The Hungry Bunny

People sometimes ask me how do I stay in shape since I eat a lot (and I do mean a lot ), and I tell them that I exercise and contrary to popular belief, I do eat in moderation. I'm very sensitive to my stomach and I think I'm a great listener to the sounds my stomach makes. I don't eat if I'm not hungry. I just don't believe one has to eat all three meals a day if one isn't hungry at all 3 mealtimes. Today was one of those days where I wasn't hungry, so I took some soup and nibbled off the BF's dinner at Crystal Jade Kitchen. He ordered the Dry Wanton Noodles ($7.80). This came with 5 plump and juicy prawn wantons and choy sum (also known as cai xin or Chinese flowering cabbage). The noodles were al dente perfection and retained a nice bite to them (some would say the noodles were very "q").  So you see, I'm not such a glutton afterall. Crystal Jade Kitchen 3 Temasek Boulevard, B1-013, Suntec City Mall Tel: 6338 3511 Open dail

The BF got the Opera cake ($3.60) in addition to our usual selection of 6 chocolate eclairs. He usually varies our weekend dessert indulgence by buying a different pastry together with the ubiquitous eclairs. This was rich and decadent without being overwhelmingly saccharine. This classic French dessert is made up of layers of nutty almond sponge soaked in a light coffee syrup, ganache and coffee buttercream, and topped with a very pretty gold-speckled chocolate glaze. Bukit Pastry Corner Singapore Island Country Club, Bukit location 240 Sime Road Singapore 578774 Tel: 6461 7439 Open on Mondays to Fridays from 11am to 10pm, Saturdays and Sundays from 8am to 10pm

I love toffee. It's not as sickeningly sweet as caramel, but not as ordinary as chocolate. I would drink hot toffee everyday back when Coffee Bean used to serve such a drink. Unfortunately, they took it off their menu several years ago. I suppose it's because it's not a very popular drink amongst locals here. Luckily, come Christmas time, Starbucks serves Toffee Frappuccinos ($6.40) and toffee lattes as part of their festive offerings. Toffee is just such a festive drink, it's like liquid Christmas. I guess this is what Butterbeer (a popular beverage of the wizarding community in the Harry Potter books. Yes, I'll readily admit that I love the Harry Potter books!) would taste like, albeit laced with alcohol, if it were a real drink. Starbucks Coffee Company 3 Temasek Boulevard #01-126 Suntec City Mall Tel: 6339 3519 Open Mondays to Fridays and Public Holidays from 7.30am to 11pm Saturdays and Sundays from 8am to 11pm Website: www.starbucks.com.sg/

After lunch with Ernie at Crystal Jade Palace Restaurant, we stopped by Marks and Spencer at Wheelock Place for some munchies. This branch has one of the larger food halls in Singapore, although if you've ever been to London, their food halls there are comparable to a mini shopping mall. This branch had my favourite flavour, the Four Cheese and Red Onion . I love the varied textures of the Crunchy Combo Mix ($5.50) and the distinctive flavours of Mozzarella, Cheddar, Red Leicester and Mascarpone cheeses coupled with sweet red onion make for delectable treats to munch on. And they are cooked with healthier sun kernel oil, so there's less guilt in snacking these gourmet treats. And they are cooked with healthier sun kernel oil, so there's less guilt in snacking these gourmet treats. Marks and Spencer 501 Orchard Road Wheelock Place #B2-00 Tel:6733 8122 Open daily from 10.30am to 10.30pm

Economic noodles is one of the mainstays of local cuisine. It's cheap, simple and satisfying. This stall at Albert Court Temporary Market (soon to be relocated back to its original premises at Queen Street on 1 December 2009) has one of the best versions of economic noodles. I've catered from them before for a Halloween party and everyone loved their Fried Bee Hoon and Fried Mee . It's fried fresh everyday over extremely high heat, which explains the 'wok hei' flavour. Oh and their chicken wings deserve a shoutout as well, they are marinated overnight so the seasoning has had time to really soak through the wings. The skin is crispy and crackling and the insides are incredibly juicy, succulent and flavourful. By the way, this stall is one of the few places on the island that still serves authentic pork luncheon meat. This is the real deal, not the artificial, rubbery, made out of fish meat ones which are insipid and unpalatable. Update 16 December 2009: We

This is a continuation of the previous post. 51. If there is a service charge, alert your guests when you present the bill. It’s not a secret or a trick. [ Not applicable in Singapore. Besides, diners in Singapore can read. Well, most of them anyway. In fact, most Singaporean diners can and will nitpick at the bill .] 52. Know your menu inside and out. If you serve Balsam Farm candy-striped beets, know something about Balsam Farm and candy-striped beets. [ Most staffers are guilty of this. They seldom know the ingredients of the dish. Worse still, they are unable to articulate the dish itself .] 53. Do not let guests double-order unintentionally; remind the guest who orders ratatouille that zucchini comes with the entree. [ See Rule 52 .] 54. If there is a prix fixe, let guests know about it. Do not force anyone to ask for the “special” menu. 55. Do not serve an amuse-bouche without detailing the ingredients. Allergies are a serious matter; peanut oil can kill. (This woul

Came across this brilliant article by Bruce Buschel in the New York Times, 100 Things Restaurant Staffers Should Never Do. This article is basically one restaurateur's opinion of a code of conduct for restaurant staffers, sort of like the Legal Profession Act for lawyers. I've added in some of my personal comments. Looking through these rules, I seriously doubt anyone will even attempt to follow all of them. Seriously, how many waiters/waitresses do it as a long-term career? 1. Do not let anyone enter the restaurant without a warm greeting. [ Conversely, I've encountered a number of restaurants who train their staff to shout out (in succession depending on each staff's reaction time) an incoherent welcome greeting (usually in some garbled foreign language). It's not necessary, and the sincerity is lost with such shout-outs .] 2. Do not make a singleton feel bad. Do not say, “Are you waiting for someone?” Ask for a reservation. Ask if he or she would like to s

The BF and I brought ZM and ED to eat chicken rice, since ED said he liked the Singaporean dish. We brought them to Wee Nam Kee, one of my favourite joints for chicken rice and regular cze char. Wee Nam Kee does a very commendable version of chicken rice, although I'm not sure if it's the best. This eating place is regularly packed with repeat customers, and I think it's largely due to the fact that it's cheap and good. For Singaporeans, those 2 are the twin pillars for a successful food business. We got a whole chicken (about $32) because there were 4 of us, although factoring in ZM's diet, you could say that there were 3 and one third stomachs.We got half a Steamed Chicken and half a Roasted one. I love Wee Nam Kee's chicken, it's succulent, silky, plump and without that artificial-tasting gelatinous layer I so dislike. What's chicken rice without the Rice ? Wee Nam Kee's rice is sufficiently flavourful, perhaps not as great as Thien Ke

You know how I've said I don't believe in queuing up for hours to buy food? I still don't. There's this stall at Albert Court Temporary Market that sells carrot cake with a horrendeous queue. I've always pitied the people standing in line and wondered about the carrot cake to warrant such devotion. However, one fine day when there was a conspicuous lack of a queue, curiosity got the better of me. I decided to try the black version of carrot cake to see if it was really that great. Oh after taking a bite, I can somewhat understand the perpetually long queues. The Black Carrot Cake ($3 for a medium portion) was soft and smooth and wonderfully aromatic, with the wok hei fragrance coming through every savoury bite. This was honestly one of the best versions I've ever tried. Update 16 December 2009: We revisited the stall upon the reopening of the food centre after the renovations. Still the best black version of carrot cake around. Soft and fresh and smoky

I love soup, in particular the clear ones. This fondness for delicate flavours is probably due to my Teochew and Cantonese heritage. Although I usually prefer chicken stock to fish stock, this stall at Albert Court Temporary Market does a really yummy version of fish soup. I actually think this stall has the best fish soup on the island. The sweetness and depth of the soup stock is derived from hours of simmering fish bones over a low fire, and not from milk which most other stalls use to artificially enhance the flavour of the soup.There's a reason why this stall is so popular, there always seems to be queue. The stall owner is a particularly sweet lady who has an amazingly photographic memory. She will always remember to hold off the coriander and garland chrysanthemum (tung oh) and replace it with lettuce instead. The Sliced Fish Soup ($4 for a medium portion) comes with silken tofu, tomato, sliced fish, lettuce and garnished with crispy fried onions and seaweed.  The fi

The monsoon season is here a little early this year and it has been raining terribly most evenings. We decided to order in from Spizza and curl up on the couch in front of the telly. I usually refrain from blogging about takeaway food because when set against a cheap plastic background, the dish, no matter how flavourful, usually looks awful. The integrity of the dish becomes compromised when it is packed. However, pizza is unique in that it manages to retain that photogenic quality despite travelling through a drizzle. We got the Combo B set, which consists of 2 pizzas, 1 pasta, 1 starter and 1 garlic bread at $64 nett. The first pizza was the Quinta (usually $22), tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, egg and black truffle sauce. This was wonderfully aromatic, earthy and addictive. It's been said that some people are so pretentious that they will take a liking to a typically disgusting piece of crap if you give it a fancy French name and place an extortionate price tag on it. It&#

It was a rainy, disconsolate, grim, dingy and depressing day. And like a rainbow peeking through the thunderous and gloomy clouds, my good friend KW called me out for steamboat to celebrate his birthday. Chicken soup that was the perfect antidote to a dismal day. I'm so thankful that my friends are always so supportive of anything and everything I do. They really are a pillar of strength, even if I don't always need or ask for it. There were another 2 of his very funny chums that came along to celebrate KW's birthday, along with the BF of course. They were all such fabulous company and great for unloading. Even on a Wednesday evening, Thien Kee was a full house.  We ordered the all-inclusive set today ($40), with pig liver, cockles, squid, sea cucumber, fish balls, fish maw, sliced pork, sliced fish, vegetables and eggs. The 4 boys are really not fussy or picky eaters like I am. Besides, the cockles are the birthday boy's favourite item. Largely because they are u

I mentioned before that we might have enough budget for 2 L.A. Lunches in November. At the last minute, I decided to call for an L.A. Lunch to Ricciotti for some authentic homestyle Italian food. I figured that my very loyal colleagues would gladly cancel their appointments for a free lunch, and boy was I right. Despite the short one and a half hours' notice, about 12 colleagues turned up! On Tuesdays, Ricciotti has a 1-for-1 pizza promotion for lunch. It works out to about 20 bucks for each person, inclusive of appetisers and dessert! How's that for value? We've learnt from the last time we were at Ricciotti (whereby we had one pizza per person) that 1 pizza to share between 2 to 3 persons was more than sufficient. It was a herculean task to stay awake that fateful afternoon. We ordered the well-loved Pizzotto ($22.50), a decadent medley of bacon, mushrooms, pomodoro, mozzarella cheese and a slighty runny egg on top. This was easily the most popular pizza around. Pl

We've realised that Chocolate Eclairs are usually sold out by the time we finish at the gym on Sunday evenings, so as a matter of strategy, we decided to buy the eclairs first before going to the gym. The BF managed to buy half the remaining eclairs ($5.20 for 4 pieces) at 6pm on a Sunday evening and requested the staff to keep them refrigerated until he could pick them up after gym. True enough, by the time he was done at the gym, there were no more eclairs left. They were as addictive as always, fresh and light chocolate cream in a soft fluffy pastry. For variety, the BF also got a Lemon Cheesecake ($3). The cheese was creamy and smooth, with the distinct lemony flavour balancing out the rich cheese. A fresh raspberry and wafer made out of pure chocolate topped off the delectable creation. Bukit Pastry Corner Singapore Island Country Club, Bukit location 240 Sime Road Singapore 578774 Tel: 6461 7439 Open on Mondays to Fridays from 11am to 10pm, Saturdays an

Sia Kee Duck Rice occupies the same coffee shop as the famous Sin Huat Seafood (the one with the infamous perpetually dour-faced Food Nazi owner) at Geylang. During the day, Sin Huat is closed, but Sia Kee Duck Rice (and this other turtle soup stall) pack the coffee shop. I've always thought that this particular location must have good feng shui to have all 3 stalls raking in business. Please note that it's advised to patronise this stall on rainy days because it's cooler then. Otherwise, be prepared to really sweat. Oh, Sia Kee is a lunch only place because they sell out by about 3pm everyday, but at least you know that the duck is fresh. Sia Kee serves the best, if not one of the best Braised Duck on the island. Duck can get quite gamey if not in the right hands. We got the 3-person portion because the 2-person portion is too small for the BF and I. Every portion comes with beansprouts, beancurd, peanuts, braised eggs, cucumbers, fish cakes, duck meat and innards smoth

My latest crave is white pepper crabs, which is an offshoot of the previous crave of black pepper crabs that lasted about 6 months. I actually have to eat crabs at least once or twice a week. I know it may seem excessive, but I don't eat female crabs, only the male ones, so there's less cholesterol. A doctor told me once that male crabs are actually all protein and it's not as heart clogging as one might think. Aha! A savvy gourmand would know that the Geylang branch of the No Signboard Seafood is the best. The quality of this branch is generally acknowledged to be a cut above the other outlets. They are renowned for their White Pepper Crabs , and according to them, the inventors of the signature dish. We got 2 white pepper crabs ($42 per kg) today for dinner. White pepper is milder than black pepper and has a more subtle taste and aroma which complements the delicate sweetness of the crab meat. A closer look at the gargantuan crab claw. For carbs, we got S