The popular Uno Beef House at Toa Payoh has a new outlet in the western regions of Singapore. Located in a prominent and brightly lit coffee shop along Dover road which runs parallel to the MRT line, it has its fair share of customers as well, but the waiting time here is definitely much shorter than its Toa Payoh counterpart.
I started off with the Cream of Mushroom soup ($2) which definitely came straight out of the can. There were undissolved chunks of coagulated soup at the bottom of the bowl, indicating a less than thorough stirring process. Having said that, I certainly didn't expect them to make their own mushroom soup, not for $2.
My gf had the pork chops ($5) which was quite good. Chewy yet not too dry or tough, with lots of savoury made from scratch gravy to go along. Portions were decent, but definitely not sufficient for a glutton like me.
The purported star of the evening (they are called Uno Beef House for a reason), the tenderloin steak ($10), was served up medium rare as per my request. The meat was very well done, succulent and a little chewy but lacked the sweetness of really good tenderloins. The mushroom sauce was quite decent too, with slices of mushroom and onion in it. I would have liked a more robust sauce though. Here comes the real star of the evening, the side of a single Potato Ball which was served alongside a small tomato. It had a buttery taste to it and reminded me very much of eating pineapple tarts minus the sweetened pineapple of course. Texture wise was also good, not too mashed up or soft. I wonder if the Potato Balls are available on their own.
In summary, I like this place and will definitely be back to patronise. Its definitely in the league of Astons for steak and considering the amount of hype that Astons has been getting, I rather stick to Uno.
Have to compliment this guy's friendly and welcoming service. Although I guess he did scare/ gave fright to some of the ladies shopping at Watsons.
Not sure if he's one of the managers but he was wearing a jacket and was well groomed. He went around with basket for shoppers and very politely offered the basket for the shoppers. But I did notice he kinda frightened couple of the ladies who were paying too much attention to the labels on the packaging.
Still a pleasant shock I guess.
My partner commented that they're probably training up for the upcoming F1 race or IR since Singapore is all about providing excellence services for everyone. Hope the service standards will keep improving in Singapore.
Took the First Class Coach to KL and the best part about it is that it is a 16 seater....so no small kids running up and down the bus and crying or causing any disturbance. The entire journey was pleasant and smooth. Highlights?
10" personal LCD screen Total trip to KL about 4-5 hours, so can watch about 2 movies.
Meals on board One meal (Standard or vegetarian) on board served to your seat by the inflight, oops, or inbus attendant.
Attentive service Inbus attendant, dressed like an air-stewardess or land-stewardess, politely asks if you would like tea, coffee or soft drinks. Even blanket provided if you do decide to take a snooze
Massage Chair Get yourself a back massage while watching a movie. Should not all cinemas have this!!!
One trip ticket cost about $58 to KL. Definitely a must for the business traveller who decides not to take a plane. Several of them were with their notebooks turned on throughout the flight...oops...again...the coach ride.
Popped by sleepy Serene Centre with my gf for some cheap French food only to find it packed to the brim with a long queue to boot. So we sort of gave up the idea and settled for the only other alternative (besides MacDonalds), Yoshoku Kitchen.
For cavemen like me, Yoshoku simply means western food with a Japanese flair aka fusion, for lack of a better word. This 1 year old eatery sits quietly next to its more illustrious neighbours, Island Creamery and La Petit Cuisine. A cosy darkened interior complete with a floor to ceiling window beckons.
The Hotate Mentai Chizu Yaki, or scallops baked with cod roe sauce, was rather interesting as I've never eaten scallops covered with a thick layer of cheese before. The scallops were quite a size and came buried under mounds of thick gooey cheese buffered by the Thousand Island taste alike cod roe sauce. Honestly, I liked it quite a fair bit (I'm a cheese freak) except for the fact that the cod roe sauce was a little too overwhelming.
How good/bad can Japanese curry rice get? Yoshoku's rendition was averagely decent and unexciting. Curry was neither too watery nor coagulated but normal rice was used instead of Japanese rice, which was expected for the price ($8).
Primed as one of the must tries in this restaurant, the Wafu Bifu Suteki, or beef steak with Japanese sauce, was a tad disappointing given that I had much higher expectations of it. The beef was unevenly cooked, with some parts being almost well done while others tended more towards medium well. That aside, the beef was relatively succulent and chewy but lacked the natural beef taste although I did find it quite well seasoned. The Japanese sauce was nothing more than a milder and sweeter version of the black pepper sauce.
$54 for 2 pax for a decent and filling meal in a serene environment is a little on the high side but still within the reasonable range IMHO. Service is good as well which is definitely a plus. Just don't get your expectations too high.
A rather small WWII museum but nonetheless unique in its contents. Some of the interesting highlights are the drawings of Mr William Haxworth. Not a painter by profession but his drawings (done in secret) portray the day to day life of POWs interned at Changi and Sime Road.
Just wonder how people can remain in their sanity while being enclosed in camps with horrible conditions. One of the ways the POWs do that is to inject humour in their confinement and peril. Some of the exhibits portray the lighter side of internship in Changi and you just marvel at their ingenuity and positiveness in one of life's darkest moments. How would the modern generation fare if they were to be thrown into the same mire and deep pit that these POWs had to go through. Sometimes the unassuming might just rise to the occasion and prove to be the most courageous of the lot. History has accounts of many people who experienced that.
To think further, these POWs were once colonial masters who spent their time drinking tea and playing cricket in the Posh surroundings of Raffles Hotel and the Singapore Cricket club and had to face the deplorable conditions of Changi the very next minute. Sometimes, infact many times, life can take the turn for the worst and the images injected at the MOFF museum illustrates that to the perfect degree.
Another highlight of the MOFF is the room where the British surrender took place. The room where all hope was lost was rather bleak and small. The table and chairs (not sure if it was the original that Yamashita and Percival sat on) retains its gloomy appearance. Very much the mood exhuberated on that fateful day. Staring for a few minutes into the room, you can feel the atmosphere of being here in 1942 when it all happened.
Interestingly, the Ford factory ceased operations after 1942 and became a factory producing Nissan military vehicles and other vehicles for the occupying forces.
What remains of the Ford factory today is just 1/10 of the original factory. Only the front portion remains, the back is now occupied by a residential condominium. Imagine living on the grounds of the historical building. Sometimes it might bring a chill down your spine.
We reached there at 4:30pm and closing time was 5:30pm. One hour was not enough to read the experiences, listen to the stories and view the well preserved documents. We left the place with a surreal feeling, wondering if all that was done in the past is forgotten by people today. Sadly, most of it is forgotten.
Anyway the staff manning the museum was kind enough to tell us that we could come back another time for free if we wanted to since we had only been able to spend a short time there. How thoughtful!
Was in the vicinity of Tanglin Shopping centre with my gf so decided to try out Jerry's for dinner. Located just above Bombay Woodlands, Jerry's currently has 3 outlets in Singapore, with the flagship store being the one at Jalan Kayu and branches at Club Street and Tanglin Shopping Centre. Decor wise, the Tanglin outlet was pretty simple with no inherent theme to it. We had 2 servings of the set dinner, with the Southern Chicken and Spaghetti Seafood Alo Alo as mains as well as a small serving of 4 Fried Crispy Wings to share (I had initially wanted to try the Buffalo Wings, but thought the better of it as I had already tried the ones at Buckaroo BBQ & Grill, which is/was owned by Jerry and boasts similar wings). Our set dinner came with a choice of soup - Minestrone or Cream of Mushroom and unlimited servings at the salad bar.
In all honesty, the salad bar was quite pathetic. There was tuna, hard boiled eggs, vegetables and some sauces definitely not what I was expecting. But it came with the set, so no complains. I chose Cream of Mushroom for my soup and I was really disappointed. It wasn't really warm to begin with and the top layer of the soup had hardened and formed a layer, which meant that it had been out in the cold for too long. It didn't taste like canned soup, but it was a little too salty and the taste wasn't rich enough.
Remember the small puny wings you get at KFC or Nasi Lemak stalls? Banish those thoughts and feast your eyes on Jerry's Fried Crispy Wings. They use the exact same Buffalo Wings that made Jerry's famous, except that it is prepared in a different way. The wings are gigantic and tasty to boot! The skin is deep fried until its so crispy that every bite generates a "crunch" sound. Just one grouse though. It could have done with more seasoning or spices. The juices were plentiful, but had no flavours, thus rendering it rather bland. A good eat nevertheless, but a pricey one at that ($8.95 for 4).
My Southern Chicken was quite a size, half a chicken to be exact and topped with mounds of BBQ sauce, served with salad and mashed potatoes. I found the chicken to be well done with the flesh being very tender and easily torn off from the bones. Perfect for lazy people like me. However, the taste of the BBQ sauce was overpowering and I sort of gave up eating halfway. The accompanying mashed potato was just a disaster. I don't know how to begin describing it, but let me just say that KFC has better mashed potatoes.
Either my tastebuds had problems or my gf's Spaghetti Seafood Alo Alo tasted really bland. Even the prawns and scallops had virtually no discernible taste! My gf agrees with me, so I guess its the dish. But the pasta was actually not bad, a little chewy and overall the dish was rather light on the palate. Maybe its meant to be that way, but I would prefer a little more flavour.
Dinner for 2 came to a whooping $70/-. That might not seem like a lot of money, but for the quality of food, it sure is. The food was at best slightly above average and the service didn't go beyond serving our food and clearing the dishes. The drinks are a killer too. A can of coke sets you back by $3.95 . Imagine that! Oh and either the tables are too low or the chairs are too high, as I found it rather uncomfortable having to hunch my back and slouch on the table just to eat my food. I definitely won't be back, unless its for the wings, which still holds a certain allure. Other than that, I'm better off spending my $70 elsewhere.
Had lunch at Sage, The Restaurant. Perched on the second storey of the picturesque Robertson Walk, Sage is dressed up in modern chic, with a small dining area that can only hold about 30-40 people. Run by the husband and wife team of Jusman and Kimberly, reservations are almost always necessary especially during dinner as the place can get quite packed. I'm sure you wouldn't want to be turned away do you? Set lunches go for $25 for a 3-course set (no dessert) or $28 for a 4-course set and the menu is changed once every fortnight. As always, the more the merrier, so both of us opted for the 4-course set. I had the Braised beef shortribs topped with marinated shallots, puree of butternut pumpkin and brunoise root vegetables for my main course while LS had the Pastilla of braised lamb shank with mascarpone cheese, provencal ratatouille and cassoulet of summer beans.
Appetiser was Seared yellow fin tuna topped with avocado mousseline, lumpfish roe and an aged balsamic glaze. The tuna was nicely done with a cooked exterior and raw interior. It was light on the taste buds with the overpoweringly raw fishy taste noticeably absent. Coupled with the avocado mousseline and the house special concoction of the balsamic glaze, it made for a truly appetising appetiser.
When I first set eyes on the Cappuccino of cauliflower veloute, it looked exactly like a cup of Cappuccino with its frothy top layer and creamy base. A rather interesting concept, but I didn't quite take to it. For one, I found the cream taste a little too overwhelming in the froth and in the soup itself. It tasted like a slightly better version of the Campbell soup, albeit a lot more creamy. If you love boiled milk, you might fancy this more than I do.
The mains followed and my Braised beef shortribs was very well done. The meat was first braised until fall off the bone tender (there's no bone by the way) then pan-fried till the outer layer was slightly charred and crispy. Atop the meat lay slices of marinated shallots which had a slightly sweet taste and melted cheese. Extremely fine chopped spring onions were drizzled over to give colour, smell and taste. Butternut pumpkin puree with cuscus came as a side for this dish and it was commendable as well. The sweet pumpkin taste blended in well with the cuscus. I had a bite of LS's lamb, but didn't quite fancy it because of its strong lamb taste.
Dessert was Vanilla panna cotta with Granny Smith apples and its own sorbet. The sorbet came with thinly sliced green apples (Granny Smith apples) that complemented it very well. However, I did find the texture a little lacking although I must complement it for its smoothness. I did like the panna cotta though. Wobbly, chilled and a little sweet, you can seldom go wrong with this dessert. Having said that, I still prefer the Panna Cotta at Pontini because the flavours are more robust with a nice slightly creamy aftertaste.
Our 1.5 hours lunch cost us $62.20/-, which is a tad expensive for such dainty portions. As LS puts it, fine dining is supposed to be fine in the quality sense, not portions wise. I can't help but agree. The dinner menu looks inviting, but can easily set you back by $60 /pax (after taxes) just for the basic 4-course set. Although the food is good, service faultless and ambience romantic, I rather take my money elsewhere for that kind of pricing - somewhere where I can at least fill my stomach. But if you are a small eater and crave for a romantic place for dinner, this might just be the place for you. If not, just go for the set lunches.
Wetnt here to repair my friend's notebook. it was my first visit there and to say that the place is quite easy to find.
The service was fast. I think most of the coutner girls they employ are overseas so they spoke with an accent. They dun have much people interaction skills and sounded pretty machnical to me when talking.
I waited for 15 mins and when it was my turn, 5 mins I am done.
So now still waiting for them to get back to me on the status of the laptop and hope that I can get it back soon.
My sister yesterday brought back 6 donuts from donut factory. The queue at both outlets alwasy puts me off so I dun even bother to queue for it. After all, I have tasted Krispy Kreme and thinks that nothing can beats that.
Since she did not buy my fav which is apple cinemmon, I ate a blue berry one instead. Well it turn out to be good compared to others that I have eaten in Singapore less Krispy kreme of course. I put it in the toaster for a few mins to warm it up. It turned out to be soft and fluffy the way I like it, the topping , like, others, found it too be a little too sweet.
My mum ate the one with almond flakes and she became a fan of it. Asking me to buy more of it the next time round.
Update (2 Nov 07):
I decided to queue for donuts for my very first time last thursday @ Suntec City. Guess what? There is no queue and I managed to get my donuts in 5 mins flat. Haa... I bought 2 dozens in record time I think. Haa.....
Well I still stand by Krispy Kreme still remians 1st in my heart while Donut Factory is a near second. Still I dun think queueing a few hours for the donuts is worth it!
I was there last friday to attend a wedding. The hotel was a classy, small and unique. It was hidden away in a corner yet near to town.
The wedding took place in their 4th level resturant, and it was a buffet. The service there was good. The service crew actually took a lot of effort to do up the whole place to make it look romantic.
The buffet was good with a wide variety of food and all tasting very good as well.
The room that they have was quite cosy and well decorated as well. As it was a suite, the living room and the bed room was seprated by a wall. The toilet is seperated by frosted glass sos you can see a shadow of the person in the toilet as well.
They got a special design swimming pool as well at the top of the building where it is protuding part and it feels like siwmming in the open air.
Overall It is a small cosy hotel that can spent the weekend. It is within walking distant fromt he main clubbing streets and places like zouk, clarke quay etc.
1=SGD 0.0587
The popular Uno Beef House at Toa Payoh has a new outlet in the western regions of Singapore. Located in a prominent and brightly lit coffee shop along Dover road which runs parallel to the MRT line, it has its fair share of customers as well, but the waiting time here is definitely much shorter than its Toa Payoh counterpart.
I started off with the Cream of Mushroom soup ($2) which definitely came straight out of the can. There were undissolved chunks of coagulated soup at the bottom of the bowl, indicating a less than thorough stirring process. Having said that, I certainly didn't expect them to make their own mushroom soup, not for $2.
My gf had the pork chops ($5) which was quite good. Chewy yet not too dry or tough, with lots of savoury made from scratch gravy to go along. Portions were decent, but definitely not sufficient for a glutton like me.
The purported star of the evening (they are called Uno Beef House for a reason), the tenderloin steak ($10), was served up medium rare as per my request. The meat was very well done, succulent and a little chewy but lacked the sweetness of really good tenderloins. The mushroom sauce was quite decent too, with slices of mushroom and onion in it. I would have liked a more robust sauce though.
Here comes the real star of the evening, the side of a single Potato Ball which was served alongside a small tomato. It had a buttery taste to it and reminded me very much of eating pineapple tarts minus the sweetened pineapple of course. Texture wise was also good, not too mashed up or soft. I wonder if the Potato Balls are available on their own.
In summary, I like this place and will definitely be back to patronise. Its definitely in the league of Astons for steak and considering the amount of hype that Astons has been getting, I rather stick to Uno.
See all my pictures here.
Rating given:
Have to compliment this guy's friendly and welcoming service. Although I guess he did scare/ gave fright to some of the ladies shopping at Watsons.
Not sure if he's one of the managers but he was wearing a jacket and was well groomed. He went around with basket for shoppers and very politely offered the basket for the shoppers. But I did notice he kinda frightened couple of the ladies who were paying too much attention to the labels on the packaging.
Still a pleasant shock I guess.
My partner commented that they're probably training up for the upcoming F1 race or IR since Singapore is all about providing excellence services for everyone. Hope the service standards will keep improving in Singapore.
Rating given:
Took the First Class Coach to KL and the best part about it is that it is a 16 seater....so no small kids running up and down the bus and crying or causing any disturbance. The entire journey was pleasant and smooth. Highlights?
10" personal LCD screen Total trip to KL about 4-5 hours, so can watch about 2 movies.
Meals on board One meal (Standard or vegetarian) on board served to your seat by the inflight, oops, or inbus attendant.
Attentive service Inbus attendant, dressed like an air-stewardess or land-stewardess, politely asks if you would like tea, coffee or soft drinks. Even blanket provided if you do decide to take a snooze
Massage Chair Get yourself a back massage while watching a movie. Should not all cinemas have this!!!
One trip ticket cost about $58 to KL. Definitely a must for the business traveller who decides not to take a plane. Several of them were with their notebooks turned on throughout the flight...oops...again...the coach ride.
Rating given:
Popped by sleepy Serene Centre with my gf for some cheap French food only to find it packed to the brim with a long queue to boot. So we sort of gave up the idea and settled for the only other alternative (besides MacDonalds), Yoshoku Kitchen.
For cavemen like me, Yoshoku simply means western food with a Japanese flair aka fusion, for lack of a better word. This 1 year old eatery sits quietly next to its more illustrious neighbours, Island Creamery and La Petit Cuisine. A cosy darkened interior complete with a floor to ceiling window beckons.
The Hotate Mentai Chizu Yaki, or scallops baked with cod roe sauce, was rather interesting as I've never eaten scallops covered with a thick layer of cheese before. The scallops were quite a size and came buried under mounds of thick gooey cheese buffered by the Thousand Island taste alike cod roe sauce. Honestly, I liked it quite a fair bit (I'm a cheese freak) except for the fact that the cod roe sauce was a little too overwhelming.
How good/bad can Japanese curry rice get? Yoshoku's rendition was averagely decent and unexciting. Curry was neither too watery nor coagulated but normal rice was used instead of Japanese rice, which was expected for the price ($8).
Primed as one of the must tries in this restaurant, the Wafu Bifu Suteki, or beef steak with Japanese sauce, was a tad disappointing given that I had much higher expectations of it. The beef was unevenly cooked, with some parts being almost well done while others tended more towards medium well. That aside, the beef was relatively succulent and chewy but lacked the natural beef taste although I did find it quite well seasoned. The Japanese sauce was nothing more than a milder and sweeter version of the black pepper sauce.
$54 for 2 pax for a decent and filling meal in a serene environment is a little on the high side but still within the reasonable range IMHO. Service is good as well which is definitely a plus. Just don't get your expectations too high.
See my pictures here
Rating given:
A rather small WWII museum but nonetheless unique in its contents. Some of the interesting highlights are the drawings of Mr William Haxworth. Not a painter by profession but his drawings (done in secret) portray the day to day life of POWs interned at Changi and Sime Road.
Just wonder how people can remain in their sanity while being enclosed in camps with horrible conditions. One of the ways the POWs do that is to inject humour in their confinement and peril. Some of the exhibits portray the lighter side of internship in Changi and you just marvel at their ingenuity and positiveness in one of life's darkest moments. How would the modern generation fare if they were to be thrown into the same mire and deep pit that these POWs had to go through. Sometimes the unassuming might just rise to the occasion and prove to be the most courageous of the lot. History has accounts of many people who experienced that.
To think further, these POWs were once colonial masters who spent their time drinking tea and playing cricket in the Posh surroundings of Raffles Hotel and the Singapore Cricket club and had to face the deplorable conditions of Changi the very next minute. Sometimes, infact many times, life can take the turn for the worst and the images injected at the MOFF museum illustrates that to the perfect degree.
Another highlight of the MOFF is the room where the British surrender took place. The room where all hope was lost was rather bleak and small. The table and chairs (not sure if it was the original that Yamashita and Percival sat on) retains its gloomy appearance. Very much the mood exhuberated on that fateful day. Staring for a few minutes into the room, you can feel the atmosphere of being here in 1942 when it all happened.
Interestingly, the Ford factory ceased operations after 1942 and became a factory producing Nissan military vehicles and other vehicles for the occupying forces.
What remains of the Ford factory today is just 1/10 of the original factory. Only the front portion remains, the back is now occupied by a residential condominium. Imagine living on the grounds of the historical building. Sometimes it might bring a chill down your spine.
We reached there at 4:30pm and closing time was 5:30pm. One hour was not enough to read the experiences, listen to the stories and view the well preserved documents. We left the place with a surreal feeling, wondering if all that was done in the past is forgotten by people today. Sadly, most of it is forgotten.
Anyway the staff manning the museum was kind enough to tell us that we could come back another time for free if we wanted to since we had only been able to spend a short time there. How thoughtful!
Rating given:
Was in the vicinity of Tanglin Shopping centre with my gf so decided to try out Jerry's for dinner. Located just above Bombay Woodlands, Jerry's currently has 3 outlets in Singapore, with the flagship store being the one at Jalan Kayu and branches at Club Street and Tanglin Shopping Centre. Decor wise, the Tanglin outlet was pretty simple with no inherent theme to it. We had 2 servings of the set dinner, with the Southern Chicken and Spaghetti Seafood Alo Alo as mains as well as a small serving of 4 Fried Crispy Wings to share (I had initially wanted to try the Buffalo Wings, but thought the better of it as I had already tried the ones at Buckaroo BBQ & Grill, which is/was owned by Jerry and boasts similar wings). Our set dinner came with a choice of soup - Minestrone or Cream of Mushroom and unlimited servings at the salad bar.
In all honesty, the salad bar was quite pathetic. There was tuna, hard boiled eggs, vegetables and some sauces definitely not what I was expecting. But it came with the set, so no complains. I chose Cream of Mushroom for my soup and I was really disappointed. It wasn't really warm to begin with and the top layer of the soup had hardened and formed a layer, which meant that it had been out in the cold for too long. It didn't taste like canned soup, but it was a little too salty and the taste wasn't rich enough.
Remember the small puny wings you get at KFC or Nasi Lemak stalls? Banish those thoughts and feast your eyes on Jerry's Fried Crispy Wings. They use the exact same Buffalo Wings that made Jerry's famous, except that it is prepared in a different way. The wings are gigantic and tasty to boot! The skin is deep fried until its so crispy that every bite generates a "crunch" sound. Just one grouse though. It could have done with more seasoning or spices. The juices were plentiful, but had no flavours, thus rendering it rather bland. A good eat nevertheless, but a pricey one at that ($8.95 for 4).
My Southern Chicken was quite a size, half a chicken to be exact and topped with mounds of BBQ sauce, served with salad and mashed potatoes. I found the chicken to be well done with the flesh being very tender and easily torn off from the bones. Perfect for lazy people like me. However, the taste of the BBQ sauce was overpowering and I sort of gave up eating halfway. The accompanying mashed potato was just a disaster. I don't know how to begin describing it, but let me just say that KFC has better mashed potatoes.
Either my tastebuds had problems or my gf's Spaghetti Seafood Alo Alo tasted really bland. Even the prawns and scallops had virtually no discernible taste! My gf agrees with me, so I guess its the dish. But the pasta was actually not bad, a little chewy and overall the dish was rather light on the palate. Maybe its meant to be that way, but I would prefer a little more flavour.
Dinner for 2 came to a whooping $70/-. That might not seem like a lot of money, but for the quality of food, it sure is. The food was at best slightly above average and the service didn't go beyond serving our food and clearing the dishes. The drinks are a killer too. A can of coke sets you back by $3.95 . Imagine that! Oh and either the tables are too low or the chairs are too high, as I found it rather uncomfortable having to hunch my back and slouch on the table just to eat my food.
I definitely won't be back, unless its for the wings, which still holds a certain allure. Other than that, I'm better off spending my $70 elsewhere.
See all my pictures here
Rating given:
Had lunch at Sage, The Restaurant. Perched on the second storey of the picturesque Robertson Walk, Sage is dressed up in modern chic, with a small dining area that can only hold about 30-40 people. Run by the husband and wife team of Jusman and Kimberly, reservations are almost always necessary especially during dinner as the place can get quite packed. I'm sure you wouldn't want to be turned away do you? Set lunches go for $25 for a 3-course set (no dessert) or $28 for a 4-course set and the menu is changed once every fortnight. As always, the more the merrier, so both of us opted for the 4-course set. I had the Braised beef shortribs topped with marinated shallots, puree of butternut pumpkin and brunoise root vegetables for my main course while LS had the Pastilla of braised lamb shank with mascarpone cheese, provencal ratatouille and cassoulet of summer beans.
Appetiser was Seared yellow fin tuna topped with avocado mousseline, lumpfish roe and an aged balsamic glaze. The tuna was nicely done with a cooked exterior and raw interior. It was light on the taste buds with the overpoweringly raw fishy taste noticeably absent. Coupled with the avocado mousseline and the house special concoction of the balsamic glaze, it made for a truly appetising appetiser.
When I first set eyes on the Cappuccino of cauliflower veloute, it looked exactly like a cup of Cappuccino with its frothy top layer and creamy base. A rather interesting concept, but I didn't quite take to it. For one, I found the cream taste a little too overwhelming in the froth and in the soup itself. It tasted like a slightly better version of the Campbell soup, albeit a lot more creamy. If you love boiled milk, you might fancy this more than I do.
The mains followed and my Braised beef shortribs was very well done. The meat was first braised until fall off the bone tender (there's no bone by the way) then pan-fried till the outer layer was slightly charred and crispy. Atop the meat lay slices of marinated shallots which had a slightly sweet taste and melted cheese. Extremely fine chopped spring onions were drizzled over to give colour, smell and taste. Butternut pumpkin puree with cuscus came as a side for this dish and it was commendable as well. The sweet pumpkin taste blended in well with the cuscus. I had a bite of LS's lamb, but didn't quite fancy it because of its strong lamb taste.
Dessert was Vanilla panna cotta with Granny Smith apples and its own sorbet. The sorbet came with thinly sliced green apples (Granny Smith apples) that complemented it very well. However, I did find the texture a little lacking although I must complement it for its smoothness. I did like the panna cotta though. Wobbly, chilled and a little sweet, you can seldom go wrong with this dessert. Having said that, I still prefer the Panna Cotta at Pontini because the flavours are more robust with a nice slightly creamy aftertaste.
Our 1.5 hours lunch cost us $62.20/-, which is a tad expensive for such dainty portions. As LS puts it, fine dining is supposed to be fine in the quality sense, not portions wise. I can't help but agree. The dinner menu looks inviting, but can easily set you back by $60 /pax (after taxes) just for the basic 4-course set. Although the food is good, service faultless and ambience romantic, I rather take my money elsewhere for that kind of pricing - somewhere where I can at least fill my stomach. But if you are a small eater and crave for a romantic place for dinner, this might just be the place for you. If not, just go for the set lunches.
Rating given:
Wetnt here to repair my friend's notebook. it was my first visit there and to say that the place is quite easy to find.
The service was fast. I think most of the coutner girls they employ are overseas so they spoke with an accent. They dun have much people interaction skills and sounded pretty machnical to me when talking.
I waited for 15 mins and when it was my turn, 5 mins I am done.
So now still waiting for them to get back to me on the status of the laptop and hope that I can get it back soon.
Rating given:
My sister yesterday brought back 6 donuts from donut factory. The queue at both outlets alwasy puts me off so I dun even bother to queue for it. After all, I have tasted Krispy Kreme and thinks that nothing can beats that.
Since she did not buy my fav which is apple cinemmon, I ate a blue berry one instead. Well it turn out to be good compared to others that I have eaten in Singapore less Krispy kreme of course. I put it in the toaster for a few mins to warm it up. It turned out to be soft and fluffy the way I like it, the topping , like, others, found it too be a little too sweet.
My mum ate the one with almond flakes and she became a fan of it. Asking me to buy more of it the next time round.
Update (2 Nov 07):
I decided to queue for donuts for my very first time last thursday @ Suntec City. Guess what? There is no queue and I managed to get my donuts in 5 mins flat. Haa... I bought 2 dozens in record time I think. Haa.....
Well I still stand by Krispy Kreme still remians 1st in my heart while Donut Factory is a near second. Still I dun think queueing a few hours for the donuts is worth it!
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I was there last friday to attend a wedding. The hotel was a classy, small and unique. It was hidden away in a corner yet near to town.
The wedding took place in their 4th level resturant, and it was a buffet. The service there was good. The service crew actually took a lot of effort to do up the whole place to make it look romantic.
The buffet was good with a wide variety of food and all tasting very good as well.
The room that they have was quite cosy and well decorated as well. As it was a suite, the living room and the bed room was seprated by a wall. The toilet is seperated by frosted glass sos you can see a shadow of the person in the toilet as well.
They got a special design swimming pool as well at the top of the building where it is protuding part and it feels like siwmming in the open air.
Overall It is a small cosy hotel that can spent the weekend. It is within walking distant fromt he main clubbing streets and places like zouk, clarke quay etc.
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