Another newbie learning to take food photos (+ food reviews)

[wackykid]

last item from whampoa market for now...

saw this lor mee seems pretty popular...


ordered the kway tiao since they din have thick bee hoon... i never liked ordering the normal yellow noodles for lor mee cos i always felt that the slippery surface of thick bee hoon or kway tiao goes best with the sticky... slippery... thick nature of lor mee's lor.... loved the gravy here which has visible strands of egg... the ingredients not that great cos somehow they all tasted more or less the same... so it felt there are only 3 different items here... kway tiao... gravy and ingredients....




overall ratings: 4/5...


regards,
wacky

 

[wackykid]

chinatown smith street FC...

had this wonderful soy sauce "virgin" chicken...!


the soy sauce chicken is EXCELLENT...!! very tender... very very slippery... and very flavourful... probably the BEST soy sauce chicken i've had...! the sauce is great also...! added bean curd which is also pretty good.... chilli is good also but rice is not that great...




chicken: 4.75/5... beancurd: 4.25/5... chilli: 4.25/5... rice: 3.75/5... overall: 4.5/5...

ordered dessert from here:


ordered almond milk... the almond milk is perfectly smooth w/o any signs of imperfections... but the almond flavour not strong and not fragrant enough... so i felt it's pretty ordinary only....


ratings: 3/5...

again... the almond milk is very hard to get a focus... so it's difficult to get any nice photos out of it.... :/


regards,
wacky

 

[wackykid]

maxwell fc...

went to try the cheap hum jin peng... it costs only $1 for 6...!


it's not bad as far as hum jin peng goes... but i'm not fan of hum jin peng so i hadn't really eaten any hum jin peng that i can say i love it...


ratings: 3.5/5.... and considering the cheap price.... i would adjust the ratings to 4/5...

dessert hut @ people's park...


had the mango sago dessert... very satisfying dessert... especially on a hot day... the dessert is very refreshing..! but nothing outstanding or special to comment much about...




ratings: 4.25/5...


regards,
wacky

 

[wackykid]

lava rock grill house @ 153 Serangoon North Ave 1, #01-512 coffee shop.... (they have another branch in hougang and a restaurant branch in tanjong pagar)

move over astons and botak jones...! this is another atas western food... where i think the food is nicer than astons or botak jones...! their variety of food and sides are much wider than what astons or botak jones offer... and prices can range from the cheap (but smaller quantities) $3.9 lunch sets to over $30 for prime steaks... they have many different ways of preparation for steaks... lamb... pork... chicken... fish and seafood... plus they have different pastas... combo meals and other side orders...


i ordered the hot plate lamb with fries (with cheese add-on) and 2 sides (pasta salad and mashed potatoes) ... costs $13.10 for the whole set...


i love the cheese add-on (costs $1.20) which comes with bacon bits.....






overall ratings: 4.6/5...


regards,
wacky

 

[wackykid]

Cugini Trattoria Pizzeria @ 87 club street...

went for dinner to celebrate my best friend's birthday...


the lighting in the place is VERY BAD.... hence it's VERY CHALLENGING to take nice photos here... i'm not happy with the photos here... but considering the conditions i think i have done better now compared to the past.... most of the photos below i had to adjust ISO to beyond normal (>1600) to about 2500... reduce shuttle speed (20ms) to as low as possible w/o causing motion blur due to hand shake... plus increase aperture as much as possible -- which ended up causing many of the food not having much parts that are sharp...

complimentary bread as starters... the bread is cold and pretty ordinary... ratings 2.5/5 (would have been 3/5 if it's warm) ...


the fritto misto di pesce all'italiana... which meant "italian style mixed fried fish" ... which turns out to be actually seafood platter... it's very nice... especially the calamari...! most fried calamari are either hard... or not very tasty... or having too much fried dough.... the one here is chewy and not hard... and is flavourful... the fried fish and prawns are good but not so great... 4.25/5...


the mains...

first pasta... spaghetto alla bottarga gamberetti e peperoncino... which meant "sardinian style spaghetti with mullet roe, prawn, olive oil, garlic and chilli" ... this is very nice and special..!! although the spaghetti is harder than normal... but it doesn't feel hard... cos it's very chewy and Q.... it's a delight to chew on the spaghetti.... and the pasta the sauce is very unique cos of the roe...! it tasted a bit like hei bi (or dried shrimp) but yet is not quite the same.... 4.5/5 for this...


second pasta... it's seafood linguine pasta (in tomato sauce)... and not on the menu... this is like seafood marinara... and it's THE BEST seafood marinara i've eaten b4...!! this pasta is even nicer than the prev one.... it's drier than most seafood marinara but it doesn't feel at all dry... and the linguine is even nicer than the spagetti...! the texture is perfect... it's as chewy as the spagetti... less hard.... and more smooth.... the sauce and spagetti goes very well with each other... 4.75/5 for this....


regards,
wacky

 

[wackykid]

desserts time at cugini...!! ordered the cugini dessert selection which comes with mini size portion of 3 different desserts...!

first... panna cotta al cioccolato bianco... a.k.a white chocolate panna cotta with raspberry sauce.... it's very nice and special... especially good when eaten with the rasberry sauce.... the panna cotta is smooth... just right amount of sweetnes... 4.5/5...


next... semifreddo al torrone su guazzeto di frutta del giorno... or semi-frozen nougat with fruit of the day sauce... dunno why it's called nougat... i tot nougat is some hard candy bar famous in australia.... anyway this is also very nice and special...! it's like cream + vanilla ice-cream perfectly mixed together... that u can't tell cream from ice-cream... it's really like a cross-breed of the two.... but what is really outstanding here is that biscuit on top...!! when i first took a small nibble... it didn't felt like much... but the moment i swallow that nibble... i could feel the butter fragrance of the biscuit...! taking bigger bites of the biscuit together with the cream-ice-cream mix... after u swallow down the biscuit... the very fragrant butter literally exploded with increasing intensity at the back of my mouth...!! anyway the sourish fruit sauce is also very nice and goes well with the ice-cream...



i'd give just the biscuit alone 5/5 ratings...! overall ratings for this dessert is 4.75/5...

last item... as a fan of tiramisu... i'm eager to dive into this.... it didn't disappoint me even though my friend thinks that the top part too much cream.... i felt that the top part is not creamy but more closer to something like condensed milk instead... this is classic tiramisu... only thing is that i hoped to have stronger alcohol and coffee taste... and if the layers would be more defined... this one the top layer is well defined but the middle layer and below felt almost the same.... ratings 4.5/5...



regards,
wacky

 

[ntheni]

chinatown smith street FC...

the soy sauce chicken is EXCELLENT...!! very tender... very very slippery... and very flavourful... probably the BEST soy sauce chicken i've had...! the sauce is great also...! added bean curd which is also pretty good.... chilli is good also but rice is not that great...



regards,
wacky

Ahh.. The famous virgin chicken!! This looks yummy hehe nice virgin...err.. i mean chicken :bsmilie:
From my monitor seen to be a be off with wb?
Nevertheless I like this

 

[wackykid]

Ahh.. The famous virgin chicken!! This looks yummy hehe nice virgin...err.. i mean chicken :bsmilie:
From my monitor seen to be a be off with wb?
Nevertheless I like this

yeah now that u mentioned... i didn't realized the WB was off... i used auto WB usually in hawker centres.... didn't realized that the photos would turn out this way... but then again i find that sometimes being a little warm actually makes the photo look better....

anyway yeah... the chicken is very nice...!!


regards,
wacky

 

[wackykid]

at alexandra village food centre...



this chicken rice is as good as the one at whampoa....! everything here from chicken... rice... chilli... minced ginger and soup are good...! overall ratings 4.5/5..




had avocardo drink here...


fwah....!!! this drink is fantastic...!! it's almost like drinking gula melaka...!! very satisfying drink for a hot day...!! on my next visit i must order from this stall again...! overall ratings: 4.75/5..



regards,
wacky

 

[wackykid]

maxwell road FC...

had the fish soup here...


the fish and soup are nice... but i still like to have XO added.... 4.25/5 for this...




peanut soup from this...


i love tang yuan...!! and the peanut soup here is also nice... one of the better peanut soups... the only thing unfortunate is the fritters get soggy very quickly... 4.25/5...



regards,
wacky

 

[wackykid]

satay beehoon from ang mo kio central FC...



loved the satay sauce... but a bit too little for my beehoon and ingredients also not alot... prefer the one at east coast lagoon FC... overall ratings: 4/5...





regards,
wacky

 

[wackykid]

laksa @ springleaf eating house located at blk 69 bedok south avenue 3...


value for $$$ laksa...! for $2.50... they gave plenty of hums which are fresh and very chewy...! the gravy is also pretty good..... ratings 4.25/5.... but considering the price... i'd give it 4.5/5...





regards,
wacky

 

[wackykid]

also at springleaf eating house... this hand-made muah chee is pretty famous... they shifted over here recently..


the muah chee is very nice...!! the moment i opened the pack... straight away can smell the fragrance of the sesame...! the muah chee is very soft... smooth... and very chewy... plus it doesn't stick... it has right nice amount of sweetness in the muah chee and goes very well with the freshly roasted peanuts and sesame... 4.6/5...





regards,
wacky

 

[wackykid]

old malaya cafe @ 313 somerset... they have quite a number of good and affordable dishes like popiah... chicken rice bowl... pontian wonton mee... but my fav of them all is their chendol...! recently ate there and seems that the quantity has increased but the price is still$2.50..!!


this is my fav chendol in sgp at the moment...! taste-wise i prefer the penang chendol @ malaysian food street cos they add plenty of coconut milk plus they used large red beans.... but quantity wise this one gives ALOT MORE... and both also at $2.50... so this one is much more satisfying...! my ratings... 4.75/5...







regards,
wacky

 

[wackykid]

it's restaurant week...!! went to the tastings room @ marina square...

this place has very bad lighting too... so it's a challenge to take good photos... i had to ramp up the ISO to take some decent photos...

first... the menu...


truffle wild mushroom puree soup... loved the soup... it's not like most mushroom soups which are creamy and that masks the mushrooms away... this one isn't so creamy so u could discern the texture and taste of each individual mushrooms bits... 4.5/5...




squid ink linguine... the linguine is smooth and the squid ink sauce is good but nothing much special.... the squid is kinda disappointing though... cos it's kinda rubbery and rather bland... overall ratings: 4/5...



regards,
wacky

 

[wackykid]

48 degree confit of dill infused salmon... i didn't eat this so can't review on it... by my fren who ate it says it's good...


wagyu beef cheek slow braised in red wine... can't go wrong with cheeks...!! this one is SUPERB!!! it's like eating butter made from beef...!! the cheeks literally melts in the mouth.... and the flavour of the beef then explodes inside...!!


it comes along with mashed potatoes and another mashed veg that tasted like celery.... which is very special... both the mashed potatoes and veg are very smooth...


5/5 for the beef cheeks alone... 4.5 for the rest of the dish... overall rating for the dish is 4.75/5...

apple flan... i only sampled a bit of it... it tastes different from usual apple pie... not bad but not great... 4/5....


finally... tiramisu... first impression was that it doesn't look very nice... but it tastes very good...!! the alcohol is strong and the cake part is nicely moist but not soggy... this is one of the better tiramisu i've eaten...! 4.6/5...



regards,
wacky

 

[wackykid]

had always wanted to try absinthe @ 46 bukit pasoh road... and thanks to restaurant week organized by dining city i get to enjoy this at a reasonable price...

the lighting at this place is not very good too... so it's again a challenge to take good photos... hence i didn't quite like some of the photos... like the foies gras look as if is chao dar... but it's actually not that dark...


the menu:


free bread is served b4 the starter... these are very hard like stones... it reminds me of the bread i've had b4 in paris which are also very hard... so maybe this would be authentic to what french bread is like... but i dun really like hard foods.... so i'd give this rating of 2.5/5...


the appetiser... tempura of coconut prawn... the salad below taste very thai... but i dun really like salads so no comments on the salad part... the tempura prawn on other hand i liked it... it's unlike the normal tempura prawns u would expect from jap restaurants... this one has plenty of coconut taste and is very flavourful... which is nice except that unfortunately it's so flavourful that it masks the taste of the prawn away.... so ratings for this is 4/5...


starter... pan fried foie gras... which came with pancake and cherries below... the foie gras as expected is very nice and flavourful... it goes very well with the pancakes below... the sweet cherries adds a different dimension when u mix the 3 together and eat... 4.5/5...



regards,
wacky

 

[wackykid]

and the mains...

grilled barramundi filet... i didn't eat this but my frens who ate this both liked it... especially the skin they said is very nice...


medium pan seared beef ribeye... the beef is full of flavour... chewy and very tendor... very nice.... only disappointment is the potatoes that comes with it are ordinary.... but still the beef makes up for it... overall ratings.. 4.5/5...


desserts... lemon merigue tart... the tart is VERY sweet and the raspberry sorbet is VERY sour... if u ate them individually is not so nice... but when u mix them together it's very nice... the sour and sweet just nicely balance out each other... plus the clean texture of the sorbet mix together with the cream blends very well together... but one of my frens didn't like this dish so much cos the raspberry sorbet is rather sour.... my ratings overall for this is 4.6/5...


still got some free cookies and chocs... which are very nice too... especially the choc truffle... which is VERY bitter with a slight sweetness... and i love bitter and dark chocolates so i love this...! 4.5/5...


finally... i learnt that absinthe is the name of an alcoholic spirit... and here is where they kept the absinthe so i snapped this...



regards,
wacky

 

[wackykid]

上海人家 round 2...!!

tou kan with special spices.... the spices are nice although it's a bit hard... ratings: 4/5...


the same cabbage again... no change in my ratings... 3/5...


best drunken chicken i've eaten...!! the wine is power and brings out the flavour of the chicken very nicely... the chicken is very tender and is chilled nicely.... 4.75/5...


XLB... as good as previously... this time i learnt how to pick up XLB properly..... 4.5/5...


some kind of fried fish... very fragrant... another nice dish... 4.25/5...



regards,
wacky

 

[wackykid]

cold beancurd with century egg and pork floss again.... still as good... 4.6/5...


fried eggs with chives again... still great... but maybe this time i'd give it 4.25/5 as i'm hoping for more eggy flavour...


holland beans.... not fan of such beans but this one tastes all right... the mushrooms are very flavourful... 4/5 for this...


the perfect dou miao... simple dish... it's just salt and dou miao... nothing else... and it can be so wonderfully delicious... still full marks for this..! 5/5...


shen jian bao... still as wonderful... 4.75/5...



regards,
wacky