Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
Part 2/4: Financing and Choosing Your Dream Home & Its Processes for First-Timers
Part 2/4: Financing and Choosing Your Dream Home & Its Processes for First-Timers
Hope you guys have enjoyed reading part 1 of this entire process, and looking back, it was really an arduous journey from getting the financial means, to going through the whole process for the home to be ready. Before I go on, I’d also like to highlight, these posts are of no means to give pressure to anyone reading – to achieve what I have at the stage of life I am in, because I truly believe…
Part ¼: How is it like figuring how to buy a property & moving out alone in your 20s (Ok, late 20s).
Part ¼: How is it like figuring how to buy a property & moving out alone in your 20s (Ok, late 20s).
Heyo if you’re here from instagram (@explodingbelly), this post has been wayyyy overdue. I know I have been talking about writing posts on my new home, doing my house tour etc etc, but life has been overwhelming lately. If you are already following me, you would know that I’m currently taking up a Life Coaching course which is quite a bit of a commitment in terms of the need to fulfil my coaching…
The BEST Supermarket Opening in Town - Scarlett Supermarket (思家客)
The BEST Supermarket Opening in Town – Scarlett Supermarket (思家客)
Hey guys, this is the best news that has ever happened to me because my all-time favorite Scarlett Supermarket 思家客 is opening at Orchard Gateway. WOOOOOT. In case you dont know, Scarlett Supermarket is basically the layman’s term of a “CHINA SUPERMARKET” because they import all their goodies directly from China. What makes them so different from the other international supermarkets, in my humble…
Mid Autumn Festival 2021 - Where to get the best mooncakes and enjoy free islandwide delivery
Mid Autumn Festival 2021 – Where to get the best mooncakes and enjoy free islandwide delivery
We are approaching mid autumn festival in approximately 1.5 weeks time, guys! If you havent done your shopping, or are undecided on where to get your mooncakes for this year, here are some recommendations!
For the more traditional mooncakes,
Fairmont Singapore
Their box of 4 mooncakes would set you back at just $49.40 and if you were to opt for a box of 4 with double yolk and a tea set, it…
#ExplodingReno: Taobao Hauls to Get for Your Home
#ExplodingReno: Taobao Hauls to Get for Your Home
This is the first episode of ExplodingReno where I’d be sharing some snippets of my journey of renovation and the process of getting my home. I’m in the midst of doing a home tour which I know a lot of you are waiting for, and because I want it to be as informative and as easy to watch as possible, and I’m not really a videography person, so… It’s taking a while. HAHA! There will be more upcoming…
List of Places to Get Affordable & Quality Plants in Singapore
List of Places to Get Affordable & Quality Plants in Singapore
Great tips for beginners in getting your plants, price comparisons and also THE place to get your own pot of Mimosa plant.
This post would come in handy for those of you who are new to this houseplant hype and do not know where or how to start looking for plants or find that most of the mainstream / instagram savvy stores have plants sold at rather exorbitant prices.
No worry, no worry. Explodingbelly is here for you.
It’s been 2 years since I’ve been on this platform but I believe you guys would be seeing me more…
Experience Singapore Like You Never Had Before - Staycation Experience @ Park Regis Hotel
Experience Singapore Like You Never Had Before – Staycation Experience @ Park Regis Hotel
Hello everyone, I am back here again and this time around, got good lobang for you guys! A whooping 20% off your staycation package with Park Regis, and I’m of course not gonna give it to you guys now until you all finish reading everything la, I’ll insert it in the middle of the post so you die die also have to read my rare review on Explodingbelly. Hahaha!
In conjunction with Singapore’s…
Wow, it’s been almost 6 months since I’ve been on this site and typing furiously away on my MacBook. I can’t believe I’ve just been posting one post a month from January to July – Explodingbelly is such a letdown. I even tried refreshing the site because I thought the posts weren’t updated.
In the past couple of months, I’ve been to so many places and ate so much, I think I have a lot of content to generate, provided if I stopped procrastinating and drowning myself with work.
The reason why Wine & Chef comes up to be the first post after such a long hiatus on Explodingbelly, is obviously because I think the place is worth recommending lah. Affordable menu, wines and a good ambience to boot, it’s been a damn long while since we’ve came across a place that checks off all the boxes on the list.
The Place [Nearest MRT: Outram Park]
As I sauntered down the stretch of the very happening Keong Saik Road where Wine & Chef was located, I simply can’t phantom why each and every restaurant there is bustling with throngs of crowds even with the sky high prices of the menu. Sorry, I guess I’m just a peasant.
As you step into the restaurant, one would be greeted with a large collection of wine bottles on the side, a chalk board of their best sellers and a dimmed “atas” ambience with expats filling the front of the restaurant with everyone having a glass of wine on their tables. If you’re like me, you’d go something like HUH YOU SURE HERE THE FOOD AFFORDABLE MEH?
We took the table right at the end of the restaurant where we had some good privacy but the semi-open kitchen was quite a bane, cause we could smell everything that was being prepared and WE WERE STARVING.
The Menu
Before I go into what their menu entails, I need to rave over how affordable their drinks are – can you believe their house pour wines start from just $7++ a glass and a full pint beer at $9++? Apparently they get their wines directly from wineries which allows them to keep their cost low, and hence keeping it affordable for their diners!
They serve up a decent mod-sin (Modern Singaporean) menu, incorporating Asian twists into their Italian cuisine, which I 10/10 approve because this keeps their menu fresh and certainly stands out from what the rest had to offer. You could expect dishes such as Har Cheong Gai glazed with honey and soy (Chicken Little – $10++) and Bak Chor Mee Linguine.
As great as being different is, I also am wary about fusion dishes usually as some tend to try a little bit too hard ah. Well, let’s see how they fared.
The Food
Anything with mushrooms on the menu is a MUST ORDER when you dine with me. So very naturally, we went for the Mushroom Trio ($10++) for a start.
3 types of mushrooms in this one (DUH) – white button mushrooms, oyster mushroom and shiitake. OK la, mai hiam buay pai (translated as, umm.. don’t nitpick, is not bad) HAHA! This had the buttery fragrance they’ve used to sauté the mushrooms and it complemented perfectly with the “mushroom juice”. I don’t know about you but I usually tend to dislike the fact that restaurants use shiitake as part of their mushroom dishes as shiitake tends to have a stronger/distinct flavour profile and lingering aftertaste as compared to the other kind of mushrooms, which overpowers the combination. BUT all in all, I’m just really nitpicking – this was pretty decent.
We went for their pastas because Explodingbelly loves pastas and hey, they pride themselves in Italian food, so pastas must be very good right?
1) Scallops Capellini ($28++)
Ah, the classic combination of scallops, capellini and truffle dressing, let’s see how well they fare and stand out from their competitors. Probably the most instagrammed dish over here, but was it worth the hype?
My eyes lit up as I took the first morsel of this dish – BAM! There were just so many things going on in my mouth. The flavours slowly unveiled itself starting with the aroma of truffle diffusing across my palate (wa very long never use the word diffuse, since my secondary school Chemistry days), and then I was hit by the umaminess of the soy dressing, followed by the crunch of the sesame seeds, burst of the tobiko, the al dente linguine, and finished off with my teeth meeting the smooth, light chewy texture of the scallop, releasing that tinge of sweetness to finish off the entire mouthful – that hallmark sweetness of fresh scallops.
Does my description even make sense? I’m trying very hard to let you guys imagine how good that mouthful was. I just kept nodding my head and said wa good good good right after that. Haha! The only gripe? CAN GIVE ME BIGGER PORTION NOT?
2) “Bak Chor Mee” Minced Meat Linguine ($24++)
I keep saying I love fusion food, if I don’t order this, I’ll be quite the joke right? But honestly, I had MASSIVE doubts about ordering this dish initially. What I envisioned would be a pasta dish that tasted flat, with the only saving grace of it qualifying as a BAK CHOR MEE, was the bakchor and wanton. But for the better good and for the love for you guys reading this, I STILL ORDERED IT.
That very familiar aroma of BCM struck me as it was set right in front of us – oh my! It’s my very favourite vinegary smell of what I reckon as a good bowl of BCM. I couldn’t wait to dig in already. After snapping just 3 different angles of this dish (LIES), I took a huge mouthful of this pasta.
SHIOK. It was what you’d define a successful fusion pairing with it preserving the elements of the BCM, yet with elevated ingredients and preparation to make me want to part with my $24++ for a plate (uh bowl?) of bcm. It retained the vinegary taste of our usual bowl of bcm goodness with a hint of spice in the back of your throat with the sliced chili and spicy minced chicken. I appreciated how the minced pork and chicken were in slightly bigger chunks for a greater bite and also make me feel like my money is worth la.
The truffle infused wanton was what I was pretty much excited about when I ordered this dish, turned out to be the only thing that was lacking in this plate. It was a tad too oily, 0 taste of truffle, and was a little odd. I think put the Pontian fried wanton would be better ah. Haha!
I WOULD come back for this dish again even though it doesn’t look as aesthetically pleasing as the capellini.
We were left very, very satisfied after a 100% hit rate from the earlier dishes, and that tempted us to look through the dessert menu to finish off this meal on a mind-blowing note.
Just as mushrooms are synonymous with Explodingbelly, if you’ve followed me long enough, I’m also the self-proclaim master of SALTED EGG YOLK. Hello, who got the dedication to write and research for idk how many dishes of salted egg yolk dishes and eat most of them? AM I THE MASTER? You better say yes.
Anyway I digressed. For desserts, we got us a Salted Egg Cheesecake ($12++)
For those who are shaking your heads, thinking that I better not complain because I asked for it when I placed an order for such an unorthodox and try hard combination, let me make several disclaimers that led to this choice:
- COCONUT GELATO leh
- This honestly sounded like fun to me – Salted egg, cheese cake, graham cracker and coconut gelato, YUM
- Their BCM linguine was a win.
- I’m the master of salted egg yolk, hello?
I excitedly took a scoop of a little of everything and well… let’s put it this way, not every can go well with salted egg. This was slightly shy of revolting. Okay, I thought the salted egg would have been the “dessert kind” of salted egg, you know? Like those in your salted egg ice cream – lighter, sweeter, and yet still has that slight saltiness and hint of spice. This was just the FULL ON Tze char salted egg crab kind of salted egg sauce on CHEESECAKE and COCONUT gelato. Oh gosh.
The coconut gelato was way too sweet and lacked flavour. It was more of a vanilla gelato with a hint of coconut kinda combination. This was bad. This was FUSION GONE WRONG. Sigh, this was me being naive as well.
Closing Remarks
Well, even though the dessert did not quite end off the entire meal on a good note. We were still pretty impressed by the dishes served by Wine and Chef. You could tell how impressed I am when I’m even motivated to write about them on my already dead blogging brain and dead blog.
I’d say if you’re looking for a fresh date idea, or simply a slightly cheaper alternative for some good food and affordable drinks for a hang out evening, Wine and Chef is a darn solid recommendation.
You can find them at:
7 Keong Saik Road
Singapore 089115 (Nearest MRT: Outram Park, also can walk from Tanjong Pagar MRT if you want to lose weight)
Opening Hours:
Closed on Sundays
Monday to Saturday – 12pm to 11pm
Getting Your Class 3A License - A Narrative by Explodingbelly + LEGIT Tips!
Getting Your Class 3A License – A Narrative by Explodingbelly + LEGIT Tips!
I’ve been wanting to write this for the longest while but it’s not like you guys don’t know EB is the biggest procrastinator on earth. This would be a pretty wordy post because I don’t know what pictures to insert but I’ll try to illustrate what I’m talking about throughout this post. And I don’t know whether got legit tips or not la, I choose to think what I say is pretty legit.
For those who…
All-day McGriddles, Chicken Pizza Kicks? - Celebrate FIFA World Cup with McDonald’s
All-day McGriddles, Chicken Pizza Kicks? – Celebrate FIFA World Cup with McDonald’s
I know you guys would have probably read this from other siao on sites, but sorry I also very excited so please let me share this exciting news, just in case you guys are only tuned to my lovely writing!
It’s always an exciting time when McDonalds launches their limited time offers and this time, in conjunction with 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia, they’ve launched their all star line up on their…
It’s been more than a month since I’ve written on this space. Trust me, I’ve so much to share with you guys but just really havent had the chance to. Here’s my attempt to write this post and publish it by the end of this week, the date today is 26th April ah. Let’s see.
Some of you might have read my itinerary for my Melbourne trip, so here’s a full review of the not quite cafe, not quite restaurant place that got me more excited than I’ve ever been in my entire life.
I’ve heard so much about the iconic Melbourne cafes like The Kettle Black and Top Paddock; when I found out that Higher Ground was owned by the same guys behind these cafes, and it was just less than a 10minutes stroll from my hotel, I was literally hyperventilating.
Then I googled and found this gorgeous picture of the space:
It immediately became a place to go on my bucket list, not just a place on my to visit list on my itinerary.
The Place
Located directly across the the Southern Cross train station of Melbourne, Higher Ground occupies the space of what used to be a 19th century power station.
What’s so charming about the cafes in Melbourne would be the sheer size of the space they occupy and yet, usually only have a relatively tiny or inconspicuous front. It’s almost like everyone in Melbourne just knows where to go for a good brunch fix. You look at this, HOW I KNOW IS HIGHER GROUND SIA. If it weren’t for google maps and long snaking queues, I would not have the courage to walk in because it just looks like a government property of sorts.
Ok la, it’s stated there, a teeny weeny strip against the vast brick wall backdrop. You’d very likely be greeted by a snaking queue from the entrance of the cafe, please don’t gong gong follow the queue.
Head into the cafe to approach the wait staff so that you could give your name and no. of pax and wait in peace as they will call out your name once the seats are available.
Whilst waiting, enjoy their coffee at their al fresco space.
The menu as follows:
When you enter the cafe, you’ll be greeted by the most magnificent architecture. The entire space occupy 2 levels, with a lounging area which overlooks the entire hustle and bustle of the cafe, a private group seating, and just people who want natural lighting for their photographs. I’m surprised I’m not the latter.
Now, take it all in.
That is just for the first level. Going up the stairs.. I was surprised they actually gave me a choice to choose where I wanted to sit because IT WAS SO PACKED. Maybe they can feel explodingbelly’s aura?
Here’s the top level.
And! The amazing view from the top.
Seriously one of the most aesthetically pleasing places I’ve been in my entire life. All I could think of is how can I do justice to this amazing looking place in pictures.
The menu for food within the cafe, that were either too healthy or too over priced.
The Food
We’ve got their Scrambled eggs dish (A$20, S$20.15), which was sounded super uniquely assembled and curated.
Spiced cauliflower, scrambled eggs, curry leaf and homemade flat bread, which turned out to be like this:
I squealed in delight at how pretty the entire dish looked like! Those purple cauliflower!! The taste of the dish also blew us away with the layers and layers of flavors and textures. Their flat bread was just like our rendition of Prata! Those scrambled eggs were butter and fluffy, and even had sour cream added in the mixture to give the entire dish a kick of acidity together with the light spice.
A very Asian inspired kinda dish and I was just amazed at how all these simple components are being put together to create something with such depth and complexity.
And of course, we also ordered The Dish that propelled the team being Top Paddock and The Kettle Black to fame on social media – the very pretty Ricotta Hot Cake (A$23, S$23.19). On a side note though, I realized that the exchange rates are alot better than the previous time I was there, now it makes the entire experience not too shabby at all.
The ricotta hotcakes were well.. okay, pretty. But it didn’t taste spectacular at all. The buckwheat pancake and grains overwhelmed the entire dish. It didn’t taste buttery like how we’re used to and the entire dish just tasted flat.
Well I thought that the stuffed berries within the hotcakes was pretty clever because it gave a burst of refreshing berry goodness in each bite but that lasted for only just a quarter of the hotcake. I’d probably think that they should add a scoop of ice cream for that hot-cold combination to add depths to the dish.
Otherwise this was just incredibly underwhelming and we struggled to finish just a third of the hotcake.
What about coffee?
Getting my first cuppa Joe in Melbourne was exhilarating, because I’ve heard so, so much about how good the coffee is at Melbourne and how this was the mother of third wave coffee.
It was… Disappointing. My iced mocha tasted just like a cup of watered down chocolate milk, and the latte was flat and way too milky. It doesn’t even compare to the average cup of coffee we have here in singapore.
Fortunately, this was the only place I had really bad coffee in Melbourne.
I still can’t see what’s the hype about the food here at Higher Ground. Would i come back again? No. Should you visit them on your trip to Melbourne? Yes. Ironic but I still cant get over beautiful this entire place is, hands down the prettiest place I’ve dined in my life. To give them credit, the ingredients used here are of great quality, with most being made from scratch. Great experience but just one visit would be enough for me!
How to get there?
Opening hours
Monday to Wednesday 7am to 4pm
Thursday and Friday 7am to 11pm
Saturday 8am to 11pm
Sunday 8am to 4pm
A Tour of Google Asia Pacific HQ
A Tour of Google Asia Pacific HQ
Hello all, is this title a click bait?
No lah, do you think Explodingbelly has to resort to that?! Haha! I was very lucky to have been invited to the CNY party over at Google’s office earlier this month. I’m sure Google’s Office resonates with the definitions of BEST OFFICE IN THE WORLD, DREAM OFFICE/JOB, etc. etc. The fairy tales about sleeping pods, crazy food choices, buffet choices for…
Explodingbelly’s Melbourne Itinerary 2018
Explodingbelly’s Melbourne Itinerary 2018
Hello guys, it’s been
a2 weeks (I know this post took too long) since I’m back from the best place I’ve been to in my life – Melbourne. The chill vibes, beautiful skies and cafe culture (minus the high expenses) held my heart in captive within this beautiful city.I know I’ve been harping on coming up with this itinerary since
5 days2 weeks ago, but I just have TOO MANYphotos to edit and…
Mcdonald’s Launches Chocolate Pie and Fish & Fries in Singapore!
Mcdonald’s Launches Chocolate Pie and Fish & Fries in Singapore!
Oh aren’t we tired of the usual mcspicy, fillet o fish and Big Mac at McDonald’s? Ok la I can hear you mcspicy fans screaming NO, but really sometimes a bit sian right? Ok I don’t care. I EAT SAME THING FOR 25 YEARS LIAO LEH.
Our prayers have been heard and answered!
http://explodingbelly.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/VID_26560922_041855_488.mp4Yeah I’m as excited as him, but I swear I didn’t…