Updated: Read my list of Valentine’s Day Restaurant: 2011 Edition for more choices, and my guide to Valentine’s Day Gifts: Food Edition.

Saint Valentine’s is a strange little thing, it comes and leaves in a hurry, but memories will always stay behind. Even though it is a day where retailers, florists and restaurateurs rejoice – I believe in Valentine’s day. The idea behind it (less the commercialise plots), is very sacred; Valentine’s is all about you and me.

Have you decided on a romantic restaurant for your Valentine’s Day Dinner?

Everyday is Valentine’s, so long we are happy together. Yes that’s true, but Valentine’s is the only day that you can walk around with big bouquet of roses without having the whole world staring at you. This is the day where you have the perfect excuse to splurge on an expensive meal without feeling guilty. This is the day where you can justify spending a bomb to get the Tiffany blue box or that Gucci wallet without any nagging feelings. This is Valentine’s day.

Many people always have problems finding a nice restaurant for Valentine’s day. The guys will have a headache on where to bring their girlfriend, wife, and mistress, while the ladies will dream of where their man will bring them to, or in a slightly unfortunate twist, planning for their ideal Valentine’s day venue.

I’m no male chauvinist, but I firmly believe that a guy should plan the surprise, and search for a suitable Valentine’s day restaurant to bring their other half, well at least for Valentine’s day.

Here is a list of romantic restaurants in Singapore to celebrate Valentine’s Day:

Au Petit Salut
40c Harding road
Tanglin Village (Dempsey)
Tel: +65 6475 1976
$148++ per person (5 Course dinner on 14th)

Bistro One Zero Three
103 Pasir Panjang
Tel: +65 6476 6373
(Closed on 13th-23rd feb, for early Valentine’s only)

Boat House Fullerton
3 Fullerton Road
#03-01 The Fullerton Waterboat House
Tel: +65 6538 9038
(Please call restaurant to check if they are open on 14th)

Flute at the fort
21 Lewin Terrace
Fort Canning Park
Tel: +65 6338 8770
$228++ per couple (First seating 6.30-8.30pm)
$298++ per couple (Second seating 8.30pm onwards)
(Closed on 15-17th Feb)

Prive Restaurant
2 Keppel Bay Vista
GF Marina @ Keppel Bay
Tel: +65 6776 0777
$108++ per person (8 course dinner at restaurant)
$68++ per person (3 Course dinner at Bakery cafe)

Wild Rocket
10A Upper Wilkie Road
GF Hangout @ Mount Emily
Tel: +65 6339 9448
(Closed on 13th-18th Feb, for early Valentine’s only)

The White Rabbit
39C Harding Road
Dempsey
Tel: +65 6473 9965
$98++ per person (5 course dinner with glass of champagne)
(Closed on 15th-16th feb)

* * *

I will be adding this list to the top of my Delicious page if you need to find this page the next time. Remember to call the restaurants in advance and make your reservations. Have a good Valentine’s Dinner!

Tetsu, opening its doors at Tanglin Mall on January 17, 2008, pride themselves in serving Kushi-Tempura and Kushi-Katsu. Their concept is based on a “LIVE” preparation in front of you by their chefs, who have intensive training in their Japanese Headquarters.

The first impression upon stepping into Tetsu is really nice decorations. Contemporary yet not too modernize till the extend of losing the authentic Japanese feel. Chic furnishings like the curtains, and decors in the restaurant. The whole place exudes an elegant feel with its classy and clean look.

Tetsu certainly does not fits the bill with association to Food Junction, your local food courts isn’t it? But the truth is, Tetsu is actually owned and operate by Food Junction. Surprise surprise, i was quite astonished by this fact when i first heard of it. But i am pleased Food Junction is finally making full use to leverage on its experience and connections in the Food & Beverage Industry, to provide us the consumers with a wider variety of choices to dine at.

The counter bars in Tetsu are specially designed in such a way that diners can seat in close proximity to the chef, who will prepared their feast up for them, well its not just the stomach feast alone, there’s the visual feast right before you.

I was invited by Miss Pris Yap, who’s the consultant for Tetsu for a food tasting session. Here i will like to put disclaimer first, the review written herein will not be influence simply because this is a food tasting session. Whatever written herein is the Frank and Honest opinions of my friend and i who went to Tetsu for the occasion.

We had the assurance from Miss Yap that they will seek our honest opinion to improve Tetsu, and that every visit to Tetsu will be the same, the food will not look or taste specially good just because this is a food tasting event.

My secret food partner joins me for Tetsu, and she’s a lover of Japanese food, so the review will be a combination of what both of us felt about the meal.

There’s also a VIP room which u can actually make a reservation to book it if you have a certain number of guests, around 10 at least if i’m not wrong.

At Tetsu, there are affordable set lunches from the Jubako, Katsu, Tempura,Sakana (fish) which are in the 20s to 30s price range. I’ll say the set meals are definitely value-for-money.

There is also the designer Kaiseki sets available. Kaiseki is an 5 course set, made up of 4 seasonal appetizers, designer salad, premium kushi-style main course, imported udon from Japan, and dessert at a mere $35. Of course there are more expensive options of the Kaiseki sets going at $45 and $55.

A wide range of Sake, Shoju, and wine are also available to go along with the food. We didn’t had any Sake because it was still early in the afternoon. Perhaps next time!

Salmon Carpaccio ($18)

For appetizer to start off our meal at Tetsu, we had the Salmon Carpaccio with french dressing. Carpaccio originated from Italy, and its usually slices of beef, tuna, or veal traditionally thinly sliced or pounded thin, with olive oil or vinaigrette drizzled over it.

We’ll preferred the carpaccio to be slice thinner, the thick and generous slices of the carpaccio at Tetsu is almost akin to sashimi portions. For people who like sashimi, they will probably have mixed feelings for this dish because usually sashimi lovers like the clean and fresh taste of the fish, and its raw texture on its own, but for this salmon, it has a french dressing on it.

Nonetheless, the Salmon Carpaccio is quite fresh, and with the current Citibank promotion, receive this as a complimentary with a minimum spending of $50.

The Salmon Carpaccio is an interesting take on fusion japanese & italian appetizer (although this is done with french dressing). The french dressing helps to balances the richness of the salmon with the complex sweet and sour taste of the dressing, the contrast between the taste is definitely appealing.

Roll sushi 6 Pieces ($18)

The roll sushi is covered with crunchy sesame seeds, but on the other end the sushis can actually can get quite dry. My friend thought that if the roll sushi comes with some sauce it will be perfect.

Traditionally sushi rolls are supposed to be eaten in one mouthful by putting the whole sushi inside. But the sushi here is a tad too big, so we couldn’t really fit it into our mouth.

Apparently it has salmon and scallops inside, though when mixed together the scallops taste can’t really be felt. The blend of crunchy sesame seeds and tobiko makes its quite yummy though. However at $18 for 6 pieces, it is considered rather expensive. Have this if you have the extra budget to spend on A la carte.

Onsentamago Tofu Salad ($13.50)

Onsen Tamago is hot spring egg. The eggs here are cooked slowly in hot water, so the whites are still soft while the yolks just slightly cooked. Blended together with tofu and sesame sauce, the combination offers a very refreshing approach to the normal salad.

The salad is served by mixing the egg together with the greens and tofu. A good appetizer if you are like us, prefer runny eggs.

Thats all for our A la carte starters, just to recap, we had the Salmon Carpaccio, the roll sushi and the Onsentamago Tofu Salad. All these three appetizers are ordered from the A la carte menu and are not in the set meals which are coming up next.

Rosu Katsu Set ($24.50)

The Rosu Katsu (Pork Loin) set is the actual main course that we are having for our lunch. There are two options for the Katsu set, you can choose from either the Rosu Katsu (pork loin) or the Hire Katsu (fillet katsu). Pork loin is fatter than fillet katsu in nature, which makes it more tender than Hire Katsu.

Another interesting point to note, besides the usual sauce that comes with the Katsu, Tetsu provides an alternative, the curry powder to go along with the pork loin. The curry powder is another option if you are sick of the usual sauce, however the powder here is quite on the salty side, so just dipped into it slightly.

The katsu is specially imported from Japan, lightly fried to produce a crust that is light but yet double the thickness of the usual katsu. The meat is marinated for 3 days to ensure its tasty and succulent texture.

Famed for their Katsu, the Kushi-age style (skewered with breaded batter) certainly lives up to expectations. The breaded style of the katsu is really good, the panko crumbs on it is very light which gives it a melt-in-your-mouth feel.

Furthermore, the katsu here has a generous cut, unlike some restaurants which cut the pork into very thin slices. At $24.50, the Rosu Katsu set is really a steal, definitely good value for money!

Fresh greens

The fresh greens are the appetizer which comes along with the Katsu set. Basically its a run of the mill salad with japanese sesame salad dressing, ordinary but yummy.

My partner likes the dressing for its slightly tangy but yet salty taste, and the texture of the sauce is creamy. But for me, i’m more of a fan for oily italian salad dressings, so this salad didn’t quite work out for me.

Kaiseki Set Course B ($45)

The Kaiseki Dinner course B comes with assorted 4 on a palatte as its appetizer, stick vegetable, Crab sukiyaki for the paper pot, with tempura as the main, and udon or rich, served with a dessert.

The main difference between course A ($35) and B ($45) is 10 bucks, with the addition of the Crab Sukiyaki. And the differiential between B ($45) and C ($55) is that C has an addition tuna carpaccio.

For our main course in the Kaiseki set B, the tempura is done kushi-tem style (tempura). It comes with six tempura, prawn, salmon, pork, beef, scallop and vegetables.

Tetsu is being known for its Katsu and Tempura aspects, and to tell the truth, we found the tempura to be quite a disappointment as we had expected better things from them. Right, the prawn was a bit small, not fat enough for a tempura, we didn’t get the “kick”from eating the prawn.

The Salmon (beside the prawn) was done better than the appetizer in the course.

My partner love the fresh air-flown scallop from Japan.

The seasonal vegetables are zuchinni and okra which my partner found it to be all right, but i didn’t like my vegetables to do it in this way, i prefer them green!

The pork and beef were quite average too. One thing that my partner concluded was if the mains are done in Kushi-age (breaded) rather than the one we had Kushi-tem (tempura), we felt that it will be definitely be better.

We felt that the tempura batter had nice texture, but it wasn’t seasoned enough, so it was quite tasteless for us. Nevertheless the batter is very light, not that oily and it didn’t leave any oily aftertaste that mediocre tempuras do.

The only reason we can conclude for the disappointment in the Tempura is because we had such high hopes for them, so even they are quite good, but they didn’t come out as well as we are expecting. You should try the Kushi-age (breaded) for this main!

Assorted 4 on palette

This is the appetizer for the course B. One thing that i liked about the starters in Tetsu course meal is that they are changed regularly because the chef will always pick the freshest ingredient for the current season.

The appetizer is suppose to comes in the different flavors, sweet, salty, and sour. Specially designed to tantalize your taste buds and “prepared” them for the main course.

I like the zesty chicken too which comes with orange and lemon flavour to provide the sour-ish taste.

My partner didn’t like the Salmon teriyaki, she preferred the tamago and prawn which helps to the sweet flavoring of the salmon.

Cod is done with miso, to give the salty flavor.

Stick vegetables

The Stick Vegetables also comes part of the Kaiseki set B. Its just your normal vegetables, but it comes with a soy-bean like sauce.

Kani-Suki (Crab Sukiyaki)

The prelude to the main, there’s the snow crab legs which are filled with snowy sweet white meat. However we lamented the fact that there is only two crab legs.

The Japanese straw mushroom is always nice in sukiyaki. And the soup base here is nicer than the other sukiyaki we tried before. It tasted sweet but not excessively so till its artificial.

Inaniwa Udon (warm)

The Inaniwa Udon is also imported from Japan. but the warm udon had a nice soup base so it’s good for rainy days.

Inaniwa Udon (cold) ($6.80)

The udon is not the fat kind, and its sort of flat like ipoh hor fun, nice and slippery! One of the udon comes with the Kaiseki set, and we ordered another one to try both the cold and hot udon.

Banana Tempura & Ice ($7.80)

In our frank opinion, the banana tempura is a ripped-off. For two pieces of banana tempura, we can get better ones at the hawker center at 50 cents each. Certainly not worth the price tag of $7.80!

Kisetsu ice & Warabimochi Monaka ($7.80)

This dessert fares slightly better than the Banana tempura. The combination of the Japanese Mochi with one scoop of normal vanilla ice cream is quite good, but still not worth the hefty price that comes along with it.

Kokonatsu Milk Purin ($5.80)

We concluded that the Kokonatsu milk purin, or coconut pudding is the best among the three desserts. This pudding is something new to us, not your usual run of the mill Japanese dessert which you commonly find in Singapore Japanese restaurants even though its supposed to be a classic Japanese dessert.

Coconut flavor wasnt that strong, we like the sublet flavor! hmm it was really pudding not creamy so i dont really like it
The coconut pudding is good to try for novelty, and it comes with the Kaiseki course set anyway, so there’s no need to order additional dessert.

Tetsu is certainly a nice place to try if you are looking for Japanese food. The set meals are really value-for-money, and the Kaisekis course meals, although heavier in price tag, but they provide more in variety and quality also. We felt that if its two person going to Tetsu, you can either order two set meals, or order one Kaisekis Course meals, and something from the A la carte menu.

The reasonable and affordable pricing at Tetsu means that you will no longer need to spend a bomb for your favourite Japanese food anymore. Tetsu offers a really chic environment, quite unlike your traditional Japanese restaurant. Its an excellent place to either bring a date for her cravings of Japanese food, or a group of friends where you can chill out with the selections of Sake, Shoju, and wine.

My secret food partner and i, plus Miss Yap had a great afternoon enjoying and discussing about Japanese food, restaurants, and some off-topic conservations. We were so full from the meal! My thanks to Miss Yap for inviting us to a wonderful lunch experience at Tetsu.

And one other thing which I noticed, when we went in during 12 noon on a Monday afternoon, there wasn’t much people in the restaurant. But when the clock ticks towards two, the crowd starts coming in already. So you will be fine if you go during normal lunch hour, but still better to make a reservation.

I’ll certainly revisit Tetsu to try out their other stuff, maybe i will have the Kaisekis done in Kushi-age style (breaded) the next time! Tetsu’s at Tanglin Mall level 3, and remember to use your Citicard to get the free Salmon Carpaccio!

All in all, the Katsu is excellent! Its really a must-try if you visit Tetsu. The other fame of Tetsu, their Tempura leaves more to be desired, we felt that their Kushi-age style is better than the Kushi-Tem style. Nevertheless, the Kaisekis course meals are still value for quality. The desserts area is the part which i felt Tetsu must really improve on if i were to go back for a revisit. Being a big fan of any dessert, i must have a nice dessert after every meal. And the desserts selection there can’t quite make it for now.

Tetsu
163 Tanglin Road
#03-18 Tanglin Mall
Tel: 6836 3112

” Singapore’s First LIVE Kushi-style Tonkatsu & Tempura restaurant “

Bistro One Zero Three sounds quite interesting right? Being the inquisitive me, i was naturally attracted to the name, and hence the visit to the place. Located at Pasir Panjang, its not a place where you’ll imagine a restaurant like Bistro One Zero Three will be situated. Nevertheless, the ‘ulu’ place makes it fun to go to, as though like we are on a food-hunting trait.

Initially we thought it was near the Haw Par Villa area, so we started looking for it there, but then how wrong we were, Bistro One Zero Three is at the other end of Pasir Panjang Road, quite near to PSA Building. If you are going there by train, i suggest stopping at HarbourFront and take a bus there, its only a couple of bus-stops away from HarbourFront.

The cosy 52 seater bistro is into its tenth-month, and started by the owner Eric, together with his sister and his sister-in-law as the chef. Stepping into Bistro One Zero Three, we felt totally at home, the homely-wood furniture plays a part, but it is the friendly service of the owners who welcomed us enthusiastically, and serving us ice-water while we were going through the menu, that impressed us.

The Menu comprises of sandwiches, gourmet salads, some sides, spaghetti and the mains. They are actually in the midst of introducing more items to the menu, but meanwhile, this are the options available.

Besides dining, Bistro One Zero Three also provides services for birthday-party events, company functions. The previous night they just had a event where guests let their hairs down and party till late night at the bistro. The bistro is a draw for the working crowd during weekdays, and on fridays & saturdays there are people like you and me who specially visit the place.

Well, i like the early-bird feeling, when we got there for a early lunch, we had the whole place to ourselves, totally like what i experienced in Sweet Indulgence! Being hungry people, we went through the menu and didn’t have much problem ordering the food. My dining companion being a Salmon-lover, naturally she’ll order Pan-fried Salmon. My two other mates had Cajun chicken wrap and Salmon & crab meat spaghetti, while i had the bacon, ham, mushroom spaghetti.

Salmon & Crab Meat Spaghetti ($14.50)

We began our meal at Bistro One Zero Three with the Salmon & Crab meat Spaghetti. With two generous piece of salmon on the tomato-based spaghetti, it got our salivary gland working even before we started eating! While slurping down the pasta, we can also taste the crab meat which goes quite well together.

Bacon, Ham & Mushroom Spaghetti ($13.50)

There are tomato, carbonara style and aglio olio options to choose from, I chose carbonara style since the other spaghetti is tomato-based. The carbonara Bacon, Mushroom Spaghetti here at Bistro One Zero Three is slightly different from the usual one you’ll find in other restaurants.

Usually the egg in carbonara style will be mixed together and cook with the heat of the pasta itself, but in this case, the chef put on his thinking cap and played with his creativity by leaving the egg yolk on top of the pasta. This is a pleasant surprise for us knowing the chef actually put in his heart & soul into making something different from the norm.

Well, i’ll preferred the salmon spaghetti to this one, not that this is not good, but after trying both pasta, we come to a consensus that the tomato-based spaghetti here taste better!

Pan-fried Salmon ($16.50)

With Balsamic glaze & acompanied with seasonal vegetables, the Pan-fried salmon is a must-have for all the salmon-lovers out there. Balsamic dressing is a traditional flavoured vinegar commonly used in Italian cuisine, the Balsamic glaze here added a slight twist of Italiano to the salmon.

Cajun Chicken Wrap ($15.90)

Tomato herb Tortilla & Mesclun mix are found inside the Cajun Chicken Wrap. The chicken wrap does give me an oddly feeling of ‘popiah’. The two Cajun chicken wrap serving is rather small, and definitely not enough to serve a grown-up (well depending on the appetite also). My mate wasn’t full after he finished it.

Warm Brownie w/ French Vanilla ice cream ($5)

Who can resist the temptation of desserts after a meal? Not me, there is always room in my stomach for them! For the record, i love my desserts more than my main.

The warm brownie together with a scoop of the cold ice cream seems to match nicely together. The brownie is not too sweet also.

Panna cotta with Mocha ($5)

One thing about Bistro One Zero Three is that they currently have limited desserts selection, only two! So we ordered both the brownie and this one to share. The owners are looking for new additions to the desserts section, so we had to make do with this two for now.

At first glance, we thought that the dessert was a soup, but on second note, it was not! Panna Cotta is actually an Italian Dessert made by simmering together cream, milk and sugar, mixing this with gelatin, and letting it cool until set.

Panna Cotta is usually eaten plained or sweetened with vanilla, chocolate or fruits. But the one we had at Bistro One Zero Three gave a different twist by adding Mocha to flavour the dessert.

Total bill for 4 person (4 mains & 2 desserts) adds up to $82.86 (including GST & service charge). Overall the experience at Bistro One Zero Three is a positive one, and its a good place to chill out & dine with your friends. The place isn’t really inaccessible if you know where it is, just a few bus-stops away from Harbourfront. And the cozy environment and friendly service from the boss definitely makes it a plus for a revisit, but they need to work on their desserts selections if they are to satisfy my desserts-demand.

Bistro One Zero Three
103 Pasir Panjang 118531
Tel: 6476 6373

” Who say guys don’t like their desserts? I do! “