Restaurant Week - Gaia

C says:

Gaia, located where Thumper used to be at Goodwood Park Hotel, completely wasn't on our radar and we definitely wouldn't have come if not for Restaurant Week. The menu, 5 courses for $55, looked pretty interesting, so I decided what the heck, and booked it for Tuesday night.


First course was deep fried sardines with caramelised onions. This was good until both of us got a mouthful of bones, probably from the tail of the fish.


Next course was a bit of a letdown - a pan fried ham and ricotta cheese timbale. It tasted a bit like christmas stuffing, and basically disintegrated when we tried to eat it.


The pasta course fared better, a home made tagliatelle with soft shell crab in a light tomato bisque sauce. I found it interesting that on its own, the pasta was just a tad underseasoned, but once you had it with the crab, the brininess of the crab added just the right amount of saltiness.


This time we both ordered the same main, cos the other option was a boring-sounding braised chicken leg. We had the oven-baked cod cooked in milk with grilled polenta, and this was the highlight of the meal, particularly for A. I had one slightly dry, overcooked piece of fish but the piece was excellent - really moist and flaky. The polenta had a very subtle flavour, but paired well with the fish.


Dessert was a traditional tiramisu, with half the plate covered in cocoa powder. Brought out the whimsical artist in me. Heh.

Gaia apparently serves fine dining Italian, though when we checked out the a la carte menu, the mains just consisted of various proteins, all served grilled with the same selection of sides. The pasta selection is fairly standard, but the appetisers look interesting and they have an entire page of buffalo mozzarella dishes.

Service was very good; polite and sincere even though we were one of the el cheapos there for Restaurant Week. When we asked to see the a la carte menu at the end of the evening, the waiter brought us one each, and even proceeded to take us through the menu to highlight the restaurant’s specialties.

A says:

Where was the door bitch? We waited like fools at the main door before realizing the greeting desk was in the 2nd room, beyond the bar. Hmpf.

After that first misstep however, service was excellent. The food was good too with the cod being the highlight. Although the restaurant week menu seemed very different from their regular menu. And aside from the page of mozzarella dishes, there was nothing on the regular menu that really called out to me.

We’ll probably be back to try the cheese, and because the service is good. But it’s not exactly top of my list.

Gaia Ristorante & Bar
22 Scotts Road
Goodwood Park Hotel
Tel: 6735-9937
Lunch: Mon to Fri & Sun, noon to 2.30 pm
Dinner: Daily, 6.30 pm to 11 pm
www.gaia.sg

Restaurant Week – Il Lido

C says:

Singapore’s 3rd edition of Restaurant Week is on from 9th to 16th October 2011. Since we missed out on most of the good stuff during the second instalment, I decided to book on the very first day that they opened bookings to the public. Some choice places were already booked up, but we managed to get a few reservations at some restaurants that had quite enticing Restaurant Week menus.

I’d already planned for a few days off in October, and fortuitously it coincided with the first two days of Restaurant Week. A and I decided to have a “romantic” day out in Sentosa, starting with lunch at Il Lido. We’ve resisted coming to Il Lido for the longest time, since we’ve always had the impression that it was pretty poncey and fine dining. Since the Restaurant Week menu looked half decent, we finally took the plunge.


We started with an amuse bouche of poached smoked salmon with caviar and a sour cream sauce. Not bad, but nothing to shout about.


The appetiser was seared scallops with blueberry sauce. This was quite disappointing – the scallops were underseasoned so the whole dish tasted pretty flat.



We ordered one each of the main courses (we passed on the vegetarian option, of course) – the beef cheek and the seabass. The beef cheek was good – slow-cooked and tender without being overtly stew-like, and served with a green pea sauce. The seabass was baked en papillote (but plastic), but this was a tad too disconcertingly “steamed Teochew style” for my liking, as the broth was clear and slightly tart from the cherry tomatoes.


Dessert was a molten chocolate cake with a twist – served with a yogurt ice cream rather than vanilla. I liked the tartness of the yogurt ice cream, which tempered the sweetness of the chocolate somewhat. A begged to differ, though.

I maintain that set lunches and Restaurant Week-esque offerings may not necessarily show a restaurant’s full potential, and I think that goes for lunch today as well. The food was alright – good enough that I may consider coming back once more to try some of their interesting-sounding pastas on the a la carte menu, but it’s certainly not at the top of my list.

A says:

The view and service are great. The food less so. But the standard’s decent enough and having checked out the regular menu, the pastas look interesting and the prices aren’t astronomical, so we’ll be back... some time... I guess...

Il Lido
Sentosa Golf Club
27 Bukit Manis Road
Tel: 6866-1977
Open daily: 11.30 am to 2.30 pm; 6.30 pm to 11 pm
www.il-lido.com

The Canteen

C says:

I think Canteen is probably one of the most underrated joints in Orchard Road. A was initially not a huge fan since he has issues with what he deems high end hawker fare. But once he discovered the waffles here, he's now a fervent convert.


My new favourite dish here is the soupy mee tai mak, which I order when I want to feel a bit more virtuous and don't want to indulge in the XO sauce mee tai mak. It's really simple - a clear broth with minced pork, meat balls and a poached egg, but somehow it just hits the spot.


A's default order is the waffles with whipped cream and maple syrup. On the menu it says it comes with strawberries but we always change it to sliced bananas. This is definitely on A’s list of top 5 waffles in Singapore.

Prices are very reasonable, and I love that because it's so underrated, it's a calm little respite from the chaos of Orchard Road.

A says:

I like the simple, no frills attitude of this place. And the service is usually very good, although this time, everything went haywire. Nevertheless, still one of my favourite waffles in town.

The Canteen
1 Scotts Road
#01-01B Shaw Centre
Tel: 6738-2276
Sun to Thurs: 9 am to 10pm
Fri & Sat: 9 am to 11 pm
www.lesamis.com.sg

Garrett Popcorn

C says:

It's all my colleague S's fault for getting me (re)hooked on Garrett popcorn. She brought a bag of the Chicago Mix to work one day and I'd been craving it since then.

Good thing that Garrett is now everywhere, not just RWS. I satisfied my craving when I was at 313 Somerset the other day.


The Chicago Mix is a combination of two flavours - the Cheesecorn and the Caramelcrisp. It's a genius combi cos it really is the best of both worlds. The Cheesecorn is so cheesy that it stains your fingers neon orange almost immediately, but it has that trademark airy texture of popcorn. The Caramelcrisp is coated with a crisp slightly salted caramel glaze, and while too much is definitely quite cloying, the cheese and the caramel balance each other out perfectly.

My only criticism is that at $8 for a small bag, this really doesn't come cheap. Then again, it's not something we should be indulging in regularly anyway.

A says:

Popcorn’s good, but the portion sizes are too big for a normal person. I’d probably need to share with a few, or a dozen, people. After eating too much on my own, I’ve given myself a cough and constipation. Ewww...

www.garrettpopcorn.com/singapore-locations/

Penang Place Restaurant

C says:

Penang Place Restaurant is a buffet restaurant located at Fusionopolis. We're usually not really big on buffet joints but we heard some good things about it, so we tried it on Friday night with A's family.

There were some hits and misses, but overall I was fairly impressed. The nasi lemak was quite fragrant and came with a good sambal. The beef rendang was very tender and the chicken curry had a thick, rich gravy, not the thin, diluted sort that you may expect from a mass produced buffet place.

The penang char kuay teow was very good too, and the prawn noodle soup had a surprisingly good broth, though perhaps a tad on the sweet side. The chicken satay was pretty tasty too, and very tender.

What didn't fare so well were the desserts. A's folks were mad for the chempedak fritters, but the rest of the desserts were very mediocre.

Dinner was about $30 per person, which A found on the high side but I actually found it quite reasonable given the relative quality of most of the dishes. Not somewhere we'll come back on our own, I don't think, since we're not really buffet people, but it's a good place to bring family.

A says:

What surprised me was that as a buffet staffed by part-time students, the service is fantastic. The main dishes were pretty good but the desserts were horrible. But would I regularly pay $30 for all-you can eat char kway teow, rendang and nasi lemak? Probably not.

Penang Place Restaurant
1 Fusionopolis Way
#B1-20/24 Connexis
Tel: 6467-7003
Mon to Sat: 11.30 am to 2.30 pm; 6 pm to 9.30 pm
Closed Sundays
www.penangplace.com

Wild Honey

C says:

In my opinion, the most elusive table isn't at Valentino or even Buko Nero. It's at Wild Honey, a cafe in Mandarin Gallery that serves breakfast/brunch food all day long. They don't accept reservations, so unless you're willing to get there at 8 am, or spend about an hour just waiting, it's well nigh impossible to get a table on a weekend or public holiday.

Our first attempt was on Hari Raya Puasa. We got there before 10, expecting not many people being up and about at that time. We were sorely mistaken. We were told by the door b*tch that the wait was an hour.

We then decided that the only option was to go on a weekday, so off we went on Friday when I had a day off. Expecting it to be fairly empty, I was still surprised to see that there was a "short" 15 minute queue for a table. It's only because we agreed to a counter seat that we managed to get in without waiting.

There are no menus at the tables, only a big chalkboard next to the cashier where you order and pay; at least they do bring your food to your table. I ordered the European, their signature take on an eggs benedict, and A had the I Love NY, since it had scrambled eggs and smoked fish.


The eggs ben comes on thick slices of brioche, and instead of cooked ham, there's proscuitto and sauteed mushrooms. The eggs were perfectly poached, and the hollandaise sauce wasn't excessively rich, but the thickness of the brioche meant that the carb to protein ratio was bit disproportionate.


A's was right up his alley though, and I must say overall it was the better of the two. The smoked sturgeon was stirred into the scrambled eggs so it flavoured the eggs with a wonderful savoury smokiness. It came with a sesame seed bagel and a chive sour cream, and a couple of cherry tomatoes on the vine.


We also ordered a side order of bacon, and I must say that this was ridiculously good value. $5 for a veritable pile of bacon! Raw bacon from supermarket delis costs more than that!


The cappuccino comes dusted with a little cocoa heart, which I thought was a cute touch, and the flat white here is stronger than most.

The food here is good, but the queues really are prohibitive. They're opening a second outlet at the soon to be re-opened Scotts Square at the end of the year, so hopefully that'll alleviate the demand somewhat. Until then, I think it's strictly a weekday-off place.

A says:

The food and service are great, but it’s not cheap and the wait for a seat is usually horrible. Pros and cons. Weigh them out for yourself.

Wild Honey
#03-02 Mandarin Gallery
Tel: 6235-3900
Mon to Fri: 9 am to 10.30 pm
Sat and Sun: 8 am to 10.30 pm
www.wildhoney.com.sg

Breakfast in the CBD

C says:

Over the period of the recent F1 road closures, we decided to come into work extra early to avoid the traffic mayhem, and had breakfast in the vicinity. Over a period of 5 working days, we tried three places so here’s a quick write-up on each of them.

Jewel Coffee

There’s been a fair amount of press about Jewel Coffee since it opened at One Shenton.
It's one of a number of artisanal coffee joints that have sprouted up recently. They have pretty good pastas and a yummy ribeye sandwich at lunchtime, but we had some of their breakfast fare – brioche toast, and pancakes.



Portions are hearty but probably not the most suitable for an everyday brekkie before work. They seem more appropriate for a lazy weekend brunch. They served salted President butter with their brioche, so big thumbs up there.

Their coffee is excellent. We both had the Brazilian beans which had a slight nutty, chocolatey flavour; it was strong, complex and not unduly bitter.

Basil Leaf

This is an unassuming little joint in the basement of The Sail. The coffee was ok, but what stood out, and had us coming back 3 times, was their English muffin or bagel with egg, bacon and cheese.



As far as bagels go, the one they use here is good, but I still prefer the muffin - less chewy and easier to eat in a hurry in a limited amount of time.

The Muffinry

A works across the street from this newly opened joint selling (duh) muffins of all kinds.

I much prefer savoury things to sweet, so I was psyched to try some of their savoury muffins. Those took a while coming out of the oven, so in the meantime we had the chocolate and the banana walnut ones.



They were good, nice and light, but they paled in comparison to the Green Eggs and Ham one. Chunks of ham and spring onions in a light fluffy muffin, this was a winning combination.

They have all sorts of interesting sounding flavours, like Apple Blueberry and Lavendar Lemon. My only criticism is that the muffins are quite small, so at $2.40 each, you don't get a lot for what you pay. Still, in the interests of making the most of your calories, I maintain that it’s better to have a small but really good muffin, than a big but mediocre one.

A says:

All good. Jewel Coffee was probably the best, but most expensive. Basil Leaf was a surprising find. And Muffinry has great muffins (like duh!).

HooHa / The West End

C says:

Located at Pasir Panjang Village – the row of conservation shophouses at the junction of South Buona Vista Road and Pasir Panjang Road, HooHa and The West End are affiliated restaurants that seem firmly entrenched in the 80s and proud of it. We came here expecting nothing but a simple meal at a neighbourhood joint, and left very pleasantly surprised.

The decor is unapologetically kitsch, complete with wrought iron lamps with flickering plastic orange flames. As for the waiters, they’re a breath of fresh air. It’s unfortunately quite rare these days to encounter non-foreign talent waiters, especially in non-fine dining establishments, who know what they’re doing and actually care about doing a good job. The waiters here fall into that rare category, and one of the ladies serving us actually carried a pocket torchlight to help customers check their bill. Talk about dedication.

On their billboards, they proudly claim to serve “The best tenderloin steak in the region”. We've always mocked it - what region, the West? The Pasir Panjang Village region? Still, we had to see what the fuss was about.


It probably wasn't super high grade steakhouse meat, but it was still pretty damn tasty. The beef was tender, perfectly charred and still medium rare and juicy. The baked potato was a bit of a let down though.


A ordered the rack of lamb, and when he took his first bite he went so quiet that I thought there was something wrong. Turns out he was just stunned at how unexpectedly good it was. Again perfectly cooked, well seasoned and very flavourful.


We shared a brownie with ice cream, which was again very good in an old school way.

Besides their lofty tenderloin steak claims, I love how refreshingly unpretentious this place is. They’re not trying to serve fine dining or innovative cuisine; just very hearty and almost retro fare, done really well.

Given that they weren’t full on Sunday night, they’ve somewhat puzzlingly opened a third outlet, Good Ol’ Cafe, at YESS Centre right next to Ju Shin Jung. The menu is apparently similar, but with an emphasis on French cuisine. We haven’t tried it (it’s taken us this long to even try HooHa) but it looks forlornly empty whenever we drive by. Still, hopefully all three outlets will benefit from the opening of the Circle Line shortly.

A says:

The place looks dodgy, like a low-rent Jack’s Place. So we were very surprised when the food turned out to be of pretty good. My rack of lamb was especially awesome. In fact, the only letdown were the mashed and baked potatoes.

I’d recommend this place for a old-school restaurant dinner, a chillout neighbourhood meal, or a highly ironic steakhouse experience.

HooHa Cafe
220 Pasir Panjang Road
Tel: 6475-2210
Open daily: 12 pm to 2.30 pm; 6 pm to 11 pm
www.hoohacafe.com

Chinois by Susur Lee

C says:

We're big fans of Susur Lee after watching him on the second season of Top Chef Masters. He was previously a consultant chef for Club Chinois and now he's back, again in partnership with the Tung Lok group, to open Chinois by Susur Lee at Resorts World Sentosa.

Most of you would know that because of A, Chinese food usually isn't quite our thing, and coupled with some lacklustre reviews that we've heard about the place, it definitely wasn't on our to-go list. Still, I had some Tung Lok dining vouchers that I had to use by end September, and when we realised they were valid for the a la carte menu at Chinois, we thought it was the perfect opportunity.

I like the decor - kind of an understated chic. It's classy without seeming too poncey, so you don't feel too out of place if you don't dress up. Having said that, I was quite horrified with the family who, between them, came in wearing torn denim shorts and a plain white tee more suitable for sleeping in.

There are a few set menus available, ranging from $80 to $120 per person, but we had to order a la carte to use the vouchers and I'm glad we did. We got a chance to try and share a bigger variety of dishes. Bear in mind that portions are quite small; we didn't eat all THAT much.


We started with the soya duck tongues with XO chilli sauce. Unlike the ones that we had at Jade Palace, the tongues here didn't have any bone or cartilege. They were perfectly stewed so they were soft but still had some texture, and served with a home made XO sauce and dried chillies. This was extremely tasty and at $10, pretty decently priced.


Their signature dish is a crab claw stuffed with abalone served with an uni sauce, but unfortunately they'd sold out so I'd recommend pre-ordering it when you call for your reservation. We ordered the other uni dish on the menu, a braised uni and asparagus broth that had amazingly complex flavours.



Being a Chinese restaurant, most of their signature dishes are in the seafood rather than the meat category. We ordered two fish dishes, both of which were outstanding. The marble goby with black truffle had an intensely flavourful sauce, from the truffle, garlic and a superior broth base. If we thought that was good, the oven baked cod was even better. It was served with egg white, salted egg yolk and a black vinegar reduction, which was both sweet and tart, that really brought the dish to life.


The baked mushrooms with a morel and soy milk broth were ok. The broth was interesting but the dish as a whole was quite ordinary. What did impress us, was the steamed tofu with preserved vegetable and garlic. It came with a fragrant soy sauce commonly served with steamed or fried fish, and it was so simple but the flavours were excellent.


The roast lamb loin with braised eggplant and jasmine rice was a bit of a letdown. The lamb had quite an overwhelming five spice marinade, and generally this was nowhere near the standard of the fish.

I have to reiterate that portions were small, so at this point A was still hungry. We ordered two more appetisers - a seared foie gras with smoked duck breast, and momotaro tomatoes with crab meat.


The tomatoes were pretty much an elevated crab mayo salad, but the foie gras was very good, especially if you don't like overly fatty foie. Somehow the one here was quite light so it wasn't too rich and jelak.

The dessert menu is quite interesting, with a mix of both Asian and Western desserts like a chocolate lava cake. On hindsight we should have had dessert here rather than the disappointing gelato at Candylicious.

Service was very good, with most of the waitresses able to speak good English. At lunch time they have a Dim Sum menu that looks pretty interesting too. Overall I was very impressed, and prices aren't prohibitive either. The total bill, before our voucher use, was $190, which granted isn't cheap but is no more expensive than a fancy dinner at most non-celebrity restaurants these days. I definitely want to try their dim sum next, and of course their signature crab claw.

A says:

I think the reason some people have been disappointed by this place is because they go expecting their usual Chinese-style meals. So the first thing you should know is that this isn’t going to be your conventional Chinese fare. It’s by no means molecular or fusion, but the flavours are interesting enough to be very unique.

Hits include the duck tongue, foie & duck breast, steamed tofu and the two fish dishes.

Everything else was by no means bad, just a bit mediocre, especially the lamb and tomatoes with crab.

The service is great here. And ambience-wise, the place looks quite classy, yet the atmosphere is fairly relaxed, which may be from the very eclectic customer mix. There were some well dressed patrons mixed with some people who looked like they just got off the boat. Although I hear this is common for restaurants at Resorts World. (I wonder how the Joel Robuchon customers dress).

Overall, a very good experience. I’ll definitely be back at some point, especially for the fish and duck dishes.

Chinois by Susur Lee
Hotel Michael, Resorts World Sentosa
26 Sentosa Gateway, #02-142/143
Tel: 6884-7888
Lunch: 11.30 am to 3 pm
Dinner: 6.30 pm to 11 pm
www.chinois.com.sg

Roadhouse at Dempsey

C says:

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

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


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


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


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


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

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

A says:

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

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

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

Ippudo Tao

C says:

We’re usually quite slow to jump on the bandwagon of any new establishment. We prefer to give them a while for any kinks and teething problems to be ironed out, and to wait for queues to abate somewhat. Case in point – Ippudo, the ramen joint at Mandarin Gallery where queues of over an hour were par for the course when they first opened.

I’m not sure if the Mandarin Gallery branch still attracts long lines, but they’ve opened a branch called Ippudo Tao at UE Square. This outlet serves ramen as well as yakitori, but the ramen menu isn’t as varied as the one at Mandarin Gallery. Still, I’ll happily trade fewer ramen options for some grilled skewers and most importantly, no queues. We called on Sunday evening and easily got a reservation (I’m not sure if the Mandarin outlet accepts reservations).


We started with a deep fried young corn, since you don’t see that on menus very often. The corn was very lightly battered and topped with some herbed garlic. Interesting but not something we’ll order again, at least not before trying other things on the menu.


As for the yakitori, we tried the tsukune and the pork belly. The pork belly was nice and juicy; as for the tsukune, it was a bit too refined for me. I like my tsukune to have some texture from the chicken cartilage and stuff, but this was too smooth and didn’t have any bite.



We tried the original Ippudo Shiro, which was tonkotsu broth and Hakata-style noodles (thin and straight), and one of the Ippudo Tao specials – the Tao Kuro, with thick chewy noodles served in tonkotsu broth with added miso paste and fragrant garlic oil. I preferred the Shiro, which was lighter yet had a more complex flavour. The Tao Kuro packed more of a flavour punch, but was more one dimensional.


I remembered reading that they serve fresh garlic, but didn’t see any on the table. I asked them about it and sure enough, they brought a dish of garlic cloves and a garlic press. Choose one, stick it into the press and squeeze directly onto your ramen. The fresh garlic really packs a punch so use sparingly. And maybe not on a first date.

Because the ramen here was pretty light, we didn’t feel ramen-ed out the way we sometimes do after a particularly rich bowl of ramen. In fact, I think our ramen fatigue, which has plagued us since Hokkaido, has been somewhat lifted, and now I feel like venturing to Iluma to try the Ramen Champion stalls.

A says:

Great service and very good food. What I especially like is that the ramen isn’t overwhelmingly salty or thick like other places. This is probably going to be my favourite ramen place for a while.

Ippudo Tao
207 River Valley Road
#01-55/56 UE Square
Tel: 6887-5315
Mon to Thurs: 11.30 am to 3 pm; 5.30 pm to midnight
Fri and Sat: Mon to Thurs: 11.30 am to 3 pm; 5.30 pm to 2 am
Sun: 11.30 am to 11 pm
www.ippudo.com.sg

Smiths Fish and Chips

C says:

A number of people have raved about the British authenticity of Smiths Fish and Chips, but we were loath to travel all the way to Tanjong Katong Road and hunt for parking, just for fish and chips.

So we were extremely pleased to find out that they recently opened an outlet at Balmoral Plaza. Apparently, so were many others, because the place was packed when we ventured there fairly early on a Saturday evening. We were a bit concerned that we’d either have to stand up and eat, or brave the haze outdoors, but the turnover is pretty quick and by the time the queue moved we managed to snag a table.

It definitely brings to mind an old school English fish and chip shop, just a lot brighter and cleaner. You queue up to place your order, and the portions are served in a completely no-frills manner, wrapped in plain waxed paper. There’s quite a comprehensive menu, from cod to haddock to dory to halibut, as well as sausages, chicken and salmon fishcakes. There’s even baked beans and mushy peas for the sentimental expat longing for a taste of home.


We ordered the cod and the haddock. At $18 and $17 respectively, prices are not exactly cheap. The cod was better than the haddock, in my opinion. The flesh was flakier, more moist and more flavourful. The chips were quite a let down. I know British chips are traditionally thick cut, not the shoestring fries that we’re used to, but a good chip can still be crisp outside and fluffy inside. These were just fried chunks of potato. Needed lots of ketchup, but hey, at least they use Heinz.

All in all, it was a bit underwhelming, and not really worth the price, in my opinion. The fish and chips at Two Fat Men are way better value, and assuming Greenwood Fish Bistro still has their promo of $10 for takeaway fish and chips, I’d much rather have any of those instead.

A says:

The atmosphere’s a bit crowded and chaotic. And the fish & chips we had, even at the $17/18 price range was above average at best. The batter was awesome though. And if I wasn’t concerned about having a heart attack, I’d just order multiple portions of the batter scratchings for $1 each. But overall, there’s nothing here that leaves me with an overwhelming urge to come back.

Smiths Fish and Chips
271 Bukit Timah Road
#01-02 Balmoral Plaza
Tel: 6737-9313
Open daily: 12 noon to 11 pm
www.smithsfishandchips.com

Iron Chef Roll Cake

C says:

This is part of Isetan Scotts' Autumn Kyushu Fair, which is on from now till 19 September. Billed as a recipe collaboration with Iron Chef Sakai, it combines a super light sponge cake roll with a creme caramel-like pudding in the centre.

Out of the 4 flavours available, only 2 are pudding rolls - the maple syrup and matcha green tea. Two others are regular roll cakes - plain and chocolate.


We bought the maple syrup pudding roll, which was amazingly light notwithstanding the pudding centre. It had just the right amount of cream, and a distinctive yet not overwhelming maple syrup flavour.

Because of the pudding centre, the shelf life of the cake is at most 2 days, but trust me, it's so good that you won't have any trouble finishing it in less than that.

A says:

Super light, super tasty. The pudding centre is a bit weird at first, but the contrast in textures makes it much more interesting than a normal roll. I might try the green tea one if we’re in the area next week.

Hong Kong Street Sin Rong

C says:

We read a pretty good review of this place in The Sunday Times a few weeks ago, and since it’s just a few minutes’ drive from home, we decided to give it a try.

Call us predictable, but we ordered the exact same dishes that were reviewed – the “sum lo” hor fun, Mongolian pork rib and chicken with salted egg yolk.


Sum lo hor fun is the recognisable dish offered at any establishment that also sells fish head bee hoon. A simple mix of fried hor fun, sliced fish and beansprouts, the dish looks deceptively plain but when executed well, it can be extremely tasty.

I was slightly disappointed with the one here. Perhaps I was comparing it to the more famous ones from the Holland Drive XO Fish Bee Hoon (which has since relocated to Dover Crescent) and Ka Soh, but I found the one here a bit lacking in the flavour department. There wasn’t enough gravy coating each strand of hor fun so it dried out pretty quickly, and the hor fun didn’t have enough wok hei. In addition, I found that the sliced fish wasn’t as fresh, and some slices were even un(der)cooked.


They pretty much redeemed themselves with the salted egg yolk chicken though. To me, this dish is a no brainer. I love fried chicken, and I love anything cooked with salted egg yolk. It’s usually prawns or squid, so it’s refreshing to have it paired with fried chicken here. I was totally happy with this, but A was less keen because the chicken wasn’t deboned.


Finally, the article’s third recommended dish was the Mongolian pork rib. This is a bit like the usual zi char staple pai guat wong, but with a twist. The sauce has a hint of cream and other spices, giving it a slight Western slant. The combination of flavours takes a little getting used to, but all in all this was pretty tasty too.

Some hits and misses so far, but overall we had a good impression of the place; enough to make us want to come back to try a number of other dishes on their rather comprehensive menu.

A says:

Not as good as the old Holland Drive/now Dover Crescent XO Fish Bee Hoon place, but still pretty good. Plus they have a much broader menu (and they give you a physical menu that’s easy to read as well). Thumbs up for some casual zhi char in Pasir Panjang.

Hong Kong Street Sin Rong
118 Pasir Panjang Road
Tel: 6474-7088
Open daily: 10 am to 2.30 pm; 5 pm to 10.30 pm

Chili’s at Resorts World

C says:

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

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


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


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


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

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

A says:

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

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