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!!!)





Poulet

As much as I hate being unadventurous and boring, I do quite like Poulet for it's accessibility, affordability and acceptable food. 

 I really like their signature salad (about $10) which is very refreshing and lightly dressed, so much so that we had to order a second one to share cos it wasn't enough...

 The truffle mashed potatoes were awesome but then the consistency makes me really worried that there may be a 1:1 ratio of potatoes to butter.

 Since this was about 2 months ago too, it was Christmas and we decided to try their apple sauce chicken wings, which were quite unmemorable. I think there was some promo so we got it...

 And of course, their chicken, which was tender and nicely roasted. Hasn't disappointed me and I've tried it about 3-4x since they opened. Just too lazy to blog about it heh.

Poulet didn't have their awesome banana crumble that they used to have - so we adjourned to St Marcs cafe for some delicious parfaits - I wouldn't recommend the strawberry parfait cos it was way too sweet and only had frozen strawberries... but the Kyoto delight which I usually have (in the background) is really delicious especially with the Warabi mochi pieces that I really love and the roasted soybean flour. Mmmmm

Pan Delights

Bukit Merah Central has lots of new cafes and I am aiming to check them out one by one! Just a street away from Bukit Merah Central, nearer the library, there's a really nice little cafe, which has great food at really affordable prices. Actually, I did walk past Pan Delights a few times but each time they were so empty, we didn't feel like walking in to try (typical Singaporean mentality). I'm currently regretting and kicking myself for that, cos the food's really great.  Perhaps I usually go there during the non-peak pre-dinner time, so the whole estate is so sleepy and quiet.

Portobello Fries with Truffled Mayonnaise ($8.90)

The beer battered portobello mushrooms are really awesome and I was happy that we chose it as our starter. I'm not a big french fries fan, and spam fries which are fried too try and thin (in which case, they are spam chips and not fries) are really not my cup of tea. However, the portobello fries from Pan Delights really impressed me.

Thick chunks of juicy mushroom - I really mean chunks - with light beer batter, paired with decadent truffle mayonnaise. Extra juicy, extra crispy beer batter (can definitely taste the beer in this), and super delicious. I would come back again just for this!

MT if you are reading this, we should go and eat the mushrooms ASAP guarantee that you will like it too!

Hot Pigs ($13.90)

I had the Hot Pigs pasta - fusili with bacon and chopped bratwurst, with chilli, fresh basil and chunky tomato sauce. It was a little bit too spicy for me, but the pasta was al dente, sauce was robust and was really satisfying.

The scallop and prawns aglio olio ($14.90) was equally impressive - with lots of prawns (seriously, it's $14.90 and a more upmarket restaurant would have easily charged you over $20 for the same dish, excluding taxes). 

They have lots of other pastas including seafood marinara ($14.90), a very interesting sounding chilli crab pasta ($16.90), squid ink pasta with prawns ($17.50, which is also the most expensive pasta dish on the menu), smoked salmon and caviar cream ($16.90) etc which I would like to try soon. 

They also have mains, which I aim to try another time, but that day just felt like a day for carbs.

It's a really small cafe and I think they're quite crowded on weekday lunches? It's pretty empty at about 5pm (at least, on the 2 occasions I've walked past). They also have some dessert, but we didn't manage to try those.

Mind you, all these are nett prices, so it's really really affordable. Do drop by and give it a try!
Head over to their blog site to check out their menu.

Pan Delights
161 Bukit Merah Central
#01-3725
Singapore 150161
Tel: 9835 1147

Level 33

Red Mango en route to Level 33 

 Starting off this post with the Red Mango frozen yogurt - the best thing to spoil my appetite before a heavy dinner. Decided that since I hardly ever venture into the MBS /MBFC area, might as well take the opportunity to sample the frozen yogurt that everyone has been raving about. I think it's something like a cross between Yami Yogurt (slightly sourish and icy) and Yoguru (more creamy), though I won't be making my way all the way down just to eat it. It definitely made the long walk from the MRT station (and getting lost along the way) more enjoyable.

Lamb

Anyway, I'm not sure about the names/pricing of the dishes cos it was ordered as a group. What I do know, is that the corkage is only $33 bucks (beats a lot of other restaurants, though I'm not sure if it's a weekday offer?). Taste wise, it's pretty good. 

Seafood Platter

The seafood platter was also good - with loads of juicy prawns, smoked salmon, octopus, squid, some other random fish. 

Crab in 3 ways 

Foie Gras

Cod

Service here is atrocious - I don't know how they even survive. Probably the worst service that I've had in Singapore for a while. The firs server took our orders (for appetisers and all the platters), and then our order was lost. Obviously we only found out way later (think 1 hour), when we decided to order our mains. 

They didn't realise that we had ordered appetisers, and that with the mains, there would be an insane amount of food and we would ALL be struggling with our mains. So that's what happened -_- "

The food itself wasn't bad, but because there was loads and loads of food, the law of diminishing returns apply. Seriously, from such a posh restaurant, you would definitely expect much better service than that. 

Level 33 

8 Marina Blvd

#33-01 MBFC Tower 1

Tel 68343133

C.O.W Ramen Burger

 So I read about the Ramen burger, and a few of my friends tried it and raved about it to me, but sadly, I wasn't able to go down to try it. I was extremely happy and pleasantly surprised to find that it comes to my workplace once a week! So me and my colleague scuttled down to try the famed ramen burgers during lunch.

 The compact menu - prices are pretty reasonable - my colleague had the mushroom linguine which was really quite a good amount for $6.

 My spicy chicken ramen burger in the making! The chicken morsels are really tender and well marinaded - it tastes vaguely like the Korean BBQ hotplate chicken.

I'm not a fan of crispy noodles, so the only interesting part of the ramen burger, which is the ramen patty was lost on me. Though the sauce and the innards more than made up for the not so nice patties. It's a bit heavy going because the patties are pretty greasy, and fried till crispy.

I didn't eat 1 patty, so I decided to get the chicken salad wrap to supplement my meal. It's not bad but the law of diminishing returns applies here.

You can catch them on Facebook to see where their next location is. Hope they keep coming to my workplace!

Hummerstons

Hummerstons is a pretty new restaurant opened by the ex-PS cafe chef. It has the same casual laid back feel of PS cafe and tasteful, homely decor. I definitely wouldn't have visited it if Julie hadn't suggested it cos I'm so tired from work and not on the active lookout for new food places.

Their signature dish is the poutine, which is a home style gravy with potatoes dish with a variety of toppings. Their best seller is the Montreal poutine ($19++) which comes with a decadent combination of foie gras, mushrooms and emmenthal cheese. It looks boring and browy but is indeed a lethal combi and tastes great - thick cut potatoes immersed in tasty gravy and a soft wobbly blob of foie gras and tender juicy mushrooms. And as you eat the foie gras, its lovely fatty oils will ooze out and drip over the potatoes making it even more yummy.
Smoked duck quesadilla ($27++) didn't fare as well as the poutine. I thought it was way overpriced. It was interesting that they paired the smoked duck breast with sweet roasted pears but taste wise, it was very average.

The Chimichurri Lamb short ribs ($32++) were not bad, but not spectacular either. The lamb ribs were well marinated and soft, but a bit too oily and fatty for my liking. It comes with Jamaica Honeydew slaw (tastes just like regular coleslaw, maybe a bit more sour - wasn't very remarkable or I'd have remembered) and a twice baked potato.

I suppose I would revisit Hummerstons again to try other dishes, but price wise it's pretty steep. The Montreal poutine itself is totally worth coming back for!

11 Unity Street

#02-14 Robertson Walk

Tel 67378863

The Plain

Tried this Australian style cafe after reading a glowing review in the newspapers (a few months back, just that I'm a professional procrastinator and didn't blog about it). We must have trudged up and down Craig road at least 5 times and walking past the cafe even more times before we actually found it. And to think that we parked at Craig place which is literally opposite the Plain.
Trudging up and down in Singapore's weather makes one extremely hot and thirsty. And in want of airconditioning. They're coffee is supposed to be fantastic but too bad I don't drink coffee except for the occasional ice blended ones... So instead, this is the iced chocolate with real chocolate painted onto the sides of the glass. Not bad but I've defnitely had better.
Their speciality is their sourdough bread with a variety of toppings. We tried their Dean's breakfast - poached eggs on melted cheese & vegemite on sourdough toast. Being a fan of vegemite and cheese, I quite liked this dish though the stingy in me thought of ways to obtain sourdough bread and make it in the comfort of my home...

We also had the Darling's eggs. It's poached eggs with ham, cheese & roma tomatoes on sourdough toast.

I preferred the Dean's breakfast cos of the vegemite but I think it would be supberb to have everything on one like a full house sandwich i.e. cheese, vegemite, tomatoes, ham and eggs all stacked on top of each other :P

The chilled Fruit salad came with a bright and colourful array of fruits, and a side of honey-infused yogurt.

The concept and decor really reminds me of Fourty Hands. If it was nearer my house, I won't mind going to the Plain again but it's really a pain to queue up fro food on a nice weekend morning as the cafe is extremely popular and the seating is very limited.

The Plain Cafe

50 Craig Road #01-01
http://www.theplain.com.sg/

Graze @ One Rochester

Went to Graze for Sunday Brunch quite a few weeks ago I had my default Eggs Benedict ($19++)- I can hardly ever resist having this dish if it's on the menu cos I really like hollandaise sauce. The Eggs benedict at Graze comes with either ham, smoked salmon and chives or spinach and mushrooms. They were rather stingy on the hollandaise sauce - see how the sauce on my second egg hardly covers the top of it. I requested for more sauce and the waitress said that I would have to pay for a top up. To which I protested cos the portion is really stingy. Fortunately, she returned with a small bowl of it, much to our delight. And at no further cost either.

The Old fashioned pancake stack ($14++) comes with crispy bacon, bananas and lots of dipping sauces. Honey, maple syrup and chocolate sauce, as well as a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The pancakes are thick and fluffy, not overly floury and it was really delicious. If I had to recommend a dish, I would definitely recommend this cos it was unanimously the best dish of the meal.
The Spanish omelette ($19++) is a rather small thin omelette with chorizo, bell pepper and smoked cheddar. I suppose tha the chorizo is the most expensive part of the omelette (I just went to Cold storage the other day and 2 pieces of chorizo costs $14+) so I supose that is why this omelette is more expensive. Recommend this for people with little appetites...
The corned beef hash ($24++) which I didn't try...

A dissappointing dish was the cinnamon and raisin butter toast ($7++) served with some kind of jam. It looked like it came from one of those packets of buns from Cold Storage... Really very ordinary and I would defnintely not order this again.

The service here can really be improved. Somehow I get the vibe that the entire crew is extremely unhappy and this somewhat marred the dining experience. Even more so since the food is nothing much to shout about, and prices aren't exactly the cheapest around... In view of this, I would very much rather recommend other branch places, since there is an abundance of these brunch places popping up all over.

Then again, if you're into alcoholic drinks, their Sunday Brunch has some alcoholic drinks like the Mimosa (and some other drink, I think a Bloody Mary?) at a mere $6 (If I am not mistaken) top up with some brunch sets. Which makes it really worth it but it's a pity I don't like oranges and they won't serve it with any other juice, which I thought was really ridgid and inflexible. The ambience is really nice, just like all other restaurants at One Rochestor. If you're not scared of the heat and the UV radiation, I would highly recommend sitting outside in their nice garden setting. They have a pond with lots of fishes, lush greenery with lots of bamboo (my fave plant ever!). But being true Singaporeans, we hid from the humidity and sat indoors;P

Graze @ One Rochester

4 Rochester Park

Tel: +65 6775 9000

TWG Brunch

Previously, the only sad choice for tea in the heart of Orchard used to be Royal Copenhagen but their desserts leave much room for improvement. TWG's dining does come with a hefty price tag though - if you're willing to blow about $40++ on brunch, this is definitely the place to splurge your money on. Not to say that the food is fantastic, but just the ambience and the vibe makes it worth it. The interior is decorated like those opulent quaint hotels/restaurants with lots of gold embellishments.

Since we were feeling indulgent and thanks to work the weekend brunches are few and far between, we decided that it was well worth the splurge to try TWG since it looked so nice (lol I'm superficial when it comes to restaurants!)

Breakfast sets aren't available on weekends, so the only choices are the brunch and the lunch. Sadly, we were an hour away from lunch so we ended up having their brunch. (Not a bad thing but I'd rather come back for their tea time sets which look extremely yummy!)

I had the Gourmet Brunch set ($40++) which comes with a TWG tea ($11++ ala carte), Freshly squeezed apple/orange juice (I had the apple juice, which has a nice rosy hue), Scrambled eggs (Fresh Farmhouse eggs scrambled with a choice of Matcha green tea, pure saffron threads or white alba truffle oil). No prizes for guessing which one I chose.

I didn't quite like the eggs cos they were a bit too watery and clumpy for my liking. The eggs were served with smoked salmon (one thin piece) and a mixed salad of tender spinach shoots and marinated shrimp. Again, not very impressive.

My set also came with French Brioche toasts served with TWG tea jelly. I didn't particularly enjoy my toast as it was slightly too dry and a bit too crispy for my liking. I still like Wild Honey's Brioche best.

Each of the brunch sets came with a TWG tea patisserie from the tea trolley (urgh forgot to take a photo of it cos I was too busy deciding which one to eat!) It's really fun peering into their dessert trolley and choosing a pastry cos everything looks so nice...

The Midsummer Brunch ($40++) set comes with a TWG tea, juice, a Summer Quiche - warm rustic French style vegeterian quiche filled with seasonal vegetables an served with a light cream sauce, garden salad (don't you just like their descriptions? Makes you feel like eating everything!) and a 'Choice of 2 freshly baked muffins or scones' as well as a TWG tea patisserie.

I'm not a big fan of quiche so that quiche tasted rather passable to me. It's a generous serving and quite a thick size quiche.
My lousy angled shot of the 3-tiered tray which had our Brioche toast and the scones. The scones at TWG are lovely. In fact, for 2 weeks after that especially while on call (all my cravings hit when I am on call) I was longing for the lovely buttery scones which are dainty and small and studded with sweet raisins. They're served warm with butter, tea jelly and whipped cream.

The tea jelly is probably made with apple juice cos there was a pleasant apple flavour.

Paired together, the tea jelly and scone are spectacular and I would return just for them. The texture is moist and soft, and yet sturdy enough to pile on lots of tea jelly and whipped cream.

Their tea comes in a nice tea pot which has a layer of insulation so that your tea stays piping hot while you spend your time chatting. Do note that they don't do tea refills (the teapot doesn't have any tea leaves just the ready made tea).

When we were there, we must have stretched our server's memory cos we simply had such a difficult time deciding from the array of tea choices (one whole menu filled with numbers - and no descriptions so we had to ask our server to describe the nicer sounding ones). In fact, I've forgotten what kind of tea I drank (lol!) but I know it's a green tea... I really can't imagine the amount of time the servers spend memorising their tea menu! Worse than memorizing dictation...

Our tea pastry - this one is a cheesecake with a green tea base. I can't really remember what it's called but it was nice and creamy and the bitter green tea base offset the richness of the cream cheese layer.

Some chocolate dessert we chose (I actually cannot remember the name) but perhaps it was cos I was already full so there was diminishing returns and the dessert isn't outstanding enough for me to remember much about it.

If there's room for improvement, the dessert department needs some serious working on, especially on the presentation. Our second chocolate pastry was collapsing onto itself. I'm not too sure if it was too warm in the restaurant but it looked quite sorry by the time it reached our table. Other than that, the meal was realy pleasant and I'd definitely be back for some scones and to soak up the nice ambience :D

TWG Tea Salon and Boutique

Ion Shopping Mall

2 Orchard Turn

#02 - 21Singapore 238801

http://www.twgtea.com/