Slice of my life

大家好! Since National Day is nearing, I decided to honour our local cuisine and indulge in 1 of our most popular dishes. Several local and hotel cafes serve Hokkien mee. The one I had at Manzhu cafe cost $10.90 and came with enough prawns, squid, pork belly and egg to keep me happy. This was so delicious and the broth so rich and flavourful, I didn't add chilli nor lime. When a dish is executed so well, why mess with its natural wholesome goodness?

Tourists keep visiting Ya Kun and ought to; they serve good Nanyang coffee. Another chain that gives Ya Kun a run for its money is Toast Box. Besides various toasts including kaya, they have a menu featuring local delights and desserts such as tau sar pia (mung bean pastry). I love their dragon beard cookies sandwiching a thin layer of chocolate - buttery, flakey, not too sweet and all other forms of yumminess. Their coffee is similar to Ya Kun's - strong and robust.

Local food, when prepared with enough high quality ingredients, can be as good as any other cuisine, such as the Hokkien mee in this post, as well as har cheong gai and laksa in earlier ones. Given the excellent standards of meals prepared by food businesses which don't skimp on meat, seafood, eggs and vegetables, I'm fairly confident that our cuisine will always have a place alongside international ones in our country and in Singaporeans' hearts.

The war between the US/Israel and Iran doesn't look like it will end soon. Meanwhile, prices of just about everything has skyrocketed, hitting household budgets from every possible angle. So I'm grateful for dining venues which deliver good value to customers, including those that serve exquisite local fare. Delicious dishes aside, for that brief period at every meal, we enjoy a respite from the stress of everyday life. Thank you to all of them. 下次见!

大家好! YL and I were due for a catch up. She suggested Synthesis, a restaurant specialising in TCM-inspired dishes. I'm very adventurous where food is concerned so I agreed to try it out and it turned out to be 1 of my best decisions. Located in Suntec Tower 4, the establishment spared no expense where decor is concerned - the premises are majestic. If you're looking for a dining venue that delivers the wow factor, this is your place. You're welcome.

Only the set menu is available for lunch. The wait staff explained that ala carte dishes are available in the evening. Fair enough. For $38++ per pax, diners can pick an appetiser and a main. I went with har cheong gai (prawn paste chicken), YL selected gyoza and we shared them. We agreed that the har cheong gai was executed perfectly - no chow yow yik (over- reused oil odours), lightly battered, airy, crispy and the meat tender and juicy.

The dumplings were good, but don't pack as much of a punch as the har cheong gai. As for my main course, their chicken pao fan (soupy rice) was excellent. The soup was delicately perfumed by herbs and conpoy added a subtle briny taste - a refreshing change from umami broths which rely heavily on salt and MSG. The egg floss imparted more fragrance to the soup, the chicken was meaty and crispy rice added texture to the dish. Wholesome goodness.

Since National Day is nearing, I had to eat a local favourite. Har cheong gai might not be as well-known to tourists as chicken rice, laksa, char kway teow and turnip cake, but it's a dish much beloved by Singaporeans. Zi char eateries serve this humble fried chicken dish, but Synthesis elevates it into one that deserves a place at restaurants. Quality-wise, it rivals chicken served by Japanese chefs. Delicious and worth the splurge. 下次见!

大家好! Besides unagi, the supermarket sells sashimi, so I bought salmon. Priced at $15.80, the pack contains 15 slices of fatty fish, not bad! To make it a balanced and moderately healthy dinner, I ate this with blanched choy sum and rice. I may buy this again for WFH lunch and make my own coffee. This way, I enjoy a tasty stress-free meal, my money goes towards nutrition and I don't risk drinking very diluted coffee that tastes like long gao zui (drain water).

Hawkers are hiking prices and cutting portions at the same time but there's value if you know where to look. Fukudon is a stall specialising in healthy bowls. For $8, customers get 3 pieces of shoyu-glazed salmon, tomato salad, onsen egg and pearl rice - very good value given the unpleasant experiences I've recently had with hawker skimpflation. MT is keen to try this so I should be back fairly soon. I'll share about more ethical hawkers if I come across them.

FL and I were due to catch up. In Singapore, nothing beats socialising over a delicious meal and we have plenty of options. Nai Nai Flavour is a new restaurant serving Hangzhou cuisine. FL enjoyed the food so much, he paused during our conversations to savour it. Dumplings are meaty and satisfying. The noodles come with enough vegetables, peanuts and pork to add texture and flavour. Fantastic value for $42 for 2 pax!

Parents and I returned to Dancing Crab to use up the vouchers CY gave me. This time, we asked for sauce on the side. No regrets; their seafood was so fresh, sweet and succulent, the sauce would only overwhelm the wholesome taste. We shared everything, including the fish and chips. The fish was good, lightly battered, lightly salted, airy and crispy. We didn't touch the tartare sauce either. It was delicious on its own. The food is yummy here; I like it. 下次见!

大家好! I found frozen unagi at the supermarket and bought a pack to eat with konjac noodles as a post-workout snack. Since the portion was big, I divided it into 2 servings; half a serving already dwarfed my noodles! The fish was very tender, moist and not too salty, totally worth the price tag of $16.50. To save money, I'll buy this and have unagi at home more often whilst spending on other foods when dining out. I love fish so this is a godsend during lean times.

Men Don is a place I visit for chirashi. This time, I noticed a counter with a small variety of sushi and decided to try some. For $7.40, there were 8 pieces of sushi with reasonably thick slices of salmon. Add $1.90 for chilled okra in roasted sesame dressing and I had a healthy balanced and enjoyable meal for under $10. We're facing blistering hot afternoons on some days and nothing hits the spot better than sashimi and sushi at reasonable prices.

In recent weeks, it seems like buffet restaurants are lowering their astronomical prices to entice customers to spend. Households are grappling with everything becoming more expensive within a short span of time. Electricity bills are higher by a whopping 17% this quarter. Some colleagues are bringing homemade lunches on return to office days to save money. Another way households cut spending is: eating at home and socialising over coffee or vice versa.

Since some of the foods that I like are sold at supermarkets, I'm reducing meal deliveries. These platforms charge a fee for their services and several food businesses pass the costs onto customers by marking up prices of their dishes. On top of that, we have to pay delivery fees. When the cost of convenience outweighs the benefits, it no longer makes economical sense. I'll order meal delivery sometimes, just not as frequently. 下次见!

大家好! Since this isn't the first staycation at Marina Bay Sands and I can't upload videos in Tumblr, I'll share pretty decoration details, the glorious food, what MT and I saw during our after-dinner walk, breakfast and the view of the famous infinity pool. He loved the coffee so much, he drank 4 cups of it, even whilst we chatted till bedtime! Amazingly, he could fall asleep. He also liked the delicious chocolates the hotel provided; we finished them.

Dinner was at Sky Residences. This is the same evening cocktail YL and I had during our stay last month. The wait staff seated us at a private booth which boasted panoramic views of the sea. MT couldn't resist standing beside the glass windows and taking in the scenery. It was gorgeous. Moving onto the glorious food, I forgot to photograph my champagne but that's okay, everything was delicious. The sashimi and seafood were so fresh!

After dinner, we strolled to Gardens By The Bay. The place was crowded even though school has restarted, attesting to its evergreen appeal. We walked past hordes of people sitting around, waiting for the evening show to start. After an hour or so of roaming, people-watching and chatting, we made our way back to the hotel, pausing at a bridge to admire a water fountain amidst the greenery, as well as the magnificent architecture of Marina Bay Sands up close.

Breakfast the next day was scrumptious. They tweaked the steamed egg custard by adding crab and crab roe sauce instead of shrimp and it was even yummier! Couldn't resist the laksa either. MT said this broth tastes like they didn't scrimp on fresh ingredients instead of relying mostly on dried shrimp and coconut milk. After our meal, we headed to the infinity pool area and admired the view. We had a wonderful time and I feel more rested. 下次见!

大家好! My mini love affair with konjac noodles continues. For a weekend post-workout snack, besides prawns, boiled scallops are another excellent source of lean protein that pair well with the snappy, springy strands. They're quite slurpable and satisfy my love for noodles whilst remaining very low calorie. Our lightest hawker noodle soup is at least 300kcal whereas the total calories for this bowl was below 150! Talk about guilt-free indulgences.

Konjac noodles are also a great addition to any meal - hop on the bus instead of taking the car, grab sashimi and wakame from a sushi kiosk or supermarket that sells them, toss some noodles in sauce and enjoy a nutritious, low-calorie meal at home whilst saving money on petrol and parking fees. Not only is it more cost-effective, I walk more. For someone who prizes physical activity, doing this is beneficial to health on many levels.

CY had more discount vouchers at a restaurant called Dancing Crab than she knew what to do with, so she gave me some. Naturally, I took parents along to enjoy a good meal. Mummy wanted fish and chips, so Pa and I shared 1 of their combo meals. Our main came with clams, scallops, prawns, aribiki sausages and sweet corn. We were impressed by the generous portions and freshness. After $20 off, the bill came up to $30 per pax, great value for money!

Mid-year is always a very stressful time in my industry. Sometimes I cry out of frustration. A staycation was overdue. MT came with me. I appreciated that he tried to help me relax by taking me out for a good meal of dumplings and ordered 2 types for me to indulge in. After that, he drove me home to freshen up, packed food for his mum and came over to drive me to the hotel. The rest, is for the next post. Suffice to say, we enjoyed the staycation. 下次见!

大家好! Once in awhile, the craving for hawker fare hits. I returned to the food stall which sells decent zha jiang mian and tried their tomato ban mian. Whilst the noodles came with large chunks of tomato, the amount of pork was tiny. Even worse was the long gao zui (drain water) masquerading as Nanyang coffee. It was so watered down and disgusting, no wonder there were no customers. I won't return to this Kimly coffee shop near Eunos MRT. Waste of money.

Thank goodness ethical hawkers still exist. At the food stall which serves decent pasta and juicy pork chops at Tuckshop@MBC, $12.90 got me this giant plate of panfried salmon, fries and coleslaw. This time, the salmon was done well - moist and tender. Singaporeans are willing to pay for good value. This stall delivers the value and they're doing very well. I doubt they're complaining about foreign competition when customers flock to them!

Eating nutritiously whilst dining out is definitely more expensive compared to before 2020. It's also more challenging for customers due to rampant shrinkflation as well as skimpflation. Choosing venues which serve adequate protein and observe basic polite service standards, as well as avoiding overpriced carbohydrates are how I maximise value. I won't apologise for wanting the most bang for my buck. After all, this is my hard-earned money.

Nonetheless, it's pointless to get too frustrated about the current food inflation; it is what it is. Better to accept this as our new reality and find ways to enjoy life a little. This is why I cherish meal times. Work is stressful enough and the already high cost of living is climbing higher. I'm grateful that ethical food businesses exist. If not for them, dining out might be even more nightmarish. At least I have options to consider when I want to socialise over a meal. 下次见!

大家好! J gave me a tip to save money when dining out: order poultry and meat dishes and cook fish or seafood at home. At first I ignored the advice and continued enjoying fish soup bee hoon; once the food stall that I frequented raised prices AND halved my fish portions, I realised what he said was true to an extent. For the amount of fish and seafood that I'm used to having for my meals, it's more cost effective to cook them myself.

There're exceptions of course; at some casual diners and restaurants, the quantity and quality of their fish and seafood dishes make them worth ordering. I had Sushi Express' salmon donburi again. Instead of extra salmon sashimi, I tried their miso soup. It was not bad! Not only were there chunks of salmon in the broth, it was also less salty. For now at least, their portion sizes suit my preference. I don't mind ordering their meals.

Blue Fern is a grill and sake bar, which serves lunch sets at reasonable prices. Parents love the grilled chicken here and I can see why. For $9.90, customers can choose between salt and pepper or teriyaki sauce for the poultry, which comes with salad in a refreshing dressing, pearl rice and miso soup. The quality is excellent for the price; the thick chunky slabs of chicken are deliciously meaty, tender and juicy. Also, who doesn't like pearl rice?

Besides London Fat Duck and Shanghai La Mian Xiao Long Bao, another of my go-to places for dumplings is Yuen Kee. For $10.80, I get 10 decent-sized, plump shrimp, tobiko and pork wontons in proper soup, not MSG water. Add $2 for springy QQ la mian; sometimes I order it, sometimes I don't, but it's yummy. The bonus? If you need extra bowls, chopsticks or spoons, they're FOC whereas several hawkers charge extra for them.

Consumer wallets have taken hit after hit these past few years by price hikes, skimpflation and shrinkflation; what I dislike most is the last so I'm grateful that we can turn to ethical eateries for decent food portions at reasonable prices and a pleasant and fuss-free dining experience. Born and bred Singaporeans love our food; it's a huge part of our identity. Even though I cook, enjoying a good meal outside hits differently. I don't intend to lower my expectations. 下次见!

大家好! CY and I have a mini love affair with konjac noodles. They're lower calorie, have a snappy texture when fashioned into both thin and broad noodles and come in a wide variety of flavours. On weekends when I push myself more during workouts, they're a great snack to have immediately after a very intense exercise session - just add your choice of lean protein. Konjac noodles are a weight-watching noodle lover's dream come true!

For Mummy's actual birthday, we celebrated at Jin Ting Wan. The highly popular restaurant, famous for highly refined Cantonese fare, also serves delicious dim sum and a lobster congee of dreams. The decor of their private dining room is tasteful, with dark panels embossed with delicate florals and large windows offering diners a gorgeous view of the sea. Exquisite tableware includes jade-tipped chopsticks as well as dainty porcelain bowls and plates.

As for the food, in a nutshell, we feasted. After all, Mummy's birthday only rolls round once a year. Marinated jellyfish, green papaya pastries, seafood pao fan, tofu skin with spinach, double boiled soup with abalone, chicken and conpoy, roasted suckling pig with caviar, roasted crispy skin chicken, stuffed crab and finally, desserts of money bags filled with mango ice cream and mango sorbet as well as local pastries filled with lotus paste. YUM!

Now that Mummy's birthday is over, we're back to squeezing as much value as possible from every single dollar. Electricity now costs 17% more; whilst households staying in government subsidised flats receive rebates to help them cope with higher electricity bills, people staying in private property don't. Hence, I try to make every cent count, especially when it comes to meal deliveries and dining out. At other times, I prepare meals at home.

Households are cutting back on spending and venturing to Johor Bahru for food indulgences even more than ever. Can't say I blame them. Higher prices, coupled with shrinking portions and deteriorating quality are hard for customers to stomach. Even a tourist who was recently in Singapore felt let down by 1 of our most famous hawker centres. Check out the following video for their experience. Welcome to what locals already know. 下次见!

大家好! Everything is more expensive following the war between Iran and the US/Israel. A good way to save money is to swap kopi peng (iced coffee) for kopi. To illustrate: a stall I frequent sells kopi peng for $2.50; kopi costs $1.70 - that is 80 cents for ice! Swap 10 cups of kopi peng for kopi and I can enjoy panfried chicken with sweet corn and potato wedges for $7.90 at Saizeriya, a casual diner. Better than paying $8 for ice!

At a Nanyang coffee chain I also visit, kopi peng costs $3.70 whereas kopi is $2.20, a whopping $1.50 for ice! By swapping 6 cups of kopi peng for kopi, I can enjoy prawn, pork and tobiko wonton meen soup for $8.80. Saving 80 cents or $1.50 doesn't sound like much but when one looks at it in terms of value, just a few days of these savings can buy a meal. After making the swap, I don't rush to finish my kopi before the ice melts and dilutes the taste. All is good!

Some food businesses may be shutting down or struggling to stay afloat; the ones which deliver good value to customers are thriving during this challenging period. Fu Lin is 1 of Singapore's best yong tau foo, well-known for large portions and a delicious meat and mushroom braised gravy. At its flagship outlet, my chosen 6 items were cut up and served drenched in fragrant gravy. There was a lot of food. By the time I was done, I was full till almost bursting!

For large, meaty and juicy dumplings, Shanghai la mian xiao long bao is 1 of my go-to places. MI and I especially love the guo tie (pot stickers); lightly crispy on the outside, they're delicious with vinegar and shredded ginger. Although i've had better zha jiang mian (pork and bean paste noodles) elsewhere, their version is pretty decent. SC and I also like the wonton soup here thanks to the flavourful clear broth and meaty dumplings.

More restaurants and even hotels are hopping on the discount bandwagon. Besides offering attractive staycation packages, some hotels are throwing in further discounts at their poolside cafes. Work is getting more stressful, electricity tariffs rose by a whopping 17% and flights are more expensive. Why not rest and recharge by going for a staycation and have some delicious restaurant meals instead? Less hassle, lower cost, equally good food. 下次见!

大家好! For Mummy's upcoming birthday, we're celebrating twice - the first was my treat with both parents. Wakuda is a swanky Japanese restaurant which serves quite possibly the best chawan mushi in Singapore, although they call it the 'flan'. Lightly cheesy with a large dollop of caviar, the egg custard is savoury and eggy all at once. Their sashimi is also extremely fresh and they accommodated my request for sushi rice instead of pearl rice! YUM!

Sushi Express serves a salmon donburi with tamago and wakame. At the time of writing, the rice bowl cost $10.90 and, for that price, the portion of fresh fish was enough to keep me satisfied; I'd ordered additional sashimi just in case. I'm a fan of sushi rice, so I was glad this formed the base of my meal. For the amount of salmon and tamago, sushi rice and wakame, for the ability to keep me full, this rice bowl is good value.

AOne Express is the casual diner which serves a good wat dan hor fun (wide rice noodles in silky egg gravy). Their waitress was about to head out but stopped to chat when she saw me walk over and recommended me their new dish: fish soup. The soup was flavourful thanks to the naturally briny conpoy and the yam as well as egg tofu were tasty extra touches. More veggies and fish under the thick vermicelli too! It was good, but the wat dan hor fun is better.

Finally, I made it back to the hawker stall that serves decent pasta and huge juicy pork steak. This time I tried grilled chicken, which is served with fries and coleslaw. For $9.90, customers get this gigantic plate. As someone who has a big appetite after intensive morning workouts, it satisfied me on so many levels. Their fries are delicious - crisp on the outside, tender on the inside and very potatoty. Their coleslaw is light, not too gloopy and the chicken is juicy.

Hotels are starting to hop on the bandwagon of delivering good value to customers by offering the public an opportunity to enjoy sumptuous buffet breakfasts without having to be a guest. Restaurants and casual diners are throwing in freebies or offering discounts and special deals to entice consumers. These are smart moves because leaner times are when we're seeking to stretch our dollars the most. Being stingy isn't the best way to survive as a business. 下次见！

大家好! The weather is absolutely bonkers due to climate change! We're well into the hotter months - on some days, the sweltering heat can cause humans to wither. Thank goodness there're dining venues like supermarket cum food halls where I can escape from the heat and have a quick WFH lunch of sushi and sashimi. Parents buy hawker meals using the recently distributed government vouchers and eat at home.

There're salads and there're very delicious ones that don't make you feel like you're on a diet. On very hot days, Sushi Zanmai's sashimi salad hits all the right notes. Customers can choose from 3 types of dressings; my go-to is usually wafu because although it's very low in calories, it makes even the most boring ingredients taste good. Years ago, I shared a prawn and orange salad recipe with crushed ginger steeped in wafu dressing. It still tastes amazing today.

Just as I like dumplings to be large and meaty, I like ang ku kueh that comes with a thick layer of fillings. These snacks are priced at $1.40 - $2 on average and usually sold in packs. Mdm Ang KK is a cafe specialising in Nanyang desserts. Their ang ku kueh is bursting with fillings - customers can choose from black sesame, yam, dessicated coconut, hazelnut, pistachio, mung bean and peanut. I like that I can dine-in and enjoy my kueh with good coffee.

1 of my favourite places for wonton meen is London Fat Duck. They're famous for roasted duck, but their noodles deserve special mention. Large, meaty, well-seasoned and juicy, their wontons are accompanied by QQ noodles, big prawns and proper soup. If you're Cantonese, you'll understand what I mean by there's soup and there's MSG water and never should the 2 be mixed up. This soup is robust, seafoody, rich and sweet. Very nice!

Woooo some hawkers are fighting back by offering free additional toppings or noodles to win customers' hearts and lure them away from competitors! The stall is located at Tampines so I sent this announcement to colleagues and friends who live in that area. Tourists may wish to consider veering off the beaten path; you can explore the malls at Tampines and enjoy a meal that's good value. Why not? Ban mian is a very popular local dish that's worth trying. 下次见!

大家好! I'm in a good mood because I went for another staycation. This time, I took my dear friend, YL, with me. Before checking in, we had lunch of prawn and crab laksa and shared a side of Sichuan spiced crispy calamari. I liked that the laksa broth wasn't too heavy on the coconut milk, which allowed the seafoody goodness to shine. The calamari was VERY addictive, much more flavourful than the usual salt and pepper versions served at other restaurants.

Unfortunately, my video of the stay wouldn't upload in spite of numerous tries. Nonetheless, I did take a photo of the breathtakingly lovely morning view the next day. Good coffee and high quality chocolates are just some of the perks that come with the suite. YL was amazed by their service levels and attention to detail. Any luxury a guest could want, they provide it, from high tech bathroom gadgets to topping up amenities without us having to ask.

Breakfast, as always, is impressive. I'm a huge fan of delicate flavours, especially if ingredients are extremely fresh. From the silkiest steamed egg custard with shrimp, pork skewers as well as 1 of the best laksa, ever ever ever, the hotel chef does it all. If you've noticed, the laksa broth here is light on coconut milk too, so that guests can fully savour the seafoody goodness. Whenever this is served, I always make sure I have a bowl. Too delicious!

Besides their sumptuous breakfast spread, the hotel also hosts a decadent evening cocktail buffet. Unfortunately, my video which includes the wonderful food can't be uploaded. Anyway, after indulging in such heavy meals, I craved something light and threw together a bowl of noodles tossed with green beans and blanched pacific clams. It was a delightful girly weekend filled with fun and laughter. I needed the break so badly!

We're in the midst of 1 of our busiest periods. It looks like this will stretch to the end of August. I feel burnt out but even if I take leave now, I'll get phone calls anyway so my rest wouldn't be a quality one. What is there to do but soldier on? All the more I look forward to relaxing lunches. For that short period every weekday, my tired brain can recharge. I'll probably take a few days to rest properly after this. Perhaps I'll explore different dining venues. 下次见!

大家好! This week I'm paying homage to casual diners. As I've shared in earlier posts, several hawkers have raised prices and cut portions, as well as adopted a self-entitled take it or leave it attitude. Some casual diners and restaurants had to raise prices too, but they did this by a reasonable amount without compromising too much on quality. Everyone's nerves are frazzled by the rising cost of living. I'm grateful there're dining venues that offer stress-free meals.

Attractive deals can be found at casual diners too. The one I visited serves chicken curry with meaty chunks of poultry (no wings, drumlets nor bony parts here), as well as better quality potatoes that are tender, yet don't disintegrate when you cut them with your fork. The dish comes with rice and decent hot local coffee for $7.90 - good value for money given the current global economic situation today. I had a small table to myself and enjoyed a leisurely lunch.

Customers frustrated by ever-shrinking hawker meals may be relieved to know that generous protein portions can be found at casual diners. Adding extra meat to basic hawker meals can end up costing more. Service is polite; at least I haven't encountered rudeness. During a short break from work, I had a chat with DL and he said 'only the hawkers do this', i.e. hiking prices, concurrently shrinking portion sizes and being disrespectful to customers. Can't agree more!

Work is currently very hectic, thus, relaxing lunch breaks are all the more important. I don't wish to stare in dismay at shrinking portions on my plate or in my bowl. Neither do I want any unpleasant rudeness to ruin my meal. Casual diners are dining venues I can count on for a decent, if not generous, amount of nutritious food. It's good value; at least I'm not paying inflated prices for mostly carbohydrates and very little else.

Instead of paying higher prices for increasingly lower quality meals and having to incur extra costs to add more meat, chicken, seafood or fish, I'd much rather pay a reasonable flat price for enough protein to keep me satisfied. Casual diners generally meet and sometimes exceed my expectations in this regard. Supporting hawkers during covid was a lovely experience. Now, not so much. I'll still visit ethical food stalls sometimes though. 下次见!

大家好! Where Father's Day is concerned, only top quality will do. So I took parents to Li Bai, 1 of Singapore's most classic restaurants, for an early celebration. Dishes included conpoy and crab meat soup, lobster dumplings with truffle, baked cod for them and grilled lamb for me, asparagus with bamboo pith and seasonal veggies, fish paste noodles with prawns in superior stock and red bean pancake. Every dish was SO delicious, we loved all of them!

MT and I caught up. He wanted brunch, so we met at a cafe near our homes. He ordered pasta and I had quesadilla. It would've been better with more fillings but that's fine; it's not a place I'll regularly visit. I took the plunge and ordered an Americano for the first time. Let's just say that if I'd tried this before Turkish coffee, I may have liked it better. Middle Eastern black coffee hits different. It's perhaps the most fragrant I've tasted.

The government distributed vouchers to every Singaporean household last week to help with the rising cost of living. These vouchers are split equally into 2 categories: for groceries and for dining out at hawker centres or use at participating merchants. Since parents are elderly retirees, I gave them mine. It brings me peace of mind to know that they can buy daily necessities and order more food without worrying about rising prices.

The day after the government vouchers were distributed, posts started appearing on social media showing that hawkers had increased prices for local coffee. Again. I'm sharing 2 of the posts so readers know I'm not making this up. What happens when the vouchers are used up? Customers have to deal with higher prices, of course. No wonder some colleagues prefer to make coffee in the office pantry. Why pay more and tolerate shrinkflation and rudeness?

For the benefit of foreign readers, 'long gao zui' literally means 'drain water' and refers to coffee that has been so diluted, it not only bears the colour of drain water, it's also not fit for human consumption. Some hawkers have a vile take it or leave it attitude and assume that customers don't have other options. This isn't fair to the average Singaporean. We work extremely hard for our money too and we have every right to expect value for what we spend on. 下次见!

大家好! Parents and I returned to the Japanese restaurant which serves up quality lunch deals. I tried their sushi taco special - $12 for 3 - and an order of sashimi. Customers can choose from a variety of taco fillings; I got salmon belly, salmon and maguro. Portions were decent for the price and the fish was fresh. Parents had chicken (teriyaki as well as salt and pepper), which was served with rice and soup. They love the chicken here - juicy, tender and meaty.

MI and I returned to the mala tang restaurant near the office. As it was a hot day, I had their non-spicy pork rib soup. The broth here is rich from being boiled with pork ribs, different types of beans and garlic. Selection items were fresh and large, including bittergourd stuffed with a thick chunk of pork and chopped veggies. The dish came with meaty pork ribs thrown in for free, I didn't select them. Talk about knowing how to treat your customers! Will be back.

I used to order fish soup for second breakfast at a food court near the office. Unfortunately, not only did the hawker stall hike prices, it halved the portion of fish! Fed up, I cook more congee and eat second breakfast at home before going to work. It isn't much effort and the savings can be spent at dining venues which offer better value. I still visit the food court and enjoy coffee there but I won't revisit the fish soup stall often, if I even revisit at all.

During office lunch break, MI suggested that we return to a Japanese casual diner. They're serving a chicken donburi for $5.90. Although she and SC ordered the ebi fry bento ($8.90 for a generous portion of food) and I got sashimi, sushi and chawan mushi instead, knowing that there's an affordable option when we want it is comforting. We also saw takeaway rice bowls at another Japanese restaurant with decent portions of protein at reasonable prices.

Nowadays, households have multicookers, air fryers and other advanced kitchen appliances. I refuse to pay inflated prices for meals which are mainly carbohydrates when I can prepare them at home with more high quality protein and vegetables. I don't care about the chilli sauce or sambal; reduce portions too much and it's a flat no. I really dislike it when food businesses do this. Knowing how to cook is a skill that frees us from shrinkflation. 下次见!

大家好! Chicken rice is our national pride and joy. Colleagues praised a stall near the office for serving decent portions of chicken. THAT got my attention. For $7, they served enough breast meat to keep me satisfied. In addition, there was ginger sauce on top of tangy garlic chilli and dark soya sauces, a hallmark of high quality chicken rice. This stall does our national dish justice; the heap of chicken was tender and the rice fluffy. I'll be back!

Inflation is set to outpace wage rises again due to the war between Iran and the US/Israel. Thank goodness some hawkers are generous with protein portions. The food stall which sells good fish and chips serves tender, thick, and juicy pork steaks with spaghetti at $10.90, half the price that cafes charge. For the quality, it's great value. Customers who prioritise nutrition flock to food businesses that offer us what we want and these dining venues are doing well.

I like my wontons large, plump, juicy and meaty. Pathetically tiny 'dumplings' that are more skin than fillings don't deliver the same satisfaction even if we order more of them. If you do the math, extra portions of puny wontons ends up costing more than if you spend on better quality ones. I only visit or order from dining venues that serve big wontons for this reason. They're more value for money, higher quality and much more delicious.

Now that the school holidays are here, families are travelling; restaurants, casual diners and food delivery platforms are rolling out discounts to entice customers to order from them. More protein and vegetables at a lower price? C'mon, who doesn't love a good deal? I'm fully taking advantage of the special promotions whilst they last! Not only that, sensing shifting customer demand, some restaurant groups are opening budget-friendly mall outlets.

All this is music to my ears. Times are leaner, so anywhere that delivers the best value gets my business. Relaxing mealtimes are 1 of life's little luxuries. Feeling short-changed or stressed out by shrinking portions or rude service are things I wish to avoid, especially when work is moving at a more frenetic pace. I'm also relieved some food businesses are listening to feedback and working to give us what we want. It's so helpful when things get rough. 下次见!