7 KICKstart BREWiches

Popped by 7 Kickstart Brewiches for lunch. Located at Armenien Street (close to the Peranakan museum), this cosy cafe serves out great coffee and food bites!



The menu is a little confusing, they have a main menu for certain standard items like coffee and sandwiches, but for their specials, look to the handwritten items on the chalkboards plastered around the cafe. Their burgers seem to be the main hotseller in the cafe, almost everyone is having one! So here is the Patty Melt- essentially oven baked beef patty with seasonal fruit mixed mayonnaise, served with fresh salad in a sesame seeded bun.

The burger is really huge and tall, stacked with generous portions of salad and vegetables! I am very fascinated by the neon pink beetroot mayo sauce; it really gives the dish an intriguing colour. The beef patty wasn't too bad, not too overly well done or dry. Combine it with melted cheese... yums. The burger is so tall and unstable, it is actually held in place by a knife. Yes, if you notice, the burger is stabbed right in the middle with a knife.

This is the Blue Foresticcino ($5.70) which is described as a clandestine meeting of blueberries, chocolate and double espresso shots. I really like this erm, "clandestine" drink. I thought it would taste uber artificially sweet but I kind of liked how the blueberry flavour actually came out and complemented the bitterness of the coffee. This is an interesting drink, and if you are craving something special and out of the ordinary, do give this a go!

Poh Cheu- Awesome kuehs!

“This stall got queue, must be good!” I was initially skeptical, but this stall located at Blk 127, a stone throw away from the Alexandra Village hawker centre, serves decent and cheap ang ku keuhs and soon kuehs!

I was never a big fan of Ang Ku Kuehs (or loosely translated as Red Turtle Cake). The ones I usually have are of subpar standard with thick hard skins, but the ang ku kuehs here have quite soft and have the nice chewy exterior skin which I enjoyed tremendously. The kuehs here are homemade, probably explaining the fantastic texture. It is supposed to be like that, a chinese version of japanese mochi!

I didn’t realise there was much symbolism associated with ang ku kuehs. They are usually flat, oval shaped with a turtle-like engravings on top. Tortoise represents longevity, red symbolises good luck! Maybe that’s why they are often eaten on special occasions like birthdays, but these days, we just eat it anytime.



I’m digressing, anyway the Ang Ku Kueh sold here (70 cents each!) comes in a variety of colours and flavours. I had the traditional peanut and tou sa(green bean) fillings (in red colour), which provided bursts of flavours that complemented the nice chewy kueh skin. They also serve very exotic flavours like mango, green tea and durian. I only managed to try the mango one because the other exotic flavours were not available. The mango paste actually tasted decent and didn’t taste overly artificial or cloyingly sweet.

The main highlight for the soon kueh is probably the smooth, chewy texture of the floor skin which holds the fillings in. They serve it in different fillings too, you can choose between turnip, ku chye and bamboo shoots. I stuck to the traditional turnip one which was not bad! I don’t really take spicy food, but their special sauce (essentially a blend of chili and black sauce) is a must have with their soon kuehs!

The stall claims their kuehs are freshly made and this is evident in the quality of kuehs served. Very satisfying and most kuehs are reasonably priced at 70 cents each. No wonder queues form here!

The Wok & Barrel @ Duxton Hill

Support Mod Sin food! Modern Singapore food cuisine, as coined by a recent Sunday Times article refers to how beloved Singapore dishes get a new modern twist, often with surprisingly tasty results!

We made a trip to The Wok & Barrel, tucked in a corner in an up and coming enclave of great food eateries at Duxton HIll. The restaurant is housed in a restored shophouse, and I liked the small, cozy ambience inside. Seats are limited so it’s best to make reservations beforehand.



Wok&Barrel serves up a variety of draft beer and even recommends suitable beer pairing to go with your food. We had the Jungle Beer Mango Rose Beer($11.90). I couldn’t detect the tropical mango taste amidst the alcohol and hops at first, but after a few more sips, I realised there was a subtle tinge of mango fruitiness in it! Intriguing.



The Mutton Curry Pizza ($13.90) was DA BOMB. Warm, tender mutton chunks served as a rendang style topping on a thin crusted pizza with not one, but three kinds of cheeses! I am actually surprised how the rich mutton curry went so well with the mozarella, cheddar and gouda cheese but it somehow worked. It was so delicious, we finished the entire pizza very quickly. HIghly recommended!



Another highly recommended dish by the servers was Soft Shell Chili Crab($17.90). Chili crab lovers who dislike getting their hands dirty from de-shelling the usual Singaporean chili crab dish have reason to rejoice- this dish is served with fried soft shell crab- another favourite with Singaporeans. It is topped with a sweet tangy Singaporean chili crab sauce which is essentially tomato based. A very interesting take on the perennial chili crab dish!



Healthy Chick ($15.90) claims to be the healthiest dish on the menu. With things like Bak Kwa Ribs on the menu, its no surprise that this boneless chicken dish served with an Asian inspired coleslaw can easily take the crown for being the lowest fat and calorie content dish. The chicken was very well marinated and tender. The “Asian” coleslaw was a mystery. It contained raw shredded cabbage, just like its western counterpart, but it also came with added asian elements which I suspect included chai poh or ikan billis.



I am a big fan of puloh hitam, so when I saw a picture of Wok&Barrel’s Puloh Hitam Cake with Gula Melaka Butterscotch and Coconut Ice Cream ($8.90) on twitter, I knew I had make a trip down to try it! Although what was served looked rather different from the photo I had seen on twitter, the dessert nonetheless didn’t disappoint. The homemade coconut ice cream is absolutely delightful when paired with the puloh hitam cake soaked with rich, aromatic gula melaka. Calories be damned.

Extra Virgin Pizza

I have been wanting to try this place out after reading rave reviews from RERG and Six&Seven, so we headed there for dinner before spending a (WICKED!) night out with Nick and Kelvin!

This place is located at the ground floor of Asia Square Towers, a stone throw away from Marina Bay MRT. My first remark when we got there was, “No indoor seating ah?”. Yes, the dining area is outdoors while the kitchen (with their mighty stone ovens) are tucked inside. Thankfully the area was breezy and it wasn’t too hot. Moreover, they were having 1 for 1 happy hour for their beers! So we ordered a couple of Kirin beers to cool us down.





We had the popular Pistachio Pizza ($24) which is essentially pizza smeared with pistachio pesto paste and copious amounts of exotic vegetables with a sprinkling of mozzarella. When I read RERG’s review on how the pistachio pizza tastes like BBQ chicken wing I was deeply skeptical. How can something so green taste like meat? But tasting is believing. It truly had this perfectly grilled chicken flavour to it which bewildered my tastebuds. I’m not sure how the mix of vegetables, pistachio paste and mozzarella can do such magic but yes, it does. The pizzas here are thin crusted btw, and they were slightly burnt and somehow gave out a nice smokey grilled taste.



Next up, we had the other recommended pizza, Ham and Mushroom ($24)which was not as mind blowingly good as the previous. It was a decent pizza topped with ham and mushroom although I wished they would be more generous with the pine nuts topping.



Finally, the meal ended with Tiramisu ($8). It was decent, the mascarpone was good, although I wished the liquer content was higher hehe.

Overall, it’s a great place to hang out for beer and great thin crusted pizza. My only complain? The chairs. They are really uncomfortable to sit on for long periods. Hope they invest in better chairs/cushions soon! BTW, there is no service charge here, tipping is highly encouraged! Will definitely come back for a great evening out with excellent tasting pizzas!