Good Food

I've been dreaming of Chinese food the past few days.  Don't get me wrong, I'm thankful that we have food during this really difficult time, I'm grateful that we have free food at work.  It's just that this kind of weather makes me think of warm soup and warm dishes. 

Apart from Tim Ho Wan, we ate at two other popular Chinese restaurants.  Din Tai Fung is one of my favorites so a quick stop there is always in order and we've always been lucky cause we've never had to wait long to be seated.

Xiao Long Bao, Crispy Prawn Pancakes, Beef Soup, Steamed Pork Buns and a perfectly cooked cup of white rice and we're good. 

Em-J's absolute favorite restaurant would have to be  Soup Restaurant.  I, on the other hand, prefer other restaurants.  I hate that there's always a long queue at any branch at any time of the day and I'm particularly not a fan of their overpriced meals.  It's not to say that it's not good, I actually love their soups, I'm just not a fan.

Anyway, we had their special National Day Celebration Set (S$69++ which roughly amounted to S$100 because of the moist towelettes that we didn't get to use, boiled peanuts and tea)

Ginger Chicken

Double boiled Cordyceps Flower with Chicken Soup

Poached Baby Spinach with Conpoy in Century and Salted Eggs Stock

Salted Fish Fried Rice

All photos from my phone so forgive the portrait style photos, I, obviously, didn't know better. :)

Din Tai Fung

435 Orchard Road
Level 4 Wisma Atria
other branches, click here

Soup Restaurant

1 Sengkang Square 

03-16/17 Compass Point Shopping Centre

other branches, click here

Tim Ho Wan, Singapore

After reading Mon's post about Tim Ho Wan and missing it in Hong Kong, I made sure that visiting the restaurant would be on top of my list when I return to Singapore.

We arrived just after lunch and found the queue to be a bit manageable.  It was a good half an hour wait but we kept ourselves busy fiddling with our phones which was what majority of the people were doing.

We were actually lucky as when we came back the next day, the queue started right outside the mall!

To make you salivate more, the menu is handed out as you're nearing the podium.

As only one set of char siew buns is allowed per diner, we decided to maximize it and order a set each. This turned out to be a good decision as they were delicious.  Seriously, the best char siew buns I've had.

While I was extremely happy and satisfied with the buns, the rest of our orders were just okay.  They were good but nothing that you can't have better elsewhere.

Pork Dumpling with Shrimp (S$5)

Glutinous Rice Dumpling (S$5)

Steamed Beancurd Skin Roll (S$4)

Steamed Egg Cake ($3.8)

Fried Beancurd Skin (S$5.5)

Shrimp Vermicelli Roll  (S$5.5)

Tonic Medlar & Osmanthus Cake (S$3.5)

I would definitely queue again for their buns the next time I fly back but I doubt my friends would. 

Tim Ho Wan

Plaza Singapura Atrium Space, 68 Orchard Road, #01-29A

Dimsum and Haato

A few Sundays ago, feeling bored and not really in the mood for the usual hawker fare available downstairs, Choy and I headed to Upper Thomson Road for lunch. Choices are aplenty with different restaurants and coffee shops lining the long stretch of this quite famous trail.

Choy was initially drawn to what could probably be home to the best Pratas here in Singapore, The Roti Prata House. Before finally deciding, we walked a bit more and eventually ended up in this dimsum house.

I have to say that this is the first authentic dimsum place that I've been to and I was excited to see a lot of different choices. Turo-turo style, you choose your dimsum and it gets delivered to you after being heated up a bit.  The heat inside was nearly unbearable so we sat by the roadside directly in front of their huge steamers. We ordered a few dimsum, siopao and a rice meal which were all good, not the best, but still good. If I have one complaint, it would have to be the rice. It was really dry and it would have helped if we had soup, however, since the sun was up and scorching, it was out of the question.

I really wanted to order some more since I wasn't able to try their roasted specialties and the custard that I was particularly interested in when we got there but I was already full. I'll have to come back next time.

We then headed to Thomson Plaza to do a little bit of grocery shopping when we chanced upon a small, modern ice cream place, Haato.

I know I am already full but upon gazing at the rows of gelato available, I just couldn't say no. They have among the most unusual flavors like Milk, Sweet Potato with Honey, Rum & Raisin which got me all the more curious. I sticked to a somewhat safe flavor, Black Sesame. The ice cream was bursting with flavor. It was creamy and very very flavorful! Definitely one of the best that I've had.