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Food & Beverage
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1=SGD 0.0587
Had our monthly group dinner at Bonta last evening. Opened in April this year and helmed by chef Luca Pezzera, who was formerly the executive chef at Hotel Intercontinental, Jakarta, Bonta has been garnering rather rave reviews with regard to its food and service, hence making it our choice of restaurant for the month.
Located along the outskirts of UE Square just opposite Double O, Bonta boasts a modern chic outlook coupled with warm colours, ambient lighting and soothing pipe music to give it that cosy and relaxed feel. There's also a semi private room for a few couples on the second floor complete with a showcase wine cellar for a more romantic rendezvous. However, do note that the room is all glass, so people can see you from the ground level. And in case you are wondering, Bonta is relatively small, with a sitting capacity probably maxing out at about 30 people or so.
The complimentary bread deserves a writeup devoted entirely to itself. Why so? Because its simply the best complimentary bread I've ever eaten so far (not that I've eaten alot though). The bread came served piping hot in a longish cup and when sliced open, emitted a fragrant and alluring aroma. Crispy on the outside yet soft and fluffy on the inside, the the pockets of cheese and walnuts within served to enhance its taste and bite. Really a most delightful bread. I understand that takeaway for the bread is available at $8/loaf for those who are interested (and can afford it). For cheapskates and financially struggling people like me, there's always the complimentary option.
I didn't get a chance to try out the trout rolls but I did have a go at the goose liver or Foie Gras as some people might know it. The liver was pan fried till a little crisp on the exterior yet retaining its softness within. Taste wise was pretty good, with the raw taste of liver subtle and a slight hint of smokiness. However, I did find the aftertaste a little too strong for my liking. Also, the liver wasn't as quivery as I would have expected it to be, falling short of the standards set by Ember and Il-Lido.
At $22, this dish was really expensive given that only 4 pieces of scallops were served. However, money aside, it was just a just a little short of excellent. The scallops were quite a size and came served with their shell. Pop one into your mouth and enjoy the sweetness of the scallops with the accompanying Hollandaise sauce. To best enjoy this dish (in my personal opinion), you have to consume the whole thing - lock, stock and barrel (minus the shell of course) at one go.
Ravioli with Goose Liver - Had a piece of the ravioli to try and didn't find it fantastic. I could barely make out the taste of the liver as it was almost entirely masked by the creamy sauce base.
Black Angus Beef Sirloin Tagliata - It came as requested, medium rare and nicely grilled for that subtle sweetness and char grilled flavour. However it did come across as a little weak on the natural beef taste, which was a pity really. On a side note, the accompanying Porcini mushrooms had this weird taste which I couldn't stomach.
Disappointment. The icy cold word that pierces through your heart. That was the exact emotion all of us were feeling after the dinner. It was so bad that none of us had the heart to order any desserts, preferring to head down elsewhere. Service was good and attentive except for one major blip. They got one of our orders wrong twice. In the end, my friend had to settle for something he didn't order, which really marred the entire experience for him.
The 7 of us forked out $451 for a totally unsatisfying dinner, be it quantity or quality wise. Will I be back? I'll toss a coin and let you know, but chances are, no.
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Went to Cathay AMK to watch Balls of Fury last weekend.
Well have to say that the standard of the cinema is as good as the rest of the cathay cinemas.
I like the large reception area where to buy tickets and popcorns. One thing bad though, there are no seats to sit on while waiting for the show to start unlike other Cathays.
There are 8 cinema halls there so quite a number of shows showing there. Good.
Service wise, GREAT! The people there are very friendly. From the one selling the tickets to the usher. Even when I was walking into the cinema hall, the guy manning the tibits section manged to say "Welcome! Enjoy your show" to everyone walking past him.
The cinema seating is good and comfortable. The solpe is quite high so the guy in front of you can hardly block your view. They do not maximise the seast to the fron so even if you get 1st row seast, you will not get a neckache after the show.
The sound system is up to par as it is new and uses the best sound system.
So overall it is a good place to watch show in the north now other than Junction 8 and Causeway Point.
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Hillman restaurant, or 喜临门大饭店 in Chinese, has been around since the 1960s and they are unabashed in displaying their rich heritage with blown up photographs of the good old days. Formerly located at Cantonment Road, they have since shifted (a few years back) to Jalan Besar and opened up a sister restaurant by the name of Manhill Restaurant (how innovative) at Pasir Panjang.
Inconveniently located along Jalan Besar Road just a few doors down from Pu Tien, getting there can pose quite a challenge for people unfamiliar with the area. If you are driving, it will be even more of a headache as parking lots are far and few. Strangely enough, this place seems to be very popular with Japanese folks for some reason beyond me.
A must have dish whenever I visit Hillman, the Chicken in Paper Bag aka Zi Bao Ji was very well executed with the chicken well seasoned, measuring in the right amounts of salt and sugar. The meat burst with flavoursome juices with every bite through the tender chicken meat. I'm not one to exaggerate, but this is probably one of the best Zi Bao Ji there is in the market now. Only downside to it was the difficulty in trying to seperate the chicken from the paper and of course the copious amount of oil involved.
Hillman has long been renowned for its claypot dishes or better known as Sar Poh. We ordered the Bright Stars Pot aka Yi Ping Wor which had a grand total of 8 different types of food in it. Namely mushrooms, chicken, pork, prawns, squid, carrot, vegetables and fried fish slices. Now thats a lot of variety in one dish and this is definitely one of the better claypot dishes I've ever had in Singapore with the food soaking in the essence of the wonderful gravy.
Sliced Fish with Kai Lan - The Kai Lan looked a little tired when it first arrived, probably due to overcooking. However, it surprised us with its crunchiness and light smoky taste. The accompanying fish slices were very decent, chewy and not too soft.
A great dinner for 3 pax set us back by about $46, which isn't too expensive really considering the quality of food. A pity it was rather quiet for a Sunday night probably due to its location and the spotlight its more prolific neighbour, Pu Tien, is enjoying. Just a warning, do not expect good service from this place though (Its still decent though).
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Sobasei is a simple Japanese Restaurant with a open dining area and 3-4 private rooms. It's suitable for families, as its ambience is more casual and not as cosy as one would prefer.
The menu is in Japanese with (accurate) English translations as this place is frequented by many Japanese expats in the area.
I was there just last night with my two companions. I had tempura Soba... I wanted to try other stuff but... daren't eat anything new due to a recent allergy. Anyway the Ebi tempura was made with really fresh prawns which is pretty rare. The warm soba was served just right.
We had Sashimi too which was very fresh.
My companions had sets which had miso soup, rice and noodles, main dish, two appetizers, one side dish. Each set about $20-$25.
We arrived at the place really late about 9 and last order was at 9.30pm. They still served us with smiles and took our orders patiently. Even when we added to our order at about 10 they didn't flinch. We had plenty of little freebies thrown in like the peas, some small side-dishes.This isn't because we're the last customers of the day as it also happened the two other times I was there.
Quality food in good-sized servings and great service. It deserves 5 stars but... the location and the ambience... made me take one away.
Quality food in good servings.
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Went on a tiny shopping spree with my gf at Suntec so decided to have dinner around the area. And as usual, every dining outlet at Suntec, down to Burger King, was bursting to the seams with people. We had noticed Pearl River Palace on one of our previous visits to Suntec, so thought of giving it a try.
Doesn't it scare you when a restaurant is devoid of the usual mad crowd which throng food outlets during the weekend? But then again, Pearl River is hidden in a rather secluded area on the third floor of the Suntec convention area. The only trace of its presence is the huge neon light signboard plastered on the windows facing Marina Square. If you do manage to find it, a waitress greets you at the and ushers you into a huge hall which can seat at least 150pax upwards - only a tenth of which is taken up.
I don't know what they were thinking when they coined the name "The Washing Line". Sounds rather crude to me, but I must credit them for their innovation in presentation. Two chilled carrots sculptured into towers and joined by a thin pole, with thin slices of meat draped across the pole and thick garlic sauce drizzled over - this is probably one of the most innovative dish presentation I've seen in a Chinese restaurant in quite a long while. Taste wise, I found it fairly acceptable, just that the garlic taste in the syrup was a little too strong and too sweet.
Sauteed Fresh Prawn with Egg White & Pine Nuts - I really am a sucker for dishes with lots of egg white, which explains this dish. I personally found it not too bad, with the texture being a little sticky and dense probably due to the addition of milk or the prolonged beating of the egg white. It actually reminded me of MacDonald's scrambled eggs, but easier on the milky taste. The pines were a nice addition with their slightly nutty taste, but the wolfberries seemed rather redundant. Now we certainly can't forget the prawns, which were crunchy and larger than normal. By and large a fairly nice dish, but a little on the salty side.
Braised Beancurd with Enoki Mushrooms & Preserved Vegetables - Just another normal beancurd dish. Bland with an equally bland gravy. This pretty much sums it up. The Enoki Mushrooms did add a nice crunch to the dish though.
Desserts. You either love them or loathe them. They have this effect of expanding your already exploding waistlines and yet you can't seem to resist their seduction. Alright I'm exaggerating, but I love my desserts. Our dessert for the night was a bowl of bird's nest soup and a slice of Durian Pancake. The Double Boiled Bird's Nest with Rock Sugar was pleasant, but the bird's nest wasn't exactly of top quality. Then again, I can't expect much for the price. One gripe though. I could see bits of feather still embedded in the strands of bird nest, which meant that the staff didn't put in the extra effort to remove them before boiling - something which I would expect from a top grade restaurant, but probably not Pearl River. The Durian Pancake's skin was a little too dry and thick, but the Durian filling was thick and flavourful, signs of a good Durian. And its rather small for $2.
I certainly wasn't expecting to spend close to a hundred bucks($96.75/-) for this dinner, but I guess its all my fault. Me and my bird's nest, which added about $30 to the bill. Having said that, prices at Pearl River are on the higher end of the reasonable spectrum, but food quality is slightly above average. The service is above average, but could do better with increased attentiveness. Another point to note, they charge $1/head for ice water or tea, so go for the tea.
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The place is so small that it does not look inviting at all, espcially I am quite big sized. Seem like they try to squeeze in a lot of things. They should really do something about it! If ppl cannot go in and shop, then it defeats the purpose of shopping alr. Hee.....
I prefer to go Vivocity outlet anytime!
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Been there on Sat for some shopping and of cos my fav meatball and chicken wings!
Was there with a group of frens and decided to head Ikea and hang out!
I have not eaten their meatballa nd chicken wings fr the longest time and had been craving them forever! Hee....
1 thing I dun like about the cafe is, the place is always forever packed and it is hard to get seats. Like in food court, you have to fight for seats and hope that the table you are stalking out will be free soon!
Since there is a lot of ppl as well, the queue there will be long for food but the service is fast enough so that no need to wait for long time to my fav meatballa and chicken wings.
The meatball is again flawless with huge chucks of potatoes, their special gravy and thei cranberry jam. All mixed together to make their meatballs so special and tasty. Yum Yum!
Thier chicken wings are baked I think) to prefection. Tender yet juicy at the same time! The seasoning is also done to prefection and it can be eaten without any sauces at all!
I always can finished 15 meatballs and 6 chicken wings at one go since I seldom go there!
Of course if you have their membership card, you can have 2 free drinks everyday! They also got specials everyday where they offer local delights!
If only they can increase the size of the cafe! That will be great!
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Went there to have dinner with a few close frens for dinner yesterday. As usual ard dinner time there will be always a queue in front of the resturant. So we waited around for 20 mins (Yes the place was full before dinner time!), before we are seated.
When we joined the queue, the waitress will hand us a copy of their order form and we can start to order our food alr. A good way to shorten the waiting time when we are seated.
The place is nicely decorated, with a feel that we are in the wood of some forest. Got the feel of we are sitting in the mitddle of a pavailion having dinner. However I do find it a bit cramped as again they tried to squezze in as many tables into the small place they have.
So what food we ordered? (Sorry too bz eating and forget to take pics Hee....)
1. Samsui Chicken. Their star dish and one dish that I will never get sick of. Haa.... The chicken is tender and boneless. The way to eat it was to put a piece of chicken in the large piece of lettuce, then add in lots and lots of their special mixed ginger! The ginger taste mixed with the chicken and the cruchy lettuce makes a prefect combo!
2. Begger Ribs. It is pork ribs that are BBQ. The ribs are a bit in the small side. The pic that they showen on the poster seem much bigger. Hee... However the taste of the rib was sweet and juicy. The meat also seperates off the rib without much effort.
3. Spicy prawn tofu. This one comes with a slightly spciy but thick sauce that definitely goes good with white rice! The prawns are big and fresh! The tofu is tender yet not mushy. Although I ordered in small size, the portion came in a pretty much generous portion.
4. Sambal Kang Kong. Well it is fresh and cruchy. However not as spicy as expected.
5. Soup of the day. Hmm... the soup is winter melon, carrots plus pork ribs. It is good and can taste that they did not sue any MSG inside the soup. However, it seem like everytime I go, the soup of the day is the same.
6. Steamed rice with chicken. This i ssomething like the steam bamboo rice. The chicken and mushroom are tender. The juice of both are sipped into the rice making the rice more fragent and bale to eat on its own!
The service there is much prompt, systematic and good. The food also came out pretty fast, in about 10 mins, all our dishes came alr.
Something funny happen, which I consider it good, we orginally order 7 dishes, the waitress when confirming the dishes with us, suggested that we ordered too much for a grp of 3, so she suggested that we take one dish away. This turn out to be good as we barely finished all the dishes in the end. Haa....
Spent ard $83 on the meal, making 3 people very happy with the dinner!
I have tried other outlets as well. Seem like all outlets provides almost of the same quaility of food and service as well.
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Another one to the list.
I know everyone's getting a little tired reading about donuts, but hey, the fire is still burning (thou not as strong) for all the donut factories in Singapore.
I tried Missy Donut once, but it was left with only one flavor, which I can't remember. So today I bought some home again to try, since there wasn't a queue when I was there. The selection of donuts aren't as many as some others, but I managed to pick 5 that hopefully will manage to trigger my tastebud.
One bite into the glazed donut ($1.10) and immediately I had to gulp down water to ease the sweetness. The layer of sugar onto was too heavy and the sugar content was too high. The dough was quite good but a little to the oily side.
My mum had the nutty choc ($1.20) one and she also said it was too sweet. But lucky for her, the nuts managed to balance the sweetness alittle for her.
Haven't tried to other flavors yet, but judging from the glazed one, which was supposed to be the basic donut, I'm not having a good feeling about the rest.
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I wanted to try their desserts ever since I saw their poster out at Plaza Singapura. But I kept forgetting about this place when I'm there. But today, I remembered!
Went shopping with Mum at Plaza Singapura and I needed a break so I brought us to Aji Tei for desserts. The display of plastic dishes and yummy looking photos of their menu lured me in fast and furious.
As we weren't that hungry, we just ordered a dessert sampler, fried tofu and chicken skewer. The dessert came first, it looked different from the photo. There were a little too much starch (muah chee) in the 3 samplers. The green tea ice-cream on cornflakes saved this sampler. It was our first time having cornflakes with ice-cream. And we love the blend of the two.
The felt tofu felt very crispy when it was served. I could hear the crunch of the exterior when I moved it with the chopsticks. But the excitement of this dish faded the moment I tasted it. The tofu was tasteless and the sauce that came with it didn't quite help.
And then the chicken came. Didn't get to taste the original taste as my mum sprinkled chilli powder over it before I can take a photo. The chicken (with chili powder) was pretty alright. Not fantastic but better than the fried tofu.
For a die-hard Japanese resturants fan, I continue my search for better ones to add to my list. This one for sure, is not going to be listed in my favorite list.
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