Nandos @ Tampines Mall Review

Went to try the branch at Tampines since Bugis was a tad far for a last min dinner appt and Bugis service isn't exactly all good and friendly.


Tampines Mall #01-46

*

Went in during dinner time but we had the whole place to ourselves till about 7-ish before other diners started filling the place. It was just my friend and I, so we ordered 2 mains and 2 drinks!Bill came up to about $42/+-

1) Chicken breast fillet wrap w 1 side $11.90 (w/ Hot peri-peri level)
Side: Corn on the cob

 wrap was a lil on the crispy side which was not what I expected it to be. I like my wrap just slightly warmed enough.

 Lots of veg in the wrap: Lettuce, tomato, cucumber and their special mayo

 Looook at the chunk of chicken breast! :9

2) 1/4 Chicken w 2 sides of your choice $13.90 (w/ Lemon & Herb peri-peri level)
Sides: Spinach and Sweet potato mash 

Sweet potato mash was really good - some spices taste to it.
Spinach was a lil  :/ Not to my liking.

3) Rosa Fresca $4.90

Fusion of pomegranate, mint syrups, lime juice & Sprite

 4) Sparkling Apple $4.90
Didn't take a photo of it because the food arrived and I forgot -.-
*

If you feel that the marinated peri-peri sauce in the chicken is not enough, you can always grab a bottle from the counter to add on! We choose the Hot Peri-peri sauce. My friend don't take spicy food so this level was already a sizzling-hot-gonna-have-sausage-lips-soon level for her.

 The 1/4 chicken was a huge portion and it smelt so mouth-watering with the Lemon & Herb marination. Would love to try it the next time I dine at Nandos. I came across a table, a plate full of Lemon & herb chicken, gosh did it smell like heaven! So please do give it a try and if you're a spicy eater, just grab the sauce bottle use it like a chilli sauce! :)

The wrap would be perfect for a small eater and besides the wrap, you can also opt for Portuguese Roll or a Toasted Pita. I enjoyed having the Corn as my side - Juicy!


The service at Tampines' Nandos is ALOT better than that of Bugis. Servers were all smiles and ready for recommendation and the ambience of the place was slightly brighter than bugis' outlet. A great place for big groups to dine and have a catch up session!

Friday Food Pic

Hello.

Baked this:

with some orange zest in it..

Then, the boyf bought me mooncake from the Mooncake Fair at Taka. Seriously expensive snowskin mooncake of 4 but definitely worth it. Will show you more pictures and review on the flavours, soon. Meanwhile, here's a picture of the mooncakes (:

By Peony Jade.

Got the 4 Da Tian Wang (ie, 4 Heavenly Kings): Cempedak, Durian, Lychee & Mango. Cost: $57++

We had to rush home within an hour as the snowskin mooncake are supposed to be kept in the freezer compartment. A complimentary gift bag was provided to help delay the defroze time. 

Gotta rush out now for a date with the friends at MS Swensons for lunch! Will be back. 

Stay tune! 

Mid Week Picture

Hi there.
Just gonna post a couple of yummy food pictures.

1) Orange Jasmine Iced Tea. Totally un-awesome. Tasted like air freshener.

 Totally un-awesome. Tasted like air freshener.

2) Home made roti john w chilli and mayo sauce, Campbell mushroom soup.

3) Subway White chocolate chip macadamia cookie

 who can resist such chewy cookie? 

4) Carrot Sticks. Childhood favourite food for breakfast! 16 pcs for $2.

5) Sweet Potato Fritters. Preparing the taste bud for some Taiwan cuisine.

6) Subway, Eat Fresh - Cold Cut Trio.

 Meaty goodness.

7) Homecooked lunch. Pork slice w golden mushroom. 

 8) Cereal w blueberry, strawberry, yoghurt and a drizzle of honey.

Current breakfast routine for the past 3 weeks. 

That's all. Happy mid week! :D 

Weekend Feast, Dim Sum

My mother always has this habit of ordering TOO much food everytime we dine together.
This time was no exception. The parents was talking alot about this dim sum stall that sells pretty good har gao (prawn dumpling) somewhere in AMK. So, being a prawn lover, I decided to tag along.

Stall that we visited.
We ordered, 4 Luo Mai Kai (Glutinous Rice w chicken chunks!). Bigger portion than what you usually get from the pre-made mai kai. Tasted different from the pre-made, and I prefer the pre-made one. This was also good though.

Then we had Braise pork belly with veg (mei cai).

 Didn't like the taste - tasted a lil diluted and was too oily - had the oil taste, yucks! But the pork belly was done pretty well and was in big serving.

A plate of pork ribs for the Old Man, his Must-Have.

Tasted pretty nice and the pork was tender! I actually ate 2 pieces of pork. Don't usually take this dish when I eat Dim Sum.

Next, we also had Yam and Carrot Cake.

Both was delicious! Parents found the fried carrot cake was overly done but IMO, I actually like the crispiness of it. And of course, whenever you have dim sum, you'll definitely order this 2 dishes without fail, Siew Mai and Har Gao.

No porky taste which is very good because I can't stand siew mai with the porky taste. Will wash it down my throat with chilli sauce. There was a shrimp in it too. Nice!

Now, the Har Gao wasn't up to standard - even the parents say so. I'm very anal with my har gao. The skin has to be chewy soft but when served, the skin was alil on the tough side and the prawns have to be fresh, crunchy and juicy. In this case, though it was big, it wasn't fresh and succulent. I've tasted worse har gao so this was probably a 3.5/5?

I don't know if the parents will still patronise this stall in future after knowing the inconsistent standard of food but for me, I would probably not give it another shot, any time soon. Still a loyal fan of Tak Po in Chinatown.


That's all for the weekend feast! Go make a reservation at Red Star or Tak Po or any Dim Sum Eatery this weekend and have an awesome breakfast with the family! (:

xoxo

Friday Food Pic

I won't be baking nor cooking today because I've to clean up the house - tedious work! So, I shall post some food pic on what I had for my late dinner/supper ystd after work.

Boyf. and I headed down to Chomps - Serangoon Gardens, if you're unfamiliar with the term. Ordered the usuals and a small cup of sugarcane juice. 

I will always order a plate of hokkien mee at this particular stall (the man standing infront of the stall in Black and red T-shirt). You got to wait for at least 20mins - 45mins. Yes, so long! So while waiting for it, might as well order some other food like Carrot cake? 

This stall sells awesome white carrot cake which I only eat at. I usually take black because it's sweeter with the black sauce (: It is located directly opposite the Hokkien Mee stall and the sign says AMK Carrot cake or something. They also sell Oysters.

$3 white carrot cake. 

Love the egg and how a crusty base is form. The carrot cake was soft and it's not all broken up into small bits and pieces. There were still some chunks of it.

What surprise me was they gave Prawns! Not just 1 but 2 for a plate of $3 carrot cake?! That's totally awesome. At first the boyf. said the prawn was probably an accident and it wasn't meant to be in there. But when we continue eating, we found another prawn beneath the bed of carrot cake. Now that can't be another accident isn't it? :)

So after 20mins, the famous hokkien mee arrived and I found it rather dry, tonight. Usually it's slightly wetter.

What's good about this stall apart from the long waiting time? This dish has the 'Huo Hou' and they give more mifen than yellow noodles. I dislike yellow noodles. I didn't eat any pork belly and didn't see any too. Maybe they miss it out? But there was definitely sotong and prawns!

Look at the curly worly noodles. 

The sugarcane juice was bought at 2 stalls away from the hokkien mee stall - First stall at the outdoor seating from behind. Comes in small or large. Small was enough for 2! Unless you're intending to eat up the hole place or something then order the Large cup (: 

That's all for FFP today! Next up would be a post on weekend breakfast with the family, Dim Sum.

Thai Express Bistro @ Tamp1 Review

Tampines 1 #04-09
Opening hrs: 11.30am - 10 pm
Tel: 6786 0998

*

The Thai Express Bistro in Tampines1 occupy 2 levels and we had the upper deck. Don't be afraid that service will be slow because a server will be stationed at the second level when there are customers dining in. He doesn't leave the level until everyone leaves. Most importantly, food serve will still be slightly hot because the dishes take an elevator to reach the upper deck!

See what I mean? (:

Anyhoos, we dine in on a Sunday night, table for 5. Service was good and we had a really wonderful Thai dinner. Ordered 5 mains, 2 sides and 1 dessert.

1)Stir Fried Beef w steamed Thai Hom Mali Rice 
Beef was thinly sliced which was pretty good to chew on and it's a lil on the spicy side which is good for me. 

2) Khao Phat Gai Ob Nam Peng (Fried rice w honey chicken and egg) $9.90

This is definitely recommended for kids. When the food arrived, I was momentarily stunned by the portion. Afterall, it did mention in the menu 'recommend for kids'. That aside, The honey chicken was nicely done, nice subtle sweetness. 

3) Khao Kluk Kapi Talay (Fried rice w seafood w shrimp paste) $9.90

Fried rice was fragrant and the shrimp paste was a lil on the watery side. When ordering this dish, I had the perception that the shrimp paste will be fried together with the rice (like tom yam fried rice?) but it came on the side, which can also be a good thing, just incase certain individuals do not like it and would rather not have it together with the rice.

4) Rad Na Tom Yum (Tom Yam Hor Fun w seafood) $11.90

This is DA BOMB/MUST TRY. I fell in love with this main when I tried it for the first time. Don't be deceive by the clear sticky broth because, it is spicy (alil IMHO, I love spicy dishes). What I felt could be better was the hor fun. It wasn't browned but was white in colour which reminds me of Shan Lou and that's not my kind of food. Really delicious, pls order this when you're at Thai Express. They added mushrooms, fish, sotong, prawns which was oh-so fresh, vegs, carrots etc. 

5) Poo Phat Pong Kari (Steamed Thai Hom Mali Rice w soft shell crab, egg and onion curry) $11.90

I wonder if this is the raved soft shell main or it's the other one. Anyway, Thai Express is quite famous not only for their dessert (coming right up) but also for their soft shell crab! So I ordered this for the Ol'man and he almost licked the plate clean. Hot steamy rice with onion curry, and soft shell crab? Can die in peace now. Really appetizing and was also tasty!

Side Dishes
1) KangKong

Even though the sauce may appear to look on the spicy side, it wasn't sambal spicy because there was sweetness to it. Mother says they probably add honey or sugar. I love this - because it's sweet. Veg was fresh. If you want the bbq kinda Sambal Kang Kong, don't order this. Go Chomps!

2) Kanom Pang Na Kung (Prawn Toast) $7.90

Another MUST TRY/LOVE IT dish. Eat it with the sweet chilli provided. Definite worth the money dish though it's only a serving of 4 slices of prawn toast. Minimum bread and prawn chunks. Sooo goood! 

Dessert
1) Khao Niao Mamuang (Sweet glutinous rice w fresh mango and coconut milk) $6.50
I always ask if this is still available whenever I have a table. A couple of times they said it was sold out and I had to order something else which was also good but seriously, when you have Thai food, you'll order this dessert isn't it?


This was served warm and the glutinous rice was soft that it breaks off easily using the fork. The mango was alil sour to taste but it's all well when you have abit of the cream and glutinous rice with it, altogether in a mouth. Thumbs up!

The manager who served us (2nd pic on this post) was friendly, polite and fast! When the dessert took awhile to reach us, he made an effort to rush the kitchen even though we didn't mind the 'slowness' because we were happily chatting and resting our already full stomach. (:

*

Here's one of my OOTD during the weekend.
Cotton on white basic top, Pattern shorts from shop at NEX, Perlini(?) red bag & a vintage watch from market stall.

Have a great mid week! Till then!

Friday Food Pic

Hello! I had a really great week! How about you?

Just to show you how does the henna look like after 5 days since Sunday's trip to Little India.

After a week, it's starting to fade away :( 

On friday, instead of baking, I cooked:  Spaghetti w Streaky Bacon & Mushroom (button ones) in tomato base. Did a Campbell Golden Corn w Quail Eggs Soup in a swift. Shiok max. This was a dinner for 3!

And on Saturday, I was invited to my close friend, F, open house for hari raya - it's been on going for 3 years alrdy and I always look forward to this day because it's a big gathering and her mother's cooking is one of the best. - and so I decided to bake the Blueberry Streusel Cake to show my appreciation to the family for having us.

It's a really simple recipe to follow and I kinda like it myself too (:

This cake can be savored on its own or together with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Just like this:

There's another version, Chocolate Streusel Cake in Chocolate chip topping. 

I found the cake - chocolate version - alil too dry to my liking though. But on the other hand, feedback given was not dry. Guess it really beats down to personal liking or maybe I'm just being very anal about the food I do. Shall do this again soon!

That's all for this week's FFP (Friday Food Pic). Have a good Sept and as the song goes, 'wake me up, when September ends.' Off for a nap! :D

Follow me on Instagram for daily food pics, @txjjean