Ming Jia Korean Food

Ming Jia Korean Food: Fast & satisfying

We stumbled upon this hole-in-a-wall restaurant at Bukit Timah Plaza last year. If you enter the shopping centre via the grove of trees under the flyover, it'd be hard not to see it. It's a pokey place and the owner looks fierce, but the food is tasty and worth a try!

For about $5 onwards, you can get anything from a bento-type meal (pre-cooked bulgogi meats with rice and veg) to Bi Bim Bap and my new-found favourite dish - Korean Jajangmyeon aka Zha Jiang Mian!

The dark-coloured sauce is filled with potatoes, onions and little bits of meat, garnished with a small portion of thinly shredded cucumbers.  The noodles are purportedly homemade with flour imported from Korea and taste unusually good.  Nice springy texture with good bite and flavour. It would probably be one of those things I'd fit into my weekly must-eats if Bukit Timah Plaza wasn't so out of the way for me (unless Mky is on another of her Fairprice Finest supermarket runs).

Mky:  Definitely a go-to place for yummy home-cooked Korean food, especially when on an austerity drive.  Love the bibimbap with its fresh pile of veggies (Ming Jia's version has shredded curly lettuce which I like!) and the side of wakame soup that comes with it.  Healthy and refreshing!

1 Jalan Anak Bukit
Bukit Timah Plaza, #B1-07

Saizeriya

Saizeriya: Good Japanese Western food that tastes much better than what you pay for.  Cheep Eat!

This joint was an old fave of Mky's when she was studying in Tokyo. There was a Saizeriya right outside her dorm, populated by students and families alike. It was a great dine-in for post-kendo chow cos they serve beer as well. Best of all, it was so affordable!

So when Saizeriya opened in Singapore, at Liang Court, we HAD to give it a try - and we were not disappointed. It brought back the memories and feeling of being a student in Tokyo again. Complete with hilarious translation errors in the menu.

On this visit, Mky went with a Hamburg Steak, while I chose my favourite Squid-Ink Pasta. To me, Mky's home-made Hamburg Steak, with our own proportion of minced beef and pork still tasted the best, but hey, for a rate that was much cheaper than Ma Maison's, this was worth it too. Best eaten with stream rice.
The Squid-Ink Pasta still rocked, of course, you are advised to keep a napkin handy after every bite - the black sauce makes Goth Loli-s out of the eater.

 

Mky: Oh, this place brings back fond memories of cheap beer, cheap salad, cheap pasta, cheap pizza, cheap appetisers... you get the picture.  Exactly what every girl (boy, woman, man and everything in-between) needs after a 2-hour beat-'em-up session of kendo. 

A favourite hangout place of poor uni students, I remember they used to sell cheap table wine by the glass or carafe, and we'd just spend all evening quaffing back cheap drinks while munching on their glorious pan pizzas!  Brings back memories of (second) home in Japan!  Saizeriya BANZAI!

Liang Court
#02-22
177 River Valley Road
Tel: 6337 9001

Notice: Japan Earthquake/Tsunami Relief

Yoga In the Park becomes Yoga from the Heart


Our friend Sabina is running a by-donation yoga class this Saturday. It is a 90 minute class - Pay whatever you want, all of it goes to earthquake/tsunami relief via www.globalgiving.org because the local Red Cross doesn't have anything yet. Sabina chose the International Medical Corps who are sending a team and need supplies. Details here.

So if like us, you want to help in some way, but are feeling helpless cos you want to help in this time of crisis, but you don't know what to do, here are 2 ways:

1) Attend the Yoga from the Heart session (19 Mar '11 at the Singapore Botanical Gardens);

2) Give online via GlobalGiving.org.

Upcoming - 8 Mar '11

Welcome readers, watch out for our upcoming commentary on Annalakshmi, LivinGreens part deux and possibly some local cheap eats in Chinatown. Do also keep an eye out for our special feature on Santi's Winemaker Dinner!

Home-made Vegetable Potage with Fish

Mky's Vegetable Potage with Fish:

Hand mashed (much effort!!), no oil or MSG (garlic was roasted in oven) was used. Tasty n quite healthy! Best part is, my lunch for tomorrow (a fish pie), was made together with this dish. How's that for efficiency? =)

Stuff in it: sweetcorn, fish, cauliflower, sweet peas, fresh peas, carrots, roasted garlic, cabbage, zucchini and lots & lots of potatoes, and a dollop of sour cream.

Home-made Irish Ice Cream

Justin's Irish Ice Cream:

Justin is a good friend of mine and a bit of an experimental home chef. Actually, he was experimenting with methods of cooking within the confines of a hotel for quite a long period, coming up with some pretty fantastic food for his other half. Fantastic-looking anyway, since I'm not sure how it actually tasted =P. Although I must admit, the Assam Laksa he put together last year was a definite winner!

Anyway, here's his rendition of Irish Ice Cream. The strong alcoholic taste of Baileys made this quite good. A once-off thing only.

7 Sensations

7 Sensations: who needs meat when food tastes this great?

We've had some recommendations on vegan restaurants recently, thanks to our friends who've suggested some really great places to try. All I can say is when I ordered the Vegetarian Lasagne on a lark (how can a lasagne without meat taste any good?), I was shocked at the first bite, and exclaimed to Mky "Who needs meat??" The lasagne was divine!

I'll leave the rest of the review for Mky, since I can't remember the dishes' names now.

Mky: On top of the creamy, perfectly al dente lasagne (as opposed to the chewy hard sheets of pasta we've experienced at some places), we also picked a Moussaka from the appetiser section.

What was served to us eventually was DEFINITELY not "appetiser" in size... it was a massive portion of spiced eggplant baked up with a cheesy top... ginormous! Certainly sufficient for a regular diner as a main course (we wouldn't have been able to finish it if not for Dax's high-capacity tum)! Of note was the tomato reduction which came with it... zingy, moreish, very VERY appetising!

Last but not least was my main course, a size-able claypot of "Korean Brown Rice" (?), which was essentially nutty brown rice topped with fresh veg (believe it was blanched chye sim) and shredded mushroom stalks (a personal love - better than eating meat!). It was a tad oily, but the flavours melded well together and we finished up every grain.

All in all, very tasty, well-executed dishes. The ambience is classy, with food prices that are surprisingly inexpensive (within the $12-20/dish range).

16 Madras Street S(208413)
(Just behind The Verge at Tekka)
Tel: 6298 8198

Valentine's Day Surprise

Mky's Strawberries/Mochi/Cookie dipped in Swiss Chocolate treat!
All for me! muahahaha!

Better than Ichigo Bliss anyday! =D~~
Ok, it arrived a day earlier, but that's cos there were melty considerations. Anyway, this would be our last V-day as err.. singles? ;)

Handburger

Handburger: cheap indulgence, but finding standards dropping. Check out the colour of the fried bits - a little dark don't you think?

The Works Burger was tall and imposing, delicious no doubt, but the fried bits on top (bacon and onion ring) were a little too overfried, I had to stop eating the crispy bits.
Mky's Chicken Caesar Burger was described as "grilled chicken" but we're quite sure it was deep fried. The tangy sauce/dressing and generous amount of meat saved it. Made for a nice dip for the fries too.
Chunky fries side dish is still very nice! Though we didn't eat it this time, the Pulled Pork burger still ranks up there from our last visit, with the Original still at the bottom.

313 Orchard Road,
#B2-17/18/19
313 @ Somerset
+65 6509 6214

LivinGreens

LivinGreens: vegan dining that won't blow a hole in your pocket.

No MSG, garlic or onions, but they still manage to get their food tasting quite good. We had the daily brown rice set (Saturday's was "Tomato" - crunchy flash fried chye sim, potatoes and soy protein in bolognese sauce and watercress salad), green curry dry pasta and some really delicious baked potato wedges with tangy soy mayo dip.

325 Beach Rd
63965523