Blue Balls Bike Cafe

Spotted this cafe along Pasir Panjang Road where many bikers stop by and have some rest. Blue Balls Bike Cafe is conveniently situated next to the cycling route and is calling out to all bicycle enthusiasts, pet owners, early risers and night owls.

Blue Balls Bike Cafe

The Interior is decked with red bricks and filled with bike decorations around. The bike cafe vibe is there.

Cafe Interior

Besides the usual classic bikes displayed in the cafe, we also spotted the Penny Farthing.  It is known as a high wheel, high wheeler, an early type of bicycle that is popular in the 1870s and 1880s with a large front wheel, providing high speeds and comfort.

Can you spot the Penny Farthing

Pictures regarding Tour De France, an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France. Cafe was spacious and bright with natural sunlight coming in from the glass panels. 

Cafe Interior

If you prefer a non-air-conditioned area, you can dine at the section too.

Non-Air Conditioned Area 

We ordered a glass of orange juice to accompany our meal.

Orange Juice - $4

We bought 1 set meal and it comes with a soup of the day, a main and a dessert. Chicken soup was of good consistency and was cloudy in colour.

Chicken Soup

The soup comes with chunks of chicken meat and was tasty.

Chicken Chunks

Seafood Medley in Tomato base with onion, garlic, parsley and oregano. It comes with bread. Dip the toasted bread into the Seafood Cloppino and enjoy.

Seafood Cloppino - $22

The Seafood Cioppino is brimming with fresh seafood in tomato and wine broth. The rustic American 

fish stew has a variety of seafood in it, comprising prawns, mussels, fish, squid etc

Seafood

The set meal ends well with the chocolate tart topped with almond flakes as dessert. On the dessert plate, there are candied melon, strawberries, grapes and walnut.

Chocolate Tart

Beer battered fish fillet was fried to golden brown and served with potatoes fries, vegetables and tartar sauce. I was elated that the fish n chips had met the expectations.

Grand Tour Fish 'N' Chips - $18

The environment is relaxing and the service was not bad. Though there is not much variety in the merchandise, the food quality and standard are worth the trip back to Blue Balls Bike Cafe.

Rating: 3.25 / 5

Blue Balls Bike Café
Location: 44 Pasir Panjang Rd, Singapore 118504
Website

Mee Pok Time! [Media Invite]

Mee Pok Time! is known for serving abundance of seafood with noodles at a pocket friendly pricing. Let's check out their food.

Mee Pok Time!

These Crispy Fish Stripes are the main ingredients in their dishes and were also my favourite.

The stall got their crispy fish stripes from a supplier and said that they will reject the fish stripes if the quality is not up to standard. 

Crispy Fish Stripes 香脆鱼条- $3.50

I love these crispy fish stripes and they tasted perfect when paired with the chilli dip.

Fish Stripe

The Teochew Special Porridge on the menu was something that caught our eyes for it was served in an earthen claypot, unlike the rest. The pot of porridge was topped with chopped spring onions as well as some crispy fish stripes.

Teochew Special Porridge 潮州特制粥 - $6.80

The pot of porridge tasted homely and was flavourful, a good reminiscent of what I used to have back home. Ingredients were generous with clams, scallops, liver, pork and crispy fish stripes.

Ingredients in Teochew Special Porridge

The flavours of the porridge were not only made up of the variety of meat and seafood but the natural sweetness from the vegetables.

Porridge

Traditional Black Sauce Mee is topped with minced meat, meatball and lean meat. It also comes with a bowl of soup. 

Traditional Black Sauce Noodles 古早味黑酱拌面 

Mee Pok was specially made for the width of the Mee Pok was broader than the usual Mee Pok we have. It's a hybrid of Handmade Noodle size with the usual Mee Pok texture. Being the Traditional Black Sauce Noodles, I find that it was tasty. The amount of black sauce was adequately tossed in the bowl. 

Black Sauce Tossed Noodles

It's hard not to order their Signature dishes so we ordered their Signature Mee Pok. Similarly, their Mee Pok was broader in width and was tossed in their normal sauce as well as topped with some crispy stripes.

Signature Mee Pok 招牌面薄 - $6.50 / $8.50

The Signature Mee Pok comes with a bowl of imperial soup that comprises all ingredients in the soup bowl. It has prawn paste, meatball, pig liver, minced meat, scallop, clams etc 

Ingredients of Signature Mee Pok's Soup

Their Dumplings are handmade daily. These Teochew Style dumplings were paired with flavourful soup as well as crispy fish stripes.

Dumpling Soup 潮州肉饺汤 - $5.50

The dumpling skin was smooth and the soup was flavourful. 

Dumpling

Each of the dumplings was packed with minced meat as well as water chestnut that gave a crunchy and refreshing flavour to the dumpling.

Can you spot the chestnut?

Their food never fails to impress. Food was freshly prepared and flavours were up to the mark. I would not mind returning to order again.

Our Orders

Thank you Lao Niang Agency for the Invite.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Mee Pok Time!
Location: 602B Tampines Ave 9 #01-01 Singapore 522602

One Star Braised Duck

Visiting the usual coffeeshop in Clementi and we noticed that there is a new braised duck stall taking over the last stall. With the crave of braised duck during that time, we were urged to try this new stall.

Stall of 1 Star Braised Duck

We ordered a meal for 3 pax and topped up another $2 for preserved vegetables. The meal comes with fragrant braised rice with yam bits while the soup was tasty with herby taste.

Our Orders with Preserved Vegetables - $27.20

The braised sauce was generous and the duck meat was tender. It was sweet and this style fits us.

Braised Duck

The intestines were well handled and tender without any gamey taste.Braised eggs on the other hand were uniformly cut into smaller size.

Braised Egg, Braised Big & Small Intestines

Though the stall is new, I find that the braised taste was better than average. Though they name their Business as One Star Braised Duck, I will be very happy to award them more than just one star here.

Rating: 3.25 / 5

One Star Braised Duck
Location: 345 Clementi Ave 5, Singapore 120345

COCA

I have been wanting to give COCA a try since a long time ago but haven't got a chance till I did a last-minute reservation through their Suntec outlet as the Takashimaya outlet was full house.

Coca

The restaurant is not fully packed considering that it is a weekend.

Dining Area

There were a few choices of soup bases for us to choose from. It was a disappointment that the Healthy Fresh Tomato was not available during then. We took their Signature Hua Diao Phonix, topping up $9 and their Merciless Mala for our Regular Buffet.

Pick your soup base

The Signature Hua Diao Phoenix Soup comes with a bottle of Hua Diao Wine, a bowl of chicken meat already soaked with wine and some ingredients like red dates, Goji Berries and Ginger. The server will light up the fire on the bowl of chicken meat and then slowly include the meat and ingredients to the soup base. 

Our Soup Bases

The Ala Carte Buffet Items can be ordered via the tablet. We can order unlimited times for items that are stated as "Buffet Item" in the Tablet, other than that, the items are chargeable at the indicated pricing. 

Tablet Ordering

Over at the counter, we can help ourselves with the condiments: Peanut, COCA Sauce, Chinese Parsley, Spring Onions, Vinegar, Sesame Oil etc. 

Condiments Counter

My Personal preference will be Coca's special sauce. I have placed some peanuts, garlic, Chinese Parsley and spring onions too.

Mix It Yourself

Here's our first round of orders with some prawns, fish, Asari, Fish Glue and vegetables.

Our Orders

The soup base lets out the aroma intermittently. The Hua Diao Phoenix smell was addictive and the spice of the Mala was inviting.

Our Soup Base with Ingredients

In the second serving, we took some thinly sliced pork as well as beef. There were still rolled up in shape.

Sliced Meat

One of us was quite addicted to the paste/glue and had ordered different kinds of it in one of the orders.

Different Kinds of Paste

For the plates of paste, the server came over and assist in serving. She scooped the soup base and pour it over the plate a few times, then scraped the paste off the plate and put them into the boiling broth.

On the plate

Here are some healthy greens to accompany us. We took some Spinach & Tang O to blanch them in our hot pot.

Greens

Finally, I can strike off COCA from my list. Comparing the hot pot restaurants available in Singapore, there are better ones out there.

Rating: 3 / 5

COCA
Location: 3 Temasek Boulevard #02-440 Suntec City Singapore 038983

Waffletown

Waffletown announced its closure in Balmoral Plaza last year 2021 and upon hearing the news on media that they are reopening in NeWest, many of us jumped in joy. 

Waffletown reopened officially on 31st May 2022, just a year after it shut down Waffletown in Balmoral Plaza. It is located on the first floor facing the expressway along with other eateries. As you entered the restaurant, you will feel that things have merely changed for most of the furnishings remained. The familiar use of orange swivel chairs, the framed wall collage and the same wall interior design are just as similar to what they had in Balmoral Plaza.

Waffletown in NeWest

Ordering their golden brown fried chicken has been always our practice. The taste still remains as good as the past and these 3 pieces were fragrant. The meal still remains the same with side as mashed potato and coleslaw.

3 Pcs Chicken Meal

Pieces of Chicken were small in size but addictive. The exterior layer was crispy and aromatic without being too oily. 

Crispy Chicken

While the black pepper chicken chop comes with fruit salad, potato wedges and mashed potatoes.

Black Pepper Chicken Chop - $9.80

The tender slab of chicken chop was generously covered with brown sweet tasting black pepper sauce. 

Chicken Chop

While their Belgian Waffles are one of the must-order, I had 2 scoops of ice cream, Raspberry and Cookies & Cream on it. The elegant piped fresh cream on the ice cream and waffle had completed our meal.

Waffles with 2 Scoops

I'm glad that Waffletown make a comeback for all their supporters as we really miss such nostalgic taste from their fried chicken. However, due to a shortage of manpower, they will be opening from 5pm to 9pm except Monday till further notice.

Rating: 3.25 / 5

Waffletown
Location: NEWest, 1 W Coast Dr, #01-106 Singapore 128020

The Ship Restaurant & Bar

Used to visit The Ship Restaurant when they were at The Nex Shopping mall and I can still clearly remember that the Pork Chop Dish I had comes with Pineapple.

The Ship Restaurant

Interior was the nautical theme and based on the crowd, it looks more like a family restaurant to me. The Ship Restaurant & Bar has been around since 1977. As you entered the restaurant, you will be greeted by the helm, the signalling flags, as well as an engine order telegraph.

Paper Place Mat

Though the menu was majority a Western Affair, I'm quite surprised that they actually serve local Fish Soup too.

Cream of Mushroom Soup was their soup of the day. It was creamy with some diced mushrooms and was served with bread and butter.

Soup of the Day Served with Bread & Butter

While making the meal a set with soup, we changed the Soup of the day to Lobster Bisque and paid $13.20 for it. The Lobster Bisque was served in a bigger soup bowl as compared to the Soup of the Day. It was creamy, served with a dash of cream and contained a few chunks of Lobster meat.

Lobster Bisque - $15.90

The spread of garlic on the scallops did not turn out to be consistent as some of the scallops had a generous amount while the others were quite little. These juicy half-shell scallops were baked with garlic and white wine.

Baked Scallops - $21.90 (Half Dozen)

Some of the scallops have charred edges too.

Scallop

The Fish & Chips were bread and deep fried to its golden brown perfection. 

Breaded Fish & Chips - $15.90

This simple execution was accompanied by garden salad as well as some fries. Squeeze some refreshing lemon juice over the fish and dab them into the Tatar sauce to enjoy the dish.

Breaded Fish

Here's The Ship's Lobster Specials whereby patrons can get a Baked Half Lobster Thermidor with one of the following:

• Grilled Ribeye Steak
• Grilled Dory Fish
• Grilled Pork Chop
• Grilled Chicken Chop 
• Grilled Lamb

The dish was served with sauteed potatoes and vegetables. Each lobster set includes the soup of the day. Dessert of the day/ Ice cream / tea/ coffee / soft drinks.

The baked half lobster Thermidor was creamy and cheesy. Tasty but as usual lobster meat's portion is just never enough nor satisfying. 

Baked Half Lobster Thermidor with Grilled Pork Chop - $40.90

Accompanying the Lobster Thermidor, I had 2 slabs of yummy pork chop with some mashed pineapple sauce. The recipe for their pork chop and pineapple sauce still remains throughout the years. The pineapple sauce was on the sour side and was a perfect combination to these juicy pieces of pork chop.

Pork Chop & Pineapple Sauce

Last but not least, we had the desserts and drinks which complete our meal.

Ice Lemon Tea, Coffee, Vanilla Ice Cream and Pudding

The style and food serve to have similarities to what was offered in Jack's Place. The vibe is there and the food overall was decent. 

Rating:  3 / 5

The Ship Restaurant & Bar
Location: Shaw Centre, 1 Scotts Road, 03-16/18 Singapore 228208

Website