Same Old Same Old

The Guardinia bread had been sitting on the kitchen counter for a few days so I decided to use it up.

As usual, the girls enjoyed it. In fact, they wanted more but there was not enough eggs so they had to make do with extra 2.5 pieces of french toast each instead of 3 each.

Cadence asked for oyster sauce chicken and 豆苗 with mushrooms

She decided to make another attempt at sunny-side up. The one at the far-left bottom was hers. We are all egg-lovers! 

Over the dinner, the girls talked about their cooking experience. Coco said that she and her Home Econs partner were terrible at cracking eggs and they never had 2 full eggs for their dishes or pastries. Each time, at least half an egg would fall onto the kitchen counter as they would crack the egg so terribly. Baby was appalled at their incompetence. She asked me to get the oven fixed after 13 June when the Covid situation is better so that she could try baking.

One doesn't want to cook. The other is eager. 

Quick and Simple with Fried Bee Hoon with Canned Pig Trotters

Decided to go simple for a quick lunch when I saw I was left with some mid-joints in the fridge. The girls can't get enough of chicken wings anyway.

Baby wanted to try making a sunny-side-up. She ended up with an omelette (first try) and a broken sunny-side-up (2nd try). 

Fried bee hoon with canned pig trotters was my favourite dish when my mother cooked. I had done it before but I must have done it with just one can. This time, I poured 2 cans of pig trotters into the wok. I found it too salty. The blander mixed vegetable dish was the saving grace.

Recipe from Super Easy Canned Pig Trotter Beehoon Recipe.

Ingredients:

400g of bee hoon (soaked for 5-10 min in cold water)

1-2 cans of pig trotter

2 tablespoons of oyster sauce

2 tablespoons of dark soy sauce

2 cups of water

Instructions:

Pour pig trotter into the wok and add 1-2 cups of water

Cover the lid and let the mixture boil 

Pour bee hoon in and mix it till the colours get onto the bee hoon evenly

Cover the lid and let it simmer for 7-8 minutes

Open the lid and add the oyster sauce and dark soy sauce and mix the bee hoon with the sauces

Add 1 capful of shaoxing wine around the wok (optional)

Serve

Of Braised Spare Ribs and Mixed Vegetables

I felt like eating some instant mee goreng so I checked with Baby if she would like that. It was a resounding 'Yes!'.

She asked me why I didn't let her cook

She has been interested in making her own food lately. Lighting up the stove is a challenge for her though. It's a 16-year-old stove that requires the user to 'turn, press down and light with a light stick'. Finding the spot to press down is a little tricky for the girls.

Come evening, I decided to cook braised spareribs as I wanted to give the girls some variety for meat. Although this is fuss-free without the need to marinate, I prefer marinated meat. Broccoli, cauliflower and carrot with swiss brown mushroom for a change in the type of vegetables we eat. Threw in a cod fish for Coco as she loves it.

Sparerib recipe is from Super Easy Braised Pork Ribs in Oyster Sauce

She made another omelette for herself. Mighty pleased with the result.

I call her an 'Egg Expert' and she graciously accepted the grand title.

Coco's C and Baby's Perfect Omelette

Every time I have macaroni, I am reminded of Coco saying,"We ate C!" when I asked her what she had during meal time in her kindergarten.

Baby is also a great lover of macaroni. Seeing that I still had 1/3 of a packet of macaroni, I asked if she would like some for lunch. She gave a resounding 'Yes!' immediately. Using Swanson Pork Bone broth again, I whipped up a fuss-free dish with tiny broccoli florets, fishballs and chicken mid-joints. Baby had two helpings and so did I! We finished the 2 cups of macaroni in a jiffy!

This time, I decided to use a proportionate amount of the broth and water to cook the macaroni. I was surprised to find that perhaps it was better to leave the broth as it was. Adding salt and light soy sauce altered the taste and made it taste more sour.

The girls told me they were famished after my lesson at 7.15pm. I got Baby to cook a can of mushroom soup to placate their empty stomachs while I rushed out to buy the ingredients and returned to cook. I ended up spending some time frying 5 sunnyside-ups! 3 for Coco and 2 for me. We simply love eggs!

Baby was eager to fry her own egg and she was proud to see her omelette turn out to be 'like what you have at the restaurant'! She wanted to try her hand at a sunnyside-up but I told her she would have to fry her own since her sister and I wouldn't take pleasure in having a non-sunnyside-up. She changed her mind and said,"Next time then."

We had our dinner while having a good laugh over Baby's recount of the boys who professed their liking for her. When Baby mentioned that she had her first crush at P3 and her crush told her that he liked her, Coco and I were stumped for a while before Coco burst out laughing,"You were just babies! How can a baby have a crush on another baby?" 

Dinners ought to be that way. Filled with laughter, casual talks and connection. Not endless lectures, reproaches, reprimand and dressing-downs. 

My Old and Faithful Favourite Fusilli

Every time I miss the fusilli dish my bestie taught me, I would refer to my little attic. I am so glad I jotted the recipe down!

The carbo-rich dish was our lunch. Baby wanted colours for novelty but Coco was flabbergasted that the green fusilli looked mouldy! This dish works best when it has been some time the girls last had it. They loved the creaminess of it and how easy it was to have wholesome goodness in a bowl - chicken meat protein, broccoli fibre and Swiss button mushroom taste with fusilli carbo.

A few hours later, Baby was hungry again! I fried a few left-over mid-joints and her favourite vegetables for a quick and simple meal! 

The Fastest Way to Use up a Loaf of Bread

Recently, Baby has been a great fan of the coffeeshop kaya-butter loti. Although the counter lady told me that they have a cut-off time at 10.30am, I learnt that they could run out of bread before 10.30am and would have to turn away customers who try to buy bread from them. It so happened that it was such a day today. I decided to do French Toast for breakfast to make up for the disappointment.

This was the second plate I served. Baby finished all but 2 pieces of the first plate.

At lunch, I was so inspired by yesterday's success that I decided to change the broth to Pork Bone Broth and see if it tasted better. I actually much prefer this!

I was so excited with the 'discovery' of an ingenious creation that I took pictures of the food and what it took to cook it to show my family and friends!

Everybody's a Chef during Covid

Last year during the Circuit Breaker, I was in some sort of depression. I was gripped by fear that it would be indefinite. I was left with one student whose parent suggested having lessons on Zoom. The rest of the parents had a culture shock of the inordinate amount of screen time that their children were going to have in view of the schools' closure so they were reluctant to have additional lessons on Zoom. I felt extremely helpless seeing the drastic drop in my income. Like many, I developed a sense of hopelessness that the situation would never improve. 

This year, as we enter yet another soft lock-down, I am more confident that it will come to an end. Saved for 2 or 3 parents who had suspended lessons, the rest proactively suggested having Zoom lessons! Although I do see a reduction in my income, I am not so afraid, or even paralysed, like last year. With more time on my hand, I decided to cook for the girls, without giving myself pressure.

Not the best picture but I just wanted to capture my first attempt at cooking udon to show a friend!

I have always wanted to cook udon. In fact, I bought a few packets of udon but I didn't know how to cook them and had to throw them away in resignation.

However, for some reason, when my eyes were set on the packets on udon at NTUC today when grocery-shopping for lunch ingredients, I was inspired by the whole idea of cooking simple. I decided to use Swanson Chicken Broth as the soup base and added my own ingredients ie. button mushrooms and chicken mid-joints. I threw in a dish of greens for Baby as the vegetable-loather doesn't have many favourite vegetables.

She finished up both dishes with me. Both of us enjoyed the dishes very much as it was the first time I tried my hand at cooking udon and it was a success! I only had one 250ml packet of chicken broth but I needed more. So I added two packets of water, 1/4 teaspoon of salt and a tablespoon of light soy sauce to 'salvage' the flavour. The result was quite a flavourful broth (to us, at least!)

The Unlikely Cook

I have never quite fancied pasta.

I often see pasta as 'the ang moh instant noodles'.

But last Friday, after I took the girls to visit an old friend, my buddy's great cooking completely changes the way I look at pasta.

She cooked a small pan of fusilli for us, and I have never tasted such great pasta! I actually wished I could have more!

She showed me how she cooked it and gave me the list of ingredients she used. I improvised the recipe a little by adding in chicken bits.

 

Serving: two

Ingredients:

1.5 cup of fusilli

Half of boneless chicken thigh (diced)

5 to 6 florets of broccoli (diced)

4 brown button mushroom (diced)

Butter or margarine to oil the pan

3 teaspoons of salt

1 tablespoon of corn flour or plain flour

A packet of cooking cream (as below) from NTUC or Cold Storage (placed in the yogurt section)

 

Preparing the fusilli

1) Boil water with a teaspoon of salt.

2) Cook the fusilli for 10 minutes when water is boiled

3) Drain the water and set the fusilli aside

Preparing the chicken

1) Before dicing, immerse the chicken thigh in a bowl of water with a teaspoon of salt for 10 minutes.

2) Dice the chicken thigh.

3) Boil a small pot of water and immerse the diced chicken thigh in it till half-cooked.

(This is also to get rid of the chicken smell.)

4) Drain the water and set the diced chicken thigh aside.

Preparing the sauce

1) Pour the cooking cream into a bowl.

2) Add 1 tablespoon of flour to the packet of cooking cream and stir till the flour is dissolved.

Steps:

1) Using medium fire, oil the frying pan with margarine or butter.

2) Pour the diced mushrooms and broccoli into the frying pan and fry them till cooked.

3) Add the diced chicken thigh in and fry for a while.

4) Add 2/3 of the sauce into the pan.

5) Add fusilli in.

6) When the sauce boils, add in 2 teaspoons of salt.

7) Stir to mix everything in.

8) Add in the remaining sauce and 1 teaspoon of salt.

9) When the sauce boils, turn off the stove and serve the pasta hot.

Quite an easy recipe for an amateur like me!

At first I didn't get it right. The girls said that the pasta was too hard (I didn't boil it for 10 minutes), the taste was too bland (not enough salt) and the pasta was not creamy (I didn't add the flour or there was too little flour).

I only got it right at the third attempt. While I usually don't eat or eat little of what I cook, I loved it and indulged in it this time!

A Low-Class Experience at Parkroyal Hotel's Crab & Lobster Buffet (Kitchener Road)

I am a big fan of crabs so when my elder sister asked if I was keen to go for this buffet for her birthday treat, I jumped at it.

There was a credit card promotion at two-to-dine-in at $118++ and we were joined by my mother, my third sister and her friend, my fifth sister and her youngest daughter and my youngest sister and her family. Children below the age of 7 ate free.

It was on the day we made our way to Parkroyal Hotel at Kitchener Road in Little India that I realised there are three Parkroyal Hotels in Singapore. The one that I always knew is at Beach Road, and for some reason, I kept thinking that the one at Pickering Street was another hotel. That buffet day, I learnt about the third one at Kitchener Road. I was very surprised that a Parkroyal Hotel would park itself in an area like Little India. Little India could be a tourist attraction to some but it is not the most affluent area where tourists would base themselves at or at least I thought.

The buffet started at 6pm but we only got there at about 7.15pm. Not my style. I believe in maximising the time I have at a buffet so I usually get to a buffet or afternoon a little early to settle down and 'get ready' to zoom in on the food or area I want. Very 'yeow kwee' I know, but if I am paying, I'd better make sure at least the time spent is worth the dollar.

The first thing that greeted us was the crowded long queues everywhere. I should have taken a picture of the massive crowd and queues but I was late for the buffet and the yeow kwee in me was worried that I would be shortchanged if I didn't join the queues as soon as possible so I missed out on the picture of the crowd.

My mother and I didn't even know what we were queuing for, but since there was a queue, it must be for something good, so we joined it.

It turned out that we were queuing for Mentaiko lobsters, baked lobsters with mayonnaise. Food was slightly above average but I didn't like the way it was given to us. 

I didn't read the sign that stated 'One serving per time' and asked my mother if we should get another serving for my sisters who were parking the car. The lady who was giving out the plates of lobster immediately shrunk her outstretched arm and said curtly,"If you want more, you have to queue again."

It made me feel like a yeow kwee.

Yes, I know I am a yeow kwee, but is there a need to make me feel like one in front of other guests? This is a hotel, you know? Parkroyal doesn't have the budget to send its staff for customer-service training, is it? I believe there are more tactful ways to word it, like "I am sorry, Miss. One serving at a time. You can queue up again if you would like to get it for someone else."

Then my youngest sister raved over the steamed live lobster, saying that it tasted superior to the Mentaiko lobster, so we queued up for it.

Nope. The rest of us respectfully disagreed that it was better. Could not tell that it was 'live' by the degree of freshness either.

To optimise the money's worth, we ate another two or three Mentaiko lobsters since it was better than the steamed live lobster.

One chef per station too!

We queued for the Pumpkin Crab, meaning crab in pumpkin sauce.

It sounded weird but the pumpkin sauce sweetened the crab meat so I had at least another helping. Queued again, of course.

My sisters and brother-in-law took their little children to the stations to show the chefs that there were two of them so that they could get two servings. *roll eyes (at the hotel's policy)* (in Singlish fashion) Have to do it until like that to get another plate ah?

There was a dessert station placed away from the crowd. I would have missed it if I hadn't come with my sisters.

Chin Chow with longan drink

Scallops should be fresh.

Other seafood as side-dishes

There was another station with other less popular crab and lobster options unmanned by chefs. Guests could form their own queue in the usual buffet style to pick and choose the food they wanted. They didn't look palatable enough to entice me to try them though:

Chilli crab

Kam Heong crab

Japanese Lobster Fried Rice

Not sure what this was but it looked spicy

Lobster Spaghetti

Pork Confit

Crustacean Paella

As we drove home, all of us unanimously agreed that the place was too crowded and packed for a comfortable seating. The (lack of) hotel ambience felt more like a market place. We had the feeling that the hotel was trying to maximise its space to contain as many guests as possible for the price it offered for the buffet. It made the buffet feel cheapskate and low-class. A stark contrast to every single afternoon tea we have been to.

We also felt that the constant need to queue, each time we wanted food, made us feel low-class. I said I felt like an orphan queuing in a food house, waiting to collect my food. My fifth sister said she felt like a prisoner waiting in the queue for her food.

When I related my 'One serving per time' experience, all of them agreed that it made one feel cheapo or yeow kwee. My elder sister summed my experience up,"It's an aunty preparing the food. What can you expect?"

Verdict: Parkroyal Hotel at Kitchener Road has a lot of room for improvement.

Mouth-Watering Lava Custard Mooncakes

I had read rave reviews about Mei Xin Mooncakes, especially its Lava Custard Mooncakes last year.

Unfortunately, by the time I made my way down to Takashimaya Mooncake Fair, the lava custard mooncakes were sold out. So did the egg custard mooncakes. Imagine the disappointment I experienced!

This year, I checked out Mei Xin Lava Custard Mooncakes earlier. The booth was still at the same place. For all my unluckiness, I gathered my courage and asked,"Do you still have lava custard mooncakes?"

Much to my delight, the lady said,"Yes. The stocks are running low though. I may not have any left if you return tomorrow."

I bought two boxes at $53.50 per box, careful not to overbuy in case I don't like them. 

 

The mooncakes come in a classic mooncake box.

  

Four small mooncakes sitting on the top tier and four more at the bottom.

Storage instructions: only open them when you want to eat them. There is no need to put them in the refrigerator. Shelf-life is about a month.

 

'美心 流心' is the embossment, with '流心' referring to the lava custard.

 

The crust is soft and easy at the slightest bite.

The egg custard forms the second layer within.

The core holds the watery lava custard. 

Yumz! Heavenly!

I had three at one go. Enough said.

I gave one box to my mother. When I called her to ask about her feedback, she was busy with my baby nephew. What was told to me by my elder sister was: Mother said,"Wow, this mooncake is delicious! Where did she get it from?"

I am down to two mooncakes on Day Two. I will be getting more when Mei Xin comes to the mall near my place at the end of the month!

The Number of Salted Egg Yolk Burgers To Date

Can you believe it? I ate so many of the salted egg yolk burgers since its launch.

Almost an average of one per day! Sometimes I even had two in a day - one for lunch and one for dinner.

I always ask for 'extra sauce' and 'the $7.50 meal' without fail. 

This burger is definitely loaded with calories. I just have to eat the burger and the meal that comes with it and I am often kept full for the next 24 hours.

I wonder what I will do when this burger fad is over. I hope I don't miss it too much.

Nostalgic Drinking Style

It surprised my friend when she saw me drinking Milo this way at Ya Kun.

After eating the egg/s, I pour my Milo into the same saucer that contained my egg/s, stir it and drink it.

My father did this for me when I was young for functional reason, to cool the Milo down and I do it for the girls now. Coco has since switched to drinking ice Milo but Baby is still taking hot Milo obediently. 

It's purely a nostalgic gesture to reminisce my childhood habit and one of those things my busy father did for me.

As I was having a quick breakfast at Ya Kun this morning, a realisation dawned on me. Ya Kun is one of those places that has not been dominated by the presence of China nationals yet. It is a typical local family breakfast place, a place where housewives gossip about schools and teachers, and share their expertise on how to prepare their children for the national exams, a place where friends meet up for breakfast. 

Places in Singapore are rapidly occupied with Filipinos, China nationals and other residents with foreign accents and unfamiliar languages. It has become a tall order to find a respite from the foreign infiltration. Even the public swimming pool where Baby goes for her weekly swimming class sees, or rather, hears, many who speak China-accented Mandarin. They seat themselves down beside you and get their family or friends to invade into the space you occupy. When you move to accommodate them, more of them come and join the invasion, forcing you to move further away.

"Singapore is no longer what it used to be," so said a friend who has emigrated to Australia.

Only small pockets of Singapore allow me to escape the reality of rapid changes. Eating at Ya Kun is one of them, even if its employees are China nationals. At least the girl manning the till adopts our lingo when I ask for 'Milo, less sugar'. She would rephrase it,"Milo, siew dai!"

Jenny Bakery's Oh-I'm-in-Heavens Butter Cookies

Have you heard or read about, or even tasted, the heavenly Jenny Bakery's butter cookies?

(I'm sure you have.)

The skeptical me rarely buys something to try even when the whole world has raved over it. 'One man's meat is another's poison" is my daily mantra. Of course, this mantra becomes a much regurgitated refrain after some misadventures with what others rave over eg. Ah Zong Mee Sua.

I have read a few forummers commenting that Jenny Bakery bakes awesome cookies but having tasted a variety of butter cookies in my life - since butter cookies are my favourite kind of cookies, I have long concluded that butter cookies are dry and hard biscuits made with generous amounts of butter. 

I saw this cute and pretty cookie tin sitting innocuously on the dining table one morning. Within the petite and shallow circular tin lay an assortment of cookies, beckoning greedy fingers to pick them up. So I obliged, choosing one that looked like a butter cookie. Chocolate cookies are too sweet for my liking.

As the cream coloured cookie entered my mouth and my teeth sank into it, I was amazed at how 'unbiscuit' it felt! It was not dry or hard like the cookies I have tried most of the time. It was not exactly melt-in-your-mouth either, but the bite was in between both worlds: just the nice texture to bite on but breaks readily into bits the moment you sink your teeth in, and the bits melt in your mouth upon contact with your saliva. Oh heavens!

The light yellow exterior made the cookie look deceivingly subtle but the rich butter taste was unmistakable and impeccable! I felt like I was eating a genuine butter cookie indeed!

As you can see, I enjoyed the cookies so much I almost didn't leave any to take a picture with, for all the fond memories they were worth!

Facebook saved this quarter-eaten cookie!

If you take a good look at the cookie, you will see that it is made in a shape of a flower, with soft wave-like designs as its petals. I never knew the formation of a cookie contribute that immensely to the palate and visual pleasure until I tried Jenny Bakery! 

I am a butter cookie person so it may not be fair for me to comment on the coffee-, and chocolate-, flavoured cookies which were also in the cookie box. Baby loved them though. 

I decided we had had enough and left a few pieces of coffee and chocolate cookies untouched.

However, the next time I opened the pretty tin, it was down to two miserable chocolate cookies. 

Baby lapped them up.

Salt Egg Yolk Chicken Burger

Have you tried the latest McDonald's creation, Salted Egg Yolk Chicken Burger? 

I tried it the night before last night despite reading a friend's husband's review that it was "tasteless". I had read a friend's friend's Facebook review saying that it was delicious, but she advised her friends to ask for more sauce.

So I asked William to request for more sauce. He placed an order at the counter instead of the self-service machine so as to make the request. 

The sauce was indeed aplenty. It was creamy with a tinge of sweetness. Not 'tasteless' as what my friend's husband had claimed.

The chicken patty itself was different from the usual McChicken patty. It was succulent and juicy. The meat tasted more like thigh meat. I gave William my favourable review and egged him to get one for himself. He figured food that I deem 'good' should not be too bad since I am a picky eater. He tried it subsequently and agreed that it was indeed better than McChicken.

I enjoyed the Salted Egg Yolk Chicken Burger so much I returned to another McDonald's at Serene Centre to have it for lunch yesterday despite being on a diet.

 

That was when I realised different outlets prepared their salted egg yolk sauce differently!

If you compare this burger with the first picture above, you will see that the sauce is thicker and seemingly richer in this one. However, I thought the first burger with the watery sauce tasted richer, with the tinge of sweetness slightly stronger. Although this one appears to have thicker, more gooey sauce, the taste is blander. You know how it is like to crave for a particular food once you have tasted it good? That was how I felt when I ate the first one, but after eating this, it instantly watered down my appetite for the burger. 

My original verdict for the burger was:

Go try it. And remember to ask for more sauce.

Now I am not so sure. I would probably add:

Depending on the outlet, you may or may not experience satisfaction.

If you pay for the meal touted as having a 'local flavour', it comes with a banana pie and a packet of curly fries, William thought the pie tasted like some delicious goreng pisang while I 'urghhh' at the thought of having a fast food item tasting like what you buy at a Malaysian pasar malam stall.

As for the curly fries that are created alongside the burger, I say 'skip it' and opt for the $7.60 value-meal that comprises of the normal fries and a drink.

Things That Make Me Irrevocably Fat

I have never been a fan of Starbucks. 

I have always felt it was an overpriced coffeeshop selling exorbitantly priced coffees and teas. Of course, their cakes too!

It started on a morning when I was waiting for Coco to finish her business in school and I had nothing to do, with nowhere to go.

I settled myself at this Starbucks and naturally, it was only decent to buy something to occupy a seat at a cafe.

Classic Glazed Doughnut

I saw this through the display window. It looked pretty sitting on display and it had a name associated with 'original' and a sense of nostalgia - 'classic'. It must be some old and gold stuff at Starbucks, I thought. So I asked and paid for it.

What a disappointment. What 'classic?' I prefer the $1 doughnut sold at nameless bakeries anytime, man!

'Glazed' was right. Hard and (too) sweet indeed. Never again will I try it.

 

Blueberry Crumble Muffin

I tried this for a tunch and liked it, except the passion fruit purée (?) in the centre of the muffin. The muffin itself is nicely dried on the outside but moist on the inside. It would be perfect without the passion fruit bit.

 

Chocolate Coffee Chiffon Cake

I tried this because my limited taste bud for the sweets ran out of options amidst the myriad of choices in Starbucks.

The chocolate chiffon was acceptably sweet but the thick layer of chocolate that enveloped the cake was too sweet for my liking. 

 

White Chocolate Yuzu Chiffon Cake

I was worried this would be overly sweet when I read 'white chocolate' but I decided to take the plunge and try it as the chocolate version was too sweet for me, but it proved to be superior to its darker counterpart.

The white chocolate layer was less sweet than the original chocolate and the Yuzu zing was subtle and refreshing. It remains my favourite item on the list whenever I go to Starbucks.

 

Croque Madame Puff

I was a huge fan of Coffeebean & Tea Leaf's Croque Madame before it was removed from the breakfast menu, so I was seduced by the name although it certainly didn't look half as appetising as Coffeebean's version.

It was quite 'chewy' to pull apart and this property lent itself to the actual chewing as well - too flat and not half as hot and piping a Croque Madame should be.

Tried it once and I am done with it.

 

Rosemary Chicken & Emmental Cheese Croissant

I had this only because it was probably the best out of the worst items on the $6 breakfast menu then.

It was, at best, edible and it won't be the first thing I dived for at Starbucks.

 

Grilled Chicken, Mushroom, Spinach & Egg Sandwich (I think)

This did not leave an impression with me as I found it so awful I demanded William to eat it instead. He, on the other hand, was appalled that I had forced him to eat something so terrible.

We swore never to place an order for this again!

I have since tried other muffins and a few cheesecakes that taste nothing out of the ordinary. 

I am still not a huge fan of coffee but I usually ask for a Cuppiccino or Mocha Ice-blended at Starbucks if I need to order a drink.

Since my numerous tastebud adventures with Starbucks, I've come to realise that it's the ambience, constructed by the lighting, furniture, mood and whatnots, that entices 'fans' to stick around here. The food is acceptable most of the time but not fantastic. Of course I know 'cool to be at Starbucks' rather than a peasant's foodcourt or even Yakun is the main incentive. 

I am still not a fan of Starbucks but it's no longer a place I shun.