Boon Tong Kee @ MOA

I stumbled upon Boon Tong Kee at Mall of Asia last Friday while looking for a place to eat after a tiring rounds at Phil. Travel Expo (SMX). It was relatively still a Valentine's Day, a Friday dinner and payday (15th)  at that_meant full houses restos around MOA. When I saw this resto with only 2-3 tables occupied, I knew we didn't have to look further.




The place used to be the one occupied by Red Mango, so it's not that spacious. Gladly, it has an open kitchen which is for me suggestive of fresh hygiene.



my v date, one of my best girlfriends

At the door, I easily had placed that Boon Tong Kee's origin is Singapore. Not that I had it already in Singapore, this was the first time I came to know about it,  but they had some menu teaser poster at the door with chicken rice. No brainer, I know right.

We didn't bother to stress ourselves with the menu. We were too hungry for that. We ordered their season (CNY & Valentine) set meal of chicken rice. Comprised of  hainanese chicken and rice, sambal kangkong and a soup. The chicken was just sufficiently tasty. Nothing to rave about. I'd say I already had  better version of  hainanese chicken in Sg & Malaysia.

Plus we ordered another set meal with the same side dishes but with pork which tasted like our local tocino.
  The sambal kangkong was allright.




The soup was actually surprisingly good. In a set meal, I never expected a soup not to be bland. But this one kindah tasty. It was like adapted to our pinoy palate cos it's nearly tasted like our local tinola soup.
For some reasons I always find Sg dishes very filling. My friend thought the same. We only had those two set meals, yet we didn't finish everything. We finished just half of everything.
Value for money was good. The set meal was heavy in the tummy but light in the wallet. I don't know about regular menu thu'.




We had dessert outside,  in a coffee shop.

Belated Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Tastes of Singapore

After enjoying the cable car ride, we alighted at Imbiah Lookout. We were an hour earlier for the Songs of the Sea show and decided to have dinner first at Tastes of Singapore.



The restaurant is spacious and cozy. We chose a corner table with the beautiful garden outside as the back draft. Don't be deceived by the bright daylight. It was actually getting near 7pm. I know, here in our country dinner means already dark night sky. There at Sg, the sun sets so much later.



This resto is in Sentosa. Nothing's cheap in a tourist destination. Although the menu serves familiar hawker's dishes, the place is definitely of higher class and touristy pricey. I noticed most of the customers on other tables were whites.

It was bittersweet that this dinner  was packaged with the ride and the show, cos it was an "eat all you can" and we weren't even that hungry.

we got this huge bowl of noodles, plus another huge bowl of seafood soup, plus another bowl of dimsums. .

two plates of this chicken rice. .

a big plate of fish and chips. .

and we had to finish everything then order another set!!! Are you kidding me?

In the end, we hardly finished each plate. Therefore didn't make it to another set of this "eat all you can". tsk.tsk. We left the table feeling guilty for the wasted food.

Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice

At last I was able to try the famous Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice during my most recent  (last week)  S'pore trip. At Maxwell Food Centre, I chanced upon a tolerable queue in front of Tian Tian and took it as a sign that it was about time. The reason for the doable queue was the holiday, some stalls were even closed for business. The rare times ( I think this was only the 3rd) that I got to eat at this hawkers center, Tian Tian always got the box office hit queue of customers. As a tourist, of course I don't usually have spare time to linger in a place.

The first photo was actually the queue for placing/paying your order. After which you have to go through another queue to claim your order. That's why there are two stalls occupied by Tian Tian. The two are actually inter connected. Can you spot that girl in the queue with a bowl, scooping iced dessert?

That's my daughter. she had to replace me in the queue cos I had to buy her other meal plate. She had enough of white chicken rice for this trip. The huge white man? We didn't know him, haha. He might be as curious as I was about Anthony Bourdain's claim that this particular chicken rice is the best.

No, this is not the one. It's a duck rice plate. I got it from another stall (forgot the name). This was for daughter. She hadn't tasted duck meat yet so I got it for her. The vendor suggested to add the egg for 50 cents. I did. I bought this meal set for less than sg$4, I think same price as the meal plate at Tian Tian.

This is the one! Compare it to above's duck rice plate. See how fresher and neater it looked. You can also notice the rice obviously of more expensive variant than the other plate above. Both came with soup.



Now we taste!  Compare to the past chicken rice I had tried ( here, here, here, here, here, and in many other eateries at Sg I had been too lazy to shoot) around Singapore, I thought Tian Tian's chicken was meaty, tender and especially fresh. The rice was definitely of quality rising above the others. I couldn't tell much about the chili cos daughter didn't get any. She took the sweet black sauce instead, which when you dip the chicken, it takes away the genuine taste of the dish. Overall, yes so far_ I would prefer Tian Tian's chicken rice than the others.

Laksa-rious Soup

All I want at this rainy morning is a bowl of _ _ _ piping hottie laksa !!!!



So many foreign dishes to try. . so short in time. Finally had laksa during my recent overseas trip. . . at the Changi (SG) airport ?? The soup in a paper bowl, I wonder how far/close it was to the authentic one. Sorry, it's just me. .  airport outlets always come to me as "commercial".

This laksa was packaged with a toasted bread and a cup of coffee?? Hmm, I didn't like the idea of hot soup+hot coffee. I asked the server if I could have a bottled water instead of coffee. They made me add few cents for the alteration.



I had my first (plastic) spoonful of laksa and didn't stop until the bowl was empty!!! Sooo del-i-cious!! I don't know if this was a popular version of laksa, but it gave me a yummy  first impression that for sure would last until I have my second laksa bowl. That was a month ago and so far I haven't any second laksa yet. .not even in the few Singaporean & Malaysian restos here in Manila.
Until then. . this laksa is staying as one of the best soup in my list.

Kopi Roti

I missed to try the kaya toast when I had my Singapore trip. So during my recent local trip, while waiting for the flight, I saw a Kopi Roti nook and ordered myself a set meal of kaya toast, soft boiled egg and coffee.

kaya cream puff

NAIA terminal 3

kaya toast, soft boiled egg & kopi

So that's the kaya toast, said to be the national breakfast dish of Singapore. If you're familiar with our local coconut jam, that's exactly how the toast tasted. As for the soft boiled egg with black sauce, I really didn't know what to do with it. To spoon straight into my mouth? as dipping agent or to dunk the toast first in it, like the milk to Oreo cookie?