Mr Teh Tarik @ Changi Village

It was Mother's Day actually and as always, we're always at loss as to where to dine that evening. We're aware that it'll be kinda'crowded everywhere.

My bro eventually reminded me that I've yet to check out the new branch of Mr Teh Tarik at Changi Village (they went one time, on a weekday evening). My bro then sound pretty enthused when he start recalling the Halal gelato shop next door.

So Mr Teh Tarik at Changi Village, it is.

Upon reaching there, I took a walk around to check out what's there. Indian food stall, Malay food stall, Western Food stall, Noodle stall, Zhi Char stall, Beef noodle stall, rojak stall up front (they also serve century eggs!) and others etc.

Wait... BEEF NOODLE?!

Aargh! It's like a dream come true! Well, apparently my male colleague had eagerly brought us to this coffee shop at Blk 3004 Ubi Ave 3, where there's this Chinese stall selling Beef Kway Teow. It was popular and rightly so, as affirmed by my colleague. Flavourful, beefy and thick broth with kway teow and generous amounts beef parts.

I can only watch and drool and my mind wandered to the very last time I had this kind of beef noodles. Indonesian 'Soto Sapi', Thaksin's Thai beef noodles and Vietnamese 'Pho Bo' don't count, mind you. I want this Chinese variant, with its thick, dark, gooey sauce (dry version) and thick bee hoon (also known as 'Laksa' noodles).

No points for guessing which stall I gleefully rushed to…

Looking up at the menu board, I analysed what they have to offer. Soup or 'dry' version. Choice of noodles. Beefballs, beef slices, mixed beef.. Aha!

As I ordered my, "Mixed beef, dry version with thick bee hoon." My mum came by to see what I ordered. I happily remarked, "Look, Ma… Tendons!" Immediately, she asked that I order for her too, just that she wants the soup version. 

Both of us really love beef tendons. I remember one time, I saw a plate of opaque white strips in the kitchen and I was like, "Euww... what's that?" Later on, my mum asked me to come over and try these translucent, jelly-like stuff, which she cooked with some sweet & spicy sauce. I had a bit and was blown away. Chewy, slightly bland yet it absorbed the flavours of the sauce really well. Awesome stuff!

My mum told me that those were the 'yucky' white stuff I saw earlier. They turn translucent when cooked. They are called 'tendons'. Or 'muscle'. The Malays refer to them as 'urat'.

I scanned the condiment containers and saw cut-up 'chili padi' (bird's eye chillies) and soy sauce, vinegared chilli sauce, white pepper and what looks like 'cincalok' (fermented shrimp sauce). I took a whiff (pungent!). Sure enough, it is. There's even calamansi lime halves. 

I remember when I had beef noodles at Banquet Parkway Parade (closed down already) and some place else (can't remember where), they serve the noodles with a small dish of 'sambal belacan' (chilli with shrimp paste) instead. I guess the idea here is to include fermented shrimp, huh?

Mixed beef - dry version

I was excited to see what's in my bowl. The varieties of meat made me delirious! Brisket (the dark brown chunks), beef balls,  tendons (the whitish ones), tripe and fresh, thinly sliced lean meat that's blanched in the soup prior to serving.

The thick and dark sauce carried a slightly herbal taste with peppery accents. Really something to yearn for on a cold, rainy day. All this for $6? Quite worth it, I guess.

Also served with a bowl of soup.

My mum's bowl of mixed beef in soup

Here in my mum's bowl, you can see the tripe (the whitish, long strip at the bottom) and cabbage in the soup.

The soup tasted delightful. Peppery and savoury.

We dipped our beef bits in the vinegared chilli sauce mixed with the 'cincalok' with a squeeze of the lime to offset any 'gamey' aftertaste.

After we came back to the table, it was my dad's turn. He took a walk around and we eventually saw him at the Beef Noodles stall. I excitedly tell my mum, "He don't eat the tendons, right? We can help ourselves to his!!"

Turns out, my dad was smart enough to tell the stallhand to omit the tendons and replace with other parts instead. Hmmph!


Our only gripe was that the brisket was slightly tough. Otherwise, it's a thumbs up!

Chicken Cutlet platter


My bro decide to order from the Western food stall. Apparently, their specialty is really fried chicken so fried chicken lovers, rejoice! 


I guess their batter makes all the difference. Appeared very KFC-esque at first look. Crispy (even crunchy) to the bite and the taste of the seasoning used was delish! Spicy, salty and slightly sweet (I think?). Chicken meat inside was juicy, too.


Saw another table having the chicken wings and they looked really awesome!! Gonna get myself some of those next time I'm here.

Cheese fries

This was pretty much ho-hum. Me thinks that they could do with more sauce. Agree…?

So that's a quick look at Mr Teh Tarik's latest branch. With their opening, there's a total of 3 eating places at that block 5 alone: 89.7 Supper Club (all Halal food), an eating house with the Halal Botak's Favourites and now this. Even with the closure of the market & hawker centre due to renovations, Changi Village is still buzzing with lotsa' activity (especially at night) with a great deal of family crowd hunting for good eats.

Gonna head there again soon. To think I live some 10-15 mins bus ride away! :)))


Mr Teh Tarik Eating House
Blk 5 
Changi Village Road (close to the junction)

Siam Kitchen @ Suntec City pt. 2

As I've said, all of us really hemmed & hawwed over what to have for ourselves. When it comes to placing orders, almost everyone ordered something different.


CLEAR TOM YUM HOR FUN
Rad Na Por Tak

This dish came as a big surprise. The thick gravy was very clear, yet when we have a taste, it actually carried a ptetty strong Tom Yum flavour! More of the tangy aspect of it.

Very, very interesting! Good for those who like Tom Yum but can't take the heat.

SEAFOOD TOM YUM
Tom Yum Talay

This cousin already ordered a rice dish but she insist on having her Tom Yum. So she got herself the single-portion.

She dislikes mushrooms so the rest of us got some of those fat & juicy straw mushrooms from her!

TOM YUM GLASS NOODLE SEAFOOD
Woonsen Tom Yum Talay

This came in a pretty large bowl and it's a well-known fact that glass noodles don't fill one up as much as other noddles so they put in a whole lot of it inside.

She is the same cousin who always ordered Tom Yum noodles whenever we dine at Secret Recipe. So I asked her, which one fared better in her book. She replied with an enthusiastic, "Secret Recipe!"



PHAD SI EW SEAFOOD
Pad Si Ew Talay

The Thai version or Char Kway Teow. Looked and smelled good, though.

Didn't have a taste of this so I can't testify on it.

PINEAPPLE FRIED RICE
Khao Phad Sapparot Talay

My order. Kinda disappointed with this, actually.

Ok, I wasn't really expecting this to be served inside a half-pineapple 'bowl' anyway. But I can still remember when dining at Magic Wok restaurant at Downtown East and someone at the neighbouring table ordered this.

When the fried rice arrived (yes, in that carved-out pineapple bowl), with it's delicious-smelling aroma and topped with loads of chicken floss, no less; I was filled will much food-envy. Even my bro turned to me, wide-eyed (as if to say, "Why didn't we order this??!").

I don't get that same vibe with this. That missing chicken floss topping must have been the big factor. :(

BLACK OLIVE FRIED RICE
Khao Phad Nam Liab

One of my cousins saw how much I relish eating this when I ordered a plate of this from the Flamingo foodstall at Asli Village, Downtown East.

So that evening, she was determined to order this. Sure helped that she was very hungry… Oh, she's she same person who had the single-serving of Tom Yum Seafood soup.

STIR-FRIED NZ BEEF TENDERLOIN WITH GARLIC
Nuea Phad Kra Tiam

Ordered by my cousin who loves her beef. With a label like, "N.Z Beef Tenderloin" I guess she just can't resist it.

True to it's name, this dish carried a strong hint of soy & garlic, as with the ominous presence of their minced bits. Beef was really tender, too.

CRISPY TOFU WITH MIXED VEGETABLES
Tao Hu Phad Phak

Felt like we could do with more veggies so we asker the server to recommend us a nice veggie dish to share. Our request somewhat caught her off-guard but she recommended this anyway.

Not bad. Kailan & other veggies stir-fried in oyster sauce. Too bad the the tofu wasn't mixed in together (simply placed on top) or it could have been even more flavourful. Guess it's to retain its crispiness...

No worries, 5 of that tofu pieces somewhat suffice because 3 of my cousins abhors veggies!

My plate

How may plate looked like after spooning on the various appetisers and items given by my cousins…

In case you're wondering, it was really, really filling!

Also ordered and not pictured (at the other end of the table) was:
-  PHAD THAI RICE NOODLE SEAFOOD ~ Sen Jan Phad Thai Talay
   Can be seen HERE too.

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Anyway, with our full bellies, here's what we got down to at the Fountain Terrace. Since it was a weekday evening, there was nary a crowd so we conduct some kinda 'Muslimah Photoshoot'. Feeling-feeling like Dian Pelangi, liddat.

Siam Kitchen @ Suntec City pt. 1

Oh the chaos when you put 8 chatty girls together at the same table!

Met up with 7 other paternal cousins for dinner at "somewhere central", given that some lived in the 'far, far East' and others live in the 'far, far West'. Tired of dining at Marina Square and hanging out at 'the Steps', we opt to try dining at Suntec City and hung out at the Fountain of Wealth instead.

 8 of us, and not a single one remembered to make a reservation. -___- 

Thankfully, they manage to accomodate us all. Perhaps they even regret it, given the amount of ruckus we create afterwards. I can imagine all the other diners giving us the evil eye... :P

8 of us took AaaaGES to decide what to have for ourselves. Much less the shared appetisers. Then there's the beverages....

There were so many pics, so I decide to split this post into 2:

1~ The shared starters/appetisers & beverages.

2~ Individual mains.

GREEN PAPAYA SALAD WITH SHRIMP FLAKES
Som Tum Song See

I was so looking forward to this and yet, it turn out to be such a downer. Kinda' bland. Strongly felt like some key flavours are missing. :(

I can still recall when I was shopping at Bangkok's Chatuchak Market and saw this being sold  for less than $2. As were were enjoying strands of the fiery green papaya with its generous chunks of dried shrimp; everywhere around us, people sudden;y stopped moving and went all quiet!

Then we heard the national anthem blaring from the loudspeakers/PA system. Whoa!

One of my cousins was midway through spooning the 'Som Tum' into her mouth and she froze right there. We had to stifle our giggles, seeing how the locals were seriously observing their national anthem. Once it's over, the continued with what they were doing like time never stood still they way it did, minutes before.

Ahh... fond memories....

GREEN MANGO SALAD
Yum Ma Muang

A-MUST-HAVE!

For more description on this, refer to my recent entry HERE.

SIAM KITCHEN SPECIAL MID-JOINT CHICKEN WINGS
Peek Gai Tod Nam Pla

With a name like that, you can't help expecting more. Yet, what appeared on our table actually looked more like skinny frog-legs (that's what I thought right then).

I gingerly took a bite and that's when it dawn upon me, what actually made this 'special'. It's the marinade. Nicely spiced, savoury and crispy! And the sweet chilli sauce, instead of over-powering the subtle taste, actually accentuate it instead.

So fun to bite into these!

CALAMARI FRITTERS WITH SALT AND CHILLI
Pla Muek Kua Prig Klua

Honestly, the calamari rings at Fish & Co. really raised the bar for me. That made other mediocre calamari rings totally pale in comparison.

Rings were a tad thin. The fact that they are simply dusted in flour with a bit of salt and chilli (powder) made the taste simple and the tangy mayonnaise on the side complemented that.

ICED LEMONGRASS TEA : THAI ICED MILK TEA : THAI LIME ROSE

Very, very similar to what I had previously too.

What's worth a mention is the Mango Iced Frost which one of my cousins had. Refreshing & delish! Sorry, no pics though. She sat at the other end of the table. :P

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Coming up: Individual mains…!

Razack's Seafood Kitchen

My daddy need to buy a certain something that can only be found at an Indian grocery store and he mentioned, "Still Road".

The mind that belong to this very hungry self, immediately flew to an eatery located there; somewhere that we have not patronised for a long time.

One thing I overlooked about this place was the parallel parking lots and just how long I have not dined here, that's how long I've never parallel-parked. Doesn't help that it's a 1 lane road. Sorry ladies, to have been a contributor to the, "Women drivers… tsk! " kinda' stereotype. Even the foreign workers hanging out near the lot I'm parking at became voluntary traffic controllers as I parked. *embarrassed much*

Pre-marriage days, my family and I used to be pretty regulars here, until my bro had his off days changed to be on every Tuesdays. Thing is, Razack's Kitchen closed on every Tuesdays. We stopped dining there since.

We came right before the crowd started to pick up on that rainy evening. I observed that the Chinese customers dined there early, while the Malay ones came in much later.

The proprietor, Mr Razack himself came over to take our orders. Very jolly fella who pulled a chair over to sit with us as he wrote down (in detail) our orders. He never really lost his HK accent which reminds me a lot like the late Lydia Sum in her English sitcom.

Oh, yeah, I found my previous entry on this place HERE.


Beef Chee Cheong Fun

My mum insisted that she didn't want anything heavy so she settled for a plate of plain 'chee cheong fun' (steamed rice rolls). Mr Razack apologetically told us that they've ran out of those.

As my mum was scanning for something else to eat, he suddenly brightened up and said that he saw his wife preparing this in the kitchen 'just now', but the one with beef inside. My mum was reluctant to accept this version (thinks that beef would have made this a heavy meal).

When this was served, we were disappointed to see that the Cantonese version was the one drizzled with simply light soya sauce and the chilli paste that came separately was heavily infused with dried shrimp flavour. Very unlike the more localised version that we're used to; with a more diluted form of chili sauce & sweet bean sauce.

HOWEVER, we had no regrets immediately after having a go at this. The beef filling inside made the whole dish awesome! It was slightly sweet yet very savoury. Very nice! Wished I had ordered this for myself while my mum happily wolfed this down.

Fried Shanghai dumplings

These pot-stickers reminds me a lot like Xiaolong Bao, save that this is the fried version. Comes piping hot, the meat filling was really savoury & tasty.

Wished they didn't skimp too much on the julienned ginger in the black vinegar. My dad and were were almost fighting for those!

Szechuan hot & sour soup

The last time I had this was the last time I dined here so I've almost forgotten how it's like.

ALMOST was the word because I can still remember that there should be egg in this soup! The soup was pleasant enough sans egg but I believe the broken egg mixture could have brought the flavours to another level.

Nevertheless, this is an awesome soup to have on a rainy day. Believe me.

HK fried noodles w/ sliced fish

My dad's order. Appear to me like Wantan noodles with 'Hor Fun' sauce, eh?

Noodles were springy and chewy. Gravy appeared bland but it's full of flavour. Very nice.
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There was also the Fried Rice w/ sliced fish served to me and the Sweet & Sour Fish w/ fried rice. But I was busy feeding my hungry kiddo' by then and chasing after him after he's had enough (the eatery faces a very busy main road *horrors!*).

Truth to be told, it wasn't exactly a pleasant experience. Especially when I have been raving so much about them to my hubby and yet they fell short. But I have much faith in their food and they are as original as Halal Chinese food can get…

Ordered these:
Beef Chee Cheong Fun       (served)
Fried Shanhai Dumplings     (served)
Siew Mai                            (missing)
Fried rice w/ chicken           (missing) 
HK noodles with fried fish    (served)
Sweet sour fish w/ fried rice  (served)

I can see how Mr Razack painstakingly wrote in detail, each and every order; even stopping me when I spoke too fast and yet the following still managed to happen…

We were served a plate of fried rice w/ fish slices, early into the meal. I thought that they have mistaken my order of sweet & sour fish w/ fried rice and served me this instead. My hungry son was already digging in so I just let it be. In fact, the mild seafood flavour of the fried rice and the tender fish slices was very apt for my son. He loved it!

And then, they served my actual order of sweet sour fish w/ fried rice. O__o

Okay, so maybe I have wrongly eaten my hubby's order of fried rice w/ chicken (they mistook the chicken and serve fish instead). So I ask my hubby to eat my order.

AND THEN… they served my hubby's order of fried rice w/ chicken.

JENG JENG JENG…!

Okayyy.... So that fried rice w/ sliched fish... Whose order was that??! Ooops..!

And the 'siew mai' remained missing till the end of our meal. I brought up that matter(s) to the proprietor's daughter prior to making payment and she was so apologetic about it that I softened up. And they 'da-bao' the 'siew mai' for us instead.

After giving her dad a good talking to, she told me that she'll waive off the cost for the fried rice w/ chicken (which we asked to doggy bag instead). I don't really ask for that but since she offered, I gladly accept. :)))

With Tang Tea House & also Enak Tea House, we have more options for Halal Hong Kong food but I seriously don't wanna lose faith in this quaint mom & pop place.

Must have caught them on a bad day. This sure warrant another visit!

PS: Right across this eatery is Kampong Chai Chee Restaurant. I miss that place but too bad, they've never been the same since their heydays at Tampines Telepark…

Razack's Seafood Kitchen
(Cantonese & Sichuan Style Halal Cuisine Since 1995)
324F Changi Road
Singapore 419799

Charco's new location at Marine Parade

The new location

Fetched hubby from work and to fill the time till' we fetch my bro, I suggested dinner. As always, the decision to choose the location fell on my shoulders.

I recalled the conversation I had with my mum, earlier in the day. She had read about Charco's move in the papers, the day before. Apparently, the move had brought on positive changes.

Phew! Guess they won't close anytime soon.

Having recalled that, I know I just gotta' go there. My hungry hubby loves lamb and will surely enjoy their ribs (not that he haven't had them before).

From far, we can already see the neon-lit signage with a huge arrow, pointing towards the new location. Interesting...

The coffee shop was bustling, with other customers watching live premier league matches and also Charco's customers. There were a good mix of various races enjoying their food. And I can see their chicken and ribs running out fast.

 
3 Mixed Salad (Large) - $8.80

My parents and I were still stuffed from our dinner, back at home so we shared a large plate of 3 different salad amongst ourselves.

It was a lil' past 9pm and most of the salads had run out.

Got my faves: Caesar & Greek salads. Wanna get the Tuna (with fusili pasta) but my Daddy hates tuna so I got the Chicken Avocado (with farfalle) instead.

 
Lamb ribs roast meal - $15

Meanwhile, my hungry hubby ordered the all-time favourite - rack of lamb. With roasted potatoes and peas.

Awesome, as always.

Charco's
Blk 80 Marine Parade Central
#01-770
Singapore 440080
Tel: 6455 3711

The Waffle Factory

 
Wall of waffles…

…Makes you want to just point at the pictures and order your choice of waffles from there…


(pic courtesy of my colleague, Roza)


Root beer float
(pic courtesy of my colleague, Sri)

My 2 colleagues can't resist ordering this. What's cute is that they came in this plastic mug that's somewhat 'insulated' with a cavity layer that has bit of water swirling around.

Reminds me a lot like what I'll find during my childhood years.


Cookie milkshake

I don't know when I got hooked on this, 'cookies-dunked-in-milk' thingy but I find it comforting to be able to indulge in some Oreos with ice-cold milk. Even better is to pour mini Oreos into the milk and scoop them up.

Yum. Just like this milkshake.


HK style soup noodles with sausage and egg
(pic courtesy of my colleague, Roza)


Vegetarian mushroom soup noodles
(pic courtesy of my colleague, Sri)


All my 3 colleagues were enticed by the pictures of their HK style soup noodles in the poster at the entrance.

As it turn out, it's very much much like ramen… the instant kind.

I remember Streats HK Cafe has this dish called 'Nissin Noodles' on their menu. No points for guessing what 'Nissin' refers to... It's the norm in HK-style cafes, I guess.


Tom Yum pasta

I was having some serious pasta craving that week and settled for this one.

Not bad, actually. Light, flavourful and the portion is just right. Just don't expect al dente pasta whatsoever…
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Not too bad an experience actually. Don't mind sampling some other stuff on their menu.

Well, yes. That's all we had from there. I know, it's such an irony, right? We stepped into a place called, 'The Waffle Factory'- with various types of waffles on display up front, large pictures of waffles on the wall and many varieties of waffles on the menu; yet we didn't even buy any.

Well, we have a good reason for that.

It's because our favourite waffle shop is just a few doors away and we're certain that those waffles are wayy better that the ones sold here!


Smoothy De Cafe


Just-my-kind-of-waffles…

Confirm… Double confirm!
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The Waffle Factory
10 Jalan Eunos Road, 
#B1-03 Singapore Post Centre Shopping Mall, 
Singapore 914001


Smoothy De Cafe
10 Jalan Eunos Road, 
#B1-06 Singapore Post Centre Shopping Mall, 
Singapore 914001

Desserts @ Rocky Master

Starhub Green is a few blocks down from my office and one fine afternoon, after having lunch at it's Jia Wei foodcourt, the skies opened up and let out a heavy downpour. Well, we end up being stranded and such a rainfall will take at least 10-15 mins to subside.

I then had a 'light bulb moment' and spontaneously got down to doing something I've always yearned to do; Savour the desserts at Rocky Master! I've always salivated after their array of cakes on display but can't seem to find the right opportunity to try them.

So I treat my 3 female colleagues (a girl's gotta LOVE her desserts!) to some cakes. More persons = more chances to sample more varieties. ; ) 

Chose the 3 that appealed to me most. Honestly, I almost choose a 4th item- the New York cheesecake but  decided against it.  Might get sugar comatose later in the office and may not stay awake during the afternoon lull period.  : P

 
Desserts trio

 
Carrot Walnut cake


Eversince I tried the ones from Cedele Depot, I've been pretty crazy about these 'Western' carrot cakes. Especially with their decadent cream-cheese frosting.

This one however, was a downer. It was kinda' dry. Maybe it's been on display a tad too long. And there should be more of that frosting!

…Or maybe Cedele Depot totally raised the bar on carrot cakes. Even my friend keep craving for a slice of that every now and then.

 
Desserts trio

Ahh.... this one, I dare say is one of the best tasting brownie ever (for me, that is). Moist and dense but not TOO dense that it became cloying after a while. Not too many walnuts that it all break apart when we cut our fork through. Fudge layer on top appeared thin but it complement the whole thing nicely.

This brownie is a nice balance in almost all aspects and the taste very well attest to seal the deal on how delicious this is.

All 4 of us can't totally get over this brownie, actually.

 
Strawberry cheesecake


And this is the one cake that I've always been soooo eager to try and it sure didn't disappoint! They have a large picture of this hung at one corner of the cafe and it had look sooo enticing! I can't believe it took me so long to finally try this.

Nice, moist cheesecake and they were generous with the chunky strawberry sauce. A nice balance of sweetness, tartness & creaminess.... *Hearts*


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Sigh, enjoying cakes with girlfriends in a nice cafe, on a rainy afternoon…? We were all wishing that we don't have to return to the office once the skies cleared!

 
Hazelnut eclair


This was also from Rocky Master. A pair of these goes for less that $4! And they're not even minis. It's the actual size, yo!

My only gripe is that the cakes were sometimes past their freshness period and start to get a little dry. I wish I know when the new batch of cakes come in. I'll be sure to swoop in and buy varieties all at one go!

Random… sweet stuff

Pardon my seemingly dormant activity in this blog. I've been in actively micro-blogging through Instagram & twitter and as much as I would like to deny, I gotta admit that the convenience of it has afftected my will to create full-blown entries here.

Was cruising through my flickr photostream and and was amused to see just how random my pics had been.

Hence, this post.

 
My dad & aunt's birthday cake

My dad's birthday falls on 24th March and his younger sis, the day before.

The 24th of that month fell on a Saturday and I had every intention to bring my parents out to celebrate my dad's birthday. As it so happened, 2 of his siblings + spouse and the birthday 'girl' camped over at their house after their 'Umrah' meeting at a mosque nearby.

Another uncle came by with my cousin, after they happen to attend the same wedding on that day.

My aunt has some physical health issues, so she hardly move around much. Seeing her there was kind of a rare moment, and now both are together under the same roof; I seized the opportunity to buy a cake to celebrate it with their siblings.

Besides, that day will be the last time the siblings gather at one place before they set off for their 'Umrah' (small pilgrimage). So it was joy & laughter at one moment and it all ended on a poignant note later on.

 
'Goldilocks' 

My bro's workplace recently employed staff from The Philippines. My bro became closely acquainted with one of them.

Anyway, he decide to make a trip back to his hometown for his mum's birthday and promised my bro that he'll bring back this supposedly fantastic snack called 'Goldilocks'. When I was told about it, I was like, "Who the heck will name snacks after the girl who steal porridge from a family of bears?

Well, he eventually came back with numerous packs of this. There's even a Halal insignia from the Islamic governing body of the Philippines (the actual recipe has lard inside so this is important). The snack is actually called 'Polvoron'. My bro gave one to me and insisted I open one and try. Each nugget was individually packed and labeled with various flavours: Original, Peanut, Cashew, Coffee, Pinipig & Cookies Cream.

 

Wait… "PiniPIG??!"

Did a spontaneous google search and came up with:
"Pinipig is actually immature glutinous rice that is harvested and pounded into what look more like light green flakes. The flakes are moist and redolent with a fragrance that is simply unique. They are almost the quintessence of rice."

And guess what? Pinipig is my most favourite amongst all. That crunch as I bit into the Polvoron reminded me a lot of rice crispies and I LOVE rice crispies!

I posted these pics on my Instagram & FB. Friends came out to say how much they love these, when given as souvenirs by their Pinoy mates. So I guess you know what to get as souvenirs when holidaying there, eh? Or request your friends buy it for you.

 
Putu Piring

This is a confusing one (maybe for me, anyway).

'Putu' is more of an Indian name, for batter made of rice flour and water, or even coconut milk. But this Putu 'Piring' (Malay for 'plate') is popular amongst the Malays and even the Chinese, who call this 'Tutu Kueh'.

This one here was bought from the famous stall that used to be at Haig Road. For many years, they took up space at the corner, no matter what coffee shop proprietor it was. If I'm not wrong, they lasted through 3 different ones? Until the space no longer become a coffee shop do they finally move to the nearest space available, Mr Teh Tarik at Tri-Star Inn.

There's always a queue when buying this. And I can see why. A pack of 5 (or is it 6??) goes for only $1 and it's freshly made in front of you. The 'gula melaka' (sugar extracted from coconut tree) filling is just nice. not too much, not too little and therefore, not overtly sweet. Fresh, dessicated coconut and those 'pandan' (screwpine) leaves? Makes a whole lot of difference.

Imagine all those steam from the freshly-made putu piring, wafting around the coconut and very fragrant pandan leaves. Imagine you opening the packaging and releasing that scented vapours into your face... Little wonder how I can finish a whole pack myself!

 
LJS Chocolate pie

 
BK Hershey's sundae pie

Both chocolate ice-cream/mud pies. From fast-food outlets. One an actual pie from Hershey (BK), the other a pies using actual Hershey chocolate (LJS).

I keep hankering for a mud pie, I end up getting the one from BK because there are 2 branches close to home, while LJS is quite a distance away.

Truth to be told, I prefer the one from LJS, which is ALL chocolate and rich. While the one from BK kinda 'cheated' with dollops of whipped cream and it's a tad sweet for my tastebuds.

Ahh… to each his own.

Been wanting to check out those Halal mudpies from Ice Cube Cafe. Anyone tried this before?

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So… have a sweet-tooth craving, yet?? ;P