Loving Hut

It was another Weekend and one of my family members suggested that we should be in Joo Chiat for vegetarian. We were there at dinner timing and the place was already full house and we had to wait awhile for seats to be available.

Loving Hut

Interior was cosy and simple, just like entering into a trendy modern place.

Be Vegan Make Peace

Dining Area

By taking steps nearer to the cashier counter, they do also have vegetarian beverages available for your selection.

Beverages

There is a good varieties of food available and an extensive selection of beverages for diners. Be surprised by the number of dishes from a vegetarian stall as you flip through the pages of the menu.

Loving Hut Food Menu

I was rather surprised by the way the utensils was given in a small pouch with serviette.

Utensils

By chance, we got sittings at a big dining table in front of the cashier and interestingly the stools were craved with meaningful and inspirational quotes.

Eco Friendly

Besides the available bottle of beverages at the counter, you can choose to have smoothie, flower tea and even some other refreshing drinks.

Choco Avocado Smoothie - $8.50, Rose Lemon Juice - $5.30, Aloe Lemon - $4.90

Local Delights

Great presentation from the local delights of these Teochew Hand Made roll in 5 spices. Fragrantly prepared with sweet savoury dipping sauce and pairing with pickles aka "achar".

5-Spice Roll (Teochew Ngoh Hiang) - $9.90

6 Sticks of Satay were deliciously paired with a bowl of fragrant peanut sauce, ketupat, cucumber and pineapple cubes. It was real satisfying with the chewy texture of these Royal Satay.

Royal Satay - $12.90

Unbelievable appearance as one would have thought it was real meat instead. Aromatic dish sprinkled with roasted sesame that boast the "roasted" fragrance from the dish. Feel the crispy texture and enjoy a plate of homemade Vegan Char Siew like this.

Homemade Vegan Char Siew - $8

Asian Fusion Noodles

Looks like this dish is quite popular and luckily we had the final last bowl from the shop. It was really a big portion and if you are sharing other dishes, it is best to share this bowl of Laksa Lemak too. The white bee hoon is hidden in the spicy broth garnished with vegetables.

Nyonya Laksa Lemak - $9.90

Sides


These deep fried tofu  were generally drizzled with tangy and spicy chilli sauce .

Tofu Tod - $6.90

A stomach filling set meal with a bowl of healthy grains and mushroom were are well marinated in black pepper sauce in combination of brocoli, bell peppers, carrot and cauliflower, all served in sizzling hot plate.

Black Pepper Mushroom Hotpot Set - $12.90

The entire set looked rather grand as they were served in a wooden board with little popiah as side.

Yummy greens

An interesting find to know of such popular vegetarian place and also my first time ever caught in a queue for this cuisine. With healthy living on the rise, we can see more and more of vegetarian eateries coming up and this is definitely worth a travel from the West!

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Loving Hut
Location: 229 Joo Chiat Road #01-01 Singapore 427489

Operating Times:
MON-FRI 11:30am-3pm & 6pm-9:30pm (Last Order 9:00pm)
SAT/SUN 11:30am-9:30pm (Last Order 9:00pm)

Tian Tian Porridge

Located at the same stretch with Ma Li Ya Virgin Chicken, you get to see Tian Tian Noodle House and Tian Tian Porridge at the other end of the row. We was looking for some breakfast idea and decided to try out their porridge.

Tian Tian Porridge & Tian Tian Noodle House

I haven't been really eating porridge like this lately and with egg added, it gave a true taste of home. It's quite rare we still can find such quality and old school taste of porridge around nowadays. Porridge was stomach comforting with pork and intestine. Food was prepared well without any gamey smell or bitter taste from the innards.

Pork Porridge

For a morning and decent breakfast, Tian Tian porridge can be a good choice even though there are alot of breakfast options in Chinatown Complex Market and Food Centre.

Rating: 3 / 5

Tian Tian Porridge
Location: 335 Smith Street #02-185 Chinatown Complex Market & Food Centre
Singapore 050335

Ah Hua Kelong

We went all the way here to Pasarbella to fix my friend's craving of seafood when she saw some advertisement of fresh seafood that comes from the Kelong. Entering from the East entrance (from the carpark), these floor stickers lead diners to the stall. This indeed help us alot to reach Ah Hua Kelong.

Follow the guide on the floor

There are some big tanks by the side of the stall and you can see the chef using nets to catch those fresh seafood out of the tank in preparation for the food.

Signboard on seaffod

Once ordered, payment has to be made immediately and condiments can be self help from the counter itself.

Ah Hua Kelong

With an open concept kitchen, you get to hear the "clanging" noises from the kitchen and also a sudden heap of fragrance from the food for every dish cook.

Open Kitchen 

Just right beside the payment counter, there is one newpaper article mentioning their success stories of converting Kelong into online business.

On Newspaper article

Amazingly, Kai Lan was tasty and crunchy. Fried onions topped the vegetables with gravy being sweet and inviting. If you don't mind, add them to your rice and elevate the taste of the plain white rice.

Kai Lan - $8

Dining in pax of 5, we decided to go for the steamed seafood box that consist of Seabass, Lala, cockles, mussels and flower crabs. Adding on to the box with another 1 Kg of steamed prawns that cost us additional $45.

It was served in a big cupboard and wrapped in plastic bag which reminds me of "crab in the bag". Freshness of the seafood is never a question here and we enjoyed every bit of it with bowls of plain white rice.

Steamed Seafood Box 3-4 Pax - $80

I'm not very much into flower crabs but freshness of seafood was good, from the way where you see the chef caught these crabs up from the fish tank and served in front of us.

Flower Crab

Steamed Seabass can be served in Thai or Cantonese style in your preferred choice. Steamed to perfection with coriander and fried onions to elevate its taste, the natural sweetness blends in well with the use of soya soy.

Steamed Seabass

Overall, I am rather satisfied with the meal and had enjoyed such a feast with my group of friends. It was really wonderful gathering over tasty and yummy food like this! For those who enjoys the freshness of seafood with good service, you should be here for the price is nett and quality of food. This is a good time where you don't need to travel in boat for kelong seafood! It could save you lots of time too.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Ah Hua Kelong 

Location: 200 turf club road #02-k2, PasarBella, Singapore 287994

Chin Mee Chin Coffee & Cafe Shop [Closed]

Life is such an irony, when we have the same old breakfast daily in the past, we complain about how dull it was and began to search for something interesting.

Chin Mee Chin is perhaps one of the last standings old school coffee and cake shops in Singapore, she is located in East Coast Road and I bet that its quite popular among the tourists as well as the locals for it had a long reputable history.

Chin Mee Chin Confectionery

With Toast and Coffee coming along, most of us would prefer somewhere renovated with comfortable furnishing like our Chains Coffee places e.g Yakun, Toast Box or even Killiney as they give us a good picture of semi old school kind of breakfast. However I would say a visit to Chin Mee Chin would let you have a good reminiscent and a feel of going back into the 60s.

It puzzled me a little when the roller shutter was halfway opened and we saw some consistent crowds waiting outside the shop. As soon as the shop keeper fully open the shutter and welcome the crowd, all of them hastily rushed in and queued over the counter.

Interior 

Furnishings in Chin Mee Chin remains humble in their Mossiac tiles, marble round tables and wooden chairs. Space was rather limited and we have to shared table with others. While orders were taken and queues were clearing, I observed the kitchen.

They were just sweating all over in preparation of toasts, hard boil egg and beverages.

Coffee Lady

Pastries can be grabbed from the shelves by the sides of the shop. The ones with chocolates on top are filled with cream, that is not to my liking as I felt that it was a tad too sweet for me, moreover I got to bite on some sugar crystals. On the other hand, custard puffs were great but you have to be additional careful in handling as fillings tends to drip out easily.

Custard and Eclair - $1 Each

How can a visit to traditional coffeeshop be completed without having hard bowl eggs?  They might not have grabbed the best timing of preparing the egg and do it to the perfection like what is practised in Yakun but this is literally good enough.

Half Boiled Eggs in Shell - $0.90 each egg

In fact, I'm satisfied with my plate of half boiled eggs sprinkled in pepper and some soya sauce. Simply love the way where we can just gobbled it down using the saucer.

Half Boil Egg

You wont get your usual traditional toasts here, instead you gets some burgers that comes with their homemade kaya and a slab of butter in between. Buns were warm and slightly crisp with charred edges seen.

Butter & Kaya Burger - $1 each

The taste of Kaya was not too sweet and goes very well with the chill butter even though the bun might be a little dry. For those who enjoy their Kaya, it is available for sale in the shelves too.

Butter & Kaya Burger

Another way of completing the breakfast comes with beverages in the traditional coffee cups.

Teh C - $1.20 & Kopi O Ti Lo - $1.10

Chin Mee Chin is another good place to introduce or bring your overseas friends when they are here in Singapore as it give them a good feel how simple traditional breakfast in Singapore can be. For those who has not been here, you can make a trip to East Coast to enjoy your time back in the 60s.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Chin Mee Chin Coffee
Location: 240 East Coast Road, Singapore 428903

Nyonya Curry Puff Cafe

I was not too sure about this Curry Puff Cafe until some one told me about it and I decided to give it a search around the neighborhood. Though its name as an cafe, it is not exactly one I would say. Its more like some kiosk for taking away snacks or finger food.

Nyonya Curry Puff Cafe

I have bought 2 kinds of puff, one sardine and the other curry puff. The pastry is crispy and crispy in the exterior and look generous in size.

Curry Puff & Sardine Puff

The fillings of  the Curry Puff is rather typical with potatoes, egg, chicken cubes mixed amidst in the strong turmeric fragrance from the curry. Spiciness level is still alright.

Chicken Curry Puff - $1.30

Apart from the Chicken Curry Puff we had, let's take a look at their sardine puff. Stuffing was pretty usual with sardine and onion, nothing to rave about.

Sardine Puff - $1.30

Varieties of the Curry Puff are something quite out of the ordinary for me as they do have durian puff, lemon tuna puff, mutton curry puff etc whereby not many places have such. Nyonya Curry Puff Cafe is just a stone throw away for me and I will keep in mind to revisit them for another Curry Puff.

Rating: 3 / 5

Nyonya Curry Puff Cafe
Location: Blk 274 Bukit Batok East Ave 4 #01-106 Singapore 650274

Pince And Pints

Visit to Pince & Pints has been always in my mind as many of my friends recommended it. Noted that its a bar and restaurant whose specialised in Lobsters. Not only that, they are known to import lobsters from other side of the world, delivering in its freshness and cooked up in a varies of selection.

Menu 

Menu is unique as its only a piece of paper with both sides printed and caught in between some metal tray.

Dining area is like a "U" shape in the restaurant. Interior in its simplicity with industrial theme like bulbs hanging on the ceiling like spider.

Interior

Near the Bar Counter

Disposable table Mat

Presentation of lobster roll reminds of me my first visit to Lobsters and Burgers in London. This looks very classic kind of order with generous chunks of steamed lobster mixed in mayo, pepper, chives and served cold on the toasted bun.

The Lobster Roll - $58++

The bun was soft and pillowy, letting off a good hint of melted butter fragrant.

Set consist of sides like fries and salad

Sqeeze some lemon juice from the lemon wedge given to make your meal better.

Chunky Lobster Meat

While the Lobster Roll comes first in their recommended list, the Live whole Lobster is the 2nd in the list. How not to order the recommended items? Live Whole Lobster can be served grilled or steamed at customer's preference.

Live Whole Lobster - $58 ++

Having it served in grilled style,  it had a delectable char grilled taste. The set comes with Straight-cut fries, garden salad and butter sauce that married well with the lobster.

Lobster is my favourite

 Even though it was grilled, meat was still bouncy and not too dry. I had really appreciating that in every bite of its freshness and natural sweetness.

Pincer

 Beer should not be missing while enjoying Lobster. Since there was a promotion of 3 bottles of Asahi at $20, we took up the deal and enjoy it with our meal.

Asahi Dry - $20

With lobsters and alcohol, if you want to have a nice dinner and chill a little. It should be a good place to be with.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Pince and Pints
Location: 32-33 Duxton Rd, Singapore 089496

Cai Shu Guo Zhi

While searching for West Side Kway Chap, we came across this stall located in Teck Whye and decided to try it out. On a Sunday, the Coffeeshop is bustling and filled with families and tables enjoying their typical Singaporean style of breakfast. With the rainy weather the amount of seats available had been cut down too as many of them who were marketing nearby had been bounded by the sudden downpour of rain. Nevertheless we were quick to grab a sharing table and targeted on Cai Shu Guo Zhi.

Cai Shu Guo Zhi Shop Front

Price for 1 pax, 2 pax and 3 pax is all indicated on the signboard. Waiting time was not that bad and quick to serve.

Set for 2 - $8.50

Looks like the pork belly is missing out from this plate! Nevertheless we have the usual ingredients like braised egg, intestines, taupork and skins all generously served on the plate.

Kway Chap

Soup of Kway was not over oily, it was comfort comforting especially on a rainy day. Together with the clean handling of inards by Cai Shu Guo Zhi and its tangy chilli sauce, it makes a very good breakfast. You wont even get to taste a bitter grime as the pig intestines were thoroughly cleaned.

Kway

Overall, it is pocket friendly and I don't mind coming back here again.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Cai Shu Guo Zhi
Location: Blk 145 Teck Whye Avenue, Yummy Court #01-153 Singapore 680145