Korea Trip 2014 - Desert Edition

Desert Edition 

Whether in SG or Korea Desert is a must for NormalSGgirl. 

In supermarket, traditional market, cafe and on the streets you seem to be able to find desert everywhere in Seoul. 

Korean Pumpkin Porridge, 호박죽 (Hobaak Jook)

Taste of sweet and savory at the same time, a combination of pumpkin, porridge and mochi balls. 
Not a typical desert that you will think of, but a must-try when you are in Korea.
This dish can also be found at chain porridge store like bonjuk, cost of porridge is higher in these restaurants.
You can also find the sesame and red bean version of this sweet porridge in Korea.

 

Where : Gwangjang Market  
Nearest Subway: Jongno-5-ga Station, Line 1 (Exit 8)  
Money: 5000W

O'sulloc Tea house 

Green Tea from Jeju Island, made into delicious deserts. 

Visit Korea in Summer to try the Matcha Patbingsoo, green tea flavoured crushed ice topped with matcha soft serve icecream and a generous scoop of azuki beans (red beans)

There green tea roll cake is also a must-try at this cafe, you can choose from a variety of flavor  but we decided to go with green tea and green tea filling. Indeed O'sulloc never disappoints with their green tea, the cake is fluffy and the cream filling is full of green tea goodness and refreshing. 

Free tea tasting at the entrance of the cafe at scheduled timing. 
The store located at the ground floor of the cafe sells green tea / tea and related products including lotions and shampoo.

3rd storey of the newly renovated branch at Insadong offers cosy seating.

Where : Many branches in Seoul, Insadong, Myeongdong ... 
Money : 19000 W (matcha patbingsoo)
There are 2- 3 person set available. Promotion changes from time to time. 
Check Visit Korea website for discount coupon for a limited time only.

Monster Ice 

This is what happened when popcorn invaded ice-cream. 

A generous coating of glazed popcorn on top of vanilla ice-cream. 

Where : Basement (B1), Lotte Departmental Store, Myeongdong 

Nearest Subway  :  Euljiro 1(il)-ga (Line 2)

Money: 4300W 

Ice-Cream Corn

They will tempt you all the way from Dongdaemun to Insadong. These interesting ice-cream cone can be found in many places especially in touristy places. Found a interesting store in Insadong selling this ice-cream cone.

Where : Various places (shown on pic - Insadong - along main Insadong street)

Nearest Subway  : Insadong

Cost : 1000-1500 W (depending on location)

Long-ffle

Walking along University street (hyehwa) you will see that many youngster are holding a waffle on a stick. This is Long-ffle a latest trend among the young and hip Koreans. 

Crispy waffles coated with fresh cream and blueberry flavored chips. 

Nice to see and nice to eat too. 

Where : HyeHwa (you will see the stall once you come out of Exit 2)
Nearest Subway : Hyehwa (Line 4)

Softree Organic Ice cream 

This is my first try of organic ice cream the texture of the ice cream is just nice , not too watery not thick.
The honeychip is sweet and balances out the ice cream nicely.

Where : Hongdae 

(Located at the end of the main street of hongdae, at a shop called "around the corner")

Nearest Subway  : Hongdae (Line 2)

Cost : 4800 W (with honeychips)

Choo Choo Chicken

Korean Fried chicken, here I come. 

At choo choo chicken, everyone comes for their delicious fried chicken. There is the original version and also those coated with sauce. 

The lunch special set, has four piece chicken and also comes with C.C. rice. 

The chicken is mildly spicy eventhough I choose the spicy set. But the chicken is tender and also very well marinated.

I was initially only looking forward to tasting the fried chicken and was very pleasantly surprise by the CC rice. It so delicious that it is addictive, I can't stop eating the rice and I manage to finish every single grain of the chewy rice pair perfectly with the crispy seaweed. 

This is the best combination of Korean fried chicken that I had. 

As other places usually comes with plain rice (which I would rather skip) or you will have to purely just munch on the chicken. 

Therefore I highly recommend the CC rice. 

The CC rice also comes in a variety of flavor, in the Al carte menu., with Tuna or  Spam  with kimchi.  

I tried the CC rich with tuna and kimchi.

and again the entire plate was wipe clean. 

 Al Carte menu

Their Lunch set is available daily from 11.30am till 3 pm, it is really value for money, with each set costing less that $10.  

Similar to other Korean restaurant in Singapore, Choo Choo chicken has plays Korean TV program which serve as a background music. Something to note  is that the place is really small compared to other restaurant in Singapore, there are only two rows of tables and a total of seven table in the entire restaurant. Privacy can be an issue for those looking to discuss personal issue as all the patrons of the restaurant are in close proximity due to the confine space.

If you are shopping at Haji land or is hanging around Bugis area, remember to drop by Choo Choo chicken for lunch.

Address : 33 Bali land, Singapore 189869
(The first lane if you are walking towards Haji land from Raffles hospital)

Riders Cafe , The Best place for Brunch in Town

                                             

There is truly no better place to enjoy brunch on a lazy Sunday morning than Riders Cafe , located within Bukit Timah Saddle club. The lush greenery seem almost like a luxury to the city folk like me who face the computer and the concrete building seemingly all the time. 

Riders cafe not only provide a delicious meal but also a great getaway. Walking towards the entrance of the cafe, you will most likely encounter horses waiting to enter the stable. 


                              

One side of the Cafe overlooks the stable where the horses are being pampered after a hard day's work. This place allows for the mind to be relax and enjoy the company and the food that is in front of you. 

It is really crowded on the weekends, and we had to wait 20 minutes for a table for two ( we reached at around 10am). There is always a queue of people waiting to get a table.  
Therefore it is strongly encourage that you make a reservation at least one day before heading down. 

As compared to the other cafe serving brunch, Riders cafe offers a more limited selection. But nevertheless the food is Yummy. 

We order the Blackstone Benedict : with Bacon, Tomatoes, Poached Eggs and Hollandaise on Sourdough Bread.

This is one of the most popular item on the menu. 

The poached eggs are cooked to perfection and goes well with the hollandaise sauce and the sourdough bread.

The Usual : With 2 eggs (you can choose the cooking method), back bacon, breakfast banger, mushroom, Tomato and sourdough bread.

For those with a bigger appetite, as it comes with breakfast banger (pork sausage) and mushroom. The mushroom is well-seasoned but the breakfast banger is sightly hard and difficult to chew.

Beside the usual brunch menu, I also ordered the Devil's cake. It's chocolate cake covered with fudge served with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream. Sounds sinful already.

The cake taste very rich on its own, luckily the vanilla ice cream was able to mellow the richness of the cake. It would be good if the fudge is serve on the side so that the level of sweetness and richness of the cake can be adjusted. 

The serving size is slightly on the smaller side for the price that you are paying for. But if you consider the ambiance and the view of the place it is still quite value for money. 

Getting to Riders cafe : 

Address :  51 Fairways Drive , Singapore 286965 

(The best way to get to the cafe is to drive , or take a taxi. As it is a long walk from the main road)

For Reservation  : 6466 9819

MakiSan At The Cathay

                         

Do you like SUSHI ?
Would you like to have sushi with all your favorite ingredients in it ?
Would you like to design your unique flavour of sushi ?

Me : YES , YES , YES ...

Welcome to MakiSan - A place where you can design your own sushi (or salad) with more than 80 ingredients to choose from.
                        

1. TO start designing your own sushi, you can choose between MEGA and little san. (Depending on how hungry you are). 

         Little San :  $6.90

         MegaSan  : $9.90
         (you will get a bigger roll with 2 extra ingredients and an additional SPECIAL ingredient)  
       
   2.   Choose the type of rice that you would like, there are four to choose from.                                    

         I tried the Traditional Nori (with seaweed on the outside) and the healthy brown rice (taste a little dry)

    3.  You can choose the ingredients that goes in the Maki, which includes the essential, special, sprinkles              and the sauce as well. 

                         

If you don't know which ingredients to choose from, you can also pick from their signature rolls.

                           
The maki comes in very nicely decorated boxes, you can use the boxes to takeaway the unfinished maki. What a green packaging (Love IT !).

Some of the patrons were seen keeping the boxes after they finish eating the sushi.

Fried ebi was a great choice for the maki. 

The Maki tasted great except that the seaweed was a little soggy, making the Maki fall apart if you try to bite it into half.
Overall, it is a healthy, delicious and value for money choice. I would skip the fast food and choose Makisan on any day.

 Location : B1-17/18, The Cathay

Lady M at Marina Square

All the way From New York comes Lady M  :a famous confectionery from the States and  Singaporeans seem to be craving for these freshly baked cream cakes as there seem to be an endless queue outside the cafe whenever I walked pass cafe at the new line of eateries at Marine Square.

The decor of the cafe seems to be white minimalistic, which seems to  lack the cosy and warmth feeling that most cafe goes for. All their cakes are on display in the counter at the back of the cafe.

Their  menu  in Singapore only offers a portion of the cakes that was featured on their website.
                        
I wanted to try the strawberry shortcake but I was told that all the cakes that contain fruits are all sold out, Disappointed !. So we ordered the Gâteau aux Marrons and Green Tea Mille Crêpes to share.

Gâteau aux Marrons : Vanilla sponge cake with chestnut infused fresh cream.
Green Tea Mille Crêpes : Thin crepes layered with green tea cream.  

The reason for the endless queue could be the crepe cake that appears on every table.

Both cakes feels very soft as you dip your fork into it. They are very fresh and bubbly soft with the high content of fresh cream in both cakes. As I prefer the spongy texture compared to the airy texture that comes from the cream, the cakes from Lady M did not really suit my taste bud. 

The size of the cakes are relatively small for the price that you have to pay, this is definitely HIGH tea.

This place is worth a visit if you would like to try out the famous cakes from New York (without having to take a plane). Be ready to queue for around 15-20 minutes during tea time (4-5 pm) but their service staff are really friendly and prompt in their service, I was asked 3-4 times by different staffs how may seats I needed while I was waiting in line as they are all really keen in getting me a table soonest possible (Thumbs UP!). 

Official Website : Lady M

Address : Marina Square Shopping Mall

              6 Raffles Boulevard
             #02-103 ( another outlet @ Fullerton)

Opens from  11am-9pm