Teochew breakfast

As we continuously praise commercial food let us not forget that the cheapest healthiest and nicest food is often cooked by self.

There is no better way to start a Saturday morning the best day of the week with home-cooked breakfast Teochew-style. The classical Teochew porridge meal consists of side dishes like eggs, fresh and preserved vegetables, cooked and canned meat. Special thanks to mum who specially gave us tomatoes at our indent and cooked braised meat for us. The all-important black olive vegetables is also a crucial part of Teochew porridge.

Full menu

Teochew half watery porridge

Omelette with crabstick

Lor bak braised meat

Enoki golden pin mushrooms

Fresh button mushrooms

Fresh cherry tomatoes

Braised tau pok beancurd

Preserved black olive vegetables

Chaosansi bamboo shoots with meat

Tell us about a balanced optimized breakfast. (:

Movie Date "Inside Out" at The Cathay feat. Soi 55

We went out on a movie date at The Cathay to watch "Inside Out", a Pixar animation film which personifies emotions and illustrates the mental architecture of a girl named Riley. "Inside Out" is arguably the best movie that we have watched in a long time since "Up" (also by Pixar), as its ingenious and realistic depiction of "psychoevolutionary" theory is relatable to both children and adults alike. We were laughing and "aww"-ing throughout the movie in our couple seats, while also busily analysing the movie with reference to the brain model we know of (such as the Memory Dump, Core Memories, Personality Islands etc.). Definitely a must-watch movie of the year!

If you haven't watched "Inside Out" yet or want to watch it again, do grab your tickets fast before the movie ends its run. (:

Credits: Disney/Pixar

Cat figures his primary emotion is more of Disgust, while my primary emotion is Joy - just like Riley!

Before entering the cinema, I grabbed a cup of Thai Iced Milk Tea (also known as Cha Yen) (S$3.90 each) from the newly-opened Soi 55 branch near the ticketing counters. The catch? You can bring any drink bought from this Soi 55 branch into the cinema (legally)! The price for the drinks are hence a little higher than those sold at Golden Shoe Food Centre, but the Cha Yen tastes as good as it looks.

Soi 55 Thai Iced Milk Tea!

Between Thai Iced Milk Tea and Coke, which drink would you prefer to bring into the cinema for the movies?

Geylang East Food Centre Yong Tau Foo.

Good food plus good service. Older people who respect younger people always get bonus points from me.

I was attracted to the nice looking food and the likely prospect of fried yong tau foo, which is always my preferred way of eating this favourite dish. I picked up my food and passed it to two aunties who are going to cook it. I specifically mentioned that I will help myself to the chilli later.

After cooking, the auntie made a mistake by adding chilli straight into my bowl. What happened is that they asked me whether I want chilli, and I told them to leave it to one side, intending to put in a separate vessel as shown in the photo. They thought I wanted the chilli inside the food at one side. When I pointed it out, somewhat frustrated given that I have already told them that I will help myself, they apologized sincerely instead of trying to blame me. This is refreshing compared with the usual attitude of old people thinking they are always right, and / or people trying to push blame to me for every sort of miscommunication that happened to them.

I give the food 4/5 among Yong Tau Foo in Singapore and special mention of good service.

Blk 117 Aljunied Ave 2

Geylang East Centre

Revisit to Espuma Lab

Cat meow. Decided to drop by my favourite Espuma Lab. Today's espuma potato foam was a little too watery but still ok on the whole.

Joie by Dozo - Value-for-Money Fine Dining

Quality food with good ambience typically comes at a premium. Rarely do we find a fine-dining restaurant deal that can be considered value-for-money. Hence, we were delighted to find a truly value-for-money deal in Joie by Dozo, a meatless fusion fine-dining concept situated on the rooftop garden at Orchard Central.

Credits: Joie Restaurant

Lunch is served as a customizable 6-course set menu. Unlike most set menus with limited choice, Joie offers a variety of at least four options per course (except for one course). Hence, we sought recommendations from the service staff, who helpfully provided us with a comprehensive description of each of his recommendations based on dietary needs.

Strips of pasta crisps were served at the side. There were two types: the thicker, orange strips are mildly spiced, while the thin whitish strips are coated with mozzarella cheese. We love these pasta crisps so much that we polished them off rapidly and refilled a couple of times throughout the meal.

Pasta crisps

Our lunch began with a complimentary palate cleanser: a refreshing, tangy passionfruit sorbet smoothie. We love how the drink came in stylish ergonomic glasses.

Passionfruit Sorbet Smoothie

The first course (amuse-bouche) is an assorted platter. The item in the centre is carrot terrine, which tastes and feels very much like salmon without the associated fishy smell. To the right is seaweed cracker topped with wasabi mayo. The final item is raspberry okashi which we were warned to put in the mouth first, as it would pop when the surface is broken. The raspberry okashi bursts with minimal pressure and the flavour coats the inner surfaces of our mouths delightfully. An excellent start to the meal!

Amuse-bouche: Chef's selection of assorted platter

After the impressive amuse-bouche, we were served our appetizers. Topped with cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, croutons, walnut and black olives, the Transparency of Manchego Cheese tastes like pizza without the crust. The lightly-torched Manchego cheese has a more delicate taste compared to typical cow cheese.

Transparency of Manchego Cheese

Our first impression of the Gratinated Champignon with Mozzarella was "Wow, meatless cheesy escargots!" This escargot-like dish features button mushrooms gratin served with sweet Tennessee heirloom potato puree, Belgian endive and thin slices of focaccia on the side. The amount of mozzarella cheese in the gratin is generous, and the strands of cheese makes for photogenic shots.

Gratinated Champignon with Mozzarella

Close-up of Gratinated Champignon with Mozzarella

After cleaning our appetizers off, we were served our soups. Consuming the Infusion of Cepes and Truffle is a multi-sensory experience - the unique delicious taste of cepes mushroom, the woody scent of truffle oil and the subtle earthy taste of black truffle that grows on you as you savour a slice of it for 10 seconds. No, we aren't joking about the 10 seconds; the black truffle taste is very subtle. Probably one of the best mushroom soups we have had so far.

Infusion of Cepes and Truffle

The Snow Pear and Napa Cabbage Consumme is reminiscent of a Zen-like painting with a Western touch. Within a gold-rimmed white plate, a baby snow pear stands out within a moat of double-boiled vegetable stock as pieces of almond swim around in the stock. The baby snow pear is cooked to the point of incredible softness such that the seeds were easy to remove. The stock tastes delicately sweet, compared to the thick savoury taste of the cepes mushroom soup.

Snow Pear and Napa Cabbage Consumme

After slurping every bit of our soups, we chomped on more pasta strips while patiently waiting for our mains. The pause between courses allowed for proper food digestion and more meaningful conversations.

The Grilled Bai-Ling Steak on "Pu-Ye" Hot Stone is succulent and tastes even better than beef steak. The Bai-Ling mushroom steak is also equally resistant to the cutting knife as well. The tempura fan is really crispy and the potato mash goes well with the juicy mushroom steak. Definitely a must-try!

Grilled Bai-Ling Steak on "Pu-Ye" Hot Stone

The Polenta Castle consists of pan-seared polenta cake with silken tofu, tomato, broccolini, blobs of red capsicum sauce, and a whole asparagus stalk. The polenta cake is reminiscent of omelette without eggs, has a slight corn taste and is best eaten with the other ingredients.

Polenta Castle

What better way than to end off our lunch with two pots of cold refreshing fruity tea and desserts! The Ice Rose Lemon Tea has a subtle scent of rose even when cold, while the Ice Fruity Refresher lives up to its name of refreshing the diner for desserts. We enjoyed picking up the fruit chunks in the Ice Fruity Refresher.

Top: Ice Fruity Refresher, Bottom: Ice Rose Lemon Tea

The Red Wine Poached Pear with Vanilla Ice-Cream is a quintessentially French dessert which leaves us craving for more, as the poached pear is better than most French poached pear desserts we had so far. We could taste the natural sweetness and slight crunchiness of the pear with a touch of spices. The poached pear goes tremendously well with the vanilla ice-cream. The poached pear is served in layered cross-sections, which makes sharing possible. 

Red Wine Poached Pear with Vanilla Ice-Cream

The Warm Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Ice-Cream would be perfect if the chocolate cake had more molten chocolate inside. The vanilla ice-cream (which is made of real vanilla pods) goes well with the warm chocolate cake and moisten the texture of the cake; then again, one can't go wrong with warm chocolate cake and vanilla ice-cream.

Warm Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Ice-Cream

We felt surprisingly full towards the end of our meal. Our 6-course meal felt more like an experience as the attention to detail is prevalent, from the meticulous artwork-like plating to the personalized service according to our dietary needs. Service is excellent - our pasta crisps and cups of hot floral tea were promptly refilled and the service staff put us at ease throughout with their friendly demeanour. At S$38.80++ per person, the 6-course meatless set lunch at Joie is value for money and perfect for a date or a special occasion.

Joie Restaurant by Dozo
181 Orchard Road
#12-01 Orchard Central
Singapore 238896

Opening Hours:
Daily 12pm - 3pm (Last order: 2pm), 6pm - 10pm (Last order: 9pm)

Jeun VirtueFarm

What comes to your mind when someone mentions Chinese vegetarian food in Singapore food centres? Run-of-the-mill vegetarian beehoon, oil-laden vegetables, or maybe the colouring-laden gluten passing off as mock char siew. It does get pretty boring, especially when you are on a vegetarian diet and crave for tasty vegetarian versions of typical hawker fare.

Jeun VirtueFarm 浚德田 is a relatively new stall at 79A Circuit Road Food Centre which sells vegan renditions of local noodles stall favourites. The stall is run by young hawkerpreneurs who treat their trade as an art form - instrumentals could be heard from the background as the young noodle chef cooks the noodles with skilled precision. The menu is simple and clear: shiitake minced meat noodles and Fuzhou fishball noodles (update: they now serve shrimp and squid ball noodles too!). The serving trays look quintessentially modern Japanese.

Fuzhou fishball noodles

The Fuzhou fishball noodles (S$4.50) is taste-wise very close to its non-vegan cousin. The noodles are thin and springy like la mian, while the Fuzhou fishball is stuffed with finer "bak chor" ("minced meat") fillings that produce a pleasant umami taste. The chilli sauce tastes surprisingly savoury - it's not just one-dimensionally spicy. Yum.

Shiitake minced meat noodles

The shiitake minced meat noodles (S$4.50) has a more refined texture and taste compared to the typical non-vegan bak chor mee that are commonly served in Singapore. The "bak chor" is similar to the Fuzhou fishball fillings, with a more minced and less fatty texture compared to minced meat. The shiitake mushrooms are deliciously seasoned with thick brown savoury sauce, which is not too salty and balances the taste of the springy noodles.

There is also the option of upsizing your noodles (option of +S$0.50 and +S$1.00) and adding fried wantons (S$1.00 for 3 pieces) to your choice of noodles. The fried wantons do not seem to have much "minced meat" fillings, but the fried wanton skins are pretty crispy. Pretty good, considering these are vegan-friendly snacks.

The folks at Jeun VirtueFarm impress us with their delicious vegan-friendly versions of local noodles at fairly affordable prices. In fact, the noodles taste even better than their non-vegan counterparts. Bak chor mee at food centres is never going to be the same again.

Jeun VirtueFarm 浚德田 

Jeun VirtueFarm 浚德田
79A Circuit Road Food Centre
#01-84
Singapore 371079

Opening Hours:
Mondays - Saturdays: 5:30 pm - 10:30 pm

Hweecat April snippets

Hweecat meow.

First and foremost, apologies for the blog hiatus as I have been busy for the past month. For those who follow us on Facebook and Instagram, you guys would more or less know what we have been up to. (;

1. We spent the first 7 days of April in Taipei. Food was generally awesome, we would have eaten more if not for me falling ill on the 5th day. More about that next time!

Okay, let's start with a photo of Ximending:

The scoops are so big like baseballs that I wonder how they managed to balance on the waffle cone. And this double-scoop costs less than S$2!

These are super-fresh seafood. No joke. Our heads were spinning after sucking the prawn's head.

For Cat and Hweecat, this is one of the must-go places in Taipei. After eating Din Tai Fung quite a few times in Singapore, it's a must to eat the real deal in Taipei right?

That's all for now. More pictures and commentaries when I have the time!

2. We went to WOLF once again for Restaurant Week in March 2015. Sadly when we came back from Taipei, we found out that it's closed. ): We'll miss those mind-blowing pork chops and crispy pig ears. Then again, its former head chef is now cooking at Meatsmith (which is also in Telok Ayer) so we might pop by there to try the food. (:

3. Since February, I have been working on a MOOC (massive open online course) on Coursera called "Introduction to Mathematical Thinking", which is conducted by Stanford University. I have always been interested in Maths, and I'm glad to say that I have successfully completed the Extended Course last Saturday. Much credits go to my unofficial study buddy Cat, who happily discusses some of the maths and logic concepts with me over cups of Ice Teh-O. If you are interested in pursuing a degree in Maths and / or would like to improve your mathematical and logical thinking in general, I would highly recommend this MOOC.

Any good food finds this month? Let's just say, our stomachs were too pampered in Taiwan that we need time to re-adapt to food in Singapore. For the time being, I'm sticking to old favourites such as Real Food. :P