The Hungry Bunny

There's a slight lull in the crowds that throng the Orchard Road malls between the Christmas and New Years' long weekends, and so, I took the opportunity to squeeze in a haircut. I figured I better get a haircut before salon prices get inflated during the period leading up to the Chinese New Year, which arrives early next year in January. As usual, we had a no-fuss dinner at our favourite cze char eatery in Far East Plaza after the haircut. Really, Far East Plaza is one of the few places left in Orchard Road that you can get decent cze char at a no-frills but air-conditioned eatery for cheap. If you look carefully, this old-school mall is not just teeming with angst-ridden teenagers, hair, nail and beauty salons, alteration seamstresses or Korean-pop wannabe fashion shops. There's a gamut of hole-in-the-wall eateries here, from Turkish cuisine to Japanese food and of course, local fare. Mind you, not all serve good food. They are, afterall, catered to the student dollar.

We make it a point to avoid the Orchard Road vicinity during the year-end festivities. Traffic is horrendous (and don't even get me started on the horror of parking in the central shopping belt), masses of sweaty jostling crowds abound, and the repetitive loops of cheery Christmas songs over the intercom can get quite nauseating. It seems as if our little island has suddenly shrunk to a third of its size and the population has exploded by several times. And so, hidden dining gems with a quiet, peaceful ambience are very much our go-to spots during this time of the year. I've mentioned before that Tien Court is one of those hidden gems, always tranquil and always a great dining experience. And although we were there for a late dim sum weekend lunch without reservations, we managed to snag a table without any fuss. While most of the dishes impressed, as usual, we were surprised that a couple of dishes were terrible and below par. We started off great with a portion of the C

The great thing about the CBD being expanded into the Marina Bay area is that the food choices around my office area at Shenton Way has increased exponentially. The newest office building sprouted up in the area that's quickly becoming the next prime hub of the CBD is Asia Square Tower, which houses the Super Peking Duck branch of the Imperial Treasure group of restaurants. Finally, an award-winning Cantonese restaurant that's within convenient walking distance from the office! It really was a no-brainer then, that I decided to host our December L.A. Lunch here. As usual, Imperial Treasure Super Peking Duck didn't disappoint. Service was attentive and courteous, food was close to perfection, and the ambience was, as with most Cantonese restaurants, rambunctious and loud (and so, it was conducive for us to yak away). We started off with the restaurant's namesake, a whole Peking Duck ($68). This was, of course, brought to our table whole, and carved by the chef ri

Crystal Jade recently celebrated its 20th anniversary by introducing additional dishes into its already well-loved menu. We had dinner there to sample one of their 2 set dinner menus, launched as part of their rebranding efforts. The set dinner menu B ($68.80 per person) comprised 6 courses, with 2 choices in each course for you to pick from. This was incredibly value-for-money, and even though each course was a tasting portion, we were stuffed by the end of the meal. We started off with a duo of roasted meats, the first being the Roasted Duck , tender, fresh, non-gamey and tasty. And then there was the BBQ Pork , soft and moist, with a sticky sweet char siew marinade brushed over the meaty chunks. There was a shark's fin soup, which we slurped up in a flash so there's no picture. We followed that up with a Steamed Seabass Fillet with Cordyceps Flowers , the mild flaky fish was paired with a herbal-infused soy sauce, while pickled ginger provided a spicy lift to th

We've started allowing ourselves the luxury of eating carbs again. We haven't quite let up on the regular exercise (because we don't believe in letting ourselves go just because we're married), but we have eased up on the rigorous diet. We had dinner at the club after hitting the gym. On hindsight, this was perhaps not the most ideal place to expend our calories on carbs. The Cantonese Beef Hor Fun ($7.20) while passable, wasn't all that great. The gravy was too starchy and the beef tasted a little artificially tenderised, but the flat rice noodles were smooth slippery and well-fried. The Hubs had the Spicy Stewed Beef La Mian ($7.50) and the fall-off-the-bone beef brisket fared much better than the sliced beef in the hor fun, it was soft, flavoursome and robust. Noodles were soft and springy. While the Hokkien Mee ($7.20) was generously portioned, it was a tad dry and lacking in the distinctive prawn stock flavour. Bukit Cafe Singapore Island

I met up with Jal here for our monthly lunch meet-ups. Pizza Hut, like Pastamania, is one of those places I'd never eat at if not for Jal. But, Pizza Hut, like Pastamania, is halal certified, which means that it makes for a viable lunch option for Jal. Compared to the rest of the bustling eateries in Funan, Pizza Hut is like a peaceful oasis. This is one place you can be sure of a quiet chat with your lunch companion. While service can be a bit choppy and hesitant, the food wasn't too bad. Well, it could be that I had the lowest of expectations walking in. That said, their set lunches are quite a steal, with a main, soup and a drink costing barely 13 bucks making for a decently substantive meal. And you get to choose between 2 different mains for the sets. The Cheez Shroomies Wrap Thursday Set Lunch ($12.90), a tortilla wrap filled with button mushrooms, onions, garlic and dressed with grilled cheese sauce and mozzarella cheese was nicely toasted and generously stuffed. Si

We'd originally wanted to go to Seah Street Deli for dinner but it was closed. I find it weird that an in-house restaurant at one of Singapore's most distinguished hotels is only open 5 days in a week (it's closed Sundays and Mondays). I would have thought that a 5-star hotel like Raffles would make it a policy that all their restaurants are open every day of the week. Never mind that, we went across the street to Soup Restaurant for a healthy, light meal instead. I always try to make it a point to order Soup Restaurant's Traditional Boiled Soup of the Day . It's light, delicate and always has a wholesome appeal to it. Today's soup was the lotus root and pork ribs soup ($12.90 for medium), refreshingly devoid of any MSG-taste, and very light, to the point it was almost plain. Still, this made for a a very homestyle comforting bowl of broth. The San Yu Fish Slices Fried with Ginger and Spring Onion ($10.90) was equally light in flavour, thick slices

Many apologies for the long hiatus, The Hungry Bunny was busy becoming a missus. This was one of our last meals as an unmarried couple. The Hubs (yes, the Fiance has been "upgraded" to the Hubs) was clearing leave so he picked me up to go out of the CBD for an extended lunch break. We'd originally planned on some lor mee at the Tiong Bahru Market, but the entire hawker centre was closed for its monthly cleaning, so we headed to Por Kee for some good 'ol cze char. Por Kee on a weekday afternoon is really quite different from Por Kee in the night. There are very few diners during lunchtime so you're almost guaranteed a seat in the teeny tiny air-conditioned restaurant, a welcome respite from the stifling heat of the afternoon sun. We started off with a Seafood and Salted Vegetable Soup ($10), which was surprisingly good. I usually don't take much stock in soups from cze char places they're usually loaded with MSG, but this was pleasantly light. It stil

It's been a while since we last went to Sushi Tei, and we were craving for some Japanese food today. I usually avoid Orchard Road like the plague come Christmas period but I had to run a couple of errands in the area so we popped by the Sushi Tei branch at Ngee Ann City. I must admit I've never been a fan of this Sushi Tei branch because it's right smack in the middle of nowhere. The almost glass enclosure is separated from the main shopping mall, between the super busy taxi stand and the always jammed packed Orchard Turn, so all you see are cars, cars and more cars. I much prefer the gleaming Paragon outlet. But, we were in the area and wanted a quick Japanese fix. Get in and out of Orchard area with as little to do with the Christmas crowd as possible. The Fiance is a lot more disciplined when it comes to his pre-wedding diet of cutting out carbs. He relies on a staple of meat, fruits and vegetables, so beef is his best friend right now. The Gyu Yanagawa ($12) beef w