Monday, May 30, 2016

Feeling at home @Mi Casa

It is always heart warming to see young Singaporeans following their passion and setting up their own hawker stall and restaurant. Such is the case for Mi Casa. An aspiring chef who was trained in France and came back to set up a hawker stall in Bukit Timah Hawker Centre. After a year of hard work and huge following, Chef Micah Jarrod Lim decide to transform his operations into a full fledged restaurant to serve up his own take on Spanish grub.

Mi Casa is located just another 400m away from the Bukit Timah Hawker Centre and it sits along Jalan Jurong Kechil. Just look out for the Javanese Hut Traditional Massage, Mi Casa is just beside it. 
There are also daily specials!
Mi Casa is very very popular and my advice is to call ahead to reserve a table if you have more than 2 diners together with you.

The Lions took a counter seat to have a view of the open kitchen and to see
Chef Micah in action.
Simple yet lovely decor just like the grub here
- straightforward but packing a flavour punch.
The Lions decided to pick 3 dishes to try.
Mi Casa Salad. I call this salad, the 2 section salad.
Separately into 2 parts, there is the cool part consisting
of lettuce, shaved purple cabbage and cherry tomatoes.
The other part where vegetables such as asparagus,
mushrooms and cucumbers are lightly sauteed
constitutes the hot section. Very refreshing pairing.
Fishermen Stew. One of the recommended dishes of Mi Casa -
chockful of seafood like squid, fish, clams and prawns.

Mi Casa Paella. One of the highlight of Mi Casa.
Just go and eat it! So affordable, just under $10, portion
for two.
The Lions enjoyed the dining experience thoroughly. Unpretentious and casual. Plus Mama Lim's convivial engagement with guests is pretty endearing and gives us a glimpse of Team Mi Casa. A place worth supporting and going back for great affordable grub.

Mi Casa Kitchen And Bar
102C Jalan Jurong Kechil
Tel: 6463 0263
https://www.facebook.com/mi.casa.sg/

Ciel Bukit Merah

This weekend certainly was an fun filled one for the Lion family. First up, off to grab some toys for the baby lion at a charity fair held at the Australian International School and then settling lunch before heading down - at Aunty Pris' kind invitation - to grace Ciel's grand opening of a 2nd branch near SGH. The lion looked forward to some investigative (tasting) "work".

Ciel, which means sky or heaven, opened its first branch a few years back in Hougang. Now to expand their business, Chef Chara Lum has opened her second branch at Bukit Merah near to the Singapore General Hospital. Ciel sits in unassuming, quiet estate with a few hostels, an old school confectionery and a popular popiah restaurant, the cafe does bring a bit of sublime heaven to this part of the neighbourhood.
Chef Chara's signatures are all available here like her luscious Bomba
as well as the winning Fuji.

There are also talks of having baking classes on the 2nd floor of Ciel.
The Fuji - a green tea mousse cake filled with
lychee jelly complimented by a green tea sponge base,
and the divine Strawberry Shortcake.
The Lions were there for the Grand Opening and were treated to a few samples of familiar favourites as well as upcoming creations like the yuzu cake.

Ciel Patisserie (Bukit Merah Branch)
146 Jalan Bukit Merah
#01-1090
Singapore 160146
Tel: 6352 2132
www.ciel.com.sg/

Right before Ciel, the Lions had the pleasure of visiting the Australian International School (AIS) for a bought of treasure hunting aka scouring for necessary baby stuff.


The charity fair was HUGE with lots of pre-loved toys, kids' apparel and even recipe books for little tots! So many stalls and so little time.... This charity family sale is a yearly affair organised by Stork's Nest Singapore, a parenting support group.

They even have a food stall in addition to the school canteen
to offer grub to the hungry treasure hunters.
Aussie style barbie
Of course, the cub found some treasures there... mainly toys like a preloved Thomas the train which he gleefully grabbed and ran off excitedly into the crowd - much to Cuchi's consternation as she scrambled to pay for the thieving deed haha... then to tire out the little tyke, a walk on the rugby field with daddy ended the mini excursion to school.


G'day!