24 April 2012 - Crystal Jade Kitchen, Clementi Mall

Struggling a little with the new blogger interface here...

Went over to Clementi Library after work, where the online catalogue showed his missing books were. He's glad that the newer libraries are located in the equally new malls, as these malls were just beside the MRT stations.

Found his books quickly, and met the missus for dinner at Crystal Jade Kitchen. They had a promotional menu of twin dishes, with the option of topping up $1++ for a separate selection of side dish. Would spend about ~$42 in total.

Braised duck with softened yam treasure in the pot. Not too bad, but the meat was a little too tough, and the chef happened to give him quite a bit of bony portions.

The steamed fish drizzled with soya sauce. Flesh had a very strong mud smell, had to drizzle the soy sauce repeated to mask the not-so-pleasant smell.

The $1++ addition, fried salted egg prawns. Had expected nicely butterflied prawns, but perhaps one couldn't ask for much at the promo price. The salted egg and prawn combination was good though, and the restaurant also fried in a few chunks of pumpkin (or to replace the prawns?).

22 April 2012 - Lenas

Hooked on The Legend of Drizzt series by R.A. Salvatore, and rushed to Serangoon Library at NEX to grab the books. Unfortunately, he only managed to get the first and fourth book of the Legacy of the Drow quadrilogy (?).

Met the missus after she knocked off, and started looking for dinner. The Standard Chartered promotion banner outside Lenas caught her eye, and they went in since they hadn't eaten at the restaurant before. Would spend about $50 here in total.

Blended ice-tea with lemon and crushed mint, very thirst-quenching. Part of the $15++ promotion.

 

 

Pint of Hoegaarden for $9.90++

 

His promotional Carbonara. Disappointed that it was shown with the egg yolk, but served without. When asked, the attendants mentioned that it was optional, at an extra charge. The bacon/ham bits serving were quite generous though.

 

Her beef patty meal in egg sauce. The egg sauce shown in the menu was rich and creamy, but this was totally off. However, the broth was good though, good enough to compensate for the misleading visuals.

Some berry dessert, just check out the (un)professionally scooped ice-cream. Can't believe he paid $5++ for that.

14 April 2012 - Lerk Thai

Someone had a bad craving for fish, and so he decided to try out Lerk Thai. They had been talking about

it for a while, but hadn't got down to giving it a try. This day it shall be. Cost about $80 after discount... (looks at the hole in his pocket)

Served crackers with chilli dip, reminiscent of tortilla chips in Mexican cuisine? This was super spicy though, and he had to ask for water. Lerk Thai did not serve complimentary iced water, patrons will have to buy bottled mineral water. Glad to find that it cost a reasonable $1++ for a small bottle.

Battered mix of seafood, fish, prawns and calamari. Batter was a little gooey, like what the flour used for oyster omelette and chicken cutlet in Taiwan. 

Papaya salad - he had thought this "som tham", but it wasn't spicy the least bit.

Pineapple rice, her order. Had some meat floss, cashew nuts and prawns in the rice. He didn't like it much though, not really a rice person.

The fish, set to a slow boiled, and the chilli base flavouring the flesh slowly but surely. Almost had to ask for more water, much too fiery.

06 April 2012 - Manna Story @ JCUBE

Got harrassed to visit the new mall at Jurong East, JCUBE. Thronged with traffic and people outside the mall, not a comfortable sign.

Many stores were still unopened, but the ice skating rink (the main attraction) and eateries were already starting to rake in handsome revenue. The shops at the upper levels were centered around the skating rink, and there were loads of people pressing against the glass panels to catch a glimpse of the skating action. This only served to narrow the already width stingy walkways.

Finally found a restaurant with no queue. Manna Story, a Korean restaurant, and the staff seemed to be ethnic Koreans.

Got the Mantory set, cost $46.84. The chop sticks were a little weird, with a 90 degree bend in the middle, almost had to relearn how to use chop sticks.

Served snacks, they liked the kimchi and the similarly marinated garlic stems. Free to refill on your own, but there were not much left for refills at that time.

Beef stew, sweet and savoury, felt like they couldn't get enough of it.

Diced chicken, like a regular dish.

Sour and slightly spicy soup.

Fried fish which was very oily inside, the juiciness making it yummy, somehow.

Oily fried mung bean.

Can't remember what this was, some kind of sausage?

03 April 2012 - Lobster day

Got two live Boston lobsters after some physical training in the evening. Lobsters for supper, that's quite a good Tuesday night. Killing them was quite a harrowing experience, as they were as easily put to sleep in the freezer, unlike mud crabs. They had good meat though.

April's Fool 2012

With a $20 voucher in hand and craving for ramen, Daikokuya was marked as the meal stop of the day.


Before even getting to look through the menu, she started bombarding him with all the stuff from office. So he got a plate of sashimi first, more time for her to get all the words out before picking the ramen. Nice looking slices with thick layers of fat, $$8.80++.


Mentai Mayo Gyoza, 6pcs for $6.80++. Not too bad, difficult to go wrong with mentai topping.


His Tokyo Chashu Shoyu Ramen, $15.80. Noodles were smooth and springy, but the meat was a little too dry. Soup was a good dip, but too salty to drink on its own.


Sapporo Miso Ramen for her, $14.90++. Loved how the egg was done, he traded a piece of meat for one of the halves. This was a better broth too.


Came some hot Kikumasamune sake, $14++ for ~180ml. Warmed the stomach and was quite sweet for a dry sake.


After ejecting themselves, she insisted on having dessert at Honeymoon Dessert, just few steps away from Daikokuya. Said that it was well-known in Hong Kong, and just steamrollered in.


Durian pancake, $4.50 for just one. Dissecting it, found that it looked to have more (vanilla) cream, but it tasted really good alright.


The glutton also ordered the mango pomelo sago dessert with bean curd, $6.80++. Plus point was that it wasn't overtly sweet.