Yellow Submarines

We definitely welcome recommendations from our readers for makan places for us to visit and most of the time, the suggestions we receive are really good leads! So, when I received the same recommendation from 3 different people within 2 days, we simply had to visit this place ASAP.

Check out the queue...

So there's this place called Yellow Submarines in Toa Payoh which opened in April but was just certified Halal recently. So what exactly do they specialize in? Cheesesteak sandwiches!

I remember seeing a feature on the Food Network about the best Cheesesteak sandwiches in the US. I knew that there were places in SG which sold Philly Cheesesteaks but pretty much all of them were not Halal joints. So my heart (and stomach) still longed for a nice Cheesesteak...

I received the recommendations on Wednesday and Thursday and we made our way to Toa Payoh on Friday evening. That's how excited we were to try it!

But we arrived at one of the busiest times - dinner time! Just check out the queue above! I waited in line for just about over 30 mins before I reached the front. And when I looked back, the line was stretched all the way to the pavement again. And I though to myself "This had better be worth it...".

Hmm.. I wonder what I'm gonna have...

They have quite a few items on the menu which you might be interested in. They've got a few different types of submarines sandwiches including tuna, chicken and even a mushroom one! They've also got a hotdog, a burger and Quesadillas!

But.. we were there... for one thing...

Yellow Submarines Classic ($6.90 ala carte / $9.90 meal)

*drool*
I don't know about you but I'm a meat guy. And I'm also a cheese guy.
So when you put meat and cheese together - I'm the guy who's gonna eat it up!

Nice thin slices of beef which are pan-grilled to tender and juicy perfection. Get a nice soft baguette-roll and pile on the beef atop a bed of  sauteed onions. Finally, top if off with a nice generous slobbering of cheese sauce... And just how much cheese are we talking about?

ZOMG is that a cheese overload or what!! Slurrrppppp!

The roll itself was soft and a good choice because it holds in the cheese sauce. I already mentioned that the beef was tender right? Well let me add that it's also a very generous serving of beef in the sandwich.

When it comes to the cheese, I actually noticed something when I tasted the cheese on its own.
The closest taste I can compare it to is the cheese you get at Long John Silver's. You know when you order the side of potato chips at LJ's and you get a small serving of cheese sauce? Well this is the closest thing I can match it to. I'm not saying it's the same cheese but close enough!

That's actually a good thing because I love this particular cheese! It has just the right flavour to go with the meat but since there's A LOT of the cheese, you'd better prepare yourself!

I've read some comments online that some ask for no onions or less/more cheese when they order.
Well, however you wanna have it - this is one sandwich that really hits the right spot.

And if that's not enough cheese for you...

Torpedo Fries ($3.00)

This was a real winner for me.
How can anyone possible resist Cheese Fries???

The fries were just perfect - crisp on the outside but still fluffy on the inside.
Top it off which a nice dollop of the cheese sauce and you're gonna be digging at it with your fingers instead of with a fork.

I reckon this is one of their best sellers and a definitely must-have!!

Coleslaw ($1.50)

The first thing that came to my mind when I tried the Coleslaw was "Long John's".
Just like the cheese, the Coleslaw was really really similar with the coleslaw served at Long John Silver's!
The noticeable difference was that this version was a little sweeter with some raisins added in.

I say this is a definitely a must have as well especially if you love the coleslaw at LJ's like me!

Adam's Verdict:
Yellow Submarines Classic 4/5 -- Torpedo Fries 4.5/5 -- Coleslaw 4/5

Maryah's Verdict:
Yellow Submarines Classic 4/5 -- Torpedo Fries 4.5/5 -- Coleslaw 4/5

High scores all around!
We have no doubt that a lot of people will be flocking to Yellow Submarines. Yet another superb makan place in Toa Payoh for us to visit!

We're definitely going back to try some other stuff on the menu. Plus a Cheesesteak or 3 :P

PS as a Beatle fan, i give a nod to the name of the joint :)

Yellow Submarines

Blk 177 Toa Payoh Central
#01-110 (Approach from behind NTUC side)
Tel: 6352 7890
www.yellowsubmarines.com.sg

Operating Hours:
10.30am til 10.30pm Daily

KL Sedap Part 3: A&W

Yes yes this is another place we makan-ed at when we visited in Melaka.
But if you remember, we didn't get to eat what we came for. And finally - now we can!

Beef Coney Dog (RM11.65 for the combo)

Yes, this time the guy gave us the correct Coney Dog!
And to be honest, compared to the Chicken Coney Dog, the Beef version is so much better.

Azim has A&W lots of places in Malaysia and he claims that the Coney Sauce here is actually below par compared to other A&W outlets he's been to. My darling wife, on the other hand, thinks the sauce is fine but they put too little on it.

Call me a sucker for meat but there's just something so.. something so.. satisfying.
The snap of the sausage is so much more evident and it tastes absolutely delicious. Topped of with the Coney sauce and onions and you have yourself a party right there.

Honestly - one is not enough for me!

Curly Fires

Of course, pair it with some Curly Fries and there's an even bigger party.

But you know what was the real kicker for this visit?
Remember that in Melaka, we were served the Root Beer Float in paper cup.
Well, thank goodness that's not the case here.

Classic Root Beer Float

That's right. A Classic Root Beer Float served in a frosty mug.
With scoop ice-cream (none of that Soft Serve nonsense) and they even get the Root Beer out of the old-school tap! That's what I call classic!

And it still tastes as refreshing as ever.

Yes! That tap!
When was the last time you saw one of those?!That's the original stuff right there!!

Not only are we not able to get the classic A&W in Singapore anymore, most of the places across the Causeway (and even in Indonesia) don't really keep many of the old A&W traditions that made it famous in the first place.

Nowadays, you get a paper cup instead of the frosty mug.
If I wasn't such a law-abiding person, I probably would have swiped the mug! Because you simply can't get it at that many places anymore!

And speaking of classic...

A&W Waffle with Double Scoop Ice-Cream (RM7.95)

I remember that the last time I ate this was in 1998 at the A&W in Bedok (besides the National Library).
And according to Razali, it hasn't changed a bit.

The waffles are still excellent and the standards haven't dropped at all.
You can have the single scoop for RM1.00 lesser but come on... you know it's gonna be the double...

Adam's Verdict:
Beef Coney Dog 5/5

Maryah's Verdict:
Beef Coney Dog 3.5/5

Razali's Verdict:
Waffle with Double Scoop Ice-Cream 4/5

Azim's Verdict:
Beef Coney Dog 3/5

As you can see, it was a very satisfying meal overall.
I wish they would re-open A&W in Singapore. I'm sure people would still flock there.

A&W

Jalan Batu, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
www.facebook.com/awmalaysia

Operating Hours:
10.00am til 11.00pm (Sundays - Thursdays)
10.00am til 12.00am (Fridays and Saturdays)

Wendy's - Beef Baconator and Chili & Cheese Baked Potato

No beef bacon was harmed in the making of this blog post.
Okay maybe that's not 100% true...

Apparently in the 1990's, Wendy's was a pretty popular joint in Singapore.
I'm guessing it could rival McDonald's and A&W back then when it came to American fast food.
But then again, I'm guessing very few fast food joints were certified Halal.

Well in 2010, Wendy's decided to return to Singapore after about a decade away from the scene. When they first returned however, they were still not certified Halal.

But lo and behold! Suddenly one day a few months - they were Halal!!!

And there are actually quite a number of items on the Wendy's menu that seem like they're worth trying.
But I decided to review the top 2 on my list to official review.

Beef Baconator Combo ($8.05)

Have you guys ever watched that episode of Epic Meal Time where the guy goes an orders "Fifteen Baconators"? Well I've gots to have me a Baconator. Because I loves me some meat.

One of Wendy's trademarks is that its beef patties are square. That's right - square.
I'm guessing this doesn't affect anything other than the fact that it's a uniquely shaped burger patty.

So the Baconator is basically a beef patty with cheese, ketchup and mayo plus some beef bacon strips.
And I guess you can say that they really don't mess around because there are literally no vegetables in the Baconator (unless you count the tomatoes used in the ketchup).

The beef patty itself was actually pretty bland. I'm not sure if they used any seasoning at all on the patty when they cooked it. They do make it clear that they are using a "100% PURE BEEF BURGER" which is very commendable (All Killer No Filler) but I think it might have been nice to have a 95% Beef Burger and 5% Seasoning to give it a little kick. In the end, you're tasting mainly the sauce!

And maybe some veggies (eg lettuce) might have been nice. But then again I do see where they were going with this burger in the sense that it's really a meaty-meat burger.

As for the beef bacon?
Well, as always, I'm going to say that they should have been more. But then again when have I ever said that there's enough beef bacon on anything?

But the beef bacon is not like what you might expect. I'm sure most of you must surely have tried the beef bacon or turkey bacon which is served at Burger King or McDonalds by now right? Well they fry their 'bacon' which makes it very crispy and sometimes even tends to have a slightly burnt taste.

The beef bacon at Wendy's is different. It's not crispy (it's probably grilled not fried) which means it's not going to snap or crunch. I guess this is actually a very nice change and makes the beef bacon very delicious.
But because it doesn't snap or crunch, please make sure you take a nice and proper bite into the burger because if not, you're going to end up sliding out the burger from between the buns.

Not sure what I'm talking about? Just try it.

And as for the fries that come along with the meal? Let me just say that these are monster fries and they give you a monster serving. They sprinkle a little sea salt which is a nice touch but boy were these fries filling.

But if you're not feeling like some fries...

Chili & Cheese Baked Potato ($3.50)

Okay so the Baked Potatoes is something unique to Wendy's. You can't very well go to KFC or McDonald's and have a baked potato can you? Baked potato lovers rejoice!

And they have a wide variety of baked potatoes too!
Click HERE to see the Baked Potatoes Menu!

The one picture above is the Chili & Cheese Baked Potato.
It's basically topped with their signature Chili (beef and beans galore) and some cheddar cheese.
To me personally, the baked potato was nothing special actually. The potato itself was a little dry. I mean, it was okay but it's nothing I would swoon over. But the Chili was not bad.

All-Beef Chili ($3.20)

I guess that okay-okay thing about it was the chilli. We're talking about an All-Beef Chili mixed in with some beans, celery and tomatoes for a nice hearty bowl of yum-yum. So if you think the baked potato is enough then go for it. But if you're greedy like me, get both!

Well most of the things reviewed today were beef products but Wendy's does have quite a number of other items like Chicken/Seafood burgers, Fried Chicken (which is not bad!!) and even a breakfast menu (which I was not very impressed with (Just ask my friend, Andi)

Adam's Verdict:
Beef Baconator 3.5/5 -- Chili and Cheese Baked Potato 2.5/5 -- All-Beef Chili 2.5/5

Maryah's's Verdict:
Chili and Cheese Baked Potato 3/5 -- All-Beef Chili 3/5

So Wendy's is a little hard to get to with their few outlets spread out far and wide but I have to say that if you happen to be in the vicinity of a Wendy's, it might just actually be worth your while to step in and try something. Sure it may cost a little more than your McChicken but it's actually not too bad once in awhile.

Wendy's (Liat Towers)

541 Liat towers #01-01
Orchard Road
Tel: 6737 8036
www.wendys.com.sg

Operating Hours: 24 Hours

Botak's Favourites: Sirloin Steak

Okay you guys remember my last post about Tang Tea House right?
Well some of you might be wondering... How come Maryah didn't have any verdict eh?

Well the answer is simple.
She didn't have the Beef Noodles or the Beef Kway Teow. She had...

Sirloin Steak Set ($12.90)

So if you remember the last time I had Botak's Favourites, it didn't go very well.


Well let's face it, my wife and I both love a nice slab of meat. And for some reason it's becoming increasingly hard to find a decent steak nowadays to be honest. For me, I personally have to go all the way to The Ship in KL to guarantee myself a delicious steak.

So how would my darling wife find the steak?

Well I guess you could say that Botak's Favourites definitely does its part in bringing Halal western food to the masses at a reasonable price. But as you would expect, you can't really expect to have the best prime cut ever in the history of the world right? The steak is actually pretty okay in terms of taste and value. Seasoning was simple and meat lovers will not complain about the portion of the cut.

But not to sound too critical, I personally feel that it's not too bad.
I mean, you DO get what you pay for when we're talking about this steak so we can't complain too much.

However, there ARE some things we can complain about.
Because even though we are paying a reasonably low price, you'd still expect some basics.

Case in point - the done-ness of the steak.
They actually give you a choice of how well you'd like you steak and then they kinda disregard your choice.

That's exceptional cooking skill to achieve a medium-rare steak.
The only problem is that we ordered it to be well done.

I know I know a lot of you steak people will argue that a steak is best enjoyed medium-rare or medium-well at most and not well done because the meat gets dried out and on the tough side.
And I do not disagree with you. But I do disagree with asking how we'd like to have the steak cooked and then just cooking it to some other result instead.

Okay fine let's forget about the steak for a minute.

You also get to choose 2 sides with your set.
So we had the Coleslaw and the Double Baked Cheese Potato. (You can also have the Fries or Corn btw)
Well. The Coleslaw was a little on the sour side (which is fine if you like your coleslaw that way) but the biggest crime of the day was the Double Baked Cheese Potato.

Double Baked Cheese Potato. But no cheese!!
Just great.

Maryah's Verdict:
Sirloin Steak Set 3.5/5

I'm still not convinced of Botak's Favourites.
But it's still one of the few choices we have to get such western food so we'll all keep going there I reckon.


Botak's Favourites (within Tang Tea House)

359 Bedok Road
www.botakjones.com/

Operating Hours:
11.00am til 4.00am Daily

Epok Epok Central

I grew up in the Eunos Crescent neighbourhood.
Back then, the Eunos Crescent Market was in full swing and the adjoining food centre was just as popular.
From early morning breakfast til evening dinner. Everyone cam to get something.

And there was something for everyone too.
There were two whole sections of Chinese (Non-Halal) hawkers and only one section of Malay/Indian (Halal) hawkers. But that one section alone has so many treasures. And there was something for everyone.

Abu Bakar stall was famous for its Nasi Jenganan and Nasi Rawan.
Ali Baba stall famous for Roti Prata. Arifin stall for its Chicken Rice. Then there was the 'no sign' Kacang Pool' stall which also sold a pretty mean Rojak Buah. Then there was 'Mee Kak Tik'.
And so many more I can hardly remember.

The old market burned down some years ago and it took awhile for the new one to be built.
In that time, some of the hawkers probably moved on and decided not to wait for the new market to be built. But some of them returned to the old neighbourhood with a brand new market place.

One of those that was a staple back in the day and still stayed on - Epok Epok Central.

People would queue up for the fresh and hot epok-epok which seemed to come out in endless batches.
If there was one place for epok-epok then Epok Epok Central was it.

Potato, Sardine & Egg Epok-Epok

Just like before, you can get 3 types of epok-epok.
There's the default Potato & Sardine epok-epok ($0.40 each) and there's the Egg epok-epok ($0.60).
The Egg epok-epok has some potato filling in it as well.

The first thing I have to pint out is that I don't remember the epok-epok being so expensive in the past.
Of course, we are talking about the 90s when I was a kid so definitely the prices were lower back then.
But even in today's modern times, I'm guessing a few people would raise an eyebrow or two when the hear the price of $0.40 or $0.60 for an epok-epok.

What's that you say? The price seems reasonable?
Well, that depends on how you relate the price to the size of the product.

Yes that is my hand. And yes that is the epok-epok.
Now do you see what I was talking about when I mentioned the size?

The epok-epok is definitely bite-sized which I'm guessing some people (like my Mum) will appreciate.
Because this means that the pastry will be nice a crispy. Which it definitely is. Love that crisp!
The pastry has a nice bite to it and is not oily at all. They have definitely mastered the art of frying the epok-epok to ensure that it's a nice crispy golden brown.

The filling itself is also quite tasty. But....

(From left to right) Potato, Sardine, Egg

For those of you whole love your filling, then there might be some issue.

The filling itself is very tasty. The taste of the potato filling is especially tasty to me.
However, the sardine epok-epok seemed to have more onions than anything else. And that is simply something that I despise in my Sardine epok-epok.

Why call it Sardine if you're just going to pack it with onions? If you're worried about your sardine mixture being fishy then work on your mixture instead of taking the short-cut of piling on the onions I say.

To be honest the potato mixture also had its fair share of onions but at least I could get some potato chunks.
For the Egg version, you get about 1/5 of an egg stuffed in with the potato mixture.

Adam's Verdict:
Potato 3/5 -- Sardine 2/5 -- Egg 3.5/5

Epok Epok Central remains a familiar name when it comes to the tasty snack we all love.
Nowadays with places like Old Chang Kee offering fat oily currypuffs at a bargain price of $1.20, I guess it's easy to see how old-school places like this are on the losing end.

In fact, the long queue at the stall when I went was actually for the Nasi Lemak which they also seem to sell.
The old stall used to sell just epok-epok. Nothing else.
Maybe the Nasi Lemak is damn nice? I might check it out next time.

Maybe it's just me. Maybe Epok Epok Central's standards have really dropped.
But I'll never forget the excitement as a kid when Mum & Dad brought home some epok-epok.

 Epok Epok Central

Eunos Crescent Food Market & Food Centre
Blk 4A Eunos Crescent #01-09

Operating Hours:
9am -10pm Tuesday til Sunday
Closed on Monday

Abdul Basith - Mutton Steak

Okay so here's one that might home with some people.
And by some people I mean those of you that work with me!!

So there used to be this stall selling Indian food at this coffeeshop where I work.
This coffeeshop is affectionately referred to as 'T1'. The 'mamak' there was a really nice guy and could even call me by name and there was nothing wrong about the food. But there wasn't anything spectacular about it either to be perfectly honest. And most of us ate there because, well, there were not many choices.

But recently, a new mamak has taken over!
I had tried the Mee Goreng when they first opened and I thought it wasn't bad.
And then one day, Gwen tells me they have "Mutton Steak' which is apparently the bomb.
I love Mutton Steak but I normally have to go all the way to Beach Road to eat it. So it's set then.

Mutton Steak ($5.00)

Sorry about the picture quality but my iPhone 3GS is all I have with me at lunch.

And some may think that looks like nothing but a mess.
But some may agree with me that it's one HOT mess I tell you. And it is!

So Mutton Steak is basically pieces of mutton stir-fried with cabbage, potatoes, tomatoes, eggs and onions along with whatever magical sambal and seasoning the mamak uses. Seems like something simple but believe you me I've had some really mediocre Mutton Steak in the past. But this one is good. Really good.

Apparently the cook is from Hyderabad so he must know a thing or two about cooking right?
Plus this stall claims to be from 'Shenton Way' and 'West Coast'...
The mutton is really tender and all the ingredients really burst with deliciousness in your mouth.
Well, they did in my mouth anyways.

Unfortunately the down side with this stall so far is consistency.
I've eaten the same thing there a few times and sometimes it doesn't turn out the same.

Okay so it's still not #1 though. That honour remains with the stall at Beach Road for now.
But since this is in the area, it'll definitely suffice.

Adam's Verdict:
Mutton Steak 4/5

Gwen recommends me the best food lah I tell you.
And the new mamak - I refer to him as Mamak Mullet (obviously because of his hair).
And he doesn't know me by name yet. But he will soon at the rate I keep going back there.
Look out for more reviews of this stall!

Abdul Basith

FOODHUB @ Chai Chee aka T1
Blk 26A Chai Chee Road

Operating Hours:
5.30am - 10pm Daily