Eastern Chicken Rice, Whampoa Food Centre

Nice find here down at Whampoa Food Centre (Whampoa Drive Block 90, #01-88, S320090). On a random rainy afternoon, this place was almost serene at lunchtime. Reminded me more than a little of the old hawker centre down at Tanglin Halt for some reason.

Eastern Chicken Rice sells only chicken rice (roast and steamed variety) with the usual add on options for eggs, liver, gizzard and boiled greens. They go for $3.00 a plate if you add an egg. Really nice with plump strips of sliced chicken piled on their garlic-ky oiled rice. Rice may not have been the most fragrant around but was still pretty decent. Wasn't too grainy. Was also glad that the flavour of the rice had more garlic than ginger. The chilli used here is a formula of their own. Spicy with a decent kick and pairs well with their rice. Portions were more generous than Chye Kee for sure. I'm not averse to coming back here again but the options in this food centre are overwhelming and so tempting.

11/04/2008 update

I have decided that I liked this Eastern Chicken Rice enough to come back again after a couple of days. Look at this. For $8 this was very decent portion for two persons (along with two plates of rice) with an addition of an egg and chicken liver. Note that their chicken wasn't flattened. The meat was pretty tender as well.

Chye Kee Goldhill Roast Chicken Rice & more, Novena

This roasted meat stall (Rocovo Restaurant, 151 Thomson Road, Goldhill Centre, tel: 6256 3888) located just a stone's throw away from the United Square exit at Novena Station seemed to be pretty packed during lunch. Their roast meats were pretty tasty, however the small portions do make them a little pricey. If you're wondering, Rocovo Restaurant is an old school coffee shop and not a restaurant. Just next door to it, is another coffee shop which houses another Chye Kee stall that sells soya sauce chicken.

The roast chicken and duck here were pretty tender and absent of excessive fat. The same can be said for the roasted pork which actually had crispy crackling. The meats however were thinly sliced and portions for two which amounted to $12.00 didn't quite do the job for lunch. Great chilli with lime here though which added a good zest to the greasy rice.

Cam whoring brunch at Cedele...

Rosemary foccacia with sundried tomatoes. Crispy salty bacon. Buttery light scrambled eggs. Light toasted bread with unsalted butter. Tasty sauteed mushrooms. Thick chicken sausages. Savoury pureed pumpkin soup. Double shot cappucino. Dry black forest cake. Rosemary foccacia with sundried tomatoes. Crispy salty bacon. Buttery light scrambled eggs. Light toasted bread with unsalted butter. Tasty sauteed mushrooms. Thick chicken sausages. Savoury pureed pumpkin soup. Double shot cappucino. Dry black forest cake.Rosemary foccacia with sundried tomatoes. Crispy salty bacon. Buttery light scrambled eggs. Light toasted bread with unsalted butter. Tasty sauteed mushrooms. Thick chicken sausages. Savoury pureed pumpkin soup. Double shot cappucino. Dry black forest cake.

Surprisingly for a place that is so well received, the black forest cake fell short in terms of comparison to the one I had at Brotzeit.

Mad Jack Cafe, Bukit Timah

After having walked by this place (6 Dukes Road, tel : 6462 4300) near the junction of Bukit Timah and Farrer Road numerous times in the past, we've finally decided to head in and try their food. I had some idea of what to expect from this place from all the signs that were at the front of the shop but still I was thinking...who knows? It might surprise me. As to that, I was both wrong and right.

Their fish and chips ($7.90) was surprisingly quite good. There was a garoupa option which was about twice as expensive which we didn't go for because we didn't have any idea if that was really worth the extra dollars compared to the regular version - which was already rather enjoyable. The crispy batter was both thin and light. Also didn't expect to see them offer vinegar which was available along with tartare sauce. The sides for the fish and chips were either fries or mushroom rice. Was glad we picked the mushroom rice which was unsuspectingly tasty. The rice was infused with the flavour of mushrooms and was lightly peppered. Portions were a little small.


There was mixed fries ($4.50) available as a side that came slathered with mayonnaise and cheese sauce. Not usually a big fan of mayo but I thought that the fries in this place turned out to be pretty good....and heart clogging. They're called mixed fries because half of them are regular fries and the other half are "spiced" with some seasoning. It was also an additional dollar if you decided that you want them all spicy instead of mixed.

To tumble downhill, their Blue Diamond burger which cost about half of  a burger at Relish which they claimed to be the tallest burger in town was disappointing. Obviously, they've either disregarded or have not heard of Botak Jones to make that claim. Heh! The thin and crumbly patty had plenty of fillers. If you asked me, I thought it was probably just 40% meat at best. The patties were doused with mayo and sauces - causing them to end up tasting like an unidentifiable meat substance more unidentifiable than the ones in Ramly burgers. Wouldn't recommend this. Stick to the fish and chips. Tap water is 50 cents here.

Hum Sand?

Hmmmmm.......

Butter chicken and garlic naan from Sim Lim Square food court

I was recommended to try this Indian and Pakistani stall in the food court at the basement of Sim Lim Square (B1-15). I was initially a little skeptical about them but went ahead anyway. It turned out to be not bad after all. The naan was kneaded into shape and sprinkled with bits of garlic then baked in the that clay/stone oven. All made to order. That much can be seen was freshly made. I didn't expect that the butter chicken was actually served on a foil sheet on a hotplate which had it sizzling all the way back to the table. The gravy tasted a little thinner than I expected but had a good level of spice. Which would have been better if the gravy were more creamy. The chicken portions was quite miserable as well and didn't taste as smoky like it did at Jaggi's.

One thing for sure as many of you are probably already aware, the coffee at the food court was horrendous.