Mama Shop

I guess we all heard a fair bit about the Mama Shop in Pearl Hills Terrace. It not those Mama Shop or rather convenience stall under the HDB flats that we are referring to but rather this retro theme eatery is owned by our MediaCorp Actresses Sora Ma and Felicia Chin.

Mama Shop

The place is located in a seluded area up the hill taking over a small area of the heritage building which was previously our old police force headquarters. It's considered a hidden place as there are not obvious signage that leads you up to the place even if you are driving, not mentioning those who travel by foot. For those who are travelling by foot, you can take up the steep sheltered flight up from People Park Food Centre.

Entrance from Parking Lot

The opened space in front of Mama Shop reminded me of a deserted school area where crime scenes often take place like what we saw in the TV programs.

Open Area

Mama Shop is a definite place for those who wants to have a good relaxing time traveling back into the 80s, reminiscing the childhood days. To me the place was a simple set up with a handful of my childhood items with toys like pick up sticks, Styrofoam aeroplanes etc.

We were given a "big exercise book" with the title "Mama Menu Book" to read. The assistant gave us a warmth feeling and began switching on the big fan to cool down as it was a hot sunny day.

Menu Book

To beat the heat, I have a regular cup of Green Bean Slush featuring Green Bean ice blended with milk topped with a scoop of green bean.

Green Bean Slush - $3.90 Regular

 While my dining partner ordered the Red Bean Slush with red bean ice blended with gula melaka and coconut milk. Both Slush tasted as good in the hot weather.

Red Bean Slush - $3.90 (Regular)

Luncheon Fries was presented in cut luncheon contained in the canned Pork Luncheon Meat with grease paper and to be pair with some sauce. The luncheon fries were kind of over fried as it was quit hard to bite down. We would prefer something softer than that. Nevertheless, we still finished the whole tin of it.

Luncheon Fries - $8

 Messy Messy Nice Nice Mama Burger. what a name! Food items were actually dished out on a tray over the grease paper. The burger came with juicy and succulent New Zealand beef patty topped with melted Gouda Cheese and Caramelized onion mushrooms.

Messy Messy Nice Nice Mama Burger - $10.90

The burgers had butter spreaded and heated up with grilled lines. Sides added were some old school crackers. Yummy! Do note that the kitchen requires 10 minutes of preparation time for this.

Burger at a closer shot

 And here's a shot on its cross section, so how messy will you rate it?

Cross Section of the Burger

The lobster burger is perhaps what I'm there for! The canadian chillled lobster chunks and prawns in wasabi mayo sauce was sandwich in between the buns with tomatoes and lettuce.

Happy Peppy Lobster Burger - $16.90

 This is one of the Mama's recommended dish its in menu.

Lobster Burger

The experience I had was something I would appreciate especially on their efforts on the part reminding us on the childhood which made us feel nostalgic. In addition, the atmosphere was also enhanced by music played from the turntable. Though the place may be a little hard to find, it's totally worth a visit if you are seeking somewhere laidback.

 Rating: 3.5 / 5

The Mama Shop
Location: Old Police Operational Headquarters, 195 Pearl Hill Terrace Singapore 168976

Mufiz Food Corner

We have been wanting to visit this place as the crowd daily had somehow drawn our attention. Mufiz Food Corner is located just a stone throw away from Bukit Batok MRT Station, housed in Blk 632 of Bukit Batok Central, if you know the the place well, they are just along the stretch where McDonald's is!

Mufiz Food Corner is a two storey eating place, offering not only Indial Muslim food but also extended their menu into the Thai Muslim Seafood with Tom Yam Soup, Thai Mee Goreng Etc in the list.

I was there during dinner hours and saw quite a number of people standing outside their shop waiting for take aways order.

Mufiz Food Corner

We took our seats and wanted to join the queue but was told to sit down and they will come to us.
Having ordered their plain looking beverages, namely Ice Limau and Ice Holicks, they were rather decent.

Ice Limau & Ice Holicks - $3

 Mutarbak Mutton comes with various prices, namely the $6, $8 and $10. The square portion of Mutton Mutarbak was cut into 9 portions accompanied by a plate of curry. M

Mutarbak Mutton - $6

The sweeter version of Mee Goreng with little or no spiciness topped with a small amount of chicken meat summarized a plate of Mee Goreng Thai. However if you are not used to this version, you can order the default Mee Goreng Seafood.

Mee Goreng Thai -$6

Giving the average rating based on 2 dishes ordered, I still could not really figure out why the long queues, perhaps I should pay them another visit and check out on the other food.

Rating: 3 / 5

Mufiz Food Corner
Location: Blk 632 Bukit Batok Central Singapore 650632

Bangkok Day 2 - Celebrating the New Year

Day 2 marked the last day of 2014 and also the reason why we were there in Thailand - to experience their countdown. Plans were pretty drawn up for the day with Breakfast near Victory Monument, Lunch with my Thai Pal and counting down the New Year near our stay.

View from Asok Station

We wanted to head to Victory Monument for the popular boat noodles for breakfast but we alighted a station earlier, thus we explored the area by foot. Meanwhile, we took the opportunity to snap some photos and was amazed that CP has an eating place.

CP Menu

Making our way to Victory Monument

Making our way to Victory Monument

We was horrified by the crowd at Victory Monument and learnt that many of the Thai are either returning back to their home town or having holidays over the period of new year, thus the crowd over at the bus terminal.

Victory Monument

While looking for the dining place, we spotted interesting stalls along the way.

Bakery Around Bus Terminal

Stalls around Victory Monument

Can you spot the food peddler crossing the busy road?

Congested Traffic

Traffic Jam on New Year Eve

It took us awhile to navigate to the so called place with canal / river by the side of the restaurant. With so much expectation that we had and it was indeed a real disappointment that we had no luck to taste the boat noodles as they were closed for the new year period. Soon, we found Pranakorn Noodle Restaurant on our way back and they were also selling Boat Noodles.

By the River Side

The best of the Boat Noodle was closed :(

We took BTS from Victory Monument to Mo Chit and walked a considerably long distance to Central Plaza LadPhrao. It was a big shopping mall and also one of Bangkok's popular mall situated next to Phahon Yothin MRT and directly connected to the Central Grand Hotel.Not only that, there were alot of food choices, ranging from Thai to Japanese.

Can you spot Central Plaza ahead?

Spotted Mailbox

Lunch at Tha Siam Noodle was a great new experience followed by desserts at Kyo En Roll. Kyo En Roll was preferred when I suggested for "After You Cafe". She mentioned After You Cafe has too much of Vibe and Kyo En Roll would be a better choice. Though hours were short, Im glad that the catch up was a fruitful one since I only get to see her once in a few years. We bid good bye to each other in the mall and headed to the somewhere around MBK for dinner as well as to prepare ourselves for countdown.

After You Cafe

Dinner was finally done at Baan Ying Cafe & Meal in Siam Center. Since the popular shopping malls are located in the same area, we had a nice walk around and have a feel of the count down atmosphere in Bangkok.

Siam Paragon with blue lighting

Siam Paragon with red lighting

Everywhere was very crowded.

Outside Siam Center

Luckily shopping Malls hopping are made easier with the aid of linked bridges. It was crowded on the bridge too and while I was taking my stroll, I saw a ferocious bag, Lion head!

Ferocious Bag

Looking around, there were alot of media and advertisement stating "2558" like what we saw from MBK lighting. In fact it is referring to 2015 just that 2558 was the year read in Thai's Calendar.

Building of MBK

Frankly speaking, besides visiting the attractions in Bangkok, what I enjoy most out of the trip was mainly their night street. It seems interesting. Even though there were alot of stalls out there, the things that they are selling are less repetitive.

Street Market

And if you are game enough and not having too much concern on the hygiene, you can try them out.

Juices and Fruits - The pineapple were nicely cut!

Fried and BBQ food are just addictive in their night street especially when the wind swept those aroma over our faces intermittently.

BBQ

Once a while you will get to see something unusual just like the sushi snacks on the streets.

Sushi Not?

Not only I was amazed by such lifestyle, the feelings of watching the humble lifestyle of the happy food peddlers was just as great.

Fried Mee Anyone

Spending so much time on city life, its just an eye opener experiencing the Thai's way of living. Comfort food like these on the streets are definitely not found in Singapore. Most of them were surrounding this stall and we joined in, buying two of it. We bought the Kaya and butter flavoured bread.

What's that?

A walk further, we visited the Watt ("Watt" means Temple in Thai). Sincere prayers were all sitting down on the mat with strings tied to their head.

Prayers

Finally, we had reached Central World where the Snoopy gathered.

Central World

We were welcome by the gigantic inflatable astronaut Snoopy outside the building.

Snoopy

Like many places, there were road blockage to facilitate the pedestrians for the countdown. Everywhere was jam packed and you can see street buskers, people selling fanciful stuff like neon lighting, balloons etc.

Human Traffic

It was a whole day out and we were quite tired even before the count down. Thus we went back to Hotel for a rest.

Thailand - Kingdom of light

Visit Here for:
Bangkok Day 1
Bangkok Day 2

Thohirah

Thohirah has been introduced to Bukit Batok Estate for quite sometime ago, taking over Alif Restaurant. Originated from Jalan Kayu, what they were selling were more or less similar to the previous restaurant, featuring Indian & Muslim delicacies, thus the change of business name did not really have big impact on me.

Thohirah

The bowl of Mee Soto has an average taste. A taste commonly found from the common hawker stalls. broth was light  and decent. For those who do not have high threshold for spiciness, it's best not to add in their chilli.

Mee Soto - $3

Mee Rebus was rather decent too and more on the average side. However, I prefer the gravy to have more fragrance from the peanut blend.

Mee Rebus - $3

Washing down the breakfast, we have drinks like Teh Halia and Tea Oo Ice Limau.

Teh Halia & Teh Oo Limau Ice  - $3

Since its located conveniently opposite the MRT station and its reputable name in Jalan Kayu, it's hard not to visit them again. Though their food dishes are rather average on my first try, I will come back subsequently for their Indian Food like prata.

Rating: 3 / 5


Thohirah
Location: Blk 374, Bukit Batok St 31 #01-204 Singapore 650374