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Food & Beverage
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1=SGD 0.0587
Heard lots about Melvados cafe and its famous brownies but due to the fact that its location is on the other side of Singapore, i've never coerced myself to make the trip down to visit it. In fact, i still have not visited it due to mixed reviews on the service and the food from the place. However, i did manage to get lucky one day and got my hands on a box of Melvados brownies for a tea time treat for free.
Macadamia Nut Brownie ($28 for 10 pieces) & Mango Mousse ($26 for 10 pieces) - Fortunate me got this box of brownies and cakes for free due to over ordering and i can say that i found the brownies and cakes above average. The Macadamia brownie obviously had a crunchy layer of macadamia nuts strewn all over the top of a chocolaty and bitter brownie. Its also soft and crumbles easily with each bite, doesn't crumble in your hand though, which to me, is a mark of an above average brownie. On the downside, the only thing to pick on is that the bitterness gets to you pretty quick.
The Mango mousse cake is smooth, creamy and soft. Its lightly sweet with a thin layer of cream for that feeling of indulgence and balance all in one. It also helps to note that it was fresh. Another yummy treat.
I liked the brownies quite a bit. Its fresh, pack with taste and pretty much comfort food for me. The fact that i didn't have to pay for them helped quite a bit as well. All in all, i'd recommend ordering out to try for yourself. It ain't cheap though so please take note.
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What is the typical munchie you will bring into a cinema??
Yes. It's popcorn!
So before the start of our show, my partner & I decided to buy some popcorn. Many times, we walked past this little shop, which purely sells popcorn, located in a conspicuous corner at the basement level of The Cathay. This time round, we finally bought a small packet of caramelised popcorn which costs $5.50 (if I remember correctly). Actually, there are other flavours of popcorn as well. I remember seeing an interesting flavour, sour cream. So far, I have only eaten potato chips with sour cream but not popcorn with sour cream. So I was pretty keen to try it. Will probably do it next time then. Haha... Oh yah, the popcorns come in 2 package size. The popcorns have already been pre-packed in clear plastic bag and sealed up. Upon purchase, the staff will put the packet of popcorn into a cute pink box (picture). Nice packaging!
It looked good on the outside but how about its taste? In the first place, I am not a person with sweet cravings but I find the sweetness of their popcorn acceptable. It was impressive that the coat of caramel was quite even on every pieces of popcorn. Unlike some popcorns where there's bits of sugar unevenly coated on the popcorn. What's more, this popcorn has a strong buttery taste and it kind of balance up with the sweetness from the caramel.
So next time when you are catching a movie at The Cathay, you can consider getting your popcorn from here. It's definitely worth a try!
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Fast food in Singapore has always been dominated by a few big names and now, competition is on the way. Well, competition has been on the way forever but never quite caught up. Its the niche that these new places are fighting for and somehow, SuperDog, which i've passed by so many times, finally got me to step in for a trial. Is it even close to being in the race? Read on for my take on the issue.
Its good to see that the company has a sense of humor from their eating etiquette. Nothing too fancy but it gets a few facts right. The philosophy also does a good job of telling consumers their main selling point, which is that their ingredients and items are fresh, never frozen. Sounds good enough for me.
Iced Chocolate and Pineapple Sensation - Beverages of fast food joints are hardly the stuff of legend and yet, this one managed to be a notch above the usual. Instead of boring reruns of coke and what not (which they do serve), we got ourselves a healthy dose of iced chocolate and pineapple sensation. The iced chocolate was rich and pretty much rivaled Starbucks or Coffee Bean if you ask me. The pineapple sensation was also pretty good with its sourish sweet taste which felt like actual pineapple juice instead of reworked extracts. Most surprising.
Breaded Fish And Chips - Nice up was the bread fish and chips which looked suitably bland since its an item that has been done to death by numerous and uncountable hordes of copycats. And yet, it managed to taste better then the likes of Long John Silvers, Coffee Club and Swenson's. This is probably because it had a taste of herbs mixed in with its crispy breaded skin and expertly done fish which managed to retain a sweetness the others simply did not offer. Another surprise.
SuperDog - This is the dog that started it all. The SuperDog, wholesome pork bratwurst with a piece of bacon, cheese, garlic and their own special chili concoction which made each bite easier to take. In terms of the bratwurst, maybe i'm no expert but i found it rather tasty albeit bland. The chili managed to salvage that however and taken as a whole, its was quite good. The chili isn't the spicy variety as well which had a tangy and mildly sweet flavor.
Bacon Chili Cheese Dog - At first glance, this is pretty much the same as the Superdog but a little smaller. The only discernible difference was the hotdog which was smaller and had cheese in it. The good thing is that the cheese was hot and flows well with each bite. In fact, i prefer this to the SuperDog. The bread in both versions were lightly buttered and toasted on the inside for a crispy texture which served it well.
Surprise. That pretty much sums it up. The place has never looked appetizing to me but i find myself drawn towards it now. The food isn't cheap and is priced above its competitors but the taste is different and surprisingly good. The service was also friendly enough to commend. To me, i find this fast food chain up there with the big boys and maybe even surpassing them on some levels. Try it, it might surprise you.
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Rochester Park consists of several refurbished 70-year old colonial black and white bungalows, which were once homes of British officers. Now, these bungalows have been turned into restaurants and the seclusion of the park as well as the beautiful greenery have definitely provided a unique dining experience for people.
Just like other restaurants located at Rochester Park, Da Paolo Bistro Bar was housed in one of these bungalows. Since it was just a stone's throw away from my office, we conveniently walked over for our lunch yesterday.
We took up the set lunch menu, which comes with a starter, main course, dessert and tea/coffee to complete the meal. The choice of main course can either be the pasta ($24 per set lunch) or fish/meat of the day ($32 per set). There were about 10 types of pasta for you to choose from but the fish of the day was just limited to seabass with garlic and baby spinach and meat was tenderloin steak with mashed potato. Starter came with a generous choice of salads and soup, and dessert fixed as apple crumple.
Here’s my choice!
Starter: Insalata con salmon affumicato
Wild rocket with black olive and cherry tomato tossed in olive oil & vinegar and two huge slices of smoked salmon. Sounds like a normal smoked salmon salad? No no. With a squeeze of lemon onto the salad, it tasted really good. The more I ate it, the hungrier I got. But it was definitely a good start to get my stomach prepared for the upcoming main course.
Main course: Tenderloin steak with mashed potato (I don’t remember the exact name for it, sorry.)
I requested the steak to be medium-rare done. Sad to say, it was more of medium done and the steak was a little too tough for my liking, although I do like the a little charred outer layer of the steak. However, what made up for it was it mashed potato which was smooth and creamy. Eat it together with the sauce, it is simply yummy!
Dessert: Apple Crumble
Like I’ve mentioned earlier, the dessert wasn’t a choice but fixed in set lunch menu. But anyway, it was a generous slice of apple crumble serve with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream. The huge chunks of apple taste good, though a little too sweet for me. Probably because I was given the middle slice of the apple crumble (without the crust), I find the apple crumble a little too soft & soggy.
On the overall, the dining experience was good. Excellent service, as for food wise, there were hits and misses. Well, since it’s a free lunch I can’t complain too much as well. Haha.. So I'll give 3.5 stars now.
With the wide choice of pasta in the menu, I’ll probably try the pasta next time.
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Tea Cosy formally known as Tea Cosy by Eclectic attic was the place for a foodie outing organized by HGW one quiet Friday night. Appearing on television programs and newspapers, Tea Cosy is not media shy in the least and has garnered reviews from both ends of the spectrum which ranges from flat out good to a foodie beating of disappointments. Of course, for us, we were there to discern if such praises and damnations were accurate.
One of the main draws of Tea Cosy is the strange setting that the restaurant resides in. Basically, it is possible to walk pass this restaurant without ever realizing that it is a place where you can have food. The reason for this is because of the fusion of a high end furniture store with the restaurant. Everything in the shop can be bought and has a price tag as far as the owners are concerned and to be perfectly honest, the prices are sky high IMHO. The restaurant itself changes according to the expected number of diners the restaurant predicts and this time, they've prepared a nice table set up for the event, which was appropriate.
Fat Bastard Chardonnay and Shiraz ($12 a glass) - Now, for our first disappointment for the day, the wines. As introduced by Martin, the wines are the absolute finest he has been able to find in recent memory as he enjoyed wines with a more subtle taste. The wines were actually served by the serving lady because she mentioned to us that the wine was "complementary" for the first glass which turned out otherwise but more on that later. The wines themselves were average to my tastes because i've had quite a fine wines on my own and somehow, this "Fat Bastard" label struck me as below average with its overtly weak taste and rather bland palate. And charging $12 a glass is simply ridiculous.
The bell was a nice touch until you realise there wasn't much in terms of service from the temporary staff that was hired which was a pity since the hosts were rather entertaining and friendly.
Cream Of Mushroom Soup with Toasted bread and secret Mayo - The first item after a decidedly long wait was the cream of mushroom which came with generous bits of mushroom strewn within. Along with this was a piece of toasted bread which was toasted possibly with the restaurants own brand of mayonnaise which gave it a sweet and appealing taste. The soup was average as it struck me as too salty.
Decadent salad with prawns, foie gras and egg yolk - The decadent salad is a must try whenever you visit this place. Period. Fresh green salads and greens with three pieces of prawn, a half boiled egg and 2 small pieces of pan fried foie gras. To dissect the dish, the prawns were average, as are the greens and the foie gras but when you take this as a whole, it becomes a much better dish. The mayonnaise and half boiled egg is a stroke of genius since it gives the dish a much better taste than usual. The foie gras and prawns feel more like an afterthought since the foie gras was actually very small and charred on both sides while the prawns weren't the crunchy types i've come to enjoy.
Another service lapse happened here because the organizers of the party got bigger portions than ours which left a sour taste in my groups mouth since we thought they paid the same amount but got double standards. Which we found out that they paid a higher price for the bigger servings in the end but there was one more thing. We were at the restaurant first but ended up served last, now thats something they couldn't explain away and its my point that double standards were in place.
Lemon Pan Fried Dory Fillet, Grilled Chicken With Rice, Laksa Pesto - Had a try of some of the items above and this is what i think. The grilled chicken was good, soft, tender and went well with the lemon and sweet sauce. The dory was normal, nothing too special about it. The laksa pesto was reminiscent of Wild Rockets rendition except that this was more watery and had a little curry taste in it. From what i heard, it was extremely salty as well.
Foie Gras - The Foie Gras is another well known must-try dish during a visit to Tea Cosy. 2 rather decent sized pieces of goose liver pan fried on top of a bed of salad which looked much like the decadent salad of yore. Honestly though, having this on its own would have left me hungry as the foie gras weren't particularly generous. Taste wise, it was pretty normal as there doesn't seem to be much preparation in the cooking. A slightly crispy and salty outer skin is about all i could discern. Sage and Braise served better Foie Gras. This place is an option if you have a tight budget but still crave some wholesome fat.
Tirasmisu, Strawberry Shortcake, Chocolate Indulgence, Raisin Brownies and Cinnamon Cake - In case you were wondering. I made up the name above since i forgot what this was called. As i've only had .... less then a spoonful when shared, i'll refrain from commenting too much. I'll say that the cakes were quite good but not for the price.
Ebony and Ivory - Premium vanilla ice cream dribbled with chocolate and frozen set atop a chocolate brownie. Simple yet totally easy to like. The vanilla ice cream was very creamy while the chocolate gave it the slight edge in sweetness it needs. The brownie in turn gave the whole concoction a dimension of bitterness which makes it easier to recommend. My only gripe is that the portion is small and that after a few bites, sugar overload commences.
Total bill this time came up to $49 a person instead of the aforementioned and agreed upon $32.90 which the deal was supposed to be.
(Service: 4/10)
Why the low score for service? Firstly because the wine which was supposed to be complimentary turned out otherwise. Secondly, upon informing the lady of the error, instead of waiving the cost of drinks, she waived the cost of the laksa which is not much help. Thirdly, i remember Martin mentioning he was not in the job for the money but apparently the ending was that the cost of 6 glasses of wrongly served wine proved too much to handle. In all fairness, apart from this hick up, the food was average in some while above average in others. If there's anything to try, its the decadent salad and that would be about all you should have to maximize your dollar.
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I love the National Museum and the romantic-ness of it all. To be very honest, I didn't really know about Chef Chan until my little Birdie friend told me. All to happy to have a chance to dine at the charming Museum, I jumped at this chance.
Arriving at the place, I wasn't disappointed by the place! I love the entire atmosphere. Chef Chan was tucked away in an obscure corner of the museum, but the restaurant was very appropriately designed. The entire oriental theme was soothing and not overly gaudy, which was often so with Chinese restaurants.
What we had that night:
Melon Strips Enlivened with Orange Juice
You know the F&N Orange squash we used to drink during CNY? It tastes like that... with lots of crunch. I liked it but I didn't think I would have something like this in this restaurant. I'd have to agree with the rest that this was easy to make at home. But I guess it's a reasonable starter.
Prawn Balls Stuffed with Pate and Wine
I could taste neither pate nor wine. We only had one ball each and mind you, it wasn't very big. It was salty and that was the only obvious taste I could get from the ball. The only thing it reminded me of was those balls you could microwave once you take them out from the freezer.
Stir Fried Shark’s Fin with Eggs, Bean Sprouts and Spring Onion Served in Lettuce Leaves
Someone said it looked like a whole lot of Tunghoon. There was some shark's fin I guess and a mix of everything else. This dish was lightly flavoured and I liked it pretty much. But the cabbage I had below was a bit thick and had a contrasting bitter taste to the salad sitting on it. So I refused to eat it after a few bites.
Steamed Lobster with Garlic
You could SMELL the garlic from a distance. Everyone had one half of the lobster which was a nice serving to have. Mine wasn't so covered in garlic so I was pretty happy with it. The lobster was pretty fresh I guess but the garlic really burned in my middle when I'd finished it.
Steamed Sliced Garoupa in Village Style
I had 2-3 pieces of this (unlike some people). The fish bits had a nice texture but the gravy that came with it was horrid. It's was sickeningly sticky which made me baulk at the first taste. I rubbed it off at the side of the dish so that I didn't have to eat too much of it. Relatively acceptable dish I guess... They need to do something about the gravy.
Sauteed Vegetable with Shredded Mushroom A dish you can definitely find at your neighbourhood Chze Char stall.
Chef Chan’s Famous Crispy Roast Chicken
This is a YUMMY! I loved this one. The skin was crisp and I ate it too, despite being the sort who usually peels it off. The meat was very tasty on its own. I liked the texture (cos I got the part I wanted) This was definitely the winning dish of the night that kept everyone very quiet.
Papaya with White Fungus & Herbal Jelly with Glutinous Rice & Mango
Mistake Mistake Mistake. The texture of the glutinous rice did not go well with the Guilingao! Terrible... it took me a few tries before I figured I had to eat all the glutinous rice first then have the mango and the herbal jelly together. Any other way just made me quite sick really.
We chalked up a bill of about $860, which works out to be about $96 per person. It would have been more expensive but thanks to someone's credit card, we had a discount.
I wouldn't say this is below average... in actual fact I didn't think that the food "sucked". It was below expectations, thanks to its price. But it's not terrible food. Just expensive average food I guess. The chicken saved it from a 2-star.
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I had walked past this place so many times and yet I had not had a thought of walking in for a meal. There are a few reasons, first being there always seem to be a long queue outside the restaurant. Secondly, the place serves the kind of food that does not appeal to me. Thirdly, I was always in rush when I was walking past this place. So finally one fine day, we decided to give this place a try, well there was no queue and I thought that it was all good timing. I sort of regretted my choice when I stood there waiting to be shown to a table.
The place did not seem crowded, in fact can see a few empty tables, but we have to wait at the counter. It seems like the waiters and waitresses, even the managers (well they are the ones wearing more formal), are all very busy and everywhere except the counter where we are waiting. Not even one saw us standing at the counter, making me like an idiot. After about 5 mins of waiting, I told my partner that I will count to five, if till then, no one comes up to us, we will go another place for dinner. Lucky enough (don’t know for them or us), we were ushered to a table that is pretty much near to the edge of the corridor where tons and tons of people walked past, felt like animals on display.
The decoration of the place is pretty much trying to be hip and getting the attention of the teenagers, so that they can come in, eat and spend money. There is a pool table to play and even a candy floss station where you can get free candy floss. There are tables like a capsule where a big group can be seated together. The rest of the tables are like those normal kind.
Well after the bad start, my mood was not very good to start off with. Being seated at that location, it was difficult to get the attention of the waiters. It was really frustrating but finally managed to get one and come and take our orders. So what we ordered?
Root beer float @ $7.60: This came in the A&W style. Big mug of nice cold root beer with a big scoop of ice cream in it. Nothing special but it still taste great. Nice. I do find it a bit expensive for it though. Sigh.
London style fish and chip @ $9.90: This came with a big piece of fish, chips and tartar sauce. That it! No coleslaw or salad or whatever. This is really a ripped off! The fish is a bit flaky, not really fresh, maybe frozen. The batter is a bit too thick. Nothing to wow about. I wonder what do they mean by the London part. I understand in London they served it with vinegar but I dun see them doing that. Hmm….. This is really disappointing.
American Coleslaw @ $4.90: I don’t know it is me or the coleslaw but I do find the taste of the coleslaw a bit weird. Maybe too much mayo or too much vinegar but it does not taste like any normal coleslaw. I got to say this is one of the worst coleslaw that I ever eaten. It was so bad that I did not even finished the whole coleslaw. It is that bad. There is no way I am going to order that again.
Rotisserie Chix Whole @ $14.90: After eating or tasting all the above mentioned food, I did not have high expectation for this dish. However, I was wrong. The dish turned out to be great. The chicken was moist and tender, not dry at all. The size of the chicken is also quite huge, for small eaters, they can just order this and share. The sauce that came with the chicken is perfect for it. This dish is above average. Try this and you will not regret especially after a string of disappointments. This is the one that deserves 4 stars.
After this, we decided to give the desserts a miss and asked for the bill. Again, it took us sometime to get the attention of the waiters for the bill. The bill came to us pretty fast but we paid for it and waited for it to return. We waited and waited with the water at least topped up twice. We asked for the waiter to check on the bill but it seems that it never came back. I wonder why? In the end, I got a bit pissed off and signaled to the manager and ask him to check the bill which after a wait of 10 mins, the waiter finally brought it back to us. I really wonder what happen at that time. I have therefore decided after this experience, there is NO CHANCE that I will ever return to this place for any meal ever again!
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Love the salad and desserts.
Together with few Yebbers, we joined a foodie eat out at Tea Cosy. We had a selection of mains from the planned menu just for the gathering.
For the set, there was the homemade mushroom soup, infamous decadent salad, choice of main (laksa pasta, grilled lime chicken and pan fried foie gras). Paid $25.90 for pasta or chicken. Those who took the foie gras paid $32.90 .
It took them quite awhile to get the soup served. The mushroom soup was alright. Nothing special about it. Then after another long wait, the salad came.
It's quite sad to see the portion smaller than usual. Isn't it supposed to be a special promotional set? Promotional in terms of pricing and not the serving size right? If paying lesser for sets means getting lesser in serving, than what's the point of getting the promotion? Or at least it should be made aware to the customers that the salad served will be of sampling size or something? That aside, everyone at my table had to agree that the salad live up to its standard. The mayo on it was very tasty. Vegetables was fresh and the entire combination (with the saddening few tiny pieces of foie gras) was good. This will be the only thing that'll tempt me to go back for more.
The chicken was alright. Grilled to slightly charred on the outside and the sauce was alright only. Vegetables on the side could have been crunchier.
The desserts were not bad and I'll recommend girls who want a place to hang out over mini tea party to check Tea Cosy out. It's quite an experience with all the unique antique furnitures.
Overall my first experience at Tea Cosy was average. At times I feel upset too. This I shall not talk about it since it was a miscommunication between the mid-shift waitress they hired just for that night and us. In fact, the management should have given a better briefing before the night. Or perhaps get a more experience waitress the next time.
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The only think I remember now is the smelly table. :(
It was quite a bad experience when I was there for dinner. When we walked into the sitting/dining area behind the serving/ordering counter, the place was quite messed up with tables and chairs misaligned and many tables uncleared. We sat ourselves at the "cleaniest" table we can find and looked at the menu. The food was quite cheap and there were quite a lot of variety. Then we spotted a piece of A6 paper with scribbling of some promo set available. $7.90 for main course with drink. (Can't remember if there's soup thou.)
We ordered the Grilled Sirloin Steak and Seafood Aglio Oli both at promotional price of $7.90. Added Fried Calamari for starter.
While waiting for the order, a lady came to clean our tables and after she wiped the table, there was a strong stinge of smell left behind by the cloth she used! It was as thou the cloth has been left unwashed for few days! Smell worst then toilet can? What disgusted me more was that the same pair of hands that handled the smelly table cloth was serving the food and folding paper napkins loh! I had to apply medicated oil on my nose to cover the smell. And when our food was served, all my appetite was gone. Good thing the food was still presentable the least.
When my steak came, I then realised that we didn't get to choose the done-ness of it. It was cooked, almost to complete well done. So it was too tough to chew. Didn't really enjoy it. Boyfriend's pasta was a tad better. At least the seafood was presentable and of a good size. There was more of a black pepper taste instead of how aglio olio pasta should taste like.
Our starter was then served after the main courses. (Hmm...) We should have expected what was served since it was only $2.50 for the Fried Calamari. It was pathetic and the calamari was overcooked. Again too tough to chew.
Guess I was just unlucky to get this kind of experience at Spagetti Too since the 2 ladies before me enjoyed themselves at the same location. Chef was different perhaps. And the lady serving was different too?
Food: 3 out of 5
Service: 2 out of 5
Cleanliness: 1.5 out of 5
Value for money: 3 out of 5
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With its own on-site coffee roasting facilities in its flagship gourmet coffee house at Holland Village, Coffee Club took the coffee culture by storm and set a new standard in the industry in 1991. However, even with 21 outlets today, this flagship outlet remains close to my heart, even as a non-coffee lover. I like the impeccable service and aromatic coffee there and recently, its newly launched menu gave me more enticement to visit this place. I gave the NEW Banana Butterscotch Latte ($6.20) a try and what you get is an interesting blend of a very rich and sweet latte that is of acquired taste. Don’t get me wrong, the coffee was still aromatic, but I find the butterscotch flavour too overwhelming and with the addition of the banana in it, the drink was just too sweet for my liking – perhaps someone with a sweeter tooth will appreciate it better!
The NEW Spice Chicken Wings ($8.50) marinated with lemon juice was a delight. So much so that we devoured it within minutes. The skin was well marinated and the savoury & sour combination was truly pleasurable. The only flaw was that the greens that accompanied with it was all dried and wrinkled, and the texture was too rough for consumption – the least I expected was some olive oil drizzled on it – as I found out later that they only served salad dressing to their specialty salad dishes.
Thankfully, the NEW dessert in town saved the night – Chocolate Delice ($7.00), consisting of bittersweet chocolate mousse with chocolate syrup drenched over it and vanilla ice cream on a base of crisp, flaky puff pastry accompanied by crunchy Valrhona rice crispies, this dessert is a winner in many ways. Presentation wise – it was brilliant, taste wise – the chocolate mousse is beyond description, one simply has to taste it to know what I mean. If one enjoys Bakerzin’s signatured Warm Chocolate Cake, then this cold dessert is the one for you!
You can view more photos and other reviews @ His Food Blog.
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