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

Time really flies, the last time I was back here it was during Christmas and look, it’s almost Yule soon. Before we start getting emotional and reflect on the activities for the past year, lets have some wine shall we?

The idea of pairing wine with food is not new for western cuisine, and there’s an increasing demand for wine appreciation with our Chinese cuisine too.

We started with the Jia Wei Deluxe combination which consisted of scallop dumpling, smoked duck, wasabi prawn, lobster paste roll and marinated octopus from top left clockwise. The ordinary-looking scallop dumpling was given a make-over with the touch of roe but otherwise it’s pretty much run-of-the-mill. And while I could never say no to smoking duck, I was actually eying the wasabi prawns that I had pleasant memories of, but unfortunately Jia Wei’s take of the famous dish had a choking sensation which I didn’t really take to. And I love the lobster paste roll simply because of the fact that it’s lobster paste roll.

The last time we were here, the superior shark’s fin soup in hot stone pot was fabulous. So I was rather skeptical when the shark’s fin arrived in normal bowl this time round. I mean, hot stone pot is like the best thing to keep the soup warm and nice, so how are you going to beat that? Well, they upped the stakes by throwing in a gigantic crab pincer and I had to admit – it was good. Well personally I would prefer it to be served in a hot stone pot, but stone pot or not, it’s not going to stop me from finishing the Braised Shark’s Fin with crabmeat in golden stock.

My, my, what a gorgeous photo. I’m so glad that the picture does justice to the Steamed cod fish with special sauce. Sometimes I get real irritated when a restaurant or chef says it’s top secret, it’s secret recipe – you know that kind of stuff. I mean even if you tell me what’s the secret ingredient, I wouldn’t be able to replicate it. But anyway, I figured that it’s of no importance to me since I rather enjoyed the food than to crack my brains over what the ingredients are. The special sauce, was all in all, rather special. It’s kind of sticky, yet tangy and sweet, and it actually blended well to give a refreshing change to the cod.

I’m just a pretty face. And I’m superficial. Whatever.

If there’s a dish to describe the line, this would be it. As much as the Broccoli with scallop and dry conpoy in oyster sauce looked pleasing to the eyes, it’s just another pretty face. There wasn’t anything special about it, but still, I appreciated the effort by the chef to make this thing so delicate.

Don’t ever, underestimate this thing you see here. I call this the Upper East side goreng pisang. The fried fritters retained the distinct banana taste, but with the addition of kiwi fruits and scallops – it just gets better and better.

We had five different wines to pair with the different dishes. There was the Famille Castel Sauvignon Blanc to go with the Deluxe platter, with the light acidity of the Sauvignon to enhance the intensity of the dish. And the Bascand Pinot Noir from New Zealand which you see in the picture here goes well with the braised shark’s fin. I was under the impression that in general you will have white wine with fish, but instead we had another red (Les Hauts De Goelane) with the steamed cod. The Terra Andina Cabernet Sauv was recommended for the Broccoli with scallop, and lastly I liked the Bascand Riesling for the fried rice wrapped in lotus leaf.

I’ll like to thank Keane from Grand Mercure for the invitation to the food tasting session. All the five wines together with a few other selections are available at Jia Wei restaurant, so if you ever want some wine to go along with Chinese food, this will be the place.

Jia Wei Chinese restaurant
Level 2 Grand Mercure Roxy Hotel
50 East Coast road, Roxy Square
(Opp parkway parade)
Tel: 6340 5678

It has been a long time since I last step foot here, my family used to refer Holiday Inn Atrium as “the black glass hotel”.

The air was sucked out of the room when the salad lobster ($9 per 100g) appeared; her sheer beauty took our breathe away, and for the next few second, we were wondering what to do, then one of us took a pair of chopstick and took a bite. And then the whole lobster was gone in a flash.

When in a Chinese restaurant, roasted pork is always a good indicator of the standard of the food. Unfortunately it was sold out when we went for dinner that night, but luckily we still had the suckling pig ($80 for half). Beneath the crispy skin, was the most delicious roasted pig ever, but it was the layer of fats in between that’s so sinful, but good!

I finally found a sweet & sour pork ($16) that’s good enough. I’ve been looking for one to satisfy the sweet-sour-pork-fan-in-me, and I must say Xin Cuisine’s rendition was done nicely; the crunchy pork was coated in the glossy sweet & sour sauce. The sweetness was further enhanced with the addition of lychee and apple instead of just the typical pineapple and cucumber.

And when we thought the salad lobster was good, the baked lobster with foie gras was even better. Thick, creamy mayonnaise sauce with generous chunks of foie gras, baked with the fresh, juicy crustacean. Just the thought of foie gras, and lobster, swoon! You get the idea.

Using the same sauce as the baked lobster with foie gras; the cod fish (not on the usual menu) was nicely seared on the outside and you could taste the freshness inside. We eyed it for a while and then we dug in. Removing the ginger garnish, I shoveled a corner of the fish into my mouth in one bite. The cod was perfect; it tasted good on its own, but it’s even better when we had it together with the sauce.

The Salted crusted baked Kampung chicken ($48 for whole chicken) was specially prepared in advance, and from what I understand, the difference between the normal bred chicken and kampung chicken was that while the former was caged up feeding on grains everyday, the latter gets to “run about” and exercise, which made the meat more tender and tasty.

And the main draw of the kampung chicken here was the infusion of the salted crusted into the chicken, and although it’s meant to be done this way, but we felt that it was slightly too salty for our liking.

First thoughts, the Braised 5-head abalone ($36) looks amazing. Drizzled with superior oyster sauce, there’s a reason why abalone is one of the top delicacy in Chinese cuisine. The abalone was braised until it was so soft, yet retaining a chewiness texture. It was good!

Since I had deep-fried ice cream before, I wasn’t so fascinated this time round. But still we couldn’t help not ordering it as it’s on the menu anyway. A split second into the pot of oil, was all it need for this beauty. Any longer and it would be ruin.

There was the chilled mango coulis pomelo sago ice cream ($10), and the chilled mango pudding ($6).

And since it’s the Mid-Autumn festival, we had some mooncakes too!

You like chocolate? You like mooncakes too? So how about some Mini snowskin mooncake with Champagne chocolate and pandan ($40 for 6 mini pcs)? Champagne chocolate centre with a pandan flavoured lotus paste – it’s one of those things that you either love it, or hate it.

On first look, I thought that this was the traditional mooncake with lotus paste, but it was not. Creamy moist custard filling is wrapped around a salted egg yolk and yum – I like custard! A sprinkle of edible gold flakes makes it irresistible, it’s a sin to eat something so pretty. Xin’s Mini special egg custard mooncake with egg yolk ($42 for 6 mini pcs)

The vibrant purplish blue snowskin made it very outstanding, and no, it’s not coloured flavourings. The blue pea flower was used to naturally infused and produce the beautiful colour. My family absolutely adored the Mini snowskin Peranakan mooncake with durian ($42 for 6 mini pcs); two mini mooncakes are definitely not enough for durian lovers.

My folks enjoyed the dinner of course; lobster with foie gras, suckling pig, abalone, I’m hungry now just by looking at the photos. I will probably go back to Xin Cuisine again, to try out their dim sum (it wasn’t available during dinner time).

My appreciation to Lynda from DBS, Cherylene & Seema from Eurorscg, and the Ivy & her staff from Xin Cuisine for the wonderful dinner. This is the third and final restaurant with DBS Foodster, my previous two dinner was at the Queen & Mangosteen, and Umami Japanese restaurant. You can find out more information about the DBS Indulge Series here.

Xin Cuisine
317 Outram road
4F Holiday Inn Atrium
Tel: 6731 7173

The best of everything. The sashimi platter ($120) was the highlight of our meal and we started with a bang; there’s tuna, pink prawns, hirame, uni (sea urchin). Every slice was so fresh, I could see the glitter in my dining companions eyes. While I’m not a big fan of “raw fish”, it’s definitely a feast for the eyes and treat for the palate to have it prepared so exquisitely.

The Sakura set dinner ($58 per set) which included appetiser of assorted braised vegetables Japanese style, spicy dynamic oyster, sushi roll. For sashimi there’s tuna, salmon and oyster, and this was followed by a steamed dish of chawanmushi, with a deep fried tofu from the land behind. The two mains would be grilled chicken and wagyu beef burger, if that’s not enough, there’s hot udon served with kakiage. And finally rounding off the meal with a chef’s special dessert.

The four of us ordered two sets to share because there was so much else to order from the ala carte menu!

Fortunately, the assortment of sashimi from the set menu came early, and an innocent question “more sashimi?” led to the fantastic sashimi platter you saw on the first photo.

I love eggs, all kinds of them; fried, half boiled, scrambled, sunny side-up, poached ones, anything – except steamed eggs. There are bits of chicken, crab stick, boiled prawns, ginko nuts, and shitake mushroom within the Chawanmushi.

The deep fried tofu and cheese wrapped with soy bean skin is up next, at first sight the sticky cheese looked promising, but upon tasting there wasn’t much wow – the cheese’s not enough and the whole taste was subtle, bordering on bland.

Our first main course of the menu came piping hot, the grilled chicken was served on a hot stone which was specially brought back from Mount Fuji, to ensure the meat retained its optimum temperature – while we took photographs!

Umami’s rendition of wagyu beef burger came in the form of two “meatballs”, while there was nothing spectacular of its appearance, the meat was sure tasty!

Hot udon served with kakiage was the last item on the Sakura menu before dessert. The tasting portion of the menu covered a variety and was decent, there’s two other set dinners at $88 and $128.

And now it’s where the real dinner starts, our selections from the ala carte menu.

A simple deep fried dried cuttlefish ($8) brought us back to the appetiser stage, and prepared us for all the food coming.

I enjoyed the Grilled cod wrapped with lettuce ($16) tremendously. The fish was lightly grilled on the outside and tasted good on its own. But it’s when we wrapped it within the lettuce, Korean-style, and the crunchiness of the lettuce supplemented and enhanced the freshness of the cod.

Clearly, the spicy dynamic oyster ($16 for 3) was everyone’s favourite. Befitting of its name, it had us on first bite in the Sakura menu and we ordered again. The tangy sauce was oh my god, so good! We slurped down the delicious oyster, and did not waste a single drop of the sauce. The best oysters in Singapore, and no, it’s not raw.

The comprehensive sushi menu made it difficult for us to choose from, but in the end for the love of salmon, we went for the Avocado salmon roll ($12). An elongated plate with eight pieces of makis, was indeed value for money.

A whole chunk of it, right in front of our eyes. The scared foie gras ($33), grilled with teriyaki sauce. Oh-oh-oh! Lightly grilled on the outside yet retaining a soft pink within, I swallowed it down – gulped, and wish that time stood still at that moment.

We were all excited by the Japanese beef – Umami served top grade wagyu! A sizzling sound signal the arrival of something magnificent, the marbling was so rich & dense that the meat literally melted in our mouth. I looked around and tried to speak, but no words came; I just allowed myself to quietly finish the meat, and inside I was secretly hoping there was more of this. It’s like totally God’s gift to mankind. Our jaws dropped when we heard that it’s a current promotional price of just $38 instead of the usual $60.

My previous encounter with Kurobuta pork was enough to tell me it’s good stuff, so when we browsed through the “from the land” menu, I immediately ordered the Braised kurobuta pork belly ($12).

“Eeekk!” The girls exclaimed when it was served. The fatty layers were enough to scare off the others, but not me. One bite of the braised pork belly, and one sip of beer, what more can you ask for?

The Rolled omelette with truffle oil ($8 for 5 pieces) was also one of Umami’s signature dishes. You like Japanese omelette? You will like this.

Like what the manager Nigel had mentioned, although the US Black Angus beef ($38) is great, but it’s not in the same league as the Japanese wagyu; the former is like human while the latter is god. The Angus tasted ordinary considering we had gone to heaven with the wagyu – the marbling was just not the same. But it’s not that the Angus wasn’t good, but because we had tried the wagyu first.

And finally after a very long and satisfying dinner, desserts came in the form of home made kurogoma brulee ($6), and home made custard pudding ($6). The former was a sesame version of creme brulee that I didn’t quite take to, but I love the home made custard pudding!

Umami has been around at Liang court since April and I have to admit I did not notice their presence previously when I went to Liang court. The very posh and club-like entrance made it rather intimidating for diners to step in, and they are currently making changes to the front decorations. There’s a current DBS 1-for-1 promotion for their $18 and $25 set lunches.

My appreciation to Lynda from DBS, Cherylene & Seema from Eurorscg, and the Nigel & his staff from Umami for the wonderful dinner. My third and final restaurant with DBS Foodster will be at Xin Cuisine, Holiday Inn Atrium, you can find out more information about the DBS Indulge Series here.

177 River Valley Road
#01-26 Liang Court
Tel: 6333 1166

This was my first time taking the Singapore Flyer. Flash back to two weeks back, I got a surprise message from Jiafa (YES 93.3), inviting me to join Peifen and him on their upcoming food segment where they will invite the listeners to dine at different restaurants. Sounds pretty awesome yeah?

There will be an estimated of eight sessions, where every week we will go to a different restaurant, and there will be a mini-contest of sorts where listeners will sms in to get pick to go for the dinner. Sky dining on top of the iconic Singapore flyer started the ball rolling.

The Sky Dining is billed as the ultimate dining experience by the Singapore Flyer for the full butler serving in the sky. A couple package ($199++) includes 2 express boarding flights, 2 rotations (1 hour), complimentary VIP lounge access, in-flight host, 3 course menu, with the dessert, coffee/tea to be served in the VIP lounge.

Everybody was so excited when the capsule approached us as we were waiting at the platform. “WOW!“, followed by the flashes of cameras, and we were on board of the capsule. It was definitely smaller on the inside since there was a long table for the ten of us. There was the 2 DJs Peifen & Jiafa, 1 from the station, Julie representing Singapore flyer, 4 listeners and me.

The whole setup is simple but packed with all the necessaries. I like it that way, it was small, cozy and just nice for a romantic dinner.

Jiafa and Peifen doing the recording

We started off with some bruschetta and a surreal drink, which was fresh summer berries in ginger ale.

The breathtaking appetiser of Duck liver pate arrived on a bed of fresh young mesclun tossed in sweet vinaigrette dressing. A cheaper alternative to its famous cousin Foie Gras, the duck liver pate is no less taste wise. It was delicious, everybody finished it in a wink of the eye before we reached the peak of the flyer.

There was two choices for the captivating entree, I had the Baked cod fillet in pistachio herb crust. I always enjoyed eating cod for the smooth taste; the exterior of the cod was baked nicely with a crispy surface while beaneath it the fish retained its freshness. And the side of roasted baby potatoes were worth a mention too!

I managed to get a bite of the Braised beef cheek too. Fusion cuisine has always been a do-or-die thing, it’s either people love it, or hate it, there’s no in between. And I must say I’m on the love side for the curry beef cheek. Somehow, it works. The beef was braised until it was so-tender, and the aromatic spices infused a flavour into the meat that you would never imagine. It’s good.

And two rotations, one hour passed away just like that. Everyone was happily chatting away, eating the food while enjoying the scenary. And Julie pointed out some very minor but interesting details that can only be seen on the flyer. We headed to the VIP lounge for desserts.

The bread and butter pudding came, and the spotlight was thrust onto the giant macaron shell/meringue. There was nothing to rave about the pudding since I’ve better ones before, but it was definitely nice to end on a sweet note.

Everything taste good when the company is right, with magnificent scenaries. Wish you were there. It was a great experience to dine on the Singapore flyer, seriously after this, I cannot imagine myself going up on the normal half hour ride on the flyer since you probably be doing nothing but cuddle together and enjoy the scenary. For more information on the sky dining, you can check out Singapore Flyer website here.

So if you want to have a romantic dinner up there without sharing with four other couples, you can book the whole capsule for just the two of you too, for a princely price of $1500 nett per capsule. My appreciation to Jiafa & Peifen from YES 93.3 for inviting me to join them on the show, and Julie for hosting the dinner.

You can listen to our conversation during the dinner tomorrow, the programme will be aired on YES 93.3 this Wednesday 2nd September 6pm. Do stay tune!

Read about Peifen’s post here, and Jiafa’s post here.

In life we have dreams; they are our goals to work towards to, one step by one step, and approached it. I’ve always wanted to visit Spain; the country, with its rich culture and vibrant cities appeal to me, and of course, Spanish food.

I simply love the idea of Tapas; the option of having more variety of food in smaller bite sizes, seduces me. Why have two dishes when we can have four? And so our Spanish adventure started with the Plamuk tod ($12), tempura style calamari rings. Limon did a thinner version using less batter which allowed the taste of the squid. But the amazing thing was the strawberry yoghurt dip which came along with the calamari!

Tartar sauce? That’s so last season. Mayonnaise? That’s so passe. Try strawberry yoghurt dip!

Tapas has many similarities with our Chinese Dim sum; it’s the communal way of sharing food. Both encouraged people to try out more varieties, and at the same time shared the food with others. The Patatas bravas ($10) was essentially Spanish fried potatoes.

A little bit of this, plus a little bit of that

No I’m not talking about our saliva! We get to share food and try a bit of everything without getting full, isn’t that a brillient idea? There’s no beef in the Moo curry ($12), instead there was pork & potato cubes pan-fried, with the red curry sauce being a tad strong.

How come the sausage tasted like brinjar?

It was hilarious when we mistook the eggplant for sausages at first bite, I’m never a fan of the purple plant. The fusion aspect was on display by preparing the Spanish Bibao (sausages) with Thai green curry sauce. Chorizo con curry verde ($14)

Honey, they shrunk the prawns!

I was sceptical when the “king prawns” that they’d mentioned was so tiny, but for what was lacking in size, the prawns more than made up in taste. The “tiny” creature was so prawny and crunchy! With ingredients like olive oil, lemongrass, black pepper, garlic, nameko mushroom; it was a mixture of flavours.

The Gazpacho con vino blanco ($12) was a traditional Spanish cold soup, with the novelty level upped by serving it in a baby coconut husk. The white wine flavour was subtle, but the experience of drinking soup was redefined into drinking coconut!

Tom-kha Guy ($10)

Besides the “coconut soup”, Limon has a few other soup available for selection, and you know I never like such soups, so use your own imagination how it would taste like.

Pumpkin fusion soup with strips of Serrano ham ($13)

Tomato, Orange and lemon soup ($10)

Paella. This was THE dish besides churros that I was looking forward to. And I had problem pronouncing it the whole night, so I came up with a simple way of remembering it, paella (my own pronunciation: Pie-ya). It was done with a Thai twist; incorporating tom-yum with the Spanish paella, there was plentiful of mixed seafood. It was delicious, every grain of rice tasted so good. Since I did not have paella before, there was no way I could make comparison, but it was good enough for me. And the tom-yum flavour wasn’t even strong (at least to me). Paella de tom yum ($20 for main size)

You like fish?

You will definitely love the Bacalao ($36)! The blue cod fillet was so fresh that it seemed alive on my plate, but I would prefer it to be slightly more pan-fried on the surface. Every piece of flesh was so delicate when our utensils touch it, oh baby, I’m gonna eat you up!

The lomo de cordero ($35) was a perfect sight to behold. There’s something about the Rack of lamb, which always make it so sexy! But somehow the ingredients like rosemary, oregano, mint, white wine, lemongrass sauce did not manage to cover the gamey taste.

Lobster, I love lobster! And I’m not going to share with you. No, get your hands off, it’s mine, it’s all mine! I was freaking excited when the Live lobster krapow ($38) arrived on our table. Every bite of the oven-baked lobster was so good, but there wasn’t enough meat for me! Taking a fork, I tilted the lobster head upside down, and dug at the shell beneath it, and yes, there was more lobster meat there!

On first look, I thought it was panna cotta, the Italian dessert. But it wasn’t. The dessert in picture was a Lemon caramel egg custard flan ($10). The texture was very similar to panna cotta, but I couldn’t quite figure out what was the difference.

And yes, I know chocolate cake has nothing to do with Spanish or Thai, but apparently the pastry chef at Limon does such a good chocolate cake that they decided to put it in the menu. And boy, it was true. The Homemade Chocolate cake ($9) paired with vanilla ice cream was a delight! If you could look at the plain chocolate cake up there, there’s the lava-flowing chocolate on top of the moist chocolate cake. Even though it was a pity there wasn’t any vanilla bean ice cream, but a scoop of cold icy one was enough to bring out the best of the chocolate cake.

I love to share food. But somehow the evil twin in me took over when we had the Crema Catalana con frescas ($10). There are times where you eat something that was so good, yet you couldn’t tell what it was, so you just ate, and ate, and ate. This was what I did, I took a spoonful of the egg based cream, put it in my mouth, and I couldn’t taste what it was. And the second bite became even better. So I simply took up the whole glass, dug, and dug further into, until the whole dessert was finished.

* * *

It was a medley of flavours when the Spaniards and the Thais come and play together. This was my first time trying Paella, and I’m glad I tried it! My appreciation to Towie, the owner of Limon, and Nicole for hosting us for the food tasting session.

And now for the good/great/terrific/fantastic news, I’ll be doing a food outing event (yes finally), at Limon on the 10th August for dinner. It would be a public holiday so I hope to see all of you there. The details of the outing will be in my next post.

Limon restaurant
7 Purvis street #01-01
Tel: 6333 9004

Two complete strangers, brought together by something call fate. Friends we are, brothers we have become, and partners we will be. It is amazing how much our bond has grown. The girls call this bff, or bestie. But for us, there is no need to say anything. That’s because everything is clear in our heart.

Discussing a serious topic in such a whimsical place does seem inappropriate. But hey, we can talk about anything, anywhere. The truth always hurts, but I’m glad to hear of it. Because only true friends dare to speak the truth.

We are bound to have disagreements, I hope we will understand each other for everything we do. No matter what happens in the future, or whatever decision we make, our mutual support will carry us, through everything.

You are the one who see this started from nothing to what it is today. You, are the only one besides me, who can exactly summaries all that had happened. You, are the one who always remind me to stay true and keep me grounded.

I know you will always be there for me, just like how I will for you. That is because, we are the best of friends.

***

Much as I cannot differentiate the taste of a Kurobuta and a normal pork, just the name of the Kurobuta alone is enough to excite me. Slow roasted crisped Kurobuta pork belly ($26 before 50% discount). When we say crisp, it really meant business. The crisp-cracking sound when I took a bite into the top of the pork belly, oh my. Slightly thin layer of fats was the real deal, almost divine. Well, the picture might look just like the normal sio bak to you, it is. But a divine one.

We have something from the sea to go along with our previous dish from the land. This time, the Chilean Cod ($26 before 50% discount). With the smooth and silky fish meat, there is a layer of crusted skin. We mistook the tomato fondue as chilli at first sight, but it complimented the fresh cod very well.

Portions were a tad small for the two hungry eaters. So we ordered the four cheese pizza ($17 before 50% discount), with gorgonzola, mozzarella, pecorino & talleggio cheese. Like I always say, I’m no food critic. Among the four cheese, I cannot tell which is which. But I do know the combination of the four, resulted in a very strong cheesy taste. We thought we like cheese, but apparently, it was slightly too strong for us. Only for the cheese lovers!

Total bill was $44, for three mains and a drink, with a 50% discount from Citibank credit card. The current promotion is available at Oomphatico’s for dinner during Monday to Thurday only. It is a fantastic deal, because among the many places Citibank offer for the 50% offer when 2 dines, Oomphatico’s is one of the few that do this promotion during weekday dinner, most of them are weekday lunch. I’m very much tempted to go back again before the current promotions end, to try the rest of the dishes.

Read my previous visit to Oomphatico’s here.

Oomphatico’s
163 Tanglin Road
#01-35 Tanglin Mall
Tel: 6733 9088

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

There are a few things in life which you can never forget. Your first love, the first time flying on a plane, the wonderful taste of food, and of course, my first visit to the prestigious 6 Star St Regis Hotel, and not to mention, the most expensive and excellent dim sum that I’ve there.

I can never forget the taste of Peking duck after trying it for the first time a couple of years back. The perfectly crispy skin with a thin layer of fats beneath. Yan Ting’s Crispy Peking duck ($60 whole duck) served with traditional condiments arrived within minutes after making our order. Instead of wrapping in the typical pancake, the chef decided to use flour skin instead.

Like the usual practice for Peking duck, the remainder of the meat was done in other methods. The one that we had was diced duck meat, which came across as salty. It would be a great compliment with a bowl of white rice, but other than that, there wasn’t much hint of the duck meat. I wondered where the rest of the duck meat actually went. And the second serving ($27) came at a cost of 3 bucks per head.

While I didn’t try any “San Bei Ji”, or claypot chicken with basil & golden garlic ($20 for medium serves 4) before, the rendition here was satisfying. The fragrance of the meat announced the arrival of the dish, the chicken was tender, with some fatty meat and the tasty sauce was the icing on the cake, or rather chicken.

The question mark on my face was evident when I couldn’t figure out what the vegetable on the table was. I was told, the Dou Bei ($26 for medium serves 4) was the superior cousin of the more common Dou Miao. An expensive plate of greens this was, for the seemingly average taste of the vegetables.

We also tried the Crispy garlic pork ($28 for medium serves 4). The pork ribs were crispy, and had a strong garlic taste. The dish also came across as a tad salty. Nonetheless, we dutifully whipped clear the plate of the ribs.

I can never forget my penchant for cod fish. Taking a bite of the Deep Fried Cod Fillet coated with Crispy Cereal ($28), the fish immediately melt-in-the-mouth, with the cereal giving an added crunch. There’s barely enough for all of us a piece each.

I ain’t a big fan of scallop, so this line could be pretty bias. The Pan Seared Scallop filled with Shrimp Mousse ($32 for medium serves 4) was big in size indeed. However, the scallop was overwhelmed by the strong shrimp mousse taste.

I can never forget my mother’s rendition of French bean. I’m of the belief that simplicity is beauty. Using garlic to stir fried the vegetables can always bring out the fragrance of the garlic without covering the freshness of the greens. So I was rather sceptical initially when i saw the Wok Fried French Bean with Minced Pork and Chilli ($20 for medium serves 4). But it did proved me wrong with the wok hei of the beans. And the minced pork didn’t complicate the taste.

Instead of the typical deep fried prawn with mango, the Deep Fried Prawn filled with Fresh Mango ($36 for medium serves 4) came with a twist. Prawns and mangos were wrapped in beancurd skin, and deep fried. To be frank, I dislike beancurd skins, especially those served during dim sum. But this one was decent, the mango could be sweeter though.

With the name Chef Chan Signature Baked Spring Onion Chicken ($28 for medium serves 4), the dish certainly was bundled with expectations. You can’t go wrong ordering the signature dishes, or so it seems. The chicken was plain ordinary, and definitely didn’t warrent the hefty price tag.

I can never forget the best char siew sou ($1.8 per piece) I had before, from Yan Ting of course. Dim sum is not served during dinner, but we made a request to the manager, who to our delight, agreed to ask the chef to make it for us specially. Maybe we were saddled by the huge expectation that we had, but we are guessing it’s most probably because of the shorter baking time, that the char siew sou didn’t turn out to be as good as before. Nonetheless, it was good of the restaurant to do it specially for us, and I’ll be back again for it.

Total bill was $362.85 for 9 person, after a 25% discount using the Astor card. This came up to about $40 per person, which was totally cheaper than what we expected. And if we didn’t drink tea ($40), and no desserts ($48), the add up will probably be around $283 or $30 per head. With the ambience of the place, the prestige of the restaurant, and the decent quality of the food, the price was definitely reasonable. I’ll definitely be coming back for their dim sum, Yan Ting IV. There are a few things in life, which you can never forget after all.

Read about my dim sum visit to Yan Ting here
& Yan Ting snowskin mooncake here

Yan Ting
29 Tanglin Road
The St Regis
Tel: 6506 6888

Yan Ting is listed as one of ladyironchef’s favorite restaurants in Singapore

Noodles and rice are the staple in our Asian context, while the Caucasians live on their bread, try telling the older generation that there isn’t rice for dinner and you’ll get the answer from their reactions. There are many different kinds of noodles; the Japanese ramen, soba and udon are especially popular. And then there’s the Korean noodles, and of course, our Chinese noodles.

And among our Chinese noodles, there are many types with wheat flour based ones like lamien, vermicelli, and the thick noodles. For their egg base counterparts, there are the thin noodles (you mian), and the mee pok which are commonly found. How about bamboo noodles?

I was given the opportunity for a food tasting session at Tai Shek Hei. The boss John See, and his wife Amy invited me for lunch to try out their speciality, bamboo noodles. Tai Shek Hei had recently just opened a month ago at Joo Chiat road, just directly opposite the Dunman food centre.

So you might ask, what’s so special about bamboo noodles? The tedious process in making the noodles from dough using the bamboo machine specially created by John. I didn’t get the chance to see the noodle-making process that day because they had already made their batch of noodles the previous days. The chef will normally make about 200 servings of noodles each time, and usually every two days they will make new ones to ensure the freshness of the noodles.

My friend and I had a quick tour around the kitchen and John explained the concepts behind Tai Shek Hei to us.The staff are all from China, thus might have difficulty with their English when taking orders.

Tai Shek Hei has got very simple furnishings, with the artwork depicting the joy of the chef in making the noodles, adorning the wall. What i like about the place is its unpretentious feel, coupled with the soothing music, provided an cosy environment which was unlike other typical Chinese restaurants.

Speciality Tobiko dumpling bamboo noodle ($6.80)

In Hong Kong, they actually preferred the soup version of the wanton mee to the dry one which is more popular in Singapore. The speciality Tobiko dumpling bamboo noodle was one of the most springy noodles i ever tried before. The noodles were so springy that they literally “bounce” on your tongue.

We also tried the dry version of the bamboo noodles, with equally good results. Although some people might find it expensive, given there’s only four dumplings with the bamboo noodles, but you can’t compare it with the normal wonton mee, for one, the noodle’s really good, and the process in making them was certainly not easy.

The Tobiko dumplings would redefine the dumpling experience. Their dumplings were packed fully with ingredients like shrimp, meat, water chestnut, tobiko (Japanese flying fish roe). One bite of the dumplings was all it need to let the essence of the fillings sinked into your month.

Speciality fried tobiko dumpling ($4 for 4)

Besides the dumpling soup, Tai Shek Hei also got the fried version, which i felt that was even better than the soup one. The crispy wonton skin was a delight to bite, you can hear the crunching sound. And just for the information, the wonton skin was also made with their own machine.

The fillings were the same as the soup version, shrimp, meat, water chestnut, tobiko (Japanese flying fish roe).

Chives & egg pancake

Personally, I didn’t like chives as i found the taste too strong, but for food tasting sake, i tried one of them. The chives dumpling, or pancake as they called it here, was fried until golden brown, with the green chives inside shining though the translucent skin.

There’s plenty of juice from the chives which came rushing out when we took a bite. I think this one’s good for chives lovers, with the crispy golden brown skin and the juicy chives. But for me, I still can’t accept it.

Honey Gourd ($4)

We had a sampling portion of the honey gourd, which was an innovative dish on the menu. Gourd which was bitter in nature, when paired up with the sweet honey, gave a balanced taste of sweet-bitterness.

Fried honey dew

Another inspiration of Amy, this was created on the day we went, so we got the opportunity of trying it first-hand. They provided a bowl of ice water, to soak the pipping hot fried honey dew into it, before eating. The idea was to prevent customers from burning their toungue.

And also the contrast of fried hot honey dew when come into contact with the icy water was apparent. But i found that the chili padi which was part of the ingredients overpower the sweet honey dew taste. A creative idea no less, and we shall wait for the chef to refine it.

Roast Combination ($10 for small)

Not many restaurants are honest with their customers, but Amy frankly told us that their roast combinations got mixed results. Their roast pork was not up to the grade, and they had since removed it from the menu. Leaving with the roast duck, char siew, and soy-sauce chicken.

The soy-sauce chicken was actually the better one among the trio, with Amy proudly saying that’s the one that can brave the test. My first taste was a tad dry and hard, but thats probably because i got the breast meat. The other parts of the chicken were fine, smooth and silky.

The Char siew was average, although not juicy and tender enough, their rendition’s still passable.

I thought that the roasted duck was all right, nothing fantastic, but i had eaten worse.

Cod ($8 for small)

We rounded off our meal with the cod which i thought was reasonable at $8 for a small serving. The fish was fried to crispy golden brown. It’s difficult to judge the freshness of a fish when it’s fried, but I have no complains about the cod since i always like them.

All in all, Tai Shek Hei has got really excellent bamboo noodles, one of the best i’ve tried so far. I think it’s worth a try, even though you might complain it’s too expensive, but hey they are a Chinese restaurant after all. The menu is still in-process, as they are still testing and trying some new dishes, while removing the inferior ones. The items are a case of hits and misses, with the tobiko dumpling noodle, and the chives pancakes worthy mentions.

The PRC staff might not be adapt to communicating in English as yet, but they are busy learning the basic terms to cope with the need. Service is still slow as the new entrants are still coping with the F&B experience, but things are getting better with each day. I’ll like to thank John and Amy for inviting me to try their bamboo noodles, and I’ll go back again for them when i’m in the area next time.

Tai Shek Hei
283 Joo Chiat Road
Tel: 6345 5095
Disclaimer: This was an invited review

Sage the restaurant, recently relocated to one of Mohamed Sultan’s historical conservation shophouse, just across the street from their previous place at a rather obscure location on the second front of Robertson Walk. Sage is one of the widely hype restaurant in our local food scene who has won acclaims from many foodies.

Sage the restaurant has just started their set lunch menu which offers 3 course at $38++, and 4 course meal at $45++. Given that the main course for their dinner menu ranges from 30s to the 40s individually, i’ll say that the set lunch do seems rather value. And note that lunch is only served from Wednesday to Friday.

The husband and wife combination works very well for Sage, with Chef-owner Jusman So helming the kitchen while his friendly wife, Kimberly taking charge of the service aspect. Chef Jusman So also recently won the choice title of rising chef of the year in the World Gourmet Summit (WGS).

The interior of the newly furnished restaurant speaks contemporary chic. With Black and grey being theme colour, the white simplistic tables strikes out bringing the simple-yet-elegant feel of the place. There is just a single picture frame to adorn the black wall, with the back of the room leading to the open kitchen

The open kitchen concept provides a insight of the chefs hard at work to provide a satisfactory meal for us. I do believe that having an open kitchen concept is a rather important aspect of a restaurant, for one, diners can have a look at the chefs at work, and also by doing an open concept, it shows that the restaurant has nothing to hide, and it does build a bridge linking the diners stomach and the chefs heart for their effort.

I applaused the fact that Sage chose to retain its seating capacity at 38, when they can actually have no problem expanding the place and filling it up every night. That for me, is a true sign of Sage’s intention, not to compromise the standards of the food quality with any increase in capacity.

Complimentary bread

The complimentary bread was very good, soft and fluffy, with the butter spread that comes along together, i’ll have asked for second helpings if not for the fact that we still have a four course meal ($38++) to finish.

Smoked Salmon ($12)

Scottish smoked salmon loin on cucumber relish with avruga caviar. Cauliflower couscous salad and dill infused leek & potato vichyssoise. The smoked salmon loin was tasty although i found it to be slightly salty. I didn’t like the cauliflower couscous salad as i felt that its rather heavy for a salad but my friend thought it was all right.

The avruga caviar, pearlescent black in colour, is a more sustainable alternative to its more expensive relative, Beluga caviar, completes the salmon loin.

Crab & tomato ($12)

Marinated crab salad topped with oven dried tomatoes and avocado mousseline, taggiasca olive tapenade and vine ripe tomato gazpacho. The oven dried tomatoes and the vine ripe tomato gazpacho, enhances the flavor of the crab meat. I couldn’t quite make out the taggiasca olive tapenade, but it tastes nice to me. Same goes for the avocado mousseline, but then again i am not really a fan of avocado.

Overall a simple dish (maybe not that simple in cooking it) that packs a lot of different flavors into one. The cooking method do seems to be the trademark of Chef Jusman who use many different type of ingredients to blend into one.

Mushrooms soup ($12)

Cappuccino of wild mushrooms. My friend and i had no words to describe the soup after having a spoonful. The plain-looking mushroom soup has a make-over and the interpretation comes in the form of a cappuccino, not quite what you will picture for a soup.

Nevertheless, the mushrooms soup was nothing short of excellence. Like what i mentioned before, mushrooms are always a tricky task, cook it for too long and the mushroom becomes over-cooked, while finishing it too early the soup will fail to absorb the essence of the mushrooms.

The mushroom soup arrived in a cup of cappuccino, with foamy top layer, and creamy base. Some common mushroom soups might still have bits of mushrooms in it, but not this one. The wild mushrooms seem to blend together naturally, and every mouthful just tasted so flavorsome.

Personally i do not like mushroom soup, but the fact that one spoonful of soup leaded to the other, with me finishing the whole soup tells you how good the soup was. There are definitely better mushroom soups out there, but for now, this is the best mushroom soup i had before.

French Onion soup ($12)

Perhaps the mushroom soup was too good, that we actually find the French onion soup to be quite normal in contrast. Nonetheless, the soup was still very rich, with its strong onion taste.

Traditional French onion soup with crouton and melted gruyere cheese. Crouton is the small piece of sauteed bread that acted as a companion to the soup. However we did not really taste the melted gruyere cheese because the bread became rather soggy in a short while.

Cod ($42, with $15 supplement applies to set menu)

Roasted fillet of cod topped with prawn and cognac butter on salt cod brandade and bouillabaisse sauce. The Cod was definitely the star of the show. Both my friend and i arrived at the conclusion that the cod was class. The roasted fillet was wonderfully balanced, there were hints of the roasted element, but it did not shows on the fillet.

If the end product of the Cod was the magic produced, then the prawn and cognac butter was certainly the wand that produce the magic. The cod on its own did not warrant a perfect score yet, but wait until you tasted the cod together with the prawn and cognac butter layer, that was pure magic.

The mashed potato beneath the cod also tasted well together with the bouillabaisse sauce. The sauce which was made from a traditional provencal fish stew has a fulsome flavor, and when you had a piece of the roasted cod with the prawn and cognac butter on top, and dipped with the bouillabaisse sauce, there was nothing quite like to describe the taste.

Duck Confit ($28, with $10 supplement applies to set menu)

Duck leg confit on a savoy cabbage parcel stuffed with field mushroom, leek and red onion in pommery mustard sauce. We chose duck confit because it’s always a dish that is difficult to handle, and can test the skills of the chef. The mark of a good duck confit obviously lies in the meat, if the duck is cooked for too long, the meat will become soggy and soft, while under-cook will make it becomes too tight and hard.

Poking a fork into the duck leg confit, we were glad to find that the duck meat remains firm while retaining its perfectly crispy skin. With the price tag, this was one expensive duck leg, which you otherwise could have a whole duck elsewhere, but made no mistake, the duck leg confit was certainly worth the money.

The pommery mustard sauce did come across as rather weird initially, but mixing it with the firm duck meat brought out the brilliance of it.

My friend enjoyed the Pernankan-inspired cabbage parcel stuffed with field mushroom, leek and red onion, but it did not works for me. I felt that the cabbage parcel was too salty for my liking, and the leek and red onion combination did not really suit my tastebud.

Strawberry Panna Cotta ($12)

Vanilla panna cotta topped with strawberry jelly and chocolate ganache, compote of strawberries and crunchy nougat. The sweet vanilla panna cotta and chocolate ganache striked a good balance with the slightly sourish strawberry.The panna cotta itself was quite thick and rich with the fragrant vanilla taste.

The serving size was quite adequate, and the strawberry panna cotta was quite good, until i try the Oreo Semifreddo, which is in a different league all together.

Oreo Semifreddo ($12)

Oreo cookie semifreddo with frozen raspberry mousse and soft coffee scented meringue. This, is the first time i am having a semifreddo, and i am already regretting why have i not try this earlier. The Oreo semifreddo was made up of three different compositions, with the top layer being the soft coffee scented meringue, the middle layer the oreo cookie semifreddo, and the base the frozen raspberry mousse.

The oreo semifreddo really, was playing with our scents, the soft coffee meringue was more to the bitter side, while the oreo cookie ice cream added the sweet touch, and the frozen raspberry mousse completed with a chilly sourish zang. Trying the three different parts separately yielded nothing special, but it was when you united the three layers together then you realised what the oreo semifreddo was about.

Total bill is a princely $135 for 2 person, and this is lunch, not dinner. This ought to be the most expensive lunch i ever had, but all the same, the best lunch. The amount is madness really, two set lunches at $45 each, we topped up $10 for the duck confit, $15 for the cod, and factor in the 17% additional charges, do your sums!

The way that Chef Jusman uses a combination of many different ingredients in one dish is one thing, but to blend all the tastes is another matter all together. There are of course positive and negative things for everything, and there is no exception here too. The slightly negative aspect will be every dish is too flavorsome and it really takes time to absorb and digest what you eat. However you can choose to look at that from a positive angle too.

One thing i ought to mention as well, before this visit to Sage i made a few attempts to go actually but on those few occasions i were held up in the very last minute and couldn’t make it. Each time i called up Sage to make another new reservation, and each time Kimberly picked up the phone and answer my every inquiry politely and patiently. There was never a time where i felt that she was frustrated by this guy here calling up a few times to keep on postponing the reservation. For that i applause her for her sincere altitude, which can be genuinely felt across the phone.

I rave about Sage the restaurant, I praise the way Chef Jusman uses his ingredients and play with his food. I appreciate the manner which Kimberly treats her customers, genuine, friendly yet professional which makes you totally free at home. Not to mention the other serving staff at Sage which i find are quite knowledgeable and know when’s the right time to approach us and when not to disturb us. The combination of all the factors make Sage the restaurant a strong contender to ladyironchef’s best restaurant 2008.

I do believe that there are certainly better restaurants out there, Les Amis, Saint Pierre, Iggy just to name a few, are all stronghold in their own rights, but since i have not try the other restaurants, i can only comment on what i have tried. And for the restaurants which i have been to, i say Sage is one of the best, until i experience a better one then, Sage the restaurant it is!

Sage the restaurant
7 Mohamed Sultan road
Tel: 6333 8726
ladyironchef“>Website

Sage the restaurant is listed as one of ladyironchef’s favorite restaurants in Singapore

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Absolute Haven pride itself in serving Modern European Cuisine. Barely one years old, the restaurant has attracted numerous food-lovers and had rave reviews about the place. Thus its no wonder LIC must make a visit to Absolute Haven for a dinner.

Located at Prinsep street, the area has seen the entry of many new restaurants and has become a dining spot positioned within walking distance to Orchard. Absolute Haven is probably the crown among the many restaurants there, with the others not really being competitiors to it, but as complements which help to build Prinsep street as a place to dine.

Entering through the gates of Absolute Haven, there is the alfresco dining area where you can chill out with your friends. Otherwise, if you are on a romantic date and do not want to be seen sweating while enjoying your meal, step inside, to the cozy and chic environment of Absolute Haven.

When my friend and i reached the place at 7pm, the place was not full yet, but the crowd starts to come in subsequently. Being brought to our seats, we browse through the menu and placed our orders.

Mushroom Soup ($5.80)

A very mushroom mushroom soup, made from portobello mushrooms, shitake mushrooms, and button mushroom. The rendition here is quite similar to the ones I had at Friends @ Jelita, except this one comes up stronger in the “mushroom taste”

Soup of the day ($5.80)

We begin our delightful meal with the soup of the day. I’m not really a soup person while dining out so my view may not paint an accurate picture.

Oriental Cod-Fish ($24.0)

Steamed cod-fish done in oriental style topped with wolfberries, shitake mushrooms and bacon, served on a bed of asparagus.

This is truly an fusion where East meet West. You will never expect a dish like Oriental steamed cod fish to appear in a modish European restaurant like Absolute Haven.

Wolfberries as a ingredient, are by far rarely found in European restaurant, it further emphasized the oriental-ness of the dish. The use of bacon added flavoring which enhance the taste of the fish.

It does seems slightly weird to have a oriental steamed cod fish as a main course as usually it is more common to find it in Chinese restaurants. Nevertheless we enjoyed the unique experience, there’s always a first for everything.But from what we gathered from Phyllis (Absolute’s Manager), some customers find it to be too fishy, and the fish will be taken off the new menu which will commerce on 9th April.

Chef’s Special Norwergian Salmon ($32)

Herb oil confit Norwergian Salmon drizzled with Vanilla cream sauce, walnut & black olive pilaf rice, accompanied with organic butternut pumpkin braised in Earl grey tea.

The food at Absolute Haven are all presented very well, the chef really does put in effort in making the dishes look nice. After all, a good appearance of the food does makes it taste better. Applause to the chefs for their hard work!

Having try quite a few Salmons recently, the version here is slightly different to the ones i had before which are mostly grilled or pan-fried. The herb oil confit salmon is a nice change, and i dutifully finish every bit of it.

The walnut & black olive pilaf rice is good, without a doubt. The organic butternut pumpkin braised in Earl grey tea isn’t really to my liking, but i do appreciated the effort put into making this side dish.

Tira Mi Su ($9)

A classical Italian dessert served with espresso coffee and liqueur in light mascarpone cheese mousse. The Tira Mi Su here simply melts in my mouth, the liqueur was not too strong which does well for me. The slight hint of cheese in the mousse also provides a variation from the normal Tiramisu.

The thought of the Tira Mi Su dissolving at the tip of my tongue is enough to make me visit Absolute Haven again.

Passion Fruit Panna Cotta ($9)

This dessert wasn’t on the menu when we visited Absolute Haven on the 22th March. There was another choice, lavender Panna Cotta, which offers a sweet version instead of the slightly more sour flavor of the passion fruit panna cotta. My friend preferred sour to sweet, so we got the Passion Fruit.

Total Bill came up to around $100.15 for two person. Special thanks to Panerai who make this visit sooner (I’ll have go to Absolute even without the vouchers) by giving me two Absolute Haven vouchers (entitled to two free soup and main course). But do not let this fact spoils the review. I deliberately left this fact for the end so that my share-readers can read through this review without any hint of biasness. Absolute Haven is excellent, and i’m not saying this because i got a free meal.

We paid $13.30 for this excellent dinner for the Tiramisu, the Panna Cotta was on the house, courtesy of Phyllis. Absolute Haven promise romantic fine-dining at an affordable price, without burning a hole in your pocket, you can bring your dates there for special occasions. Even for normal events, it’s a great place to chill out with your family and friends. The price of their mains ranges from $16 to $32, and desserts are valued at $9-$12.

The friendly manager, Phyllis came up and spoke to us about our meal halfway through. She is a real nice person. You could feel her earnest and sincerity while she was talking to us. There are few managers or bosses in the local food & beverage industry that come across to me as genuine as her. Do call her 9766 3798 or even drop her a sms (which i did) to make your reservations.

The service staff there are polite and quick to help out if we got any inquiries, and my friend note that most of them are good-looking. Anyway thats not the main point, the service at Absolute Haven is indeed what other new start-ups should learn from. Excellent services can never go wrong!

Absolute Haven
70 Prinsep Street
Tel: 6333 4358

” Romantic Fine Dining at an affordable price “