Vinco

Vinco Donuts....
Vivocity
http://www.vinco.com.sg/



the variety of donuts they had to offer....



dun worry, DUN HAFTA QUEUE!



The display....



after that pic above, i was stopped by the shop assistant from taking anymore pics.

Ordered only half a dozen of the donuts because received reviews that their donuts aint fantastic.



i ordered the smiling nutz, mighty almond, mon cherie, original glaze, ms rich, stormy peanut.

Smiling Nutz... as the name kinda suggests, its the peanut butter version. It very much tastes like a donut wif skippy peanut butter on top. The peanut butter is the very thick kind. In comparison to Donut Factory, Donut Factory's peanut butter one wins big time. Donut Factory's peanut butter is very smooth and oozes out of the donut. Vinco's peanut butter is too thick for my liking. I dun recall Summer House has a peanut butter version.

Mighty Almond.... this is the nicest of the lot (in my view that is) in terms of toppings. Its like white chocolate wif almond flakes. Don't think Summer House or Donut Factory has any flavour close to this.

Mon Cherie... nice name but not so nice taste. The white white stuff is icing sugar and the middle is some jam like substance wif very round thick balls.. the jam doesnt exactly taste fantastic. In comparison to Donut Factory's strawberry heart, Donut Factory wins hands down in my view. Also, compared to Summer House, in my view, i kinda think Summer House's one is better.

Original Glaze... if im to rate, Donut Factory's original glaze is the best. Its like that old classic phrase.. " so good u can eat it on its own ".. summerhouse's one is 2nd... the dough is quite thick but still ok i guess... Vinco's one is soft in a way but not as good as Donut Factory's and the sugar glaze is not as sweet.. very artifical kinda taste. But dats just my views.

Ms Rich.. this is effectively their kaya version. The kaya is rather rough. comparatively i think i prefer Donut Factory's version. Dun think summerhouse has a kaya version.

Stormy Peanut... the chocolate taste is thicker den Donut Factory's hazelnut chocolate.

Overall, i'd say i personally think Donut Factory's donuts are much nicer. Vinco is worth a try but not worth queuing (not that theres a queue). Donut Factory at least makes me feel dat the queue is .. in some ways, justified. Summerhouse is mainly losing out in the dough.. its not as soft... but toppings wise, summerhouse offers a much more comprehensive menu as compared to the other two.

Boost

Walking around Vivocity, i got thirsty ... passed by Boost and decided to be healthy and get a juice....



The stall...



The different sizes of drinks...



reminds me of Mix. I had some watermelon crush thingy. Was too sweet for my liking.

Dong Dae Mun

After Superdog, we were walking around and it was somewhere near Superdog where there was this section where there are those food stalls where u usually pack and go. This stall caught mum's eyes....



its korean food!



apparently these are all very korean street food...



and they had sticks of meat.. this is beef...



chicken....



pork...



the pork caught mum's eyes so we packed a few sticks home. Mum heated them up for dinner when we got home. The pork comes with thick layers of fats. Not for me but those who like those will love these. And although it comes in spicy and non spicy version, i couldnt quite taste the difference (maybe coz mum mixed them all together in a plate when we got home).

Superdog

Superdog...

Vivo City #B2-40/41
1 Harbourfront Walk
(S) 098585



the counters...



we were given some coupons so we ordered a set and another ala carte order of the hot dog.

I changed the fries for the set to the chilli cheese fries...



well, its those typical chilli cheese fries.. and i dun think im a good judge coz i only had like one piece (bad throat) and of coz, im not a fries person.

we had a... ok, i cannot remember the name of the burger but its the only burger on the menu wif a double beef patty (OOoo...)...



check out the doneness.....



i can still see pink! *nod nod* yes! yes! yes! Its GOOD! U koe how i'd usually remove the bottom piece of the bread? Trust me, McDonald's burger's bottom piece of bread will just be a dry piece.. (if its moist, its coz from the condensation due to the heat) .. but for this one, i couldnt resist taking a bite and i ended up finishing half of the bread because the juice from the patty has soaked thru.. the bread had this warm beefy taste... its nice its nice!

and for mum, i got her a German Polish ($5.80)....



was told the bratwurst is a lil pepperish, the spicy italian is a bit spicy and the polish is the more saltish one. It was not bad. But i think i still miss good old viking... so sad dat viking didnt last.

Koo Kee

I had lunch at Koo Kee. Ordered their jelly fish.....



even the colour looks quite different from my first visit. I remember the jelly fish from my first visit was excellent and made the subsequent jelly fish i had at other restaurants (even those from higher tier of standard) pale in comparison. However, the standards of their jelly fish seems to haf dropped. Although still relatively better den the rest (especially if u factor in the prices), it still isnt as nice as the first visit.

Also ordered xiao long bao....



the xiao long bao was great. Temperature was just nice so i could pop the whole thing in and i could feel the soup and the meat and all.. and it didnt break.. it was great!

Long John Silvers

Lunch today was with Shyanne. We went over to Sing Post and ended up at long john silvers. realised that a subway is opening up right opposite LJS (yay!).

I was contemplating between the grilled cajun chicken vs the fried fish and fries. But since Shyanne was going for the chicken, i decided to be boring and stick back to my usual fish and fish. I like the fish from LJS.. dun like their fried chicken coz its hard and tough breast meat.

The fish and fries i had...



which i usually wun eat the fries and today i had shyanne to finish them for me.

the cajun grilled chicken...



the rice needs alot of improvement. the chicken was not bad though. pretty tender thou its not very fresh but it was ok. Taste was pretty good as well in my view.

Jack's Place

Ooi offered us a treat at Ang Mo Kio's Jack's Place. He said this Jack's Place is best among the many he has tried....

Blk 730 Ang Mo Kio Ave 6
#01-4274
Tel: 64549677 / 64520142



btw, pictures are gonna be quite lousy coz i forgot to bring my camera and jack's place was dark, it was hard to get a clear shot using my n73.

The whole exterior deco of the place reminds me of the 70s...



the place was really crowded.. in fact, im suspecting Jack's Place at some shopping centre areas might not be as busy as this outlet.

the menu....



i had my fav lobster bisque soup....



love the taste of their lobster bisque. Delifrance bistro has a similar tasting one.

Ooi got us to choose from the lobster and crab stuffed mushroom and escargot... Jack's place is the first restaurant where i tried escargot probably more den a decade ago and i loved it. but i thot we'd try something new so we ordered the lobster and crab stuffed mushroom....



Wrong choice. not dat its lousy but its definitely not good. They probably should work on the recipe a bit more.

we also had the seafood salad...



was alright (definitely better den Lawry's spinning bowl salad .. im sorry, i just HAD TO make dat comparison). It comes wif prawns, crab meat and REAL crab meat and tuna with thousand island dressing..

Ooi's chicken and lobster combo....



looks pretty good. the chicken looks tender. definitely not breast meat.

my fillet mignon..



at only $21 and i think its tasty. got a piece of bacon surrounding it.

uncle sq's venison and lobster combo...



The venison tasted quite a lot like beef.

ah yee's venison medallion...



pretty good as well.

Basil Alcove

Went for dinner at Basil Alcove at the delightful company of 2 handsomes. I was under the impression that Basil had changed their menu but apparently its next mth (i think?).

the caesar salad.....



lotsa cheese, lotsa raisins, great dressing. would be better if theres a bit more bacon but im satisfied.

wanted to order the duck but they were out of it so i ordered the always good and affordable mushroom and bacon aglio. requested it to be more salty coz i koe Xander doesnt usually use salt in his dishes...



its not bad but still not salty enuff for me. ha.. portion was great at a very very reasonable price of $5.50.

Can't wait for his new menu to be out.

Helio Cafe

The table was set for 7 of us. Aunty lu made the bookings. apparently there was some issues during the reservations.

The table....



The reservation was made for 7 person, $35 per person.

First up was soup and salad. It was the creamless mushroom soup with salad. The salad included some ginger lily (or was it called wild ginger? can't remember), orchids and some expensive cheese as wat Clement explained.



a close up of the salad...



the white white thingy is the cheese. its w/o the strong cheesy taste and its rather chewy in a way.

for main course, Clement prepared about 6 main course and told us that one pastry chicken covers 2 mains.

The pastry chicken (garlic tarragon chicken) ...



Clement cutting it open....



the chicken revealed...



the chicken today was much bigger. Fragrance was still there but i recall the one from my previous visit was nicer in the sense that the fragrance was stronger and the meat was more tender and bouncier.

Next was the red wine chicken.....



many of the ladies liked this chicken better among the rest of the chicken. I personally prefer the garlic tarragon chicken.

another chicken dish (yes, we were stuffed with chicken for the night) was the honey mustard chicken....



it was pretty alright but not popular wif everyone. I think it may be a case of too much chicken. haha.. and likewise, somehow the chicken today isnt as bouncy as my previous visits.

den was the salmon in cream sauce and the cream sauce was osmanthus (hope im spelling it correctly)....



the salmon is super good! The cream sauce received a lot of thumbs up and the salmon was cooked just nice, not overcooked resulting in it being too dry or hard. Aunt nana commented saying usually she cannot take too many mouths of salmon but not for this.

the last mains that Clement prepared was the pork wraps.....



most of the ladies didnt fancy this but we agreed its fun and something different. It went well for aunt nana though so she ended up finishing this for us.

Dessert wise, Clement prepared the chocolate erika for us...



its chocolate mousse inside. According to Clement, its sugar free. Pretty smooth texture.

Den the baked cheese cake....



a closer up view...



this cheese cake was really good. went really well on me. Mmmmm~

the brownie wif ice cream....



didnt quite like the brownie. Not my kind of brownie.

Overall, dinner went fine but generally, most felt that pricing was a bit steep and would haf wanted more variety aside from chicken.