All posts tagged: Singapore

Cafe Melba @ Goodman Arts Centre

Published by Beatrice

We were looking for dog-friendly cafe after bringing my fluff to NEX, and Cafe Melba Cafe came to mind. Given that it was only a replacement Public Holiday on a Monday (half the people I know were still working), Melba Cafe was relatively crowded. By the way, I suspected and later confirmed that Melba stands for Melbourne (MELB) and Asia (A), so the food is supposed to be Asian interpretations of Australasian dishes. We sat outdoor where it was cosy but also quite warm, and my dog was happily pampered by the children around. We had the Haddock and Chips ($24), Crayfish Linguine ($27)and Chili Crab Calzone ($22). All 3 of us enjoyed the food! The Crayfish Linguine is cooked Al Dente, and the crayfish bisque was absorbed well into the linguine, giving the pasta a juicy texture. At the same time, the red peppers complemented the roasted crayfish, while the rocket gave the dish a bitter after taste. Complex dish with a Western-Asian blend indeed. The Chili Crab Calzone is like Cheese Prata with Chili Crab, angmoh style; crab meat, egg, …

Butter Studio @ Jalan Besar

Published by Beatrice

After a disappointment along the Jalan Besar trail with Tiramisu Hero, I was a little sceptical to try another new Butter Studio Bakery. I was wondering if it was just another nicely decorated Hipster Bakery with no real substance. But Butter Studio caught my eye from across the road when I was having lunch at the Jalan Besar Food centre (which, btw, has very nice Pahang “sashimi” for $3 at the congee shop), and we decided to cross the road to try Butter Studio out. One is welcomed into the shop house by a tent over grass turf and outdoor table made from stacked up pallets. It is an easy to do set up for people to hang out outdoors. The layout of the cakes and cupcakes is very welcoming at the entrance. There are also very ornate articles like a bicycle outdoors with nice flowers in the front basket. Definitely good impressions from the decoration effort! I am welcomed by rows of interesting cakes, cupcakes, food and tarts on the left when I enter the …

Lai Huat Seafood Restaurant Tzechar @ Jalan Besar

Published by Beatrice

Having passed Lai Huat Seafood Restaurant many times and seeing so many celebrity photos and endorsements on its walls, we finally went to check it out to satisfy my curiosity! The service is not great. I got dissed trying to change tables because they initially sat us at the back, near the wall with lizards constantly invading our personal space. The wait is also incredibly long; we waited about 45 minutes for our first dish to be served. I guess they can afford the far-from-ideal service time, thanks to their good publicity over the years. Thankfully, the food was worth the wait. We tried their signature dish – Sambal Balachan Fried Fish. This is quite a killer combo of fried and spice kick in my taste buds on the first bite. Fish was crunchy with every bite! However, tip is to order a fish for 2, to share for 3 people or more. Two of us “jelat” after 80% of the fish as the dish is really oily and rich tasting. The other dishes were good …

Sushi Airways 寿司航空 Sushi Bar @ Kampong Glam area

Published by Beatrice

Wanted to meet a long time friend for catchup and she wanted Japanese, so decided to try out Sushi Airways! It can be a tad hard to find as it is on the second floor, so this is the shot of it from across the street to make life easier for you guys who want to try it out. Sushi Airways is a Japanese restaurant and sushi bar crafted after the interiors of an aircraft cabin. It can be a bit tacky looking especially with the service staff dressed as air stewardesses, but Theme Restaurants (click to see some bizarre concepts like prison themed restaurants) are big hits in Japan and I must recognize this place for the creative concept! Furthermore, Sushi Airways offers affordable set lunches and has an extensive ala carte selection of fresh seafood flown in four times a week from Japan. Tempted by the very good food photography in the menu, I ordered the Airways Baru Chirashi Sushi set ($15) with chopped salmon sashimi, tuna sashimi and hotate. The ingredients were chopped with …

Brawn and Brains Cafe

Published by Beatrice

Another off the beaten track, oh-no-my-gps-said-i-arrived-but-i-still-can’t-see-it cafe! So, first tip: for drivers, turn into the sports complex! Its there! Or if missed it, just turn left into Guillemard Crescent, and there are parking lots in front of the condominium called Cosmo. Very unassuming small cafe that sits only less than 15 people, which is also why they don’t allow reservations. We were greeted by friendly young server, who reminds me of local celebrity, Lim Peifen. Through our conversation, I learnt that the cafe is named Brawn and Brains because this cafe is in the same building as the rock climbing wall and tuition centre. How quaint! We tried both kinds of open face sandwiches – bacon molten egg and salmon. Both for $7. The Grilled Bacon open face sandwich, served with mozzarella, mixed greens, rocket, cherry tomatoes and a single molten egg. I really enjoyed the crispy bacon with melting yolk texture! The Salmon open face sandwich, on the other hand, is served with cottage cheese, rocket and cherry tomatoes, also served with a single molten …

Bread King Bakery @ Serangoon Gardens

Published by Beatrice

I must admit when we first reached the Bread King, I was very skeptical of the food quality. Bread King is set inside Burghley Squash and Tennis centre set deep in Serangoon Gardens on a one way street, with a small shop front and aluminium metal tables and chairs. It doesn’t look anything like any of the hipster cafes we were used to visiting on Sundays. But I began to feel more assured when the smell of freshly baked cake reached me, and seeing families around enjoying their food helped. Fragrant freshly baked pastries We were soon greeted by Pedro, the ‘angmoh’ featured on all Bread King collaterals, who offered us 2 options: 1) regular sandwiches or 2) bread basket served with salad, burrata cheese and ham. Since there was 3 of us, we decided to go for the bread basket and I am really glad we did! The Bread basket ($12) comprises French baguettes and Pedro’s signature sour dough. The Burrata Salad Platter ($25) had an uncut beautiful slab of Burrata cheese shipped directly from …

The JB trail (Chye Seng Huat Coffee, Anythingz Cafe, Windowsill Cafe, Bravery Cafe, Tiramisu Hero)

Published by Beatrice

After some good feedback from the Everton trail post, I have decided to do another trail named JB trail by N. JB stands for Jalan Besar trail. A once sleepy neighborhood was awoken by Chye Seng Huat coffee, and now there is a series of interesting food places: Windowsill Cafe, Anythingz Cafe, Tiramisu Hero, Bravery Cafe. 1) Chye Seng Huat Hardware (Coffee) I don’t know any self proclaimed hippie that does not know about Chye Seng Huat Hardware (CSH) but JB trail was blaze started by Chye Seng Huat so I can’t not blog about it. Part of the team who founded Papa Pahleta and Loysel’s started up CSH. I personally feel the coffee culture spark, that is really starting to spread and light up Singapore scene now, started with Papa Pahleta. The original partners seem to have split into CSH and Nylon Coffee, which are 2 of my favourites in Singapore. With definitely above average coffee, CSH have become a cool place to hang out and also the place to go for coffee accessories. They …

Starker Fresh Beer (Stärker Frisches Bier) @ Zhongshan Park

Published by Beatrice

After Fluff’s dinner at III Cafe, we were looking for Chillout Round 2 for N so we ended up at Starker at Zhongshan Park. They are a pub, but they allowed dogs outdoors on their foldable seats so I am glad! Starker is know for their beers. N tried half pint of the lager from their microbrewery from Malaysia, which was very refreshing and light in the Singapore heat. Easy to drink lager… I think one can easily drink a lot of this without realizing. We wanted to try some starters and I am pretty impressed by the quality of the food! If I had known the food will be so good and pretty, we would have brought our DSLR. Only camera photos for now. The Pork Belly was crispy, well cooked and big serving for a starter! The Albacore Tataki, very classy name for seared tuna, was very well done. The tuna slabs were raw on the inside and lightly seared, served with vinaigrette. I thought I tasted a hint of plum. I could …

Hippopotamus Restaurant Grill

Published by Beatrice

One of the rare non-DSLR evenings, so bear with the camera phone quality pics. But we had pretty good grill at Hippopotamus Restaurant Grill so I wanted to share it. N was having meat cravings and since we have Palate discounts, we headed over to Marina Square for 1-for-1 Starters/Mains! The service on first impressions wasn’t great. The servers were all so busy trying to turn the tables, they didn’t acknowledge us at the head of the queue. We waited for 5 minutes before someone told us to hold on for another 5 minutes. This is a very small detail, but I really like their chips! Tastes home made 🙂 They give free chips and bread on the house. Interesting starter – Bone Marrow served with bread ($11.90). This was all N’s after 1 bite for me, but for meat and innard lovers, this is a decent quality dish for the price Next up, French onion soup (8.90). Again, decent quality but after the best French Onion soup in Singapore, this pales in comparison. The …