We were looking for a place for coffee and decided to settle at Breeks. We sat at a corner table and was immediately given the menu. Our order came quite promptly. We didn't ask for ice water which we usually do, and I don't know why we didn't.
Anyway, the manager (i guess) saw that we didn't have any water, other than the coffee we ordered, she automatically served us warm water. Felt this was a nice gesture especially at cafe like Breeks. Some places don't even serve ice water. You've to pay 50cents for a mini bottled distilled water.
Great place to chill and rest. If you've no where to go over the weekends, I strongly recommend heading to Harbourfront. Especially with the $2/entry parking from 10am to 1am on Sat/Sun and PH!
Forget about the full-sized donuts! Marcial Kobe's mini ones are much more yummilicious!!
Happened to be at Central last week and decided to give these cute little donuts a try. Located at the corner of Central basement (where I usually get lost walking as it seems like a maze to me). There were about 10 flavors to choose from. Not sure if its on promo or the usual price, but I got 12 mini donuts at $4. Quite cheap lah!
These donuts are very crispy and are not too sweet. The size is just nice to pop into your mouth. But I had to bite them bit by bit to savor the different taste of each mini donuts. There were the sugared ones, caramelized ones, chocolate ones, and alot of others, which I can't recall! All are delicious lah! So go give it a try when you're around The Central ya!
Dropped by Cafe Oliv, one of the many small eateries lining East Coast Road, for lunch. Its chef, Kevin Heng, used to work for Shangri-La’s Rasa Sentosa and the Emerald Hill Group but has since moved on to open up Cafe Oliv with his buddy, Patrick Ang.
Situated just next to the famous 328 Laksa and further down from Astons Specialties, Cafe Oliv is a tiny eatery which can probably seat about 20 pax. The interior is minimalistic with its clean lines and plastic tables and chairs.
Cream of Vegetable Soup - This came as part of the set lunch which means you don't get to choose anything except for the main course. I wouldn't say the soup was terrific or anything close to that, but it was decent - tasty yet not too coagulated or runny. Something should be done about the rock hard bread though, which was still too hard even after dipping it into the soup.
Grilled Half Shell Scallops with Basil Aglio Olio Linguine - As lip smacking as this dish may sound, it certainly had lots of room for improvement. The linguine wasn't al dente to begin with and came across as a tad too salty for my liking. The scallops were nicely grilled with a tinge of rawness but didn't seem particularly sweet.
Traditional Beef Stew with Fennel - I liked the thick gravy which came with this dish but the beef did seem a tad too soft for my liking though my friend found it just right. Nice warm dish to have on a cold rainy day. Just don't get your expectations too high.
Oliv Mini Trio Meat Burger - Made up of 3 different types of burger, namely BBQ sliced pork, cod fish steak and tenderloin steak, this dish was one of the more interesting dishes around. Personally I fancied the tenderloin burger the most as the patty was chewy with lots of bite. The BBQ sliced pork, which looked and tasted like Kong Ba incidentally, had its taste overwhelmed by the bacon. As for the salmon, I found it a tad too salty.
Brownie with Ice Cream - Its really difficult to go wrong with brownies, save for those that are hard and dry. Having said that, I did like the brownie quite a fair bit with its chocolaty overtones.
A relaxing and filling lunch for 2 came to the tune of $43, which isn't expensive considering that the set lunch itself is only $10.90 nett per person. No service charge or GST is imposed, which is a plus as well and not forgetting the good service rendered. I would say overall food quality is decent but don't expect too much.
Vivocity is one the biggest shapping mall in Spore. I will be there almost every weekend as well. Haa....
I feel that it is one of the best design shopping centre as well. When I was there for the first time, I have a feeling a being lost as the place is really big, even with the help of a map. However after a while, I get used to it and find it quite easy to move around as well.
They boast the biggest cinema in Spore, got a sky train to Sentosa, and they are next to St James, the biggest entertainment outlet.
They also managed to get a lot of big fashion brands like Gap, River Island, Tangs, etc.
Electronic shops like Samsung, Challenger, Best Denki and many more handphone shop.
Restaurants, from small cafes like Ben and Jerry, to the usual coffee joints like Starbucks and Coffee Bean etc, to the fast food, special ones like Super Dog, to all lot of food courts, Food Republic. Too many to list down here.
There is also a big wading pool on the roof top where good to see kids running in and out. There are also lots of grass patches to have a picnic maybe.
So there are tons of things to do there. Good way to spend a weekend, if you are sick of town shopping centres.
While waiting for my movie to start, decided to hang out out Ben and Jerry for some ice cream. I think this is one of the biggest outlet in Spore with a space for some bands to jam.
I am always a big fan of Ben and Jerry ice cream, especially Chucky Monkey! Hee....
The service of the place is pretty smooth. Nothing to wow on.
The main thing that I dun like was the band yesterday. I thought that I can have a good chat but it turns out that the band was too loud for any chit chat and the singing was not good. The singer was screaming at every word. Sigh..
So in the end we jz finished out ice cream fast and move out of that place fast! I think if their plan is to use the band to make the customer move out of the place fast, I think they had done it.
The ice cream 5 stars but overall experience at the outlet 2 stars.
Best for take-aways, and killing yoshinoya's business. The food is way cheaper than Yoshinoya, and TONS better than Yoshinoya. Looking at the Japanese couple cooking 'zenly' for us is pure....japanese...lol...
One thing I cannot stand about this place is that they take their own time to place your food nicely on the bowls, cook neatly slowly, hygienically...like everything seemed to be very zen about it. The kitchen is just like any home kitchen, you can look at what kind of condiments they use, nothing is not Japanese... I always have cravings for their food...and it's always worth the wait...food ranges from $4 to $9...if you are hungry on waiting, go get some fresh sushi from Meidi-Ya Supermarket, fresher than marketplace sushi.
Just go and try. You'll get what I mean. (But don't bring your girl there cos it is SUPER not romantic...just a take-out counter...)
There seems to be a growing trend of opening what used to be deemed more exclusive food (Italian, French etc) in food/hawker centres with competitive prices to boot. Ragazzi the Italian Kitchen is one such outlet to jump on the bandwagon to offer quality Italian food at coffeeshop prices.
Located at a rather obscure coffeeshop under a block of flats in the Ghim Moh estate, Ragazzi is owned and run by Gabriel Cher, ex chef-de partie of The Oriental's Dolce Vita (Interestingly, Dolce Vita serves Mediterranean food now, not Italian). Business was rather slow on a wet Saturday evening and one can only wonder if its the lack of publicity, wet weather or quality of food thats keeping the crowds at bay.
Zuppa alla Funghi - For $2.50 a pop, I certainly wasn't expecting much. But I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the soup was made from grounded mushrooms and onions, which was evident from the taste and texture. Only thing that could been improved was its thickness. It did come across as a little too watery but hey, its definitely value for money.
The bruschetta ($3) could have been good but was let down by a few factors. The good things first. Well toasted with the sides a little charred but soft and warm within. Now for the bad part. There was an way too much olive oil on the middle portion of the bread, which made it a little too soggy. Tomatoes on the top didn't look very fresh but did provide the necessary texture and zest.
Melanzane al Forno - I've never been a fan of eggplants and this wasn't about to change anything. The eggplant was a little too soft for my liking but I did like the layer of grilled cheese on top.
Carbonara ($7) - Being a cream based pasta lover, I naturally ordered the Carbonara to be on the safe side. The pasta was a tad too overcooked and the gravy did come across as a little too thick, rendering me nauseous after a while. However I would still say its very decent with the respectable bacon toppings and definitely better than anything pasta mania or the likes can whip up.
Del Bosco ($6) - As with the Carbonara, the Del Bosco's pasta was a tad too overcooked as well but what won me over were the sausages, which tasted thoroughly smoked but was a tad too salty. The tomato sauce wasn't outstanding, being average at best.
Tiramisu ($4.50) - I would be lying if I said that the Tiramisu was decent. To be honest, it was terrible. For one, the sponge fingers weren't soaked in Kahlua. It tasted more like fruit essence or something. Also, the mascarpone cheese was a little too dense and the whole thing was rather watery(water logged would have been appropriate too) at the bottom. It definitely didn't help that too much Cocoa powder was added as well.
All in all, a very filling dinner for 2 pax cost $27.50, which is very pricey by hawker standards but cheap by restaurant standards. Overall food quality is still decent so you might want to give this place a shot if you are craving for Italian food but not willing to fork out the dough for it.
After reading the above reviews, I decided to give this place a try. Couldn't find the place at first, but thanks to Lucardia, I managed to find it.
The concept of the ice-cream sticks ordering system is interesting, but if fact I feel that its quite inconvenient for the customers. Let's just say, we still pay 10% service charge but we do half the work for them, i.e. ordering. The sushi belt is right in the center of the place and you have to carry them back to your seats. The tray they provide is small. The most you can put is 4 plates at a go. Well, still consider alright since there aren't that many options to choose form.
99cents for a plate of sushi is cheap. But that's all they are. Cheap. The other dishes available looks normal. Ordered Fried Ebi and Fried Tofu. Tasted nice. But not fantastic.
One thing I don't like is the after-smell that's stuck with you event up till now. The spell that I call the "foodcourt smell". (That's one reason why I avoid eating at foodcourts.) So ya, I'll be avoiding this place too.
After our last visit to Peaberry & Pretzel some time back, my gf and I decided to head back to Sunset Way to try out Megumi Japanese Restaurant on the recommendations of some folks.
Located just a few doors down from Peaberry & Pretzel, Megumi's air conditioned interior is smallish, with the bulk of the seating capacity in the al fresco area outside. Notice that this means lunch here in the afternoon might mean a sweaty affair unless you get to sit inside.
Billed as the Megumi special roll, there was nothing really special about it in my humble opinion. It came across as your ordinary California Roll with crab sticks and Tamago in it. Not that the extra ingredients gave it much taste either. Lets just say it tasted like a slightly sweeter version of the California Roll. So much for the secrecy. One other bone I had was that the rice was a little too dry and could have been firmer.
Char Siew Ramen - Labeled a house specialty, the ramen was a let down honestly. The noodles were your normal egg noodles though of a more springy version whereas the Char Siew was a little too dry and tough. It certainly didn't help that the soup was a tad too salty as well.
Saikoro Steak Set - Another one of the house specialties except that this one actually tasted quite decent. The beef was a little overcooked but still retained enough of its juices, taste and texture to warrant a decent rating. However, I must mention that portions are small and not homogeneously cooked, as evident by the residual butter I detected on some pieces of beef.
Black Sesame Ice Cream - I'm not exactly a fan of black sesame ice cream so I am not in a position to comment if its good or not. But my gf seemed to like it quite a bit so I'm guessing it must be of a certain standard.
Fried Vanilla Ice Cream - This was probably what I liked the best of all the dishes that evening. Interestingly, the batter was a thicker version of the crispy yet light tempura batter and actually went quite good with the vanilla ice cream. Now something needs to be done about the quality of the ice cream though, which was really mediocre.
While $61 for 2 pax isn't unreasonably expensive for the food, it isn't exactly cheap either, considering that the food was merely average. One funny thing I discovered. The restaurant was actually playing Korean songs. How cool is that?
This incident happen to me over the weekend and have to say that I am very impressed with the staff over there.
I ordered a regular Black Forest and when I got it and drank it, I find the drink very diluted, seem like they forgot to add something in, I only have the coffee bitter after taste only, no taste of chocolate or whatever. Confirmed this with my galfren, who also find the drink under par.
So I mentioned this to the manager (I think), without any questions asked, he immediately offered to replace a new drink for me. The new drink was replaced to me within a min and it was prefect. Think they forgot to add in something in the 1st drink. Hee....
So based on this their customer service is really number one! I am really impressed!
Great service! Makes one feel at home.
We were looking for a place for coffee and decided to settle at Breeks. We sat at a corner table and was immediately given the menu. Our order came quite promptly. We didn't ask for ice water which we usually do, and I don't know why we didn't.
Anyway, the manager (i guess) saw that we didn't have any water, other than the coffee we ordered, she automatically served us warm water. Felt this was a nice gesture especially at cafe like Breeks. Some places don't even serve ice water. You've to pay 50cents for a mini bottled distilled water.
Great place to chill and rest. If you've no where to go over the weekends, I strongly recommend heading to Harbourfront. Especially with the $2/entry parking from 10am to 1am on Sat/Sun and PH!
Rating given:
Forget about the full-sized donuts! Marcial Kobe's mini ones are much more yummilicious!!
Happened to be at Central last week and decided to give these cute little donuts a try. Located at the corner of Central basement (where I usually get lost walking as it seems like a maze to me). There were about 10 flavors to choose from. Not sure if its on promo or the usual price, but I got 12 mini donuts at $4. Quite cheap lah!
These donuts are very crispy and are not too sweet. The size is just nice to pop into your mouth. But I had to bite them bit by bit to savor the different taste of each mini donuts. There were the sugared ones, caramelized ones, chocolate ones, and alot of others, which I can't recall! All are delicious lah! So go give it a try when you're around The Central ya!
Rating given:
Dropped by Cafe Oliv, one of the many small eateries lining East Coast Road, for lunch. Its chef, Kevin Heng, used to work for Shangri-La’s Rasa Sentosa and the Emerald Hill Group but has since moved on to open up Cafe Oliv with his buddy, Patrick Ang.
Situated just next to the famous 328 Laksa and further down from Astons Specialties, Cafe Oliv is a tiny eatery which can probably seat about 20 pax. The interior is minimalistic with its clean lines and plastic tables and chairs.
Cream of Vegetable Soup - This came as part of the set lunch which means you don't get to choose anything except for the main course. I wouldn't say the soup was terrific or anything close to that, but it was decent - tasty yet not too coagulated or runny. Something should be done about the rock hard bread though, which was still too hard even after dipping it into the soup.
Grilled Half Shell Scallops with Basil Aglio Olio Linguine - As lip smacking as this dish may sound, it certainly had lots of room for improvement. The linguine wasn't al dente to begin with and came across as a tad too salty for my liking. The scallops were nicely grilled with a tinge of rawness but didn't seem particularly sweet.
Traditional Beef Stew with Fennel - I liked the thick gravy which came with this dish but the beef did seem a tad too soft for my liking though my friend found it just right. Nice warm dish to have on a cold rainy day. Just don't get your expectations too high.
Oliv Mini Trio Meat Burger - Made up of 3 different types of burger, namely BBQ sliced pork, cod fish steak and tenderloin steak, this dish was one of the more interesting dishes around. Personally I fancied the tenderloin burger the most as the patty was chewy with lots of bite. The BBQ sliced pork, which looked and tasted like Kong Ba incidentally, had its taste overwhelmed by the bacon. As for the salmon, I found it a tad too salty.
Brownie with Ice Cream - Its really difficult to go wrong with brownies, save for those that are hard and dry. Having said that, I did like the brownie quite a fair bit with its chocolaty overtones.
A relaxing and filling lunch for 2 came to the tune of $43, which isn't expensive considering that the set lunch itself is only $10.90 nett per person. No service charge or GST is imposed, which is a plus as well and not forgetting the good service rendered. I would say overall food quality is decent but don't expect too much.
See all my pictures here
Rating given:
Vivocity is one the biggest shapping mall in Spore. I will be there almost every weekend as well. Haa....
I feel that it is one of the best design shopping centre as well. When I was there for the first time, I have a feeling a being lost as the place is really big, even with the help of a map. However after a while, I get used to it and find it quite easy to move around as well.
They boast the biggest cinema in Spore, got a sky train to Sentosa, and they are next to St James, the biggest entertainment outlet.
They also managed to get a lot of big fashion brands like Gap, River Island, Tangs, etc.
Electronic shops like Samsung, Challenger, Best Denki and many more handphone shop.
Restaurants, from small cafes like Ben and Jerry, to the usual coffee joints like Starbucks and Coffee Bean etc, to the fast food, special ones like Super Dog, to all lot of food courts, Food Republic. Too many to list down here.
There is also a big wading pool on the roof top where good to see kids running in and out. There are also lots of grass patches to have a picnic maybe.
So there are tons of things to do there. Good way to spend a weekend, if you are sick of town shopping centres.
Rating given:
While waiting for my movie to start, decided to hang out out Ben and Jerry for some ice cream. I think this is one of the biggest outlet in Spore with a space for some bands to jam.
I am always a big fan of Ben and Jerry ice cream, especially Chucky Monkey! Hee....
The service of the place is pretty smooth. Nothing to wow on.
The main thing that I dun like was the band yesterday. I thought that I can have a good chat but it turns out that the band was too loud for any chit chat and the singing was not good. The singer was screaming at every word. Sigh..
So in the end we jz finished out ice cream fast and move out of that place fast! I think if their plan is to use the band to make the customer move out of the place fast, I think they had done it.
The ice cream 5 stars but overall experience at the outlet 2 stars.
Rating given:
EXCELLENT!!!
Best for take-aways, and killing yoshinoya's business.
The food is way cheaper than Yoshinoya, and TONS better than Yoshinoya. Looking at the Japanese couple cooking 'zenly' for us is pure....japanese...lol...
One thing I cannot stand about this place is that they take their own time to place your food nicely on the bowls, cook neatly slowly, hygienically...like everything seemed to be very zen about it.
The kitchen is just like any home kitchen, you can look at what kind of condiments they use, nothing is not Japanese...
I always have cravings for their food...and it's always worth the wait...food ranges from $4 to $9...if you are hungry on waiting, go get some fresh sushi from Meidi-Ya Supermarket, fresher than marketplace sushi.
Just go and try. You'll get what I mean. (But don't bring your girl there cos it is SUPER not romantic...just a take-out counter...)
Rating given:
There seems to be a growing trend of opening what used to be deemed more exclusive food (Italian, French etc) in food/hawker centres with competitive prices to boot. Ragazzi the Italian Kitchen is one such outlet to jump on the bandwagon to offer quality Italian food at coffeeshop prices.
Located at a rather obscure coffeeshop under a block of flats in the Ghim Moh estate, Ragazzi is owned and run by Gabriel Cher, ex chef-de partie of The Oriental's Dolce Vita (Interestingly, Dolce Vita serves Mediterranean food now, not Italian). Business was rather slow on a wet Saturday evening and one can only wonder if its the lack of publicity, wet weather or quality of food thats keeping the crowds at bay.
Zuppa alla Funghi - For $2.50 a pop, I certainly wasn't expecting much. But I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the soup was made from grounded mushrooms and onions, which was evident from the taste and texture. Only thing that could been improved was its thickness. It did come across as a little too watery but hey, its definitely value for money.
The bruschetta ($3) could have been good but was let down by a few factors. The good things first. Well toasted with the sides a little charred but soft and warm within. Now for the bad part. There was an way too much olive oil on the middle portion of the bread, which made it a little too soggy. Tomatoes on the top didn't look very fresh but did provide the necessary texture and zest.
Melanzane al Forno - I've never been a fan of eggplants and this wasn't about to change anything. The eggplant was a little too soft for my liking but I did like the layer of grilled cheese on top.
Carbonara ($7) - Being a cream based pasta lover, I naturally ordered the Carbonara to be on the safe side. The pasta was a tad too overcooked and the gravy did come across as a little too thick, rendering me nauseous after a while. However I would still say its very decent with the respectable bacon toppings and definitely better than anything pasta mania or the likes can whip up.
Del Bosco ($6) - As with the Carbonara, the Del Bosco's pasta was a tad too overcooked as well but what won me over were the sausages, which tasted thoroughly smoked but was a tad too salty. The tomato sauce wasn't outstanding, being average at best.
Tiramisu ($4.50) - I would be lying if I said that the Tiramisu was decent. To be honest, it was terrible. For one, the sponge fingers weren't soaked in Kahlua. It tasted more like fruit essence or something. Also, the mascarpone cheese was a little too dense and the whole thing was rather watery(water logged would have been appropriate too) at the bottom. It definitely didn't help that too much Cocoa powder was added as well.
All in all, a very filling dinner for 2 pax cost $27.50, which is very pricey by hawker standards but cheap by restaurant standards. Overall food quality is still decent so you might want to give this place a shot if you are craving for Italian food but not willing to fork out the dough for it.
See all my pictures here
Rating given:
After reading the above reviews, I decided to give this place a try. Couldn't find the place at first, but thanks to Lucardia, I managed to find it.
The concept of the ice-cream sticks ordering system is interesting, but if fact I feel that its quite inconvenient for the customers. Let's just say, we still pay 10% service charge but we do half the work for them, i.e. ordering. The sushi belt is right in the center of the place and you have to carry them back to your seats. The tray they provide is small. The most you can put is 4 plates at a go. Well, still consider alright since there aren't that many options to choose form.
99cents for a plate of sushi is cheap. But that's all they are. Cheap. The other dishes available looks normal. Ordered Fried Ebi and Fried Tofu. Tasted nice. But not fantastic.
One thing I don't like is the after-smell that's stuck with you event up till now. The spell that I call the "foodcourt smell". (That's one reason why I avoid eating at foodcourts.) So ya, I'll be avoiding this place too.
Rating given:
After our last visit to Peaberry & Pretzel some time back, my gf and I decided to head back to Sunset Way to try out Megumi Japanese Restaurant on the recommendations of some folks.
Located just a few doors down from Peaberry & Pretzel, Megumi's air conditioned interior is smallish, with the bulk of the seating capacity in the al fresco area outside. Notice that this means lunch here in the afternoon might mean a sweaty affair unless you get to sit inside.
Billed as the Megumi special roll, there was nothing really special about it in my humble opinion. It came across as your ordinary California Roll with crab sticks and Tamago in it. Not that the extra ingredients gave it much taste either. Lets just say it tasted like a slightly sweeter version of the California Roll. So much for the secrecy. One other bone I had was that the rice was a little too dry and could have been firmer.
Char Siew Ramen - Labeled a house specialty, the ramen was a let down honestly. The noodles were your normal egg noodles though of a more springy version whereas the Char Siew was a little too dry and tough. It certainly didn't help that the soup was a tad too salty as well.
Saikoro Steak Set - Another one of the house specialties except that this one actually tasted quite decent. The beef was a little overcooked but still retained enough of its juices, taste and texture to warrant a decent rating. However, I must mention that portions are small and not homogeneously cooked, as evident by the residual butter I detected on some pieces of beef.
Black Sesame Ice Cream - I'm not exactly a fan of black sesame ice cream so I am not in a position to comment if its good or not. But my gf seemed to like it quite a bit so I'm guessing it must be of a certain standard.
Fried Vanilla Ice Cream - This was probably what I liked the best of all the dishes that evening. Interestingly, the batter was a thicker version of the crispy yet light tempura batter and actually went quite good with the vanilla ice cream. Now something needs to be done about the quality of the ice cream though, which was really mediocre.
While $61 for 2 pax isn't unreasonably expensive for the food, it isn't exactly cheap either, considering that the food was merely average. One funny thing I discovered. The restaurant was actually playing Korean songs. How cool is that?
See all my pictures here
Rating given:
This incident happen to me over the weekend and have to say that I am very impressed with the staff over there.
I ordered a regular Black Forest and when I got it and drank it, I find the drink very diluted, seem like they forgot to add something in, I only have the coffee bitter after taste only, no taste of chocolate or whatever. Confirmed this with my galfren, who also find the drink under par.
So I mentioned this to the manager (I think), without any questions asked, he immediately offered to replace a new drink for me. The new drink was replaced to me within a min and it was prefect. Think they forgot to add in something in the 1st drink. Hee....
So based on this their customer service is really number one! I am really impressed!
Rating given: