Just had dinner there, service was rather with the staffs passing us the menu as soon as we sat down ... however this should be the case since there were only like 3 to 4 tables to serve and with 3 serving staffs.
Food was above average. We ordered
Pineapple fried rice with seafood: This fried rice got the most commends with rice cooked just right, not too dry or wet. "Sotong" in the rice were large in size and portions not small too. Contain raisins, pineapples, cashew nuts, sotong and prawns.
Crispy Money bag: not much comment on this. Quite normal.
Chicken Wings: very crispy but not too dry. There were actually pieces on the portion but we had 6 people so the waitress told us that she will tell the chef to give us 6 pieces instead. (Good~~)
We also ordered Baby Kailan with mushroom and oyster sauce, mixed vege (I think), Tom Yam soup, Chendol and sticky rice with mango.
I did not drink the Tom Yam soup but the comment on it was so so though the amount of ingredients in the soup was quite good.
Chendol and sticky rice were large in portion and generous with the topping. Warm sticky rice with cold Mango pieces simply tasted great and you can choose to add ice cream too.
7 persons, we spent about $180 for dinner which was $25 for each person. Not too expensive or cheap but given the quality of food, its money well spent.
Au petit salut is helmed by chef Patrick Steuberger from Switzerland. Having garnered various experiences overseas in multiple countries and various michellin star chefs as tutors, Patrick returned to Au petit salut as executive chef in 2005. With such an impressive resume, its no wonder the restaurant was introduced to me by my boss.However, i maintain that reputation remains as reputation until put to the actual taste test. How will it fare i wonder?
Upon entering, you will find that the restaurant exudes a form of rustic charm for its location and the design of it exterior. Seemingly a colonial building that has yet to be teared down and located in the deep recesses of a mildly wooded enclave, its like stepping back in time to a less busy era where life was a little less complicated. In short, i felt relaxed the moment i parked my car.
The restaurant is a rather intimate affair with the interior seating about 30-40 people and the al fresco section seating around the same number of people. When i made my reservation, the restaurant was fully booked due to a corporate function but they made concessions since i only needed 2 seats.Decor wise, minimal is best for this place but i'm quite pleased with the simple and clean approach used.
The restaurant is a rather intimate affair with the interior seating about 30-40 people and the al fresco section seating around the same number of people. When i made my reservation, the restaurant was fully booked due to a corporate function but they made concessions since i only needed 2 seats.Decor wise, minimal is best for this place but i'm quite pleased with the simple and clean approach used.
My choice of starter was the foie gras as usual. For the price, i'm surprised at how big a portion the foie gras was. In short, this would easily have cost more then $30 on ala carte given the size. Quality wise, it was also a surprise since the Xeres vinegar and red onions actually managed to enhance the taste of the foie gras by adding a sourish and sweet taste. The spinach also managed to neutralize the oily taste somewhat. However, make no mistake, this is still a sinful and oily dish but one thats done well in both quality and quantity.
My gf had this soup and i had a taste, i can't remember what vegetable it was but i can tell you it tasted fresh, sweet and appetising.
Half dozen baked Burgundy snails with tomato and garlic butter - Feeling a little adventurous, we ordered an addtional serving for appetiser which was these little critters you see here. Snails. First off, i've never tasted these things before and was warned that they come with a weird and sometimes pungent smell when done wrong. However, this rendition i tried was optimistic. The tomato and garlic butter was baked well into the dish and managed to cover the pungent taste. There was still a hint of the slimey texture of the snail but otherwise, the majority of the taste went to the garlic butter. It was quite alright actually.
Filet de boeuf sauce moutarde et herbes fraîches - Pan seared beef tenderloin of about 150gm served with mashed potato mustard and herb sauce. The beef itself was a little overcooked on the sides but got better towards the middle since my order was for medium rare. The meat near the middle was tender and succulent with a generous smattering of juiciness. The herb sauce fared pretty well but bordered on being too salty. Mashed potato was excellent, supremely smooth and easy on the palate but some may find it too milky.
Guinea fowl and pork sausage served with melted cabbage and bacon, brown jus - My gf's dish, i only had a small taste of this but i found it salty and sourish. Not exactly something i would like. For the record, my gf didn't like this much either.
Fondant chaud au chocolat - Ah....fondants. Something i would soon stop ordering since i now know how to make it myself. Their rendition was pretty good, nice and crispy on the outside while warm suitably flowing on the inside. The chocolate is just right, not too sweet nor too bitter. This went well with the chocolate sorbet but horribly with the reddish fruit (i suspect raspberry).
“Mont-Blanc” vanilla ice cream, chestnut purée and meringue - Well, this didn't go too well. Being my first mont blanc and all, the vanilla ice cream was the only thing passable while the chestnut puree tasted like sweetened yam. Utterly disappointed given the rather flashy name.
Hazelnut tart with orange marmalade and vanilla “Crème Anglaise” - Another disappointment in the dessert department, this hazelnut tart was once again, rather lacklustre in weird in the taste department. Its also warm and the thing that looks like ice cream isn't. It tastes like orange cream and didn't go well with the tart at all.
Total bill came up to $131 for this meal.
In the end, the meal was still satisfactory even though one main dish and 2 of its desserts were rather lacklustre. Service was excellent while the relaxed atmosphere would have been complete if the corporate event was not ongoing while we were there. I did realise that all of the dishes that didn't live up to standard came from the $30 lunch menu while the $58 lunch menu was generally better in standard and taste. Maybe a difference in price means a difference in quality?
Family favourite but not mine~ Popped in for an early dinner on Saturday at about 6pm, and the place was buzzing with families and kids. I'm not a fan of Swenson's but my friend's little girl wanted to try, although this is a bit deviant from the normal Swenson menu.
They have a salad bar :D Reminds me of places like Sizzler but this is much smaller in terms of variety. An ala carte salad bar buffet will cost you $11.30 but if you order a main from the Grill, Wharf, or Farm selection, the salad bar comes along with it. A rather good deal I think.
Salad bar ($11.30) - mixed greens with thousand island dressing, mashed potatoes ham, thai tang hoon salad, fried wanton skin, coleslaw, were the items I tried. Average at most, with the tang hoon being the best. The fried wantons added a nice crunch though.
Jumbo chicken frank ($13.90)- disappointing. Although big in portion, the sausage used was not fragrant enough, and the bun was oily. Ugh. They had tomato sauce and melted cheese on top, which made it taste like pizza. The mustard sauce didn't help much. The meslcun salad on the side was basically a few tatters of leaves and lacking a dressing. The wedges was cold and tasteless.
Omelette ($5.90) - this is in the kids menu, my friend's little girl ordered one for herself and we ordered one to share. Turned out to be a bad topping to an already unsatisfactory dish. Served cold and without any hint of ham nor cheese as reflected in the menu. The harsh browns and mashed potatoes that came along with it was...sigh...
Grilled seafood combo ($28) & Sausage combo ($17.90) - my friends had these so I can't comment on taste. The seafood looked okay enough, but the sausage was pathetically small in portion.
Service was nothing to complain about, and our water was refilled constantly without us having to ask. No ambience to speak of, as although the sofas are quite nice to sit on, the place is full of weekend families, kids, and babies in prams.
If I had a choice, I'd probably not come here again as the same amount of moolah I spent can get me better food. If I had no choice, I'll just take fries or salad bar~
Nice quiet dinner spot~ I have never been to this part of the road, let alone dine in Gallery Hotel. Armed with the Singapore Women's Weekly 1-for-1 main voucher, i made a trip down with a girlfriend last Thursday.
The lift at the lobby takes you straight to the 4th floor, where Zenden is. You actually step out of the lift right to the restaurant entrance because there's no doors to the place.
Soft jazzy music compliments the dimly-lit interior, and the best seats are the ones right next to the glass panes, although the bright lamps on each of these tables tend to make the seats slightly warm.
Menu is actually a clipboard with the different pages clipped on. Smart move I thought, as changes to the menu can be done quite easily in this case.
Bread (complimentary) - normal soft white rolls, served warm and with butter.
Baked scallops & prawns ($22) - it came with mushroom risotto and a few pieces of asparagus. The seafood was very fresh and came in a generous portion. There was also this crab/lobster bisque-like kind of sauce that came with the rice: not bad, but have it while its hot. The asparagus was too old though, I poked it aside after my 1st bite.
Flambe Tenderloin ($28) - my friend ordered this as there is something rather attractive about flambe dishes (we think). The 2 pieces of small tenderloin was done rather nicely, and it was fun watching the service staff cook it in front of you. Apparently the taste is not bad. The sauce that accompanied the beef was extremely salty however, really really salty. There was also this square of alternate layers of potatoes and cheese, baked, and very good!!. Its a french thing supposedly but I don't know what it's called.
Thick cut fries ($5) - technically we didn't order this, as my friend has requested for her side of mashed potato to be changed to this. Not bad actually, although it wasn't served hot enough for me.
Vanilla ice cream - this sweet surprise was served to us at the end of the meal, a scoop for each of us. Your normal King's ice cream, but still a nice touch I thought.
Quality of food exceeded my expectations to be honest; I had expected lesser fare from a hotel 'coffeehouse'.
Service needs to be much improved though. The place was a tad understaffed, with some of them disappearing at times, leaving only 2 staff throughout the restaurant. Very hard to get staff's attention, and I realised some of them had the tendency to walk backwards (i'm not kidding!) while looking at things or mumbling stuff, which makes getting to them even harder!
We wanted to change our main course to those under the flambe section after they took our orders so we asked a staff if he can check if they've already started preparing our orders, and if not, we would like to change our choices. He smiled sheepishly, asked us to wait a minute, then asked someone in a jacket which we assumed is the supervisor or captain to come over. So we repeated our request; he walked off to the kitchen for a while, then walked away to do other stuff. So we were puzzled, not sure if it meant yes or no??? So we asked him again, to which he said okay, and brought us the menus. We deliberated over it, then finally when I wanted to place my new order, the same guy told me: oh, im sorry, I think the chef has already started to prepare your order". Eh???
Finally, we realised they had no idea of what we were talking about just now, at all! I never did find out what he went over to the kitchen for, but we were just amused~~
Service aside, the prices here are very reasonable for a hotel, mains between $12 - $28 and desserts around $6-8. Will be a possible dinner option if I'm in the vicinity :D
Confused menu~ I walked out of the place with my tastebuds confused actually. Went for a food outing with LIC and a whole lot of other people for a Saturday lunch, but er i guess my tastebuds didnt really agree with the menu.
Buffet line -this is part of the $20nett per pax buffet spread of appetisers and desserts which we had too, on top of our special set menu. Tried the mushroom soup and DIY rojak: mushroom soup was more the Chinese kind than western style, with a very strong taste of the dong gu. Rojak was okay, and I have to mention that their ingredients were very fresh. I didn't actually try the desserts coz there were already 2 disapproving faces before I made my way there haha.
Hainanese chicken rice salad with crabcake - best dish of the day. The dish contains all the flavours of chicken rice without the calories, to quote the owner, and bingo! Poached chicken strips with crunchy greens and a slightly spicy dressing, topped with puffed rice. It was thumbs up all round the table. Crabcake was nice and deep fried nicely, was good altho the salad was much more interesting to us :D
Laksa pesto pasta and Ba Bao risotto - liked the pasta more than the risotto. Al dente pasta with (i think) too much pesto but still nice. The ba bao risotto tasted of only truffle haha, it way overwhelmed whatever else of the 7 ingredients. I later found out it had 3 mushrooms, two nuts, chinese sausage, parmesan cheese in it.
Tenderloin with otah and balamic carrot cake - the strangest dish of the day :I I passed my tenderloin to the happy Leroy at my table so can't comment on that. The carrot cake....sigh....was chao sng. Or so we thought. Because there was no print out menu of what we were having, we all seriously thought it was chao sng. Until the owner came over and explained, then came the voices of "ooorrhh". But still, we felt this dish was seriously confused. The otah was served in a creme brulee dish but a bit watery, and also salmon with green curry, which tasted almost exactly like the otah.
Fruit tart - store bought tartlett which was way too sweet. Nothing fusion about this. Disappointing.
I concluded that perhaps I like less confusing food haha~ Quality of food was below my expectations, and I feel the $20nett we paid for per pax was, although the quantity was good, quality-wise was not. Don't understand the food? Its fusion la.
Still a good family spot~ Came to realise Crystal Jade is still one of the safest bet for a family dinner, it can never go too wrong~ These dishes may be very familiar but I'll still run through some of them la:
Deep fried beancurd with pepper and salt ($6) - very delectable squares of fresh toufu coated in a cripsy batter with salt & pepper, served with the insides still soft and hot. Yum~~
Fried rice with dried canpoy and carb meat ($11.50) - tastes much better than it looks, with obvious crab meat pieces and plenty of wok hei.
Stew Chicken Claypot ($13.80) - thisis called San Bai Ji on the menu, and my favourite dish here :D Fragrant pieces of fresh chicken stired fried with onions and sitting in a deelish dark brown sauce. Quite a waste of the sauce if you dun have rice to mop it up though.
Deep fried garlic prawns ($18) - the pricest thing we had. Think cereal prawns but substitute the cereal for garlic. Nice initially but the rawness of the garlic gets to you after a while. Prawns were less fragrant than I thought as well, maybe I was distracted by the mountain of garlic on the plate.
Baby Kailan stir fried with garlic ($9.80) - Disappoiting especially for crystal jade standard. Although crunchy, the greens were absolutely tasteless :(
There were other stuff which was run of the mill like dumpling noodies and congee with preserved egg & meat. No ambience to speak of, because its afetrall a family place. Noisy family chatter with avergae service, but if you're like us seated right in a corner it can sometimes be hard to catch the staff's attention.
Oh, and their 'pickles' served when you are seated has been changed to endamame :D
The bill came to about $133 for the 7 of us, which was quite reasonable for the variety we had.
Tiny dessert hole~ The 7 of us seated in here took up almost half of the seating here. This place is really tiny and the tables are elbow-unfriendly :I was after dinner so we decided to share these:
Triple chocolate cheese cake ($8) - not as jelat as I thought it will be; and the cheesecake and chocolate were nicely proportioned. Nothing spectacular though.
Foret Noire Log cake ($7.50) - I have to admit I ordered this because it looked so cute :D Cute aside, this is rather good. A very nice spin on the black forest; and the brandied cherries on the inside cuts the richness of the chocolate very nicely.
Crepes Exotique ($12.50) - crepes with bananas and a sorbet on top. drizzled with chocolate. The bananans were, well, just bananas. I couldnt make out what flavour the sorbet was but I think it had mango and passionfruit stuff in it. Taste for price, I think this is not worth it actually.
Cannele ($1.50) - I lurve caneles, so ordered one for them to try. But erm apparently, this rum vanilla concoction is an aquired taste, and my sis, dad, and auntie all havent acquired it yet.
Coffee macaroon ($2.30) - my little bro tried this so I can't quite comment on it.
We all had different verions of coffee: ice mocha, americano, cappuncino. I had the latte but the coffee was disappointingly thin with badly-foamed milk. Ugh.
The bill was $62 for 7 of us, which was avergae I feel. But I'll definitely not have coffee here again. I'll go back to Nectarie for that.
Bistro Senso...makes sense~ Decided to go there precisely because they were offering a 50% off ALL ala carte items. EVERYTHING, except drinks but good enough for me :D
Since the big wheel stopped turning, business here has been really really, really.....bad. Choosing a Monday evening made the isolated place seem really sad, with a few specks of people strolling around and F&B service staff either earnestly standing outside trying to grab your attention with promotional flyers or chatting amongst themselves to kill time.
2 girls with a huge appetite to try out this less costly version of Senso made us order a starter, 2 mains, 3 desserts, and of course coffee.
Salad nicose ($12) - Chose this over calamari because we thought since we are bingeing, we might as well err on the healthier side (haha). The tossed combination of the tuna, beans, greens, and eggs were surprisingly good, especially paired with the slightly tart vinegrette dressing. Good start to the evening.
Crab ravioli ($18) - Pieces of fat and flavourful parcels tossed with fresh tomato sauce and seafood bits. The pasta tasted home-made (although I can be wrong) and the seafood very fresh.
Pizza Parma Rucola($18) - I'm always distracted my this favourite when choosing pizza, and I lost again, haha. Classic italian style with parma ham and rucola greens on top. The plain carbo base went very well with the salty ham, but the greens looked a bit limp I thought.
Creme Brulee ($8) - I don't usually order this but since well its 50% anyway. Plus the pastry counter looked really unattractive. Creamy sweet gooey stuff, but they should have burnt the top layer a bit more.
Tiramisu ($8) - came in a mini tower form on a big plate. Tasted better than it looks but still the sponge fingers were too dry; it was also too soft and not chilled enough.
Panna Cotta ($8) - Came in a cute martini glass but strangely green in colour. There was no flavour so we didnt know what the colouring was...maybe it was just a visual thing. Usual stuff.
Coffee ($3) - So many places do coffee so badly I just had to ask them to please make sure mine was pressed properly. Didn't disappoint me in the end.
Latte ($4.50) - Didn't try this but shouldn't be too bad given the quality of the coffee.
Quality of the food surprised me, given the fact that they have probably not had a customer for a very very long time. Throughout my dinner, there was at max 3 tables including us (we were the first to walk in and last to step out).
Service was friendly and attentive, and they kept coming over to ask how's the food. Ambience was actually quite nice; you can see the sea through the glass panels at the side, and if you choose alfresco, it's actually right under the wheel. Quite a romantic vibe if you go with the correct person.
If not for the walking distance, I would really love to come back a few more times. To take advantage of the 50% while it lasts. Not sure when, but it will be as long as the big wheel doesn't start I believe. So go soon!!
The bill came up to $79, but with the 50% off food items, we paid only about $50 for 2 persons. Very worth it I feel :D
Had another bout of craving for Thai food but didn't fancy spending too much due to the economic downturn so dropped by Jai Thai for a simple no frills dinner with my folks. Jai, which means heart in English, is touted as the most value for money Thai restaurant in Singapore.
Located in the rather secluded private estate of Jalan Pemimpin in the Thomson/Sin Ming area, Jai Thai operates out of a rather spacious shophouse but provides very limited parking spaces. The interior is kept simple and unassuming with cheap wooden tables and chairs and Chinese tunes playing in the background. There is of course the obligatory photos of the Thai royal family.
Tom Yum Soup - To be honest, I didn't quite take to the tom yum soup because it wasn't the clear and hard hitting sourish spicy type that I personally prefer. Instead, it had lots of chilli flakes and came across as only mildly sourish and watery. Good for people who don't like their soup too extreme I guess. On the upside, it came with fried fish pieces, squid and prawns which were relatively fresh.
Thai Fish Cake - At $1.50 a piece, the fish cake was decent. Not the best I've tried but very palatable. Just that I found it a wee bit too soft for my liking.
Pineapple Fried Rice - Evenly fried and decent tasting but on the dry side. Miserable bits of chicken and chicken floss donned the top. However at $6 for a 2 pax portion, I guess its still acceptable.
Kai Lan with Oyster Sauce - How bad can kai lan with oyster sauce get? Average tasting but at least the leaves didn't have worm holes in it - something that usually plagues alot of budget eateries. I did find the oyster sauce a little excessive though.
Pandan Chicken - This was probably the best dish of the day. Big chunks of boneless chicken meat well marinated and fragrant to boot. Very worth the price ($5) but watch out for the excessive oil.
Mango Pudding - At $1.50, I honestly didn't expect much. The pudding's texture was more like jelly then pudding and came topped with coconut milk. Edible but not something I would order again.
Mango Sticky Rice - The rice was smooth, sticky and sweet at the same time with the generous mango slices mildy sweet and sour. A drizzle of coconut milk atop completed the picture with the whole dish coming across as sweet, creamy with a light sourish tinge. Quite good I must say.
I would say $30 for a filling dinner for 3 pax is really a steal. Food quality is decent but service needs to buck up a little as the wait staff do seem a little inefficient. For the price, I would definitely be better off eating here then at Thai Express and the likes.
Situated at United Square, one can locate Fiesta Brasilia hidden at the corner on the basement level beside Brauhaus Restaurant & Pub and McDonalds.
Started by one of co-founders of Brazil Churrascaria along Sixth Avenue and his partner, what sets this restaurant apart from the rest of the Brazilian meat buffet outlets is their casual setting and festive atmosphere, although a nice private dining area is also available.
Dinner was kick-started by the Cheese Bread, which was something different and interesting – it had a nice cheesy flavour accompanied by a lovely chewy texture. Only drawback was that it was served cold – perhaps so that one can enjoy the cheesy taste better.
HFB found the Pumpkin Soup to be mild-flavoured, and also thought it was strange it inclined towards saltiness rather than sweet-flavoured, but he truly enjoyed the accompanied Garlic Bread which he thought was crustily delicious.
HFB then proceed for some salads, and cooked items that also included pasta that one can be ordered off the pasta bar. Voiced your pasta and sauce selection to the chef behind the counter and it will be served right to your table once it is prepared.
While the Cream Sauce Pasta was nothing memorable, the Tomato-based version came al dente and the sauce was surprisingly not too bad amidst the lacked of ingredients.
The first item off from the Passadors, or meat-wielding waiters in Portuguese, was the Snow Fish. The snow fish has a nice firm texture and HFB readily indulged in the nicely charred exterior. However, one had to be careful while eating it as it contains bones within.
The Roast Chicken was a joy to behold – the meat was succulent and the crispy layer of skin was something to die for – this is a MUST TRY!
The Tenderloin wrapped with Bacon though could be better executed – the meat was slightly tough – similar to my experience with Vibe.
The Roast Lamb though was something out of the ordinary with a hint of peppermint flavour, although one may find it slightly gamy.
HFB was pretty impressed by the Rump Steak; known to shrivelled when roasted or grilled, it was surprisingly juicy despite it’s lacked of fats.
A few tiny shaves of Honey Roasted Ham revealed a nicely roasted exterior and a sweet tasty bite – something comfy from everyone’s favourite ham.
The Baby Beef, which HFB assumed it to be from a baby calf, was just as brilliant – it was scrumptiously moist and tender and HFB would definitely have more of it if it weren’t for the fact that there was still the Topside Beef Steak to go.
Medium rare was the way the topside beef was prepared and the requested thinly sliced beef was deftly carve from the skewer. It was truly a nice piece of meat to savour and HFB definitely didn’t regret one bit to save some space in his tummy for it.
There were a couple of meats to go but one surely could not leave this place without having the Mövenpick Ice Cream and Cheese Platter served at the dessert corner.
And if you are above 18, do also give the Caipirinha, Brazil’s national aperitif a try! Made with Cachaça, Sugar and Lime – have a few sip and enjoy a festive mood with the passadors who will not hesitate to swap their skewers for some percussion instruments and a douse of samba music.
Fiesta Brasilia is definitely the place for a fun, loud and crazy night out with your peers!
1=SGD 0.0587
Just had dinner there, service was rather with the staffs passing us the menu as soon as we sat down ... however this should be the case since there were only like 3 to 4 tables to serve and with 3 serving staffs.
Food was above average. We ordered
Pineapple fried rice with seafood: This fried rice got the most commends with rice cooked just right, not too dry or wet. "Sotong" in the rice were large in size and portions not small too. Contain raisins, pineapples, cashew nuts, sotong and prawns.
Crispy Money bag: not much comment on this. Quite normal.
Chicken Wings: very crispy but not too dry. There were actually pieces on the portion but we had 6 people so the waitress told us that she will tell the chef to give us 6 pieces instead. (Good~~)
We also ordered Baby Kailan with mushroom and oyster sauce, mixed vege (I think), Tom Yam soup, Chendol and sticky rice with mango.
I did not drink the Tom Yam soup but the comment on it was so so though the amount of ingredients in the soup was quite good.
Chendol and sticky rice were large in portion and generous with the topping. Warm sticky rice with cold Mango pieces simply tasted great and you can choose to add ice cream too.
7 persons, we spent about $180 for dinner which was $25 for each person. Not too expensive or cheap but given the quality of food, its money well spent.
Rating given:
Au petit salut is helmed by chef Patrick Steuberger from Switzerland. Having garnered various experiences overseas in multiple countries and various michellin star chefs as tutors, Patrick returned to Au petit salut as executive chef in 2005. With such an impressive resume, its no wonder the restaurant was introduced to me by my boss.However, i maintain that reputation remains as reputation until put to the actual taste test. How will it fare i wonder?
Upon entering, you will find that the restaurant exudes a form of rustic charm for its location and the design of it exterior. Seemingly a colonial building that has yet to be teared down and located in the deep recesses of a mildly wooded enclave, its like stepping back in time to a less busy era where life was a little less complicated. In short, i felt relaxed the moment i parked my car.
The restaurant is a rather intimate affair with the interior seating about 30-40 people and the al fresco section seating around the same number of people. When i made my reservation, the restaurant was fully booked due to a corporate function but they made concessions since i only needed 2 seats.Decor wise, minimal is best for this place but i'm quite pleased with the simple and clean approach used.
The restaurant is a rather intimate affair with the interior seating about 30-40 people and the al fresco section seating around the same number of people. When i made my reservation, the restaurant was fully booked due to a corporate function but they made concessions since i only needed 2 seats.Decor wise, minimal is best for this place but i'm quite pleased with the simple and clean approach used.
My choice of starter was the foie gras as usual. For the price, i'm surprised at how big a portion the foie gras was. In short, this would easily have cost more then $30 on ala carte given the size. Quality wise, it was also a surprise since the Xeres vinegar and red onions actually managed to enhance the taste of the foie gras by adding a sourish and sweet taste. The spinach also managed to neutralize the oily taste somewhat. However, make no mistake, this is still a sinful and oily dish but one thats done well in both quality and quantity.
My gf had this soup and i had a taste, i can't remember what vegetable it was but i can tell you it tasted fresh, sweet and appetising.
Half dozen baked Burgundy snails with tomato and garlic butter - Feeling a little adventurous, we ordered an addtional serving for appetiser which was these little critters you see here. Snails. First off, i've never tasted these things before and was warned that they come with a weird and sometimes pungent smell when done wrong. However, this rendition i tried was optimistic. The tomato and garlic butter was baked well into the dish and managed to cover the pungent taste. There was still a hint of the slimey texture of the snail but otherwise, the majority of the taste went to the garlic butter. It was quite alright actually.
Filet de boeuf sauce moutarde et herbes fraîches - Pan seared beef tenderloin of about 150gm served with mashed potato mustard and herb sauce. The beef itself was a little overcooked on the sides but got better towards the middle since my order was for medium rare. The meat near the middle was tender and succulent with a generous smattering of juiciness. The herb sauce fared pretty well but bordered on being too salty. Mashed potato was excellent, supremely smooth and easy on the palate but some may find it too milky.
Guinea fowl and pork sausage served with melted cabbage and bacon, brown jus - My gf's dish, i only had a small taste of this but i found it salty and sourish. Not exactly something i would like. For the record, my gf didn't like this much either.
Fondant chaud au chocolat - Ah....fondants. Something i would soon stop ordering since i now know how to make it myself. Their rendition was pretty good, nice and crispy on the outside while warm suitably flowing on the inside. The chocolate is just right, not too sweet nor too bitter. This went well with the chocolate sorbet but horribly with the reddish fruit (i suspect raspberry).
“Mont-Blanc” vanilla ice cream, chestnut purée and meringue - Well, this didn't go too well. Being my first mont blanc and all, the vanilla ice cream was the only thing passable while the chestnut puree tasted like sweetened yam. Utterly disappointed given the rather flashy name.
Hazelnut tart with orange marmalade and vanilla “Crème Anglaise” - Another disappointment in the dessert department, this hazelnut tart was once again, rather lacklustre in weird in the taste department. Its also warm and the thing that looks like ice cream isn't. It tastes like orange cream and didn't go well with the tart at all.
Total bill came up to $131 for this meal.
In the end, the meal was still satisfactory even though one main dish and 2 of its desserts were rather lacklustre. Service was excellent while the relaxed atmosphere would have been complete if the corporate event was not ongoing while we were there. I did realise that all of the dishes that didn't live up to standard came from the $30 lunch menu while the $58 lunch menu was generally better in standard and taste. Maybe a difference in price means a difference in quality?
Rating given:
Family favourite but not mine~
Popped in for an early dinner on Saturday at about 6pm, and the place was buzzing with families and kids. I'm not a fan of Swenson's but my friend's little girl wanted to try, although this is a bit deviant from the normal Swenson menu.
They have a salad bar :D Reminds me of places like Sizzler but this is much smaller in terms of variety. An ala carte salad bar buffet will cost you $11.30 but if you order a main from the Grill, Wharf, or Farm selection, the salad bar comes along with it. A rather good deal I think.
Salad bar ($11.30) - mixed greens with thousand island dressing, mashed potatoes ham, thai tang hoon salad, fried wanton skin, coleslaw, were the items I tried. Average at most, with the tang hoon being the best. The fried wantons added a nice crunch though.
Jumbo chicken frank ($13.90)- disappointing. Although big in portion, the sausage used was not fragrant enough, and the bun was oily. Ugh. They had tomato sauce and melted cheese on top, which made it taste like pizza. The mustard sauce didn't help much. The meslcun salad on the side was basically a few tatters of leaves and lacking a dressing. The wedges was cold and tasteless.
Omelette ($5.90) - this is in the kids menu, my friend's little girl ordered one for herself and we ordered one to share. Turned out to be a bad topping to an already unsatisfactory dish. Served cold and without any hint of ham nor cheese as reflected in the menu. The harsh browns and mashed potatoes that came along with it was...sigh...
Grilled seafood combo ($28) & Sausage combo ($17.90) - my friends had these so I can't comment on taste. The seafood looked okay enough, but the sausage was pathetically small in portion.
Service was nothing to complain about, and our water was refilled constantly without us having to ask. No ambience to speak of, as although the sofas are quite nice to sit on, the place is full of weekend families, kids, and babies in prams.
If I had a choice, I'd probably not come here again as the same amount of moolah I spent can get me better food. If I had no choice, I'll just take fries or salad bar~
Rating given:
Nice quiet dinner spot~
I have never been to this part of the road, let alone dine in Gallery Hotel. Armed with the Singapore Women's Weekly 1-for-1 main voucher, i made a trip down with a girlfriend last Thursday.
The lift at the lobby takes you straight to the 4th floor, where Zenden is. You actually step out of the lift right to the restaurant entrance because there's no doors to the place.
Soft jazzy music compliments the dimly-lit interior, and the best seats are the ones right next to the glass panes, although the bright lamps on each of these tables tend to make the seats slightly warm.
Menu is actually a clipboard with the different pages clipped on. Smart move I thought, as changes to the menu can be done quite easily in this case.
Bread (complimentary) - normal soft white rolls, served warm and with butter.
Baked scallops & prawns ($22) - it came with mushroom risotto and a few pieces of asparagus. The seafood was very fresh and came in a generous portion. There was also this crab/lobster bisque-like kind of sauce that came with the rice: not bad, but have it while its hot. The asparagus was too old though, I poked it aside after my 1st bite.
Flambe Tenderloin ($28) - my friend ordered this as there is something rather attractive about flambe dishes (we think). The 2 pieces of small tenderloin was done rather nicely, and it was fun watching the service staff cook it in front of you. Apparently the taste is not bad. The sauce that accompanied the beef was extremely salty however, really really salty. There was also this square of alternate layers of potatoes and cheese, baked, and very good!!. Its a french thing supposedly but I don't know what it's called.
Thick cut fries ($5) - technically we didn't order this, as my friend has requested for her side of mashed potato to be changed to this. Not bad actually, although it wasn't served hot enough for me.
Vanilla ice cream - this sweet surprise was served to us at the end of the meal, a scoop for each of us. Your normal King's ice cream, but still a nice touch I thought.
Quality of food exceeded my expectations to be honest; I had expected lesser fare from a hotel 'coffeehouse'.
Service needs to be much improved though. The place was a tad understaffed, with some of them disappearing at times, leaving only 2 staff throughout the restaurant. Very hard to get staff's attention, and I realised some of them had the tendency to walk backwards (i'm not kidding!) while looking at things or mumbling stuff, which makes getting to them even harder!
We wanted to change our main course to those under the flambe section after they took our orders so we asked a staff if he can check if they've already started preparing our orders, and if not, we would like to change our choices. He smiled sheepishly, asked us to wait a minute, then asked someone in a jacket which we assumed is the supervisor or captain to come over. So we repeated our request; he walked off to the kitchen for a while, then walked away to do other stuff. So we were puzzled, not sure if it meant yes or no??? So we asked him again, to which he said okay, and brought us the menus. We deliberated over it, then finally when I wanted to place my new order, the same guy told me: oh, im sorry, I think the chef has already started to prepare your order". Eh???
Finally, we realised they had no idea of what we were talking about just now, at all! I never did find out what he went over to the kitchen for, but we were just amused~~
Service aside, the prices here are very reasonable for a hotel, mains between $12 - $28 and desserts around $6-8. Will be a possible dinner option if I'm in the vicinity :D
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Confused menu~
I walked out of the place with my tastebuds confused actually. Went for a food outing with LIC and a whole lot of other people for a Saturday lunch, but er i guess my tastebuds didnt really agree with the menu.
Buffet line -this is part of the $20nett per pax buffet spread of appetisers and desserts which we had too, on top of our special set menu. Tried the mushroom soup and DIY rojak: mushroom soup was more the Chinese kind than western style, with a very strong taste of the dong gu. Rojak was okay, and I have to mention that their ingredients were very fresh. I didn't actually try the desserts coz there were already 2 disapproving faces before I made my way there haha.
Hainanese chicken rice salad with crabcake - best dish of the day. The dish contains all the flavours of chicken rice without the calories, to quote the owner, and bingo! Poached chicken strips with crunchy greens and a slightly spicy dressing, topped with puffed rice. It was thumbs up all round the table. Crabcake was nice and deep fried nicely, was good altho the salad was much more interesting to us :D
Laksa pesto pasta and Ba Bao risotto - liked the pasta more than the risotto. Al dente pasta with (i think) too much pesto but still nice. The ba bao risotto tasted of only truffle haha, it way overwhelmed whatever else of the 7 ingredients. I later found out it had 3 mushrooms, two nuts, chinese sausage, parmesan cheese in it.
Tenderloin with otah and balamic carrot cake - the strangest dish of the day :I I passed my tenderloin to the happy Leroy at my table so can't comment on that. The carrot cake....sigh....was chao sng. Or so we thought. Because there was no print out menu of what we were having, we all seriously thought it was chao sng. Until the owner came over and explained, then came the voices of "ooorrhh". But still, we felt this dish was seriously confused. The otah was served in a creme brulee dish but a bit watery, and also salmon with green curry, which tasted almost exactly like the otah.
Fruit tart - store bought tartlett which was way too sweet. Nothing fusion about this. Disappointing.
I concluded that perhaps I like less confusing food haha~ Quality of food was below my expectations, and I feel the $20nett we paid for per pax was, although the quantity was good, quality-wise was not. Don't understand the food? Its fusion la.
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Still a good family spot~
Came to realise Crystal Jade is still one of the safest bet for a family dinner, it can never go too wrong~ These dishes may be very familiar but I'll still run through some of them la:
Deep fried beancurd with pepper and salt ($6) - very delectable squares of fresh toufu coated in a cripsy batter with salt & pepper, served with the insides still soft and hot. Yum~~
Fried rice with dried canpoy and carb meat ($11.50) - tastes much better than it looks, with obvious crab meat pieces and plenty of wok hei.
Stew Chicken Claypot ($13.80) - thisis called San Bai Ji on the menu, and my favourite dish here :D Fragrant pieces of fresh chicken stired fried with onions and sitting in a deelish dark brown sauce. Quite a waste of the sauce if you dun have rice to mop it up though.
Deep fried garlic prawns ($18) - the pricest thing we had. Think cereal prawns but substitute the cereal for garlic. Nice initially but the rawness of the garlic gets to you after a while. Prawns were less fragrant than I thought as well, maybe I was distracted by the mountain of garlic on the plate.
Baby Kailan stir fried with garlic ($9.80) - Disappoiting especially for crystal jade standard. Although crunchy, the greens were absolutely tasteless :(
There were other stuff which was run of the mill like dumpling noodies and congee with preserved egg & meat. No ambience to speak of, because its afetrall a family place. Noisy family chatter with avergae service, but if you're like us seated right in a corner it can sometimes be hard to catch the staff's attention.
Oh, and their 'pickles' served when you are seated has been changed to endamame :D
The bill came to about $133 for the 7 of us, which was quite reasonable for the variety we had.
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Tiny dessert hole~
The 7 of us seated in here took up almost half of the seating here. This place is really tiny and the tables are elbow-unfriendly :I was after dinner so we decided to share these:
Triple chocolate cheese cake ($8) - not as jelat as I thought it will be; and the cheesecake and chocolate were nicely proportioned. Nothing spectacular though.
Foret Noire Log cake ($7.50) - I have to admit I ordered this because it looked so cute :D Cute aside, this is rather good. A very nice spin on the black forest; and the brandied cherries on the inside cuts the richness of the chocolate very nicely.
Crepes Exotique ($12.50) - crepes with bananas and a sorbet on top. drizzled with chocolate. The bananans were, well, just bananas. I couldnt make out what flavour the sorbet was but I think it had mango and passionfruit stuff in it. Taste for price, I think this is not worth it actually.
Cannele ($1.50) - I lurve caneles, so ordered one for them to try. But erm apparently, this rum vanilla concoction is an aquired taste, and my sis, dad, and auntie all havent acquired it yet.
Coffee macaroon ($2.30) - my little bro tried this so I can't quite comment on it.
We all had different verions of coffee: ice mocha, americano, cappuncino. I had the latte but the coffee was disappointingly thin with badly-foamed milk. Ugh.
The bill was $62 for 7 of us, which was avergae I feel. But I'll definitely not have coffee here again. I'll go back to Nectarie for that.
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Bistro Senso...makes sense~
Decided to go there precisely because they were offering a 50% off ALL ala carte items. EVERYTHING, except drinks but good enough for me :D
Since the big wheel stopped turning, business here has been really really, really.....bad. Choosing a Monday evening made the isolated place seem really sad, with a few specks of people strolling around and F&B service staff either earnestly standing outside trying to grab your attention with promotional flyers or chatting amongst themselves to kill time.
2 girls with a huge appetite to try out this less costly version of Senso made us order a starter, 2 mains, 3 desserts, and of course coffee.
Salad nicose ($12) - Chose this over calamari because we thought since we are bingeing, we might as well err on the healthier side (haha). The tossed combination of the tuna, beans, greens, and eggs were surprisingly good, especially paired with the slightly tart vinegrette dressing. Good start to the evening.
Crab ravioli ($18) - Pieces of fat and flavourful parcels tossed with fresh tomato sauce and seafood bits. The pasta tasted home-made (although I can be wrong) and the seafood very fresh.
Pizza Parma Rucola($18) - I'm always distracted my this favourite when choosing pizza, and I lost again, haha. Classic italian style with parma ham and rucola greens on top. The plain carbo base went very well with the salty ham, but the greens looked a bit limp I thought.
Creme Brulee ($8) - I don't usually order this but since well its 50% anyway. Plus the pastry counter looked really unattractive. Creamy sweet gooey stuff, but they should have burnt the top layer a bit more.
Tiramisu ($8) - came in a mini tower form on a big plate. Tasted better than it looks but still the sponge fingers were too dry; it was also too soft and not chilled enough.
Panna Cotta ($8) - Came in a cute martini glass but strangely green in colour. There was no flavour so we didnt know what the colouring was...maybe it was just a visual thing. Usual stuff.
Coffee ($3) - So many places do coffee so badly I just had to ask them to please make sure mine was pressed properly. Didn't disappoint me in the end.
Latte ($4.50) - Didn't try this but shouldn't be too bad given the quality of the coffee.
Quality of the food surprised me, given the fact that they have probably not had a customer for a very very long time. Throughout my dinner, there was at max 3 tables including us (we were the first to walk in and last to step out).
Service was friendly and attentive, and they kept coming over to ask how's the food. Ambience was actually quite nice; you can see the sea through the glass panels at the side, and if you choose alfresco, it's actually right under the wheel. Quite a romantic vibe if you go with the correct person.
If not for the walking distance, I would really love to come back a few more times. To take advantage of the 50% while it lasts. Not sure when, but it will be as long as the big wheel doesn't start I believe. So go soon!!
The bill came up to $79, but with the 50% off food items, we paid only about $50 for 2 persons. Very worth it I feel :D
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Had another bout of craving for Thai food but didn't fancy spending too much due to the economic downturn so dropped by Jai Thai for a simple no frills dinner with my folks. Jai, which means heart in English, is touted as the most value for money Thai restaurant in Singapore.
Located in the rather secluded private estate of Jalan Pemimpin in the Thomson/Sin Ming area, Jai Thai operates out of a rather spacious shophouse but provides very limited parking spaces. The interior is kept simple and unassuming with cheap wooden tables and chairs and Chinese tunes playing in the background. There is of course the obligatory photos of the Thai royal family.
Tom Yum Soup - To be honest, I didn't quite take to the tom yum soup because it wasn't the clear and hard hitting sourish spicy type that I personally prefer. Instead, it had lots of chilli flakes and came across as only mildly sourish and watery. Good for people who don't like their soup too extreme I guess. On the upside, it came with fried fish pieces, squid and prawns which were relatively fresh.
Thai Fish Cake - At $1.50 a piece, the fish cake was decent. Not the best I've tried but very palatable. Just that I found it a wee bit too soft for my liking.
Pineapple Fried Rice - Evenly fried and decent tasting but on the dry side. Miserable bits of chicken and chicken floss donned the top. However at $6 for a 2 pax portion, I guess its still acceptable.
Kai Lan with Oyster Sauce - How bad can kai lan with oyster sauce get? Average tasting but at least the leaves didn't have worm holes in it - something that usually plagues alot of budget eateries. I did find the oyster sauce a little excessive though.
Pandan Chicken - This was probably the best dish of the day. Big chunks of boneless chicken meat well marinated and fragrant to boot. Very worth the price ($5) but watch out for the excessive oil.
Mango Pudding - At $1.50, I honestly didn't expect much. The pudding's texture was more like jelly then pudding and came topped with coconut milk. Edible but not something I would order again.
Mango Sticky Rice - The rice was smooth, sticky and sweet at the same time with the generous mango slices mildy sweet and sour. A drizzle of coconut milk atop completed the picture with the whole dish coming across as sweet, creamy with a light sourish tinge. Quite good I must say.
I would say $30 for a filling dinner for 3 pax is really a steal. Food quality is decent but service needs to buck up a little as the wait staff do seem a little inefficient. For the price, I would definitely be better off eating here then at Thai Express and the likes.
See all my pictures here.
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Situated at United Square, one can locate Fiesta Brasilia hidden at the corner on the basement level beside Brauhaus Restaurant & Pub and McDonalds.
Started by one of co-founders of Brazil Churrascaria along Sixth Avenue and his partner, what sets this restaurant apart from the rest of the Brazilian meat buffet outlets is their casual setting and festive atmosphere, although a nice private dining area is also available.
Dinner was kick-started by the Cheese Bread, which was something different and interesting – it had a nice cheesy flavour accompanied by a lovely chewy texture. Only drawback was that it was served cold – perhaps so that one can enjoy the cheesy taste better.
HFB found the Pumpkin Soup to be mild-flavoured, and also thought it was strange it inclined towards saltiness rather than sweet-flavoured, but he truly enjoyed the accompanied Garlic Bread which he thought was crustily delicious.
HFB then proceed for some salads, and cooked items that also included pasta that one can be ordered off the pasta bar. Voiced your pasta and sauce selection to the chef behind the counter and it will be served right to your table once it is prepared.
While the Cream Sauce Pasta was nothing memorable, the Tomato-based version came al dente and the sauce was surprisingly not too bad amidst the lacked of ingredients.
The first item off from the Passadors, or meat-wielding waiters in Portuguese, was the Snow Fish. The snow fish has a nice firm texture and HFB readily indulged in the nicely charred exterior. However, one had to be careful while eating it as it contains bones within.
The Roast Chicken was a joy to behold – the meat was succulent and the crispy layer of skin was something to die for – this is a MUST TRY!
The Tenderloin wrapped with Bacon though could be better executed – the meat was slightly tough – similar to my experience with Vibe.
The Roast Lamb though was something out of the ordinary with a hint of peppermint flavour, although one may find it slightly gamy.
HFB was pretty impressed by the Rump Steak; known to shrivelled when roasted or grilled, it was surprisingly juicy despite it’s lacked of fats.
A few tiny shaves of Honey Roasted Ham revealed a nicely roasted exterior and a sweet tasty bite – something comfy from everyone’s favourite ham.
The Baby Beef, which HFB assumed it to be from a baby calf, was just as brilliant – it was scrumptiously moist and tender and HFB would definitely have more of it if it weren’t for the fact that there was still the Topside Beef Steak to go.
Medium rare was the way the topside beef was prepared and the requested thinly sliced beef was deftly carve from the skewer. It was truly a nice piece of meat to savour and HFB definitely didn’t regret one bit to save some space in his tummy for it.
There were a couple of meats to go but one surely could not leave this place without having the Mövenpick Ice Cream and Cheese Platter served at the dessert corner.
And if you are above 18, do also give the Caipirinha, Brazil’s national aperitif a try! Made with Cachaça, Sugar and Lime – have a few sip and enjoy a festive mood with the passadors who will not hesitate to swap their skewers for some percussion instruments and a douse of samba music.
Fiesta Brasilia is definitely the place for a fun, loud and crazy night out with your peers!
You can view all the photos here.
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