Click on Index for 365days2play’s entire list of restaurants and cafes.
March 11th, 2014 
365days2play Filmhouse Festival, a rooftop movie screening at myVillage.sg in Serangoon Gardens will be happening on 15 March 5.30pm! To make visiting myVillage (shopping centre) more fun and exciting, how about we throw in $50 worth of shopping vouchers for free??
Check out my Facebook for details on how to enter. Contest ends 12 March 2014 Wednesday 2359. Easy Peasy!
Posted in 1.9 Others, Explore Singapore!, Shopping, What's on? 
Tags: Contest, myVillage 
Comments Off on Win $50 shopping vouchers from myVillage! May 22nd, 2011 365days2play *Part Bloggers’ Invite, part secret visits*
As part of the not so long ago invite to sample the delights of myVillage at Serangoon Gardens, the best of the best Singapore Food Bloggers including 365days2play 🙂 got acquainted with Daikokuya at myVillage. It’s one of the smallest restaurants I’ve ever seen, with about 10 tables of 4! It can get a little cramped if you are in a big group. We were introduced to the the Chef, who explained that the miso paste used in the soup stock is painstakingly made with great care.
Little bowls of ramen were then dished out for us to try. I normally am quite picky with ramen. Many ramen places disappoint me with their bland and lifeless soup. True to what Daikokuya’s Chef was describing, the ramen that we tried that day, I believe is the Stamina Ramen as well as the Original Miso Ramen, was very delicious. The soups tasted rich and had an oomph. I don’t really know how else to describe it except to say that the taste makes you want to keep slurping up more, which I suppose is the ultimate taste test.
So I kinda had pretty high hopes when I brought my parents to try out Daikokuya several weeks after the media event. Unfortunately, because we’re such ardent fans of Sushi Tei for it’s quality sushi/sashimi and value for money prices, we naturally compared Daikokuya to Sushi Tei. Scroll through the photos to read more about our experience.
Daikokuya Original Salad $7.90 – Salad of salmon slices, avocados amongst a huge bed of vegetables. For $7.90, we were quite wowed by the size of the salad. The vegetables were fresh and crunchy. The light sauce also tasted very nice and was a refreshing difference from the heavier sushi tei dressing we are used to. However, we felt that the amount of salmon served was pretty paltry. For $3 more at Sushi Tei, we would have been able to get many more thick slices.
Stamina Ramen – This was one of the ramen we tried during the media invite. Don’t you think the little bowl looks so cute? In western restaurants, they have mixed platters for you to try out all the house specialities. I think it would be great if Daikokuya could come up with something similar. Like 4 bowls of small ramen. I would love to try that. Then I can finally taste Shio, Shoyu, and Miso soup bases all in 1 sitting. Btw I think Stamina ramen is only available at the myVillage outlet.
Homemade Special Miso Paste plus the special chilli vinegar which you can add to your ramen to up the oomph.
Vegetable Miso Ramen $12.80 – You know, I’ve never heard of ramen without any meat before. Was quite apprehensive when ordering this, but it turned out to be a pleasant surprise. I forgot to ask if the stock is vegetarian as well, but it sure tasted very rich and flavourful despite that. The vegetables had a nice crunch and added sweetness to the broth. For those who don’t fancy chomping on Cha shu, this vegetable miso ramen would be a good option.
Daikokuya Original Ramen $13.80 – I have no complaints about the broth. It’s really flavourful and makes you want to take sip after sip after sip. It is on the heavy side so I wasn’t able to finish it all in the end. However, I didn’t like the noodle texture. I’ve always been a fan of the springy Q Q type of noodles (think Marutama and Tom Ton) and the one at Daikokuya is the chewy type.
Seafood Shio Ramen $13.80 – Don’t believe you can get seafood ramen easily in Singapore? It’s a refreshing change although there was nothing particularly spectacular about the prawns in this case.
Unagi Don $6.80 – Thought this was one of the most value for money items at Daikokuya, and especially good for light eaters.
Tonkatsu and Ebi Fry Curry Rice $14.80 – We had this on 2 separate occasions. The experience from the 1st time was pretty good. The meat itself is very tender and doesn’t taste oily even though it has been coated in batter and deep fried. The curry was also pretty tasty and together with the tonkatsu, made for a good meal. I would skip the Ebi Fry though as the prawns are super tiny when compared to the amount of batter used.
However, on the 2nd occasion, there seemed to be a weird taste coming from the curry. The weird taste was so strong it was detectable just by sniffing at the curry! The staff said it was due to the special blend of spices in the curry which we may not be used to. They gave us a new serving of curry but the weird taste was still there. As a hunch I took a sip from the glass of water I’d been served earlier, and the weird taste was there too, albeit less strong. I think perhaps Daikokuya should consider changing the dishwashing liquid used as it’s permeating through the food and drink?
Conclusion: Go because of the ramen. Other items in the menu are a hit and miss.
Check out all the other posts on myVillage!
Daikokuya Ramen Dining
Serangoon Garden:
1 Maju avenue #01-01, myVillage
Serangoon Garden Singapore 556679
Tel: 6509 1690
Operating Hours: 11.30am – 10.30pm daily
April 24th, 2011 365days2play *Bloggers’ Invite*
I feel like an ambassador of myVillage. After 3 months, I am still not done with the posts of my numerous visits there, and guess what, I was there again today. After this post on Chinta Manis, do keep a watch out for reviews on Daikokuya, Bakerzin, Obolo, Da Paolo Gastronomia (coffee visit), Old Hong Kong Taste (2nd visit!) and Shin Kushiya (2nd visit!).
Ok so back to Chinta Manis. Everyone has heard of Bengawan Solo, which is famous for its kuehs and Chinese New Year goodies such as love letters. You may even have heard of Kedai Kue Kue, which also sells kuehs, although I have never tried it. Chinta Manis is the new kid on the block, just about a year old with 3 outlets already, the latest one being located at the basement of myVillage.
Meaning “Sweet Love” in Malay, Chinta Manis combines both heritage and innovation by serving a range of Nyonya Kuehs and Desserts, all hand made and without any preservatives at all! Chinta Manis prides itself on being modern. To keep up with the changing tastes, they’ve even come up with things like Chendol Agar Agar. Apparently they are quite sellable. One of the business partners of Chinta Manis told me many of the people who buy the Chendol Agar Agar are youngsters who love the idea of trying out new things.
I have to admit I am not an expert at kuehs so I’ll be keeping my comments short. I hardly eat any these days although when I was younger, my grandfather used to buy lots of them, especially my favourite Pulut Seri Kaya. I still love Pulut Seri Kaya but these days I like ondeh ondeh too because of the gula melaka liquid inside them.
But the one thing you definitely have to try, and you must listen to me because I’m a self-proclaimed expert on chocolate cakes 
, is the Chocolate Ecstasy Cake. It’s really damn good. For only $4.50 for a small chocolate cake, it’s a bargain, when similar looking cakes from Canele are going at almost double the price. This Chocolate Ecstasy Cake is deliciously chocolatey with a good combination of sponge in between the fudge layers.
After trying out the single serve, you can consider buying the whole chocolate cake, for a birthday or for days when you need to ward off depression.
See the 2nd tier, that’s the Chendol Agar Agar. Is that creative or what?
Rempah Udang $1.20 – Some prawn thing with rice I believe
Pulut Seri Kaya $0.90 – The top part is kaya jelly while the bottom part is sweet rice. I am so used to the Bengawan Solo or the traditional ones which are rectangular. Those sweet tooths (or is it sweet teeth) amongst us would love it that the ratio of kaya to rice is higher than the traditional type. The yellow one is durian I believe. The ones I sampled there were fine, but the rice on the ones I bought back home was kinda of hard. I wonder if it’s a no no to keep kueh more than 1 day?
Pulut Inti $0.90 – That’s the green one.Didn’t get to try this one.
Clockwise starting from the green one Kueh Lopis $1 for 2, Ondeh Ondeh $0.70, Kueh Koswee $0.70 and Ubi Kayu $0.70 – Tried these at home. Didn’t like the Ondeh Ondeh because it didn’t have the squirty gula melaka liquid in it. The Kueh Lopis rice was also rather dry. The Kueh Koswee and Ubi Kayu tasted fine but texturally were not as bouncy as the ones from Bengawan Solo. I have no idea which is supposed to be the authentic style, you decide.
Ondeh Gula Melaka $2.50 for 6 – I love eating this because of the gula melaka liquid in them. The more liquid the better. I just love it when the liquid squirts out with the 1st bite. It’s always a wise idea to close your mouth when eating this! I tried some this evening. They were also little hard and dry but thankfully still retained enough of the gula melaka.
Chinta Manis @ China Square Food Court
51 Telok Ayer Street #01-03
Singapore 048441
Tel: +65.6225.4754 | Fax: +65. 6225.4729
Business Hours
Mon – Fri | 8:00am – 8:00pm
Sat – Sun | Closed
Chinta Manis @ myVillage Serangoon Gardens
1 Maju Avenue, # B1 -05K
Singapore 556679
Tel: +65.6634.5424
Business Hours
Mon – Fri | 10:00am – 8:00pm
Sat – Sun | 10:00am – 10:00pm
Chinta Manis Kiosk @ Daily Toast
65 Killiney Road
Singapore 239524
Tel: +65.6235.0065
Business Hours
Mon – Fri | 7:00am – 7:30pm
Sat – Sun | 7:00am – 3:00pm
Posted in 1.0 Media Invites Tags: bloggers' invite, chinta manis, chocolate cake, kueh, myVillage, myvillage mall, Peranakan 8 Comments » March 28th, 2011 365days2play *Bloggers’ Invite*
When I stayed at Holland Village, I used to like to go into the Da Paolo Gastronomia outlet at Chip Bee Gardens. I would sneak in, sniff around and quickly snap some shots of the lovely food displays, pizzas and cupcakes. Those were the days before I started food blogging seriously, and I always thought the displays looked so pretty. But I was always afraid that the chef would come at me with a butcher’s knife since I didn’t buy anything.
So I was so glad to be invited down for a sampling session lately at the Da Paolo Gastronomia myVillage outlet. Finally, a chance to snap snap snap to my heart’s content! I really loved the Gorgonzola Pizza with Caramelised Onions that we had there. The sweetness of the onions paired so well with the gorgonzola. When I get the chance, I’m going to order myself an entire portion of it, as well as a latte. A latte costs only $3.50! Even my favourite standalone cafes charge more than that! See the last photo for the price list of the drinks.
Did you know, all the ingredients that Da Paolo uses are sourced from Italy? You can purchase the cooked food and eat it right here on the premises.
Whenever I see things like these, I always imagine buying the lot and throwing a party. Half the job done for you already and everyone will be none the wiser.
Mmmmm the best “dessert pizza” I’ve had in a long time. The Partner doesn’t think it tastes sweet enough to be called a “dessert pizza”, but I think it does!
Spinach Tagliatelle. There’s also herb pasta and a few more if you look at the 1st picture. I love the different variations!
Well who would have thought of all the places to get Hello Kitty memorabilia, it would be here, and wine to boot! .
Mmmm… tasty
I love this picture! Martina of Da Paolo is from Italy and she demonstrates how the Italians show their appreciation for delicious food. And there’s Darren of CelebrateLah showing his approval of the food at Da Paolo.
Hey the Cafe Latte is only $3.50 and the Hot Chocolate is only $4! I was kind of expecting something more expensive. Will have to try out the drinks some day. Click on the photo to see the drinks price list.
Posted in Cafe Reviews, Food Tags: cafe latte, Cupcakes, da paolo, Gorgonzola, hot chocolate, media invite, My Village, myVillage, Pizza 2 Comments » March 26th, 2011 365days2play Ok so the steak’s not going to be ready until 8pm. To keep me quiet, the Partner decided to prepare some cheese on crackers first. Our friend who recently returned from a holiday in New Zealand brought back some cheese for us from Hawkes Bay Te Mata Cheese Company. I was there exactly 2 years ago. We carted back so much cheese, chocolate, honey and olive oil that we busted the 20kg limit by several kgs and had to smile very nicely at the lady manning the check-in counter.
If you are planning to visit New Zealand’s North Island, you have to make a trip down to Hawkes Bay. That where you can find a lot of their wineries, olive oil and cheese producers. You can have a field day just going to winery after winery, cheese factory, mushroom farm, olive oil plantation and more.
Don’t forget to bring a huge ice-box to keep all your stuff cool, especially if you’re going in the summer time. I highly recommend staying at lodgings which have cooking facilities. Cuz it just totally sucks when there’s so much fresh and cheap produce to be bought and you can’t buy them if you’re not cooking. Just to let you know how affordable food is in New Zealand, in season produce that is, meat costs less than half what it costs here. A whole bag of apples can be obtained for SGD$2. I once paid SGD$2 for half a kg of brown mushrooms.
Okay, there. A plug for NZ! …and back to my cheese on crackers story….
This is the white-rinded goats milk cheese that our friend got for us. It has a texture some what similar to brie. It has less of a milky buttery flavour, but it is quite pungent!
We had it on Ritz Crackers. The Partner likes Ritz crackers but I find them too savoury to fully enjoy the flavours of the cheese.
It’s hard to find New Zealand cheese in Singapore. There are lots of French and Italian types, but no New Zealand soft cheeses. I know you can get the NZ brand Mainland here, but that’s only for cheddar. Just 2 days ago, I discovered that Bakerzin at MyVillage has also started selling cheeses. They have cheeses like Manchego, Reblochon, Pecorino Sardo to name a few, but all from France, Spain and Italy only! I wonder if they would like to consider bringing in some New Zealand cheese as well? I’d surely be their 1st customer! Okay maybe the Partner would be the 1st and I would be the 2nd.
And since we’re on the topic of New Zealand food, here’s a photo of a Feijoa. It’s the Partner’s favourite fruit, and apparently only grows in Southern Hemisphere countries such as New Zealand, Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. Tastes like a combination of Pineapple and Guava, and has a texture of a soft, somewhat gritty guava. If you go to New Zealand, you can even find Feijoa flavoured vodka! As usual, it’s not sold in Sunny Singapore.
Seriously, I’m beginning to wonder what foods from New Zealand are exported here? I used to think that milk was, but if you check, there is no Fresh Milk (the chiller section type) from New Zealand. They are mostly from Australia, Malaysia and Japan! The only NZ milk you can find here is the UHT type and the milk powder type from Fernleaf and Anlene.
And now, I’m going to check if the chef has fainted. It’s almost 8!!!
Posted in 1.9 Others, Country Guide - New Zealand, Food, Others, Travel Tags: bakerzin, cheese, feijoa, Milk, mushrooms, myVillage, New Zealand, New Zealand food, NZ, olive oil 3 Comments »Add me on Twitter
