Anyeong Noona

Showing posts with label K-Food. Show all posts

"I won't give up on us, even if the skies get rough."

Anyeong! Noona has realised that one of the things that annoy her the most was the cracking sound of her fantasy. The scar that it leaves may not be as bad as the real heartbreaking situation but it's enough to make her feeling annoyed and emo for one day. After that she can have enough heck-care attitude to start afresh with newly-patched fantasy (taking into account new information which crack the previous fantasy) and live on with it until it become reality or crack again. Living a life as a daydreamer is indeed kinda tough. Hahaha.

At times like these, it's good to have someone to share stories with despite the stories may or may not be too exaggerating but Noona feels she's one freaking good story-teller. Despite the lack of the audience. Well, this kind of personal life stories must not be shared with any random audience, to be honest with you.

Oink Noona: Patbingsoo Korean Dining House, Plaza Singapura

The venue for Saturday's story-telling is Patbingsoo, a Korean dining house which is based on its name is specialising in Korean dessert, Bingsut. But if you are not into eating a bowl full of ice, you can also have other Korean meals here from ramen to ddeokbokki to galbi.

Ordering chit at Patbingsoo Korean Dining House Plaza Singapura

If you need some picture references to help you order, you will be kinda impressed by how good the picture of the food is. Really.

Picture menu from Patbingsoo Korean Dining House Plaza Singapura

But when the real food arrive, they look pretty different from the picture menu. Patbingsoo takes a while to serve the food despite its in-house rules that diners can only dine for 90 minutes. Noona wonders if the staff will really ask the diners to leave after 90 minutes. It did not happen to Noona because we ate pretty fast (starving girls) and immediately moved to next dessert location after finishing our meals at Patbingsoo.

We shared two main dishes at Patbingsoo. The first is Seafood Sundubu Pasta which comes with egg, some seafood (squid, crab cakes, prawns) and 8 pieces of tofu. This is so weird although the seafood spicy sundubu sauce taste not bad and goes well with the pasta. In a glance the portion looks pretty big but since the pasta is served on a thin hot plate, the portion is actually not big at all.

Seafood pasta from Patbingsoo Korean Dining House at Plaza Singapura

The next meal that we ordered looks way different from the picture menu because it seems that cheese just exploded on top of the ddeokbokki and tofu skin. While Noona kinda hopes that the taste would be BOOM, the Cheesy Ddeokbokki taste so so. Kinda disappointing because the expectation was set too high. Morale of the story: don't expect.

Cheese ddeokbokki from Patbingsoo Korean Dining House at Plaza Singapura

Patbingsoo Korean Dining is located at:

68 Orchard Road, #B2-47

Plaza Singapura

Opening hours:

Sunday to Thursday 11.30AM - 10PM

Friday and Saturday 11.30AM - 10.30PM

Anyeong! This is the second day of Noona's challenge for MyFitnessPal (MFP) project and apparently she does it better today. Although this is on the assumption that she keyed in the calorie correctly. Hahaha.

BREAKFAST:

1 SLICE OF LEMON CHIA SEED CAKE (160 KCAL)

If you have been working in Raffles Place area for years, you will know that there is a small food stall at the basement level of One Raffles Place (which was used to be called OUB Centre) selling egg tarts, etc. However, since the building was revamped into One Raffles Place, the yummy egg tart stall moved to Clifford Centre. Inflation may have boosted the price of the cakes and bakeries sold at this stall but nowadays apparently they have embraced different type of cake such as earl grey and lemon chia seed cake. The lemon chia seed cake taste pretty good and it costs SGD 1.50, which Noona feels affordable for CBD area.

LUNCH:

1 MCDONALD'S FILLET-O-FISH (351 KCAL)

8 PIECES OF SUN CHIPS ORIGINAL FLAVOR (70 KCAL)

1 CUP OF GREEN TEA MACCHIATO (96 KCAL)

Noona was so tempted to try out the latest fancy burger introduced by McDonald's which involves crispy buttermilk chicken but they were not available. A friend has told Noona that the latest chicken burger is currently so trending up to the point McD's running out of stock for some of its key ingredients. Huh, apparently this country is not as healthy-holic as Noona has thought. Bummed, Noona ended up buying fillet-o-fish instead which has less than 500kcal (whoa, this is a surprise). Which means a combination of fillet-o-fish burger and green tea macchiato from KOI gives you less than 500kcal in total. Revelation!

DINNER:

1/2 PLATE OF CHEESE DDEOKBBOKI (273 KCAL)

1/2 PLATE OF SEAFOOD PASTA (279 KCAL)

1 CUP OF MATCHA PARFAIT (550 KCAL)

Since it was Saturday, Noona and her friend are in the mood to eat out and they chose to have their dinner at Patbingsoo (which judging from its name, should be famous for its bingsut). But since both of us are not really a fan of bingsut, we ordered the main dishes instead. Surprise surprise, the portion given for both ddeokbokki and seafood pasta are not actually big (although this can be subjective and it is entirely possible that two of us are hungry gluttons). But anyway, assuming our judgement is accurate, we celebrated the weekend by having parfaits from Tsujiri. Cheers to the weekend!

Matcha and houjicha parfait from Tsujiri

EXERCISE:

ONE HOUR OF ZUMBA FITNESS (475 KCAL)

13,257 STEPS OF NORMAL SPEED WALKING (407 KCAL)

SUMMARY:

1,200 KCAL GOAL - 1,779 KCAL FOOD + 882 KCAL EXERCISE = 303 KCAL REMAINING

Overall, Noona contributes today's success to two factors: (1) Exercise and (2) No time to snack during the day. But it is so freaking hard to maintain no (2) especially when you are bored doing your work in the office. Let's see how the challenge goes. But for now, MFP says that Noona shall reach 51.6kg in the next 5 weeks if she keeps this up. Woots~

"Cause in a sky, in a sky full of stars, I think I see you."

Someone seriously just made Noona nearly choked on her food from laughing while reading a text on her phone. Since we had watched Coldplay while they played a gig two weeks ago, we had been texting each other lyrics from Coldplay's songs. But to be honest with you some of their song lyrics are not so easy to text. And yet we did it anyway with a lot of oh-oh-oh-oh or ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo and eh-eh-eh-eh. It's just hilarious it makes Noona laughed (and nearly choked at the same time). This sweet texting aside, Noona wonder where is this relationship is going. But she's just gonna enjoy the ride for now. :)

Anyeong! Sorry for the long #currently post but Noona can't help not posting that funny slice-of-life story of herself. Hahaha. Last Tuesday Noona was in dilemma on whether she wanted to work late or met her high school friends for a catch up session. But boss was away for half day external seminar so that means who-cares-about-showing-face-in-office day. And here we were at Chi-Bing for a yummy Korean meal.

Before dinner buddy texted Noona about Chi-Bing, she has absolutely no idea that there is such Korean restaurant at the Star. This is notwithstanding the fact that Noona visits the Star every Sunday for church service. The restaurant is located pretty hidden to be honest with you. In order to find Chi-Bing, you need to find District 10 first (i.e. Next door restaurant) and in order to find District 10 you need to make a circling way from inside the Star to explore the verandah section of the building and you will see Chi-Bing at the corner. My goodness.

Like many other Korean restaurants in Singapore, Chi-Bing offers food menu at two different prices (lunch and dinner). The price of the food is more expensive for dinner time as usual. Sad. But since there are three of us, we could order something which has big portion to share and that way, the price will somehow be cheaper. Hehehe.

One of Noona's friend is a very fond fan of a Korean dish named Budae Jjigae (Korean Army's Stew in English). Historically, this food become famous in Korea after Korean War as food has become scarce back then after the war. The U.S. Military shares surplus of food with the surrounding Korean people who lives near the base and guess what the surplus food are. They are spam, sausage and ham and the Korean cook these food together with kimchi and gochujang (red chili paste).

So yeah, this is how the modern interpretation of the Budae Jjigae. The main ingredients of spam and sausage are still the same but nowadays, more meat can be added inside the stew. In addition, ramen and rice cake are usually also added in the stew together with cheese as the toppings on top. Yummy for sharing under the rainy weather.

Budae Jiggae from Chi Bing at Star Vista

Chi-Bing staff gave us complimentary steamed egg because of our order of Budae Jjigae. The steamed egg must be consumed immediately while it is still hot. Otherwise it will not taste that good anymore. Customers are also allowed to take the side dishes as many as they want. The side dishes are kimchi, seaweed, macaroni pasta, and seasoned tofu.

Generally the Korean Army's Stew taste so so but Noona thinks there are potential with the other dishes served at Chi-Bing so she will probably come back to try out other stuff here.

Chi-Bing is located at:

#01-43/K4 The Stars Avenue

Star Vista

Nearest MRT: Buona Vista

Opening hours:

Monday to Friday 11.30AM - 3PM, 5.30PM - 10PM

Saturday and Sunday 11AM - 3PM, 5.30PM - 10PM

Noona has heard so much about her uncle's dementia condition but she has never really witnessed the moment when he become impatiently cranky especially when he has to wait for a long time. It happened that the lights at the shopping mall that we visited today in Jakarta has suddenly experiencing a blackout and hence, there is a mad rush of people coming out from the mall. That's understandable because who want to shop in a mall where the air conditioner is not working. The problem is, in order to reach the parking lot where my cousin parked the car, we have to walk all the way up (7 floors to be exact) and the escalators are not working due to the blackout. My uncle has become impatiently angry because my cousin took a while to reach the lobby (not his fault cause there are so many cars going to the same lobby to pick up passengers). Oh well, the whole situation is just tiring. No wonder my cousin looks pretty stressed lately with his dad's condition and his own wedding coming up in the next 7 months.

As usual, to cheer my post up, let's go check out our lunch before the blackout situation. Since there are a number of us, we decided to try Korean BBQ restaurant, Bornga at Lippo Mall Puri (the blackout happened at another mall though).

If you are a fan of Korean drama, you must have had seen Korean people in drama eat Korean BBQ, the kind whereby the cooked meat is wrapped by green lettuce and then eaten together with rice and other ingredients like kimchi or garlic and finally, dipped into the sauce. The people in the drama always look pretty satisfied after they have a mouthful of this Korean BBQ. Hahaha. Noona wonders if the magic is true.

The lettuce wrap from Bornga Lippo Mall Puri

Customers will have option of whether you want your meat to be cooked in front of you or at the back (to avoid smell). The queue for the back grill is pretty long so we allow the waiter to prepare the grill on our table to cook the meat. While waiting for the grill, we stuffed ourselves with the side dishes. The macaroni covered in mayonnaise sauce at the right bottom part of the picture taste so good. No worry if your dining buddy has finished the whole side dish, because you can always ask for a refill.

Korean side dishes from Bornga Lippo Mall Puri

We ordered the two speciality meat of Bornga, the Woo Samgyup and Samgyeopsal. Woo Samgyup is known as the star dish of Bornga. It is basically thinly sliced beef marinated in special sauce. Noona has no idea what sauce is that but the raw presentation of the sliced beef is enough to make her drool.

Woo Samgyup from Bornga at Lippo Mall Puri

The next speciality meat, Samgyeopsal is actually pork belly. Don't be horrified by the layer of fats because fats make the meat taste good.

Samgyeopsal from Bornga at Lippo Mall Puri

Being Indonesian, most of my family members need to eat rice so we ordered a portion of Dolsot Bibimbap to share. The funny thing about service in Bornga in Lippo Mall Puri is the waiter will offer to mix the bibimbap for you. Oh my gawd, Noona calls this laziness beyond belief because she personally enjoys mixing her own bibimbap. LOL.

Dolsot Bibimbap from Bornga at Lippo Mall Puri

Right, here comes the cooking time. The best thing about having Korean BBQ is you don't have to dirty your hands cooking because the waiter will cook the meat for you (and in front of you if you wish to).

Cooking samgyeopsal at Bornga Lippo Mall Puri

Next is the Woo Samgyup's turn to be cooked.

Cooking Woo Samgyup at Bornga Lippo Mall Puri

The best way to eat the meat is by taking the lettuce first to serve as the wrap and then you can add the rice, the meat, the garnish (kimchi, garlic, etc) and then wrap them all and put them into your mouth. Don't forget to dip the meat into the sauce if you want to add another flavor into the meat. The Woo Samgyup is already marinated though so Noona does not really need to add anything else into it.

Cooked samgyeopsal from Bornga at Lippo Mall Puri

Bornga is located at:

Lippo Mall Puri Unit 68 Food Avenue L1 #FCS8, Jalan Puri Indah, Jakarta

Opening hours:

Daily 10AM - 10PM

Noona was getting very excited when she heard that Caffe Bene, a popular coffee chain from South Korea, has finally landed in Singapore. To be exact, at level 2 of Vivo City. When Noona and her friend visited Caffe Bene, they were not receiving any customers because they had problem with their ordering and payment system. Noona thought they should just go on with manual way of ordering and keying payment but they chose to close the place for a while. Oh well, we came back around two hours later and they were back in business. Thankfully.

Jumbo Korean Bingsu at Caffe Bene, Vivo City

Caffe Bene serves mostly coffee, Korean bingsu, waffles and toasts. You can check out the display of those main dishes that Caffe Bene serves in their cafe.

Noona's friend refused to share that jumbo glass of Korean bingsu so we ended up ordering waffle which is served with a scoop of gelato (you can choose two but of course with additional cost). We chose dark chocolate gelato for the ice cream. The gelato and waffle taste so so. Nothing too fantastic about it.

Dark Chocolate Gelato Waffle at Caffe Bene Vivo City

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On the other hand, the garlic & cheese bread taste pretty yummy. You don't get sick of eating too much cheese and the combination of the cheese topping and the garlic toast works pretty well together.

Garlic & Cheese Bread at Caffe Bene Vivo City

On another visit to Caffe Bene with Noona's cousin, he agreed to share the jumbo Korean bingsu. Noona let him choose the flavor (as he will do most of the eating in the event that Noona gave up on eating anymore ice). He chose Green Tea Bingsu and on top of the bingsu, the server will throw in a lot of toppings like red bean and almond nuts. To complete the look, a big dollop of whipped cream (not ice cream unfortunately) are put on top of everything. Surprisingly we can finish the jumbo bingsu (Noona supposes because after all, this is mainly made from ice and ice equals water?). The toppings, the whipped cream and the green tea shaved ice taste pretty good when it is mixed. And this is a good dessert to share if you have a lot of things to talk about as you will not be able to finish this bingsu in a short time. XD