My partner and I were invited for a Hi-Tea session on Valentine Day after a friend’s ROM ceremony. Well I have walked pass this place a few times but then it never left any impression for me that I have to feel this urge to go in and give it a try.
The location of the restaurant is just right next to the main door of the hotel, so it is kinds of hard to miss it. Once you step into it, you will see a mini bakery, where they are selling some cakes etc. The first impression of the place is quite big with seats all over. Have to say that one on a weekday, being Valentines Day, it is almost full. Seeing a crowd could mean that the food spread can be pretty good. So was I right? Hmm….
The buffet spread was spread over s few stations. First stop is the cold starters. So they got the usual stuff like prawns, mussels, sushi, sashimi, cold soba etc. Well. I tasted a bit of everything and concluded that nothing is special. To me, only the prawns sort of impressed me. They are cold, big and fresh, just the way I like it. For the rest of the items, hmm… forgettable. Interesting enough, next to the cold starters, is a mini toast your own bread counter, Ah Kun style, with the traditional brown and white bread and you can put them on a hot plate and roast it. Slices of butter, kaya and other jams are available. Good idea but does not taste that great.
Now to the main, nothing special, some of the usual stuff again. However they got a lot of small stations for popiah, laksa etc. Again none of the food impresses us again. Consider as normal food. Well at least they are hot. By now, I am already feeling very sian about the whole buffet alr. Sigh…. I think the only good thing is only the bread where there is a lot of variety and hot out from the oven. It is good enough to taste good.
Lastly Desserts. At first when I walked past the desserts sections, I was quite impressed with the variety that they are offering. When I walked over to the station, I was less impressed, as all the usual suspects are there, the cakes and pudding etc. There is also one big fountain of strawberry chocolate, have the say that the pink color does not make it appealing as it reminds me of cough syrup. At the other corner of the room hidden are two pots of hot desserts like dao suan etc. Hmm… How come they are not placed together in the first place?
Cost per person of Hi-Tea on weekdays is $25 and on weekends is $32 (if my memory has not failed me)
Overall the whole place and the food did not impress me at all. Therefore I think the crowd is there cost of the cheap price during weekends. The service there is quite bad, as we were sitting in a corner, my tea was only filled when I was first seated after which it remain empty throughout. The funny thing is when I was away; the plates will be cleared by them, then how come my tea is not refilled? Hmm…… So I dun think I will be back to this place for buffet unless someone can prove me otherwise.
The name Tuck Shop rings a bell in your mind doesn’t it? To many of us it is the carefree times during our primary school time, where we run to the tuckshop for our recess break.
Located at the alley of Tanjong Pagar Road (5min walk from Tanjong Pagar MRT), Tuckshop is actually a combination of a cafe and bar, i’ll say more of a place to chill out, but serving food that’s more than just finger food, they whipped out something more for a bar. The indoor decor is quite cool, blue-painted walls, with simple black furnitures, and the draw of the place will be its live music by the Singapore band “The Bandits” every Wed & Thu, and tuckshop residents Dean & J’Manuka every Fri.
My first encounter with Tuckshop didn’t go smoothly, it was during a sat evening with a group of 10, we set off happily to Tuckshop, but to our dismay, the place was fully booked. I didn’t make any prior reservations, so in the end we ended up at New Harbour Cafe.
So this time, i went there during lunch time with my lunch mates. When we arrived at 12, it was still empty, but the crowd starts to come in and i must say the crowd was not too bad considering a weekday lunch period.
Having heard plenty of good things and the hype about Tuckshop given several magazines and ieatishoot have written good comments about the place, i had high expectations about the place, but after the visit, i was disappointed.
Steak Sandwich ($12.50) Caramelised onions and a portobello mushroom mayo on a toasted focaccia. Much rave comments have been said about Tuckshop’s Steak sandwich, such as “tasty steak sandwich starring juicy beef & portobello mushroom”, “a juicy steak sandwich (the meat & mushroom nicely charred)”, “the steak sandwich - a big cut of juicy grilled beef, caramelised onions, and a portobello mushroom on crusty focaccia was highly succulent..”
Unfortunately, the steak sandwich did not give me any of those. I find the beef to be rather on the fat side, nothing special about the steak sandwich really. So much for hypes! I’m sorry if you are a fan of Tuckshop’s steak sandwich, but this is just my personal opinion, no offence taken.
Fish & Chips ($8.50) White fish in a tasty batter, served with rich tata sauce. The portion of the pacific dory was definitely generous, cripsy on the outside, and soft on the inside. I guess given the price and the serving size, there’s nothing much to complain about.
Lemon Butter Pan Fried Fish ($15) Fillet of pan seared cod fish served with lemon butter sauce, mash and a side of green salad. My friend commented that the Lemon Butter Pan Fried Fish was quite average, not really sufficient to warrent another visit. N’uff said already!
Ice Cream Chef single scoop ($3.50) You must be wondering, what’s Ice Cream Chef doing in Tuckshop? Well, Tuckshop thinks that Ice Cream Chef does their ice cream with the same passion as them, so explained the presence of Ice Cream Chef.
Personally i won’t order ice cream chef’s ice cream from tuckshop, i’ll go down to Ice Cream Chef shop to try them. But my friend is craving for some desserts, so here goes, Nutella ice cream single scoop. I had a taste, and i think it isn’t comparable to the nutella flavour that i had at Island Creamery, Daily Scoop, or Haato. (i am a huge fan of nutella just for the record). Tried any of the three and you can get better ice cream. but then again i can be wrong since i never try the ice cream from Ice Cream Chef’s shop.
Total bill was $43.10 for 3 person. Not expensive i’ll say, but mayb not enough to make me do a Tuckshop II review. More needs to be done to the menu, hype alone will only get you that far. Again, no offence, like i always say: Whatever written herein are my geniune feelings about my food adventure, expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias.
But to be fair, it’s a good place for friends to chillout i guess, given the relatively affordably-priced food, and the live music environment, and another plus point will be its just a stone throw away from the Central District Business area, so people working in the area can go for a drink after a work day of stress.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
I finally had the chance to dine at Ristorante De Parma, a small family run Italian restaurant, one wet weekday evening. Strangely enough, although its been around for quite a while and I've always gone past it, I never had the urge to try it out, till that fateful evening.
Quietly located towards the end of a row of shophouses at the fringe of the hustle and bustle of Serangoon Gardens, Ristorante De Parma cuts a contrasting figure to the exuberance of the area. Decor is kept simple and no frills with soft, warm lighting and classy table arrangement. Soft easy listening music wafts through the air, setting the tone right for a relaxing meal.
Complimentary Bread - I presume that each person was only entitled to one slice of bread, seeing that we were only served 2 slices. Though served warm, the bread was a tad too dry for my liking and neither the margarine or olive oil helped.
Funchi Triffolati al Moda Dello Chef ($12.90)- This dish is essentially a Portobello mushroom garnished with grilled bell peppers, sun dried tomatoes & olives with the house dressing. And notice I mentioned a mushroom, not mushrooms. The mushroom was huge, bigger than anything I've ever seen before, which of course doesn't say much because I haven't really seen a lot of mushrooms to begin with. Taste wise, it was juicy with a nice chewy texture to boot, but somehow it lacked the oomph factor. Not that it wasn't nice or anything, just not outstanding.
Calzone aka Folded Pizza ($24.90) - According to the menu, the Calzone is a Neapolitan specialty and means 'Trouser Leg', which honestly makes no sense to me. Introductions aside, I had a major grouse with it. The crust was a little too burnt, resulting in a rather hard exterior, which made slicing or chewing through it a chore. The filling of ham, bacon, onions, mushrooms, capsicums and smoked cheddar cheese was decent though.
Filetto Di Mento ($32.90) - For a change, I ordered my steak medium instead of medium rare this time round and it came as per instructions. Italian restaurants certainly aren't known for their steak so I was pleasantly surprised by the juiciness and texture of the meat as well as the beefy flavours which were complemented by the subtle red wine sauce. I would dare say the steak can give some of the more reputable steakhouses a run for their money. On a side note, the potato ball that came with it tasted weird.
Chocolate Fondant ($11.90) - Beautifully presented, the Chocolate Fondant was compact with a slightly hardened exterior, unlike the ones that many Italian restaurants have taken to doing nowadays. This made eating it all the more enjoyable especially when the molten chocolate started oozing out through a break in the crust. Paired with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, it was really quite enjoyable. Pity about its small size though.
Tiramisu ($12.90) - High marks in the aesthetics department for the Tiramisu as well. The sponge to mascarpone cheese ratio was quite balanced and it came across as light and fluffy with a lingering taste of alcohol sans the wetness. Its probably one of the more notable tiramisus I've eaten in a long while.
I am most reluctant to admit, but $105 for 1 appetiser, 2 mains and 2 desserts definitely tends towards the expensive side. Food quality is particularly impressive for a restaurant that utilizes only local chefs and service is attentive yet non intrusive. If prices could drop a notch or two, I'll be more than happy to return for dinner. Until then, I'll have to content myself with their seemingly reasonably priced set lunches (starting from $12.90 I believe).
I went to the IT Show yesterday after 7pm, and as expected, everyone headed down on the first day too, in hope to avoid the even massive jam over the weekend.
I did a survival guide for those who's visiting IT Show. If you're keen to read, please go to my blog.
One concern I have at such a crowded event... what IF there's an emergency? I wonder how will they evacuate that many people within the shortest time possible. But I'm sure the organisers would have all these planned and ironed out long ago.
Everyone knew that the place is going to be packed, but still everyone still wants to go check out the prices. Why? Cos they always have very good bundles and discounts at the show. Especially for those who hate shopping and comparing prices at so many stalls around Sim Lim or Funan, shows like this is the easiest for them. Perhaps the price is not the cheapest, but with a little more, you get whole lot of goodies. So why not right?
Have you gone to the show too? Did you get anything there?
Finally after a very long wait, I happened to have the chance to try out the chicken which everyone is raving about, saying that it is much better than KFC. Well I don’t think KFC is that good to start off with. Since we need to send people off airport, I decided to make use of this chance to try it out.
So excited when we reached there, as usual there is a long queue going on, well 4 people in front of me. There are 3 counters serving at the same time but only one queue. They worked in the way of how you queue at the bank. Not a bad thing but then some people might be put off by the very long one queue.
Seem that it is very popular among a lot of people as they all bought a lot of sets meals, and thus explains the long waiting time as well. Well three counters, so only three people serving at the same time. Since I am so keen on trying it, I wait! Wahahaha…..
I ordered a two piece meal that comes with a side dish and a drink. Their chicken got a choice of spicy and mild version as well. Well I ordered one of each, and got one big piece of big breast meat and one small little chicken wing. Ordered their Cajun fries as the side dish and got a cup of coke. Also added coleslaw as side dish as well. The set also comes with their famous biscuit as well. It comes with a small pack of strawberry jam.
May the tasting begin! I am not a big fan of breast meat but I like thie breast meat. It is crispy on the outside but soft and juicy on the inside. It is not dry at all. The flour covering the chicken is not very thick and it got a hint of herbs being used as well. Taste great! Definitely beats KFC hands down. The thing is both of us could not taste the different between mild and spicy version. Hmm…. Or we got both the same version. Their fries are good enough of their own. It is crispy on the outside but soft and moist on the inside. Seems like they seasoned it with herbs as well. Good! Their coleslaw tasted like the coleslaw that KFC used to produce in the 80s. It is good with big chucks of cabbage and enough mayo to taste. Finally the famous biscuit, it is hard on the outside but soft and fluffy inside. On its own, it tastes like a butter biscuit, but do find it a bit dry and hard to sallow. Together with the strawberry jam, it tastes better.
Overall, I think the fried chicken rocks here but hope that they do open other outlets soon! Hopefully in town! Then now I am officially a Popeyes Fried Chicken Fan!
This little stall is well hidden in a café of Yio Chu Kang Road. Frankly speaking, if I don’t work nearby the café, I would have never found out about this stall. The café is along the side with a few coffee shops but it is almost packed to brim when it comes to lunch time.
The café is a very small and humble set up. Simple tables with white chairs and with a TV showing some lunch time show. The café is air conditioned and got outdoor seats for the smokers as well. There are only 3 stalls, one selling drinks, one selling noodles and the last one selling roast meat. So this review shall focus on the stall selling roast duck: Sally Roast Meat Rice.
The stall is managed by 2 sisters and of course the name Sally belongs to the elder sister if I am not wrong. It seems that they had been around doing this for sometime. Their stall also got paste a number of newspapers cutting and even got on a TV show before. They got all the nice logos on display. During lunch, most of the people will buy from their stall so prepared to join a long queue. For good food, it is totally worth to queue. They are very friendly as well, if you ask nicely to them for a little more rice, they will give it to you with no extra charge.
Since they are selling roast meat, of course they sell all kinds of roast meat, from duck, to meat and even BBQ chicken wings. On their stall front, just before lunch, they always display all the wonderful, shiny, meat.
Let me start off with their roast duck, their ducks are consider rather big in size. Their ducks are roasted until they have very nice and crispy looking skin. They have an even dark red color throughout the duck. The meat is juicy and soft, not tough at all. The skin is crispy and not oily. Other ducks tend to have a lot of fats but their ducks seem to have very little of it. Therefore when eating the duck, you dun have to chew off the fats first. A plate of duck rice comes with a large portion of nicely chopped duck meat and it only cost $3. It is a must try.
Their Char Siew is also another star on its own. Their char siew is roasted until dark red brown color with a shiny finishing and a bit of chao da bits at its corner. The meat they chose are lean so dun have much fats inside. They cut into slightly thick slices when serves. I like the taste where it is not too sweet and at the same time meat is soft and juicy. Unlike those that are sold in the market where their char siew are bright red in color and taste super sweet one.
Roast meat is something that I usually try not to eat but their roast meat has a thick crispy skin, together with the fat layer and the meat makes a wonderful combination. Got me totally hooked onto their roast meat.
BBQ Chicken Wing, this one alone is worth 5 stars already. Their BBQ chicken wing is like their char siew, dark red brown color with a shiny finishing and a bit of chao da bits. I think they used the same seasoning for both. It is also not too sweet and the meat is soft and juicy, not dry at all.
My usual order would be duck rice char siew 1 chicken wing, and the cost is only $4.70 and it comes with a very big size of rice. Sometimes to give myself a treat, I will buy a duck drumstick. Yum Yum! Something to mention here, every order comes with a free soup. Their free soup is made from all the leftover bones of the roasted duck and a type of preserved spicy vegetable. So to say there is extra meat in the soup. Free of charge some more!
Recently they started to sell sliced fish soup also but sad to say they should just stick to selling of the roasted meat can alr. Their sliced fish soup, although comes with a generous serving of sliced fish, but the soup base is tasteless with a very peppery taste. Not tasty at all.
So you keen to give it a try? Give me a call then I can bring you there for lunch!
1/2 Price Tuesday! So 1/2 the menu and service too?
Felt like having waffles yesterday so I met my girlfriend for dinner at Gelare. The last time I went, the mushroom cream pasta was pretty shiok. But yesterday our experience was in fact, very bad.
This outlet at Hougang Mall is pretty small and getting a table for 4 wasn't easy. After 20mins of waiting outside, finally we got our table. They've now improved on their menu and there were many choices that looks quite good. Since we were there for the waffles and pasta, we didn't get distracted. We wrote our orders on the order sheet provided at every table and went to the cashier to place our order.
While waiting in the queue, I realised that the ice cream choice we wanted wasn't available. And thus I tried to remember whatever that's there and walked back to the table to check with my friends. By then, I've already forgotten 80% of the choices available. Had to walk all the way back to check again and then back to the table to change our orders. Statisfied with our choice of ice cream for our waffles, we got back to the queue and when its our turn, the cashier told us that they had run out of mushroom cream pasta!!! (They could have indicated somewhere or inform us when they cleared the table right?) My friend had to walk back to our table and check what we want to change our pasta to, and then we changed our order AGAIN and joined the queue AGAIN!
We ended walking back and forth for about 5 times before we placed our orders with the cashier!
Our pasta was served first and one look at it I lost my appetite. We ordered tomato seafood pasta, the pasta looked pathetic with the little amount of sauce that only managed to cover 1/3 of the pasta for mine and 1/2 of the pasta for my friends'. We were too hungry to complain and so we just went ahead with what was given.
After our pasta, we stayed to chat while waiting for the waffles which was finally served after more than 30 mins! We did indicate to serve our waffles later, aka after we're done with our pasta, but not till that late.
Very disappointed about yesterday's experience. Guess I'll just forget about the pasta and just go for their waffles the next time.
The infamous Gelare Tuesdays, the only time of the week when you get waffles at half price. Sounds good doesn't it? Except you can expect to wait for eons for your waffles to be served.
We waited for a good 40 minutes before our simple waffle with two scoops of ice-cream got served.
If they couldn't keep up with the service standard, or to train their staffs to politely inform us of a possible long wait, they might as well not try stunts like this. It only serves to stain their brand name.
And I totally agree with Polarbear above, no free water is a bad move. It's the little perks that keep customers coming back, and the little irks that keep them away.
Arnold's Chicken? What's that? Thoughts of yet another generic deep fried chicken stall flashed across my mind when my friend brought it up. When informed that it was a rather famous outlet selling chicken that rivaled Popeye's and beat KFC's hands down, I embarked on a trip with my gf that very same day to verify the claims.
Located on the 2nd floor of City Plaza, the main outlet of Arnold's is tucked away in a rather obscure corner and very much resembles a fast food joint except that they do take and serve orders at your table. Please note that you still pay at the counter though.
We had the 2 person combo meal, which consisted of 5 pieces of chicken, potato fries, 1 regular coleslaw, 2 buns and 2 soft drinks. The highlight was of course the chicken, which was very crispy on the outside with a tinge of herbs yet tender and moist on the inside. And the best part was, it didn't have the used oil aftertaste that usually came along with KFC chickens. The coleslaw was also quite a refreshing change from the funny tasting and smelling ones that KFC serves. Even my gf who dislikes coleslaw commented so. The buns were way too oily though, being deep fried in oil and the fries really tasted like frozen fries that had been deep fried.
$18.10 for the above is rather pricey actually, especially when you can get the exact same stuff at KFC for about $5 less. Quality wise, no thoughts of comparison between Arnold's and KFC should even cross your mind because there is simply no competition. Unfortunately, location wise, KFC is a clear winner.
The vibrant dining scene of East Coast/Upper East Coast road has a new entrant - a small bistro by the name of Montreux. Its not exactly new to the East Coast area per se, with a small cafe going by the same name and owned by the same person operating out of the basement of Siglap Centre. The cafe only sells cakes and desserts though, while the bistro serves up appetisers and mains as well.
Partially hidden from view in a tiny shophouse just 2 units down from NTUC, Montreux's interior is simple, uncluttered and very "cafeish". Its really tiny though, probably maxing out at about 20 customers or so.
Complimentary Bread - The bread, though served warm, was at best forgettable. But no one complains of free bread especially when they are starving.
The soup of the day - Beef Goulash. Tangy with a hint of spice and a few chunks of beef, something which I certainly didn't expect from a low cost set dinner soup. It was a tad too watery though.
Bangers & Mash - Okay this hardly qualifies as bangers and mash although technically there's nothing wrong with it. Correct me if I am wrong though, but isn't bangers and mash suppose to come with huge sausages and not the teeny weeny ones you can get off the shelves from some supermart? However, having said that, its best to keep in mind that we are talking about a $12.90 set dinner here so I guess that kinda puts things into perspective. Just for the record, the sausages weren't great, average at best.
Half Spring Chicken - The half spring chicken was rather smallish but decent enough. Served up with a piece of overfried rosti, it was a tad dry (probably a little overcooked) with a light herb taste.
Hazelnut Cake - The cake had to be the highlight of the set dinner, or the entire meal for that matter. Smooth hazelnut and sponge sitting atop a nice crunchy wafer base. A very nice nutty taste. It did seem a tad too dry though. Also, only half a slice of cake was served, making portions really small.
Espresso Brownie - Our waiter recommended this and after the positive experience with the hazelnut cake, I had fairly high expectations of it. And it was quite good with molten chocolate atop and the cake a tad chewy and not too dry. However, I couldn't quite make out any taste of espresso at all. Montreux might want to consider adding more espresso into the mix or renaming the brownie?
2 set dinners plus an extra dessert cost $36, which certainly isn't expensive. Generally mains are average but desserts are better. If they could improve the quality of their mains, I'm sure Montreux Bistro will be a success, especially when service is good as well. On a side note, I've not tried anything from their ala carte menu because the items in it do seem rather expensive, which means that my review might not be entirely fair.
1=SGD 0.0587
My partner and I were invited for a Hi-Tea session on Valentine Day after a friend’s ROM ceremony. Well I have walked pass this place a few times but then it never left any impression for me that I have to feel this urge to go in and give it a try.
The location of the restaurant is just right next to the main door of the hotel, so it is kinds of hard to miss it. Once you step into it, you will see a mini bakery, where they are selling some cakes etc. The first impression of the place is quite big with seats all over. Have to say that one on a weekday, being Valentines Day, it is almost full. Seeing a crowd could mean that the food spread can be pretty good. So was I right? Hmm….
The buffet spread was spread over s few stations. First stop is the cold starters. So they got the usual stuff like prawns, mussels, sushi, sashimi, cold soba etc. Well. I tasted a bit of everything and concluded that nothing is special. To me, only the prawns sort of impressed me. They are cold, big and fresh, just the way I like it. For the rest of the items, hmm… forgettable. Interesting enough, next to the cold starters, is a mini toast your own bread counter, Ah Kun style, with the traditional brown and white bread and you can put them on a hot plate and roast it. Slices of butter, kaya and other jams are available. Good idea but does not taste that great.
Now to the main, nothing special, some of the usual stuff again. However they got a lot of small stations for popiah, laksa etc. Again none of the food impresses us again. Consider as normal food. Well at least they are hot. By now, I am already feeling very sian about the whole buffet alr. Sigh…. I think the only good thing is only the bread where there is a lot of variety and hot out from the oven. It is good enough to taste good.
Lastly Desserts. At first when I walked past the desserts sections, I was quite impressed with the variety that they are offering. When I walked over to the station, I was less impressed, as all the usual suspects are there, the cakes and pudding etc. There is also one big fountain of strawberry chocolate, have the say that the pink color does not make it appealing as it reminds me of cough syrup. At the other corner of the room hidden are two pots of hot desserts like dao suan etc. Hmm… How come they are not placed together in the first place?
Cost per person of Hi-Tea on weekdays is $25 and on weekends is $32 (if my memory has not failed me)
Overall the whole place and the food did not impress me at all. Therefore I think the crowd is there cost of the cheap price during weekends. The service there is quite bad, as we were sitting in a corner, my tea was only filled when I was first seated after which it remain empty throughout. The funny thing is when I was away; the plates will be cleared by them, then how come my tea is not refilled? Hmm…… So I dun think I will be back to this place for buffet unless someone can prove me otherwise.
Rating given:
The name Tuck Shop rings a bell in your mind doesn’t it? To many of us it is the carefree times during our primary school time, where we run to the tuckshop for our recess break.
Located at the alley of Tanjong Pagar Road (5min walk from Tanjong Pagar MRT), Tuckshop is actually a combination of a cafe and bar, i’ll say more of a place to chill out, but serving food that’s more than just finger food, they whipped out something more for a bar. The indoor decor is quite cool, blue-painted walls, with simple black furnitures, and the draw of the place will be its live music by the Singapore band “The Bandits” every Wed & Thu, and tuckshop residents Dean & J’Manuka every Fri.
My first encounter with Tuckshop didn’t go smoothly, it was during a sat evening with a group of 10, we set off happily to Tuckshop, but to our dismay, the place was fully booked. I didn’t make any prior reservations, so in the end we ended up at New Harbour Cafe.
So this time, i went there during lunch time with my lunch mates. When we arrived at 12, it was still empty, but the crowd starts to come in and i must say the crowd was not too bad considering a weekday lunch period.
Having heard plenty of good things and the hype about Tuckshop given several magazines and ieatishoot have written good comments about the place, i had high expectations about the place, but after the visit, i was disappointed.
Steak Sandwich ($12.50)
Caramelised onions and a portobello mushroom mayo on a toasted focaccia. Much rave comments have been said about Tuckshop’s Steak sandwich, such as “tasty steak sandwich starring juicy beef & portobello mushroom”, “a juicy steak sandwich (the meat & mushroom nicely charred)”, “the steak sandwich - a big cut of juicy grilled beef, caramelised onions, and a portobello mushroom on crusty focaccia was highly succulent..”
Unfortunately, the steak sandwich did not give me any of those. I find the beef to be rather on the fat side, nothing special about the steak sandwich really. So much for hypes! I’m sorry if you are a fan of Tuckshop’s steak sandwich, but this is just my personal opinion, no offence taken.
Fish & Chips ($8.50)
White fish in a tasty batter, served with rich tata sauce. The portion of the pacific dory was definitely generous, cripsy on the outside, and soft on the inside. I guess given the price and the serving size, there’s nothing much to complain about.
Lemon Butter Pan Fried Fish ($15)
Fillet of pan seared cod fish served with lemon butter sauce, mash and a side of green salad. My friend commented that the Lemon Butter Pan Fried Fish was quite average, not really sufficient to warrent another visit. N’uff said already!
Ice Cream Chef single scoop ($3.50)
You must be wondering, what’s Ice Cream Chef doing in Tuckshop? Well, Tuckshop thinks that Ice Cream Chef does their ice cream with the same passion as them, so explained the presence of Ice Cream Chef.
Personally i won’t order ice cream chef’s ice cream from tuckshop, i’ll go down to Ice Cream Chef shop to try them. But my friend is craving for some desserts, so here goes, Nutella ice cream single scoop. I had a taste, and i think it isn’t comparable to the nutella flavour that i had at Island Creamery, Daily Scoop, or Haato. (i am a huge fan of nutella just for the record). Tried any of the three and you can get better ice cream. but then again i can be wrong since i never try the ice cream from Ice Cream Chef’s shop.
Total bill was $43.10 for 3 person. Not expensive i’ll say, but mayb not enough to make me do a Tuckshop II review. More needs to be done to the menu, hype alone will only get you that far. Again, no offence, like i always say: Whatever written herein are my geniune feelings about my food adventure, expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias.
But to be fair, it’s a good place for friends to chillout i guess, given the relatively affordably-priced food, and the live music environment, and another plus point will be its just a stone throw away from the Central District Business area, so people working in the area can go for a drink after a work day of stress.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
” Hype will only get you that far “
Rating given:
I finally had the chance to dine at Ristorante De Parma, a small family run Italian restaurant, one wet weekday evening. Strangely enough, although its been around for quite a while and I've always gone past it, I never had the urge to try it out, till that fateful evening.
Quietly located towards the end of a row of shophouses at the fringe of the hustle and bustle of Serangoon Gardens, Ristorante De Parma cuts a contrasting figure to the exuberance of the area. Decor is kept simple and no frills with soft, warm lighting and classy table arrangement. Soft easy listening music wafts through the air, setting the tone right for a relaxing meal.
Complimentary Bread - I presume that each person was only entitled to one slice of bread, seeing that we were only served 2 slices. Though served warm, the bread was a tad too dry for my liking and neither the margarine or olive oil helped.
Funchi Triffolati al Moda Dello Chef ($12.90)- This dish is essentially a Portobello mushroom garnished with grilled bell peppers, sun dried tomatoes & olives with the house dressing. And notice I mentioned a mushroom, not mushrooms. The mushroom was huge, bigger than anything I've ever seen before, which of course doesn't say much because I haven't really seen a lot of mushrooms to begin with. Taste wise, it was juicy with a nice chewy texture to boot, but somehow it lacked the oomph factor. Not that it wasn't nice or anything, just not outstanding.
Calzone aka Folded Pizza ($24.90) - According to the menu, the Calzone is a Neapolitan specialty and means 'Trouser Leg', which honestly makes no sense to me. Introductions aside, I had a major grouse with it. The crust was a little too burnt, resulting in a rather hard exterior, which made slicing or chewing through it a chore. The filling of ham, bacon, onions, mushrooms, capsicums and smoked cheddar cheese was decent though.
Filetto Di Mento ($32.90) - For a change, I ordered my steak medium instead of medium rare this time round and it came as per instructions. Italian restaurants certainly aren't known for their steak so I was pleasantly surprised by the juiciness and texture of the meat as well as the beefy flavours which were complemented by the subtle red wine sauce. I would dare say the steak can give some of the more reputable steakhouses a run for their money. On a side note, the potato ball that came with it tasted weird.
Chocolate Fondant ($11.90) - Beautifully presented, the Chocolate Fondant was compact with a slightly hardened exterior, unlike the ones that many Italian restaurants have taken to doing nowadays. This made eating it all the more enjoyable especially when the molten chocolate started oozing out through a break in the crust. Paired with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, it was really quite enjoyable. Pity about its small size though.
Tiramisu ($12.90) - High marks in the aesthetics department for the Tiramisu as well. The sponge to mascarpone cheese ratio was quite balanced and it came across as light and fluffy with a lingering taste of alcohol sans the wetness. Its probably one of the more notable tiramisus I've eaten in a long while.
I am most reluctant to admit, but $105 for 1 appetiser, 2 mains and 2 desserts definitely tends towards the expensive side. Food quality is particularly impressive for a restaurant that utilizes only local chefs and service is attentive yet non intrusive. If prices could drop a notch or two, I'll be more than happy to return for dinner. Until then, I'll have to content myself with their seemingly reasonably priced set lunches (starting from $12.90 I believe).
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Don't go if you don't have anything to buy!
I went to the IT Show yesterday after 7pm, and as expected, everyone headed down on the first day too, in hope to avoid the even massive jam over the weekend.
I did a survival guide for those who's visiting IT Show. If you're keen to read, please go to my blog.
One concern I have at such a crowded event... what IF there's an emergency? I wonder how will they evacuate that many people within the shortest time possible. But I'm sure the organisers would have all these planned and ironed out long ago.
Everyone knew that the place is going to be packed, but still everyone still wants to go check out the prices. Why? Cos they always have very good bundles and discounts at the show. Especially for those who hate shopping and comparing prices at so many stalls around Sim Lim or Funan, shows like this is the easiest for them. Perhaps the price is not the cheapest, but with a little more, you get whole lot of goodies. So why not right?
Have you gone to the show too? Did you get anything there?
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Finally after a very long wait, I happened to have the chance to try out the chicken which everyone is raving about, saying that it is much better than KFC. Well I don’t think KFC is that good to start off with. Since we need to send people off airport, I decided to make use of this chance to try it out.
So excited when we reached there, as usual there is a long queue going on, well 4 people in front of me. There are 3 counters serving at the same time but only one queue. They worked in the way of how you queue at the bank. Not a bad thing but then some people might be put off by the very long one queue.
Seem that it is very popular among a lot of people as they all bought a lot of sets meals, and thus explains the long waiting time as well. Well three counters, so only three people serving at the same time. Since I am so keen on trying it, I wait! Wahahaha…..
I ordered a two piece meal that comes with a side dish and a drink. Their chicken got a choice of spicy and mild version as well. Well I ordered one of each, and got one big piece of big breast meat and one small little chicken wing. Ordered their Cajun fries as the side dish and got a cup of coke. Also added coleslaw as side dish as well. The set also comes with their famous biscuit as well. It comes with a small pack of strawberry jam.
May the tasting begin! I am not a big fan of breast meat but I like thie breast meat. It is crispy on the outside but soft and juicy on the inside. It is not dry at all. The flour covering the chicken is not very thick and it got a hint of herbs being used as well. Taste great! Definitely beats KFC hands down. The thing is both of us could not taste the different between mild and spicy version. Hmm…. Or we got both the same version. Their fries are good enough of their own. It is crispy on the outside but soft and moist on the inside. Seems like they seasoned it with herbs as well. Good! Their coleslaw tasted like the coleslaw that KFC used to produce in the 80s. It is good with big chucks of cabbage and enough mayo to taste. Finally the famous biscuit, it is hard on the outside but soft and fluffy inside. On its own, it tastes like a butter biscuit, but do find it a bit dry and hard to sallow. Together with the strawberry jam, it tastes better.
Overall, I think the fried chicken rocks here but hope that they do open other outlets soon! Hopefully in town! Then now I am officially a Popeyes Fried Chicken Fan!
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This little stall is well hidden in a café of Yio Chu Kang Road. Frankly speaking, if I don’t work nearby the café, I would have never found out about this stall. The café is along the side with a few coffee shops but it is almost packed to brim when it comes to lunch time.
The café is a very small and humble set up. Simple tables with white chairs and with a TV showing some lunch time show. The café is air conditioned and got outdoor seats for the smokers as well. There are only 3 stalls, one selling drinks, one selling noodles and the last one selling roast meat. So this review shall focus on the stall selling roast duck: Sally Roast Meat Rice.
The stall is managed by 2 sisters and of course the name Sally belongs to the elder sister if I am not wrong. It seems that they had been around doing this for sometime. Their stall also got paste a number of newspapers cutting and even got on a TV show before. They got all the nice logos on display. During lunch, most of the people will buy from their stall so prepared to join a long queue. For good food, it is totally worth to queue. They are very friendly as well, if you ask nicely to them for a little more rice, they will give it to you with no extra charge.
Since they are selling roast meat, of course they sell all kinds of roast meat, from duck, to meat and even BBQ chicken wings. On their stall front, just before lunch, they always display all the wonderful, shiny, meat.
Let me start off with their roast duck, their ducks are consider rather big in size. Their ducks are roasted until they have very nice and crispy looking skin. They have an even dark red color throughout the duck. The meat is juicy and soft, not tough at all. The skin is crispy and not oily. Other ducks tend to have a lot of fats but their ducks seem to have very little of it. Therefore when eating the duck, you dun have to chew off the fats first. A plate of duck rice comes with a large portion of nicely chopped duck meat and it only cost $3. It is a must try.
Their Char Siew is also another star on its own. Their char siew is roasted until dark red brown color with a shiny finishing and a bit of chao da bits at its corner. The meat they chose are lean so dun have much fats inside. They cut into slightly thick slices when serves. I like the taste where it is not too sweet and at the same time meat is soft and juicy. Unlike those that are sold in the market where their char siew are bright red in color and taste super sweet one.
Roast meat is something that I usually try not to eat but their roast meat has a thick crispy skin, together with the fat layer and the meat makes a wonderful combination. Got me totally hooked onto their roast meat.
BBQ Chicken Wing, this one alone is worth 5 stars already. Their BBQ chicken wing is like their char siew, dark red brown color with a shiny finishing and a bit of chao da bits. I think they used the same seasoning for both. It is also not too sweet and the meat is soft and juicy, not dry at all.
My usual order would be duck rice char siew 1 chicken wing, and the cost is only $4.70 and it comes with a very big size of rice. Sometimes to give myself a treat, I will buy a duck drumstick. Yum Yum! Something to mention here, every order comes with a free soup. Their free soup is made from all the leftover bones of the roasted duck and a type of preserved spicy vegetable. So to say there is extra meat in the soup. Free of charge some more!
Recently they started to sell sliced fish soup also but sad to say they should just stick to selling of the roasted meat can alr. Their sliced fish soup, although comes with a generous serving of sliced fish, but the soup base is tasteless with a very peppery taste. Not tasty at all.
So you keen to give it a try? Give me a call then I can bring you there for lunch!
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1/2 Price Tuesday! So 1/2 the menu and service too?
Felt like having waffles yesterday so I met my girlfriend for dinner at Gelare. The last time I went, the mushroom cream pasta was pretty shiok. But yesterday our experience was in fact, very bad.
This outlet at Hougang Mall is pretty small and getting a table for 4 wasn't easy. After 20mins of waiting outside, finally we got our table. They've now improved on their menu and there were many choices that looks quite good. Since we were there for the waffles and pasta, we didn't get distracted. We wrote our orders on the order sheet provided at every table and went to the cashier to place our order.
While waiting in the queue, I realised that the ice cream choice we wanted wasn't available. And thus I tried to remember whatever that's there and walked back to the table to check with my friends. By then, I've already forgotten 80% of the choices available. Had to walk all the way back to check again and then back to the table to change our orders. Statisfied with our choice of ice cream for our waffles, we got back to the queue and when its our turn, the cashier told us that they had run out of mushroom cream pasta!!! (They could have indicated somewhere or inform us when they cleared the table right?) My friend had to walk back to our table and check what we want to change our pasta to, and then we changed our order AGAIN and joined the queue AGAIN!
We ended walking back and forth for about 5 times before we placed our orders with the cashier!
Our pasta was served first and one look at it I lost my appetite. We ordered tomato seafood pasta, the pasta looked pathetic with the little amount of sauce that only managed to cover 1/3 of the pasta for mine and 1/2 of the pasta for my friends'. We were too hungry to complain and so we just went ahead with what was given.
After our pasta, we stayed to chat while waiting for the waffles which was finally served after more than 30 mins! We did indicate to serve our waffles later, aka after we're done with our pasta, but not till that late.
Very disappointed about yesterday's experience. Guess I'll just forget about the pasta and just go for their waffles the next time.
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The infamous Gelare Tuesdays, the only time of the week when you get waffles at half price. Sounds good doesn't it? Except you can expect to wait for eons for your waffles to be served.
We waited for a good 40 minutes before our simple waffle with two scoops of ice-cream got served.
If they couldn't keep up with the service standard, or to train their staffs to politely inform us of a possible long wait, they might as well not try stunts like this. It only serves to stain their brand name.
And I totally agree with Polarbear above, no free water is a bad move. It's the little perks that keep customers coming back, and the little irks that keep them away.
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Arnold's Chicken? What's that? Thoughts of yet another generic deep fried chicken stall flashed across my mind when my friend brought it up. When informed that it was a rather famous outlet selling chicken that rivaled Popeye's and beat KFC's hands down, I embarked on a trip with my gf that very same day to verify the claims.
Located on the 2nd floor of City Plaza, the main outlet of Arnold's is tucked away in a rather obscure corner and very much resembles a fast food joint except that they do take and serve orders at your table. Please note that you still pay at the counter though.
We had the 2 person combo meal, which consisted of 5 pieces of chicken, potato fries, 1 regular coleslaw, 2 buns and 2 soft drinks. The highlight was of course the chicken, which was very crispy on the outside with a tinge of herbs yet tender and moist on the inside. And the best part was, it didn't have the used oil aftertaste that usually came along with KFC chickens. The coleslaw was also quite a refreshing change from the funny tasting and smelling ones that KFC serves. Even my gf who dislikes coleslaw commented so. The buns were way too oily though, being deep fried in oil and the fries really tasted like frozen fries that had been deep fried.
$18.10 for the above is rather pricey actually, especially when you can get the exact same stuff at KFC for about $5 less. Quality wise, no thoughts of comparison between Arnold's and KFC should even cross your mind because there is simply no competition. Unfortunately, location wise, KFC is a clear winner.
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The vibrant dining scene of East Coast/Upper East Coast road has a new entrant - a small bistro by the name of Montreux. Its not exactly new to the East Coast area per se, with a small cafe going by the same name and owned by the same person operating out of the basement of Siglap Centre. The cafe only sells cakes and desserts though, while the bistro serves up appetisers and mains as well.
Partially hidden from view in a tiny shophouse just 2 units down from NTUC, Montreux's interior is simple, uncluttered and very "cafeish". Its really tiny though, probably maxing out at about 20 customers or so.
Complimentary Bread - The bread, though served warm, was at best forgettable. But no one complains of free bread especially when they are starving.
The soup of the day - Beef Goulash. Tangy with a hint of spice and a few chunks of beef, something which I certainly didn't expect from a low cost set dinner soup. It was a tad too watery though.
Bangers & Mash - Okay this hardly qualifies as bangers and mash although technically there's nothing wrong with it. Correct me if I am wrong though, but isn't bangers and mash suppose to come with huge sausages and not the teeny weeny ones you can get off the shelves from some supermart? However, having said that, its best to keep in mind that we are talking about a $12.90 set dinner here so I guess that kinda puts things into perspective. Just for the record, the sausages weren't great, average at best.
Half Spring Chicken - The half spring chicken was rather smallish but decent enough. Served up with a piece of overfried rosti, it was a tad dry (probably a little overcooked) with a light herb taste.
Hazelnut Cake - The cake had to be the highlight of the set dinner, or the entire meal for that matter. Smooth hazelnut and sponge sitting atop a nice crunchy wafer base. A very nice nutty taste. It did seem a tad too dry though. Also, only half a slice of cake was served, making portions really small.
Espresso Brownie - Our waiter recommended this and after the positive experience with the hazelnut cake, I had fairly high expectations of it. And it was quite good with molten chocolate atop and the cake a tad chewy and not too dry. However, I couldn't quite make out any taste of espresso at all. Montreux might want to consider adding more espresso into the mix or renaming the brownie?
2 set dinners plus an extra dessert cost $36, which certainly isn't expensive. Generally mains are average but desserts are better. If they could improve the quality of their mains, I'm sure Montreux Bistro will be a success, especially when service is good as well. On a side note, I've not tried anything from their ala carte menu because the items in it do seem rather expensive, which means that my review might not be entirely fair.
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