Foodrepublic @ Singapore

There is this food court next to the monorail station to Sentosa in Vivo city.

Quite fascinated with its quaint interior decor which uses old doors, planks, wood and other materials from shop houses of yesteryear.

Was happily snapping away when after a dozen shots or so, a man came over and said to me 'Miss, no taking pictures please.' I looked at him puzzled and asked, 'Why?' He answered 'Trade secret'. What?! For these few planks of old wood and doors?
Ah well... since he asked so nicely...(he used 'Miss'!! Either he was missing something or I was ;p) I compliantly tucked away my camera. Nevertheless the 'miss' part of his request made my day and I happily went off looking for food to eat (instead of to shoot) :D

The dim sum in this stall is just ok.

K knows popiah is one of my all-time favourites. So wherever he sees them he will get some for me. These were, sorry to say, 'so sad'....Have to go to Penang for my popiah fix. Air Asia only RM19.99 or if luckier RM9.99!

I can never walk away from these whenever I sees them, don't know what it is called. These were only soft and fluffy when warm but dry and hard when cooled.

Found these in the stall next to the one selling the coconut snacks. Also don't know what it is called.

A pau with a much thinner layer of dough than the normal ones. Steamed and then pan fried until the skin is golden brown and a little crispy. Outside soft at the same time crispy and inside is a myriad of goodness like mushroom, tang hoon(mung bean vermicelli), dried prawns, sengkuang (jicama), spinach and a tiny bits of meat. Light and very good. Anybody knows what it is called?

Never very enthusiastic with foodcourt meals especially in Singapore but this Korean rice dish served in a hot stone bowl proved otherwise. Very authentic and very fiery spicy.

Jo

Sentosa Island

To Leanne's delight, the rain stopped and we were able to tear ourselves from the stores to head for the Sentosa Island.


As it was still wet and slightly drizzling, we headed for Singapore famous underwater world.

Sea horse

Sea Dragon

Also a sea dragon. Maybe male and female.

This beauty was about 2 feet long. Is this the delicious 'hoi die li' ? (K asked if I was hungry as I kept pointing out the sea food that I love:p)

Manage to catch a shot of this very shy eel that was hiding inside a rock.

Feeding time for the sting rays.

Snakes, worms or fish??

Many of these colorful coral fishes.

Deadliest jelly fish, we were told but look so graceful and harmless.

Less harmful but just as lovely.

This is appropriately named a Spectacle Box crab (I thought it was a shell)

And this a Sponge Crab.

Looking for lunch??

Gracie the Dugong. Very adorable but nothing like a mermaid though.

After the undersea escapade, it was still drizzling and cold. So what could be better than sitting down for a hot cuppa and some cakes. This cheese cake we had was so much tastier with creamier and smoother texture than the one we get in KK. Why, eh? Maybe the moon is always rounder overseas :p

Hah, but the texture of this cheese cake with blueberry topping was a little dry. Luckily the smooth sumptuous topping saved the cake.

Dunk these into the latte (I had a Belgium chocolate latte)...em...heaven.

Happy Easter to you!!

Jo

Dian Xiao Er @ Vivo City, Singapore

To go to Sentosa Island by the monorail we have to go to Vivo City, a shopping mall next to Harbourfront. The day started off with a drizzle and soon turned to a downpour. So we had to (miserably??) wait out the rain in this fabulous shopping mall where we were spoilt with choices of everything. There's our favourite Tangs here having a sales and guess where K and myself headed straight for? The household department, of course. Ok, shopping in another post. Back to food. Here we can find restaurants after restuarants and all looking so tempting especially when one is so ravenous after all that shopping. How to choose? That's when my dad's rule of thumb came in handy.

We found this lovely restuarant which was full at the time but we were willing to wait despite the groaning bellies.

Tung Po Ruo. This melts-in-the-mouth dish taste even better than the recipe I have which I thought was really good. It is close but I think they steamed the meat a lot longer than I did mine. Will share with you my recipe of this famous dish soon as I get an excuse to cook it.

The signature dish of this restaurant. Very delicious roast duck, crispy skin and juicy flesh with an intoxicating herbal sauce.

Lotus roots with macadamia nuts. Fresh and crunch, crunch, crunch in every bite. So good.

Broccoli with scallops. The scallops were first rate, very fresh, sweet and juicy. They were generous with these but we still fought over them.

Pork ribs and old cucumber soup. Almost as good as home brewed.

Ma po tofu. The humble dish that was totally over shadowed by the rest of the dishes. We have tasted better ma po sauce, the tofu was silky smooth though.

The restaurant has a beautiful view of Sentosa Island at the balcony seats but they were all taken. We got a table in a room which wasn't facing Sentosa but very private which was prefect for taking pictures. I still get very conscious of people staring when taking pictures of food in restaurants :P

Dishes come in s, m, l serving

A meal averages out to about SGD15 - 20 per pax

Jo