Ultimate Hawker Fest 2014 - 22 November 2014 @ Suntec City Convention Centre (Plus Giveaway)

The Ultimate Hawker Fest is back and if you have not planned this coming weekend's brunch, why not consider visiting Suntec City this Saturday for some food and at the same time support the over 32,000 beneficiaries of Touch Community Services. The beneficiaries are from all races and religions.



To help navigate what's going on at the Hawker Fest, it will be divided into 3 zones:

1) Ultimate Original Recipe - where stalls have been around for multiple generations.

Here's the menu:

2) Ultimate Pursuit of Happiness - where young folks who have left their cushy jobs in other sectors to come into the food business.

The menu:


3) Ultimate Ingredients - featured hawkers who will replace their usual ingredient with special ones to make their dish more extraordinary.

The menu:


Now introducing the folks who are curating this year's festival.



My friends and Singapore Food Bloggers that you are all probably already following,  Maureen Ow (www.MissTamChiak.com), Derrick Tan (www.SgFoodOnFoot.com) and Ian Low (TheSilverChef.blogspot.sg) have been working tirelessly to talk to the 20 over hawkers, visited farms to check the ingredients and many more.

The hawkers are also taking taking time off from the usual business and coming to Ultimate Hawker Fest to bring you the food and for them and you to help support this charity.


Date: Saturday, 22 November 2014
Time: 11am to 5pm
Venue: Suntec Convention Centre Halls 401 and 402

Buy your coupons at www.ultimatehawkerfest.sg



But wait... what about a Giveaway:

For the giveaway, 2 persons will get 1 set of $50 coupons to spend at the Ultimate Hawker Fest 2014.

• Look for my Instagram post on this giveaway. Share it with your friends and say how you will spend your $50 based on the menu above on Instagram.
• Hashtag your post #ultimateHawkerFest2014 and #keropokmanGiveaway and tag @keropokman in your post so I can browser through it easily.
• Contest is for readers who will be living in Singapore only.
• Closing date is 2359 hours, Wednesday 19 November 2014.
• The winners will be randomly picked and informed via Instagram.

If the winners do not reply within 24 hours, new winners will be picked.

Terms and conditions:
The curators of the Ultimate Hawker Fest is solely responsible for contacting the winners. No refunds are allowed and the prize is not exchangeable for credit, cash or in kind. If unclaimed after the redemption period, the prize will be forfeited, and the winner shall have no further right to claim it thereafter.

Winners of the Ultimate Hawker Fest 2014 Giveaway are not eligible to win the same prize in similar contests hosted by any other person or organization on Facebook, blogs, magazines and online publications.

L’Entrecôte @ Suntec City

It was one of those nights when we were getting ready to sleep, the wife was checking her email and I was browsing tech magazines. Suddenly someone's stomach growled and she said, I want some Steak and Fries.

At nearly midnight? Luckily, she did not want to eat it immediately. It was to be our dinners that we will slot in with her parents. We always have to decide eat out or ask mum to cook. So it was to be one of the eat out nights with them.



This is their 2nd branch in Singapore and it's more convenient for us to dine here, that's why we are here.

If you are a steak and fries person, this restaurant only has 1 main dish. They also only use 1 cut, the Entrecôte Steak. In English, it means rib eye steak. The fries here is free flow too.

What if you don't eat steak? We realised on the special menu which is on a separate piece of paper, there's some seafood on it. We were not interested in that, we were here for the steaks.



You know how certain places, the service staff remembers what each diner ordered, when you place your order here, they draw it on the table. They cover the tables with red table cloths then had big pieces of mahjong paper over it.  It's so clever ya? The M were all Medium for our steak. WD is Well Done! Yup, my MIL does not want any hint of blood on her steak.

There was a list appetizers that we wanted to try, but with only 4 of us, we only ordered 3 because we know we will be quite full after the steak and fries.


Oven Baked Beef Marrow $18

Beef Marrow that has been oven baked, sprinkled with sea salt from Guérande and also grilled buttered Poilâne bread. The beef marrow was delicious. There's only 2 slices of Poilâne, it goes well with their complimentary breads too.


Soupe a l'oignon $8

Classic French onion soup with cheese toast on top which was quite good. It's nice to dip the complimentary bread on it too.

Caramelizing onions are laborious, so I will order this at restaurants. Too much work for a small family to prepare at home. I recently got an auto stirrer, maybe I should make this at home now. haha...


Escargots de Bourgogne $16

Snails from Bourgogne (Burgundy). Only the wife and I ate this while the parents stare at us initially. Yums. Mum did try one when we told her it's the last one.....


Walnuts Green Salad

The salad comes with every order of the Main Course.


Entrecôte Steak with their legendary sauce and Golden Fries

Our steak! Can't wait to tuck in.

There were 3 sizes to choose from, Light ($19.90), Classic ($29.90) and Large at ($39.90).

We did asked the wait staff how many grams each size was, and we opted for the Classic. Sorry, I forgot to note down the grams of each size.



The steak has been pre-carved / sliced for us. The nicely rested piece of meat was just tender. Our medium looks quite good doesn't it? Even the MIL who ordered Well Done enjoyed her steak.

The fries were quite tasty too, only I finished my fries while the other 3 had slightly half of the served portions. I have a soft spot for fries.

The total bill was $190.20 for 4 persons after the taxes etc.

L’Entrecôte
3 Temasek Boulevard
Suntec City Mall
#B1-128/129
Singapore 038983

Tel: +65 6690 7569
Hours: 11.30am to 9.30pm daily
 

Din Tai Fung @ Suntec City

It was another of the family lunch outings. When it's a group of 7 people, expect lots of dilly-dally-ing. We went to the Suntec City branch of Din Tai Fung because it's one of their newest branch and also, Singaporeans have not discovered that Suntec City has re-opened.

We got our table of 7 within 10 minutes. So the 10 minutes while waiting for the rest to arrive and some to the washroom, and many other things, my cousin and I ordered our food.



Oriental Salad in Special Vinegar Dressing. One of our favourite appetisers here. My cousin can eat a whole thing by herself, so it's 2 portions of this.



The wife's favourite Drunken Steamed Chicken.



Pickled Cucumber with Spicy Sauce. One of the wife and my favourites. Crunchy and savoury and addictive.



Another of our favourite appetizers, the rolled pork with cucumber in the centre with crushed garlic sauce. This goes with Mango Beer.



I got a voucher to try this and so the best time is to try it with many people with different dishes.
How clever of them to pair Taiwanese Beer with Taiwanese food!

To take it a step further, they even have a 'paper wheel' brochure that lists out the beer that goes well with their different dishes.

The men liked the Gold Medal Taiwan Beer, the ladies liked the Lychee Fruit Beer and White Grape Fruit Beer.



We like nibbling bits of everything, so we had the Mince Black Bean Meat Noodles and also the Spicy Sauce Noodles.



Din Tai Fung's fried rice is one of the yummiest around. So proud of my cousin. She's helping to order and she noticed that we have had prawns so we are not having the prawns fried rice. She also ordered very 2 different noodles above. More choices for us.



Another item that many people love at Din Tai Fung. The Deep-fried Marinated Pork Chop. We have eaten this same thing in different DTF and this one here is really nice. Some branches cook it a bit too dry, the ones here is juicy! Not sure if they send the best chefs here to open up or it's permanent.

The 'brochure' says this goes with the Lychee Fruit Beer.



This is the Taiwan Shrimp and Pork Oriental Wantons with Spicy Sauce.
We did a mental calculation that we will exceed the $90 ($80 for Citi cards) so we will get this free.

Even if we did not, we will order it because the various dishes with spicy sauce here tastes good. We need to know the recipe!



This is the usual Oriental Wantons with Black Vinegar and Chilli Oil that we usually order. Still our favourite. Almost the same as the previous one but this has a sweet vinegar taste.



It's good that we have a group of us, we can order more Xiao Long Bao varieties to try. The Steamed Angled Gourd and Shrimp Dumplings. A very acquired taste. Taste a bit too 'green'.



We thought we shall indulge in some Crabs and Pork Dumplings. We are secretly glad it's not the chilli crab dumpling they had previously. This is lighter and doesn't have the chilli taste to mask it. It gives it a natural sweeter taste to the usual pork dumplings.



The Chicken Dumplings. The wife doesn't like this at all. It's all right, but not what we are usually used to. An alternative to those who don't like pork.



They are having a special promo now as shown on the poster above.

We had quite an enjoyable lunch here. This branch is quite big and we like the spaciousness and higher ceiling. It is where the meeting rooms used to be that's no longer there. The food items here were also nicely prepared compared to some branches that's a bit 'different'.


Din Tai Fung (Suntec City)
6 Temasek Boulevard
#02-302
Singapore 038986

Tel: +65 6338 2422

Rakuzen @ Millenia Walk

This was colleague and my lunch yesterday. It was our last day at our training centre and we thought we should try out this place that we saw a few days ago. We have been walking around and spot this place that has a special "outside seating menu".

It was a $12 set meal that's only available if you sit outside (ie. not in the air-con comfort). For the last few days, we have been freezing from 9 am to 11.45 am in course, so we don't mind 'defrosting' sitting outside. :-)




It was quite a big set isn't it? We think that this is just nice for parents who are shopping in the area with small kids. You can feed your kid the chawanmushi and karaage. You can eat the sushi and salad and finish up whatever leftover from your kids. haha..



We find the sushi quite fresh.



The chicken karaage was crispy outside and not dry inside.



We had a small little cup of dessert. But it was just nice as we were quite full after eating all the rest.
It's watermelon and nata de coco.



The chawanmushi, a little generous with the sodium for me, but not for my colleague. ;-)
I like cups like this!



The sidedish. Cabbage and mushroom. Light and tasty. I like this because I like cabbage and mushroom!




As usual, when we were paying, we have this habit of asking if any cards have discount here. The cashier said if you have the Sushi Tei Card. We do! Both of us! We found out they are sisters company of Sushi Tei. That's 10% off for us.

Rakuzen
9 Raffles Boulevard
#01-16/19
Time2@Millenia Walk
Singapore 039596

Tel: 63331171

Pizza Hut @ Suntec City

Not sure if you all watched Pizza Hut's Pasta Prefecto advertisement. It made it look so good that you wonder if it's true. haha..

Since we are at Suntec for this whole week, my colleague said let's try it, and so we did! (Since we have been walking past it the whole week!)

We walked in and was promptly seated. We told the server we are having the pasta and was told it would take some time. We said OK. Hmm. Wonder if it's all branches or this one only, taking time to prepare means they will cook when we order right? (We hope so!)

Colleague ordered the Pep 'N' Spice.
It looked really nice and appetizing. It was al-dente too! Not too stingy with the mushrooms too.



I had the Chicken Pomodoro. I like tomato based pasta and this one's to my liking. The pasta was done just right, the sauce was tasty.



We thought it was not bad at all. Almost like what the advert says. LOL
It's around $6-7 each for the pasta.

Typical of any 'fast food' chains, there are lots of top-op options. Colleague topped up to include a soup and a drink. I ordered the dessert instead - two slices of cake.



The cake was not bad too. Some people might find the size of the cake too small, but for me it's ok. Just enough calories and not too much!  ;-)

The cheesecake was not too shabby and the chocolate was nice.



It seems you don't get to choose the type of pasta, it's fixed depending on what you order. They did not ask us and we did not ask if we can. You can try and let me know if they allow you to choose the pasta.

We were told if we are HSBC card holders there's a 'one for one' offer for the pasta. (valid till 20 Oct according to their website) Too bad we did not have the HSBC card, or else it would be really cheap! (it would have been $3.50 each for the pasta!)


Pizza Hut
3 Temasek Boulevard
#B1-053/054
Suntec City Mall
Singapore 038983

Sizzler @ Suntec City

This is Monday's (today's) lunch. 

When was the last time you ate at Sizzler? Before today, we were here around 2 weeks ago. (And) Before that, it was when I was a teenager! If you are 'oldies' like us, you would know that Sizzler was THE place to go for buffet! Those were the days eh?

My colleagues and I happen are here because we are at Oracle University (at Suntec) attending some intensive courses. On the first day of the course, there's a group lunch with the instructor. (included in the course fees of course!)

When I was here a few weeks ago, I was shy to take photos, because these 17 colleagues from other department does not know I journal my lunch. It was weird to take out a DSLR and take photos! But today, oh... I decided to just quietly take photos.

I took out my camera and 'document' it down. Yes, IT people are suppose to be very good in doing documentation. We are all employed by the top organisation in our field in ASEAN and 4th in Asia! (According to the news just this week! What a shameless plug!)

Anyway, this was my salad from the free flow salad bar.



This is another colleague's. You can see she takes healthier stuff. LOL.



Cheese Toast. Super salty toast but it's tasty. Good for the free flow soup!
(It was Mushroom soup that really had lots of mushroom, minestrone and Tom Yam Soup today)



We get a main course. The 17 of us took ordered different things, but this is just a quick snap of those few sitting beside me. ;-)

The Grilled Salmon. It looks not bad.



The Pan Fried Dory.



My steak. A few of us took it because it's the 'meatiest' meat in the menu. LOL.
It was cooked quite to specification. Maybe just a little quick. A colleague ordered medium rare and found it a little too bloody. He decided to just eat salad for lunch.

Other colleagues liked theirs because it's still flowing with the 'juice'. I find my 'medium' OK for me. That goes to show food is a very individual thing. 



I ended my meal with an ice cream. We did notice that half of the people eat so little! The other half of us felt like gluttons sitting beside them! (especially when it's a buffet, they will be looking at us eat and they only sip their diet cokes and teas. haha)



If you are looking for healthy salad lunch. I think this might be a good place to go for lunch if you are willing to pay slightly over $10 for unlimited salads.

 This whole week will be a tough week. We are learning things that are so new to us. Our course materials has 500 over pages and we are like trying to absorb as much as possible.


Sizzler
3 Temasek Boulevard
B1-21/22
Suntec City
Singapore 038983

Tel: 6336 5866
Hours: Daily, 11.30 am - 10.00 pm

Swensen @ Suntec City

Met Momo for lunch today. We were wondering what to eat and was walking around and we noticed that the Swensen's One for One offer is back again.

I am not sure if the offer is back at all branches, but it is for the Suntec City branch.
Probably because of F1 we reckon. Check with them if you want to come for this offer. The offer ends 27 Sep as stated on their promo board.

I am eating 'healthier' now. I had the Grilled Chicken Salad. I think it's quite nice. I like the greens!



I am just going to copy the description from their menu. ;-)

Their description: Crisp lettuce, cabbage and carrots with crunchy almonds and grilled chicken with pickled mayonnaise dressing.



Momo and I shared another salad. Prawn and Fruit salad.
Their description: Crisp lettuce with prawns and chunky tropical fruits with mango yogurt dressing.
The chunky fruit they served us was Nangka (Jackfruit). Very unique!



Momo is now the carnivor. This is her Mega Mushroom Burger.
Their description: Sautéed mushrooms atop juicy beef patty, with gherkins, melted cheese and pepper sauce. Served with U.S. fries and coleslaw.

I tried some of it. Not too bad. The beef patty has this very old fashion taste. Not sure how to describe it. It's not the big M or BK burger taste. :-) The mushroom makes it rather nice.



If you happen to be around this area, and want to look for not too bad a deal. It looks like we are not the only people attracted to it. We noticed the tables around us, whenever they were seated, they immediately ask the servers how the deals goes.

Everything on the menu is valid for the one for one, except ice cream and drinks. We heard it so many times today!

I just realised something!! Why did we order 3 things? We should have ordered 4 items! The fourth item would be free right? Oh silly billy us. 

Swensen's @ Suntec City
3 Temasek Boulevard
#B1-060
Singapore 038983

Tel: 6339 5139