Great place for chilling out with a group of friends. Comfortably priced alcohol for all. Local uni students get 30% off listed price too! (How I wish I was still a student lah!)
Have been to ICB several occasions for gatherings with friends. Located in the center of Singapore, its easily accessible for people staying anywhere. This place serves over 38 types of bottled beers, and also martinis, spirits and sodas. Happy hours from 11am to 9pm daily and all day long on Sundays!
If you're planning to go there for decent meal, you can forget it. But if you just need something to bite, I'll recommend going for the beef wrap ($6) and big bowl of popcorn ($5). Works all the time for me with these and beer! (Avoid the hotdog bun, go for the beef wrap. Trust me! It's more worth it!)
There's also a pool table to play and every Thursday night, there's also free wii games!
Oh! And if you're sitting along the stretch of seats with pillows and red back rest, please sit with care k! The seats are NOT soft and the entire sit may just pop up at the side if one sits too fast at the edge of it. Don't say i didn't warn you ah!
Yebbers! Anyone wants to go party on a Thursday at ICB?
Notorious for its long history of prostitution, Geylang Road, fronted by low-rise shophouses – protected from urban redevelopment in keeping with its history and heritage – is also famous for the delicious food offerings. And Sik Wai Sin Eating House, once voted Top 50 restaurants in Singapore by the Sunday Times along the likes of Morton’s, Au Jardin, Les Amis, Iggy’s, and Garibaldi, is one of them.
Although located in a dingy tiny coffeeshop, Sik Wai Sin is nothing short of a stalwart in Cantonese-styled Tze Char (literally means “cook and fried” in dialect). In order to bring out the best in each dish, HFB quickly realised that one do not have many choices when it come to dishes to order – almost every table was eating the same fare!
Stir-fried KaiLan with Garlic was well fried, and wasn’t over-cooked – with stump of the vegetables still retaining crunch. The savoury sauce was flavourful, but dish was oily overall.
One of their signatured dishes, the Homemade Tofu Fried with Giant Prawns, in Egg Sauce was a joy to consume. The tofu was well woked with aroma, and the prawns, lip smacking juicy and crunchy – certainly a brilliant pairing with a bowl of rice.
The Steamed Minced Pork with Salted Fish certainly brings back the good old memories from my grandparents’ time. A dish, which HFB would claim to be traditional, he reckons not many youngsters nowadays would take to this dish because of the fishy smell (from the salted fish). Although another nice dish to go with the rice, HFB finds that the dish was slightly overcooked and thus, the meat was slightly tough. A pathetic serving of the salted fish, nevertheless any extra and the dish will be too salty for consumption.
The Steamed Fishhead is probably their trademark dish, and it was inevitable that one would find this on almost each and every table. Comes in only one serving size (big that is – we tried asking for small), the humongous fishhead can easily feed a handful of adults. Covered in Bean Paste and Pork Lard, it’s probably the latter that sets it apart from the many other steamed fishhead out there. Rid of the muddy taste of a typical fresh-water fish, the fish is fleshy and tender – so much so that even a non-fishhead eater has plenty of meat to go for. Go with a spread of the bean paste and a piece of lard and “nirvana” is the only word that came close to mind.
The last among all dishes served, the Sweet and Sour Pork wasn’t really worth the wait. Although the pork is nicely coated with an intensely tangy sauce captured via an incredible high heated wok, HFB found the meat a little too tough to chew – probably from over-frying. Since being served last, the meat also gets to one towards the end.
The second installation of my mini Sentosa food trial brought me to Thanying Restaurant at Amara Sanctuary Resort. Famed for its authentic Thai food that is also served to the Thai Royal Family, Thanying is also unfortunately known for its steep prices to boot.
Thanying is housed in a classy standalone unit reminiscent of a small chapel with its wooden arches and high ceilings, just across from the main lobby of Amara Sanctuary. Huge wooden frame windows offer a clear view of the surroundings and time slows to a crawl in this beautiful and relaxing space. However conversation can be a little restrained as a blanket of silence covers the whole area, probably due to the lack of customers on a Saturday evening.
Tom Yam Goong - Tom yam soup is one of the hallmarks of Thai cuisine and Thanying's rendition of this ubiquitous dish was nothing short of excellent. The soup was sweet, salty and spicy all at the same time and the spice hits you smack at the back of your throat. The taste of lemongrass permeated through rather strongly and I'm guessing thats due to the use of fresh lemongrass instead of the dried ones.
Kai Jiaw Moo Sub (Fried Egg with Minced Pork) - Its really strange to be ordering fried omelette in a Thai restaurant or in any fine dining place for that matter but I couldn't resist the promise of juicy minced pork covered with a crisp layer of frothy egg sinfully deep fried in high temperature oil. Call it comfort food if you wish. The only downside to this dish was of course the excessive oil, which rendered me nauseous after a while due to the huge portions. And its $16 mind you.
Gai Hor Bai Toey (Pandan Leaf Chicken) - Another quintessential dish in Thai cuisine, the pieces of pandan chicken were quite a size and crispy on the outside while remaining tender and moist on the inside. There was a light hint of pandan taste as well, which gave the chicken a nice faintly sweet edge.
Pineapple Rice - What I found interesting about the pineapple rice was the presence of curry powder, or at least the taste of curry powder. I liked this dish for the fact that it was nicely done without being too dry even after being laden with pork floss but I did think that the chicken cubes that came alongside were overly dry and tough.
Pad Thai - Thanying serves up the drier version of Pad Thai, which I personally prefer. However I did find the fish sauce on this one rather overwhelming or maybe its just me being overly sensitive. I appreciated the relatively generous servings of prawns and chicken cubes though.
With the bill just over $108 for 2 pax, this is one expensive and belly bursting Thai experience. Food quality is consistently decent but not exactly fantastic. Service is excellent though and professional to say the least. If your pockets are as shallow as mine and you want a decent romantic dinner at Sentosa, Thanying might just be a viable option, considering that the other "fine dining" restaurants on the island could set you back by at least twice the amount.
Located at the quiet end of a row of shophouses (that also houses Ice3 and Frolick) along Kensington Park Road, Ristorante De Parma has the expressions, "simple and minimalistic" engraved all over, coupled with warm lighting that eludes a sense of smoothing comfort for a slow relaxing dinner. However, as weather was cooling that night, we opted for one of the two outdoor tables.
Complimentary bread served with Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinaigrette although came warm was nothing extraordinary.
Le Zuppe, or soups was Minestrone alla Genovese ($6.90), the classic Italian vegetable soup. There are different variations of minestrone soup – divided into different villages or towns, each customise to regional or seasonal ingredients. And in the traditions of Genoa province, it is distinguished by the generous use of herbs in its preparation, and specifically the addition of Pesto. HFB really loved this soup! A delightful surprise from the usual minestrone that is watered down and tomato-based, their version was intense in flavours from the herbs, yet light on the palate.
A must for all mushroom lovers, the Fungo di Portobello ($14.90), was a huge grilled Portobello mushroom dish garnished with bell peppers, sun dried tomatoes & olives, drizzled with their own house dressing. Every bite of the thick mushroom produced a juice-gushing moment. However, HFB just wasn’t used to the fact that the accompaniments, especially the bell peppers came contrasting cold (although HFB was assured by the staff that that’s the way they served it) and was also pretty disappointed that a rotten leaf of purple lettuce was left unchecked and dished out to us.
Listed as a new item in the menu, the Foie Gras de Canard ($27.90) was pan-fried and topped with Caviar & accompanied North East Atlantic Langoustine & Smoked Salmon. HFB clearly wasn’t impressed with this dish – the duck liver was too dry for his liking, and the langoustine and smoke salmon didn’t add any value to this dish – harshly speaking, it was akin to 3 separate items put scrappily together that didn’t gel at all.
One of their house favourite, the Prosciutto Di Parma con Rucola Pizza ($26.90), is topped with Parma ham sourced directly from Italy and HFB’s personal favourite – Rocket Salad! Also special request to add shaved Parmesan Cheese as topping was addressed. HFB ranked their version a close second to Da Paolo’s Pizza Bar purely due to the fact that it’s more costly.
What really hit the umami spot were the desserts that night. The Chocolate Fondant ($12.90) oozed yummy molten chocolate when one breaks the exterior crust, and the paired vanilla ice-cream definitely aid to its cause. Slightly expensive considering the serving portion but definitely worth it if you consider Morton’s charges theirs at $25.00.
One should definitely not leave Ristorante De Parma without giving their signatured Tiramisu ($12.90) a try. Aesthetically well presented with what HFB considered a sizeable portion, it was definitely one of the finest tiramisu HFB had tried. Everything from the sponge, to the Mascarpone cheese and alcohol level was so well balanced that HFB wouldn’t mind dropping by just for it after dinner.
Special mention to the service staffs that HFB reckon was pretty well trained and polite.
Garibaldi, located along Purvis Street, is part of The Garibaldi Group of Restaurants helmed by award-winning Chef de Cuisine Roberto Galetti and his team. An Italian dinning place that provides a fine exemplar of contemporary, stylish and elegant dining experience all rolled into one, it came no surprise that the tantalising menu emphasises authentic Italian gastronomy primed with the best ingredients imported directly from Italy.
Stepped past the seemingly discreet sliding door and one will be ushered to an elegant bar that offers a great selection of wines by the glass and excellent cocktails – HFB can imagined this to be a perfect after-work to-be-seen setting for chic finance executives and lawyers to mingle at and network.
Make a left turn, and one will find the sombre interior of the small dining area coerce on you – call me unsophisticated but HFB certainly didn’t take to the air-of-pretentious atmosphere of the restaurant.
Also, having a row of smartly dress yet clueless service staff standing at the side of the passageway greeting and staring at HFB while he is seated with his peers add on to his already discomfort.
Kudos to the Complimentary Bread & Balsamic Vinaigrette, which was one of the better renditions that HFB had tried – certainly no one will complain if one goes for a second serving.
For the Antipasti e Insalate, HFB plumped for the Capesante Al Taleggio, or Grilled US Scallops with Porcini Mushroom and Truffled Taleggio Fondue ($25.00). Being a big fan of porcini mushroom, the sautéed nutty flavoured shrooms along with the intense creamy truffled Taleggio cheese was divine. However, HFB felt let down by the textured scallops that were slightly dry for his liking – he thought Sage, The Restaurant did a better job with their Seared Hokkaido Scallops with Normandy Sauce.
What’s an Italian dinner without pasta – the Linguine Al Granchio, or Linguine with Crab Meat and Vodka Sauce ($30.00) was commendable – nice aromatic vodka-infused tomato-cream sauce integrated with the flavours of the sea from the crab meat was simply blissful. However, the serving portion was definitely pathetic and HFB could easily wolfed down another plate with ease.
Dessert was Fondente Al Cioccolato, or simply Molten Lava Chocolate Cake with Hazelnut Gelato and Raspberry Coulis ($18.00) – it didn’t wow me but definitely not the worse I have eaten. However, accolades must be given to the hazelnut gelato that everyone around the table seemed to enjoy it.
Overall, 4 of us choked a total of $428.00 including a bottle of wine and taxes. HFB felt that the pricey wine was a total rip-off and service although professional, lacked cordiality.
Was in the vicinity of Joo Chiat so decided to pop down to this kid on the block after reading rather favourable reviews of it by some food bloggers. It also helped that I was financially strapped and had to eat on a tight budget.
Located right at the junction of Joo Chiat Road and Koon Seng Road, Tai Shek Hei has only been in operations for about 2 months or so and the decor is typical of a Chinese type eatery. According to the writeup in the menu, Tai Shek Hei specialises in bamboo noodles, which are purportedly unique in the sense that the dough used in making the noodles are beaten with a long thick bamboo pole that promises a springy product without the lye (alkaline) taste.
Speciality Tobiko Dumpling - I had a go at the bamboo noodles, topped with their speciality tobiko (flying fish roe) dumplings. The noodles were thing and springy with lots of bite while the dumplings were quite good with the skin not too thick and the prawns crunchy with a little help from the roe. The soup base was supposedly made from boiling sole fish, prawn shells, dried scallops etc but though rather tasty, it didn't exactly wow me.
Cai Xin - A very normal dish and something you can find at any random cze char stall. $6 is still reasonable I guess.
Roast Combination - We opted for the Soy Chicken and Roast Duck combination which was surprisingly quite good. The meat was tender yet moist and had a nice chewy sensation to it. The amount of fats beneath the skin was also minimal, which is good for health conscious folks. I would have liked the skin to be a little crispier though.
To be honest, I think the food was quite decent and it wasn't exactly expensive either, standing at about $28 for 2 pax. Its a pity about the location and the lack of crowds though.
After a very pleasurable and gratifying dinner at Aburiya some time back, HFB was looking forward to his next Yakiniku meal (焼き肉 or 焼肉), or Japanese BBQ-styled of cooking bite-sized meat over flame of wood charcoals carbonised by dry distillation (Sumibi (炭火) or gas/electric grill. So off he went to sample Yakiniku Daidomon’s Buffet Dinner (Adult: $63.00 child: $28.00 ) that is only available at their Keypoint outlet along Beach Road.
With slightly more than 100 items to choose from, HFB was absolutely spoiled for choice. So being the Kiasu Singaporean that he is, HFB did his share of research and zeroed in on a few items. For appetisers, it was kick-started with the much raved about Yukke Sushi, or Marinated Beef with Egg Yolk, and it was rightly so – nicely seasoned with spices and sauces such as sesame oil and soy sauce, a raw egg yolk was cracked on top, giving it a smooth velvety taste. The beef was thickly sliced thus granting the person consuming, a nice bite.
The trio of Tuna (Maguro), Salmon (Shake) and Sea Bream (Tai) Sashimi though were disappointing. Although served chilled, it just didn’t tickle HFB's fancy and tasted flat and uninspiring.
The Gyu Tataki, or Marinated & Lightly Grilled Raw Beef was also lacklustre; so much so that HFB thinks the one he had in Bangkok was better.
Surprisingly, the Teiru, or Oxtail Soup that looks boring when served tasted yummy. The gelatinous meat from the oxtail was simply amazing and my only nitpick was there was only one piece floating in the soup.
Once done, the real show begun, and the raw food was set in place. Salmon was thick but filling, thus HFB advise one to go slow and concentrate on other dishes instead.
The Hotate, or Scallop is a MUST try - served whole and juicy, two servings were ordered that evening.
The Kaki Butter, or Oyster with Butter was another orgasmic experience for HFB. Fresh and meaty, cooked it just right and a sweet juicy feasting experience await.
The Ebi, or Prawn was of medium size – nothing fanciful.
The Buta Karubi, or Pork Belly came nicely streaked in fats and tasted wonderful when grilled.
Vegetables were a much welcome break from the meat and the Mushrooms were delightful.
Very high in fat content, it is no wonder the Tan, or Beef Tongue is considered a prized item in Japanese BBQ. Slightly chewy for a bite, however HFB didn’t really fancy it much that night.
The Karubi, or Beef Belly Tender was better appreciated. Slightly marbled – allowed the fats to cook slowly, and what one gets in return is a nice juicy piece of meat.
However, if one think that’s the finest, one would be thrilled to know that the Honetsuki Karubi, or Belly Tender with Rib is one notch better. It tasted so scrumptious that no words can simply describe it and if HFB is to come back to this restaurant, this dish would probably be the reason!
Overall, HFB thinks this is one of those places he will visit if he craves for meat and feel like pampering himself with a treat.
You can view all the photos and other reviews here.
This is one of the latest fast food outlet at Compass Point. When it first opened, the crowd was overflowing. The queue is super long and there'll never be any tables available. Everyone is curious when new things arrived. But after the initial fanfare, things just seem to slow down. And now I know the reason why!
Like the rest of the curious customers, I gave Curry San a go. Although the smell of Japanese Curry filling the outlet was overpowering, we thought it should probably be worth while to give it a try.
Ordered Curry Chicken Katsu - $6.80 (which was recommended as their best seller) and Ebiko Cream Fried Shrimp - $7.90. When the food came, both of us lost our appetite. If we had not pay for the food, we'll probably kick a big fuss and walk away.
Curry Chicken Katsu came burned. The fried chicken was tough and tasteless. The rice was overcooked and was too mushy. The curry was no way near tasty too. Very sad! Even the two little girls (around 4-5 yrs old) sitting next to us commented that its not nice!
When I thought mine was bad, the Ebiko Cream Fried Shrimp was worst! Diluted cream sauce with plain looking pasta, few seeds of sesame and sad looking fried shrimp. I could see the total disappointment in his eyes. One word to describe this dish - tasteless.
I wonder if the boss themselves are tasting what they're serving. Too much improvements need to be made. Unless there's a new crowd forming again at Curry San (because of great improvement to the menu), I'll not be stepping into it anymore.
Just beside the “old-school” Love confectionery at Alexander Village which I just recommended, there’s another one by the name of Chinatown Tai Chong Kok Confectionery, which is also similarly traditional.
Egg cupcake ($1 for 3 small one) I’m a devotee after just one bite of their egg cupcake. Soft, light, and fluffy, the egg cupcakes are really very good. And 3 for one dollar is cheap okay! I can easily finish half a dozen on my own. Gosh, i’m going to get more of them the next time.
Egg cupcake with red bean fillings ($1 for 1 big) There’s also the bigger egg cup cake, which had red bean paste fillings at the bottom. But i was rather disappointed with it because there wasn’t anything special with the red bean paste, and the filling was just a little. I’ll think that three small ones are more than a big one, so take the 3 small one for a dollar instead.
Red bean biscuit Their red bean biscuit was also worth the try, crispy pastry skin with generous fillings of the red bean paste.
Egg tart Initially i was unsure about the egg tart because it didn’t seem to be very nice. But boy I had to take back my words after eating it. The egg custard was those watery kind, smooth and eggy!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
The constant upgrading and renovation of our heartlands, together with the ageing of the older chefs will mean that many delicious food will be soon extinct, and forever gone from us. We have seen many of your favourite childhood hawker stalls, and the old-school bakeries disappearing from our sight.
Love confectionery is located just beside the Alexander Village food centre, opposite of Queensway shopping centre. Having been there for very long, I knew about its presence before, but just didn’t pop in, until now.
Cream puffs ($0.40 each) The cream puffs was merely 40 cents each, yes 40 cents! They came in two flavours, cream and custard. We immediately grabbed half a dozen of this, and looked around to see if there’s other steals, but to our disappointment, most of the their other bakes were sold out already.
The custard puffs were not too bad, i wasn’t too sure whether i’ll like them or not, so i only had two out of the six i got. The eggy taste was evidently present, and you could do yourself no harm since they are only 40 cents each.
The cream puff was good, the pastry skin was soft and fluffy, the only gripe - it wasn’t sinful enough. Of course you can’t compare it with the one at Beard Papa with such a big differential in price, but i did find that the cream used here wasn’t that fantastic, if only it’s made with the superior Japanese cream.
I think i’m asking too much for a cream puff which was 40 cents. Given the price, and the nostalgic of the cream puff, do grabbed a dozen the next time round.
Butter cakes ($0.90 each) They also had two types of butter cakes that day, with the body being the same, peanut and almond separating both. It’s so old-school! The butter cake was very soft, and to say it melt softly with a deft bite wasn’t exaggerating.
Total bill was $4.80 for half a dozen cream puffs and two slices of cakes. They have other type of bakes, but it was either sold out or wasn’t available when i was there that day. I’ll probably get a dozen of those cream puffs the next time i’m in the area. And oh by the way, just to not mislead you, they don’t serve the pastry there, i brought them home to put on nice plates for the photos!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
1=SGD 0.0587
Great place for chilling out with a group of friends. Comfortably priced alcohol for all. Local uni students get 30% off listed price too! (How I wish I was still a student lah!)
Have been to ICB several occasions for gatherings with friends. Located in the center of Singapore, its easily accessible for people staying anywhere. This place serves over 38 types of bottled beers, and also martinis, spirits and sodas. Happy hours from 11am to 9pm daily and all day long on Sundays!
If you're planning to go there for decent meal, you can forget it. But if you just need something to bite, I'll recommend going for the beef wrap ($6) and big bowl of popcorn ($5). Works all the time for me with these and beer! (Avoid the hotdog bun, go for the beef wrap. Trust me! It's more worth it!)
There's also a pool table to play and every Thursday night, there's also free wii games!
Oh! And if you're sitting along the stretch of seats with pillows and red back rest, please sit with care k! The seats are NOT soft and the entire sit may just pop up at the side if one sits too fast at the edge of it. Don't say i didn't warn you ah!
Yebbers! Anyone wants to go party on a Thursday at ICB?
Rating given:
Notorious for its long history of prostitution, Geylang Road, fronted by low-rise shophouses – protected from urban redevelopment in keeping with its history and heritage – is also famous for the delicious food offerings. And Sik Wai Sin Eating House, once voted Top 50 restaurants in Singapore by the Sunday Times along the likes of Morton’s, Au Jardin, Les Amis, Iggy’s, and Garibaldi, is one of them.
Although located in a dingy tiny coffeeshop, Sik Wai Sin is nothing short of a stalwart in Cantonese-styled Tze Char (literally means “cook and fried” in dialect). In order to bring out the best in each dish, HFB quickly realised that one do not have many choices when it come to dishes to order – almost every table was eating the same fare!
Stir-fried KaiLan with Garlic was well fried, and wasn’t over-cooked – with stump of the vegetables still retaining crunch. The savoury sauce was flavourful, but dish was oily overall.
One of their signatured dishes, the Homemade Tofu Fried with Giant Prawns, in Egg Sauce was a joy to consume. The tofu was well woked with aroma, and the prawns, lip smacking juicy and crunchy – certainly a brilliant pairing with a bowl of rice.
The Steamed Minced Pork with Salted Fish certainly brings back the good old memories from my grandparents’ time. A dish, which HFB would claim to be traditional, he reckons not many youngsters nowadays would take to this dish because of the fishy smell (from the salted fish). Although another nice dish to go with the rice, HFB finds that the dish was slightly overcooked and thus, the meat was slightly tough. A pathetic serving of the salted fish, nevertheless any extra and the dish will be too salty for consumption.
The Steamed Fishhead is probably their trademark dish, and it was inevitable that one would find this on almost each and every table. Comes in only one serving size (big that is – we tried asking for small), the humongous fishhead can easily feed a handful of adults. Covered in Bean Paste and Pork Lard, it’s probably the latter that sets it apart from the many other steamed fishhead out there. Rid of the muddy taste of a typical fresh-water fish, the fish is fleshy and tender – so much so that even a non-fishhead eater has plenty of meat to go for. Go with a spread of the bean paste and a piece of lard and “nirvana” is the only word that came close to mind.
The last among all dishes served, the Sweet and Sour Pork wasn’t really worth the wait. Although the pork is nicely coated with an intensely tangy sauce captured via an incredible high heated wok, HFB found the meat a little too tough to chew – probably from over-frying. Since being served last, the meat also gets to one towards the end.
You can view all the photos here.
Rating given:
The second installation of my mini Sentosa food trial brought me to Thanying Restaurant at Amara Sanctuary Resort. Famed for its authentic Thai food that is also served to the Thai Royal Family, Thanying is also unfortunately known for its steep prices to boot.
Thanying is housed in a classy standalone unit reminiscent of a small chapel with its wooden arches and high ceilings, just across from the main lobby of Amara Sanctuary. Huge wooden frame windows offer a clear view of the surroundings and time slows to a crawl in this beautiful and relaxing space. However conversation can be a little restrained as a blanket of silence covers the whole area, probably due to the lack of customers on a Saturday evening.
Tom Yam Goong - Tom yam soup is one of the hallmarks of Thai cuisine and Thanying's rendition of this ubiquitous dish was nothing short of excellent. The soup was sweet, salty and spicy all at the same time and the spice hits you smack at the back of your throat. The taste of lemongrass permeated through rather strongly and I'm guessing thats due to the use of fresh lemongrass instead of the dried ones.
Kai Jiaw Moo Sub (Fried Egg with Minced Pork) - Its really strange to be ordering fried omelette in a Thai restaurant or in any fine dining place for that matter but I couldn't resist the promise of juicy minced pork covered with a crisp layer of frothy egg sinfully deep fried in high temperature oil. Call it comfort food if you wish. The only downside to this dish was of course the excessive oil, which rendered me nauseous after a while due to the huge portions. And its $16 mind you.
Gai Hor Bai Toey (Pandan Leaf Chicken) - Another quintessential dish in Thai cuisine, the pieces of pandan chicken were quite a size and crispy on the outside while remaining tender and moist on the inside. There was a light hint of pandan taste as well, which gave the chicken a nice faintly sweet edge.
Pineapple Rice - What I found interesting about the pineapple rice was the presence of curry powder, or at least the taste of curry powder. I liked this dish for the fact that it was nicely done without being too dry even after being laden with pork floss but I did think that the chicken cubes that came alongside were overly dry and tough.
Pad Thai - Thanying serves up the drier version of Pad Thai, which I personally prefer. However I did find the fish sauce on this one rather overwhelming or maybe its just me being overly sensitive. I appreciated the relatively generous servings of prawns and chicken cubes though.
With the bill just over $108 for 2 pax, this is one expensive and belly bursting Thai experience. Food quality is consistently decent but not exactly fantastic. Service is excellent though and professional to say the least. If your pockets are as shallow as mine and you want a decent romantic dinner at Sentosa, Thanying might just be a viable option, considering that the other "fine dining" restaurants on the island could set you back by at least twice the amount.
See all my pictures here.
Rating given:
Located at the quiet end of a row of shophouses (that also houses Ice3 and Frolick) along Kensington Park Road, Ristorante De Parma has the expressions, "simple and minimalistic" engraved all over, coupled with warm lighting that eludes a sense of smoothing comfort for a slow relaxing dinner. However, as weather was cooling that night, we opted for one of the two outdoor tables.
Complimentary bread served with Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinaigrette although came warm was nothing extraordinary.
Le Zuppe, or soups was Minestrone alla Genovese ($6.90), the classic Italian vegetable soup. There are different variations of minestrone soup – divided into different villages or towns, each customise to regional or seasonal ingredients. And in the traditions of Genoa province, it is distinguished by the generous use of herbs in its preparation, and specifically the addition of Pesto. HFB really loved this soup! A delightful surprise from the usual minestrone that is watered down and tomato-based, their version was intense in flavours from the herbs, yet light on the palate.
A must for all mushroom lovers, the Fungo di Portobello ($14.90), was a huge grilled Portobello mushroom dish garnished with bell peppers, sun dried tomatoes & olives, drizzled with their own house dressing. Every bite of the thick mushroom produced a juice-gushing moment. However, HFB just wasn’t used to the fact that the accompaniments, especially the bell peppers came contrasting cold (although HFB was assured by the staff that that’s the way they served it) and was also pretty disappointed that a rotten leaf of purple lettuce was left unchecked and dished out to us.
Listed as a new item in the menu, the Foie Gras de Canard ($27.90) was pan-fried and topped with Caviar & accompanied North East Atlantic Langoustine & Smoked Salmon. HFB clearly wasn’t impressed with this dish – the duck liver was too dry for his liking, and the langoustine and smoke salmon didn’t add any value to this dish – harshly speaking, it was akin to 3 separate items put scrappily together that didn’t gel at all.
One of their house favourite, the Prosciutto Di Parma con Rucola Pizza ($26.90), is topped with Parma ham sourced directly from Italy and HFB’s personal favourite – Rocket Salad! Also special request to add shaved Parmesan Cheese as topping was addressed. HFB ranked their version a close second to Da Paolo’s Pizza Bar purely due to the fact that it’s more costly.
What really hit the umami spot were the desserts that night. The Chocolate Fondant ($12.90) oozed yummy molten chocolate when one breaks the exterior crust, and the paired vanilla ice-cream definitely aid to its cause. Slightly expensive considering the serving portion but definitely worth it if you consider Morton’s charges theirs at $25.00.
One should definitely not leave Ristorante De Parma without giving their signatured Tiramisu ($12.90) a try. Aesthetically well presented with what HFB considered a sizeable portion, it was definitely one of the finest tiramisu HFB had tried. Everything from the sponge, to the Mascarpone cheese and alcohol level was so well balanced that HFB wouldn’t mind dropping by just for it after dinner.
Special mention to the service staffs that HFB reckon was pretty well trained and polite.
You can view all the photos here.
Rating given:
Garibaldi, located along Purvis Street, is part of The Garibaldi Group of Restaurants helmed by award-winning Chef de Cuisine Roberto Galetti and his team. An Italian dinning place that provides a fine exemplar of contemporary, stylish and elegant dining experience all rolled into one, it came no surprise that the tantalising menu emphasises authentic Italian gastronomy primed with the best ingredients imported directly from Italy.
Stepped past the seemingly discreet sliding door and one will be ushered to an elegant bar that offers a great selection of wines by the glass and excellent cocktails – HFB can imagined this to be a perfect after-work to-be-seen setting for chic finance executives and lawyers to mingle at and network.
Make a left turn, and one will find the sombre interior of the small dining area coerce on you – call me unsophisticated but HFB certainly didn’t take to the air-of-pretentious atmosphere of the restaurant.
Also, having a row of smartly dress yet clueless service staff standing at the side of the passageway greeting and staring at HFB while he is seated with his peers add on to his already discomfort.
Kudos to the Complimentary Bread & Balsamic Vinaigrette, which was one of the better renditions that HFB had tried – certainly no one will complain if one goes for a second serving.
For the Antipasti e Insalate, HFB plumped for the Capesante Al Taleggio, or Grilled US Scallops with Porcini Mushroom and Truffled Taleggio Fondue ($25.00). Being a big fan of porcini mushroom, the sautéed nutty flavoured shrooms along with the intense creamy truffled Taleggio cheese was divine. However, HFB felt let down by the textured scallops that were slightly dry for his liking – he thought Sage, The Restaurant did a better job with their Seared Hokkaido Scallops with Normandy Sauce.
What’s an Italian dinner without pasta – the Linguine Al Granchio, or Linguine with Crab Meat and Vodka Sauce ($30.00) was commendable – nice aromatic vodka-infused tomato-cream sauce integrated with the flavours of the sea from the crab meat was simply blissful. However, the serving portion was definitely pathetic and HFB could easily wolfed down another plate with ease.
Dessert was Fondente Al Cioccolato, or simply Molten Lava Chocolate Cake with Hazelnut Gelato and Raspberry Coulis ($18.00) – it didn’t wow me but definitely not the worse I have eaten. However, accolades must be given to the hazelnut gelato that everyone around the table seemed to enjoy it.
Overall, 4 of us choked a total of $428.00 including a bottle of wine and taxes. HFB felt that the pricey wine was a total rip-off and service although professional, lacked cordiality.
You can view all the photos here.
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Was in the vicinity of Joo Chiat so decided to pop down to this kid on the block after reading rather favourable reviews of it by some food bloggers. It also helped that I was financially strapped and had to eat on a tight budget.
Located right at the junction of Joo Chiat Road and Koon Seng Road, Tai Shek Hei has only been in operations for about 2 months or so and the decor is typical of a Chinese type eatery. According to the writeup in the menu, Tai Shek Hei specialises in bamboo noodles, which are purportedly unique in the sense that the dough used in making the noodles are beaten with a long thick bamboo pole that promises a springy product without the lye (alkaline) taste.
Speciality Tobiko Dumpling - I had a go at the bamboo noodles, topped with their speciality tobiko (flying fish roe) dumplings. The noodles were thing and springy with lots of bite while the dumplings were quite good with the skin not too thick and the prawns crunchy with a little help from the roe. The soup base was supposedly made from boiling sole fish, prawn shells, dried scallops etc but though rather tasty, it didn't exactly wow me.
Cai Xin - A very normal dish and something you can find at any random cze char stall. $6 is still reasonable I guess.
Roast Combination - We opted for the Soy Chicken and Roast Duck combination which was surprisingly quite good. The meat was tender yet moist and had a nice chewy sensation to it. The amount of fats beneath the skin was also minimal, which is good for health conscious folks. I would have liked the skin to be a little crispier though.
To be honest, I think the food was quite decent and it wasn't exactly expensive either, standing at about $28 for 2 pax. Its a pity about the location and the lack of crowds though.
See all my pictures here.
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After a very pleasurable and gratifying dinner at Aburiya some time back, HFB was looking forward to his next Yakiniku meal (焼き肉 or 焼肉), or Japanese BBQ-styled of cooking bite-sized meat over flame of wood charcoals carbonised by dry distillation (Sumibi (炭火) or gas/electric grill. So off he went to sample Yakiniku Daidomon’s Buffet Dinner (Adult: $63.00 child: $28.00 ) that is only available at their Keypoint outlet along Beach Road.
With slightly more than 100 items to choose from, HFB was absolutely spoiled for choice. So being the Kiasu Singaporean that he is, HFB did his share of research and zeroed in on a few items. For appetisers, it was kick-started with the much raved about Yukke Sushi, or Marinated Beef with Egg Yolk, and it was rightly so – nicely seasoned with spices and sauces such as sesame oil and soy sauce, a raw egg yolk was cracked on top, giving it a smooth velvety taste. The beef was thickly sliced thus granting the person consuming, a nice bite.
The trio of Tuna (Maguro), Salmon (Shake) and Sea Bream (Tai) Sashimi though were disappointing. Although served chilled, it just didn’t tickle HFB's fancy and tasted flat and uninspiring.
The Gyu Tataki, or Marinated & Lightly Grilled Raw Beef was also lacklustre; so much so that HFB thinks the one he had in Bangkok was better.
Surprisingly, the Teiru, or Oxtail Soup that looks boring when served tasted yummy. The gelatinous meat from the oxtail was simply amazing and my only nitpick was there was only one piece floating in the soup.
Once done, the real show begun, and the raw food was set in place. Salmon was thick but filling, thus HFB advise one to go slow and concentrate on other dishes instead.
The Hotate, or Scallop is a MUST try - served whole and juicy, two servings were ordered that evening.
The Kaki Butter, or Oyster with Butter was another orgasmic experience for HFB. Fresh and meaty, cooked it just right and a sweet juicy feasting experience await.
The Ebi, or Prawn was of medium size – nothing fanciful.
The Buta Karubi, or Pork Belly came nicely streaked in fats and tasted wonderful when grilled.
Vegetables were a much welcome break from the meat and the Mushrooms were delightful.
Very high in fat content, it is no wonder the Tan, or Beef Tongue is considered a prized item in Japanese BBQ. Slightly chewy for a bite, however HFB didn’t really fancy it much that night.
The Karubi, or Beef Belly Tender was better appreciated. Slightly marbled – allowed the fats to cook slowly, and what one gets in return is a nice juicy piece of meat.
However, if one think that’s the finest, one would be thrilled to know that the Honetsuki Karubi, or Belly Tender with Rib is one notch better. It tasted so scrumptious that no words can simply describe it and if HFB is to come back to this restaurant, this dish would probably be the reason!
Overall, HFB thinks this is one of those places he will visit if he craves for meat and feel like pampering himself with a treat.
You can view all the photos and other reviews here.
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Once and never going to return
This is one of the latest fast food outlet at Compass Point. When it first opened, the crowd was overflowing. The queue is super long and there'll never be any tables available. Everyone is curious when new things arrived. But after the initial fanfare, things just seem to slow down. And now I know the reason why!
Like the rest of the curious customers, I gave Curry San a go. Although the smell of Japanese Curry filling the outlet was overpowering, we thought it should probably be worth while to give it a try.
Ordered Curry Chicken Katsu - $6.80 (which was recommended as their best seller) and Ebiko Cream Fried Shrimp - $7.90. When the food came, both of us lost our appetite. If we had not pay for the food, we'll probably kick a big fuss and walk away.
Curry Chicken Katsu came burned. The fried chicken was tough and tasteless. The rice was overcooked and was too mushy. The curry was no way near tasty too. Very sad! Even the two little girls (around 4-5 yrs old) sitting next to us commented that its not nice!
When I thought mine was bad, the Ebiko Cream Fried Shrimp was worst! Diluted cream sauce with plain looking pasta, few seeds of sesame and sad looking fried shrimp. I could see the total disappointment in his eyes. One word to describe this dish - tasteless.
I wonder if the boss themselves are tasting what they're serving. Too much improvements need to be made. Unless there's a new crowd forming again at Curry San (because of great improvement to the menu), I'll not be stepping into it anymore.
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Just beside the “old-school” Love confectionery at Alexander Village which I just recommended, there’s another one by the name of Chinatown Tai Chong Kok Confectionery, which is also similarly traditional.
Egg cupcake ($1 for 3 small one)
I’m a devotee after just one bite of their egg cupcake. Soft, light, and fluffy, the egg cupcakes are really very good. And 3 for one dollar is cheap okay! I can easily finish half a dozen on my own. Gosh, i’m going to get more of them the next time.
Egg cupcake with red bean fillings ($1 for 1 big)
There’s also the bigger egg cup cake, which had red bean paste fillings at the bottom. But i was rather disappointed with it because there wasn’t anything special with the red bean paste, and the filling was just a little. I’ll think that three small ones are more than a big one, so take the 3 small one for a dollar instead.
Red bean biscuit
Their red bean biscuit was also worth the try, crispy pastry skin with generous fillings of the red bean paste.
Egg tart
Initially i was unsure about the egg tart because it didn’t seem to be very nice. But boy I had to take back my words after eating it. The egg custard was those watery kind, smooth and eggy!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
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The constant upgrading and renovation of our heartlands, together with the ageing of the older chefs will mean that many delicious food will be soon extinct, and forever gone from us. We have seen many of your favourite childhood hawker stalls, and the old-school bakeries disappearing from our sight.
Love confectionery is located just beside the Alexander Village food centre, opposite of Queensway shopping centre. Having been there for very long, I knew about its presence before, but just didn’t pop in, until now.
Cream puffs ($0.40 each)
The cream puffs was merely 40 cents each, yes 40 cents! They came in two flavours, cream and custard. We immediately grabbed half a dozen of this, and looked around to see if there’s other steals, but to our disappointment, most of the their other bakes were sold out already.
The custard puffs were not too bad, i wasn’t too sure whether i’ll like them or not, so i only had two out of the six i got. The eggy taste was evidently present, and you could do yourself no harm since they are only 40 cents each.
The cream puff was good, the pastry skin was soft and fluffy, the only gripe - it wasn’t sinful enough. Of course you can’t compare it with the one at Beard Papa with such a big differential in price, but i did find that the cream used here wasn’t that fantastic, if only it’s made with the superior Japanese cream.
I think i’m asking too much for a cream puff which was 40 cents. Given the price, and the nostalgic of the cream puff, do grabbed a dozen the next time round.
Butter cakes ($0.90 each)
They also had two types of butter cakes that day, with the body being the same, peanut and almond separating both. It’s so old-school! The butter cake was very soft, and to say it melt softly with a deft bite wasn’t exaggerating.
Total bill was $4.80 for half a dozen cream puffs and two slices of cakes. They have other type of bakes, but it was either sold out or wasn’t available when i was there that day. I’ll probably get a dozen of those cream puffs the next time i’m in the area. And oh by the way, just to not mislead you, they don’t serve the pastry there, i brought them home to put on nice plates for the photos!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
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