The Hungry Bunny

I've never posted recipes of homecooked food before. People who read my blog have asked me if i cook, and for the record, i do. I just can't be bothered to. We live in a city that has an overwhelming number of good AND cheap food places, and if you're cooking for 2, you invariably end up spending more on groceries than if you were to go to the hawker centre to eat. Plus, the BF hates washing up (because I cook, he cleans, it's fair share of the work, don't you think?). This is why I relish invites to my friends' homes for some sorely-missed wholesome home-cooked food. The BF and I went to Ms PR's home for a dinner party, and we were pampered with really yummy food whipped up by the chef. Her husband is a very very VERY lucky man with a gem of a find. It's so rare to find an educated, successful and perfectly lovely local girl that can cook. I mean, how many Singaporean girls can cook?! I'm going to post up the 1 recipe that I managed to wrangle

I met up with Jal for lunch. Since the last time I saw him at Gayatri , he's added another son to his young family. Naturally, his evenings and weekends are completely occupied, and so, we meet up for lunches instead. The irony about him is although he's the quintessential rubber-faced funnyman who always seems to draw and attract the limelight, he's actually an introvert who's very private about his life. Although we've got completely differing viewpoints on almost every aspect of our lives, love, work, family, money, even religion, I love that we still totally get each other and share everything about our lives without ever being judgmental. We went to Warung Lele for lunch, an Indonesian restaurant that used to be at Kandahar Street.  It's now at 8 Shenton Way and it's perpetually packed at lunch. Service is efficient and business is brisk. The restaurant is relatively bare, minimal, no-fuss, almost clinical, with tables jammed so close, if not for the

For the Firm's Anniversary Celebrations, we held a Brazilian Beach Party at Sentosa's Tanjong Beach. A big marquee was set up, fire-twirlers were brought in for entertainment, and a full-service outdoor barbecue was catered, with individual food stations cooked a la minute. We'd catered from Hawaiian BBQ ($50 per person) for an event 2 years ago, so I had very high expectations for dinner that night. Unless I remembered wrongly, the offerings that balmy night just wasn't as great as 2 years ago at a garden party. There were as many misses as there were hits. We started off with Tropical Iced Tea served with Fresh Pineapple , topped off with a pretty orchid, refreshingly cool in the heat of the evening sun. It wasn't all meat and heavy carbs that night. As you can see, we had a healthy dose of Vegetables as well. The Mesculn Mix was crisp and crunchy, with cherry tomatoes lending a tart sweetness. The Coleslaw Mix with salad dressing on the sid

I was craving deep-fried foods, and who does deep-fried foods better and more healthy than the Japanese? So off we went to Sushi Tei at China Square . This is about the only outlet that doesn't have a waiting time of 30-45 minutes, unlike their Raffles City or Playground @ Big Splash branches. I got the Tonkatsu ($9) a very moist and tender Pork Cutlet, well-marinated with nicely-crisped crumbed skin I liked the Potato Croquette ($3.20) so much, I promptly ordered another one after a bite. A bite through the crisp breadcrumbs, and you get a soft mashed potato filling, chunked up with corn nibblets, peas and diced carrots. We liked the Potato with Chicken Curry ($8). Thick potato wedges, soft carrot slices with succulent chicken pieces drenched in a sweetish, thick, mildly spiced curry gravy, this was really quite palatable. Sushi Tei 20 Cross Street China Square Central #01-28/30 Tel: 6223 0070 Open daily from 11.30am to 10pm (last order 9.30pm) Website: ww

I've read somewhere that stress is a major cause of overeating. It's totally true! It's been absolutely madness at work and you wouldn't believe the cravings I get. Just the other day, I was hankering for some dim sum. So off we went to Crystal Jade Kitchen at Suntec for lunch. The BF mistakenly ordered the Deep-fried Dried Beancurd Skin with Pepper & Salt ($5.50). He thought it was the deep-fried cubed beancurd with pepper and salt. Ahh well, wrong order notwithstanding, I liked this. The outer beancurd skin was crisp, whereas the inside layers were still chewy and soft. We got the ubiquitous Steamed Pork with Crab Roe Dumpling "Siew Mai" ($4.30), bouncy, juicy and succulent. I got the Roasted Duck with Hor Fan in Soup ($6.80), with slurpilicious smooth flat rice noodles in a comforting light prawn-based broth.Though I'm not that huge a fan of the shrimpish soup base, the plain rice noodles helped absorb the salt content of and balance

Ms PR and I shared the New York Cheesecake ($6.30) for dessert. I was PMS-ing and she was craving something sweet. This was dense and rich, with a naunced sweetness and creaminess so you don't feel too heavy (and guilty!) afterwards. Mr Harvest-The-Crops got a Chocolate Chunk Cookie ($3.90) for dessert instead, which Ms PR happily helped eat. Both are chocolate lovers, whereas chocolate gives me headaches. This was crumbly, buttery, with plentiful semi-melted bittersweet chocolatey chunks. Starbucks Coffee DBS Tower II 6 Shenton Way #01-01 Tel: 6223 1657 Open from Mondays to Fridays from 7am to 9pm Saturdays from 7.30am to 5pm Closed on Sundays and Public Holidays Website: www.starbucks.com.sg

We stopped by here for a quick tea break while grocery shopping at Suntec. We started off with a Drunken Chicken with Wolfberry and Huai Shan ($7.50), served refreshingly chilled. The heady hint of alcohol, the subtle sweetness of wolfberries and the bitter huai shan herb was a balance of flavours with the juicy chicken. This was the BF's first time trying the classic Shanghainese appetizer and he loved it. We also had the Sauteed Beansprout with Pork and Salted Fish ($10.80), crunchy and mild, lightly flavoured with peppery capsicums and re-hydrated dried salted fish. I couldn't resist the Double-Boiled Chicken Soup ($7.50), delicate and light, a steaming hot concoction of simple comfort food. Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao 3 Temasek Boulevard #B1-028 Suntec City Mall Tel: 6337 6678 Open daily from 11am to 10pm Website: www.crystaljade.com

I had a particularly grueling week at work, and so, I surrounded myself with good friends this weekend to unwind. I met with Kong for dinner after work and headed to Jing at One Fullerton , just a hop and a skip away from my office, for some contemporary Chinese food.  Jing is the second restaurant opened by the people (chef Yong Bing Ngen and hotelier Loh Lik Peng) behind the award-winning, much lauded Majestic Restaurant . With such stellar pedigree, comparisons between the 2 restaurants are bound to be drawn. Unfortunately, this Marina Bay waterfront restaurant is a far cry from its predecessor. We both felt the food was really just a-okay, not bad but definitely not great, and just wasn't worth the price-tag. Service was also not as efficient or knowledgeable as the stylishly-clad ones at Majestic. This was evinced by the barely-occupied restaurant as opposed to a full-house capacity at Majestic. We got a Seafood Fried Noodles ($26), which was pretty much the same standar

Note: it's moved to ION Orchard here . I had a quick dinner with Cho here before drinks with the BF at The Wine Company . Cho had a family dinner but he was so sweet to rush down after the dinner to keep me company and watch me eat because the BF was busy at the gym. How lovely are my friends huh. The Braised Beancurd with Assorted Mushroom & Spinach ($14) was really yummy, like the braised homemade tofu with monkey's head mushroom at Cherry Garden . But at a fraction of the price. The smooth and soft beancurd, sitting on a bed of mashed spinach was flash-fried for a crisp skin texture. Add lashings of shimeiji mushrooms, par-boiled spinach and a liberal slathering of a gooey oyster sauce gravy and you get a healthy protein-rich vegetable dish. At the waitress' recommendation, I got the Double-Boiled Fish Maw Soup with Shark's Cartilage ($25), delicate yet rich in depth and flavour. I liked that this collagen-rich soup didn't leave that thin milky fil

Although I'd driven past The Wine Company along Evans Road (opposite the current NUS Law School), numerous times, I've never thought to pop in. You see, I'm not much of a wine drinker. Hmm, actually, for that matter, I'm not much of an alcohol drinker. All it takes is one glass of wine to get me all euphoric for the rest of the night. Yes. Really. So when the BF and I met up with Cho, one of my best men and childhood friend, for drinks and to chillout, he suggested this place for its fairly casual atmosphere and wide range of both old and new world wines. Looking through the food menu, we were surprised to find that it was pretty extensive, for a "drinking hole". The Wine Company doesn't just serve up the typical nibbles like chicken wings, dishes like burgers, meats, seafood, pastas, salads, soups with an Asian twist are all on the menu. A plus point is the very attractive price points, which are nett and already inclusive of GST. Too bad we'd a

Of all the ramen shops in the predominantly-occupied-by-Japanese-ramen-shops mall also known as The Central along Clarke Quay , Marutama and Santouka Ramen are arguably 2 of the best known and popular. I'd previously reviewed Marutama, and we wanted to try Santouka to see how it'd compare. We both got the Santouka specialty, Tokusen Toroniku Shio Ramen ($19.50) Pork Bone and Salt Ramen, with Roasted Pork Cheeks. The pearl-coloured, collagen-infused pork bone broth is delightfully rich yet mild, and the atypical thicker noodles are springy and light. The ramen's good and the soup broth doesn't leave a thin milky film on the tongue, but I've realised that I'm really not that big a fan of the tonkotsu soup base. I prefer the clear and delicate shio soup base. The Roasted Pork Cheeks, with a sprinkling of crunchy black fungus and bamboo shoots, is sweet, tender, fatty and practically melted on the tongue. It's separately served on the side instead of