Chik's Crib

14 November 2015

Society

Review November 14, 2015 0

After spending every hour of the day over the last few weeks being glued to my seat in my room moving from deadline to deadline, I forgot there's so much more to life than the four walls of my room. Once in a while, it's nice to say to myself enough is enough. As a wise friend said, don't spend so much time trying to make a living that you forget to have a life. A break once in a while is well-deserved, and I pushed aside my inexhaustible pile of workload to enjoy a day off. (Or at least an afternoon, as I was still working my way through the pile up until the moment when we met for lunch.)

A while ago,I bookmarked Society as a restaurant to visit. After a recent traumatic experience at another restaurant though, which gave a bad name to all Italian restaurants in Melbourne, we weren't sure if we wanted to try another Italian restaurant so soon. We hemmed and hawed the better part of an evening before finally biting the bullet and making our reservation, and boy, I was glad we did.

When we placed our orders, the owner of the restaurant dropped by and apologized that the food may take a while to arrive, because, in his charming Italian accent-tinged voice, "the chef in the kitchen was ..." He trailed off with an expressive wave of his hand and a cheeky smile. Seems like the chef was inebriated with alcohol. Or maybe something less innocuous. (I'm pretty horrible at sign language.) But I like the restaurant already. With such a relaxing, it's-all-good-here attitude, there wasn't a better place for me to go to to unwind.

I had a lovely red chosen from their list of house wine ($7.50), which I liked, but which EJ disapproved of. He's a red wine snob. I, a different kind (one which also ends with _ _ob.)

Afghan Charcoal Kebabs

Review November 11, 2015 0

After a delicious meal at Persian Flavours, I couldn't get my cravings for grilled spiced chicken out of my head. I was busy with school for a few weeks, but luckily, the Dandenong area is a Middle Eastern area packed with restaurants. A quick Google search later, and I located Afghan Charcoal Kebabs just a few minutes drive away. My friend and I had a rare occasion where our schedules coincided one day, and we hopped on over to the restaurant to scout out some charcoal grilled meat.

Albion Hotel

Western Food November 07, 2015 0

It was a happy coincidence that we ended up having lunch at Albion Hotel. I was on the way to Dandenong Market with S to buy a 10-kilo box of mandarin oranges and split it between the two of us.

This is why we make such perfect groceries shopping partners. We enable each other

We initially planned for a meal at Polish Rye Bakery, which I had heard really good reviews about. But, as we stopped by at Coles to pick up a few essentials, we learnt that Polish Rye Bakery was closed on Sundays. S spotted a one-for-one meal deal for Albion Hotel on the back of his Coles voucher and since it was rather close by, so well... off we went.

We found the last parking slot in a side-street near the hotel, but hit a snag as I tried to feed the parking meter: it just wouldn't accept my coins. Or my banging my palms on it. We ended up driving to another parking lot, where the same thing happened again. We were staring at the meter dumbfounded, until a passer-by came over to us to inform us kindly that parking is free on Sundays in this area. As kindly as a person can be when they see two guys swearing at an inanimate box. Well maybe just me. S was perfectly composed.

O'ma Spoon Korean Dessert Cafe @ Somerset 313

Singapore November 02, 2015 0

Words by Miss XS

Korean dessert cafes is popping up all over the Singapore in these last few months, with more cafes offering Korean sweets in the food scene. Back into the days when I was a kid, the closest thing I had was ice kacang from hawker centres - which I crave whenever the day is hot. Shavings of ice, topped with colorful syrup and mixed with generous amount of red beans, sweet corn and atap seeds: yum! Then, came the Taiwanese versions of shaved ice with unique flavours like green tea, sesame, chocolate and strawberry. Man! We have been spoilt, and now, I no longer love ice kacang with the same intensity that I used to, especially since some of the Korean shaved ice I've had offers a smoother and milkier consistency.

O'ma spoon, a locally born and bred establishment, sources its ingredients and machinery from Korea. Menu includes Bingsu and Toast with a limited selection of cakes. We were there on a Saturday afternoon and there was a snaking queue formed waiting for seats. There was 2 queues- one to place order and another was the queue for seats. Fortunately the queue moved pretty quickly and we made a smart move to place our order at the counter while awaiting for a place to seat- we got our food shortly after we got our seats.

CALORIES

We tried the Mango Berry Cheesecake, one of the popular choice recommended by the staff. It was generously topped with fresh mangos, cranberries, almond flakes, a slice of cheesecake and a scoop of ice-cream. The shaved ice was fine and smooth and melts in the mouth instantly to a creamy texture. It was a good bowl of Bingsu but I find it a little too sweet towards the end and i wish they could do less with the condensed milk.

Overall, It was a decent experience. Given its prime location smack right in the middle of Orchard road, we can expect the crowd to continue.

O’ma Spoon Korean Dessert Café

6 Raffles Boulevard #04-102 Marina Square Singapore 039594

313 @ Somerset 313 Orchard Road #04-20/32 Singapore 238895

Opening Hours: 10am – 10pm Daily

31 October 2015

Salted Butter Caramel Recipe

Sweets October 31, 2015 0

I've always wanted to make caramel: I see myself heating sugar until they bubble and turn brown, setting batches in trays and running a hot knife through the bars to make perfect little squares of freshly-made caramel.

Ingredients for a basic caramel recipe are pretty standard: sugar, maybe some cream and butter, and you're set to go. The only caveat is, well, caramel-making requires a candy thermometer. Seeing I don't exactly invest in baking equipment, this was my one sticking point.

Pun intended.