A Hungry Night @ The Soup Restaurant

You know how hungry we were? Here's an idea.
We wanted to take photos first, but as soon as the food came we dived right into it. By the time I remembered that I forgot to take the photos, our table of dishes became like this:



wx was holding his chopsticks all ready to pounce on the food again when I managed to snap a shot of the mess.

Here's what we ate:

• Samsui Ginger Chicken, Rating: ★★★★★
• Hand Chopped Minced Pork with Salted Egg, Rating: ★★
• Claypot Tofu, Rating: ★★★/★
• Fried Noodle with Fish Slice, Rating: ★★★
• Lotus Roots with Pork Ribs Soup, Rating: ★★★★

Total was $60.50. A little pricey though. For about the same number of dishes, Din Tai Fung costs around $50 for two.

Well what is The Soup Restaurant without having their famous Samsui Ginger Chicken!? Their specialty lies in their ginger sauce. Even the sliced cucumbers goes well with it. They also sell this sauce in small bottles at $4.80 per bottle.

I would recommend the Claypot Tofu, though perhaps they could add couple of those big mushrooms to complete the taste. For one that doesn't like egg tofu, I actually ate quite a bit of this. So 3-4 stars for this!

I was quite disappointed with the meat loaf actually, especially when they were advertising it as "Painstakingly hand chopped...," so only 30 servings per day. Trying it for the second time, the first was with salted fish. They added water chestnut in the minced meat to make it crunchy. But I would suggest to dice up the water chestnut even more, so it would mix more evenly with the minced meat - I was tasting the water chestnut more than the meat in every bite.

Swensen's 1-for-1 is (still) ON!

If you ever walked pass a Swensen's in the day and wondered why it's been so crowded all afternoon, it's because their 1-for-1 lunch treats is still on!

Check out our favorite picks:







We also ordered a Celebrity Brownie for dessert! (All desserts and ice cream are not part of the 1-for-1 deal.)

Totals out to only $30+ for 2 fully satisfied tummies ^^

Rating: ★★★★

Best Picks @ Bedok 85 Market

4 months! I've abandoned my blog for so long! Someone might be complaining - I have not done my part as a Sakae e-Journalist for that long too. So I'm back now... & with a new home too :) I've moved all my food posts to this new domain, and will be blogging only about food here. (Yes, I'm trying to become a casual food blogger! ;])

So here's a welcome back post for myself - dinner at Bedok 85 Market, the best picks!



This is the best chai tow kueh (carrot cake) I've had so far that I actually eat it with the eggs. My favorite non-eggy (on special requests) chai tow kueh is at the Bedok Reservoir Blk 600+ market.



Unique - the top layer skin is crispy fried - & Fresh - the flesh toughness is just nice. Don't go to the wrong stall though, there's another seafood bbq on the side of the famous bak chor mee and sugarcane stalls. This stall has been there for 20 years already, I think about 2 rows after.



This is the famous traditional bak chor mee. Pretty much the only bak chor mee that you eat only in soup. They pride themselves on their soup (filled rich with the sweetness of the minced meat), their QQ noodles, and their hand-made meat balls.

Don't forget to get a sugarcane juice with lemon - original sugarcane taste!

Rating: ★★★★

13 Lo Hei Ingredients & Their Meanings

Of all the Chinese New Year food, I hate Lo Hei (Yu Sheng) the most. Gosh it's like randomly throwing everything together, give them a meaning, and give them a representative color to fit their meaning. They simply don't taste right to me. And raw fish is just not my type.

But this Chinese New Year, I had 3x Lo Hei. Once at Din Tai Fung, once in Malaysia, and once at Tung Lok. The coolest thing for me was just the procedure to pour the ingredients together. Then the actual "lo hei".

Do you know what are the ingredients and the meanings behind their colors? How many can you name?

I picked up a flyer from Ichiban Boshi with 13 lo hei ingredients, and their respective meanings in both English and Chinese. Of course the ingredients here are tailored for Ichiban Boshi's Yusheng set this year. I read on wiki that they are 27 ingredients in the original dish.


1. Chuka Kurage
Excellence, 锦上添花

2. Red Sweetened Ginger
Luck, 鸿运当头

3. Peanut Crunch
Wealth, 金玉满堂

4. Pickled Leek
Divination, 妙算如神

5. Sweetened Lime
Merit, 苦尽甘来

6. Pickled Cucumber
Advancement, 平步青云

7. Winter Melon
Harmony, 甜甜蜜蜜

8. Fried Sesame
Prosperity, 生意兴隆

9. Chuka Wakame
Youth, 青春长驻

10. Pickled Melon
Tranquility, 风调雨顺

11. Pok Chui Biscuits
Affluence, 遍地黄金

12. Five Spice, Cinnamon and Pepper Powder
Fortune, 招财进宝

13. Salmon Sashimi
Abundance, 年年有余

Do you like Lo Hei? What was your favorite or least favorite Chinese New Year dish/snack?

Sakae Adventure: Who Says No Money Cannot Eat?

Hmmm....it's been 3 months now since my last pay! What the heck... & Always in the last week, we try to scrimp and save. But who says no money cannot eat?

In times of need, we were so glad to have my Sakae Card around!

..with $55 Sakae Dollars from the e-journalists program. Just in time to celebrate wx's birthday too! Hehe

3 colored plates, $2.29 each + 1 red plate, $5.59

Nabeyaki Udon, $11.99

Tempura with Yuzu Soba, $13.99
Totals to $46.50. We paid only 50 cents!!

The yuzu soba was quite interesting. We were given this raw quail egg (poked with a small hole) and for a while we weren't sure what to do with it.


Do you know the correct way to eat your yuzu soba?

Rating: ★★★