Recently, I accepted an invitation for an interview with a food blog and I was asked to name three dishes that are classic Singapore cuisine. Chilli crab just naturally came to my mind, so did the craving. So the husband and I headed to Jumbo at The Riverwalk for some crabbing business. The last time I came here was in 2011 while my last blog post on Jumbo was dated December 2010. A perfect time to revisit the restaurant again.This is one of my must-order dishes whenever I’m at Jumbo. The scallops are fresh and succulent. The yam rings are crispy on the outside. smooth and soft on the inside. The sweetness of the scallops and of the yam are a perfect harmony with each other. Though this may be fried, it doesn’t taste overly greasy at all. A wonderful starter to begin the meal with.This is fried spinach tofu topped with a trio of mushrooms (enoki, shimeji & shiitake) in a oyster sauce flavoured gravy. The tofu reminds me of the same from Rabbit Brand Delicacies at Circular Road. It is fried to golden brown on the outside while the middle remains wobbly and soft. Except for the sauce which I find it a little too starchy, I love the different textures of the tofu, mushrooms and steamed broccoli.I ordered this because it is the husband’s favourite. He loves anything with salted egg, be it a dry or wet version. The medium-size prawns are packed with a crunch and are really fresh. The sauce is creamy and buttery with the right amount of salted egg yolk. Overall it’s more on the sweet side and I would have loved this more if curry leaves are used to give it that extra aroma.I can never resist these fried mantous especially if we are having chilli or butter crabs. These are deep fried to a nice crisp with an even golden colour and it is moist and fluffy on the inside, perfect for soaking up flavoursome sauces.Despite the chilli crab being an iconic Singaporean national dish and that Jumbo’s chilli crab is also an award-winning one, when celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay was in Singapore last year for a cook-off with our local hawkers, his version of chilli crab actually triumphed over Jumbo’s which I wasn’t too surprised to know of. Jumbo’s chilli crabs never taste the same every time I have it. Sometimes, the sauce can be terribly starchy that I just hate it. Other times, the sauce was of my desired consistency with the crabs being really fresh and meaty. Thank goodness, this time I hit the jackpot again.

The sauce is sweet, spicy and eggy, not overly starchy. The crab is big, meaty and succulent. This is how chilli crabs should be!

For full review and pictures, please go to http://www.springtomorrow.com/2014/02/21/jumbo-seafood-restaurant-the-riverwalk-revisited/

While I love my greens, I have never thought of going vegan or vegetarian because I always think plant foods will not be able to satisfy me as they don’t give me the same texture and bite like meat. Recently, I started on my exercise regimen (yes, finally after being a couch potato for too long!) and decided to incorporate a few low-carb, vegan or vegetarian meals into my weekly cooking just to cut down my overall intake of carbs and meat. Two weeks into it and I feel good!

So for yesterday’s day out with the husband, I suggested that we go for a vegan burger at The Grandstand since I saw VeganBurg there the last time and was quite fascinated with the menu. He didn’t look too keen but was willing to give it a try anyway.VeganBurg is the world’s first vegan burger fast food joint. Currently it is only available in Singapore but people in Los Angeles could soon enjoy its burgers when it hits the US shores this October. Something to look forward to for those residing in LA!These are little balls of mashed potato and spinach, deep fried to a lovely golden brown colour. The exterior is hot and crispy while the middle is moist and fluffy. Absolutely delicious! The oil these are fried in is fresh so there is no old oil smell at all plus these balls don’t feel greasy too. I like the topping of alfalfa sprouts that has a nice crunch to it. Two thumbs up!Similar to a Mushroom Swiss, this burger consists of a crispy-fried vegan patty topped with fresh button mushrooms and a dairy-free cream sauce, peppers and lettuce in an organic whole wheat ciabatta bun. It claims to be rich in copper (to keep nerves, blood vessels, immune system and bones healthy) and potassium (to help maintain blood pressure and aid digestion). There’s no reason not to eat this. It just looks and tastes so wholesome and nutritious.

Though the patty is made of soy and mushrooms, it does have an interesting, firm bite to it. The patty itself doesn’t have much seasoning. In fact, the creamy sauce doesn’t have much flavour too. Overall, this burger is quite bland but the good thing is that you can taste the freshness and original flavours of the ingredients. I like the bun best as it is soft and moist.This burger is supposed to be high in anti-oxidants and it consists of a char-grilled vegan patty with satay sauce, lettuce and onions and is a complete opposite of the Creamy Shrooms as this sauce is very rich, nutty and flavoursome with spices. The only thing that I don’t enjoy is the pungent, raw onion that kind of spoil the entire burger for me but overall, I still prefer this burger to the shrooms one because of the satay sauce. Also, as the patty is grilled here instead of fried, it tastes more moist and juicy.Hot and crispy fries sprinkled with 100% organic seaweed flakes. Somehow I can’t taste much seaweed flavour in this (or perhaps there’s too little flakes?) but I do like that these fries are not salty, soggy or greasy.

For full review and pictures, please go to http://www.springtomorrow.com/2014/02/23/veganburg-the-grandstand-organic-vegan-guilt-free-fast-food/

It was a lazy Sunday morning but I woke up early feeling bright and cheery. The husband and I had been ill and got no choice but to stay home over Christmas and do nothing. BORING was the word. When I felt myself in top form on the weekend, I was excited to make the most of the day and so I dragged the sleepy husband out of bed and headed to Orchard for some shopping to grab some belated festive gifts.

An impromptu decision brought us to Paris Baguette Cafe which was the perfect move as there wasn’t any queue at all (and with plenty of empty tables) when we were there. So folks, Sunday morning is the key. Lol.What a joy to see chefs scurrying out of the kitchen with fresh-from-the-oven pastries and I just love the smell of these pastries in the air!Ordering is pretty simple. Just have a look at the array of available pastries and let the counter staff know what you want. He/she will grab your orders and place on a tray on top of the display shelves. Then you just take the tray to the cashier at the end, order your drinks, make payment, get a number plate and find a place to sit.

As my husband and I were marvelling at the pastries, I was quite amused by the young boy who was serving us because he literally followed us when we paced up and down in front of the display shelves, trying to make up our minds on what to order.

I have heard stories about their bad service which I feel is more of a lack of experience. The counter staff looked like students on vacation jobs and were quite shy in behaviour when communicating with us. Service wasn’t impeccable but it didn’t put me off either.The Hannam-Dong Hotdog is a rolled-up cheese sausage hotdog with marbled beef whereas the Sweet Bacon Roll is a crispy bacon and egg roll, probably basked in glistening sugar syrup or honey.

The cheese-oozing sausage was moist and juicy. Every bite of it was like a snap, really crunchy. The marbled beef was very well marinated and was full of flavours. The crust was like a thin pita bread. Everything just married within that roll. This would be one thing I’d come back for.

The bacon roll on the other hand tasted too sweet for my liking. I love eggs and bacon very much but just not when they are sweetened. Something just didn’t taste right for me. The husband loved it though. The egg mixture was stuffed compactly in the roll so every mouthful was brimming with eggy aroma. If this was more savoury, I’d probably enjoy it more.What really enticed me on this pastry were the big cubes of apples that looked so beautifully caramelized. Normally, we’d only see apple slices on similar pastries so this was really a generous helping. The apples were nicely baked and retained a lovely crunch. The sugar, raisins and a touch of cinnamon gave the apple cubes a rich, divine flavour without being too sweet. The best part? The crust or puff pastry gave a sound of crunch when you cut it through with the fork and knife. And gave another crunch when you chew on it. How did they manage to make the pastry so crispy despite the top being laden with heavy syrup spiced apples? A dust of icing sugar made the whole pastry even more intoxicating. It’s probably my first time enjoying and actually liking an apple pastry!Well, the coffee wasn’t spectacular but good enough to give me my caffeine kick.The husband ordered the mango latte at an unbelievable price of $9.00. It was like a mango milkshake made of fresh mango puree and milk. Not sure why this would cost so expensive. It tasted pretty good though. The mango was rich, not diluted. If you’re a mango lover, this would be perfect for you.

For full review and pictures, please go to http://www.springtomorrow.com/2014/01/01/paris-baguette-cafe/

Besides Quality Hotel (read my post on their porridge buffet here), Crystal Cafe at Killiney Road is another Taiwan porridge place worth visiting. It is an unpretentious cafe with no contemporary decor compared to other restaurants in the heart of Orchard. This restaurant looks rather old-fashioned which is probably why they have managed to preserve pocket-friendly prices for their porridge buffet.Sweet potato porridge is served here. The variety of food on the buffet line is not as huge as that of Quality Hotel’s but some of their dishes are superior in taste. I particularly like the hae bee hiam (spicy dried shrimps), bittergourd in black bean sauce (doesn’t taste bitter at all) and pig trotters (plenty of meat and collagen!). The braising sauce for the chicken feet, pig trotters, stewed pork, braised eggs and beancurd skin (tau kee) is one of the best ones around (besides my grandmother’s of course).

All dishes here are truly food that makes the best accompaniments with the plain porridge as their flavours are salty and robust. I also like their choice of vegetables i.e. preserved mustard green, sugar snap peas and hairy gourd with dried shrimps that are packed with a nice tender crunch. Even the curry chicken is rich and flavourful (though oily). The only thing that I didn’t fancy was their fried smelt (locally known as ‘sua chiam’) that was left out too long and was soft and greasy. And how can we miss the usual condiments of salted egg, fried anchovies (ikan bilis), braised peanuts and our all time favourite fermented beancurd? These never go wrong with porridge!

For full review and pictures, please go to http://www.springtomorrow.com/2014/01/03/taiwan-porridge-buffet-crystal-cafe-orchard-grand-court/

In the beginning when M&S had revamped its flagship store and started their first bakery here at Wheelock, I was initially a little skeptical as I thought the bakery would probably serve up expensive yet mediocre pastries. But I was wrong. The prices of the breads and pastries were comparable with other bakeries or probably lower for certain items.

After trying most of the items in the bakery, these are my two short-listed must-tries:It might not be the prettiest cheese twist and it looked as though there was barely any cheese but you just need to take one bite to enjoy that rich, cheesy flavour beneath those layers of pastry. As these twists had been left out for some time, the pastry was no longer warm or crispy but it didn’t affect the overall taste and texture because it had a lovely moist and chewy interior that I really liked.The palmier here was probably the best I ever had. The pastry was extremely crispy (yet not too brown or burnt) and flaky with the right amount of butter flavour and sweetness. Some of you might remember the big flat sugar pastry that was really popular in the 80s as almost all bakeries then would sell it. It tasted exactly like the palmier except that the shape and size were different. I grew up snacking on that flat pastry so that’s why I have a soft spot for palmiers now because they really bring back some fond childhood ‘snacking’ memories. And at $1.50 for a big hand size piece, it’s probably one of the cheapest pastries you can get in town these days.