Going organic

We chanced upon this in search of an alternative place for crab. The place was actually a little hidden. They grew and served their own organic vegetables which we ordered.

The organic vegetables were good as were the crabs which were fresh, though the crabs were slightly on the pricey side. Just as well they don’t charge service and GST charges. The service was good as well.

And they no longer serve dim sum here.

Jade Garden Kitchen, 112 Yio Chu Kang Road. It’s opposite Serangoon Stadium, as you turn the corner, before the more obvious eating places.

Drinks take the Cake!

I have not been here in a while. It’s always nice to come in a group as well. The conversation is better as is the variety of drinks as we can order more. We already had a first round of hot drinks when we decided on a second round of iced lemon tea. The real lemon and lime juice in the drinks made them very refreshing. We ordered three Eggs Benedict trio but there were no photographs of those. Gone were the comfortable sofa seats and mismatched cups. Pity as those things added to the quaintness of the place.

The pancakes were new to the menu and light for a meal. As for the drinks, they take the cake this time!

An earlier blog post on this place can be found here.

Loysel’s Toy, 66 Kampong Bugis, #01-02, Singapore 338987. Tel: 6292 2306.

Burp at Berg’s!

It was the glass that made the difference. How many restaurants nowadays serve water in a glass? This one did and it got my vote. Why? Well, it told me that they were environmentally conscious. Glasses are reused and the company is not adding waste by using disposables or plastic containers. Besides, restaurants that serve their drinks in plastic cups have a cheap feel about them. It’s the same feel when Chinese restaurants serve their food on acrylic plates instead of ceramic. It just looks tacky. But I digress.

I loved the burger! I ordered Little Miss Piggy only because I wanted a bit of bacon in my burger. It was a hearty meal and rather inexpensive. I did not fancy the french fries because of the oil they were fried in. But the burger was great. I am happy to have found another burger place besides Omakase Burger and it did not cost an arm and a leg. This place is unassuming. Most people eat and leave. It is not comfortable or cosy enough to sit for hours. But it is a good place to enjoy one’s burger calmly.

Brekky Burger

Little Miss Piggy that wasn’t so little

There are four locations for Berg’s Burgers in Singapore.

Berg’s Bergers, 45 East Coast Road, Singapore 428765.

Mad about Hatter

After reading about this cafe, I wanted to visit it. I avoided going on the weekends as I did not want to go when it was crowded. So late one Thursday afternoon, my friends and I made our way there. The place is famous for waffles. Both of them – waffles with vanilla ice-cream drizzled with salted caramel and waffles with pandan ice-cream with gula melaka were simply delightful. The waffles were not sweet, which was great. Combined with the ice-cream and drizzled syrups, it made for a very balanced combination of salty and sweet, ying and yang. Perfect.

There is not GST or service charge either. Will definitely come back here again. I am happy to have this addition to the heartlands scene. The other cakes here are not pre-determined. The type of cakes changes daily.

Hatter Street, #01-333, 212 Hougang Street 21. Telephone: 69884591.

So Pho so good?

No, I was not in the mood of rolling my own spring roll. I had mistakenly ordered it but it turned out to be quite an experience as I had never tried rolling a Vietnamese roll myself. It felt like a cross between an art and craft lesson and dinner. Would I order it again? Probably not, only because I think they would do a much better job of rolling it while I simply prefer to just eat it.

I ordered the one with beef. To roll it successfully, one had to add just enough water onto the rice paper. It turned out to be quite a good experience. I was pretty good at it by the time it was the fourth piece.

I would probably settle for something easier to eat next time like the Beef Soup noodles which is a standard in Vietnamese and Thai restaurants.

So Pho, Nex, 23 Serangoon Central, #B1-15 S(556083).

To Earle for Dinner

It was the craving for salads that led us on this adventure in search of a restaurant with a salad bar, a free-flowing one. So we came here so that one of us could have a salad buffet for dinner.

The sausage was surprisingly good. I say ‘surprisingly’ because I am not a fan of sausage as I just think that it is processed meat. The duck meat and chicken were not bad either.

Salad buffet

Some places have a wider range of food for a salad bar like pastas. This bar mainly serves vegetables, salads and fruit. When we were there, it was near Diwali, so the murukku were a nice touch to celebrate that event.

Earle Swensen’s, 1 HarbourFront Walk, #02-117, VivoCity. Telephone: 6272 3306.

A Friday Tea Break

This is as close to having a nice cuppa with cake as I will get, outside of Orchard and the city area. I had a snack here before and I liked it. It was a 5 inch pizza which I thought was a great idea for those who wanted to eat something light. Today, I thought I would try their cake and coffee. To my surprise, this was not available ala carte. In the end, I paid the cake and coffee set price PLUS the price for an extra cup of latte. I even asked to see the manager as I could not believe that they did not have it as ala carte to begin with, and secondly the cashier did not even try and speak to the manager about it to try and get a price override.

The cafe is located right next to their bakery. Despite this rather unfortunate experience, I will probably come again as such cafes in the heartlands are rare and far between.

Green Pumpkin, 23 Serangoon Central, #B1-80 Nex, Singapore 556083. Tel: 6634 7437. There are three bakeries in Singapore.