Riders Cafe

So today I was in the Bukit Timah area where my friend and I was hiking at and so she decided that it was high time that we visited Riders Cafe. Neither of us have been there before so we didn't know that the most practical way in was by car, meaning either drive in or take a cab. We had foolishly walked all the way in from Eng Neo ave and all the passing drivers gave us second looks. We were not successful in hitch-hiking =(

Riders cafe is a pretty place were they have the stables right next to it where people kept their horses. We were too tired by then to venture much so we just went straight into the cafe and sat down. Nearby to the cafe there's Marmalade Pantry of which I have patronised several times before, at least the Ion Branch.

It's not crowded on weekdays but I heard it was on the weekends. We arrived at around 1:55pm so we missed the breakfast menu, if not I would have really liked to try the Lemon Ricotta Pancakes from their early bird selections. Instead the both of us ordered the popular Riders Burger with the beef patties done at medium well. We had the Peanut Butter and Jelly Milkshake as well, and the Death by Chocolate Cake for dessert.

The Riders Burger is made with Rocket, Relish, Brie, Bacons and Onions with regular fries on the side. I found the meat patty quite delicious although really thick even though I was famished, I had a hard time finishing my burger. For the bacon though it was crispy, but a little too crispy until I found it quite tough instead. But it was a good and delicious burger to fill our tummies, and up to 75% of our entire body as my friend would say.

[Riders Burger]

The milkshake was really thick as expected, although the peanut butter tastes kind of strange but yet somehow interesting. The Death by Chocolate Cake though was really hell. We were already quite full from eating the burgers so the cake was a total nightmare. Firstly, I found the cake not really to my liking, the cake is supposed to be a sponge cake with thick layers of chocolate, but I found it pretty hard for a cake. I prefer light and moist cake, especially eating after the main course. In the end we did not even finish the dish.

[Death by Chocolate Cake]

I personally would not go there again just for the food but only if I was in the area AND when I'm driving.

Riders Cafe

Add: 51 Fairways Drive

        Singapore 286965

        Bukit Timah Saddle Club

Tel:   6466 9819

Opening Hours: Sun to Thurs > 8am - 9pm

                        Fri & Sat > 8am - 10pm

                        Mon > closed

Ciao~

Andrea Trinity

Hiking up Bukit Timah Hil

Bukit Timah Hill is the highest 'mountain' in Singapore and at the summit of 163.63m lays the highest point in Singapore. rich in history as well as flora and fauna. From the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve's Visitor Centre to the summit, there are three different trails to choose from, of which two were easy, one was moderate to difficult, and one was difficult. My friend and I had decided to take the moderate trail up, the green trail, and the difficult trail down which is the yellow trail.

[Trails]

We had decided to meet up at 9am, but somehow we started later at about 9:35 or so. Hiking is best done in the morning so that the sun will not be beating down on our backs. Another advise is to not bring a big bag because it will only be a burden. Trek light and stay light. This trail was pretty nice hike up, where we spotted a monitor lizard, a squirrel and lots of monkeys. We also came across the Sepui, Red Dhup tree.

The green trail starts at the visitor centre to the South View Path, continuing onto Cave Path to reach the Catchment Hut. To reach the summit one can either carry onto the main road or take the flight of stairs up, which we did so. For an unfit person as myself, I found the path quite hard initially, but it is pretty all right looking back and after completing the difficult path. If you have hiked before as I have, taking the moderate path would not be a problem.

Heading downwards was a bit of a problem for us because we were really quite lost thanks to the landslide sign. Most trekkers would start at the Dairy Farm car-park which we did not knew existed until we were on the trip down the hill. The yellow path should be as follows, starting with the Rengas Path, followed by the Seraya Loop, then the Jungle Fall Path, and finally the main road back to the visitor centre. Because of the landslide sign, we actually hiked all the way to the North View Path and went up again through the Seraya Loop just to head back to the Rengas Path.

Although the hike was really tiring as the steps were really high here and the path is not as simple as the green trail. We had to really watch where we tread so that we would not slip and roll off the path, or even down the hill. I don't have much pictures because we were tired and lost and I basically did not want to break my camera in case we slipped. The sights seen on this trail was another monitor lizard, lots of different ants and fungus that was featured on the National Parks Board. I personally am dead afraid of spiders, so when we did ran into one which was entirely blocking our path, I panicked and dared not move. Later on my friend saw a snake and we quickly speed away. It took us so much climbing up and down the stairs repeatedly to dare to take the 'landslide' path which eventually led us to the dairy farm.

It was a really memorable hike and I will return to complete the remaining two trails, and maybe if they are really easy, attempt the yellow trail again and go the correct way this time!

Ciao~

Andrea Trinity

Ma Maison @ Bugis

Hey again, since it's my holidays so I'm able to have time to post again, and this time it's about Ma Maison. Ma Maison is a fusion of Japanese and French cuisine. I personally am a fan of omu rice and is always on the search for good omu rice. A good and delicious omu rice is when the egg is still somewhat runny and the rice is mixed with tomato sauce that is not over-powering. So, here I bring to you the best omu rice that I have ever tasted in Singapore.

Firstly we ordered three dishes - Hamburger Steak set, Omu-Rice set and Tonkatsu. The hamburger steak set came with a soup, salad, bread or rice and a drink. The steak was actually recommended by the staff there. The hamburger was great together with the sauce, really not too salty like how most Japanese loves their dishes to be (At least that's how I found it to be when I was in Japan). It's a good recommendation.

Next the Omu-rice was really good. The egg was still a bit runny as it should be, some places are not able to replicate this consistency for the omu-rice. I love their sauce and the onions were cooked till it was really soft! Maybe I just love softer texture type of food. The rice was also not extremely sour with tomato which is really nice. This is my favourite omu-rice and I would go back there again just to eat this dish.

[Omu-rice Set]

Finally the Tonkatsu did not come with a set but we ordered a drink with it, which was the glass jelly coffee. The coffee was quite average, but it was different because I have never had glass jelly with cold coffee before. The tonkatsu was really tender and springy.

Well, it was a great experience eating there because the place was really homely and the staff were really nice, polite and friendly, they chatted up quite a bit with us when we were ordering. =) Forgive the poorly taken photos, it was taken with my phone. I'm going hiking tomorrow so I'll end off here ~

Ma Maison ( Bugis Junction )

Add: #02-51 Bugis Junction

        200 Victoria Street

Tel:   6338 4819

Opening Hours: Weekdays > 11:30am - 3pm, 6pm - 9:30pm

                         Weekends > 11:30am - 09:30pm

Ciao ~

Andrea Trinity

Earle Swensen's

Today we went to Earle Swensen's for my sister's birthday and we had placed an order for the Do Re Mi Ice-cream cake for her birthday! =) Earle Swensen's menu is different from the regular menu in a way that they made it to be more 'premium', so the prices are definitely more expensive. But then again you are paying for the ambience. The main courses all comes with a salad bar. The salad bar does not have many selections unlike Seasonal, it's really simple with basic salad vegetables and condiments.

So we ordered one appetizer, the Juicy Mango Shrimps ( Could not take photo because it came when I was away and they started eating it when I was not there ='( ). The shrimps were slightly spicy, while the diced mangoes were sweet. It was a refreshing combination with the sweet and slightly spicy dressing. For the main course to upgrade the meal had to pay about $6.50 to get a drink, garlic bread and a soup of the day.

We ordered the Savoury chicken baked rice, Earle's poultry combo, Charbroiled chicken skewers and Surf & Turf. The chicken baked rice was just like the regular baked rice backed at their regular outlets. The only difference I heard from my brother was that the sausage was cheese sausage and that it came with bacon bit/soy bits. Although we both liked the curry zazzle at the regular outlet.

[Savoury Chicken Baked Rice]

Earle's poultry combo was not a small serving, if I remembered correctly the cost for this was $27/$24. This came with charbroiled combo of different meats - cheesy chicken sausage, tender sliced smoked duck, chicken thigh strips and chicken breast. The sausage was not bad, the cheese was practically oozing out, and the chicken strips were all right as well. The chicken breasts as many other places is tough and tasteless, it was so bland that really just to eat it I had to coat it with the mashed potato and sauce. And lastly the smoked suck was really good, very tasty. I personally hated the salad at the side because the sauce was really sour, the coleslaw at the salad bar was much nicer, tasted like the ones at KFC.

[Earle's poultry Combo]

The charbroiled chicken skewers was not as little as the picture suggests. The chicken was well made, not oily, very succulent. The dish came with some creamy sauce which I did not try so I can't say what it was. The salad has no dressing but you can always get some from the salad bar. 

[Charbroiled Chicken Skewers]

Finally the surf & turf, I personally did not try it but I heard it was quite nice. One bad point to this was that they did not asked how the steak should be done so we kind of forgot to tell them as well, and it came rare, but we asked them to cook it a little while longer after. Anyway, the dish consisted of, grilled sirloin steak, king prawns and baked potato. I heard that the mango-tasting sauce was quite nice and sweet.

[Surf & Turf]

For dessert, my pretty young sister had a free Sticky chewy chocolate sundae which was awesome!! The smooth chocolate fudge was absolutely wonderful together with the chocolate ice-cream. A chocolate heaven for us. Thinking about it, the dessert menu has some of the original Swensen's desserts but more selections.

[Sticky Chewy Chocolate]

So we had a great time sitting there and laughing, even playing some word game =) Happy Birthday my Sister!

[Happy Birthday Celin!]

Earle Swensen's ( Vivo City Branch )
Add: 1 Harbourfront Walk
       VivoCity
       Singapore 098585
Tel:  272 3306
Opening Hours: 10:30am - 10:30pm

Ciao~

Andrea Trinity