Ok I'm not an expert in Korean food, so bear with me.
Togi is a small restaurant at Mosque Street at Chinatown. It looks like a family restaurant style, has about 8-9 tables. Decor is simple, with a few photos of Korean celebrity with the owner. There were a few tables of Korean customers too, so... you all guess whether it means anything or not.
Ordered the Dol Sot Bibimbab (~$10) which you can choose beef, chicken or pork. They are quite generous on the ingredients which includes mushroom and eggs. Mixed with Korean chilli sauce, you have the most colourful mixture.
Then we had the ginseng chicken soup. You can see the whole stick of ginseng there, and the chicken has rice stuffed inside the body. Somehow the taste of ginseng isn't that thick, maybe they didn't boil the soup for long enough for the taste to come out.
The rice cake dumpling ramen is.. ok. The dumplings are made with fresh ingredients, although I think the ramen taste like instant noodles. The rice cake is special though.
Oh, they provide 6 refillable appetizers including kimchi, potato, anchovies...
First and foremost, I dont think the category is Italian as the food is not true Italian food but I cant find 'Western' under the category.
In any case, I first stumbled and had a meal here with my partner, Cartcart in December 2007
Spagetti Too is a relatively new cafe in IMM. The front counter was so colourful that it seemed as if it was beckoning us to come closer. The cafe had a halal certification.
Behind the counter was an enclosed area that diners could sit in, the decor was clean and simple.
We made our orders by taking the paper menu which is provided by the side of the table and mark a tick to the items that we wanted. And then we hand it to the front counter and then make our payments.
I was surprised to see that the food was affordable. We spent less than $25 for full set meals for the both of us.
I decided to order Chicken Chop, while Cartcart had Vegetarian Pasta. We had the Garlic Bread with Cheese ($1.70) as an appetizer.
Cart said that the bread was nicely cooked and perfectly crunchy. But I thought that it was a little bland.
We did not have to wait long for our food to arrive. By the time we are done with our appetizers, in about 10 - 15 mins, the helpful crew handed over our main meals.
I love my Chicken Chop with Mashed Potatoes ($6.50) alot. The meat is tender and juicy and was just a delight to savour. The sauce tasted more like black pepper sauce than mushroom sauce, but it was still really good. And the mashed potatoes were so smooth, so savory, so creamy. Yum!
Cartcart’s Vegetarian Pasta ($5.90) was more of a fusion dish than true Italian pasta, it was still cooked well enough with the pasta not being overcooked - something that he is very iffy about.
For dessert Cart had the Chocolate Brownie while I had the Apple Cobbler ($2.50 each) which we both loved.
It was both inviting and both had a huge dollop of ice cream on top of it. My only mini issue is that I dont like my apple cobbler to be heated up.
I think it was nicer to eat at room temperature or cold, unlike brownies that taste good heated up. But its not such a big deal, being such a value for money :)
If you are anywhere in Jurong, give this place a try. Good food, cheap prices. And for that, I'm giving this the good rating!
They dont have a website yet, but click on the link below to see the menu :-)
Mother's Day second week of the month of May, my family and I decided to buy a cake for my mum to celebrate with her after the dinner.
I went to White Sand outlet to purchase the cake as I plan to buy Coffee Cake for my mum as she love coffee but the outlet don't have the flavour so I choose mango cake for her.
Mango Tropicana - $24, Size 15cm X 15cm
Fruits topping, a layer of mango flavour jelly on top of the cake, mango mousse layered on the vanilla sponge in the middle and mango slice layered in between mango mousse, vanilla sponge on the base.
The cake were soft and light but the side of the cake were abit dry. Overall the cake was not bad. As my family always feel their cake were nice too.
Due to Mother's Day, My family decided to celebrate in advance as my mum don't really like to go out eat so we decided to order home delivery KFC.
My brother call in and choose the order of Mother's Day Meal, within 40 minutes the delivery has arrival. The food were hot when it has arrival.
Mother's Day Meal includes;
- 10 piece of Chicken
- 1 Large Popcorn Chicken
- 1 Large Whipped Potato
- 1 Med Coleslaw
- 1 Ladies Bag (*Free)
- My Spa package (*Free)
We request for 5 piece of Crispy and 5 piece of Orginal.
The crispy chicken were big and crispy but it wasn't spicy at all. A bit disappointed as I feel there didn't blend well with the spices.
The orginal chicken were blend of 11 herbs and spices. Sad to say I can't really taste the herbs and spices as I feel it kind of a bit oily.
The Popcorn chicken was ok. I feel nothing really special about it.
As for the wipped potato and coleslaw was still not bad as I have try from other fast food it was not really that good.
I still feel when I was young KFC taste much better.
Mother's Day Meal ($27.66), Delivery Charges ($1.87), GST (2.07)
I ate breakfast at night. Well, guess you must be very curious why did i have to eat breakfast only at night. haha. Yes, i did ate my breakfast at night and no, its not a typo error. This is because, delifrance now serves an all day breakfast.
They have a quite a few varieties of breakfast set to choose from. Upon looking through the menu a couple of time, we decided to order just the soup of the day and the all day breakfast set.
Basically, the soup of the day was corn soup. And true enough, there were couple of corn bits in the soup, but never did i realize that there alot more corn lying at the bottom of the soup. It was a pretty nice flavoured soup but somehow the corn bits tasted a bit hard.
Nevertheless, we hoped that the breakfast set would be much better. We were pretty alarmed when the breakfast set was placed before our eyes, as the food happen to be abit too much to our expectation. Basically this breakfast set consists of two pieces of rolled ham, two pieces of chicken sausage, baked beans, muffins and sunny side up eggs.
I simply loved their muffins, as these muffins were toasted to achieve the crispy outer layer and soft inner layer effect. (perhaps their bakery background has played a significant part in this). As for the rest of the ingredients, i find them abit too oily to my liking. But, taste wise, there can be considered as not too bad.
Overall, their food was pretty good but as for their service, they are definitely not attentive enough. One very good example will be that i have to raise my hand more than three times, just to have someone filled up my glass of iced water.
Have you ever been to a cafe that has more than 10 staffs in the shop and ready to serve and attend your needs anytime. Well, i literally enter into one of them. This cafe seems abit crowded when i stepped into them on a saturday noon. Thou crowded, i was being led to my seats pretty fast.
The menus as well as the iced water came pretty fast too. Well, guess the large number of staffs indeed bring up the efficiency of the service here. :)
Upon deciding the item to order from the beautifully printed menu, i decided to call upon one of the staffs. However, before i can raise up my hands to ask for assistance, one of the staffs had immediately came over. Till now, i am still wondering, just how could their staffs read my mind. Well, perhaps 'attentive' is a more appropriate word to describe them.
As for the food, have ordered the 'flower blossom'. Bascially this creation, consists of six different flavour scope of ice cream, fresh fruits, wafer basket and with some chocolate and passionfruit sauce. I simply loved the flexibility that one get in ordering each creation.
Take for example, for the case of flower blossom, i am allowed to choose each ice cream flavour on my own. Some of the flavours which i choose include the mango and passionfruit, strawberry, cookies and cream, macadamia, etc. Personally, i loved the macadamia nut ice cream the best, with a strong macadamia smell and together with the chopped macadamia nut, its simply the best combination of ice cream.
Overall, this dining experience was a pretty good and enjoyable one. Staffs were pretty attentive to each of their customers needs. One of them even ask us hows our food. The other kept refilling my plain water when it has become less than half a cup. These small little actions has definitely make my dining experience much more enjoyable....
Managed to book myself in for a special dessert tasting session at Rogues one weekday evening all thanks to its pastry chef, Gerard. During my previous visit to Rogues when it first opened a year and a half back, only lunch was served and come nightfall, the place transformed into a watering hole. However I'm pleased to note that such an arrangement has since changed and Rogues now serves food in the evening as well.
The interior was as I remembered it, opulent with plush sofas and floor to ceiling windows. A nice place to chill out after a day's work if I may say.
Starter - Warm Granny Smith Crumble, Chilled Cream of Mango Sago, Lychee Air, Cranberry Reduction - I liked the apple crumble quite a bit. Very crusty without being too hard or too sweet and filled with cubes of delicious Granny Smith apples. I didn't quite appreciate the lychee air though, tasteless and probably present solely for aesthetic purposes.
Most places do a very thick rendition of the cream of mango sago so it came as a mild surprise that this one was relatively smooth and a little runny, harbouring a tinge of sweetness within. However it will still render you nauseous if you take too much of it. Hence the shot glass serving.
Entree - Satin Pistachio Praline Mousse, Home Made Zabayone Gelato, Liquorise Orange Candy Shot, Summer Berry Coulis - I've never really been a fan of pistachio so the praline mousse didn't exactly wow me although I must admit that it was quite good. Creamily smooth with a heart of crunchy pistachio which had a texture similar to biscuit wafer.
Alcoholics would like the Liquorise Orange Candy but personally, I found the alcohol taste in the jelly too strong for my liking.
The zabayone gelato was a little tiny but rather pleasing with a sweet undertone. Just for the record, zabayone is a custard made by whipping egg whites with muscato and finishing it with a little cointreau.
Curtains - Warm Cuban Chocolate Cake, Heart of Hot Hazelnut Lava, Home Made Chocolate Mint Gelato, Hazelnut Truffle - Interestingly, Cuban chocolate was used to make the cake. Not that I could taste any difference from the usual valrhona ones though. The crust was a tad too dry but I liked the hazelnut lava, which came across as savoury instead of sweet - a deviation from the norm.
The mint gelato came served in a nice cubic glass and wasn't too strong on the mint taste. Appetising yet reserved. Not too shabby and that's coming from someone who has a moderate dislike for mint.
The hazelnut truffle came served atop a shot glass of sesame seeds with a slice of hardened candy acting as a divider. Honestly, the truffle looked and tasted like a piece of Ferraro Rocher chocolate, which was obviously nothing too spectacular.
In case you were wondering. No, the dessert tasting wasn't free. It came at a price. $50 for 2 pax to be exact, which might seem a tad too expensive for only 3 desserts and a drink. However I must point out that the desserts are of reasonably good quality and do not feature on the menu, which in some way, gives it a novelty status.
ps: I'm still thinking of the Chocolate Paradise I had during my first visit.
Hidden underground in the basement of Tampines Century square is a little restaurant serving up healthy organic food and still cashing in on the health craze that was ignited a few years ago. This alone should be testament that the restaurant serves food of a certain quality otherwise, it would have been removed from the food scene a long time ago. One fine afternoon, after passing by the restaurant countless times, i finally mastered enough drive to go in for a visit. Alone.
Now, most of the time, i do not care if the food is organic or not or if it was healthier if it was. In fact, as long as the taste of the food is good, i pretty much eat anything. The reason i was drawn into the restaurant this time is because i saw beef tenderloin at a rather attractive cost of only $14.90. Now that certainly looks like value for money. The meal itself is actually rather simple, nicely cut tenderloin steak with pasta done al dente with boiled broccoli and carrot with accompanying mushroom sauce. The steak itself is done medium rare and had a wonderful chewy texture with all the juices intact. The mushroom sauce that came with it was done well and not salty. All items in the dish was fresh and the greens were especially sweet. Nicely done.
Total bill for one person came up to $17.55 which is a little expensive but i still feel its worth the money.
For a place serving organic and healthy food. I'm surprised by the quality of the food. If anything, its definitely above average but the price of admission is also above average for a simply decorated joint. If they could get a place on their own while still maintaining their current price point, we'll have something special to look forward to.
Located at the rejuvenated Big Splash next to the likes of Starbucks, Old Town White coffee, Carl's Junior and 1twentysix, Mingles has somehow managed to differentiate itself from being overly casual nor being hinged on the fine dining bandwagon. What you do get, is a no frills dining area with a cosy atmosphere, excellent service and also value for money.
The interiors were well lit by the afternoon sun and strategically placed lighting for a cosy and appealing atmosphere. Air conditioning was optimal as it kept the heat out but didn't cool the food too quickly. Seating capacity looked to be somewhere between 50 to 60 people on cushioned chairs with a strong wooden back.
Pumpkin Soup - We ordered the set meal which basically consisted of a soup, a main course, ice cream and a choice of coffee, tea or soft drink. The cream of pumpkin soup came first and it tasted surprising to me. First of all, its sweet and creamy as pumpkin soup goes but there's also a rather strange hint of indian curry spices in the soup. As it turns out, it tastes like a cross between indian curry and pumpkin soup which is not unpleasant to me but too sweet for FZ.
Crispy Salmon with Couscous ($23.90) - The salmon came atop a bed of couscous which is basically coarsely ground wheat coated in wheat flour and steamed before serving. The salmon itself is well prepared and pan fried till its skin is fragrant and crispy. Its also worth noting that there is minimal fishy taste which is common in salmon as a whole while the meat was sweet with a rather nice layer of fats and juices left behind. Paired with sweet and slightly sourish mango sabayon and the salmon is a light treat for all lunch goers. The zucchini is basically done via steaming but has retained its crunchy nature for good chewy texture while lacking much taste. Overall, i'd still say the salmon was a good dish.
Crispy Chicken With Yogurt ($19.90) - FZ's order was the pan seared crispy chicken with mashed potatoes, cilantro yogurt and fennel salad. I didn't get to try the chicken so i'll just leave you with the picture with the closing comments that FZ did not finish the dish as he said the yogurt and mashed potato combination did not suit his tastes. The chicken he did finish however but he said it was average.
Lime Sorbet with Chocolate Indulgence - My ice cream was the lime sorbet and the chocolate indulgence ice cream. The lime sorbet was extremely sour, to the point that i had to cringe with each taste. The chocolate indulgence was pretty good and had a good balance of bitterness and sweetness in its creamy texture. Incidentally, they were using New Zealand ice cream here as well. Which is leagues better then the ones served on my visit to Miss U cafe.
Strawberry Cookies and Cream Ice cream - I didn't get to try this as well but it was all finished by the end of the conversation so i'll take it that is was acceptable at least.
Total bill for 2 people came up to $48.18 for a 3 course lunch. And there was no gst involved at all! Always a plus in my books.
Good service accompanied by a laid back atmosphere and a quiet indulging lunch definitely gives me strength to continue my journey foward in my work. The one thing about this place is that for a rather budget price during lunch, the food is surprisingly good (to me at least). I honestly wouldn't mind returning for lunch again sometime. A good place to visit.
Food is all about the heart and basically, when i make a promise, i remember it. Even if it takes a long time to fulfill, the one thing you can remember, is that eventually, i will pay my debt. It was a fine weekday night when i finally brought 2 of my colleagues to dinner which i've promised pretty much....half a year ago. The good thing is that they were totally happy with the idea while the bad news is that i'll be the one going broke after the little event. It was with this thought that i seeked out Miss U Cafe having heard quite a few good things about the place from friends and even from the media.
Featured on the television series Makan King, the place is touted as being homely, comfortable reasonably priced and have great service. An entire wall is dedicated to wine and there are also wine tasting sessions held to teach people how to appreciate good wine. Overall, the idea is novel and building a community based on food and wine is a great idea. The owner, Mr Phua Teck Kai opened the restaurant in 2004 and wanted customers to feel the same kind of happiness they feel while missing someone when they have his food. Interesting concept i might add which naturally raises expectations when i finally visited it.
Miss U Sampler ($18.80) - Seeing that we had a rather nice group of 4 people for dinner, i decided on a rather huge sampler dish for starters. The Miss U sampler came with a huge selection of finger food that its pretty much impossible to finish even for 4 people. The pros of the dish was that its huge, enough for up to 5 people to enjoy and basically goes wonderfully with beer. The cons are that its all fried, fries, bratwurst, calamari, fish and chicken along with a little asparagus and carrots for good measure. And since everything is fried, it tastes decent albeit the oil will get to you pretty soon. I'd recommend this for 5 to 6 people for a good balance.
Ribeye Steak In Black Pepper ($19.90), Ribeye Steak in Red Wine Sauce ($19.90) - Both Ribeye steaks were done to our order, the ribeye in red wine sauce being medium rare while the ribeye in black pepper sauce came well done. The thing about the ribeye is that mine, the one with red wine, came with quite a bit of fatty parts which i really couldn't eat while i didn't really taste much red wine in the sauce at all, just a mild hint at best. The meat was still tender and good though. The black pepper ribeye came well done and pretty tough to chew on but surprisingly good. The pepper sauce did overwhelm after a fashion but its still acceptable.
Salmon in Hollandaise Sauce ($17.90) - One of the highly recommended dishes on newspapers and commercial reviews was the salmon in Hollandaise sauce. Now this is a little embarrassing because i introduced my gf to have this since it was highly recommended but as it turned out, the salmon had the horrible fishy taste of not being cooked well. Either that of the fish wasn't fresh. The other problem was that i honestly couldn't taste anything of the sauce at all. Commercial review gone wrong i suppose.
Cheese Pizza With Mozzarella and Blue Cheese ($15.90) - This was ordered by one of my friends, Adrian san and basically, it turned out to be the best item that day. Simple as it sounds, the pizza was served real hot with up to 5 different cheese baked into it including blue cheese. What you get is an extremely tasty cheese pizza with a crispy crust and lots of cheese. Only for cheese lovers though, or it will be nausea inducing.
Apple of My Ice ($8.90) - As i've mentioned before, after going to coffee club, it is my prerogative to order apple crumbles at all establishments as long as they serve them to find something that may be better. If you have read my reviews, you will know that even Jacob's, which is a great restaurant btw, did not serve very good apple crumbles, which is why i was totally surprised when Miss U cafe served even worse apple crumbles. The version at Jacob's was at least warm while this version badly decorated and tasted stale if anything. The ice cream was another killer. There were chunky bits on it that suggest that the ice cream has been kept for too long. And such a waste too because they were supposed to be using New Zealand ice cream. What i had was a far cry from the quality that brand personifies. Horrible.
Banana Speed ($8.90) - Adrian san ordered this and i have to say, lightning doesn't strike twice. This one was as bad as the apple crumble and since the ice cream has already been beaten down in freshness and taste and since banana splits are generally normal tasting items if not for the ice cream. This version was as horrible as the crumble...if not worse.
Sinful Treats ($8.90) - Tons of whip cream, some marshmallows, a little sprinkles and some cornflakes still did not manage to save this dessert from being mediocre. As the ice cream alone is the weak link, everything falls apart. To sum it up, this is the first place where ALL the desserts were just bad. I simply cannot believe that they are using New Zealand ice cream to make their desserts. Its just nowhere near the same quality and more like King's ice cream instead.
The bill for 4 turned out to be $130.57 for 4 people. Not much if you split it up but still not worth the money even if you do. The overall quality of food is average at best.
The mains were actually decent but the dessert and starter really ticked me off. Also, the seats were not as comfortable as they seem and even with my reservation, we got a rather small table which we could hardly fit all our cutlery on. The waiters were also non chalant to our situation and kindly ignored it. The other thing was how slowly water was filled up and how can't be bothered the waiters looked when we ordered. Service definitely needs to improve and also, for the love of god, change the ice cream. Will i return? Pretty much never again if things remain as they are.
1=SGD 0.0587
Ok I'm not an expert in Korean food, so bear with me.
Togi is a small restaurant at Mosque Street at Chinatown. It looks like a family restaurant style, has about 8-9 tables. Decor is simple, with a few photos of Korean celebrity with the owner. There were a few tables of Korean customers too, so... you all guess whether it means anything or not.
Ordered the Dol Sot Bibimbab (~$10) which you can choose beef, chicken or pork. They are quite generous on the ingredients which includes mushroom and eggs. Mixed with Korean chilli sauce, you have the most colourful mixture.
Then we had the ginseng chicken soup. You can see the whole stick of ginseng there, and the chicken has rice stuffed inside the body. Somehow the taste of ginseng isn't that thick, maybe they didn't boil the soup for long enough for the taste to come out.
The rice cake dumpling ramen is.. ok. The dumplings are made with fresh ingredients, although I think the ramen taste like instant noodles. The rice cake is special though.
Oh, they provide 6 refillable appetizers including kimchi, potato, anchovies...
Maybe it's worth checking out.
Rating given:
First and foremost, I dont think the category is Italian as the food is not true Italian food but I cant find 'Western' under the category.
In any case, I first stumbled and had a meal here with my partner, Cartcart in December 2007
Spagetti Too is a relatively new cafe in IMM. The front counter was so colourful that it seemed as if it was beckoning us to come closer. The cafe had a halal certification.
Behind the counter was an enclosed area that diners could sit in, the decor was clean and simple.
We made our orders by taking the paper menu which is provided by the side of the table and mark a tick to the items that we wanted. And then we hand it to the front counter and then make our payments.
I was surprised to see that the food was affordable. We spent less than $25 for full set meals for the both of us.
I decided to order Chicken Chop, while Cartcart had Vegetarian Pasta. We had the Garlic Bread with Cheese ($1.70) as an appetizer.
Cart said that the bread was nicely cooked and perfectly crunchy. But I thought that it was a little bland.
We did not have to wait long for our food to arrive. By the time we are done with our appetizers, in about 10 - 15 mins, the helpful crew handed over our main meals.
I love my Chicken Chop with Mashed Potatoes ($6.50) alot. The meat is tender and juicy and was just a delight to savour. The sauce tasted more like black pepper sauce than mushroom sauce, but it was still really good. And the mashed potatoes were so smooth, so savory, so creamy. Yum!
Cartcart’s Vegetarian Pasta ($5.90) was more of a fusion dish than true Italian pasta, it was still cooked well enough with the pasta not being overcooked - something that he is very iffy about.
For dessert Cart had the Chocolate Brownie while I had the Apple Cobbler ($2.50 each) which we both loved.
It was both inviting and both had a huge dollop of ice cream on top of it. My only mini issue is that I dont like my apple cobbler to be heated up.
I think it was nicer to eat at room temperature or cold, unlike brownies that taste good heated up. But its not such a big deal, being such a value for money :)
If you are anywhere in Jurong, give this place a try. Good food, cheap prices. And for that, I'm giving this the good rating!
They dont have a website yet, but click on the link below to see the menu :-)
http://rinaz.net/2008/01/cart3/
Rating given:
Mother's Day second week of the month of May, my family and I decided to buy a cake for my mum to celebrate with her after the dinner.
I went to White Sand outlet to purchase the cake as I plan to buy Coffee Cake for my mum as she love coffee but the outlet don't have the flavour so I choose mango cake for her.
Mango Tropicana - $24, Size 15cm X 15cm
Fruits topping, a layer of mango flavour jelly on top of the cake, mango mousse layered on the vanilla sponge in the middle and mango slice layered in between mango mousse, vanilla sponge on the base.
The cake were soft and light but the side of the cake were abit dry. Overall the cake was not bad. As my family always feel their cake were nice too.
Rating given:
Due to Mother's Day, My family decided to celebrate in advance as my mum don't really like to go out eat so we decided to order home delivery KFC.
My brother call in and choose the order of Mother's Day Meal, within 40 minutes the delivery has arrival. The food were hot when it has arrival.
Mother's Day Meal includes;
- 10 piece of Chicken
- 1 Large Popcorn Chicken
- 1 Large Whipped Potato
- 1 Med Coleslaw
- 1 Ladies Bag (*Free)
- My Spa package (*Free)
We request for 5 piece of Crispy and 5 piece of Orginal.
The crispy chicken were big and crispy but it wasn't spicy at all. A bit disappointed as I feel there didn't blend well with the spices.
The orginal chicken were blend of 11 herbs and spices. Sad to say I can't really taste the herbs and spices as I feel it kind of a bit oily.
The Popcorn chicken was ok. I feel nothing really special about it.
As for the wipped potato and coleslaw was still not bad as I have try from other fast food it was not really that good.
I still feel when I was young KFC taste much better.
Mother's Day Meal ($27.66), Delivery Charges ($1.87), GST (2.07)
Total Bill: $31.60
Rating given:
I ate breakfast at night. Well, guess you must be very curious why did i have to eat breakfast only at night. haha. Yes, i did ate my breakfast at night and no, its not a typo error. This is because, delifrance now serves an all day breakfast.
They have a quite a few varieties of breakfast set to choose from. Upon looking through the menu a couple of time, we decided to order just the soup of the day and the all day breakfast set.
Basically, the soup of the day was corn soup. And true enough, there were couple of corn bits in the soup, but never did i realize that there alot more corn lying at the bottom of the soup. It was a pretty nice flavoured soup but somehow the corn bits tasted a bit hard.
Nevertheless, we hoped that the breakfast set would be much better. We were pretty alarmed when the breakfast set was placed before our eyes, as the food happen to be abit too much to our expectation. Basically this breakfast set consists of two pieces of rolled ham, two pieces of chicken sausage, baked beans, muffins and sunny side up eggs.
I simply loved their muffins, as these muffins were toasted to achieve the crispy outer layer and soft inner layer effect. (perhaps their bakery background has played a significant part in this). As for the rest of the ingredients, i find them abit too oily to my liking. But, taste wise, there can be considered as not too bad.
Overall, their food was pretty good but as for their service, they are definitely not attentive enough. One very good example will be that i have to raise my hand more than three times, just to have someone filled up my glass of iced water.
Rating given:
Have you ever been to a cafe that has more than 10 staffs in the shop and ready to serve and attend your needs anytime. Well, i literally enter into one of them. This cafe seems abit crowded when i stepped into them on a saturday noon. Thou crowded, i was being led to my seats pretty fast.
The menus as well as the iced water came pretty fast too. Well, guess the large number of staffs indeed bring up the efficiency of the service here. :)
Upon deciding the item to order from the beautifully printed menu, i decided to call upon one of the staffs. However, before i can raise up my hands to ask for assistance, one of the staffs had immediately came over. Till now, i am still wondering, just how could their staffs read my mind. Well, perhaps 'attentive' is a more appropriate word to describe them.
As for the food, have ordered the 'flower blossom'. Bascially this creation, consists of six different flavour scope of ice cream, fresh fruits, wafer basket and with some chocolate and passionfruit sauce. I simply loved the flexibility that one get in ordering each creation.
Take for example, for the case of flower blossom, i am allowed to choose each ice cream flavour on my own. Some of the flavours which i choose include the mango and passionfruit, strawberry, cookies and cream, macadamia, etc. Personally, i loved the macadamia nut ice cream the best, with a strong macadamia smell and together with the chopped macadamia nut, its simply the best combination of ice cream.
Overall, this dining experience was a pretty good and enjoyable one. Staffs were pretty attentive to each of their customers needs. One of them even ask us hows our food. The other kept refilling my plain water when it has become less than half a cup. These small little actions has definitely make my dining experience much more enjoyable....
Rating given:
Managed to book myself in for a special dessert tasting session at Rogues one weekday evening all thanks to its pastry chef, Gerard. During my previous visit to Rogues when it first opened a year and a half back, only lunch was served and come nightfall, the place transformed into a watering hole. However I'm pleased to note that such an arrangement has since changed and Rogues now serves food in the evening as well.
The interior was as I remembered it, opulent with plush sofas and floor to ceiling windows. A nice place to chill out after a day's work if I may say.
Starter - Warm Granny Smith Crumble, Chilled Cream of Mango Sago, Lychee Air, Cranberry Reduction - I liked the apple crumble quite a bit. Very crusty without being too hard or too sweet and filled with cubes of delicious Granny Smith apples. I didn't quite appreciate the lychee air though, tasteless and probably present solely for aesthetic purposes.
Most places do a very thick rendition of the cream of mango sago so it came as a mild surprise that this one was relatively smooth and a little runny, harbouring a tinge of sweetness within. However it will still render you nauseous if you take too much of it. Hence the shot glass serving.
Entree - Satin Pistachio Praline Mousse, Home Made Zabayone Gelato, Liquorise Orange Candy Shot, Summer Berry Coulis - I've never really been a fan of pistachio so the praline mousse didn't exactly wow me although I must admit that it was quite good. Creamily smooth with a heart of crunchy pistachio which had a texture similar to biscuit wafer.
Alcoholics would like the Liquorise Orange Candy but personally, I found the alcohol taste in the jelly too strong for my liking.
The zabayone gelato was a little tiny but rather pleasing with a sweet undertone. Just for the record, zabayone is a custard made by whipping egg whites with muscato and finishing it with a little cointreau.
Curtains - Warm Cuban Chocolate Cake, Heart of Hot Hazelnut Lava, Home Made Chocolate Mint Gelato, Hazelnut Truffle - Interestingly, Cuban chocolate was used to make the cake. Not that I could taste any difference from the usual valrhona ones though. The crust was a tad too dry but I liked the hazelnut lava, which came across as savoury instead of sweet - a deviation from the norm.
The mint gelato came served in a nice cubic glass and wasn't too strong on the mint taste. Appetising yet reserved. Not too shabby and that's coming from someone who has a moderate dislike for mint.
The hazelnut truffle came served atop a shot glass of sesame seeds with a slice of hardened candy acting as a divider. Honestly, the truffle looked and tasted like a piece of Ferraro Rocher chocolate, which was obviously nothing too spectacular.
In case you were wondering. No, the dessert tasting wasn't free. It came at a price. $50 for 2 pax to be exact, which might seem a tad too expensive for only 3 desserts and a drink. However I must point out that the desserts are of reasonably good quality and do not feature on the menu, which in some way, gives it a novelty status.
ps: I'm still thinking of the Chocolate Paradise I had during my first visit.
See all my pictures here.
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Hidden underground in the basement of Tampines Century square is a little restaurant serving up healthy organic food and still cashing in on the health craze that was ignited a few years ago. This alone should be testament that the restaurant serves food of a certain quality otherwise, it would have been removed from the food scene a long time ago. One fine afternoon, after passing by the restaurant countless times, i finally mastered enough drive to go in for a visit. Alone.
Now, most of the time, i do not care if the food is organic or not or if it was healthier if it was. In fact, as long as the taste of the food is good, i pretty much eat anything. The reason i was drawn into the restaurant this time is because i saw beef tenderloin at a rather attractive cost of only $14.90. Now that certainly looks like value for money.
The meal itself is actually rather simple, nicely cut tenderloin steak with pasta done al dente with boiled broccoli and carrot with accompanying mushroom sauce. The steak itself is done medium rare and had a wonderful chewy texture with all the juices intact. The mushroom sauce that came with it was done well and not salty. All items in the dish was fresh and the greens were especially sweet. Nicely done.
Total bill for one person came up to $17.55 which is a little expensive but i still feel its worth the money.
For a place serving organic and healthy food. I'm surprised by the quality of the food. If anything, its definitely above average but the price of admission is also above average for a simply decorated joint. If they could get a place on their own while still maintaining their current price point, we'll have something special to look forward to.
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Located at the rejuvenated Big Splash next to the likes of Starbucks, Old Town White coffee, Carl's Junior and 1twentysix, Mingles has somehow managed to differentiate itself from being overly casual nor being hinged on the fine dining bandwagon. What you do get, is a no frills dining area with a cosy atmosphere, excellent service and also value for money.
The interiors were well lit by the afternoon sun and strategically placed lighting for a cosy and appealing atmosphere. Air conditioning was optimal as it kept the heat out but didn't cool the food too quickly. Seating capacity looked to be somewhere between 50 to 60 people on cushioned chairs with a strong wooden back.
Pumpkin Soup - We ordered the set meal which basically consisted of a soup, a main course, ice cream and a choice of coffee, tea or soft drink. The cream of pumpkin soup came first and it tasted surprising to me. First of all, its sweet and creamy as pumpkin soup goes but there's also a rather strange hint of indian curry spices in the soup. As it turns out, it tastes like a cross between indian curry and pumpkin soup which is not unpleasant to me but too sweet for FZ.
Crispy Salmon with Couscous ($23.90) - The salmon came atop a bed of couscous which is basically coarsely ground wheat coated in wheat flour and steamed before serving. The salmon itself is well prepared and pan fried till its skin is fragrant and crispy. Its also worth noting that there is minimal fishy taste which is common in salmon as a whole while the meat was sweet with a rather nice layer of fats and juices left behind. Paired with sweet and slightly sourish mango sabayon and the salmon is a light treat for all lunch goers. The zucchini is basically done via steaming but has retained its crunchy nature for good chewy texture while lacking much taste. Overall, i'd still say the salmon was a good dish.
Crispy Chicken With Yogurt ($19.90) - FZ's order was the pan seared crispy chicken with mashed potatoes, cilantro yogurt and fennel salad. I didn't get to try the chicken so i'll just leave you with the picture with the closing comments that FZ did not finish the dish as he said the yogurt and mashed potato combination did not suit his tastes. The chicken he did finish however but he said it was average.
Lime Sorbet with Chocolate Indulgence - My ice cream was the lime sorbet and the chocolate indulgence ice cream. The lime sorbet was extremely sour, to the point that i had to cringe with each taste. The chocolate indulgence was pretty good and had a good balance of bitterness and sweetness in its creamy texture. Incidentally, they were using New Zealand ice cream here as well. Which is leagues better then the ones served on my visit to Miss U cafe.
Strawberry Cookies and Cream Ice cream - I didn't get to try this as well but it was all finished by the end of the conversation so i'll take it that is was acceptable at least.
Total bill for 2 people came up to $48.18 for a 3 course lunch. And there was no gst involved at all! Always a plus in my books.
Good service accompanied by a laid back atmosphere and a quiet indulging lunch definitely gives me strength to continue my journey foward in my work. The one thing about this place is that for a rather budget price during lunch, the food is surprisingly good (to me at least). I honestly wouldn't mind returning for lunch again sometime. A good place to visit.
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Food is all about the heart and basically, when i make a promise, i remember it. Even if it takes a long time to fulfill, the one thing you can remember, is that eventually, i will pay my debt. It was a fine weekday night when i finally brought 2 of my colleagues to dinner which i've promised pretty much....half a year ago. The good thing is that they were totally happy with the idea while the bad news is that i'll be the one going broke after the little event. It was with this thought that i seeked out Miss U Cafe having heard quite a few good things about the place from friends and even from the media.
Featured on the television series Makan King, the place is touted as being homely, comfortable reasonably priced and have great service. An entire wall is dedicated to wine and there are also wine tasting sessions held to teach people how to appreciate good wine. Overall, the idea is novel and building a community based on food and wine is a great idea. The owner, Mr Phua Teck Kai opened the restaurant in 2004 and wanted customers to feel the same kind of happiness they feel while missing someone when they have his food. Interesting concept i might add which naturally raises expectations when i finally visited it.
Miss U Sampler ($18.80) - Seeing that we had a rather nice group of 4 people for dinner, i decided on a rather huge sampler dish for starters. The Miss U sampler came with a huge selection of finger food that its pretty much impossible to finish even for 4 people. The pros of the dish was that its huge, enough for up to 5 people to enjoy and basically goes wonderfully with beer. The cons are that its all fried, fries, bratwurst, calamari, fish and chicken along with a little asparagus and carrots for good measure. And since everything is fried, it tastes decent albeit the oil will get to you pretty soon. I'd recommend this for 5 to 6 people for a good balance.
Ribeye Steak In Black Pepper ($19.90), Ribeye Steak in Red Wine Sauce ($19.90) - Both Ribeye steaks were done to our order, the ribeye in red wine sauce being medium rare while the ribeye in black pepper sauce came well done. The thing about the ribeye is that mine, the one with red wine, came with quite a bit of fatty parts which i really couldn't eat while i didn't really taste much red wine in the sauce at all, just a mild hint at best. The meat was still tender and good though. The black pepper ribeye came well done and pretty tough to chew on but surprisingly good. The pepper sauce did overwhelm after a fashion but its still acceptable.
Salmon in Hollandaise Sauce ($17.90) - One of the highly recommended dishes on newspapers and commercial reviews was the salmon in Hollandaise sauce. Now this is a little embarrassing because i introduced my gf to have this since it was highly recommended but as it turned out, the salmon had the horrible fishy taste of not being cooked well. Either that of the fish wasn't fresh. The other problem was that i honestly couldn't taste anything of the sauce at all. Commercial review gone wrong i suppose.
Cheese Pizza With Mozzarella and Blue Cheese ($15.90) - This was ordered by one of my friends, Adrian san and basically, it turned out to be the best item that day. Simple as it sounds, the pizza was served real hot with up to 5 different cheese baked into it including blue cheese. What you get is an extremely tasty cheese pizza with a crispy crust and lots of cheese. Only for cheese lovers though, or it will be nausea inducing.
Apple of My Ice ($8.90) - As i've mentioned before, after going to coffee club, it is my prerogative to order apple crumbles at all establishments as long as they serve them to find something that may be better.
If you have read my reviews, you will know that even Jacob's, which is a great restaurant btw, did not serve very good apple crumbles, which is why i was totally surprised when Miss U cafe served even worse apple crumbles. The version at Jacob's was at least warm while this version badly decorated and tasted stale if anything. The ice cream was another killer. There were chunky bits on it that suggest that the ice cream has been kept for too long. And such a waste too because they were supposed to be using New Zealand ice cream. What i had was a far cry from the quality that brand personifies. Horrible.
Banana Speed ($8.90) - Adrian san ordered this and i have to say, lightning doesn't strike twice. This one was as bad as the apple crumble and since the ice cream has already been beaten down in freshness and taste and since banana splits are generally normal tasting items if not for the ice cream. This version was as horrible as the crumble...if not worse.
Sinful Treats ($8.90) - Tons of whip cream, some marshmallows, a little sprinkles and some cornflakes still did not manage to save this dessert from being mediocre. As the ice cream alone is the weak link, everything falls apart. To sum it up, this is the first place where ALL the desserts were just bad. I simply cannot believe that they are using New Zealand ice cream to make their desserts. Its just nowhere near the same quality and more like King's ice cream instead.
The bill for 4 turned out to be $130.57 for 4 people. Not much if you split it up but still not worth the money even if you do. The overall quality of food is average at best.
The mains were actually decent but the dessert and starter really ticked me off. Also, the seats were not as comfortable as they seem and even with my reservation, we got a rather small table which we could hardly fit all our cutlery on. The waiters were also non chalant to our situation and kindly ignored it. The other thing was how slowly water was filled up and how can't be bothered the waiters looked when we ordered. Service definitely needs to improve and also, for the love of god, change the ice cream. Will i return? Pretty much never again if things remain as they are.
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