Ministry of Food (MOF)

I first heard about MOF from Ice. The first thing that came to my mind then was 'Ministry of Finance'? :P Soon after, I read and heard about it so often that I knew it's time for me to pay it a visit.

Green Tea (9/10)



Chawanmushi (9/10)

Comparable to that of Ichiban's!



Egg Handroll (8/10)



Chicken Karaage (8/10)



Some Beef set



Green Tea Sundae (9/10)

Love the waffle, the sundae, the green tea ice cream and the cereals!



Kanten Jelly

From the note that comes with the sundae.

These series contain Japanese Kanten Jelly at the bottom of the dessert. Kanten Jelly is amde from the room part of plant and is rich in fibre. Thus in Japan, it is believed to have slimming effect and is very healthy.

While Kanten Jelly is totally unsweetened & tasteless, native Japanese pour the sauce (either honey/black or white sauce) over the Kanten Jelly generously before eating. MOF Black Sauce for our Kanten jelly series ia made from Black Purnes & Black Dates. Both fruits aid digestion.

I gobbled up a few because it is believed to have slimming effect... Nah! Don't think it helps in a one-time affair. hehz!



We were pretty pleased with the food. Our conversation as follows.

"How's your beef set?"
"It's not bad!"

"My chawanmushi is good too!"
"You are right!"

"I like the chicken karaage"
"The sundae is fantastic!"

"The green tea also taste better than those I have drank before"
"Absolutely agree!"

"Even the waitresses here are also very pretty"
"..." >_<' LOL

Service
I love the speed. From the queuing, to the ordering, to the serving of food, to the billing, everything was done in a jiffy. All in all, we spent only about half an hour from the point we queue to the point we leave the place! Based on the turnover rate, MOF must have earned a lot!

Price
$33

Place
Marina Square
6 Raffles Boulevard
#02-138E

Coffee Club

Chocolate Mango Blend (3/10)

I would not have ordered something like this if I saw the name first. But alas, I saw the picture on the menu first. I am a visual person, remember? The 3 points were for the chocolate shavings which could never go wrong on almost anything.

Iced Rambutan (8/10)

Nice, smooth, sweet. Ahh.... just like the feeling of a teenager in love. *daydreams*

Price
$14.90

Place
Marina Square
#02-311

A great place to rest your feet after hours of shopping, have a chat with a small group of friends or simply to chill out with your buddy. Just make sure you choose the 'right' drinks. :P

Changing Appetites 2

Back to this restaurant in less than 3 weeks! This time, I've got a seat that allows me to do a better snapshot of this signboard. ;)



Don't you feel like slugging around on seats like this, on a lazy afternoon?



Buffalo wings (8/10)



Black Pepper Mushroom Chicken with Rice (8/10)



Arhh... comes the important part of this post. Desserts!!

Heaven in the mouth (10/10)



The name for this dessert can never be more appropriate. Every bite I took was soo... erm... heavenly. :P Even my hub who claimed that he has never liked desserts, took quite a few spoonfuls! I can still taste the Tiramisu and chocolate lingering in my mouth right now! YUMS! ;P~~~ Sorry to make all of you out there salivate, but the only solution I can provide you right now is to go visit this place, quick! heh...

Hub paid $30 plus for this meal.

For details on the place, etc pls refer to the previous post.

Pasta de Waraku

Nowadays, people are getting more and more 'visual'. The food may not be fantastic, but if the presentation skills are good enough, people might just forget about the mediocre standards on the taste after a while.

I guess I am one of them. Just look at all these...



tell me you are not tempted to go in at all?



First, we were served with a salad bowl that goes with my main course.



Chicken and Mushroom Spaghetti with tomato cream sauce (7/10)



Call me a mountain tortoise. I have eaten spaghetti with tomato sauce OR cream sauce, but never a mixture of both. Thus, the above was a totally new experience for me. Though it really doesn't taste as good as it seems. :P

Wafu Pork Cutlet Curry Pasta (7/10)



The sauce was good. So was the pork cutlet, just like any katsu curry rice dishes. But to go with pasta? Maybe not. My hub didn't like it at all.

Ambience
Love how they decorated the walls with plates of pastas like the ones shown above... It gets their customers hungry even before the food arrives. :P

Price
$27.60 for the two pastas. Kinda overly-priced for the taste.

Service
Good

Place
6 Raffles Boulevard
#03-257 Marina Square

As mentioned earlier, despite the mediocre kinda food I am getting, I might probably visit this restaurant again. Because all I can remember few months down the road, I believe, is the attractive display that seems to promise an equally tasty meal. :P

Changing Appetites

Don't you think the deco is very hip? and very suitable for youngsters like erm... me? *grins*



Ok, fine. I am not young anymore. Still, this is a place worth checking out.



I love it when they make it so christmas-y. Such Christmas trees are common, yes. But it's oh, so essential in building up the mood for the festive season.



Sometimes the serviettes given to us just ain't enough. All restaurants should consider using tissue dispensers like this.



Type
Western

Fajitas main courses come with soup-of-the-day, drinks and dessert.

Chicken Chowder (9/10)

One of the best soup-of-the-day I have ever tried. Really. It's nothing like those thick and starchy chicken soup. It was more fluid, but not to the extend of being bland. You get shreds of chicken along with other ingredients, unlike those chicken soup whereby you can only taste the soup and nothing else.



Garlic bread (9/10)

This garlic bread proves that even the most simple and common food can taste extraordinary, if they make the effort to do so. I love the aroma and taste of the garlic flavourings on the bread that was baked to a crisp.



Spicy beef fajitas (7/10)

My hub said it's so-so only. I can't testify for that as I don't take beef. He likes my fajitas though.



Chicken and mushroom fajitas (9/10)



The meat is grilled to perfection and it goes very well with the sauce. Fill your flour tortillas with the grilled meat, etc and you have got yourself a very yummy and filling treat!

Chocolate Fudge (9/10)

All my recent meals come with a dessert. How sinful! Big tummy lah, added weight lah, blah blah blah... :P Well, the taste and satisfaction seems to make up for everything.



Service
üüüüü
The waitresses/waiters were very prompt in responding to our needs. Our drinks were frequently refilled. What impresses me more is the speed at which the food were served. I wasn't even done with my soup when the main course came in.

Ambience
It gives me a very hip and trendy feel. Very inviting.

Price
$$$$$
Around $37 for two very filling set meals. Quite a good deal, I should say.

Place
Marina Square
#01-204

Cafe Cartel 2

After the NDP preview, almost all the restaurants nearby were swarmed with people. Only cafe cartel wasn't. So we happily entered the restaurant for our dinner. After we had the main course, we came to understand why we managed to get a seat.

Type
Western

Taste (2/10)
For the main courses.

The food sucks. I am not a very fussy person in terms of food, but that tough hawaiin pork chop took me at least 5 seconds more to cut, chew and swallow.

The dessert in a way saves the day. But this is no surprise eh? Afterall, it's just waffle and ice-cream. You can never find fault with these two items.






Service
The service was bad, with me having to wait for half an hour because of the mistake they made - wrong order. That resulted in gastric pain. :(

Price
$$$$$

Not worth it.

Place
Marina Square
(I don't even bother to find out the unit number, coz I ain't recommending this place)

Cafe Cartel's food and service has deteriorate tremendously over the years. Unless I am in a situation whereby I am starving and all the other restaurants are full, you will never see me in Cafe Cartel again.

Imperial Treasure La Mian Xiao Long Bao

I have been balloting for NDP tickets since it started (in 2003?) but was never successful. I especially wanted to get the tickets for last year as it would be the last time NDP willl be held at the old National Stadium, but dang, I didn't get it again. This year, I tried going for the preview tickets and I got it. I almost screamed into the phone when the NDP officer called to inform! 3 yeahs for winning the NDP tickets! ^_^V

After collecting the NDP tickets at Marina Square Link Bridge Atrium, my hub and I took quite a while to decide on the place to have our meal. He just had a superdog whereas I was famished for a good decent lunch. I convinced him to go Imperial Treasure La Mian Xiao Long Bao, where I can have my staple food - La Mian and he can have small bites like Dim Sum.

Type
Chinese

Nowadays, kitchen with open concept are pretty common. It's very tempting to look at the helpers work when we are just a thin glass window away, but I try not to, because I do not like to be watched either especially when I am preparing ingredients or cooking a meal. I can't control myself from taking a quick snap at the kitchen though. :P Btw, the chefs are all in an enclosed area, out of the watchful eyes of the public. Perhaps they are afraid that their receipes might be revealed or something?



Taste

Shredded Pork and Preserved Vegetables La Mian (7/10)
This does not look appetizing at all lor. Even my hub have the 'I am sorry that you are gonna have this for lunch' look. But heh! It's not THAT bad. Of course, not that tasty either.

Shanghai Dumplings (7/10)

These dumplings are not bad. At least, their skin are not very thick, like those I have tasted before.




Ambience
Warm, dim lights. Semi-Open Concept for the kitchen.

Service
üüüüü
So-so

Price
$$$$$
Normal

Place
Marina Square
#02-138J

Carl's Junior Criss-Cut Fries

It's been nearly two years since I last saw my 'net friend', J. Initially, I was rather afraid that we might run out of topics to talk about, especially when I am someone who needs a loooot of warming up and ice-breaking before I can enter into a hearty conversation. It seems like my worries were unfounded. J and I had just as much to talk about in person, as when we chatted online. I guess we just really have too much in common. :P

When I suggested to go Carls Junior, this resourceful lobang queen actually printed $2 discount vouchers from the web. That really came in useful because Carl's Junior food ain't cheap!

I was a bit sheepish when I took out the camera to take photos of my faaavvourite, ever-so-sinful, criss-cut fries because I was not too sure I will be embarassing her by taking photos of food in the public. I explained to her that I have just developed this new interest in taking photos of food and putting them up on the blog. It only made me more paiseh when she gave a chuckle. Then she told me that she also had the habit of taking photos of desserts! LOL! say so lah... :D She even helped me to position the burgers to faciliate my photoshoot. hahah


Fish Sandwich (5/10)
My fish sandwich burger wasn't really nice as it has the fishy smell in it. :( It's portion is enough to feed someone who hasn't eaten for one day. :P



















We wondered for a while, the difference between a charboiled and the Santa Fe Burger, but didn't manage to come to a conculsion. heh! This is her Santa Fe Chicken Burger. It certainly looks much tastier than mine.




















Criss Cut Fries (10/10)
I have just had my Carl's Junior exactly a week ago. Seriously, I don't really fancy the burgers here. They are dry, messy and huge enough to make you feel guilty for the wastage. The only reason why I suggested this place is to take photo of this. My crispy, tasty criss-cut fries. *crunch crunch*




















Type
Fast food

Taste
As above

Ambience
Typical fast food restaurant setting

Service
üüüüü
A young staff came to us and asked if he could help to fill our soft drinks because he was free. Heee... I thought that was really nice of him.

Price
$$$$$
For fast food, the price is generally quite steep. For that criss-cut fries, every cent is worth spending!

Place
Marina Square
#01-202