The Hungry Bunny

We'd originally planned on hitting up Samy's Curry for lunch, but alas, they were closed. Luckily, there was The Muthu's Flavours (yes, they are affiliated to the famed Muthu's Curry chain) just around the corner in the Dempsey Hills enclave, so we got to have our Indian food fix afterall. Despite a modern sleek interior swathed in black and punctuated with bright orange hues, the food at this South Indian stalwart has stayed grounded, traditional, and authentic. In addition to modernising its decor and branding, The Muthu's Flavours has branched out into North Indian cuisine; a fantastic way of drawing in the chilli-averse, as North Indian fare tends to be less potent than its Southern counterpart. For easy reference, I'll sequence the dishes in order of spiciness, starting from the mild to the stomach-churning ones at the end. Their Naans , a trio of the Plain ($3), Garlic ($4) and Cheese ($4) varieties, were perfect foils for soaking up the addic...

This is my 2nd attempt at babi pongteh. It's inched towards a more authentic taste of the nonya classic, but it still requires a fair bit of improvement. On the upside, the Hubs pointed out that, in my attempt to make this more like babi pongteh, it's ended up a better tau yu bak. So until I get a truly authentic flavour of babi pongteh, I'll just keep chronicling my attempts right here as "braised/stewed pork". Ingredients (feeds 6): 1 kg pork belly, sliced chunky, blanched in boiling water, trimmed off any hair and marinated in thick black soya for at least 1 hour (best if overnight) 10 shitake, sliced roughly 4 potatoes, diced into 1" cubes 50gm shallots, pounded finely 80gm garlic, pounded finely 4 tbsp heaps taucheo 2 tbsp light soy 1 tbsp thick black soy 80gm gula melaka 6 cups water 1 tbsp frying oil 1 tbsp sesame oil Directions: 1) Fry shallots in frying oil-sesame oil combi on low heat until fragrant, about 2 minutes. 2) Add g...

I've realised, that when it comes to ramen virgins, they tend to hate the heavy cloying richness of tonkotsu broths. To ease such ramen newbies into the world of ramen, your best bet lies with chicken-based ramens, which steer towards the light and clear. Ramen Kagetsu Arashi , one of the most established and extensive ramen chains in Japan, is a good starting point for those averse or new to ramen. They specialise in delightfully light chicken stock-based ramen simply seasoned with salt.  We had lunch here at their first ever shop at Star Vista, where we were spectators to a manifestation of the current labour crunch: There was just 1 staff zipping around on the floor, cramming all of the responsibilities of a waitress, cleaner and cashier. And just 1 cook helming the kitchen. So you can just imagine how slow and flustered the service was. That said, they offer one of the most value-for-money set lunches around, Arashi's Lunch Set ($10.80), comprises your choice of a down...

I can totally understand why Vivocity remains one of the most frequented malls in Singapore. The mega mall houses dozens of F&B options! I'd only ever been to the above ground restaurants, but I've recently discovered the basement level eateries. The Asian Kitchen , a casual Chinese eatery, conveniently located in the second basement, draws the hordes of MRT-based foot traffic during peak hours with the comforting taste of Chinese homecooking. We like that the food here is hearty and well-priced, while the brisk, if sometimes frazzled, service helps with a quick, low-fuss meal. The Chicken Chop Fried Rice ($10.50) may not be ultra refined, but is thick with the familiar taste of home and laced with a fine eggy scramble. But, the star of the dish was the fried chicken cutlet, with a golden and crisp breaded coat, and succulent and tasty meat. The Pork Chop Fried Rice ($11.90), with a tender, well-marinated pork cutlet, was pretty good as well. Not sure why it's...

This is just about the quickest side dish to complement any dinner. I usually whip this up just when the first dinner guests start arriving, as it'll be ready to serve in under 5 minutes! Ingredients (feeds 4): 2 pounds fine baby French beans, ends trimmed 2 tbsp XO sauce 1 tsp frying oil 1 tsp sesame oil Directions: 1) Blanch the beans in salted boiling water for 1 minute. 2) Drain and shock beans in an ice-bath to stop the cooking process and keep it bright green 3) Heat 2 tbsp XO sauce in 1 tsp sesame oil and 1 tsp cooking oil on low heat until fragrant. You don't need a lot of oil here because most XO sauces already have a layer of oil. 4) Stir fry the beans to coat the XO sauce evenly through, about 1 minute, and voila, you've got yourself a deliciously simple dish!

La Strada has become our weekday dinner go-to place. We love it here; the food's consistently sublime and there's a familiarity about the cosy restaurant that's very Cheers-like, where everyone knows your name. By our second visit, the manager had learnt our names and our peculiarities, and automatically held off the coriander/cilantro/parsley in all our dishes. We brought Kimchi here once, and made a fan out of him. He'd fallen in love with La Strada at first bite (of their carbonara).  The Wagyu Carpaccio ($28) was exquisite; ribbons of fatty melty beef spiked with the peppery kick of baby arugula, and the robust tang of aged balsamic reduction. I would have preferred if the Cestino di Focaccia al Pomodoro ($8) tomato focaccia, were complimentary, but boy were they awesome. Soft and pillowy, these were imbued with incredible fragrance and flavour, and dotted with sundried tomatoes and black olives. It's truffle season!! We got their special, the Ki...