Kueh Pu Tu - Bandung Trip 2nd Day

I went to Istana Plaza, one of the malls in Bandung. I was with my 2 nephews, 2 nieces, in laws, and my sis. We went there cause those snotties wanted to go to play at one of the kiddy playground place. But before that, we went to a food court which was located on the 4th floor.

I had a "Paket C Hoka-Hoka Bento" (Hoka2 Bento is the restaurant name, and "Paket C" is one of their set meal which comprises of a rice, a salad, 2 prawn nugget, 1 shrimp ball, and beef teriyaki) I ranked it 8 out of 10. It was filling but not so satisfying since it's a bit salty and oily IMO. And for the drink, I bought Quikly's Taro Milk Tea with Pearl (Taro=Sweet Yam, Pearl = Tapioca Ball, and named as such because of it's look). A bit pricey but good, the quantity of pearl they gave was much more than what I had so far almost half the cup. It's 8.5 out of 10.

In the afternoon, my sister asked me to drive her to our cousin's house who happened to be in town for the day. On our way there, I spotted my childhood delicacy "Indonesian Kue Putu" sold in a customized three wheel trolley, it's a steamed green rice with brown sugar inside it, covered with grated coconut. It's 6.5 out of 10 for the taste, but 9 out of 10 for the good nostalgia. And this I'd say a lot better than Malaysian Putu Piring, or Singaporean Kueh Tutu.

In the making...

Tada...final look

My Trip to Bandung - Day 1

I had an opportunity to visit my hometown, Bandung. This town is a small town, much smaller than Singapore (note: Singapore is a country), but packed with a massive number of attractions. But I had to say, I was frustrated because of the tightening of the immigration security due to the recent suicidal bombing accident which was done by some stupid, stupid, moron people. They searched through my belongings like I was a suspect. Man....they even thought my text book was some kind of a potential bombing device?

Regardless, I had to find something that can soothe my disappointment. Thankfully my sister took me to one of noodle shop and it brightened my day. I had "yamien manis sedang dengan pangsit dan bakso" (translated= egg noodle topped with grated chicken with sweetened soya sause, accompanied with a bowl of fried wonton and meatball). For the drink, I had "es cincau hitam pake sirup merah dan jeruk nipis" (translated= grass jelly with ice and rose syrup and lemon). Mmmm....excited as I was, I forgot to take the pictures.

Achi Mo Mo!

Hokkaido Night Festival!!! I was like a kid in a candy store. Sorry for being thrifty but I really enjoyed tasting all the free samples given out in that Japanese supermarket, I Setan. Hey... I couldn't be blamed for that...imagine, a bread for 24+ dollar, a slice of cheesecake for 10++ dollar, however to ease my guilt we bought Custard Manju Cake, which I named it Achi Mo Mo (I wondered where that name came from). It was heavenly....I ranked it 9 out of 10, why not. It's a soft cake with custard cream inside it...hmmm.....wished it could be more less expensive though (each is 1.3S$)

Picnic Day @ Botanical Garden

I was a day with a blasting scorching heat. It's a day where we have anticipated for 2 weeks since most of us are busy. It's a picnic day @ Botanical Garden. 4 couples joined the event. We all agreed to bring our own dish to be shared amongst the group. Me & my girlfriend brought a home made potato salad, and I bought cutlery, plastic cups, mat etc. It's a good day for having a potluck cum picnic session.


My girlfriend sister and her boyfriend brought fruits which they nicely cut for our convenience.


Another couple brought pasta and broccoli.


The last couple brought bread with jam spread, peanut butter, grape jam, and the like. All in all it was a good session, until it rained and made the air humid and even hotter.

One not so fine evening @ Clark Quay

Yeah I know, it's a same old excuse that I haven't been able to update my blog, or should I say that I've been lazy updating it? Either way...here's my new update of all the interesting food I've discovered for the past 1-2 months.

Weekend come, and it's a good time to do dining out. So my girlfriend and I decided to go to Clark Quay as and we found this wonderful Japanese resto who was packed with people dining in. At first, we didn't quite get a good impression of the service being provided there, however I might say I was impressed with two female waiters who was very accommodating.

It's Tomo Izakaya. We had to sit outside, but it wasn't that bad after all, since we were seated by the riverside. We ordered few dishes, and I guessed due to the high traffic of people who were dining in, they were only served after 10-15 minutes, and one of dishes even came out after 45 minutes. and not to mention that the first waiter that approached us (only after we called him) didn't even bother to take our name down in the waiting list.

All in all, we enjoyed the food as it tasted good, but the service "could be improved".

We had beef tataki, cold zaru, and hot ocha. I ranked it 8.5 out of 10, but the beef tataki was a bit too sour.

The second of set dish we had were tonkatsu (pork cutlet) filled with cheese, and california roll sushi. They were good and I ranked it 7.5 out of 10.

After that, we felt that the night would only be complete if we had desserts, but learning from our experience, we didn't want to wait ages just to get our dessert...so we walked out and had ourselves Hokkaido Azabu Zabo Ice Cream with Azuki (red bean) flavor

and I got myself hot sweet rice balls...and they made our night-out better.

Thai Food Fiesta

My girlfriend asked my what I wanted for dinner, as she wanted to cook for the occasion. And she came up with Thai food. So we went to NTUC Fairprice and shopped for grocery. As I was conscious with my diet and healthy regime, which I have been lacking for 3 weeks straight, yes please don't add more guilt, it's too much already. So I did a bit of "dumbell" exercise with the grocery basket. Hahaha...please don't try to follow this. Why didn't I go to the gym, cause I had to do something in that afternoon.


The first dish that she made was "Stir Fried Prawn with Japanese Tofu" I ranked it 10 out of 10. Apologies for the favoritism, but it's really tasty!! The sauce that was used to make the dish was Preserved Soy Bean paste (There should be a name for it, I guess) The tofu was fried fried to look brown-ish.

And to complement the dish, she also made "Tom Yam Goong soup" which she asked me to taste it and asked me how it was prior to completing the cooking. And it was what made it more perfect (hahaha...just kidding) she was already good at cooking...I felt a bit sorry for my friend who was also there for the occasion as he is not into spicy things and this soup is well known for its spicyness.

Nevertheless, the night was a great night to end with, as she also prepared Thailand coconut for the drink and baked some garlic bread and cut some watermelon for the dessert to end the meal. Thank you for the food, honey!!! However, what about my diet!! Yes, still struggling....happily though.....

Udders Ice Cream

After church, as we stopped at this ice cream parlor "Udders", located at the 2nd floor of West Mall. Funny caricatures of silly cows are displayed as table top.


As most Asian, one of the ice cream flavors which I believe to be the most exotic flavor, is the durian. For its pungent odor, this is claimed as fruit who has the most foulest odor and taste and detested by most Caucasian and other non Asian races. Not sure why, I guess they have not grown up trying to get a liking to it. I was not a fan of it either, but as I learn to like it, I began to develop a liking to it.

I ordered "Mao Shan Wang" durian ice cream for $5.30 (1 scoop only) and placed in a cup. They have 2 different flavor of durian, this one is the most richest, and creamiest of them all, and I testified it. Yes, it tasted heavenly....I ranked it 8 out of 10, why not 10, cause I've tasted a better one in San Francisco, the "Marcopolo" ice cream.

Japanese Gourmet Town

This week has been quite a very busy week to me, especially with lots of projects going on at my workplace. And as always, weekends have been my favorite days of the week. This time around I was asked to go to the farthest end of the east, Tampines. And I've been told they have just built a new mall with lots of new restaurants in it. So, being adventurous, I went there with my girlfriend. We walked, walked, walked around the mall, windowshopping all the nice interior and colourful display that the shops presented. As it was closing to 7PM, the urge to eat came up, and I just had to have my dinner. This time around I wasn't being finicky. As we were walking up the floors, we saw lots of advertisement displaying the new Japanese restaurant, "Manpuku, the Japanese Gourmet Town" The restaurant was designed with a concept of a small town surrounded with local delicacies around its corner, and you don't need to pay at the cashier of that delicacy stall, they would just swipe your card (which was given at the entrance) and credit your card which you need to pay once you leave the restaurant.


When we got there, the line was packed, it was a good thing that they displayed all the fake food next to the queue line. As you can see, they have almost from A to Z, udon, ramen, sushi, skewer, omu rice, name it.....a total bliss....it's almost like I can stay there for hours....After waiting 10 minutes, we got called up and here I was, still being excited and taking pictures with my iPhone. One of the brave waiters asked me not to take photos, which I did, only when he's around ....hahaha....


We followed the waiter to our reserved seats. As we walked along the corridor, we could see Ramen stall, Udon stall, etc. The seating area was also designed appropriately whereby people can relax and have a chat with one another. The picture above shows a seating area just behind the curry stall. The wall was decorated with frames and mirrors.


Mann...this is my advice to you, don't try to find what you want when you are hungry. If you are an omnivore like, me it's the hardest thing for me to do. I seemed to not be able to get what I wanted. Sushi, I like. Curry, I like. Grilled and skewered meat, I also like.


I was almost tempted to go to the sushi stall, for some reason it wasn't appealing enough to me.

After browsing through "the gourmet town", I made my decision, I went to the stall where the queue was the longest, why?? because I believe that the longer the queue, the better the taste would be. Silly huh, but I've proven that the theory, most of the time, is true. I decided to go to the okonomiyaki & panfried soba stall. (If you don't have enough patience, don't go, try something else) At the time, it was like 20 people ahead of me, waiting with the receipts in their hand, waiting impatiently. I ordered and became the 21st.


As I waited, I took the chance to observe how they prepared my order. Interesting!!! I was standing next to a girl who was, at the time, drooling just like me. One person prepared the ingredients, another person grilled it, another person sauced it, another person prepared the plate. It was so harmoniously done, well done guys!!!


And there I thought that I needed to wait about half an hour, that's when the cashier called out "number 659 please!!!" It was my order!!! yay!!! I've gotten myself a "Moonlight Special Okos" for S$12.80. This is a grilled pancake, filled with bacon, squid, prawn, and mixed with a combination of cabbage, onion, radish, japanese dough. On top of it is sunny-side-up egg with japanese/mayonaisse/tomato sauce, sprinkled with bonito(fish) flakes. It was put on a hotplace to keep it sizzling. It's tasty, I'd rank it 8 out of 10. Just wished that they have some condiments made ready as well. We also had unagi rice bowl, but it's not worth it, so I decide not to post the pic here.


As our dessert and drink, we went to get "Strawberry Mont Blanc" S$7.80. This is a good whipped cream custard based tart with swirls of chesnut paste, sprinkled with coarsely grind pistachios, sliced strawberry, vanilla powder. I ranked it 7 out of 10, it was good but too much whipped cream for my taste, and the price does not justify the taste, at least for me. For the drink, we got ourselves "Matcha Milk" S$3.8 which I ranked 4.5 out of 10. Very bland, and I've tasted a lot better one than this. On our way home, I got myself a Thailand coconut to wash my mouth. All in all, it was a good experience.

And what happened to my diet, I've decided to put it in the fridge, however I still go to the gym on weekly basis, I know its not enough, but at least I get to exercise.

Shall we go for Japanese food?

Finally, the long awaited weekend has come around the corner. I just love Saturday and Sunday. I asked my partner where we should have our dinner at. After one hour being indecisive, we laid down the options on the floor:

1. Xiao Long Bao - "Shanghai soup dumpling"
2. Japanese food @ Clark Quay
3. Japanese food @ Vivo
   
4. Japanese food @ Orchard

You know what, the one at Orchard won! Not that I like going to Orchard road, cause like always, Orchard road is packed with tourists, especially this time of the year, "Singapore Great Sale" where mostly everyshop in the island are having a sale. And I happened to like the Starbucks there.

So around 7-ish, we went to this restaurant located at the basement of Nge Ann City mall (a commercial and shopping centre on Orchard road), "KYOTO SABO AJITEI". It's not our best pick, we were too hungry to find another restaurant.


After waiting for about 20 minutes, we ordered their "signature dish" - Spinach Bacon Omelette Rice $11.80. It wasn't bad. The service was fair, and we only needed to wait about 10 minute while we took the time to talk and share about things. This omellete rice is actually a fried rice with mushroom, tomatoes, and spinach; wrapped inside an omelette. The sauce is a creamy cheese sauce, mmm..I just love everything with a creamy sauce, alfredo sauce, mushroom sauce, name it!! And finally they put bacons on top of the omelette rice. I would rank it 7 out of 10 though, it's tasty but not great. --quite fattening, especially the sauce!!--

The 2nd dish we ordered was also their signature ala cart dish "Mochi Okonomiyaki" for $5.80. This is a grilled pan cake with mochi, sakura ebi "dried shrimp" and vegetable. They use the Japanese sour sauce and mayonaise as gravy, and put some, i believe, grated fried fish or ginger, I don't know but it complemented the whole dish. I ranked this 5.5 out of 10. It's sticky and after a while the taste diminished, it's just okay, not great. Not sure why it's a signature dish though. --fattening, unhealthy, cause of the mochi!!--

And as for our final item, we ordered Matcha Parfait $7.80. Watchout this is a bit sinful, lots of calories. Inside, it has matcha warabimochi (jelly-like snack), konyaku (Japanese jelly), whip cream, cereal, peach, azuki (Japanese red bean), matcha ice cream, matcha gelato, and a waffle!! This has made my day though, especially after eating the okonomiyaki, which I didn't like. I ranked this 7 out of 10 cause it's something that you can also make --this is also fattening, not good but heavenly--

All in all, its a fair experience, If there's one thing I learned there, don't trust so much on the dishes with "signature"/"chef selection" icon, not completely true.

Hey, this blog is supposed to talk about healthy things. Well there's a story behind it. I've been lacking in keeping my diet for one whole week, and decided to do the same for the weekend, and will start living healthily again on Monday...(I promise!!!)

INTRO: Living Healthily or Living Positively

Do we eat to live or do we live to eat?
The way to get to a man's heart is to get through his stomach.

Why do those two expressions put an emphasize on eating, eating, and eating?
Do you think that the expressions above are true? Although they are just a matter of perception, most of it is true. Why do I say so? I say so because what determines our health is closely associated to what we have eaten/drunk.

If we eat unhealthy food all the time, we are also deemed to live an unhealthy life and will lead to a deteriorating health condition. Don't you know that nowadays most of the food being sold are processed = unhealthy? We might not realize it since they are packaged in an appealing way.

I am so glad that we have people who are concerned about this matter and created ways to live healthily. Detox, diet, nutritional courses, yoga. These are just a few initiatives out of many which can assist us to live longer, healthier, and ultimately, happier.

I myself is also a concerned fellow who is struggling to live healthy. I'd like to take this opportunity to share with y'all my stories about my failures, mistakes, achievements and so much more about living on a diet and how to fail them as well hahaha. And all of these are packaged within my blog.

And also it's more to life than just worrying about what you eat/drink. Live positively, friends.

Enjoy.