After bombarding you with so many posts (there’s still four more to go) from Sydney, let us take a break first and I’ll like to ask you this question: ‘Which local food will you miss the most if you go overseas?’

I often ask people this, and there’s always different answers: laksa, chicken rice, curry fishhead, satay, and the list goes on and on. By and large, No 18 Zion road Char Kuay Teow is one of the legendary hawker stall for this popular local food. Mention Char kuay teow and everybody will think of this place immediately.

I like Char kuay teow because it has all my favorite ingredients like egg, beansprout & the Chinese sausage Lup Cheong, in it. I like the glittering of oil on the surfaces of the noodles and kuay teow, and I like how the lard enhance the flavor and taste of the dish. My friend, this is a gorgeous plate of char kuay teow, and I’m not sharing mine.

When you are with different friends, you will always do different things, and it seemed like when I eat hawker food with Maureen, we always tend to end up with a big hole in the pocket. The last time, it was shelving out twenty eight dollars on a kurobuta in a coffeeshop, and this time round, we paid eight dollars for a bowl of prawn noodles.

Given, the money was paid for five top quality jumbo prawns, but still, eight dollars for a bowl of noodles? But still, you have to admit that the stock was very good, and I actually preferred the tender pork ribs to the gigantic prawns.

No 18 Zion Road Fried Kway Teow
Zion Road Riverside Food Centre

Noo Cheng Adam Road Prawn Mee
Zion Riverside Food Centre Stall 4

The rains, oh, it rains. It is that-time-of-the-year-again.

I like rainy days, I really do. It’s perfect for snuggling in bed, surfing food blogs with a cup of hot chocolate, and a slice of that-very-delicious-carrot-cake.

If you have not tried Cedele’s carrot cake yet, you are definitely missing out on some of the nice things in life. You don’t like carrots? Give them a try first, it’s never too late to split it out if you really detest the taste. The thick cream cheese frosting on top of the moist carrot cake was sweet, but not to the extent of cloyingly sweet – the balance was just right.

Honey, they shrink the cake!

I’m not sure if it’s just me, but Queen C (what I call Cedele’s carrot cake) seems to be much smaller than before, oh well, I’ll just get another slice of it then.

You know I like girls who like their desserts. And you are also aware that I’m that guy who’s a keeper right? Let’s be sweet!

ps: Just in case you are wondering, this is not a dessert blog. It just happens that I have been eating a lot sweet stuff lately, there will be more savouries in the next post!

Cedele
1 Kim Seng Promenade
#01-01 Great World City
Tel: 6836 1426

Tong Shui Cafe (TSC) is one of the many Hong Kong Cafe located in Singapore. Frankly speaking, I disliked Hong Kong Cafe, because i felt that they are rip-offs for the food that they provided. One bowl of instant noodles, a sunny side-up, and luncheon meat for 5-6 bucks? Give me the money, i’ll gladly cooked it for ya!

You get my meaning? Hong Kong cafe that serves authentic Hong Kong food are definitely good, but they are sadly nowhere to be found in Singapore.

The branch that we visited was at Zion Road, opposite Great World City.We went there for desserts after finishing the meal at Al Den Pronto (yes i know, its been ages ago, but i forgot to make this post).

A quick glance into the small cafe tells it all, bright colorful backgrounds are the theme for Tong Shui. The menu is quite comprehensive, with quite a variety of food available, but we skipped all of those having had dinner already.

TSC tuttii fruitti summit ($11.90)

The extra large fruit pudding for 2 persons and more. A single pudding on its own cost $3.9 on its own, while we ordered the jumbo-size one at $11.90, doing some simple maths actually there is no “discount” for ordering the big version. Perhaps the serving is better than ordering three separates one? It can be anyone’s guess.

With choices of durian tutti fruitti, mango tutti fruitti, kiwi tutti fruitti, and strawberry tutti fruitti. We left out durian since not all people can said to enjoy the fruit. Mango tutti fruitti is good, everyone loves mango, well at least i do.

The kiwi one does not taste very nice (i don’t like kiwi), and the strawberry one has an over-strong milky taste which does not taste right for a pudding.

Tong Shui Cafe slogan is “more than just desserts“, but sad to say, I’m afraid that they are really a place just for desserts. Well maybe its based on my personal opinion on the standards of Hong Kong Cafe in Singapore, the last time i went to another Hong Kong Cafe, Xin Wang Cafe was also for desserts. Maybe LIC is biased, will someone like to prove me wrong?

Tong Shui Cafe
54 Zion Road

” Only just for desserts “

All you look is at the food, without even giving the price tag a glance?

Feeling excited, we might as well tell the waiter to serve EVERY dish they have on the menu!

That’s precisely what happen to us when we went to Al Dente Pronto.

Ahh.. You are confuse now right? Is the food so good that we wanted to order all the dishes? Alas, that’s not quite the raison d’être.

The explication for our extravagant & exaggerated behavior is because … …

We had a 50% discount coupon from OCBC. Yes, you didn’t see wrongly, half price for a la carte items during lunch & dinner, up to a table of 4 persons. Dinner was with the Yebbers. So everything we look at, we can only see half the price, and of course this makes it affordable and worry-free to order whatever we like. So we ordered mostly the more expensive dishes : )

The exterior of the restaurant

Al Dente Pronto

Tomato Basil Bruschetta ($5.0)

We kick start our dinner with the Tomato Basil Bruschettra. Diced Tomato, Garlic, Basil, Oregano and olive oil formulate the starter. We were uncertain whether they gave 8 pieces because there are four of us, or it always come in 8 pieces irregardless of the number of people dining. All the same, we felt the starter could do with more tomato, mayb its because of the rising price in agriculture products in China. Think think. First bite into the Bruschettra was crispy and the garlic taste was done just nice. At $2.50 after discount, it was a real good deal.

Grilled Portobello mushrooms ($12.0)

Our second starter was the Grilled Portobello Mushrooms. Served with rocket salad and diced tomatos. The presentation of the dish was done beautifully, but sadly to sad i felt that at $12 it was definitely not worth the price. Even at half price i won’t order it again.

Char-Grilled Sirloin Steak ($20.0)

Finishing our starter, the waiter note our cue to start our Main course for the night. Our first main was the Char-Grilled Sirloin Steak. We requested for medium-rare, but then when the steak was served it was a tad tougher than what we expected from a medium-rare steak. I guess they sort of make it into medium-well instead. Well, its Italiano and not a steakhouse after all. Nevertheless, i felt that the steak was pretty decent, and at half the price of $10, it was value. Oh yes, we liked the potato that came with it, pretty much reminds us of our childhood.

Pan-Seared Butterfish ($20.0)

Served with potatos, sautèed vegetables and topped with a lemon dill butter glace. Al Dente Pronto actually only have three main course available, the other one being roasted corn fed chicken which we didn’t order. I suppose the raison d’être was because the mains are not really their area of specialty. Al Dente Pronto’s extensive variety of Italian Pizzas and Pastas are where they fare better.

Smoked Chicken Pizza ($17.0)

This is the star of tonight’s show. The Smoked Chicken Pizza might not look very special, but then they are undeniably scrumptious, with large chunks of chicken meat beneath the cheesy cheese. Pizza comes flat, thin and crispy.

Arragosta Pasta ($20.0)

Spaghetti with Lobster meat, zucchini and mushrooms, with tomato stew or garlic sauce. We opted for garlic sauce with the belief that garlic can compliment Lobster meat better. And i thought the Arragosta Pasta comes out quite well, mayb except for the fact that it was slightly too dry. I like the lobster meat, which was quite generously furnish on top of the pasta. And i think zucchini (cucumbers) are rather a rare sight in pasta cuisine. Nonetheless, at half price of $10 i think its quite good for money, we are talking about Lobster meat after all.

Tiramisu ($9.0)

To end off the meal, we had Tiramisu as our first dessert. Layers of mascarpone with sponge fingers soaked in coffee and brandy, served with bittersweet chocolate powder The presentation was all right, but the cake was too tough, we had to literally dig inside it to get the tiramisu out.

Macadamia Scented Crème Brulèe ($8.0)

Caramelized custard, infused with Macadamia nut oil served with strawberries on the Macadamia Scented Crème Brulèe.

Total Bill was $122.50 before discount, the amount that we paid for 4 person was $71.20 after discount. The calulations are kind of complicated because the 50% discount does not includes GST and service charge, so they had to count the total price without including them, half the price, and add on the 17% additional charges. Poof! Its comes down to around $18 for per person which i think is reasonably cheap.

All in all, Al Dente Pronto is not really expensive (even without the promotion), the price ranges are mostly in the 10s to 20s. I wont say the food is excellent, in fact some are not. But then i suppose they are still acceptable to me. No you wont go all the way to the forgotton-Great-World-City just for Al Dente Pronto, but i guess if you are in the region you might just want to give it a try. And it certainly helps if you have the OCBC promotion, p.s: it last until end feb.

We had a great night chatting around, there was laughter all over the place, and at times i thought the waiter will just kick us out of the place. It was fun fun & fun! Looking forward to the next Yebber gathering! Cheers!

Al Dente Pronto
1 Kim Seng Promenade #02-k2 Great World City
Tel: 67347334

” Italiano delights, Companion enjoyment “