Lao Ban Dou Hua

Brother was raving about lao ban soya beancurd and said that he would get a portion for me to try the next time he goes. He brought one back. Very interesting soya beancurd, it feels like some kind of soya custard as opposed to the standard beancurd. The custard is made alongside with the sugar syrup so the mixture is sweet in itself. It was kinda nice but I feel that it is too sweet for me and I felt kinda guilty chugging half of it down. 

Normally I would simply just eat the top portion of the beancurd and leave the sugar syrup at the bottom. That said, I was rather impressed by the texture as it was milky and soft. Would go for it again, but I will definitely need to share a portion with a dessert partner. 

Passion fruit @ Tiong Bahru NTUC

Passion fruit is one of my favourite healthy snack that I can eat anytime. I realise that Tiong Bahru's NTUC always have a ready stock of this fruit and they are really cheap. SG$4 or less for 10 pieces. Just chill the fruit, slice it into half and use a spoon to scoop. Yummilicious. Passionfruit is also good as a really healthy dressing for salads due to its viscosity and texture. Try it! :)

Pan seared scallops on a bed of sweet pea mash

Decided to make myself a scallop dinner. Very low in calories, very easy to make. Guilt free indulgence. Am feeling so proud of myself. 

Carl's Junior @ Vivocity

Low Carb and Double Special for me

No carbs, no sauce. 

Went to Carl's Junior at Vivocity. Whenever I'm feeling fat, I would order the low carb burger. Today, I decided to up the ante and go without sauce. It was a low carb and low fat special. It doesn't taste as plain as it looks because the meat patty itself already has flavour in it. The lettuce were very fresh, crispy and juicy. Burger was really huge and I couldn't finish it, had to give half of it to my dinner date. He was a very happy boy today. 

Guilt free comfort food. 

PS: On non fat days, I go for the fatty guacamole burger. I'm a sucker for avocado :P

California Pizza Kitchen

Thin Crust Pesto Chicken Pizza

Chinese Chicken Salad

Hummus

Swung by California Pizza Kitchen at Forum for some good ol' American fare. Had my first taste of CPK in Philadelphia years ago. Fell in love with it. Maybe because I grew up eating asian food so pizza, american, anything angmoh type food is kinda like a treat to me. In any case, CPK was the first time I really tried a pizza that is not the standard Pizza Hut kinds that I grew up eating. I was blown away that pizza can actually taste good. :P

Hence when I came back to Singapore, I was really craving CPK and to my surprise they actually have a branch in Singapore! It has been my favorite go to place when I have those insatiable cravings for pizza and salads. 

Today we ordered hummus, chinese chicken salad and thin crust pesto chicken pizza. I am a big fan of thin crust pizzas, hence the fascination with Skinny Pizza where they have by far the thinnest crust ever. Love it whenever I hear the crunch of the crust and tasting savoury toppings at the same time. I think what I love about CPK is that every bite is full of flavor and the toppings aren't overly cheesy where you get sick after a certain point. Definitely will be back again. :)

Gong Cha

And so I had the legendary Gong Cha today. When Gong Cha first came into the market, hordes of people had no qualms queuing up hours for it. Ok maybe not hours, but at least a good 15-20 minute wait.  My good friend kept talking about Gong Cha and I did not know what the hype was about until I tried it. 30% sugar (yeah you get to choose the level of sweetness)

My first sip of the tea was heavenly. I don't know what they put in the white frothy thing, some kind of milk mix. It was so fragrant, sweet and a unique after taste. You really have to taste it get what I am trying to say. The tea has tastes in layers - top, middle and bottom. Just amazing! After the first taste, I finally realize why people are so crazy about this tea. 

Well, calories are definitely worth it, but just don't finish all the bubbles at the bottom. The tapioca bubbles are simply too carb laden. :/

Lai Lai @ Jurong Point - Herbal Pork Rib Udon

Went to Lai Lai Casual Dining because my dad joined us for lunch and being the typical chinese guy, he only eats chinese/asian food. Lai Lai was the most convenient and pocket friendly lunch in the vicinity. They specialise in Taiwanese food and have really awesome beef noodles. 

I decided to try something different today and went for the herbal pork rib udon. It was surprisingly nice. I am also a big fan of herbal soups so having udon that has been simmered in the herbal broth was heaven to me. 

I polished off the entire plate but left half the udon on it. Need to control my carbs. :x

211 Cafe @ Holland Village - Seafood Kebabs

Went to the 211 Rooftop Cafe @ Holland Village for dinner. We ordered seafood kebabs. It was the best thing that happened to me that night. Seafood was so wonderfully fresh, cooked just nice and served on top a plate of pasta in lobster bisque. This dish was so good that the taste lingered in my mind even after we have left the place. Yum yum yum, I will definitely go back to have this dish again!

Crispy noodles @ Baystreet21 (IMM)

Met a friend for lunch at Baystreet 21 @ IMM. I grew up around the area and is a frequent visitor to IMM. I have been walking past this little cafe for a good 10+ years of my life but it never dawned upon me to try it. I never knew what they served and was always under the impression that it was indonesian food. Friend arranges a meeting and asks me to meet him at Baystreet 21. Interesting - menu is a mix of asian and western. Basically everything, reminds me of those  Hainanese eateries along Purvis street - where the chefs used to work for the British and developed their own Singapore style western food. 

I decided to order the Seafood crispy noodles @ $9.80. It is more expensive than other cafes but they do give a little bit more ingredients (ie seafood) and you're kinda paying for eating at a sit down cafe. I guess its fine considering it was a semi business meeting. Pretty yummy though I only ate half the noodles to control my carbs. I still think the best crispy noodles I ever had was at Cineleisure basement food court - some kind of braised duck crispy noodles. However I think the stall is no longer there. 

NYDC@Holland Village - Goldmine Cheesecake Combo

It is ladies night at NYDC on Wednesday. Ladies get to order a combo dessert + drink at only $8.80. The combo comes along with a scoop of icecream. Today I ordered the Goldmine cheesecake combo. I thought it was just going to be a simple cheesecake and icecream thing. Boy was I wrong! First, the scoop of icecream was humongous. It was even bigger than the slice of cheesecake. Second, there was this flask of chocolate sauce that you drizzle all over the cheesecake. It was just H-E-A-V-E-N-L-Y. 

The entire table were like woohing and ahhing as we poured the chocolate thing over the icecream and cake. So sinfully good. It's crazy, it's like immediate death to your diet. So decadent. Please share it with at least 3 other people or your hips are so going to pay for it.

Moscato with a beer cap!

Had to absolutely take a picture of this Peter Lehmann Moscato. We were all very fascinated by the beer bottle cap on the wine bottle. Loving the design, so we don't have to do this any more ... Hur hur ...

Harry's Margarita @ Holland Village

One of the worst margarita's that I have ever had in my life. No flavour, hardly taste the alcohol. The bartender remixed it and it tasted worse. Don't waste your money and calories on this. 

I ordered and left while the glass was still half full.

Diet portion size

I've had some questions on the portion size that I usually take during lunch time. Here's one of the pictures of what I eat for one of my small meals. I usually have 2x the amount of vegetables and animal protein and less rice. But because fried rice was being served, so I adjusted the portion sizes accordingly. My lunch everyday is home cooked by our help at home.

Please do not be alarmed and think that it I am under nourished. In fact, I eat many times a day, so I do get my nutrition from my meals, albeit smaller portion sizes. This is one of my secrets to losing weight without killing myself at the gym. Smaller portions, higher meal frequencies. ;)