Located at a coffee shop on Block 412 Bedok North is this small Italian eatery called Il Picolo. After the emergence of Astons, Botak J and the likes, there seem to be an influx of such "restaurant" like feel to coffee shops in the heartlands. It seems that the trend is taking off. We now have steaks, burgers and italian food. Guess what is next?
Prices for mains range from between $5 to $15 for 12" size pizzas. Since it was lunch time, I just had the Beef Lasagna ($6) while the other half decided to go with Botak J. which was in the same coffee shop.
It was a decent portion and sizable enough to have a satisfying lunch. The layers of pasta were not too thick and the chunks of beef were well balanced. It was served piping hot and unlike some other lasagnas this one does not have the burnt out taste. It also helped that there was a generous amount of melted cheese which served as a great dip for the fries that came with the dish ordered from Botak J. :)
Yes its Dim Sum for me and my gf on a weekend morning again. This time round, the venue of choice was Wah Lok. Known for its exquisite Dim Sum offerings and excellent Cantonese food, Wah Lok sits on the second floor of Carlton Hotel. Wood, like in many other mainstream Chinese restaurants, plays a main role in bringing out the understated opulence of the interior, especially that of the main dining hall. One can't help but feel very at home in this subtly lavish yet comfortable layout.
The Appetizer of BBQ Pork, Salted Vegetables, Chilli and Sesame Seeds was something that I've honestly never tried before. And it was good. The BBQ pork was sweet while the salted vegetables were salty, naturally. This balanced things out really well and the sesame seeds gave it a nice fragrance while the mild chilli spiced things up a little.
The Steamed Carrot Cake was a great dish to start off with. The carrot cake came piping hot in a small glass bowl and was very smooth without coming across as too soft and mashed up.
I've always been a fan of BBQ Pork Pastry, or better known as Char Siew Sou, so it's no surprise that this dish was in our order list. The BBQ Pork Pastry was quite well done with the pastry being flaky and a little sweet from the exterior glazing. The BBQ Pork filling was held together by a semi thick and sweet gravy, which is very unlike most of the Dim Sum places I've tried that only wraps the meat without any gravy. However, the pork itself lacked the barbequed taste - a flaw that could make or break this dish. But all in all, still an above average eat.
The Baked Egg Tart came across as pretty normal in terms of taste and texture. There was no slightly burnt crust taste which I like, but the egg filling was not too sweet, which was a plus. Other than that, just an average egg tart.
Now this dish came recommended by our server and it proved to be excellent. The fried beancurd skin was brittlely(If there's such a word) crispy with fillings of prawns and some vegetables. Dip it in the accompanying premium grade soya sauce and you get a match made it heaven. The soya sauce gives it the salty yet zesty flavour. And I'm not kidding about the premium soya sauce label. It really is of premium grade. Try it and you'll know what I mean.
Steamed prawn dumplings or better known as Har Gao is one of the de facto dishes of Dim Sum literally. Wah Lok's rendition tasted quite fine, with the shrimps evidently fresh. The skin was also relatively thin and moist.
Like the Steamed prawn dumplings, the Steamed pork dumplings aka Siu Mai, are also another de facto dish of Dim Sum. I found this rather normal, but it didn't come across as too heavy on the palate, which was a change from the nausea inducing ones that I often eat.
Century Egg porridge - This is my gf's favourite dish and although I'm no fan of it, I did find it quite good. The porridge was not too starchy neither was it too watery. I can't quite describe the taste because I honestly know nuts to nothing about Century Egg Porridge.
Shark's fin dumpling - This was the most expensive dish we ordered ($7.80 per serving) but it was well worth the money. The shark's fin soup was light and sweet and came with a few strands of inferior quality shark's fin(hey its $7.80, what do you expect?). I did find the dumpling's skin a little too soft though, probably from soaking in the soup for too long.
Fried Ice Cream - This is one rare dessert. I can't really tell you where to find this delicacy anymore. Wah Lok's rendition is different from all the others that I've tried. Here, the Mango Ice Cream is coated with a layer of Coconut shreds and flour before deep frying. The result is a crispy Coconut exterior encompassing a rather pleasant Mango Ice Cream. Quite good!
The 2 for 1 tag line is recognized with Canadian Pizza, and their easy-to-remember hotline 6241 0241 is another reason which has make Canadian Pizza a widely popular choice for pizza delivery services.
With mainstream competitors Pizza Hut which besides the delivery services has their own restaurants, and Sarpino’s which offer the same gimmick by having the 1-for-1 promotion, and the new Rite pizza, it can only mean good things for consumers who want a quick one on their pizzas.
Having tried Canadian Pizza a couple of times before, i thought that for the prices their pizzas are actually not bad, so on this occasion i decided on having Canadian Pizza instead of Sarpino’s as the previous time i have tried them already.
Teriyaki Chicken (Reg 10”) Teriyaki chicken, mushrooms, sweet corn, capsium, roasted sesame seed. The first bite of the pizza already told me everything i should know, i ordered the wrong pizza! All right, i understand that you can’t really be expecting huge chunks of the teriyaki chicken, even though i accepted the small bits of chicken, but where’s the taste? There’s not much of a flavor in the chicken, and this is supposed to be a teriyaki chicken pizza.
Canadian pizzas are all thin-sliced, personally i would prefer my pizza to be those thicker kinds rather than the thin ones. But there are places which served excellent thin slices, and the same goes for thick slices, so it largely depends on the place where you get your pizza.
Hawaiian Classic (Reg 10″) Turkey ham, turkey bacon, diced pineapples, fresh tomatoes, mozzarella and edam cheese. The Hawaiian classic fared slightly better, although not much to redeem Canadian Pizza. I supposed the turkey ham is cut rather generously, but other than that, not much really.
This shows exactly the effects of not having enough cheese. If the pizza is cheesy enough, then when you pull the scene will be a total different one. Yes cheese can be expensive and its understandable that Canadian needs to cut cost given the pizzas are 1-for-1. But i feel pizza without enough cheese is not pizza. Period.
Total bill is $23.90 for 2 reg 10″ pizza. To say that i am utterly disappointed with the quality of Canadian pizza is not an understatement. And i will probably not call 6241 0241 again. Based on my previous experience with Sarpino’s, i think they fared better than Canadian, but i’ll have to try again to find out.
Pizza hut is of course the better one among the three, but obviously more expensive. But one common problem among the three pizza deliveries, is that they often does not provides enough cheese sachet. For this order, they only provided me with one cheese sachet, and i remember my previous encounter with Sarpino’s, they didn’t even give me any cheese sachet!
I have to admit, on my part i forgot to remind them to give me more cheese sachet. But really, how much can a pack of cheese sachet cost? Does it happens to you too, or i happened to be unfortunate on those severals occasions i called for pizza?
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!
Winner of the Singapore Tatler Best Restaurant award for more than 10 consecutive years, Wah Lok has much to live up to in terms of food and ambience. Visitors to Singapore who would like a taste of authentic Cantonese cuisine should not give Wah Lok a miss.
The cantonese restaurant is set like an opulent dining paradise with its Oriental-themed settings. Its rotunda hall, an extension built above the terrace, with its grand high ceiling and floor to ceiling glass windows, adds a touch of refined elegance to the restaurant renowned for its Cantonese dim sum and fine cuisine.
Perhaps it is also one of the largest round tables that we have ever sat in. With a group of about 10 of us, the table still feels empty and there seems to be much more space in between persons to still sit another 6 more.
The table being large left us wondering if the dishes that we ordered would equally be large enough to fill the table space and most importantly our stomachs. It did not disappoint.
For starters we had the BBQ Sucking Pig Combination. This was a mix of suckling pig, BBQ pork, roasted duck, Soy chicken and jelly fish. The clear winner here is the sucking pig and roasted dusk. Just can't have enough of the skin which is both crispy and tasty.
Next came the Braised sharksfin soup with crabmeat and shredded chicken. The taste was not overpowering and unlike other sharksfin soup, there wasn't that "jelak" feeling after finishing one bowl. The interesting thing about this is the generous amount of sharksfin *oops...not for the environmentalist and wildlife activitst* and the shredded chicken. I do not know about you, but this is the first time I remembered having chicken in sharksfin soup. Or maybe I did not get to notice it when I ate it at other times.
Another memorable dish is the Steamed Garoupa in Thai style. The word "Thai style" evokes sweet chilli if you order it from food courts and the like so we were very much relieved that that is not the case here. The steamed garoupa was served in an excitably huge plate (fit for a king) and had the most ugly looking garoupa. But looks are deceiving as it tasted great! The winner in this dish is the Thai sauce. Yes, this steam garoupa was hot....the taste that is. It was like garoupa in tom yam sauce...but also not exactly tom yum sauce. It was thick gravy and just made eating the garoupa a facinating experience. Surely would order this again!
The Crispy 'Pi Pa' Duck was another clear favourite. The skin was crispy and thin. The only setback was the presence of too much fats in between the layers. But this might be the reason why some love it!
Sauted Deer Meat was another dish ordered. The meat was tender and cut to bite size so there was no need to perform any complex operation on it. Easily another favourite.
Other dishes ordered were the Scallops with brocolli and Braised Abalone with Black mushrooms. For desert, we had the Mango Pudding. It had a layer of evaporated milk which brough flavour to the pudding and was a nice finish to a satisfying meal.
Service was prompt and efficient and overall the servers were a friendly bunch of people. The total damage was $1150 for 10 persons. Overall a satisfying meal.
FoOd>> Was not bad at all. NicE~
All first-time tries...
1) Fresh Scallop Congee - $10.80
The bowl on the bottom right. I wld say there ain't many "ingredients" as it's Scallop congee but there's 4 big pcs of it, and overall the congee I felt tasted just right as there's a sweet & refreshing (probably the scallop) taste to it so I think it's worth a try. Rather than always having the sliced fish/ chicken etc congees... & oh, there's also the fried "you tiao"s which I left out. I dun fancy it actually (on the norm), but these look abit too "chao-tah" to me though. Pretty dark brown & shrinked in size... Quite a fair bit of pcs though. My bf ate a few, & there weren't any complaints... So I assume it's ok...
2) Fried Hor Fun with Beef (Wet) - $12.80
The plate on the top left. This is not my order but I did try a couple of mouths & it's pretty nice! It's neither too dry or too "watery", just nice. The pieces is smooth & doesn't stick together... Beef pieces there're quite a fair amt of it as well, pretty big pieces, and they taste tender & yummy! It's not too saltish & doesn't make you feel tired of the taste even after eating a fair bit... But din see this on the menu though, the waiter verbally introduced... So, take note if you wanna try.
3) Season Vegetable/ Crab Roe - $15.50
The plate in the middle. This is nice, especially the crab roe... Quite a fair bit of the crab meat, & there's also its eggs, together with e gravy compliments the broccolli!! The brocolli is big & fresh, not overcooked. This serving is pretty big by the way... It was shared by 2 of us (with our order of main) & we sorta can't finish everything. But 1 thing though, when the dish's a little cold, it doesn't taste as nice (especially the crab roe).
Service: So-so. (Average)
Just normal... Come in, get served, but still alright... (Cleaned up the dirty booth table seats as we requested for that table while we were first seated at a 2 seater table.) Fairly "courteous" except for 1 male staff whom I'm not sure if I'm being over-sensitive. We have actually decided our order on a set meal but it was unavailable, so we wanted to look through the menu again for the order. But he seemed a little fierce/ stern shocked/ weird why we didn't want to order... Haha.
Overall: Food is pretty yummy, svc is fairly acceptable.
Had another bout of Thai food craving and didn't fancy braving the terrible parking(and exorbitant drink prices) at First Thai so decided to try out P&P Thai Food, which is just a 15 min drive from my house. Formerly located at a coffeeshop along Veerasamy Road in Little India, P&P's claim to fame is its authentic Thai food and the various newspaper writeups are a testament to that.
Located under a block of HDBs at Geylang Bahru, P&P occupies a rather small and inconspicuous unit which faces the main road. The place is done up simply with white washed wall and limited tables, probably at about 10 tops, including those placed along the pavement. Air conditioning here is at a premium, with barely cool air whispering out of 2 air conditioning units.
Mango Salad - A nice appetiser would have started the meal just right, but the mango salad, though spicy, didn't taste out of the ordinary. Everything was overwhelmed by the spiciness. Also, 6 bucks does seem a tad pricey for just some shredded vegetables and fruit.
Tom Yam Soup - Served up in a small claypot, the tom yam soup was actually quite good. Clear spicy broth with an overhanging heavy dosage of zest that didn't weigh down too much on the palate. One thing I found odd about the soup was the inclusion of slices of hotdog - a sign of cost cutting?
Phad Thai - I found P&P's Phad Thai comparable to the one I had at First Thai just a couple of weeks back except that the glass noodles used in the former were slightly finer than usual. Both were of the wet variant but the prawns in P&P's offering weren't exactly fresh and that marred the experience for me. I still stand by the Phad Thai from Sweet Salty Spicy.
Olive Fried Rice - The undisputed star of our meal, the humble olive fried rice. Served with sides of egg, cashew nuts and a mixture of what seemed like dried shrimp and pork, the rice was fragrant and very well fried sans the oil with a lingering tinge of olive. I would have gone for seconds if not for the rather steep pricing ($7 for 1 scoop).
Fried Kang Kong - What looked like an ordinary dish turned out to be something rather top notch. The Kang Kong had a wok hei taste to it and was rather spicy although it didn't look the part. Only gripe I had was the excessive salt content, which can be a little overwhelming.
P&P Crispy Pork - I would have expected more from a dish bearing the name of the restaurant but sadly it came across as rather normal, if not on the salty side. The flour was crispy without being too oily but the meat did seem a little too fatty at certain parts, which made me a tad nervous about my health.
Durian Sticky Rice - I was looking forward to this delectable dessert and all hopes for a humongous portion were dashed when it came served in a small leaf shaped plate. The glutinous rice was a tad savoury with lots of bite while the durian flesh was sweet but rather runny. Drizzled with coconut milk, the entire dish made for a very nice ending. However $10 for such a small portion is a rip off in my humble opinion.
$57 for 3 pax isn't exactly expensive but I wouldn't deem it cheap either. Food quality is actually quite decent and personally I prefer it to First Thai. Price wise, both are comparable but service and ambience at P&P is definitely better. When we finished my dinner at about 7pm on a Sunday evening, there were still a few tables empty so I guess having no queues is a plus point too. One thing to note though, P&P doesn't serve free ice water. Its 50 cents for a refillable cup.
Just opened at basement of Plaza Singapura on August 1st. This is the place to go for quick takeaway meals. They offer curry rice and curry udon sets where you can choose to have the curry mild or spicy. They also sell bento set which includes potato salad, vegetable sald, rice, fukujinzuke (japanese pickles) and takuan (japanese radish).
Mum bought 2 sets for dinner last night. Seafood Croquette Curry Udon Set ($5.90) and Ebi Unagi Bento Set ($8.90).
We had the sets an hour later when we reached home. The food was not too cold for consumption yet. It was still a little warm when we ate the food.
Mum's first verdict after tasting the rice in her bento set "Not nice!" The rice didn't have the usual stickiness of japanese rice and was tasteless. Not even taste of the usual rice fragrant. But the ebi and unagi was still acceptable. Though we felt that the unagi was a tad too small. The salads that came with the bento set was not bad. Nothing to wow about.
The Curry Udon was still alright for me. I don't recall tasting any japanese curry recently and have forgotten how it should taste like. But this one has quite a strong smell which I don't really enjoy. The seafood croquette was quite sad. There was only a small piece of prawn in it. I remembered the lady told me its a mixed of seafood. But I couldn't taste any.
Overall I feel that the food was not up to standard. Perhaps they're still new in such creations. Hope they'll improve as they gain more experience. Will probably give it another try few months later.
I was there a few times. None of it disappointed me. Except for the most recent visit. Guess, my usual choice of 'simple' food doesn't really work all the time.
I ordered Tempura Udon. Yes...udon again, because it's easier to finish noodle, and I hate wasting food. I guess I was trying pretty hard to convince myself the meal wasn't that bad. But after much thought...I think chefs are humans too and their threshold of standard dropped slightly.
My tempura looks ok at first, but at the end of the meal all my tempura looked soggy and man..does it taste like flour or was it my imagination?!
Udon was still ok...so lucky I had at least udon to make me full.
Was at this place last week. Ok, sorry to say I just have to always order simple food...and to make it simpler, only udon with its dish. I thought mine was going to taste 'simple' as well. To my surprise, the unagi was quite good. Wasn't as bony compared to those I've tried elsewhere. And it sure was smooth..lets just say, I don't have to munch. I simply put it into my mouth, maybe bite it into smaller pieces and it just dissolve. Udon..hmm..Don't know what is good udon till I try some REAL good udon. But it wasn't bad. If I recall correctly, my set was slightly more than SGD10.
Sage the restaurant, recently relocated to one of Mohamed Sultan’s historical conservation shophouse, just across the street from their previous place at a rather obscure location on the second front of Robertson Walk. Sage is one of the widely hype restaurant in our local food scene who has won acclaims from many foodies.
Sage the restaurant has just started their set lunch menu which offers 3 course at $38 , and 4 course meal at $45 . Given that the main course for their dinner menu ranges from 30s to the 40s individually, i’ll say that the set lunch do seems rather value. And note that lunch is only served from Wednesday to Friday.
The husband and wife combination works very well for Sage, with Chef-owner Jusman So helming the kitchen while his friendly wife, Kimberly taking charge of the service aspect. Chef Jusman So also recently won the choice title of rising chef of the year in the World Gourmet Summit (WGS).
The interior of the newly furnished restaurant speaks contemporary chic. With Black and grey being theme colour, the white simplistic tables strikes out bringing the simple-yet-elegant feel of the place. There is just a single picture frame to adorn the black wall, with the back of the room leading to the open kitchen
The open kitchen concept provides a insight of the chefs hard at work to provide a satisfactory meal for us. I do believe that having an open kitchen concept is a rather important aspect of a restaurant, for one, diners can have a look at the chefs at work, and also by doing an open concept, it shows that the restaurant has nothing to hide, and it does build a bridge linking the diners stomach and the chefs heart for their effort.
I applaused the fact that Sage chose to retain its seating capacity at 38, when they can actually have no problem expanding the place and filling it up every night. That for me, is a true sign of Sage’s intention, not to compromise the standards of the food quality with any increase in capacity.
Complimentary bread
The complimentary bread was very good, soft and fluffy, with the cheese spread that comes along together, i’ll have asked for second helpings if not for the fact that we still have a four course meal ($38 ) to finish.
Smoked Salmon ($12)
Scottish smoked salmon loin on cucumber relish with avruga caviar. Cauliflower couscous salad and dill infused leek & potato vichyssoise. The smoked salmon loin was tasty although i found it to be slightly salty. I didn't like the cauliflower couscous salad as i felt that its rather heavy for a salad but my friend thought that it was all right.
The avruga caviar, pearlescent black in colour, is a more sustainable alternative to its more expensive relative, Beluga caviar, completes the salmon loin.
Crab & tomato ($12)
Marinated crab salad topped with oven dried tomatoes and avocado mousseline, taggiasca olive tapenade and vine ripe tomato gazpacho. The oven dried tomatoes and the vine ripe tomato gazpacho, enhances the flavor of the crab meat. I couldn't quite make out the taggiasca olive tapenade, but it tastes nice to me. Same goes for the avocado mousseline, but then again i am not really a fan of avocado.
Overall a simple dish (maybe not that simple in cooking it) that packs a lot of different flavors into one. The cooking method do seems to be the trademark of Chef Jusman who use many different type of ingredients to blend into one.
Mushrooms soup ($12)
Cappuccino of wild mushrooms. My friend and i had no words to describe the soup after having a spoonful. The plain-looking mushroom soup has a make-over and the interpretation comes in the form of a cappuccino, not quite what you will picture for a soup.
Nevertheless, the mushrooms soup was nothing short of excellence. Like what i mentioned before, mushrooms are always a tricky task, cook it for too long and the mushroom becomes over-cooked, while finishing it too early the soup will fail to absorb the essence of the mushrooms.
The mushroom soup arrived in a cup of cappuccino, with foamy top layer, and creamy base. Some common mushroom soups might still have bits of mushrooms in it, but not this one. The wild mushrooms seem to blend together naturally, and every mouthful just tasted so flavorsome.
Personally i do not like mushroom soup, but the fact that one spoonful of soup leaded to the other, with me finishing the whole soup tells you how good the soup is. There are definitely better mushroom soups out there, but for now, this is the best mushroom soup i had before.
French Onion soup ($12)
Perhaps the mushroom soup was too good, that we actually find the French onion soup to be quite normal in contrast. Nonetheless, the soup was still very rich, with its strong onion taste.
Traditional French onion soup with crouton and melted gruyere cheese. Crouton is the small piece of sauteed bread that acted as a companion to the soup. However we did not really taste the melted gruyere cheese because the bread became rather soggy in a short while.
Cod ($42, with $15 supplement applies to set menu)
Roasted fillet of cod topped with prawn and cognac butter on salt cod brandade and bouillabaisse sauce. The Cod was definitely the star of the show. Both my friend and i arrived at the conclusion that the cod was class. The roasted fillet was wonderfully balanced, there were hints of the roasted element, but it did not shows on the fillet.
If the end product of the Cod was the magic produced, then the prawn and cognac butter was certainly the wand that produce the magic. The cod on its own did not warrant a perfect score yet, but wait until you tasted the cod together with the prawn and cognac butter layer, that was pure magic.
The mashed potato beneath the cod also tasted well together with the bouillabaisse sauce. The sauce which was made from a traditional provencal fish stew has a fulsome flavor, and when you have a piece of the roasted cod with the prawn and cognac butter on top, and dipped with the bouillabaisse sauce, there was nothing quite like to describe the taste.
Duck Confit ($28, with $10 supplement applies to set menu)
Duck leg confit on a savoy cabbage parcel stuffed with field mushroom, leek and red onion in pommery mustard sauce. We chose duck confit because it's always a dish that is difficult to handle, and can test the skills of the chef. The mark of a good duck confit obviously lies in the meat, if the duck is cooked for too long, the meat will become soggy and soft, while under-cook will make it becomes too tight and hard.
Poking a fork into the duck leg confit, we were glad to find that the duck meat remains firm while retaining its perfectly crispy skin. With the price tag, this was one expensive duck leg, which you otherwise could have a whole duck elsewhere, but made no mistake, the duck leg confit was certainly worth the money.
The pommery mustard sauce did come across to us as rather weird initially, but mixing it with the firm duck meat brought out the brilliance of it.
My friend enjoyed the Pernankan-inspired cabbage parcel stuffed with field mushroom, leek and red onion, but it did not works for me. I felt that the cabbage parcel was too salty for my liking, and the leek and red onion combination did not really suit my tastebud.
Strawberry Panna Cotta ($12)
Vanilla panna cotta topped with strawberry jelly and chocolate ganache, compote of strawberries and crunchy nougat. The sweet vanilla panna cotta and chocolate ganache striked a good balance with the slightly sourish strawberry.The panna cotta itself was quite thick and rich with the fragrant vanilla taste.
The serving size was quite adequate, and the strawberry panna cotta was quite good, until i try the Oreo Semifreddo, which is in a different league all together.
Oreo Semifreddo ($12)
Oreo cookie semifreddo with frozen raspberry mousse and soft coffee scented meringue. This, is the first time i am having a semifreddo, and i am already regretting why have i not try this earlier. The Oreo semifreddo was made up of three different compositions, with the top layer being the soft coffee scented meringue, the middle layer the oreo cookie semifreddo, and the base the frozen raspberry mousse.
The oreo semifreddo really, was playing with our scents, the soft coffee meringue was more to the bitter side, while the oreo cookie ice cream added the sweet touch, and the frozen raspberry mousse completed with a chilly sourish zang. Trying the three different parts separately yielded nothing special, but it was when you united the three layers together then you realised what the oreo semifreddo was about.
Total bill is a princely $135 for 2 person, and this is lunch, not dinner. This ought to be the most expensive lunch i ever had, but all the same, the best lunch. The amount is madness really, two set lunches at $45 each, we topped up $10 for the duck confit, $15 for the cod, and factor in the 17% additional charges, do your sums!
The way that Chef Jusman uses a combination of many different ingredients in one dish is one thing, but to blend all the tastes is another matter all together. There are of course positive and negative things for everything, and there is no exception here too. The slightly negative aspect will be every dish is too flavorsome and it really takes time to absorb and digest what you eat. However you can choose to look at that from a positive angle too.
One thing i ought to mention as well, before this visit to Sage i made a few attempts to go actually but on those few occasions i were held up in the very last minute and couldn’t make it. Each time i called up Sage to make another new reservation, and each time Kimberly picked up the phone and answer my every inquiry politely and patiently. There was never a time where i felt that she was frustrated by this guy here calling up a few times to keep on postponing the reservation. For that i applause her for her sincere altitude, which can be genuinely felt across the phone.
I rave about Sage the restaurant, I praise the way Chef Jusman uses his ingredients and play with his food. I appreciate the manner which Kimberly treats her customers, genuine, friendly yet professional which makes you totally free at home. Not to mention the other serving staff at Sage which i find are quite knowledgeable and know when’s the right time to approach us and when not to disturb us. The combination of all the factors make Sage the restaurant a strong contender to ladyironchef’s best restaurant 2008.
I do believe that there are certainly better restaurants out there, Les Amis, Saint Pierre, Iggy just to name a few, are all stronghold in their own rights, but since i have not try the other restaurants, i can only comment on what i have tried. And for the restaurants which i have been to, i say Sage is one of the best, until i experience a better one then, Sage the restaurant it is!
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
Affordable Italian Cuisine
Located at a coffee shop on Block 412 Bedok North is this small Italian eatery called Il Picolo. After the emergence of Astons, Botak J and the likes, there seem to be an influx of such "restaurant" like feel to coffee shops in the heartlands. It seems that the trend is taking off. We now have steaks, burgers and italian food. Guess what is next?
Prices for mains range from between $5 to $15 for 12" size pizzas. Since it was lunch time, I just had the Beef Lasagna ($6) while the other half decided to go with Botak J. which was in the same coffee shop.
It was a decent portion and sizable enough to have a satisfying lunch. The layers of pasta were not too thick and the chunks of beef were well balanced. It was served piping hot and unlike some other lasagnas this one does not have the burnt out taste. It also helped that there was a generous amount of melted cheese which served as a great dip for the fries that came with the dish ordered from Botak J. :)
Rating given:
Yes its Dim Sum for me and my gf on a weekend morning again. This time round, the venue of choice was Wah Lok. Known for its exquisite Dim Sum offerings and excellent Cantonese food, Wah Lok sits on the second floor of Carlton Hotel. Wood, like in many other mainstream Chinese restaurants, plays a main role in bringing out the understated opulence of the interior, especially that of the main dining hall. One can't help but feel very at home in this subtly lavish yet comfortable layout.
The Appetizer of BBQ Pork, Salted Vegetables, Chilli and Sesame Seeds was something that I've honestly never tried before. And it was good. The BBQ pork was sweet while the salted vegetables were salty, naturally. This balanced things out really well and the sesame seeds gave it a nice fragrance while the mild chilli spiced things up a little.
The Steamed Carrot Cake was a great dish to start off with. The carrot cake came piping hot in a small glass bowl and was very smooth without coming across as too soft and mashed up.
I've always been a fan of BBQ Pork Pastry, or better known as Char Siew Sou, so it's no surprise that this dish was in our order list. The BBQ Pork Pastry was quite well done with the pastry being flaky and a little sweet from the exterior glazing. The BBQ Pork filling was held together by a semi thick and sweet gravy, which is very unlike most of the Dim Sum places I've tried that only wraps the meat without any gravy. However, the pork itself lacked the barbequed taste - a flaw that could make or break this dish. But all in all, still an above average eat.
The Baked Egg Tart came across as pretty normal in terms of taste and texture. There was no slightly burnt crust taste which I like, but the egg filling was not too sweet, which was a plus. Other than that, just an average egg tart.
Now this dish came recommended by our server and it proved to be excellent. The fried beancurd skin was brittlely(If there's such a word) crispy with fillings of prawns and some vegetables. Dip it in the accompanying premium grade soya sauce and you get a match made it heaven. The soya sauce gives it the salty yet zesty flavour. And I'm not kidding about the premium soya sauce label. It really is of premium grade. Try it and you'll know what I mean.
Steamed prawn dumplings or better known as Har Gao is one of the de facto dishes of Dim Sum literally. Wah Lok's rendition tasted quite fine, with the shrimps evidently fresh. The skin was also relatively thin and moist.
Like the Steamed prawn dumplings, the Steamed pork dumplings aka Siu Mai, are also another de facto dish of Dim Sum. I found this rather normal, but it didn't come across as too heavy on the palate, which was a change from the nausea inducing ones that I often eat.
Century Egg porridge - This is my gf's favourite dish and although I'm no fan of it, I did find it quite good. The porridge was not too starchy neither was it too watery. I can't quite describe the taste because I honestly know nuts to nothing about Century Egg Porridge.
Shark's fin dumpling - This was the most expensive dish we ordered ($7.80 per serving) but it was well worth the money. The shark's fin soup was light and sweet and came with a few strands of inferior quality shark's fin(hey its $7.80, what do you expect?). I did find the dumpling's skin a little too soft though, probably from soaking in the soup for too long.
Fried Ice Cream - This is one rare dessert. I can't really tell you where to find this delicacy anymore. Wah Lok's rendition is different from all the others that I've tried. Here, the Mango Ice Cream is coated with a layer of Coconut shreds and flour before deep frying. The result is a crispy Coconut exterior encompassing a rather pleasant Mango Ice Cream. Quite good!
See all my pictures here.
Rating given:
The 2 for 1 tag line is recognized with Canadian Pizza, and their easy-to-remember hotline 6241 0241 is another reason which has make Canadian Pizza a widely popular choice for pizza delivery services.
With mainstream competitors Pizza Hut which besides the delivery services has their own restaurants, and Sarpino’s which offer the same gimmick by having the 1-for-1 promotion, and the new Rite pizza, it can only mean good things for consumers who want a quick one on their pizzas.
Having tried Canadian Pizza a couple of times before, i thought that for the prices their pizzas are actually not bad, so on this occasion i decided on having Canadian Pizza instead of Sarpino’s as the previous time i have tried them already.
Teriyaki Chicken (Reg 10”)
Teriyaki chicken, mushrooms, sweet corn, capsium, roasted sesame seed. The first bite of the pizza already told me everything i should know, i ordered the wrong pizza! All right, i understand that you can’t really be expecting huge chunks of the teriyaki chicken, even though i accepted the small bits of chicken, but where’s the taste? There’s not much of a flavor in the chicken, and this is supposed to be a teriyaki chicken pizza.
Canadian pizzas are all thin-sliced, personally i would prefer my pizza to be those thicker kinds rather than the thin ones. But there are places which served excellent thin slices, and the same goes for thick slices, so it largely depends on the place where you get your pizza.
Hawaiian Classic (Reg 10″)
Turkey ham, turkey bacon, diced pineapples, fresh tomatoes, mozzarella and edam cheese. The Hawaiian classic fared slightly better, although not much to redeem Canadian Pizza. I supposed the turkey ham is cut rather generously, but other than that, not much really.
This shows exactly the effects of not having enough cheese. If the pizza is cheesy enough, then when you pull the scene will be a total different one. Yes cheese can be expensive and its understandable that Canadian needs to cut cost given the pizzas are 1-for-1. But i feel pizza without enough cheese is not pizza. Period.
Total bill is $23.90 for 2 reg 10″ pizza. To say that i am utterly disappointed with the quality of Canadian pizza is not an understatement. And i will probably not call 6241 0241 again. Based on my previous experience with Sarpino’s, i think they fared better than Canadian, but i’ll have to try again to find out.
Pizza hut is of course the better one among the three, but obviously more expensive. But one common problem among the three pizza deliveries, is that they often does not provides enough cheese sachet. For this order, they only provided me with one cheese sachet, and i remember my previous encounter with Sarpino’s, they didn’t even give me any cheese sachet!
I have to admit, on my part i forgot to remind them to give me more cheese sachet. But really, how much can a pack of cheese sachet cost? Does it happens to you too, or i happened to be unfortunate on those severals occasions i called for pizza?
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:
Winner of the Singapore Tatler Best Restaurant award for more than 10 consecutive years, Wah Lok has much to live up to in terms of food and ambience. Visitors to Singapore who would like a taste of authentic Cantonese cuisine should not give Wah Lok a miss.
The cantonese restaurant is set like an opulent dining paradise with its Oriental-themed settings. Its rotunda hall, an extension built above the terrace, with its grand high ceiling and floor to ceiling glass windows, adds a touch of refined elegance to the restaurant renowned for its Cantonese dim sum and fine cuisine.
Perhaps it is also one of the largest round tables that we have ever sat in. With a group of about 10 of us, the table still feels empty and there seems to be much more space in between persons to still sit another 6 more.
The table being large left us wondering if the dishes that we ordered would equally be large enough to fill the table space and most importantly our stomachs. It did not disappoint.
For starters we had the BBQ Sucking Pig Combination. This was a mix of suckling pig, BBQ pork, roasted duck, Soy chicken and jelly fish. The clear winner here is the sucking pig and roasted dusk. Just can't have enough of the skin which is both crispy and tasty.
Next came the Braised sharksfin soup with crabmeat and shredded chicken. The taste was not overpowering and unlike other sharksfin soup, there wasn't that "jelak" feeling after finishing one bowl. The interesting thing about this is the generous amount of sharksfin *oops...not for the environmentalist and wildlife activitst* and the shredded chicken. I do not know about you, but this is the first time I remembered having chicken in sharksfin soup. Or maybe I did not get to notice it when I ate it at other times.
Another memorable dish is the Steamed Garoupa in Thai style. The word "Thai style" evokes sweet chilli if you order it from food courts and the like so we were very much relieved that that is not the case here. The steamed garoupa was served in an excitably huge plate (fit for a king) and had the most ugly looking garoupa. But looks are deceiving as it tasted great! The winner in this dish is the Thai sauce. Yes, this steam garoupa was hot....the taste that is. It was like garoupa in tom yam sauce...but also not exactly tom yum sauce. It was thick gravy and just made eating the garoupa a facinating experience. Surely would order this again!
The Crispy 'Pi Pa' Duck was another clear favourite. The skin was crispy and thin. The only setback was the presence of too much fats in between the layers. But this might be the reason why some love it!
Sauted Deer Meat was another dish ordered. The meat was tender and cut to bite size so there was no need to perform any complex operation on it. Easily another favourite.
Other dishes ordered were the Scallops with brocolli and Braised Abalone with Black mushrooms. For desert, we had the Mango Pudding. It had a layer of evaporated milk which brough flavour to the pudding and was a nice finish to a satisfying meal.
Service was prompt and efficient and overall the servers were a friendly bunch of people. The total damage was $1150 for 10 persons. Overall a satisfying meal.
Rating given:
Date: 01-Aug-2008
Timing: abt 9pm
FoOd>> Was not bad at all. NicE~
All first-time tries...
1) Fresh Scallop Congee - $10.80
The bowl on the bottom right. I wld say there ain't many "ingredients" as it's Scallop congee but there's 4 big pcs of it, and overall the congee I felt tasted just right as there's a sweet & refreshing (probably the scallop) taste to it so I think it's worth a try. Rather than always having the sliced fish/ chicken etc congees... & oh, there's also the fried "you tiao"s which I left out. I dun fancy it actually (on the norm), but these look abit too "chao-tah" to me though. Pretty dark brown & shrinked in size... Quite a fair bit of pcs though. My bf ate a few, & there weren't any complaints... So I assume it's ok...
2) Fried Hor Fun with Beef (Wet) - $12.80
The plate on the top left. This is not my order but I did try a couple of mouths & it's pretty nice! It's neither too dry or too "watery", just nice. The pieces is smooth & doesn't stick together... Beef pieces there're quite a fair amt of it as well, pretty big pieces, and they taste tender & yummy! It's not too saltish & doesn't make you feel tired of the taste even after eating a fair bit... But din see this on the menu though, the waiter verbally introduced... So, take note if you wanna try.
3) Season Vegetable/ Crab Roe - $15.50
The plate in the middle. This is nice, especially the crab roe... Quite a fair bit of the crab meat, & there's also its eggs, together with e gravy compliments the broccolli!! The brocolli is big & fresh, not overcooked. This serving is pretty big by the way... It was shared by 2 of us (with our order of main) & we sorta can't finish everything. But 1 thing though, when the dish's a little cold, it doesn't taste as nice (especially the crab roe).
Service: So-so. (Average)
Just normal... Come in, get served, but still alright... (Cleaned up the dirty booth table seats as we requested for that table while we were first seated at a 2 seater table.) Fairly "courteous" except for 1 male staff whom I'm not sure if I'm being over-sensitive. We have actually decided our order on a set meal but it was unavailable, so we wanted to look through the menu again for the order. But he seemed a little fierce/ stern shocked/ weird why we didn't want to order... Haha.
Overall: Food is pretty yummy, svc is fairly acceptable.
Rating given:
Had another bout of Thai food craving and didn't fancy braving the terrible parking(and exorbitant drink prices) at First Thai so decided to try out P&P Thai Food, which is just a 15 min drive from my house. Formerly located at a coffeeshop along Veerasamy Road in Little India, P&P's claim to fame is its authentic Thai food and the various newspaper writeups are a testament to that.
Located under a block of HDBs at Geylang Bahru, P&P occupies a rather small and inconspicuous unit which faces the main road. The place is done up simply with white washed wall and limited tables, probably at about 10 tops, including those placed along the pavement. Air conditioning here is at a premium, with barely cool air whispering out of 2 air conditioning units.
Mango Salad - A nice appetiser would have started the meal just right, but the mango salad, though spicy, didn't taste out of the ordinary. Everything was overwhelmed by the spiciness. Also, 6 bucks does seem a tad pricey for just some shredded vegetables and fruit.
Tom Yam Soup - Served up in a small claypot, the tom yam soup was actually quite good. Clear spicy broth with an overhanging heavy dosage of zest that didn't weigh down too much on the palate. One thing I found odd about the soup was the inclusion of slices of hotdog - a sign of cost cutting?
Phad Thai - I found P&P's Phad Thai comparable to the one I had at First Thai just a couple of weeks back except that the glass noodles used in the former were slightly finer than usual. Both were of the wet variant but the prawns in P&P's offering weren't exactly fresh and that marred the experience for me. I still stand by the Phad Thai from Sweet Salty Spicy.
Olive Fried Rice - The undisputed star of our meal, the humble olive fried rice. Served with sides of egg, cashew nuts and a mixture of what seemed like dried shrimp and pork, the rice was fragrant and very well fried sans the oil with a lingering tinge of olive. I would have gone for seconds if not for the rather steep pricing ($7 for 1 scoop).
Fried Kang Kong - What looked like an ordinary dish turned out to be something rather top notch. The Kang Kong had a wok hei taste to it and was rather spicy although it didn't look the part. Only gripe I had was the excessive salt content, which can be a little overwhelming.
P&P Crispy Pork - I would have expected more from a dish bearing the name of the restaurant but sadly it came across as rather normal, if not on the salty side. The flour was crispy without being too oily but the meat did seem a little too fatty at certain parts, which made me a tad nervous about my health.
Durian Sticky Rice - I was looking forward to this delectable dessert and all hopes for a humongous portion were dashed when it came served in a small leaf shaped plate. The glutinous rice was a tad savoury with lots of bite while the durian flesh was sweet but rather runny. Drizzled with coconut milk, the entire dish made for a very nice ending. However $10 for such a small portion is a rip off in my humble opinion.
$57 for 3 pax isn't exactly expensive but I wouldn't deem it cheap either. Food quality is actually quite decent and personally I prefer it to First Thai. Price wise, both are comparable but service and ambience at P&P is definitely better. When we finished my dinner at about 7pm on a Sunday evening, there were still a few tables empty so I guess having no queues is a plus point too. One thing to note though, P&P doesn't serve free ice water. Its 50 cents for a refillable cup.
See all my pictures here.
Rating given:
"Curry so Good"
Just opened at basement of Plaza Singapura on August 1st. This is the place to go for quick takeaway meals. They offer curry rice and curry udon sets where you can choose to have the curry mild or spicy. They also sell bento set which includes potato salad, vegetable sald, rice, fukujinzuke (japanese pickles) and takuan (japanese radish).
Mum bought 2 sets for dinner last night. Seafood Croquette Curry Udon Set ($5.90) and Ebi Unagi Bento Set ($8.90).
We had the sets an hour later when we reached home. The food was not too cold for consumption yet. It was still a little warm when we ate the food.
Mum's first verdict after tasting the rice in her bento set "Not nice!" The rice didn't have the usual stickiness of japanese rice and was tasteless. Not even taste of the usual rice fragrant. But the ebi and unagi was still acceptable. Though we felt that the unagi was a tad too small. The salads that came with the bento set was not bad. Nothing to wow about.
The Curry Udon was still alright for me. I don't recall tasting any japanese curry recently and have forgotten how it should taste like. But this one has quite a strong smell which I don't really enjoy. The seafood croquette was quite sad. There was only a small piece of prawn in it. I remembered the lady told me its a mixed of seafood. But I couldn't taste any.
Overall I feel that the food was not up to standard. Perhaps they're still new in such creations. Hope they'll improve as they gain more experience. Will probably give it another try few months later.
Rating given:
I was there a few times. None of it disappointed me. Except for the most recent visit. Guess, my usual choice of 'simple' food doesn't really work all the time.
I ordered Tempura Udon. Yes...udon again, because it's easier to finish noodle, and I hate wasting food. I guess I was trying pretty hard to convince myself the meal wasn't that bad. But after much thought...I think chefs are humans too and their threshold of standard dropped slightly.
My tempura looks ok at first, but at the end of the meal all my tempura looked soggy and man..does it taste like flour or was it my imagination?!
Udon was still ok...so lucky I had at least udon to make me full.
Rating given:
Was at this place last week. Ok, sorry to say I just have to always order simple food...and to make it simpler, only udon with its dish. I thought mine was going to taste 'simple' as well. To my surprise, the unagi was quite good. Wasn't as bony compared to those I've tried elsewhere. And it sure was smooth..lets just say, I don't have to munch. I simply put it into my mouth, maybe bite it into smaller pieces and it just dissolve. Udon..hmm..Don't know what is good udon till I try some REAL good udon. But it wasn't bad. If I recall correctly, my set was slightly more than SGD10.
Rating given:
Sage the restaurant, recently relocated to one of Mohamed Sultan’s historical conservation shophouse, just across the street from their previous place at a rather obscure location on the second front of Robertson Walk. Sage is one of the widely hype restaurant in our local food scene who has won acclaims from many foodies.
Sage the restaurant has just started their set lunch menu which offers 3 course at $38 , and 4 course meal at $45 . Given that the main course for their dinner menu ranges from 30s to the 40s individually, i’ll say that the set lunch do seems rather value. And note that lunch is only served from Wednesday to Friday.
The husband and wife combination works very well for Sage, with Chef-owner Jusman So helming the kitchen while his friendly wife, Kimberly taking charge of the service aspect. Chef Jusman So also recently won the choice title of rising chef of the year in the World Gourmet Summit (WGS).
The interior of the newly furnished restaurant speaks contemporary chic. With Black and grey being theme colour, the white simplistic tables strikes out bringing the simple-yet-elegant feel of the place. There is just a single picture frame to adorn the black wall, with the back of the room leading to the open kitchen
The open kitchen concept provides a insight of the chefs hard at work to provide a satisfactory meal for us. I do believe that having an open kitchen concept is a rather important aspect of a restaurant, for one, diners can have a look at the chefs at work, and also by doing an open concept, it shows that the restaurant has nothing to hide, and it does build a bridge linking the diners stomach and the chefs heart for their effort.
I applaused the fact that Sage chose to retain its seating capacity at 38, when they can actually have no problem expanding the place and filling it up every night. That for me, is a true sign of Sage’s intention, not to compromise the standards of the food quality with any increase in capacity.
Complimentary bread
The complimentary bread was very good, soft and fluffy, with the cheese spread that comes along together, i’ll have asked for second helpings if not for the fact that we still have a four course meal ($38 ) to finish.
Smoked Salmon ($12)
Scottish smoked salmon loin on cucumber relish with avruga caviar. Cauliflower couscous salad and dill infused leek & potato vichyssoise. The smoked salmon loin was tasty although i found it to be slightly salty. I didn't like the cauliflower couscous salad as i felt that its rather heavy for a salad but my friend thought that it was all right.
The avruga caviar, pearlescent black in colour, is a more sustainable alternative to its more expensive relative, Beluga caviar, completes the salmon loin.
Crab & tomato ($12)
Marinated crab salad topped with oven dried tomatoes and avocado mousseline, taggiasca olive tapenade and vine ripe tomato gazpacho. The oven dried tomatoes and the vine ripe tomato gazpacho, enhances the flavor of the crab meat. I couldn't quite make out the taggiasca olive tapenade, but it tastes nice to me. Same goes for the avocado mousseline, but then again i am not really a fan of avocado.
Overall a simple dish (maybe not that simple in cooking it) that packs a lot of different flavors into one. The cooking method do seems to be the trademark of Chef Jusman who use many different type of ingredients to blend into one.
Mushrooms soup ($12)
Cappuccino of wild mushrooms. My friend and i had no words to describe the soup after having a spoonful. The plain-looking mushroom soup has a make-over and the interpretation comes in the form of a cappuccino, not quite what you will picture for a soup.
Nevertheless, the mushrooms soup was nothing short of excellence. Like what i mentioned before, mushrooms are always a tricky task, cook it for too long and the mushroom becomes over-cooked, while finishing it too early the soup will fail to absorb the essence of the mushrooms.
The mushroom soup arrived in a cup of cappuccino, with foamy top layer, and creamy base. Some common mushroom soups might still have bits of mushrooms in it, but not this one. The wild mushrooms seem to blend together naturally, and every mouthful just tasted so flavorsome.
Personally i do not like mushroom soup, but the fact that one spoonful of soup leaded to the other, with me finishing the whole soup tells you how good the soup is. There are definitely better mushroom soups out there, but for now, this is the best mushroom soup i had before.
French Onion soup ($12)
Perhaps the mushroom soup was too good, that we actually find the French onion soup to be quite normal in contrast. Nonetheless, the soup was still very rich, with its strong onion taste.
Traditional French onion soup with crouton and melted gruyere cheese. Crouton is the small piece of sauteed bread that acted as a companion to the soup. However we did not really taste the melted gruyere cheese because the bread became rather soggy in a short while.
Cod ($42, with $15 supplement applies to set menu)
Roasted fillet of cod topped with prawn and cognac butter on salt cod brandade and bouillabaisse sauce. The Cod was definitely the star of the show. Both my friend and i arrived at the conclusion that the cod was class. The roasted fillet was wonderfully balanced, there were hints of the roasted element, but it did not shows on the fillet.
If the end product of the Cod was the magic produced, then the prawn and cognac butter was certainly the wand that produce the magic. The cod on its own did not warrant a perfect score yet, but wait until you tasted the cod together with the prawn and cognac butter layer, that was pure magic.
The mashed potato beneath the cod also tasted well together with the bouillabaisse sauce. The sauce which was made from a traditional provencal fish stew has a fulsome flavor, and when you have a piece of the roasted cod with the prawn and cognac butter on top, and dipped with the bouillabaisse sauce, there was nothing quite like to describe the taste.
Duck Confit ($28, with $10 supplement applies to set menu)
Duck leg confit on a savoy cabbage parcel stuffed with field mushroom, leek and red onion in pommery mustard sauce. We chose duck confit because it's always a dish that is difficult to handle, and can test the skills of the chef. The mark of a good duck confit obviously lies in the meat, if the duck is cooked for too long, the meat will become soggy and soft, while under-cook will make it becomes too tight and hard.
Poking a fork into the duck leg confit, we were glad to find that the duck meat remains firm while retaining its perfectly crispy skin. With the price tag, this was one expensive duck leg, which you otherwise could have a whole duck elsewhere, but made no mistake, the duck leg confit was certainly worth the money.
The pommery mustard sauce did come across to us as rather weird initially, but mixing it with the firm duck meat brought out the brilliance of it.
My friend enjoyed the Pernankan-inspired cabbage parcel stuffed with field mushroom, leek and red onion, but it did not works for me. I felt that the cabbage parcel was too salty for my liking, and the leek and red onion combination did not really suit my tastebud.
Strawberry Panna Cotta ($12)
Vanilla panna cotta topped with strawberry jelly and chocolate ganache, compote of strawberries and crunchy nougat. The sweet vanilla panna cotta and chocolate ganache striked a good balance with the slightly sourish strawberry.The panna cotta itself was quite thick and rich with the fragrant vanilla taste.
The serving size was quite adequate, and the strawberry panna cotta was quite good, until i try the Oreo Semifreddo, which is in a different league all together.
Oreo Semifreddo ($12)
Oreo cookie semifreddo with frozen raspberry mousse and soft coffee scented meringue. This, is the first time i am having a semifreddo, and i am already regretting why have i not try this earlier. The Oreo semifreddo was made up of three different compositions, with the top layer being the soft coffee scented meringue, the middle layer the oreo cookie semifreddo, and the base the frozen raspberry mousse.
The oreo semifreddo really, was playing with our scents, the soft coffee meringue was more to the bitter side, while the oreo cookie ice cream added the sweet touch, and the frozen raspberry mousse completed with a chilly sourish zang. Trying the three different parts separately yielded nothing special, but it was when you united the three layers together then you realised what the oreo semifreddo was about.
Total bill is a princely $135 for 2 person, and this is lunch, not dinner. This ought to be the most expensive lunch i ever had, but all the same, the best lunch. The amount is madness really, two set lunches at $45 each, we topped up $10 for the duck confit, $15 for the cod, and factor in the 17% additional charges, do your sums!
The way that Chef Jusman uses a combination of many different ingredients in one dish is one thing, but to blend all the tastes is another matter all together. There are of course positive and negative things for everything, and there is no exception here too. The slightly negative aspect will be every dish is too flavorsome and it really takes time to absorb and digest what you eat. However you can choose to look at that from a positive angle too.
One thing i ought to mention as well, before this visit to Sage i made a few attempts to go actually but on those few occasions i were held up in the very last minute and couldn’t make it. Each time i called up Sage to make another new reservation, and each time Kimberly picked up the phone and answer my every inquiry politely and patiently. There was never a time where i felt that she was frustrated by this guy here calling up a few times to keep on postponing the reservation. For that i applause her for her sincere altitude, which can be genuinely felt across the phone.
I rave about Sage the restaurant, I praise the way Chef Jusman uses his ingredients and play with his food. I appreciate the manner which Kimberly treats her customers, genuine, friendly yet professional which makes you totally free at home. Not to mention the other serving staff at Sage which i find are quite knowledgeable and know when’s the right time to approach us and when not to disturb us. The combination of all the factors make Sage the restaurant a strong contender to ladyironchef’s best restaurant 2008.
I do believe that there are certainly better restaurants out there, Les Amis, Saint Pierre, Iggy just to name a few, are all stronghold in their own rights, but since i have not try the other restaurants, i can only comment on what i have tried. And for the restaurants which i have been to, i say Sage is one of the best, until i experience a better one then, Sage the restaurant it is!
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: