Category: Food

Entries about food, because who doesn’t love to share pictures and stories about the food they’re eating?

Say Cheeze, Tampines 1

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Mob Photo 30-Dec-2009 PM 11 32 00

My wife and I finally got around to trying this place out.  I’d actually decided not to eat there because the decor is hideous.  I mean, I want to be nice, but there’s really no excuse for how horribly ugly the place was decorated.  So, I’d written it off.  It didn’t look that appealing.  I know someone is thinking something ‘cheezy’ about books and covers, but when it comes to food, appearance is important.

Mob Photo 30-Dec-2009 PM 11 29 58

So, I never really paid attention to the place until about a week ago when someone I know told me the food there is good.  A few days later we happened to be in Tampines 1 and realized it was time for dinner, so we started thinking about where we wanted to eat.  Then I remembered what the guy had said about Say Cheeze and we decided to give it a shot.

When we first glanced over the menu we weren’t that impressed but we couldn’t think of anywhere else to eat so we sat down and ordered.  We were very surprised.  I wish I’d brought my regular camera.  These are just from my iPhone.

The dishes we ordered had an upgrade ‘combo’ deal.  For 5.90 SGD (4.90 on weekdays) we got a drink and a choice of soup.  The add-on price seemed kind of high until we saw the soups.

My wife’s minestrone soup was very, very good.  She let me try it.  Seems like I forgot to take a picture of it, but it was really thick and had pieces of pasta and vegetable in it.

Mob Photo 30-Dec-2009 PM 11 30 56

I asked for the cream of mushroom soup.  It wasn’t watered down at all.  It was also very thick and could’ve been a light lunch by itself if it came with a piece of bread.

The soups were a real treat.  They reminded me of the soups we used to get at OrganiCafExperience in Century Square’s basement level, before it closed.

The main dishes:

My wife's mushroom stuffed ravioli.
My wife’s mushroom stuffed ravioli.
My baked beef lasagna.
My baked beef lasagna.

The sauces were delicious and the servings were just the right size.  I can’t believe how good the food is there, considering the way the place looks and the relatively low cost of the meals.  We’ll definitely be going back!

Are Singaporean Importers Hiding Nutritional Information?

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Imported goods in Singapore come with a label that shows who imported the product, their address, where the product is from and other miscellaneous information.  After living here for so long I’d gotten used to seeing them, but one day I was looking at my jar of Peter Pan peanut butter and I wondered why they had covered up the nutritional information with another label that also shows nutritional information.  It seemed kind of pointless, so I slowly peeled back the sticker to see what was underneath.

Oddly enough, the importer relabeled the product with incorrect nutritional information.  In the photo above you can see that the importer label doesn’t show the potassium at all, and it also incorrectly shows how much of the daily percentage of recommended niacin the product contains.  It rates it at 20%, instead of 15%.

It isn’t just the peanut butter labels that were changed.  There were other food items I checked where the value of how much of a certain substance in the food was changed.  For example, I think one reported there being a lesser amount of iron in the product than the original label indicated.  Do the importers open the products and extract the iron?  I doubt it.

These are both based on a 2,000 calorie daily intake, so what’s the reason?  Do Singaporeans, as multiracial as the country is, need less niacin than other human beings?

Trattoria Italian Restaurant at 313 @ Somerset

Bradley Farless1 Comment

A few months ago I was complaining that I hadn’t been able to find decent pizza in Singapore, but I think that quest has finally ended.

You may be thinking that Singapore has Pizza Hut, but that doesn’t do it for me.  Even in the US I think Pizza Hut is gross.  The stuff is just too oily.  You shouldn’t be able to see grease dripping from your slice of pizza when you pick it up.  I prefer pizza that’s lighter, where you can taste the flavors of the toppings, not just the grease.

So, I’ve been sampling around, trying to find good pizza.

We did try Pizza Hut once when I first got here but, besides the fact that it’s Pizza Hut, the servings are small compared to how much they charge.  It feels like a rip off for poor quality food.  Also, they have a lot of bizarre (to me anyway) topping combinations, but last I checked (which was quite a while ago so don’t hang me) they were missing some of the traditional ones that I enjoy.  They also didn’t have plain pepperoni.  They had chicken pepperoni (I think it was), but not the real pepperoni.

Canadian pizza isn’t too bad.  It’s like the Domino’s of Singapore.  It’ll do in a pinch!  Still, it wasn’t quite up to par.

We also tried pizza in the New York New York restaurant.  I was hoping that a restaurant named after a city that has incredible pizza would live up to its name, but I was disappointed.  It was incredibly oily and very bland.  The sauce was spread so thin it might as well have not been there at all.  I didn’t even finish it.

New York New York Restaurant’s Pizza

In the US, I’d gotten spoiled on great pizza from pizzerias in New York City.  Notably, Mariella’s.  That stuff is just good!  Good enough that it draws celebrities sometimes.  Plus it’s a good price.  For about 3 bucks, depending on what you order, you get a slice of pizza that’s so big you almost have to hold it with two hands.  Here’s a photo:

Mariella’s Pizza in New York City

When I wasn’t in New York City I would go for thin crust pizzas from Papa John’s.  Depending on what toppings you order, they are really good and the cheese, garlic butter, and marinara dipping cups you can get along with your pizza are great.

Sunday my wife and I were checking out 313 @ Somerset, the new mall on Orchard Road.  On the ground level just across from the escalator that leads down into the MRT station is a restaurant called Trattoria.  It’s very nice looking.  The decor is very well done and the menu looked good, so before heading home we stopped by to give it a try.

Getting seated was a bit confusing.  The staff is obviously new.  When we first walked in I asked the first person I saw if we have to go to the counter to order.  He directed us to a register.  When I got there the cashier asked me for my receipt.  I told him we hadn’t ordered yet and we were then directed to a table.

Complimentary appetizer at Trattoria

After that, the confusion didn’t end.  We ordered a pizza and two raspberry Italian sodas.  While waiting on our order, another server came by and dropped off a plate with a complimentary appetizer.  It was good and it reminded me of Italian restaurants in the US.  In the US you’re typically served a loaf of fresh bread and a type of butter while waiting for your meal.  Sometimes it’s plain butter, sometimes cinnamon, honey, or even garlic.  It depends on where you go.  What we were served was a bit different but still a pleasant surprise.  After we finished it a third server took the plate and a few minutes later a fourth server dropped off another plate of the appetizers.  I think they didn’t realize we’d already been served an appetizer.  I’m not complaining that I got something free, just noting that the servers were a bit unorganized.

Raspberry Italian Soda, before stirring

Shortly after that one raspberry Italian soda showed up at our table along with a receipt marked with one pizza and one soda.  I had to get up and tell a server that we’d ordered two, not one.  It took about 10 minutes for the second soda to be prepared, despite the fact that only four tables in the restaurant were in use.  The soda showed up at the same time as our pizza, but we never got our receipt back which made the check-out process a bit more annoying later.

Trattoria’s Pepperoni Pizza

The pizza more than made up for the questionable service.  The crust was thin and crispy along the edges, which is just how I like it.  A regular crust pizza gets you full on bread and you can’t enjoy as much of the sauce or toppings!  The sauce on this pizza is what stood out the most.  It tasted really fresh. It wasn’t sweet and they didn’t overdo the seasoning.  Typically I hate an aftertaste, but all the way home on the MRT I savored the lingering taste of that pizza sauce.  The pepperoni on the pizza tasted a lot like what I’m used to in the US as well.  The pizza was light, with a balanced amount of toppings and was a great overall dish.  I could’ve eaten the whole thing by myself and still craved for more.

I can’t really hold the shaky service against Trattoria.  It’s a brand new restaurant and the servers looked inexperienced.  They weren’t even serving everything on the menu yet.  Also, it was about 10:30 PM.  The end of the day is always kind of rough in a restaurant.  I’m sure that aspect of the Trattoria dining experience will improve over time.

That aside, the pizza was excellent.  The raspberry Italian soda tasted great!  I’m curious as to how their other dishes taste, but I’ll probably just go back again for more pizza.  Thanks for satisfying my craving, Trattoria!  See you soon!

Oh and by the way, the Vespa on display is a really nice touch!

If You’re American, You Owe It To Yourself To Watch Food Inc.

Bradley Farless2 Comments
Food Inc. is a documentary that explores the way the food industry has changed since the 1930s.  Have you ever stopped to wonder where you’re food is coming from?  Have you ever wondered how it’s grown, how it’s handled, treated, and brought to market?  Have you ever wondered just how healthy it is?  Go take a look at the items in your kitchen.  Check the labels.  How many have high fructose corn syrup in them?  Ever wonder why everything from your hamburger meat to your Coke has that in it?  Can’t figure out why your carrots cost more than a bag of Doritos?

http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=talovecof-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B0027BOL4G&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifrA hundred years ago, foods (meat, grains, and vegetables) were all grown in a much safer, cleaner way.  Big business has changed all that.  There used to be thousands of meat processing plants in the US.  Now there are only 13, all controlled by just a handful of companies.  That wouldn’t be such a bad thing if they were doing their business responsibly, but they’re not.  How often over the years have we heard about food poisoning cases?  Why aren’t these plants shut down for continually producing bad meat?  Well, the answer is that big business uses its monetary leverage, as well as by placing former high level employees in key government positions, to influence government policy.  They’ve even continually worked to prevent food from being labeled properly.  For example, wouldn’t you like to know if the food you’re buying for your children is genetically modified?  Besides that, these big businesses and government policies are skewing our food industry in such a way that junk food is more affordable than healthy foods.

I think it’s important that people be more aware of what they’re eating and where it comes from.  This movie can explain that to you in an interesting way.  Seriously, it’s a documentary but it’s not boring at all. I had no idea about some of the things they do to raise the food we eat, and I know now why food in the US is so much cheaper than in other parts of the world. I also know why there are so many obese Americans with Type II diabetes. Our government is failing us in a very important way, but it’s kept out of public view. This documentary will definitely influence how I make future purchases in the grocery store, when I get back to the US of course!

To learn about abuses in the system, including gene patenting, using illegal immigrants for labor, and how to find healthy alternatives, watch Food Inc.

Here’s the trailer:

If you’re interested in getting a copy for yourself, you can follow the link to Amazon included in this post or, for more information, visit this page.

Singapore Starbucks Supports A Salvation Army Initiative

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Earlier today, from 5 to 7 PM Singapore was giving away free ‘tall’ sized drinks, but with a good-hearted catch.  They weren’t just handing out free drinks because they felt generous, or to drum up business or publicity, it was to raise funds and awareness for the Salvation Army.

I went to the Tampines Starbucks at 5:30 PM and there was already a sizable line reaching back out the door.  Starbucks was well prepared for the crowds with partitions set up and employees outside to keep the line under control.  I decided to go eat dinner first, but when I came back at 6:30 PM the line was still wrapped around the back of the cafe.

Regardless, I wanted my chance to get a drink and offer a donation so I got in line.  As I fell in at the back of the line a Starbucks employee asked me what I wanted and then handed me a paper with my order on it.  I suppose that was their way of ensuring that they could effectively cut off the line when the promotion time was over.  Shortly after that the line moved and I walked up to two Salvation Army workers with the traditional bell and pot.  I made my donation and moved on.

Surprisingly, it didn’t take me long to get my drink, which wound up being a vanilla latte because they ran out of toffee nut, and I found a seat inside and watched the end of the event.  The employees were surprisingly upbeat and excited, despite the overwhelming crowd.  There looked to be about 20 of them there though so they weren’t overworked.

After the event was over they all posed for a group photo.  Another person was there taking photos with a big DSLR.  He seemed to know the employees so he probably worked for Starbucks as well.

I think this was a great way for Starbucks to help give back to the community in Singapore and I was more than happy to part with a few dollars, which would’ve been spent on coffee anyway.

Kuala Lumpur Trip: Chow Kit Market

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Just down the street from the guest house we’re staying in is Chow Kit Market.  We were actually under the impression that it was a huge hawker style area where we could get good local food for a good price.  Instead, it turned out to be a sprawling, mostly covered wet market.  It was definitely wet too.  The floors were cut with grooves to help water flow out of the market and into the drainage system.

It was pretty cool to walk through.  We saw everything from fresh veggies to cat fish so fresh they were still flopping.  I wonder if there’s something similar in Singapore and we just haven’t seen it yet?

Walking through this market was also the first time I noticed just how many Malaysian flags are flying in Kuala Lumpur.  They’re everywhere.  Malaysians are definitely proud of their country.

Enjoy the photos!

Kuala Lumpur Trip: Day 1

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Going to Kuala Lumpur isn’t too big a deal when it comes to the actual travel part.  By the time the plane gets leveled off and the steward or stewardess hands out the immigration cards to fill out, you have about five minutes before the pilot will alert the cabin crew to prepare for landing.  Ya, it’s just that fast.  I think the total flight time is about 35 or 40 minutes.  We actually spend more time getting to the airport in Singapore and getting from KLIA in Malaysia to Kuala Lumpur than we do in the air.  That’s one of the great things about traveling in Asia.  It doesn’t take much time to get to a new place.

This being our second trip to the Kuala Lumpur area, we weren’t as stressed out about how to get from the airport to the city.  On our last visit, we flew Tiger Airways and landed at the budget terminal, so coming in at the regular terminal was a bit confusing.  It was still easy to find the buses that take you to the city.

KLIA’s main terminals are VERY nice looking.  They’re very classy, very modern and I saw a banner that said it had won an award as the best airport in the world for three years running.  That’s quite an accomplishment!  The inside looks like a brand new mall and there’s an Air Train that will transport you between terminals.  The interior actually reminded me of Changi International in Singapore a lot.  Even the name of the train was similar.  In Singapore it’s called the Sky Train.

There are a few different ways you can get to the city from KLIA.  You can take a cab, which is expensive, a high speed train which is also fairly expensive, or you can take the airport bus.  There are also other shuttle buses, Star Buses I think, that will take you to KL Sentral.  KL Sentral is a train station near the heart of the city.  The buses are a good deal.  You only pay 9 or 10 ringgit in comparison to about 35 for the train and they leave the airport every hour on the hour.  I don’t even bother with taxis anymore if I can avoid them.

The bus we took dropped us off at KL Sentral.  From there we crossed the street and got on the monorail.  That was kinda fun.  The only monorail in Singapore is the one that goes from Harbourfront to Sentosa Island and I don’t ride that much.  The ride also gave us the chance to get a good look at the area.  There are plenty of windows.

Finding the guest house we stayed at was a little difficult once we got to Chow Kit station, but there was entertainment along the way.  We were standing at the intersection below the monorail station looking around, when we noticed people dashing through traffic to get across the street.  Apparently, waiting for the pedestrian green light is optional here.  It wasn’t just young healthy folk doing it either.  I saw a man with ONE LEG navigating his way through a busy street full of traffic.  Ya.  That old man may be missing a leg, but his balls are certainly intact!  That’s him in the above picture, with the crutch.  After he made it across the road he stopped to have a smoke.

Once we got settled in at Hostel Cosmopolitan (more on that later), we walked through the Chow Kit Market (look for photos tomorrow!) and then sat down to a meal of Nasi Ayam Goreng.  It’s made a bit different in Kuala Lumpur than it is in Singapore.  I’m not sure which I like more.  Both versions are pretty good.

Later that night, after a shower and a nap, we went out again and found out that there are lots of stalls set up along the street at night.  They carry quite a few different things, from stuffed animals to telescopes but we weren’t really there to shop.

We just wanted to try local food, so we found a vendor selling satay.  It was really good!  The two sauces pictured are a curry sauce with shallots on top and a sweet and spicy peanut sauce, which I preferred.  I like curry, but not on my satay.

We followed that up with some ice cream that an old man was selling from a cart attached to his bicycle.  It was better than I expected, especially with the crushed peanut sprinkled on it.  I think it’s peanut anyway.  The guy called it ‘kachang’ I think.  The ice cream was mostly vanilla but there was a strong hint of durian flavor as well.  I normally can’t even stand the smell of durian, but it was ok mixed with the ice cream.

More tomorrow!

Hawker Centers in Singapore

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Hawker centers in Singapore are basically food courts.  I’ve had a few people argue with me that a hawker center indoors is actually a food court, but they have the same types of stalls and selections of food so I don’t see the point in differentiating the two.  Coming from the US I initially considered them to be the ‘poor man’s’ choice of dining establishments, but experience has proven otherwise.

There are a lot of good sit down restaurants in Singapore, like Sakura and Seoul Garden, but the majority of what Singapore has to offer in terms of food comes from its hawker establishments.  Hawker centers can have anywhere from a handful to dozens of stalls to choose from.  You can get anything from ‘Western’ style food (typically fried chicken, steak, lamb and fish & chips) to mee goreng and roti prata.  You won’t find much in the way of Italian food that I’ve seen, or anything Russian, etc.  The choices seem to focus mostly on Asian cuisine, which only makes sense given that Singapore is in Asia.

Some of the best eating I’ve had has come from hawkers, like Hainanese Chicken Rice, which is one of Singapore’s signature dishes.  You can also find chili crab in hawker centers, which is another local favorite.  These hawker centers are like a door to experiencing Asian eating.  I can’t even count the number of foods I’ve ‘discovered’ through eating at them.  My latest discovery is a great mutton soup from a hawker stall at Bedok’s interchange.  It’s incredible!

Indoor hawker centers do closely resemble what you’d see in the US in terms of set-up.  The only major difference is that when you want drinks you have to go to a separate stall to order them, where in the US you would order your drink along with your food.  The stall that serves drinks is also where you go for local desserts like pulut hitam or ice kachang (sp?), should you want to sample them.  The outdoor hawker centers are typically covered, or partially covered, by a roof with fans.  Most will also have a TV to cater to the beer drinking, football (a.k.a. soccer in the US) loving crowd.  People do tend to gather together in the evenings here, especially the weekends, to watch TV and drink at the hawker centers, which is pretty cool.

There are a few things you have to keep in mind when eating at a hawker center, as a foreigner.  The first thing you need to know is to bring your own napkins!  Hawker centers won’t provide you napkins, with few exceptions.  Most food in Singapore is spicy too, so if you don’t come prepared you’ll wind up using your hand and pants / shirt to wipe away your sniffles.  I’ll admit I’ve had to do that myself a few times and it’s not at all pleasant, and is a bit embarrassing.  Another thing to keep in mind is that you’ll want to wash your hands somewhere else before-hand, or bring hand sanitizer.  Not all hawkers have a restroom, and the ones that do are often not the best smelling or cleanest looking.  That’s more the case with outdoor hawkers than indoor ones, because indoor hawkers are typically located in malls which have great restroom facilities.  Also, most hawker stalls have pictures on billboard style menus to help customers with the ordering process.  It helps in a lot of cases, but don’t let the pictures fool you.  Sometimes the food is better than it looks.  And well… sometimes it’s not.

During my first trip to Singapore in March of 2008 I avoided the hawker centers.  Like I said before, I considered them to be the ‘poor man’s’ choice and assumed I would find better food in sit down restaurants.  I was actually disappointed with my choices and wasn’t too impressed with the food offered in Singapore.  Later, my wife told me to stop being so damn picky and to eat at the hawker and I’m glad I did.

In closing, if you come to Singapore don’t fall into the trap that I initially did.  Don’t assume that price equates with quality or good taste when it comes to Singapore’s dining scene.  If you come to Singapore and don’t try the hawker food you’re going to be missing out on most of the best of what Singapore has to offer.

Sakura, Delicious Buffet

Bradley Farless1 Comment

Sakura is a sushi and grill buffet style restaurant.  Typically, when a person says a restaurant is not to be missed it’s really classy or has a great signature dish, but in this case Sakura is all around great food at a reasonable price.  You pay 25 SGD at the door, are shown to a table, and then you’re free to pick and choose from everything that’s on display.

There are rows of sushi, cooked shellfish, soups, grilled items, and desserts.  There’s enough to choose from that you couldn’t sample everything in one sitting, even if you were frugal with your servings.  I haven’t found anything there that I haven’t liked either.

One of the interesting things about Sakura is their grill system.  Your table has a little stand on it with numbered clips that correlate to what table you’re sitting at.  You take these clips with you to the grill and then clip them to posts next to example dishes.  Later, you food will be brought to your table when they’re ready.

I’ve been to both the Orchard location and the Pasir Ris location, which is where we went this time, and I have to say that the Pasir Ris location is more appealing to me.  The Orchard location has a darker ambiance and might be better for a date, where the Pasir Ris location is more brightly lit and seems more suitable for large groups of people, parties and groups of friends.  It also has a children’s area with toys and a TV playing cartoons.  I could see the TV from where we were sitting so I was able to enjoy some Tom & Jerry episodes with my dinner.

Like I said before, Sakura offers a great deal on the price for what you’re getting.  The food is all good quality.  Also, if you pick and choose right, you’ll likely end up eating more than your money’s worth.  That brings me to something funny that happened during our trip there.  My wife told me to enjoy the sashimi but to go light on the sushi, since it’s coupled with rice and rice will fill you up fast.  It’s good advice.  If you’re going to an all you can eat buffet, why fill up on a staple food when you can instead enjoy the better food that’s on offer?  While I was standing at the bar thinking about what to get another lady was reminding her son of the same thing: “Don’t get a bunch of rice!  We can eat that at home!”  Oddly enough, I did see a woman pile up two plates with nothing but fried rice.

Here are a few pictures of what’s on the menu.  Pardon the quality.  I forgot my camera.

A shot of some of the sushi to be had.

The roast duck with the sauce on it is great!  Also, that skewered thing in the back was one of my favorites. It’s fried squid (or octopus) legs.  I’m not sure how they get them so crunchy, but I could eat them all day.

Black pepper lamb from the grill.

Wagyu beef from the grill.

Skewered octopus leg.  It’s great when dipped in the sauce it comes with.  Also an item from the grill.

The shellfish in the back right is slipper lobster.  I’d seen them before on TV and in aquariums, but I’d never actually had one before trying it at Sakura.  It’s not bad at all.  I wish I’d had some coctail sauce for dipping it though.

I can’t recall the name of this veggie, but it’s delicious.  I think it’s fried in butter and garlic.  It must be pretty popular because when my wife went to order it from the grill there were a lot of clips on its post.

A small plate of dessert to finish off the meal.  By the time I started eating this I was so full I wasn’t sure I’d be able to finish it.  The cheesecakes at Sakura are some of the best I’ve had in Singapore.  I suppose it’s because they’re so similar to what I’m used to in the US.  The mochi were great too!  If you’ve never had mochi, I don’t know how to explain the taste to you, but it’s well worth it to try them.  My favorite was the pinkish one.  It has a red bean paste inside.