Bye Bye 2008

It's that all too familiar feeling, of a year passed by and you think back on the much or little that you have accomplished. I thought the year was great up until the massive unrolling of bank and corporation debts, I even thought I would do better business-wise this year. But sadly not so. I remember telling myself that I would reward myself a nice bag if I did well. Thankfully, I saved the money instead and kept it aside for bargain hunting in equities in these dire times.

It all seems a blur now but the famed and highly anticipated Beijing Olympics was in August this year. Sky rocketing petrol prices happened this year too. And not to forget...2008 was a leap year.

As I look towards the year ahead, I feel a sense of hope and apprehension at the same time. Economists forecast a bad year ahead. But with all things at possibly their lowest, we have nowhere to look but up.

I hope the new year will be good for you as well.

Popeye's vs KFC

We went to the airport yesterday to see my mom off on her holiday. Since it was dinner time, we decided to get Popeye's famed fried chicken. It was crowded so we got a takeaway. On the way home on the highway, I decided that we should get KFC chicken too and do a taste test. So both packs of chicken arrived back home slightly cold and soggy with the exception of KFC being fresher by 10mins.

I'd grade the test according to cost, value, sides and taste (of the chicken).

Cost
Popeye's is more expensive at $7.40 for a 2pc set. It comes with 2pc of chicken of which you cannot choose but adhere to their combinations, 1 drink, 1 regular side (mash, fries or coleslaw) and 1 scone. KFC is cheaper at $6.50 for the 2pc set with 1 drink, 1 regular mashed potatoes and 1 regular coleslaw.


Value
Popeye's chicken is much smaller than KFC's (genetically enhanced?) chicken parts. We had thigh meat for both, and you can see the difference in size from the photos. The side of mash however is bigger. With KFC you get coleslaw too but Popeye's gives a "biscuit" which looks like a scone and is not fantastic in taste.


Sides
Popeye's has a great mash. KFC's mash tastes like some rubbish made from a powder mix, unlike Popeye's creamy mash with little bits of garlic and bacon. Yums. They win hands down on this. As for coleslaw, KFC's still passes. Popeye's is creamier and richer but has a faint fruit taste...maybe it was raisins, but I wasn't very used to the taste so it took some adjusting. We had the Popeye's fries too. It's supposed to be cajun fries but all I see was a nice orangey colour, taste-wise, it wasn't as mind-blowing as Mac's haha...

Taste (of the chicken)
Finally the big one. Popeye's chicken was juicy, tender and absolutely delicious. The fried exterior actually did not have any taste at all, I would probably suggest they should add pepper or spices to their batter. KFC's hot and crispy exterior is of course absolutely spicy and shiok. However, the meat underneath was a tad bit salty. It was juicy and tender as well but after the Popeye's more wholesome tasting meat, KFC made me feel sick and I gave up halfway.

From the masses I see at both fast food joints, I gather that Singaporeans love their fried chicken no matter what, so there's plenty of competition for both Popeye's and KFC for many years to come. :)

Dining out in recession times

Kimmy's been forced to take leave from today till the week after, it's his company's bid to save costs in these bad times. As a result, he'd have a drop in his salary this month and he announced to me determinedly that it was time for us to cut cost and save money...no restaurant meals.

Alas, it's Sunday night and there was no food at home for dinner. We decided to try Hotpot Culture at Marina Square. We had passed a promotional poster which advertised $7.80 steamboat sets, and it was a cold rainy day, perfect for some tummy-warming broth.

I forgot to take photos but here's one, courtesy of careryeeee from hungrygowhere.com.


There were 5 choices for the soup stock and we chose hot & sour, and chicken herbal. Both were your usual flavoured saltwater type soup, but with all the steamboat ingredients added in, it made for a tasty and hearty meal. Hotpot Culture was a great "recession times restaurant" for us. At $7.80++ a set, with aircon, service, sufficient soup and meat, and lots and lots of vegetables, it was worth every penny. Drinks are a tad expensive at $2.00 for lemon tea or barley, and more for coke or fruit juices, but rice was a decent 70cents. Overall we spent $27 for 2 sets, 2 drinks, 2 bowls of rice and a side dish of fish dumplings ($2.50, a bit expensive) and had a fairly great time. We'd definitely be back for more, the food's better than the food court, and environment more tolerable than at the hawker. It also beats Sakae Sushi 10 to 1, a joint we once favoured when we were scrimping and saving back in the day.

6 Raffles Boulevard
#02-138D Marina Square

Operating Hours
Sun - Thur: 11:30am - 10:00pm
Last order @ 9:15pm

Fri, Sat, Eves of & On PH: 11:30am - 11:00pm
Last order @ 9:45pm

Seedy side to the Sunny island

I spotted this whilst dining at a kopitiam with very oily floors. Interesting choice of words (the signboard that is). Apparently getting a good massage or foot reflexology session is not enough, the person doing it for you has to be pretty, young yet experienced. I wonder if patrons might have other intentions for visiting this 2nd floor shophouse unit with pink lighting.

After their massage session, patrons could grab a bite at the downstairs oily-floor-kopitiam-restaurant. I can't decide if it's really a restaurant since there's no aircon, or ambience. Also, the carpark lot in front of the store is utilised as the "queueing area"...there's a sign there with a blinking light that says "q here". I don't quite fancy an eatery that might cause a few slips when you walk in, but their fried bee hoon and stir-fried clams are pretty good. Sorry there aren't any photos, it was quite badly-lit where I was and the stomach was growling for its dinner. Perhaps another time in the distant future.... =)