Batam trip

Our quick getaway, or a "FINALLY WE WENT ON A TRIP TOGETHER" to Batam. E's had lots of nightmares about me abandoning her during any trips we go on together. She once dreamt she didn't have her passport on her and almost got kidnapped. I AM NOT SUCH AN IRRESPONSIBLE FRIEND. However she got that idea that I'd leave her alone in a foreign place is beyond me. Trust me, I won't do that, so don't hesitate to call me for a quick getaway like this. 

So we decided, we should try to put E's mind at ease and travel together. See what happens. We did almost split up cause I was staring at Kueh Lapis while she was staring at Egg Tarts and we drifted off in different directions. Yeah. But I swear I'm safe to be with.

E did all the booking for the trip, because I'm lazy like that. We spent $150/pax(including the currency we brought there). We can be such retarded people and forget how much our hotel costs.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Resort. Not a bad place, it's the hotel closest to the jetty so you could just walk over, but the hotel does provide free shuttle for lazy people.

They also provide free shuttle to Nagoya, but the journey was a tad long.

When we reached the hotel on our first day, a couple with kids in front of us had so much requests about putting beds together and whatnot, E and I sat and had the free pineapple juice while they tried to check-in. When it was finally our turn, we didn't have any request, just that the bed has to be comfortable and clean. And they decided to reward our simplicity with a HOTEL SUITE. See, it pays to be the nice, friendly customer.

Travelling like a boss. Our suite.

I think we did ask for 2 single beds, but in the end we just slept on the huge single one. That room had a TV.

Freshest cheap seafood I've ever eaten.

After settling down at the hotel, we took the shuttle to Nagoya. Now, I don't know where our courage came from, but we decided that we wanted to be adventurous and take a cab to a more ulu place with cheap seafood. The things your hungry stomach can make you do. We had to hand gesture and try our best in whatever knowledge of Malay we had to tell the taxi uncle we wanted the journey back as well.

But I can't say that was a bad decision.

So, don't go to Batam for the scenery.

When we entered, the waitress brought us into a room with all the live seafood swimming about in little tanks. We were asked to choose which seafood we want right out of the tank and how we wanted it cooked. So we decided on mussels and prawns. Chilli for the former and cereal for the latter.

Can I just ask if I'm the only weirdo that eats the shell for cereal prawns? I don't eat the head though.

Fresh mussels. Completely different from the frozen ones we usually eat in Singapore.

Veggies are necessary for every meal, people. Always eat your greens!

Soak in more of the atmosphere by going tropical and drinking coconuts.

All this comes with free flow of rice and for only SGD$15/pax. Yes you heard me right. 

And for dinner, we got for ourselves A&W! Can't remember when was the last time I had this.

When was the last time you saw this fella?

Oh yes, we also had egg tarts(yes, the same one that almost separated us). Then we fell asleep after watching Pirates of the Caribbean on Stranger Tides. 

The egg tarts that almost separated us. It was good though.

And in the morning, we had a buffet breakfast. I think it's a great end to a quick getaway. Then we went back to bed for like a couple of hours before heading back home.

Back to civilisation.

E got carried away, obviously.

So since our first trip ended with no one getting kidnapped or lost.... We can now go other countries for a longer duration. Where will it be, E??

Geeking out - Food and Games

I'm back with my random post about food! Previously, I did a post about food in movies and television shows. (Don't what me. Go read it.  )

Now I'm not going to hide it, I'm a geek. There's 2 things I love most in the world; Food and video games. So it's basically heaven for me when you combine these 2 together. If I'm not playing video games, I'd like to be eating.
Food and games go together like cookies and milk, brilliant pairing. Majority of the time in video games, food is used like a health potion, but I'm not going to go into that, let's see if I can pull something else off............ FOOD GAMES!

If you've played your fair share of video games, you would think of one game while reading this post the most;

COOKING MAMA

Cooking Mama! With her really bad English.

What else could it be? This game is the closest simulation game you get to actual cooking. You can use the recipes in the game to create real dishes too.
The game teaches actual cooking techniques, such as when you are frying, keep stirring your onions and stuff, or they'll burn easier.

Move those chopsticks or Mama will be angry!

They make you do everything from stir frying, to deep frying, to baking to garnishing. Whatever you can think of, you could probably find in some Cooking Mama 2 or some other Cooking Mama expansions.

If you get angry enough at the lady slave driver, you can go all Hannibal Lecter on her with the that knife.

You have to shape those patties as fast and as many as you can or Mama will not have enough for her  8-bit guests.

After you've completed a dish, she'll score you depending on how you did for each section of the food preparation.

That deserved a 95! This mama is one tough cookie. (Pun? What pun?)

Now that we've covered the food, let's move on to drinks. I haven't heard of a really popular and famous bartending or barista game that's the equivalent to Cooking Mama, but hey, I could be ignorant.
While I'm in my own world, here's a bartending game that I found interesting:

THE RIGHT MIX

You may play the game here.

Simple enough, your aim is to mix the perfect drink for the stuck up Bartender to try. Then he judges you on that.

Stuck up Italian guy judges you.

Also realistic enough like Cooking Mama, the drink combinations are not random, they have to make sense in real life, and if you shake too long your drinks explode. (Ok the last part maybe isn't true, but it's true that you should not over shake your drinks)

This is the screen you should be aiming to see. Assuming you're normal and don't wish to kill the Bartender.

And folks, that's all you do in this game. But the slapstick humour in this game does make it addictive for awhile.

I'm not going to move on and do waitress games, looking at you Diner Dash, even though it's in-my-face famous and is screaming for a place in this post. I just always feel a tinge of sympathy for Flo as she solos her eatery tables and serving demanding customers, while you click on the tables in such inhumane speed, that I can almost see pixelated tears rolling down her face. So yeah, I'm not going to glorify that.

I would have continued with RESTAURANT CITY, the Facebook game, where you could overwork your friends and see pixelated tears running down their faces instead. Unfortunately, the game has closed down. What a waste.


Excuse me now while I go try killing the bartender  making some nice cocktails.

黑社会

It started with my cravings for hot steamed custard salted egg yolk bun. So after rounds of debating what we should have for dinner and still cannot reach a conclusion, we decided to visit VivoCity and let the queue decide for us. Quietly in the corner of my heart, I knew I will get my bun because the queue at Sushi Tei is always insane.

J requested that I write this post in Chinese because my stupid mouth suggested she should write a post in Japanese, which she did. Well, it should be an easier feat for me since Chinese has been my mother language as long as I can remember. No matter how bad or good we are with it, it is always a language closer to our heart. To be honest, the last time I wrote a proper Chinese passage was during my A-Levels Chinese exams which was more than 5 years ago :O Gosh,Am I that old??!?
So here we go........

我的华语虽然肯定比 j 好, 可是很遗憾的是也不是我理想的水平。其实, 还真的很差所以请大家多多体谅。

今天想跟你们分享我很喜欢吃的 (其实我什么都很喜欢吃) 流沙包。当你看到刚出炉的包时, 第一个反应是什么? 是不是就想一口立刻咬下去? 我就喜欢这样可是对流沙包时就不能了。因为那将会流出来的 custard 是很烧的! 所以一定要小心翼翼地慢慢享用。
老实说, 我越写越觉得我的华语水平很差。自己读了的想吐血 -.- 所以今天就写到这里了。很抱歉 (´･ω･`)


The clear stock is really light and complemented the 3 different eggs really well. This should go along with hot steamy white rice.

Poached Chinese Spinach with 3 Eggs

The punch from your first bite would assure you this was braised well before serving time and it was damn well marinated. Again, hot steamy rice or plain porridge would had been a perfect match. Definitely not for the light hearted.

Braised Pork Belly with 'Mui Choy'

OMG THIS IS TOTALLY FOOD ORGASM. ONE OF THE BETTER LIU SHA BAOS IN SINGAPORE.

Liu Sha Bao

Seafood 'Sheng Mian'

Even though this was rather tasteless and disappointing, atleast the very least it didnt clash with the strong flavour of the braised pork belly.

Overall, the experience is quite good and I would go back again. Of course, the people I am having my meal with matters as well. So if you enjoy a hearty delightful meal, please don't hesitate to contact me. I will be more than happy to eat with you :D 

Nanjya Monjya

IT'S BEEN SUCH A LONG WHILE AND WE'RE FINALLY BACK WITH A INTERESTING POST!

Monjayaki is a very unique Japanese cuisine. As such, let's try something different; This post is gonna be in Japanese!

(English at the bottom, we're not that cruel.)

久しぶりね！ついに新しいPostがありますよね！これからもんじゃ焼きを紹介します。。。

実は、もんじゃ焼きとお好み焼きちょっと同じですよ。でも、お好み焼きはたくさん卵があります、もんじゃ焼きがありません。。。と思う！！

日本人の友達は一緒にNanjya Monjyaへいった。これはZoukの近くにあります。私は食べたことがないから、日本人の友達はもんじゃ焼きを全部しました！レストランにはちょっと熱いけど、多分外のほうが涼しいと思う。。。

初もんじゃ焼きはとても美味しかったよ！いろいろ食べ物があるよ！みんなは「おなかがいっぱい！苦しい！」といってた！ははは！

でも、たのしかった。また行きたい！

ああ！そうだ。予約をしたほうがいいですよ。。。これのレストランがたくさんお客がいるんだ。　　　＼(^o^)／

----------English starts here!----------

I've heard about Monjayaki from Japanese shows, and since I've made a few Japanese friends, I asked them what it was. Hence...... They brought us to Nanjya Monjya to eat some and find out more!

Actually, there isn't much difference between Monjayaki and Okonomiyaki... From what I could tell, Okonomiyaki was egg based, while the other was more water and starch? Hmmm.

What my friends have told me is that, Monjayaki is a Tokyo speciality. Specifically Tokyo. So if you walk down the Tokyo roads, you'd see lots of Monjayaki stalls lining the streets.

Just a note: I have no idea what dish names we ordered. We just let our Japanese friends pick everything. EVERYTHING.

Our side dishes include: Squid, Fried Rice, BBQ Pork and Potato (our Jap friends called it Jaga. Like Jagabee :D)

Our nice Japanese friends doing all the cooking. I admit. I didn't bother doing anything. - J

The Monjayaki! They said we have to use this cute little spatulas to eat them. No idea why.

Fried soba! 

Okay, you can't really tell how is it different from the photos.... So I suggest you get yourself down to the restaurant and try it yourself!

It's close to Zouk, so I suggest that you make reservations! A little note though, the inside of the restaurant can get pretty warm, but they do provide a fan. But the inside tables do have bigger cooking plates compared to the ones outside! So you sweat a little, but it's an experience!

Nanjya Monjya

Grand Copthorne Waterfront  Havelock Road, Singapore 169663

Tel: 6738 7177

Happy New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OUR READERS! 

I know we've been MIA for really long now but I promise you we are back. Thank you for all your continuous support towards The Talking Menu.

2012 recaps: We have had such good food, drinks and company in 2012. 

Final words from us for 2012 and our resolutions for 2013:

E
It's been a while since our last entry isn't it ;) First, I'm sorry, really sorry, for the sudden disappearance. Second, it's been a really eventful year for both of us. We both got a new job each; J changed industry and I got out of the kitchen :O Now, I'm struggling with the arts of service and handling difficult customers. But I'm growing and learning. Whenever I come across difficult customers, I just have to refer to this.

My resolutions for 2013 is to be more feminine, (er-hemmm), get my driving license (brought forward from 2012 actually), travel more frequently, eat more frequently and FOCUS on The Talking Menu. Lastly, I want to grow into a better person and give thanks to people around me everyday.

J

I'm so grateful that we are still getting likes even after such a long hiatus. It has been such a great year for me. I've learnt so much about food and I think I will continue to learn more. MORE POWER TO THE TALKING MENU!

My resolution for 2013 onwards is that I want to travel every year and eat new food (of course there's still the usual, work hard, be a good person, etc), but this is my main focus. And of course, make The Talking Menu big! More travel and food = more posts! I will make that happen!

So our dear readers, don't give up on us just yet! Stay with us! More food post and fun stuff coming your way!

Here's wishing you all a great 2013!!