Pampanga Food

Pampanga Food

The Pampangans or "the people by the river banks" have a rich culinary tradition that fuses Hindu, Chinese, Southeast Asian, and European influences. By developing their famous dishes, they came up with something distinct and delicious.

Blic: Ice Cream Parlour in the East!

Sometime back in January (Yes I know I’m really slow), the food bloggers travelled from our brunch at Halia all the way to Tampines, braving the sunny and hot weather for one purpose: A special invitation to the preview opening of Blic!






The concept of Blic is rather similar to other ice cream establishments like Udders and Island Creamery, serving classic flavours as well as a range of unique chef creations. Décor-wise, I like the clean and simple layout, with spacious tables for group chillout and bar seats for quiet people gazing on a lazy afternoon.



Being an invited review, we had the perfect excuse of greedily trying out all of the available flavours and kept returning for many more rounds!


Milo Dino, Ferraro, Double Choc, Vanilla Bean (On top)

Milo Dino tasted exactly like well, Milo, which would be suitably turned into a Milo Megatron (Okay I made that up) if you had a nice cold glass of Milo, dunk in a scoop of the ice cream and sprinkled with milo powder!

Double Choc was rich and thick, but it became a bit boring for me after awhile. My vote actually went for the remaining two, in which Ferraro tasted impressively similar to the chocolate and Vanilla was a simply joy, littered with many speckles of the black bean. They also had a Mexican Vanilla variant that was more yellow and sweeter in taste.


Lychee Mint, Coffee

Another selling point was that besides having them within, some flavours were furthered topped with the ingredients. The Lychee Mint was served with sweet, juicy lychee meat, giving it a more refreshing aftertaste. Coffee was nothing to shout about, but a decent flavour overall.



Bird Nest With Almond, Rum N Raisin

In the first place, bird nest didn't really have a distinct taste to it, so it turned out very almond-y, but the fact that they used real bird nest would be enough to make any girl rushing for it! (Minus the girlfriend though, she's allergic to bird nest, I'm serious)

Now the other was one of my favourites. The creation wasn't overbearingly choking, with a good balance between alcohol spiceness and fruit sweetness. And the size of the raisin was really way fatter than it looked! One of the best Rum n Raisin I ever had!


Passion Yogurt, Baileys

Now again, I don't remember how passionfruit tasted on its own, but we unanimously agreed that it really reminded us of sour plum instead. And the baileys was another good one that handled alcohol excellently!


Green Tea, Banana Peanut Crunch, Black Sesame, Seasalt Malt

The green tea and black sesame were very similar to the ones at Azubo Sabo, not in a bad sense definitely, while the seasalt malt would be the one for Horlicks fans! My favourite among the four would be the banana peanut crunch, with a natural taste of banana and crunchy peanut flakes. Good one!


Cempedek, Mao Shan Wang

We purposely left these two for the last, as we were told it would probably coat our tastebuds with their strong aftertaste! The cempedek had a really accquired taste, so its up to individuals to fully appreciate it, while I would prefer the durian king with its rich, smooth flavour!


Tiramisu

At the time of our visit, the tiramisu was still in its experimental stage and not yet found on the regular menu. At first we were a bit disappointed that it was stuffed full of plain vanilla ice cream, but we realised that we ought to dig all the way to the bottom and eat it together with the soft cake sponge and alcohol-soaked ladyfingers, made a really big difference!

For ice cream lovers in the East, Blic has the potential to become the hangout place without travelling far. They are constantly improving on their existing flavours, such as SCaM (Soursop, Calamansi and Martini) that didn't go too well with me, as well as coming up with new creations! (Butter Caramel, Roasted Almond with Macadamia)

Prive: Brunch by the Bay!

Another Sunday, another lazy-wake-up day. Sleeping is such a luxury these days that I would give almost anything just to catch more wink. Well almost. Brunch is so not in the list! Rise and shine to Prive!









Ultimate Breakfast ($17.00)

The grandest that they could offer! Toast, baked beans, tomatoes, greens, bacon strips, beef sausage and your choice of egges. Fresh stuffs that will surely satisfy the greedy you!



Eggs Benedict(Bacon), Eggs Royale(Salmon) ($13.50 for both)

A favourite for many, I guess people really loved poached eggs and their runny yorks! The hollaindaise sauce was a little dry, but still good when eaten with warm muffins and balanced the saltiness of bacon and salmon. Not much faults here!


Fluffy Pancakes ($13.50)




Total bill for 4 was $73.30 after taxes. Admittedly, the food wasn't exactly mind-blowing, but with its chill-laxing ambience and excellent view, it was relatively affordable compared to other brunch places. Now don't bother the taxi uncle anymore and take a nice stroll back across the bridge!

Chinese New Year

Happy Lunar New Year everyone! Hope everyone had a great time this holiday, catching up with family and loved ones, indulging in all festive goodies!

Nikon D70

No doubt that its a 5 years old model, but I'm more than excited to finally have my own DSLR! And I have to thank my uncle in Hong Kong for giving me this! Hopefully with a bit more practice, I could upload more tempting food shots on here!



Besides backlogs to clear (debt carried forward from last year, oops), I am also looking forward to this weekend's stay: Festive Hotel @ Resorts World! More on that soon!

NIE Canteen: The Secret Bak Chor Mee Combo!

The National Institute of Education canteen is really quite a hassle for most NTU students to visit. At the edge of the NIE main block, you need to walk plentiful before reaching it, a route march distance if you start off at South Spine. Most of us wil probably visit it only twice a year for its bookstore, but I am oh-so-willing to brave the walk for its Bak Chor Mee!



While there are plenty of good stuffs like Yong Tau Foo and the original Western Food, the undisputed longest queue is at its noodles store. Priced at $2.20 per bowl, they whipped out BCM, Prawn/Pork Rib Noodles and Lor Mee that could be sold out as early as 2pm!

Now I'm letting out the best well-kept secret of the store: (At least thats what I think la) Do you know that you can order a special version of BCM at 3 dollars? This one hsa extra noodles, ingredients and comes with their prawn soup!



But here comes the hard part: The uncle at the store can be quite a Food Nazi, so he will really scold you if you don't say properly what you want, or not in the order he wants to hear it. Ready?
This loosely translates into "I want 3 dollars BCM, with prawn soup, anyhow mix the ingredients"


Minced Pork Noodles

And there you go! Its one of the few BCM that really piled you with Minced Pork, alongside generous dosage of dried mushrooms, sliced ngor hiang and fried wonton. The noodles is al dente to my liking, with a good mixture of chilli and vinegar. Not something spectacular, but very comforting!


Prawn Soup

The second highlight! Now don't expect Beach Road standards, but it was still better than many of the prawn mee stores out there. With a pork ball and fishcake slices, the soup had a subtle prawn flavour which doesn't leave you thirsty afterwards. An obvious choice over the usual plain BCM soup!


Lor Mee

Besides BCM, the Lor Mee was also very well done with plenty of ingredients, thick stock and a good balance of thin vermicelli and thin broad yellow noodles. A real hearty steal at its price!

Halia: Brunch in The Greens!

What do you do on a Sunday morning? Wake up late, free from work, and looking forward to a sumptuous brunch treat. Thats exactly what I like to do! Along with 17 like-minded foodies!



Located at Botanic Gardens, Halia became our choice of January gathering as all of us had not been here before. Built with wooden planks and matching furnishing, the restaurant resembled a posh kampong house amidst lush greenery, tweetering birds and running squrrels. While they do have indoor dining, that would be rather wasteful of the closer-to-nature alfresco seatings!


Halia Infusion ($9.00)

I took their house specialty for a morning cuppa, which was a blend of coffee with sun-dried ginger and wild mountain honey. The spicy taste of ginger was distinct yet not overpowering, while the honey probably added sweetness to the coffee without any notable flavour. I felt that it was a nice change from the usual morning brews, but the price would have deterred me from ordering it again.



Poached Egg with Back Bacon (top, $16.00) or Ocean Trout (Bottom, $24.00)

Most of us went with this two choices while there is also a vegetarian option ($14.00) available. Served with roasted mushrooms, spinach and tomato, it was a wonderful combination when eaten together with the toast, dipped in the runny york! My shot didn't bring justice to the trout as it was really much thicker on the other side! There were some comments that the Hollandaise sauce was too sour for their liking, something for them to improve on?


Kurobuta Pork and Portobello Mushroom Burger

Now this one gathered some rather extreme opinions. Phoebe and Zaylene was thoroughly disappointed, comparing it to Farmland or Ramly patties. Jia Yi and I, on the other hand, thought that it was pretty good! For me, I felt that it was great to have an alternative to beef, as the apple aioli sauce went well with the tender texture of the patty and the portobello mushroom shining with juicy earthy flavour. Taste really is subjective!


Cinnamon French Toast ($14.00)

Harris had this for his main, and he said that while it was rather enjoyable at first, the toast soon became a one big mixture of sweetness overdose and weak cinnamon taste.


Cappuccino Dunkin' Pit ($10.00)

Sadly, the general comment for this was that it was much better in look than in taste. The layer of white turned out to be whipped cream instead of ice cream, making one feel stuffed after a few mouthful.

With plenty of brunch options around, Halia wasn't exceptionally memorable for their food. But with laid-back nature settings and most importantly for me, the company I had that morning, taste really became secondary!

Straits Cafe @ Hotel Rendevous: More Durians, More!

Awhile ago, the girlfriend had a craving for buffet and durians, both at the same time. I couldn't stand a full durian buffet at Goodwood Park, and since Hotel Rendevous is having a 20% discount for UOB cardholders, off we go then!

Walking past the restuarant many times, I had seen them promoting heavily about their award-winning nonya laksa and durian desserts selection, marking a mental note for a visit. Decor-wise, light wooden furnitures were paired with green cushions while large glass panels seperated the streets and hungry diners.




As for the food selection, they didn't have a very comprenhensive spread, but rather touch and go on the options, with sashimi/bbq counters, hot/cold dish selections and a small noodles/dimsum corner.


Clockwise from top-left: Portuguese Baked Chicken, Grilled Steak, Lamb Stew, Grilled Tiger Prawns

I particularly took notice of the steak as it tasted much better than I expected. Juicy with charred linings, I went back many times for this! The tender lamb stew was also to my liking, but my girlfriend distanced herself from its gamely taste. Another item worth mentioning would be the grilled scallops from the bbq counter, never mind the small size as you could always go back for more!


Nonya Laksa

As a signature, this certainly didn't disappointed! Rich in flavour with suitable spiciness, it was so pleasently addictive that I ended up refilling this with little noodles and plenty of stock, tau poks and sliced eggs!



The dessert counter were adequete with mini tarts, nonya kwehs and sliced cakes, but really, we pushed all of this aside and saved stomach space for what's coming up next!


Durian Mousse Cake

I managed to get a pretty shot before people started dismembering it! The mousse was defintely more durian than cream, which was what all the cake needed for success! They also had a logcake version which had drier sponge and less mousse, I rather take the first one! And if you are still not satisfied..


Durian Pengat

A lazy durian lover's fantasy! The pengat was served in little shooter cups that made it oh-so-convienient for sinful scooping. Smooth, thick and and creamy, the distinct strands of pulp within made you felt like as if eating the fruit itself!

Still asking for more? Have the durian puffs in the background! Just wondering, why didn't they create a durian ice cream to complete the collection?

Total bill for two was $80.90 after taxes and discount. Girlfriend was immersely satisfied with her durian haven. Admittedly, the buffet itself wasn't that great with only a few outstanding dishes. But if you are a durian fanatic, do drop by to pay homage! Remember to drink plenty of fliud to avoid sore throats though!

Udders: M18 Flavours with Waffle!

I first visited Udders last year and was won over by its unique blend of "Adult-rated" ice cream flavours, such as Choya Lime Sorbat and Bailey's & Bourbon. But do you know that they serve excellent waffles too?




The Novena outlet has alfresco seatings along the pavement as well as bartop seatings on the inside. You can help yourself to the ice water (Comes pretty standard these days) while waiting for your waffle order, and vote for a new creation on the blackboard too!


Mao Shan Wang and Rum n Raisin, $2.50 for waffle alone

Fresh from the stove, the waffle's exterior was slightly crispy with a hot fluffy inside. Served with liquid chocolate, you can give me this over cones anytime!

But of course, we shouldn't let a good waffle go to waste without equally good ice creams, and our choices certainly didn't disappoint. We went for the Mao Shan Wang as it was sweeter than its D24 counterpart, while the Rum n Raisin spared no usage of rum and fat chewy raisins. Hot and cold, yet matches so darn well!

If memory serves me well, I think this is even better than the one at Ben & Jerry's, cheaper with a wide range of local flavours too!



And don't forget to leave a message! (Shameless marketing for self..)