I certainly didn’t want to eat the bento. Neither was I going for the handroll, udon or soba. Flipping through the menu, my eyes caught sight of something exciting. As exciting as its name suggests, it’s shiok maki. And that’s what I’m going to eat. After all, it’s the specialty dish of this Japanese place.

After waiting patiently for about 10 minutes, the dish arrived.

Savouring the first bite of the combination of charcoal grilled eel wrapped with lightly roasted salmon and sprinkled with fish roe, it was now time to pass the verdict.

Heavenly! Shiok as they would say in Singlish! Words were really unnecessary. I’ll rather my tongue palette do the talking and enjoy the gastronomical feast instead

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I’ve been trying to figure this out for the longest possible time. What on earth is a smashed fried chicken? Do you use a mallet to smash the chicken to pieces before serving it?

Finally, I had to seek the answer for myself. Unveil the mystery behind the ayam penyet I was today.

Though not a huge fan of Indonesian food (the only one I really like is the tahu goreng), there wasn’t much of a decision to make but just choose the ayam penyet. After all, this is the signature dish of the eatery.

While waiting for my ayam penyet to arrive, I learnt that this eatery has another outlet on the 4th floor. That was where they first started off in Singapore…which means they must have garnered enough critical mass to be able to open a second outlet on the ground floor. After all, one would expect the rental for ground floor shops to be more, right?

Wanting to be adventurous, Y ordered the ikan bawal penyet (smashed penyet). This turned out to be a wise choice as we could share both the chicken and fish and then critique which one tasted better.

On paper, it looks like a sure-win formula. Take the all too familiar chicken, smash it flat and then coat it with some flour to make the skin cripsy. Come up with a KFC inspired formula to ensure the meat remains tender and juicy. Throw in some flossy fried oats at the side and the all time Singaporean favourite sambal chilli. Yes, you’ve guessed it right – it’s the ayam penyet (smashed fried chicken).

I have to emphasise that the smashing action is critical in the ayam penyet as it helps to tenderise the chicken and makes it easier to eat.

Barely 10 minutes later, my ayam penyet arrived. I specifically asked for the breast meat.

My breast-ful ayam penyet

If you were only looking for chicken, I bet you would not be supported. Boosting a generous serving of tender fried chicken, served with tempeh, tofu and samabel chilli on a banana leaf lining a wooden mortar-like plate.

Wanting to be further adventurous, I dipped the chicken into the sambal chilli and had the taste of a lifetime! Blazingly hot beyond my wildest imagination was the sambal chilli.

Ikan bawal penyet

After the chicken comes the fish…or in this case the ikan bawal penyet. It’s actually a deep fried pomfret.

Being a huge chicken and fish lover, I swear I must have eaten most of the meat. Oops…

My verdict is that I’ll stick with the ayam penyet. As for the pomfret, I’d rather steam it than fry. Nonetheless, I cleaned up the entire fish leaving Y amazed by my fish-eating skills.

More ayam penyet or ikan bawal penyet in the future? Err…no, I think I’ll skip and stick to my eating clean regime.

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Fish soup is one of my favourite dishes. And this stall at Toa Payoh Central ranks as my No. 1 when it comes to fish soup. No other stall even comes close.

Besides being super healthy, this stall probably also gives the most generous serving of sliced fish. At $4 a bowl, it comes with huge chunks of fresh fish which is tender in each bite. This is extremely good value for money. Even if you just eat the fish on its own without rice or noodles, you will still have a hearty meal.

I’ve been patronising this stall for more than 2 years now. Each time I walk towards the stall, my face is instantly recognised and I’ll just have to mention two words “the same”.

In about 5-10 minutes’ time, my order is delivered to my table. It’s fish soup time again. Yummy

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Alright…it’s confession time. I confess I really cheated.

I ate a McDonalds Oreo Cheesecake. Yes, it’s sinful but I see it as a reward for myself for pumping hard over the last few weeks.

McDonalds has sure come a long way now. Speaking of keeping up with the times, the McCafe actually has 4 different types of cheesecake – the original, the Oreo variant, raspberry type and the walnut cheesecake variety. Being a huge Oreo fan, I naturally settled for the Oreo variant.

The sinfulicious McDonalds Oreo Cheesecake

Let’s see what I have consumed. According to the nutrition facts on Oreo Cheesecake gleaned from the web, I consumed an extra 630 calories, of which 351 calories are from fat alone. My carbs intake was 60g versus 10g for protein. The sugar level spiked 44g. As for cholesterol, it increased by 155mg.

Now, I’m so looking forward to tomorrow’s workout where I’m going to train doubly hard and then run an extra mile or two during the week too! Yeah!

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It’s been more than a year since I last visited Thailand. I miss the shopping, the massage and the food. Speaking of food, I cannot not mention my favourite Thai dish which is phad thai.

Phad thai, or sometimes spelt pad thai is often regarded as one of Thailand’s most popular dishes (together with the mango salad, tom yam soup, pineapple rice and Thai fishcake). It consists of stir-fried rice noodles with fish sauce, eggs, tamarind juice, red chilli, bean sprouts, tofu and shrimp (or chicken). Add a small slice of lime and crushed toasted peanuts by the side and it is ready to be served.

I’ve been on the lookout for good phad thai in town. But unfortunately, most cannot even make the grade. It is either too oily, bland or just tastes so different from the authentic Thai version back in Thailand. After all, on the surface, it looks easy to recreate this dish. If you check out most of the major foodcourts, you will find a Thai stall selling this dish too. But the question is whether it is the real deal.

I found the real deal this afternoon. When I took my first mouthfull, the same wondrous feeling of the dish back in Thailand came back to me. The noodles were not too oily, the generous helpings of bean sprouts, tofu and chicken (gai phad thai) scored it extra marks. Plus I was given a bowl of free tom yum clear soup.

As I conversed with the stall vendor in Thai, we managed to strike a short conversation. He even asked if I was Japanese. Me Japanese? Haha…maybe…

I’ll enjoy my phad thai dish this very moment….feel so blessed!

Now that I’ve found the best phad thai in town, my next search will be for the best Thai massage. Wish me luck

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I feel so blessed. I’ve fallen head over heels in love…not with a human being but with a new dish in town which I discovered recently. Hahaha…

Drum roll…presenting the olive rice chicken dish!

When I first sank my teeth into the dish, I was immediately won over. What pleased my gastronomical palette immensely was the flavour-full olive rice with chunks of olives. I’ve long read about the goodness of olives. It’s great for the hair and skin. What’s more, it contains lots of nutritional value like vitamins E, K and A as well as other nutrients. Add those onto the oleic acid inherent which aids in keeping our arteries supple and helps prevent cancer. Best of it all is that it’s natural!

As a chicken lover eater, I will never miss a day of my chicken meat. Dice them up in this case, then grill them and pour black pepper sauce over it.

The original dish comes with one serving of green vegetables plus one serving of coldslaw. I requested to change it to two servings of green vegetables. No thanks for the coldslaw as it’s soaked in mayonnaise.

Needless to say, I only eat this particular dish whenever I visit this particular foodcourt. Yummy!

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It must be the most heavenly treat I gave myself today. Being a huge soya bean fan and perhaps the most faithful one as well (I must drink soya bean milk twice everyday), it’s a double treat in fact.

So I didn’t hesitate to buy a box of beancurd tarts when I saw them in the shop. Well, I’ve read about them and this shop is famous for its tarts.

When I sank my teeth into the beancurd tart, I could immediately taste the silky smooth soya bean filling. It was oozing with so much freshness that it reminded me of a soya bean drink. I love the taste. Add to the fact that it was fresh out of the fridge which meant the crust was hard.

In fact, I loved the taste so much that I didn’t stop at one….I ate three at one go!!

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I read with horror the ongoing saga involving the Chinese milk powder contaminated with melamine which has thus far made 1,253 babies sick.

As more reports file in, the numbers keep increasing. Two babies have already died from drinking the formula laced with melamine in a ploy by farmers to boost the apparent protein content of the milk that they sold to one of the best-known milk powder manufacturers in the country.

I felt my inner organs churn a little when I found out that my favourite (or should I use ex-favourite) has also been banned as it is also suspected of being contaminated. Holy shit! Could I be in some form of health trouble as well?

“Mengniu (蒙牛) was among those named for having milk powder samples which tested positive for melamine…”

I became a huge fan of Mengniu milk, especially the walnut flavour after I first drank it in China last year. I recall drinking Mengniu every night for eight consecutive days while on holiday there. After my return, I started drinking Mengniu too.

And as I started reading more, I found that Yili and subsequently Mengniu are just the tip of the iceberg. Below is the list (till date) of all milk products from China found containing melamine.

Steer clear…read the labels first…you have been warned!

• Natural Choice Yogurt Flavoured Ice Bar with Real Fruit
• Nestle Dairy Farm UHT Pure Milk
• Mengniu Pure Milk
• Yili Pure Milk
• Yili High calcium low fat milk beverage
• Yili Super Bean Red Bean Chestnut Ice Bar
• Yili Bean Club- Matcha red bean ice bar
• Yili High Calcium Milk Beverage
• Yili Bean Club- Red bean milk bar
• Yili Prestige Chocliz – Dark Chocolate Bar
• Yili Pure Milk
• KLIM Instant Full Cream Milk Powder ( 1.8 kg )
• Nestle Carnation Calcium Plus Non Fat Milk Powder ( 1.6 kg )
• Nespray
• Monmilk Breakfast Milk Walnut Milk Beverage
• Monmilk Suan Suan Ru Sour Milk Beverage (Mango Flavour)
• Vita Fresh Milk
• Nestle Vanilla Flavour Ice Cream Cone
• Nestle Chocolate Flavour Ice Cream Cone
• Meiji Ujikintoki (red bean and green tea frozen confection)
• Meiji Hokkaido Azuki (red bean ice cream)
• Trappist Dairy Low Fat Yogurt Drink

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We arrived at the hawker centre at 7.15pm and I headed towards this seafood stall. Before placing my order, I asked the lady if I had to wait long for it to arrive.

The reply was “no, just a short while.” Great.

Based on her words, I ordered my fish soup mee sua.

Her ”just a short while” was certainly more than just a short while. Mum’s food came and she finished eating…and here I was still waiting.

I watched the minutes tick away. Time check now was 7.40pm. Still no sight nor smell of the fish soup mee sua.

To me, “just a short while” would mean at most 10 minutes or less. That’s the strict dictionary meaning. Perhaps I had misunderstood the woman’s “short while”. To her, a “short while” meant 25 minutes and beyond. If so, then “a long while” would mean eternity? Ridiculous.

When the long awaited fish soup mee sua came at 7.43pm, I did not know whether I should finally laugh or cry.

Let’s not talk so much and tuck into the food first.

If the long wait was preposterous, the quality of the food was the ultimate slap in the face.

I counted. Five thin, miserable slices of fish for $5…which means $1 each piece. Daylight robbery!!! Plus the mee sua was lumpy and hard like rock.

It’s bad to be ripped off once. Worse if it’s twice in a row. I’m going to boycott this stall forever.

Here’s the picture of the stall. Shame on you!

Boycott Wang Jiao Kitchen!!!

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The little secret is out! Yes, the little secret which only R and I know till yesterday. Today, it is no longer a secret as http://lionellim.com goes live!

It’s always been my dream to own my own domain name. After all, how much cooler than that get right? My own name, my own brand, my own me

I’ve been working very hard for the past weeks on my website, together with R, to get the site up and running. The sense of satisfaction is truely heartfelt. No words can adequately describe this feeling. It’s like seeing your first born child after months of labour. Happy is an understatement really

So, what does lionellim.com offer? A host of services ranging from fitness programmes and tips, nutrition products, and wellness treatments. In this age and time, how many of us do not want to look young, energetic and beautiful?

I call that unveiling the new, sexy and beautiful you. Yes, let me share with you what I know. You will be amazed by the transformation. It’s not just external transformation. I go for both internal and external transformation.

Shape up, eat well and perfect it today. We are responsible for our health. Remember, you owe it to yourself!! Spread the word around…

Lionellim.com – unveil the new, sexy and beautiful you!

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