Fabulous Salad Shop, UOB Plaza 2

Undeniably, without a doubt - the best salad shop in Singapore. There are 3 sizes - Small Human, Vegman and Human. I had the Small Human and it was incredibly filling. My bowl was stuffed with   quinoa, Thai glass noodle salad, beetroot hummus, cauliflower turmeric, 1/2 portion of spicy blackened chicken.

 Quite possibly the best kept secret in CBD.

Mealpal meals #1-4

Aburi Fish Rollie Olie - Suntec City PasarBella

I was surprised by the portion size - 3 sizeable chunks of deep fried dory topped with aburi mentaiko sauce. I fear my greed got the better of me for after polishing off all 3 pieces, I felt really sick. Ugh. Good but approach with caution. 

Kaisen Don - Teppei Syokudo 

I really enjoyed this kaisen don with its signature chunks of sashimi. A friend complained it didn't taste "freshly made." At $4 a pop, I thought the freshness was satisfactory. Will surely order this again. 

Squid Bbq & Soup - Wonderful Bap Sang 

This meal was such a D-U-D. The portion of squid was pathetic and it was more squid in barbecue sauce, as opposed to barbecued squid. Very lacklustre. 

Chicken Grain Bowl - The Coffee Academics

This was quite a decent bowl from The Coffee Academics. Healthy, standard portioned but not fantastic in terms of taste. I have no idea why people would pay more than $15 buckaroos for this.

Soup-ed Up, PasarBella Suntec

Tried out this new place for lunch. Good, hearty soups. We had their butternut squash and curried cauliflower. I hear the chicken meatball is amazeballs. The accompanying sourdough is dope.

Da Paolo Gastronomia's Greens & Grains

Da Paolo has jumped into the grain-bowl trend. Prices from $13.90 and many "premium-ish" items come with extra dollar signs.

I really liked my concoction, which consisted of a slightly spicy chermoula dory, roasted turmeric cauliflowers, grilled zucchini, soba and creamy basil pesto. I'm really digging the spices in this bowl!

I did have one gripe and I don't know if it is because of the warm-blooded Asian in me. The fridge was served out-of-the-fridge cold; I get that grain bowls are usually served at room temperature but this intense coldness of the dish made it difficult to enjoy. The staff had no issue warming the bowl up (which I highly recommend) and all was well again.

Thunder Tea Rice, Suntec City

Ever since I moved into a new role and new office location, I’ve been trying to find my go-to meal for lunch. From Mondays to Fridays, I’m truly in an eat-to-survive mode and I dread thinking about what to eat everyday.

A colleague suggested grabbing thunder tea rice and I balked internally. This defiance was of course due to ignorance and narrow-mindedness.

One day, I got really desperate as I was sick of msg-ladden food court meals and overpriced salads are really not my thing. I gave into the short queue at the thunder tea rice store and ordered the standard, which includes snake beans, julienned cabbage and finely chopped leafy greens, tau kwa (firm tofu), chye poh (preserved radish), hae bee (dried shrimp) and crispy ikan bilis (whitebait).

And the verdict?

It is seriously good! Ok, before you call me crazy, I have to warn you to hold pouring in the pungent herbaceous tea broth. Sip it only if you feel thirsty or drizzle if you find the concoction a little too dry for your liking.

It’s savoury, crunchy and chewy without weighing you down. It’s delicious AND healthful – I can’t think of a better reason to make this a regular meal. 

Poke Doke, Millenia Walk

Over the past one year, it just felt like organisms in our brains decided poke is cool and literally a wave of poke stores descended upon our shoes.

We visited because a friend had the Entertainer app, which gave you a 1-for-1. We both had a medium and I chose spicy salmon, original salmon and 5 other toppings atop brown rice. To be honest, there isn't a lot of differentiation when it comes to the menu. Choose a size (Small, Medium or Large) that determines how many toppings you get, choose your poke and add-ons... BOOM, grab your order and tuck in.

My pet peeve for Poke Doke is the use of plastic containers - for in-store dining. Is it that difficult to wash #x numbers of bowls (walk-in traffic is not that high) or use biodegradable serve ware?

In fairness, it made for a light and pleasant meal - perhaps, too light as I found myself reaching for snacks within a couple of hours later. This is not the first time this has happened to me and I don't consider myself a huge eater. Is it me or does Poke not do it for you either?

Autobus Cafe, OUE Downtown Gallery

Autobus Cafe is a new multi-concept eatery slash bike retail store within OUE Downtown Gallery. I have been there at least twice now and it feels like quite a treat whenever I head there with friends. The weekday lunch menu is pretty much like Super Simple and Grain Traders; they offer bowls ranging from S$12, $14 to S$16 with additional charges for premium ingredients.

I'm not super adventurous so I found a combination that I like and I will more or less stick with it. Romaine lettuce topped with grilled bell peppers, grilled corn, mushrooms, spicy creamy salmon sashimi chunks, and yogurt cilantro chicken. Yup, I usually go for the two protein option as it feels more celebratory.

Phoenix from Wheat BaumKuchen

I got out of my salmon-comfort zone and tried the Phoenix, fried chicken drizzled with light thousand island sauce. You got to hand it to them. Their soba tastes good with anything.

Lighten up with MashUp, Changi Business Park

Hello Monday (aka day to reset and redeem our weekend rendezvous)! This might sound bonkers but my body looks forward to this day when it gets a break from all that joyous fooding. #ThingsThatHappenWhenYouHit30s

Last weekend, I visited this elusive little food bar with no Facebook page or signboard for lunch on recommendation of a selectively healthy colleague. Prices start from $7.90 with a Light Meal Salad that includes 2 veg,1 carb,1 protein, 1 topping. All that research on vacationing in Japan has subconsciously influenced my lunch choice for the day and I had a Light Meal with salmon, sweet potatoes, sprouts, corn, almonds and greens. Quite frankly, I should go for a Wholesome Meal which comes with two protein as I made a cookie run after lunch.

Hunky ribeye steak from Super Simple

Hi, it is me again - the Tupperware from Super Simple!

Today, I am the holy vessel for a hefty slab of medium rare ribsye steak, accompanied by nori, broccoli, zucchini and soba with our all-time favorite parsley pesto.

Ninja Cut, Seah Street

#CrispyGoals

Crackling pork belly, pickled beetroot,
sauteed mushrooms, onsen egg, and miso cucumbers 

Char Siew Peekaboo 

Cha Shu Pork Roulade, edamame, asparagus, honey-glazed carrots,
pickled beetroot and with an Onsen egg

What's Your Beef?
Slow-roasted Australian ribeye slow, grilled corn,
sauteed mushrooms, honey-glazed carrots, furikake and an onsen egg

The Cheeky Cheese

24 hr braised Japanese curry beef cheek,
grilled cheese brioche sandwich 

Roasted Cauliflower

Meal in a bowl. Ang moh chai peng. It's not for everyone (read: hipster) but I thought the bowls are pretty good. Filling but not overtly so. The only thing I didn't like was their choice of soba, which tasted more like somen.

When you make a reservation through Chope, you get a complimentary slice of cake. I chose the tea cake, which was intensely aromatic and sweet.

Super Simple, Finally getting cosy

A couple of salads from Super Simple due to lunch meetings. Guess what, I think I found the best mash-up of stuff.

Slow-cooked salmon, ribeye steak, cheery tomatoes, sweet potatoes and fine beans

My favourite so far: Slow-cooked salmon, soba, zucchini, confit onions and broccoli, drizzled with the all-amazing parsley pesto

It was all about the parsley pesto. I could eat it by the bucketful!

Wheat, One Raffles Place

 

Ooo, I finally found a bowl I could get on board with. I have seen many people tuck into their kraft boxes with genuine enthusism, but the idea of soba sadly eluded me.

Surprisingly, the soba that had been dressed in a sesame-soy-yuzu sauce was savoury and refreshing at the same time. The salmon was wee bit overdone but nothing too detrimental. I must admit, the feel-good factor after having this meal was worth the $10 price point.

Beef & Foie Gras Rice Bowl, Wheat Repblic Plaza

OIh yeah, foie gras for lunch

A rather sizable slab of foie gras masks some thinly-sliced ribeye beef, accompanied by kimchi, baby pickled beansprouts & sous vide egg on top of furikake pearl rice.The foie gras and rib eye were perfectly grilled and the taste of foie gras was sinfully decadent.

I probably won't pay full price $18.90 for this but from now till 30 Nov, the 1-for-1 deal (till 30 Nov) is simply too good to pass up. 

Seconds at Mahota Kitchen

Hola! Over the weekend, we were back at Mahota Kitchen and this time round, with the rest of my family. It was great that my parents who are usually quite picky about places to eat enjoyed their maiden visit – my dad even made his rounds at the supermarket before lunch and scooped up some organic kiwis at a great price.

We started out with some bread and dips – pesto, roasted tomato and olive oil. The bread is slightly dry but I suspect the lack of preservatives causes it to be less fluffy than your usual loaf.

My dad’s organic rib eye steak, a very pretty plate. My mum and elder sister ordered hotpots that look similar to what we had the last time round.

My younger sister ordered one of Mahota's signature dishes - homemade spinach tagliatelle with pork and mushroom Bolognese, poached egg and truffle oil. She enjoyed it though the truffle oil was hardly discernible.

The kids had the mozzerella baked rice, which came with a side salad and yogurt ice cream. I finished a good part of the rice. #mumoccupationalhazards

KW’s deep sea ocean pizza – good but he preferred the mushroom medley that we had the last time round.

I wholeheartedly enjoyed my organic roast beef salad, a smorgasboard of lotus root chips, roasted beets, peppers, quinoa and apricots. Organic and grass fed from pastures completely free of any chemical inputs. Oh yeah!

Sushi Burrito, 100AM

I have fond memories of my previous visit to Sushi Burrito but alas, an impromptu visit took the the shine off slightly.

We ordered a couple of burritos to share – Rising Sun and Crabby Crunch - to share. The sushi burritos felt heftier than before but that was because there was a lot more cabbage stuffed within. While I appreciated the heft, the burrito did taste somewhat off balance – dry and raw-tasting. I had to ask for more sauce to get through the rolls.

The Yummy Belly box was also quite dry though the box was brimming with ingredients.

It is hard to go wrong with ebi karaage and sashimi salad, and I am glad they pretty much checked the boxes of being crowdpleasers.

The Daily Cut, One Raffles Place

Wow wow wow, massive lines for this salad place. This place is a cash cow. And the seating space is not the faint-hearted claustrophobics. From start to end, we queued and received our kraft boxes in just under 20 minutes in a decidedly factory-like-manner. Ha, the irony.

I ordered a regular bowl with Romaine lettuce, hunk of steak, corn, char-grilled asparagus and roasted peppers. The steak was pretty good - overdone in some parts but overall rather tender - and generous. The treatment of char-grilled asparagus and roasted peppers was commendable. Overall, an ok meal but not worth the queue. Next!

Mahota Commune

Mahota Commune is such a special place. They have got a kitchen, pantry, market. workshop spaces, and yoga studio all under one roof, and they specialize in healthy food, made with no preservatives etc. Best of all, the overall vibe still feels very down-to-earth and friendly, and unlike those pretentious vegan-friendly restaurants that feel remarkably self-righteous.

Just take a look at what they wrote on their website "Mahota Commune is a gathering of goodness. Through growing good food, serving good meals, selling good ingredients and bringing people together to do good, we hope that we can all be one step closer to being good. We seek to adopt sustainable practices where we can because we are here for good."

If this doesn't make you want to break out in "Kumbaya," you are heartless.

I wouldn't blame you if you questioned my decision to have pork knuckle. Just how could I have picked the unhealthiest dish on the menu? Ah, the moral agony...

As much as I don't need meat to survive, every now and then, I get an intense meat craving; when I saw pork knuckle on the menu as a special Oktoberfest item, I knew I had go get it in my system. It was a handsome platter filled with goodness for your soul and gut. Though the irony of ordering this isn't lost on me, it was a massive plate of food enjoyed by all.

We also ordered a mushroom pizza to share. Thin crust. good crisp, great nibble. My only quibble was they added jalapeños and we fished them out for the kids before any damage was done; but the pizzas was delicious enough and the jalapenos really not necessary IMHO.

My sister's Mahota hotpot set was impressive-looking, and it comes with 4 different types of tofu and a quinoa-crusted meatball. Typing out that last sentence was surreal... but my sister enjoyed her hotpot.

Stuffed to the neck, we shared one dessert, Sabayon, made with layers of slightly dry sponge cake which benefited from being drenched in blueberry sauce and served alongside a scoop of homemade yogurt ice cream.

FYI the Pantry stocks quite a wide selected of cakes so you might want to hang out there if cake beckons.

Looking forward to more visits soon!

Super Simple not for me

I wish I liked this Super Simple more. It serves up heslthy nosh, it's super convenient from my office and the lunchtime queues are manageable.

Yet I always feel like there is something missing.

Today's concoction was actually pretty good. Romaine lettuce, corn, roasted beetroot, onion confit and a gorgeous slab of slow-cooked salmon. Yet I found myself reaching for a snack within 2 hours.

Aloha Poke, Amoy Street

Aloha! Wasabi mayo salmon and original salmon plus salad and brown rice... 

Omg so good! 🐟🍣🍚