It's been about three weeks since I started internship in school, and since my company is located in school, you would think there isn't much to eat. But…….you're wrong!!! Here, I'm gonna show you some of my colleagues' and their favourites from within school!

Introducing, colleague number 1: Nevin!

His choice would be the Ayam Panggang set from the Panggang stall of course! (MUNCH)

"I like this stall because I tend to eat a lot and the portions they serve are huge. As for the dish itself, that's because I love spicy food. The chilli they use is absolutely fantastic and it just simply adds more flavour to the food!"

Next, we have: Samuel!

Samuel's lunch was just as simple as Mee Pok from the Fishball Noodle stall. (Makan Place)

"Usually people would just eat mee pok as it is, but because I'm a big fan of mushrooms, I made a special order of adding extra mushrooms. Plus, the uncle tending the stall is a really nice person, and it just brightens up your day to get served by polite people like him."

One of the company designers, Amanda's in the house!

Amanda picks the Fried Fish Bee Hoon from the Fish Soup stall as her number 1! (MUNCH)

"I don't require a lot for my daily meals, and something as simple as this is good enough. I've been eating fried fish bee hoon for quite some time now, and I have to admit, this stall's is quite good. The soup is delicious and the fish is crispy, and doesn't becomes too soft from absorbing the soup."

Best friend with Amanda, we have Mandy!

Mandy goes gaga over the Chicken Curry from Simply Curry! (Makan Place)

"They're generous with the ingredients inside. Once, I requested for drumsticks, and the auntie actually gave me 3 drumsticks and around 4 pieces of potato. The curry is good and not too thick. Their potato may not be as soft as those outside and not absorbing enough flavour, but their curry and chicken make up for that."

And how can we miss out one who likes to scour for good food wherever she goes: Shery!

For Shery, she picks Spicy Italian BMT from Subway! (Makan Place)

"Subway has been with me for as long as I can remember; in the sense that, I grew up eating that. It makes me feel healthier (I don't care if it isn't, but at least psychologically I feel that way). And, I get to pick all my favourite veggies and top off the sub with some fabulous sauces. Spicy Italian is my current 'DO' because of the yummy combination of pepperoni and salami! I marry my sub with Raspberry Cheesecake cookies!"

Last, but not least, we have my best friend, Iffah!

Iffah, a fan of an array of ethnic food, picks Hungry Jack's Grilled Chicken Carbonara as her favourite! (Makan Place)

"The cream could afford to be a little thicker and they could use less of the small pieces of veggie (I'm not exactly sure what it is….) But other than that, this dish is excellent because of the tasty sauce. The grilled chicken is just nice and not too tough. It may be a bit oily, but I can deal with it. Overall, it's just something you'd definitely want to eat when your taste buds are demanding for some good ol' carbonara!"

And that, my friends, are evidences of good food that exist in school! You may think that eating the same food for the 3 years in poly is going to bore you, well, let me tell you this: TRY SOMETHING FROM EVERY STALL! Stop complaining about eating the same stuff by trying something different every day or week! I'm sure you'll come to find yourself in love with more than just one dish. By then, you'll be able to switch between your favourites without much hesitation as to whether to eat in school or eat outside!

My cravings are the weirdest, and the worst. On some days, I crave for cupcakes. Yes, CUPCAKES. Gosh, I feel like a pregnant woman sometimes.

You must be thinking, "Fatin, you're crazy. There's no way you can satisfy your crazy cravings in school. The variety of food here's limited."

Now here's when I tell you we have the following!:

Anyway, coming back to my favourite cupcakes. So where can we find such delicate cupcakes?

You'll find them here at:

Smooch Cafe, located at Ourspace@72!

Now let me take you on a cupcake trail...

Cupcake #1 - Salted Caramel Cupcake With Roasted Almonds

This would be the first cupcake from Smooch that I've ever tried, and I must say, my expectations were met. You must be thinking, SALTED? Like salty? Isn't that weird, and uncommon? Yes, it is, my dear friend. But sometimes, good things come in weird packages.

So how does this baby taste like? It taste like heaven. The frosting is not too heavy, it's actually very light, so you won't get sick of it. And the almonds make a good divider for the sweetness of the caramel. When chewed, the almonds actually taste like peanut butter. So it's really interesting, that you can incorporate caramel AND peanut butter, without having it too overwhelming. A definite must try!

Cupcake #2 - Caramel Banana Cupcake

This baby here, goes really well with a warm cup of tea. If you like banana cake, I'm positive you'll like this one. The frosting is made out of fresh bananas and cream. And the aroma of the banana, just leaves you lingering for more. This baby would be a good start to your morning. I mean it gives you your carbs and your fruits. I'M KIDDING. Please, take your fruits properly alright? Fruit flavored cupcakes are not proper alternatives to fruits! No worries though, you can still have this moderately yeah?

Cupcake #3 - Coffee Nut Cupcake

This cupcake is for you coffee lovers! The sprinkle of chopped nuts goes well with the coffee. And a pinch of seasalt, if you can see in the picture, just tops it all off nicely!

The nuts adds a twist to the sweetness for a more nutty flavor. The seasalt too separates your tongue from extreme sweetness, giving you a splash of the sea spray. Really cool cupcake.

Cupcake #4 - Pink Blossom Cupcake

Okay honestly, I haven't tasted this one. SHAME ON ME! My apologies. But don't you think it looks so pretty? Maybe you guys should have a go at this one, and tell me how it turns out yeah?

Cupcake #5 - Red Velvet Whoopie Pie with Cream Cheese Frosting

You have no idea how long I've waited for Red Velvet or even a cupcake with cheese in it. I've loved Red Velvet since I found out about it five years ago. I think that Red Velvet has a really awesome flavor, and the color is just gorgeous. Red Velvet usually has a flavor of chocolate or vanilla. You must be scratching your head thinking there is no way chocolate or vanilla can turn red. Okay well maybe vanilla can turn red since it's more of a lighter color, but chocolate? You've got to be kidding me!

So anyway, how can chocolate become red? Well it's actually the combination of cocoa powder and an acidic ingredient - buttermilk. Buttermilk, is a genius invention to me. It is splendid with pancakes and chicken. CHICKEN? Yes chicken. We'll save that for another story yes?

So usually, we have cream cheese to pair with the Red Velvet, yum!

Cupcake #6 - Earl Grey

"What is that black thinggys you speak of Fatin?" Ah good question. Those black thinggys are actually Earl Grey Tea leaves! How creative that is dont you think! It actually tastes quite interesting, for the leaves feel and taste hard, so you gotta chew on them more, instead of just a soft one bite feeling. I would say, you've got to try this one.

That would be the last cupcake, and that concludes this cupcake adventure! Each cupcake, is sold at $2.95. Except Cupcake #5 - Red Velvet Whoopie Pie with Cream Cheese Frosting, which goes for $2.50. Until then!

Toodles my noodles!

P.S You might be wondering how you can eat a cupcake without feeling sick. I'll tell you a little secret. Eat it like a hamburger! That I'll leave you to figure out, which is not that difficult really. 

There's a brand new air-conditioned food court in campus! I'm a foodie so this is very exciting! So…where is this new food court? What is it called?

It's called Munch!

And it's easily located near the Admin Field! You just have to stand at the NP bus stop, look towards the direction of the hill, and you'll spot Munch! It's as simple as that!

I love the name Munch! There's not a better word to describe how we're gonna be enjoying the food - since munching is about chewing vigorously and often audibly! And because all of us here snack a lot as well…

TADA! OLD CHANG KEE! I LOVE OLD CHANG KEE A LOT! Especially since they have the super yummy Cheesy Chicken Balls now and other new finger food items!

And we have more? Wait, wait, wait for it…

IT'S MR. BEAN! (Pardon me for the overuse of capitalization and exclamation marks but it's literally how I would say it out when I see them!)

We shall reserve those two for some other time. And today we have food from the Vegetarian Stall! It's pretty good actually. I'm very selective when it comes to my greens, so it has to be good or else I won't eat it!

An obligatory picture of my plain-looking, yet surprisingly delicious lunch. (That's mock meat by the way.)

Accompanying me on this trip to the canteen are two friends of mine, going by the names Yvonne and Ryan!

And because Ryan was the one who told me to try the Vegetarian Stall, he would obviously buy from there as well.

His lunch: much more colourful and tasty-looking than mine.

In the end, the 3 of us ended up eating from the Vegetarian Stall because we were lazy to queue for the rest of the stalls. Snatch the opportunity when you see an empty/shorter queue because the crowd is crazy. Yes, crazy. (Refer to pictures above.) On a side note, one part of Munch I like is the exterior open space it has outside:

This means that more seats at Munch! Yay! (Actually it's a boo since that means longer queues for me… =/) It's not an everyday thing that you get to have places like Old Chang Kee and Mr. Bean in campus, so go and spend your money at the new food court and you will definitely love it! At the same time, this also means more variety! Till next time then!

I went out with some friends last Thursday (let’s call them The Gang to simplify things) to watch Rio and eat a steamboat and xiaolongbao buffet! :)

Rio, the newest offering from the creators of Ice Age, wasn’t exactly my first choice for a movie – I love animations, but was really more in the mood for some comedy action like Chow Yun Fatt’s latest film, “Let the Bullets Fly” (I'd heard it's really good). But I'd seen the trailer for Rio, and it did look like it was going to be a lot of fun. I just needed to be persuaded. Lol.

Living in a bookstore with Linda in Minnesota, Blu (Jesse Eisenburg) is the last male bird of a rare species known as the Spix's Macaw who's very much enjoying his domesticated iifestyle. It's a good life, even though he's flight-disabled (I think the childhood trauma from falling off his nest into a poacher's waiting hands was too much for him). He's fed well with hot chocolate topped with marshmallows and chocolate chip cookies, and gets to read all the books he wants.

However, when Túlio, the slightly nuts nutty human ornithologist arrives at the store, he brings news that they've found a female of his species for him to mate with. Blah blah blah, he goes back home to Rio and meets Jewel (Anne Hathaway), a spit fiery independent female bird who's not interested in procreation. At all. She's more preoccupied with escaping and he'd rather wait for Linda to come back, but the little birdies are kidnapped by a motley crew of poachers wanting to cash in on a fortune.

Throw in a big bad white cockatoo, some monkey business and a slobbery bulldog, and you've got yourselves one hell of a feathery flight!

This movies isn't exactly what you'd call original. You can almost predict what's going to happen next with some accuracy, but you're not exactly there for the plot. This is one of those family friendly movies you go out to watch for fun. There were some good points to this movie, though - Nigel (Jemaine Clement), the villainous cockatoo who's not very handsome, has some witty lines. Check this out:

Rio

Release date: 7 April 2011
Duration: 96 mins
Genre: Comedy
Director: Carlos Saldanha
Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Anne Hathaway, Will.i.am, Jamie Foxx
Rating: 3.5/5

Currently showing in all major theatres in Singapore!

---

So after the movie, The Gang and I went out for dinner to the Crystal Jade branch in Holland V. If I’m not wrong, this is the only branch that serves the Crystal Jade Buffet.

Basically it’s a steamboat buffet that comes with free–flow xiaolongbao – in short, eat until you explode from all the xiaolongbaos. This was my first time eating at Crystal Jade (don’t look at me like that) so it was a new experience for me. The food wasn’t particularly spectacular, as most of the items they serve aren’t extremely good stuff – BUT.

Don’t forget your real goal. That’s not what you’re there for. The main highlight of your meal should be the xiaolongbaos!

However, it is a pretty good deal if you’re a big eater or if you just want to have a good meal out with your friends. I think the reason why I’m not so into it is because of all the speed eating we had to eat to avoid getting fined for food wastage. The staff members kept reminding us that we had to leave soon from around 6.45pm, and it didn't help with my digestion. But, anyway, moving on.

The beef slices (I think!) paired with some chicken meat

Mushrooms! ^^

The usuals: Luncheon meat, and an array of assorted balls. Lul.

Another thing you’ll have to note is that you must eat finish by the allocated hour. There’re three timings for the buffet: 5pm to 7.15pm, 7.30pm to 9.45pm, 10pm to 12.15am.

Each person gets 3 free prawns (100g), but I don't care for them so it was nothing special. I mean, it's just really too troublesome to pluck off the shelling and the itsy bitsy legs (ewww). I’d just rather not touch them at all. Thankfully though, David and Dawn were there and they helped us shell our prawns! Woots. 

The things I did like are their red bean jellies and xiaolongbaos. The red bean jelly had a nice rich flavor to it, and you could also taste bits of red bean in the jelly. I’m not too sure what to say about the xiaolongbaos except that they were delicious. They had thicker skins as compared to others I had, so I liked that a lot because I didn’t have to be so careful when I was eating them. 

The red bean jelly I was talking about! Lul and you see the cooked prawns in the background ^^

The osmanthus jelly was so-so for me. :/

Here’s the address for those who’re keen on the buffet!

Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao

241 Holland Avenue Holland Village Singapore

Tel: +65 6463 0968

And alright, I'm off now! Hope you enjoyed reading this post, and if you have any thoughts, do feel free to comment! For those who're interested in knowing when I've uploaded a post, follow me on Twitter at @itsrainin9! See ya around :)

Now, to the monopoly of ice cream and other dessert, we have...Island Creamery! There's 2 outlets near our school: one at Serene Centre and the other at King Albert's Park! KING ALBERT'S PARK! That's so near, it wouldn't kill you to walk there to eat good food!

Hopskotch! I haven't seen those for quite some time now!

The toppings make your ice cream even better.

"What should I get...everything looks good...", Ashu thinks.

The fun trio: Ashu, Iskandar and Ievan. They never fail to make your day better.

Map & Address:

11 King Albert Park, Singapore 598292

10 Jalan Serene, #01-03 Serene Centre, Singapore 258748

And up next we have...Burger Shack! (It's like the spin-off of Island Creamery). It's located along the stretch of food outlets at Coronation Plaza/Serene Centre as well! As the name dictates, Burger Shack sells burgers, and it's not just any burger, the burgers there are just simply amazing! To top it off, you can get Student Meal with a top up of $2.50 only! I can never resist good offers and discounts!

BBQ sauce: Something I cannot live without.

Apple pie with Cookies & Cream ice cream! (again)

Cat lover Sharon joins us for a short lunch before heading off.

As always, my best friend Iffah appears wherever I go.

I believe the desserts are calling out to you...

Map & Address:

559 Bukit Timah Road, #01-01 King's Arcade, Singapore 269695

Last but not least, located near COURTS at Bukit Timah Plaza, we have Domino's Pizza! They leave you so full you barely have any energy to walk out the store with that food baby of yours! The size of the pizza...the flavours of the pizza...the pizza itself...IT'S JUST SOOOOOO GOOD. They're worth every cent! It's also best to go there in groups because they don't sell cup drinks, drinks come in 1.5 litres!

Pizza,

Pizza,

AND MORE PIZZA!

My batch of drama club students from secondary school with my teacher (left)!

Map & Address:

8 Chun Tin Road, Singapore 599595

And that pretty much sums up this food post! All these eateries are so near our school, you would be missing out if you don't go there and order something! They're definitely worth your time and effort to travel a few bus stops/walk a short distance! On a side note, the school have been busy building something new. What is it? It's the new canteen located at Blk 73!

Look carefully at the photo and you'll spot Old Chang Kee!

It's going to be so convenient we'll all refuse to climb Mt. Ngee Ann and go to Makan Place anymore! And it has OLD CHANG KEE. Who does not like Old Chang Kee, you tell me! I'm so looking forward to it because good food>good motivation>good results. So, see you there when the new canteen opens!

Get ready for some drooling action because this post is going to be ALL ABOUT FOOD.

Note: I didn't eat all of the food you see here in one day! Also, be warned because there's lots of images! (Behold the power of the internet lag!)

Well first off, there's Gelato Art! It's located at the serene Sunset Way which is just a few bus stops away from school! There's games there for you to play as well! What's better than games and food together?

Haven't played 'Snake & Ladder' in ages!

The Bacon Spaghetti was just sooooooo good.

Map & Address:

Blk 105 Clementi St 12, #01-16 Sunset Way, Singapore 120105

The next venue is a ice cream haven! Udders@Kilat is a nice cosy little shop with smiling attendants and waitresses! They have milkshakes and waffles! (Both with ice cream of course!) On their walls, they have little jokes here and there, and the cartoon cow (their symbol) is just everywhere! You have to go there and take a look!

Waffles with...MANGOES...it's just too good to describe the taste.

Map & Address:

17 Lorong Kilat, #01-08 Kilat Court, Singapore 598139

If Udders wasn't enough for you, head on over to the stretch of food outlets at Coronation Plaza/Serene Centre and you'll find yourself in Swirl! They have their very own special creations such as Gelo-Shots, Tartufo, Affogato, Cereal Killers and many more! You MUST go down there to try out the ice cream! Plus, they have a rewards system whereby you collect a number of chops, then you get to redeem the food that awaits you at the end!

The fake fisheye effect created with the help of the Holga Fisheye Lens :D

(P.S. By now, you would realize that my favourite ice cream flavour is Cookies & Cream. I order that for almost EVERYTHING.)

Map & Address:

557 Bukit Timah Road, #01-04/05 Crown Centre, Singapore 269694

Wanna know more places around campus for more om nom nom-ing?

Then stay tuned for part two of this series, coming up soon!

You may have noticed that there's been an influx of entries about food, food and even more FOOOOOOD! So, how could I miss out on all the fun?

I was given the privilege to sample some yummy-licious goodies at the newly named Romulus Cafe down at our very own Alumni Clubhouse!

There it is! Right by the pool at Alumni Clubhouse. 

So, I was there with my best friend, Kristen! :) 

Now, on to the food. Romulus' speciality dish is their thin crusted pizzas, so we decided to order the pizza set (which comes with your choice of pizza and a drink!). 

Doesn't this pepperoni pizza look gooooood? 

Being a GIANT veggie lover (I can see some of your flinching in your seats right now!), I had to order the Caesar Salad!

The lettuce was fresh and crunchy and the dressing was just enough to add flavour, but not too much to mask the taste of the greens. The bacon bits also added an extra crunch to the dish. 

It was accompanied by a refreshing and light tasting Raspberry Italian Soda! 

And then, it was time for dessert! 

Fragrant, crispy Belgian waffle with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, drizzled with maple syrup.

The ultra cosy and quiet ambience at Romulus is a good place for discussion over a light meal. The portions are just right, unless you give in to the temptation and order all their signature dishes, such as the sausage pretzel.....

The comfy chairs by the side and bright lighting make it a conducive place for studying.

Even if you're not hungry, you can cool off on a warm afternoon with a icy cold cup of Italian Soda! 

Bottles and bottles of syrup waiting to be made into your refreshments! 

If you're looking for something light and a teeny bit sinful, you can try their cheesecake! 

Doesn't looking at it just make you salivate?

Romulus Cafe is open from 9am to 10pm from Mondays to Saturdays. So if you're looking for a place for late, after school discussions where you can eat and do work, this would be the place to go to! They are also open from 9am to 5pm on Sundays to cater to those hard working folks over the weekend.

Don't forget to present your NP student cards to enjoy an exclusive 10% discount! :) 

If you need some variety in your nom-noms. Take some time off and visit somewhere

TOTALLY NEW, TOTALLY AWESOME AND ABSOLUTELY YUMMY!

Canteen 4 is zee latest addition to our belt of fully air-conditioned campus eateries including:
Makan Place, Pines at Alumni Clubhouse, Romulus Cafe, IZZI Restaurant, Each-A-Cup and one more coming up next year!

Hungry people among the lunch hour crowd

And that's not all. If you want to sit outside and enjoy the scenery while eating, you can do so under the pavilion!

And so I heard a certain stall was famous for its good food, I decided to try it out myself...

What did I order?

Sirloin Steak with Spaghetti!

The pasta is cooked to chewy perfection and it's superrr smooth. The steak that accompanied the spaghetti was just as yummy. I was greedy and asked for extra brown sauce, haha! What about the tomato sauce, you ask? IT'S SO TANGY I'M GONNA DIEEEEEEEEEE!! (Check the reference of the movie below...LOL)

And this happened to me because I was too eager to finish the food in front of me...

I am astounded by my stupidity. Don't talk about it!

And obviously I didn't go there alone. I have to go eating places with people since I'm a people person.

Amazing Amanda accompanied me up the treacherous hill, Mt. Ngee Ann, so that I could eat good food.

Please do not procrastinate going there, it's all worth it in the name of food! It's located around the Engineering blocks, just past the Yellow Submarine. Here's a map to guide you along:

Take a day off whatever you're doing and head out of your house to get some good food. Where is this haven I speak of? Well, it's Kith Café! Today was finally a good chance for me to catch up with my classmates since holidays has been going on for like a gazillion years and we miss each other very much. After much planning, the only ones who managed to turn up were:

Kith provides you with an interesting menu, a hand-written one which even tells you what each item is made up of.

Now today, instead of typing out what we've ordered, I've decided to do this...

I know, just seeing those make you wonder how they look like right? Well, the pictures shall do the talking.

On top of the fabulous food they make, I love the furniture and style of the whole café. Everything spells out simplicity and zen. (Don't ask me why zen. Probably because of the layered wooden chairs that give me that impression.) To top it off, there's wifi here too! So you won't be detached from the social networks you hold so dearly.

On a side note, we met this owner with the cutest dog and the cutest dog name ever: Bacon. (Just when we ordered lots of bacon. Hmmm....Maybe it's a sign :O)

You would come to realize that today's post is really more of a photo spam rather than a post with a lot of words. Why? Because I want to make all of you suffer by staring at the mouth-watering food that we ordered. Just so that it will tempt you to make a trip down to Kith. So, start googling 7 Rodyk Street, Watermark@Roberston Quay #01-33 and get out of your house.

Kith Café would be the place you want to be at when you're relaxing, taking a break from cycling, and reading your book.

Speaking of which, I met up with my friends this holiday, now what did YOU do? Leave a comment on the facebook post and let us know!

If you've never been to Ngee Ann Polytechnic, remember to drop by the Ngee Ann Alumni clubhouse when you visit for the first time! Why? So you can get a feel of what it is like in there, and learn about the benefits of being a member of the Alumni! Being the food-grubber, I decided to head down to the clubhouse today to get myself some good food and explore the place and to see the facilities for myself.

So this is how I'm gonna start off the post: Food. Yes, not just any food, but GOOD FOOD.

The garlic bread and soup of the day combo from Pines was just pure awesome! And this comes at the price of a cheap $2!

Candid shot of Valerie just as she's abou t to taste the heavenly soup.

Moving on to the main course, I ordered for myself a "Fried Rice with BUTTERED CEREALS". There is a reason why I bold this. If you've never eaten cereal prawns before, you're definitely missing out. The cereals here are the exact same type as those of the cereal prawns.

This is a MUST-TRY.

If you would like something simpler, you could always opt for the mixture of crabmeat, prawn, egg and spring onion, the "Yang Chow Fried Rice".

Doesn't it just look so good?!

I believe after a sumptuous meal, you would like to have a cup of coffee, sit at one corner, and chill out. And Tom N Toms Coffee serves that purpose. It opened just a few months back this year, so everything on the menu is pretty new to me. (Since I've never had anything from there before.)

No, you don't have to climb hills or walk long routes, because Tom N Toms Coffee is just a walkway away.

You can't really see it, but what's being blocked by the light is actually crowded tables. Yes, their business is that good.

Along the route of the same pathway, you would also find, the casino. Here's a sneak peek of how it looks like inside the room! 

(NOTE: ONLY FOR MEMBERS 18 YEARS AND ABOVE.)

People like me, who can never get bored of singing, can head on over to the KTV Room and have some fun!

We wanted to go in and sing a couple of songs, but it doesn't open until 4pm.

And for those of you who want to find the child in you again, there's always a playground over here!

Some fun and joy for those of you who love playgrounds!

For you sporty people out there, the clubhouse has a gymnasium and swimming pool! I mean, what's a clubhouse without these two facilities right?!

If you think that's all the clubhouse has, you're WRONG. They have many other stuff like a multi-purpose function room, a video games room and an outdoor Jacuzzi! So what are you waiting for? Sign up to be a member of the Ngee Ann Alumni now to enjoy all the above benefits! I hope you had a great time with me, Noel! Adios!