Time flies when you are having fun and now we are into term 2 of school weeks where the boy needs to prepare himself the primary school leaving exam (PSLE) in another 6 months time. To me it seems just not long ago that I shared a post on 2015 March school holiday and here is another a new post for this year memories.
Not much of adventures for this year school break because the boy still goes for his tuition classes as usual. But despite of the rather "boring" schedule we managed to go for some food fun, catch up two movies and explore one of the new nature reserve near Punggol Park. Below is our journal for the week which I pen down as a memory to look back.
SATURDAY, 12 MARCH 2016
[Damn Nice Scissors Curry Rice] Array of dishes that they served
Finally this weekend we decided to get our brunch fix at one of the coffee shop at Ubi Road. You must be wondering, "Ubi"! Why go all the way to such "ulu place" (more of an industrial park area) instead of shopping malls or eateries in town. The reason was because the boy missed the pork cutlet rice from Damn Nice Scissors Cut Curry Rice which has being relocated months back from Chinatown market to Ubi Road.
Like most of the curry rice stall they have similar items like deep-fried pork cutlet, ngoh hiang, chicken curry, array of stir-fry vegetables and etc. We ordered 3 servings with dishes such as fried pork & chicken cutlet, sambal brinjal, curry, homemade ngoh hiang and oath plus some green vegetables for a total of $11.80.
Our verdict: Very homely type of dishes which reminds you of mum's cooking and the pricing is also quite reasoning at about an average of $4.00 per person.
Opening Hours:
10.00am - 7.00pm (Mon - Fri)
10.00am - 4.00pm (Sat) Closed on Sundays and Public Holidays
~~~ CONEY ISLAND PARK ~~~
After lunch we have an impromptu trip to Coney Island (also known as Pulau Serangoon) which is a 50-hectare eco-park that opens to public access in October 2015. The park is connected to the mainland by two bridges via either Punggol (west entrance) or Pasir Ris Coast Industrial Park 6 (east entrance to lorong halus wetland).
[Coney Island Park] Site Map
[Coney Island Park] Park History
Since there are no physical booklets on the park info, you can reference to the site map and history of the park near the entrance gates for more details. Meanwhile you can also snap a photo of the park map to help you move around the park easily.
[Coney Island Park] Bird Watching
[Coney Island Park] Encounter with nature
We entered the park via west entrance at Punggol but we did not finished the whole trail and only managed to complete the route until Beach B. As we came unprepared (both attires and belongings) as well the hot afternoon weather we decided to stop mid-way and make another visit again with bike which we think it will make it easier to access around the park.
We covered a few areas such as:
- Casuarina Exploration Playground which made from timber of uprooted casuarina trees;
- Bird Watching hideout for visitors to get an up-close encounter with the 80 species of birds in the park;
- Beach A & B allow visitors to take rest at the logs, enjoy the sea breeze and perhaps a lovely picnic area;
- Lalang Field which is one of the best photographic site.
To explore the park from Point A to B which is about 2.4km (one-way), I will advice you to rent a bike at one of the bicycle kiosks (about $8/hour) at Punggol Settlement.
Or else you need to a few hours to to complete the trail on foot. Oh ya if you are lucky you might spot some wild animals such as monkey or even the famous "Brahman" roaming around the area.
Coney Island Park can be easily access:
BY CAR: Drive to Punggol Settlement at Punggol Road End and park at the outdoor public carpark. Walk past the restaurants and shops and follow the signboards leading to Coney Island (about 700m).
BY PUBLIC TRANSPORT: Take train to Punggol MRT, walk to Exit C to bus-interchange and board Bus 84 and alight at Punggol Road End. Walk towards the shops at Punggol Settlement and follow the signboards leading to Coney Island.
~~~ FAMILY GATHERING ~~~
In the evening we had a family gathering to celebrate cousin BMT POP (Passing Out Parade) together with his friends and classmates. The buffet catering was from FoodTalks with items such as cereal chicken, sweet & sour fish, fried rice, mixed vegetables with tofu , otah and longan glass jelly. Besides those aunt also cook a huge pot of chicken curry and agar agar (jelly) as add-on too.
FOODTALKS CATERER & MANUFACTURER
(Halal Certified)
Block 3015 Bedok North Street 5
#04-01 Shimei East Kitchen
Singapore 486350
Telephone: (+65) 6246 3369
Website: http://www.foodtalks.com.sg/
SUNDAY, 13 MARCH 2016
For Sunday dinner we went to try the tempura tendon from Tendon Ginza Itsuki which is the eighth new concept outlet by Ramen Keisuke's located at Tanjong Pagar area. This new 24-seater outlet offers two type of tendon such as Special and Vegetable which served with steamed egg (chawanmushi) and miso soup.
Even though we were there before 6.00pm, we still queue more than 45 minutes despite of the heavy downpour till we got our seats at 6.45pm. While waiting in the queue we saw complimentary tea near the entrance where patrons help themselves with it to quench the thirst.
Do check out their menu on your first visit so that when the serving staff approached you (they will take your order while you are in the queue) you can easily quote them your orders. Oh ya their drinks might be slightly pricey (SG$3.80 for a cup of hot green tea) but you can ask for warm or iced water which is complimentary.
[Tendon Ginza Itsuki] Vegetable Tendon
We ordered one each of the tendon such as:
Special Tendon (SG$13.90) serve with prawns (2 pieces), chicken (2 pieces), vegetables (4 pieces) and a fried tempura egg;
Vegetable Tendon (SG$12.90) serve with pumpkin, mushroom, egg plant, lotus root, leafy vegetables and etc (8 pieces in total).
[Tendon Ginza Itsuki] Special Tendon
Actually both the set comes with similar items of deep-fried tempura (except for prawn, chicken and fried egg on special tendon) over a bed of steaming hot rice and drizzling of their special sauce to form Ten-don (天丼).
[Tendon Ginza Itsuki] Complimentary Steamed Egg
[Tendon Ginza Itsuki] Free-flow of Pickles
Overall this tendon is worth the price with generous pieces of deep-fried tempura , complimentary cup of silky smooth steamed egg with small bites of chicken, fishcake and etc. But after eating about 2-3 pieces you might find it a bit greasy and the batter gets kind of soften due to the drizzling sauce too.
One downside of the visit is perhaps due to the ventilation of the place, you will smell like one of their"tempura" after leaving the shop. So if you are planning for an outing after that or go back to office you might want to do something about that.
We have being waiting for this movie for so long after it released in U.S during late January 2016 till now. Had being following the previous two series because we love "Po" and his hilarious act. This round things get more serious when he transform from a student to teacher to train a group of fun-loving, clumsy pandas to become martial-arts fighters. And there are a few touching scenes in it that makes me shear tears too.
~~~ LUNCH AT JACK'S PLACE ~~~
[Jack's Place] Daily Lunch Deal Menu
After the movie we took a train to Woodlands station to have lunch at Jack's Place which is located in Woodlands Civic Centre. They have this daily lunch deal shown above which available from 11am - 3.00pm with choices from seafood, pasta & steak.
[Jack's Place] Complimentary items for Daily Set Lunch
All lunch deals also comes with complimentary wholemeal garlic bread, soup of the day, dessert (rotate between cake and pudding) as well as coffee/tea to complete the meal.
[Jack's Place] Uncle Jack's Fish & Chips
[Jack's Place] Ribeye Steak and Uncle Jack's Fish & Chips
I took the lunch deal for N.Z Ribeye with Rosemary Sauce (SG$19.90) whereas the boy go for Uncle Jack's Fish and Chips (SG$13.50) in their a la carte menu. Although half portion of my steak was rather over cooked with tough and chewy bite but the fish and chips that the boy had was still good with crisp fries and nicely fried fish cutlet that is not too greasy.
~~~ BEEF BIBIMBAP~~~
For dinner since it was Monday, it's back to our usual "1-pot" dish so I prepared this quick and simple bibimbap using grass-feed minced beef which I bought earlier together with mushroom, kimchi, shredded carrot, cucumber and fried egg.
To prepare this dish, I just rinse the minced meat, drain well then saute it with some chopped onion. Before serving I season it with salt and pepper to taste then transfer over to a bowl of steaming hot rice.
To enhance the taste and make it more Korean feel we served the dish with a bottle of chill Makkoli (Korean rice wine). It was our first time trying this wine and while having it chill it has a smooth sweet aftertaste which quite similar to our homemade glutinous rice wine.
TUESDAY, 15 MARCH 2016
On Tuesday morning I bought the boy to checkout Craftsmen Specialty Coffee which is a new cafe located near Novena MRT, along the same stretch as Udder Ice-Cream facing United Square Mall. My aim to visit was due to their "salted egg croissant" which I saw from DanielFoodDiary's Instagram post. But too bad it was not available that morning so we end up having butter croissant instead.
[Craftsmen Specialty Coffee] Beverage Menu
[Craftsmen Specialty Coffee] Main Course Menu
Besides beverages like coffee and tea, Craftsmen also serve breakfast, brunch and dessert menu such as croissant sandwich, thick toast, sliced cakes, pastries, waffle and etc.
For something light before lunch we just grabbed a Butter Croissant (SG$3.90) to go with our coffee and hot chocolate. Although a good croissant is hard to find but the one that they served was still quite flaky and crisp. Flat White (SG$5.00) was smooth and not too creamy to taste but Hot Chocolate (SG$6.00) was rather bitter and rich for the boy.
After coffee break we went over to Novena Square Mall to shop around the malls as well as looking for lunch venue. And while tossing between ramen or fastfood, we saw an advertisement board on fried chicken with a family name "Jollibee"! At the moment our eyes were filled with excitement to try their famous fried chicken since we have heard many good reviews on it.
Jollibee is Philippines's favourite fried chicken shop and their new outlet at Novena Square 2 is located at one of the corner in level one near Taxi stand (used to be a Japanese pasta cafe). When we were there the queue was pretty long even though it was not lunch time yet. We ordered a 3-piece set menu (SG$9.50) that comes with fried chicken of your choice (spicy or original), a regular side (rice, fries or mashed potato) and drink.
Verdict: indeed their fried chicken is tender and juicy with a perfect layer of crispy batter that was not too greasy. The spicy flavour that we had was packed with reasonable "hot" level of spiciness which satisfy our craving for fried chicken.
Other Outlets @: Lucky Plaza
304 Orchard Road, #06-48A & #B1-38
Changi City Point
5 Changi Business Park Central 1
#01-37/38
~~~ GOLDEN LAVA CROISSANT FROM BREADTALK ~~~
On our way home we spotted these mini Golden Lava Croissants from BreadTalk (Novena Square). These mouthwatering pastry is a fusion of both western and Chinese delicacy which is similar to Liu Sha Bao (流沙包) aka lava custard bun. These mini croissants are pricing at SG$1.00 each (buy 6 get 1 free; or buy 10 get 2 free) from selected BreadTalk outlets with limited quantity each day (available from lunch hours).
Each bite of the croissant was filled with delicious and yet sinful goodness of salted egg yolk custard that you cannot resists to munch on a second piece. But in order to savour the best of our Golden Lava:
- Reheat 1 minute in a toaster oven or 2 - 3 minutes in an oven at 180 degree celsius.
- Stand the croissant to rest 5 minutes for a crisp and flaky crust.
THURSDAY, 17 MARCH 2016
[Movie Date] Zootopa
Had a busy Wednesday because the boy had classes in the morning as well as afternoon due to some changes of timing. With that we have a free day on Thursday to catch up another movie for the week watching Zootopia which is a Disney animation film. The plot is good with heartfelt messages for both kids and adults which we both enjoy watching.
FRIDAY, 18 MARCH 2016
On Friday we had lunch date with mum at Swensen before school re-open on Monday. One good things about eating in Swensen on weekday is their attractive lunch deal (available from 11am - 2pm) where you can get a FREE treat (sundae, sides or drink) with any purchase of main course (including pasta, baked rice, pizza).
The boy always go for their kid's meal portion of Fish 'N' Chippies which comes with a piece of crisp battered fish, fries, sweetcorn kernels and a cup of drink (milo or juice).
Mum ordered Oriental Chilli Fish Pasta (SG$14.80) which served with two pieces of deep fried battered fish fillets that are crunch to bite over the spaghetti in spicy oriental sauce. We still prefer the taste of their Chilli Crab Pasta over this.
I had Curry Chicken Baked Rice which was simply curry chicken and cheese layered over some moist rice and baked till perfection. I always loved their baked rice since my school days.
[Swensen's] Complimentary Free Treat for Lunch Deal
As for the "free treat" we decided to get Banana Split and Chocolate Crunch for our after meal dessert instead of sides or drinks to go with the main. For chocolate lover, chocolate crunch is indeed a good choice with chocolate chips, crisp rice and chocolate sauce in it.
Being tempted from a few Chirashi Don posts on my Instagram feed featuring Sushiro which is a new hyper Japanese food kiosk located at ground level of Thomson Plaza. So without hesitate we decided to drop by the outlet around 2pm wishing to get a seat (only 12 seats available) or at least a shorter queuing time. But we were stunned to see the long queue with at least 20 person ahead of us despite the cut off time for lunch at 2.30pm.
To satisfy my craving I left with no choice but to do a takeout. Luckily according to the serving staff it takes about 15 minutes to prepare but only Bara Chirashi Don is available for order.
Here is a short clip on our visit to Sushiro to try out their Bara Chirashi Don.
For SG$12.80 you get a generous serving of fresh cubed sashimi and bursting salmon roe on rice in a perfect sashimi-to-rice ratio. Overall their chirashi is definitely worth the price but waiting time is a problem unless you don't mind standing in the queue for at least 20 - 30 minutes (sometime even longer).
Other than Chirashi they also have items such as Glazed Duck Onsen Egg (SG$14.90), Chirashi Salad (SG$10.80), Kaisendon (SG$14.80) and more.
Sunday activities were as usual, before heading home we went for brunch at our favouite coffee shop after church service. After which I did some household chores and get ready the boy for new school term starting on Monday.
In the late afternoon we had an early dinner with Stir-fried Chicken with Holy Basil serve with steamed rice and sunny-side-up egg as well as Yakiudon before heading out for our weekend grocery trip. Recipe for the two dishes shown above can be found at the link here.
Lastly thanks for reading through this post which marks the last "march holiday" for the boy in his primary school life. With that I am now curious about how things will turn out to be when he is in Secondary School next year. Will he still hold my hand and go food hunting or movie when he is a teenage?
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Lastly, please DO NOT SPAM as Spam comments will be deleted immediately.
Regards
Ellena (Cuisine Paradise)