Kaima Thai Food Pig Out @ Golden Mile Food Centre

We were out for work in the city and I decided to buy my colleagues lunch at Kaima. While we were waiting for our food to be cooked by Kaima, I did my walkabout and bought some delicious Char Siu and Siu Yoke to tide us over.

Char Siu and Siu Yoke

It was juicy and tender Char Siu matched with a Siu Yoke that had the crispy crackling. Best part about both meats was that they were not overwhelmed by the sweetness for the Char Siu and saltiness for the Siu Yoke.

As we were all very hungry, I went overboard and ordered way too much food in addition to the $10 of char siu and siu yoke snackette. I got a tom yum kway teow, green mango salad, chicken red curry, fried pork (ahbudden!!), fish cakes and olive fried rice.

Kaima is a real find if you are after really good authentic thai food that won't cost a bomb. My favourite would be the fried marinated pork which are deep fried pork strips that are deliciously porky and tender. They go great with chilli, olive rice and a little heap of tangy crunchy mango salad. The Red Curry was good but didn't really make me ecstatic.....maybe cos I found it a tad too sweet. The fish cakes are hand made and deep fried. They have the nice zing from the kaffir lime leaves and lemongrass. All that food only cost me $33. Kaima is amazing value for money and if you can take the heat of the hawker centre, please do make your way down to Golden Mile Food Centre. I would rate it 8.5/10.

40 Hands @ Tiong Bahru

BH and I had finished a most satisfying lunch at Zion Road Hawker Centre where we pigged out Char Kway Teow and Braised Duck and were thinking of a post lunch coffee (mainly for BH). As we were close to Tiong Bahru, I suggested 40 Hands which I had read about.

Thus began our journey to find this little cafe. Its address is located as 76 Yong Siak Road but really what it means is BLOCK 76 Yong Siak Road and it is unit 12. I circled Yong Siak Road 3 times before BH had a bright idea to call them to ask them where they were located. DOH.

It is a very cozy cafe with quirky design elements such as graffiti, used condensed milk cans as sugar packet holders and etc. With the small space, they managed to cram quite a few tables in there and a bar counter. Whilst waiting for BH to place our orders at the counter, I actually saw a lady bang her head on a wire rack which was located next to her seat. And I positively felt like The Incredible Hulk in those cramped quarters.

I normally abstain from coffee but I caused BH to raise her eyebrows when I said I would have a latte. We also decided to split a Bitter Chocolate Tart.

Bitter Chocolate tart

The Tart was ok. Wasn't mind blowing. The ganache was nice and rich, but I felt that it was too bland for a Bitter Chocolate tart. I didn't get the smokey nor richer depths that I would expect from a dark chocolate tart. The pastry was not short enough and was probably overworked. It wasn't crumbly nor flakey nor very rich. In fact it was quite hard and had a more biscuity texture. It was hard and an almost cardboard like texture.

I am not a coffee aficionado so I cannot wax on lyrical about coffee but BH said that the milk was too hot and as a result, you didn't get to savour the sweetness of the milk.

Latte

Cappuccino

On the whole I would rate the experience as a 6/10. It was nice enough but didn't really offer much to warrant another visit. But I have to say I was impressed with the selection of cakes, cookies and sandwiches. But as I had already had lunch, I couldn't try any of the sandwiches.

Selera Kita Mee Rebus @ Upper Changi Road Blk 58

My weekly Sunday brunch with the parentals resumed last Sunday after a mad mad week with work. They have lived at Bedok South for more than 15 years and when I used to live there, I would always partake of the Mee Rebus from Selera Kita. And since I had a hankering for Mee Rebus, I convinced the parentals to head to the market for breakfast.

As the Auntie has kept her prices very low, $1.20, $1.50 and $2.00, its no wonder that there is always a long queue for her Mee Rebus.

Unfortunately, I was sorely disappointed. My noodles were over-cooked and soggy. And the savoury gravy which I remember so fondly had changed. Maybe over the course of time, I have remembered this Mee Rebus to be better than it actually was. The gravy was overly sweet and not particularly savoury. It did not have that umami-ish that I remembered it having. I would rate it a 6/10.