Day 7 - Tanjong Pagar Market Food Center – Issan Thai Food - Tom Yum Seafood Soup With Rice

1st Friday of 2011 and the last day of my food theme “Something with Rice”. Had to think really hard as to what I can eat to fulfill this theme. After much debate, I walked to a stall that I have never frequent before, Isaan Thai Food (#02-23) at Tanjong Pagar Market Food Center and ordered something with rice. :p

While waiting for my food, I am really tempted to change my order. Seeing plates and plates of Phad Thai being dished out, I kind of hated myself for setting the theme this week.. Argh.. I will be back for the Phad Thai for it looks too delicious! Even Ang Mos are queuing for it!

Back to my lunch, I finally got my Tom Yum Seafood Soup ($4.00) with Rice ($0.50).

Close up of the rice 

 A close up of the ingredients inside my Tom Yum Seafood Soup. There were 3 fishballs, 2 prawns some squid rings, straw mushrooms and basil - simple ingredients easily available and suitable for people of all ages. The soup was quite sour and a little spicy, strangely addictive though it felt like it was made from a paste. I had missed out on the cooking process as I was distracted by the plates of Phad Thai :P Will have to verify it the next time round :P

Day 6 - Amara Food Court – Lotus Roots and Pork Rib Soup

4th working day and I am running out of ideas for this week’s theme. :P  We decided to head out to Amara  Food Court for lunch and my brain was already mentally scanning through the stalls for an appropriate meal to fit into the theme - "Something with Rice".

To make things simple and similar, I looked around at what the rest of the patrons were eating and settled on my lunch for today. 

My Lunch – Lotus Root and Pork Rib Soup ($3.50) with Rice ($0.50) J

I opted for white rice instead of Yam rice to keep to this week’s theme. 

Close up of the lotus roots and pork rib in the soup. There were 3 pork ribs that literally melt in your mouth and plenty of thinly sliced lotus roots which were cooked so nicely that it still retains a little crunch when you bite into it. The soup is sweet and savoury, having been boiled with red dates and some cuttlefish. It felt like home made lotus root soup which is nutritious and delicious. J

Day 5 - Thai Tom Yum Seafood Soup with Rice

With back to back meetings today, we had no choice but to grab a quick lunch. Today only being the third day of the working week and it seems like my themed food post will be short-lived. Undeterred and after some brainstorming, I managed to change the theme into “Something with Rice” instead of the original “Herbal Kitchen Stall” ;P

So for lunch today, it is Tom Yum Seafood Soup with Rice ($4)

Close-up of the fish slices and prawn in the tom yum seafood soup. The soup is neither too tangy nor spicy and you get generous slices of fish, 2 prawns and some canned button mushroom in the soup. This soup has been adaptable to the local palette and is suitable for folks who are not used to eating too spicy food. 

Tanjong Pagar Market Food Center - Herbal Kitchen Preserved Vegetable Chicken Soup

Today, it is back to Tanjong Pagar Market Food Center for lunch. I was thinking of the theme that I should be doing this week. Since I started with Herbal Kitchen yesterday, I thought I might as well do the theme - “Herbal Kitchen Stall”, and sample all the different dishes the stall offers. The food that this stall sells is all very nourishing stuff. The main ingredient is chicken in some sort of Chinese herb.

Browsing through the menu, I found one that does not have herb in it – Preserved Vegetable Chicken ($3.50). It has been a long long time since I last ate preserved vegetables and thought that this dish would be a nice change to the soup I had yesterday. 

From the menu, I thought the dish would be a dry one but was surprised when it turned out really soupy.  

The rice ($0.40) that I add to the soup that came with some braised peanuts and drizzled with sauce.

There were plenty of preserved vegetables surrounding the chicken drumstick. The soup was a little sweet, quite a contrast to the taste I had in mind.  To me, this is a well balanced meal as you get fiber from the vegetable, protein from the meat and carbohydrate from the rice.

First Working Day in 2011

Off to a good start on the first working day of the year by starting it with a sumptuous breakfast from Burger King (BK). Decided to make a detour to BK on the way to office and ordered a breakfast set that I had never ordered before – Turkey Bacon Croissan’wich

My Croissan’wich – Turkey Bacon with Hashbrown ($5.45). Good to see that BK has come up with new initiative such as the sticktogo which acts as a stopper for the takeaway cup.  They could have made it more environmentally friendly by lengthening the stick such that it can double up as a stirrer.

The croissan’wich with the cheese, egg and crispy bacon is simply the best one can have for breakfast to kick start the year! J

For lunch, I really pampered myself by ordering a Ginseng Chicken Soup with Rice ($3.80) from the Herbal Kitchen Stall (unit #02-11) at Tanjong Pagar Market.

Close-up of my rice drizzled with some sauce and braised peanuts.

Close-up of the Ginseng and chicken drum in the soup. The soup was pleasantly light and the flavor of the ginseng was not overpowering. The chicken has been cooked so well that it takes very little effort to break it away from the bones. Yummy J

Best of all, the rain prevented us from returning to our office and we ended the meal with desserts from Dessert Hut!

My Gingko Barley Dessert ($1.50)

Thai Express @ Vivocity

Lunch times are times that most, if not all, working adults look forward to. This is especially true when the morning is a hurried mess and you just cannot wait to have that little break. Or, when there are changes that would require some exchanges of information, discussion or little gossips. Or, simply a time, to get away from the stressful office, to bond and have a good laugh with your cols.

We headed to Vivocity once again with no eating places in mind. After much deliberation, we decided to pop into Thai Express as there was some decent lunch set promotion going on. Though I have been to Vivo many times, this is the first time I am stepping into this outlet.

The crowds have not arrived when we got into the restaurant hence managed a photo of the nice interior. Smacked right in the center of the picture is where all your food appears from. ;P

This was the lunch set menu that lured us in. Sa-nook means fun and the sets definitely looked fun and yummy J My cols were actually guessing that I would be ordering the Thai Curry but well, they were wrong. haha

All sets come with the Steamed Sweet Tapioca with Coconut cream that was served together with the main course. That is not really a bad thing as you can alternate between your main course and dessert J

This is Sa-nook Tom Yum Seafood Soup set that 3 of my cols ordered.   

It came with Crispy Pancakes Appetizers and rice.  Looks good but forgot to ask my fellow connoisseurs how the pancakes tasted.  :D

This is the Seafood Tom Yum Soup. The seafood consisted of prawn, fish, squid and mushrooms. Not bad considering the price of the set and the rent they had to pay. The waitress said there should be at least one prawn, so if you do not get your, please ask for it  :P

This is the Sa-nook Seafood Pineapple Fried Rice set that another 2 cols and I ordered.  

It came with Tofu Squares Appetizer.  There were 4 slices of fried but tender tofu, drizzled with Thai Chilli sauce and topped with chunky ground peanuts. 

This is the Seafood Pineapple Fried Rice. The seafood rice was considered generous as there were 2-3 succulent prawns, squid, fish and some raisins accompanied by some cucumber, tomato and some quite raw pineapple by the side. The rice was a little too soft for my liking and the taste lacked the punch of pineapple rice. It could have been more savoury.

Overall, I still think that it is a good place to go for group lunches as the food are served pretty quickly, portion is decent and service prompt. :) 

Thai Express

Vivocity
1 Harbourfront Walk
#B2-30 Vivocity
Singapore(098585)
Tel: 6272 1912

P2010: Week 1

A round up of what I ate for the 1st week of 2010!

Week 1, Monday: After all the feasting from my trip in HK/Zhu Hai, Xmas and New Year, I decided to start off the 1st working lunch on a very healthy note. We went to the newly opened, 24hr coffeeshop at TPC, Jia Wei 佳味, which used to be occupied by Anne’s Gourmet. Anything new at TPC is always welcome as people who worked here would know, we always run out of ideas as to which coffeeshop to go for lunch. So we were like bees being attracted to honey to the new coffeeshop.

There were long queues of people wanting to try out the new stalls and me being me, went to the only vegetarian stall in the whole of TPC which has the shortest queue. :P

This is not a new stall but relocated due to the renovation of the coffeeshop. I ordered the Vegetarian Kueh Chap not knowing what exactly the ingredients were but knowing that the taste cannot go wrong as they are all made of gluten. :P

My bowl of Kuek Chap came with Dou Por (Fried Dried Bean Curd), Dou Gua (BeanCurd), Zai Er (Fried Bean Curd Skin), eggs and big intestine. This is the 1st time I am eating mocked big intestine. I am really surprised that it looks really like the real one but of course the taste was nowhere near.

Tuesday: We went to the coffeeshop with only 2 stalls – one malay and one laksa/prawn mee stall. This coffeeshop is very near to the main road and is right next to Gate 1. This is probably the only place that you can still buy food at only $2!! Cheap right??? Best of all, it tastes good!! I heard that the 2 uncles have been selling laksa at the coffeeshop for a long time.

Do go early if you want to eat the laksa as they do not prepare a lot. Once the gravy runs out, they call it a day. :)

Wednesday: We back to the same coffeeshop as yesterday. This time, we ordered from the Malay Stall.

Have seen hordes of people eating this dish but it is the first time I am trying it. Business was good and they run out of the proper serving container for the ayam penyet hence ours came on plates. I find that the chicken was a little dry and tough but the sambal chilli that came with it was so devilishly good! Spicy but u just cannot stop dipping into it. :)

Thursday: It was out to Amara Food Court for lunch!

I had the spicy noodles with Xiao Long Bao from the Hong Kong Specialities Stall. This stall is run by a Chinese and all the noodles are made by him on the spot when the order is placed. A value for money set, you get 4 Xiao Long Bao (meat dumplings) with your noodles. You have to eat your xiao long bao quickly before it cools down else all the soup in the dumpling will seep out when you attempt to take the dumpling from the bamboo container.

Friday: Time to eat at my Favourite Zhi Char Stall. For those who do not know, this stall is at the coffeeshop facing the inner carpark at TPC, facing Gate 1. Any dish with Pork Rib is good. Hahaha.. We ordered Black pepper Pork Rib with rice. I think this dish was “created” by me last year as I have not seen anyone eating it there before. It comes with 4 generous pieces of meaty, lean pork rib, some fries and a lot of rice.

The portion is considered big for ladies. :)