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我輩について 男 中華と日本料理 客人数 Counters 通告！ Trip will proceed with 3 pple - Spice Peranakan - budget: $15 - Shimbashi Soba at Paragon - budget: $25 - P&P Thai Food - budget: $15 Reviews 評判 怨言与投诉
友達様 Take Out Bento Boxes February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 August 2008 September 2008 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 April 2009 June 2009 July 2009 |
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 Saizeriya To celebrate 2 guys' birthdays, the whole gang of people trooped down to Liang Court under my suggestion to Saizeriya, a recently opened Japanese-Italian restaurant at affordable prices. The menu is pretty varied, with pizzas, pastas, hamburger steaks, steaks and dorias. For about $3 you can get free flow of pretty good coffee and other cold drinks. Like a real Japanese family restaurant, they even have cute cups with cartoon prints for the kids.  For starters I ordered Escargot at about $5. The snails were deshelled and cooked in a very nice blend of butter, olive oil, onions and garlic, and served sizzling hot. The meat had a bouncy chewy texture and the flavour of the sauce was well infused. In fact, the sauce was so good we polished the remaining off after finishing off the snails themselves. BFG had the Hamburg steak with Pork (~$8). I had this on my previous visit. The hamburg steak was basically minced beef and grilled. The meat easily comes apart in your mouth and was pretty juicy. I like the flavouring and the BBQ-ish sauce too. The pork on the side was actually just bacon. Very tasty but a little on the salty side. The sauce it was cooked in tasted very oriental but i could not discern what it contained. I ordered the Scallop and Mushroom Pasta in Soup Base (~$8). The pasta was not al dente but cooked slightly past that. I had no problems with it because it kind of matched the soup base nature of the dish. Scallops were fresh and sweet although small. The soup was pretty light, made of chicken stock i believe, but gained on me as i continued with my meal. Adding black pepper to the dish actually works well to bring out the flavours. Expecting ourselves to be still hungry, 4 of us shared a Seafood Gratin (~$8). Although the plate was small, i expect this to be pretty filling for a single person. On a bed of Penne pasta rests very creamy and light but aromatic cream cheese, followed by a crusted chewy and tasty top of cheese with generous squid rings and some prawns, with a centre "gathering" of shiitake mushrooms. I particularly liked the cheese. It was rich and creamy but not so heavy on taste to make one sick of it half way through. Food: Not the most authentic of Italian fare, but an interesting japanese fusion restaurant with many good dishes to try Cost: 8/10 Prices are very reasonable, and considered pretty cheap for a restaurant located in Liang Court Location: 5.5/10 Not the most popular of shopping centres for locals Ambience: Very cozy lighting and furniture. Can just sit there and drink infinite cups of coffee. Address: #02-22 Liang Court Tel: 6337 8948 Friday, July 10, 2009 Timbre  I had the Lady choose our dining place for once, and after some tussling between Timbre and Aerin's she settled on the former. Following a movie at Cathay we walked all the way to Boat Quay and reached the Timbre at ACM. It was crowded as usual and we had to settle for seats outside the main seating area. The Lady easily chose Long Island Tea for her cocktail from the huge list which lost me immediately, having little experience with cocktails. The Long Island was surprisingly light, with nary a vodka taste, which was quite surprising. Probably diluted by all the ice inside, leaving only the taste of the Triple Sec and the lime juice. I thought the one I can buy in glass bottles from supermarkets tasted better. After struggling with the menu, I settled on something with coffee. My Mudslide had a full Vodka taste layered with the coffee taste of kahlua and the creaminess from Irish cream. Reminded me of a Latte with vodka. Enjoyed it very much. Before coming to Timbre I had heard lots about the Roast Duck Pizza, and so I wouldn't miss this chance to try it. The crust was extremely thin and delightfully crispy and layered on it were large slices of tender roast duck, fried popiah skin which lent a crunchy contrast to the tender duck meat and drizzled with a tangy and delectable Peking duck sauce. All these went nicely together, even with the mozarrella cheese. My only complaint was that the sauce was on the salty side, and they could be more generous with the duck too. Still itching for some more food, and wanting to last longer at Timbre to enjoy the live band (which was not very good on that day), we ordered Buffalo Wings ($8) to share. The wings were well fried, with a crispy batter on the outside, smothered with a rather spicy and tastyd sambal-like Devil sauce. I found the chopped peanuts scattered on the wings rather interesting as well. To round off the wings, we decided to order Arts Gaarden to share. Was quite disappointed also despite the lovely colour. The scotch whisky taste never came through, and the drink was plenty much like pineapple and orange juice. The Lady was sorely disappointed at this concoction..Food: I love the food and the mudslide, but for some place like this, they probably should pay more attention to the drinks also. Cost: 7/10 The cost was not out of my expectations, food pricing was reasonable. Location: 7.5/10 it's not hard to find two of the three branches. One is near National Museum and the other is behind the Parliament house at Boat Quay. Ambience: Lively but relaxing to stay there and just chat over drinks. The service can turn dreadful when the place is packed so be careful, especially when asking for iced water. Friday, June 26, 2009 Borshch Steakhouse We ended up at Serangoon Gardens after a slack tennis session hoping for a good dinner at Chomp Chomp...but it was closed. After walking around the whole Serangoon Gardens, we decided to place our bets on this dark and mysterious Borshch Steakhouse that G had once mentioned to me before. Russian food, it claimed to serve. They have set dinners for $13.80+ everyday, so the Lady decided to risk a Sirloin Steak while i picked the Lamb Shank which cost $1 more.  I had the Caviar with Egg for appetiser. Wow, caviar, my first time. What came was a hardboiled egg with a half teaspoon of black caviar on top. Anyway i cannot claim to know what good caviar tastes like so i shall just end off with saying i kept thinking of ebiko sushi. The Lady had the Shrimp Cocktail, a simple lettuce and tomato salad topped with some small shrimps and thousand island dressing. Shrimps were pretty nice to me, sweet and crunchy although she was not impressed at all. The lemon slice provided actually made it quite appetising after you mix the juice in. After a rather boring appetiser we had the Borshch soup. Borshch is basically a beef stock creamy soup with stewed vegetables. The soup itself had a smooth texture with a slight meatiness and a tangy taste due to the beef and the beetroot, but there was no beef to be seen anywhere. Instead the rest of the bowl was made up by stewed till soft vegetables, cabbage, carrots, potatoes. I liked how they were all infused with the savoury taste of the soup. Too bad they didn't serve sour cream with it or it would have tasted better. My Lamb Shank came looking pretty impressive. The creamy sauce had a delicious aroma and the colour looked pretty inviting. The meat was well stewed, falling away from the bone rather easily. Some parts were very tender and the fat was melt in your mouth, but some leaner portions were a little tough. But the sauce was the winner, for it gave even more body and taste to the meat. The funny thing was that it was served with a portion of stir fried kangkong... Explanation: the owners are Hainanese. The Lady's Sirloin steak done medium. They serve it on a sizzling hot plate which meant the steak got "accidentally" cooked to medium well. Meat was still pretty tasty to me, juicy although i prefer my steaks medium rare. A guide for most restaurants that don't seem to specialise in steaks is to order them one step raw-er. The butter served on the steak melted together with a sweet and zesty sauce (can't figure out what it was) to become a rather interesting combination. I also felt the portion was pretty large too. But the lady wasn't impressed with it. She has high standards for steaks i suppose. And as "usual" the sides were weird and funky.  Desserts were boring, a simple crepe with banana sauce, and a scoop of King's vanilla ice cream with some canned peach slices, called Fancy Pancake and Peach Melba respectively. And the meal ended off with a coffee of good aroma but no body to speak of. Food: I can't decide properly. I thought the lamb shank and steaks were not bad, especially my lamb. The soup was fine too. I have an urge to go back and try the kebab-like Shashliks though Cost: 7.5/10 For quantity this is pretty value for money I felt. Location: 3/10 Serangoon gardens isn't that accessible unless you live nearby Ambience: Dark mysterious with the odd pictures of horses everywhere. Looks like The Ship's decor. Feels sleepy Address: 58 Serangoon Garden Way Tel: 62804351 Saturday, June 06, 2009 Bakerzin Met up with JH and Fairy after a long time, and had a good dinner at Aston's. But then the night was still early and dessert appeared on the agenda. JH suggested Bakerzin's and I, who is working for a deficit, was shocked. Everyone is well acquainted with Bakerzin's astounding pricing, but we still went for a look anyway. Surprise! Chocolate Amer at 50% discount! Monthly Special! Eat! So we entered after some discussion and settled on one Chocolate Amer and a Mango Mousse.  Chocolate Amer (U.P $7) was small and petite, but packed a chocolatey punch. Two layers of moist and fluffy chocolate sponge with two layers of incredibly rich dark chocolate mousse made up this small slice. The sponge was so soft it just melts together with the mousse in your mouth and the richness of the dark chocolate really came through with a strong fragrance of cocoa. Really left me wanting more. Mango Mousse ($6.50?) was a stark contrast to the Chocolate Amer. A thin layer of sponge formed the base to a thick firm bouncy mango mousse layer topped by another sponge and some cream. The mousse was of course the highlight, with a very light texture and fresh tangy real mango flavour. You could say the flavour of the mango really dances. Embedded in the mousse are fresh mango pieces also, and the whole cake was really very refreshing and delightful.Food: Cakes with character, and really delicious to boot. Cost: 6/10 Real expensive cakes, but the taste is definitely worth experiencing Location: 9/10 Various branches around town. Suntec, Paragon, Taka, and a few others in the heartlands Ambience: Cozy relaxin cafe setting with comfortable lighting and furniture. You could stay there for hours. P.S. Bakerzin has a monthly promotion for their cakes. This month of June 09 the New York Cheesecake is going for half-price Ramen Santouka Ramen Santouka hails from Hokkaido with a few shops already across the world, and finally it has reached local shores with a shop located at Central, the place heavily populated by Japanese eateries. My first visit entailed a long wait with BFG and President, and running to-and-fro between Santouka and Marutama, wondering which one we should wait for since Santouka's prices looked steep. But, looking back, it was fortunate we didn't end up at Marutama. The shop is small and rather cramped, but there was a lively atmosphere. Being poor students, we looked through the rather high end menu and could only settle on the cheapest three, which were the standard ramen offerings.  We had the Gyoza too, which came first. Pretty disappointing though, the skin was thick and rubbery. Yes it was pan fried but it seemed as if all the heat was concentrated at the bottom. The rest of the gyoza was just cold and rubbery. Filling was little and nondescript, and tasted more like chive dumplings. A sad plate of gyoza indeed. I had the Spicy Miso ramen. What struck me first was how opaque the soup looked. It was really thick and tasty. A creamy and full tonkotsu base flavoured with red miso and chilli oil really struck the spot. The flavour really spreads on the palate smoothly. I only wish there was more miso in the soup. Nevertheless the soup really impressed me so. Noodles were of the Sapporo style, curly and yellow, with a nice springy bite to it that went well with the rich soup.The Chashu slices were one of the best I have come across. More like stewed fatty pork, they were thick (nearly 1 cm) and the fat just melts in your mouth while the tender flavourful meat breaks apart easily to mingle with the melted fat. BFG had the normal Miso Ramen which was just as good, and the miso taste came through more than mine, probably due to the chilli in mine.  The President had Shoyu ramen. Unlike the usual Shoyu ramen, this Asahikawa style ramen still uses the tonkotsu base and flavours it with shoyu, resulting in a sweet and savoury rich taste with the creaminess of tonkotsu and the "eggy" saltish flavour of good shoyu. Very delectable as well, since it has more dimensions than the usual shoyu ramen-s. Food: Great ramen comparable to Miharu's, with a very enjoyable thick broth and great chashu slices.Cost: 6/10 Asahikawa style ramen is smaller than other regions, but the price here is expensive at about $14 per bowl without counting in GST and service charge yet. Location: 8/10 Central is located above Clarke Quay MRT, but the shop itself may be a little tricky to find, since it's hidden in a corner Ambience: Boisterous and well lit, not my favourite but sitting at the counter seats outlooking the river while eating ramen is kind of nice Address: 6 Eu Tong Sen St #02-76, The Central Saturday, April 11, 2009 Fre(n)sh After a failed attempt to lure the Lady to an evening of shopping along Orchard Road, we ended up at Vivocity mugging in Food Republic. Of course, how could I not have a little surprise up my sleeve? Turns out that G had recommended a French cafe in Vivocity, so I decided to drag the Lady there for desserts. The menu was pretty extensive, with various difficult French names of starters, salads, Tartines and of course, desserts. They had a small selection, including Tiramisu (what's an Italian doing here??). After some debate, we settled on a Creme Brulee and a Fromage Blanc.  The first thing we noticed was the pretty stenciling of the shop's name by the side. Kudos to the presentation, although the aluminium container for my Creme Brulee ($5.50) made me raise eyebrows. It should have been a classy ramekin. Creme Brulee consists of a rich custard pudding with a caramelised layer on top which is made by flaming sugar sprinkled on the surface. Having watched Amelie, where the protagonist found simple joys in cracking the caramelised layer on top, I decided to do it too. It cracked easily, but I thought I looked pretty silly to a dumbfounded Lady. Eitherway, the Creme Brulee was very enjoyable, a silky soft custard with rich vanilla and custard flavours melting on your tongue and with the slightly burnt sweet flavour of caramel dissolving into the mix. Complex flavours in a simple pudding. Fromage Blanc ($6.50) was the highlight of the evening. Fromage Blanc actually refers to the white yoghurt like layer on top. It's actually white cheese, a very soft cream cheese. Lady made me try it first, and so i did. It hit me. The rich creaminess of the fromage spread smoothly in my mouth, and the sourness was so refreshing, better than any plain yoghurt i have ever tasted. Then I dug down and tried the chestnut paste. Amazing as well. The nutty wholesome flavour of chestnuts in a smooth paste that blended so well with the fromage. A perfect harmony of sweetness with sourness, and of rich creaminess with the wholesome nutty flavour of chestnuts. We really enjoyed this very much. You can pick strawberries, fig or chestnut for the paste, but we both think the chestnut should be a priority.Food: Oh lovely French desserts...Bon appetit! Cost: 6/10 expensive for small desserts, but enjoyable nonetheless Location: 7.5/10 Vivocity. The shop can be a little hard to find though Ambience: Sitting outside at the small table with wooden chairs feels nice. Exercise your imagination a little. Address: #01-163 Vivocity Taglio Gourmet Pizza G told me about this pizza place at Central that sells authentic Italian pizzas at cheap and reasonable prices. Realising that it was the same place I had passed by many times and wanted to try, I decided to get the Lady to accompany me again for another gastronomical experience. It was a bout of good timing, for that week we went, Taglio had just started this pizza buffet, where you pay $15.90 nett per person and enjoy a starter (we had Calamari, pretty good), small pasta serving and free flow of pizzas and drinks. I felt guilty for convincing the health conscious Lady to embark on this buffet with me, but it was too late to apologise~~  The pasta we picked was the mushroom Aglio Olio. Honestly I was not impressed with it. The olive oil used was not fragrant, probably not extra virgin olive oil. Pasta itself was not al dente, somewhat softer, but still good on the palate, but the garlic came through as overpowering. Shiitake mushrooms were used, which imparted a curious oriental flavour to the Aglio Olio. On the whole reasonable but not impressive. But I digress. The main highlight were the pizzas. First round: Smoked salmon, Mushroom and Chicken TeriyakiSmoked salmon scored with me with delicious smoky flavour, but the Lady who was averse to strong pungent flavours, did not like it as much. As for the mushroom pizza, I wished they had use Portobello, or at least, not cut the cremini so thin that they dehydrated after a visit to the oven. Not impressed with it. Teriyaki chicken had plenty of juicy tender chicken dices, but the teriyaki sauce used was so little we couldn't really taste it. We were left wondering what pizza it was for a moment. However, I must point out that the thin crust with a bed of mozzarella was pretty well done, crispy with a little fluffiness on the inside and topped by a bed of light mozzarella and tomato sauce. This will not impress people seeking heavy flavours though.  Second round: Hawaiian and PepperoniThis time the pizzas were slightly underbaked. The dough was not as crispy and was of a bread-like texture. The Hawaiian was fine, but could stand to be more generous with the ham. The Lady loves Hawaiian so this naturally scored with her. I think Pizza Hut offers better ones though. Pepperoni is a favourite of mine, but I was quite disappointed to see the obviously countable pepperoni-s used, a total of 8! The meat was fine, just not quantitious enough to make an impression.  Third round: Cajun chickenPizza was overbaked this time, with significant portions of the crust burnt and hard. However this pizza impressed me the most, with a strong spicy seasoning used on the chicken dices. It tasted very Indian style, but I liked the blend of spices. Could be better named Masala chicken. Each variety came in a rectangle of 20 x 10 cm and cut in fours. They sell these large slices by about $6 a slice or more. FYI Pizza al Taglio means "pizza by the slice". I see potential in the pizzas, but they need to be more consistent and generous. Gourmet pizza cannot be termed 'gourmet' if there isn't consistent quality. Food: I had a satisfying meal and was full to the brim, and so did Lady, but we agreed that the quality should be a notch higher than what we got. Still, there is potential for improvement. Cost: 8/10 for a buffet, this is awfully cheap. We still had a few pizza varieties we didn't manage to try. Location: 7/10 Central is at Clarke Quay MRT station Ambience: Wooden furniture and an orange-brown themed decor makes for a pretty joyful establishment, except that the selection of weird British Airways commercial music is questionable..They even had the techno version... Address: 6 Eu Tong Sen Street #01-67 S059817 The Central Tel: 62271795 Thursday, March 26, 2009 Botejyu in Japanese Gourmet Town  Vivocity has this three in one Japanese gourmet town concept, which is actually just Ajisen, Botejyu and another Yoshimi soup curry restaurant operating under shared premises. But on both occasions that I've been there, it's been Botejyu for me.I brought the Lady on my second visit to Botejyu, wanting to try out more okonomiyakis. Okonomiyakis, for the uninitiated, are something like japanese savoury pizzas. The base is made of a batter, in which is mixed cabbage and various other ingredients that the customer desires, hence "okonomi". The whole mix is then sizzled on a hot plate and then drizzled with sauces in a latte art style. Besides okonomiyakis, the chain sells yakisobas as well.  The Pork Squid and Prawn Yakisoba came along with a strong savoury aroma of japanese sauces and the smell of fried noodles. Not the usual yakisoba, this one is fried and served with a layer of the okonomiyaki batter and egg as well. The noodles were pretty fat and had a nice bite to it. Although it didn't have the browned taste (wok hei), the taste of the noodles was augmented by the sauce and mayo drizzled generously, which tastes zesty, bbq-ish and creamy. The okonomiyaki batter layer went well together as well, and layered on it were 4 large bacon slices which were pretty tasty. The prawns were fresh and crunchy too although the squid was too tough for the lady's taste. Cheese and Mochi Okos was really interesting. It was not like any other okonomiyakis. Within the batter is trapped lots of gooey strong cheese. The savoury thick creaminess of the cheese totally changed how the batter tasted. Very unique experience. And then there was mochi (glutinous rice cake) mixed into the batter too, and the gooey sticky nature of the mochi actually complemented the cheese so well to form a savoury tasty cheesy rich full feel within your mouth, along with the occasional contrast provided by the crunch of cabbage shreds. A must try, for the really interesting texture of cheese and mochi combined and for the surprisingly tasty combination of these two ingredients.Pretty impressed by the first okonomiyaki chain i've visited locally. Never tried what is called authentic before but this is pretty good too. Other recommendations include the Moonlight okos, which is an okonomiyaki with seafood and bacon and topped with bonito flakes and a raw egg.  Food: Nicely done and tasty okonomiyaki, with very interesting fusion concept explored by the cheese and mochi okosCost: 7.5/10 Reasonable for the quality and experience. Prices are about $13 excluding GST svc charge Location: 7.5/10 Vivocity is pretty inaccessible for some i suppose Ambience: Pretty noisy restaurant i realised. But nothing much to complain about except the poor situational awareness of the waitresses. Address: 1 Harbourfront Walk #01-157/158/ORA Vivocity S 098585 Tel: 62249690 Monday, February 09, 2009 Basil Alcove Through G, i heard of Basil Alcove quite long ago, and that it sold fine dining style dishes at darn cheap prices. Seeing a chance available, i dragged the Lady (previously known as the Woman. Reason for the change is irrelevant) to this place after some shopping and running around town after flying movie tickets. The place was pretty simple. Just a simple kitchen by the roadside with a few tables outside decorated by simple checkered tablecloths and a simple tealight. It would have been better had the "restaurant" played more "relevant" songs instead of some sad ballads. Next the menu. Food was modern Italian, with some interesting fusion creations. Low on budget, we took the cheapest main course Chicken and Peaches ($12.80) and the Shrimp with Orange Segments Pasta ($12.60)  Shrimp and Orange Segments pasta sounded really funky, so we ordered it. The fragrance of fried olive oil was inviting, but i was surprised to see that it was actually Aglio Olio. Indeed, the pasta was very tasty, with right amounts of garlic flavour complementing the olive oil. It was al dente as well, and not too dry. However I could nary taste the orange, only very subtle hints. The prawns were the highlight though. Very fresh and crunchy, and well mixed with the flavour of the pasta, although once again i question the lack of an orange flavour. Nevertheless this dish was satisfying. Chicken and Peaches came with a pretty artistic layout. A stack of grilled chicken topped off with mashed peaches and a cup with some balsamic vinegar dressed salad in it with a slice of canned peach. The grilled chicken was a disappointment. Lady made the remark that her grandmother could do the same. Sadly i had to agree. The chicken used was the same type used for the usual chicken chops, and the grilling had charred some parts, making those parts bitter. Although the pairing of the peach and chicken was refreshing and interesting, it could not make up for the disappointment. Also, the peach mash given was so little anyway.One saving grace was the lack of 10% svc charge and 7% GST. The prices on the menu are what you pay. We did wonder if the better dishes are the more expensive ones such as the Basilico duck though, maybe when I have spare cash i might have a try. Food: Nice presentation but not worth the money paid. Perhaps the gems are to be found in other dishes. Cost: 6/10 It wasn't as expensive as i had expected but i wasn't satisfied Ambience: Quite unique, dining on such dishes by the roadside. Location: 7/10 Not difficult actually. Fortune Centre is next to NAFA building and near SMU Address: 190 Middle Road #01-12 Fortune Centre S 188979 Tel: 63361318 Monday, January 19, 2009 Lai Lai Family Restaurant 来来红烧牛肉面 It's the last day of the holidays and I was out with the woman. Woman likes beef and so do i, and it's been some time since i had wanted to try this beef noodle restaurant at Liang Seah Street opposite Bugis Junction. The menu is quite simple and basically sells beefy stuff. Having waited for quite a while, i was incredibly hungry and went for the medium Beef Noodles at $8.90++ with what was weirdly termed as potato noodles. Woman had the same, but she took the small portion at $7.90++ and opted for the normal noodles which resembles ban mian.  Portions are pretty large. The bowl itself was about 20+cm in diameter and the noodles aplenty. My noodles turned out to be konnyaku noodles, transparent, slippery and deliciously chewy. The soup was very tasty, full of the hong shao aroma and full of beef's unique taste. I just lament the use of MSG which although made it very tasty, had a pretty distinct aftertaste followed by an incredible thirst. Beef chunks were huge, and well infused with taste. They were fatty and the fat melts in your mouth releasing a fatty and savoury aroma, but the lean portions were inconsistent; some were very tender while others were tough. But overall the beef was pretty delicious and generous as well. Indeed, a satisfying and very filling meal. Woman couldn't even finish hers. I helped myself to the beef in the end. It would be better with less MSG, but still a good place to return to and have supper since it opens till 3 am. Food: Large bowl of beefy goodness. Cost: 7/10 Svc charge and GST are pretty inapproriate here to me Location: 7.5/10 Ambience: Pretty small and simple restaurant with pretty lousy service actually. Address: 20 Liang Seah Street Tel: 68371556 Business hours: 11.30am to 3am daily |
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