I wish, really.
I know I already live in a Food Paradise. Singapore does indeed have a very good variety when it comes to food.
But almost everyone goes to Taiwan & comes back raving about how glorious the food there is! Which is why sometimes I don’t really get many souvenirs from them… 😦 Because the best stuff are the food.
F.J.B.F.T (Friend-Just-Back-From-Taiwan): Here’s your souvenir! A bunch of facial masks & some pretty tops!
Me: Wow! Thanks! These are great!!
F.J.B.F.T: Ha! You don’t know whats great about Taiwan till you’ve eaten the food!
Me: You brought back some for me?
F.J.B.F.T: I can let you smell my burps or taste my poo?
Me: *censored*
They do come back with some gorgeous clothes & awesome beauty products, but according to them… Nothing beats the food! …This makes me just all the more pissed off.
That means it is really beyond my imagination! -.-
Taiwan is known for its FOOD!!
Like people go honeymooning in Paris, the City of Love…
Or go for a crazy spree in Soho!
Especially with all the crazy discounts!
Or going skiing in Canada!!
Sigh.
This is not helping my bad case of wanderlust.
God, help me. Even I’m sabotaging myself! -.-
Anyhow, my point is… Taiwan is really known for its food!
To make things worse, I’ve been having an extremely stressful time in school lately. 😦 I’ve been gaining weight, sprouting more pimples, getting dark eye circles… All in all, I’ve just gotten uglier. *sobs*
Today’s Tuesday, lecture & tutorial all together… No lunch break. Ouch.
So with no time & no food in the tummy, I resorted to a sandwich & drink from vending machines!
Instant & sucks me dry of my coins! My wallet feels lighter already.
I haven’t had a decent meal in the longest time, really. It was always something quick & average in taste.
So when my aunt ask me down to try this new Taiwanese cafe at One Raffles Place, I was over the moon!
It was like the angels heard my cries! …Okay, I’m a tad exaggerating. You get my point; I was happy!
Xiao Bar Wang at One Raffles Place!
At a convenient location in the CBD area! Plus, by the time I got down there after lessons… Most of the working people already left for home! So it wasn’t as maddeningly crowded as usual.
The little Taiwanese cafe! A very chic yet cosy little eatery, I think.
I met boyfriend, Mark & one of my favourite friends of his, Anson!
Don’t think of Anson as a light bulb, please. When it comes to good food, why not share? 😉
My aunt & uncle were there too, anyhow!
I’m a very generous person. *proud beams!*
This place is relatively new, so being one of the first few customers… We got our pictures on Polaroid!
If you ever go there, check out my picture on the wall!! *more proud beams!!*
The cute little menu that sits on every table! Very easy to read & access, don’t you think?
Here’s why I generally don’t fancy those booklet-styled menus:
1. So many pages, I have to keep on flipping back & forth to my shortlisted choices; just to look at the pictures again.
2. The waiter usually takes them back & I have to get their attention again if I want to look at what else they sell.
If you ask me, this is a lot more convenient!
The whole place isn’t exactly waiter-style, it is more like fast-food! So no trying to get some waiter’s attention & long waits for your food!
Simply, order & collect! Now how ’bout that?
Cheap, yummy & fast!
At the counter I saw this crazy cute meow-meow! Chinese believe that this is good for business, because it welcomes fortune. Well, if you ask me… Anyone welcomes fortune, yes? Not just a cat.
Anyhow, I was told that you could see this adorable meow-meow at every of the Xiao Bar Wangs! Talk about a mass welcome.
While waiting for the food that took longer to come, I chewed on some tea eggs!
I simply love tea eggs!! Every time I walk pass a tea egg stall along the street, I get this nostril-gasm.
It has this super-yummilicious smell! I think the bugger that invented tea eggs is a super genius! Appeal to the nose; the most powerful sensor of the human body.
Whatever goes up the nose, translates straight to the brain!
My hunny-wunny stealing bites from my tea eggs. 😦
*reminds myself I’m a generous person!* Plus, he’s my lover. So I guess I could close one eye on this!
Anson behind him devouring the potato salad!
This was the potato salad!
Literally not just potato, but also the other components that make it a salad! I think it looks so pretty! I almost didn’t want to touch it.
Look at my box of Braised Pork Rice! Super yummy, I swear. Plus, it is so convenient.
It comes in this cute little box & going at only $4.10! If I work anywhere near there with an anal boss and strict lunch break, I might just get this to-go!
Want to know how yummy?
This was how the box looked like after 10 minutes with me.
And of course, another Taiwan favourite – Mee Sua!!
Almost everything there was so healthy.
The succulent meatballs in the Mee Sua!
Now, don’t go thinking that I was eating there entirely happy!
I didn’t get to try the Specialty Cold Noodle; which my aunt was raving about, by the way.
Sigh.
If something is average, no problem getting it – but I complain its too average.
If something is good, problem getting it – I complain about not getting it.
And another thing was the Mushroom Pork Porridge!
I simply love mushrooms!! And it was also sold out!!
Talk about too popular! *grumbles!*
But they made up for it with this!
The Crispy Chicken!
It looks a lot like the Shi Lin XXL Chicken, I know.
But I felt that this one tasted a little better. Plus, it comes in bigger chunks at about the same price!
I honestly never fancied the Shi Lin XXL Chicken because of the powdery taste.
But this one? Now, its totally different!
Look at my recently-made-Uncle sucking on his drink!
Well, he’s my newest uncle… So I consider him rather recently-made.
Anyhow, he was really enjoying his drink.
The Taiwanese drinks available!
I already had one during the meal, but I got another one to-go too!
Another crazy awesome thing about this place?
ALL PRICES ARE INCLUSIVE OF 7% G.S.T!!
I don’t know whether its an academical-hazard, because I study Business… So we do a little accounting.
Every time I see prices, I will add in the 7% G.S.T charge, then the 10% service charge (if applicable).
Which makes everything just a little bit more troublesome, y’know?
This place?
No service charge!
G.S.T already included!
WOO-HOO!! 😀
Okay, I know I’m over-high about one of my new-found food-haunts! But it really was a good getaway from all the usual food I’ve been having in school. Even when I get to a good place with good food, I get a horrible bill later on. 😦
So this place was mad awesome for me!!
To my Taiwanese friend, Nien Ting: When are you going back again? I’M COMING TOO!! :))
Everyone should totally go try it out! A One Raffles Place, somewhere around basement 1….
Oh, everyone please remember its Raffles Place!! I went to Raffles City instead at City Hall…. And I swear Mark & Anson were snarling at me for a bit. 😦
But after eating, they were both happy-happy boys!
Speaking of happy boys… I made Mark a little happier today!
Look at what I got him! An Angry Bird!!
Angry Birds is one of Mark’s all-time favourite games. Well, just about anyone’s favourite game.
The amusing thing is; this is an angry bird…but I don’t feel any tension or anger or whatsoever! In fact, I feel like laughing.
Somehow he looks like a Pokeball that grew a beak, eyes & a little radar-thingy on his head.
Mark & I decided to call him: Ba-Boing!
Please don’t ask why. I’ve concluded that it is impossible to share with others just how utterly lame Mark & I get when we’re together.
Ah! Its going to be another hectic week…. 😦 I think I’ll reward myself at the end of everything with another visit at Xiao Bar Wang again!
And I know Mark will definitely have no objections. ;P
X.O.X.O. Love Love.
Gera Shen 