The Hungry Bunny

We stopped by House of Robert Timms for dinner earlier in the week. The Hubs made this observation, which I quite agree, that this cafe always seems so empty whenever we dine here, and wondered how it survives the brutal F&B industry. Thing is, although it does appear lacking in customers whenever we pop by, I suspect that weekends are jammed with customers, which probably keeps this afloat. The quintessentially Aussie fare is hearty, rustic and charmingly unpretentious, and laidback ambience makes for a great place to unwind after work. And, they offer an all-day breakfast (always a great draw) selection. Nothing like a platter of eggs and bacon to soothe the day's woes! The Handmade Spinach & Mushroom Hash ($17) with a perfectly fluffy egg scramble, grilled turkey ham, crisp bacon, mixed greens, a beautifully carved grilled tomato, baked beans and toast was both hearty and rustic. I really liked the hash, it was moist and delicately seasoned, with a lovely bronzy sh

TGIF! This weekend could not have arrived sooner, really. It's been a tough week, and convenient, low-fuss dinners, like this one at Tambuah Mas , have become routine after an arduous day in the office. While weekends will see this casual Indonesian restaurant packed to the gills with family-types, the early weekdays will guarantee you a quiet mealtime. Dining at Tambuah Mas may result in a few misses, but they are few and far between. Generally, you can count on them for dependably fair, hearty and homestyled Indonesian fare. The Sop Buntut Lontong ($8.50) rice cakes in Makassar-styled oxtail broth was alright, but pedestrian. The oxtail needed another half hour stewing time for a fall-off-the-bone texture, while the soup base, while robust, lacked depth. The Meehoon Soto ($7.50), Indonesian-styled chicken soup with a couple of potato patties perkadel, was decent, but unfortunately marred by the dry stringy chicken and undercooked beansprouts. The Fried Long Beans w

Another childhood favourite of the Hubs is Kimchi Fried Rice . It's like the easiest thing to whip up, and can be varied a million ways. With kimchi and gochujang as the primary seasoning forming the base recipe for the rice, you can chunk it up with any combination of your favourite proteins.   Ingredients (feeds 4): 5 cups cooked rice, use leftovers (or if using freshly cooked rice, use less water for a drier finish) (FYI, 1 cup uncooked rice yields about 2 cups cooked rice) 3 cups kimchi, cut into 1-cm cubes (portion 1 cup kimchi to 2 cups of rice) 250gm chicken fillet, sliced to 1" cubes and marinated with light soy and white ground pepper (or bulgogi sauce for a more layered flavour) 4 eggs, scrambled and salted 3 tbsp gochujang (Korean red pepper paste) 2 tbsp frying oil 1 tbsp sesame oil 2 tbsp sesame seeds (I used a mix of white and black) 1/4 cup dried seaweed, cut into thin strips Directions: 1) Scramble eggs in 1 tbsp frying oil, breaking it up into

In the sweet sweet world of macarons, countless bakeries abound, seemingly forgettable, amongst duopoly heavyweights Laduree and Pierre Herme. Anyone with a sweet tooth would have heard of them both, even if both boulangeries were solely based in Paris. I'd hear of friends lugging back boxes of macarons as souvenirs from their sojourns in the city of light. After years of pent-up demand, Laduree finally landed on our sunny shores, and the frenzied horde descended on the tiny little pop-up shop in Ngee Ann City like bees to honey. As you may be well aware by now, we abhor the national pastime of queuing, so we waited till the fuss died down, and picked an off-peak Monday to sample the revered dame's wares. It was, at first brush, quite disconcerting to discover that Laduree 's macarons cost a pretty penny. Each tiny, pop-in-your-mouth-and-it's-gone morsel retails at a whopping $3.95 a pop, making them the most expensive macarons in Singapore. So it was telling that

A dash of wine, a squeeze of lemon juice, a light sprinkle of rosemary and a few capers are all it takes for a calorie-light weeknight dinner that takes minimal fuss to prep and cook. It barely takes 10 minutes to prep the entire thing, and you actually get to wash up while the oven is doing its magic. A most delicate way of treating salmon, we mopped up every last drop of the clean-tasting clear broth. Ingredients (feeds 2): 300gm salmon fillet, sliced into 2 equal fillets 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 1 tbsp fresh rosemary, minced (if using dried rosemary, use only 1 tsp) 2 tbsp lemon juice 4 lemon slices 4 tbsp white wine (I used a dry chardonnay) 1 tbsp capers Salt Pepper Directions: 1) Wash and pat dry salmon, placing it in a tray. 2) Marinade salmon with rosemary, olive oil, lemon juice, wine, salt and freshly ground black pepper for 10 minutes. In the meantime, pre-heat the oven at 205 degrees Celsius (400 degree Fahrenheit). 3) Turn the salmon fillets

The Great Singapore Sale is now on, and we wanted to stay away from the shopping hordes at Orchard, and so, we thought to go to Spathe along Mohammed Sultan for a very late brunch. The used-to-be-trendy Mohammed Sultan enclave on the city fringes is near enough to home, but has a sleepy, laidback vibe that's so different from the frenzy of the Orchard shopping belt. On weekends, Spathe offers brunch all the way to 5pm, which is conducive for people like us, whose weekends only start after we wake in the late afternoon. While Spathe 's brunch isn't exceptionally phenomenal, there were a couple of dishes that stood out. Plus, the $15-odd pricing for most brunch items made their grub very much more palatable. In addition, service here was quite impressive; the staff were charmingly spontaneous and, in contrast to most local staff, actually capable of witty repartee. One major draw, though, was the lack of a hipster crowd that plagues most brunch spots. I'm sure t

The Hubs has been complaining that I'm making him fat, so I've been cooking a lot of salmon. It's a super healthy source of protein, low in fat and packed with all the good stuff that makes you glow. In addition to being super healthy, salmon isn't as intimidatingly difficult as I'd imagined. The miso-honey glaze makes this dish appear a lot more impressive than it actually is, while orange juice lends a bright citrusy zing. The key to doing the fish justice is timing; the general rule is 10 minutes total cooking time for every 1" thickness of salmon, and if you follow this rule, you'll never overcook your fish. Ingredients (feeds 2): 300gm salmon fillet, sliced into 2 equal fillets 1.5 tbsp miso paste 1 tbsp honey 2 tbsp orange juice (no pulp, and preferably unsweetened, otherwise, reduce honey to 1 tsp to balance out the sweetness) 1 tsp light soy 1 tbsp mirin 1/4 cup water Directions: 1) Wash and pat dry salmon, placing it in a tray.

I used to frequent Fish & Co back in the day when I was a perpetually-broke undergrad. It may not be at the top of the league table, but they do know their fish and can be relied upon for a worthwhile and affordably decent meal.  I was very amused by their recently-implemented Smile-or-Free-Drink policy. Apparently, if you catch your server not smiling, you're entitled to call them out on it and a fizzy drink on the house. Perhaps, that's why the servers were all so smiley, but not in that creepy, frozen smile way. Maybe just a smidge too smiley compared to the usual service staff but they did seem genuine and friendly.  A newly launched appetizer, the Crispy Whitebait ($5.95) coated in a thin batter, and sprinkled with flavourful herbs and spices, was surprisingly elegant. This was good on its own without the tartar sauce. A luxed-up rendition of their classic, the London Fish & Chips ($17.95) is done with cod in place of the standard dory fish. I much prefe

A long-time tenant of Wheelock Place, Sun with Moon Japanese Dining is one of those places that astounds me with its longevity. With food that's painfully amateurish and pitifully child-sized, I have no idea how this mediocre Japanese restaurant lasted this long. Or gained such a loyal following. Granted, their food's very accessibly priced, with most mains averaging well below $20, but I still left feeling like I'd wasted both my money and calories. Props to the marketing team behind the conceptualization of the menu though, it was key in crafting a very misleading idea of the food actually served. Ironically, I might have not given such a scathing review if my expectations of the food hadn't been so heightened by the beautifully photographed menu. The Salmon Fillet Steak ($13.80) burnished with teriyaki, was served alongside tater tots, a lone broccoli floret and the most gauche spaghetti ever done. It was stringy, droopy and memorably awful. The dish would have b

I've been wanting to try my hand at Peranakan cuisine for the longest time. The Korean halfling Hubs is also half-Baba and babi pongteh is one of his favourite foods, so I've been scouring the internet researching Peranakan recipes. Since babi pongteh is possibly one of the least complicated of all the typically time-consuming and notoriously intricate Peranakan recipes, I thought it'll be a good starting point for my virgin foray into Peranakan cooking. So anyway, I followed some recipe extracted from some famous cookbook but somehow, I ended up with something that tasted more like a crossbreed of tau yu bak and babi pongteh. It's still really yummy (the Hubs devoured it all, so you know it's got his stamp of approval at least) so I'm just gonna call this my recipe for a generic Braised Pork Belly . Akan datang for the actual babi pongteh recipe (coming up as soon as I can wrangle someone's family heritage one). Ingredients (feeds 4): 500gm pork bel