After our bartending class, Betchie, Yves and I met up with Arlyn, Ogie and Riyadh in Vivo City for dinner. We wanted to have al fresco dining, so we picked an Italian restaurant called Modesto's and asked for a table overlooking the sea on Harbourfront. I loved the view and the food! My favorite was the pizza. Soooo good! I was quite delighted with my favorite bread with balsamic vinegar and olive oil and parmesan cheese as well.

Garlic bread with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and parmesan cheese

Cappuccino and peppermint tea

Quatro formaggi pizza

Steak with egg and asparagus

Spaghetti aglio olio

Tiramisu

Mr Bean's Silky Soya Pudding

I discovered this tonight. It tastes good, very similar to the 51 Soya bean curd that originally got me hooked on soya.

I Love Bean Curd

Back in the Philippines, there is this thing called taho that most people love, but which I hate. I couldn't stand the taste of soya. Up until last Saturday, anyway.

I had met up with Gelle and Joey so they could hand me their treats from Japan. When I got to Nando's where we were having dinner, Gelle excitedly announced that she had brought me something on top of the Japan treats - a cup of the best soya bean curd she had ever tasted. I smiled politely as I didn't have the heart to tell her that I couldn't stand soya. After I polished off my meal of rice, corn, and peri-peri chicken (incidentally my first meal of the day even though it was already 7pm; I get too lazy to eat on weekends), I opened the cup of soya bean curd so I could politely eat it and pretend to like it - or that was my plan anyway. What I didn't expect was that I'd actually love it. I liked it so much that I joined Gelle in going to their basement shop in Tampines mall to buy more. They also have it in mango and strawberry flavors, which I have also tasted, but I prefer the original flavor. I don't know why, but I am a sucker for food with a pudding-like texture, like leche flan or gelatin and the latest is this bean curd.

On Thursday night I happened to get off work early, so Nantoy and I headed to Tampines for a quick dinner. He wanted Chippy's curry chicken, and I said I wanted soya bean curd. I bought three.

The next day, my teammate asked us if we wanted to order desserts from Dessert Hut and out of all the things on the menu that I could order, I chose the egg bean curd. When I told Nantoy about this, he told me: "That's because B-ean C-urd. B-enedict C-umberbatch. You love BC." Excellent deduction, Sherlock. I did not see that at all. There is a pattern in my addictions. Help?

Spaghetti Aglio Olio

My favorite pasta is spaghetti aglio olio. Its sauce consists entirely of minced or pressed garlic lightly sauteed in olive oil, plus hot pepper flakes.

I also love anything oil-based, like Green Tomato's anchovies in oil. My next preference is tomato-based pasta dishes but I grew up in the Philippines so I kind of like them sweetened. I don't like cream-based pasta at all, except if it's doused with so much mushroom flavor that it overpowers the cream.

Yogurt Place

Yogurt Place's greek yogurt is really delicious - just the right combination of creamy and tartness.
However, their frozen yogurt, which they call "yogurt gelato" and which comes in 2 flavors, lychee or mango, is disappointing. The ice did not have the soft creamy consistency of gelato at all. It can't hold a candle to Red Mango, for sure. I'd stick to their plain yogurt.

Chocolate-Covered Marshmallows

I once described someone as thus: "he's like a chocolate-covered marshmallow - dark and hard on the outside, soft and sweet on the inside." And isn't that how chocolate-covered marshmallows are?

I've always loved chocolate-covered marshmallows but I think Lumont is the best I've tried so far.

Milo Dinosaur vs Godzilla

There is such a thing as Milo Dinosaur. It's iced Milo with a scoop or Milo powder on top. Can be bought from most hawker stalls and food shops in Singapore. The best I've tried is McDonald's Milo dinosaur shake, but it was a seasonal thing so I can't get it now even if I want to. Hmp.

Then there is also the Milo Godzilla. Iced Milo with a scoop or vanilla ice cream and Milo powder on top. Can be bought at Spize: the Makan Place.

Is there really a contest? Obviously you know who is the winner.

Hokkien Mee for Me

My first favorite Singaporean food was the prawn Hokkien Mee. It tastes a bit like the Philippine palabok only less fishy and not yellow. Perhaps the reason why it's so popular with Filipinos based in Singapore. The best one I've tried so far is from Vivo City's Food Republic.

Pretzel Perfect

I love Auntie Anne's pretzel (plain or cheese) with caramel dip.

Aston's Hickory Chicken Barbeque

You can get cheap (less than S$15) and delicious steaks from Aston's (yes, there is no H after S). I love mine medium well (not medium rare, apparently there's a difference) even though the average Pinoy loves theirs well done.

Cheaper still are the barbeque chicken. I love the hickory chicken barbeque with a sweet-sour taste. At less than S$7, it already comes with two side dishes of your choice.

Barbeque Stingray

Let's avenge Steve Irwin's death* and eat a lot of stingray! This is my most favorite Singaporean food. Love the ones from Makan Sutra and Newton Circus hawker stalls.

*Steve Irwin, known as Australian TV's "Crocodile Hunter," was pierced to death by a stingray while he was being filmed snorkelling for a show.

Cereal Prawns

They're delicious from Newton Circus hawker stalls. Elsewhere it's not as good.

The Best Ramen in the Land

Once you've tasted the chicken soup ramen from Marutama Ra-men at Liang Court (second floor), you won't like any other ramen anymore. The meat and the soup just assails the senses. And don't forget to get a half-boiled seasoned egg - it's the tastiest tasty egg I have ever tasted. ;P

Apricot Yogurt = Awesome

Whenever I went to Korea on business trip (three times), I would filch sealed cups of yogurt from my hotel's buffet breakfast, and make off with them in the deep pockets of my trench coat so that I'd have something to snack on later. My favorite flavor was apricot but in all these years that I've gone yogurt-shopping in the Philippines and Thailand and Singapore, I never found one again until today, when I saw this in AMK hub's Fairprice.

It's creamy and dreamy. The best! And it was on sale at less than a buck each if you bought three.

The cheapest yogurt I ever bought was in Thailand, though. It was also good, so I bought a dozen to bring back to the Philippines. Thank goodness none of them burst and spilled all over my clothes in my luggage.

Cool Colas - Vanilla Coke & Mountain Dew

My favorite sodas are Vanilla Coke and Mountain Dew with lots and lots of ice. Correction, I don't drink soda with ice but rather, ice with soda.

I love Vanilla Coke because it tastes like Coke float.. you know, Coca Cola with a scoop of vanilla ice cream in it. Unfortunately is not as easy to find as its plain variant. So far I've seen it sold in only one hawker's stall, at Lau Pa Sat. I used to be able to buy 1.5 liter bottles from the convenience store Cheers but there was one time that I went there and they no longer had it or maybe it was just out of stock at the time. As for grocery stores, Sheng Siong only sells it in cans while Fair Price does not have it at all.

I love Mountain Dew because of its sweet-sour lemon taste. It's not that common, too, but at least it can be found in all grocery stores. And whenever I'm in KFC, I always get it with my favorite oriental chicken salad.

Some hawker stalls don't have it, though, and while usually they just tell me upfront that this is so, one auntie actually gave me Kickapoo Joy Juice, saying that it tasted just like Mountain Dew. Err okay. It doesn't taste like it, by the way. Tastes more like Sprite or 7-Up.

When both cannot be had, I stick with Coca Cola, or if I'm trying to diet, Coke Zero. Their slogan is a lie, by the way. Coke Zero does not taste like the real Coke at all.

Block of Ice...Cream

There are ice cream carts on the streets of Singapore, and they serve ice cream in blocks sandwiched between two wafers. Who needs cones, right?

KFC Philippines vs Singapore

I miss KFC Philippines's fully loaded meal - a single meal that carried everything I loved about KFC - 1 piece original recipe chicken drenched in gravy, rice covered in gravy, french fries that taste like real potato slices or creamy buttery mashed potatoes with even more gravy, a moist fudge brownie, and a glass of Mountain Dew. Their gravy was so good, they needed to chain their gravy pots to the service tables to prevent people from hogging it on their tables.

KFC Singapore has only the chicken and the dew. Their gravy is no good. Their fries taste just like ordinary french fries. They don't have brownies or even rice. How uncool is that?

Their only saving grace is the oriental chicken salad. It's a mixture of lettuce, red cabbage, crispy noodles, diced tomatoes, corn kernels and bite-sized fried chicken chunks. The combination is good, but what really has me sold on it is the sweet-sour-salty taste of the oriental dressing. It's my favorite salad dressing ever. It's now my KFC staple; either this or a piece of original recipe fried chicken, with Mountain Dew, naturally.

Lovely Baked Potato

It used to be that the words "baked potato" invoked images of me at my sickbed, punished with eating bland food. That is, till I tried Yes Asian Cafe's baked potato with ham and cheese. Whenever I passed by that cafe outside AMK hub, I always got tempted by their display window of baked spuds till one day I finally gave in. Mother mother I am sick. Gimme a baked potato with ham and cheese very quick.

Red is Real Good

I am a huge fan of yogurt, most especially of frozen yogurt (fro yo). The best one I've come across so far is Red Mango.

The tart frozen yogurt was first introduced in Korea but later became the rave in the United States. Singapore is lucky to have one store located in Suntec City Mall ground floor near Carrefour, inside Tasty Treatz.

I usually just get a small cup at almost S$4 and prefer not to have any toppings as they only get in the way of the yogurt's taste. It comes in different flavors, too, and my favorite is the original one. Not only does it taste "quite nice" but it's actually good for the health too, as the tagline goes: "Red is Real." Real taste. Real Color. Real stuff. For me, it's just real good!

plain strawberry flavor

berry overload

everything on it

Oh My P.osh!

I was in Dhoby Gaut station, hurriedly walking towards the ATM, when a girl gave me a stick with a little bit of brownie stuck to it. I took it distractedly, went on walking, popped the brownie into my mouth, then did an about-face and went back to the girl to buy a couple whole ones of those brownies she had doled out for sampling. Honestly, P.osh brownies are the best damn brownies I've ever tasted in my life, and the price (S$2.80 for a plain brownie and S$3+ for designed ones) is totally worth it.