sg: wee nam kee

ok i have too much backlog and honestly i am getting lazy. i'll do quickie posts and should prevent a lot of segue on this singapore series. when wee nam kee opened in manila, i said to myself i ought to try it. and what better place than singapore right? when i got to singapore we went straight to wee nam kee.

pardon the photos, i think my LX5 did good justice considering i did not use a flash and we were seated on the farthest table from the store by the road, thus no light - i could barely see what we were eating.



steamed chicken - we wanted to get the roasted one because according to reviews it was better than the steamed but they have ran out. actually, i prefer steamed compared to roasted i just hate it when it's not well cooked though. anyway, we got the breast part so everything was well cooked. what amazed me was how tender it was, i hate the breast part because it's too dry. but this one was so perfect it has a melt in your mouth texture. for the chicken rice itself, not that flavorful actually. i now know what other people are talking about.




cereal prawns - i don't think i've actually tried cereal prawns so i wanted to try this. i have no point of comparison but i like it. not oily and yet has this buttery flavor - planta galore!


i'll try to update this with the prices since this was my welcome to sg dinner sponsored by H =).


wee nam kee
novena ville
thomson road, singapore

sg: tako and matcha

been hooked on takoyaki lately. in kl, you can have ebi or unagi too but i haven't tried those. went to sg last weekend & i needed a light meal. opted for takoyaki, this one is crispy on the outside but dense and gooey in the inside. i am not sure about the gooey texture i think i prefer a lighter batter. this was actually 4 pcs hehe already ate one before i took a photo.



of course i've got to try happy lemon. got the green tea with rock salt and cheese. there's too much ice and i don't like the flowery green tea. i'll try other flavors next time but i really like the cheese :).





ion orchard
orchard road, singapore


- posted using blogpress from my iPhone

cherries and berries

just wanted to show what i got from the supermarket earlier.

kl: sunday roast at the ritz

the sunday roast is an english tradition for sunday lunches made up of roasted meat, potatoes and other sidings. i forgot how i came across the ritz carlton sunday roast. but from the reviews i have read, i was immediately lured. glad that i have foodie friends willing to spend 160RM for this treat. anyway, here are the food items i had - the same things that made me want to go to this roast buffet to begin with.

echire butter, claimed to be one of this best in france. why does it look like lard/shortening. i mean, is great butter supposed to be liked that? not creamy and flavorful but looks like a well whipped milk fats? i was not impressed.

some appetizers (top center - clockwise) seedless grape in cream cheese rolled into toasted almonds - i like; pumpkin tartlet with mushrooms - forgettable; roasted mushrooms, peppers, zucchini - flavorful, i like; dunno what to call the piece of meat with a mustard sauce of some sort - so so; whole smoked norwegian salmon covered with dill is heart.

fin de claire oysters from france. hmmm...i'm torn on this one. it has this thin texture which i like not the thick gooey kind that we are used to. but it's too salty, it's like tasting the sea literally. i am not sure whether freshness got something to do with it. i mean, if you eat it in france once it's harvested whether the flavors would be different. still, i can say i ate oysters from france hehe.

freshly prepared caesar's salad. tossed in a parmesan cheese wheel with whole anchovies, freshly shaved cheese and garlic slivers??? well the reviews mentioned that this caesar salad has truffle in it which made me really excited. and when i requested for one, i didn't see any truffles :(. nothing spectacular, the fresh cheese didn't even made a difference. the dressing was definitely freshly made but not enough to keep me excited.

after i took a picture of my salad, i pushed it on the side and filled it with other items. our table was so tiny it was overly crowded even the towel "plates" we had to get rid of. i got a shrimp and half a lobster which were fresh. also tried salmon and octopus sashimi just so i can put the tricolor caviar on my plate hehe and some pickled ginger which i love.

and for the mains, there's a menu actually. you can choose between the beef, lamb and salmon. of course it wouldn't be a roast without one.for me, it's cooked just right, i am squirmish with "rare" steak still. it's too pink to be medium well though...i dunno i am not much of an expert when it comes to steak but i like mine medium well all the time.

you get to choose between several sauces like mustard and horseradish plus 3 types of gravy. i had the rosemary jus i think. i forgot. there's no mashed or baked potato, the yorkshire pudding is so dense which i reckon should not be the case. and there's was only some roasted veggies. the thickness of the beef , i don't even think is substantive. based on the blogs i have read, they only have one roast which is supposed to serve only 18 people so if the guests are more than that...do they ran out of it or they stretch the meat and give thinner slices?

i'd rather get the steak at suzy's corner if it will just boil down to this. oh my this was supposed to be the star of the meal and it wasn't impressive. the roasted beef and yorkshire at the marriott was more worthy i mean you get unlimited servings! and that buffet costs less than 100RM.

good thing the desserts weren't a disappointment. they made good pastries. i was just sad that the creme brulee isn't big and has been put in that lonely spoon, the small amount i think made it "overcooked". the cream puffs were the best, it has a nice custard in it - and of course because it has caramel the puffs were part of the croquembouche. the picture above is a totally different cake but with a cream puff too.

anyway, it was an ok meal. it doesn't have an extensive selection when it comes to the buffet but it's complete. i didn't get to eat anything from the cheese section because i was too full. but reviews said the quality of the choices makes up for the relatively smaller selection of food items, i think not. basically, i'd rather have a degustation or full course meal in a restaurant.

ritz - carlton

jalan imbi, kuala lumpur

lunch at marriott cafe

a long overdue post, this actually took place end of last year during my christmas vacation. i have freebie lunch vouchers at the marriott and good thing buffets are covered as well. so let's start shall we.

had a hyperacidity attack upon arrival, so warmed my tummy with some miso soup. i love the seaweeds, but nothing really special.

started with some dimsum...the pork ribs were a bit tough not the melt in your mouth pork spare ribs i'm used to. the hakao is just alright, wish the shrimps were bigger and the wrapper thinner. but they were freshly made so it was ok.

because of my tummy issue i already started with the main. the roast beef was good really good, you see how brown - "done" the beef is but it's still tender. asked my dad why he didn't get some, he said it looked dry but i told him otherwise, so he asked me to get him 3 slices!!! i was so ashamed with the staff counter who probably thought it was mine. some mashed potato, not as creamy as people would prefer but for me less creamy means less fat so it's ok. my first yorkshire pudding, i have no idea how it should taste like but i prefer this one than the one at the ritz (next post). got some veggies and garlic grilled fish too.

and surprisingly i was not yet full so i had room for these. nothing extraordinary but the asohos tempura was freshly cooked. the fried rice is also ok. the baked mussels is with bechamel, so typical of hotel buffets in manila and far from our favorite baked mussels with lotsa cheese.

oh, i still have room! hahaha. so i took some greens and a cucumber salad. i liked that station very much, they have a variety of mixed salads to choose from, and of course you can also make your own. one of my buffet staples - smoked salmon was good.

ok the dessert station was a bit of a disappointment, very few selections and they aren't as great as i hoped them to be. nothing can really go wrong with the creme brulee but the rest of this plate was dismal.



overall, it was a good buffet. it has a wide range of cuisines. probably the only miss were the desserts. the marriott is a newly built hotel, the driveway of the lobby has ample space, not as cramped as the older hotels in manila so i find it more convenient. if you end up in that area, you could give this a try.

marriott hotel

newport blvd

newport city complex, pasay

across the naia terminal 3

estrel's caramel cake

estrel's is supposed to be the pioneer for caramel cakes. a month before the holidays i asked my mom to make arrangements to get a cake for us on christmas day. talk about my obsessesion with food.

so the day came, we got the cake on the 24th. i picked up the cake with my tita. she was the one who got off the car. she said the bakeshop smelled so nice and they showed her the cake before closing the box. but then i was surprised that someone carried the cake for her. talk about paranoia! they didn't want the cake to be messed up. then we tried putting it at the back seat but the guy said it's not enough. so the option? my tita had it on her lap. the efforts just not to ruin a cake.

it looks so pretty and very apt for the holiday season. everyone loved it, i was amused that my younger cousins wanted the flower icing hehe. so how does this fair against costa brava? taste wise i think it's just the same. texture wise, i think costa's was more fluffy. it seems that estrel's was more grainy??? but in retrospect, i ate the costa brava cake the same day i bought it. while for estrel's i had it 2 days after. the box of estrel's states that it has to be consumed on the same day. maybe that has an effect on the quality of the cake. so i guess i couldn't really make a direct comparison right now. i have to eat an estrel's on the same day. don't ask me why i didn't eat on the same day...i really wanted to and let's just say my dad gave me a stern look when i said i am slicing it up.

estrel's caramel cakes

sct tobias cor sct limbaga

quezon city

estrel's website

serenitea

being a tea lover, i have always been interested with serenitea which i've read a lot of reviews of. so during my last vacay, i made sure i tried it.

i was so intrigued that you can choose the sugar percentage and the sinkers. i got myself a 75% sugar drink which is not sweet enough for me and my favorite pearls.

i got myself the hokkaido, which is supposed to have this caramel flavor....not! i can taste the flavoring...i dunno how to describe it but in my mind it's like gata. it's this certain flavor i taste whenever i try food/drinks that have artificial flavoring. this is how my tea tasted like it didn't taste like milk tea with real caramel, i was so disappointed.

aside from the teas, they also have snacks. basically all peppered items which i deem is very taiwanese. taiwanese snacks/dishes are usually fried and then dusted with a powder flavoring. we got the corn, tofu and chicken. the chicken was really tender. all of them i enjoyed but would have hoped that they are evenly seasoned. because the items were just dusted, some parts are too salty while some parts are bland.

my verdict? well i will not go out of my way just to get a drink from this place...maybe if i get an insatiable craving for any of the peppered stuff i'll go there but really i don't understand what the hype is all about.

serenitea

n. roxas cor banawe

(coming from quezon ave, it's on the right)

quezon city.