Happy new year!!

My laptop is down lately, but do stay tuned when I am back in action early January, as there will be more exciting posts on the way.

Nevertheless, happy new year to all of you. May you have a fruitful 2010 ahead.


Stay hungry :)
Gavin

Swirl Gelateria (CLOSED)

In Italian, gelato literally means "frozen". This Italian variant of ice cream which differs in many ways from the conventional ice cream. Ingredient wise, the former has a lower fat content hence makes a healthier choice for frozen dessert lovers.

Indoor

18 flavours to choose from
With 18 flavours to choose from, which is your favourite?

Toppings
Even more topping choices, each at $0.50 only.

Pure Chocolate + Irish Cream
My double scoop of Pure Chcolate and Irish Cream. The chocolate was rich in texture and flavour, while the liquor amount was not too strong for my tastebuds. Eat them fast as they melt away quicker than you think.

Try their renowned durina flavoured gelato. Though I have not the privilige to taste it yet, rumors has it that its taste is legendary that a wipe out is guaranteed before it can even reach the front counter.

For more information, do visit their website here.

Kids Corner

Merry Christmas to all!


Swirl Gelateria
557 Bukit Timah Road
#01-04/05 Crown Centre
Business Hours: Sun-Thu, 11am - 10pm
Fri-Sat, 11am - 11pm
Tel: 6464 6180

Once Upon A Milkshake

Opened only a mere three months ago, OUAM has garnered plenty of praise on HungryGoWhere. I dropped by this place on a weekday afternoon and somehow found myself in a more light-hearted mood upon entering the simply but vibrantly furnished joint. Don't the purple-and-white walls and miniature furniture remind you of a children playroom?

Milkshakes aren't good for your teeth or your waistline, so I decided to stick to the safe side. One mini Agent Strawberry for me, please.

I, an aquaholic, was delighted by the presence of a free-flow mineral water dispenser! After helping myself to a cup, I seated myself on a bench and enjoyed the peaceful ambiance of the joint- only occupied by five other patrons, it being 3pm on a weekday- while waiting for the cheery cashier to serve my order.

One sip of this milkshake left me certain that OUAM prepared its strawberry ice cream from fresh strawberries. I was initially surprised by how dense the shake was, but soon realized that this allowed me to pause between sips and enjoy the most of my shake without worrying about it melting away. Its viscosity soon grew on me though- I found myself relishing the thick and creamy shake. Thick milkshakes are served on default, but you can request for your milkshake to be thinner.

However, it was the lip-smackingly delicious tangy strawberry flavor of this shake that left the deepest impression on me. Kudos to the people who concocted this flavor- Agent Strawberry has definitely cracked the key to my affections!

OUAM also sells pints of ice cream for $10.50 each, and has also launched a lite brownie and ice cream combo ($5.50). What excellent ideas!

I'll be back to try the other flavors. Grumbling Raisins, here I come!

Yoguru

After having Yami Yogurt recently, I'm becoming quite a fan of frozen yogurt. I just love its refreshingly icy yet creamy texture! In addition, it's low in calories too, making for a healthy snack.

Yoguru has set up a stall in the basement of Raffles City, saving customers the trouble of travelling to the far-thrown Kallang Leisure Park. The friendly staff at the counter readily offered me a sample. Wow, it was quite a generous portion, at least when it comes to samples...

One lick and I was won over by its milkiness. I ordered a small cup of mixed-flavored yogurt ($4.10) which was actually quite large, especially since the staff accidentally swirled too much fro-yo into the cup. Lol...


Regular serving of mixed-flavor froyo

While the sweet-tasting YoguBliss didn't remind me of dragonfruit and pomegranate, it was delicious all the same. Alternate it with spoonfuls of mildly tangy Original-flavored yogurt to get the best of both worlds. However, one quibble about Yoguru's yogurt is that it is slightly powdery.

Nevertheless, I've got to declare myself a fan of Yoguru!

Will be trying Red Mango next time!

Update: I had froyo at the Raffles City outlet again and the texture is now closer to that from the Kallang outlet. Hooray!

Yoguru
#B1-55 Raffles City Shopping Centre

Riyadh Muslim Food

Located in an industry park, a number of this canteen’s patrons are factory workers who are seeking a quick bite. Being a blur sotong, I forgot to request for my prata to be freshly made on the spot as advised during my first visit.
Ever twisted your cutlery trying to tear your prata into bite-size pieces? You won’t face this problem here. It was crispy, fluffy and outstandingly flaky, meeting all the hallmarks of a good prata. More of these please!
During my second visit, one of my two pratas (this time round, they're freshly made) veered towards slightly doughy, chewy side though. At just 70 cents each for the kosong (plain) version, I will definitely pop over for a stellar prata fix when I have the time!

Perhaps due to the low human traffic, the curry that was served along with the prata wasn’t warm enough. After having some of my prata with sugar too- a childhood practice of mine, since I was intolerant of spicy foods when I was younger- I concluded that I prefer to have my prata by itself! How about you?

Riyadh Muslim Food
Blk 32, Defu Lane 10
Stall 12, Soon Soon Lai Eating House
Opening hours: 6.30am to 7pm daily, closed on the last Wednesday of each month

Checkers Deli

After a satisfying lunch at La Strada, we met up with the other group of bloggers for yet another round of dessert indulgence.

At first we were turned down by the 'NO PHOTOGRAPHY' policy at Caffe Cova. Little affected by the setback, our gourmet police quickly detected a strong signal on their good-eat radar. With course set, we marched on to our next destination - Checkers Deli at Hilton Hotel.

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Our standard line 'one each' didn't seem to work quite well here, as the number of cake selections simply out-numbered us all.

Our order didn't take long to arrive. There followed a non-stopped flash shower upon the cakes. No one remembered exactly how long this went on, but we were all glad about the fact that we were not on an ice cream outing.

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Showdown of their renowned cheesecakes: (From left) Marble Cheesecake, Blueberry Cheesecake and Walnut Cheesecake, all at $11.20 each.
I'm never a fan of cheesecakes, for the usual ones are just too rich to swallow. But the ones here were light enough for me to take a second bite.

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Lemon Tart - $8.85
The lemon jam tasted pretty fresh and refreshing, but it would be better if the crust was not so hard.

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Mixed Berries Tart - $8.85
Lesson learned - not all berries are sweet.

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Carrot Walnut - $8.85
The sugar frost went well with the soft carrot, and the walnut definitely enhanced the flavour and texture of the cake. And the little deco on the cake did kick in the Christmas mood.

Snicker’s Cake - $8.85
Snicker’s Cake - $8.85
The Snicker cake comes with layers of different ingredients. I decided one bite was enough as I have slight allergy to peanuts.

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Vanilla Chocolate Cake - $6.95
Men are naturally attracted by round-shaped objects, aren't they? Tough on the outside, this guy has got a soft filling of smooth mousse and vallina cream. Personally I think it would be just fine without the gold foil.

Hazelnut Royaltine - $8.85
Hazelnut Royaltine - $8.85
Do you like dark chocolate? If so, you have to try their hazelnut royalitine. In fact this was my person favourite. The sweet and crispy hazelnut praline formed a perfect combination with the bitter dark chocolate mousse and soft sponge in the centre. How savoury...

These are the amazing food bloggers present in the event:
Harris from the simplest aphrodisiac
Daniel from memoirs of food
Phoebe and Chloe from the food chapter
Elaine from divine essential
Kaelyn from my food sirens
Justin from J2K3blogs

Do check out what they have to say about this outing.


Checkers Deli
581 Orchard Road
Hilton Singapore Hotel
Business Hours: Daily, 10am - 8pm
Tel: 6730 3392

La Strada

This is not my 1st time I patronised restaurant under the Les Amis Group's. My last visit to Bistro du Vin (next door) has been a tasteful and memorable one.

Whose hands were those?

Most of us chose their $28++ 2-course set lunch (include starter and main) for we all knew that more desserts were awaiting us elsewhere.

Bread with Olive Oil
Complimentary toasted bread with olive oil

Duo of Crostini
Duo of Crostini
It came with 2 slices of toasted bread, each topped with a different spread. Since this was not my choice of starter, Serene was generous enough to offer me some of her Pork Ragu. The herb mixed with minced pork together left behind a somewhat indescribable aftertaste.

Cream of Apple and Carrot
Soup of the Day - Cream of Apple and Carrot
Nothing particular that I liked about this soup, except it kicked back memories about my home cooked apple soup. I kinda regretted not picking the highly commended Duo of Crostini.

Smoked Salmon Mesclun Salad
Smoked Salmon Mesclun Salad
This was Kaelyn's off-the-menu salad. Pretty as it appeared, we were all happily shooting away and it did take a while for her to realize it was a wrong order. Acknowledging their mistake, the service staff offered their sincere apologies and the dish was immediately sent back to the kitchen.

Tuna with Mesclun Salad
Tuna with Mesclun Salad
Before long, the proper dish arrived.

Fire-wooded Pizza
Fire-wooded Pizza
While waiting for our main courses to arrive, one of the waitstaff kindly offered us some slices of their fire-wooded pizza. The lingering woody flavour complemented well its tomato and herb paste.

Char Grilled 70 day Grain-fed Beef Sirloin
Char Grilled 70 day grain-fed Beef Sirloin, mesclun Sald, cream potatoes
My instinct told me to go for medium rare, for anything beyond that would not do justice to the 70 day tender meat. Ahh... This sirloin steak must be the best steak I had in the recent years.

Pan-fried Salmon with Mesclun Salad
Pan-fried Salmon with mesclun salad, roasted new potatoes

Tart of the Day
Tart of the Day
If you are to go for their 3-course set, it comes with a dessert, choice of sorbet, tart of the day or tiramisu.

Madeleines
Madeleines
To wrap up our lunch, we were offered some of their mini Madeleines, fresh from the oven. Neither too sweet nor buttery, these yummy treats just went well with our complimentary tea or coffee. Very thoughtful of them indeed.

La Strada

Apart from their comforting bistro fare, classy yet casual ambience, I must say I was pleasantly impressed by their service standard. The service staff was not just knowledgable of the menu, but Italian cuisine as a whole. My little world of this cuisinary branch has expanded far beyond just spaghetti and pizza.

It was my pleasure to be at the same table with a group of food connoisseurs. They were Daniel, Serene, Kaelyn, Justin and his lovely mum.

Do check out their reviews at the followings:

Justin J2K3blogs.com

Kaelyn My Food Sirens

Daniel Memoirs of Food


La Strada
1 Scotts Road
#02-10/11 Shaw Centre
Business Hours: Lunch, 11:30am - 2:30pm
Dinner, 6.30pm - 9.30pm
Tel: 6737 2555

Happy Holidays From Europe

I am now in Venice, Italy where the temperature is a freezing 7 degrees!

Sparkling or Still will be returning in 2010 with a special food spread from Europe.

Enjoy your holidays!

And Merry Christmas!



Homemade Pancakes I

The following recipe produced pancakes which were as good as those that I made from Morinaga's pre-mix. Their interior did not have the deliciously dense but fluffy texture of the latter though, perhaps cos I did not overmix the batter as much as I usually do this time. Still, they were a joy to gobble down.

While they were decent on their own, the pancakes which I had added banana slices to were simply etheral. I literally went bananas over the slight alcoholic taste of the beautifully caramelized, creamy slices. The banana pancakes that I had previously made were never so divine! I think it's because I used Dole bananas instead of those from Del Monte (:


Simple Pancakes
Serves 4 (Makes 8 pancakes)

Ingredients:
1.5 cups all-purpose flour
3 tbsp sugar
3 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
290ml milk
2 large Dole bananas, ripe, sliced (optional)
Butter
Maple syrup

Directions:
1. Mix flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.
2. In a separate bowl, beat then eggs, then mix in the milk. Pour mixture into the dry ingredients.
3. Mix well without over-mixing too much (barely any small lumps should remain). Leave to set for 10 minutes.
4. Give the batter a few stirs. Melt a small amount of butter in a frying pan over low heat. Scoop about two ladles of batter, top with banana slices if desired and cover with a lid (with a steam opening).
5. About two minutes later, flip the pancake and cover the frying pan. The original bottom side should be golden. But do watch out for burning!
6. Fry the other side for about a minute. The new bottom side should have pale, thin streaks of brown.
7. Top with butter and maple syrup and serve immediately.

Sapporo Ramen Miharu

Bar seatings
Ask any ramen fan which part of Japan produces the best ramen, Sapporo should be the first to come to his or her mind. Not only shio ramen was first invented there, people in Japan often associate Sapporo with its rich miso ramen, which is ideal for Hokkaido's harsh cold winter.

This was my first time visit to Miharu in spite of the numerous positive reviews on it. My previous bid to locate the place was an unsuccessful one.

日替わり肉野菜炒め - $4.50
日替わり肉野菜炒め - $4.50
This was a local dish rather than a Japanese one. I was slightly disappointed. Nevertheless, it tasted good.

北海道焼き餃子(肉)- $6.00
北海道焼き餃子(肉)- $6.00

Gyoza is almost the next must-have at any ramen place. At Miharu, its owner takes pride in his gyoza that there is even a gyoza corner set aside next door.

特選みそ - $13.00
特選みそ - $13.00

Perhaps this is how it is supposed be like in Japan during cold season, the soup was too oily for my companion's liking.

特選とん塩 - $12.50
特選とん塩 - $12.50

As for me, I loved my ramen with its robust pork broth. The noodle was springy and chewy, the broth was rich and flavoursome. I was glad that I ordered extra noodle (for $3.00). I managed to slurp up the soup. Satisfying indeed.

Having been to many ramen places, I must say Miharu has the best ramen so far.

Apart from the seven ramens available on the menu, there is another menu 濃厚魚介ダシラーメン (seafood broth served with premium quality noodle) at only $14.00 to reward the loyalty of its patrons as well as ramen enthusiasts. While it's limited to the first 20 customers daily only, be there early to avoid disappointment.


札幌らあめん 美春
1 Nanson Road
#01-11 The Gallery Hotel
Business Hours: Daily, 12pm - 3pm, 6pm - 9pm (Closed on Wednesdays)
Tel: 6733 8464

The Pancake War: Breakfast at Superdog

I finally got around to having breakfast at Superdog, which is available at their White Sands and Vivocity outlets everyday from 7.30am to 11.30am.

I had intended to try out their Banana Walnut Pancakes after receiving some discount coupons at the Vivocity outlet several weeks ago, but was disappointed to find that the kitchen had not commenced operations even though it was already 9am. However, I was glad to receive a prompt and warm reply to my feedback email from the company's CEO himself! (It was due to a one-off misunderstanding between the managers.)

The pancakes were freshly cooked on the spot, so I had to wait a while for my order to served. Not that I'm complaining, for the service was prompt enough. Here's another relieving piece of news for diners who don't take hot coffee like me- they serve complimentary iced water. In proper coffee cups, not in flimsy little plastic containers.

My Banana Walnut Pancakes ($3, U.P. $4.50) came with SCS butter and a small container of syrup- supposedly maple syrup, but it wasn't fragrant enough. Bananas taste fantastic with pancakes, so no complaints here, even though I felt that the banana slices were a tad overcooked and hence sticky. The small walnut bits encased inside also added an enjoyable texture contrast to the fluffy pancakes. However, the plain parts of the pancakes were kind of bland- I probably won't give their plain pancakes a try then.

How do Superdog's pancakes compare to McDonald's Hotcakes? The former is thicker (about one and a half times as thick) and fluffier, while the latter leans towards the softer side. Also, the pancakes from Superdog actually filled me up till lunchtime- McDonald's version oddly leaves my tummy feeling empty after a while, probably 'cos it has a higher glycemic index.

Superdog also sells Chocolate Chip Pancakes, Bacon & Egg Multigrain Sandwiches and Ham & Cheese Multigrain Sandwiches. I might give the latter two a try the next time. Overall, their pancakes are okay but the ones I make at home are better haha.

Superdog
White Sands #01-22

Sushi Yoshida @ Devonshire Road

Sushi Yoshida was not our 1st choice for lunch. Wanted to eat at Barstop which is next to Sushi Yoshida, but it was not opened for lunch.

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The restaurant was quite empty. Chefs were busy cooking and preparing food, most likely for dinner crowd.

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The restaurant is situated between SPC petrol station and SingTel comcentre. It is like a small box squashed in between 2 buildings.

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Onsen Tamago - The egg white is still in liquid for but the yolk is already solidified. A simple yet satisfying appetizer.

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Unatamadon (S$30) - Grilled sliced eel with omelette over rice. Didn't think this dish was good. Perhaps the unagi was better on its own than mixed with the egg omelette.

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Pickled cucumbers and radish. The cucumbers were nice, and the radish tasted like a super big chunk of chai-por.

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Ebi Tendon (S$27) - Prawn tempura over rice. The 4 crispy prawn tempura were good, but then I feel that the prawn tempuras at Waraku were much better, especially the ones at the Marina Square branch. But still, the Ebi Tendon was much better than the Unagi one.

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Clear soup - This is the fish stock. It was steaming hot. Not much fish meat as most of it were fish bones. Soup was sweet though.

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Juicy sweet watermelon slices.


Sushi Yoshida
10 Devonshire Road
Tel: 6735 5014
Daily,
12noon – 2.15pm,
6pm – 12mn