Food on Foot: March 2011

Swiss Bäckerei

If you are looking for authentic German or Austrian bakeries in Singapore, the choice is rather limited.

We found one aptly named Swiss Bäckerei at Frankel Avenue. It is a little shop located along a row of shophouses nestled in a private residential district.

The selection of bread is limited and mostly baked to suit the local tastebuds. This is understanderably since even I, did not really take to the hard bread loaves which the Europeans devour on a daily basis.

One would have thought that the menu should be designed with bread, cakes and pastries as the primary focus but it was not to be. Having scanned the menu at least twice, I decided to order the ham and mushroom omelette which was probably the least filling breakfast set.

The set consisted of an omelette, coffee and a pastry which was fairly filling and satisfying. But it also means that our search for the ONE bäckerei in Singapore continues...

Shiroi Koibito

Shiroi Kobito, which translates to White Lover, is a popular white chocolate cookie snack from Hokkaido, Japan.

I was totally clueless about this popular Japanese cookie until recently when a family friend presented me with a box of the Original Shiroi Koibito cookies. I have to emphasize the word "original" here as with all things popular, it is inevitable that numerous imitation versions tries to gain a portion of the market share.

The cookie is assembled like a sandwich with a thick slab of white chocolate in between two pieces of squarish butter cookies. The cookies have a crispy, melt-in-your-mouth texture while the white chocolate tastes fairly ordinary. Overall, this snack tastes decent to me but surely not addictive as what I have read in some online forum reviews. So to sum it in layman's term, it is a nice souvenir to buy back but definitely not worth the effort to queue up for.

Putu Mayam Oo~La~La

Served with dessicated coconut and red sugar, this simple South Indian snack of steamed vermicelli-like noodles is one of my favourite choice for breakfast.

Plain and simple as it may seem, not all putu mayam tastes the same. Some sellers heat it up prior to serving the customers while others just dump spoonfuls of 'aged', dry dessicated coconut on it.

For me, I found the perfect putu mayam with the slightly moist vermicelli-like noodles served with fresh dessicated coconut and red sugar in the Bendemeer market.

Eating in Taipei - January 2011

With a little luck, I landed a business trip to Taipei in January this year. I haven't been back there since my last visit which was about 3 years ago, so besides taking full opportunity to check out my local favourites, I also took the chance to try out as many news things as possible. Here's the list of what I ate during my 3 days there!

Live Lobster Shashimi, The poor fellow was still moving when we were eating him...he was a good lobster!

Fresh Beer!

One of the best BBQ place in Taipei and definitely one of the funnest!

大干杯, always make reservations one day ahead and plan to start dinner after 8pm when it's the most fun hour to be there!

Really fun staffs, awesome place to wind down after a day of work!

A new Risotto place I found at 西门町!

My Squid Ink Risotto Set Meal

I was lucky to be there just a week before the Chinese New Year and took the chance to visit the CNY bazaar which happens only once a year! Awesome atmosphere and much nicer weather, despite the drizzle, compared to doing the same thing in hot and humid Singapore!

What I scored from the CNY bazaar!

Dumplings in Ginger Peanut Soup!

The local delights from 淡水!

Japanese Pancakes in the shapes of Spongebob's Characters!

Psuedo Coconut @ Sands Sky Park

If you would like to feast your eyes on a panoramic view of the Singapore skyline, forget about the Singapore Flyer! Instead, hop on to the 200m elevator ride to the Sands Sky Park!

Priced at only $20 per adult with an unlimited and better panoramic view of the skyline, I wonder why tourists still bother going to the Singapore Flyer where the admission is pricier (SGD$29.50) for a limited 30 minutes ride and the highest viewing point reached is only at 165m. Furthermore, if for some unknown reasons that the Singapore Flyer decides to breakdown again, everyone would be pretty much trapped in the capsules! Just imagine being trapped in mid-air for 5 hours with a full bladder! * Glup* I seriously think they should stock up on some adult diapers in each capsule...just in case.

So going back to the Sands Sky Park, with each admission, the visitors have access to the observation deck, the roof top lounge and a limited view of the awesome outdoor swimming pool which only the hotel guests have access to.

The roof top lounge is truly an ideal place to hang out after work or to simply laze around during the weekends. Offering such a beautiful view, one can be certain that the drinks are charged at an outstanding price as well.

However, this is definitely no seaside café judging from the coconut juice that was served to me! Nevertheless, kudos to the packaging team! :)

Random Pics of Food ate in Seoul!

A quick getaway in November 2010 to Seoul brought me to the land of kimchi and more kimchi! I was totally addicted to kimchis when I was there and was always eagerly looking forward to my little dish of kimchi with every meal that I ordered. I had thought that my sensitive stomach would probably give me at least some trouble with the constant intake of such spiciness but to my surprise, I didn't have any problem at all when I was there! So it seems like there must be something which we add to our chicken rice chilli that never fails to give me the runs whenever I eat it, no matter how small the portion is!

I digress, so here are the pictures of the fabulous food that I had in Seoul: