It used to the best hangout place until i spot some cheap skinny uncles trying to show off their skinny *pride and honor* in their itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow translucent swimming trunks; or whichever pale colours they choose. They would just hang by the main pool suntanning and watching the girls tanning and walking by them, in and out of the pool to wet themselves and swerve by them again :( oh goodness........
I've even seen one with a white swimming trunks with just a tiny patch of black in front... oh for goodness sakes, stop thinking that we women and the vain showy kind.... see... man also the same.... With all that just happening by the main pool, the other parts of the pool is great.
My favourite... the lazy river... one could just rent a inflatable ring to sit on all day while the river brings you through obstacles like rainy water, caves, waterfalls and etc. Except that sometimes the calmness might be disturbed by some crazy teens doing crazy stuffs.... but.... we've all been through that stage, i ought to learn to be more understanding and try not to let them disturb my peace and fun....
The wave pool is great too.... Fancy being swept around by pool water that don't taste too salty and no sea weeds entangling your feet. I love best being on my inflated tube swept away by the waves while feeling the icy cool rain falling on my back on a hot sunny afternoon... That is the most wonderous feeling one could have.
Though the place and the facilities are already a little run down, however the place is still pretty clean and acceptably functional. Most importantly it is affordable and has a KFC for my hunger pangs....
California Fitness is somewhat an interesting place for those who love fitness as well as need a place to hang out now and then. For a good price (as compared to the other mega gyms around), cali (california in short), you get to go for various fitness classes, speed down the hill on a bike with hot music and an instructor pumping down your ears with encouragements that guarantees you walking like ducks later...
Cali do have a good range of gym equipment and the bugis outlet i pretty like it as they do have a boxing ring area for those who like to down the bags once in a while. Cardio area is downstairs and upstairs you get to pump up those muscles and have a great view of muscle marys and skinny joes... If you feel bored, this is a great place to hang out. You really get to see some regular people acting differently as you normally would see. Cranging sounds of weights banging against each other, hmphing sound of raising loads and shouts of victory as well as encouraging comments such as " touch your muscle.. Is it so hard....."
This is indeed a great place to hang out... not only to spend sometime with the body you battle with everyday, i think it somewhat is therapeutic to be invisible for a while, minding your own business and doing some workout soaking in an environment of positivity towards life.
All in all, cali is a wonderful place to hang out though the personal trainers and recruiters can be irritating when they hustle you and the steel stairway up to level 2 can be a pain in the @$$. Otherwise, all is pretty nice there...
Arranged to meet up with a friend over dinner at Imperial Treasure Fine Chinese Cuisine (or ITFCC for short), purportedly the crème de la crème of the Imperial Treasure group of restaurants, which of course explains the choice of location - Marina Bay Sands.
Situated alongside the celebrity restaurants on the second floor of the Marina Bay Sands shopping arcade, ITFCC's decor is reminiscent of its sister restaurant, Imperial Treasure Cantonese - modern classical with lots of glass and sombre colours.
Roasted Pork - We started off with a well known dish from the Imperial Treasure group - roasted pork, which had a good fat to meat ratio with a crisp top. Unfortunately, it wasn't served warm and that marred the experience quite a bit.
Roasted Duck - Roast goose wasn't in the menu so we had to make do with duck instead. Lean crisp skin coupled with succulent and not too gamy flesh made for a good eat. I still prefer goose though.
Sauteed Prawns with Italian White Truffle Oil - My usual order of scallops was out so the wait staff recommended substituting with prawn balls, which on paper, sounded equally enticing. But in reality, the truffle oil just didn't gel that well with the prawns however huge and crunchy they were.
Four Types of Vegetables with Oyster Sauce - Basically the kitchen chooses what four varieties of vegetables you will be getting based on what's available on that particular day. Served up with slightly starchy oyster sauce. Decent.
Yong Chow Fried Rice - Apart from the plentiful prawns and char siew (BBQ pork), I couldn't find any other reasons to like this dish. Lacking in wok hei and tasting flat throughout, the fried rice looked the part but failed to deliver.
Durian Pudding - A sweet and smooth ending to the meal and probably the highlight of the dinner. At least the quality was consistent with what I had at Imperial Treasure Cantonese.
We could barely walk after the meal. Heck, we could barely even finish the meal, all at a cost of about $130 for 2. Going by what we ordered, that's not exactly cheap and I certainly wouldn't consider it value for money for the quality of food. Don't get me wrong, the meal wasn't bad. In fact it was above average but personally I just felt it didn't warrant such a price tag. Especially since Imperial Treasure Cantonese @ Crowne Plaza can produce better food at that price point.
Michelin starred Daniel Boulud recently opened a branch of his award winning DB Bistro Moderne (originally from New York), at the Marina Bay Sands Singapore. This top rated French- American bistro, in the words of Daniel Boulud, aims to provide Singaporeans with a "convivial, delicious and affordable" experience.
The place is reminiscent of a typical Parisian bistro with its "sidewalk" seating and striking red booth seats at the corner. Coupled with dark tones and cream backed chairs, the whole setting presented itself as soothing with a tinge of formalness. And tables are spaced far apart enough to ensure privacy during conversation, but get the booth seats if you can or the "sidewalk" seats if you are somewhat of a voyeur or enjoy being gawked at.
The Original DB Burger - Is it just me or is the size of the patty a little on the large side? Alright, large is a ridiculous understatement. The entire burger looked absolutely lopsided in favour of the beef (no complaints though!) and the buns, nothing more than puny pieces of window dressing. I asked for my patty to be done medium and it honestly looked rare but I attribute that to the sirloin short ribs being braised in red wine. Taste wise, the patty had the makings of a good burger - inherent beefy taste, juicy with bits of fat and a nice mildly uneven texture. It's only pitfall(s)? The absence of any foie gras taste (I see it, but I don't taste it) and the copious amount of salt that went into it. I like salt but trust me, this was salty. Not salty enough to keep me and my continuously refilled glass of iced water from polishing up every last morsel of it though. Ironically, the fries could have done with some salt but I guess the serving of mustard, mayonnaise and ketchup sufficed.
Profiteroles au Cafe - I am quite a fan of this classic French dessert and when I learnt that it was going to be drenched in chocolate syrup, I was sold instantly! And boy oh boy, was it drenched in chocolate. The profiteroles were stuffed with coffee rocky road ice cream, marshmallows, nuts and covered with a thin layer of chocolate. Hot chocolate sauce was then poured slowly over to melt the chocolate and coat the profiteroles were a thick layer of decadent, happiness inducing chocolate syrup. The richness of chocolate coupled with a smooth strong coffee taste - very good. Just don't consume too much as it might prove overwhelming hence the magic number of 3 per serving (I ate 4 and it really got to me).
On my part, I paid about $62 for a belly bursting brunch in a nice environment, great company and great service. My burger was decent, just too salty but the profiteroles were sinfully good. I'm not sure the burger warrants the hefty price tag of $38 though, seeing that I can probably get similar quality at Mortons and Spruce at a lower price or a significantly higher value ratio at Smokinn Frogz. However, if you are of the opinion that $38 is small change, you are more than welcome to indulge in it and for something more luxurious, there is the black truffle variant, which costs a cool $88 and is available only during dinner.
Amici, which means friends in Italian, has been around for quite a while but we've never really gotten down to trying it even though there have been quite a number of favourable reviews circulating around on the internet. That changed when we popped by the Holland Village area to buy some baking supplies and decided to give Amici a shot.
Finding the place takes some navigation skills as the place around it seems to be under construction which makes it hard to see the place until you actually walk near it. There is a small al fresco area but I wouldn't recommend that especially if you go in the afternoon and with all the construction going on. The seemingly narrow air conditioned interior lets loose a cosy vibe but watch out for the too close for comfort table spacing and the unforgiving air circulation system which will have you smelling of food within minutes.
Complimentary Bread - We got off to a nice start with the warm and crusty complimentary bread that had pockets of what seemed like cranberries. Mildly sweet and comforting.
Carbonara - The carbonara wasn't al dente but on the upside, it didn't come across as too rich which toned down the nausea inducing factor. The plentiful bacon pieces were a plus as well.
Squid Ink Pasta - Apparently a specialty at Amici, the squid ink pasta was the drenched in squid ink variant, not the made from squid ink kind, of which the latter I personally prefer. I could make out a noticeable tartness in the pasta ( I assume they probably tossed the pasta in tomato sauce first before dunking it in squid ink) which did make it more appetising. What caught my attention was the delectable pieces of cod fish that were crisp on the outside and exuded a natural sweetness from within. There was also a generous serving of squid rings which served to up the chewy factor.
Tiramisu - The desserts were certainly the stars of the evening and it started with tiramisu, which had a great sponge to mascarpone ratio. The sponge wasn't overly soaked in coffee but where's the alcohol?! Still very good though and if there's any reason I'll return to Amici, this would be it!
Cappuccino Cake - I'm no big fan of coffee but this dessert surprised me. 5 layers of sponge compacted with a thin layer of wafer in between - firm in texture with a sweet hint of coffee. The ice cream that came alongside didn't gel with me though, seeing that it was literally milk solidified and came across as overpowering.
Through the use of a voucher, we had the cheaper main course free, which brought our bill to a more manageable $56 for a 2 pax lunch. Reasonable I may say, but I'll probably only be back for the desserts. Service was decent but then again, the place wasn't packed so it's probably not a good gauge.
Armed with a $20 voucher and 3 free items to redeem, we settled for a weekday dinner at the forever crowded NEX.
Tonkotsu Ramen ($13.80) - the soup's supposed to be have been brewed over 14hours on their website, and to be honest, I quite liked their soup. Rich and aromatic without being overly oily and doesnt get you jer lat. The ramen was nice and springy, but the accompanying cha su slices were too fatty for me (too little lean meat!)
Curry cheese ramen - it was some really light japanese curry, more like curry soup but I liked it. The 'cheese' was really a few strips of cheese in the soup.
Gyoza - Good! 6 hot little puffs of meat, cabbage and other stuff. Very nicely grilled.
Cold Cha Su - 5 slices of cold cha su on a bed of lettuce and silvers of radish with miso dressing. The combi was a bit too salty for me. Chicken Karage - usual deep fried chicken, although not bad but would be something I can skip next time.
Macha ice cream - not good. Skip.
*I dont know the prices of some items as they were redemption items*
Service was your usual hassled young staff but a particular Japanese young girl provided rather a memorable experience as she was overly polite but really nice and sweet.
Wanted to go beering but decided we can try some bites at this place which we’ve walked past multiple times and found the menu quite interesting. Unfortunately, service turned out to be better than the food.
Just for a sampling of their bites:
Minced shrimp and water chestnut balls 金钱虾饼 ($9.90) - this was supposed to be one of their ‘star’ items but sadly it was far from wow. 3 coin-shaped balls of shrimp meat which tasted more like fish cake, with too finely-minced chestnut which resulted in the lack of crunch, plus some sporadic bits of green spring onions. A lackluster dish troubled by the slightly too oily batter too.
Jellyfish Salad 凉拌海蜇 ($6.90) – thicker / broader than usual slices of jellyfish tossed in some fragrant oil dressing (not sure if its sesame) and mixed with some chilli and cucumber silvers. Not enough kick in the dressing which made it very bland; we had to add some soya sauce and chilli padi in order for us to finish it.
Seafood Soup 海鲜羹 ($6.90) – This was the only good dish of the evening, with it being very similar to the usual Sour Spicy soup but minus the spiciness. Served hot and tasted like a real broth with just the right amount of starch, with an good amount of fish slices, squid, and 1 prawn.
I didn’t feel the total of $28 for 2pax was worth it, although service and the deco etc was okay. Not sure if I will return to try their other stuff though.
Settled here for a post-lunch chit chat, and also given that some of the guys weren’t terribly full by lunch at Chef Daniel’s.
The place was quite nicely filled up without being crowded on a Saturday afternoon and we managed to snag a nice corner seat for 5pax.
Seafood pizza ($16.80) – We picked pizza because the thin crust will not fill us up too much but still be a good snack. Plus we saw a 1-4-1 pizza for Citibank card holders. This was quite nice and the crust thin but not too crispy, only that they could be more generous with the seafood for the price.
Teriyaki chicken cheese pizza ($12.80) – Good choice, with the lean chicken slices complimenting the cheese very well surprisingly. Earl Gery ($5) – Dilmah early gery; nothing to complain about but a nice touch with the cookie.
Service was okay and generally a very good place to chill and people-watch at the same time. Will be coming back!
Picked this place for a birthday lunch as suggested by the birthday girl and boy. I have heard about this place but never got around to trying it until now, and I didn’t even know what cuisine it was and went along thinking: Chef Daniel can’t be too wrong.
Perched on the rooftop of the 7th floor of Iluma, the place was not packed at all for a Saturday lunch. I think more publicity can be done about the place in fact. The interior of the place was brightly lit thanks to the glass panelling. The place had quite a nice intimate feel despite the brightness and I liked the whole set up which felt a little like fine dining.
With quite a sorry selection of ala carte, we settled for the Executive Set Lunches which was priced at $16.50 per person with an option to add another $2 for coffee / tea / soft drinks. Between the 5 of us, we had 3 types of main courses.
Bread – served complimentary, the focaccia was warm and pleasantly, but thought it was too dense for my liking.
Soup of the Day – the cream of mushroom was quite good and not overly thick, which was quite good for soaking the bread in.
Sautéed prawns on spaghetti – served with roasted eggplant, mushrooms & zucchini – The pasta was al dente and served in big portion which I couldn’t finish. The tomato sauce was alright and prawns quite fresh. Grilled salmon mentaiko – served with teriyaki sauce & fettuccini – didn’t try this but it looked okay to me.
Grilled sirloin steak – served with roasted vegetable and potatoes – didn’t try this as well but my friends did complain about it either.
Dessert of the Day – it wasn’t explained to us what was, but it turned out to be not bad. It was alternate layers of hazelnut, custard, and chocolate and on the side were lychee balls with liquid centres which I thought was quite interesting. It would have been better if they explained the item to us though, such a waste of the delightful dessert.
Pricing was very affordable; I was expecting the meal to be more costly.
But service seems to be an issue here which needs to be bucked up. When we arrived, we were informed that the soup of the day is clam chowder, but when it came, it was cream of mushroom. When I enquired, I was told that it was just changed, and that within a span of maybe half hour. I’m not sure if there was any miscommunication but if the soup had really changed halfway, they could have informed us prior. What is some of us are allergic to mushrooms?
Bread was also served to sporadic tables (not sure how they ‘chose’) so we had to ask for some after seeing ourselves being by-passed a few times.
And I get quite annoyed when something as basic as coke / coke light is served flat. It happened to the whole table and we found out that they had taken the drink from a pitcher which was being used for a company lunch. The company lunch had free flow of coke / coke light and thus was pre-poured into the pitcher instead of fresh from the can. We asked to change it, and they did, but it still came back flat. The server insisted that it was fresh from the can, which I suspect not (if it was, then its time to change your cans). Eventually, I changed mine to coffee instead.
Apart from the service issues, the value for money set lunch and food will make me want to come back, when I have the chance that is.
Thanks to the kind people at Regent, I had the opportunity to try their buffet lunch on a weekday afternoon with a friend of mine.
On a normal Tuesday afternoon 12pm, I arrived to see 2 big groups waiting outside the restaurant as the staff was doing their last checks. I silently hoped that was a sign that the food was good. More trickled in thereafter and I was very surprised that the place has such a crowd on a nonchalant weekday.
Private rooms are available while the general area were all big tables and comfy chairs, some of which had natural sunlight in air-conditioned comfort thanks to the glass panels separating the dining area and the adjourning poolside.
Food wise, I was honestly not expecting such an extensive spread. The buffet was very well spread out which didn’t feel like a squeeze even with the crowd.
Bread – the grissini was very good and the rest of bread looked good but I didn’t try as I wanted to save the stomach space for other stuff.
Cheese – A good variety of cheese which will probably attract genuine cheese lovers. The few that I tried were good, and also plenty of honeys to pair them with.
Appetizers – a comprehensive selection although the ones I tried have more misses than hits. The mushroom salad was too bland for me and the smoked salmon and seared tuna only average.
Pastas / meat – the 2 pastas I tried were very good! – a broad flat green pasta in tomato sauce with wild pork and penne in tomato. I didn’t try any meat but I saw whole roasted chicken and tenderloin, which comes complete side sauces. I thought the grilled vegetables were very nicely done, with asparagus and zucchini retaining their crunch and had that smoked flavor at the same time. But the cream of mushroom was disappointingly bland though.
Chinese – the chinese section was surprisingly good. They had a pumpkin crabmeat soup which tasted like sharks fin soup without the sharks fin; it was excellent. The seafood in the sambal seafood was very fresh; the sambal nicely spicy and fragrant which I imagine will go very well with plain rice. The sweet and sour pork was terribly addictive. They also had an interesting deep-fried scallop with banana (yes I know it sounds strange) which was quite a tasty combination to my surprise: the scallop was big and very fresh; the banana not overly mushy, and the batter crunchy although abit oily. The prata was too oily for my liking, but the accompany curry chicken was good.
Desserts – honestly, nothing from the dessert section made a deep impression; although they were not bad. Selection ranges from mousse, cakes, choux puffs, tiramisu, gelato (pistachio, vanilla, chocolate, cookies and cream) with toppings etc.
I like them having some of the chefs at the stations, and the shaving of the parma ham on the spot was pretty neat. There isn’t so many places I see with their variety of olive oil / vinaigrette and honeys for the cheese as well.
Service was pretty good, with staff quite efficient with refilling of water and clearing of plates. No big issue here.
At the total bill of $91 for 2pax which I saw, the quality and quantity of the food makes the buffet quite value for money in my opinion, although there were some misses as well.
This is a good business lunch venue, and also evident by the many business groups during my lunch. I would imagine that dinners here will have a rather different ambience. Would not mind recommending this for sure.
1=SGD 0.0587
It used to the best hangout place until i spot some cheap skinny uncles trying to show off their skinny *pride and honor* in their itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow translucent swimming trunks; or whichever pale colours they choose. They would just hang by the main pool suntanning and watching the girls tanning and walking by them, in and out of the pool to wet themselves and swerve by them again :( oh goodness........
I've even seen one with a white swimming trunks with just a tiny patch of black in front... oh for goodness sakes, stop thinking that we women and the vain showy kind.... see... man also the same.... With all that just happening by the main pool, the other parts of the pool is great.
My favourite... the lazy river... one could just rent a inflatable ring to sit on all day while the river brings you through obstacles like rainy water, caves, waterfalls and etc. Except that sometimes the calmness might be disturbed by some crazy teens doing crazy stuffs.... but.... we've all been through that stage, i ought to learn to be more understanding and try not to let them disturb my peace and fun....
The wave pool is great too.... Fancy being swept around by pool water that don't taste too salty and no sea weeds entangling your feet. I love best being on my inflated tube swept away by the waves while feeling the icy cool rain falling on my back on a hot sunny afternoon... That is the most wonderous feeling one could have.
Though the place and the facilities are already a little run down, however the place is still pretty clean and acceptably functional. Most importantly it is affordable and has a KFC for my hunger pangs....
Rating given:
California Fitness is somewhat an interesting place for those who love fitness as well as need a place to hang out now and then. For a good price (as compared to the other mega gyms around), cali (california in short), you get to go for various fitness classes, speed down the hill on a bike with hot music and an instructor pumping down your ears with encouragements that guarantees you walking like ducks later...
Cali do have a good range of gym equipment and the bugis outlet i pretty like it as they do have a boxing ring area for those who like to down the bags once in a while. Cardio area is downstairs and upstairs you get to pump up those muscles and have a great view of muscle marys and skinny joes... If you feel bored, this is a great place to hang out. You really get to see some regular people acting differently as you normally would see. Cranging sounds of weights banging against each other, hmphing sound of raising loads and shouts of victory as well as encouraging comments such as " touch your muscle.. Is it so hard....."
This is indeed a great place to hang out... not only to spend sometime with the body you battle with everyday, i think it somewhat is therapeutic to be invisible for a while, minding your own business and doing some workout soaking in an environment of positivity towards life.
All in all, cali is a wonderful place to hang out though the personal trainers and recruiters can be irritating when they hustle you and the steel stairway up to level 2 can be a pain in the @$$. Otherwise, all is pretty nice there...
Rating given:
Arranged to meet up with a friend over dinner at Imperial Treasure Fine Chinese Cuisine (or ITFCC for short), purportedly the crème de la crème of the Imperial Treasure group of restaurants, which of course explains the choice of location - Marina Bay Sands.
Situated alongside the celebrity restaurants on the second floor of the Marina Bay Sands shopping arcade, ITFCC's decor is reminiscent of its sister restaurant, Imperial Treasure Cantonese - modern classical with lots of glass and sombre colours.
Roasted Pork - We started off with a well known dish from the Imperial Treasure group - roasted pork, which had a good fat to meat ratio with a crisp top. Unfortunately, it wasn't served warm and that marred the experience quite a bit.
Roasted Duck - Roast goose wasn't in the menu so we had to make do with duck instead. Lean crisp skin coupled with succulent and not too gamy flesh made for a good eat. I still prefer goose though.
Sauteed Prawns with Italian White Truffle Oil - My usual order of scallops was out so the wait staff recommended substituting with prawn balls, which on paper, sounded equally enticing. But in reality, the truffle oil just didn't gel that well with the prawns however huge and crunchy they were.
Four Types of Vegetables with Oyster Sauce - Basically the kitchen chooses what four varieties of vegetables you will be getting based on what's available on that particular day. Served up with slightly starchy oyster sauce. Decent.
Yong Chow Fried Rice - Apart from the plentiful prawns and char siew (BBQ pork), I couldn't find any other reasons to like this dish. Lacking in wok hei and tasting flat throughout, the fried rice looked the part but failed to deliver.
Durian Pudding - A sweet and smooth ending to the meal and probably the highlight of the dinner. At least the quality was consistent with what I had at Imperial Treasure Cantonese.
We could barely walk after the meal. Heck, we could barely even finish the meal, all at a cost of about $130 for 2. Going by what we ordered, that's not exactly cheap and I certainly wouldn't consider it value for money for the quality of food. Don't get me wrong, the meal wasn't bad. In fact it was above average but personally I just felt it didn't warrant such a price tag. Especially since Imperial Treasure Cantonese @ Crowne Plaza can produce better food at that price point.
See all my pictures here.
Rating given:
Michelin starred Daniel Boulud recently opened a branch of his award winning DB Bistro Moderne (originally from New York), at the Marina Bay Sands Singapore. This top rated French- American bistro, in the words of Daniel Boulud, aims to provide Singaporeans with a "convivial, delicious and affordable" experience.
The place is reminiscent of a typical Parisian bistro with its "sidewalk" seating and striking red booth seats at the corner. Coupled with dark tones and cream backed chairs, the whole setting presented itself as soothing with a tinge of formalness. And tables are spaced far apart enough to ensure privacy during conversation, but get the booth seats if you can or the "sidewalk" seats if you are somewhat of a voyeur or enjoy being gawked at.
The Original DB Burger -
Is it just me or is the size of the patty a little on the large side? Alright, large is a ridiculous understatement. The entire burger looked absolutely lopsided in favour of the beef (no complaints though!) and the buns, nothing more than puny pieces of window dressing. I asked for my patty to be done medium and it honestly looked rare but I attribute that to the sirloin short ribs being braised in red wine. Taste wise, the patty had the makings of a good burger - inherent beefy taste, juicy with bits of fat and a nice mildly uneven texture. It's only pitfall(s)? The absence of any foie gras taste (I see it, but I don't taste it) and the copious amount of salt that went into it. I like salt but trust me, this was salty. Not salty enough to keep me and my continuously refilled glass of iced water from polishing up every last morsel of it though. Ironically, the fries could have done with some salt but I guess the serving of mustard, mayonnaise and ketchup sufficed.
Profiteroles au Cafe - I am quite a fan of this classic French dessert and when I learnt that it was going to be drenched in chocolate syrup, I was sold instantly! And boy oh boy, was it drenched in chocolate. The profiteroles were stuffed with coffee rocky road ice cream, marshmallows, nuts and covered with a thin layer of chocolate. Hot chocolate sauce was then poured slowly over to melt the chocolate and coat the profiteroles were a thick layer of decadent, happiness inducing chocolate syrup. The richness of chocolate coupled with a smooth strong coffee taste - very good. Just don't consume too much as it might prove overwhelming hence the magic number of 3 per serving (I ate 4 and it really got to me).
On my part, I paid about $62 for a belly bursting brunch in a nice environment, great company and great service. My burger was decent, just too salty but the profiteroles were sinfully good. I'm not sure the burger warrants the hefty price tag of $38 though, seeing that I can probably get similar quality at Mortons and Spruce at a lower price or a significantly higher value ratio at Smokinn Frogz. However, if you are of the opinion that $38 is small change, you are more than welcome to indulge in it and for something more luxurious, there is the black truffle variant, which costs a cool $88 and is available only during dinner.
See all my pictures here.
Rating given:
Amici, which means friends in Italian, has been around for quite a while but we've never really gotten down to trying it even though there have been quite a number of favourable reviews circulating around on the internet. That changed when we popped by the Holland Village area to buy some baking supplies and decided to give Amici a shot.
Finding the place takes some navigation skills as the place around it seems to be under construction which makes it hard to see the place until you actually walk near it. There is a small al fresco area but I wouldn't recommend that especially if you go in the afternoon and with all the construction going on. The seemingly narrow air conditioned interior lets loose a cosy vibe but watch out for the too close for comfort table spacing and the unforgiving air circulation system which will have you smelling of food within minutes.
Complimentary Bread - We got off to a nice start with the warm and crusty complimentary bread that had pockets of what seemed like cranberries. Mildly sweet and comforting.
Carbonara - The carbonara wasn't al dente but on the upside, it didn't come across as too rich which toned down the nausea inducing factor. The plentiful bacon pieces were a plus as well.
Squid Ink Pasta - Apparently a specialty at Amici, the squid ink pasta was the drenched in squid ink variant, not the made from squid ink kind, of which the latter I personally prefer. I could make out a noticeable tartness in the pasta ( I assume they probably tossed the pasta in tomato sauce first before dunking it in squid ink) which did make it more appetising. What caught my attention was the delectable pieces of cod fish that were crisp on the outside and exuded a natural sweetness from within. There was also a generous serving of squid rings which served to up the chewy factor.
Tiramisu - The desserts were certainly the stars of the evening and it started with tiramisu, which had a great sponge to mascarpone ratio. The sponge wasn't overly soaked in coffee but where's the alcohol?! Still very good though and if there's any reason I'll return to Amici, this would be it!
Cappuccino Cake - I'm no big fan of coffee but this dessert surprised me. 5 layers of sponge compacted with a thin layer of wafer in between - firm in texture with a sweet hint of coffee. The ice cream that came alongside didn't gel with me though, seeing that it was literally milk solidified and came across as overpowering.
Through the use of a voucher, we had the cheaper main course free, which brought our bill to a more manageable $56 for a 2 pax lunch. Reasonable I may say, but I'll probably only be back for the desserts. Service was decent but then again, the place wasn't packed so it's probably not a good gauge.
See all my pictures here.
Rating given:
Armed with a $20 voucher and 3 free items to redeem, we settled for a weekday dinner at the forever crowded NEX.
Tonkotsu Ramen ($13.80) - the soup's supposed to be have been brewed over 14hours on their website, and to be honest, I quite liked their soup. Rich and aromatic without being overly oily and doesnt get you jer lat. The ramen was nice and springy, but the accompanying cha su slices were too fatty for me (too little lean meat!)
Curry cheese ramen - it was some really light japanese curry, more like curry soup but I liked it. The 'cheese' was really a few strips of cheese in the soup.
Gyoza - Good! 6 hot little puffs of meat, cabbage and other stuff. Very nicely grilled.
Cold Cha Su - 5 slices of cold cha su on a bed of lettuce and silvers of radish with miso dressing. The combi was a bit too salty for me.
Chicken Karage - usual deep fried chicken, although not bad but would be something I can skip next time.
Macha ice cream - not good. Skip.
*I dont know the prices of some items as they were redemption items*
Service was your usual hassled young staff but a particular Japanese young girl provided rather a memorable experience as she was overly polite but really nice and sweet.
Probably would not mind coming back.
Rating given:
Wanted to go beering but decided we can try some bites at this place which we’ve walked past multiple times and found the menu quite interesting. Unfortunately, service turned out to be better than the food.
Just for a sampling of their bites:
Minced shrimp and water chestnut balls 金钱虾饼 ($9.90) - this was supposed to be one of their ‘star’ items but sadly it was far from wow. 3 coin-shaped balls of shrimp meat which tasted more like fish cake, with too finely-minced chestnut which resulted in the lack of crunch, plus some sporadic bits of green spring onions. A lackluster dish troubled by the slightly too oily batter too.
Jellyfish Salad 凉拌海蜇 ($6.90) – thicker / broader than usual slices of jellyfish tossed in some fragrant oil dressing (not sure if its sesame) and mixed with some chilli and cucumber silvers. Not enough kick in the dressing which made it very bland; we had to add some soya sauce and chilli padi in order for us to finish it.
Seafood Soup 海鲜羹 ($6.90) – This was the only good dish of the evening, with it being very similar to the usual Sour Spicy soup but minus the spiciness. Served hot and tasted like a real broth with just the right amount of starch, with an good amount of fish slices, squid, and 1 prawn.
I didn’t feel the total of $28 for 2pax was worth it, although service and the deco etc was okay. Not sure if I will return to try their other stuff though.
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Settled here for a post-lunch chit chat, and also given that some of the guys weren’t terribly full by lunch at Chef Daniel’s.
The place was quite nicely filled up without being crowded on a Saturday afternoon and we managed to snag a nice corner seat for 5pax.
Seafood pizza ($16.80) – We picked pizza because the thin crust will not fill us up too much but still be a good snack. Plus we saw a 1-4-1 pizza for Citibank card holders. This was quite nice and the crust thin but not too crispy, only that they could be more generous with the seafood for the price.
Teriyaki chicken cheese pizza ($12.80) – Good choice, with the lean chicken slices complimenting the cheese very well surprisingly.
Earl Gery ($5) – Dilmah early gery; nothing to complain about but a nice touch with the cookie.
Service was okay and generally a very good place to chill and people-watch at the same time. Will be coming back!
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Picked this place for a birthday lunch as suggested by the birthday girl and boy. I have heard about this place but never got around to trying it until now, and I didn’t even know what cuisine it was and went along thinking: Chef Daniel can’t be too wrong.
Perched on the rooftop of the 7th floor of Iluma, the place was not packed at all for a Saturday lunch. I think more publicity can be done about the place in fact. The interior of the place was brightly lit thanks to the glass panelling. The place had quite a nice intimate feel despite the brightness and I liked the whole set up which felt a little like fine dining.
With quite a sorry selection of ala carte, we settled for the Executive Set Lunches which was priced at $16.50 per person with an option to add another $2 for coffee / tea / soft drinks. Between the 5 of us, we had 3 types of main courses.
Bread – served complimentary, the focaccia was warm and pleasantly, but thought it was too dense for my liking.
Soup of the Day – the cream of mushroom was quite good and not overly thick, which was quite good for soaking the bread in.
Sautéed prawns on spaghetti – served with roasted eggplant, mushrooms & zucchini – The pasta was al dente and served in big portion which I couldn’t finish. The tomato sauce was alright and prawns quite fresh.
Grilled salmon mentaiko – served with teriyaki sauce & fettuccini – didn’t try this but it looked okay to me.
Grilled sirloin steak – served with roasted vegetable and potatoes – didn’t try this as well but my friends did complain about it either.
Dessert of the Day – it wasn’t explained to us what was, but it turned out to be not bad. It was alternate layers of hazelnut, custard, and chocolate and on the side were lychee balls with liquid centres which I thought was quite interesting. It would have been better if they explained the item to us though, such a waste of the delightful dessert.
Pricing was very affordable; I was expecting the meal to be more costly.
But service seems to be an issue here which needs to be bucked up. When we arrived, we were informed that the soup of the day is clam chowder, but when it came, it was cream of mushroom. When I enquired, I was told that it was just changed, and that within a span of maybe half hour. I’m not sure if there was any miscommunication but if the soup had really changed halfway, they could have informed us prior. What is some of us are allergic to mushrooms?
Bread was also served to sporadic tables (not sure how they ‘chose’) so we had to ask for some after seeing ourselves being by-passed a few times.
And I get quite annoyed when something as basic as coke / coke light is served flat. It happened to the whole table and we found out that they had taken the drink from a pitcher which was being used for a company lunch. The company lunch had free flow of coke / coke light and thus was pre-poured into the pitcher instead of fresh from the can. We asked to change it, and they did, but it still came back flat. The server insisted that it was fresh from the can, which I suspect not (if it was, then its time to change your cans). Eventually, I changed mine to coffee instead.
Apart from the service issues, the value for money set lunch and food will make me want to come back, when I have the chance that is.
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Thanks to the kind people at Regent, I had the opportunity to try their buffet lunch on a weekday afternoon with a friend of mine.
On a normal Tuesday afternoon 12pm, I arrived to see 2 big groups waiting outside the restaurant as the staff was doing their last checks. I silently hoped that was a sign that the food was good. More trickled in thereafter and I was very surprised that the place has such a crowd on a nonchalant weekday.
Private rooms are available while the general area were all big tables and comfy chairs, some of which had natural sunlight in air-conditioned comfort thanks to the glass panels separating the dining area and the adjourning poolside.
Food wise, I was honestly not expecting such an extensive spread. The buffet was very well spread out which didn’t feel like a squeeze even with the crowd.
Bread – the grissini was very good and the rest of bread looked good but I didn’t try as I wanted to save the stomach space for other stuff.
Cheese – A good variety of cheese which will probably attract genuine cheese lovers. The few that I tried were good, and also plenty of honeys to pair them with.
Appetizers – a comprehensive selection although the ones I tried have more misses than hits. The mushroom salad was too bland for me and the smoked salmon and seared tuna only average.
Pastas / meat – the 2 pastas I tried were very good! – a broad flat green pasta in tomato sauce with wild pork and penne in tomato. I didn’t try any meat but I saw whole roasted chicken and tenderloin, which comes complete side sauces. I thought the grilled vegetables were very nicely done, with asparagus and zucchini retaining their crunch and had that smoked flavor at the same time. But the cream of mushroom was disappointingly bland though.
Chinese – the chinese section was surprisingly good. They had a pumpkin crabmeat soup which tasted like sharks fin soup without the sharks fin; it was excellent. The seafood in the sambal seafood was very fresh; the sambal nicely spicy and fragrant which I imagine will go very well with plain rice. The sweet and sour pork was terribly addictive. They also had an interesting deep-fried scallop with banana (yes I know it sounds strange) which was quite a tasty combination to my surprise: the scallop was big and very fresh; the banana not overly mushy, and the batter crunchy although abit oily. The prata was too oily for my liking, but the accompany curry chicken was good.
Desserts – honestly, nothing from the dessert section made a deep impression; although they were not bad. Selection ranges from mousse, cakes, choux puffs, tiramisu, gelato (pistachio, vanilla, chocolate, cookies and cream) with toppings etc.
I like them having some of the chefs at the stations, and the shaving of the parma ham on the spot was pretty neat. There isn’t so many places I see with their variety of olive oil / vinaigrette and honeys for the cheese as well.
Service was pretty good, with staff quite efficient with refilling of water and clearing of plates. No big issue here.
At the total bill of $91 for 2pax which I saw, the quality and quantity of the food makes the buffet quite value for money in my opinion, although there were some misses as well.
This is a good business lunch venue, and also evident by the many business groups during my lunch. I would imagine that dinners here will have a rather different ambience. Would not mind recommending this for sure.
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