Pizzeria Mozza ~ 120511

As I still owe Ms STM a birthday treat, I decided to treat her to dinner @ the much raved about pizza place in town! ~ Pizzeria Mozza @ MBS! =) Has heard from friends that the restaurant was always packed hence I had made a reservation beforehand. We reached there at around 630pm & the restaurant was already quite crowded (luckily we had a reservation) & were ushered to sit "by the window" ;)

 Pizzeria Mozza

"By the Window" seats

Look at how crowded the restaurant was!

A"package" spotted on the table for each guest?! ~ LOL, that's actually to contain the utensils, interesting find ;)

A package for guest? LOL

The restaurant provided complimentary Bread sticks served in paper bags. These bread sticks (with herbs) were thin & rather crispy. For me, they tasted very much like Pretzels!

Bread sticks

Being a seafood lover, we ordered the Mussels al forno ($18) for starters & it was indeed a good choice! Ms STM was commenting on how fresh & tender the mussels were! If you look closely, you would have realized that the colour of the mussel shells differed from that of the usual green ones that were normally served. Perhaps that's what made all the difference! The Salsa calabrese sauce also made a difference to this dish, do try it for yourself! ;)

Woohoo...MUSSELS~

Look at how fat the mussel was!

The highlight of today's dinner was of course....the PIZZA!!! After much deliberation (since it was our 1st time here), we decided on the Benno Pizza ($35). The Benno Pizza consisted of sausages, pineapples, mozzarella cheese, jalapeno & tomato sauce. As both of us do not take jalapeno, we requested to take that out. As each pizza was "hand made" from scratch & then put into the big wooden oven (yes, right in the restaurant itself!), it took around 20 mins for it to come.

The wait was definitely worthwhile! The pizza was huge (cut into 4 big slices) & look at the outer big crust! What was amazing was that no doubt the outer crust was huge, the inner crust was so thin that I could barely lift it without the ingredients dropping all over ;) The outer crust was airy & fluffy & I am not exaggerating when I said we were practically "gawking" at each bite! LOL. That was how good it was! The ingredients of the pizza were also not what we had expected it to be! One can barely see the pineapples (unlike other pizzas)! The pineapples were so thinly sliced that it blended in with the dough & it tasted very SWEET & JUICY! *thumbs UP* Next, the sausages....haha, I would call them meatballs instead! Look at those minced meat on top of the pizza, each mouthful was soft & infused with herbs! =)

Benno Pizza

Look @ the crust & ingredients ;)

The pizza was an absolute winner for the evening! We thoroughly enjoyed it (no doubt we were not entirely full) & would definitely be back for more! Service staff were also friendly & service was prompt too! If you are a Pizza lover, do come here & try it for yourself. Do remember to call & make a reservation beforehand! ;)

Pizzeria Mozza is located at 2 Bayfront Ave, #B1-42/46 The Shoppes @ Marina Bay Sands.

Tel : +65 6688 8522

Sushi Tei ~ 060511

As you can see, I am not joking when I said I am an avid fan of Japanese food. Haha, I think I can almost see myself eating Jap everyday *chuckles* Has been wanting to write about Sushi Tei for the longest time ever & finally got down to it! =)

Met up with bestie on a Friday (2 weeks ago) to have dinner & since she was feeling under the weather, she suggested having Jap food. That's how we ended up at Sushi Tei @ Tampines 1. We ordered the Crab meat mayonnaise with flying fish roe ($4.80), squid with smelt roe tempura ($5.80), Asari clam & Shimeiji Paste with Yuzu pepper soup ($14) & Salmon sashimi (oops, miss out on the pricing for this)!

Loved the sushi! The flying fish roe was literally bursting with flavors & the crab meat mayonnaise was really appetizing! ;)

Crab Meat Mayonnaise with Flying Fish roe

This is like a must order when I am at Sushi Tei! The outside was fried till crispy & the squid was fresh & tender! Went very well with the mayonnaise sauce! *Yummy*

Squid with smelt roe tempura

We ordered the Asari Clam & Shimeiji Pasta with Yuzu Pepper soup (which was part of their special menu). For those of you who frequent Sushi Tei, you would know that they always have a special menu which features dishes from different parts of Japan (depending on the season). Honestly, I cant remember which part of Japan this dish came from. Anyway, as I am a Clam lover, this dish called out to me. The soup had a weird herbal taste to it & it was rather bland whilst the spaghetti was a tad too hard! Quite a disappointment! :(

Asari Clam & Shimeiji Pasta with Yuzu Pepper soup

This never fails to impress me! Look at the thick slabs of salmon! *drools*

Salmon Sashimi

Sushi Tei is definitely one Jap restaurant that I visit on a regular basis whenever I want to satisfy my cravings as it never fails to deliver (despite some of the misses which were pretty rare). Do try it for yourself! ;)

As they have outlets islandwide, do check out their website, http://www.sushitei.com/

Chef Daniel's Kitchen ~ 090511

Since my mum & I were both on leave on 9th May, Monday (in view of Polling day), I decided to bring her to have lunch at Chef Daniel's Kitchen. I tried the food previously last year & pretty much like the food & ambience as it was located at the Sky garden of the Illuma shopping mall (away from the crowd) Interesting find ya? ;)

Chef Daniel's Kitchen

Open concept kitchen

They serve Set lunches at an affordable price of either $10.50++ or $16.50++. Each set came with a soup of the day, main course & a dessert! Indeed, value for $! =) If you would like a drink, you can also top up $2 for a cup of Coke/Sprite. That's what we did as the weather was so sweltering hot! FYI, the restaurant charges $0.50 for water (yes, you heard me right!)

I ordered the Terikyaki Chicken set ($10.50++) & my mum ordered the Pan-fried Seabass ($16.50++). The soup of the day was Cream of Corn Soup. To be honest, I am not a big fan of corn soup, I would have much preferred it to be either Clam Chowder or mushroom soup! I was apprehensive about the soup but surprisingly, it turned out to be quite tasty & sweet. You can still taste the corn bits in it!

Corn Soup

We loved the unique bread served here. There were chilli flakes on the bread (as you can see) & the bread was warm & soft & had an unique flavor due to the spices used.

Bread

The Pan-fried Seabass was yummy! The fish was tender and fresh whilst the outer layer was really crispy. There was a slight infusion of Indian herbs which was used to marinate the skin of the fish before frying it.

Cod fish

My order of the Teriyaki chicken was indeed a good choice! The chicken was well-executed and retained the juiciness! The teriyaki sauce went very well too! ;)

Teriyaki Chicken

What's for dessert? ~ Strawberry Apricot Mousse cake! Looks pretty ya? The mousse was not too sweet and the texture of the sponge chocolate cake at the base was fine. O, my mum loves the bubbles (orange flavor) at the side of the cake. She loved how it popped in the mouth, Lol! (reminded me of the Sally bubbles that I had at Sour Sally).

Strawberry Apricot mousse cake

Overall, we had a good lunch. Food & ambience was good but what was lacking was the service as there was a clear shortage of manpower during lunch time. Perhaps the restaurant can look into this area. Would definitely recommend you to give it a try if you are in the Bugis area ;) FYI, this restaurant changed its menu on a regular basis so be in for a surprise next time round!

Chef Daniel's Kitchen is located at 201 Victoria Street, The Illuma, #07-02/03.

Sour Sally

After a satisfying meal at Izakaya Nijumara, we decided to walk along the streets of Orchard to digest our food. LOL. Whilst in the basement of Wisma, we stumbled upon Sour Sally! (Ms Sing has been raving to me how good it was). So we decided to give it a try! ;)

Sour Sally

Waiting for my yogurt

We ordered a medium sized cup of the Pinklicious twist ($6.20, after I used the Citibank promo). It basically consisted of the plain flavor & the Strawberry flavor yogurt! The thought that came to mind after the 1st scoop was "It was so icy"!!! Haha, this was frozen yogurt as compared to the usual ones that I had @ Yami yogurt. I loved how it melted in the mouth & YP was commenting that it was not too sourish as well. There were many interesting toppings to choose from & I decided to get the staff to recommend. He recommended me to take the granola & the Sally bubbles and so I heed his advice. The Sally bubbles were indeed a JOY to eat! They literally burst in the mouths and evoked sweetness of the mango juice! I am sure this must be a hit with children esp! ;) However, the granola was too hard for our liking (I still prefer the ones used at Yami Yogurt).

Pinklicious Twist

I would definitely go back to try out other flavors they have. If you would like to eat it there, I am afraid you would be disappointed as there are only 2 small tables avail. I really hope in time to come, they would open more outlets & widen the space for customers (like me) who would want to sit there & indulge in the frozen yogurt trend! ;)

Just to add on, if you hold a Citibank card, you will get a 10% off (no min. purchase required). Also, the yogurt here are 100% FAT-FREE!!! Woo, how wonderful is that?! LOL

Sour Sally is located at 435 Orchard Road #B1-47 Wisma Atria.

You can also check out their cute website at http://www.mysoursally.com/

Izakaya Nijumara ~ 050511

Last Thurs, I met YP for dinner after work. This time round, we are going to check out Izakaya Nijumara tucked at one corner on the 2nd floor of Cuppage Plaza which I have heard raving reviews about! This was my 1st time inside this dodgy building & wow, this place is full of Jap restaurants! (haha, what an eye opener to a mountain tortoise me). As it was only 610pm when we reached, there were not much people inside the restaurant. Typical Japanese setting with warm yellow lighting. Loves the cosy ambience of this place. The aunties staff there were also very friendly and service was prompt! :)

Izakaya Nijumara

Cosy place

We ordered a Nijamaru Bento, Okayu don & chawanmushi for sharing. The Nijamaru bento ($20) consisted of assorted sashimi, grilled saba fish, tempura & Jap style braised pork. Value for $, isn't it? We get the best of 4 worlds, LOL!

Bento

A close up of the Grilled Saba fish! (Keke, one of my many Favs in Jap rest). The meat was juicy & the skin lightly charred! I like! *slurps*

Saba fish

We did not really like the texture of the Prawn tempura (though the batter was thin). The prawn was not the springy type and tasted rather soggy. The vegetable tempura tasted much better.

Fried tempura

Woo, this is a MUST order when having Jap!!! This was so....YUMMY!!! The fish were very fresh & look at how thick each slice was! Simply a sweet indulgence! =)

Sashimi

I love this dish, Jap style Lor Bak (braised Pork). It was soft & tender & you must eat it with the fat deposits which melted in the mouth! The sauce was slightly sweeter than the usual braised pork & I was telling YP that it reminded me of those canned braised pork used when frying bee hoon! Do try it for yourself!

Braised meat

Chawanmushi ($5) is what I would order (without fail) when I have my Jap. Loved the smoothness of the egg here. Look, there were no air bubbles on its surface! The only downside to this was I found the price to be on the steeper side (even for a good chawanmushi).

Chawanmushi

This is YP's must order of all times. The eggs were not overcooked and the onions gave the don a sweet tangy taste. However, the chicken was slightly hard and required more chewing than usual. The portion was rather huge & despite the sharing, we still did not manage to finish it. *oops* (FYI, this is really value for $ as it was only $8 for this generous serving!)

Oyaku Don

I would definitely be back! So next time, if you are craving for authentic Jap food in town, you may want to check out this place! =)

Izakaya Nijumara is located at 5 Koek Road #02-10/12 Cuppage Plaza.

Shin-Sapporo Ramen ~ 020511

Hi folks, I must apologize for the late postings....(has been eating faster than the speed that I blog! Oops!). Bear with me ya! ;)

After the monthly massage session with mum, we went to Shin-Sapporo Ramen @ Century Square for lunch. I have always been a HUGE fan of ramen & when I saw that an authentic ramen place is going to be opened in Tampines, I can hardly contained my excitement! And so, I went with great expectation & anticipation. LOL!

Newly Opened Shin-Sapporo Ramen

We ordered a set for sharing which consisted of their signature ramen, Kara-Miso, Mini Oyaku don, salad & a beverage (cold/hot green tea) ($16.80). As the ramen also came in a mini size, we decided to add $3 to upsize it! =) Btw, I always like a good hot green tea when I am in a Jap restaurant & sad to say, the green tea was not fragrant & it was not hot at all! Pretty disappointing  =(

We found the salad dressing too little for this plate of cabbage. It would be much nicer if more salad dressing was used!

Salad

Here's what we were here for ~ Ramen!!! The look of it seemed not bad with the kind of runny egg that I like! There were cha shu, cabbage, corn kernels, bamboo shoots & an egg. The noodles were springy (very similar to the texture of instant noodles) which I did not find it fantastic. As for the soup, it has a charred miso taste...hmm.... Verdict: Edible but So-so.

Kara-Miso

The Okayu don fared better than the ramen (yes, surprisingly!). The egg was not overcooked & chicken meat was tender despite using breast meat! The shoyu sauce blended well with the rice, chicken & egg! A comfort food indeed!

Out of curiosity, I went to google Okayu don & got an interesting find which I thought of sharing with you. The meaning of this dish literally translates itself to "parent and child donburi". A "donburi" or Japanese rice bowl dish is when you have chicken, egg, green onions & other ingredients simmered together in a sauce & then served on top of a large bowl of rice. The name of this dish is a poetic reflection whereby both chicken & egg are used. How interesting ya! =)

Mini Oyaku Don

Overall, I do not think that I would be revisiting this place so soon (unless, I really have strong cravings for ramen when I am in the area).

Shin-Sapporo Ramen has 2 outlets, Century Square #B1-10/11 & Suntec City
Tower 4, #01-223.
You can also check out their website, http://shin-sappororamen.com/

Ladies' Nite Cooking Workshop ~ 070511

Hi folks, hope you guys & gals had a lovely weekend despite the sweltering heat!!! Mine was packed with activities & fun! On Saturday, I was lucky to be one of the chosen 8 bloggers by Channel U who got invited to the Ladies' Nite Cooking Workshop (from 2pm - 5pm) held @ Cookyn Inc! ;) Each blogger was allowed to invite 3 friends along for this workshop & so, I invited my beloved mum (who loves to watch "三菜一汤" & a fan of Vivian & Michelle), YP & Ms C.

Ladies' Nite Cooking Workshop

Held @ Cookyn Inc

Loved the orientation of this cooking school. There were 4 tables spread across the room facing the cooking stations. Each table came with the ingredients for the day's 2 dishes i.e. Cold Rice Salad with Prawns & Steam-Baked Fish roll! FYI, these 2 dishes were taught to Michelle & Vivian by different chefs for "Ladies' Nite"& would be featured in one of their "Ladies' Nite" episode under the Cooking section. So be sure to catch it on TV! :)

Table full of ingredients

Michelle demonstrated the 1st dish which was the Steam-baked fish roll as it took about 30 mins for it to be done due to the baking process (with an onlooking Vivian as "Latisha" to Michelle for those who watched "The Noose") LOL.

Michelle on the 1st dish

After her demonstration, we did it on our own & I must admit that this was my 1st time attending a cooking class & to speak the truth I never rarely stepped into the kitchen (except the occasional cooking of instant noodles!) Oops! This really put my culinary skills into good test! ;)

There were few steps for this dish. First, we have to pan fry the mushrooms which we were going to use for the roll. Next, we have to roll up the ingredients i.e the ham, dory fish fillet & sauteed mushrooms using the cabbage provided. Once rolled up, we will pour some Chinese wine (花雕酒) & sesame oil over it with ginger slices & put it to bake for about 30 - 40 mins (depending on the thickness of the fish fillet). After which, we will stir fry the spring onions & ginger to pour on the baked product to enhance the taste!

Haha, I did my fair share of dicing the fresh mushroom whilst Ms C & YP did the cleaning & washing portion. Luckily, I had the hindsight to bring along my mum who's the chef at home! In no time, she chopped up the rest of the ingredients, stir fried it & we helped to do the wrapping of the rolls. Due to the wrong vegetable provided (should be Chinese cabbage instead of cabbage), we had a hard time trying to keep the roll intact ;) But still, it was good fun! =) After 40 mins or so, we took out the steam-baked fish roll & look at how pretty the inside looked! It smelled really good due to the Chinese wine used *Slurps* The fish was tender & blended really well with the sauteed mushrooms & ham. It would taste even sweeter if we had used the 大白菜 (chinese cabbage)! Do try it at home folks (a dish suitable for the elderly, sickly & children). LOL!

Steam-Baked Fish roll

Look @ how pretty it was!

Next, Vivian taught us how to make the Cold rice salad with prawns. By the name of it, this dish sounded really interesting! Hmm, cold rice (who would have thought of it?) Apparently, this dish was taught to Vivian by Chef Mervyn and it will be telecast in one of their "Ladies' Nite" program (so do watch out for it!).

This dish was indeed much simpler as one would just need to chop all the ingredients (i.e. french beans & tomatoes) into cubes. Then, mix the rice with diced french beans, tomatoes, canned corn kernels, olive oil & orange juice. Once done, you can add on the prawns & coriander leaves as garnishes. Loves the array of colours! You could also choose the ingredients that you like to go with this cold rice salad for e.g. crab sticks/ sausages/ carrots/ lemon juice etc. To make it taste better, leave it in the fridge to chill until ready to serve! =)

Cold Rice salad with Prawns

At the end of preparing the 2 dishes, each group was to present their dishes and used the colourful papers provided to us for decorative purposes. Haha, being the not so creative us we decided to keep things simple & came up with 2 names for our dishes. We renamed the Cold rice salad to "Colourful Platter" & the Steam-baked fish roll to "三色鱼卷". =) The winning team (I think was either group 3 or 4) walked away with t-shirts designed by Fann Wong.

Our presentation of the dishes i.e. Group 1

Group 2

Group 3 & 4

Group 5

It was indeed a very COOL workshop as it was my 1st time attending a cooking class & hosted by 2 lovely ladies! We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and not forgetting, the yummy mini high tea that was provided at the end of the workshop! We absolutely loved the cheesy macaroni!

Cheesy macaroni

Thumbs up to Michelle as she was feeling under the weather & yet, she still displayed a friendly disposition and was truly professional! Special Thanks to Vivian too who made my mum so happy during the workshop, happily chattering away with her! Final thanks to the工作人员 who made this event possible & a huge success! I am definitely looking forward to more such events hosted by Channel U!!! =)

Group peek with Michelle & Vivian!

Folks, be sure to catch "Ladies' Nite" every Tuesday on Channel U at 8pm! =)

Xin Wang Hongkong Cafe ~ 230411

Met up with Bestie for late dinner on a Saturday 2 weeks ago at Siglap. We headed to Xin Wang Hongkong cafe where we ordered the Black Pepper Pork chop (as bestie was craving for some Western), Pan fried dumplings, Iced Milo, Iced Milk tea & Peanut Butter Toast.

The Black Pepper Pork Chop ($8.90) was quite sizeable. There were 2 pieces of meat, baked beans (my fav), french fries & a sunny side up! Looked really appetizing & inviting! The meat was not that tough as we imagined it to be. The black pepper sauce was not too spicy & overwhelming. Thumbs Up to the sunny side up as the egg yolk was still runny & not overcooked! Fries were rather dry though. Haha, I finished the baked beans since bestie does not take them.

Black Pepper Pork Chop

Next up, we had the Pan Fried Dumplings ($4.90). This tasted very much like the instant ones that can be bought off the shelves from the supermarkets! The skin was not crispy and I was commenting to bestie that these tasted like they just got out from the freezer, yet to thaw & fried (not to perfection though!). There was not much meat inside the dumpling, tasted more like vegetable dumplings instead. Slight disappointment! :(

Pan Fried Dumplings

The Peanut Butter Toast ($4.20) was an after meal dessert (as I was craving for something sweet, keke). Look at how thick the toast was! On the 1st bite, it tasted soft, very "peanut butter taste" & sweet (due to the condensed milk). Overall, the peanut butter was too thick for my liking & to be honest, we had a hard time trying to finish it off & in the end, we gave up! *chuckles*

Peanut Butter Toast

Overall, the food was pretty average (nothing out of the ordinary) & prices reasonable.
They have several outlets all over the island (Apparently, bestie was saying that the one at Marina Square is currently under renovations).

You can check out their website, http://www.xinwang.com.sg/