not sure when it started but a surge of ice cream parlors hv sprouted out everywhere out of a sudden. previously i don't think i even seen much places serving ice cream except for swensens or maybe, haagen dazs. then i started hearing & reading about ben & jerry's, island creamery, tom's palette, udders, icekimo, haato, the ice cream gallery, marvelous cream, azabu sabo hokkaido ice cream etc. just too many! and thats not inclusive of the gelato counters littered all over the malls.
situated at the arcade, sunset way is a quaint little ice cream parlor decked in all-white. its very small and cosy but the ambience didn't looked half as bad! in fact i would hv liked it more if it wasnt so crowded. there were just lotsa youngsters eagerly queuing up for ice creams! the above pic shows a colorful wall mural. i loved it.
since we were really full from dinner, we just ordered 2 flavors to share. the butterscotch & pecan, which is old-fashion butterscotch ice cream sprinkled with freshly toasted pecans was quite good. since i'm crazy over salted caramel-anything, this flavor appealed to me since it has a nice sweet salty & buttery fragrance.
the lychee martini was a disappointment tho'. i could hardly taste any lychee nor vodka in there. i guess when i had the best lychee martini at new asia bar, my benchmark for this drink/dessert has inevitably became much higher. but at least the one from seventh heaven was really good. it has the distinct lychee liqueur taste, so did the modern tarte lychee from coffee club.
while ice cream is something i love having, i won't specially travel to a place just to eat it since its not a dessert that satisfies me (unless it goes atop a nice waffle or served ala japanese parfait style). but i'll definitely go back to try the other funky flavors like wasabi mango, chilli choc and avocado ice cream if i'm nearby.
fusion food has always been given a bad name and it doesn't take a genius to understand why. most of the time, they're badly done using some weird east & west ingredient combinations that you'll never dream of using in your entire life - think chinese style carrot cake with balsamic vinegar *gasps*. and while i hadn't had that much fusion food to begin with - just two places 2b exact, mykii and persimmon are just reasons enough for me to avoid them like plague altogether. as the popular saying goes, when badly done, fusion becomes confusion and i hv to agree! but its my visit to wild rocket that changed the perception of fusion. for the better of coz. well, kinda.
the restaurant is located inside hangout hotel, a backpackers' hotel at mount emily. while not exactly accessible, its "walkable" from dhoby ghaut mrt (or perhaps even nearer from little india MRT) and a stonethrow away from paradiz centre/parklane shopping mall but you'll hv to walk up a slope. of coz it'll make bigger sense to just cab in coz walking under the sweltering heat especially during lunchtime is no mean feat.
complimentary cheese bread with olive oil dip. quite good. we were there for lunch and apart from ala carte, you can choose between the set ($28 ) or ala carte set ($35 ) which consists of an appetizer, main & dessert. for obvious reasons, its better to go for the ala carte set since there are far more choices and is better value for money. imagine, some mains are already 30 bucks on their own!
pan-seared tuna rocket salad with light ginger dressing ($12.50). the tuna was really tough & fibrous, to my dismay. not sure if it was becoz the fish was unfresh, or due to the cut. the rocket salad was good tho'. i'm pretty crazy over rocket leaves lately that i'll travel to fairprice finest just for it!
black pepper soft shell crab with granny smith salad ($12.80). this one was quite nicely done. the batter was light, crispy and not too oily and the black pepper sauce's sweet! however the granny smith "salad" was hardly any salad but rather a few pathetic green apple slices. tsk.
braised lemongrass ginger lamb shank & garlic potato mash ($29). first mouthful was good but subsequently the taste was just too "lamby" for me. all in all acceptable but nothing spectacular. i'll take lamb chop or rack of lamb anytime!
crabmeat linguine with chilli tomato cream ($19.50). this one was quite good. for a moment i was trying to figure out the taste and description, only to realize later that its actually a twist from our local chilli crab dish.
for desserts, we had the dark lava choc gateau with flambe banana ($10.50). it was SO good. no doubt they didn't "proclaim" the use of quality choc like valrhona, it was alot better than the places that did. so apparently it might not be the quality of choc that affects, tho' it does matter to a certain extend.
we also had the chilled black glutinous rice with coconut ice cream ($9.50). big mistake. i took it for granted that the black glutinous rice would be the soupy kind but it wasn't. it was really dry, sticky and tasted somewhat uncooked. also, the coconut ice cream wasn't creamy, neither was it fragrant enough :( it might work if the the glutinous rice was more moist and the coconut ice cream more creamy. i would hv liked that! its one of my favorite local desserts afterall, but i try not to order it when i'm out for the risk of having black bits stuck inbetween my teeth :p
we finished everything nevertheless and it was a pretty decent meal. i'll definitely go back again, suppose if i'm in the mood to climb some slopes haha.
for more reviews, pls visit my blog @ http://bossacafez.blogspot.com
i was at graze for sunday brunch two weeks ago with a very lovely lady. it was my first brunch outing (choupinette not counted) and naturally, i was feeling quite excited over it. brunches are really the IN thing now, but too overhyped and overpriced, if u ask me. but then i don't really mind paying for the ambience and since its been sometime since i visited rochester park, so graze it was.
took some random shots i went around taking before our orders arrived. whats worth mentioning is the strawberry-infused water. i think its visually appealing and is something different as compared to seeing the conventional lemon-infused water. but tastewise, it was hardly spectacular. the berry aroma was faint and tasted somewhat weird. and on the bottom right pic is homemade spice honey and chilli oil that's on every table. i dunno if its politically correct to call the honey "homemade" since they didn't rear the bees haha. but whatever it is, i took a whiff and the whole bottle just screams 'chinese 5-spice" and thats the last thing i want on my pancakes.
the first to arrive was the complimentary toasts with butter & jam. quite good, toasts were nice and soft.
the cast iron pan ($20) that i went to graze especially for it. made up of bratwurst sausages, smoked bacon, mushrooms, roasted potatoes, baked beans, egg & tomato, it didn't disappoint.
banana pancakes ($13) with grilled bananas, walnuts served with redcurrant syrup & vanilla bean ice cream. the pancakes itself was ok, but i really dig the bananas & walnuts. just one of the best combinations around!
also had a cappuccino ($6).
overall a pretty good dining experience, except that the stuffs are really overpriced. frankly, i feel their prices are more hotel than restaurant prices. we didn't order anything else coz there wasn't much (the bbq menu starts at 12pm). morever we weren't in the mood for any eggs ben, neither did we wanna pay $10 for juice and $12 for muesli, so we just had 2 main courses. the warm michel cluizel chocolate tart with fresh bananas, caramel & vanilla ice cream caught my eye tho' but it's 17 bucks.
for more reviews, pls visit my blog @ http://bossacafez.blogspot.com
i went there for their weekend buffet lunch on two occassions and was pleasantly suprised at the quality choice of spread. this stylish restaurant was previously known as the coffee garden and is designed by adam tihany, a famous interior designer & architect. it's situated at the basement (lower lobby) of shangri-la hotel, tucked amidst lush greenery & the hotel pool. totally dig the ambience coz its so fresh, modern & futuristic, plus there's an adjorning bar which serves very expensive cocktails, imo (between $13-$17 per drink). there are 16 buffet stations which has its own individual theatre kitchenette which i think is totally cool.
food-wise, expect high end stuffs like baby lobsters, tiger prawns, mussels, chilled crabmeat verrine appetizers, oysters which are freshly shucked infront of you, hence the perpetually long queue at the seafood bar. then there is the smoked bbq ribs, sausages, lamb navarin, seafood bouillabaisse, lobster bisque, chicken coq au vin, beefballs in tomato sauce, truffle risotto, pizza, lobster bisque. the sushi bar has a good selection of sashimi, chawanmushi, sushi/maki and the indian/chinese section with various types of fluffy briyani, curries & dim sum.
what i love most must be the desserts, which made up of a good selection of shooter glass verrines, entremets/cheesecakes, strawberry shortcake, vanilla bean creme brulee, macarons (but i don't find them good. the whole thing's soft and is similar to bakerzin's in terms of texture). the vanilla bean ice-cream is really good, so is the blueberry ice-cream that's chock full of real blueberries, and not essence or blueberry pie filling. of coz, you may like their chocolate fountain too which is much bigger compared to that of many buffet places :p the weekend lunch is $47 per person (15% off for UOB credit card holders). not cheap but its definitely a good experience. they don't call it the "mother of all buffets" for nothing!
for a more detailed review & pics, pls visit my blog @ http://bossacafez.blogspot.com/2008/09/line-buffet-shangri-la-hotel.html
if you're into gourmet chocolates, you would probably hv heard of the more "upmarket" brands like valrhona, amedei, michel cluizel, godiva etc. and seventh heaven, an ice-cream cafe that uses amedei toscano 70% in one of their ice-creams is a place that i'm really curious about.
located at 10, raeburn park, its the former old gan eng seng school and presently the marketing institute of singapore. the place is really really "ulu" and even on a saturday afternoon, the place looks really deserted. but of coz, their quality ice-cream made up for everything.
we ordered 2 of the sampler platter @ $13.90 each and each platter comes with 3 ice-creams of our choice. we had the amedei choc, chocolate & whisky, macha green tea, lychee martini, butterscotch & pecan as well as irish cream & liqueur. its pretty interesting that if you choose the flavors yourself, the platter is $13.90, but if you let them choose, it's just $10.50. so probably they might just choose the cheaper flavors for you, hence the cheaper price.
we also ordered the warm molten choc cake which comes with a scoop of 3-bean vanilla ice-cream, $7.80. their full ice-cream menu include flavors like :
Blackforest Butterscotch & Pecan Chocolate Chocolate & Whiskey Chocolate & Coffee Crunch Creamy Espresso French Vanilla Green Tea Irish Cream & Liqueur Lychee martini Mango Peanut Butter
overall i must say i enjoyed their ice-cream alot, which is creamy yet light. the strong liqueur taste is also present in flavors which has liqueur in them but the best must be the lychee martini ice-cream coz it's really really fragrant and tasted exactly like my favorite lychee martini from new asia bar @ equinox. their vanilla bean ice-cream tasted somewhat weird tho' and i was disappointed. not your usual vanilla bean ice-cream, this uses 3 types of beans (i think maybe madagascar bourbon, tahitian & probably java vanilla)? it just tasted minty and has the aftertaste of....medicated oil. i think they've definitely overdone it. the molten choc cake served in a ramekin was also not technically a cake but a warm molten mousse. pretty salty too, think they must hv added too much salt or baking soda haha.
i personally wouldn't travel all the way there just to eat ice-cream since they don't really hv much on their menu. but if i'm near that area, i wouldn't mind dropping by again to try the rest of their flavors.
1=SGD 0.0587
situated at the arcade, sunset way is a quaint little ice cream parlor decked in all-white. its very small and cosy but the ambience didn't looked half as bad! in fact i would hv liked it more if it wasnt so crowded. there were just lotsa youngsters eagerly queuing up for ice creams! the above pic shows a colorful wall mural. i loved it.
since we were really full from dinner, we just ordered 2 flavors to share. the butterscotch & pecan, which is old-fashion butterscotch ice cream sprinkled with freshly toasted pecans was quite good. since i'm crazy over salted caramel-anything, this flavor appealed to me since it has a nice sweet salty & buttery fragrance.
the lychee martini was a disappointment tho'. i could hardly taste any lychee nor vodka in there. i guess when i had the best lychee martini at new asia bar, my benchmark for this drink/dessert has inevitably became much higher. but at least the one from seventh heaven was really good. it has the distinct lychee liqueur taste, so did the modern tarte lychee from coffee club.
while ice cream is something i love having, i won't specially travel to a place just to eat it since its not a dessert that satisfies me (unless it goes atop a nice waffle or served ala japanese parfait style). but i'll definitely go back to try the other funky flavors like wasabi mango, chilli choc and avocado ice cream if i'm nearby.
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the restaurant is located inside hangout hotel, a backpackers' hotel at mount emily. while not exactly accessible, its "walkable" from dhoby ghaut mrt (or perhaps even nearer from little india MRT) and a stonethrow away from paradiz centre/parklane shopping mall but you'll hv to walk up a slope. of coz it'll make bigger sense to just cab in coz walking under the sweltering heat especially during lunchtime is no mean feat.
complimentary cheese bread with olive oil dip. quite good. we were there for lunch and apart from ala carte, you can choose between the set ($28 ) or ala carte set ($35 ) which consists of an appetizer, main & dessert. for obvious reasons, its better to go for the ala carte set since there are far more choices and is better value for money. imagine, some mains are already 30 bucks on their own!
pan-seared tuna rocket salad with light ginger dressing ($12.50). the tuna was really tough & fibrous, to my dismay. not sure if it was becoz the fish was unfresh, or due to the cut. the rocket salad was good tho'. i'm pretty crazy over rocket leaves lately that i'll travel to fairprice finest just for it!
black pepper soft shell crab with granny smith salad ($12.80). this one was quite nicely done. the batter was light, crispy and not too oily and the black pepper sauce's sweet! however the granny smith "salad" was hardly any salad but rather a few pathetic green apple slices. tsk.
braised lemongrass ginger lamb shank & garlic potato mash ($29). first mouthful was good but subsequently the taste was just too "lamby" for me. all in all acceptable but nothing spectacular. i'll take lamb chop or rack of lamb anytime!
crabmeat linguine with chilli tomato cream ($19.50). this one was quite good. for a moment i was trying to figure out the taste and description, only to realize later that its actually a twist from our local chilli crab dish.
for desserts, we had the dark lava choc gateau with flambe banana ($10.50). it was SO good. no doubt they didn't "proclaim" the use of quality choc like valrhona, it was alot better than the places that did. so apparently it might not be the quality of choc that affects, tho' it does matter to a certain extend.
we also had the chilled black glutinous rice with coconut ice cream ($9.50). big mistake. i took it for granted that the black glutinous rice would be the soupy kind but it wasn't. it was really dry, sticky and tasted somewhat uncooked. also, the coconut ice cream wasn't creamy, neither was it fragrant enough :( it might work if the the glutinous rice was more moist and the coconut ice cream more creamy. i would hv liked that! its one of my favorite local desserts afterall, but i try not to order it when i'm out for the risk of having black bits stuck inbetween my teeth :p
we finished everything nevertheless and it was a pretty decent meal. i'll definitely go back again, suppose if i'm in the mood to climb some slopes haha.
for more reviews, pls visit my blog @ http://bossacafez.blogspot.com
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!I enjoyed my meal the last time I was there too. And you are right. One probably needs to cab up there.
07 Apr 2009 at 3:06 pm
took some random shots i went around taking before our orders arrived. whats worth mentioning is the strawberry-infused water. i think its visually appealing and is something different as compared to seeing the conventional lemon-infused water. but tastewise, it was hardly spectacular. the berry aroma was faint and tasted somewhat weird. and on the bottom right pic is homemade spice honey and chilli oil that's on every table. i dunno if its politically correct to call the honey "homemade" since they didn't rear the bees haha. but whatever it is, i took a whiff and the whole bottle just screams 'chinese 5-spice" and thats the last thing i want on my pancakes.
the first to arrive was the complimentary toasts with butter & jam. quite good, toasts were nice and soft.
the cast iron pan ($20) that i went to graze especially for it. made up of bratwurst sausages, smoked bacon, mushrooms, roasted potatoes, baked beans, egg & tomato, it didn't disappoint.
banana pancakes ($13) with grilled bananas, walnuts served with redcurrant syrup & vanilla bean ice cream. the pancakes itself was ok, but i really dig the bananas & walnuts. just one of the best combinations around!
also had a cappuccino ($6).
overall a pretty good dining experience, except that the stuffs are really overpriced. frankly, i feel their prices are more hotel than restaurant prices. we didn't order anything else coz there wasn't much (the bbq menu starts at 12pm). morever we weren't in the mood for any eggs ben, neither did we wanna pay $10 for juice and $12 for muesli, so we just had 2 main courses. the warm michel cluizel chocolate tart with fresh bananas, caramel & vanilla ice cream caught my eye tho' but it's 17 bucks.
for more reviews, pls visit my blog @ http://bossacafez.blogspot.com
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!
food-wise, expect high end stuffs like baby lobsters, tiger prawns, mussels, chilled crabmeat verrine appetizers, oysters which are freshly shucked infront of you, hence the perpetually long queue at the seafood bar. then there is the smoked bbq ribs, sausages, lamb navarin, seafood bouillabaisse, lobster bisque, chicken coq au vin, beefballs in tomato sauce, truffle risotto, pizza, lobster bisque. the sushi bar has a good selection of sashimi, chawanmushi, sushi/maki and the indian/chinese section with various types of fluffy briyani, curries & dim sum.
what i love most must be the desserts, which made up of a good selection of shooter glass verrines, entremets/cheesecakes, strawberry shortcake, vanilla bean creme brulee, macarons (but i don't find them good. the whole thing's soft and is similar to bakerzin's in terms of texture). the vanilla bean ice-cream is really good, so is the blueberry ice-cream that's chock full of real blueberries, and not essence or blueberry pie filling. of coz, you may like their chocolate fountain too which is much bigger compared to that of many buffet places :p
the weekend lunch is $47 per person (15% off for UOB credit card holders). not cheap but its definitely a good experience. they don't call it the "mother of all buffets" for nothing!
for a more detailed review & pics, pls visit my blog @ http://bossacafez.blogspot.com/2008/09/line-buffet-shangri-la-hotel.html
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!i wanna go the line too. can somebody bring me? : ))
08 Dec 2008 at 5:29 pm
I bring you, but you pay for both of us can?
09 Dec 2008 at 10:58 am
located at 10, raeburn park, its the former old gan eng seng school and presently the marketing institute of singapore. the place is really really "ulu" and even on a saturday afternoon, the place looks really deserted. but of coz, their quality ice-cream made up for everything.
we ordered 2 of the sampler platter @ $13.90 each and each platter comes with 3 ice-creams of our choice. we had the amedei choc, chocolate & whisky, macha green tea, lychee martini, butterscotch & pecan as well as irish cream & liqueur. its pretty interesting that if you choose the flavors yourself, the platter is $13.90, but if you let them choose, it's just $10.50. so probably they might just choose the cheaper flavors for you, hence the cheaper price.
we also ordered the warm molten choc cake which comes with a scoop of 3-bean vanilla ice-cream, $7.80. their full ice-cream menu include flavors like :
Blackforest
Butterscotch & Pecan
Chocolate
Chocolate & Whiskey
Chocolate & Coffee Crunch
Creamy Espresso
French Vanilla
Green Tea
Irish Cream & Liqueur
Lychee martini
Mango
Peanut Butter
overall i must say i enjoyed their ice-cream alot, which is creamy yet light. the strong liqueur taste is also present in flavors which has liqueur in them but the best must be the lychee martini ice-cream coz it's really really fragrant and tasted exactly like my favorite lychee martini from new asia bar @ equinox. their vanilla bean ice-cream tasted somewhat weird tho' and i was disappointed. not your usual vanilla bean ice-cream, this uses 3 types of beans (i think maybe madagascar bourbon, tahitian & probably java vanilla)? it just tasted minty and has the aftertaste of....medicated oil. i think they've definitely overdone it. the molten choc cake served in a ramekin was also not technically a cake but a warm molten mousse. pretty salty too, think they must hv added too much salt or baking soda haha.
i personally wouldn't travel all the way there just to eat ice-cream since they don't really hv much on their menu. but if i'm near that area, i wouldn't mind dropping by again to try the rest of their flavors.
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