Chock Full of Beans

It's not often that we get to travel to an extreme end of Singapore for food and many times we tried visiting Chock Full of Beans (CFOBs) but the place was very always pack. When we were in the East by chance we decided to try our luck again. Although the air-conditioned seating were fully occupied, we were quite happy taking up the outdoor seating.

Chock Full of Beans

While waiting for our beverages, both Dark Chocolate and New York Cheese Cake were served first.
Our cakes were presented in plate with some cartoon characters drawn by chocolate syrup.

Cakes and characters

That's after meal indulgence! We enjoyed the dark chocolaty cake. The sweetness was just right even with chocolate drizzling down the cake.

Dark Chocolate Cake - $7

The New York Cheese cake was not too bad too. It's moist and not cloying, the only portion that I do not like about it was its base as it was too hard.

New York Cheesecake - $7

Here's the Big Hero on my chocolate. Isn't it cute?

Chocolate -  $5.50 (Regular)

Not sure what is the character but the cup of hot Mocha was so adorable and it took us quite sometime to drink it up even after taking photos of it.

Mocha - $5.50 (Regular)

Here presenting the 3D art on coffee whereby such art was talk of the town in the social media years back. The art is done upon request and require up to 30 minutes of waiting time. 3D art can only be done on their selected cold beverages. 

It's Instagram worthy if you do not mind about the waiting time. Awww... we can't bear to drink up the cup of Ice Hazelnut latte so fast even though its strong and aromatic.

Hazelnut Latte - $7.50 

Pricing wise, I think they are rather competitive with art work on the drinks. If you are game for some Latte art to make your day and do not mind travelling to Changi Village, Chock Full of Beans can be a good place.

Rating: 3.25 / 5

Chock Full of Beans
Location: Blk 4 Changi village road #01-2090 Singapore 500004

Website

Warung Ijo

We often come across vegetarian restaurants but I thought Warung Ijo is special as they are serving Indonesian Cuisine in Vegan.

I was thrown with a surprise when I saw swing seatings in Warung Ijo. Luckily we were early and had made reservations, thus we were given the priority for the choice of swing or the barrel sofa seatings.

Swing

After some discussion, we prefer the swing seatings to the cushion seatings.

Barrel Sofa

While my friends were looking at the menu that was plastered all over the stretch of wall near the entrance, I was occupied by the nostalgic looking wall that had an old school bicycle hanged on it and an old radio with cassette tapes onthe shelf.

Nostalgic

The swing artwork was made from ice cream sticks and quite unique on its own. However, this is to bring the message across to diners who are seated at the swing area not to swing and bang onto the table and pillars.

Decor on Table

Wow! Be surprised that their Lime Juice was not made up of the usual small calamansi limes and instead, they are making use of the kaffir lime. The aroma and refreshing citrus smell were so inviting and a little sour from the fruit had made this drink perfect.

Lime Juice - $4.90

We started with the Fa Cai Yu Sheng since its Chinese New Year is around the corner. They taste similar however they do have their in house special "Golden Crackers". Since its the year of Rat, we have placed our plate in the shape of Mickey Mouse.

Yu Sheng - $19.90

"Orh Luak" aka Fried Oysters was crispy and had the texture of oysters although mushrooms were used.

Orh Luak - $9.90

As Petai lovers, this dish was yummy! Petai were cut into quarters and fried together with vegetarian sambal. Best of all, it was not oily and tasted as good as non-vegetarian ones.

Sambal Petai - $9.90

One of my favourite Indonesian dishes, Gado Gado. Generous with home made peanut sauce and topped with crackers. As we were occupied with taking pictures and enjoying other dishes on the table, the crackers got soaked too long in the sauce thus some of it lost its crispiness. Therefore, it is recommended to consume them fast.

Gado Gado - $8.90

Tahu Telor is presentable, topped with shredded cucumber and placed on a green leave. The use of Kecap Manis made the fried Tahu tasted great, however, we still find that there was still something missing from this dish. Perhaps the use of shredded cucumber was not enough.

Tahu Telor - $8.90

Fragrant and the slab of fish was covered up with creamy curry and vegetables like long beans as well as brinjal. Fish was fried and soaked in the not so spicy curry. The meat was quite tough, nonetheless, we still enjoy the dish, scooping up the gravy, pairing them up with our plain rice.

Gulai Fish - $15.90

If I did not know that I had entered a vegetarian eating place, I might have mistaken these sate as the real stuff.

Satay Padang - $9.90

Although our tummy was almost full with the sumptuous dinner, we could not bear to leave the place without filling ourselves with their Avocado smoothie. The Avocado smoothie comes in 2 variations, either with chocolate or with gula Melaka. The lady who served us mentioned that each cup was made up of one avocado and even offered us more chocolate or Gula Melaka if we find that its too creamy.

Avocado Smoothie - $5.90 Each

Service was friendly and the quality of food was laudable. The environment was comfortable and feels at home. I had a pleasant experience and every vegetarian restaurant visit will throw me some surprises. Even though I love exploring new places, I do not mind making a return for vegetarian food at Warung Ijo.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Warung Ijo
Location: 337 Beach Road, Singapore 199565

Chapter 55

Chapter 55, one of the places that we always want to go but only get reminded when we passed by Tiong Bahru area. Its an Italian Bistro serving brunch, lunch and dessert.

Chapter 55

There was no reservation made in advance, thus there was no air-conditioned area seating to accommodate us.

Chapter 55 Internal area

Though decorations were quite interesting with a garden-themed corner near their cashier counter, we had no choice but to take up the open-air seatings outside the bistro.

Decorations

Sitting at the open air do have its disadvantage as we observed some difficulties in getting the servers' attention. Not only that, there are insects flying around under the dim lightings while we were dining.

Garden Area

Lamp with plants

Spice-Rubber Oven Baked Red Snapper with almond cauliflower rice, roasted cherry tomato, baked Asparagus, Red Jalapeno sauce and side green

Red Snapper - $26.80

Red Snapper was decked up by the asparagus and was not too dry. The tangy sauce had complimented it well, not forgetting the burst of juicy roasted cherry tomato had given the meal an exciting part. 

Side View

Order one of the chef's recommendations from the Pasta menu. The Vongole Spaghetti was spicy even though we had requested for the less spicy version. Pasta was cooked to Al Dente texture. 

Vongole Spaghetti - $17.80

The dish smelled of garlic heavily. The calms were fresh and handpicked. The dish was lifted with fresh basil used with white wine deglaze.

Vongole

A new creation on the menu by their new chef. The thin crust pizza was laid with tender smoked duck breast with lychee and mushroom. 

Duck Lychee Pizza - $24.80

Surprisingly the taste was not too bad and quite flavourable. Just can't imagine that lychee blend in well in mushroom, duck and cheese.

Close up of pizza

Caramel can be tasted for sure but the coffee taste was not distinct.

Ice Caramel Latte - $8

The smoothie drink reminds me of what McDonald used to serve. It's a good blend of banana and strawberry decorated with slices of apple stacked up.

Chapter 55 Ultimate - $10

Hits and misses, the environment was a plus point. However for the pricing, it was a tad expensive and the location was not very accessible if you were to travel via the MRT line.

Rating: 3.25 / 5

Chapter 55

Location: Blk 55 Tiong Bahru Rd, #01-37,  Singapore 160055

Song Kee Fried Oyster 松記蚝煎

Their food was commendable. At least we won't feel short-changed by the amount paid against the number of oysters given. Generous with Oysters was our comments. Besides that, we were surprised by the amount of egg given thus more fragrant. Though the Oysters may be slightly wet and raw but they went well with the spicy chili that packed a good punch with the chopped Chinese parsley.

Oyster Egg - $6 (Small)

Packed with Eggs

Song Kee Fried Oyster is listed as one of Singapore top-rated foods in 2017 by Singapore Best Foods and they are also being recommended in the Michelin Guide. Looking at the queue after we were done with our dinner, we felt relieved as we do not have to queue earlier on.

Stall of Song Kee Fried Oyster

Rating: 3.25 / 5

Song Kee Fried Oyster 松記蚝煎
Location: East Coast Lagoon Food Village, 1220 East Coast Parkway #01-15, Singapore 468960

Gram Cafe & Pancake

Before Gram Cafe & Pancakes has even launches in Vivocity, there were already many good comments going around about the texture of this heavenly wobbly Japanese pancake.

As usual, whatever there is new stuff, Singaporeans will be curious to find out, thus its normal to see the snaky queues lined outside the cafe waiting for the right time slot for their pancake. Yes and you won't be surprise that some of them queue 4 hours just to have a taste of it.

Gram Cafe & Pancake

We had their all day breakfast. There is a choice of pancakes or croissant served with fluffy eggs in Japanese style as well as the crispy bacon. Crossiant was note worthy. I love its flakiness in the outer layers and its pillowy soft interior.

All Day Breakfast (Bacon & Egg) - $16.90

Soup of the day was Cream of Mushroom, it was reasonably starchy with chunk of mushroom in it.

Soup of the day - $4.90

We had the Matcha with whipped cream top with some Matcha powder. Drink was refreshing with the some mint taste.

Xmas Matcha Mint - $6.90

The star of the cafe is none other than this premium 3 stacked pancake that was the talk of the crowd over the Instagram sometimes back. These beautiful pancakes are made to order and is only available at certain time slot of the day with 30 servings each time. Ingredients used were premium and imported all the way from Japan.

Premium Pancakes - $17.90

Each pancake was about 3-4cm height and was serving with butter, special homemade whipped cream and honey. The fluffy and cotton candy texture of Gram's pancake is outstanding.

Pancake's Closeup

Overall experience was pleasant and like most patrons, I got sold by the fluffy texture of Gram's Pancake.  However, having said that, it still boils down to dollar and cents. The amount paid for the experience was reasonable but I don't see myself going back so soon as price is steep. Moreover, with the wait in the queue (if any), I'm willing to give this up for other food in the mall.

With Butter & Maple Syrup

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Gram Cafe & Pancake
Location:  VivoCity, 1 Harbourfront Walk, #02-110  Singapore 09858
Nearest MRT Station: Harbour Font (NE1)
Website

Seletar Western Food

Looking for old school western food? Have you heard of Seletar Western Food that is located in a run down coffee shop among the private housing estate? There is no fanciful menu with attractive food pictures to attract diners. What they do have is a list of food items printed in red and blue against a yellow board. Ironically, with such down to earth menu and environment, there are still many die hard fans waiting about in the stuffy hot environment for their food.

Seletar Western Food

With the price at $6 and comparing its portion, I guess one may not find such Western food elsewhere even from a coffee shop. Portion is about 1.5 times more than a usual portion outside tucked with my favourite fried bun, baked beans and crinkle cut fries as sides. While I'm expecting some coleslaw here, it left me disappointed as the old school western food serving only contains slices of cucumber and some lettuce in its plain form without any dressing. On the other hand, the slab of chicken chop was tender, crispy at some parts and coated with the traditional brown sauce. Overall the taste was simple and straight forward which is nostalgic.

Chicken Chop 鸡扒 - $6

Lamb Chop, Pork Chop, steak, sausage and egg if what you will get from a mix grill apart from the fried bun, crinkle cut fries, baked beans as well as the vegetables. Pork chop was tender and you can hear and see them malleting the meat as part of the preparation.

Mixed Grill 什扒 - $12

Although the taste was not the best that we had all tasted but its many of our childhood favorites. One thing for sure we know is that we can never get such a decent portion for $6 outside and this will definitely guaranteed you leaving the place with a full stomach. Treasure it as old school Western Food is hard to come by.

Rating: 3 / 5

Seletar Western Food
Location:  2 Jln Selaseh, #01-04, Singapore 808433

Social Place

Social Place which is originated from Hong Kong, has its first branch in South East Asia. She has taken the seat in Orchard, The Forum Shopping Mall.

Social Place

The Causal restaurant serves classic Cantonese food with a modern twist and most of all, menu is interesting and reasonably priced.

Social Place at The Forum

We were greeted with a spacious and comfortable interior that illustrate a modern casual dining environment. Tables are marble top, the elegant gold and blue as well as vintage tile flooring had given us a mixture of traditional feel but in a modern setting.

Dining Environment

The bright environment is welcoming. With big tables and comfortable chairs, such place is suitable for groups gathering.

Dining Environment

Social place also adopted a open concept kitchen where diners can look through into the kitchen on the right side as they entered into the restaurant.

Can you spot the Dim Sum Trays?

Serviettes, wet tissue and even gloves are provided for your dining experience. As a first timer in the restaurant, the server was friendly with recommendations of food and some explanation of dishes.

Dining Essentials

I almost got tricked and wanting to get the servers to change our bowls till we realized that these are the imprints of the bowl.

Ants in bowl?

This is one of the recommended dishes to try if you are in Hong Kong and its not a common sight here in Singapore. I contemplated to order as I had awful recall of its taste and smell back in Hong Kong. Nevertheless, I went ahead and order. Luckily, there is no foul smell.

Roasted Quail 蜜制鹌鹑 - $9.90

The roasted quail was infused with more than 10 herbs and spices. It tasted abit dry to me. Its tough to eat without being hands on but not to worry as the restaurant had provided disposable gloves.

Quick eat it up before the ants carried them away!

Tofu was skillfully sliced into uniform size and surrounded by a generous pool of Japanese Sesame dressing with century eggs, spring onions and diced capsicum.

Special Century Eggs in Silken Tofu 雪花糖心 （皮蛋豆腐）- $8.90

Close up of the dish

How the dish was presented had definitely lured our attention. Our eyes followed the server as such dish passed by our side when it was dished out from the kitchen to other tables. Since its the first visit, we began to tally what we saw and scan through the menu, asking ourselves if we had ordered similar dish.

Deep Fried Lobster Glutinous Puff 非常山竹 - $7.80

These mangosteen shape puff was made up of glutinous dough decorated with a part of our childhood favourite chocolate stick, Poky. The exterior glutinous purple shell gave me a new experience in food even though it wasn't that ideal looking. Nevertheless, it still give you a crispy feel.

Mangoes

Each mangosteen was placed upright with the help of bitter gourd rings as its coaster.

Bitter-gourd as its coaster

The fillings threw a surprise to me. The heady lobster broth was satisfying even though there isn't any lobster meat but only crab meat found. The layer of mochi like layer had cradled the star of the dish so well and biting on it was enjoyable. 

Fillings in Glutinous Lobster Puff

The platter comes with 5 types of dim sum and each individual item has its on tray apart from the main tray. They looked & tasted pretty ordinary to me.

Dim Sum Platter 点龙聚聚 (5 Pcs) - $12.80

Normal dim sum dish of a red bean bun may seem boring to one but have have it aesthetically changed it into Rose shape bun with red bean fillings.

Steamed Rose Floret Bun 玫瑰花包 - $1.80

The cutie piggy that captivate most of our hearts when it was showing in the social media feed. To be honest because of this dessert, I visited Social Place. The pig was wobbly and bouncy swimming in a pool of coconut milk. Well, would you even bear to eat this up? 

Small Pig Pudding 得意小猪 （1 件） - $6.80

6 blocks of Mahjong jelly were served on an icy cold glass plate. Every block has an edible piece of paper with the Mahjong wording on it.

Mahjong Jelly 麻将果冻 - $6.80

We are not expecting much from the taste of Jelly but if you ask me they are sweet, I find that the level of sweetness is okay.

Another Mahjong Piece

Huat Mahjong

I believe that the presentation and creativity on the food will sparks some interest in curious diners at the beginning. It's an Instagram worthy place to visit for foodies. However, with an average taste on food and without much wow factor, its inevitable that novelty may wear off soon.

Rating: 3 / 5

Social Place
Location: Forum The Shopping Mall, 583 Orchard Road, #01-22 Singapore 238884
Website