Mookata Buffet

I love Mookata. But everytime we go for those Mookata sets, it is never enough. I have to be mindful of the quantity I consume in order to be sure that the people I'm sharing gets a fair share of the portion served as well. On top of that, the prices don't come cheap.

So, I started googling and searching for Mookata buffets. I was pretty sure that somewhere, somehow, a Singaporean would find this a lucrative business. And after much searching, I found it!!

I'll let the pictures do some talking:

 Because it's Ala-Carte buffet, we ordered alot of items and had to stack them up in order to have more space.

 First few rounds, mookata looking clean and good! This is not halal, because in order to grill the meat & stuff, pork lard is used to grease the pan. But it goes so well and when the oil drips into the soup, the broth becomes so sweet and flavourful!

 This is the menu where you tick the items you would like to have. Be very careful when you cancel tho. The staff didn't pay close attention to items we cancelled and served it to us blindly and some are chargeable. So make sure you let them know when you cancelled an order.

See the top of the mookata?It's all charred but fret not, the staff would change a new one for you when you request for it.

I didn't take a picture of the chilli though. They have quite a few for you to try, but you'll need to learn how to mix it to master a dip that blends with the mookata.

This is by far the most value for money Mookata although it still can't win the Original Thai Mookata in Golden Mile.

My boyf paid for it so I can't really remember the cost but it's about $25nett per person, excluding drinks. You can locate them here:

No. 9 Townshend Road,
Maude Road Foodlink Cafe
(Next to Jalan Besar Plaza) 

Opening Hours:
Mondays to Sundays:
6pm to 6am

Contact: 
Patrick 9644 6256
Kae 8205 4532

Chin Mee Chin

Whenever I am in Marine Parade in the morning, the first question that pops into my head would be "Should I go to Chin Mee Chin?" 

I was introduced to this old school confectionary when I was working with a good friend in the area and she was crazy over their puffs and tarts. After that introduction, I fell in love with this place too. 

Chin Mee Chin is known for their old school coffee, buns and homemade cakes. 

Because it is always crowded, I would usually just take away. (I am not someone who likes queuing up). So, let me introduce you to my 2 favourite items!

Their old school take away cake box

Not your usual egg tart, the base is really crunchy, sturdy and has a slight burnt taste which I simply love! The filling: It's custard filling and so, even if you refrigerate it overnight, it still tastes as good. Not too sweet, not too rich to feel "gelak".

The cream puffs! It's about the size of my palm and the filling is bascially similar to the egg tart just that it comes with a softer base.

A piece would cost about $1.10 and depending on the occasion, I would usually purchase at least 10 pieces. Another hot favourite would be the sausage puff which is always sold out in seconds! The last time I bought these, they were sold out. But I shall try and share this wonderful puff with you the next time I'm there.

If you have time to spare, try enjoying the old school experience, and give their kaya toast a run for their money! Chin Mee Chin is one of the places that you should bring your overseas friends to visit and if you have never been there, what are you waiting for?

Chin Mee Chin Confectionery
204 East Coast Road Singapore
Tue–Sun: 8am – 4.30pm
(Closed on Mondays)

Wong Chew Eating House

This post is long overdue but a great place ought to be shared with all you foodies out there!

My boyfriend is a picky eater. Almost everywhere we go, he will comment that the food tastes "normal" but Wong Chew is one of our favourite eating place and when we introduced this place to his parents, they both loved it as well!

From a corner unit, the eating house has expanded to renting 2 additional units there and during peak periods, they are always packed everywhere! Here are some dishes we tried.

Fish Head Curry which was polished off very fast the moment it was served to us.

Pork Ribs marinated with coffee. A sweet & savoury combination, not much to my liking. But this is a popular item because of the unique marinate

Yong Tau Foo which you can choose to have it served with noodles or rice. B loveeeesss the noodles because of it's springy texture. Give this a try, I'm sure you will like the noodles too. They have Wanton noodles and Roasted Duck too. 

The Dim Sum is really good although it was a tad costly, but compared to restaurants, their pricing is quite reasonable. 

Black Pepper Beef. The meat was too tough

I love this! Salted egg calamari. It was crispy, the batter was light and the salted egg yolk wasn't too overpowering. Worth a try!

I don't really take fish because I'm quite sensitive to the taste but this assam fish head's gravy was not too sour nor too sweet. I enjoyed pairing the gravy with my rice

There are too many dishes for you to try from this eating house that you'll be spoilt for choice and will keep going back for more.

On top of that, this is a good supper haunt because they open 24/7.

Find them at:

19 Sembawang Road
Singapore 779075

Opens 24hours

Travelogue: Taiwan Day 5

Taiwan Day 1
Taiwan Day 2
Taiwan Day 3
Taiwan Day 4

It was our last and final day here in Taipei and we had to check out at 12pm. After checking out, we decided that our priority should be getting those N95 masks that was sold out islandwide in Singapore.

It wasn't easy getting them here either because Cosmed, Watsons and Momo didn't carry them, only the normal surgical ones which wouldn't strong enough.

Someone suggested that we try Carrefour and on our way there....we spotted this happening car driven by an old man! Can't really see though but he had figurines and those shiny stuff wrapped around his back seat. Because he was sitting near us, B didn't dare to take a closer shot.

A costume and mascot shop and I was trying to mimick Lao Fu Zi

B & his favourite "zao cai mao" (Fortune Cat)

 After reaching Carrefour, we were told they didn't carry the masks either and asked us to try our luck at this shop diagonally opposite selling medical stuff. We took about 15 to 20minutes just trying to locate Carrefour and it was another good 10 minutes walk before we found the medical shop. But alas! We were told that they only carried medicines etc and the staff advised us to try this lane near the hospital selling all sorts of medical items. This took us another 20 to 30 minutes before we found our destination and we almost lost our way.

Thankfully it didn't disappoint us this time and paid for a box of 25 pieces. Before we stepped out, we decided to purchase another box since we were already there and was buying for quite a number of family and relatives. They didn't have sufficient supplies and needed a good 30 to 45 minutes to collect from their other outlets. We took this time to have our lunch and drink.

I wanted Formosa Chang and B agreed with it. No drinks ordered and we headed over to a nearby Bubble Tea shop to quench our thirst.

I ordered Milktea with Pudding and B got his favourite Passionfruit ice blended.  

Finally! N95 masks purchased!

Our saviour!! LOL

Located and hidden behind these old streets, a tourist would never have thought of exploring this side of Ximending

Diagonally across Ximen Station Exit 6 is a police station and their cars were all parked outside the station. Can you spot the dent on the police car?

View of 1 side of the famous and happening Ximending. That's Ximen Station Exit 6 on the right side if you can see the white cars.

 We did some beauty shopping once again at MOMO and Cosmed and headed back to the hotel lobby to rest and pack some stuff first. Near evening, we went out again for dinner and to clear our remaining TWD.

Couldn't leave Taiwan without giving this ice cream a try!

The ice cream felt so flimsy like it was gonna collapse anytime that we had to snap pictures as fast as we could

Walked abit more and finally decided to fill our tums tums first before all our TWD is gone

See! I told you...got "Guo Tie" must buy "guo tie".  It was TWD 5 per piece and you could just order your desired quantity and add on later if you think it's insufficient for your tum tum

Tried the black version Dou Jiang but i still prefer the original

They had different flavoured dumplings like spring onion, original, kim chi, curry  and prawn. I decided to give the Kim Chi flavoured a try. Went really well with my tasteless and bland noodles and costs TWD5 per piece

My bland "Original Style Soup Noodles"I wanted the dry version but had placed the wrong order. Oh well...healthier choice i guess

B's red beef noodle soup noodles which tastes like any beef noodles soup you eat in Taiwan

The main menu

Side dishes menu

He got bored when I shopped in SASA and started playing with the mask

That's all for Day 5 in Taiwan and we headed back to the hotel and waited for the taxi to bring us to the Airport at 11pm.

Next post on my loots and beauty hauls in Taiwan!

Travelogue: Taiwan Day 4 Yong He Dou Jiang & Shih Lin

Taiwan Day 1

Taiwan Day 2

Taiwan Day 3

Day 4

If you hadn't noticed by now, we didn't travel much to touristy places like Yeh Liu, Jiu Fen and Taipei 101. Because B and I are both pretty lazy people and sometimes, we get disappointed with the scenery like you can just find similar views in Singapore too. So we decided to explore slowly and add more places to visit the next time we fly to Taiwan. 

So Day 4, he decided to try the complimentary breakfast provided by the hotel. We got up at 9am and were so disappointed with the spread. So, we took some porridge and went back to the room to sleep. LOL..

                                  Finally set off again around 2.30pm in search for YONG HE!!

B with wearing his new shoes

My camera was foggy, hence the haze effect. 

When we saw this menu, both of us went "OMG! All Chinese and no pictures" It takes alot of effort for me to read chinese and what's more traditional chinese! But we managed!

The Doujiang is really smooth and fresh. You can really taste the authenticity of it.

In Singapore, when you order 1 youtiao, it comes in 2 pieces stuck together. But in Taiwan, 1 means 1 and a very long 1. 

Yonghe Opening Hours: 0530hrs to 1500hrs. W made it before they closed and it was not crowded too. Basically, only 2 of us dining in. 

"You tiao dan bing". Similar to the egg crepe you buy here at Shih Lin stall, the base is light with egg cooked in between layers. If you eat this plain, it is really bland. Thankfully there were some sweet sauce mixed in to give in some taste and it wasn't that bad. We finished the Dan Bing.

Eat it while it's hot!

See! I told you...if I see Guo tie, I just gotta get it!  This time, it was fried just nice but they seem to add sweet sauce to everything and it was a tad too sweet for my liking

If I'm not wrong, they call this burger and we ordered one with meat and egg in it. You get to choose the colour of your man tou - Coffee, Purple or white and B chose this. More colourful! 

It was piping hot that we couldn't even take it out from the bag

The chicken had a smoky taste to it and it wasn't much to our liking. Didn't finish this though. 

The tang bao - equivalent to the Xiao Long Bao here. If you're in Taiwan, they serve Xiao Long Baos too but those are without the broth. You need to order Tang Bao instead.

This was a little disappointing because it contained very little broth and the skin was too dry.

This is the building opposite Yong He Dou Jiang. So if you spot this, you're on the right track. 

Nevertheless, we had a hearty brunch and it was time to explore another part of Ximending and after we got bored there, we decided to head over to Shih Lin once more since we didn't explore 1 part of the Night Market.

Remember Exit 1

This time, we crossed over to the commercialised area and turned left

Erm...R21. Too gross for us to try out. So obscene!

There's 1 Modern Toilet Cafe here too. If you missed it in Ximending, try it here. But it's located on the 2nd level. 

Tried the Mee Sua here

Taste average, nothing special, very small portion

The oyster didn't taste like oysters should. More like flour mixed with starch. 

Had this bacon wrapped with spring onions to go with the mee sua. Quite ex. TWD30 for 1 piece. Bacon not salty at all and again, they added sweet sauce to it.

Bought 50 Lan and Hot Star on our way back to hotel again!