+65) 6781 2162

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

Food: 3.8 / 5

Ambience: 3.8 / 5

Bang for your buck (Value): 3.8 / 5

Service: 4.2 / 5

Average scoring via my F.A.B.S rating: 3.9 / 5 (Check it out!)

Today, we are at Strictly Pancakes. We went about 10am in the morning, and there were already many people at the joint. Shophouse-styled, the joint has 2 levels. We went upstairs and because all the normal height-ed tables were already taken up, we were left with no choice but to take the sofa chair ones. The table was lower than usual but I guess we could all make do.We are at Strictly Pancakes!

The decor of the place was nice, with some natural sunlight shining in from the top where I sat.Nicely decorated wall.The clocks on the wall told the difference between Prinsep and Siglap. Apparently there's a minute difference.Nicely lighted area.

We were given the menu and was super excited as we saw that there were sweet and savory items in the menu. One of the savory items was garlic prawns and pancakes. My friend was looking forward to ordering that but when we were ready to order, the waitress said they do not sell anything else than the breakfast items (Say what??). We chose the breakfast items and wanted to order drinks. My friend had the milkshakes before and said it was very good. So we wanted to order vanilla milkshake and they shared that they don't sell any vanilla based items, only chocolate based ones (HUH?!). We also asked for more butter, but it was chargeable at $0.50 a cube, extra maple syrup also costed $1 extra (SERIOUSLY?). But anyway, I ended up ordering just Earl Grey. =__=Order only from here, please!

That put us off slightly. Well, I'm not sure if it's just the location, but as I know it, this is the main store! So why the lack of items, I cannot comprehend. And the cost of the available menu is so costly, you might think that the condiments should already be accounted for. Even the additional ones. Anyway, as long as they have the pancakes, we're staying to try it!Only this page is order-friendly in the entire menu.

Apparently, each order of pancake only comes with strictly 1 cube of butter and a small tube of maple syrup. (Now I know why they're called Strictly pancakes!)

We ordered all their 4 types of butter - Salted, unsalted, Rum + Raisin, Garlic + Herb. My favourite was the salted butter and Garlic + Herb.The butter and maple syrup servings.Rum + Raisin butter.

But apart from the hullabaloo of the huge lack of items and the costly butter , the breakfast served was good. Pancakes, their signature item, was done to almost perfection. Pancakes were fluffy and not flat, it was soft it almost melted in my mouth.The All American Breakfast

On the sides, they had quail egg with tomato, bacon and a chipolata. It was a really nice combi, but for me, I have such a huge appetite for breakfast, so I added scrambled eggs. Look at how liquid-y those scrambled eggs are. It's my style. Also because the quail egg is so small. (What's breakfast without the real taste of eggs?)

My friends had the simpler version though, just scrambled eggs and bacon.My verdict: Worth a try, but don't expect much other than the breakfast items alone.

Location: 44A Prinsep Street, Singapore 188674 (They have another branch at Upper East Coast)Tel: 6333 4202

Rating: 3.5 / 5 (They would have received a higher rating from me if there were more choices to choose from!)

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!)