Went to House/Camp at Dempsey with my friends on a Wednesday Night.
We wanted to have main courses so we were seated in the House (restaurant area). By the time we sat down and started looking at the menu, it was around 8.55pm. We asked the waiter (who wasn't even fluent in English - had to ask hime a few times...) for the 1-for-1 drinks (from 5pm to 9pm), and he wasn't sure if we could have it at the restaurant area, (according to the first waiter, it was only valid at the pub area). So after a few mins, before he came back, we checked with another waitress. She wasn't too clear on it either. The first waiter came back and informed us that we can't have the 1-for-1 drinks at the restaurant area, even though every table in the dining area had a broucher advertising the 1-for-1 drinks. When we finally caught hold of the manager, the manager very unhelpfully said "TOO BAD it's past 9 and the offer is over" (the too bad was in his own words!!!) Of course it'll be past nine if we had to go through 3 people just to check if we could have the drinks with our dinner!!!!!
'Best' of all, they gave us the drinks menu at the restaurant area. If you can't have drinks at the restaurant, then what's the point of giving us the menu? Ridiculous!
So after that, we went to bar area (Camp) - where my friend ordered a $22 'Mint berry gin freeze' which supposedly, and I say supposedly, has 'bombay sapphire gin, fresh berries, mint, pressed lemon, and berry liquor. As far as all of us could taste, there was hardly even a drop of alcohol inside. And all for $22 bucks too! In any other bar, for $22, you'll be expecting at least something which tastes alcoholic, but the drink tasted more like a mocktail. (AND the person drinking this drink was actually scared that it'll be too strong since we were all driving).
On top of that, their drinks menu is sadly very very very limited to a few house speciality cocktails and wines. They have lots of other hard liquors, but then they only come in shots ($10 per shot). When we asked if they could do a simple mix for us (specifically an Amaretto Sour) we were told that the bartender wasn't allowed to mix anything other than those drinks on very limited menu.
I will definitely not go back to house, camp or barracks!!! Definitely NO. On my previous 2 visits, I found the food mediocre and the service passable. But not for this time. I will never recommend anyone to go to House or Camp.
Went to Culina for lunch. I tried the Linguine with Bug and Tomato Concasse ($20). Actually, the name (the bug part) was so intriguing that I couldn't not try it. Bug is supposed to be a organism with a Lobster body and a crayfish head. But it looks just like a crayfish to me. Nevermind, just as long as it tasted good (I found it a bit soggy but no complaining cos it's quite a good portion of 3 little bugs). The noodles are tossed in the delicious crusterean gravy. The tomatoes are juicy and sweet - with none of the usual tartness present.
The Enoteca Set Lunch (available Mon-Fri 12 to 3pm, $30 )
Choice of a starter from either Duck Mousse with morsels or Smoked Eel Salad.
The Duck Mousse with Morsels was a delightful smooth little scoop of duck blended so well, and there's apparently truffles inside. But I couldn't taste any truffle. Maybe it's a truffle which doesn't have much taste??
Mains: Choice of either grilled wagyu rump with mushroom sauce and seasonal vegetables or Flathead Fillet with Seasonal Vegetables and White Wine Sauce. The mushroom sauce is fantastic, complementing the delicious beefy flavour of the Wagyu.And the wagyu was executed perfectly (we asked for Medium-rare). It came with exotic grilled vegetables - 2 of which I've never eaten before- some squash thing and a cucumber-ish vegetable.
Choice of Chocolate Caker or Cherry Parfait - with cherry sauce. The cherry parfait tasted vaguely coconutty to me, but I don't think there's really coconut inside. Nevertheless, the cherry taste in the parfait was good, and the texture ofwhole thing was an in between a mousse and a ice cream.
Overall, I found this a pleasant place to have lunch - though there are cheaper lunch sets out there...
Da Paolo's weekdays set lunches are incredibly yummy and affordable. For $22 , you'll be able to get a starter, main (pasta), dessert of the day and coffee/tea. And of course, the bread basket and olive oil.
For $30 , you can also get the fish of the day or the meat of the day. Meat of the day was tenderloin when I visited.
For starters, we had the Parma Ham with melon & salad, as well as the smoked salmon. There were 2 big pieces of parma ham and the melon was very very sweet. The serving of salmon was very generous, 2 slices of smoked salmon bigger than my hand dressed in olive oil and black pepper. The smoked salmon wasn't the over salty kind which leaves the throat feeling dry.
I had the Spaghetti with seafood and tomato sauce (can't remember exact name but it's the frutti one) - expect nothing less than al dente pasta, delicious fresh morsels of seafood (scallops mussels prawn and squid) in a chunky tomato sauce. Most other places would already charge you about $20 for a plate of spaghetti, but the Da Palo set lunch costs $22 only. Pretty worth it for me.
The meat of the day tenderloin, which was a juicy beef tenderloined seared to perfection.It was still pink and juicy but not too raw and bloody - perfect for a medium rare done-ness.
Chocolate brownie - the dessert was quite dissappointing - if the starters weren't so good I'd probably not recommend this lunch cos the brownies were very simple. Really nothing to shout about. It's a pity that they didn't give a nicer dessert because the starter and main were so good - I had high hopes for the dessert. There isn't any choice for dessert - it's just dessert of the day.
Overall, I'll recommend this place for lunch - it's cheaper than Au Petit Salute - but then you're getting less variety. I still prefer APS, but it's good for the $22 I paid.
Compared to Gelare and most of the other waffle stores, I think Shokudo's Waffle is really quite value for money (one of the better things to eat from Shokudo) - humongous fresh crispy waffle, which is soft and yummy on the inside, with a scoop of ice cream for $5.80 (it's about $6.80 after gst and tax).
Gelare is seriously ripping people off with their expensive waffles and expensive ice creams... and their waffle is the cakey buttery kind which I don't really like. Perhaps if you go there on Tuesday it is okay, but the Shokudo waffle is all day $6.80 .
I had my waffle with White Sesame Ice Cream, and its really nice cos unlike the black sesame ice cream which has a slight bitter aftertaste, this one just smells and tastes really fragrant, but isn't bitter at all.
If you really have to eat at Shokudo, I think this is one of the best thing that Shokudo has to offer :)
Ya Sai Shoku is the new restaurant located where Tampopo was formally. Tampopo has moved from the basement to the ground level. The speciality here is the Tonkatsu Ramen. There are 2 versions available - the spicy and non-spicy version - both cost $12 . I tried the non-spicy version. The soup is milky, robust and not too salty. Like most other Japanese ramens, there's 2 little pieces of stewed pork (with lots of soft melty fat in between) and a half boiled soya egg inside. The egg was quite cooked so the yolk wasn't runny and nice. There's also a bit of bamboo shoots and spring onion (or is it leek?). The noodles were springy, chewy and of a good sized portion.
The Kakiage -deep fried vegetables ($12.50) which is worth trying - fried to a crisp and that little piece of white paper at the bottom had minimal oil stains. I suppose that compared to all the other normal (not high class) Japanese restaurants I've been to, this must be one of the better dishes I've had.
Overall, the ramen was passable - average but not really memorable. I suppose I won't mind coming back for the ramen - but only if it's along the way. The business that day was brisk, and the service was a bit disorganized and messy -for example, they forgot to get us water when we called for it, thought my friend who came late had ordered already etc. But they were friendly and helpful in recommending dishes, and best of all, the dishes came fairly quickly.
1=SGD 0.0587
We wanted to have main courses so we were seated in the House (restaurant area). By the time we sat down and started looking at the menu, it was around 8.55pm. We asked the waiter (who wasn't even fluent in English - had to ask hime a few times...) for the 1-for-1 drinks (from 5pm to 9pm), and he wasn't sure if we could have it at the restaurant area, (according to the first waiter, it was only valid at the pub area). So after a few mins, before he came back, we checked with another waitress. She wasn't too clear on it either. The first waiter came back and informed us that we can't have the 1-for-1 drinks at the restaurant area, even though every table in the dining area had a broucher advertising the 1-for-1 drinks. When we finally caught hold of the manager, the manager very unhelpfully said "TOO BAD it's past 9 and the offer is over" (the too bad was in his own words!!!) Of course it'll be past nine if we had to go through 3 people just to check if we could have the drinks with our dinner!!!!!
'Best' of all, they gave us the drinks menu at the restaurant area. If you can't have drinks at the restaurant, then what's the point of giving us the menu? Ridiculous!
So after that, we went to bar area (Camp) - where my friend ordered a $22 'Mint berry gin freeze' which supposedly, and I say supposedly, has 'bombay sapphire gin, fresh berries, mint, pressed lemon, and berry liquor. As far as all of us could taste, there was hardly even a drop of alcohol inside. And all for $22 bucks too! In any other bar, for $22, you'll be expecting at least something which tastes alcoholic, but the drink tasted more like a mocktail. (AND the person drinking this drink was actually scared that it'll be too strong since we were all driving).
On top of that, their drinks menu is sadly very very very limited to a few house speciality cocktails and wines. They have lots of other hard liquors, but then they only come in shots ($10 per shot). When we asked if they could do a simple mix for us (specifically an Amaretto Sour) we were told that the bartender wasn't allowed to mix anything other than those drinks on very limited menu.
I will definitely not go back to house, camp or barracks!!! Definitely NO. On my previous 2 visits, I found the food mediocre and the service passable. But not for this time. I will never recommend anyone to go to House or Camp.
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The Enoteca Set Lunch (available Mon-Fri 12 to 3pm, $30 )
Choice of a starter from either Duck Mousse with morsels or Smoked Eel Salad.
The Duck Mousse with Morsels was a delightful smooth little scoop of duck blended so well, and there's apparently truffles inside. But I couldn't taste any truffle. Maybe it's a truffle which doesn't have much taste??
Mains: Choice of either grilled wagyu rump with mushroom sauce and seasonal vegetables or Flathead Fillet with Seasonal Vegetables and White Wine Sauce. The mushroom sauce is fantastic, complementing the delicious beefy flavour of the Wagyu.And the wagyu was executed perfectly (we asked for Medium-rare). It came with exotic grilled vegetables - 2 of which I've never eaten before- some squash thing and a cucumber-ish vegetable.
Choice of Chocolate Caker or Cherry Parfait - with cherry sauce. The cherry parfait tasted vaguely coconutty to me, but I don't think there's really coconut inside. Nevertheless, the cherry taste in the parfait was good, and the texture ofwhole thing was an in between a mousse and a ice cream.
Overall, I found this a pleasant place to have lunch - though there are cheaper lunch sets out there...
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For $30 , you can also get the fish of the day or the meat of the day. Meat of the day was tenderloin when I visited.
For starters, we had the Parma Ham with melon & salad, as well as the smoked salmon. There were 2 big pieces of parma ham and the melon was very very sweet. The serving of salmon was very generous, 2 slices of smoked salmon bigger than my hand dressed in olive oil and black pepper. The smoked salmon wasn't the over salty kind which leaves the throat feeling dry.
I had the Spaghetti with seafood and tomato sauce (can't remember exact name but it's the frutti one) - expect nothing less than al dente pasta, delicious fresh morsels of seafood (scallops mussels prawn and squid) in a chunky tomato sauce. Most other places would already charge you about $20 for a plate of spaghetti, but the Da Palo set lunch costs $22 only. Pretty worth it for me.
The meat of the day tenderloin, which was a juicy beef tenderloined seared to perfection.It was still pink and juicy but not too raw and bloody - perfect for a medium rare done-ness.
Chocolate brownie - the dessert was quite dissappointing - if the starters weren't so good I'd probably not recommend this lunch cos the brownies were very simple. Really nothing to shout about. It's a pity that they didn't give a nicer dessert because the starter and main were so good - I had high hopes for the dessert. There isn't any choice for dessert - it's just dessert of the day.
Overall, I'll recommend this place for lunch - it's cheaper than Au Petit Salute - but then you're getting less variety. I still prefer APS, but it's good for the $22 I paid.
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!i saw this place when i went to relish on the second floor. lol
25 May 2008 at 9:21 am
u shld go to chipbee gardens (holland v) there's a da paolo empire there! lol!
12 Jun 2008 at 1:20 am
Gelare is seriously ripping people off with their expensive waffles and expensive ice creams... and their waffle is the cakey buttery kind which I don't really like. Perhaps if you go there on Tuesday it is okay, but the Shokudo waffle is all day $6.80 .
I had my waffle with White Sesame Ice Cream, and its really nice cos unlike the black sesame ice cream which has a slight bitter aftertaste, this one just smells and tastes really fragrant, but isn't bitter at all.
If you really have to eat at Shokudo, I think this is one of the best thing that Shokudo has to offer :)
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!I like the waffles too..... very soft and fluffy
23 May 2008 at 9:23 am
The Kakiage -deep fried vegetables ($12.50) which is worth trying - fried to a crisp and that little piece of white paper at the bottom had minimal oil stains. I suppose that compared to all the other normal (not high class) Japanese restaurants I've been to, this must be one of the better dishes I've had.
Overall, the ramen was passable - average but not really memorable. I suppose I won't mind coming back for the ramen - but only if it's along the way. The business that day was brisk, and the service was a bit disorganized and messy -for example, they forgot to get us water when we called for it, thought my friend who came late had ordered already etc. But they were friendly and helpful in recommending dishes, and best of all, the dishes came fairly quickly.
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