For full write up & photos, please visit my blog: http://www.aspirantsg.com/foodie-food/irvins-live-seafood-house-12-lunch-buffet/singapore or follow me on twitter for food reviews: https://twitter.com/AspirantSG

The promise of lunch buffet at only $12 (inclusive GST) per pax at a new restaurant called Irvin's Live Seafood House saw me & my colleagues heading down to Jalan Leban for a hearty Friday lunch.

I was surprised to see the restaurant occupying half of what was previously Ivin's Nyonya Specialities space.

They had an impressive lunch buffet menu that offers different dishes daily! They really took great pains to make sure that customers are never bored with their spread. You can check out what we had for lunch on 27 Apr below.

A beautiful centrepiece with starters like salad and finger food greeted us as we stepped into the restaurant. After the friendly waitress brought us to our table, we quickly scattered off to check out the spread.

Main staples like fried rice, fried noodles, plain rice & porridge were available as main fillers. My advice is to skip the first 3 and ...

Go for the abalone porridge! For my Non-Chinese readers, abalone is considered an expensive auspicious treat that is usually taken only during the Lunar New Year. Abalone porridge at a $12 lunch buffet sounds unbelievable!

The porridge tasted sweet and had a really smooth texture. That probably came from hours of simmering with abalone broth. There were some chewy abalone like strips sighted. But we were not fully convinced that these were abalone, sounds too good to be true.

Their Seafood Broth was a must try too! Its flavourful from long hours of boiling with chicken, crab and other ingredients and had the starchy texture of shark fin soup.

These super yummy potato chips hid a sinful ingredient - salted egg yolk! The dish definitely test the skill of the cook. He needs to stir fry these fragile chips and make sure that they are evenly coated with salted egg yolk sauce. It's such an innovative combination, I hope they have patented it!

Besides coating the chips, a large bowl of salted egg yolk sauce was also made available for another indulgence.

It's for diners to dip their hot, crispy golden brown fried bun into! You have to try your best to block out thoughts on high cholesterol and weight issues when you bite into this heavenly union.

We loved their Butter Chicken too. Tender chicken meat fried till golden brown & coated with a layer of smooth butter. Why do sinful stuff all taste so good....

Below are some of the other dishes like Beef with Ginger, Five Flavoured Prawns, Deep Fried Crispy Pork Ribs and others that were served during the buffet.

There were 2 dessert options to choose from. I went for their Black Glutinous Rice Paste also known as Pulot Hitam. It has a light coconut milk fragrance so I assumed coconut milk has already been added. The sweetness was just right and each mouthful feels so comforting. I am guilty of wolfing down 3 bowls of this wonderful dessert.

The health conscious can opt for Cheng Teng which is believed to be able to get rid of humidity and “heatiness” of a person.

I strongly recommend all readers to check out their lunch buffet soon! Its super value for money.

You may also like to check out my posts on other delicious food places http://www.aspirantsg.com/restaurants-cafe-eateries-food-list-singapore

For full experience write up & photos, please visit my blog: http://www.aspirantsg.com/food/old-school-delights-cafe-upper-thomson/singapore or follow me on twitter for food reviews: https://twitter.com/AspirantSG

Those of us who have ermmm crossed the BIG 30 will find Old School Delights located at Upper Thomson Road a warm & fuzzy reminder of our childhood days at Nursery, Kindergarten & Primary School.

The cafe seeks to transport it's diners back in time to the retro 80's classrooms where teachers are still using chalkboards and school canteen aka tuckshop serves the traditional local delights.

Both traditional & 'not so traditional' Dessert Cakes served are freshly baked to satisfy our lust for sweet endings.

Popular biscuits & snacks of yesteryears were also sighted! But I am not sure if these were made inhouse.

Besides edible stuffs, Enid Blyton story books, Erasers aka rubbers, Tikam Tikam, Paper Aeroplanes, Chatek, Five Stones,

Snakes & Ladders Chess, Cutesy Stickers, Toy Guns and other childhood items from the good old days were also made available for purchase. Great place to show your kids the toys Mommy & Daddy used to play before electronic devices were invented.

With limited recess time, my colleagues and I quickly settled down at one of the many seats available during weekdays lunch.

I have to order from Lawrence Khoong from Class 4A Sexology Assignment Book. Who is this naughty Lawrence?

I bet he must be one of the boys in the Detention Room. Serves him right!

His assignment book did reveal 8 delicious main course options for us to chose from. We ordered the Mee Siam, Macaroni Soup, Nasi Lemak Besar as well as the Hainanese Chicken Cutlet and Fish & Chips.

Once the orders were taken, our busy tuckshop auntie quickly delivers our eating utensils with napkins in a vintage kopitiam metal mug.

While waiting for our food to arrive, we explored the content of our table's toy box.

There are Five Stones, Old Maid Card Games and Erasers for us to entertain ourselves!

Our Barley Lime Juice came first. All my female colleagues loves this 'refreshing tangy' concoction. I just think it tasted weird - Barley mixed directly with Lime hmmm... This is the last time I am ever going to order this.

The Old School Heritage Mee Siam ($5.50) brought me back instantly back to the days when I was a kid taking swimming lessons at Hougang Swimming Pool. This Mee Siam tasted exactly the same as what I had at the pool canteen. To be honest, the Mee Siam tasted really normal. There was nothing amazingly impressive but it does has the capability to invoke memories.

Chicken Macaroni Soup ($5.90) was rather plain and boring. Order it only if you are not feeling well or if you like your meals light.

The Hainanese Chicken Cutlet ($8.90) smothered with homemade zesty sweet sour sauce was accompanied with fried rice. The chicken cutlet was crispy on the outside but the meat was a little tough. The sweet & sour sauce was pretty good, wished they can be more generous with it. It would have come in handy for the lukewarm and rather mild flavoured fried rice.

Nasi Lemak Besar ($6.90) was delivered on Pandan Leaves with a chicken wing, slice of egg, otak, fried peanuts and ikan billies. This cafe adopt a rather healthy cooking style - there was only faint hints of coconut in the rice. Thankfully there was the chilli sambal and tasty chicken wing to go with it.

The Otak was not exactly 'jumbo' as described in the menu. However, it makes up for size with it's smooth texture and taste.

The Fish & Chips ($13.90) came in a considerable helping. The pinkish home made tartar sauce has a unique sweetness which goes really well with the hot, crispy fish fillets and fries. This dish however looks a little too modern to be part of the whole old school package.

The Cakes, Dessert and Drinks Menu can be easily read off the walls for 'kids' who want to end of their recess meal with something sweet.

We opted for the Chocolate Banana Fudge Cake ($5.80). It was just the right combination of fluffiness & sticky sweet fudge. The fudge was given way in excess for diners to indulge in its sweetness alone.

Lovely place to spend the afternoon with close childhood friends to catch up over familiar food, drinks and games.

You may also like to check out my posts on other delicious food places http://www.aspirantsg.com/restaurants-cafe-eateries-food-list-singapore

For full experience write up & photos, please visit my blog: http://www.aspirantsg.com/food/my-peranakan-spice-box-fast-food/singapore or follow me on twitter for food reviews: https://twitter.com/AspirantSG

There is a rather famous food alley tucked deep within HDB shops at Toa Payoh Central. But if you are not familiar with the neighbourhood, finding this little hideout can be quite a challenge.

From the MRT Station, you need to walk along the row of HDB shops that's directly opposite MacDonalds. Look out for a makeshift signage that shouts 'Food Alley' for the exit to this food enclave.

When I first chanced upon 'My Peranakan Spice Box', I was rather skeptical of its culinary standards. Everyone knows that peranakan food requires long hours of preparation and cooking. This eatery look like peranakan fast food! Nevertheless, given my love for all things peranakan, I decided to give it a try.

Their menu is pretty comprehensive and ranges from one course meals & ala carte orders toVegetables, Soups & Nyonya Noodles. Their price is pretty reasonable too.

I ordered a Soybean Pork Stew with Rice which in Nyonya term should be Babi Ponteh at the counter. It was subsequently served piping hot to my seat around 10 minutes later in exchange for my number standee. At first sight, this dish won me over with its beautiful presentation but I was dismayed by the portion size.

I only realized that I have wronged them on the serving portion after exploring the dish's contents in detail. This seemingly small hotplate actually contains 4 thick pieces of succulent pork belly! There was only 1 small piece of potato and the stew tasted sweet with trace amount of saltiness from the soybean paste.

The pork belly was laced with just the right amount of fats (ladies may not agree) and they seem to just melt away gently in your mouth. Heavenly....

After my lovely dining experience with the Babi Ponteh, I introduced this amazing Peranakan 'Fastfood' to my colleagues to try out the other dishes on the menu.

Contrary to the relaxed weekend afternoon, the weekday lunch crowd was quite horrible. It took us around 15 minutes to get a table for 5 pax and a few tables seem rather frustrated with waiting for their orders to arrive.

I decided to go for the signature dish of Peranakan Cuisine - Chef Dale's Ayam Buah Keluak this time. This dish will really prove if this place is up to mark. My other colleagues all went for the Nasi Lemak Ayam Rendang.... quite a waste of options. I could have covered more if they all ordered different dishes.

While waiting for your meals to be served, I personally recommend the Iced Red Dates & Mata Kuching (Longan) drink to cool down the afternoon heat. It's sweet, refreshing and packed with generous helping of red dates and longan.

My colleagues' Nasi Lemak Ayam Rendang looks pretty decent. I did not try it personally but my female colleagues seem to be really impressed by it. If it warrants another visit back to try its other dishes, must be good lah!

My Chef Dale's Ayam Buah Keluak arrived shortly after without the accompanying rice (I paid an additional $0.50 for the steamed rice). I reminded one of the service staff but still no rice sighted. I had to walk up to the cashier counter eventually to redeem my bowl of rice served. Now I understand why some of the customers look frustrated...

Similar to my previous Babi Ponteh, my Ayam Buah Keluak was a delicious sight to behold. The serving was substantial but there was one really big problem with this dish - I could not find a single stuffed buah keluak nut. Where on earth is our main star?

The only consolation was that the chicken meat was juicy and tender. It soaked up the accompanying sweet and slightly spicy sauce perfectly. I personally feel that the entire dish can take on an even more spicy twist.

Overall, this is a great place for a casual peranakan meal. The dishes served are delicious but authenticity to the traditional peranakan cuisine that we all love can be further improved - like having at least a single Buah Keluak Nut in my Ayam Buah Keluak.

You may also like to check out my posts on other delicious food places http://www.aspirantsg.com/restaurants-cafe-eateries-food-list-singapore

For full experience write up & photos, please visit my blog: http://www.aspirantsg.com/food/fat-boys-can-be-sexy/singapore or follow me on twitter for food reviews: https://twitter.com/AspirantSG

It's really hard to get to eat at Fat Boy's. It is usually closed during office lunch hours and my close friends are super anti having burgers for dinner. You can imagine how thrilled I was when me & my colleagues saw it in operation during a weekday lunch.

True to its name, the burger joint adopted a rather clean, musculine, bar concept with options for a quick munch & go or a decent sit down meal. That's my other colleague from another department waving across a few tables away.

They have a comprehensive range of Speciality Burgers, chill out finger foods as well as sweet desserts for your selection.

If non of the speciality burgers suit your palate, you can also choose to create your own burger in just 4 simple steps!

As usual, I had my beer to go with lunch

My Swiss Shrooms was a sight to behold! Beautifully displayed with a proud Fat Boy's flag onto of the bun. They are not shy about their sesames, its all over the bun crown and bottom. The fries are of generous cuts, you will like them if you like wedges.

The interior of the buns are coated with butter and slightly toasted. Melted emmenthal cheese with garlic aioli hold the shitake mushrooms in place above the thick beef patty. The beef patty is a little dry for me but my 2 colleagues seem perfectly fine with theirs.

My colleague's Jamaican Me Hungry consist of jerk seasoned bacon stuffed pork patty with sundried tomatoes & chewy bacon. Sounds really sinful .... and delicious!

The final burger was an innovative 'Build Your Own Burger' not too sure what's the ingredients. But you will always love what your own creation, no matter what.

The waffles here is not too shabby but doubt one will have space for desserts after their main burger course. Unless... they are FAT BOYs.

Decent giant gourmet burgers, great for bros hangout. Definitely worth a visit if you are around the area.

You may also like to check out my posts on other delicious food places http://www.aspirantsg.com/restaurants-cafe-eateries-food-list-singapore

For full experience write up & photos, please visit my blog: http://www.aspirantsg.com/food/travel-holiday-wishes-to-heaven/singapore or follow me on twitter for food reviews: https://twitter.com/AspirantSG

The evening started with an Ang Mo Lo Hei at Ikea Tampines. Despite its Swedish origins, Ikea has localized and created delicious Yu Sheng at a really affordable price of S$6.80! But we managed to get it free by chalking up over $90 in total for our Lo hei Feast.

We are determined to make it a good year ahead! Huat Ah!

The real highlight of the evening was a distance away after our hearty dinner. We were off to release 3 sky lanterns (天灯), also known as Kongming Lantern (孔明灯) purchased from Chinatown a few days ago. These lanterns were believed to have been used by military strategist Zhuge Liang as a type of signaling balloon.

Our lanterns were constructed out of flimsy paper & bamboo frame. A solid fuel (similar to those from army) which comes along with the purchase was to be held secured at the bottom of the lantern. When lit, the flame heats the air inside the lantern (which takes a while…), lowering its density and hence pushes the lantern up into the air.

While there was every opportunity for our sky lanterns can catch fire & turn into a burning inferno in the night sky, all 3 sky lanterns successfully ascended to the heavens with all our well-wishes for the new lunar year.

You may also like to check out my posts on other delicious food places http://www.aspirantsg.com/restaurants-cafe-eateries-food-list-singapore