Thailand's Khao Shong Espresso Instant Coffee Review

I was in Phuket about a year back and of course I had to try the instant coffees there too. The only one that I brought back is this Khao Shong brand coffee cos it's got 5 coffees in one!

I tried the Espresso one first.

5 different coffees in one! So many to try!

Much text and colours. All Thai which I do not understand. It could say rat for all I know!

Interestingly the instructions are slightly different. Add 120ml not 180ml of water.

Thailand's Khao Shong Espresso Instant Coffee 

It's quite obvious that there is much less coffee powder in this one

But it still turns out nice and dark. Colour looks darker than usual though

Taste Review

Aroma - 5/10

Quite a normal coffee caramel aroma. It... smells pretty normal.

Taste - 7/10

It actually has a pretty good balance of sweet and bitter. Both sweet and bitter seem to play together nicely. The sweetness seems to be a sort of condensed milk sweetness. Not to coy either. There is a slight bit of acidity lurking in the back too which is not unpleasant and is something I don't taste in the instant coffees back home. It also has a clean after taste.

Cost - NA

Cos I forgot how much I paid for it. LOL

Tasting Notes

Nothing much more to add actually. It's easily found in convenient stores and mini marts in Phuket so I'm guessing it's easily found in Thailand. Just remember to use less water when brewing.

TLDR version
A pretty good cuppa from Thailand!

Calbee Granola Review

Following the last few extremely disappointing Japanese snacks from Calbee+, I did find a gem from Calbee except its not from Calbee+. This is from a Don Quixote store instead. 

Calbee Granola Snack

Calbee Granola! This is a multi fruit one

Multi fruit as the picture says

Oooh lots of different fruits and grains. I'm liking this already

Very nice colours and mix

Stays nice and crunchy even after a short soak in full cream milk

I used some cheap ass UHT milk from Phoon Huat

Taste Review

Taste - 10/10

This is one of the BEST granola mixes I've had! There's a good variety of grains and different dried fruit bits that you can actually get a different taste in each bite as you chomp down on the granola. The taste of the grains dominate, followed by nutty bits of pumpkin seeds and then nice refreshing apple and raisin bits. Full marks!

Texture - 10/10

This is also superb in the texture department. The soft fruit bits add a nice chewiness and pops of flavor while the different grains and seeds add different different distinct crunch and pops with each bite. The granola also stays crunchy after a short soak in full cream milk. The different grains also means you will still be munching on them, abated a bit goat like, after the initial crunchiness has passed. 

Cost - 2/10

Good things are not friendly on the wallet. You can actually get this granola in Singapore at Asanoya in Queen Street except is bloody expensive. It costs SGD$19.80. That's a crazy price to pay for cereal. Unless you bring it back from Japan which then it only cost about... SGD$10 which is comparable to other premium granolas on the market.

This is daylight robbery

Tasting Notes

There's nothing else to add! This is gold!

TLDR version
If you have good friends travelling to Japan, get them to buy this back for you. 

Calbee Roasted Green Tea Shrimp Snack Review

So I was in Japan in December for a holiday and managed to net try out the famous Calbee+ experience where you get to taste freshly fried potato chips and raid their amazingly well stocked and marketed snack store. First up is this roasted green tea potato stick thing that came free with every purchase. That's got my alarm bells ringing but hey, I dug in.

Calbee Roasted Green Tea Shrimp Snack

Got this free for any purchase at Calbee+ in Tokyo

Taste Review

Taste - 0.5/10

First of all, it's supposed to be a shrimp snack. My bad. BUT this did not taste anything like shrimp. In fact, there was no shrimp taste. None. Zilch. The shrimp image they had on the packaging is a lie.
Furthermore, this is sweet, a very unexpected sharp sweet. Then there is an intense green tea taste that just screams artificial! I'm all artificial!

Texture - 6/10

It's a shrimp snack and is supposed to be crunchy and it is competently so. Though it had a hard crusty surface that felt like a sugar glaze. Not exactly what one should find on a shrimp snack.

Cost - 0/10

It's free. But seriously if I had known how it tastes, I would not have wanted it. It's basically dead weight once you know how it tastes.

Tasting Notes

This is an abomination. A pox on whoever made this. This is like a restaurant serving you the best dinner you ever had, then gifting you a dead rat as a parting gift.

TLDR version
It's horrid. Don't eat this. Ever.

Calbee Assorted Potato Snacks Review

Next up is a mix of potato snacks that can be grabbed separately.

Calbee Assorted Potato Snacks

I think this is mentaiko

Very erm straight stick

I think this is some vegetable. Maybe seaweed? Someone help me out here

I think that definitely looks like seaweed

Taste Review

Taste - 5/10

The mentaiko one tasted like Maggi's curry noodles except in stick form. Not great to be honest. The vegetable version was a tad nicer.It was a bit saltier (yeah how can something be saltier than mentaiko) and has a slight sour kick too which was great.

Texture - 4/10

Very dry and crispy but in a tough hard way. Not in a good potato stick way. It feels like you're biting into rabbit food. 

Cost - 2/10

It was expensive. I think it came up to about ~SGD1 a packet or something.

Tasting Notes

Calbee+ bring home merchandise is a con job. The marketing looks superb and it all looked pretty appetizing. All promised interesting tastes and all disappointed!

TLDR version
Eat the freshly fried chips in the Calbee+ store. Don't buy any of its packaged merchandise out to bring home.

Emerald Scallops Review

Another CNY favorite, scallops. You can pop this into soups or if you're feeling laborious enough, you can melt some duck fat or butter and sear this in a pan. Clean up's a bitch though.

Emerald Scallops

Very simple packaging. Very nice white too. 

10/20 is the size and these are quite big. They're around the size of those old large 50cent coins.

Taste Review

Taste - 8/10

It's a decent scallop. The colour's is good and when done well, as in slightly undercooked, it's nice and buttery with a nice whiff of the sea. 

Texture - 8/10
Pretty good texture. Nice oily feel and firm to touch after thawing.

Cost - 5/10

I got it on offer at NTUC at $28.80 for 1Kg. It's a pretty good price for scallops of this size.  

Tasting Notes

The best way to cook these big boys is... to sear them on a hot pan. But clean up... oh the clean up... The alternative is to batter them up and deep fry them which I have not tried because I've not mastered the deep fry yet.

TLDR version
Luxurious scallops at a decent price when on offer. The key is in the prep.

Singapore Blond Ale Calamansi & Pandan Leaves Review

So I was at the Pick Junction Open House where there was a bazaar with free courses, food and drinks. I got this free beer. FREE BEER!!!!

Singapore Blond Ale Calamansi & Pandan Leaves

Quite a nice design. Calamansi & Pandan sounds like a good pairing too!

Pairing options

Taste Review

Taste - 4/10

 I wanted to like this so bad but the beer turned out to be a pretty standard ale. It tasted just ok, kinda like a Heinkein which is to say slightly weak and semi-flat. Ok yes I know, it's from a bottle and not on tap, can't fault it there. The flavors! The label promised so much! Calamansi! Pandan! ALL MISSING!

Cost - 2/10

I got mine free :D
A quick search finds this selling at $20 for 4 bottles on Redmart while on offer. That's $5 per bottle. Errr.... I might as well buy a Heinkein or even better, a Tiger. Cheaper too.

Tasting Notes

I can't understand why they would push this brew out. There is neither calamansi nor pandan in it at all or if it's there, I can't taste even a hint or smell a whiff of it.

TLDR version
A craft beer that does not deliver what it promises. 

Happy Family Fish Maw Review

Chinese New Year (CNY) is upon us and I've picked up some CNY specials. 

Happy Family Fish Maw

Nice whole pieces

Aye just product of Thailand. No mention of the type of fish

Taste Review

Taste - 6/10

The taste was surprisingly mild. The fish maw did not stink too much even though it stank horribly during prep. Aye you know you gotta prep this first right? Soak it in hot water for an hour or two to wash off the oil that was used to fry the fish maw... Well that oil stank but thankfully the fish maw did not stink and had a mild pretty pleasant fishy taste

Texture - 5/10

After soaking for 2 hours (1 hour on each side) the fish maw became quite soft and was close to coming apart. The texture is pretty ok. You can feel the springiness but it's only just slightly there. It's not exactly chewy either like those premium types.

Cost - 8/10

And this is why. Cos this is cheappppp like real cheap ass. It cost $10 for 3. You can't beat this price.

Tasting Notes

To be honest, the taste is so-so but to be fair, you do get a decent fish maw that you can toss into instant noodles, noodles, anything at all and not feel guilty about breaking the bank to enjoy a piece of luxurious fish maw.

TLDR version
Cheap guilt-free fish maw to toss into just about any soup based dish

CP Shrimp Wonton Whole Shrimp Review

I have never actually tried this but have heard so much about it. Its finally on a super good offer so I grabbed it.

CP Shrimp Wonton Whole Shrimp

Yes it's the CNY edition! The mega 40 pieces box set.

Looking good. Nice, whole unbroken wontons.

It still held together very well after a vigorous boil

Taste Review

Taste - 8/10

As frozen shrimp goes, this is actually pretty good! It's got a good texture that's kinda close to a harkow crunch but more importantly, not as artificial tasting.

Texture - 10/10
I tossed the whole lot of frozen wontons into boiling soup and all came out whole! The skins did not break too much nor did any filling slip and slide out of their skins. This is a masterpiece!

Cost - 8/10

The usual price is $5.20 for 12 pieces. That's $0.433 per wonton. Not exactly cheap but you really do get what you pay for - a whole shrimp wonton in your soup after cooking. Heh I got this pack of 40 pieces for $11.85. That's $0.296 per piece heh heh heh. 

Tasting Notes

The taste isn't like a fresh shrimp but I've tasted frozen and this is the best I've tasted so far. But then again my standards may be a little low. As long as the shrimp has a prawn like taste, I'm happy.

TLDR version
This is premium stuff. No bluff!

Waitrose Potato & Leek Soup in a Cup Review

This comes from another el cheapo raid from the quick sale shelves of Cold Storage. Perfectly good stuff that's expired but still good to eat!

 Waitrose Potato & Leek Soup in a Cup Review

Reduced to clear! My favorite words in Cold Storage

Nutritional information if you're interested. 

Very utilitarian packaging. Thoughtfully labelled too in case someone opens multiple boxes of different soup types

A little clumpy

Add a bit of water first to get it into a thick paste first

Then add more water. Though I think I bungled this. 

Some rocket to spice things up!

Taste Review

Taste - 8/10

It's got a good potato and leek flavor. Very strong, very well balanced. The leek flavors are bright and comes through the potato soup base well. I can also taste the chives in there too. It's a pretty good blend of flavors.

Texture - 7/10

I think I made it properly cos the soup was quite uniform. It's not exactly smooth and silky but it wasn't lumpy either. There are nice chunky leek bits in there that adds a nice green touch. 

Cost - 8/10

Well the original cost would have been $4.35 for 4 packets, So that's ~$1 per soup. This ain't bad. But getting this on fire sale is even better! *pats own back.

Tasting Notes

I'd say the taste is pretty good. It certainly beats other artificial tasting soups like the you-know-which-brand. When you consider the amount of work that needs to go into making soups like these... I'd gladly pay the $1. If you have some croutons, then you've elevated this to restaurant level quality without the arm and leg they'd charge too for some sad soppy soup mix.

TLDR version
Save time, get this soup when you need soup.

Nescafe Gao Siew Dai Ipoh Instant White Coffee Review

So this looks kinda new-ish to me and being the festive period, the promoters are on overdrive and pushing the Nescafe hard. 

Nescafe Gao Siew Dai Ipoh White Coffee

The stick's pretty big and there's quite a large amount of coffee mix there

Nice and brown

Hey! Instructions on how to make an iced version. Oh... just add ice. Lol

Taste Review

Aroma - 4/10

Strong coffee aroma and equally strong caramel tones. Both seem to be fighting each other... So that's not good. The balance is basically off. The smell also does not remind me of white coffee either. Hmm

Taste - 5/10

First taste is a mix of bitterness and sweetness. It even borders on coy and actually does not taste like white coffee. There is a slight lingering bitterness. The sweetness stays with you too for a while after the coffee's gone down. (I tot this is siew dai?) I personally do not like lingering sweetness in my coffee but... maybe that's just my preference.

Cost - 5/10

At $5 for 15 sticks it's $0.333 per stick. Not too bad but I seriously expected something better at this price and you CAN get something better and at a better price too! Seriously, you might as well get the Essenso!

Tasting Notes

Coffee is gao as advertised. It's very thick and slides down my throat almost like jelly. But this thing is sweet when it's supposed to be less sweet! Bah

TLDR version
A very confused coffee that advertises itself as white but tastes more like a normal kopi. It advertises siew dai but it is still quite sweet.

Gold Kili Traditional Kopi-O Coffee Review

Today I decided to man up and try a straight up black coffee aka the dreaded Kopi-O. 

Gold Kili Traditional Kopi-O Coffee

It's not even a soluble powder! Old skool lah!

Tell me that ain't road tar

While waiting for the brew to steep... I was curious about the instructions and whether it'd be the same as typical soluble instant coffees. Andddd.... well it's kinda the same. Amount of water is similar but they don't state what temperature should be used.

Also the instructions are very universal. Pictures only!

Taste Review

Aroma - 7/10

It's got a good decent strength coffee aroma that is the signature, unmistakable, pure unadulterated smell of a good kopi (aka local coffee if you only speak white people's language). Medicinal & turpeny. This brew is obviously very different from other instant blends that contain milk.

Taste - 8/10

Sweet at first followed by a medium acidity and bitterness which lingers. I was kinda surprised by the sweetness then I realised this is a 2-in-1. Surprise surprise! There was sugar in the pouch. That sweetness really helped ease me in before the other flavors hit. The combination of bitter and sour notes after the sweet is quite characteristic of some local brews. This mimics that well. 

Cost - 10/10

I got mine at $2.55 for 20 sachets. That's $0.1275 per sachet which is 10x cheaper than heading down to the kopitiam! If your kopitiam serves shitty kopi, then this is for you! And yeah I have tasted some really really shitty coffee in kopitiams. Not all are good you know.

Tasting Notes

This stuff usually smells like liquid tar, tastes like liquid tar and I always suspected it to be liquid tar. It's a drink for masochists or old people whose taste buds are long dead. But I gotta say, this Gold Kili's blend is pretty ok. I could drink this.

TLDR version
A gentle introduction to the world of kopi-o, land of the brave and masochistic.

Super 3-in-1 Low Fat Instant Coffee Review

Another ubiquitous pantry favorite, cos you know, it's cheap ass. It's Super coffee mix!

Super 3-in-1 Low Fat Instant Coffee

Nothing special to see here except the packet is a fugly yellow

Nice colour there

Taste Review

Aroma - 7/10

A pretty neat aroma. It actually smells distinctly different from the Nescafe instant coffee. It's got a slightly richer bolder aroma with just the right hint of caramel sweetness.

Taste - 6/10

A mellow sweetness followed by a milky smooth finish. No bitterness at all. Oh wait. The aftertaste does have a little teeny bit of bitterness, like its trying to tell you it does contain some coffee in it. 

Cost - 10/10

At an offer price of $8.95 for 2 packs of 40 sticks each, this comes to $0.112 per stick. This is really cheap.

Tasting Notes

This actually reminds me of Taiwanese coffee. Very mellow. Quite nice if you like a smooth coffee with just a little bit of Singapore kopi flavor.

TLDR version
Very smooth but not much coffee kick.

Nescafe Original Instant Coffee Review

The ubiquitous Nescafe original! Found in office pantries island wide and bane to office workers who don't BYO instant coffee or whoever ran out of coffee. Cos this thing is mofo cheapass.

I am, of course, also a cheapass and I swiped one from an office pantry. 

*cough* Not my office pantry but an office pantry. 

Nescafe Original Instant Coffee

Looks like milo

Brews like milo too

Taste Review

Aroma - 6/10

It's got a pretty standard local kopi coffee aroma. A sweet caramel aroma that says I'm coffee made with a condensed milk base! So yeah it's got a kopitiam kopi smell which is pretty nice except it's not strong enough imho.

Taste - 5/10

The first taste you get is sugary sweetness, then a mild nutty coffee flavor before ending with a very very faint bitterness which then abruptly disappears which is... a bit unsatisfying. It's got a clean taste but it is also sorely lacking in character. The coffee taste just doesn't stay with you and it's really an instant hit. 

Cost - 9/10

$5.75 for 35 sticks when there are no promotions. That's $0.164 per stick. It's surprisingly more expensive than Indocafe but will probably be much cheaper when there's some promotional offer though seriously... who buys this?! Just grab a few from your office pantry! Haha

Tasting Notes

Mild in strength, flavor and aroma, this coffee feels like it's trying not to piss off anyone and would be, I guess, a good place to indoctrinate any non-coffee drinker. Seasoned coffee drinkers would scoff at this.

TLDR version
Wussy coffee for people who have never ever drunk local kopi and needs hand holding for their first drink. 

Melinda's Gluten-Free Goodies Lemon Mug Pudding Review

I've never really tried making a mug cake / pudding in the microwave before so I picked this up from the discount cart in Cold Storage for a steal at ~$1.70. 

It had an expiry of 25 Jan 2017 so its still not expired yet! Cheapskate ftw! lol

Melinda's Gluten-Free Goodies Lemon Mug Pudding

Reduced to clear! Favorite words of mine

Instructions... right. I can do this. 

Mug. Check. The ever reliable Brother

I think this is ~20g... I just kinda loped off a chuck and tossed it in.

Nuked it in the microwave to melt the butter and in goes the mix.

Oops forgot to add milk. Just tipped in some milk. I guess it's about 30ml. lol. Stir to mix.

End result after nuking

Taste Review

Taste - 6/10

As you can see mine turned out all fugly. Maybe that's why they recommend putting a scoop of ice cream on top... Colour is a nice alluring yellow though. I'm not a very good baker too so mine turned out smelling quite buttery and milky. Probably cos I added too much milk and butter lol. The lemon scent is light so that's actually a little disappointing. It was very sweet. Not surprising as its top ingredient is sugar. Gluten-free health food be damned if its chock full of sugar!

Texture - 4/10

It's very sticky, sweet and a bit lumpy. I bit into quite a few sugar clusters which makes it even more cloy. I'm not sure if this was cos I messed up the steps or if the product is just like that. 

Cost - 5/10

I got it at a steal of $1.70 cos it was reduced to clear. It's usual price is $4++ for 4 puddings. I probably wouldn't have bought it then.

Tasting Notes

It's quite fun and easy to make. I think it'd be great for kids plus which kid doesn't like a sugar bomb. I had to start and stop my nuking cause the mixture will overflow if it's a conical mug. This won't happen with bowl shaped mugs. So... extra fun!
Here's a video of the nuking process.

TLDR version
Fun activity for kids or the kid in you. I won't eat this often. Too sweet.