For full review, visit http://molly-mia.blogspot.sg/2013/09/mias-review-marutama-ramen.html 
Their choices of ramen flavour is not really extensive. A very typical menu of an authentic humble ramen-ya. I ordered for myself a daikon and their Nama Karashi Ramen while Airmeli got a Tori Dango and their Aka Ramen. Daikon - $4

Yes, you might feel that $4 for 2 pieces of radish (although they're quite big pieces) is pretty much a rip off, but I didn't really care much for the pricey-ness of it because:

1. I really love daikon

2. They're really damn awesome!

The daikon is served almost piping hot in a rich & flavourful savoury broth, which tastes like tonkotsu/chicken broth, and is cooked down extremely well to be amazingly soft throughout. Each and every bite is 'stuffed' full of the savoury taste of the rich broth. I need not even chew on them, but just pushes my tongue towards the roof of my mouth to mash it up and release the broth that was soaked up within.

Heavenly. Definitely a must try for all daikon lovers out there. Tori Dango (Chicken Meatball) - $5The Tori Dango is definitely a disappointment, and yes, it's not worth the $5. I expected the dango to be of, well, chewy dango texture. (duh!) But the first bite brought nothing but disappointment to my face. Nothing in this meat-packed ball is chewy. Instead, the entire meatball is soggy and crumbly. A soft bite to the surface easily breaks the dango in half and a few more bites just literally crumbles them into distinctive separate chunks in your mouth. Not my favourite kind of texture in a meatball.

However, from a cooking noob's POV, I also wonder if it's because they're using a lot of real chicken meat and very little flour.

As for the taste wise, I can't fault them on it but shan't commend them on it either. It's a "typical" meatball taste, flavourful yet nothing distinctive that screams: I'm a chicken meatball! I guess the only thing that hinted it's chicken and not pork is the crumbly texture.Nama Karashi Ramen - $12

It looks just like a normal chicken broth ramen, yeah? But it's actually spicy ramen! This is one thing that is kinda intriguing to me. A 100% non-spicy looking spicy ramen!

The broth is rich, flavourful and has the spiciness level just right for me.

I think I'm just an average spicy food eater, and I do not like to eat challengingly spicy food as I believe it doesn't do justice to the ingredients and preparer of the dish.

Comparing the richness of flavour to Santouka and Ippudo, Marutama is definitely smack in the middle. I feel that their broth is definitely richer than Santouka's yet still manageable for me, unlike Ippudo's, which almost killed me.

Went Ippudo once, and plans never to return.

I do get a little thirsty while eating the ramen, due to the salty flavour of the broth, but I'm attributing it to the fact that I'm more of a lighter taste person. My preference for lighter taste is blatantly hinted in my obvious dislike for Ippudo's ramen.

As for the noodles, it hovers between chewy and hard imo, deviating slightly more towards hard. I'm a chewy (softer) noodle person, and Marutama's noodles really came this close to making it right for me. It was just a little bit too close to the hard side, but I can still accept it as well made noodles.

The char siu was also pretty well done, having a good mix of lean and fatty meat, cooked to a savoury tenderness.

I'm also rather disappointed that the ramen wasn't served with menma (bamboo shoots) and it wasn't offered as an additional topping or side dishes either.

And as seen from the picture, the ramen doesn't come with the flavoured egg (typical of many ramen shops) but need an additional $1.50 for an add on. Just look at the pictures, need I say more? The $1.50 is a MUST SPEND!

I do feel that Marutama does their flavoured egg better than Santouka and Ippudo.

And in addition, Marutama offers Kaedama for those big eaters. With leftover broth and an additional $2, you can get your noodles refilled and eat to your heart's content! I'm not sure if it's a full portion refill though, because there's absolutely no way I can ever go for a kaedama.

For full review, visit http://www.molly-mia.blogspot.sg/2015/01/mias-review-spicy-thai-thai-cafe-food.htmlWith the area of a regular kopitiam, Spicy Thai provides a large airy eating space, an awesome choice for mookata, with an absolutely no frills, minimalist set up to the big restaurant.The boss himself, a homegrown businessman, Mr Ron Poh, is such a hands-on man, he has done up the ceiling lights all on his own too!With two Thai chefs from the suburban North Eastern Thailand whipping up your orders in the kitchen, expect yourself to try out some authentic North Eastern Thailand style dishes, which can be even more flavourful as compared to the Bangkok style dishes usually served at our Thai restaurants here.Organic Wheatgrass Drink - $3.50

Rather than going for the usual Thai Iced Tea, Janel and I wanted to try something more unique, and decided on this glass of the deadly green. Although healthy, we all know how palatable wheatgrass drinks can be, but this was surprisingly light and refreshing on my tongue. Even though there's still this distinctive wheatgrass taste, the usual turn-off of the 'raw bitter vegetable' taste was missing, plus it rewards you with a refreshing sweetness in the aftertaste too. A healthy drink that's easy on your tastebuds, so why not?La La (Clam) Bee Hoon - $18Yes, your eyes aren't playing a trick on you. There's really an overflowing amount of fresh clams tossed in this slightly spicy beehoon. They were so generous with the clams that I really felt that there's more clams than beehoon in the pot. Just imagine my surprise when I started tossing the piping hot beehoon around, expecting the 'overflowing clams' to start disappearing into the beehoon, and instead, tossed out even more clams that were stacked beneath the beehoon.

So for all those fellow shellfish-lovers out there who enjoys a slight spicy kick in your food, this lala beehoon is a must try!The clams, albeit not monstrous sized like those I've eaten overseas, were still pretty fat for local standards and fresh. The beehoon, having soaked up all the flavour from the savoury and spicy gravy, will definitely have you going for seconds.

This is my favourite dish of the day and I strongly recommend that you try this out, peeps!Basil Mussels - $15Yes, another one of my favourite seafood, mussels! Cooked in a spicy and savoury broth, the mussels were just a little spicy and very flavourful, chewy and yet, not overcooked and rubbery despite served steaming hot above charcoal flames. The remaining yummy broth simply screams, "Get a bowl of white rice!"Dill Pattie (Cha Om) Omelette - $8 If you're not familiar with dill, it's actually a herb that packs a load of nutritional benefits, which includes protection against free radicals and carcinogens, anti-bacterial properties, and rich in calcium, dietary fibre and other minerals.

And frankly speaking when I first saw the omelette, I was slightly taken aback at the amount of greens in it. Well, I'm not exactly a carnivore, but I'm highly selective with the greens I put into my mouth. And with this dish, it seems like dill has made it on my to-eat list! Even though generously packed with the thai herb, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that dill actually doesn't taste herbal or bitter at all. In fact, there's a very subtle sweetness to it, which actually will get covered up by the taste of the well flavoured omelette, which basically means that the dill will be pretty 'negligible' in taste, unless you intentionally pull them out of the egg to get a true taste of it.BBQ Pork Neck - $10Grilled till perfection using charcoal and served with a tangy and spicy dip, this dish is a must try for all pork-lovers! Albeit slightly dry, the fact that it was charcoal-grilled also gave it a delicious fragrance to the chewy and savoury meat. I exceptionally loved the slightly charred bits. Heh, my sinful pleasures. Stir Fry Smelly Beans with Prawns - $12Smelly beans, or better known as Petai, is actually also packed with tons of nutrition to give us health benefits, which helps with cases of anemia, HBP, diabetes, heartburn, hangovers, constipation and the list really drones on. However, due to its distinctive pungent smell and the raw and hard texture, it's also one of my most hated greens.

But you know what, I actually went for seconds for this dish! The strong savoury flavour and spiciness of the dish really did well to mask the distinctive taste of the petai, which I'm not a big fan of. Although the raw, hard texture is still something I'm not really loving very much, the addictive taste of the gravy got the better of me and I just kept scooping more onto my own plate.

Heh, petai can't stop my gluttony here. Hommok (Thai Style Otak) - $16This was undeniably Janel's favourite dish of the day.

Comprising mainly of seafood, egg, coconut flesh and thai spices, I will say that this is one of the most visually appealing dish we had for the day. I mean, just look at all that vibrant colours stuffed into a small young coconut. Can it get any better? And I have to say, this dish is all kind of tastes in just one bite. There was the freshness of the seafood, savoury from the egg, sweetness from the (huge chunk of) coconut flesh, and then everything was further oomphed up with a strong taste of Thai spices. Sleeping Fish Set - $15Just like how they're usually served in Thailand, these Short Mackerel looks a little strange with the head tilt that's due to the fact that it gets its backbone broken just behind the head such that it can fit into the bamboo steamer used to cook it in salt brine. To enjoy this dish, grab a piece of the cabbage, pack in some of the vermicelli, basil, coriander, and a bite sized piece of the mackerel. Then, add in the chili of your choice (there's 4 types for you to choose from) before wrapping everything up and stuffing it into your mouth.

And just like any other mackerel, the fish does have this distinctive 'fishy mackerel' taste, which I'm not a big fan of. But the addition of both the basil and the thai chili sauces really helps to mask the typical fishy mackerel taste. And you know what, I'm usually not a fan of fresh basil either. It's really interesting to find how 2 really strong tastes, which I happen to not be a fan of, complementing each other so well that I ended up enjoying the dish.

And of course, how can we end this without desserts?Tapioca in Coconut Milk - $3.50

To be frank, this is not something I'll call dessert. To me, tapioca is as good (and filling, obviously) as a main dish!

Drenched generously in rich coconut milk and served comfortably warm, this is a dessert for sharing, and definitely not with an almost full tummy.Lemongrass Jelly with Aloe Vera Cubes and Calamansi - $2.50

I definitely enjoyed this light and refreshing cold jelly dessert. The ice cold jelly was so easy to swallow and soothing to the throat and the tangy flavour from the calamansi just makes you want more of it. A good choice of dessert to refresh your palates after a feast on all the spicy, flavourful dishes.

For full review: http://molly-mia.blogspot.sg/2014/10/mias-review-pies-coffee.html

I remembered my first visit with T was an unplanned one. We wanted to drop by The Ground's, which is actually a few shops away, but turned out it wasn't opened. So, Pies & Coffee it was! It was a pretty small outlet, with the interior seating of probably around 15 to 20 pax, and even though they're named Pies & Coffee, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that they do have some pretty looking desserts as well, just that their pies were indeed filling and on both occasions I dropped by, I didn't have sufficient stomach space to try out any of their sweet treats.

Even though not exceptionally affordable, all their pies are still reasonably priced at $10 ish or so.Chicken Cheddar Pie

The pie crust is crumbly crisp with a hint of buttery toasted fragrance, and the pie filling so moist with generous amount of gravy, yet doesn't soften the pie crust that much.A snap to show you just how moist the filling was. It was almost like a soup bowl, no kidding! The filling was packed full of cheesy goodness with quite a generous chunks of chicken that was cooked till it has soaked up the cheesy savoury flavour of the gravy.

Other than Chicken Cheddar, I've also tried their Lamb Shank and Chicken & Mushroom Pies, out of which the latter has paled in comparison as compared to the other two.Hot Honey Yuzu Tea

Frankly speaking, I have no idea why they served a piece of chocolate cookie along with my honey yuzu tea.

And on a side note, Pies and Coffee uses Toby Estate's roasted coffee beans, so all coffee lovers out there, do remember to get a cuppa coffee when you're here!

For full review: http://molly-mia.blogspot.sg/2014/11/mias-review-smiths-authentic-british.html

I remember walking by this humble looking eatery and peering sideways at the patrons' open packages of fish and chips lying on the tables. And I thought to myself, "The fish and chips I've eaten at Ballarat!"

And so, some time later, I dropped by alone on a weekend evening to have some alone time and also, dinner! Love all the comic strips and drawings hung up on the wall, some are actually pretty hilarious. And yes, there's HP sauce for all of you HP lovers out there! I'm not one though. Never a fan of root beer in general except for the scoop of ice cream on it as a float. But somehow I just decided to pick one up while I was there. Haddock Standard & Chips - $19.50

And yes, be it dine in or takeaway, you'll get your fish and chips in a paper wrapped up packet like so. And yes, this is the servings of a standard fish and chips. And no, that pair of plastic utensils aren't mini sized. A word of advice, unless you're a huge eater, go for small!

If you're a fan of soggy chips (yes, as weird as that sounds, some do love soggy chips), especially FAT soggy chips then Smith's is the place for you. These chips doesn't taste processed at all, and totally looked like pieces chipped off a potato and fried as it is. The only disappointing thing was that Smith's do not have the yummy chicken salt I've had at Ballarat. It'll be good if they bring in flavoured salt to go with the chips.

As for the fish, I didn't quite like it as it was a little too moist and bland for my liking. On my second visit, I went for Cod small and it tasted way better in terms of the fish texture and taste of freshness.

And if you're the kind of person who cannot eat fried stuff without some dips and gravy, I highly recommend that you get their curry sauce at $2. It's a little pricey for a pretty small tub, but it tasted so good, even just on its own. The savoury fragrance of curry actually goes pretty well with both the soggy chips and mildly flavoured fish.

All in all, soggy fat chips with mildly flavoured fish. But somehow, Smith's is still a fish and chips place I will keep on visiting (I've visited thrice so far) because it really tasted (and felt) like the affordable, takeaway fish and chips I've tasted in Ballarat and fell in love with.

Set up just like a CBTL cafe with better chairs and tables, it may be hard to notice that it's a Beanstro and not just their usual cafe. To be honest, CBTL has never been on my favourite list, ever, for I'm really not a fan of their coffees. So, will the Beanstro impress me?

Hmm, we'll see.And of course, no coffee for me, thank you very much. I'll go for a cuppa tea! For starters, we got a few 'finger food' snacks for sharing while we waited for our tardy queen to arrive. Hand-cut Calamari - $9

Well, what can go wrong with a basket of well batter, deep fried squids? Near to nothing!

The batter wasn't exactly very crispy and the squid wasn't exactly tender-chewy enough, but it was still packed with flavour to make this basket of fried squid pretty addictive.Mozzarella Fritters - $7

I didn't really get to eat this, because the waiter came and cleared the plate even though there's still 1 whole, untouched fritter left on it. He didn't even bother to ask if he can clear it. Just reached in, grabbed the plate and left while we're engrossed in chit-chatting.

BAD SERVICE, CBB, BAD SERVICE!

Erm, any refund of the (perhaps) $2?

But according to the rest who has eaten it, it's still 'not too bad' for a cheese lover.Morrocan Lamb Casserole - $16

A pair of lamb Marquez in tomato stew done Moroccan style, overlaid with eggs and baked in a hot plate!

CBB is quite a bad place to be taking pictures due to backlight in every corner and every single angle.

But this dish is really delish! However, the serving is pretty small and if it's not for the 2 slices of toasted baguette and with the calamari, I might have left the place hungry. I can't really say I understand the point of adding 2 eggs on top of the dish, for it doesn't complement ANYTHING imo. Well, it might have been for the toasts, which were better off being paired with the tomato stew to begin with. So In the end, I pretty much gobbled down the runny yolks first (I really cannot imagine the taste of it getting mixed into the rest of the stew) before moving on with the rest of the dish. The lamb cubes were tender and savoury, and the tangy tomato stew simply brought out more of its flavour.

If you're a lamb and tomato lover like me, I really recommend that you try this!Bangers and Mash - $18

Oozing with cheese, grilled chicken snail sausage on Idaho mash with caraway sour cabbage and onion gravy.Classic Eggs Benedict - $17

Two softly poached eggs built on toasted Vienna with chicken ham, lime vinaigrette mesclun and hollandaise sauce.

Frankly speaking, I won't say that they're very affordable but the food quality is definitely there for a cafe (even though beanstro's concept is meant to be a casual dining restaurant, I still view CBB more as a cafe), and it makes the penny a little more worth spent. Service wise, they need to train the waiters not to clear off non-empty plates without asking the diners if it's alright to do so.