The Hungry Bunny

Canele belongs to the Les Amis group of restaurants, so you know you're in very good hands when you dine here. Although Canele is primarily a dessert place (their desserts are absolutely drool-worthy and almost too pretty to eat), it also serves up a selection of French and Italian bistro food. Housed in the open-concept atrium of Paragon's basement, this is a place to chill, have a leisurely  meal and people-watch. It's fairly noisy and boisterious, as there's a lot of foot traffic from the supermarket opposite, so it's really not a very "chi-chi" place. We met up with Nate, who now lives in Shanghai, for Sunday tea when he dropped in on one of his bi-annual trips back to the motherland. It's really amazing how most of our friends are gradually moving to other countries to live and/or work. I guess it's one of the inevitable effects of globalization. We're going to have to start making new friends if this trend keeps up. The Braised Be

The chef and owner behind Restaurant Ember , Sebastian Ng, is the reason for Restaurant Ember's success. Having honed his culinary skills at The Marmalade Pantry's Pierside Kitchen & Bar, and the kitchens of world-class Raffles Hotel and Four Seasons Hotel, Sebastian Ng single-handedly put Restaurant Ember firmly on the gourmand's radar when he was crowned the Rising Chef of the Year at the 2004 World Gourmet Summit. Chef Ng's modern take on European cuisine is effortlessly nuanced and balanced. For a fine-dining establishment, the food is incredibly understated and uncomplicated, whilst the ambience is friendly and unstuffy. However, just because the vibe is convivial doesn't mean that you can enter in slippers and/or shorts, there's a dress code to adhere to here. Also, it's best to make reservations to avoid disappointment at the door because the restaurant is so tiny. We've always had wonderful dining experiences here at Restaurant Ember, and w

Lips and I both ditched our respective halves and met up to yak and catch up over dinner. In any case, the Fiance was more than happy to trot off to the gym and work out on his own. You see, usually when I go to the gym with the Fiance, I'd be breathing down his neck to quickly finish up the workout and go off for dinner. We decided on Chinese and headed to Tung Lok Signatures at The Central . They're well known for modernizing classic Cantonese cuisine. We started off with grand plans of eating a really light and healthy meal, so we got the Steamed Beancurd with Conpoy and Crispy Sprout Mushrooms ($18). This was an incredibly clear and delicate dish, the clean taste of the silky soft wobbly beancurd married well with the thick gravy accented simply by the dried scallops. Broccoli florets and crispy fried golden mushrooms provided some crunch. This was a huge portion, sufficient to feed 3 persons, but we finished this. We figured we'll just order another dish and be do

This was a quickie lunch at Starbucks .  The Carrot Cake Petite ($3.60) allowed for some decadence without the guilt and excessive calories because of its teeny tiny portion. The roasted walnut provided a nice bitter contrast to the sweet icing topping on the moist dense cake. The Egg White Wrap ($5.50) was a deceptively substantial meal. Filled with sauteed mushrooms, diced red peppers and egg white chunks, this was light without compromising on flavour. 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

I think I may be hitting my risotto overload. As evidenced below, I've been eating risottos continuously at Prego . The following were the risottos of each day I ate there. The Lemon Sole with Capers Risotto ($36) was lighter than their usual super creamy and rich versions. The capers lent a faint peppery kick and its tangy accents cut through the starchiness of the risotto, while fat fish slices were a nice clear plain contrast to the rich risotto. The Creamy Egg Bacon Risotto ($36) was obviously the rice version of carbonara pasta. I liked that the bacon was diced, chunky and flavoursome without being overtly salty. However, this got a little cloying after a while, there was just too much diary in this. The Fiance had this while I had the different risottos. This is probably the first time I'm giving a Prego dish a thumbs-down review. The only good thing about the Guazzetto di Mare ($38), a tomatoes and caper seafood stew, was the tomato broth and prawns. I jus

I never really liked eating steamed fish, mostly because I had a terrible phobia of getting the really-fine-but-very-sharp fish bones lodged in the throat. Until I met the Fiance, who got me hooked onto this really-simple-can-cook-by-yourself-as-long-as-you-have-really-fresh-fish Chinese dish.  The Geylang branch of No Signboard Seafood is widely renowned to be the best outlet, and our default place for takeaway cze char. We takeaway food from this place so often that they actually recognise our voices from the word "hello". Today, we decided to dine at the restaurant instead because we wanted to eat steam fish and it really isn't possible to stuff an entire fish into a box for takeaway. The Hong Kong Style Steamed Seabass ($50 per kg) hit the steam fish craving on the spot, moist, fleshy and delicate meat, paired with an equally light soy and oil emulsion. This is one of my favourite veggie dishes, Braised Mushroom with Baby Cabbage ($12). Plump juicy mushroo

I mentioned earlier that I'd just put on invisalign braces to straighten out my buck teeth, so it's been a real pain to take out and put back the aligners. Plus, my teeth and gums are always tender after removing the aligners so soft foods are my friends now. In any case, I'd been craving lots of risottos so it was just as well. I first knew about Lafiandra Trattoria when they were at Prinsep Street, a tiny place with a homely atmosphere and great hearty unpretentious food. They're now at the Singapore Art Museum, and the restaurant still manages to retain its down-to-earth charm, warm vibe and comforting food while at the classy artsy fartsy posh(er) digs of the old Saint Joseph Institution school building. Prices here are very affordable and value-for-money, while the portions are generous. There's never really a crowd so you're (almost) guaranteed a seat without reservations, even on the weekends. We like that it's open till late, so we can hit this

Growing up, I didn't eat anything other than fried chicken wings and roti prata. Yes, I was THAT kid. I was so picky with my food that I'd take up to an hour to eat 2 bites of any meal. I'm a lot better now, but as some of my friends will attest, I'm still quite picky. This is why I don't profess to be a true gourmand. I'm just too picky to be one! In any case, having eaten so many fried chicken wings, I can, at the very least, hold myself out to be a fried chicken wing expert. It just so happened that I was craving for some fried chicken wings, and Ikea is well known to have the best chicken wings on the island. I'd just put on invisalign braces, and it may not have been the best idea to eat something that requires chewing. But, trust me, Ikea's chicken wings are so worth the pain. The Chicken Wings ($7.50 for 6) are mouthwateringly aromatic, with a combination of soy, ginger and probably some fairy dust. They were just that good. Juicy, crisp,

Yoshimaru Ramen marks the Jumbo group of seafood restaurants' first foray into the Japanese ramen fad. It specialises in Tonkotsu ramen, also known as Hakata ramen. Yoshimaru is apparently quite a successful chain of ramen shops in Japan, originating from Hakata town in the Fukuoka prefecture. We had dinner here when celebrating Cho's birthday recently. I'm going to be really sad when he moves to Hong Kong in less than 3 months' time. This is the Traditional Hakata Ramen Set ($16.90), consisting of a milky rich pork bone soup base, paired with thin freshly made soft noodles. Sliced black fungus provide a little crunch and the tender flavourful soy braised pork make this a hearty dish. The Potato Chicken Croquette , part of the set, is moist and tasty on the inside, with a nice golden crispy bread-crumbed coating. The Salad , the obligatory fibre of the set meal. The Chicken Gyoza ($6) was wonderfully juicy and savoury. This would make for a great snack.

Ms PR's hubs was away on business so we hung out after work. I was craving steamed fish, and since Zi Yean 's so near her home, we decided to have dinner there. It's funny, because although she lives a 5 minute walk from the Cantonese restaurant, she's only been here twice! I suppose sometimes it's easy to overlook things that are right in front of you. Zi Yean's menu has just been revised, new dishes have been added and not surprisingly, prices have been "updated" as well. I guess there's really just no escaping the ever-rising inflation huh? The silver lining is that payment by OCBC or Standard Chartered credit cards gives you a 15% discount. Hurray for credit card discounts! The Soon Hock ($8 per 100g) steamed Hong Kong style was moist, fresh and very well done. For a fish that spent its adult life in freshwater lakes and streams, this tastes amazingly non-freshwater-fish-like. The delicate soy and peanut oil seasoning married well with th

Ernie came back over the weekend and was craving Indonesian-Malay cuisine. If there's one thing Singapore has that Hong Kong doesn't, this is it. We went to our usual nasi padang haunts at the Kampong Glam area, where you'll find a lot of eateries selling nasi padang. There's one to suit every preference (more lemak or less lemak) and chili tolerance ranging from hot to hottest. You'll be hard pressed to find watered-down, catered-to-the-tourist-non-spicy food here.  Kampong Glam Cafe  offers not just the usual nasi padang dishes but Malay favourites such as mee rebus, ayam soto, mee siam and lontong. It's really cheap, our entire meal, including drinks, cost less than $30!  The Lontong had a rich, spicy, tumeric base that complemented the plain soft moist ricecakes, and the still-crunchy-but-slightly-softened cabbage, long beans and carrots. Topped with some flossy pounded dried shrimp and sweet sambal chili, this really packed a punch. The Fried Bean