Wholemeal buttermilk pancakes with Strawberry

Few weeks ago, I would have snorted at the thought of replacing my all-purpose flour with wholemeal flour for my buttermilk pancakes. That would have sounded so... meh. But ever since I've been on this whole-grain, eating clean kinda diet nowadays, I went online to search for recipes for wholemeal pancakes and ta-dah! Here's my version with buttermilk:

Ingredients (good for 2-3 pax):

3/4 cup wholemeal flour (or 1/4 cup normal plain flour and 2/4 wholemeal flour)
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1/2 tablespoon brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (you will love it!)
4-5 Korean strawberries (SO FRIGGIN AWESOME)

1. Sift all the dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl.
2. Make a well in the center and using an egg whisk, whisk the egg and milk together.
3. Give it a good whisk (I feel that it makes the pancakes fluffier)
4. Grease the pan slightly. I usually use a soup ladle as a gauge for 1 pancake. Feel free to modify to your own liking!
5. Eat with your favourite fruit, maple syrup or even nutella. I served mine with bacon even.

I feel so healthy after eating them and I don't deny there's still a bit of 'yeast' taste from the wholemeal flour. If you are really particular about such taste, you can always add 2 teaspoons of lemon juice to rid the smell, and it won't really affect the taste of the pancakes too. Try and let me know if you like it! =)

Habitat Coffee @ Upper Thomson Road

Upper Thomson area is like West area's Holland Village. Full of pumped-up kids, hippies, youngsters, cafes, bars, food places and I especially like to visit Habitat Coffee!

Eggs Benedict

The hollandaise sauce is delicious and goes really well with the poached eggs and toasted muffins. But they can be slightly more generous with the sauce I think!

Cafe Latte

I like the caramel biscuit that comes complementary with each coffee! However, to be really honest, the coffee is not bad.. but not entirely fantastic.

Mama's Banana pancakes

The one thing I always look out for in pancakes will be fluffiness and flavour. The pancakes served at Habitat were fluffy but  a lil bit dry on the texture, though the bananas and maple syrup and chocolate fudge made up for it.

I like how attentive and polite the service crew were and the nice ambience in the cafe. Oh and not forgetting the generous serving of Truffle Fries (sorry I couldn't find the photo in any of my storage spaces!) which you definitely have to try!

If you happen to be around Upper Thomson area, Habitat Coffee's the place to chill and catchup with friends over good coffee.

Habitat Coffee
233 Upper Thomson Road
Singapore 574355

Standing Sushi Bar @ Queens Street

I don't deny that I'm a very typical Singaporean who loves promotions/sales/discounts - especially when it comes to food! So recently, I chanced upon this $3 salmon sashimi promotion (5 slices) on Standing Sushi Bar's FB page and I quickly set up a date with 2 girlfriends (who are foodies like me) for a salmon feast!

And we weren't disappointed! The salmon sashimi were really fresh and generous with thick soft and almost melt-in-the-mouth kinda texture. In the end... we ordered 30 friggin pieces to share, for just 3 of us and not forgetting the tasty beef sukiyaki! Perfect for the chilly weather nowadays actually. Due to the dark environment (and dark soup), the picture turned out quite nasty! :( But anyhoo...

Catch the salmon promo while you can! Details in the banner below. ;)

Credits to Standing Sushi Bar

Standing Sushi Bar
8 Queen Street
(Just besides Food for Thought)

Jai Thai @ Purvis

Whenever I feel like having comfort food when I'm at Cityhall/Dhoby/Bugis area, Jai Thai restaurant will immediately be my top choice. For $6.80+ a set with main course plus drink plus a small dessert, I would say it's one of the most affordable Thai food in town area.

Tom yam (clear soup) glass noodles

Don't be deceived by the clear, innocent-looking clear soup. The spiciness kicked in after a few spoonfuls but the spice and zest is just right! I still wonder how the Thais make clear tom yum soup without the chili paste. Hmm, shall explore it one day.

Beef noodles

I love love love Jai Thai's beef noodles. The beef broth is sweet, flavourful and not too salty - perfect with the glass noodles. And the beef is oh-so-tender that doesn't give you a toothache which really leaves me wanting more and more!

Deep-fried sample platter (fried beancurd, fish cakes and spring rolls), $7

Due to the chilly weather, we decided to order this sinful plate of goodness to keep warm (excuses, I know). Everything here were fried to perfection, fresh and crisp. But nothing that will blow your mind lah.

The only thing I don't really like is the non-thai servers in the restaurant. The way they talk and answer your questions just make me feel like they couldn't be bothered to retain customers. However, for the price and just-right portions of the food, it's definitely a place I'll go again and again. Just hope that they will up their service level.

Jai Thai
27 Purvis Street
#01-01 An Chuan Building
Singapore 188604
Jai Thai website

(It's opposite National Library, walk towards the alley when you spot Maybank)

Oriole Cafe @ 313

What I really liked about Oriole Cafe is that I can people-watch with a cuppa in hand. Ok this count more like a secondary reason. The primary reason is the coffee. I like that the aroma of the coffee is not overpowering and there's a bittersweet taste which I love. The temperature of the coffee is just right too- perfect if you can't wait to get that caffeine dose into your system right away.

Cafe Latte, $5.5
Rating: 8/10

Flat White, $5.5
Rating: 8/10

To make our high tea even more perfect, we tried the sticky pudding and it was just addictively delicious! Think of sweet sticky cake drenched in rum and rasin with a spoonful of vanilla bean ice cream... that's what I meant by addictively delicious.

Sticky Pudding, $9

Rating: 8.5/10

I'll definitely go back to Oriole again for the reasonable prices of the food & beverage items and for the fact that it's situated right smack in the middle of the shopping belt.

Oriole Cafe
Pan Pacific Serviced Suites
#01-01 96 Somerset Rd
Oriole Cafe FB page