Hanito - honey toast from pasta de waraku

I had the honey toast from pasta de waraku ytd for dessert. It's supposedly from shibuya (not that I recall seeing any of these there when I went there last yr). It's a generous thick toast sliced into 9 cubes for easy consumption. I think it's partially cos I like those Hong Kong style thick toasts but this is even better cos it comes with a layer of honey spread on top and there's so many different choices for toppings.
We shared the mixed fruit Hanito cos it looked like it had the most ingredients on top.
This is probably the best thing I've eaten from pasta de waraku (don't particularly like the pastas).




Mega full even after sharing the dinner set. Comes with corn soup (creamy and sweet)Salmon teriyaki was quite well done but I didn't like the overly sweet teriyaki sauce. Those little fried bits in the middle are tofu. Spicy prawn carbonara was really quite spicy cos they use those really tiny chilies.
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Blu Kouzina

I'm post a very good call (one of my best actually) and I'm now trying to clear up my back logged posts. And I'm also extremely pleased cos I managed to drink my favourite antioxidant juice drink (recommended by cel, who has warned me that I must not blog where this particular drink is cos it's always sold out in the evenings). Blu Kouzina is a rather new Greek restaurant along Bukit Timah Road. I'm a noob when it comes to Greek food - somehow there aren't many Greek restaurants in Singapore and I think the most I've been to is the Mediterranean restaurants which I didn't particularly like cos I've always found the food too salty.
The restaurant is prettily decorated in the country's colours and they're very generous with the water, and glass bottles of chilled water are provided so you can drink as much water as you want. I think it's a really smart move as it saves the waitstaff lots of time refilling cups especially when the restaurant is busy.

The Tzatziki (Greek yogurt, cucumbers, garlic and olive oil) was a cooling and refreshing start to the meal, and tasted great with the warm pita bread. I love all these dips (just like hummus and Baba ghanoush) with pita bread.
Feta cheese and spinach samosas (I can't remember the fancy Greek name cos I can barely pronounce 80% of the dishes in the menu) which didn't have much feta. Won't be ordering this again cos I don't like the pastry and there was no feta.

There are quite a few beef mains in the menu. The server highly recommended the fish (but it was for 2-3 people and there were only 2 of us) so we settled for the lamb. Acc to hungrygowhere, the grilled fish is supposed to be very good so I will endeavour to try it the next time. The grilled lamb ($28? was delicious) - tender roasted lamb chops which are simply marinaded, with a drizzle of olive oil and no other distracting sauces. It came with a grilled capsicum stuffed with flavoured rice.

The food here is tasty, simple and good though prices are slightly steep (just like most of the other restaurants along Bukit Timah).
They have alfresco seating (both outdoors and indoors) as well as an air-conditioned area on the second storey. We booked late and ended in the indoor alfresco seating, which was quite unfortunate cos it was a hot and humid evening.

Overall, the food's good, service quick and efficient just that those people who are driving beware - carpark lots are pretty hard to find and you'll have to park in the nearby residential estate which is already crowded with patrons of the nearby tzechar restaurant Forture and the bar. Do make a reservation - the restaurant looks packed nearly every day...
Blu Kouzina
893 Bukit Timah Road
Tel: +65 6875 0872

http://www.blukouzina.com

Summer Pavillion Dian Xin Lunch

I'm back after another long hiatus! Work is super tiring (glad to know that I'm in the 18% of Singaporeans with stagnant pay) - this lunch happened many calls ago but I've just had the ultimate killer call on Sunday-Monday which will probably add to my eyebags and premature ageing...

The starter was this very unassuming looking dish which was deep fried diced yam. It's coated with some sugar and actually tasted much better than it looked. The shotglass on the right is some haw juice (can't remember the Chinese name) which was very sour and acidic, the perfect drink to kick off the meal and stimulate the salivary glands but I would much prefer another plum wine sherbert anytime.

Nourishing soup - came here when I was post call so I was craving for soup and decided to indulge in the Shark's cartilage soup. It's milky, warming, tasty and perfect post call food. Best of all, there's supposedly alot of collagen in this soup to combat against the oxidative stress from the night before...

Dian xin - the main reason why we went to Summer Pavillion was to eat this. It's one of the few Chinese cuisines that I enjoy. Though the menu at Summer Pavillion is very modest, the most of the dian xin you get here have a mordern twist. For example, instead of the plain fried grated yam cake (left), the yam cake comes with a layer of pumpkin. It was very moist and one of my more favourite dish. The har gao comes unadulterated - no suprises inside... Behind is some chive dumpling (had something interesing inside but I can't remember already).

Siew Mai - also unadulterated.

The green thing at the back had crab meat with mushrooms and was really quite tasty.
Another intersting dian xin they had was this triangular corn one which different kinds of vegetables inside. The corn kernels were very sweet and juicy and the skin is very thin and translucent.The obligatory char siew pau
Some fried thing - looks similar but one has bean curd skin outside

Boxthorn with 3 different kinds of eggs - I don't think boxthorn is very common here - can't remember the Chinese name for this tho... I think it tastes a bit like spinach but more delicate and there aren't any annoying stems which spoil the nice soggy texture of the leaves.

Onto the multiple desserts - sesame paste glutinous rice ball coated with ultra fine peanut powder.

Mango pomelo sago - not very spectacular cos I prefer the milky kind.

Hashima with almond tea

Herbal Jelly

Overall, the dining experience was pleasant as expected, with extremely attentive service. Of course, I would expect nothing less from the Ritz.

*Random thought: whenever I think of the Ritz, the first thing that pops up in my mind is the short story the Diamond as Big as the Ritz.

Summer Pavillion

7 Raffles Avenue

3/F Ritz-Carlton Millenia
Tel: +65 6337 8888 (Reservations recommended)

Lunch from 11:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. (a la carte & dim sum)
Dinner from 6:30 p.m. - 10:30 p.m. (a la carte)