Going Merrily

Eating good food and going cafe hopping forms a huge part of our daily weekly dates. There has been a steady increase in nice cafes and restaurants popping up in the heartlands and for this week, Kelvin and I decided to head down to Hatter Street Bakehouse & Cafe which is just a couple of units down from Nahkon Kitchen which was where you go for value for money Thai Food. Hatter Street is just a stone throw away from Lola's Cafe and could be a good place to chill at while waiting for your seats.

Hatter Street is named after Alice in Wonderland with inspirations from the Mad Hatters. However, the staff were (sadly) not wearing any goofy looking hats. Just like most cafes in the heartlands, the cafe was small and quaint but the wide variety of deserts coupled with the homely ambiance and decor proved to be a very popular choice with the customers living around the area. Kelvin and I reached around 3pm and the place was packed.

Here are a couple of photos of the interior of Hatter Street.

The ready made cakes and deserts were on display and they looked like they were all freshly made.

Kelvin attended a friend's wedding solemnization party the day before and tried his first rainbow cake (without me! ><). Since I have never tasted a Rainbow Cake before, it was the obvious choice to pick .

We picked a cosy corner window seat in this heartland cafe. My off-shoulder flower print dress ($21 from Zalora) matched well the Alice in Wonderland theme of the cafe.

It looked very pretty but I was very skeptical of the taste. How good could a Rainbow Cake - $6 taste right?

I was pleasantly surprised how good it tasted. The icing and cream on top and between the different layers complemented the taste of the cake very well. 8/10

The Pandan ice-cream with Gula Melaka Sauce - $8.90 is another famous item in Hatter Street. I was quite apprehensive of what pandan ice-cream was going to be like.

We waited around 10-15 mins for the waffle to come and as you can see its a LEGIT waffle because it's freshly made and beats any kind of frozen waffles that most cafes that I can't be bothered to blog about usually serve. The Gula Melaka sauce was the highlight of the dish and went really really well with the pandan ice-cream. The homemade waffle was light and fluffy and Kelvin and I wasted no time devouring the dish. I personally felt that the blue berries did not complement the sauce nor the ice cream and was probably only for decorative purposes. 9/10

I'm definitely coming back to try the other waffles on the menu.

Hatter Street Bakehouse & Cafe

Address: Blk 212 Hougang Street 21 #01-333 S530212
Tel: 6988 4591
Website: http://www.hatterstreet.com/
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/HatterStreet
Opening Hours: 1pm - 10pm Tuesday to Sundays

Closed on Monday

Chocolate Crepe dessert with ice cream and whip cream

When I first spotted Paddington House of Pancakes in City Square Mall at Farrer Park / Little India, Kelvin was dismissive. "Pancakes can only be eaten as brunch or dessert, not worthy to be a man's dinner" - quoted from Kelvin and his ego.

But we combed through the whole mall only to be back here because nothing else stirred our appetite. Kelvin realised that they do serve dinner worthy dishes here and I'm always right.

The menu showcased all kinds of pancake inspired cuisine - in a fusion of American, Mexican, French and Russian cooking style. (No pork, lard and beef served btw, choices for meat is only chicken or lamb). We were quite overwhelmed by the choices and ended up choosing whatever that has the biggest picture on the menu.

This is all we ordered. The wait for food was about 30 minutes as their kitchen is super small, but it was worth the wait.

We ordered a Pancake Double Decker Burger $16 - made from organic wholemeal pancakes, homemade chicken patty, onion, tomato, lettuce, cheese and salsa sauce. - 8/10

pancake double decker chicken burger photo

The chicken patty was thick, dense and meaty, not quite as juicy as the waiter promised but not bad overall. Kelvin loved the pancake which was super savory that tied in well with the whole burger taste. We've always assumed that pancakes are tasteless or sweet like the Mcdonald's breakfast kind, but Paddington House of Pancakes proved us wrong.

I got this grilled chicken, grilled mozzarella, chicken bacon, ham, wild mushrooms, prawns, pineapple and topped with mushroom creamy sauce, stuffed in soft crepe called NICE - $14.

grilled chicken, grilled mozzarella, chicken bacon, mushrooms, prawns, pineapple and topped with mushroom creamy sauce crepe

The prawns and mushroom were fresh, grilled chicken was juicy and the crepe was sweet in a way that went well with everything else. - 10/10

There was this big picture of their cheese fries and wedges with bacon bits and sauces - $7 on the first few pages of the menu. It looked so cheesy I couldn't resist. But I later regretted this impulse order as there was only one layer of cheese on top, there were no cheese on the fries below and the fries are ordinary processed fries. The dips are the same as KFC cheese fries sauce. Meh - 4/10

Overall it was a satisfying and filling dinner. We were full but how can we be in a pancake house without having pancakes the way were meant to be eaten - desserts.

The house of pancake's desserts all looked super good. We finally chose the Chocolate, Peanut Butter and Jam Crepe Roll with Ice Cream - $14.

In my first bite, I felt like I went to heaven. The chocolate, peanut butter and jam exploded with every bite because the whole crepe roll was stuffed with those sauces. But after eating half a roll each, we both jelat from the sauce overload. There weren't enough ice cream to go around to dilute the overpowering tastes of jam. Despite having to battle through the second half of our crepe, it was still one of my favourite dessert ever - 9/10

House of Pancakes City Square Mall picture

In total, we spent $65 nett for our meal (2 mains, 1 side, 1 dessert). The setting and decorations is very pretty, almost felt like we were in a quaint shop house cafe instead of a shopping mall.

House of Pancakes City Square Mall promotion

I highly recommend eating at Paddington House of Pancakes if you are at City Square Mall. I know I will definitely return to try out their tacos and more desserts.

Paddington House of Pancake

180 Kitchener Rd

#02/35 City Square Mall

Singapore 208539

Tel: 66129029

Website: http://paddingtonpancakes.com/

Open 11am-10pm daily

Celebrated Dad's 50th birthday at Tung Lok Seafood weekend ala carte lunch buffet. Ala carte buffet is basically where you get to order as many dishes as you like from the menu. Tung Lok was the perfect place as Mum loves buffet and Dad loves the Chinese zi char style dishes. Overall each dish was pretty well executed; for a buffet, the quality of food matches or even exceeds normal restaurant standard.

Top 3 must try/spam dishes:

Menu- Photos for dishes I tried and I've highlighted must try dishes.

中国茶Chinese Tea $2.00 per person
- Tea is good, helps in digestion so that we can eat more :)
小菜Pickles $3.00 per plate
- More like the green peas they served at the start. Return this to the kitchen! Don't get tricked into paying $3 extra like us :(

餐前小吃 Cold Cuts and Appetisers

三文鱼刺身 /Salmon Sashimi (Must try) Fresh, thick and chewy. One plate should worth at least $20 in cold storage so it's quite easy to eat back your money's worth.

燻鸭片 / Smoked Duck Breast (Must try) Juicy despite smoked and tasted almost like ham.

三岜炒粒粒 / Fried Beancurd Cube with French Beans and Silver Bait in Sambal Sauce - Normal

肉崧茄子 / Crispy Eggplant with Chicken Floss (Must try!) Crispy on the outside, sweet, soft and juicy brinjal inside.

黄金炸鱼皮 / Crispy Fish Skin with Salted Egg Yolk (Must try!) Fish skin was super crispy and chippy. Salted egg yolk brings out a whole other dimension to the crispy skin. Sinful but it's worth the sin.
迷你八爪鱼/Mini Octopus
青花鱼军舰寿司/Ebiko Gunkan Sushi
加州寿司卷 /California Maki
烧汁三文鱼卷/Salmon Maki with BBQ Sauce

沙律/开胃菜 Salad / Appetisers

柚子酱凉拌海蜇 / Jellyfish with Pomelo Sauce - Refreshing and appetizing, but normal
凉拌木耳粉皮 / Broad Beans with Vermicelli and Black Fungus
芝麻酱疏菜沙啦 / Mixed Greens Salad with Sesame Sauce

汤类 Soup - We didn't order soup as we were scared that it might be too filling.
四宝海味羹 / Shredded Dried Seafood Bisque
酸辣海鲜汤 / Hot and Sour Bisque

精美小菜 Delicacies - Almost everything here is worth a try.

印尼咖喱虾 / Spicy Curry Prawns (Must Try) - The curry is more savory of coconut milk than spicy, fresh prawns.

叁岜青贻贝 / Sambal Mussels - The samba sauce wasn't too spicy. Mum liked it, I'm not really a shell fish person.

姜葱炒鱼片 / Fried Sliced Fish with Spring Onions and Ginger (Must Try) Thick chucks of well cooked, tender fish meat!

麦片虾 / Deep-fried Prawns with Crispy Oats - Tasted like normal cereal prawns to me, maybe I was too full to savour it?

蜜椒排骨 / Honey Pork Ribs with Black Pepper Sauce (Must Try) - Big chunks of de-boned pork ribs.

豉椒牛肉片 / Sautéed Sliced Beef with Black Bean Sauce (Must Try!) Really chewy and tender beefs slices, a bit salty to eat without rice though. But as you know, buffet is no place for rice.

葱油芥兰仔(配于小虾腌酱) / Poached Baby ‘Kai Lan’ served with ‘Chinchalok’ Sauce - Fresh and green veggies for a balanced meal.

麻婆玉子豆腐 / Braised Beancurd and Minced Pork with Spicy Sauce - Normal egg tofu taste, slightly special sauce but only a little bit spicy.

甘香鸡柳 / Sautéed Chicken with Chef's Spicy Sauce
香脆南乳炸鸡柳 / Crisp-fried Chicken Fillet with Preserved Bean Paste Sauce
- We were too full for chicken ><

点心 Dim Sum

晶莹鲜虾饺 / Steamed Royal Shrimp Dumplings - Normal

鲜虾腐皮卷 / Fried Beancurd Skin Rolls with Shrimps (Must try) Beancurd shrimps never go wrong.

脆皮春卷 / Deep-fried Spring Rolls - Normal spring rolls. A bit too oily to eat towards the end of the meal.
北菇蒸烧卖 / Steamed Pork and Shrimp Dumplings
桂林蒸凤爪 / Steamed Chicken Claws with Chilli Sauce
蚝皇叉烧包 / Steamed Barbecued Pork Buns
荷叶糯米鸡 / Steamed Glutinous Rice in Lotus Leaf
禅院素菜包 / Steamed Vegetarian Buns
腊味蒸萝卜糕 / Steamed Carrot Cake with Chinese Sausage
皮蛋瘦肉粥 / Century Egg and Lean Pork Congee

饭面 Rice and Noodles
滑蛋鱼片河粉 / Fried ‘Hor Fun’ with Sliced Fish in Black Sauce
X.O.三文鱼粒炒饭 / Fried Rice with Salmon in X. O. Sauce
蒸/炸馒头 / Steamed /Deep-fried Buns (‘Man Tou’)

Special Fried Noodle (must request) - Pretty decent. Mum requested for this as we saw it on other people's tables and this served as Dad's Longevity Noodles (长寿面）

甜品 Desserts

药材龟苓膏 / Herbal Jelly served with Honey, 豆花布丁 / Chilled Silky Beancurd Pudding - Herbal Jelly was perfect to finish off the meal and made us feel a lot more refreshed after the eating so much.

雪糕夹心酥 / Ice-cream Puff - slight below average puff standards.
绿豆汤 / Green Bean Soup
香脆莲蓉窝饼 / Crispy Pancake with Lotus Paste Filling

Usually, 3 dishes are served every time so we can take our time, prep our stomachs and slowly enjoy the meal.

Kelvin made a special appearance (and paid for the meal) because it minimum four to dine hehe. The restaurant's setting is quite high end for the price - we paid only about $38 nett each . Remember to reserve before hand as their business is good. Highly recommended!

Tung Lok Seafood Buffet 同乐海鲜 @ Orchard Central

午餐任点任吃
Ala Carte Lunch Buffet

最少四位 (minimum 4 persons)

周一至周五 (Mondays to Fridays)
Adult: $26.80++
Child: $16.80++ (Below 12 Years Old)

周末 (Saturdays, Sundays and Public Holidays)
Adult: $28.80++
Child: $18.80++ (Below 12 Years Old)

Mondays to Saturdays
11.30 am to 3.00 pm
(Last Order: 2.30pm)

Sundays and PHs
10.00 am to 3.00 pm
(Last Order: 2.30pm)

In Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon, Kelvin and I stayed in the Hoang Hai Long Hotel. It was only 1 night stay at the normal superior double room for $82.10.

But when we were checking in, the receptionist told us that they were giving us a free upgrade to the executive room/suite!!!

The hotel entrance was grand and impressive.

So was the hotel lobby.

The executive suite was awesome, the room was spacious with a nice flat screen TV.

Sofa and complimentary drinking water at the side.

The bed was soft and more comfortable than average.

Clean and big toilet...

With a jet tub/hot tub!!!

It was a tub for 2~

And it bubbles, feels just like the hot springs in Nha Trang.

The view out of the windows wasn't that bad for a hotel in the middle of the city.

Breakfast buffet was included for our room and the buffet spread is pretty reasonable. A mix of Vietnam and western food.

The dining area was quite comfy.

Eggs cooking section.

Pho section. The pho was actually quite good, soup was sweet and beef was tender.

There was this yogurt cups that were really nice too! Highly recommend Hoang Hai Long Hotel for Ho Chi Minh short stays, the upgrade to executive suite was definitely the highlight of our trip!

Hoang Hai Long Hotel

http://hoanghailonghotel.com/

52B – 62 – 64 Pham Hong Thai Street,
Ben Thanh Ward, District 1,
Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam.
Tel: (848) 3824 5888

If you are in Ho Chi Minh, do join the Back of the Bike Tour for a night of adventure and street food hunt in Saigon City.

Going Merrily

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