Fely J Revisited

I already featured Fely J before. This time we went back to treat our HS classmate, Eileen and her hubby, Nelson who came all the way from San Francisco.

Whenever we have friends or guests who come from abroad and want to eat Filipino food we always bring them to Fely J. Sure there are many other Filipino restaurants in town but Fely J is always consistent with their food and we already have our favorite dishes to order.


Nelson and Eileen

The sisig came in a tiny, tiny sizzling dish. It was good but the portion was really too tiny. Sisig is a popular Filipino appetizer made from chopped parts of a pig’s head- ears, snout, cheeks and the brain. Hmm appetizing huh?


Sizzling Sisig

Their crispy pata was a winner! Crispy skin, tender meat and lots of garlic. Perfect to eat with the dilis (dried anchovy) rice.


Crispy Patang Bawang
deep fried pork leg generously topped
with golden garlic bits

This is my favorite fish dish in Fely J. The whole tilapia was deep fried and coated with a sweetish plum sauce.

Tilapia with Sweet Plum Sauce

You can never go wrong with coconut milk. The next two veggies were both cooked in coconut milk and so yummy.

Ginataang Gulay at Hipon


Kangkong sa Gata

Their binagoong baboy was mediocre. But Nelson enjoyed it. I wonder if he knew what he was eating. Nelson is American so all the food was strange to him.

Binagoongang Baboy

You can skip this char kway teow. It bears no resemblance to the real Malaysian dish and was a far cry from the best char kway teow I ate in Singapore.

Char Kuey Teow

Their kare kare was good. It had sufficient quantities of ox tail and not just all tripe. I don’t think Nelson ate this at all. Good thing Eileen liked everything!

KKK – kare kare klab
tripe, oxtail and vegetables stewed in
peanuts sauce served with sauteed bagoong

There’s the dilis rice beside the crispy pata. I can’t believe I forgot to take a picture of it. The dilis rice is a must when eating at Fely J. Be sure to ask the waiter to add 1 cup of white rice to the dilis rice even before bringing it to your table. Otherwise the ratio of the dilis to the rice is skewed. Trust me on this. You’ll end up ordering extra rice if you don’t since all the food is rice magnet.


amigas

Fely J
2/F Greenbelt 5, Legaspi St.,
Legaspi Village, Ayala Center
Makati City, Metro Manila
telephone: 728-8858

Sherrie’s Birthday Treat

Our property leasing office has only 2 regular employees, Sherrie and Tina. We also have 2 bosses. It’s a tradition for the birthday celebrant to feed everyone on their birthday. Last June it was Sherrie’s turn and this is what she served.

She ordered this giant bilao (container) of pancit malabon that could feed 25 or more. Sherrie also shared the pancit with the administration people, janitors, etc. in the building.


pancit malabon

She ordered this spectacular pata tim from Mey-Lin’s Pot and Noodle House. I already featured their cua pao before. The contents of the cua pao is this pata tim with the addition of ground peanuts and mustard greens. This was a very small pata tim so we didn’t share it with anyone else. It was so tender and it had the right amount of saltiness with just a hint of sweetness.

You can eat pata tim and its sauce on top of rice or put it in the cua pao bread provided. Any way you eat it it’s pure pleasure.


served with cua pao bread


pata tim or pork hocks or pork leg


refrigerator cake from Goldilocks


the whole spread

Mey-Lin’s Pot and Noodle House
SM Megamall
4/f Building A
telephone: 634-1261

Singapore Day 14 – Killiney Kopitiam, Bengawan Solo, SQ food Singapore to Manila

This was my last breakfast at Traders hotel. I had congee topped with pork floss, salted eggs, Chinese doughnut (you tiao), and fried shallots. The congee was totally devoid of salt or taste that’s why I loaded it with all those yummy toppings.

We spent the morning running around Orchard Rd. like headless chickens doing last minute shopping. We got back to the hotel with just enough time to jam our purchases in our luggages before Tecky arrived.

Tecky brought us to the airport and showed us all her muscles by being our porter too. Well, we couldn’t help her anyway since all our luggages were on the middle of the van while all of us were trapped in the last row. Why? Don’t ask. :p Thanks again Tecky!

I had my late, late lunch at Killiney Kopitiam at Terminal 2 of Changi airport.

Naturally I had my favorite laksa and iced kopi c (w/ condensed milk). It wasn’t the best laksa or iced kopi but it wasn’t bad for airport food.

I also bought the famous pandan cheese roll from Bengawan Solo to bring home to Manila. I like the semi dense texture and distinct pandan flavor of their cake. I finally tried a slice of their equally popular kueh lapis. I didn’t find anything spectacular or even interesting about it. I’ll stick to their pandan roll next time.

They had so many kinds of nut cookies and free samples to taste. I was so full from the laksa that nothing appealed to me.

Here’s the menu for our dinner on the Singapore airlines flight to Manila.

The chicken breast was surprisingly tender and juicy. Usually airlines murder chicken breasts turning them into rubber. Thankfully this was very edible.

pan fried chicken w/ herb gravy


Nestle crunch bar for dessert

That’s the end of our 2 week vacation to Perth, Margaret River and Singapore. We really enjoyed the whole trip specially the company and the food. Back to regular programming – Manila restaurants and food!

Bengawan Solo
Changi Airport
Terminal 2 North Departure
#02-00, PTB2
telphone: 6543 5016

Singapore Day 13 – Lunch at Thye Hong

It’s our last full day in Singapore. The food in the breakfast buffet changes daily. This is what my plate looked like today. The braised mushrooms and waffle were good.

This was my favorite from the buffet and I had it everyday. Their bircher muesli was very, very good because they ground the oats finely before adding yogurt. I added the fruits on top.


bircher muesli with fruits

We went shopping at Wisma Atria mall and had lunch at their food court called Food Republic. The whole place was packed to the rafters. While waiting for a table I walked around trying to decide what to eat. I came across Thye Hong which had a long queue. It was the only store which had a long line of people patiently waiting to order food. These pictures were taken with Rochelle’s Canon Ixus 65.

I saw the cook making a huge batch of noodles. I decided to fall in line too. I figured it must be good. When the noodles were finished the line moved fast.

Everyone in the line bought Fried Prawn Mee otherwise known as Hokkien Mee. By the time it was my turn the noodles were all gone. That meant another long wait. There were only 2 other things on the menu – char kway teow and oyster omelette. The lady at the counter was shouting if there’s anyone who was ordering the kway teow or oysters they can go straight to the counter. And so I did. I love char kway teow and really wanted to order that in the first place but I was also curious about the Hokkien mee.

I took a picture of the last order of that batch of Hokkien mee.


Hokkien mee

This is my order of char kwey teow. It’s the best char kwey teow I’ve ever eaten in my life. This was the best meal I had in Singapore. To this day I dream of eating it again. I hope they open a branch in Hong Kong. Dare I dream they open in Manila?

It was the perfect combination of the sauce, noodles and filling that made this dish so good. It was a bit salty, sweet, spicy. It wasn’t greasy either. I ordered the small size and it was a lot but I finished it.


char kwey teow

For dinner we went to Tanglin mall right next to our hotel. There’s a passage way from the 2nd floor of Traders Hotel to Tanglin mall. We had a simple dinner at the food court.

Korean beef bbq

served on a sizzling plate

I really admire the Singapore government’s campaign against smoking. I took these pictures from a store in Tanglin Mall. The very graphic packaging depicting cancer of the mouth and other diseases relating to smoking are very shocking. I can’t believe anyone would still smoke after seeing these images. The prices of the cigarettes are also 10 times more than in Manila. If these 2 factors aren’t enough of a deterrent I don’t know what else will work. I wish our government would follow this move.

Thye Hong
435 Orchard Road
#04-00 Food Republic,
Wisma Atria

Singapore Day 12 – Dinner at Siam Kitchen

Chris took these pictures using Nono’s Canon G9. Since we were shopping the whole day I didn’t want to lug around my camera.

A basket of prawn crackers was placed on the table to quell our hunger. In Manila we call it kropek. It’s also known as krupuk, kerupuk, or kroepoek in Indonesia; Keropok in Singapore. Kropek are deep fried crackers made from prawns and starch.


kropek

Siam kitchen had an a la carte buffet for $16.90++ . There were 15 or so specific dishes that will be served to you and you can eat as much as you can. Our group consisted of 2 women, 1 child and 3 men. Some of the dishes we wanted to order weren’t in the buffet so only 2 guys had the buffet.

Some of the dishes in the buffet were pineapple fried rice, green mango salad, fish cake, fried fish, chicken wing, you tiao, fried prawn cake, chicken wings, green chicken curry, tom yam soup and kang kong.

We watched as the waitress served the 1st batch of food.

Naturally food kept moving towards our table. We got to try all their food. So by the time our orders arrived we were already half full.

These 2 guys really maximized the buffet. Well, we did help out a lot.

These are what we ordered. They were generally good but somehow the food across the table tasted better. It must be the thrill of stealing food under the watchful eyes of the waitresses.

black olive fried rice with
chicken and cashew nuts


fish fillet with cashew


pad thai with seafood


prawn green curry


green mango salad
tom yum soup

We later found out most of the waitresses were Filipino and they understood our conversation in Filipino specially the ones involving food from the buffet side of the table. “Please get me more chicken curry” “I want another prawn ball” “Where’s the chicken wings? What’s taking so long?” All these from the ones who didn’t want to eat the buffet.

The buffet was a better deal. Just tell the waitress you want less fried food and more of everything else.

Siam Kitchen
Suntec City Mall
#B1-55
telephone: 6837 1588

Singapore Day 12 – Lunch at DinTaiFung

We had the lunch at the very popular chain from Taiwan, DinTaiFung. It was 2:00 pm and the place was still packed. We had to wait 15 minutes for a table.

DinTaiFung is known for their steamed pork dumplings or xiao long bao or soupy dumplings. They have branches all over Asia, Australia and Los Angeles. They also serve small dishes of food. Everything here is small.


xiao long bao or steamed pork dumplings

Both dumplings were good just like the ones I ate at DinTaiFung in Hong Kong but imho they’re not the best xiao long bao I’ve ever eaten. That honor still goes to Joe’s Shanghai in New York chinatown. Several restaurants in Hong Kong also have excellent xiao long bao.


steamed vegetable dumplings


tofu with mushroom


drunken chicken


sauteed spinach

Unbelievable but my favorite was their pork chop on rice. The pork chop was pounded thin, breaded and fried. Nothing unusual there but the taste was different. It was salty, mildy spicy and another taste I can’t pinpoint. It was also crisp and juicy.

fried pork chop on fried rice w/ egg


shrimp & pork wonton noodle soup

I just love, love their bag holder. It even has a cloth cover to prevent any possible stains.

DinTaiFung
435 Orchard Road
#02-48/53 Wisma Atria
Singapore 238877
telephone:65-6732-1383

Singapore Day 12 – Breakfast Buffet at Cafebiz+ Traders Hotel


photo from traders website

The breakfast buffet at Cafebiz costs S$34.70. Good thing breakfast came with the room. I’m not a heavy breakfast eater but with the abundant choices offered it was hard to resist. They had choices for every nationality and .


photo from traders website


fresh and canned fruit


assorted cold cuts


Japanese station


congee and lots of toppings


spring rolls and hash brown potatoes


hot dishes station


cereal station


bread station


omelettes made to order


egg station


noodle and Indian food station
This is what I ended up with. Below the sausages were crispy silver bait which I love to put on my congee. They add saltiness and crunch to an otherwise bland congee. Their Chinese doughnut or yiu tiaw was the crispest and yummiest I’ve ever eaten. The next day it was soggy and chewy.

Singapore Day 11 – Dinner at Crystal Jade Kitchen

In Perth we went sight seeing, wine tasting, cave exploring. In Singapore it’s all about the food and shopping. We had our first dinner in Singapore at Crystal Jade Kitchen. It was the 1st weekend for the Great Singapore Sale and the malls were packed. We ate at 9:00 pm and still had to wait for a table.

Warren ordered this set menu for 4 and some additional dishes since we had 2 additional adults with us. Warren’s brother Nono and his friend Ralph arrived from Manila and met up with us in Singapore.

salted fish & chicken fried rice


peking duck

braised shark’s fin w/ sea cucumber,
fish maw, bamboo pith & pig’s tendon


stewed duck meat w/ bittergourd


fried fish


stewed ox trotter w/ radish & shallots

Everything was good except this curry noodles. It was so bad no one touched it. The sauce tasted weird and nothing like curry.

curry noodles


menu

Crystal Jade Kitchen
Ngee Ann City #B2-36
Tel: 6238 1411

Singapore Day 11 – SQ Food Perth to Singapore, Traders Hotel, The Line at Shangri-La Hotel

 

We took flight SQ216 and that meant leaving Perth at 1:05 am and arriving in Singapore at 6:25 am. This was the meal served on the flight.

I’m glad I woke up to eat. It was one of the best chicken curry I’ve ever eaten! The other meals we had in Singapore airlines were blah but this was so good.


Curry Ayam
Malay style chicken in spicy coconut gravy

We arrived at 6:25 am and we were all so sleepy. We even fell asleep in the taxi on the way to Traders Hotel.

What I liked about Traders hotel is it’s connected to Tanglin Mall where there are shops, cafes, restaurants, a supermarket and pharmacy. There’s also complimentary scheduled shuttle buses to Orchard Road, the Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore, Suntec City, Shenton Way and selected business districts, and the Orchard Road MRT station is a short walk away. There’s also free internet connection in the rooms and free wi-fi in the lobby.

The room was nice, clean and just the right size. The bathroom was small though. It was a 1 person at a time size bathroom.

Orchard road is about a 10 minute walk from our hotel.

view from our room

Despite being so sleepy when we found out that’s Chris’ HS friend from Manila who now lives in Singapore was going to treat us for lunch we were suddenly wide awake. Her friend Tecky treated all of us to lunch at The Line restaurant in Shangri-La hotel. The restaurant served International cuisine spread over 16 culinary stations. I didn’t even get to see all those stations.


Chris and her HS classmates in a mini reunion
Marian, Chris, Pam and Tecky


satay station


naan station


dimsum & chinese station


roast meat station


noodle station

Indian station

The food was amazing! Everything I tried was good but after I had half of my favorite Laksa I was full.

laksa

I was surprised to see Yorkshire pudding with the roast beef. Reminded me of Lawry’s The Prime Rib where they serve the yummiest Yorkshire puddings. The Yorkshire pudding here was overcook and dried out.

roast beef and Yorkshire pudding

Techy had the inside scoop in this restaurant. She told us we can order cheese and fruit naan even though it wasn’t listed on the menu at the naan station. The problem was she told us about it when we were already so full. Neverthelesss we tried it. The cheese naan tasted like pizza. The naan with dried fruit was different but still good. We wanted to take home the leftovers badly.

cheese naan


dried fruit naan


desserts overload


my dessert plate

Should I even tell you what we did after lunch? Zzzzzzzz. Thanks again Tecky for the fabulous lunch!

Traders Hotel
1A Cuscaden Road
249716 Singapore
telephone: (65) 6738 2222


The Line
Shangri-La Hotel
22 Orange Grove Road
258350 Singapore
telephone: (65) 6737 3644

Perth Day 10 – Bell Tower, Jade Restaurant, Valentino Restaurant

It’s our last day in Perth. We went to the last attraction in our list of place to go in Perth, the Bell Tower. The Bell Tower is like one huge musical instrument. The bells in the tower have a long history from 14th century England up to its final home in Perth.

We caught the demo done by this lady ringing the bells. I don’t know how old she was but she must have strong arms. We tried pulling the ropes and they were heavy. She’s been doing this for more than 10 years.

These heavy ropes are connected to the bells which can be seen on the 5th floor. We also caught the 45 minute bell ringing demo done by 18 people who pull the ropes at different intervals thus creating a medley of bells. This is definitely a great work-out for arms.

18 bells

Watch Bellringers in action!
General ringing demos: Monday, Tuesdays and Thursdays 12:00pm-1:00pm Saturday and Sunday 12:00pm-1:00pm
I took these shots from the roof deck of the Bell Tower.

wheel of Perth

Warren and P rode the the Wheel of Perth which is just next door. The wheel is a 50 metre high modern day Ferris Wheel with 36 Gondolas or Cabins all of which are fully air-conditioned. Entrance is A$15 dollars for adults and $10 for kids.
Warren took these pictures from the ferris wheel.

Perth CBD

We had lunch at Jade Dynasty Chinese Seafood Restaurant in Northbridge. The dimsum wasn’t bad but it was a far cry from my favorite dimsum restaurant in Hong Kong.


fried taro puff


fried octopus


har gaw or shrimp dumplings


siu mai


chicken feet


beef hofan

This was the best dimsum we ate. The dough was light, crisp and flaky. The char siu filling was a perfect foil to the crisp crust.

baked barbecued pork bun

After lunch we took a walk around Murray and Hay street malls. I liked this whole block because it had several arcades, specialty stores and big department stores that are side by side in an area closed to traffic. It would be easy to spend a whole day here. Too bad we didn’t have enough time to shop.
Our flight was at 1:00 am so we had an early dinner at Valentino Restaurant at Northbridge again. We had all our meals at Northbridge. It would be easy to eat there for a week without repeating a restaurant.

The food was fantabulous! The pizza was almost perfect.

prosciutto pizza A$19.50
prosciutto, rocket & romano shavings

The risotto was too sinful. It was too good and creamy. The only problem was it didn’t have enough rice. It’s a good thing 4 adults shared one order. It’s too rich for one person to eat on its own.

risotto de pollo A$22.00
sautéed chicken, mushroom, avocado &
camembert bound in a creamy risotto

Goodbye Perth and Margaret River. We really had fun seeing all the natural wonders that God created in this part of the world. The wine and the food are also excellent. Even before we left we were already planning on our next trip back.

The Bell Tower
Barrack Square
Riverside Drive,
Perth, Western Australia

Jade Dynasty Chinese Seafood Restaurant
40 Francis St
Northbridge 6003 WA
telephone: +61 8 92289619

Valentino Restaurant
Cnr James & Lake Streets
Northbridge 6003 WA
telephone: +61 8 93282177