All posts filed under: Places we ate at before we turned Vegan

The Marshmallow Tree @ Telok Blangah Drive – New Cafe Review

Published by Beatrice

Coffee Quality: 6/10 Value for Money: 7/10 (Cuppa for $4.50) Service: 7/10 The Marshmallow Tree has just opened for 4 months now. It is in a very quiet neighbourhood, and I think the low human traffic allows cheaper rental which means a spacious cafe! The owners put in a lot of thought and effort into the cafe decor. When you enter the cafe, there is a swing for 2-3 to sit on to relax and enjoy the drinks. There is a big chalk wall on the left that is now Halloween-themed. On the right, there is a nice antiquey clock with lifestyle/travel shots. Right in the middle is this communal wooden table and benches. Overall, the cafe feels like an indoor chillout camping area on grass with aircon! There are 2 very cute box fake shrubs that welcome you at the door, which I think look like big versions of the marshmallows they will serve with every free drink. The Marshmallow Tree also tried to differentiate their cafe and coffee by serving a roasted marshmallow with …

Everton Food Trail – Just Want Coffee, Traditional Ang Ku Kueh, Audacious Bakery

Published by Beatrice

Everton Park has become quite a happening place since our dear JM opened up Nylons in the neighbourhood. btw, Nylons Coffee is my Hubbubu’s favourite coffee in Singapore, and definitely one of our favourites; we even used them for our wedding! I will write another entry on them on my next visit! Back to today’s post. As our dear friend, Mr D, named it, this post shall be titled the Everton Food Trail because a lot of hippy cool places have popped up there. This trail comprises: 1) Just Want Coffee – coffee place, doh. 2) Traditional Ang Ku Kueh – looks crowded but didn’t try this round 3) Audacious Bakery – one of the best cakes in Singapore. I would tie them with K-ki 4) Grin Affair – looks like ice cream place but haven’t tried! Also not calling this a review because I will write again when I have been back to try everything! The Everton neighbourhood with cool corridors 1) Just Want Coffee  (6/10) Typical hippee cafe with raw, grungy walls and …

Le Chasseur 食乐轩 @ Eunos – Tzechar Review

Published by Beatrice

Food Quality: 8/10 Value for Money: 8.5/10 (~$20/pax) Service: 7.5/10 I must admit, when I first read the food review on Ladyironchef, it was Le Chasseur‘s name that got me! I thought it was some French food and wondered why it was under her Tzechar list. After a while, I realized, perhaps the way to pronounce it accurately in the local way is “Le Char Siew”. So it got N and I curious, so we actually went to New Bridge road to look for it! It turned out they moved and we ended up trying Songfa Bak Kut Teh. Yea, so do note they have moved to Eunos and I managed to get my parents to try it with us in the end! Spacious, bright, clean environment at Eunos, with classical music in background It will look like you are approaching a food centre in the middle of the industrial area. Don’t worry – that is the right spot, but Le Chasseur managed to renovate the place so it looks spacious and clean. There is …

Keng Eng Kee Seafood Restaurant 琼荣记海鲜 @ Alexandra Village – Tzechar Review

Published by Beatrice

Food Quality: 8/10 Value for money: 9/10 (4 of us ate for $50!) Service: 8/10 (Food served in <5mins!) Parents-in-law are finally back in town so we went to try out this tzechar place new to us. This is a very clean coffee shop that spans across 2 blocks. One section has air-conditioning and the other which we sat in is the al-fresco coffee shop style.  This restaurant is also known for its Salted Egg Yolk Crab, but we wanted something simple, so we went for the below dishes which were overall flavourful and very good value for money. Definitely good for bringing parents and grandparents for a family meal. 1) My favourite in this meal – Mingzhu Roll (明珠卷) This is their signature dishes and it is really unique. It comprises salted egg yolk, mushrooms, ham and prawn nicely blended and fried in beancurd skin. It’s richly flavoured and oily, as you can imagine, so I started to “jelat” after 1 piece though it is very tasty. The lady ordering was smart enough to ask …

Makko Teck Neo @ Telok Blangah – Nyonya Food Review

Published by Beatrice

Food Quality: 7/10 Value for Money: 8.5/10 Service: 8/10 It was my dad who first discovered this cosy Perankan Nyonya cafe at Telok Blangah void deck. He said his colleagues who loved Malay and Nyonya food introduced it to him and is very authentic, and apparently, there is always a very long queue for Makko Teck Neo pineapple tarts during Chinese New Year! Makko Teck Neo is a cosy cafe that attempts to re-enact the old Singapore coffee-shop feel, but with aircon. It uses the old school marble-like-table-top and brown bamboo-like chairs.  There is indoor and outdoor sitting and usually isn’t too crowded. Overall for the food, I am not sure if it is because it is Nyonya style, but everything is kind of sweet. So if you like more savoury dishes, probably not your kind of food style. To be fair, I think they are known for pineapple tarts, traditional kuehs and rice dumplings which I see a lot of people buying so you might want to try those on top of the dishes, …

Song Fa @ New Bridge Road – Bak Kut Teh Review

Published by Beatrice

Food Quality: 7.5/10 Value for Money: 6.5/10 Service: 7/10 Song Fa Bak Kut Teh (BKT) is perpetually crowded whenever we passed it on New Bridge Road. We actually went to New Bridge to look for Le Chasseur but realized it has moved to Eunos so we ended up trying BKT. I can see why this is a tourist attraction – the decor of the place makes the place look historical, but cleaner version of course. It has a mezzanine where they put in fake windows that is reminiscence of Singapore’s humble shop houses of the past. The Bak Kut Teh is pepper-based (not herbal). We ordered the Premium Loin Ribs which were tender, good chewy texture and not too fatty. Enjoyed the soup as it was spicy but not till your tongue goes numb. Would say my top 10 in Singapore but not my favourite (which I will save for another post). Pig’s Organ soup was well done. I usually do not like it as the ingredients tend to have strong innards taste if not cleaned …

French Ladle! – Special Bistro Review

Published by Beatrice

“I want to be a social entrepreneur!” “I want to run my own company and make my first million by 30.” I am pretty sure many of us have heard these comments or even utter them ourselves. But how many of us are actually willing to plan and make sacrifices to achieve what we say we want to achieve? Today’s bistro entry is special because “French Ladle” is one of my closest friend’s dream since secondary school. Miss L has been talking about opening a café since we were 13! And I admire her boldness in quitting her corporate job a few years ago to pursue culinary arts in Sunrice academy. Her first startup in a hawker setting did not take off, but she didn’t give up. Instead, she persevered through really tough uncertain times to finally open the French bistro café concept she has always wanted- French Ladle at 2 Pandan Valley  597626. She epitomizes one of the reasons why I started this blog – to encourage and remind all of us that if …

Jewel Cafe and Bar – Cafe Review

Published by Beatrice

Coffee: 7.5/10 Value for money: 7/10 Service: 8.5/10 Address: 129 Rangoon Road We have been to Jewel a couple of times and have had nice long chats with the owner. So on Friday, I swinged by on the way back to office to grab cuppas for my team. Personally prefer Nylons and Broers but still very good coffee quality for everyday drinking. Also nice ambience for those looking for quiet place to work or study. Convenient as its relatively near Farrer Park MRT.

Beng Hiang @ Amoy – Restaurant Review

Published by Beatrice

Good Quality: 8.5/10 Value for Money: 9/10 Service: 6.5/10 (no one wanted to sit us despite having made a reservation and all 4 waitresses refused to take a photo for us. very typical old chinese restaurant service 🙁 ) Last week was my dad’s birthday, and my parents usually prefer chinese food for celebrations. My new DG just went to a 35 year old restaurant, Beng Hiang, and said it was really good value for money so decided to try out the acclaimed best Hokkien restaurant in Singapore! First up – Fish Maw Thick Soup with Crab Meat (蚧肉鱼鳔羹) Yummylicious – 8.5/10. It had a lot of ingredients in it… we all dug in so fast I actually forgot to take photo until the bottom of my bowl so forgive the bad shot. Can taste the real crab meat, fish maw with superb viscosity.  Next up – Braised White Cabbage (with Chinese vinegar) 红烧白菜 My favourite for the night – 9/10! Cabbage was soft but fibrous. There were these fried fish bits that added good texture …

The Ascot @ Grandstand – Restaurant Review

Published by Beatrice

Food Type: British Food Quality: 7.5/10 Value for Money: 8/10 (Only with AMEX Palate promotion, otherwise I think it’s pricey) Service: 9/10 I like the Ascot restaurant ambience for its relative silence to the rest of Grandstand, which was quite crowded on a Sunday night. So it made for good catchup location with S, an old friend I met on exchange in Vancouver almost a decade ago now. Started the evening with chillout drinks. We tried the Dead Pony Club – a pale Californian ale which is extremely floral in smell, but very bitter in taste. I would say, not a very usual girly drink but I would recommend you at least try to smell it. It’s amazingly scented. The server (I assume the owner) was friendly and was very open to letting us taste the beer on tap before serving us. Also tried the Brothers Toffee Apple Cider for the first time. One of the sweetest ciders I ever had as you can imagine, and I loved the caramel-toffee apple. Highly recommend for girls …