Saturday, September 17, 2005

Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Mooncakes



Because this place is has been so stagnant the past week, because we haven't had the time to go out to do any reviews, and because kenny writes great reviews, I'll just link him here: Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Mooncakes

He is based in Kuching, so I'm not sure of the availability of these over here, perahps someone could help me confirm. I'm just assuming it's a regional effort, so it should be available.

Well, price is 4pcs/box, RM32, which translates to about SGD$14.279, and then GST. Flavours are Mocha-licious mooncake, Soothing Green Tea mooncake, Ultimate Expresso Mooncake, and Choclaty Coffee Crunch Mooncake.

Edit: I'm not quite certain on the local availability. Comments on kennysia blog seem to imply we don't have them, but i checked out their local website, apparently its available. (on the net at least)

Nevertheless, though I dont have pictures, the mooncakes from Raffles Hotel are very nice this year. =) I don't know how much they cost though, cuz we got them for free from one of my parent's friends/patients.

Happy zhong qui jie =)

Friday, September 09, 2005

Dover Market Zi Char

Fruita La Viva!

Fruita La Viva
34 Watten Rise
Singapore 287337
office:(65)64638986
mobile:(65)98429954

Taste: 4.5/5
Affordability: 4/5
Location/Accessibility: 3/5
Ambience: 4/5


So, here goes the first review. Fruita La Viva, is a gelato stall, located in the neighbourhood of Watten Estate. For those who have no clue where this is, it's the housing estate within which RGPS resides. Just across the road you get Hwa Chong Institution and Nanyang Girl's High, so the collection of schools should serve as a prominent enough landmark.

Taste, 4.5. Well, the gelato here has a great texture, not too hard not to soft, which varies by the flavour, for example their chocolate flavour is the richest ever, so being slightly denser than, say, lemon sorbet, it's a bit thicker. The taste isn't too sweet, and in fact it's just rich, just what you'd expect. Ask for chocolate, you get chocolate, ask for rum and raisin, you get rum and raisin, not rum and raisin and sugar. Of course ask for lemon, you'll expect something slightly sourish, but it's a nice kind of sourish anyway. Flavours include Chcolate, Cookies and Cream, Rum and Raisin, Peppermint Choc chip, Choc chip, cream, hazelnut, vanilla, tiramisu, mixed berries, mango, strawberry, and some other flavours of which i haven't tried yet. (They're labelled in italian, so you often have to either try them, guess the flavour by the picture, or just ask the staff what it is)

Affordability, 4. This isn't your macdonalds 50cents ice cream, and I don't think you'd see gelato sold less than 3 bucks, else they'd go bankrupt in a week. Well, it's $2.90 for a "regular" here. Cone or cup, you can mix 2 flavours. $3.20 for a "large", and you can mix 3 flavours. Personally I'd recommend a regular. Why? The portions are good enough. I tried a large once and, trust me, you'll just look like some greedy spoilt fat kid with stuffing your mouth with that much ice cream. Note you get free water too, so um, that's really really affordable. =)

Accessibility, 3. Obviously, unless you're from one of the above mentoined schools, getting to watten estate can be a bit of a pain. The nearest MRT station is Newton, or Dover. Take 74 down from Dover in the direction of clementi and alight just one stop after the NJC bus stop. Or take 171, 66, 157, 170, from Newton and alight at the HCJC bus stop. It's not very easy to describe how to navigate there, so I'll let the pictures do the talking, once I get them.

Ambience, 4. The staff are nice, aunty and uncles, I just had a very nice chat with the Uncle about an hour ago. It's still relatively empty, about 5 or 6 round tables with chairs you can sit around and eat. Most people just come in, buy, and walk out to eat though. Note this is not a good idea (please refer to the special notes appendixed below). Well it's about the best place to sit and talk cock, or you can optionally check out the magazines they have, including some Christian ones too.

Fun fact of the day: Gelato is made out of 100% fresh milk, so it's VERY GOOD. Also, unlike other ice creams like your typical american ice creams, or your made in malaysia magnolia and whatnot, gelato has 0% air space. Yes, usually when you buy ice cream they contain a lot of air space in them, so you're not exactly paying for what you get for. Gelato is pure ice cream, so go eat it.

Notes: A pretty important note to take is that gelato melts VERY fast in our weather. So I'd recommend you stay there and eat it inside. You can walk about outside and eat too, just make sure it's not on a sunny afternoon. It'll melt all over you. You'll look like Augustus Gloop.


And, even though gelato is low-fat and stuff, always remember, must GET EXERCISE AND GET YOURSELF FIT!!

Pictures:

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

what do you think of this review? Any comments are welcome =)

Thursday, September 08, 2005

First reviews..

First reviews might take a while to come in. We're still trying to figure out a system of review. We've got a basic draft, so far, which will contain essentially the following framework:
1) Details of restaurant. (Name, address, website perhaps)
2) 5* Rating system (Taste, price/affordability, location/accessbility?, ambience?)
3) The main review, meaning (i) food the contributor ate there and how it went, (ii) Other foods on offer, (iii) Conclusion
4) Pictures (front/outside/entrance, inside, menu, food, etc)

I stress the urgency of immediacy too, as we realised, that it's kind of hard to write a review of something you ate last month. Food is like, well, food. You eat it, and then you shit it, and it is forgotten forever. So the best time to write a review is right after experiencing/tasting it. That way, the flavour is not lost.

Sek Fun?

Sek is Fun!
We like buns!
Who is sek?
who is fun?
I dont know,
LETS HAVE FUN!

JIAKKKK

Welcome to SEKFUN.

Sek fun!

Sek is fun
So sek some fan
Or have a bun
And go
Yum yum yum!

Welcome to Sekfun.com!

Sekfun.blogspot.com was the brainchild of SOON KAI and NIL NAI. The concept actually knocked both their heads last december, in the middle of the school holidays, when they were both hungry, and soon kai actually proposed to start a foodie blog of sorts. Well, there were some failed attempts, but the idea has been uncomfortable nagging them ever since. Well, let's hope this one makes it.

Sekfun.com is targeted at a primarily student audience in Singapore. Students love to eat, but being thrifty, we cannot afford everything we see. There must come a compromise between money, and food!