Thai Accent, VivoCity

Another of my favorite place in VivoCity is Thai Accent. It does serve pretty decent Thai food. They have expanded and added more tables outside for an al fresco dining experience. There are ceiling fans to cool the warm air. Nice.

I decided to order the Thai iced coffee instead of my usual Thai iced tea. Quite a mistake as the tea would definitely be much better. The coffee was not that nice at all though I loved the presentation with the different layers of liquids in the glass.

I managed to to snag a table by the floor to ceiling windows and got a great view of Sentosa. You could see it was a real sunny day. Watching the cable cars traveling from Mount Faber to Sentosa and the never ending construction of the Resorts World IR (Integrated Resort). It would surely be bustling with life once it was done. What with the casino and Universal World theme park and other events going on over there.

Tom Yum beehoon seafood soup which was fiery hot. It was spicy and tangy and infused with the lemongrass and coconut milk.

My order of the chicken basil rice which came with a fried egg and slices of tomato and cucumbers for the cursory veggies. This was good, I could taste the fish sauce and basil in the basil chicken.

We also ordered a hotplate of egg tofu and shrimps. Again, it came with the frozen veggies of corns, carrots and peas. I loved hotplate tofu. So yummy with the bottom lightly charred.

Sometimes I do not understand why some restaurants persist in serving the cucumbers, tomatoes and frozen vegs in their dishes.

Ladies Night @ Greenhouse (Ritz Carlton)

DBS Credit Card has a promotion with Ritz Carlton which will end on 31 July 2009. Ladies Night at Greenhouse where ladies get to enjoy a 1-for-1 dinner buffet every Wednesday. It proves to be so popular that when I called to make reservations in May, I was told they are fully booked for May and June and I have to wait till July for a table.

So I duly made reservations for 2 Wednesday nights for different groups of friends. It turned out that one of the Wednesdays would be Thai themed food as there would be a visiting Thai chef. Ritz called me to check if I would still want to keep the reservations or move it to another Wednesday. We decided to keep it as it would be different from the usual.

The usual dinner buffet at Greenhouse which seemed to have so much more seafood than usual (definitely more than lunch). There was also a "liquid buffet" from 630pm to 1030pm where at $29++, you get unlimited servings of sparkling wine, house red and white wines, house pour hard liquor, chilled juices, soda and mineral water.

I always loved the cream of mushroom soup which usually had truffle oil, giving it an extra ooomph of richness. Unfortunately, it did not seem to be present that night. I liked the cheese breadstick, slice of nutty bread and the date and herb bun. They went so well with the soup.

There were 5 types of sashimi available - tuna, salmon, swordfish, octopus and yellowtail or mackeral. I chose the salmon and swordfish which were so fresh. The raw fish would only be sliced upon telling the chef. I requested for a 2-persons portion in the above pic.

There were so many variety of chilled seafood - mussels, scallops, clams, prawns, crabs, oysters - salads, appetizers, different types of sushi, chawanmushi, cha soba... I had 3 oysters which were freshly shucked and tasted so good. No "fishy" smell or taste at all. After shucking, the oysters were dipped in water or something to remove any remaining brine or grits. The scallop was very sweet too.

My mains - the steamed snapper was sweet and soft and fresh. The braised beef was very tender and just melted in my mouth. Surprisingly I liked the Singapore fried noodles. It was fried just right, not too soggy or hard and the seafood bits in there were lovely. Black pepper crabs were the highlight.

Other dishes included roasted duck, chicken, sambal prawns, sauteed pasta, greens, satay, Indian food, Vegetarian food, cheeses, crackers, breads, and many more.

I pigged out on desserts this time - tiramisu which was soaked with espresso, creme brulee which was so good. The black forest cake was also good. I didn't like the lemon meringue nor the raspberry cake. The chocolate cake was good at first bite. Strangely after I took a sip of the coffee, the chocolate cake did not taste nice thereafter.

The chocolate mousse cup which was so rich and bitter was mind blowing good.

My indulgence - 4 scoops of ice cream sprinkled with almond flakes and chocolate balls and sauce. Caramel, tiramisu, chocolate chip and coffee ice cream. One word - amazing!

Now I can't wait for the next dinner at Greenhouse featuring Thai dishes.

Nakhon Kitchen

Finally a decent and affordable Thai eatery in Kovan area (Hougang St 21/Hougang Ave 1). It might seem like a strange location to set up a Thai food place in the heartland, but I guess it is no different than those Western food stalls set up by "ang mohs" (caucasians, whites, expats) in HDB food coffee shops or hawker centers.

Good Thai food is hard to come by and Nakhon Kitchen serves Thai food which is pretty yummy and at affordable prices. The pricing is similar to A-Loy Thai at Shaw Tower though A-Loy Thai is still much cheaper, especially for a restaurant in the city area.

Pandan chicken which came piping hot, with tender chicken infused with the pandan flavor and various spices. It was easy to remove the crispy pandan leaves too.

Basil chicken which was good. On another occasion, I ordered the basil chicken rice which came with a fried over-easy egg.

Green curry chicken with an addictive gravy that went so well over rice that you would finish up the entire plate of rice. The gravy was rich and with subtle hints of spices though it was not spicy hot.

Tom yum seafood soup. We chose the clear soup which packed a punch. Spicy, sour and so delicious with pieces of squids, prawns and fish and mushrooms and lemongrass. Another version was with coconut which we did not try.

Pineapple fried rice with request of extra pork floss. I thought this was quite standard. I did not particularly fancy it.

Olive fried rice. It was a bit too salty for my liking, probably due to the bits of olives in the rice. Yhing Thai over at Purvis Street still serves the best olive rice in my book.

I have been to Nakhon Kitchen 3 times in 2 weeks. Twice for lunch and once for dinner. The place is usually packed, so be patient. The wait is usually for the servers (probably Thais) to take your order and for a table. The food is served very quickly once order is placed.

It is not a place to chit-chat with friends or for big groups as the place is small. It can probably seat 40-60 people with tables spilling outdoors. Reservations are not taken so go early or just wait for a table.

Location

Nakhon Kitchen

Blk 212 Hougang St 21 #01-341 (near the corner, where the traffic light T-junction is)

Tel: 6286 8785

Call for the opening hours as they seemed to be open for only lunch and dinner.

Lunch at Sun Moon @ Chijmes

We needed to use our vouchers before it expired and so went over to Japanese Dining Sun at Chijmes for a quick lunch.

I was in the mood for something soupy and so had the ramen set which was hokkaido ramen with a side of fried chicken and choice of tea or coffee.

The ramen was still good. Savory soup with butter and corn and a slice of char siu. The chicken was hot and crispy. Delicious.

The Chicken Rice Shop @ VivoCity

I passed by The Chicken Rice Shop countless times since it opened in VivoCity, but somehow it never really crossed my mind to try the food until 2 weeks ago. It got fairly crowded after 7pm and there were so many choices that it got pretty confusing.

We wanted the stuffed fishball soup and beansprouts and were trying to decide if it made sense to order the set or just go ala carte. In the end, we got the set and added the soup and beansprouts.

The set came with appetizer of pie ti, chicken (choice of steamed, roasted and fried?), soup, dessert and a drink.
The pie ti were pretty good. Crispy shell with warm fillings of shredded turnip and others.

I chose the roasted chicken which was not too bad. Too many bones.

The bean sprouts were average. What could you do with bean sprouts?

The stuffed fishballs soup. The fishballs were good but the soup was quite tasteless. The soup which came with the set was much better.

The dessert - coco de nata. Not my kind of dessert so I skipped it.

The Chicken Rice Shop is halal certified, so it caters to a larger customer base.

Pontian Wanton Mee @ FEP Again

This is becoming like my monthly fix or something. But it is pretty decent for wanton noodles and is considered "cheap" in town area when you just want something nice, quick and affordable. Who can resist the crispy deep fried wantons dipped with mayonnaise? They are so tiny that they become pretty addictive. I don't really care much for the char siew though.

But the one dish I really enjoy is the wanton soup. I love the soft wanton skin which can just melt and slide down the throat easily. The filling has that fried fish bits which really makes a huge difference. It just makes the wantons taste so yummy.

Dome at Paragon

It is funny how your taste buds change over years. In the early 2000s, Dome was one of my favorite cafes for meals. Somehow over the years, it has fallen from my food radar and it has become a vague memory from the yesteryears.

So it was quite by chance that we ended up at Dome in Paragon. We were a bit tired of Japanese and Thai food, plus at 9+pm, there was not many choices available anyway. JK was hesitant of Dome as it was right in the middle of the walkway/atrium area with no visible kitchen at all. I guessed we just did not want to end up in a place where they served microwaved food or something. It turned out the kitchen was hidden in another area, near the washroom area. The layout was strange, to say the least.

We ordered the crayfish pasta which came with a soup of the day and dessert if we were paying by Citibank credit card.

Cream of mushroom soup and a piece of toasted garlic bread. The soup was creamy and mushroomy and sprinkled with parsley flakes. It was pretty good.

Baked crayfish with cheese over the bed of linguine in tomato sauce with asparagus and alfalfa sprouts. That so reminded me of school days when I would make sandwiches with alfalfa sprouts and cold cuts. The pasta was al dente and the sauce was not too synthetic, plus the crayfish with cheese was pretty good.

I was pleasantly surprised by the dessert. Usually for such set meals, the dessert was usually a disappointment. This was good. Chocolate ice cream cake. Chocolate ice cream base with a chocolate sponge cake and topped with a thin layer of cream and chocolate coating. Nice.

I guessed the standard of Dome did not drop for the Paragon outlet. This would be one place to keep in mind the next time I am in Paragon.

Tonkichi - Pineapple promotion

I was not particularly hungry when I accompanied JK for lunch at Tonkichi. So I decided to just have a side order of the new promotional item - pineapple pork cutlet.

It was surprisingly good. The sweet crunchy taste of the pineapple made a good foil against the tender thin strip of pork which was then deep fried into a light crispy bite.

Chiropractor Care in Singapore

Did you know it is quite hard to find a good chiropractor in Singapore? I guess it is probably not easy to find one in any country, especially someone whom you can be comfortable with. As with any physician, you do want to go to someone whom you feel you can trust with your health and life and whom you could respect and have an affinity with.

So since I came back from Canada in December 2007, I have been looking for a chiropractor. I looked at the various websites and also at the list of registered chiropractors in Singapore but I did not feel assured of them at all.

I met one chiropractor at the atrium of Forum Shopping Mall when there was a roadshow. I spoke to him and I did not feel he genuinely wants to heal people. His philosophy was different from mine. What I got from that few minutes was that he was more monetary focused and was more interested in getting me to sign for a consultation in the office, plus x-rays which would cost me close to $500 just for that? Even after I told him I already had x-rays done before and I was undergoing chiropractic care in Vancouver previously and so already knew my problem areas.

So I striked that company out (it is part of a chain in Singapore and I never really trust that). Then I met 2 other chiropractors at the Holistic Living Fair (now known as Body Mind Spirit Festival) in April 2009 at Fort Canning Park. One seemed not too bad but he was too busy to want to talk to me, so he missed out on a potential customer. The other chiropractor, he seemed ok but also did not resonate with me. I KIV him and would have gone to see him for a consultation soon if something did not happen.

That something was - I finally found a chiropractor to treat me - yay!

It was quite a fluke. I was at Spa Infinity last November and I saw that there would be a chiropractor in the premises to provide chiropractic care. Somehow I never make it for the free consultation until Tuesday. I was trying to fill my time and managed to book a massage at Spa Infinity and so decided to get an appointment with the chiropractor over there.

The posters in the treatment room reminded me the chiropractor in Vancouver, and after talking to him, I felt that we were on the same page. We shared the same thoughts and philosophy on chiropractic care.

It turned out that Dr Dylan Altfeld of Infinity Chiropractic graduated from the same school as Dr Trevor Kilian of Kilian Chiropractic whom I was seeing for treatment in Vancouver. Immediately I felt a sense of relief as I realized they more or less had the same methods of treatments.

Dylan had a practice in California for over 12 years before he sold it and moved to Singapore to practice. He will be here for another 2 years so that is good news. I told him about my treatments in Vancouver and that I had x-rays taken before and what Trevor told me about my condition (Stage 2 of Spinal Degeneration). I asked if I would need more x-ray (since the guy from Forum said I need new x-ray), and Dylan said it was not necessary since mine was taken within 2 years.

He immediately googled for Trevor's practice and found it. So we checked out his website Kilian Chiropractic and Dylan got a sense of Trevor's method of treating patients and felt it was similar to his setup in California. Dylan said he would email Trevor for my x-ray details as well as what had been done for my treatments. And he did that right after my session with him. That was what Trevor mentioned previously. Once I find a chiropractor in Singapore, he would be more than happy to let the doctor know about my info.

What a difference a good chiropractor can be. I get the sense that Dylan is also interested in healing people, like Trevor is. There is no hardselling at all. It is all very straight forward and simple. It probably helps that I already know what chiropractic care is, so Dylan did not have to explain much to me. He treats you like a person, and it so reminds me of home in Canada, of the people there and how there is always interaction and chatting.

In any case, he recommended me to take up the 50 sessions package as that is more cost savings. I figure I will probably need more as I needed at least 91 sessions for a 1 year program under Trevor. Anyway, I signed up for the package as health is so important.

Dylan found out that now my C-6 is affected. So that needs to be corrected first before he can try to correct the C-4 and C-5 which were previously highlighted by Trevor. Dylan is also very interested to know more about my lower back as he feels something there, so he will also communicate with Trevor on that.

So far I have had 2 sessions with Dylan and I am extremely happy about that. Dylan actually did more adjustments than Trevor did with me.

1st session: adjusted the neck, and back.
2nd session: adjusted the neck, back and lower back.

That felt sooooo good. My body definitely misses that. Now I am going for the thrice weekly treatments for July. I hope it will really help in aligning my spine and reduce my headaches/migraines and subsequently weight loss.

Lazy Afternoon at The Queen and Mangosteen

It was a lovely Saturday afternoon with a cool light breeze, which made it perfect to dine al fresco. We got a high table with bar stools outdoors and just shoot the breeze, relaxing and enjoying the view. Though the current scenery was of the construction of Resorts World at Sentosa as well as the traffic and monorail going into Sentosa. It would be a much better view once all the construction was done.

I had a pimms & lemonade which was simply lovely. Light, refreshing with a slight bubbly taste to quench the thirst.

We ordered a mini burger to share and that was fab. It came in 3 mini beef burgers and a bucket of chips. This was the dish to have in the afternoon when you just wanted something to snack on and to share.

The juicy beef patties with a slice of tomato and a dollop of mayonnaise sandwiched between light toasted buttered buns topped with seasame seeds. Very nice.

A "smiley face" of the mini burgers - yummilicious. The chips were warm and crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. You just could not stop eating them.

Lerk Thai @ Takashimaya Food Hall

If I happened to find a free table at the Food Hall inside Takashimaya Shopping Center, I would usually order from either the Vegetarian stall (some dishes could be cold if after the usual lunch or dinner hours) or the nasi padang. I hardly order from the Thai stall (Lerk Thai) though it was not too bad. I decided on the basil chicken rice set which was at quite an affordable price. I could not remember the price now but I remembered it was not too bad as it came with a choice of drink from the fountain.

The minced chicken with cut chilies, basils and onions. It was not too bad but seriously, the best basil chicken I had so far was still in Bangkok, off the main roads, almost an alley way food stall. The Hakka basil chicken rice set from Thunder Tea Rice at Suntec's Food Republic was also very nice.

Tom yum seafood soup which was spicy and kicked a punch. The seafood pieces were not that great. They did not seem very fresh.

The stir fried kailan or veggies to complete the meal with its fibre though I wondered how healthy it really was with the oil glistening off them.

I still think salad or steamed veggies would retain any nutritional value better than cooking till they are limp.

Raffles Town Club

Never have I heard of a club so mired in lawsuits than Raffles Town Club, though some other clubs have also made the papers in recent years/months.

The thing is, we hardly go to RTC except for Sunday dim sum at the Chinese Restaurant. When it first opened, we did explore the place and facilities. Did you know they also have rooms like a hotel, so you can rent to stay there.



The swimming pool which is pretty nice though not really meant for serious swimmers. There are lessons for kids too. I have only used it once many years ago. It is too much of a hassle to go there just to swim.

The theatre which screens movies for both children and adults. It is actually not too bad.

The interior of the theatre. The seats are comfortable like those in Cathay or GV cinemas. I have only watched one movie there too. Hahahaha. We just do not use the facilities often at all.

There is also a bowling alley and games arcade, besides the usual tennis courts and gym. There are ballrooms for functions and other restaurants. The Western food restaurant (not sure of the name) is always full house on weekends for the lunch buffet and they do not take reservations at all. The Japanese food is pretty decent based on my last experience. The bar lounge is warm and cosy with English-style plush armchairs. Nice for an afternoon tea.

It has gone through several managment changes and that probably explains why the food at the Chinese Restaurant is so bad now.

Father's Day Lunch ~ Chinese Restaurant @ Raffles Town Club

The two boys, very busy with their own food and plates and spoons. The Chinese Restaurant over at Raffles Town Club. The decor is still the same, no changes for years. This is where we usually go for Chinese food though we may start looking elsewhere as the quality seems to be going south with every visit.

Dim sum for 6 adults. We always ordered lots of food. Habit I guess.

The stewed pork belly from the stations at the restaurant's entrance. I did not try this though it looked not too bad.

Duck meat from the outside station too.

Braised beef with radishes. I always liked this dish. Soft tender pieces of beef with radishes.

The shark fin dumpling soup which was really delicious a few years back but this version was simply not as nice.

The chopped up ingredients inside the dumpling which were pretty hard that even dad complained about it, and he usually was not very fussy about food.

The char siew pao which was not too bad.

Another picture of the food we had. More steamers and dishes. They forgot 2 items from the main menu - tofu and noodles - so we decided to cancel them since we were pretty filled up by then.

Char siew puff pastry which I quite like. The shape was different from the norm and this was decent.

The century egg lean meat congee was average. Shared this with sister.

The custard bun which was horrible. Dry custard and pretty dry and hard bun. Not nice at all.

Siew mai which was not too bad. I was never a big fan of siew mai but in the face of the other not so good food, this was considered good. Lol.

Shrimp dumpling which was a bit dry and fried shrimp roll with mango mayonnaise sauce. I liked the fried roll with the mango sauce. At least this was something different.

The egg tart which was average. The crust was normal and the egg custard was so-so.

We need to find other Chinese restaurants to dine at now since our usual place is now home to bad food. Any suggestions?