I love this outlet of Tully's Coffee, though I am not so much of a coffee drinker, i love the service, the environment, the atmosphere, the smell of fresh roasted beans in the air, the bustle, the sitting in the middle of nowhere and most of all the super duper yummy cookies....
The cookies i must say is better then many I have eaten and it sure goes well with a good hot cuppa something.... Make sure you get them to warm up the cookie for you.. I especially love the chocolate chip flavoured cookie... When its warm, its soft and chewy and the gooey chocolate just simply melts off your finger..... Super yummy but simply messy..... Good thing, you can have as many paper napkins as you wish... Feeling too sweet.. have a cuppa sky juice..... these days... we don't get many coffee places serving free flow ice water.. i mean... whats the Fuss?? Its only tap water.... most of it.. you get for free... it simply drops of the sky.....
While i was there enjoying my lazy saturday RELAX ONE CORNER afternoon, I overhead a conversation... which I think is good information to share here... Let me tell you how friendly Singaporeans are.........
I spot the GM of the franchise talking to a complete stranger but introduced by one of his normal staff as a regular to this joint.. and I was trully impressed by his passion in what he manages.....
There was this and that.. I was evesdropping.. so i kinda missed out some information.. but apparently... the goal of Tully's Coffee is to stick to the aroma, taste and preparation methods of Settle style where they originated from. Most importantly i think is that their beans are all hand roasted... and that does make a difference because, the hand roasted beans unlike the machine roasted ones have got residual oil in them in which when pressed.... emits this HEAVEN ON EARTH kinda Aroma... on top of that.. their coffee machine is a super luxurious hand made and hand assembled one which is supposedly produces better coffee then the regular machines....
I love the free WIFI... Yar you heard me.. its free.. no registration or log in or being kicked from one website to another... and they also have power points everywhere for you to charge your laptops, phones, ipads, whatever you want.. Free Flow... Free of charge....
I've brought my heavy addicted coffee drinking friend to the outlet.... and according to him.. always try the coffee of the day..... apparently... he is very happy what the brew in his cup.. and boy... their cups are huge.... don't believe me....? go for the large....
Was staying in nearby Conrad for the weekend but didn't fancy anything too elaborate for dinner so settled for a quick meal at Space @ My Humble House at the Esplanade.
Playing neighbour to it's more illustrious sibling, My Humble House (which by the way didn't quite impress me on my previous visit), Space has a nice modern, minimalistic vibe to it - definitely not some place you would expect to find local favourites like chicken rice, hokkien mee and the likes. But at a premium of course.
Mama Leong's Chicken Rice - Apparently this humble dish was named after Sam Leong's mum. And I thought it was good - tender, moist and seeping with flavour. You have the option of ordering an entire chicken ($32), half a chicken ($18) and single portion @ $12. Rice is an additional $1/head and though fragrant and seemingly prudent with the oil, lacked the fluffiness that I would have liked.
Fried Radish Cake with Freshly-peeled Crabmeat, Whole Prawns, Juicy Scallops and Egg - I loved the extravagance of this dish - huge prawns and scallops coupled with copious amount of egg. However it lacked the slightly charred taste and came across as bland. Somehow everything just didn't seem to meld together. The radish cake wasn't exactly smooth and silky either.
A quick meal of local dishes cost us to the tune of $48 (inclusive of a small cup of watermleon juice @ $6). The chicken rice was good but the radish cake only made it to average based on the merit of the prawns and scallops; without which, it would have languished at the bottom half of the scale. Service was decent but hardly a selling point.
I am so much reminded of this place by its MASCOT.. the huge chicken in a singlet and shorts... Though cute looking, it is a pretty hedious mascot.. judging by the fact that they serve mostly chicken....
I pretty like the promotions they offer as well as the variety of set lunches. Sitting by the glass restaurant, everybody could practically see whatever you are doing inside.. which means.. no shaking of legs, no digging of nose, no licking your fingers and cleaning them on the table cloth....
Food is pretty yummy.... I especially love the FRIED CHICKEN in OLIVE oil... I thought it made eating fried chicken less sinful, now that instead of palm oil, olive oil was used. Every mains serve with 2 choice of side dishes.. choose from the ever favourite potato sides to healthy vege sides... in anyway, they are sure to make you fat.... as the calories are all in the dressings.....
But i guess, business is tough at the outlet as they face various competitions from the many other restaurants located here... As such, they are no more here.... If you really crave for that crunchy, yummy, succulent chicken set lunch in that oh so affordable price and the all the time understaffed no hue you service..... please head on to the outlet at Central Mall @ ClarkeQuay....
I hope that chicken Mascot is still around coz it looks super cute...... it makes eating much more fun......
We ordered simple and affordable dishes as we know we could never go wrong with our selection.
1. Hot Plate Tofu ( Medium size $15.90 ) – The dish came with a sizzling sound and indeed, the silky tofu was embedded between the gravy, preserved vegetables, minced meat, mushrooms and egg. As a whole, this dish was well presented and being slightly spicy, it was just good for our taste buds.
2. Coffee Pork Ribs ( Medium size $15.90 ) – The meat though well marinated lacked the coffee flavor and we felt that the meat was also a bit dry and tough to chew.
3. Shrimp Paste Chicken Wings (Medium size $15.90) – This ordinary dish could be found in most hawker centers or coffee shops. Though easy to make, the ones we tasted here do not have that pungent shrimp paste. The outer skins are fried crispy but the meat is moist and tender.
4. Stewed Pork Belly served with Steamed Bun ( $2.20 per piece ) – This signature dish was the best that we have tasted. Each stewed meat came with one layer of fat followed by one layer of lean meat. Being health conscious, we were contemplating whether we should remove the in-between fats but their elderly staff encouraged us to try without removing the fat. True enough, it was a melt-in-your-mouth feeling. For the first time, all of us woo...ar..shiok!! Surprisingly, we could not differentiate the meat and the fats when we took the first bite.
This place also serves different kinds of double boiled soups like pork ribs with water cress, black chicken with spare ribs and ginseng,etc, Besides these nourishing soups, it also offers some interesting flower teas like chrysanthemum, jasmine, osmanthus, rose. It is indeed refreshing to drink these aromatic floral teas after all the fried and oily food.
Overall, we were quite happy with the food and most importantly, prices must be reasonable if Paradise Inn wants to attract more families to dine there.
We were at Robertson Quay on a Saturday afternoon and we were hungry. Brasserie Wolf beckoned with its crowd free premises so we settled for it.
It was a warm day and the sufficiently cooled interior provided a nice respite from the heat and away from the al fresco crowds that littered the establishment next door. The setting is decidedly modern with splashes of retro, depending on which area you sit at.
Traditional French Onion Soup - I liked the richness of the soup but did find it a tad too sweet. The gruyere cheese and toast was great though, with its gooey-ness and mildly charred undertones. Great way to warm up the belly! And if you noticed, the serving bowl is in the shape of a heart. Perfect for those romantic dinners eh?
Traditional Nicoise Salad - The aesthetics were pleasing and the greens were fresh and crunchy. But I didn't quite take to this dish due to my personal opinion that the grilled tuna was overly fishy. I did like the texture though.
Pork Belly - "Extremely fatty" was the first thought that popped into my mind when I had a glimpse of the pork belly. Never mind that it was tender or that the sauce gave it a unique oriental feel (tasted like it had hoisin sauce in it). I just couldn't bring myself to stomach (and savour) that proportionally imbalanced piece of pork, not with the skin mildly crispy and sticking to my teeth with every bite.
USDA Prime Sirloin - The sirloin was more well done than medium well and thus the meat came out a little too dry and tough for my liking. But I did like the natural bovine flavours and the pinch of salt seasoning. What I particularly liked about this dish was the shoestring (irony!) fries and the dip. Free of any rancid oil taste and dipped in creamy goodness with nuances of spring onion - tasty!
Steamed Toffee and Date Pudding - I fell in love with this dessert at Marmalade Pantry @ Palais some years back. And seeing that Brasserie Wolf served this dessert as well, I decided to take my chances. It wasn't half as good as the one as I had at Marmalade but it was decent. The pudding was much less compact and had a spongy, cake like texture. Topped with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream, the whole combination wasn't overly sweet but sans the toffee sauce, it was reminiscent of steamed cupcakes (发糕). Well, the taste at least.
With the palate discount of 50%, 2 of us forked out close to $70 for a filling but not entirely gratifying lunch. Food quality hovered a notch above average but service was decent. Coupled with the lack of crowds, I might just be enticed to pop by again for a quiet meal if I happen to be in the vicinity.
This outlet of Swensen's cafe is where I hang out with my friend during my student days.... I really love the old location which is a lone building just facing the MRT Station Plateform. I could remember the days of tucking into the EARTHQUAKE while watching the people waiting for the train on the plateform, sweat on their brows, thirsty and fanning themselves on a hot day. The view was fabulous.... many couples love to sit near the ceiling to floor window panes enjoying the sun while feeling the coolness of the air-conditioning and do the lovey dovey thingee hoping nobody will see them, HELLO its the MRT PLATEFORM opposite... I love it! at that time, Swensen's had their own hut, own escalator and even restroom.. How cool is that!!! Now.. they have shifted to the basement of the new annex of Jurong Point which I feel is too open, too noisy and dangerous..... because I always wonder.... what would drop on my head when i seat outside.. The so called outdoor seat is right smack in the middle of 3 levels of emptyness. Yes you still get the natural sunlight and the cool airconditioning and also the sneeze of somebody upstairs coupled by some dirt off some kid's shoes while they scrap their feet on the safety barracade above.
So much for my vivid imaginations, you can always opt to seat inside which is gloomy and not appealing. Well the food is as good... but the Ice-Cream is the obvious best.. Ice-cream is what they are good at. Always check out the Sundae menu, the signature BANANA SPLIT, my favourites are the GOLD RUSH-coffee and chocolate ice cream with chocolate fudge whip cream and everything nice. The Sticky Chewy Chocolate is one of the POTENT ones.... So chocolately.. even charley from the Chocolate Factory cannot handle.... My ALL TIME FAVOURITE... THE ever good, ever yummy, ever fattening, ever satisfying COLT TOWER.... I love it because i think it has a good balance of everything I like. Chocolate ice-cream with vanilla ice-cream... and layers of chcolate fudge, caramel, whip cream, fresh banana, almonds and many good memories......
The Banana Crumble and the Apple Crumple are also superbly yummy... Imagine this... the smell of slightly burnt butterscotch sauce coupled with the sizzling sound of the skillet with a large scoop of vanilla ice cream melting away atop your crispy crumble.... All the extra calories is WORTH IT......
One must not forget to order some french fries with your ice-cream.... On top of that special discount you get on your fries.. I personally find that its the best combination.... Savoury and Sweet........ Simply Perfect!!!!
I myself had just had a late lunch at Fig & Olive at the Vivocity branch yesterday. I guess the 1 for 1 main courses are pretty worth it. The portion was good and they have a good variety of chicken, fish and pasta to choose from. I would agree that the service was not much, but i guess they made up for it by their very reasonably priced promotions.
We had a Maghribi Chicken w Olive Rice
which is Herbs grilled chicken with Mediterranean style sauce served with olive rice and fresh greens ($16.10) and a Chicken Pesto Carbonara which is a
Herb grilled chicken topped with tomato sauce and melted cheese, potato cilantro and served with choice pasta carbonara ($16.10). Both dishes are yummy. The Maghribi Chicken has got an exotic spanish sauce and I simply love the herbed infused taste to it, coupled with a colourful heap of vegetables which is tantalizing to me. The olive rice in comparison is not so yummy, i perfer it a little softer with more olives as it does appear to be too dry and hard.
The chicken pesto carbonara is great too, melted cheese and tomato sauce goes well with the grilled chicken and i would say a great dish to share with children as it is not too spicy yet has got everything a kid loves.
Service I should say could be better and was better last time. Perhaps there is a change in management, however i kinda feel that the service industry in Singapore is somewhat underperformed... I won't use the word deteriorated because it was not really good before. Rather our culture has been transformed. Service standards has been improving vastly globally and people's expectations for service has been soaring, time for yourself is limited, stress is high, patience is like a thinly spread butter on an already dried up toast, money is like 'Now you see it Now its GONE!'
So sometimes when we meet some bad services or bad food or bad attitude, we just remind ourselves.... of the many hungry children in Africa and start planning in your mind how you are going to review this restaurant......
Heard that this place serves weekend ala carte brunch buffet but we are not able to make reservations as it seem to be fully booked most of the times.
We managed to secure a table on a weekday dinner and surprisingly there were only a few diners. When we flipped through the menu, we have difficulty in deciding what to order as the menu do not classify under general headings like meat, vegetables, soups, etc. But credit must be given to them for their brief description of each dish so that diners will know what they are expecting.
We only ordered two dishes :
a. Homemade Tofu ( Beancurd ) with Scallops & Bacon ( $28 )
The pan-fried tofu has soft silky texture and were well soaked in the sweet and sour spicy sauce. Big pieces of cut scallops and few strips of bacon enhanced the unique flavour of this dish.
b. Stirred Fried Beef Cubes with Mushrooms ( $37 )
Though the name sounded ordinary, we decide to try as most beef are either fried in garlic, black pepper sauce or spicy ( sambal ) sauce. We were very impressed when we took the first bite of the chunky beef cubes. Each cube was well cooked on the outside but juicy inside. As the beef seem to be sprinkled with salt and pepper only, we get to taste the freshness as we chewed happily. The mushrooms played a complimentary role as the smooth and crunchy taste of it goes well with the rice.
We thoroughly enjoyed the food and the alfresco dining ambience coupled with nearby Marina Sands displaying their colourful laser lights shows
This place is known for its traditional food like popiah, steamed yam and pumpkin cakes, noodles stir fried in XO sauce or with seafood.
Highly recommended is the steamed yam cake. Each forkful of it just melt in your mouth. The texture was very smooth and did not compromise on the yam flavour. We have tried other places serving this common item but unfortunately, it is either too much flour being added to the mixture until it looses the yam flavour or too soft that the minute you try cutting it, the whole piece just fell into loosen bits.
The other item worth mentioning is the popiah ( spring roll wrapped in turnips, bean sprouts, etc )
The roll was cut into four bite-sized pieces. Each piece was tightly rolled with generous amount of fillings. Indeed, it was a home-made taste that makes one linger of our childhood luxury..
This place also serve common traditional herbal teas like red bamboo leaf with sugar cane, chrysanthemum, etc. We were surprised that the hot drinks do not have any strong herbal taste and it was also not that sweet but good enough to wash down all the other fried stuff that we have ordered for the day.
UBeau is a nail, face, body salon located in LiangSeah Street just a few steps away from 7/11, a place where great food and bustling wedding gown shops resides.
Huge signboards and serene looking spa pictures grace the pillars at the ground floor near the entrance and while i walk up the narrow stairway, i expect to see a small little haven tucked away in the bustling city life.
When i entered the small glass door, all I could see are nail artists busy buffling away and a few great looking ladies waiting by the small sitting area. For a weekday afternoon, I thought that was good business. As I sat there like nobody's child waiting... suddenly one of the nail artist looked up and asked me... are you who and who... I said.. no... I'm here for BRAZILIAN WAXING.. she said Oooh.... You have her number, please call her....
I was pretty puzzled.... since it is 15 minutes pass my appointment time, isn't she suppose to be here waiting for me already? So I was given a number to call and I was told by the aesthetician that she is on her way up... Another 15 mins crawled by... When she finally arrived, there is no signs of apology or even the slightest embarassment for being late and she just proceeded to explain to me the different prices for the different kinds of waxing available and I opted to pay a little extra for the 3D Wax.. which is suppose to be less painful. While I rejected her much convincing sales pitch on IPL brazilian, I could see disappointment in her eyes, however she proceeded to lead me to the room.
On the other side of the salon, there are 3 rooms and another table, apparently there is another lady sitting at the table offering massage services and an outsourced maintainance guy repairing light bulbs. As the rooms are just half partitioned, I started to feel a little worried as if he is on the ladder, he could basically see everything going on inside. I was let passed into one of the partitioned rooms and Liz the aesthetician just told me to undress my bottom and get on the massage table. I got on the lightly cushioned massage table with a piece of brown paper beneath it and covered myself with the towel provided. I thought to myself, I've been to worse NO FRILLS waxing, so this is still not too bad. However I never thought anything could be worse then my past experiences.
She then started to do the waxing and IT IS SUPER PAINFUL... For a seasoned brazilian waxer.. I would say it hurts way too much. Every blow is like tears shooting out of your eyes..
Firstly, no numbing or antiseptic lotion was applied, all you get is a little powder and your bare skin.
Second, the wax patches applied is too huge, this will cut down time but takes off much of your skin as well. IT HURTS.
Third, in delicate areas she just applied in huge patches left and right stuck together and proceeded to rip them off.
Fourth.. Expect no soothing words.. matter of fact halfway through she picked up her mobile phone and started TALKING WITH HER FRIEND.... Oh GOODNESS......
Five.. Don't expect it to be too clean because after the entire gruesome experience she will not help you remove the stray hairs or any other stuffs stucked there.
Its a mere.. I've finished.... get dressed and come out and pay for it....
On top of that... she asked me if I wanted to buy a package and the price is ridiculous. I could get better service and attitude plus more skillful aesthetician for a cheaper package.
This is unbelievable.... I only can speak for the brazilian waxing.. however i think that the nail parlour part is quite okay as i see alot of happy customers and friendly nail artist. They are most likely under the same company however individually managed.... So please try the other services.. just watch out if you want some waxing done... OUCH!!!!
1=SGD 0.0587
I love this outlet of Tully's Coffee, though I am not so much of a coffee drinker, i love the service, the environment, the atmosphere, the smell of fresh roasted beans in the air, the bustle, the sitting in the middle of nowhere and most of all the super duper yummy cookies....
The cookies i must say is better then many I have eaten and it sure goes well with a good hot cuppa something.... Make sure you get them to warm up the cookie for you.. I especially love the chocolate chip flavoured cookie... When its warm, its soft and chewy and the gooey chocolate just simply melts off your finger..... Super yummy but simply messy..... Good thing, you can have as many paper napkins as you wish... Feeling too sweet.. have a cuppa sky juice..... these days... we don't get many coffee places serving free flow ice water.. i mean... whats the Fuss?? Its only tap water.... most of it.. you get for free... it simply drops of the sky.....
While i was there enjoying my lazy saturday RELAX ONE CORNER afternoon, I overhead a conversation... which I think is good information to share here... Let me tell you how friendly Singaporeans are.........
I spot the GM of the franchise talking to a complete stranger but introduced by one of his normal staff as a regular to this joint.. and I was trully impressed by his passion in what he manages.....
There was this and that.. I was evesdropping.. so i kinda missed out some information.. but apparently... the goal of Tully's Coffee is to stick to the aroma, taste and preparation methods of Settle style where they originated from. Most importantly i think is that their beans are all hand roasted... and that does make a difference because, the hand roasted beans unlike the machine roasted ones have got residual oil in them in which when pressed.... emits this HEAVEN ON EARTH kinda Aroma... on top of that.. their coffee machine is a super luxurious hand made and hand assembled one which is supposedly produces better coffee then the regular machines....
I love the free WIFI... Yar you heard me.. its free.. no registration or log in or being kicked from one website to another... and they also have power points everywhere for you to charge your laptops, phones, ipads, whatever you want.. Free Flow... Free of charge....
I've brought my heavy addicted coffee drinking friend to the outlet.... and according to him.. always try the coffee of the day..... apparently... he is very happy what the brew in his cup.. and boy... their cups are huge.... don't believe me....? go for the large....
Rating given:
Was staying in nearby Conrad for the weekend but didn't fancy anything too elaborate for dinner so settled for a quick meal at Space @ My Humble House at the Esplanade.
Playing neighbour to it's more illustrious sibling, My Humble House (which by the way didn't quite impress me on my previous visit), Space has a nice modern, minimalistic vibe to it - definitely not some place you would expect to find local favourites like chicken rice, hokkien mee and the likes. But at a premium of course.
Mama Leong's Chicken Rice - Apparently this humble dish was named after Sam Leong's mum. And I thought it was good - tender, moist and seeping with flavour. You have the option of ordering an entire chicken ($32), half a chicken ($18) and single portion @ $12. Rice is an additional $1/head and though fragrant and seemingly prudent with the oil, lacked the fluffiness that I would have liked.
Fried Radish Cake with Freshly-peeled Crabmeat, Whole Prawns, Juicy Scallops and Egg - I loved the extravagance of this dish - huge prawns and scallops coupled with copious amount of egg. However it lacked the slightly charred taste and came across as bland. Somehow everything just didn't seem to meld together. The radish cake wasn't exactly smooth and silky either.
A quick meal of local dishes cost us to the tune of $48 (inclusive of a small cup of watermleon juice @ $6). The chicken rice was good but the radish cake only made it to average based on the merit of the prawns and scallops; without which, it would have languished at the bottom half of the scale. Service was decent but hardly a selling point.
See all my pictures here.
Rating given:
I am so much reminded of this place by its MASCOT.. the huge chicken in a singlet and shorts... Though cute looking, it is a pretty hedious mascot.. judging by the fact that they serve mostly chicken....
I pretty like the promotions they offer as well as the variety of set lunches. Sitting by the glass restaurant, everybody could practically see whatever you are doing inside.. which means.. no shaking of legs, no digging of nose, no licking your fingers and cleaning them on the table cloth....
Food is pretty yummy.... I especially love the FRIED CHICKEN in OLIVE oil... I thought it made eating fried chicken less sinful, now that instead of palm oil, olive oil was used. Every mains serve with 2 choice of side dishes.. choose from the ever favourite potato sides to healthy vege sides... in anyway, they are sure to make you fat.... as the calories are all in the dressings.....
But i guess, business is tough at the outlet as they face various competitions from the many other restaurants located here... As such, they are no more here.... If you really crave for that crunchy, yummy, succulent chicken set lunch in that oh so affordable price and the all the time understaffed no hue you service..... please head on to the outlet at Central Mall @ ClarkeQuay....
I hope that chicken Mascot is still around coz it looks super cute...... it makes eating much more fun......
Rating given:
We ordered simple and affordable dishes as we know we could never go wrong with our selection.
1. Hot Plate Tofu ( Medium size $15.90 ) – The dish came with a sizzling sound and indeed, the silky tofu was embedded between the gravy, preserved vegetables, minced meat, mushrooms and egg. As a whole, this dish was well presented and being slightly spicy, it was just good for our taste buds.
2. Coffee Pork Ribs ( Medium size $15.90 ) – The meat though well marinated lacked the coffee flavor and we felt that the meat was also a bit dry and tough to chew.
3. Shrimp Paste Chicken Wings (Medium size $15.90) – This ordinary dish could be found in most hawker centers or coffee shops. Though easy to make, the ones we tasted here do not have that pungent shrimp paste. The outer skins are fried crispy but the meat is moist and tender.
4. Stewed Pork Belly served with Steamed Bun ( $2.20 per piece ) – This signature dish was the best that we have tasted. Each stewed meat came with one layer of fat followed by one layer of lean meat. Being health conscious, we were contemplating whether we should remove the in-between fats but their elderly staff encouraged us to try without removing the fat. True enough, it was a melt-in-your-mouth feeling. For the first time, all of us woo...ar..shiok!! Surprisingly, we could not differentiate the meat and the fats when we took the first bite.
This place also serves different kinds of double boiled soups like pork ribs with water cress, black chicken with spare ribs and ginseng,etc, Besides these nourishing soups, it also offers some interesting flower teas like chrysanthemum, jasmine, osmanthus, rose. It is indeed refreshing to drink these aromatic floral teas after all the fried and oily food.
Overall, we were quite happy with the food and most importantly, prices must be reasonable if Paradise Inn wants to attract more families to dine there.
Rating given:
We were at Robertson Quay on a Saturday afternoon and we were hungry. Brasserie Wolf beckoned with its crowd free premises so we settled for it.
It was a warm day and the sufficiently cooled interior provided a nice respite from the heat and away from the al fresco crowds that littered the establishment next door. The setting is decidedly modern with splashes of retro, depending on which area you sit at.
Traditional French Onion Soup - I liked the richness of the soup but did find it a tad too sweet. The gruyere cheese and toast was great though, with its gooey-ness and mildly charred undertones. Great way to warm up the belly! And if you noticed, the serving bowl is in the shape of a heart. Perfect for those romantic dinners eh?
Traditional Nicoise Salad - The aesthetics were pleasing and the greens were fresh and crunchy. But I didn't quite take to this dish due to my personal opinion that the grilled tuna was overly fishy. I did like the texture though.
Pork Belly - "Extremely fatty" was the first thought that popped into my mind when I had a glimpse of the pork belly. Never mind that it was tender or that the sauce gave it a unique oriental feel (tasted like it had hoisin sauce in it). I just couldn't bring myself to stomach (and savour) that proportionally imbalanced piece of pork, not with the skin mildly crispy and sticking to my teeth with every bite.
USDA Prime Sirloin - The sirloin was more well done than medium well and thus the meat came out a little too dry and tough for my liking. But I did like the natural bovine flavours and the pinch of salt seasoning. What I particularly liked about this dish was the shoestring (irony!) fries and the dip. Free of any rancid oil taste and dipped in creamy goodness with nuances of spring onion - tasty!
Steamed Toffee and Date Pudding - I fell in love with this dessert at Marmalade Pantry @ Palais some years back. And seeing that Brasserie Wolf served this dessert as well, I decided to take my chances. It wasn't half as good as the one as I had at Marmalade but it was decent. The pudding was much less compact and had a spongy, cake like texture. Topped with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream, the whole combination wasn't overly sweet but sans the toffee sauce, it was reminiscent of steamed cupcakes (发糕). Well, the taste at least.
With the palate discount of 50%, 2 of us forked out close to $70 for a filling but not entirely gratifying lunch. Food quality hovered a notch above average but service was decent. Coupled with the lack of crowds, I might just be enticed to pop by again for a quiet meal if I happen to be in the vicinity.
See all my pictures here.
Rating given:
This outlet of Swensen's cafe is where I hang out with my friend during my student days.... I really love the old location which is a lone building just facing the MRT Station Plateform. I could remember the days of tucking into the EARTHQUAKE while watching the people waiting for the train on the plateform, sweat on their brows, thirsty and fanning themselves on a hot day. The view was fabulous.... many couples love to sit near the ceiling to floor window panes enjoying the sun while feeling the coolness of the air-conditioning and do the lovey dovey thingee hoping nobody will see them, HELLO its the MRT PLATEFORM opposite... I love it! at that time, Swensen's had their own hut, own escalator and even restroom.. How cool is that!!! Now.. they have shifted to the basement of the new annex of Jurong Point which I feel is too open, too noisy and dangerous..... because I always wonder.... what would drop on my head when i seat outside.. The so called outdoor seat is right smack in the middle of 3 levels of emptyness. Yes you still get the natural sunlight and the cool airconditioning and also the sneeze of somebody upstairs coupled by some dirt off some kid's shoes while they scrap their feet on the safety barracade above.
So much for my vivid imaginations, you can always opt to seat inside which is gloomy and not appealing. Well the food is as good... but the Ice-Cream is the obvious best.. Ice-cream is what they are good at. Always check out the Sundae menu, the signature BANANA SPLIT, my favourites are the GOLD RUSH-coffee and chocolate ice cream with chocolate fudge whip cream and everything nice. The Sticky Chewy Chocolate is one of the POTENT ones.... So chocolately.. even charley from the Chocolate Factory cannot handle.... My ALL TIME FAVOURITE... THE ever good, ever yummy, ever fattening, ever satisfying COLT TOWER.... I love it because i think it has a good balance of everything I like. Chocolate ice-cream with vanilla ice-cream... and layers of chcolate fudge, caramel, whip cream, fresh banana, almonds and many good memories......
The Banana Crumble and the Apple Crumple are also superbly yummy... Imagine this... the smell of slightly burnt butterscotch sauce coupled with the sizzling sound of the skillet with a large scoop of vanilla ice cream melting away atop your crispy crumble.... All the extra calories is WORTH IT......
One must not forget to order some french fries with your ice-cream.... On top of that special discount you get on your fries.. I personally find that its the best combination.... Savoury and Sweet........ Simply Perfect!!!!
Rating given:
I myself had just had a late lunch at Fig & Olive at the Vivocity branch yesterday. I guess the 1 for 1 main courses are pretty worth it. The portion was good and they have a good variety of chicken, fish and pasta to choose from. I would agree that the service was not much, but i guess they made up for it by their very reasonably priced promotions.
We had a Maghribi Chicken w Olive Rice
which is Herbs grilled chicken with Mediterranean style sauce served with olive rice and fresh greens ($16.10) and a Chicken Pesto Carbonara which is a
Herb grilled chicken topped with tomato sauce and melted cheese, potato cilantro and served with choice pasta carbonara ($16.10). Both dishes are yummy. The Maghribi Chicken has got an exotic spanish sauce and I simply love the herbed infused taste to it, coupled with a colourful heap of vegetables which is tantalizing to me. The olive rice in comparison is not so yummy, i perfer it a little softer with more olives as it does appear to be too dry and hard.
The chicken pesto carbonara is great too, melted cheese and tomato sauce goes well with the grilled chicken and i would say a great dish to share with children as it is not too spicy yet has got everything a kid loves.
Service I should say could be better and was better last time. Perhaps there is a change in management, however i kinda feel that the service industry in Singapore is somewhat underperformed... I won't use the word deteriorated because it was not really good before. Rather our culture has been transformed. Service standards has been improving vastly globally and people's expectations for service has been soaring, time for yourself is limited, stress is high, patience is like a thinly spread butter on an already dried up toast, money is like 'Now you see it Now its GONE!'
So sometimes when we meet some bad services or bad food or bad attitude, we just remind ourselves.... of the many hungry children in Africa and start planning in your mind how you are going to review this restaurant......
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Heard that this place serves weekend ala carte brunch buffet but we are not able to make reservations as it seem to be fully booked most of the times.
We managed to secure a table on a weekday dinner and surprisingly there were only a few diners. When we flipped through the menu, we have difficulty in deciding what to order as the menu do not classify under general headings like meat, vegetables, soups, etc. But credit must be given to them for their brief description of each dish so that diners will know what they are expecting.
We only ordered two dishes :
a. Homemade Tofu ( Beancurd ) with Scallops & Bacon ( $28 )
The pan-fried tofu has soft silky texture and were well soaked in the sweet and sour spicy sauce. Big pieces of cut scallops and few strips of bacon enhanced the unique flavour of this dish.
b. Stirred Fried Beef Cubes with Mushrooms ( $37 )
Though the name sounded ordinary, we decide to try as most beef are either fried in garlic, black pepper sauce or spicy ( sambal ) sauce. We were very impressed when we took the first bite of the chunky beef cubes. Each cube was well cooked on the outside but juicy inside. As the beef seem to be sprinkled with salt and pepper only, we get to taste the freshness as we chewed happily. The mushrooms played a complimentary role as the smooth and crunchy taste of it goes well with the rice.
We thoroughly enjoyed the food and the alfresco dining ambience coupled with nearby Marina Sands displaying their colourful laser lights shows
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This place is known for its traditional food like popiah, steamed yam and pumpkin cakes, noodles stir fried in XO sauce or with seafood.
Highly recommended is the steamed yam cake. Each forkful of it just melt in your mouth. The texture was very smooth and did not compromise on the yam flavour. We have tried other places serving this common item but unfortunately, it is either too much flour being added to the mixture until it looses the yam flavour or too soft that the minute you try cutting it, the whole piece just fell into loosen bits.
The other item worth mentioning is the popiah ( spring roll wrapped in turnips, bean sprouts, etc )
The roll was cut into four bite-sized pieces. Each piece was tightly rolled with generous amount of fillings. Indeed, it was a home-made taste that makes one linger of our childhood luxury..
This place also serve common traditional herbal teas like red bamboo leaf with sugar cane, chrysanthemum, etc. We were surprised that the hot drinks do not have any strong herbal taste and it was also not that sweet but good enough to wash down all the other fried stuff that we have ordered for the day.
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UBeau is a nail, face, body salon located in LiangSeah Street just a few steps away from 7/11, a place where great food and bustling wedding gown shops resides.
Huge signboards and serene looking spa pictures grace the pillars at the ground floor near the entrance and while i walk up the narrow stairway, i expect to see a small little haven tucked away in the bustling city life.
When i entered the small glass door, all I could see are nail artists busy buffling away and a few great looking ladies waiting by the small sitting area. For a weekday afternoon, I thought that was good business. As I sat there like nobody's child waiting... suddenly one of the nail artist looked up and asked me... are you who and who... I said.. no... I'm here for BRAZILIAN WAXING.. she said Oooh.... You have her number, please call her....
I was pretty puzzled.... since it is 15 minutes pass my appointment time, isn't she suppose to be here waiting for me already? So I was given a number to call and I was told by the aesthetician that she is on her way up... Another 15 mins crawled by... When she finally arrived, there is no signs of apology or even the slightest embarassment for being late and she just proceeded to explain to me the different prices for the different kinds of waxing available and I opted to pay a little extra for the 3D Wax.. which is suppose to be less painful. While I rejected her much convincing sales pitch on IPL brazilian, I could see disappointment in her eyes, however she proceeded to lead me to the room.
On the other side of the salon, there are 3 rooms and another table, apparently there is another lady sitting at the table offering massage services and an outsourced maintainance guy repairing light bulbs. As the rooms are just half partitioned, I started to feel a little worried as if he is on the ladder, he could basically see everything going on inside. I was let passed into one of the partitioned rooms and Liz the aesthetician just told me to undress my bottom and get on the massage table. I got on the lightly cushioned massage table with a piece of brown paper beneath it and covered myself with the towel provided. I thought to myself, I've been to worse NO FRILLS waxing, so this is still not too bad. However I never thought anything could be worse then my past experiences.
She then started to do the waxing and IT IS SUPER PAINFUL... For a seasoned brazilian waxer.. I would say it hurts way too much. Every blow is like tears shooting out of your eyes..
Firstly, no numbing or antiseptic lotion was applied, all you get is a little powder and your bare skin.
Second, the wax patches applied is too huge, this will cut down time but takes off much of your skin as well. IT HURTS.
Third, in delicate areas she just applied in huge patches left and right stuck together and proceeded to rip them off.
Fourth.. Expect no soothing words.. matter of fact halfway through she picked up her mobile phone and started TALKING WITH HER FRIEND.... Oh GOODNESS......
Five.. Don't expect it to be too clean because after the entire gruesome experience she will not help you remove the stray hairs or any other stuffs stucked there.
Its a mere.. I've finished.... get dressed and come out and pay for it....
On top of that... she asked me if I wanted to buy a package and the price is ridiculous. I could get better service and attitude plus more skillful aesthetician for a cheaper package.
This is unbelievable.... I only can speak for the brazilian waxing.. however i think that the nail parlour part is quite okay as i see alot of happy customers and friendly nail artist. They are most likely under the same company however individually managed.... So please try the other services.. just watch out if you want some waxing done... OUCH!!!!
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