Restoran Soo Kee: Ipoh Horfun

seeing as how i only spend a few days a year back in kl i'm probably not the best person to recommend food places in kl. but boy oh boy do i miss those that i already know and love. like this one: restoran soo kee in petaling jaya.

i've been going back to this place for years and years. my parents have pretty much watched the original boss's son grow up. he now runs the place with his mother and it still remains a very popular breakfast/lunch spot. don't think they do dinners but i can't be sure because i don't usually go to that area come dinner time. plus, i rather suspect they sell out by the afternoon. they are that popular.



the soup is rich but not overly so, and absolutely full of prawn flavour in it. that, coupled with the thinner kway teow/hor fun, is just gorgeous.

the prawn wonton is pretty darn good as well. the prawns are fresh, the skin is thin but holds pretty well, and makes for a absolutely delicious mouthful. my only complaint about the wonton is that they are a wee bit on the small side. no pictures here because my family couldn't wait for me to dig in. so yeah.



we also usually have half a chicken as another central dish to share. their white chicken is succulent, juicy but not oily. the oyster sauce its served with is flavourful and isn't too strong that it over powers the chicken. an excellent dish to accompany our own individual bowls of hor fun.

but all this comes for a price of course. four bowls of ipoh horfun, a bowl of prawn wonton on the side and the super smooth chicken set us back nearly RM40. pretty expensive for breakfast but its a price i gladly pay given how seldom i make it back to kl nowadays.

i know i say kl but strictly speaking, restoran soo kee's in PJ. SEA Park to be exact - for those of you who might actually make the effort to go try it if you're in town. be warned about the crowd and the parking though. its opposite the wet market.

and lastly, ever a worthy mention is the fried hokkien beehoon-mee from jln 222. again, a lot of people who stay in kl might not agree but i really do find this one to be the best. its from the corner coffeeshop behind the the shell station. amazingly this hokkien mee tastes absolutely the best if you ta pau it back to where ever you're staying, to eat. i think the time in the packet must make the flavours really get deep into the noodles. my dad and i polished off a small packet in quick order. it was absolutely fabulous.

no pictures of that one cos i just couldn't wait to dig in. but guess that means more incentive to go to kl and try it huh? =D

menotti, raffles city

is hands down not as good as it's sister restaurant, riciotti. seriously. the experience left me a wee bit dis-satisfied.

this is what we had as part of their set dinner:



the spinach and crabmeat soup. this was actually really quite good, despite the whole swamp-thing look about it. this was probably the best savoury course of the night for me. maybe that also set me up for the rest of the evening as well i suppose.



the soup was followed by a simple caprese salad. you really only get what's listed on the menu for this one. my dinner mates (holla 28/01!) all felt that the cheese, i think it was mozarella, was too subtle that you could hardly taste it. i thought so too at first, but when i had it together with the tomatos and salad leaves, it was actually pretty all right. not fantastic, but not bad either.



this was shuyun's sirloin. the mash looked rather impressive but was a massive let down. you could almost taste water in it for some odd reason. but the steak was otherwise pretty all right.



this was my main course, the bavette marinara (or something like that, i can't remember the name exactly). it was not bad, but i wasn't blown away. i think the best main course the whole night was what yuyuan had... the seafood risotto. now that, i can say, was seriously quite good. it was off the ala carte menu so maybe the lesson to be learnt here is to order ala carte.



and finally to close, jacq and shuyun had the soffiato. it was pretty good but i think i remembered it to be better when we last had it at riciotti (menotti's sister restaurant). the vanilla ice-cream's divine. i had it in my mango float (which also tastes better at riciotti) and i of course had my tiramisu which was good. again a great picture of the tiramisu eludes me. i have to go back and get a good picture again ;)

so... yes. the verdict. basically, i say riciotti any day. although the space at menotti's is urban, cool and comfortable, the restaurant got really noisy as it filled up with diners and conversing became difficult. the food didn't do much for me, aside from the soup, risotto and my stalwart tiramisu. so basically, if you've tried menotti's and have left wanting more: go to riciotti. found along the singapore river at river walk, the space is somewhat smaller but they have al fresco tables outside. it's generally quieter so that you can actually have a decent dinner conversation and the food's seriously quite a bit better than menotti's - at least those that i've tried so far. another plus for riciotti: desserts are half-priced after 9pm. desserts are only half-priced at menotti's after 10pm.

so yeah. go to riciotti.

The Caffe Bar

nestled into the not-so-little cul de sac at one end of Parkway Parade that houses Novo, G2000, Topshop and the likes, The Caffe Bar was a great accidental find for coffee/dessert. accidental because the heavy downpour prevented us from getting to starbucks without getting wet - something i'm really glad for on hindsight.

the apple tart and vanilla bean ice-cream was a chef's recommendation and i agree. it was pretty darn close to fabulous. the pastry is light and flaky, baked immediately upon ordering although it still takes about 15 minutes. the apple filling is not too sweet but retains a very rich apple taste and a tinge of cider-ey sourness complemented by the soaked raisins. the pine nuts aren't too many that you feel you're diving into a bag of nuts in front of the tv and the ice-cream was seriously quite good and was the sweet - and cold - counterpoint to the warm pastry and apple filling.

i love!



and then there is the coffee. see that pretty Viennese Cappunccino in all its whipped-cream and fancy chocolate-dusting glory back there? can't beat the humble flat white which was pretty decent. i really quite liked it actually. i think i've been having so much fancy coffee of late that its really refreshing to go back to the basics.

and how could i forget to mention those absolutely adorable coffee cups? now i know what to get my mum for christmas.

thye hong hokkien mee

usually a safe bet at Wisma Atria's Food Republic. but just so happens that when i was taking the photo today, it didn't taste as good as usual. maybe it was the building queue that pressured the guy frying the noodles to hurry too much.

hmm.

xmas/study snack

bite-sized, individually wrapped brownies that someone was selling at my mum's office. its another of those colleague's-enterprising-family-members-home-baked-food things but i really do like these ones. again, not too sweet and just the right consistency. it retains some softness even when i eat them straight out from the fridge. and you can taste each and every single one of those chocolate chips when eaten cold. i've yet to really warm them up yet but i'd imagine it'll turn into rich, warm, chocolatey messes that a lot of us seem to love.

on the upside, it makes portion control a lot easier for the conscious. also ensures that its not too much rich food at a single go.

on the downside, its also a lot easier to eat like that. very addictive, these.

home-baked: sha and char

buttery, moist and not too sweet with some ice-cream on the side - good stuff sha. :)



a lot of ppl ard me seem to be baking these few months, esp june and char. unfortunately i haven't had decent photos of the great stuff char's been baking because i've been too busy eating them (the spice cake comes to mind)! bummed. but i do have this long over due picture of the lovely mini mooncakes she made a couple of months ago.


excuse my big thumb. i had to hold it to snap a quick pic cos we were doing the forbidden in the auditorium - eating. muahaha

Food Republic: Beef Dao Xiao Mian

i was wondering where i'd find dao xiao mian in singapore outside from Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao, let alone good dao xiao mian. but i did. and quite by accident.

normally when i go to Wisma Atria's Food Republic, i invariably only eat from three stalls. the first is the wonton noodle store with their huge prawn dumplings that cost $1 a piece - a little on the steep side but very satisfying. secondly, the indian rice/nasi padang stall because they actually do quite a mean mutton curry. and thirdly, the hokkien mee of course.

but seeing as how it was only 11 in the morning, hokkien mee was not ready, it was too early for curry and i'd already gotten a bowl of the dumplings for a very busy jasmi to try, i was faced with the necessity of actually trying something new. and so i did. i really very nearly ordered ban mee but i'm glad i didn't.

this dao xiao mian was good! at $5.50 a bowl, you really get the bang for your buck. i ate and ate and barely made through half of it. it is, i suspect also partly due to the rich beef broth that's actually a lot more robust than the taipei one we had. and the beef? ooooh. soft and braised just right with just that little bit of trimming of tendon. fab.

the picture doesnt do it justice cos this was taken when i'd already dug in. been a bit absentminded abt taking food pics of late and missed a good chance last week when june, rae and i went to riciotti. bummed. but means i can go back again i suppose. :)

anyhows, this dao xiao mian is really definitely worth a shot. its from the Formosa Ban Mian stall two stalls over from the hokkien mee stall and is available in a pork rib version.

taipei: din tai fung

was better than the local one, i thought. again, we discovered it quite by accident when we'd gone to Fuxing Sogo after danshui and before shihlin. it was one long day that one. but i was quite glad that we managed to fit this in and at some odd time (around 4 in the afternoon) so that there was no queue at all.

i think that made my day better than the food itself really.



here's the original xiao long bao.



and here's the crabmeat one. can you tell the difference?

i couldn't. i can only tell them apart now cos i put some remnant bit on the plate for the second one to distinguish the two. if i hadn't, i couldn't really bite into it to tell you the difference.

the original was quite a bit better than the crabmeat one though. the meat was soft and tender, the soup was tasty and the skin was thinner than the local versions. coupled with the fact that we'd just come in out of the slightly rainy danshui, it was nice and hot and comforting. especially since we all had soup - and taiwan dou miao - to go along with it.

its not that i don't like crabmeat - i love it actually - but somehow the taste of the crabmeat xlb was just too... crabby without the natural sweetness. and so it remains that the best crabmeat xiao long bao i've ever had, is the one at yu yuan in shanghai. hopefully one day, i can go back again.


Din Tai Fung
Fuxing Sogo Basement 1

taipei: street eats

here's a long post for all the street eats. i'm not being lazy, i'm being efficient ;p



here we have curry fish balls on a stick, at danshui. as fish balls come and go, its closer to the consistency of a sotong ball but what made the difference was dunking in fragrant japanese curry. the rather chatty uncle who sold it was still doing his market testing i think. he asked us how it was and whether it was nice. he also told us of how it was slightly different from those that are in hongkong - assuming that there are of course, i wouldn't know. i havent been back in years. but it was good enough for me to get a stick of my own after guinea-pig rae went for it.



cute. lol.



we also tried their local takopachi at danshui. kind of like the 'bomb' thing at shihlin but it tastes a lot better, although different from the one we have here. very hearty and they come in boxes of 6. we also waited quite a bit for this one, but i think it was pretty worthwhile. it came piping hot which was very nice for that day. it'd been a bit nippy earlier at fisherman's wharf cos of the rain.



fresh tie dan (铁蛋） along with pre-packaged ones in the background. i think i'm a proponent of eating food fresh, because the difference is quite something. i love the fresh ones but really don't care for the packaged ones. its not quite like ru dan or cha ye dan but its not that different either.

oh btw, those foot high soft-serve ice-creams at danshui? just like any other soft-serve. still a fun seaside-town eat though.

and then there is xiang xiang ji (香 香 鸡). now this is possibly the best i've ever eaten. period.



i think i had a pack nearly every day i was there. found near the main station exit into hsimending, it had a longish queue at almost all times of the day. and the queue doesnt move very fast cos of wok constrictions. one big wok-full of chicken's probably only good for up to 6-8 small bags. so most people wait between 5-10 minutes, depending how many wok-fulls behind you are. well worth the wait, i assure you.

actually there are a lot of other street eats we had, but didnt have photos of. i had this mochi red bean shao bing at danshui which was not too bad, but was rich enough to really stuff me even though i only had one. we also had a lot at shihlin but the two nights we were there, we were either too bogged down with shopping or too frazzled from the crowd to take photos. aside from this:



mango ice. slurp. actually this is a picture from the last visit with june and char cos i was too busy eating this visit. hehhehheh. and i had the strawberry-mango mix instead too. still good. oh incidentally, if you haven't heard, there's an Ice Monster in PS now. its the taiwanese franchise come to singapore but seriously, something always goes wrong along the way. if you're looking for that soft, almost cotton-y mian bing they have there? well it got lost in transit. cos the ice here is like all ice-kachang here. course. its rather sad really. but the toppings were pretty good so as local ice-kachangs come and go, it was pretty good... if you discount the price. at $4.50-8.50 a plate, i guarantee you its not going to be that hot with the locals.

anyway, that's all the street eats i have for you. but just for good measure, here's a couple of pictures of the gems you find in the little alleys near fu xing. i love that place.









this last picture's particularly sad. read the sign and then try spot the live little pig in the tiny pen by the door. it was so agitated cos it could smells of its brethren on the tables wafting through the main door. poor thing!

donut factory

we interrupt our taipei programming with this local news update.

DONUT FACTORY FRIGGIN RAWKS.

at least their double chocolate donut does. its amazingly soft, not too sweet and the dark chocolate inside oozes its way out into your mouth with each bite. the hazelnut was pretty good too. next on my list of donuts to try: everything else.

i'm sorry Mister Donut (although i have a lot of pictures of you) and Krispy Kreme (since i don't get to eat you), Donut Factory's the way to go.


Picture credits to Donut Factory - donutfactory.com.sg

taipei: shan xi dao xiao mian

although the shan xi dao xiao mian that was recommended was actually some place else, we also happened to stumble across a branch in the fu xing area. just like we did with berry berry cobo, and earlier the same afternoon too.

for such thick slices of noodle with varying degrees of thickness, it was done very nicely just a little past al dente. the beef soup was not bad and it went quite well with the dao xiao mian. seen above here is the beef soup dao xiao mian - a hilarious mistake we made when ordering. it didnt come with any beef, so we can't tell you how it tastes like.

i had the beef tendon soup version. i know not many people eat tendon but this was done quite well too. i liked it.

poor lijun had to have something non-beef in a beefy place (sorry!) and so she settled for something that sounded sze chuany. think it was only all right. we also had guo tie, which was okay, and fried veg which was great! better than din tai fung's - more on DTF another day.


Shan Xi Dao Xiao Mian
No. 2, Lane 118, He Ping Road

taipei: berry berry cobo

berry berry cobo's one of those little gems that we'd heard about from jun (from her friend) before we went but forgot to take down the address. nonetheless, on the way to finding another restaurant - this korean place that had gotten rave reviews from a blogger - we accidentally stumbled upon it along the same street!

this is definitely a girl's place. for about NT250 or so, you could sit there and have a dessert/tea buffet. and they had all sorts of desserts and cakes on offer - just bring your plate! the beauty of the food here is that the cakes aren't the overly rich variety but were light enough that you wouldn't tire of it quickly. in fact, we were there for less than an hour till the buffet ended at 540pm, but between us four, we had nearly 20 plates! - of which nearly half was polished off by rae alone, well done babe!

they also had some savoury food on hand and their macaroni bake was pretty good, as were their fries, despite the inconsistency in servings. one serving came with pepper but no salt, one with both pepper and salt, and one without anything! tomato sauce saves the day though.

and the decor! its so bright and cheery, all done up in white, cream and various bright candy colors. really definitely a girl's hangout although there were the occasional few guys.

all in all, quite a worthwhile try.


Berry Berry Cobo (草 莓工房）
Fuxing S. Rd Section 1
160 Alley No 62
www.orangecobo.com.tw

taipei: romankan yokohama katsu sandwich

it is with a sad and heavy heart (unsatisfied tummy?) that i report that the romankan yokohama in the basement of takashimaya is a pale shade of its taipei counterpart in the basement of Breeze Centre down at Fu Xing. shown here is the one from taipei in all its juicy, tender glory.

there they had choices of katsu sandwiches as well. the original pork katsu, chicken katsu, katsu with teriyaki sauce, croquette etc. i had the chicken katsu, pictured above, which looks almost exactly like the pork katsu sandwich.

the local one looks nearly the same, but somehow the local version's meat was just that bit tougher and drier - granted that i was having the pork katsu this time. even the bread they used tasted not as fresh for some reason. i am sad. actually like rae pointed out, if we had this here without ever tasting the one in taipei, we'd actually find it pretty all right. but because we've had (almost) the best..........

i'm sorry, i just had the local version in an effort to stem this bout of withdrawal symptoms from taipei food. i'm just that little bit devastated that it didnt work. :(



Romankan Yokohama
B1 Food Court Breeze Centre
39, Fu Hsing South Rd, Sec. 2

taipei: lu rou fan (stewed meat rice)

this one is for everyone who's gone to taiwan with me: 365 lu rou fan!!!

and yeah, that's their papaya milk milk tea behind there. :D

(post note: jun pointed out that this was the third morning not the first day we were there - yes someone had it twice in as many days i think - and so it was milk tea and not papaya milk. that's sad cos that means i don't have a picture of the papaya milk!)

oh joy, i am suffering from insane cravings for this right about now. the minced meat is, as you can see, somewhat on the slightly fatty side, stewed for so long with its salty, fabulous sauce until it almost melts in your mouth. coupled with fluffy taiwanese short grain rice, it is savoury heaven in your mouth.

also seen here from the last trip is the carrot cake, fried rice (which strangely tasted a lot better that last trip than it did this time) and the fried oyster, or ah jian - which was, to my somewhat very unprejudiced tastes when it comes to or ah jian, not bad.

they really should bring some of these taipei food here.

taipei: Ay-Chung Flour Rice Noodles

aka ah chung mian xian. you have no idea how many bowls we downed while there and i'm still left with a bit of a craving for it.

granted its pigs insides that make up the really tasty broth, but that hasnt stopped people who don't eat them insides from digging into the mian xian - multiple times in fact, hor? helps that we stayed in the (in?)famous Rainbow Hotel, just down the next short street in Ximending.

the standard must-try while in taipei, its a must-try for a reason. if not for the taste, then its for the experience of standing around in the street, bowl in hand, slurping down the mian xian with 20 odd other people doing exactly the same thing at the same time.

so yeah, this is the first post of quite a few to come. i'm going to take this slow because i get insane cravings every time i bring up the photos. aside from the usual standard recommended stuff to eat, we also wandered off track and found other gems of eateries. i basically ate my way through taipei again.

wooo!

yakiniku don

i rarely eat yakiniku because of the tendency of most places which aren't japanese restaurants tend to overcook the thin slices of beef. but that said, i don't really eat yakiniku in japanese restaurants either. if i'm in one, i'm usually there for sushi, sashimi or the like. and in many cases, the onions that come with the meat are also limp and soggy with the sauce. not this yakiniku don i had at the food court in Velocity however.

although the taste is probably a bit subtler than most yakiniku dons out there, it was exactly what i was looking for at lunch today.

yuan yang at Ah Mei afterwards was pretty good because it was on the bitter side. aside from certain desserts, i seem to have gone off overly sweet things these few days. odd.

Miss Clarity Cafe

i'd been hearing about this place for a while now. its bright, happy and has pretty good food at very affordable prices. see above the Roasted Chicken Leg, a Miss Clarity Recommendation, which came with roasted potatos and a mushroom ragout. very tasty. the chicken was moist and tender and the sides were fab.

also recommended by Rae is the blueberry pie. her Seafood Stew was not bad too, although a little different. the stew itself was a little drier than i expected, but the pastry it was served with was very light and good.

someone at the next table was having what looked like the steak or lamb chop. but since there was no steak on the lunch set menu (which comes with soup/salad + drink + dessert) i think it was the latter. looked good. maybe i'll have that next time.

i also spied on their set lunch menu a selection of asian dishes e.g. noodles etc. hmm.


Miss Clarity Cafe
5 Purvis Street #01-04

"chum"

my vote for best iced yuan yang (or "chum" as we call it back in KL, or at least my family does) goes quite obviously to Killiney Kopitiam's (specifically the one down at Marina Square). not too thick and not too sweet, its fab.

best vote for the hot version surprisingly goes to Ya Kun which is quite a bummer. i don't really fancy anything else from there, but their hot yuan yang really packs quite a kick. good for those breaks in between classes where i need a wake-up bash of caffeine.

i think i've reached that stage where teh ping's usually too sweet and doesn't pack much of a kick, and i'm just sick of coffee. yuan yang's the way to go man. cheap too, seeing as how gourmet coffee houses don't have this on their menu. woo!

The Book Cafe & The Chocolate Factory

The Book Cafe's a great place to hang out on a friday night if the usual friday night bustle is not your thing. even though its along the mohd sultan stretch, now a bustling spot for wining and dining, the book cafe was pretty quiet, cosy and low key, although about a quarter to half-filled. more people started coming in as we were leaving though, so i suppose it might be more a spot for after-dinner lounges on the really comfy couches there.

the decor is chic and the walls are lined with books, true to their name. you can help yourselves to the books so this is probably a very good place to sit down an afternoon and just read. the orange tea was a really refreshing change to the usual iced lemon tea on most menus as well, so that probably adds to its appeal for lazy afternoon.


food wise, the food took a little long to come even though the restaurant was not full. the grilled chicken and vegetables was pretty good. i really liked the aubergines and potatos that came with the chicken - which was also not bad. i can't tell you about the zucchinis because zucchinis are like cucumbers and i don't do cucumbers man, unless its like in zha jiang mian.

i had the seafood pizza which was not bad as well. made from scratch (or so it claims), it was not outstanding but for the pocket-friendly price, it really was quite all right. the seafood was not overdone and the crust not thick but the thinner slightly crispy variety, just the way i like it. i would have preferred more cheese though.

so yeah, all in all, a pretty place with not bad eats. the mains come a bit more expensive but even then the bill only came to about $32 for the above. i can imagine spending quite a few long afternoons here ensconced on the sofas with a good book off their shelves.


after that, we adjourned to The Chocolate Factory just across the road. it sits right between Brussel Sprouts (oh hello!) and Harry's @ Robertson Quay - a stretch i seem to be frequenting of late, incidentally. i don't have any pictures because apparently they have a no-photo policy. pity really because the After 8 Souffle looked marvelous, risen all high and proud in its dish unlike the plain Chocolate Souffle which looked more like a muffin. but even then i'm not sure if the picture would have done it justice.

the After 8 Souffle is TO DIE FOR.

the light-as-air souffle is just comforting warmness on your tongue but the zing of the mint in the souffle, coupled with the warmed chocolate sauce will send you over the moon. i saw stars. it was the mint that did it. if it were just a plain chocolate souffle, i don't imagine i'd be raving about it to you right now. but the mint gives such a kick that you really can get high on that stuff.

phwoar.

this is a definite must-try.



The Book Cafe
Seng Kee Building #01-02
20 Martin Road

The Chocolate Factory
The Pier on Robertson Quay
80 Mohd Sultan Road #01-11

black pepper soft-shell crab with glass noodles

just thought i'd have something different from my usual shrimp paste fried rice or glass noodles in seafood tom yum soup at Thai Express. i'm honestly not that big a fan of the place but my parents seem to like it for a quick lunch and i go where they go anyhows.

so yeah, this to me was one of the better mains on the menu that i've had. i was not a big fan of the crabs, they were a little small and the taste of oil was a tad too strong - but that could be just me. but the glass noodles were quite good and flavourful. not too peppery at all.

but as it stands, i think the best thing i could eat loads and loads of from TE is still their mango salad and only when the mangoes are green and sour. forgot to take some snaps though, next time maybe.

Pinkberry

considering how terrible the weather's been of late, something like this would be absolutely heavenly right about now. but as pinkberry's only found in the california and new york, we'll have to go scrounge for our local equivalent somewhere.

i'll work on that right now.



Photocredits: the Pinkberry website

gorgeousness

does this not warm the cockles of your heart??

well warm away but this is exclusive stuff y'all. its not everyday (month/year) that june bakes but when she does, marvels like these come along. this was absolutely gorgeous.

the icing made from scratch was that slightly crisp and just sweet enough but not overly so. and the muffin itself buttery and not too rich. lovely. you've got yourself a winner here babe!


now waiting to showcase your next few rounds too char! *hint hint* :D


*photocredits: from june

spicy dumplings

also known as 红油抄手 and is commonly found in most shanghai-nese restaurants. this one in particular is from Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao.

i find that this is probably the best dumpling dish from Crystal Jade La Mian and not their xiao long bao - although that's not bad. there's better xiao long bao elsewhere - The Eastern Restaurant at Centrepoint specifically. incidentally, the spicy dumplings there's not bad too.

i can't wait to go to Taipei mid-next month. i'm missing the stewed meat rice.

Saturdays should be like this

first, a late start after sleeping the morning in - 1030 this morning to be exact. next, then potter around while watching serials on tudou.com. and then come lunch time, when you're driven out of the house to find food for your noisy breadbasket, you meet your best friend/girlfriend/boyfriend/friend/not friend/family down at velocity to check out what's on offer.

by the time you reach, you're so hungry that almost anything will do really and so you end up in Harry's@Velocity. not your typical place for lunch but hey, its been a while since you've had pub grub (ok, its been a while since I had pub grub). and so down you sit in a little corner of the quiet pub, ignoring that annoying sizzling sound coming from Pepper Lunch that's across the corridor, and peruse the menu. and then you both order:

bratwurst with sauerkraut
glazed pork fillet with herb mash
a martini with a mixer bianco 7-up (i obviously didn't order this because i can't even remember what it was still wasn't me)
a gunner

and while you're waiting for your food to come, you get just that little bit trigger happy with your camera and camera phone. except after a while, the waiter comes to tell you that there ain't no pork fillet today (what? why!) and so you order the black pepper beef tenderloin with sweet potato mash instead.

and lo and behold, you both get served with these:


ok as pub grub comes and goes, i'd say Harry's@Velocity does it pretty well. although i can't say for sure that it'll be the best you've ever tasted, it probably will come as one of the most reasonable pub lunches around. $12.90 for each main course and all drinks at happy hour prices.

the beef tenderloin was pretty good and did well to satisfy this ongoing craving for meat of late. the sweet potato mash provided an interesting contrast to the taste of the fresh black pepper studded on the meat. the brown sauce was pretty all right and is certainly not the canteen-style slosh you get in buckets (*cough - biz canteen - cough*) and the roasted onions were just nicely done. i would have wanted more of the beans though, they were good but i only got 5 short stalks at best.

jasmi's bratwurst with sauerkraut topped with a dollop of sour cream and the oddest antler-looking garnish (i think it was sweet potato) was actually not bad as well. of course, the first thing you do notice about her food isn't exactly the garnish but how much the overall presentation reminds you of something else. in any case, spoiled as we are (she is) by Brotzeit down at Vivocity, this one came across, in her words, as really good ole pub grub. a little unpolished in presentation (understatement about her bratwurst) but still big on taste. yes, the sausages you get at Brotzeit's technically pub grub as well but somehow food at Brotzeit's got that more polished look and feel of a restaurant. any hows, i rather liked the spiciness of her bratwurst.

and of course our drinks. i had my usual gunner mocktail. it was just too early in the day for me. jasmi's ladylike drink - again her words not mine - looked really pretty but i didn't take a sip. mostly because anything after my gunner will still taste like my gunner anyways. ginger beer and dry ginger ale does that to you. generally though, i do find Harry's drinks not bad, even despite the differences from branch to branch. the one at robertson quay serves up noticeably less potent drinks while the one at the Esplanade's not bad. so there you go.

that is of course, not the end of lunch. after polishing up our food and drink, we adjourned to Bakerzin at United Square to satisfy jasmi's sudden craving for strawberry shortcake. so of course, being the good friend that i am, ordered an Ambrosia as well so that she wouldn't feel so lonely being the only one eating.


can i just say that the ambrosia was the complete antithesis to the light and fluffy strawberry shortcake? it tasted like a power-packed version of a kitkat complete with caramelized banana, crunchy nut bits and at least three different layers of chocolate. really, really rich stuff for you chocoholics out there, unfortunately i'm not really one of you. the strawberry shortcake is of course, far and away one of the best around. 'nuff said.

and what afternoon's complete without having a coffee to top it all off? so we did just that at the starbucks outside. and finally, that's as far as the eating went for the afternoon. we went after that back to down, heading obstentiously for the orchard library but was of course waylaid numerous times along the way. needless to say, my pocket does not thank me now.


Harry's@Velocity
238 Thomson Road
#01-59/60 Novena Square

Bakerzin
101 Thomson Road
#01-07/60 United Square