Super Star K

While Korean BBQ has becoming more in trend nowadays, we can easily see a handful of Korean BBQ shophouses swarmed into areas like Tanjong Pagar and Super Star K is also one of them.

Can you see the coolness from the aircon? Placement of tables were carefully thought with ventilations pipes hanging ahead. Also,the dining area were divided into two sections in the restaurant leaving a comfortable walkway in the middle. On the sides of the walls, they had installed chalk boards for customers to scribbled on. Chalks were provided in the container, just put down your thoughts there.

Alot of Korean BBQ restuarant had adopted the use of extendable exhaust pipes which helped to suck away and minimise the BBQ scent on our clothing. Though it could not remove the smell entirely, I would say that at least the smell was not that heavy.

Ventilation!

 A metal tray filled with different kinds of condiments was given once order was confirmed. They are Salt, garlic cloves, korean chilli and onions.

Condiments in a tray

It's quite typical to enjoy so many side dishes in a korean cuisine and just  like any other korean restaurant in singapore a wide spread of complimentary dishes were provided from Ikan Billis, Kimchi, beansprouts, smashed potatoes and their kind of fish cakes.

Complimentary Dishes

 This pot of steam egg was served later and was also one of the complimentary dishes. As we dug the egg, alot of steam were seem evaporating . In fact, they were soft and quite tasty seasoned in good stock.

Steamed Egg

With the team of fast and efficient korean servers, our order was processed quickly. What I like about korean BBQ was the way how they cooked the food in front of us and served us proportionally.

Soy Sauce Chicken BBQ - $18

 Pork Belly tasted good without much marination. Fatty and juicy! Yums!

Middle Soy Sauce Chicken BBQ ($18) and Right: Pork Belly BBQ ($18)

 A light milky yet refreshing bowl of Ginseng Soup garnished with chopped spring onions. This is one of the korean dish I like as i find it special to have glutinous rice slowed cook with chicken till the meat was so tender and easily pulls off from the bone. Dont be mislead that this dish is actually a bowl of soup, the rice is quite filling actually.

Chicken Ginseng Soup (Sam Gye Teng) - $23

 A basket of fresh lettuce was given. For those who were puzzled, those lettuces were actually used to wrapped the BBQ meat before consumption. Though the BBQ meat were good enough to be consumed alone, the lettuce together with the condiments had packed the dining experience with Korean Culture. For additional kick, do wrapped those savoury meats with the leafy greens.

How to eat?

 Being inside an authentic restaurant, how can we missed trying out the kimchi? The serving was enormous, perhaps too much for 2 of us to handle. Considering the price, I would say its pricy and  with the amount of seafood given like mussels and squid, I would say price is explanatory. Personally, I felt that it was too floury with too much carbo in the dish. After eating a few small pieces, I chose to swap and leave my stomach room for the meat instead.

Seafood Pancake - $25

 Our grill was smeared with oil and black patches soon after barbaquing and the server had carefully detached the scalding hot grilled and took it back into the kitchen for washing.

 The pork neck meat was quite thick and a different metal grill was used. The slab of meat was put to simmered on the grill for sometime. As it was thick, the amount of time taken was pretty long before it gets cooked.

Unbelievable! It's really worth waiting for. The pieces of meat tasted very closed to Char Siew! Love it lots!

A Short Clip of how Food Items were Served and Cooked.

Service wise, it's a little tricky here as most of them were korean. Often we had misinterpret each others intention as their response were rather short. We requested for more water and chilli, their response was OK but items were not given eventually.

Overall, I find that having Korean BBQ in Singapore was rather pricy. I have not found a place to dine a korean cuisine without burning a hole in the pocket. But still, considering the meat cuts and quality, they were still well worth the money.

Rating: 3.5 / 5
Superstar K Restaurant
Location: 75 Tanjong Pagar Road, Singapore 088496

Hong Ho Phang Hong Kong Tim Sum

Hong Ho Pahang Hong Kong Tim Sum is yet another hidden gem in Clementi area that had been drawing the hordes all these while. Located just opposite of the shopping malls under the HDB flats, it's quite rare that such traditional home made Tim Sum Stall were still making good despite of the commercialized Tim Sum located in the malls . On top of that, they had their busiest moment with helpers seen working non stop to match up with the incoming patrons during my visit.

Stall Front

Rice Roll (Chee Cheong Fun) was delicate and smooth throughout. The sauces used tasted quite different from the normal ones I had tasted. Char Siew (BBQ) meat was chopped into smaller bits and wrapped in the core of the roll added with a handful of sesame seeds. Definitely a good choice for a start.

Char Siew Chee Cheong Fun - $1.40 Per Roll

The ratio of chicken and glutinous rice was about 1:1. Ingredients were generous and chicken meat was tender, not oily as I had expected and taste was quite consistent throughout. With the chopped spring onions added and well mixed with the chicken, it gave off an appealing tint of piquancy. Further more, the rice was moist enough.

Luo Mai Kai (糯米鸡) Glutinous Rice with Chicken - $1.40

Siew Mai were small in size as compared to others. Overall, the meat fillings tasted fresh and bites of chestnuts were found.

Siew Mai - $1.80 (3 Pcs)

On the left, we had the char siew buns. The fillings were the same from the Chee Cheong Fun we had earlier. While most of us would have expected the char siew to be coated with gluey dark red char siew sauce that looked appetizing, Hong Ho Phang did the reverse. The fillings were straight forward, home made, yet still getting the kind of sweetness as much as a Char Siew Bun Fares. These bite sizes Baos were addictive.

Mini Kong Bah Bao (Braised Pork Belly Bun) had caught me by surprised as not many Tim Sum places would had sell this especially this was more of a Hokkien Cuisine. Nevertheless, I would say it tasted quite standard, not too much of braised aroma could be found. 

Char Siew Bao & Kong Bah Bao - $0.80 & $1.00 Respectively Each

 Soft and Moist on the skin, what's else there to say? Delicious!

Chicken Bao - $1.20

Considering its the shop history, I would say they were reputable and had gained the trust of the customers on its quality and assurance of a decent Tim Sum Dining in the neighbourhood. Pricing was reasonable and well liked by all, no matter young or old.

Rating: 4 / 5

Hong Ho Phang Hong Kong Tim Sum
Location: Blk 325 Clementi Avenue 5, #01-143, Singapore 120325

Ulm, Germany - A visit to the world's Tallest Church

Ulm, is a town at the edge of Bavaria in Baden-Wurttemberg, southwest Germany also a place where famous Albert Einstein was born.

The sight that can never be missed was it's Rathaus (City Hall) which was easily noticed by its pulent paint which resembles the early renaissance facade.

Rathaus, City Hall, Ulm

View Larger Map

Ulm Minister, the tallest Church in the World, standing (161.53 m) in height. It took a staggering of 500 years to build from the first stone laid in 1377 and was finally completed in in 1890, May 31.

Ulm Minister

The church was built by Ulm people and because of war and fundings, there were stoppages in between. People had never got the fundings from the church itself nor their leaders.

Interior was beautiful and I'm still amazed by how Europeans actually build such majestic church in the earlier days for technology and tools were very limited unlike today.

Interior of Ulm Minister

Let's go up the stairs to find out more! One of our resting point. During my visit part of the church was going through restoration.

Restoration in Progress - Ulm Minister

It's getting more exciting each time as we stopped by a viewing point. Up Up and here we go!

 The stop before we climbed up the last flight of stairs that was barely enough space for one person to the top to enjoy the scenery.
 

Where sunlights shining through and into the cathedral, it did give some warmth.

Seriously hoping that my Wide Angle DSLR can do more than this! Nevertheless, I'm still rewarded to such magnificent view, perfect memories.

Lovely sight!

I still remember the 768 steps up the Church in order to get such a panoramic view of Ulm in Baden-Wurttemberg and Neu-Ulm in Bavaria.

Truly historic, the sights were breathe taking. Although it took me sweats to reach to the highest point, it's definitely worth the exercise!

 View Larger Map

Walking along the streets and continue to explore.

The hybrid car that was not seen in Singapore.

Hotel Schiefes Haus, another historic building dating from 1443, located in the ancient Fishermen's quarter, was renovated in 1995.

Hotel Schiefes Haus (Front)

It was one of the oldest houses in Ulm. 

Hotel Schiefes Haus (Side)

It's special point was that its crooked and on the banks of the canal.

Hotel Schiefes Haus (Side)

View Larger Map

Students, mainly from Ulm university were enjoying tanning under the sun during summer.

A visit to Germany, Ulm wasnt that bad afterall in summer despite the hot weather we had,  such beautiful scene by the walkway was priceless!

The Emerald Bakery

A very traditional bakery tucked in the clementi distreet. It's olden looking brown shelves had caught my attention as I walked passed the shop after my breakfast.

The Emerald Bakery

Where most franchises are selling at $1.50 each, Emerald bakery offers them at a attractive pricing as most of the items cost not more than a dollar.

Custard Roll - $0.80

Custard Bun costs $0.80 and was surprisingly good. It's custard was pure and not creamy as I would have expected. The bright yellow custard was stuffed into the fluffy and soft roll. Totally well worth it's money.

Custard Roll

Rating: 4 / 5

The Emerald Bakery
Location: 325 Clementi Avenue 5, #01-137, Singapore 120325

Poulet

Poulet which pronounce as "poo lay" in French is a casual French dining by the Thai express group. With its modern French themed environment and affordable French dishes, it is rather popular nowadays seeing its outlets multiplied within a short one year.

Poulet - Jurong Point

Poulet Menu

Country side Mushroom soup was rich in taste with croutons added that packed a crunch to starter. Love the thickness and evident mushroom flavours, though it was cream based, it tasted light and refreshing especially with the blended mushroom bites.

Country Side Mushrooms (Price Inclusive in Set Meal)

Famous for its French roasted chicken, it's hard to leave the restaurant without having it. Having tried it's Signature Poulet Roti which came in light cream based sauce, I took up their refreshing twist of chicken, new in the menu. The harmony of cranberry sauce and double mustard with the half roasted chicken tasted just as great. Look into the glass of the rotisseri near its counter and one would notice that the chicken undergone a slow roasting process which results the tan golden brown skin. What about its taste? Well, the meat was fork-tender and required not too much force just to separate its drums from the body. It was delicious and I had them mopped up with the sauces given. With an additional of $2, a small plate of rice and drink would complete a meal.

Half Chicken with Cranberry Sauce Set (Come with Rice and Drink) - $19.80

Rice

Porc Du Diane, crispy Spanish pork belly served with sauce Diane and fragrant rice with garlic confit. Rice was more on the dry side perhaps rice stirred fried with garlic and butter would be better. The sauce tasted like their French onion soup with caramelized flavours. Their sliced pork belly was deep fried to crisp nice golden brown, however I felt that it was overdone, this could be due to the thin slices. To add on, I'm quite particular because of its distinct porky smell.

Porc Du Diane (Come With Drink & Soup) - $11.80

In summary, Poulet provides a decent fare of French dishes and frankly speaking no one can fault their signature roast chicken.

Effiel Tower Display at its Entrance

Rating: 4 / 5

Poulet

Location: Jurong Point  Shopping Centre, 61 Jurong West Central 3 #B1-57/58/59 Singapore 648331

Website

WTF - what the fries...

?#! WTF! A playful name of the stall "what the fries" which sells fries in different kinds of sauces. Fries and sauces business are considered not new in trend here but this stall is definitely new after Suntec city went through a major revamp.

What The Fries ?#! WTF

Facade of the stall looked pretty interesting with its crate-alike outlook, which seemingly tell us that the fries were imported.And in fact, they serve premium quality US fries.

Fries come in 2 cup sizes, single and double and prices totally depend on the sauce we choose from. Fries were only prepared based on order to ensure its quality and crispness. Thereafter when the fries were left to cool, the helper had them put into the respective cup size and drenched them with ur ideal gourmet dipping sauce.

For those who enjoy another level of fries fried using truffle oil, truffle fries are also one of their best seller. Not to disappoint the meat lovers, wings, drumlets, nuggets and shrimps were available on menu too.

Overall, their business were similar to "Best Fries Forever". However, WTF had also come up with feasible lunch menu which includes butter rice with chicks and drinks.

Cost: $5.30 (Double)

Nachos Macho Fries (Double)

Rating: 3 / 5

?#! WTF (What The Fries)

Location: Suntec City Tower 2 #B1-137