Had been itching to try out this new cafe - Spruce, after seeing quite a few reviews of it online as well as in various publications. Apparently their chef was from Wine Garage, which made really good burgers. Reservations were a pain though as the place was almost always full, till I got lucky one evening and managed to squeeze in a reservation for an outdoor table.
Outdoor seating probably isn't the best idea especially when Spruce is located just up a tiny hill next to lush greenery along Tanglin Road. But hey, if bugs are your best pals, then by means go ahead. Read. The bugs are suicidal. They do kamikaze stunts like crashing into your drinks, table and food. After a couple of minutes, we surrendered and requested for a seat indoors, which was promptly given to us (Whatever happened to the reservations?).
Roasted Mycofarm Mushrooms with Herbs - We initially wondered if mycofarm was some special type of mushrooms but after googling, it turned out to be the name of a farm in Singapore. On hindsight we probably shouldn't have ordered this side dish. The mushrooms tasted very normal but were literally drenched in oil. And it was definitely not olive oil.
Creamy Macaroni and Cheese - Now this side dish fared much better. Simple comfort food for the masses. Small macaroni shells evenly coated with a nice smooth creamy and cheesey layer. Not too overwhelming. The bits of burnt mozzarella cheese on top provided a nice crisp texture.
Seared Tuna with Steamed Bok Choy, Carrot and Ginger Broth - Make no mistake. This was a main. 5 slices of tuna tataki with a clump of bok choy going for $22. The tuna was disappointing to the say the least. Not pan seared till lightly charred on the outside while uncomfortably limp on the inside. Being less then generous on the salt didn't exactly help matters as well.
The Spruce Burger with Hand Cut Chips - The burger was good though a tad small. The beef patty crumbled with ease when I poked my fork into it, leading to us coin it "burger crumble". Corny I know. The patty was probably one of the best I've had in a long while. A little moist without the beefy taste overwhelming. Simple and unadulterated. I thought the buns could do with a little more toasting though. There is an option of topping up $2 for a slice of bacon to go along with the patty.
Cranberry, Blueberry and Coconut Tart Ala Mode - I thought this tart sounded really interesting and healthy with all the berries so I had a go at it. Well I wouldn't say it was fantastic but at least it was decent. I could make out the taste of blueberries and cranberries and strands of coconut in between. Lightly sweet. Unfortunately, the accompanying scoop of ice cream melted really fast and was your run off the mill vanilla ice cream.
Yogurt and Buttermilk Panna Cotta with Seasonal Fruit - This dessert was actually more yogurt then panna cotta, smooth and semi liquid. The layer of blueberry was sweet and complemented the yogurt quite well. It was topped with this brownish looking muesli bars that stuck to my teeth when I chewed on it. Nice but majorly irritating.
Generally speaking, prices aren't really over the top but food quality could be improved quite a bit in general. Service in general was good but there was this young waiter that stood out with his earnest attitude and attentiveness. Pity I didn't catch his name. Spruce is worth a try, just for the burger, but probably not worth a return. By the way, parking is free.
We are all old friends, yet we never met before. We visit each other on the web, that is how we “meet” everybody. Food brings us together, finally we can put a face to each other instead of just a nickname. From online, to offline, our food blogger outing.
While waiting for everybody to arrive, we ordered some fried dim sum for the photo shoot first. Hua Ting have more steamed items than fried ones, and the baked chicken & mango tart ($3.90) headed the list. This reminded me of the one that I had at Man Fu Yuan, and personally I felt it was well executed with the sweet mango zing and crust pastry.
I am not a big fan of bean skin roll dim sum, but since this was one of the few fried item and came highly recommended by the staff, we ordered the Deep-fried bean skin with prawn ($4.80).
Oh, the prawns were fresh. Yes they were. But, but the skin was too thick, and well they are not the best Steamed crystal prawn dumpling ($4.80) I had before.
There was the option of doing it steamed or pan-fried. But who could resist yummy-sinful fried food? Not us, we went for the pan-fried carrot cake with canopy ($3.90). Eat first, worry later! For some unknown reasons that continue to evade us, we are seeing restaurants not frying their carrot cake enough. Is it for the health conscious customers, or is it because it requires more oil? I wished they will just pan-fried it longer.
The first page of the menu comprises of the signature dim sum Hua ting serves, yet i was surprised not to find the Steamed siew mai with shrimp roe ($4.80) there. I felt that it was better than their har gau. And oh yes, there was also mushroom mixed within the siew mai.
There was nothing to fault for their Steamed BBQ pork bun ($3.90). I love my char siew bun, and when there was no char siew sou, I comforted myself by indulging in every moment of this.
Drum roll! Announcing the award for the best performer for the meal, I presented to you, Deep fried scallop pastry with onion and garlic ($4.50). My personal favourite out of the 12 dim sum that we tried that day. The pastry literally melted in my month when I took a bite. And I simple love the strong garlic taste within.
I will also like to mention the good service of the staffs at Hua Ting. While I was causally asking my friend what was inside the Steamed dumpling in Teow Chew style ($3.90), one waitress who was walking by overheard us and stopped to explain. While she couldn’t get all the ingredients in it, she went to the kitchen to ask and came back to tell us. So here it is, peanut, turnip, mushroom & celery.
You definitely will have tried char siew and prawn cheong fun before. Okay, how about scallop? Aye most restaurants have that too! All right, I give you Steamed cheong fun with sliced fish ($4.80). Now that’s something new isn’t it? It was a unique and bold creation, and while personally I still preferred char siew and prawn for my cheong fun, you need to give credits to the chef for trying something new.
Steamed soya bean skin rolls with chicken and mushroom in superior oyster sauce ($4.20). With such a long name, I was caught dumbfound and the staff had to kindly explained a few times what it was. It was actually the same as the deep fried bean skin we had earlier. But somehow I like this one more, the oozing out of the oyster sauce when I took a bite into the bean skin rolls. Oh my.
The others wanted lo mai gai, but there was none. We just have to make do with the Steamed glutinous rice with abalone ($5.20) and it was competent enough. There was the grimicky tiny abalone on top to up the prestige level, but I felt it would be better to give me Taiwanese sausages instead of that.
Not many restaurants use duck for their dim sum, it is always like what I mentioned, char siew, prawn & scallop. Therefore we chose the Pan fried shredded duck rolls ($4.20) out of curiosity.
I never like ordering Steamed pork ribs ($3.90) in dim sum restaurants. I felt they were overpriced, and under-portion. Honestly I will rather order another steamed char siew bun to give me more meat. I’m a carnivore!
Total bill was $120 after a 15% credit card discount for 6 person. We tried 14 out of the 20 dim sum available, and that’s quite a lot! I was confused between Orchard hotel with Orchard Parade hotel, so do check your maps before going down. In my personal opinion, the staffs at Hua Ting merit the good service tag, all of them were friendly and knowledgeable. Thank you!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
The soft patter of raindrops. Light jazz music amidst the soft incessant buzz of the place. Sipping tea with finger food at a leisurely pace while time flittered by. This was the life I had envisioned at Marmalade Pantry and the dream proliferates at TWG.
Cleverly perched on a "suspended" standalone area within Republic Plaza, you have to walk up a short flight of stairs from the first floor which will lead you to the sales area with its shelves of gourmet tea as well as the restaurant. TWG can only take about 30 people or so and oozes cosy warmth with its intimate dining area, huge glass windows with translucent curtains coupled with a glass ceiling.
Imperial Rose - I am honestly not a tea connoisseur but the Imperial Rose, which is a specialty brew of TWG, tasted very much like a Chinese tea, 铁观音.
Sandwiches - This came as part of my tea time "Celebration Set". 8 half slices of bread sandwiching prawns, crab meat, foie gras and smoked salmon respectively, it appealed to my visual senses with its presentation. However, even though the bread was nicely toasted, I didn't quite take to them. The crab meat and prawns sandwiches were passable but the smoked salmon was way too salty and the foie gras just didn't come across as appetising, both in smell and taste.
Salmon A La Russ - I can't say much about the smoked salmon except that it was salty and came topped roe. However, the brioche that was served alongside was interestingly good. It actually tasted like croissant - flaky and buttery.
Macarons - Another component of my tea time set, we chose praline, lemon and napolean tea macarons from the 6 or so varieties TWG carries. Personally I still prefer their vanilla macaron, something which they didn't have at that point in time.
Strawberry Tart - Insipid as it looked, the strawberry tart came highly recommended by the staff. And I was rather impressed. It was essentially vanilla bean creme brulee sans the caramelised layer with bits of strawberries sandwiched in between and served on a tart base. A stellar example of never judging a book by its cover. Best of all, it was part of my set as well.
Crumble - I didn't have much of the crumble so I shall reserve my comments. The ice cream sounded interesting though - Napolean Tea cheesecake ice cream, which was apparently very well received by the aspiring tai tai who sat across from me.
A 3.5 hr tea session cost us about $82, which probably isn't the cheapest place to chill out but for the delightful ambience and earnest service, its probably worth it to dig deep into your pockets just for a relaxing afternoon at this place with your partner or alone with a book. As the first signs of dusk seeped through the windows and I played observer to the throngs of working people frantically crossing the street to catch the next train home, I was reminded of my own reality - one that had no affinity with this almost surreal lifestyle.
Food blogs, your one-stop website for all the juicy information of the latest restaurant in town, the nice places to dine at and not to mention gawking at all the delicious-looking photographs to keep you hungry.
Most people will not know how the life of a food blogger (floggers) is like, well that is unless they have a friend who happens to be a fellow flogger. Behind all the glamorous life behind our seemingly never satisfied stomach, it is not that all smooth sailing, or rather eating at all.
Floggers are not-so-slim people! Myth or fact? Of course that’s a myth. Many of my flogger friends are classified under the acceptable weight section. There is totally no relation between a flogger and being slightly oversize. It really depends on individuals. Some of the lucky folks will never get fat no matter how much they gorge, while there are some who will put on weight easily.
One of the favorite aspects of being a flogger meant that people around me always ask for recommendations on where-to-go for food. I love to tell everyone the nice place to dine at, well that is what ladyironchef is about right?
We started off by sending our spies on the lookout for the target. Espionage is vital, browsing through our fellow flogger site, reading the newspapers, and of course, the word-of-mouth recommendations from friends and readers.
Arriving at the restaurant, we took out our bulky Dslr, which will attract some curious glance from the other diners. And not to forget the innocent question from the restaurant staff, our reason for taking photos. Taking pictures is akin to a scene of the Formula One car passing by in a millisecond, I have to snap the photos of all the food frantically. Otherwise i will incur the wrath of my dining companions who complain openly that the food is turning cold.
After some hasty moments, the rest take up their positions to start tucking in while I scanned through my precious to see the shots. Once in a while, I will shout Stop before they damage the food, for another re-take of the previous scene, much to their dismay.
While the others are happily enjoying their food, I’m pondering and noting down how the different dishes taste like. The real work only starts back at home. It is selection time as we scan through and pick the best photos that will make you hungry. Editing everything takes an hour, I rejoice when the photos turn out to be good, and curse when they are blur.
While thinking of what to write, I look at the photos and travel back in time to recall how the food tasted like. After much effort and time spent on writing the review, finally the post is ready to face the world.
The life of a food blogger is not as easy as it looks. Yes much as we get to go around the island trying out the different food and new restaurants, the amount of time, effort and commitment towards our blog is what you will never get to see. I will like to pay tribute to my fellow floggers, who have dedicated their time in our common cause to share the experience of food.
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The Spanish Omelette ($3) certainly wasn’t what we were expecting. Essentially there were more potatoes than eggs; I wouldn’t exactly classify it under omelette. A slightly sour zing came from the red pepper, which was soaked with vinegar. I called this, potato pie!
The mesclun salad that came with the sandwich was decent. But the Dijon mustard within the bread was overwhelming; it was akin to having a wasabi sandwich. The cheese was also not melted enough, a rather hefty price to pay for the Classic Ham & Cheese Panini ($17)
I always thought that tenderloin was associated with beef rather than pork. The Escabeche Pork Tenderloin ($16.50) was pretty impressive with distinct taste of the exotic Latin spices. Crispy skins and not overly charred potatoes were the hallmark of very good roasted potatoes. And did I mention sweet corn was a nice change from the seasonal vegetables.
Total bill was $42.95 for two person. Tiffin Club is the classic example of my kind of place. The charming and quaint environment of the café, the rustic and laid back shop house location. It is a place where I can sit down and chill all day. See you there!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
Attended a food gathering organised by a fellow food blogger at Dallas Restaurant and Bar, a relatively new restaurant cum bar along Boat Quay.
The first floor of the place is taken up by the bar while the second floor is the restaurant dining area, which can seat up to about 50 pax or so. Decor is minimalistic with little frills, but the rather smallish interior made for a cozier atmosphere. There is a third floor as well but I believe its reserved for private functions.
Salt & Pepper Calamari - The calamari was very decent when consumed piping hot but when left to cool, the oil in the thick batter solidified and saying it was gross would be an understatement.
Chicken & Cheese Quesadillas - I thought this dish resonated quite well with me, falling pretty much into the comfort food category. Gooey cheese with chicken bits and a nice chewy texture from the dough - what's not to like?
Shredded Pork Tacos - As appetising as they looked, I found the pork tacos wanting in flavour and texture. The pork's texture reminded me more of sardine then pork and it honestly didn't taste like pork. Still edible though.
Tempura Barramundi - The tempura batter was too thick and to make things worse, the fish wasn't fresh. Imagine chomping down on a piece of flour with a fishy aftertaste. A heavy dosage of lemon would definitely help.
Dallas Wings - The wings took the honours for being the worst dish of the day in my humble opinion. There was zero marination and the flour coating was tasteless as well. A dash of salt would have done wonders. There was also the problem of inconsistency in cooking. Some pieces of chicken were overcooked while others were okay.
Baby Back Pork Ribs Done in 3 Ways - Fiery, Alabama and Smoked Hickory BBQ - The fiery ribs were very sweet and garlicky with a mild spice twist at the end. Tender meat was definitely a plus. I thought that the smoked ribs were overwhelmed by the BBQ sauce and the meat wasn't as tender as I would have liked it to be. Strangely enough, the Alabama ribs were more spicy then the fiery ribs and came across as sweet and garlicky as well.
Beef Fajitas - The beef was purportedly 100-120 day grain fed beef and though the meat was noticeably tender, any hopes of a nice beefy taste was ruined by the excessive curry powder, which was a pity really. The guacamole and sour cream dips provided scant comfort.
Breaded Mushrooms - Dish after dish of deep fried stuff. When it got to the breaded mushrooms, I was all ready to regurgitate everything out. Fortunately, the mushrooms were still decent. A little juicy with hints of cheese within. Watch out for the thick batter though.
And in case you were wondering about my missing corn & crab fritters, it never came. Our table had to remind the waitress twice and the host once before the Alabama ribs arrived. So it was a unanimous decision not to bring up the case of the corn fritters to them, lest we had to wait for another 30mins.
Each of us coughed up about $27 for below average cholesterol laden pub grub, which is probably not the wisest thing to do. Service could have been much better and they seemed rather short handed. The place is nice and great for gatherings but something drastic has to be done about the quality of the food. Reasons like food quality dipping due to a huge turnout just doesn't cut any ice. Well at least the owner was nice enough to drop by to address our concerns about the food.
Fifteen days. As we ushered into the Chinese new year, this time, our cow friends. The date at Straits café, cong-er and feng-er indulged for the finest feast. It has been the longest time since cong-er remember the last time she had lo-hei, and the first time for feng-er to try Poon Choi. The rabbits, the goat, and the pig. Triple harmony.
The finest. All in one pot. The best to start a brand new year. A traditional Chinese new year delicacy, Poon Choi ($198 for 5 person), composed of many layers of premium seafood, meat and vegetables. Abalone, shark fin, scallop, sea cucumber, prawns, Chinese sausages, duck feet, roasted meat, mushroom, fa-cai. A total of 14 ingredients, & 6 hours of effort. A symbol of wealth and prosperity, the abalone and shark fins in the middle. The whole taste was simple divine! Sea cucumber, or Hoi sam, a secret for our ladies to stay eighteen every year. Although the roasted pork wasn’t crispy anymore, but the meat was brought to another level after immersing in the pot with the other ingredients. And not to mention the Chinese sausages, which had the normal red colour ones, and the darker coloured, liver sausages. The duck feet was there in place of goose feet; my first time trying it. Without being overly salty, the gravy absorbed the essence of all the top ingredients. Worth its weight in gold.
The Prosperity Yu Sheng, with the vibrant colours, that so reminded us of the joy and happiness during the festive season. Every year without fail, the auspicious Chinese salad will present itself. Tossing the vegetables, the aim is to attain a higher high, just like our life. Wishing Gong xi fa cai, Nian nian you yu, all the lucky greetings for our family and friends. With a choice of salmon or ikan parang, Straits cafe rendition comes in $38, $48 and $58 for its small (2-4 person), medium (5-7 person) and large (8-10 person) portions respectively. All buffet at Straits cafe with the exception for high tea, includes free flow of Fa Cai Yusheng.
After the new renovation of the restaurant during Oct 2008, Straits cafe reopened amidst much fanfare, with the contemporary design and transparent windows which allowed natural lighting to fill the restaurant, and for those interested, people-watching as well.
By order, one will usually start with the salad counter, with some appetising greens to clear the palates before moving on to the savouries. Not that I care anyway, the temptation to resist the desserts were too much for me. Those pretty, petite sweets, we started taking photos of them first, of course. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the pork belly for my stomach to begin on a light note.
Another great appetiser, the chicken salad was just as refreshing as any green salad. The slightly sweet and sour Thai sauce, enhanced the chicken, making it a welcoming starter.
The cold seafood station which has the likes of fresh oyster, cold crabs, squids, and prawns. You know Singaporeans being Singaporeans, the likelihood that they attacked the most expensive food in the buffet is palpable to all. And with fresh oysters, it definitely helps.
Special praises must be reserved for the chefs whom consistently cooks up each bowl of the infamous Straits café Nonya laksa. For that day, there’s also the bak ku teh available. There will changes everyday, with wanton mee, satay been hoon, lor mee rotating, alongside the mainstay laksa.
The infamous Straits cafe Nonya laksa. A bowl of this local favourite, was enough to justify the popularity and status of this dish to the restaurant. Nonya laksa comes slightly sour sweet, with rich and strongly spiced coconut gravy. However, the oiliness of the laksa meant that not everybody could accept it. One man’s meat is another man’s poison.
Jumping from the local dimension, we found ourselves in the Japanese era. The sushi platter was easily another favourite of diners there. Within minutes of a new plate brought out, the platter looks sad, not that the sushi wasn’t good, but because everything was finish.
The freshness of the Sashimis were maintained by keeping them inside a transparent closet, to minimise the contact with the air. Also to let people take as little as possible! Well, just her mischievous thought, I’m sure the chefs would be more than happy to let you have your fill of sashimis.
Lo-and-behold! The key player for Straits cafe’s dessert counter. Without a doubt, the Durian Pengat definitely was the one we were eagerly anticipating. Well maybe not we, since i’m not a durian lover. The D24 durian smell was so evident that we would have wager our fortune betting on it. I’ve two spoonful, since almost everybody says it’s so, so good, and the sight of people taking a few of the shooter glass at one go, it’s certainly in the bag.
Moving on from the durian pengat, we have the equally famous durian cake. But after tasting the strong D24 durian in the pengat, I found the taste for the durian cake relatively subtle and light. And it’s a good thing since i’ve no qualms finishing the cake. This might not be the case if i’ve start with the cake first before the pengat.
The macha mousse had one of the strongest macha taste, and it’s good for the macha lovers. Most places scrimped on the tea leaves to cut cost obviously, but the generous fulsome mousse definitely surprised us.
We heard good things about their cheesecakes, however the signature New York cheesecake was nowhere in sight.The blueberry cheesecake was there to save the day. Between the boundaries of the heavy cheesy purist favourites, and the light airy rendition, I’ll say it’s somewhere in the middle. And the best part, you can have as many slices as you want!
There are some who boomed and come of age later than others. The Mandarin orange cheesecake was our reward for being adventurous, not giving up without another walk to the desserts counter for the New York cheesecake. Instead of that, we found ourselves with this new cake, in celebration of our Chinese new year. But, the dessert disappointed us as the cheesecake was rather crumbly, not as firm as we thought it will be, and the mandarin oranges were too sweet, which we suspected that it had some help from the sugary syrup.
On first sight, the ice cream bar looks just to be an ordinary one, featuring the likes of your Walls, and Kings ice cream. But boy we were wrong. The black sesame and raspberry gelato were great, definitely not your cheap ice creams. And my favourite, the vanilla bean flavour!
I must say I’m impressed with the variety and spread of the buffet, given the pricing and the location of the restaurant, it’s good that Hotel Rendezvous recognised that they can’t position themselves against the high-end buffets with the likes of The Line, Melt the world cafe. But by bridging the distance between the expensive and the cheap buffets, Straits cafe provided a good alternative to those who wanted good food, without spending too much.
My thanks to Christina, the marketing communication manager of Rendezvous Hotel Singapore, who invited me for the food tasting session. And also my dining companions, who provided me with great knowledge of the food, good company and fun. A happy Chinese New Year to all of you!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
Our experience at Shutter was a pleasant one, with pleasant surprises and with privacy.
It was a Sunday evening and Shutters was the only restaurant with the ambience we wanted so off we went there having heard of the "unique" open kitchen and the excellent service some others have received. We walked into the restaurant about 4pm...albeit too early for dinner and even though the place was not quite yet ready for dinner, the waitress approached us and handed us the menu explaining to us some of the specialties they have there. We were specifically looking for beef and they had one there on the menu.
We returned about 8pm that evening and had the luxury of choosing a place to sit. It was a 50-60 pax restaurant but it was empty (except for the 5-6 staffs). Perhaps it was a Sunday and being in Sentosa, that might account for the "lack" of diners. But we were not complaining as we had the whole restaurant and 6 staff all to ourselves....that accounts for the privacy. We could literally hear our cultery and only ours. :)
We ordered the Beef Tenderloin with Foie Gras and the the only Grilled Chicken dish on the menu. The waiter explained that there was a set menu available for the weekend at S$45 . The 2 options available were the Grilled Chicken and the Cod fish. We opted for one set as I really wanted the Beef Tenderloin with Foie Gras.
The set comes with Soup, Mains, Dessert and Tea/Coffee.
First to be served was an assortment of bread served and tastefully presented. The bread was still warm and crispy and together with the olive butter, was a great start to the meal. Too bad there was only 3 pieces of it. But it was sufficient for starters.
While we were enjoying the bread, the soup was served. We were surprised when they served us 2 bowls of soup. We mentioned that we only ordered one set, so how comes they were serving us two? The waiter replied that he requested the chef to split the one bowl of soup into 2 bowls for us so that it would be easier for us to share it. How thoughtful of him, knowing that we could not order 2 sets as there was no Beef in the set and we really wanted the beef....! This was the pleasant surprise and set the right tone for the mains to arrive.
The mushroom soup was just awesome. It was thick, creamy and chunks of mushroom minutely sliced could be seen and tasted without much effort to see if they exist. Really rich in texture, flavour and yet not monotonous.
The Beef tenderloin with Foie Gras was delectable tender and seasoned proportionately well. Slicing the beef was effortless and savoring the taste of it was priceless. The Foie Gras literally melts in the mouth and was perfectly done.
Savoring the Grilled Chicken,we could tell that the marinating was not done haphazardly. There was an overall consistency in the taste, flavour and the ozzing out of the juices while cutting the chicken just added to this culinary experience.
The only setback was that the portion was too small. Wish there was more....but maybe that is asking for too much.
Next came the dessert, which was a Chempedak Pudding. This was also nicely executed, not too sweet, yet smelling and tasting of fresh chempedak. It was supposed to be a sweet dessert, yet, we never got tired of it.
Over the course of the 1.5 hours we spent in the restaurant, we had the luxury of 6 staffs serving us...taking about privacy and exclusiveness. The mood was right, the food was excellent and the service impeccable...what more could we ask for...a free meal? haha. No this meal set us back by $96 for 2 persons. Reasonable by any standards and recommended for any who appreciates a quiet and reflective dinner with all the above.
Yummy Green is a new outfit in Downtown East that dishes out your familiar Japanese set meals - vegetarian style. So do not expect to find any meat in the Katsu-don, tempura or the chicken katsu.
We ordered the Veggie Tempura Udon ($6.80) and the Veggie Chicken Curry Katsu Set ($8.80) which comes with a bowl of Miso Soup. Perhaps we were too accustomed to the Miso Soup at other Japanese restaurants. This Miso soup lacks the "kick". Perhaps it is a healthier version, taking into consideration that healthy food is not the same as tasty food.
The tempura was all pure vegetable, with broccoli, sweet potato, ladies finger, other assortment of vegetables and what looked like a huge "prawn". The soup was not too salty, but seemed abit bland or maybe its just me not used to healthy food.
The chicken curry gravy tasted similar to what we were accustomed to and we were quite happy with that. The only problem was that the pieces of "chicken" was way too few. Considering that the dish costs $8.80, we thought a few more pieces of chicken would have made it more complete.
Ambience wise was basically average, perhaps a place for a quick eat and go kind of setting. Could do with a different choice of music as it totally did not seem to be appropriate for the kinda food being served. Made us feel like we were in an amusement park. :)
Overall a place to consider as they have quite a large variety of menu choices (sometimes you can make a wrong menu item choice just like how some make a wrong song choice) and especially if we have friends who are pure vegetarians and who would like to try something different.
They have a 10% discount promotion till end April 2009.
I've always been a fan of Chef Edward Voon, ever since his days at Dolce Vita. Hence it was no surprise that I jumped at the chance to dine at Atlantic Dining Room, where he joined barely 3 months ago from the now defunct Aurum as Executive Chef. Chances like this are few and far, especially when the place where Atlantic Dining Room is located, Tower Club, is exclusively for members and their guests only. And to up the exclusivity factor, membership is by invitation only.
Perched right at the top of Republic Plaza on the 62nd - 64th story penthouse, Atlantic Dining Room boasts high ceilings coupled with a posh and luxe interior with elaborate finishing and plush chairs. One thing to take note of here, all cellular phones must be put to silent mode and there is a very strict smart casual dress code.
Complimentary Bread & Olive Oil Butter - There were 2 varieties of bread, french loaf with olives and focaccia. I didn't think too much of the french loaf but the focaccia was great. Soft with pockets of herbs and sundried tomatoes permeating through, resulting in a tasty and comforting slice of bread. And the best part was, it wasn't oily. The olive oil butter deserves a writeup all by itself, solely based on its uniqueness. The butter looked exactly like normal butter and sported a similar texture. However, it was made from olive oil, so imagine a butter with an olive oil taste. Very interesting! The butter was also a prelude to the other fascinating items to come in the menu.
Crab Salad with Wasabi Mayonnaise & Nitro - The interesting part about this dish was the black wrap covering the salad, which was a little gelatin like but bears no resemblance to anything that I know. The salad itself had lots of onions which gave it a nice crunch while the crab came across as light and savoury with the wasabi significantly mild.
Mock Caviar - This dish injected a little humour into our dinner. The cover wrote "Best Mock Caviar from Singapore. Produced and packed by Edward Voon." What was actually in the metal container was a jelly like substance that looked like salmon roe with a passion fruit and strawberry centre. There was a tinge of alcohol in the background as well.
Ocean Trout Confit with Liquefied Green Pea, Fruit Sorbet & Olive Oil powder - The trout looked really raw on the outside but slicing through it proved a piece of cake. The meat was smooth, firm and fresh without coming across as raw. A dollop of orange bits were placed on top to counter and fishiness that the trout might have. The fruit sorbet was sweet and had bits of unidentified crispy stuff below while the olive oil powder amazed me with its texture. A really interesting play of flavours!
Scallop in Laksa Sauce with Crispy Squid Ink - This has got to be one of the best scallops I've eaten in the past year or so. Well seared with a nice smooth texture sans the fishiness. The laksa sauce was frothy, almost like foam and the spiciness kicked only kicked in a few seconds after consumption.
Tempura Prawn & Mushrooms in Shitake Sauce - The highlight of this dish was probably the olive oil, which was injected from a syringe into the Shitake sauce. Lo and behold, it turned into a strand of noodle that was similar to ramen with an olive oil taste to boot! The prawn was huge and sweet but I thought that the batter could have been a little thinner.
Sardine with Risotto & Polenta - What was intriguing about this was the polenta (boiled maize), which came in thin silvery sheets atop the sardine, which incidentally, was a little too soft for my liking. I did like the risotto though - al dente and not too creamy with carrots providing an additional crunch.
Foie Gras with Kurobuta Pork Cheek & Apple Foam - The foie gras was pan seared till crisp on the outside. It certainly wasn't quivery nor near the best I've tried but I must say that it went very well with the apple foam. The pork cheeks were melt in the mouth tender and definitely a nice addition to this already sinfully rich dish.
BBQ Japanese Fish with Smoked Water - Another amazing dish, the fish (not too sure what fish is it) had a firm texture to go along with the nice BBQ taste. Topped with little silvery pearls that were in fact smoked water, I was rendered speechless. You might question how do you smoke water? In all honesty, I have no absolutely no clue. According to Chef Edward, the water is smoked and then solidified to form the pearls. Interestingly, the pearls had a slightly chewy texture with a strong smokey aftertaste.
Garoupa - I only tried a little of this dish but the fish did seem very well seasoned and flavourful. A pity the pasta didn't seem home made and came across as overly salty.
Wagyu Beef - No surprises here, just good old fashioned tender wagyu beef that was well marinated and done up medium rare. I did find it a little too salty though.
Passion Fruit Sorbet with Coconut Cream & Crushed Mint Ice - I'm not a fan of sour stuff so this dessert didn't do it for me. But the coconut cream was nice and light.
Chocolate & Chocolate - Catchy names aside, this dessert was yet another amazing dish. The first chocolate referred to the white chocolate cake while the second chocolate referred to the coarsely grounded bits of chocolate that reminded me of soil. Here's the marvelous part. The white chocolate cake had a moist center with a hint of egg and almond and ever so heart warming. To infuse some excitement, the grounded chocolate was done up to crackle incessantly when placed into your mouth, very much like the fizz pop candy for kids of yesteryear. Very nostalgic!
I've lost count of the number of times I've used the word amazing in this single blog post alone. The dishes are truly progressive and I'm pretty sure my photos and descriptions do it scant justice. The dollars and cents portion ($400 for 2 pax) is a little on the steep side but I feel that its money well thought and well spent. And I'll certainly be back, especially with one of my favourite chefs at the helm.
In my dreams, there is this beautiful place, with blue skies and clear sea. I dreamt of having my favourite brunch here with the one I like. We eat to our hearts content, and relax there while the hourglass freeze, just for us.
In my dreams, we have a cup of cappuccino. The aroma of the bean and the wonderful scenery of the place somehow makes the ordinary coffee taste better. And oh yes, there’s a cute cookie to go along with too.
In my dreams, I can never forget the taste of my beloved Eggs Royale ($14). The ever-favourite poached eggs, I just wish we can be together everyday. There is nothing more satisfying in life to have you by my side. O’ my dear, just the thought of you makes me sleep better.
In my dreams, I always envisage places where we will never run out of desserts. I have a sweet tooth you see. I dreamt of meeting the royal Sir-Deli’s, but it was a pleasant surprise with Privé Carrot cake ($6.80)
In my dreams, everything and anything can happen. There are bad dreams, and of course sweet ones like you. I’m glad I can still occasionally dream of you, that is enough. Enter my dreams, and give me a kiss.
***
Privé bakery café is a wonderful place to visit if you haven been there after i posted my previous entry. Well, I couldn’t afford the restaurant main course yet, that’s why you will probably see more of my post on their brunch and desserts, which are affordable and good. See you there!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
1=SGD 0.0587
Had been itching to try out this new cafe - Spruce, after seeing quite a few reviews of it online as well as in various publications. Apparently their chef was from Wine Garage, which made really good burgers. Reservations were a pain though as the place was almost always full, till I got lucky one evening and managed to squeeze in a reservation for an outdoor table.
Outdoor seating probably isn't the best idea especially when Spruce is located just up a tiny hill next to lush greenery along Tanglin Road. But hey, if bugs are your best pals, then by means go ahead. Read. The bugs are suicidal. They do kamikaze stunts like crashing into your drinks, table and food. After a couple of minutes, we surrendered and requested for a seat indoors, which was promptly given to us (Whatever happened to the reservations?).
Roasted Mycofarm Mushrooms with Herbs - We initially wondered if mycofarm was some special type of mushrooms but after googling, it turned out to be the name of a farm in Singapore. On hindsight we probably shouldn't have ordered this side dish. The mushrooms tasted very normal but were literally drenched in oil. And it was definitely not olive oil.
Creamy Macaroni and Cheese - Now this side dish fared much better. Simple comfort food for the masses. Small macaroni shells evenly coated with a nice smooth creamy and cheesey layer. Not too overwhelming. The bits of burnt mozzarella cheese on top provided a nice crisp texture.
Seared Tuna with Steamed Bok Choy, Carrot and Ginger Broth - Make no mistake. This was a main. 5 slices of tuna tataki with a clump of bok choy going for $22. The tuna was disappointing to the say the least. Not pan seared till lightly charred on the outside while uncomfortably limp on the inside. Being less then generous on the salt didn't exactly help matters as well.
The Spruce Burger with Hand Cut Chips - The burger was good though a tad small. The beef patty crumbled with ease when I poked my fork into it, leading to us coin it "burger crumble". Corny I know. The patty was probably one of the best I've had in a long while. A little moist without the beefy taste overwhelming. Simple and unadulterated. I thought the buns could do with a little more toasting though. There is an option of topping up $2 for a slice of bacon to go along with the patty.
Cranberry, Blueberry and Coconut Tart Ala Mode - I thought this tart sounded really interesting and healthy with all the berries so I had a go at it. Well I wouldn't say it was fantastic but at least it was decent. I could make out the taste of blueberries and cranberries and strands of coconut in between. Lightly sweet. Unfortunately, the accompanying scoop of ice cream melted really fast and was your run off the mill vanilla ice cream.
Yogurt and Buttermilk Panna Cotta with Seasonal Fruit - This dessert was actually more yogurt then panna cotta, smooth and semi liquid. The layer of blueberry was sweet and complemented the yogurt quite well. It was topped with this brownish looking muesli bars that stuck to my teeth when I chewed on it. Nice but majorly irritating.
Generally speaking, prices aren't really over the top but food quality could be improved quite a bit in general. Service in general was good but there was this young waiter that stood out with his earnest attitude and attentiveness. Pity I didn't catch his name. Spruce is worth a try, just for the burger, but probably not worth a return. By the way, parking is free.
See all my pictures here.
Rating given:
We are all old friends, yet we never met before. We visit each other on the web, that is how we “meet” everybody. Food brings us together, finally we can put a face to each other instead of just a nickname. From online, to offline, our food blogger outing.
While waiting for everybody to arrive, we ordered some fried dim sum for the photo shoot first. Hua Ting have more steamed items than fried ones, and the baked chicken & mango tart ($3.90) headed the list. This reminded me of the one that I had at Man Fu Yuan, and personally I felt it was well executed with the sweet mango zing and crust pastry.
I am not a big fan of bean skin roll dim sum, but since this was one of the few fried item and came highly recommended by the staff, we ordered the Deep-fried bean skin with prawn ($4.80).
Oh, the prawns were fresh. Yes they were. But, but the skin was too thick, and well they are not the best Steamed crystal prawn dumpling ($4.80) I had before.
There was the option of doing it steamed or pan-fried. But who could resist yummy-sinful fried food? Not us, we went for the pan-fried carrot cake with canopy ($3.90). Eat first, worry later! For some unknown reasons that continue to evade us, we are seeing restaurants not frying their carrot cake enough. Is it for the health conscious customers, or is it because it requires more oil? I wished they will just pan-fried it longer.
The first page of the menu comprises of the signature dim sum Hua ting serves, yet i was surprised not to find the Steamed siew mai with shrimp roe ($4.80) there. I felt that it was better than their har gau. And oh yes, there was also mushroom mixed within the siew mai.
There was nothing to fault for their Steamed BBQ pork bun ($3.90). I love my char siew bun, and when there was no char siew sou, I comforted myself by indulging in every moment of this.
Drum roll! Announcing the award for the best performer for the meal, I presented to you, Deep fried scallop pastry with onion and garlic ($4.50). My personal favourite out of the 12 dim sum that we tried that day. The pastry literally melted in my month when I took a bite. And I simple love the strong garlic taste within.
I will also like to mention the good service of the staffs at Hua Ting. While I was causally asking my friend what was inside the Steamed dumpling in Teow Chew style ($3.90), one waitress who was walking by overheard us and stopped to explain. While she couldn’t get all the ingredients in it, she went to the kitchen to ask and came back to tell us. So here it is, peanut, turnip, mushroom & celery.
You definitely will have tried char siew and prawn cheong fun before. Okay, how about scallop? Aye most restaurants have that too! All right, I give you Steamed cheong fun with sliced fish ($4.80). Now that’s something new isn’t it? It was a unique and bold creation, and while personally I still preferred char siew and prawn for my cheong fun, you need to give credits to the chef for trying something new.
Steamed soya bean skin rolls with chicken and mushroom in superior oyster sauce ($4.20). With such a long name, I was caught dumbfound and the staff had to kindly explained a few times what it was. It was actually the same as the deep fried bean skin we had earlier. But somehow I like this one more, the oozing out of the oyster sauce when I took a bite into the bean skin rolls. Oh my.
The others wanted lo mai gai, but there was none. We just have to make do with the Steamed glutinous rice with abalone ($5.20) and it was competent enough. There was the grimicky tiny abalone on top to up the prestige level, but I felt it would be better to give me Taiwanese sausages instead of that.
Not many restaurants use duck for their dim sum, it is always like what I mentioned, char siew, prawn & scallop. Therefore we chose the Pan fried shredded duck rolls ($4.20) out of curiosity.
I never like ordering Steamed pork ribs ($3.90) in dim sum restaurants. I felt they were overpriced, and under-portion. Honestly I will rather order another steamed char siew bun to give me more meat. I’m a carnivore!
Total bill was $120 after a 15% credit card discount for 6 person. We tried 14 out of the 20 dim sum available, and that’s quite a lot! I was confused between Orchard hotel with Orchard Parade hotel, so do check your maps before going down. In my personal opinion, the staffs at Hua Ting merit the good service tag, all of them were friendly and knowledgeable. Thank you!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
Rating given:
The soft patter of raindrops. Light jazz music amidst the soft incessant buzz of the place. Sipping tea with finger food at a leisurely pace while time flittered by. This was the life I had envisioned at Marmalade Pantry and the dream proliferates at TWG.
Cleverly perched on a "suspended" standalone area within Republic Plaza, you have to walk up a short flight of stairs from the first floor which will lead you to the sales area with its shelves of gourmet tea as well as the restaurant. TWG can only take about 30 people or so and oozes cosy warmth with its intimate dining area, huge glass windows with translucent curtains coupled with a glass ceiling.
Imperial Rose - I am honestly not a tea connoisseur but the Imperial Rose, which is a specialty brew of TWG, tasted very much like a Chinese tea, 铁观音.
Sandwiches - This came as part of my tea time "Celebration Set". 8 half slices of bread sandwiching prawns, crab meat, foie gras and smoked salmon respectively, it appealed to my visual senses with its presentation. However, even though the bread was nicely toasted, I didn't quite take to them. The crab meat and prawns sandwiches were passable but the smoked salmon was way too salty and the foie gras just didn't come across as appetising, both in smell and taste.
Salmon A La Russ - I can't say much about the smoked salmon except that it was salty and came topped roe. However, the brioche that was served alongside was interestingly good. It actually tasted like croissant - flaky and buttery.
Macarons - Another component of my tea time set, we chose praline, lemon and napolean tea macarons from the 6 or so varieties TWG carries. Personally I still prefer their vanilla macaron, something which they didn't have at that point in time.
Strawberry Tart - Insipid as it looked, the strawberry tart came highly recommended by the staff. And I was rather impressed. It was essentially vanilla bean creme brulee sans the caramelised layer with bits of strawberries sandwiched in between and served on a tart base. A stellar example of never judging a book by its cover. Best of all, it was part of my set as well.
Crumble - I didn't have much of the crumble so I shall reserve my comments. The ice cream sounded interesting though - Napolean Tea cheesecake ice cream, which was apparently very well received by the aspiring tai tai who sat across from me.
A 3.5 hr tea session cost us about $82, which probably isn't the cheapest place to chill out but for the delightful ambience and earnest service, its probably worth it to dig deep into your pockets just for a relaxing afternoon at this place with your partner or alone with a book.
As the first signs of dusk seeped through the windows and I played observer to the throngs of working people frantically crossing the street to catch the next train home, I was reminded of my own reality - one that had no affinity with this almost surreal lifestyle.
See all my pictures here.
Rating given:
Food blogs, your one-stop website for all the juicy information of the latest restaurant in town, the nice places to dine at and not to mention gawking at all the delicious-looking photographs to keep you hungry.
Most people will not know how the life of a food blogger (floggers) is like, well that is unless they have a friend who happens to be a fellow flogger. Behind all the glamorous life behind our seemingly never satisfied stomach, it is not that all smooth sailing, or rather eating at all.
Floggers are not-so-slim people! Myth or fact? Of course that’s a myth. Many of my flogger friends are classified under the acceptable weight section. There is totally no relation between a flogger and being slightly oversize. It really depends on individuals. Some of the lucky folks will never get fat no matter how much they gorge, while there are some who will put on weight easily.
One of the favorite aspects of being a flogger meant that people around me always ask for recommendations on where-to-go for food. I love to tell everyone the nice place to dine at, well that is what ladyironchef is about right?
We started off by sending our spies on the lookout for the target. Espionage is vital, browsing through our fellow flogger site, reading the newspapers, and of course, the word-of-mouth recommendations from friends and readers.
Arriving at the restaurant, we took out our bulky Dslr, which will attract some curious glance from the other diners. And not to forget the innocent question from the restaurant staff, our reason for taking photos. Taking pictures is akin to a scene of the Formula One car passing by in a millisecond, I have to snap the photos of all the food frantically. Otherwise i will incur the wrath of my dining companions who complain openly that the food is turning cold.
After some hasty moments, the rest take up their positions to start tucking in while I scanned through my precious to see the shots. Once in a while, I will shout Stop before they damage the food, for another re-take of the previous scene, much to their dismay.
While the others are happily enjoying their food, I’m pondering and noting down how the different dishes taste like. The real work only starts back at home. It is selection time as we scan through and pick the best photos that will make you hungry. Editing everything takes an hour, I rejoice when the photos turn out to be good, and curse when they are blur.
While thinking of what to write, I look at the photos and travel back in time to recall how the food tasted like. After much effort and time spent on writing the review, finally the post is ready to face the world.
The life of a food blogger is not as easy as it looks. Yes much as we get to go around the island trying out the different food and new restaurants, the amount of time, effort and commitment towards our blog is what you will never get to see. I will like to pay tribute to my fellow floggers, who have dedicated their time in our common cause to share the experience of food.
***
The Spanish Omelette ($3) certainly wasn’t what we were expecting. Essentially there were more potatoes than eggs; I wouldn’t exactly classify it under omelette. A slightly sour zing came from the red pepper, which was soaked with vinegar. I called this, potato pie!
The mesclun salad that came with the sandwich was decent. But the Dijon mustard within the bread was overwhelming; it was akin to having a wasabi sandwich. The cheese was also not melted enough, a rather hefty price to pay for the Classic Ham & Cheese Panini ($17)
I always thought that tenderloin was associated with beef rather than pork. The Escabeche Pork Tenderloin ($16.50) was pretty impressive with distinct taste of the exotic Latin spices. Crispy skins and not overly charred potatoes were the hallmark of very good roasted potatoes. And did I mention sweet corn was a nice change from the seasonal vegetables.
Total bill was $42.95 for two person. Tiffin Club is the classic example of my kind of place. The charming and quaint environment of the café, the rustic and laid back shop house location. It is a place where I can sit down and chill all day. See you there!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
Rating given:
Attended a food gathering organised by a fellow food blogger at Dallas Restaurant and Bar, a relatively new restaurant cum bar along Boat Quay.
The first floor of the place is taken up by the bar while the second floor is the restaurant dining area, which can seat up to about 50 pax or so. Decor is minimalistic with little frills, but the rather smallish interior made for a cozier atmosphere. There is a third floor as well but I believe its reserved for private functions.
Salt & Pepper Calamari - The calamari was very decent when consumed piping hot but when left to cool, the oil in the thick batter solidified and saying it was gross would be an understatement.
Chicken & Cheese Quesadillas - I thought this dish resonated quite well with me, falling pretty much into the comfort food category. Gooey cheese with chicken bits and a nice chewy texture from the dough - what's not to like?
Shredded Pork Tacos - As appetising as they looked, I found the pork tacos wanting in flavour and texture. The pork's texture reminded me more of sardine then pork and it honestly didn't taste like pork. Still edible though.
Tempura Barramundi - The tempura batter was too thick and to make things worse, the fish wasn't fresh. Imagine chomping down on a piece of flour with a fishy aftertaste. A heavy dosage of lemon would definitely help.
Dallas Wings - The wings took the honours for being the worst dish of the day in my humble opinion. There was zero marination and the flour coating was tasteless as well. A dash of salt would have done wonders. There was also the problem of inconsistency in cooking. Some pieces of chicken were overcooked while others were okay.
Baby Back Pork Ribs Done in 3 Ways - Fiery, Alabama and Smoked Hickory BBQ - The fiery ribs were very sweet and garlicky with a mild spice twist at the end. Tender meat was definitely a plus.
I thought that the smoked ribs were overwhelmed by the BBQ sauce and the meat wasn't as tender as I would have liked it to be.
Strangely enough, the Alabama ribs were more spicy then the fiery ribs and came across as sweet and garlicky as well.
Beef Fajitas - The beef was purportedly 100-120 day grain fed beef and though the meat was noticeably tender, any hopes of a nice beefy taste was ruined by the excessive curry powder, which was a pity really. The guacamole and sour cream dips provided scant comfort.
Breaded Mushrooms - Dish after dish of deep fried stuff. When it got to the breaded mushrooms, I was all ready to regurgitate everything out. Fortunately, the mushrooms were still decent. A little juicy with hints of cheese within. Watch out for the thick batter though.
And in case you were wondering about my missing corn & crab fritters, it never came. Our table had to remind the waitress twice and the host once before the Alabama ribs arrived. So it was a unanimous decision not to bring up the case of the corn fritters to them, lest we had to wait for another 30mins.
Each of us coughed up about $27 for below average cholesterol laden pub grub, which is probably not the wisest thing to do. Service could have been much better and they seemed rather short handed. The place is nice and great for gatherings but something drastic has to be done about the quality of the food. Reasons like food quality dipping due to a huge turnout just doesn't cut any ice. Well at least the owner was nice enough to drop by to address our concerns about the food.
See all my pictures here.
Rating given:
Fifteen days. As we ushered into the Chinese new year, this time, our cow friends. The date at Straits café, cong-er and feng-er indulged for the finest feast. It has been the longest time since cong-er remember the last time she had lo-hei, and the first time for feng-er to try Poon Choi. The rabbits, the goat, and the pig. Triple harmony.
The finest. All in one pot. The best to start a brand new year. A traditional Chinese new year delicacy, Poon Choi ($198 for 5 person), composed of many layers of premium seafood, meat and vegetables. Abalone, shark fin, scallop, sea cucumber, prawns, Chinese sausages, duck feet, roasted meat, mushroom, fa-cai. A total of 14 ingredients, & 6 hours of effort. A symbol of wealth and prosperity, the abalone and shark fins in the middle. The whole taste was simple divine! Sea cucumber, or Hoi sam, a secret for our ladies to stay eighteen every year. Although the roasted pork wasn’t crispy anymore, but the meat was brought to another level after immersing in the pot with the other ingredients. And not to mention the Chinese sausages, which had the normal red colour ones, and the darker coloured, liver sausages. The duck feet was there in place of goose feet; my first time trying it. Without being overly salty, the gravy absorbed the essence of all the top ingredients. Worth its weight in gold.
The Prosperity Yu Sheng, with the vibrant colours, that so reminded us of the joy and happiness during the festive season. Every year without fail, the auspicious Chinese salad will present itself. Tossing the vegetables, the aim is to attain a higher high, just like our life. Wishing Gong xi fa cai, Nian nian you yu, all the lucky greetings for our family and friends. With a choice of salmon or ikan parang, Straits cafe rendition comes in $38, $48 and $58 for its small (2-4 person), medium (5-7 person) and large (8-10 person) portions respectively. All buffet at Straits cafe with the exception for high tea, includes free flow of Fa Cai Yusheng.
After the new renovation of the restaurant during Oct 2008, Straits cafe reopened amidst much fanfare, with the contemporary design and transparent windows which allowed natural lighting to fill the restaurant, and for those interested, people-watching as well.
By order, one will usually start with the salad counter, with some appetising greens to clear the palates before moving on to the savouries. Not that I care anyway, the temptation to resist the desserts were too much for me. Those pretty, petite sweets, we started taking photos of them first, of course. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the pork belly for my stomach to begin on a light note.
Another great appetiser, the chicken salad was just as refreshing as any green salad. The slightly sweet and sour Thai sauce, enhanced the chicken, making it a welcoming starter.
The cold seafood station which has the likes of fresh oyster, cold crabs, squids, and prawns. You know Singaporeans being Singaporeans, the likelihood that they attacked the most expensive food in the buffet is palpable to all. And with fresh oysters, it definitely helps.
Special praises must be reserved for the chefs whom consistently cooks up each bowl of the infamous Straits café Nonya laksa. For that day, there’s also the bak ku teh available. There will changes everyday, with wanton mee, satay been hoon, lor mee rotating, alongside the mainstay laksa.
The infamous Straits cafe Nonya laksa. A bowl of this local favourite, was enough to justify the popularity and status of this dish to the restaurant. Nonya laksa comes slightly sour sweet, with rich and strongly spiced coconut gravy. However, the oiliness of the laksa meant that not everybody could accept it. One man’s meat is another man’s poison.
Jumping from the local dimension, we found ourselves in the Japanese era. The sushi platter was easily another favourite of diners there. Within minutes of a new plate brought out, the platter looks sad, not that the sushi wasn’t good, but because everything was finish.
The freshness of the Sashimis were maintained by keeping them inside a transparent closet, to minimise the contact with the air. Also to let people take as little as possible! Well, just her mischievous thought, I’m sure the chefs would be more than happy to let you have your fill of sashimis.
Lo-and-behold! The key player for Straits cafe’s dessert counter. Without a doubt, the Durian Pengat definitely was the one we were eagerly anticipating. Well maybe not we, since i’m not a durian lover. The D24 durian smell was so evident that we would have wager our fortune betting on it. I’ve two spoonful, since almost everybody says it’s so, so good, and the sight of people taking a few of the shooter glass at one go, it’s certainly in the bag.
Moving on from the durian pengat, we have the equally famous durian cake. But after tasting the strong D24 durian in the pengat, I found the taste for the durian cake relatively subtle and light. And it’s a good thing since i’ve no qualms finishing the cake. This might not be the case if i’ve start with the cake first before the pengat.
The macha mousse had one of the strongest macha taste, and it’s good for the macha lovers. Most places scrimped on the tea leaves to cut cost obviously, but the generous fulsome mousse definitely surprised us.
We heard good things about their cheesecakes, however the signature New York cheesecake was nowhere in sight.The blueberry cheesecake was there to save the day. Between the boundaries of the heavy cheesy purist favourites, and the light airy rendition, I’ll say it’s somewhere in the middle. And the best part, you can have as many slices as you want!
There are some who boomed and come of age later than others. The Mandarin orange cheesecake was our reward for being adventurous, not giving up without another walk to the desserts counter for the New York cheesecake. Instead of that, we found ourselves with this new cake, in celebration of our Chinese new year. But, the dessert disappointed us as the cheesecake was rather crumbly, not as firm as we thought it will be, and the mandarin oranges were too sweet, which we suspected that it had some help from the sugary syrup.
On first sight, the ice cream bar looks just to be an ordinary one, featuring the likes of your Walls, and Kings ice cream. But boy we were wrong. The black sesame and raspberry gelato were great, definitely not your cheap ice creams. And my favourite, the vanilla bean flavour!
I must say I’m impressed with the variety and spread of the buffet, given the pricing and the location of the restaurant, it’s good that Hotel Rendezvous recognised that they can’t position themselves against the high-end buffets with the likes of The Line, Melt the world cafe. But by bridging the distance between the expensive and the cheap buffets, Straits cafe provided a good alternative to those who wanted good food, without spending too much.
My thanks to Christina, the marketing communication manager of Rendezvous Hotel Singapore, who invited me for the food tasting session. And also my dining companions, who provided me with great knowledge of the food, good company and fun. A happy Chinese New Year to all of you!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
Rating given:
Our experience at Shutter was a pleasant one, with pleasant surprises and with privacy.
It was a Sunday evening and Shutters was the only restaurant with the ambience we wanted so off we went there having heard of the "unique" open kitchen and the excellent service some others have received. We walked into the restaurant about 4pm...albeit too early for dinner and even though the place was not quite yet ready for dinner, the waitress approached us and handed us the menu explaining to us some of the specialties they have there. We were specifically looking for beef and they had one there on the menu.
We returned about 8pm that evening and had the luxury of choosing a place to sit. It was a 50-60 pax restaurant but it was empty (except for the 5-6 staffs). Perhaps it was a Sunday and being in Sentosa, that might account for the "lack" of diners. But we were not complaining as we had the whole restaurant and 6 staff all to ourselves....that accounts for the privacy. We could literally hear our cultery and only ours. :)
We ordered the Beef Tenderloin with Foie Gras and the the only Grilled Chicken dish on the menu. The waiter explained that there was a set menu available for the weekend at S$45 . The 2 options available were the Grilled Chicken and the Cod fish. We opted for one set as I really wanted the Beef Tenderloin with Foie Gras.
The set comes with Soup, Mains, Dessert and Tea/Coffee.
First to be served was an assortment of bread served and tastefully presented. The bread was still warm and crispy and together with the olive butter, was a great start to the meal. Too bad there was only 3 pieces of it. But it was sufficient for starters.
While we were enjoying the bread, the soup was served. We were surprised when they served us 2 bowls of soup. We mentioned that we only ordered one set, so how comes they were serving us two? The waiter replied that he requested the chef to split the one bowl of soup into 2 bowls for us so that it would be easier for us to share it. How thoughtful of him, knowing that we could not order 2 sets as there was no Beef in the set and we really wanted the beef....! This was the pleasant surprise and set the right tone for the mains to arrive.
The mushroom soup was just awesome. It was thick, creamy and chunks of mushroom minutely sliced could be seen and tasted without much effort to see if they exist. Really rich in texture, flavour and yet not monotonous.
The Beef tenderloin with Foie Gras was delectable tender and seasoned proportionately well. Slicing the beef was effortless and savoring the taste of it was priceless. The Foie Gras literally melts in the mouth and was perfectly done.
Savoring the Grilled Chicken,we could tell that the marinating was not done haphazardly. There was an overall consistency in the taste, flavour and the ozzing out of the juices while cutting the chicken just added to this culinary experience.
The only setback was that the portion was too small. Wish there was more....but maybe that is asking for too much.
Next came the dessert, which was a Chempedak Pudding. This was also nicely executed, not too sweet, yet smelling and tasting of fresh chempedak. It was supposed to be a sweet dessert, yet, we never got tired of it.
Over the course of the 1.5 hours we spent in the restaurant, we had the luxury of 6 staffs serving us...taking about privacy and exclusiveness. The mood was right, the food was excellent and the service impeccable...what more could we ask for...a free meal? haha. No this meal set us back by $96 for 2 persons. Reasonable by any standards and recommended for any who appreciates a quiet and reflective dinner with all the above.
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Yummy Green is a new outfit in Downtown East that dishes out your familiar Japanese set meals - vegetarian style. So do not expect to find any meat in the Katsu-don, tempura or the chicken katsu.
We ordered the Veggie Tempura Udon ($6.80) and the Veggie Chicken Curry Katsu Set ($8.80) which comes with a bowl of Miso Soup. Perhaps we were too accustomed to the Miso Soup at other Japanese restaurants. This Miso soup lacks the "kick". Perhaps it is a healthier version, taking into consideration that healthy food is not the same as tasty food.
The tempura was all pure vegetable, with broccoli, sweet potato, ladies finger, other assortment of vegetables and what looked like a huge "prawn". The soup was not too salty, but seemed abit bland or maybe its just me not used to healthy food.
The chicken curry gravy tasted similar to what we were accustomed to and we were quite happy with that. The only problem was that the pieces of "chicken" was way too few. Considering that the dish costs $8.80, we thought a few more pieces of chicken would have made it more complete.
Ambience wise was basically average, perhaps a place for a quick eat and go kind of setting. Could do with a different choice of music as it totally did not seem to be appropriate for the kinda food being served. Made us feel like we were in an amusement park. :)
Overall a place to consider as they have quite a large variety of menu choices (sometimes you can make a wrong menu item choice just like how some make a wrong song choice) and especially if we have friends who are pure vegetarians and who would like to try something different.
They have a 10% discount promotion till end April 2009.
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I've always been a fan of Chef Edward Voon, ever since his days at Dolce Vita. Hence it was no surprise that I jumped at the chance to dine at Atlantic Dining Room, where he joined barely 3 months ago from the now defunct Aurum as Executive Chef. Chances like this are few and far, especially when the place where Atlantic Dining Room is located, Tower Club, is exclusively for members and their guests only. And to up the exclusivity factor, membership is by invitation only.
Perched right at the top of Republic Plaza on the 62nd - 64th story penthouse, Atlantic Dining Room boasts high ceilings coupled with a posh and luxe interior with elaborate finishing and plush chairs. One thing to take note of here, all cellular phones must be put to silent mode and there is a very strict smart casual dress code.
Complimentary Bread & Olive Oil Butter - There were 2 varieties of bread, french loaf with olives and focaccia. I didn't think too much of the french loaf but the focaccia was great. Soft with pockets of herbs and sundried tomatoes permeating through, resulting in a tasty and comforting slice of bread. And the best part was, it wasn't oily.
The olive oil butter deserves a writeup all by itself, solely based on its uniqueness. The butter looked exactly like normal butter and sported a similar texture. However, it was made from olive oil, so imagine a butter with an olive oil taste. Very interesting! The butter was also a prelude to the other fascinating items to come in the menu.
Crab Salad with Wasabi Mayonnaise & Nitro - The interesting part about this dish was the black wrap covering the salad, which was a little gelatin like but bears no resemblance to anything that I know. The salad itself had lots of onions which gave it a nice crunch while the crab came across as light and savoury with the wasabi significantly mild.
Mock Caviar - This dish injected a little humour into our dinner. The cover wrote "Best Mock Caviar from Singapore. Produced and packed by Edward Voon." What was actually in the metal container was a jelly like substance that looked like salmon roe with a passion fruit and strawberry centre. There was a tinge of alcohol in the background as well.
Ocean Trout Confit with Liquefied Green Pea, Fruit Sorbet & Olive Oil powder - The trout looked really raw on the outside but slicing through it proved a piece of cake. The meat was smooth, firm and fresh without coming across as raw. A dollop of orange bits were placed on top to counter and fishiness that the trout might have. The fruit sorbet was sweet and had bits of unidentified crispy stuff below while the olive oil powder amazed me with its texture.
A really interesting play of flavours!
Scallop in Laksa Sauce with Crispy Squid Ink - This has got to be one of the best scallops I've eaten in the past year or so. Well seared with a nice smooth texture sans the fishiness. The laksa sauce was frothy, almost like foam and the spiciness kicked only kicked in a few seconds after consumption.
Tempura Prawn & Mushrooms in Shitake Sauce - The highlight of this dish was probably the olive oil, which was injected from a syringe into the Shitake sauce. Lo and behold, it turned into a strand of noodle that was similar to ramen with an olive oil taste to boot! The prawn was huge and sweet but I thought that the batter could have been a little thinner.
Sardine with Risotto & Polenta - What was intriguing about this was the polenta (boiled maize), which came in thin silvery sheets atop the sardine, which incidentally, was a little too soft for my liking. I did like the risotto though - al dente and not too creamy with carrots providing an additional crunch.
Foie Gras with Kurobuta Pork Cheek & Apple Foam - The foie gras was pan seared till crisp on the outside. It certainly wasn't quivery nor near the best I've tried but I must say that it went very well with the apple foam. The pork cheeks were melt in the mouth tender and definitely a nice addition to this already sinfully rich dish.
BBQ Japanese Fish with Smoked Water - Another amazing dish, the fish (not too sure what fish is it) had a firm texture to go along with the nice BBQ taste. Topped with little silvery pearls that were in fact smoked water, I was rendered speechless. You might question how do you smoke water? In all honesty, I have no absolutely no clue. According to Chef Edward, the water is smoked and then solidified to form the pearls. Interestingly, the pearls had a slightly chewy texture with a strong smokey aftertaste.
Garoupa - I only tried a little of this dish but the fish did seem very well seasoned and flavourful. A pity the pasta didn't seem home made and came across as overly salty.
Wagyu Beef - No surprises here, just good old fashioned tender wagyu beef that was well marinated and done up medium rare. I did find it a little too salty though.
Passion Fruit Sorbet with Coconut Cream & Crushed Mint Ice - I'm not a fan of sour stuff so this dessert didn't do it for me. But the coconut cream was nice and light.
Chocolate & Chocolate - Catchy names aside, this dessert was yet another amazing dish. The first chocolate referred to the white chocolate cake while the second chocolate referred to the coarsely grounded bits of chocolate that reminded me of soil. Here's the marvelous part. The white chocolate cake had a moist center with a hint of egg and almond and ever so heart warming. To infuse some excitement, the grounded chocolate was done up to crackle incessantly when placed into your mouth, very much like the fizz pop candy for kids of yesteryear. Very nostalgic!
I've lost count of the number of times I've used the word amazing in this single blog post alone. The dishes are truly progressive and I'm pretty sure my photos and descriptions do it scant justice. The dollars and cents portion ($400 for 2 pax) is a little on the steep side but I feel that its money well thought and well spent. And I'll certainly be back, especially with one of my favourite chefs at the helm.
See all my pictures here.
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In my dreams, there is this beautiful place, with blue skies and clear sea. I dreamt of having my favourite brunch here with the one I like. We eat to our hearts content, and relax there while the hourglass freeze, just for us.
In my dreams, we have a cup of cappuccino. The aroma of the bean and the wonderful scenery of the place somehow makes the ordinary coffee taste better. And oh yes, there’s a cute cookie to go along with too.
In my dreams, I can never forget the taste of my beloved Eggs Royale ($14). The ever-favourite poached eggs, I just wish we can be together everyday. There is nothing more satisfying in life to have you by my side. O’ my dear, just the thought of you makes me sleep better.
In my dreams, I always envisage places where we will never run out of desserts. I have a sweet tooth you see. I dreamt of meeting the royal Sir-Deli’s, but it was a pleasant surprise with Privé Carrot cake ($6.80)
In my dreams, everything and anything can happen. There are bad dreams, and of course sweet ones like you. I’m glad I can still occasionally dream of you, that is enough. Enter my dreams, and give me a kiss.
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Privé bakery café is a wonderful place to visit if you haven been there after i posted my previous entry. Well, I couldn’t afford the restaurant main course yet, that’s why you will probably see more of my post on their brunch and desserts, which are affordable and good. See you there!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
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