Meat Smith

C says:

We had an unexpectedly good dinner at Meat Smith, a smokehouse on Telok Ayer Street. Their menu is quite limited - no more than 10 choices each for appetizers and mains, but what they do, they do really well.

The starters were very good. The sliced beef tongue had an unexpected heat from the Szechuan aioli, and while I normally don't really like peanuts as a garnish, these worked very well. 

The smoked burrata, which was a special for the day, was excellent. It was served with slices of prosciutto and cubes of compressed melon. The burrata was creamy and smokey, and the melon had a very interesting texture and a very intense melon flavour.

The brisket burger with rocket on a soft brioche bun was also very good. Nothing fancy, just very flavourful. 

 

We had a half slab of pork ribs, which you can order either dry or wet. Because I don't like ribs slathered in sauce, we opted for dry. These were fall-off-the-bone tender, with a smokey spice rub. There's a range of sauces at the table to accompany them; our favourite was the Honey BBQ sauce. 

The menu isn't too varied, so if there aren't any specials then it may be hard to come here very often, but definitely worth going back at some point.

A says:

The meat is indeed well smithed.

Sacha & Sons

C says:

Sacha & Sons at Mandarin Gallery sells New York-style Jewish deli food. Think bagels and lox, corned beef on rye, toast with schmaltz and chicken skin, and latkes.

A is very happy with the Reuben here - pastrami with sauerkraut. For me, I prefer Sacha's roast beef. It's rare, tender and very sweet and flavourful. 

While the usual roast beef sandwich comes with basic add-ons of sliced tomatoes or cheese, you can ask for an off-menu special - roast beef and chopped liver. Oddly, it wasn't as good as the standard roast beef with Swiss cheese. The liver was a bit overpowering, and masked any flavour of the roast beef. 

If you're here in a larger group, you can opt to share their platters too. There's a meat platter and a fish one. Except for a really good smoked trout dip though, I think the meats here are far better than the smoked fish. 

A says:

Finally. One of only two places in Singapore to get a decent Reuben. 

O My Dog

C says:

O My Dog at 100AM is part of the Spa Esprit group and, like The Mustard Incident, offers interesting hot dog flavours. I went for the Bak Chor Mee dog, which was a pork sausage topped with vinegary minced pork,  grated cucumber and sambal mayo.

Bak Chor Mee

Le Dog

It was interesting, but this time the tried and tested option was much better. A's Le Dog, with a beef sausage, onion jam and truffle mayo was really good.

They have other combis like Sunday Roast (lamb, pea and mint) and Nacho Libre (chili, corn chips and guacamole), but I really wonder why no one has bothered to make a Korean dog. A beef sausage with kimchi and mayo - I know for a fact that it's a winning combi, having tried it at Chelsea Market, and we're certainly not short of good kimchi in Singapore, so why on earth aren't more people offering it?!

A says:

Great dogs. Poor seating. Will come back at odd hours.

O My Dog
#01-03/04 100AM
Tel: 6235-0644
Open daily: 8 am - 8 pm

Sweet Spot Deli

C says:

Sweet Spot, Marina Bay Sands' pastry shop, has opened a NY-inspired deli selling bagels and cured meat sandwiches.

Their sandwiches come in a variety of options, with pastrami and/or corned beef, and sauerkraut or coleslaw. You can get a full portion, or a half. We ordered 2 halves, one with sauerkraut and one with coleslaw.

For a non-sandwich eater, I found these very good. The bread was buttery and grilled, the meats were tasty and the combination of ingredients was just right. I preferred the sauerkraut as it added a tart balance to the sweetish Russian dressing.

A also tried the smoked salmon bagel which in comparison wasn't as good. The smoked salmon was good but proportions were a bit off, and the bagel overpowered everything else. Much better deconstructed; the cream cheese here has a nice light texture.

Not sure how long it'll last, since it was pretty deserted on a Friday evening, but I'm sure A will want to come back at least a few more times.

A says:

Best deli-style sandwiches in Singapore. Awesome, awesome, awesome. The staff were super friendly too. Approved.

Sweet Spot Deli
#01-30 The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands
10 Bayfront Avenue
Tel: 6688-8584
Sun - Thurs: 8am to 11pm
Fri, Sat and PH: 8am to 12 mn

The Mustard Incident

C says:

The Mustard Incident is a gourmet hot dog joint that opened recently in the newly renovated Tangs basement, opposite Krispy Kreme. Seating is limited, with just one small 2-seater and a U-shaped counter for dining-in. I guess they assume that hot dogs are generally on-the-go food.

You may want to be seated for some of their creations, though. Some, like the Coney Dog and the Frankenstein, have a chilli topping that makes it pretty messy, but oh so delicious. The Coney Dog is a beef sausage with bean-less (yay) chilli and topped with diced white onion. The Frankenstein is, literally, half a beef sausage and half a pork sausage held together with bacon (hence the name), chilli again, hot sauce and sautéed onions.

I had the Frankenstein and A had the Coney Dog. Both were very good – I especially like the sausages, which have a good snap to casings. I liked mine because the sautéed onions took the edge of the raw ones; A liked his precisely because of the raw onions.

They have seasonal flavours too, like a turkey, ham and cranberry one over the holidays, as well as some limited edition flavours like a Sauerkraut and a Breakfast dog. If both are still available when we’re next in the vicinity, they’ll be our next picks.

A says:

I was a bit apprehensive at first given the $10 price, but these are seriously good hot dogs and totally worth it. The staff is friendly as well. The only problem with the place is the cramped counter eating area. Can't be helped I guess, but this is a definite go-to for a good dog.

The Mustard Incident
310 Orchard Road
Tangs Basement
Tel: 6836-3647
Mon – Thurs & Sat: 10.30 am to 9.30 pm
Fri: 10.30 am to 11 pm
Sun: 11 am to 8.30 pm

Morganfield's

C says:

Morganfield's is a Malaysian diner chain with its first Singapore outlet at Star Vista. They specialise in "Sticky Bones" - hickory-smoked pork spare ribs that are slow roasted till so tender that they're falling off the bone. I'm not a big fan of diner food, but A's folks wanted to try it out so we came for dinner on a Sunday evening.

We initially considered sharing one of their festive platters for 4, till we did the math and realised that it was actually cheaper to order each component of the platter separately. Given the number of platters that were flying out of the kitchen, it appears that their marketing strategy worked.

A and I shared a Ribs on Ribs combo - 2 half-racks of ribs plus 2 sides. You can choose between Hickory BBQ, Smoked Peppercorn and Tuscan Baked Spicy Tomato. We went with the first two, with sides of corn on the cob and red skin mashed potatoes.

The Hickory BBQ was predictably good, but I actually preferred the Smoked Peppercorn. It had a deeper flavour and some nice heat, which made each bite less monotonous.

There's no denying that the ribs were really tender - the meat pretty much just fell off the bone. Strangely enough, that's also my main criticism - it was more like pulled pork than bbq ribs. I like my ribs to be nicely grilled, and still firm enough for me to pick up and gnaw at. Here you don't even need to use your fingers; your knife and fork will more than suffice.

The apple pie was a letdown. The shortcrust pastry was soggy; the filling nothing to shout about. It was saved by the scoop of pretty decent vanilla ice cream.

Even though we got there early, we still waited ages for our food to arrive. I guess the kitchen couldn't cope with the multiple orders of festive platters. I can't deny that the portion sizes are very generous, but we left feeling full but unsatisfied.

A says:

The ribs were tender but still generic. Everything else was just generic. Blah. Oh, and the dessert was awful. At least the portions are generous. And the service was very good, all things considered. But all in all, not recommended.

Morganfield's
1 Vista Exchange Green
#02-23 The Star Vista
Tel: 6694-3635
Sun to Thurs: 11 am - 10.30 pm
Fri & Sat: 11 am - midnight

Dean & Deluca

C says:

To be honest, apart from its association with Felicity, Dean & Deluca has never really been in my consciousness. It's not a place that we actively seek out whenever we travel, so it was with fairly muted enthusiasm that we welcomed the news that they were opening in Singapore.

We avoided the massive crowds in the first few weeks of their opening, and only made our way one weekday on a day off. The space in Orchard Central is quite inviting, but was also a lot smaller than I expected.

The menu is fairly limited, with salads, sandwiches, wraps and the usual all day breakfast suspects. I was a little annoyed that they listed a few soups on the main menu board, but don't actually offer all of them. 

So instead of the clam chowder I wanted, I had their burger instead. This was a pretty good burger - juicy flavourful patty, truffle aioli and a nice soft brioche-like bun.

A had the smoked salmon sesame bagel with scrambled eggs. This was similar to the version at Wild Honey, but somehow he preferred the latter.

They have a really nice grocery section that just screams "Christmas gift baskets", so I'll definitely make this a stop during Christmas shopping. As for the food, I'm not sure if what we tried really screams "come back".

A says:

The crowd’s a bit posery but the food’s pretty good. I’d eat here if I was picking up some gourmet groceries, but I wouldn’t queue up or make a special trip down.

Dean & Deluca

181 Orchard Road

#04-23/24 Orchard Central

6509-7708

Ruth’s Chris Steak House

C says:

Together with a few other bloggers, we were very kindly invited by Ruth’s Chris to a blogger’s dinner to celebrate the opening of their very first outpost in Southeast Asia, right here in Singapore.

Ruth’s Chris has almost 50 years’ history, starting with its humble origins on a street corner in New Orleans, and expanding to 133 locations worldwide.  In Asia, there are a few outlets in Hong Kong and Taiwan, one in Japan and now at the Marina Mandarin in Singapore.

We expected bite-sized samples of their offerings at a fairly large event, but to our surprise it was a proper sit down dinner with only about 12 of us in total. True to the Southern hospitality that is a trademark of Ruth’s Chris, the tables were set with a detailed menu and even a Ruth’s Chris stress cow. We were also presented with Mardi Gras beads, which set the tone for an extremely enjoyable evening.

Unlike the crab cakes at most places, the ones here are literally just mounds of straight-up blue crab meat with barely any fillers, finished with sizzling butter poured on top. Without the distraction of breadcrumbs, you could really appreciate the chunks of fresh sweet crab meat. We were each given little yellow parcels, which turned out to contain half a lemon. This ensured that you didn’t get lemon juice all over your hands, and didn’t squeeze lemon seeds onto the crab cake either. Ingenious. 

The barbequed shrimp with Creole butter was served family style, and we all lapped up the sauce for this. The buttery yet not excessively creamy sauce went perfectly with the accompanying garlic bread, as well as their in-house bread. *Note: They serve a wicked whipped salted butter with their bread too.

What distinguishes Ruth’s Chris from other steakhouses in Singapore is their New Orleans heritage, which they proudly continue to showcase in their menu. I chose the seafood gumbo and was not disappointed. The gumbo was chockfull of seafood flavor, and with the rice stirred in, was comfort food at its best.

A chose the chopped salad, which apparently has over 10 ingredients including romaine and iceberg lettuces, radicchio, diced egg, tomato, crumbled blue cheese and topped with crispy fried onions. The bites that contained blue cheese were particularly good, but overall I preferred the gumbo.

With the exception of certain bone-in cuts which currently cannot be imported from the US to Singapore, Ruth’s Chris only serves USDA Prime steaks. (For their bone-in cuts, they use Australian Wagyu.) Their steaks are broiled on a trademarked 982-degree Celsius oven, and served on a 260-degree Celsius heated plate, with their signature sizzling butter poured on top.  No sauces are added, so that you can fully appreciate the flavour and quality of the meat.

(Photo courtesy of Ruth’s Chris Steak House)

Between us, we had one Petite Filet (230g) and one Prime Ribeye (340g). The steaks were cooked to a perfectly even medium rare, and well broiled outside. They were both amazingly tender – the Filet obviously so, but even the Ribeye required barely any effort to cut through. I preferred the Ribeye as it had a good balance between tenderness and beefy flavour. The Filet was remarkably tender but I found the flavour a bit too subtle.

The sautéed mushroom and asparagus sides were served family style, and if I hadn’t been so full from everything thus far I would have polished off more of the mushrooms, which were so simply prepared yet so delicious.

Stan, the President of the group responsible for the Ruth’s Chris franchise in Asia, was raving about their lamb chops, saying how excited he was that Singapore (unlike some of the other Asian outlets) allows the import of US lamb. While not on the menu for the evening’s dinner, we convinced him to get the kitchen to broil a portion so that we could see for ourselves what the fuss was about.

Man, he wasn’t kidding. The lamb was one of the most memorable bites of the evening. I’ve never tasted lamb with that much flavour, yet without too much of the characteristic lamb pungency that some Asian palates aren’t used to. The meat was tender and succulent, perfectly seasoned with rosemary and garlic, and just truly amazing.

We were told to save some room for dessert, and I’m glad we did. The cheesecake here is legendary. Besides the fact that a single portion consists of a whole 5-inch cake, everything about it was stellar, from the buttery crust to the perfect texture of the cheesecake and the topping of sour cream that added just the right acidic edge.

A meal here doesn’t come cheap – a steak will set you back about $85, but then again these prices are no more than other premium steakhouses like Morton’s, but certainly less than Fat Cow. Portions are large, so sharing and doggybagging are very much the norm and are indeed encouraged.

Their a la carte menu is available all day, and in a couple of weeks they’ll start offering a lunch menu too, with smaller cuts of steak, lunch salads, and some steak sandwiches and sliders too.

I’m definitely keen to try their lunch offerings, but right now I’m dreaming about going back for their lamb chops and cheesecake.

A says:

Getting a good steak these days isn’t cheap. But the portions here are HUGE so you get a lot for what you pay for. Although funnily enough the stand out dishes of the night weren’t the steaks, but the crabcake, lamb and gumbo (and the Creole butter that came with the shrimp). The desserts are also a definite must-try. Insanely good for what you’d normally expect from a steakhouse. The only problem is that they are GIGANTIC. One order of the cheesecake is probably enough for 4.

We had this meal as part of a special event, so it may not be indicative of an average visit, so we’ll post another review when we go back. And from what we’ve tried so far, we’ll definitely be back.

*Disclaimer: atetoomuch did not pay for our meal here, but rest assured that this did not affect our review in any way.*

  

Ruth’s Chris Steak House

6 Raffles Boulevard

Level 4, Marina Mandarin

Tel: 6336-9093

Open daily: 11.30 am – 3 pm; 5.30 pm – 11 pm

Luke’s Oyster Bar and Chop House

C says:

This is by no means a new restaurant. Owned by chef Travis Masiero, who first opened Spruce, it was his intention to channel the vibe of a classic American oyster bar. To be honest, although we’d read rave reviews and heard very good things about the place and the food, the prices put us off. I was hesitant to pay $80 for a steak or $75 for a veal or lamb chop, at what I assumed was a fairly casual, almost diner-style place.

They have some slightly more affordable offerings at lunch time though, so we decided to check them out. The ambience completely threw me off. I expected simple wooden tables and jovial staff, but instead the waiters were formally dressed in bowties and waistcoats, and the tables were covered with starched linens.

To start with, we were given mini corn bread muffins with paprika-spiked butter. These were pretty yummy, but crumbled so easily that the wooden paddle that they provided was of no use at all. I ended up just using my regular knife, but I’m just wondering – if that paddle doesn’t really work, why give it to us?

We tried their Caesar Salad, which costs $24 without fried oysters and $27 with 3 deep fried oysters. Quite a no brainer then. I liked the Caesar dressing, and the oysters were very fresh despite being deep fried, but I didn’t like the very hard croutons.

There was an item called MFK Fisher’s Oyster Pan Roast, with sea urchin toast, smoked paprika and bottarga. That description alone was enough to make me order it. The waitress told me it was an oyster stew, but I was still surprised to find that it was actually more like a thin soup, not even the consistency of chowder. It had an intense briny flavor, and the oysters in there were very fresh, but I was very disappointed with the toast. All I tasted was bread and paprika, with no hint of either sea urchin or bottarga. At least they were nice enough to split it into 2 mini Staub cocottes for us.

The lobster roll is only available at lunch time, which was one of the reasons we decided to try this place for lunch. Again they split it for us, which made it much easier to share. I’m not sure if they gave us more salad and fries because they split it, but there was an inordinately large amount of both. The lobster roll was good – the lobster was nicely cooked and the roll was really soft and buttery, but was it worth $45? I have my doubts.

I thought portion sizes would’ve been bigger, so we ended up ordering a half dozen oysters to round off our meal. These are definitely their forte. The oysters were extremely fresh and very well shucked – one slurp and you got a mouthful of oyster, vinaigrette and all of the wonderful oyster liquor.

It’s probably unfair that we came here the day after a fabulous meal at Esquina. Comparisons are inevitable, and there’s no question that I’d rather go to Esquina. The prices at Luke’s are simply too prohibitive for me to really enjoy myself. $150 can get us a very satisfying meal at Esquina, whereas it only barely scratches the surface at Luke’s. I think to get a proper experience at Luke’s, you need to be prepared to spend a whole lot more than that.

A says:

Great food. Great service. But is it enough for me to spend so much? Probably not. Recommended only if you print money.

Luke’s

20 Gemmil Lane

Tel: 6221-4468

Mon to Sat: 12 noon till late

Closed Sunday

www.lukes.com.sg

Roadhouse at Dempsey

C says:

Man v Food fans, we have our own burger challenge right here at Roadhouse in Dempsey - the Terminator, a 1 kg burger consisting of a whopping 5 200g wagyu beef patties. The challenge is to finish the entire burger on your own, including all sides, in under 20 minutes. If you do, it’s free; otherwise you have to pay $48 for the opportunity. Note: if you want to pass on the challenge and just share the Terminator with friends, it actually costs $68.

We had dinner here with A’s friends but everyone chickened out of the challenge in the end. On hindsight, given the size of the portions, I think finishing the burger won't really be a problem; it’s finishing it in the 20 minute period that’ll really be the challenge.


While waiting for everyone to arrive, we had some onion rings and the parmesan buffalo wings. The onion rings were huge, and covered with a thick but still very light batter. The buffalo wings come in 3 spice levels – Hot, Fiery, and Call 995. Needless to say, I went with the Call 995, and was very glad that I did. It had a good level of heat but not unbearably so. Any less than this would’ve been a letdown. I like the added element of parmesan cheese on the wings; added a nice savoury dimension.


A ordered the Juicy Lucy burger, which was a traditional burger with lettuce, tomato and pickles. Clearly they don’t use frozen patties here, because they acceded to our request for medium-rare doneness. I was pretty impressed with the burger – juicy and quite flavourful. I was just a bit surprised that for a 200g patty, it was rather small and not exactly very filling.


I had the Kurobuta BBQ ribs, which are apparently cooked sous vide here so they’re nice and tender. I ordered a half rack, since that’s usually more than enough for me when we have ribs at Tony Romas, Chili’s and the other usual suspect chain restaurants. Clearly, the portions here are not American diner portions because my half rack of ribs consisted of all of 5 ribs in total. They were good though – meaty, tender and glazed with the right amount of bbq sauce that had just the right balance of flavours.


Needless to say, we had room for dessert. A had the mudpie, and I shared a triple nut salted caramel tart with M. I don’t fancy mudpies very much, but the tart was pretty good. Another of our friends had the S’mores pie that was very good, albeit quite jelak, according to him.

Roadhouse definitely has potential, and I think we’re definitely going to return. Interestingly though, 2 of our friends had the same dish – the Chargrilled Monkfish – and had completely different views and experiences. M had nothing but good things to say about hers, that it was perfectly cooked, juicy and seasoned well. P, on the other hand, didn't enjoy it at all, and said hers was overcooked and dry. It’s surprising and slightly worrying that the same dish could elicit such different reactions on the same night, and for the same table.

A says:

The food is good, but the portions are actually quite small. Shockingly so given its reputation for having a 1kg burger. In fact, only the desserts come in impressive portions.

Overall, I like the casual vibe of the place and the service is pretty good so we’ll be back. A word of advice though, try not to sit near the kitchen at the back. You may end up smelling a bit greasy if you hang out too long.

Roadhouse at Dempsey
#01-07, Block 13, Dempsey Road
Tel: 6476-2922
www.roadhouse.com.sg

Chili’s at Resorts World

C says:

A lack of half decent restaurants in Resorts World that were still open at 10 pm led us to Chili's on Friday night.

I've forgotten quite how huge American diner portions are. I shared two half racks of baby back ribs with W, A had his own Country Fried Chicken, and I ordered a portion of Buffalo Wings. We ended up doggy bagging almost all the wings cos it was a struggle to even finish the main courses.


We had a half rack of Original BBQ, and half a rack of Honey Chipotle. The ribs were very meaty and surprisingly pretty tender too. I preferred the Honey Chipotle sauce - it wasn't overly tart or sweet, and had a nice smoky undertone from the chipotle. Most importantly, unlike the BBQ sauce, it didn't drown out the taste of the meat.


The chicken was thicker than usual country fried chicken, but I think that's probably what made it so tender. Not something I'd normally order but it was very juicy and tender and the seasoning was good.


The wings were a bit of a disappointment. The flavours were quite muted, so the buffalo sauce ended up tasting almost like ketchup. I think the wings were also a bit overcooked; they were a bit stringy and not juicy at all.

Still, I guess Chili's has never pretended to be anything other than what it is - a dependable chain restaurant where you can get pretty decent generic fare. And as long as you don't go expecting anything else, you won't be disappointed.

A says:

For what it is – a generic American chain restaurant – it’s great. I like the selection of regular fare like ribs and country fried steak. Too bad they don’t have a decent iced tea.

Chili’s
Resorts World Sentosa
26 Resort Gateway
#01-072/073/074
Tel: 6835-9077
Mon – Thurs: 11.30 am to 10 pm
Fri: 11.30 am to 11 pm
Sat: 11 am to 11 pm
Sun: 11 am to 10 pm

Swensen’s

C says:

Another blast from the past. Presented with limited choices at IMM when we had dinner with A’s folks, he decided on… Swensen’s. He was probably trying to recapture his youth as he advances in age (happy birthday, A). Unfortunately, either the standard has deteriorated, or our palates have gotten more honed, but this really didn’t do very much for us.


A’s folks ordered a set, which came with a soup of the day. No effort was made to tell us what the soup was, so we were left guessing and even after tasting it, I still can’t figure out what the flavour was supposed to be. Maybe carrot? Possibly pumpkin? Oh well.



Between the 4 of us, we had the lasagne, fish and chips, a hamburger pizza, and beef stroganoff baked rice. The latter two were the only things that were noteworthy, mainly because they were fairly interesting. The pizza was a deconstructed hamburger on a pizza base – minced beef, cheese, onions and pickles.

The beef stroganoff rice was actually pretty decent, but quite Asian-inspired. The beef tasted like Chinese-style stewed beef brisket, so I wasn’t complaining.


The chocolate milkshake was the main reason that A chose Swensen’s, but I think he was slightly disappointed. The milkshake wasn’t properly blended, so there was a whole chunk of ice cream that still hadn’t melted.

Service was terrible. We had a very surly restaurant manager that looked and behaved like he’d rather be anywhere else. Trust me, dude, the feeling was mutual.

A says:

Old school blast from the past. The service (except for the cashier who went out of her way to help us) was horrible. The food came out quickly though. The standard’s passable if you stick to those labelled “All-time favourite”. And if you keep your expectations low. The biggest disappointment of the night was the chocolate milkshake. Sigh.

Not recommended unless you’re trying to be ironic.

Billy Bomber’s

C says:

Again, we only found ourselves at the Billy Bombers at Jurong Point because A’s folks had a voucher for a $1 party platter that they were keen to use. Talk about a blast from the past… We went without any expectations, and decided to order fairly ‘safe’ offerings.

I ordered a dinner set that came with the soup of the day (mushroom), half rack of ribs and a soft drink (which I upgraded to a chocolate milkshake for A). The mushroom soup boded quite well – it didn’t taste like canned soup so I thought we were off to a fairly ok start.


We were given a selection of sauces for the ribs – original, apricot and whiskey. I decided to play it safe and went with original. I also don’t like my meats slathered in gravy, so I asked for the sauce to be served on the side. I found the ribs a bit overcooked; they fell off the bone fairly easily but were quite tough to chew and pretty dry.


A ordered a basic burger and added cheese, bacon and a fried egg. To give them credit, they asked him how he wanted his burger done, which again boded well, but in reality it was quite so-so.

We only ordered 2 set dinners and one main course for 4 of us, because we shared the $1 platter amongst ourselves. The bill came up to just under $100, which to be fair isn’t very high, but at the same time I think we can get cheaper, and better food, elsewhere.

A says:

The only reason to come here is to have milkshake.
And my milkshake brings all the boys to the yard.
Damn straight, it’s better than yours.

C says:

I disclaim all responsibility for A’s posts.

Billy Bombers
1 Jurong West Central 2
#02-20E Jurong Point
Tel: 6795-7690
Open daily: 11 am to 10 pm

Update: Sunset Bar and Grill

C says:

Just a quick update on Sunset Bar and Grill:

1) They are still at the Seletar Airbase, but some of the roads have changed slightly. Simply following signs to “East Camp” no longer works. You now have to follow the tiny makeshift signs that say “Sunset”.

2) Their buffalo wing levels now go up to #35. There are the usual levels 1 to 10, then arbitrary levels of 25, 30 and 35, based on a Wall of Fame that has very recently been established.

3) As a result, I think they have dumbed down the spiciness of the regular levels 1 to 10. We went on Sunday night with A’s friends, expecting to scorch our tongues with level 5. We ordered levels 2 and 5, and 5 was disappointingly just mildly hotter than level 2. Feeling buay song, we ordered level 8, which turned out to be not much hotter than the level 4 that we had on previous visits.

All in all, a very disappointing experience. Plus service sucked. What a pity – this used to be my go-to place for a satisfying hot wing experience, but now I don’t think it’s worth the hassle nor the wait.

A says:

What C said.

New York New York

C says:

Ginza Plaza at West Coast has recently undergone a massive overhaul and rebranding exercise. It’s been spruced up quite nicely, and is now known by the more generic, but also less heartland-sounding, West Coast Plaza. There’s a rather strange selection of stores there now, with a seemingly disproportionate number of restaurants; one of which is New York New York, a branch of that pseudo-American diner with the perpetual massive queues at Citilink Mall.

The place has a fairly extensive menu, with a wide selection of burgers, sandwiches and standard main courses like ribs, roast chicken and fish and chips. We weren’t particularly hungry, so A had a burger, and I had a soup and a mushroom sandwich.


Their burgers are supposed to be one of their specialities, so I was actually quite underwhelmed by this. The patty was alright, and at least their medium rare was accurately done, but everything else was pretty ordinary.


In contrast, because I didn’t expect anything out of my rather healthy mushroom foccacia sandwich, I was quite pleasantly surprised by this. It was still nothing spectacular – just sautéed button, shitake and enoki mushrooms, with tomatoes and cheese – but somehow the simple flavours went together very well. Still, having said that, the only reason I ordered this was because I wasn’t hungry. You can bet that on a proper atetoomuch day, I’ll be having something way more sinful. Something like the massive meat platter for two that we saw quite a number of couples sharing.

Well the food here isn’t mindblowing by any stretch; just basic, localised diner food. A repeat visit at some point is on the cards, but at the same time I’m certainly not clamouring to come back any time soon.

Incidentally, the guys behind New York New York are also the same ones behind Thai Express, Xin Wang Hong Kong Café and the Shokudo dining concept.

A says:

The service was good and prompt, especially considering how packed the place was. It’s lucky we got there early because the queue for a table was very long by the time we finished.

I really don’t see why people like it so much though. The food’s alright, but nothing fantastic. And the ventilation in this place is horrible. I felt like passing out.

Overall, I’d consider this as an option only if I’m in the area and there wasn’t a queue.

New York New York
154 West Coast Road
#B1-04 West Coast Plaza
Tel: 6779-1526
Open daily: 11.30 am to 11 pm
http://www.newyorknewyork.com.sg/

Sunset Bar & Grill: Update

C says:

It’s been quite a while since our last trip to Sunset, and our buffalo wing craving was reaching an all-time high. We dragged L and D there on Friday night, because Sunset is always best enjoyed with friends.

Lousy L played me out and barely ate anything (heh), because she was feeling slightly under the weather. Still, company was great, and the food was good, albeit slightly shrunken in portion size. The calamari was probably half the amount we used to get, and the ice cream for the brownie was also a much reduced scoop. On the plus side, I think they’ve got more service staff, because we barely had to wait at all for our food.

Tonight’s wings were definitely on the mild side. We ordered Level 3, weren’t satisfied with the heat level, and ordered half a dozen Level 4, which was still more than manageable. We also tried their clam chowder, on D’s recommendation. Very good – thick, rustic and full of flavour.

Ever since I heard about the impending plans to redevelop the Seletar Airbase area into a funky new aerospace hub or whatever, I’ve been meaning to visit Sunset to find out what their plans are for the future. I’m glad we came when we did, cos we managed to find out that they’re apparently moving to Yio Chu Kang (the Singtel building) at the end of the year. But fret not – their phone number will remain the same, and for an as-yet-unspecified transition period they’ll be operating from both locations, until they gradually wind up the Seletar one.

Well, this new chapter in Jerry and Sunset’s history is yet to unfold. I’m gonna miss the Seletar Airbase location though. Besides the novelty of being right next to the runway, the dark and perilous drive deep into the Airbase is all part of the fun. Time will tell, but as long as the wings are good, I’m not giving up on Sunset just yet.

A says:

Food standard has dropped but service standard has gone up. I prefer the good old days though.

Aston’s Specialties

C says:

Ever since the review in Sunday Times on good quality steaks at reasonable prices, people, fueled by the love of a good bargain, have been flocking to Aston's in droves, creating long lines thanks to the fact that the restaurant doesn’t accept reservations.

Since it’s located in the (gasp) East, A and I have been wary of going on our own, scared that we’ll be called out for not being locals… My East-sider friend SS and her fiancé HH, who was in town over the weekend, were nice enough to bring us there on Saturday night to initiate us (thanks for dinner, SS!).

We got there at 6.45 and a considerable queue had formed already. It moved along fairly quickly, though, and we were seated in about 20 minutes or so. It helped that they came to take our order while we were waiting in line, so that saved some time after we were seated as well.

Aston’s manages to occasionally bring in wagyu steaks at fairly reasonable prices, relatively speaking of course. Reasonable compared to what you’d have to pay for wagyu beef at more chi-chi establishments. Today, they were selling some Grade 7 wagyu rib-eye for $58.90 per 250g piece. We passed on that, and instead opted to share a bunch of main courses. SS ordered the Double Up Chicken – 2 huge chicken thigh pieces, one prepared cutlet style and one chop style. This was by far the best value – all that, with 2 sides, for only $9.90. The chop was a bit generic but the cutlet was quite good.


A went for the ieat super burger. Some background on this – Aston’s is a hot favourite of the popular blog ieatishootipost. One day the author decided to ask Aston (assuming the owner is called Aston…) to make his ideal burger. It went down so well with customers that it was named the ieat super burger, in honour of said blogger, and is now a permanent feature on the menu. It consists of 200g of handchopped sirloin, proper salty bacon, tomatoes, romaine lettuce, cheese, hickory smoked BBQ sauce and topped with fried onion rings. At $12.50, it’s not the cheapest considering it comes without any sides, but it’s still one heck of a burger.


HH and I went for the rib-eye steaks – I chose the Long-Fed Rib-eye that was on the Special’s menu, for $29.90 for 250g. HH chose the Premium Rib-eye Extra Cut, which is on the standard menu (regular cut is about 150g, extra is 250g), for only $15.90. In the photo below, my steak is on the left, and HH’s on the right. As you can see, mine was slightly thinner and therefore a little overcooked for my liking. It was a little dry, but still flavourful. HH’s was much better – thicker, juicier and sweeter. Strange, considering that it was half the price.


We eyed the sausage platter that another table was having, so halfway through our meal we ordered one too – the Grand Sampler, for $12.50. It came with 4 different sausages, all quite interesting and tasty in their own right. The snail-shaped one was probably the best, and I liked the chicken and cheese one too. The sausages are from the Butcher House on River Valley Road, and their sausages are all home-made in their factory in Macpherson.


When we finished dinner at about 8.30 pm, we noticed a number of empty tables near us, so we figured it’s actually better to come here later rather than earlier next time. To our surprise, when we left there was still a queue! Very strange. Maybe they want to give the impression that they’re really popular, knowing Singaporeans’ obsession with queuing for food (see Donut Factory at Raffles City…)

All in all though, I thought the food was good for the price you pay (no premium steaks for me next time, though). Service was varied – there were some good waiters and some blur ones, but I would definitely come back. Maybe on a weekday night after work, since it’s fairly close to the city, when hopefully the queues are shorter.

A says:

Since the restaurant is kerb-side, parking is non-existant, although we’ve discovered that you can park at Katong Mall.

Queue sucks. While the food is generally good for the price you pay, I don’t think it’s worth queuing so long for. I can see why it’s popular, but I’d rather settle for something half the price at a food court/hawker centre (I recommend the Western Food stall at Old Airport Road), or pay more and have a better overall meal (like at a place with Angus in its name).

Aston’s Specialties
119/121 East Coast Road
Tel: 6247-7857, 6346-2131
Opening hours: 11.30 am to 11 pm
Closed Mondays

Blooie’s Roadhouse

C says:

We’re certainly turning out to be Rail Mall kids. We found ourselves there yet again on Friday night, with M and J, and decided to try Blooie’s new outlet here.

This wasn’t our first time at Blooie’s – a few years ago we went to the Science Park branch, but came away unimpressed. The menu was limited because they were out of a number of main courses, so I think all of us had burgers by default, which weren’t particularly outstanding.

The menu has since expanded, and I saw something on the menu that I really want to go back to try – the Beer-Butt Chicken. This is the by now famous way of grilling a chicken, where you shove a beer can up a chicken’s a** and sit it on the grill, and apparently the boiling beer makes for a very tender and juicy bird. Blooie’s is possibly the only restaurant that sells it in Singapore (as far as I know), but you have to place an advance order of at least a day ahead.

On Friday we ordered some Cajun Chicken wings to start with, and they turned out better than expected. The wings were nicely chargrilled, but I could’ve done with less of the Cajun sauce.

A had a chilli burger, and I had a Portobello mushroom and cheese burger (with a beef patty of course, not vegetarian). I didn’t try A’s burger, but mine wasn’t too bad. Nothing to shout about, but not bad either. We ended the meal with a brownie with ice cream, but it was nowhere near the standard of Jerry’s wife’s brownie at Sunset.

I didn’t have any problems with the food, but what marred the evening for me was the surroundings and the service. The music was really loud (although it IS a bar, after all), and the lighting was way too dim (hence the sucky photos). To make things worse, I sat in a place where the light was directly behind my head, so my own shadow more or less prevented me from seeing anything that I was eating. At the end of the night, we waited absolutely ages for M’s credit card to be processed, and our increasingly sullen glances towards the waitstaff were studiously ignored. Eventually we went up to the cashier, only to be told that the machine was spoilt so we paid cash.

If not for the Beer-Butt Chicken which I really want to try, I don’t think I’d come back here, what with so many alternatives at Rail Mall. However, I need to try the chicken before making any definitive pronouncements about this place.

A says:

Burgers are pretty good although the chilli actually tastes better on its own instead of on the burger. Service is decent (excellent if you really consider it a “roadhouse”) but it is very dark and noisy. Think it may be unfair to compare it to other proper restaurants (other than Brewerkz) though since it’s essentially a bar-cum-restaurant. So since I don’t drink, I think I’d rather go to Renaldo’s for the burger.

Blooie’s Roadhouse
426/428 Upper Bukit Timah Road
Tel: 6766-1588