Imperial Treasure Noodle & Congee House

Mr Pancakes finds himself somewhat stretched too thinly. Maybe it's time to re-align and just focus on that few things as he do not have so many 10,000 hours to master what he really wants to do. Anyway, happy occasion over CNY as Mr Sailor's baby princess arrived (in time to collect ang pow). So super cute. And she didn't cry a lot. Amazing.

Congrats to Mr Sailor. Superb. And wedding bells galore this year. I am booked for three of them already. And all three are good friends. March, May and July. Two months apart. Enough time to save up. Weddings are wonderful things don't you think. Just like having new-borns. With blissful feelings and genuine laughters. Looking forward to attending the events. Oh yes. And to add to them, Mr SP's daughter's one year old party (AT THE SAIL!!!!!) and Mr Sailor's princess one-month-old celebrations. Aww..... March gotta be a sweet sweet month.
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Mr G posted photos of his last visit to Imperial Treasure and Mr Pancakes was totally intrigued by it. So we decided to go together! Somehow Mr G volunteered to give us a treat because of his birthday/ him being unable to disturb nei's bed celebrate CNY at nei's parents, and so, yay!

The fried carrot cake was soft and delightful, with little treasures of lup cheong in it. Not too oily and fried to a crisp on the outside. The prawns in beancurd skin tasted like what it should taste like. Good, as most dim sum restaurants would serve them.

Due to the lack of communications, Mr Pancakes ordered steamed ribs and Mr G ordered the zhu chang fen with ribs ($6). They are the same, if you are wondering. Not too bad a mistake though as the pork ribs were succulent and tasty. One of Mr Pancakes favourite dim sum dish.

And who can leave out siew mai and har kaw when having dim sums? Mr Pancakes particularly like the siew mai. Juicy and just enough seasoning to allow you to taste the freshness of the prawns.Simply delicious. The har kaw on the other hand were good, as in how they should be served.

The deep fried pig intestine (~$6) was well seasoned and... clean. Mr Pancakes still prefer the one at Mac Pherson's road. The congee ($7.20 - $13.80) had good consistency and nicely cooked to the correct stickiness. However, Mr Pancakes' mud carp balls could had been done up better with less flour used. The rice roll with spinach and prawns is nice to the palate but nothing special to shout about.

The noodles with prawn roe ($7.20) was absolutely delightful! Albeit a little on the pricey side. The noodles for springy and cooked just right. Superb hongkong egg noodles. Mr G ordered the pig's fore shank noodles ($10.50) which was great too. The fore shank was slowly cooked and the meat simply melts in your mouth. And not too salty too and the five spices were delightfully balanced and not overpowering. Mr KC's shrimp dumpling noodles ($7.30) tasted... normal. The dumplings of course had fresh shrimps (like those used in all their dim sum). 

Not only do Imperial Treasure serves HongKong dim sum, they have a good list of Shanghai snacks of which we picked the xiao long bao and the guo tie. I must say the xiao long bao is almost as good as that of Crystal Jade, juicy and sweet with paper thin skin. (validation of the urban legend of the chef's migration?) The guo tie was a tad too oily but the fillings is well made and seasoned.

And the stars of the day gotta be these two buggers. The custard bun with salted egg yolk is a MUST MUST MUST try. Rich, runny and buttery yellow filling shot Mr Pancakes right up to the skies. And even though we were totally blotched by the end of the meal, this one thing Mr Pancakes would have space for in the stomach. Anytime. Simply heavenly. The egg tarts are also a must try. The egg custard was baked to the right firmness and the crusty shell is very well made. 


And yes, because Mr G paid for the meal, Mr Pancakes couldn't share some of the prices of the dishes here. But generally they are reasonably priced, at $3-4, with 3 or 4 servings, as what you would expect from dim sum restaurants.


Make reservations or expect to wait up to half hour for walk-ins.

Imperial Treasure Noodle & Congee House


2 Orchard Turn
Orchard Ion
#B3-17
+65-6509-8283
Mon - Fri
11am - 10pm
Sat & Sun
1030am - 10pm Read More...

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Lunch @ Jones the Grocer (Mandarin Gallery)

Mrs Pancakes met up with Ms O for lunch for a catchup session. Wanted to try out Wild Honey but there was a long queue and the girls were hungry. Proceeded to Jones the Grocer one floor up since Mrs Pancakes heard so much about it.

The place was relatively cosy and quiet, good for catching up.Mrs Pancakes ordered the Jones Traditional English Breakfast and a Peaches and cream milkshake. Ms O had the Confit Chicken and a soda drink.

First came the drinks. Mrs Pancakes' Peaches and Cream Milkshake was a delight. Definitely cured her of her sweet craving.



It took a while for the main course to be served. The
Jones Traditional English Breakfast came with poached eggs (which can be opted for scrambled egg or sunny side up), sausages, 2 slices of bread, bacon, mushrooms and tomatoes. The eggs were a little overcooked and more sour than usual. However the bread was well toasted and bacon was not too salty, the way the Pancakes like it. The sausages tastes just ok. Mrs Pancakes enjoyed the mushrooms and tomatoes though. Will try the mushroom rissoto next time round.


Mrs Pancakes had a taste of Ms O's Cajun Chicken. The chicken was tasty but a little dry. Would have enjoyed it more if it were more tender.



Overall, it was a pleasant experience with great company.
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Coffee Club @ Raffles City

Mrs Pancakes, Ms W and Ms G had a birthday celebration for Ms G at Raffles City. Settled for Coffee Club since Mrs Pancakes had a pasta craving.

The place was not very crowded on a Friday evening compared to the other restaurants on basement level.

Ms G and Mrs Pancakes arrived first and decided to order first. Mrs Pancakes ordered a mushroom soup and a pasta dish which had chef's recommendation (can't remember the exact
name of the dish but it had penne, fish and lobster sauce), Ms G ordered baked rice and both had a caesar salad to share.

The presentation of the mushroom soup was appetising and the soup was alright with mushroom bits in it.





Next, the salad came in a nice cheesy bowl which was an interesting touch to the dish.




The pasta and the baked rice were disappointing though, with the fish tasting a little fishy for Mrs Pancakes' taste and the baked rice was too soggy, in Ms G's words, it tasted like porridge.




The girls will not end dinner without dessert and ordered their favourite mudpie. Still a must have at Coffee Club!




Service staff were not very friendly and made us feel like they were in a hurry to close shop half an hour before closing time. Overall not a very pleasant experience. Had better service at the Takashimaya outlet. Read More...

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Brunch @ Barracks

Can't remember what's the occasion but yah, the gang met up for breakfast at the Barracks! I think it's because Mr K (who is now Mr SP jio-ed). Yay. And to toast to the end of Mr Animator's singlehood.

The no-frills decor that the cafe has brings back a very rustic feeling. May had been a bit under-done for some, but I guess we were alright with it. At least the air-conditioning was working fine. Hot weather on the day we visited. And we pity those who had to sit outdoors.


And yes, before we continue any further. Gong Xi Gong Xi from the little one. She had grown bigger since we last met. Note that she is almost as big as her mum liao. Ha. Very cute kid. And very fun when she's awake. :)

It was a shame that the pancakes were sold out! OK, we took our time to order and by the time everyone was settled down, it was almost 12noon. So, lesson learnt. Order early. Or be there early. Mr Animator and Mr Pancakes had to settle for something else. (Both our first choice were pancakes.)

Mr Animator settled for the Old-fashioned American Sliders ($22) which comes with sweet potato fries and truffle fries. Mr Pancakes don't take beef and Mr Animator said the burgers were ok. But then again, most things are ok for Mr Animator. :) Only a hint of truffles can be tasted from the fries, and it was slightly too dry for Mr Pancakes. Nothing special about it if you were looking for the wow! factor.  The sweet potatoes on the other hand was superb. Nicely fried and still moist inside and a crispy texture to bite into. Nice indeed.

Mr Pancakes settled for the eggs benedict ($15) and was less than satisfied. The hollandaise sauce was too sour for his liking. The muffins were cold and the salad didn't taste fresh. And add to that a miserly serving of ham. Had to be one of the worst eggs benedict Mr Pancakes ever had.

Mrs Pancakes settled for the Squid Ink Skinny Pizza ($18). And I must say, it was FANTASTIC. The crust tasted more like crackers and the squid ink sauce was just fabulous. The toppings were well balanced and most importantly it came warm! Splendid dish indeed.

Mr Sailor (yay! Sailor Jr is arriving soon!) and Mrs Sailor settled for the Very Berry Stuffed French Toast ($17) which was supposed to be award winning. But it tasted like... french toast. Nothing special. Miss-able. We liked the HK Cafe one better.

Mr SP (ex Mr K) had the Mushroom Risotto ($24). It was FANTA-BULOUS too! This had to be the best dish alongside the Squid Ink Skinny Pizza. Risotto was cooked to perfection and the flavours of the ingredients were totally infused into the grains. The woody taste of the mushrooms stands out and the creamy sauce was just right. Albeit a little costly, but a good dish nevertheless.


And yes, the drinks were nothing to shout about. Minor incident after we asked for the bill and we asked to reimbursed the price of a drink which was not served to us. The staff did just that after some time, but did not include the GST. We demanded for it (fifty cents, but still.) and all was done. Despite this little glitch, it was an enjoyable brunch with the gang. A little over-priced but the two outstanding dishes saved the day.

8D Dempsey Road

#01-01 to 06 Tanglin Village (Dempsey Road)

Tel: +65 6475 7787

Brunch (Sat–Sun) 11am – 4pm

Refer to website for detailed opening hours. [here]

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Tonkatsu Ginza Bairin

Most people want to be happy and yet not many know how to. It is interesting in the course of my learning journey, this is one of the things that really struck me the most. And I have been benefiting from it. Well, I came to learn (and believe) that happiness is actually a state. A state of our emotions. Which means to say, we can decide to be happy. Or not. The key word here is 'decide'. Just decide, "I am happy." and behave as if you are happy, talk the way you talk when you are happy, act the way you act when you are happy, breathe the way you breathe when you are happy... and you will be happy! The key thing is, decide to be happy. Feel good for no good reasons. You deserve to be happy. So... decide to be happy!


So I am feeling happy writing this post and at the same time talking to a friend in the States. Feeling happy for him and all the farm produce that he has available to cook with. Lucky ass.


So, the missus and I are attending language lessons and it gave us the opportunity to eat out. Something which albeit all these entries, we do not too frequently. So it's a good 'us' time.

We went to Japan for our honeymoon (sort of) and is missing good Japanese cuisine. So we had to satisfy our palate. And tonkatsu is the choice.

This is the Special Katsu Don (ala carte) (SGD12.90). Great! Almost as good as what we had in Japan. It had the right level of saltiness and the egg was nicely cooked with the yolk warm, but still liquid. The cutlet was nicely fried and the meat was juicy with the outside breadcrumbs crispy. Rice was at the right temperature and as Japanese rice, tasted sweet. A combination of all these with the soft sweet onion, an enjoyable treat indeed! Greatly satisfied our cravings. One down point had to be the design of the spoon. It is too big to stuff the whole thing into my mouth. You had to scoop the rice (and egg, pork...) with the spoon and instead of putting it straight into the mouth, you gotta use the chopsticks to nudge them in. Maybe it's done on purpose so that the customers don't wolf down the food. 

And lucky there was this! Katsu Curry (SGD13.40). Both of us wanted the Katsu Don and luckily the Katsu Curry caught our eye. We thoroughly enjoyed our Japanese curry back in Tokyo and this is our bid to relive those magical moments. Well, almost. The cutlet and rice are just as nice as the Katsu Don's and we do really like the curry. The correct balance of sweet and savoury with the curry flavour at the right level. Great! The only disappointment was the miso soup that came with it. There were bits of meat but the flavour just couldn't match up to the mains.


Overall a good meal and a reasonable price! Totally satisfied our cravings and we will definitely be back for more of these Japanese lovelies.

Tonkatsu Ginza Bairun
Orchard Ion
2 Orchard Turn
B4-39/40/41/42


Tel: 6-509-8101
Opens: 1100 - 2230 (Last orders: 2200) Read More...

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Ottimo Pasta & Grill

Somehow the universe conspire to help you get what you want. Interestingly, if you choose to believe in this, things move. At least it did for me. More happiness and less blaming. Everything happens for a reason. And that is superb. I am loving it, and grateful for it.


饮水要思源. And yes, after staying for more than 10 years in the neighbourhood, it is time to share the hidden gems in this area.  It is sad to see some of the stalls had moved on, and some of the chefs for certain stalls decided to go back to their hometown. Nevertheless, we still have a couple of evergreen stalls. And they had been serving the same fare for the last 10 years. More than that actually.


However, I shall start with the newest entry into the 'hood. It is kinda funny that the previous tenants of this particular stall usually don't last too long. Well, not easy to uproot the established stalls and there is only so many customers to this little enclave. I really hope this stall do last long. At least until the mall (NEX) to be up and ready. Traffic will sure flow in.


Enough nostalgia feelings. Ottimo Pasta & Grill. Mr Pancakes was at first wary of it being one of the heartland western food upstarts but had since been won over. Head of the stall, Chef Linus Teo left his job at an established Italian restaurant to set up this baby of his. He must be a tough cookie to choose a place like this.
Overall, the food reminded Mr Pancakes of his western food days at NUS. At $5 - $5.50 for his mains and pastas (lamb chops cost slightly more), what more can you ask for? 

Mr Pancakes packed grilled chicken and grilled fish fillet. Both are $5.50 and comes with two side dishes which includes a choice of any two from colesaw, crinkle-cut fries, mashed potato, garlic bread and onion rings. The grilled chicken was a tad overcooked with the skin... too crispy. However, Mr Pancakes do like the charred taste of the meat. A delightful splash of fresh herbs (dill?) gave the chicken the extra edge. Nice. And value for money. And amazingly there is no chicken fat under the skin.

Grilled fish is nicely cooked. Soft on the inside and crispy on the outside. And of course the nice grill marks adds on to the visual effects. And once again the fresh herb concoction wins the day for me. I believe they use cream dory fillet. No other cuts of fish is available at the moment.

 This had gotta be the star of the stall. Mr Pancakes LOVES it. The mushroom cream pasta ($5) is served with a cream of nice consistency and great mushrooms flavour. The balance of garlic, cracked black pepper and bouquet of fresh herbs and dried herbs is simply made in heaven.

Apparently the serving portions of the spaghs is carefully weighed out. And yes, it is served with a scoop of grated parmesan. The pasta dishes are great! Ottimo also serves seafood pasta, carbonara, vongole, just to name a few.


All in all, it is a good experience. Mr Pancakes do have this nagging feeling that Chef Teo potential powess had not been unleased yet, probably constrained by the costs of ingredients. At $5 per serving, it may seen value for money for western food, but if you look at the other stalls serving $2 coffeeshop fare (good tasting ones I must add) and the client el base, it may not be easy for him to break out unless he has his own following.


So for good varsity style food, at varsity prices, why not give our friend Linus a visit? It is a couple of minutes walk for Serangoon Mrt Station (exit D).

Blk 2 Lor Lew Lian Coffeshop
Stall 9


Serves lunch and dinner. Read More...

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Clementi Food Market

Was back in NUS over the holidays to train handball with the boys. And it so happened that one of those days the car was not available so I had to lugged all the gear along. Well, I decided that why not make it a worthwhile journey by visiting our favourite dinner haunts? And so, I ended up at Clementi Food Center.... and realised that I could not finish all the 'favourites' in one sitting... alone.


There! I decided to have the Hokkien Mee for lunch and to pack the rest back to share with the family. The plate came quick (it was like 2pm? Lunch crowd had since dispersed). Alas! The taste was somewhat disappointing. One look over at the stall. Alamak! It's not the same old man... instead a young lady was frying the noodles. I remember the days where we had to wait damn long in the queue for this. Hmm... maybe he only works at night. Shall take a chance to go back at night, this time with friends to savour all the dishes again. 


I have not given up on this stall... yet.

The packed stuff.... 

Rojak. Great. Wasn't soggy even though we kept it for dinner. Nice toasted smell of the prawn paste and just the correct level of sweetness. My favourite rojak still remains Soon Heng Rojak at TPY even though they only reopen on 15 Mar.

Next up, the chicken cutlet.

The cutlet was fried to the right juiciness. And the sauce... THE sauce is unbeatable. Nice plum sauce, like what you will get for sweet and sour pork, less the ketchup. Ultimately fantastic. The sides could be better though. The fries and colesaw were just... normal. Found this other Tanglin Halt Western Food at Commonwealth Drive... shall go and taste the food there one day. And see who's better!


And braised mutton is next!

I had long wanted to buy this for Mum. She like mutton, only when done correctly. And this is one of the better non-Indian mutton cuisine I ever had. And yes! To my delight, the same Auntie is still there. Her sesame chicken is not bad too. Prices had since increased, now the mutton comes in a standard price of $5 instead of $3.50 and $4.50 a few years back. The spices and garlic-ky sauce is just superb, and the meat is braised so long that the meat slides off the bone! Simply heavenly. I find it a bit too salty but the rest of the family thinks it's fine. Goes superbly well with steamed rice.


And that concludes my short but fulfilling adventure at Clementi. And yes, who can forget the famous satay stall, which sells power bak kwa during the Chinese New Year. And yes, the fried oyster stall just next to it. Oh.. and the goreng pisang... and the porridge... arrggh... so many of them!

Decided not to pack it back as satay is the best when eaten 'live'. Next time.... I will be back.


Clementi Central Food Centre
BLK 448 Clementi Ave 3
#01-19: Nam Kee Hokkien Mee
#01-20: Tanglin Halt Western Food
#01-21: Chai Ho Satay
#01-23: Herbal Mutton Soup
#01-27: Clementi Rojak (backrow behind the #01-23)
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