We thought that Boon Tong Kee wouldn't be open due to the chicken shortage but thankfully, they were still serving chicken rice! We ordered the signature half chicken, which was more than enough for 3 persons. While we love the fatty layers and the chicken skin, we felt that the meat was a lot tougher now and parts of the chicken tasted a little overcooked. 😰 Nonetheless, the dish was priced pretty reasonably at $12++.

Glad that their rice and chilli sauce are still as fragrant as ever, and this more than made up for the chicken.

We decided to try a dessert at Hvala @ Chijmes for the first time and given the cafe's matcha specialty, we decided to order the waffle with a 2-degree matcha scoop. The waffles were thick and fluffy but for those of you who like crispy waffles, you may want to know that the waffles at Hvala aren't crispy and even the exterior is on the softer side.

The scoop of matcha ice cream was delicious, however, and we liked that it really came with the distinct bitterness of matcha. We ordered the 2-degree matcha, which wasn't overly bitter although if you want something more intense, you can try gunning for the 3-degreee matcha! The dessert isn't cheap however, as it is priced at $13.90++, which is much more expensive than what a waffle + single scoop would cost in many other ice cream parlours.

Hvala was decently-packed on a weekday afternoon and many tables were taken! We were allocated to a tatami area and although it provided a nice setting to take photos, it wasn't very comfortable as you had to sit cross-legged for extended periods of time! Suggest you go for the tables unless you are used to sitting in such positions. 😁

Percolate is one of our favourite cafes in the east and we are back today for their pastries and coffee! We tried a kaya croissant which was good as usual - the croissant was crispy and really buttery, and it paired really well with the Kaya which was really gao. Definitely very comforting for breakfast, and it was reasonably-priced at $5!

For our filter coffee, we decided to get the Enciso blend (Colombia), which was on the sweeter side as it had notes of apricot, cocoa and honey. For those of you who don't like coffees with very strong notes, we strongly encourage you to try this if it's available. It costs $7, which is pretty standard for filter coffee too!

Percolate wasnt too crowded when we went at late morning on a Sunday, and you can still find seats fairly easily unless you are heading down in a big group!

Hay Gelato is a simple ice cream shop located under a block of flats in the Bedok North area and it's location isn't exactly the best, as you need at least a 10-minute walk from either Bedok Reservoir or Bedok MRT to get there! That being said, we decided to try it as we were in the area and we ordered a waffle, with a scoop of soursop and Hojicha ice creams!

The waffle was really generous and it was really thick so it can get pretty filling! However, we really like the crisp exterior and you can certainly hear the crunch with every bite. The waffle was served atop a layer of maple syrup on the plate, and the two went together pretty well even without the ice cream!

The soursop ice cream really tasted like soursop and we were glad to try it as it isn't a very common flavour. However, it melts very fast so you should take note to eat it quickly! The hojicha ice cream also had a fairly strong taste of roasted tea and it was very interesting that the scoop was topped with rice crackers too. That being said, perhaps we shouldn't have paired the two flavours together as the flavours were pretty conflicting - a sweet-tasting scoop and a burnt scoop don't go too well together. 😂

We paid $14 in total, which is a pretty average price for a waffle with two scoops of ice cream! We would be back to try their other more interesting flavours in future.

We are back at Hans Im Gluck to try their other beef burgers and this time, we decided to try out the Scharfrichter! This beef burger contained a beef patty, topped with portobello mushrooms and rockett leaves, and were covered in a generous serving of black pepper sauce. The black pepper sauce went pretty well with the beef patty, although the restaurant might have been a little too generous with the sauce, which made eating the burger a little too messy. Also, the sauce is one of the spicier black pepper sauces that we have tried, so this is definitely something to be wary off! Nonetheless, black pepper + beef + mushrooms is definitely a combination that cannot go wrong. 😋

We upgraded the burger to a set meal and we ordered a Weissbier with our meal to have the full dining experience! For the full meal, we paid $31 and we were really full after it (presumably because of the beer). Boat Quay was fairly empty on a weekday afternoon, although you can be sure this place livens up a lot at night, so do make a reservation if you are heading down for dinner!

We tried a new side dish at New Fut Kai today - the tempeh mixed vegetable with curry! The highlight of this dish was definitely the curry, as it was really flavourful and it was served piping hot. The curry was slightly more viscous, and it was really wonderful to pair it with the white rice. For those of you who are not comfortable with spicy food, it is worth giving this curry a try as it is not very spicy and there is an option for it to be made less spicy as well.

There was a large assortment of vegetables in the curry (including lady's fingers, potatoes, capsicum and carrots), together with tempeh (fermented soybean cake) of course.

We ordered the $14++ portion, which is more than enough for 2 pax especially if you are planning to finish all the curry. However, if you are visiting New Fut Kai in a bigger group, there is a larger $26++ portion that you can consider as well.

We were pretty impressed by New Fut Kai's hotpots in our previous visit and we decided to try another hotpot during our visit today! We got the soy milk Miso Hotpot, which fortunately tasted a lot more like miso soup than soy milk. Don't worry though, as it wasn't very salty and the miso taste wasn't very overpowering!

There was a huge variety of ingredients in this hotpot, including shimeji mushrooms, red dates, broccoli, corn, radish, black fungus, tofu-based wantons and peach gum! It was a very healthy dish and it was definitely heartwarming to have it on a rainy day. This was the $25++ serving, which we thought was just enough for 2 persons. However, if you are visiting in a bigger group, there is a bigger serving size of $38++ that you could consider as well. :)

Although we visited New Fut Kai on a weekday evening, the restaurant was still very packed! Clearly, it has been making a name for itself in the vegetarian circuit and we strongly encourage you to make a reservation beforehand!

We waited for the hype to die down before finally visiting eggslut, but it turned out to be pretty crowded still on an early Saturday morning. However we still managed to get a seat without waiting.

Of course we had to get the iconic Fairfax Sandwich ($12) and we got sausage ($4) as an add on. The melted cheese and creamy eggs looked really appetising and it went well with the soft fluffy brioche buns. However, getting the sausage add on is a mistake as we found it too salty and masked the flavours of the eggs cheese and even the sriracha mayo. We were also curious why the sausage is green.

While we liked the generous portion of the scrambled eggs and how aesthetically pleasing they are, we think that there are places with better scrambled eggs and this is definitely overhyped.

Instead of getting two Fairfax sandwiches, we decided to try out something more ordinary on the menu - the sausage, eggs and cheese sandwich! While the base sandwich costs $12, we decided to pay $1.50 more to upgrade our egg to scrambled eggs!

We felt that the highlights were the brioche bun, which were incredibly soft and fluffy, as well as the scrambled eggs, which were really light and fluffy too! If only Eggslut gave us a more generous serving of scrambled eggs here, just like the amount served for the Fairfax sandwich! 🤨 The sausage was pretty ordinary to be honest and it was really similar to what you can find in a Sausage McMuffin. Thankfully, Eggslut differentiates a little by adding honey mustard, which gave a slight tangy sweetness to the sausage patty.

Overall, we felt that Eggslut was a little over-hyped and it didn't feel very worth it to pay $13.50 for this burger. It was still pretty delicious, however, so we might pay a visit again someday!

Eggslut has been on our list for quite a while and we finally decided to try it after seeing that the queue at the shop has shortened significantly! Don't be deceived by the lack of a queue outside the shop, however, as it is pretty crowded inside and you may have to wait a while to get a table. 😮

For our meal, we ordered the buttermilk biscuits for our sides! Do note that these are the classic English biscuits, which are a lot drier than our usual everyday biscuits. The buttermilk biscuits are also rather salty but thankfully, Eggslut serves its biscuits with a dose of sweet cream that makes the biscuits a lot more yummy, as the cream masks the salty taste to quite a large extent!

Nevertheless, we will probably go for the truffle hash browns next time as we don't think it's worth to pay $6 for these biscuits.

For the month of June 2022, Baristart has launched a limited-time series of matcha-based desserts and drinks and one such item is the matcha cream puff! The item is based on Baristart's famous cream puff - it contains the same choux crust albeit with green tea powder sprinkled over it's exterior, and the interior contains a thick matcha-based cream filling! We liked the matcha filling a lot as it was pretty bitter and concentrated, and it was definitely a big change from the sweet fillings in their usual cream puffs. The choux crust retained it's crisp texture even with the cream filling so you can take each bite with a nice crunch.

That being said, the matcha cream puff is pretty pricey and it costs $9++, which is a notch above the usual cream puff. Nonetheless, it was a great dessert and we might try it once more while it is available!

We are glad that Baristart now opens earlier on weekends (9 am on Sundays) and we visited for breakfast today! Baristart is still pretty crowded in the morning and there were not many empty tables, so you may have to be prepared to wait a while for a table.

For our drink, we ordered the large rooibos Txpresso latte and we were shocked by the size of the cup, as it was as wide as our faces! This was really value-for-money because we paid only $2++ more to upsize our drink. We could taste the rooibos tea but the main difference in Baristart's version is how milky the drink is! 😁 The taste of the fresh milk used in this drink is a lot more pronounced and we like the beautiful latte art as well. Do try it as the drink costs $8++ after upsizing, and it's enough to be shared between two!