Wednesday, March 30, 2011

revisiting: Forty hands



Forty hands must be my favorite place for coffee, just because the coffee is so darn good!
After my last visit, I decided to come back again with the girls.  Place has gotten way more popular, not a good thing esp when its not a large cafe to begin with!

ahhh my coffee.. so rich and creamy and just perfect.
I will be a very happy girl if I can drink a cup of this everyday


After the rather disappointing eggs ben the last visit, I opted for the big boy breakfast.
This was much better and satisfying :) 


The baked eggs on top of a pile of mushrooms were decent too 
What got us really excited was the truffle fries, which were delightfully fragrant and sinful. 

While food at Forty hands will not wow you, the coffee more than make up for it. 
I think my only gripe with this place is how cramped it has gotten to be. My second visit with friends was quite an uncomfortable (and hot!) dining experience. 





Friday, March 11, 2011

Revisiting Artichoke Cafe and Bar



After that great dinner at Artichoke, I decided I needed to go there to try the brunch menu.
I wasnt disappointed.
Each dish was a solid "mmmmm"



What is brunch if not comforting? And this bangers and mash dish consist of nothing short of that. 
Chorizo and country sausage balls on mash with brown gravy, sunny side egg 
perfect hang-over dish in my opinion



Toast + Poached eggs + Spanish ham + rocket leaves
Like I said before..mmmmm



My order. Scrambled eggs, tomatoes, toast and the maple glazed bacon chop.
Now the eggs were creamy and fluffy and the toast, perfectly crispy.
But the star of the dish is definitely the bacon chop. 
Melt in your mouth tender, sweet and just wonderfully sinful


Deserts on the other hand, was abit of a let down. 
Date pudding with smoked milk custard, peanut caramel and sea salt.
I liked the peanut caramel on top but this date pudding was not as intense as I would like it to be. Give me the PS one any day.


One hella of a messy desert with meringue, whipped cream, berries, jam and a whole mess of other things.
Cloyingly sweet which was not something I fancied that much.




161 Middle Road
Sculpture Square
S(188978)
6336 6949 (please make a reservation!)



Saturday, March 5, 2011

Sky on 57



To celebrate our 5th anniversary (!!! half a decade!!) we decided to try out one of the celebrity restaurants at Marina Bay Sands.
Sky on 57 by Justin Quek, because we wanted a meal with a view.

So, the view was fantastic. Located on the sky garden of MBS, we had a splendid view of the city landscape and CBD area. Really pretty.

Bread choices include the onion, cheese bun, focaccia and sour dough. I think this was the onion.
Unfortunately the bread wasnt served warm so it wasnt really good.

An array of keropok was also served, this was actually really good.
Very fresh and crispy and super addictive. 

Sky on 57 being a Asian/Fusion restaurant, so there were quite alot of interesting items on the menu. Though not sure how much people are willing to pay for laksa (albeit with lobster). 

Anyway, I got the Asia tasting menu while the boy decided on ala carte options.


Ala Carte : Foie Gras Xiao Long bao.
While this was decent, I didnt really think it was anything spectacular. I think if you had gave me the XLBs from Ding tai fung, I wouldnt have been able to tell the difference.


Set: Mushroom Cappuccino 

Served in a cute little espresso cup. Thought it was decent but again, nothing fantastic.
Slightly too watery, I like my mushroom soup chunky.


Ala Carte: Trio of Seafood

This dish was beautifully presented. The steamed escargot in spinach leaf and the fresh oyster in yuzu dressing was great. The oyster was particular good, very fresh with that salty salmon roe. 
The Foie Gras Parfait (why is this even included in a dish called trio of seafood? ) failed to impress. 
I have never been a fan of foie gras and this was too creamy for me.


Set: King Scallop with braised leeks.
Ahh this scallop was huge, fresh, sweet and juicy.  Scallops + bacon = winning combi. No complains here.




Ala carte: Tenderloin with lobster 
Ahhh the beef, tender and juicy. Very flavorful and the presentation! 
The beef and lobster was paired with this Asian-inspired sauce which was so savory and flavorful that I kept stealing it. 

Set: Aged Beef

In comparison, my beef wasnt that fantastic. It was still yummy but perhaps the quality of meat wasnt as good as the one on the ala carte. The presentation was still excellent though.
I cant get over the tiny vegetables!
why is the bak choy so small! How do i get my hands on those tiny carrots?!


Set: Palette cleanser of lime sorbet with vodka emulsion.
Very light and tart. Served its purpose I guess


The symphony of dessert was gorgeous. Pretty as a picture, I couldnt bear to eat it!
We were told to eat it in a clockwise direction, starting from the peach sorbet.

The Pandan and Gula Java macaroon was excellent. Hands down the star of the show.
Sweet, salty with that tinge of caramel and that delightful pandan essence. So Asian yet not so at the same time. Even though I was beyond stuffed, I would gladly wolf down about 5 more.
The banana fritter (or goreng pisang) was fantastic as well. Very light and crispy batter. Its amazing how they managed to take a simple hawker desert  and just elevate to something so much more.

I was pretty glad I stopped the boy from ordering more deserts because they decided to shove more desserts to us.

Dough cakes with chocolate sauce which was sinfully good.


And a much needed fruit platter.

View from the top:


Singapore can be so beautiful sometimes.
Yes I do have a love-hate relationship with my homeland.


So would I come here again? Well...maybe for the desserts and the set lunches (which are very reasonably priced). The dinner menu was overpriced to me, food was decent but not THAT fantastic and def not worth our $400.  Service did not match up to expectations as well, given that Sky is meant to be a fine-dining restaurant. 


PS. Justin Quek came out in the middle of our meal to mingle with the tai-tais and some media people. I was honestly surprised that he would be in the kitchen. 


You can view more of my photos on our flickr page

Sky on 57
Tower one, sky park level 57
Marina Bay Sands
Dress code: Smart casual
Tel: 6688 8857 
( be warned, reservations can be a bitch)