This is how spam fries should be done. Thick-cut babies with light-as-feather, thin-crisp skin. Each bite reveals intensely flavoured, msg-filled, meaty centres. As vegans and health nuts shudder in delight, carnivores and folks with permanent #drunkcravings relish each indulgent stick. With nary a taste of rancid oil, you've got a delish bar snack. I'm also enamoured by the fact that rather than use goopy, cloying cheese, #TanukiRaw geniuses have drenched the bucket of yummy with sour cream, guacamole and salsa. The cooling nature of the dip offsets the oiliness and heaviness of the fries. So you've got fresh guac and sour cream with guilty pleasure fries, what better way to enjoy than with a cold beer!

I finally hopped onto the tendon hype and popped by #tendonginzaitsuki for dinner. While not unpleasant, it wasn't an outstanding beacon of Japanese gastronomical delight either. It wasn't bad. I enjoyed that it wasn't too greasy, that portions were hearty and that there was a free flow of pickled vegetables to cleanse my palette. I particularly enjoyed the onsen egg sitting innocently under the towering shrimp and pieces of tempura-ed chicken fillets (though a little dry, they were entirely flavourless). It burst with gooey abandon and brought oomph to the dish. What really stood out though, was the starter that came with this $13.90 set - Chawanmushi. Silky smooth, pudding-like egg with the ability to melt into a rich broth in the mouth. So worth it!

Hello Easties! Looking for fantastic Italian food and Tiramisu? You need to visit Al Forno, along Upper East Coast Road and right next to Penny University. In Perth, when I craved hearty Italian, I'd always visit Ciao Italia, here my go-to is Al Forno. The owner is a burly Italian dude (I think he is Italian lah.) who has his hair up in a bun. In the afternoon, you can see him prepping dough for the evening's worth of wood-fired pizzas by the window. Like an authentic trattoria, the restaurant is entirely unpretentious, with warm service, huge plates of pasta, pizza and everything in between. I especially love their lasagna. But what I adore, is their Tiramisu. I'm not saying it's the best in the world, but it is the closest you'll get Singapore to authentic Tiramisu. (Very different from the manufactured crap you get elsewhere.) Layers of thick, whipped cream cover coffee-soaked ladyfingers. Underneath it all there's an undercurrent of coffee-based liquor, followed by a generous dusting of cocoa powder. At $9, this Palm-sized, rough-cut square is not the cheapest. But if you want good, you gotta pay good too right? A melt-in-your-mouth, pillowy treat that balances the savoury richness of a con carne wood-fired pizza (meat pizza - also another one of my favourites here)
Also, just to let y'all know, there was once I went and ordered the tiramisu, only to get a square that had used slightly spoilt cream. I was utterly disappointed, but was assured it was a one-off thing. And when I went again, just two days ago, it was just as perfect as I had hoped. So yeah, just a heads up.

Popped by @hicjuicesg's cafe at Centrepoint a while back for an Acai bowl (I love Acai bowls, they're like the healthy cousins of ice cream and yogurt.) I love how this juice company has branched out so much. They now do Acai bowls, and they offer a SOUP cleanse on top of their juice cleanse. I complained a while back that juice cleanses suck cause it's all sweet and sickly after 3 days of fruits and veggies pressed into a watery pulp. But with a soup cleanse, you've got sweet AND savoury. Fair warning though, it's not thick and rich soup. Yes, it has plenty of flavour, but there's a... Lightness to it that reminds you that their soups are cleansing. I loved the creamy mushroom and tomato basil. Before you embark on a cleanse, you should pop down to the cafe to try out a few flavours. They're sold individually here with the Acai bowls and ice creams! It's about two servings per bottle so you'll be really full after :) anyway, I'm only putting this up now cause I feel like I've been indulging a bit too much lol. So... I might attempt a cleanse soon. MIGHT. #hicjuice

I had food cubes the other day. At Tanjong Pagar MRT station there's a store called Food Anatomy that also serves up Illy coffee, and this was all on display! Pretty cubes of favourite dishes. I jumped to get the (clockwise from bottom left) Thai basil pork rice, teriyaki rice cube, bacon and sweet potato cube and seafood pasta bake. Of the four, I think the teriyaki done and the sweet potato bacon were perfect. Honestly, one is enough for an entire meal, about the width of my palm and the height of a muffin. I microwaved them when I got home and had them - still good! The teriyaki one in particular was great, it tasted like the gravy-soaked rice from tori-Q with a layer of shredded seaweed and topped with juicy morsels of chicken

The best chicken rice in the east is tucked into the basement of Katong Shopping Centre. There's always a massive queue, a scary electric-blue light zapping bugs and never any tables. But there is the sweet sweet savoury scent of juicy, tender chicken served with a heaping of achar, the store's soup of the day and mouthwatering bean sprout topped with crunchy salted fish and abalone slices! While the rice isn't the most fragrant of chicken rice, it is the tastiest. It is all the "Liao" that makes this an amazing meal and an overpowering rice will just drown out all the flavours of the rest of the dishes. By far my favourite chicken rice of all time.

#unagi. This was rather delicious, or.. More intriguing than delicious. I feel it's flavour is something you need to get used to. I finally popped by the tiny Unagi bolthole, #ManManUnagj. It felt really synthetic Japanese. The ceiling was low, furnishings more functional then decorative with an airtight focus on just one ingredient - Unagi. The tubs of live eel sat in a corner, and behind the tables, off its side, a glass wall separated the diners from the chefs. You could watch clearly as the chefs efficiently ambit gruesomely prepared your meal from literal start to finish. BBQ-Ed in the spot, the skin is crusty, with a caramelized surface that hides a flaky interior. The meat is succulent with a strong smoky taste far from what you enjoy when you eat store bought Unagi. I enjoyed it, but I won't necessarily come back, might take a while before I feel strong enough to watch my dinner being slaughtered in front of me. Haha

Well what do we have here? It's a giant pot of fresh seafood of which I'm too short to capture a perfectly aligned image of! At $118, this was a seriously good bargain. Fresh, mouth-watering seafood atop a bed of clams, soaking in some clear broth. You can opt to have it with mala soup, but my gang and I wanted something fresher. It was light, the steamed scampi, scallops, lobsters, clams, oysters, prawns and more, fresh and seasoned with a hint of garlic. Wows. No regrets, just lots of love. It was just the right size of six of us! #seafood Also, like steamboat places, they had a buffet of sauces, and I made the perfect dip - of course.

Ahhh Xing Ji Bak Chor Mee.. Like your brother next door (but I love you more, shhhh), I love you deep deep, your springy noodles, perfectly cooked with a chewy bite that is coated in your slurp-worthy broth. A gentle pinch from the red chillis for a little omph and magnifique meatballs to round up the dish. Slurped down with a cup of sugar cane, you make rainy days bright again. #bakchormee #bedok85

I had this today. Perfectly pink and perfectly cooked in every way. Each pearl of rice had a lovely bite to it saving the dish from becoming mushy. The diced beets were a happy surprise with every bite and the scallops plump and juicy. But... But.. And I hate to say this.. But the dish was so salty.... Salty in the sense that there was either too much stock or.. Something. I really needed to drink A LOT of water (and the glass of water was so schmall I had to keep asking for refills :/) I'm not saying it was bad, I'm saying it was just too.. Much. Too much. Still worth coming for the lovely service and the dessert! Note to self: don't order something just cause it's pink! The dish costs $22 and is definitely more than enough for one person. Visit @epiphyte.sg to try it! ⠀
Get dessert to balance out the flavours everyone.

Right, so I've been saving this for a special occasion, and I think #SinglesDay is the perfect time: this is the Mao Shang wang dessert with sticky rice from @sawadeethaicuisine. This restaurant has been around for a while and they just updated their menu. Their Thai dishes authentic with just a hint of Singapore. Unlike Thai restaurants in Thailand, they aim to create a balance of flavours rather than overwhelm you with too many flavours. For that, I appreciate them very much. This colourful dessert is a must to experience there, a unique take on mango sticky rice. It is, however, very very heavy. Think aromatic, creamy, Mao Shang wang purée atop bluepea tinged sticky rice. With two sticky textures, the dish is a little odd, but the flavours more than make up for it, an explosion of durian from the purée softened by the mild, sticky rice. Be sure to share, one person will NOT be able to finish it. #durian #thaicuisine Thank you @thegoodfolks for the company and tasting! :)

Yum nom nom! @gastrosmiths dished out an amazingly warm and hearty bowl of mee sua with a few new tricks. Their New Fisherman's Mee Sua is flavoured with kimchi, laden with gigantic prawns and soft, yet flakey, cod. Capers are liberally sprinkled all over the dish for that tangy punch. Just a wonderful dish that comforts.