I had the tomato cream Nipong Naepong that comes with seafood, clams and mussels. Unfortunately I had a food poisoning the following day, we suspect it’s due to the mussels and clams.

Nonetheless I enjoyed the meal and would be going back again, except this time without shellfishes please. Foodies with sensitive stomach please be careful! 🤪

Mention “Pudding”, and I immediately think of soft, creamy and bouncy. The lychee pudding from Starbucks is anything except those words.

A total letdown! Consider that it’s not cheap either for that size.

Purchased the Sweet Garden ($4.50) for a regular cup of freshly cold-pressed juice. Super concentrated with no sugars added to artificially sweetened the drink!

The Angus beef ($6.80) was a let down as it’s not very cheap considering it came as an ala-carte. The side dishes were priced at $2 each, where you can choose sweet potato or normal potato fries. No drinks sold at the store, probably because they’re hoping you would purchase it from their neighbouring store - Common Heroes.

Left: Black Tea Latte with Cocoa Pearls
Right: Pink Guava Rock Salt Macchiato with Honey Pearls (best decision ever!)

Drink it the “right way” by sipping the macchiato through the cup’s slit. This way, you get a taste of the savoury, creamy milk foam and also the surprisingly refreshing pink guava tea. I love it!

Use the straw to slurp up the yummy soft pearls that are cooked to perfection. You can really taste the honey after munching on it. The flavour of the cocoa pearls also slowly emerges from the Latte. You might be happy to know that the Pearl flavour changes every day. I have only tried Honey and Cocoa, but love the Honey one! Honey pearls seem to be the one available Everyday :)

Life hack: use Burpple beyond’s 1 for 1 deal to enjoy 2 large sized drinks, usual price up to $5.20 each! 🤪🤪

Imagine trying to bite the patty while it’s falling out of the buns? Also they’re not shaped the same size as the round buns.

That apart, the patty was served piping hot and drizzled with a tart, takoyaki-like sauce. The lettuce 🥬 was super fresh and made the entire burger really refreshing. Squeeze the fresh lemon to get even more refreshing kick. 8/10, 2 missing points for the lack of a bite-friendly patty.

What I hate most about eating wanton mee is the alkaline noodles. I tend to avoid wanton mee even though I really like the dish on the whole, but sometimes the alkaline noodles are really overpowering! If you’re like me, then you’d like Nam Seng’s noodles.

Sold by the iconic founder (I believe), the old granny takes the orders and shouts it across to the chefs cooking the orders. The queue gets long quickly, but food is served fast too. I waited around 5 mins for my order and it was ready!

Noodles were al dente and soaked in the blissful, oily sauce of the soy sauce chicken. It was a WHOLE thigh! Definitely very generous and I’ll be back for more. Readers might also be happy to know that I packed this and took a 30 min journey on a cab home.

P.S. the bones in the chicken thigh was a bit annoying, but for $5 only, let’s not complain 🤪

We ordered Beef Shabu Rice Bowl ($9.80), Shake-Ikura Don ($16.90), Mix Oden ($15), Edamame ($6) and Barley tea (bottled, sadly, $4).

The portion was ok, but overall quite filling since we ordered quite a variety of food for 2 person. Oden soup initially tasted a tad too salty, but it got addictive after you enjoy the warm soup slide down your throat and into your belly. Oden consisted of one boiled egg (tamago), Kelp, Kombu (some jelly?), 1 huge fish ball, a skewer of beef tendon and 2 radishes.

The Shake-Ikura Don was recommended by TSL so BF ordered it. He was disappointed by how shallow the rice and ingredients were sitting in the bowl. Also note that the rice was warm, on top of the sashimi. Sashimi wasn’t particularly fat or tasty either. In my opinion, one of the failed salmon dons I’ve tasted. Bf was sad ☹️ I personally think that salmon sashimi should NEVER be served on hot rice. Either do it in cold or room temperature sushi rice!

I ordered the beef shabu rice bowl. It was a marinated shabu beef with onions. I was pleasantly greeted by the appearance of an onsen egg when it was delivered to my table! It was sitting in a teacup. Taste-wise is ok. Nothing fantastic.

A decent place to come to if you’re not craving for high standards of Japanese food. It’s just normal, imo. The other unit, which is an extension of Yama-Ya was flooded with people though! They sell the same food, FYI.

Most seemed to be there for the drinks. I don’t really get why the crowd was there - please share with me if you’re a fan of this place! There might be something I missed out 😆

We ordered: Beef Bolognese, Alfredo and Iced Latte, Sprite

While looking for a cafe nearby with free wifi, I chanced upon Lowercase. The atmosphere is homey and cosy, with warm lights in the room.

The area has a wide glass window on the first storey, blessing it with much natural light. The cafe is filled with comfy sofas and plenty of proper sitting chairs for those who’d like to mug for exams. There is a bookshelf of books and a mini stage which looked like it was formerly used for gig nights - it is now filled with tables and chairs on it too.

The staffs are friendly, and there are a variety of options for diners. The pastas were priced at an average of $16 which was relatively pricey, given that they were mostly vegetarian - making the takeaway rice bowls that are super affordable at $6.50. Limited options available for rice bowls though. We topped up $2 to get coffee for the lunch set as well, making the total bill $18.

The beef bolognese got a little boring for my tastebuds after a few mouthfuls. The portion is just fine. The Alfredo tasted better, without the “jelat” feeling that my friend was dreading!

Latte was a little too astringent for my liking, but adding the sugar syrup helped. The staffs were friendly and warm :)

They accept Favepay as well! #cashback 😋

Overall, I love the ambience. It’s perfect for chilling on a lazy afternoon or mugging with friends, but couples may find it intrusive as the tables are placed quite close to each other. I figured the noise may become too loud for some people during peak hours since it’s an enclosed area.

Price-wise, I wouldn’t pay that money to have that kind of food. I’d rather have some Chinese food outside the cafe before popping by to do some work or reading!