Having tried small piece of the Unagi Pizza at Pastamania, I simply needed more. Since we were around one outlet, we decided to have our dinner there.
He ordered Aglio Olio Pasta, adding Chicken to it, and I had the Unagi Pizza.
The place was quite packed since it was a weekend. Thus we waited quite awhile for our order to come. Good thing we ordered the set that comes with soup, drinks and toast. Else I would have suffered from hunger due to the wait.
10mins later, the pasta came. Having paid extra for the chicken, it was quite a disappointment. The chicken was tasteless and it didn't go that well with the choice of sauce.
After a long wait, the pizza didn't come. He took his time to eat his pasta, but even so, the pizza didn't come after he finished his pasta! We checked with the manager on duty and he told us the pasta is coming soon. True enough, the next order that came out from the pizza counter was my Unagi Pizza.
Due to the wait, my tummy was already missing the hunger that it initially have. Looking at the pizza infront of me, I didn't quite have the appetite to finish it.
As expected, the pizza was nice and yummy when eaten hot. Taste of the sauce with the unagi and thin crust of pizza makes eating it enjoyable. (It would have been better if we didn't have to wait that long for it.)
Tetsu, opening its doors at Tanglin Mall on January 17, 2008, pride themselves in serving Kushi-Tempura and Kushi-Katsu. Their concept is based on a “LIVE” preparation in front of you by their chefs, who have intensive training in their Japanese Headquarters.
The first impression upon stepping into Tetsu is really nice decorations. Contemporary yet not too modernize till the extend of losing the authentic Japanese feel. Chic furnishings like the curtains, and decors in the restaurant. The whole place exudes an elegant feel with its classy and clean look.
Tetsu certainly does not fits the bill with association to Food Junction, your local food courts isn’t it? But the truth is, Tetsu is actually owned and operate by Food Junction. Surprise surprise, i was quite astonished by this fact when i first heard of it. But i am pleased Food Junction is finally making full use to leverage on its experience and connections in the Food & Beverage Industry, to provide us the consumers with a wider variety of choices to dine at.
The counter bars in Tetsu are specially designed in such a way that diners can seat in close proximity to the chef, who will prepared their feast up for them, well its not just the stomach feast alone, there’s the visual feast right before you.
I was invited by Miss Pris Yap, who’s the consultant for Tetsu for a food tasting session. Here i will like to put Disclaimer first, the review written herein will not be influence simply because this is a food tasting session. Whatever written herein is the Frank and Honest opinions of my friend and i who went to Tetsu for the occasion.
We had the assurance from Miss Yap that they will seek our honest opinion to improve Tetsu, and that every visit to Tetsu will be the same, the food will not look or taste specially good just because this is a food tasting event.
My food dining partner joins me for Tetsu, and she’s a lover of Japanese food, so the review will be a combination of what both of us felt about the meal.
There’s also a VIP room which u can actually make a reservation to book it if you have a certain number of guests, around 10 at least if i’m not wrong.
At Tetsu, there are affordable set lunches from the Jubako, Katsu, Tempura,Sakana (fish) which are in the 20s to 30s price range. I’ll say the set meals are definitely value-for-money.
There is also the designer Kaiseki sets available. Kaiseki is an 5 course set, made up of 4 seasonal appetizers, designer salad, premium kushi-style main course, imported udon from Japan, and dessert at a mere $35. Of course there are more expensive options of the Kaiseki sets going at $45 and $55.
A wide range of Sake, Shoju, and wine are also available to go along with the food. We didn’t had any Sake because it was still early in the afternoon. Perhaps next time!
Salmon Carpaccio ($18) For appetizer to start off our meal at Tetsu, we had the Salmon Carpaccio with french dressing. Carpaccio originated from Italy, and its usually slices of beef, tuna, or veal traditionally thinly sliced or pounded thin, with olive oil or vinaigrette drizzled over it.
We’ll preferred the carpaccio to be slice thinner, the thick and generous slices of the carpaccio at Tetsu is almost akin to sashimi portions. For people who like sashimi, they will probably have mixed feelings for this dish because usually sashimi lovers like the clean and fresh taste of the fish, and its raw texture on its own, but for this salmon, it has a french dressing on it.
Nonetheless, the Salmon Carpaccio is quite fresh, and with the current Citibank promotion, receive this as a complimentary with a minimum spending of $50.
The Salmon Carpaccio is an interesting take on fusion japanese & italian appetizer (although this is done with french dressing). The french dressing helps to balances the richness of the salmon with the complex sweet and sour taste of the dressing, the contrast between the taste is definitely appealing.
Roll sushi 6 Pieces ($18) The roll sushi is covered with crunchy sesame seeds, but on the other end the sushis can actually can get quite dry. My friend thought that if the roll sushi comes with some sauce it will be perfect.
Traditionally sushi rolls are supposed to be eaten in one mouthful by putting the whole sushi inside. But the sushi here is a tad too big, so we couldn’t really fit it into our mouth.
Apparently it has salmon and scallops inside, though when mixed together the scallops taste can’t really be felt. The blend of crunchy sesame seeds and tobiko makes its quite yummy though. However at $18 for 6 pieces, it is considered rather expensive. Have this if you have the extra budget to spend on A la carte.
Onsentamago Tofu Salad ($13.50) Onsen Tamago is hot spring egg. The eggs here are cooked slowly in hot water, so the whites are still soft while the yolks just slightly cooked. Blended together with tofu and sesame sauce, the combination offers a very refreshing approach to the normal salad.
The salad is served by mixing the egg together with the greens and tofu. A good appetizer if you are like us, prefer runny eggs.
Thats all for our A la carte starters, just to recap, we had the Salmon Carpaccio, the roll sushi and the Onsentamago Tofu Salad. All these three appetizers are ordered from the A la carte menu and are not in the set meals which are coming up next.
Rosu Katsu Set ($24.50) The Rosu Katsu (Pork Loin) set is the actual main course that we are having for our lunch. There are two options for the Katsu set, you can choose from either the Rosu Katsu (pork loin) or the Hire Katsu (fillet katsu). Pork loin is fatter than fillet katsu in nature, which makes it more tender than Hire Katsu.
Another interesting point to note, besides the usual sauce that comes with the Katsu, Tetsu provides an alternative, the curry powder to go along with the pork loin. The curry powder is another option if you are sick of the usual sauce, however the powder here is quite on the salty side, so just dipped into it slightly.
The katsu is specially imported from Japan, lightly fried to produce a crust that is light but yet double the thickness of the usual katsu. The meat is marinated for 3 days to ensure its tasty and succulent texture.
Famed for their Katsu, the Kushi-age style (skewered with breaded batter) certainly lives up to expectations. The breaded style of the katsu is really good, the panko crumbs on it is very light which gives it a melt-in-your-mouth feel.
Furthermore, the katsu here has a generous cut, unlike some restaurants which cut the pork into very thin slices. At $24.50, the Rosu Katsu set is really a steal, definitely good value for money!
Fresh greens The fresh greens are the appetizer which comes along with the Katsu set. Basically its a run of the mill salad with japanese sesame salad dressing, ordinary but yummy.
My partner likes the dressing for its slightly tangy but yet salty taste, and the texture of the sauce is creamy. But for me, i’m more of a fan for oily italian salad dressings, so this salad didn’t quite work out for me.
Kaiseki Set Course B ($45) The Kaiseki Dinner course B comes with assorted 4 on a palatte as its appetizer, stick vegetable, Crab sukiyaki for the paper pot, with tempura as the main, and udon or rich, served with a dessert.
The main difference between course A ($35) and B ($45) is 10 bucks, with the addition of the Crab Sukiyaki. And the differiential between B ($45) and C ($55) is that C has an addition tuna carpaccio.
For our main course in the Kaiseki set B, the tempura is done kushi-tem style (tempura). It comes with six tempura, prawn, salmon, pork, beef, scallop and vegetables.
Tetsu is being known for its Katsu and Tempura aspects, and to tell the truth, we found the tempura to be quite a disappointment as we had expected better things from them. Right, the prawn was a bit small, not fat enough for a tempura, we didn’t get the “kick”from eating the prawn.
The Salmon (beside the prawn) was done better than the appetizer in the course.
My partner love the fresh air-flown scallop from Japan.
The seasonal vegetables are zuchinni and okra which my partner found it to be all right, but i didn’t like my vegetables to do it in this way, i prefer them green!
The pork and beef were quite average too. One thing that my partner concluded was if the mains are done in Kushi-age (breaded) rather than the one we had Kushi-tem (tempura), we felt that it will be definitely be better.
We felt that the tempura batter had nice texture, but it wasn’t seasoned enough, so it was quite tasteless for us. Nevertheless the batter is very light, not that oily and it didn’t leave any oily aftertaste that mediocre tempuras do.
The only reason we can conclude for the disappointment in the Tempura is because we had such high hopes for them, so even they are quite good, but they didn’t come out as well as we are expecting. You should try the Kushi-age (breaded) for this main!
Assorted 4 on palette This is the appetizer for the course B. One thing that i liked about the starters in Tetsu course meal is that they are changed regularly because the chef will always pick the freshest ingredient for the current season.
The appetizer is suppose to comes in the different flavors, sweet, salty, and sour. Specially designed to tantalize your taste buds and “prepared” them for the main course.
I like the zesty chicken too which comes with orange and lemon flavour to provide the sour-ish taste.
My partner didn’t like the Salmon teriyaki, she preferred the tamago and prawn which helps to the sweet flavoring of the salmon.
Cod is done with miso, to give the salty flavor.
Stick vegetables The Stick Vegetables also comes part of the Kaiseki set B. Its just your normal vegetables, but it comes with a soy-bean like sauce.
Kani-Suki (Crab Sukiyaki) The prelude to the main, there’s the snow crab legs which are filled with snowy sweet white meat. However we lamented the fact that there is only two crab legs.
The Japanese straw mushroom is always nice in sukiyaki. And the soup base here is nicer than the other sukiyaki we tried before. It tasted sweet but not excessively so till its artificial.
Inaniwa Udon (warm) The Inaniwa Udon is also imported from Japan. but the warm udon had a nice soup base so it’s good for rainy days.
Inaniwa Udon (cold) ($6.80) The udon is not the fat kind, and its sort of flat like ipoh hor fun, nice and slippery! One of the udon comes with the Kaiseki set, and we ordered another one to try both the cold and hot udon.
Banana Tempura & Ice ($7.80) In our frank opinion, the banana tempura is a ripped-off. For two pieces of banana tempura, we can get better ones at the hawker center at 50 cents each. Certainly not worth the price tag of $7.80!
Kisetsu ice & Warabimochi Monaka ($7.80) This dessert fares slightly better than the Banana tempura. The combination of the Japanese Mochi with one scoop of normal vanilla ice cream is quite good, but still not worth the hefty price that comes along with it.
Kokonatsu Milk Purin ($5.80) We concluded that the Kokonatsu milk purin, or coconut pudding is the best among the three desserts. This pudding is something new to us, not your usual run of the mill Japanese dessert which you commonly find in Singapore Japanese restaurants even though its supposed to be a classic Japanese dessert.
Coconut flavor wasnt that strong, we like the sublet flavor! hmm it was really pudding not creamy so i dont really like it
The coconut pudding is good to try for novelty, and it comes with the Kaiseki course set anyway, so there’s no need to order additional dessert.
Tetsu is certainly a nice place to try if you are looking for Japanese food. The set meals are really value-for-money, and the Kaisekis course meals, although heavier in price tag, but they provide more in variety and quality also. We felt that if its two person going to Tetsu, you can either order two set meals, or order one Kaisekis Course meals, and something from the A la carte menu.
The reasonable and affordable pricing at Tetsu means that you will no longer need to spend a bomb for your favourite Japanese food anymore. Tetsu offers a really chic environment, quite unlike your traditional Japanese restaurant. Its an excellent place to either bring a date for her cravings of Japanese food, or a group of friends where you can chill out with the selections of Sake, Shoju, and wine.
My friend and i, plus Miss Yap had a great afternoon enjoying and discussing about Japanese food, restaurants, and some off-topic conservations. We were so full from the meal! My thanks to Miss Yap for inviting us to a wonderful lunch experience at Tetsu.
And one other thing which I noticed, when we went in during 12 noon on a Monday afternoon, there wasn’t much people in the restaurant. But when the clock ticks towards two, the crowd starts coming in already. So you will be fine if you go during normal lunch hour, but still better to make a reservation.
I’ll certainly revisit Tetsu to try out their other stuff, maybe i will have the Kaisekis done in Kushi-age style (breaded) the next time! Tetsu’s at Tanglin Mall level 3, and remember to use your Citicard to get the free Salmon Carpaccio!
All in all, the Katsu is excellent! Its really a must-try if you visit Tetsu. The other fame of Tetsu, their Tempura leaves more to be desired, we felt that their Kushi-age style is better than the Kushi-Tem style. Nevertheless, the Kaisekis course meals are still value for quality. The desserts area is the part which i felt Tetsu must really improve on if i were to go back for a revisit. Being a big fan of any dessert, i must have a nice dessert after every meal. And the desserts selection there can’t quite make it for now.
I highly recommended and advise you to go to ladyironchef to read on this post, simply because the post is way too long, and there are many more nice photos of the food!
” Singapore’s First LIVE Kushi-style Tonkatsu & Tempura restaurant “
The donut craze in Singapore was kick-start by the emergent of the rivalry between Donut factory at raffles city, and Dippin’ Donut (of former Vinco fame) at Vivocity a few years back.
I remember when Donut factory and Dippin’ just started out, people will queue one two hours just to get that dozen of donuts. Now many more others have jumped into the wagon which includes the likes of Missy donut, Donut & Donuts, Munchy Donut, Summer house donut.
And of course, the latest and by far the one with the cafe concept to be found in our local shores, J Co Donut.
J Co Donut chooses Raffles city basement as their entrance to the Singapore market, of course where other than the battleground with Donut Factory. Since the opening of the donut cafe at Raffles city, the sales of Donut Factory has pale in comparison. And Donut factory isn’t really giving up the fight, with the cafe concept at Velocity@Novena, and Suntec city.
A couple of weeks ago, i wanted to try J Co Donut but the seats were all fully taken up, so we ended up at Cedele. This time when we go there was quite a lot of seats available, so i guess the timing must be right.
We were rather confuse because there are two counters inside J Co, one on the left which are where all the folks are queuing up for their donuts, and there’s another one on the right which we thought that its where the drinks counter is. We buy from the normal queue, but after that we saw people getting a menu from the drinks counter and ordering from there.
Furthermore, as we were having the donuts there, we were wondering whether will it be serve on plates or boxes, we saw people having it on plates, but ours are given in box. So i guess these are really some parts where J Co can do better to let us know, or perhaps the problem are just occurring to us and not ours.
Nonetheless, all the donuts look really really nice, and they are the sort that you know eating them will mean lots of calories, but you cant stop yourself from having them. O well, eat and exercise more!
Just for your info, I tried Dunkin Donuts when i were in KL last time, and i think i’ll preferred J Co Donut to Dunkin’s
I were rather surprised because they offer box for 3 donuts, and even when there are boxes for minimum of 2 donuts. If my memory didn’t fail me, it was at least half a dozen donuts for box last time.
Don Mochino ($1.30) Dark Belgian chocolate topping perfected with light cappucino cream filling. Pleasure you shouldn’t feel gulity about.
One thing i really like about J Co donut’s is that they come up with really fanciful descriptions for all their donuts.
Anyway, the Don Mochino looks really nice with the beautiful chocolate toppings, but somehow the cappuccino cream fillings are a tad too light to the tongue.
Choco Cavier Strawberry ($1.30) Sprinkle Premium chocolate with strawberry that will tickle your mouth.
The small chocolate balls on the choco cavier strawberry donut are quite nice, brings back a certain childhood memory.
Hazel Dazzle ($1.30) Be sexy with dazzling hazelnut chocolate and get surprised with coffee cream.
The Hazel Dazzle donut is one of the new additions to the J Co donuts. I always like hazelnut, so this always work for me.
Ice chocolate ($5) The ice chocolate comes in two sizes, $4.50 for the medium, and $5 for regular. We were discussing whether the regular is really a bigger size than the medium, because regular just sounds, regular. Smaller in size you know?
Tira Miss U ($1.30) Dear Tira, it’s been so long i haven’t meet you. Now, i really miss you.
The tiramisu donut is really nice, i come to love tiramisu and this one is definitely the one i’ll try again when i revisit J Co. Because we brought 3 donuts at first, when i go and get one more, this tiramisu, i tell the manager i want one, he stared at me, giving me the nobody-buy-one-donut look!
It was so funny, i guess, nobody really go in and buy one donut. But i guess i’ll do it often, just to get to see that expression on their face. You all should try also yeah! Alright, i’m joking, we shouldn’t do doing such things to the service staff who work so hard selling our favourite donuts.
Total bill for 4 donuts and one ice chocolate is $10.20. J Co Donut is certainly very impressive, their first outlet in Indonesia was open on 26 June 2005, and within three years of operations they have 39 outlets throughout Asia with presence in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore.
I think despite the sinful and guilty feeling after eating donuts, i think i will be back to try other donuts at J Co. It’ll be quite a good place to chill out with your friends, munching donuts and sipping a cup of coffee, while sitting down at the cozy couch.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or biasness. Feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
Social Media Breakfast 2: Singapore is held at Cafe Domus, a very cool cafe which operates only when the sun goes down, and party till late night. Luckily for us, SMB main organizer Daryl managed to get the owner of the place to open the place for us.
Cafe Domus is located at 124 Owen Road, the nearest Mrt Station is Farrer Park (NEL). The other shop houses along Owen Road is definitely not what you will expect a cafe like Domus will be located at, the area is more like a industrial area.
From the outside, this is certainly not what i had imagined the place to be like. So imagine the suprise that i got when i stepped to the back of the cafe. Wow! is the word to describe.
It seems that we have been transported into a different world all together, from the bright pink wallpaper of the cafe front with its chandelier, welcome to the natural open-space garden!
The seats are logs in case you didn’t notice, and the small bamboo shoots provided cover from the blazing sun. Mosquito coils are prepared on hand, to prevent any “unpleasant” incidents.
I must admit the place is really quite an eye-opener for me, its unique Al fresco area will be even better during the night, with small candles lit up all over the place, can you imagine how it will be like?
I even climb up the stairs to the upper area where there’s this small area which can seat about 4-5. Great place if you want to spend some time with your love ones and friends.
We had catered food, which was not on the usual menu. But a quick glance at their menu, they have finger food, and also home-made desserts like brownies and cakes.
Cafe Domus also serve alcohol drinks like vodka and martinis, and a wide range of other drinks. Its really a very cool place to chill out with your friends.
And if you are staying nearby, or alone the NEL, there's totally no reason for not visiting the place! Go on check them out, and do remember they only start operations at 7pm till late night.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or biasness. Feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
Coffee Club @ Holland Village is located right at the end of Lorong Mambong, the street that is the heart and soul of Holland Village. Having live in Holland when i was young, the street has since undergo many transformations, and i think most of the shops back then are not there anymore.
After reading Coffee Club’s website, i then realized that they had actually opened their first gourmet coffee house in Holland Village in 1991. But to be honest, i didn’t have any memories of Coffee Club back then.
Today Coffee Club has 21 outlets island-wide, and this is actually the first time i’m stepping into Coffee Club. Can you believe it? Well i been to Coffee Bean, Starbucks, but not Coffee Club.
And i have not went to The Coffee Connoisseur (TCC) before either, looks like a visit to TCC is on the cards.
The interior of the Coffee Club at Holland Village is relaxing, and looks great for a chill-out place. Thats exactly the reason that prompted my friend and i here.
There’s also al fresco area for those who like to stay out of the air-condition.
Iced Mocha ($6.90) My friend had the iced mocha, like i mentioned previously in the Cedele post, i’m not a big fan of mocha, i rather spend the money on desserts, but my friend find the mocha to be all right.
Vienna Chocolate Cake ($5) This, is what i’ll spend on my money on when i frequent coffee houses and cafes. Seriously i wont spend 6-7 bucks on a cup of coffee, partly because i don’t drink much coffee also. I love desserts, give me desserts everyday!
The Vienna Chocolate cake by its account, isn’t that great, there’s nothing special about the cake, well except its chocolate.
But to be fair, at 5 bucks a slice, it is really quite worth the money if you often have cravings for cakes, like me.
Total Bill was $14 for one mocha and one cake after the 17% you-know-what. The ambience of Coffee Club at Holland Village branch was excellent for a chill-out place, my friend and i were there chatting for about two hours, and there wasn’t much crowd around.
The menu for their main course looks tempting, in the dollar sense its quite reasonable. But i’m quite skeptical about the quality of the food in coffee houses. We’ll see how it goes then. Maybe when i’m low on budget, i’ll give their mains a try. Until then, chill-out!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or biasness. Feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
Cedele by The Bakery Depot was founded by Ms Yeap Cheng Guat in July 1997. After spending many years in the multi-nationals, Ms Yeap decided to put her baking passion to test.
The flagship store in East Coast is the first of many more to come, till date Cedele has 14 outlets island-wide.
Cedele Bakery is known for their wide range of sandwiches, delicious repertoire of bread, and cakes.
There are two outlets in Raffles City (I didn’t know until later), one in basement and another in level 3. A friend and i visited the one at basement of raffles city.
I like their concept of self pick-up for some of the pastries and bread.
For the sandwiches, you get to choose from different type of bread, milk bap, oatbran, country white, wholemeal linseed, and organic wholewheat.
Tuna Salad Sandwich ($6) Savory tuna sandwich with chopped red bell pepper and celery, and finished with a lot of cold fresh lettuce.
My friend chose country white for his bread, but he found it a tad too dry and hard. The fresh lettuces are refreshing and there’s a generous spread of the tuna.
Mocha ($3.50) I’m not really a big fan of mocha, but my friend find it to be all right. And at $3.50, its really cheaper than your Star Bucks and Coffee Bean.
The emphasis for Cedele is more on their bread, sandwiches and pastries. I applause them for their affordable price range for their coffees.
Chocolate Banana Espresso Cake ($6) Melts in your mouth, this is a soft chocolate cake sandwiched with fresh caramelized banana, topped with espresso chocolate frosting, and finished with crunchy walnut strussel, oat strussel.
The banana taste is evident in the Chocolate Banana Espresso cake, and the walnut adds a crunchy bite to the cake. But I’m still not quite convince by chocolate banana cakes. Not that the ones here aren’t good, just that chocolate and banana doesn’t really suits my taste bud.
Total Bill was $18.13 for one sandwich, one drink and one cake. Cedele looks promising with its wide range of sandwiches, and cakes. Furthermore, the drinks like mocha and latte isn’t very expensive, price ranging from 2 bucks to 4-5 bucks. I think i will be back to give their sandwiches and pastries another try.
Just for your information, LIC usually does not like to repeat going to a same restaurant or cafe because he’ll rather spend the money trying out new stuff at other places.
But in the case of Cedele, their prices are quite reasonable and affordable, so yeah, look out for Cedele II!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or biasness. Feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
Lil’ Foot Pâtisserie, an online blog pastisserie selling exclusive gourmet pastry. Most of the pastries there are in limited quantity, but they definitely do not lose out in quality.
We had the chance to sample the Rocky Road Mousse Cake as one of my friend ordered it from Lil’ Foot Pâtisserie for Petrina’s birthday while we were at Peach Garden celebrating.
Crunchy walnuts and chewy marshmallow in every bite awashed with thick creamy chocolate ganache!
Our Rocky Road Mousse cake is the round 7 inch which can serve 8-10 people and it comes at a price of $38. There are even different flavours of marshmallows inside the cake!
Maybe i’m a little behind time, but this is actually the first time that i had a cake which is filled with marshmallows in between, and the result is wow!
Lil’ Foot Pâtisserie doesn’t have many variety of cakes available, but for the lack in choices, the ones that they offer certainly are excellent and is priced reasonably. I’ll be looking to get other cakes from them soon. So stop getting your cakes from boring places you-know-where (i’m not naming the bakeries)
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or biasness. Feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
Peach Garden Chinese Restaurant @ OCBC Centre 33rd Floor is co-owned by Angela Ho and Veronica Tan, former managers of the established Hua Ting restaurant. The pair struck out on their own in 2002, and the rest like they say, were history. Peach Garden is now one of the Chinese restaurants on the radar of corporates.
Located at the 33rd floor, the restaurant offers diners a splendid bird’s eye view of the Singapore River and the city area.
The modern contemporary Chinese decor will make diner feel right at home.
It will be highly recommended for customers to make a reservation before going, as the window seats are usually taken up. One of the waitress greeted us at the main lobby on the ground floor, after checking our reservations, we were guided up to 33rd floor.
Peach Garden is popular for their Cantonese dishes, and dim sum. The selection for dim sum isn’t wide with 23 different types, however for what they lacked in variety, they make it up in quality.
Most of the dim-sum comes in basket of 3 each, but as we got 8 person, they were flexible to allow us order 8 pieces of dim-sum instead. So i’ll be putting the price for all the dim sum here for per piece rather than per basket.
Baked BBQ pork pastry ($1.30) The baked BBQ pork pastry, or more commonly known as char-siew sou, i find it to be quite all right, but the others didn’t like it because they had better ones at Yan ting @ St Regis before.
Baked Mini Egg Tart ($1.30) The baked mini egg tarts were fine, the skin was crispy, and the egg filling is just nice. However at $1.30 each, they are terribly expensive since i had better and bigger egg tarts at much cheaper price before.
Steamed Fresh Prawn Dumpling ($1.60) The steamed fresh prawn dumpling, or more affectionately known as har-gau. The ones at Peach Garden has a wholesome shrimp wrapped within the skin of the dumpling.
But at $1.60 for each har-gau, they are priced slightly higher than your normal ones at other places.
Steamed Siew Mai with Phoenix prawn ($1.60) The rendition of siew mai or pork dumpling is redefined at Peach Garden. Whereas your typical siew mai taste mainly of pork, the ones here has a phoenix prawn, which gives the siew mai a prawnier taste.
Steamed BBQ pork bun ($1.20) I always love to eat steamed BBQ pork buns from chinese dim sum restaurant, well because they are not the same as the ones you get from outside.
The ones in restaurants are usually consist of three parts, i’ll tear off each part and slowly savour the sweet char-siew with the bun.
Fried Carrot cake with X.O sauce ($8) When you read fried carrot cake, please erase off all of whatever memories you had of carrot cake. Now when we are talking about fried carrot cake with X.O sauce here, its not your ordinary black or white char-kway in the hawker centre.
The carrot cake here is slightly crispy on the outside, and very soft on the inside. But i couldn’t taste much of the X.O sauce, and at $8 per small serving, i find it to be quite on the high side.
Steamed yolk cream bun ($1.20) The signature dim-sum of Peach Garden, its delicious steamed yolk cream bun. The beautiful golden yellow custard filling oozes out when i prise it open.
Steamed rice roll with prawn ($4.50) The steamed rice roll with prawn, or your Chee Cheong Fun is served in two versions, one with prawn at $4.50, and the other steamed rice roll with chicken at $4.
The Chee Cheong Fun was quite disappointing here, it didn’t taste as well i thought it will, its quite ordinary to tell the truth.
Boiled porridge with century egg and pork ($3.80) The boiled porridge with century egg and pork is one of the disappointment for the meal at Peach Garden. Too salty, we ordered 4 bowls and almost couldn’t finish it.
Steamed Xiao Long Bao with Conpoy ($1.30) I’m not really a big fan of Xiao Long Bao, i guess the ones here are average, a couple of us didn’t really find it to be good.
Baked Spare Rib with BBQ Sauce ($7 per piece) The signature baked spare rib with BBQ sauce comes at a hefty price, at $7 per piece, you can easily have a plate of spare ribs elsewhere.
But to be fair, the presentation of the spare rib was done nicely, and the rib is bigger than your normal ribs, with the BBQ sauce combining well with spare ribs.
There were difference in portions of the ribs, so depending on your luck, some of us got slightly bigger ribs with more meat, while some got thinner ribs.
Total Bill was $178.20 for 8 person, after a 15% credit card discount. The price comes much cheaper than i had expected so it was a surprise, and if you do not included the $7 spare ribs, it will be roughly $16 for person instead of about $22.
Results were mixed, some like me found it to be quite good, while others find that Peach Garden didn’t match their expectations. I guess everybody has different taste buds, but personally, i find Peach Garden to be quite good, the price may be slightly above average, but given a rationale person taking the menu and not over-ordering, the result is good dim sum at reasonable price.
Service-wise we also encountered mixed results. The waitress were way too fast in serving the dim-sum. As the table was all food bloggers, all of us were busy taking photos of the food, and before we managed to finish taking the photo of one dim sum, the other dim sum was served.
I felt that the waitress should have taken note that we were not ready for the serving of the other dim sum, but sad to say they failed to do so. Also, they missed out our order of Xiao Long Bao and the ribs, and also forgot to bring us our additional order of the har-gau.
But they did slightly make up when they helped us putting the birthday cake (one of us birthday celebration) into a beautiful plate, and they also provide a knife which had remote control to play birthday song music.
All in all, at 33rd floor offering a wonderful view of the city, the quite reasonable pricing of the dim-sum, it offers me an excuse to revisit Peach Garden again. And Peach Garden has two other outlets at Novena and Thomson Plaza!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or biasness. Feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
” Contemporary Cantonese cuisine, with splendid bird’s eye view of the city “
The newly renovated basement of Plaza Singapura has seen many new tenants providing all sorts of quirky and creative food. Bratwurst Shop is one of the original stores which has been there for quite a long period of time.
Just in case you have no idea, Bratwurst is a sausage composed of pork, beef and/or veal and the name is from Germany.
For the sausages, you get to choose from different toppings, the original, bacon & cheese, mushroom& cheese are some of the popular ones.
After choosing the toppings, you’ll get to choose the type of bratwurst that you fancy, swiss cheese pork, spicy beef & pork, black pepper pork, italian pork, mild beef & pork are all available.
There are also a wide range of sandwiches available at pretty decent prices.
I remember the old Bratwurst shop was located on the other side of the basement, nearer to the escalator outside Carrefour, but they have since shift to this corner which provides them with a larger seating area.
The theme for Bratwurst shop is apparently red, with their furnitures and shop signboard in bright red.
Swiss cheese pork, original with mustard & sauerkraut ($4.95) I had the original with mustard & sauerkraut for my choice of topping, and the swiss cheese pork for the main.
The sausage was really huge, i must say its quite value for money as one will fill you up if you finish it together with the bun. However i disliked the sauerkraut as i find it to be too salty and sour, and does not compliments the taste of the sausage.
And just in case you are wondering, sauerkraut is finely sliced cabbage fermented by various lactic acid.
Tuna Sandwich ($5.50) On first sight the tuna sandwich certainly does not looks appealing, the bread looks dry, and the tuna well doesn’t looks attractive to me.
But my friend say the tuna sandwich actually taste not bad, and at $5.50 i guess you can’t really complain.
Total bill was $10.45 for two, we didn’t order any drinks because we went to Carrefour to buy mineral water beforehand. Well, we were on a budget, had waffles at Gelare before coming here, and besides mineral water is healthier!
Drop by Bratwurst shop for a hassle-free, quick bite if you are in Plaza Singapura, and do not want to spend too much money on a meal before going to the theaters!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or biasness. Feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
Wednesday is for the ladies, party all night long!
Thursday we have people queuing up to buy Toto
Friday its one more day to the weekends
Saturday its finally weekends!
Sunday 4D 4D & 4D
So what do we have on Tuesday? Make a guess?!?
Yep, Tuesdays are Waffles Day!
For every Tuesday, its waffles day at Gelare, where you get to enjoy 50% discount on their waffles (actually for their plain waffles only, the rest less than 50%).
But who bothers! Its waffles day, and personally i do think its quite a good sales tactic. I mean even though i have never try Gelare before, but i heard of their promotions before. It works.
A friend and i went down to Gelare @ Plaza Singapura, 3pm and the place’s almost full house. For every tuesday, plain Waffle with syrup & cream is half price at $3.90, and the single scoop ice cream waffle is $6.90 (original price being $9.90)
There’s this promotion which they are having for their main course. But after seeing that their pastas are actually those frozen ready-packed one, which they heat up in the microwave, no thanks!
I was tempted to try their cheesecakes which at $5 a slice seems reasonable. Anyone try before mind letting me know whether it’s good?
Waffle with single scoop Tiramisu ice cream ($6.90) Just stick to what Geláre is good at, waffles. There was a choice whether you want to add on 20 cents to change the waffle to chocolate chip waffles, but we sticked with the normal ones.
The choice of toppings will be either chocolate sauce or maple syrup, and the option for having cream or no cream.
I liked my Ti-ra-mi-su ice cream waffles. But its actually quite soft, i’m not sure whether good waffles are meant to be soft, but i have a penchant for crispier waffles, like the one i had at Haato’s
Waffle with single scoop Pistachio gelare ($6.90) The Pistachio gelare here wasn’t to my friend’s liking. Pistachio is a kind of nut just in case you have no idea, like me. My friend like the soft waffles though, i guess everybody has different preference.
And we concluded that the waffles will taste much nicer without the whipped cream, and the chocolate sauce only hinder the taste of the ice cream.
Total Bill for 2 waffles is $13.80, on tuesday the waffles single scoop ice cream at $6.90 are considered reasonable i guess, but even the normal price ten bucks for it, i won’t touch it.
Haato’s waffle with single scoop ice cream is at $6, everyday. I guess thats the place to fulfill my waffles cravings until a better place comes about.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or biasness. Feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
Having tried small piece of the Unagi Pizza at Pastamania, I simply needed more. Since we were around one outlet, we decided to have our dinner there.
He ordered Aglio Olio Pasta, adding Chicken to it, and I had the Unagi Pizza.
The place was quite packed since it was a weekend. Thus we waited quite awhile for our order to come. Good thing we ordered the set that comes with soup, drinks and toast. Else I would have suffered from hunger due to the wait.
10mins later, the pasta came. Having paid extra for the chicken, it was quite a disappointment. The chicken was tasteless and it didn't go that well with the choice of sauce.
After a long wait, the pizza didn't come. He took his time to eat his pasta, but even so, the pizza didn't come after he finished his pasta! We checked with the manager on duty and he told us the pasta is coming soon. True enough, the next order that came out from the pizza counter was my Unagi Pizza.
Due to the wait, my tummy was already missing the hunger that it initially have. Looking at the pizza infront of me, I didn't quite have the appetite to finish it.
As expected, the pizza was nice and yummy when eaten hot. Taste of the sauce with the unagi and thin crust of pizza makes eating it enjoyable. (It would have been better if we didn't have to wait that long for it.)
Rating given:
Tetsu, opening its doors at Tanglin Mall on January 17, 2008, pride themselves in serving Kushi-Tempura and Kushi-Katsu. Their concept is based on a “LIVE” preparation in front of you by their chefs, who have intensive training in their Japanese Headquarters.
The first impression upon stepping into Tetsu is really nice decorations. Contemporary yet not too modernize till the extend of losing the authentic Japanese feel. Chic furnishings like the curtains, and decors in the restaurant. The whole place exudes an elegant feel with its classy and clean look.
Tetsu certainly does not fits the bill with association to Food Junction, your local food courts isn’t it? But the truth is, Tetsu is actually owned and operate by Food Junction. Surprise surprise, i was quite astonished by this fact when i first heard of it. But i am pleased Food Junction is finally making full use to leverage on its experience and connections in the Food & Beverage Industry, to provide us the consumers with a wider variety of choices to dine at.
The counter bars in Tetsu are specially designed in such a way that diners can seat in close proximity to the chef, who will prepared their feast up for them, well its not just the stomach feast alone, there’s the visual feast right before you.
I was invited by Miss Pris Yap, who’s the consultant for Tetsu for a food tasting session. Here i will like to put Disclaimer first, the review written herein will not be influence simply because this is a food tasting session. Whatever written herein is the Frank and Honest opinions of my friend and i who went to Tetsu for the occasion.
We had the assurance from Miss Yap that they will seek our honest opinion to improve Tetsu, and that every visit to Tetsu will be the same, the food will not look or taste specially good just because this is a food tasting event.
My food dining partner joins me for Tetsu, and she’s a lover of Japanese food, so the review will be a combination of what both of us felt about the meal.
There’s also a VIP room which u can actually make a reservation to book it if you have a certain number of guests, around 10 at least if i’m not wrong.
At Tetsu, there are affordable set lunches from the Jubako, Katsu, Tempura,Sakana (fish) which are in the 20s to 30s price range. I’ll say the set meals are definitely value-for-money.
There is also the designer Kaiseki sets available. Kaiseki is an 5 course set, made up of 4 seasonal appetizers, designer salad, premium kushi-style main course, imported udon from Japan, and dessert at a mere $35. Of course there are more expensive options of the Kaiseki sets going at $45 and $55.
A wide range of Sake, Shoju, and wine are also available to go along with the food. We didn’t had any Sake because it was still early in the afternoon. Perhaps next time!
Salmon Carpaccio ($18)
For appetizer to start off our meal at Tetsu, we had the Salmon Carpaccio with french dressing. Carpaccio originated from Italy, and its usually slices of beef, tuna, or veal traditionally thinly sliced or pounded thin, with olive oil or vinaigrette drizzled over it.
We’ll preferred the carpaccio to be slice thinner, the thick and generous slices of the carpaccio at Tetsu is almost akin to sashimi portions. For people who like sashimi, they will probably have mixed feelings for this dish because usually sashimi lovers like the clean and fresh taste of the fish, and its raw texture on its own, but for this salmon, it has a french dressing on it.
Nonetheless, the Salmon Carpaccio is quite fresh, and with the current Citibank promotion, receive this as a complimentary with a minimum spending of $50.
The Salmon Carpaccio is an interesting take on fusion japanese & italian appetizer (although this is done with french dressing). The french dressing helps to balances the richness of the salmon with the complex sweet and sour taste of the dressing, the contrast between the taste is definitely appealing.
Roll sushi 6 Pieces ($18)
The roll sushi is covered with crunchy sesame seeds, but on the other end the sushis can actually can get quite dry. My friend thought that if the roll sushi comes with some sauce it will be perfect.
Traditionally sushi rolls are supposed to be eaten in one mouthful by putting the whole sushi inside. But the sushi here is a tad too big, so we couldn’t really fit it into our mouth.
Apparently it has salmon and scallops inside, though when mixed together the scallops taste can’t really be felt. The blend of crunchy sesame seeds and tobiko makes its quite yummy though. However at $18 for 6 pieces, it is considered rather expensive. Have this if you have the extra budget to spend on A la carte.
Onsentamago Tofu Salad ($13.50)
Onsen Tamago is hot spring egg. The eggs here are cooked slowly in hot water, so the whites are still soft while the yolks just slightly cooked. Blended together with tofu and sesame sauce, the combination offers a very refreshing approach to the normal salad.
The salad is served by mixing the egg together with the greens and tofu. A good appetizer if you are like us, prefer runny eggs.
Thats all for our A la carte starters, just to recap, we had the Salmon Carpaccio, the roll sushi and the Onsentamago Tofu Salad. All these three appetizers are ordered from the A la carte menu and are not in the set meals which are coming up next.
Rosu Katsu Set ($24.50)
The Rosu Katsu (Pork Loin) set is the actual main course that we are having for our lunch. There are two options for the Katsu set, you can choose from either the Rosu Katsu (pork loin) or the Hire Katsu (fillet katsu). Pork loin is fatter than fillet katsu in nature, which makes it more tender than Hire Katsu.
Another interesting point to note, besides the usual sauce that comes with the Katsu, Tetsu provides an alternative, the curry powder to go along with the pork loin. The curry powder is another option if you are sick of the usual sauce, however the powder here is quite on the salty side, so just dipped into it slightly.
The katsu is specially imported from Japan, lightly fried to produce a crust that is light but yet double the thickness of the usual katsu. The meat is marinated for 3 days to ensure its tasty and succulent texture.
Famed for their Katsu, the Kushi-age style (skewered with breaded batter) certainly lives up to expectations. The breaded style of the katsu is really good, the panko crumbs on it is very light which gives it a melt-in-your-mouth feel.
Furthermore, the katsu here has a generous cut, unlike some restaurants which cut the pork into very thin slices. At $24.50, the Rosu Katsu set is really a steal, definitely good value for money!
Fresh greens
The fresh greens are the appetizer which comes along with the Katsu set. Basically its a run of the mill salad with japanese sesame salad dressing, ordinary but yummy.
My partner likes the dressing for its slightly tangy but yet salty taste, and the texture of the sauce is creamy. But for me, i’m more of a fan for oily italian salad dressings, so this salad didn’t quite work out for me.
Kaiseki Set Course B ($45)
The Kaiseki Dinner course B comes with assorted 4 on a palatte as its appetizer, stick vegetable, Crab sukiyaki for the paper pot, with tempura as the main, and udon or rich, served with a dessert.
The main difference between course A ($35) and B ($45) is 10 bucks, with the addition of the Crab Sukiyaki. And the differiential between B ($45) and C ($55) is that C has an addition tuna carpaccio.
For our main course in the Kaiseki set B, the tempura is done kushi-tem style (tempura). It comes with six tempura, prawn, salmon, pork, beef, scallop and vegetables.
Tetsu is being known for its Katsu and Tempura aspects, and to tell the truth, we found the tempura to be quite a disappointment as we had expected better things from them. Right, the prawn was a bit small, not fat enough for a tempura, we didn’t get the “kick”from eating the prawn.
The Salmon (beside the prawn) was done better than the appetizer in the course.
My partner love the fresh air-flown scallop from Japan.
The seasonal vegetables are zuchinni and okra which my partner found it to be all right, but i didn’t like my vegetables to do it in this way, i prefer them green!
The pork and beef were quite average too. One thing that my partner concluded was if the mains are done in Kushi-age (breaded) rather than the one we had Kushi-tem (tempura), we felt that it will be definitely be better.
We felt that the tempura batter had nice texture, but it wasn’t seasoned enough, so it was quite tasteless for us. Nevertheless the batter is very light, not that oily and it didn’t leave any oily aftertaste that mediocre tempuras do.
The only reason we can conclude for the disappointment in the Tempura is because we had such high hopes for them, so even they are quite good, but they didn’t come out as well as we are expecting. You should try the Kushi-age (breaded) for this main!
Assorted 4 on palette
This is the appetizer for the course B. One thing that i liked about the starters in Tetsu course meal is that they are changed regularly because the chef will always pick the freshest ingredient for the current season.
The appetizer is suppose to comes in the different flavors, sweet, salty, and sour. Specially designed to tantalize your taste buds and “prepared” them for the main course.
I like the zesty chicken too which comes with orange and lemon flavour to provide the sour-ish taste.
My partner didn’t like the Salmon teriyaki, she preferred the tamago and prawn which helps to the sweet flavoring of the salmon.
Cod is done with miso, to give the salty flavor.
Stick vegetables
The Stick Vegetables also comes part of the Kaiseki set B. Its just your normal vegetables, but it comes with a soy-bean like sauce.
Kani-Suki (Crab Sukiyaki)
The prelude to the main, there’s the snow crab legs which are filled with snowy sweet white meat. However we lamented the fact that there is only two crab legs.
The Japanese straw mushroom is always nice in sukiyaki. And the soup base here is nicer than the other sukiyaki we tried before. It tasted sweet but not excessively so till its artificial.
Inaniwa Udon (warm)
The Inaniwa Udon is also imported from Japan. but the warm udon had a nice soup base so it’s good for rainy days.
Inaniwa Udon (cold) ($6.80)
The udon is not the fat kind, and its sort of flat like ipoh hor fun, nice and slippery! One of the udon comes with the Kaiseki set, and we ordered another one to try both the cold and hot udon.
Banana Tempura & Ice ($7.80)
In our frank opinion, the banana tempura is a ripped-off. For two pieces of banana tempura, we can get better ones at the hawker center at 50 cents each. Certainly not worth the price tag of $7.80!
Kisetsu ice & Warabimochi Monaka ($7.80)
This dessert fares slightly better than the Banana tempura. The combination of the Japanese Mochi with one scoop of normal vanilla ice cream is quite good, but still not worth the hefty price that comes along with it.
Kokonatsu Milk Purin ($5.80)
We concluded that the Kokonatsu milk purin, or coconut pudding is the best among the three desserts. This pudding is something new to us, not your usual run of the mill Japanese dessert which you commonly find in Singapore Japanese restaurants even though its supposed to be a classic Japanese dessert.
Coconut flavor wasnt that strong, we like the sublet flavor! hmm it was really pudding not creamy so i dont really like it
The coconut pudding is good to try for novelty, and it comes with the Kaiseki course set anyway, so there’s no need to order additional dessert.
Tetsu is certainly a nice place to try if you are looking for Japanese food. The set meals are really value-for-money, and the Kaisekis course meals, although heavier in price tag, but they provide more in variety and quality also. We felt that if its two person going to Tetsu, you can either order two set meals, or order one Kaisekis Course meals, and something from the A la carte menu.
The reasonable and affordable pricing at Tetsu means that you will no longer need to spend a bomb for your favourite Japanese food anymore. Tetsu offers a really chic environment, quite unlike your traditional Japanese restaurant. Its an excellent place to either bring a date for her cravings of Japanese food, or a group of friends where you can chill out with the selections of Sake, Shoju, and wine.
My friend and i, plus Miss Yap had a great afternoon enjoying and discussing about Japanese food, restaurants, and some off-topic conservations. We were so full from the meal! My thanks to Miss Yap for inviting us to a wonderful lunch experience at Tetsu.
And one other thing which I noticed, when we went in during 12 noon on a Monday afternoon, there wasn’t much people in the restaurant. But when the clock ticks towards two, the crowd starts coming in already. So you will be fine if you go during normal lunch hour, but still better to make a reservation.
I’ll certainly revisit Tetsu to try out their other stuff, maybe i will have the Kaisekis done in Kushi-age style (breaded) the next time! Tetsu’s at Tanglin Mall level 3, and remember to use your Citicard to get the free Salmon Carpaccio!
All in all, the Katsu is excellent! Its really a must-try if you visit Tetsu. The other fame of Tetsu, their Tempura leaves more to be desired, we felt that their Kushi-age style is better than the Kushi-Tem style. Nevertheless, the Kaisekis course meals are still value for quality. The desserts area is the part which i felt Tetsu must really improve on if i were to go back for a revisit. Being a big fan of any dessert, i must have a nice dessert after every meal. And the desserts selection there can’t quite make it for now.
I highly recommended and advise you to go to ladyironchef to read on this post, simply because the post is way too long, and there are many more nice photos of the food!
” Singapore’s First LIVE Kushi-style Tonkatsu & Tempura restaurant “
Rating given:
The donut craze in Singapore was kick-start by the emergent of the rivalry between Donut factory at raffles city, and Dippin’ Donut (of former Vinco fame) at Vivocity a few years back.
I remember when Donut factory and Dippin’ just started out, people will queue one two hours just to get that dozen of donuts. Now many more others have jumped into the wagon which includes the likes of Missy donut, Donut & Donuts, Munchy Donut, Summer house donut.
And of course, the latest and by far the one with the cafe concept to be found in our local shores, J Co Donut.
J Co Donut chooses Raffles city basement as their entrance to the Singapore market, of course where other than the battleground with Donut Factory. Since the opening of the donut cafe at Raffles city, the sales of Donut Factory has pale in comparison. And Donut factory isn’t really giving up the fight, with the cafe concept at Velocity@Novena, and Suntec city.
A couple of weeks ago, i wanted to try J Co Donut but the seats were all fully taken up, so we ended up at Cedele. This time when we go there was quite a lot of seats available, so i guess the timing must be right.
We were rather confuse because there are two counters inside J Co, one on the left which are where all the folks are queuing up for their donuts, and there’s another one on the right which we thought that its where the drinks counter is. We buy from the normal queue, but after that we saw people getting a menu from the drinks counter and ordering from there.
Furthermore, as we were having the donuts there, we were wondering whether will it be serve on plates or boxes, we saw people having it on plates, but ours are given in box. So i guess these are really some parts where J Co can do better to let us know, or perhaps the problem are just occurring to us and not ours.
Nonetheless, all the donuts look really really nice, and they are the sort that you know eating them will mean lots of calories, but you cant stop yourself from having them. O well, eat and exercise more!
Just for your info, I tried Dunkin Donuts when i were in KL last time, and i think i’ll preferred J Co Donut to Dunkin’s
I were rather surprised because they offer box for 3 donuts, and even when there are boxes for minimum of 2 donuts. If my memory didn’t fail me, it was at least half a dozen donuts for box last time.
Don Mochino ($1.30)
Dark Belgian chocolate topping perfected with light cappucino cream filling. Pleasure you shouldn’t feel gulity about.
One thing i really like about J Co donut’s is that they come up with really fanciful descriptions for all their donuts.
Anyway, the Don Mochino looks really nice with the beautiful chocolate toppings, but somehow the cappuccino cream fillings are a tad too light to the tongue.
Choco Cavier Strawberry ($1.30)
Sprinkle Premium chocolate with strawberry that will tickle your mouth.
The small chocolate balls on the choco cavier strawberry donut are quite nice, brings back a certain childhood memory.
Hazel Dazzle ($1.30)
Be sexy with dazzling hazelnut chocolate and get surprised with coffee cream.
The Hazel Dazzle donut is one of the new additions to the J Co donuts. I always like hazelnut, so this always work for me.
Ice chocolate ($5)
The ice chocolate comes in two sizes, $4.50 for the medium, and $5 for regular. We were discussing whether the regular is really a bigger size than the medium, because regular just sounds, regular. Smaller in size you know?
Tira Miss U ($1.30)
Dear Tira, it’s been so long i haven’t meet you. Now, i really miss you.
The tiramisu donut is really nice, i come to love tiramisu and this one is definitely the one i’ll try again when i revisit J Co. Because we brought 3 donuts at first, when i go and get one more, this tiramisu, i tell the manager i want one, he stared at me, giving me the nobody-buy-one-donut look!
It was so funny, i guess, nobody really go in and buy one donut. But i guess i’ll do it often, just to get to see that expression on their face. You all should try also yeah! Alright, i’m joking, we shouldn’t do doing such things to the service staff who work so hard selling our favourite donuts.
Total bill for 4 donuts and one ice chocolate is $10.20. J Co Donut is certainly very impressive, their first outlet in Indonesia was open on 26 June 2005, and within three years of operations they have 39 outlets throughout Asia with presence in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore.
I think despite the sinful and guilty feeling after eating donuts, i think i will be back to try other donuts at J Co. It’ll be quite a good place to chill out with your friends, munching donuts and sipping a cup of coffee, while sitting down at the cozy couch.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or biasness. Feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
” Munching donuts & sipping coffee - perfect! “
Rating given:
Social Media Breakfast 2: Singapore is held at Cafe Domus, a very cool cafe which operates only when the sun goes down, and party till late night. Luckily for us, SMB main organizer Daryl managed to get the owner of the place to open the place for us.
Cafe Domus is located at 124 Owen Road, the nearest Mrt Station is Farrer Park (NEL). The other shop houses along Owen Road is definitely not what you will expect a cafe like Domus will be located at, the area is more like a industrial area.
From the outside, this is certainly not what i had imagined the place to be like. So imagine the suprise that i got when i stepped to the back of the cafe. Wow! is the word to describe.
It seems that we have been transported into a different world all together, from the bright pink wallpaper of the cafe front with its chandelier, welcome to the natural open-space garden!
The seats are logs in case you didn’t notice, and the small bamboo shoots provided cover from the blazing sun. Mosquito coils are prepared on hand, to prevent any “unpleasant” incidents.
I must admit the place is really quite an eye-opener for me, its unique Al fresco area will be even better during the night, with small candles lit up all over the place, can you imagine how it will be like?
I even climb up the stairs to the upper area where there’s this small area which can seat about 4-5. Great place if you want to spend some time with your love ones and friends.
We had catered food, which was not on the usual menu. But a quick glance at their menu, they have finger food, and also home-made desserts like brownies and cakes.
Cafe Domus also serve alcohol drinks like vodka and martinis, and a wide range of other drinks. Its really a very cool place to chill out with your friends.
And if you are staying nearby, or alone the NEL, there's totally no reason for not visiting the place! Go on check them out, and do remember they only start operations at 7pm till late night.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or biasness. Feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
Rating given:
Coffee Club @ Holland Village is located right at the end of Lorong Mambong, the street that is the heart and soul of Holland Village. Having live in Holland when i was young, the street has since undergo many transformations, and i think most of the shops back then are not there anymore.
After reading Coffee Club’s website, i then realized that they had actually opened their first gourmet coffee house in Holland Village in 1991. But to be honest, i didn’t have any memories of Coffee Club back then.
Today Coffee Club has 21 outlets island-wide, and this is actually the first time i’m stepping into Coffee Club. Can you believe it? Well i been to Coffee Bean, Starbucks, but not Coffee Club.
And i have not went to The Coffee Connoisseur (TCC) before either, looks like a visit to TCC is on the cards.
The interior of the Coffee Club at Holland Village is relaxing, and looks great for a chill-out place. Thats exactly the reason that prompted my friend and i here.
There’s also al fresco area for those who like to stay out of the air-condition.
Iced Mocha ($6.90)
My friend had the iced mocha, like i mentioned previously in the Cedele post, i’m not a big fan of mocha, i rather spend the money on desserts, but my friend find the mocha to be all right.
Vienna Chocolate Cake ($5)
This, is what i’ll spend on my money on when i frequent coffee houses and cafes. Seriously i wont spend 6-7 bucks on a cup of coffee, partly because i don’t drink much coffee also. I love desserts, give me desserts everyday!
The Vienna Chocolate cake by its account, isn’t that great, there’s nothing special about the cake, well except its chocolate.
But to be fair, at 5 bucks a slice, it is really quite worth the money if you often have cravings for cakes, like me.
Total Bill was $14 for one mocha and one cake after the 17% you-know-what. The ambience of Coffee Club at Holland Village branch was excellent for a chill-out place, my friend and i were there chatting for about two hours, and there wasn’t much crowd around.
The menu for their main course looks tempting, in the dollar sense its quite reasonable. But i’m quite skeptical about the quality of the food in coffee houses. We’ll see how it goes then. Maybe when i’m low on budget, i’ll give their mains a try. Until then, chill-out!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or biasness. Feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
” Chill, chill, chill-out! “
Rating given:
Cedele by The Bakery Depot was founded by Ms Yeap Cheng Guat in July 1997. After spending many years in the multi-nationals, Ms Yeap decided to put her baking passion to test.
The flagship store in East Coast is the first of many more to come, till date Cedele has 14 outlets island-wide.
Cedele Bakery is known for their wide range of sandwiches, delicious repertoire of bread, and cakes.
There are two outlets in Raffles City (I didn’t know until later), one in basement and another in level 3. A friend and i visited the one at basement of raffles city.
I like their concept of self pick-up for some of the pastries and bread.
For the sandwiches, you get to choose from different type of bread, milk bap, oatbran, country white, wholemeal linseed, and organic wholewheat.
Tuna Salad Sandwich ($6)
Savory tuna sandwich with chopped red bell pepper and celery, and finished with a lot of cold fresh lettuce.
My friend chose country white for his bread, but he found it a tad too dry and hard. The fresh lettuces are refreshing and there’s a generous spread of the tuna.
Mocha ($3.50)
I’m not really a big fan of mocha, but my friend find it to be all right. And at $3.50, its really cheaper than your Star Bucks and Coffee Bean.
The emphasis for Cedele is more on their bread, sandwiches and pastries. I applause them for their affordable price range for their coffees.
Chocolate Banana Espresso Cake ($6)
Melts in your mouth, this is a soft chocolate cake sandwiched with fresh caramelized banana, topped with espresso chocolate frosting, and finished with crunchy walnut strussel, oat strussel.
The banana taste is evident in the Chocolate Banana Espresso cake, and the walnut adds a crunchy bite to the cake. But I’m still not quite convince by chocolate banana cakes. Not that the ones here aren’t good, just that chocolate and banana doesn’t really suits my taste bud.
Total Bill was $18.13 for one sandwich, one drink and one cake. Cedele looks promising with its wide range of sandwiches, and cakes. Furthermore, the drinks like mocha and latte isn’t very expensive, price ranging from 2 bucks to 4-5 bucks. I think i will be back to give their sandwiches and pastries another try.
Just for your information, LIC usually does not like to repeat going to a same restaurant or cafe because he’ll rather spend the money trying out new stuff at other places.
But in the case of Cedele, their prices are quite reasonable and affordable, so yeah, look out for Cedele II!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or biasness. Feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
” The Bread bakery cafe “
Rating given:
Lil’ Foot Pâtisserie, an online blog pastisserie selling exclusive gourmet pastry. Most of the pastries there are in limited quantity, but they definitely do not lose out in quality.
We had the chance to sample the Rocky Road Mousse Cake as one of my friend ordered it from Lil’ Foot Pâtisserie for Petrina’s birthday while we were at Peach Garden celebrating.
Crunchy walnuts and chewy marshmallow in every bite awashed with thick creamy chocolate ganache!
Our Rocky Road Mousse cake is the round 7 inch which can serve 8-10 people and it comes at a price of $38. There are even different flavours of marshmallows inside the cake!
Maybe i’m a little behind time, but this is actually the first time that i had a cake which is filled with marshmallows in between, and the result is wow!
Lil’ Foot Pâtisserie doesn’t have many variety of cakes available, but for the lack in choices, the ones that they offer certainly are excellent and is priced reasonably. I’ll be looking to get other cakes from them soon. So stop getting your cakes from boring places you-know-where (i’m not naming the bakeries)
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or biasness. Feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
Rating given:
Peach Garden Chinese Restaurant @ OCBC Centre 33rd Floor is co-owned by Angela Ho and Veronica Tan, former managers of the established Hua Ting restaurant. The pair struck out on their own in 2002, and the rest like they say, were history. Peach Garden is now one of the Chinese restaurants on the radar of corporates.
Located at the 33rd floor, the restaurant offers diners a splendid bird’s eye view of the Singapore River and the city area.
The modern contemporary Chinese decor will make diner feel right at home.
It will be highly recommended for customers to make a reservation before going, as the window seats are usually taken up. One of the waitress greeted us at the main lobby on the ground floor, after checking our reservations, we were guided up to 33rd floor.
Peach Garden is popular for their Cantonese dishes, and dim sum. The selection for dim sum isn’t wide with 23 different types, however for what they lacked in variety, they make it up in quality.
Most of the dim-sum comes in basket of 3 each, but as we got 8 person, they were flexible to allow us order 8 pieces of dim-sum instead. So i’ll be putting the price for all the dim sum here for per piece rather than per basket.
Baked BBQ pork pastry ($1.30)
The baked BBQ pork pastry, or more commonly known as char-siew sou, i find it to be quite all right, but the others didn’t like it because they had better ones at Yan ting @ St Regis before.
Baked Mini Egg Tart ($1.30)
The baked mini egg tarts were fine, the skin was crispy, and the egg filling is just nice. However at $1.30 each, they are terribly expensive since i had better and bigger egg tarts at much cheaper price before.
Steamed Fresh Prawn Dumpling ($1.60)
The steamed fresh prawn dumpling, or more affectionately known as har-gau. The ones at Peach Garden has a wholesome shrimp wrapped within the skin of the dumpling.
But at $1.60 for each har-gau, they are priced slightly higher than your normal ones at other places.
Steamed Siew Mai with Phoenix prawn ($1.60)
The rendition of siew mai or pork dumpling is redefined at Peach Garden. Whereas your typical siew mai taste mainly of pork, the ones here has a phoenix prawn, which gives the siew mai a prawnier taste.
Steamed BBQ pork bun ($1.20)
I always love to eat steamed BBQ pork buns from chinese dim sum restaurant, well because they are not the same as the ones you get from outside.
The ones in restaurants are usually consist of three parts, i’ll tear off each part and slowly savour the sweet char-siew with the bun.
Fried Carrot cake with X.O sauce ($8)
When you read fried carrot cake, please erase off all of whatever memories you had of carrot cake. Now when we are talking about fried carrot cake with X.O sauce here, its not your ordinary black or white char-kway in the hawker centre.
The carrot cake here is slightly crispy on the outside, and very soft on the inside. But i couldn’t taste much of the X.O sauce, and at $8 per small serving, i find it to be quite on the high side.
Steamed yolk cream bun ($1.20)
The signature dim-sum of Peach Garden, its delicious steamed yolk cream bun. The beautiful golden yellow custard filling oozes out when i prise it open.
Steamed rice roll with prawn ($4.50)
The steamed rice roll with prawn, or your Chee Cheong Fun is served in two versions, one with prawn at $4.50, and the other steamed rice roll with chicken at $4.
The Chee Cheong Fun was quite disappointing here, it didn’t taste as well i thought it will, its quite ordinary to tell the truth.
Boiled porridge with century egg and pork ($3.80)
The boiled porridge with century egg and pork is one of the disappointment for the meal at Peach Garden. Too salty, we ordered 4 bowls and almost couldn’t finish it.
Steamed Xiao Long Bao with Conpoy ($1.30)
I’m not really a big fan of Xiao Long Bao, i guess the ones here are average, a couple of us didn’t really find it to be good.
Baked Spare Rib with BBQ Sauce ($7 per piece)
The signature baked spare rib with BBQ sauce comes at a hefty price, at $7 per piece, you can easily have a plate of spare ribs elsewhere.
But to be fair, the presentation of the spare rib was done nicely, and the rib is bigger than your normal ribs, with the BBQ sauce combining well with spare ribs.
There were difference in portions of the ribs, so depending on your luck, some of us got slightly bigger ribs with more meat, while some got thinner ribs.
Total Bill was $178.20 for 8 person, after a 15% credit card discount. The price comes much cheaper than i had expected so it was a surprise, and if you do not included the $7 spare ribs, it will be roughly $16 for person instead of about $22.
Results were mixed, some like me found it to be quite good, while others find that Peach Garden didn’t match their expectations. I guess everybody has different taste buds, but personally, i find Peach Garden to be quite good, the price may be slightly above average, but given a rationale person taking the menu and not over-ordering, the result is good dim sum at reasonable price.
Service-wise we also encountered mixed results. The waitress were way too fast in serving the dim-sum. As the table was all food bloggers, all of us were busy taking photos of the food, and before we managed to finish taking the photo of one dim sum, the other dim sum was served.
I felt that the waitress should have taken note that we were not ready for the serving of the other dim sum, but sad to say they failed to do so. Also, they missed out our order of Xiao Long Bao and the ribs, and also forgot to bring us our additional order of the har-gau.
But they did slightly make up when they helped us putting the birthday cake (one of us birthday celebration) into a beautiful plate, and they also provide a knife which had remote control to play birthday song music.
All in all, at 33rd floor offering a wonderful view of the city, the quite reasonable pricing of the dim-sum, it offers me an excuse to revisit Peach Garden again. And Peach Garden has two other outlets at Novena and Thomson Plaza!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or biasness. Feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
” Contemporary Cantonese cuisine, with splendid bird’s eye view of the city “
Rating given:
The newly renovated basement of Plaza Singapura has seen many new tenants providing all sorts of quirky and creative food. Bratwurst Shop is one of the original stores which has been there for quite a long period of time.
Just in case you have no idea, Bratwurst is a sausage composed of pork, beef and/or veal and the name is from Germany.
For the sausages, you get to choose from different toppings, the original, bacon & cheese, mushroom& cheese are some of the popular ones.
After choosing the toppings, you’ll get to choose the type of bratwurst that you fancy, swiss cheese pork, spicy beef & pork, black pepper pork, italian pork, mild beef & pork are all available.
There are also a wide range of sandwiches available at pretty decent prices.
I remember the old Bratwurst shop was located on the other side of the basement, nearer to the escalator outside Carrefour, but they have since shift to this corner which provides them with a larger seating area.
The theme for Bratwurst shop is apparently red, with their furnitures and shop signboard in bright red.
Swiss cheese pork, original with mustard & sauerkraut ($4.95)
I had the original with mustard & sauerkraut for my choice of topping, and the swiss cheese pork for the main.
The sausage was really huge, i must say its quite value for money as one will fill you up if you finish it together with the bun. However i disliked the sauerkraut as i find it to be too salty and sour, and does not compliments the taste of the sausage.
And just in case you are wondering, sauerkraut is finely sliced cabbage fermented by various lactic acid.
Tuna Sandwich ($5.50)
On first sight the tuna sandwich certainly does not looks appealing, the bread looks dry, and the tuna well doesn’t looks attractive to me.
But my friend say the tuna sandwich actually taste not bad, and at $5.50 i guess you can’t really complain.
Total bill was $10.45 for two, we didn’t order any drinks because we went to Carrefour to buy mineral water beforehand. Well, we were on a budget, had waffles at Gelare before coming here, and besides mineral water is healthier!
Drop by Bratwurst shop for a hassle-free, quick bite if you are in Plaza Singapura, and do not want to spend too much money on a meal before going to the theaters!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or biasness. Feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
” Not your normal small sausages “
Rating given:
Monday everyone have the standard Mondays blue
Wednesday is for the ladies, party all night long!
Thursday we have people queuing up to buy Toto
Friday its one more day to the weekends
Saturday its finally weekends!
Sunday 4D 4D & 4D
So what do we have on Tuesday? Make a guess?!?
Yep, Tuesdays are Waffles Day!
For every Tuesday, its waffles day at Gelare, where you get to enjoy 50% discount on their waffles (actually for their plain waffles only, the rest less than 50%).
But who bothers! Its waffles day, and personally i do think its quite a good sales tactic. I mean even though i have never try Gelare before, but i heard of their promotions before. It works.
A friend and i went down to Gelare @ Plaza Singapura, 3pm and the place’s almost full house. For every tuesday, plain Waffle with syrup & cream is half price at $3.90, and the single scoop ice cream waffle is $6.90 (original price being $9.90)
There’s this promotion which they are having for their main course. But after seeing that their pastas are actually those frozen ready-packed one, which they heat up in the microwave, no thanks!
I was tempted to try their cheesecakes which at $5 a slice seems reasonable. Anyone try before mind letting me know whether it’s good?
Waffle with single scoop Tiramisu ice cream ($6.90)
Just stick to what Geláre is good at, waffles. There was a choice whether you want to add on 20 cents to change the waffle to chocolate chip waffles, but we sticked with the normal ones.
The choice of toppings will be either chocolate sauce or maple syrup, and the option for having cream or no cream.
I liked my Ti-ra-mi-su ice cream waffles. But its actually quite soft, i’m not sure whether good waffles are meant to be soft, but i have a penchant for crispier waffles, like the one i had at Haato’s
Waffle with single scoop Pistachio gelare ($6.90)
The Pistachio gelare here wasn’t to my friend’s liking. Pistachio is a kind of nut just in case you have no idea, like me. My friend like the soft waffles though, i guess everybody has different preference.
And we concluded that the waffles will taste much nicer without the whipped cream, and the chocolate sauce only hinder the taste of the ice cream.
Total Bill for 2 waffles is $13.80, on tuesday the waffles single scoop ice cream at $6.90 are considered reasonable i guess, but even the normal price ten bucks for it, i won’t touch it.
Haato’s waffle with single scoop ice cream is at $6, everyday. I guess thats the place to fulfill my waffles cravings until a better place comes about.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or biasness. Feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
” Only on Tuedays, Waffles day! “
Rating given: