Choupinette

I've had a pretty productive week - finally tried 2 more restaurants on my restaurant wish list

Choupinette is located along the row of shops/restaurants right after Coronation Plaza. They're a well known breakfast/brunch/lunch place, and they've recently started a dinner menu (Tues to Sat, 6pm-10pm), which has Duck Confit ($22), Stuffed Lamb Shoulder ($24) and some other interesting French Dishes. I went there and ate their all day brunch for lunch.

The price of my Eggs Royal's - a staggering $21 (this is without the plus-es! inclusive of one hot drink and one small fruit juice).

I actually wanted to justify spending so much on my eggs, so I asked the waiter if there was anything special about my eggs (perhaps they were organic, I though, which would partially explain the exorbitant price), but to my dismay, it was 'just normal eggs'. Oh well, since it's rare that I'm free (to explore new places) for lunch, and even rarer that I'm free (or awake) for brunch, I decided to splurge a bit. After all, it's not everyday that I have a 2 week pseudo-holiday.Eggs Royal's comes with 2 poached eggs on toast, with smoked salmon and hollandaise sauce. Lots of hollandaise sauce. The eggs were poached perfectly (but not like I've never had nicely done poached eggs elsewhere) with the centers still runny. Not sure if they use some very special type of smoked salmon, but it tasted very ordinary to me. My one cold drink -pineapple juice from a carton.My one hot drink - hot chocolate which tasted pretty thin, flat and tasted like something that I could easily make at home (minus the froth and chocolate powder). Drinkable, not impressive.The Chou Chou's Set ($22++) with the Croque Monsieur

It comes with any juice, water, soft drink, coffee or tea (or Iced Chocolate) and a dessert. Croque Monsieur was pretty small, with some ham and cheese. I think Canele does a much better job (with their Croque Madame). The iced chocolate, like it's hot counterpart was very uninspiring. Creme Brulee (with the Chou Chou's set) - served cold with a thin layer of burnt sugar. It was pretty eggy and was rather hard. Definitely not very memorable and I've tasted better. They didn't have the chocolate mousse, so we were stuck with either this choice or 4 macaroons.
Choupinette's Brunch/Lunch menu

Choupinette epitomises the extremely expensive prices for normalish food along Bukit Timah Road. Somehow, the restaurants/cafes which are easily spotted from along the main road seem to have higher than normal prices, for average tasting food. Perhaps the pastries are better? I suppose you're paying for the nice cutlery and ambience. As well as the rental. This is definitely a place to try if you like to dine at Dempsey.

Choupinette

607 Bukit Timah Road

#01-01 Tel: 6466 0613

Irodori Japanese Buffet

I really like eating Jap buffets cos I don't have to worry about the bill when I order my tons and tons of sashimi! I'm never satisfied whenever I have to eat off a plate of *only* 3 pieces of each sashimi. Plus, every piece of sashimi is around $1 plus! Super unworth it since I have a nearly insatiable appetite for sashimi. Irodori Maki, which is filled with shredded crab (I think?) and mayonnaise. Starters - some funny mushy broad bean, edamame, Half a Salmon head (1x order only), Cheese grilled prawns (1x order only), Green Tea Tofu

I really like dhte cheese grilled prawns, I think there was also some miso paste inside, so it was salty and cheesy. The green tea tofu reminds me of the green tea tofu you can buy from NTUC, dressed in ponzu sauce.

Sashimi - Salmon, Tuna, Yellowtail and Swordfish.

Very few Japanese restaurants serve swordfish sashimi, probably cos it's more expensive? I ate lots and lots of swordfish and salmon :)

All the sashimi were fresh, with the exception of the snapper. Then again, snapper isn't my favourite fish, so I jus ate lots of swordfish, salmon, yellowtail and tuna!

More sashimi, Cocktail sausage with bacon, Spider Handroll (soft shell crab), Tofu salad and Teriyaki SalmonGrilled Shishamo (pregnant fish), Kakiage (mixed vegetable tempura, in the background), Yakitori (chicken skewers), Chawanmushi (Steamed egg) and Miso soupPrawn Tempura, Tempura vegetables (Sweet potato and Pumpkin), Cocktail Sausage (again) and stir fried eggplant.

Japanese Teapot Soup, Sake Cha Zuke (Green tea with rice), Green Tea ice cream with red bean ($6 something, not included in the buffet price)

**EDIT*** Its $38 nett per person not $32 nett****

It was around $32 nett per person - lots of variety, efficient service, fresh sashimi (other than the snapper) and delicious sushi and cooked food.

One of the good things about Irodori is that you don't have to order a minimum number of pieces. For most restaurants, you have to order a minimum or 2 or 6 pieces of maki mono (handroll), but at Irodori, you can order just one piece.

The only thing that's not included is desesrt, but if you bring your previous receipt, you will be able to get free dessert the next time you come for the buffet.

Irodori Japanese Restaurant
382 Havelock Road

#03-01 Riverview Hotel

Tel: 6737 2002
Please make a dinner reservation, especially for Fridays and weekends. I was being blur and forgot to make it (even though I said I would) but luckily for me, they still had counter seats, or I'd have been killed by 4 other very hungry people! *heng*

Donna Carmela

Donna Carmela/Caipirinha is a home style Italian (and brazillian) restaurant hidden off Bukit Timah Road, in Greenwood Avenue. It is both an Italian restaurant (Donna Carmela) and a brazilian

From the appetisers, menu and down to the dishes, it's a spitting image of Sopranos. Maybe they both have the same management/owners?

Complimentary starters -
The bread isn't very nice cos it's cold - save your stomach space for the mains!
I quited liked the very oily eggplant, but not the pickled onions (generally don't like pickled onions).

The menu here classifies the dishes by the type of pasta (ie linguine, penne, ravioli etc) and the sauces that they have for that particular pasta. I suppose that it's because some sauces will not match the pasta (especially the filled ones). Ravioli Granchio ed Aragosta (Ravioli filled with crab and lobster)
We had it in the Al Pomodoro e Basilico (tomato sauce and basil, $16++) as recommended by the waiter (and partly because I wanted to eat the ravioli with truffles in a cream based sauce).
The tomato sauce isn't too salty, and has the strong sweet and sour taste of tomatoes. The basil made the tomato sauce even more fragrant, and it went very well with the crab and lobster stuffing. Though I couldn't really taste the crab and lobster.
The same ravioli filled with crab and lobster in a different sauce. This one is the Al Salmone e Caviale (salmon cream in creamy sauce and caviar) which is also $16++. Personally, I prefered the tomato sauce and basil, but for the same price, I would say caviar is definitely more worth it.

Lunette al Tartufo (Ravioli moon-shaped, filled with truffles paste). We had this with the Al formaggi sauce (combination of cheeses) for $16++. The cheese sauce was lighter than I expected, and wasn't the thick, pastey kind which coagulates when cold. It was pretty creamy, and the cheese went very well with the truffles paste. This was my favourite dish of the night (it's a hard fight between the crab and lobster ravioli and this, but since I like truffles more than I like crab and lobster...The same truffle paste filled ravioli, with the Al funghi de Bosco (Wild wood mushrooms in creamy sauce, $16++), which is exactly what I ate at Sopranos! It tastes about the same too. Next time a pasta craving hits, I don't have to rush down to Sopranos for their truffle filled pastas! Maybe I'll even try the pumpkin filled raviolis next time.
The Linguine nero seppia (squid ink linguine, $15++) was pretty disappointing, probably because we thought it'll come with some squid or seafood. However, on reading the menu again, we realized that the menu states exactly what the pasta comes with, no more, no less. So in the menu it's really just 'squid ink linguine'. It was pretty oily, and just coated with squid ink and garlic. There was also some chili padi (I think it's chili padi) which gave a spicy kick to this dish, but on the whole, I would not order this again.

Donna Carmela Pizza ($29++)

With buffalo mozzarella, arugula, cherry tomatoes and parma ham
The pizza is a 'pizza bianca' (I think?) - it doesn't have the usual tomato paste. It's more like a pizza crust topped with all the ingredients. There's also no melted cheese, so it's not like the normal pizzas. The parma ham had a very porky smell and taste, which I didn't quite like.
My toppings kept falling off the crust when I was trying to eat it, but it's a pretty interesting pizza. It's a very big pizza, probably can feed 2 people (I think maybe if I'm really hungry I'll be able to finish 3/4, but no the whole thing).

Complimentary profiteroles - they were filled with chocolate mousse and doused with melted chocolate. They also had a guitarist the Friday we went, and of course the birthday girl got saboed to sing a song with him!

Service isn't tops, but then again, it's a home style restaurant, and we were a huge table (12 of us) so service was a bit slow.

Btw those people who have free time, do go and read the management responses on hungrygowhere! They're totally hilarious! Usually management responses will either be those peaceful kind (where they try to placate the customer by saying they'll get free this or that if they go back to their restaurant, or the kind that's very curt, snotty and pissy), but this is just super entertaining and funny.

Looks like this will be my cheaper alternative to Valentinos! I used to think that it's very hard to find a cheap dinner place along Bukit Timah Road, but looks like I'm wrong. Just that you have to search harder.

Donna Carmela/Caipirinha

2 Greenwood Avenue

Hillcrest Park

Tel: 6463 4206
It's along the row of restaurants near the Lana Cake store.

There's also free valet (not sure if it's on Fridays and weekends only?). It's a very long walk from the main road.


I was searching hungrygowhere, there's a branch along Pasir Panjang Road, which is super near school (just at the other end of South Buona Vista Rd). Shall go there one day after school!:)

Hooked (Thomson)

I've read about Hooked on hungrygowhere, and it seems to be getting pretty good reviews. There's one near my house at Rail Mall, but I've never been there because if I go to Rail Mall, it either means that I'm going to takeaway subway sandwiches or going to Gabialti. Also, I thought it was just like another Fish and Co wannabe, so I've not made an effort to visit them. Just as well that my friend organized dinner at the Thomson Branch, or I'll be missing out on a really good restaurant.


Hooked was having a Super Saver dinner set promotion, where you can choose from about 10 different main courses and get a drink free. Not really a dinner set, but it was pretty cheap. For example, my Aloha Salmon and Prawns which usually costs $19.90 ala carte now costs $16.90, with a free drink (soft drink, coffee or tea) thrown in. My main, the Aloha Flame-Grilled Salmon and Prawns
They use Norweigian salmon and it's served with rice pilaf and grilled pineapple. I requested for the salmon to be rare in the middle. The salmon fillet was very fresh, juicy and really exceeded my expectations (even though I already had quite high expectations for this place). The prawns were coated in a slightly salty and creamy sauce (reminds me a bit of miso paste), not the freshest but the marinade was pretty good.

The rice pilaf is very fragrant and not oily at all. I think there's a bit of tomato inside, as well as onions and some other spices. I prefer this to the usual potatoes, fries or butter rice. The pineapples on the skewer weren't exactly grilled (like the menu said) but nevertheless, I enjoyed my main.
Steamed Red Snapper in White wine (Dinner Set B, $16.90) served with linguine (if I'm not wrong you can choose your type of carbo)
The snapper was also very fresh - this is probably the best dish to test for the freshness of the fish. Though I thought the linguine was too oily for my liking.

The Red Groupa ($16.90), which was also coated in a tasty crust, very fresh and served on top of pilaf rice.

The Salmon page in the menu - the menu groups the dishes according to what kind of fish is used. Personally, I'll just get the Super Saver set - it's really very value for money.Here's a picture of the dinner set menu - there's quite alot of choices, but they're all fish.
Hooked proves that good fish dishes doesn't have to come with a high price tag. I'm very impressed by the freshness of the fish and the affordable pricing, I'm definitely going to try the one at Rail Mall sometime soon. Bonus points cos they also serve iced water.

They don't have the 10% service charge here, and only charge extra for GST.

Hooked
203 Upper Thomson Road

Tel: 6256 9005

Free valet service provided by the restaurant

(Its along the row of Tong Shui and Miss Clarity Cafe)

Peaberry & Pretzel

This Peaberry and Pretzel post would not have happened if Audrey hadn't kept chanting "Peaberry and Pretzel" for the past few days.

Afternoon Milk Tea Sundae ($7+GST, no service charge)
Probably the best teatime snack to have in this climate. Instead of tea and scones, it's Earl Grey ice cream with macaroons and crushed tea biscuits.

The best part of this sundae is the ice cream itself. The Earl Grey is one of the best Milk tea ice creams I've tasted - it's extremely aromatic, with the slight spiciness of Earl Grey Tea. Every single bite is a burst of Earl Grey tea. It's like drinking those bottled Japanese milk tea (but creamier). For about $7.50 nett, this sundae is a steal. I think it's pretty hard to find dessert places, with nice ice cream sundaes for $7.50 nett. Looks like I'll be coming here for more afternoon tea time desserts!
Chocolate Cake from Peaberry and Pretzel (it's about $6, can't remember cos it's not mine)
I like the small choco-balls at the side of the cake. It's a rich chocolate mousse cake. Very chocolaty and delicious.
The list of Sundaes at Peaberry and Pretzel - I'm eyeing the Black forest one next. The others use vanilla or chocolate for ice cream, so I think the Earl Grey Tea ice cream looks like the most interesting flavour.

Their decor is very girly and cutesy. I suppose it'll be perfect for a girl's night out (or that kind of thing). Good since guys (generally) don't really appreciate good desserts:P

Their takeaway boxes are also PINK, and they even have a clothes line of doll's clothes hanging on the wall (to add to the cuteness factor?)

Hehehe no prizes for guessing what Audrey Pok has to say about Peaberry and Pretzel (oh no she's going to be angry with me now that I've uploaded an un-glam photo of her!! :O but it's not facebook so she can't untag herself!)

Peaberry & Pretzel

Blk 106 Clementi St 12 (Sunset Way)

#01-38F

Tel: 6777 3477

Gusttimo - Three Flavours better than one! (or two for that matter)

The cream cheese ice cream at Gusttimo is delicious. I thinking that it'll taste brilliant in a deconstructed strawberry cheesecake since the cheese taste is really strong.

The other flavours I tried were Cherry and Milk and Rice. The rice was interesting in that even though they use pulut hitam (black glutinous rice), they don't put it with a coconut base like how our local ice cream places do. So it's really black rice and milk.
I also think that Walnut has an interesting flavour, because usually when I take walnut, it's in the chinese dessert form, which is walnut cream and it tastes very oily. From the little teeney weeney sample scoop that I tried, it's really light and has a nice flavourful walnut taste. This will be on my must try list if I come back for ice cream :)

The cups come in 2 sizes, a small one which is $5.80 and a larger one which is $6something. I got the small one (which is still very expensive). There's 2 huge water dispensers filled with lots of ice inside Gusttimo - it's so nice to see dessert places serving water even though it probably contributes to the exorbitant prices (though personally, I think the rent in Ion contributes to the pricing more).

Gusttimo

2 Orchard Road

#1-15 ION Orchard

Tel: 6509 9380
(Facing Borders)

Oh man, I'm reading hgw and looks like other ppl hate this place! Didn't know that they have such a dumb policy! Here's some quotes from other reviewers on hgw (some are very funny, I really like reading hgw especially hilarious reviews!)

From awesom-o-4000:

Singapore's Dumbest Restaurant
...I went here with the missus and tried to order two of my favourite ice-cream flavours. Apparently, this is not allowed - incredibly, you have to name three or they won't serve you. "We're trying to be different", the nice chap behind the counter said sheepishly. "What, by annoying your customers?" the missus reasonably pointed out. "Erm, yes sorry - management insist" came the apologetic response.

Hello? Who owns this place? Giuseppe Retardo and his amazing extra-stupid sales policies? I daresay we could have found three flavours each that we wanted but I'm not, on principle, supporting this sort of pretentious pillockry...

From Murasaki Hime:

Trying to be Atas

...It was early hours (maybe approaching 6pm) and the outside area was deserted except maybe for a couple of tables. We were flatly denied a place because in their words 'we have customers who come in and order a drink or so and sit forever'. Such audacity! Come on, the place was empty. My kid could't use your high stools and the parlour was almost full. The alfresco was empty. What are they thinking? (hey one solution: place a timer on each table whether for drinks, desserts or dinner. Make sure All customers make way for more customers that's going to take up your time and place.)I for one think it's a little crazy to only open the place for dinner (unless you think you are El Bulli which in that case, you can afford to close for half a year)...

From blargh:

ridiculous policy

...As Gaz has mentioned in the very first review for this establishment, the smallest cup (picolo) of gelato is $5.90 and it says that you get three flavours. What they do not tell you is that the choice of three flavours is MANDATORY. you cant only have two flavours or one flavour. you MUST CHOOSE THREE flavours. you MUST HAVE THREE flavours for your $5.90 picolo cup...

Luckily I didn't find out myself that you only could have 3 flavours or I'll be insanely pissed! I'll go and drop by to try the next time I'm there and ask for ONE flavour ;p I love reading hgw to destress. (Mostly because the reviews are really very funny, and partly schadenfreude.) It's even more hilarious than the comic strips in Life!

I think I'm going to boycott this place already! It's super kid unfreindly!!! (Even though I don't like kids in general, how can they expect kids to sit on the high stools! They'll confirm fall over, or keep swinging and swinging and swinging and swinging and swinging and swinging swinging and swinging and swinging and swinging and swinging their legs)