The one and only Hongkong Cafe.

Cha Chan Teng (Tea cafes) are Hong Kongers' version of kopitiams; serving simple cheap comfort food. They are also the latest food trend which has mushroomed lately, somewhat like what the bubble tea craze 6 years back. Singaporeans just don't seem to mind paying $8 or more for a bowl of instant noodles when they get it @ $1 or less @ home! Hmm, i really wonder why.

Over the year or so, I've visited a few Hong Kong Style tea cafes. This newest addition on my list - Hongkong Cafe has my vote! Why?? It is located in the EAST where I live. They have over 250 exciting dishes on the menu to choose from!!! This means I can still go back another 125 times without picking the same item! (if say I order 2 dishes per visit on average!) The food and desserts were pretty tasty in general, (though I haven't had one which totally wowed me). Very casual ambience, suitable for after night hangouts; i like! Move over Tong Shui, Central, Xin Wang and say hello to Hongkong Cafe! I believe this will be one of my fave hangout places after boxing classes with Jia.

Recommends: Anything with Spicy Salt & Pepper in it , Chicken Chop Baked with Pumpkin/Yam Sauce , Almond Cream with glutinous rice , Shanghai Hot & Spicy Soup , Iced Blended Mango Pomelo

Cons: slightly pricier than the rest & hard to find parking during weekends

*Hongkong Cafe
378/380 East Coast Road
Mon to Fri 6pm to 5am
Sat/Sun/P.Holidays 5pm to 5am

Overeating syndrome kicks in

Episode 1 - Black Pepper Crabs

Singapore Tourism Board listed it as one of the top 20 unique things to do in Singapore. Bloggers gave their thumbs up for it. Bud raved about it. What's with all these hype I wonder? Like what most will reply, "Go try it out yourself lor". So i did! Neo neo & myself rejected a somewhat tempting offer by one of our colleagues to go to the fragrance sale @ suntec for the VERY VERY PEPPERY CRABs at Joo Chiat! This has been on our "must-try" foodie list so it was only a matter of time before we embarked on yet another gourmet quest. Thanks to Neo's much to be improved navigating skills, we took a little longer than expected to reach our destination. Hehe. There was a 15 min queue wait and another 20 mins wait at the table before our orders arrived.

I'll just go straight to the point - Don't bother with the below average Bee Hoon & Kailan , head straight for the crabs! The Bee Hoon has got to be one of the blandest ones ever tasted, so blah! At least the black pepper crabbies did not disappoint! I loved the fact the claws were cracked so thoroughly for easy eating. The meaty crabs coupled with oodles of rich roe are tossed in this yummy thickened black pepper sauce which had a tinge of sweet buttery fragrance in it. OMG! I would recommend going in bigger groups so you wouldn't be so 'jur-lat" and can order more varieties. Other diners ordered you-tiao with sotong paste drizzled in sweet mayo and spicy chicken wings which looked pretty good. I'll probably give them a try on my next visit.

*Eng Seng Restaurant
241 Joo Chiat Place
Closed on Wednesdays

Episode 2- Beancurd & Toasted Buns

We decided to overstretch our tummies after dinner, dragged Jo outta her house and headed straight to Yonghe for beancurd. Parking in geylang is always such a pain in the a** but that did not deter me from getting my fave dou huay (beancurd). We ordered a bit more than we had planned to but only because we wanted to feed poor Jo who hasn't had her dinner! (Excuses!)

Nothing comes close to Yonghe Beancurd, NOT even Rochor Original Beancurd @ Short Street! Rochor Beancurd @ Geylang though smooth lacked the true soy bean flavour; the result of over-diluting the soy bean milk in order to achieve the silky texture. Yonghe dou hua is different; pretty smooth, soya oomph in existent, of the right sweetness and most importantly - not mashed up like Rochor Original's, totally my kinda Beancurd! Apart from the toasted bun with pork floss and egg , the rest of the items on the menu are second rate, maybe even third. The oversized you-tiao aka cripsy fried dough fritter is too oily for my taste ; guotie (fried dumpling) & xiao long bao are comparable to frozen siew mais found in NTUC.

But all in all, Yong He Eating House is a great supper haunt for the 'night owls'!

*Yong He Eating House
Geylang, Btn Lorong 9 and 11
Opens 24 Hours

Jab, Cross, Hook, Uppercut!!!

Woot! I had my very first Muay Thai boxing lesson just a few hours back! Having taken kickboxing classes at Amore before (err like donkey years ago), I wasn't expecting to die so soon.. at least not for the first few lessons. This is definitely more physically demanding than kickboxing I had previously. Think: Hitting the solid punching bag/opponent VS Hitting the air. Obvious rite!

Our class was an interesting mix: 3 caucasians and 5 (out of 8) were females! Woo hoo! We started off with 3 minutes of skipping (pant pant) then we tried basic punches and kicks with the punching bags. My feet started to turn red right after I kicked the solid bag...ouch..so lousy. The skinny instructor's dynamic punches were really quite impressive! Shit, where did all that energy come from? I'm seriously needing a extra lot more of OOMPHs!

The lesson is quite awesome! Looking forward to more kickass action in stinky sweaty gloves!

re-hi

I haven't had a proper blog entry since my dad's demise. The last few entries were written when he was extremely ill. This makes it a little tougher for me.. because painful memories revists whenever i attempt to...blog.

1 year & 4 months have passed and it's getting better.

I think I am ready to blog again.