Secret Recipe w/ a Dear Ol' Friend

Now, here are some pictures that I would otherwise forgot about, had I not talked about those Oreo cheesecakes that my dear pal here makes.

This dear pal was my closest mate when I just entered Poly(technic). That 1st year, we move around together; almost inseparable. Things went slightly awry the year after, when we got separated by conflicting schedule/modules and she eventually quit the course to start working at NUH.

Anyway, we never really contact each other much, despite being connected through FB; even when we have each other's hp number!

To cut it short, she messaged me out of the blue, asking for a meet-up; saying that she has something to tell… Honestly that got me all jittery. Who wouldn't be, right?

I was pretty busy at work and can only meet her near where I live, namely the east side. I thought that this Secret Recipe outlet at Tamp1 will be suitably nice & cosy as with my experience there, previously.

As it turn out, my dear pal here wanted to tell me that she'll be off to perform the Haj pilgrimage with her husband and parents! Alhamdulillah! It's really courageous of her to perform it at such a young age. Well, since she doesn't have much commitment, guess it's wise of her to do it now.

As I type this, I realise that by now, she would have completed all the compulsory rites that deem the pilgrimage to be succesfully performed. Insya-Allah it'll be accepted by Allah swt.

Now on to the food that night, as we reminisce the good old days and our lives, currently…

Chocolate milkshake & Green Apple Kasturi

My pal chose the milkshake. Such indulgence!

I took the latter. This drink seem to be a popular choice. Tastes and look healthy. Tangy green apple juice with a squeeze of 'limau kasturi' (calamansi lime). Refreshing, definitely.

Seafood springrolls

We made a point to order one appetiser/starter each. This was my friend's choice.

Chinese springrolls filled with savory minced seafood; most prominently, shrimp.

Thai fried chicken

Ok, I only remembered to snap a pic when there's only 1 pc left.

This taste like any other fried chicken, to me. I can't see which aspect of it that makes it seem… Thai. I can't detect any hint of Thai marinade in the winglet meat.

… Maybe it's the sweet chili dipping sauce that it comes with.

Fish & Chips

I felt almost embarrassed when this arrived for my friend. Talk about poor presentation!

I can't recall having ordered this before, but surely there's some side salad/coleslaw at least? Like this one with the Chicken Cordon Bleu?

Irish Lamb stew

Something was definitely amiss then they served this... Hmm... (browse through past dining experiences…)

Okay… Where's the mashed potato?

Buns

These came a little after the lamb shank was served. They were slightly warm, thankfully. Well, not that they're newly baked, of course.

So, now they serve the lamb shank to be eaten with these, eh?

Yes, these makes a good accompaniment to soak up all that delish stew/gravy but I much prefer the mash potato, thank you. Gimme that, any time!

Chocolate cheesecake

And now… Dessert time.

Despite the large number of varieties on the cake menu (separate from the actual dessert menu), I wisened up after the lesson learnt, previously.

So I asked the server with regards to the cakes available that night. Not surprisingly, I'm left with not much choices.

Here, I have someone who makes cakes for her online business so it'll be pretty hard to impress her (she said so herself). This somewhat fell short of our expectations. I wish I can compare this to the one from Cheesecake Cafe but it really was on another level altogether.

The slightly bitter cocoa taste was one thing. But the slightly powdery texture was pretty disturbing. Makes the cheesecake seem dry.

Raspberry cheesecake

I thought this will bring back the nice memories from that day when I had the delightful Strawberry Marshmallow cheesecake. Guess I was wrong.

It came across like plain cheesecake with raspberry jam, to me.

At this point, I wished that I had stuck to ordering those more commonly ordered (safer choice) cakes like the Chocolate Banana or something.

Food may have been mediocre and I sensed some obvious cost-cutting measures were in place. But the companionship is memorable, indeed!