54 Zion Road
Singapore 247779
( opp Great World City, traffic direction towards town )
Sometime back, a colleague mass-sent an email regarding this seemingly fusion-style dessert. Located at Kim Seng Road, one will have a hard time finding the cafe, which is situated on the ground floor of the post-independence shophouses, directly opposite Great World City ( direction towards the city ) hidden away by the trees and bushes along the road.
Have been wanting to go try their desserts since then but we couldn't find the cafe. It was by fate that we chanced upon the cafe a couple of weeks ago. We were at River Vallery having our usual late night supper that night ( cheese prata, kosong prata and teh ping for her , 2 egg and ice cold coke for myself ). After all that makan, we decide to take a stroll back home. The wind that night was very welcoming, feels a bit like walking in a air-conditioned shopping mall.
We were enjoying each other's company when we saw this decently litted cafe coming up infront of us. Anticipation escalating, we wondered if it was the same Tong Shui Cafe that we have beening looking forward to try. As we moved closer, we knew we hit the jackpot as Tong Shui has its distinctive logo which read TONG SHUI. The inside of the cafe looks comfortable enough. Square wooden tables and chairs, huge plasma tv showing SCV channels, well-litted, friendly staffs. The al-fresco dinning area looks even more promising when night falls. The area is separated from the main dining area by the passageway and the strategtically located plants-decorated-to-look-like-christams-trees( bushes).
If not for the supper earlier, we would have stopped and pay this cafe a visit. Sensibilty won that night but we promised to return to visit Tong Shui soon. Last night we did. After having a dim sum dinner with dear and her family, girlfriend asked if i've got any craving. I could almost sensed it coming, i knew her mind was wondering somewhere when she didn't finished off the remaining Siew Mais, the Shrimp-Paste Chicken, the Sam-Luo Ho-Fan.... We den made our way down to Tong Shui for some dessert.
We chose the al-fresco dining area to enjoy the cooling night breeze and the dim-lighting ambience. The menu are very nicely done up. We were however disappointed with the choice of the menu. Tong Shui - meaning sweet water literally, should have an impressive menu of desserts available to the customers. making them spoilt for choices. However this was not the case. Only a few desserts stand out among the little choices they have. Things dun look good...
Apart from deserts, they also serve cooked instant noodles, toast breads, ice creams, hot and cold drinks, dim sums. Girlfriend ordered the peanut Tang-Yuans in ginger soup-base while i went for the mango and pomelo in shaved ice. .. We also ordered a serving of the Sharkfin dumpling to try.
The stuffed peanut tang-yuan are very nice but the ginger based soup... it was HOT!~! Hot as in Chilli HOT!~!~... If the soup was meant to serve as a delightful punch to the dessert, the one we had serves a knock-out. Luckily the Tang Yuan was very good.
My Pomelo and Mango delight was refreshing change from the usual Da-Mai or Chendols we usually have. The mango chunks packs yet another powerful punch to the otherwise sweet dessert. The pomelo meat were very good!~!~! My first time trying out a dessert this special. However the shaved ice could have done better. I think the texture was cause by over-compressing the shaved ice into the ball. Minus points there.
Perhaps we will return to try the rest of their menu ( non-dessert ) and enjoy each other 's company in a comfy enviroment.
230, Victoria St
#B1-29A, Bugis Junction
Singapore 188024
Phone : (65-) 63331098
After a long and tiring high key ICT, i'm very glad for any rest, especially if it's a public holiday! We decided to go for dinner to celebrate this joyous day. But anywhere today, there's loads and loads of people. I guess like what dear said, ICT have taken my brain somewhere else. :P
We made our way to Bugis Junction, having half a mind to have our dinner at V8 or some Japanese Restaurant there. Walked passed Crystal Jade Macau at B1 and we were thinking why not we try this special branch of the Crystal Jade Restaurant.
There were plently of seats available here. I guess everyone else were making their way to their Christmas Dinner. Have heard about there Macau Pork Chop bun for a while and having been wanting to try them.
1. The Macau Pork Chop Bun ( 4/5)
The bun was surprisingly soft on the inside and cruchy on the outside. The set came with a piece of some soy-sauce braised Chicken Wing. The pork chop was juicy and tender. But the serving was kind of small. Somehow the meat within reminded me of teriyaki chicken. Perhas it's the sauce they used to glazed the Pork Chop. Will come back for this again.
2. The Deep Fried Shrimp Pasted Chicken Wings ( 4.5/5 )
This was by far one of the better dish of the night. Big and juciy chicken wings were used and deep fried to a crispy outside and steamingly hot and juciy inside. All the natural flavours of the chicken and the subtle frangrance of the shrimp paste burst out with each bite. Shiok!~!~
3. Special Egg White Fried Rice with Crab meat ( 3.5/5)
Nothing to rave abt for this plate of fried rice. Kind of bland actually. But the rice was fried till soft and they dun clot together like most fried rice i cooked does. Perhaps it's a tart balnd because they dun uses the egg yolk for the dish. And yes there's crab meat inside.
4. Macau style baked rice ( 0.5/5)
Didn't took a picture of it. After finishing the earlier dishes, ths Macau style baked rice came last. It's basically a a clay-pan-fulk of rice and poured over it the so call Macau style sauce. When i tasted it, it kind of puts me off. Have to mixed it with loads of the fried chilli sauce they have and some soy-sauce before i could put it inside my mouth.
The Macau sauce looked a bit like our curry sauce except the fact that it tasted very wierd. I attributes it to usung fresh milk rather than coconut milk for that unique taste. The chicken chunks were huge and juicy. Once is enough. will definately give this dish a miss.
After dinner, dear felt like having some desserts. We walked passed Beard Papa and they have this Christmas Chocolate Fondant thingy. We bought 2 to try. I would say there were very good!~!~ the chocolate within was thick and creamy yet not too sweet. I guess they used some sort of bitter sweet chocolate. Definately worth the try.
Dear asked me a question today. She was refering to an associate of hers, how she seems to be enjoying life. Dear asked if i felt that she ( that associate ) is indeed happy. On the surface, she will come across as a very happy person, nonchalant about things happening around her. However i thought there was something cold about the way she expressed her happiness.
I liken it to having a huge party. Everyone were invited and you're the star of the night. Everyone commments how lovely you look, how well the dress complements your figure. You dance all night long, stalking the limelight. After the mascarade's over, after everyone left, what's left is only herself. That kind of lonesome one-dimensional happiness which seemingly eludes everyone, everyone with parnters..
Dear shared the same feeling as me. She knows me as a peron who dun wishes for too much excitement along the journey, i just wish to be able to spend quality time with her, doing anything will be fine. Getting lost together, stuffing ourselves stupid, talking about each others plan for the future. Just as long as it spending time together with her.
Isn't it what happiness is supposed to be? Simple and unpretentious.
Today we had a family lunch. My parents, my sis, my nephew Dylan, dear and myself hit the Crystal Jade Restaurant at Great World City this afternoon for a Dim Sum Lunch. It is always a pleasant experience that the family can sit down and have a meal together. Particularly so today as Dylan's staying over the weekends.
We basically stuff ourselves silly with the "Pork Porridge", "Fish Porridge with Century Eggs", "Spare Ribs Noodles", "Fried Beancurd stuffed with seafood and pork", "Egg tarts", "Har Gaos", "Siew Mais", "Braised Chicken Feet","Claypot of Yam and Chicken" , " Sweet and Sour Pork","Xiao Long Baos" ...
I promise to get my acts ( food photography) together. and dear, let's do Dim Sum again, soon.
Read about the book titled "Urban Legends" off Sunday Times today and chanced upon it at Popular. But guess what. It cost SGD$0.00 a copy. I have prove....
Went back to office this morning to clear some paperwork for the SMU Project that i'm handling. After which i made my way down to dear's place. Got my all-time favourite Prawn Noodle from the stall near my workplace, the soup version for dear cause she can't really take hot stuffs, and the dry version for myself. I like it with the extra chilli.
What's so different about the prawn noodles from this stall as compared to others ( read "Ren Ren Da Xia Mian" ) ? Well for a start, their soup is the main reason why people come back time after time for their prawn noodles. Unlike most other prawn noodles stall ( of course with the exception of the famous prawn noodle stall at Adams Road, or the one at MacPherson, or the one at Commonwealth Drive ), the soup base taste simply wonderful. You can taste the full favours of fresh suculent prawns in the soup. And the best of all, the sweetness of the soup comes from the fresh prawns, unlike others which uses lot's of palm sugar or MSG to make thier version of the soup more "sweet". My bet is that they have an evil conspiracy with the coffeeshop, an evil conspiracy to make people thristy so they will get more drinks...
Anyway, their homemade chilli sauce is one of the best i've tried. Mixed in the freshly cooked noodles and fried pork lard, the bowl of dry prawn noodles is ready to be devour..... In their bowl of prawn noodles, you'll find around 4 to 5 pieces of fresh boiled and deviled prawns. Their not as big as the ones that the Adam Rd stall sells, but definately as fresh, if not fresher.
Anyway, i got 2 packets to go. Buying up to have it for lunch with dear since her parents went out to send the wedding invitation for Jeffery's big day. Metup with a very interesting taxi-driver who nearly drove me crazy listening to his jokes and life stories...
In the evening we headed out to Parkway Parade to shop. Bought a gift for dear's friend, shopped around. Happen to see something interesting there.
Wanted to have Bah Kut Teh for dinner at Balestier but we somehow missed our way and ended having a late dinner at Holland Drive. Dinner was a huge serving of hearty XO Fish Bee Hoon and and equally huge serving of Hah Jiong Gai ( Prawn paste chicken ). Those Fish slices they use are damn thick!~!~ freshness wise, tonight was a bit off the mark but then again overall was a great dinner and we both enjoyed it.
Actually i think we were just plain hungry. But company does makes a huge different. Nothing beats spending quality time with her. That's blissful in a nutshell. Money may buy you bags, clothes and jewelleries, but there's something money can't buy. And that's happiness. I thankful each and everyday i have her by my side, sharing every moments in our lives. Can Money buy you that?
Just being extremely curious. Notice the TV Advertisement for this particular "Cap Ayam" brand of Rice? Buy a bag of rice from them and get a tin of sardines free...Sounds like not too bad a deal til one realise the offer is only available to the 50KG pack of rice purchased. 50kg! Just wondering how many of us actually do buy 50KG pack of rice, not to say to buy a 50KG pack of rice to get that free tin of sardines.
Mathematics :
A 5-kg pack of ( SongHe / Royal Umbrella / Flying Man ) Rice costs around SGD$10.00... So pound for pound, a 50gk pack will most likely cost SGD$10.00 x ( 50kg / 5kg ) = $100.00;
A tin of Sardines = lebih kurang SGD$1.20;
So how is it mathematically justifiable to buy a 50kg bag of rice to get a tin of free sardines?
Bali Thai Restaurant
IMM Building, Jurong East St 21 Level 1 besides Giordano
Went to fetch GF after work. After much discussion on where to have dinner, we decided to try this particular restaurant "Bali Thai" ( at the IMM ) that we have passed by a couple of times.
I would say the ambience is cosy enough to sit down, enjoy a little chat over dinner with your family and friends. The soft lighting, the ethnic dressing of the staffs. The seats were comfortable, thou the table was a little small . Anyway we were curious about the food they serve and we thought what better occasion than today to check it out?
As the name implies, Bali-Thai serves fusion Indonesian and Thai cuisine. We didn't really noticed if it was Halal-certified but we dun really remember seeing pork on the menu.
For starters, we had the Special Thai Fishcakes.
They tasted really like Otah fishcake. There were visible bits of herbs inside them. We were disappointed with this starter as it lacks the freshness of seafood but had the added "artificial " taste of commercial ready-made otah fishcakes. Nothing to rave about. ( 2/5 )
Next up we had the all-time favourite, the Tahu Telur ( Deep Fried Beancurd). This was too, quite okie, but nothing to rave about either. The accompanying peanut sauce was a tad too spicy. ( 3/8 )
Thai Black Olive Fried Rice. Was deciding between either Thai Pineapple Rice or the Thai Black Olive Rice. Hmmm... So we asked the staff about their Thai Black Olive Rice and somehow he came across to us as being not that familiar with the dishes that Bali Thai serves. Anyway i remember i did ask him him if one serving was big enough for two person ( if the serving is small, then we'll probably get the Pineapple rice in those huge half pineapples ). He told us it's enough for two. Guess what, the plate above was the exact serving portion. Lol... Gonna order more dishes.... Taste wise, nothing special about it. ( 2/5)
Ayam Pangang. This was by far the best dish the whole evening. According to the menu, it is chicken grilled over charcoal in a special Bali sauce. The meat was a little bit dry but still okie. The favour was one of a sweet and salty, kindof like soya sauce braised chicken except that this was grilled. ( 3.5/5 )
Oh ya we had this tall glass of Ice Thai Tea. According to our blur waiter, it supposedly should taste like Ice Teh Su-Su. Hmmm.... It that case, this should be one pretenious glass of milk tea isn't it. Gotta try it!~! GF suspected that coconut mlik could have been added for that extra sweetness. To me, this was an excellent glass of ice milk tea. I ordered Ice Thai Tea, not Teh bin..... ( 4/5)
For desserts we have Thai Mango with Sweet Rice. Basically it's glutinous rice with sliced fresh mangoes. This is one simple yet greating tasting dish. Both of us enjoyed it tremendously. ( 5/5 )
The bill came up to about SGD$45. Considering the portion that were served, the quality of the dishes, the service from the staffs... i would say quite okie but then i would not come again for the main dishes, perhaps the desserts, the drinks and the starters.
A point to note is, the ambience is really cosy. So i would say apart from the quality of the food served, GF and myself enjoyed the evening very much. What better ways to spent the evening than to sit down, have a meal with your love ones? Chatting over dinner, i guess food binds the both of us together even closer.
The stuffed peanut tang-yuan are very nice but the ginger based soup... it was HOT!~! Hot as in Chilli HOT!~!~... If the soup was meant to serve as a delightful punch to the dessert, the one we had serves a knock-out. Luckily the Tang Yuan was very good.
