So, I had a chance two weeks ago to gorge myself silly on Kobe and Wagyu beef at a buffet dinner.

And what did I do?

I filled myself half up with sashimi, oysters, rib-eye, Black Angus, Kurobuta pork, chicken, sausages, desserts, fruits, chocolate fondue and — this is the best — water (because I was feeling dehydrated that day).

Duh.

Well, it was very hard to ignore the tantalising appetiser table, the pretty dessert table and the magnificent chocolate fondue table.

It was also very hard to say no when the meat waiter came to our table with juice-bursting skewers of freshly-barbequed meat with an offer: “Would you like a piece of this delicious hunk of rib-eye roasted on this very spit and is at this moment sweating out succulent juices which are flowing down it in thirst-quenching rivulets? How about two pieces?”

“Yes, oh, yes. GIVE IT TO ME.”

So that was how I ended up with a plate full of all kinds of meat.

We were at Vibe Restaurant at Negara on Claymore Hotel partaking of a festive preminum dinner buffet which promised free-flow Wagyu and Kobe but which demanded of each of us an ever-inflatable stomach and $68++ in cash.

I really wanted to dig right away into the Wagyu and Kobe but I started with a very modest serving of oyster and sashimi and a bowl of lobster bisque because I didn’t want to appear too carnivorous.

And then the meats came nonstop and I had one serving of everything.

And I had four slices of Wagyu and four slices of Kobe but I couldn’t even finish the last slices because I had gotten so sick of meat by the end of everything.

Here’s a piece of Kobe beef.

It’s not really Kobe Kobe beef. It’s US Kobe beef. But it’s still really good. I mean compared to other types of beef. I don’t know about real Kobe beef because I’ve never had any.

Here is a piece of Wagyu beef.

It’s really, really good. It’s tender and melts in your mouth without being flaky, juicy fats spurting onto your taste buds every few seconds.

It’s so good that the Goonfather now refuses to eat any beef except this one.

It’s so good I don’t even want to talk about the other meats now.

Let’s talk about dessert.

The chocolate fountain is unbelievable — the first ever chocolate fountain I want to fling myself into and bathe in its creamy goodliness.

It’s a white chocolate fountain. Heavenly.

And the dessert table.

A huge range of pretty little desserts to take the carnivorous edge off you.

That was a fantastic meal.

But I felt quite sick afterwards from beef overdose.

I would go back there again, of course. And, next time, it will be just Wagyu all the way.

Categories: Food Files
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It’s no great secret and it’s not very healthy.

Nevertheless, I’ve decided to blog about it because my readers have been complaining that I remain skinny despite appearing to be a glutton.

But a disclaimer before I go on:

KIDS, DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!

In fact, not just kids. Anyone. Try it at your own risk.

And here’s the secret: Snacks!

This is the snack pantry in my room.

It’s stuffed full of junk food right now because I’ve been snack shopping a lot in the past two weeks.

Well, snacks isn’t the whole secret. The secret to the secret is that you have to eat snacks in lieu of main meals.

Because I work freelance and keep irregular hours and work from home quite a lot, I don’t have access to proper meals. So I will usually just grab something from my snack pantry and eat while I work.

I believe this is what really keeps me skinny. I was fleshier when I had a day job and ate proper meals. I think it’s because snack portions are smaller while proper meal portions are usually huge and you try to finish your meals because you don’t want to waste food. As a result, your stomach expands so that you can stuff even more food into it the next time.

I’ve loved junk food since I was a kid so I’m not, like, doing this on purpose to keep slim. In fact, some of you may not even believe that this is what keeps me slim. As a matter of fact, I’m not sure myself, but it just seems logical to me.

Last year, my friends gave me snacks for a birthday present.

(The Goonfather not included.)

That’s how much I eat these things.

By the way, I found a Japanese snack shop in Central. Oishii okashiiiiiii!!! (Er… that’s not the name of the shop. It means “delicious snacks” in Japanese.)

It’s located in B1 and has all kinds of amazing snacks you can’t get anywhere else in Singapore!

They even sell leather jackets!!!

Don’t ask me. I really don’t know.

These are the two items which list “leather jacket” among their main ingredients.

The one on the left is dried sea urchin. The one on the right… I can’t remember.

I was quite conservative that night because I’ve been spending too much lately, so I only bought these:

They gave me freebies (two sticks of Hi-Chew candy and two squares of Venezuela Bitter chocolate)!

OMG I love this shop!

And, talk about coincidences…

I was in the middle of writing this blog when a good friend dropped by to pass me something he bought for me from Japan.

MORE SNACKS!!

I just love Green Tea flavoured snacks.

I’m not sure what that “Calorie” thing is, yet. It’s some kind of energy bar for busy people, according to the description, but there’s no picture showing what it looks like.

Wow. With all these new additions, I’m going to be sooooo skinny (and so unhealthy) in the next few weeks!

Categories: Food Files
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So, I’m going to be mean today and show you some of the calories I collected from my weekend KL trip.

1. Seafood Curry Noodles

Located in a quiet alley in the town of Segambut, this noodle outlet enjoys a thriving business selling seafood noodles in three flavours: curry, tom yam and clear.

Curry is the hot favourite and that’s what we’ve been craving to eat since our last triip there. It’s really the best curry noodles I’ve eaten. Not that I’ve eaten much to begin with. Haha.

Each bowl is so chock full of seafood (mussels, clams, big prawns and squid) that I wanted to donate some to the goonfather. But I didn’t because it was so delicious I had to finish the bowl even if I exploded doing it.

The curry soup is literally to die for!!!

2. Fried Chicken Claw

We had this as part of our dinner in a dirty street filled with small hawker stalls lining both sides.

The chicken claw is mostly a novelty, although it does taste quite good. I enjoyed the regular chicken parts more. The stall was quite popular, too, judging from the neverending queue.

3. Satay

The taste and quality of this satay is about on par with the best satay in Singapore but there are a few special things to add.

There’s a bigger variety. Besides chicken, beef and mutton, there’s also rabbit and venison. And beef tripe. And chicken heart and liver — my favourite!

A chilli oil sauce is available for adding to the regular peanut sauce (you can mix and match the quantity) to spice up the taste. It’s very spicy but very good.

The price is ridiculously low for such good food. It’s RM$0.60 per stick!! That’s like 25 Singapore cents, half the price of an average Singapore satay! The rabbit and venison are priced higher, at RM$1.20 and RM$1.30, respectively, but that’s still cheap!

The stall is located in a rest stop along the Kesas Highway and we have to drive a great distance to get there and back but it’s so worth it we do it every time we go to KL.

This time round, we ordered 60 sticks for three of us and almost died trying to finish it. I only managed to eat 15 sticks! Guess how many the Goonfather ate! Haha!

4. McDonald’s Grilled Chicken Foldover

We drove up to Genting Highlands to eat this. I know it’s crazy, but the Genting version tastes so much better than the Singapore version because the bread is more crispy and there are more vegetables. And the patty is juicier. Like how KFC tastes better in Malaysia than in Singapore. Sometimes we drive to Malaysia just to eat KFC.

5. Hong Kong Milk Tea

This isn’t food and I don’t really want to talk about the tea, except to say that it’s really good.

I actually want to highlight the ice. This was at a Hong Kong style cafe called Prince Cafe in Mid Valley City.

Each glass of iced milk tea comes with a giant chunk of frozen milk tea to keep your drink cold without diluting it. How I love that because I hate my drinks getting diluted by melting ice cubes.

It was a huge chunk, too. By the time I finished my meal and my drink, the chunk still hadn’t totally melted.

I think all cold drinks in the world should be served like that!

I hope you enjoyed helping me count my calories as much as I enjoyed consuming them. =)

Categories: Food Files
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Today’s blog is ostensibly about chocolate, but it’s actually just an excuse to camwhore.

You see, one day, the Goonfather rushed home all excited and said to me, “I have something yummy for you! You’ll love it!”

“What what what?” I cried excitedly.

“Here!”

“Eew! What’s that?” I exclaimed.

“Chilli chocoate! It’s yumzzzzzzzz!”

“Gross!!!” I said.

“Just try it lah! I had to smuggle it out of the office!”

It was a leftover bar of chocolate that had arrived from Germany and circulated around his office. He thought I would like it because I love chilli and I love chocolate. And his colleagues all loved it, apparently.

But the thought of mixing chilli with chocolate has never crossed my mind. What a crazy combination.

Still, I had to give it a try.

Slowly, skeptically, I took a bite.

I chewed reflectively.

“Yuck!” I said, delivering the verdict straight to the point.

“It’s dark chocolate. I hate dark chocolate,” I complained.

“I can’t even taste the chilli,” I continued.

“There’s a bit of a spice, but it’s more sour than spicy,” I finished.

The Goonfather called me lousy (again) for not knowing how to appreciate dark chocolate.

I don’t like the taste lor!! Cannot meh?

And, dark chocolate aside, I don’t care whether it’s Lindt or not. Chilli chocolate is weird!

Categories: Food Files
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I know some people are going to kill me for this, but what can I do? Journalists live dangerously. (Which is why I quit being a journalist, but old habits die hard.)

Anyway… another food post!

Hehehe!

We took the Goonfather to Carnivore for his birthday. The food is so good I feel compelled to go back again right after I digest my first meal!

The concept is not new (been around for ages) but for those who haven’t tried it, it’s a barbeque buffet restaurant where they serve you meat right off the skewers in front of you.

ALL KINDS OF MEAT.

There are several kinds of beef (different parts), lamb, pork, ham, chicken, fish, sausages. There are also interesting things like chicken hearts and pineapple. The meat waiters just come to you nonstop to fill up your plate.

There’s also a salad bar with all kinds of vegetables and pasta. It’s delicious!!!

Here’s what my plate looks like after I’ve helped myself to some salad and had my first piece of beef sliced onto my plate.

This beef just melts in your mouth.

I love the chicken heart.

I hate the pineapple because it burned my tongue (acid burn, not heat burn).

But I seem to be the only one who suffered from that. The others loved the pineapple. It looks dry but it’s really juicy and fragrant when you bite into it. It’s barbequed on a skewer and sliced hot directly onto your plate, like the meats.

One note of caution. Some of the meats are really salty so might not be suitable for people who take minimal salt. But I love it!

And now, for something truly disgusting to take your appetite off a bit.

Rare beef! Yuck.

Some of the beef come with rare centres. It’s so rare it’s raw! The Goonfather and Morte were lapping it up like carnivores. Gross. I don’t know how anyone can look at that red glob and salivate like a savage, which is what the two carnivores sitting beside me were doing.

You can request for the more cooked parts if you’re squeamish like me. The cooked parts are divine. I’ve never eaten so much beef in one sitting!

Ok, enough meat. It’s dessert time!

There’s a chocolate fondue fountain beside the salad bar, stocked with fruits and marshmallows.

That’s Paul’s plate above.

He started rather conservatively with a few pretty sticks.

But he found that he enjoyed it so much, he had to go back for second helpings.

How can anyone eat so much dessert after stuffing himself silly with a whole cow??!! (That’s roughly how much meat he ate.)

Well, he’s Paul, aka Don Juan de Porko. Like that explains anything. But it does.

Personally, I don’t like chocolate fondue (because I don’t like dark chocolate) and I find this chocolate too sweet.

The Goonfather says I’m lousy because I don’t appreciate fine foods like raw meat and dark chocolate.

Idiot.

When everyone was stuffed and couldn’t eat another bite, we sprang the surprise.

The Goonfather nearly jumped out of his skin in shock when the waiters sprang out from the kitchen bearing a cake and singing him a birthday song in Spanish.

Hahahahaha!

But I think he was generally pleased with the surprise.

I don’t know how anyone managed to eat any birthday cake at that point of time, but we all did. It’s Lana chocolate cake!!

Satisfied smiles.

But it’s really a bad idea to do a birthday cake thing at a buffet restaurant.

I told Wang Wang as much, but she said the Carnivore staff are really nice and will sing a birthday song on request, so I thought I would give it a try.

I suppose it was worth it.

I’m definitely going back again!

If you go at 5:30pm, there’s a happy hour price of $31++ or $33++ depending on the day of the week. Regular prices are $39++ and $42++. There’s a branch at Chjimes and one at VivoCity.

Categories: Food Files
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