Walaku Nasi Lemak Kukus

With some recommendations from the Foodie Group, I managed to make my way to Nasi Lemak Kukus in Alexandra Road. 

Using the freshest ingredients to make their Nasi Lemak Kukus and their Signature Ayam Berempah, marinated with their speciality spices

Nasi Lemak Kukus

Starring their steamed to perfection and fluffy Nasi Lemak Kukus, we dug into our meal quickly after receiving our order.

The whiff of the rich, coconut-infused rice was to die for accompanied by the large piece of Spiced Fried Chicken (Ayam Berempah). The fried chicken was well seasoned with a flavourful blend of spices, seemingly including turmeric, lemongrass, galangal and other mixtures of aromatic herbs as well as spices. 

Nasi Lemak Kukus Ayam Berempah Set - $6.50 

The Chicken is crispy on the outside while remaining juiciness and tender on the inside topped with spiced batter fried crumbs, allowing an aromatic and delightful crunch. 

Ayam Berempah

The set comprises fried egg, slices of cucumber, ikan billis and peanuts with chilli. The rendang sauce had a thick consistency and rich in flavour. 

Nasi Lemak Kukus Ayam Rendang Set - $7

The visual appeal of the Ayam Rendang had already showcases the vibrant colors of the golden-brown chicken with the sauce. It is a successful execution with a harmonious blend of flavours, textures and traditional elements.

Ayam Rendang

We nodded and agreed that Walaku Nasi Lemak Kukus is definitely our kind of food. We will be back again to try out other items in the menu.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Walaku - Nasi Lemak Kukus
Location: Fragrance Empire Building 456 Alexandra Rd, Singapore 119962

Jason Penang Cuisine

I haven't been to Penang for a long time and luckily we lived in a multi-racial social, the joys of having cuisine from many places can be make it easy to travel within Singapore. The stall is manned by a friendly Penang borned husband and wife team whom decided to come out on their own after serving the British High Commisioner as his resident chef.

Jason Penang Cuisine

The Penang Fried Kway Teow is one of the staple dishes to order from Penang Cuisine. Jason had this dish perfectly done with Chinese sausage, beansprouts, prawns and eggs. Every strand of the Kway Teow carries a mouthful of wok hei flavours. 

Penang Fried Kway Teow - $4

Whenever it comes to Penang Assam Laksa, I find it very appetizing. The use of prawn paste had given the soury taste of the broth a good balance. Other ingredients include pineapple, cucumber, onions, and mint leaves had also brought up its umami flavours.

Penang Assam Laksa - $4

While our local prawn noodle soup would not include hard boil egg, Penang's style did. Ingredients like lean meat and prawns with a substantial seafood soup taste were good enough. Not overpowering.

Penang Prawn Noodle Soup- $4

Rating: 3.25 / 5

Jason Penang Cuisine
Location: ABC Brickworks, 6 Jalan Bukit Merah, #01-112, Singapore 150006

Kumo Japanese Dining

We didn't make a booking and walk-in as customers on a weekday evening to Kumo and was lucky to secure a seat at the bar counters table. Kumo is known for its service as well as standard of food.

Kumo

We chose Buffet dinner over alarte and ordered our first bowl of food, Edamame as appetizer. 

Edamame

Next up, we had chawanmushi, Tofu with goma sauce and cha soba. 

Chawan Mushi, Tofu Goma Sauce, Cha Soba

Mixing in the vinaigrette with salmon belly was a good choice. Love the sour flavored sauce that brings out the freshness of the salmon.

Salmon Belly

If you are a sashimi lover, you can order their Sashimi Moriawase which has everything from their menu, Hamichi, Mekajiki (Sword Fish), Ika (Squid), Tako (Octopus) and Tai (Sea Beam). They were all very fresh and worthy.

Assorted Raw Fish (Sashimi Moriawase)

Crispy Soft shell Crab rolling up with seaweed and rice. There are a few other selections of Temaki like Ebi, Unagi, California and Sake Kawa on the menu too.

Soft Shell Crab Temaki

Under the Agemono and Ippinmono menu, we had fried Shitake, Agedashi Tofu, Tori Kara Age and Takoyaki.

Tempura Agemono / Ippinmono

Let's dip the tempura into the sauce!

Ebiten & Ika Tempura

Shisamo lovers can order their shioyaki Shisamo from the Yaki Mono menu,

Shisamo Shioyaki

If you enjoy bacon, you may want to try out their Cocktail Bacon Maki as well as Kani Bacon Maki,

Cocktail Bacon Maki & Kani Bacon Maki

The salmon Miso Soup was not from their menu and the soup was tasty with sweetness from the vegetables and fish.

Salmon Miso Soup

Miso Soup with Salmon

Scallops comes in 2 pieces per stick and was sweetly coated in the teriyaki sauce like wise for the Yakitori. The chicken meat was tender and well-glazed.

Baby Scallop Teriyaki & Yakitori 

Yaki Soba was tasty with carrots, and mushrooms, topped with shredded seaweed and spring onions.

Yaki Soba

Ever wonder about sushi cake? Since we are there for an occasion, this sushi cake was made. It was my first experience with candle and sushi decorated with some sweet black sauce, salt, slices of cucumber and lemon. Unique!

Sushi Cake

I actually resisted having a buffet but after seeing the serving of Kumo Japanese Dining, I'm pleased. Every portion was manageable and food quality is of standard.

Rating: 3.25 / 5

Kumo
Location: Alexandra Central Mall, 321 Alexandra Rd, #01-08/09 Alexandra Central, Singapore 159971
Website

Mr Avocado Exotic Fruit Juice

After all these years, I'm still patronizing this stall whenever I am in the area. I was not spared from the queue either but all were worthwhile for it left me a satisfying stomach after my cup of Avocado drink.

Stall of Mr Avocado

I'm still loving its rich and creamy consistent smooth drink without being too sweet. The fragrant and pleasant taste of Gulu Melaka within adds depth and flavour to the drink.  

Avocado and Avocado with Chocolate Drink (Medium Size)

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Last posted on 8th July 2014

I have never failed to have a cup of my favourite juice every time during my trip to Alexandra Village(AV) Food Centre unless Mr Avocado Stall is closed.

Stall of Mr Avocado

Being their supporter since my school days, I had seen the price of Avocado juice increased from less than $2 to its current $2.50 per cup. When I'm being asked to recommend best Avocado Juice, what comes first in my mind was AV Food Centre's Mr Avocado.

Avocado Juice

Most of the times, there were queues in front of the shop. Beside selling the traditional varieties of fruit juices, they are also selling exotic juices like durian milk and sweetcorn milk shake. Initially I wanted to order the sweet corn milk but it was not available during my visit.


The secret recipe to their tasty Avocado Juice was never revealed. Jars of avocado juice was prepared way before hand and kept in the chiller. By nature, Avocado is rich in mono saturated fats, thus the drinks are seen creamy. It tastes sweet with Gula Melaka added and my many returns has not disappoint me thus far. Strongly recommended!

Avocado Juice - $2.50

Rating: 4.5 / 5

Mr Avocado Exotic Fruit Juice
Location: Alexandra Village Food Centre ,120 Bukit Merah Lane 1, #01-19 Singapore 150120

Original Botak Jones

In the past when we talked about Western Food, we would shout "Botak Jones, Botak Jones" as this was the popular Western Food in Coffee Shop. For a period of time, Botak Jones has left the Western Food Chain but now it has revived again.

Original Botak Jones

Just in front of the stall, there is a big PRISM television display on their menu items. Like most of the stalls, patrons are given the buzzer after ordering the food so they can pick the food up when its ready to be served.

Buzzer

All entrees come with spicy fries and coleslaw or any two of the regular side dishes. Botak Jones pride the Cajun Chicken as one of their signature dishes. I love the mozzarella cheese that melts on top of the marinated chicken. The way they are char-grilled over medium heat is good as this retains the juices minimising the meat turning dry during the process. The chicken breast is moist but not to die for as the spicy Cajun Sauce had kind of taken away, numbing my taste buds. Luckily I had the Regular Portion, even though portion looked a bit small, I was already struggling to finished up my meal.

Cajun Chicken - $7.50 (Regular)

The NZ Ribeye Steak comes in 250g for $23 or 350g for $29.50. The quality of ribeye used was prime steer grain-fed. The steak was hand marinated in order to tenderize it and enhance its flavour. 

Ribeye Steak - $29.50 (350g)

The Ribeye steak was accompanied by brown sauce to dip in and I guessed we had ordered the wrong sides as the Cajun Fries were spicy for our liking. 

Medium Done Ribeye Steak with Brown Sauce

The Mushroom Soup can be topped up as a side for $1 but however if you are ordering it as a side, it will cost $3 a bowl. I love the texture of the mushroom soup as they have chunks of mushrooms and onions in eat added with some cheese. The pulling strands of cheese feel are special.

Mushroom Soup - $3

Overall, I felt that the standard of food is nothing to shout at. For Western food, there are a lot of better ones out there and as a coleslaw lover, the Coleslaw taste here do not have the oomph that I'm looking for.

Rating: 3 / 5

Original Botak Jones
Location: 118 Depot Lane, Singapore 109754

Stew Küche [Closed]

Stew Küche also known as Stew Kitchen when translated from German is located in one of the hipster coffee shop in Singapore. If you feel that enjoying your European meals from air-conditioned Restaurants or Malls is too mainstream, try visiting here for a different experience, also skipping the additional service charges.

Menu

Table Number

The Swiss Farmer Platter is good for sharing for about 2 - 4 pax and consists of the Bavarian / Germans Staples like whole crispy pork knuckled, 2 selected German sausages, Achar, mashed potatoes, harsh browns and darkbeer sauce for pairing. From the look at it, the Asian Cuisine had somehow influenced the "supposed-to-be" German platter as the sauerkraut that I'm looking forward to has been exchanged for our Asian Achar. Portion are large and definitely economical as compared to the usual ones.

Schweizer Bauern Platte (Swiss Farmer Platter) - $40.66

The scene-stealer was perhaps none other than that salivating big pork knuckle that were cut into pieces. Meat was moist and fare better than the chain German Bistro that I had visited. Meat was marvelously tender and best to go with the given sauce.

Pork Knuckle

The Bavarian Pork Sausage was perfectly served in its plump texture and lend a good savoury bite with its juice bursting as we sank our teeth into them.

Bavarian Pork Sausage

Though those shredded potatoes that make up the Rosti may not be as fine as what we had from Marche, it was more fragrant and not very oily. Together with the platter, we topped up this at $5.50 only.

Rosti - $5.50

Having good memories from Hofbräuhaus München in Germany, I had the Hofbräu original. This is brewed by the brewery in Germany and the acquired taste was refreshingly light to go with some good german food! While for my guy friend, he prefers something stronger in flavour and went for the darker beer.

Original Weiss Beer - $11 (1 Pint)

Paulaner Dunkel - $11 (1 Pint)

Stew Küche may not replace the restaurant environment and have limited seating but you can still call in for reservation. Overall, with menu being extensive, I find that its a good alternative if you are looking for more German Food options in Singapore.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Stew Kuche
Location: Blk 119 Bukit Merah Lane 1 #01-40 Singapore 151119

Seasalt

Checking out the hipster coffee shop in Bukit Merah again and this time round we are going for some German cuisine as well as seafood. We were quite lucky to have a seat with just walking-in and without any reservation.

Seasalt's Buzzer

Serving mussels in broth of garlic and wine and all in one pot. The pot in its handle gave us a total feel as if we were at home and an additional bucket to arrange the empty shells into it.

Mussels in Stock - $15

Those mussels were fresh and just simply dip the toasted white breads into the sauce and finished up the dish!

Mussels

Hope to be back again for others seafood.

Rating: 3 / 5

Seasalt
Location: Blk 119 Bukit Merah Lane 1 Singapore 151119

Portico

Hidden away in Alexandra in the midst of all office building lies a gem of a cafe and its none other than Portico. If not for the invited session, I would have never knew that such place exist. Portico presents a unique concept with an edible herb garden surrounding them. They are creating some innovative comtemporary Western and Eurpoean style cuisines with a taste of home.

Portico Cafe.Restuarant.Bar

Be stunned by this wooden horse structure looking over the entrance of Portico.

Wooden Horse

The outdoor dining area is spacious, with seats up to 100 and is ideal for celebration be it a wedding or a party. In fact, With Portico being surrounded by the sprawling herb and vegetables garden which gave a very relaxing ambiance, especially during the night falls. Do bring some friends over here for a chill out session after a hard day of work.

Alfresco Dining

Spot on! This little corner is awesome. People who come here to chill out or even during the night time over their beer session, they can challenge each other over the table.

Snooker

Moving deep into the restaurant, you can feel the inviting ambiance even in the day time.Settings had given a modern and leisure vibe which let patrons feel as comfortable as home.

Dining Area

Interior may was laid with cement screed ground which gave a industrial concept, however with its lovely furnishing it somewhat gave a casual and relaxing environment to be in. What's more, Portico is a pet friendly cafe, therefore, Pet Owners, you do not have to worry if you are bringing your cat over too.

Interior

Starting off with the sharing sessions, we were welcome by such alluring deep fried wings in the skillet with chilli and lime dip.  The outer layers had a very good crispy texture and as I sink my teeth into it, I felt the succulency in its meat. Not only that, they were well marinated. Making taste perfect, their wings came with a familar taste from the Belachan chilli that I could not resist in more helpings. On a side note, if these yummy wings were to pair with the cooling beer, that would be a bonus.

Portico Chicken Wings

Make your Saturdays fruitful! Head over to Portico on Saturday afternoons for special activities. The sessions at Portico not only draw a closer relationship with food, it also let us enjoy the sharing demo sessions by the chefs.

Head Chef, Nixon Low was featured as a Top Local Chef in Singapore 2014 by SG Magazine Online. It was such a pleasure to have him leading the session with plating of Portico's Signature Tomato Salad.

Plating Demostration by Head Chef, Nixon Low

Plating might seems easy but it required some skills in order to achieved such beautiful output. The meticulous and professional inputs by Head Chef Nixon were very helpful.

Plating of Salad of Vine-Ripened Tomato - Product of Chef Nixon Low - $17

We felt the pressure! We were given the ingredients and was told to recall the plating demonstration procedures done by Chef Nixon earlier on. Fortunately, the instruction was very clear and ingredients were all laid out neatly by the hospitable staff on duty.

Ingredients include, organic quinoa, honey melon dressing, plum dressing, tomato, herds and jamon serrrano slices.

Ingredients

Ta-da! The session by Chef Nixon was came in handy and I had done up my first plating ever. Besides the colors that made it attractive, the blanched skinless Vine-ripened tomato was a total scene stealer. Munch on it and let the bursting effect of its juice tell you more!

My First Plating

Latte Art Demo Class was another session that I looked forward to. As a non coffee lover, I never learn to enjoy a simple cup until I went through the process to appreciate such art done by a Barista.

Add caption

 Fill the roasted coffee powder on the portafilter and getting prepared for the process!

Roasted Coffee Powder

 We are almost done with the latte art demonstration, keep your hands steady!

Demonstration

Demonstrated Cup

Steaming of milk under the active steam pressure marked the importance. It has to be of significance temperature and as the temperature increase, it can be felt by our hands.

And here comes the formation of latte art. If you heat the milk much beyond a certain temperature you are at the risk of ruining the beautiful texture.

The rolling effect was both very exciting as we need to tilt both the milk and the cup as we pour them into each other.

Rolling Effect

I thought there was a tendency of overflowing but with the steady guidance of the staff, I manage to get it done in no time.

My Latte Art

The 3rd Part the of session we had was the sharing session by Pollen Nation, Singapore's only Bee Hive and Bee Swarm Relocation Service. Many people see Bee Hive as pests but their school of thought is totally different. They believe that bees play an important role in the urban Eco-system by upholding the main role of pollination and all thanks to their beliefs we get to taste our LOCAL Raw Honey. Since these honeys were rather exclusive, they are not commonly seen on the shelves. And interestingly, there are some R&D going on with Portico. Look forward to something new on their Menu soon.

Give the bees another chance of survival

To avoid disappointment, it is better to check on their website or call in to find out more on the demonstration classes.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Portico
Location: 991B Alexandra Road #01-10 Singapore 119964
Operating Hours: Lunch: 1130 – 1500 (Mon-Sat)
                                Dinner: 1730 – 2330 (Mon-Thurs), 1730 – 0030 (Fri-Sat)
Website