V8 Cafe (Bugis Junction)

V8 cafe is located at a corner of Bugis Junction. Unless you have heard of it or happen to walk pass, chances are that you would not have seen it. Pop by for lunch during a weekday on 2 different occasions. Not too crowded. The most 70% occupied.

Lets start with the first visit.

V8 Cafe Menu (a)

V8 Cafe Menu (b)

As it was my first visit, the item that caught my eye was V8 Cafe Signature Dish. After all, the signature dish is the item that will be the differentiating factor.

As it was during lunch time, the dish comes as a set along with soup and drink (Ice Lemon Tea).

Soup of the Day

The soup of the day was Cream of Mushroom. Somehow what I notice was that it was half filled. Nothing comes free does it? =) It was a decent mushroom soup.

V8 Cafe Signature Dish $11.80

In the V8 Cafe Signature Dish, the main item was the grilled chicken which was accompanied by whipped potato, coleslaw and carrots (boiled).  The cheese did not overwhelmed the taste of the chicken. In fact, it complemented the taste. Inside, the chicken is tender and juicy. Outside the skin was crispy at the side. Thought that it was quite an average. But if it is the signature dish for V8 Cafe, then I will disagree as there is nothing special. You can get a similar item at other restaurants or western stalls in coffee shops.

Overall, service and ambience was good. If you find the background music too loud, you can request for the volume to be lowered. Food wise it was average.

Next will be on the 2nd visit. Again, similarly about 70% occupied.

Part of the Menu

Ordered the Chicken Cutlet $8.80. As it was lunch time, the meal came along with soup of the day and drink (Barley).

Soup of the Day

The soup of the day was Cream of Mushroom again. Was half-filled. This time the soup was not as decent as the previous time. It was quite salty.

Chicken Cutlet $8.80

The Chicken Cutlet was served with salad and onion rings. Just 3 pieces of onion rings which were oily. The chicken cutlet was even more oily. Not a decent dish.

Overall, service and ambience was good. But the food this time was way below average – terrible.

V8 Cafe (Bugis Junction)
200 Victoria Street
#03-29/29A Bugis Junction
Tel: 6333 4434
Opening Hours: Daily 12noon – 10pm

Lian Huat Heng Cantonese Roast Duck

Lian Huat Heng Cantonese Roast Duck is located at a corner of ‘Good Time Coffee Shop‘.Have always noticed that alot of patrons in the coffee shop always seems to order from Lian Huat Heng Cantonese Roast Duck. Hence, decided to give this stall a try on 2 occasions.

On both occasions, there was a short queue at the stall.

Roast Pork & Char Siew Rice

On the first occasion, I ordered the Roast Pork & Char Siew Rice. It does not look very presentable does it? Well do not let its appearance fool you. The rice grains were slightly hard, it help that sauce was added as it help soften the rice. The roast pork  was crispy and not too fatty. Delicious and fragrant. The char siew fared even better. Slightly charred parts providing a crispy and crackling layer at some parts. It was well marinated. Moreover, each piece was sliced such that it was not too thin. A bonus, each order comes with a bowl of soup! Why is it a bonus? Well, like any other roasted meat or chicken rice stall, free soup is given. But this free soup comes along with sichuan vegetable 四川菜 (zha cai) and even pork meat that is with soft bones/cartilage! The soup is salty, but well the ingredients inside was good!

Roasted Duck & Char Siew Rice

On the 2nd occasion, I ordered the Roasted Duck & Char Siew Rice. Similar comments for the rice and char siew as above. The roasted duck was disappointing.  Skin was not crispy. Although meat was tough and dry, it was flavourful.

Again, the soup comes along with sichuan vegetable 四川菜 (zha cai) and even pork meat that is with soft bones/cartilage! To me, I have always prefer pork meat that comes along with the soft bones/cartilage compare to those without.(wonder if I am lucky or all their pork comes with soft bones). A sides note, I have noticed that some people’s soup had duck wing or duck leg.

Overall, cheap and good. I am sure I will continue eating here and maybe one day I will be lucky and get the soup with duck leg =)

Lian Huat Heng Cantonese Roast Duck
Good Time Coffee Shop
Blk 1 Rochor Road
#01-612 Rochor Centre
Tel: 9018 9409 
Opening Hours: Daily 10am – 7pm

Ah Loy Thai (Shaw Towers) (2nd Post)

This is my second post on Ah Loy Thai which is located in Shaw Towers. The first post can be found here.

As you may have noticed in this menu, prices have increased. Hence, there was a need to cover the prices.

Long queue (right of picture)

Visited Ah Loy Thai  on a saturday for dinner. It was around 6pm and yet there was already a long queue that stretched down the stairs to where the male toilet is. Notice the white long sleeve shirt man whose image is not clear and back is facing us? Well he is the guy who ensures that patrons queue up and assign them to the tables. So you will not want to offend him.

More seating spaces

Ah Loy Thai has expanded and taken a unit next to it to cater to the crowd. As a result, their seating capacity has increased around 100%! But my concern will is that the owners increased the seating capacity without increasing kitchen size. How will it cope with serving customers their food and not result in an increase in waiting time? As mentioned in my first post, the waiting time for food was around 40minutes.

Menu

While we were queuing up, we were given a pencil and this slip of paper with all the dishes and prices. We waited close to 20 minutes and had lots of time to decide what to eat.

At last, we had a place to sit. All the way at the back at a cozy corner. Having decided what to order, I went to the cashier and made the payment for my orders with the slip of paper before going to my seat. It will be a 45 minutes wait, that was what the cashier told me.

Thai Pandan Chicken $9.00

Luckily for us, we waited just around 30 minutes. The first dish that was served was the Thai Pandan Chicken. The Pandan Chicken wrapped in pandan leaves was tender, juicy, tasty and well-marinated. The pandan leaves seems to have helped trap and ensure that all the moisture and flavours did not eascape. In addition, pandan flavours were present in the chicken. The chicken were cooked till it was slightly charred. Shiok, delicious! The only down side was, it was oily. Well, for delicious food its worth it.

Thai Fried Keoteow (Phad Thai) $5.90

Having tried the Phad Thai previously, I ordered it again. Phad Thai is the thailand version of fried kway teow. It is fried with prawns, toufu, fried egg and bean sprouts. Accompanied with grinned peanut and lime. The dish was fragrance and tasty! Certainty better than most places.

Tom Yum Seafood $6.90

Over the past 1 year, I have drank several different versions  of Tom Yum Soup. (can look at the tag ‘+ Tom Yam Soup‘ for the other posts). Ah Loy Thai’s Tom Yum Soup looks fiery red with the chilli oil on top. It came with prawns, mushrooms (straw and oyster) and squids. It is a spicy yet sour soup that was balanced nicely such that despite the spiciness (numbing your tongue/sweating), you would find yourself going for more servings. We ordered a bowl of rice to accompany the soup.

Overall, despite the wait time, the food is too good to forgo. After this visit, the must try items are Thai Pandan Chicken and Phad Thai. Come to think of it the Tom Yum Soup is also another star. Give it a try. But do come early if you are planning a dinner as Ah Loy Thai closes at 815pm on weekdays and 715 on weekends.

After your meal, you can hop over to Tom’s Palette just opposite Ah Loy Thai for ice cream.

Ah Loy Thai (Shaw Towers)
100 Beach Road
#01-39/40
Tel: 91651543
Opening Hours: Mon – Fri, 12pm to 8:15pm
Sat: 1pm to 7:15pm
                                 Closed on Sundays