The newly renovated basement of Plaza Singapura has seen many new tenants providing all sorts of quirky and creative food. Bratwurst Shop is one of the original stores which has been there for quite a long period of time.
Just in case you have no idea, Bratwurst is a sausage composed of pork, beef and/or veal and the name is from Germany.
For the sausages, you get to choose from different toppings, the original, bacon & cheese, mushroom& cheese are some of the popular ones.
After choosing the toppings, you’ll get to choose the type of bratwurst that you fancy, swiss cheese pork, spicy beef & pork, black pepper pork, italian pork, mild beef & pork are all available.
There are also a wide range of sandwiches available at pretty decent prices.
I remember the old Bratwurst shop was located on the other side of the basement, nearer to the escalator outside Carrefour, but they have since shift to this corner which provides them with a larger seating area.
The theme for Bratwurst shop is apparently red, with their furnitures and shop signboard in bright red.
Swiss cheese pork, original with mustard & sauerkraut ($4.95) I had the original with mustard & sauerkraut for my choice of topping, and the swiss cheese pork for the main.
The sausage was really huge, i must say its quite value for money as one will fill you up if you finish it together with the bun. However i disliked the sauerkraut as i find it to be too salty and sour, and does not compliments the taste of the sausage.
And just in case you are wondering, sauerkraut is finely sliced cabbage fermented by various lactic acid.
Tuna Sandwich ($5.50) On first sight the tuna sandwich certainly does not looks appealing, the bread looks dry, and the tuna well doesn’t looks attractive to me.
But my friend say the tuna sandwich actually taste not bad, and at $5.50 i guess you can’t really complain.
Total bill was $10.45 for two, we didn’t order any drinks because we went to Carrefour to buy mineral water beforehand. Well, we were on a budget, had waffles at Gelare before coming here, and besides mineral water is healthier!
Drop by Bratwurst shop for a hassle-free, quick bite if you are in Plaza Singapura, and do not want to spend too much money on a meal before going to the theaters!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or biasness. Feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
I had this plan for my "other" home. After much discussion when this plan was introduced, we decided to sign up since the mobile phones, telephone lines and internet were all under Singnet anyway.
We did save a lot in the long run... but...
Setting up triggered a lot of problems and we were without our phone lines and internet for 2 weeks. The MIO box gave quite a bit of problems. The repairman had to come 3-4 times and we had the box changed twice. We live in a private estate and were told that things will be fine in our particular estate. After the initial hiccups we were finally able to use the phone lines and the internet.
BTW you have to purchase a different kind of phone to be used with the MIO system.
Once we started to use it, we noticed that at times the phone doesn't detect the incoming call. Everything is working (when the repairman came to test it) but it just doesn't ring every single time we call. It would miss a couple of times. And there would be quite a bit of static on the line, which disrupts the call.
It could possibly be a line connection thing but Singtel should also be responsible for checking our lines when we had them install the system. I guess this one might take some time to settle.
FYI, Maxonline cannot be installed in my estate, according to their customer service rep.
$2 an item. Seems to be quite cheap on hearing however, buyers have to beware of what is the item they are buying. There are some items like Tin cans or utensils going for lower than $2 even though they don't come from Japan. So if you happened to get those items that cost cheaper outside, Daiso cannot be consider cheap. Unless you value that the stuffs came from Japan.
Quality of items, I have to give a plus as although many items are small and there are so many different kinds of things on shelves, the merchandise are clean and of good quality comparative to the price.
Practically lots of things can be found there, food stuffs, to toys, toiletries to utensils as well as DIY stuffs. Many items like washing machine cleaner, rice bugs preventer are not commonly found in Singapore.
Negative points though, quite difficult to find a specific item and since many of the staffs are Japanese, its difficult asking them though I can see they brought in staffs for some other countries.
Wednesday is for the ladies, party all night long!
Thursday we have people queuing up to buy Toto
Friday its one more day to the weekends
Saturday its finally weekends!
Sunday 4D 4D & 4D
So what do we have on Tuesday? Make a guess?!?
Yep, Tuesdays are Waffles Day!
For every Tuesday, its waffles day at Gelare, where you get to enjoy 50% discount on their waffles (actually for their plain waffles only, the rest less than 50%).
But who bothers! Its waffles day, and personally i do think its quite a good sales tactic. I mean even though i have never try Gelare before, but i heard of their promotions before. It works.
A friend and i went down to Gelare @ Plaza Singapura, 3pm and the place’s almost full house. For every tuesday, plain Waffle with syrup & cream is half price at $3.90, and the single scoop ice cream waffle is $6.90 (original price being $9.90)
There’s this promotion which they are having for their main course. But after seeing that their pastas are actually those frozen ready-packed one, which they heat up in the microwave, no thanks!
I was tempted to try their cheesecakes which at $5 a slice seems reasonable. Anyone try before mind letting me know whether it’s good?
Waffle with single scoop Tiramisu ice cream ($6.90) Just stick to what Geláre is good at, waffles. There was a choice whether you want to add on 20 cents to change the waffle to chocolate chip waffles, but we sticked with the normal ones.
The choice of toppings will be either chocolate sauce or maple syrup, and the option for having cream or no cream.
I liked my Ti-ra-mi-su ice cream waffles. But its actually quite soft, i’m not sure whether good waffles are meant to be soft, but i have a penchant for crispier waffles, like the one i had at Haato’s
Waffle with single scoop Pistachio gelare ($6.90) The Pistachio gelare here wasn’t to my friend’s liking. Pistachio is a kind of nut just in case you have no idea, like me. My friend like the soft waffles though, i guess everybody has different preference.
And we concluded that the waffles will taste much nicer without the whipped cream, and the chocolate sauce only hinder the taste of the ice cream.
Total Bill for 2 waffles is $13.80, on tuesday the waffles single scoop ice cream at $6.90 are considered reasonable i guess, but even the normal price ten bucks for it, i won’t touch it.
Haato’s waffle with single scoop ice cream is at $6, everyday. I guess thats the place to fulfill my waffles cravings until a better place comes about.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or biasness. Feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
Brown Sugar - A tiny little cafe/bistro that opened up in November 2006 and the brainchild of a former fund manager turned chef, Yuan Oeij. Following in the footsteps of yet another local restaurateur, lawyer turned chef Willin Low of Wild Rocket fame, Oeij was a part time chef for hire before deciding to give up his job to open a restaurant.
Nestled in a nook just off River Valley Road within the StarDus clubhouse premises, Brown Sugar is a small cafe that can probably seat about 30 pax. Its limited capacity means that reservations are highly recommended especially for dinners on Fridays and Saturdays. The decor is kept simple yet cosy through the use of ambient lighting.
Complimentary Bread - The bread was served warm and interestingly, had a slightly spicy aftertaste. Though crisp, I found it a tad too dry for my liking, which is where the olive oil comes into play.
Deconstructed Apple Salad - The salad consisted of apple slices, rocket leaves, walnuts and not to forget, cheese, which was cleverly hidden from view between the layers of apple slices. I personally liked this harmonious combination of flavours with the sweetness of the apple complimenting the contrasting flavours of the cheese and the rocket leaves. But its small and its $13.
Linguine of Organic Mushrooms in Cream Sauce with Sliced Parma Ham - According to the wait staff, the organic mushrooms in this dish are sourced from a local farm which ensures its freshness. True enough, the mushrooms were fresh and plentiful. However, the linguine was a tad too overcooked and the parma ham, though nice, did seem a little too thickly sliced. On the upside, the cream sauce wasn't overwhelming hence you can easily stuff more down without feeling nauseous.
Hand Chopped Wagyu Burger, Truffled Mushroom Sauce, Salad and Fries - As mentioned in my entry on Iggy's sometime back, its a total waste of good beef if you chop wagyu up and make it into a beef patty. Brown Sugar's rendition wasn't just about to change my view on that. The beef, though evidently hand chopped from the unevenness of the patty, didn't taste much different from other beef patties that I've eaten. It could have been normal beef and I honestly wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Sure, the meat was more tender with more fats but lacked the beefy taste and the texture seemed more more like minced pork than beef. It definitely didn't help that the patty was done medium well instead of medium rare as per my request. All in all a very decent burger but not exactly one to bowl me over. Oh and the fries were a tad dry and overcooked.
Tarte Tatin of Pears with Honey & Fig Ice Cream - A rather interesting dessert if I may say. The pastry was flaky but did seem a little too hard from the hardened caramel glaze. The pears were firm and not too sweet, providing a nice crunch to the flimsy looking pastry.When paired with the honey and fig ice cream, it was truly enjoyable. Order this before hand because there is a wait time of 15 minutes.
Molten 100% Valrhona Chocolate Cake, Raspberry Coulis, Vanilla Ice Cream - I think I'm just a sucker for chocolate cakes, especially ones with the word molten chocolate attached to them. Brown Sugar's offering had a rather soft crust which I personally dislike, but the decadent molten chocolate more than made up for it. The vanilla ice cream was made from vanilla beans, not extract, as evident by the black dots on the ice cream. Together with the chocolate cake, it made for a nice and not too sweet ending. Please note that this dessert has a wait time of 15 minutes as well.
An appetiser, 2 mains and 2 desserts cost something to the tune of $98 which does seem a little high for a cafe hidden in a small government building. Quality of food is of a reasonably high standard and service is quite good. Add the nice homely environment to the mix and Brown Sugar is worth a revisit. For those who wish to experience Brown Sugar for less, there is the set lunch option, at $23 for 2 courses and $27 for 3 courses.
Bought like 2 times from this blogshop, the owner is a friendly and enthusiastic person who is good to interact and trade with. Service and answers to inquiries are fast, polite and accurate. Sending of the parcel is fast though the packaging can still be improved.
Shop has got some unique and beautiful pieces by and by though updates are quite slow and most of the pieces of clothings are normal. Selling tops, shorts, one or 2 dresses and some bags. It will be better if the variety, number of items selling increased. Photos are provided although the size and resolution of the photos can be better.
Sitting down, the place looks quite clean and well-organized. Menu is clear and well designed. The system of ordering food is similar to Pasta Mania, you have to go to the counter to order the food.
While we were looking at the menu, the waitress came over on her own initiative and explain to us that there are some items of the menu that were not available. Polite, friendly, fast and have initiative. Thats good service attitude! ;D So we were not very concern about items being not available.
We chose our food and Dar went to order. Negative point was, no Nets payment available, we had to pay by cash. Thats alright since we do have cash on hand however, signs should be put up at the tables regarding this as some people don't like to bring a lot of cash with them.
While waiting, we were distracted by the chinese restaurant besides Spaghetti Too as the chef there was making something using dough and he was preparing the dough, making a lot of noises in the process.
Dar's Beef Pie came first with the drinks. Too much butter used on the outer crust, hence the taste was overpowering. The pie was more suitable for people who likes strong taste. For me, the beef was way way too salty....
Next came the Garlic Bread with Cheese and this will be what I highly recommend to people. Bread crust being baked to absolute crispiness while the center portion was soft. Cheese added to the chewiness at just the right amount. Not too cheesy or salty. Best eaten hot however, as the texture changes when left cold.
Next came the main courses, Dar and I ordered the Sirloin Steak promotion meal at S$7.90 including a drink. After the delicious garlic bread, we had high expectation of the upcoming meals. However, we were quite disappointed. Although the beef was cooked at medium well done and very tender to eat, the taste of the beef was covered with the sauce. Sauce was too much and too salty. Vegetables were average though a bit overcooked while the mashed potato was not smooth enough. On the whole, the dish can be said to be a bit above average. I will give around 7/10 as taste can be quite subjective depending on the person eating.
Grilled Salmon hot plate Spaghetti. Dish was below average with the salmon being not fresh enough and Spaghetti overcooked. As Claire put it : "I can only taste tomatoes in it with one clump of spaghetti..."
Ordered some desserts as well. Brownie, ordered by Dar, was too sweet and had to be eaten together with the ice-cream to taste nice. Portion was real big comparative to its price of S$2.50.
Claire ordered the Apple Cobbler . Like the brownie, it tasted good when eaten together with the ice-cream, otherwise, its just a sweet dessert. Perhaps thats why they were served with the ice-cream placed on top? It would be better if the Apple Cobbler was packed more tightly as it was practically crumbling apart while we ate it.
Best dessert of the day and highly recommended by me will be the Italian Chocolate cake. Warmed and served with ice-cream by the side, the texture was thick and I expected it to be too sweet. However, as I put it into my mouth, the cake was chewy, full of "chocoty" flavor and not too sweet. Tasted great with or without ice-cream.
Altogether, we ordered 2 Sirloin Steak promo meals, 1 Salmon Spaghetti Promo meal, 2 portions Garlic bread, 1 Beef pie, 2 extra drinks and 3 desserts and we spent $39.80! No doubt the main courses were not that great but they were above average. Side dishes, desserts as well as the service quality were of satisfactory level. Hence conclusion, Value for Money!
Saturday, we met up with my parents-in-law for a dinner at Foster's at Holland Village. After dinner while strolling to go home, we came across the newly opened Swensen's Gelato Parlor. Having some vouchers gotten when we went to eat at Swensen's, we decided to get some ice-cream for the Wii session on Sunday.
Deco at the Parlor looks like the typical ice-cream specialty shops like Gelare, Andersen's and Scoopz. When we went in, the manager explained to us their system for take aways.
Take aways come in tubs of 500ml (2 flavors @ $9.30) and 1000ml (3 flavors @$16.30). We decided to get a tub 500ml and a tub 1000ml while my parents-in-law got themselves small cups of ice-cream (free since we have got vouchers but the original price was $3.30).
Service quality of the Parlor was very good, polite, friendly and not stingy on the portion of ice-cream even for the free cups my parents received. I will give 9/10 for them. Insulating job for the ice-cream tubs were well done too, using foiled paper bags and scotch tapes to secure the tubs.
Altogether, we bought Mango, Hazelnut, Passionfruit, Super Lemon and Soursop flavors and I must say, the selection available was quite limited. Other flavors we did not buy were Green tea, Blueberry, Durian, Raspberry and Pistachio. 2 other flavors I forgot.
The ice-cream flavors on the average, were on the sweet side with little fruits in them, tasted a little thin. Flavor weren't as full as I'll like them. Scoopz still remained as my favorite brand of ice-cream. Better flavors of the 5 we bought were Mango and Soursop but mostly because both fruits produce fuller flavor though I don't like the bitter after taste of the Mango. It will be better if variety of flavors increased.
I had my first taste of Sarpino's pizza at the Singapore Discovery Centre (SDC), don't ask why i was there, long story!
Anyway i didn't previously recalled knowing the existance of Sarpino Pizza, well besides Pizza hut, i know Canadian pizza.
And like Canadian Pizza, Sarpino's have the buy 1 get 1 offer too, except that their prices i think are slightly cheaper. Ànd obviously there will be a difference between their normal pizza and the promotions pizza.
Lets see an example, for the popular choice of hawaiian pizza, for the normal one, its call tropical hawaiian special which comes with ingredients of turkey ham, smoked turkey bacon, pineapples, cheddar and mozzarella cheese.
While for the promotion 1-for-1 pizza, there is also hawaiian pizza, just that its call The Aloha, with turkey bacon sweet pineapples, topped with italian cheese. A whole lot of difference right? I guess if you want quality be prepared to pay more
Otherwise like us just take the promotions one, and eat to your heart content! We had The Aloha, and double pepperoni. Large 14'' is $34, one for one and it works out to be about $17 for each pizza.
I say the pizza is value for money given the price, and it wont lose out to pizza hut. I'm eating less of pizza hut nowadays since the pizza quality dropped, and its rather expensive compared to canadian and sarpino's.
Jurong East is getting a reputation for being a banking hub, just beside Citibank at the CPF building, there is HSBC and OCBC, with POSB, Maybank, and a few others all in the vicinity.
I was at Citibank jurong east since its the one nearest to my home, and the one here is more of a regional hub than a small branch.
Anyway, my objective for the visit was to apply for citibank credit card, (i couldn't, my dad sup for me).
I was amazed by the simple procedures of getting a credit card nowadays, even though i'm a banking and finance student and i do know that the rules have relaxed a lot compared to last time, but i was still amazed.
How simple you asked? From the time we walked into the bank to the time we walked out, it took slightly less than 20mins. And poof! you got your credit card!
I cant remember the name of the sales person who attended to me, but he was polite and helpful to any questions and enquiries which i had.
Just for information i was tempted by the promotions offered in the citi gourmet promotions, so in the end i got two cards, citi mastercard, and citi clear platinium.
That guy suggested getting two since there was firstly no charge on the cards, and secondly he said just in case one card couldn't be use the other will be available. But thinking of it now even though there's no charges involved, but its still quite dumb to get two cards from a same bank.
In short, i'm pretty happy with the no-hassle service provided.
1=SGD 0.0587
The newly renovated basement of Plaza Singapura has seen many new tenants providing all sorts of quirky and creative food. Bratwurst Shop is one of the original stores which has been there for quite a long period of time.
Just in case you have no idea, Bratwurst is a sausage composed of pork, beef and/or veal and the name is from Germany.
For the sausages, you get to choose from different toppings, the original, bacon & cheese, mushroom& cheese are some of the popular ones.
After choosing the toppings, you’ll get to choose the type of bratwurst that you fancy, swiss cheese pork, spicy beef & pork, black pepper pork, italian pork, mild beef & pork are all available.
There are also a wide range of sandwiches available at pretty decent prices.
I remember the old Bratwurst shop was located on the other side of the basement, nearer to the escalator outside Carrefour, but they have since shift to this corner which provides them with a larger seating area.
The theme for Bratwurst shop is apparently red, with their furnitures and shop signboard in bright red.
Swiss cheese pork, original with mustard & sauerkraut ($4.95)
I had the original with mustard & sauerkraut for my choice of topping, and the swiss cheese pork for the main.
The sausage was really huge, i must say its quite value for money as one will fill you up if you finish it together with the bun. However i disliked the sauerkraut as i find it to be too salty and sour, and does not compliments the taste of the sausage.
And just in case you are wondering, sauerkraut is finely sliced cabbage fermented by various lactic acid.
Tuna Sandwich ($5.50)
On first sight the tuna sandwich certainly does not looks appealing, the bread looks dry, and the tuna well doesn’t looks attractive to me.
But my friend say the tuna sandwich actually taste not bad, and at $5.50 i guess you can’t really complain.
Total bill was $10.45 for two, we didn’t order any drinks because we went to Carrefour to buy mineral water beforehand. Well, we were on a budget, had waffles at Gelare before coming here, and besides mineral water is healthier!
Drop by Bratwurst shop for a hassle-free, quick bite if you are in Plaza Singapura, and do not want to spend too much money on a meal before going to the theaters!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or biasness. Feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
” Not your normal small sausages “
Rating given:
I had this plan for my "other" home. After much discussion when this plan was introduced, we decided to sign up since the mobile phones, telephone lines and internet were all under Singnet anyway.
We did save a lot in the long run... but...
Setting up triggered a lot of problems and we were without our phone lines and internet for 2 weeks. The MIO box gave quite a bit of problems. The repairman had to come 3-4 times and we had the box changed twice. We live in a private estate and were told that things will be fine in our particular estate. After the initial hiccups we were finally able to use the phone lines and the internet.
BTW you have to purchase a different kind of phone to be used with the MIO system.
Once we started to use it, we noticed that at times the phone doesn't detect the incoming call. Everything is working (when the repairman came to test it) but it just doesn't ring every single time we call. It would miss a couple of times. And there would be quite a bit of static on the line, which disrupts the call.
It could possibly be a line connection thing but Singtel should also be responsible for checking our lines when we had them install the system. I guess this one might take some time to settle.
FYI, Maxonline cannot be installed in my estate, according to their customer service rep.
Rating given:
$2 an item. Seems to be quite cheap on hearing however, buyers have to beware of what is the item they are buying. There are some items like Tin cans or utensils going for lower than $2 even though they don't come from Japan. So if you happened to get those items that cost cheaper outside, Daiso cannot be consider cheap. Unless you value that the stuffs came from Japan.
Quality of items, I have to give a plus as although many items are small and there are so many different kinds of things on shelves, the merchandise are clean and of good quality comparative to the price.
Practically lots of things can be found there, food stuffs, to toys, toiletries to utensils as well as DIY stuffs. Many items like washing machine cleaner, rice bugs preventer are not commonly found in Singapore.
Negative points though, quite difficult to find a specific item and since many of the staffs are Japanese, its difficult asking them though I can see they brought in staffs for some other countries.
Rating given:
Monday everyone have the standard Mondays blue
Wednesday is for the ladies, party all night long!
Thursday we have people queuing up to buy Toto
Friday its one more day to the weekends
Saturday its finally weekends!
Sunday 4D 4D & 4D
So what do we have on Tuesday? Make a guess?!?
Yep, Tuesdays are Waffles Day!
For every Tuesday, its waffles day at Gelare, where you get to enjoy 50% discount on their waffles (actually for their plain waffles only, the rest less than 50%).
But who bothers! Its waffles day, and personally i do think its quite a good sales tactic. I mean even though i have never try Gelare before, but i heard of their promotions before. It works.
A friend and i went down to Gelare @ Plaza Singapura, 3pm and the place’s almost full house. For every tuesday, plain Waffle with syrup & cream is half price at $3.90, and the single scoop ice cream waffle is $6.90 (original price being $9.90)
There’s this promotion which they are having for their main course. But after seeing that their pastas are actually those frozen ready-packed one, which they heat up in the microwave, no thanks!
I was tempted to try their cheesecakes which at $5 a slice seems reasonable. Anyone try before mind letting me know whether it’s good?
Waffle with single scoop Tiramisu ice cream ($6.90)
Just stick to what Geláre is good at, waffles. There was a choice whether you want to add on 20 cents to change the waffle to chocolate chip waffles, but we sticked with the normal ones.
The choice of toppings will be either chocolate sauce or maple syrup, and the option for having cream or no cream.
I liked my Ti-ra-mi-su ice cream waffles. But its actually quite soft, i’m not sure whether good waffles are meant to be soft, but i have a penchant for crispier waffles, like the one i had at Haato’s
Waffle with single scoop Pistachio gelare ($6.90)
The Pistachio gelare here wasn’t to my friend’s liking. Pistachio is a kind of nut just in case you have no idea, like me. My friend like the soft waffles though, i guess everybody has different preference.
And we concluded that the waffles will taste much nicer without the whipped cream, and the chocolate sauce only hinder the taste of the ice cream.
Total Bill for 2 waffles is $13.80, on tuesday the waffles single scoop ice cream at $6.90 are considered reasonable i guess, but even the normal price ten bucks for it, i won’t touch it.
Haato’s waffle with single scoop ice cream is at $6, everyday. I guess thats the place to fulfill my waffles cravings until a better place comes about.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or biasness. Feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
” Only on Tuedays, Waffles day! “
Rating given:
Brown Sugar - A tiny little cafe/bistro that opened up in November 2006 and the brainchild of a former fund manager turned chef, Yuan Oeij. Following in the footsteps of yet another local restaurateur, lawyer turned chef Willin Low of Wild Rocket fame, Oeij was a part time chef for hire before deciding to give up his job to open a restaurant.
Nestled in a nook just off River Valley Road within the StarDus clubhouse premises, Brown Sugar is a small cafe that can probably seat about 30 pax. Its limited capacity means that reservations are highly recommended especially for dinners on Fridays and Saturdays. The decor is kept simple yet cosy through the use of ambient lighting.
Complimentary Bread - The bread was served warm and interestingly, had a slightly spicy aftertaste. Though crisp, I found it a tad too dry for my liking, which is where the olive oil comes into play.
Deconstructed Apple Salad - The salad consisted of apple slices, rocket leaves, walnuts and not to forget, cheese, which was cleverly hidden from view between the layers of apple slices. I personally liked this harmonious combination of flavours with the sweetness of the apple complimenting the contrasting flavours of the cheese and the rocket leaves. But its small and its $13.
Linguine of Organic Mushrooms in Cream Sauce with Sliced Parma Ham - According to the wait staff, the organic mushrooms in this dish are sourced from a local farm which ensures its freshness. True enough, the mushrooms were fresh and plentiful. However, the linguine was a tad too overcooked and the parma ham, though nice, did seem a little too thickly sliced. On the upside, the cream sauce wasn't overwhelming hence you can easily stuff more down without feeling nauseous.
Hand Chopped Wagyu Burger, Truffled Mushroom Sauce, Salad and Fries - As mentioned in my entry on Iggy's sometime back, its a total waste of good beef if you chop wagyu up and make it into a beef patty. Brown Sugar's rendition wasn't just about to change my view on that. The beef, though evidently hand chopped from the unevenness of the patty, didn't taste much different from other beef patties that I've eaten. It could have been normal beef and I honestly wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Sure, the meat was more tender with more fats but lacked the beefy taste and the texture seemed more more like minced pork than beef. It definitely didn't help that the patty was done medium well instead of medium rare as per my request. All in all a very decent burger but not exactly one to bowl me over. Oh and the fries were a tad dry and overcooked.
Tarte Tatin of Pears with Honey & Fig Ice Cream - A rather interesting dessert if I may say. The pastry was flaky but did seem a little too hard from the hardened caramel glaze. The pears were firm and not too sweet, providing a nice crunch to the flimsy looking pastry.When paired with the honey and fig ice cream, it was truly enjoyable. Order this before hand because there is a wait time of 15 minutes.
Molten 100% Valrhona Chocolate Cake, Raspberry Coulis, Vanilla Ice Cream - I think I'm just a sucker for chocolate cakes, especially ones with the word molten chocolate attached to them. Brown Sugar's offering had a rather soft crust which I personally dislike, but the decadent molten chocolate more than made up for it. The vanilla ice cream was made from vanilla beans, not extract, as evident by the black dots on the ice cream. Together with the chocolate cake, it made for a nice and not too sweet ending. Please note that this dessert has a wait time of 15 minutes as well.
An appetiser, 2 mains and 2 desserts cost something to the tune of $98 which does seem a little high for a cafe hidden in a small government building. Quality of food is of a reasonably high standard and service is quite good. Add the nice homely environment to the mix and Brown Sugar is worth a revisit. For those who wish to experience Brown Sugar for less, there is the set lunch option, at $23 for 2 courses and $27 for 3 courses.
See all my pictures here.
Rating given:
Bought like 2 times from this blogshop, the owner is a friendly and enthusiastic person who is good to interact and trade with.
Service and answers to inquiries are fast, polite and accurate. Sending of the parcel is fast though the packaging can still be improved.
Shop has got some unique and beautiful pieces by and by though updates are quite slow and most of the pieces of clothings are normal. Selling tops, shorts, one or 2 dresses and some bags. It will be better if the variety, number of items selling increased. Photos are provided although the size and resolution of the photos can be better.
Rating given:
Sitting down, the place looks quite clean and well-organized. Menu is clear and well designed. The system of ordering food is similar to Pasta Mania, you have to go to the counter to order the food.
While we were looking at the menu, the waitress came over on her own initiative and explain to us that there are some items of the menu that were not available. Polite, friendly, fast and have initiative. Thats good service attitude! ;D So we were not very concern about items being not available.
We chose our food and Dar went to order. Negative point was, no Nets payment available, we had to pay by cash. Thats alright since we do have cash on hand however, signs should be put up at the tables regarding this as some people don't like to bring a lot of cash with them.
While waiting, we were distracted by the chinese restaurant besides Spaghetti Too as the chef there was making something using dough and he was preparing the dough, making a lot of noises in the process.
Dar's Beef Pie came first with the drinks. Too much butter used on the outer crust, hence the taste was overpowering. The pie was more suitable for people who likes strong taste. For me, the beef was way way too salty....
Next came the Garlic Bread with Cheese and this will be what I highly recommend to people. Bread crust being baked to absolute crispiness while the center portion was soft. Cheese added to the chewiness at just the right amount. Not too cheesy or salty. Best eaten hot however, as the texture changes when left cold.
Next came the main courses, Dar and I ordered the Sirloin Steak promotion meal at S$7.90 including a drink. After the delicious garlic bread, we had high expectation of the upcoming meals. However, we were quite disappointed. Although the beef was cooked at medium well done and very tender to eat, the taste of the beef was covered with the sauce. Sauce was too much and too salty. Vegetables were average though a bit overcooked while the mashed potato was not smooth enough. On the whole, the dish can be said to be a bit above average. I will give around 7/10 as taste can be quite subjective depending on the person eating.
Grilled Salmon hot plate Spaghetti. Dish was below average with the salmon being not fresh enough and Spaghetti overcooked. As Claire put it : "I can only taste tomatoes in it with one clump of spaghetti..."
Ordered some desserts as well. Brownie, ordered by Dar, was too sweet and had to be eaten together with the ice-cream to taste nice. Portion was real big comparative to its price of S$2.50.
Claire ordered the Apple Cobbler . Like the brownie, it tasted good when eaten together with the ice-cream, otherwise, its just a sweet dessert. Perhaps thats why they were served with the ice-cream placed on top? It would be better if the Apple Cobbler was packed more tightly as it was practically crumbling apart while we ate it.
Best dessert of the day and highly recommended by me will be the Italian Chocolate cake. Warmed and served with ice-cream by the side, the texture was thick and I expected it to be too sweet. However, as I put it into my mouth, the cake was chewy, full of "chocoty" flavor and not too sweet. Tasted great with or without ice-cream.
Altogether, we ordered 2 Sirloin Steak promo meals, 1 Salmon Spaghetti Promo meal, 2 portions Garlic bread, 1 Beef pie, 2 extra drinks and 3 desserts and we spent $39.80! No doubt the main courses were not that great but they were above average. Side dishes, desserts as well as the service quality were of satisfactory level. Hence conclusion, Value for Money!
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Saturday, we met up with my parents-in-law for a dinner at Foster's at Holland Village. After dinner while strolling to go home, we came across the newly opened Swensen's Gelato Parlor. Having some vouchers gotten when we went to eat at Swensen's, we decided to get some ice-cream for the Wii session on Sunday.
Deco at the Parlor looks like the typical ice-cream specialty shops like Gelare, Andersen's and Scoopz. When we went in, the manager explained to us their system for take aways.
Take aways come in tubs of 500ml (2 flavors @ $9.30) and 1000ml (3 flavors @$16.30). We decided to get a tub 500ml and a tub 1000ml while my parents-in-law got themselves small cups of ice-cream (free since we have got vouchers but the original price was $3.30).
Service quality of the Parlor was very good, polite, friendly and not stingy on the portion of ice-cream even for the free cups my parents received. I will give 9/10 for them. Insulating job for the ice-cream tubs were well done too, using foiled paper bags and scotch tapes to secure the tubs.
Altogether, we bought Mango, Hazelnut, Passionfruit, Super Lemon and Soursop flavors and I must say, the selection available was quite limited. Other flavors we did not buy were Green tea, Blueberry, Durian, Raspberry and Pistachio. 2 other flavors I forgot.
The ice-cream flavors on the average, were on the sweet side with little fruits in them, tasted a little thin. Flavor weren't as full as I'll like them. Scoopz still remained as my favorite brand of ice-cream. Better flavors of the 5 we bought were Mango and Soursop but mostly because both fruits produce fuller flavor though I don't like the bitter after taste of the Mango.
It will be better if variety of flavors increased.
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I had my first taste of Sarpino's pizza at the Singapore Discovery Centre (SDC), don't ask why i was there, long story!
Anyway i didn't previously recalled knowing the existance of Sarpino Pizza, well besides Pizza hut, i know Canadian pizza.
And like Canadian Pizza, Sarpino's have the buy 1 get 1 offer too, except that their prices i think are slightly cheaper. Ànd obviously there will be a difference between their normal pizza and the promotions pizza.
Lets see an example, for the popular choice of hawaiian pizza, for the normal one, its call tropical hawaiian special which comes with ingredients of turkey ham, smoked turkey bacon, pineapples, cheddar and mozzarella cheese.
While for the promotion 1-for-1 pizza, there is also hawaiian pizza, just that its call The Aloha, with turkey bacon sweet pineapples, topped with italian cheese. A whole lot of difference right? I guess if you want quality be prepared to pay more
Otherwise like us just take the promotions one, and eat to your heart content! We had The Aloha, and double pepperoni. Large 14'' is $34, one for one and it works out to be about $17 for each pizza.
I say the pizza is value for money given the price, and it wont lose out to pizza hut. I'm eating less of pizza hut nowadays since the pizza quality dropped, and its rather expensive compared to canadian and sarpino's.
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Jurong East is getting a reputation for being a banking hub, just beside Citibank at the CPF building, there is HSBC and OCBC, with POSB, Maybank, and a few others all in the vicinity.
I was at Citibank jurong east since its the one nearest to my home, and the one here is more of a regional hub than a small branch.
Anyway, my objective for the visit was to apply for citibank credit card, (i couldn't, my dad sup for me).
I was amazed by the simple procedures of getting a credit card nowadays, even though i'm a banking and finance student and i do know that the rules have relaxed a lot compared to last time, but i was still amazed.
How simple you asked? From the time we walked into the bank to the time we walked out, it took slightly less than 20mins. And poof! you got your credit card!
I cant remember the name of the sales person who attended to me, but he was polite and helpful to any questions and enquiries which i had.
Just for information i was tempted by the promotions offered in the citi gourmet promotions, so in the end i got two cards, citi mastercard, and citi clear platinium.
That guy suggested getting two since there was firstly no charge on the cards, and secondly he said just in case one card couldn't be use the other will be available. But thinking of it now even though there's no charges involved, but its still quite dumb to get two cards from a same bank.
In short, i'm pretty happy with the no-hassle service provided.
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