A Wedding Celebration

Two of our lovely friends got married and held their post-nuptial celebrations at Flutes at the Fort. This black and white house makes a fantastic venue for a restaurant, and especially for celebrating a special occasion. We started off with champagne and scrumptious little nibbles on the verandah, before moving inside for the meal.

This kicked off with a Chilled Tiger Prawn Salad, served with mango and pomegranate, with a lime dressing. This was a fantastic, light way to start the meal – the mango was fresh and ripe, the prawns big and juicy and all the flavours complemented each other perfectly.

Moving on to the Entrée, we were served a Vol-au-Vent of Sautéed Fresh Mushrooms in a creamy white wine sauce, which was rich and creamy and smooth.

There was then a Lemon Sorbet interlude, while we quaffed some more fine wine, before the main course arrived – a very succulent Braised Wagyu Beef Cheek with crushed potatoes and baby vegetables, with a Star Anise sauce – pure melt in the mouth gorgeousness.

Of course everyone was feeling very full (and particularly spoilt) by this stage, but everyone evidently managed to save a tiny space in those expanding bellies of ours to squeeze in a decadently rich Warm Chocolate Tart with Vanilla Ice Cream… a perfect end to a perfect evening.

So congratulations to a gorgeous couple… (you know who you are!)… and thank you for a fantastic evening of fabby food and fun….


Flutes at the Fort - http://www.flutesatthefort.com.sg/index.php

Disappointing Vietnamese

I used to stop by at Orange Lantern for my lunch every now and then and we occasionally pick up a takeaway from there on the way home, but it had been a while since we’d sat down here for a bite, so we decided to give it a go.

The warning bells did start to go off when we saw how busy it is – they are always so slow in here, we did worry that food would take forever, but deciding we weren’t really in too much of a hurry, we took a seat anyway. However, we weren’t quite prepared for the ridiculously long wait that ensued, or the particularly poor service.

Over half an hour after we ordered, our Kang Kong arrived… nothing else, just some Kang Kong… we waited, and waited but still nothing else arrived. When we finally managed to get hold of someone to ask where the rest of the food was, two bowls of rice appeared. By this stage, of course, the kang kong was completely cold and there was still no other food in sight.

When we sent the kang kong back, I fear it was bunged in the microwave, as it returned a couple of minutes later, mildly warmer and looking decidedly wilted.

We had some success however as the rest of the food came along not long afterwards - Grilled Squid Stuffed with Mince Pork, which was disappointingly bland

Grilled Chicken Chop marinated with lemongrass, which thankfully was more successful – juicy and succulent and exceedingly tasty, this was more like the Orange Lantern we were used to.

Then finally, after a bit more nagging from ourselves, and a good while after the rest of the food arrived, the Starters finally put in an appearance:
Shrimp Paste on Sugarcane (again disappointingly bland)

And their Combination Platter – Fried Spring Rolls, Rice Paper Rolls, Mango Salad and Barbecue Beef cooked in Betel Leaves, none of which was particularly inspiring I’m afraid.

Well, what can I say? Disappointing food and appalling service… what a travesty, considering we thought we had a gem of a little Vietnamese restaurant on our doorstep. I can safely say I shan’t be back here for dinner in a while, although there is still the possibility of a takeaway bowl of noodles once in a while.

We did manage to enjoy one aspect of the evening however… two mugs of beer for $10…. Just as well as we managed to go through a few while we were waiting all that time for our food …

Orange Lantern, #01-98 Harbourfront Centre

Haute Dim Sum

The Shang Palace at the Shangri-la Hotel has been receiving a lot of press lately due to its recent $4 million refurbishment, so we decided to head along there last Sunday to check out whether it deserves all the hype surrounding its Dim Sum.

Well this place might be popular but we certainly weren’t expecting the level of security required to enter the hotel! Turned out we chose to visit on the same day as an international Defence Secretary convention… first our taxi was directed to a holding bay where it was searched for explosives, then we were ushered through an enormous armed barrier, past some snipers at the door (yes, really!) and then finally once out of the taxi, we and our bags had to pass through airport-style x-ray and metal detectors.

Once inside the place was swarming with armed police and military personnel – and I mean swarming, there were even three armed policewomen in the Ladies restrooms! So it was a relief to reach the relative calm of the restaurant – I say relative, as this place itself was buzzing, but thankfully with the chatter of large groups of friends and family enjoying their Sunday yum cha, rather than police radios and guns being loaded (ok, I made that last bit up for effect, but you get the picture…).

The first thing I loved about this restaurant was its tea menu – no just asking for Chinese Tea here – they have an entire menu of different premium Chinese teas, from different regions, each with their own unique properties. To add to the fun, their tea ‘menu’ is displayed as a set of Chinese fortune sticks, with each stick representing a different tea.

I have to confess to getting thoroughly over-excited by this and painstakingly making my way through each stick, reading its explanation and slowly narrowing it down... to a shortlist... to a short-shortlist... until we finally made our decision – the Peony Blossom Pearl Tea.

I drink quite a lot of green and white tea, but I have to say I hugely enjoyed this – it had a real floral flavour to it, not sweet but very delicate and exceedingly easy to drink vast quantities of!

Once we had finally chosen our tea, our minds turned to the Dim Sum menu. Again we had to endure a rather painstaking process of narrowing down our choices as so many different dishes sounded appealing, but even we conceded that eight dishes between the two of us was perhaps a little too greedy. We started off with a couple of old favourites (as Mr Greedy Glutton said, we needed a few regular dishes against which to benchmark the quality)

I can honestly say that this is probably the best Har Kau I have tried yet… big statement I know, but they really were delicious with their big, juicy, fresh prawns.

Unfortunately the Xiao Long Bao was rather disappointing after the Har Kau – not that flavoursome at all, which is a huge let-down when it’s one of your faves.

Moving onwards, we also ordered the Crab Meat Spring Roll with Egg White, which made an interesting change from the normal vegetable filling.

Crispy Beancurd with Prawn, elegantly presented wrapped in seaweed

Deep Fried Prawn Dumplings with Mayo

And the rather interesting and hugely tasty Sesame Fried Ball with Barbecue Pork, which was oozing with delicious char siew.

We were both fairly full by this stage, but I couldn’t resist trying one of their desserts, and so ordered up some Gelatinous Strawberry, Mango and Cream Dumplings. These were particularly odd – exceedingly sticky (the type that sticks your tongue to your teeth) and very sweet – not unpleasant, but certainly not on the top of my list for ordering again.

Pricewise, the dishes weren’t much different from the Crystal Jade’s or Yum Cha, but what threw the bill off balance was the tea ($8 per person) and the high price of the “pickles” ($5.00), making our overall bill about 50% higher than normal.

So was it worth the hype (and the extra expense)? Well the ambience of the restaurant is lovely, and we really felt like we were a world away, despite the proximity to Orchard Road (and perhaps it was the airport security at the entrance, but throughout lunch I had a real holiday feeling about me). The Dim Sum dishes were certainly more elegant than any other I have tried – right down to the little pancakes they were served on (kind of like an edible doily!), with some interesting twists on the norm… and of course there’s that fantastic tea menu.

Having said all that, I can’t imagine the two of us coming back here in the near future as there are so many other places to try and it didn’t impress me that much… However … if there were a group of us looking for a nice place to go for a weekend brunch, I wouldn’t hesitate to suggest it…
Shang Palace - http://www.shangri-la.com/en/property/singapore/shangrila/dining/restaurant/shangpalace

Why Wagyu?

It was Saturday night and we were due to meet some friends at the Screening Room on Club St. The Screening Room provides five floors of food and entertainment venues – the very cool basement Lounge; the ground level Bistro, which we have yet to try; a Studio available for private hire; the Film Theatre – a cosy little cinema room with comfy sofas; and our choice of venue for tonight – the Rooftop Bar.

The Rooftop bar is the perfect venue for alfresco drinks, with what they describe as “East meets West” views – offering a birdseye view of nearby Club St and Chinatown, with the skyscrapers of the CBD looming in the background. Add to this comfy sofas, a great cocktail list and chilled, laid-back tunes and you’ve got yourself a right little evening get-together hotspot.

We were running late and didn’t have time to eat before we got there at 8pm, so needless to say we were fairly hungry and immediately made for their food menu (ok, perhaps we ordered a mojito each first…) On the roof terrace they only serve their ‘Snack’ menu, which consists mainly of finger food and nibbles, so we both went for the one thing that looked capable of satiating the appetite – the Wagyu Beef Burger.

Now I don’t know about the rest of the world, but it seems that Singapore is obsessed with WAGYU. I’d never heard of it before I moved here, but now you can’t open a menu or read a restaurant review without the words jumping out the page at you (that and its porcine equivalent, Kurobuta Pork).

So Wagyu is known for its intense marbling, which not only gives a better flavour, but also improves the ratio of monounsaturated fats to saturated fats – so it’s apparently better for you. From a foodie’s point of view, it is famed to be the most tender, succulent and tasty meat in the world… I don’t know about that, but what I do know is it is always way more expensive than any other type of beef on the menu. This little bad boy set us back $25.00++ and that didn’t include the fries (an additional $11.00++).

Unfortunately I didn’t really see how they could justify this price tag – the burger was pretty bland, not that juicy and not that big either. I’m really struggling to understand – for a burger on a snack menu, why use Wagyu at all?

This was my first time to try Wagyu and I wasn’t all that impressed – but I realize that a burger may not be the best vessel on which to base my judgement. So I shall obviously have to sample a wider range, before I decide for myself whether it’s worth all the hype... or a restaurateur’s licence to print money…

The Screening Room - http://www.screeningroom.com.sg/

Kushiyaki

I get cravings all the time – usually it’s for dim sum or noodle soup, or occasionally a burger. But today it was all about grilled meat for me… I really wanted satays, but in the end I happily settled for some ‘Kushiyaki’ at Shin Kushiya.

For the uninitiated (ie. me before I went to Shin Kushiya), Kushiyaki basically mean ‘grilled skewers’, but unlike Yakitori, it is not limited to chicken dishes… so they grill a wide array of ingredients - pork, prawns, fish, beef etc. Here they pride themselves on using a particular type of charcoal, Bincho Charcoal, a very dense type which enables it to burn without emitting vast quantities of smoke, yet at the same time imparting a smoky flavour to the grilled items.

All well and good – back to the restaurant itself. I was pleasantly surprised by the interior with its contemporary design, warm lighting, and translucent curtains dividing the various dining areas. We were shown to a table at the back, where the floor-to-ceiling windows afforded a view out across the water to Sentosa (let’s just forget for a while that this part of Sentosa is one giant building site at the moment) – definitely a notch above the majority of other Vivocity restaurants.

But more importantly, on to the food. They have a fairly extensive menu, divided into sections of Sushi, Sashimi, Zensai (appetizers) Sarada (salads), Yakimono (chargrilled meats and seafood), Agimono (tempura), Donburi (rice) and Menrui (noodles) and desserts. They also have an interesting drinks menu including beers, sake, sochu, cocktails (they specialize in saketinis) and for the non-drinker - flavoured teas, fruit coolers, juices and mocktails.

Wow, such choice, where to begin? Well, a Japanese meal wouldn’t be complete without some Sushi, so we started off with some Spicy Salmon Sashimi Maki, which was very tasty and a very generous portion.

And of course we couldn’t leave without sampling the Kushiyaki selection, so we opted for some Black Pepper Yakitori and Aspara Maki. These servings were very small (allowing you to mix and match) but the meat held a strong chargrilled flavour, which was exactly what my craving was calling out for.

We also plumped for the Pumpkin Croquettes from the appetizer menu, which were a major success –light and crisp on the outside and sticky and surprisingly sweet on the inside.

Threw in some Ton Katsu – breaded pork loin with plum sauce.

And a salad, the Yakitori Sarada with a Citrus Soy Dressing - although this really wasn’t necessary considering how much salad is served with all the other dishes. It also arrived a while after the other dishes, so we could really have done without it.

All in all I was fairly impressed with this meal – it wasn’t anything overly special, but for a mid-week bite to eat, I am sure we will be back when the craving takes us.

You know, I realized at the end of the meal that I hadn’t actually had all that much grilled meat, which was the whole point of the evening… ah well, sometimes when you’re surrounded by so much choice, the craving becomes diluted…

Shin Kushiya, Vivocity - http://www.shinkushiya.com/

Hokkien Fried Prawn Mee

I was in Vivocity with a noodle craving. So my choices were a) go upstairs to Food Republic or b) go downstairs to Kopitiam/Banquet. This time I chose upstairs and Food Republic. The first time I came here I have to say I was a bit put off by the ‘historical’ ambience they have tried to create with the quaint wooden stalls, complete with lanterns, wooden furniture and traditional Chinese music. However, over time I’ve come to appreciate the fact that it isn’t all plastic furniture and fluorescent lighting like most food courts– and it certainly doesn’t put anyone else off either – this place is always rammed.

There are around 30 food stalls here, but every time I come I always see people eating the Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee from Yong Heng… but I’ve never tried it myself. So, this time I joined the ever-present queue and took some time to watch the chef at work, while I waited my turn to be served.

I do like to watch the chef in action cooking up my food – here he was tossing the noodles around in his giant wok, throwing in the pre-cooked squid rings, followed by some fried egg, beansprouts and finally the prawns were added to each dish on serving. Meanwhile we were all standing in the queue salivating (and jostling to get to the front).

It was pretty tasty – it had a nice prawny flavour to it, presumably from the stock the noodles were cooked in, and was even better with some of the chilli sauce stirred into it. So yes, I enjoyed my lunch… but I’m still not convinced that it deserves its 'fame' and I’m sure there are better Hokkien Prawn Mees to be had on the island…

Yong Heng Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee, Food Republic, Vivocity

Pizza on the Beach

It was my birthday (how old you ask? I don’t know, I stopped counting a few years ago now!) so a group of us met up at Trapizza at Siloso Beach, Sentosa to line our stomachs with pizza before commencing an afternoon beach bar crawl.

The menu at Trapizza consists mainly of pizza, pasta and salads. I’ve tried their salads a couple of times and not been overly impressed – too much raw onion, too much dressing and the tuna in the Nicoise is canned and mushy.

Today, however, it was all about the pizza. I chose the Siciliana – Italian Sausage, Pepperoni, Red Onion, Roasted Peppers and Basil. The pizza was a good size (for a greedy person), with a generous sprinkling of toppings (though not too much), the Sausage and Pepperoni were tasty and, most importantly, the pizza had a thin, crispy base, that hadn’t gone soggy in the middle.

One friend ordered the Lasagne, which was particularly disappointing, and as I’ve said the salads aren’t anything to write home about, so take my advice – if you’re on Sentosa and find yourself at Trapizza, go for the pizza.

I’d even go so far as to say that this was actually the best pizza I have had in Singapore… and as if that wasn’t reason enough to return… the beer is pretty cheap too …

Trapizza – http://www.shangri-la.com/en/property/singapore/rasasentosaresort/dining/restaurant/trapizza

Celebratory Steaks

It was my Birthday Eve and Mr Greedy Glutton had arranged to take me out for a slap-up carnivorous meal at famous steakhouse, Morton’s, The Steakhoue at the Mandarin Oriental, what a lovely surprise!

I started off with a ridiculously-priced Pomegranate Martini in the bar, which certainly looked impressive and, once I’d managed to suck through the thick layer of froth, packed a powerful punch.

We then headed through to the restaurant itself. This has a very different atmosphere from the outset from most other restaurants we’ve been to in Singapore. The windowless room with, low ceilings, comfy seating and walls adorned with photos of past patrons gives a definite flavour of North America, which is of course the home to the original Morton’s.

The service too is more akin to a North American restaurant than to your typical Singaporean one. As we all know, Singaporean waiters can be somewhat lacking in attentiveness, and often friendliness – but here we were welcomed like long-lost friends and made a thorough fuss of the whole meal… even if it hadn’t have been my birthday, I should certainly have felt like it was.

As soon as we were seated a waiter appeared with some bread. However, this was no small bread roll to nibble on while we perused the menu –oh no at Morton’s they serve you an entire loaf of freshly baked bread!

We were even warned by the Maitre D’ not to eat to much or risk ruining our steak appetites… so they obligingly parcelled it up so we could enjoy for breakfast the next day!

The fun really began when our waiter arrived to explain the various cuts of steak. He carried with him a tray filled with lifesize (Read: enormous) versions of these hunks of meat to illustrate his banter – which was quite theatrical in delivery as he talked us through how he envisaged each being prepared and cooked.

All theatrics out of the way, we were finally allowed a peek at the menu, although the Sommelier wouldn’t assist with the wine choice until we had chosen our steak, as obviously each different cut merits a different accompanying wine! So obviously we made a quick decision so as to get our hands on a bottle of red quickly! Although the wine list was long and comprehensive, with the majority being in the very expensive range, I am pleased to say that the Sommelier was more than happy to help us choose a suitable wine to fit our still-expensive-but-not-ridiculously-so budget.

So, to the food… as we were obviously going for fully carnivorous main courses, we looked to the ocean for our starters, with me opting for the Colossal Shrimp Cocktail and Mr Greedy Glutton choosing the Lobster Bisque. The Lobster Bisque was very tasty – rich and creamy and garnished with large lumps of lobster tail.

I was a teensy bit disappointed with my Shrimp Cocktail – mainly because the dipping sauce was loaded with Horseradish, which happens to be a bit of an aversion of mine – and without the dip the Shrimp was left a little lost.

Never mind, onwards we went to the main reason for being here – the Steak. Having taken note of the ridiculous size of the cuts of meat on our waiter’s tray, we both opted for the “Slightly Smaller Steaks” – a New York Strip Steak for Mr Greedy Glutton, served with a Peppercorn Sauce (yes, this really is a ‘Slightly Smaller Steak’ despite the fact that it takes up the entire plate!)

And I opted for the Filet Diane- a filet mignon with a mushroom, cognac and mustard sauce. It was delicious… and cooked exactly how I like it. Whilst I normally order my steak rare, the waiter warned me that it would still be cold in the middle, so I upped my order to medium-rare, and it was perfect.

We threw in a side order of fries and some garlic sautéed green beans to pretend we were being healthy and we had ourselves one ginormous feast.

We were completely and utterly full to the brim by the end of the steak course… but it was a special occasion, and everybody knows that special occasions merit desserts… What did look particularly special was the soufflés that were being carried to other people’s tables – but these need to be ordered at the same time as the main courses, and we wouldn’t have had enough room anyway… so we shared a Crème Brulee instead.

Well those lovely waiting staff only went and stuck a candle in the dessert and accompanied it en masse to our table where they all sang Happy Birthday to me (in harmony, no less!) – they then took our photo and turned it into a dated birthday card signed by all the team…

So yes the food, and in particular the steaks, was delicious… but what really made the evening was the enthusiasm and energy of the waiting staff… who made me feel like a very special birthday girl indeed…

Morton’s - http://www.mandarinoriental.com/hotel/509000168.asp