As my office is just around the Orchard area, this is probably the 5th time I returned to NamNam. It seems like the standard has dropped however.

I ordered my usual choice of the set lunch that comes with summer rolls, beef pho and iced lotus tea. One of the thing that made me return was the soup broth. Even though there wasn't MSG used in preparing the food, the soup was always flavoursome. However this time when I had the beef pho, the soup wasn't as good as the last few times. Raw sliced beef was placed in the soup to cook and it's best eaten before the beef becomes overcooked. The noodles were still as amazing though.

Al-Azhar has been around for quite some time and I grew up visiting this place since young. I believe this is one of the places a Singaporean will think of when the prata craving comes. Mozzarella cheese prata. It taste 10 times better than the normal cheese prata. Instead of the denser, thicker cheese, mozzarella is more gooey and chewy in texture. Palak Paneer is a dish I always have difficulties looking for at Indian restaurants/eateries. This dish is actually an awesome dip that goes well with naan. Made up of blended spinach and little cubes of Indian cheese, it has a robust taste of cream and spinach (think spinach soup, but more savoury and thicker in texture). Seafood tofu. I really don't like this dish. It doesn't really taste edible when its cooled down to room temperature. Sirloin steak with mushroom sauce. The meat of the sirloin was tough. But really, Al-Azhar is not a place you should come with high expectations on the beef. God knows why I ordered a steak at an Indian restaurant.

Anyway, the verdict is that the prata rocks - anything that is non-indian cuisine, it's not really worth risking it.

5 Little Bears at Far East Plaza is a newly open outlet and they serve Taiwanese street food.

The interior of the little restaurant is well decorated with their signature dishes written on red lanterns. One might even think he has just stepped into an eatery in Taiwan.

This place is relatively crowded during lunch time as there are a lot of offices around the area. 5 Little Bears serves set menus. At $5.90, I can choose to have a bowl of braised pork rice or oyster mee sua with a cup of drink.The braised pork was marinated and thoroughly seasoned. I love that they actually offer scoops of preserved vegetables with the braised pork as it adds layers to the flavours.

Would return for more.

This is the first time I'm came to Hong Lim Food Centre & Market in Chinatown. I'm not really a hawker centre person but when I heard there was a really extraordinary dish at Chinatown, it peaked my interest so much that I just had to try it.

Lo & behold - the one and only fruit juice mee siam in the whole of Singapore! Daniel, the owner of Famous Sungei Road Trishaw Laksa, mentioned that he was the one who came out with the innovative idea of adding fruit juice into the mee siam.

As I couldn't really take spicy food, I scooped up the dollop of chilli paste before I started eating. The first mouthful of mee siam was really awesome, it was refreshing and spicy at the same time. Full of the flavours of the variety of seafood that was probably prepared together with the broth.

I was there with a group of foodies, and we decided to order the large bowl with crayfish, which cost only $6.00. I think it's really worth the price. It came with bits of chicken, fresh prawns (de-shelled), and of course the crayfish. What was seriously missing from the bowl are cockles!

Something about fruit juice mee siam that was obviously different from an ordinary bowl of mee siam is that it taste sweeter, less savoury and lacks the cloyingly rich taste of shrimp paste (which some people might prefer that instead of the fruit juice version)

I'm torn between choosing the fruit juice version or the ordinary bowl of mee siam to be honest, but I'd definitely return when I have the craving for an innovative twist in my mee siam.

To be honest I have mixed feelings about Tim Ho Wan.

As I went just a few days after the grand opening, the queue was really really really long. My friends and I waited for 3 hours to get a seat. Osmanthus Jelly. One of the must haves when you come to Tim Ho Wan. Osmanthus is one of the flower species that can be eaten. I'm not sure if there's any health benefits for consuming them, but they tasted fragrantly yummy. The famous char siew bun from Tim Ho Wan. I have friends who really love this char siew bun that they can order 15 at one go and bring them home to have them for supper. But somehow when I tried the char siew bun, they were not really hitting the right notes for me though. The bun tasted blend and the char siew filling was not as tasty as I imagined them to be at the queue. Spring Rolls!!! One of the must haves! I love it! Filled with fresh prawn meat and minced tofu and mayo, the skin was fried till crisp. Char siew cheong fun... What I love about them is the sauce that tend to be a little too salty for me at other dim sum places. But at Tim Ho Wan, the sauce is perfect and the cheong fun is smooth. Steamed chicken in chinese wine. I was surprised that they tasted average. The chicken meat was tender though.I don't really know the exact name of this dish, but to be honest, these are my least favourite among the rest of the dim sum. Siew mai! The meat in the siew mai was tender but the yellow skin tasted a little weird.Beancurd skin roll. It doesn't taste as salty as I thought it would be, and I love it. Har gow... (for what is a dim sum feast if there's no har gow???) The skin of the har gow was a little too thick and floury. Couldn't really taste the prawns in them as they were covered by the taste of the flour.

I felt that Tim Ho Wan is just average and it's not worth the queue. I'd only return when the queue disperse.