Words by Jolene Koh of Cupcake Weekend, Photos by ladyironchef

The first thing that comes to your mind when you think of Marmalade Pantry? Cupcakes, tea & probably their famous crab meat linguine. While the outlet at Ion Orchard is well known for housing tai-tais for their afternoon high-tea and weekend brunch, the recently opened Marmalade Pantry at the Stables gives a country-side feel that is more casual whilst upholding a chic restaurant image.

Had the pleasure of dining with Brad at Marmalade Pantry’s second outlet that has now replaced what used to be Mimolette. It is conveniently located just beside Rider’s Cafe set in the heart of Fairways Drive where the former Turf Club used to be.

We started our meal with the highly recommended Mexican Chicken Salad ($22) which consisted of grilled chicken pieces tossed with avocado, spiced corn & salsa stacked between sheets of perfectly crisped tortilla and finished with a dollop of sour cream. It was fresh, tangy and delicious. The kind of dish I would order over and over again and not get sick of.

Following that came the mains.

Steak & Eggs ($38) was served on a warm skillet with smashed peas & two perfectly cooked sunny-side ups. While the steak was tender and juicy, I wasn’t thrilled that the sauce slightly over-powered and muted the natural flavour of the meat. Would have preferred if the gravy was served by the side instead.

Another main that was recommended was the Spaghetti Carbonara ($24) which is one of the better carbonaras I’ve tasted. Al dente noodles tossed in a delicious creamy sauce with crispy bacon bits topped with a poached egg. If you’re a fan of cream-based pastas you will definitely enjoy this dish.

Next up, we were served the Truffled Field Mushroom Risotto ($24) that unfortunately arrived at our table over-cooked. The chef however quickly offered to prepare a new one which we kindly rejected because we over-estimated our appetite. Will definitely give that another try the next time I return.

Lastly we had the Pan Roasted Red Snapper ($28) that was lightly fried in a parsley herb crust and served with hearty home-made ratatouille, shaved fennel & rocket salad. A healthier and just-as-satisfying alternative should you be craving for Fish & Chips.

As they always say, no meal is complete without something sweet to end. In addition to their repertoire of signatures like their Sticky Date & Toffee Pudding and Banoffee Pie, are two new desserts that we sealed our meal with. Namely the Lemon Brulee Tart ($14) and the Granny Smith & Stem Ginger Pudding ($13).

The former is basically a classic lemon tart sprinkled with sugar which is then torched to a crispy caramelized top-crust that adds extra texture and a tinge of sweetness to the sour lemon curd.

The Granny Smith & Stem Ginger Pudding was light, semi-crumbly and paired well with the scoop of salted-caramel ice cream that it was served with. However, like how bread pudding would be incomplete without creme anglaise, I felt this dessert lacked a warm apple or toffee drizzle that would have tied it up perfectly.

Marmalade Pantry at the Stables is a great place for a good meal if you wish to escape the city for a relaxing, quiet night out. I look forward to coming back to try their brunch menu.

Oh, and we got first dibs that they have plans in building a tree-house behind their establishment. So especially for parents who are always on the lookout for kids-friendly restaurants, you know where your next dine-out spot should be.

Singapore Food Blog Review
Marmalade Pantry at the Stables
55 Fairways Drive
Tel: +65 6467 9328
Tue to Fri: 3pm – 11pm
Sat to Sun: 10am – 11pm

Note: This was an invited media tasting.

Bar Bar Black Sheep (bbbs) is one of those places that you would find it hard to categorise. Is it an upmarket coffee shop? Or is it a cafe-bar with al fresco (read: no air conditioning) dining? It doesn’t really matter. Expatriates love the place. I recently went to Bbbs Robertson Quay for brunch. There’s nothing quite like a hearty breakfast on a lazy weekend.

If you have not been there before, the cafe-bar (or whatever you want to call it) houses three different stalls that serve Thai, Western and North Indian cuisine – helmed by independent chefs. And of course, there’s a bar where you can get some drinks like a nice cocktail or beer.

Within a relatively short period, Bar Bar Black Sheep has expanded from its original outlet along Bukit Timah road to Robertson Quay and recently, Boat Quay.

I was hoping to satisfy my craving for a good burger. But unlike the Bukit Timah branch which has Smok’Inn Frogz Kitchen (they serve the best burger in Singapore), Bbbs Robertson Quay has a different Western stall – The Platterz. Sadly, the burgers here are not as good as the ones from Smok’Inn Frogz Kitchen, and they are also slightly pricier.

Between the two of us, we shared a Char-grilled Cheese burger ($13.9) which came with ordinary fries and home-made coleslaw; Eggs & Toast topped up with bacon, and sausages ($10.9); and Belgian Waffles ($7.9) with maple syrup and chocolate sauce.

I think that the food at Bar Bar Black Sheep, or rather, The Platterz (Western stall) is decent, nothing particularly outstanding, though. That said, I can see myself coming back again. There are not many restaurants in Robertson Quay serving breakfast food, and the prices at Bar Bar Black Sheep is quite acceptable.

Bar Bar Black Sheep at Robertson Blue is situated further away from the main dining cluster. If you are familiar with the Robertson Quay restaurants, it is nearer to Kith Cafe and eM by the River.

What do you usually order at Bar Bar Black Sheep? Indian, Western or Thai food?

Singapore Food Blog
86 Robertson Quay
#01-04 Robertson Blue
Tel: +65 6836 9255
Daily: 12pm – 12am (Fri & Sat till 2am)
Weekend Breakfast: 9am – 1pm.

879 Cherry Avenue (Bukit Timah Road)
Tel: +65 6468 9382
Sun to Fri: 11am – 12am
Sat: 10am – 12am

55 Boat Quay
Tel: +65 6535 2230
Mon to Sat: lunch & dinner

For more recommendations, please read my list of brunch places in Singapore

Tucked at the back of a run-down coffee shop along Upper Bukit Timah Road, Ga Hock Seafood Restaurant is a popular zhi char stall in the west of Singapore.

Despite its hidden location, Ga Hock has a huge following; many people flock here for a good and satisfying dinner. I only knew about Ga Hock when I asked on twitter for recommendations of the best zi char places in Singapore.

We dived straight into the chilli crabs – which is one of the things you must eat in Singapore.

Ga Hock’s Chilli Crab ($42/kg) was decent, but the gravy was too watery for my liking. That said, it would be a shame to waste the spicy-sweet sauce. The deep-fried buns were the perfect vehicle to soak up the chilli gravy, and we finished everything.

When we eat at zi char stalls, we will always order Har Cheong Kai (prawn paste chicken). I know it is a little boring to order it all the time, but who can resist the gorgeous deep-fried chicken wings?

The Pork Ribs ($10) was equally good. With a lethal combination of the sweet sauce and the irresistibly-tender pork ribs, this is a must-order dish at Ga Hock.

Another popular zi char dish that we would always order is the Hotplate Beancurd ($8). There are no fanciful ingredients; just eggs, mushrooms, beans, carrots, minced meat, and shrimp on a sizzling hotplate. This is simplicity at its best.

Ga Hock Seafood Restaurant is opposite Mindef along Upper Bukit Timah road (near the Shell petrol station).

Singapore Food Blog Review
Ga-Hock Seafood Restaurant
794 Upper Bukit Timah Road
Hup Choon Eating House
Tel: +65 6314 5725
Daily: 4pm – 11pm

When it comes to cheap and good food in West of Singapore, the first place that comes to mind is definitely Bukit Timah Food Market & Hawker Centre. It is one of my usual hang-out places for local food as it’s only ten minutes away from my home.

It can be quite a daunting task when you are ordering food in hawker centres. Which stalls do we order from? Shall we flip a coin, judge by the number of newspaper cuttings, or simply look at the queue of each stall? If you are planning to make a trip to Bukit Timah Hawker Centre, I’ll like to share with you some of my favorite food there.

For those of you who have been reading my food blog for a while, I’m sure you know that Char Kway Teow is one of my favorite hawker food. I usually order it from Xin Heng Char Kway Teow (Stall 181) when I’m having dinner at Bukit Timah Food Centre. He Zhong Carrot Cake (Stall 185) is extremely famous for their white carrot cake. I very much prefer the sweet and eggy black carrot cake so I seldom order this unless my friends want to try it.

For Oyster omelette, avoid the one from Fried Carrot Cake Fried Oyster (Stall 145), the omelette was soggy and there was hardly any oyster. I can’t remember the name of the stall that I always order from — it’s in the same row as Xin Heng Char Kway Teow.

It’s always a good idea to eat at hawker centre with a group of friends (at least 4-5 people) so that you can order more food. Stall 156 BBQ Seafood offers a good variety of BBQ seafood like stir fried Lala clams, BBQ Stingray and sambal kangkong – great for sharing, but I can probably finish the excellent stingray on my own.

I have tried two of out three of the hokkien mee stalls in Bukit Timah Hawker Centre. On one occasion, we decided to try Fried Hokkien Mee (Stall 145) because of the long queue. Unfortunately, the hokkien mee was a total letdown, the sambal chili wasn’t spicy enough, and the taste of the noodles was subtle – bordering on bland. The second Hokkien Mee Stall is located in the middle row of the food centre and they use the distinctive flat yellow noodle. I’m going to try out the third stall (facing the main road) the next time round.

Peter Pan Western Food (Stall 133) has been around for some time, and they have value-for-money Western Food. Otherwise, there’s Tom Kitchen Western Food which is located near the stairs. Long House Popiah used to have a branch in Bukit Timah Hawker Centre, but on my recent visit, I realized that it’s not there anymore. Try the popiah and kueh pie tee from Stall 127 instead. There’s also the famous Satay bee hoon, Japanese food, and Thai Food stalls worth trying if you want something different.

If you are having breakfast at Bukit Timah Food Centre, be sure to order the Kway Chap from stall 138. There’s always a long queue when I go there during weekends. My mother is a big fan of the huge fishballs from Teochew Fishball noodle, (Stall 179) as well as the dark sauce wanton mee from Stall 197 Happy Wanton Noodle. To end the hawker feast on a sweet note, have the smooth beancurd and Tang Yuan (glutinous rice balls) from Soyako (Stall 166).

// Bukit Timah Food Market & Hawker Centre is within walking distance from Bukit Timah Shopping Centre, and Bukit Timah Plaza. For other options, there’s a stretch of eateries and restaurants at Cheong Chin Nam road, Chun Tin road and Lorong Kilat opposite Beauty World.

Singapore Hawker Food Review
Bukit Timah Food Centre
116 Upper Bukit Timah Road

Stepping into 3 inch sin at Cluny Court, I could feel something stirring inside me.

It was a feeling that I never had before, I actually felt sexually aroused by the aromatic scent and the food I saw in the shop. I could almost hear the little imp that’s sitting on the left side of my shoulder whispering: “Go on, succumb to your wildest imagination and tempt fate. You know you want the molten chocolate lava cake!”

During my first visit to 3 Inch Sin at Cluny Court, we ordered the Mini Molten Flavors ($7 for selection of 3 mini cakes). The flavors for 3 inch sin’s molten chocolate lava cake include: Original, mint, bitter orange, coffee, hazelnut, raspberry, peanut butter, white chocolate, lemon and cherries jubilee.

Half-wishing that we could try everything on the menu, the two of us chose the original, hazelnut, and raspberry. Among the three flavors that we sampled, I liked the Raspberry molten chocolate cake the least. While the slightly sourish berry flavor provided a good counterbalance to the sweet chocolate cake; I’m sorry but (molten) chocolate lava cakes are meant to be (sweet) sweet.

I have always been a big fan of hazelnut (everything and anything should be hazelnut). Needless to say, the Hazelnut molten lava cake was excellent — the timeless classic combination of hazelnut and chocolate never fails to deliver.

The Original Chocolate lava cake was all about chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate. Come, sing with me: warm molten chocolate in a chocolate-y chocolate cake, warm molten chocolate in a chocolate-y chocolate cake…

If you are going down to 3 inch sin after looking at this blog post, I’d recommend you to order their normal size (3 inch) warm chocolate cake ($6 + $3 for a scoop of ice cream) instead of having the 3 Mini molten flavors. While the mini molten lava cakes offer variety in terms of flavor, it does not have a melty center (in short: the chocolate lava cake doesn’t flow) as the cake is too small.

Two weeks after my first visit, I went back to 3 inch sin at Cluny court again. This time, I had the original chocolate lava cake in the normal 3″ size. It was more than good, it was beyond-the-description-of-any-word.

The molten chocolate cake concealed a melty center, with lots of chocolate that’s incredibly sweet and lovely. Paired with a scoop of the cold, chilling vanilla ice cream; nobody, I repeat, no body can resist the warm chocolate cake.

Happiness is when your molten chocolate lava cake flows.

Are you looking for the best chocolate souffle or warm chocolate lava cake or whatever you call the chocolate dessert that has a melty center? At the second level of Cluny Court (beside Island creamery at Serene centre), there is this new dessert place which serves one of the best warm chocolate lava cake in Singapore — they are called 3 inch sin.

Sorry Max Brenner, I still love you. But now, I love 3 inch sin more.

Restaurant Review
3 Inch Sin
501 Bukit Timah Road #02-27
Cluny Court Singapore
Tel: +65 6314 1217

The grass is always greener on the other side. I think this is very true as my food adventures totally reflect this. Even though I stay just 10 minutes away from Bukit Timah, I tend to go further in search of good food in Singapore. Come to think of it, I have never really explore the stretch of restaurants at Cheong Chin Nam road (directly opposite Beauty World).

As I was walking along there last week, I realized that there’s actually quite a few eateries that open till late night, and they are now officially my prime-targets for supper. The chicken rice craving gave us the choice between Five Star Hainanese Chicken Rice and Boon Tong Kee since both of them are arguably famous chicken rice in Singapore.

There were mixed reactions on twitter when I asked which is the better chicken rice among the two, and we eventually went for Five Star since I had Boon Tong Kee chicken rice before.

Sinking your teeth into the Five Star Kampong chicken ($14 for half, and $28 for whole)… It was actually quite ordinary. But there’s this lingering after-taste which I found it hard to explain. As the teeth made contact with the chicken, it encountered first the roasted skin, then a layer of fat which disintegrated as your teeth moved on to the juicy chicken meat.

Was this the best chicken rice in Singapore? Probably not. Was it good enough? Yes.

DO NOT ORDER the Hainanese Pork Chops ($7)! You have been warned.

I LOVE Sweet and sour pork ($9). I can have it for dinner everyday and not get sick of it. After ordering half a chicken and the Hainanese pork chops, you would probably think that we won’t order any more meat. But I demanded to order the sweet and sour pork and it was surprisingly not too bad. Five Star Hainanese Chicken rice’s rendition of my favorite dish was definitely not the best, but it was actually much better than the usual ones that I had before. The meat retained the slightly crispy texture despite being drizzled with the sweet and sour sauce. Not too bad, not too bad at all.

We can probably also classify Boon Tong Kee and Five Star Hainanese Chicken Rice under zi char stalls since both restaurants serve a good variety of Chinese food in the zi char style.

Have you tried both Boon Tong Kee and 5 Star Hainanese chicken rice before? Do share with us which one you preferred.

Restaurant Review
Five Star Hainanese Chicken Rice
6/7 Cheong Chin Nam Road Singapore
Tel: +65 6466 3000

I know it seems like I am always scheming and teasing to get you hungry, but trust me: everything that I do is for your own good. Today is Sunday. And as my favorite saying goes: Sunday is made for brunch.

If you are still looking for a place, take a look at my list of brunch places in Singapore. But if you ask me directly, I’d highly recommend you to check out Epicurious Cafe, which is voted Best Breakfast in Singapore by Time Out Singapore.

Epicurious Cafe has always been well known for their weekend brunch. It’s almost impossible to get a table without waiting if you reach after twelve noon, and here’s the good news – Epicurious has recently opened a new branch at Railmall. And the best part? The breakfast menu at railmall is exactly the same as the one at Robertson Quay.

Sharon the co-owner of Epicurious Cafe recommended me to go for the Baked Eggs with Toast Soldiers ($6.50 for 1) and I agreed that it’s absolutely divine! Eggs and bacons are the best couple in this world. The latter always makes eggs become so much better!

When the trio of eggs, bacon, and cheese are baked together, there’s only a word to describe everything – magic! I believe that the Baked eggs are more than capable of defending Epicurious Cafe title of Best Breakfast in Singapore.

Having tried the Eggs Benedict on my previous visit, I decided to go for the Ratatouille Omelette ($12). Tomatoes and eggplant added color and contrasting texture to the smooth and silky egg. If I may add, the side potatoes were really tasty, and I like the combination of the slightly sourish fillings with the omelette.

Where’s the best pancakes in Singapore?

I get this question very often, and the first thing that comes to my mind will be the Pancakes ($7 for 3) at Epicurious. I can’t say if this is the best pancakes in Singapore, but one thing’s for sure, the pancakes here are definitely one of the most value-for-money.

Breakfast is all about eggs and pancakes.

For desserts, we had the Apple Crumble and a slice of carrot cake. The apple tart was lovely. Warm and soft and tart, it had a very appley flavor, with a scoop of cold ice cream – this was the perfect fairytale ending to our wholesome breakfast.

* * *

In my opinion, Epicurious Cafe is still one of the best brunch places in Singapore. If you are one of those who have problems waking up early for breakfast and never seem to be able to get a table at Epicurious Robertson Quay; dude, it’s time to go to the Rail Mall branch.

The same good old breakfast – now available in the West.

Restaurant Review
Epicurious Singapore
392 Upper Bukit Timah Road
The Rail Mall
Tel: +65 6894 5926

With so many new Burger joints popping up in Singapore, which one do you go to? I have my fair share of going to some of the burger places in Singapore. I’ve tried Wagyu beef burgers with foie gras, expensive gourmet burgers, incredibility tiny burgers at some of the chic drinking places. But at the end of the day, I’d go to Smok’inn Frogz Kitchen at Bar Bar Black Sheep when I’m craving for a really good burger.

The thing about a good burger, to put it simply – they are so seducing! There’s nothing as sexciting like a gorgeous burger. Some places try too hard, they come up with fanciful names or throw in exotic ingredients, but you know what? All I want for a good burger is: a good juicy beef patty topped with melted cheese sandwiched between two toasted fluffy buns.

And Smok’Inn Frogz Kitchen is just exactly all about that, there isn’t any fanciful name – just a simple ‘homemade beef burger‘. Considering the burger is $12 nett, I’d think that it’s very hard to beat them.

Besides their popular Homemade Beef Burger, we also had the Grilled chicken burger and the Mushroom Cheese burger. Having tried the homemade beef burger on the previous two occasions, I was keen to go for the other burgers available on the menu and I chose the Grilled Chicken Burger. It was decent, but not wow. Maybe it was my fault as I was expecting to have a thick chicken patty, but instead there was chunks of grilled chicken stacked up together to form a patty.

We couldn’t really differentiate between the Homemade Beef Burger and Mushroom Cheese Burger since both had beef patty and came with cheese. The only exception to the latter was the inclusion of the mushrooms instead of caramelized onions. Beer goes so well with burger, needless to say, we finished every crumb of it and even most of the fries.

* * *

Maybe I shouldn’t hype too much about the burgers lest all of you have too much expectations of it, but I think it’s definitely up there among the best burgers in Singapore. If you are going to check out Smok’Inn Frogz Kitchen at Bar Bar Black Sheep, try to go before 6.30pm as it gets really crowded after that, and they are not open for lunch during weekdays.

Now you need to tell me: where’s your favorite burger place in Singapore?

Restaurant Review
Smok’Inn Frogz Kitchen
879 Bukit Timah Road
Weekdays: 5pm-11pm
Sat: 1pm-11pm
Sun: 9am-11pm
Bar Bar Black Sheep

If there’s anything that I will not get sick of, it will definitely be eggs. I love eggs! Be it scrambled eggs, poached eggs or sunny side-up, I can have them every day.

I always envisage the idea of a restaurant serving all day brunch. By that, I mean a place which has all day breakfast for not just breakfast, lunch but also dinner – serving nothing but breakfast food.

In the past year, we have seen the entrance of many new brunch places in Singapore. Hatched at Evans Lodge is a restaurant that serves all day breakfast. I went to Hatched during a weekday lunch. Even though it wasn’t very crowded, there was a slight hiccup as the staff forgot to pass my order to the kitchen and we waited for slightly longer than 30 minutes.

Otherwise, the menu is perfect for me. Hatched has all kinds of eggs; boiled, poached, baked, scrambled, fried, and omelette. There were so many different type of eggs on the menu – it took us a while to read through the menu.

And of course, brunch is all about Eggs Benedict. Hollandaise sauce is the key to a good eggs benedict, but the one here could be more buttery. Sir Benedict ($16 for two) however, is no ordinary stuff. Eggs and bacon are the best couple ever, no one can resist the temptation when eggs meet bacon.

Lets have a pancake party!

Soft and fluffy, the Pancake Party ($10 for 3) is the perfect start to a good breakfast. I’ve decided, pancakes are my favorite breakfast food. You know what I’d do? Dip the pancake into the honey syrup, and mix it with the fresh butter cream; this is sheer luxury.

I love the sauteed mushrooms and juicy tomatoes that came together with the Papillote ($12). The sliced smoked salmon of bright red hue was wrapped around the scrambled eggs and presented on top of the toast.

* * *

If you are craving for breakfast food during dinner, Hatched is definitely an ideal place. All day brunch, anyone?

Restaurant Review
Hatched
26 Evans Road
#01-06 Evans Lodge
Tel: +65 6735 0012
Closed on Monday

Right on the heels of a romantic dinner at Forlino, I had another amazing Italian feast – the following day. The original plan was to have a simple lunch somewhere else.

“Why don’t we go to Valentino?” I asked jokingly.

Apparently, my lunch date took it very seriously. To cut the story short, we ended up at Valentino’s after calling to confirm a table. Stepping inside Ristorante Da Valentino, it feels like we are in our charming Italian neighbours’ house for dinner.

Most squid ink pasta, or at least the ones that I’ve tried, had the quirky and murky flavor. This one tasted like squid ink. It tasted like fresh ink extracted on the spot.

Like the one that I’ve at Forlino the night before, the Fettucine al Granchio ($23.9) here was also infused with squid ink. Huge chunks of crab meat with the fettucine, tossed with the creamy tomato sauce – it was absolutely wicked!

Now we have a problem. I want every slurp of the pasta. No, I do not want to share.

Option A: Finish everything and re-order before my partner returns from the washroom.

Option B: Try to convince her that the mushroom risotto is better than the squid ink pasta.

I could see no Option C, even though I was secretly praying that she’d not like the pasta.

Unfortunately not. In case you are wondering, we wiped the plate clean. I’d die for the squid ink pasta, or less dramatically, save up and come here every week – just for this.

I want Risotto. My dear Seafood linguine, it doesn’t mean I don’t like you anymore. It just means right now, I’m craving for risotto more.

Mushroom risotto has a very important place in my heart. I don’t always order it, but when I do – it has to be good. Maybe subconsciously, we wanted more of the squid ink pasta, or maybe we had small appetite that day. Either way, just a word of caution: see the plate of Porcini Mushroom Risotto ($23.9) up there?

It might not look like a lot, but trust me, both of us couldn’t finish it.

Sweetie, it’s desserts, and Perla’s Pastry Boutique is calling!

Right beside the restaurant, there is Perla’s patisserie by Valentino’s sister. There’s no dine-in area for the patisserie, but the desserts are available if you are dining in the restaurant. It was an agonizing choice between the tiramisu, panna cotta, frutti bosco and their signature chantilly cake. But the sight of the gorgeous mixed berries were simply irresistible.

There’s a wise saying that goes like this: never trust a beautiful woman, and if I can add on to it, never trust the beautiful berries to taste sweet. Call me shallow, but I actually fall for it. Oh well, what to do, I’m superficial. Anyway I believe there’s blackberries, raspberries and strawberries in the Frutti Bosco ($8.80).

* * *

A romantic dinner for two is not necessary just about fantastic view or fanciful cuisine. Lovely, lovely place. Valentino is my definition of a romantic restaurant, it is all about us having good food in a cozy ambiance. Here’s a restaurant for Valentine’s day, reservations are definitely a must for dinner.

I’m going to bring all my friends to Ristorante Da Valentino for their homely, authentic Italian food. Rifle range road is directly opposite King’s Albert Park & Bukit Timah Plaza. Pick up your phone, and dial the eight digit numbers. Get on with it.

Restaurant Review
Ristorante Da Valentino
11 Jalan Bingka
Mayfair Park
Tel: +65 6462 0555

Ristorante Da Valentino is listed as one of ladyironchef’s favorite restaurants in Singapore.

January is like pressing the reset button and we start anew. Whatever sinful indulge that we have last month, the seafood feast the month before last month, or even the slice of rich and good cake three months ago; all these are behind us – we shall eat our way through all over again.

To begin the new year, I will like to start with an awesome Home-made Beef burger ($12); it’s best not to resist, you know you want it. I like burgers, not those from MacDonald, or Burger King. I mean real burgers with a gorgeous beef patty covered by a slightly toasted fluffy bun, throw in some lettuce, add in a slice of cheese, and even better if there’s caramelized onion – there you have it, a good hearty burger.

I can think of all sorts of excuses just to have a bite of this; honey it’s just a ten minute drive from our place; sweetie lets not cook dinner, it’s easier to eat-out; darling shall we go for supper?

Fancy it ain’t, but who cares, because this burger is a keeper. The only problem is not getting addicted to it.

A word of advise: stick to the homemade beef burger, I made the mistake of being too adventurous and went for the Steak sandwich ($12), and it’s not because the sandwich isn’t satisfying, but nothing can beat a big, hearty burger. While I did not like the steak sandwich, my friend enjoyed it thoroughly; steak is after all, steak, and unlike the beef patty that is made of minced meat.

There has been a mad rush of new burger joints; Burger Shack, Freddie’s burger, R Burger, The hamburger, Sunshine @ Carries, Fatboy’s burger bar, even though I have yet to try most of them, Smok’Inn Frogz Kitchen at Bar Bar Black Sheep is still by far one of my favorite place for a good, hearty burger. See you there!

Tell me, where’s the best burger?

Restaurant Review

Smok’Inn Frogz Kitchen
879 Bukit Timah Road
Weekdays: 4pm-11pm
Sat: Noon-11pm
Sun: 9am-11pm
(Near brewerkz)

Smok’Inn Frogz Kitchen is listed as one of ladyironchef’s favorite restaurants in Singapore

Any tiramisu will do the trick, but if you want a particularly good one, I would recommend the one at Galbiati Deli. This timeless favorite never fails to thrill me with the awesome combination of coffee, liqueur, & mascarpone cheese.

I’m sure you know I have a sweet tooth, and really, I can’t imagine a day without having any dessert. I’m also sure all of us have different favorite desserts. but whatever yours is, I hope you’re eating it. There’s simply no excuses if you don’t even spend some time for a slab of chocolate or a scoop of ice cream; well all I can say is you are missing out. Since the New Year is coming, maybe you should do some reflection, and set a new, new year resolution – have more sweets.

. . . I eat desserts first

Galbiati Gourmet Deli
400 Upper Bukit timah road
RailMall
Tel: 6462 0926

The irony of staying in the west is that I always tend to travel further away from the west for food. They call this the-grass-greener-on-the-other-side theory. Sweet Salty Spicy at the railmall is just five minutes away from my place, but I have never visit it until now.

The Miang of prawns & pomelo ($3.5 per portion) marks the start of our Thai dinner. The correct method of eating this is to roll up the betel leaves with all the fillings within, and eat it in one mouth – or at least that’s how I ate it.

If there is a perfect appetizer, it will surely be the Salad of green mango with crispy salmon ($9). Spicy, sour, and refreshing – it has everything you can ask.

And other than the mango salad, the Hot & sour tom yum soup ($12) is definitely the other classic representative of Thai cuisine. On the surface, the slightly-marred soup appeared to be harmless, but the first slurp hit me in an instant and I was already grasping for water.

We thoroughly enjoyed the Traditional Thai fish cakes ($8 for 4 piece) that came with the sweet spicy dipping sauce. The fish cake was good, but it was the sauce that made it even better.

From the Wok menu, the Crispy Pork knuckle ($10) caught our eyes immediately. I don’t know about you, but I like pork a lot, and this certainly works for me. The others like to have it with the spicy nahm prik relish, but I prefer to have it on its own.

Let’s be honest: what’s there not to like about the tender Pork collar ($14)? They were more delicate and fragile than the pork knuckle, but they were delicious. They were slightly crisp on the outside, just as I wanted, and the meat was so tender and soft. It was a very close replication of roasted pork, not as crispy, but in some ways, I liked it even better. So I finished everything on my own. And my conclusion: these were keepers.

I was pretty skeptical when we ordered the Angus Beef cheek with flat rice noodle ($16), I mean this is Angus beef cheek that we are talking about and they probably will just give a tiny winy piece of meat with lots of noodles. But the result, as you can see in the picture, was a huge serving of the most flavorful and tender of tamarind glazed Angus beef cheek in the fragrant ginger broth. We didn’t manage to finish the flat rice noodle since we were saving our stomach for the other dishes, but if you ever come here; trust me, you will want to finish this bowl of noodle.

Sweet Salty Spicy has five curries in their menu, and we had the Curry Triplets ($24 for 4 person) that allowed us to choose three out of the five. There was the Jungle curry of scallops and prawns, Panang curry of Angus beef in addition to the Mussaman curry of chicken, Green curry of baby snapper and roast duck red curry that we had.

Talking about curry, my favorite will definitely be curry fishhead, but unfortunately they did not have it here. The Mussaman curry of chicken was passable, while the others like the snapper curry. I don’t know about you, but somehow green curry is a turn-off for me; it reminds me of the puke when you are overdosed with liquor from a boys/girls night out.

If I have to choose my favorite, it will be the roast duck red curry. I always have a fetish for roast duck, so it’s a fascination how they manage to blend the taste of the tasty roast duck and curry together. It was a little on the sweet side, from the addition of grapes and fruits to cook with the curry.

I always remember about the Pad Thai that I had in Phuket. In retrospect, it seems funny that I should say that, since I can’t hold my chili very well. But Sweet Spicy Salty’s rendition of the Pad Thai ($12) was not spicy at all, I’m not sure if all Pad Thais are not supposed to be spicy, but the one that I had back then was definitely hot and fiery.

In fact, I like the localized version better, it was somewhat sweet and the stir-fried Thai rice noodle was very fragrant. The addition of peanut added crunch to it, but it would be even better if they’ve threw in more beansprouts.

I like prawns. And so it make sense to order the Jumbo prawns ($4.50 each). But there’s a snag, the de-prawning is always an issue for a lazy bum like me, and luckily they shelved it for us. We also ordered the Grilled squid ($12) that had the same marination as the prawns: the taste was pretty run-of-the-mill.

Despite hearing horror stories on the possibilities of the ways they treated Soft-shell crabs ($13) to make it soft, we went ahead and order it. Often, it’s the dressing that makes the dish taste better, there wasn’t any spectacular about the soft shell crabs, wellt hey were crispy, and eh, soft, but it was the the chili jam & lemongrass dressing that enhanced the taste.

At this point of time, our stomachs were already quite full, but when the staff told us there’s a signature dish that we did not order; we were greedy and went for the Deep fried silken tofu ($18). It was a pretty high price to pay given that it’s only fried tofu stuffed with minimum crab and maximum minced pork. The sauce was good though, but the price tag doesn’t justify for tofu.

The only reason why we made some last minute orders like the soft shell crabs and tofu was because we thought there wasn’t any desserts available. So it came as a surprise to us when they showed us the separate dessert menu, and boy I was excited when I saw the long list of selections they had. And it was even better when I found out that the desserts are made in-house.

We were debating over the white layer in the Devil’s chocolate cake ($8), the menu wrote raspberry ripple so we tasted the layer on its own and tried to convince ourselves it was raspberry. But it was actually mascarpone cream cheese, if you looked closely – the raspberry ripple is a thin layer in between of the cream cheese and the chocolate cake, which explains the reason for the pinkish tinge in the cream cheese. The chocolate cake was a little dry, and personally I felt that cream cheese does not goes well with chocolate cake.

Sometimes luck is very important when it comes to food. You may be scarred by a bad experience and refuse to try a particular dish just because it was bad during the first time you had it. Well, my previous and only encounter with the Sticky Date pudding ($6) wasn’t exactly memorable, but I decided to give it another shot. The problem arises when I do not know how a good sticky date pudding taste like, so there’s no comparison. The one here was fairly competent, it was very date-ish, if there’s such a word, and it would be better if there’s a scoop of cold ice cream to go along with.

All the citrus junkies will absolutely go crazy over this Lemon & wine tart ($7). With the strong and distinct lemon taste lingering on the tongue, the crispy tart crust goes crunch, crunch in your mouth.

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This is last part of the series that I’m doing with Standard Chartered, I will like to thank Claudia from 24seven Communications, and Standard Chartered Bank for the invitation.

Just a quick note about their new credit card campaign, I’m sure most of you will have seen their latest Barry and Fin advertisement; first you get 15% off total food bill (click here for the list of restaurant), and at the end of the month if you have charged more than the minimum amount of $500 (which can be anything, not just dining), you are entitled to an additional 15% cashback which applies to all restaurant in Singapore.

Sweet Salty Spicy
394 Upper Bukit timah road
The Railmall
Tel: +65 6877 2544

//  Read my list of Thai Restaurants in Singapore.

It took me a year to finally visit Raw Kitchen Bar. Actually I dropped by when they just opened a year ago, but I did not have my dinner there back then. And despite staying just 10 minutes away from the place, it took me until now to pay them a visit. Yes, I’m a year late, but it’s better to be late than never isn’t it?

And boy oh boy, December is almost here. I like the year-end, for one it’s the month of celebrations with Christmas and New year, and I get to sum up my adventure for the whole year. Food-wise, this has been a fulfilling year, and I thought my winner for the best new restaurant is already decided, until I visit Raw.

Stepping inside, there’s just something different about this place. There’s the flimsy light bulb with different pieces of whimsical furniture to begin with. Then you have the quaint and charming backyard that looks like an awesome place to throw a tea party. The chef/owner Javier comes out and greet every table, all in all, you have the feeling of dining in the chef’s house.

The food is pretty good too. While we looked through the menu debating over spaghetti mentaiko, and commenting that the bun noodle sounds cute; we finally decided on the Capellini cream of ebiko and sauteed prawns ($19). Every slurp of the angel hair pasta seems to make its existence for your taste of the food. The portion might be a tad small, but it should be adequate for one person’s serving. We also like how the succulent prawns and flavorful ebiko enhanced the taste of the al dente pasta.

The Balsamic duck ($23) was a bit of let-down though, and not that it wasn’t good. The duck drumstick was firm and quite unlike that of a duck confit, but it had an uncanny similarity to the Chinese braised duck in terms of the smell and taste. We would probably enjoy it more if we did not have braised duck before; fusion dishes don’t work in this case, but maybe it’s just us. And for someone like me who usually don’t like mashed potato, the ones that came together with the petite drumstick here, was gorgeous in all sorts of ways.

The choice of the pizza was through an elimination method since there was only three to choose from. Spring vegetables pizza didn’t sound exactly appealing to us, and my friend did not want the mozzarella basil rosemary pizza, so we were left with the Prawns & chili pizza ($19). It was an irony that Raw Kitchen Bar was housed in the former premises of a firestation, wewe were about to call in the fire brigade for help – this pizza’s one kick-ass, fiery, spicy pizza.

This might not sounds convincing since I do not have high tolerance for chili to begin with; but even my friend who claimed that she grew up eating chili, agreed that this pizza was literally hot. And for the price, we weren’t expecting it to be so huge, which sort of compensate for the petite portions in the other two dishes.

Now I have a tough choice for the best new restaurant (among the places that I went to), and I know there’s probably a few more like Spruce & Hacienda (I have not been there yet) that will probably make the cut too. See you there!

Raw Kitchen Bar
276 Upper Bukit Timah road
Firestation
Tel: 6467 3987

Raw Kitchen Bar is listed as one of ladyironchef’s favorite restaurants in Singapore

Shucks! What are you doing with fork & spoon? Throw them away! The real way to eat a delicious burger, is to use your hands! First, press down and flatter the bun, stuff back all the ingredients that dropped out, and use both hands, yes bare hands with no napkins, or wrapper. Picked up the burger and take a breathe in; just like how people swirl and sniff their wine.

Okay now, the glorious moment; take your first tentative bite – open your mouth as wide as you can, and sink your teeth into the bun, then taste the ingredients, and then the meat, followed by the bun again. Yum! And finish the whole burger in one mouthful!

We queued up and ordered from the counter when everyone arrived; there was seven different burgers to choose from, with the typical add-ons like cheese, bacon, and egg.  My friend ordered the BBQ pulled pork burger ($6.20), the pork strips were actually quite tasty, but the bun was too hard. And oh yes, note that all the price stated are just the burger only, you need to add on $3.50 (or $2.50 for students) for a set with fries and drink.

The Thai Chili burger ($6.20) was sweet-meet-spicy; a piece of deep fried chicken patty was drizzled with spicy sweet sauce  Fancy a Zinger?

It is the must-have for every burger joint on their menu, how can they not have the King Ramlee burger? Unfortunately, Burger Shack’s Ramli ($6.20) is a very poor rendition of the famous street burger. Even Relish’s version was better. In place of the sweet chili sauce, they used a sambal sauce which wasn’t really spicy, and Ramlee’s all about the generous sweet chili with lots of barbecue sauce. And instead of wrapping the patty within the omelette, they merely placed the sunny side-up above the beef patty.

Another chicken, the J-burger ($6.20) with okonomiyaki sauce.

The Grilled Chicken ($5.70) was pretty decent with a tender flamed-grilled chicken fillet. Pity about the hard buns though.

Omph, I was excited by the prospect of having melted cheese on top of a medium rare beef patty with a pink tinge in the middle. Delicious right?

Except it wasn’t the case.

There’s the Original ($5.70) and the Double ($7.70) to choose from, and I had add-on cheese for $1.50 too. And I feel cheated that the cheese wasn’t melted. The beef patty was also much smaller than expected, and I hate to say this – even Botak Jone’s burger had melted cheese and better fries.

Nowadays I seldom check out new restaurants immediately when they are just opened. It’s like nurturing a plant; you need to water it regularly, give it nutrients and let it have sufficient sunlight to grow. The same goes for a new restaurant, there are bound to be hiccups initially so we need to give them time to improve the service and tweak the menu.

Three things I don’t like about Burger Shack: the noisy sound system as they use mic to call out the orders that are ready. As much as I understand that the self-service system helps them to keep the price competitive, but I couldn’t help feeling irritated, and it had the whole-fast-food-restaurant-vibe. The interior has a poor air ventilation – we smell like burgers after finishing dinner. And the food can really be better; the fries were cold, some of the burger buns were all right, but some were over toasted and too hard.

But I still think Burger Shack will do well. Students adored Island Creamery and you bet they will hopped by Burger Shack which is less than 5 minutes walk across the road.

I’m still in the mood for burger even though Burger Shack wasn’t too impressive, Smok’Inn Frogz’s still the one to beat, and for the same price range there’s Hotshots. Next up: Swiss Butchery, Sunshine @ Carries, Spruce, and The handburger!

Burger Shack by Island Creamery
559 Bukit Timah road
#01-01 King’s Arcade
Tel: 6466 3477
(formerly Melvados cafe)

Yo Kanye, I’m really happy for you, and I’m gonna let you finish, but Udders has one of the best waffles of all times…

At least for now, until I find a better one.

Until now, I have always been a big fan of haato’s waffles, but now that I’ve discover about Udders, I’m not so sure anymore. I remember my first visit to haato a year ago; it was one of the moments which changed my humble opinion of waffles, and ever since then I never look back. I had others, which were overly priced and not fantastic. So I kept going back to the secret hideout at Ridgewood for a few more time and I never shared the place with you for fear that it might get over-crowded until recently.

Well, to put it this way, Haato’s waffles are still above the rest, but the problem is Udders is even better, and cheaper at $2.50 compared to $4. My grumble is their waffles are too thick nowadays, if my memory didn’t failed me, it used to be thinner and crispier back in the good O’ days.

Waffles make me happy. I’m difficult to please. Whatever.

If specks of vanilla beans doesn’t excite you, I don’t know what else will. Like one of those things which you will never be able to explain – I’m damn excited each and every time I see the tiny specks of vanilla seeds. There’s this natural vanilla flavour which beats the articifical vanilla essence hands down. I love it!

Memories are the best thing about life, be it sad or happy, they will always be there, although some seem to fade away slowly. Well I had fond memories of the Pure Pistachio, so we resisted ordering hazelnut flavour, which would be overbearing with vanilla beans. You could feel the bits of grounded nuts within the robust pistachio ice cream!

Wow! I can’t believe the waffle is so good. This is awesome. Resist from ordering another one, I’m going to tell everybody about it. Oh, how about haato? And then ouch, my beautiful memory is fading away.

Desserts make me happy, at least temporary, until the magic worn off, and then it’s time to eat it again. They are your best friends, and will always be there for you.

U.d.d.e.r.s Ice Cream
17 Lorong Kilat
#01-08 Kilat court
Tel: 6466 1055

When all my friends raved about Kim’s family restaurant, I know I have to check it out. Prior to this, my past experience with Korean food was limited to two places, so yes, up till now I have no idea how exactly an authentic kimchi taste like. The comprehensive menu meant that we spent another additional ten minutes flipping through before we finally decided on our orders.

Had I not been prepared by my friends recount of their experience, I’ll definitely be swamped by all the appetisers that arrived on our table. There was nine of them, and it even included a whole fish! There’s the usual kimchi, anchovy, spicy-sweet cucumber, and I particularly enjoyed the macaroni potato salad.

The braised beef claypot ($10) was excellent – sweet thinly sliced beef that came with cellophane noodles (dong fen) which fully absorbed the essence of the beef. We also had the kimchi fried rice ($10) which I somehow forgot to take a picture. The fried rice came with a sunny side-up on top; it looked good, but I would prefer it if it’s slightly more sourish and spicy. Bibimbap ($10) or hot stone pot rice completed the lineup for our dinner. What’s there not to like when you have hot piping rice in a hot stone mixed with so many ingredients and splashed with lots of chilli?

With the generous appetisers, and the value-for-money dishes, I will definitely return when my friends need a Korean fix, and the best part? It’s only ten minutes away from my place. See you there!

Kim’s Family Restaurant
17 Lorong Kilat #01-06
Singapore 598139
Tel: (65) 6465 0535

Kim’s Family Restaurant is listed as one of ladyironchef’s favorite restaurants in Singapore

Oh look, it’s Monday again.

The start of a whole new week, and another busy one ahead; with the OMY blog awards on Wednesday, going to Kim’s on Thursday, the YES 933 dinner on Saturday, and the third DBS Foodster dinner at Xin Cuisine on Sunday.

There are people in your life who will come and go, some eave in a while and some stay longer. I’m glad to have a batch of friends whom we know each other way back, and although we don’t have to meet up very often, but when we do, there will always be endless topics to chat about. And what better way than to meet up for a good meal together, and chill after dinner with ice cream?

We had two pints of strawberry fields and Snickers Mars honeycomb vanilla; the former was slightly sourish with a robust strawberry flavour, and I absolutely adored the latter with the presence of huge chunks of snickers bar inside the vanilla ice cream.

They are the ones who knew me way back and they are the ones who witness the changes in my life, and like how they put it, it’s hell of an amazing ride to watch me go from nothing to something today. I love my blog!

U.d.d.e.r.s Ice Cream
17 Lorong Kilat
#01-08 Kilat court
Tel: 6466 1055

I meant to blog over the weekends.

But that obviously didn’t work out. I’m swamped with school, photographic society, and personal stuff, but I will post about my DBS Foodster dinner soon. So here’s something sweet to keep you going for the start of the week! And this post is also for Jiaying, who’s always the first to ask me whether I’ll be posting sweet nibbles every Monday.

Da Paolo II Giardino
501 Bukit Timah road
#01-05 Cluny court
Tel: 6463 9628

I love watching dramas, because they got fairy-tale endings; there are moments where you smile like a fool, or weep together with the scenes, but at the end it will be a happy ending – I like happily-ever-after outcomes.

And there are always food in the show, the characters are only human, they need to eat too! So when I watch dramas, I will always get hungry. This bring us to Korean food, it’s a shame that we can’t put our hands inside the screen and grab that very delicious-looking food. So, we hunt, for Korean food.

We wanted the spicy looking Korean noodles but it was sold out; so we took the next-spicy-looking, kimchi soup set ($5.50) instead. It came with a appetiser with choices of tofu or anchovy, kimchi soup and rice. The kimchi soup was fabulous; spicy yet not to the extent of fiery, with a subtle hint of sweetness – I love it!

Bibimbap ($5) will always my choice when I have Korean food, not that I’ve eaten much, but I like the mixture of everything in one bowl. And I also like it to be in a hot stone bowl so that the rice will be piping hot! The one at Ming Jia was pretty decent, just that it wasn’t hot enough! Still, it was great to mix everything with the spicy-and-slight-sweet chilli!

(1) Ming Jia is very near my place.

(2) Ming Jia is very affordable.

(3) Ming Jia is unpretentious and homely.

(4) Ming jis is helmed by a Korean lady, and Koreans go there too.

(5) Ming Jia will be the place to go when I’m craving for Korean food.

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Ming Jia
1 Jalan Anak Bukit
#B1-07 Bukit Timah Plaza