Thai Western Food

"Thai Western food? Uh, okay I guess." That was my reaction when my Aunt wanted to know if I wanted to go try Greyhound in the IFC in Central, Hong Kong. It's a hard life for someone who has 5 aunts who feel like they have to take them to delicious, new places each time I'm back in Hong Kong. Who am I kidding... no it's not. I love my life. But what I do not love is [insert Asian food here] and Western food. I mean Asian food is Asian and Western is Western. Unless... it's fusion then I can understand but this place was just Thai and Western. Shrugs I decided to go for it. Who am I turn down a potential delicious meal? Plus, Greyhound is apparently the same place she likes to eat when she vacations in Thailand. 

 Isn't that the PUMA logo with the name of the bus? Not judging...

 Pad Thai! Yum! I usually do not like Pad Thai. Given the choice, I'd choose Pad Se Ew over it. I just think the concept of having sweet noodles is weird. Aunt insisted on getting it and I'm glad she did. SOOOOOOOO good! Even better than the Pad Thais I've had in Thailand!!! We ordered two of these. That's how amazing it was. Did I mention the line for this place was insane? They had two rounds of dinner times and every guest that walked in had a Hermes  Birkin bag. #richpeopleproblems. 

 These were the highlight of my night! Mini fried wings! So good! The skin was delicious!!! Yes, yes, yes! *Cue Herbal Essence commercial here! It might be hard to tell how tiny there are in this picture since I zoomed in but trust me, they were tiny! 

 Yummy spicy rice! So good! It even came with some soup filled with MSG. Love MSG soup usually but this wasn't so special. It's okay I forgive your not up to par MSG soup. 

 This was another spicy beef rice dish we ordered. It was bleh.... 

So by this time I was stuffed. Did I mention I had this dinner with plans to eat dessert with a friend and also right before having a huge lunch with another aunt of mine? I eat a lot, yeah I know. I ordered the mango sticky rice which was okay. At this point I was too full. Apparently this place makes the best chocolate brownies. What the heck right? Next time! I love brownies!

By the way, the best, best, best part of this was the shirts the staff were wearing. They had fun T-shirts with awesome sayings like: 


"Life is short. Can I get you more dessert?"
"I can't speak Thai, but i sure can recommend some delicious Thai dishes!" 


I have a soft spot for funny shirts, especially funny shirts that have to do with food. You should see my collection of Got Pho and random Chinese shirts.




Happy Eatings!

Fusion Fail.

     I know it seems as though a lot of the food I eat is just scrumptiously delicious. The truth is, well it usually is but I think it's also important to acknowledge on my blog when things FAIL. Well, technically the high-end restaurant failed. This is Rock Sugar located in Santa Monica. They call themselves an amazing Pan-Asian dining experience that incorporates the best of Chinese, Malaysian, Singaporean, Japanese, Vietnamese, etc. delights. Well Rock Sugar-you can suck it  because you seriously suck.

Here's some of the sauces they brought out as our appetizer to go along with our rice cakes. 

Oh look, rice cakes? You mean the things you get in a bag for $2 at Vietnamese markets? My grandma makes it better than this. Sigh...

Crispy Chicken Samosas

They gave this a really exotic name- imperial rolls  but when it came out turns out it was just cha gio aka Vietnamese eggrolls less deliciously made by white people. Where's a Pho999 when you need it?

Dungeness Crab with Cellophane Noodles apparently meant dry noodles stuck together sprinkled with a touch of crab here and there. 

Here was their famous princess chicken. Oh gosh. It was good I guess but seriously they can do way better in San Gabriel for $5? This dish was $14!

For the record this  banana custard cake was what saved the meal. This was amazing!!! Wow so good!

Overall though I won't be back. The decor was really nice. They had buddhas all over the restaurant. For those familiar with Vegas, it's like the restaurant version of the TAO club there. This place just didn't do it for me. It's for those typical Westerners who want to try "exotic" foods and go to a place to be transported to an "Asian" country. This is as Asian as Panda Express. Do yourself and your wallet a favor and hit up San Gabriel and thank me later.

Happy Eatings. 

Last Singapore Post!

Unfortunately, our trip in Singapore was coming to an end. We opted to spend out last few hours at Isethan at their food court. Food courts are THE place to go in Singapore. It's quite awesome. 

Fried Chicken Wings. They were just sitting in a machine going round and round. I knew I had to get some! Instead of lemon, they gave us calamasi instead.

Mee Siam. Yummy. Pho what? This way way better!

My mother's family favorite-bok bia aka what I call them "Fujianese tortillas. "

Radish cakes. Yum. This wasn't the kind you find at dim sum places though. In Singapore you pick your sauce white or black. Personally we like the spiciest of the black!

Here we got another order of the Rojak, Malaysian goodness. It was good but unfortunately not as good as the one we had the day before at the Old Airport. 

You'd think I'd be sick of shaved ice by now. Nope....

More soursop juice! At this point, I decided that this was my new favorite fruit. I had to pack in as much as I could before I left.

More dessert please! 

Thank you Singapore. I love you. Please let me come back soon. 

Happy Eatings! 

Singapore Day 2 Part 2

Last we talked, I was feeling like crap after lunch #1 & lunch #2. I had never eaten that much in my life. I was rolling around in my hotel bed trying to not think about food for once. But now that a few hours had passed by, it was dinner time...


Kalang Food Court at the Old Airport.

Behold this monstrosity. Rojak, Malaysian goodness! It has fried you tiao (dough fritters), bean curds, boiled potatoes, prawn fritters, hard boiled eggs, bean sprouts, cuttlefish and cucumber mixed with a sweet thick, spicy peanut sauce. Come to momma! The line for this went on and on. Luckily, my sister & mom met a nice local Singaporean that let them cut! Aweome!

Welcome to Chuan Kee with the best satay you'll find! Juicy meat and made fresh right when you order it!

Behold!

Look at that satay sauce! Yes, yes, yes!

Here was my mom's favorite-mutton soup aka Lamb. Many people don't like the taste of lamb like my sister but I love it!

Here's some fried kway teow.

This Lao fu zi stand did it right!

Here's one dish I don't discriminate against. Black chili stingray. I will eat stingray from anywhere in Malaysia or Singapore. I love the dish so much. I finished this all by myself while my mom and sister looked at me in disgust. Don't forget to sprinkle calamansi on it like you're supposed to!

Oh man... we walked passed this stand and knew we had to have it. They fried those babies on the spot! Can you say tempura banana but way better? If only they had kaya dipping sauce.... It was still delicious!

At this point, I was having trouble walking but that only meant it was time for more shaved ice. Look at them making it!

Yeah baby! I had shaved ice in Singapore about once to twice a day. Its flavor is not like anything else. You gotta come for Singapore for this baby!

At this point, I wanted to fall over. But someone we were sitting next to recommended that we absolutely had to stop by this one wanton stand. Being frequent Hong Kong visitors, my sister and I wanted to laugh at them when they told us we had to try the Singaporean style wonton. Pssh, we thought. Who does wanton better than the Cantonese? But good, god they were right. Amazing! It had no soup so it was dry but the cha siu, the sauce-everything was just right. I'm drooling about it right now. 

Happy Eatings!

Singapore Day 2 Part 1

    Singapore Day Number 2! Food, food, food! I love Singapore. If you recall my post about Singapore about a year ago, you'll know that I loved the restaurant Blue Ginger. This time, we got a chance to bring my sister along with us so we definitely need to stop by. 

Here was our shredded bamboo shoots and turnips garnished in pie tee cups. They were just as delicious as they were last time! Yum! Yum! Yum!

This is the  is ong choy and sweet potato cooked in cocounut milk with shrimp and chili paste. 

Calamari aka squid yumminess!

This was our tofu in spicy chili gravy. 

And look at the ladyfingers! yum!

Here is the chendol we spilt-cocounut & jelly shaved ice goodness!

And this baby was mine all mine! This was soursop shaved ice! My sister thinks soursop tastes gross but she is seriously missing out. It looks like a cherimoya but tastes like a citrus heaven!

    At this point, we were full off our butts, but we were so disappointed the day before when we went to to Maxwell Food Court and found that the infamous Tian Tian chicken rice was closed. We knew we had to go back no matter what! So given we were at Blue Ginger, a full 2 streets away, we decided to walk those streets and sit our asses back down and eat again! Hardcore I am. I refused to leave Singapore without a fight. 

And Tian Tian was open! But like all good things... there was a wait. 

I was so close! This guy had no idea how close I came to stabbing him for taking too long! I want my chicken!

As you can see, Anthony Bourdain gave Tian Tian a thumbs up too. 

Ah... finally.... I was full as heck from Blue Ginger already but this was the moment I had been waiting for. Mr. Loi's Hainese Chicken. 

Ah... the rice! Yes...

Chicken Insides is what it was called on the menu and my mom and I love the insides of pretty much anything. 

This sauce seriously made the dish. 

Oh my.. the chicken ended up being so good, we got a second order of it. Actually, I got a 2nd order of it. It was ridiculous. I had never been so full in my life. I just finished Blue Ginger, an order of chicken rice, chicken & chicken insides. I was hurting but I wanted more. I mean, I didn't know how long it would be until we would meet again. 

This must be the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. I seriously could have died happy that day.

Thank you Mr. Loi. You were worth coming again the next day. I love you. You have done the Loi family proud. At this point, I went back to our hotel room and moaned and groaned about how full I was and how bad I felt. I eventually went to bed for a few hours before getting up for dinner. We literally did nothing this trip aside from eat. Dinner to come in my next post. 

Happy Eatings!

Singapore Day 1 Part 2

Bring on Round 3 of Desserts!

Last we met, I was revisiting my day of eating in Singapore. I ate so much in the one day that I had to divide the posts into 2. Here I am inside Takashimaya Mall on Orchard Road. Here's the thing... at this point, I was already exploding from all the previous desserts  I had. I knew, that even though I had kaya (infused with egg, sugar, coconut & pandan flavors) toast already, I wanted more. I also knew that Ya Kun, a chain store in Singapore has decent Kaya toast. I say decent because I've had Ya Kun before & I know that it does not compare to the most amazing Kaya Toast I've ever had which was in Thailand. 

But that's okay. Just ask the person to add double the chunk of butter they usually put in there & I'm good. I paid 30 cents extra for more of that killer butter! 

Look at that closeup of the delicious bread. Yes!

*drool*

I also didn't forget to grab my another one of my favorite drinks... iced chocolate. They take the equivalent  of Ovaltine or whatever chocolate powder you're used to using & they just pour it over ice. Delicious & unhealthy like raw cookie dough. I love it. And check out the cute little carrying handles. 

And that finally concludes my first half a day in Singapore. Whew... so much more to come. I then went home and slept on the hotel bed groaning in agony that I was too full & blamed it on eating too much. Then again I guess, it was my fault. 

Happy Eatings!

I seriously love Singapore. Why my sister ever wanted to leave her home country is a mystery to me.