TCC is one of most customer-oriented dining places in Singapore. To date, I've not seen another restaurant that offers the same standard of service - polite, attends to you appropriately and quickly, relatively quick serving of food. While the prices are higher, they do not scrimp on their discounts (think 1-for-1 during GSS and 15% off for members). This one at Novena is my favourite branch and it has become my fixed place for high tea.

TCC changes its high tea set every month and it is very refreshing and exciting to see what the new dishes are. A lot of thought and effort is put into crafting the high tea set, be it the selection of the food, the design of the food or the plating of the food. Every set comes with about 2-3 sweet items and 2-3 savoury items, accompanied by a raisin scone and chocolate scone, and is crafted based on a theme (for example, this month's is Halloween). It also comes with coffee or tea, which you can upgrade (with a small fee) to the other drinks in their extensive drink menu (or their monthly drink special!). All these for a modest price of $13.90-$16.90++, depending on the items on the plate. The entire dining experience is definitely worth it.

Here are pictures of some of the high tea sets I've had in the past year:

Sometimes the simplest dishes are the best ones. This particular chicken rice stall has been here for many years and queues are always long during the afternoon and evenings, even on weekdays. It is also the earliest stall to close in the coffee shop and I hardly see it open after 8+pm. Fair enough, the stall has been recognised by Channel 8 show New City Beat and the episode is played on a mini screen beside the shop.

And I'll have to admit, it is really that good. 

The chicken rice is tasty as it does have a pleasant mild flavour without any sauce. However, the sauce on the chicken just adds to that flavour and makes it so much better. The $2.50 dish will put the chicken on the rice while the $3 dish will separate the chicken, but I'd end up pouring over all the sauce onto the rice anyway. While it can be salty sometimes, the sauce is simply one of the best in the area.

Of couse, not forgeting the chicken, which was tender and usually given very generously. I personally think that the roasted chicken sold here tastes better than the white one, but both are pretty good.

Four Fingers at ION is one of the shops in the basement to have long queues. It sells Korean-style fried chicken in either Soy Garlic or Hot sauce; its fries can be ordered with Seaweed or Kimchi seasoning. Prices for the sets (+ fries and drink) are usually about 10 bucks, but students get an additional $3 off on weekdays.


The place was really small though and it was difficult to find seats or move around. Collecting the food was also quite confusing as there was no staff at the collecting station and I had to ask a few staff before I received my food. While the service side is lacking, the food is delightful. I ordered the Chicken Chop and the skin of the chicken was crispy and fully coated with the soy garlic sauce. One bite in brought out the full flavour and it was a really wonderful feeling in my mouth, albeit a little salty. The chicken meat on the other hand is decent as the sauce had seeped into the meat too. The Seaweed fries were quite nice as the taste of the seaweed was just enough and not too salty, but I didn't really like the fries texture (more crispy than soft).

Overall, Four Fingers is really good. I might want to try Hot sauce on my next visit instead of Soy Garlic though because this one is a little too salty for my liking.

After a long day, I decided to get my quick fix of dinner at Bukit Timah Market. I've been craving western food for some time and there were two western stalls that stood out among the other stalls, so I decided to try Tom's Kitchen and I ordered the Dory with fried rice (you can change to fries OR hashbrown). 


For the good part, the owner was very friendly when taking order and delivering the food to the table. However, the waiting time was way too long and I received the food only when everyone else had almost finished their meals and had to wait for me. Not a good start.

The fried rice was decent. Nothing fanciful, just egg and rice but it was actually quite nice with the mild egg flavour in the rice. The black pepper sauce was pretty normal too and it was given generously such that I had alot to spare and it definitely made my rice so much tastier.

However, the fish was quite bad. The two fishes on my plate tasted different, looked different. One was soft and the other was too fishy and tough. I've eaten way better at other hawker centres, so this is not worth the money. Of course I may be quick to judge; the chicken dishes may be better. I'll probably try the other stall the next time though.

Among my family and friends, Hot Tomato is well known for its aglio olio and relatively affordable sets. After visiting last week after a long time and ordering the same dishes I love (or used to), I was partially disappointed.

As usual, I ordered the soup + drink set because it is worth the money. The Ice Lemon Tea was pretty normal and more towards the tasteless side than sweet. The tomato soup was good: thick and flavourful. The small garlic toast looked delicious, but it was too hard for my liking.


The Teriyaki Chicken Chop was probably the best dish on that day. The teriyaki sauce was sufficient for the entire chicken and the flavour was not too overpowering. This made up for the not-as-tender chicken. The side salad actually had a really nice tangy dressing. Even someone who doesn't like greens like me finished up the entire salad! The aglio olio, however, was a major disappointment. It used to taste really good, but this one just didn't have the flavour coming out and it only felt oily without the right taste. It was a drastic difference in quality and I'm hoping it was just a bad day in the kitchen.


While the chicken was good, the salmon was pretty bad. The mango salsa sauce was sufficiently sour and sweet, but it was
 too little to cover the entire salmon, which was essentially tasteless. The meat was also not soft and chewy and it was such a chore for my mouth that I ended up leaving most of it on the plate. 


I did not enjoy the overall dining experience and the standard has definitely deproved. Now I will think twice before coming back here, and it looks like I need to find a better place for aglio olio.