alexis blogs: September 2019

Online food review: ShepherdsPie.com.sg Shepherd's Pie Delivery in Singapore

September 24, 2019

Fun fact: I once made shepherd's pie in Home Econs class in secondary school, which is why I developed a liking for it. However it was only recently that I learnt what we call shepherd's pie in Singapore is actually cottage pie, for shepherd's pies are made with lamb while the kind we know of here is usually made with beef or chicken. There you go, 2 fun facts! Anyway, the reason I'm talking about all these is because I was recently sent with a couple of beef and chicken shepherd's pies by online delivery e-store, shepherdspie.sg ! They do next day deliveries ($7/order, free for >$70) in 3 time slots if you order before 5pm.

They come in 3 different sizes: Mini (S$4.20), Medium (S$18.90) and Massive (S$29.90). I got them all to understand the portions as well. As you can see, the Massive can feed 4-6 pax and is about double of the Medium, while the Mini cups are more for personal snacking (not exactly a meal). So the most worth it has to be the Massive tray, which is great to bring to a potluck I must say.

How did it taste, you wonder? I wondered too which is why I agreed to try it out when I was having a gathering with my friends - the more the merrier! We also ordered Thai food to supplement the party since there were quite a lot of us.

Taste-wise, one thing for sure is that the chicken version was sweeter than the beef, and that went a bit over the edge of strange for us. I've provided feedback to Shepherdspies.sg so no worries on that. What's more interesting was the curry spice mix that was used in both filling, under the delightfully smooth potato mash that had a light coating of cheese above. Now that's really interesting because they were not just typical tomato puree with beef stock. It certainly gave it a very local flavour.

The Curry Beef Massive Shepherd's Pie was definitely the crowd pleaser for the balance of sweet and savoury. I'll recommend trying this if you're thinking to order from shepherdspie.sg , though there are also other flavours like Black Pepper, Rendang and Shroom to try as well. We popped these into the oven to heat it up by the way (because people were late to the gathering) so the top is slightly browner than when we got it.

Thanks to shepherdspie.sg for sending across these pies for us to try! If you're looking to get some for a party, gathering, occasion, don't hesitate to try 'em out :)

food review

Alert and review: Fix & Fogg Peanut Butters available in Singapore

September 17, 2019

I'll just get straight to it. Hailing from Wellington, New Zealand, Fix & Fogg are the makers of the best* peanut butter in the world. And the good news is, they are available right in Singapore both in grocery stores and online! I had the pleasure to receive these awesome made-with-love peanut butters and after trying a couple of them, I am here to tell you all about it. The most important thing you must know about these butters is they are made by a bunch of peeps who are nuts...about nuts! Turns out 2 corporate lawyers decided to quit their day jobs and be completely hands-on in crafting the peanut butters from start to finish.

This is the result:

No one bottle is a generic composition of mass-manufactured brown goo. Each bottle contains high-oleic (which means good fats, basically) peanuts and a variety of interesting ingredients that is locally and sustainably sourced. I had the dark chocolate version which was SINFULLY good - you have all the pleasures of dark, non-sweet chocolate mixed into the nutty intensity of churned peanuts.

It was so good, I made some matcha dark choc peanut butter cake in an Airfryer with it! Was almost too scared to part with amount required!

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Haven't done this for a while but decided to put some #matcha and @fixandfogg dark choc #peanutbutter (they are so scrumptious) into butter, sugar and flour to make a zebra #airfryer #cake! Results were👍 . . . . #homebaking #dessert #sweettreat #sgcake #diy #yummy

A post shared by 𝐀𝐥𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐬 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐠 (@alexischeong) on Aug 31, 2019 at 1:48am PDT

I also tried the coffee and maple version which had ground coffee bits inside. This is like having brekkie all in one jar! The maple gave it a different dimension and depth while the ground coffee bits created a new sandy texture. I liked it, especially on some sourdough toast! However if you are not the adventurous sort, I'll recommend the dark choc or just plain version first to try.

Each bottle retails for S$9.95 here - and on Redmart if you buy 2 there's 10% off! Not a bad deal for a healthy breakfast spread or something to add to your smoothies (recipes on how to on their website).

I'm seriously grateful that Singapore is part of where Fix & Fogg ships their products too, and also to the team for sending me these to try so THANK YOU! I am hopelessly addicted now and will be going to replenish them when I run out. I highly recommend for you to try too! Find out where to get them here - https://www.fixandfogg.com/buy-peanut-butter/singapore

itinerary

Foodie Travel Itinerary: 8 F&B places to check out in Hua Hin, Thailand

September 01, 2019

Hi guys! This is long overdue but I thought I'll put it down anyway because I had such a great time going on holiday with my girl friends last year in December in Thailand where other than the usual Bangkok (which will follow), we also went to Hua Hin, a sleepy coastal town about 3-4 hours' drive away from the capital. So this post is all about the restaurants, cafes and food places that we checked out in our time there.

By the way before I begin - if you are looking for a VPN service when travelling and don't know which one is the best, do check out this beginners guide by ProPrivacy.com which is really useful! I know I'll be sure to get one when I travel next time because it's a bit scary to sign on to all the foreign public WIFI networks w/o protection.

Anyway, first stop on our road trip from BKK to Hua Hin was this pad thai stopover called Tha Yang Pad Thai that's not quite at Hua Hin (another hour) but on the way. It was rated as the best pad thai around with a 100-year recipe. Our expectations were naturally raised, but what we found was it was a very decent but not fantabulous pad thai. Great for a mid-way lunch though!

When we got to our super awesome accommodation called The Restro where we lounged around and chilled out a bit before going to a lovely dog cafe called Inu Cafe. The Shiba Inu doggos there were so cute! Nothing about the F&B stood out - they were just alright - the doggos were in excellent condition and well-cared for. They were all about the treatos though so don't expect them to play with you if you are empty-handed! Here are me and my homies w some of 'em :D

Next we went to a nearby Som Tam restaurant called Som Tam Thanon Tok 51 for some pre-dinner appetisers. Their som tam salad was handmade for us on the spot and super delicious. The grilled pork neck too! Highly recommend if you are a fan of the spicy, sour salad and traditional Thai snacks.

We headed to the Hua Hin Night Market subsequently to get some street food for dinner and for me, some mango sticky rice to takeaway!

The next day we woke somewhat bright and early, and went out to a Instagram location. Haha that's the best description for this compound called Seenspace Huahin, which is chock full of spots to take photos to post on social media.

We did that, and even paid for some desserts at Burning Daylight so we could take pics :P

After the morning adventure (actually it went past lunch time) we had a mission to check out another cafe famous for their French bulldogs. And food. The place took us a while to get to with a Grab (bless our driver and her patience), because it was so out of the way! So I don't recommend for you to go if you did not rent your own transport. The Debo Cafe Number 2 had a range of yummy noodles though if you do decide to check it out.

Here's one of our Tom Yam noodles with a giant meatball.

Highlight was taking pics or petting with a few of the Frenchies! They roam free and are the owners' pets so don't expect them to hang around.

After that we decided to check out an old school funfair themed "night market"...? We heard much about Plearnwan so we had to go take a walk. It was quite quiet TBH for such a large space with shops similar to most other night markets, and a bit of street food.

We had our sights set on another place for dinner that night though and it's the Cicada Night Market. They operated with a coupon system and food/drinks from stalls were not that cheap, by the way. Still we had fun sampling the different stalls with local Thai food!

The next and last day saw us going to finally, a beachside cafe! Hua Hin is technically a beach town so its amazing that we managed not to go near there other than Seenspace. The Skoop beach cafe though was super awesome for both their food (not juce ice cream) and their beach layout! Definitely recommend for a morning of brunch and lazing around suntanning!

So there you have it, our Hua Hin adventures as told from the 8 foodie stops. I hope this is useful for when you plan your trip there. All the places above are what I would recommend when you get there :) and remember to check out ProPrivacy's VPN travel guide to get a good VPN when you travel! I hope to do a new trip soon with these cool kids.