The Populus Coffee & Food Co.

Having been keeping a lookout for the opening of this unit since it started renovation. We were eagerly guessing whether it will be another cafe along Neil Road. Turned out to be true! Visited Populus during their soft launch.

Had The Populus Scramble signature soft creamy scrambled eggs, fresh herb melange, marinated feta, streaky bacon, toasted croissant and Roast Chicken Grain Bowl juicy slow roasted chicken, cous cous, furikake baby corn, red cabbage & apple slaw, chargrilled zuchinni, roasted butternut squash, sauteed cherry tomatoes, L&P mixed mushrooms, spiced cauliflower.

It might not be apparent from the photo but the croissant was huge! Certainly very filling. It was soft in the centre with flaky outer layers, fluffy scrambled egg with crispy bacon.

The grain bowl is a great choice for the health conscious. Luv the crunchy baby corn, juicy zuchinni, sweet squash and mixed mushrooms.

Was so full that we couldn’t try the desserts.

By the time I was writing this post, we had returned for our 2nd visit.

[Updates on 7th Nov 15]

The Buckwheat pancake which wasn’t in the menu during our first visit, appeared on the menu and we were told that they are still making adjustments to their soft launch menu. The pancake was not exactly what we had in mind as their version was thick and rather dense, making it a very filling dish. Luv the maple and butter on it along with the colourful fruits and flowers garnishing this pretty dish.

Other than the pretty pancake, the Strawberry Sundae Tahitian vanilla ice cream, strawberry sauce, thyme strawberries, pistachio crumb, meringue kisses, mascarpone, sumac, pomegranate, whipped cream is equally alluring. Luv the wonderful mix of textures, colours and flavours in the dessert.

[Updates on 28th Mar 16]

Tried other items on the menu: Truffle Wagyu Beef Donburi  seared wagyu beef, savoury onion soy sauce and Roasted Cod & Soba Noodle Salad roasted cod loin, soba noodles, marinated mushrooms, lightly pickled vegetables, broad beans, lime & sesame dressing.

I didn’t enjoy the wagyu beef donburi cos it was kinda underwhelming compared to the other great dishes I’ve tried at the place. However the roasted cod was one of favourite dish so far! The dish is not even listed as a ‘recommended’ dish on the menu but I absolutely loved it. Hope this will continue to remain on their menu in future.

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Violet Herbs [Closed]

My last Restaurant Week booking for this round is at Violet Herbs. A modern european restaurant who pride themselves on extensive use of herbs in their food.

The $35+ three-course dinner even comes with a small complimentary bread and bite-sized starter. They also have house pour white/red wine at $9 per glass.

Appetizer was Parma Scallops Burnt figs, sweet potato puree, melon gel, trout roe caviar and Mushroom Cappuccino Truffle foam, chive. The scallops were seared perfectly and I loved the sweet potato puree. Mushroom cappuccino was also well prepared, thick and rich with a dash of aromatic truffle.

For mains we opted for Char Grilled Tenderloin (grain fed 120 days) (add $10) potato fondant, sauteed baby spinach, cepes reduction and Duck Confit (65 degree) Sauteed baby spinach, herbs potato, foie gras duck jus. The beef was juicy and tender, the sauce was earthy and paired well with the meat. The duck confit didn’t have the crispy skin although the meat was well-cooked.

Dessert was Chocolate and Banana Mousse Mandarin custard, mixed fruits compote and Valrhona Chocolate Tart Creme anglaise, cocoa sauce, vanilla ice cream. The banana tasted slightly too artificial. The Valrhona chocolate tart was much better.

Sat in ground floor of the restaurant whereby the main colour theme is “Purple”. Frankly I was relieved that it wasn’t as purplish as what I saw from the photos.

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Aloha Poke

Need a twist from typical barachirashi don? Try Poke – marinated Hawaiian raw fish salad. We visited Aloha Poke at Amoy area for dinner to try out this cuisine.

During lunch, they offer full customisation of Poke bowl whereby you can check the boxes from an order chit to pick the ingredients you want. Starting from size, to the base (white rice, brown rice, mix rice, salad, kale), protein (tuna, salmon, vegetarian), flavour (original, wasabi mayo, spicy), add-ons (carrot, cucumber, tomatoes etc.).

As visited them during dinner, the display counter was closed and they only provided a limited fixed menu. We settled for the Ultimate Poke Bowl which comprised of a mix of almost everything (its somewhat like omakase bowl since its left to them to design the bowl for us).  The colourful bowl not only looks appetising, it turned out great too. A wonderful zesty marinate (including pineapple and lime) along with fair portion of healthy greens. This would put anyone who says healthy food are not appealing to shame.

While we were there, it was noticeable that quite a few customers walked in after their exercise session to order customised poke but left after knowing that they only serve a standard bowl at night. Most of them are probably working in the area as they said they would return during lunch so that they could choose from the full selection.

Tried the Cured Salmon Crumbie as well which was nice for starter but doesn’t seem value-for-money as it’s not as filling as the poke bowl.

Since this is a Hawaiian theme eatery, we tried the Hawaiian Kona brewing company’s beer of Castaway (IPA) and Big Wave (IPA). Both are very fruity, I must say they are more fruity than the usual fruity beers like Kronenbourg blanc.

Oh…how I wish I could customise my own bowl of poke for lunch!!!! My only hope is lunch on Saturdays…

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Long Chim by David Thompson [Closed]

Took the opportunity of Restaurant Week to try David Thompson’s outpost in Singapore – Long Chim. Comparing the price of a full degustation menu at Nahm in Bangkok, the same budget can only let one enjoy a modest 3-4 course meal at the Long Chim eatery in Singapore. And this eatery is positioned as offering a taste of Thai Street Food…

Started our 3-course meal with drinks – Wings of Kinari Encanto pisco, hibiscus, lemon, rose water and peach bitters and Khing Royal Ginger infused west winds gin, suze aperitif, bianco, peach & honey. I liked my Wings of Kinari which was a sweet and girly drink.

As they were serving a mystery menu for Restaurant Week, we only got to know the options upon seated. Presented with the 3-course menu with 2-3 options under each category. From the starters we chose the beef skewers and dried prawns with ginger and toasted coconut. I was quite taken aback by the portion served…looked like bite-sized…Wasn’t impressed by the overly salty and not-so-tender skewers, but loved the other starter. The taste was robust and rich with fragrant spices.

For mains we chose the rice noodles charred with beef, onions and thai basil and sour orange curry with snakehead fish and water mimosa. Having had the legendary drunken noodles at Raan Jay Fai in Thailand’s Capital city, we were looking forward to the charred noodles served here. It certainly looked the part when we first saw it served, but it turned out too salty, overly-smoky and the rice noodles used were the flatter ones like “hor-fun” so it wasn’t that chewy. Thankfully the sour orange curry made up for it and the curry suited our tastes. My only feedback? There were only 3 pieces of fish meat…

Lastly we had the black sticky rice, pandanus noodles and durian ice-cream with sesame wafer. The durian ice-cream had to be the most attractive looking and fragrant dish for the night. The pungent durian smell perfumed the table once it was served and the durian paired well with the sesame wafer. Black sticky rice ingredients and taste felt like I’m eating Chendol.

Well the food wasn’t bad, if I had known that for $55++ per pax, these are the items being served, I would probably have skipped coming here… Went to check out their normal set dinner menu and noted that it is priced at $89/99++, hence I must say there is some savings to take up Restaurant Week’s offer.  For their ala carte menu, it was stated the that dishes ranged between $18-35. But I would rather save my money to spend it on trip to Bangkok…

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FYR Cycene Ond Drinc

Had always wanted to visit FYR Cycene Ond Drinc but they always seemed packed whenever I passed by the place. Decided to make a reservation during Restaurant Week to try food as they have a kitchen weapon called Josper grill.

Started with small plates of Sauteed Prawns with Anchovies, Garlic, Ginger, Crispy Rice Vermicelli and Grilled Salmon Tartare with Mixed Herbs, Ikan Bilis, Spring Onion. Although both items seemed pretty different, the chilli powder sprinkled on them was a bit too heavy-handed. Almost covered the original taste of the dishes. Nonetheless both the small plates were pretty tasty.

Since they have a Josper Grill, having a steak is a must. We tried their Brandt 365 Day Grain-Fed Ribeye with Roasted Baby Potatoes, House Salad, Green Peppercorn Sauce even though top-up of $13 is required. The josper grill worked its magic and the beef was tender yet juicy~

We also realised why this place is always packed when we passed them. Their drinks pricing were pretty attractive! Cocktails go for $10…good deal in CBD area.

The other main was Atlantic Cod with Garlic, Water Spinach Fondue, Salted Fish, Asian Herbs Sauce. Nicely grilled too but same as the beef, both were slightly too savoury.

We started our dinner at 7.30pm and were only waiting for our desserts to be served when the live band started their session. It’s amazing that despite the small space, the restaurant still dedicated a small area for live band. But it certainly adds a vibrant vibe to the eatery.

Desserts were Chocolate Gateau & Mint Ice Cream with Devon Cream, Strawberry Pate, Coconut Flakes and Grilled Pineapple & Ginger Ice Cream with Rum, Gula Melaka, Cinnamon. I was looking forward to try the grilled pineapple dessert, however unfortunately I didn’t quite like the overall combination. The pineapple wasn’t as cooked/grilled. The chocolate gateau & mint ice cream turned out better than I expected and the pairing reminded me of “After Eight” chocolate. It has been quite a while since I had “After Eight“.

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Koji Sushi Bar

Had always wanted to try the Omakase dinner at Koji Sushi Bar but didn’t put in the effort to make advanced booking. Had been postponing the visit so much that I decided to just drop by for a normal meal instead, at least try their sushi and don first.

The shop space is pretty compact, with a long open-kitchen in the centre and surrounded with counter seats. Shortly after being seated, I was secretly gleaming that I was glad I’m not here for omakase…I’ll probably suffer backache from sitting on the high stools for too long…

The counter seat concept probably works for the lunch crowd in this area whereby people can grab a quick meal and the shop can also benefit from quick turnaround time.

Ordered the Beancurd with Century Egg which was served in a small coffee cup. It was silky smooth and savoury. Great starter.

There were 4 options of Sushi Set to choose from, each comes with choice of soup or salad. It was also recommended to have 2 sets of the sushi set for a full meal as the sushi are served in small portions.We opted for Sushi Set A Sea bream, swordfish, tuna, sweet prawn and salmon.

Also had a Sashimi Rice Bowl with Uni served with Soup and Salad. They even have white rice or brown rice option for their Donburi. Although they were pretty generous in terms of portion of sashimi topping the rice, I felt the ingredients were slightly dry. Would be better if its a tad more succulent.

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Lighthouse Bistro & Bar

Was discussing about Lighthouse Bistro & Bar as a new eatery near office where we can go to for lunch when other colleague shared that this place is not new. The unit at ground floor of Wavelink Building has always been an eatery but has seen undergone a revamp.

I must say this revamp is quite a success as it did caught our attention and rendered us a visit to the place.

Although the Kitchener area has quite a few eatery options, they are mostly cafe-styled or foodcourt. The setting and decor of this bistro makes a good place for an affordable executive/business lunch in this area.

Tried their Fishermen’s Board which is a seafood platter for two, comprising of tiger prawns, squid, black mussels and crumbed dory accompanied by orange mayo sauce and miniature garden salad. The ingredients used were fresh and juicy. I particularly enjoyed the mussels drizzled with sweet & spicy sauce. Squid was cooked in olive oil with garlic and the crumbed dory was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. The items in this platter hit all the right notes.

We skipped the main courses and jumped straight to dessert of PP Lighthouse Cake Banana cake accompanied by a scoop of coconut ice cream, garnished with cookie crumble & garden berries. When we received the dessert and saw the plating, we can’t help but exercise a bit of our imagination – “The banana cake topped with ice cream is probably the “lighthouse on an island that has a coconut tree”? 

We would be able to try more dishes had we been there on a bigger party, but I’m sure there’s other opportunities for me to get my lunch clique to go there in future~

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Dazzling Cafe, Singapore [Relocated]

Dazzling Cafe Singapore outlet opened with much fanfare as many locals have visited their original branch in Taiwan. However it was also noted that there had been hits & misses with some folks commenting that the quality here is not comparable to the ones in origin country.

In hopes that they would have ironed out the teething problems since it has been quite a while after they launched the eatery, we visited Dazzling Cafe on a weekday afternoon with not much expectations.

We sat at the area which happened to be exposed to the skylight ceiling and felt slightly “baked” by the sun. Although the natural lighting certainly made the food looked better.

I had the Creme Brulee Latte which came in a relatively huge cup and had a layer of hard caramel topping. Incredibly 4 of us (ladies) shared a 3-course meal of: Caesar salad with Chicken, Mentaiko Spaghetti in Cream Sauce and Hazelnut Chocolate Honey Toast. All of us are somewhat on diet? =)

The salad was pretty standard, with a relatively large piece of chicken instead of the shredded type. The pasta was pretty good, creamy and rich sauce with savoury mentaiko. The toast looked gorgeous and tasted fabulous. The staff demonstrated how to “dissect” the toast for eating, first by taking one cube of toast (hidden under the uppermost tier) before swapping a spoonful of the ice cream on it and topping it with a piece of strawberry. As you can see, the toast here have been sliced before stacking up into a 3 tier tower. They hollowed out the internal section and cut the bread into smaller cubes before toasting.  Therefore each cube turns out crusty and doesn’t turn soggy quickly after pairing it with the ice cream.

Overall, the experience turned out better than our expectations. Other than a slightly long waiting time for that cup of Royal Milk Tea…

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My Favourite Cafe (Bugis Cube)

Honestly I haven’t heard of this famous Yong Tau Foo stall from Lucky Plaza till I saw the banner outside Bugis Cube. Went to google about it to realise that it is a branch from the popular main stall from Orchard.

Dropped by during lunch hour to see 2 long snaking queues at the eatery – one to pick the ingredients, another to have it cooked.

Other than the usual Yong Tau Foo items, it was said that the one that made them famous were the fried beef balls and the Korean mushrooms. The korean mushrooms were thick and chewy. Luv them! The fried beef balls were a bit hard, personally I didn’t find them exceptionally good.

Nonetheless the items here were all very fresh and I wouldn’t mind returning just for the delectable mushrooms!

470 North Bridge Road
#02-10 Bugis Cube
Singapore 188734

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Sumiya Charcoal Grill Izakaya [Outlet Closed]

Knowing in advanced that I’ll be near Orchard Central building, I did some research to pre-identify where I should head to for dinner. Sumiya Charcoal Grill Izakaya was one of my shortlisted places, otherwise I probably wouldn’t have noticed them since they are located on the 12th storey of the building. It would be an tall order for the business to rely on footfall.

If I hadn’t took the elevator to get to Sumiya, I wouldn’t know that there’s a small rooftop garden in the building, though the view was nothing fantastic. However I did like the interior decoration of Sumiya itself. Part of the restaurant was transformed into the old school Japanese street side eatery feel, with the corrugated hoardings pasted with retro signages and posters.

Started our meal by immersing ourselves into the izakaya culture by drinking a Sumiya Original Sake in Bamboo. Kampai~

Tried a variety of dishes at Sumiya, from Gorgeous Towering Sushi to a selection of Kushiyaki. The sushi roll stacked into a tower included chopped tuna belly with spring onion, salmon roe, crab meat & tuna sashimi. Each of the skewers were grilled to perfection here at this charcoal grill specialist restaurant, even the charred bits were well-controlled.

The star of our meal was the Mixed Seafood Value Can Can Mushi Seafood (Snowcrab, scallops, oysters, prawns etc.) steamed with sake and dashi broth in a can. All the ingredients used were super fresh and the broth was filled with seafood “essence”.

Super thrilled to find Sumiya here. Loved the ambience and quality of food~

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