C says:
Quick one, since we’ve written about this before. A and I had dinner here again on Friday night, despite hearing a few none-too-great reviews from some friends recently.
Besides the beer marinated chicken wings, which I couldn’t not have, we decided to try all new dishes that night. We shared the curry chicken noodles, the Dragon fried wontons and one of their specials that day – a beef kebab. The kebab was just so-so; as far as kebabs go, they weren’t overdone and dry, but the meat wasn’t the greatest quality so it was a tad chewy. I wouldn’t order this again. The Dragon fried wontons are just a mixture of crab sticks and cream cheese, wrapped in wonton skin and deep fried. These were really good, the filling was like crab mayo which always suits me fine.
The curry chicken noodles with cockles was much better than expected. It was a proper Chinese curry gravy, untainted by any hint of peanut flavour which most curry noodles places seem to enjoy adding to the gravy. The curry gravy wasn’t too thick either – perfect consistency for drinking the gravy like a soup without feeling completely ill and bloated after. Flowerbed’s is quite a big serving, with about 5 pieces of chicken, 4 or 5 pieces of potato and about 6 cockles (which A ate), so if you want to sample some of their pretty good side dishes, again we’d recommend that you share the noodles.
A says:
The girl serving us was super blur but at least there wasn’t any cock-up in the order. The chicken curry was surprisingly good (better than the one at the Holland Village ipoh hor fun place). Everything else was pretty decent and the ice blended lychee rocked as expected.
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Valentino’s
C says:
A and C are back with a vengeance, heh. We’ve been a little lax in the posting department, because lately we’ve been going to places that we’ve already written about, and haven’t tried anything new there. We went to Valentino’s at Rifle Range on Sunday night, and I thought we wouldn’t have anything new to post, but we tried a couple of new dishes so will give a quick comment on them.
We had one of the starter specials, the one which we missed out on the last time we were here. I was thrilled that they had it again on Sunday. It’s a round piece of cheese wrapped with parma ham, and grilled till the parma ham is almost crisp, and served with a mixed salad dressed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. It looked a little boring when it arrived, but yumm…. it definitely more than made up for it in taste. The cheese and parma ham were perfectly paired; I’m not sure what cheese it was, but it tasted like a slightly richer yet milder version of brie. Eaten on its own, the cheese packed quite a punch but the saltiness and slight crispiness of the grilled parma ham provided a perfect contrast. Because it had been grilled, the cheese was melty in the centre and was deliciously oozy and runny.
I had the Bismark pizza, because for some reason I had a craving for it. It was pretty good, but after seeing (and smelling) plate after plate of the lobster pasta making their way from the kitchen to the other diners’ tables, I’ve decided that I just have to order that again next time. A had another special, the osso bucco, which was meltingly tender. My only grouse is that the portion was inordinately tiny.
Of course, A had the tiramisu for dessert, and I tried the panna cotta. Both were excellent but best shared, because each on their own can be a tad gelak.
I’m also happy to report that Valentino’s is doing really well, and is even expanding. When we were there on Sunday night, we had to take the first seating at 6.30pm (second seating is at 8.15pm) , and even at that time it was packed, both indoors and outdoors. They’ve also acquired another unit next door, and named it Pasticceria Da Valentino. This is supposed to be a traditional Italian bakery, and sells his sister’s delicious cakes, pastries and desserts which are also available at the restaurant. When we popped in after dinner, they seemed to only have packets of biscotti and whole cakes, rather than individual pastries. Maybe those are available earlier in the day.
A says:
Parking’s a bitch and sometimes, even the local wait staff are hard to understand, but I love everything else about the place. Definitely the best place to have Italian in Singapore.
A and C are back with a vengeance, heh. We’ve been a little lax in the posting department, because lately we’ve been going to places that we’ve already written about, and haven’t tried anything new there. We went to Valentino’s at Rifle Range on Sunday night, and I thought we wouldn’t have anything new to post, but we tried a couple of new dishes so will give a quick comment on them.
We had one of the starter specials, the one which we missed out on the last time we were here. I was thrilled that they had it again on Sunday. It’s a round piece of cheese wrapped with parma ham, and grilled till the parma ham is almost crisp, and served with a mixed salad dressed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. It looked a little boring when it arrived, but yumm…. it definitely more than made up for it in taste. The cheese and parma ham were perfectly paired; I’m not sure what cheese it was, but it tasted like a slightly richer yet milder version of brie. Eaten on its own, the cheese packed quite a punch but the saltiness and slight crispiness of the grilled parma ham provided a perfect contrast. Because it had been grilled, the cheese was melty in the centre and was deliciously oozy and runny.
I had the Bismark pizza, because for some reason I had a craving for it. It was pretty good, but after seeing (and smelling) plate after plate of the lobster pasta making their way from the kitchen to the other diners’ tables, I’ve decided that I just have to order that again next time. A had another special, the osso bucco, which was meltingly tender. My only grouse is that the portion was inordinately tiny.
Of course, A had the tiramisu for dessert, and I tried the panna cotta. Both were excellent but best shared, because each on their own can be a tad gelak.
I’m also happy to report that Valentino’s is doing really well, and is even expanding. When we were there on Sunday night, we had to take the first seating at 6.30pm (second seating is at 8.15pm) , and even at that time it was packed, both indoors and outdoors. They’ve also acquired another unit next door, and named it Pasticceria Da Valentino. This is supposed to be a traditional Italian bakery, and sells his sister’s delicious cakes, pastries and desserts which are also available at the restaurant. When we popped in after dinner, they seemed to only have packets of biscotti and whole cakes, rather than individual pastries. Maybe those are available earlier in the day.
A says:
Parking’s a bitch and sometimes, even the local wait staff are hard to understand, but I love everything else about the place. Definitely the best place to have Italian in Singapore.
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Chippy at Raffles Marketplace
C says:
We finally tried this place for lunch on Saturday. It’s a little stall in the new basement Marketplace of Raffles City, and is supposed to be a traditional British chippy. There are no actual seats – everything is served in little paper bags or cups, and they provide a bench and bar countertop for you to eat. Although it strictly isn’t necessary, because they convenient cut everything into bite-sized pieces that you can easily eat while strolling around, using the satay sticks that they provide.
A and I shared a regular fish and chips, and a cheesy sausage with mashed potato. For the fish and chips, you have an option of 2 sauces – salt and vinegar, and mayonnaise and ketchup. Since we wanted an authentic British fish and chip experience, we opted for the salt and vinegar. The fish is cut into 12 pieces, with each little piece battered and fried separately (i.e. it is not battered as a fillet and subsequently cut, cos then the fish would just flake into bits), and the chips are more like potato wedges also battered and fried. This was actually a lot better than I expected. The fish was liberally doused with malt vinegar, and there was a substantial amount of fish; it wasn’t all batter like I was afraid of. Even the battered potatoes were thick chunks of potato, not processed and tasteless fries. Didn’t taste particularly oily either.
The cheesy sausage was a whole sausage on a stick, and the mashed potato was at the base of the cup, so that you could dunk the sausage into the mash as you ate. The sausage was good, but I found the mashed potatoes to be slightly too salty and processed-tasting.
They also have some crispy curry chicken bites, which I may try next time, and deep fried Mars bars, which sound like a heart attack waiting to happen. A and I would have ordered the Mars bars just for the sake of trying it, if they sold them by the piece. Unfortunately each serving is 4 Mars bar bites (each bite is probably the size of a quarter of a Mars bar), and we just couldn’t bring ourselves to order and be compelled to finish that many.
If anyone dares to try them, do tell us how they are!
A says:
It’s a bit much to have all 12 pieces of fish on your own but the sausage is just nice for a quick meal. I had no problems with the mash, which was just chunky enough so it wasn’t the usual KFC slop.
Standing around and eating is a bit of a turnoff, especially when you have to squeeze with other customers, but I guess it’s all part of the experience. I think it’s great for takeout though (if you eat them before they get too cold and soggy).
Overall, top marks for a quick, affordable (food under $5/pax) meal.
We finally tried this place for lunch on Saturday. It’s a little stall in the new basement Marketplace of Raffles City, and is supposed to be a traditional British chippy. There are no actual seats – everything is served in little paper bags or cups, and they provide a bench and bar countertop for you to eat. Although it strictly isn’t necessary, because they convenient cut everything into bite-sized pieces that you can easily eat while strolling around, using the satay sticks that they provide.
A and I shared a regular fish and chips, and a cheesy sausage with mashed potato. For the fish and chips, you have an option of 2 sauces – salt and vinegar, and mayonnaise and ketchup. Since we wanted an authentic British fish and chip experience, we opted for the salt and vinegar. The fish is cut into 12 pieces, with each little piece battered and fried separately (i.e. it is not battered as a fillet and subsequently cut, cos then the fish would just flake into bits), and the chips are more like potato wedges also battered and fried. This was actually a lot better than I expected. The fish was liberally doused with malt vinegar, and there was a substantial amount of fish; it wasn’t all batter like I was afraid of. Even the battered potatoes were thick chunks of potato, not processed and tasteless fries. Didn’t taste particularly oily either.
The cheesy sausage was a whole sausage on a stick, and the mashed potato was at the base of the cup, so that you could dunk the sausage into the mash as you ate. The sausage was good, but I found the mashed potatoes to be slightly too salty and processed-tasting.
They also have some crispy curry chicken bites, which I may try next time, and deep fried Mars bars, which sound like a heart attack waiting to happen. A and I would have ordered the Mars bars just for the sake of trying it, if they sold them by the piece. Unfortunately each serving is 4 Mars bar bites (each bite is probably the size of a quarter of a Mars bar), and we just couldn’t bring ourselves to order and be compelled to finish that many.
If anyone dares to try them, do tell us how they are!
A says:
It’s a bit much to have all 12 pieces of fish on your own but the sausage is just nice for a quick meal. I had no problems with the mash, which was just chunky enough so it wasn’t the usual KFC slop.
Standing around and eating is a bit of a turnoff, especially when you have to squeeze with other customers, but I guess it’s all part of the experience. I think it’s great for takeout though (if you eat them before they get too cold and soggy).
Overall, top marks for a quick, affordable (food under $5/pax) meal.
Sunday, September 03, 2006
Pagi Sore
C says:
Pagi Sore is an Indonesian restaurant along Telok Ayer Street, which was recently recognised in Sunday LifeStyle’s list of Top 50 Best Restaurants. A and I have been here a couple of times since we started this blog, but never together, so we’ve held off writing about it until we got a chance to do our ‘C says/A says’ take on it. However, because A keeps finding other places where he’d rather eat in the area, I don’t foresee going together any time in the near future, so I’ve decided to just write about it now. A can add his comments based on the time he came here with his colleagues.
I had a team lunch here on Friday with my colleagues; the task of ordering the food was once again shoved to me, but the good thing about that is that I get to order what I would order anyway. There are a few star dishes here, although I haven’t actually had anything bad here. Still, the must-try dishes are: Ayam Bali – grilled chicken thigh, conveniently deboned and coated with a sweet dark sauce. This is one of their house specialties, for good reason. The chicken is tender, the sauce is flavourful and the grilled and slightly charred edges are lovely. Otah Ikan Kukus – This is a whole fish, minus the head and tail fin, steamed with an otah paste in a banana leaf. This is delicious, and I’m always glad to go with people other than A so that I can order this, cos he’s not a fan of fish with bones, nor of otah.
Besides those two must-haves, the sayur lodeh and tauhu telor are worth a try as well. On Friday we had their beef rendang, grilled squid and sambal kangkong as well, but not spectacular compared to the chicken and fish. They serve baskets of Indonesian emping or belinjo crackers, the slightly bitter ones, which are addictive and pretty darn good when dipped into their sambal belacan.
This place has definitely earned its mention in the Best Restaurants list. It’s absolutely packed at lunchtime and reservations are essential, especially for large groups. Try to go at dinner if you can, it’s a lot less frenzied and you get more attention from the waitstaff as a result. As it is, though, while a little chaotic, service on Friday was good and not a single mistake was made with our order.
A says:
Food really good but if you’re considering it just for nasi padang, it’s nowhere near the best in Singapore (like River Valley Nasi Padang and Warong Nasi Padang on North Bridge Road). The dining experience is more comfortable though as the other places are non-air-conditioned and ordering gets a bit stressful (if you not down with the lingo like C).
The staff are friendly and well-trained. On a side note: the place supports rehabilitation of ex-cons and employs many. Besides the sayur lodeh, that’s another reason to go support, support.
Pagi Sore is an Indonesian restaurant along Telok Ayer Street, which was recently recognised in Sunday LifeStyle’s list of Top 50 Best Restaurants. A and I have been here a couple of times since we started this blog, but never together, so we’ve held off writing about it until we got a chance to do our ‘C says/A says’ take on it. However, because A keeps finding other places where he’d rather eat in the area, I don’t foresee going together any time in the near future, so I’ve decided to just write about it now. A can add his comments based on the time he came here with his colleagues.
I had a team lunch here on Friday with my colleagues; the task of ordering the food was once again shoved to me, but the good thing about that is that I get to order what I would order anyway. There are a few star dishes here, although I haven’t actually had anything bad here. Still, the must-try dishes are: Ayam Bali – grilled chicken thigh, conveniently deboned and coated with a sweet dark sauce. This is one of their house specialties, for good reason. The chicken is tender, the sauce is flavourful and the grilled and slightly charred edges are lovely. Otah Ikan Kukus – This is a whole fish, minus the head and tail fin, steamed with an otah paste in a banana leaf. This is delicious, and I’m always glad to go with people other than A so that I can order this, cos he’s not a fan of fish with bones, nor of otah.
Besides those two must-haves, the sayur lodeh and tauhu telor are worth a try as well. On Friday we had their beef rendang, grilled squid and sambal kangkong as well, but not spectacular compared to the chicken and fish. They serve baskets of Indonesian emping or belinjo crackers, the slightly bitter ones, which are addictive and pretty darn good when dipped into their sambal belacan.
This place has definitely earned its mention in the Best Restaurants list. It’s absolutely packed at lunchtime and reservations are essential, especially for large groups. Try to go at dinner if you can, it’s a lot less frenzied and you get more attention from the waitstaff as a result. As it is, though, while a little chaotic, service on Friday was good and not a single mistake was made with our order.
A says:
Food really good but if you’re considering it just for nasi padang, it’s nowhere near the best in Singapore (like River Valley Nasi Padang and Warong Nasi Padang on North Bridge Road). The dining experience is more comfortable though as the other places are non-air-conditioned and ordering gets a bit stressful (if you not down with the lingo like C).
The staff are friendly and well-trained. On a side note: the place supports rehabilitation of ex-cons and employs many. Besides the sayur lodeh, that’s another reason to go support, support.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Mad Jack’s
C says:
We tried Mad Jack’s, between Serene Centre and Crown Centre, on Saturday night. Apparently they do a good and authentic Fish N Chips, but neither A nor I felt like fish and chips, so I had a grilled chicken chop with cream sauce, and A had the lamb chop.
The food wasn’t all that good. My chicken was alright, typical food court-style Western chicken chop with a pretty good cream sauce, but A’s lamb was a little tough and VERY strong in lamb flavour. In fact, we wouldn’t have bothered posting about it if not for…
DESSERT. We had their homemade Chocolate Delight cake with vanilla ice cream. If you come here, remember – they make the Chocolate Delight themselves, whereas the Chocolate Fudge cake is bought from a supplier. The cake was wonderful – typical old fashioned chocolate fudge cake that puts Lana cake to shame. It had a thick chocolately fudge layer on top and in the centre, and the chocolate sponge was really moist.
Next time we’ll probably go next door to Renaldo’s for food, and just have the cake at Mad Jack’s for dessert.
A says:
The place reminds me of the joints run by college students overseas. The young staff don’t strike me as super competent except for the Chinese dude with long hair. Maybe they were just tired from the long operating hours. One big plus is the Xbox for patrons to play with.
Food-wise, you can’t expect too much for the price you pay, but I think it’s the same standard as cheaper kopitiam Western stalls. The sides are much better, such as with the rocking fries, buttery mashed potatoes and fresh veggies. Still not worth the price unless you’re having the cheap burger.
The desserts (and my iced coffee) were really good and value for money though. The cake was way better than it looked and well worth it. Too bad they use Movenpick ice cream instead of Haagen Daaz. I likea the Haagen Daaz.
We tried Mad Jack’s, between Serene Centre and Crown Centre, on Saturday night. Apparently they do a good and authentic Fish N Chips, but neither A nor I felt like fish and chips, so I had a grilled chicken chop with cream sauce, and A had the lamb chop.
The food wasn’t all that good. My chicken was alright, typical food court-style Western chicken chop with a pretty good cream sauce, but A’s lamb was a little tough and VERY strong in lamb flavour. In fact, we wouldn’t have bothered posting about it if not for…
DESSERT. We had their homemade Chocolate Delight cake with vanilla ice cream. If you come here, remember – they make the Chocolate Delight themselves, whereas the Chocolate Fudge cake is bought from a supplier. The cake was wonderful – typical old fashioned chocolate fudge cake that puts Lana cake to shame. It had a thick chocolately fudge layer on top and in the centre, and the chocolate sponge was really moist.
Next time we’ll probably go next door to Renaldo’s for food, and just have the cake at Mad Jack’s for dessert.
A says:
The place reminds me of the joints run by college students overseas. The young staff don’t strike me as super competent except for the Chinese dude with long hair. Maybe they were just tired from the long operating hours. One big plus is the Xbox for patrons to play with.
Food-wise, you can’t expect too much for the price you pay, but I think it’s the same standard as cheaper kopitiam Western stalls. The sides are much better, such as with the rocking fries, buttery mashed potatoes and fresh veggies. Still not worth the price unless you’re having the cheap burger.
The desserts (and my iced coffee) were really good and value for money though. The cake was way better than it looked and well worth it. Too bad they use Movenpick ice cream instead of Haagen Daaz. I likea the Haagen Daaz.
Sunday, August 13, 2006
Buko Nero
C says:
Time certainly flies. Friday was Buko Nero night again, and this time we had:
Amuse Bouche: Ricotta cheese and Watermelon crostini
Melon, Rucola and Lamb Prosciutto Salad
Broccoli and Green Pea Soup
Lime and Plum Sherbet
A’s main: Rigatoni with Braised Cod and Salmon Ragu
C’s main: Wonton skin Ravioli with beef filling and red wine reduction sauce
Milk Chocolate Cake with Caramel and Toasted Almonds
The amuse bouche was quite refreshing thanks to the watermelon. The salad was great – the lamb prosciutto (parma ham) was surprisingly not that salty or strongly flavoured, just subtly smoky, and went perfectly with the sweet honeydew melon and peppery rocket. The soup was better than I expected, for a green pea soup, and the broccoli florets were nice and crunchy, not overcooked and mushy, but the soup was a tad too salty for my liking (cue Zhang Ziyi…).
A’s main was the standard set one, and while he liked it, it pretty much reinforced my view that I’ll always change the pasta dish in the set menu to either one of their specials, or a main course from the menu. The rigatoni was fine, tasted good and all, but it was nothing spectacular given that you know what Chef Oscar is capable of.
Like my ravioli, for example. I had this on our second visit to Buko Nero, before we started ‘atetoomuch’, and it was one of the dishes that sold me on this place. It was briefly on their fixed menu, and I was half hoping to be a pig and order it as a separate dish tonight, but to my dismay, it wasn’t on the menu anymore. Luck was definitely on my side though, because Tracy came and recited the specials for the night, and the ravioli was one of them! Woo hoo!! I think my joy was a little too evident though… think she got a bit freaked out… Anyway, the ravioli has a minced beef filling, and it uses wonton skin rather than pasta so it’s much lighter. It was served with some oyster and shitake mushrooms, and the sauce, which was a red wine reduction, was truly amazing. It was packed with so much flavour that your tastebuds just explode when you take the first bite.
Enjoyable as always. No luck so far in getting a reservation for September, because apparently they’re going away for a 3 week summer holiday, so all their regulars are trying to fit in one more meal before they shut down for 3 weeks. I’ll try calling again next week, but if unsuccessful, looks like we have to wait till October.
A says:
Food was good as usual. Prosciutto was the highlight for me. I had to go with the pasta this time cause I likea the salmon.
Our previous trip there
Time certainly flies. Friday was Buko Nero night again, and this time we had:
Amuse Bouche: Ricotta cheese and Watermelon crostini
Melon, Rucola and Lamb Prosciutto Salad
Broccoli and Green Pea Soup
Lime and Plum Sherbet
A’s main: Rigatoni with Braised Cod and Salmon Ragu
C’s main: Wonton skin Ravioli with beef filling and red wine reduction sauce
Milk Chocolate Cake with Caramel and Toasted Almonds
The amuse bouche was quite refreshing thanks to the watermelon. The salad was great – the lamb prosciutto (parma ham) was surprisingly not that salty or strongly flavoured, just subtly smoky, and went perfectly with the sweet honeydew melon and peppery rocket. The soup was better than I expected, for a green pea soup, and the broccoli florets were nice and crunchy, not overcooked and mushy, but the soup was a tad too salty for my liking (cue Zhang Ziyi…).
A’s main was the standard set one, and while he liked it, it pretty much reinforced my view that I’ll always change the pasta dish in the set menu to either one of their specials, or a main course from the menu. The rigatoni was fine, tasted good and all, but it was nothing spectacular given that you know what Chef Oscar is capable of.
Like my ravioli, for example. I had this on our second visit to Buko Nero, before we started ‘atetoomuch’, and it was one of the dishes that sold me on this place. It was briefly on their fixed menu, and I was half hoping to be a pig and order it as a separate dish tonight, but to my dismay, it wasn’t on the menu anymore. Luck was definitely on my side though, because Tracy came and recited the specials for the night, and the ravioli was one of them! Woo hoo!! I think my joy was a little too evident though… think she got a bit freaked out… Anyway, the ravioli has a minced beef filling, and it uses wonton skin rather than pasta so it’s much lighter. It was served with some oyster and shitake mushrooms, and the sauce, which was a red wine reduction, was truly amazing. It was packed with so much flavour that your tastebuds just explode when you take the first bite.
Enjoyable as always. No luck so far in getting a reservation for September, because apparently they’re going away for a 3 week summer holiday, so all their regulars are trying to fit in one more meal before they shut down for 3 weeks. I’ll try calling again next week, but if unsuccessful, looks like we have to wait till October.
A says:
Food was good as usual. Prosciutto was the highlight for me. I had to go with the pasta this time cause I likea the salmon.
Our previous trip there
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Botak Jones
C says:
Our burger obsession continues. On National Day, we had a leisurely workout at the gym in the evening, so since we were halfway up north (Thomson), we decided to try the infamous triple patty Botak Jones burger at Ang Mo Kio. This is a no-frills American food joint, with the first outlet way out West in Tuas, and a new, slightly more accessible outlet in Ang Mo Kio Avenue 5 (Block 608, at Yue Hua Food Court, for those interested). It’s an interesting concept – it seems to be nothing more than a cursory Western food stall at a typical food court, but it’s more like its own restaurant, with a very extensive menu and lots of polite and competent waitstaff.
A and I shared a small helping of their Whoopass Chili Con Carne, Stuffed Jalapenos, 3 BBQ chicken wings and their “U-Crazy-What?!” burger (seriously, that’s what it’s called in the menu) – three 150-gram beef patties towering precariously with some onions and tomatoes. Add-ons like cheese and bacon are optional, so we got it with just cheese. Just to give an indication of their prices, everything we ordered cost us $29 only, which is pretty much the price of just one burger at Uberburger. Sorry, but I can safely say that I’m NEVER going back to that place.
My favourite was the Chili. It was awesome. It’s been a while since I’ve had a good chili, or any chili really, and this one was right up my alley. Ground beef, slightly spicy, some tomato and pickle chunks, and topped with some diced onions. Not overloaded with annoying beans that seem to be present in so many chilis. The Stuffed Jalapenos were pretty good but not something I’ll order again. They’re quite filling, and I just ordered them to try what they were like. The wings were surprisingly good – they were nice and charred and the amount of sweet bbq sauce was just right, not slathered with sauce like some places.
The highlight was the burger, which was a lot better than I expected. I thought that it would just rely on its size to shock and impress, rather than its taste. Surprisingly, the beef patties were tender and weren’t dry. Next time we’ll share the Double though, the triple patty is just too much and too gelak. We ate till we were about to explode and still had to doggy bag some chicken wings and fries. There goes a good gym workout completely ruined…
We’ll definitely be back, cos I want more of the Chili. It’s only 5 minutes from the gym, so you can bet that in the near future, we’ll be negating yet another workout.
A says:
The sign says, “Damn good food at damn good prices” and I have to agree. The bun could have been better but the beef patties were great. We ordered the set which, for just $1 more, gives you loads of spicy fries and coleslaw. Definitely ordered and atetoomuch this time.
Just a heads up if you’re going for the first time, there are menus available at the stall to help you decide what to order. And look out for the jokes in the menu. Some of them are actually funny.
Our burger obsession continues. On National Day, we had a leisurely workout at the gym in the evening, so since we were halfway up north (Thomson), we decided to try the infamous triple patty Botak Jones burger at Ang Mo Kio. This is a no-frills American food joint, with the first outlet way out West in Tuas, and a new, slightly more accessible outlet in Ang Mo Kio Avenue 5 (Block 608, at Yue Hua Food Court, for those interested). It’s an interesting concept – it seems to be nothing more than a cursory Western food stall at a typical food court, but it’s more like its own restaurant, with a very extensive menu and lots of polite and competent waitstaff.
A and I shared a small helping of their Whoopass Chili Con Carne, Stuffed Jalapenos, 3 BBQ chicken wings and their “U-Crazy-What?!” burger (seriously, that’s what it’s called in the menu) – three 150-gram beef patties towering precariously with some onions and tomatoes. Add-ons like cheese and bacon are optional, so we got it with just cheese. Just to give an indication of their prices, everything we ordered cost us $29 only, which is pretty much the price of just one burger at Uberburger. Sorry, but I can safely say that I’m NEVER going back to that place.
My favourite was the Chili. It was awesome. It’s been a while since I’ve had a good chili, or any chili really, and this one was right up my alley. Ground beef, slightly spicy, some tomato and pickle chunks, and topped with some diced onions. Not overloaded with annoying beans that seem to be present in so many chilis. The Stuffed Jalapenos were pretty good but not something I’ll order again. They’re quite filling, and I just ordered them to try what they were like. The wings were surprisingly good – they were nice and charred and the amount of sweet bbq sauce was just right, not slathered with sauce like some places.
The highlight was the burger, which was a lot better than I expected. I thought that it would just rely on its size to shock and impress, rather than its taste. Surprisingly, the beef patties were tender and weren’t dry. Next time we’ll share the Double though, the triple patty is just too much and too gelak. We ate till we were about to explode and still had to doggy bag some chicken wings and fries. There goes a good gym workout completely ruined…
We’ll definitely be back, cos I want more of the Chili. It’s only 5 minutes from the gym, so you can bet that in the near future, we’ll be negating yet another workout.
A says:
The sign says, “Damn good food at damn good prices” and I have to agree. The bun could have been better but the beef patties were great. We ordered the set which, for just $1 more, gives you loads of spicy fries and coleslaw. Definitely ordered and atetoomuch this time.
Just a heads up if you’re going for the first time, there are menus available at the stall to help you decide what to order. And look out for the jokes in the menu. Some of them are actually funny.
Monday, July 31, 2006
Wild Rocket
C says:
We read about Wild Rocket’s burger in Chubby Hubby’s blog. It’s only available (for now) on the restaurant’s Sunday brunch menu, so we headed over on Sunday afternoon to check it out.
This is a pseudo-posh burger – no wagyu beef or anything, but definitely not an every day Carl’s Jr or Renaldo’s. The Wild Rocket burger was served with a peppery dressing (apparently inspired by Ramlee burgers), some rocket leaves and a spicy sun-dried tomato salsa. It was accompanied by some delicious sautéed diced potatoes, and some mixed greens with a dressing that tasted like chicken rice ginger/garlic sauce. It was an interesting alternative to salad dressing and it worked.
To me, everything in the burger was spot-on except for the salsa. The patty was thick and juicy, with the juices dribbling out with every bite. The peppery dressing and rocket leaves complemented each other well, but I had a slight problem with the salsa. Somehow it complicated the taste of the burger for me. I would have much preferred it without the salsa, and with a slice of cheese instead.
However, if you’re in the mood for a higher-end burger, this is pretty good; certainly a lot better than the sirloin burger we had at Uberburger. In fact, seems as though almost every burger we’ve had is better than the Uberburger one. Coincidence? I think not. Moral of the story? Forget Uberburger, it’s way overrated. Unless the $101 wagyu/foie gras burger is the only burger they do well, in which case we’ll never know. Sorry, I’m rambling…
We rounded off the meal with a pandan panna cotta to share. The plate was drizzed with gula melaka, and I was pleasantly surprised with this. The panna cotta was rich and creamy, and the pandan flavour fragrant without being cloying. Good thing we shared though, I think it’s a little too gelak to have on my own.
A says:
I always have high hopes when I come here because the reviews make the food sound unbelievable. Sad to say, while everything is excellent, it just doesn’t quite live up to expectations.
The burger had a very good, thick, beefy patty, but everything else about it left my simple palate confused. The side of potatoes grilled in duck fat was a pleasant surprise though. As was the dessert.
I’m sure I’ll go back because the burger still is really very good. Just don’t believe the hype.
We read about Wild Rocket’s burger in Chubby Hubby’s blog. It’s only available (for now) on the restaurant’s Sunday brunch menu, so we headed over on Sunday afternoon to check it out.
This is a pseudo-posh burger – no wagyu beef or anything, but definitely not an every day Carl’s Jr or Renaldo’s. The Wild Rocket burger was served with a peppery dressing (apparently inspired by Ramlee burgers), some rocket leaves and a spicy sun-dried tomato salsa. It was accompanied by some delicious sautéed diced potatoes, and some mixed greens with a dressing that tasted like chicken rice ginger/garlic sauce. It was an interesting alternative to salad dressing and it worked.
To me, everything in the burger was spot-on except for the salsa. The patty was thick and juicy, with the juices dribbling out with every bite. The peppery dressing and rocket leaves complemented each other well, but I had a slight problem with the salsa. Somehow it complicated the taste of the burger for me. I would have much preferred it without the salsa, and with a slice of cheese instead.
However, if you’re in the mood for a higher-end burger, this is pretty good; certainly a lot better than the sirloin burger we had at Uberburger. In fact, seems as though almost every burger we’ve had is better than the Uberburger one. Coincidence? I think not. Moral of the story? Forget Uberburger, it’s way overrated. Unless the $101 wagyu/foie gras burger is the only burger they do well, in which case we’ll never know. Sorry, I’m rambling…
We rounded off the meal with a pandan panna cotta to share. The plate was drizzed with gula melaka, and I was pleasantly surprised with this. The panna cotta was rich and creamy, and the pandan flavour fragrant without being cloying. Good thing we shared though, I think it’s a little too gelak to have on my own.
A says:
I always have high hopes when I come here because the reviews make the food sound unbelievable. Sad to say, while everything is excellent, it just doesn’t quite live up to expectations.
The burger had a very good, thick, beefy patty, but everything else about it left my simple palate confused. The side of potatoes grilled in duck fat was a pleasant surprise though. As was the dessert.
I’m sure I’ll go back because the burger still is really very good. Just don’t believe the hype.
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Renaldo's (Crown Centre)
C says:
Once again, I have to give credit to my cousin C for yet another great recommendation. I would never have even stepped into this place, which is an apple strudel café at Crown Centre along Bukit Timah Road, if he hadn’t told us that it served good burgers.
After the Iggy’s burger, A and I have been in sort of a burger mood, so this is unofficially Burger Month. Thank goodness, for the sake of our waistlines and cholesterol levels, the month is coming to an end… We came here on Saturday night for dinner (they close at 9 so don’t come late) and each had their burger with the works – cheese, egg and bacon. A steal for only $5.50. A plain burger is just $3.80.
Maybe it’s because we came here without any expectations, but I was really very impressed with the burger. The meat was juicy, it was full of flavour because it was quite fatty, and the burger had just the right amount of chopped lettuce and tomato without being unwieldy and falling to pieces after the first bite (a la Carl’s Jr). I would have preferred the cheese to have been melted into the patty, but that’s just nitpicking. This was a simple, humble but very tasty burger, and I can honestly say that I preferred it to the Uberburger one. In fact, as far as burgers in Singapore go, I would rank this after the Iggy’s one, which is way up there in the Number 1 spot. However, we’re going to try the Wild Rocket one on Sunday so maybe I’ll change my mind.
There’s still a few more burger joints that we’d like to try, like the huge one from ‘Botak Jones’ and the trio of posh burgers at One Ninety. So maybe we won’t see an end to Burger Month just yet...
A says:
Very nice burger. Probably cause we added everything, and the meat had lots of fat. I assume getting a place isn’t a problem since it was nearly empty when we went and it’s more famous for the apple strudel anyway. Worth dropping by if you’re in the mood for an affordable, flavourful burger and some pastry dessert.
Once again, I have to give credit to my cousin C for yet another great recommendation. I would never have even stepped into this place, which is an apple strudel café at Crown Centre along Bukit Timah Road, if he hadn’t told us that it served good burgers.
After the Iggy’s burger, A and I have been in sort of a burger mood, so this is unofficially Burger Month. Thank goodness, for the sake of our waistlines and cholesterol levels, the month is coming to an end… We came here on Saturday night for dinner (they close at 9 so don’t come late) and each had their burger with the works – cheese, egg and bacon. A steal for only $5.50. A plain burger is just $3.80.
Maybe it’s because we came here without any expectations, but I was really very impressed with the burger. The meat was juicy, it was full of flavour because it was quite fatty, and the burger had just the right amount of chopped lettuce and tomato without being unwieldy and falling to pieces after the first bite (a la Carl’s Jr). I would have preferred the cheese to have been melted into the patty, but that’s just nitpicking. This was a simple, humble but very tasty burger, and I can honestly say that I preferred it to the Uberburger one. In fact, as far as burgers in Singapore go, I would rank this after the Iggy’s one, which is way up there in the Number 1 spot. However, we’re going to try the Wild Rocket one on Sunday so maybe I’ll change my mind.
There’s still a few more burger joints that we’d like to try, like the huge one from ‘Botak Jones’ and the trio of posh burgers at One Ninety. So maybe we won’t see an end to Burger Month just yet...
A says:
Very nice burger. Probably cause we added everything, and the meat had lots of fat. I assume getting a place isn’t a problem since it was nearly empty when we went and it’s more famous for the apple strudel anyway. Worth dropping by if you’re in the mood for an affordable, flavourful burger and some pastry dessert.
Friday, July 28, 2006
Iggy’s
C says:
A and I took leave to run a couple of errands on Thursday, so we decided to do a few things that can only be done on a weekday. One was to visit Mustafa Centre – it was my first time there… The other was to have Iggy’s weekday set lunch, after M’s recommendation.
Iggy’s is at Regent Hotel, and even though I’d read and heard about how small the place is, it still somehow didn’t prepare me for the tiny little establishment tucked away in a corner of the 3rd floor. An L-shaped bar-top counter faces the kitchen and sits about 15 or so, and there are another 2 private rooms – not sure what their capacities are but the head waiter said the entire place only sits 28 persons. He therefore recommends booking in advance because the place fills up quite quickly.
The weekday set lunches are apparently a very good deal, since the dinner degustation menu costs $150. For lunch, you get a 3-course for $45, or a 5-course tasting menu for $75. Thing is, while you can choose from about 6 selections EACH for the starter, main and dessert in the 3-course menu, for the tasting menu the 5 courses are fixed. The waiter did say that we can change any of the dishes with those in the 3-course list, but I figured that kinda defeated the purpose. So we both got the 3-course menu.
The complimentary amuse bouche was a shot glass with pumpkin puree and sesame tofu. The sesame oil gave it a nice fragrance but I would have preferred a little bit of bite to the tofu. It was completely pureed and was a bit too much like baby food for my liking.
For our starters, I had a capellini tossed with shrimp oil, tiny little dried shrimp, little bits of seaweed and fried garlic bits. It looked like a normal aglio olio, but the shrimp oil and dried shrimp took it to a completely different level. A had the mushroom ragout with a poached egg and truffle mayonnaise. This was tasty but slightly on the boring side. The mushroom ragout had button and morel mushrooms, and it was saved by the perfectly done poached egg.
After reading so much about Iggy’s burger, we both decided to have this as our main course, mainly because I didn’t think A would want to share his with me… Boy, I’m glad we each had our own. Firstly, it’s tiny and almost impossible to eat with anything besides your bare hands (they give you a wet towel cos you’re expected to be barbaric), so dividing with a fork and knife would have been out of the question. Secondly, after the initial disappointment at its size (it’s a minute 3 inches in diameter in total, and the patty is even smaller), the first bite just sent us right to burger heaven. Without doubt, this is the best and most flavourful burger I’ve ever had, bar none.
The patty is minced wagyu beef, which explains both the flavour and the melt-in-your-mouth texture and juiciness. It’s served with a slice of tomato, some caramelized onions, some melted cheese and a truffle sabayon (fancy name for a whisked egg and cream mixture). It was so juicy that I had to keep wiping my hands off on the wet towel, the beef flavour was really intense, and the truffle mayo added an even greater depth of flavour.
Dessert was another winner. A had the foolproof molten chocolate lava cake with vanilla bean ice cream, which was typical and boring, yes, but still very good. The vanilla bean ice cream was excellent. I had the banana tarte tatin with banana ice cream, and I think this was much better than the chocolate cake. The puff pastry of the tarte was incredibly light, flaky and buttery, and the bananas were soft and slightly caramelised. You would think that serving it with banana ice cream would just be OTT-ing on banana, but it was a surprisingly good pairing.
All in all, we were extremely happy after lunch. We weren’t bloated, and although the place had its fair share of chi chi tai tais and the like, we didn’t feel that much like fish out of water, and more importantly, the waiter didn’t make us feel as though we didn’t belong. A and I are already thinking of when we can next take leave and go again, heh.
A says:
The burger RAWKED! The Java Vanilla ice-cream RAWKED! The starters were excellent but not RAWK-worthy. Neither was the $10 OJ or the latte (Note to self: try the cappuccino next time).
Having everyone refer to us as Sir and Madame takes a bit of getting used to, but service wasn’t stuck up. Also, Iggy was there and he doesn’t look snotty at all. Nice, friendly approachable chap. Will definitely go back next time we’re on leave on a weekday.
A and I took leave to run a couple of errands on Thursday, so we decided to do a few things that can only be done on a weekday. One was to visit Mustafa Centre – it was my first time there… The other was to have Iggy’s weekday set lunch, after M’s recommendation.
Iggy’s is at Regent Hotel, and even though I’d read and heard about how small the place is, it still somehow didn’t prepare me for the tiny little establishment tucked away in a corner of the 3rd floor. An L-shaped bar-top counter faces the kitchen and sits about 15 or so, and there are another 2 private rooms – not sure what their capacities are but the head waiter said the entire place only sits 28 persons. He therefore recommends booking in advance because the place fills up quite quickly.
The weekday set lunches are apparently a very good deal, since the dinner degustation menu costs $150. For lunch, you get a 3-course for $45, or a 5-course tasting menu for $75. Thing is, while you can choose from about 6 selections EACH for the starter, main and dessert in the 3-course menu, for the tasting menu the 5 courses are fixed. The waiter did say that we can change any of the dishes with those in the 3-course list, but I figured that kinda defeated the purpose. So we both got the 3-course menu.
The complimentary amuse bouche was a shot glass with pumpkin puree and sesame tofu. The sesame oil gave it a nice fragrance but I would have preferred a little bit of bite to the tofu. It was completely pureed and was a bit too much like baby food for my liking.
For our starters, I had a capellini tossed with shrimp oil, tiny little dried shrimp, little bits of seaweed and fried garlic bits. It looked like a normal aglio olio, but the shrimp oil and dried shrimp took it to a completely different level. A had the mushroom ragout with a poached egg and truffle mayonnaise. This was tasty but slightly on the boring side. The mushroom ragout had button and morel mushrooms, and it was saved by the perfectly done poached egg.
After reading so much about Iggy’s burger, we both decided to have this as our main course, mainly because I didn’t think A would want to share his with me… Boy, I’m glad we each had our own. Firstly, it’s tiny and almost impossible to eat with anything besides your bare hands (they give you a wet towel cos you’re expected to be barbaric), so dividing with a fork and knife would have been out of the question. Secondly, after the initial disappointment at its size (it’s a minute 3 inches in diameter in total, and the patty is even smaller), the first bite just sent us right to burger heaven. Without doubt, this is the best and most flavourful burger I’ve ever had, bar none.
The patty is minced wagyu beef, which explains both the flavour and the melt-in-your-mouth texture and juiciness. It’s served with a slice of tomato, some caramelized onions, some melted cheese and a truffle sabayon (fancy name for a whisked egg and cream mixture). It was so juicy that I had to keep wiping my hands off on the wet towel, the beef flavour was really intense, and the truffle mayo added an even greater depth of flavour.
Dessert was another winner. A had the foolproof molten chocolate lava cake with vanilla bean ice cream, which was typical and boring, yes, but still very good. The vanilla bean ice cream was excellent. I had the banana tarte tatin with banana ice cream, and I think this was much better than the chocolate cake. The puff pastry of the tarte was incredibly light, flaky and buttery, and the bananas were soft and slightly caramelised. You would think that serving it with banana ice cream would just be OTT-ing on banana, but it was a surprisingly good pairing.
All in all, we were extremely happy after lunch. We weren’t bloated, and although the place had its fair share of chi chi tai tais and the like, we didn’t feel that much like fish out of water, and more importantly, the waiter didn’t make us feel as though we didn’t belong. A and I are already thinking of when we can next take leave and go again, heh.
A says:
The burger RAWKED! The Java Vanilla ice-cream RAWKED! The starters were excellent but not RAWK-worthy. Neither was the $10 OJ or the latte (Note to self: try the cappuccino next time).
Having everyone refer to us as Sir and Madame takes a bit of getting used to, but service wasn’t stuck up. Also, Iggy was there and he doesn’t look snotty at all. Nice, friendly approachable chap. Will definitely go back next time we’re on leave on a weekday.
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Shimbashi Soba
C says:
This is yet another outlet in the Kuriya chain (they who run Ichibanboshi), who seem to be taking over the world just as Crystal Jade are… I haven’t had much luck with ordering Zaru Soba recently – for some reason, most of the Japanese joints I’ve been to lately have either run out, or stopped selling it altogether (Amanogawa at the new Raffles City Marketplace).
We actually wanted to go to a different Japanese restaurant at Paragon, but it had been taken over by Toys R Us. I was about to wail at my arse luck yet again, when I suddenly remembered seeing the restaurant in the basement dedicated to soba, so we decided to give it a try.
Of course, my luck had to run out at SOME point, because the dish that I wanted, a cold soba with a duck broth dipping sauce, was out of stock. Thanks to bird flu, they’ve been having some problems with their suppliers so no duck on the menu for the time being. So I ordered a simple cold soba with the classic dipping sauce, and A had a cold spicy beef soba.
The place mats have detailed and rather hilarious instructions on how to savour a traditional cold soba. Things like “when it first arrives, look at it for a moment, and breathe in its fresh fragrance”. I tried to do all the steps to A’s embarrassment, heh. Anyway, clowning around aside, my cold soba craving was finally satiated. Although there was no quail’s egg, this was one of the best cold sobas I’ve had in a very long time. Unlike the one at Ichinaboshi and Kuriya, the dipping sauce here retained its flavour to the last strand of noodle. At the end of the meal, they even give you a small jar of Soba-yu (the water used to cook the noodle), which you’re supposed to pour into the leftover dipping sauce and savour it as a broth.
A big bonus was the fact that we were seated right next to the soba-making room, and we had a perfect view of the soba noodle chef strutting his stuff. We managed to catch him making a batch of soba from scratch – all the way from measuring the flour, kneading the dough, to rolling it out paper thin and cutting it into perfectly even threads of noodles, all by hand. It was a pretty awesome sight.
Apparently, they expect to have their duck supply ironed out by next month. Maybe I’ll give them a month to sort themselves out, and make my way there again in September.
A says:
Soba so good. Gotta love the copywriter/marketer who sold that line. The food and service are decent enough. Catch the noodle show’s finale (noodle cutting) if you can.
This is yet another outlet in the Kuriya chain (they who run Ichibanboshi), who seem to be taking over the world just as Crystal Jade are… I haven’t had much luck with ordering Zaru Soba recently – for some reason, most of the Japanese joints I’ve been to lately have either run out, or stopped selling it altogether (Amanogawa at the new Raffles City Marketplace).
We actually wanted to go to a different Japanese restaurant at Paragon, but it had been taken over by Toys R Us. I was about to wail at my arse luck yet again, when I suddenly remembered seeing the restaurant in the basement dedicated to soba, so we decided to give it a try.
Of course, my luck had to run out at SOME point, because the dish that I wanted, a cold soba with a duck broth dipping sauce, was out of stock. Thanks to bird flu, they’ve been having some problems with their suppliers so no duck on the menu for the time being. So I ordered a simple cold soba with the classic dipping sauce, and A had a cold spicy beef soba.
The place mats have detailed and rather hilarious instructions on how to savour a traditional cold soba. Things like “when it first arrives, look at it for a moment, and breathe in its fresh fragrance”. I tried to do all the steps to A’s embarrassment, heh. Anyway, clowning around aside, my cold soba craving was finally satiated. Although there was no quail’s egg, this was one of the best cold sobas I’ve had in a very long time. Unlike the one at Ichinaboshi and Kuriya, the dipping sauce here retained its flavour to the last strand of noodle. At the end of the meal, they even give you a small jar of Soba-yu (the water used to cook the noodle), which you’re supposed to pour into the leftover dipping sauce and savour it as a broth.
A big bonus was the fact that we were seated right next to the soba-making room, and we had a perfect view of the soba noodle chef strutting his stuff. We managed to catch him making a batch of soba from scratch – all the way from measuring the flour, kneading the dough, to rolling it out paper thin and cutting it into perfectly even threads of noodles, all by hand. It was a pretty awesome sight.
Apparently, they expect to have their duck supply ironed out by next month. Maybe I’ll give them a month to sort themselves out, and make my way there again in September.
A says:
Soba so good. Gotta love the copywriter/marketer who sold that line. The food and service are decent enough. Catch the noodle show’s finale (noodle cutting) if you can.
Monday, July 24, 2006
Majestic Restaurant
C says:
Another place on our ‘must-try’ list satisfied – we went to Majestic Restaurant, at New Majestic Hotel on Bukit Pasoh Road, on Saturday for dinner with Y&J and W&M. It was a rare night out for Y&J without the kiddies in tow, so we decided to go to a slightly fancier place. I’d read nothing but good reviews about the place, so I suggested it for their ‘Parents Gone Wild’ night.
The décor of the restaurant is very nice and quite un-Chinese restaurant. No red banners with dragons and phoenixes in sight. Instead, it is done up in muted green, khaki and brown tones, and of course the highlight is the ceiling, which has a few skylights that look out into the hotel’s swimming pool. It’s a bit disconcerting to know that you could glance up and see the (ahem) underside of a breaststroke-swimming half naked person, but it is quite a novelty all the same.
The restaurant has 3 degustation menus - $65, $85 and $125, each with about 6 courses. A and I decided not to have the degustation menu because I specifically wanted to try some dishes that weren’t offered in any of the set menus. I had the much-lauded starter trio of a deep fried wasabi prawn, peking duck skin and foie gras. To me, this definitely lived up to expectation. The prawn was lightly battered and nice and crispy, and the wasabi mayo was just right, not ‘go up your nose’ hot. It was served on a watermelon disc which made for a nice refreshing pairing. The duck/foie gras combi was amazing – the peking duck skin was light and thin, and paired with the foie gras that was crispy on the outside, and rich and creamy on the inside, and served with a drizzle of hoi sin sauce. A had a crab meat salad with sake as his starter. The presentation was amazing – a shot glass of the salad embedded in a huge plate of ice chips, but the taste was just passable.
Next came our meat courses. We shared an order of the pan-fried rib-eye with sesame sauce, and the house special grilled rack of lamb in Chinese honey, served with pan fried carrot cake. First the beef. This was recommended by my friend L, and it was pretty good. The beef was quite thin and very tender, and the sauce was nice and fragrant. However, it paled in comparison with the lamb. This is definitely one of their signature dishes for a reason. The lamb was melt-in-your-mouth tender, and it was sweet without being too cloying. And while the accompanying carrot cake was, quite simply, glorified chye tow kuay, it was still very tasty. This is not a dish for the health conscious though, because the lamb rack was quite fatty, which accounted for the flavour and tenderness.
A ordered a braised tofu with whole garlic, which was ok but not something we’ll order again. After that came our stewed lobster noodles, which 4 of us (Y&J, and A and I) shared. The lobster was $15 per 100g; they served us 2 lobsters between 4 of us, half each. This one single dish caused our dinner bill to soar, and frankly, while it tasted ok, it definitely wasn’t worth the hefty $210 price tag ($52.50 per person).
Finally came dessert. We had the red bean pancake and A had an almond cream with papaya as well. The red bean pancake was HUGE, and we had to doggy bag most of the second plate. It tasted even better when we had it for breakfast the next day.
All in all, I'll definitely return, if just to have the lamb and the duck/foie gras again. You can rest assured I’m steering far away from anything that needs to be weighed, though.
A says:
Décor of the hotel was more interesting than the restaurant. The view into the swimming pool is pretty cool though.
The wait staff are all pretty good, but the wait for the food is bloody freaking long.
Most of the food is really good, although the portions are small and sometimes – not specified – the dishes are meant for more than one (as in our tofu for four). And the bloody lobster was a rip off.
I’ll only go back when we have time to kill and really, really feel like splurging. There are definitely places ahead of it on my list.
Another place on our ‘must-try’ list satisfied – we went to Majestic Restaurant, at New Majestic Hotel on Bukit Pasoh Road, on Saturday for dinner with Y&J and W&M. It was a rare night out for Y&J without the kiddies in tow, so we decided to go to a slightly fancier place. I’d read nothing but good reviews about the place, so I suggested it for their ‘Parents Gone Wild’ night.
The décor of the restaurant is very nice and quite un-Chinese restaurant. No red banners with dragons and phoenixes in sight. Instead, it is done up in muted green, khaki and brown tones, and of course the highlight is the ceiling, which has a few skylights that look out into the hotel’s swimming pool. It’s a bit disconcerting to know that you could glance up and see the (ahem) underside of a breaststroke-swimming half naked person, but it is quite a novelty all the same.
The restaurant has 3 degustation menus - $65, $85 and $125, each with about 6 courses. A and I decided not to have the degustation menu because I specifically wanted to try some dishes that weren’t offered in any of the set menus. I had the much-lauded starter trio of a deep fried wasabi prawn, peking duck skin and foie gras. To me, this definitely lived up to expectation. The prawn was lightly battered and nice and crispy, and the wasabi mayo was just right, not ‘go up your nose’ hot. It was served on a watermelon disc which made for a nice refreshing pairing. The duck/foie gras combi was amazing – the peking duck skin was light and thin, and paired with the foie gras that was crispy on the outside, and rich and creamy on the inside, and served with a drizzle of hoi sin sauce. A had a crab meat salad with sake as his starter. The presentation was amazing – a shot glass of the salad embedded in a huge plate of ice chips, but the taste was just passable.
Next came our meat courses. We shared an order of the pan-fried rib-eye with sesame sauce, and the house special grilled rack of lamb in Chinese honey, served with pan fried carrot cake. First the beef. This was recommended by my friend L, and it was pretty good. The beef was quite thin and very tender, and the sauce was nice and fragrant. However, it paled in comparison with the lamb. This is definitely one of their signature dishes for a reason. The lamb was melt-in-your-mouth tender, and it was sweet without being too cloying. And while the accompanying carrot cake was, quite simply, glorified chye tow kuay, it was still very tasty. This is not a dish for the health conscious though, because the lamb rack was quite fatty, which accounted for the flavour and tenderness.
A ordered a braised tofu with whole garlic, which was ok but not something we’ll order again. After that came our stewed lobster noodles, which 4 of us (Y&J, and A and I) shared. The lobster was $15 per 100g; they served us 2 lobsters between 4 of us, half each. This one single dish caused our dinner bill to soar, and frankly, while it tasted ok, it definitely wasn’t worth the hefty $210 price tag ($52.50 per person).
Finally came dessert. We had the red bean pancake and A had an almond cream with papaya as well. The red bean pancake was HUGE, and we had to doggy bag most of the second plate. It tasted even better when we had it for breakfast the next day.
All in all, I'll definitely return, if just to have the lamb and the duck/foie gras again. You can rest assured I’m steering far away from anything that needs to be weighed, though.
A says:
Décor of the hotel was more interesting than the restaurant. The view into the swimming pool is pretty cool though.
The wait staff are all pretty good, but the wait for the food is bloody freaking long.
Most of the food is really good, although the portions are small and sometimes – not specified – the dishes are meant for more than one (as in our tofu for four). And the bloody lobster was a rip off.
I’ll only go back when we have time to kill and really, really feel like splurging. There are definitely places ahead of it on my list.
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Ohsho
C says:
We seem to be Cuppage kids this weekend. On Saturday we went for ramen at Ohsho at Cuppage Plaza, after reading the article on the 10 best ramen dishes in Singapore (ok, so the article appeared in Sunday Lifestyle in March, but we never got round to trying the recommended places except Ichibantei). We actually wanted to try Ken’s Noodle House but we mistakenly thought that they were both located in Cuppage Plaza. Turns out Ken’s is at Orchard Plaza, across the road. Guess we have to make another visit to the Cuppage area soon.
Anyway, Ohsho was like nothing that I expected. I guess I expected a typical ramen restaurant like Ichibantei or Kyonichi ramen, but this place was a totally nondescript corner stall which I wouldn’t even have considered had it not been listed in the article.
I had the recommended Tamago Ramen, which has a creamy Kyushu-style soup, with 3 slices of tender chashu, lots of beansprouts and two halves of a hard boiled egg. The noodles were a lot thinner than the usual ramen that I’m used to. It was more like instant noodles than typical ramen. The chashu was nice and tender, but I was a little disappointed with the soup. After reading the article, I expected a creamy, fragrant soup since the chef apparently refuses to divulge his secret recipe. Instead, the soup, though tasty, was a little thin and flat. I found the Kyushu soup at Ichibantei much better.
A had an interesting dish called Stamina Ramen (didn’t really do much for his, though, haha). I’ll leave him to tell you about it.
A says:
As Japanese say, I good STAMINA!
We seem to be Cuppage kids this weekend. On Saturday we went for ramen at Ohsho at Cuppage Plaza, after reading the article on the 10 best ramen dishes in Singapore (ok, so the article appeared in Sunday Lifestyle in March, but we never got round to trying the recommended places except Ichibantei). We actually wanted to try Ken’s Noodle House but we mistakenly thought that they were both located in Cuppage Plaza. Turns out Ken’s is at Orchard Plaza, across the road. Guess we have to make another visit to the Cuppage area soon.
Anyway, Ohsho was like nothing that I expected. I guess I expected a typical ramen restaurant like Ichibantei or Kyonichi ramen, but this place was a totally nondescript corner stall which I wouldn’t even have considered had it not been listed in the article.
I had the recommended Tamago Ramen, which has a creamy Kyushu-style soup, with 3 slices of tender chashu, lots of beansprouts and two halves of a hard boiled egg. The noodles were a lot thinner than the usual ramen that I’m used to. It was more like instant noodles than typical ramen. The chashu was nice and tender, but I was a little disappointed with the soup. After reading the article, I expected a creamy, fragrant soup since the chef apparently refuses to divulge his secret recipe. Instead, the soup, though tasty, was a little thin and flat. I found the Kyushu soup at Ichibantei much better.
A had an interesting dish called Stamina Ramen (didn’t really do much for his, though, haha). I’ll leave him to tell you about it.
A says:
As Japanese say, I good STAMINA!
Monday, July 17, 2006
Kazu
C says:
We had a drinks party to attend on Friday night at Alley Bar, so we took the opportunity to go to Kazu again. They were out of the beef and cheese skewer that we had the last time and liked so much, so it was a chance for us to try some new things, like:
- shitake mushroom stuffed with minced chicken
- cheese stuffed sausage
- asparagus wrapped with bacon
- grilled squid tentacles
- kurobuta pork belly
- US beef short rib
- grilled unagi
- lamb chop
- soy marinated pork rib
- marbled pork with apple
We came here for a quick dinner before the party, but turned out to be not-so-quick after all, because it was absolutely packed, and the food took ages to arrive. The waitresses were very polite, even though they were clearly frazzled and overstretched. Friday nights/weekends are probably not the best times to come here, but the food was as good as ever.
A says:
I really like this place despite the very, very, very cramped tables. The lettuce they give at the beginning is great as a counterpoint to the bbq. We also just learnt that the little bamboo cup/thingy we thought was for the bill (like in other jap places) is for the skewers once you’re done. You can imagine how full ours was.
Also gotta give a shout out to my old (and i do mean old) friend S!
Previous Kazu Post
We had a drinks party to attend on Friday night at Alley Bar, so we took the opportunity to go to Kazu again. They were out of the beef and cheese skewer that we had the last time and liked so much, so it was a chance for us to try some new things, like:
- shitake mushroom stuffed with minced chicken
- cheese stuffed sausage
- asparagus wrapped with bacon
- grilled squid tentacles
- kurobuta pork belly
- US beef short rib
- grilled unagi
- lamb chop
- soy marinated pork rib
- marbled pork with apple
We came here for a quick dinner before the party, but turned out to be not-so-quick after all, because it was absolutely packed, and the food took ages to arrive. The waitresses were very polite, even though they were clearly frazzled and overstretched. Friday nights/weekends are probably not the best times to come here, but the food was as good as ever.
A says:
I really like this place despite the very, very, very cramped tables. The lettuce they give at the beginning is great as a counterpoint to the bbq. We also just learnt that the little bamboo cup/thingy we thought was for the bill (like in other jap places) is for the skewers once you’re done. You can imagine how full ours was.
Also gotta give a shout out to my old (and i do mean old) friend S!
Previous Kazu Post
Friday, July 14, 2006
PS Café
C says:
Thanks to A’s friend R, who managed to snag a reservation for Sunday night, we finally got a chance to try out the uber-hip PS Café at Harding Road. We’ve heard and read so much hype about it since it opened, but didn’t dare venture out to try it because (1) we figured we wouldn’t be able to get reservations, since we’re not people who know people, and (2) both of us were a bit worried about whether we could hold our own in the air-kissy “muah muah” environment.
Well, PS Café managed to very pleasantly surprise us on all counts. The building and ambience were faultless – it occupies a lovely colonial bungalow in the Dempsey Road area, complete with high, airy ceilings and a full length glass wall on one side. Beyond the glass wall is an outdoor dining area, which supposedly overlooks a wonderful view of greenery from the glass wall. We were there for dinner so didn’t get to see very much.
Our fears of the place being all poseur and no substance were unfounded. Yes, there was your fair share of recognisable people amongst the clientele, most notably Jamie Yeo, as well as Chef Oscar and his wife Tracy from Buko Nero, but there was surprisingly not much of a pretentious vibe.
The food more than held its own, thereby ensuring that it doesn’t solely rely on hipness to survive – we were very impressed with everything that we ordered. For starters, A and I shared the Cream of Portobello Mushroom soup with Pesto Oil, which was the soup of the day, and a Roast Beef salad, which is a permanent item on the menu. The soup was very good – thick yet not excessively heavy, with a very pronounced mushroom flavour. The pesto oil that was drizzled on top gave it an interesting twist from regular mushroom soups.
The Roast Beef salad was brilliant. It was a starter but sizeable enough to have as a satisfying main course on days that you’re not all that hungry. The roast beef was rare and thinly sliced, and served with roasted root vegetables like potatoes, carrots, sweet potatoes, beetroot and eggplant (ok maybe eggplant’s not a root vegetable…), as well as rocket leaves and drizzled with an amazing creamy yet peppery dressing. While the meat alone wasn’t stellar, the combination of all the ingredients worked wonders.
A and I both had specials for our main courses. (The specials for the day are written on a huge chalk board) I had the Fillet Mignon, and A had the Lamb Tenderloin Mignon. I had a bite of A’s and it was pretty good. It was wrapped in bacon and served with a spinach puree. The lamb was tender and not too strong in flavour. However, we both agreed that my fillet mignon was the better of the two. It was served with a portion of gratin potatoes, some rocket leaves, topped with a single garlic prawn, and smothered with an absolutely incredible sauce. As you know, I’m not a big fan of sauces with my steaks because I’m a purist, but in this case I couldn’t get enough of the sauce. It was slightly creamy, tomato-ey and garlicky all at the same time, without any flavour overpowering the other. The steak itself was pretty good, but somehow lacked the sweetness and fine texture of the tenderloins that we get at Buko Nero. Although that’s probably less to do with the chefs’ skills, and more to do with their respective meat suppliers.
Against our better judgment, we shared a dessert, a Banana Cream Pie. This was pretty good but the caramel pie filling got way too sweet to handle after a while. The house special was mango and banana crumble served with vanilla ice cream, but we didn’t order that because of A’s mango aversion. I tried a bite from one of our friends and it was very good.
A minor hitch was the waiters, and in particular the bar. Our food arrived quicker than our drink orders did, and we had to remind them more than once about some of our drink orders. The place would be perfect if they could improve their drinks service and employ a few more savvy waiters. All in all though, I have only good things to say about this place, and we’ll definitely be going back.
A says:
Food very good. Bear in mind the starter portions are huge. Mains are more manageable. Desserts are quite big too. We definitely ate too much that night.
While the food servers were nice and efficient, the drinks took forever to come and we had to keep reminding the waiters to get them.
Overall, I’m very pleasantly surprised with the food and how the place isn’t as poser considering how high-class the crowd is. A bit easy to get lost finding the place at night so better be prepared.
Thanks to A’s friend R, who managed to snag a reservation for Sunday night, we finally got a chance to try out the uber-hip PS Café at Harding Road. We’ve heard and read so much hype about it since it opened, but didn’t dare venture out to try it because (1) we figured we wouldn’t be able to get reservations, since we’re not people who know people, and (2) both of us were a bit worried about whether we could hold our own in the air-kissy “muah muah” environment.
Well, PS Café managed to very pleasantly surprise us on all counts. The building and ambience were faultless – it occupies a lovely colonial bungalow in the Dempsey Road area, complete with high, airy ceilings and a full length glass wall on one side. Beyond the glass wall is an outdoor dining area, which supposedly overlooks a wonderful view of greenery from the glass wall. We were there for dinner so didn’t get to see very much.
Our fears of the place being all poseur and no substance were unfounded. Yes, there was your fair share of recognisable people amongst the clientele, most notably Jamie Yeo, as well as Chef Oscar and his wife Tracy from Buko Nero, but there was surprisingly not much of a pretentious vibe.
The food more than held its own, thereby ensuring that it doesn’t solely rely on hipness to survive – we were very impressed with everything that we ordered. For starters, A and I shared the Cream of Portobello Mushroom soup with Pesto Oil, which was the soup of the day, and a Roast Beef salad, which is a permanent item on the menu. The soup was very good – thick yet not excessively heavy, with a very pronounced mushroom flavour. The pesto oil that was drizzled on top gave it an interesting twist from regular mushroom soups.
The Roast Beef salad was brilliant. It was a starter but sizeable enough to have as a satisfying main course on days that you’re not all that hungry. The roast beef was rare and thinly sliced, and served with roasted root vegetables like potatoes, carrots, sweet potatoes, beetroot and eggplant (ok maybe eggplant’s not a root vegetable…), as well as rocket leaves and drizzled with an amazing creamy yet peppery dressing. While the meat alone wasn’t stellar, the combination of all the ingredients worked wonders.
A and I both had specials for our main courses. (The specials for the day are written on a huge chalk board) I had the Fillet Mignon, and A had the Lamb Tenderloin Mignon. I had a bite of A’s and it was pretty good. It was wrapped in bacon and served with a spinach puree. The lamb was tender and not too strong in flavour. However, we both agreed that my fillet mignon was the better of the two. It was served with a portion of gratin potatoes, some rocket leaves, topped with a single garlic prawn, and smothered with an absolutely incredible sauce. As you know, I’m not a big fan of sauces with my steaks because I’m a purist, but in this case I couldn’t get enough of the sauce. It was slightly creamy, tomato-ey and garlicky all at the same time, without any flavour overpowering the other. The steak itself was pretty good, but somehow lacked the sweetness and fine texture of the tenderloins that we get at Buko Nero. Although that’s probably less to do with the chefs’ skills, and more to do with their respective meat suppliers.
Against our better judgment, we shared a dessert, a Banana Cream Pie. This was pretty good but the caramel pie filling got way too sweet to handle after a while. The house special was mango and banana crumble served with vanilla ice cream, but we didn’t order that because of A’s mango aversion. I tried a bite from one of our friends and it was very good.
A minor hitch was the waiters, and in particular the bar. Our food arrived quicker than our drink orders did, and we had to remind them more than once about some of our drink orders. The place would be perfect if they could improve their drinks service and employ a few more savvy waiters. All in all though, I have only good things to say about this place, and we’ll definitely be going back.
A says:
Food very good. Bear in mind the starter portions are huge. Mains are more manageable. Desserts are quite big too. We definitely ate too much that night.
While the food servers were nice and efficient, the drinks took forever to come and we had to keep reminding the waiters to get them.
Overall, I’m very pleasantly surprised with the food and how the place isn’t as poser considering how high-class the crowd is. A bit easy to get lost finding the place at night so better be prepared.
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Thasevi Roti Prata, Jalan Kayu
C says:
We went here on Saturday night at about 11.30 pm. M&J had just arrived from Brisbane and are staying with J’s family in Seletar, so it made sense (at the time) to have supper at Jalan Kayu.
I’ll leave A to tell you more about the queue and the wait, but suffice to say that in the time that it took for us to get our food, we could have driven all the way to the Thomson prata place, eaten, and sent M&J back to Seletar.
A and I had had dinner already so we just ordered a kosong (plain) prata for A and a Maggi mee goreng for me. The curry that came with the prata was very good – not your typical thin, watery dishwater gravy that most pratas come with. This was a thick curry gravy, that tasted like it was a mutton curry gravy. The Maggi mee goring was pretty good too – not as good as the Prata Café one, but definitely one of the better ones I’ve tried in Singapore.
Still don’t think it was worth the wait, though.
A says:
Definitely not worth the wait, although I must say the staff were very upfront and told us when we ordered that the wait would be at least 30 to 45mins. They’re obviously very experienced as almost exactly 45mins later, our food started to arrive. And their system is pretty good since they didn’t cock up anything in our order.
Overall, I’m impressed with their professionalism in ordering, serving and taste, but the hygiene level leaves much to be desired. And I’m not willing to wait that long for prata. Especially when I think the Thompson prata places are better. Not going back anytime soon.
We went here on Saturday night at about 11.30 pm. M&J had just arrived from Brisbane and are staying with J’s family in Seletar, so it made sense (at the time) to have supper at Jalan Kayu.
I’ll leave A to tell you more about the queue and the wait, but suffice to say that in the time that it took for us to get our food, we could have driven all the way to the Thomson prata place, eaten, and sent M&J back to Seletar.
A and I had had dinner already so we just ordered a kosong (plain) prata for A and a Maggi mee goreng for me. The curry that came with the prata was very good – not your typical thin, watery dishwater gravy that most pratas come with. This was a thick curry gravy, that tasted like it was a mutton curry gravy. The Maggi mee goring was pretty good too – not as good as the Prata Café one, but definitely one of the better ones I’ve tried in Singapore.
Still don’t think it was worth the wait, though.
A says:
Definitely not worth the wait, although I must say the staff were very upfront and told us when we ordered that the wait would be at least 30 to 45mins. They’re obviously very experienced as almost exactly 45mins later, our food started to arrive. And their system is pretty good since they didn’t cock up anything in our order.
Overall, I’m impressed with their professionalism in ordering, serving and taste, but the hygiene level leaves much to be desired. And I’m not willing to wait that long for prata. Especially when I think the Thompson prata places are better. Not going back anytime soon.
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
La Petite Cuisine
C says:
We tried a couple of new dishes at La Petite Cuisine on Saturday night. A had the Salmon Pasta, which has always been on the menu but we’ve never tried it, and I had something new – a Tuna with capsicum sauce.
The Salmon Pasta was tasty, but definitely short on the salmon. There were only a few tiny cubes of salmon, and a mountain of pasta, but the sauce was very delicate and interesting. Instead of the usual heavy and creamy sauce you’d come to expect from a salmon pasta, this was light and more buttery than creamy, with a hint of lemon adding an unexpected freshness. It would have been a perfect dish if they had been a little more generous with the salmon – they could increase the price by a dollar or two (it was $7) and I would gladly pay for more fish.
The tuna, though again slightly overdone (what is it with overdone tuna lately?), was very good for $9. A decent-sized piece of tuna was pan fried, and served with some parmesan rice. The tuna wasn’t sashimi quality, nor did I expect it for that price, but I have no complaints in terms of how it tasted. The seasoning was far better than the seared tuna we had at Da Paolo at Rochester.
Again, a very satisfying and fuss-free weekend dinner. Remember though that they are closed on Sundays.
A says:
I’ll skip the salmon pasta next time. Too much pasta, not enough salmon.
Previous La Petite Cuisine Post
We tried a couple of new dishes at La Petite Cuisine on Saturday night. A had the Salmon Pasta, which has always been on the menu but we’ve never tried it, and I had something new – a Tuna with capsicum sauce.
The Salmon Pasta was tasty, but definitely short on the salmon. There were only a few tiny cubes of salmon, and a mountain of pasta, but the sauce was very delicate and interesting. Instead of the usual heavy and creamy sauce you’d come to expect from a salmon pasta, this was light and more buttery than creamy, with a hint of lemon adding an unexpected freshness. It would have been a perfect dish if they had been a little more generous with the salmon – they could increase the price by a dollar or two (it was $7) and I would gladly pay for more fish.
The tuna, though again slightly overdone (what is it with overdone tuna lately?), was very good for $9. A decent-sized piece of tuna was pan fried, and served with some parmesan rice. The tuna wasn’t sashimi quality, nor did I expect it for that price, but I have no complaints in terms of how it tasted. The seasoning was far better than the seared tuna we had at Da Paolo at Rochester.
Again, a very satisfying and fuss-free weekend dinner. Remember though that they are closed on Sundays.
A says:
I’ll skip the salmon pasta next time. Too much pasta, not enough salmon.
Previous La Petite Cuisine Post
Monday, July 10, 2006
Tai Hwa Bak Chor Mee
C says:
Quick one from me. I had to collect my new IC on Saturday morning at ICA in Lavender, so we decided to take the opportunity to have the famous Tai Hwa bak chor mee, since it's just behind the ICA building. We figured it’ll be less crowded if we go early. Well, we were there at about 9.45, and they had only just opened. There was still a queue though, but the wait wasn’t that long – only about 15 minutes or so.
Fyi, this is the bak chor mee stall that used to be at Marina Square, where it attracted insanely long queues at lunchtime.
It was definitely worth the wait. To me, it was much better than the other famous bak chor mee at Hong Lim market. The noodle consistency was to my liking – firm and springy, not soft and mushy. There was lots of vinegar, a generous helping of ingredients, and the noodles didn’t clump together.
In my opinion, if I were going to queue up for bak chor mee, the Tai Hwa one is worth the wait; the Hong Kim market one isn’t.
A says:
I work around the area so I go to the coffee shop there quite a lot. If the queue is too long for your liking (and it usually is) just go for the Western stall next door. That’s what I do.
Quick one from me. I had to collect my new IC on Saturday morning at ICA in Lavender, so we decided to take the opportunity to have the famous Tai Hwa bak chor mee, since it's just behind the ICA building. We figured it’ll be less crowded if we go early. Well, we were there at about 9.45, and they had only just opened. There was still a queue though, but the wait wasn’t that long – only about 15 minutes or so.
Fyi, this is the bak chor mee stall that used to be at Marina Square, where it attracted insanely long queues at lunchtime.
It was definitely worth the wait. To me, it was much better than the other famous bak chor mee at Hong Lim market. The noodle consistency was to my liking – firm and springy, not soft and mushy. There was lots of vinegar, a generous helping of ingredients, and the noodles didn’t clump together.
In my opinion, if I were going to queue up for bak chor mee, the Tai Hwa one is worth the wait; the Hong Kim market one isn’t.
A says:
I work around the area so I go to the coffee shop there quite a lot. If the queue is too long for your liking (and it usually is) just go for the Western stall next door. That’s what I do.
Sunday, July 09, 2006
Café Iguana
C says:
We went to Café Iguana at Riverside Point (first time for me) on Friday night. The place was packed, and after trying the food, rightfully so. For someone who’s not a fan of Mexican food, I was pleasantly surprised with what we ordered, and may even consider a repeat visit to try some of the other items on the menu, especially their desserts.
A and I shared 2 starters and a main, because A’s friends had already finished eating when we got there so we didn’t want to hold everyone else up. We had the cheese and mushroom quesadillas, which were the best dish out of the 3. They tasted good enough on their own, but were served with a delicious tomato-based dip that had a hint of smokey bacon – very very nice. The beef mini chimichangas were pretty good too, but not outstanding. Our main course was the blackened tuna soft tacos – a few discs of blackened tuna were served on circles of soft tortilla, sprinkled with cabbage and served with rice and refried beans. The tuna, though slightly overdone, was still very well seasoned and tasty.
Happy hour is until 9 pm, so we had a Green Iguanarita (margarita with melon liqueur) and a Cazuela cocktail (tequila, with a blend of citrus juices and a splash of cassis). The Iguanarita was much better than the cocktail, which I guess is obvious given that this place is famed for its margaritas.
All in all, it was a pretty good dinner. The only downside, which prevented us from lingering there the entire evening, was the heat. Most of the seating is outside and therefore non-airconditioned, and Friday night was an inordinately warm and humid night, and after a while we just couldn’t take it and had to move on.
A says:
Food was surprisingly excellent. Staff were also very good considering how crowded it was. If you’re feeling like Mexican in Singapore, this is probably the place to go.
We went to Café Iguana at Riverside Point (first time for me) on Friday night. The place was packed, and after trying the food, rightfully so. For someone who’s not a fan of Mexican food, I was pleasantly surprised with what we ordered, and may even consider a repeat visit to try some of the other items on the menu, especially their desserts.
A and I shared 2 starters and a main, because A’s friends had already finished eating when we got there so we didn’t want to hold everyone else up. We had the cheese and mushroom quesadillas, which were the best dish out of the 3. They tasted good enough on their own, but were served with a delicious tomato-based dip that had a hint of smokey bacon – very very nice. The beef mini chimichangas were pretty good too, but not outstanding. Our main course was the blackened tuna soft tacos – a few discs of blackened tuna were served on circles of soft tortilla, sprinkled with cabbage and served with rice and refried beans. The tuna, though slightly overdone, was still very well seasoned and tasty.
Happy hour is until 9 pm, so we had a Green Iguanarita (margarita with melon liqueur) and a Cazuela cocktail (tequila, with a blend of citrus juices and a splash of cassis). The Iguanarita was much better than the cocktail, which I guess is obvious given that this place is famed for its margaritas.
All in all, it was a pretty good dinner. The only downside, which prevented us from lingering there the entire evening, was the heat. Most of the seating is outside and therefore non-airconditioned, and Friday night was an inordinately warm and humid night, and after a while we just couldn’t take it and had to move on.
A says:
Food was surprisingly excellent. Staff were also very good considering how crowded it was. If you’re feeling like Mexican in Singapore, this is probably the place to go.
Monday, July 03, 2006
Flowerbed Kitchen & Bar
C says:
After coming here for lunch a few times, I was pretty impressed so I brought A here on Friday night. It’s a fairly simple joint specialising in noodles, located next to Savoir in Far East Square. It’s supposedly opened by a pair of TV artistes (Mediacorp? Fly? No idea…) but I can’t for the life of me remember who, and can’t seem to locate the newspaper article that mentioned it.
Anyway, being really boring, most of the dishes that we ordered were those that I’ve tried before. We shared the ‘Chili’ noodles, which were like dry you mian/la mian with a very generous topping of mushrooms, minced pork, ikan bilis, a sunny-side-up egg, and a dry paste with finely chopped dried chillies. This looked a lot more lethal than it really was – yes, it was slightly spicy but nothing unbearable. The noodles were quite yummy, but because of all the ingredients, it was slightly salty and could potentially be a little gelak if you have an entire bowl on your own. It comes with a small bowl of clear soup with some spinach, which does help to alleviate the saltiness somewhat. Still, I would recommend ordering just 1 noodle per couple to share. This frees you up to try some of their side dishes as well.
We shared 3 sides which were all quite delicious. In order of preference (with my favourite first), we had the beer marinated chicken wings, potato skins, and fried yam cake. The chicken wings were great, I could eat a whole bucket of these while watching tv. They only serve the mid-joint portion, so none of the drumlets, which suits me just fine. There is a faint taste of the beer marinade, but mainly it’s a little sweet and fried to a perfect golden brown. The potato skins had a slight asian twist to them – they were filled with a mixture of minced pork and spring onions, then topped with a very generous layer of baked mozzarella cheese. These require a 10 minute waiting time, and we waited even longer for ours because apparently there was a problem with their oven, but they were worth the wait. The fried yam cake was pretty good too, but to me it was slightly over fried and too hard and crunchy. It was topped with nice bits of fried garlic chips though, and served with 2 dipping sauces – a sweet sauce and a sambal chilli.
This place is absolutely packed at lunchtime and can be quite frenetic, leading to quite poor service at times. It’s a lot more enjoyable at dinner time, and I know for sure that we’ll be going back to try the other things on their menu.
A says:
Highly recommended. Food is cheap and good. Staff and service are efficient and intelligent, although C says the girl with dyed hair was blur the previous time she went. Also, if you have a sweet tooth, try the fruit-flavoured ice blended. I had a lychee one that hit the spot.
After coming here for lunch a few times, I was pretty impressed so I brought A here on Friday night. It’s a fairly simple joint specialising in noodles, located next to Savoir in Far East Square. It’s supposedly opened by a pair of TV artistes (Mediacorp? Fly? No idea…) but I can’t for the life of me remember who, and can’t seem to locate the newspaper article that mentioned it.
Anyway, being really boring, most of the dishes that we ordered were those that I’ve tried before. We shared the ‘Chili’ noodles, which were like dry you mian/la mian with a very generous topping of mushrooms, minced pork, ikan bilis, a sunny-side-up egg, and a dry paste with finely chopped dried chillies. This looked a lot more lethal than it really was – yes, it was slightly spicy but nothing unbearable. The noodles were quite yummy, but because of all the ingredients, it was slightly salty and could potentially be a little gelak if you have an entire bowl on your own. It comes with a small bowl of clear soup with some spinach, which does help to alleviate the saltiness somewhat. Still, I would recommend ordering just 1 noodle per couple to share. This frees you up to try some of their side dishes as well.
We shared 3 sides which were all quite delicious. In order of preference (with my favourite first), we had the beer marinated chicken wings, potato skins, and fried yam cake. The chicken wings were great, I could eat a whole bucket of these while watching tv. They only serve the mid-joint portion, so none of the drumlets, which suits me just fine. There is a faint taste of the beer marinade, but mainly it’s a little sweet and fried to a perfect golden brown. The potato skins had a slight asian twist to them – they were filled with a mixture of minced pork and spring onions, then topped with a very generous layer of baked mozzarella cheese. These require a 10 minute waiting time, and we waited even longer for ours because apparently there was a problem with their oven, but they were worth the wait. The fried yam cake was pretty good too, but to me it was slightly over fried and too hard and crunchy. It was topped with nice bits of fried garlic chips though, and served with 2 dipping sauces – a sweet sauce and a sambal chilli.
This place is absolutely packed at lunchtime and can be quite frenetic, leading to quite poor service at times. It’s a lot more enjoyable at dinner time, and I know for sure that we’ll be going back to try the other things on their menu.
A says:
Highly recommended. Food is cheap and good. Staff and service are efficient and intelligent, although C says the girl with dyed hair was blur the previous time she went. Also, if you have a sweet tooth, try the fruit-flavoured ice blended. I had a lychee one that hit the spot.
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Hog’s Breath Café, Holland Village
C says:
We came here on Saturday night on a whim. After watching a (very bad) movie at the Red Dot Design Museum, it was about 8.30 pm so we had to go to a place that opened till pretty late. I’d just seen an ad in IS magazine about Hog’s Breath Café and remembered that it’s open till midnight, so we headed to the Holland V branch since it’s on our way home (there’s another branch at Chijmes).
We had the buffalo wings for starters, and for mains, A had the bbq baby back ribs which was one of the day’s specials, and I had the prime rib. Each prime rib cut is 300g, and you can have a number of sauces – traditional, mushroom or pepper – on the side. I ordered it medium rare and it came out perfect. I was extremely impressed – the steak was tender and sweet, and not one part of it was sinewy or chewy. This was one of the best prime ribs I’ve had in a long time.
A’s baby back ribs, though not as good as my prime rib, was also excellent. I found the sauce a little overpowering as it smothered the meat, but the ribs were slow roasted such that they literally just fell off the bones.
The starter fared less well, though. The buffalo wings should have been called bbq sauce wings, because that’s exactly what they were. I guess it’s a mistake to order buffalo wings anywhere other than Sunset Grill.
Washed down with a latte (A) and a Corona (me), this was an unexpectedly satisfying dinner. Business was fairly brisk as well; I guess it helps that they’re open till midnight, because there were people streaming in even after 9.
A says:
I think the staff are trained to be super-friendly but thankfully not as bad as the T.G.I.Friday “I’m your new best friend” kind. At least they know their stuff. Atmosphere is very relaxed and enjoyable. Best of all, the mains (and the sides they came with) exceeded expectations – both in portion size and in taste. Maybe skip the mediocre buffalo wings and try a different starter or a dessert next time. Latte was good though.
We came here on Saturday night on a whim. After watching a (very bad) movie at the Red Dot Design Museum, it was about 8.30 pm so we had to go to a place that opened till pretty late. I’d just seen an ad in IS magazine about Hog’s Breath Café and remembered that it’s open till midnight, so we headed to the Holland V branch since it’s on our way home (there’s another branch at Chijmes).
We had the buffalo wings for starters, and for mains, A had the bbq baby back ribs which was one of the day’s specials, and I had the prime rib. Each prime rib cut is 300g, and you can have a number of sauces – traditional, mushroom or pepper – on the side. I ordered it medium rare and it came out perfect. I was extremely impressed – the steak was tender and sweet, and not one part of it was sinewy or chewy. This was one of the best prime ribs I’ve had in a long time.
A’s baby back ribs, though not as good as my prime rib, was also excellent. I found the sauce a little overpowering as it smothered the meat, but the ribs were slow roasted such that they literally just fell off the bones.
The starter fared less well, though. The buffalo wings should have been called bbq sauce wings, because that’s exactly what they were. I guess it’s a mistake to order buffalo wings anywhere other than Sunset Grill.
Washed down with a latte (A) and a Corona (me), this was an unexpectedly satisfying dinner. Business was fairly brisk as well; I guess it helps that they’re open till midnight, because there were people streaming in even after 9.
A says:
I think the staff are trained to be super-friendly but thankfully not as bad as the T.G.I.Friday “I’m your new best friend” kind. At least they know their stuff. Atmosphere is very relaxed and enjoyable. Best of all, the mains (and the sides they came with) exceeded expectations – both in portion size and in taste. Maybe skip the mediocre buffalo wings and try a different starter or a dessert next time. Latte was good though.
Monday, June 26, 2006
Buko Nero
C says:
Time for our monthly trip to Buko Nero again. We’ve waxed lyrical about the place often enough, so a short post this time, just detailing what we had. The menu for the night was:
Chicken Breast Salad with Mango Dressing
Cream of Cauliflower soup with Smoked Salmon
Mint and Honeydew Sherbet
A’s main: Beef tenderloin wrapped in bacon, with cranberry glaze
C’s main: Parpadelle with portobello mushroom and white asparagus
My Grandmother’s Cake with Vanilla Coulis
The amuse bouche was a grilled swordfish belly crostini with mayonnaise. The swordfish belly was nice and fatty, and almost melt-in-the-mouth, and had a nice smoky flavour, but it was nowhere near last month’s seared steak one.
As good as the pasta here is, my parpadelle wasn’t as good as A’s tenderloin, mainly because it lacked oomph, being a vegetarian dish. The sauce was very delicate and tasty, with a slight hint of tomato, but somehow I felt that something was missing. It was probably the lack of a strong flavour among the ingredients – previous pastas here have contained scallops or clams, and the flavour of the seafood/shellfish have infused the pasta and the sauce with a distinctive taste that was lacking this time.
A’s tenderloin was great as usual. The sweetness of the cranberry glaze made this different from the usual tenderloin dishes that we’ve had here so far, and provided a good contrast to the meatiness of the dish.
The cake looked ordinary but tasted a lot better. Apparently it was flourless, and it had a dense but still light texture. The almost-burnt bits on top were especially yummy.
Didn’t manage to get a booking for next month yet, because they’re closed from 16th to 24th July. Hopefully we can get a table for 27th July.
A says:
Brilliant as always. Also got the latte this time so very happy.
Time for our monthly trip to Buko Nero again. We’ve waxed lyrical about the place often enough, so a short post this time, just detailing what we had. The menu for the night was:
Chicken Breast Salad with Mango Dressing
Cream of Cauliflower soup with Smoked Salmon
Mint and Honeydew Sherbet
A’s main: Beef tenderloin wrapped in bacon, with cranberry glaze
C’s main: Parpadelle with portobello mushroom and white asparagus
My Grandmother’s Cake with Vanilla Coulis
The amuse bouche was a grilled swordfish belly crostini with mayonnaise. The swordfish belly was nice and fatty, and almost melt-in-the-mouth, and had a nice smoky flavour, but it was nowhere near last month’s seared steak one.
As good as the pasta here is, my parpadelle wasn’t as good as A’s tenderloin, mainly because it lacked oomph, being a vegetarian dish. The sauce was very delicate and tasty, with a slight hint of tomato, but somehow I felt that something was missing. It was probably the lack of a strong flavour among the ingredients – previous pastas here have contained scallops or clams, and the flavour of the seafood/shellfish have infused the pasta and the sauce with a distinctive taste that was lacking this time.
A’s tenderloin was great as usual. The sweetness of the cranberry glaze made this different from the usual tenderloin dishes that we’ve had here so far, and provided a good contrast to the meatiness of the dish.
The cake looked ordinary but tasted a lot better. Apparently it was flourless, and it had a dense but still light texture. The almost-burnt bits on top were especially yummy.
Didn’t manage to get a booking for next month yet, because they’re closed from 16th to 24th July. Hopefully we can get a table for 27th July.
A says:
Brilliant as always. Also got the latte this time so very happy.
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Da Paolo at Rochester Park
C says:
The gang celebrated my 25th (ahem…) birthday on Saturday with a (surprise) dinner at Da Paolo. The place looked really pretty, being in a nice colonial bungalow and all, but everything sort of went downhill from there. (But guys, you generally agree with my assessment of the place/food right? This is in no way dissing the planning that you guys went to for me… thanks so much! *muah*) Anyway, back to the review:
First, the ambience – most of the seating is outdoors, which is nice but can get a little bit hot. What got to all of us was the lighting, or lack thereof. We could hardly read the menu, and when our food came, we could barely see what we were eating either. Service left a heck of a lot to be desired too. Took them ages to (1) stick the candles into a cake and light them, (2) cut 10 slices of cake, and (3) bring us our bill. That was the worst, think it took them about 10 minutes to bring the bill.
Food – nothing to rave about at all. The smoked cheese starter was bland; the braised vegetables that came with it were tasteless and hard. I ordered the seared tuna, which was served with some tomato salsa on top, and couscous. The menu said it was sashimi-grade tuna, but I didn’t particularly find it that good quality. You can get better quality tuna at Kuriya fish market. The seasoning of the tuna was also non-exisitent – it had no flavour at all, and it was overly seared so some parts tasted like canned tuna. A had the T-bone steak with black pepper, and the only thing going for this was the strong flavour of the US beef, which I guess is attributable to the beef rather than the cooking. We asked for the beef medium rare, but it came out more like medium, and some bits were seriously tough and sinewy.
All in all, really not impressive. Also, the food doesn’t really come with side dishes (except the tuna which came with a sprinkling of couscous); you’re supposed to spend ANOTHER bomb ordering sides separately. Don’t know about you, but for at least $30 per main, I’d expect at least some cursory vegetables or potatoes or something. Bread wasn’t free either – the waiter told us it was $4 per serving, though the menu said $3.
S said her rib eye was pretty good, and her only complaint was that there just wasn’t very much of it. Maybe we just ordered the wrong dishes. The rest of you, any comments on your food? Do share! : )
A says:
Food was average. Staff were surprisingly very friendly but service was super slow. I guess it’s more of a place to drink and look cool rather than eat. Not going back anytime soon.
The gang celebrated my 25th (ahem…) birthday on Saturday with a (surprise) dinner at Da Paolo. The place looked really pretty, being in a nice colonial bungalow and all, but everything sort of went downhill from there. (But guys, you generally agree with my assessment of the place/food right? This is in no way dissing the planning that you guys went to for me… thanks so much! *muah*) Anyway, back to the review:
First, the ambience – most of the seating is outdoors, which is nice but can get a little bit hot. What got to all of us was the lighting, or lack thereof. We could hardly read the menu, and when our food came, we could barely see what we were eating either. Service left a heck of a lot to be desired too. Took them ages to (1) stick the candles into a cake and light them, (2) cut 10 slices of cake, and (3) bring us our bill. That was the worst, think it took them about 10 minutes to bring the bill.
Food – nothing to rave about at all. The smoked cheese starter was bland; the braised vegetables that came with it were tasteless and hard. I ordered the seared tuna, which was served with some tomato salsa on top, and couscous. The menu said it was sashimi-grade tuna, but I didn’t particularly find it that good quality. You can get better quality tuna at Kuriya fish market. The seasoning of the tuna was also non-exisitent – it had no flavour at all, and it was overly seared so some parts tasted like canned tuna. A had the T-bone steak with black pepper, and the only thing going for this was the strong flavour of the US beef, which I guess is attributable to the beef rather than the cooking. We asked for the beef medium rare, but it came out more like medium, and some bits were seriously tough and sinewy.
All in all, really not impressive. Also, the food doesn’t really come with side dishes (except the tuna which came with a sprinkling of couscous); you’re supposed to spend ANOTHER bomb ordering sides separately. Don’t know about you, but for at least $30 per main, I’d expect at least some cursory vegetables or potatoes or something. Bread wasn’t free either – the waiter told us it was $4 per serving, though the menu said $3.
S said her rib eye was pretty good, and her only complaint was that there just wasn’t very much of it. Maybe we just ordered the wrong dishes. The rest of you, any comments on your food? Do share! : )
A says:
Food was average. Staff were surprisingly very friendly but service was super slow. I guess it’s more of a place to drink and look cool rather than eat. Not going back anytime soon.
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Piper's Pies
C says:
Apologies to our loyal readers out there (yes, all 3 of you...) for the radio silence of late. A was in the army for the last 2 weeks so we haven't had much opportunity, nor been in the mood, to eat out much.
Thankfully the ordeal is over for another year, and we've got a number of dinners planned for the next couple of weekends, so we should get back into the swing of things, posting-wise!
Quick one as a return post - we tried Piper's Pies on Tuesday night, an Australian pie shop located along the same row of restaurants as Corduroy & Finch and Ubin Seafood, along Bukit Timah Road. The place has potential, but it was deserted on a Tuesday night at 8 pm. They close at 9, so most of their pies were sold out. It's probably more of a lunch place too, because having just one pie for dinner isn't exactly filling or satisfying.
I had the Piper's Pie, which was puff pastry with minced beef - your standard classic minced meat pie. It was a tad boring but quite tasty, and the puff pastry was nice and light but not overly crumbly. Peter's Pie is apparently the same filling, but with mashed potato instead, i.e. a shepherd's pie. A had the chicken with white wine pie, and we both agreed that his was better than mine. It was quite generous with chicken chunks, most of which were pretty tender, and the creamy white wine sauce wasn't too heavy or gelak. They have a chicken and asparagus pie on the menu but it was unfortunately sold out.
They've got a pretty decent dessert menu as well, but since we had ice cream and cheesecake at home, we passed on dessert this time. I definitely wouldn't mind coming back here again for a light meal, or perhaps even to take out some pies to store in the freezer as an emergency meal.
A says:
A bit pricey but you pay for quality. There's a good selection of pies and the desserts don't look bad. Place is clean and simple while service is decent and friendly. Definitely a place to go if you like pie. But since I'm not a big pie fan (unless it's pizza pie), I probably won't be back for a while.
Apologies to our loyal readers out there (yes, all 3 of you...) for the radio silence of late. A was in the army for the last 2 weeks so we haven't had much opportunity, nor been in the mood, to eat out much.
Thankfully the ordeal is over for another year, and we've got a number of dinners planned for the next couple of weekends, so we should get back into the swing of things, posting-wise!
Quick one as a return post - we tried Piper's Pies on Tuesday night, an Australian pie shop located along the same row of restaurants as Corduroy & Finch and Ubin Seafood, along Bukit Timah Road. The place has potential, but it was deserted on a Tuesday night at 8 pm. They close at 9, so most of their pies were sold out. It's probably more of a lunch place too, because having just one pie for dinner isn't exactly filling or satisfying.
I had the Piper's Pie, which was puff pastry with minced beef - your standard classic minced meat pie. It was a tad boring but quite tasty, and the puff pastry was nice and light but not overly crumbly. Peter's Pie is apparently the same filling, but with mashed potato instead, i.e. a shepherd's pie. A had the chicken with white wine pie, and we both agreed that his was better than mine. It was quite generous with chicken chunks, most of which were pretty tender, and the creamy white wine sauce wasn't too heavy or gelak. They have a chicken and asparagus pie on the menu but it was unfortunately sold out.
They've got a pretty decent dessert menu as well, but since we had ice cream and cheesecake at home, we passed on dessert this time. I definitely wouldn't mind coming back here again for a light meal, or perhaps even to take out some pies to store in the freezer as an emergency meal.
A says:
A bit pricey but you pay for quality. There's a good selection of pies and the desserts don't look bad. Place is clean and simple while service is decent and friendly. Definitely a place to go if you like pie. But since I'm not a big pie fan (unless it's pizza pie), I probably won't be back for a while.
Guest post: Buko Nero
My friend G and her husband M decided to try Buko Nero after reading our reviews on it, and actually managed the unthinkable - they called and managed to get a reservation for the very next night!! Unbelievable! Maybe it's just us that keeps having trouble getting reservations, even when we call up to a month in advance.
Anyway, this isn't about how the good people at Buko Nero don't like us... G has kindly agreed to let me post her review about the place, so without further ado, I give you - a guest post from G:
G says:
Ok, (drum roll please)my review of Buko Nero. Overall, we thought the standard of the food was high. Good ingredients and tastefully presented. We both had ala carte items. Starters: me - Scallops on a bed of salmon carpaccio. M - tau kwa tower. Mains: me - today's special of tenderloin with bacon on bed of potato mash and baby asparagus. M - beef tenderloin as per the menu. Accompanied by a bottle of 2004 chianti. No desserts, just 2 espressos.
I liked my starter, it tasted good and was very pretty to look at. The scallops had little dollops of ebiko roe on them. Unfortunately, there were only 3 of them. Gone in 3 bites :-( Guess I'm used to hefty portions. Tau kwa tower was very tasty, I liked the mushrooms in it too. I preferred this to my own starter although M said it was quite heavy in taste for him but both of us agreed that it was very well plated. It smelled heavenly too.
Mains were done rare, just the way we ordered and the way we both like our meat. Excellent taste and good quality cuts and well plated but again, they were too small for the both of us. The cut was slightly smaller than the size of my palm. It was thick though.
Service was very polite. Both servers wore Birkenstock! - big plus! There were only 3 tables of diners when we arrived at 8pm and a couple who walked in managed to snag a table.
Ambience. Very chic with all the cream and dark brown tones. Nice music. I liked the book shelf with all the quirky decoration although the plastic chairs were a minus. M found the glass tables a little clinical but we both liked the water tumblers. They're from Bodum and we were arguing for a while whether they were glass or plastic cos they were so light! Also, it was good that they used proper balloon wine glasses for our red wine. And we had 2 buckets of bread, the second of which I only had one slice cos M polished off all the rest! M's a bit of a bread monster. He makes his own bread at home.
So yes, it was all very nice but we could have done with MORE! I am so greedy! But yes, very pleasant.
Anyway, this isn't about how the good people at Buko Nero don't like us... G has kindly agreed to let me post her review about the place, so without further ado, I give you - a guest post from G:
G says:
Ok, (drum roll please)
I liked my starter, it tasted good and was very pretty to look at. The scallops had little dollops of ebiko roe on them. Unfortunately, there were only 3 of them. Gone in 3 bites :-( Guess I'm used to hefty portions. Tau kwa tower was very tasty, I liked the mushrooms in it too. I preferred this to my own starter although M said it was quite heavy in taste for him but both of us agreed that it was very well plated. It smelled heavenly too.
Mains were done rare, just the way we ordered and the way we both like our meat. Excellent taste and good quality cuts and well plated but again, they were too small for the both of us. The cut was slightly smaller than the size of my palm. It was thick though.
Service was very polite. Both servers wore Birkenstock! - big plus! There were only 3 tables of diners when we arrived at 8pm and a couple who walked in managed to snag a table.
Ambience. Very chic with all the cream and dark brown tones. Nice music. I liked the book shelf with all the quirky decoration although the plastic chairs were a minus. M found the glass tables a little clinical but we both liked the water tumblers. They're from Bodum and we were arguing for a while whether they were glass or plastic cos they were so light! Also, it was good that they used proper balloon wine glasses for our red wine. And we had 2 buckets of bread, the second of which I only had one slice cos M polished off all the rest! M's a bit of a bread monster. He makes his own bread at home.
So yes, it was all very nice but we could have done with MORE! I am so greedy! But yes, very pleasant.
Sunday, June 04, 2006
Pizza Month Summary
A says:
I’ve realised that I actually prefer really thin and crispy pizzas that aren’t overloaded with toppings. So here’s my Top 5:
1. Naxos
2. Peperoni
3. Valentino’s
4. Rocky’s
5. Spizza
C says:
My Top 5 is slightly different, not least because I had a fairly off-colour experience at Naxos the other day. Went there for lunch, and as usual ordered the Mii Tuna. First bite was a tad mushy, but I thought it was just the guacamole sauce. But after eating a little more, S and I realised that it wasn’t the sauce, it was the tuna itself that was mushy inside. I don’t think it was undercooked, because rare tuna is still firm. It must have gone off, which is kinda gross. Also, the service at lunch was pretty lacking – all the waiters seemed blur and didn’t seem to know what was on the menu.
Note: If you go to Naxos at dinner time, remember that there IS an HSBC credit card discount, contrary to what the waitstaff may say. Whenever I went at lunch, they’d tell me “Sorry, only at dinner time”, and when I went at dinner, they used to tell me that there wasn’t any discount. I finally asked the boss the other day, and he rather unapologetically just shrugged it off, and told me that the waitstaff must have made a mistake. I’m afraid I won’t be coming here again any time soon.
Enough of my rant. Here’s MY Top 5:
1. Valentino’s
2. Rocky’s
3. Peperoni
4. Sistina
5. Spizza
I’ve realised that I actually prefer really thin and crispy pizzas that aren’t overloaded with toppings. So here’s my Top 5:
1. Naxos
2. Peperoni
3. Valentino’s
4. Rocky’s
5. Spizza
C says:
My Top 5 is slightly different, not least because I had a fairly off-colour experience at Naxos the other day. Went there for lunch, and as usual ordered the Mii Tuna. First bite was a tad mushy, but I thought it was just the guacamole sauce. But after eating a little more, S and I realised that it wasn’t the sauce, it was the tuna itself that was mushy inside. I don’t think it was undercooked, because rare tuna is still firm. It must have gone off, which is kinda gross. Also, the service at lunch was pretty lacking – all the waiters seemed blur and didn’t seem to know what was on the menu.
Note: If you go to Naxos at dinner time, remember that there IS an HSBC credit card discount, contrary to what the waitstaff may say. Whenever I went at lunch, they’d tell me “Sorry, only at dinner time”, and when I went at dinner, they used to tell me that there wasn’t any discount. I finally asked the boss the other day, and he rather unapologetically just shrugged it off, and told me that the waitstaff must have made a mistake. I’m afraid I won’t be coming here again any time soon.
Enough of my rant. Here’s MY Top 5:
1. Valentino’s
2. Rocky’s
3. Peperoni
4. Sistina
5. Spizza
Sunday, May 28, 2006
Valentino’s (A Pizza Month Special Report)
C says:
Nothing beats Valentino’s for good old-fashioned Italian food. Quick background on the history of the place (as we know it): our first experience with chef Valentino Valtulina was when he was at Ristorante Roma, at Royal Ville. It renamed itself Casa Roma and the standard deteriorated somewhat. One day, A’s cousin L introduced us to Cantina at Greenleaf Road, and we discovered that Valentino had moved there. Not long after that, we heard that due to some shareholding disputes (Cantina was opened with a Singaporean partner, who allegedly stole Valentino’s recipes then promptly tried to get rid of him), Valentino opened his namesake restaurant last year, deep inside the residential area of Rifle Range Road.
Valentino’s is pretty much a family-run joint – his parents, brother and sister all help out in the restaurant, and his sister even makes all the desserts daily. I think this place has the best traditional Italian food in Singapore – completely unpretentious, just really good Italian food that you could imagine being served in a family-run restaurant in Italy.
Because it’s still pizza month (May is coming to an end, thank goodness…), we had to have a pizza when we came here on Saturday night. A decided on the Pizza Alberto, which has beef tenderloin and Tabasco sauce. For someone who claims to like “simple food for simple folk, yo”, I’m surprised that this pizza is A’s favourite one here. While the beef is very tender and the Tabasco sauce an interesting addition, there are other pizzas I’d rather have here, most notably the Pizza Bismark, which we’ve tried previously. The Bismark is a simple pizza with bacon and 2 eggs sunny side up, and the egg is set but still slightly soft in the center. If you’re a bacon and egg fan, you have to try the Bismark.
Another killer dish here is the Lobster Pasta. Two small lobsters are halved and served, still in their shells with heads and all, with linguine in a creamy tomato sauce that has an incredibly full flavour of lobster and lobster roe. It’s almost like condensed lobster bisque. This is one of the best pastas I’ve ever had, because it doesn’t try to add too many ingredients to complicate matters, and just relies on the strength of the lobster flavour. It can get a little gelak though, so I’d recommend 2 people sharing this and a pizza.
This place has specials every night, but we forgot to ask what the specials were tonight and just proceeded to order. While I have no regrets with the mains, we ordered a meat antipasto starter which was good, if a little boring. We overheard the waiter telling another table the starter specials, one of which was cheese wrapped with parma ham and fried. Bummer, we should’ve ordered that.
We shared a tiramisu for dessert – made by Valentino’s sister. This was really good, and A was in heaven because this tiramisu, which was low on alcohol and high on marscapone cheese, suited him perfectly.
The place was full by about 8.30, so if you’re thinking of coming on a weekend, I’d seriously recommend that you make a reservation if you don’t want to be disappointed. Oh, one more thing – there was a sign on the door saying they’re closed for their annual vacation from 5th to 26th June (or thereabouts). So do call ahead to find out if they’re open.
A says:
Best non-alcoholic Tiramisu I’ve had, EVER!. Food is always excellent. Used to have iffy service but now that Valentino has his whole family here and more staff (including parking valets), it’s all good.
They serve their pizzas on a cool wooden lazy susan so it’s easy to reach the pieces and it’s just plain fun to spin. I would have chosen this as the best pizza place until I developed a taste for cleaner, simpler pizzas. As it is though, this place is still great and like a terminator, “I’ll be back” for the tiramisu.
Nothing beats Valentino’s for good old-fashioned Italian food. Quick background on the history of the place (as we know it): our first experience with chef Valentino Valtulina was when he was at Ristorante Roma, at Royal Ville. It renamed itself Casa Roma and the standard deteriorated somewhat. One day, A’s cousin L introduced us to Cantina at Greenleaf Road, and we discovered that Valentino had moved there. Not long after that, we heard that due to some shareholding disputes (Cantina was opened with a Singaporean partner, who allegedly stole Valentino’s recipes then promptly tried to get rid of him), Valentino opened his namesake restaurant last year, deep inside the residential area of Rifle Range Road.
Valentino’s is pretty much a family-run joint – his parents, brother and sister all help out in the restaurant, and his sister even makes all the desserts daily. I think this place has the best traditional Italian food in Singapore – completely unpretentious, just really good Italian food that you could imagine being served in a family-run restaurant in Italy.
Because it’s still pizza month (May is coming to an end, thank goodness…), we had to have a pizza when we came here on Saturday night. A decided on the Pizza Alberto, which has beef tenderloin and Tabasco sauce. For someone who claims to like “simple food for simple folk, yo”, I’m surprised that this pizza is A’s favourite one here. While the beef is very tender and the Tabasco sauce an interesting addition, there are other pizzas I’d rather have here, most notably the Pizza Bismark, which we’ve tried previously. The Bismark is a simple pizza with bacon and 2 eggs sunny side up, and the egg is set but still slightly soft in the center. If you’re a bacon and egg fan, you have to try the Bismark.
Another killer dish here is the Lobster Pasta. Two small lobsters are halved and served, still in their shells with heads and all, with linguine in a creamy tomato sauce that has an incredibly full flavour of lobster and lobster roe. It’s almost like condensed lobster bisque. This is one of the best pastas I’ve ever had, because it doesn’t try to add too many ingredients to complicate matters, and just relies on the strength of the lobster flavour. It can get a little gelak though, so I’d recommend 2 people sharing this and a pizza.
This place has specials every night, but we forgot to ask what the specials were tonight and just proceeded to order. While I have no regrets with the mains, we ordered a meat antipasto starter which was good, if a little boring. We overheard the waiter telling another table the starter specials, one of which was cheese wrapped with parma ham and fried. Bummer, we should’ve ordered that.
We shared a tiramisu for dessert – made by Valentino’s sister. This was really good, and A was in heaven because this tiramisu, which was low on alcohol and high on marscapone cheese, suited him perfectly.
The place was full by about 8.30, so if you’re thinking of coming on a weekend, I’d seriously recommend that you make a reservation if you don’t want to be disappointed. Oh, one more thing – there was a sign on the door saying they’re closed for their annual vacation from 5th to 26th June (or thereabouts). So do call ahead to find out if they’re open.
A says:
Best non-alcoholic Tiramisu I’ve had, EVER!. Food is always excellent. Used to have iffy service but now that Valentino has his whole family here and more staff (including parking valets), it’s all good.
They serve their pizzas on a cool wooden lazy susan so it’s easy to reach the pieces and it’s just plain fun to spin. I would have chosen this as the best pizza place until I developed a taste for cleaner, simpler pizzas. As it is though, this place is still great and like a terminator, “I’ll be back” for the tiramisu.
Saturday, May 27, 2006
Buko Nero
C says:
We did our May pilgrimage to Buko Nero on Friday night. This time, I ordered the full set menu, while A changed the main course to one of the specials. The set for the night consisted of:
Rocket & Parmesan Salad with Pink Peppercorn Dressing
Cream of Cauliflower with Sea Scallops
Strawberry and Lime Sorbet
Rigatoni with Spicy Sausage and Mushroom Ragu
Baked Coffee Cake with Cream Cheese
The amuse bouche for the evening was the best that I’ve ever had at Buko Nero – crostini with a slice of seared rare steak, topped with a green apple salsa. Both A and I had the same reaction to this dish: pop the whole thing into your mouth, and the first experience is the crunch as you bite down onto the crostini. Then you get the tart sweetness of the green apple, and you’re like “mmm…”. And then, as you chew even more, the full flavour of the beef hits you, and the interplay of all three as you’re finishing the mouthful is mindblowing. A and I kept making yummy noises and sighs as we kept getting more and more of the taste of the beef as we kept chewing. It definitely wasn’t tenderloin, because it was way more flavourful. Maybe ribeye or sirloin? Or perhaps it was US beef.
The salad was pretty good for its simplicity. The cauliflower soup was excellent – not too rich, the cauliflower taste was dominant though not overpowering, and there was a very generous helping of scallops inside. Delicious. The sorbet was, well, sorbet… which is never really my cup of tea.
My rigatoni main course was pretty good, but I think this is probably the last time I don’t switch the main course. It was a well-executed pasta dish but nothing close to the standard of the specials that Chef Oscar whips up. The tomato sauce base had some grated parmesan cheese which made it less sour, and the spicy sausages were really good – bursts of spicy, fatty flavour whenever you bite into each piece.
A switched the set dinner pasta to the pasta special of the day - Squid Ink Pasta with vongole and sea scallops, in an aglio olio-based sauce. This, like the tagliatelle we had on our last visit, was wonderful. The pasta again tasted wonderfully home-made, and the sauce had the benefit of the clams to give it an incredibly strong flavour.
The cake was interesting – it was a strong coffee-flavoured cheesecake, and the cheesecake base had a nice gingery flavour to it. It came with caramel sauce and dusted with icing sugar. Washed down with a latte (me) and a cappuccino (A), it was a perfect ending to another great dinner here.
And whoopee, we managed to secure a reservation for 21st June! Can’t wait!
A says:
Wah rau! The beef starter thingy was (as EMF would say) UNBELIEVABLE! Highlight of the night! I could probably eat a whole tray of those things.
Although the mains didn’t blow me away as much as usual, the rest of the meal was outstanding as always.
Note to self: The latte here is way better than the cappuccino. Order that next time.
We did our May pilgrimage to Buko Nero on Friday night. This time, I ordered the full set menu, while A changed the main course to one of the specials. The set for the night consisted of:
Rocket & Parmesan Salad with Pink Peppercorn Dressing
Cream of Cauliflower with Sea Scallops
Strawberry and Lime Sorbet
Rigatoni with Spicy Sausage and Mushroom Ragu
Baked Coffee Cake with Cream Cheese
The amuse bouche for the evening was the best that I’ve ever had at Buko Nero – crostini with a slice of seared rare steak, topped with a green apple salsa. Both A and I had the same reaction to this dish: pop the whole thing into your mouth, and the first experience is the crunch as you bite down onto the crostini. Then you get the tart sweetness of the green apple, and you’re like “mmm…”. And then, as you chew even more, the full flavour of the beef hits you, and the interplay of all three as you’re finishing the mouthful is mindblowing. A and I kept making yummy noises and sighs as we kept getting more and more of the taste of the beef as we kept chewing. It definitely wasn’t tenderloin, because it was way more flavourful. Maybe ribeye or sirloin? Or perhaps it was US beef.
The salad was pretty good for its simplicity. The cauliflower soup was excellent – not too rich, the cauliflower taste was dominant though not overpowering, and there was a very generous helping of scallops inside. Delicious. The sorbet was, well, sorbet… which is never really my cup of tea.
My rigatoni main course was pretty good, but I think this is probably the last time I don’t switch the main course. It was a well-executed pasta dish but nothing close to the standard of the specials that Chef Oscar whips up. The tomato sauce base had some grated parmesan cheese which made it less sour, and the spicy sausages were really good – bursts of spicy, fatty flavour whenever you bite into each piece.
A switched the set dinner pasta to the pasta special of the day - Squid Ink Pasta with vongole and sea scallops, in an aglio olio-based sauce. This, like the tagliatelle we had on our last visit, was wonderful. The pasta again tasted wonderfully home-made, and the sauce had the benefit of the clams to give it an incredibly strong flavour.
The cake was interesting – it was a strong coffee-flavoured cheesecake, and the cheesecake base had a nice gingery flavour to it. It came with caramel sauce and dusted with icing sugar. Washed down with a latte (me) and a cappuccino (A), it was a perfect ending to another great dinner here.
And whoopee, we managed to secure a reservation for 21st June! Can’t wait!
A says:
Wah rau! The beef starter thingy was (as EMF would say) UNBELIEVABLE! Highlight of the night! I could probably eat a whole tray of those things.
Although the mains didn’t blow me away as much as usual, the rest of the meal was outstanding as always.
Note to self: The latte here is way better than the cappuccino. Order that next time.
Friday, May 26, 2006
Sup Tulang at Adam Road Hawker Centre
C says:
A has certainly come a long way since we got married. Back then, it was inconceivable that he would even consider eating something as exotic as Sup Tulang. But after 2 and a half years of marriage and intensive training on my part (heh), he is slowly but surely getting more adventurous food-wise.
After reading a recent post in another food blog, we decided to try Sup Tulang, albeit at Adam Road rather than at Golden Mile Food Centre which was recommended in the blog. I can’t believe that I’ve never tried Tulang before. Me, someone who eats innards on a regular basis and even used to eat brain! (in the good ol’ days when my grandmother used to make it. She now says she doesn’t buy it because we’re all too health conscious, sigh)
I’m sure everyone who reads this blog knows what Tulang is, so I won’t bother going into a lengthy explanation. It’s basically large pieces of mutton bone, with some meat still on it, and the highlight and whole point of the dish is the wobbly bone marrow. The bones are cooked in an extremely red sauce that’s mostly sweet and tomato-ey. I think the standard way to eat this is with pieces of bread to mop up the sauce, but A and I had ordered stingray and rice so we didn’t want any more carbs.
The dish arrived piled high and STEAMING. We probably had to wait 5 minutes before being able to pick up the first bone comfortably. The meat was surprisingly tender, and there was also a surprisingly substantial amount of meat left on the bone. A lot more than expected, considering that the marrow is the main part of the dish.
It was a good thing we had read the food blog, because it explained the best way to get the marrow out of the bones – carefully shake the bone until the marrow is dislodged and slides out, looking like an extremely gross worm or slug. Sometimes only half the marrow comes out that way, in which case you need to insert the handle of your spoon into the hollow, wiggle it around a little, and that should help the rest of the marrow to slide out after another good shake or two.
The marrow was utterly heavenly. Rich, creamy, buttery. Almost like molten fat. Even A didn’t recoil, and had almost the same number of bones as I did. This dish gets gelak after a while because it’s so rich, so it’s definitely not something you can have very often. Once in 2 or 3 months, I would say.
It was REALLY messy though, and of all the days to forget to refill my supply of tissue paper… We had one measly piece to share between the two of us, but luckily I had a full pack of wet tissues. I think this dish is probably THE worst first date dish ever. It was definitely an experience, and a good one at that, and one that I’ll have again in the foreseeable future.
A says:
The other food blog was Travelling Hungryboy’s. Props where props is due, yo!
While I much prefer the seafood BBQ stingray we also had, I must admit that the Tulang was perfectly edible (aside from its messiness). It’s now almost 24 hours later and my fingers still show faint red stains from eating like a barbarian. “Out, damned spot! Out, I say!”
Alas, as the long-suffering husband of a foodie, I guess I’ll be continuously subjected to eating weird shit.
A has certainly come a long way since we got married. Back then, it was inconceivable that he would even consider eating something as exotic as Sup Tulang. But after 2 and a half years of marriage and intensive training on my part (heh), he is slowly but surely getting more adventurous food-wise.
After reading a recent post in another food blog, we decided to try Sup Tulang, albeit at Adam Road rather than at Golden Mile Food Centre which was recommended in the blog. I can’t believe that I’ve never tried Tulang before. Me, someone who eats innards on a regular basis and even used to eat brain! (in the good ol’ days when my grandmother used to make it. She now says she doesn’t buy it because we’re all too health conscious, sigh)
I’m sure everyone who reads this blog knows what Tulang is, so I won’t bother going into a lengthy explanation. It’s basically large pieces of mutton bone, with some meat still on it, and the highlight and whole point of the dish is the wobbly bone marrow. The bones are cooked in an extremely red sauce that’s mostly sweet and tomato-ey. I think the standard way to eat this is with pieces of bread to mop up the sauce, but A and I had ordered stingray and rice so we didn’t want any more carbs.
The dish arrived piled high and STEAMING. We probably had to wait 5 minutes before being able to pick up the first bone comfortably. The meat was surprisingly tender, and there was also a surprisingly substantial amount of meat left on the bone. A lot more than expected, considering that the marrow is the main part of the dish.
It was a good thing we had read the food blog, because it explained the best way to get the marrow out of the bones – carefully shake the bone until the marrow is dislodged and slides out, looking like an extremely gross worm or slug. Sometimes only half the marrow comes out that way, in which case you need to insert the handle of your spoon into the hollow, wiggle it around a little, and that should help the rest of the marrow to slide out after another good shake or two.
The marrow was utterly heavenly. Rich, creamy, buttery. Almost like molten fat. Even A didn’t recoil, and had almost the same number of bones as I did. This dish gets gelak after a while because it’s so rich, so it’s definitely not something you can have very often. Once in 2 or 3 months, I would say.
It was REALLY messy though, and of all the days to forget to refill my supply of tissue paper… We had one measly piece to share between the two of us, but luckily I had a full pack of wet tissues. I think this dish is probably THE worst first date dish ever. It was definitely an experience, and a good one at that, and one that I’ll have again in the foreseeable future.
A says:
The other food blog was Travelling Hungryboy’s. Props where props is due, yo!
While I much prefer the seafood BBQ stingray we also had, I must admit that the Tulang was perfectly edible (aside from its messiness). It’s now almost 24 hours later and my fingers still show faint red stains from eating like a barbarian. “Out, damned spot! Out, I say!”
Alas, as the long-suffering husband of a foodie, I guess I’ll be continuously subjected to eating weird shit.
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Sushi Tei
C says:
I must say that Sushi Tei’s standard has improved tremendously since we last tried it a couple of years ago. Back then, the menu was uninspired and way overpriced for the selection and quality of the food.
However, on Saturday afternoon, we were at Raffles City and since the basement food area was undergoing massive renovations, we ended up going to the Sushi Tei branch on the third floor.
Maybe it’s just the Raffles City branch, which is apparently new, but it was far better than expected. We had a niku (beef) udon soup, and a selection of sushi like soft shell crab maki. These are slightly above average. We also tried a pan-fried salmon dish with mushrooms in cream sauce. It was a lot less rich than expected, and frankly it didn’t taste quite as good as it looked.
In case you’re wondering why I’m raving about the place given my comments so far, that’s because I’ve saved the best for last. We tried something from their special ‘Spring’ menu, the Aburi Sushi Platter – a selection of broiled sushi, which you can also order a la carte. The combination platter gives you 1 piece of each, whereas if you order a la carte, you get 2 pieces per serving. The items available are scallop, sea bream, salmon belly, yellowtail, swordfish and fatty tuna belly. Instead of being completely raw, the fish is grilled such that the inside is raw and the outside is nicely seared with a hint of charred smokiness. While all the items are delicious, those that particularly stood out were the scallop and the yellowtail.
Alas, since this is part of the Spring menu, it may not be available much longer, as the waitress told us that the Spring menu will only be around till end May. However, all is not lost – apparently feedback from customers and management has been quite positive for the Aburi Sushi, so they may consider including it as a permanent item on their menu.
I’m not taking any chances, though. If all goes well and if our schedule permits, A and I plan to go one more time before the end of May to have another go at the Aburi Sushi.
A says:
C seems to be deluded. It was a hostess (not a waitress) we spoke to and she never said anything about positive feedback from other customers. She said she’d feedback our comments to the management and they might consider adding it to the regular menu.
Overall, I’d still probably go to Ichibon Boshi, but Sushi Tei has really done a good job improving their menu (even though for some reason, a lot of the noodles were out of stock).
And is it just me or does the place look like it’s trying to copy the higher-class Crystal Jade restaurants?
I must say that Sushi Tei’s standard has improved tremendously since we last tried it a couple of years ago. Back then, the menu was uninspired and way overpriced for the selection and quality of the food.
However, on Saturday afternoon, we were at Raffles City and since the basement food area was undergoing massive renovations, we ended up going to the Sushi Tei branch on the third floor.
Maybe it’s just the Raffles City branch, which is apparently new, but it was far better than expected. We had a niku (beef) udon soup, and a selection of sushi like soft shell crab maki. These are slightly above average. We also tried a pan-fried salmon dish with mushrooms in cream sauce. It was a lot less rich than expected, and frankly it didn’t taste quite as good as it looked.
In case you’re wondering why I’m raving about the place given my comments so far, that’s because I’ve saved the best for last. We tried something from their special ‘Spring’ menu, the Aburi Sushi Platter – a selection of broiled sushi, which you can also order a la carte. The combination platter gives you 1 piece of each, whereas if you order a la carte, you get 2 pieces per serving. The items available are scallop, sea bream, salmon belly, yellowtail, swordfish and fatty tuna belly. Instead of being completely raw, the fish is grilled such that the inside is raw and the outside is nicely seared with a hint of charred smokiness. While all the items are delicious, those that particularly stood out were the scallop and the yellowtail.
Alas, since this is part of the Spring menu, it may not be available much longer, as the waitress told us that the Spring menu will only be around till end May. However, all is not lost – apparently feedback from customers and management has been quite positive for the Aburi Sushi, so they may consider including it as a permanent item on their menu.
I’m not taking any chances, though. If all goes well and if our schedule permits, A and I plan to go one more time before the end of May to have another go at the Aburi Sushi.
A says:
C seems to be deluded. It was a hostess (not a waitress) we spoke to and she never said anything about positive feedback from other customers. She said she’d feedback our comments to the management and they might consider adding it to the regular menu.
Overall, I’d still probably go to Ichibon Boshi, but Sushi Tei has really done a good job improving their menu (even though for some reason, a lot of the noodles were out of stock).
And is it just me or does the place look like it’s trying to copy the higher-class Crystal Jade restaurants?
Monday, May 22, 2006
Naxos (A Pizza Month Special Report – “kinda”)
A says:
We’ve always come to this place for its tapas, but I overheard the owner saying to another customer that his pizzas were great because he’s from the most famous pizza region in Italy. So for pizza month, we decided to share one of the pizzas here and have less tapas.
The guy wasn’t lying, man. If you like really thin crust pizza, this place rocks! We had the Naxos pizza (ham, mushroom and a bit of cream) and it was simple, yet addictive. I could even eat just the crust because it tasted like they added extra butter.
I’m not sure whether I prefer this or Peperoni now. Will do a ranking at the end of pizza month.
C says:
I’m not sure why A is so enamoured with the pizza here. Yeah, it was pretty good in a simple way, and it did taste quite nice and buttery. But to me it was like, “Where’s the cheese?” I’m used to having strings of mozzarella oozing out from that first bite of a hot pizza, but there was none to be found here. In fact, it seemed to be thin crust, toppings, then a mixture of butter and grated parmesan sprinkled on top and baked. Sure, it resulted in a less rich pizza but honestly, I’ll take Rocky’s any day.
The tapas here still blows me away though. The seared tuna with guacamole, which we can’t help but order every time we go, was once again superb.
We’ve always come to this place for its tapas, but I overheard the owner saying to another customer that his pizzas were great because he’s from the most famous pizza region in Italy. So for pizza month, we decided to share one of the pizzas here and have less tapas.
The guy wasn’t lying, man. If you like really thin crust pizza, this place rocks! We had the Naxos pizza (ham, mushroom and a bit of cream) and it was simple, yet addictive. I could even eat just the crust because it tasted like they added extra butter.
I’m not sure whether I prefer this or Peperoni now. Will do a ranking at the end of pizza month.
C says:
I’m not sure why A is so enamoured with the pizza here. Yeah, it was pretty good in a simple way, and it did taste quite nice and buttery. But to me it was like, “Where’s the cheese?” I’m used to having strings of mozzarella oozing out from that first bite of a hot pizza, but there was none to be found here. In fact, it seemed to be thin crust, toppings, then a mixture of butter and grated parmesan sprinkled on top and baked. Sure, it resulted in a less rich pizza but honestly, I’ll take Rocky’s any day.
The tapas here still blows me away though. The seared tuna with guacamole, which we can’t help but order every time we go, was once again superb.
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Rocky’s (A Pizza Month Special Report)
C says:
This has become somewhat of a tradition for A and I. Every time a Survivor finale rolls around, we always order Rocky’s pizza delivery. It started when the finale used to be telecast from 7 to 9 pm, and the Results/Reunion show was at 9.30 after a half hour break for the news, which meant absolutely NO time for dinner. Nowadays, with ‘live’ satellite feed we end up taping the 1 pm telecast, which theoretically means we can watch it any time, but we now associate Rocky’s with the Survivor finale, so we still continue to have it for old times’ sake.
We always order the same thing – a 12 inch pizza with 5 toppings of our choice: beef, sausage (this is minced Italian sausage meat, not cheapo sliced frankfurters), egg, mushrooms and garlic. Rocky’s is definitely the only ‘chain’ pizza joint in Singapore that’s still worth having. Don’t even bother with Pizza Hut or, God forbid, Canadian 241…
We had it on Monday night, for the Survivor Exile Island finale. I must say that once in a while, it’s nice having old fashioned pizzas, rather than the currently hip ultra-thin crust gourmet pizzas. Even though the pizza wasn’t piping hot after having travelled from the restaurant at Rail Mall to our place, it was still delicious. Even though old fashioned pizzas have thicker crusts, we found that a great way to polish off the crusts is to dip them in some hot sauce that we got from Sunset Bar & Grill. Lovely!
Not sure that I can wait for the next Survivor finale for our next Rocky’s fix… maybe we’ll have it again for the Amazing Race finale on Thursday, heh.
A says:
C seems to have taken to rambling so I shall as well…
I was having Rocky’s way back in the day when it still had (4) branches around the island. Living a mere 5-minute bike ride away from the outlet at Faber Gardens, I’d often come back from secondary school, call up for a Meat Lovers pizza and cycle over to collect it.
Ah, life was simpler then…
But, I digress.
Rocky’s only has one outlet now so it hardly qualifies as a chain. That said, I think it’s easily the best amongst the “lower-end” pizza places. My simple ketchup and cheese sandwiches taste better than the crap that the rest try to pass off as pizza. Nothing like the chains in America that actually offer decent cheap pizzas.
Ah… I remember surviving on Papa John’s and Pizza Hut back in college. Living a mere 5-minute drive away from each, I’d often call for a pizza from school and swing by to pick it up on the way home, thus eliminating the need to tip (let’s not forget I was a poor college student then).
Ah, life was simpler then…
But, I digress.
As pizzas in Singapore go, Rocky’s is by no means the cheapest or the best. But for a simple, hearty pizza with generous toppings and friendly, old school service (dine-in or delivery), it’s certainly worth your while.
This has become somewhat of a tradition for A and I. Every time a Survivor finale rolls around, we always order Rocky’s pizza delivery. It started when the finale used to be telecast from 7 to 9 pm, and the Results/Reunion show was at 9.30 after a half hour break for the news, which meant absolutely NO time for dinner. Nowadays, with ‘live’ satellite feed we end up taping the 1 pm telecast, which theoretically means we can watch it any time, but we now associate Rocky’s with the Survivor finale, so we still continue to have it for old times’ sake.
We always order the same thing – a 12 inch pizza with 5 toppings of our choice: beef, sausage (this is minced Italian sausage meat, not cheapo sliced frankfurters), egg, mushrooms and garlic. Rocky’s is definitely the only ‘chain’ pizza joint in Singapore that’s still worth having. Don’t even bother with Pizza Hut or, God forbid, Canadian 241…
We had it on Monday night, for the Survivor Exile Island finale. I must say that once in a while, it’s nice having old fashioned pizzas, rather than the currently hip ultra-thin crust gourmet pizzas. Even though the pizza wasn’t piping hot after having travelled from the restaurant at Rail Mall to our place, it was still delicious. Even though old fashioned pizzas have thicker crusts, we found that a great way to polish off the crusts is to dip them in some hot sauce that we got from Sunset Bar & Grill. Lovely!
Not sure that I can wait for the next Survivor finale for our next Rocky’s fix… maybe we’ll have it again for the Amazing Race finale on Thursday, heh.
A says:
C seems to have taken to rambling so I shall as well…
I was having Rocky’s way back in the day when it still had (4) branches around the island. Living a mere 5-minute bike ride away from the outlet at Faber Gardens, I’d often come back from secondary school, call up for a Meat Lovers pizza and cycle over to collect it.
Ah, life was simpler then…
But, I digress.
Rocky’s only has one outlet now so it hardly qualifies as a chain. That said, I think it’s easily the best amongst the “lower-end” pizza places. My simple ketchup and cheese sandwiches taste better than the crap that the rest try to pass off as pizza. Nothing like the chains in America that actually offer decent cheap pizzas.
Ah… I remember surviving on Papa John’s and Pizza Hut back in college. Living a mere 5-minute drive away from each, I’d often call for a pizza from school and swing by to pick it up on the way home, thus eliminating the need to tip (let’s not forget I was a poor college student then).
Ah, life was simpler then…
But, I digress.
As pizzas in Singapore go, Rocky’s is by no means the cheapest or the best. But for a simple, hearty pizza with generous toppings and friendly, old school service (dine-in or delivery), it’s certainly worth your while.
Monday, May 15, 2006
Pizza da Donato
C says:
Deceived. Deceived!!! We went to Pizza da Donato’s main restaurant along Bukit Timah Road on Sunday night, hoping to try their gourmet pizzas after we had a promising preview at their Al Taglio branch on Saturday afternoon.
Alas, ever since they opened the Al Taglio branch, they’ve stopped serving pizzas at the main restaurant. When we saw that there were no pizzas on the menu, we thought that there was a separate pizza menu, but the waiter explained that this place is now primarily a more fine-dining place with an emphasis on good wines and proper pairing of food and wine. So take note, even though the place is still called ‘Pizza… da Donato’ on the signboard, if you want Donato’s pizzas, the only place to get them now is at Al Taglio. In addition to the per slice pizzas we had the other day, Al Taglio also serves a selection of the pizzas that Donato used to serve.
A and I shared a good eggplant parmigiana starter. It was pretty traditional: the eggplant was nice and soft and the tomato and cheese sauce was well balanced and not too sour. A had the pappardelle with pork rib ragu, and I had the roast suckling pig, which was a special of the day. We ended up switching because we preferred each other’s. I thought the pappardelle was quite well done – the pork ribs came on the bone but were so tender that they fell off the bone with minimum effort. The ragu sauce was rich and meaty, and yet didn’t overpower the pappardelle. The suckling pig wasn’t what I expected; I thought it would be a couple of slices of roast pork with crispy skin. Instead, what arrived seemed more like a stew, with two unidentifiable pieces of pork on the bone. The pork was pretty tender and very sweet, but I felt that it was too heavily seasoned with rosemary, such that it overpowered pretty much any other flavour.
We were too full, probably from the pasta, to have dessert. A had a latte which was pretty good, though. While the food here isn’t bad, I probably won’t come back. If I wanted good Italian food and pasta, I’ll just go to Valentinos. Next on our list – to go back to Al Taglio to try the elusive ‘gourmet’ pizzas.
A says:
How can it be called Pizza da Donato if they don’t have bloody pizza!
Food was okay but nothing fantastic. To be fair, the waiter did say that they are more of a wine bar now. Probably caters more to the ang mohs who like to sit, eat and drink in the faux garden outside. It may have been smarter to sit outside because it was bloody hot inside.
The place has more minuses (impossible parking & uncomfortable room temperature) than pluses (good service), so if you want to have good Italian and are willing to make an effort, go to Valentino’s instead.
Deceived. Deceived!!! We went to Pizza da Donato’s main restaurant along Bukit Timah Road on Sunday night, hoping to try their gourmet pizzas after we had a promising preview at their Al Taglio branch on Saturday afternoon.
Alas, ever since they opened the Al Taglio branch, they’ve stopped serving pizzas at the main restaurant. When we saw that there were no pizzas on the menu, we thought that there was a separate pizza menu, but the waiter explained that this place is now primarily a more fine-dining place with an emphasis on good wines and proper pairing of food and wine. So take note, even though the place is still called ‘Pizza… da Donato’ on the signboard, if you want Donato’s pizzas, the only place to get them now is at Al Taglio. In addition to the per slice pizzas we had the other day, Al Taglio also serves a selection of the pizzas that Donato used to serve.
A and I shared a good eggplant parmigiana starter. It was pretty traditional: the eggplant was nice and soft and the tomato and cheese sauce was well balanced and not too sour. A had the pappardelle with pork rib ragu, and I had the roast suckling pig, which was a special of the day. We ended up switching because we preferred each other’s. I thought the pappardelle was quite well done – the pork ribs came on the bone but were so tender that they fell off the bone with minimum effort. The ragu sauce was rich and meaty, and yet didn’t overpower the pappardelle. The suckling pig wasn’t what I expected; I thought it would be a couple of slices of roast pork with crispy skin. Instead, what arrived seemed more like a stew, with two unidentifiable pieces of pork on the bone. The pork was pretty tender and very sweet, but I felt that it was too heavily seasoned with rosemary, such that it overpowered pretty much any other flavour.
We were too full, probably from the pasta, to have dessert. A had a latte which was pretty good, though. While the food here isn’t bad, I probably won’t come back. If I wanted good Italian food and pasta, I’ll just go to Valentinos. Next on our list – to go back to Al Taglio to try the elusive ‘gourmet’ pizzas.
A says:
How can it be called Pizza da Donato if they don’t have bloody pizza!
Food was okay but nothing fantastic. To be fair, the waiter did say that they are more of a wine bar now. Probably caters more to the ang mohs who like to sit, eat and drink in the faux garden outside. It may have been smarter to sit outside because it was bloody hot inside.
The place has more minuses (impossible parking & uncomfortable room temperature) than pluses (good service), so if you want to have good Italian and are willing to make an effort, go to Valentino’s instead.
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Tao’s
C says:
Tao’s Modern Pacific Cuisine has certainly come a long way since it first opened back in 2003. When A and I stumbled upon it back then, we were one of the few tables in the place. Since then, it’s been steadily growing in popularity, and for good reason. For a fixed price of $24.80 (for dinner), you get a 7 course meal, with at least 4 choices each for the salad, soup, main course and dessert.
The service here has always been impeccable – the wait staff have always been personable without being too in-your-face, and we’ve never had to wait excessively long between courses. On Saturday night, I called them at about 7.30 to make a reservation, only to be told that I could just turn up and walk in. When we got there, the place was packed and there was a line of about 8 people, so naturally I was infuriated. I strode to the front of the queue, to the annoyance of the people waiting in line but TOUGH. I expressed my displeasure to one of the waiters, who apologised and immediately set up a table for us. I was marginally appeased but was still considering writing a harsh comment in their feedback form, when suddenly our food came at a remarkable pace and all the wait staff were desperately trying to placate us. I guess they were afraid that I would lodge a complaint with their manager or something, so they tried their hardest to make our dinner as pleasant as possible. I must say they did a good job.
Anyway, enough drama and on to the food. As a first course, everyone gets a bacon and cheese gratin with thick slices of buttered toast for dipping. Second course is salad – you get a choice of about 4. I had the seasonal cocktail, which was prawn with a mashed potato salad. A had the Italian caprese salad, which was a low-end version of insalata caprese – mozzarella and tomato salad. Next up is a great grilled mushroom dish drizzled with teriyaki sauce. After that is the soup course – again there’s a choice of 4, but we both always have the cream of mushroom. The soup is surprisingly good; it certainly rivals the mushroom soups in higher-end restaurants, and it doesn’t skimp on the mushrooms, as there are lots of chopped-up bits of mushroom inside.
Main course is next, and thankfully the portions are fairly small as you’re getting pretty full by now. There are a mind-boggling eight choices for the main course. The specialities are the slow-cooked baby back ribs and the lamb cutlet. A always has the lamb cutlet, and I used to have the roasted cod but they’ve recently taken that off the menu. On Saturday night I had the herb crusted sole fillet, which was also very good.
For dessert, there are about 5 to choose from, but in my opinion don’t even bother looking at the rest, and just go for the crème brulee. It ROCKS. Of course, A has no taste and always orders the green tea ice cream… To wash it all down, you get a final course of a hot or cold drink, ranging from the usual coffee or tea, to Tao’s speciality ice fruit teas. The grape and mallow tea is my personal favourite.
I definitely recommend this place for a very pleasant and satisfying meal. Word of warning: (1) don’t go if you’re in an indecisive mood because the sheer array choices will do you in, and (2) no matter what anyone tells you, insist on making a reservation…
A says:
It seems that I’m not the only one scared of being abused by C.
I always thought it was some fancy schmancy place until we actually tried it and found it to be pretty laid back. Waiters are friendly and actually know their stuff.
I have to disagree with C on her comment on the array of choices as since you have to order the set, it’s pretty simple. Easier than wondering if you should have salad or a soup or a dessert etc… You just get a bit of everything in smaller portions so you just choose what you like from each group.
Anyway, the variety doesn’t mean much to me since I usually always have the same thing:
1. Starter – Bacon & Cheese Gratin – My favourite!
2. Salad – Italian caprese salad – Passable. Since they took the potato salad off the menu, I’ve not had a decent salad.
3. Grilled Mushrooms – Available at dinner only – 2nd King!
4. Soup – Cream of Mushroom – Nice and thick!
5. Main Entrée – Marinated Lamb Cutlet – Pretty good. If you’re not sure, ask the waiters. They give pretty good recommendations.
6. Dessert – Green Tea Ice Cream – After chocolate milkshakes, I’ve got a soft spot for these.
7. Beverage – Ice Summer Peach Tea – Always interesting. They give you a small pot and a fork to spear the chunks of fruit.
All in all, it’s pretty good value for money. Definitely worth a visit for simple fusion fare. But here’s a tip, unless you’re into Xinyao (those earnest local Mandarin songwriters/performers), don’t sit outside. They have performances there almost every night and it’s hard to have a proper conversation with the noise.
Tao’s Modern Pacific Cuisine has certainly come a long way since it first opened back in 2003. When A and I stumbled upon it back then, we were one of the few tables in the place. Since then, it’s been steadily growing in popularity, and for good reason. For a fixed price of $24.80 (for dinner), you get a 7 course meal, with at least 4 choices each for the salad, soup, main course and dessert.
The service here has always been impeccable – the wait staff have always been personable without being too in-your-face, and we’ve never had to wait excessively long between courses. On Saturday night, I called them at about 7.30 to make a reservation, only to be told that I could just turn up and walk in. When we got there, the place was packed and there was a line of about 8 people, so naturally I was infuriated. I strode to the front of the queue, to the annoyance of the people waiting in line but TOUGH. I expressed my displeasure to one of the waiters, who apologised and immediately set up a table for us. I was marginally appeased but was still considering writing a harsh comment in their feedback form, when suddenly our food came at a remarkable pace and all the wait staff were desperately trying to placate us. I guess they were afraid that I would lodge a complaint with their manager or something, so they tried their hardest to make our dinner as pleasant as possible. I must say they did a good job.
Anyway, enough drama and on to the food. As a first course, everyone gets a bacon and cheese gratin with thick slices of buttered toast for dipping. Second course is salad – you get a choice of about 4. I had the seasonal cocktail, which was prawn with a mashed potato salad. A had the Italian caprese salad, which was a low-end version of insalata caprese – mozzarella and tomato salad. Next up is a great grilled mushroom dish drizzled with teriyaki sauce. After that is the soup course – again there’s a choice of 4, but we both always have the cream of mushroom. The soup is surprisingly good; it certainly rivals the mushroom soups in higher-end restaurants, and it doesn’t skimp on the mushrooms, as there are lots of chopped-up bits of mushroom inside.
Main course is next, and thankfully the portions are fairly small as you’re getting pretty full by now. There are a mind-boggling eight choices for the main course. The specialities are the slow-cooked baby back ribs and the lamb cutlet. A always has the lamb cutlet, and I used to have the roasted cod but they’ve recently taken that off the menu. On Saturday night I had the herb crusted sole fillet, which was also very good.
For dessert, there are about 5 to choose from, but in my opinion don’t even bother looking at the rest, and just go for the crème brulee. It ROCKS. Of course, A has no taste and always orders the green tea ice cream… To wash it all down, you get a final course of a hot or cold drink, ranging from the usual coffee or tea, to Tao’s speciality ice fruit teas. The grape and mallow tea is my personal favourite.
I definitely recommend this place for a very pleasant and satisfying meal. Word of warning: (1) don’t go if you’re in an indecisive mood because the sheer array choices will do you in, and (2) no matter what anyone tells you, insist on making a reservation…
A says:
It seems that I’m not the only one scared of being abused by C.
I always thought it was some fancy schmancy place until we actually tried it and found it to be pretty laid back. Waiters are friendly and actually know their stuff.
I have to disagree with C on her comment on the array of choices as since you have to order the set, it’s pretty simple. Easier than wondering if you should have salad or a soup or a dessert etc… You just get a bit of everything in smaller portions so you just choose what you like from each group.
Anyway, the variety doesn’t mean much to me since I usually always have the same thing:
1. Starter – Bacon & Cheese Gratin – My favourite!
2. Salad – Italian caprese salad – Passable. Since they took the potato salad off the menu, I’ve not had a decent salad.
3. Grilled Mushrooms – Available at dinner only – 2nd King!
4. Soup – Cream of Mushroom – Nice and thick!
5. Main Entrée – Marinated Lamb Cutlet – Pretty good. If you’re not sure, ask the waiters. They give pretty good recommendations.
6. Dessert – Green Tea Ice Cream – After chocolate milkshakes, I’ve got a soft spot for these.
7. Beverage – Ice Summer Peach Tea – Always interesting. They give you a small pot and a fork to spear the chunks of fruit.
All in all, it’s pretty good value for money. Definitely worth a visit for simple fusion fare. But here’s a tip, unless you’re into Xinyao (those earnest local Mandarin songwriters/performers), don’t sit outside. They have performances there almost every night and it’s hard to have a proper conversation with the noise.
Saturday, May 13, 2006
Pizza Al Taglio (A Pizza Month Special Report)
A says:
We’ve been meaning to try Pizza da Donato for a long time and heard that they opened a small take out/hole in the wall place at Sixth Ave that sells regular pizza by slices (rectangular).
So we went to check it out at lunch and they’ve got a bunch of slices laid out and reheated when you order. We decided to share three slices (blue cheese, smoked salmon and mushroom).
As quick pick up pizzas go, the food is pretty good and definitely worthwhile. While Pizza Al Taglio does have a better selection, I personally prefer the pizza from Da Paolo Gastronomica. They’re smaller but cheaper, and they somehow taste finer.
I’d still like to try the proper “gourmet” pizzas at Pizza da Donato though. Al Taglio is good enough to leave me wanting more.
C says:
Out of the three pizzas we shared, the blue cheese one was the best – it was the most different and therefore the most interesting. A is right, the take-out pizzas from Da Paolo’s Gastronomica gourmet store is still more refined – I think the difference is in the tomato puree. The tomato puree on the Gastronomica pizzas somehow tastes more seasoned (yet not overpoweringly so). Kinda hard to explain, but it just seems as though more effort and fresher ingredients go into the Gastronomica pizzas.
Still, the Al Taglio ones were very good for fast food-style pizzas. In fact, I think they were actually better than the ‘posh’ pizzas that we had at Da Paolo’s Pizza Bar.
We’re definitely going to try the main Donato outlet soon. I just hope the pizzas there live up to our expectations.
We’ve been meaning to try Pizza da Donato for a long time and heard that they opened a small take out/hole in the wall place at Sixth Ave that sells regular pizza by slices (rectangular).
So we went to check it out at lunch and they’ve got a bunch of slices laid out and reheated when you order. We decided to share three slices (blue cheese, smoked salmon and mushroom).
As quick pick up pizzas go, the food is pretty good and definitely worthwhile. While Pizza Al Taglio does have a better selection, I personally prefer the pizza from Da Paolo Gastronomica. They’re smaller but cheaper, and they somehow taste finer.
I’d still like to try the proper “gourmet” pizzas at Pizza da Donato though. Al Taglio is good enough to leave me wanting more.
C says:
Out of the three pizzas we shared, the blue cheese one was the best – it was the most different and therefore the most interesting. A is right, the take-out pizzas from Da Paolo’s Gastronomica gourmet store is still more refined – I think the difference is in the tomato puree. The tomato puree on the Gastronomica pizzas somehow tastes more seasoned (yet not overpoweringly so). Kinda hard to explain, but it just seems as though more effort and fresher ingredients go into the Gastronomica pizzas.
Still, the Al Taglio ones were very good for fast food-style pizzas. In fact, I think they were actually better than the ‘posh’ pizzas that we had at Da Paolo’s Pizza Bar.
We’re definitely going to try the main Donato outlet soon. I just hope the pizzas there live up to our expectations.
Friday, May 05, 2006
Da Paolo Pizza Bar (A Pizza Month Special Report)
A says:
I had really high expectations for this place considering how good the ready made slices at the Gastronomica a few doors down are.
Sadly, I was pretty disappointed. Mostly because of personal preference though, because while I like my pizzas really, really thin, this place had a more regular pizza crust.
Ingredients and selection were interesting and well put together, but I think the flavour didn’t come out strong enough because of their proportions with the dough. It could also be our choice of pizzas: the Pollo – chicken, avocado & pink peppercorn – and the Fiorentina – tomato, mozzarella, spinach, salami & egg – that didn’t really have a strong flavour (except for pink peppercorn).
If we go back, maybe we’ll try the salmon one. Don’t think it’ll be anytime soon since the place is usually full. It’s lucky we went early on a Friday afternoon because it was packed by the time we left.
C says:
Ditto. I expected the pizzas to taste a lot more, I dunno, authentic than they did. While they definitely weren’t bad at all, they somehow lacked the oomph of other gourmet pizza joints, like Valentino, Peperoni or Sistina. I guess it’s also because, as A said, we came with pretty high hopes for the place since it’s always packed to the brim whenever we pass by.
We had a side order of deep fried meatballs with tomato sauce, which came topped with alfalfa sprouts. This tasted like a good bolognaise sauce, but what slightly annoyed me was that they assumed that we both wanted an order EACH. I only realised when we got the bill, but I figured it was too petty to make a big deal of it. Still, I think that if they weren’t sure whether we wanted to share one order or have one each, they could simply have just asked.
I had really high expectations for this place considering how good the ready made slices at the Gastronomica a few doors down are.
Sadly, I was pretty disappointed. Mostly because of personal preference though, because while I like my pizzas really, really thin, this place had a more regular pizza crust.
Ingredients and selection were interesting and well put together, but I think the flavour didn’t come out strong enough because of their proportions with the dough. It could also be our choice of pizzas: the Pollo – chicken, avocado & pink peppercorn – and the Fiorentina – tomato, mozzarella, spinach, salami & egg – that didn’t really have a strong flavour (except for pink peppercorn).
If we go back, maybe we’ll try the salmon one. Don’t think it’ll be anytime soon since the place is usually full. It’s lucky we went early on a Friday afternoon because it was packed by the time we left.
C says:
Ditto. I expected the pizzas to taste a lot more, I dunno, authentic than they did. While they definitely weren’t bad at all, they somehow lacked the oomph of other gourmet pizza joints, like Valentino, Peperoni or Sistina. I guess it’s also because, as A said, we came with pretty high hopes for the place since it’s always packed to the brim whenever we pass by.
We had a side order of deep fried meatballs with tomato sauce, which came topped with alfalfa sprouts. This tasted like a good bolognaise sauce, but what slightly annoyed me was that they assumed that we both wanted an order EACH. I only realised when we got the bill, but I figured it was too petty to make a big deal of it. Still, I think that if they weren’t sure whether we wanted to share one order or have one each, they could simply have just asked.
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Spizza (A Pizza Month Special Report)
A says:
Hot on the heels of Beef and Fish months, I’m making this Pizza month!
First up, we decided to fulfil my pizza craving with a visit to Spizza at HarbourFront. I like this Spizza outlet just because it seems less stuffy then the others. Where the others tend to have marginally snotty wait staff and patrons, this one is relatively laid back. The service does suffer a bit for it though, and you can expect a bit of blurness here and there.
Food quality is about the same at all its branches/franchises and the starters range from passable to pleasantly surprising, like the Nerone C & I shared (Roasted veal loin, topped with tuna sauce).
Although they bill themselves as offering pizzas from A to Z, Spizza only has 22 main course pizzas, with each pizza’s name starting with a different letter of the alphabet, and all named after Italian women. On this visit, we had the Barbara (Tomato, Mozzarella, Hot Italian minced Pork, Shallots & Olives) and the Katarina (Tomato, Mozzarella, Beef Carpaccio, Rucola and Shaved Parmesan). The ingredients and range are different enough to make visits interesting, and they certainly are delicious enough, but they don’t really give me a distinct impression other than the novelty of having a pizza with a funny name.
Overall, the food isn’t bad and I’m sure we’ll be back. On our next visit, we’re supposed to have the Quinta (Tomato, Mozzarella, Egg and Black truffle sauce) which my cousin L swears by.
C says:
A bit of blurness in the waitstaff is an understatement. First the waitress tells me there’s an HSBC promotion, then 3 minutes later she comes back and tells me it’s only valid for orders over $50. Then, after giving her my card and waiting for what seems like bloody ages, all the while glaring ever more murderously in the general direction of the cash register, another waitress finally notices and finally decides to swipe my card. So I was waiting for almost 10 minutes while my card was happily unnoticed.
But I digress. The pizzas here, while not spectacular, are still pretty good and I like the wide variety and interesting range of ingredients.
Hot on the heels of Beef and Fish months, I’m making this Pizza month!
First up, we decided to fulfil my pizza craving with a visit to Spizza at HarbourFront. I like this Spizza outlet just because it seems less stuffy then the others. Where the others tend to have marginally snotty wait staff and patrons, this one is relatively laid back. The service does suffer a bit for it though, and you can expect a bit of blurness here and there.
Food quality is about the same at all its branches/franchises and the starters range from passable to pleasantly surprising, like the Nerone C & I shared (Roasted veal loin, topped with tuna sauce).
Although they bill themselves as offering pizzas from A to Z, Spizza only has 22 main course pizzas, with each pizza’s name starting with a different letter of the alphabet, and all named after Italian women. On this visit, we had the Barbara (Tomato, Mozzarella, Hot Italian minced Pork, Shallots & Olives) and the Katarina (Tomato, Mozzarella, Beef Carpaccio, Rucola and Shaved Parmesan). The ingredients and range are different enough to make visits interesting, and they certainly are delicious enough, but they don’t really give me a distinct impression other than the novelty of having a pizza with a funny name.
Overall, the food isn’t bad and I’m sure we’ll be back. On our next visit, we’re supposed to have the Quinta (Tomato, Mozzarella, Egg and Black truffle sauce) which my cousin L swears by.
C says:
A bit of blurness in the waitstaff is an understatement. First the waitress tells me there’s an HSBC promotion, then 3 minutes later she comes back and tells me it’s only valid for orders over $50. Then, after giving her my card and waiting for what seems like bloody ages, all the while glaring ever more murderously in the general direction of the cash register, another waitress finally notices and finally decides to swipe my card. So I was waiting for almost 10 minutes while my card was happily unnoticed.
But I digress. The pizzas here, while not spectacular, are still pretty good and I like the wide variety and interesting range of ingredients.
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Angus House
C says:
After our cousin C’s vehement recommendations, we finally tried the steaks at Angus House in Takashimaya on Sunday night. It’s a Japanese restaurant serving Western food, so most of the food has a slight Asian twist to it, making it rather interesting.
I had the 200g rib-eye steak, and A had the 150g ‘Tournedos’ tenderloin, which was essentially a fillet mignon wrapped with bacon. We ordered the set, which came with a starter, soup, salad and dessert. The starter was a piece of fried fish (A says it was salmon but I think it was more of a white-fleshed fish) on top of a slice of radish, and some crispy crackers, which tasted vaguely like muruku (Indian crackers). Soup was a cream of mushroom, which wasn’t particularly outstanding but still very addictive. The garden salad had a fragrant Japanese dressing with hints of lemon and sesame oil.
My rib-eye steak was served on a hot plate, and because the steak wasn’t very thick, it cooked a little more upon its arrival at the table so it turned the medium rare into a medium. Still, the meat was incredibly soft and tender, yet it had a strong beef flavour. In fact, it was a good combination of the tenderness of a fillet steak, and the taste and flavour of a rib-eye. It was served with herb butter and a very interesting Japanese sauce that had a hint of lime in it, which actually helped to liven the flavour of the meat and made it less gelak.
A’s fillet mignon was more typically ‘Western’, served with a mushroom sauce. It was also very good – very tender and sweet, with very fine texture.
Dessert was a forgettable sponge cake with hazelnut mousse. The highlight of the meal is definitely the steak, but this place is a little pricey so I think we’ll only be going back for special occasions.
A says:
Mad props to C’s cousin for recommending this place. Really damn good meat. I think this is one of the best steaks I’ve had in a while. Everything else is decent, but the steak really RAWKS! Oh, and the funny looking bun is cool too.
Even though the décor is imposing at first (very faux Lawry’s with servers in the maid-esque outfits), the atmosphere is pretty relaxed. It also seems popular with Jap families which made up like half the clientele when we were there.
Another thing I like is that you’re given 3 sizes of each steak to choose from. Perfect for people who don’t like to gorge themselves.
At around $50 to $70 for a set meal (depending on the size of steak), it’s still pretty expensive. Overall, I think it’s definitely a place to consider for a special occasion or when you want to treat yourself to a really good steak.
After our cousin C’s vehement recommendations, we finally tried the steaks at Angus House in Takashimaya on Sunday night. It’s a Japanese restaurant serving Western food, so most of the food has a slight Asian twist to it, making it rather interesting.
I had the 200g rib-eye steak, and A had the 150g ‘Tournedos’ tenderloin, which was essentially a fillet mignon wrapped with bacon. We ordered the set, which came with a starter, soup, salad and dessert. The starter was a piece of fried fish (A says it was salmon but I think it was more of a white-fleshed fish) on top of a slice of radish, and some crispy crackers, which tasted vaguely like muruku (Indian crackers). Soup was a cream of mushroom, which wasn’t particularly outstanding but still very addictive. The garden salad had a fragrant Japanese dressing with hints of lemon and sesame oil.
My rib-eye steak was served on a hot plate, and because the steak wasn’t very thick, it cooked a little more upon its arrival at the table so it turned the medium rare into a medium. Still, the meat was incredibly soft and tender, yet it had a strong beef flavour. In fact, it was a good combination of the tenderness of a fillet steak, and the taste and flavour of a rib-eye. It was served with herb butter and a very interesting Japanese sauce that had a hint of lime in it, which actually helped to liven the flavour of the meat and made it less gelak.
A’s fillet mignon was more typically ‘Western’, served with a mushroom sauce. It was also very good – very tender and sweet, with very fine texture.
Dessert was a forgettable sponge cake with hazelnut mousse. The highlight of the meal is definitely the steak, but this place is a little pricey so I think we’ll only be going back for special occasions.
A says:
Mad props to C’s cousin for recommending this place. Really damn good meat. I think this is one of the best steaks I’ve had in a while. Everything else is decent, but the steak really RAWKS! Oh, and the funny looking bun is cool too.
Even though the décor is imposing at first (very faux Lawry’s with servers in the maid-esque outfits), the atmosphere is pretty relaxed. It also seems popular with Jap families which made up like half the clientele when we were there.
Another thing I like is that you’re given 3 sizes of each steak to choose from. Perfect for people who don’t like to gorge themselves.
At around $50 to $70 for a set meal (depending on the size of steak), it’s still pretty expensive. Overall, I think it’s definitely a place to consider for a special occasion or when you want to treat yourself to a really good steak.
Monday, May 01, 2006
Hong Lim market
C says:
We went to Hong Lim market on Saturday afternoon, thinking it’ll be considerably less crowded than it is on weekdays with the office crowds. Boy, were we wrong. But I was having a serious craving for good hawker food, so we decided to be patient and wait as long as it took.
Which turned out to be about 20 minutes or so, not that bad in the circumstances. We ordered a $3 plate from the famous Outram Park char kuay teow stall. To me, this is the best char kuay teow in Singapore – it’s deliciously moist without feeling or tasting oily, had loads of garlic, and it’s peppered with lovely morsels of la pork (lard) that add a lovely crunch.
We also tried the Ah Kow Mushroom Minced Pork Mee, which was recently featured on “Our Makan Places: Lost and Found” on Channel 5. $3 yielded a very generous bowl, and the blend of chilli and vinegar was just right. However, my one grouse about it is the noodle consistency – it’s a tad too mushy for my liking. I like my mee pok springy and chewy, with a firm bite to it. Almost al dente, if you can describe mee pok as al dente.
(Lest you think we’re complete pigs, we shared one order of each!)
Washed everything down with a glass of sugar cane juice. An extremely unhealthy lunch that left us with a garlic aftertaste for the rest of the afternoon, but thoroughly satisfying nonetheless.
A says:
I’ve been having lots of Char Kway Teow lately and this one, with its generous servings of cockles, was really worth it for $3. But factor in the long, long, longggg wait and I think I’d rather go for the one at Beach Road/Army Market. Bak Chor Mee was pretty good, but again, not worth the crowds and the wait.
We went to Hong Lim market on Saturday afternoon, thinking it’ll be considerably less crowded than it is on weekdays with the office crowds. Boy, were we wrong. But I was having a serious craving for good hawker food, so we decided to be patient and wait as long as it took.
Which turned out to be about 20 minutes or so, not that bad in the circumstances. We ordered a $3 plate from the famous Outram Park char kuay teow stall. To me, this is the best char kuay teow in Singapore – it’s deliciously moist without feeling or tasting oily, had loads of garlic, and it’s peppered with lovely morsels of la pork (lard) that add a lovely crunch.
We also tried the Ah Kow Mushroom Minced Pork Mee, which was recently featured on “Our Makan Places: Lost and Found” on Channel 5. $3 yielded a very generous bowl, and the blend of chilli and vinegar was just right. However, my one grouse about it is the noodle consistency – it’s a tad too mushy for my liking. I like my mee pok springy and chewy, with a firm bite to it. Almost al dente, if you can describe mee pok as al dente.
(Lest you think we’re complete pigs, we shared one order of each!)
Washed everything down with a glass of sugar cane juice. An extremely unhealthy lunch that left us with a garlic aftertaste for the rest of the afternoon, but thoroughly satisfying nonetheless.
A says:
I’ve been having lots of Char Kway Teow lately and this one, with its generous servings of cockles, was really worth it for $3. But factor in the long, long, longggg wait and I think I’d rather go for the one at Beach Road/Army Market. Bak Chor Mee was pretty good, but again, not worth the crowds and the wait.
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