NamNam Noodle Bar

Hey Hey Hey! Ok so I'm trying my best to get this posted and still be on time for work. :))

Today's episode is going to be another quickie! The focus will be on authentic Vietnamese Pho. Also people pronounce it as 'Fo'. But its suppose to be like 'Fa'. If I'm not mistaken. Haha!

So 2 of my girlfriends and I decided to have some Pho for lunch since it was Happy Hour, where you get a free scoop of ice cream with every main dish ordered. It was my first time but they have already been there a couple of times. We went to the Plaza Singapura outlet.

Picture taken from their website! : http://namnamnoodlebar.com.sg/

If you look closely, the wall design is actually made out of bottles and bottles of different condiments that are actually already placed on your table. 

I decided to go for the chicken pho. 

Its a bowl of rice flour noodles with an intense broth boiled over 24 hours.

I couldn't quite pick out the specific flavours in the broth but I found it delightfully light yet filled with like hints of different flavours. The amount chicken was generous yet was just right. It was also seasoned very well. Very tender. :)

With about 4 different bottles of sauces on the table, I was tempted to try them and see how it would enhance the flavour of the dish. So I poured the tiniest amount at a time to try and most of them went pretty well. Like I can't even describe the flavours. Strong yet subtle. You feel me? :))

Ok time for the ice cream. My goodness. I didn't know vanilla ice cream could taste this good.

Straight away you can tell its of great quality! Look at those precious bits of vanilla beans!
Oh and they are home made by the way.

Like I'm not even kidding. This was probably the best scoop of vanilla ice cream I've ever tasted. Its light, fluffy and creamy smooth. It had the right amount of sweetness too. Both me and my girlfriends agreed that the ice cream was bloody amazing. It was like the perfect way to end the meal. What's even better was that it was free! Hahaha so typical of me. No but seriously though, if you ever come here, please give this baby a try. You won't regret. I promise. 

Ok so thats it for food.. Time for some ratings!

Ambiance was great! I like it alot. Felt like we were eating in a nice restaurant in Vietnam. There was even a projector screen showing a slide show of like Vietnamese street food.

So I would give 4 stars for ambiance! :)

Food wise, well, Pho is something new to me. I feel like it won't be a dish that I would crave for but it was a pleasant experience trying it. What I'm really craving for right now is their Vanilla bean ice cream. Ahhh.

So 3.5 stars for food.

Lastly would be the service. Now they don't charge for service. But they did provide great service and was quick when we asked for our ice creams to be served. So I would probably give service 4 stars. :)

All prices are included of GST in their menu. So you just pay for what you ordered.

For my muslim friends, this place is sadly not Halal. They serve pork so yea.:(

Alright, so I guess that's it from me this week. So glad that today will be my last day of work at Anchorpoint's John Little event. Its been mad tiring. But I'm probably going to look for another job since I've still got time until my school starts again in mid Oct.

Thank you so much for your time and I'll see you next week ok? (I hope!) :))

Take care and have a great week ahead. :-*

For more updates: 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Anesha_Siva

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Professor Brawn Cafe

Hey hey hey! Ok, I know I haven't been posting anything for the past two weeks. Its just that I've been really busy with exams and finding a new job for the holidays. Yeap that's the excuses I'm giving. Are you buying them ? :))

Haha anyways, since I'm back to keeping this blog updated, this week is another cafe review! Yay! I've been to this cafe twice. Once for tea time and another for lunch. So I guess I can actually give you a full review of both their desserts and their mains this time round. :)

Ok lets start with more information about this cafe.

Professor Brawn is a Superhero which was created by a child with a learning disability. 

The founders are parents and friends who want to make a difference to the special needs community and others who need a leg up in society. Their dream is to provide opportunities for jobs, showcase of special talents and to raise awareness and contributions by supporters of the cause.

Here is how it looked like at cafe:

That's Professor Brawn! :)

The two books you see in red and green is actually their menu! Super creative don't you think? :)

So basically its a really cosy cafe tucked away somewhere is novena square. They currently have 2 operating outlets ever since they started operations on 15 Oct 2009. Loved how the walls were filled with the cafe's missions and purposes so as to let their customers know that they are actually being served by the special needs community.

So for ambiance I would give 4.5 stars! 

Next would be the food! :) Ok so I went there at 2 different occasions as mentioned earlier.

The first time was to have their tea set which consisted of a waffle and a scoop of ice cream, complimented with a cup of tea.

This was sadly the only picture I got to take: 

I got the regular waffle with a scoop of Butterscotch Walnut Ice Cream and a cup of Green Tea :)

Honestly, I was expecting the waffle to be a little bigger. It would be nice if it was because it was really good. Crispy on the outside while fluffy and warm in the inside. The chocolate sauce went well and there was also a small strawberry. 

The ice cream on the other hand was heavenly! They don't make their own ice creams. I believe their ice creams comes from New Zealand all natural premium ice cream.

 The tea as you can see is from TWINNING and was like just any regular cup of green tea.

Now moving on to the main courses! :

Pan-Seared Norwegian Salmon

Grilled Chicken with Truffle sauce

My friend had the salmon dish and said it was fine. Mine was the chicken with truffle sauce. It had two sides to go along with. Salad and a bed of potato wedges. 

The portion of the chicken was humongous. Haha! It was perfectly seasoned with a kick of black pepper. Though I'm not a huge fan of truffles, I must say that this was pretty mild yet strong enough to get that nice truffle taste going in your mouth. 

The chicken also had a crispy outer layer skin which was actually pretty awesome.

The sides were fine. Nothing special.  

We actually took the set lunches that came with a drink and the soup of the day:

Lemon Juice(House Drink) & Tomato Soup.

The lemon juice was fine, a little too thick. But the Tomato Soup was a pleasant surprise. I thought it was going to be like red and watery, minestrone  kind of soup. But no, it was rich and creamy with the right amount of acidity from the tomatoes. Had to add a little bit of pepper to complete the soup. :))

Both the tea and lunch came in sets.

So for food, I think I would give 4 stars! :)

Lastly, for service... You have to keep in mind that you are being served by people from the special needs community. For me, I personally think that the service provided was excellent! It was even better than other restaurants I've been to.

They were so welcoming and took our every order and requests dutifully. 

Truly enjoyed my dining experience with The Professor Brawn Cafe and would highly recommend to anyone looking for good food and service.

Therefore, service gets 4.5 stars!

I will definitely be dining here again soon to try some of their other dishes! This cafe is not halal as they do serve pork dishes. They also do charge Service and GST. Its nice if you can leave them a tip at the tip box near the counter. :)

And look out for their promotions as they do update them pretty frequently. 

You can check them out here: Professor Brawn Cafe

For reservations:

Novena outlet: (65) 6253 4650

Boat Quay outlet: (65) 6532 0607 

That's all for this week! Thank you so much for your time. Hope you guys give this place a try! :) Take care and I'll see you next week! :-*

For more updates: 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Anesha_Siva

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U.d.d.e.r.s Ice Cream

Hey guys! How has your Sunday been going so far? The days are passing by so fast don't you think? Had a pretty hectic week but I'm guessing next week will be even worse. With deadlines for project submissions and exams coming, I don't even have time to go on my food adventures. 

But don't worry! I got it covered for this week! It's going to be a quickie! That means I'll be reviewing a place that only serves a specific item they specialise in!

For today, its ICE CREAM! I mean like who doesn't love ice cream?!

This is the outlet I went to! :

From: http://www.udders.com.sg/home	Novena Outlet Udders Novena conveniently located near Novena MRT. To find us, stand at the Starbucks which is in front of United Square. We are a stone's throw away. Address: 155 Thomson Road, Singapore 307608 Tel/Fax: 62546629 Milking hours: Sunday to Thursday: 12 noon to 11pm Friday, Saturday and eve of PH: 12 noon to 1am

2 Of my friends and I decided to share a sundae that had the flavours we wanted! And the name of the sundae is super adorable!

Om-nom-nom :)) $11+

Yes, $11 for an ice cream sundae is pretty cray. But let me tell you that is not just an ordinary sundae! OMG just look at it. I'm craving for it now and this is bad.

It basically had 3 scoops of ice cream. The flavours were:

- Snickers Mars Honeycomb Vanilla

- Chocolatey Kit Kat

- Cookies & Cream

Its also had like tons of toppings like sliced almonds, crushed oreo cookies, mini maltesers, caramel sauce, chocolate sauce and to top it all of, a cigar waffle stick.

I'm literally dying now. I want it so bad. Argh. Its pretty heavy so I wouldn't recommend you to have this on your own. I shared this with 2 others and found it perfect. :)

Ok so you don't have to pay for service cos you just order it and take a seat.

 If you order something that might take sometime to prepare like  a waffle or a sundae,

 they will pass this to you and when it rings you have to collect it at the counter.

I think the outlet at Thompson Road sells pancakes with like beef and chicken! Might want to go give that a try soon!! But for now I shall do some ratings! The food(sundae/ice cream) gets 4.5 stars!!

Ambiance wise, it was pretty cosy and nice. The walls have like this black board with like colourful random drawings and writings. They also have a water cooler if you need some water to wash down the ice cream. The chairs we were sitting on were too cute!! 

So I will give ambiance 4 stars!

Yea, so I guess that's it from me this week! Hope you guys liked this quickie review of Udders Ice cream. If you're wondering if this place is halal, its not.. Cos they do sell ice cream flavours with alcohol in them. Do stay tuned for my posts every Sunday! I'm trying my best to have a variety of posts here. Hope you guys have a great week ahead! Bye! :-*

For more updates:

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The Living Cafe

Are you guys ready for another CAFE review?! 

If you've been following my blog religiously, you should know how I love to venture around when it comes to food!

 I'm never afraid to try something new! Which brings us to today's cafe.

Located at 779 Bukit Timah Road, Singapore 269758 

I was pretty surprised when quite a number of taxis I hailed didn't know how to get there until I got this one taxi driver who was really nice and friendly and said its not that hard to find. Don't you just love it when you get an awesome taxi driver?

Anyways, coming back to my point, my cousin sister was already there, waiting for me with her family. I recommended this cafe to her since she loves eating clean and healthy. This cafe is all about that. Their main focus, is serving raw food. Like none of the ingredients used have been chemically altered, processed and even cooked above 45 degree celsius. 

"We use specially selected and sourced organic ingredients where possible and thoughtfully combine them to achieve optimum flavour for our healthy raw food cafe." from their website, http://www.balancedlivingasia.com/living-cafe-and-deli/

So this is how the place looked like:

Pictures taken from 2nd level :)

At the 2nd level they sell their very own products! Ranging from organic supplements to their cocoa powder! :)

Personally, I was sooooo in love with the whole setting of the place. Like it gave you a cosy and laid back feel! So I will wholeheartedly give Ambience 4.5 stars! 

Now on to the food! By the time I got there my sister and her family was almost done with their food! :)) 

Luckily, they took some pictures of what they ordered. :)

STARTERS:

Guacamole + Flaxseed chips $6 

MAINS:

Homemade Salmon Burger with Sweet Potato Wedges $18

Salmon Mango Brown Rice Terrine $22
A pot of Hibiscus Tea $5.50

So I had the Salmon Mango Brown Rice Terrine! I had a shock of my life when the waitress placed this monster on my table. Actually I knew I wanted to try their breakfast burrito. But I've never had brown rice before and knowing my love for salmon, I was wondering if I should give it a try. The friendly waitress was telling me how great this dish was so I had to give in! 

This dish is served at a pretty low temperature. Like it was cold when I took a spoonful. There was so many flavours going on and I was actually able to pick them up well. Basically its just brown rice burger with cucumber, avocado, smoked salmon, seaweed  and mango piled up in the middle. It was all so fresh and exquisite! I also took a bite of the salmon burger and was blown away. The level of freshness was unbelievable! 

I only had about 2 and half pieces of my terrain and I was just too full to even think about desserts! But I did snap a few pictures of the desserts they had on display!

I really want to try this!! 

Amazing right? 

So lets just say I'm definitely coming back to this place for the breakfast burrito and their DESSERTS! Really enjoyed the different approach to food. Felt so much more energetic and just had an overall good feeling in me. So Food get 4 stars from me!

Now, for service.. I found them really welcoming and friendly. In terms of efficiency, hmm lets just say we had to call them a few times to clear our table so it wasn't so messy since it was pretty small. However, this place does not charge service! They do have a tip box at the counter though.. So I won't be rating their service this week! :)

For my muslim readers, if you guys are wondering if this place is Halal, its not. HOWEVER, they do not serve any red meats, cow dairy, preservatives, additives and artificial colouring. You can always go for the vegan menu they have. :) 

For more information of this cafe please do visit them at their website listed above. They are opened everyday! So if you want to make reservations or have enquiries you can contact them at: +65 6468 4482

So thats it from me this week! 

I hope you enjoyed reading my review on this awesome cafe!

 If you have any questions do feel free to leave me a comment below

 or you can always send me a tweet.

 Until next Sunday, take care and have a great week ahead! :-*

For more updates:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Anesha_Siva

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Lydia's Beauty & Nail Studio

Yes I know.. This was suppose to go up yesterday but I'm only posting it today. 

I'm sorry guys! Anyways I want to take this opportunity to wish all my Muslim viewers "SELAMAT HARI RAYA!". Love seeing the different colours of outfits on my instagram feed.

Can't wait to whack the awesome food at my relative's place later today! Hehe! :)

Coming back to today's post. Its going to be all about:

beauty . freedom . confidence

Ok, maybe not. But this is Lydia's Beauty & Nail Studio's motto!

On Saturday, 27th July , my cousin sister, her daughter and I went to a nail salon to get our nails done. It was super impromptu and we just went to the nearest one we could find around where I lived. Thats how we came across this shop. The boss, Lydia, was so warm and welcoming! The other staffs were also really friendly. At that point of time I had no idea what I was going to update my blog with. So my cousin sister actually suggested to do a review of this nail salon!

A shot taken from where I was seated at.

Taken from their Facebook Page!

Couldn't really take much pictures of the place but honestly speaking, I loved how it was decorated. Simple yet classy. Also has a very nice homely feel! Just look at the wall clock against the brick-like walls.

Also, Lydia was nice enough to explain to me why she only has 2 rows of O.P.I nail polishes. Cos most nail salons have their shelves filled with O.P.I only. She was telling me that her customers used to complain how it didn't last and would chip easily within the next few days. So thats why she only has 2 shelves of O.P.I.

The rest of the shelves were filled with nail polish brands I've never seen before! She said that those were much more long lasting and of better quality.

Here you can a see a range of ORGANIC gelish nail polishes! Who knew there was such a thing right? :))

Personally I would highly recommend this range to those who are doing MANICURE(fingernails) because sometimes we do eat with our hands and we don't want any harmful chemicals to be getting into our food right? ;)

I wanted something I didn't already own and unique. So I went for O.P.I's Jinx from the Bond Girls Collection.                                          

It's an orangey coral with tons of gold glitter throughout. Its also the new liquid sand formula which I have never tried before! Pretty cool! :)

And this is how my toes look like after some magic! Haha or not.. I couldn't get a manicure because I have practical baking classes every tuesday so yea.. Just got a classic pedicure. :)

The colour actually changes with different lighting.
Also when you touch the surface, it feels exactly like sand.

And here are pictures of my cousin sister's manicure and her daughter's pedicure!

Minion Nails! Super adorbs! She's 5 btw. ;)

Pink Gelish manicure with glitter tips. Soo pretty!

         

Ok so lets start doing some ratings! First would be ambience!
Absolutely loved the setting of the place. Very cosy and comfy!
So I would give Ambience 4.5 stars!

Next would be service! Super friendly and kind! Especially Lydia!
So I would give Service 5 stars!

Lastly would be the artisanship! They were really skilful with the minion nails!
And also my classic pedicure was one of the best I've ever had.
They put a lot of effort and you can clearly see it! Very professional! Really had a great time there!
So Artisanship gets 5 stars from me as well! :)

Here you can see Lydia seated right beside me
 telling me more about her business!

So that was my pleasant experience at Lydia's Beauty & Nail Studio! Now its time for yours! They also do facials as well! :) She gave me her name card so I'm just going to share with you the info on it!

Located at Block 304, Woodlands Street 31
#01-103, S730304

Operating Hours;

Tuesday - Friday : 10.30am - 8.30pm
Saturday - Sunday(inc public hols.) : 9.30am - 7.30pm
Closed on Mondays

THAT'S NOT ALL GUYS! She was nice enough to give me a discount code for all of my readers! Just quote my name,
'ANESHA' and you'll get 10% off ALL NAIL SERVICES! HOW AWESOMEEEE! :D

 I'M NOT DONE YET..... ;) On the month of your birthday, you will be entitled to a 20% off YOUR BILL! YAY!

For more enquiries on the prices and promotions, please contact them at
Tel: 63661211

The total bill for the 3 of us came up to $123 which I thought was reasonably priced! My cousin sister did both classic pedi and gelish mani! So if you were to compare with nail salons at shopping mall, its WAYYY more worth it. Cos at shopping malls, you will be spending that amount of money for just 1 person.

Honestly can't wait to go back to try Gelish pedicure! I've never tried Gelish before! :))

Oh and if you're wondering why I choose an O.P.I nail colour when Lydia told me what her customers experienced, its because I really liked the colour and also I wanted to see how long it would last on me.

So I guess thats it from me for now. Again, I'm really sorry for the late post.
Hope it doesn't happen again. Haha! :))

Feel free to ask me any questions on my twitter or just leave a comment down below! Take care and I'll see you on Sunday! :-*

For more updates:
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How To: Lemon Meringue French Macarons

Hey guys! Welcome back to my blog! How was your week? :)

Well, today I'm going to be doing something different. Instead of doing a cafe/restaurant review, I'll be sharing with you a recipe that I tried out yesterday! Macarons are getting very popular these days. Did you know that it's one of the hardest cookies to make? It requires practice and a lot of patience!

I've made these cookies about 3 times. The first time was a success and the second time was a complete fail. :)) 

It's ok to fail sometimes so you know where you went wrong and you can avoid that same mistake in the future! 

Alot of people get confused between macaroon & a french macaron.

I always cringe when I see people post pictures of beautiful store bought macarons and captions it as MACAROONS. Please please don't do that. 

You know how chocolate, salted caramel and pistachio macarons are so mainstream these days? I wanted something different. I wanted the sweetness of the macaron cookies to be balanced with a tart filling. So whats better than Lemon Meringue Macarons?! Haha! They remind me of a lemon meringue pie but in a macaron form. I named this recipe myself by the way!

Ok so lets start with the filling. I love how this recipe doesn't require any artificial colouring/flavouring! You want to start with this first so that there will be enough time for it to set in the fridge. 

Lemon Curd filling:

3 egg yolks

2 eggs

150 grams of sugar (3/4 cup)

100 grams of butter (about 1/2 cup)

Zest of 3 lemons

Juice of 2 lemons

A pinch of salt

(You only need 3 lemons. Use the zest from all of them but juice only from 2.)

METHOD:

1. Cream the butter, sugar and salt together with a whisk until all has been well combined.
2. Then, add in the zest and the juice. Now because you're adding acid to fat(butter) the mixture will separate. Don't worry just keep whisking it all together. :)
3. Pour the mixture into a saucepan. On medium low heat, you want to constantly stir the mixture with a wooden spoon/spatula.
4. You will know its ready when you can see it thicken and coats the back of your wooden spoon/spatula. This is also known as the Nape Stage(French). This usually takes about 10 minutes.
5. Pour the mixture in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap. Make sure it touches the surface of the curd so as to prevent a skin from forming.
6. Just let it cool completely and set before using/serving. 

And thats it guys! You can use this lemon curd for so many things! For tarts, pies and even trifles! So here are a few pictures I took while preparing it. :)

Becomes a beautiful rich yellow colour

Nape Stage

Macarons:

3 room temperature egg whites (Saved from the lemon curd recipe)

50 grams white granulated/caster sugar (1/4 cup)

120 grams almond flour/meal/ground (1 cup)

200 grams icing sugar (2 cups)

A pinch of salt

METHOD:

1. Sift both almond flour/meal/ground and icing sugar and set aside.
2. Beat egg whites until foamy, then add in the sugar and salt. Whip for about 9 mins until they form a peak that stands upright.
3. Now, add in the food colouring. Keep in mind that when it bakes, it loses a bit of its colour. So you might want to double the amount of food coloring.
4. The Macaronage. Time to fold in the the dry ingredients into the meringue. I do it in halves so I won't deflate the meringue as much. Use a rubber spatula. I did about 50-60 folds until I achieved the right consistency which will be like molten lava.
5. Transfer the batter into a piping bag. You don't need a round piping tip. Just cut the tip of the piping bag and pipe away! :) I used a silipat meant for macarons as it already had the perfect circles on it. After piping, you want to bang the tray on a table a few times to let the trapped air escape. This will give you a smooth shell.
6. This step is super important! Make sure you let your macarons sit out for about 30mins to form a skin. You want that skin so that your macarons won't spread when it bakes and will be forced to rise with the beautiful feet forming. You know its ready to bake when you touch it and it bounces right back without sticking on to your finger.
7. While waiting for it to form the skin, preheat your oven to 150 degree celsius.
8. Then bake for about 20 minutes. Once its done, let it cool before removing it from the tray.

Now I have to admit that Beth's Foolproof French Macaron Recipe's video helped me alot. Please do watch her video if you need more tips.

The moment I saw the feet forming on my macarons, I just felt so accomplished and satisfied. They should also have a crunchy outer shell and a soft, chewy, cake-like centre. So here are the pictures of the process. :)

Extra Fine!

Since I didn't add in flavouring, decided to top it off with some lemon zest I saved from lemon curd recipe.

Feet forming. :D

Freshly out from the oven! 

Cooled and placed on another tray. :)

Ready to be shared with my neighbour! :)

This recipe makes about 20 Macaron sandwiches.

So yea I guess thats it from me this week! I hope you try out this recipe! Why pay so much at bakeries when you can make it yourself? If I can do it so can you! Like I've mentioned earlier, it really does require practice and patience to get it right.

If you have any other questions regarding this recipe you can always leave a comment or tweet me!

Take care and I'll see you next week! :-*

For more updates:
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