Monthly Archives: October 2012

The Salad Shop

This next place that I am going to write about next, I bet probably most of the people that work in Raffles Place would already know of it. I had to help my brother run some errands – part of his list of errands is to buy lunch from this place (I know right! I am such a good sister! If you ever read this mentai monster, I deserve some best sister award man! *grins ;p)

So this place, is very highly well liked by most of my friends that work at Raffles place. .. and especially on days that you don’t want too heavy a meal. .. I must say that I came to like this place as well after my first visit.. And made seconds to this place:)

The Salad Shop

So my first trip there I was really lost .  I had no idea what to do but all I saw was

crowded lunch crowd

and

salad tossing counters

took me a while until I managed to find the order sheet!  (*blur me)

Order sheet

Ok I think its pretty self-explanatory. You just tick off the size of the salad you want, and the toppings that you want. .. So we chose different ones on the 2 times I went there.
The first time we ordered

Caesar dressing + Roast Chicken, lettuce base, roasted capsicum, sweet corn, parmesan, croutons, etc

Honey Mustard dressing – + roast chicken, sweet corn, dried cranberry, feta cheese, lettuce base, Pickled seaweed

and the second round of ordering,

Roast Beef, dried cranberry, dried blueberry, lettuce base, feta cheese, pine nuts, pickled seaweed

Casesar dressing , capsicum, sweet corn, Roast chicken, etc

 

Verdict: 2/2 of us will go back! I would gladly! Price wise i think its quite reasonable, and portions are quite generous although my brother said they used to really stuff it up to the brim of the box .. but I think its really enough.
On my second time, I didn’t really like the roast beef though .. I thought it was abit too grainy for my own preference and that after taste. But other than that, the salad overall is pretty good 🙂

The Salad Shop
1 Bonham Street
#01-20 UOB Plaza 2

 

 

 

 

 

Paradise Pavillion

My bro brought us all to this place as a change from the usual dim sum places that we frequent.
We took the lift up and immediately it was the entrance of the restaurant.
A very nicely decorated classy decorated Chinese Restaurant, filled with peking duck aroma.
Towards the right of the booth where you ‘register’,  you will find

place where they roast the duck

Its quite cruel. We were really starving and they took quite a while to show us to our table. The peking duck smell really just made us grumpier by the minute.

When we Finally got our table, we fired away our orders .. and waited again for the dishes to come. ..

view from where we were sitting

For starters, this place has sharks fin done 26 different styles!!!
So we ordered to share

Sharks Fin in Brown Tham sauce

Stone Bowl Sharks Fin + Crispy skin to dip

Shark cartilage + ‘Fa Gao’ Soup

and my dad, not a fan of sharks fin, ordered himself

Lobster bisque in Old coconut

Then of course, what we came for!!
What dishes we liked:

Xo Fried Raddish Carrot cake

Chicken and Mushroom Truffle pie

Char SiewSau

Siew Mai Skewers

Prawn and Mango Breadcrumbed Pastry

Xiao long Pau

Roast Pork with Kai Lan

Steamed glutinous rice in chinese wine 

What we thought was pretty meh..

Snow baked Charsiew buns

Yam Puff stuffed with meat

Chicken Feet

Har gao

Crab Pastry

Fried Mushroom on Toufu with black pepper truffle sauce

and of course, not forgetting to finish the meal off with

Lau Sar Pao

close up

Verdict: 4/4 of us will return for the dishes we liked.
The shark fin soup generally, I thought it was ok. .. Though I think we thought the best out of the four was still the shark cartilage soup. My brother kept talking about the stone bowl one, but I didn’t really think very highly of it though .. like it didn’t taste as I expected it to be. Ingenious idea though, to provide that dipping stick to accompany the soup.
The char siew sau however, I think still cannot beat Imperial’s one. I like that Imperial’s one is more pastry based but not thick, and their egg wash is so nicely glazed – makes the dish more inviting than this one. This one is nonetheless, less flaky but quite well liked by my brother. This being said, I totally loved the chicken and mushroom pie. This pastry should just replace the char siew sau’s one.
The Xo fried raddish was one of the best that I have eaten so far. The raddish cake was pan-fried to crispy (like the corners) and was not all mushy! This is really awesome!
The xiao long paus were also very yummy! the skin is very thin, filled with alot of soup, but to describe it, I would call it little drops of heaven.
My parents enjoyed the glutinous rice dish. They felt it was very unusual.
The kailan and roast pork . Although the roast pork was slightly too saltish, but the kai lan was really cooked very well – my favourite style, boiled for a while before blenching in it cold water to retain its crunchiness in the stem. Reminded me of the kai lan that ate in Hong Kong.
For the prawn dishes (because I don’t eat prawns), my brother said that the mango and prawn pastry was his favourite. The flavours inside and the ‘creamy texture’ within had been very different from those he previously had. The siew mai Skewers as well, they had kind of ‘bbq-ed’ the siew mai so making it very nice smelling and different from the others he had.

As for the dishes that we thought were ok…
The snow skin char siew pau was just flat. It like ‘lau hong-ed’ as you cut it, and it wasn’t anything special – turned out so different from what we thought it would be.
I would also like to take the opportunity to point out the crab pastry dish. I felt so cheated . Because I don’t eat prawns, there were traces of prawns inside that dish! which was not mentioned on the menu! I thought it was purely a crab dish! That put me off the dish. This dish is exactly what is looks like – boring and dry.
The har gao – as complained by my brother, it was not a whole prawn so .. neh .. not what he likes.

The desert lau sar pau, I would say is comparable to East Ocean’s one.  It is thicker though, but better than Imperial. If there was a lau sar pau ranking, #1 East Ocean, #2 Paradise Pavillion, #3 would be Imperial

Paradise Pavilion 乐天阁
 #02-01 Marina Bay Financial Centre,
Ground Plaza
8A Marina Boulevard, Singapore

 

Novenea Peranakan Cuisine

It seems to be take-away week. We headed nearby to take away some peranakan food since my dad was craving them.
You know those restaurants that are always near by but you don’t visit them because you always end up  heading somewhere else instead?
This Peranakan restaurant has been around for quite a long time in Novena Ville, but ever since it opened, we never tried it.
So todays the day!

we ordered

Pork Ribs

Assam Fish

Ngoh Hiang

Close up

Chap Chye

home made meat ball in Fish Maw Soup

 

Verdict: 4//4 unanimously agree that this place should just be left as it was – no need to specially return for it. We didn’t really take to most of the nonya food that was presented. If we really had to choose, I think the favourite dish out of all was the chap chye and the pork ribs.
The ngoh hiang’s filling was just a little  .. different from the normal types we had.
The assam fish  had too strong a curry powder taste to it, more than the assam spices and spiciness..
The fish maw soup was just blend. I think Ivins restaurant still stands as my favourite Fish Maw soup place.

 

Novena Peranakan Cuisine
273 Thomson Road
#01-02 Novena Garden
Singapore 307644

Dempsey Brassire

We surprised celebrated our dear troopie Jean’s birthday! Thanks to the careful planning of Mr Kwel, we managed to pull it off and success! :)So we all had our surprise dinner celebration – the weather was totally not in our favour! pouring like mad – tragic times 10!

view inside

Guess who else decided to come and party with us?

hello!! please sit down!

ok.. thought I try to make the entry seem abit more WOAH!! (*sheepish grin)

so we ordered:

Duck Confit

Coq au Vin

Tenderloin with Bernaise sauce

Sirloin Steak with Vinegar Jus

 

Mussels + fries + mac and cheese

French Onion Soup with thick crostini and gruyere cheese melt

Seafood Tagliutelle with baby lobster, mussels, clams and squid in a spicy tomato sauce

Slow braised beef short rib with truffle & porcini infused mash and roasted root vegetable

Verdict: 7/7 of us wont return.
We overall thought the food was mediocre – like nothing spectacular.
Onion soup was too saltish complained troopie Frank, Mama phua thought her Mussels were average .
Trooper gracie ‘s steak with red wine jus – in her own words, “ok loh ..”
Brithday girls’s coq qu vin -in a own words, *wrinkles nose “its ok…meh”
Troopie Jan’s pasta ” Not bad leh!”
Mr Kwel’s duck confit ” its ok .. not bad”
My short rib ” hmmmm ….. no comments” .. just ok ..
I reckoned in summary, if we all ever return, would probably be for the ambience and good service. They were very patient in taking our orders, waiting for us to decide and sang a lao hong-ed birthday song for us (since only 2-3 waiters/waitresses around) .

and just wanted to also say

Happy Birthday with ❤

p.s. Thank you Mr Kwel for taking the photos! Much appreciated!

The Dempsey Brassiere
7 Dempsey Road
Singapore 249671

Uncle Leong Seafood Restaurant

Accompanied my mum to take away some food off at Toa Pyoh.
We learned from the owner’s son that he is a relative of the guy who opened one of the more favourite crab joint among the locals, Melben.
As we were driving into this ‘factory-like’ corner coffee shop, I was thinking to myself ‘huh really? a crab place in the midst of all these factories?’

Entrance of the Shop

and on a close up, there are many write ups about this hidden gem.

Write Ups

“Open Kitchen”

The take away took a while . Glazing around this hidden coffee shop, at least on every table had the claypot crab bee hoon dish. It was also full house on a weekday night!! We however, decided to go for something different, so we ordered

Butter Crab

Chilli Crab

and of course, to go with the chilli crab, not forgetting its best friend

Fried Mantou

Verdict: 4/4 of us will return! The quality of crab is indisputable – The crabs were very meaty and succulent.  Sauce however, hmm.. slightly not as nice as Melben for the chilli crab. Butter crab however was just on the spot (but I also wonder if it’s because we have not had it for a long time so we really enjoy it). But worth the trouble going down for it!

Uncle Leong Seafood Restaurant
15 Lorong 8 Toa Payoh,
Braddell Tech
Singapore 319262 ·

Bistro Du Vin

Just thought a nice way to kick start the week and write on this place that hopefully chase all the monday blues away!
We have a shorter week! public holiday on the coming friday!

Anyway, this was a super duper last minute place. troopie Jean last minute called me to ask if I was free to join her for lunch at Bistro Du Vin  .. so  .. in the spirit of inpromptu-ness, WHY NOT? and its Bistro Du Vin, under the les Amis group. I had an unforgettable dining experience at Les Amis back in 2009, so I reckoned this place should be good 🙂 My Mentai monster (aka brother) also says the food here is good (very rarely this fussy person praises a restaurant he likes)  so ok 🙂  Then, Mama phua also decided to join us very last minute too! so happy 3 friends 🙂

A peak inside

We all ordered from the lunch set (I think its quite worth it and affordable) :

Home made bread

for appetizers, both troopie Jean and I had

Endives Salad with Blue Cheese, Walnut and apples

and for mama phua, she had

Char-grilled escargot wrapped in country smoked bacon with braised lentils

For the mains, the girls had

Duck Confit Leg served with leek-pommery mash

and I had

Roasted Sea Bass with crusted potato with parsley and black pepper balsamic butter

and to finish the course, our desserts! Troopie Jean had

Apple tart

Mama phua had

Creme Brulee

and I had

Poached Peach with lemon sorbet

and of course for the  of us

Tea with desserts

Verdict: 3/3 of us will return.
For the appetizers, our salad was hmm .. well the blue cheese taste was stronger than I expected – so to all the blue cheese lovers , this is your heaven i guess :p The escargots – mama phua whipped it up in minutes, so equals to yummilicious 🙂

For our mains, I was slightly disappointed .. my fish I felt that they didn’t really cook it well enough, to my expectation. I thought from the description, it would be crispy on the outside, but it wasnt’ 😦 I think Skyve did a better job with the cooking the fish. No doubt however, the fish is very fresh and well seasoned. The meat was not mushy and it was solid – easily comes off the skin.
The duck confit, is very well enjoyed by both troopies. Mama phua returned this time around specially for the duck confit. Troopie Jean had also enjoyed her duck and said it was very well cooked, not too saltish and just right 🙂

Desserts : The apple tart was yummy ( I should have ordered that). Very light and thin yet flavourful 🙂 you can see the skills displayed by the thin-ness of the sliced apple, as well as the puff pastry. I think this is what distinguishes the les amis group from the other french restaurants around singapore, from my experience, that the precision and display of the chef’s skill is like a signature of their restaurants. My sorbet and peach was refreshing – for those non-sweet tooths, this would be your thing! Creme brulee was torched to perfection – nice and jellish in the bottom, crusty on top.

The next time around, I am so coming back here for the duck confit, or the scrambled egg with the foie gras!
However, mama phua mentioned the last time around she came here, the menu was slightly different, So the chefs probably changes their menu often – which is good I think, goes to show the food they work with are fresh – aka those in season- . One should have more variety and experiment with different kinds of food 🙂 Service is excellent as well!

Bistro Du Vin
1 Scotts Road,
Shaw Center
#02-12

 

 

 

 

 

SICC

We kindly got treated by Uncle P and Aunty M for lunch at their club 🙂
Our family always enjoy their company, especially Uncle P when he shares his experiences and viewpoints about Singapore, we all never fail to erupt into laughter and at the same time, agree largely to most of the things that he shares with us. A very knowledgeable man 🙂 Aunty M on the other hand, you would think she is just engaging and day dreaming away, but she would always say the wackiest thing at the wackiest moment. ( a couple of times sitting next to her in church, I thought I always did catch her sleeping, but she always said she was just ‘resting her eyes’ :p)

And is Singapore small or what,  My mum’s gynaecologist that delivered my sister and I was also dinning there! she actually recognizes my mum and said she still looks young! haha ok was abit of a weird moment for me ..I mean I don’t think they really will remember the specific baby they delivered unless it’s some special case or some birthmark on the baby or something ..

Uncle P said that this branch of the club’s specialty was  their Indian food.
And we ordered :

Special bean paste chicken

Butter Chicken

Masala Prawns

and not forgetting some local delights:

Pan fried ikan

 

Laksa

 

Satay

 

Verdict:  6/7 of us will return for the Indian Food. We ordered alot more Indian cuisine, but I didn’t managed to take them in time before it got all snapped up! 😦  In fact, this is our second visit back there for the Indian Cuisine. I love the butter chicken 🙂 I think they might have been a little short-handed on staff, because service was always very long.
Uncle P mentioned another speciality here is the prawn noodles. My bro aka the mentai monster tried it the last time around, but he didn’t feel it was the best he had.

Singapore Island Country Club
240 Sime Road
Singapore 288303

Skyve Elementary Bistro and Bar

I met up with dear mama Phua – its been quite a long while since I last saw her! Busy mama phua! So, we decided to go try a new place that is convenient for us both around the Newton area for lunch, called Skyve bar ( an apt name and description to describe our mood)

The location seems like an ex factory like building, but the decoration of this restaurant is very laid back and at the same time has a tinge of “arti-ness” to it.

We both decided to order the set lunch 🙂 and to start us off, Hot bread

Bread to start

For our drinks

Flat White

Latte

For our appetizers, we took both

Cold Soba and Toufu : Seaweek ‘cavier’, spring onion and wasabi & yuzu dressing

GRAVLAX & EGG: Egg with soft yolk, fresh dill in creme fraiche, gherkin and japanese cucumber

and for our mains,

Confit of Duck Leg: Sous vide crispy duck leg, apple & fennel salad, balsamic vinegar & mustard seed dressing

Fish of the day : Grilled Snapper with layered Potato

Verdict:  1.5/2 of us will return probably to try different things.
Mama phua had the soba appetizer + the duck confit. She mentioned that she didn’t really enjoy her appetizer because she thought the combination was .. to eat it all together was a little weird. The duck confit however, was very thoroughly cooked. Nothing to complain or pint point about it, but just not the best she had ..

I had the egg appetizer + the Grilled snapper. I also didn’t enjoy my appetizer only because I thought the smoked salmon had abit of a strong fishy taste. .. I enjoy eating smoked salmon and raw fish, but somehow this one was just bad.  My snapper however, was very well cooked! I enjoyed it very thoroughly and liked the sauce that went with it .. 🙂

One redeeming quality however, was the service was very good. The crew was very attentive in clearing our plates and refilling our water. 🙂

So anytime you feel like slacking … feel free to swing by here!

Skyve Elementary Bistro & Bar
No.10 Winstedt Road
Block E, #01-17

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Lawn

Troopie Gracie and I are on our bi-weekly explore the red line (mrt) side mission!! J
Its been great so far since we started – discovered

So next up on our list, actually isn’t a place from the red line. Since we were both ‘auto-mobiled’, and feeling so stuffed from our lunches, we decided to eat healthy.
For the many years that we know each other, this I must say is our ‘virgin’ attempt to actually go down specially to a place to eat something light and healthy. What not a better meal to bond over Salad = something light and healthy.

We headed to The Lawn, this shop that only sells salad, down near Biopolis side, and if you are new to the area like us, we circled past the car park (OK my fault I am just hopeless with directions) and finally stumbled upon the place 🙂

Front of the shop

So apart from their pre-set salads that  they have available, you can also customise your own 🙂

Menu

It was a pretty long wait .. till our orders came ..

Order up!

So troopie gracie ordered

Grilled Dory in herbs + Citrus Dressing (Lemon, Orange, Lime ,Thyme)

I ordered myself :

Grilled Chicken Breast + Honeyball dressing (Honey, Dijon Mustard)

Verdict: 2/2 of us will return here!
We found this place really quite value for money! And the portions are really big and generous, although we only ordered the smaller bowl, we couldn’t finish the entire bowl! We will definitely return here for another round of healthy eating. Do try to go earlier though! By the time we arrived, most of the salad dressings were like not available!

The Lawn
31 Biopolis Way,
Nanos,
#01-07,  
Singapore 138669

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Habitat Coffee

So my star and I decided to go chillax and catch up over some coffee..

Do you have friends that you might not meet very often, but seem to have endless conversation topics to talk about?   Just simple things from work, family, to just future dreams, the direction of the society .. God ..  🙂 You sometimes don’t need to say  much and they just somehow know when you are just going through a tough time just from your eyes or tone .. 🙂 Amazing what can actually come out of a coffee session 🙂 On top of that, the best part is that you know whatever you say,  no matter how stupid it sounds, you do not have to think twice to re-phrase it, nor worry about being judged .. Just speak freely and whatever is on your mind? Thankful for many friends around me that are like that, and especially for her since we have been friends from …. 1997 🙂

Outside

So we ordered

Mocha

Cafe Latte

Truffle fries

Verdict: 2/2 of us will return.
I quite like the atmosphere .. very chillax .. and it started to get packed around 7-ish .. Would like to return to try the dinner … Seems quite good 🙂
My coffee was strong and I thought they nailed the milk and coffee ratio quite aptly to my taste.
Truffle fries however, can’t beat the one at chillax cafe I feel somehow :/

But I guess, the good catchup session made up for it! Nothing like a good catchup session over coffee 🙂

Habitat Coffee
223 Upper Thomson Road, 
Singapore