Just like old times- Katong Laksa & Awfully Chocolate

Sometimes, the best foods are the comfort foods that soothe your soul and which brings back memories of good old times.

I finally met up with J and W after a substantial period. I got close to this quirky couple during my stay in Canada. The 3 of us (from Singapore) would go everywhere together. Perhaps it was out of the need for assurance in a foreign land, or the practicality that resulted from 3 students trying to cut costs by sharing our meals together, but we drew close from the "trials" that we experienced overseas.

Though we are all in the same university, the truth is that we haven't been able to spend as much time together as we did when we were overseas. Thus on Tuesday night, we headed down for some Katong Laksa. While overseas in Canada, we had lamented how much we missed a bowl of Laksa and thanks to good old Prima Mix, we managed to satisfy (by a wee bit!) our craving for a hot bowl of laksa. J kept agonising that he wasn't able to eat his shiok Katong laksa, so the three of us concluded that when we went back to Singapore, the first thing we would do would be to eat Katong Laksa! Well, it did take us some time to finally get together for that yummy bowl of Laksa but we did. And well, it brought back good old memories of the times we had to adjust the various ingredients (through trial and error) for a taste that closely matched our Singaporean laksa. Once, we were cooking for our Ang Moh friends when we realised we forgot to get Coconut milk! hahaa... luckily the curry pack had some dried coconut milk which we used half to add to the dish. The ang mohs were impressed enough with our cooking and we saved the day!

Katong Laksa
Just oogle at the thick coconut gravy, the fresh big prawns, the juicy hums used, and the fragrant laksa leaves.

Upon eating the dish, all of us couldn't help wolfing down the whole dish till every single drop of gravy was wiped up. Simply delicious. Really fattening, but extremely satisfying. I think that everyone has to try this at least once in their lives!! 4/5!!

$4 for this bowl of sinfully satisfying concoction!

Anyway after that delicious meal, we decided to take a walk around just to burn off our calories. Haha but I just couldn't resist dessert. So we headed for Awfully Chocolate just across the road. But with my poor sense of direction, we did take a while to get there! haha I just couldn't make out the buildings at night. I've had a craving for Awfully Chocolate for the longest time but because it's all the way at Katong, I never got around to getting it.

When I finally found the mall, it took me another while before I found the shop! J & W were so afraid that the shop had either shifted to another location, or was already closed. But we found it in the end alright!

So how was the chocolate ice cream? Yes, they only sell one flavour because it's their specialty. I like the bitter-sweet dark chocolate taste of this ice-cream. But according to J, he felt that the ice cream was a tad too buttery. I felt that the ice cream was ok, and that the buttery texture made it smoother, but W felt that the ice cream wasn't that smooth.

The cute little package they put your ice cream in
W wanted to keep it! For $3, you get a scoop of chocolate ice cream in this cute little box.

A rather blur shot of the chocolate ice cream
I think I need photography lessons!

Oh well, anyway after a while, it did taste rather buttery to me. Which led me to conclude... Tom's Palette still serve the best ice cream in Singapore (and perhaps in the World!). I really like the bitter-sweet texture of the chocolate ice cream at Tom's and I think that it's in a class of its own. While Tom's might be different from Ben & Jerry's or Haggen Diaz, I feel that its not too heavy or sweet on its own, which is really a plus point.

Thus I would say that the chocolate ice cream at Awfully Chocolate is a 3.5/5.

W was upset that I made them eat so much! So we decided to walk to Parkway Parade to take one last look. I made a suprising discovery there though! Found this Japanese supermarket selling Japanese groceries! It's also a restaurant by the way. Anyway, the best discovery I saw there was that they sold Sashimi! And at an affordable price too!! $10.30 for so many pieces! Unlike the irritating Japanese restaurant I went to the other day at Far East, which shall be another post.

The sashimi I bought

Look how fresh and thick the slices are! (At least for Singapore's standards...)

I was rather worried that it would not tast good or fresh. But my worries were unfounded upon eating it at home! I brought the sashimi with me (sat a bus ride all the way back to Tampines) and it was still so fresh! Yummy!! I'm so happy! I think I managed to find an alternative to Vancouver's Sushi Garden! :) 3.5/5 for the sashimi!!

I like it that the slices are much bigger than the stingy portions given at restaurants (you guys have to see the wee teeny slices the Far East Japanese restaurant gave me!) and that the pice is affordable (compared to the expensive sashimi at other more well-established Japanese restaurants). I love fresh, thick and cheap sashimi! It's really so rare to find something close to that! Hahaa... awww now I really miss Vancouver. But oh well... we make do with what we have.

I have yet to try the other items at the Fish Mart, but hey guys, again, do let me know if there's any other nice stuff there!

And... that was the end of the day which brought back good old memories! W was saying that it had been a long while since the three of us went out like this. It reminded her of how just the three of us would go out together in Canada to get our groceries, or just to eat out. Well, I'm glad for good old memories... and I'm even more glad for food that brings people together, and remind them of the good old times...

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Katong Laksa
Address: 216 and 51 East Coast Road (there are 2 branches)
I went to the one along the stretch opposite Katong Mall.

Awfully Chocolate
Contact no: (+65) 63452190
Address: Katong Mall
112 East Coast Road
#01-26
Operating hours: 10:30am-9pm daily

Fish Mart Sakuraya
Contact no. : (+65) 63454714
Address: Parkway Parade Shopping centre
1st floor, B-83D (near Cold Storage)
Closed: 9:30pm (I'm not too sure though what time they open, because I can't find the details on the web)

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