Colbar, or Colonial Bar for short, was built in 1953 along Jalan Hang Jebat (off Portsdown Road) and mainly served as a canteen for soldiers who lived in the neighbouring estate which is now known as Wessex Estate. It has since relocated to a new site which is a stone's throw away from the old one and is still very popular with the expatriate community.
Since my gf and I were in the area, we took the opportunity to try out their food and soak in the tranquil atmosphere, away from the maddening world outside.
The pictures say it all don't they? A serene and laid back environment close to nature and far from the hustle and bustle of the city. Its really a place where time seems to have stopped, a scene from a different era.
Well enough of the place. Down to the food. I ordered the Chocolate Milkshake ($4) which in my opinion, was ridiculously overpriced. It looked and tasted exactly like normal Chocolate milk ($1.50), except that it had frothy layer at the top. Talk about repackaging.
This dish was as normal as it gets. Its like one of those chicken chops you eat at the hawker centre and totally forget how it tastes like the next day. The only thing I liked about this dish was that it came with button mushrooms, which I personally prefer. Other than that, the wedges were a little too soggy and very uninspiring.
The old man at the counter recommended this to me and taste wise, it was not too bad. It was a little over fried though, rendering the batter a little hard and burnt. A honestly very average dish which can easily be found elsewhere. Not really worth the $9 for it.
A total rip off kind of describes the bacon sandwich ($5). It was just two bacon strips from the oven sandwiched between 2 slices of bread with a little margarine spread across. I can make this at home for less than 50 cents!
Dinner cost us $25, which is not a big sum, but totally not worth it for the quality and quantity of food. However, factor in the surroundings and maybe the vote might tilt. Nice place to hang out, but watch out for the mosquitoes. Also, please note that there is no air conditioning no matter where you seat.
Astons Prime is a recently opened upmarket version of Aston Specialties, catering to the more well heeled with a wider selection of premium meat available and reservations of course.
Located just a stones throw away from the original Astons Specialties, Astons Prime sits along the row of shophouses near the junction of Joo Chiat Road and East Coast Road. The interior is simply furnished and can probably seat up to about 30 people. There are corner booth seats for 2 pax which are a must if you wish to have more privacy. Pity there are only 2 of those seats though and I wasn't fortunate to get one of those even during lunch.
When a place claims to serve up its own homemade garlic spread, my expectations go up a notch because I like my garlic spread a lot, probably more than most people. Sadly, Aston's spread didn't even come close to meeting my expectations. For one, it was rather bland and didn't exactly jell in well with the bread, which incidentally, wasn't tasty nor was it served warm.
Chicken Quesadilla - Interestingly, biting into the Chicken Quesadilla was akin to eating roti prata with bits of chicken and BBQ sauce. The paper thin crust was a little crispy and flaky with a rather miserable filling of chicken. Not that I'm saying that its not good, but for almost 8 dollars, I'd rather order something else.
Fillet Mignon - Notice that the fillet mignon comes in 2 variations, the New Zealand fed and the Australian fed. I'm guessing the Australian one is better because of its superior pricing. But then again, I didn't get to try the New Zealand variant, so I'm really in no position to comment.
My Australian fed fillet mignon was small (they are all 8oz by the way, which is about 250g) but good. I wouldn't go so far as to say that it was excellent as I've definitely tried better but this one was really in a league of its own. Medium rare, succulent and sweet. Only gripe I had was that the meat slab was too thick which resulted in the exterior being a little too charred. I did like the accompanying sauce though, which tasted like it had a little bit of cheese in it.
$70 for 2 pax for lunch is rather expensive honestly, but good steak comes at a price unfortunately. Service is excellent and there is no service charge or GST which kinda sweetens the deal a little. I see potential in this place, but it would be nice to have a larger slab of meat for the same price, please?
Today marks the beginning of my makan sessions with a group of like minded food enthusiasts from various forums. Our choice of dinner venue was Astons Specialties at East Coast Rd. This joint has been highly recommended by many seasoned foodies and expectations were high as we made our way there at about 2000hrs. There was quite a queue of people waiting to get in and although I had made a reservation on Wednesday, there was no record of my name to be found, which naturally left me furious. Astons admitted that it was error on their part and although we had to wait for about 25mins for a table, credit has to be given to them for trying to get us a table ASAP. One thing I noticed about the place was that it was actually quite small and squeezy. There were barely 10 tables around and air conditioning was poor. They could well do with more powerful air conditioners or an air curtain at the entrance to prevent the cool air from rushing out.
Food wise, I shared the Wagyu beef promotion @ $38.90 for a 200g cut and the Ieat Super Burger with a friend. Both were done medium rare. According to them, the wagyu was supposed to have a marbling score of 5/6, which was pretty decent for the price. The wagyu came with 2 sides (I chose fries and pasta salad) which was pretty uninspiring. The pasta salad was almost tasteless and the fries were thin and had the same seasoning as that of Botak Jones fries. The wagyu was quite good though. Soft, juicy and tender. Every mouthful is greeted with a burst of flavour that slowly seeps down your throat. Not as good as the Kobe Beef I had at Keyaki, but certainly in a league of its own. Pity about the small 200g portion though. The accompanying mushroom (with garlic?) sauce was nice too, but I found it a tad too salty. The Ieat burger scored high salivation marks for its appearance. Toasted bun atop bacon strips, deep fried onions, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, a slab of chopped sirloin and drenched with BBQ sauce. However, the taste was short of expectations. The chopped sirloin was quite tasteless and dry and not to mention a little too soft. The bacon strips were nicely grilled though and that was just about the only consolation I had from the burger. At $12.50 for the burger, I guess it was pretty reasonable.
It cost us about $210 for 8 pax. On my part I paid about $27/- which I feel was reasonable for the quality of food. However Astons didn't quite measure up to my expectations probably because I had hyped myself up to be expecting something out of this world, only to be brought back down to earth. Nevertheless, a good eat, with reasonable pricing. Please note that the wait for food can be quite long especially when its full, which is most of the time in the evenings. A worthy contender to Botak Jones. Having no GST or service charge is definitely a plus!
I've always had a penchant for brunch - whiling the lazy mornings away in a serene setting coupled with hearty fare and great company. What better way to unwind and enjoy the intricate subtleties of life? And I've found just the place to do so - Wild Rocket. The man at its helm is none other than lawyer turned chef, Willin Low, who has built up a reputation for cooking dishes which are Singaporean at heart but with a twist.
Nestled at the top of a hill (Mount Emily), Wild Rocket is a quaint little eatery/restaurant docked on the first level of Hangout Hotel. The decor is simple, focusing on the simplicities and the giant glass windows complete with semi transparent curtains allow sunlight to peer through, creating a cheery and lively atmosphere sans the heat. An air of serenity and elusiveness lingers in this dreamy and charming little outfit.
Though not billed as a fine dining restaurant, Wild Rocket still serves up complementary bread, which didn't quite impress me honestly. For one, the bread was too porous and came across as a tad too dry and bland. Thankfully, it was served warm.
Ricotta Jackfruit Pancakes with Maple Syrup - No this isn't a picture of left over pancakes. Its what we got for $8.50 - 2 small pancakes and 1 piece of deep fried jackfruit. It was excellent though, soft and fluffy with a tinge of jackfruit taste. Bits of jackfruit were also embedded within for added texture/flavour and the sweetness of the maple syrup was just about right. Now someone please explain to me why do good things always come in small packages?
Laksa Pesto with Spaghetti with Tiger Prawns & Quail Egg - A most interesting dish. As the name suggests, its spaghetti covered with coriander and bits of chilli flakes which is supposed to have a mild laksa taste. And by golly, it certainly does! The pasta was al dente but a tad too dry for my liking. I counted 3 average sized prawns and 3 quail egg halves, which certainly doesn't place this dish in the generous ingredients category. Honestly, this is not something I'll order again cause I don't find it outstanding.
Scrambled Eggs, Fresh Beef Sausages with Toast - A greedy mistake on my part. I had spied the adjourning table ordering this dish and the serving certainly looked generous. Oh boy, how wrong I was. 2 sausages, a small serving of scrambled eggs and a side of toast. The dish was clean in less than 5 mins, but not that it tasted great in case you are assuming. The sausages were rather salty and the meat didn't seem firm. As for the scrambled eggs, it was too salty as well and tasted like too much milk had gone into it.
The Wild Rocket Burger with Sun Dried Tomato Salsa - Notice the usage of the word "The" in the name of this dish. Its obviously Wild Rocket's signature offering and is THE must try burger. Pleasing aesthetics aside, the burger weighed in slightly bigger than Iggy's offering but smaller than those of Carl's Junior. The patty was huge by the way and rather well mashed, chewy and moist yet not overwhelming. Interestingly, the sun dried tomato salsa atop the patty was a tad sweet but complemented the beef almost flawlessly. The accompanying potato cubes were a little too soft and salty (I could make out the salt granules on the potatoes).
Kueh Buloh Tiramisu - Here's another classic example of how much of a mountain tortoise I am. I have no inkling whatsoever as to what in the world is Kueh Buloh. Shame on me. But the Kueh Buloh Tiramisu was quite good if you ask me. Soft with a nice layer of ice cream beneath it. But it kinda loses the Tiramisu flavour and composition though, which is rather ironical.
Dark Lava Chocolate Gateau with Ice Cream - Few molten chocolate cakes can match the truly splendid rendition by Mortons or the value for money offering at Abof. Wild Rocket's version comes close. Well almost. Its decidedly as good as Abof's but significantly more expensive as well (not as expensive as Morton's though). The shell was slightly hard while the spongy interior was soft and moist. Thick oozing, not too sweet chocolate completed the picture. But it was small, even smaller than Abof's.
I had a good and leisurely brunch, no doubt about that. But $95 for 3 pax does seem a little steep especially with the smallish portions. Its a nice place to hang out though and service is good. They will definitely be seeing more of me. On a side note, please let me reiterate that the place is tiny and you are looking at about probably 30 people max so please please please make your reservations.
The popular Uno Beef House at Toa Payoh has a new outlet in the western regions of Singapore. Located in a prominent and brightly lit coffee shop along Dover road which runs parallel to the MRT line, it has its fair share of customers as well, but the waiting time here is definitely much shorter than its Toa Payoh counterpart.
I started off with the Cream of Mushroom soup ($2) which definitely came straight out of the can. There were undissolved chunks of coagulated soup at the bottom of the bowl, indicating a less than thorough stirring process. Having said that, I certainly didn't expect them to make their own mushroom soup, not for $2.
My gf had the pork chops ($5) which was quite good. Chewy yet not too dry or tough, with lots of savoury made from scratch gravy to go along. Portions were decent, but definitely not sufficient for a glutton like me.
The purported star of the evening (they are called Uno Beef House for a reason), the tenderloin steak ($10), was served up medium rare as per my request. The meat was very well done, succulent and a little chewy but lacked the sweetness of really good tenderloins. The mushroom sauce was quite decent too, with slices of mushroom and onion in it. I would have liked a more robust sauce though. Here comes the real star of the evening, the side of a single Potato Ball which was served alongside a small tomato. It had a buttery taste to it and reminded me very much of eating pineapple tarts minus the sweetened pineapple of course. Texture wise was also good, not too mashed up or soft. I wonder if the Potato Balls are available on their own.
In summary, I like this place and will definitely be back to patronise. Its definitely in the league of Astons for steak and considering the amount of hype that Astons has been getting, I rather stick to Uno.
min2_88said: hi. im cindy from UNO BEEF HOUSE (toa payoh branch). if u wan to drop by toa payoh to hav a meal, u always can contact me at 90700594 for reservation. thanx for ur support!!! 02 Nov 2007 at 1:31 am
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1=SGD 0.0587
Since my gf and I were in the area, we took the opportunity to try out their food and soak in the tranquil atmosphere, away from the maddening world outside.
The pictures say it all don't they? A serene and laid back environment close to nature and far from the hustle and bustle of the city. Its really a place where time seems to have stopped, a scene from a different era.
Well enough of the place. Down to the food. I ordered the Chocolate Milkshake ($4) which in my opinion, was ridiculously overpriced. It looked and tasted exactly like normal Chocolate milk ($1.50), except that it had frothy layer at the top. Talk about repackaging.
This dish was as normal as it gets. Its like one of those chicken chops you eat at the hawker centre and totally forget how it tastes like the next day. The only thing I liked about this dish was that it came with button mushrooms, which I personally prefer. Other than that, the wedges were a little too soggy and very uninspiring.
The old man at the counter recommended this to me and taste wise, it was not too bad. It was a little over fried though, rendering the batter a little hard and burnt. A honestly very average dish which can easily be found elsewhere. Not really worth the $9 for it.
A total rip off kind of describes the bacon sandwich ($5). It was just two bacon strips from the oven sandwiched between 2 slices of bread with a little margarine spread across. I can make this at home for less than 50 cents!
Dinner cost us $25, which is not a big sum, but totally not worth it for the quality and quantity of food. However, factor in the surroundings and maybe the vote might tilt. Nice place to hang out, but watch out for the mosquitoes. Also, please note that there is no air conditioning no matter where you seat.
See all my pictures here
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!Wow very bad leh. Hmm..... I will not even give them 3 stars based on your review. Haa...
31 Oct 2007 at 1:13 pm
Located just a stones throw away from the original Astons Specialties, Astons Prime sits along the row of shophouses near the junction of Joo Chiat Road and East Coast Road. The interior is simply furnished and can probably seat up to about 30 people. There are corner booth seats for 2 pax which are a must if you wish to have more privacy. Pity there are only 2 of those seats though and I wasn't fortunate to get one of those even during lunch.
When a place claims to serve up its own homemade garlic spread, my expectations go up a notch because I like my garlic spread a lot, probably more than most people. Sadly, Aston's spread didn't even come close to meeting my expectations. For one, it was rather bland and didn't exactly jell in well with the bread, which incidentally, wasn't tasty nor was it served warm.
Chicken Quesadilla - Interestingly, biting into the Chicken Quesadilla was akin to eating roti prata with bits of chicken and BBQ sauce. The paper thin crust was a little crispy and flaky with a rather miserable filling of chicken. Not that I'm saying that its not good, but for almost 8 dollars, I'd rather order something else.
Fillet Mignon - Notice that the fillet mignon comes in 2 variations, the New Zealand fed and the Australian fed. I'm guessing the Australian one is better because of its superior pricing. But then again, I didn't get to try the New Zealand variant, so I'm really in no position to comment.
My Australian fed fillet mignon was small (they are all 8oz by the way, which is about 250g) but good. I wouldn't go so far as to say that it was excellent as I've definitely tried better but this one was really in a league of its own. Medium rare, succulent and sweet. Only gripe I had was that the meat slab was too thick which resulted in the exterior being a little too charred. I did like the accompanying sauce though, which tasted like it had a little bit of cheese in it.
$70 for 2 pax for lunch is rather expensive honestly, but good steak comes at a price unfortunately. Service is excellent and there is no service charge or GST which kinda sweetens the deal a little. I see potential in this place, but it would be nice to have a larger slab of meat for the same price, please?
See all my pictures here
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Food wise, I shared the Wagyu beef promotion @ $38.90 for a 200g cut and the Ieat Super Burger with a friend. Both were done medium rare. According to them, the wagyu was supposed to have a marbling score of 5/6, which was pretty decent for the price. The wagyu came with 2 sides (I chose fries and pasta salad) which was pretty uninspiring. The pasta salad was almost tasteless and the fries were thin and had the same seasoning as that of Botak Jones fries. The wagyu was quite good though. Soft, juicy and tender. Every mouthful is greeted with a burst of flavour that slowly seeps down your throat. Not as good as the Kobe Beef I had at Keyaki, but certainly in a league of its own. Pity about the small 200g portion though. The accompanying mushroom (with garlic?) sauce was nice too, but I found it a tad too salty. The Ieat burger scored high salivation marks for its appearance. Toasted bun atop bacon strips, deep fried onions, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, a slab of chopped sirloin and drenched with BBQ sauce. However, the taste was short of expectations. The chopped sirloin was quite tasteless and dry and not to mention a little too soft. The bacon strips were nicely grilled though and that was just about the only consolation I had from the burger. At $12.50 for the burger, I guess it was pretty reasonable.
It cost us about $210 for 8 pax. On my part I paid about $27/- which I feel was reasonable for the quality of food. However Astons didn't quite measure up to my expectations probably because I had hyped myself up to be expecting something out of this world, only to be brought back down to earth. Nevertheless, a good eat, with reasonable pricing. Please note that the wait for food can be quite long especially when its full, which is most of the time in the evenings. A worthy contender to Botak Jones. Having no GST or service charge is definitely a plus!
See all my pictures here
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Nestled at the top of a hill (Mount Emily), Wild Rocket is a quaint little eatery/restaurant docked on the first level of Hangout Hotel. The decor is simple, focusing on the simplicities and the giant glass windows complete with semi transparent curtains allow sunlight to peer through, creating a cheery and lively atmosphere sans the heat. An air of serenity and elusiveness lingers in this dreamy and charming little outfit.
Though not billed as a fine dining restaurant, Wild Rocket still serves up complementary bread, which didn't quite impress me honestly. For one, the bread was too porous and came across as a tad too dry and bland. Thankfully, it was served warm.
Ricotta Jackfruit Pancakes with Maple Syrup - No this isn't a picture of left over pancakes. Its what we got for $8.50 - 2 small pancakes and 1 piece of deep fried jackfruit. It was excellent though, soft and fluffy with a tinge of jackfruit taste. Bits of jackfruit were also embedded within for added texture/flavour and the sweetness of the maple syrup was just about right. Now someone please explain to me why do good things always come in small packages?
Laksa Pesto with Spaghetti with Tiger Prawns & Quail Egg - A most interesting dish. As the name suggests, its spaghetti covered with coriander and bits of chilli flakes which is supposed to have a mild laksa taste. And by golly, it certainly does! The pasta was al dente but a tad too dry for my liking. I counted 3 average sized prawns and 3 quail egg halves, which certainly doesn't place this dish in the generous ingredients category. Honestly, this is not something I'll order again cause I don't find it outstanding.
Scrambled Eggs, Fresh Beef Sausages with Toast - A greedy mistake on my part. I had spied the adjourning table ordering this dish and the serving certainly looked generous. Oh boy, how wrong I was. 2 sausages, a small serving of scrambled eggs and a side of toast. The dish was clean in less than 5 mins, but not that it tasted great in case you are assuming. The sausages were rather salty and the meat didn't seem firm. As for the scrambled eggs, it was too salty as well and tasted like too much milk had gone into it.
The Wild Rocket Burger with Sun Dried Tomato Salsa - Notice the usage of the word "The" in the name of this dish. Its obviously Wild Rocket's signature offering and is THE must try burger. Pleasing aesthetics aside, the burger weighed in slightly bigger than Iggy's offering but smaller than those of Carl's Junior. The patty was huge by the way and rather well mashed, chewy and moist yet not overwhelming. Interestingly, the sun dried tomato salsa atop the patty was a tad sweet but complemented the beef almost flawlessly. The accompanying potato cubes were a little too soft and salty (I could make out the salt granules on the potatoes).
Kueh Buloh Tiramisu - Here's another classic example of how much of a mountain tortoise I am. I have no inkling whatsoever as to what in the world is Kueh Buloh. Shame on me. But the Kueh Buloh Tiramisu was quite good if you ask me. Soft with a nice layer of ice cream beneath it. But it kinda loses the Tiramisu flavour and composition though, which is rather ironical.
Dark Lava Chocolate Gateau with Ice Cream - Few molten chocolate cakes can match the truly splendid rendition by Mortons or the value for money offering at Abof. Wild Rocket's version comes close. Well almost. Its decidedly as good as Abof's but significantly more expensive as well (not as expensive as Morton's though). The shell was slightly hard while the spongy interior was soft and moist. Thick oozing, not too sweet chocolate completed the picture. But it was small, even smaller than Abof's.
I had a good and leisurely brunch, no doubt about that. But $95 for 3 pax does seem a little steep especially with the smallish portions. Its a nice place to hang out though and service is good. They will definitely be seeing more of me. On a side note, please let me reiterate that the place is tiny and you are looking at about probably 30 people max so please please please make your reservations.
See all my pictures here
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I started off with the Cream of Mushroom soup ($2) which definitely came straight out of the can. There were undissolved chunks of coagulated soup at the bottom of the bowl, indicating a less than thorough stirring process. Having said that, I certainly didn't expect them to make their own mushroom soup, not for $2.
My gf had the pork chops ($5) which was quite good. Chewy yet not too dry or tough, with lots of savoury made from scratch gravy to go along. Portions were decent, but definitely not sufficient for a glutton like me.
The purported star of the evening (they are called Uno Beef House for a reason), the tenderloin steak ($10), was served up medium rare as per my request. The meat was very well done, succulent and a little chewy but lacked the sweetness of really good tenderloins. The mushroom sauce was quite decent too, with slices of mushroom and onion in it. I would have liked a more robust sauce though.
Here comes the real star of the evening, the side of a single Potato Ball which was served alongside a small tomato. It had a buttery taste to it and reminded me very much of eating pineapple tarts minus the sweetened pineapple of course. Texture wise was also good, not too mashed up or soft. I wonder if the Potato Balls are available on their own.
In summary, I like this place and will definitely be back to patronise. Its definitely in the league of Astons for steak and considering the amount of hype that Astons has been getting, I rather stick to Uno.
See all my pictures here.
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!hi. im cindy from UNO BEEF HOUSE (toa payoh branch). if u wan to drop by toa payoh to hav a meal, u always can contact me at 90700594 for reservation. thanx for ur support!!!
02 Nov 2007 at 1:31 am