Tag Archives: singapore blogger

Japanese Food, Singapore

Ichida Japanese Dining – Club Street, Singapore

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Attended an Omakase dinner one of the evenings with a bunch of friends at this newly opened Japanese restaurant located right smack where all the action is, Club Street. Head Chef Ron Leo hosted us to a wonderful meal of yummilicious Japanese cuisine and sake which left us filled to the brim! Check out the pics below of what we had!

Entrance
Ground floor long counter
Deco
First up, Scallops with Spicy Cod Roe sauce and Japanese tomato
Fresh shuck oysters
Sashimi… Love the tuna belly here…
Grilled Sweet Trout
King Crab… The meat is soooooo sweet!!!
Firing up the Joshu wagyu!!!
Served with special sauce!
Crispy shell from the prawn we ate earlier… Nothing goes to waste!!!
Special made by chef… Uni, hotate and dunno what… taste pretty good!
Chef showed us the way to eat uni…
Pop into your mouth!
Chawanmushi with black truffle and uni… Damn shiok this one.
Yums!!!
Forgot what fish but damn sweet…
This soup is awesome!
More treats from the chef!
Japanese melon and peach really damn sweet… These are not cheap when I was there the last time!

Rating: 5/5.

Taste: Hands down one of the best tasting Japanese cuisine places in Singapore. Freshness accompanied by awesome service!

Portion: Good.

Ambience: We were there before their opening hence I believe the overall feel wasn’t completed then.

Service: Plain awesome. Chef Ron was humorous and staff we super friendly.

Price: $100 onwards (Depends on your budget but chef is very generous!)

RTE: Definitely!! When I feel rich! 😉

Location: 82 Club Street, Singapore 069450. Tel: 62220235 (Call to reserve with a budget and number of pax ready!)

Australia

My Trial Uber Driving Experience

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Hey y’all,

Sorry for not writing after so long as I’ve been swarmed with work, training, and trip to Melbourne (Will post some of the interesting places I’ve been later). So now I have time to complete this blog and post this up. Have a good read and laugh about it if it tickles you. 

Just 5 weeks ago, I took up the offer to drive with Uber and was given 10 free hours + free petrol to try Smove car rentals. When I announced under my Instagram account, many friends thought I was already driving for Uber for good. Well it was a day of trial and I love driving, so I was so looking forward to it. But before I start, this blog post is totally out of my own accord and I’m not paid in anyway by Uber or its partners, nor any of their close competitors. What I write is totally what I’ve experienced which may not be experienced by others.

My Feelings

So before I actually started, many things were already running on my mind many days before on how it would be like driving around. Would it be like playing the Crazy Taxi game on Playstation? Would I feel stress driving in the already congested roads and would I be meeting weirdos or unreasonable passengers? What if there’s one who is just so irritating that I might just slap him/her on the face? Haha! Don’t worry all under control.

Cars

Smove cars are predominantly catered for Uber Partners (Drivers) only and to be honest, I love their high tech tracking systems as well as locking and unlocking the cars just by using your registered EZLink Cards. Not to mention the widespread locations where the cars are available… Although none are within walking distance from me. So I had to Uber to these locations in order to be an Uber Partner. Ironical right? Oh well, story of my life.

Riders aka Passengers

To be honest, throughout all the 14 riders I met during my trial day, most of them are nice, some preferred to remain quiet, some would tell you where have the best foods around where they live, some will try to fish my details about me about what I do. But overall I gave all of them 5 stars rating for not being difficult. Hehe. 

My Verdict

I love driving and most of my closer friends know that. Of course stuck in a jam is not a joyous matter but it trains my patience though. So the big question is, can anyone make a living out of this? Definitely can. But after some calculations, the driver probably has to clock a minimum of 10 hours per day in order to cover rental, petrol and earn a bit. If you’re fine with that, then join the team of Uber drivers!

Inspiring Stories

As a hardcore Uber user myself, I’ve had my fair share of stories from the other drivers. Some would complain a lot (then why continue driving leh?) just to make sure lesser people sign up with Uber as drivers to have lesser competition perhaps? Some would show me their record earnings per week, I witnessed one driver who screenshot his record earning of $2700+ a week with incentives. But I believe her worked like hell lah, 14 hours per day maybe? Then there are a few occasions where I would be informed that the driver is deaf and/or mute. My recent encounter with a Roland was pretty inspiring cos he was previously paid below $1500 for hi jobs due to his disability despite putting in hard work. Via a lot of hand signs, Roland told me now he is fetching at least $3k a month, a much more comfy pay for a family of 5 with 3 growing children. I am glad to meet these drivers because at least there are some positivity for being an Uber Partner. One very thoughtful thing is, the Uber Partners’ app has the function to flash when there’s incoming rider request for the deaf and mute. That is something I have to give it to Uber. Their system is very well thought of, and perhaps one of the more advance ones around out there. In the US, Uber has started working with Hotels where you can even check in via your Uber app and arrange Uber pick up at the airport. Any flight delays would be updated for the drivers to plan their drives as well. We should see this happening in Singapore soon perhaps.

Progression

I have since signed up with Uber and rented a car of my choice with them. I will be driving during my free time and tell more people about BLACK&INK! Ok and maybe Uber… But I’m not their ambassador so won’t try too hard. Hahaha! I may also be open for the following:

1. Corporate bookings

2. Shuttles

3. Foodtrails

4. City tours

As for friends who also wanna drive for Uber and not sure about it, feel free to ask me about it before committing. Loads of incentives and cashback! PM me for details or sign up at http://partners.uber.com/i/t753epcvue.

Yours sincerely,

Big Roy

Beehoon Mee, Nasi Lemak, Singapore

327 Fried Beehoon Nasi Lemak – Hougang, Singapore

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Sorry for the lack of posts recently cos it has been madness since I came back from Medan and the mountains in North Sumatra region. It was definitely a rewarding trip as I was experiencing semi-wet processing of coffee beans for the first time and that this method of processing is pretty rare in the Southeast Asian region. Anyways I have loads of food pics to share, I will find a starting point soon.

Anyways this beehoon stall was previously at block 309 of Hougang Avenue 5. They had to move due to the landlord jacking up the rentals so that they can take it back and perhaps rent out to their preferred vendors. Very apparent problem in F&B scene unless of course you’re a brand to reckon with. But I’m actually even more happy to see them at block 327 as I board my buses from the bus stop there haha.

Good thing about this beehoon stall is that their prices are reasonable and at the same time, tastes good. There is another stall at block 322 which has been monopolizing the area for quite a while, even though the taste is really just soso.

 

Always got queue, even on weekdays!

 

Choices of maggi mee, beehoon, kway teow mee or nasi lemak.

 

All the toppings you might wanna add to your base of beehoon or noodles. The tofu on the right is surprising nice and I order that sometimes.

 

Their top topping is this fried boneless chicken thigh. Well seasoned and crispy when eaten there. Soggy when takeaway.

 

See how juicy the chicken thighs are… yums

 

Beehoon with kway teow mee, with veg, luncheong meat, fried chicken thighs and egg. Total $4.80.

 

Rating: 4.5/5.

Taste: As mentioned, the food is really good, well seasoned for the meats, only thing to pick on is the sambal chilli. Can be a little less liquid.

Portion: Normal portions are big. I ask for extra beehoon sometimes.

Service: Self-service. Lady over the counter serves while the hubby cooks behind. Service is good.

Ambience: Hot… Coffeeshop.

Price: Reasonble

RTE: All the time!

Address: 327 Hougang Avenue 5 Coffeeshop. Hours: 7-10.30am.

OTWAT: Which means Other Things Worth A Try. I would recommend the Claypot Chicken Rice which is cooked from scratch, vegetarian beehoon (a little pricey), laksa, and Tse char are not bad too.

Cafe, Singapore

Bakerz@Work – Macpherson, Singapore

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I discovered this place recently near where I work and I believe it commenced business not too long ago. Located just below Citimac Industrial Complex, opposite the huge Cross of Trinity Church, this bakery cafe shop is quite a saviour for me especially when I need my fix of caffeine at the end of a busy day.

This place has not just gourmet coffees but also crafted breads and cakes for customers. On top of that, they have a good range of baking equipment for sale in their little shop. Further in, there is a room for baking workshops that can fit easily 20 pax.

Chef De Boulanger William Woo conducts such classes and he is also one of the owners for this place. Chef Woo is from Penang, Malaysia, and has a long work history in F&B and baking. His deep passion (just like me for food & coffee!) is then realised in Singapore after setting up Bakers@Work to let more people try his breads and teach them how to bake at home. Despite the high rentals, he is persevering to brand Bakers@Work as a quality baking school/cafe/shop at reasonable prices. Check out the pics below:


Rating: 4.5/5.

Taste: Latte was good, espresso was pretty well extracted. Cakes are definitely good, that’s their forte isn’t it? Bought a pumpkin loaf before, damn awesome. Lunch they have sandwiches/paninis etc. with cured meats and veg.

Portion: Average.

Service: Pretty good.

Ambience: Not a full cafe with only around 4 round tables and some bar stools but comfy. I caught up with some colleagues here over coffee and cakes one evening.

Price: $4.50 for latte and $4 for cake slice. Prices differs from types of cakes.

RTE: Few times already!

Location:

Cafe/Coffee House, China, Shenzhen

香港新发烧腊茶餐厅 – Shenzhen, China

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Seems like many first times… if not I will not be writing about them haha… I was heading to my favorite coffee place and was looking for some food before that and I found this place. Apparently it’s a famous chain in Hong Kong since 1974 and they have expanded into Shenzhen since 2002. This place can get quite crowded and there’ll be lots of seats outside this place for those who wanna wait.

I didn’t try a lot as I’m controlling my food intake and was alone. So I tried what a Cha Can Ting should be good for; the pork chop bun and century egg porridge. The pork chop bun was really good, at least the pork chops were not dry. Well seasoned and juicy. The porridge was just awesome. With shreds of pork, and a lot of it, to flavor the porridge totally. These 2 items alone I give it 5 stars. Will check out their roast meats the next time.

Check out my ratings and video below: