With so many restaurants lined along the two sides of Lorong Mambong, it’s easy to miss out Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ restaurant if you are new to Holland Village. How many times have I walked past it when I was in the area? Plenty.

I can’t believe that it took me until now to try the Japanese restaurant, but boy am I glad that I finally went there for dinner recently. Gyu Kaku means bull horn in Japanese, but to me, it translates to meat heaven.

Besides Holland Village, the Yakiniku restaurant also has other two branches at Chijmes and UE Square. There’s really nothing better than the sizzling sound of wagyu beef over the red-hot charcoal grill.

The manager suggested the Fuku Set ($179/2pax, $249/3pax, $309/4pax) which comes with assorted kimchee, aburi bacon, choice of salad, assorted mushroom, wagyu fillet steak, wagyu karubi, wagyu rump cap, kurobuta pork collar, duck breast, gindara miso foil grill, ishiyaki mentaiko and a choice of dessert. There is also the Warai set ($149/2pax, $209/3pax, $269/4pax) which is slightly more affordable and comes with choices like lamb chop, wagyu tongue, and wagyu nakaochi.

This is the Horenso Salad at Gyu-Kaku restaurant, which is essentially a Japanese style Spinach salad topped with bacon and creamy sesame dressing. If it was up to me, I’d call this the awesome-Japanese-salad.

After finishing the fantastic salad, we continued with the assorted kimchee, aburi bacon and the Japanese stone grill rice. I wasn’t really paying attention to them, though. I was distracted by the huge plate of wagyu-goodness on the table…

I ate a slice of beef. Two. Three. And then half the plate was gone. It was impossible to slow down. They were so good. Oh my god. A piece of Wagyu fillet steak, a bite of wagyu karubi, a mouthful of wagyu rump cap – I can die without regrets now.

Halfway through the meal, we shifted our focus to the kurobuta pork collar, duck breast and gindara. The grilled cod was not bad, but I felt that it was a distraction from the beef. Who needs cod when you can have wagyu beef? The same goes for kurobuta pork collar and duck breast. Still, everything was gone in a flash. More meat please!

The servings of the Fuku set should be enough for most people, but my brother is a big meat eater, so we ordered more food from the ala carte menu.

If I had eaten the Wagyu Brisket ($13.9/small, $19.9/large) first, it might have tasted fantastic, but there was no turning back after we had the wagyu fillet steak and rump cap.

Even though we already had a lot of meat, it was impossible to resist the 200g Wagyu ribeye steak ($89.9). Our bellies were bursting when we were done with the steak. This is the reason why I can never be a vegetarian.

I was quite amazed that we didn’t smell like BBQ after finishing dinner. The air ventilation of the restaurant was very good; the fumes from the BBQ were ventilated efficiently through the vents. It was also great that the staff came along often to change the grill plate.

Gyu Kaku Japanese BBQ restaurant is not cheap. But it serves good quality meat, and I like the fact that you won’t smell like BBQ after a meal. I will definitely come back when I am craving for wagyu beef.

Singapore Food Blog Review
Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ Restaurant
29 Lorong Mambong
Holland Village
Tel: +65 6466 4001

30 Victoria Street
#01-01/03 Chijmes
Tel: +65 6333 4001

81 Clemenceau Avenue
#01-18/19 UE Square
Tel: +65 6733 4001

Note: This was an invited media tasting.

For more recommendations, please read my list of Japanese Restaurants in Singapore

Pasta Brava Italian Restaurant at Craig Road has been in the Singapore Food Scene for a long time. I’ve been told that they are worth a visit by many friends, but it took me until now to go there. I guess it’s better late than never, and I am really happy to tell you that it has joined the ranks of my favourite Italian Restaurants in Singapore.

It is a great place with a homely vibe. The lighting is dim and romantic, and the wall adornments give the restaurant a personal touch. The staff is equally well trained; friendly without being too intrusive, and they are very familiar with the offerings.

The menu at Pasta Brava restaurant is divided into appetisers, salads, soups, pasta dishes, rice dishes, main dishes (fish), main dishes (meat) and desserts – with average price of each dish between $19-23 for the pasta/risotto, and $25-40 for the main dishes.

We were feeling greedy, so we chose to forego the antipasti and share an additional main course instead.

Amongst the three pasta/risotto that we had, my favourite was the Linguine Regina Del Mare ($23). It was savoury and sweet and filled with luxurious seafood like prawns, clams, scallops, squid, and crayfish. Easily one of the better Italian pastas that I’ve had recently.

The Stracci Ai Gamberi E Capesante ($23), on the other hand, was average. Whilst the thin pieces of fresh pasta were good, the Saffron cream sauce was too overwhelming.

They have only three risotto on the menu (mushroom, squid ink and mixed vegetables) and we were very tempted by the seafood and squid ink version.

Eventually, we decided to play it safe and go for the mushroom risotto. Our choice was right as the Risotto Al Funghi Porcini ($23) proved to be very good. Rich yet not overpowering, moist yet not soggy, every grain of the arborio rice was flavourful and oh so delicious.

The Tagliata Di Manzo Stile Toscano ($34), highly recommended by the staff, was fantastic! It was essentially thin slices of grilled beef sirloin with herbs, rocket leaves and parmesan flakes.

I was not expecting much from it when the waiter brought the dish to our table. It was only when my friends took a bite and let out a satisfied sigh, then I realised what I was missing out (I was busy with the seafood linguine).

We enjoyed it tremendously, you MUST order this if you go to Pasta Brava.

Pasta Brava Italian Restaurant is not exactly very big, and when it’s crowded (especially during Friday and weekends), it can get quite noisy. Reservations are highly recommended. The prices here are what you’d expect from a good Italian restaurant, but the food here is definitely better than most. It is simple, hearty and very tasty.

For more recommendations, read my list of Italian Restaurants in Singapore

Singapore Food Blog Review
Pasta Brava Italian Restaurant
11 Craig Road Singapore
Tel: +65 6227 7550

Operating Hours:
Mon to Sat: 11.30am – 2.30pm
6.30pm – 10.30pm
(Closed on Sun & PH)

I was pretty excited when The Handburger launched last year. They were among some of the new burger places in Singapore that claimed to serve gourmet burgers. With creations like tandoor chicken, and duck confit burgers – you can’t blame me for being enthusiastic.

Their original location at Raffles City was closed for renovation, and when I walked by their branch at 313 @ Somerset, the huge promotional signboard for their set lunch was screaming at me: “come in and grab a burger – you know you want one!”

The lunch special (available till 4.30pm) of a burger + side + drink is just $8.80. I’m not sure if you are aware, but The Handburger restaurant belongs under the same management as the popular Soup Spoon franchise.

If my memory did not fail me, the burgers used to be priced much higher. But apparently, they have re-adjusted the prices – making it more affordable for the mass market.

The name of “the handburger” was an irony as everyone in the restaurant was using utensils instead of hand to consume their burger. It’s so wrong to eat a burger with fork and knife. The best way to eat a burger is to grab it with both hand and wolf down the sexy devil. Now there, you don’t really need me to write a guide on ‘How to eat a burger‘ do you?

Burger, is meant to be a messy affair.

For the sides, there’s salad or fries to choose from. The former was earthly and clean, nothing sophisticated — just simple fresh greens with crispy bacon streaks and mini tomatoes. On the other hand, the fries were passable and came with a garlic sauce to dip in. Give me my tomato and chili sauce!

There’s the Handburger Original with a grilled 120g of N.Z ribeye beef patty; the Chicken Caesar burger which has a single baked chicken thigh; the fascinating Pulled Pork Burger with slow-cooked fork tender pulled pork filling; and the Battered dory burger that is made up of a single battered pacific dory fish.

We had the Handburger Original and the Pulled Pork Burger. Resting on a seabed of lettuce, the Handburger Original’s beef patty was grilled and topped with a layer of cheddar cheese. I love that they were really generous with the lettuce in the burger – so much so that I’d advise to choose the fries over the salad for your side.

I didn’t really enjoy the beef patty though, it was somewhat flavorless and had a rubbery taste. Go for the Pulled Pork Burger instead. Strips and strips of pork came with handmade barbecue sauce and it was really delicious!  On a side note, The Handburger’s menu stated that the buns were toasted, but it was a little too oily for my liking and tasted more like deep-fried.

* * *

For just $8.8, I felt that The Handburger set lunch is pretty value for money considering that a meal at MacDonald probably costs around $6-7 nowadays. Has anyone tried their duck confit burger? I’m a huge fan of duck confit, and if you ever see me back in The Handburger, I will probably have a duck confit burger in hand!

Restaurant Review
The Handburger
313 Orchard Road #B2-17/18/19
313 @ Somerset Singapore
Tel: +65 6509 6214

252 North Bridge Road #B1-77/78
Raffles City Shopping Centre Singapore
Tel: +65 6334 4577

It is difficult for a restaurant whenever a chef left, especially for one that bears the namesake of the chef. For the longest time, I have heard about Forlino, an Italian fine dining restaurant at the second level of the swanky One Fullerton, overlooking Esplanade and the new Marina Sands.

Catherine, Ju and I had the chance to dine at some of the waterfront restaurants at One Fullerton, and we were at Forlino for their Valentine’s day six-course dinner (S$128++ per person) which will be available from Feb 12 to 14.

It can be quite a thwarting experience to find Forlino; there was the much-talked-about mysterious flight of steps leading to the restaurant. Black and white tiles, with blue paneled walls lined up the entrance right up to the main dining area – Forlino at One Fullerton is  a stunning restaurant.

Everyone was full of praises for the Jumbo Crab Salad, a garden of wild rockets with strips of crab meat. Alaskan King crab will always sound nicer, and taste better than a Sri Lanka crab.

“Is that Spam (luncheon meat)?” One of us blunted out.

I wasn’t that surprised when I saw that there’s Beetroot cake on the menu, since I just had Beetroot Halwa not too long ago. The texture of the Beetroot Cake had a close resemblance to luncheon meat. Anyway, most of us couldn’t finish this, but the Robiola cheese fondue, made from milk of cow, goat and sheep, was very intriguing – impossibly creamy yet airily light.

I can remember a while back when I tried my first squid ink risotto and I thought that the planet would stop spinning. It was one of those rare moments that made me go ‘awesome’, and I knew life would never be the same again. At Forlino, I had one of those moments again. It was a simple Homemade Squid Ink Tagliolini – or so I thought. While most rendition comes in the black, slimy sauce, the tagliolini here was infused with squid ink, and it was tossed nicely in the flavorful Sea Urchin Sabayon – no hideous black stains on the lips. The semi dried cherry tomatoes were the sweetest tiny things ever, I loved every slurp of the pasta – Awesome!

The medium Angus Prime Beef Tenderloin had a tinge of pink in the middle; subtle hint of blood, slightly charred surface – I’m sure you’d like this. Besides the beef, we also enjoyed the very tasty potatoes but none of us knew how to appreciate the bitter Radicchio.

“Where’s the black cod from?” Catherine asked.

“Atlantic” came the prompt reply.

The Black Cod Fillet was like meat in cod’s disguise. Peeling off layer by layer, I drizzled each piece of the cod and a bit of the asparagus with the Sicilian blood orange sauce. It’s a tough choice for main course: choosing between the beef tenderloin and the black cod fillet, but the Angus prime beef edged out slightly for me.

The Strawberry & Yogurt Mousse was a cliche, with the corny heart-shape sauce of peppermint chocolate sauce. But still, cliche is a cliche because it works, sometimes. I was expecting a highly complex, multi-layers dessert to wrap up the show -  oh well, a dessert’s still a dessert anyway.

* * *

This is the first part of a series that I’m doing on the waterfront restaurants in One Fullerton. I’ll like to thank Fullerton Heritage, and Lyla of Ate Consulting for arranging and hosting this dinner.

Service at Forlino was impeccable, all the staff was equally knowledgeable about the food and wine on their extensive menu. Under the lovely influence of moscato, good food, and stunning overview of the Marina bay; Forlino is definitely a romantic restaurant for Valentine’s day dinner.

Restaurant Review
Forlino
1 Fullerton Road
#02-06 One Fullerton
Tel: +65 6877 6995

Our very special night with DBS Foodster started with the limo fetching us to The Queen & Mangosteen. Cheerful staff greeted us, the smoothing sea breeze, with the relaxing ambience, the stage was set for a wonderful dinner.

We started off by ordering from the Nibbles menu. The portion of the Fish & Chips ($15) was more than enough to be served as an entrée, three pieces of fish with a big bucket of fries. Mind you, it’s not just the usual side fries, it’s a whole bucket of tasty potatoes! I would prefer them to come in thicker wedge with some green peas by the side – the traditional British good O’ fish & chips. But still, it’s good enough.

And oh yes, I forgot to mention about the special curry tartare sauce. It was awesome! Indian cuisine has always been a big influence on the Brits, the sauce provided another different dimension which we never had before.

The shredded slow-braised duck with crusty bread ($13) was ordered out of curiosity, and the staff did warn us it could be an acquired taste, but we went ahead anyway. The taste was quite close to a pate, but somehow it reminded me of the tuna spread that I put on my bread.

Following on the adventurous tone that has been set, we went for the Spicy minced beef ($14). There wasn’t anything spectacular when we had the minced beef or corn chips separately. But it was a hit when we spread a generous layer of minced beef on top of the chips and drizzled some sour cream together.

Love comes in all shapes and sizes, the Mini hamburgers & chips ($18 for 3 mini burgers) were not only cute but also pleasing to the palate. I didn’t think much of it initially, but after taking a bite, the small beef patty was delicious! And just like the fish & chips, it came with a big bucket of fries too.

Just in case you were wondering, no we’ve not started on our main courses yet, all those you seen thus far are all just appetisers. At The Queen & Mangosteen, they offered a wide range of its signature craft brews including old favourites like Archipelago Straits Pale to pair with the food.

We wanted to order everything from their menu; the wild mushroom risotto is totally my kind of dish, the clayfish cooked in beer and fisherman’s pie are crowd-pleaser, roasted rack of lamb is music to the ears of a carnivore, but there was just too many to choose from so in the end we didn’t have all of them.

The rope-grown blue mussels ($28) came highly recommended and it did not disappoint. Using a fork to pitch the shell, we slurped down each mussel which was cooked in chilli, with delight.

I always wanted to try Bangers & mash ($26) which was quintessentially three sausages – pork, lamb and beef with mashed potatoes served with caramelised onion gravy. The lamb sausage had a very distinct and gamy taste that might be too much for non-lamb eaters, and the beef was fairly good too. But it was the pork sausage that grabbed our attention!

Bea’s a big fan of beef, so naturally we ordered the rib-eye of beef ($38). Steak with thick cut chips, yorkshine pudding and a choice of wild mushroom sauce, thyme jus or caramelised shallot pepper sauce. We chose the latter with the steak done medium rare.

“It’s one of the better steaks that I’ve!” She exclaimed. I like the thick cut chips, while the chewy texture of the Yorkshire pudding sort of tasted like choux pastry.

The Cambridge Burnt cream ($10) or affectionately known as Creme Brulee was our favourite dessert. Beneath the beautifully burnt caramelized sugar, was a rich custard base. We dug in, and finished every bite of it.

“Whoa“, and “Ooh” were heard when the Mango coconut truffle ($12) arrived on our table. Our first impression: was it ketchup? There was a generous amount of berries and mango within the layers; the strong mango taste hit us first, with a subtle hint of coconut.

Between you and me, this shall be fondly remember as the ketchup soap.

It was one of those desserts that you didn’t know how they manage to make it this way, which you just keep on eating, and eating until it’s gone. I totally enjoyed the White chocolate & Cassis cake ($12). Interestingly, the triple chocolate ice cream on top of the cake took very long to melt. The white chocolate cassis cake was sweet, the girls found it too sweet, and so I had most of it to myself!

* * *

While the menu doesn’t have a wide variety of selection, there’s some pretty good selections for sharing and the portions were substantial too. My appreciation to Lynda from DBS, Cherylene & Seema from Eurorscg, and the folks at The Queen & Mangosteen for making the dinner a blast!

I will be going to different restaurants for three consecutive Saturdays with DBS Foodster, find out more information about the DBS Indulge Series here and you can also watch a video which I took in the restaurant here. I’m definitely looking forward to the next dinner at Umani this coming Saturday!

The Queen & Mangosteen
1 Harbourfront walk
#01-106 Vivocity
Tel: 6376 9380

The idea of a Venezuelan feast started when one of my reader, and friend, Mike asked whether I was keen to sample some Venezuelan food. I agreed immediately, it’s not everyday where you get to try authentic Latin America cuisine, so we had to try the food prepared by Mike’s wife who is from Venezuela.

Our Latin America adventure started with the rhythmic and contagious latin music played in the background. When the rhythm starts to play, dance with me, sway with me. Like a fool who will never say no, hold me close, sway me more.

Trekking in the dense, but serene jungle, with every step closer to Angel falls. The roaring sound of the water amplifies as we approach it; the magnificent waterfall was a sight to behold. This was all but a scene that we could almost imagine ourselves when we close our eyes for a second.

The “sandwich” that we had, was awesome! It’s like totally, God’s gift to mankind. Made with just corn flour, water and salt, the Arepa is a staple in Venezuela, the folks there eat it everyday. It tasted something like our popiah skin, and the mcgriddles, but in much thicker portions. It’s good to eat on its own, but I wanted more! And it came in the form of the excellent carne mechada (pulled beef).

The Carne mechada was oh-my-god, so good, and I’m really not exaggerating. Flank steak is cooked in a pressure cooker for hours until it is tender enough that you can pull it off in strips – and then cooked again in a tomato/onion sauce. The beef was so tender and flavourful! We added two slices of halumi cheese together with the pulled beef into the arepa; it’s a creation that would rival any worthy burger/sandwich. It might just be beef wrapped within bread made from corn flour, but in the right company and atmosphere, it’s divine.

Even the rice that they eat, is prepared differently. Instead of just water and rice, there’s garlic and salt added in to enhance the flavour of the rice. I’m not going to continue to rave about the carne mechada, okay just once more, I had a lot of it, with the arepa, and on its own too! Interestingly, there’s tajadas which was quintessentially fried plantains, a bigger, and uglier cousin of banana, but it was as good as our goreng pisang (fried bananas). Except, it was sliced thinly and fried instead of the whole banana.

We actually started with the Empanadas, some sort like our Chinese dumplings, but they call it stuffed pastry where it can be filled with different ingredients. They are made all over Latin America – but in Venezuela’s case, they are made from a corn flour/white flour mix, and deep-fried. The ones we had were filled with Halumi cheese – a salty white cheese from Cyprus that is popular in the Greek/Middle Eastern world – the closest to Latin American cheese in Singapore! Even the corn flour that they used were imported from Australia, Mike would always buy back tons of flour when he travel there, nothing but flour!

Go on, give it a bite, succumb to your temptation. Savour the rich pickings of every sweet, and wonderful taste. I’m running out of superlatives now, but the tres leches, was truly amazing. The three-milk cake is a butter-free sponge cake that’s soak in three kinds of milk; evaporated milk, condensed milk, and heavy cream. Poking lots of tiny holes within the sponge cake, it fully absorbs the essence of the different milk. Topped with a layer of meringue, the tres leches was in every way a close reminiscence of the bread pudding, but definitely so much better!

* * *

The Venezuela feast was way beyond my expectations, thank you Mike and family for hosting us! We saw some videos and photos of the beautiful country, the Angel falls was magnificent! The current Venezuela population in Singapore is still very small, which explains for the absence of their food here. We are keen to let more people to sample some of their authentic Venezuelan food, so if you are keen, rise up your hand and let me know. If there’s enough interest in it, we will think of ways to prepare the food for a large group, and I’ll organise an outing at Mike’s place.

There are generally two type of restaurants; either one that has great food, but normal or almost no scenery to boost of; where you will gladly bring along your really-stable-boyfriend, bff, girlfriends whom have all seen you at your worst so dining unglamorously is not an issue. Or the other that serves average food, but has a to-die-for ambience, making it a must-go place for your date.

And Novus Cafe belongs to the latter. Theoretically Novus cafe isn’t a restaurant, it is a cafe. But I’m speaking on the broad assumption that it has great ambience, and serve average simple food.

The latter will be the type of places where you will go for your first date, or important occasions; never mind the food’s you-know-what, but it’s a great place to hang out and chill at. Period. Novus’s menu mostly comprises of simple food like pasta/risotto, pizza, and sandwich. But it is the ambience, I love in fall with it the first time I “accidentally” went to the National Museum and saw it. Okay, that’s a lie, I went there with the sole and only purpose to Reece the place for a visit.

Nestled within a Museum, artistic value checked. Nice al fresco dining area, checked. Comfy sofas and nice ambience, checked. Come for dinner and you have a night at the museum. You come to the places like this for your important date, the food doesn’t matter since you are gonna lock eyes with the partner sitting opposite and probably won’t notice what you are putting in your mouth.

I always feel sandwich is a down-sized burger in disguise. Well the similarity is certainly there; fillings stuff between two bread/bun, with the exception that sandwiches ain’t as sexy as their burger counterparts. Who wants sandwiches when you got burgers? Stop pretending to be healthy, and keep the calories chart that you are holding!

“My sandwich” ($16) certainly wasn’t what my-kind-of-sandwich would be like. Beef pastrami, gouda cheese, tomato, dijonnaise, rucola, and sunny side up. And it came with potato chips. How healthy. Anyway, I was wondering how come we can pay 16 bucks for a sandwich and not wimp, while some will scorn at the mere mention of paying the same amount for the burger? Does this means the sandwich was bad? Not at all, like I said, I’m just not that into sandwich.

I fall in love with risotto, and ever since I’d been on the lookout for better ones. So when there’s only four selections under the seemingly-comprehensive-sounding title of pasta & risotto in the menu, I chose the risotto, immediately. I’ll never forget, the sticky-almost-porridge texture, the essence of the ingredient fully absorbed and coated in every grain of the alluring aborio rice. Pesto risotto ($12).

Does that means Novus being the nice-ambience-but-average-food place was bad? Of course not. I’m so gonna come back here again! There are places where you will go for the good food, and there are places where you go to, to immerse yourself in the surroundings. And Novus belongs to the latter.

I’m a sucker for ambience.

Read Pamie’s post on Novus here.

Novus Cafe
93 Stamford road
#01-04/05
National museum of Singapore
Tel: 6337 1397

Hands up if you always ordered unagi when you stepped into a Japanese restaurant! I know there are many suckers, okay, fans of the unagi, so how about Unagi maki ($8)? You are aroused already.

The trio of appetisers that we started with, namely; Kawa ebi karaage ($8), Fugu Mirin Boshi ($10), and the Renkon chips ($4) from top to down. There are times where you don’t feel hungry, nor do you feel full; you just need something to bite, your mouth just feels itchy, popped a mouthful of the deep-fried river shrimps, done and done.

I enjoyed the dried puffer fish the most, I mean how often do you get to eat puffer fish, in Singapore? It was chewy and I just finished up the whole plate while nobody’s looking. I would order this again.

The fanciful name of Renkon chips actually referred to the lotus roots, pardon my ignorance, I just Goggled on it. Well I was never a big fan of lotus roots since we usually met when my mom prepared lotus root soup; the soup was delicious, but the lotus root was bland and tasteless. But here, they deep-fried the thinly-sliced lotus root, giving it a extremely crispy and fragile texture. Instead of potato chips, why don’t you have some Renkon chips?

Yay if you are a big fan of sashimi! The dream starter for all the sashimi fans out there; to begin with some greens and have your favourite sashimi to go along with. We sprinkled the wafu dressing on top of the garden salad with sashimi ($9.80), but who cares about the healthy greens when there are sashimi?

Lemon wedges are a god-sent item which should always be present on every table. With a squeeze of the wedges, the precious drops of lemon fell onto the fish hire ($14.50) and watch the transformation; the beautiful lemon dew came into contact with the golden-brown crispy crust and sank into it, with the fillet fully absorbing everything until death-brings-us-apart.

And oh did I mentioned this was the new-kid-on-the-block.

We used to have the rosu katsu(it is still available). Now we have the cheese katsu roll ($16.50) instead. Hello, are you reading? Creamy, melted cheese with crispy fried katsu, who wouldn’t want it? And they added in carrots and asparagaus to make it “healthier“. But if you asked me, give me more cheese, more cheese! Heck the eat-healthy-approach, we are here to feast, to gain calories and put on weight.

A whole fricking fish. You wouldn’t believe it, I didn’t. The fish was big, no huge, no gigantic! Okay, I’m exaggerating, but still, it was quite big. As much as I don’t really fancy Japanese food, but I like their soya sauce; it’s like a completely different level from the normal ones we had.

When I was young as a kid, my mom would always tell everybody I LOVE fish, well I like steamed fish, but to the extent of loving it, I like to associate myself with the more dangerous creatures like chicken and duck. Oh yes, the name – Tai Kabutoni which was boiled red snapper head with sweet soya sauce ($28).

This was fantastic. The Yaki Niku or the beef tenderloin ($16), if I may, had the melted-in-the-mouth consistency that you wouldn’t believe. I put one into my mouth, and it was melted away, so I kept on putting more slices and more slices in until everything was gone.

The sacred ritual was performed first; we bowed to the green wasabi signalling our intent to eat it, and mixed it with the finest soya sauce you can find on Japan-land. Stirred until there’s a milky brown appearance, and we are done. Carefully picking up a slice of that oh-so-thick salmon sashimi, we dipped it into the sacred sauce, and placed it into the mouth. My dear, this is what they called, Sashimi.

It’s a waste to dip the crispy crust of the katsu into the curry since everything will turn soft and soggy. But the one-fascinating-aspect of the Japanese curry – it was sweet, not spicy, not spicy at all. And you know I sweat when there’s intake of chilli into my body system. The katsu curry rice ($16.50) was the perfect solution for people like me who want to eat curry but don’t want to sweat.

I LOVE this.

I know there’s nothing special, but it’s always the simplest things that make us the happiest isn’t it? Hire Katsu sando ($5.80), I always think that sandwiches and burgers are the same, except sandwichs always come with the healthy-tame ingredients like tuna, eggs, while burgers come with the meaty beef, chicken. Since this was a breaded pork loin enveloped between bread, I proclaimed this as the katsu burger!

Ice cream always makes me happy, just the sight of it was enough to give my spirits a much-needed lift. And what’s more we have not one, but three different handmade fruit sherbet ($4.80).

The good thing: the strawberry sherbet was handmade, but the yuzu ice cream’s not. Still, the Yuzu ice cream on strawberry sherbet ($5.80) did nothing wrong with its pairing; the slightly sour and tangy yuzu flavour going well with the sweet strawberry sherbet.

* * *

My appreciation to Racheal for the invitation to the food tasting session, and I tried sake for the very-first-time! The new and improved menu was definitely a sign of good things to come; the enormous menu with colourful display of the photos made it much easier for making a decision.

Read about my previous visits to Tetsu here, here, and here.

Relish by Wild Rocket is a gourmet burger restaurant that aims to serve the best burgers in Singapore.

I never knew burgers could be so photogenic, they were dead gorgeous; there’s the sexy Williams, the hunky seafood mayo, the boy-next-door Ram-lee, the popular wild rocket, the sweetie bacon & cheese, and the macho char siew. The galaxy of stars (burgers), roll the red carpet!

The guest appearance of the tomato relish brought another dimension to the taste. And while the emmental cheese was good, if I could have my way, I would put double cheese, one on the top of the patty and the other beneath.

Crackle, crunch, crisp-cross. The crispy streaky bacon were the contrast to the beef patty. With so much ingredients packed together; the lettuces dropping, the melted cheese flowing down the patty, the tomato relish flying all over, and the bacon strips not staying in place – it was a messy affair. The bacon & Cheese beef burger ($18 for 180g)

There were bound to be comparisons among them, the signature Wild Rocket beef burger ($17 for 180g) was slightly tougher than the rest, with charred surface on the patty. There was no exotic ingredients, or any fancy name; just a very good beef burger.

The wannabe. This was surely how the rest eyed it; borne with the almost-alike name, and with its destiny tightly bound to the famous street side Ramly burger. This was a bold makeover, the upper east side ramly, Ram-lee beef burger ($19 for 180g).

The patty, ah, the heart and soul of the burger; it was done more tender and juicy than the cheese & bacon burger, but, this was not a ramly burger. The ramly burger, the real deal, was more generous with their sweet chili sauce. And the omelette wasn’t done to my liking; it was flimsy, and lacking in the egg taste. It was a pity really, for all the promises, it wasn’t shiok enough.

The blue cheese & William pear beef burger ($19 for 180g) was destined for stardom; the wonderfully-toned body, the rocket hair, and the sliced poached William pear. Oh-my! The walnut butter which was beneath the 180g of beef patty was crunchy, and the poached pears gave a different definition to burgers. However, the blue cheese taste was sorely missing, and that’s the only thing that prevented an Oscar.

The seafood burger lemon mayo definitely looked way smaller than the last time I’ve it, and the lemon mayo was also notably lesser. This one, was from the sea: crab, fish, prawns, octopus mixed together to form the patty.

Honey, they shrink the burger!

Oh-oh-oh, this was good. In fact good alone probably did not do any justice to the burger. Resting on a bed of homemade foccacia, the char siew soft-bone pork was absolutely delicious! The balance of the lean meat with the chewy pork tendons, it was perfect; how did they came up with the BBQ char siew pork open burger ($18 for 180g), it was mind-blowing!

And I was greedy, I took a few more bite while the rest wasn’t looking. Good stuff like this, it’s all right to be greedy. It’s mine, and mine alone!

And we chose two desserts to go along, first up was the pandan-infused panna cotta with gula melaka ($9). A fusion creation: the Western dessert with the favourite Asian ingredients.

I preferred the roasted black sesame puree with vanilla ice cream ($8) to the pandan panna cotta. It was a pity not trying their signature cheese cake though, it had firmly took a place in my heart ever since I had it last time.

For the six of us, we ordered four burgers from the ala carte menu, with the other two burgers and desserts coming from the two-course set lunch ($24). Relish ought to have some of the most pretty burgers around, and we finished all the fries too! The burger however, could be bigger: the infamously tiny Relish burgers.

And I’ve learnt that the old ala carte brunch menu from Wild rocket is available at Relish.

Read my fellow food blogger review:
Nic @ Black tie white lie here
Leroy @ Hungrycow here
Evan @ Bossacafez here
Julia @ Aromacookery here
Phil @ Singapura Daily makan photo here

Relish
501 Bukit timah road
#02-01 Cluny court
Tel: 6763 1547

Twenty four of us descended to Gunther’s in a foodgraphy-frenzy. Hells hath no fury like a flogger hunger. The long discussion of food, followed by the occasional exclaims of ‘ooh‘, and ‘ah‘. Welcome to the world of the food lovers.

Japanese tomato

It was smooth, and silky, strands of it sticking out; yet in the dim light setting against the white background, it looked angelic, yes, this must be it: Cold Angel-hair pasta. I enjoyed every slurp, and I’ll gladly have it again.

This, is the In-thing for this season, like the latest fashion trends for each year; rejoiced people, it is this time of the year for the sacred white asaparagus, not green, not red, but white. And then, I spotted the yellowish sauce over the the Poached white asparagus with Bouchot mussels.

I stopped, and slowly took a bit of it with my spoon; “it couldn’t be, Oh yes it is!” I dipped everything on the plate with the hollandaise sauce, and made sure not a single drop of it was left.

“Have you had white asaparagus before?”

“No, I don’t see whats the craze over them..”

A surprise always had the biggest impact when you least expected it, and it came pleasantly of course.

There was pata negra, and salted baked seabass for the folks who couldn’t have beef; and damn, the roasted black pig from spain sounded so good, I should have claimed to have allergies against cows!

My piece was very well balanced in the portions of the fats and meat (read: too much fats). I took a bite of the meat, and chewed down some fats. And it’s not that the Grilled Cote de Boeuf wasn’t good. In fact it was more than excellent; the slightly tinge of pink fully captured my imagination.

My eyes tweaked to see what was coming. It was supposed to be desserts next, but they were serving us, pizzas. You know, the elongated slice of thin-crust bread with toppings all over. Ah no, I was clearly mistaken, this was no pizza, it’s the Fine apple tart a la dragees, with rum & raisin ice-cream.

Once we had our desserts, once we paid off the bill, it would be bye-bye until a year later. Or at least that’s what the script wrote. A year, is far too long a time for us to meet up. We should meet up regularly my friends, and hunt down all the good food around our island.

I’ll like to thank my fellow floggers for attending the food bloggers’ luncheon, Gunther’s for hosting the event, our various sponsors and not to forget my lovely partner Yixiao for flooding my mailbox and phone constantly during the preparation stages.

Gunther’s
36 Purvis street
#01-03 Talib centre
Tel: 6338 8955

Meet my fellow food bloggers:

Yixiao @ hautestaff
Catherine @ Camemberu
Nic @ Black tie white lie
Fen & Yuan @ sgdessert
Dave @ Importance of salt
Cheryl @ thebakerwhocooks
June @ joonelovesfood
Mia @ skinny-epicurean
Jiaxin @ foodiesqueen
Jeremy @ eggtoast
Antonio @ foodieah
Phil & serene @ keropokman
Karen @ superfinefeline
Leroy @ thehungrycow
Elaine @ divine essentials
Kelvin @ timelessfacade
Maureen @ jaime-la-nourriture
Ryan @ caramelcorn
Evan @ bossacafez
Ivan @ food.recentrunes
Claudine @ claudzratznblabz

I would have never imagine this; I froze at the mention of it, the sacred foie gras. And hold on a second, what were they saying, I thought I heard something like Juicy dumpling with foie gras. Wasn’t this supposed to be XLB, now where did the foie gras came into the picture?

Believe it or not, they actually contain the French delicacy within our XLB, well maybe just a morsel of it since there wasn’t any trace of the foie gras.

Fresh, is one of the word which has been over-used to describe food. How else would you use to depict the prawn within the crisp vermicelli, well maybe I would say juicy, succulent, and I ran out of vocabulary. Oh well. Deep-fried filo dough.

It was wet, a little moist inside, so I stuck my finger in, and poked it in a little further. I took a bite, beneath the crispy exterior, was duck shreds. Deep-fried yam croquette with minced duck.

Pan-fried radish cake

I was caught by surprise when they told me this was called the Deep-fried scallops with sugar cane. I was happily biting it off the sugar cane (read: I use it), thinking it was very prawny, and there they were, telling me it was deep-fried scallop!

Naturally I was amused, how could scallop taste like prawn? Ignoring that, the slightly-sweet-slightly-sour sauce was most excellent – it was refreshing. And the sugar cane added some brownie points to the whole artistic value.

May I introduced to you, ladies and gentleman, the scarce Harm Soei Gok, or Deep-friend traditional chicken dumpling. Honestly, I did not know about its existence before this, since many places didn’t served it due to the complexity and effort needed to produce it.

The whole, Shark’s fin within the soup, it was so big! With an equally flavourful stock, all of us agreed that the Double-boiled dumpling with Shark’s fin was a delight, well maybe not for the sharks lovers.

I liked this. I’m a char siew sou man. And I was disappointed when there was no sight of it on the menu. And then the baked fluffy skin pie with chicken and mango came. Having the same (or almost) crispy, buttery pastry skin, the interior of the usual char siew was replaced by chicken and mango instead. And the marriage of chicken and mango was a good one, those two totally complimented each other well.

Steamed prawn dumpling

How can one reinvent a dish already done to death and found everywhere? Well, they either provide premium stuffing or reinvent the skin used to wrap the stuffing. For the steamed pork dumpling, they did neither but it was still a cut above the rest. The prawn was sweet and there wasn’t an overly-porky after-taste.

My, my. It was interesting to note, a mini version of claypot rice appearing in a restaurant. Call it a classic, the Mini pot rice with chicken was nothing mini in taste; the tasty Chinese sausages, the succulent mushrooms, and the tender chicken chunks. I had it a taste without any sauce initially, then I added some of the superior sauce that came along with it, and it did wonders – it literally enhanced the taste of the whole mini pot.

Phoenix eye dumpling

There was three different types of steamed rice roll served, but I just showed one photo since all rice rolls looked the same less the fillings. It was the standard-trio, scallops, char siew and prawn. And needless to say, most Chinese restaurants definitely uses fresh ingredients, so it was really down to the rice roll to determine the winner.

And I must say, Man Fu Yuan had silky smooth rice roll, and most importantly, they were not overly-thick.

Vegetarian dumpling

Scallop dumpling with pea shoot

I never liked beef balls, or for that matter, any type of meat balls. Just the sight of it made me full, I took a bite of the beef balls with bamboo pith, and unexpectedly, it wasn’t as heavy as I thought it would be. And there’s tripes at the bottom of the beef balls too.

It is a fine line between tradition and new, and I feel Man Fu Yuan balanced it very well. There are the traditional dim sum available for the purist who want their fix regularly, and not neglecting those who craved for innovation and excitement in their dining experience, the chefs played around with some other ingredients that are not commonly used in Chinese cuisine.

This marks the end of the dim sum marathon, and I must say I’ve enjoyed myself very much together with the rest; chatting and enjoying the good food.  My appreciation to Sharon, the PR manager for hosting us, and Cuisine & Wine Asia for the invitation.

Read my fellow food blogger review:
Catherine @ Camemberu here
Leroy @ Hungrycow here

Man Fu Yuan
80 Middle road
2F Intercontinental Hotel
Tel: 6825 1062

60. The number could refer to almost anything; age, weight, people, money, time – Si Chuan Dou Hua restaurant on the sixty level of UOB plaza. 100 – a century figure of dishes at weekend lunch, offering dim sum, tea and Szechuan cuisine. 38.8 – the unbeatable price of under forty dollars. Numbers are magic: they tell a thousand things too.

Salted Duck Gizzard

The kidney, I have to say, was lovely: chewy and pinkish-coloured, swelled-looking, with the clever use of spices covered the porky smell which made so many people avoided the delicious pig kidney.

The question of authenticity popped up during the tasting session, and Linda the director of SCDH was quick to point out although there were some minor tweaks of the dishes to suit local palates, the Chilled chicken in spicy bean paste was done exactly like the Szechuan favourite. The spicy bean paste caused a storm; hot, fiery, and simply so Szechuan!

SCDH served us many cold dishes for starters, and the Sliced beef and tripe in chilli sauce was one of them.

Chilled preserved cucumber with garlic and peppercorn

Century egg and mushroom in ginger sauce

Asparagus with sea moss

Abalone mushroom in sesame oil

At first glance, it was not difficult to mistaken the Sliced duck in Teow chew style for the more commonly seen drunken chicken. Thinly sliced, I could never resist duck meat!

This one caught me by surprise – the crispy chicken puff. I wasn’t expecting something so, small and tiny, to be so good. The crispy fried skin had chicken within: it was a reminiscent of cream puff, except the pastry was fried instead of baked, and the fillings were chicken instead of cream.

Perfect. One of the best carrot cake I’ve had; every bite was flavourful with radish. The only correct thing to make a good carrot cake is to just add more radish, it’s so simple, yet many fail to get the gist of it.

The purist would protest at the sight of the Steamed siew mai with quill egg. The additional of quill egg was an innovation, and credits had to be given to the chefs for experimenting with different ingredients.

Glutinous rice roll with pork floss wrapped in banana leaf

No, it definitely wasn’t St Valentine’s the last time I checked. Nonetheless, the heart shape was pretty enough to gorge at -  Pan-fried shredded yam pancake with waxed meat.

I ain’t a big fan of mince meat balls, but the Steamed beef balls with seasonal vegetables won me over with the chewy and bouncy texture.

I eyed the golden dumpling, not knowing what to do. Should I, or should I not? I took up my pair of chopsticks, and dove right in, secretly praying in my heart: Sharky, rest in peace, you’d not die in vain. Steamed shark’s fin and chicken dumpling.

Steamed onion roll with butter

Si Chuan chilled noodles: hot & spicy

Despite the scary-looking-thick-oily-layer of chilli, the Dumpling with chilli oil was surprisingly, not that spicy. I had called the fire brigade to be prepared to put out any fire, and after one tiny nibble of the dumpling, it was safe. And I ate some more, of the thick and generous filling, which almost busted out of the dumpling skin.

This one was interesting. The Pan-fried fish pancake with parsley, the crispy firm pastry-like texture was evident, but I couldn’t quite make out what actually constituted in the fish pancake.

For the best creative award, I presented to you the, Pan-fried sweet corn pancake. The inclusion of sweet corn in a dim sum was a first for me: needless to say, it worked. The sweet corn, like its name, enhanced the sweetness of the pancake.

Steamed mushroom and vegetable bun

Pan-fried minced prawns roll with seaweed

The Steamed prawn dumpling, or Har gau, had fresh succulent prawns, but I found the skin slightly too thick from what I had in mind.

Instead of the streetfood in Szechuan, SCDH decided to upmarket the Fried pumpkin cake by scoring on presentation and refining it. The delicate-lovely-looking miniature pumpkin; it was too pretty to eat.

Sour and spicy Beancurd

If there was one memorable dish I had to choose from SCDH, it had to be the Steamed lotus paste bun with egg yolk.  The egg yolk within the lotus bun, oh my. It was indescribable. The combination of lotus paste and egg yolk, was akin to mooncake, with a bun skin.

Braised beef noodle soup

There was the omnipresent fish roe on the Siew mai, the dim sum staple.

Fish balls porridge

Balancing my chopsticks, I took a glance at the noodles. This should be easy, I thought. I grabbed some noodles using my less-than-perfect chopstick skills, and slurped the tan tan noodle. The world seemed to froze in time; I took another mouthful of noodles, putting in as much as my mouth would fit. The noodles, how should I put it: bouncy, springy, smooth, well it seems my vocabulary would be exhausted soon. It was good!

Homemade beancurd with wolfberries

We had the following desserts: herbal jelly, mango & pamelo cream, glutinous rice with coconut milk, almond cream with fungus, chilled strawberry jelly, chilled coconut & jackfruit cream, red bean paste with lotus seed, and yam paste with ginko nuts.

The special pairing of different tea and exquisite dim sum has long been a forte of Si Chuan Dou Hua.

Si Chuan Dou Hua has certainly opened up my narrow view of Szechuan cuisine; the impression of only hot and spicy food is wrong, there are many more variety available. Linda, the director of SCDH, who hosted us for the tasting session. And I have to conclude that Linda was the best host among the 4 restaurants which we had went to; her passion for food, and her warm & friendly smile, made our meal more enjoyable.

The 40 items which we tried for the tasting session were part of their weekend lunch which had a mind-blowing 100 items, priced at another unbelievable figure $38.8. My appreciation to Linda for hosting us, and Cuisine & Wine Asia for the invitation.

Read my fellow food blogger review:
Catherine @ Camemberu here
Leslie @ ieatishootipost here
Julia @ Aromacookery here

Si Chuan Dou Hua restaurant
80 Raffles place
#60-01 UOB Plaza
Tel: 65356006

ps: I think this is one of my longest post ever, can anyone tell me which other post is longer than this?

The first of the many to come, Wan Hao Chinese restaurant at Marriott hotel.

Now what can I say? I totally love roast pork belly! The dish is often an indicator of the standard of a Chinese restaurant; Wan Hao’s rendition was nicely done – crispy top with a thin-and-nice layer of fats. “One cube definitely wasn’t enough”, I protested! But hey, there’s still thirty more dish to go!

Although I couldn’t exactly tasted which seven spices were use, but the combination was seductive to the palate, the Seven spices sea perch fillet.

And just before you are thinking Chinese restaurants are boring and served the usual-you-know-what food, the Hokkigai and salmon sashimi would certainly prove you wrong! Just look at the thickly-and-generous slices of the fresh sashimi. It-is-to-die-for.

For the tasting at Wan Hao, only Catherine of Camemberu fame and myself was present among the five of us. And she absolutely loved the Jelly fish with cucumber. Tangy and Q, it was a refreshing appetiser.

Like the no-smoking campaign slogon which asked you to say ‘No‘ to cigarettes, I could never say no to roast duck. My interpretation of a good roast duck: crispy skin with a layer of fats and tasty duck meat. This one had it all, and say it with me, Oomph-la-la!

Vermicelli with pork fillet. There wasn’t anything spectacular but this is just one, good, comfort food, which stood out among the delicacies we tried.

Beef tendon with white radish

In my humble opinion, Wan Hao has the best Ha Gau among the four places that we tried. All of them used top-quality fresh prawns, but what made the one here stood out was the the skin; some places would do it too thick, and some too thin – it was done perfectly here. Bravo!

I actually preferred the spring roll filled with smoked duck meat to the roasted duck. The smoked duck meat lived up to its name – the very smoky taste within the crispy spring roll.

While some people found that the addition of fish roe to the top only served as an adornment; I thought that it’s fine so long the tiny orange eggs wasn’t in excessive to overwhelm the taste of the siew mai.

I ain’t a big fan of asparagus – the word alone put me off; but I had to try this translucent pretty-looking asparagus dumpling, which tasted decent.

The sea perch fillet with garlic appeared squeaky-fresh; it seemed to be flipping on my plate! The golden mushrooms and tofu were integrated with the sea perch, and I love it!

I knew it was close. I could smell it. The strong alcohol scent. You can smell it from far away. The drunken prawns were as suspected, very strong in liqueur taste; the prawns were big and fresh. I must emphasized, the quality and freshness of the ingredients at Wan Hao was really what set them aside.

Bean curd sheet filled with shrimps

The presentation of the Scallop and asparagus with spicy XO sauce was faultless. Succulent and juicy scallop.

The mere presence of duck shreds greatly enhanced the flavour of the congee. And not to mention there’s sliced fish maw, squid too! All the natural goodness in the bowl of Congee.

It was sensational. Tender, let me tell you, the whole experience: the chewing and swallowing, we couldn’t speak. There was a lump stuck in my throat; I just allowed myself to quietly finished the meat, and inside I was secretly hoping there was more of this.

I was struck in awe of the flavour and texture of the meat, this was certainly my most memorable and favourite dish of the meal. And I couldn’t bear to speak of its name, Kurabuta pork, all the way from Americaaa!

The meal was a late boomer. Just when I thought that the few dishes in front were all good, it got better and better. Or maybe they were saving the best for the last, either way, the Chilli prawns with crispy buns had the “made in Singapore” brand stamped all over it. Spicy, fresh, with the mini mantao bun to dip in to the sauce, it was a superb interpretation of prawns done in our local favourite Chilli crab. A Singapore classic.

I could not, believe how tender the meat actually was. It literally melted in my mouth – I know this phase sounded exaggerating and often over-used, but trust me, it’s true for the Beef tenderloin with black peppercorns. Oh my! I would gladly go back another time just for the kurobuta pork, chilli prawns, and the beef tenderloin alone.

All right, back to the basics. Not many places can do a mean version of the Ee-fu noodles. All of us agreed that this one was just right in terms of the oilyness and bite. Not too oily, not too dry, just exactly how we liked it.

For the first time, I was actually sorry to see the desserts coming – for it signalled the end of the wonderful meal. But Wan Hao dessert did not disappoint as well, the first to arrive, the Lemongrass jelly with lime sherbet was equally pleasing in aesthetic senses. Very refreshing, and a fine finish for us.

There was a big fan of the mango pudding among us, and he was right! I took a nibble without adding in any milk for the original taste; even eaten alone the smooth and creamy texture of the aroma mango was evident.

If you know me, you must know that I’m an anti-durian person. For the sake of sharing with everybody, I popped one durian mochi inside – the mochi was very sticky, the smell of the fabled durian king of the fruits wasn’t very apparent until I took a bite of it, and that’s when I say, Shit!

I love egg tarts, and I always questioned the fact why Chinese restaurants always do their egg tarts in mini sizes. And like the manager of Wan Hao put it, the small bite was just right, anything bigger it would be too much. Crisp golden brown pastry with equally good egg fillings.

* * *

I must admit, I’m impressed with Wan Hao Chinese restaurant. The freshness in the quality ingredients, with the management’s emphasis on this, plus the service of the staff, were all top-notch. I’m not talking about their good service because it was a tasting session, after we finished our meal, we went down to their bakery; the staff was very knowledgeable about their bakes and was very professional.

The 31 items which we tried for this tasting session was half of their weekend brunch buffet which had 70 items, priced at $55 per head. For the sheer quality and variety, the sum is fair, will I be back? Definitely, See you there!

I entered the Marriott hotel on an empty stomach, and I left with a full one; I’m a happy man. My appreciation to the folks from Wan Hao for hosting us, and Cuisine & Wine Asia for the invitation.

Read Catherine’s review on Wanhao here

Wan Hao Chinese restaurant
320 Orchard road
3F Marriott hotel
Tel: 6831 4615

Wan Hao is listed as one of ladyironchef’s favorite restaurants in Singapore

If 7atenine was the best meal I had so far, then Au Petit Salut would be its equal.

I was the passerby in your colourful life, we never seem to meet, until now. Our encounter is but an absence and a providence: now that we’ve met, I hold you dear. The place of eternal memories; Au Petit Salut.

Lush, lush, lush and green. It seems so near, yet so far. Right in the middle, but not in the middle; I had to admit – I was wrong. Overrated, you are not, there’s just something special about you. I wished we’ve met earlier, but like they say, it’s better to be late than never.

It was all we need to get started with, a piece of bread, and a stick of butter. We threw envious glares at the seemingly-softer white-looking bread at the table adjacent to us; it was just, human nature.

When in Rome, do as the Romans do – and in a French restaurant, eat snails as the French does. This was my second time eating the slimy-looking creature, and as much as I thought it looked similar to cockle; I love the strong butter and garlic smell. Half dozen baked Burgundy snails with tomato and garlic butter, way to go!

I’m-a-carnivore! And the only appetiser on the menu which seemed to satisfy the meat-eater in me was the Pork terrine and mesclun salad, shallots, gherkins and capers vinaigrette. I took a bite, chew-chew-swallow-swallow, and I took another bite. A piece of pork with really extraordinary subtlety and texture. And my dear, this was where the meal just began.

Words are powerful stuff, they can make you happy, sad, angry or nervous. In this case, I was excited by the mere-presence of the word, beef cheeks.

What part, you asked again?

Beef cheeks. Pardon me, but I have never eaten somebody’s cheek before.

Red wine braised beef cheeks, carrots, mushrooms and parsley potatoes. I realised I couldn’t really tell the difference between the different parts of the cow, but did it really mattered? The braised beef cheeks were tenderly-done, and there was the potatoes which were a-part-of-it.

I had to agree that braised beef tasted better than lamb shank, or maybe I haven’t tried one that is worthy, yet.

If the beef cheek were tenderly-done, then the Pan seared onglet beef was done exactly the way I love it! And just exactly what was Onglet, I know it’s a prime cut of beef, but past that I’m beyond caring. Don’t talk to me about the different grade, the marbling of the meat, there ain’t no need to discuss the cooking technique, I-just-liked-this!

With a tinge of pink, the medium-rare meat was per-fect! And I love the confit shallots which spreaded over the top of the beef, like the sky covered over the land. The presence of the French fries were puzzling, I decided I was going to ignore its guest appearance on the plate and focused on the beef instead.

The lemon tart was fabulous – how can something so simple. be so, absolutely wonderful. The texture of the lemon curd was done just right, and paired with the subtle ice cream with a hint of lavender-honey, I’m a happy boy.

I had a quickie with the Crème brulée; I took the first taste, stunned for a moment, and took my second. This continued until I finished the whole dessert. Beneath the nicely-touched caramelised sugar, was the smoothest yet firm, custard, infused with vanilla beans.

Till we meet again, my love

* * *

Total bill was $70 for two set lunches. I, had an awesome time! Which left me with this question, why didn’t I go there earlier! Au petit Salut has one of the most reasonable set lunches at $30++, comparing with most of the restaurants which are doing theirs at $38++, I thought it is a steal. Of course, there are certainly better restaurants out there, but I love the place as a whole. See you there!

For more recommendations, read my list of the Best French Restaurants in Singapore

Au Petite Salut
40c Harding road
Tanglin Village (Dempsey)
Tel: 6475 1976

Au Petite Salut is listed as one of ladyironchef’s favorite restaurants in Singapore

Across the big colourful bridge, it is a path to company, fun, and good food on a Saturday afternoon. Thirty-eight of us, chat, laugh, and eat.There was a lucky draw, giving out some free desserts, tapas, pasta & burgers to the lucky few. And for the rest of you all, I’m glad you will not leave the place empty-hand, with the 1-for-1 vouchers.

The menu which I discussed with Helena, was to showcase the specialities of Epicurious. Simple, comfort food that you and I can do it at home if not for the fact that half of us are lazy creatures who preferred to eat than cook. Mushroom soup paired with croque Monsieur toast.

A lightly dressed Asian salad, paired with bacon-wrapped chicken. The latter was a brilliant creation. Taking one bite, I proclaimed it as the bacon Ngo hiang (prawn roll), just that instead of the beancurd skin that we are familiar with, they replaced it with the bacon, and the chicken in place of the prawn.

Mini burger paired with spaghetti Vietnamese bolognaise. Instead of the full size Epicurious burger, we did a half-patty-bun so that it will not be too overwhelming given we are having a four course.

And for the non-beef eaters, we specially did this pork patty for them. Oh-oh-oh-oh! The famous Epicurious burger! I’m trying to persuade Helena to have this pork burger on their menu as well! All right, the next time I go back, I’m gonna have my special order for this.

Hello everybody! Can you see the sparking vanilla bean that shines from the surface of the cold, creamy white? Vanilla-bean ice cream! Oh my, the sight of it never failed to excite me! The apple crumble at Epicurious was done on-the-spot, and the combination of chill ice-cream and warm crumble is surely a hit! My dear friend commented it’ll be better if there’s cinnamon added as well.

And the pairing of the apple crumble was the simple french toast, given a make-over by the folks at Epicurious.

* * *

I’m glad all of you came for my food outing, and I do hope it was an enjoyable one! This was my first time having a lucky draw for some fun, with Helena sportingly giving out several free vouchers for the lucky few, and everyone-else getting a 1-for-1 vouchers. Burgers, pastas, tapas and desserts. Whee!

I’ll like to thank Helena and her crew for hosting us at Epicurious, and see you all next time! I reckon there will be more impromptu small group food outing soon, but I probably just announced it through my Facebook page for those smaller outings, so do check it out!

Read about my previous visits to Epicurious here, and here.

Epicurious
60 Robertson Quay
#01-02 The Quayside
Tel: 6734 7720

The-sight-of-it is enough to excite me. The flowing chocolate – like water plunging down from a magnificent waterfall: wonderful, sweet. The cute white marshmallows beckon to me. The puffs – baked for the sole reunion with the delicious chocolate. The big juicy strawberries, oh my. What’s there not to like about a chocolate fondue? I love it!

Now, I don’t really like buffets. When I see food laying out, exposed, I think they are not exactly very tasteful. The food left out in the open air becomes unprotected from the passing fancies of everybody. BUT, but, the current Citibank credit card 50% promotion for 10 @ Claymore is simply too good a deal to miss, so I decided to go for it after all.

How does $29++ for buffet lunch sounds? On top of it with a 1-for-1 promotion, and we are talking about Pan Pacific Hotel, not some dubious twenties-odd range buffet (you-know-where-I-am-referring-to). Given, the variety here cannot compare with other international buffets who have more spread, but what I like about 10 @ Claymore is the focus.

Instead of giving a lot items to choose from, they decided to give just enough. For those who inherited our Singapore-kiasu-genes, my apologies. But this is one buffet where I actually don’t feel guilty trying to gorge myself silly. I ate a bit of everything, and rushed to have my desserts.

Chicken & Seabass in lemon sauce

Lamb & Beef

Seafood Saffron

The chocolate truffle was terrific – sweet, smooth, refined, yet unbelievably simple. I had mutiple helpings of it, until my stomach decided to do a red-shirt-alike-protest to me.

I love the chocolate tarts too; each nicely craft and so delicate. One bite, it’s gone.

Total bill was $34 for 2 person after the citibank credit card promotion. The current good deal last until 30 April, 2 person are entitled to a 50% discount. For $17 bucks per person, buffet lunch at a classy environment, enough said! And oh yes, I forgot to mention that the service was top-notch; the staffs were attentive and always happy to help out when you need anything.

10 @ Claymore
10 Claymore road
2F Pan Pacfic Orchard
Tel: 6831 6686

I am never a good cook, I can fry eggs, I can handle some simple home-cook dishes; that’s about it. And I’m always hungry, always. And the folks at Les Amis has come up with a solution – Lazy Gourmet.

Lazy Gourmet is created by the chefs from the Les Amis group of restaurant. Delicious, fuss-free range of frozen gourmet dishes. It was really a no-brainer and easy job to prepare a simple dinner using the Lazy Gourmet products.

There are three options to heat up the food, one by direct heating; defrost the pack first and pour the content into a pan. Stir frequently at low to medium heat. Two by microwaving; defrost first and empty contents into a microwaveable dish with a fitted cover. Microwave at medium heat for five minutes. And three by boiling (which I did for mine), place frozen or defrosted bag into boiling water and heat for 10-15 minutes.

Beef Bourguignon comes with tomatoes and smoky bacon. I had it with white rice; big, big bowl of rice. And I eat, and eat. The rice was gone – and so was the beef brisket.

Now I’m not the biggest fan of meatballs, but my brother is. So he dutifully finished up everything for me. The Home-made meatball in cream sauce was supposed to be served with pastas, but since we did not have any at home, we ate the meatballs, on its own. The cream sauce was good, but I found it a tad too oily.

From the photo of the box, I wasn’t expecting the pork medallions to be so huge! With the lovely potatoes, one on my left, and one on my right. There was a subtle sweetness in the cream sauce, which was extracted from the prunes.

In French they call it Pot au feu, the Vietnamese has their own rendition in the form of Pho. And so does the Germans, Eintopf, although I have neither try or hear of it before. But I do know our very own Chinese hot pot. There was beef, and there was chicken; it tasted more like roasted pork to me. Although there’s the broth of vegetables like cabbage, fennel, leek and carrot, it will be great if there are more vegetables!

This is no Campbell soup. This is country-style mushroom soup! Unlike the fanciful name, the soup was in fact very down-to-earth, nothing pretentious. There were hints of butter and onions with each mouthful of soup.

***

I will like to thank Jasmine from Lazy Gourmet for sending me the sample products, and my apologies for delaying the post because i tried one pack at one time. From what I understand, Lazy Gourmet is currently available only on their website, and selected supermarkets at Meidi-ya and Isetan Shaw & Scotts.

For more information please visit Lazy Gourmet website here.

It was supposed to be January, but it is almost April soon! Well, like they say, better late than never! Forty-four was the magical number this time, and I’m glad to see many of my regulars, and of course our new friends.

Salt & Pepper Calamari

We started with the simple appetiser, but I was too busy running from table to table that the calamari turned cold by the time I returned!

Chicken & Cheese Quesadillas

Dallas signature Quesadillas was one of the dish which I remembered from my previous visit. Tasting almost like a Mexican taco, there was chicken bits soaked with tomato in chicken broth.

Shredded Pork Tacos

Baby Back Pork ribs

There was some confusion when the ribs were served. The three different flavours of Fiery, Alabama & Smoked Hickory BBQ were too alike! Because we did everything in tasting portions, the pork ribs had to be cut and served this way, otherwise we were be there until four.

Dallas Wings

There was some feedback that the wings were too dry and lacked marination.

Tempura Barramundi

Corn & crab fritters

Beef Fajitas with Guacamole & sour cream

Breaded mushrooms

The “twin” brother which looked almost identical to the Corn & Crab Fritters.

***

A total number of 44 people turned up for this LIC food outing, thank you everyone! Like I’ve mentioned, there will be no date announced yet for the next lic food outing, I will try to organise it soon, so see you next time! I’ll also like to thank Jason, the owner for Dallas for hosting us.

I will be adding the group photos to my Facebook page later. Do add me there to see the photos!

Read about my previous visit to Dallas here.
And Catherine @ Camemberu
Julia @ AromaCookery
Fen @ Sgdessert
Keropok man @ Singapuradailymakanphoto

Dallas Restaurant & Bar
31 Boat Quay
Boat Quay Conservation area
Tel: 6532 2131
Website: http://www.dallas.sg/

Ryan Giggs dribbled down the left flank, just like how he consistently did it for Man U over the years. He took a glimpse and passed it centre to Scholes, who stopped and played with the defender. After which, Scholes spotted Cristiano Ronaldo roaming in from the right wing, and he sent a perfect through ball in, the Portuguese winger took his chance and dutifully converted. Goal!

This is not a scene at Old Trafford, although all Manchester United fans would die to visit the place at least once in his lifetime. For the next closest thing, we have Manchester United Cafe Bar.

The breezy al fresco area overlooks the Singapore River, with the picturesque Singapore Flyer in the settings. I was surprised by the coolness of the place on a hot afternoon.

Manchester United Café Bar (MUCB) should not be a stranger to those who frequented Boat Quay, or the soccer fanatics. Opening shop in November last year, the place is the Devils new home ground taking over the now defunct Reds cafe @ Devil’s Bar.

For the true devil only. Vodka, tequila, kuas, whisky, brandy are some of the liqueur mixed with juice to create this Red Devil drink. I took a few sips, not that I always drink during the day-time, and there seem to be stars flying all over. All right, I’m just joking about the stars!

Their highly acclaimed Crispy soft-shell crab ($15.0) started our tasting session. Lightly battered soft-shell crab topped with cucumber salad and a special ginger flower dressing. You know, the problem with food-blogging is we tend to take a long time trying for a perfect shot of the food. By the time we tried this, the soft-shell crab was a tad soft and soggy from the sauce already. But i love the refreshing cucumber salad which complimented the crispy crab very well.

There’s the devils’ wing. There’s devils on horseback. There’s beef short rib. And there’s onion rings. A bit of everything. The Manchester Combo Platter ($28.0). There wasn’t anything spectacular about the devils’ wing, just crispy chicken wings accompanied with sweet and sour hot sauce. The peculiar-sounding name of devils on horseback did piped my curiosity, which was deep fried veal sausages wrapped with chicken bacon. The beef short rib also caught me by surprise since my first impression of it was pork ribs instead of beef.

Named after Europe’s top club trophy which Manchester United won last year, for the third time. The Champions Burger ($16.90), how befitting. Freshly ground ribeye beef patty done medium-rare, topped with caramelised onion, chicken bacon, and mushroom. However, I lamented the fact that there wasn’t enough cheese, and it wasn’t melted enough to give the Oomph impact.The fries were generous and pretty decent.

The fish & chips ($17.90) came with two slice of the battered fillet of fish, with golden fries and greens. If you are looking at a typical fish & chips in Singapore, this passed the test, but it lacked the connection to the English food, which a Manchester United café should have.

My meal can never be completed without any sweets. I asked for the in-house dessert, which turned out to be Red Devil’s Pudding ($7.90). Homemade chocolate pudding served with hazelnut and ice cream. This is one dessert which can never go wrong, with chocolate lava oozing out from the pudding, eaten with the cold chilly ice cream, you are in heaven, my dear. I did felt that the $7.90 tag is slightly steep considering a place which does not specialise in desserts. But if you are like me who need sweets to end off a meal, here you go.

Be at the top of the world controlling your favourite club, transferring and buying your favourite players. That’s what Football Manager (FM) brags about. Something better, sit at the dugout in the midst of a match!

More than just a sports bar, MUCB hopes to portray the image that there can be good food with your drinks too. I think it is good for Boat Quay on a whole, to shake off the sleezy image which so many people perceive it to be.

MUCB offers food with reasonable pricing, but my only qualm was the lack of identity of the cafe. The food although it was above average, lacks the connection with Manchester United the football club. The place, although it has lots of Manchester United stuff, lacked the distinctiveness.

Maybe it was due to the afternoon visit, I’m sure the atmosphere will be very different on a match day. Whatever it is, MUCB does provides a new option for lunch if you are working in the vicinity. And for the Manchester United fans out there, what are ya waiting for?!?

I will like to thank Shawal from Asiaprwerkz who invited me for this food tasting session, and Mr Andy Yun, CEO of Manchester United Food & Beverage Asia, who hosted us and gave an interesting insight about his vision for MUCB.

Manchester United Café Bar
Boat Quay (Next to Dallas)
Tel: 65335880

Strolling down the Singapore River, we found ourselves mesmerised by the scenery, the cool evening air, the group of angmohs enjoying some beer before the sun sets, and the occasional harass from a few of the “eateries” which touted free drinks to entice us.

History has it that this beautiful watershed was the place where the myths and legends conjured up memories of the lighters, bumboats, tongkangs with their painted eyes to see the danger ahead and sampans of yesteryear. This is the place where the Chinese, Malay, and Indian once lived. This is the the place where Sir Stamford Raffles once sailed through to land on Singapore.

The charming Boat quay offers a magnificent view of the Singapore River, with the Fullerton hotel as the backdrop, and the towering skyscrapers in the buzzing CDB just behind. Since the area is famous for its vibrant night life, one will certainly not associate the place with food, I had the same impression, that is, until I visited Dallas restaurant.

Entering the second level, it was a complete stunner as we experienced the hundred & eighty change in environment. From the blasting pub, we stepped into a room befitting of a semi-formal dining restaurant. With nice furnitures, carpeting, and  the natural lighting from the windows, this room was ideal for a quiet and romantic dinner.

And if you think that is the end, you are in for a surprise. The bar and restaurant concept was fully displayed in the third level of Dallas. With a slightly tone down attitude compared with the second level, this one was all about the causal and relax approach for a hearty dinner. And the smoothing lounge music overhead certainly helps too.

To begin the long dinner which we realised in the aftermaths, lasting almost three hours, we started off with the Dallas platter ($12 for 2 person). The succulent mushroom immediately made an impact as the juices gushed out when we took a bite.

Chicken wings, and the Cheese Quesedillas completes the platter. There wasn’t anything extraordinary about the wings, but the garlic mayonnaise that came along was everything about garlic. On the other hand, the popular cheese quesedillas fared reasonably on my score sheet. Tasting almost like a Mexican taco, there was chicken bits soaked with tomato in chicken broth, but I lamented the fact that it wasn’t cheesy enough.

My dining companion is a big fan of prawns, and the Salad of green mango & prawns ($16) definitely worked its magic. While I felt prices did seem slightly steep for a bowl of greens, but there was a generous portions of the fresh & juicy prawns. And the crisp, tart green mango reminded me of the refreshing Thai-style salad.

Our first main course was the BBQ Barramunudi fillet ($20), one of Dallas’s signature dish. The watercress that accompanied the dish caught my attention, since it wasn’t that common to see this vegetable as a choice of green for salad.

Gigantic, huge, enormous are probably some of the terms you will link the baby back ribs ($22 for 1/2 rack, $28 for full rack) with. I’m a sucker for pork ribs, and the sight of this ginormous baby aroused the carnivore in me. Man, I can still clearly recalled the sweet and juiciness of the ribs now, and if it wasn’t for the fact that we had other food after this, I’ll gladly go for the full ribs instead.

I could only stared at the Tenderloin with shitake mushroom sauce ($28) when it arrived. Being almost full by the previous ribs, the thickness of the steak did shocked me for a bit. While some people would insist on medium well to prevent seeing red, I felt that it would not do any justice to the piece of tender meat.

Medium rare it is.

By the time the Roast chicken and Penne pasta ($16) navigated its way to our table, we were completely stuffed by the multi course dinner. Nonetheless, we did a sampling, and since I’m not a fan of penne, maybe it wouldn’t be a completely fair comment. I found the pasta pretty plain in taste, but the restaurant manager Kenneth, told us that it was a favourite among his angmoh customers, Acquired taste perhaps. And not to forget the roast chicken did wonders for me, it was akin to our roast pork, or more affectionately known as, sio bak.

We were told frankly by the manager that Dallas is still working on their desserts, and there was nothing to rave about. But being the dessert enthusiats we were, a meal wouldn’t be complete without any sweets, so we decided to go for the Dallas Cheesecake ($8). It could be due to the fact that we had zero expectations, the cheesecake actually didn’t turn out to be as bad as we thought. We couldn’t resist the rich and cheesy dessert. But for the price, I wouldn’t exactly recommend trying the desserts, just get another appetiser!

Dallas Restaurant & Bar stands out as one of the few gems among the food outlets in Boat Quay. I certainly changed my mind about the impression I had of the area, and Dallas proves that there can be a good place for you to dine and drink at the same time. Their set lunches are pulling in all the office crowds, with the 2 course lunch at $18++, and 3 course dinner at $28++.

I would like to thank Rayner from creative partner for inviting me for this food tasting session, and Kenneth the restaurant manager for hosting us for dinner. And oh yes, for you guys who are looking for a venue to have your birthday bash, or a group outing, Dallas has their function room on the third level with a private bar, and a balcony for this. For more information, email to events@dallas.sg

Dallas Restaurant & Bar
31 Boat Quay
Boat Quay Conservation area
Tel: 6532 2131
Website: http://www.dallas.sg/