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Posts tagged ‘ramen’

Passion Cafe – Take 2

Remember I talked about that hole-in-the-wall little eatery tucked inside Tung Ann Building along McCallum Street some time ago? Well here’s an update on it as my colleagues and I sampled more food the other day.

Passion Cafe is located above Dudu Cafe/ Ayesha’s Kitchen, at Tung Ann Association Building, 141 Cecil Street, Tel 63455644 – though I reckon you would never, ever need to dial this number for a reservation. Cash only please!

The previous post: https://makanmusings.wordpress.com/2011/11/21/passion-cafe-cbd-singapore/

This place is bustling as ever but thankfully the uncle & aunties working there are very efficient in nicely “chasing” away customers who are done with their meal & getting seats for new patrons.

Chicken with ramen

Not a bad dish I must say but generally ALL the items here are very salty. Be prepared to be quite thirsty.

Bento set with fish

Well presented with a truck-load of rice which probably will make a lot of people very happy with the sheer amount. Not me, of course. Never a fan of rice!

Don't even bother trying the fried rice

Because it tastes just as bad as it looks?

Baked rice with chicken

Pretty yummy dish considering that 3/8 of us actually ordered this and all around they had good comments on this one. I believe it’s the blend of the black pepper/ mushroom/ brown sauce with melted cheese and tender chicken actually made the dish a winner. However the rice needs be cooked a tad longer to make sure it has the similar kind of mushiness one feels when eating the chicken & melted cheese.

Chicken chop with potato wedges

Winner of the day goes to this dish which was done pretty well given the fact that it cost us less than S$7 for this dish. Or was it less than $8? I don’t recall. For those who enjoy salty, fried items this will be a fulfillment for your empty stomachs during lunch time after a very busy morning.

Passion Cafe is always packed on weekdays (are they even open on weekends? Hmmm) and to get a place you probably have to wait an average of 5-10 mins depending which is considered really quick already.

Their menu is pretty extensive and can take about 10-15 visits before you can say you’ve tried every single dish available.

Have fun!

 

Category:

Cafe, Chinese, Japanese, Singapore, Western

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Short review of 112 Katong

A very gloomy, wet Sunday late afternoon, coupled with a freezing mall (112 Katong here in East Coast Road) – there’s no better way to just wait for the rain to subside with a hot drink in your hands…

The husband and I just got back from our short trip to Phuket (another couple of posts will be up with my take on the Thai food we tried there!) and cleaned the house for a bit before heading over to 112 Katong for a quick meal. By the time we got there it was close to 230pm so we headed over to Food Republic for some makan-makan.

Rojak @ Food Republic, 112 Katong

What I learnt today, is to NOT order soup based mee pok, and to never order the dry version of this noodles because they make it with ketchup. Yuck. The fishballs were excellent though, springy and delicious.

Li Xin Teochew Fishball Noodles @ Food Republic

We ventured down to the basement and we found Canton Paradise that had some savoury & sweet Chinese pastries for sale and the husband was keen to try their Bo-Lo Bau as we had had some in Hong Kong just earlier this week.

"Pineapple Bun" @ Canton Paradise

(Here’s an insert of the gorgeous Bo-Lo Bau we had at Kam Wah, Bute Street, Hong Kong!)

Bo-Lau Bau w Chicken Chop @ Kam Wah, Bute Street, HK

Back to Singapore and reality now.

As it had started to rain while we were having our lunch, we decided we had to stay on and wait for the rain to subside a little before heading home. An unplanned trip to Max Brenner became a plan for a small part of the afternoon.

Max Brenner brings back memories of Australia back in 2005 when I visited the husband who was still doing his Masters in Melbourne; and also a birthday celebration back in 2006 here in Singapore.

Hug Mug @ Max Brenner

The husband ordered a little Hug Mug of dark chocolate with milk, while I had the Suckao of dark chocolate. Staff here were friendly, very attentive although it was clear they are pretty new and their bosses were just as alert as well and making sure that everything was running smoothly.

Suckao @ Max Brenner - DIY drink

After Max Brenner we headed over to Katong Market Place on the same floor to check out the new supermarket and buy some groceries for the evening and rest of the week. To our dismay, even spending a considerable amount of time in the supermarket the rain had not stopped so we made one final stop at 112 Katong – Gloria Jeans Coffee on the 1st floor. Cappuccino skinny please!

Cappuccino

Now, the rest of this post is about RamenPlay, same owner of BreadTalk and ToastBox. The food here is actually really quite disappointing and their drinks are their saving grace. The egg that came with the ramen had lots of room for improvement but it’s still a notch better than Ajisen Ramen’s HARD boiled tasteless egg.

You won't miss a thing by not eating this

The soup broth was extremely fatty and salty and the serving of ramen was quite pathetically small.

Yaki Dango (I think, I need to check again for its proper name)

And finally, the saving grace of the Yuzu Yogurt drink which was quite delectable.

Yuzu yogurt & green tea

112 Katong/ I12 Katong is located at the cross junction of East Coast Road & Joo Chiat Road. Other makan places in it include Soup Spoon, TGI Fridays, Din Tai Fung, Seventh Heaven, Obolo, Xiao La Jiao, Da Paolo Gastronomia, BALIthai, Little Cravings etc.

Buses that come here:

East Coast Road: 10, 12, 14, 32, 40

Joo Chiat Road: 16

Marine Parade Road: 31, 36, 76, 48, 43, 196, 15, 197 (I’m sure there are more)

Looks like 112 Katong can give Parkway Parade a run for its money especially with Golden Village’s official opening on 22 December 2011!

Update: GV is open for business! Woohoo!!!

Category:

Cafe, Chinese, Desserts, Food Court, Japanese, Shopping Mall, Singapore

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Hole-in-the-Wall CBD makan place

Passion Cafe, as it is called but not many people actually know about this, is a little cosy nook of a place located above Dudu Cafe of Tung Ann Association Building along McCallum Street, here in the Singapore CBD.

A small unassuming staircase leads you up to this “cafe” which you will be greeted by bustling servers & an elderly uncle or aunty that will help you look for seats and inevitably “chasing” dilly-dallying patrons away.

Very affordable Japanese dishes like bento sets, ramen, udon, side-dishes and others are served here, anything from S$3 to about S$12 at the very maximum.

Place your orders by filling up the white form found on the tables with a pencil provided, pay at the cashier, and wait for your food that will come very quickly.

Miso Soup - free flow

Help yourself to the free flow miso soup found in a humongous pot at the side of the cafe. Cutlery like fork, spoon, chopsticks are found at that area too. Each table is also provided with a box of facial tissues so you don’t have to worry about forgetting to bring your tissues to “chope” your seat.

There were 5 of us today but sadly 3 of them decided to order the same thing – the chicken cutlet with curry. So unfortunately I can only provide a total of 3 main dishes today. Not to worry, that will also mean that I will be visiting this place at least once more to snap more pictures.

Shishamo - deep fried pregnant fish

Very, very oily and it’s soggy as well. This time, they forgot to add a lemon wedge to the dish but I wasn’t fussy about it.

Chicken Curry with rice & potatoes

The above is apparently Passion Cafe’s signature dish (really?) with many tables having the same orders. I’ve never ordered this myself but with 3 of my colleagues ordering the same thing today, I guess there was no need to actually have one. Tried a bit of the curry today and yes, it is indeed pretty yummy. However to me, curry is only curry when it’s Indian. So unfortunately, while I love spicy food, Japanese curry will never satiate me.

Chicken cutlet with rice

The above rice bowl actually looks really good! Presentation is excellent with the colours well-balanced and the portion of the rice versus chicken versus vegetables nicely created. For me, the egg will be the winner but I didn’t feel like having egg today.

My choice for lunch today, which I regretted a lot, was the Softshell crab ramen. The crab was really not tasty, dunked into the soup unceremoniously until it was all soggy. The ramen today (unlike other days) were powdery and sticky at the same time, if that makes sense.

Softshell crab ramen

While it actually looks very pretty here, don’t be fooled though. Wouldn’t recommend the ramen but perhaps their Udon will be a better choice.

This hole-in-the-wall eatery is found at the cross junction of McCallum Street and Cecil Street.

Passion Cafe LLP is located above Dudu Cafe/ Ayesha’s Kitchen, at Tung Ann Association Building, 141 Cecil Street, Tel 63455644 – though I reckon you would never, ever need to dial this number for a reservation. Cash only please!

 

Category:

Japanese, Singapore

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Koo Kee Dumplings and Ramen

We still have not found the best Bak Kut Teh in Singapore, which we have deemed one of the best cures after a late night out partying or market visits and to cure a major (or minor!) hangover, headaches or dehydration. The husband and I have found an alternative at Koo Kee Dumplings & Ramen in which our favourite ramen dish is served.

Also, out of all the Chinese restaurants I have been to, I really think that they serve the best appetisers – a pickle mix of cucumber, cabbage & carrots. Sweet and sour.

Pickles - one is NOT enough!

I am a sucker for mushrooms and toufu and if you’ve been following my blog you will find the next picture pretty familiar!

https://makanmusings.wordpress.com/2011/10/09/red-house-seafood/ clue for you haha!

Toufu & mushrooms

As there were only 2 of us, it is pretty limited as to what we can order and what we can finish. I always look forward to a group meal so I can take more pictures of food!

The Ginseng Chicken Ramen is the husband’s favourite especially after a long night. The dish is robust but yet the soup is light and herbal flavoured. It’s not too strong nor bitter with the ginseng taste but boiled just right to release enough sweetness into the broth. Ramen is always served springy and not too soft.

Ginseng Chicken Ramen

My chosen dish last night was the Shanghai Fried Noodles with chicken chunks. Intriguing looking flat cut ramen fried with capsicums, onions and garlic. Great taste but I think I prefer soupy stuff more.

Shanghai Fried Flat Noodles

Another great ramen dish there is the Spicy Seafood Ramen which is something I will add to this post later on. The fish slices, shrimps, squids used are very fresh, and comes in a spicy, non-creamy or jelak curry that is light but yet tasty.

For drinks, always order the Eight Treasures Tea – that is the best. Again, I will feed this post with it later on!

Updated!!

Went to Koo Kee again some weekends ago and now I can add a few new things.

They have some really delicious minced meat ramen, in which the meat is tender & in tiny chunks but yet the texture is still there & chewy. The sauce mixed with it can be a little less salty in my opinion but too many others it may mean it might be tasteless. Here’s a pic:

Ramen with Minced Pork & Mushroom in Spicy Sauce

Eight Treasure Tea

Koo Kee Dumplings & Ramen House is found here:

PARKWAY PARADE
80 Marine Parade Road #B1-125 Parkway Parade
Singapore 449269
Tel: 6348 9705
Fax: 6348 6659

Category:

Chinese, Singapore

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Daikokuya Ramen

The husband & I hopped over to the launch of the 10th annual Chefs with Altitude over at Helipad, Swissotel on Stamford last night and were greeted with endless supplies of Moet as well as some signature cocktails. It wasn’t too good of an idea to down all those without any dinner (only some finger food were served during the first hour or so) so we headed down to Raffles City Shopping Mall for a quick meal. Here are a couple of photos of the tiny tapas served.

Desserts @ Chefs with Altitude

Tapas @ Chefs with Altitude

Macaron - super diabetically sweet

Daikokuya Ramen is situated at the basement of Raffles City Shopping Mall. We happened to pass by, and feeling hungry, it was a toss between Skinny Pizza just opposite and this.

Being more of a noodles person and the husband’s unwritten quest to search for the best ramen in Singapore, we ventured to try Daikokuya.

Rather extensive menu they have! http://www.daikokuya.com.sg/menu.html

 

Eventually we settled our mains and an appetiser for our 830pm dinner.

The appetiser we ordered came pretty quickly as it was quite a simple dish to toss & prepare. Scallops in soya sauce but they could have warned us about the SALTINESS of this dish. This dish really made our heads & neck twitch upon the first bite. I think that the scallops actually soaked up a lot of soya sauce & salt so when one bites into it, the sauce just oozes out and shocks you crazy.

Scallops soaked with soya sauce - don't be fooled by how it looks

While waiting for our mains, and downing the green tea that we ordered with our meal, I took some random snaps of the place.

Art on the wall

 

 

 

Extras, extras!

Our mains came quite quickly after that. The husband’s came first, in which he ordered the Sapporo Miso Ramen. Description from the site: Features a thick, nutty and hearty chicken broth, topped with bean sprouts, corn, nori (seaweed), leeks, bamboo shoots, sliced cha shu (pork loin) and served with springy and curly noodles.

It was indeed a nutty broth, which I liked very much. The soup was thick but it had bits of pork fat in it, which I found a little disturbing.

Sapporo Miso Ramen

I ordered a Tonkotsu Ramen and requested for the pork belly to be changed to their normal (not so fatty) cha-shu instead, which they willingly obliged (points, scored!). When the dish was served, the waitress noticed that it was the wrong order because the kitchen apparently gave the pork belly. She immediately apologised and hurried back to the kitchen to get it changed (points scored again!).

Was very happy that they took initiative as opposed to some restaurants who will serve it, grin sheepishly and HOPE that the patron will just accept the wrong order.

Tonkotsu ramen with flavoured egg

It was an enjoyable dinner as the place wasn’t too crowded and the service was good. I wouldn’t mind recommending nor coming back to this place to try the other dishes that they have, except the ultra-salty scallop appetiser.

Here’s where we went:

Raffles City:
252 North Bridge Road #B1-13 Raffles City Shopping Centre Singapore 179101
Tel: 6336 7456
Operating Hours:
Sun-Thurs 11.30am – 10pm
Fri, Sat 11.30am – 10.30pm

More outlets: http://www.daikokuya.com.sg/contact.html

 

 

Category:

Japanese, Singapore

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