Out of The Cake box

I chanced upon Out of The Cake Box when I was meeting my friend in her neighbourhood. Nestled in the neighbourhood of Telok Blangah, they carry a cozy homestyle range of freshly baked sweet treats and gourmet coffee / tea.

Shop area was rather small but cozy with a few tables for dine-in.

Out of The Cake Box

The range of cakes from the display were looked awesome with unique flavors.

Being a Chendol lover, I simply could not resist their Chendol Fudge Cake upon knowing its existence when I glanced through their cake labels through the chiller. Every layer of it was made up of Chendol infused sponge cake with classic toppings like red beans, green coconut jelly. Not only that, the aromatic Gula Melaka sums up such wonderful South East Asia Dessert and not forgetting the thin layer of Gula Melaka Jelly that topped the cake.

Chendol Fudge Cake - $5.50

Signature Cheese Cake had gone another level up enhanced by the floral fragrance of their silky smooth jasmine cheese cake and an add-on of refreshing yuzu taste. Flavour is light with an enjoyable texture.

Jasmine-Yuzu cheese Cake - $6.50

Rating: 3 / 5

Out of The Cake box
Location: Blk 45 Telok Blangah Drive #01-173 Singapore 100045
Website

The Royal Mail

The Royal Mail is housed in the former Asia Insurance Building (now Ascott Raffles Place) and was once the tallest building in South East Asia. This building has been gazetted under URA (Urban Redevelopment Authority) for conversation.

Ascott

 We headed to the Royal Mail via the curved stairways from its ground level for their Lunch Special 3 Course Set under Restaurant Week for $25++.

Stairways to the Royal Mail

 TRM (The Royal Mail) is accessible by the lifts from the ground level too.

Lift Lobby

Ambiance was calm and cool with many diners heading for their Restaurant Week menu.

Dining Area

 Acqua Panna were served and was charged separately.

Natural Mineral Water  - $14 (2 pax)

Appetizers were served. These buns have a charred crispy exterior and a pillow soft interior filled with air pockets. It's good to have them together with the margarine spread while waiting for the courses to be served.

Starters

 There were 3 starters to choose from and we had their Caesar Salad which comprised of fresh baby romaine lettuce, herbs, coutons, cured bacon, 6 minute egg, home made cesar dressing and Parmesan Chips. The exterior of egg looked abit like the style of poached egg but the yolk was not runny. However, such starters were refreshing way to kick start the 3 Course Meal.

The Royal Mail Caesar Salad

 Vegetarians are all taken care of by TRM as they never forget to include meals catered to them, just like this watermelon stack.  I find  such starter very creative as these water melon were cooked and came with roasted pistachio, tomato Tapenade, Grana Padano, Arugula and Aged Balsamic Reduction.

Watermelon Stack (Vegetarian)

One of the Mains ordered was Sakura Ebi Capellini. Capellini was topped with shredded seaweed, bird-eye chilli, bonito flakes and kobu sauce.

Sakura Ebi Capellini

Out of the 4 main courses to choose from, the Sakura Ebi Capellini and the creamy tomato risotto were the basic and did not require additional topped up on top of the $25++. As compared to the former main course, I would prefer this Risotto as I find the dish more tangy. It came with green asparagus, semi-dried tomato, tomato cream sauce and aged Parmesan.

Creamy Tomato Risotto (Vegetarian)

If you have a sweet tooth, you will love the Matcha Parfait. The sweet combination of the parfait with the Azuki Red Bean Stew and Mochi were perfect!

Matcha Parfait

Warm Ginger Pudding was lavsihed with Toffe sauce and a scoop of vanilla Ice Cream by the side. The Dining partner was very pleased such a happy ending for the 3 Course meal but out of the 2 desserts order, I will give my vote to the Matcha as I'm not a Ginger fan when it comes to desserts like this.

Warm Ginger Pudding

The toilet was spacious and luxurious with a special arrangement for the cubicles.

Service from the staff were professional, polite and friendly even though waiting time in between the courses were beyond expectations. To finish the 3 course lunch meal, it took us about 1.5 hrs.

Overall, the dining experience was definitely pleasant.

Toilet

Rating: 3.5 / 5

The Royal Mail
Location: Ascott Raffles Place, 2 Finlayson Green Singapore 04924

You & Me [Closed]

Just a few days back, I received a message on my mobile phone from my ex colleague mentioning You & Me's fish soup.

I headed down to You & Me stall located in the Kopitiam of Bukit Batok East Ave.

You & Me

Fish soup Mee Sua has a beautiful combination of colors, bright green from the slices of bittergourd, orange red from the tomato and yellow from the shredded ginger. Fish was fresh and texture was soft.  Fish soup was semi clear and fragrant with garlic without be too oily.

Fish Meat Mee Sua - $6

While the bigger portion of fish soup uses different type of fish from the smaller portion with red snapper. Soup taste had enhanced with chilli flakes while ingredients were similar to the small portion.

Fish Soup - $8 (Big) + Rice - $0.50

 Snapper was fresh too.

Fish

Without any doubt, I will pin "You & Me" as the best fish soup in Bukit Batok for now. If you know of better ones in the same area, do give me a ping!

Rating: 3.25 / 5

You & Me
Location: Blk 273, Bukit Batok East Ave 4 #01-78 Singapore 650273

Mr Prata - The Best of Prata and Teh Tarik

Mr Prata came in as our surprise visit when their neighbour, Assembly Coffee was closed for the business day. It's been a good few years since I had visited Evans Road for meals, it had some changes for Hatched is no longer there.

Mr Prata

From my observations, Mr Prata has the best crowd among the stretch of restaurants / cafes perhaps the dishes they served meets the basics needs of the diners, budget and fuss free.

Interior

I would say there was vast difference seen from the menu as menu were no longer limited to Indian and Muslim Food, in fact they have ventured into Western Food Menu.

Menu

When it comes to the prata shop, drinking lassi is never forgotten in my list. I had their strawberry Lassi and it was all good, not so sweet while the dining partner had his Horlicks Dinosaur.

Strawberry Lassi & Horlicks Dinosaur - $3.50 & $3.60

Comparing to Prata, Naan will be a better choice as they are the healthier version with lesser oil intake. Naan Set Meal comes with the choice of Chicken, Mutton or beef and we had the chicken curry with a basket of Naan. Naan was soft and tasty on the go with the flavorful curry but not to die for.

Naan Set Meal - $6.50

Glossy looking exterior bread had been cut into 8 portions, served with ketchup and mayonnaise on a typical metal plate.

Chicken Roti John - $4.50

Opening up the Roti John and it seemed unappealing and a messy chunk but that's the way how Roti John supposed to be like. Chicken meat were mix together with onions and encased by the big piece of fried egg.

What's in the Roti John?

All these while, I had been ordering Mutton chop but never the chicken chop. The chicken chop was surprisingly good in its "merah" (red) gravy. The chicken was cut into chunks and generously coated with sweet savoury gravy in red. Chicken Chop meal was completed with sunny side up egg, fries, slices of cucumber and tomatoes.

Chicken Chop - $6

From what I recalled, food dishes from Mr Prata used to stand up from the rest of the Prata shops but it seems like the standards were no longer maintained but still they are still the pocket friendly version of food among the rest in Evans Road.

Rating: 3 / 5

Mr Prata
Location: 26 Evans Road Singapore 259367

Sum Kee Food

I heard of a Cze Char place situated inside the Yeo's Building but I never had the chance to go there until one day when my pal suggested we should do our gathering there.

Yeo's Building

Yeo's Building is accessible and takes about 10 minutes walk from Telok Blangah Station on the Circle Line. The facade of Yeo's Building retained its traditional Chinese infrastructure and may give people the "ulu" conception, in fact as you entered the its compound it was not that bad afterall. At least you get to see an open space with modern buildings / condo development from a far sight.

Compound

Indoors dining was air conditioned, a simple dining area with a modern yet traditional decorations, yes a contrast somehow and diners get to enjoy the TV programs aired. Whereas, though I'm pretty drawn to their alfresco dining with a beer garden like outdoor dining, I was held back by the thought of mosquito bites.

Alfresco Dining

Pathway to parking lots

Interior

Menu was extensive with more than 130 items on list. If you are taking long time to order, try getting help from their assistant or look around with recommendations for the day, e.g. their signboards.

Menu

A playful name given to the dish indeed. Perhaps it derives from the Chinese name of the Ultraman "咸蛋超人" which also means salted egg. The dish was basically made up of popcorn chicken coated with salted egg yolk. Chicken was tender and every piece of it was lip smacking. This recommended dish just never go wrong.

Ultraman Chicken - $18 (Medium)

The Homemade egg Tofu dish maybe just another common dish stated on a Cze Char Menu deep fried golden brown with a crisp coating but was soften by the yummy braised sauce with minced meat and mushroom slices. It's silky on the inside, a very good combination if you are having white rice that costs $0.80 per bowl.

Golden Nugget Tofu - $15 (Medium)

Size of the prawn was great showered with crispy aromatic cereals. However after removing its shell, though the prawns were plum, it tasted rather plain, the level of fragrance was not there. It lack the kind of oomph  and I just stop at one prawn.

Cereal Prawns - $30 (Small)

Served over the mini wok with all the luxurious items which consists of mushrooms, broccoli, scallops, cuttlefish, fish maw, carrot, snow peas, fish slices etc. Ingredients were all awesome as they seem.

Yi Ping Woh - $33 (Medium)

There's only one size of Curry Fish Head on its menu. The claypot was heated over the burning candle keeping its warm and at its best consumption stage. Decent and came with a light pleasant lemak curry flavour which stimulated the senses. Additional $2 was given for the additional Tau Pok. Fish meat was smooth and freshness quality is not a concern over here.

Curry Fish Head - $25 + $2

Hei Cho, a typical chinese snack or side dish that goes addictive with the sweet sauce. Pieces of Hei Cho was pack full of ingredients without being too stingy.  It was all crispy on the outside in its deep fried brown color. Recommended.

Hei Cho - $15 (Medium)

Hei Cho Fillings

Sum Kee Food is perhaps one of the best Cze Char place in Singapore suitable for family. Prices of dishes were reasonable without being too much on your wallet. Service of Sum Kee was quick and efficient by their friendly staff.

Altogether, we spent about $150 (including GST) for 4 Pax which also include beverages.

Do remember to get your tables reserved on the weekends especially to avoid disappointment.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Sum Kee Food
Location: Yeo's Building, 2 Telok Blangah St 31 Singapore 108942

Four Seasons Ching Teng

My memories was like stuck at the time where the corner shop was occupied some lady workers who rendered the typical Nasi Lemak Food to patrons but there again when I stepped into the Hawker Centre, I realized that I'm way back behind reality as Four Seasons Ching Teng has already taken over them a few years back.

Ching Teng is top of my list whenever it comes to Chinese desserts and just right we were craving for some desserts. Having tried the traditional dessert from the dessert stall, I guess we will not give Four Seasons a miss now. 

Hot or cold, a bowl of Ching Teng from Four Seasons will cost you $2 even if you are taking away. The market price of an ordinary hawker's bowl of Ching Teng would be around $1.50, definitely not hitting the 2 digit.

Ching Teng - $2

I thought that it was a little bit pricey till I had my first mouthful from the disposable bowl. Boy! It was refreshingly awesome, arguably the best in Jurong-Clementi area. 

You wont regret paying the amount once you really look into their ingredients. It consists of dry sweet longan, gingko nuts, white fungus, barley, candied winter melon, dry persimmon strips, candied lotus roots etc.

If you notice, the style of the Ching Teng is similar to Ye Lai Xiang whereby ingredients were almost the same and instead of having shaved ice, little ice cubes were placed in to maintain a cooling temperature on the bowl of Ching Teng.

Ingredients in Ching Teng

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Four Seasons Ching Teng
Location: Clementi 448 Market & Food Centre, Blk 448 Clementi Ave 3 #01-42 Singapore 120448

Cheng Ji Lu Ya Fan. Mian. Zhou 成記滷鴨飯。面。粥

Spotted this duck rice stall awhile ago during the Chinese New Year Period and wanted to give it a try but the queue was way too long but that did not deter me from striking them out of my To Eat list.

 Cheng Ji Lu Ya Fan. Mian. Zhou

I went there again on a separate occassion for lunch and was considered quite lucky as there was not much queue.

The arrangement and display of Cheng Ji's duck meat on their stall was somehow different from others I felt. It was neater and things are classified in bowls instead of the metallic trays filled with braised gravy.

Though price of the Kway Teow was relatively cheap as compared to the market pricing. I find that the amount of braised duck given was miserable. The soup was tasty with a decent herb fragrant. What sums up the simple meal was its beansprouts, coriander leave and fried onion oil.

Duck Noodle / Kway Teow - $2.50

The Duck Rice Meal did a little bit better in its portion with more duck meat, Tau Gua and half a braised egg. However each piece of meat was still quite miserable on the plate I felt with gravy drench over them. Nevertheless if you are looking for something just to fill your stomach, they are quite decent.

Duck Rice Set Meal - $3

Rating: 3 / 5

Cheng Ji Lu Ya Fan. Mian. Zhou
Location: Clementi 448 Market & Food Centre, Blk 448 Clementi Ave 3, #01-46 Singapore 120448