Full review with photo on http://www.nahmj.com/2016/04/07/spicy-thai-thai-aljunied-singapore/

Spicy Thai Thai Cafe is hidden at a quiet corner of Aljunied Ave 2. Beside the block is a swimming complex. When I saw the spot, I believe most would miss this gem if they don't frequent the area often even. To make things worse, there is a food centre diagonally across the block which most patron will stop there when they spotted it.This Thai cafe is founded by Ron Poh who is very passionate of seeking authentic Thai food. As such at Spicy Thai Thai, tea leaves were imported from Thailand for the signature Thai Iced Tea, different dressings for different dishes were made in-house and desserts were made from scratch. This is the dedication of Spicy Thai Thai in providing authentic Northeastern Thai dishes to their customers.Menu was thick. One could easily be drowned in it. Food offered is array, ranging from Appetizing Bites, Salads, Soup, Seafood (King Prawns, Squid/Shells, Abalone, Crab), Fish, Meat, Eggs, Vegetables, Noodles and Rice. And it includes Mookata Combo Set. There is no lack of selections.We started with a soup, the Fish Maw Crab Meat Abalone Soup in Coconut ($28). It is similar to the Shark Fin Soup. In each bowl, there are 2 ten heads abalone with generous amount of Fish Maw and Crab Meat too. Soup was flavourful with a perfect level of salt amount.

If diners prefer some regular choice such as Tom Yum Soup, both red and clear ($7/$14) are available and the Coconut Tom Yum Soup Special ($18/$28) were also offered. Other choices includes Mushroom Soup ($7/$14) and Tofu Soup ($6/$14)We didn’t have any of the salad. As much as 8 types of salad were found on its menu. Instead we proceeded to have its Hommok, Thai Style Otak ($18) which is found under its “Succulent Squid/Shell” Section. The Otak has a good sense of coconut and aroma and the various herb and it is lightly spicy. It also has hefty amount of seafood in it.Don't be deceived by the look of this dish. The Stir-fry Fish Maw, Crab Meat & Bean Sprouts ($18) was surprisingly good. It was flavourful contributed by the various sauce and the egg. The beansprout and the carrot added crunch to the dish.In this same section, we ordered BBQ Squid (seasonal price). It was tender to the chew with its natural sweet retained. Most may find the chilli roe sauce that is by the side, weird. This has a strong liver flavour, coming across pungent to many. It certainly is an acquired taste. I was neutral. For the faint-hearted, don't try it. It is for the adventurous only.The last dish we ordered under the “Succulent Squid/Shells” section was the Lala (Clam) Mee Hoon ($18). This is a MUST order. All the diners at the table enjoyed this dish. The Lala amount was plentiful. I hardly see Mee Hoon but the clams. The flavour of this dish is mainly garlicky.

Other dishes found in the “Succulent Squid/Shells” section are Squids in Spicy Lemon Soup (seasonal price), Thai Style White Pepper Clams, La La ($15), Steamed New Zealand Mussels ($18) and Basil Mussels ($18).Coming to meat selection, there is a page devoted to it under the category “Tender Juicy Meat”. First dish from this section we ordered was the Stir-Fry Basil, Minced Meat (Chicken) with Long Beans ($10)is one of the best as it has a strong basil fragrance. I could have only this with a bowl of rice.BBQ Pork Belly ($28) is the other meat dish we ordered. It was succulent and a nice marinate outer coat.The Deep Fried Sea Bass with Mango Salad (seasonal price) was fresh and well fried till golden brown, leaving a nice crisp layer to the bite. With the Mango salad, the dish was appetising. I wouldn't mind eating the deep fried fish alone.Thai Style Curry Crab (seasonal price) was what we chose among the 11 selections available under the “Luxurious Crab” section. It isn’t spicy instead it has lots of eggs and lightly curry flavoured with some Thai spice.
Among the selection, there are 3 other crab dish which was highly recommended by the restaurant, Crab Meat Curry Egg ($18), Basil Black Pepper Crab (seasonal price) and Stir-Fry Tang Hoon with Crab (seasonal price). If diners are keen to eat the Chill Lady Boy Crab (seasonal price), this would require advance order of 2 days.Fried rice is usually a must to complete the meal. As such, we have a Tom Yum Fried Rice ($6). It wasn't a strong tasting dish, instead it has light Tom Yum flavour with seafood.
The other rice option are Thai Style Pork Porridge ($5), Braised Pork Rice Set ($5) and Stir-Fry Thai Basil Minced Meat Rice Set with Chicken or Pork ($5), Seafood or Pork Belly ($6) or Beef ($8).For beverages, there is a good range of the typical Thai drinks such as the Ice Thai Tea 'O' ($2.20), Ice Thai Tea ($2.50), Ice Lemon Tea ($2.20) and Ice Lemongrass Tea ($2). The best part of the drinks was they were lightly sweetened. To me, it was the perfect sweetness level. Other drinks include the Barley, Coffee, Milo, Chrysanthemum with both hot and cold available.

A pity we didn't manage to order any dessert as we were too full to have any.

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Original review on http://www.nahmj.com/2016/03/16/toss-turn-vivocity/


Though I like green, I am not a big fan of salad. This is always the last thing I would choose to have it as a meal. Nonetheless, once in a while, I wouldn’t mind eating clean as such I turned to Toss And Turn Salad Bar By Cedele at VivoCity one fine day. The outlet at ViVoCity looks relatively huge, contributed by the high ceiling. It has a yellow tiles-top communal table. It is kind of in the centre of the space and is surrounded by normal dinning tables and chairs.Since it is a salad bar, the highlight is of course Salad. Either the Regular Salad ($10.50) or with Hot Mains. Diners could get it as a set with either a drink (orange juice or iced tea) or with a small or large soup.And others include the wraps, sandwiches and soup. Since it is by Cedele, you could expect to find the Cedele Cakes. Drinks such as coffee, fruit juice and smoothies (only available at the VivoCity outlet).As Salad is the main draw at Toss & Turn, I dived into the Salad Bar at my first visit. I went for the Regular Salad where I get to choose 1 base, that's the carbohydrates, from a selection of Cous Cous, Rice, Soba and Pasta. Option of greens are either the Green Mix or Baby Spinach.

Next choose 2 Deli. Some options available are olive, tuna, ham, sausages, omelette, goat cheese, smoked salmon.Finally choose 4 veggies or crunch from a selection about 20 options. And 4 dressings to choose from; Honey Mustard, Plum Sesame, Cesar and Paprika dressing.If diner opt for Hot Mains, diner get 1 deli instead of 2 and a hot mains instead. There are 4 options; Peri Peri Chicken, Tomato Beef Balls, Teriyaki Chicken Fillet and Pork Carnitas.The Meatball in Tomato Sauce was lightly tomato flavoured which is good for me since I am not a tomato sauce fan. And it has a nice scent of herb.Peri Peri Chicken was in its natural chicken taste. I couldn't savour much of the savour or herbs.In case, you are interested to know what are my selection for the salad, here it is. All the bowls are pretty similar. For base, I tried it with the Cous Cous, also with Rice and Pasta. Rice was flavourful with wolfberry. Strangely it was a little mushy but yet the grain was considerably firm. Pasta was al dente and tasty with pepper flavour. Cous Cous was in its natural taste.For deli, I chose the Goat Cheese and once the Smoked Salmon, the other was ham. Coming to the Veggies and Crunch, both were the same. I have the Sweet Potato, Alfalfa Sprout, Cranberry and Mixed seeds and nuts. Lastly the dressing. I tried with the Honey Mustard dressing, lightly sour, the Plum Sesame is more sour and the Pomegranate has a good balance of sweet and sour elements while the Island Parika which has a mild flavour. Lastly was the Caesar dressing, which was mainly sourish with a mild creaminess which didn’t impress me.Toss & Turn offers 3 vegetarian and 7 non-vegetarian sandwiches option. The 3 vegetarian sandwiches are Beetroot Burger & Avocado; Kumara, Tofu, Aubergine & Carrot and Mushroom Cheese Melt. The last was what I tried. The Mushroom Cheese Melt ($7.50) was too healthy for me. All the ingredients tasted so natural. There isn't much sauce or condiments to enhance the taste.While the 7 non-vegetarian sandwiches are Rosemary Chicken Sandwich ($8.50), Roast Chicken Avocado ($9.50), Teriyaki Chicken, Eggplant & Cucumber ($9.50), Beef Pastrami, Sauerkraut, Cheese & Mustard ($8.50), Ham, Cheese & Mustard (8.50), Smoked Salmon, Onion & Cucumber ($8.50), Prawn, Avocado & Cheese ($9.50).The Rosemary Chicken Sandwich was rather bland. It seems the chicken used was mainly breast meat. The flavours were contributed first by the mayonnaise spread and largely from the cranberry. It was a healthy sandwich. Diners could get a set with soup by adding $3.50.Each day, there are about 4 selections of soup. I tried the Boston Clam Chowder and on another occassion, I tried the Grilled Pepper Tomato Soup. The Boston Clam soup wasn't creamy but rich with vegetables sweetness and potato flavour but lacking of clam aroma.I thought well of the Grilled Pepper Tomato Soup even though I am not a tomato soup fan. With the grilled pepper added into the tomato soup, the lightly pepper fragrance complemented the tomato flavour to the max.For Tea, I turned to the Cake Set ($8.50). Diner could choose any slice of cake and tea or coffee (black / white). The Carrot Walnut Cake is the signature at Cedele which I always enjoyed.

I like the selections of ingredients for the salad. The salad dressing was the key to increase the taste experience of each bowl of salad. The food provided by Toss & Turn Salad Bar By Cedele was healthy and delish.

My favourite ingredients for the regular salad is Cous Cous, Goat Cheese with any other cold proteins plus dried cranberry, mixed seeds, alfalfa sprouts and sweet potato with pomegranate dressing.



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Review with photos at http://www.nahmj.com/2016/03/26/hai-di-lao-hot-pot-313-somerset-singapore/

I have heard alot of raving about Hai Di Lao Hot Pot; the food, the soup and the services and so on. It set me really curious about how good it really is but as I am never a fan of Hot Pot, I drag my feet for a trip to try them out. Until one day, a blogger friend suggested to have dinner at Hai Di Lao @ 313 Somerset. I was gamed for it.We took our queue number at about 7pm. We waited for a little more than 2 hours before we were ushered to the table for our Hot Pot dinner. In other words, if you want to dine at Hai Di Lao, be prepared for a long wait.

The consolation was Hai Di Lao serves some fruits, tibits and drinks to their customers who are in the waiting, some colourful papers for origami, a manicure service for free and a children playroom. One more, free Wifi too.At about 9. 15 pm, finally our table is ready. Hunger pang has kicked in by now.
We ordered 4 different soup; Chicken Soup, Mala, Tomato and the Mushroom soup. Tomato Soup is a highly popular soup at Hai Di Lao Hot Pot. And this was high loved by our group of diners except me. I didn’t like it, perhaps the main factor was contributed to I am not a fan of anything tomato. My personal favourite is the Mala as there is enough Szechuan Peppercorn added that will numb the lips and tongues. Next, I would opt for the . But somehow, I felt that the soup was with quite a lot of MSG. After the meal, I kept feeling thirsty. I am one who is not sensitive to MSG unless the amount added was significant.One point to note, if you find that the soup was diluted after they have topped it up with more soup, do inform the service staff. They are able to increase the concentration by adding some concentrated stock.
The ingredients for the hot pot was of a good mix. There were sliced the usual Sliced Meats; pork, chicken and beef.Various innards were also offered on the menu. Even Pig’s brain was available too. We ordered only the Pig's liver, one of my favourite food.In all Hot Pot, the Fried Beancurd Skin can never be missing. We order the Fried Fish Skin too.I was so glad that it was the Minced Meatballs that was offered instead of the processed meatballs, which I termed it as the fishball and its like.One of the popular item at Hai Di Lao Hot Pot is the Handmade noodles. If you order this, the chef will perform his “La Mian 拉面” skill at your table.I was surprised at the high quality food versus reasonable pricing. And there were lots of what I termed as value added service that were offered free to enhance the total customer experience. It was absolutely awesome. I wouldn’t mind going back whenever I feel like it.
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Review with photos at http://www.nahmj.com/2016/03/29/cheek-jowl-boon-tat-street-telok-ayer-singapore

When I got to know about Cheek By Jowl along Boon Tat Street has opened its door to welcome diners, ever since, I was eager to try them out. As I have my regular meet up with this group of foodie colleagues, I took the opportunity to have a feast there. And guess what, we ordered almost the entire Dinner menu. Lol!I was surprised that one of my friend went to read up about the restaurant and the Chef. We were not in anticipation of the dinner.Cheek By Jowl has a very much, I would term as open concept. From the kitchen and even the front door. As such the cigarette smoke got into the interior dinning area which was quite annoying for me since I am sensitive to the smell. The ambience was causual. It is interesting to see the only round table at a corner of the restaurant.
Coming to the dinner menu, all its dishes are designed for sharing, staring from light bites, small plate, large plate and lastly desserts.We started with Oyster ($5/pc) as the light bites. The oysters were topped with shaved tomato ice. Oh my! It was icy cold and with to the tomato aroma, it was refreshing and masking any strong seafood flavour. We enjoyed so much till we ordered more of it. The two other light bites which we missed were Marinated Olives ($6) and Padron Peppers ($9).5 small plates were offered at Jeek By Jowl. We ordered everything except the Roast Pumpkin ($22). First on the table was the Beetroot ($17). Interestingly, it consisted of beetroot marinated in 2 ways. The lightly sweetened beetroot was topped with the pickled beetroot. These were sat on goat cheese. It was an appetiser to us, whetting our appetite for more food to come.The Ocean Trout ($22) has a colourful plating while its combination is genius. All the ingredients, Cucumber, picked green, sauce and buttermilk, complemented the lightly seared Ocean Trout.Next on the table was the Wild Venison ($22). It is a dish which was enjoyed by all 3 diners. This dish is in the form of Tartare, so it is usually raw. Interestingly, the venison was light pan fried on the side before dicing it. It is much like rare instead of raw. The entire flavour was sourish and due to the pepper and garlic, these added much flavours to the dish.Our final small plate was the Braised Rabbit ($24). We were attracted to this dish as it has the Northern Chinese cooking ingredient, Szechuan Peppers in it. The Szechuan Peppers aroma was light and it reminded me of a popular Northern Chinese dish, the Chilled Chicken. But certainly, this is a healthier version compared to the mentioned Chinese dish. In case you have not tasted rabbit meat, it is very close to chicken. If I were not told that it was rabbit, I would have mistaken it for chicken.Moving to the large plate. Our first was an interesting Confit Duck Leg ($36) served with waffle. This dish has an Asian twist contributed by the sauce. That's how I feel. The sauce tasted like the Chinese BBQ sauce which is a little sweet. We enjoyed dipping the waffle with the sauce. Waffle was no doubt fluffy and yet with some bread like denseness in it. By its side was a Asian like salad.Next was the Rangers Valley Ribeye ($55) with doneness rare. Simple but yet enjoyable. It was accompanied with Romaine Lettuce in I think Mustard dressing and a Chinese like soy sauce. We prefer having the steak without the sauce.

There were 2 other large plates on the menu which we didn't order were Lamb Shoulder ($36) and Barramundi ($32).Finally, it is dessert time. There were only 2 desserts on the menu and we ordered both. First was the Coconut ($15) has the Laksa Leaf Ice Cream which was too light to savour the laksa leaf fragrance. The rest of ingredients to complement the dessert were pomelo, green chili and some meringue like. Despite not savouring much Laksa Leaf flavour, we enjoyed the dish as I like the various texture coming to play in the dessert.The last dish of the night was the Black Olive Cake ($15) with diced strawberry on top and by the side were yoghurt and strawberry ice cream. Though I couldn't savour much olive aroma, we enjoyed the dessert. This is especially so when all the components were eaten together.

This was the first time that we were satisfied with all the dishes we ordered. It was truly enjoyable. 

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Original review on http://www.nahmj.com/2015/07/10/leclair-by-sarah-michelle-singapore-shopping-centre-dhoby-ghaut/

L'ÉCLAIR has finally opened their patisserie cum cafe at Singapore Shopping Centre with their dazzling instagram worthy looking Eclairs. I can assure you not only it is gorgeous looking but delish too.I was Wow by the design of the cafe. If you missed your Paris holiday, have a little of the mood over here. Design was elegant, modern, classy and cosy too.Speciality at L'ÉCLAIR is Eclairs. According to the menu, they will have 10 flavours daily with 4 Classic Collections, namely Vanilla & Pecans, Dark Chocolate, Salted Caramel and Isapanhan. The remainings are under the Seasonal Collections.

Savoury was offered besides the sweets, Chicken & Bacon Pie (served with house salad).
For drinks, 8 types of tea, coffee, hot and iced chocolate and 2 sodas.The box is in white and blue theme, though simple were classic. The box of 4s has each box designed to contain exactly 4 with no extra piece in between. And each Eclairs is contained individually in a paper container. The design of the box is very friendly, it allows ease of removing each Eclairs from the box.

Classic Collections

I have tried all 4 classic flavours.

A dark chocolate with brownie bites is what offered in the Dark Chocolate Eclair is best for the Chocolate lovers. We felt though it was good but it didn't wow us as much as the other flavours, as chocolate is a common flavour.The Salted Caramel has the classic scent. The good part was it was lightly sweetened with popcorn adding to the crunch.My top fave in this collection is the Ispanhan, a flavour of Rose, Raspberry & Lychee. The Rose flavour slowly emitted the fragrance and infused with the subtle Lychee and Raspberry. Our conclusion for this flavour was amazing. A point to note, this is a signautre of L'ÉCLAIR.Lastly was the Tahitian Vanilla and Pecan. I was surprised that I enjoyed as I don't usually like anything vanilla. Perhaps it was due to the layered flavoured and texture present. It has a nice vanilla scent pair with nutty caramelised pecan that gave the crunch. These ingredients complemented each other well.

Seasonal Collections

Each week of the year, the seasonal flavours are rotated and there may be new flavours crafted.One of which I tried was the Passionfruit Eclair. I like the sourish sweetish fruity passionfruit sensation, though my Mom felt it was too sour. Certainly thumbs up for me.We tried the Banana and Walnut too. All we could describe was banana like how the Minions would say it. Lol! Bananas fan, you got what you wanted.The Lemon Merinuge has this classic meringue on top of the eclairs which diners could easily identified with. As it lack of the crunch such as the biscuit tart base, somehow it is not as enjoyable. Though the lemon custard has a good balance of sourish and sweetness taste.I am the Earl Grey fan. As such I will never missed out on anything Earl Grey. This Earl Grey Eclairs has a light scent of Earl Grey and lightly sweet. I would prefer the flavour to be stronger.For diner who like nutty flavours, one could choose the Roasted Pistachios & Strawberries and Hazelnut Praline. Both has some nutty crunch added to enhance the texture too.Coffee lovers and especially the Espresso lovers, Cafe Eclair would be the perfect choice. Speculoos is an Easter special which has a cute rabbit on it. As for taste-wise, except for sweet, I don't really favoured more than sweet.And at various special festival, there are special flavours. For 2016 Chinese New Year, out of the 4 flavours, I tried 2. The Pineapple which is so Chinese New Year, reminded me of the Pineapple tarts. The other Black Sesame which was like having a good bowl of the traditional black sesame paste. I prefer the former while my mom the latter. The other special flavour was created for the SG50 was the Kaya. It was so local. The last in the box is the Chocolate, pretty usual though.

The choux pastry of the Eclairs were perfectly bake with the best texture and consist of all the correct elements. Each Eclair is pretty decorated, tempting all your senses. Taking a stock count of the number of flavours I tried so far. Wow! That was 12 in total!

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