The Bravery is a new cafe that treading a fine line between brave and suicidal. The owners are so confident of their products and service, they did not even put a signboard on the door, and let their presence spread through word of mouth and social media.Located near the hardware shops across Jalan Besar Stadium along Horne Road, you can identify this shop by steel red chairs and sturdy tables which looks made the left over of industrial steel shelf and thick plank of wood. The glass windows are covered with bright and attractive films such as red, blue and yellow. The interior inside are not much different, however the square communal table with piñata as the centre piece really represent the character of this place.We ordered Pancake Stack ($15), with my Latte ($4.50) and San Pellegrino ($6) for Little Devils. The pancake the thick version, similar to what we had during our days in Melbourne. Served with Bananas, Ricotta Cheese, Honey and Crushed Pistachio. The thick pancakes are moist and crumbly however the banana is not ripe. The honey is very sweet, while the ricotta cheese and crushed pistachio provide a contrasting flavour and texture. LD gave her seal of approval for the pancakes.For the coffee, The Bravery used the beans roasted in Melbourne Australia, by Genovese. It is smooth, with mild coffee flavour and not acidic. The type that I like.The service staff are bunch of people that enjoy their work here. They are nice and friendly and knowledgable about their coffee. Check out the photo below.Overall, The Bravery Cafe is the place where you can chilled and relax. The atmosphere is just awesome and they serve good coffee and food as well. We'll definitely return in the future. Cheers!!

For the complete Chubby Botak Koala experience, click / copy the link below:
http://www.chubbybotakkoala.com/2014/12/the-bravery-cafe.html

Ras Bites is the mass market eatery concept by Palate Vine Group, which strive to offer up-market dining experiences that are truly unique in nature. Located in Changi Business Park, Ras Bites target market are employers of banks and MNCs who set up their outposts in the east of Singapore.We were introduced by our friends A&M where they celebrated their son first communion here. On Saturday night it can be difficult to find this building as the surroundings are very quiet and dark. Not recommended if you do not have your own transport. Should you able to come this area, you will be rewarded with atmosphere closer to private dining, as there are almost no other customers and you will have their full attention in serving you.Appetizer was baked papadum, instead of deep fried. It is crispy, not oily but slightly thicker and harder in some part.In normal Indian customs, it is common to start with grilled meat. We had chicken tikka ($14) and mixed grill platter ($26) as entrée. The chicken tikka is well marinated with hung-curd and spices. It is tender, succulent with a bit of heat in the dish.The mixed grilled platter is a combination of Tandori Prawn, Mince lamb kebab, reshimi (mince chicken) kebab, chicken tikka and fish. The mince lamb and chicken are well marinated, flavourful, succulent with minimum trace of gaminess in the meat . The juice are sealed in the meat internally, so it remain tender and succulent. Unfortunately the prawn end up in someone else plate before I manage to savour it.For the kids that can't take spicy stuff, they had Chicken 65 ($12) for starter. Deep fried to perfection, it is crispy yet succulent. The seasoning was just right.The main meal consist Butter Chicken ($14), Palak Paneer ($14), Rogan Gosht ($16) with Chicken Briyani ($16), Lamb Briyani ($16) and selections of Naans.The Butter chicken has a thick, rich and creamy gravy to go with succulent chicken. This dish is best to accompany the moist and fluffy naans. Surprisingly the butter chicken here packs a subtle heat.Both of the briyani are flavourful. The chicken and lamb slowly cooked with the basmati rice, allowing their flavours to infused into the rice together with the rest of the herbs. The portion is huge and served in Indian copper pot and filled to the brim. The rice is fluffy and not starchy.Rogan Gosht is tasty and flavourful, however the lamb will be better if its cooked longer. As the cut of the meat is lean, it turn out to be tougher than expected. Palak Paneer is our favourite dish. The blended spinach and cottage cheese are nice and made us feel less guilty of eating all those nice proteins and curry.At the end to cool down the burning flames from the curry, it is nice to have mango lassi ($4).The atmosphere of the place is bright and decorated with modern Indian flair. There are buffet line on the right side of the restaurant, that are available during weekday lunch and dinner. The chandelier just made the place looks classy. The service during the night was good and attentive, as there was not many customers at night.Overall, Ras Bites serve delicious and authentic Indian food. The briyani & naan are great, and the price are reasonable. We look forward to our next visit. Cheers!!

For the complete Chubby Botak Koala dining experience, click / copy the link below:
http://www.chubbybotakkoala.com/2014/12/ras-bites-changi.html

In the past few years, more and more Vietnamese restaurants seems to open up in Singapore. Although the growth was not as exponential as the upper class Ramen invasion in SG, Vietnamese PHO follow the slow yet steady path to win the stomach of Singaporeans. Although it is no very obvious, to get a Halal Vietnamese food can be a challenge for our muslim friends, especially when pork feature prominently in Vietnamese cuisine. Fortunately, Katrina Holdings see the opportunity in the market and introduce So Pho.Little Devil has a bit of Vietnamese Food cravings when we were in NEX, so we decided on So Pho.We started with Gỏi cuốn (Summer Roll – with prawn and lemongrass chicken $4.50). The rice paper roll is moist and filled fresh ingredients such as carrot, chicken, bee hoon, sliced prawns and vegetables. The sauce was sweet fish sauce, is light and not spicy. However, We are missing the peanut sauce that normally come with the summer roll.For mains, I had Fresh vermicelli with grilled beef and fresh spring rolls ($9.80). The portion is good and the spring rolls are fresh and crispy. The grilled beef is flavourful, but a little though to chew on. The combination of peanuts, crunchy vegetables, the vermicelli and sweet fish sauce, create an explosion of flavour and textures in your mouth. Yum!!Vietnamese Pho with sliced beef and beef ball soup ($8.80) is robust but on the sweet side. We feels that they put too much rock sugar in the broth. The sliced beef are tender, while the beef balls and rice noodle are springy (qq) in texture.Interested in trying out their Baguette (Banh Mi), we ordered Bahn Mi Chicken (Baguette with Grilled Chicken & Chicken Pate $5.90). Using the chicken liver as pate is a creative way to replace the pork version. The baguette is light and crisp, the pate is smooth, velvety and flavourful. The chicken is tender. A good Banh Mi flavourful, yet well balanced.For drinks with Vietnamese flair, give Lemongrass Tea or Sparkling Vietnamese Limeade a try.

The concept of the restaurant is open, bright and modern yet simplistic in a way. The use of light wood colour are prominent in this place. There are lots of mini flowers on the pot used to for decoration. Service is fast and the food come quite fast. Overall, if you are looking for a quick fix of Vietnamese food or something that looks more healthy, you might want to consider So Pho. The food are fresh and flavourful, serving are fast and accommodate to the mass. Cheers!!

For the complete Chubby Botak Koala Review, click here:
http://www.chubbybotakkoala.com/2014/11/so-pho-so-good.html

A while back during one of food tasting session, I had a chat with a passionate “Pastry Chef Blogger”, about what is her pick for a must try cafe in Singapore. Symmetry Cafe was her pick.Following her recommendation we decided to give this cafe a try on a Saturday Morning. Without knowing, it was actually nearby where LD's pick for food reflexology in SG. Symmetry Cafe is a new breed of cafes in Singapore that are heavily influenced by the Australian casual dining trends. It is a cafe by day and morph into casual restaurant bar by night. Definition of bar, is that alcohol is definitely involve here. A place for people to gather to enjoy a great meal and drinks. Food sharing are welcome.We walk in without reservation that morning and was lucky enough to get a table. The service staff politely inform us that due to prior reservation, we need to vacate the table at a certain time. No problemo, so we quickly placed our brunch order.
Hickory Corned Beef & Hash ($22) catch my eyes, while LD's pick Truffle Egg Mushroom ($21) with extra hash brown. My caffeine pick was Latte and LD's goes for Chai Tea Latte and Calpis Soda drink.My Corned Beef served in a cast iron pan. Food is kind of interesting, as it looked like it is all mash up together, but all the ingredients gel well. I poke the egg to allow the yolk to ooze to the corned beef, and using my bread to scoop it. The corned beef is flavourful and not salty, while the potatoes and salad give a different texture to the dish. The bread used here has a similar texture to the soft colourful traditional coffeeshop bread. It will be good if there is another slice of bread to polish up the proteins.LD's Truffle Egg Mushroom comes with scrambled eggs, sautéed mushrooms, truffle oil, berries butter and toast. Served on a long plate, the presentation is just gorgeous. The eggs are fluffy and the mushrooms are nicely executed, however she was a little taken back by the pungent smell of the truffle oil. It seems the kitchen was a little too generous with it. The hash browns are crispy and the berries butter goes down well with the toast.The latte is smooth and well balanced. While the Chai Tea Latte is a bit on the sweet side and lack of cinnamon according to LD. We both enjoy the calpis soda, although it is slightly flat, missing the carbonated feel of soda.Service was good and polite, however it can be slightly hard to catch their attention. The ambiance here is very good. Crowded yet relaxing with lounge music playing in the background. They try to maximise the space available with counter seats as well. We manage to check out before the customers that reserved the table arrives.Overall, Symmetry Cafe / Restaurant Bar are one of the best cafe that we tried this year. The food is great and the same can be said about the atmosphere. The best part, you can actually make reservation online, so you won't get disappointed. Drinks price for brunch is on the high side, more like bar price instead of cafe. Thanks Fundamentally Flawed for the recommendations. Cheers!!

For the complete Chubby Botak Koala experience, click / copy the link below:
http://www.chubbybotakkoala.com/2014/11/symmetry-cafe.html

Soi Thai is an authentic Thai Restaurant that opened its door in the heart of Tampines. Some interesting facts about Soi Thai, The boss is from Taiwan, but not to worry the chefs are from Thailand. From their FB page, they describe the Thai Chef with moustache is the head chef and the hairy one is the second in command.While we try not to compare Soi Thai dishes to the ever popular Nakhon, we have to face the reality that Nakhon has set the standard for Thai restaurants in the heartland. Therefore it is fair, if we compare the standard of their food.We started the dinner with Stuffed Chicken Wings ($6 – 2pcs), Thick Tom Yum Soup – Prawn ($7) and Boiled Cuttlefish with Lime Sauce ($10). The stuffed chicken wings was tasty and flavourful. It was crispy on the outside and served pipping hot. Good sign at the start. As you know I don't take tom yum, so according to LD, the taste was tweak to suit the Singapore taste. It will be better if it was spicier and sourer, be bold with the flavours. Boiled Squid was tender with a bit of springy texture, the lime sauce are not overly spicy.Green Chicken Curry ($9), Thai Style Kang Kong ($7) and Fried Sea Bass with Namjim Larb ($22) follow next. The chicken thigh meat in the green curry was very generous. However, the curry feels soupier, missing the thickness and richness of the lemak from the coconut milk. Thai style Kang Kong was good, crunchy and pack of punch from the chilli. The crispiness in the fried seabass was slightly inconsistent and a bit soggy in some part of the fish. The dipping sauce has the sweet, spicy and tangy taste, good to accompany the fish and removed the smell, however it was not to our preference.While our expectation was lowered after the initial few dishes, the chefs whipped out their best dishes. Beef Paneang ($11), Thai Yellow Ginger Chicken ($9) and Pad Thai ($6). The Beef Paneang tasted like the version of Thai Stew Beef. The meat was tender and the gravy was thick, rich and robust. Yum YumThe yellow ginger (tumeric) chicken is unique. The tumeric is used to seasoned the meat provide a sweet yet appetizing flavour that wets your appetite. The Pad Thai is as authentic as its get. The Chef manage to get the right balance of sweetness and tanginess that truly show the authentic taste of Pad Thai. Kudos to the Chef.For desserts, we tried Red Ruby ($3) and Mango Sticky Rice ($5). The red ruby is average, missing the crunchiness. The sticky rice was too warm and it did not bind well with the mango and coconut milk.Service was good and efficient. The food came quite fast and at regular interval. The décor of the restaurant is clean and simple, where food are the main focus instead of decoration. Without the signboard, I don't think people will recognise them as a Thai restauraint. There are two seating area, indoor and panoramic seating (open air seating as I like to called it, he..he.. )Overall, Soi Thai served a good authentic food. Pad Thai, Beef Paneang and Yellow Ginger Chicken is a must try. I never tried the last two dishes before I visited Soi Thai. In comparison to Nakhon, each of them have their different signature dishes, for food and quality standard, Soi Thai is comparable. So if you are looking for something different for Thai Food, give Soi Thai a try. Cheers!!!

For the complete Chubby Botak Koala review, click / copy the link below to your browser: http://www.chubbybotakkoala.com/2014/11/soi-thai.html