What are you up to, Tha?

The simplest, yet the sweetest Valentine’s Day

Riri & Thatha spent Valentine’s Day in Riri’s house. Baking and Cooking is the theme of the day. The menu for baking is Chai & Matcha Choux a la Chantilly, and the menu for cooking is Japanese Hambagu with Raspberry Wine Sauce and Miso Soup.

Choux a la Chantilly

First of all, Riri made two cookie doughs, the brown one is chai and the green one is matcha. Then, Riri and Thatha made the choux…

Nasi Goreng Abang Abang

  The last time I ate Nasi Goreng Tek Tek or Nasi Goreng Abang Abang with my mum was when I still took ballet class in elementary school. We used to buy nasi goreng from the street vendor in front of Sport Mall Kelapa Gading on our way back home. Today, we got stuck all day at home due to severe flood and nonstop rain. We got no ready-to-eat food, and there was no gas to cook instant noodle. We…

Ya Kun Kaya @ Hotel Santika, Kelapa Gading

While reading the book of Ya Kun, The Top Toast, I paid a visit to a Ya Kun store inside Hotel Santika compound in Kelapa Gading Sport Mall. It is such a coincidence that the founder’s Chinese name is similar to my dad’s Chinese nickname. My dad is usually called Ah Loi, and my dad was born in Pontianak (坤甸 Kūn diàn). The Chinese character of Pontianak, the capital city of West Kalimantan,…

2015.01.01康熙來了　

One of my 2015 new year resolutions is to train my Chinese language skill by watching Taiwanese TV shows, such as 康熙來了. Today, I watched the episode on New Year resolution for parent and child. In this episode, four pairs of parent-child were invited, and each parent had to write a message to the child summarised by only two Chinese characters, and also the other way around.

For the first pair of…

Ilo was a gift from one of my dearest friends, Francisca Sia. Ilo has a twin brother named Oly, which was kept by Siska. 

In return, I gave Pika to Siska, and I keep Poky to accompany Ilo.

I also have a monkey couple dolls, Yoyo and Cici. 

I gave a small Yoyo doll to Tiffany for her birthday, which can be used as cellphone stand. 

My friend brought me to Chijmes nearby Mariana Square, where there has Chijmes Hall, a beautiful chapel famous for wedding venue, and there also has many restaurants, cafes and bars.

Decorative glass ceiling We chose to dine in Shirokiya, because we were lured by the slogan of health and beauty Japanese restaurant and also the tall frozen beer tower. 

I really love the free crunchy salmon skin –…

  Ramen Keisuke Tonkotsu King is a popular ramen shop located in the same building as Orchid Hotel, Tanjong Pagar, where there will always be lines of people waiting outside the restaurant.

Keisuke Takeda, founder of Ramen Keisuke, also created several other brands: Tonkotsu King, Tori King, Tonkotsu King Four Seasons, Tonkotsu King Matsuri, and Gyoza King. Gyoza King and Ramen Keisuke Tonkotsu…

Yoshinoya recently opened a new outlet at Meli Melo Sentra Kuliner 3, Kota Harapan Indah, Bekasi. It is located in the same area as one of our business units, the 3-in-1 outlet of Barnival, Bakmi Naga and Seaside Suki. There are many other branded restaurants over there, including Sate Khas Senayan, Old Town White Coffee, XO Suki, Tekko, Duck King and Iga Bakar Jogja.  If people ask me…

 Arab Street is an interesting neighbourhood in Singapore that is filled with rows of cafes and restaurants.  I wanted to visit Maison Ikkoku partially because it is rated as top coffee roaster in Singapore, but my bigger reason is that the name sounds very Japanese and I expected to find some Japanese elements for inspiration. The facade of the cafe looks more European than Japanese. 

The menu…

According to the official website, Tampopo literally means Dandelion, which is a strong and resilient flowers that survive in tough environment. Maybe I should create an illustration for my favourite quote using Dandelion flowers.

Tampopo is the pioneer of Kurobuta (black pig), and it is nominated as one of the best ramen in Singapore. On our first visit, my dad tried the Tampopo BP Koumi Fry…

Me and my brother decided to hunt Japanese food while we were in Singapore. We decided to go to Tonkatsu Ma Maison in Mandarin Gallery, because it was very near to our apartment and it was recommended by Riri.

What a cute piggy mascot 

As clearly indicated from the mascot, Ma Maisonspecialises in Mille-feuille Katsu. I have heard the word “katsu” long time ago, but I never really care what it…

D’Good Cafe

I wanted to check out D’Good Cafe after I saw a picture uploaded by my Singaporean friend on Instagram in which she had a gigantic glass filled with 3 litre of latte. 

D’Good Cafe is located in Holland Village, quite nice surroundings. 

Wall of polaroids 

A cute decoration on the stairway Bar counter on the second floor. D’Good Cafe is a full self-service cafe. The staff suggested us to grab a…

Ben’s Cookies

I was curious to try Ben’s Cookies since there was always a line whenever we passed by. 

I immediately jumped into the waiting line after I saw that the word “ginger”. FYI, that wasn’t my hand that pointed to the label. 

There were tenkinds of flavours: coconut, ginger & dark chocolate, white chocolate & macadamia, cranberry & white chocolate, milk chocolate praline, double chocolate & nuts, milk…

On our last day in Singapore, my dad’s acquaintance brought two big bags of bread from Barcook Bakery. There was only one type of bread: Cheese & Raisin Bread. I bet this bread type is so special that she carried it all the way for us to try and bring back to Jakarta. Sadly, the bread shapes were a little bit defected after we arrived in Jakarta. I fell in love at the first bite, although I do…

Pu Tien, Marina Square, Singapore

  We had dinner at Pu Tien in Marina Square on New Year’s Eve. We ordered the Family Set menu to avoid confusion.

What I missed the most from this restaurant is the condiment, so called Putien’s Spice Mum Chilli Sauce. 

My mum and my childhood friend’s mum are big fans of taro, so they loved the Fried Candied Taro very much. This menu was not included in the set, it was additional order. 

My…

The ambience inside the restaurant before packed hours 

Creative light design

Tableware in front of each seat: wet tissue with restaurant branding, stainless steel duck spoon, pink-coloured disposable plastic sauce container, and small red bowl. Vintage menu book Special Set Menu, choice of Regular for 2-3 people or Large for 3-4 people. 

Add-Ons Menu: House Specialties 

Add-Ons Menu: Meat and…