Leo's Birthday Celebration Part 1: Han Mi Korean Restaurant

I was invited by Leo to his birthday celebration. As it was kinda last minute and he wanted to keep things simple, he chose to have dinner at Han Mi Korean Restaurant, located at opposite Bukit Timah Shopping Centre.

As usual, most of the people were late therefore, those who reached first got the privilege to order the food we like. Daphne was damn funny, when she reached, she laughed and said,

Daphne: “Eh leo, I bought a $30+ cake for you!”

Leo: “Really ah?! Then where is the cake?”

Daphne: “I don’t know where I misplaced it! When I alighted the bus then I realized the cake was not with me. Lols! Sorry la, just take it as we’ve eaten the cake.”

 Leo: "............................"

Poor Leo, I could imagine the Gwang Soo song playing at the background. Lololol.

Free side-dishes

I like the ikan billis and mash potato!

Rice Cake

The sauce was sweet with a tinge of spiciness. As for the rice cakes, they were really firm and chewy. I would prefer it to be a bit softer. Quite tasty!

Seafood Pancake

There wasn’t a lot of seafood on the pancake, only a few small prawns on top of it. But I quite like it because I don’t like seafood. Save the trouble of picking them out one by one. Haha. The pancake was soft yet crispy at the same time. Taste great when it’s warm!

Beef and Mushroom Stew

I’ve never tried beef before because I always feel that it has this beef smell. My friends kept asking me to try it as they said beef is the tastiest meat among all. As I don’t want them to change their beloved beef to another dish, I promised that I would give it a try.

Surprisingly, the beef taste pretty good. Don’t even have the beef smell that I’ve always imagined. The meat taste tender and sweet for my liking. I don’t know if the sweetness came from the beef itself or the soup. 

Kimchi Soup

It taste really good! Major Love! Although I was sweating due to the spiciness of the Kimchi, I can’t stop asking for more. Especially when you mix it with rice, its WOOOHHHH~~ I liked this more than the beef and mushroom stew.

Pork Belly

For this dish, only 3 long slices of pork belly is given and it costs around $18. You can cut the pork belly to any sizes you want and bbq it the way you wanted it to be done. If there isn't alot of people in the restaurant,  you can even request the waiter/waitress to cook it for you. They would serve the lettuce and chilli-bean-like-paste as well. I’ve always seen in Korean dramas where couples will do a lettuce wrap and feed each other. It looked so tasty! Finally got my chance to do the same thing, just that I did all the wrapping and feeding myself. Forever alone x100000.

Total bill was around $126 equally divided among 6 person. I will definitely make another visit again!! I love the food there and they serve really authentic Korean cuisine!

Han Mi Korean Restaurant

16 Cheong Chin Nam Road, Singapore 599740

Tel: 64657806, 81834939

Second round was at a wine shop(beside coffeebean I think) at Railmall. Opened a bottle of red wine to chill. Good life huh~

brothers 交杯酒.

Do I look classy? lols!

Leo

No big cake, a small cake also not bad right

Happy Birthday Buddy!!

Forgot to take a group photo! Glad to attend this small gathering. Managed to catch up with some people whom I've not meet in a few years. =)

Strictly Pancakes

This is my third visit to Strictly Pancake. I was late for the outing and Yin Mei told me to reach within 15mins  if not the table would be given to other customers due to the long queue outside. Fortunately, I did managed to reach on the dot. 

At Strictly Pancakes, you can customize your pancakes. 

1) The number of pancakes you want.

2) Your preferred butter. (Salted / Unsalted / Garlic+Herb / Rum+Rasin) 

3) Side-dishes(Bacon / Scrambled Eggs / Sauteed Mushrooms / Corn Beef Hash / Chicken Chipolata) at $2.50 each.

Ping Hong ordered 2 pancakes with scrambled eggs. Sorry if it doesn't looks appetizing because he  cut the pancakes. 

I am too lazy to decide what side-dishes to go with my pancakes and they don't seem appetizing too. So for lazy people like me, you can chose from the savory section which are the shop's creation. Don't forget to choose the type of butter you prefer. 

For me, it's Herb +  Garlic.

Yin Mei's Rum + Rasin.

Chicken A La King

Chunky chicken and sweet onion slices cooked to perfection and topped with cream sauce and asparagus to go with your medium stack.

I had tried this during my 1st visit, I remembered it tasted pretty good. But this time, I was disappointed. The chicken chunks were overcooked and abit hard to chew. Probably cooked by different chefs hence the difference in taste.

Crabcake Pancakes

Dig into a homemade crabcake patty flanked by two extra-thick pancakes. Served with lemon mayonnaise and a side of cherry tomato salad.

 This dish give me a Christmas feeling. haha. Yin Mei said it tasted okay.


Another category in the menu is Sweets which are desserts.

Tiramisu

Kahlua infused Mascarpone cheese sandwiched by three fragrant chocolate pancakes and topped with chocolate flakes, vanilla ice cream and a dash of cocoa.

The only thing that makes this dish a tiramisu, is probably the cream surrounding the pancakes. I thought the whole pancake will filled with tiramisu taste, or at least, the ice-cream will be in tiramisu flavor but no, it's just vanilla ice-cream. The chocolate pancakes were too sweet and we couldn't finish it although there were 3 of us sharing it. I can only say, this dish totally failed to impress me or maybe, us.

Lemon Curd for the Nerds

Tuck into three chocolate pancakes with deliciously tangy lemon custard and cream accompanied by a scoop of vanilla ice cream and lemon zest.

I didn't get to try this dish as I was still trying to eat the Tiramisu. Heard from my friends that it tasted quite sweet as well. 

Strictly Pancakes

44A Prinsep Street, 

Singapore 188674

Tel: 6333 4202

Overall, I am quite disappointed with the food. I don't think I will be making another visit for the time being.

Ending this post with a picture that I camwhored while my friends were busy talking. lols, Bye~!

Au Chocolat @ Marina Bay Sands

Last friday was a memorable day for me, the day where I changed my status from student to a degree holder. Even till now, I still cannot believe the results I've got. Totally way better than I had expected. Too emotional that one drop of tear rolled down my cheek. Only one. I am quite a tough person and it's not easy to make me cry, so that one drop of tear really meant alot. haha. Ok, I'm going to stop rattling about results now. Gonna be humble! =)

To celebrate this joyous occasion, Yin Mei and I decided to go Au Chocolat at Marina Bay Sands for dinner. It is a French-inspired concept store and I am quite surprised that it is a local brand! This concept store is separated into two sections, a bistro dinning area and a retail store. I totally loved the concept of the store. So colorful and it felt like we were at some western country.

The dinning area.

Beautiful painting on the ceiling.

There is even a cute toy train moving around the ceiling!

The menu.

Creamy Irish Chocolate - $12

A beautifully blended black Ceylon tea with hints of Irish cream & chocolate.

By looking at the name, I thought it would be chocolate, like milky brown chocolate drink. I even thought they served the wrong tea. lols. Didn't add sugar as we wanted to fully appreciate its original taste. It was exactly what was described on the menu, a hint of cream and chocolate. It don't taste bad at all, just abit funny that you can taste the chocolate aroma but you can't see the chocolate. Am I making any sense here? lols, forget it.

Duck Confit - $27

A popular classic with an Au Chocolat twist, pan-roasted duck thigh served with potato mash, a white wine poached pear & topped off with a tangy chocolate orange sauce.

Couldn't decide which picture to upload, so I uploaded two with different angle to let you see the ingredients used in this dish. Just by looking at the pictures make me feels hungry! When I first saw this dish and its description where chocolate sauce is used, I immediately knew this was the dish I'm gonna try. How many main-dish can you find using chocolate sauce? Its something special! 

This dish didn't disappoint me. The duck skin was super crispy!! Like KFC's crispy fried chicken skin just that it wasn't that floury. I loved crispy skin! As for the duck meat, it was tender and juicy. You can easily tear the meat without worrying that it might ended up flying out of the plate. lols. As the for chocolate sauce, it totally taste good with the mash potato.

Personally, I find the duck meat abit salty and the white wine poached pear abit too sweet. Other than that, this dish was just perfect. I think I might order this again the next time I visit again!

Wild Forest Mushrooms - $25

A combination of forest gems simmered in a rich creamy stew, tossed with chopped camembert & fresh parsley.

At first Yin Mei wanted Roast Chicken but they ran out of it or something, so she ended up choosing this as the waiter was waiting at our table and she was pai sae to keep him waiting for too long. Yin Mei said that this tasted better than Full house Cafe's. Of course it has to be better, just look at the price!

Creamy Chicken & Mushroom Crepe - $18

Succulent chicken fillet served with sautéed mushrooms, bacon, garlic & sour cream.

There are a few variety of savoury and sweet crepes for you to choose from. We chose this to share. Yin Mei said it taste good whereas I think it was just average. Probably nothing taste great after eating my duck confit. haha. 

The happy girls.

Our bill.

Each of us paid around $48. I think it was quite expensive considering that we were both jobless. We only depended on our humble allowance to survive. I kept telling myself, "This is a happy occasion. This is a happy ocasion.".

$3 voucher.

We were given $3 voucher to use at the retail section and it could only be used on the date of issue. What a smart strategy to get customers to spend money at the retail section!

The retail section.

Lovely cupcakes.

Colorful Candies.

One T-shirt cost $30+. I wonder who will buy.

Some mini chocolates.

Mini caramel chocolate.

Used the voucher on ice-cream!

Used the voucher on a small cup of tangerine dark chocolate ice-cream. There was even a few pieces of tangerine. Taste not bad. Price aside, I think Au Chocolat is really worth visiting. They have a wide variety of food to choose from. Like crepes, all-day breakfast, eggs dishes, burgers & sandwiches, pastas, finger food, chocolate drinks etc. Totally spoiled for choice! There are so many dishes I want to try if not for stomach and pocket constraints. I wanna go again!

Au Chocolat Pte Ltd. 

Marina Bay Sands, 

Bay Level L1-03

2 Bayfront Avenue, Singapore 018956 

Bistro +65 6688 7227 

Confiserie+65 6688 7557