Soups, Sandwiches and Wraps @ The Soup Spoon

Beef Goulash is my favourite. It is lightly spiced with paprika and has chunks of beef and vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, tomatoes and celery in it. I like it for the slightly sourish and spicy flavour.

The Tokyo Chicken Stew comes in second in my list of favourites. I love soups that have a bit of everything in them, and the Tokyo Chicken Stew has lotus root, shitake and enoki mushrooms, carrots and bamboo shoots in it. The chicken is supposedly marinated in teriyaki and simmered in a broth of sake and mirin, but I really wouldn't have guessed.

The Velvety Mushroom Stroganoff comes in third just because stirring hot Campbells mushroom soup over the stove late at night is a pleasant childhood memory. This has generous bits of mushroom in it, and they are big enough to make chewing your soup a satisfying experience. Not one of those lousy soups which leave you wondering if you are merely downing a bowl of unhealthy starch but yes, you can taste the starch.

The Simon and Garfunkel Chicken and Mushroom Ragout isn't bad either. It has marinated chunks of chicken cooked with six types of mushrooms, namely, portobello, oyster, abalone, enoki, shitake, and button mushroom. Flavoured with sage to ease indigestion, rosemary to reduce inflammation, thyme as an expectorant, and parsley as a power anti-oxidant.


The Boston Clam Chowder on the other hand, is the kind of starchy soup that I hate. I won't be having it again, even though they were rather generous with the clams. I think I spied only potatoes and celery in the chowder.


Peace, Love and Muscles Chowder (soup special) was a major disappointment. The picture on the poster showed that it had a generous serving of whole New Zealand Green Shell Mussels, but the bowl of soup that was served to us probably had only ONE mussel that was chopped so finely, I could barely taste it. There is also sweet potato, russet potato, celery, spinach, fennel and bacon in the soup.



We almost always order a set meal which comes with either a choice of a half wrap or sandwich. The boy loves his Chicken Mushroom Wrap and Roast Duck Wrap.

Chicken Mushroom Wrap
(Chicken Breast, Mushroom, Cheddar Cheese, Romaine Lettuce, Tomato, Cucumber, Caesar Salad Dressing)

Roast Duck Wrap
(Roast Duck, Cucumber, Tomato, Romaine Lettuce)


I would always have either the Herbed Chicken Caesar Sandwich or the Roast Beef Wasabi Sandwich. The chicken is tender, the beef is thinly sliced and the taste of wasabi is very slight.

Herbed Chicken Caesar Sandwich
(Rosemary Chicken, Onion, Cucumber, Romaine Lettuce, Tomato, Caesar Dressing)

Roast Beef Wasabi Sandwich
(Roast Beef, Red Onion, Gherkins, Cheddar Cheese, Green Salad, Wasabi Mayo)

Novus Cafe, National Museum of Singapore

So we were at the National Museum of Singapore for the Treasures of Vacheron Constantin : A Legacy of Watchmaking since 1755 exhibition when the boy asked if I would like to have something to eat at Novus Cafe, maybe a sandwich or something. It was 4pm and I was feeling peckish, having not had breakfast or lunch so I said yes. It would be one of the happiest experiences in a long while (yes, food always makes me exceptionally happy).


Since it was close to dinnertime, we ordered an All Day English Breakfast to share.


We thought that the portion would be rather small but it was more than enough for two, with toast, cheese, grilled tomatoes, hashbrown, bacon, chicken sausages, ham and a sunny-side-up!




I opted for a mug of hot chocolate, the boy had his favourite English Breakfast tea, and we happily stuffed our faces while basking in the warm sunshine :)

Sweet Spring Dessert Place (Tang Shui Chun)

I had a headache one night and had not had my dinner, and since it was already past 9pm, a lot of restaurants were already closing. Except for Sweet Spring Dessert Place at NEX, which left us with the only viable choice.

The boy and I shared a wooden tub of steamed homemade beancurd ($4.90) and added a topping of yam paste ($2). Some other toppings you could add on to your order are pearl, gula melaka, red bean, lotus seed and gingko nut.

The size of the wooden tub is rather deceptive, as the dish which holds the beancurd is very shallow, and a hungry person could very well polish off the entire thing by himself.

The yam paste is served separately, and you may add it to your bowl of beancurd if you so prefer.



As I said, I hadn't had my dinner and I wasn't feeling too well, hence I was so happy to see that they serve fish porridge. I had to wait rather long for my porridge, but it was worth it. They were very generous with the fish and though the porridge looked bland, it was really tasty with pieces of salted fish, seaweed and pickled radish! The fish was fresh and devoid of any fishiness, which would have made my stomach churn.



Best part of the entire experience? Knowing I wasn't feeling well, the boy was sweet enough to search for a place where I could have dinner even though he had already eaten.

Dinner @ Nakhon Kitchen, Hougang St 21

I had noticed a rather long queue outside the Nakhon Kitchen branch at Hougang a couple of times when we were on our way to town. It piqued my curiousity as the place looked more like a coffeeshop than an air-conditioned restaurant. The first thing that came to mind was, the food was probably cheap. And good.


We had the green curry with beef (chicken is available). The boy found it spicy but as a lover of spicy food, I hardly noticed the heat. A pretty standard green curry dish.


The boy wanted to try the fried pork with garlic. I have no idea what he had pictured it to be like, but he was definitely surprised to see it cooked this way. I guess it does look more like finger food than a side dish, but it was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, and somehow reminded me of the complimentary pork crisps we were given when we dined at Ting Yuan Fishhead Hotpot.


We initially ordered pad thai as I was looking forward to more spicy food, but I realised, just in time, that we needed some rice to go with our curry and changed our order for pad thai to fried rice with chicken (you could ask for beef or seafood instead). The fried rice tasted like what you'd get at Jumbo or similar restaurants.

I'd say that the food is rather cheap, and yet rather expensive. It costs $6-8 per dish above, but the portion is small. I was happy with the quality except for my tamarind drink which was a huge disappointment after my wonderful virgn experience at Long Phung Vietnamese Restaurant.

Yes, it's bottled and tasted like Allswell :( I'd recommend the boy's cold lemongrass drink over mine any time.

Lunch @ Nyonya Memories

I have been wanting to try the peranakan food at Nyonya Memories ever since they opened. Located at Heartland Mall, Kovan, it's just within walking distance from my place. However, since the boy and I usually travel further for our nights out, we had never managed to have dinner here till we recently decided to lunch together.

It's located on the second floor of the mall, near Pizza Hut.


The interior has been decorated to give the place a homely feel. Floral curtains frame mirrors, making the place seem bigger than it actually is.


The kitchen where our food was being prepared.


The dishes cost under $10 each and the portion is just nice for two, maybe three if you pick at your food.


The boy wanted to order Chap Chai but I wanted something I hadn't tried before and decided to get the Hor Pow with Pork. It's basically fried beancurd filled with sweet roasted pork, cucumbers and cut red chillies. Although it felt more like a simple snack, I wasn't disappointed with this dish as I did with the Beef Rendang.


The Beef Rendang was hard and dry, and none of us wanted to finish the dish. We just wet our rice with the curry.


The Ayam Ponteh on the othe hand was pretty good. The chicken was tender and the sauce was sweet with the crunchy taste of nuts.


I would like to try more peranakan food, but we'll probably not be eating here again. The staff are friendly though and they have daily promotions, so if you are staying or working nearby, you might still like to give this place a try. I do see quite a number of people at the restaurant whenever I walk pass the place.

Long Phung Vietnamese Restaurant

We were at Joo Chiat looking for a kettle to replace the one that I destroyed, by forgetfully leaving it on an open stove for hours, when we saw this Vietnamese restaurant. The boy mentioned that he remembered seeing the restaurant being featured on a local variety programme, but wasn't sure if this was the one, as there were quite a few Vietnamese eating places along Joo Chiat Road. Am I glad we decided to eat at this restaurant, as I had the most fantastic drink ever!

I had the Pho Dac Biet, or Special Noodle Soup. It tastes like regular beef noodle soup.

The boy had the Bun Bo Hue, or Beef and Pork Leg Rice Noodle Soup, which was much nicer as the stewed meat was really tender and fell away easily from the bones.

I had the nicer drink though. The boy had boring old coconut. I was adventurous enough to order the tamarind drink and I would go back again just for this. Sweet, sour with a generous amount of tamarind fruit and a handful of roasted peanuts in it, which was weird but I didn't mind, as I like having chewy stuff in my drinks.

Chuan Yi Pin BBQ And Steamboat

We occasionally like to drop by Bugis for steamboat, but if there is one place we'd go to for BBQ, it isn't Seoul Garden but Chuan Yi Pin BBQ And Steamboat. The main reason being, the thinly sliced meat (beef, mutton and pork) comes in huge pieces and are especially delicious when fried in margarine. This is also one of the few places around the area that has both steamboat and BBQ in one.

Indoor, and outdoor seating by the road, at the restaurant which is just opposite Bugis Junction's Mos Burger.


Extremely unhealthy but yummy magarine is provided instead of oil. After it has been heated to high temperatures and you leave the restaurant with your clothes and hair smelling like you've been deep fried, you'd swear to eat healthy for the rest of the month.


The slices of meat that I come for. The boy can have the plate of vegetables all to himself.


Only a single choice of soup, the usual chicken or spicy mala. Just be thankful it tastes better than plain water.



I was excited at seeing bamboo clams! I should have known that they would taste nothing like those at Jumbo or No Signboard seafood restaurants. These were horribly salty and pretty inedible to me.


Prawns to up your cholesterol level. It's a wonder how many people go for BBQ just to heap their plates with prawns and pretty much nothing else.


But who am I to comment on that. I love my meat from here and pretty much nothing else >0<. Worth very cent. Well, almost.