Tong Ah Eating House

"Celebrated" a colleague's farewell with lunch at Tong Ah Eating House, recommended by one of the aunties at work. Aunties know best right? And her recommendation was spot on cos the food here was pretty decent.

Am no expert but this place does serve some unique zhi char dishes.

I dont eat fish maw but the soup was really thick and flavorful. HUGE portions

Claypot chicken was delicious. Fried in curry leaves(?) and coated in some kind of umami chinese sauce. Great with rice!

These rolls were weirdly delicious. You tiao stuff with everything imaginable (crab meat, chestnuts, asparagus etc) with a layer of mayo and a outer crepe layer. Yes weird but tasted pretty darn good.

Table full of food.

I like this place, good food and service (cute aunties),  will definitely come back.

Tong Ah Eating House

36 Keong Saik Road,

#01-2017

Kith Cafe @ Quayside isle

Quayside isle is really the playground the the uber-rich, think manicured lawns and small little street signs that look nothing like the large green ones we are so used to in our heartlands. The developer really went all out to make this place as un-Singaporean as possible, a literal income gap perhaps?

Anyway, social commentary aside, we came all the way down here for Kith! The bright (and reasonably priced) and cheery cafe amongst the expensive restaurants here. 

I think this is my favorite Kith cafe because of the view (yachts and clear blue skies!) and the cute seats outside.

 Blackstone eggs - Eggs Ben w bacon and asparagas

 Mexican eggs - Poached eggs with spinach, avocado and smoked salmon

 I loved the mexican eggs, how can I not with 3 of my favorite ingredients (salmon, avocado, spinach). I was unsure of how the avocado would go w the eggs but the rich and creamy texture made for a pretty good and luxurious substitute for the usual hollandaise. Portions are very generous, so do share.

Kith

31 Ocean Way
Quayside isle
#01-08
Singapore 098375

Salt Tapas & Bar

Walked past this place a couple of times and finally decided to have dinner there one day.

Having had a good experience at Salt Grill & Sky bar, my expectations were high.

The highlight of our dinner was probably the brutally honest-in-a-weird-way waiter who stopped us from ordering further "too much food, you all cant finish" (he was right of course)  and his all too serious recommendations "if I was force to recommend something, it would be.." 

Can never not order truffle fries. Salt's rendition was pretty decent

From the 'Gardens' portion of the menu - Roasted pumpkin. I love pumpkin but this was pretty average

Calamari - good!

Paella - I've had better (why is it so hard to find good paella in Singapore!)

Baby chicken with baby spinach and celaric puree made up for the disappointing paella. So tender and sweet, perfect pairing with the spinach.

 Lastly, churros! Fat sugar/cinnamon- crusted ones with thick hot chocolate. Mmmmm

Overall more hits than miss. Quite a lovely place for tapas and good location too!

(Do come on tuesdays as happy hour is from 3pm till closing)

252, North Bridge Road
#01-22A Raffles City Shopping Centre
Singapore 179103
T: 6837 0995

Stranger's Reunion

Like typical Singaporeans, we headed down to Strangers' Reunion after hearing that the co-owner is a barista champion and we were not disappointed. The coffee was thick, rich and just that hint of sweetness, making sugar unnecessary. To be able to drink a cuppa without sugar is, to me the mark of a good cup of coffee.

 Roast pork baguette, viet--style with nicely seasoned veg and crispy roast pork. The zesty dressing provided a nice contrast against the fatty meat. I did wish the bread wasnt so tough though

Mmm buttermilk waffles. One of the better ones I have had, only losing out slightly to Department of Caffeine's, definitely top 5.

37 Kampong Bahru Rd 

Singapore 169356 Tel: 6222 4869 

Skirt, W Singapore

W Singapore is opulent in a pretty and gaudy manner. Think fire in the poolside table, quite wonderful and weird. 

The same theme runs through the steakhouse, Skirt. Industrial chic meets medieval would probably be the best way to describe the restaurant? 

The 'horny' salt and pepper shakes

The complimentary breadrolls (Warm! yay!) with chorizo oil and seaweed dip. Not a fan of both condiments, give me my butter and/or balsamic anytime. The bread was soft and fluffy, delicious.

Starter- seared king scallop with daishi, jamon and apple. Fresh, sweet and plump. A perfect starter.

Sticking to the theme - giant silver cutlery 

Making the meal more fun - The palate cleanser of apple bourbon (which just tasted like apple juice), and a tiny bottle of bbq sauce to go with your meat.

The Blackmore australian wagyu, only $48! Extremely value-for-money and most importantly, it was delicious. I love skirt steaks because too thick a cut kind of freak me out and I get tired from all the chewing. So this was just perfect for me. 

 

The sides are also surprisingly reasonable. One gets too used to the ridiculous prices that some of the other steakhouses in Singapore are charging. I love the wild mushrooms ($8), generous portions and very well seasoned. And I will never say no to hand cut fries ($5). 

Dessert was a chocolate lava cake and a complimentary Birthday cake for the boy. Both were ok, nothing fantastic. 

Service here was great too, we have a lovely bubbly waitress who introduced herself as we sat down and tended to our every need through the dinner. 

Skirt has now propelled up to the top of my favorite steak restaurant in Singapore.

Whats yours?

SKIRT

W Singapore - Sentosa Cove21 Ocean WaySingapore 098374

Koh Grill & Sushi Bar

Wow, is this place crowded or what! Made reservations but we still waited for almost 30 minutes for our table, not sure how long those in the queue waited for (always make reservations!)

So, the famous shiok maki, combining every Singaporean's favorite - eel, salmon, roe and covered with this thick creamy sauce then flame grilled. Visually stunning, hence the name. I quite like it but when it comes to sushi I am a bit of a purist and this is just a tad too much sauce for me. 

Shiok Gen 2 which comes with prawns instead of eel. Prefer Gen 1.

Crabby maki (why the names so cute!) - soft shell crab with swordfish. Mmm now this was good, my favorite of the rolls probably cause it wasnt slathered in sauce so I could really taste the roll proper.

Another weird creation, the Pitan maki, sushi roll with century egg sauce. I cant stand century egg so didnt really try this.

The rest of the food we had were pretty decent too, though nothing really outstanding but at those prices, no wonder the queues are ridiculous. 

A very pleasant surprise was how good the service was. Sure the waiters all looked slightly harassed (who werent with that crowd) but they were also consistently friendly and polite. Impressive.

Koh Grill & Sushi Bar
#04-21, Wisma Atria
435 Orchard Road
9180 3805

Revisit: Mikuni

I am starting to become a regular here, cant get over how awesome the FAR discount is. I shall miss Mikuni dearly once my card expires this Oct but in the meantime, I shall dine at Mikuni as often as possible (Read more here and here)

This time, I am here for the lunch set ($70, a steal when I have 50% discount :) )

As usual everything was fresh and delicious. Items that I especially enjoyed were the garlic rice, prawns in special sauce and that scallop. 

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

Alkaff Mansion Terrace

We have been visiting a few potential wedding venues for meals. 

Alkaff Mansion is a very gorgeous place, old victorian vibe and super romantic, especially the cascading stairs and that fountain. Unfortunately, the venue was way beyond our budget though.

Settled for brunch at the terrace area outside. 

The pancakes stack ($8.80) was visually stunning, Layers of bananas and blue berries in between perfectly cooked pancakes. Tasted pretty good too though the blueberry sauce was a tad too sour. I like my pancakes sweet.

Great scrambled eggs and that mushroom with brie was probably the best thing. I love my cheese! Breakfast platter ($12.80)

I am not sure if anyone would travel all the way to Alkaff just for brunch but do pop by if you happen to be hiking around the area. Btw prices here are very reasonable!

Alkaff Mansion

10 Telok Blangah Green

Singapore 109178

Moa New Zealand Bar and Grill

Changi City Point is super happening eh! Even on wknights, you can find the various bars/restaurants on the first floor outside the mall packed with happy drinking people

Moa New Zealand bar and Grill probably benefitted from the spillover traffic from Table Manners and 5 izakaya in the beginning but now, I think its starting to hold on its own.

We ordered the ribs and bangers & mash. The former was the better dish, ribs were tender and sweet. As for the latter, I prefer my mash to be more creamy.  This place is a microbrewery so they do serve some pretty neat beers too.

Moa suffers from the problem of being pretty forgettable, no real selling points and no key standouts. 

But its a nice place to dine at, especially if your an Eastie like me.

Moa New Zealand Bar and Grill

#01-70/71 Changi City Point 

5 Changi Business Park Central 1

Why 97 Pub & Restaurant

Restaurants at Asiatique are gorgeous and Why 97 is no exception. We wandered into this restaurant simply because 'it looked pretty' and no regrets man.

First up, Why 97 is a gorgeous restaurant. High ceilings and spacious interior with a bar sprawled thru one half of the restaurant. The walls were lined with vintage, kitschy items but  did not come off as cheesy. I especially love the lightbulbs hanging from the ceiling.

In fact, it would have been the perfect place for my wedding if not for the fact that it is in Bangkok.

On to the food, everything was flavorful and tasted good. 

Best dish of the night was probably the prawn capellini with roe. Just the right amount of seasoning and  tasted so fresh.

 Ribs - meat falling of its bones

Service was not fantastic, I chalk it up to the waiters not being masters of the English langauge but I will definitely come back again.