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Thursday 28 November 2013

Just another Tim Ho Wan (添好運) review

Date of visit: 05.10.2013


I had passed by Tim Ho Wan at Plaza Singapura many times.  Despite of the raves, I couldn't convince myself to queue.  A new branch at Toa Payoh did not help to subside the queue either -__-

This pic was taken when Tim Ho Wan was newly open.
I was hoping to get invited for a food tasting so that I could "escape" from the agony of queueing.  It didn't happen, so I waited and waited and waited for my life-time sponsor, le hubby.

The only way to beat the crowd, we supposed, was to be an early bird.  A super early one.
One morning on a weekend, we decided it should be the day, to get up early for food lolxx...

We merrily drove to Toa Payoh's branch, stood at it's entrance at 8.40am, just to realise that they open at 11.00am instead of 9.00am  (now it's changed to 10.00am).   I nearly fainted on the spot.  Sotong head had presumed that the opening hours for both outlets are the same -___-|||

We are the most compatible couple in terms of blurness.  Blurness has sustain a blissful marriage lolxx...

Remorseful, he drove me to Plaza Singapura, else I'll be very upset heeheehee.......

We reached the entrance at around 9.05am and the tim sum eatery was FULLY OCCUPIED!!  These people were inhuman to wake up so early on weekends!! lolxx....  The console was, only about 3 persons were queueing in front of me, that little bit of patience I still can afford, heehee....  Then we "over-take" the lady in front of us cos' her makan khakis hadn't arrived yet, waahaahaaa......  So yeah, everybody has to be present before they give you a table.  We gotten a table within 10mins, 谢天谢地.

As soon as we were seated at around 9.15am, a snake queue was formed.

I couldn't stress how much I hate those stools without back rest.  It's perhaps to discourage people from dining too long with chit-chats?

It wasn't a comfortable breakfast for me to be very honest.   Any movement would risk hitting the person behind or besides me.  The seats were packed back to back, barely a foot's space between me and the person sitting behind.  It was very difficult for the serving staff to even place the tim sum onto the table.  But I have to compliment that despite of the space constrains and hinders, they had remained very friendly and swift.


A young chap at the next table, or rather the same table sat so closely beside me that he had "brushed" me with his arm a few times, not purposely one of course, really too cramp.  But no biggie, I would scream if he's an old uncle though lolxx....  We  looked at each other's orders and even made small conversations.

Serving was very fast and here's our noms...........

Steamed Egg Cake S$3.80
Never judge a book by the cover, never judge 马来糕 by it's boring appearance!  Ridiculously soft and fluffy, I felt as if I was eating sugar clouds!  It was the best I had eaten so far! Just how can steam egg cake be so delicious??!!  Extremely impressive!  MUST ORDER!

Baked Bun with BBQ Pork S$4.50
Tim Ho Wan's chef  had injected western food culture into traditional char siew buns, and it's a right hit.

Little gold buns were baked to slight crisp on the outside and soft inside.  Aroma of butter successfully seduced taste buds of  westernised generation of young and old.
Moist filling of chunky char siew pieces encouraged bites after bites and buns after buns with unique taste of honey in it.  Visiting Tim Ho Wan without these BBQ bake buns will be like going to Beijing without climbing the Great Wall.   So, MUST TRY!

Pork Dumpling with shrimp S$5.00
Fresh and beautifully shaped, pretty satisfying.

Vermicelli Roll with Beef S$5.50

Succulent Vermicelli rolls in special soya sauce would be perfect without the beef fillings. 
Beef was tasteless and the texture of meat was gone too :(

Prawn Dumpling S$5.50
My favourite tim sum since childhood, nothing in particular to pick about, I was happy with them :)

Spring Roll with Egg White S$4.20

Taste was refreshing with egg white and assorted veg fillings.  Quite different from other spring rolls.

While the tim sum was pretty good overall, it's not my ideal place for yum cha (饮茶).  My back was about to collapse without a proper chair with back rest.

Not sure about how other feels, but the long queue outside did impose some pressure onto me.  As in, I would finish my food and leave the place in "gan jiong" style so that I can vacant my seat to the next person who probably had been waiting for more than an hour.  

Restaurant's pricing without restaurant's comfort and ambience was the only flaw, but probably most people won't mind, as seen by the daily long queues.

Plaza Singapura
68 Orchard Road
#01-29A/52 
Singapore 238839 
Open 
10.00am – 10.00pm (Monday – Friday)
09.00am – 10.00pm (Saturday, Sunday and Public Holiday) 

ERA Centre Toa Payoh
450 Lorong 6 Toa Payoh
#02-02
Singapore 319394
Open 
10.00am - 9.00pm (With effect from 1st November 2013) 
Monday – Sunday & Public Holiday


Tuesday 26 November 2013

MOF at Tampines 1

Date of visit: 04.10.2013


Normally, I wouldn't dine at restaurants after 7pm on Fridays or weekends.  My practise is to have early dinner at around 5pm to beat the crowd, I rather waste my time sleeping than queueing lolxx....

Not sure what's wrong with me this particular Friday, I joined a short queue at Tampines 1 MOF.  My first visit was during a Bloggers' Food Trail, read HERE to view pics of the dinning ambience.

Selfie during the queue.  I looked evil, heeheeehee.....
Those who knows me in real person will know that I got chubby and droopy cheeks.  Didn't photoshop (too lazy..)  How you tilt the camera just make wonders.

Fish eye photoshopped lolxx..

Chicken Char Siew Bento S$9.80
Something simple which would please most hungry kids, including King Luis.

Cha Soba Tempura Set S$18.80
Tempura sauce served warm, assorted tempura were crispy, no complains about the cha soba although it wasn't the best I had eaten.

Beef Teppanyaki Set S$19.80

I LOVE BEEF!  These were pretty good for the price tag.

There's always a charm in cooking your own food, be it on hot-plate or steamboat in various ingredients whatsoever, agree?
Beef taste the best when it's not too cooked.  Thin slices of beef took less than a min on hot-plate and could be send straight into the mouth pipping hot.

WARNING -
Mouth-watering video clip :P~~~

Yummy and pocket friendly, gonna order this if I visit MOF again.

Mango Dragon Roll S$13.80
Would be perfect if the mango slices were thicker, heehee.... *greedy*

"Tragedy" happened when we foot the bill with our vouchers.  The vouchers can only be used at LENAS T__________T  Sigh........  In born blurness just cannot be rectify no matter how old I becomes.  Laugh ba..... 

Please continue to visit my blog, more nom nom posts cum my hopeless blurness on their way!


MOF IZAKAYA
Tampines 1
#04-15
Tel:6784 5156



Monday 25 November 2013

MacRitchie Trail -TreeTop Walk

Date of visit: 27.10.2013


Auntie Susan went "pak tor" with Uncle Peter, King Luis tagged along as "light bulb", heehee...


The trail began from a small path....

This trail is designed for hiking not for cycling.   Move on with me and you will know why.

Small stream...

..... with fish.

Path was muddy, hopping onto tree trunk disc became a game of hopscotch.


Old old tree but not sure of it's age.


I was always left behind.

Enormous leaves.

This was just one of the flight of stairs, more ahead.

Some mudy up slopes, wouldn't advise pregnant women and very young children to risk it.
This above pic is a less challenging one, didn't take pics of more "jialat" ones cos' all I could think of was to get over them ASAP, no mood for photographs.


Saw some huge fungus on a log.

Spot the monkey.  There were actually plenty of them.

When you see a fruit tree, you can be sure that there are little animals around too.

Not enough stamina to trail to Bukit Timah....

Uneven tracks...


Ranger station cum water point cum toilets.

Stony path, appropriate shoes are required.



The up slope, challenge your steps against gravity folks!




Reached the suspension bridge after 1.5hrs of trekking.


No turning back is allowed due to space constrain.
Not suitable for toodlers, pregnant women and people phobia of heights.

250m  freestanding suspension bridge between the two highest points in the Central Catchment Nature Reserve (MacRitchie).
Image from https://www.facebook.com/nparksbuzz
Pretty awesome right?

The bridge swayed gently as we walked.  Jumping and running is prohibited for heaven's sake.  Safety first!


Looking down will turned your legs into jelly unless you are born with guts of steel.

Eeeeeew.............




Looking far ahead was beautiful.  Trails like these always made me feel out of Singapore.

Was embraced by tranquility in a lush of green.





After the suspension bridge was another test on stamina.  Good training for my visit to Great Wall of China later in Dec.





Took photo of this trunk cos' it looked exactly like our army's uniform lolxx..

Heaps of huge dead leaves of about a foot long was eerie.

Spiky rattans, so watch where you are going.

Sun light passed through these dead leaves casting weird spooky orange light on them, very halloween in real life but my camera couldn't capture.

There was a herd of monkeys, more than 10 at least.  Swinging on the trees and some running around the path.

Both Luis and I was wearing red, so papa halt our steps.  He said the red was too attractive to animals and we might provoke them in a way.
We waited a few minutes and walked pass with a larger group of people.

On our way back, saw some Japanese students making their way up.
Also saw a genius couple both wearing slippers and carrying a less than 2 years old baby.  Probably they hadn't any idea what's ahead.  Good luck to them.

Round trip to the TreeTop Walk is about 6km, takes about 2 to 3hrs to trek depending on your speed.

My advise for this TreeTop Walk trail:
* If you are pregnant, scared of heights, pant at 2 flights of stairs, there are still other nature reserves in Singapore you may visit, links at the bottom of this post;

* If you want to bring a toddler, unless she's very hyper and active, be prepared to carry her for at least 5km;

* Wear proper shoes to protect your feet from mud and sharp stones.  It's quite disgusting to have mud sipping under toe nails >.<;

* Avoid wearing flashy colors which I did unless you want monkeys' attention;

* Try not to eat.   It's okay if monkeys snatch your food, but not so nice if they scratched you;

* Silent is golden in nature reserves.  Talking loudly or playing loud music scares off all animals and it's disturbing to other people also;

* After reading this post, it's clear enough that cycling is not possible.

How to get to this walking trail:
By Car:
Park at the public car park at Venus Drive that is located beside the start of the trail.
By Bus:
Take bus number 52, 132, 163, 166, 167, 855 and 980.   Alight just outside ESSO station before the junction of Venus Drive, Upper Thomson Road and Sin Ming Avenue.

For more information, click link below: