I had expected my visit to Balithai to be an experience like any other Thai chain in Singapore (Absolute Thai, Thai Express etc) but I was wrong. Balithai had disappointed me in terms of their food -although I wasn't hoping to have purely authentic Thai fare (it did had Balinese influences, I suppose?), the flavour and the value just wasn't there.

The lunch crowd wasn't as hectic as I had expected -perhaps due to the quality of the food here, yikes. We were ushered to a table quickly, and the best thing about this place is that they have an option for you to customise your noodles -you choose a noodle time, the main ingredient you'd like (vegetables, seafood, etc), and the style it's fried in.

I opted for the phad thai noodle with vegetables fried with basil & chilli. This cost slightly over $10.The noodles were really not much -the phad thai noodle had this distinct ricey smell (the exact smell you get when you buy kuay teow from the wet market!), and the basil/chilli had no real flavour. The vegetables weren't a lush green and they were slightly overcooked. The fried noodles were a completely lacklustre attempt to recreate the true Thai flavours. Overall, while it wasn't too salty, it also had no flavour nor aroma to speak of.The tom yum soup cost slightly over $10 as well, and it came in a clay, earthern pot. This was a nice touch as it helped to keep the heat in very nicely. However, the soup was a letdown. There was way too much lemongrass in the soup, and the flavours didn't fuse with each other nor provide a smooth transition. The flavours were way too isolated, the initial taste was (too) sour, then came the hit of spiciness, followed by the sickly sweet aftertaste that didn't sit so well with me. While there were ample ingredients (mussels, prawns and squid...), we would have rathered they cut down on the lemongrass instead.

All in all, BALIThai is not exactly the best out there for Thai food and if you need to satisfy a thai food craving, this isn't the place for it. The fried noodles had no real aroma nor flavour that was remotely decent, let alone impressive. The clay pot kind of made me anticipate something more for the soup, but it still fell flat. If you do try this place, maybe you want to give their rice & dishes a try. A colleague tried the fried rice and commented that it wasn't up to standard as well.

Upon receiving reccommendations for this place, I thought 'Hey, why not?' and decided to give it a go. Located at what would commonly be known as the Taka Food Basement, Fisherios is a stand-alone stall with a bartop counter for patrons to dine in-house.

When I found a seat, I was shoved a menu. Okay, I thought, maybe they was this idea of efficiency and they didn't realise they had shoved it in my face. I decided on trying the pan-fried fish at $6.90 because I wasn't very hungry. When trying to order, the staff were also unpleasantly brusque/snappy. Such an awful experience with ordering!The fish was served on a porcelain plate, and matched up against it, it appeared to be ridiculously meagre. The pan-fried fish was not only terribly mediocre at best, but the portion served did not justify the $6.90 I paid for it. Even though the dory was fresh, its taste did not possess any qualities that would redeem it. A basic flavour of saltiness on ones tongue -maybe a hint of white pepper, nothing more. The dish came served with, yet again, a disappointingly small side of what I would assume to be coleslaw with bacon bits. Not worth the price.

Thankfully this place doesn't have service charge as food is placed right in front of you at the counter -service is so awful and the food just makes things a whole lot worse. This puts Fisherios right at the bottom of my Fish & Chips to-die-for list.

Located at one side of the Alexandra Food Centre you will find three green signboards proclaiming themselves to be the true avocado drink experts. I decided to try King Avocado instead of the usual Avocado King, under the assumption that if there were to be 3 stalls nearly side by side selling the same products, the quality should be of a comparable level.

One sip of this $2.50 avocado blend and I knew instantly that my assumption was proven wrong. This drink wasn't cold and had no real flavour. It tasted fake, sorely lacking in the rich sweetness of gula meleka. The thickness of the drink, without any rich aromatic sweetness, made it taste more like a haphazard cream blend with no real taste -not even avocado. Strangely, when diluted, it was much more palatable... this cup found its way to the rubbish bin even before I could finish half. I wouldn't even pay for this, let alone a price of $2.50. You're way better off drinking the original Mr. Avocado.

I had heard a lot about the Suan La (sweet and sour) soup here, as well as the various dumplings both fried and steamed. I carried anticipation in my heart as I approached the stall and ordered the three famous must-tries. The dumplings are $4 for 8, be it steamed or fried. The soup is $3 and comes in a substantial size enough for 3 small bowls.The steamed dumplings are....very very mediocre. I don't understand the hype over it at all. The skin felt noticeably thicker at some parts, and while the filling wasn't overcooked and was generally succulent, it was just not enough to keep me interested. Dipped in vinegar, it made the dumplings taste so much more palatable with a refreshing tang. Overall so-so ...I wouldn't specially buy it again, but it's all right.

The fried dumplings were disappointing -they looked like the frozen kinds one would find in bags sold in supermarkets, and it looked as though someone had just heated it up for us. To cut a long story short, it looked like it wasn't professionally done -more of home-cooked fare. Not that home-cooked fare is a bad thing but when you're dealing with 'traditional shanghainese dumplings' it wouldn't exactly be what customers are looking for. The dumplings weren't exactly crisp, but still moist on the inside, and generally tasty, so that's something to be happy about I guuess

The sour and spicy soup was by far the most awful soup I've ever drunk in my entire life. it was WAY TOO starchy, it was as starchy as a poorly done tau suan. There were bits of meat, cabbage and prawns inside, but the combination gave the soup a really disgusting smell... I didn't even finish my small bowl. The meat didn't smell fresh and it gave the soup an undesirable meaty smell that ruined everything. The taste was below average as well, the sourness and spiciness did not fuse in harmony but instead, the taste came in isolated pockets. The initial taste is a slight sourness, which reminded me more of something gone bad rather than a refreshing zest, the spiciness was a little weird given the consistency of the soup. Really, really bad.

If not for the soup, I would have given this stall a 3/5 for the dumplings which were honestly not a total fail, they just did not meet up to my expectations. I did not like what I had tried and while this is subjective, I'd say that the dumplings DEFINITELY don't taste authentic.

This stall is right smack in the centre of Maxwell food centre, drawing crowds from all directions. It has a queue even at 2+ on a Saturday afternoon and hot favourites are the char siew rice and wanton noodles (with of course, the signature charsiew generously topping the noodles)

At $4, the char siew rice is a hit with the people. I don't deny that one can find better char siew rice out there and at a cheaper price, but many seem to like this particular version. The roasted meat is crisp on the outside and carries a slightly burnt aftertaste. It smells and tastes smoky at the first bite, and this evolves to a meaty smell which I don't quite like. I've noticed that the slices of char siew are REALLY thick compared to other places, about half a cm thick. This attributes to the fact that the meat is chewier and does not seem as tender/lean due to the emphasis on the fattiness when the slices are thicker.

The sauce is mediocre at best, and doesn't give the dish much character. The chilli couldn't salvage the entire char siew rice either. I guess this isn't my thing because the meat had a certain smell that I wasn't comfortable with, and the sauce + chilli did nothing to salvage the already poor impression formed on my palate. Won't have it again.