And Why cafe @ Bali Lane

Dessert Time @ And Why Cafe at Bali Lane. 

It's been long since we popped by the area and it is great to see so many cafe popping up in the years. Hop into Any Why cafe and there we come, calories!

This cafe is small and cozy but the ambiance was nice. The cakes were all on display and we can simply choose and pick from there. Ask if you need any recommendation for the cakes. We had the banana cake which was really yummy and the Neapolitan Cheesecake does not taste like cheesecake at all.

Okay, we did not try the mains here but well, maybe we will be back soon to try them out!

Full Passion, Wildberries, Neapolitan cheesecake, Banana Cake

Address:
31 Bali Lane #01-01, S 189867, tel: 6291 0993

Cedele Tofu Miso Pasta

Time for dinner and it's a meatless Wednesday. 

Ordered the tofu miso pasta. okay, the meatless meal wasn't planned but I really did not know what to choose for dinner. 

Not a bad choice after all. Loved the combination of the tofu, pumpkin, mushroom and the edamame, The linguine was  just nice! a great dinner, for sure.

Tofu Miso Pasta

Beauty in the Pot @ One Km

Time for dinner, time to venture out of comfort place (aka town). So let's head to One KM near Paya Lebar MRT station. It's just a 5-minute short walk from the station.

So what's for dinner tonight. We are going to try out the latest dinning concept of the Paradise Group - Beauty in the Pot. What's the fab? Well, collagen steamboat for a meal. Nourishing soup bases for the healthy us, why not? But well, if you did not make a reservation or you are too late in making a reservation, no worries, you can still do a walk-in. But the catch will be, you might have to wait up to 1.5 hours for a table. They have a rule to dine within 1.5 hours which I think it can be flexible if there is no queue outside. So, bear in mind. 

Soup:

We ordered the 2 soup bases - Beauty Collagen Broth and a medium spicy nourishing broth. It was not the first time I had Collagen Broth. I tried the 美人锅 before but the presentation is different. For 美人锅, the collagen came in the form of curb but for Beauty in the Pot, it came in flasks. Not sure if the flasks are refillable but 4 flasks of it plus the initial pot was sufficient for the 3 of us. 

The Beauty Collagen broth was really good. It tasted a little like those traditional prok broth which was simmered for hours before presenting to the customers. But if you want something that complements steamboat food and if you can take spicy stuff, the Spicy Nourishing soup would really suit you. Chinese herbs such as red dates, woldberries, ginseng are 'found' in the soup presented to us. Well, the fragrance of the herbs was great. There are three levels of spiciness for you to choose from, so take your pick!

Food:

Ordering through a tablet makes things easy for both the service crew and the customers. We can take our time to order what we really want to eat. 

For this meal, we ordered the pork belly, pork collar, homemade  fish paste, cabbage, tang o, assorted dumplings, live drunken prawns, black pepper pork balls, crab sticks (is really Crab stick) and many more.  

I can only conclude the food was really fresh. The prawns were still jumping in the glass pot presented to us. How fresh can it not be. The fish paste was great too and it was really tender. Pork belly and collar was, too, tender and shabu shabu it was really easy and quick. 

Say no more, try it yourself!

Oh, they do serve a refreshing dessert/drink at the end of the meal. Good to quench the thirst and to 'wash' away the oiliness!

Sauce:

Like many others, the sauce bar presented many sauces for customers to create our own blends of sauces. Each is unique to each individual and definitely makes us feel happier to dip in our food. So hesitated no further to customize sauces by your imagination and mood of the day. 

Service:

Well, the wait of 1.5 hours can really be a deterrent for me to revisit. Our wait of 1 hour is really a max for me. 

But what I can say is that each table is served attentively by a delicate staff who will bring you through the whole meal. From ordering to helping you to put in the fish paste to signing the bill. They bowed when they walked away. What a service. Me too, follow suit to return the bow. That's really too much for me to take. 

Conclusion:

Some asked if this is better than the popular Hao Di Lao, I would say "Give it a try! and conclude that yourself!"

 

Beauty in the poty @ One KM

Address:
OneKM
11 Tanjong Katong Road,
#02-21
Singapore 437157

The Refinery Singapore @ Jalan Besar

The Refinery Singapore is at an "Industrial" area at Jalan Besar. I google my way but still felt a bit lost when trying to hunt for the place. Wasn't too bad when their address is hugely displayed on the wall of the building. Okay, cannot really spot the name of the shop as it is printed on the OIl barrel container. 

Enough said of the location and name of shop, the service there is great. The service crew would pop by the table to ask if we need to order more drinks, more food. They are not those pushy kind but I think they just wanted us to enjoy our night out. Take note that they do not have service charge but tipping is appreciated. 

Alright, time for some food review. We ordered:

1. Agedashi Tofu ($10)

A 4-piece tofu which is housemade according to the meu. They were crispy on the outside but smooth on the inside. The accompanying dashi stock complemented the whole dish. It was not too salty and good to have after the grilled skewers as it was light and less oily.

2. Dry Ramen ($6)

Dry Bar Chor Mee -kia as proclaimed by my friend. That is the local delight of minced pork with thin yellow noodle. Okay, just share this small bowl with your friends. A couple of bites was fine but not to the whole bowl to myself. It was too oily in my opinion. The pulled char siew was not too bad. 

3. The Refinery Sampler ($36)

It consists of  4 skewers of  Chicken Thigh, 2 skewers of  “Shiok Bak” (a.k.a roasted pork),  2 of Shishamo and 2 of Shiitake mushrooms. It took quite some time before this plate of sampler reached our table after the order. The Chicken thigh was too salty to my liking. I'm not sure if it was the sauce or the marination. I quite like the "shiok bak' and the Shisahamo. The roasted pork was tender and the shisahamo was great but to my opinion, a little over grilled. The shiitake mushroom was not 'juicy and a little salty. 

4. Seaweed Fries ($12)

What can go wrong with french fries. This reminds me of the seaweed shaker fries that McDonald's's offers from time to time. I guess the special thing to it is the Wasabi Mayo Dip. Not too strong that will choke us but it compliments the fries. 

Agedashi Tofu, Dry Ramen, The Refinery Sampler, Seaweed Fries, Asahi Black Pint

This place serves quite a variety of alcoholic drinks. Non-alcoholic drinks were minimal. For coffee-lovers, sorry, this place does not serve coffee at all. Maybe coffee does not go well with grills? But maybe, who knows, in future, they might offer that. So, just wait and see!

Address:
115 King George’s Ave,
Singapore 208561

Sufood - Vegetarian-Italian style restaurant @ Raffles City

Vegetarian-Italian style restaurant! This is how the concept of the restaurant at Raffles City. Not those mock meat vegetarian food but well, a mixture of vegetables and mushrooms make it great! Highly recommended by a friend who is a vegan-lover, she mentioned that we should all be punctual and to dine together as it is a 8-course meal, priced at $25++. 

The first dish served was a trio appetizer which the staff explained must be eaten from left to right as the taste gets stronger and richer. The poached Japanese yuca root drizzled with a blueberry coulis was the best, in my humble opinion ("tastebud").  

The next item was the cider which was announced by the staff to drink it before each dish. I guessed is to 'rinse' the mouth before the tasting the upcoming dish to have a better taste. 

Next was the Rosemary Breadsticks, with a choice of their mustard or blueberry sauce for dipping purposes. 

The above 3 items are standard and you do not need to make any decisions. But for the next few items, it's time to crack your brain!

First for choice is the salad. I had the Summer Salad which consists of lettuce, sweet potato, carrot, pepper and seasonal fruits served Thousand Island dressing and sesame sauce. I liked the crunchiness of the vegetables and fruits.

Next up is the soup and I went for Mushroom & Pea Pottage. I guess is the pull factor was the sweet peas. Never had it in creamy texture. Besides the sweet peas, it is also stewed and blended with three types of mushrooms, namely Button, Shiitake and King Oyster. NICE!

Finally is time for main! The choice was much more and I practically had a tougher time. And finally, I set my mind on Wild Mushroom Charcoal Tagliatelle. First try for me on Charcoal tagliatelle. I was thinking what kind of taste that will be. Will it be like squid ink? It came with King Oyster mushrooms sauteed in a light olive oil and homemade dressing. Well, I guess not the best choice of the night. Did not really love the texture and the overall taste of this dish. 

Osmanthus Flower Jelly and The very Berry drink ended the dinner. Both were refreshing and the dinner ended with a nice note. Will I be back? Most likely!

Top: Trio appetizer, Summer Salad
Bottom: Mushroom & Pea Pottage, Charcoal Tagliatelle pasta with king oyster mushroom

Address: 

Raffles City shopping Centre 

252 Bridge Road #02-19 

Singapore 179103

Chicken Up @ Tanjong Pagar

I have to say first, my photos do not justify for the good food and presentation of the food! So here we go:

Chicken Up is a Korean restaurant in Tanjong Pagar, along the stretch where there are many Korean steamboat eateries. As for Chicken Up, they specialise in chicken dishes especially Fried Chicken and many different types of soju. 

So we ordered the famous watermelon soju. It is served in half a watermelon fruit. They only poured in the soju at the table. Well, for this soju, it is sweet and does not really taste like alcohol. The fresh watermelon juice really takes over the soju taste and well, if you are not careful, you will sure to get drunk!

Watermelon Soju

As for the food part, we do not really know what's good. All in the menu were 90% chicken dishes. In the end, we went with our gut feeling and ordered 4 types of chicken dishes, truffle fries and seafood pancake. But into the night, I forget to take photos of the food. I guess it is more important to eat! And well, as for you, it is best that you try out the food to see it for yourself! :)

First up the table was the Andong Chicken Stew (it comes in either Full or half chicken). Together with the chicken, the stew is cooked with glass noodle, rice cakes, potato, carrot, onions and chilies, in spicy soy-based sauce. For those who do not take spicy food, this dish might pose a threat to you. For me, I thought a bowl of rice to accompany the dish will indeed be heavenly!

We also tried the Soya chicken which was savory and nice! The crispy up chicken was really indeed KFC - Korean Fried Chicken. 

Variety of the chicken dishes

Okay, for the seafood pancake, it was unlike the crispy kind that I normally had. It was rather thick and it's spicy. They also served green and red chilies at the side to top up the flavour. An unique way to have the pancake. 

On each table is a small thrash can meant for the chicken bones. A good way not to dirty the table and easy for the customers to keep the place clean. The service crew also emptied the thrash when it was full! Thumbs up!

Did I mentioned, they have the All-You-Can-Eat Chicken Buffet costs $25 (before tax) per person. Top up and you could have free flow beer!

Will I be back? Maybe I have strong cravings for many variety of chicken!

Chicken Up
48 Tanjong Pagar Road #01-01,
Singapore 088469

Pan Delights @ Bukit Merah Central

A small and quiet place situated at the corner of Bukit Merah Central. Not a very convenient place to eat but well, good food is worth the inconvenience. Pan Delights is located near Bukit Merah Public Library and just next to the pet shop - a cosy place with simple decorations.

Regular item on the table is TRUFFLE Fries - as usual, it is a comfort food and you will never go wrong with ordering this item. 

Next up is the chili crab pasta - a western item topped with a local taste. This is how I was drawn to ordering this item. The chili crab paste is really authentic - If you love crab and does not want to dirty your hand, this dish is definitely for you. That's also provided that you like the garlic taste. Good if they give me more crab meat! For price of $16.90, you can really give this a  try. 

Left: Truffle Fries
Right: Chili Crab Pasta

There are many other items that I would like to try. Will be back!

Pan Delights
Blk 161 Bukit Merah Central
#01-3725
Singapore 150161

Switch by Timbre

The birthday girl has the final say to where to head to for dinner. As the Singapore Night Festival is on and she has cravings for duck pizza,  there we went - Switch by Timbre group at NTUC Income building. Switch does take in reservations, but only for 50% of the tables. The remaining 50% is for walk-in. I thought this was a great idea so that walk-in customers do have the chance to head in.

Okay, we did not make a reservation and luckily, one of us made the effort to be early to join the queue. 'A mad rush' for the queue when the door was opened was her comment. Actually, this was only a dining place with music, what's the great deal about it? Why the rush? 

Well, okay, enough said. Time for the food. Duck pizza was up on the table together with the truffle fries and Kirin Frozen Foam beer (Elder Flower). The duck pizza was not too bad. It was special as it was a fusion to me. The portion was well enough for 3 persons who were early. When the fourth person joined, we ordered the truffle fries, a salad and another pizza (not captured in photo). It was a simply relaxing meal with of course the beer to match it. My first try at the Frozen Foam beer - not too bad, will be back to try the other flavours!

Switch by Timbre - Duck Pizza, Kirin Frozen Foam (elder flower), Truffle Fries

We did not stay for the music that starts at 9pm. We went off to 'participate' in the night festival. It would have been great if the music could actually start early. If not, dinning customers might not leave before 9pm and waiting customers could not have their dinner.

73 Bras Basah Road #01-01/02

Singapore 189556

BiBiGo @ Raffles City

Dinner at Bibigo for a Korean meal. It was a gathering to meet friends whom I have not really mingle with for the past year. 

As usual, korean pancake is something that will definitely be on the table if it is found in the menu. I can never resist not ordering one. But there aren't many restaurants in Singapore that really serve great pancakes. I think the best I had was at Big Mama. 

Alright, a seafood pancake to start off the dinner. It was not too bad. The base was thin and crispy. But into the night, it turned soggy. So eat it while it's hot. The sauce that went with the pancake was a little salty for me. So be mindful when you dip your pancake in. Otherwise, this dish is not that bad. 

Next up was my main course - Kimchi chicken fried rice served with an egg and of course, some banchan (side dish) which was not refillable.  The fried rice was quite good, not that spicy. I have to say, please be more generous with the chicken. I doubtfully thought that I ordered plain fried rice. 

I have not tried eating fried rice in korean style. So I simply 'mashed' up the egg and eat in 'bimbimbap' style. In my opinion, not too bad than to eat the egg as a whole. 

A simple meal - to start theeeeeeee weekend!

Left: Seafood Pancake
Right: Kimchi fried rice

Raffles City Shopping Centre,
252 North Bridge Road, #B1-74

Shabuya Shabu-Shabu @ Vivocity

Found a cheap deal at groupon.sg - For $30, we get to enjoy Shabuya Shabu-shabu buffet at Vivocity with full flow beer. There is also free flow of sashmi. NICE! But it was limited to 100 minutes of dinning which we thought was well sufficient. 

Everyone has a mini pot to themselves which I thought was great as I do not take beef. Thus, everyone can enjoy whatever they want and cook it whenever they like. 

Okay, besides the fresh sashimi which consist of Salmon, Tuna, Swordfish and Tai. The sashimi was really fresh and it was the first time I tried Tai Sashimi. It was quite nice to me. 

For the minipot, I think it was shoyu soup base. For the dipping sauce, there was only ponzu sauce and sesame sauce. I do not really fancy the sesame sauce. It tasted a bit weird to my liking. 

As for the meat portion, there are beef, pork, chicken, duck and lamb. Wooah, so many variety for me to choose from besides the beef. For the pork, there are pork collar, pork loin and pork belly. For me, I always had pork for shabu-shabu and had never tried eating other meat. Here, I tried the chicken, duck and lamb. Personally, pork is still the best. It was thinly sliced and with seconds, it was cooked. For the chicken, it was a bit bland and not that fantastic. I liked the duck and lamb too. But they were not very thinly sliced and thus, it took quite a while for them to be cooked. Overall, the meat category was great. I had plentiful of meat that night! 

For the seafood, they were relatively fresh. Some of those we had were the tiger prawns, mussels, crabstick, some seafood balls. We had initially wanted to try the fish paste, but it was never served to the table despite multiple reminders.

As for the healthier side, there were assorted mushrooms, cabbage, corn, carrots and many more to choose from. 

They will serve the 'standard' items when we first arrived. But you can 'reject' if you do not like it at the first instance. Do not eat and then try to reject them. Waste food will be charged!

Shabuya Hotpot

By the way, not sure if it was a promotion, the service crews were quite attentive when we arrived. But with more customers streaming in, they became busy and some of the orders were not served. As for the beer, we had to order thrice before it was finally served.

But well, at the end of the 100 minutes, they did not chase us away. I guessed it must be because they were too busy and that there were sufficient tables.

For the $30, I think it was quite worth the value!

VivoCity
1 HarbourFront Walk #01-102/103

Introbar @ Swissôtel The Stamford

Friday the 13th!! Another gathering with the Randoms and beer is not out of the menu. First time for me at Introbar - Swissotel The Stamford. 

The ambiance here is pretty good and the way they place the sofa seats are great. It is very spacious and you have a personal space just for the group. The whole environment was pretty relaxing, the music was not that loud that you have to shout across the table. A pretty nice place to chill out on a Friday night. 

It does serve food here, so no worries about not having dinner before you head over. Everyone has to order at least a drink, it is okay that you do not drink alcohol. They do serve tea, coffee and soft cocktail. 

Here, the happy hour is from 3pm to 9pm and all the beer are half price. If you are a sports fan or now, being the World Cup season, Introbar do have ‘live’ screening of World Cup 2014 now and of course at other times, 'live' screening of other sports program. 

Alright, I ordered the Corona Lager. As recommended, it was a pretty light beer. Fresh lime is served together in the neck of the bottle to add tartness and flavor. And I learnt something new - it was said that Corona is bottled in clear glass where light can 'reach' the beer easily. Thus the lime helps to mask the altered taste resulted from the exposure to light by the virtue of their packaging. Quite interesting. But for me, the lime simply gave a refreshing taste to the beer. There is complimentary snacks (chips, pretzels and olives) which is free flow. So good for sports fan. Watch and eat and drink at the same time, definitely being kept awake all the time. 

Corona Lager @ Introbar with complimentary snacks

Food is the main thing I look forward to. We ordered burgers - If you do not eat beef, well, there is only 2 choices - namely the El Mexicano (Chicken) and other vegetarian burger. I had the chicken burger. It is served with french fries, coleslaw and pickles. 

Here's the pictures of our burgers. 

The 4 burgers chosen from 6 on the menu - each come with fries, coleslaw and pickles

Here's my burger close up. Personally, I find that the chicken is too tough to my liking. Not the best I had, but seems that it is the only item on the menu for me. The chipotle sauce was not that much to cater for every mouth of the burger.  It is a little spicy , so do take note of that. They should be more generous with the lettuce though. However, for the burgers, there are some add ons, so do take a look to make it a more appetizing burger. 

El Mexicano Burger

Best of this place, I guess Introbar might not have reached out to many people yet and thus, is a less crowded place in the area now. I hope it stays this way, for my sake! I will definitely come back again, maybe after a well-deserved dinner for a drink!

1/F Swissôtel The Stamford,
2 Stamford Road

:pluck @ Club Street

Friday nights out with the Survivors.... After a change of plan, we decided to head down to :pluck at Club street. This place serves food in Tapas style where people come together to eat, drink and mingle instead of focusing on one's food!. Indoor seats are just by the bar where there is an open-concept kitchen and bar. But we chose to sit outside for the relaxation!

Food are served in three different sizes - small, medium and (For Two or More) sharing. Well, though it is of different sizes, the dishes in each category are different. 

From the small category, we had the Seared Scallops, Roasted Apples & Hazelnuts. There are only three pan-seared scallops with roasted apples and hazelnuts. The scallops were tender and were perfectly complemented by the sweetness of the apples. The portion was really relatively smaller. 

For the medium category, we ordered the Whole grilled squid with a crisp block of Whole Grilled Squid, Saffron Rice. The squid was thinly sliced and was very much tendered rather than chewy. The saffron rice was quite special, crispy and nice. But it got soaked in the gravy and lost its crispiness at the end. 

Next up was the Roasted Rump of Lamb with Spiced Chickpeas ($28), which came with a watercress and pickled shallot salad. The lamb was quite tender, not those super chewy nor tough. It was very well flavoured and the chickpeas gave the taste a twist in its own way. 

Finally for this category was the Braised Pork belly with roasted potato and asparagus. A very well-balanced dish with both meat and vegetables. The Pork belly was not that sinful afterall. It was very well marinated and the potato and asparagus really completed the dish. 

Last but not least, we ordered a smoked salmon dish under the sharing category. The salmon was very well 'smoked' and when you cut it, it simply falls into pieces. Very well done for salmon!

For the drink, we went for the Signature Cocktail - The Concubine. Noted that it is a sweet vodka-based drink with Cointreau, five-spice syrup and Kaffir lime leaves. But I find it quite bland. Not sure if the plenty of ice has diluted the drink, I did not really like this drink. Well, maybe a beer would never go wrong at times!

Total damage for not-a-very-full dinner was around $230 for three persons. Will I come back again? Yes for the lamb and salmon, but not in near future!

The tapas and the cocktail @ :pluck

90 Club Street
Singapore 069458

Haramiya Central

Finally tried out Haramiya Central after talking about it since last December. Always contemplating to have lunch there but was afraid that we will smell like BBQ for the rest of the day.

I guessed this is a fusion restaurant, Japanese influnced by Korean and vice versa. A Japanese BBQ restaurant with Korean dishes as well. But well, Korean BBQ is famous though. So, I got a little confused. But you will get a feel of both culture in this place. 

Though this is a BBQ place, we did not try the BBQ this time round. I will be back to try that one fine day!. I ordered the Chicken Sundubu Jigae set. This set also includes the banchans which Koreans love but in the Japanese style. There is also kimchi which represents the Koreans and not forgetting the salad with the Japanese sesame sauce. I liked the stew - It was tasty. 

Overall, this is a nice to have dinner and spent the rest of the night chatting. They will roll down the straw blinds between the tables to make it an 'exclusive' space for us. Nice!

Chicken Sundubu Jigae set

Haramiya Japanese BBQ Restaurant
#03-87 (The Central), Clarke Quay

Tonkichi Restaurant- Orchard Central

Please please, do make a reservation before you head to this place, if not, well, you got to wait. Else, please go early before 7pm. Luckily we did both. Reached at 7pm to make a reservation for 7.30pm since the rest will be late - did not really want to occupy their tables while waiting for the rest. 

It was a belated Birthday Celebration for Random S. She had cravings for Ramen but she satisfied it the night before. But well, this did not stop us from eating Japanese food tonight! It is forever crowded in Orchard on a Friday Night and I am so glad that Orchard Central remains as a less-crowd and relatively quiet place in the busy town in Singapore. Nonetheless, this place is filled with restaurants which we can happily enjoy our meals. 

Been long since I visited Tonkichi and I ordered the Oroshi Rosu Katsu Set. It is a deep fried pork loin with oroshi pontzu sauce top with grated radish (with refreshing  citrus soy sauce). By looking at the description, it had already captured my saliva - with the many different levels of flavours. This set came with cabbage, miso soup, and a plate of fruits. 

For the cabbage, you can always ask them to top up, it is free-flow. Remember to add the salad dressing to the cabbage - it tasted great. 

For the Katsu, well, it is really a big portion - the pork loin is thick but tender. With the deep fried meat, the radish that came with it gave it a less oily and dry texture. Totally a very filling meal that is worth the money! Had a great night with the girls, chatting till the shop was about to close.

Oroshi Rosu Katsu

Fantastic service and value for money. Food served fresh with very big portion. Nice ambiance for gathering.

Tonkichi Restaurant
181 Orchard Road
#07-06 Orchard Central

Kimchi Korean Restaurant - Suntec City

Annyeonghaseyo - oh well, I just returned from Seoul (do keep a lookout for my posts on Seoul) and today I went into a Korean Restaurant at Suntec City. Princess C recommended that and I guess since she is quite a Korean Fan, it cannot go much wrong.

This restaurant serves grill BBQ. Thus, be prepared to stink if the other patrons ate Grilled meat. There I ordered a can of Peach Juice and  a Seafood Doen Jang Soup with rice. Well, the soup was not as spicy as I thought that would be, given that this dish is given a '2 chilli' rating on the menu. It was just nice for me. I remembered being a seafood soup, I had a Mussel, a prawn, a half lobster (if you deem that to be), a clam and with tofus and mushrooms. I must say, the combination and the taste was good but could we have more seafood?

Oh by the way, I not sure if it is due to the weekend, the service crews were not very attentive and since we marked down our orders on the order chit, I would have expected the service crew to repeat our order to make sure we got them right. Instead, that lady just walked off with our ordering chit and we concluded that she had not paid attention to our remarks - my friend asked for less spicy for her Kimchi soup but it turned out to be super red for the broth. Another asked for less rice and all 4 bowls of rice appeared to be the same. So well, if you are not taking such remarks seriously, why bother have that column in the first place, agree?

Peach Juice, Seafood Doen Jang soup

Oh, unlike the other Korean restaurants, Kimchi Restaurant does not serve complimentary banchan (side dishes). You need to pay for it at quite an affordable price but I am not sure if they are refillable. Can't really comment on that since we did not order that but I guess it might be a good things since we are not 'forced' to have them on the table and thus, the price of the food are comparatively made cheaper? Well, that's for each individual to determine.

Kimchi Korean Restaurant
#02-387
Suntec City Mall Convention Tower

Fosters English Rose Cafe @ Holland Village

Time to meet up with the princesses... been long since we last met, well, I guess that was last year. So as Princess C's office has shifted to the west area, we decided to meet up at Holland Village for dinner and to chill out. 

Fosters English Rose Cafe was suggested by her and there we went. We reached at around 7pm and the place was already quite packed. Lucky for us, we were brought to a table within minutes. While we waited for Princess Q, we ordered soup and calamari to ease the hunger feel. 

The soup was Lobster Bisque and well, please try it if you are at Fosters! It was simply delicious and nice and I did not have to add pepper to it (well, normally I added pepper to add more flavour to creamy soup). It was already flavourful! Yummy!

After the soup, we had the happy hour where any 2 drinks at the price of $15+. I had the Frozen Lime Margarita. It was the first time I tried the drink and phew, I did not regret it. The first taste with the salt did give me a shock but it combined with the flavor of the margarita. Good!

The main course that I ordered was Roast Herb Half Chicken. It was not that fantastic though the waiting time for it stretched up to 25 minutes. The quantity of potato given was quite pathetic and so was the gravy. But the chicken was tender and not tough. But overall, the experience at Fosters quite good. 

Will I revisit the place again? Yes, I will... and the next round, I would like to pop by for the tea after seeing the tea menu!

Margarita, Lobster Bisque, & Roast Herb Half Chicken

Address:
277 Holland Ave
Holland Village
Singapore 278994

"Staycation" at Blue Bali

Was supposed to be having a staycation with them. But everyone seemed busy and in the end, we settled for a chillax dinner for the first meet up in 2014. After much deliberation, we agreed to visit Blue Bali - just think of Bali and it's like we are out of Singapore (*self-illusion*). Well, Blue Bali at Cluny Road is located in quite an inaccessible location - within NUS Law School. We walked for about half an hour from Botanic Garden Mrt to the place - not a place that I would visit again unless there is a car. Luckily we made a reservation prior to the dinner - I cannot imagine having to deny dinner after the long walk.

Upon reaching Blue Bali, we were brought to the backyard which is al fresco dinning concept. The design of the Balinese garden gave us the feeling that we were in Bali. What a staycation concept! My fren mentioned that at Blue Bali itself has their very own brewery and they do help to pair up a glass of wine/beer with your food. But still, you have your freedom to choose whichever drink you want.

In the end, we ordered the Mongolian Chicken (S$20), Pumpkin Prawns (S$20), Ayam Bakar (S$20), Indonesian Nasi Goreng (S$16) and Paneer Tikka (S$16). All the food mentioned were under the Main dish menu. With the arrival of the dishes came our surprise - we thought that main dish normally comes with rice. But the dishes (exclude Nasi Goreng) were without rice. It was more towards the 'zhi char' concept. That was not a bad thing after all. We ordered rice and shared the food. If only we knew, we would have either ordered less or ordered more variety. 

As for the drink, I ordered the Pink Mamba (1/2 pint). It has a tint of sweetness and well, I am not sure it goes well with the food.

We managed to get a 20% discount off the total bill with a particular credit card (which I forget which was the one). Further to that, for the beer, the next pint only cost S$6 when you order the second glass and more! So for the beer lover, I think this is quite worth it.

So much for the walk, ciao till we meet again!

Our food....

Address:
One D Cluny Road, S259600
(behind NUS Bukit Timah Campus oposite Law Faculty Eu Tong Sen Building)