Made a bad choice to come here for dinner under the recommendation of a friend's friend. Bad friend :(
Was hankering after noodles, and saw that their udon selection is quite unique as they serve it flat, like kway chap. Decided on the very light soup udon, and my friend ordered teriyaki chicken set.
The udon soup was very bland (but hot though), and came with the pieces of kway chap with leeks, mushrooms, and 2 pieces of very strange things. Looks like soggy fried beancurd but was utterly tasteless and painstakingly chewy. Like boiled mua chee with no peanuts.
My friend couldnt finish his teriyaki chicken because it was served lukewarm and tasteless too. Looks not bad but didnt score in the taste department at all. Perhaps the chef ran out of soy sauce that day.
Had been eyeing their green tea ice cream whenever I walk past, so I had to try it since I was there. Ordered the dessert duo: green tea ice cream moochi. The ice cream was not too bad, but moochi bland as well. Ugh.
The other thing we tried was this vanilla ice cream with red beans and baked puffs served in a bowl. Not too bad actually because there was a nice contrast of hot and cold, and vanilla ice cream tasted homemade.
Maybe the desserts was not bad because the mains were terrible. Service was nothing to complain about, and price was average, although I did spot their green tea ice cream on a cone being priced as $8.80 on the menu.
Maybe worth buying ice cream to go when you have the cravings, but dont come here for dinner. You'd be better off at the food square :D
Wanted to go to Original Sin for a weekday lunch but they were closed for Mondays:(. Choose Micheangelo's over Au Petite Bistro in the end. Went for the Amex 1-for-1 set lunch, which gives you a soup of the day (fish chowder) or a salad (mushrooms with greens), a main (penne with beef and mushrooms in saffron cream sauce or a grilled chicken), a dessert (tiramisu) and coffee/tea.
Salad was unexpectedly of good portion and tasted quite good. The chowder was a bit watered-down for me, not as thick as I would have liked it. Pasta was nicely al dente, and kudos to them for changing the beef (I don't usually take red meat) to chicken for me :D. They did a pesto pasta for my vegetarian friend, which was excellent! Tiramisu was disappointing though, it tasted more like a nicely chilled chocolate sponge cake than really tiramisu. Coffee was run of the mill for me. Oh, and they don't serve bread :(
I stil have to say their indoor sitting is still quite dark, because they dont switch on the lights and have a candle in each table instead. Makes it very hard to read the menu unless your sitting back facing the door, where you can try your luck at catching the daylight.
Service was nicely efficient with the small seating.
My friend wanted so much to go there, so we did. Queued for half an hour just to take the orders, then another 45mins for our food. Had heard the cajun chicken is their speciality so I took that. The chicken was okay, although really thick as compared to what you'd get at a normal hawker western food stall. The fries were disappointing, served lukewarm and tastd really just normal.
It is actually good western food, but taste for price, I really think it is really overhyped and overpriced.
I'm a sucker for food cooked in wood-y things eg. claypot rice, korean bimbibab, firewood pizza etc, so when the choice of dinner venue was up to me, I thought "Finally!!".
Strangely quiet at 7pm on a Saturday night, and a little overwhelmed by the quietness actually. Not sure if it is because its tucked right at a corner of Vivo and not visible to the weekend browsing crowd. We were offered the booth seat, which was fabulously comfortable and provided loads of privacy. Call ahead to get one~
I loved the ambience, as its quite hard to find a cosy place for a quiet dinner without the stiffness and intimidation of fine dining. If you get a seat in the open tables, you can actually see the action going on in the kitchen.
Bread was served complimentary, which was quite good. Didn't quite know what it was but tasted like herb toasted pita slices, very good as a starter. Comes with normal olive oil for dip but tasted good on its own. Refilling of bread is also quick so beware not to OD on it~
Warm wood smoked scallops with leek puree and salted black beans ($19)- very good. Nicely smoked taste and scallops were tender and incredibly fresh. Leek puree was excellent, and so were the side salad with vinegrette that came with it.
Hot pan seafood spaghetti with wood roasted manila clams, squid, ang ka prawns ($28) - Excellent, if you're like me who prefers your pasta done the simple alio olio way. Again, seafood were incredibly fresh and was a rather light combination with the pasta. I have no idea what are "ang ka" is, but the prawns were large! Generous quantity of clams made the whole dish rather value for money~
Grilled sakura chicken with lemongrass, shallots and parsley ($25) - didn't actually taste it, but it came nicely grilled and apparently quite good too. Supposedly free of antibiotics (or so I remember), so healthnuts can try it. Wasn't too filling a portion for guys, maybe because there's no carbs (the 2 chicken pieces were served with side salad), so my friend had to fill up with the bread~
Their drinks, cocktails and wine selection are apparently a big thing there, as the menu is much much bigger than that of the food. The wine cellar is the first thing you see when you walk in...impressive~ Shall try it next time.
Service was very good too, very efficient and many smiling faces (which you don't see very much of nowadays).
Went there with my family for a Friday dinner; not too crowdeded :D
The seating inside is more comfortable as the outside seats are arranged in such a way that you'll be elbowed by fellow diners going to the tables past you and service staff serving the said tables.
Soup of the day ($12) - the medium size one, more than enough for 4 pax. That day was pork ribs and lotus root, which was not bad and tasted quite full bodied (although my mum said its full of MSG but I just can't taste it).
French beans with minced meat ($10) - wok-fried nicely with the beans still crunchy. Plus, not too oily, a crime that other places tend to commit.
Salad prawn ($16) - a little expensive for the portions. Still,the prawns were fresh and came with a nicely deep fried batter, mixed with some mayo. I would have preferred they drizzle the mayo on top rather than mix it in though.
Yang Chow fried rice ($10) - I have to admit I have no idea what's "Yang Chow" anymore because restaurants like to name their 'chap-ba-lang" rice Yang Chow Fried Rice. This one was just normal with usual mix veg and egg, and a tad oily for my liking, although it had a faint 'wok hei'.
Samsui chicken ($12) - medium size too. I've never really fancy this signature dish of theirs actually, but my sis loves it. That said, it is a healthy dish, good for low-carb fans. Its cold lean chicken meat served with sliced cucumber, lettuce, and a ginger / garlic mix. You're supposed to wrap the chicken in lettuce, add cucumber, and top it off with the ginger-garlic mix. The strange sounding combination actually tastes quite nice together, and it is very light on the palette. Reminds me of Peking duck but this is much healthier.
Being in the heartland makes this place a bit pricey in comparison but good for special dinners with mums and dads. Beware though, if you're unlucky, you might get grouchy rude China-national service staff. Also, food quality is not consistent as my last visit was much worse off. Depends on the chef or mood of the chef I guess.
Was at Yishun for my gf's friend's baby's one month party yesterday (01112009) and chanced upon this outlet hidden in the newly opened Northpoint wing.
The decor looks better then usual with wide open spaces and was bristling with customers and activity which thus also lead to me consenting to give it a try.
My gf had a coupon for $10 of a main dish with the Xin Wang card and our orders are as follows:
HK Cheese Baked Pork chop spagghetti - This wasn't too bad. The tomato is more sourish then sweet while the pork chop was a little hard. Spaggheti was plentiful however and this was actually quite overwhelming after a while.
Shrimp Dumplings - I found this rather good actually. Fresh, crunchy and sweet prawns basically make this dish good.
Pork Pastry - This was average as the pastry is not fragrant. The pork within is alright however, warm and sweet.
Pork Chop burger - I found this to be the least worthwhile item we ordered. The pork chop had a big layer of fats but was thankfully tender while the "burger" was made using toasted white bread. Overall, get rid of the fats and its acceptable but hardly worth $4.90. Mcdonalds fare better for the price.
Overall bill came to $12.90 after the $10 discount.
Honestly, this branch is better then the others i've tried but i still find it overpriced for the simple fare they provide. Our conclusion for why this is better is because, being a new branch, we theorised that probably the executive chef was on the location which thus resulted in the difference in quality.
Its great to see Manhattan Fish Market in a less centralized area like Pasir Ris because first of all, i'm nearer to the East and second of all, this was one of the first restaurants i tried when i started out.
Straight to the point, the restaurants main competitor will be Fish and Co. Their generally a little different in terms of preparation and so far, my impression of MFM is that it has more fried items.
Fried country mushrooms ($9.90) - 6 button mushrooms covered in batter and deep fried. Its as good as ever but i did find that this time, it cooled a lot faster as well. Probably due to peak hour and the fact that lots of people were there. Which led to it being prepared earlier to meet the demand.
Main Platter for 2($33.90) - The platter for 2 used to go for $29.90 but has since increased their prices since then. You get the usual HUGE piece of fish, fries, garlic rice, flaming prawns, calamari and mussels. Its actually a pretty big portion to be honest and big eaters need apply to finish it. The fish is still one of the better ones, thick, sweet and lightly battered. I could have 2 pieces if given the choice. The prawns are average but the mayo like sauce is excellent with the rice. mussels and calamari were equally well done. To me, this is still a good platter of food.
Overall billed clocked in at $46.40.
A hefty sum to be sure but still under the acceptable range.
However, if it continues its upward trend in pricing, i'd find it hard pressed to find an excuse to return before long.
There used to be four, but with the latest addition of the Canon to the Arsenal, the power balance was tipped back. The current score stands at Canon 2, Olympus 2, Nikon 1. With the figure at a perfect five, there’s a harder fight especially so when somebody countdown five seconds for the shots.
While just like how the different brands have their own strengths; with Canon producing the crisp sharp shots, Nikon edging out with the vibrant colours display, Olympus providing the balance in between, there isn’t a perfect combination. And of course, there are pros and cons of Choupinette. The small capacity of the restaurant made it a great place for a lazy pig-out, but it also meant that the place was packed to the crowd on a busy weekend.
I like how my Nikon produced the perfect blend of colour, to bring out the best in the settings of the restaurant. And surely, the Canon and Olympus camp would protest against that.
Walking by the array of bread, the three of us were attracted by the Pain au chocolat ($2.90). From the memories, warm melting chocolate filled within the crispy bread. But it was not to be, the bread was cold even though the staff helped us warm it up. Chocolate fillings, or rather, the lack of it was the main downfall.
The same problem goes for the Almond Danish ($2.90), the bread wasn’t warm, while we couldn’t expect freshly baked bread to be coming out just for us, it would be a lot better if only the bread was warm.
The chouchou’s set ($22 ) from the lunch menu had choices of either one of grilled hot sandwich, lasagna or smoked salmon sandwich, together with a drink and dessert. This was La Moussaka. The fanciful name brought home the impact, otherwise you wouldn’t be seeing this dish here. But, it was a very ordinary one, nothing to shoot about.
The generous slices of smoked salmon from the Le Noé’s sandwich ($22 from chouchou’s set) was definitely worth the price. Coming in two huge slabs of bread, it could easily filled up two person.
Choupinette’s interpretation of the Madame and Monsieur was an egg, with the latter coming without. Grilled sandwich with a choice of ham, chicken or eggplants with emmenthal cheese & béchamel sauce. Le Croque-Monsieur ($15). Apparently, our Madame was so engrossed with the sandwich that she couldn’t give her comment.
I always wondered what exactly is a quiche ($6 per slice), well i got my answer today, in not one, but two quiche! The lorraine quiche (top picture) is perhaps the most common quiche there is. While I didn’t exactly fancy the spinach quiche, I still prefer my spinach eaten like a vegetable.
Eggs on toast with smoked salmon and hollandaise sauce served all day long. This is for all the lazy bums out there! The Egg Royal’s ($21 ) ought to be presented with the most-expensive-eggs-you-ever-eaten honour. I kind of wanted to kick myself for not ordering this, the poached eggs were done perfectly, and the looks alone would give much pleasure.
Another dish which you can’t left out of any brunch menu, Eggs Benedict’s ($20 ). Eggs on toast with ham and hollandaise sauce. Well if your stomach isn’t feeling right having smoked salmon for breakfast, eggs with ham are always a safer choice.
It’s kind of heavy eating a burger for breakfast, but hey we are having brunch! For all the carnivores, Le Burger ($18) is just, well a hamburger. The beef patty was slightly overcooked, but it was served with a generous servings of salad, and the fries even came on a separate bowl. But for $18, i thought it was rather on the high side, you can have a gourmet burger at Relish, or maybe a cheaper burger from Hotshots or Smoking frog kitchen might do the job.
On first impression, the Tarte au citron ($5.60) or lemon meringue tart would definitely made a statement with the beautiful burnt and thick layer of meringue. While others took one bite of the tart and refused to touch it any more, i was slowly sampling it since this was my first time trying meringue. The layer of meringue on top was supposed to form a stiff peak but the one here was too thick, and there was also hint of coarse sugar within which was probably due to the improper dissolve of the sugar.
We were contemplating between chocolate or coffee éclair since there was too much desserts with chocolate. But we decided against it since coffee is an acquired taste, and had the Éclair au chocolat ($5). There was a salty after-taste in the éclair which came across as rather weird.
I was eagerly anticipating the Palais Royal ($6.90), for the dark chocolate and crunchy praline. But there wasn’t any crunchy praline to be found. Nonetheless, i still enjoyed the dessert even though some didn’t really like it as they were disappointed by the lack of the crunchy praline.
A very simple custard & raspberry, the Millefeuille framboise ($7). The several layers of puff pastry brought back fond childhood memories of the cake which i had before when i was a kid. It was difficult not to make a mess of it as the cake crumbled easily.
The Tarte aux Pommes ($5.90 a slice, $7.90 for an additional scoop of ice cream) was quintessentially an apple tart with a scoop of normal ice cream. The additional of 2 bucks for the scoop of ice cream was totally not worth the money, but the apple tart was decent. The thin slice of dessert was fulsome with the apple taste.
Vendôme ($6.90) also caught our attention with the three layers of dark, milk and white chocolate. The dessert was more like eating three layers of chocolate mousse, some didn’t like it, but i did.
The macarons ($1.80 each) were a disaster. We had eight of them, four from each chouchou’s set. Choupinette has about 13 flavours of macarons available, we chose chocolate, raspberry, strawberry, peach, passion fruit, orange, pear and hazelnut. Almost all the macarons had chocolate gauche for fillings, i wouldn’t mind small macarons if they were good, but the one here had an artificial taste to it. Something was definitely missing but we couldn’t quite make out what. The very artificial colouring of the macarons didn’t appeal to us too. The shells of the macaron crumbled easily and didn’t have the chewy texture a good macaron should have.
Total bill was $193 for 9 of us. Some paid more for their expensive egg brunch, while some paid less for just bread and desserts. But generally, if you are looking to try their brunch or lunch menu, you will probably looking at 20 per person, and that’s probably excluding desserts. Choupinette has a great base of Caucasians customers, and it isn’t difficult to see why for the cosy and homely decorations of the place. The name of the restaurant, and the French names of the food screams chic. It will probably be better to go on a weekday where there’s less customers if you want to try this place out.
Well, just like how there will never be a perfect DSLR for either Canon, Olympus or Nikon users. Some of you might like Nikon for the design, Canon for its brand, Olympus for its nimbleness, all of us have different preferences. Similarly for Choupinette, while we were disappointed by the desserts, but the eggs on the brunch were exceptional, and you might just like the food there. No matter what, all of us love our DSLR, and the common passion for food. Another dessert enthusiast outing, until the next one!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
A classic Italian gastronomic, Galbiati gourmet deli actually started out as a takeaway place for its gourmet products. I’ve been wanting to give the place a visit ever since a friend highly recommended it, and railmall is so near to my place.
The interior of the deli was very small, with seating of at most 30. The simplistic environment of the place does makes one feels comfortable, a place where you can call your own Italian joint. The food offered are mostly simple food, with a wide array of home-made pastas, appetizer and main courses.
The Salmon asparagus linguine ($18) was based on the recommendation of the serving staff as my friend’s a great fan of the fish. A very light cream base accompanied the linguine, with the salmon stronger in taste. The asparagus seems to act as the neutralising balance between the salmon and the overall light taste of the dish. A fairly good home-made pasta.
I’ve a sneak preview of their pizzas at the counter, and was excited to hear that they’d served it fresh from the oven. The popular Hawaiian pizza ($8) was our choice for the night. Coming in squares of 6, the pizza was value for money. But, there’s no free lunch in this world, i thought that the ingredients were miserable, with one small cube of pineapple and ham. The pizza crust was very hard, and dry for my personal liking. And the tomato spread for the base was insufficient.
One of the unique characteristics of Galbiati deli was they actually encouraged takeaways. Dining in, the Lavender cheesecake ($7) is a dollar more expensive than if you opted to takeaway their desserts. The lavender flower infused a aromatic fragrant into the light cheesecake. The crust base was always a welcoming partner, to provide the crunch.
We always like to save the best for the last, to savour every bite of the Tiramisu ($7) for a lasting moment stored in our memory. Well i didn’t exactly had many tiramisu before, but Galbiati’s one is probably one of the best i’ve before. There wasn’t any deconstruction, nothing fanciful about the famous Italian dessert. Just a solid good one. The mascrapone cheese, with the the coffee-liquer infuse flavour, i was sorely tempted to order another one.
Total bill was $44 for two person. While the dinner didn’t exactly turn out to be as good as what i’ve expected, it’s easy to imagine myself back here for a simple meal. The only problem? The restaurant doesn’t allow photography, so i was taking photos secretly while they were not looking.
And i do enjoyed my rights of taking photos openly, so this may be the reason a revisit will eluded me. One thing’s for sure, i’ll definitely be back to try the other desserts, and the tiramisu of course. But the next time round, i’ll probably takeaway their desserts, and snap shots of it just directly outside their shop!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
Au petit salut is helmed by chef Patrick Steuberger from Switzerland. Having garnered various experiences overseas in multiple countries and various michellin star chefs as tutors, Patrick returned to Au petit salut as executive chef in 2005. With such an impressive resume, its no wonder the restaurant was introduced to me by my boss.However, i maintain that reputation remains as reputation until put to the actual taste test. How will it fare i wonder?
Upon entering, you will find that the restaurant exudes a form of rustic charm for its location and the design of it exterior. Seemingly a colonial building that has yet to be teared down and located in the deep recesses of a mildly wooded enclave, its like stepping back in time to a less busy era where life was a little less complicated. In short, i felt relaxed the moment i parked my car.
The restaurant is a rather intimate affair with the interior seating about 30-40 people and the al fresco section seating around the same number of people. When i made my reservation, the restaurant was fully booked due to a corporate function but they made concessions since i only needed 2 seats.Decor wise, minimal is best for this place but i'm quite pleased with the simple and clean approach used.
The restaurant is a rather intimate affair with the interior seating about 30-40 people and the al fresco section seating around the same number of people. When i made my reservation, the restaurant was fully booked due to a corporate function but they made concessions since i only needed 2 seats.Decor wise, minimal is best for this place but i'm quite pleased with the simple and clean approach used.
My choice of starter was the foie gras as usual. For the price, i'm surprised at how big a portion the foie gras was. In short, this would easily have cost more then $30 on ala carte given the size. Quality wise, it was also a surprise since the Xeres vinegar and red onions actually managed to enhance the taste of the foie gras by adding a sourish and sweet taste. The spinach also managed to neutralize the oily taste somewhat. However, make no mistake, this is still a sinful and oily dish but one thats done well in both quality and quantity.
My gf had this soup and i had a taste, i can't remember what vegetable it was but i can tell you it tasted fresh, sweet and appetising.
Half dozen baked Burgundy snails with tomato and garlic butter - Feeling a little adventurous, we ordered an addtional serving for appetiser which was these little critters you see here. Snails. First off, i've never tasted these things before and was warned that they come with a weird and sometimes pungent smell when done wrong. However, this rendition i tried was optimistic. The tomato and garlic butter was baked well into the dish and managed to cover the pungent taste. There was still a hint of the slimey texture of the snail but otherwise, the majority of the taste went to the garlic butter. It was quite alright actually.
Filet de boeuf sauce moutarde et herbes fraîches - Pan seared beef tenderloin of about 150gm served with mashed potato mustard and herb sauce. The beef itself was a little overcooked on the sides but got better towards the middle since my order was for medium rare. The meat near the middle was tender and succulent with a generous smattering of juiciness. The herb sauce fared pretty well but bordered on being too salty. Mashed potato was excellent, supremely smooth and easy on the palate but some may find it too milky.
Guinea fowl and pork sausage served with melted cabbage and bacon, brown jus - My gf's dish, i only had a small taste of this but i found it salty and sourish. Not exactly something i would like. For the record, my gf didn't like this much either.
Fondant chaud au chocolat - Ah....fondants. Something i would soon stop ordering since i now know how to make it myself. Their rendition was pretty good, nice and crispy on the outside while warm suitably flowing on the inside. The chocolate is just right, not too sweet nor too bitter. This went well with the chocolate sorbet but horribly with the reddish fruit (i suspect raspberry).
“Mont-Blanc” vanilla ice cream, chestnut purée and meringue - Well, this didn't go too well. Being my first mont blanc and all, the vanilla ice cream was the only thing passable while the chestnut puree tasted like sweetened yam. Utterly disappointed given the rather flashy name.
Hazelnut tart with orange marmalade and vanilla “Crème Anglaise” - Another disappointment in the dessert department, this hazelnut tart was once again, rather lacklustre in weird in the taste department. Its also warm and the thing that looks like ice cream isn't. It tastes like orange cream and didn't go well with the tart at all.
Total bill came up to $131 for this meal.
In the end, the meal was still satisfactory even though one main dish and 2 of its desserts were rather lacklustre. Service was excellent while the relaxed atmosphere would have been complete if the corporate event was not ongoing while we were there. I did realise that all of the dishes that didn't live up to standard came from the $30 lunch menu while the $58 lunch menu was generally better in standard and taste. Maybe a difference in price means a difference in quality?
1=SGD 0.0587
Not worth it.
Made a bad choice to come here for dinner under the recommendation of a friend's friend. Bad friend :(
Was hankering after noodles, and saw that their udon selection is quite unique as they serve it flat, like kway chap. Decided on the very light soup udon, and my friend ordered teriyaki chicken set.
The udon soup was very bland (but hot though), and came with the pieces of kway chap with leeks, mushrooms, and 2 pieces of very strange things. Looks like soggy fried beancurd but was utterly tasteless and painstakingly chewy. Like boiled mua chee with no peanuts.
My friend couldnt finish his teriyaki chicken because it was served lukewarm and tasteless too. Looks not bad but didnt score in the taste department at all. Perhaps the chef ran out of soy sauce that day.
Had been eyeing their green tea ice cream whenever I walk past, so I had to try it since I was there. Ordered the dessert duo: green tea ice cream moochi. The ice cream was not too bad, but moochi bland as well. Ugh.
The other thing we tried was this vanilla ice cream with red beans and baked puffs served in a bowl. Not too bad actually because there was a nice contrast of hot and cold, and vanilla ice cream tasted homemade.
Maybe the desserts was not bad because the mains were terrible. Service was nothing to complain about, and price was average, although I did spot their green tea ice cream on a cone being priced as $8.80 on the menu.
Maybe worth buying ice cream to go when you have the cravings, but dont come here for dinner. You'd be better off at the food square :D
Rating given:
Nice set lunch
Wanted to go to Original Sin for a weekday lunch but they were closed for Mondays:(. Choose Micheangelo's over Au Petite Bistro in the end. Went for the Amex 1-for-1 set lunch, which gives you a soup of the day (fish chowder) or a salad (mushrooms with greens), a main (penne with beef and mushrooms in saffron cream sauce or a grilled chicken), a dessert (tiramisu) and coffee/tea.
Salad was unexpectedly of good portion and tasted quite good. The chowder was a bit watered-down for me, not as thick as I would have liked it. Pasta was nicely al dente, and kudos to them for changing the beef (I don't usually take red meat) to chicken for me :D. They did a pesto pasta for my vegetarian friend, which was excellent! Tiramisu was disappointing though, it tasted more like a nicely chilled chocolate sponge cake than really tiramisu. Coffee was run of the mill for me. Oh, and they don't serve bread :(
I stil have to say their indoor sitting is still quite dark, because they dont switch on the lights and have a candle in each table instead. Makes it very hard to read the menu unless your sitting back facing the door, where you can try your luck at catching the daylight.
Service was nicely efficient with the small seating.
Rating given:
Overhyped
Botak Jones is overhyped.
My friend wanted so much to go there, so we did. Queued for half an hour just to take the orders, then another 45mins for our food. Had heard the cajun chicken is their speciality so I took that. The chicken was okay, although really thick as compared to what you'd get at a normal hawker western food stall. The fries were disappointing, served lukewarm and tastd really just normal.
It is actually good western food, but taste for price, I really think it is really overhyped and overpriced.
My personal views I guess.
Rating given:
Good Wood~~
I finally had a chance to try Wood after so long~
I'm a sucker for food cooked in wood-y things eg. claypot rice, korean bimbibab, firewood pizza etc, so when the choice of dinner venue was up to me, I thought "Finally!!".
Strangely quiet at 7pm on a Saturday night, and a little overwhelmed by the quietness actually. Not sure if it is because its tucked right at a corner of Vivo and not visible to the weekend browsing crowd. We were offered the booth seat, which was fabulously comfortable and provided loads of privacy. Call ahead to get one~
I loved the ambience, as its quite hard to find a cosy place for a quiet dinner without the stiffness and intimidation of fine dining. If you get a seat in the open tables, you can actually see the action going on in the kitchen.
Bread was served complimentary, which was quite good. Didn't quite know what it was but tasted like herb toasted pita slices, very good as a starter. Comes with normal olive oil for dip but tasted good on its own. Refilling of bread is also quick so beware not to OD on it~
Warm wood smoked scallops with leek puree and salted black beans ($19)- very good. Nicely smoked taste and scallops were tender and incredibly fresh. Leek puree was excellent, and so were the side salad with vinegrette that came with it.
Hot pan seafood spaghetti with wood roasted manila clams, squid, ang ka prawns ($28) - Excellent, if you're like me who prefers your pasta done the simple alio olio way. Again, seafood were incredibly fresh and was a rather light combination with the pasta. I have no idea what are "ang ka" is, but the prawns were large! Generous quantity of clams made the whole dish rather value for money~
Grilled sakura chicken with lemongrass, shallots and parsley ($25) - didn't actually taste it, but it came nicely grilled and apparently quite good too. Supposedly free of antibiotics (or so I remember), so healthnuts can try it. Wasn't too filling a portion for guys, maybe because there's no carbs (the 2 chicken pieces were served with side salad), so my friend had to fill up with the bread~
Their drinks, cocktails and wine selection are apparently a big thing there, as the menu is much much bigger than that of the food. The wine cellar is the first thing you see when you walk in...impressive~ Shall try it next time.
Service was very good too, very efficient and many smiling faces (which you don't see very much of nowadays).
Definitely worth a second visit for me!!
Rating given:
Not bad~
Went there with my family for a Friday dinner; not too crowdeded :D
The seating inside is more comfortable as the outside seats are arranged in such a way that you'll be elbowed by fellow diners going to the tables past you and service staff serving the said tables.
Soup of the day ($12) - the medium size one, more than enough for 4 pax. That day was pork ribs and lotus root, which was not bad and tasted quite full bodied (although my mum said its full of MSG but I just can't taste it).
French beans with minced meat ($10) - wok-fried nicely with the beans still crunchy. Plus, not too oily, a crime that other places tend to commit.
Salad prawn ($16) - a little expensive for the portions. Still,the prawns were fresh and came with a nicely deep fried batter, mixed with some mayo. I would have preferred they drizzle the mayo on top rather than mix it in though.
Yang Chow fried rice ($10) - I have to admit I have no idea what's "Yang Chow" anymore because restaurants like to name their 'chap-ba-lang" rice Yang Chow Fried Rice. This one was just normal with usual mix veg and egg, and a tad oily for my liking, although it had a faint 'wok hei'.
Samsui chicken ($12) - medium size too. I've never really fancy this signature dish of theirs actually, but my sis loves it. That said, it is a healthy dish, good for low-carb fans. Its cold lean chicken meat served with sliced cucumber, lettuce, and a ginger / garlic mix. You're supposed to wrap the chicken in lettuce, add cucumber, and top it off with the ginger-garlic mix. The strange sounding combination actually tastes quite nice together, and it is very light on the palette. Reminds me of Peking duck but this is much healthier.
Being in the heartland makes this place a bit pricey in comparison but good for special dinners with mums and dads. Beware though, if you're unlucky, you might get grouchy rude China-national service staff. Also, food quality is not consistent as my last visit was much worse off. Depends on the chef or mood of the chef I guess.
Rating given:
Was at Yishun for my gf's friend's baby's one month party yesterday (01112009) and chanced upon this outlet hidden in the newly opened Northpoint wing.
The decor looks better then usual with wide open spaces and was bristling with customers and activity which thus also lead to me consenting to give it a try.
My gf had a coupon for $10 of a main dish with the Xin Wang card and our orders are as follows:
HK Cheese Baked Pork chop spagghetti - This wasn't too bad. The tomato is more sourish then sweet while the pork chop was a little hard. Spaggheti was plentiful however and this was actually quite overwhelming after a while.
Shrimp Dumplings - I found this rather good actually. Fresh, crunchy and sweet prawns basically make this dish good.
Pork Pastry - This was average as the pastry is not fragrant. The pork within is alright however, warm and sweet.
Pork Chop burger - I found this to be the least worthwhile item we ordered. The pork chop had a big layer of fats but was thankfully tender while the "burger" was made using toasted white bread. Overall, get rid of the fats and its acceptable but hardly worth $4.90. Mcdonalds fare better for the price.
Overall bill came to $12.90 after the $10 discount.
Honestly, this branch is better then the others i've tried but i still find it overpriced for the simple fare they provide. Our conclusion for why this is better is because, being a new branch, we theorised that probably the executive chef was on the location which thus resulted in the difference in quality.
Rating given:
Its great to see Manhattan Fish Market in a less centralized area like Pasir Ris because first of all, i'm nearer to the East and second of all, this was one of the first restaurants i tried when i started out.
Straight to the point, the restaurants main competitor will be Fish and Co. Their generally a little different in terms of preparation and so far, my impression of MFM is that it has more fried items.
Fried country mushrooms ($9.90) - 6 button mushrooms covered in batter and deep fried. Its as good as ever but i did find that this time, it cooled a lot faster as well. Probably due to peak hour and the fact that lots of people were there. Which led to it being prepared earlier to meet the demand.
Main Platter for 2($33.90) - The platter for 2 used to go for $29.90 but has since increased their prices since then. You get the usual HUGE piece of fish, fries, garlic rice, flaming prawns, calamari and mussels. Its actually a pretty big portion to be honest and big eaters need apply to finish it. The fish is still one of the better ones, thick, sweet and lightly battered. I could have 2 pieces if given the choice. The prawns are average but the mayo like sauce is excellent with the rice. mussels and calamari were equally well done. To me, this is still a good platter of food.
Overall billed clocked in at $46.40.
A hefty sum to be sure but still under the acceptable range.
However, if it continues its upward trend in pricing, i'd find it hard pressed to find an excuse to return before long.
Rating given:
There used to be four, but with the latest addition of the Canon to the Arsenal, the power balance was tipped back. The current score stands at Canon 2, Olympus 2, Nikon 1. With the figure at a perfect five, there’s a harder fight especially so when somebody countdown five seconds for the shots.
While just like how the different brands have their own strengths; with Canon producing the crisp sharp shots, Nikon edging out with the vibrant colours display, Olympus providing the balance in between, there isn’t a perfect combination. And of course, there are pros and cons of Choupinette. The small capacity of the restaurant made it a great place for a lazy pig-out, but it also meant that the place was packed to the crowd on a busy weekend.
I like how my Nikon produced the perfect blend of colour, to bring out the best in the settings of the restaurant. And surely, the Canon and Olympus camp would protest against that.
Walking by the array of bread, the three of us were attracted by the Pain au chocolat ($2.90). From the memories, warm melting chocolate filled within the crispy bread. But it was not to be, the bread was cold even though the staff helped us warm it up. Chocolate fillings, or rather, the lack of it was the main downfall.
The same problem goes for the Almond Danish ($2.90), the bread wasn’t warm, while we couldn’t expect freshly baked bread to be coming out just for us, it would be a lot better if only the bread was warm.
The chouchou’s set ($22 ) from the lunch menu had choices of either one of grilled hot sandwich, lasagna or smoked salmon sandwich, together with a drink and dessert. This was La Moussaka. The fanciful name brought home the impact, otherwise you wouldn’t be seeing this dish here. But, it was a very ordinary one, nothing to shoot about.
The generous slices of smoked salmon from the Le Noé’s sandwich ($22 from chouchou’s set) was definitely worth the price. Coming in two huge slabs of bread, it could easily filled up two person.
Choupinette’s interpretation of the Madame and Monsieur was an egg, with the latter coming without. Grilled sandwich with a choice of ham, chicken or eggplants with emmenthal cheese & béchamel sauce. Le Croque-Monsieur ($15). Apparently, our Madame was so engrossed with the sandwich that she couldn’t give her comment.
I always wondered what exactly is a quiche ($6 per slice), well i got my answer today, in not one, but two quiche! The lorraine quiche (top picture) is perhaps the most common quiche there is. While I didn’t exactly fancy the spinach quiche, I still prefer my spinach eaten like a vegetable.
Eggs on toast with smoked salmon and hollandaise sauce served all day long. This is for all the lazy bums out there! The Egg Royal’s ($21 ) ought to be presented with the most-expensive-eggs-you-ever-eaten honour. I kind of wanted to kick myself for not ordering this, the poached eggs were done perfectly, and the looks alone would give much pleasure.
Another dish which you can’t left out of any brunch menu, Eggs Benedict’s ($20 ). Eggs on toast with ham and hollandaise sauce. Well if your stomach isn’t feeling right having smoked salmon for breakfast, eggs with ham are always a safer choice.
It’s kind of heavy eating a burger for breakfast, but hey we are having brunch! For all the carnivores, Le Burger ($18) is just, well a hamburger. The beef patty was slightly overcooked, but it was served with a generous servings of salad, and the fries even came on a separate bowl. But for $18, i thought it was rather on the high side, you can have a gourmet burger at Relish, or maybe a cheaper burger from Hotshots or Smoking frog kitchen might do the job.
On first impression, the Tarte au citron ($5.60) or lemon meringue tart would definitely made a statement with the beautiful burnt and thick layer of meringue. While others took one bite of the tart and refused to touch it any more, i was slowly sampling it since this was my first time trying meringue. The layer of meringue on top was supposed to form a stiff peak but the one here was too thick, and there was also hint of coarse sugar within which was probably due to the improper dissolve of the sugar.
We were contemplating between chocolate or coffee éclair since there was too much desserts with chocolate. But we decided against it since coffee is an acquired taste, and had the Éclair au chocolat ($5). There was a salty after-taste in the éclair which came across as rather weird.
I was eagerly anticipating the Palais Royal ($6.90), for the dark chocolate and crunchy praline. But there wasn’t any crunchy praline to be found. Nonetheless, i still enjoyed the dessert even though some didn’t really like it as they were disappointed by the lack of the crunchy praline.
A very simple custard & raspberry, the Millefeuille framboise ($7). The several layers of puff pastry brought back fond childhood memories of the cake which i had before when i was a kid. It was difficult not to make a mess of it as the cake crumbled easily.
The Tarte aux Pommes ($5.90 a slice, $7.90 for an additional scoop of ice cream) was quintessentially an apple tart with a scoop of normal ice cream. The additional of 2 bucks for the scoop of ice cream was totally not worth the money, but the apple tart was decent. The thin slice of dessert was fulsome with the apple taste.
Vendôme ($6.90) also caught our attention with the three layers of dark, milk and white chocolate. The dessert was more like eating three layers of chocolate mousse, some didn’t like it, but i did.
The macarons ($1.80 each) were a disaster. We had eight of them, four from each chouchou’s set. Choupinette has about 13 flavours of macarons available, we chose chocolate, raspberry, strawberry, peach, passion fruit, orange, pear and hazelnut. Almost all the macarons had chocolate gauche for fillings, i wouldn’t mind small macarons if they were good, but the one here had an artificial taste to it. Something was definitely missing but we couldn’t quite make out what. The very artificial colouring of the macarons didn’t appeal to us too. The shells of the macaron crumbled easily and didn’t have the chewy texture a good macaron should have.
Total bill was $193 for 9 of us. Some paid more for their expensive egg brunch, while some paid less for just bread and desserts. But generally, if you are looking to try their brunch or lunch menu, you will probably looking at 20 per person, and that’s probably excluding desserts. Choupinette has a great base of Caucasians customers, and it isn’t difficult to see why for the cosy and homely decorations of the place. The name of the restaurant, and the French names of the food screams chic. It will probably be better to go on a weekday where there’s less customers if you want to try this place out.
Well, just like how there will never be a perfect DSLR for either Canon, Olympus or Nikon users. Some of you might like Nikon for the design, Canon for its brand, Olympus for its nimbleness, all of us have different preferences. Similarly for Choupinette, while we were disappointed by the desserts, but the eggs on the brunch were exceptional, and you might just like the food there. No matter what, all of us love our DSLR, and the common passion for food. Another dessert enthusiast outing, until the next one!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
Rating given:
A classic Italian gastronomic, Galbiati gourmet deli actually started out as a takeaway place for its gourmet products. I’ve been wanting to give the place a visit ever since a friend highly recommended it, and railmall is so near to my place.
The interior of the deli was very small, with seating of at most 30. The simplistic environment of the place does makes one feels comfortable, a place where you can call your own Italian joint. The food offered are mostly simple food, with a wide array of home-made pastas, appetizer and main courses.
The Salmon asparagus linguine ($18) was based on the recommendation of the serving staff as my friend’s a great fan of the fish. A very light cream base accompanied the linguine, with the salmon stronger in taste. The asparagus seems to act as the neutralising balance between the salmon and the overall light taste of the dish. A fairly good home-made pasta.
I’ve a sneak preview of their pizzas at the counter, and was excited to hear that they’d served it fresh from the oven. The popular Hawaiian pizza ($8) was our choice for the night. Coming in squares of 6, the pizza was value for money. But, there’s no free lunch in this world, i thought that the ingredients were miserable, with one small cube of pineapple and ham. The pizza crust was very hard, and dry for my personal liking. And the tomato spread for the base was insufficient.
One of the unique characteristics of Galbiati deli was they actually encouraged takeaways. Dining in, the Lavender cheesecake ($7) is a dollar more expensive than if you opted to takeaway their desserts. The lavender flower infused a aromatic fragrant into the light cheesecake. The crust base was always a welcoming partner, to provide the crunch.
We always like to save the best for the last, to savour every bite of the Tiramisu ($7) for a lasting moment stored in our memory. Well i didn’t exactly had many tiramisu before, but Galbiati’s one is probably one of the best i’ve before. There wasn’t any deconstruction, nothing fanciful about the famous Italian dessert. Just a solid good one. The mascrapone cheese, with the the coffee-liquer infuse flavour, i was sorely tempted to order another one.
Total bill was $44 for two person. While the dinner didn’t exactly turn out to be as good as what i’ve expected, it’s easy to imagine myself back here for a simple meal. The only problem? The restaurant doesn’t allow photography, so i was taking photos secretly while they were not looking.
And i do enjoyed my rights of taking photos openly, so this may be the reason a revisit will eluded me. One thing’s for sure, i’ll definitely be back to try the other desserts, and the tiramisu of course. But the next time round, i’ll probably takeaway their desserts, and snap shots of it just directly outside their shop!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
Rating given:
Au petit salut is helmed by chef Patrick Steuberger from Switzerland. Having garnered various experiences overseas in multiple countries and various michellin star chefs as tutors, Patrick returned to Au petit salut as executive chef in 2005. With such an impressive resume, its no wonder the restaurant was introduced to me by my boss.However, i maintain that reputation remains as reputation until put to the actual taste test. How will it fare i wonder?
Upon entering, you will find that the restaurant exudes a form of rustic charm for its location and the design of it exterior. Seemingly a colonial building that has yet to be teared down and located in the deep recesses of a mildly wooded enclave, its like stepping back in time to a less busy era where life was a little less complicated. In short, i felt relaxed the moment i parked my car.
The restaurant is a rather intimate affair with the interior seating about 30-40 people and the al fresco section seating around the same number of people. When i made my reservation, the restaurant was fully booked due to a corporate function but they made concessions since i only needed 2 seats.Decor wise, minimal is best for this place but i'm quite pleased with the simple and clean approach used.
The restaurant is a rather intimate affair with the interior seating about 30-40 people and the al fresco section seating around the same number of people. When i made my reservation, the restaurant was fully booked due to a corporate function but they made concessions since i only needed 2 seats.Decor wise, minimal is best for this place but i'm quite pleased with the simple and clean approach used.
My choice of starter was the foie gras as usual. For the price, i'm surprised at how big a portion the foie gras was. In short, this would easily have cost more then $30 on ala carte given the size. Quality wise, it was also a surprise since the Xeres vinegar and red onions actually managed to enhance the taste of the foie gras by adding a sourish and sweet taste. The spinach also managed to neutralize the oily taste somewhat. However, make no mistake, this is still a sinful and oily dish but one thats done well in both quality and quantity.
My gf had this soup and i had a taste, i can't remember what vegetable it was but i can tell you it tasted fresh, sweet and appetising.
Half dozen baked Burgundy snails with tomato and garlic butter - Feeling a little adventurous, we ordered an addtional serving for appetiser which was these little critters you see here. Snails. First off, i've never tasted these things before and was warned that they come with a weird and sometimes pungent smell when done wrong. However, this rendition i tried was optimistic. The tomato and garlic butter was baked well into the dish and managed to cover the pungent taste. There was still a hint of the slimey texture of the snail but otherwise, the majority of the taste went to the garlic butter. It was quite alright actually.
Filet de boeuf sauce moutarde et herbes fraîches - Pan seared beef tenderloin of about 150gm served with mashed potato mustard and herb sauce. The beef itself was a little overcooked on the sides but got better towards the middle since my order was for medium rare. The meat near the middle was tender and succulent with a generous smattering of juiciness. The herb sauce fared pretty well but bordered on being too salty. Mashed potato was excellent, supremely smooth and easy on the palate but some may find it too milky.
Guinea fowl and pork sausage served with melted cabbage and bacon, brown jus - My gf's dish, i only had a small taste of this but i found it salty and sourish. Not exactly something i would like. For the record, my gf didn't like this much either.
Fondant chaud au chocolat - Ah....fondants. Something i would soon stop ordering since i now know how to make it myself. Their rendition was pretty good, nice and crispy on the outside while warm suitably flowing on the inside. The chocolate is just right, not too sweet nor too bitter. This went well with the chocolate sorbet but horribly with the reddish fruit (i suspect raspberry).
“Mont-Blanc” vanilla ice cream, chestnut purée and meringue - Well, this didn't go too well. Being my first mont blanc and all, the vanilla ice cream was the only thing passable while the chestnut puree tasted like sweetened yam. Utterly disappointed given the rather flashy name.
Hazelnut tart with orange marmalade and vanilla “Crème Anglaise” - Another disappointment in the dessert department, this hazelnut tart was once again, rather lacklustre in weird in the taste department. Its also warm and the thing that looks like ice cream isn't. It tastes like orange cream and didn't go well with the tart at all.
Total bill came up to $131 for this meal.
In the end, the meal was still satisfactory even though one main dish and 2 of its desserts were rather lacklustre. Service was excellent while the relaxed atmosphere would have been complete if the corporate event was not ongoing while we were there. I did realise that all of the dishes that didn't live up to standard came from the $30 lunch menu while the $58 lunch menu was generally better in standard and taste. Maybe a difference in price means a difference in quality?
Rating given: