The Hungry Bunny

I've never really been a fan of buffets, because you pay for variety and not quality. A good buffet is one that serves dishes that are individually yummy, hits without any misses, and that is difficult to achieve. Crossroads Cafe is falls into the unfortunate category of a run-of-the-mill buffet restaurant, with little hits and many misses. While the indoor, air-conditioned area is tailored for diners having the buffet, the outdoor, perfect-for-people-watching area is reserved for diners ordering from the ala carte menu. I've always thought of this place to be an infamous pick-up joint for SPGs and fat, balding foreigners who can't tell the difference between a Malay girl and Chinese chick. CC and I, with CC's brother, had a client dinner here one night. These clients are one of the sweetest and most appreciative of our work. It's clients like these that make the long hours and hard work feel worth it. Whilst the food was quite lackluster, the company was great...

Over the weekend, we decided to make our own teppanyaki. So off we went to the wet market at Tekka Market early in the morning and bought fresh meat to marinade. I love that we actually have fun making a day of going to the wet market, preparing our own dinner, cooking and washing up together. After shopping at Tekka Market and teaching the Fiance the 101 of shopping at the wet market, we sat down to have breakfast at the Food Centre. Tekka Food Centre is famous for Indian-Muslim cuisine so you're really spoilt for choice when it comes to items such as briyani or prata or mutton soup. I've been hankering for good mee rebus and this stall was the only one that sold the Malay noodles. The Mee Rebus ($3) was really quite yummy. The gravy was luscious, thick and robust, with a slight hint of nuttiness and sweetness. I also got some Sauteed Spinach ($0.50), but this was a little tasteless, despite the addition of sliced red chilis. The stall front of Siti Rodia...

The Fiance read reviews that the White Box serves one of the best desserts in Phuket so we decided a visit was in order. After dinner at Baan Rim Pa , we headed to the White Box, a white-washed beach - facing restaurant just 5 minutes away. This was once a beach-front house, converted into a minimalist, mediterranean restaurant that's both stylish and modern. The thing about taxis in Phuket is that the same taxi driver will send you to a destination, wait patiently for you to finish your meal, then send you back to your hotel. All for a very reasonable price. We had the same taxi pick us up from our hotel, send us to Baan Rim Pa, wait for us to have dinner, then send us to the White Box, wait for us to have dessert and drinks, before sending us back to the hotel. The tip is always to negotiate the price of the entire trip with the taxi driver before hopping into one because taxi drivers don't charge according to a meter, even if they have one in the taxi. Don't worry, th...

Since Cho was off to Hongkong for Christmas and New Year's and wouldn't be spending the New Year's with us, we met up for dinner at Al Dente Trattoria at Holland Village before he left. I was craving risotto and got the Crabmeat Risotto ($26) with Atlantic crab, asparagus and parmesan. Unfortunately, this was littered with flat-leaf parsley so I spent the better part of the evening scraping off the green bits. Despite the addition of the flat-leaf parsley, the risotto wasn't bad. The use of white wine kept this light and it didn't leave me with that heavy cheese feeling. The shredded crabmeat was sweet and plentiful, complemented by bits of fried garlic. Cho got the Beef Lasagna ($20) layers of beef and pasta sheets with oregano tomatoes fondue and mozzarella. This was hearty, robust and substantial. Update 4 March 2011: The restaurant has since closed down, the space taken over by Barossa, an Australian restaurant and beer bar. Al Dente Trattoria 22 L...

Remember I mentioned that the apple crumble from the Indigo Pearl room service menu is amazing ? It is. I've never really liked apple pie or apple crumble, but one bite of the Indigo Pearl version changed my mind and made me a fan (only of this apple crumble). We had supper one night and ordered from the 24-hour room service menu. The Warm Apple Crumble (195THB) with vanilla ice-cream is a warm buttery tart filled with ripened apples that are sweet yet balanced with just that teensy bit of tartness, and topped with crumbly sweet shortbread. The juxtaposition of the warm tart with the icy cold vanilla ice-cream is absolute dessert heaven. We also got the Pandanus Leaf Sago Pudding (195THB) with fresh mango and coconut milk, a variation of the classic Thai dessert of mango sticky rice. This is really like our local kuehs. Up close you can see the individual sago pearls in the bright green pudding. Too bad the mangoes weren't fully ripe or sweet enough, they were sti...