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.

Located at the heart of Jalan Besar, and conveniently right opposite Jalan Besar Plaza (Fret not, drivers! There's ample parking spaces! Per entry in the evenings too!), Wan He Lou is actually quite easily accessible on foot from both Lavender and Farrer Park MRT Stations. The restaurant management advised that Farrer Park will be a more straightforward (hence, 'safer') choice, but we actually strolled back to Lavender Station very easily in about 15 minutes' time.We were actually the first to arrive, on the dot at 11am sharp when they open, and just went on a crazy phototaking spree! A feature wall of the photographs taken when our local artistes visited the restaurant.And I love these bird-cage lanterns so much!

Okay, let's get on to the food, shall we?Fresh Vegetable Juice - $3.50

I know, this vibrant shade of green with almost half the glass of 'pulpy remains' aren't exactly the most appealing drink you'll find. But believe me, this is the yummiest green drink you can ever find. Oyhz loved it so much, she went for a second one!

A yummy blend of pineapples, sour plums and cai xin, you'll actually taste the pineapples and sour plums in spite of the strong green colour. A really icy refreshing drink that tickled my tastebuds and boosted my appetite. Crispy Lotus with Salted Egg (S) - $11.90Each piece of the lotus is sliced till nearly paper thin, deep fried till golden brown and then generously coated in salted egg. If you're a fan of both fried lotus chips AND salted egg yolk flavour, you definitely have to order this! This dish is more of a light snack instead of a main dish and I strongly recommend that you try to finish it up as soon as it gets served, for as the dish gets cold, it loses some of its crispiness as well. Pan Fried Kurobuta Pork (S) - $14.90If you're still a stranger to kurobuta, it's actually Japanese for Black (kuro) Pork (buta). The main reason why kurobuta is much more 'raved' and popular as compared to their pink counterparts is due to the fact that the meat is actually much more tender and has very much less of the commonly hated (in individuals who doesn't enjoy eating pork) 'pork smell'.

I really love this dish, even though I myself is also a pork-hater, for the meat is really tender and it has a savoury-sweet flavour, a perfect dish to go with a bowl of piping hot rice! Qing Long Cai / Green Dragon Vegetable with Dried Shrimps (S) - $9.90I know, $9.90 for such a small servings of vegetables sounds kind of pricey. But this is actually not just any vegetables you can find in the supermarket. These Qing Long Cai are specially brought in from Cameron Highlands, and grown in limited sunlight by having them covered in nylon nettings after their first cut at about 6th week's growth.

They look a lot like garlic chives, but is crunchier, sweeter and more succulent in taste. It does have a mild 'typical chive smell', but I didn't taste the distintive 'chive taste' as I ate these greens. Perhaps the dried shrimps have masked the dreaded 'chive taste', or it's just how the Qing Long Cai is supposed to be. Nontheless, the addition of dried shrimps really complemented this dish really well. The strong salty flavour of the dried shrimps really brought out the crisp sweetness of the greens and the perfect combination of both sweet and savoury taste just made this vegetable a must try of the restaurant.Hokkaido Scallop with Hawthorne Sauce & Asparagus (S) - $20.90 Yup, there's 5 big fat Hokaiddo scallops you see there, drenched generously in sweet hawthorne sauce spiced up with cut chilli. I abosolutely loved the asparagus (yes, an asparagus-lover here). Unlike many other restaurants, which tend to mix young and old asparagus together, this entire plate only has young, tender asparagus that was cooked till just the right time to keep its soft crunch and natural sweetness, yet absorb enough of the hawthorne sauce's flavour. Sounds complicated, eh? Well, you just have to try them out for yourselves.

And finally, how can we miss out Wan He Lou's specialty? Signature Lobster Porridge - $29.90 onwards (serves 2)

According to the restaurant's management, each order, which serves 2, comes with 1 lobster (halved).And the first thing that the server did while serving us the porridge was to remove all the lobsters from the hot porridge onto separate plates so as to prevent the lobsters from getting overcooked. And as you can see, the porridge is in Teochew style with the rice still maintaining their grain forms and all the essence from the lobster locked into the thick, flavourful soup. I know the Cantonese congee is commonly more popular than the Teochew muay due to the perception that the congee is more flavourful and rich, having to cook the rice with all the ingredients for long hours. But tell you what, having been fed Teochew muay since young, I really do appreciate a good one when I find one.

This is definitely not those 'short-cut' kind at the hawker centres with just hot tasty soup poured over ready cooked rice and served straight away with the rice still tasteless and hard (at least it didn't taste like so to my tastebuds), but really cooked in the flavourful soup until the grains further soften, which allows flavour to develop not just in the soup but also in the rice itself. This is the kind of Teochew muay my mother and grandma has been cooking for me since young! But of course with only ikan billis or a few pieces of dried scallops, duh.(The lobster is too big for my bowl... T.T)

The soup is simply awesome! This just has to be the best comforting food you can ever find that is rich yet not overpowering, and enhanced with the fresh sweetness of the lobster roe that complements the overall savoury flavour of the porridge. The soup was so delicious, that we kept refilling our bowls with the soup and leaving lots of the grains behind. The lobster was also fresh and well done, the meat thick and chewy from the freshness.

An award winning dish indeed!To end the food tasting, the restaurant management also served us some desserts, Beancurd & Lychee pudding with Ice Cream, to refresh our tastebuds.

A shot of the crazy queue just to show off how popular Andong Zzimdak is on a Friday night. They even had to stop the queue at just 8 plus because they're almost out of chicken. The restaurant is pretty small and cozy, and would be perfect for a small gathering of friends to enjoy some yummy braised chicken.
As the name of the restaurant suggest, this place is famous for their Andong Jjimdak, which literally translate into steamed chicken of Andong, for jjim means steamed or braised and dak means chicken in Korean.Hot Citron Tea - $2.50

If you're dining at a Korean restaurant, it definitely has to be either criton tea or barley tea, right? And I'm definitely team citron. Very reasonably priced at just $2.50 for a standard mug sized, the tea wasn't overly sweet or thick but brewed just nice with the right amount of yuzu peel bits for those who loves to munch of them. And there was so much food for 6 of us, I can't even....Chicken Karaage - $9.90

Well, who says you can't make yummy fried chicken when you're supposed to be selling jjimdak? These fried chicken bites, although a little 'off' because they're Japanese (karaage, yeah?), were still worth my tummy space. Fragrant with a slight savoury taste, the battered skin was fried still crisp while the insides still tender. How can one possibly resist a piece of piping hot, boneless fried chicken? Spicy Dokboki - $9.90

Although the tteok wasn't the softest and chewiest I can find, it was still quite enjoyable as the gravy was indeed spicy enough, as compared to some other places which serve the gravy sweet. It would be perfect if the tteok was cooked softer, which I reckon can be done easily by just leaving it to cook for just a tad longer before serving. Mini Seafood Pancake - $9.90

Chewy and packed full of seafood (I tasted shrimps and squids), I like how it comes in very manageable (almost) bite size and each bite gives you as much seafood as the pancake batter itself. Boneless Jjimdak (Large) - $59.90 [Medium at $49.90]

Even though there is a chili icon next to the dish (as compared to 3 chili for Mayak Jjimdak, the supposedly spicy one) and there's this huge piece of red chili staring at you in the picture, I find this not spicy at all, just a comfortable savoury braised flavour. Will definitely return to try the Mayak Jjimdak another day.

The chicken bits are served boneless with skin and pretty tender and well braised. My first try of the glass noodles was an NG as it wasn't well mixed in the gravy, hence extremely chewy, like rubber. After mixing it well into the gravy and giving it ample time to soak up the moisture (and flavour) of the gravy, it became so much softer while still retaining its QQ (chewy) texture.

So a small note to everyone, remember to mix the glass noodles into the gravy before you eat them! Seafood Jjimdak (Medium) - $52.90 [Large at $65.90]

Similar to the boneless jjimdak but with prawns, mussles, squids and boney chicken parts. I find that the chicken in this jjimdak is significantly less tender than those in the boneless chicken, most probably due to the chicken parts. The mussels (my favourite shellfish), though on the small side, were still pretty fresh and chewy. The prawns were also pretty big and fresh, but peeling them when they're drenched in gravy is really not something enjoyable and nobody went for them until M took it upon himself to peel all the prawns for us.

For full detailed review, visit http://molly-mia.blogspot.sg/2015/10/mias-review-andong-zzimdak-media-tasting.html

For full review, visit http://molly-mia.blogspot.sg/2015/07/mias-food-trail-review-penang-culture.html

Penang Lor Bak - $7.95Well, I was expecting a pot of braised pork, and was surprised when it turned out as ngor hiang! Crispy on the outside with savoury and flavourful minced chicken meat inside, the lack of pork didn't effect its taste at all. Pairing up with a good dip of chili, this is just the dish to go for if you're not a fan of the distinctive 'pork smell' like me. Bronze BBQ Platter - $18.90

I'll find the satay, albeit flavourful, is a little too tough and dry (I took the mutton) and the squid a little too rubbery.

The disappointment of being slightly overcooked aside, the taste still packs a punch. The sambal, though not exceptionally spicy, is still strong enough to give a comfortable spiciness as you chew, with a slight hint of sweetness in the aftertaste. Penang Assam Laksa - $7.95

I'm not a fan of assam laksa at all, for I don't appreciate the sourness of the dish. But I love the extremely chewy (QQ) noodle that resembles the mouse tail noodles, which apparently is a characteristic of the dish.

I so want to fish out the noodles and dunk them in the prawn mee soup! HAHA!Penang Hokkien Prawn Mee - $8.95

Once again, I was expecting something close to our popular local delights, Hokkien Prawn Mee, but was surprised to see a bowl of prawn rice noodle soup.

Needless to say, the kway tiao (rice noodle) was soft and smooth, and the broth flavourful with the sweetness of the prawn heads and chicken bones that were used to boil it. With a quick mix in of the chili paste, this yummy bowl of prawn mee is complete!Black Pepper Mantis Prawn - $10.95

After munching down a few pieces of it, I still couldn't really tell that they're mantis prawn. But who really cares when the taste is absolutely heavenly? The battered, fried pieces of the mantis prawns were then tossed in a savoury black pepper sauce that is so delicious! This will totally go well with a bowl of rice, I'll tell you.Premium Crab Meat & Salted Egg Fried Kway Tiao - $14.99

As mentioned in my food trail post, this is my favourite dish at Penang Culture for the day. Those crispy fried bits you see covering all over the kway tiao are actually fried salted egg bits, which added to much texture and flavour to the savoury, soft and slightly chewy fried kway tiao that's tossed in generous serving of seafood. Coconut Milkshake - $6.95

I'm not a fan of coconut, but this drink is still pretty okay for me. It's more towards the refreshing taste of a coconut water than the heavy creamy texture of milkshakes in general. Rambutan Juice - $4.95

This is like a less acutely sweet version of the rambutan cocktail blended up with ice and served to you as it is. A really good choice, even if you're not really a big fan of rambutans.

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.