Baby Says What?

The picture above was King Leonidas' reaction when I told him that K-Bo and myself were having Hollywood Fried Chicken without him.

He was really upset. But on the bright side of things, the chicken was excellent.

The Voluptuary - Jersey City OX Edition

No. I was not lost or took the wrong train to Jersey. K-Bo and Lola live there! And now, little, what shall I call him? Little Leonidas? (Okay K-Bo & Lola?) lives there as well.

Family was in town and where do you go that is hip, economical, and phenomenally fun? OX!

Before I give away the entire review, can I just ask why doesn't Singaporean restaurants do this? The OX restaurant has a small menu but with so much variety! Many of the happy hour dishes are of good size, great value and big on taste. I ordered the mini venison slider (aka a very small burger that can fit into my very big mouth in 1 big bite), garlic shrimp, braised ox tail on top of a beautiful polenta, a half order of mussels and a chicken drumstick marinated in sambal and sweet sauce with a side of home made blue cheese. Yes. You did not read wrong. I did order all these things for myself. And each plate was between $3 & $7.

Mr and Mrs Incredible ordered a meatloaf sandwich, sweet pea risotto.

The wife ordered her favorite Mac & Cheese and some ribs to split with Mrs. Incredible.

K-Bo and Lola ordered mussels and I don't really remember what else. (Sorry Guys!)

All the things we ordered, all the great service we had, and the great food. The total bill excluding tip was less than $100. And we ordered beers and soft drinks to boot.

A great experience and a whole lot of fun.

Drop in, it will be worth your while.

Seattle Rewind:14 Hands Wine

The friends Reese and Joaquin were raving about a new wine they had discovered. 14 hands wines is a slightly less known wine label but it is big on taste.

I didn't know what to expect from the wine and I have to say, R & J were right. The wine was excellent. Soft tannins, very drinkable, subtly sweet and a great nose. The Cellartracker rating was about 87 but I believe that the ratings betrayed the tasting of the wine.

The great thing about these kinds of wineries is that it is so rarely known, and unheard of, not many people know about this great wine, and can I just say that R & J have found something really cool that they should keep to themselves and not let people put it on their blog!

shhhsshhh.

TV NYC - Too Big Sandwich Edition

Carnegie Deli is a place I love going. Servers are New York mean (not rude but some what short and with a funny accent), location is New York fantastic because its near my favorite mall, super big cheese cakes and the corned beef and pastrami is marvelicious (so good that I had make up a new word!)

I brought Mr and Mrs Incredible to the restaurant with the wife and I have to say it was everything that I expected. I ordered the "Woody Allen Special," it was so big that I had to share with the wife. Mrs Incredible ordered the chicken broth with matzo ball and noodle, and Mr Incredible ordered a egg sandwich with pastrami.


All in all, a generous meal! Plastered with celebrity pictures around the restaurant, and a side of spicy mustard, everybody enjoyed their meal. Something of note, if you do share, one would have to pay an additional $3 extra.


If you're in New York, you need to go to Carnegie Deli.

TV NYC - Blue Ribbon Edition

In our desire to meet Gwenyth Paltrow, my sister Carrie decided to bring us to this place called Blue Ribbon Brasserie, and after much brouhaha about being in the train station that didn't have our train, we finally managed to reach Blue Ribbon.

My sister reckons that Gwenny frequents Blue Ribbon and I think that even though my wife now loves Gwenyth as well, I guess it was worth a try. Its a first come first served basis and no reservations were needed. We attacked the restaurant at 6pm and was able to find a table! YAY!!!

We ordered some west coast oysters which were fantastic, they were meaty and fresh, unlike the east coast oysters that are normally more briny and slim. The rock shrimp aka pop corn shrimp were extremely fresh and crispy, the wife ordered roasted chicken, I ordered my southern fried chicken which I had been craving all trip, my sister ordered Paella Basque which were lovely and too big a serving and we downed it all with a 2006 Sancerre.

Blue Ribbon serves traditional American fare and our dinner bill was close to $180 and I have to say it was slightly over priced. The restaurant was small and cosy, lighting dim, service decent and location frivolous.

At the end of the day, I have to say we should have gone to Blue Ribbon Sushi instead! But the place is STILL worth a mention.

TV NYC - Green Edition

Its Sunday and after the baptism of my nephew, we decided to eat something because I haven't eaten anything the whole day.

K-Bo and Lola decided to bring us to Pepe Verde, which was near the church and for only $10 a person and plus drinks, we ordered Spaghetti Meatballs, Pasta Monica (a vegetarian pasta) and some garlic bread; it was fantastic!

Most worthwhile meal in the Village so far.

The Voluptuary NYC Edition - Spotted Pig

The great thing about New York is actually how food and restaurants are actually close to where movie stars live. And one of the most famous movie stars that live near a restaurant is called The Spotted Pig.

Highly recommended by my foodie idol Anthony Bourdain, I had to drag my sister Carrie along, and of course its 2 blocks after Magnolia Bakery, so it was along the way of good food!

We were told to go early because the restaurant doesn't take reservations and it is a first come first served basis. We had a smooth jog there to the train station and when we reached, we found out that the restaurant is really small but very popular!

The Spotted Pig is a 3 level restaurant and bar and I have to say everything was incredibly small. I didn't want to order any head cheese (brains) but we did order the following:

Crispy Fried Pig Ears with radicchio cabbage and lemon

Jerusalem Artichoke Salad

Legendary Spotted Pig Burger with the Famous String Fries

Prosciutto Fritters with Spinach Filling

Spotted Pig's very own self Braised Corned Beef with Cabbage and carrots with a side of horseradish

The pig ears was fantastic, artichoke salad was good, string fries were lovely but the fritters we all agreed was a misnomer because we didn't taste no prosciutto. The corned beef was excellent but a tad too salty/briny for our liking. We washed it down with a bottle of Spain's great football player Albarino, and the service was decent.

I would recommend nearly everybody to come here and try the food, its an experience. nearly everybody except for vegetarians.

Magnolia Bakery

Magnolia Bakery is made popular by Sex in the City and sure enough, my sister Carrie (named after the main character from the populous TV show because my parents actually watch that show) wanted to go and have a try, we walked about 10 miles from the nearest train station and we finally found the place.

Unfortunately for all the hype, the pastry portion for the cup cake was too dry and the icing was too sweet. The cake looked pretty but verdict remains the same as the cup cake.

In the spirit of March Madness - the verdict is Over-rated.

Seattle - Random Food Related Pics

Some Random Pics from my short food tour:

Pike's Place Market - a tourist trap I tell you! And you might get hit by a fish thrown in your face! But a great place to eat all things Seattle. And the produce looked beautiful!

A cheap bottle of Semi Sweet Hungarian Pinot Noir bought and tasted from Whole Foods for $10!

Pizzas were from Pagliacci Pizza, ordered one night when the 4 of us were not very hungry.

Seattle - Seafood Edition

Reese and Joaquin decided to take us on some local Seattle seafood fare. Instead of going to another fancy schmancy restaurant, we decided to try some messy seafood grub.

We throttled to The Crab Pot down by pier for some crab legs, shrimp, oysters and clam chowder, its the kind of place where the restaurant gives you a bib, a hammer and let you have at it with the seafood, and I have to say the outcome was a messy but satisfying one!

Seattle - Wine Edition

While in Seattle, drink what the Seattle knights drink. And one of the great Pinot Noir of the great state of Oregon, as well as the United States, Domaine Serene!

Jammy, sweet tannins and a medium finish, I highly recommend this Pinot Noir, if you can find it! Good with most red meats and appe-teasers.

Seattle - Breakfast Edition

So Reese decides to bring us to breakfast before we leave for the eastern portion of the tour of the United States!

We head to Brown Bag Cafe and you know what. What a send off !! The plate of the day was the French Toast Cinnamon Roll, so imagine a Cinnamon roll with one side of the roll placed in French Toast batter and fried!

And I ordered the hash brown and eggs, and I swear that there was almost 3 russet potatoes on my plate.

And bacon, bacon? The girth was almost the size of 5 pieces of bacon. It was that much.

And the size of the english muffins were the size of my palm!

I love American breakfasts!

Seattle - Doughnut Edition, Part 00

Another reason why we went to Seattle was the doughnuts!

Top Pot hand forged doughnuts is one of the most highly recommended doughnuts by Reese and Joaquin and guess what? They're right! Doughnuts were excellent! They're so bad for you that its so good! Right amount of "cake-iness," and never too sweet. So big but not big enough!

Another place was the doughnut place at Pike's Place Market. The Daily Dozen Doughnut Company was excellent for different reasons! Their small little cinnamon sugar doughnuts were something to die for!

And can I just say that the Singapore doughnuts absolutely suck!

Thank you.