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Beauty & Wellness
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1=SGD 0.0587
Where can you find a quirky indie café, great comfort food at value-for-money price, relaxing corner to chill-out with your friends and at the same time give back to the society? The answer is Food for Thought, a social enterprise café that endeavours to generate profits to support and serve the community we live in.
Conveniently located opposite National Library, the café has been helmed by our own local boy, David Heng, who graduated from Le Cordon Bleu in Sydney, and used to work in Le St Julien, under the tutorage of Chef de Cuisine Julien Bompard.
Watermelon Mint & Lychee Sage Freeze ($4.00 each) was the initial order of the evening. HFB can’t think of any good reasons why one wouldn’t love these drinks. Simply revitalising!
Our appetiser falls under the “Premium Salad” category of Honey Mustard Smoked Duck Salad ($12.90). HFB simply dig the smoked duck. The thin layer of fats gave it a nice marbling chew and the meat is tender and succulent. The dish is also well complemented with orange slices. Can I also add that the serving is pretty generous?
What’s best to pair with a premium salad? It’s none other than a “Premium Sandwich” of Cuban Ham & Pork Steak ($10.90) – made of Grilled Gamon Ham, Hand-shred Slow-roasted Tender Pork Shoulder, topped with a sliced of Grilled Pineapple. Sandwiched within home-baked Foccacia Bread, drizzled with creamy mustard dressing and homemade barbecue sauce, this is definitely one of the better sandwiches that HFB has polished off. My only nitpick is that the mixture of over zealous dressing and sauce, coupled with the meat’s natural juices, cause the bread to turn soggy a little.
What’s a meal without its dessert? The Butterscotch Peach Crumble ($7.90) is created with bubbling homemade butterscotch sauce, filled with Peaches, Raisins and Roasted Almond Slices. Topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, HFB thought that the combination was a little too generous for it’s own good. Being a hot dessert, the ice cream tends to melt quickly into a mess. Perhaps a better option is to serve the ice cream on the side.
The Vanilla Caramel Crème Brulee was nothing extraordinary to say the least – the custard was smooth with a hint of caramel goodness all right, but the caramelised crust was disappointingly too thick for HFB. However, using fine icing sugar should eliminate the problem.
You can view all the photos here.
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My first impression was that this was trying to duplicate Sakae's Sushi's success without the computerised portion. However, it has a different feel to it.
There are less sushi to choose from the conveyor belt despite its bold claim on that there are more than x number of sushi to choose from.
Service was alright with immediate response. The food took a little longer than I expected even with an almost full house. My miso soup arrived before the plain rice that was ordered and when informed, it took about another 10 to 15 minutes to arrive. The soup was nearly half left.
When ordering ala carte, it's wiser not to take anything from the conveyor belt if one has a small stomach. The miso soup and rice with just one dessert was enough to fill me up.
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A Saturday afternoon, Dear and I went down to Bugis(Si Ma Lu) Guan Yi Temple to pray. After pray we decide to have our lunch near by and we choose to have Vegetarian food.
When we enter the place, the staff were friendly asking us what we will like to have and also intro us their today's special. After a few thought we decide to make order xing zhou bee hoon and ipoh hor fun.
Before making our payment we saw sushi and decide to buy it too. The friendly staff let us try his sample sushi to try if we like it. If not nice he wouldn't charge us money as his afraid we brought it, may not like it and throw it away. We tried it and we like it.
Xing Zhou Bee Hoon - $3
stir fried bee hoon with carrots, cabbages,vegs, bean spouts, spring onion and veg meat. It looks normal but it taste good as it light and not so oily.
Ipoh Hor Fun - $3
rice noodles on the base, with some vegs fish cake, mushrooms, carrots, bean spouts, vegs and some veg cirspy flaskes together with sauce. It taste good and light too.
Sushi Rolls - $3.20 (10 pieces)
Seaweeds wrap with sushi rice together with carrot, cucumber, beet root, veg meat and veg floss. It taste just like normal sushi just that it more healthy version. It light and good.
Both of us think that the foods is good. The place is air-condition, lots of people will came in for the foods too and the staff were really very friendly. It nice.
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Absinthe - a green alcoholic spirit which was more commonly known as the green fairy because of its purported hallucinogenic effects. It also happens to be the name of upmarket French restaurant jointly owned by the folks from OSO, restaurant manager Philippe Pau and chef Francois Mermilliod of Flutes at the Fort fame.
Sitting pretty at the end of a row of shophouses along Bukit Pasoh Road and playing immediate neighbour to OSO, Absinthe's green signboard, which is a nod to the greenish colour of the alcohol, greets you from a distance. The swanky interior boasts low ceilings and parquet flooring coupled with ambient ceiling lighting for a relaxing dining experience.
Complimentary Bread - When the first round of complimentary bread hit us, it was actually quite good. Crusty on the outside while retaining its softness and fluffiness on the inside. The second serving was akin to eating stones so I promptly gave up after a few mouthfuls.
Chilled Ravioli of Lobster with Lime Sabayon, Pink Guava Julienne and Shiso - Very interesting to say the least. This wasn't your typical ravioli. The skin was reminiscent of har gao and there were crunchy strands of guava nestled below it on a bed of fresh Boston lobster. The presence of fish roe gave it a nice salty taste while the lime sabayon was savoury with a hint of tartness. Very nice.
Pan-Fried Foie Gras with Warm Blinis and Wild Hibiscus Flower Compote - I thought that the foie gras was excellent. On par with what I had at Sage, if not better by a notch or two. Very well pan fried to a crisp on the outside yet melt in the mouth quivery on the inside with a hint of saltiness. The hibiscus flower compote provided a nice sourish dimension to the foie gras.
Hokkaido Scallop With Sea Urchin Emulsion and Small Herb Salad - Scallops never fail to entice me and Absinthe's rendition came with sea urchin emulsion, which was a first for me. The scallops were done tataki style, well seared on the outside but soft and relatively rare on the inside, which is a refreshing change from the usual seared scallops. I could make out a hint of fishiness amongst the predominantly salty emulsion. Overall another excellent dish.
Pork Belly - The pork belly was a special of the day and I requested this as my main instead of the lamb/fish option for my degustation and I am glad I did. The skin was very crispy, the fats were sinfully melt in your mouth and the meat fibrous with a generous dose of salt. And being pork belly, the ratio of fats to meat is a lot higher then other parts of the pig. Definitely not for the health conscious or faint hearted.
Crème Brûlée, Absinthe Sorbet - Apparently some of the ice parfaits didn't make it past the QC test that evening so I had a choice of crème brûlée instead. I wasn't too impressed by it though. The caramel layer was a little too overtorched, resulting in a rather burnt layer. On the upside, it was milky smooth with raisins in it. What I thought was interesting was the absinthe sorbet, which I had mistaken as lime sorbet at first sight. The sorbet had a very weak absinthe dosage, coming across more like liqurious with its herbal overtones.
The degustation cost $98++ but because I requested to change my main to the pork belly, it cost me another $6++, bringing the total to $122.41 nett. Sure it isn't cheap, but the excellent quality of food and service more then makes up for it. I will definitely be back, but this time I'm aiming the private dining room for 4pax within the wine cellar.
See all my pictures here.
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Please note that this is actually a food delivery service!
A third party delivery service that delivers food from food outlets that don’t! I chanced upon this website when I was surfing the web for food delivery. Have tried using their service 3 times now and while I’m happy with the fact that they deliver food on behalf of restaurants they don’t, I think their service does have room for improvement.
The first time I called them, it was on a weekday night at around 7pm. Food came about 45 min later. I had no qualms about that since it also happened to be around a festive season then.
The second time I called, it was about 6pm on a Sunday evening. I called at least 7 times and never once did I get anyone on the line even though the phone was ringing. The calls would ring till the line gets cut off automatically. Another 3 times, I couldn’t even get the call through at all! I gave up calling. There was no way I was going to get dinner on time.
The third time I called, it was one week after the previous time. I thought I’d try again since they really are the only ones who can deliver Thai Express to my place… This time someone answered the call almost immediately. I asked the call operator if deliveries could be ordered for in advance and delivered a few hours later. She said the food will be delivered between 7pm and 7.30pm. Satisfied with that timing, I called back again later with my order. 5 dishes from Thai Express turned out to be $53. Exclusive of all additional charges it would have been $40.50 only (!).
Apparently charges are met out in such a way:
Original bill $1 charge for orders under $40 / $3 for orders over $40 7% GST delivery charge depending on area 10% service charge.
I live in the east and delivery charges were $5 for me. And there is also a minimum order of $25.
I ordered my food at 5pm or so, thinking it would come at 7 – 7.30pm and thought that would have been a good timing, but the food was delivered at 6.30pm! It was way too early and by the time it was dinner time, the food turned cold already…
Not too happy with their delivery time but I guess delivery can never be at a time of your request... If not for the fact that they’re the only one doing such delivery, I doubt I’ll order from them again.
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I have a sweet tooth
Contrary to normal beliefs that guys don’t like sweet stuff, I, for one, however proved to be the complete opposite. I like things that make me happy; food that can cheer me up, the happily-ever-after fairytale-like stories, and naturally, sweet nibbles that I always crave for.
The lady took one, from the pile of mountain-stacked high; this was the one destined for me. Poking a hole into the bottom by tucking it in, she pressed the pump; the lovely custard swam into the tiny hole, just big enough, for everything to flow inside.
Dusted with some icing sugar; it was akin like putting on the make-up for the pretty. I was excited by the sticking in and out, with each done, I could barely hide my excitement. And she repeated this process, six times in total.
Do not, I repeat, Do not (note: in bold), share your sweets around, they are not meant to be shared. What’s the point of passing them around, only to feel slightly agonizing over the fact that you are going to have less for yourself?
Stop staring at my cream puff. They are mine, and mine alone.
This, will come down as, one of the toughest decision you will make in your life. Chocolate, vanilla, or strawberrry? And there’s the lovely eclair winking at me, the tiramisu trying to seduce me. It is a land, of temptations. I decided, like what seemed to take an eternity, to go for just half-a-dozen with the chocolate and vanilla flavours. The rest, are my excuses for coming back next time.
And I regretted just getting six.
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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Sometimes back, I was told that De Coder's Cafe opened a new outlet in Clementi. The boss is now a friend of mine after some past "commotions" and constructive feedback few of us gave after the unsatisfying meal on my birthday last year. But I'm happy to say that they've improved! Not to the extend that it turned their entire menu around to serve restaurant standard food, but the taste, variety and quality have surely become better.
I visited this new outlet of theirs at Clementi, located at the void deck of a very long flat. About 7-9 mins walk from the Clementi MRT station. The shop is spacious and has the same color scheme as their other outlet at Newton.
As its a neighbourhood, they're also catering for the people staying around with breakfast sets. And I was told this was included in their menu after hearing feedback from their regular customers living nearby. Thumbs up for them for responding to customers request. And I believe, they really want to make their food and service good for everyone.
Food tasted that day includes Nacho Chips & Cheese, Roasted Honey Wings, Americaya, Teriyaki Chicken Chop, Brownie with Vanilla Ice-Cream, Waffle with Gelato Ice Cream, Chocolate Decadence and Oreo Milkshake.
My friend and I love the cheese. It's better than those served at one of the cinema but not as thick as we would have liked it more. But definitely the yummy cheesy taste is there.
Next favorite that day was the Roasted Honey Wings. Roasted to the right texture and the skin is slightly crisp. Marination was good too as the honey has been absorbed into the meat too.
Servings of the main dishes were appetizing and attractive. The size is good to fill up most hungry stomachs.
The late lunch ended with lots of sweetness. Both of us love the waffles and the pistachio gelato ice-cream is of good quality too. I personally love it!
Overall the experience and food has improved. Guess they should already have made the same adjustments too at their Newton outlet. Perhaps if you'd been there before and didn't like the food then, give it another try. You might enjoy it more this time round.
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I've always meant to try out Chinese Box, a Chinese restaurant owned and operated by the same folks who holds the rights to Black Angus in Singapore. So when an opportunity to try out their food came knocking, I jumped at it.
Opened in January this year, Chinese Box is hidden in the far reaches of the NUS law campus at Cluny Road. Getting there can be quite a headache as there are no clear signs as to how to reach the restaurant even within the compounds of the school itself. Housed on the first level of an old restored colonial bungalow (Black Angus takes the second level), Chinese Box boasts a classical chinese interior with a dash of colonial grandeur. Think white washed pillars, overhanging oriental lamps and and red translucent curtains.
Soft Shell Crab Roll & Vietnamese Mango and Duck Roll - The soft shell crab roll was crisp with a fleeting taste of sourish mango. I couldn't quite make out any taste of soft shell crab though, as it was overwhelmed by the leafy taste of the greens. The mango and duck roll fared slightly better. Drizzled with sweet sauce, it wasn't as leafy as the crab roll and I could still make out a faint fowl taste and texture. Not exactly the best way to start of the meal in my humble opinion.
Poet Drunken Chicken & Taro Strings - Honestly its the first time I'm having taro strings so its quite a refreshing change from the norm. Soaked in Szechuan chilli oil, the strings tasted a little like vermicelli, albeit a little firmer and thicker, making for a nice chewy and fiery sensation. The drunken chicken was well marinated in Chinese wine but came across as a little too salty.
Chinese Box Signature Beijing Duck - Apparently, this is a signature dish of Chinese Box but I honestly thought that though palatable, it was no big deal. The skin was a wee bit crisp and served with meat, all wrapped up in a thin egg crepe, with some cucumber slices thrown in for the works. I have definitely eaten much better ones before.
TeoChew TaiPan Superior Thick Shark's Fin Soup - The broth was thick and savoury without coming across as nausea inducing. The single fin was of quite a decent size but its texture reminded me somewhat of vermicelli, which was rather unnerving. I could make out a mild ginger taste in it as well. Decent but could be better.
Pan Fried Cod Fish Fillets in Superior Soy Sauce - Well fried till crisp but lacked the natural sweetness or smoothness of cod. Probably the redeeming factor would be the sweet sauce that came drizzled atop, without which, the fish would have tasted bland.
Signature Golden Roast Duck & Teochew Five Spice Meats Roll - Another signature duck dish, this time served with a roll of wu xiang. The duck's skin was rather limp and certainly didn't impress while the wu xiang had a nice crisp exterior belying an overly soft interior that was lacking in robustness of taste.
Stir-Fried Taiwan Pea-shoots - The pea shoots aka dou miao (豆苗) was quite well fried - not too soft yet retaining enough juices and mildly salty.
Signature Golden Tofu Bar with Sauteed Mushrooms -
I think the word signature is used to death already. The word raises expectations a few notches and its cruel to be brought back down to reality. I like my tofu savoury with a hint of smokiness but Chinese Box's offering, though smooth, lacked just that. I liked the topping of mushrooms and dried scallops though.
Garlic Steamed Fresh Scallop w/ Tofu - A huge steamed scallop showered with lots of deep fried garlic (a personal favourite) and fresh chopped garlic, served on a bed of steamed tofu. The garlic provided a nice crunch and aroma but covered the sweetness, if any, of the scallop. The tofu was smooth but not exactly soft while the gravy had egg white in it. All in all, I thought that the idea was there, just that the execution and proportions could have been better.
Taro Paste"Orni" w/ Pumpkin & Gingko Nuts - I love this effort intensive traditional Teochew dessert and have been fortunate enough to try out quite a number of renditions in Singapore and overseas. My take on Chinese Box's variation? Smooth but not fragrant, probably due to the exclusion of lard in it. And the taste wasn't robust enough for my liking. On the upside, it wasn't too sweet, which was a good thing.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the management of Chinese Box for inviting me for this food tasting and to wish them well in their future endeavours.
See all my pictures here.
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Had a craving for burgers and heard about this new burger stall, Bergs, which apparently is the brainchild of 2 Aussies who had embarked on a futile attempt to find the perfect burger. Frustrated, they decided to open an eatery that served up fresh burgers cooked/made on the spot.
Situated within the nostalgic Far East Square, Bergs offers al fresco seating along the side walks and a not so cool air conditioned interior that reminded me of a school tuck shop with its wooden tables and matching chairs and an open kitchen (where you can see your burgers being made) to boot.
Chips - The burgers do not come with any sides so we started off with an order of chips, which came served in a doggy bag. The chips looked machine cut but were thick and probably weren't of the frozen variant. Firm on the outside with a light handful of salt yet soft and moist on the inside.
Crikey - There is an option of having your burger done in 2 sizes - small or Bergs. I naturally opted for the latter. 2 huge pieces of freshly grilled beef patties and 2 pieces of bacon, all with grill lines to show for it, rather elastic edam cheese, lettuce and evenly toasted sesame buns - Seriously, what's not to like? Well perhaps the overdoneness of the beef would be one. The patty didn't conceal any reddish tinges within and the exterior was a little too charred. But at least I could taste the mild uneveness of the meat. Did I mention that the burger was huge?
Alamack - This fish burger's name is a weird pun on the Malay word, alamak, which loosely translates to "oh my god". Funny names aside, the burger came with 2 chunks of fish which were lightly battered with crumbs and came across as tasty without being too fishy. Although this wasn't a Berg's size burger, it was still quite a handful.
Bergs is probably one of the more expensive fast food places I've ever tried, but portions are generous and service is great. Food quality could improve, especially for the beef patties but throw in an almost crowd free environment on weekday/weekend evenings and its a huge draw, especially for people who value peace and quiet, like yours truly. And to borrow Carl Junior's slogan about their burgers, "It's gonna get messy".
See all my pictures here.
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What better way to enjoy life like a gourmet than to go for buffets! And being in Singapore, aren't we just spoilt for choice, with all the wonderful buffets at the hotels like the Straits Kitchen, The Line etc. Having ever heard a little something about a buffet at Merchant Court, I thought this place would be worth a try. Further, at something like $26.90 per pax for lunch buffet, I thought it was one of the cheaper places with, what I thought was, good food. So off we go!
Upon reaching there, parking was convenient, perhaps because it was on a weekday. For dining in, we got parking rebate too. So free parking!
The Cafe was rather packed when we got there - 45 min before the close of the buffet line. Managed to get ourselves a table for two by the window, nearer to the main section of the buffet. The table wasn't properly laid when we were ushered in, and in a rush to give us our table, the waitress actually forgot to place all items on the table. When I asked her for it, she didn't quite understand me either, as her English wasn't very strong. Also, the table wasn't very clean, which I usually dislike as it didn't allow me to put my belongings on the table without dirtying it. Ice water was provided but wasn't regularly refilled even when the Cafe wasn't that busy (as people were gradually leaving the place). I was rather disappointed with their service, considering how I would expect much more from a hotel cafe.
Service is of course secondary at a dining place since what matters more is of course the food. Well, the food was not that amazing either. The buffet line had a spread of dessert, rice, dishes, noodles, japansese stuff, salad and soup. Sounds like a lot, but I think the desserts could have made a good spread on its own. In other words, I found the main course disappointing.
Rice and dishes
It was just a small variety of approximately 8 different dishes or so I think. Some peranakan and international dish e.g. roast duck slices, chicken, prawn (something like sweet and sour style), kang kong (that was actually pretty bad in my opinion), sea cucumber (over cooked) etc. And I thought I would be stuffing myself silly with that spread of food.
Noodles
It's just one Abalone Mushroom noodle. The soup tasted weird, noodles weren't boiled long enough hence was a little hard still. And there was something like Top Shell (I wouldn't believe that there would have been abalone) in the soup that tasted awful.
Salads, soup and others
Salad was nothing much, just a bit of greens with sauce. Soup.. if I did not recall wrongly, there was only one Crab Bisque that didn't smell appetizing (and so I didn't try, especially being so turned off by the rice and dishes). Sushi was bad - rice was too dry and sticky. There was one thing good though - it was something Japanese but I never figured what it was.
Desserts
It seems like this could have been the most sumptuous part of the buffet. Desserts of different styles. You have your cakes and fruits; you also have the hot soup desserts like Tang Yuan. There was also apple crumble and bread and butter pudding.
Up to this stage, the food began to seem rather boring to me and so I didn't have much appetite for more. But the bread and butter pudding and apple crumble was not too bad.
It is unfortunate the food wasn't up to standard. I don't think I will be going back for the lunch buffet anymore...
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