Botak Jones@Clementi

A, S and us had a wonderful dinner at the famed Botak Jones branch in Clementi. We have long heard of this jumbo sized, good value for money Western food stall but have never found time to pay them a visit. It was really an eye opener seeing a fully packed Kopitiam@ 8.30pm with most table ordering from this particular stall.


Stuffed Jalapenos: The guys are really generous with their sauces. We had a variety of malt vinegar, home made tartar sauce, Plouchman's mustard, HP steak sauce besides the usual chilli and ketchup.The stuffed jalapeño is really awesome. Crunchy breaded outer skin covered the hot jalapeños while creamy mozzarella cheese stuffed the inner part. Dipped with the homemade tartar sauce.. it is simply heavenly. Two thumbs up!

Fish and Chips@6.50sgd: Big portion of fish and chips. No smelly fishy smell here and it was a beauty to munch on these with malt vinegar and the homemade tartar sauce. I don't think it is out of this world but it is definitely a heart warming fish and chips that did not hurt our wallet!


Double Botak Burger: Doubled the patties, doubled the fatties, and double the shiokness! The patties were medium rare and it was tender and juicy. No complains here but it could be further improved if they could grilled the cheese before serving it. The cheese was a tad chilled when served to us. The coleslaw was so good that we all took them all in! It wasn't excessively loaded with vinegar as found in many other hawker stalls. BURP!!

Cajun Chicken: Tender grilled chicken topped with melted grilled cheese and Cajun spices. The chicken was well grilled and lock in heaps of nice sweet grill flavour. Good!
Aftermath: All cleaned up.

Damage: 33.50SGD for 4 of us. 3 main dish and 1 appetizer. The portion are huge and it is good food with unbeatable value. It was definitely a fantastic experience here today. I will be back!

Lok Lok Eating House@Tiong Bahru

Demona: We met my best friend, Ann at Tiong Bahru Complex. Our initial plan was to venture to the Tiong Bahru Market for dinner, but we found out that it would take us a good 20 minutes walk there and at the same time, it started to drizzle.



Demona: Ann brought us across the road to this restaurant, Lok Lok Eating House. Her sister had already eaten here a couple of times here and gave her positive reviews on their food. Since nothing else seemed interesting, we decided to settle down at this shop.



Demona: Dogma ordered a plate of spicy chilli squid for the 3 of us. SGD 10. The sauce was salty and extremely spicy! I thought the squid was a little over cooked though, due to its shrunk size and rubbery texture. This dish was average to me. Dogma was perspiring like crazy after a few spoonfuls of spicy chilli squid. He raised the white flag half way through and the CHILLI GOBBLER happily wiped the plate clean.



Demona: We also ordered a plate of fried pork ribs. SGD 8. I did not think this was a good style of cooking. Chicken pieces would probably fit this style of cooking more than pork ribs. The meat was too little and tough for this kind of frying. The bones were present more than the meat.



Demona: Guilty of wiping it clean.



Demona: Dogma however, enjoyed the pork ribs, getting his fingers all messy, chewing bits of meat on the ribs from one end to the other, like munching steamed sweet corn. The pict showed what was left of the ribs.

Verdict: The meal cost us SGD 18. Binjai Park is definitely a better place for chinese food, as I am willing to add in a few more dollars for more fairly generous portion of delicious dishes rather than just 2. At least, the dinner would feel more satisfyingly complete.

Kam Boat HK Restaurant Revisited@Marina Square

Demona: We had a double date outing with A and S. After Dogma's new found favourite movie, I Am Legend, we stopped by the Kam Boat HK Restaurant for dinner.



Demona: Steamed groundnuts are a great start as appetizers.



Demona: A plate of neatly placed stir fried baby kailan with chopped garlic. This dish was not too bad, but the stem parts were a little hard. It made me feel like a bunny munching the greens down!



Demona: Dogma ordered the claypot brinjals cooked with minced pork and salted fish, a dish which we had on our last visit here. Any brinjal dishes are instant winners to me. The brinjals were soft, spicy and salty! However, our brinjal enjoying moments were totally ruined because the waitress hastily cleared our plates without even asking us whether we had finished our meals or not. My bowl of brinjals were taken away when I was not looking. Dogma was extremely unhappy about the incident.



Demona: We also ordered a full duck for SGD 28, since half a duck cost SGD 25 (only difference of SGD 3). The duck was prepared in two distinct cooking styles, one was the duck skin, thinly chopped cucumber and radish wrapped with crepes and dipped with a sticky sweet sauce. This was my first time eating it, and it was a sweet and crunchy experience. The four of us enjoyed the dish very much.



Demona: The shredded meat were fried with noodles, in soy sauce. The portion was just nice for 4 of us to share ( a small bowl for each). The noodles had a lot of WOK HEI locked into them. The noodles smelled extremely fragrant when they arrived on our table. Dogma is a very, very good photographer. He managed to capture food picts that made me salivate by just looking at them.



Demona: Dogma is a regular visitor of Kam Boat. He was really unhappy at the service by their waitresses, constantly circling our tables for nearing empty plates, as if they were hurrying us to quickly finish our meals. It was only 9 pm then.

He called the manager over and told her about the incident. She was very tactful and quickly apologised on the behalf of the staff and even gave us free desserts! We had two bowls of cold Gui Ling Gao and hot red bean dessert. Dogma ate up the bitter GLG without adding honey! Bravo!



Demona: Each of us were given a lychee jelly dessert too. I scraped off the coloured rice bits. The jelly was surprisingly very soft unlike its hardy appearance. The jelly was alright, but me momma makes jellies better any day!

Verdict: The bill came up to around SGD 75. It was a pretty decent price considering that we had so much to eat. Besides the lousy waitress service that night, this meal was as satisfying as the company which Dogma and I had.

Rojak and Carrot Cake@Clementi Wet Market

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Demona: After an hour's swim at a sports complex nearby, we headed over to the Clementi Wet Market for a scrumptous breakfast.



Demona: This rojak stall, run by a man called Brother Rojak was given tons of brownie points by many food reviewers. He proudly displayed his framed certs above his stall. Dogma said that this stall was always filled with people queueing up for his rojak. Maybe we were early that day, and there was no queue at all. Hence, we took the opportunity to try Brother Rojak's golden dish.

We added a SGD 3.00 piece of cuttlefish and a SGD 0.70 piece of stuffed tofu. There were a few varieties of cuttlefish available.



Demona: The bill came up to SGD 6.20. I found it pretty steep to pay that much for rojak. The charcoal barbaqued cuttlefish was pretty nice, even the stuffed tofu tasted good too. The sauce was definitely spicy, and I liked the groundnut bits combined in as well, but I found the sauce being too sweet for me. After a few pieces of rojak, I started to feel stuffed. I was glad that we had decided to share a plate, otherwise we would have wasted money as two plates would be too much for us to finish.

The rojak was quite nice alright, but I think there are several rojak stalls in Malaysia which could match up to what Brother Rojak had offered.



Demona: Dogma was preaching to me on the greatness of the carrot cake in the wet market since he first tried it by chance. The carrot cake here is totally different from the carrot cake in Malaysia.

The version in Malaysia comes in squarish cubes, fried with bean sprouts and eggs until they become fragrant and slightly burnt, pretty similar to a fried kuey teow, but in a squarish cube form instead.

I haven't tasted many carrot cakes here to be able to give a fair judgement but this one tasted pretty interesting. I liked it but not as much as Dogma did. Maybe my tastebud is still accustomed to the Malaysian version.



Demona: The carrot cake had a very strong "WOK HEI" locked in it. I thoroughly enjoyed the crunchy burnt ends of it, and it was very spicy indeed because Dogma asked the cook to add an extra chilli kick! He raised his white flag half way through due to the over spiciness of the dish and the chilli gobbler ended up wiping the plate clean! If the carrot cake was slightly more salty, it would have tasted even better. A satisfying decent meal for only SGD 2.50. For RM 2.50, you can't even get a decent meal in KL.

Christmas Eve Dinner by Dogma@Clementi

Demona: I cleared off the last few days of my annual leaves, and took a week break to visit Dogma in Singapore. I arrived on Christmas Eve night, and when I got home, Dogma surprised me with one of the most interesting Christmas dinners I'd ever had!



Demona: He came into the room with this plate. Filled with pieces of chunky ham, a fried salmon patty, a slice of lemon, a chunky slice of brie and some mayonaise and mustard. They looked really tasty! My tummy was growling like thunder in a storm already!



Demona: Dogma bought a pack of rye bread from IKEA. I had seen this before in IKEA, KL but had never tasted it.



Demona: This was how it looked like. It was powdery on the surface, had an extremely crunchy texture, it was dry and bland, similar to a cracker. The nature of this rye bread made it really suitable for the dishes Dogma had prepared.



Demona: Dogma also bought a tube of crab roe as a spread for the rye bread. Everything was written in Swedish.



Demona: The crab roe spread on the piece of crispy rye bread was an excellent combination! The spread was very flavourful, salty, and the taste of the crab meat was intense. It was definitely easy to eat this since you could control the amount of roe depending on how much you want. Doesn't this look extremely yummy from up close?



Demona: This was a pack of thinly sliced smoked salmon meat with peppers and chillies. It was pretty spicy and salty, but the meat was a little too dry. The portion per pack was very big. We could not finish it.



Demona: The salmon patty which was fried by Dogma, then drizzled over with some lemon juice tasted really delicious! The patty was around an inch thick, making every bite just, plain juicy and lovely! The patty could be used to create an awesome seafood burger.



Demona: With a little piece of rye bread, a thinly sliced smoked salmon, and a small cut of creamy brie, spells KA-BOOM!


Chateau Les Palais 1999: should be around 50sgd.
Demona: I was given the honour by Dogma to open this wine bottle to complement our Christmas dinner. For further elaboration on the wine, I shall let Dogma take over the post review.

Dogma: Another gem from Lebenaton. The wine exhibit sign of age with its reduced dark redness. Strong hints of herbal and juicy fruits on the nose supported by some leather saddle. The nose and palate are all about smoothness. Harmony from front to end palate. Some tertiary herbal note at the end palate as well. It is not a multilayered complex wine but well made nevertheless.


Demona: The ABBA Lumpfish Roe was another great product bought by Dogma from IKEA. I had no idea what a lumpfish is, thus I googled it and found out that they are small marine fishes found in the cold waters of the Arctic, North Atlantic, and North Pacific oceans.

The roe of larger species is used extensively in Danish cuisine as well as a delicious and affordable alternative to the wildly expensive caviar.

The roe was an excellent accompaniment to the rye bread, cheese, salmon, and crab roe! Delicious! At least, they did not smell over fishy and they were not too salty.



Demona: Another up close pict with a small piece of rye bread spread with brie and lumpfish roe. Speechless. Ultimate deliciousness.



Demona: After dinner, we moved on to desserts and chips and played a movie, 881. (The calorie meter had busted its scales).



Demona: This was our first time trying out this brand of chips as we usually get the Ruffles, Lays or Doritos. (These chips are so much more cheaper here! They cost twice as much in Malaysia)

Although, they looked really peculiar for consumption due to the bright blue colour, but once you had popped, you could not stop! Each chip was very crunchy, with a nice starchy taste to it and it was not very salty. No, our tongues did not turn blue alright.



Demona: Dogma pleasantly surprised me by showing me two tubs of Ben and Jerry's ice cream in the freezer! SLURPS!

I chose the Strawberry Cheesecake flavour.



Demona: I told Dogma ,"One spoonful, one spoonful only". Next thing I knew, half a tub went flowing into our tummies. He had to stop me from finishing it by taking the spoon away. GRRRRRRRRRR.

The ice cream was sweet, creamy, and I JUST LOVE ice cream with some added chewiness very much eg: chocolate chips, nuts, cheese cake bits, cookie bits, brownie chunks etc. However, I think Haagan-Daz has a better rendition of this flavour. Nevertheless, it was HEAVENLY. I was flying. I was beamed with sugar high happiness.

Verdict: A simple, home cooked Christmas dinner with sincere efforts by someone dear to you, enjoying every bite of food with full comfort in your PJs, faint christmas carol songs playing on the laptop, and a toast with a glass of lovely wine to wish one another at midnight.

This was by far, one of the most memorable christmas celebrations I ever had. A seafood fishy one too!

A&Ws@Opposite Amcorp Mall, PJ

Demona: Right after the filling Koon Kee dinner, we drove around, feeling bored and aimless. Finally, we decided to have a drink at the first drive through A&Ws, at the Amcorp Mall area. Joe ordered a box of curly fries. Sinful, but yummy! McDs curly fries cannot compete with A&Ws!



Demona: Joe ordered a cup of coffee. He came back grumbling to me because the coffee came from the Nescafe's "put the cup" - "press 1 to 7" - "wait" - "remove cup" machine. He has free access to the same machine at anytime of the day in his office, and he paid RM1.90 for it now.




Demona: We were sitting near the waffle making and ice cream parlour. ( BAD IDEA ) I was drooling with temptation already seeing the people carrying trays of waffles to their seats. I succumbed into temptation. Resistance failed on me. Despite being quite full from dinner, I finally bought one as well.

P/S: Double scoop ice cream too. BURPS.



Demona: We were complaining being overstuffed from dinner, but in the end we finished up our supper as well. The waffles were the greatest! Affordable, not overly priced (RM 5.90) and extremely delicious! Gosh, I'm craving for it now as I'm writing this down. The buttery waffles were crunchy and thick, and eating it with a spoonful of vanilla ice cream with strawberry sauce drizzles, spells CLOUD NINE!

A worthy BURP!

Koon Kee Revisited@Damansara Jaya

Demona: Every now and then, I thought back on how delicious the pork was when I had it with Justin, a good friend of mine who introduced this place to me. Joe and I were out yesterday, on yet another aimless dinner for the night. Suddenly, the image of the juicy, tender, sweet succulent pork came into my mind. I called Justin immediately to find out what it was exactly to prevent from wrongly ordering again.



Demona: It was PHAI KUAT WONG! Pork ribs, deep fried and coated with a spicy, sweet sauce. The portion was actually for one, but it was more than enough for two of us. The lady boss was nice enough to tell us that the portion of 1 was just nice for us, since we had ordered other dishes as well. The PKW was really juicy and tender! Two thumbs up!



Demona: Joe ordered a sizzling plate tofu. When it came, we were a little worried as the sauce looked quite spicy and Joe would much prefer his food being made non-spicey. It was not as spicy as we thought after all once we had tasted it. The tofu dish was average. They were cooked along with some vegetables and a thin egg layer on the surface of the sizzling plate.



Demona: He ordered a stir-fried Kai Lan as well. Usually, simple stir-fried vegetables taste quite similar eg: garlic like taste, salty, and a strong pungent leafy like taste. However, the Kai Lan tasted very strange this time around. Joe and I could not figure out the source which caused it to taste this way. It was sourish, salty.. I do not know how to describe it in words, but it was a strange taste. Nevertheless, we already paid for it, thus we ate them anyway (as a source of fibre).



Verdict: Another interesting dinner at Koon Kee. The MUST HAVE from this place is definitely its PKW. While waiting for our food, we could see the worker carrying out plates of PKW from time to time. Our dinner cost us RM 22. I found it pretty value for money as I could feel my tummy trying to burst her way out of my jeans.

BTW: I snapped the pict of the fishes in the tank, because they (seriously) looked ZOMBIE-like. Their eyes were pretty still, staring blankly into space unlike normal fishes whos' eyes are constantly moving. Their bodies looked sick and pale too. Joe and I wondered how long had the fishes been in there, and their meat were probably not fresh. Poor zombie fishes.

Dinner Take Away@Tivoli

Demona: We had a cousin bonding day today. The 4 of us had a jalan-jalan session in KLCC. We bought some sushis home for dinner, from Isetan's food and groceries department.



Demona: My cousin is a big fan of unagis, therefore she selected this. It was very yummy! They were sincere with the ingredients, as the teriyaki sauce coated unagis were very chunky and the rice was not too thick.



Demona: She bought an assorted pack of sushis as well. I took the roe sushi. Crunchy, slurpy, yummy!



Demona: My aunts bought a whole teriyaki chicken from Jusco. All of us enjoyed it very much as the chicken was not too dry nor too oily. We cooked some rice, and ate them with the sushis, the chicken and a bowl full of fresh lettuce leaves.

Verdict: I felt so healthy eating this.