Lunch Packs for the next Month.

lunch pack for tmr

50 Quaker Chewy Granola bars. 40 "mini-cartons" of Florida's Natural sweets. 30 rolls of Florida's Natural sour sweets. 15 tetra packs of 100% fruit smoothies. Nature Valley's crunchy granola bars. Chocolate malt.

It's official.

I love my parents.

KUISHIN BO

YES. YES. I have finally, finally, FINALLY managed to get a chance to go and eat at Kuishinbo today! It's been a year and a half since I was first introduced to that place, and after many delays and procrastinations, I finally managed to eat there today!!

I don't know if it is the extremely high glucose-in-blood-stream level talking or it's just me, but it was AWESOME. Maybe we were a bit too excited, ate so much that I felt really sick afterwards and had to keep quiet cause talking hurt. Too.. bloated...

There's way too much food to remember everything. I promise that had to be the most expensive meal that I've paid for this year (not from the Parents). It is $39.80++ for weekend dinners, so the whole thing worked out to be around $47 per person. Ouch.

I'll let the pictures do the talking:

the buffet tables

They serve EVERYTHING Japanese! Kaminabe (paper steamboat), kushiyaki (Japanese satay), sashimi, seafood, sushi, tempura, chawan-munshi, different types of soup, sweet cold prawns, their signature dish of snow crabs (free flow and only available at dinner) and many, many more! You'll simply be overwhelmed with choices there and there's too much to even try and stomach one of each item available!

sweet, sweet, sweet.

uh. salty, salty, salty.

The Guide on How to Enjoy a Sumptuous Meal. Not very useful, if you ask me. What may be more realistic may be: Eat. Just eat.

The softest mochi I have ever eaten! Absolutely delightful, it may have been the best thing from the desert section! Now I know what it means by "melt-in-your-mouth" mochi. They have it in two flavours too - green tea and peanut. I can't decide which is better. My suggestion? Eat them both, and as many as you can.

And Guess what this contained! -

Tea, anyone? But no! It actually contained soup!

A very rich stock to boot. When you open the teapot, you'll find ingredients like mushrooms and prawns inside! What you're supposed to do is pour the soup out from the teapot into a bowl and then drink. Trust the Japanese to think of such cool concepts.

The paper steamboat! For the unacquainted, the paper steamboat is a Japanese dish that is, well, a steamboat like any other, just that it comes in a paper bowl that's made of special waxed paper that doesn't get burnt by the fire beneath. Kuishinbo is really generous with the food they provide, and the steamboat was really good! There's fish, prawns, mussels and everything. The best part of it though, has to be the soup stock. Nice, strong, flavourful, and a tinge of seafood sweetness. Mmmm! (They look so pretty too!)

And for the highlight of Kuishinbo...

The LOBSTER. Every 45 mins or so, you'll realise that the normal Japanese music stops playing, only to be replaced by the music that has to be Kuishinbo's strongest trademark " Dong dong dong, 1,2,3, we are Kuishinbo." It's such an annoying tune, such a stupid song, such a retarded ad, and it achieved what any advertising gimmick is supposed to - stick in peoples' minds. Ah. I'd call it a sucessful advertisement. Everyone I know remembers the song. The best part is, in the TV ad, the song also adds "Suntec City Level3" in that annoying tune, so no one can forget where it is! How wonderful does it get!

Okay, back to the point. Once that tune starts playing, you'll see HORDES of people running to form a queue somewhere along the buffet spread, near the paper steamboats. What for? Lobsters. There's only 40 pieces of them at every round, and one person is only allowed to take one. If you miss it, you'll just have to wait for the next round. There's two types of lobsters, and they alternate the type at the rounds. One is the cheese covered lobster, and the other is a soy-and-thai-chilli one. Heck, both are good.

Standard of food wise, it's not bad. It's definitely better than what you'll get at Sakae Sushi or Seoul Garden or anything. Not top notch, I believe you'll still have to go to proper Japanese restaurants to get the best quality food - no buffet can ever have the highest quality of food, considering the large amounts of food they have to prepare and leave out in the open. For buffet food though, it's of considerably good quailty. Great, friendly, warm ambience. You can stay there and eat for hours (dinner is on from 5.30 to 10) and catch up with friends. While we were there a birthday song played multiple times too - they will willingly read out birthday dedications at your request!

One thing we realised though is that the majority of the staff doesn't understand English, so it's really tough asking for help if you need anything in particular. To make your money worth it, you'll really really want to eat everything, so by the end of it you'll have gained a kg or two and vow not to have breakfast (and possibly lunch too) the next day. It'll also stop any cravings for Jap food for a long time I believe.

Oh and some good advice to heed: skip all rice/carbs at any buffet, they fill you up too fast, so you won't be able to eat the nice and expensive things. Ha. Stupid trick by restaurants.

Burp. I think I shall go and digest the food. By watching tv, yes.

Chocolate fun + breadsticks

Got back home, swore to do homework, and...

Went to make chocolate clusters.

So much for determination and self control. Was craving the chocolate clusters we made at the chocolate workshop, and thus decided to very quickly replicate them. Being at home, and with no need to share (wheehee!), it meant that I could use bigger cups! I'm guessing these paper cups hold twice as much each as the ones we made at the workshop.

Simple processes, and voila:

+

equals

Just tasted one of them. Then I tasted another, just to be sure they tasted alright. Then I took a third one..

Got to thank Nat for passing me some real good milk chocolate today! Shall bring some of these milk chocolate clusters to school tmr :D Too bad I don't have more exotic ingredients at home, or else I could make more types! So fun, unlike homework.

In other news:

Bought some breadsticks off the Cold Storage shelf the other day -

These are from Waitrose, the large supermarket chain from the UK that doesn't actually have any outlet here, but which products can be found here and there. Now, breadsticks are also known as grissini, which is an Italian word I believe (since they originated from Italy). They may be called bread, but they are really crispy and dry, something like croutons in long pencil-like form. I don't really remember seeing them being eaten much in Singapore, but it's good to know that the supermarket stocks up on some.

I got the plain ones (the other one has sesame seeds), which are great for dips. Have it with garlic butter, salsa, tomato dips, avocado dips, cheese dips, anything you fancy! I took one and started poking it around various jars I had at home (even Nutella) and it all tasted quite good. They're too plain for me to eat it on it's own though. They're pretty healthy, low on the calories (we're not including dip here), and come in packs of 20 or so sticks per box.

Ooo. They may be good with soups too, come to think of it.

Maybe I should go try...

Pizza Hut Kitchen Tour

Ain't got much today! Went down to Pizza Hut at Bukit Timah as part of an enrichment course, to have a tour around the kitchen and see how pizza is made at the biggest pizza chain restaurant in Singapore.

NOTE: This is not about a good pizza or place of recommendation. I personally cannot stand Pizza Hut pizza. The toppings are not generous enough, and there's just wayy too much dough (that doesn't taste good for that matter). Or maybe it's just me: I like thin crust pizzas, not those 4:1 dough-ingredient ratio.

The tour was majorly disappointing. The kitchen is really small, we didn't get to play with pizza dough/ make our own pizzas (like I was hoping we would) and it was really quick. Oh, we were served a Pizza Hut meal each, that basically comprised a mushroom soup, a Hawaiian personal pan and Pepsi. Ick. The pizza was actually better than the soup. Warning: stay clear of the soup as much as possible. Don't ask.

Anyway, back to the tour: I sneaked my cam into the kitchen and took some pictures, however, the pictures weren't really good (I didn't know if a camera was allowed you see, so I just took pictures quickly whenever I could :D)

the hardware

So we were given an introduction to the machines that play the parts in helping us create the godly thing called Pizza (not saying that about the pizza there in particular though..). There's the big dough mixer, that well, mixes the flour and oil and everything else you need to make the base for the pizza. Then there's the large oven-machine, where you put the ready-made-but-uncooked pizza at one end and it'll come out at the other end in 7 minutes, ready to be served. Okay, that sounded like some sort of horrible digestive system, hmm.

The last picture is that of the cold room, where all the ingredients are stored. I took a walk in and smelled pepper chicken or something. There's cartons and cartons of bags in which all the topping were stored and a very interesting piece of paper stuck on the wall that read "ANY AMOUNT OF APPLE/ORANGE JUICE THAT IS STOLEN FROM THE COLD ROOM WILL BE REPORTED TO THE POLICE". Okay. I do not want to know what goes on in there.

Then a lady gave us a demonstration of making a regular Hawaiian pizza. That itself wasn't really interesting - all she did was count sprinkle half a cup of cheese over the base, put 15 pieces of ham (yes, they count and make sure it's 15), scatter a cup worth of pineapples over that and end off with another half cup of cheese.

The more interesting part was the colourful array of ingredients displayed. It all looked quite pretty, and we were soo tempted to pick some up with our bare hands and eat them like that. (Hygiene freaks back off! Nothing gets between us and food). There's also a chart against the fridge, that basically tells you how much of what ingredient to put on what type of pizza! Unfortunately I didn't manage to get a clear shot of that (was too bust trying to be conspicuous), so we will never know.

The uh. Personal pizza of my friend's. With heaps of cheese. Uh. Heaps.

That concludes the little tour we had. Pizza Hut has come up with a new Thin Crust Pizza, which I have yet to try. Hmm. Have my doubts about it, but shall go try it someday.

Bakerzin masterpieces

Ahhhh! LOOK:

*gasp* Macaroons and more macaroons!

I think they're supposed to be superheroes. I don't get the panda eyes.

Love this one! The guy looks too big for the horse and his legs are akimbo! He looks sorta silly.. and dumb. Awww.

Any soccer + chocolate lover's dream

I KNOW. I KNOW! This is a kid's dream come true! Bakerzin has created these masterpieces out of chocolate and macaroons and they're on display at Novena Square in the atrium now, and not sure for how long more. I wanted to break something off or pick a macaroon (macaroons, macaroons, macaroons! I LOVE MACAROONS!), but the sales lady from Bakerzin (they're there selling the normal Bakerzin cakes and stuff) kept a firm eye on me. Poof.

And they're not for sale either :(

Go down to Novena Square to have a look before they're gone! There's a mini food fair going on there as well, and pick up a macaroon or two from the Bakerzin counter if you can't resist (I certainly couldn't!).

Marche Paella

Went back to Marche at Vivo again today because The Parents wanted to try it out, especially after hearing bout the food yesterday. So we made our way down for lunch and got started.

Okay, so now I have more information about the Marche at Vivo. Apparently, much effort and thought has been put into this outlet so as to make give it a very authentically Swiss appearance and experience for diners. The interior, which is made to resemble a house in a Swiss village, was constructed by getting Five-hundred-year-old antique wood from two well-preserved huts from Adelboden (a village in the Alpine mountains). The wood was dismantled, and then very carefully transported over to Singapore and reassembled. Every window, door, hinge and knob are all original. Whoa, talk about meticulous.

My suspicions about the better quality of food were also confirmed. The rosti potatoes have changed, from the originally used American Russet potatoes have been replaced with better Yukon Gold potatoes, do it isn't just your eyes playing tricks when you see that the Rosti is a deeper, more beautiful gold-yellow now.

The meats are now grilled over applewood fires, rather than the previously used electric grills. For those who know, that's a big thing. Electric grills, though more convenient, always lack the real fire flavour. The fire flavour just makes anything taste so much better.

The pastas (which I found not to be very good at the old Marche outlets) have changed from being boiled-on-the-spot-from-dried-products to being freshly made on the premise itself. I have yet to get a chance to try the pastas though, so I'm not sure how much better they taste.

What I did get to try today is the Paella. Paella is a rich dish that originates from Spain and is a new staple added to Marche that wasn't found in the previous outlets. Now, paella is a very traditional dish that is basically made with rice, olive oil, saffron (the basics) and then with meats, seafood and veges that may vary with different renditions of paella. Paella is usually cooked in a paella pan, which is rather large and shallow. The very word "paella" itself means "frying pan" in Valencian.


our serving of paella

Marche's paella comes in two sizes - the first is a "one" portion, that is actually enough for two people to share, and the second is a "five" portion. You'll see at the counter a huge paella pan, in which the paella is cooked. I'm guessing that the "five" portion will mean that the chef makes you one entire large paella pan worth. I ordered a "one" portion, and the guy took a little pan and heaped the rice, chicken, mussels, squid and whatnots from a large paella pan that was already made.



Okay, so paella is basically the Spanish rendition of fried rice, just that with more exotic ingredients than the Singaporean ones. I was wondering what kind of rice it was, and learn that it is actually Bomba rice from Spain. Not bad. At least they remained authentic and didn't try some cheat-your-money gimmick by using other cheaper varieties like Thai rice or something. The rice is actually the most important part of the dish - use the wrong rice and it wouldn't be the right taste of paella at all. Bomba rice is the rice for paella, so you're really getting putting your money down for authentic tasting food.

Upon digging into the dish, I realised that they were very generous with the seafood! There's bound to be a squid, or some fish, or a prawn or a mussel in every square inch of the pan. There were a few large chunks of chicken too (with bone) that was rather juicy, not dry and overcooked.



I don't know how to describe the taste of paella, or how Marche's one compares to other paellas, since this was my first time eating the dish. It's such a reverie of flavours, and I can't quite put a name to it. It wasn't too salty, and the flavours of everything combined really overwhelms your taste buds. I'm guessing though, that it's the type of dish that you either like or dislike, due to the strong flavour of it. The ingredients were good, fresh seafood, nothing dry, and nothing bland. I guess you'll just have to go and check it out to see if you'll like it!

Paella is the dish from Spain, as much associated with it as chilli crab or laksa or bak chor mee is with Singapore. It's a good introduction to Spanish cuisine, and I love Marche for bringing it in.

The Father made a good point though: The entrance is sheltered but the exit is not, so how messy will it be for people to leave when it's raining! (since the only way of exit will be for people to uh, exit via the entrance). Hmmm.

Day at Marche

It's the weekend at last! Headed down to Vivocity today to have lunch at Marche. It's the first time I ate at the Vivo Marche and it's either that I was really ravenous or the food tasted better than that in their now defunct outlets at Heeren and Suntec City! Almost everything we ordered was really good - the salad spread, the mushroom soup and the salmon crepe have ensured that I'll be back for more.

Vivo Marche is all the way up on the third level of Vivocity, and takes up a pretty little glass house. The premise is much smaller and more crammed than the old ones, and thus it gets really squeezy during lunch and dinner times. Prices have gone up too! Grumble.

Anyway there are two things in particular that shall be mentioned. Firstly, the "fruit cake":

As you can see, it's almost all fruit-and-jelly and hardly any cake. Another things is that this should really just be called "grape cake" instead of "fruit cake" because all the fruits are green and red grapes (did I mention that they are all seedless? mmm.) Marche has to be credited for being so generous with the fruit - I think there are at least 15 whole grapes on that slice of cake!

Here's the thing: the jelly is just WAY too sweet. The grapes are nice and sweet, and the cake is, well, passable for a sponge cake, but slightly to the hard and dry side. It would all have been fine if the jelly had, perhaps, half the amount of sugar that was put into it. It was so sickeningly sweet that I could hardly get through a quarter of the cake (and I have a sweet tooth y'know). It tasted like concentrated sugar syrup. Not worth the $4.50 we paid.


Then there's this:

*cries out in joy* Hot Cross Buns!! For some strange reason it's not easy to find hot cross buns in Singapore, and the only ones I've ever eaten are the plain ones. These at Marche had 2 choices of fillings - custard or chocolate cream. I walked by the pastry section and saw a huge tray full of these gleaming beauties, and grabbed one to try on the spot.

Mmmm. The bread, although no longer warm, was still fluffy and soft and sweet. And there was the custard that wasn't overly sweet, thus giving a lovely combination that wasn't too sweet (unlike the fruit cake) overall and was very very yummy. They were pretty generous with the custard too. From the outside all you can see is a blob of cream sticking out, and at first I was afraid that it was just a thin line running through the bread, or even worse, that it really was just that tiny glob (you know, like some cheat-your-money bakeries). Thankfully, a thick stream of custard is revealed upon biting into the bun. It kind of oozes out as you bite into it. Yum yum.

I liked it enough to buy two back - one custard and one chocolate, and I've just taste the chocolate. Whoa the chocolate sauce/cream is more liquidy than the custard and just flowed out of the bun! Oh so good. For $1.50, it's more than worth trying when you pop by Marche. There's even a large bowl of unsalted butter that you can help yourself to, just in case you want to butter the bread. Not necessary in my opinion though.

I'm definitely going back there to eat again. I heard something about this new Marche outlet being under a new management - it is now under the direct management of Marche International, which is the founding company of Marche. Previously, the two outlets in Singapore were run by Singapore franchisee Chee Swee Cheng & Company. Perhaps that'll explain the better standard of food. Whatever it is, I feel it is now better than Vil'age, though slightly pricier.