There used to be four, but with the latest addition of the Canon to the Arsenal, the power balance was tipped back. The current score stands at Canon 2, Olympus 2, Nikon 1. With the figure at a perfect five, there’s a harder fight especially so when somebody countdown five seconds for the shots.
While just like how the different brands have their own strengths; with Canon producing the crisp sharp shots, Nikon edging out with the vibrant colours display, Olympus providing the balance in between, there isn’t a perfect combination. And of course, there are pros and cons of Choupinette. The small capacity of the restaurant made it a great place for a lazy pig-out, but it also meant that the place was packed to the crowd on a busy weekend.
I like how my Nikon produced the perfect blend of colour, to bring out the best in the settings of the restaurant. And surely, the Canon and Olympus camp would protest against that.
Walking by the array of bread, the three of us were attracted by the Pain au chocolat ($2.90). From the memories, warm melting chocolate filled within the crispy bread. But it was not to be, the bread was cold even though the staff helped us warm it up. Chocolate fillings, or rather, the lack of it was the main downfall.
The same problem goes for the Almond Danish ($2.90), the bread wasn’t warm, while we couldn’t expect freshly baked bread to be coming out just for us, it would be a lot better if only the bread was warm.
The chouchou’s set ($22 ) from the lunch menu had choices of either one of grilled hot sandwich, lasagna or smoked salmon sandwich, together with a drink and dessert. This was La Moussaka. The fanciful name brought home the impact, otherwise you wouldn’t be seeing this dish here. But, it was a very ordinary one, nothing to shoot about.
The generous slices of smoked salmon from the Le Noé’s sandwich ($22 from chouchou’s set) was definitely worth the price. Coming in two huge slabs of bread, it could easily filled up two person.
Choupinette’s interpretation of the Madame and Monsieur was an egg, with the latter coming without. Grilled sandwich with a choice of ham, chicken or eggplants with emmenthal cheese & béchamel sauce. Le Croque-Monsieur ($15). Apparently, our Madame was so engrossed with the sandwich that she couldn’t give her comment.
I always wondered what exactly is a quiche ($6 per slice), well i got my answer today, in not one, but two quiche! The lorraine quiche (top picture) is perhaps the most common quiche there is. While I didn’t exactly fancy the spinach quiche, I still prefer my spinach eaten like a vegetable.
Eggs on toast with smoked salmon and hollandaise sauce served all day long. This is for all the lazy bums out there! The Egg Royal’s ($21 ) ought to be presented with the most-expensive-eggs-you-ever-eaten honour. I kind of wanted to kick myself for not ordering this, the poached eggs were done perfectly, and the looks alone would give much pleasure.
Another dish which you can’t left out of any brunch menu, Eggs Benedict’s ($20 ). Eggs on toast with ham and hollandaise sauce. Well if your stomach isn’t feeling right having smoked salmon for breakfast, eggs with ham are always a safer choice.
It’s kind of heavy eating a burger for breakfast, but hey we are having brunch! For all the carnivores, Le Burger ($18) is just, well a hamburger. The beef patty was slightly overcooked, but it was served with a generous servings of salad, and the fries even came on a separate bowl. But for $18, i thought it was rather on the high side, you can have a gourmet burger at Relish, or maybe a cheaper burger from Hotshots or Smoking frog kitchen might do the job.
On first impression, the Tarte au citron ($5.60) or lemon meringue tart would definitely made a statement with the beautiful burnt and thick layer of meringue. While others took one bite of the tart and refused to touch it any more, i was slowly sampling it since this was my first time trying meringue. The layer of meringue on top was supposed to form a stiff peak but the one here was too thick, and there was also hint of coarse sugar within which was probably due to the improper dissolve of the sugar.
We were contemplating between chocolate or coffee éclair since there was too much desserts with chocolate. But we decided against it since coffee is an acquired taste, and had the Éclair au chocolat ($5). There was a salty after-taste in the éclair which came across as rather weird.
I was eagerly anticipating the Palais Royal ($6.90), for the dark chocolate and crunchy praline. But there wasn’t any crunchy praline to be found. Nonetheless, i still enjoyed the dessert even though some didn’t really like it as they were disappointed by the lack of the crunchy praline.
A very simple custard & raspberry, the Millefeuille framboise ($7). The several layers of puff pastry brought back fond childhood memories of the cake which i had before when i was a kid. It was difficult not to make a mess of it as the cake crumbled easily.
The Tarte aux Pommes ($5.90 a slice, $7.90 for an additional scoop of ice cream) was quintessentially an apple tart with a scoop of normal ice cream. The additional of 2 bucks for the scoop of ice cream was totally not worth the money, but the apple tart was decent. The thin slice of dessert was fulsome with the apple taste.
Vendôme ($6.90) also caught our attention with the three layers of dark, milk and white chocolate. The dessert was more like eating three layers of chocolate mousse, some didn’t like it, but i did.
The macarons ($1.80 each) were a disaster. We had eight of them, four from each chouchou’s set. Choupinette has about 13 flavours of macarons available, we chose chocolate, raspberry, strawberry, peach, passion fruit, orange, pear and hazelnut. Almost all the macarons had chocolate gauche for fillings, i wouldn’t mind small macarons if they were good, but the one here had an artificial taste to it. Something was definitely missing but we couldn’t quite make out what. The very artificial colouring of the macarons didn’t appeal to us too. The shells of the macaron crumbled easily and didn’t have the chewy texture a good macaron should have.
Total bill was $193 for 9 of us. Some paid more for their expensive egg brunch, while some paid less for just bread and desserts. But generally, if you are looking to try their brunch or lunch menu, you will probably looking at 20 per person, and that’s probably excluding desserts. Choupinette has a great base of Caucasians customers, and it isn’t difficult to see why for the cosy and homely decorations of the place. The name of the restaurant, and the French names of the food screams chic. It will probably be better to go on a weekday where there’s less customers if you want to try this place out.
Well, just like how there will never be a perfect DSLR for either Canon, Olympus or Nikon users. Some of you might like Nikon for the design, Canon for its brand, Olympus for its nimbleness, all of us have different preferences. Similarly for Choupinette, while we were disappointed by the desserts, but the eggs on the brunch were exceptional, and you might just like the food there. No matter what, all of us love our DSLR, and the common passion for food. Another dessert enthusiast outing, until the next one!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
A classic Italian gastronomic, Galbiati gourmet deli actually started out as a takeaway place for its gourmet products. I’ve been wanting to give the place a visit ever since a friend highly recommended it, and railmall is so near to my place.
The interior of the deli was very small, with seating of at most 30. The simplistic environment of the place does makes one feels comfortable, a place where you can call your own Italian joint. The food offered are mostly simple food, with a wide array of home-made pastas, appetizer and main courses.
The Salmon asparagus linguine ($18) was based on the recommendation of the serving staff as my friend’s a great fan of the fish. A very light cream base accompanied the linguine, with the salmon stronger in taste. The asparagus seems to act as the neutralising balance between the salmon and the overall light taste of the dish. A fairly good home-made pasta.
I’ve a sneak preview of their pizzas at the counter, and was excited to hear that they’d served it fresh from the oven. The popular Hawaiian pizza ($8) was our choice for the night. Coming in squares of 6, the pizza was value for money. But, there’s no free lunch in this world, i thought that the ingredients were miserable, with one small cube of pineapple and ham. The pizza crust was very hard, and dry for my personal liking. And the tomato spread for the base was insufficient.
One of the unique characteristics of Galbiati deli was they actually encouraged takeaways. Dining in, the Lavender cheesecake ($7) is a dollar more expensive than if you opted to takeaway their desserts. The lavender flower infused a aromatic fragrant into the light cheesecake. The crust base was always a welcoming partner, to provide the crunch.
We always like to save the best for the last, to savour every bite of the Tiramisu ($7) for a lasting moment stored in our memory. Well i didn’t exactly had many tiramisu before, but Galbiati’s one is probably one of the best i’ve before. There wasn’t any deconstruction, nothing fanciful about the famous Italian dessert. Just a solid good one. The mascrapone cheese, with the the coffee-liquer infuse flavour, i was sorely tempted to order another one.
Total bill was $44 for two person. While the dinner didn’t exactly turn out to be as good as what i’ve expected, it’s easy to imagine myself back here for a simple meal. The only problem? The restaurant doesn’t allow photography, so i was taking photos secretly while they were not looking.
And i do enjoyed my rights of taking photos openly, so this may be the reason a revisit will eluded me. One thing’s for sure, i’ll definitely be back to try the other desserts, and the tiramisu of course. But the next time round, i’ll probably takeaway their desserts, and snap shots of it just directly outside their shop!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
Family favourite but not mine~ Popped in for an early dinner on Saturday at about 6pm, and the place was buzzing with families and kids. I'm not a fan of Swenson's but my friend's little girl wanted to try, although this is a bit deviant from the normal Swenson menu.
They have a salad bar :D Reminds me of places like Sizzler but this is much smaller in terms of variety. An ala carte salad bar buffet will cost you $11.30 but if you order a main from the Grill, Wharf, or Farm selection, the salad bar comes along with it. A rather good deal I think.
Salad bar ($11.30) - mixed greens with thousand island dressing, mashed potatoes ham, thai tang hoon salad, fried wanton skin, coleslaw, were the items I tried. Average at most, with the tang hoon being the best. The fried wantons added a nice crunch though.
Jumbo chicken frank ($13.90)- disappointing. Although big in portion, the sausage used was not fragrant enough, and the bun was oily. Ugh. They had tomato sauce and melted cheese on top, which made it taste like pizza. The mustard sauce didn't help much. The meslcun salad on the side was basically a few tatters of leaves and lacking a dressing. The wedges was cold and tasteless.
Omelette ($5.90) - this is in the kids menu, my friend's little girl ordered one for herself and we ordered one to share. Turned out to be a bad topping to an already unsatisfactory dish. Served cold and without any hint of ham nor cheese as reflected in the menu. The harsh browns and mashed potatoes that came along with it was...sigh...
Grilled seafood combo ($28) & Sausage combo ($17.90) - my friends had these so I can't comment on taste. The seafood looked okay enough, but the sausage was pathetically small in portion.
Service was nothing to complain about, and our water was refilled constantly without us having to ask. No ambience to speak of, as although the sofas are quite nice to sit on, the place is full of weekend families, kids, and babies in prams.
If I had a choice, I'd probably not come here again as the same amount of moolah I spent can get me better food. If I had no choice, I'll just take fries or salad bar~
Nice quiet dinner spot~ I have never been to this part of the road, let alone dine in Gallery Hotel. Armed with the Singapore Women's Weekly 1-for-1 main voucher, i made a trip down with a girlfriend last Thursday.
The lift at the lobby takes you straight to the 4th floor, where Zenden is. You actually step out of the lift right to the restaurant entrance because there's no doors to the place.
Soft jazzy music compliments the dimly-lit interior, and the best seats are the ones right next to the glass panes, although the bright lamps on each of these tables tend to make the seats slightly warm.
Menu is actually a clipboard with the different pages clipped on. Smart move I thought, as changes to the menu can be done quite easily in this case.
Bread (complimentary) - normal soft white rolls, served warm and with butter.
Baked scallops & prawns ($22) - it came with mushroom risotto and a few pieces of asparagus. The seafood was very fresh and came in a generous portion. There was also this crab/lobster bisque-like kind of sauce that came with the rice: not bad, but have it while its hot. The asparagus was too old though, I poked it aside after my 1st bite.
Flambe Tenderloin ($28) - my friend ordered this as there is something rather attractive about flambe dishes (we think). The 2 pieces of small tenderloin was done rather nicely, and it was fun watching the service staff cook it in front of you. Apparently the taste is not bad. The sauce that accompanied the beef was extremely salty however, really really salty. There was also this square of alternate layers of potatoes and cheese, baked, and very good!!. Its a french thing supposedly but I don't know what it's called.
Thick cut fries ($5) - technically we didn't order this, as my friend has requested for her side of mashed potato to be changed to this. Not bad actually, although it wasn't served hot enough for me.
Vanilla ice cream - this sweet surprise was served to us at the end of the meal, a scoop for each of us. Your normal King's ice cream, but still a nice touch I thought.
Quality of food exceeded my expectations to be honest; I had expected lesser fare from a hotel 'coffeehouse'.
Service needs to be much improved though. The place was a tad understaffed, with some of them disappearing at times, leaving only 2 staff throughout the restaurant. Very hard to get staff's attention, and I realised some of them had the tendency to walk backwards (i'm not kidding!) while looking at things or mumbling stuff, which makes getting to them even harder!
We wanted to change our main course to those under the flambe section after they took our orders so we asked a staff if he can check if they've already started preparing our orders, and if not, we would like to change our choices. He smiled sheepishly, asked us to wait a minute, then asked someone in a jacket which we assumed is the supervisor or captain to come over. So we repeated our request; he walked off to the kitchen for a while, then walked away to do other stuff. So we were puzzled, not sure if it meant yes or no??? So we asked him again, to which he said okay, and brought us the menus. We deliberated over it, then finally when I wanted to place my new order, the same guy told me: oh, im sorry, I think the chef has already started to prepare your order". Eh???
Finally, we realised they had no idea of what we were talking about just now, at all! I never did find out what he went over to the kitchen for, but we were just amused~~
Service aside, the prices here are very reasonable for a hotel, mains between $12 - $28 and desserts around $6-8. Will be a possible dinner option if I'm in the vicinity :D
Confused menu~ I walked out of the place with my tastebuds confused actually. Went for a food outing with LIC and a whole lot of other people for a Saturday lunch, but er i guess my tastebuds didnt really agree with the menu.
Buffet line -this is part of the $20nett per pax buffet spread of appetisers and desserts which we had too, on top of our special set menu. Tried the mushroom soup and DIY rojak: mushroom soup was more the Chinese kind than western style, with a very strong taste of the dong gu. Rojak was okay, and I have to mention that their ingredients were very fresh. I didn't actually try the desserts coz there were already 2 disapproving faces before I made my way there haha.
Hainanese chicken rice salad with crabcake - best dish of the day. The dish contains all the flavours of chicken rice without the calories, to quote the owner, and bingo! Poached chicken strips with crunchy greens and a slightly spicy dressing, topped with puffed rice. It was thumbs up all round the table. Crabcake was nice and deep fried nicely, was good altho the salad was much more interesting to us :D
Laksa pesto pasta and Ba Bao risotto - liked the pasta more than the risotto. Al dente pasta with (i think) too much pesto but still nice. The ba bao risotto tasted of only truffle haha, it way overwhelmed whatever else of the 7 ingredients. I later found out it had 3 mushrooms, two nuts, chinese sausage, parmesan cheese in it.
Tenderloin with otah and balamic carrot cake - the strangest dish of the day :I I passed my tenderloin to the happy Leroy at my table so can't comment on that. The carrot cake....sigh....was chao sng. Or so we thought. Because there was no print out menu of what we were having, we all seriously thought it was chao sng. Until the owner came over and explained, then came the voices of "ooorrhh". But still, we felt this dish was seriously confused. The otah was served in a creme brulee dish but a bit watery, and also salmon with green curry, which tasted almost exactly like the otah.
Fruit tart - store bought tartlett which was way too sweet. Nothing fusion about this. Disappointing.
I concluded that perhaps I like less confusing food haha~ Quality of food was below my expectations, and I feel the $20nett we paid for per pax was, although the quantity was good, quality-wise was not. Don't understand the food? Its fusion la.
Still a good family spot~ Came to realise Crystal Jade is still one of the safest bet for a family dinner, it can never go too wrong~ These dishes may be very familiar but I'll still run through some of them la:
Deep fried beancurd with pepper and salt ($6) - very delectable squares of fresh toufu coated in a cripsy batter with salt & pepper, served with the insides still soft and hot. Yum~~
Fried rice with dried canpoy and carb meat ($11.50) - tastes much better than it looks, with obvious crab meat pieces and plenty of wok hei.
Stew Chicken Claypot ($13.80) - thisis called San Bai Ji on the menu, and my favourite dish here :D Fragrant pieces of fresh chicken stired fried with onions and sitting in a deelish dark brown sauce. Quite a waste of the sauce if you dun have rice to mop it up though.
Deep fried garlic prawns ($18) - the pricest thing we had. Think cereal prawns but substitute the cereal for garlic. Nice initially but the rawness of the garlic gets to you after a while. Prawns were less fragrant than I thought as well, maybe I was distracted by the mountain of garlic on the plate.
Baby Kailan stir fried with garlic ($9.80) - Disappoiting especially for crystal jade standard. Although crunchy, the greens were absolutely tasteless :(
There were other stuff which was run of the mill like dumpling noodies and congee with preserved egg & meat. No ambience to speak of, because its afetrall a family place. Noisy family chatter with avergae service, but if you're like us seated right in a corner it can sometimes be hard to catch the staff's attention.
Oh, and their 'pickles' served when you are seated has been changed to endamame :D
The bill came to about $133 for the 7 of us, which was quite reasonable for the variety we had.
Tiny dessert hole~ The 7 of us seated in here took up almost half of the seating here. This place is really tiny and the tables are elbow-unfriendly :I was after dinner so we decided to share these:
Triple chocolate cheese cake ($8) - not as jelat as I thought it will be; and the cheesecake and chocolate were nicely proportioned. Nothing spectacular though.
Foret Noire Log cake ($7.50) - I have to admit I ordered this because it looked so cute :D Cute aside, this is rather good. A very nice spin on the black forest; and the brandied cherries on the inside cuts the richness of the chocolate very nicely.
Crepes Exotique ($12.50) - crepes with bananas and a sorbet on top. drizzled with chocolate. The bananans were, well, just bananas. I couldnt make out what flavour the sorbet was but I think it had mango and passionfruit stuff in it. Taste for price, I think this is not worth it actually.
Cannele ($1.50) - I lurve caneles, so ordered one for them to try. But erm apparently, this rum vanilla concoction is an aquired taste, and my sis, dad, and auntie all havent acquired it yet.
Coffee macaroon ($2.30) - my little bro tried this so I can't quite comment on it.
We all had different verions of coffee: ice mocha, americano, cappuncino. I had the latte but the coffee was disappointingly thin with badly-foamed milk. Ugh.
The bill was $62 for 7 of us, which was avergae I feel. But I'll definitely not have coffee here again. I'll go back to Nectarie for that.
Bistro Senso...makes sense~ Decided to go there precisely because they were offering a 50% off ALL ala carte items. EVERYTHING, except drinks but good enough for me :D
Since the big wheel stopped turning, business here has been really really, really.....bad. Choosing a Monday evening made the isolated place seem really sad, with a few specks of people strolling around and F&B service staff either earnestly standing outside trying to grab your attention with promotional flyers or chatting amongst themselves to kill time.
2 girls with a huge appetite to try out this less costly version of Senso made us order a starter, 2 mains, 3 desserts, and of course coffee.
Salad nicose ($12) - Chose this over calamari because we thought since we are bingeing, we might as well err on the healthier side (haha). The tossed combination of the tuna, beans, greens, and eggs were surprisingly good, especially paired with the slightly tart vinegrette dressing. Good start to the evening.
Crab ravioli ($18) - Pieces of fat and flavourful parcels tossed with fresh tomato sauce and seafood bits. The pasta tasted home-made (although I can be wrong) and the seafood very fresh.
Pizza Parma Rucola($18) - I'm always distracted my this favourite when choosing pizza, and I lost again, haha. Classic italian style with parma ham and rucola greens on top. The plain carbo base went very well with the salty ham, but the greens looked a bit limp I thought.
Creme Brulee ($8) - I don't usually order this but since well its 50% anyway. Plus the pastry counter looked really unattractive. Creamy sweet gooey stuff, but they should have burnt the top layer a bit more.
Tiramisu ($8) - came in a mini tower form on a big plate. Tasted better than it looks but still the sponge fingers were too dry; it was also too soft and not chilled enough.
Panna Cotta ($8) - Came in a cute martini glass but strangely green in colour. There was no flavour so we didnt know what the colouring was...maybe it was just a visual thing. Usual stuff.
Coffee ($3) - So many places do coffee so badly I just had to ask them to please make sure mine was pressed properly. Didn't disappoint me in the end.
Latte ($4.50) - Didn't try this but shouldn't be too bad given the quality of the coffee.
Quality of the food surprised me, given the fact that they have probably not had a customer for a very very long time. Throughout my dinner, there was at max 3 tables including us (we were the first to walk in and last to step out).
Service was friendly and attentive, and they kept coming over to ask how's the food. Ambience was actually quite nice; you can see the sea through the glass panels at the side, and if you choose alfresco, it's actually right under the wheel. Quite a romantic vibe if you go with the correct person.
If not for the walking distance, I would really love to come back a few more times. To take advantage of the 50% while it lasts. Not sure when, but it will be as long as the big wheel doesn't start I believe. So go soon!!
The bill came up to $79, but with the 50% off food items, we paid only about $50 for 2 persons. Very worth it I feel :D
The Singapore Flyer is touted as the world’s largest observation wheel, even higher than London Eye. Our nation’s pride. Minor breakdowns before were already ominous signals that a catastrophe will happen one day. Alas, the dreadful thing finally struck. How the mighty has fallen. The management should have already looked into and made backup plans, but it failed anyway. Now, time for us to do some self-reflections and damage-recovery.
While the flyer remains closed for investigations, the ones to suffer the backslash are the restaurants and other tenents. Senso Bistro, is coming up with a 50% promotion off all their a la carte menu from now until the flyer starts operating (date unknown yet).
The natural vibe of the restaurant, with its simple layout and decorations, provided a good place for either a causal lunch, or nice dinner without burning a hole in the pocket.
Not to mention there’s also al fresco dining, which would be ideal for dinner, with the sea breeze and eating under the stars making it a romantic affair.
The waiter kindly asked us whether we’ll like some garlic bread ($4) while waiting, but he failed to mention it’s not free. Naturally when he offered us bread i thought it was complimentary. There’s no free lunch in this world. All right, it’s not so much about the money, we are talking about principle, like shouldn’t they at least inform us the bread wasn’t complimentary? Next time, don’t be shy, ask!
With ten selections to choose from the Pizze menu, we were spoilt for choices. To be on the safe side, we went for the popular Hawaiian ($18 before 50% discount). The paper-thin pizza was huge, with eight slices easily filling up the four of us. The ingredients of pineapple, cooked ham were very generous. The only gripe? I lamented the fact that the pizza did not have enough mozzarella cheese. Still, with the promotion, it’s definitely a steal at just under ten bucks. It made the one I’ve at Galbiati looked pathetic.
Grilled tuna loin coated in fresh herbs. The Tonno ($24 before 50% discount) was a disappointment really. The fish was over-cooked, making the meat too dry and hard. I liked the side vegetables that came with it, lightly stir-fried, the greens were crunchy and fresh.
When asked to choose between the T-bone steak and veal loin, the manager recommended the latter for the delicate taste and tender texture. Veal loin is the meat of calves, and at Bistro Senso, the pan-fried veal loin scaloppine ($24 before discount) can be done in three different methods. Ours were ‘alla Pizzaiola’ with tomato and mozzarella cheese. The whole taste was like having a steak-pizza. A refreshing combination, but the meat was not tender enough, and came across as too tough. And since we had pizza already, now i’m wishing i chose the other method of breaded and golden crispy instead.
And how can we not have any pasta from an Italian bistro? The Ravioli ($18 before 50% discount) was essentially lobster and crab pasta served with assorted seafood ragout in tomato and basil sauce. This was actually my first time having a ravioli pasta. The tomato and basil sauce was flavourful and strong in taste. The prawns and squids were fresh, but to be frank, I didn’t quite enjoy ravioli. I still preferred my pasta to be spaghetti or linguine. Personal taste.
I was eagerly anticipating the desserts, well most people would find tiramisu ($8 before 50% discount) boring and chose some other interesting options. But there was no way I’m going to miss out trying the popular Italian dessert from an Italiano joint. The mascarpone cream was too light, and the espresso taste was not strong.
Another famous Italian dessert, Pannacotta ($8 before 50% discount). The bouncy texture was evident, but i couldn’t figure out what’s in the double cream flan. The raspberry coulis did provided a contrast with the pannacotta.
The last one, Creme brulee ($8 before 50% discount). The oven-baked egg custard of the Italian dessert did taste rather like our Chinese egg tarts. The caramelised sugar on top of the dessert wasn’t burned enough, and lacked the torched burnt taste.
Total bill was $65.91 for 4 person after a 50% discount. Although i wasn’t very impressed with the food, but with the promotional prices, the food is really cheap! The pizzas and pastas are like 9 bucks each, and the main course 12 bucks. The soothing ambience with the inexpensive price means that you should visit Senso Bistro before the Singapore Flyer reopens. Talk about patriotism, and national pride.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
Had another bout of craving for Thai food but didn't fancy spending too much due to the economic downturn so dropped by Jai Thai for a simple no frills dinner with my folks. Jai, which means heart in English, is touted as the most value for money Thai restaurant in Singapore.
Located in the rather secluded private estate of Jalan Pemimpin in the Thomson/Sin Ming area, Jai Thai operates out of a rather spacious shophouse but provides very limited parking spaces. The interior is kept simple and unassuming with cheap wooden tables and chairs and Chinese tunes playing in the background. There is of course the obligatory photos of the Thai royal family.
Tom Yum Soup - To be honest, I didn't quite take to the tom yum soup because it wasn't the clear and hard hitting sourish spicy type that I personally prefer. Instead, it had lots of chilli flakes and came across as only mildly sourish and watery. Good for people who don't like their soup too extreme I guess. On the upside, it came with fried fish pieces, squid and prawns which were relatively fresh.
Thai Fish Cake - At $1.50 a piece, the fish cake was decent. Not the best I've tried but very palatable. Just that I found it a wee bit too soft for my liking.
Pineapple Fried Rice - Evenly fried and decent tasting but on the dry side. Miserable bits of chicken and chicken floss donned the top. However at $6 for a 2 pax portion, I guess its still acceptable.
Kai Lan with Oyster Sauce - How bad can kai lan with oyster sauce get? Average tasting but at least the leaves didn't have worm holes in it - something that usually plagues alot of budget eateries. I did find the oyster sauce a little excessive though.
Pandan Chicken - This was probably the best dish of the day. Big chunks of boneless chicken meat well marinated and fragrant to boot. Very worth the price ($5) but watch out for the excessive oil.
Mango Pudding - At $1.50, I honestly didn't expect much. The pudding's texture was more like jelly then pudding and came topped with coconut milk. Edible but not something I would order again.
Mango Sticky Rice - The rice was smooth, sticky and sweet at the same time with the generous mango slices mildy sweet and sour. A drizzle of coconut milk atop completed the picture with the whole dish coming across as sweet, creamy with a light sourish tinge. Quite good I must say.
I would say $30 for a filling dinner for 3 pax is really a steal. Food quality is decent but service needs to buck up a little as the wait staff do seem a little inefficient. For the price, I would definitely be better off eating here then at Thai Express and the likes.
1=SGD 0.0587
There used to be four, but with the latest addition of the Canon to the Arsenal, the power balance was tipped back. The current score stands at Canon 2, Olympus 2, Nikon 1. With the figure at a perfect five, there’s a harder fight especially so when somebody countdown five seconds for the shots.
While just like how the different brands have their own strengths; with Canon producing the crisp sharp shots, Nikon edging out with the vibrant colours display, Olympus providing the balance in between, there isn’t a perfect combination. And of course, there are pros and cons of Choupinette. The small capacity of the restaurant made it a great place for a lazy pig-out, but it also meant that the place was packed to the crowd on a busy weekend.
I like how my Nikon produced the perfect blend of colour, to bring out the best in the settings of the restaurant. And surely, the Canon and Olympus camp would protest against that.
Walking by the array of bread, the three of us were attracted by the Pain au chocolat ($2.90). From the memories, warm melting chocolate filled within the crispy bread. But it was not to be, the bread was cold even though the staff helped us warm it up. Chocolate fillings, or rather, the lack of it was the main downfall.
The same problem goes for the Almond Danish ($2.90), the bread wasn’t warm, while we couldn’t expect freshly baked bread to be coming out just for us, it would be a lot better if only the bread was warm.
The chouchou’s set ($22 ) from the lunch menu had choices of either one of grilled hot sandwich, lasagna or smoked salmon sandwich, together with a drink and dessert. This was La Moussaka. The fanciful name brought home the impact, otherwise you wouldn’t be seeing this dish here. But, it was a very ordinary one, nothing to shoot about.
The generous slices of smoked salmon from the Le Noé’s sandwich ($22 from chouchou’s set) was definitely worth the price. Coming in two huge slabs of bread, it could easily filled up two person.
Choupinette’s interpretation of the Madame and Monsieur was an egg, with the latter coming without. Grilled sandwich with a choice of ham, chicken or eggplants with emmenthal cheese & béchamel sauce. Le Croque-Monsieur ($15). Apparently, our Madame was so engrossed with the sandwich that she couldn’t give her comment.
I always wondered what exactly is a quiche ($6 per slice), well i got my answer today, in not one, but two quiche! The lorraine quiche (top picture) is perhaps the most common quiche there is. While I didn’t exactly fancy the spinach quiche, I still prefer my spinach eaten like a vegetable.
Eggs on toast with smoked salmon and hollandaise sauce served all day long. This is for all the lazy bums out there! The Egg Royal’s ($21 ) ought to be presented with the most-expensive-eggs-you-ever-eaten honour. I kind of wanted to kick myself for not ordering this, the poached eggs were done perfectly, and the looks alone would give much pleasure.
Another dish which you can’t left out of any brunch menu, Eggs Benedict’s ($20 ). Eggs on toast with ham and hollandaise sauce. Well if your stomach isn’t feeling right having smoked salmon for breakfast, eggs with ham are always a safer choice.
It’s kind of heavy eating a burger for breakfast, but hey we are having brunch! For all the carnivores, Le Burger ($18) is just, well a hamburger. The beef patty was slightly overcooked, but it was served with a generous servings of salad, and the fries even came on a separate bowl. But for $18, i thought it was rather on the high side, you can have a gourmet burger at Relish, or maybe a cheaper burger from Hotshots or Smoking frog kitchen might do the job.
On first impression, the Tarte au citron ($5.60) or lemon meringue tart would definitely made a statement with the beautiful burnt and thick layer of meringue. While others took one bite of the tart and refused to touch it any more, i was slowly sampling it since this was my first time trying meringue. The layer of meringue on top was supposed to form a stiff peak but the one here was too thick, and there was also hint of coarse sugar within which was probably due to the improper dissolve of the sugar.
We were contemplating between chocolate or coffee éclair since there was too much desserts with chocolate. But we decided against it since coffee is an acquired taste, and had the Éclair au chocolat ($5). There was a salty after-taste in the éclair which came across as rather weird.
I was eagerly anticipating the Palais Royal ($6.90), for the dark chocolate and crunchy praline. But there wasn’t any crunchy praline to be found. Nonetheless, i still enjoyed the dessert even though some didn’t really like it as they were disappointed by the lack of the crunchy praline.
A very simple custard & raspberry, the Millefeuille framboise ($7). The several layers of puff pastry brought back fond childhood memories of the cake which i had before when i was a kid. It was difficult not to make a mess of it as the cake crumbled easily.
The Tarte aux Pommes ($5.90 a slice, $7.90 for an additional scoop of ice cream) was quintessentially an apple tart with a scoop of normal ice cream. The additional of 2 bucks for the scoop of ice cream was totally not worth the money, but the apple tart was decent. The thin slice of dessert was fulsome with the apple taste.
Vendôme ($6.90) also caught our attention with the three layers of dark, milk and white chocolate. The dessert was more like eating three layers of chocolate mousse, some didn’t like it, but i did.
The macarons ($1.80 each) were a disaster. We had eight of them, four from each chouchou’s set. Choupinette has about 13 flavours of macarons available, we chose chocolate, raspberry, strawberry, peach, passion fruit, orange, pear and hazelnut. Almost all the macarons had chocolate gauche for fillings, i wouldn’t mind small macarons if they were good, but the one here had an artificial taste to it. Something was definitely missing but we couldn’t quite make out what. The very artificial colouring of the macarons didn’t appeal to us too. The shells of the macaron crumbled easily and didn’t have the chewy texture a good macaron should have.
Total bill was $193 for 9 of us. Some paid more for their expensive egg brunch, while some paid less for just bread and desserts. But generally, if you are looking to try their brunch or lunch menu, you will probably looking at 20 per person, and that’s probably excluding desserts. Choupinette has a great base of Caucasians customers, and it isn’t difficult to see why for the cosy and homely decorations of the place. The name of the restaurant, and the French names of the food screams chic. It will probably be better to go on a weekday where there’s less customers if you want to try this place out.
Well, just like how there will never be a perfect DSLR for either Canon, Olympus or Nikon users. Some of you might like Nikon for the design, Canon for its brand, Olympus for its nimbleness, all of us have different preferences. Similarly for Choupinette, while we were disappointed by the desserts, but the eggs on the brunch were exceptional, and you might just like the food there. No matter what, all of us love our DSLR, and the common passion for food. Another dessert enthusiast outing, until the next one!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
Rating given:
A classic Italian gastronomic, Galbiati gourmet deli actually started out as a takeaway place for its gourmet products. I’ve been wanting to give the place a visit ever since a friend highly recommended it, and railmall is so near to my place.
The interior of the deli was very small, with seating of at most 30. The simplistic environment of the place does makes one feels comfortable, a place where you can call your own Italian joint. The food offered are mostly simple food, with a wide array of home-made pastas, appetizer and main courses.
The Salmon asparagus linguine ($18) was based on the recommendation of the serving staff as my friend’s a great fan of the fish. A very light cream base accompanied the linguine, with the salmon stronger in taste. The asparagus seems to act as the neutralising balance between the salmon and the overall light taste of the dish. A fairly good home-made pasta.
I’ve a sneak preview of their pizzas at the counter, and was excited to hear that they’d served it fresh from the oven. The popular Hawaiian pizza ($8) was our choice for the night. Coming in squares of 6, the pizza was value for money. But, there’s no free lunch in this world, i thought that the ingredients were miserable, with one small cube of pineapple and ham. The pizza crust was very hard, and dry for my personal liking. And the tomato spread for the base was insufficient.
One of the unique characteristics of Galbiati deli was they actually encouraged takeaways. Dining in, the Lavender cheesecake ($7) is a dollar more expensive than if you opted to takeaway their desserts. The lavender flower infused a aromatic fragrant into the light cheesecake. The crust base was always a welcoming partner, to provide the crunch.
We always like to save the best for the last, to savour every bite of the Tiramisu ($7) for a lasting moment stored in our memory. Well i didn’t exactly had many tiramisu before, but Galbiati’s one is probably one of the best i’ve before. There wasn’t any deconstruction, nothing fanciful about the famous Italian dessert. Just a solid good one. The mascrapone cheese, with the the coffee-liquer infuse flavour, i was sorely tempted to order another one.
Total bill was $44 for two person. While the dinner didn’t exactly turn out to be as good as what i’ve expected, it’s easy to imagine myself back here for a simple meal. The only problem? The restaurant doesn’t allow photography, so i was taking photos secretly while they were not looking.
And i do enjoyed my rights of taking photos openly, so this may be the reason a revisit will eluded me. One thing’s for sure, i’ll definitely be back to try the other desserts, and the tiramisu of course. But the next time round, i’ll probably takeaway their desserts, and snap shots of it just directly outside their shop!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
Rating given:
Family favourite but not mine~
Popped in for an early dinner on Saturday at about 6pm, and the place was buzzing with families and kids. I'm not a fan of Swenson's but my friend's little girl wanted to try, although this is a bit deviant from the normal Swenson menu.
They have a salad bar :D Reminds me of places like Sizzler but this is much smaller in terms of variety. An ala carte salad bar buffet will cost you $11.30 but if you order a main from the Grill, Wharf, or Farm selection, the salad bar comes along with it. A rather good deal I think.
Salad bar ($11.30) - mixed greens with thousand island dressing, mashed potatoes ham, thai tang hoon salad, fried wanton skin, coleslaw, were the items I tried. Average at most, with the tang hoon being the best. The fried wantons added a nice crunch though.
Jumbo chicken frank ($13.90)- disappointing. Although big in portion, the sausage used was not fragrant enough, and the bun was oily. Ugh. They had tomato sauce and melted cheese on top, which made it taste like pizza. The mustard sauce didn't help much. The meslcun salad on the side was basically a few tatters of leaves and lacking a dressing. The wedges was cold and tasteless.
Omelette ($5.90) - this is in the kids menu, my friend's little girl ordered one for herself and we ordered one to share. Turned out to be a bad topping to an already unsatisfactory dish. Served cold and without any hint of ham nor cheese as reflected in the menu. The harsh browns and mashed potatoes that came along with it was...sigh...
Grilled seafood combo ($28) & Sausage combo ($17.90) - my friends had these so I can't comment on taste. The seafood looked okay enough, but the sausage was pathetically small in portion.
Service was nothing to complain about, and our water was refilled constantly without us having to ask. No ambience to speak of, as although the sofas are quite nice to sit on, the place is full of weekend families, kids, and babies in prams.
If I had a choice, I'd probably not come here again as the same amount of moolah I spent can get me better food. If I had no choice, I'll just take fries or salad bar~
Rating given:
Nice quiet dinner spot~
I have never been to this part of the road, let alone dine in Gallery Hotel. Armed with the Singapore Women's Weekly 1-for-1 main voucher, i made a trip down with a girlfriend last Thursday.
The lift at the lobby takes you straight to the 4th floor, where Zenden is. You actually step out of the lift right to the restaurant entrance because there's no doors to the place.
Soft jazzy music compliments the dimly-lit interior, and the best seats are the ones right next to the glass panes, although the bright lamps on each of these tables tend to make the seats slightly warm.
Menu is actually a clipboard with the different pages clipped on. Smart move I thought, as changes to the menu can be done quite easily in this case.
Bread (complimentary) - normal soft white rolls, served warm and with butter.
Baked scallops & prawns ($22) - it came with mushroom risotto and a few pieces of asparagus. The seafood was very fresh and came in a generous portion. There was also this crab/lobster bisque-like kind of sauce that came with the rice: not bad, but have it while its hot. The asparagus was too old though, I poked it aside after my 1st bite.
Flambe Tenderloin ($28) - my friend ordered this as there is something rather attractive about flambe dishes (we think). The 2 pieces of small tenderloin was done rather nicely, and it was fun watching the service staff cook it in front of you. Apparently the taste is not bad. The sauce that accompanied the beef was extremely salty however, really really salty. There was also this square of alternate layers of potatoes and cheese, baked, and very good!!. Its a french thing supposedly but I don't know what it's called.
Thick cut fries ($5) - technically we didn't order this, as my friend has requested for her side of mashed potato to be changed to this. Not bad actually, although it wasn't served hot enough for me.
Vanilla ice cream - this sweet surprise was served to us at the end of the meal, a scoop for each of us. Your normal King's ice cream, but still a nice touch I thought.
Quality of food exceeded my expectations to be honest; I had expected lesser fare from a hotel 'coffeehouse'.
Service needs to be much improved though. The place was a tad understaffed, with some of them disappearing at times, leaving only 2 staff throughout the restaurant. Very hard to get staff's attention, and I realised some of them had the tendency to walk backwards (i'm not kidding!) while looking at things or mumbling stuff, which makes getting to them even harder!
We wanted to change our main course to those under the flambe section after they took our orders so we asked a staff if he can check if they've already started preparing our orders, and if not, we would like to change our choices. He smiled sheepishly, asked us to wait a minute, then asked someone in a jacket which we assumed is the supervisor or captain to come over. So we repeated our request; he walked off to the kitchen for a while, then walked away to do other stuff. So we were puzzled, not sure if it meant yes or no??? So we asked him again, to which he said okay, and brought us the menus. We deliberated over it, then finally when I wanted to place my new order, the same guy told me: oh, im sorry, I think the chef has already started to prepare your order". Eh???
Finally, we realised they had no idea of what we were talking about just now, at all! I never did find out what he went over to the kitchen for, but we were just amused~~
Service aside, the prices here are very reasonable for a hotel, mains between $12 - $28 and desserts around $6-8. Will be a possible dinner option if I'm in the vicinity :D
Rating given:
Confused menu~
I walked out of the place with my tastebuds confused actually. Went for a food outing with LIC and a whole lot of other people for a Saturday lunch, but er i guess my tastebuds didnt really agree with the menu.
Buffet line -this is part of the $20nett per pax buffet spread of appetisers and desserts which we had too, on top of our special set menu. Tried the mushroom soup and DIY rojak: mushroom soup was more the Chinese kind than western style, with a very strong taste of the dong gu. Rojak was okay, and I have to mention that their ingredients were very fresh. I didn't actually try the desserts coz there were already 2 disapproving faces before I made my way there haha.
Hainanese chicken rice salad with crabcake - best dish of the day. The dish contains all the flavours of chicken rice without the calories, to quote the owner, and bingo! Poached chicken strips with crunchy greens and a slightly spicy dressing, topped with puffed rice. It was thumbs up all round the table. Crabcake was nice and deep fried nicely, was good altho the salad was much more interesting to us :D
Laksa pesto pasta and Ba Bao risotto - liked the pasta more than the risotto. Al dente pasta with (i think) too much pesto but still nice. The ba bao risotto tasted of only truffle haha, it way overwhelmed whatever else of the 7 ingredients. I later found out it had 3 mushrooms, two nuts, chinese sausage, parmesan cheese in it.
Tenderloin with otah and balamic carrot cake - the strangest dish of the day :I I passed my tenderloin to the happy Leroy at my table so can't comment on that. The carrot cake....sigh....was chao sng. Or so we thought. Because there was no print out menu of what we were having, we all seriously thought it was chao sng. Until the owner came over and explained, then came the voices of "ooorrhh". But still, we felt this dish was seriously confused. The otah was served in a creme brulee dish but a bit watery, and also salmon with green curry, which tasted almost exactly like the otah.
Fruit tart - store bought tartlett which was way too sweet. Nothing fusion about this. Disappointing.
I concluded that perhaps I like less confusing food haha~ Quality of food was below my expectations, and I feel the $20nett we paid for per pax was, although the quantity was good, quality-wise was not. Don't understand the food? Its fusion la.
Rating given:
Still a good family spot~
Came to realise Crystal Jade is still one of the safest bet for a family dinner, it can never go too wrong~ These dishes may be very familiar but I'll still run through some of them la:
Deep fried beancurd with pepper and salt ($6) - very delectable squares of fresh toufu coated in a cripsy batter with salt & pepper, served with the insides still soft and hot. Yum~~
Fried rice with dried canpoy and carb meat ($11.50) - tastes much better than it looks, with obvious crab meat pieces and plenty of wok hei.
Stew Chicken Claypot ($13.80) - thisis called San Bai Ji on the menu, and my favourite dish here :D Fragrant pieces of fresh chicken stired fried with onions and sitting in a deelish dark brown sauce. Quite a waste of the sauce if you dun have rice to mop it up though.
Deep fried garlic prawns ($18) - the pricest thing we had. Think cereal prawns but substitute the cereal for garlic. Nice initially but the rawness of the garlic gets to you after a while. Prawns were less fragrant than I thought as well, maybe I was distracted by the mountain of garlic on the plate.
Baby Kailan stir fried with garlic ($9.80) - Disappoiting especially for crystal jade standard. Although crunchy, the greens were absolutely tasteless :(
There were other stuff which was run of the mill like dumpling noodies and congee with preserved egg & meat. No ambience to speak of, because its afetrall a family place. Noisy family chatter with avergae service, but if you're like us seated right in a corner it can sometimes be hard to catch the staff's attention.
Oh, and their 'pickles' served when you are seated has been changed to endamame :D
The bill came to about $133 for the 7 of us, which was quite reasonable for the variety we had.
Rating given:
Tiny dessert hole~
The 7 of us seated in here took up almost half of the seating here. This place is really tiny and the tables are elbow-unfriendly :I was after dinner so we decided to share these:
Triple chocolate cheese cake ($8) - not as jelat as I thought it will be; and the cheesecake and chocolate were nicely proportioned. Nothing spectacular though.
Foret Noire Log cake ($7.50) - I have to admit I ordered this because it looked so cute :D Cute aside, this is rather good. A very nice spin on the black forest; and the brandied cherries on the inside cuts the richness of the chocolate very nicely.
Crepes Exotique ($12.50) - crepes with bananas and a sorbet on top. drizzled with chocolate. The bananans were, well, just bananas. I couldnt make out what flavour the sorbet was but I think it had mango and passionfruit stuff in it. Taste for price, I think this is not worth it actually.
Cannele ($1.50) - I lurve caneles, so ordered one for them to try. But erm apparently, this rum vanilla concoction is an aquired taste, and my sis, dad, and auntie all havent acquired it yet.
Coffee macaroon ($2.30) - my little bro tried this so I can't quite comment on it.
We all had different verions of coffee: ice mocha, americano, cappuncino. I had the latte but the coffee was disappointingly thin with badly-foamed milk. Ugh.
The bill was $62 for 7 of us, which was avergae I feel. But I'll definitely not have coffee here again. I'll go back to Nectarie for that.
Rating given:
Bistro Senso...makes sense~
Decided to go there precisely because they were offering a 50% off ALL ala carte items. EVERYTHING, except drinks but good enough for me :D
Since the big wheel stopped turning, business here has been really really, really.....bad. Choosing a Monday evening made the isolated place seem really sad, with a few specks of people strolling around and F&B service staff either earnestly standing outside trying to grab your attention with promotional flyers or chatting amongst themselves to kill time.
2 girls with a huge appetite to try out this less costly version of Senso made us order a starter, 2 mains, 3 desserts, and of course coffee.
Salad nicose ($12) - Chose this over calamari because we thought since we are bingeing, we might as well err on the healthier side (haha). The tossed combination of the tuna, beans, greens, and eggs were surprisingly good, especially paired with the slightly tart vinegrette dressing. Good start to the evening.
Crab ravioli ($18) - Pieces of fat and flavourful parcels tossed with fresh tomato sauce and seafood bits. The pasta tasted home-made (although I can be wrong) and the seafood very fresh.
Pizza Parma Rucola($18) - I'm always distracted my this favourite when choosing pizza, and I lost again, haha. Classic italian style with parma ham and rucola greens on top. The plain carbo base went very well with the salty ham, but the greens looked a bit limp I thought.
Creme Brulee ($8) - I don't usually order this but since well its 50% anyway. Plus the pastry counter looked really unattractive. Creamy sweet gooey stuff, but they should have burnt the top layer a bit more.
Tiramisu ($8) - came in a mini tower form on a big plate. Tasted better than it looks but still the sponge fingers were too dry; it was also too soft and not chilled enough.
Panna Cotta ($8) - Came in a cute martini glass but strangely green in colour. There was no flavour so we didnt know what the colouring was...maybe it was just a visual thing. Usual stuff.
Coffee ($3) - So many places do coffee so badly I just had to ask them to please make sure mine was pressed properly. Didn't disappoint me in the end.
Latte ($4.50) - Didn't try this but shouldn't be too bad given the quality of the coffee.
Quality of the food surprised me, given the fact that they have probably not had a customer for a very very long time. Throughout my dinner, there was at max 3 tables including us (we were the first to walk in and last to step out).
Service was friendly and attentive, and they kept coming over to ask how's the food. Ambience was actually quite nice; you can see the sea through the glass panels at the side, and if you choose alfresco, it's actually right under the wheel. Quite a romantic vibe if you go with the correct person.
If not for the walking distance, I would really love to come back a few more times. To take advantage of the 50% while it lasts. Not sure when, but it will be as long as the big wheel doesn't start I believe. So go soon!!
The bill came up to $79, but with the 50% off food items, we paid only about $50 for 2 persons. Very worth it I feel :D
Rating given:
The Singapore Flyer is touted as the world’s largest observation wheel, even higher than London Eye. Our nation’s pride. Minor breakdowns before were already ominous signals that a catastrophe will happen one day. Alas, the dreadful thing finally struck. How the mighty has fallen. The management should have already looked into and made backup plans, but it failed anyway. Now, time for us to do some self-reflections and damage-recovery.
While the flyer remains closed for investigations, the ones to suffer the backslash are the restaurants and other tenents. Senso Bistro, is coming up with a 50% promotion off all their a la carte menu from now until the flyer starts operating (date unknown yet).
The natural vibe of the restaurant, with its simple layout and decorations, provided a good place for either a causal lunch, or nice dinner without burning a hole in the pocket.
Not to mention there’s also al fresco dining, which would be ideal for dinner, with the sea breeze and eating under the stars making it a romantic affair.
The waiter kindly asked us whether we’ll like some garlic bread ($4) while waiting, but he failed to mention it’s not free. Naturally when he offered us bread i thought it was complimentary. There’s no free lunch in this world. All right, it’s not so much about the money, we are talking about principle, like shouldn’t they at least inform us the bread wasn’t complimentary? Next time, don’t be shy, ask!
With ten selections to choose from the Pizze menu, we were spoilt for choices. To be on the safe side, we went for the popular Hawaiian ($18 before 50% discount). The paper-thin pizza was huge, with eight slices easily filling up the four of us. The ingredients of pineapple, cooked ham were very generous. The only gripe? I lamented the fact that the pizza did not have enough mozzarella cheese. Still, with the promotion, it’s definitely a steal at just under ten bucks. It made the one I’ve at Galbiati looked pathetic.
Grilled tuna loin coated in fresh herbs. The Tonno ($24 before 50% discount) was a disappointment really. The fish was over-cooked, making the meat too dry and hard. I liked the side vegetables that came with it, lightly stir-fried, the greens were crunchy and fresh.
When asked to choose between the T-bone steak and veal loin, the manager recommended the latter for the delicate taste and tender texture. Veal loin is the meat of calves, and at Bistro Senso, the pan-fried veal loin scaloppine ($24 before discount) can be done in three different methods. Ours were ‘alla Pizzaiola’ with tomato and mozzarella cheese. The whole taste was like having a steak-pizza. A refreshing combination, but the meat was not tender enough, and came across as too tough. And since we had pizza already, now i’m wishing i chose the other method of breaded and golden crispy instead.
And how can we not have any pasta from an Italian bistro? The Ravioli ($18 before 50% discount) was essentially lobster and crab pasta served with assorted seafood ragout in tomato and basil sauce. This was actually my first time having a ravioli pasta. The tomato and basil sauce was flavourful and strong in taste. The prawns and squids were fresh, but to be frank, I didn’t quite enjoy ravioli. I still preferred my pasta to be spaghetti or linguine. Personal taste.
I was eagerly anticipating the desserts, well most people would find tiramisu ($8 before 50% discount) boring and chose some other interesting options. But there was no way I’m going to miss out trying the popular Italian dessert from an Italiano joint. The mascarpone cream was too light, and the espresso taste was not strong.
Another famous Italian dessert, Pannacotta ($8 before 50% discount). The bouncy texture was evident, but i couldn’t figure out what’s in the double cream flan. The raspberry coulis did provided a contrast with the pannacotta.
The last one, Creme brulee ($8 before 50% discount). The oven-baked egg custard of the Italian dessert did taste rather like our Chinese egg tarts. The caramelised sugar on top of the dessert wasn’t burned enough, and lacked the torched burnt taste.
Total bill was $65.91 for 4 person after a 50% discount. Although i wasn’t very impressed with the food, but with the promotional prices, the food is really cheap! The pizzas and pastas are like 9 bucks each, and the main course 12 bucks. The soothing ambience with the inexpensive price means that you should visit Senso Bistro before the Singapore Flyer reopens. Talk about patriotism, and national pride.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
Rating given:
Had another bout of craving for Thai food but didn't fancy spending too much due to the economic downturn so dropped by Jai Thai for a simple no frills dinner with my folks. Jai, which means heart in English, is touted as the most value for money Thai restaurant in Singapore.
Located in the rather secluded private estate of Jalan Pemimpin in the Thomson/Sin Ming area, Jai Thai operates out of a rather spacious shophouse but provides very limited parking spaces. The interior is kept simple and unassuming with cheap wooden tables and chairs and Chinese tunes playing in the background. There is of course the obligatory photos of the Thai royal family.
Tom Yum Soup - To be honest, I didn't quite take to the tom yum soup because it wasn't the clear and hard hitting sourish spicy type that I personally prefer. Instead, it had lots of chilli flakes and came across as only mildly sourish and watery. Good for people who don't like their soup too extreme I guess. On the upside, it came with fried fish pieces, squid and prawns which were relatively fresh.
Thai Fish Cake - At $1.50 a piece, the fish cake was decent. Not the best I've tried but very palatable. Just that I found it a wee bit too soft for my liking.
Pineapple Fried Rice - Evenly fried and decent tasting but on the dry side. Miserable bits of chicken and chicken floss donned the top. However at $6 for a 2 pax portion, I guess its still acceptable.
Kai Lan with Oyster Sauce - How bad can kai lan with oyster sauce get? Average tasting but at least the leaves didn't have worm holes in it - something that usually plagues alot of budget eateries. I did find the oyster sauce a little excessive though.
Pandan Chicken - This was probably the best dish of the day. Big chunks of boneless chicken meat well marinated and fragrant to boot. Very worth the price ($5) but watch out for the excessive oil.
Mango Pudding - At $1.50, I honestly didn't expect much. The pudding's texture was more like jelly then pudding and came topped with coconut milk. Edible but not something I would order again.
Mango Sticky Rice - The rice was smooth, sticky and sweet at the same time with the generous mango slices mildy sweet and sour. A drizzle of coconut milk atop completed the picture with the whole dish coming across as sweet, creamy with a light sourish tinge. Quite good I must say.
I would say $30 for a filling dinner for 3 pax is really a steal. Food quality is decent but service needs to buck up a little as the wait staff do seem a little inefficient. For the price, I would definitely be better off eating here then at Thai Express and the likes.
See all my pictures here.
Rating given: