The Hungry Bunny

I made a pitstop here while shopping at the transit area at Terminal 2. (The Great Singapore Sale was still on and I managed to secure a gorgeous pair of Ferragamo shoes in the softest and smoothest leather for an amazing deal for the BF. Gawd, I love sales!) I was planning to sleep on the plane so I got a non-caffeinated drink, the Raspberry Blackcurrant Blended Juice Drink ($5.50), refreshingly cool and absolutely berri-licious. Starbucks Coffee Departure / Transit Lounge South #026-084-5 Terminal 2 Singapore Changi Airport Tel: 6542 5865 Open daily 24 hours Website: www.starbucks.com.sg/

Tiong Shian's provision of our local classic comfort food of steaming hot Cantonese-style porridge has made it a firm favourite with clubbers requiring post-alcohol sustenance because it's open till late. The coffeeshop in the heart of Chinatown spans 2 storeys, with air-conditioning available on the second floor. Although Tiong Shian specialises in claypot frog's leg porridge, I prefer and only order the Chicken Porridge ($3) here. The porridge is a smooth rice gruel with tiny discernible rice grains in a flavourful broth. Add in their simply marinated, smooth and tender chicken pieces and you have a brilliant version of the Cantonese porridge. The Stall front. Over the years, Tiong Shian has also expanded to include regular cze char fare, other than their usual porridge offerings. We like their San Lou Hor Fan ($6), which is arguably one of the better versions of this sliced fish noodle dish. The slippery flat rice sheets pass down your throat like silk and the

We wanted something really light and soupy so we headed over to Nan Hwa Chong to have some Red Snapper Fish Steamboat ($20). We added extra Cabbage ($3), Enoki Mushrooms ($3) and Fried Yams ($3).  I love how light and naturally sweet the soup base is. No artifical, milk-enhanced cloyingly sweet shortcuts here. Nan Hwa Chong Fish-Head Steamboat Corner No. 814 North Bridge Road Tel: 6297 9319 Open daily from 5pm to 11pm

L.A. Lunch this month was at Rang Mahal for some delectable Indian cuisine. I don't recall ever having Indian food for any of our L.A. lunches or dinners before, so this was quite a treat. Mr Marathon Man was lamenting that he eats Indian food at home everyday and had cheekily suggested that we pay him the L.A. allowance budget and go to his home to have Indian food instead. For the record, we didn't. Rang Mahal is one of the oldest, fine-dining, award-winning restaurants in Singapore focusing on North Indian cuisine. And it's little wonder why, their food is exquisite and consistently good. Of course, this all comes at a price commensurate with the experience and ambience of one of Wine & Dine's and Singapore Tatler's Best Restaurants since 2000. We opted for their Lunch Buffet ($45 per person) but supplemented the buffet with a couple of dishes from the ala carte menu. The first of which was the Portobello Mushrooms ($28), stuffed with cheese and gril

Cold Storage sells fairly fresh sushi and sashimi sets at their Japanese counters, which are great for snacking. And healthy too! This was their Salmon Sushi and Maki Set ($5.80), convenient, fresh and really value-for-money. Cold Storage Specialty 313 Somerset #B3-00 Tel: 6634 0255

We happened to be in the east so we thought we'd go to East Coast Road to have some Peranakan food at Kim Choo's Kitchen. Stepping into the tiny 30-seater restaurant is like stepping into a Peranakan friend's home for a meal. It's just so homely and quaint. This shop is housed in a beautifully restored Peranakan shophouse. The first floor comprises a restaurant and a stall selling Nonya kuehs, cookies and dumplings. The second floor contains a museum / heritage home full of exquisite Peranakan paraphernalia. We started off with some Nonya Chap Chye ($6 for small), a vegetable medley of cabbage, carrots, clear vermicelli, fried beancurd stewed in fragrant fermented bean paste. This was better than Ivins' version  as the gravy was richer than Ivins' slighter "limp" version. The Bawan Kepinting Soup ($12 for small) was unexpectedly delicious. The fermented bean paste soup, with freshly handrolled meatballs of crabmeat and minced pork, silvers of

I'd been craving for some good ol' cze char fare the entire time I was running on the treadmill, so after we finished at the gym one Tuesday night, we went to No Signboard at Geylang for dinner. It totally caught us by surprise that the restaurant was almost a full capacity on a late Tuesday night (it was already 9.30pm, past the dinner peak hours). We got a table immediately, but service was a teensy weensy bit slow because the restaurant was so packed. We started off with the Claypot Beancurd ($10), with cauliflower, snow peas, prawns, braised Chinese black mushrooms, silky beancurd, mushrooms and green leafy veggies. We loved that a raw egg was cracked into the hot claypot just before serving. The Ginger and Spring Onion Sliced Fish ($15) was aromatic and fresh. We ordered the Saute Chicken with Dry Red Chilli ($15), chunks of tender chicken in a spicy savoury spicy oyster-based gravy. The Stir-Fried Spinach ($8) was light and crunchy. No Signb

My pants have been getting a bit too tight, so it was back to the gym for a much-needed cardio session. By the time we finished at the gym, it was 930pm, so we headed to Crystal Jade Kitchen at Holland Village, which opens till 3am, for a really late dinner. We ordered the Stewed Beef Brisket Noodle ($7.80). The beef brisket had been stewed so long it'd taken on the consistency of congealed fats. Very robust and tender. The Soya Sauce Chicken Noodle ($7) was juicy and flavourful. The Shrimp Wanton Soup ($7) was consistently good as always, rich prawn broth with succulent and silky prawn wantons. The Double-Boiled Chicken with White Fungus and Red Dates Soup ($8.80) was full of traditional Cantonese goodness, healthy and rich in flavour. The soup fillings, with white fungus for nourishment of the lungs and red dates for natural sweetness. Crystal Jade Kitchen No. 2 Lor Mambong Holland Village Tel: 6469 0300 Open daily from 7am to 3am Website: www.crystalja

We wanted something hot and soupy so I brought the BF to have some Pork Ribs Soup at Ya Hua along Havelock Road . We just found out that this shop is affiliated to the Outram Park Ya Hua Rou Gu Cha shop at the PSA Tanjong Pagar Complex along Keppel Road, where the BF is a regular with his father on weekends. We ordered the Pork Ribs ($7), tender juicy ribs that were soft. The clear peppery soup was a little diluted and weak though. There was no depth of flavour. I didn't ask for seconds of the soup. We also ordered the Braised Peanuts ($2), which was soft and flavourful, having absorbed all that soy and garlic sauce. Y a Hua Bak Kut Teh Eating House 593 Havelock Road #01-01/02 Isetan Office Building Tel: 6235 7716 Opening hours:- Tuesdays & Thursdays from 11am to 2 am Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 11am to 3am Sundays from 11am to 10pm Closed on Mondays

I love eating crabs. I can have crabs up to 4 times a week. My fondness for the crustacean is probably due to my family's love for its delicate and sweet flesh. When we were younger, my family would go out for a seafood dinner every week. Yes, you heard right. EVERY week. Of course it was really a no-brainer what to have for our Fathers' Day dinner. Pops likes a couple of dishes exclusive to the Long Beach Seafood chain of restaurants, so I promptly made reservations at the Kallang Park outlet. It may not have the scenic location of East Coast, or the hip factor of Dempsey, but I know the manager there, so service is generally more personal and attentive. Pops loves Chili Crabs ($44 per kg), so we got one of that. Long Beach's version is thick, spicy, slightly sweet but still very heady. Egg is stirred in well so it becomes a very fine mix in the rich gravy. We ordered 2 rounds of the Fried Buns ($0.50 per bun) just to soak up all that eggalicious gravy. These