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Lucardia's Reviews

    671. Esmirada (Orchard)   
       15 Jan 2009 at 1:08 pm
    hburn10 hburn10 says:

    Tiramisu is still good~

    Had a lunch meeting there last week. A group of us 6 ladies ordered:
    1. Cesar Salad
    2. Warm Spinach Salad
    3. Esmirada's Famous Garlic Bread
    4. Suckling Pig
    5. Tiramisu
    6. Melting Moments


    The 2 salads were really just standard fare, nothing memorable. And I think their garlic bread is famous for their presentation: it's a whole baguette in this tall bread stand, spread with garlic and too much butter if you ask me; could be better. Modesto's across the road might be a better choice for garlic bread.

    The suckling pig is an item not on their menu, you have to pre-order it at least 2 days in advance. My boss said she had it once and it was so good she had to have it again, so I went expecting a wow. But sadly, it fell short. Unlike the Chinese way, they roast the pig(let) whole without any marinate and served it already chopped up into pieces. We asked for sauces and was told it doesn't come with any. I got tired of eating it after 2 pieces because it was too dry and bland for my liking.

    Desserts fared better. Their tiramisu was once named the best tiramisu in Singapore, and I think they kept to the standard pretty much. Good considering the countless bad tiramisus I've tried. The melting moments came overcooked though..didn't come with a liquid chocolate centre as we were told.

    I caught a glimsp of the bill when it came, and it was about $350, which i feel was too pricey. For this price, the pig could have been better.

    Service was rather faultess though: efficient and attentive coupled with cheery attitude. Had to ask them to turn down the volume of the music though, as it got too loud for our lunch meeting.

    Still a very quiet lunch place despite being in orchard road, we were the 5th occupied table. Perhaps their 2-course / 3-course set lunches ($22 / $30 per set) would be better?


    Rating given:Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5

    672. Cafe Oliv   
       13 Jan 2009 at 12:22 pm
    Category: Fusion
    hburn10 hburn10 says:

    Okay set lunch~~

    Was loitering in the East Coast area for lunch one day and decided to walk in as it looked quite inviting and a good rest from the intense heat outside.

    My 2 colleagues and I had all had their set lunch, rather good for value at $10.90 per set: soup, main, coffee/tea. Soup of the day was mushroom, and it was surprisingly good; presentation of the soup was a nice surprise too.

    My linguini with chicken was overcooked, sadly. My friend ordered the penne, which was much better. I later learnt that when in doubt, always order penne because it is harder to over-cook pasta; a practice which I will adopt next time.

    Coffee was so so for a simple cafe, nothing fantastic but not too bad as well.

    Think as with all other eateries in the area, parking is a pain, that's why lunch times are quiet. Take a bus here actually. Good value for money as we cant really demand much from $10.90.


    Rating given:Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5

    673. Summer Palace   
       13 Jan 2009 at 12:21 pm
    hburn10 hburn10 says:

    Good food excellent service

    Went there for another business lunch that day, turned out to be a nice surprise! We had a special set lunch:

    1. Steamed Dim Sum(Steamed Chicken Dumpling with Sharks Fin,Steamed
    Vegetarian Dumpling "Teochew Style", Steamed Abalone Dumpling with
    Asparagus,Steamed Prawn Dumpling)
    2. Peking Duck
    3. Poached Spinach with Fresh Lily Bulb and Wolf berries in Shark’s
    Bone Stock
    4. Summer Palace Fried Rice
    5. Baked Egg Tart and Custard Bun
    6. Mixed Fruits Platter Complimentry)

    For $297.97 for 11 ladies, I think the selection is excellent.

    I've never gotten food in a Chinese restaurant which excels in all I've ordered, let alone one in a hotel (I've always thought they are overpriced for the quality they give), but was happy to re-adjust my thinking after the lunch.

    Everything was good. It might seem a bit light on the palette but we thought we might as well veer on the healthier side since we going to eat anyway. The peking duck (the skin) came with too much fat for me, but perhaps others prefer it this way. The soup was delightfully refreshing, and the egg tart was one of the best I've ever tasted.

    Someone in the group sang high praises of its Chinese dessert selection so we had to try it, even though we were pretty stuffed from the set. I had this excellent concoction of almond cream with white fungus, steamed in a whole young coconut. The aroma of the coconut blends in surprisingly well with the almond taste, not to mention that it is terribly good for complexion!

    Didn't know if being in their private room made a difference but the service was excellent. Good job!

    I think Summer Palace beats a whole host of other places like Tung Lok, Wan Hao, or even Summer Pavilion. Don't know if they offer the set on a regular basis, but it is extremely value for $ I feel. Go there!


    Rating given:Rating: 5 out of 5Rating: 5 out of 5Rating: 5 out of 5Rating: 5 out of 5Rating: 5 out of 5

       13 Jan 2009 at 11:50 am
    Category: Deli and Cafe
    hburn10 hburn10 says:

    Nice place to chill out~

    Went for coffee last night with family, the whole 7 of us. Heard so much about the coffee so was quite excited to finally try it.

    Maybe my expectations were raised by the hype surrounding it, but my old town white coffee tasted like, well, your coffeeshop kopi, no doubt a good one. This normal version was also quite thick, so I can't imagine how their 'gao' version would taste. Stay away people sensitive to caffeine!

    My bro had the hazelnut coffee which he said was okay, but looked really cute with the heart-shaped foam on top.

    Post dinner for us, so we only ordered the garlic bread and ice-cream toast to share. The ice cream toast was done up nicely in a small tower, which I thought was a nice effort by them to dress it up despite the coffee-shop theme.

    It was nicely packed on a weekday night, but I think it's thronged with families on weekends, so come on weekdays if you can. Also less noisy than Ya Kun or Toast Box, but then again maybe it's due to the relatively ulu location.

    Would probably pop by if I'm in the vicinity or are with friends who drives~


    Rating given:Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5

       13 Jan 2009 at 11:49 am
    Category: Chinese (New)
    hburn10 hburn10 says:

    Rather nice spot for tea

    I kind of like this place for tea and munchies rather than proper meals. Its the nearest "coffee place" to my home so I guess also not much choice~

    I also like it for the fact that it is 24-hours on fridays and saturdays; makes it alot easier when deciding on places to have a post-meal chat without having to worry about the staff chasing you away upon closing.

    Their special HK Milk Tea is not bad, both hot and cold versions. It can a tad bland if you're used to the local teh, but then again I can do with less sugar. Tried also their thick toast with peanut butter, it was terribly messy to eat although quite nice. A tall block of carbs topped with thick gooey peanut better on it (I would have preferred the crunchy kind instead of smooth though). Even with fork and knife, it was quite unglam to eat the bread as was too crusty and crumbs kept falling all over the place and the peanut butter had the sludge kind of consistency that you need to fight with. Taste wise, not bad :D

    Tried a couple of their dim sums, it was okay. For desserts, they have a nice mochi thing sprinkled with crushed peanuts, it was delicious! Ice lovers can try their ice desserts, but you have to know they are humongous, so order to share.

    Cutlery and napkins are laid out on table, so DIY. Service wise, its really your basic service. Can get quite noisy on weekends and it gets filled up by 9pm so go slightly early. Even better, so slightly early in a group of 4 and grab their comfy booth seats :D


    Rating given:Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5

       13 Jan 2009 at 11:38 am
    Category: Desserts, Japanese
    hburn10 hburn10 says:

    Not worth it.

    Made a bad choice to come here for dinner under the recommendation of a friend's friend. Bad friend :(

    Was hankering after noodles, and saw that their udon selection is quite unique as they serve it flat, like kway chap. Decided on the very light soup udon, and my friend ordered teriyaki chicken set.

    The udon soup was very bland (but hot though), and came with the pieces of kway chap with leeks, mushrooms, and 2 pieces of very strange things. Looks like soggy fried beancurd but was utterly tasteless and painstakingly chewy. Like boiled mua chee with no peanuts.

    My friend couldnt finish his teriyaki chicken because it was served lukewarm and tasteless too. Looks not bad but didnt score in the taste department at all. Perhaps the chef ran out of soy sauce that day.

    Had been eyeing their green tea ice cream whenever I walk past, so I had to try it since I was there. Ordered the dessert duo: green tea ice cream moochi. The ice cream was not too bad, but moochi bland as well. Ugh.

    The other thing we tried was this vanilla ice cream with red beans and baked puffs served in a bowl. Not too bad actually because there was a nice contrast of hot and cold, and vanilla ice cream tasted homemade.

    Maybe the desserts was not bad because the mains were terrible. Service was nothing to complain about, and price was average, although I did spot their green tea ice cream on a cone being priced as $8.80 on the menu.

    Maybe worth buying ice cream to go when you have the cravings, but dont come here for dinner. You'd be better off at the food square :D


    Rating given:Rating: 1 out of 5Rating: 1 out of 5Rating: 1 out of 5Rating: 1 out of 5Rating: 1 out of 5

    677. Michelangelo’s   
       13 Jan 2009 at 11:30 am
    Category: Italian
    hburn10 hburn10 says:

    Nice set lunch

    Wanted to go to Original Sin for a weekday lunch but they were closed for Mondays:(. Choose Micheangelo's over Au Petite Bistro in the end. Went for the Amex 1-for-1 set lunch, which gives you a soup of the day (fish chowder) or a salad (mushrooms with greens), a main (penne with beef and mushrooms in saffron cream sauce or a grilled chicken), a dessert (tiramisu) and coffee/tea.

    Salad was unexpectedly of good portion and tasted quite good. The chowder was a bit watered-down for me, not as thick as I would have liked it. Pasta was nicely al dente, and kudos to them for changing the beef (I don't usually take red meat) to chicken for me :D. They did a pesto pasta for my vegetarian friend, which was excellent! Tiramisu was disappointing though, it tasted more like a nicely chilled chocolate sponge cake than really tiramisu. Coffee was run of the mill for me. Oh, and they don't serve bread :(

    I stil have to say their indoor sitting is still quite dark, because they dont switch on the lights and have a candle in each table instead. Makes it very hard to read the menu unless your sitting back facing the door, where you can try your luck at catching the daylight.

    Service was nicely efficient with the small seating.


    Rating given:Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5

       13 Jan 2009 at 11:29 am
    Category: Hawker Centres
    hburn10 hburn10 says:

    Overhyped

    Botak Jones is overhyped.

    My friend wanted so much to go there, so we did. Queued for half an hour just to take the orders, then another 45mins for our food. Had heard the cajun chicken is their speciality so I took that. The chicken was okay, although really thick as compared to what you'd get at a normal hawker western food stall. The fries were disappointing, served lukewarm and tastd really just normal.

    It is actually good western food, but taste for price, I really think it is really overhyped and overpriced.

    My personal views I guess.


    Rating given:Rating: 2 out of 5Rating: 2 out of 5Rating: 2 out of 5Rating: 2 out of 5Rating: 2 out of 5

    679. Wood Restaurant & Bar   
       12 Jan 2009 at 2:08 pm
    Category: American
    hburn10 hburn10 says:

    Good Wood~~

    I finally had a chance to try Wood after so long~

    I'm a sucker for food cooked in wood-y things eg. claypot rice, korean bimbibab, firewood pizza etc, so when the choice of dinner venue was up to me, I thought "Finally!!".

    Strangely quiet at 7pm on a Saturday night, and a little overwhelmed by the quietness actually. Not sure if it is because its tucked right at a corner of Vivo and not visible to the weekend browsing crowd. We were offered the booth seat, which was fabulously comfortable and provided loads of privacy. Call ahead to get one~

    I loved the ambience, as its quite hard to find a cosy place for a quiet dinner without the stiffness and intimidation of fine dining. If you get a seat in the open tables, you can actually see the action going on in the kitchen.

    Bread was served complimentary, which was quite good. Didn't quite know what it was but tasted like herb toasted pita slices, very good as a starter. Comes with normal olive oil for dip but tasted good on its own. Refilling of bread is also quick so beware not to OD on it~

    Warm wood smoked scallops with leek puree and salted black beans ($19)- very good. Nicely smoked taste and scallops were tender and incredibly fresh. Leek puree was excellent, and so were the side salad with vinegrette that came with it.

    Hot pan seafood spaghetti with wood roasted manila clams, squid, ang ka prawns ($28) - Excellent, if you're like me who prefers your pasta done the simple alio olio way. Again, seafood were incredibly fresh and was a rather light combination with the pasta. I have no idea what are "ang ka" is, but the prawns were large! Generous quantity of clams made the whole dish rather value for money~

    Grilled sakura chicken with lemongrass, shallots and parsley ($25) - didn't actually taste it, but it came nicely grilled and apparently quite good too. Supposedly free of antibiotics (or so I remember), so healthnuts can try it. Wasn't too filling a portion for guys, maybe because there's no carbs (the 2 chicken pieces were served with side salad), so my friend had to fill up with the bread~

    Their drinks, cocktails and wine selection are apparently a big thing there, as the menu is much much bigger than that of the food. The wine cellar is the first thing you see when you walk in...impressive~ Shall try it next time.

    Service was very good too, very efficient and many smiling faces (which you don't see very much of nowadays).

    Definitely worth a second visit for me!!


    Rating given:Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5

       12 Jan 2009 at 2:05 pm
    hburn10 hburn10 says:

    Not bad~

    Went there with my family for a Friday dinner; not too crowdeded :D

    The seating inside is more comfortable as the outside seats are arranged in such a way that you'll be elbowed by fellow diners going to the tables past you and service staff serving the said tables.

    Soup of the day ($12) - the medium size one, more than enough for 4 pax. That day was pork ribs and lotus root, which was not bad and tasted quite full bodied (although my mum said its full of MSG but I just can't taste it).

    French beans with minced meat ($10) - wok-fried nicely with the beans still crunchy. Plus, not too oily, a crime that other places tend to commit.

    Salad prawn ($16) - a little expensive for the portions. Still,the prawns were fresh and came with a nicely deep fried batter, mixed with some mayo. I would have preferred they drizzle the mayo on top rather than mix it in though.

    Yang Chow fried rice ($10) - I have to admit I have no idea what's "Yang Chow" anymore because restaurants like to name their 'chap-ba-lang" rice Yang Chow Fried Rice. This one was just normal with usual mix veg and egg, and a tad oily for my liking, although it had a faint 'wok hei'.

    Samsui chicken ($12) - medium size too. I've never really fancy this signature dish of theirs actually, but my sis loves it. That said, it is a healthy dish, good for low-carb fans. Its cold lean chicken meat served with sliced cucumber, lettuce, and a ginger / garlic mix. You're supposed to wrap the chicken in lettuce, add cucumber, and top it off with the ginger-garlic mix. The strange sounding combination actually tastes quite nice together, and it is very light on the palette. Reminds me of Peking duck but this is much healthier.

    Being in the heartland makes this place a bit pricey in comparison but good for special dinners with mums and dads. Beware though, if you're unlucky, you might get grouchy rude China-national service staff. Also, food quality is not consistent as my last visit was much worse off. Depends on the chef or mood of the chef I guess.


    Rating given:Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5

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