Beef bowl and durian pie

Yoshinoya beef rice is not as yummy as it used to be. For that bowl of rice and some thin slices of beef I had to fork out $6.50.
The $3.50 small piece of durian pie at Beard's Papa was a rip-off. The durian custard was diluted and lacked the authentic durian taste. I don't recommend anyone paying for it.

Oyakodon, a Japanese dish for lunch

We had home prepared oyakodon (chicken and egg bowl) for lunch. Seldom would we want to venture out to eat on a weekend due to the large crowd. Mind you, Singapore with a small area of 719 sq km has to accommodate 5.9 million people (not including visitors). Therefore, on most weekends and public holidays we would cook and eat at home.

Brown soba (buckwheat Japanese noodles)

Had this for lunch. It is light and healthy and contains lots of fibre and is high in proteins. It is refreshing if chilled especially on a hot day like today. Soba is taken with soba sauce (not in the pic), seaweed and wasabi or mustard. I also add a plate of boiled broccoli with the meal.

Sliced fish soup with rice

We decided to go to Ang Mo Kio for our lunch. We drove to Block 409, AMK Ave 10 where the famous Long Xing sliced fish soup stall is located. We were there at 11am and the queue wasn't long. Waiting time was about 10 minutes. For $4, you will get a big bowl of soup with large slices of Batang (Mackerel) and veggies. We brought from home, sliced bitter gourd and Korean seaweed and mixed them in the piping hot clear fish soup. The meal was satisfying and worth the drive there.

Having afternoon snacks at Compass One Kopitiam

We visited Kopitiam at Compass One in the late afternoon for snacks. We ordered fried carrot cake ($4), kopi c kosong ($1.60), big pow ($1.60) and siew mai ($2.60 for 4). Kopitiam is a foodcourt on the 4 floor of Compass One shopping mall. There is a bus interchange nearby and an MRT station (Sengkang)on the N.E. Line. The place is not as crowded as during lunch and dinner hours.
There are more than 60 restaurants and cafe on the ground floor as well as at the basement level.
When you dine at Kopitiam, use the Kopitiam card which is a dinning stored value card and you will get a 10% discount on food and drinks.
Payment is via the icash box ( pic below). You may use cash or the Kopitiam card for payment. There are also cash top up machines situated inside Kopitiam.

Home prepared light dinner

After having the sliced fish soup and rice for lunch and snacks in the afternoon, I decided to have something light and nutritious for my dinner. I boiled the broccoli and made some dressing using miso, apple cider vinegar and crushed mustard seeds. My "dessert" was the small bowl of roasted cashew and almonds nuts. It was a refreshing meal indeed.

Best beef kway teow in north eastern Singapore

Photo courtesy of Bridget
I was with my friends at Kovan and went to eat this beef kway teow at block 203, Hougang St 11. It is by far the best beef kway teow in this area. A bowl of mixed meat noodles/kway teow cost $4 to $6 which is worth every cent. They provide sliced onions in chin cha lok and of course the usual chilli sauce. The queue is usually long at lunch time and must be prepared to wait for 20 minutes. I was there at about 2pm and so there was no queue at all. But that said I still prefer the one at Shaw House foodcourt which is quite expensive ($9). The place is airconditioned unlike the one at Hougang.

CDs scare away the birds

When left unattended, the birds would swoop to the table and feed on the food of customers who had left to buy their drinks. These birds are very hungry creatures and they will come by the dozens. Whenever the diners left the tables with leftover food more birds will come and happily feed themselves. The situation could sometimes get out of control and the birds after their feed would poo on the tables and chairs.
The coffee shop supervisor was so fed up with these creatures that he resort to tying the used CDs on to the ledge to frighten away the birds. I was told that the CDs are like mirrors and the reflection of the birds plus the movement scares away the pests. Now, the birds stood on the side on the floor,away from the CDs and hope someone will throw some scraps of food to them.

Light lunch made up of toasts

Had the above for lunch. 2 Slices of bread topped up with cheese, egg and bacon. Also had a cup of vegetable soup. This meal is enough for me until evening when I may have something lighter.

Man charged for abuse and causing the death of a dog

A man is being charged for abuse and causing the death of a toy poodle. It is really sad to hear or see a poor little defenceless  animal being treated in such a cruel manner. When our toy poodle died last year, my wife and I cried for days. Even till this day, we still talk of our little toy poodle.
We are so heart broken that we do not intend to have another pet. Each time we see a toy poodle our hearts would jump. We missed out pet everyday and we could not understand why would someone want to abuse or kill an innocent little dog.

Spaghetti from SG & JPN

When I sent the picture of the spaghetti which my wife cooked to our friend in Japan, the latter not to be outdone, responded by sending us the Japanese version of home made spaghetti (right pic).

Interacting with the retirees

I was at Kovan hawker food center to meet some SIA retired ground staff but accidentally bumped into a few retired IFS there. I joined them for a while before the ground staff appeared. We had an hour of chatting plus few cups of coffee and tea. The IFS were all in their early 60s and full of zest for living. They participated in the chats actively and the only thing that betrayed their age was the wrinkles on their faces.
After an hour, I left them and joined the ground staff who were regular kakis at this place. These retirees religiously meet each other twice a week to have drinks and meals together for the last 10 years. I used to join them when I left the airline in 2003 for a while but not anymore after I became more occupied with my work.
Nevertheless, It was nice meeting the two groups. I did not snap any photo as most are quite sensitive about them appearing in my blog.

Grilled sambal sting ray at Chong Pang

This is the grilled sambal sting ray rice set ($6.50) The taste was quite good and spicy and I had it at a Chong Pang Village coffee shop. It was very popular in the evening and the place was crowded. It took me 20 minutes to get my food. 

Ikan pari (sting ray) assam pedas and spicy sotong (squid)

Dissatisfied with the assam pedas fish at Serangoon Gardens yesterday, we went to the Chinese stall at Ang Mo Kio Ave 10 (Chong Boon Market) that sells the above. This would be my third time visiting this stall. Admittedly, this time the assam sting ray wasn't as good as on the previous occasion. The reason being the sting ray was not soaked in the assam gravy for a long time. We were there for an early lunch. The squid was so so. The best time to eat is in the evening when the assam gravy has been cooked a few hours earlier and the fish,squid and chicken meat had been soaked in the gravy for a while.
For the 3 dishes and 3 bowls of rice, we paid $18 which is quite reasonable.

Malay food @ Serangoon Gardens

This stall is at a Serangoon Garden coffee shop facing the UOB Bank. The food used to be very good but today when I visited it after a long break I found the food to be slightly disappointing. I think the cook must have retired or left. Still, it is worth visiting if one is in the vicinity as there are no Malay food around that area.
The fish assam pedas ($3) is a little diluted and generally the food lacks the punch. It is reasonably priced at $5.50 per plate (rice,sambal goreng, spicy cuttle fish and sambal kupang or green mussels).

Fruits and claypot dinner

The breakfast was some cut fruits like oranges, jack fruits and mango. It's refreshing to have fruits in the morning particularly now that the weather is hot and humid. Eating fruits also prevent constipation.
Dinner was at a hawker stall in Ang Mo Kio Ave 10. It was at Yu Fa Claypot Delights. The dinner was made up of 3 types of dishes, namely assam sting ray, pork trotters in vinegar and ginger plus braised pork with preserved vegetables and tau pok. The meal was superb and cheap ($16 for 2).

Penang laksa in Singapore

There are two items on the menu: assam laksa ($3.50) and fish balls in assam laksa soup ($2.50 for five balls). The fish balls (topmost pic), to me are no big deal. They are just like those one could buy from the supermarket. The laksa gravy is authentic and spicy and the noodles are springy. This is the second I've eaten in 2 weeks.

Venue:

D'LAKSA

B1-K7 Hougang Mall, 90 Hougang Avenue 10

Open: 10am to 10pm daily


Those who plan to eat the noodles at home can ask for the soup to be packed separately.