Shakey's Pizza - Oishii@ Liang Court 2013: Wednesday Food Trail

Our second stop for our Oishii food trail was Shakey's Pizza. If not for this food trail, we would have missed this nice restaurant.

Shakey's Pizza is one of the restaurants that offer the most set meal for the Oishii food trail. You can choose from the following

• Shakey's Baby Back Ribs (Full Slab, $19.80)
• Slim Trim Caesar Salad ($4.80) and Spaghetti Carbonara ($13.80)
• Oishii Wasabi Premium Pizza (9-inch, $19.80)
• Hula Hawaiian Classic Pizza (9-inch, $18.80)

We ordered the baby back ribs and Oishii Wasabi pizza.  The baby back ribs has a nice charred, smoky fragrance.  The meat may not be a lot, but is tender and filled with flavourful BBQ sauce. Besides some salad, it also comes with few slices of fried potato which are quite nice as well.

Shakey's Baby Back Ribs
Rating: 4.25/5

Their signature pizza was good. The pizza crust was crispy on the outside and slightly chewy within. We loved the baked cheese on the dough, you can really taste the cheese which is fragrant and add on to the crisp texture of the pizza. There are prawns, scallops, pineapple and watery juice kind of "wrapped" within the pizza. Complementing with the creamy wasabi sauce and topped with lots of bonito flakes, unique and Oishii!

Oishii Easabi Premium Pizza
Rating: 4.5/5

With the coupons, this meal was only $20 nett, super value for money.

I had always associate Japanese food to Liang Court. But maybe sometime I will be back to enjoy the unique pizza again.

Oishii@ Liang Court 2013: Wednesday Food Trail - Shin Yeh

Shin Yeh 欣葉 @ Liang Court Our first stop for the Oishii@Liang Court 2013 Wednesday food trail is Shin Yeh, a reknown Taiwanese restaurant chain in collaboration with TungLok Group.

Shin Yeh

They are causal on the food serving sequence. The rice with soya sauce lean pork was served before the cold platter. The egg might be a bit dry, the braised pork a bit lean and finely chopped, but dig further into the bowl and you will be delighted. The braise sauce at the bottom was fragrant, flavourful and goes really well with the rice.

Rice with soya sauce lean pork

The restaurant run out of their fried yam prawn. We requested to change to Lean Pork with Bamboo Shoots in Soya Sauce. Do not expect tender, juicy like "Dong Po Rou" for this signature braised pork dish. The braised pork was tougher, leaner with a fatty layer beneath the pork skin.

Lean Pork with Bamboo Shoots in Soya Sauce
欣葉卤肉

Next came the combination Cold Dish Platter - King Oyster Mushrooms with Herbal Sauce, Chilled Fresh Bamboo Shoots Salad and Poached Savoury Kampong Chicken.
Strong herbal and mushroom scent for the king oyster mushroom, snow white crunchy bamboo shoots. Kampong chicken meat being tougher, it taste like duck meat and goes well with the pickles and ginger.

Combination Cold Dish Platter

The best part of this set meal was actually their dessert - Mango and milk over shaved ice.  Loved their sweet and smooth mango, wished there were more pieces.  The texture of the shaved ice was creamy and taste good too.

Mango and milk over shaved ice

Although not all dishes go well in the set, but we really can't complain much since the set meal is only $10 per pax.  Overall, its still a good deal!

177 River Valley Road
Liang Court Shopping Centre, #02-19
Singapore 179030

Tel: +65 6338 7337
Fax: +65 6336 6142

Opening Hours:
Daily
Lunch: 11:30 - 2:30PM
Dinner: 6:00 - 10:30PM

Oiishi@ Liang Court 2013: Wednesday Food Trail & Cooking Workshop

Happened to pass by Liang Court today and noticed their innovative and interesting marketing event to promote their food & beverages - Oishii Wednesdays' Food Tasting Trail.

With only $30, you can get to sample 3 different set meals at any 12 participating restaurants at Liang Court on Wednesdays (17, 24, 31 Jul & 7 Aug 2013). Do note that the first restaurant is pre-selected and you can't get to choose it when purchase the coupon at the customer service at level 2.

With the $50 spent, you can also get to register and join in a cooking workshop at level 1 for free! Its more than just a cooking demonstration but also a hands-on session where 2 participants get to share a cooking station with induction cooker, pots and pans provided.

• Potato Salad (ポテトサラダ)
• Sukiyaki Beef Don (すき焼牛丼)
• Instant Cucumber Pickles (浅漬け)
• Hiyashi-Tauki-Soba (冷やしたぬきそば)

Potato Salad & Sukiyaki Beef Don

Pickles and Soba

And there is a goodie bag for every participant. Besides apron, food magazines, stationary and accessories, most importantly it include the bento and sandwich accessories tool set.

Goodie Bag

Sandwich and Bento Tool Set

Can't wait for Wednesday to come :).  Will update on our food trail then.

Food Trail @Chinatown Complex Food Centre, 335 Smith Street

Every time I am at a hawker centre, I will wonder what are the food not to be missed and which are the stalls that are worth trying?

Decided to start keeping track of good food and best stores by location.  Will start with the hawker centre that we like and frequently visit.

Best food / great food at Chinatown!

Chinatown Complex Food Centre @ Blk 335 Smith Street

	[#02-88]Xiu Ji Ikan Bilis Yong Tau Fu 秀记江鱼仔酿豆腐 Cuisines  : Chinese Speciality: Ikan Bilis Bee Hoon, Brinjal, fried fish cake Rating     : 4.75/5 Remarks  : Simplicity at its best! Location  : #02-88, Chinatown Complex Food Centre  Business Hours: 6:45am - 3pm
	[#02-225] Babas Peranakan 娘惹小吃 Cuisines  : Nonya Speciality: Fried Chicken, chilli long bean Rating     : 4.25/5 Remarks  : Yummy economic rice! Location  : #02-225, Chinatown Complex Food Centre Tel          : 97229698 (Edwin Tan) Business Hours: 9am - 2pm (closed on Wed)
	[#02-127] Hong Kong Soya Sauce Chicken Rice & Noodles 香港油鸡饭面 Cuisines  : Hong Kong Speciality: Soya Sauce Chicken  Rating     : 4.25/5 Remarks : Cheap and nice chicken, $7 for half chicken. Location  : #02-127, Chinatown Complex Food Centre Business Hours: 10am - 8pm (closed on Wed)
	[#02-135] China La Mian Xiao Long Bao 香中国拉面小笼包 Cuisines  : Chinese Speciality: Steam dumpling  Rating     : 4/5 Remarks : Nice broth steamed dumpling 10 pieces for $5. Location  : #02-135, Chinatown Complex Food Centre Tel          : 9743 5287 Business Hours: 9am-9pm (Sat/Sun), 11am-9pm (Tue-Fri)(Closed on Monday)
	[#02-053] Zhao Ji Clay Pot Rice 钊记砂煲饭 Cuisines  : Chinese Speciality: Claypot rice  Rating     : 4.25/5 Remarks : Very tender Chicken, even for breast meat. Close early in the evening. Location  : #02-053, Chinatown Complex Food Centre Business Hours: 12-7pm (closed on Wed)
	[#02-166] Jia Ji Mei Shi 佳记美食 Cuisines  : Chinese Speciality: Fried Beehoon, Yam Cake, Dumplings   Rating     : 4/5 Remarks : Nice simple Chinese carbohydrates. Location  : #02-166, Chinatown Complex Food Centre Business Hours: 7:30am - 10pm (closed on Wed)
	[#02-190/191] Cheng Ji 成记驰名酱蒸松鱼头 Cuisines  : Chinese Speciality: Steamed fish head Rating     : 4/5 Remarks : Cheap steamed fish head with lots of collagen. Location  : #02-190/191, Chinatown Complex Food Centre Tel          : 6222 8202 Business Hours: 12 - 9pm (closed on Sun)

Do drop a comment if there is any nice stall I've missed out.

Curry Puff

Happened to pass by Toa Payoh Central recently and was attracted by a signboard "AMK Curry Puff" at a coffee shop near the KFC restaurant.

Curry puffs from the famous Ang Mo Kio Tip Top shop? The one involved with tax evasion issue?
Not sure how this shop or these aunties and uncles are related to the Ang Mo Kio curry puff store, but it definitely seems to worth a try, despite it being $1.30 a piece.

AMK Curry Puff @Toa Payoh

Handmade Curry Puff

We were pleasantly surprise after one bite. The filling for AMK Curry Puff was slightly wet with intense curry flavour without being overly spicy.  The skin of the handmade curry puff was still crispy even after a few hours.

AMK Curry Puff
Rating: 4.25/5

AMK curry puff was good that it prompted us - Which is the Best Curry Puff in Singapore?


There were some polls done on the Internet. Below are the shortlisted stalls which I have personally tried and like.

• A1 Curry Puffs
• AMK Curry Puff
• Tip Top Curry Puffs (Ang Mo Kio)
• Old Chang Kee Curry Puffs
• Polar Puffs & Cakes Curry Puffs

Which is your favourite ?


AMK Curry Puff
Blk 184 Toa Payoh Central
#01-372
Singapore 310184

Lunch Deal @Vintry, Clarke Quay

A relative introduced us to this good, value for money lunch deal.  No coupon, no voucher and no pre-purchase required, just walk in to the restaurant on a weekday during lunch hour.

Vintry offer this nice 5 course set lunch at only $15 nett.

5 Course Set Lunch

We had the whole restaurant to ourselves as we arrived early. The ambience of the restaurant was nice. The restaurant is vintage style decorated with wine bottles, decanters, glasses and filled with bottles and bottles of wine.

Nice Ambience

They have a large collection of wine offered - cabinets of bottled wine near the dining area and a wine cellar at the restaurant.  Besides a variety of bottled wine for sale, they also offer a large variety of wine by glasses, ranging from around $3 for 250ml.  The wines offered by glasses are well preserved in their state of the art wine vacuum pump and dispenser in a chiller.

Restaurant

Now we come to the food. Fresh mixed Salad. Vegetables to fulfil our daily fibre requirement.  Not sure what is the dressing, it was quite strong but was ok.

Fresh Mixed Salad

Soup of the day was Potato soup.  The texture of the soup was quite smooth and creamy.  You can also taste the potato in the soup. Quite nice.

Potato Soup
Rating: 4/5

We followed the recommendation to try the Tangy Baked Dory Fish in Lemon Caper Cream. It was definitely a right choice - tender dory fish with creamy sauce.  The cream was not too rich, with hint of lemon and mild sourness from the capers. The potato wedges were crispy as well. Yummy!

Dory Fish
Rating: 4.25/5

We can't resist ordering a dish which is named after the restaurant - Vintry Caramelized Roast Pork Rice.  Even though white rice doesn't seems to fit in to into this western restaurant, this caramelized roast pork house specialty was good.  Nicely caramelized pork belly with a mix of fatty and lean meat.

Caramelized Roast Pork
Rating: 4.25/5

Ice cream had never been able to impress me unless its those premium fine ice cream.  But the coconut ice cream with gula melaka was quite special and satisfying.

Coconut with Gula Melaka
& Vanilla with Chocolate Sauce

The coffee offered was illy.  Illy coffee seems to be a famous brand reputed for quality coffee produced in Trieste, Italy. According to my lunch partner, the coffee was aromatic and quite rich.

Vintry 
Blk 3A River Valley Road
#01-01 Clarke Quay
Singapore
Tel: +65 6338 2808
http://www.vintry.com.sg/

Opening Hours
Sun–Thu: 12pm–3pm, 6pm–11.30pm
Fri–Sat: 12pm–2am

Glasses

Buffet Town @Raffles City

Only realised that Shokudo Japanese Food Bazaar at Raffles City was changed to Buffet Town when we were there for a gathering.

Buffet Town and Japanese Food Bazaar were kind of similar - a variety of themed stations offering different cuisines. The main difference is the payment mode, instead of having a passport and get it stamped whenever you placed an order, Buffet Town is all inclusive, just take or order whatever you fancy for a fixed price.

Fresh seafood station is among the first that we will explore. There were white clams, scallops, chilled prawns, mussels and crayfish. The crayfish was a bit disappointing, the prawn was quite nice and you can taste the freshness with just some lemon.

Seafood Station

Japanese Sushi and Sashimi - Buffet Town was generous for their sashimi as well. To keep them fresh, the sashimi was not on display, you can request Salmon or Tuna sashimi from the chef at the sashimi station. There were also assorted sushi rolls and appetizers at the same station.

Fresh Salmon Sashimi
Rating: 4/5

Italian Pasta and Pizza - Their pasta was quite nice. Pick and choose your ingredients - mushroom, onions, green and black olives and decide on a sauce - Aglio Olio, cream or tomato-base.  They also have forrest mushroom, hawaiian and seafood pizzas cut into small pieces, allowing you to savour variety without getting too full.

Teppanyaki and Tobatayaki Kiosk.  The usual teppanyaki where the chef will prepare to your choice of vegetables, mushroom and meat.  They will provide a number tag if the queue gets long.
There is also beef and pork satay, grilled pineapple. The marinate of the satay was nice too, just that some portion was a bit tough.  Well, since its buffet, you can add as much pineapple puree to your satay sauce :).

Pork Satay
Rating: 3.75/5

The gilled chicken wings and shishamo were good as well.  The white fungus chicken was good that I had 2 portions.

(clockwise)White fungus chicken soup, grilled Shishamo
Beef stew, Pasta, Sausage

Local Delights were available as well.  Our famous chicken rice, laksa and also prawn crackers.  A range of beverages were available - homemade soya bean milk, soft drinks, teh and kopi as what you will find in coffee shop.

Local Delights

The dessert spread was not very interesting, but they do have a few dessert worth trying  - waffles with ice cream and silky beancurd.

Dessert

Buffet Town - $24.80++ for lunch buffet from Monday to Friday.
Setting was ok, just that the tables were too close to one another, you might need to maneuver to your seat.
Being a themed kiosk concept where not all food are on display as normal buffet, you will need to look out for those small little signs at the counter else you will missed out the goodies hidden behind the counters.

Buffet Town

Buffet Town
Raffles City, #B1-44E
252 North Bridge Road
Tel: (+65) 6837 3793

Operating Hour:
  11.30am to 3pm daily
  6pm to 10.30pm daily

http://www.buffettown.com.sg/