Mr Sushi (中岛水产) at Bugis Junction Cold Storage

In this post, I want to talk about Mr Sushi(中岛水产) which operates sushi counters across the island. Actually my first encounter with Mr Sushi was way back year 2000, during the days I lived in Tiong Bahru. Cold Storage used to have a branch in Tiong Bahru plaza and the sushi counter was operated by Mr Sushi. At that time, I remembered it gave me a good impression, in terms of quality I can "see". After I moved away from Tiong Bahru, I never really notice it anymore.

Recently from their advertisement in the U weekly, I started to take notice of them again. Ah uh... I remember them and the store I saw in AMK Hub Fair price extra also operated by them. Understand they air flown the seafood from Japan and provide the value for money kind of sushi.

Since I was in Bugis, I just da pao one as dinner. It is quite easy to locate the store, right inside the Cold Storage of Bugis junction. The promotion of the day was this sushi set going at $5.80, original price $7. Ok, it is not a difficult choice.


Associated sushi box with two Salmon sushi, two Maki and other varieties inside. Looks tempting.


Sushi box front view. Close up on the Salmon. Look at the Salmon colour, it is bright. The fat distribution is even and thin. To me, this is top quality and it is thick too. Not those lao ya sushi with razor thin salmon.


Sushi box back view. Close up on the Octopus, crab meat mayo. As you can see, the seaweed retain its shape and the ingredients look just nice and taste right.


Prawn roe sushi. The cucumber in Maki was very crunchy.

It was a very satisfying meal. The set comes with ten sushi and soya sauce + wasabi. Each sushi or maki, in my opinion, is of high quality. Buying the set at this price, it is simply quality + value for money. It beats the "99cts cannot make it" sushi hands down and even comparable to restaurant like Sakae.

They have counters at Taka, Bugis, Liang Court, AMK Hub, Downtown East, Vivo city and Jurong point. If you are both sushi addict and bargain hunter, give them a try!

Iluma @ Bugis

If you go Bugis area frequent enough, you should notice the building with lots of star and unique shape & colours. People have questions over the building, what is it for? But, now the answer is out.

Iluma is positioned as a entertainment centre for the young, hip and trendy. Therefore, it spotted a different building design and floor layout. I went inside and it is indeed different than your usual shopping mall. But, the main focus is still to sell things. Many shops have opened, with discount also.

The most attractive discount now is the movie ticket at $6, until 10 April at the filmgarde. A relatively unknown name, not sure on the cinema setup. It should at least give people choice for a good movie venue compared to the one at Bugis junction. I didn't watch any movie, because no movie worth the $6 this time.

We would see whether it really provide entertainment than the usual retail therapy.

KL Food Hunt 09 Day 1 - Sg Besi Wanton Mee (全旦面)

After I met up with friend, we head off for the dinner he suggested. That is the Sg Besi Wanton Mee(全旦面). He mentioned the char siew was superb. At the place, we ordered three things - Wanton Mee Kosong (without ingredients), Lettuce with oil and Char Siew.


The wanton mee kosong. Since the mee is made with full egg. It is tender and springy. The usual 全旦面 you can find anywhere.


Lettuce with oil. Pretty standard. The lettuce itself is crunchy and fresh, seasoned with oyster sauce.


Irresistible Char Siew. Serious, this is possibly the best char siew I had so far. People in the ieat forum mentioned about the Tingkat Ton Shin Meng Kee char siew was heavenly, I thought this could be comparable. I need to find a chance to taste the Meng Kee before drawing the conclusion.


Char siew in close up. The Char Siew come with half fat and half lean meat. The meat is tender and the fat doesn't taste like fat, it just melt! So, you see, you can imagine how heavenly it could be! I would rate it die-die must try.

KL Food Hunt 09 Day 1 - Petaling Street Kim Lian Kee Hokkien Mee (王金莲记 福建面)

If you are going to KL by bus, the bus would stop at Pudu Raya bus station. After walking out of the bus station and turn left, you would reach Petaling Street or people called it Chee Cheong Kai. If I am not wrong, this is the old KL, meaning that the place is initial piece of land where people called it KL.

Walking along the Petaling Street, you see many shops selling tourist stuff and many old shophouses. Without notice, you might miss out on many old good food. One of them is the corner stall - Wong Kim Lian Kee Hokkien Mee. The stall is right in front of the Luo Han Gou drink stall.

The Hokkien Mee only start after 5pm everyday. According to information, this stall is the first stall selling the KL style hokkien mee. It is different from what we have in other places across Malaysia.

I purposely wait until 5:30pm in order to taste the Hokkien Mee. According to famous writer, Cai Lan (蔡澜), he visit this stall everytime he come to KL.


Kim Lian Kee Hokkien Mee. Hot from the wok, cost RM6 a plate.

The mee is special - Tai Lok Mee which is flat. The mee is fried with pork, pork liver, sotong, soya sauce and lard with charcoal fire. The mee is fried till it absord the ingredients taste and the stock. It is a good plate of mee, done with different style. I am not a fan yet, but I guess it is good enough for you to visit the stall next time.

KL Food Hunt 09

Just came back visiting friend at KL, who stay in Kajang. It was a fruitful trip, as I get to chat with friends and enjoy the KL good food. Really, some are really good.

It is like a weekend get away, relax your mind, at the sametime, satisfy your stomach desire. I would be preparing the photo to be uploaded soon. Stayed tune.

KL Good Food Hunt 09 Index:

Day 1 - Petaling Street Kim Lian Kee Hokkien Mee (王金莲记 福建面)

Day 1 - Sg Besi Wanton Mee (全旦面)

Day 2 - 6 to 10 Grill at Section 17 PJ

Day 2 - Coconut House

Day 2 - Gurney Drive at The Gardens

Day 3 - Sun Hong Ba Ku Teh 新峰肉骨茶

Day 3 - Petaling St Chee Cheong Fan

Transtar express KL to Singapore coach service sucks

I hate to give bad comment, but this real life experience really make me feel mad.

I reached KL last Friday and immediately bought the return ticket to Singapore on Sunday afternoon. I purposely selected the Transtar Ekpress counter, because I thought their bus would be good.

Today I waited at Pudu Raya bus station from 2pm to 3pm, no bus come. Only then the guy from counter 9 which is their agent came to ask us to wait at another place. After further waiting, all passengers boarded the bus at 3:30pm. To my horror, I bought a 26 seater super VIP coach ticket, but I was boarding the 40 seater normal bus. I was unhappy. The guy offer no apology, just ask us to take the bus and no refund too!!

After arriving at Larkin station, the second shock of the day is there is no bus to Singapore. I bought a ticket, supposingly fetch me to Singapore straightaway, but was brought to Larkin to wait. Only another half an hour, a temporary bus came and pick us up. This is really a nightmare. From 2:30pm to 11:30pm, till I reach home. I wasted so much time on road!! Pay the ticket price that I was not supposed to pay!! Furthermore, no apology or compensation what so ever!!

I would never take their service anymore, if possible.

Anson Chee Cheong Fan at Changi Road 安順豬腸粉

I only know about this Anson style Chee Cheong Fan from the Magazine. I was very interested to try it out, because of the way it is being made. I think it should be quite unique compared to our usual plain of Hong Kong style Chee Cheong Fan.


Anson Chee Cheong Fan, yum yum

Anson (Teluk Intan) is a place in Perak, Malaysia. This style of Chee Cheong Fan is only found in Anson and quite famous in Malaysia. Just by doing a web search, I can actually find many people comment about this dish. Overall, the review is good, it is like a signature dish already.

As you can see from the picture, the Chee Cheong Fan is made of the normal rice flour. However, right inside the fan, it contains turnip and shrimp, I think is fried with garlic. Outside, we have spring onion and green chili. The shop also serve the usual Chee Cheong Fan sauce and red chili together. Then, it is up to you, how you want to eat it.

In my opinion, it is really good. Even you don't dip the sauce, the Chee Cheong Fan already have its taste with the fried turnip and shrimp. Surprisingly the green chili goes well with it. Want to try? It is at Changi Road near the Telok Kurau junction. One plate would set you back 2.80.

Bought my Sony mp3 player S736F at IT Show 2009

I was looking for a solid sound mp3 player. After went through the review in forum, cnet and anythingbutipod, I actually have quite a few players on my mind. The first choice was actually Sansa from Sandisk. However, the shop I went to, the shopkeeper told me they are pulling out from Singapore. Then, it left me only few choices - Sony, Samsung or Cowon.

So, I went to IT show 2009 to check whether any good bargain. There was a huge crowd, the whole Suntec is full of people.


People crowded at Suntec escalator waiting to go into IT show. A very huge crowd.

The plan is if I can't find a good bargain in the show, I would go Sim Lim to buy the Cowon S9 player which cost more, but the quality is very good.

Sony booth was offering a special price for the S-series premium range. The 4GB S736F player was only $199, cheaper by $50. This is actually quite a good offer, consider Sony seldom lower the selling price. Although I was actually looking for a 8GB player, but sound is more important to me, and it sounds good.

Samsung was offering discount on lower end player. Too bad, the Q1 no offer and the battery life is much shorter than Sony. By the way, Sony claims to have 40 hours of battery life. Went through all other booth, but mp3 player seems to be a yesterday product. Not many brands are available and the cheapo brand of course doesn't offer good quality.

So, eventually I made up my mind to buy Sony 4GB S736F mp3 player. Compromising on the storage but I get a good quality player at attractive price.


Sony 4GB S736F mp3 player, sounds great right out of the box. Still in the exploring phase.

Legendary Goodwood Park Hotel Durian Pandan Coconut Cake

Last Friday, Goodwood Park Hotel went to my company for a corporate sales. They are famous for durian related pastries. Since I already tried the Durian puff, this time I want to try others - the tempting Durian Pandan Coconut Cake. Just from the look itself, you would think it would taste very nice.


Durian Pandan Coconut Cake. A slice cost 6.85 and it is after discount!

As you can see clearly, there are layers of pandan cake with durian paste. On top, there is a layer of coconut. The taste is legendary! The full aromatic durian paste couple with pandan cake and coconut, a very good combination. You have to let it de-froze for 2 hours at least before eating.
Otherwise the durian taste won't be released.

Went Shokudo at Raffles City

Yesterday had a ex-colleague gathering at Shokudo Raffles City. I heard about the restaurant, having the same concept of Marche. I was never a fan of Marche, after been to Shokudo, I also didn't become a fan.

The place is quite unique, and people like unique concept. Therefore, many customer there. In terms of variety, it is there, but I doubt the quality.

I ordered the okonomiyaki with unagi and prawn priced at 9.9. After adding the GST and service charge, it would be 11.70. I think the taste lag behind the Ishi Mura food court at North point. Two points:

- Little ingredients
- Too dry

I am not sure whether this is supposed to be like that.

Looks like mp3 player is outdated

I just have this urge, want to buy a mp3 player. So, I wait till this IT show. But there are not many choices around and the price is not cheap. Compare to the hey days, of course, it is cheaper now in terms of capacity. However, compare the retail price and show price, there is actually no difference.

Maybe people only throw in useless free gift. I may as well, get a discount better. Nevertheless, let's see, whether any price drop is possible.

Sat food hunt 3 - Ipoh Curry Chicken at Cuppage Plaza

Cuppage Plaza has my favourite stall of Japanese ramen, it also have a couple of other eateries. This new shop call the Ipoh Cha Chang Teng, is selling the Ipoh style Cha Chang Teng food. Quite a new idea in Singapore.

Big pictures outside the shop are Curry Chicken and Penang Asam Laksa. Since the Ipoh Curry Chicken is their "signature" dish, I decided to order one. The version I ordered is curry chicken with bread


Ipoh Curry Chicken

The curry chicken is tasty. But nothing special. I guess if you go anywhere in Malaysia to eat, you get something like this. Some place the curry is thicken, some place it is thinner. I won't become a fan of it, but it is a fairly good curry. The curry although a bit watery, does not have excess coconut milk and the chili taste is just nice. But the bread is not filling, so next time I should order the rice instead. A bowl with two pieces of chicken and kan tang, would set you back for $3.50.

This mark the end of my Sat food hunt.

Sat food hunt 2 - Trung Nguyen Vietnam Cafe

My first encounter with Vietnam coffee was way back at my home, where my father was given a packet of vietnam coffee powder. So, I know how vietnam coffee taste like. It is nice, I am not sure it is because of the bean is superior or the roasting method is different. But, of course, the bean must be a better grade one.

Then, I met this company Trung Nguyen at the food expo and bought the 3 in 1 coffee from them. A small sachet which cost 30-40 cts can only mix with 75ml of water, it is pathetic but the taste is good.

After my ramen trip, we proceed to this Trung Nguyen Vietnam Cafe at level 2. They have espresso menu and traditional vietnam coffee. Of course, if you come to this place, you want something different. So, we choose the item 4, with milk. It is supposed to have strong aroma.


Vietnam coffee being served with a coffee drip on top.


The same Trung Nguyen coffee from another angle.

We have to wait until all the water drip into the cup before lifting the cover.


Inside the coffee drip, that is coffee powder.

Look at the cup, if you think the portion is small, you are wrong. It is very small. The cup is only half full, it is like drinking a espresso, although the volume is more.

First taste, it is strong and full of aroma. If you like coffee, I think you would like it. But don't order the with milk version. The condense milk cost you $1, and it is too sweet already. Other than the sweetness, it was quite enjoyable.

Sat food hunt 1 - Tampopo Black Pig Ramen at Liang Court

Met up with friend for a lunch chat at Liang Court. We intended to go ramen plus the vietnam coffee. I reached the place early, and Liang Court has changed a lot. But, still, the whole place is Japan themed. As they have a big Japan supermarket at the basement. I walk up and down the whole mall, there are many ramen shop. The second floor ramen shop we already tried at The Central, so we opt for the one at level 1.

The restaurant is called Tampopo. I think this is the only branch and there is a long queue outside. After browsing through the menu, we settled on the top selling ramen which is Black Pig Shabu Ramen.


Black Pig Shabu Ramen

Looking at the soup colour you would think it is spicy, no, it is just alright. The noodle is thin, chewy and unlike other brand's texture. I think it so so only, because it remind me of wanton mee, I thought it taste quite a like. To be fair, it would appear to certain crowd. The soup is good with a mild spicyness and some chewy bamboo shot + vege. The meat is sliced thin and taste alright only. But, they mentioned it takes two days just to prepare the soup.


Slice of meat and noodle in close up

I would think ramen is a very personal thing. Some like it chewy, some like it softer. Some like thick, some like thin. It is a fairly good ramen, but you have to try it out to see whether you really like it. By the way, the egg as side dish surprised me more, as the egg yellow is still liquid. Give it a try.

Central Restaurant at Tampines Mall

The Hong Kong Cha Chang Teng are all around the island nowadays. I tried a few, but not all the quality is satisfactory. It might be the case of difference in expectation, because they use the normal ingredient to prepare the food like luncheon meat. I passed by the Central at Tampines Mall level 4 quite often, but non of the colleague thought of trying it.

Last Friday, we go to the place for second time. The first time, I forgot what I ate already, the quality is quite satisfactory. So, come the second time. This time, I ordered the set - Pork Chop noodle + dessert Yang Zhi Gan Lu (杨枝甘露)


Pork Chop noodle as a set. Pork Chop is fresh from the wok. Hot and crispy.

After a while, my set comes. The pork chop is hot, tender, yet crispy in outside. I thought wow, this is good. The noodle is without the alkaline water smell, quite alright. The dessert although not in picture, maintain certain standard. All in all, quite a good meal.

Our Chicken Rice at Bedok Interchange

It has been a long time since I been to Bedok Interchange. Imagine few years back when I was working at Chai Chee techno park, I was there quite often, and I like many good food in the Bedok Interchange hawker centre. The international roasted duck rice, swee kueh and many more.

I decided to drop by the Bedok Interchange hawker while on my way back to Tampines. After going through all the stalls in the hawker centre, I decided to try this stall - Our chicken rice stall. They are selling the Drunken Chicken Rice at $3.50. On their signboard, it mentioned Wen Hua (文华), I am not sure their relationship with the Mandarin Hotel chicken rice. It is a bit costly to sell the chicken rice at $3.50, but I wanted to find out how drunken chicken is like.

I ordered a plate from the Auntie and it was served quite fast. In the plate, we have rice, chicken, soup and chili.



The rice is fragrant like your usual chicken rice. The chili is good, not too spicy. The soup is cooked with cabbage, not too oily. Initially, I ate the chicken with chili sauce, and I found out there wasn't a great difference. Subsequently, I decided to eat without chili. Ah... finally I understand. It is really drunken chicken. The meat was cooked with rice wine I believe, and it retain the wine fragrance. It is nice, but you shouldn't add too much chili, otherwise it over power the wine. Chicken is firm and tasty. Overall, I think it is worth the money, it tastes good.

Try it out if you go to Bedok Interchange. See whether you would get drunk?