My parents had lunch at Boon Tong Kee, half a chicken at $13, and buy back a packet for me @ $3.80.
I'll say the chicken from Boon Tong Kee is quite good, but mayb not good until i will pay $13 for half a chicken. There are better one out there in other neighbour coffee shops really.
Well, always one true to my words, i said i’ll be back at Miss Clarity during my first visit. And here i am again. Nothing much has changed since my last visit, the kiddy decor, the colourful environment, the cute menu. Most importantly, the service has remained true to the Miss Clarity spirit, the food remains as good as well, with the price remaining the same.
As usual, we choose a main and add on $3 for an additional salad/soup, drink (barley/lime), and a dessert of the day.
Chicken Cordon Bleu ($8.80)
Deep fried breaded chicken breast stuffed with ham & cheese, served with tartar sauce and potato/vege as side dish. Chicken Cordon Bleu was ordered on the last visit as well, but my brother wanted to try so here goes. Steady and reliable. And did i mention the price?
Fish & Chips ($7.50)
Crispy breaded fish fillet with fries & clarity’s homemade coleslaw, served with tartar sauce. The fish & chips was decent, given its served in a cafe, the price is reasonable for the quality provided. The fillet layer’s bread crust was nice, and added a different dimension to the usual fish fillet served.
Total Bill was $22.30 for 2 person which i emphasis again is pretty reasonable for the amount of food served. What i really like about Miss Clarity is the fact that they provide good service, yet do not charge service charge for it. In addition, they even absorb the 7% GST. That will save you in the pocket to the tune of 17% for your meal. A jug of iced water with lemon slices are also given to each table even if you had ordered drinks.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
” I refuse to pay service charge and GST when there is no service provided “
Four Leaves, one of the Main Bakeries in Singapore, alongside BreadTalk, Bengawan Solo (not really a bakery though). But my favourite will clearly be Four Leaves. I have supported their bread for a long long time already, and i like their cheese and ham bread. Despite being a supporter, but i think the different type of bread that i tried from Four leaves can be count using one hand five fingers? And all that is going to change, with the Mini World promotion, where great taste comes in small bites
With everything coming in Mini-size, cars, cards, cakes, tarts, ice creams and the list goes on and on. It will be sooner and later before Mini bread come into place (why didn’t i spot the trend?). Hahahah! And Four Leaves launch their mini world promotion, coming out mini breads with a total of 14 flavours. One mini bread cost $0.65, three for $1.80, and 5 for $2.80. If you do your maths, obviously buying more will be cheaper, but not much really.
I thought it was rather creative of Four Leaves to have this map in their shop telling the story of Bread. I’ll have done that too. Not that i am creative, but its a good idea : )
I had three mini bread! Starting from the left one. I can’t remember what the name is, but the appearance certainly looks like a chocolate eclair. The inside is no cream, make of soft soft bread, this is my fav! The top one on the right is good also, almond nuts on the top, with thin layer of chocolate in the middle of the bread, and again, the bread taste suprisingly soft
Have you realise what this new promotions mean? Lets see the before and after effect. Before, one bun cost a dollar plus, buying 5 different type of buns will cut you back by at least $7-8. After, 5 mini buns for $2.80. Ta-ddaa!! Before, $2.80 at most can get you two bun, mayb three, now u can get five. Not too bad huh?
Obviously the main draw is for customers to try more different type of Bread. Without this promotions, we usually wont buy the new flavour of Bread unless we are feeling adventureous, or we really like the flavour right. But with the promotion, Four Leave can test-out new flavours, which can only be good news for you and me.
And its not just that, i believe there will be a BIG market demand for the mini buns simply because they are cute. And its a novelty to customers. Won’t you be tempted to buy them? With the price its quite reasonable. But don’t expect it to be filling, because mini means really small. One bite can finish the bread off. So buy it for fun, or light snack!
Hopefully Four Leave will come out with more variety of Mini Buns, so that we can try many many other flavours!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
Jelita seems an unlikely place to go to, with the main draw being Cold Storage, a video-shop, couple of other shops. However thats precisely where Friends are situated. A Modern European restaurant which proclaims to offer casual fine dining, Friends @ Jelita is just a stone throw away from the popular Holland Village, but offers you the serene environment which the latter could not afford with the omni-present large crowd there.
Having signed up as a member with Friends online at its website, i received a $50 voucher for every $150 spend, or a 1-for-1 Executive Set Lunch/Dinner promotion. Armed with the coupon, my companion and me made our way to Jelita, and arrived at 1250pm. Being a monday, we were not surprise to see the restaurant quite empty, but there were still some patrons though. The staff there told us that Monday is usually a good time to visit Friends as there are less customers, and you probably will not want to come here on a weekend as that’s when the families bring their kids along.
The first notion that striked me was the decorations and furnitures presented in the restaurant. The comfy grey large seats definitely make us feel at home. The lighting was dimmed, which creates a tranquil atmosphere. On the other hand, it pose a predicament to food bloggers because the poor lighting makes the photos turn out not-as-good, that is not a problem if you are a pro at photoshop.
There are two types available, the Classic Set Lunch and the Executive Set Lunch, with Executive being more expensive among the both, undoubtedly the level of standard demand will be higher. It was only sensible to order the Executive Set Lunch since it was 1-for-1. But i was intially sceptical to how good the Set Lunch can be, as the a la carte menu are all priced reasonably higher than that of the set lunch. Friends proved me wrong in this, the executive set lunch ($24.90 ) albeit being limited in options, is certainly value for money.
Australian Garden Salad Each Set Lunch comes with the Australian Garden Salad. Topped with dried fruits, raspberry vinaigrette, the hors d’oeuvre is positively a good way to begin the meal.
Soup of the day Mushroom soup with a hint of mashed potatos. This was good until we tried the other wild forest mushroom soup. The latter makes the mushroom soup seems ordinary. Actually its not bad, just that the mushroom soup meet its match with the wild forest mushroom, which is a tad better.
Wild Forest mushroom Soup (Additional Upgrade of $2)
This is the one that makes the Soup of the day seems inferior. Well, you always expect more especially when there is an additional upgrade of $2. The Wild forest mushroom soup does not fails to deliver taste-wise, it is a good appetizer as the soup helps to unlock our tastebuds for the rest of the meal.
Sautèed chicken fillet For our first main course, we had the Sautèed chicken fillet which was complemented with dried chili, rosemary & garlic anchovy. The first bite of the chicken tells it all, the fillet was tender and soft, It was unlike what normal chicken taste like, Friends re-defined the chicken experience, this certainly impressed me.
The sauce of the chicken fillet was equally good. The dried chili, rosemary & garlic anchovy combinations creates a unique taste. Sometimes the sauce of a dish gets so strong that it cover the meat, but thats not the case at Friends. The chicken fillet with the sauce seems to harmonize and blend with each other, which brings us the Sautèed chicken fillet.
Oven Baked Salmon fillet Topped with Cajun crust & lemon butter sauce, the Oven Baked Salmon fillet is another winner which bright up our meal. The cripsy cajun crust on the exterior of the salmon was complemented by its soft interior.
The lemon butter sauce has a cheesy taste, and we almost mistook it for cheese. Both mains are accompanied by mashed potatos toppled with mixed vegies. My companion had a slight issue with the salmon though. Being a big fan of salmon, she remarked that the fillet was slightly dried as compared to the other salmons she had previously. Otherwise, the salmon will be faultless.
Cappuccino The pretty sight makes us admire the Cappuccino for a while before we harden our heart and stirred the coffee.
Dessert of the day To end off our meal, we had egg crustard for desserts. This one is good, egg crustard underneath the breaded top. Every spoonful of egg crustard taste warm, like straight from the oven. We felt that it’s rather similar to whats more commonly known to us, egg tarts.
Friends Total bill for two executive set lunch was $60.6, under the 1-for-1 promotion, we paid $31.70 for the delightful lunch. The set lunch and dinner at Friends are definitely value-for-money, and should worth your try unless you want to go for the a la carte menu. The service-wise are definitely one of the better ones which i encountered on my food experience so far, the staff are polite, knowledgable and a smile is always on their face which make diners feel welcome.
By the way, we took slightly more than 1 half hours to finish our lunch, so i thought it might not be so good if you visit Friends during your lunch work break. This is one place where they waited for you to finish the starter before serving on the soup, the main, the dessert and the drink. So really it all depends on how fast you approach your dishes. My companion and I were starving when we start the meal with the salad and soup, so we were wondering when will then they served the main course. Well, if the main course is what you want, advice will be to finish the starters fast and get on with the main.
All in all, the dining experience at Friends is no doubt a pleasant one, which my companion and i both very much enjoyed. I would say this is the place where you can really have your Casual Fine Dining without really burning a hole in your pocket. For people who felt that fine-dining equates to dress-up, this is not a issue at Friends. Whether you are decked out in suits and ties, or your comfy jeans & t-shirts, you’ll be welcome at Friends all the same. On a side note, if you are driving, remember to call the restaurant for directions, as free private parking are available for diners. The next visit to Friends again, will be for their executive set dinner, or A la carte menu. And lastly i’ll like to thank my companion for accompanying me on this lovely lunch. In the company of a good friend, it just makes the meal at Friends better.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
New York New York (NYNY), the eye-catching restaurant located at the underground of Citylink. NYNY stands out with its dazzling name, and always caught the attention with its alluring interior decorations. The green and cozy furnitures are the signature of NYNY. Having pass by NYNY many times but fail to go inside, a timely visit is always due on the cards as my companion and me went there for lunch.
Seafood Platter for 2 ($33.90)
We ordered the Seafood Platter for 2 to share. A platter fit for the Kings and Queens of New York! Cold Crab, prawn fritters, crispy fish salmon and calamari rings, compose of the delightful meal. Having ordered Seafood platters previously before at Manhattan Fish Market and Fish & Co, i was pleasantly surprise when the platter arrive. All right i admitted, i did not pay much attention when i made the order, so i didn’t really notice the word “Cold Crab” on the menu. Yep, thats the surprise, neither was my companion ready for it. Nonetheless, let us take a peek into what is present in the platter.
Crispy fish & chips
Well you know the ever-present fish & chips? Steady and reliable
Prawn Fritters
The prawn fritters were excellent. I loved this one. No doubt the prawn might not be very big, but then the bigger the prawn, i feel the less tasty it is. The prawn here is deep-fried, coupled with the Tata sauce, it is simply irresistible.
Fish Salmon
The Fish salmon here eaten raw, a tad too fishy for me, so i’ll give it a pass
Calamari Rings
Now then, everybody should know Calamaris are actually fried squids right? O well just in case. The Calamari rings here are up to the mark, tender and juicy. In my humble opinion, i consider the calamari rings here to be one level up from the one at Fish & Co. The main explanation being the ones at Fish & Co are too salty for my liking.
Cold Crab
North Altantic Fishermen love their chilled steamed crabs. Just some background information on the crustacean. In case you don’t know what is a crustacean, they are large group of arthropods, comprising approximately 52,000 described species. Baffled already? All right all right, to put it in short, some of the names we are familar with; lobsters, crabs, shrimps, crayfish,
The sea creature with the claws that are ready to pinch you if you are not too careful. To be honest, i am not a big fan of crabs. Why? Because i am lazy, yes pure lazy.
It takes skill to eat a crab you know? there are so many different parts of the crab to be eaten, well i like the big hammer of the crab, there’s lots of meat there. The small leg? Nah, you can have it. You’ll have to slowly suck the meat out of the thin skinny leg. Well be careful while you are having a suck at it, the cute guy or pretty girl next table might just be looking at you.
Nevertheless, both of us took quite a long time to finish it, the Cold Crab is fresh, too bad we are not crab lovers huh? hahaha!
Some might say New York New York is not good, they excel in the decorations but failed in the food. But my contrarian view tells me that they are good and a excellent place to hang out with your friends. The decorations are well done, in fact the environment of a restaurant plays a huge role as to whether the food is good. The food might not be the best, but they are still good. The crucial factor to this will be the price, its within reasonable pricing, and all this only sums up to one equation, i will be back.
Total bill was $39.90 for 2 person, which i find it to be inexpensive. NYNY @ Citylink is strategically located to tap on the huge crowd travelling from City Hall to Suntec/Marine Square. Thus, the restaurant being full even when it is not during lunch or dinner time is not an uncommon sight. There are more to try from the comprehensive menu of NYNY. Until then!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
Have you ever go into a Italiano restaurant, and all of a sudden feel ordering ALL the food available on the menu?
All you look is at the food, without even giving the price tag a glance?
Feeling excited, we might as well tell the waiter to serve EVERY dish they have on the menu!
That’s precisely what happen to us when we went to Al Dente Pronto.
Ahh.. You are confuse now right? Is the food so good that we wanted to order all the dishes? Alas, that’s not quite the raison d’être.
The explication for our extravagant & exaggerated behavior is because … …
We had a 50% discount coupon from OCBC. Yes, you didn’t see wrongly, half price for a la carte items during lunch & dinner, up to a table of 4 persons. Dinner was with the Yebbers. So everything we look at, we can only see half the price, and of course this makes it affordable and worry-free to order whatever we like. So we ordered mostly the more expensive dishes : )
Tomato Basil Bruschetta ($5.0)
We kick start our dinner with the Tomato Basil Bruschettra. Diced Tomato, Garlic, Basil, Oregano and olive oil formulate the starter. We were uncertain whether they gave 8 pieces because there are four of us, or it always come in 8 pieces irregardless of the number of people dining. All the same, we felt the starter could do with more tomato, mayb its because of the rising price in agriculture products in China. Think think. First bite into the Bruschettra was crispy and the garlic taste was done just nice. At $2.50 after discount, it was a real good deal.
Grilled Portobello mushrooms ($12.0)
Our second starter was the Grilled Portobello Mushrooms. Served with rocket salad and diced tomatos. The presentation of the dish was done beautifully, but sadly to sad i felt that at $12 it was definitely not worth the price. Even at half price i won’t order it again.
Char-Grilled Sirloin Steak ($20.0)
Finishing our starter, the waiter note our cue to start our Main course for the night. Our first main was the Char-Grilled Sirloin Steak. We requested for medium-rare, but then when the steak was served it was a tad tougher than what we expected from a medium-rare steak. I guess they sort of make it into medium-well instead. Well, its Italiano and not a steakhouse after all. Nevertheless, i felt that the steak was pretty decent, and at half the price of $10, it was value. Oh yes, we liked the potato that came with it, pretty much reminds us of our childhood.
Pan-Seared Butterfish ($20.0)
Served with potatos, sautèed vegetables and topped with a lemon dill butter glace. Al Dente Pronto actually only have three main course available, the other one being roasted corn fed chicken which we didn’t order. I suppose the raison d’être was because the mains are not really their area of specialty. Al Dente Pronto’s extensive variety of Italian Pizzas and Pastas are where they fare better.
Smoked Chicken Pizza ($17.0)
This is the star of tonight’s show. The Smoked Chicken Pizza might not look very special, but then they are undeniably scrumptious, with large chunks of chicken meat beneath the cheesy cheese. Pizza comes flat, thin and crispy
Arragosta Pasta ($20.0)
Spaghetti with Lobster meat, zucchini and mushrooms, with tomato stew or garlic sauce. We opted for garlic sauce with the belief that garlic can compliment Lobster meat better. And i thought the Arragosta Pasta comes out quite well, mayb except for the fact that it was slightly too dry. I like the lobster meat, which was quite generously furnish on top of the pasta. And i think zucchini (cucumbers) are rather a rare sight in pasta cuisine. Nonetheless, at half price of $10 i think its quite good for money, we are talking about Lobster meat after all.
Tiramisu ($9.0)
To end off the meal, we had Tiramisu as our first dessert. Layers of mascarpone with sponge fingers soaked in coffee and brandy, served with bittersweet chocolate powder The presentation was all right, but the cake was too tough, we had to literally dig inside it to get the tiramisu out.
Macadamia Scented Crème Brulèe ($8.0)
Caramelized custard, infused with Macadamia nut oil served with strawberries on the Macadamia Scented Crème Brulèe.
Total Bill was $122.50 before discount, the amount that we paid for 4 person was $71.20 after discount. The calulations are kind of complicated because the 50% discount does not includes GST and service charge, so they had to count the total price without including them, half the price, and add on the 17% additional charges. Poof! Its comes down to around $18 for per person which i think is reasonably cheap.
All in all, Al Dente Pronto is not really expensive (even without the promotion), the price ranges are mostly in the 10s to 20s. I wont say the food is excellent, in fact some are not. But then i suppose they are still acceptable to me. No you wont go all the way to the forgotton-Great-World-City just for Al Dente Pronto, but i guess if you are in the region you might just want to give it a try. And it certainly helps if you have the OCBC promotion, p.s: it last until end feb.
We had a great night chatting around, there was laughter all over the place, and at times i thought the waiter will just kick us out of the place. It was fun fun & fun! Looking forward to the next Yebber gathering! Cheers!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
Ema’s Diner located at Greenwood Avenue, is formally known as 8 on Greenwood. Opened by the Halia group at the stretch of restaurants along Greenwood. Greenwood is being spoken at the same breath as Dempsey, Holland Village, Rochester Park as the hidden and hot spot to go.
All these used-to be forgotten little outposts of Singapore have been transformed into mini lifestyle destinations of their own. The location of the restaurant is no longer a issue, so long there is the “hot” and “in” place to go, well-travelled food enthusiants living in all corners of Singapore will be willing to travel to other corners as well.
Maybe not known to all, Greenwood Avenue was created by Les Amis group, one of Singapore dining giant. Out of close to 13 restaurants there, 5 belongs to Les Amis Group;
The Grill at Hillcrest
Sebastien’s Bistrot
Peperoni Pizzeria
Raku Japanese Restaurant
L’estaminet Bar
Anyway, thats for the background information on Greenwood, but Les Amis is really good, first they find a hidden street, this is follow up with opening several separate restaurants with different themes, to complement not to compete with each other. And poof! Greenwood Avenue is born.
Initially we wanted to try out Sebastien’s Bistrot, but it was kind of late when we reached the area, so we went for quick lunch at Ema’s Diner. The first impression of the restaurant was its sort of kiddy? There was those stuff-toys cushion on the seats at one of the tables outside.
The menu was an one-pager, it certaintly did not impress me as it seems unprofessional, like a child-drawn menu. Even though Ema did not offer much variety, but i thought the least they could do was separate out the one-page menu into several page and make it look more appropriate like a menu.
We proceed on to browse through the menu since we had already entered the place, a rough count shows that it was about 25-30 seater restaurant. Not much diners around, mayb it was the timing that we went.
Ema’s Burger ($14.90)
Home-made beef patty, melted cheese, picked vege, bacon & hickory smoked bbq sauce, accompanied by fries. The Ema's Burger was pretty decent i guess. You won’t really go wrong ordering this from the short list of food available.
Braised Lamb Shank ($15.90)
With carrot, turnip, celery & mashed potato. The inquisitive side finally got me into trouble. There are safe options to order, but no, my mind tell me not to, and instead Braised lamb shank is served onto my table. Not really good, i didn’t finish the dish if thats what you want to know.
French fries ($3.50)
We made a mistake of ordering french fries for starters because while ordering Ema’s burger, we missed out that it came with fries, otherwise, the fries were okay, and the servings were quite generous too
Total damage came to $43.78 for two person. Also had one mango ice blend ($5.50). The food there wasn’t that bad i guess, mayb its just a case of ordering the wrong stuff, for the price range i though it is still consider reasonable given the fact that it is located beside much high-end restaurants, and the rent at Greenwood isn’t really what you will mention as cheap.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
“ It can’t be smooth-sailing all the way, sometimes you will encounter bad dining experience ”
Botak Jones by now if you haven heard of it before, then are u REALLY living in Singapore? Even if you never go to the place before, but at the very least must have know the existance of this Ang Moh selling western ‘restaurant’ food in our very own local-coffeeshop.
Quality-yet-cheap western meals at coffee shops used to be a thing never heard of, but it all changed after Botak Jones came in and set the record right. After that, we saw a rush in stream of such ‘concepts’, think Crazy Ang Moh, UNO Beef house and a few others which are all owned by Caucasian (our term is Ang Moh), set up on our heartland shores.
Like i mention during my last visit to Botak Jones, critics of Botak Jones will say they are charging too much going for the coffee-shop standards, yet you cannot deny the fact that Botak Jones has been going from strength to strength with the opening of new branches, the current strength stands at 7 outlets in Singapore.
You cant fault the owner Bernie Utchenik for his ingenious of spotting the trend to open his shops in all neighbour area, and there is even two new concepts that he introduces to our local foodie, Brewski Jones & Spaghetti Jones. As the names implies, Brewski Jones is actually a brewery where you drink beer of course, except its not in town, not in Clarke Quay, but in Toa Payoh North and Bedok North. Ahh.. yes, in our very own backyard. I suppose Spaghetti Jones need no further introduction then, Jones selling spaghetti as simple as that. Pastas there are not expensive, for the basic one going for $4.50, to ranges from $7.50 to $8.50.
In any case, Brewski Jones and Spaghetti Jones are not the topic of discussion for today, thats just a sneak preview of what is to come after i gave em’ a visit. Cheers! Today we are back at Botak Jones for my second visit. Having tried Cajun Chicken, Fish & chips, and Rosemary Lamb Chop on the last account, they are therefore not what we are going to sample today, well you don’t go back to a place for a revisit eating the same food unless they are really really good right?
Australia Ribeye Steak 200gm ($14.50)
Enough of the crap already, lets get back to business. Let me present to you the food that we are having, first up is the Australia Ribeye Steak. In an attempt to raise the stakes (a little pun), Botak Jones upgraded to a better quality australian beef, trim off the whole ribeyes, hand marinate and tendrize them, coming in their own brown black pepper gravy.
The steak was medium-well, done chewy with a strong strain of blood still visible. Some people like it medium-rare, but i like mine done not too bloody. As usual, the fries was rather good and spicy. Although the 200gm might look small and on first notion we doubt that it will be filling, but on boy were we proved wrong. The serving was definitely enough for a person. However i still felt that the price was a tad too high, and i probably wont take this one again.
The Botak Burger ($8)
150grams of hand formed beef. All the burgers are suppose to come out medium well, which if done correctly will leave them very juicy. The Botak Burger alone is $5.50, but i got it at a set at $7, den add $1 for cheese on top. There are quite a lot of extra ingredients which you can upgrade your burger with, egg, ham, bacons, cheese etc. Actually if you are going for beef, i feel this is a better option than the Australian Ribeye, well cow for cow, obviously this one lose out, but then at Botak Jones, this is good n’uff.
Total Bill was $22.50 for two mains, kind of expensive going for coffee fare standards, but then again its not really coffee shop food. I suppose it won’t hurts if you go there once in a while, so until i visit the other Ang Moh stores then.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
” When restaurant and hawker food comes together… “
When you hang out with a group of friends and wanted seafood for dinner, Fish & Co, Manhattan Fish Market, Greenwood Fish Market and even newly-opened Seafood Harvest by Jack’s Place will spring into mind. There is another option actually, introducing Hooked! A quaint little fish restaurant specialising in fusion cuisine, Hooked! creations try to push the boundaries of marine gastronomic expectations to a different level.
While MFM and Fish & Co both specialises in American-style seafood, with its fish & chips, Seafood platter among its signature dishes, Hooked! took the ”healthy” approach by offering more steamed variety of fishes in addition to the fried ones. Actually if you think that MFM and Fish & Co have different variety of seafood, then you are wrong.
Hooked! is the place to be if you want many variety of seafood, from the normal fish & chips, to snappers, groupers, salmons and even to Seabass, and Cod fish. With so many fishes to choose from, the next problem is how do you want the fish to be done? Deep-fried, Barbecued, Pan-grilled, Roasted, Steamed, Pan-seared, Baked, Grilled, you name it they have it. You’ll know when you see the comprehensive and colourful menu, lots of choices to go around, it all depends on how far you want to try.
Fish & Chips ($13.50)
Hmm.. The fish & Chips was good i guess, but then again coming to a special seafood restaurant like Hooked!, i think it will be a better choice to try other special fish and methods of cooking. Nevertheless its a decent option if you are not feeling too adventureous.
Grilled Jumbo Snapper with spicy tomato sauce ($15.50)
Choice of with or without market-fresh squids. Served with sauteed potato and asparagus. The spicy tomato sauce did not cover the freshness of the snapper, instead, it helps to bring up the flavour of the fish, giving it a sweet and hot taste. Take the Grilled Jumbo Snapper with spicy tomato sauce if you are feeling faint after reading the long list of menu and not knowing what to order.
Steamed Cod Thai Cantonese Style ($22.80)
Snowy-white fresh cod steamed in fish broth. Drizzled with heated seasame oil & soy sauce upon serving. Also served with a side dish of panfried linguine or rice. This is one of the more expensive fish around, but it is understood as Cod fish are naturally at the higher end as compared to the other fishes available. But then the steamed Cod Thai Cantonese style falls flat when served, partly is because the fish was rather bland in taste, perhaps due to the fact it is steamed, and after having the colourful taste of spicy tomato sauce, and Balsamic Ragenov sauce, this one is not as tasteful. Nonetheless, it is a good option if you want to have steamed fish for a change.
Pan-grill jumbo Seabass in Balsamic Ragenov sauce ($14.80)
Capping off the delightful meal was the Pan-grill jumbo Seabass in Balsamic Ragenov sauce. The flavours contained within were maturely paired and showed a different side to the chef’s ability. What exactly is Balsamic Ragenov sauce, that remains a mystery even after finishing the whole dish. But without a doubt, the sauce was good and offers a unique taste. Furthermore, the linguine was very smooth to the mouth, and the side order of the linguine cost just 2 bucks.
Tofu Otah ($7.90)
The tofu otah was quite good, cheese was topped onto the tofu and otah, but then the price was rather expensive. Best served eaten hot.
Hooked! boasts a pantry of the freshest fish, paired with adventurous preparations. It provides a different dimension from the usual deep-fried and grilled seafood, offering many different methods of serving the fish and seafood fresh. Western cuisine is fused with Asian flair, with the originality of these flavours will definitely hooked up any diners, fish lovers or not. For people who do not fancy fish, there is a column called the anti-fish, which offers three options of meat, but then again why are you ordering meat in a seafood fish restaurant?
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
Tucked in a remote place in Clementi Arcade, beside the getting-popular Sunset way is The Daily Scoop. Local ice-cream cafe has been on the rise, think Island Creamery, ice cream chef, haato ice cream gallary, scoopz and a few others.
While there is the plain normal ice cream like vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, cookie & cream etc, there is the long list of new creations available at local ice cream parlours
Brandied Figs & honey: Absolute decadence sweet ligs steeped in brandy mixed into a fragrant honey ice cream
Unusually Apple: Chunky pieces of soft spiced apple with a hint of cinnamon in vanilla ice cream
Sensual Tiramisu: prepare to be enamored. captivated. enchanted
Jaffa Choc: orange marmalade ice cream jazzed up with a generous spread of dark citrus chocolate fudge
Lime & Black Pepper: packs a real punch! First with tangy lime then with spicy pepper
Orange Marmalade: tangy orange ice cream with swirled in marmalade
Single scoop comes at $2.90, and double scoop at $4.90. So if you do your maths correctly, the double scoop seems a better option. Brandied Figs & honey is a new try for us, not sure if it goes very well with us, but mayb brandy lovers might just get it.
Hazelnut Haven was very good, i simply love Nutella. A must-have everytime i went to ice-cream parlour.
Lime & Black Pepper (left), Orange Marmalade (right)
Lime & Black Pepper may seems a weird combination. On first taste, the lime was rather refreshing, but after a while, the pepper feeling sinks in.
Orange Marmalade was a correct choice, tangy orange ice cream with swirled in marmalade. Try for yourself!
Oh ya, beside Daily Scoop at Clementi Arcade is Bather’s cafe, a place i always wanted to go but no opportunity. Next time then, watch out for it.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
1=SGD 0.0587
My parents had lunch at Boon Tong Kee, half a chicken at $13, and buy back a packet for me @ $3.80.
I'll say the chicken from Boon Tong Kee is quite good, but mayb not good until i will pay $13 for half a chicken. There are better one out there in other neighbour coffee shops really.
Rating given:
Well, always one true to my words, i said i’ll be back at Miss Clarity during my first visit. And here i am again. Nothing much has changed since my last visit, the kiddy decor, the colourful environment, the cute menu. Most importantly, the service has remained true to the Miss Clarity spirit, the food remains as good as well, with the price remaining the same.
As usual, we choose a main and add on $3 for an additional salad/soup, drink (barley/lime), and a dessert of the day.
Chicken Cordon Bleu ($8.80)
Deep fried breaded chicken breast stuffed with ham & cheese, served with tartar sauce and potato/vege as side dish. Chicken Cordon Bleu was ordered on the last visit as well, but my brother wanted to try so here goes. Steady and reliable. And did i mention the price?
Fish & Chips ($7.50)
Crispy breaded fish fillet with fries & clarity’s homemade coleslaw, served with tartar sauce. The fish & chips was decent, given its served in a cafe, the price is reasonable for the quality provided. The fillet layer’s bread crust was nice, and added a different dimension to the usual fish fillet served.
Total Bill was $22.30 for 2 person which i emphasis again is pretty reasonable for the amount of food served. What i really like about Miss Clarity is the fact that they provide good service, yet do not charge service charge for it. In addition, they even absorb the 7% GST. That will save you in the pocket to the tune of 17% for your meal. A jug of iced water with lemon slices are also given to each table even if you had ordered drinks.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
” I refuse to pay service charge and GST when there is no service provided “
Rating given:
Four Leaves, one of the Main Bakeries in Singapore, alongside BreadTalk, Bengawan Solo (not really a bakery though). But my favourite will clearly be Four Leaves. I have supported their bread for a long long time already, and i like their cheese and ham bread. Despite being a supporter, but i think the different type of bread that i tried from Four leaves can be count using one hand five fingers? And all that is going to change, with the Mini World promotion, where great taste comes in small bites
With everything coming in Mini-size, cars, cards, cakes, tarts, ice creams and the list goes on and on. It will be sooner and later before Mini bread come into place (why didn’t i spot the trend?). Hahahah! And Four Leaves launch their mini world promotion, coming out mini breads with a total of 14 flavours. One mini bread cost $0.65, three for $1.80, and 5 for $2.80. If you do your maths, obviously buying more will be cheaper, but not much really.
I thought it was rather creative of Four Leaves to have this map in their shop telling the story of Bread. I’ll have done that too. Not that i am creative, but its a good idea : )
I had three mini bread! Starting from the left one. I can’t remember what the name is, but the appearance certainly looks like a chocolate eclair. The inside is no cream, make of soft soft bread, this is my fav! The top one on the right is good also, almond nuts on the top, with thin layer of chocolate in the middle of the bread, and again, the bread taste suprisingly soft
Have you realise what this new promotions mean? Lets see the before and after effect. Before, one bun cost a dollar plus, buying 5 different type of buns will cut you back by at least $7-8. After, 5 mini buns for $2.80. Ta-ddaa!! Before, $2.80 at most can get you two bun, mayb three, now u can get five. Not too bad huh?
Obviously the main draw is for customers to try more different type of Bread. Without this promotions, we usually wont buy the new flavour of Bread unless we are feeling adventureous, or we really like the flavour right. But with the promotion, Four Leave can test-out new flavours, which can only be good news for you and me.
And its not just that, i believe there will be a BIG market demand for the mini buns simply because they are cute. And its a novelty to customers. Won’t you be tempted to buy them? With the price its quite reasonable. But don’t expect it to be filling, because mini means really small. One bite can finish the bread off. So buy it for fun, or light snack!
Hopefully Four Leave will come out with more variety of Mini Buns, so that we can try many many other flavours!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
” Mini in size, Great in taste “
Rating given:
Jelita seems an unlikely place to go to, with the main draw being Cold Storage, a video-shop, couple of other shops. However thats precisely where Friends are situated. A Modern European restaurant which proclaims to offer casual fine dining, Friends @ Jelita is just a stone throw away from the popular Holland Village, but offers you the serene environment which the latter could not afford with the omni-present large crowd there.
Having signed up as a member with Friends online at its website, i received a $50 voucher for every $150 spend, or a 1-for-1 Executive Set Lunch/Dinner promotion. Armed with the coupon, my companion and me made our way to Jelita, and arrived at 1250pm. Being a monday, we were not surprise to see the restaurant quite empty, but there were still some patrons though. The staff there told us that Monday is usually a good time to visit Friends as there are less customers, and you probably will not want to come here on a weekend as that’s when the families bring their kids along.
The first notion that striked me was the decorations and furnitures presented in the restaurant. The comfy grey large seats definitely make us feel at home. The lighting was dimmed, which creates a tranquil atmosphere. On the other hand, it pose a predicament to food bloggers because the poor lighting makes the photos turn out not-as-good, that is not a problem if you are a pro at photoshop.
There are two types available, the Classic Set Lunch and the Executive Set Lunch, with Executive being more expensive among the both, undoubtedly the level of standard demand will be higher. It was only sensible to order the Executive Set Lunch since it was 1-for-1. But i was intially sceptical to how good the Set Lunch can be, as the a la carte menu are all priced reasonably higher than that of the set lunch. Friends proved me wrong in this, the executive set lunch ($24.90 ) albeit being limited in options, is certainly value for money.
Australian Garden Salad
Each Set Lunch comes with the Australian Garden Salad. Topped with dried fruits, raspberry vinaigrette, the hors d’oeuvre is positively a good way to begin the meal.
Soup of the day
Mushroom soup with a hint of mashed potatos. This was good until we tried the other wild forest mushroom soup. The latter makes the mushroom soup seems ordinary. Actually its not bad, just that the mushroom soup meet its match with the wild forest mushroom, which is a tad better.
Wild Forest mushroom Soup (Additional Upgrade of $2)
This is the one that makes the Soup of the day seems inferior. Well, you always expect more especially when there is an additional upgrade of $2. The Wild forest mushroom soup does not fails to deliver taste-wise, it is a good appetizer as the soup helps to unlock our tastebuds for the rest of the meal.
Sautèed chicken fillet
For our first main course, we had the Sautèed chicken fillet which was complemented with dried chili, rosemary & garlic anchovy. The first bite of the chicken tells it all, the fillet was tender and soft, It was unlike what normal chicken taste like, Friends re-defined the chicken experience, this certainly impressed me.
The sauce of the chicken fillet was equally good. The dried chili, rosemary & garlic anchovy combinations creates a unique taste. Sometimes the sauce of a dish gets so strong that it cover the meat, but thats not the case at Friends. The chicken fillet with the sauce seems to harmonize and blend with each other, which brings us the Sautèed chicken fillet.
Oven Baked Salmon fillet
Topped with Cajun crust & lemon butter sauce, the Oven Baked Salmon fillet is another winner which bright up our meal. The cripsy cajun crust on the exterior of the salmon was complemented by its soft interior.
The lemon butter sauce has a cheesy taste, and we almost mistook it for cheese. Both mains are accompanied by mashed potatos toppled with mixed vegies. My companion had a slight issue with the salmon though. Being a big fan of salmon, she remarked that the fillet was slightly dried as compared to the other salmons she had previously. Otherwise, the salmon will be faultless.
Cappuccino
The pretty sight makes us admire the Cappuccino for a while before we harden our heart and stirred the coffee.
Dessert of the day
To end off our meal, we had egg crustard for desserts. This one is good, egg crustard underneath the breaded top. Every spoonful of egg crustard taste warm, like straight from the oven. We felt that it’s rather similar to whats more commonly known to us, egg tarts.
Friends
Total bill for two executive set lunch was $60.6, under the 1-for-1 promotion, we paid $31.70 for the delightful lunch. The set lunch and dinner at Friends are definitely value-for-money, and should worth your try unless you want to go for the a la carte menu. The service-wise are definitely one of the better ones which i encountered on my food experience so far, the staff are polite, knowledgable and a smile is always on their face which make diners feel welcome.
By the way, we took slightly more than 1 half hours to finish our lunch, so i thought it might not be so good if you visit Friends during your lunch work break. This is one place where they waited for you to finish the starter before serving on the soup, the main, the dessert and the drink. So really it all depends on how fast you approach your dishes. My companion and I were starving when we start the meal with the salad and soup, so we were wondering when will then they served the main course. Well, if the main course is what you want, advice will be to finish the starters fast and get on with the main.
All in all, the dining experience at Friends is no doubt a pleasant one, which my companion and i both very much enjoyed. I would say this is the place where you can really have your Casual Fine Dining without really burning a hole in your pocket. For people who felt that fine-dining equates to dress-up, this is not a issue at Friends. Whether you are decked out in suits and ties, or your comfy jeans & t-shirts, you’ll be welcome at Friends all the same. On a side note, if you are driving, remember to call the restaurant for directions, as free private parking are available for diners. The next visit to Friends again, will be for their executive set dinner, or A la carte menu. And lastly i’ll like to thank my companion for accompanying me on this lovely lunch. In the company of a good friend, it just makes the meal at Friends better.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
” Modern European Cuisine at its finest “
Rating given:
New York New York (NYNY), the eye-catching restaurant located at the underground of Citylink. NYNY stands out with its dazzling name, and always caught the attention with its alluring interior decorations. The green and cozy furnitures are the signature of NYNY. Having pass by NYNY many times but fail to go inside, a timely visit is always due on the cards as my companion and me went there for lunch.
Seafood Platter for 2 ($33.90)
We ordered the Seafood Platter for 2 to share. A platter fit for the Kings and Queens of New York! Cold Crab, prawn fritters, crispy fish salmon and calamari rings, compose of the delightful meal. Having ordered Seafood platters previously before at Manhattan Fish Market and Fish & Co, i was pleasantly surprise when the platter arrive. All right i admitted, i did not pay much attention when i made the order, so i didn’t really notice the word “Cold Crab” on the menu. Yep, thats the surprise, neither was my companion ready for it. Nonetheless, let us take a peek into what is present in the platter.
Crispy fish & chips
Well you know the ever-present fish & chips? Steady and reliable
Prawn Fritters
The prawn fritters were excellent. I loved this one. No doubt the prawn might not be very big, but then the bigger the prawn, i feel the less tasty it is. The prawn here is deep-fried, coupled with the Tata sauce, it is simply irresistible.
Fish Salmon
The Fish salmon here eaten raw, a tad too fishy for me, so i’ll give it a pass
Calamari Rings
Now then, everybody should know Calamaris are actually fried squids right? O well just in case. The Calamari rings here are up to the mark, tender and juicy. In my humble opinion, i consider the calamari rings here to be one level up from the one at Fish & Co. The main explanation being the ones at Fish & Co are too salty for my liking.
Cold Crab
North Altantic Fishermen love their chilled steamed crabs. Just some background information on the crustacean. In case you don’t know what is a crustacean, they are large group of arthropods, comprising approximately 52,000 described species. Baffled already? All right all right, to put it in short, some of the names we are familar with; lobsters, crabs, shrimps, crayfish,
The sea creature with the claws that are ready to pinch you if you are not too careful. To be honest, i am not a big fan of crabs. Why? Because i am lazy, yes pure lazy.
It takes skill to eat a crab you know? there are so many different parts of the crab to be eaten, well i like the big hammer of the crab, there’s lots of meat there. The small leg? Nah, you can have it. You’ll have to slowly suck the meat out of the thin skinny leg. Well be careful while you are having a suck at it, the cute guy or pretty girl next table might just be looking at you.
Nevertheless, both of us took quite a long time to finish it, the Cold Crab is fresh, too bad we are not crab lovers huh? hahaha!
Some might say New York New York is not good, they excel in the decorations but failed in the food. But my contrarian view tells me that they are good and a excellent place to hang out with your friends. The decorations are well done, in fact the environment of a restaurant plays a huge role as to whether the food is good. The food might not be the best, but they are still good. The crucial factor to this will be the price, its within reasonable pricing, and all this only sums up to one equation, i will be back.
Total bill was $39.90 for 2 person, which i find it to be inexpensive. NYNY @ Citylink is strategically located to tap on the huge crowd travelling from City Hall to Suntec/Marine Square. Thus, the restaurant being full even when it is not during lunch or dinner time is not an uncommon sight. There are more to try from the comprehensive menu of NYNY. Until then!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
” Food all the way from New York City “
Rating given:
Have you ever go into a Italiano restaurant, and all of a sudden feel ordering ALL the food available on the menu?
All you look is at the food, without even giving the price tag a glance?
Feeling excited, we might as well tell the waiter to serve EVERY dish they have on the menu!
That’s precisely what happen to us when we went to Al Dente Pronto.
Ahh.. You are confuse now right? Is the food so good that we wanted to order all the dishes? Alas, that’s not quite the raison d’être.
The explication for our extravagant & exaggerated behavior is because … …
We had a 50% discount coupon from OCBC. Yes, you didn’t see wrongly, half price for a la carte items during lunch & dinner, up to a table of 4 persons. Dinner was with the Yebbers. So everything we look at, we can only see half the price, and of course this makes it affordable and worry-free to order whatever we like. So we ordered mostly the more expensive dishes : )
Tomato Basil Bruschetta ($5.0)
We kick start our dinner with the Tomato Basil Bruschettra. Diced Tomato, Garlic, Basil, Oregano and olive oil formulate the starter. We were uncertain whether they gave 8 pieces because there are four of us, or it always come in 8 pieces irregardless of the number of people dining. All the same, we felt the starter could do with more tomato, mayb its because of the rising price in agriculture products in China. Think think. First bite into the Bruschettra was crispy and the garlic taste was done just nice. At $2.50 after discount, it was a real good deal.
Grilled Portobello mushrooms ($12.0)
Our second starter was the Grilled Portobello Mushrooms. Served with rocket salad and diced tomatos. The presentation of the dish was done beautifully, but sadly to sad i felt that at $12 it was definitely not worth the price. Even at half price i won’t order it again.
Char-Grilled Sirloin Steak ($20.0)
Finishing our starter, the waiter note our cue to start our Main course for the night. Our first main was the Char-Grilled Sirloin Steak. We requested for medium-rare, but then when the steak was served it was a tad tougher than what we expected from a medium-rare steak. I guess they sort of make it into medium-well instead. Well, its Italiano and not a steakhouse after all. Nevertheless, i felt that the steak was pretty decent, and at half the price of $10, it was value. Oh yes, we liked the potato that came with it, pretty much reminds us of our childhood.
Pan-Seared Butterfish ($20.0)
Served with potatos, sautèed vegetables and topped with a lemon dill butter glace. Al Dente Pronto actually only have three main course available, the other one being roasted corn fed chicken which we didn’t order. I suppose the raison d’être was because the mains are not really their area of specialty. Al Dente Pronto’s extensive variety of Italian Pizzas and Pastas are where they fare better.
Smoked Chicken Pizza ($17.0)
This is the star of tonight’s show. The Smoked Chicken Pizza might not look very special, but then they are undeniably scrumptious, with large chunks of chicken meat beneath the cheesy cheese. Pizza comes flat, thin and crispy
Arragosta Pasta ($20.0)
Spaghetti with Lobster meat, zucchini and mushrooms, with tomato stew or garlic sauce. We opted for garlic sauce with the belief that garlic can compliment Lobster meat better. And i thought the Arragosta Pasta comes out quite well, mayb except for the fact that it was slightly too dry. I like the lobster meat, which was quite generously furnish on top of the pasta. And i think zucchini (cucumbers) are rather a rare sight in pasta cuisine. Nonetheless, at half price of $10 i think its quite good for money, we are talking about Lobster meat after all.
Tiramisu ($9.0)
To end off the meal, we had Tiramisu as our first dessert. Layers of mascarpone with sponge fingers soaked in coffee and brandy, served with bittersweet chocolate powder The presentation was all right, but the cake was too tough, we had to literally dig inside it to get the tiramisu out.
Macadamia Scented Crème Brulèe ($8.0)
Caramelized custard, infused with Macadamia nut oil served with strawberries on the Macadamia Scented Crème Brulèe.
Total Bill was $122.50 before discount, the amount that we paid for 4 person was $71.20 after discount. The calulations are kind of complicated because the 50% discount does not includes GST and service charge, so they had to count the total price without including them, half the price, and add on the 17% additional charges. Poof! Its comes down to around $18 for per person which i think is reasonably cheap.
All in all, Al Dente Pronto is not really expensive (even without the promotion), the price ranges are mostly in the 10s to 20s. I wont say the food is excellent, in fact some are not. But then i suppose they are still acceptable to me. No you wont go all the way to the forgotton-Great-World-City just for Al Dente Pronto, but i guess if you are in the region you might just want to give it a try. And it certainly helps if you have the OCBC promotion, p.s: it last until end feb.
We had a great night chatting around, there was laughter all over the place, and at times i thought the waiter will just kick us out of the place. It was fun fun & fun! Looking forward to the next Yebber gathering! Cheers!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
” Italiano delights, Companion enjoyment ”
Rating given:
Ema’s Diner located at Greenwood Avenue, is formally known as 8 on Greenwood. Opened by the Halia group at the stretch of restaurants along Greenwood. Greenwood is being spoken at the same breath as Dempsey, Holland Village, Rochester Park as the hidden and hot spot to go.
All these used-to be forgotten little outposts of Singapore have been transformed into mini lifestyle destinations of their own. The location of the restaurant is no longer a issue, so long there is the “hot” and “in” place to go, well-travelled food enthusiants living in all corners of Singapore will be willing to travel to other corners as well.
Maybe not known to all, Greenwood Avenue was created by Les Amis group, one of Singapore dining giant. Out of close to 13 restaurants there, 5 belongs to Les Amis Group;
The Grill at Hillcrest
Sebastien’s Bistrot
Peperoni Pizzeria
Raku Japanese Restaurant
L’estaminet Bar
Anyway, thats for the background information on Greenwood, but Les Amis is really good, first they find a hidden street, this is follow up with opening several separate restaurants with different themes, to complement not to compete with each other. And poof! Greenwood Avenue is born.
Initially we wanted to try out Sebastien’s Bistrot, but it was kind of late when we reached the area, so we went for quick lunch at Ema’s Diner. The first impression of the restaurant was its sort of kiddy? There was those stuff-toys cushion on the seats at one of the tables outside.
The menu was an one-pager, it certaintly did not impress me as it seems unprofessional, like a child-drawn menu. Even though Ema did not offer much variety, but i thought the least they could do was separate out the one-page menu into several page and make it look more appropriate like a menu.
We proceed on to browse through the menu since we had already entered the place, a rough count shows that it was about 25-30 seater restaurant. Not much diners around, mayb it was the timing that we went.
Ema’s Burger ($14.90)
Home-made beef patty, melted cheese, picked vege, bacon & hickory smoked bbq sauce, accompanied by fries. The Ema's Burger was pretty decent i guess. You won’t really go wrong ordering this from the short list of food available.
Braised Lamb Shank ($15.90)
With carrot, turnip, celery & mashed potato. The inquisitive side finally got me into trouble. There are safe options to order, but no, my mind tell me not to, and instead Braised lamb shank is served onto my table. Not really good, i didn’t finish the dish if thats what you want to know.
French fries ($3.50)
We made a mistake of ordering french fries for starters because while ordering Ema’s burger, we missed out that it came with fries, otherwise, the fries were okay, and the servings were quite generous too
Total damage came to $43.78 for two person. Also had one mango ice blend ($5.50). The food there wasn’t that bad i guess, mayb its just a case of ordering the wrong stuff, for the price range i though it is still consider reasonable given the fact that it is located beside much high-end restaurants, and the rent at Greenwood isn’t really what you will mention as cheap.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
“ It can’t be smooth-sailing all the way, sometimes you will encounter bad dining experience ”
Rating given:
Botak Jones by now if you haven heard of it before, then are u REALLY living in Singapore? Even if you never go to the place before, but at the very least must have know the existance of this Ang Moh selling western ‘restaurant’ food in our very own local-coffeeshop.
Quality-yet-cheap western meals at coffee shops used to be a thing never heard of, but it all changed after Botak Jones came in and set the record right. After that, we saw a rush in stream of such ‘concepts’, think Crazy Ang Moh, UNO Beef house and a few others which are all owned by Caucasian (our term is Ang Moh), set up on our heartland shores.
Like i mention during my last visit to Botak Jones, critics of Botak Jones will say they are charging too much going for the coffee-shop standards, yet you cannot deny the fact that Botak Jones has been going from strength to strength with the opening of new branches, the current strength stands at 7 outlets in Singapore.
You cant fault the owner Bernie Utchenik for his ingenious of spotting the trend to open his shops in all neighbour area, and there is even two new concepts that he introduces to our local foodie, Brewski Jones & Spaghetti Jones. As the names implies, Brewski Jones is actually a brewery where you drink beer of course, except its not in town, not in Clarke Quay, but in Toa Payoh North and Bedok North. Ahh.. yes, in our very own backyard. I suppose Spaghetti Jones need no further introduction then, Jones selling spaghetti as simple as that. Pastas there are not expensive, for the basic one going for $4.50, to ranges from $7.50 to $8.50.
In any case, Brewski Jones and Spaghetti Jones are not the topic of discussion for today, thats just a sneak preview of what is to come after i gave em’ a visit. Cheers! Today we are back at Botak Jones for my second visit. Having tried Cajun Chicken, Fish & chips, and Rosemary Lamb Chop on the last account, they are therefore not what we are going to sample today, well you don’t go back to a place for a revisit eating the same food unless they are really really good right?
Australia Ribeye Steak 200gm ($14.50)
Enough of the crap already, lets get back to business. Let me present to you the food that we are having, first up is the Australia Ribeye Steak. In an attempt to raise the stakes (a little pun), Botak Jones upgraded to a better quality australian beef, trim off the whole ribeyes, hand marinate and tendrize them, coming in their own brown black pepper gravy.
The steak was medium-well, done chewy with a strong strain of blood still visible. Some people like it medium-rare, but i like mine done not too bloody. As usual, the fries was rather good and spicy. Although the 200gm might look small and on first notion we doubt that it will be filling, but on boy were we proved wrong. The serving was definitely enough for a person. However i still felt that the price was a tad too high, and i probably wont take this one again.
The Botak Burger ($8)
150grams of hand formed beef. All the burgers are suppose to come out medium well, which if done correctly will leave them very juicy. The Botak Burger alone is $5.50, but i got it at a set at $7, den add $1 for cheese on top. There are quite a lot of extra ingredients which you can upgrade your burger with, egg, ham, bacons, cheese etc. Actually if you are going for beef, i feel this is a better option than the Australian Ribeye, well cow for cow, obviously this one lose out, but then at Botak Jones, this is good n’uff.
Total Bill was $22.50 for two mains, kind of expensive going for coffee fare standards, but then again its not really coffee shop food. I suppose it won’t hurts if you go there once in a while, so until i visit the other Ang Moh stores then.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
” When restaurant and hawker food comes together… “
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When you hang out with a group of friends and wanted seafood for dinner, Fish & Co, Manhattan Fish Market, Greenwood Fish Market and even newly-opened Seafood Harvest by Jack’s Place will spring into mind. There is another option actually, introducing Hooked! A quaint little fish restaurant specialising in fusion cuisine, Hooked! creations try to push the boundaries of marine gastronomic expectations to a different level.
While MFM and Fish & Co both specialises in American-style seafood, with its fish & chips, Seafood platter among its signature dishes, Hooked! took the ”healthy” approach by offering more steamed variety of fishes in addition to the fried ones. Actually if you think that MFM and Fish & Co have different variety of seafood, then you are wrong.
Hooked! is the place to be if you want many variety of seafood, from the normal fish & chips, to snappers, groupers, salmons and even to Seabass, and Cod fish. With so many fishes to choose from, the next problem is how do you want the fish to be done? Deep-fried, Barbecued, Pan-grilled, Roasted, Steamed, Pan-seared, Baked, Grilled, you name it they have it. You’ll know when you see the comprehensive and colourful menu, lots of choices to go around, it all depends on how far you want to try.
Fish & Chips ($13.50)
Hmm.. The fish & Chips was good i guess, but then again coming to a special seafood restaurant like Hooked!, i think it will be a better choice to try other special fish and methods of cooking. Nevertheless its a decent option if you are not feeling too adventureous.
Grilled Jumbo Snapper with spicy tomato sauce ($15.50)
Choice of with or without market-fresh squids. Served with sauteed potato and asparagus. The spicy tomato sauce did not cover the freshness of the snapper, instead, it helps to bring up the flavour of the fish, giving it a sweet and hot taste. Take the Grilled Jumbo Snapper with spicy tomato sauce if you are feeling faint after reading the long list of menu and not knowing what to order.
Steamed Cod Thai Cantonese Style ($22.80)
Snowy-white fresh cod steamed in fish broth. Drizzled with heated seasame oil & soy sauce upon serving. Also served with a side dish of panfried linguine or rice. This is one of the more expensive fish around, but it is understood as Cod fish are naturally at the higher end as compared to the other fishes available. But then the steamed Cod Thai Cantonese style falls flat when served, partly is because the fish was rather bland in taste, perhaps due to the fact it is steamed, and after having the colourful taste of spicy tomato sauce, and Balsamic Ragenov sauce, this one is not as tasteful. Nonetheless, it is a good option if you want to have steamed fish for a change.
Pan-grill jumbo Seabass in Balsamic Ragenov sauce ($14.80)
Capping off the delightful meal was the Pan-grill jumbo Seabass in Balsamic Ragenov sauce. The flavours contained within were maturely paired and showed a different side to the chef’s ability. What exactly is Balsamic Ragenov sauce, that remains a mystery even after finishing the whole dish. But without a doubt, the sauce was good and offers a unique taste. Furthermore, the linguine was very smooth to the mouth, and the side order of the linguine cost just 2 bucks.
Tofu Otah ($7.90)
The tofu otah was quite good, cheese was topped onto the tofu and otah, but then the price was rather expensive. Best served eaten hot.
Hooked! boasts a pantry of the freshest fish, paired with adventurous preparations. It provides a different dimension from the usual deep-fried and grilled seafood, offering many different methods of serving the fish and seafood fresh. Western cuisine is fused with Asian flair, with the originality of these flavours will definitely hooked up any diners, fish lovers or not. For people who do not fancy fish, there is a column called the anti-fish, which offers three options of meat, but then again why are you ordering meat in a seafood fish restaurant?
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
” Marine gastronomic to a whole new level “
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Tucked in a remote place in Clementi Arcade, beside the getting-popular Sunset way is The Daily Scoop. Local ice-cream cafe has been on the rise, think Island Creamery, ice cream chef, haato ice cream gallary, scoopz and a few others.
While there is the plain normal ice cream like vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, cookie & cream etc, there is the long list of new creations available at local ice cream parlours
Brandied Figs & honey: Absolute decadence sweet ligs steeped in brandy mixed into a fragrant honey ice cream
Unusually Apple: Chunky pieces of soft spiced apple with a hint of cinnamon in vanilla ice cream
Sensual Tiramisu: prepare to be enamored. captivated. enchanted
Jaffa Choc: orange marmalade ice cream jazzed up with a generous spread of dark citrus chocolate fudge
Lime & Black Pepper: packs a real punch! First with tangy lime then with spicy pepper
Orange Marmalade: tangy orange ice cream with swirled in marmalade
Hazelnut Haven - a must-have for Nutella© fans
Kahlua® Krunch: coffee ice cream with a more than generous dash of Kahlua®
Arghh.. and the list goes on and on. Go to their website for the whole list
Brandied Figs & honey (left), Hazelnut Haven (right)
Single scoop comes at $2.90, and double scoop at $4.90. So if you do your maths correctly, the double scoop seems a better option. Brandied Figs & honey is a new try for us, not sure if it goes very well with us, but mayb brandy lovers might just get it.
Hazelnut Haven was very good, i simply love Nutella. A must-have everytime i went to ice-cream parlour.
Lime & Black Pepper (left), Orange Marmalade (right)
Lime & Black Pepper may seems a weird combination. On first taste, the lime was rather refreshing, but after a while, the pepper feeling sinks in.
Orange Marmalade was a correct choice, tangy orange ice cream with swirled in marmalade. Try for yourself!
Oh ya, beside Daily Scoop at Clementi Arcade is Bather’s cafe, a place i always wanted to go but no opportunity. Next time then, watch out for it.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
” Ice cream - how do you stop eating them? “
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