Waffletown, Balmoral Plaza

Waffletown (#01-02 Balmoral Plaza, 271 Bukit Timah Road, tel : 6836 6536) definitely looked old school as an establishment with barely discernible air conditioning. It reminded me of fast food restaurant from a couple of decades back with a service person at the counter taking orders just a couple of meters from the kitchen crew, yet using a microphone to get the orders processed. The food was well.....ordinary. As greasy fried chickens went. We don't have much doing fried chicken beside KFC and I thought it would be interesting to see what they're about.

There wasn't anything good enough to warrant another visit. The small meat patties from the burger with cold buns taste like the frozen variety made with an unidentifiable meat substance which is something that I don't normally like about burgers. Even McDonalds is better if you're talking about taste. The waffles were rather ordinary as well and they charge for extra maple syrup and butter. Oh well. Now I know.

Creperie des Art, Prinsep Place

I thought the crepes here (44 Prinsep Street, #01-02/02 Prinsep Place, tel: 6333 5330) weren't too bad and would have been better if they weren't so pricey. But of course, I'm no expert on crepes and haven't had any from France, so I wouldn't be able to make comparisons. Actually, the crepe does kinda reminds me of the crispy edges of dosai. It's not the same of course, but I wouldn't say that I cannot draw parallels. Interestingly, there was some French apple cider which they served in a mug instead of the usual glasses. I wonder why is that.

saint caradec

trois vallees

complete du pays

crepe suezette

A starting salad of creamy goat cheese on toast and mesclun was pretty decent, but unexceptional. Of the few crepes that I managed to try on this first visit, the ones that were noteworthy were the galette saint caradec (creamy leeks and scallop) and the trois vallees (Rebl0chon, Rocquefort and goat cheese). The former had creamed leeks that were sweet along with sweetish and savoury scallops while the latter packed a decent punch with the tripartite of pungent cheeses. I didn't really like the crepe suezette which reeked quite strongly of the alcohol and it didn't help much that the pear sorbet tasted very much like the Grand Marnier used for the flambe. Haven't had crepe suezettes apart from the delicious one from Lawry's but this lacked the cream or butter which I was looking forward to.

I probably wouldn't mind try some of the other stuff here, but I thought that a bunch for crepes for a hundred dollars was quite expensive.

Ramen Santouka, The Central

We seem to be getting a number of chain outlets from Japan that are opening up here. Decided to give Ramen Santouka (6 Eu Tong Sen Street, #02-76 The Central, tel: 6224 0668) a check out; decked in a hype dampener. The shop itself turned out a little different from what I had in mind after hearing numerous comments on the place. Apparently, many people have different concepts of what a small place is and most of them have navigation issues to think feel that the unit is cloaked in any level of obscurity. And for those of you out there who're doling out helpful commentaries on the accepted mode of payment, I paid by Mastercard.


This turned out to be pretty good. While I wasn't floored, I thought that it enjoyable enough that there's a good chance that I could be back. What was special about them was the ultra tender pork cheeks from their toro niku ramen. I had in the shio option for the broth. The thin slices of pork cheeks, served separately from the ramen were salty in a good way. There wasn't anything special about the noodles which I felt were a little too soft for my preferences. The rich broth was kinda nice, but sat in heavily after a while. I'll be hard pressed not to order the toro niku again should I re-visit.


This charhan shoyu set (fried rice and shoyu broth ramen) came with less soggy noodles than the toro niku bowl. I found this shoyu broth to be more enjoyable in comparision with the shio which became flat tasting after a while. The soft slices of fatty pork here was in it's own ways, pretty delicious and had an enjoyable smoky aftertaste. The charhan was just what it was. I tend to be favourably disposed towards fried rice so I thought it was pretty decent.


I liked their eggs as well. The komi tamago on the side wasn't too bad despite the fact that I was really hoping for a runny yolk. I guess I can forgive that since it was a just dollar which was half of what I was charged at Ken's which also, didn't have a runny yolk.

The Vines Seafood & Steak Restaurant, Novena

I should have trusted my instincts and avoided this place entirely (275 Thomson Road, #01-07 Novena Ville, tel: 6255 2838). Why did I even rebel against intuition especially after hearing from others that this wasn't worth the time?

To be fair, the oysters from the oyster kilpatrick tasted pretty fresh fresh. That was pretty much all that was worth mentioning of the shellfish that was drenched in some cream that tasted like mayo and had a puny portion of some floss which I presume was to be passed off as bacon. There wasn't any real bacon at all. The mixed grill was also regrettable with a miserably thin slice of beef. Definitely not medium rare for that one. There was a piece of dry and overcooked salmon and an over-fried prawn. The portions weren't generous by any measure and I think I've had better for less at a coffeeshop western food down at Hougang. Their lobster was just pathetic. Overcooked and tiny, it had about enough mushy meat to fit a prawn. Looking at how slip shod the food was done, I imagine that this kitchen has no pride.

The service at the restaurant was very polite and prompt but it's not going to make me come back again. Ever.

Ananda Bhavan Restaurant, Buffalo Road

Here's a South Indian rice meal and a onion rava dosai from Ananda Bhavan (Blk 663 Buffalo Road, #01-10 Tekka Central, tel: 6297 9522). In retrospect, the rice meal from Komala Vilas was way better. The rice here was dry, lumpy and harder. Komala Vilas had rice that was tender, hot and fluffy. The meal came with a spicy tomato soup on the side which tasted suspiciously like minestrone. In all, it wasn't too bad but I'm not enthusiastic about coming back since there are obviously better options in the vicinity. No complains for the onion rava dosai except for some chopped up bits of coriander in them. This dosai was filled with bits of onions and was tasty with the chutneys on the side.

Cold ramen from Noodle House Ken

It's been a while since I was here. Not actually a big fan of their ramen even though people seem to feel that Noodle House Ken (Orchard Plaza, 150 Orchard Road #01-17/18, tel : 6235 5540) is good. I was looking for dinner in town ended up here again. The evening was warm and I thought cold ramen would be the just thing I needed. They were something that I remember enjoying from this shop.

What I like about their cold ramen were the chewier texture of the noodles and the fragrant sesame sauce. I added an egg of course and the yolk didn't turn out as runny as the last time. Bummer.