Artichoke Cafe and Bar

The moment I stepped into Artichoke cafe and bar, I knew I would like it.

nestled in the middle of sculpture square (where the old secret garden used to be), it manages to provide a cosy homely feeling. In town.

Chalkboard walls outline the specials of the day

A personalized name tag when you make reservations.

It is always that special touch that makes a difference. And this place continues with that throughout the meal. Nice.

Artichoke encourages communal dining and mains are meant to be shared amongst friends.

Of course we had to order the grilled artichoke. Very fragrant and tasty, great way to whet one's appetite.

The baked veal (I believe, I cant remember!) Served with a side of greens and topped with breadcrumbs. 

Inside was full of yummy goodness like mushrooms and tomatoes. 

Really hearty and homely

The kurobuta pork chop with celery.
Ahh the pork was soft and tender, this was sooo good. 

Look at how wonderfully pink and moist it is!

The whole chicken with spices, couscous and a side of salad.

I love love love couscous so i might be bias here but ah this was fantastic as well. Great dish for sharing.

Overall, the food exceeded my expectations and I had a very lovely meal.

What made it better was the service. Wonderfully cheery staff and once when my friend accidentally spilled her water, 2 (yes 2!) of them rushed to help her. 

On the way out, we were even presented with a tiny paper bag of gummy worms. How cute!

I will definitely come back to try the rest of the items :) 

Artichoke Cafe and Bar

161 Middle Road 

Inside Sculpture Square

6336 6949 

(Reservations are recommend)

Ban Heng Seafood Restaurant

My mum was pretty excited when she found out the new restaurant at Aranda country club was going to be Ban Heng seafood restaurant. Apparently it used to be a pretty popular Teochew restaurant.

Members of Aranda were able to order a crab dish at $10 (single crab), pretty good deal.

We went for the chilli crab and an additional salted-egg yolk crab.

Other dishes we ordered

Food was decent but really nothing outstanding though i did think the cold dish and the toufu dish was not bad. 

Worth a try if you are members of Aranda.

Ban Heng Seafood Restaurant

60 Pasir ris drive 3

Aranda Country Club

6585 1770

Korea: Seoul

I must admit that on my first trip to Korea, I hated the food. But I think at 10, my taste buds were probably not well-trained enough and I probably could not appreciate anything beyond fries.

Having come back some 10+ years later, all I can say is, I really love Korean food!

The quintessential Korean street stall

Koreans love street food. And whats not to love?

Deep fried sausages covered in fries and lathered with chilli sauce, fish cakes in hot sauce and other snacks on a stick. 

Street food in a tent.

The rice cakes, pan cakes and other stir-fried delights. 

There are no price tags though so unfortunately we were totally over-charged (as tourists). The 3 dishes above costs us 30,000 won.

Seoul is dotted with cafes of all kinds selling the most wonderful pastries.

Our favorite would be Paris Baguette chain (think Singapore's breadtalk but with much nicer bread)

Another breakfast favorite was the porridge

I fell in love with pumpkin porridge after the first mouthful. Silky sweet smooth yum!

There are several PRCs living in Seoul and hence it is no surprise that some of the food here are Chinese- inspired. These dumplings were great, and some were stuffed with kimchi which worked surprisingly well.

This one tasted like our Xiao Long Baos, but without the soup bursting out.

Of course, one can never come to Korea without tasting the famous bbq.

The best thing about eating in Korea is all the side dishes, one meal can consist of as many as 20 different types of dishes. From the common kimchi, potato salad, pickled veg and seaweed soup to more unusual such as steamed egg and tempura.

Eating BBQ is a requires several steps. 1: bbq the meat to perfection 2: wrap the meat in lettuce/any other big leafy vegtable 3: add onion/kimchi/garlic/whatever floats your boat 4: dip into sauce 5:eat

Such a fun way to eat eh?

Unless you are willing to pay, I would suggest ordering pork and not beef. The beef in Seoul tends to be frozen and not ideal for bbq (perhaps because we didnt order the top-grade ones). Stick to the pork.

bimbimbap, I love the tiny roe! 

I love the different colors of bimbimbaps

The hot soup with random ingredients is probably the staple diet of koreans.

They basically eat this with rice ALL the time. This had oysters in it :)

Korean cold noodles. Looks quite gross but its awesome.

Ginseng Chicken soup,

Still not a fan but I guess I never liked ginseng in the first place

Kimchi noodles with cheese.

I was skeptical but it really works. The cheese breaks the spiciness and you are left with a bowl of gooey goodness. Shall try this at home.

One pot meals. Everything is dumped into a pot and left to simmer.

After 3 minutes. 

We had this pretty popular one at Ehwa Women's university (its in the alley next to aritum and theres always a queue). It was pretty darn good.

Fried Chicken! TwoTwo fried chicken is awesome, esp with beer. 

Go for the original and the bbq sauce. The rest are forgettable.

Other posts on Korea:

Korea Pt 2: shopping places

korea pt 1

Forty hands

Forty hands is one of those delightfully indie and well-hidden gem of a cafe that you stumble upon and try to keep it a secret from everyone. Just so that you can call this place all yours.

However, Singapore is a small city and word travels fast. So we werent surprised when we turned up on a sleepy Sunday afternoon to discover that this cafe was well, quite full.

Such a quaint little place, delightfully old-school, right down to the plates and sugar holder.

Forty hands gets its name from the fact that an average of 40 hands are required in the production of coffee. From bean to cup. Yes this place takes coffee seriously. And it shows.

I had the cappuccino and it was mindblowingly awesome. Deep strong fragrance, full-bodied. Ahh the perfect start to a Sunday. Hands down one of the best coffee I ever had. (Even better than the so-called $11 cup of coffee at the blue mountain cafe) And best thing was very reasonably priced! 

Whats a Sunday without brunch eh?

Eggs benedict with spinach and a side of salad leaves.

The eggs benedict was unfortunately not very good.

Eggs were a tad overcooked and the sauce was too weak. Too much acidity and not enough cream to balance this dish. I guess for a better eggs benedict, I would head over to Rider's Cafe

We also had the salmon hash with crusty bread and fries.

Oh this was intense. Very bold flavors and very generous hunks of salmon.

The sauce (while a tad too salty) was absolutely delicious when eaten with the bread. And of course, we couldnt resist dipping the fries into that thick rich sauce.

I would come back in a heartbeat. Just for another divine cup of coffee

Forty Hands

78 Yong Siak Street

#01-12 Tiong Bahru

East Ocean Restaurant

If you are in the mood for some old-school dim sum, East Ocean is the place to go to.

Inside a bustling restaurant, with old waitresses carrying trays of dimsum, hawking them to each table. Full tables, minimal decor. No frills. Just the noise of chatter and clatter of chopsticks.

Probably just like in Hong Kong.

Food here I would say, some are hits while others are misses. There are so many items on the menu that one would be really spoilt for choice!

Here are some that we ordered which I would recommend

Carrot cake. Moist and tasty

I am not a fan of almonds but the almond crusted prawns were delicious.

Little fried crispy balls with a big plump fresh prawn.

Yum.

Lotus leaf rice. Really huge portion and great for sharing. It was nicely done but I prefer Crystal Jade's version. Much softer in my opinion.

The roasted pork here was decent though my heart still remains with Imperial Treasure's version. 

Now the salted egg yolk custard bun was AWESOME.

I am a huge fan of "liu sha bao" and when I see that golden custard liquid just flowing out, I get all happy and giddy. The ones at East Ocean were just about perfect; sweet custard with just that hint of saltiness. Ahhh. 

The egg tarts here were great as well! Small little golden delights :)

My friend swears by the char siew shou here and he was right. These were the best that I had. 

Flaky buttery pastry enveloping the sweet red char siew.

Nicely done East Ocean.

Of course we had other dishes which werent so great. So maybe going to East Ocean for the first time is like a gamble. You never know which item you choose would be good.

One thing to note, the prices at East Ocean are surprisingly high. Given the crowd and the rowdy atmosphere, I would actually prefer going to Imperial Treasure paragon instead for dim sum.

East Ocean Teochew Restaurant

1 Scotts Road Shaw Centre

#02-18

6235 9088

Seafood Paradise

When i have a craving for Seafood, the first place I think of is Seafood Paradise.

Yes, Jumbo, long beach etc might be the traditional places that we grew up eating but Seafood Paradise just serves better quality food. There.

Went here for my Mum's birthday dinner and ordered the set dinner.

The soup of the day, lovingly doled out by the waitress at the restaurant. 

Tender pork ribs, soup that was boiled for several hours. No complains here and I am a true-blue cantonese. I know my soup.

The veg dish - bean sprouts with salted fish. 

It was done well.

Tofu with prawns. Ah this was good. Soft melt-in-your mouth pillows of tofu with plump prawns.

Great with rice!

One of seafood paradise's signature dish is their coffee pork ribs.

And I love this dish! Sweet and savory, with those charred bits and that tiny hint of coffee to keep you coming back for more. 

The assam fish which was great for people who likes the sour taste of assam.

The fish was really fresh as well

And of course, the dish of the night. The one MUST-ORDER dish at Seafood Paradise.

The Butter Crab. Ah the sauce! SO. GOOD. 

Dip your mantou into it and just savor it. Sweet, salty, rich, creamy. Delightful.

Drizzle over your rice, your veg, basically everything. 

A word of caution: this sauce is really heaty, so try not to go overboard or you may end up with a nasty throat.

Remember to make reservations!

Seafood Paradise

91 Defu Lane 10

#01-01 Swee Hin Building

6487 2429