A visit to Burlington's

Visited Burlington's in the Valley yesterday, after being taken to The Golden Palace for the best yum cha in town. Found some tasty treats there.



Aloe V aloe vera juice with pulp bits + White Grape Juice Drink (made by Pokka)
This has shreds of clear jelly-like aloe pulp suspended in the clear, sugary liquid. There is a version with blueberry juice, but it is just too too sweet and revolting. The white grape juice is quite tart and cuts through the sugar. Product of Malaysia. You have to pour it into a cup to drink, seeing as the pulp pieces jam up a straw and don't really come out properly if you drink it from the can. Once I cut my tongue, trying to reach into the can to get the last bit of pulp. Pathetic.

Mr. Bond Iced Coffee (Original / Premium)
Check him out in the picture, like some 1885 'wanted' poster or the original Colonel. Possibly both. And it says 'premium', so it must be good. Ingredients are water, coffee extract, sugar, milk powder, caramel emulsifier (mmm) and flavour. Manufactured by Want Want Foods Ltd., China. Apparently, one must "keep refrigerated for cold serving and pour product in container to heat for hot serving". Thanks, Mr. Bond.



Natural Soy Drink
Ingredients are natural soybean extract, sugar and water. So tasty, so clean, so good for you. Yum.
Doctor Cow
It's Doctor Cow! She's giving us the thumbs up, so we know that it must taste great. And she's a doctor, so it has to be good for us. Or maybe the product is made from ground-up doctors, who look after cows. Or cows. Or cows who also happen to be doctors.
The back of the pack says "Commodity: Doctor Cow Milk Chocolate Soft Candy". No help there.
"Product type: grainy low aerated candy".
"Ingredients: corn syrup, sugar, vegetable oil, whole milk powder, condensed milk, cocoa powder, gelatin, salt, lecithins, monostearin, flavour, calcium, vitamin D3". I thought monostearin was present in sheep wool, or cotton, or something. What do I know, I'm not a doctor, or a cow. Made by Maohuat, China.

Sushi Nori Roasted Seaweed
I eat this as a snack, seriously, straight from the pack. I don't make sushi at home, but I also use this finely shredded on top of a nice miso.


Dried Sliced Shiitake Mushrooms
A couple of these tossed into a stock or soup base really livens things up, and adds a rich earthy vegetable flavour. Who would have thought I'd be so into dried mushrooms?

Fried Onion
Onion flakes in palm oil. Scattered atop a chicken ramen with chili...lordy, will the goodness never end?



Yang Chun Flat Noodle
Bless the day I discovered these. They are REAL noodles, delicious on their own, slightly salty, firm, solid wheat noodles that hold up in a broth and don't lose their rough texture. You can get them in a thin noodle as well, but these are better.

Mi Goreng Instant Noodles
These are fifty times better than Maggi, because they usually have THREE flavour sachets inside, and as a bonus you can also eat them raw if you have to. You get the soup base, the flavoured chili / garlic oil and also a mini-packet of chili powder. They are half the price of Maggi and have real and much more awesome flavours, too.


Nissin Brand Instant Noodles
See above for awesomeness, but also with Nissin, the flavours are fantastic. There's the usual ones, chicken, beef, prawn and curry, but also pork tonkatsu, sesame, original and chili beef, among others. I got the prawn. Nissin noodles aren't so salty as others: maybe that's why I like them.



Kewpie Brand Mayonnaise (Japan)
I was very reluctant to touch the Kewpie for a long time. Once, at the Coles in Racecourse Road, in the Asian produce section, I saw this thing that looked like a toy doll in a plastic packet. I picked it up...and promptly flung it back onto the shelf, thinking that there must be something WRONG with it- why would anyone manufacture mayonnaise in a soft squishy doll-body bottle? And Japanese mayo? What the hell do they know about mayo, anyway? They're always drizzling it over stuff at the Sushi Train, and it's not even that great. Stick to tempura and what you're good at. Anyway, time passed, and here I am with my very own bottle of Kewpie. People were starting to lecture me about it: "You really must try that mayonnaise, it's just so good, you don't know what you're missing". I hate it when people do that. But I am pleased with my Kewpie. It feels so good, to squeeze it gently. The taste is wonderful- very tangy, rich, hints of lemon and some sort of herby leafy element. The best part is how it comes out of the bottle in a star shape, like that toothpaste you used to get as a kid. Someone told me to mix Kewpie and harissa together for the best damn dipping sauce this side of heaven... and they were right!