Do you recall those school days we had, staying up late, hanging out with friends in canteen, restaurant, enjoying meals at an attractive subsidized rate?

It had been quite a while since my last visit to NUS. Then, DG told me that at the University Town Hall, you get to enjoy Italian food at a real good deal. I kind of miss the school days too, so why not?

Our appetizer was Caprese ($11.9). This is the classical food presentation of this dish - slices of tomatoes and fresh mozarella cheese arranged in alternating fashion, sprinkled with chopped basil.

This healthy stew of mixed vegetables and parma ham is called ribollita toscana ($11.90). Despite its look, it was actually quite tasty, but filling too.

Call me cheesy, the gorgonzola sauce on the gnocchi algorgonzola ($10.9) just wasn't up to my 'cheesy' expectation. This is when the parmesan cheese came to the rescue. 

When our filetto alla tartufato ($25.9) arrived, we finally realised our mistake - both main dishes were in cream sauce! Don't get me wrong, the sauce was nice, the truffle was not overpowering and the herbs used were ample. But, the cream certainly isn't easy on the stomach.

We were full but still couldn't resist the temptation to order a dessert. They ran out of their signature Tiramisu Si and the waiter recommended this cake of the day ($5). It was a tad dry and hard, and filling too. This cake was the only food that we had leftover on the table.

Virgin Strawberry Daiquiri ($7.5), a sweet and sour mix blended. It was refreshing and just the right drink to accompany our creamy main dishes.

Cheers, where else can you find a $3.9 per glass red wine?

This is a restaurant of minimalist design. We had passed by several times but had always skipped it. Not today, though. We felt impressed by the enthusiastic staff who was zealously finding us a seat while we were browsing through their menu at the door. Sometimes, a small gesture made a big difference.

Olive veg sweet potato leaves $8.9

Olive veg is pretty salty. Usually, we couldn't stand salty dishes but when it comes to having porridge, salty dishes suddenly became appealing, and in fact, favorable. What a double judgement we have, right?

Claypot dried chilli frog leg $16.9

Don't you like the smooth and tender frog leg? Drizzle the spicy and sweet gravy over the porridge and instantly transform your plain white porridge to the dark one, not to mention double in flavor too.

Hong Kong style porridge $7.9

The porridge was bubbling hot when served. The smooth porridge paired with  fried fritters, best combination ever. We love to coat the fritters with porridge to slightly soften the harsh edges of the fritters. Yum yum... Was it just me or does food always look more appetizing when served in a clay pot?

Jurong Point 

#03-09

Catching up with friends over a dinner and running out of idea where to go? I have a suggestion for you. 

Kai Krata is a newly opened stall at Blk 134 Bukit Batok Ave 6. Currently, they are having a 50% off (for the first set) promotion. A standard set of BBQ steamboat cost only $13.95. What are you waiting for? The promotion is only valid until 28 Feb 2014.

This was our standard set ($13.95), suitable for two. The prawns were big and fresh, tasted superb be it barbecued or threw into the soup. For the add-on, we chose black pepper beef and tom yum chicken. We barbecued most of the ingredients on this plate.

Vegetables and tang hoon, suitable to be cooked in the soup.

We were provided with butter (for BBQ) and chilli (as dipping sauce).

It was fun brushing the butter on the BBQ plate with lemongrass stalk. It reminded me of putting on make-up, brushing on foundation ... Look at the BBQ plate, it was so smooth after applying the butter, haha.

Tada! Our first round. To prevent the BBQ plate from charring, we often poured soup on the plate. The tom yum taste lah, black pepper taste lah, all washed down to make the delicious broth.

After a few rounds, the BBQ plate only charred slightly, and the soup doubled in its flavour with the many ingredients inside.

I had all these with my favorite milo godzilla, with an extra scoop of vanilla ice-cream. The dome of milo powder on top was pleasing to the eyes and really brighten up my night!

Bye bye Surabaya and here we come Singapore! It was an early flight, we arrived just in time for brunch at Changi Airport. We were really exhausted, so we decided to give ourselves an energy boost at Saboten, which is located at Terminal one.

Saboten rolled up breakfast menu which they serve until 11am. When we arrived at the restaurant, it was almost 11am so we hurriedly place order for this chicken katsu sandwhich (part of the breakfast menu).

We were provided with this wooden stick and sesame seeds. Some pounding exercise before meal.

   

This Irodori combo meal ($28) was interesting, you get to choose which katsu goes into your plate. My choice was: main dish - mentai tenderloin, sub-side dish - asparagus cheese roll, side-dishes - ratatouille katsu and mini cheese katsu. Among these, my personal favorite was the ratatouille one. Yum yum.

This was Irodori curry ($23). The breadcrumbs outside the katsu was fried to perfect crisp while the meat remained tender juicy in the inside. The curry gravy was fine. After all the spicy food in Indonesia, this sweet curry barely tickled our tongues.



Together with the tonkatsu they served shredded cabbage. It can be enjoyed with yuzu dressing or sesame dressing. The best part is, the cabbage is refillable. We love shredded cabbage, and it is not surprising if you see any one of us alone finishing off this gigantic bowl of cabbage. It was so refreshing, especially after eating the katsu, it kind of cleansed our tongue from the oiliness.



We love the katsu here; service-wise, we thought there are still rooms for improvement.

This was our last meal in this Surabaya trip. To make it memorable, we had our sumptuous dinner at Malioboro. This place is famous for their pressure cooked style food and don't be surprise that even bones can be eaten! I love every single dish at the table, you can imagine how gluttonous I was. 

Bandeng Presto Dalam Sarang (Rp 35,000)

The bandeng fish was first cooked under high pressure, and then deep fried while fully encapsulated in this cocoon shaped fritters.

It was sooo good. We once packed it back to Singapore but it didn't taste as good after being reheated. Fresh is always better. The meat was not the soft and tender type, but it was not too dried up either. It crumbled easily in the mouth and it was a flavour burst in every single bite.

Cah Tauge Ikan Asin (Rp 19,500)

Sambal Goreng Teri Pete (Rp 19,500)
I don't really mind the petai smell, in fact, I love it!

Sup Gurami (Rp 45,000)
For the sake of 4 little ones at the table, we ordered this fish soup. It was a simple, decent dish, and of course, non-spicy.

Ayam Presto Cabe Merah (Rp 20,000)
The high pressure cooked chicken was tossed in red chilli, it was a super spicy dish. I only took a bite and passed it on.

Ayam Presto Rica-Rica (Rp 20,000)
Rica-rica is a kind of sambal too, although the sauce looked rather red, it was actually not as spicy as the ayam presto cabe merah

Ayam Presto Telur Asin (Rp 20,000)
This was no doubt my favorite high pressure cooked chicken in salted egg sauce. It was such a sinful yet irresistible dish. The salted egg sauce was creamy with the light sandy texture from the egg yolks. I wonder how many egg yolks had went into this rich-in-flavor and finger-licking good sauce.

Tahu Telor (Rp 22,000)
The tahu was mashed and stir fried with egg, paired with sweet dark gravy.

Cah Kangkung Polos (Rp 18,000)
Some greens after all the protein feed.

After returning to Singapore, I learn't that there is a branch of Malioboro opened in Jurong Point. Now that my favorite food aren't that far anymore, I can satisfy my cravings for Malioboro chicken anytime I like!

Location

Jl RA Kartini 

No 47 Surabaya