Coffee, Toast & Soft Boiled Egg

Wednesday, 14 May 2010

Today I had a most disappointing breakfast, and this after I have had to fast since 9 pm last night. As part of a medical check-up for work-related insurance coverage, I was required to have a fasting blood test. So, at 9.30 am this morning I went to the authorised clinic on the 3rd Level of Suntec Tower 3, just above my office. After one failed attempt by a junior clinical technician to draw blood, I emerged for the clinic with a strip of plaster on each of my arms when a senior technician succeeded.

Then I went down to the the Old Town Cafe for breakfast. This cafe is just outside Tower 3, next to the entrance to the underground Promenade MRT station. Unlike a few other similar cafes like Killiney Coffee Shop and Ya Kun, this one has table service.

I asked for the "My Toast" set comprising a kaya toast, two soft-boiled eggs and a cup of white coffee (instead of the black coffee). You get your coffee first and have to wait a bit for the rest to come. I thought the eggs looked somewhat strange, not like the usual ones I usually have. On a closer look, I found a hard crescent of egg white. Seemed the eggs were cracked into the bowl and microwaved. Somehow, the eggs tasted off - I don't think microwaved "half-boiled" eggs are any good. I also didn't like the kaya (egg jam) toast, though it had a generous slice of butter. I like my toast, made from soft bread, to be crispy on the outside while still remaining soft inside, not dry like a biscuit throughout. Yucks, yucks.

The coffee tasted like instant coffee. Atested to by the conversation I had with the cashier when I paid the bill.

"X'cuse me, I thought the set is only $4.20, why I have to pay $5.20?'

"You change to white kopi, one lollol extra."

"Wah, your milk costs $1."

"No, not milk, special kopi."

"You mean you grind coffee beans, like Starbuck, to make white coffee?"

"No, no, you know, kopi."

"But coffee comes from coffee beans." Me agitated.

"No, kopi. Dis kopi." Cashier equally agitated, turned around, grabbed a bottle from a shelf, thrust it at me. Lo and behold a gold-labelled bottle of instant coffee. Ssssheh

I paid up and went, vowing not to return.

Vietnamese Roll & Coffee

 28 April 2010

 Yesterday, at 3.18 pm the Marina Bay Sands, Singapore’s second Integrated Resort (IR) was opened.  As with IRs, the main attraction is the casino.  Seeing an opportunity, I decided to walk to the IR as my lunch time exercise.  From my office you get there by going through the Promenade Station of the Circle Line and emerging at the junction  of Raffles Blvd and Temasek Ave.  Then I crossed the Helix, a pedestrian bridge, so called for obvious reason.  Though not fully completed, the IR is an impressive edifice to gambling. No doubt it will be a big success given the propensity for humans to take on Lady Luck. Took a peek in the shopping hall and came across things to come when the IR is fully completed. 

Back at Suntec City I decided to have a light lunch. So I bought a Vietnamese roll (not fried) and a dripped Vietnamese ice coffee.  The roll was refreshing with the taste coming mainly from the sauce. It was a sweetish brown concoction (which I couldn’t identify) with some crush peanut thrown in. The coffee was strong, packing a good coffee wallop despite the ice.  Not insipid like Starbuck.

Fish Ball Mee Pok

Saturday, 17 April 2010

We deviated from our Saturday morning routine.  Instead of going to the 10 o’clock novena service we went to the 9 am one.  May wanted to run an errand for her mother before the eye clinic at Camden Medical Centre closed.  So I suggested we go earlier and have brunch at a coffee shop recommended by her favourite boutique owner.

When we arrived at about 11.20 am, the coffee shop at 53 Upper East Coast Road was already crowded. Luckily we managed to get a table. We had came to this shop twice before. The first time it was so overcrowded we went away. It is really that popular.  The second time we went in the afternoon, past 3.30 pm and it was closed.  Now we know that opening time is between 7 am and 3.330 pm.  You may wonder why we bothered so much about this mee pok (132 Mee Pok Kueh Teow Mee).  Well, we do really like  our noodle, especially spaghetti, bak chor mee, mee pok/mee kia and wonton mee, not to mention mee siam mee rebus, mee goreng and char kuay teow. And the one at Upper East Coast Road has been well recommended.  So die die must try.

We ordered the $4 bowl of mee pok ta and waited and waited. We waited for more than half an hour before our mee came. That many customers ahead of us.   My bowl came with 3 fish balls, 2 halves of prawn, a few small slices of lean pork and some minced pork.  May had one fish ball less but one half of a prawn more.  One fish ball equals half a prawn?  The mee came with one small bowl of soup each.  To begin eating we proceed to mix in the sauce which was at the bottom of the bowl.  May mixed up everything in the bowl. I transferred the fish balls to bowl of soup, a thing I usually do. Don’t ask me why. 
The first slurp of mee brought a sting to our mouths.  Boy, was the sauce chilli hot. At the second slurp the unique taste of the sauce caught on. The sauce is different from those used in other mee poks, a unique taste we couldn’t identify.  The overall effect was a delicious though fiery bowl of mee pok.  Yum, yum. I had wondered to May whether the mee would be worth the wait.  Definitely, and perhaps a second visit.

JAPANESE SHRIMP CURRY

16 April 2010

It’s TGIF and I am into the third day of a valiant attempt to reduce my oft-criticised overhanging belly.  Today I walked down Suntec City, through CityLink Mall all the way to Raffles City, exited and went through Funan Digilife Mall to Victoria Street.  I thought I would check out an old coffee shop at Armenian Street, one of the places where I got my ‘char kueh teow’ fix.  Alas, the entire block of old shop houses had been demolished and in its place stands a spanking new grey uninteresting building partially occupied. 

At least, I discovered the exact location of the Peranakan Museum. Until then, I had a vague notion it was somewhere at Armenian Street. (Pssst ... I am half Peranakan.)

I decided to go back to office by way of Stamford Road. As I was walking pass Stamford House, there at the last shop before Capitol Building is the Curry Favor (sic) Japanese Kitchen. Years ago Ann and Joan introduced me to this restaurant specialising in Japanese curry.  I enjoy the sticky Japanese curry.  It reminds me of the sticky Hainanese curry you get with your Hainanese curry ‘pung’ (rice) which our family really like. I went in and ordered the shrimp curry, this being a Friday.  I prefer the fried breaded pork cutlet curry.

Overall, I thought the curry, though enjoyable, was not as good as when I first had it. But then nostalgia has a way of colouring things. The 5 shrimps were a disappointment. They were a bit mushy, so definitely not fresh. The crab potato salad (the white lump on the plate) was good, soft and tasty. Just a yum. 

One thing I know for sure, if I continue my walk, I will always have two constant companions - wet armpits.

INDIAN ROJAK

15 April 2010

This is the second day of my walking regime.  From Suntec City, in office attire, I walked across the overhead bridge over Nicholl Highway to Beach Road.  Then down Middle Road to Waterloo Street.  Unlike my first walk which was rather random but ended with me eating a $16 ramen.  I had a secondary mission this time round.  Striding along Waterloo Street I finally arrived at Block 262 where Nan Tai Eating House is. And my favourite Indian Rojak stall.  It had taken me some 20 minutes to reach here. So a refuelling stop was called for.

“Rojak’ is a Malay word for mixture.  Indian rojak is just that – a mixture of mostly deep-fried food items like shrimp fritter, coconut fritter, tofu, fish cake, fermented soybean (“tempe”), potato, re-expanded dried cuttlefish, and many others.  You choose what you want and the seller deep fries them again and serves them garnished with slices of cucumber and onion and a spicy sweet potato sauce as a dip

I chose my favourite bits – the shrimp fritter, tempe, tofu and cuttlefish.  To me, the most important part of the Indian rojak are the shrimp fritter and the sauce as they define how good a particular rojak is.  The great thing about the shrimp fritter at this stall is that it is mostly shrimp with just enough flour to hold the shrimps together.  More often than not, the shrimp fritter you find at other outlets is mostly flour.  The crucial ingredient in the sauce is the pureed sweet potato unlike the watery peanut sauce you find elsewhere.

After recharging, I walked back through Bras Basah Road and passed the ‘Flirting Point’ at the Singapore Arts Museum (SAM).  No one was around to flirt with though. The whole loop took an hour, 20 minutes to walk to the rojak point, 20 minutes to eat and 20 minutes to walk back.  Can I sustain the regime? If I don’t succumb to stinky armpits first.

Ramen

14 April 2010

Today I had a bowl of ramen for lunch.  I did not go out specifically to look for ramen.  Today I started on an exercise regime by spending my lunch hour on a brisk walk.  To improve by well-being May has been cajoling me to take up some walking. She seems to think that my belly is dangerously overhanging my belt. So I decided that my lunch time is ideal for the exercise.  I walked from my office at Tower Three Suntec City to Funan DigitalLife Mall, taking about 15 minutes. Arriving at the Mall I was greeted by a huge sign with tantalising pictures of bowls of ramen proclaiming that they can be had at Bishamon, #01-18 in the Mall. I went to check it out. It is next to Ya Kun and MacDonald. Until today I had not eaten any ramen for more than a year, so was easily tempted. I went in and ordered the Assari Miso Ramen.

A chef’s recommendations, the Assari Miso Ramen is made with pork and clam miso stock and comes with about 4 small slices of pork, a half of a boiled egg, and a few strips of clam.  I must say that the stock is really delicious though a mite oily.  The pork is tasty and tender. The egg is done just the way I like it – the yolk cooked but with the centre just a little runny thus rendering the white still soft and spongy.  I washed the whole thing down with hot green tea.  Yum, yum.

But I was out of pocket to the tune of S$16.20 (ramen $12.80, tea $1, service charge $1.38 and GST $1.06). Was it worth the money? Well, you can get a bowl of wanton mee with ‘char siew’ for $3.50 in a food court.  But then, I did enjoy the ramen. So what value enjoyment?

Christmas Turkey

14 April 2010

I was in the grip of ennui. Didn’t feel much like writing, let alone blog. The thing that really kept me stirred was exploration in the Web. Then I began watching “The Big Bang Theory” when my daughter Ann told me about it and I got my laughs. I am again energised. The other day May, in one of our casual conversations, mentioned that she really liked Joan’s Christmas turkey.

We spent last Christmas in Perth (Western Australia) with our daughters, Ann and Joan, who are working there. Christmas in Perth is the same as in Singapore, and, as I believe, elsewhere in the world. It has been hijacked into a holiday festivity. The true meaning of Christmas is vague except to those who really believe. Last Christmas was an intimate family only affair, just us and the dogs, Harry and Rosie. We had our usual Christmas Eve dinner. Joan baked a Christmas turkey.

The great thing about Joan’s turkey was that it was moist and succulent. Most turkey I had eaten had been dry. As Joan explained to me, the trick to a moist baked turkey is to stuff butter under the skin of the turkey and to bake it in a roasting bag, making sure that its inner temperature does not go over 175 degree C. The traditional turkey stuffing appears grey, looks and tastes somewhat weird. We never did like it. In its place Joan stuffed a cut apple, some onions and fresh sage. They added a pleasing and subtle fragrance to the turkey.

The best part was eating that turkey with whole cranberry sauce perked up with orange zest. Yum, yum.