Qi Ji 奇迹 @Heartland Mall

Qi Ji at Heartland Mall was fully packed at 1.30pm on Sat., 29 Mar 08. Fortunately, a table was available within minutes of our arrival. With the way tables are squeezed together in the cafeteria-style food outlet, it's really not a conducive place to sit and chat for long as diners at neighbouring tables can hear every word of your conversation and vice versa.

We ordered Set 1 Nasi Lemak which came with ikan bilis, peanuts, chicken sausage, fried egg, otah, sambal chili and breaded fish cake. The fish cake is missing from the pic above as the kitchen ran out of it when they were filling my order. Freshly prepared fish cake was subsequently delivered to our table, crispy on the outside and soft inside. Actually, I am quite impressed they remembered as the place was bustling with people.

I found the rice a tad soft for my liking (I prefer fluffier and drier rice) but it was lemak enough and very fragrant. They definitely did not stinge on coconut milk and pandan leaves.

The sambal chili complemented the rice well but could have been spicier. Side dishes were average in taste, nothing to rave about. Still, it's value for money at $3.90 per set.

The laksa was edible but a disappointment. Gravy was much too thin. Could have done with more coconut milk and laksa leaves to add fragrance.

At first glance, the tauhu goreng was rather unappetising. Thick, dark brown peanut gravy covered the tauhu and vegetables, resembling a mound of body waste - the solid kind!

The gravy was far too sweet, without any distinctive flavour. The saving grace was their generosity with peanuts that were quite fresh. Would suggest reducing the sugar and adding some tamarind juice to provide contrast and lift the flavour.

Mee Siam

We ordered the mee siam when we found we still had room for more and because everyone around us seemed to be eating it. Forgot to take a pic as I was busy tucking in by then.

The mee siam gravy seemed rather thin and pale at first. However, after adding a good dollop of sambal chili (left at the counter for customers to add on their own), I could understand its popularity. It had exactly the right balance of sourness and sweetness, and was fiery enough to satisfy me.

Qi Ji is a good, cheap place to enjoy hawker-style food in airconditioned comfort. We paid less than $17 for 4 dishes and 3 hot drinks.

They have outlets island-wide, including Marina Square, Tiong Bahru Plaza, Century Square and Hougang Mall.

Marrybrown Fried Chicken

I have never been a fan of Kentucky Fried Chicken as I find their chicken not crispy enough, not to mention ungenerous in serving size and choice parts. Succulent thigh pieces are rare, with tough breast meat and skinny wings frequently foisted on the customer. Don't bother asking for your favourite thigh pieces only as the restaurant believes in "equitable distribution" or equal misery. For every 2 or 3 pc order, the customer must put up with stringy breast and skinny wings in order to enjoy ONE piece of choice thigh.

There's also the exorbitant price of chicken-only purchases. Unless you go for the set meals which include coleslaw or other side dishes (but I only want chicken!), just 2 pcs of chicken alone will set you back by S$5!! I can buy a whole BBQ chicken from Carrefour for that price!

For fellow fried chicken lovers, try Marrybrown the next time you're in JB. It's truly our heaven. Only ask and you shall indeed receive... Enjoy for less than RM14(S$6), five huge and scrumptious chicken thigh pieces which are crispy on the outside but tender and juicy on the inside. Eating them on the spot is highly recommended but the chicken will taste just as good the next day, after 5 minutes in the toaster oven.

Marrybrown also serves a more than passable nasi lemak set, which comes with sambal chilli, achar (non spicy kind), crispy papadam, ikan bilis, crunchy peanuts and one piece of fried chicken. They are very generous with the rice which is nice and fluffy but may not be lemak enough for some. The sambal could be a bit sweeter, IMO. Loved the achar.

The Orange Lantern Vietnamese Restaurant

Visited the Harbourfront outlet on 18 Mar 08. At 4.30pm, the place was empty.

Service was good and prompt but for several long minutes after we were seated, there was irritatingly loud clanging noise from the kitchen, the kind made by banging a spanner against a metal pipe. Not the best welcome for someone with a raging hunger-induced headache!

For 3 persons, we ordered the Imperial Rolls, Pho Bo (rice noodle soup with beef), Mango salad, Bo La Lot and Fish Net Spring rolls.

Bo La Lot, grilled beef in betel nut leaves, was the most impressive of all the dishes, probably because it was the most fun as you had to wrap the rolls yourself.

There were 2 skewers of tiny beef rolls, which were a mixture of minced beef and herbs wrapped in betel nut leaves and then grilled. You could eat the beef rolls on their own or wrap them in rice paper, together with lettuce, raw bean sprouts and bun (a kind of noodle, like laksa noodles but much thinner and softer).

The beef rolls had a very subtle fragrance from a Vietnamese herb which I couldn't identify. No, not the taste of betel nut leaves, which didnt really have any distinctive taste, as far as I could tell.

The Imperial rolls were very crispy and not oily at all. Tasted pretty good when dipped in the sweet and sourish fish sauce-based dipping sauce. The same sauce was served with the Bo La Lot and the Fish Net Spring Rolls.

The mango salad was fresh and crunchy, but nothing spectacular in terms of taste. IMO, the portion served was a bit too small for $7. The restaurant might wish to consider increasing the serving size. Afterall, green mango is very cheap.

Fish Net Spring Rolls

We ordered these after trying the Imperial Rolls but were disappointed as they were not as good or as crispy as the Imperial Rolls ( I guess that's why the latter were named " Imperial". Good enough to serve royalty??) Oil used to fry the rolls was probably not hot enough as I could feel oil leaking out of the rolls when I bit into them.

Pho Bo (Rice Noodle Soup With Beef)

Saved the worst for last - the Pho Bo was horrendous - soup was cold and tasted only of fish sauce. Can get much much better Pho Bo in Vietnam, for a fraction of the price... but of cos have to take plane there lah.

The rice noodles were not the authentic Pho which I ate in Vietnam, very smooth and soft noodles which you can't seem to stop eating as they slip down your throat so easily. The ones at Orange Lantern had hard edges, tasted very much like the dried thin rice noodles from our local supermarkets, which you rehydrate by boiling in water, definitely not freshly made.

The sliced beef was ok but the brisket was unbelievably tough and dry AND the beef smell was so overpowering that my mum later said she had contemplated spitting out the one and only piece she tried but was too polite to.

Had planned to have Vietnamese dripped coffee after the food but were pretty stuffed.

Bill came up to about $45 for the 5 dishes.

Would I go there again? Perhaps, but only for the Imperial Rolls and Bo La Lot. Stay away from the Pho soups!!

Jetstar now offering promotional return airfare of $200 (incl. taxes) to HCM city. Definitely worth considering, if only for some authentic Pho!