All posts filed under: Places we ate at before we turned Vegan

Momma Kong’s (Crab Shack) @ Mosque Street

Published by Beatrice

Momma Kong’s (Crab Shack) was founded by the Kong brothers – Edmund and Terence – together with their cousin, who is also my old time friend, JL. Momma Kong’s concept originated from wanting to create food similar to their mom’s great cooking – great local crab delicacies made with fresh ingredients, and no flavour enhancers added! Momma Kong’s décor is also simple, modern and relaxing, great for catching up with friends and family or as a pre-party destination, or watch football as well! They also have Asahi Super Dry on tab now compared to when I first visited, plus they even serve and premium Nikka Whisky, and they have happy hour 1-for-1 if you can go early before 730pm! Crabs wise, they have all the classic favourites – Black Pepper Crab, Red Chilli Crab, Fresh Steamed Crab and Momma Kong’s Signature Crab Bee Hoon Soup. Between 5 of us, we tried the 3 crabs for $110 promotion (2 Pepper Crabs and 1 Chilli Crab) and 1 Crab Bee Hoon Soup. This amazing Momma Kong’s Signature Crab Bee …

Restaurant Ember @ Hotel 1929

Published by Beatrice

Ember is a small, modern and unpretentious restaurant located in Hotel 1929, which offers Western/Fusion Ember cuisine. Some of my favourite girlies treated me to Ember to my birthday last week. Short to say, FINE quality food, as expected from Chef Sebastian Ng from the Marmalade group’s Pierside Kitchen & Bar and prior experience in Four Seasons Hotel, Raffles Hotel and pasta training at Piedmont Italy as well as training stints at Hotel De Mikuni in Tokyo. Chef Sebastian is known for his pastas, meats and seafood, which reflects in the mains we ordered. So thankful to be treated my friends to fine exquisite food. Definitely not the cheapest meal, but WOW, I enjoyed the exquisiteness and details in every dish. All the dishes were cooked in a way that brought out the natural flavours of the ingredients. Complex yet complementary combination tastes. I heard the set lunches are the best value for money so hope to be back to try it some day! I also like how they tired local Singaporeans on their serving crew which …

Santoro@Hinoki Japanese Restaurant @ China Square Central

Published by Beatrice

N picked a secret restaurant to bring me on my birthday, and when we reached Santoro@Hinoki, I was like……. wait a minute, this is my friend’s dad’s restaurant! And the head chef, (Santoro) Li Kwok Wing who has 40 years of Japanese cuisine experience, who is my friend’s dad, just won the Washoku World Challenge 2013 Grand Prize on December 8, 2013. His winning dish was “Japanese Pumpkin under Snow” (Secchou Kabochia, 雪中蒸しかぼちゃ) which beat many dishes from chefs around the world! So exciting to have a Singaporean win this global Washoku competition!! The first dish Hubbubu picked was the the Chef’s Recommendation for 2 persons – Tokusen Sashimi 特選刺身盛り合わせ ($110). The sashimi is extremely fresh! Every type of sashimi had its natural sweetness emanating with every bite. The fish slices were so firm, it tasted like meat. Among the platter, my favourites were the explosive flavourful roe and tuna served with vinaigrette and spring onions with such strong natural flavours, it tasted like tuna tartare. With the quality of the sashimi, Santoro@Hinoki has dethroned Chikuwatei as my …

espressoLAB @ Bali Lane

Published by Beatrice

espressoLAB Bali Lane is now closed. But the same team who ran espressoLAB Bali Lane has set up Three Cups Coffee Co. I am sure the coffee quality still remains 🙂 Three Cups Coffee Co Address: #04-31, 1 Raffles Place, Singapore 048616 Phone: 6438 4108 Operating Hours: Mon – Fri: 8:00 am – 7:30 pm, Sat – Sun: 10:00 am – 6:00 pm Website: http://www.threecups.sg — espressoLAB Singapore is opened by a colleague-friend and his wife, on 14th July 2012, who are both passionate about life, coffee and food. I visited them when they first opened, but they have recently renovated to a hipster feel that blends in the neighbourhood better (and rightly so since they are situated in hippy Kampung Glam and with grungy CAD just at the back), so we went back to check it out as promised! I am really proud they have come so far in 1.5 years and they have received 2 recent awards – 1) Gold Plate Awards 2012 by The Singapore Women’s Weekly – “Get your coffee fix” category, 2) Best …

LOWERCASE @ Lasalle College of the Arts

Published by Beatrice

I had to give LOWERCASE 3 tries before I finally tried the food. The first time, we assumed the cafe would be open for coffee on a Sunday and we headed down and it was closed. The second time, on a Friday night, we headed down at 830pm since their Facebook said they were open till 1030pm but was told it was closed already!! I wrote to them to feedback on the opening hours, and one of their partners, Mr J, was nice enough to explain the situation and we decided to try LOWERCASE again with a group of friends on a Saturday evening. LOWERCASE is nestled in Lasalle College of the Arts and has a huge 5000 square feet space compared to the regular hipster cafes. Their mission statement – “Lowercase is a melting pot where food, art and community come together” – is a good summary of what they are starting to look like, where random art pieces are displayed among tables of people eating. LOWERCASE seeks to promote talent by setting the stage for budding …

Duck Rice (Zhen Wang Family Restaurant) @ Bukit Timah Plaza

Published by Beatrice

We discovered a hidden gem – good and cheap duck rice – on B1 of Bukit Timah Plaza. It is tucked in a cosy corner in a coffee shop called “Zhen Wang Family Restaurant” that has 3 different shops. But the most crowded one is this Duck Rice (with no signboard)! 4 of us ate for under $20 so it’s great value for the family! I love the softness of the duck though the soup is too herbal for me. — Zhen Wang Family Restaurant Basement 1 (Opposite side of Fairprice Finest, nearer escalator)

Wrap & Roll @ Ion

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It was a rushed Friday lunch so my friends and I decided to all travel from our respective offices and meet in centrally located Ion for quick lunch. My Vietnamese team mate recommended Wrap & Roll (Ion branch just opened in Sep13), and she recommended is because she said it is quite authentic Vietnamese flavor (of course no where near Vietnamese price). Given Vietnam are known for their rolls, we shared the Minced Pork & Mushrooms in Steamed Rice Paper Rolls which was quite yummy. It is textured a lot like chee cheong fun. I noticed most of the tables ordered rolls to share as well; definitely be trying different flavoured rolls next time. For main, I had the Stir Fried ‘Pho’ Noodles. What I really liked about this dish was that it was very healthy; it was 40% vegetables, onions and carrots making the dish very crunchy. It also had lesser carbs than usual Asian meals so less food coma tendency after lunch. My friends had other mains. Miss S tried the Beef Hot Pot …

Restaurante Botin – World’s Oldest Restaurant (Guinness World Record)

Published by Beatrice

Restaurante Botin in Madrid, Spain, was founded in 1725 and is the world’s oldest restaurant according to the Guinness Book of Records. According to Wiki, the restaurant was founded by a french man Jean Botin and his spouse, and was originally called Casa Botín. The official Botin website says that the restaurant continues to be run by the third generation of the family. Miss A and I had a chance to try Botin in 2008 and I was so excited to be able to dine in such a historic location!!

Artisan Boulangerie Co. @ Killiney Road

Published by Beatrice

After reading about the 6 new bakeries in Singapore, and having a big hit with Bread King, we went to check out Artisan Boulangerie Co. at Killiney Road after Sunday gym session. Artisan Boulangerie Co. is a contemporary bakery, helmed by award-winning artisan baker, Eran Mayer. When Eran Mayer was in Paris, he was a member of the Paris Chamber of Commerce for Professional Artisan Bakers, which sounds very pro. The food and bread are no doubt, good. I had the Chicken Fusilli ($10.50) with extra Scrambled Eggs ($4). The chicken fusilli serving was small, but the fusilli was fresh, chewy and served cold. The scrambled eggs were well textured and milky. N had the ABC Breakfast (18.50), with the standard – sausage, Mesclun salad, eggs and mushrooms, which was tasty too.

La Nonna @ Namly Place

Published by Beatrice

I have heard so much about La Nonna, we finally went to try it out with Ms E, since we get a good 35% Palate discount with 3 diners. La Nonna means “The Grandmother” in Italian and so La Nonna would stand for traditional, unpretentious Italian country cuisine, in a cosy restaurant. We had a little drama with the manager because when I made the reservation on a Monday, they confirmed my reservation and that the Palate promotion of 35% for 3 pax will be honoured (I specifically asked). When we arrived on Friday evening, firstly, they couldn’t find our booking. Then, they said there was no promotion that night because Sunday was a PH. Even after I showed him my call log to their restaurant landed line on that Monday before, the manager insisted I might have called the Holland V branch. After haggling for 10 minutes, he rather reluctantly allowed us 35% off still, but looking still obviously agitated, which I felt was quite bad customer service. The starters were thankfully, very impressive. …