Starhub Green - Jia Wei Food Hub

Starhub Green used to have this air-conditioned food court called Food Hub, where the food's good but expensive. Expensive, for foods sold within an industrial area. It was said that the rental was a tad high, that's why.

Over a short period of time, stallholders by stallholders moved out and the premise turn out to be a sad-looking food court with dark cavities where former stalls used to be.

It wasn't a surprise that the food court eventually closed at the 3rd quarter of last year.

Well, not anymore! Apparently, a new management took over and the area is alive and bustling again, since 6th Jan. And... the food is considerably cheaper!

Row of Muslim food stalls

I entered from the main lobby and was greeted with the sight of not 1, or 2 but a row of 3 Muslim food stalls!

Apparently, they belong to the same lessee. Must have been called the "Super Group" or something, going by how most of their food are labeled, "Super".

Nasi Goreng Ayam Penyet - $5

They have the 'Super' Ayam Penyet at $4 but I chose something different. Supposedly Ayam Penyet with fried rice.

The fried rice was freshly fried with every order and everyone must have been intrigued by this offering and ordered it. Imagine the frying that the cook had to do!

I have to say that the fried rice was a little bit off, taste-wise. A tad bland, I'd say. But that was made up by the fried chicken which was still warm & crispy (possibly re-fried?) and the sambal that totally kick-butt with it's taste and spiciness. My nose started leaking by the end of the meal, actually.

The whole ensemble was pretty dry, honestly and I wish that they at least serve a bowl of soup with this. Apparently, they only serve soup with the regular Ayam Penyet order.

Nasi Lemak, 'Super Wing' set - $3

The first time I was there, I had every intention to order their "Super Complete" Nasi Lemak set, where there's the sunny-side up egg, fried chicken wing, fried ikan bilis (white bait) with peanuts & otah. Another option is to have the fried 'ikan selar kuning' (Golden Band Scad) instead of the chicken.

Alas, they have all the side ingredients but they ran out of the rice, of all things.... The nasi lemak must have been good, I guess. They truly miss out on the lunch crowd, that way.

Anyway, I came back the week after and decided that the "Super Wing" set will satisfy me nicely. There's sunny-side-up egg, fried chicken wing, fried white bait & peanuts + cucumber slices.

I asked for more sambal and the friendly lady happily obliged. I'm glad I did, for the sambal suits me just fine. Not incredible but it's the kind of taste I expect with Nasi Lemak. The slightly sweet & sour + spicy kind.

And another plus? The chicken was still crispy! I like that. Makes me miss the fried chicken wing from Selera Rasa Nasi Lemak at Adam Road, though.

Cornflakes Macaroons - $3

The last stall from this group sells cakes, traditional kuehs & cookies, apparently. I can't resist my Hari Raya favourite and bought a pack of these Cornflakes Macaroons.

At $3 for 10pcs, these aren't exactly cheap but I don't mind buying whenever the yearning comes!

Nasi Padang set - $4.30

At the other side of the food court is your typical Nasi Padang stall. "Al' Jannah Nasi Padang" sell their mix-rice by sets and they seem pretty affordable. Sets of 1 meat + 2 vegetable dishes for just $3.80.

Here my colleague can't resist adding-on the crispy dried fish coated with sweet sambal.

Had a taste of the beef rendang and it seem nicely executed, albeit the fact that it could be a little more tender.
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Couldn't be more glad that this food court finally re-opened. At least there's somewhere to head to when we don't feel like walking too far for lunch.

Which reminds me. Is the food court at Ubi Techpark ever going to open?!

Breeks re-visited

My colleague and I decided on having lunch at Breeks for our (almost) annual New Year eve lunch and we settled on their new branch at City Square Mall.

Lunch crowd was moderate but they were slightly under-staffed at times. So the pressure was on the (sometimes) lone server who really tried his darnedest. Kudos to him (too bad I didn't get his name).

Lunch experience could have been much better, had they not missed our on my main course and the very busy + inexperienced staff was unable to notice (I'm too patient for my own good, sometimes).

There was this calendar-like table display highlighting various dishes going for just $12.90 on different days. The Char-Grilled Quarter Chicken goes for $12.90 everyday. It had seemed so cheap that we actually brushed it off as student promotions. As it turn out, it's meant for everyone!

Plus, if you add $3, you can get the soup-of-the-day and choice of drinks ranging from Ice Mocha, Lemonade or soft drinks. For regular main course orders, an addition of $5 will entitle you to the soup-of-the-day + 1 soft drink.

Cream of Mushroom soup (Soup-of-the-day)

Seems like the out-the-can variety save for some real mushroom bits inside. Came served with a piece of bread that looks like pizza crust.

Something different and it's pretty decent.

Garlic mashed potato

Very pretty, eh? I wonder how they do it.

We opt to upsize our meal and ordered a side portion of this for just $2.50.

I had a taste of the sauce only, initially and I was like, "Euww!" Then my colleague reminded me that it's GARLIC mashed potato that we ordered. So I tasted the sauce together with the mash and yeap, they DO complement each other. Not bad, actually.

Buffalo wings

"...Golden brown deep-fried chicken wings made perfect with our Firecracker sauce
which will set your taste buds ablaze and your tongue wagging.."

I always try to order this whenever I see it on the menu, cos' I was curious about this 'Buffalo' sauce. I comes off like BBQ+ tomato + i-dunno-what-else (maybe paprika or Tabasco??) and taste really good when eaten warm.

It also helps that you eat them crispy wings before they get soggy.

Char-Grilled Cajun Chicken Chop

"...Our char-grilled Cajun Chicken Chop is truly an aromatic and tasty dish that would
defintely satisfy your craving for boneless grilled dish, enveloped and smothered with
herbs and seasoning rubs and char-grilled with the right crispy doneness on the outside
while retaining the succulent moist when slicing the chop with our steak knife..."

My colleague's order. Came with a side of waffle fries and some boiled veggies.

And true to its description, the boneless chicken thigh is crispy outside (esp. the edges) and succulently moist inside. And the meat itself must have been well marinated for it already taste pretty good on its own.

Cajun sauce

The cajun sauce was served separately, maybe so as not to mar the taste of the chicken marinade, I guess. It taste somewhat like a smoother version of salsa. One can either pour it over the chicken or dip in it.

Char-Grilled Salmon

I was thinking of salmon and contemplating between the regular Char-Grilled Salmon or the one with Teriyaki sauce. Coincidentally, the $12.90 promotional highlight the Char-Grilled Salmon itself so I guess, I got my choice made for me.

"..The high content of Omega-3 in Salmon is one of the main draws of this dish, compliment with its herb and lemony butter, a perfect dish for the health buff with a sinful twist..."

And then they forgot my order. -___-

(When it finally showed up) The salmon came out fine. It was a pretty big piece, too. Almost twice the size of the one served at Botak's Favourites. The skin at the bottom was really crispy and the meat wasn't overcooked.

On the other hand, not the same can be said about the sides. I don't have high expectations for the pasta to be 'al dente' but the spaghetti was so overcooked, it was really soft; to the consistency of laksa bee hoon. When mixed with the tomato sauce, it seemed... Eugh!

The boiled veggies suffered the same fate. Cucumbers are naturally soft so one only need to blanch the to make it more savoury (taste even better raw, actually). This one was totally boiled till it can be mashed with a slight press of my fork.

I had expected the salmon to be drizzled with lemon-butter sauce ala Ikea but it turns out to be Cajun sauce instead. I don't remember seeing the word 'Cajun' in its description anywhere. Disappointing, really.

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After the add-ons, starters and sides, we ended up being too full for anything else and sad to say, had to miss out on the Classic Avocado drink and even the Coco Crisp ice-cream that I've been eyeing.

We planned on getting the Classic Avocado as our drinks but we got soft drinks served with our add-ons so we pushed that for dessert... Guess we're not meant to indulge much on that day.

Never mind. There can always be a next time. Maybe just the waffle fries & avocado. And maybe the Coco Crisp. Yeah.

Eatzi Gourmet Restaurant

Either that I was miffed with my bad choices or that I'm really getting jaded with this place. Save for the nice restaurant ambiance, I think I'm better off getting nice steaks & such elsewhere, like Spize Concepts @ Simpang Bedok, Botak's Favourites etc.

All the hotel restaurants were fully booked by the time this procrastinator finally got down to booking for her mum's birthday dinner. So we ran out of dining ideas on that weekday night.

Onion rings

Typical ones that we can get anywhere else; at maybe 2x the price.

Seafood in a pan

"An assortment of crispy breaded seafood accompanied with french fries..."

Please don't expect anything like the seafood platter from Fish & Co. or Manhattan Fish Market. These are fish fillets, prawns, calamari rings and mock scallop - that's tossed into a deep-fryer and then served in a pan for aesthetic purposes.

I think this works better as a starter instead. Sans fries.

My brother made this order on top of his Spaghetti Carbonara (sorry no pic). So I guess he meant to share it with the rest of the table.

Crayfish & Chicken combo

My order. Crayfish and boneless chicken thigh topped with fried garlic bits. Yeah just that. No sauce. So dryyyy..... Pfft.

And I'm someone who loves her sauces.

I was initially interested in their Steak & Chicken combo, but it's to be served with SAMBAL sauce. A bit of a turn-off, actually. Then again, I guess a weird sauce is better than NO sauce, huh?

Should have just stuck with their plain ol' steak or the grilled chicken (aka chicken chop).

baked potato

Then again, I guess another reason why I like coming here is because of this.

I love the baked potato here. Yeah, the plain ol' spud topped with sour cream, scallions & beef bacon bits.
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My dad & hubby got themselves the Mix Grill (sorry no pic) - a combo of "...chicken frank, lamb chop, chicken, beef steak and chicken bacon; topped with fried egg."

There's no sauce for this too, so the both of them doused their various meats in chilli sauce. That was one heck of a grease bomb, there. Really. Like The Great Fry-Up on a platter. So much so that my hubby got a neck strain 2 days later. NO MORE, I tell you. Uh-uh.

My mum had been coughing for a few days so I thought she'll choose one of the many grilled dishes available. Especially the seafood ones like fish, which is considered pretty 'safe' for her in that condition.

And my mum got the Fish Parmigiana (sorry no pic). "..Breaded fish fillet topped with Napoletana sauce & cheese.."

Fried dish...? Sigh.

Anyway, that 'Napoletana' sauce = Neapolitan sauce = basic tomato sauce in Italian-esque cuisine.

dessert~ ice-cream

All of us took the $4.50 set, where we'll also get the soup of the day + coffee/tea and dessert.

Dessert that day was a scoop of strawberry ice-cream with irritating rainbow sprinkles. Irritating because those coloured sugar beads were so hard to the bite that all of us simply cast them aside.

Kinda' miss the mango ice-cream from the last time.

And oh, the birthday lady with the cough, she was pretty full by then and she still have the ice-cream and a cup of tea, rite?

She gave her cup of tea away and finish up the ice-cream instead. -___-

And oh, Happy New Year, y'all!

Botak's Favourites (Bedok) Lunch

Coconut cooler

Iced coconut drink with coloured syrup. And that syrup, apparently - is flavourless.

I had assumed it to be pandan. Guess I'm wrong.

Hot honey lemon

Nursing a cold that afternoon so I tried this popular remedy drink. A bit of a cliché, I know. But one can't help trying.

Well, they were too liberal with the honey, here. The whole concoction became this thick, gooey and uber sweet drink as a result. Didn't finish it.

Could have asked for a glass of water to dilute it but they used the wrong type of honey (the whitish/opaque type) to start with, so I just didn't bother.

Char-grilled salmon fillet

My colleagues's order. Comes with basil/garlic cream sauce.

I had a small bite and I like it. Seemed like it's cooked with the meat still remaining pink in the center, therefore it still remain moist. And the sauce complement it well.

Most importantly, no fishy smell.

She choose the side salad and fries. Boy are they generous with their fries!

The 'Massive' burger

Seemed like the Botak Jones burger is pretty famous. So I wanna give it a try.

I wanted some cheese so I choose to add on the cheddar slices (2 nos.) for an additional $1. The 'Massive Cheese' burger would have been too much, what with its FOUR slices of cheese.

Maybe I was feeling a lil' guilty for ordering such a large burger so I have veggies for BOTH my side dishes. The side salad and the daily vegetable (french beans + carrot). Those plus the greens in my burger, I feel almost healthy already.

The 'Massive' burger patty

This one here has a 220gm patty and that is reflected its large circumference. The thickness remained constant. I had hoped for that proportion to be reflected in the patty's thickness instead, so that it will be really juicy down the center. Besides, this patty seemed a little too... streamlined, for the 'handmade' look. I had expected something more 'rugged-looking' with that catchy name.

Guess it's no surprise that it does seem a lil' dry... But overall the burger is ok. No patty can be drier than McD, I guess.

Random foods

Roast duck noodles - $5

Once in a while, I do hanker for some duck items. I remember that Enak Rasa Thai Seafood at Bedok Reservoir used to serve it but I don't really see it anymore.

Last time I had duck was the wrap/roll (they supposedly ran out of the cone version, dang!) that's sold at the Geylang Bazaar during the fasting month.

That is, until the first time I stepped into Broadway Eating House - at the ground level of the new Geylang Serai Market. And I saw that Evertop Chicken Rice has set up a stall here.

I saw the roast duck hanging in the display and I knew that I have to get that. Since it's still morning, I deem that having rice would have been too filling, so I settled for the noodles instead.

That sure was a good choice. Their noodles are springy, their given sauce more than suffice and most importantly, they're generous with the duck meat.

The thick slab of duck meat was really tender and doesn't smell gamey. And hell yeah, of course I ate the skin. That's where all the essence lie. Yummeh!

Fried calamari

Came by with my colleague, to New Hawa at City Plaza for some noodles and we can't resist sharing a side dish.

The thinner-than-usual slices of calamari came off as pretty dismal, initially. But those crumbs on the batter makes it more appealing. And taste wise...?

It's pretty good, thankfully. The meat was tender and the batter was nicely seasoned. And those crumb-y part do add some crunch. Nice!

A pleasant round-up to a humble lunch.

Thankfully this place is a merely 10mins drive from my office. Traffic jam, excluding.

Charco's re-visited

Note: 
Charcos has closed their Marine Parade branch and is now at - 
Blk 608 Ang Mo Kio Ave 5 #01-2771 Mr Teh Tarik, 560608
Tel: 6455 3711


Brought my family here this time. We've always wanted to patronise this place since its Ang Mo Kio days. Now that it's nearby, I just took the chance when we were heading for Parkway Parade.

Was surprised when my mum chose the ribs. Then again, she's always been the adventurous eater and must have been intrigued by my constant reviews on them.

Ribs & chips - $12.50

I asked if she wanna have any of the salads and she flatly refused. Guess she's afraid that the ribs portion may be too big for her to have many sides so she settled simply for the chips (fries).

Needless to say, she LOVE them ribs. Kept raving about the marinade sauce and how tender the lamb meat was. And how the meat wasn't that gamey.

Roast beef + 3 salads - $14.50

Roast beef is only available on weekends and public holidays. I went there one Saturday and naturally, I got curious as to how a roast beef taste like and ordered a set.

BIG mistake.

Man, I should have expected it. Usually the whole rump of beef is cooked beforehand and we'll be served slices from that. Since I came late that afternoon, well, not surprisingly, my roast beef was served to me - cold.

If there's one thing I really dislike; it is cooked meat that's already cold.

If the temperature doesn't cheese me off enough, it's a lil' tough to the bite too. And that brown sauce tasted a tad starchy. Geez, now I'm sounding like a bad case of sour grapes.

For the 3 side salads, I picked my favourite, Caesar. Ordered the chicken avocado my colleague had previously, but this time I was served more of the farfalle pasta instead of the chicken. The seafood salad is alright but the big chunks of surimi-'crabmeat' pieces got a tad cloying after a while. Love the fresh prawns, though.

Sampler plate - $15.60

I was recommending this and that to my hubby and he remained quiet until the point of ordering.

When he ordered the sampler platter, I can't help remarking, "Wise guy." It's smart of him to order this, for his first time here, at a place selling most of his favourite foods.

This platter has 1/2 the portion of lamb ribs, 1/4 Charcos (herb) chicken & 1/4 Portugese (spicy) chicken. It's supposed to come with their creamy potato side dish but that ran out so I have the option to choose for him; 2 different salads instead of just 1. Got him his favourite coleslaw + egg salad.

Finally got to try the Portuguese roasted chicken and it does have some spicy kick to it, though a tad subtle. The skin, as you can see, is roasted till it's slightly crispy.

Chicken Kebab + 3 salads - $10.50

My dad seemed disinterested and simply asked for chicken kebab. Maybe he knows that grandchild (my baby) of his may make him unable to focus on his food.

The kebab seemed a lil' on the... thin side. Could do with a lil' more meat, me thinks.

Ordered for him the 3 salads that I've ordered previously. Caesar, Greek & potato. I think he find the latter to be a tad bland and left behind almost half of it. :P
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Now I know what I should avoid ordering when I'm here. I also saw someone from the next table ordering the fish & chips and it looked really enticing. I also want to know what the chicken schnitzel is like. Or the creamy potato.

But I sure don't mind their lamb ribs!

My baby boi's mini party

I didn't really plan to have a party for my son's 1 year-old birthday. Logically, the baby knows absolutely nothing about this celebration held in his honour so what's the point, right?

Then I think that I may need to get my family involved, seeing it's their first & only grandchild, after all. And my bro wanna see his only nephew cutting his 1st birthday cake.

So I thought of ordering pizza and some fried chicken. Until, my dad informed me that my dear aunt, the 'aspiring confectioner', wanna 'sponsor' some buns for the celebrations. Oh, wow!

We often bring my baby to her place, so she totally adore him. Guess it's his blessing, then. :)))

The spread

'Pizza' buns

My in-laws all remarked that this bun looks 'professionally done' and not like it's from the hands of an amateur.

With chicken hot dogs.

Mini pizzaz

Fist time I saw her making these. Maybe she got inspired by stuff offered in the various Halal bakeries at Jusco Tebrau City (JB).

With chicken ham.

Raisin buns

Looking at these, maybe I wanna encourage her to try making cinnamon rolls. Hmm...

Cheese buns

My favourite amongst all. Yum!

Looking at all these buns makes me wanna troop down to the nearest bakery, pronto. I just can't get enough!

Fried chicken drumsticks

My mum made no mention about bringing fried chicken so I had called up Arnold's Fried Chicken and have them deliver their Party Combo or something. However, they had suspended deliveries at that time, due to bad weather.

I was disappointed initially, for I know just how many fried chicken lovers will be in attendance. Image how relieved I was when I saw these. Relieved also that the delivery order fell through. Imagine the abundance of fried chicken! Guess things happen for a reason, eh?

These store-bought, pre-marinated & battered drumsticks are ingeniously butterflied so that the meat can be cooked through.

Oxtail soup

I miss eating this. She had casually mentioned it before and I never thought that she'll really prepare this. She came with a rather big pot of this, actually. It was quite a hit amongst the others. Piping hot soup filled with potatoes, tomatoes, succulent beef chunks.... Dip some french loaf into this, on that rainy evening... Shiok!

...Guess she felt the need to contribute something for her first and only (currently) grandchild.

Fruit 'cocktail'

To me, a party doesn't feel complete without a bowl of this. Add on some longans/lychees and even sea coconut (a hit with the elders), squeeze some calamansi and dump in the ice.

Voila! The modern fruit punch (literally).

So there you have it. My son's birthday party, which turned out to be a tad 'grander' than initially anticipated. Many thanks to all involved. Fatimah, if you're reading this, tell your mum that I can never thank her enough! :)

My son turns 1!

The birthday cake

Pirates Ahoy!

Ordered the 1.5kg ice-cream cake from Swensen's. "Pirates Ahoy" from their Cooline Design selection. It was such a headache, choosing the designs.

I eventually realise that my 1 year old knows NUTS about whatever is on the cake (he hardly look at it, even) so I chose a design that I personally like. I thought that those cute lil' bits on the cake are toys that I can distribute to the other kids. Turns out, they are actually icing. PIPED icing. :P

I chose the ever popular Sticky Chewy Chocolate and the Cookies n Cream flavour to go along. Reminds me of their Mudpie actually.

Now about these ice-cream cakes.

I opt for the 2-5pm delivery slot and request that it be delivered closer to 5pm. They called me to say that they can't abide my request and that the cake can last up to 6hr after its packing, i.e. at 1pm.

Upon confirmation, they called again to say that the cake need to be removed from its cooler box 1-1.5 hr prior to cutting.

I tot' of having the ceremony at 7.30pm, so I took it out of the foam box (with the dry ice-layer on top) at 6pm. There are some bits of dry ice at the bottom tray. Should have removed that one, too (more on that later).

Due to some slight hiccups, the cake-cutting was eventually done at 8pm. Oh, did I mention that I can't seem to find any knife? Guess, Swensen's didn't give any, eh? Yeah, 2 hours of thawing, rite? And yet the centre of the cake still remain a block of hard, frozen cream. The first 1-2cm was nicely soft, all right. But that centre portion seemed almost impenetrable!

I eventually got a real kitchen knife and gave a supposedly strong man (b'dae boy's dad) the task of carving the cake out for distribution. Even then, it still took him some effort.

Despite all that, the cake's texture felt pretty good on the tongue, actually. Everyone else gave the thumbs up. However, I should have moved it into a tray or a platter. For it start to melt rapidly afterwards and dripped into a pool of milkshake. An expensive milkshake at that.

If you ask me, whether I'll ever order an ice-cream cake again? Err... Maybe just small one. Not for kiddos. Or dine in and order the birthday surprise. Or simply get the mud pie.

Yeah... Something like that.

Durian Puffs

This post is long overdue. I thought I've already posted this. Guess I haven't. Gah!

I've long been tempted to try the durian schtuffs sold from this simple confectionery. They have durian puffs, durian rolls (ala swiss rolls with durian cream) & durian crepes.

Durian puffs - $3.90 for 6pcs

Look at how generously-filled each puff is! And the sweet scent of durian permeates the air as I opened the packaging.

Not that very sweet. Not exactly 100% durian meat but good enough. Any more, you might as well eat the actual fruit.

The shop

They prepare bulk orders for any occasions.

Also have the mango version of the rolls and crepes. There are cheesecakes, brownies and pies too.

'Eyeball' puffs

I playfully placed a blueberry on the puff and realised that these look good for Halloween. Reminds me of Monsters Inc.

...Boo!

PS: Talk about durian puff, I'm very much curious by the popular, supposedly (very) good and pricey durian goodies from Deli @ Goodwood Park Hotel. They also have Durian Strudel, I hear?

Bubur Merah Putih

Literally translated as: Red/White Porridge

A popular culture within the Malay (initially the Javanese) community, to commemorate one’s birthday with this nice treat.

The red/brown portion is sweet due to gula melaka (palm sugar), while the white one is salty (doused with salted coconut milk). Maybe there’s some kinda’ significance, as to the colour and contrasting tastes but I have no idea what it is.

This bowl here is for my son’s 1st birthday, according to the Islamic Hijrah calendar - on New Year, 1 Muharram.

Noodles

Bee Hoon Hong Kong

Nowadays, I've seemed to have gotten over my fascination for kway tiao (flat rice noodles) and moved on to the very humble bee hoon (rice vermicelli) .

From Sinar Bahru Muslim Seafood. Save for the fact that this is one of the (not many) eateries near my office, I wouldn't always frequent this place. Food's mediocre. And the standard has pretty much dropped. Besides, I can't understand how anyone can cook squids till' the consistency of rubber. Seriously.

Bah!

Fried Fish Noodle

After my bad experience with this dish previously, I was very careful when making my order this time.

This is a totally different stall. Although this was also at a Banquet outlet, this one here at the Raffles Hospital branch prepare a version that I much prefer. With deep fried egg, no bittergourd and we can choose our preferred noodles.

I instantly said, "Fried fish noodles, with mee sua. I want egg AND milk."

The lady curtly told me, "There's already egg inside." Okayy... how would I know? Different place, different versions, mah!

I love mee sua. It's just like bee hoon but more starchy. And pretty chewy to the bite.

The Fried Fish Noodles sold here is still one of my favourite. The stock is tastier. The fish taste fresher and the fish type is better (i think it's seabass??).

Plus, that fried egg is a clear winner.

Sibu Island Resort

Tell me why I shouldn't start to miss this place already...

Food was ok. It was a full-board accommodation so ALL meals are provided by the resort (buffet). Some hits & misses but enjoyable.

Sorry no pics. I was too busy with the kiddo' and my too-hungry belly to take food shots. Besides, 'this side' of the family ain't too aware of my food blog. ;P