Here's your next lunch or dinner outing idea: Boston Seafood Shack at Star Vista!Located just beside the escalators, Boston Seafood Shack sits on the hot spot area in Star Vista. However, it could easily be the victim of "Let's look around first" and be neglected. For students, there's a student offer which my friends and I snapped up almost immediately.

Student offer: $8 for main course of fish & chips/ mushroom pasta/ teriyaki chicken burger + soft drink, everyday before 6pm. No GST/Service Charge - double perks! If any of the other choices doesn't appeal to you, there are also other options available like the Seafood Platter.

When I stepped into this restaurant, I was blown away by the details in the interior decor. Being a 'seafood shack', the design and decoration stayed true to its theme with many props hanging from the ceiling. The sunlight streams in from the glass above, but it is not too sunny as we chose a seat away from the glaring areas. The other side!

There are two sections, one outdoor area and one indoor area. As it was quite humid, we were allocated an indoor seating with air conditioner. Even the counters area was painted with red, blue, black and white, a coherent theme with the rest of the restaurant.

The outdoor area, suitable on windy and cool days. The place was rather empty. Fish & Chips! I like the fries a lot, but it turned soggy after a while. The fish was really tender and it kind of melts in my mouth. (Pinched a serving from my friend) Mushroom Cabonara Pasta! I liked this because the mushroom taste/flavour permeates through the pasta/sauce as well. I refrained from choosing this because I know I can never finish these cheesy/creamy pasta, but I think this is not the overpowering creamy sort. I would order this the next time I come. (Pinched another serving from my friend)My pick of the day: Teriyaki Chicken Burger. There is cheese entirely melted within the burger itself which I liked better than the half-melted sort. However I find that the meat could be more tender than it is; the sauce could also afford to be more piquant. It is largely still quite satisfying but I don't like vegetables and they made the veggies inside really quite soggy and horrid (which I simply removed them from the platter).

Among these three - the one I would recommend is the Mushroom Pasta.

Bai Jia Cafe is a rare gem deep in the heart of the Jurong West community, a restaurant serving uniquely-concocted and delectable dishes! A particular bonus for NTU students - Bai Jia Cafe is only located across Yunnan Gardens, only a short walk away from Canteen B. If you're bored of the usuals, why not try Bai Jia Cafe? It is really more affordable than you think! No GST/Service Charge/MSG - they already took care of all my dining pet peeves. There're really many savoury dishes available here and the best part is that you can't find them anywhere else because the owners of this cafe put in extra effort to design their recipes! Bai Jia has many signature dishes, one of which is their Bai Jia Curry Chicken! The curry base and chili are personally compounded by the lady boss herself. It is spicier than my normal threshold, but then again I'm not someone who indulge too much in spicy food. The chicken itself was quite tender and generally tasty. It would be good for them to allow their customers to choose the level of spiciness (like Nando's) as everyone likes different levels of spiciness The Bai Jia Laksa surprised me with its softer spicy texture with more coconut milk. I liked this dish a lot because I think that the curry base blend is perfect. The noodles were also springy and complements the curry base nicely. Definitely one of the dishes worth ordering again. The Bai Jia Curry Fish Head is the signature dish of the restaurant. Their fish supply is renewed daily to ensure its freshness, so no worries about the freshness. However, I do find that it pales in comparison with the laksa because the fish could be more tender albeit its freshness. It was a little tough to the bite. Even so, the traditional asam curry base fits in well. For something usually mundane as Fries, they added a little seasoning to spice it up a little - it reminded me of the pepper/chilli powder in Shihlin Chicken Cutlet. Quite a special dish due to the different seasoning.The Chicken Cutlet is one of the few western dishes Bai Jia offers, which I find was pretty good but not spectacular. If you're not in the mood for the local dishes then I think this is the best option out of the western dishes.Braised Pork with Preserved Vegetables - another dish that pleasantly surprised me a lot! I thought it was going to be super oily - but no it's really NOT oily and fattening. I really enjoyed this dish. It's another one that's worth ordering again - but only if I'm going with a group of friends that want to share this.Their Signature Dish Tofu is also something really unique from anything I've eaten. Usually the sweet and sour mixture you see is paired with fish, but tofu? It actually works beautifully too! I would like it better if they used the egg tofu which is softer and smoother. Ironically, I can't remember the name of my favourite dish. But I really like it a lot because:
1. It's not spicy hahaha.
2. It has a LOT of ingredients inside and it makes me happy when I eat it - there's black fungus, prawns, some random vegetable and some other random things but it feels like it's packed with things.
3. I actually found an entire prawn inside. Whoa.

Okay all in all this is the most memorable dish out of everything and I will definitely order this when I go back to eat (it's so near to my school!).

The best part - while you're at a queue that snakes for about five metres from the stall at Canteen B why not take a ten minutes to this air-conditioned restaurant which sells really affordable and yummy food?! There's also a 15% discount (excluding desserts & drinks) for NTU students, just flash your matriculation card!

Directions from NTU: Cut across Yunnan Gardens, take the overhead bridge and walk into the HDB cluster to your right. You can't miss it, it's quite prominent.

Hifumi Japanese Restaurant: This restaurant is located at the top floor of the new extension of Plaza Singapura, which makes it an unlikely impromptu lunch spot unless you are really very undecided on where to eat. There are just so many food choices on the other floors and all over Plaza Singapura! I was quite surprised to see the reviews and my friends telling me that Hifumi has long queues - when I there, it was almost only half-filled at lunch time (around 12 plus) - and there was only a short queue of one group of people when I left. It was a Sunday, by the way.

What attracted me to try Hifumi: It really looks very modern, has a lot of choices, and the price is within my acceptable range (ie. $10 - 18). Above all, there was this eat-all-you-can appetizer bar with every set meal you buy!So colourful, so many veggies! But I'm more into meat...

There's soups, rice crackers, fruits, yams, sweet potatoes ... many things you can choose from and it's only just appetizer! If you want to get only the appetizer, it's $10.99++ per person. My faovurite appetizer was the sweet potatoes and pomegranate jelly with fruits.

Here are some other photos of the menu:
I ordered the Chicken Oyakuni Set - $15.20 after GST/service charge. It was really quite salty for me, and it seems like there were many eggs used inside this entire dish. By the time I finished the appetizers and three-quarters of this, I was feeling quite full already from it. There were also pieces of chicken and onions inside this. The rice portion was also insufficient to complement this salty dish. The dish was less than satisfactory, in my opinion. Would try something else instead next time, if I come back.
Refillable drinks are an additional $1.99++. There is also a limited eating time of 90mins, I guess that helps to ease the crowd problem!

Nothing can drag me out of bed as early as 7 on a chilly rainy Saturday morning... perhaps with the exception of good food. A good start to the day is really important!

If you're coming by public transport, The Rotisserie is a 10 minutes walk away from Buona Vista MRT station, you can choose to walk through Star Vista and cross the traffic junction or take the outside route from the taxi stand over.I took a liking for the ambience the moment I stepped into this restaurant. This place is adorned with simple but beautiful decor with bright lighting. The other patrons are mostly families sharing some quiet bonding time together, reading newspapers and chatting over breakfast.

If you want iced water, it is at a self-service counter in the restaurant itself. The service-wise, I think they seem to adopt this minimum-interference stance. The waitress only appeared when necessary (ie. To take orders at the beginning and clear table at the end). They can up the ante of their service by asking the patrons how they liked the food, a practice done by more conscientious restaurants.

My choice for breakfast: Panini BBQ Chicken Panini refers to sandwich.(It doesn't look very photogenic.)I liked the taste of the sandwich a lot. The flavour is strong but not overpowering, there is a fair amount of chicken slices. There is a bit too many onions though... they could cut down on that. The cherry tomatoes are sour and not sweet. I like sour cherry tomatoes but most of the others don't.The portion is just right to fill my stomach. However it will be too much for people who do not usually eat much for breakfast.

I also had a cup of cappuccino (Choice of coffee/tea). For coffees, there's only cappuccino, latte and flat-white to choose from. For teas, choices available are: English breakfast, earl grey and chamomile.(I like to see the pictures that baristas draw on coffees.) The coffee is really fragrant.

I’ve been wanting to try this out since forever! Hatched is a very famous café name among my friends, as I see their pictures plastered over my Facebook and Instagram all the time. So when my friends wanted to meet at Holland V for lunch, this choice was quite obvious!

Hatched is just a short walk from the MRT station, walk from the exit towards Holland V Shopping Centre, and walk straight ahead (away from the shopping centre). You will pass by Starbucks, and walk ahead a little more pass OCBC and you’ll reach! It’s not very obvious, actually. There is no signs outside that says Hatched specifically, but when you reach a little cozy café you know that it is your destination.

My first impression of the décor was that it is very cute, homely and pretty! I was quite wowed by the interior design. Upon entering, a waitress came to ask me table for how many but my friends are already seated. The whole place is generally quite quiet and formal, and makes it a little embarrassing to take a photo of the whole restaurant. :/

My friends quickly showed me their very adorably decorated menu, but we were quite confused for a while on what to order because of the food names that did not really indicate what the food actually is. Luckily, there was a line of description below to say what the food includes. A few dishes had the option ‘just one’ or ‘do two’ (eggs). The waitresses here appeared to be quite young, like around 20 years old. The head waitress is an older woman who is very professional and dealt with the customers’ requests promptly and efficiently.

The food arrived after a while. The presentation of the food was very classy and special, and immediately we think – “PHOTO TIME!”

I ordered a Bird’s Nest ($14++) – not the delicacy – but a burger with a double-yolk egg on it, with a few potato cubes strewn around. Within the burger was a few large slices of zucchini. My immediate thought was “High cholesterol!”, as I look at the double-yolk. I’m a fan of eggs, but definitely not two yolks at a go. Nevertheless, the glutton in me took over as I proceeded to eat everything up. If you have high cholesterol or don’t like yolks, don’t order this...okay in fact this is not a good option to eat at I think it would be better if they’d put in the option of asking how well done the egg the customers would like. As far as my dining experiences go, most people have very different preferences on how they like their eggs to be – some like it yolky/gooey, others like it entirely cooked to the point that it is almost powdery, while the finicky likes it with a harder layer outside and the golden goo remains half-solid-half-liquid. Having this option would take their service and food to the next level since their specialty is eggs.

Anyway I’m not picky, as long as the egg is not raw I can eat it. They made the yolks quite gooey. I am definitely not a zucchini enthusiast or any veggies for that matter, and one bite on it made my skin crawl. It’s really beyond my acceptance level. I ate a few more slices and decided I really don’t like it, but there’s a lot more left, so I handed them out to my friends The potatoes are surprisingly the highlight of the dish. Soft and flavourful. The way I like it.

Here are some other stuff my friends ate: In general, the main course itself is around $14 to 20++. I would say that it is only worth it for the novelty but not for the food itself.

Overall, I think the attraction of the place is the presentation of the dishes and the way they market themselves, as well as the prompt service. The food is quite an extraordinary experience… and for that, I think once is enough.