A weekend in Singapore

I was spending my weekend in Singapore :) Singapore is not far from Jakarta, it only takes approximately 1 hour 40 minutes by an airplane.

I arrived in Singapore on Friday noon and directly headed from the airport to meet a Singaporean blogger named Misti for the first time. She brought me for a yummy lunch at Sophia Food Mall - Peace Centre on Sophia Road. It's really great to meet you, Misti and also thank you so much for the yummy lunch! :)

Hor Fun

A nice savory dish which is thick flat rice noodle with slices of pork, fish cake, mushroom, shrimp, and choy sum in a gravy made from tapioca flour and soy sauce.

Roti Prata
Indian pancake bread served with 3 type of curry saucesAnother version of roti prata with onion, egg and green chili

In the evening before dinner, I managed to eat the Azabu Sabo Hokkaido ice cream at Takashimaya food court at Ngee Ann city - Orchard road. It's a recommendation from Nic - Black Tie, White Lie. Thanks, Nic! Too bad, we couldn't meet up, next time, ya? ;)

Interesting how the ice cream is prepared.

I had a double scoops of double berry (a mixture of strawberry and blueberry flavors) and matcha (green tea). I think this is one of the best ice cream I've ever had! The texture is so soft and also creamy. Just perfect after a long hot day :)

Dinner at Food Republic at Wisma Atria shopping centre - Orchard Road, together with my ex-colleagues.

I had Nasi Briyani.

A very strong fragrant and savory fried rice with spices (i.e: saffron, ghee, cumin, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, bay leaves, mint leaves, onion, garlic, coriander, etc.) and a nice crispy fried chicken.

One of my ex-colleagues had this noodle called Mee Rebus that she couldn't finish - not even half of the bowl although she was starving because it tasted too cloying for our Indonesian taste.

The next day, I was invited for lunch at Wee Nam Kee Hainanese Chicken Rice Restaurant, located at 275 Thomson Road #01-05, Novena Ville.

Although this restaurant doesn't look like a fancy restaurant but the food is wonderful delicious.

Black Pepper Crab

Fish Head Curry
Hainanese Roasted Chicken

Hainanese Rice

Sapo Tofu

Stir fried bean sprout

Cereal PrawnsBarley drink

I didn't take dinner because I was too full with all the food from lunch but then, at midnight my friends brought me to have a little snack at the Al-Meen Eating House, serving Indian food and also Thai food. It's located on Changi Road.

Lassi

A traditional Indian blended yoghurt with water, salt, pepper, ice and Indian spices. It's very refreshing.

Chicken tikka

Boneless chicken marinated with spices.

Last day in Singapore, before heading back to Jakarta, I had breakfast first with my friends at one of the Coffee Bean's outlets in East Coast Parkway.

Waffles

Salmon Egg n' Muffin

Brek O'day

Well..... I really had a lot of fun and enjoyed very much this short trip.... :)

Cute doggies cookies

Last week, my little doggies - Vincent and Bella, celebrated their 1st birthday :)

In order to celebrate it, I wanted to make something that resembles to my puppies and found out this cute doggies cookies recipe which also tasted really yummy especially because the chocolate chips and crushed cornflakes' filling inside it that make these cookies nicely crunchy. The great part of these cookies, there's no sugar or egg to make the dough! The sweet taste is from the chocolate chips and koko crunch.

Believe me, when you start to eat it then you might can not stop to eat the rest of the cookies! I'm so addicted to these cookies right now! *munches... munches...*

Ingredients:
adapted from Amanda
200g butter
200g flour
25g corn flour
25g milk powder

Fillings:
60g chocolate chips (or more)
20g cornflakes (crushed)

Toppings:
Koko Krunch (for the ears)
Chocolate chips (for the nose)
Food marker - black color (for the eyes)

Directions:
- Pre-heat oven to medium level (about 320 F)
- Cream butter till it becomes pale color
- Add flour, corn flour and milk powder then mix together
- Divide the dough into 10g each, flatten each piece of dough and add in the fillings (some chocolate chips and crushed cornflakes). Roll into balls. Note: If you like sweet, then you can be generous filling with more chocolate chips
- Decorate to make a dog's head feature. Insert 2 koko krunch to form the ears and chocolate chips in the center for the nose.
- Bake for 35 minutes or until golden brown
- Leave to cool
- Make the eyes with black food marker
- Store in an air-tight container

Happy baking! :)

Tukang Nasi Goreng Tek-Tek (Fried Rice Man)

Last time, sometimes when I didn't bring lunch to the office, I would go to buy fried rice from a street vendor that always put his cart beside the office building. The vendor sells not only fried rice but also fried noodle but my favorite is always the fried rice :)

I think there are more than 101 ways of fried rice, you can named from chicken fried rice, seafood fried rice, shrimp paste chili fried rice, and all those kind of fusion fried rices.

The fried rice street vendors are known as Tukang Nasi Goreng Tek - Tek (Tek - Tek Fried Rice man) because when they are selling around the neighborhood with their carts, instead of shouting, they always make a sound... "tek - tek - tek - tek" by tapping a wood :)

Inside the cart:

MSG, salt, oil and sweet soy sauce in bottles

1. a bowl to whisk egg
2. chili sauce for frying
3. blended spices: nutmeg, shallot, garlic, salt, oil

The way of making Tek - Tek Fried Rice:

A. Chop spring onions
B. Cut Chinese cabbage (choy sum)
C. Heat the oil in a wok, add spring onions
D. Add whisked egg with a pinch of salt, make like scramble egg

E. Add Chinese cabbage and blended spices no. 3
(like hot and spicy, add chili sauce no. 2)
F. Add white rice.
G. Cut some fried chicken.
H. Drizzle some sweet soy sauce and salt.

I. Stir altogether
J. Cucumber, bird's eye chili and carrot pickles

And not forgetting tapioca crackers plus fried shallot for final touch.
A plate of Tek-tek fried rice is so full filling... yum... yum... yum... :)

1 portion Rp. 6.000 (about 60 cents USD)

Bumbu Desa Jakarta

"Sema Wilu Jeung Sumping!!!"

That's the shouting that you'll hear from the waiters when you enter this Sundanese restaurant named Bumbu Desa. It means "Welcome" in Sundanse - West Java dialect.

As soon as you have ordered your drink and what kind of rice you like (white rice, brown rice or liwet rice (nasi liwet which is rice cooked with coconut milk and wrapped in banana leave), you can start to choose your own dishes on a buffet style counter.

There are so many choices that make you sometimes confused but good thing is that each dish is tagged with the name of the dish. Keep in mind that this is not buffet, you have to pay according to the dishes that you are taking.

Appetizer:

Sayur Asem
(Sour soup with corn, chayote, peanut, long green bean and melinjo cooked with red chili, and tamarind, etc.)

Main dishes:



Side dishes:

Fried food

After selecting the dishes that you want to eat, you can sit back to your chair and the waiters will bring the dishes to your table.

Then there's a little stall in the middle of the restaurant where you can take fresh vegetables as salad with chili sauce and sweet soy sauce- free of charge. We called it as "lalapan".

My ex-colleagues and me went for lunch to the latest Bumbu Desa's branch in Tanah Abang area.

Everyone is eating with their fingers :)

We ate the food with brown rice.

Dessert drink:
Es Campur
(young coconut, avocado, black cincau, kolang kaling with syrup and condense milk)

Prices range from Rp. 3.500 (side dishes) to Rp. 47.000 (main dishes) plus 10% tax.

So, if you are looking for authentic Sundanese cuisine, Bumbu Desa might be the right place to go ;)

Bumbu Desa Tanah Abang
Jl. Tanah Abang II No. 97
Jakarta Pusat
Tel: 380 8270

Disclaimer:
The review and opinion expressed here are purely according to my personal taste. There's a possibility that the taste of the food might change later on, which could affect the review and opinion here. I also affirm that no monetary or non-monetary compensation has been received from this restaurant for writing this review.