Mexican and Margaritas

We tried coming to Margaritas at Demspey a couple of months back, but it was closed for refurbishment. My friend has been raving about the food here for so long, that we finally booked a table (we had to practically beg to be squeezed in as they were fully booked) and headed up here on Friday night.

We obviously went straight for a round of margaritas – strawberry and frozen, of course – which were tasty, although the tequila wasn’t very evident (although some would say that’s a good thing!) and the glasses came rimmed with salt which led to a heated discussion about whether fruit margaritas should have salt round the rim or not… I noticed that everyone without exception wiped it off, regardless of their opinion…

We also later sampled the Mango version, but it rather paled in comparison to its Strawberry cousin.

We were all so hungry we ordered up some nibbles while we looked at the menu – some fantastic Nachos which disappeared in about three seconds flat (hence the half empty plate in the picture, I barely got in there in time!)

and some Jalapeno Poppers - not on the menu, you have to be in the know! These were tasty but we all agreed were disappointingly lacking in heat (of the spicy variety)

We then ordered up our own choice of main courses – the Kitchen Sink Burrito for myself and Mr Greedy Glutton, which as its name suggests, has a little bit of everything – chicken, beef, vegetables and rice all wrapped up and topped with Salsa, Sour Cream, Jalapenos and Guacamole.

I was however a little envious of the rice side order that came served with others’ Beef Burritos and Vegetable Enchiladas, which was buttery and scrumptious.

All in all we had a great meal, the food (and obviously the company) was great – I do think they could perhaps crank up the salsa tunes a tad… get a party atmosphere going… and perhaps encourage a few more margaritas and tequilas to flow in the process… now that’s my kind of Mexican meal…

Margaritas - http://www.dempseyhill.com/tenants_Margarita.htm

Girly Lunch

I was meeting the girls for lunch and a pedicure – and where better to kick off a good girly afternoon like that, than tai tai favourite, Marmalade Pantry? This was my first time here, although I did try the Holland Village branch not long after we moved to Singapore, and I remember their fabulous fresh juices, which is what we kicked off with:
Pert – Orange, Apple and Ginger



And Delight – Honeydew, Orange and Carrot



They have a nicely varied menu, with dishes to suit every appetite, from soups, salads and wraps, through to pastas, tagines and roasts. My friends opted for two of the lighter options: The Grilled Pesto Chicken Wholemeal Wrap with Oven Roasted Butternut, which was given the thumbs up for being tender and juicy, and not at all dried out as can be the danger with such dishes.



And the Goats Cheese and Caramelized Onion Tart, which was also declared to be tasty, although the base crust was so hard it couldn’t be cut through properly, leading to goose-pimple inducing scraping noises on the plate.



I, being the Greedy Glutton, opted for one of the pasta dishes – the Spaghetti Alio Olio with Crispy Korobuta Belly Pork and Chilli. This I thoroughly enjoyed – the pasta was spot-on al dente and beautifully dressed, and the Pork was perfectly delicious.



But we didn’t stop there… oh no, there were desserts to be had, and we were definitely up for having them…

This time my friends were slightly more sinful in their choices, opting for the Basil Crepes with Caramelized Bananas, which looked sensational and were declared to be good enough to come back for alone;





and a Cherry Crumble Tart, from the Pantry Menu:



I, although completely full from my large serving of pasta, treated myself to the Homemade Lemon Tart with Wild Berries and Raspberry Coulis. And wasn’t I glad I did? Gooey, sticky lemon with a fresh, crisp crust and zesty coulis to finish it off… to-die-for…



So now I know why this place is so popular with all those ‘Ladies who Lunch’… and now I also know why they go for pedicures so often… after eating here we needed to sit still with our feet up for at least an hour before we were able to walk again…

The Marmalade Pantry, Palais Renaissance - http://www.themarmaladepantry.com/

Shopping and Lunch

We had some important business to attend to at Takashimaya… ie. Shopping, but beforehand we ad some equally important business to attend to… ie. Lunch. We didn’t want to go far, so popped into Crystal Jade Kitchen in the basement. This is a much more casual venue than the other Crystal Jade restaurants I have been to, although no cheaper… but the smells were appetizing and the tables were all full, so we didn’t think we could go too far wrong.

We started off with the Barbecued Pork in Honey Sauce, as it’s our absolute favourite from our regular Crystal Jade, Dining In at Vivocity. This wasn’t quite up there with our fave, definitely missing the hot plate, but it was still very moreish and worthy of the empty plate that went back to the kitchen.

We also ordered up some Noodles with Prawn Dumplings, which thankfully tasted better than it looked, although the noodles were somewhat congealed, and the dumplings slightly dried out…

Next up were some Chicken and Mushroom Dumplings, which were pretty tasty albeit a little stodgy,

and some (supposedly) Pork and Shrimp wantons.

I say ‘supposedly’ because I couldn’t actually find any evidence of any pork or shrimp within the crispy wanton wrapping, although if you look at the photo below, I believe the little circle at the top is perhaps holding a small amount of filling… it certainly wasn’t distinguishable as pork and prawn, anyhow.

It did come with a rather nice sweet and sour dipping sauce though, which held many surprise ingredients, like pieces of squid and char sui, so I guess that kind of makes up for the lack of filling in the wantons.

Did I enjoy my lunch? Yes, I did actually… Will I be returning? Mmm, probably not... there are far too many places out there serving up superior food to this to make it worth my while…

Crystal Jade Kitchen, Ngee Ann City - http://www.crystaljade.com/

Balinese Feast

Saturday night and we had more friends staying with us to entertain. We had spent the day sightseeing with them, and had worked up a healthy appetite, so we donned our glad rags and jumped in a cab to see what culinary pleasures we could seek in the fun and festive atmosphere of Clarke Quay.

We ended up at Bayang, the Balinese restaurant. We had been here once before, on our first week in Singapore (pre-blog days!) and remembered it being exceptionally good, but for one reason or another have never returned – mainly because their outside tables are invariably full. Tonight, as we were fairly late, we got lucky and an outside table was ours.

There were five of us, so an ideal opportunity to sample a range of their dishes, which of course we did, with great glee, starting off with some awesome Lamb & Chicken Satays,

Chicken in Pandanus Leaves,

and Deep Fried Squid – all of which were fantastic.

We followed these up with Black Pepper Beef on a hot plate,

Lamb Chops with Spices and Sweet Chilli Sauce,

Garlic Prawns,

and Charcoal Grilled Fish.

These were all equally as great as the starters, particularly the Fish, which got completely destroyed… and I think I’ve just found myself another favourite restaurant… (the list is getting quite long now!)

So a delicious, and massive, feed… the perfect energy fuelling required for our next stop, China One… where we managed to pull out some particularly embarrassing moves on the dancefloor, thanks to their resident band… definitely getting too old for that malarkey...


Bayang - #01-05 Blk A Clarke Quay, River Valley Rd

Teppanyaki Fun

It was raining but we didn’t really want to be indoors, so we made our way up to Chijmes, where we could have a bite to eat then have the option of moving outside once the rain cleared up. I’m never that impressed with the range of options at Chijmes – there seems to be too many places offering second-rate Burgers and Ribs for my liking, but today we came up with a winner…Tatsu.

As I’ve said before, we’re pretty much novices when it comes to Japanese food and have never quite ‘got’ all the fuss surrounding it… well, I think this could be the restaurant to convert us. Tatsu is divided into three – the Sakae Bar, the Sushi Restaurant, and the Teppanyaki Restaurant, and we chose the Teppanyaki section for its comfy chairs and in-situ chefs.

The waitress was really helpful and patient with our incessant indecisiveness and with a little help, we finally settled on the following starters:

Tuna Sushi

Tempura Maki

Both of which were fantastic, really fresh and tasty and I particularly fell for the Tempura Maki. But we had to ensure we saved some room for the rest of the feast we had coming our way – all from the Teppanyaki section: Beef,

Salmon

And Vegetables, served up with some Garlic Rice. Again, each dish was awesome and each cooked up on the hot plate in front of us by our charismatic chef:

Who kept us entertained with his banter, fire-raising and knife-juggling skills.

So a big-up to the Tatsu team for not only providing a really amazing meal, but also giving us an extremely entertaining and enjoyable evening… and converting us to the wonders of Japanese cuisine….

Tatsu Teppanyaki - #01-15/15a Chijmes, 30 Victoria St

Cantonese With Friends

Friday night in Hong Kong and we were all gathered in preparation for the Hong Kong 7s. It was decided that it would be a sensible idea to line our stomachs and have ourselves a large healthy meal before the nonsense began and we were too busy having fun to think about things like meals (and no, KFC and McDonalds don’t count).

So, one of the gang canvassed her local Hong Kong colleagues and booked us a table at Jasmine Place. Well, what a bonus having some local knowledge on your side – this place was awesome, and we ordered up a feast. I can’t really remember what everything was (sorry – that’s what happens when you have a boozy weekend away with friends!) but here are the pictures with a rough idea of what it was:

Roast Duck/Roast Pork (so good we ordered another immeditately)

Honey Chilli Chicken (just look at the sticky, gooey goodness there)

Garlic Beef with Mushrooms & Cucumber

Fried Fish with a ? Sweet & Sticky Sauce

Another Fish Dish

Eggplant with Minced Pork (inspired by the extremely tasty dish we had at lunch yesterday – this was completely different, but equally as delicious)

And yes I know I need to do better at remembering what we had to eat.. but suffice to say, it was a really fantastic meal, and definitely recommended… great food, great location, great price… (and of course, for us, great company!)… what more could you want…

Jasmine Place, Jardine House, Central, Hong Kong

Hong Kong Lunch

So we were back in Hong Kong, this time for the Rugby 7s, but had headed up a couple of days early to take in the sights before the rugby carnage began. I was with the girls and we were on our way to the Ladies markets to see what fantastic fake-handbag bargains were to be had, but we obviously had to satisfy our hunger beforehand.

We were on a Dim Sum hunt, but for one reason or another (one being that one of the girls picked up the wrong suitcase off the carousel and we had to make a time-costly return to the airport!) most restaurants were closed for the afternoon. So we followed our noses which led us to the Pacific Place Mall and asked the friendly doorman’s advice, who pointed us in the direction of the basement, and Zen.

They had finished Dim Sum for the day but our disappointment was short-lived when the food arrived, which was fan-tastic. While searching (in vain) for their website to include on this blog, I have since discovered that this place has quite a reputation for being one of the best places in Hong Kong for Dim Sum and authentic Cantonese cuisine, but we obviously didn’t know that at the time so were doubly impressed with our find.

Here’s what we went for: Eggplant with Minced Pork

Garlic Chilli Chicken (it wasn’t called that, but that’s essentially what it was), and

Roast Pork in Imperial Sauce, which came with dip-in buns and was to die for…

unfortunately the pork arrived after we had already destroyed the other dishes, and also our appetites, but it was so good we finished it anyway.

This beat all the meals we ate last time we were in Hong Kong… so a successful stumbling-upon and a great fuel-stop to rev us up with energy for copious amounts of shopping at the Ladies Market…

Zen Cantonese Cuisine - Pacific Place, 88 Queensway, Admiralty, Hong Kong

The Gluttons back at Gluttons Bay

We had a friend staying with us, who was straight off the plane from the UK and wanting some local Singaporean food – and fast, before she succumbed to the inevitable jet-lag induced early-to-bed syndrome. We met Mr Greedy Glutton from work on Boat Quay and took a sight-filled stroll across the bridge to the Esplanade, and Gluttons Bay.

The last time we came here, we left sorely disappointed, as the food just wasn’t up to its usual standards… today, however, I’m happy to say it was back on form. We ordered up a selection of ‘local’ nibbles to give our friend a flavour of Singapore and give ourselves a tasty feed:

The ever delicious smoky chicken wings from Huat Huat Chicken Wings/Carrot Cake at Stall F

The equal-favourite scrumptious, sticky Mixed Satays from Alhambra Padang Satay at Stall C

Popiah (from memory and deduction this came from Stall G, but I’m not sure what it’s called) – it was slightly too shrimp pastey for me, but that’s just me not being a big fan of shrimp paste, our guest seemed to enjoy it, and that’s the most important thing.

The fabby Char Kway Teow from Hup Kee at Stall L – you can tell it’s good as there’s always a queue here... and of course some veggies, which I believe we got from Boon Tat BBQ Seafood at Stall J.

Once again, an enjoyable feast… and our friend was awake at 4am with jetlag, dreaming of the food we’d just had… so it was obviously a success…

Makansutra Gluttons Bay - http://www.makansutra.com/eateries.html

Relaxing Brunch

We’ve been meaning to try Graze for a while for dinner, but we’re never organized to book ahead and consequently can never get a table. Instead, we headed up to Rochester Park to meet some friends for brunch on a Sunday. I’ve been here for drinks in an evening when the candlelit tables, water features and big-screen old movies make for a relaxing and chilled atmosphere, and during the day it is equally as pleasant, with the white awnings providing a bright and cheerful setting.

Their menu is equally as impressive, with something for everyone – with dishes as varied as Fruit and Muesli, Eggs Benedict, Pancakes, Full fry-up or, for the hungry carnivore, a full Barbecue Menu. Amongst the four of us we managed to sample a fairly wide variety of what was on offer, and happily they were all fantastic.

Fruit with Yoghurt – an enormous bowl of fresh fruit, slathered in lashings of yoghurt:

Eggs Benedict – fantastic, probably the best I’ve had in Singapore so far (although it would be a tough toss-up between here and Whitebait & Kale… these being more traditional).

Avocado and Tomato – served on Wholegrain Toast with olive oil, salt and pepper

And what do you know, Mr Greedy Glutton just couldn’t resist the burger… it was pretty good, although the consensus was that we still can’t beat the Wine Garage burger…

As it was Easter weekend, we also indulged in some Hot Cross Buns:

I think this might be my new favourite place for brunch, although it has such a lovely atmosphere that you just don’t want to leave… I could well imagine adjourning to the lounging area for some post-brunch refreshments… which, when you consider their cocktail menu, could be rather dangerous…

Graze - http://www.graze.sg/