A day, twenty four hours, one thousand & forty minutes,
& eighty six thousand & four hundred seconds.
Breakfast, brunch, lunch, tea, dinner & supper.
That’s how much we eat, and for the last meal of the year,
Something sweet.
A typical New York Cheesecake ($6.80), with a twist at the bottom. Instead of the usual digestive biscuit crumb base, this one had oatmeal mixed with digestive biscuit, resulting in a softer base. While it scored brownie points for creativity, I still preferred the original version. The cheesecake was the very rich and cheesy type, nothing like the light & airy type.
Something not-so-sweet. Strawberry yoghurt mousse ($7). Topped with pretty strawberries. I ain’t a big fan of yoghurt, but this hit the right spot with the perfect balance between the berries and mousse. The best part of a shooter dessert was digging into it. And sharing of course.
Now, my favourite. I left the Hazelnut Praline Royale ($6.80) for the last, since i knew me being me, i’ll definitely not like the other two desserts if I’ve started with this. Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder, and i only have you in my eyes. The praline base was definitely one of the thickest I’ve before. The richness of the chocolatey cake did not overwhelm in the first bite, but the cake was surely too much for one to finish alone. In short, think ferrero rocher cake.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
As i'm preparing and writing this post, i'm struggling deep inside on whether i should post this or not. Reason being, this is one of my absolute favorites of all time and the fact that already too many people know of this gem of a restaurant. I'll make a statement here: "This is the best Japanese food i've had in Singapore thus far." Not that i've tried alot of the higher end restaurants but given the price and the quality, nowhere in Singapore comes close yet. You do have to get over a few things you may find weird though.
I'll start off with some things to note so that you at least know what to expect:
1: Do NOT put your finished plates on the sushi counter
2: If you order the hotpots, do NOT put your hand near the serving plate when he serves.
3: Your experience will depend solely on the food and not on the service and that the only way it can be.
4: Always order in numbers and prepare your order BEFORE coming into the restaurant.
5: A $2 charge is mandatory for each seat and comes with a drink. There's no service charge or gst.
6: There's no pork or lard here.
7: Be prepared to wait 1 hour at least if you miss the first seating. The restaurant seats only 16 people and if you miss it, you'll just have to queue outside till someone finishes their meal.
8: Do NOT offend the chef.
This is it, the place to look for. Wasabi tei is run by only 2 people, the chef and (if i'm not mistaken) his wife or assistant. She's in charge of serving drinks and taking orders while the chef takes care of everything else. Both of them have quite a temper but otherwise, i think their just nice people making a living.
Amuse Boche - Apart from the drink, your $2 per seat also comes with the appetiser. It looks less appealing then it really is. To describe its taste, its sweet, slightly salty and light. In other words, its an excellent appetiser in my opinion. Not sure if thats beancurd or meat but no matter, its still good.
Chawanmushi ($5) - A picture speaks a thousand words and this chawamushi should tell you how it tastes like quite simply. Its nothing short of superb. The generous helpings of enoki mushrooms, prawn, sharks fin and chicken meat is obvious since its filled to the brim with it. Its also made fresh when its ordered which thus give the chawanmushi its excellent melt in your mouth sensation. Unlike other renditions, this is extremely light and smooth. To date, this dish is unmatched anywhere else in Singapore.
Salmon Sashimi ($9) - I hope this picture tells you that the salmon sashimi comes in a huge portion because it definitely did. 6 thick slices of salmon thats easily 2 servings in similar restaurants for a reasonable price of $9. It also helps that the sashimi is wonderfully fresh and sweet with the natural fat of the fish giving it a nice smooth texture as well. At this price, the quality is just unbelievable. Trust me, this is worth more then all the red plates or whatever plates the sashimi comes in elsewhere.
Mixed Sashimi Rice ($20) - Another shockingly huge portion of sliced fish. My gf ordered this because she's a huge fan of sashimi and honestly, i've never felt it worth my money to eat this until now and thats saying a lot. Salmon, toro, kenpachi, tuna and fish roe rounds up the sashimi selection and each comes in thick slices and generously proportioned. Sashimi is the ultimate test of freshness offered by a japanese restaurant and over here, i would say i've found the winner. What else can i say about the freshness and generousity of the portions at the price? Its just really really good.
Cod Fish Hotpot ($15) - I found this on the menu and was geniunely surprised at this being offered at $15. After all, cod is an extremely expensive fish. However, i'm glad to report that this is also worth every cent. The fish is very smooth and tender while the hotpot is filled with assorted vegetables, mushrooms and vermicelli. It also helps that it is served with rice and a nice concoction of home made chili sauce which goes really well with the fish. In fact, i'd say it enhances the fresh taste of the fish and makes it even better. A worthwhile item as well.
On this visit, my total damage amounted to $52 and i have to say, this is more value for money then any japanese restaurant i've ever been to.
The fabled and legendary chawanmushi - On my second, third and forth visit, the chawanmushi is still something we'll order and never get sick off. There's nothing more to say about it, its just that good. If you've only eaten at say...Sakae or Sushi Tei, this version will change your opinion of chawanmushi for good.
Crab Sushi ($6) - One thing to note about the chef is that he seems to do sushi rolls last after preparing everything else. So if you're here and only ordered sushi, you're gonna need to wait for some time. The sushi we ordered had crab meat, avacado, cucumbers and fish roe and like the rest of the offerings, this was good. However, it wasn't great and the waiting time involved makes me feel that the other items are much better investments.
Sashimi Moriwase ($25) - Sashimi addiction? Yeah, i'd say that's pretty much the case here. For $25, you get generous portions and thick slices of sashimi with the same wonderful freshness and sweetness i've mentioned earlier. At this portion size and quality, i'd say this is easily $40 or more in other restaurants but over here, its a luxury i wouldn't miss to order. The added scallop this time around is excellent to say the least. Its sweetness and texture is something you need to try to understand. I ordered this on subsequent visits as well and i have to say, it never disappoints. Have this and thank me later. It also helps that the chef prepares this as one of his first items to serve so you'll get it pretty quickly.
Unagi Rice ($13) - Look at the unagi and believe it. This is only $13 and the portion he is giving is simply huge. For the same price, you'd probably get only one piece elsewhere but over here, 2 huge portions of savoury, made on-the-spot freshly grilled unagi at an unbelievably reasonable price. It helps that the unagi is also of the melt-in-your-mouth texture with an excellent and balanced sauce which is neither too sweet nor too salty. My order was a little charred at some places but even then, i found this very tasty. I'm pretty much sold for this dish and i simply love it much like everything else i've tried here.
Total bill was a little more this time at $58 for 2 but still more value for money then anything else thus far.
Minus the little gripes about the small space and the sometimes black face of the couple. This place is a treasure little found elsewhere in Singapore. The food is nothing short of excellent and the value for money it provides is second to none. Thus far in my food endevours, nothing matches this place for quality and value quite this much. The only places close to it will be Sage for the quality of its fusion food but the cost is definitely much higher. Wasabi tei is a place i would return to again and again and again and to be honest, i did return with my gf at least another 3 times with more still on the cards. Definitely a winner. Do note its not open on Sundays and public holidays though. You'll probably see me there again real soon as well. Cheers and a special Thank You! to the chef and his assistant for bringing such reasonably priced and good japanese food into Singapore.
Was at Yishun for my gf's friend's baby's one month party yesterday (01112009) and chanced upon this outlet hidden in the newly opened Northpoint wing.
The decor looks better then usual with wide open spaces and was bristling with customers and activity which thus also lead to me consenting to give it a try.
My gf had a coupon for $10 of a main dish with the Xin Wang card and our orders are as follows:
HK Cheese Baked Pork chop spagghetti - This wasn't too bad. The tomato is more sourish then sweet while the pork chop was a little hard. Spaggheti was plentiful however and this was actually quite overwhelming after a while.
Shrimp Dumplings - I found this rather good actually. Fresh, crunchy and sweet prawns basically make this dish good.
Pork Pastry - This was average as the pastry is not fragrant. The pork within is alright however, warm and sweet.
Pork Chop burger - I found this to be the least worthwhile item we ordered. The pork chop had a big layer of fats but was thankfully tender while the "burger" was made using toasted white bread. Overall, get rid of the fats and its acceptable but hardly worth $4.90. Mcdonalds fare better for the price.
Overall bill came to $12.90 after the $10 discount.
Honestly, this branch is better then the others i've tried but i still find it overpriced for the simple fare they provide. Our conclusion for why this is better is because, being a new branch, we theorised that probably the executive chef was on the location which thus resulted in the difference in quality.
Its great to see Manhattan Fish Market in a less centralized area like Pasir Ris because first of all, i'm nearer to the East and second of all, this was one of the first restaurants i tried when i started out.
Straight to the point, the restaurants main competitor will be Fish and Co. Their generally a little different in terms of preparation and so far, my impression of MFM is that it has more fried items.
Fried country mushrooms ($9.90) - 6 button mushrooms covered in batter and deep fried. Its as good as ever but i did find that this time, it cooled a lot faster as well. Probably due to peak hour and the fact that lots of people were there. Which led to it being prepared earlier to meet the demand.
Main Platter for 2($33.90) - The platter for 2 used to go for $29.90 but has since increased their prices since then. You get the usual HUGE piece of fish, fries, garlic rice, flaming prawns, calamari and mussels. Its actually a pretty big portion to be honest and big eaters need apply to finish it. The fish is still one of the better ones, thick, sweet and lightly battered. I could have 2 pieces if given the choice. The prawns are average but the mayo like sauce is excellent with the rice. mussels and calamari were equally well done. To me, this is still a good platter of food.
Overall billed clocked in at $46.40.
A hefty sum to be sure but still under the acceptable range.
However, if it continues its upward trend in pricing, i'd find it hard pressed to find an excuse to return before long.
There used to be four, but with the latest addition of the Canon to the Arsenal, the power balance was tipped back. The current score stands at Canon 2, Olympus 2, Nikon 1. With the figure at a perfect five, there’s a harder fight especially so when somebody countdown five seconds for the shots.
While just like how the different brands have their own strengths; with Canon producing the crisp sharp shots, Nikon edging out with the vibrant colours display, Olympus providing the balance in between, there isn’t a perfect combination. And of course, there are pros and cons of Choupinette. The small capacity of the restaurant made it a great place for a lazy pig-out, but it also meant that the place was packed to the crowd on a busy weekend.
I like how my Nikon produced the perfect blend of colour, to bring out the best in the settings of the restaurant. And surely, the Canon and Olympus camp would protest against that.
Walking by the array of bread, the three of us were attracted by the Pain au chocolat ($2.90). From the memories, warm melting chocolate filled within the crispy bread. But it was not to be, the bread was cold even though the staff helped us warm it up. Chocolate fillings, or rather, the lack of it was the main downfall.
The same problem goes for the Almond Danish ($2.90), the bread wasn’t warm, while we couldn’t expect freshly baked bread to be coming out just for us, it would be a lot better if only the bread was warm.
The chouchou’s set ($22 ) from the lunch menu had choices of either one of grilled hot sandwich, lasagna or smoked salmon sandwich, together with a drink and dessert. This was La Moussaka. The fanciful name brought home the impact, otherwise you wouldn’t be seeing this dish here. But, it was a very ordinary one, nothing to shoot about.
The generous slices of smoked salmon from the Le Noé’s sandwich ($22 from chouchou’s set) was definitely worth the price. Coming in two huge slabs of bread, it could easily filled up two person.
Choupinette’s interpretation of the Madame and Monsieur was an egg, with the latter coming without. Grilled sandwich with a choice of ham, chicken or eggplants with emmenthal cheese & béchamel sauce. Le Croque-Monsieur ($15). Apparently, our Madame was so engrossed with the sandwich that she couldn’t give her comment.
I always wondered what exactly is a quiche ($6 per slice), well i got my answer today, in not one, but two quiche! The lorraine quiche (top picture) is perhaps the most common quiche there is. While I didn’t exactly fancy the spinach quiche, I still prefer my spinach eaten like a vegetable.
Eggs on toast with smoked salmon and hollandaise sauce served all day long. This is for all the lazy bums out there! The Egg Royal’s ($21 ) ought to be presented with the most-expensive-eggs-you-ever-eaten honour. I kind of wanted to kick myself for not ordering this, the poached eggs were done perfectly, and the looks alone would give much pleasure.
Another dish which you can’t left out of any brunch menu, Eggs Benedict’s ($20 ). Eggs on toast with ham and hollandaise sauce. Well if your stomach isn’t feeling right having smoked salmon for breakfast, eggs with ham are always a safer choice.
It’s kind of heavy eating a burger for breakfast, but hey we are having brunch! For all the carnivores, Le Burger ($18) is just, well a hamburger. The beef patty was slightly overcooked, but it was served with a generous servings of salad, and the fries even came on a separate bowl. But for $18, i thought it was rather on the high side, you can have a gourmet burger at Relish, or maybe a cheaper burger from Hotshots or Smoking frog kitchen might do the job.
On first impression, the Tarte au citron ($5.60) or lemon meringue tart would definitely made a statement with the beautiful burnt and thick layer of meringue. While others took one bite of the tart and refused to touch it any more, i was slowly sampling it since this was my first time trying meringue. The layer of meringue on top was supposed to form a stiff peak but the one here was too thick, and there was also hint of coarse sugar within which was probably due to the improper dissolve of the sugar.
We were contemplating between chocolate or coffee éclair since there was too much desserts with chocolate. But we decided against it since coffee is an acquired taste, and had the Éclair au chocolat ($5). There was a salty after-taste in the éclair which came across as rather weird.
I was eagerly anticipating the Palais Royal ($6.90), for the dark chocolate and crunchy praline. But there wasn’t any crunchy praline to be found. Nonetheless, i still enjoyed the dessert even though some didn’t really like it as they were disappointed by the lack of the crunchy praline.
A very simple custard & raspberry, the Millefeuille framboise ($7). The several layers of puff pastry brought back fond childhood memories of the cake which i had before when i was a kid. It was difficult not to make a mess of it as the cake crumbled easily.
The Tarte aux Pommes ($5.90 a slice, $7.90 for an additional scoop of ice cream) was quintessentially an apple tart with a scoop of normal ice cream. The additional of 2 bucks for the scoop of ice cream was totally not worth the money, but the apple tart was decent. The thin slice of dessert was fulsome with the apple taste.
Vendôme ($6.90) also caught our attention with the three layers of dark, milk and white chocolate. The dessert was more like eating three layers of chocolate mousse, some didn’t like it, but i did.
The macarons ($1.80 each) were a disaster. We had eight of them, four from each chouchou’s set. Choupinette has about 13 flavours of macarons available, we chose chocolate, raspberry, strawberry, peach, passion fruit, orange, pear and hazelnut. Almost all the macarons had chocolate gauche for fillings, i wouldn’t mind small macarons if they were good, but the one here had an artificial taste to it. Something was definitely missing but we couldn’t quite make out what. The very artificial colouring of the macarons didn’t appeal to us too. The shells of the macaron crumbled easily and didn’t have the chewy texture a good macaron should have.
Total bill was $193 for 9 of us. Some paid more for their expensive egg brunch, while some paid less for just bread and desserts. But generally, if you are looking to try their brunch or lunch menu, you will probably looking at 20 per person, and that’s probably excluding desserts. Choupinette has a great base of Caucasians customers, and it isn’t difficult to see why for the cosy and homely decorations of the place. The name of the restaurant, and the French names of the food screams chic. It will probably be better to go on a weekday where there’s less customers if you want to try this place out.
Well, just like how there will never be a perfect DSLR for either Canon, Olympus or Nikon users. Some of you might like Nikon for the design, Canon for its brand, Olympus for its nimbleness, all of us have different preferences. Similarly for Choupinette, while we were disappointed by the desserts, but the eggs on the brunch were exceptional, and you might just like the food there. No matter what, all of us love our DSLR, and the common passion for food. Another dessert enthusiast outing, until the next one!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
A classic Italian gastronomic, Galbiati gourmet deli actually started out as a takeaway place for its gourmet products. I’ve been wanting to give the place a visit ever since a friend highly recommended it, and railmall is so near to my place.
The interior of the deli was very small, with seating of at most 30. The simplistic environment of the place does makes one feels comfortable, a place where you can call your own Italian joint. The food offered are mostly simple food, with a wide array of home-made pastas, appetizer and main courses.
The Salmon asparagus linguine ($18) was based on the recommendation of the serving staff as my friend’s a great fan of the fish. A very light cream base accompanied the linguine, with the salmon stronger in taste. The asparagus seems to act as the neutralising balance between the salmon and the overall light taste of the dish. A fairly good home-made pasta.
I’ve a sneak preview of their pizzas at the counter, and was excited to hear that they’d served it fresh from the oven. The popular Hawaiian pizza ($8) was our choice for the night. Coming in squares of 6, the pizza was value for money. But, there’s no free lunch in this world, i thought that the ingredients were miserable, with one small cube of pineapple and ham. The pizza crust was very hard, and dry for my personal liking. And the tomato spread for the base was insufficient.
One of the unique characteristics of Galbiati deli was they actually encouraged takeaways. Dining in, the Lavender cheesecake ($7) is a dollar more expensive than if you opted to takeaway their desserts. The lavender flower infused a aromatic fragrant into the light cheesecake. The crust base was always a welcoming partner, to provide the crunch.
We always like to save the best for the last, to savour every bite of the Tiramisu ($7) for a lasting moment stored in our memory. Well i didn’t exactly had many tiramisu before, but Galbiati’s one is probably one of the best i’ve before. There wasn’t any deconstruction, nothing fanciful about the famous Italian dessert. Just a solid good one. The mascrapone cheese, with the the coffee-liquer infuse flavour, i was sorely tempted to order another one.
Total bill was $44 for two person. While the dinner didn’t exactly turn out to be as good as what i’ve expected, it’s easy to imagine myself back here for a simple meal. The only problem? The restaurant doesn’t allow photography, so i was taking photos secretly while they were not looking.
And i do enjoyed my rights of taking photos openly, so this may be the reason a revisit will eluded me. One thing’s for sure, i’ll definitely be back to try the other desserts, and the tiramisu of course. But the next time round, i’ll probably takeaway their desserts, and snap shots of it just directly outside their shop!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
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?
The Singapore Flyer is touted as the world’s largest observation wheel, even higher than London Eye. Our nation’s pride. Minor breakdowns before were already ominous signals that a catastrophe will happen one day. Alas, the dreadful thing finally struck. How the mighty has fallen. The management should have already looked into and made backup plans, but it failed anyway. Now, time for us to do some self-reflections and damage-recovery.
While the flyer remains closed for investigations, the ones to suffer the backslash are the restaurants and other tenents. Senso Bistro, is coming up with a 50% promotion off all their a la carte menu from now until the flyer starts operating (date unknown yet).
The natural vibe of the restaurant, with its simple layout and decorations, provided a good place for either a causal lunch, or nice dinner without burning a hole in the pocket.
Not to mention there’s also al fresco dining, which would be ideal for dinner, with the sea breeze and eating under the stars making it a romantic affair.
The waiter kindly asked us whether we’ll like some garlic bread ($4) while waiting, but he failed to mention it’s not free. Naturally when he offered us bread i thought it was complimentary. There’s no free lunch in this world. All right, it’s not so much about the money, we are talking about principle, like shouldn’t they at least inform us the bread wasn’t complimentary? Next time, don’t be shy, ask!
With ten selections to choose from the Pizze menu, we were spoilt for choices. To be on the safe side, we went for the popular Hawaiian ($18 before 50% discount). The paper-thin pizza was huge, with eight slices easily filling up the four of us. The ingredients of pineapple, cooked ham were very generous. The only gripe? I lamented the fact that the pizza did not have enough mozzarella cheese. Still, with the promotion, it’s definitely a steal at just under ten bucks. It made the one I’ve at Galbiati looked pathetic.
Grilled tuna loin coated in fresh herbs. The Tonno ($24 before 50% discount) was a disappointment really. The fish was over-cooked, making the meat too dry and hard. I liked the side vegetables that came with it, lightly stir-fried, the greens were crunchy and fresh.
When asked to choose between the T-bone steak and veal loin, the manager recommended the latter for the delicate taste and tender texture. Veal loin is the meat of calves, and at Bistro Senso, the pan-fried veal loin scaloppine ($24 before discount) can be done in three different methods. Ours were ‘alla Pizzaiola’ with tomato and mozzarella cheese. The whole taste was like having a steak-pizza. A refreshing combination, but the meat was not tender enough, and came across as too tough. And since we had pizza already, now i’m wishing i chose the other method of breaded and golden crispy instead.
And how can we not have any pasta from an Italian bistro? The Ravioli ($18 before 50% discount) was essentially lobster and crab pasta served with assorted seafood ragout in tomato and basil sauce. This was actually my first time having a ravioli pasta. The tomato and basil sauce was flavourful and strong in taste. The prawns and squids were fresh, but to be frank, I didn’t quite enjoy ravioli. I still preferred my pasta to be spaghetti or linguine. Personal taste.
I was eagerly anticipating the desserts, well most people would find tiramisu ($8 before 50% discount) boring and chose some other interesting options. But there was no way I’m going to miss out trying the popular Italian dessert from an Italiano joint. The mascarpone cream was too light, and the espresso taste was not strong.
Another famous Italian dessert, Pannacotta ($8 before 50% discount). The bouncy texture was evident, but i couldn’t figure out what’s in the double cream flan. The raspberry coulis did provided a contrast with the pannacotta.
The last one, Creme brulee ($8 before 50% discount). The oven-baked egg custard of the Italian dessert did taste rather like our Chinese egg tarts. The caramelised sugar on top of the dessert wasn’t burned enough, and lacked the torched burnt taste.
Total bill was $65.91 for 4 person after a 50% discount. Although i wasn’t very impressed with the food, but with the promotional prices, the food is really cheap! The pizzas and pastas are like 9 bucks each, and the main course 12 bucks. The soothing ambience with the inexpensive price means that you should visit Senso Bistro before the Singapore Flyer reopens. Talk about patriotism, and national pride.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
We walked along the narrow street, wondering where was our destination. The road seems so distant, the future so vague. Just like the route we took, there’s much hurdle to be clear. At long last, we arrived, Dim joy.
Culture of all walks of life, our very own roots. Dim Joy offers a perspective much more than just eating dim sum. Its about the art of appreciating dim sum, the approach in understanding our culture. I like the small details they look into, like how they have tiny notes on the teapot to teach people about the correct method of teapot refill, like how they print their own manuals on the chopstick cover to educate about chopstick etiquette. Small little things like these, make a whole lot of differences.
Nestled in a shop house on neil road, the restaurant quaint and tranquil environment made me feel at home upon entering. There wasn’t much people on a weekday lunch, we had the whole lovely place to ourselves. This is just a place where you can seat down and chill for the whole day.
The simplistic approach to the chief, King shrimp har gao ($4). The whole taste was very subtle, the prawns were fresh, but the skin was again, too thick. While it wasn’t fantastic, dim sum just isn’t dim sum without har gao.
There wasn’t much difference with the Barbecued pork & celery in rice rolls ($5) too. It was way too short if i were to compare it with elsewhere. There was also the option of having the rice rolls in claypot, but i dismissed it as gimmick. I wanted a good steamed and savoury rice roll in light sauce.
There were bits of char siew which could passed off as bacon strips. And we were wondering how cool it’ll be if there’s bacon rice rolls. Nonetheless, the taste was again, very subtle and tame if i may just use the word. I didn’t quite enjoy the celery within too.
I was eagerly anticipating the Honey-syrup char siew bun ($3). With such a sweet name, we were like bees attracted to the beauty of the honey pot. The white pillowry bun was soft and fluffy, very good! But the char siew fillings could be better. While its sweet with honey-syrup infused, the fillings were too little, and i’ll preferred it to be more moist, like their char siew sou.
There is also Siew mai ($3.50 for 4), another dim sum staple. Chewy, shrimpy and not too oily. Value for money definitely, and its the only one that comes two by two. The ratio of shrimp to pork outnumbers greatly, with only a small portion of lean pork meat.
I always choose Pan-fried radish cake ($3) over its steamed cousins. I love the slightly charred surface of the carrot cake, but this one wasn’t charred enough. Well unlike most carrot cakes which are very filling, this one wasn’t very starchy, and had a different taste from the ones which i tried before. The jury’s out on this, you need to make your judgement.
Personally, i ain’t a big fan of the beancurd skin roll ($4.50) but my companion wanted to try this, so here we go. Instead of the typical prawn fillings, this one was all about mushrooms. The skin was a bit raw, and taste almost like beancurd, well it’s made from beancurd after all. The wholesome, vegetarian fillings within the beancurd skin roll didn’t work for me. But my companion rather enjoyed her helpings.
Now, my choice. The char siew so ($3.50) bears a great resemblance to our festive pineapple tarts. Golden brown in colour, with the buttery egg-graze taste on the pastry. While it didn’t come in the form of my favourite flaky skin, Dim Joy’s rendition was unique in its own right.
This time, the sweet honey infuse char siew fillings were more generous, and it was very moist within the pastry. But the char siew did lacked certain texture, and given time to improve, it’ll be better.
We were half-decided on ordering the Custard bun ($3) since we heard it wasn’t that good. But we decided to try for ourselves, taste after all is a very subjective thing. The vital factor for a good custard bun, the oozing out of the golden custard fillings. This one did, the molten custards flowed out of the bun, just like the lava erupted from a volcano. The salty egg yolk taste wasn’t strong enough, the bun was soft but, there’s some fine particles which we guessed was course sugar not dissolved properly. I had the best, and the worst before, this one would be good given some minor tweaks.
While i know Lingnan is an area in China, i couldn’t see the link what the place got to do with the Lingnan egg tart ($3.50 for 4). The best part about Dim Joy during weekend was there wasn’t much people around, so everything was made freshly, rather than pre-made. We waited 25 minutes just for the egg tarts to come out freshly baked. The egg fillings were nice and wet, but the pastry lacked the buttery undertone.
Total bill was $42.35 for 2 person. I must say, with 9 dim sum between us, the prices are fairly reasonable given the standards of the dim sum. I’ll definitely make a perennial visit again, and for that, See you there! And just for some background information, Michelle Saram’s the partner behind Dim Joy.
It also helped that Dim Joy served dim sum throughout the day, even during dinner. Most places don’t serve dim sum at night, so it’s a nice place if you are craving for dim sum after the sun set. I heard they are packed during weekend, so avoid the crowd come on the weekdays instead.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
Television often play an important part in our life, and definitely have great influence on many people. But the debates on whether it is a good thing or not continues to rage on. Many certainly thinks that Television’s one of the greatest inventions, while some in the other camp believe that it is a bad influence on children, especially so when they get addicted to watching TV programmes. Did you ever hear a parent telling her kid to watch more TV shows?
Recently, we have a television show on Channel 8, “Buffet Buffet” which has garnered much interest among the young and the old. And its hard not to see why, food-related programmes have always been a hit with the audience, not to mention this one introduce all kinds of buffets in Singapore. I saw Penang place restaurant on one of the episodes, and since the price is reasonably cheap and near to my place, why not?
If you just watch the crowd in the place without knowing where is it, you’ll never guess its located within the International Business park (IBP) at Jurong. Perhaps that’s exactly the reason why the owner set up shop there, since there’s so many hungry white collar workers in all the offices around. The atrium building is just beside Creative, so its pretty easy to find, and there’s shutter bus from Jurong East mrt station.
Penang place oozes a sense of tranquil with its simple furnitures, and the water settings just beside the restaurant. It was fully packed when we visited on a weekday lunch, Singaporeans do love their buffets!
The selections actually is pretty decent given its reasonable pricing of $19.80 for weekday buffet lunch.
The Penang laksa actually comes in the form of Assam laksa, sour and spicy in taste, which differed greatly from our local version. The katong-laksa purist might not take quite well to this, which is more like a mix between tom-yam soup and laksa, with the sourish taste dominating the taste bud. But that’s the authentic Penang laksa for you.
I was rather impressed with the seafood soup, well for one it tasted like shark fin soup (even though there’s no shark fin of course), and secondly, i felt that it was similar to my mom’s home-made soup, and that’s a compliment!
What do you think of when I mentioned Penang? The name synonymous with the city is definitely Char Koay Teow. And if you didn’t notice, even the spelling differs slightly from ours. Well, there’s also Assam laksa, wonton mee and hokkien mee too, but Char Koay Teow certainly is the one which leave most people with memorable memories of Penang. Their rendition comes slightly spicy, not too oily and with a generous serving of ingredients. And the best part? Penang Place actually replenished their char koay teow in small portions very often, since it’s like the most popular dish there. While Char koay teow has a reputation for being unhealthy, and even though i had eaten it twice that week, i couldn’t help myself to second helpings. My sinful food.
The Nasi Lemak is served simple and nice with the fragnant rice, crunchy ikan billies, crispy peanut with cooling cucumbers. There are some other common dishes like curry chicken, fried food, but one dish which i found it good was the Batu Uban Ayam Panggang, which was seasoned grilled chicken with peanut sauce. A pity it was gone when i wanted to take a shot of it.
Glutinous rice is often use in the Asian context, and its no surprise to see the Kueh Salat here. Basically steamed glutinous rice topped with a layer of pandan flavoured custard. Well, i didn’t know if it’s just me or what, but i didn’t really enjoy glutinous rice done this way. The taste was rather weird for my liking, and i guessed i still prefer the Chinese dim sum glutinous rice in lotus leaf.
One of my personal favourites, the Kueh Dardan was actually pandan flavoured pancakes filled with sweetened coconut shavings. The pancakes were very soft and nice, with the coconut shavings coming not too heavy. Easily finished a few of them even thought we were full from the buffet.
Another dessert, or rather kueh that i enjoyed was the Kueh Talam. Essentially a pandan flavoured cake topped with a savoury coconut milk layer, the pandan cake was very fragnant indeed.
Total bill was $69.90 for 3 person at their weekday lunch buffet. I must say, for $23 per head after taxes and service charges, its rather reasonable for the amount of food served. Note, i didn’t say its excellent, but for the price, its rather acceptable since i find it hard to name another place serving buffet in the 20 dollar range which is good. I guess the money will be worth it if you eat more of their Char Koay teow which will cost $8.90 if you order a plate a la carte.
The location might be a tad difficult, since its within the International Business Park, people wouldn’t travel all the way there just for their buffet, but i did. Well for the rest of you lucky souls who are working in the area, i’ll say this is one place to check out for lunch when you are in the mood for a longer lunch.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
1=SGD 0.0587
A year, twelve months, fifty two weeks,
& three hundred and sixty five days.
A day, twenty four hours, one thousand & forty minutes,
& eighty six thousand & four hundred seconds.
Breakfast, brunch, lunch, tea, dinner & supper.
That’s how much we eat, and for the last meal of the year,
Something sweet.
A typical New York Cheesecake ($6.80), with a twist at the bottom. Instead of the usual digestive biscuit crumb base, this one had oatmeal mixed with digestive biscuit, resulting in a softer base. While it scored brownie points for creativity, I still preferred the original version. The cheesecake was the very rich and cheesy type, nothing like the light & airy type.
Something not-so-sweet. Strawberry yoghurt mousse ($7). Topped with pretty strawberries. I ain’t a big fan of yoghurt, but this hit the right spot with the perfect balance between the berries and mousse. The best part of a shooter dessert was digging into it. And sharing of course.
Now, my favourite. I left the Hazelnut Praline Royale ($6.80) for the last, since i knew me being me, i’ll definitely not like the other two desserts if I’ve started with this. Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder, and i only have you in my eyes. The praline base was definitely one of the thickest I’ve before. The richness of the chocolatey cake did not overwhelm in the first bite, but the cake was surely too much for one to finish alone. In short, think ferrero rocher cake.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
Rating given:
As i'm preparing and writing this post, i'm struggling deep inside on whether i should post this or not. Reason being, this is one of my absolute favorites of all time and the fact that already too many people know of this gem of a restaurant. I'll make a statement here: "This is the best Japanese food i've had in Singapore thus far." Not that i've tried alot of the higher end restaurants but given the price and the quality, nowhere in Singapore comes close yet. You do have to get over a few things you may find weird though.
I'll start off with some things to note so that you at least know what to expect:
1: Do NOT put your finished plates on the sushi counter
2: If you order the hotpots, do NOT put your hand near the serving plate when he serves.
3: Your experience will depend solely on the food and not on the service and that the only way it can be.
4: Always order in numbers and prepare your order BEFORE coming into the restaurant.
5: A $2 charge is mandatory for each seat and comes with a drink. There's no service charge or gst.
6: There's no pork or lard here.
7: Be prepared to wait 1 hour at least if you miss the first seating. The restaurant seats only 16 people and if you miss it, you'll just have to queue outside till someone finishes their meal.
8: Do NOT offend the chef.
This is it, the place to look for. Wasabi tei is run by only 2 people, the chef and (if i'm not mistaken) his wife or assistant. She's in charge of serving drinks and taking orders while the chef takes care of everything else. Both of them have quite a temper but otherwise, i think their just nice people making a living.
Amuse Boche - Apart from the drink, your $2 per seat also comes with the appetiser. It looks less appealing then it really is. To describe its taste, its sweet, slightly salty and light. In other words, its an excellent appetiser in my opinion. Not sure if thats beancurd or meat but no matter, its still good.
Chawanmushi ($5) - A picture speaks a thousand words and this chawamushi should tell you how it tastes like quite simply. Its nothing short of superb. The generous helpings of enoki mushrooms, prawn, sharks fin and chicken meat is obvious since its filled to the brim with it. Its also made fresh when its ordered which thus give the chawanmushi its excellent melt in your mouth sensation. Unlike other renditions, this is extremely light and smooth. To date, this dish is unmatched anywhere else in Singapore.
Salmon Sashimi ($9) - I hope this picture tells you that the salmon sashimi comes in a huge portion because it definitely did. 6 thick slices of salmon thats easily 2 servings in similar restaurants for a reasonable price of $9. It also helps that the sashimi is wonderfully fresh and sweet with the natural fat of the fish giving it a nice smooth texture as well. At this price, the quality is just unbelievable. Trust me, this is worth more then all the red plates or whatever plates the sashimi comes in elsewhere.
Mixed Sashimi Rice ($20) - Another shockingly huge portion of sliced fish. My gf ordered this because she's a huge fan of sashimi and honestly, i've never felt it worth my money to eat this until now and thats saying a lot. Salmon, toro, kenpachi, tuna and fish roe rounds up the sashimi selection and each comes in thick slices and generously proportioned. Sashimi is the ultimate test of freshness offered by a japanese restaurant and over here, i would say i've found the winner. What else can i say about the freshness and generousity of the portions at the price? Its just really really good.
Cod Fish Hotpot ($15) - I found this on the menu and was geniunely surprised at this being offered at $15. After all, cod is an extremely expensive fish. However, i'm glad to report that this is also worth every cent. The fish is very smooth and tender while the hotpot is filled with assorted vegetables, mushrooms and vermicelli. It also helps that it is served with rice and a nice concoction of home made chili sauce which goes really well with the fish. In fact, i'd say it enhances the fresh taste of the fish and makes it even better. A worthwhile item as well.
On this visit, my total damage amounted to $52 and i have to say, this is more value for money then any japanese restaurant i've ever been to.
The fabled and legendary chawanmushi - On my second, third and forth visit, the chawanmushi is still something we'll order and never get sick off. There's nothing more to say about it, its just that good. If you've only eaten at say...Sakae or Sushi Tei, this version will change your opinion of chawanmushi for good.
Crab Sushi ($6) - One thing to note about the chef is that he seems to do sushi rolls last after preparing everything else. So if you're here and only ordered sushi, you're gonna need to wait for some time. The sushi we ordered had crab meat, avacado, cucumbers and fish roe and like the rest of the offerings, this was good. However, it wasn't great and the waiting time involved makes me feel that the other items are much better investments.
Sashimi Moriwase ($25) - Sashimi addiction? Yeah, i'd say that's pretty much the case here. For $25, you get generous portions and thick slices of sashimi with the same wonderful freshness and sweetness i've mentioned earlier. At this portion size and quality, i'd say this is easily $40 or more in other restaurants but over here, its a luxury i wouldn't miss to order. The added scallop this time around is excellent to say the least. Its sweetness and texture is something you need to try to understand. I ordered this on subsequent visits as well and i have to say, it never disappoints. Have this and thank me later. It also helps that the chef prepares this as one of his first items to serve so you'll get it pretty quickly.
Unagi Rice ($13) - Look at the unagi and believe it. This is only $13 and the portion he is giving is simply huge. For the same price, you'd probably get only one piece elsewhere but over here, 2 huge portions of savoury, made on-the-spot freshly grilled unagi at an unbelievably reasonable price. It helps that the unagi is also of the melt-in-your-mouth texture with an excellent and balanced sauce which is neither too sweet nor too salty. My order was a little charred at some places but even then, i found this very tasty. I'm pretty much sold for this dish and i simply love it much like everything else i've tried here.
Total bill was a little more this time at $58 for 2 but still more value for money then anything else thus far.
Minus the little gripes about the small space and the sometimes black face of the couple. This place is a treasure little found elsewhere in Singapore. The food is nothing short of excellent and the value for money it provides is second to none. Thus far in my food endevours, nothing matches this place for quality and value quite this much. The only places close to it will be Sage for the quality of its fusion food but the cost is definitely much higher. Wasabi tei is a place i would return to again and again and again and to be honest, i did return with my gf at least another 3 times with more still on the cards. Definitely a winner. Do note its not open on Sundays and public holidays though. You'll probably see me there again real soon as well. Cheers and a special Thank You! to the chef and his assistant for bringing such reasonably priced and good japanese food into Singapore.
Rating given:
Was at Yishun for my gf's friend's baby's one month party yesterday (01112009) and chanced upon this outlet hidden in the newly opened Northpoint wing.
The decor looks better then usual with wide open spaces and was bristling with customers and activity which thus also lead to me consenting to give it a try.
My gf had a coupon for $10 of a main dish with the Xin Wang card and our orders are as follows:
HK Cheese Baked Pork chop spagghetti - This wasn't too bad. The tomato is more sourish then sweet while the pork chop was a little hard. Spaggheti was plentiful however and this was actually quite overwhelming after a while.
Shrimp Dumplings - I found this rather good actually. Fresh, crunchy and sweet prawns basically make this dish good.
Pork Pastry - This was average as the pastry is not fragrant. The pork within is alright however, warm and sweet.
Pork Chop burger - I found this to be the least worthwhile item we ordered. The pork chop had a big layer of fats but was thankfully tender while the "burger" was made using toasted white bread. Overall, get rid of the fats and its acceptable but hardly worth $4.90. Mcdonalds fare better for the price.
Overall bill came to $12.90 after the $10 discount.
Honestly, this branch is better then the others i've tried but i still find it overpriced for the simple fare they provide. Our conclusion for why this is better is because, being a new branch, we theorised that probably the executive chef was on the location which thus resulted in the difference in quality.
Rating given:
Its great to see Manhattan Fish Market in a less centralized area like Pasir Ris because first of all, i'm nearer to the East and second of all, this was one of the first restaurants i tried when i started out.
Straight to the point, the restaurants main competitor will be Fish and Co. Their generally a little different in terms of preparation and so far, my impression of MFM is that it has more fried items.
Fried country mushrooms ($9.90) - 6 button mushrooms covered in batter and deep fried. Its as good as ever but i did find that this time, it cooled a lot faster as well. Probably due to peak hour and the fact that lots of people were there. Which led to it being prepared earlier to meet the demand.
Main Platter for 2($33.90) - The platter for 2 used to go for $29.90 but has since increased their prices since then. You get the usual HUGE piece of fish, fries, garlic rice, flaming prawns, calamari and mussels. Its actually a pretty big portion to be honest and big eaters need apply to finish it. The fish is still one of the better ones, thick, sweet and lightly battered. I could have 2 pieces if given the choice. The prawns are average but the mayo like sauce is excellent with the rice. mussels and calamari were equally well done. To me, this is still a good platter of food.
Overall billed clocked in at $46.40.
A hefty sum to be sure but still under the acceptable range.
However, if it continues its upward trend in pricing, i'd find it hard pressed to find an excuse to return before long.
Rating given:
There used to be four, but with the latest addition of the Canon to the Arsenal, the power balance was tipped back. The current score stands at Canon 2, Olympus 2, Nikon 1. With the figure at a perfect five, there’s a harder fight especially so when somebody countdown five seconds for the shots.
While just like how the different brands have their own strengths; with Canon producing the crisp sharp shots, Nikon edging out with the vibrant colours display, Olympus providing the balance in between, there isn’t a perfect combination. And of course, there are pros and cons of Choupinette. The small capacity of the restaurant made it a great place for a lazy pig-out, but it also meant that the place was packed to the crowd on a busy weekend.
I like how my Nikon produced the perfect blend of colour, to bring out the best in the settings of the restaurant. And surely, the Canon and Olympus camp would protest against that.
Walking by the array of bread, the three of us were attracted by the Pain au chocolat ($2.90). From the memories, warm melting chocolate filled within the crispy bread. But it was not to be, the bread was cold even though the staff helped us warm it up. Chocolate fillings, or rather, the lack of it was the main downfall.
The same problem goes for the Almond Danish ($2.90), the bread wasn’t warm, while we couldn’t expect freshly baked bread to be coming out just for us, it would be a lot better if only the bread was warm.
The chouchou’s set ($22 ) from the lunch menu had choices of either one of grilled hot sandwich, lasagna or smoked salmon sandwich, together with a drink and dessert. This was La Moussaka. The fanciful name brought home the impact, otherwise you wouldn’t be seeing this dish here. But, it was a very ordinary one, nothing to shoot about.
The generous slices of smoked salmon from the Le Noé’s sandwich ($22 from chouchou’s set) was definitely worth the price. Coming in two huge slabs of bread, it could easily filled up two person.
Choupinette’s interpretation of the Madame and Monsieur was an egg, with the latter coming without. Grilled sandwich with a choice of ham, chicken or eggplants with emmenthal cheese & béchamel sauce. Le Croque-Monsieur ($15). Apparently, our Madame was so engrossed with the sandwich that she couldn’t give her comment.
I always wondered what exactly is a quiche ($6 per slice), well i got my answer today, in not one, but two quiche! The lorraine quiche (top picture) is perhaps the most common quiche there is. While I didn’t exactly fancy the spinach quiche, I still prefer my spinach eaten like a vegetable.
Eggs on toast with smoked salmon and hollandaise sauce served all day long. This is for all the lazy bums out there! The Egg Royal’s ($21 ) ought to be presented with the most-expensive-eggs-you-ever-eaten honour. I kind of wanted to kick myself for not ordering this, the poached eggs were done perfectly, and the looks alone would give much pleasure.
Another dish which you can’t left out of any brunch menu, Eggs Benedict’s ($20 ). Eggs on toast with ham and hollandaise sauce. Well if your stomach isn’t feeling right having smoked salmon for breakfast, eggs with ham are always a safer choice.
It’s kind of heavy eating a burger for breakfast, but hey we are having brunch! For all the carnivores, Le Burger ($18) is just, well a hamburger. The beef patty was slightly overcooked, but it was served with a generous servings of salad, and the fries even came on a separate bowl. But for $18, i thought it was rather on the high side, you can have a gourmet burger at Relish, or maybe a cheaper burger from Hotshots or Smoking frog kitchen might do the job.
On first impression, the Tarte au citron ($5.60) or lemon meringue tart would definitely made a statement with the beautiful burnt and thick layer of meringue. While others took one bite of the tart and refused to touch it any more, i was slowly sampling it since this was my first time trying meringue. The layer of meringue on top was supposed to form a stiff peak but the one here was too thick, and there was also hint of coarse sugar within which was probably due to the improper dissolve of the sugar.
We were contemplating between chocolate or coffee éclair since there was too much desserts with chocolate. But we decided against it since coffee is an acquired taste, and had the Éclair au chocolat ($5). There was a salty after-taste in the éclair which came across as rather weird.
I was eagerly anticipating the Palais Royal ($6.90), for the dark chocolate and crunchy praline. But there wasn’t any crunchy praline to be found. Nonetheless, i still enjoyed the dessert even though some didn’t really like it as they were disappointed by the lack of the crunchy praline.
A very simple custard & raspberry, the Millefeuille framboise ($7). The several layers of puff pastry brought back fond childhood memories of the cake which i had before when i was a kid. It was difficult not to make a mess of it as the cake crumbled easily.
The Tarte aux Pommes ($5.90 a slice, $7.90 for an additional scoop of ice cream) was quintessentially an apple tart with a scoop of normal ice cream. The additional of 2 bucks for the scoop of ice cream was totally not worth the money, but the apple tart was decent. The thin slice of dessert was fulsome with the apple taste.
Vendôme ($6.90) also caught our attention with the three layers of dark, milk and white chocolate. The dessert was more like eating three layers of chocolate mousse, some didn’t like it, but i did.
The macarons ($1.80 each) were a disaster. We had eight of them, four from each chouchou’s set. Choupinette has about 13 flavours of macarons available, we chose chocolate, raspberry, strawberry, peach, passion fruit, orange, pear and hazelnut. Almost all the macarons had chocolate gauche for fillings, i wouldn’t mind small macarons if they were good, but the one here had an artificial taste to it. Something was definitely missing but we couldn’t quite make out what. The very artificial colouring of the macarons didn’t appeal to us too. The shells of the macaron crumbled easily and didn’t have the chewy texture a good macaron should have.
Total bill was $193 for 9 of us. Some paid more for their expensive egg brunch, while some paid less for just bread and desserts. But generally, if you are looking to try their brunch or lunch menu, you will probably looking at 20 per person, and that’s probably excluding desserts. Choupinette has a great base of Caucasians customers, and it isn’t difficult to see why for the cosy and homely decorations of the place. The name of the restaurant, and the French names of the food screams chic. It will probably be better to go on a weekday where there’s less customers if you want to try this place out.
Well, just like how there will never be a perfect DSLR for either Canon, Olympus or Nikon users. Some of you might like Nikon for the design, Canon for its brand, Olympus for its nimbleness, all of us have different preferences. Similarly for Choupinette, while we were disappointed by the desserts, but the eggs on the brunch were exceptional, and you might just like the food there. No matter what, all of us love our DSLR, and the common passion for food. Another dessert enthusiast outing, until the next one!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
Rating given:
A classic Italian gastronomic, Galbiati gourmet deli actually started out as a takeaway place for its gourmet products. I’ve been wanting to give the place a visit ever since a friend highly recommended it, and railmall is so near to my place.
The interior of the deli was very small, with seating of at most 30. The simplistic environment of the place does makes one feels comfortable, a place where you can call your own Italian joint. The food offered are mostly simple food, with a wide array of home-made pastas, appetizer and main courses.
The Salmon asparagus linguine ($18) was based on the recommendation of the serving staff as my friend’s a great fan of the fish. A very light cream base accompanied the linguine, with the salmon stronger in taste. The asparagus seems to act as the neutralising balance between the salmon and the overall light taste of the dish. A fairly good home-made pasta.
I’ve a sneak preview of their pizzas at the counter, and was excited to hear that they’d served it fresh from the oven. The popular Hawaiian pizza ($8) was our choice for the night. Coming in squares of 6, the pizza was value for money. But, there’s no free lunch in this world, i thought that the ingredients were miserable, with one small cube of pineapple and ham. The pizza crust was very hard, and dry for my personal liking. And the tomato spread for the base was insufficient.
One of the unique characteristics of Galbiati deli was they actually encouraged takeaways. Dining in, the Lavender cheesecake ($7) is a dollar more expensive than if you opted to takeaway their desserts. The lavender flower infused a aromatic fragrant into the light cheesecake. The crust base was always a welcoming partner, to provide the crunch.
We always like to save the best for the last, to savour every bite of the Tiramisu ($7) for a lasting moment stored in our memory. Well i didn’t exactly had many tiramisu before, but Galbiati’s one is probably one of the best i’ve before. There wasn’t any deconstruction, nothing fanciful about the famous Italian dessert. Just a solid good one. The mascrapone cheese, with the the coffee-liquer infuse flavour, i was sorely tempted to order another one.
Total bill was $44 for two person. While the dinner didn’t exactly turn out to be as good as what i’ve expected, it’s easy to imagine myself back here for a simple meal. The only problem? The restaurant doesn’t allow photography, so i was taking photos secretly while they were not looking.
And i do enjoyed my rights of taking photos openly, so this may be the reason a revisit will eluded me. One thing’s for sure, i’ll definitely be back to try the other desserts, and the tiramisu of course. But the next time round, i’ll probably takeaway their desserts, and snap shots of it just directly outside their shop!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
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?
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The Singapore Flyer is touted as the world’s largest observation wheel, even higher than London Eye. Our nation’s pride. Minor breakdowns before were already ominous signals that a catastrophe will happen one day. Alas, the dreadful thing finally struck. How the mighty has fallen. The management should have already looked into and made backup plans, but it failed anyway. Now, time for us to do some self-reflections and damage-recovery.
While the flyer remains closed for investigations, the ones to suffer the backslash are the restaurants and other tenents. Senso Bistro, is coming up with a 50% promotion off all their a la carte menu from now until the flyer starts operating (date unknown yet).
The natural vibe of the restaurant, with its simple layout and decorations, provided a good place for either a causal lunch, or nice dinner without burning a hole in the pocket.
Not to mention there’s also al fresco dining, which would be ideal for dinner, with the sea breeze and eating under the stars making it a romantic affair.
The waiter kindly asked us whether we’ll like some garlic bread ($4) while waiting, but he failed to mention it’s not free. Naturally when he offered us bread i thought it was complimentary. There’s no free lunch in this world. All right, it’s not so much about the money, we are talking about principle, like shouldn’t they at least inform us the bread wasn’t complimentary? Next time, don’t be shy, ask!
With ten selections to choose from the Pizze menu, we were spoilt for choices. To be on the safe side, we went for the popular Hawaiian ($18 before 50% discount). The paper-thin pizza was huge, with eight slices easily filling up the four of us. The ingredients of pineapple, cooked ham were very generous. The only gripe? I lamented the fact that the pizza did not have enough mozzarella cheese. Still, with the promotion, it’s definitely a steal at just under ten bucks. It made the one I’ve at Galbiati looked pathetic.
Grilled tuna loin coated in fresh herbs. The Tonno ($24 before 50% discount) was a disappointment really. The fish was over-cooked, making the meat too dry and hard. I liked the side vegetables that came with it, lightly stir-fried, the greens were crunchy and fresh.
When asked to choose between the T-bone steak and veal loin, the manager recommended the latter for the delicate taste and tender texture. Veal loin is the meat of calves, and at Bistro Senso, the pan-fried veal loin scaloppine ($24 before discount) can be done in three different methods. Ours were ‘alla Pizzaiola’ with tomato and mozzarella cheese. The whole taste was like having a steak-pizza. A refreshing combination, but the meat was not tender enough, and came across as too tough. And since we had pizza already, now i’m wishing i chose the other method of breaded and golden crispy instead.
And how can we not have any pasta from an Italian bistro? The Ravioli ($18 before 50% discount) was essentially lobster and crab pasta served with assorted seafood ragout in tomato and basil sauce. This was actually my first time having a ravioli pasta. The tomato and basil sauce was flavourful and strong in taste. The prawns and squids were fresh, but to be frank, I didn’t quite enjoy ravioli. I still preferred my pasta to be spaghetti or linguine. Personal taste.
I was eagerly anticipating the desserts, well most people would find tiramisu ($8 before 50% discount) boring and chose some other interesting options. But there was no way I’m going to miss out trying the popular Italian dessert from an Italiano joint. The mascarpone cream was too light, and the espresso taste was not strong.
Another famous Italian dessert, Pannacotta ($8 before 50% discount). The bouncy texture was evident, but i couldn’t figure out what’s in the double cream flan. The raspberry coulis did provided a contrast with the pannacotta.
The last one, Creme brulee ($8 before 50% discount). The oven-baked egg custard of the Italian dessert did taste rather like our Chinese egg tarts. The caramelised sugar on top of the dessert wasn’t burned enough, and lacked the torched burnt taste.
Total bill was $65.91 for 4 person after a 50% discount. Although i wasn’t very impressed with the food, but with the promotional prices, the food is really cheap! The pizzas and pastas are like 9 bucks each, and the main course 12 bucks. The soothing ambience with the inexpensive price means that you should visit Senso Bistro before the Singapore Flyer reopens. Talk about patriotism, and national pride.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
Rating given:
We walked along the narrow street, wondering where was our destination. The road seems so distant, the future so vague. Just like the route we took, there’s much hurdle to be clear. At long last, we arrived, Dim joy.
Culture of all walks of life, our very own roots. Dim Joy offers a perspective much more than just eating dim sum. Its about the art of appreciating dim sum, the approach in understanding our culture. I like the small details they look into, like how they have tiny notes on the teapot to teach people about the correct method of teapot refill, like how they print their own manuals on the chopstick cover to educate about chopstick etiquette. Small little things like these, make a whole lot of differences.
Nestled in a shop house on neil road, the restaurant quaint and tranquil environment made me feel at home upon entering. There wasn’t much people on a weekday lunch, we had the whole lovely place to ourselves. This is just a place where you can seat down and chill for the whole day.
The simplistic approach to the chief, King shrimp har gao ($4). The whole taste was very subtle, the prawns were fresh, but the skin was again, too thick. While it wasn’t fantastic, dim sum just isn’t dim sum without har gao.
There wasn’t much difference with the Barbecued pork & celery in rice rolls ($5) too. It was way too short if i were to compare it with elsewhere. There was also the option of having the rice rolls in claypot, but i dismissed it as gimmick. I wanted a good steamed and savoury rice roll in light sauce.
There were bits of char siew which could passed off as bacon strips. And we were wondering how cool it’ll be if there’s bacon rice rolls. Nonetheless, the taste was again, very subtle and tame if i may just use the word. I didn’t quite enjoy the celery within too.
I was eagerly anticipating the Honey-syrup char siew bun ($3). With such a sweet name, we were like bees attracted to the beauty of the honey pot. The white pillowry bun was soft and fluffy, very good! But the char siew fillings could be better. While its sweet with honey-syrup infused, the fillings were too little, and i’ll preferred it to be more moist, like their char siew sou.
There is also Siew mai ($3.50 for 4), another dim sum staple. Chewy, shrimpy and not too oily. Value for money definitely, and its the only one that comes two by two. The ratio of shrimp to pork outnumbers greatly, with only a small portion of lean pork meat.
I always choose Pan-fried radish cake ($3) over its steamed cousins. I love the slightly charred surface of the carrot cake, but this one wasn’t charred enough. Well unlike most carrot cakes which are very filling, this one wasn’t very starchy, and had a different taste from the ones which i tried before. The jury’s out on this, you need to make your judgement.
Personally, i ain’t a big fan of the beancurd skin roll ($4.50) but my companion wanted to try this, so here we go. Instead of the typical prawn fillings, this one was all about mushrooms. The skin was a bit raw, and taste almost like beancurd, well it’s made from beancurd after all. The wholesome, vegetarian fillings within the beancurd skin roll didn’t work for me. But my companion rather enjoyed her helpings.
Now, my choice. The char siew so ($3.50) bears a great resemblance to our festive pineapple tarts. Golden brown in colour, with the buttery egg-graze taste on the pastry. While it didn’t come in the form of my favourite flaky skin, Dim Joy’s rendition was unique in its own right.
This time, the sweet honey infuse char siew fillings were more generous, and it was very moist within the pastry. But the char siew did lacked certain texture, and given time to improve, it’ll be better.
We were half-decided on ordering the Custard bun ($3) since we heard it wasn’t that good. But we decided to try for ourselves, taste after all is a very subjective thing. The vital factor for a good custard bun, the oozing out of the golden custard fillings. This one did, the molten custards flowed out of the bun, just like the lava erupted from a volcano. The salty egg yolk taste wasn’t strong enough, the bun was soft but, there’s some fine particles which we guessed was course sugar not dissolved properly. I had the best, and the worst before, this one would be good given some minor tweaks.
While i know Lingnan is an area in China, i couldn’t see the link what the place got to do with the Lingnan egg tart ($3.50 for 4). The best part about Dim Joy during weekend was there wasn’t much people around, so everything was made freshly, rather than pre-made. We waited 25 minutes just for the egg tarts to come out freshly baked. The egg fillings were nice and wet, but the pastry lacked the buttery undertone.
Total bill was $42.35 for 2 person. I must say, with 9 dim sum between us, the prices are fairly reasonable given the standards of the dim sum. I’ll definitely make a perennial visit again, and for that, See you there! And just for some background information, Michelle Saram’s the partner behind Dim Joy.
It also helped that Dim Joy served dim sum throughout the day, even during dinner. Most places don’t serve dim sum at night, so it’s a nice place if you are craving for dim sum after the sun set. I heard they are packed during weekend, so avoid the crowd come on the weekdays instead.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
Rating given:
Television often play an important part in our life, and definitely have great influence on many people. But the debates on whether it is a good thing or not continues to rage on. Many certainly thinks that Television’s one of the greatest inventions, while some in the other camp believe that it is a bad influence on children, especially so when they get addicted to watching TV programmes. Did you ever hear a parent telling her kid to watch more TV shows?
Recently, we have a television show on Channel 8, “Buffet Buffet” which has garnered much interest among the young and the old. And its hard not to see why, food-related programmes have always been a hit with the audience, not to mention this one introduce all kinds of buffets in Singapore. I saw Penang place restaurant on one of the episodes, and since the price is reasonably cheap and near to my place, why not?
If you just watch the crowd in the place without knowing where is it, you’ll never guess its located within the International Business park (IBP) at Jurong. Perhaps that’s exactly the reason why the owner set up shop there, since there’s so many hungry white collar workers in all the offices around. The atrium building is just beside Creative, so its pretty easy to find, and there’s shutter bus from Jurong East mrt station.
Penang place oozes a sense of tranquil with its simple furnitures, and the water settings just beside the restaurant. It was fully packed when we visited on a weekday lunch, Singaporeans do love their buffets!
The selections actually is pretty decent given its reasonable pricing of $19.80 for weekday buffet lunch.
The Penang laksa actually comes in the form of Assam laksa, sour and spicy in taste, which differed greatly from our local version. The katong-laksa purist might not take quite well to this, which is more like a mix between tom-yam soup and laksa, with the sourish taste dominating the taste bud. But that’s the authentic Penang laksa for you.
I was rather impressed with the seafood soup, well for one it tasted like shark fin soup (even though there’s no shark fin of course), and secondly, i felt that it was similar to my mom’s home-made soup, and that’s a compliment!
What do you think of when I mentioned Penang? The name synonymous with the city is definitely Char Koay Teow. And if you didn’t notice, even the spelling differs slightly from ours. Well, there’s also Assam laksa, wonton mee and hokkien mee too, but Char Koay Teow certainly is the one which leave most people with memorable memories of Penang. Their rendition comes slightly spicy, not too oily and with a generous serving of ingredients. And the best part? Penang Place actually replenished their char koay teow in small portions very often, since it’s like the most popular dish there. While Char koay teow has a reputation for being unhealthy, and even though i had eaten it twice that week, i couldn’t help myself to second helpings. My sinful food.
The Nasi Lemak is served simple and nice with the fragnant rice, crunchy ikan billies, crispy peanut with cooling cucumbers. There are some other common dishes like curry chicken, fried food, but one dish which i found it good was the Batu Uban Ayam Panggang, which was seasoned grilled chicken with peanut sauce. A pity it was gone when i wanted to take a shot of it.
Glutinous rice is often use in the Asian context, and its no surprise to see the Kueh Salat here. Basically steamed glutinous rice topped with a layer of pandan flavoured custard. Well, i didn’t know if it’s just me or what, but i didn’t really enjoy glutinous rice done this way. The taste was rather weird for my liking, and i guessed i still prefer the Chinese dim sum glutinous rice in lotus leaf.
One of my personal favourites, the Kueh Dardan was actually pandan flavoured pancakes filled with sweetened coconut shavings. The pancakes were very soft and nice, with the coconut shavings coming not too heavy. Easily finished a few of them even thought we were full from the buffet.
Another dessert, or rather kueh that i enjoyed was the Kueh Talam. Essentially a pandan flavoured cake topped with a savoury coconut milk layer, the pandan cake was very fragnant indeed.
Total bill was $69.90 for 3 person at their weekday lunch buffet. I must say, for $23 per head after taxes and service charges, its rather reasonable for the amount of food served. Note, i didn’t say its excellent, but for the price, its rather acceptable since i find it hard to name another place serving buffet in the 20 dollar range which is good. I guess the money will be worth it if you eat more of their Char Koay teow which will cost $8.90 if you order a plate a la carte.
The location might be a tad difficult, since its within the International Business Park, people wouldn’t travel all the way there just for their buffet, but i did. Well for the rest of you lucky souls who are working in the area, i’ll say this is one place to check out for lunch when you are in the mood for a longer lunch.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
Rating given: