Au Chocolat [Closed]

Before catching the muppet musical – Avenue Q (matinee show) at Marina Bay Sands, we wanted to grab Sunday brunch nearby. Au Chocolat was the right place to go as they are a Bistro and confectionery located within a short walking distance from the main entrance of the theatre.

A nice French-inspired and decorated cafe to enjoy our meal. The Bistro served Breakfast menu (All Day) and also an All Day Dining menu. We tried their Creamy Chicken & Mushroom (Crepe) and Stuffed French Toast with a drink called Mango Magic – white chocolate with mango puree.

The food portions were huge and was very filling for ladies, in fact I was unable to finish my food.

Creamy Chicken & Mushroom had a nice sauce but the chicken fillet bits weren’t succulent…was slightly dry and tough.

Stuffed French Toast had crispy brioche, topped with strawberries and choclated sauce. Something different from the normal French Toast coated with simply with egg as this one has cornflakes coated as well, making the outer coat extremely crispy.

As for the chocolate drinks, they had a variety of white chocolate with tropical fruits combi e.g pineapple pleasure, banana boost and we decided on mango magic. It tasted like mango smoothie with white chocolate milk.

Next to the Bistro was their Confectionery, which I bought home a Kalamansi Meringue Tart and a Strawberry Tart. The Kalamansi Meringue Tart was rather unique, reflective of Asian flavour (compared to traditional Lemon Meringue Tart). The Kalamansi was refreshing, bringing a slight sour tang. Both tarts were also generously portioned, I can’t finish 1 for breakfast.

Other related posts:

• TWG Tea Salon
• Kraze Burgers

★ Les Amis

It has been close to 1 year since I last ate in a World’s Best Restaurant in Singapore. Les Amis was ranked #53 in San Pellegrino World’s Best Restaurant 2012. The other few Singapore restaurants which made it into the list in 2012 all saw them rising up the ranking from 2011 (Restaurant Andre up 32 to #68, Iggy’s up 1 to #26). Of cos the new outlet by chef Tetsuya Wakuda’s Waku Ghin debuted at #39.

Les Amis offers 4/5/8-course dinner menu (with option of wine pairing). Its definitely more costly than the other 2 World’s Best Restaurant which I had eaten in Singapore. Hence we opted to go for the 4 course but with wine pairing (since I’ve nv tried menu w wine pairing before).

• Amuse Bouche – Tempura Prawn, Cucumber Jelly, Tomato Puree. Very appetizing and refreshing. Paired with Bruno Paillard Champagne Brut Premier Cuvee.
• Marinated Japanese Ayu  Uni (sea urchin), Fennel, Crispy Tomato Confit– Liked the Ayu which was very fresh and had smooth texture. Paired with 2009 Kanta Egon Muller Riesling.
• Homemade White Tomato Pasta Mentaiko, Octopus, Basil Oil – Luved the al dente pasta and the flavoursome sauce! Would luv to go back for this dish~ Paired with 2009 Grüner Veltliner Alte Reben, Weingut Bründlmayer
• Dover Sole Crispy Shrimps, Gnocchi, Mange Tout – I didn’t quite enjoy this dish…somehow I don’t enjoy fish dishes at fine dining… Paired with (Didn’t catch the year) Domaine Leflaive Bourgogne Blanc
• Iberico Pork Tenderloin Mushrooms, Melted Baby Leek, Potato Mousseline – Very good pork, with soft yet chewy texture. Paired with (Didn’t catch the year) Johanneshof Reinisch Frauenfeld St. Laurent
• Dessert Chocolate with fig and vodka – Rich chocolate with vodka ice shavings. Interesting combination. Paired with 1998 Château Suduiraut Sauternes

Petit fours were Lemon Madeleine, Canele, White Chocolate with Orange Truffles, Dark Cocoa Chocolate.

Les Amis is undoubtly one of the best dining venues in Singapore. Excellent service, ambience and food. Delightful experience dining here.

[Updates on 26th Feb 13]

Les Amis was ranked No.14 at the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants. Our heartiest congratulations~

Other related posts:

• COI, San Francisco #75 in San Pellegrino World’s Best Restaurant 2011
• Restaurant Andre, Singapore #100 in San Pellegrino World’s Best Restaurant 2011
• Iggy’s, Singapore #27 in San Pellegrino World’s Best Restaurant 2011
• Attica, Melbourne #53 in San Pellegrino World’s Best Restaurant 2011
• Amber, Hong Kong #37 in San Pellegrino World’s Best Restaurant 2011

Novus Restaurant & Bar [Closed]

With Restaurant Week round the corner and the relentless advertising efforts in promoting the event, one can’t resist going through the list of restaurants and be tempted to visit them. Novus Restaurant & Bar was one of my shortlisted places but unfortunately they were fully booked.  Nonetheless, we dropped by on a weekday night for a casual dinner to experience their food.

Housed within the National Museum, the Roman arch windows , together with the luxe interior decoration brings a sense of grandeur to the dining hall.

Perhaps we chose a bad day to be there as there was an on-going event at the restaurant. Hence service staff were severely lacking resulting in many unattended moments. Luckily the waiting time for the food wasn’t too long and was served to us promptly.

We ordered 3 starters and just 1 main plus a dessert for our dinner.

• Chunky Mushroom Soup three kinds of field mushrooms, parmesan stick, truffle oil – the parmesan stick was fresh & crispy, soup has a strong aroma of truffle oil
• Norwegian Salmon Carpaccio thinly sliced marinated salmon, yuzu, kombu, cucumber, dill, vine cherry tomatoes, lava salt – a very nice dish, fresh salmon with refreshing dressing
• Pan Seared Foie Gras with brioche toast, sweet shallot jam, port wine glaze – I liked the toast but not to foie gras. The foie gras was slightly mushy, losing its structure when I sliced it.
• Angus Ribeye 150 days grass-fed roast beef ribeye, sauce poivrade, celeriac puree, garlic & herb butter – I didn’t quite enjoy the medium rare ribeye which we ordered, cos the texture wasn’t satisfactory…
• Valrhona Chocolate Test chocolate in 5 textures and 5 different percentages of cocoa mass – something which many people raved about at Novus. Tasting the choco from lowest % to highest %, left to right: Aerated Mousse (Orizaba Lactee 33% Cocoa), Souffle (Equatoriale Noire 55% Cocoa), Sorbet (Alpaco 66% Cocoa), Warm Custard (Araguani 72% Cocoa) and Dehyrated Chocolate (Abinao 85% Cocoa). I enjoyed the Souffle and Warm Custard the most. I appreciate the effort by the chef to produce 5 different types of chocolate for 1 dessert dish. Some might find it value-for-money to taste a variety of choc, but to me 1 great dessert is better than 5 average ones…

It was quite a disappointment as I had higher expectations of the place!

If I had been to Novus during Restaurant Week, which I only need to pay a fraction of what I had paid for my meal…I can accept the quality of food served…

For a full priced meal, I expect much better service and food…

Silk Road Restaurant

Final day of F1 Weekend… Before heading to the circuit we enjoyed lunch at Silk Road Restaurant using the UOB Young Chefs’ Creation promotion.

The 5-course set lunch featured Modern Sichuan cuisine. We ordered the Eight Treasure Tea (a drink which I always liked to order wherever its available) to go with our lunch.

We started with the Silk Road Trio Sample Platter Shredded Chicken, Cucumber and Sliced Pork with Garlic. Amongst the 3, the thinnly sliced pork was my favourite. The sauces used for the cucumber and sliced pork were both very appetizing (slightly spicy) while the sauce for shredded chicken tasted sweeter and non-spicy.

Next was Sliced Fish Soup with Snow Vegetable, the snow vegetable seemed to be pickled as it was crunchy had a slight salty taste.

Pan Seared Chicken Chop Spicy Green and Red Capsicum tasted similar to chicken cutlet.  A rather normal dish thou it was crispy and well fried.

The highlight of the meal was their award winning dish – Hand Made Noodle Chili Oil, Soy and Garlic. The simple looking dish packs lots of surprise! Can’t help but wonder what is the secret ingredient in the gravy sauce.

Last item was Chilled Aloe Vera with Lily Bud, light and refreshing dessert.

Thou I have heard good reviews about Silk Road, I must admit that I probably wouldn’t visit them if not for the UOB promotion. However their award winning noodle might just be the pull factor which will lure me back to savour the dish. =)

More photos at F1

 

 

Nantsuttei Singapore

While there are gripes about less shoppers in Marina area during F1 due to road closure, it allowed me to visit Parco Marina Bay with ease! And I got my chance to visit Nantsuttei to try their famous tonkotsu ramen~

I had long wanted to visit them since they first opened but have heard about long queues and inaccesiblity to the mall. Glad that I got the opportunity to visit them & without queue!

The normal standard ramen does not come with boiled egg so we need to top up for it. But the egg doesn’t look nor taste flavoured, thou its the usual semi-gluey egg yolk type.

The tonkotsu soup was flavoursome and thick. Charshu was soft. Ramen noodle texture was of the right softness.

I’m certainly impressed with the quality of ramen here. Worth another few rounds of visit – even with the big detour to get there!

Some photos taken at F1

Other related posts:

• Ramen Play
• Menya Musashi Ramen
• Men-Tai Ramen
• Tonkotsu King Ramen Keisuke
• Ramen Craze

Saint Pierre [Relocated]

Despite being located just a stone’s throw away from my past office premise, I haven’t eaten at Saint Pierre until recently (after my office shifted out of town…). Managed to visit them during lunch as I had taken the day off to enjoy the start of my Singapore GP F1 weekend~

The set lunch price ranges from $32 to $52 depending on the number of courses and whether you selected any premium items which requires top up. The set lunch included Amuse Bouche and Petit Four.

I enjoyed the Hazelnut butter with bread selection of baguette and walnut bread. Loved the subtle hint of Hazelnut taste in the soft creamy butter.

1st Amuse Bouche was Fish Croquette and Garlic Air. 2nd Amuse Bouche was Smoked Tomato Soup. The soup was served in an espresso cup making it looked like thick coffee. But I soon realised that the concentrated tomato soup served to stimulate our appetite. =)

For starters, we ordered:

• Classic Foie Gras (additional $8) Pan-fried foie gras with caramelised green apples and old port sauce – Generous portion of good quality foie gras, I especially liked the espuma of old port sauce. The foie gras was semi-covered in the pool of old port sauce! Heavenly. Different from the usual preparation of pan-fried foie gras with just a slight glaze of sauce.
• Prawns Dashi poached prawns with apple crudite, garlic air and white peach puree – Not something that I appreciated. I didn’t feel that puree and apple crudite brought out the freshness of the the poached prawns.

For main, we had the Miso Cod (additional $8) Oven-baked miso black cod with angel hair pasta, grilled daikon, spring onion, hijiki seaweed and miso soup – I enjoyed the al dente angel hair pasta, the clear yet tasty miso soup counter-balanced the cod fish which have high fat content, eliminating the “oily” feeling.

Miso Cod has always been a star dish at the restarant, but I noted that the chef has various ways of preparing this dish, using different ingredients available during different time of the year.

For desserts:

• Chocolate Cake Grandma stroobant’s flourless belgian chocolate cake with raspberries and orange zest confit – Very rich and thick choco flavour well-balanced with the punchy citrus zest confit.
• Creme Brulee Vanilla bean creme brulee with fresh strawberries and lemon meringue – Creme Brulee has always been one of my fav desserts. I particularly liked the addition of lemon meringue toppings here.

Ending with the petit fours. Not forgetting coffee & tea.

Great attentive service by the staff and a nice quiet ambience. A hidden gem for executive business lunch.

What a way to kick-start my F1 weekend~ This meal would be sufficient to equip me with the energy needed for all the walking around the circuit for the rest of the day!

[Updates in Jul 2013]

Saint Pierre has relocated to Sentosa Cove (in May 2013).

[Updates in Aug 2014]

Passed by Quayside Isle’s stretch of eateries. Seems like the Blue Lotus (Chinese Restaurant by Chef Emmanuel Stroobant) is packing in the crowd.

Other related posts:

• Bistro Du Vin
• Restaurant Ember
• Pontini

Jade Restaurant, Fullerton Hotel

Jade Restaurant is one of the many restaurants inside Fullerton Hotel but what’s interesting is that the Chinese Restaurant is housed in a colonial styled building.

While I was seated at the table with chinese tea being served, I’m looking at the night scenes outside through a tall French Window with long drapes next to my table.

Looking through the menu presented, I was surprised to see that they have the option to serve food in single serving portion! That is an uncommon practice for Chinese food but I’m certainly happy to be able to order single portion. That would allow each diner to customise their own set of meal. =)

Here’s what we ordered:

• Pan-Fried Scallop Stuffed with Shrimp Paste in Spiced Fragrant Chili (full portion) – Very crispy outer skin and fresh scallop inside.
• Stewed Bean Curd with Sea Cucumber and Dried Shrimp Roe (single portion) – Sea cucumber was of good quality, chewy and the texture made me felt as if I had lots of collagen.
• Briased Fish Maw and Crab Meat in Superior Chicken Broth (single portion) – Can taste the fish maw umami in the thick soup.
• Slow Braised Egg Noodles with Lobster and Shimeiji Mushroom (available only in single portion) – This is what I was there for. The star dish!!!! I fell in love with the fine and soft noodles which had absorbed the flavourings of the broth its cooked in! Its worth every single penny!!! Will be back for more! (Its the most comparable Lobster Noodles, I can find in Sgp, to the one I had at Mandarin Kitchen in London).
• Chilled Cream of Mango with Green Lime Jelly – Fresh and refreshing dessert.

A nice and elegant Chinese Restaurant, good for casual business associate dinner due to their customisable individual food portion (thou they don’t seem to have private room hence not suitable for business discussions).

Other related post:

• Mandarin Kitchen @ Bayswater, London

Poulet

Poulet at Bugis+ is easy to spot – strategically located and always with long queue. The name of the restaurant “Poulet” means the flesh of a chicken used for food. No wonder their star dish is the Roast Chicken.

The slow-roasted chicken was tender and soft, complemented with the creamy mushroom chardonnay sauce.

Other sides which I tried are worth mentioning too. The Mushroom Soup was thick and creamy. The Sauteed Mushrooms with Poached Egg which comprises 3 types of mushrooms, covered with runny yolk, was tasty.

The Escargot de Bourgogne wasn’t that fantastic. I didn’t quite like that it has tomato sauce at the base of the casserole. The escargot didn’t have the chewy texture I expected. As this dish needs time to heat and bake the escargot, it was the last item served to us (before the dessert).

The Tiramisu came in a generous portion and in a canister which customers can open themselves after the staff serves the dish.

Despite the long queue, the food were served very promptly after we got seated. Guess the chicken can be served quickly from the rotisserie, hence our hungry stomache don’t need to be growling for too long after a 30mins queue. =)

Overall its a reasonably priced eatery with its roast chicken as a must-try.

#04-12 Bugis+
201 Victoria St
Singapore 188067

Nanbantei Japanese Restaurant

Nanbantei Japanese Restaurant has been around in Far East Plaza for quite a long time. I used to visit Sakura Cuisine Thai-Chinese (next to Nanbantei) in my younger days and remember Nanbantei was already around.

Many people would know that certain parts on the top floor of Far East Plaza has less than satisfactory ventilation. However inside Nanbantei, their ventilation was well-managed such that there is no smell of the grilled yakitori even if you are seated at the bar counter near the cooking area.

I was there on a Friday evening and had a waiting time of 45 mins, but I manage to entertain myself by having a walk around the area and return when they call us on the mobile.

The small and cozy space in the restaurant is similar to eateries in Japan. There are seats on bar counters and some limited tables available at the back.Their selection of sake wasn’t as many as Shunjuu nor Satsuma (see links below).  Their yakitori selection was reasonably wide-ranging.

Surprisingly my fav item for the night was their Century Egg Tofu. It’s heavenly! The century egg was velvety with a subtle aroma lingering in your mouth after you eat it.

We ordered a Set Dinner Course B: Assorted Sashimi, Yakitori 8 sticks by Chef’s choice and rice, miso soup, pickles and dessert. Additional ala carte order of Garlic Rice and Chawamushi.

Of the yakitoris, I enjoyed the lady’s finger as it tasted crispy on the outside and the “sticky” part wasn’t soggy at all. I guess most people who don’t like lady’s finger cos of the “sticky” parts – interestingly I find most guys don’t eat lady’s finger compared to gals.

The rest of the yakitoris were of reasonable quality thou nothing impressive. I was slightly disappointed that none of the chef’s choice included seafood item…they were chicken, pork, beef, asparagus wrapped with pork, tomato wrapped with bacon etc.

The Chawamushi and Garlic Rice were pretty plain. The Chawamushi wasn’t exactly smooth, garlic rice doesn’t have the alluring aroma.

Overall, its a reasonably-priced yakitori place (price is about 50% of the good quality ones), but might not attract me to return for their yakitori alone. Perhaps will be back to for their sashimi, fried dishes and of cos the Century Egg Tofu.

Other related posts:

• Satsuma Shochu Dining Bar
• Shunjuu Izakaya

Nespresso Limited Edition Capsule – Crealto

The 2nd limited edition capsule for 2012 is out. Named Crealto, its an intensity 8 coffee (which I usually prefer).

Crealto has a subtle nutty aroma and also tasted well when I added some cocoa powder on top of the milk froth. =)

Other related posts:

• Nespresso Limited Edition Capsule – Naora
• Nespresso Limited Edition Capsules~2011
• Nespresso Limited Edition Capsule – Dhjana
• Nespresso Limited Edition Capsules~ 2010