The Usual Place

The old school looking shop house with metal grills and red brown bricks down at the corridoors of Blk 346 Jurong East gave me a flash back of my child hood days of how shop houses used to look like.

The Usual Place

With such a nostalgic feel, the Usual Place cafe interior is said quite closed to my heart with simple furnishings in a industrial theme interior catering to about 40 seats. Nestled in an Neighbourhood Estate that I'm most familiar with, The Usual Place is just about 10 minutes walk away from Chinese Garden MRT Station.

The Usual Place Interior

This place serves comfort western food at an affordable pricing in a cozy environment. I came to know of this place when I heard that Aglio Olio costs only $4.90 per plate. It's no gimmick as the serving is pretty normal. Let's check out what I have ordered. :)

Menu

Generous ice cubes and mint leaves made up majority of the drink with soda water and Yuzu Zest. A refreshing cooler that stands up among the rest of the beverages in the menu.

Yuzu Mint - $4

Appetizers like this chef recommended Calarmari Rings is a noteworthy item to try out. Served with tartar sauce, these deep fried calamari rings were simply addictive especially with herbs added in its batter. Having lemon juice squeezed over them had also elevated the taste. One good point to note was that it was not too greasy even though it was deep fried.

Crispy Calamari Rings - $6.50

Salted Egg Prawn Pasta came with 5 pieces of fresh prawns in relatively medium size without being too artificial. It's creamy salted egg sauce was the bomb! Addictive and absolutely delicious to someone like me who enjoy salted egg yolk flavours. The cream base salted egg yolk amount was proportioned to the spaghetti. No complains but a rather interesting combination with a little bit spiciness.

Salted Egg Prawn Pasta - $12.90

Another chef recommended item on the menu! The Usual Burger comprises of their homemade beef patty stacked together with melted cheddar cheese, caramelized onions, bacon and fried egg. Just too bad that the side were over done.

The Usual Burger - $13.90

Besides having cakes as a choice for desserts, you get to have a chance to taste their waffle that falls under the SWEETS section of their menu. There is two types of Waffles to choose from, Banana and S'more Waffle and we had the latter. Waffle was homemade by order basis topped with vanilla ice cream and decorated in chocolate sauce drizzles.

S'more Waffle - $7.50

The special part of the waffle was not just about the sprinkling of its icing powder but the burnt marshmallows that left the impression. With such, it reminds me of how BBQ marshmallow is, leaving a thin crisp exterior yet sticky and clinging onto the waffle.

Sticky Marshmallows

Service is seen polite with friendly smiles. Besides that servers are efficient and tables were cleared promptly. It's good to have such cafe in the neighborhood like this, it gives us another option to hang out with my friends without burning a hole our pockets as no GST and Service Charge is required here.

Rating: 3.25 / 5

The Usual Place

Location: 346 Jurong East Street 31 #01-73 Singapore 600346

Bamee

Being "stranded" in Munich Airport after given notice that my flight had been delayed for about 3 hours due to the heavy fog in Manchester, I went round and round the departure area for window shopping before coming to a conclusion that I should have some food before the flight.

This is not the first time I had visited Bamee and I remembered how expensive their meals were during my last trip to Munich. Therefore I was hesitant to buy a meal from them initially.

Bamee

Being lost with the choice of food on it menu, I'm kind of enlightened when I overheard some of the Singapore Air Stewardess that their Roasted Duck is good and I decided to give it a try though it was one of the most expensive dishes on the Menu board.

The authenticity of the meal is never a question to me as most of them are from Thailand from the way they had conversed in their mother tongue language. I ordered my meal without additional drink as it costs me 6 Euros (that's about $10 SGD) for any regular cup of juices displayed.

Buzzer

In exchange for the buzzer, I received my meal with a generous bowl of rice served in a elegant plate together with the Roasted Duck in Red Curry. The smell and the look of it drove my stomach crazier. It groans louder and faster literally.

Geang Ped Yang - 16,90 Euros

The crispy roasted duck was really good and red curry was not too spicy. Vegetables like long beans, capsicums and cherry tomatoes were included in the curry too. The sweet tasting curry was a perfect go to the bowl of white rice.

Red Curry

Coming from an Asian perspective, the bowl of Roasted Duck with Red Curry was creditable and left me a very good ending trip in Munich. I'm glad I made a wise choice to follow the recommendations of the Air Stewardess.

Besides having self service at collection, it would be a good practice to keep your empty dishes at the collection point after dining.

Curry

Rating: 4 / 5

Bamee
Location: Terminal 1, Departures C, Munich, Germany

HooHa! Cafe [Closed]

Passing by Haw Par Villa countless times, I have noticed HooHa! Cafe but have never been inside as I have never heard of anything special among the stretch of restaurants at West Coast Highway except for its neighbouring authentic Korean Cuisine.

As I entered the Cafe, it was more than I could ever imagine. It does not have the vibe of modern cafe with fanciful decorations, instead I find that this place was rather more towards the decent old school cafe / pub with live band, pool table and bar counter.

Live band in Action

Besides the normal table and chairs, they do have high stools and bar counter too. My night was rather entertaining with live band around and of course playing similar music.

Interior

Ambiance was relatively there under the warm lighting and walls was beautify by faux newspapers at the upper tone and black at its lower tone.

Table Dining

Starting off with our dinner, we had the cream of mushroom soup lending good bites with the chunky mushrooms. It did not go plain and instead a breadstick with elegant swirls were given to pair with the soup.

Cream of Mushroom Soup - $6.90

Looking at the price of the milkshake, I hesitated to try them out as it was on the expensive side in my opinion. Fortunately, the choice was not a bad one as it tasted better than I had expected with vanilla fragrance, cherry and whipped cream.

Vanilla Milkshake - $9.90

Having strawberry flavoured Milkshake was totally like having some strawberry ice cream. Totally love it. Besides, Vanilla & Strawberry, there is also chocolate flavour to choose from.

Strawberry Milkshake - $9.90

In the month of October, the Germans celebrate Oktober Fest and pork kunckles is just one of the staples that is not to be missed. It had undergone 12 hrs of slow roast resulting in its crispiness and juicy meat. The meal comes with sides like warm potato salad with braised purple cabbages with a choice of their special home made traditional sauce or apple sauce. The portion is about 800g and good for two pax.

Pork Knuckles - $28.50 (Promotion)

It was a pleasant surprise that the thin crust seafood Pesto pizza had exceed my expectation. Base was baked to biscuit-liked, spread with addictive cheese and pesto sauce, with mouth watering ingredients toppings like prawn, mussel, fish & crabmeat.

Seafood Pesto - $15.90

The BBQ chicken wings are their signature dish and also all time favourite paired with their home-made chilli sauce. This side makes an excellent choice to be accompanied by glasses of beer.

BBQ Chicken Wings - $8.90

The criss cross charred lines were simply evidence that HooHa! Cafe had put in lots of efforts to serve up such juicy wings that would make anyone yearn for more! For those who like sambal Balechan, the lime and its chilli are simply good enough to let you get hooked.

Chicken Wings

Afterall, it was a pleasant experience I had from the cafe. I dont mind going back again for their wings and especially pizza.

Rating: 3.25 / 5

HooHa! Cafe
Location: Westway Building, 27 West Coast Highway #01-16/17 Singapore 117867

Zheng Swee Kee Chicken Rice

Located just beside The Toy Museum, anyone who loves chicken rice would have know of this legendary Hainanese Chicken Rice Stall with the name of "Zheng Swee Kee"

Frankly speaking, dining in Zheng Swee Kee has always been in my mind since the branding name has such a long history in its industry and I am rather curious of such traditional chicken rice stall's product and wonder could it be something different from what we usually have outside?

Zheng Swee Kee

Surviving in the food industry of Singapore is no easy task and it is more likely that business will diversify and in such case though chicken rice may be the signature order of your trip to Zheng Swee Kee, it also opens up another option to Cze Char Items.

Menu

But still we kept to our original plan to try out their chicken rice and made our order with the 2 pax meal which consist of a quarter of kampong chicken or roasted chicken, oyster sauce vegetables, honey sauce or thai style deep fried beancurd accompanied by rice and soup.

Soup & Chilli

Vegetables were nicely blanched, retaining its refreshing green color and its succulency in its stems. The taste of plain greens were elevated with the help of delicious oyster sauce.

Oyster Sauce Vegetables

The quarter portion of poached chicken did not impress much. It was mediocre with presence of bones and for spicy kick, it is best to grab some chilli and dab the meat onto them. Don't expect too much.

Quarter Chicken

However on the other hand, the deep fried beancurd was good. The Thai Style Sweet & Sour sauce and the scotching hot beancurd beats any other dishes in the meal. Simply loves its crispy exterior and its wobbly pearl white tofu under the layer.

Deep Fried Beancurd

Carrying so much enthusiasm to this long awaited meal, my hope to have an awesome chicken rice meal had gone down the drain somehow. Meal was neither impressive but rather of an average fare which any of the chicken rice stall in hawker centres may out do them. And still, I still prefer the chicken rice like Boon Tiong Kee.

Rating: 3 / 5

Zheng Swee Kee Chicken Rice
Location: 25 Seah Street Singapore 188381

Monster Curry

Monster Curry has spreaded its wings into the western part of Singapore and I could not wait to share with you guys about the news. With this new appearance located at the 3rd level of Jurong Point 2, just beside Bakerzin, I can see long snaky queues outside Monster Curry every evening without fail.

Monster Curry

Marked by its rich and deeply flavoured brown sauce in its chosen level of spiciness (within 5 levels), Shabu Omelette Curry was a great choice in its concoction of chilli padi, garlic, ginger and celery.

Rice was rather moist and covered up by the thin layer of soft fluffy eye striking yellow piece of omlette with shredded lettuce topped with roasted sesame dressing. Pieces of Shabu's flavoured were enhanced by its brown sauce.

Shabu Omlette Curry - $14

The monstrous bowl had kind of tell us the portion was big and as seen by many patrons, most of them are sharing a meal. When we received our meal, we realised that the portion was not that gigantic as what we have imagine and those patrons that we saw were having combo meals, suitable to share between 2 at least.

Thus we had chicken katsu as our add on. Unfortunately, we were so hungry that we finished our main first before we can actually pair these yummy chicken katsu with it.

The breaded portion was crispy and easy on the jaws. I'm more than happy for having such a wonderful meal.

Chicken Katsu - $4.50

Between CoCoIchiban & Monster Curry in the malls, what is your take?

Rating: 4 / 5

Monster Curry
Location: Jurong Point 2, 63 Jurong West Central 3 #03-57 Singapore 648331
Website

Cali Cafe

Cali Cafe is housed within Park Avenue Hotel in Rochester Park Area. Interior looks like any typical cafe in Singapore, complete with comfortable music playing in the background as well as soft lighting. Due its location that requires a distance from the MRT and the usual malls, the place is occasionally quiet on the weekends which I find it a perfect hangout over the weekends if you want to sit down on the chair enjoy some decent food, unwinding ourselves after a week's of work.

Interior

Having ordered both peach and strawberries, we find that they taste more of yoghurt taste and similar to LASSI which we usually had from the North Indian Cuisine. Nonetheless, I find that drinking them was refreshing.

Smoothies - Peach & Strawberries - $8 Each)

Marinated French Cut pork chop was grilled to perfection paired with pineapple sauce. What amazed me was its extraordinary taste that is different from the local pork chop that we get from the market.

Pork Chop - $28

It was served with vegetables too.

Yummy!

Striploin Steak was cooked to our preferred doneness, medium accompanied by mushroom sauce on a separate portion. Besides that it was served with fries as well as salad.

Steak with Fries - $30

Standard was there as what you will expect from any steaks, juicy and tender to the jaws.

Striploin

Do note that if you are parking your vehicle within the same premises in the Hotel, you can ask for a complementary carpark coupon from the staff. It's so thoughtful of them to offer the complimentary carpark coupon even though we did not park there.

Rating: 3.25 / 5

Cali Cafe
Location: Rochester Mall, 31 Rochester Drive #01-01 Singapore 138637
                 (Located inside Park Avenue Hotel)
Website

Soi Thai Kitchen

Firstly I have to thank my pal for introducing me Soi Thai Kitchen and to treating us in her so called "Territory". We were there around dinner timing and the place was seemingly full house with incoming patrons in a straight queue in front of Soi Thai. Crowd is there, with mostly families. It was a stark difference as compared Soi Thai Kitchen crowd to her neighbouring Thai Food Shop, a total world of difference. Soi Thai Kitchen was bustling with people while the other was the opposite.

Soi Thai Kitchen

Presentation was all good but as soon as we undressed the chickens from its pandan leaves and popped them into our mouths, the truth revealed. Marinate was not very much emphasized in the taste of the chicken over here, however, the taste resides more towards the charred flavours instead.

Pandan Chicken - $8

I like their style of serving egg with Thai Raddish, scrambled yet fluffy and not too dry with consistence flavours. Despite of its simplicity, its still a noteworthy choice among my orders.

Egg with Thai Raddish - $8

Its hard to go plain on the bowls of white rice without a lip-smackingly good gravy like this! With minimum spicy level, the amount of coconut milk used here is decent and was not too cloying

Green Curry Chicken - $9

If you enjoy having a bowl of green curry, i bet you will like this!

Chicken

Don't judge the bowl of Tom Yum Soup by its color. You will never know the level of spice until you have tasted one. Labelled with 2 Chillis in its menu to indicate its spiciness, I find that the bowl of soup has absolutely grabbed the authenticity of how a true blue bowl of clear Tom Yum Soup should taste. It's piquant taste in its spices were stimulating and excites the stomach. Like most places, you can have your bowl of Tom Yum Soup to be served with either prawn or chicken.

Clear Tom Yum Soup - $7

Although we were forewarned with 2 chillis on the menu as an indication to the level of spiciness, we had to surrender ourselves to this chilli hot salad and did not complete the dish. It was not only tongue but also lips burning. Do note that a few mouthfuls of it would have cause the mouth to be numb.

Perhaps they can give a better level of spicy indication to the dish as the level was indicated as the same to the Tom Yum Soup but in fact was hotter than it was intend to be. I guessed it was for some who can really take the challenge. No worries about it, I have been to Thailand and knew that this level of spice is totally chicken feat to the locals.

Glass Noodle Seafood Salad - $8

Some of us had our carbo fixed by bowl of white rice while the feminine would prefer Pad Thai for the fix. Pad Thai was decent but I was kind of disappointed with its taste as I had expected a plate of more fragrant and not too dry noodles. However, one good point to note that the prawns used were at least better than those pre-processed ones which could have given us a jelly and translucent appearance.

Pad Thai - $6

Washing down the dinner, we have selected the "should drink" from  Thai Cuisine which are the Thai Milk Tea as well as the Lemongrass tea. I particularly like their Thai Milk Tea as I think that it brought out the authentic Thai Tea Flavours from the milk without being on a sweet side. While lemongrass tea was not bad either, just a bit sweet in my opinion.

Thai Ice Tea & Lemongrass Tea - $3 Each

Hits and misses, overall, Soi Thai Kitchen is a good place to enjoy some Authentic Thai Cuisine in Singapore as you can skip paying GST & Service Charge while dining.  If only I reside in the East, I will not mind visiting this place often. 

Rating: 3.25 / 5

Soi Thai Kitchen
Location: Blk 824, Tampines St 81, #01-28 Singapore 520824