Saturday, April 27, 2013

Hoshino Coffee



Braved the very long queue at Plaza Singapore to try the much-talked about pancakes at Hoshino Coffee



The tiny milk holder for the coffee was adorable! I was half-tempted to keep it as a 'souvenir'. The coffee unfortunately wasnt great, way too bitter.


Hoshino spaghetti - I always get excited when I see a half boiled egg on my dish. Eggs make everything taste better! That aside, the pasta was tasty, nothing too special.


Curry baked rice - very flavorful and delicious but a tad too rich. 



Pancake souffle style - wonderfully thick, slightly tense and quite satisfying, especially with the salted butter (thats not whipped cream!) 

Will be back to try the savory souffles.



Hoshino Coffee
68 Orchard Road
#03-84 Plaza Singapura
Tel: 633832



Friday, April 26, 2013

Ramen Santouka





What used to be my favorite ramen. I always order the spicy miso ( creature of habit I know) but recently I feel that the standards have dropped somewhat. Or perhaps now there are places that serve ramen that taste just as good (like Ramen bar Suzuki for example)


Ramen Santouka
6 Eu Tong Sen Street
#02-76 Central
Tel: 62240668


Wednesday, April 24, 2013

CNY cookout



CNY cookout - do you do cookouts with your friends? We are not the greatest cooks but it is fun to gather round, gossip and prepare dishes with friends no? 



Steaks marinating


And the end product (3 mins on each side), perfectly cooked!


No gathering complete without brie and wine





Because its CNY, we still needed our lou hei



Sunday, April 14, 2013

Keong Saik Snacks by Jason Atherton



Another celebrity chef, another casual hip dining place. Got to try them all yes?
Keong Saik Snacks has all the makings of the place to be at - tiny (hence exclusive), located next to a secret bar(!) and on the painfully chic Keong Saik Street. 

And as expected as these places, portions are small, prices are not.





DIY tuna tartare was fun to eat, served with tiny cups of condiments, mix everything up and choose how you want your tartare to taste. 

Garlic chilli fries - pretty tasty


Kimchi burger - didnt taste much kimchi in the burger but was not too bad. Tiny though!



Best dish of the night was the special of that night -Guinness beef pot pie. Break apart the flaky buttery pastry and you are greeted with a (tiny) potful of smokey tender flavorful beef stew. How I wish the portions were bigger! 



Keong Saik Snacks
49 Keong Saik Road

Thursday, April 11, 2013

JiBiru Japanese Craft Beer Bar


JiBiru is this cute little Japanese beer bar on the outskirts of 313 Somerset (Opposite Oriole), chanced upon its cheap set lunches one lazy afternoon



The yakitori don (2 X chicken thigh w spring onion and 1 X chicken meatball).  Nicely charred and tender, well worth the $11.80 

The oyako don (also $11.80) on the other hand, not so great. 

Maybe next time, I will come here for the beer.

JiBiru Japanese Craft Beer Bar
313 Orchard Road #01-26
6732 6884

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

1- Caramel at Rochester Park



My surprise birthday brunch! Where the boy almost succeeded in surprising me hah (yes I am highly suspicious)


1-caramel baked egg ($14) - egg with mushroom, bacon, tomato and cheese gratin
Sounds deliciously sinful and rich? Yes and I loved every thick, creamy, cheesy mouthful.

Eggs ben with smoked salmon ($14) 
Not a bad rendition and I do like that they include spinach and those decorative roe. 

The big breakfast platter and pancakes on the other hand were disappointing. 





Sunday, April 7, 2013

Tiong Bahru Bakery Pt 2




I previously blogged about Tiong Bahru bakery here, so I am not going to rave about how awesome the pastries (esp the Kouign Amnan)  are. Just wanted to highlight how much I enjoyed the butternut pumpkin soup. Ok, I have a weakness for pumpkin and this one was thick, sweet, creamy with 2 fat and fresh prawns. 
So good.


Tiong Bahru Bakery
#B1-11/12 Raffles City Shopping Center

Friday, April 5, 2013

The Disgruntled Chef




Starting dinner with a lovely strawberry mojito. The version here was sweet, tangy and refreshing.


lamb shortribs, very tender and flavorful. 


Bone marrow, how would you describe the taste to someone who has never tried it?
A friend " like the gooey stuff behind the fish's eye". I dont think this will edge the unadventurous eater forward eh but the marrow here was not bad though I thought the garnishing over-powered the dish


Beef! Very juicy and I love the truffle mash. Tiny portions though

Cod fish was my favorite of the day. Nestled on a bed of warm spinach, the fish was fatty and cooked perfectly. You can hardly go wrong with cod and this was done beautifully.

I like the disgruntled chef but I thought the portions were too small and we left feeling not too satisfied. 
Starting to feel that restaurants who brand themselves as  'communal-style dining' places are really just serving up tapas size main courses, forcing diners to rake up their bill with multiple small dishes. 
Not cool.





The Disgruntled Chef
26B Dempsey Road
(Facing Tawandang MicroBrewery) 

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Mikuni



Celebrated our 7(!) year anniversary with a staycation at Swissotel followed by dinner at Mikuni Japanese restaurant. 
Mikuni has a pretty unusual layout, it is pretty huge and the dining area is clearly differentiated by style of cuisine - the sashimi/sushi bar, the teppanyaki counter and the robatayaki area. The restaurant itself was dark, and I meant black walls, floors and ceilings dark. I guess it was aiming for that mysterious sensual look? Not too sure it succeeded but who cares when your here for the food.

Went for the 7 course teppan degustation course ($158) and the "Season 3" 6 course dinner ($138). We  had 50% off with the Feed At Raffles card, making it one damm worth it meal.

Oyster with grape seaweed salad. I love oysters and this was fresh and plump

Sashimi course and the Apple Wood smoked tuna cheek with yuzu ponz
Cant go wrong with fresh fish 

King prawn with golden sauce. Large succulent prawns, teppanyaki style covered with this thick eggy sauce and topped with roe.  It was as rich as it looked and huge portion! 

Best dish of the night for me. The grill lobster with sea urchin sauce and garlic.
Bursting with flavor and I cant hate anything with sea urchin


Deep fried - Wagyu, Octopus and Shitake mushroom. I enjoyed the playful presentation but this was probably the least successful dish for me. To be fair, I was still in grilled lobster heaven then. 


Garlic fried rice. 2 words - sea urchin!

The boy's favorite of the night - Wagyu beef
Will spare you the description, just know that it is melt in your mouth good.

The desert platter, what was interesting was the sweet potato cider (clear liquid in the glass). Really crisp and clear sweet potato taste.

We had other dishes that were unfortunately not captured by my phone. Overall, I really enjoyed my dinner at Mikuni. Not only was the food good, service was excellent. Our chef and waitress entertained us throughout the meal, even singing a song when they found out it was our anniversary and giving us a tour of the place after. It is heartening to encounter such sincere service in Singapore

If you have the feed at Raffles card (which now entitles 5 adults to dine at 50% off on Sundays) do go!




Mikuni Japanese Restaurant
80 Bras Basah Road
Level 3 Fairmont Singapore
Tel: +65 6431 6156