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Hot on the Chilli Crab Sauce Burgers’ heels, comes this Spicy Tomato Chicken McWraps from McDonald’s Singapore. You get to choose from either Spicy Tomato Buttermilk Chicken McWrap or Spicy Tomato Chicken McWrap. The latter featured a spicy, crispy chicken thigh drizzled with tangy Spicy Tomato sauce wrapped in a soft wholegrain tortilla.

I went for the Spicy Tomato Buttermilk Chicken McWrap Special (S$11.10) which included the Buttermilk Chicken McWrap, medium sized French Fries, pie and a medium Iced Green Tea (+S$1.10). Juicy chicken thigh in perfectly crispy buttermilk batter laid over refreshing lettuce and purple cabbage slaw, topped with the new Spicy Tomato sauce, wrapped in a soft wholegrain tortilla. The tomato sauce gave the whole bundle a creamy, tangy and spicy flavours.

The new Lemon Crème Pie comes as part of the above set meal. Inside it is smooth cream-filling with a delightful tangy citrus flavour wrapped in fan-favourite crisp bubbly crust. I like how the acidic lemon flavour brightened up the creamy filling.

Mum had the ala carte Spicy Tomato Chicken Burger (S$3.75) which is actually McChicken with the Spicy Tomato sauce. Surprisingly, mum enjoyed this creamy, tangy and spicy burger so much that she ask me to buy it again for her tomorrow. Told her this is a limited time promotion and its available as part of the Spicy Tomato McSaver Meals which include Beef, Chicken and Fish burgers.

Select images and video courtesy of McDonald’s Singapore.

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Mum wasn’t feeling well today so I went out to buy takeaways for our late breakfast. Bought her Sliced Fish Bee Hoon Soup (鱼片米粉汤) which comes packed in a two-part container. The rice vermicelli sits on the top bowl with the soup in the bottom container. When you are ready to eat, pour the noodles into the soup below so it doesn’t get soggy. The golden-brown thing you see here is egg floss.

For my morning meal, I went with Vegetarian Rice (斋饭). Now for the non-meat proteins, I chose my favourite curry mock mutton with potato, a big piece of stewed bean curd skin and a crispy mixed vegetables fritter to go with the white rice.

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Packed home dinner from the tze char (煮炒) stall near where I am staying. Sis had Sweet & Sour Pork Rice (咕噜肉饭) and she requested for a fried egg to be added. Mum stuck with Hor Fun (河粉) which is a wider version of the flat rice noodles.

I tried the Chicken Chop Egg Fried Rice (鸡排蛋炒饭) and the chicken resembled the patty of a burger. Between the flour and breadcrumbs, is the thinnest piece of chicken meat! Even the so-called egg fried rice had barely any egg in there. Needless to say, this was a lousy dinner for me.

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Back to Western Boy Express for their Chicken Steak Aglio Olio (鸡扒蒜香意面). I like my spaghetti simple with just olive oil, herbs and seasonings. That boneless piece of pan-fried chicken thigh comes with crispy skin and juicy meat. For S$3 extra, you get crisp lettuce & dressing, cheesy fries and mushroom soup for a complete meal.

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Ordered this Pork Chop Fried Rice (猪排炒饭) bento from tze char (煮炒). Although the pork chop was juicy, the marinate or seasonings was a letdown with hardly any flavours to mention of. The rice had only bits of egg in there and was the plainest fried rice I had ever eaten. Bought mum her Hor Fun (河粉) or wide rice noodles. The noodles had more ingredients than my bento set. ☹️

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My younger brother gave us some of the pastry he bought at Weng Lok Kee Bakery (永乐记饼家) over in Malaysia. Inside these baked Chicken Siew Pao (烧包) are juicy filling of savoury sweet chicken char siu enclosed by a thin layer of pastry.

This box of pastries comes with three pieces each of Salted Egg Biscuits (咸蛋酥) and Chicken Floss Tau Sar Piah (肉松豆沙饼). The former featured a salt egg yolk, red bean paste and savoury bean paste wrapped within flaky pastry while the latter has chicken floss with sweet bean paste inside.

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Both mum and my meals are from the Economy Rice (菜饭) stall located in the Kopitiam Food Hall within the premises of Sembawang MRT Station. I picked three dishes of tofu stew, vegetable stir-fry and fried fish nuggets to go with the rice. Mum opted for just curry chicken drumstick and potato with a side of green veggies.

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Sis bought Chicken Pies from Chicken Pie Kitchen to share. The small pie (S$6.80) came in an aluminium bowl and is enough for one person. The family sized pie (S$33.80) featured six prominent humps on top of the crust so you know where to slice. Underneath each hump is half a hardboiled egg, sitting on soft cubes of potato and tender chicken meat. We love the flaky pastry stuffed full of savoury and chunky filling; a comfort food to share among members of the family.

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Went to the nearby shopping mall to have dinner and to do some grocery shopping. Couldn’t resist going over to Ji Xiang Ang Ku Kueh (吉祥红龟粿) popup stall to check out their range of colourful Ang Ku Kuehs (红龟粿). We picked one each of Peanut (花生), Salted Bean (咸豆沙), Coconut (椰子), Corn (玉米), Yam (芋头) and Sweet Bean (甜豆沙) ang ku kuehs. Both the peanut and sweet bean comes in red glutinous rice skin and to differentiate between them, look at the banana leaf. The peanut one has a rectangle shape leaf while the sweet bean has four of its corners trimmed off.

Topmost image courtesy of Ji Xiang Ang Ku Kueh.

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Walked a few blocks over to the 24-hour coffee shop to buy dinner both mum and myself. Ordered the Singapore Fried Noodles (星洲米粉) takeaway from the tze char (煮炒) stall. The stir-fried rice vermicelli or bee hoon as it is commonly known over here in Southeast Asia comes with egg, shrimps, char siu, bean sprouts and a lime to add a refreshing burst of acidity.

As for me, I went with the Salted Egg Pork Ribs Rice (咸蛋排骨王饭) bento which featured several pieces of caramelized boneless pork in a salted egg yolk sauce. The bright yellow sauce clinging onto the outer layer of the succulent meat imparted a savoury sweet taste with the curry leaves giving hint of citrusy flavour.

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Mum occasionally will buy home a pack of Glutinous Rice (糯米饭) from her trip to Chong Pang. The sticky rice is favourful enough with the fried shallot and its oil but most people will still add in the savoury sweet chilli sauce to up the spicy kick. Here, I am pairing it with a cup of less sweet Teh Siew Dai or milk tea less sweet.

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Received this 500g carton of Lychees (荔枝) from office. Our company had bimonthly Fruit Distribution Day, where HR will arrange to hand out different fruits every two months. So far, we have received apple, banana, dragon fruit, grape, lychee, mango, mandarin orange, pear and maybe a few more but I cannot remember them.

Here is a plate of Lychees (荔枝) and Strawberries (草莓). The lychees are sweet and so juicy plus the seeds are small too. The bright red strawberries on the other hand are sour so I alternate eating it with the lychees. Sweet then sour then sweet again and so on.

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Mum divided up the bean curds into big chunks to make the Spicy Bean Curd & Chicken. The bitter gourd in the centre is last night’s leftovers and mum reheated it for dinner. The whole Fried Black Pomfret (Parastromateus niger) is the cheapest of the four types of pomfret fish one can find in Singapore markets.

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The following week, mum and I went back to Sembawang Shopping Centre for our dinner. Since Giant supermarket vacated their basement unit and NTUC had not yet open for business, there is no grocery shopping to do. The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Singapore is still having the four slices of cake for S$20 promotion so I grabbed two slices of Chocolate of a Thousand Leaves cakes (usual price S$7.80 a slice). Love that rich and decadent dark chocolate fudge with crunchy wafer bits inside. Every mouthful is such a bittersweet indulgence.

The third dessert I picked is the Mint Cookies & Cream Cake (usual S$8.50). Topped with plenty of Oreo cookie crumbs, my tastebuds can detect the refreshing minty bits among the chocolate sponge and cream. The last is their original Chicago Cheesecake (usual S$7.80). The rich cheese filling is sweet with hint of tanginess from the sour cream. Didn’t have much of an impression of the biscuit base as it is not crunchy due to leaving it in the fridge overnight.

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This tub of Mao Shan Wang (猫山王) durians was transferred from the freezer to the chiller to defrost overnight. I specifically told mum I wanted to take photos before eating them, but mum had conveniently forgotten about what I said and had already dug into it. 😅 As the seller is staying nearby, she delivered it straight to my place so I avoided having to transport it myself. You do know that durians are banned in Singapore’s public transport like MRT trains and buses, many hotels and a lot of air-conditioned buildings also prohibit them.

The name Mao Shan Wang translates to Cat Mountain King or Musang King and is believed to be a reference to the Asian palm civets, or musangs, that were said to have been attracted to the durian fruits growing on the mountain. There are different grades of Mao Shan Wang, with Black Gold (黑金) and King of Kings (王中王) from old trees being premium variants known for their more intense flavours.

Selected images from here and here.

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Not sure if it is because Singapore is going to celebrate its 60th birthday next month but many of the fast food chains had come out with their own version of the chilli crab burger. 🦀 We have KFC, Long John Silver's, McDonald’s and MOS Burger sporting Singapore’s signature and iconic dish in burger forms. Today I will be reviewing KFC’s Chilli Crab Mantou Zinger.

Bought the Chilli Crab Mantou Zinger Meal (S$9.80) which comes with fries and a Sjora Mango Peach drink. Unlike the competitors, KFC chose to sandwich their crispy Zinger fillet between a golden clamshell mantou (馒头) and a generous drizzle of tangy, spicy chilli crab sauce. The deep-fried mantou is fluffy with a sweetness to it. What I like about KFC’s version is the thicker and crisper chicken fillet which offer better texture and the chilli crab sauce better balanced, more toward the spicy side.

Selected image and video courtesy of KFC Singapore.

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Dinner comes with Stir-Fried Bitter Gourd with squid, minced pork, egg and tomato. Adding eggs to the sliced bitter melon just makes it taste so much better. The other two dishes are a steak of Crispy Fried Salmon and leftover bamboo shoot & pork stew to go with the steamed white rice.