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OK, I hear complaints.
I just noticed that I have only made 6 (including this) entries. February is short. OK, no excuse. But, but, I was really busy with other equally important things in my life. :)
How about some snacks to fill you up first?
I used to live in a block with a row of neighbourhood shops conveniently located on the ground floor. My sisters and I loved to visit this mama shop that sells a wide variety of tidbits. (The mama shop is still around!) Before Kettle Chips or Lays and Red Rock Deli, Jack 'n Jill was what made us happy. Our favourite got to be Salsa Chilli flavour.
Now that we are spoilt for choice, I hardly pick up another pack of Jack 'n Jill. Until a few weeks ago, while super-marketing, these attractive packaging caught my eyes. Fusion explosion! New flavours from Jack 'n Jill.
I grabbed all three. For I simply love to try out new and interesting flavours. My favourite is the Jalapeno and Cheez, followed by Mexicana Chilli and lastly Spicy D' Lime. The chips were overall mildly flavoured but pretty tasty.
Nothing earth-shattering really but it's always great to have more variety to choose from. Especially those that bring back good memories. Yes, I will purchase another pack of J 'n J again. In fact, I went NTUC today and was disappointed to find out that the Jalapeno n Cheez and Mexican Chilli were both sold out! :(
By the way, I also picked up a pack of salmon sushi(with wasabi) flavour potato chips. It came in a resealable bag with a bag of chips and a sachet of seasoning in it. You're supposed to empty everything in the resealable bag and shake it. Like McDonald's shaker fries. The chips were rough and K didn't like them. We still prefer Tai Sun's. 
That's all for now. I'm going to dig into a bag of Calbee Pizza flavour chips.Available at any good supermarket and convenience store.
For all lovers out there.
We all know love is sweet.
Sometimes bitter.
Happy Valentine's Day!
P/S: I have to crop the unglam faces of S&L before they kill me! ;)Obolo
452 Joo Chiat Road
Big O Cafe & Restaurant
501 Orchard Road
#02-04/05 Wheelock Place
There's this notion that typical Singaporeans love to queue because of their "kia su"(afraid of losing) attitude. Be it freebies, food or hello kitties, the queue goes on and on and on.
For me, I simply love food more than queuing. Thankfully, there's man! I've always been fortunate to have them queuing for me willingly. :D IL was gentleman enough to offer standing in the line for Ah Lo's yam and carrot cake at Chinatown Market just to satisfy my curiosity.
The stall sells only yam cake, carrot cake and peanut porridge. While queuing, IL learnt from a friendly lady in front of him that the stall owners used to be very arrogant. They would not sell the peanut porridge alone. It was like a side. I think the old couple mellowed down with age over the years. 
Twenty minutes of much anticipated wait later, it was finally his turn. IL got us a plate of yam cake and a plate of carrot cake($2.00 per plate) to share. The yam cake was sprinkled with sesame seeds and spring onions on top of the sweet sauce.
I was expecting to bite into bits of mushrooms, yam and shrimps but I could only taste the silky smooth spongy texture of the cakes. No, don't get me wrong. It didn't feel like biting into flour. This was Cantonese-style as I was told. The chilli sauce was very nice and complemented the plain looking cakes. You have to pay an extra $0.20 for more chilli sauce!
I prefer the carrot cake as no one beats the yam cake my sister's MIL made. Hokkien-style.
While we were eating, an uncle asked us if it was worth queuing. Yes, if you have the time. Since we were already half-filled, we decided to look around the labyrinth of stalls for other good food. We spotted a queue in front of Heng Ji Chicken Rice stall.
The line wasn't as long and we decided to join in the queue. It didn't take too long to get to our turn. Around ten minutes.The chicken was smooth and very tender. 
The thing that was different was the chilli sauce. It wasn't the usual garlic chilli sauce with a hint of lime but something a tad sweet. I love chicken rice chilli and that was a letdown.
The rice was very fragrant but the serving was really small. I think any guy could have easily gobbled down three bowls at a go.
We had this mixed feelings about Heng Ji's chicken rice as we tucked in. It tasted like Yet Con's. After finishing our meal, we decided it wasn't bad. It just wasn't our plate of chicken rice.
In the end, we spent more than an hour queuing and eating which means we could have waited for the famous claypot chicken rice we wanted to have initially. But I'm glad I got to taste other good food I haven't tried before.
And I'm thankful for the great choices of food here that we Singaporeans get to queue for.
@IL: I didn't forget the super bitter chrysanthemum and luo han guo drink! :P
Chinatown Complex Food Centre
Blk 335 Smith Street
J is someone who has many friends yet she never fails to send me her blessings on my birthday and greetings every Christmas even when I never really remember hers. :P My bad.
J is my ex-colleague. She is easy-going, unpretentious, laid-back, adventurous and fun-loving. I only came to realize lately that she's as greedy as me. Very much a foodie herself, she follows foodblogs religiously and takes pictures of almost everything she eats with her trusty Canon Powershot(can't remember the model). No, she does not have a foodblog. I guess she's just inspired to be a food stylist/photographer so that she can finish up everything after the shoot. :P
I brought J to Din Tai Fung 鼎泰豐 for dinner when she came to visit on New Year's Day. A couple of years back when it first opened in Paragon, we usually had to wait for over an hour to get a table. No reservation! Now that there are many outlets around Singapore, we can easily savour the goodness of their specialty-soup dumplings( 小籠包 ). Many are familiar with the food at Din Tai Fung so I shall not go on describing how good they are. Some may argue that the soup dumplings at Crystal Jade's are better, I say Din Tai Fung is not famous around the world for no reason.
I've also tried Din Tai Fung at Taipei which a friend claimed to be better compared to Singapore's.
I'm glad to conclude that the standard of their food is consistent throughout the two countries and different branches in Singapore.
Besides the default soup dumplings, the other must-order dish is the Braised Beef Noodle Soup( 紅燒牛肉麵 ).
The noodles with broad bean sauce(酢醬麵) is one of Taiwan's favourites. Not sure if we were just hungry, it was pretty tasty.
The fried prawn fritter was something new on the menu. Wrapped in crispy beancurd skin, you can actually taste the sweetness of the succulent prawns without the excessive oil.
Speaking of soup dumplings, P and I used to patronise the foodcourt at Sim Lim Square for Shanghai xiao long bao whenever we were there to keep up with technology. They were good and affordable. That was before the birth of Din Tai Fung. And that was before everyone has become caught up with their personal lives.
Anyway, J promised to bring me to Dragon-i to try Malaysia's famous Shanghai soup dumplings the next time we meet up in KL. ;) I hope that won't take another year.
J, where's the picture of the soup dumpling you promised to contribute to my blog? I also figured that there's a Din Tai Fung at The Gardens in KL! Didn't you know that? :P Should have brought you somewhere else.
shot by J
