The Hungry Bunny

We went out for dinner with two of my favourite guys in the world, Ernie and Cho. These guys really are like the older brothers I've never had. They've been through all the worst parts of my life. I love that although most of my best friends are guys, The BF has absolutely no problem with my friendship with anyone of them. In fact, he gets on fabulously with all of them, and they, in turn, love him too. Mostly because we really trust each other. I think it's due to the fact that we're so open with one another and we share the same values. We decided to go to The Pump Room for dinner because the boys love their beers. The only bad thing about this location is that it's way too warm. We always end up perspiring through our dinner. The management really should do something about the air-conditioning, if there is any at all. We were just in time before the Happy Hour ended, so we managed to get the 1-for-1 Pump Room Lager ($12.50), which had a pretty golden hue. Th

We've been wanting to try out this steamboat place ever since we tried the one at Nan Hwa Chong , which incidentally, is diagonally across the road. Both serve pretty much the same stuff (namely fish steamboat and cze char) and they also seem equally popular with the local crowd, so we wanted to know which one was better. Plus, I'd just recovered from fever, so something soupy and light would be great for easing back into eating proper food after days of plain porridge. Nan Hua Chang occupies 2 shop spaces on the first floor of an HDB block, and the bonus is that it is partially air-conditioned, which is always a plus when eating steamboat. No unglamourous sweating and/or pit-stains here! Today, we got the Red Snapper Fish Steamboat ($30). After we noticed almost every table ordering the same extra, we requested a serving of Enoki Mushrooms ($3). I found that the soup stock is just as lovely and sweet as the one at Nan Hwa Chong and couldn't decide which one was bett

You know how it is when you are sick, you just don't want to eat anything at all, and the smell or sight of any food makes you want to cry (because it makes you nauseous)? Yup, I was feeling feverish so my appetite was obviously crap. The BF insisted that I put something in my tummy though (don't you just lurve it when there's someone in your life whose job description includes having to take care of you?). So, after much wrangling, I agreed to have something light and soupy. So I got the Beancurd Thick Soup with Seafood ($7). This was appropriately delicate and light. We also got Baby Bok Choy with Braised Mushrooms ($14), lightly blanched vegetables blanketed in a velvety oyster sauce and richly braised Chinese black mushrooms. The BF wanted something more substantive and he got the Ee-fu Noodles ($10.50). The chef was more generous with the seasonings today, the braised noodles somehow seemed richer in flavour He also got the Wantons in Hot Chili S

We stepped in for a light bite after running errands at Raffles City. We got the Alfredo ($10.80), shell pasta slathered in a white wine cream sauce, loaded with silvers of ham and mushrooms, topped with mozarella cheese and baked till bubbling hot. This was divinely creamy and luscious. Of course we had to get the Country Pie ($10.50), a must-try on the menu. This was comfort food at its best, indulgent mash potatoes with marinated chicken chunks, mushrooms and root veggies with melted golden mozarella cheese on top. I also got the Creamy Mushroom Soup ($6), this was earthy and wholesome. The only gripe I had was that it was too tiny a portion for 6 whole bucks. The BF needed caffeine to fight off the zzz monster, so he got a Latte ($5.50), a perfect shot for an extra energy booster. Coffee Club 252 North Bridge Road #03-30 Raffles City Shopping Centre Tel: 6336 8208 Open daily from 10am to 10pm Website: www.coffeeclubworld.com

I'm not a fan of fish-head steamboats, being a fan of chicken-stock based ones. But I'd always seen this unassuming coffeeshop packing in the crowds everytime I ran past it. So, we figured we'd give it a try. Surely that much of a crowd can't be too far off the good food radar. It was fairly full capacity when we popped in for dinner on a Monday night, which heralded the quality of the dinner. Although the restaurant is completely non-airconditioned, the location was surprisingly breezy. You know how it is with steamboats, you inevitably end up perspiring after drinking copious amounts of hot soup. But we needn't have worried, there was never a no-wind moment throughout our dinner. In fact, it was so cooling that we hardly perspired through dinner. We got the Grouper Fish-Head Steamboat ($35). This came generously served with pieces of cabbage, yam cubes, fried sole fish for flavour and seaweed for that umami quality. The fish was fresh and sweet, and firm but

We met Pops and my brother for dinner one evening. I don't live with them so I try to see them for dinner every once a while to catch up. The BF and I don't follow any kind of schedule for mealtimes, so we sometimes end up eating lunches at 4pm or dinners at 9.30pm. But because it's Pops, we had to have dinner at 6pm, so we went to the gym early today and got out early to make it in time for dinner. We were a little dismayed to find that the restaurant is completely open-air, but thankfully, it was a breezy and cool day so we didn't have to sweat through dinner. Pops had raved enthusiastically about the Beef Rendang ($3) at Sari Indo so of course we had to get it. He was right, this was meltingly tender and wonderfully smoky. We got the chicken version, the Ayam Rendang ($4), this was heady and just as robustly flavoured. I loved that the breast meat was incredibly moist and juicy. We also got the Ayam Gulai ($4), curry chicken simmered in decadent co

L.A. Lunch this month was at Da Paolo along Club Street. This is one of my favourite restaurants to go to for unpretentious, uncomplicated and honest Italian food. Due to a bumper crop of pupils and trainees this year, it was a huge group of us that went for lunch this month. So, we got the entire second floor of the small but quaint space all to ourselves. This allowed for a lot of gregarious laughter and uninterrupted boisterous chatter, without dirty looks from other diners trying to enjoy a quiet meal.   We started off with the ubiquitous Calamari Fritti ($22), deep fried squid with home made tartar sauce. The batter was light and crisp and the tartar sauce had a nuanced sweetness. The only letdown was the slightly rubbery squid, which would have benefited from a shorter bath in the deep fryer.  The star antipasti was the Portobello al Forno ($24), oven baked portobello mushroom with taleggio and baby spinach. Friends will know that I love love lurve mushrooms. The dis