Old World Series 2: Back to my hainanese roots.

decided that since I'm talking about old school delights, 

I thought I'll share about Ya Kon down at Purvis street. 

I'm pretty sure many foodies would have known abt this lovely place 

( I'm assuming) 

and a part of me wanted very much to keep this place a secret and pretend that everyone else know about it. 

But anyhows, here goes: 

First Word: aunthentic hainanese good fare. If you liked golden mile steamboat, 

you'll love this place. 

When I first step through the door,

I really thought I step back in time. 

( sth like narnia)

everyone was speaking in hainanese

we were there for the chicken rice,

but quickly decided on the steamboat too! 

ps: the menu has no pricing, they'll just proportion everything according to the number of people and then charge you accordingly.

The chicken rice is really fragrant 

and the chicken reminded me

very much of grandpa, and how I use to squat beside him as he chop the chicken, pleading for a drumstick. 

You see, the hainanese typed chicken is different from that of the cantonese.

There's less oil and seasoning ,

Cantonese type chicken rice has more seasame oil. 

We paid $33.60 for the meal, including a barley. 

it's comparable to that of golden mile.

just that the service is less welcoming. 

they are perpetually  stony-faced no matter how enthusiastic you are in engaging them. 

and they don serve you hainanese tea during the peak hours at night. 

( only the boss get to drink) 

ps: chicken is sold out by 8.30, so yeah,

do come early to avoid disappointment.

on a side note,

to reward yourself for putting up with the stony faces,

Hope down to Jai Thai for awesome 

mango sticky rice! ( just next door) 

till then,

love 

S. 

Old World Series 1: OSD

right now I'm down at creme. 

one awkward Saturday where I decided not to do any work. 

it's a rarity, considering that I do work at least on 2 of my weekends. 

In all honesty, a part of me feel like kicking myself for not bringing something work related down here while waiting for the boy to get his hair cut. 

instead I'm reading Cleo ( last I touched it, I was still in Uni) and sipping on green tea. 

come to think of it, this week I haven being doing much work. 

the colleagues went on a retreat tgt on Thursday afternoon during our meeting slot. 

Old school delight at Upper Thomson.

First Word: 

good service, cozy and nice local fare:) 

needless to say I fell in love with the warm and quirky decor and the fact that I get to write my orders on a whiteboard!

the food was pretty awesome! 

these are just some of the food we got for ourselves to share.

the kueh pie tee is a MUST TRY. 

macaroni was alright only,

but the Mee Siam is really good!! 

It's definitely more ex than the local fares you get at the hawker centers. 

but for the env. $5.80/mee Siam is still quite okay. 

we also had ( not in the pictures) 

lemon cake , really refreshing and light 

sticky chewy chocolate cake, which is too sweet for my liking

and curry chicken too! 

It was a really satisfying afternoon lunch treat by the seniors. :) 

right now. 

I'm just telling myself to relax and breathe. 

not to feel guilty for not doing work.

and just enjoy the Singapore Night Festival :) 

will blog more when I'm back from the event!:) 

till then,

lets continue breathing. 

[put in maximum effort, 

be firm] 

 

Food: Jamie - Naked Cuisine

hi everyone, it's been a long while and T and I are deeply apologetic about it.

seems like we are 2 individuals who can't seem to manage our time well. bummers 

nevertheless, during the hiatus,

we definitely did not stop our hunt for food. 

we explored, 

and so we thought we share one of our latest find to welcome us back from our 'break'

Over the long weekend, 

T and I together with his papa, mama and sis visited Jamie's Italian.

yup! it is indeed the very much anticipated arrival of the naked chef, 

which sees current online reservation fully booked for the month of September. Walk in guests ? - be prepared for a long wait. 

First Word : Small serving. Come for the mains and desserts. Not so sure about the ravioli :( 

I suppose that's my main take away from Jamie's Italian. 

The serving size of 1 is insufficient to fill 

the stomachs of an average Asian girl like me, much less that of a full grown T who stands at 1.87m. 

We ended up have a huge supper down at Changi Village.: 

Anyways, I'm here to talk about Jamie. So.. Jamie it shall be:

1. Starters. 

We ordered 3 starters to share amongst the 5 of us. 

A. Fried Squid

Nicely fried and paired with red chili. A smarty Asian fusion of salt and pepper.

Taste very much like the friend squids I'll get from crystal jade kitchen.

Nothing spectacular , just very nice :) 

B. Bread Platter accompanied with balsamic and olive oil.

Mind you, I'm a big bread / carbo fan. Most Italian restaurants serve you this for free,

and since we paid for this bread platter, 

we definitely were expecting something exciting. 

So there were 7 different types and one of each type ( okay fine, usually restaurants only serves 1 type of bread but still its in in multiple slices and it's free!!) 

Still, to give it the due credit, 

I enjoyed the different type of bread. it's interesting. and a good choice to share among like 4 - 5 ppl?

maybe not for 2, that's too much carb before your mains.:) 

C. The last starter: POSH CHIPS

nicely deep fried potato with skins in truffle oil and mozzarella cheese:) 

very tasty, doesn leave behind an oily after taste and it's salty! ( just very small serving )

2. THE PASTAS.  

I was really looking forward to their pastas, and I thought I'll give my 2 cents worth abt it.

T's mom : Prawn Linguine. 

Serving size is just right. interesting tomato sauce based, but that's that. a very simple dish

T's sis: tuna fusilli . another tomato based pasta. what was Interesting is the bread crumbs that give you an additional crunch in every bite.

MINE: STUFFED MUSHROOM RAVIOLI. 

I chose the $18 serving which the waitress said was suitable for 1-2 people to share. 

Yet, what arrived was just 7 pieces of ravioli and I tasted more flour than mushroom in every bite :( 

the overall taste of the dish is good, but the serving size is just too little to be satisfying :( 

3. The Mains 

First word: a little pricey but tasty

T's dad: Lamb Chops. Really well done. 

As you can see, there's a nice infusion

of Asian spices in the dish. 

I thought it's e best of all the dishes that we tired that day.

T's main: Baked catch of the day. The fish was really well cooked, it's moist and chewy. Still, we are not used the taste, the sauce was a lil bland for us.

4. Desserts 

We ordered 2 desserts to share : 

Lemon Menrigue : I really love the taste of the Menrigue. It's zesty without being overly sour. However, it'll be better if the crust is thicker. 

Tiramisu: I know it doesn look as good as the usuals, but it tastes really nice. it's really moist and has a nice taste of the rum.

In short, 

We had a Nice experience at Jamie's 

good service, 

the food is only passable 

serving size is too small.. 

we spent around $180 for 5. 

It's good to give it a try to say hi to the famous Naked Chef.

But I was just disappointed that it wasn't wow. 

Tip: If you are intending to come in big group? -- please make a reservation? 

       If you are intending to queue, approach the staff and tell them the number of pax and await their instruction. That day, we simply joined the queue for an hour only to arrive at the door, telling us that we have to wait for another 2 hours before they can seat our table of 5. You definitely do not wish to have to go through the process of reasoning. It will just ruin your mood and your impression of the place before you even order. )