A dinner with my ex colleagues and they had to bring me to a ulu place for dinner, out of all places. That is what I thought but the then place is within walking distance (5 mins) from Kallang MRT station.
The restaurant got air con and open air eating places. It was packed to brim. I started to have expectations for this place alr!
The waitress was good and recommended some of the dishes to us including their signatures CRABS!
So we ordered:
1. Fried Rice: It was pretty good on its own and very fragrant as well.
2. Signautre Tofu: This one is jz 2 big pcs of tofu with minced meat on them. Nothing special. Taste good though. Hee...
3. Mango Fried Fish: This is a special fried and crispy fish with sweet and sour sauce with thick slices of mango. I loved this dish!
4. Sambal kangkong: Normal. Hee...
We got 2 crabs and done in 2 different ways. Thei signature dishes! I have to say that I loved both dishes!
5. Chili Crab: The crab is freaking big and fresh. The meat jz slide off from the shell without much effort. The chili sauce is so good on its own and not really very hot as well. Use the man tuo to dip into the sauce is simply heaven!
6. Butter Salted Egg Crab: This is a special one. Nvr tasted it before. Surprised by the taste as the salted egg did not turn out to be really salted yet about to bring the tast of the butter crab to a higher level! Unqiue.
The service of the place is very good and prompt. They will served all the dishes less the crabs, after we are more or less done with the dishes, the crabs will appear in front of us. Well to me, this is good, after all eating crabs can be a bit of mess.
The price is also reasonable, coming to about $200 plus with drinks.
I found a new place from crabs and think will be going back more often!
Didn't fancy jostling with the crowds for a seat during dinner so popped by Oscar's for a relatively peaceful meal far from the maddening crowds.
Located on the ground floor of Conrad Centennial, this versatile cafe is known for its international buffet spreads, but we decided to go against the norm and opted for ala carte instead. Decor is rather "cafeish" with a good mix of wood and opulent lighting, complete with Birds of Paradise donning the place.
Personally, I thought the chicken & mango wrap was nicely done as the wrap was lightly toasted and not too thick. The filling of chicken and mango went well with what tasted like the peanut sauce found in Rojak - sweet yet not overwhelming. Fresh crunchy vegetables added zest and juiciness to the dish. Lest expectations shoot too high for this dish, let me just say that its decent, but not outstanding.
Conrad Burger - I've developed a penchant for burgers recently so got myself their signature burger to try. The finely grounded beef patty was a little too overdone but still relatively juicy and tasty without coming too strong on the raw beef taste. Bacon strips beneath a buttery toasted bun provided a nice salty taste.
Oscar's Profiteroles - The profiteroles were quite a bit of a let down. Firstly, they didn't come drenched in chocolate (unlike the ones in France), which would have made it so much nicer. You would have probably guessed that the chocolate syrup was woefully inadequate. On the upside, the ice cream was nice and smooth but strangely enough, the pistachio ice cream tasted more like almond to me.
Chocolate Royal Hazelnut Crunch - A most delightful (and not to mention sinful) dessert, the hazelnut crunch was light and not too rich, complete with a nice wafer biscuit base. Very much like eating a smooth rendition of Rocher, which I personally fancy quite a bit. I didn't quite take to the macaroon, cold Sauternes Sabayon or tropical fruit though.
$85 for 1 appetiser, 1 main and 2 desserts certainly doesn't qualify as value for money. However, food quality is arguably above average so that might just lessen the pain of forking out so much money a wee bit. Service, though professional, could have been friendlier.
Fans of the now defunct PaPi at Mohd Sultan road will be happy to know that Chef Salvatore, who headed the kitchens there, has ventured out to start a new Italian restaurant - La Noce.
Hidden in a secluded area just along Chu Lin Road, off the Hillview estate, La Noce, which means "Walnut", is a tiny eatery which can probably hold about 35 pax. The interior is simply furnished and instantly puts one at ease with its cosiness and warmth. Please be warned that its not an easy place to find but if you do find it, there's free valet parking available. And public transport is a big no no, unless you are willing to walk.
The complimentary bread was a joke. Charred on the outside and dry on the inside. It wasn't served warm as well. What else can I say?
Vitello Tonnato - For $18, I had honestly expected more. Sure, the veal was thinly sliced but the taste was overwhelmed by the tuna sauce so much so that you could have substituted the veal with ham and I wouldn't really be able to tell the difference. Still a decent dish though.
Ravioli White Truffle - You could have imagined my delight when I heard from our waiter that La Noce was actually doing a special of White Truffle Ravioli. Honestly, for $24 a pop, I certainly didn't expect much. However, what I got was way below expectations. The white truffle flakes, if any, were drowned by the cream sauce which was a pity really, considering that white truffles have to be eaten with something light to bring out its aroma and taste. The stuffing inside the Ravioli, which our waiter claimed was made from white truffles (a most unbelievable statement considering the prohibitive prices of white truffles), tasted like mashed up cheese and together with the cream sauce, made for a nausea inducing dish.
Quattro Stagioni - The Stagioni, or 4 seasons pizza as it's also known, was decent but not outstanding. The crust, though thin, was way too hard and I had problems cutting through it. Quantity of ingredients was sufficient though.
La Noce Souffle - This has got to be one of the lousier Chocolate Souffles that I've ever eaten. Minimal chocolate oozed out of the cake when I broke through the crust, which was a bummer really. The texture of the cake didn't taste like cake, but more of kueh, soft and a tad elastic. And $14 for this is a joke.
Dessert Platter - Tiramisu, pine nuts pie, Panna Cotta and Profiteroles made up the dessert platter and honestly, none were outstanding, all average at best. The tiramisu has no alcohol in it, which would still have been acceptable if it was fluffy and moist - both of which were lacking. The profiteroles were reminiscent of the ones in France, freshly drenched in chocolate and served. The only glaring difference was that the ones from La Noce were drenched in chocolate and then left to sit before serving, which made the pastry rather soft.
Sadly, even the quintessential panna cotta wasn't up to the mark. It wasn't very quivery or sweet enough. The pine nut pie was the best of the lot, with the pine but filling light yet tasty. But still not outstanding.
$490 for 7 pax is honestly a case of too little, too much. Too little in terms of quality/value and too much in terms of cost. Service is excellent and so is the hospitality of Chef Salvatore, but he needs to bring back the standards of PaPi before I'll even considering stepping in again.
Hopped into Sketches with a friend for dinner one day. I 'd always wanted to try this place with its DIY pasta but I never had the chance till recently.
We were all excited to be able to make our own pastas. Much like creators of our own destines really. It was exciting to be able to put together your favourite ingredients in hope of making a great pasta dish.
We ordered: Garlic Bread 2 Mushroom Soups 2 Pasta Dishes (custom made-Hungry size) - Fusilli in Napoletana (Italian Tomato Sauce) with bacon, ham, mushroom and green peas - Fusilli and Spaghetti in Alfredo Sauce with garlic, carrots, bacon, mushroom and chicken
The garlic bread was pretty normal, done with the store-bought garlic spreads. Not quite worth the money though but I like to have my soup with bread.
The Soups were served with smaller pieces of garlic bread. I enjoyed the soup as it was thick and flavourful. And very filling. Next time I'll probably share it so that I can leave more space for my creation.
Claudia was right to say that "Hungry size" which is the smaller size is definitely able to fill any regular eater and more. Quite a large portion really so I can't imagine what Starving Size looks like. Mine which is the one in the Napoletana Sauce was quite ... average. I'm obviously not a good pasta designer. The ingredients I picked were similiar in taste so there wasn't any variation, resulting in a edible but uninteresting dish. My companion's pasta was much better. It had garlic in it which made the dish very fragrant, a nice sharp contrast to the rest of the ingredients.
The service was generally good. Water was topped up and the people were patient with us as we asked about the items. The only thing is that the bill came really slowly which made me think that they had forgotten.
The damage was slightly under $45, which I think is pretty reasonable for sizeable servings. It was enough for 3 people, so the two of us couldn't finish.
I would be back for more... and will remember to have garlic next time :)
Was invited for a dinner at Sketches last night. Never really wanted to try this place out, so I didn't know what to expect from this place. The first impression I got when I stepped in was the smell from the kitchen. It's open concept kitchen is right smack in the center of the restaurant. And the smell will get stuck to your clothes and hair after you're done dining. Hence not recommended if you're not heading home after meal at Sketches. Alternatively, try to sit outside away from the Kitchen. It might help reduce the lingering "Food court" after smell on you.
As we were late, the menu was cleared from the table as others had already ordered. We attempted couple of time to get someone to give us a menu, and only after thrice before we caught a waitress. (All of them seemed to be busy clustering somewhere behind the restaurant...)
We were presented 2 different menu. One with listing of all ala carte orders and the other one which looks like a giant notepad where you have boxes to tick and create your own "Designer" pasta. My bf choice to go for the pasta and I ordered the wild mushroom pizza.
First the pasta came, and after "digging" through the plate, we discovered that they got our order wrong. We choice 2 different pasta but they only used one. We told the waitress and she cleared the plate and got the kitchen to remake for us. (Yes we saw her dumping the entire plate of pasta into the bin when she walked back to the kitchen. Advantage of an open concept kitchen for customers.)
The right combination of pasta arrived shortly. The taste was pretty good. And the serving for the small size is already quite filling. Unless you're super hungry or sharing with friends, I'll not recommend you to tick the bigger servings.
They took quite a long time to serve my mushroom pizza. When it finally arrived, I was disappointed. The pizza was alittle too tough on the dough and the shrooms on it were tasteless. The cheese wasn't well spread and I was only able to taste the cheese on few slices of the entire pizza. The rest were just covered with few pieces of sliced shrooms. I had to whack quite abit of shredded cheese and tabasco sauce on the pizza to make it taste slightly better.
Overall the place was quite nice, pricing was reasonable. I'll probably go back for their pasta since I can choose what I want in it and I'll totally avoid the pizzas.
Dropped by Epicurious, one of the lesser known outfits dotting Roberton Quay, for a late dinner. Interestingly, the word epicurious stems from the words epicure, which is used to describe someone with refined taste, especially in food and wine and curious.
Occupying just a small unit along the bustling Roberston Walk, Epicurious does mostly al fresco seating with the exception of 3 small tables in its tiny interior which seem to suffer from cooling problems (read. Where's the airconditioning?) The al fresco area has big blower fans to cool the area though, which is probably why people usually choose to sit outside instead of inside (from my observations).
Epicurious Burger - Read many good things about the burger so thought I would give it a shot with the works ($4 for an addition of egg, cheese and bacon) First looks, it didn't come across as impressive as the one from Wild Rocket, especially in the size department. Taste wise was pretty decent though. The beef patty could have been a little less cooked but still managed to retain its juiciness and taste. Add the egg, cheese and bacon in and you get one hearty burger. I didn't like the bread though, which was a little too toasted, rendering it hard. The accompanying fries were just overfried and too salty.
Herb Roasted Half Chicken - The chicken was nice without being too strong on the herbs, a bane that most such dishes suffer from. However, the portions could have been bigger and I personally would have liked it to be a little more sour so as to bring out the contrast.
Hazelnut Cheesecake - Interestingly, the hazelnut cheesecake came topped with strawberries. That aside, it was actually quite good, with the cheese relatively light and airy without being too overwhelming. The base was a concoction of dark chocolate and orange peel, which was certainly something different.
$55 for 2 mains and 1 dessert might seem to be pushing the boundaries for reasonable pricing. But food is pretty decent and the place is rather cosy with good service. Worth a visit if you are in the vicinity and dont want to bust your budget dining at the fancier outfits.
Eating while dangling on the air - such novelty. haha. Pleasant experience at the start. We were looking forward to dining on the cable car and watching the sunset at Harbour front so we made a reservation for 6:30pm.
Booking was made online and we pre ordered one grilled beef and one pan fried salmom when we made the booking.
Arriving at Mt Faber, we left the valet do the job (at $5) and off we went to the entrace of the cable car tower. There were quite a few people queuing up for sky dining and we were like the 6th couple in line...all bookings must be made before hand. No walk-ins allowed, at least that is what we were told.
We noticed that the sky dining cable cars had a table placed in between the 2 seats. So when it came our turn, we hopped onto one of them as it moved slowly. Then the waiter came by and served us the soup and appetizer for the 1st round. He had to do it quickly as the cable car was moving. So do not expect him to be gentle. Then again he will not "throw" the soup at you. haha.
The first round was an experience indeed. Eating 100m up in the air and watching the sun set what more could we ask for. We had the cream of mushroom soup and it was thick and well blended. It's kinda hard to eat and concentrate on the scenery and at the same time try to balance ourselves as the cable car can be quite shaky at times. There is also this nagging feeling that the glass filled with ice water will topple any time or the bowl of soup would slide off the table. Also since I have a thing with heights, drinking the soup and the salad was quite a challenge. But all said, we finished our soup and waited expectantly for the second course. The cable car went all the way to sentosa, made a u-turn and headed back to Mt Faber.
At Mt faber, the waiter quickly cleared our bowl of soup and served us the second course. ha....I forgot, he served us ice water and house wine and he had to make it fast, otherwise the cable car will move off without it or he might spill it all over the table. It is amazing to see how they manage to juggle all that within 1min I think and off we went with our second (main) course. There were at least 3 persone (I think) serving each cable car. One to clear the dishes, one to pour wine and the other to serve the main course. It happened so fast that we just did not know what happened. So service wise they were efficient and attentive. Before it moved off, the waiter asked if he could get us anything else. We spared him the trouble as we were wondering how he can manage to get us anything else if the cable car was moving off. So we said no thank you.
All I remember about the Beef tenderloin was that it done just right because halfway through the second round on the u-turn back to Mt Faber we started to feel the effects of motion sickness. haha. Never expected that. We joked that we had one more round to go...round 3...kinda like in the boxing ring waiting for the knockout punch. Actually also forgot much of the grilled salmon, execpt that there was some fishly after taste....so much for the meal. :(
The last dish was highly anticipated as it was the dessert. But when it arrived, we did not have the appetite to consume it as the cradling effects of the cable car got into us. Nevertheless we manage (yes...manage...seems like quite hard eh) to finish it.
Yes and not to mention, they served house wine also. Which we could not finish. Again we joked that if we finished the whole glass (coupled with the cradling effect of the cable car), we might just puke out of the cable car into the road or onto the people walking on the ground...funny sight indeed viewed from afar. But nothing like this happened....fortunately.
Overall the experience was good..minus the to and frow movement of the cable car. Food was average. Service was beyond expectation and ambience was good initially. But after going 3 rounds, that means 6 times seeing the same scenery, you kinda get tired of it after a while and just wished the cable car stopped and you can take your meal on more stable ground.
The experience cost us $90 per person. Recommended for a new experience...but not a culinary one.
Ah, what do I say. With the interior and name and uber-many-branches-around-in-such-a-short-period-of-time, it just made me feel like I just had to try this place. (Despite my friend warning me against going to the one at Siglap because of the quality of food.) With eating out being general more expensive now, I'd go to this place because I was expecting it to be slightly cheaper. Hey, it is a cafe after all right.
So I got myself a plate of noodles. I can't quite remember what it was called, but I guess they're all so similar, differentiating it is not that necessary. The noodles are like instant noodles! Along with two stalks of vegetables, a sunny side up egg and (seemingly canned) diced pork. Looks really ordinary, like you can do it yourself at home too. That was about $6 I think.
My friend ordered porridge. Again, I can't remember what it was called. I tried one mouth and I told myself if and when I were to come back again, I will never order this. It was just rice and water and it tasted like Fish Slice soup with rice in it. Yes, the kind you can get from hawker centres. It was $9.90 if I'm not wrong.
The food wasn't horrible nor inedible, but it was so ordinary that you'd feel the pinch just having to pay for the stuff there.
What was more appalling was that when the waitress served us our drink, she seemed so uncertain that she had to ask us if that was tea. I can't believe she did that. You can be new there, you can be unsure of what you're doing, but you really should not bring a cup of drink to your customer and hesitate to give it to them right before them.
On the whole, I really think it’s not that worth eating here. No doubt it’s like “fast-food” and it’s a relatively cheaper place to eat at, it still isn’t worth paying this kind of money for such service and food quality.
Decided to watch Golden Compass on a weekday in Gold Class to pamper ourselves for once. Haa....
Surprised to see that it is almost fully booked on a weekday afternoon. Hmm... Seem like a lot of ppl really dun mind spending money for comfort. Haa...
Once in, we are greeted by very polite servers. There is a lounge for us to relax while waiting for our movie to start. The menu is very impressive as well where we can order set meals to snacks to even beer or while while watching the movies. Haa...
Once we are urshered to our seats, we are greeted by big plush red sofa chairs, with a blanket on the sides. The seats are very comfortable and with a push on the side button, the seat will slowly move into a flat bed position. So you can adjust to whatever position that you are comfortable with.
There is a small table in between the seats where you can place your snacks or food. There is a button on the table where you can press for service.
As there is only like 24 seats in the cinema, the space is really big and no way the person in front can block you. The screen is a wide large screen that fills the length of the room.
Paying $25 per ticket ($30 for weekends), is consider a luxruy to me. However if the movie is 2.5 hrs or even longer, I think the money is worth spending. At times, they will have special promotion for with food tied in with the movie and I think that is much more worth it.
What a way to pamper a movie lover like myself. Hee.....
So we changed before we started and the locker was well equiped with a robe, shorts, slippers and towels.
Before we started, we were served some tea, before we start our Jacuzzi. Since it was outdoor and it was raining, the hot Jacuzzi was a good welcome. Spent about 40 mins in it. We were given fresh towels to dry ourselves.
After which, we were urshered to our respective steamrooms.
While waiting for the scrubs, we were urshered into a holding area, where we can sit down and relax, with hot tea provided.
For our body scrubs, we chose sugar scrub with lavender scent. We were urshered into a room with smoothing music playing at the same time. While lying on the bed, they "forcefully" scrub the lavender scent sugar crystals on us. It is not painful but a little ticklish. Hee.... After which we were asked to shower off. Our bodies were smelling great after it.
After another cup of hot tea, we started our massage. I got the Traditional Indonesian Massage while my partner got Indulgent Aroma Massage. For mine, it was done in a good and forceful way. It did relax all my tensed muscles. The whole massage was smooth and relaxing. The massuer also used enough force as well.
After another quick shower, we lazed around with another hot cup of tea, relaxing.
The whole experience was very good and it was done in a professional way as well. It seems that we have the whole palce to us as there is no other people at the same time. This was great as we dun feel like rush to complete our package.
In fact the whole experience was so good that we signed up for another 3 more couple packages. Since the spa is located in Safra, the rpcie is also cheaper than those in town area or in hotels. So looking forward to our next spa experience. For those who have not tried it, should do so quick!
1=SGD 0.0587
A dinner with my ex colleagues and they had to bring me to a ulu place for dinner, out of all places. That is what I thought but the then place is within walking distance (5 mins) from Kallang MRT station.
The restaurant got air con and open air eating places. It was packed to brim. I started to have expectations for this place alr!
The waitress was good and recommended some of the dishes to us including their signatures CRABS!
So we ordered:
1. Fried Rice: It was pretty good on its own and very fragrant as well.
2. Signautre Tofu: This one is jz 2 big pcs of tofu with minced meat on them. Nothing special. Taste good though. Hee...
3. Mango Fried Fish: This is a special fried and crispy fish with sweet and sour sauce with thick slices of mango. I loved this dish!
4. Sambal kangkong: Normal. Hee...
We got 2 crabs and done in 2 different ways. Thei signature dishes! I have to say that I loved both dishes!
5. Chili Crab: The crab is freaking big and fresh. The meat jz slide off from the shell without much effort. The chili sauce is so good on its own and not really very hot as well. Use the man tuo to dip into the sauce is simply heaven!
6. Butter Salted Egg Crab: This is a special one. Nvr tasted it before. Surprised by the taste as the salted egg did not turn out to be really salted yet about to bring the tast of the butter crab to a higher level! Unqiue.
The service of the place is very good and prompt. They will served all the dishes less the crabs, after we are more or less done with the dishes, the crabs will appear in front of us. Well to me, this is good, after all eating crabs can be a bit of mess.
The price is also reasonable, coming to about $200 plus with drinks.
I found a new place from crabs and think will be going back more often!
Rating given:
Didn't fancy jostling with the crowds for a seat during dinner so popped by Oscar's for a relatively peaceful meal far from the maddening crowds.
Located on the ground floor of Conrad Centennial, this versatile cafe is known for its international buffet spreads, but we decided to go against the norm and opted for ala carte instead. Decor is rather "cafeish" with a good mix of wood and opulent lighting, complete with Birds of Paradise donning the place.
Personally, I thought the chicken & mango wrap was nicely done as the wrap was lightly toasted and not too thick. The filling of chicken and mango went well with what tasted like the peanut sauce found in Rojak - sweet yet not overwhelming. Fresh crunchy vegetables added zest and juiciness to the dish. Lest expectations shoot too high for this dish, let me just say that its decent, but not outstanding.
Conrad Burger - I've developed a penchant for burgers recently so got myself their signature burger to try. The finely grounded beef patty was a little too overdone but still relatively juicy and tasty without coming too strong on the raw beef taste. Bacon strips beneath a buttery toasted bun provided a nice salty taste.
Oscar's Profiteroles - The profiteroles were quite a bit of a let down. Firstly, they didn't come drenched in chocolate (unlike the ones in France), which would have made it so much nicer. You would have probably guessed that the chocolate syrup was woefully inadequate. On the upside, the ice cream was nice and smooth but strangely enough, the pistachio ice cream tasted more like almond to me.
Chocolate Royal Hazelnut Crunch - A most delightful (and not to mention sinful) dessert, the hazelnut crunch was light and not too rich, complete with a nice wafer biscuit base. Very much like eating a smooth rendition of Rocher, which I personally fancy quite a bit. I didn't quite take to the macaroon, cold Sauternes Sabayon or tropical fruit though.
$85 for 1 appetiser, 1 main and 2 desserts certainly doesn't qualify as value for money. However, food quality is arguably above average so that might just lessen the pain of forking out so much money a wee bit. Service, though professional, could have been friendlier.
See all my pictures here
Rating given:
Fans of the now defunct PaPi at Mohd Sultan road will be happy to know that Chef Salvatore, who headed the kitchens there, has ventured out to start a new Italian restaurant - La Noce.
Hidden in a secluded area just along Chu Lin Road, off the Hillview estate, La Noce, which means "Walnut", is a tiny eatery which can probably hold about 35 pax. The interior is simply furnished and instantly puts one at ease with its cosiness and warmth. Please be warned that its not an easy place to find but if you do find it, there's free valet parking available. And public transport is a big no no, unless you are willing to walk.
The complimentary bread was a joke. Charred on the outside and dry on the inside. It wasn't served warm as well. What else can I say?
Vitello Tonnato - For $18, I had honestly expected more. Sure, the veal was thinly sliced but the taste was overwhelmed by the tuna sauce so much so that you could have substituted the veal with ham and I wouldn't really be able to tell the difference. Still a decent dish though.
Ravioli White Truffle - You could have imagined my delight when I heard from our waiter that La Noce was actually doing a special of White Truffle Ravioli. Honestly, for $24 a pop, I certainly didn't expect much. However, what I got was way below expectations. The white truffle flakes, if any, were drowned by the cream sauce which was a pity really, considering that white truffles have to be eaten with something light to bring out its aroma and taste. The stuffing inside the Ravioli, which our waiter claimed was made from white truffles (a most unbelievable statement considering the prohibitive prices of white truffles), tasted like mashed up cheese and together with the cream sauce, made for a nausea inducing dish.
Quattro Stagioni - The Stagioni, or 4 seasons pizza as it's also known, was decent but not outstanding. The crust, though thin, was way too hard and I had problems cutting through it. Quantity of ingredients was sufficient though.
La Noce Souffle - This has got to be one of the lousier Chocolate Souffles that I've ever eaten. Minimal chocolate oozed out of the cake when I broke through the crust, which was a bummer really. The texture of the cake didn't taste like cake, but more of kueh, soft and a tad elastic. And $14 for this is a joke.
Dessert Platter - Tiramisu, pine nuts pie, Panna Cotta and Profiteroles made up the dessert platter and honestly, none were outstanding, all average at best. The tiramisu has no alcohol in it, which would still have been acceptable if it was fluffy and moist - both of which were lacking. The profiteroles were reminiscent of the ones in France, freshly drenched in chocolate and served. The only glaring difference was that the ones from La Noce were drenched in chocolate and then left to sit before serving, which made the pastry rather soft.
Sadly, even the quintessential panna cotta wasn't up to the mark. It wasn't very quivery or sweet enough. The pine nut pie was the best of the lot, with the pine but filling light yet tasty. But still not outstanding.
$490 for 7 pax is honestly a case of too little, too much. Too little in terms of quality/value and too much in terms of cost. Service is excellent and so is the hospitality of Chef Salvatore, but he needs to bring back the standards of PaPi before I'll even considering stepping in again.
See all my pictures here
Rating given:
Hopped into Sketches with a friend for dinner one day. I 'd always wanted to try this place with its DIY pasta but I never had the chance till recently.
We were all excited to be able to make our own pastas. Much like creators of our own destines really. It was exciting to be able to put together your favourite ingredients in hope of making a great pasta dish.
We ordered:
Garlic Bread
2 Mushroom Soups
2 Pasta Dishes (custom made-Hungry size)
- Fusilli in Napoletana (Italian Tomato Sauce) with bacon,
ham, mushroom and green peas
- Fusilli and Spaghetti in Alfredo Sauce with garlic, carrots,
bacon, mushroom and chicken
The garlic bread was pretty normal, done with the store-bought garlic spreads. Not quite worth the money though but I like to have my soup with bread.
The Soups were served with smaller pieces of garlic bread. I enjoyed the soup as it was thick and flavourful. And very filling. Next time I'll probably share it so that I can leave more space for my creation.
Claudia was right to say that "Hungry size" which is the smaller size is definitely able to fill any regular eater and more. Quite a large portion really so I can't imagine what Starving Size looks like. Mine which is the one in the Napoletana Sauce was quite ... average. I'm obviously not a good pasta designer. The ingredients I picked were similiar in taste so there wasn't any variation, resulting in a edible but uninteresting dish. My companion's pasta was much better. It had garlic in it which made the dish very fragrant, a nice sharp contrast to the rest of the ingredients.
The service was generally good. Water was topped up and the people were patient with us as we asked about the items. The only thing is that the bill came really slowly which made me think that they had forgotten.
The damage was slightly under $45, which I think is pretty reasonable for sizeable servings. It was enough for 3 people, so the two of us couldn't finish.
I would be back for more... and will remember to have garlic next time :)
Rating given:
Was invited for a dinner at Sketches last night. Never really wanted to try this place out, so I didn't know what to expect from this place. The first impression I got when I stepped in was the smell from the kitchen. It's open concept kitchen is right smack in the center of the restaurant. And the smell will get stuck to your clothes and hair after you're done dining. Hence not recommended if you're not heading home after meal at Sketches. Alternatively, try to sit outside away from the Kitchen. It might help reduce the lingering "Food court" after smell on you.
As we were late, the menu was cleared from the table as others had already ordered. We attempted couple of time to get someone to give us a menu, and only after thrice before we caught a waitress. (All of them seemed to be busy clustering somewhere behind the restaurant...)
We were presented 2 different menu. One with listing of all ala carte orders and the other one which looks like a giant notepad where you have boxes to tick and create your own "Designer" pasta. My bf choice to go for the pasta and I ordered the wild mushroom pizza.
First the pasta came, and after "digging" through the plate, we discovered that they got our order wrong. We choice 2 different pasta but they only used one. We told the waitress and she cleared the plate and got the kitchen to remake for us. (Yes we saw her dumping the entire plate of pasta into the bin when she walked back to the kitchen. Advantage of an open concept kitchen for customers.)
The right combination of pasta arrived shortly. The taste was pretty good. And the serving for the small size is already quite filling. Unless you're super hungry or sharing with friends, I'll not recommend you to tick the bigger servings.
They took quite a long time to serve my mushroom pizza. When it finally arrived, I was disappointed. The pizza was alittle too tough on the dough and the shrooms on it were tasteless. The cheese wasn't well spread and I was only able to taste the cheese on few slices of the entire pizza. The rest were just covered with few pieces of sliced shrooms. I had to whack quite abit of shredded cheese and tabasco sauce on the pizza to make it taste slightly better.
Overall the place was quite nice, pricing was reasonable. I'll probably go back for their pasta since I can choose what I want in it and I'll totally avoid the pizzas.
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Dropped by Epicurious, one of the lesser known outfits dotting Roberton Quay, for a late dinner. Interestingly, the word epicurious stems from the words epicure, which is used to describe someone with refined taste, especially in food and wine and curious.
Occupying just a small unit along the bustling Roberston Walk, Epicurious does mostly al fresco seating with the exception of 3 small tables in its tiny interior which seem to suffer from cooling problems (read. Where's the airconditioning?) The al fresco area has big blower fans to cool the area though, which is probably why people usually choose to sit outside instead of inside (from my observations).
Epicurious Burger - Read many good things about the burger so thought I would give it a shot with the works ($4 for an addition of egg, cheese and bacon) First looks, it didn't come across as impressive as the one from Wild Rocket, especially in the size department. Taste wise was pretty decent though. The beef patty could have been a little less cooked but still managed to retain its juiciness and taste. Add the egg, cheese and bacon in and you get one hearty burger. I didn't like the bread though, which was a little too toasted, rendering it hard. The accompanying fries were just overfried and too salty.
Herb Roasted Half Chicken - The chicken was nice without being too strong on the herbs, a bane that most such dishes suffer from. However, the portions could have been bigger and I personally would have liked it to be a little more sour so as to bring out the contrast.
Hazelnut Cheesecake - Interestingly, the hazelnut cheesecake came topped with strawberries. That aside, it was actually quite good, with the cheese relatively light and airy without being too overwhelming. The base was a concoction of dark chocolate and orange peel, which was certainly something different.
$55 for 2 mains and 1 dessert might seem to be pushing the boundaries for reasonable pricing. But food is pretty decent and the place is rather cosy with good service. Worth a visit if you are in the vicinity and dont want to bust your budget dining at the fancier outfits.
See all my pictures here
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Eating while dangling on the air - such novelty. haha. Pleasant experience at the start. We were looking forward to dining on the cable car and watching the sunset at Harbour front so we made a reservation for 6:30pm.
Booking was made online and we pre ordered one grilled beef and one pan fried salmom when we made the booking.
Arriving at Mt Faber, we left the valet do the job (at $5) and off we went to the entrace of the cable car tower. There were quite a few people queuing up for sky dining and we were like the 6th couple in line...all bookings must be made before hand. No walk-ins allowed, at least that is what we were told.
We noticed that the sky dining cable cars had a table placed in between the 2 seats. So when it came our turn, we hopped onto one of them as it moved slowly. Then the waiter came by and served us the soup and appetizer for the 1st round. He had to do it quickly as the cable car was moving. So do not expect him to be gentle. Then again he will not "throw" the soup at you. haha.
The first round was an experience indeed. Eating 100m up in the air and watching the sun set what more could we ask for. We had the cream of mushroom soup and it was thick and well blended. It's kinda hard to eat and concentrate on the scenery and at the same time try to balance ourselves as the cable car can be quite shaky at times. There is also this nagging feeling that the glass filled with ice water will topple any time or the bowl of soup would slide off the table. Also since I have a thing with heights, drinking the soup and the salad was quite a challenge. But all said, we finished our soup and waited expectantly for the second course. The cable car went all the way to sentosa, made a u-turn and headed back to Mt Faber.
At Mt faber, the waiter quickly cleared our bowl of soup and served us the second course. ha....I forgot, he served us ice water and house wine and he had to make it fast, otherwise the cable car will move off without it or he might spill it all over the table. It is amazing to see how they manage to juggle all that within 1min I think and off we went with our second (main) course. There were at least 3 persone (I think) serving each cable car. One to clear the dishes, one to pour wine and the other to serve the main course. It happened so fast that we just did not know what happened. So service wise they were efficient and attentive. Before it moved off, the waiter asked if he could get us anything else. We spared him the trouble as we were wondering how he can manage to get us anything else if the cable car was moving off. So we said no thank you.
All I remember about the Beef tenderloin was that it done just right because halfway through the second round on the u-turn back to Mt Faber we started to feel the effects of motion sickness. haha. Never expected that. We joked that we had one more round to go...round 3...kinda like in the boxing ring waiting for the knockout punch. Actually also forgot much of the grilled salmon, execpt that there was some fishly after taste....so much for the meal. :(
The last dish was highly anticipated as it was the dessert. But when it arrived, we did not have the appetite to consume it as the cradling effects of the cable car got into us. Nevertheless we manage (yes...manage...seems like quite hard eh) to finish it.
Yes and not to mention, they served house wine also. Which we could not finish. Again we joked that if we finished the whole glass (coupled with the cradling effect of the cable car), we might just puke out of the cable car into the road or onto the people walking on the ground...funny sight indeed viewed from afar. But nothing like this happened....fortunately.
Overall the experience was good..minus the to and frow movement of the cable car. Food was average. Service was beyond expectation and ambience was good initially. But after going 3 rounds, that means 6 times seeing the same scenery, you kinda get tired of it after a while and just wished the cable car stopped and you can take your meal on more stable ground.
The experience cost us $90 per person. Recommended for a new experience...but not a culinary one.
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Ah, what do I say. With the interior and name and uber-many-branches-around-in-such-a-short-period-of-time, it just made me feel like I just had to try this place. (Despite my friend warning me against going to the one at Siglap because of the quality of food.) With eating out being general more expensive now, I'd go to this place because I was expecting it to be slightly cheaper. Hey, it is a cafe after all right.
So I got myself a plate of noodles. I can't quite remember what it was called, but I guess they're all so similar, differentiating it is not that necessary. The noodles are like instant noodles! Along with two stalks of vegetables, a sunny side up egg and (seemingly canned) diced pork. Looks really ordinary, like you can do it yourself at home too. That was about $6 I think.
My friend ordered porridge. Again, I can't remember what it was called. I tried one mouth and I told myself if and when I were to come back again, I will never order this. It was just rice and water and it tasted like Fish Slice soup with rice in it. Yes, the kind you can get from hawker centres. It was $9.90 if I'm not wrong.
The food wasn't horrible nor inedible, but it was so ordinary that you'd feel the pinch just having to pay for the stuff there.
What was more appalling was that when the waitress served us our drink, she seemed so uncertain that she had to ask us if that was tea. I can't believe she did that. You can be new there, you can be unsure of what you're doing, but you really should not bring a cup of drink to your customer and hesitate to give it to them right before them.
On the whole, I really think it’s not that worth eating here. No doubt it’s like “fast-food” and it’s a relatively cheaper place to eat at, it still isn’t worth paying this kind of money for such service and food quality.
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Decided to watch Golden Compass on a weekday in Gold Class to pamper ourselves for once. Haa....
Surprised to see that it is almost fully booked on a weekday afternoon. Hmm... Seem like a lot of ppl really dun mind spending money for comfort. Haa...
Once in, we are greeted by very polite servers. There is a lounge for us to relax while waiting for our movie to start. The menu is very impressive as well where we can order set meals to snacks to even beer or while while watching the movies. Haa...
Once we are urshered to our seats, we are greeted by big plush red sofa chairs, with a blanket on the sides. The seats are very comfortable and with a push on the side button, the seat will slowly move into a flat bed position. So you can adjust to whatever position that you are comfortable with.
There is a small table in between the seats where you can place your snacks or food. There is a button on the table where you can press for service.
As there is only like 24 seats in the cinema, the space is really big and no way the person in front can block you. The screen is a wide large screen that fills the length of the room.
Paying $25 per ticket ($30 for weekends), is consider a luxruy to me. However if the movie is 2.5 hrs or even longer, I think the money is worth spending. At times, they will have special promotion for with food tied in with the movie and I think that is much more worth it.
What a way to pamper a movie lover like myself. Hee.....
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Went for my 1st Spa experience @ The Rainforest Spa. When 1st step in, the whole place gave a very calming and peaceful effect.
Since it is our 1st time there, the reception was patient to explain our package to us. Our package includes of
1. Outdoor Jacuzzi & Steam Bath
2. Body Scrub
3. Massage
So we changed before we started and the locker was well equiped with a robe, shorts, slippers and towels.
Before we started, we were served some tea, before we start our Jacuzzi. Since it was outdoor and it was raining, the hot Jacuzzi was a good welcome. Spent about 40 mins in it. We were given fresh towels to dry ourselves.
After which, we were urshered to our respective steamrooms.
While waiting for the scrubs, we were urshered into a holding area, where we can sit down and relax, with hot tea provided.
For our body scrubs, we chose sugar scrub with lavender scent. We were urshered into a room with smoothing music playing at the same time. While lying on the bed, they "forcefully" scrub the lavender scent sugar crystals on us. It is not painful but a little ticklish. Hee.... After which we were asked to shower off. Our bodies were smelling great after it.
After another cup of hot tea, we started our massage. I got the Traditional Indonesian Massage while my partner got Indulgent Aroma Massage. For mine, it was done in a good and forceful way. It did relax all my tensed muscles. The whole massage was smooth and relaxing. The massuer also used enough force as well.
After another quick shower, we lazed around with another hot cup of tea, relaxing.
The whole experience was very good and it was done in a professional way as well. It seems that we have the whole palce to us as there is no other people at the same time. This was great as we dun feel like rush to complete our package.
In fact the whole experience was so good that we signed up for another 3 more couple packages. Since the spa is located in Safra, the rpcie is also cheaper than those in town area or in hotels. So looking forward to our next spa experience. For those who have not tried it, should do so quick!
Time to feel relax in these stressful times!
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