Dancing Crab



There's been this massive influx of this Louisiana seafood restaurants. I haven't been to any of them till recently. Actually, if it wasn't a department dinner, I would definitely not have chosen this restaurant (not to say that it wasn't good).  It's just that the whole eat with your hands concept isn't my kind of thing. I hate not using cutlery and getting my hands dirty in sauce (especially since I cannot answer my phone or touch my camera after that).

 

I personally feel that this whole hyped up eat with your hands, no cutlery or plates, is so that they save money on dishes. No need to spend detergent, soap and water washing anything (saves a few staff - no need to employ dishwashers)  - since there is such a dire shortage of labor. Also, the plastic tablecloth is disposables, so it saves the effort in wiping the table. Efficiency FTW.

We had the cornbread which was pretty ok - I somehow think that all cornbread should be like Kenny Rogers, but this ones were more uniformed and cake like. Slightly sweetish, moist and crumbly, went well with the whipped butter.

I really liked the crab cakes - partly because it involves very little effort and yet you get mouthfuls of succulent crab flesh, and also because they were juicy and well seasoned.

The bag of seafood - which has crab, prawns, mussels, potatoes, corn and carrot all cooked together in a mildly spicy Cajun sauce. I don't know why they can't just put everything into a nice bowl(like below) but have to pour it all over the table.

The whole no plates concept also bugs me to no end cos the menu (which I doubt has been cleaned in recent times) and other dirty fomites (i.e. my hand phone) have just been sitting on the same surface that I'm going to eat off . Ok I think this is OCD max and I bet that the other 99.9% of the others diners don't think of this kind of thing, so I shall stop and carry on about the food (which is pretty good).

I must say that the service is not too bad. Not the most attentive but then when I told them that one of the crabs wasn't too fresh, they offered to change it (but then the other half was already devoured by someone else) - which still counted as pretty good service to me.

The clams in this creamy white sauce was also pretty good - just that I really cannot see how you can eat it without cutlery or plates for that matter. It's such a messy and stressful affair.

I really liked their butter garlic prawns. Minimal sauce and flavoring so that the prawny taste can be fully appreciated. I think I'm deprived but I haven't eaten such big prawns for a real long time (rather spend my cholesterol quota on salted egg sotong - shucks I have a massive craving now).

These prawns were freaking huge and I really don't have small hands (that's my thumb btw).  My fingers also continued to smell like sauce the whole night after that (thankfully the sauce smell went away the next day).

 

I thought that their service was really strange - apparently they refused to let us make a booking for anything earlier than 7pm but when the punctual people reached earlier, the restaurant was empty - not like they are having two seatings or anything. Don't see why they can't let patrons sit down earlier (and earn money from drinks/snacks).

 

Dancing Crab

200 Turf Club Road

Singapore 287994

Phone 64663303

Closed Mondays

Where MAD used to be, and near Valentinos

(free parking!!!)





Hibiki Restaurant - Bukit Timah

I'm the most uninitiated person when it comes to trying food near my house. Hibiki restaurant has been there for quite some time but I've been dragging my feet and haven't gotten around to trying it. Dropped by Hibiki restaurant for lunch on a Sunday (recommended by C and WKR).

The yakitori is really good but isn't cheap. The Tsukune ($4.60/stick) which is their chicken meatball was very delicious, and so was their Tokujyo Pork ($5.80/stick). It's similar to what you'll get from somewhere like Kazu, just minus their ultra crampness and noise.

We also had some yakitori vegetables - the Nasu ($5.50/2sticks) eggplant with a brushing of miso sauce, Eringi Mushroom ($5/2sticks) and their Shishitou ($3.20/2sticks).

I really liked their tofu salad  ($12) which is quite a generous portion. I'm a huge sucker for tofu salads, especially those with home made sesame dressing. The sesame taste was very strong and it wasn't as sweet as the ready made ones. I really liked how the sliced onions were nice and crisp.

We also had the Negitori don ($20) to share - semi fatty tuna minced with lots of sliced shallots on top of a bed of Japanese Rice. Similar to the tofu salad, I felt that the portion was good sized for the price.

Overall we paid $70 for 2 people - not bad - will prob be back for a weekday lunch to try their lunch sets (the Yakitori don is $19++, comes with miso soup, chawanmushi and a dessert).

Hibiki Restaurant 
833 Bukit Timah Road #01-06
Royal Ville
Singapore 279887 
Tel 65196894

Assembly Coffee - Evans Road

Best thing about calls are the post calls that come with it. 

 My pulled pork and apple sandwich ($14.90) - lots of soft pulled pork, some sliced green apples (which really helped balance the heaviness of the pork) topped with smoky bbq sauce

 Hmm I think this was some muffin but I cannot remember what!

 Croissant with scrambled egg and smoked salmon ($13.90)

 Shibuya Thick toast ($12) - sugar overload with honeyed toast, ice cream, icing sugar, plus honey greek yogurt on the side. Would probably recommend that you share this cos its really a bit too sweet to be eaten by one person alone.

I don't know why thick toast hasn't really taken off in Singapore, cos it's so darn awesome. And somehow, I can never ever do it at home unless I buy some really good bread... Last time I had it was when Pasta de Waraku came up with this Hanitoast so many years ago (I'm not sure if they even have it anymore, since it was so long ago and I don't particularly like Waraku).

Buttermilk waffle with New Zealand Natural Vanilla ice cream and salted caramel sauce ($11.50). The waffle has the perfect texture (at least to me) - which is not overly hard or crispy outside, slightly fluffy and 'kueh' like texture inside. A bit like those green colour waffles you get from those neighbourhood bakery stores. 

The seating is really limited cos the place is tiny (don't know how they manage to churn out the food so fast since their kitchen is really micro mini. Food is better than expected (since it's a hipster cafe and a lot of these cafes have been disappointing me). 

Assembly Coffee
20 Evans Lodge
Tel 67355647
Closed Mondays

Pasarbella

I must be the worst foodie ever cos I've only just visited Pasarbella last month, even though there were many raves about it being like a farmers market, all the unique foods there blablabla and it being in extremely close proximity to me. I wanted to fanfare and crowds to die down a little bit, since I hate queueing and jostling in crowded places (best way to catch some germs).

Bandung Gelato frm Latte Miele

I'm proud to say that I've finally gone down and darn, I've been missing a whole load of good stuff!! Including Bandung gelato. Ok, so Latte Miele isn't in Pasarbella, but it's along the row of shops outside Pasarbella, so just bear with me). Bandung has to be one of my favourite childhood drinks, and bandung gelato is just the thing to have on a hot afternoon (which is every afternoon in Singapore). 

The gelato had just the right balance of Rose syrup and milk - I can't stand it when there's too much rose syrup in proportion to the milk, cos then it'll be too sweet and not creamy enough. I could eat the bandung gelato all day! (Do note that my review is biased cos I like bandung so much). 

Only thing I didn't like about this place was the kiddy friendly playground, filled with screeching kids. But we sat far far away from them.

Plus sized pan of Paella - from Le Patio

The best thing I ate there (not that I really ate a lot since it wasn't the cheapest) - was the paella. I'm very impressed cos it's about $15 per portion, and you'll get a good sized piece of chicken, prawn, mussels, fish etc etc and some rice. It costs much more in any other restaurant. The paella is delicious - the starchy grainy rice (not overcooked, and brimming with flavour), tender seafood and juicy chicken. Delicious! Add on their spicy garlicky chilli sauce, and you have a winning paella.

 Such an beautiful arrangement - beats any floral arrangement in my books anytime!

Le Patio's Paella - eat it while it's hot

I'd be lying if I said no animals were harmed in the making of this post...

 Randomly walked around, and couldn't get any crodos from da paolo (sold out sadly). Decided not to eat the sashimi cos it was too expensive. Tried finding drinks but they were ridiculously priced. Decided to be cheapo and walked out of Pasarbella and into Giant to buy some more decently priced drinks.

We got tempted into buying some roasted iberico pork from this shop - not the best and it was darn expensive. I'll stick to my cheapo charsiew anytime! The garlic mashed potatoes were really good though! Smooth, airy and creamy. 

The Cheese Ark

We were just wandering around and stumbled upon the Cheese Ark. Thanks to the friendly staff there, we each went home with a piece of cheese. Lots of European cheeses there - the truffle cheese is super delicious, but I can't think of anything to eat it with at the moment.

In conclusion, Pasarbella has lots of good stuff to try - just that it's a lousy place to drag your whole family and extended family down cos it'll get chaotic. And being and early bird is key - cos lots of the places close so early! I'm going to rush down like an aunty the next time I end early (which is, unfortunately, a very rare occurrence now) to get myself some paella and cheese, and maybe a hotdog from Hubers. 

Pasarbella

The Grandstand, Bukit Timah Road
200 Turf Club Road Singaproe 287994
Opens Mondays to Saturdays 0930-1930

Sunny Choice

Bunny says hi!

 I've been living in my current house for nearly 15 years and I'm sad to say that I have never realized the existence of Sunny Choice until a few months ago, when my veggiephobic friend told me her mother wanted to drag her down to try the food. One day when I was free-er than usual, I decided to  go check it out.

Veggie Sushi Roll ($6)
It's a riceless sushi roll, stuffed with crunchy finely shredded beetroot, alfafa, radish, carrots and lettuce. There's a sweet, creamy dressing, which is free from dairy and eggs. It's a really refreshing and light starter, or if you order 2 portions of this, it's enough to make it a satisfying main course.

I don't even feel like I'm missing out on the rice when I eat this dish, and best thing is that there's no post-meal carb coma. However, this dish doesn't keep well cos the nori will get soggy. This comes with a wasabi-soy dip but I'm not a fan of wasabi so I just eat it plain.

The Abacus balls - a healthy rendition of the traditional Hakka dish. This one is purely vegetarian. Actually, I'm not even sure what the real thing tastes like (since I haven't eaten it for a long long time), but this one is packed with mushrooms, nuts, and grated vegetables. It isn't oily, and each of the abacus balls are smooth and soft, and it's not too oily either.

 Thunder Tea Rice (Lei Cha Fan) $7.50
I'm quite a big fan of Lei Cha Fan but then the outlets are all quite far from my place and inconveniently located. (Recently there's a store which opened at the Bukit Timah Market, but it costs $6.50 so I don't feel like eating it when I'm there).
Instead of ikan billis, it comes with this twig-look-alike fried bits, I suppose it's a kind of mushroom. It's slightly sweet very crispy, but I'm not a fan of ikan billis or this twig-like mushroom. I'll ask them to omit this the next time. The other veggies are really nice, crisp and fresh. I particularly liked the angled gourd (cos I don't get to eat it often).

Sunny Choice also sells quite a wide range of health foods and organic produce, at pretty reasonable prices. I managed to buy their home made banana bread which was really good - full of banana and not too sweet.

Like I mentioned in my post before, the pumpkin cassava chips are really good (though I don't think they're very healthy cos they're deep fried).

There's no service charge or GST, so prices are nett. I'll definitely be back for more sushi rolls and the pumpkin keropok.

Sunny Choice
Rail Mall
434 Upper Bukit Timah Road
Singaproe 678060
Tel 6892 2383

Carpenter and Cook

Merry Christmas everyone! I've been gorging myself this festive season, and trying to clear up the backlog of posts. 

Finally tried Carpenter and Cook - despite it being so near my house I seem to be the last person to try it... Was bemoaning the absence of good dessert/teatime places in the area sometime last year when Udders seemed to be the only dessert place around.

A pictorial for Carpenter and Cook - lots of freshly baked goodies - costs a pretty penny but oh so good! And tweedle dum and tweedle dee are there to greet you at the entrance.

So many choices - but so little tummy space - makes it a real dilemma for me!

Buttery croissants - no chocolate croissants so I didn't try this but acc to my friends its good!

Lemon tart

Bundt cake with lavender - not my favourite cake (even though I was the one who chose this - good things are made for sharing ^-^) cos I found it a bit hard and dry, not sure if all bundt cakes are meant to be like this?

Our four tarts/cakes - the salted caramel chocolate tart (I don't particularly like chocolate, or caramel, so I wasn't crazy over this but its supposed to be one of their famous tarts), passionfruit meringue tart (hot favourite), lemon tart (zesty, tangy lemon curd), and my not very nice bundt cake.

2 of my favourite tarts

Good food is meant for sharing, and sharing means we get to try more - the frangipane tart with berries. Frangipane isn't the flowering tree that's found by the road side - it's a layer of almond filling in the tart.

Ham and cheese brioche - if it were any cheaper, I'd have taken away many of these to warm up in the mornings. Cottony soft buttery brioche with a piece of spiced ham and cheese rolled inside. It's ridiculously addictive - ask them to warm it up for you. (Btw I love the dark brown greaseproof paper - I don't want to know the amount of oils I'm ingesting - unlike TBB's chocolate croissant which makes the paper bag an oil slick).

Hot chocolate - because I don't drink coffee but wanted something warm to go with my brioche.

Tried an assortment of teas - I like the pomegranate one the best (can't remember what the exact name is) - very sweet smelling and fragrant.

Carpenter and Cook

19 Lorong Kilat

#01-06

Tel 64633648