Real Food

Went to Real food (Killiney Branch) for lunch - the service is really atrocious. Food is consistently good, but service was bad.

 Their signature salad, which was lacking avocado (the server didn't tell me that they didn't have avocado when I ordered). They made it up by adding a bit more long beans, but it made me feel slightly cheated. Our server really lacked a spark of life.

 Their dumplings are still super awesome - would totally go back to eat a whole bowl of it.

 First time trying the pizza - it's not bad cos the veggies are all very fresh and sweet, but I still felt that I missed ham/pepperoni/sausage in my pizza...

They charge for tap water - do get the bottle and not just a small cup - it's cheaper for 2 persons. Obviously my server with no spark of life failed to tell us that (there were 2 of us).

Real Food
110 Killiney Road
Singapore 239549

Latteria Mozzarella

Happy Easter everyone!

I've just gotten back from a short break to Thailand (where I at a disappointing meal at Zanotti) and I'm even sadder cos I'm closer to 7 months of posting that I'm not particularly crazy over and looking through the Board of Sadness (59 other sad souls and counting...) is not helping either...

Went to La Mozzarella about 2 months back (but didn't have time to blog so here's the post now...)

Major disappointment with the bread - it's so freaking hard that it can be used as a weapon.
Fresh burrata - my favourite cheese cos it's so soft and creamy. And the cherry tomatoes are insanely sweet feels like you're eating grapes...
Yummy crabmeat linguine with mascarpone cheese - can't beat Valentino's lobster linguine with pink sauce but it comes close! I am such a sucker for any seafood based linguine with pink sauce.
Mac and Cheese - done La Mozzarella style

It's baked inside a whole pumpkin and it does get quite tiring to eat the same dish after a while. I would suggest to share this amongst 2 people. Just as well that the bread was hard cos I have poor self control when it comes to restaurant bread especially it's soft and fluffy and comes with great olive oil.

The pumpkin was baked until it was soft and pulpy but the whole thing together was just too filling - it could easily feed 2. I would only recommend this dish if you can share.

Personally, I enjoyed the starter the most and there were at least 2 -3 other fresh cheese starters that I wanted to try. Perhaps next time I shall order 2-3 starters and less mains...
Lemon panna cotta with berries in balsamic sauce

I dislike anything with citrus but I suppose that it serves some purpose here cos it's supposed to make the panna cotta lighter. I don't see why anyone wants to disguise panna cotta as a light dessert when it's obviously made from lots of cream and delicious calorie laden things but I really liked the berries layer.
Cos I don't like lemon, I prophylactically got myself a gelato to top off my meal just in case I didn't like the panna cottta :D

Latteria Mozzarella

40 Duxton Hill

S68661988

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

Wok and Barrel

I'm back (after such a long hiatus) and I've been (barely) surviving my first 2 weeks in the busiest team. I went home when the sun was still up for the first time in 3 weeks (never ever see the sun in the mornings!) today! And I was actually happy to be stuck in rush hour traffic (as opposed to leaving after the jams clear)... I've actually got one last post on Bhutan, but it's too depressing thinking of the land of Happiness (esp since Khaw Boon Wan's tactless remarks in the newapapers), and my happiness index is probably minus 100 now
Lunch time at Wok and barrel - they don't serve their other interesting dishes like their Bak Chor Mee pasta but they have Nasi Lemak (about $8-10) with an assortment of sides. The nicest one was the mutton rendang which had an intensely fragrant and thick sauce. We also had the chicken curry (also as fragrant, but I like lamb more). The Asian coleslaw has a sourish vinegar-base dressing and was refreshing especially after all the oil from the nasi lemak and the curry.
The ikan billis was fried to a crisp and nicely salted.

The Shendol dessert which is a twist to the usual icy chendol dessert. It's more like coconut panna cotta with gula melaka and a cloyingly creamy (couldn't finish this) scoop of coconut ice cream (red bean was sold out).

The decor is simple, clean and service is quick and friendly. They serve complimentary iced water (if I remember correctly, it's self service).

I would definitely return to try their lamb charsiew and special blend of spiced crackling pork and of course, their famed bak chor mee tagliatelle.

Popped by to Flor which is just a few doors down and tried their chestnut cake. Too full to appreciate it fully tho!

Wok and Barrel

13 Duxton Hill

Singapore 089507

Tel 62200595

Strictly Pancakes

Totally enjoying my annual leave D2! I just went to Aoki for lunch (and whatsapp-ing the photos to a poor colleague stuck at work ^-^) Annual leave is even better than school holidays - no need to worry about assignments, doing holiday homework etc! Best ever! I've been watching movies on my ipad and messing up my sleep cycle. Cant believe that I've worked without annual leave since January!

Finally tried Strictly Pancakes at Prinsep street - didn't attempt to go there before cos it's in CBD and the carpark's a pain. It still was a pain to park there on Sunday (I parked at Sunshine plaza, it's $3 per entry on Sundays) and took a short walk over. The seating's really limited and we had to wait about 30min (not like there were many other restaurants open around that area on Sunday morning, or we would have defected to another restaurant/cafe. It's a pretty interesting concept where all the dishes are pancake based and there's both savory and sweet pancakes.

Had the equivalent of Eggs benedict (can't remember the name of this dish, but it's essentially Eggs Benedict with pancakes instead of muffins). It looks a bit bare cos we got the Hollandaise sauce on the side. The eggs were nicely poached, not overcooked and still runny inside. It was also very reasonably priced. The pancakes are the thick floury kind which aren't really my favourite type but it worked well in absorbing the runny yolks and hollandaise sauce so no complaints here.

We also added an extra side of mushrooms which were pretty good for the price (I think it was $2.50-$3 additional charge)

Each of the mains come with a choice of butter (herb garlic, unsalted and salted) as well as maple syrup. Makes it a bit more interesting instead of eating a whole dish of savory pancakes. Do note that you would have to pay an additional charge to add maple syrup/butter to the dessert pancakes (or those that don't come with this butter and maple syrup).

I can't remember the name of this dish but it's a sure-win combi of all of my favourite things. Pancakes, kinder bueno (my fave chocolate snack ever! especially mixed into Horlicks Ice Cream from Ice cream chef!) and nutella and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The pancakes are special peanut butter pancakes which I really didn't like cos I found it too heavy going and a bit salty. They were quite stingy on the nutella spread. I think I'd have liked it better if it was plain pancakes with more nutella. The best way to eat this was to spread the 'innards' of the kinder bueno over the nutella side of the pancake and eat it with the ice cream.

Strictly Pancakes

44A Prinsep Street

63334202

Artichoke Revisited

One more call before I go on loooong annual leave! :D

I just watched Tree of Life yesterday and it was really one of the most painful movies I've ever watched! I was just thinking to myself barely 1hr into the movie that it was really sad that I wasn't at Universal studios (cos it was raining madly in the morning) and that the movie was like watching fragments from national geographic channel without any narration :(

Went to Artichoke again (?a month back) cos I was missing the dips and the lamb ribs.

They've changed their dips - tzatziki and hummus were my faves (always are) but I didn't like the carrot and walnut dip (don't particularly like carrots). Turkish bread comes separately for about $3 (but it's a small portion)

Fried Halloumi Cheese with came with some grilled vegetables - my first time trying this cheese. It's very firm and looks a bit like a tau kua. Taste wise it's not very remarkable.
My favourite dish at Artichoke - their slow cooked lamb ribs with mint yogurt with a scattering of pomegranate seeds. The lamb is very gamey so people who don't like the lamb smell please avoid this dish!

We had one of their sharing meat platters which totally made everyone so uncomfortably full. The meat platter is really very very filling, salty and oily. And gamey. It comes with chicken, lamb, sausages. Please don't order the lamb ribs and the meat platter cos you'll really overdose on the lamb. Other than that, I quite liked the sausage and the grilled cherry tomatoes.

Was wayyy too full to even think about dessert.

Artichoke

161 Middle Road, Sculpture Square

Tel 63366949

Hanayoshi

Had a delicious dinner at the month-old Hanayoshi, which is tucked away in Duxton Road. The simple wooden interior and Japanese decor is really nice.

Ordered the Chirashi don ($45++), and it came prettily presented, with perfectly vinegared rice, otoro (I didn't ask but it was so deliciously fatty and marbled) and uni (sea urchin). I also had the chawanmushi which was silky smooth and tasty. Didn't get a nice shot of it (partly cos I was using my iphone and not my S90, which I sadly left in another bag :(

The Salmon skin salad ($9++) was light and refreshing, and the salmon skin didn't have the oily taste. Comes with vinegrette dressing.The ice cream here is supplied by a secret contact that the restaurateur knows, and it's not ice cream but Gelato. I particularly liked the Ume ice cream ($8++ per scoop) which was pleasantly sour, not extremely tart and tasted very creamy. Very much like yogurt but it's plum! We also tried the green tea gelato and the peanut butter gelato, but my fave is still the Ume. I liked the mochi that came with the latter two:D

Since the restaurant is very new, it was pleasantly empty (apart from some other patrons in the private Japanese style rooms) so we had a nice quiet dinner. The service here is supberb and personalized. I think the lunch here is much more affordable than dinner, and the lunch sets come with a scoop of ice cream (do try the ume!)

Hanayoshi

21 Duxton Road Singapore 089487

Tel 62255567

Keyaki

I was just going through my old posts (when I was young and gainfully unemployed) cos I just ate a weird timing but very satisfying breakfast/lunch meal today. And it's a Monday again! So the famous stall was closed... And there's no more $2 prawn noodles anymore... Guess everything but my salary is going up...

Went to Keyaki last weekend. Made a grave mistake cos we had initially planned on going to Cherry Garden for dim sum but didn't know it was Father's Day and it was fully booked :( Just another reminder to myself - Cherry Garden is at Mandrin Oriental and not Marina Mandarin - spent nearly half an hour crawling around looking for the restaurant. It is never a good idea to be supremely famished, finaly reaching the restaurant and being told that it's full and yet being able to smell all the lovely freshly steamed dim sum. We had 2 different sets - I had their Keyaki set (I really cannot remember what it was called but its the weekend special lunch set) which came with a very insipid potato salad. The other lunch set (which is in the main menu) had this really refreshing plum wine sherbert and probably one of the better ways to kick start a great meal.
In fact, it was so nice that the next day at work I was craving for this halfway through the morning and just wondering where I could get some good quality plum wine from (though I'm mainly a procrastinator so I still haven't gotten it...)

Another 3 dished starter - some fish cake thing, minced meat with grated radish and pumpkin chicken cube (my pumpkin piece was miniscule).

California maki - which is totally un-Japanese but very delicious anyway.

Extremely fresh and juicy sashimi - my fave part of any meal

Tempura - one of my least favourite Japanese foods though I really like eggplant and pumpkin Fried rice with little morsels of seafood and chicken - I would have much preferred garlic fried rice (which most mid range Japanese restaurants do quite well). The pickles (top left) are pretty interesting cos they also had pickled mushrooms.

Grilled cod fish
By this time I was really full but there were still some more dishes...

Pork Teppanyaki - the alternative being beef (which I don't eat cos of prions, though I'm seriously reconsidering now cos I really miss eating BK mushroom swiss and Macdonalds double cheeseburger...)
The other lunch set (which was around the same price ~$60++) had a nicely grilled half lobster which was really fresh.

The Cha soba here (came with the other lunch set) was pretty good but not as spectacular as the Tsuen one from Japan (which I sadly will not be able to eat in the new future)... It's a remarkably easy dish to prepare just that the noodles have to be watched closely cos they become soggy once overcooked.

Dessert - green tea and black sesame ice cream. The black sesame one is much better so if you're ever given the choice do take the black sesame one - it has coarse grains of black sesame and an intense sesame taste. Just like eating black sesame paste but in the ice cream version.

Personally, I still find Aoki's lunches is still in the number 1 position in my list of lunch places... I think I'm growing old cos I feel much less adventurous and I've been stagnating at my usual food places for the last few months... Oh well, I will be hunting for a new lunch place on Wednesday if my list doesn't explode terribly...

Keyaki
7 Raffles Boulevard

4/F Pan Pacific Singapore
Tel: +65 6826 8240

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/

Cocotte at Wanderlust Hotel

Read a glowing write up on Cocotte in the Straits Times Lifestyle section a while ago along with the 23456643 other people who saw the article. I think it was Wong Ah Yoke who wrote about it ? And the description of the the Cocotte chicken and how it is lovingly marinaded and cooked for 2 days (hence the limited supply). I was sold after reading about the chicken.

So many moons later, I finally make it down to Cocotte to sample their famous French chicken. Being the last minute people we are, we made a booking at the last minute (actually, we had wanted to try No Menu but being last-minute, there was NO space - Forlino is popular ++) and hence we settled for second choice at Cocotte. Which had space - just that we had to vacate the table by 830pm.
To start, mini French Baguettes with French butter which were nice and crusty on the outside and cottony soft on the inside. Good restaurant bread puts me in a good mood for dinner. In particular, I like the one from Bonta (winner of all restaurant breads - there's a lump of cream cheese hidden inside!) and from Otto (onion bread is fantabulous!) The fresh pear, macadamia nuts and blue cheese (or was it gorgonzola?) salad with a light lemon-olive oil dressing didn't quite hit the spot for me. I partially attribute it to the extreme bitterness of the greens. Though I did like the combination of crisp, juicy pear, creamy pungent cheese and macadamias.

The escargots come with a tomato coulis (fancy name for paste) which was tart and refreshing, as well as a ?basil sauce. Instead of being baked in the usual tray (that most escargots come in) with butter and garlic, these came in dainty choux pastries. The snails themselves were tender, moist and juicy though I won't get the appetisers here again. Passable but not spectacular.

The Chicken (fancy name is Poulet Roti) is only available for dinner and costs a whopping $60 for a full chicken. It's marinaded for 2 days and roasted. And it's no ordinary chicken - it's a hormone free chicken (I suppose they left out the 'injected' cos any live chicken cannot possibly be hormone free).

The meat is so soft, succulent and juicy, that even I, the one who does NOT eat chicken breast (cos I find it much coarser and drier than the lovely juicy thigh) ate the breast happily. The skin is roasted to a brown perfection (though it's not the crispy kind).

The presentation is really nice and I can just imagine how appetising a whole fat roasted chicken sitting on the wooden chopping board... but they've kindly catered to diners in smaller groups and this is the half chicken ($45++) which is meant for 2 people.

The rustic French coutryside vegetables (at least, that's how I imagine it to be, though I can't say for sure where these veggies come from) and the aromatic brown gravy. The roasted baby potatoes are seasoned with coarse sea salt, and the vegetables (asparagus, fennel, peas +++, carrots) are nicely roasted and a nice balance to the chicken.

It was at this point I started regretting ordering a starter because I was 1) getting full 2) really enjoying the chicken.

Though we were slightly full, I had to try the apple tart tartin ($21++, meant for 2 people) which was another of their signature dishces.

The Tart tartin is basically an upside down tart - it was served in a pan and flipped onto a plate at the table. The apples are caramelized into a sweet syrupy pulp but not too soft hence they're able to retain their shape. But bit into one and it will yield to the slightest pressure. The apples also have a nice dark red hue.

I particularly disliked their shortcrust pastry as it was thick and hard. Not very buttery either. Ended up not eating the tart at all. But the apples are delicious - especially when eaten with the creme fresh.

The strawberry pistachio tart ($11++) is a dainty dessert which had fresh strawberries stacked on a thin buttery cookie. The green stuff is actually pistachio paste. It's more elegant than the apple tart but I think if I had to choose between the two, it'll really be a tough fight.

Pink macaroons, with complements from the chef

The bill for all the food above was $135 nett - and we didn't take any drinks. I really cannot remember how much each of the dishes cost but I suppose if you really want to find out, you could either search the internet or call the restaurant.

The general consensus is that it's rather expensive, not the most accessible place (though they do provide free valet). Go for the mains and desserts. Starters we tried were less than impressive. Part of my dining expirence was marred due to a particularly large group in the adjacent table with young children. One of them kept shouting and crying throughout the later 3/4 of our meal which totally spoilt the ambienceD:<

Wanderlust hotel's waiting area is rather intersting and they have all these unique chairs - this one's made from a supermarket trolley (no wheels so you won't roll away) and there's even an old school barber's chair (think Sweeney Todd) in front.

Cocotte

2 Dickson Road,

Ground Level

Wanderlust Hotel
Tel: +65 6298 1188