Okb – Brunch [Closed]

Trudged my way to Okb at 1 Kampong Bahru Road to try out their brunch. Read about their wine tasting sessions, dinners but somehow cannot understand the confusing concept and the process of securing a seat at their mysterious dinner gatherings. So the simplest way is just go for brunch and didn’t bother with reservations.

Selected several small pastries to form my brunch for the day: Red Velvet Square, Nutella Bar, Chocolate & Salted Caramel Blondie, Banoffee tart and Brekkie in a Cup.

Brekkie in a Cup was really special, as the name implies it had egg, bacon, shrooms and mature cheddar, baked in a crusty pastry shell. Its like a convenient way of enjoying big breakfast.

Another item that impressed me was the Chocolate & Salted Caramel Blondie as the baked gooey dough tasted sweet yet savoury at the same time. Really unique taste. 

Banoffee tart made from bananas and toffee topped with cream was also quite nice.

Seating area was pretty limited but seemed like quite a number of customers were here for takeaway of their pastries. Most of their pastries were not available in bulk, so its advisable to place advanced order if buying them for treats or parties. 

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• Department of Caffeine
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• Oriole Coffee Roasters
• Group Therapy

Tsukada Nojo Singapore – Dinner

Thanks to my employer’s policy of allowing staff to leave work 1 hour earlier on last Friday of the month – actually its 30 mins earlier every Friday so that it works out to 42 hours work-week and we get extra 30 mins once in a month as part of encouraging work-life balance; we managed to reach Chinatown Point’s Tsukada Nojo to mark our name in the “waiting list” by 6.30pm.   Their 美人锅 is only available for dinner and my last attempt to visit them failed when I reached at 7.30pm (post on lunch & other visit).

We were notified that the waiting time range from 30-45 mins, but eventually we got into the restaurant only 1 hour later. Ordered the standard set for 2 pax comprising of Chicken, Tori Tsukune, Yellow Zucchini, Lady’s Finger, Water Melon Radish, Baby Corn, Yuzu, Deep Fried Tofu, Sunflower Sprout, Lettuce, Fresh Black Fungus, Mushrooms , Baby Sweet Potato Leaves, Whole Shrimps and a choice of Noodles: Thin Egg/Thick Mochi/Rice Noodles.

Additional items for the steamboat can be ordered ala-carte.

Rich collagen pudding in the hotpot was served (looks like soya bean curd) and heated until they melted into liquid form.  The server served us a sip of the soup in sake cup before placing the ingredients in. The soup was thick, flavoursome and savoury.

While waiting for the food to be cooked, we enjoyed our ala carte order of Nikumaki Onigiri with Cheese and with Yuzu pepper & mayo.  Its essentially rice ball wrapped with pork and seasoned in different sauces. It was to be eaten with the lettuce wraped over the onigiri. I enjoyed the one with Yuzu pepper & mayo as the yuzu had a distinct aroma and fragrance.

4 types of spices available: Chili Shoyu, Yuzu Pepper (green coloured one), Negri ginger oil (slight yellow) and Red chili oil. I mixed the yuzu, ginger and red chili together to pair with the food especially the tender chicken meat.

The server also handed over a saucer of seaweed paste for us to add to taste, the paste was pretty salty but full of umami.

As we ran out of ingredients at the end of the meal, we ordered an ala carte Roasted Chicken Fillet to go with the noodles. I tried the roasted chicken fillet when I visited them for lunch and found it quite savoury (although the meat was slightly tough). However on hindsight I should have ordered another portion of the plain chicken meat whose meat falls apart from the bone at the slightest tug. Or the Tori Tsukune which was juicy and chewy.

Ended our meal with an Egg Pudding decorated with a smiley face by the staff.

Absolutely satisfying meal…I certainly enjoyed the dinner more than their lunch. Looking forward to the next opportunity to enjoy their collagen hotpot.

Other related post:

• Tsukada Nojo Singapore – Lunch

Bitters & Love [Relocated]

Been exploring cocktail bars recently and found Bitters & Love located along the quieter part of North Canal road. The shophouse unit operate as “Shoebox Canteen” in the day serving up hearty meal for people working around the area and in the night, the space behind the partition door opens up to serve up the cocktails in the evening.

So if you are visiting them in the evening, lookout for the white letterbox and the seemingly “closed” section of Shoebox Canteen at the front of the shophouse. Walk right through the empty tables to reach the bar at the end of the unit.

Tell the bartender what you feel like having for the night and order some light snacks and you are ready to chill out at this cozy establishment.

Don’t need to crack your brain on what bar snacks to order as there are only 5 options. We tried 3 of them on our first visit there: Freshly Shucked Oysters, “Love” Chips hand-cut chips with chipotle and aioli sauce and Beef Cubes 200g Rangers Valley, 300 days grain-fed wagyu.

Although the oysters were also fresh and tasty, my favourite was the Beef Cubes with its superbly tender pinkish centre and a slightly crispy char-grilled outer crust.

For cocktails, we ordered one with “Mango” and another with “Raspsberry”.  Luv the bright colours. My only slight comment about the drinks is “Can the bartender reduce the portion of ice in the glass?” I felt that the drink was fast diluted by the melted ice.

Hope to be able to be back to have some drinks and get to visit Shoebox Canteen, think they serving dinner from 6-9pm soon.

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Just Want Coffee, Singapore [Closed]

Since shifting to my current office location, I hadn’t been getting my “Starbucks” coffee in morning…My usual morning coffee during weekday would be from the nearby coffeeshop whereby I would ask them to fill up in a thermo flask and last me for the whole morning. But occasionally I would crave for “Starbucks” coffee, good that Everton area now has several cafes serving great coffees. Stopped by Just Want Coffee to grab a cup of Almond Latte – to go. The coffee was smooth, thick and aromatic.

The isn’t much options for food though, mainly cakes and tarts but I suppose this no-frills cafe would be a good place for the office people nearby to have their coffee fix after lunch or have a short tea-break.

[Updates on 25th Feb 14]

Was at the cafe to grab late lunch – typical of what I do when I’m on leave…Surprised to see a cutesy bear on my Almond Latte~ And tried their waffles.

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Tim Ho Wan, Singapore

At most traditional Chinese restaurants, dim sum is  typically served until mid-afternoon. However at Tim Ho Wan (Singapore), even at dinner time there was a long queue for their famous Baked Bun with BBQ Pork.

I first tried their legendary bun in Hong Kong (see post here) at their Sham Shui Po outlet at night without any need to queue. Perhaps in HK people don’t usually take dim sum for dinner?

Back to Sgp outlet, we tried 2 out of their 4 “heavenly king” items: BBQ Pork Bun, Pan-Fried Turnip Cake along with the typical dim sum dishes Porridge, Fried Seafood Roll, Steamed Pork Rib, Har-Gow (Prawn Dumpling), Chee Cheong Fun and the  Osmanthus Flower Tea Jelly (桂花糕) for dessert.

The BBQ pork bun tasted equally good from those I had in HK. The buns taste best when eaten immediately at the store. Many people packed them back for family or friends to try but having tasted those packed ones, it certainly doesn’t taste as nice as trying them hot from the oven.

I liked the porridge here as instead of the usual century egg and lean pork combination, they also added in salted egg, making it more flavoursome.

Despite being rather full I still insisted to order the Osmanthus Flower Tea Jelly for dessert as this dish has been often mentioned in the HK period dramas eaten by the consorts. Its a refreshing dessert with the wonderful aroma of Osmathus flower.

The Plaza Singapura outlet seating arrangement was rather cramp. I felt that I would elbow into my neighbour if I’m not careful. Having dim sum here is certainly not a leisurely affair…sitting on small round stools…I suppose they also hoped to have fast turnover rate of the tables…

Being an “imported” brand, the price was not as cheap as in HK.  The price of the meal in Singapore was doubled of HK’s price.

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• Dim Dim – The Hong Kong Pantry
• Imperial Treasure Noodle and Congee House

Raku Raku Japanese Dining

Discovered Raku Raku Japanese Dining while walking past Duxton Hill on one of the weekends and noted that the place was rather packed. Dropped by to try their food on a weekday night.

There were a few Japanese smokers outside the restaurant when we arrived – I mentally noted that “Not bad, this meant that this place is also frequent by Japanese”. What caught me by surprised was once inside, 80% of the customers were speaking rowdily in Japanese. It was as if I was dining in Japan town, even the TV monitors were showing Japan league baseball matches.

Ordered Sashimi Platter of 5 kinds – Tako (Octopus), Toro, Swordfish, Yellowtail and Salmon. Somehow I must be kinda bushed to make a silly decision to go for Assorted Nigiris and ended up with more of the similar fishes plus Prawn, Tamago and roll…

The sashimi was thick but I didn’t quite enjoy them as it felt a bit tougher than usual. The Nigiri sushi rice was also a bit dry and the grains didn’t taste supple.

Tried the Assorted Yakitoris – Mushrooms, Golden mushroom wrapped with Bacon, Chicken with Leek, Pork Belly and Chicken. The pork ones were tough and hard…Couldn’t taste the grilled flavour.

I left wondering if I had missed out on any of their specialty items or perhaps should have tried their cooked dishes like curry rice and teriyaki sets???

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L’Entrecôte

Had craving for steak since last Friday, some studies said that cravings for red meat usually indicate an iron deficiency – not sure whether this is true. Unfortunately when I attempted to visit L’Entrecôte, the restaurant was packed and filled with people waiting outside the shophouse as they do not accept reservation. Undeterred, I dropped by again on a Monday and was able to get a table without much effort. Somehow I’ve grown to avoid dining around Tanjong Pagar bars and restaurants on Fri & Sat cos of crowd… imagine that the tables and chairs below were all filled…

The meal started with a complimentary aperitif – a glass of Kir for each diner. Kir is a mixture of cassis (blackcurrant liqueur) and white wine.

We ordered a Escargots de Bourgogne 6 snails prepared with parsley butter and garlic which is a classic entree served piping hot in the snail pan.

There was only 1 main course available here which was their Entrecôte Steak with legendary sauce, golden French fries and walnuts green salad.

My order of steak was to be cooked to Medium-Rare – as evidenced by the pinkish centre. The beef was nicely sliced to the comfortable thickness. The beef cut was tender, juicy and portion was generous – the pix above was for the 1st serving and there was a 2nd serving kept aside (warmed by the tealights) and refilled to our plates when we finish the 1st serving.

We had a carafe of their house red wine Cuvee de L’Entrecôte – 2009 Chateau Petit Freylon, Bordeaux, but the wine wasn’t noteworthy. Their online menu showed half bottle red wine available but I didn’t saw it in the menu at the restaurant. Otherwise the half bottled one should be better than the standard house wine which was slightly tannic.

Ended our meal with their signature dessert Coulant Caramel Au Beurre Salé Salty Butter Caramel Lava Cake. This was an interesting dessert as the centre was filled with caramel and not the typical sweet chocolate lava, served with butter fudge ice cream. Heavenly and unique.

Needless to say my steak craving was wonderfully curbed.

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Zui Hong Lou [Closed]

Somehow the concept of serving Chinese food along with cocktails in bars have caught up in Singapore, Zui Hong Lou is another bar which not only adopted similar idea but also weaved in the “retro” theme.

Can’t help but felt that the name of the bar sounded too “cheena”. For those familiar with Jay Chou’s songs its as thou the shop’s name could be the title of songs written by lyricist Fang Wen Shan due to his chinese poetry writing style. Doesn’t seem to gel with the “old Singapore” retro theme.

But the bar name does match their signature drink – Flower Song, served in a chinese tea pot. The vodka-based cocktail comprises of lychee, honey and chrysanthemum flowers. I thought the lychee taste had dominated the cocktail but I had fun drinking cocktail from the traditional chinese tea cups.

They also serve normal cocktails (from the Gem Bar next door) like the Starfruit Martini we ordered.

Ordered a few dim sum items to try: Seafood Salad Roll, Deep Fried Banana and Prawn Roll, Pan Fried Carrot Cake with Dried Shrimp and Chilli crab with Man Tou Buns. I’m not sure if my taste buds were affected by the neon lights but I though the food was pretty unnotable. The first 2 items were still quite ok, the carrot cake somehow tasted a bit spongy, the man tous were nicely fried but the chilli crab sauce doesn’t taste like any chilli crab gravy I’ve ever eaten…

Perhaps it still takes time for people to adopt the new dim sum tapas concept as the Gem Bar next door (by the same owners) still packs in the crowd while it remained pretty empty here.

For me the glaring red interior brick walls with neon lights made it uncomfortable to stay long. But the Flower Song concoction is something I could try my hands on making at home~

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Pho Stop [Relocated]

Pho Stop is a stylish Vietnamese restaurant along the Korean restaurants dominated Tanjong Pagar road.

Dropped by for a casual dinner trying their Vietnamese Fish Cakes and Beef Feast Combo Pho. I quite like their fish cakes, though not as chewy as the Singapore fish cakes, it tasted abit like “or-tah”. The Pho soup was light with surprisingly chewy beef balls (I usually don’t like beef balls as I find them hard).

Not sure about others but somehow whenever I passed by a Vietnamese noodle bar that is located within shopping mall, there would be this pungent smell (I think might be the fish sauce) which I didn’t like. No such problem at Pho Stop, so I guess for those who liked the strong fish sauce in their Pho probably wouldn’t enjoy the light version here.

A simple & chic place to have a comforting Pho, along with Vietnamese coffee/beer. Of cos other options include Asahi draft beer/Red wine/White.

[Updates on 21th June 2014]

Pho Stop has relocated to another unit along Tanjong Pagar Road. Larger floor space, bigger seating capacity. They’ve retained the same theme and decoration as the previous shop space. Realised that they are opened till mid-night. Great place for supper.  We also had the chance to try their Chocolate and Salted Caramel Ice Cream.

[Update in Jun 17]

They have relocated to: 6A Shenton Way #02-28, Downtown Gallery, 068815

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Bar Stories

Its easy to miss Bar Stories on Haji Lane cos they are located on the 2nd floor and the only tell-tale sign is the discreet black & white signage jutting out from the building.

The uniqueness about Bar Stories is they do not have any drinks menu. Bartender would ask us what would we feel like drinking and they will propose the cocktail according to our requirements. Their drinks range from $20-25 each.

For me I wanted something with “Strawberry” and partner wanted something with “Lychee”. However they don’t have any lychee based drink so they proposed something with “Watermelon” instead.

Bartender then began their work and presented us with the 2 drinks below: Strawberry Frangelico Sou and Melon Elderflower.

Lov the presentation~ With slices of strawberries laced on top of the drink, strawberry reduction with hazelnut flavoured liquor. I suppose most people would relate hazelnut to chocolate, I was surprised that the hazelnut liquor tasted well when paired with strawberries too.

The other drink – Melon elderflower was not as sweet as the strawberry one but was lighter and more refreshing. Decorated with balls of watermelon on the slab.

Food are available from Crostini bar next door. We tried the spicy wings, which was pretty normal. Saw the foie gras crostini ordered by other guests, which looked pretty tempting. Generous portion of foie gras sitting on top of the toasted bread.

So if you have no idea what to drink, try visiting Bar Stories and let the bartenders concoct something for you.

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