Fatboys

i've been wanting to try out fatboys for the longest time! my friends said it was good when they went there (without me!!). but when i finally tried it, i was actually not too impressed xP

first up, we had the mozarella cheese sticks ($9.50) for our appetizer. they were pretty well done, nicely crumbed and fried, but i felt that the cheese could have been smoother and more liquid.

for the drinks, i ordered the chocolate thick malt shake with bailey's ($6.50 + $4.50). we also tried the version without bailey's and i actually preferred that! :P not that it wasn't nice, i think i just wasn't in the mood for alcohol. the chocolate malt shake itself was beautifully thick and rich. my suggestion: don't finish one on your own, if not there will be no space for anything else.

the specialty of fatboys is their burgers, so of course we had to try a few of those! i ordered their signature Fat Basterd ($16) which was a humongous burger with double beef chuck patties, extra thick bacon, cheddar cheese, a fried egg and homemade Fatboy's sauce on a sesame bun. i didn't realise there was a more toned down version - the Wimpy ($12) which is exactly the same as Fat Basterd except that it is a much more manageable half-size version!! T.T the burger was not bad though. papa said that the patty was sorta dry, but i beg to differ. it was tender enough for me. what i didn't like though, was the copious amount of  pepper they used in a lot of their burgers!!! it was rather shocking. it would have been much better if the taste of the burger could be allowed to shine, without being masked by all the pepper.

the thick-cut fries that came with all their burgers were generously portioned which was good. although i still prefer the skinnier type of fries.

the swiss shroom ($12) similarly was full of pepper, but this was nicer because it was balanced out by the flavour of the shitake mushrooms and garlic aioli. more mushrooms would be better!

my favourite burger would be the mahalo ($12) which was a very interesting bacon stuffed pork patty with caramelized onions, grilled pineapple, melted emmenthal cheese on a sesame bun. this one had no hint of pepper at all! xD and the patty was really interesting which i liked.

i was really greedy that day. actually just 3 main courses would have done the job. but i still ordered honey mustard chicken kebab ($12). i really liked the honey mustard flavour that the chicken was marinated in!!! the meat was kind of tough, i think they could have grilled it better, although i liked the crispy portions. but the chicken on its own was goooood. no need for extra sauce, i already liked the flavour! (:

Fatboys

187 Upper Thomson Road

Tel.: +65 6252 8780

Mon-Thu 4pm - 12am

Fri-Sun & PH 12pm - 12am

Honjin

i haven't been to honjin for at least a year already! it was one of the japanese buffet restaurants my family used to frequent in the past. in fact, it is one of the first japanese buffet restaurants i remember going to. and it was the place where i first learnt how to eat...SASHIMI!!!! :D haha how appalling i thought it was last time, and now, I LOVE IT.

so anyway, i just had to start with the photo of our platter of sashimi! (: what honjin offers is an a la carte buffet at $40++ per pax, and if you want shabu shabu, you have to add $8++ per pax. well...after visiting this place again after so long, i have to say that i'm glad we came here only because of the 1-for-1 offer we had. because for $40, i don't think it was very worth it. in fact, we were pretty shocked when we saw the menu, because it was just a single, rather sparse page of words. and that was it. gahh. disappointed :( but at least the quality of food was good i suppose.

we started off with the sashimi platter, where there was an assortment of raw fish like salmon, tuna, yellowtail and i dunno what else haha. i loved the salmon here. quite often i prefer tuna, but the salmon sashimi here had a very nice smooth texture with a firm bite which i really liked!

oh yeah i forgot!  before our food was served, they gave us a complimentary serving of this refreshing jar of raw carrots and cucumber with a lovely sauce! i was trying to figure out what was it, but no avail. i think it's miso mixed with other interesting stuff! (:

there was also a complimentary plate of sushi! it was lovely (: pork floss on top with crispy bits of soft shell crab inside. i absolutely loved it. such a pity that there were only two types of sushi on the menu! :( this was a special dish that wasn't found on the menu.

i'll just go through all the dishes i had:

1. salmon head: lightly salted with smooth skin, this was a typical japanese dish which was not bad (:

2. grilled unagi: i always love the smell of unagi, the smokiness of the flavour is just nice, and i took a few nibbles of it. however, i can never seem to stomach an entire piece on my own. haha :P i guess it's just me.

3. agedashi tofu: one of my favourite japanese dishes! this was a wobbly piece of tofu, extremely fragile and delicate, covered with a very light batter which allowed it to still feel healthy even though we knew it was not

4. grilled mushrooms: i really enjoyed these! the musk of the mushrooms was wonderfully fragrant and it was cooked in such a simple way that brought out the flavour of the fungi, and it was delicious

5. potato wrapped in bacon on a stick: okay i have no idea exactly which dish this was. nothing very outstanding in my opinion. i couldn't really taste the potato because of the overwhelmingly salty taste of the bacon

6. grilled scallops: this was another dish which i thoroughly enjoyed. the scallops were fresh and bouncy, with a chewy texture and the light grilled flavour was very yummy

7. teriyaki chicken: this was a hot favourite at the table. the sauce was very tasty and we mopped it up eagerly with the pieces of chicken we had.

1. breaded chicken: actually i'm not even sure it's chicken. but that's what mummy said. i didn't really like it though. it just felt soooo unhealthy.

2. grilled chicken wings: hmm i felt that the teriyaki chicken was nicer? this was pretty interesting though. the chicken was super skinny, but that made the skin really crispy after it was grilled though. which was quite nice.

3. salmon salad: there were three kinds of salads. we tried them all. we loved them all. the salmon salad had a generous amount of salmon sashimi atop the veggies, and it was further topped with a huge amount of tempura flakes! oh so yummy!

4. yasai salad: i have no idea what yasai is. based on my guess, i would think it's the sauce. which was delicious by the way! :D

5. fried chicken: ah, i really liked this! it screams 'unhealthy, unhealthy, unhealthy!!!' but i thought it was really well done! it was flavourful, of course not like kfc, but i would say that it came pretty close, which was really great! i loved it.

6. chicken caesar salad: one dish that can't really go wrong, as long as you have the sauce xD

the soft shell crab in honjin is really well done! it's crispier and tastier than all the other soft shell crabs in other restaurants! this made the maki really yummy!

the fried garlic rice was another favourite. even looking at the picture now, i imagine the aroma of the garlic hitting my senses, and spreading through my mouth to the back of my throat. oh gosh, it smelled DELICIOUS. and tasted superbly awesome!!! i really have to learn how to make my garlic rice like this someday. more oil maybe. that's probably the only complaint i have about this dish. it was really oily. but i guess that's how it was so garlicky and tasty.

1. chawanmushi: a smooth wobbly egg with a fairly generous amount of ingredients. nice!

2. assorted tempura: i liked how the batter was light and didn't feel too unhealthy. but i didn't each much of it :P

3. fruit platter: there was a complimentary platter of fresh fruit at the end of the meal (:

4. su soba: this is the first time i've tried hot soba! hahaha. i always thought that it was served cold. anyway, it was a pretty interesting take on the normal soba. not bad! (:

5. macha ice cream: loveeeeee!!! each of us got a scoop of this (:

6. cha soba: simple & good.

i probably wouldn't be coming back here anytime soon. the quality of the food was good. but the variety for a price of $40 is simply not really worth it! and the service could have been better too. we were taking our time going through the meal, and it's not like we really took a very long time! but the staff kept hinting that they wanted to chase us out, by repeatedly asking whether we wanted dessert, and finally, at the end, they just simply asked, "can we bring the dessert out now?" i felt that it was rather rude? the restaurant wasn't even crowded!! tsktsk. so nope, won't be coming back.

Honjin

140 Robinson Road, Chow House #01-00

Tel.: +65 6222 2243

Lunch: 11.30 am – 2.30pm

Dinner: 6pm – 10.30 pm

Gyu Kaku Japanese BBQ Restaraunt

wagyu wagyu wagyu! haha okay i'm going a bit crazy from chionging all my post updates. two more to gooooo! this is madness haha. my hand is going to cramp from typing soon. but i shall finish this by today! anyway, more posts is a good thing right! means that i'm trying out new places! (: that was what was happening while doing Urban Relish. i'm really glad i got the opportunity to uncover so many eateries around school and get to know the people behind the business (: photos from christine!

we tried the fuku set priced at $179++ for 2 persons. but it was enough for 4 people to feel satisfying full! i think the menu has changed since then, so it might be listed under a different name though! the set consisted of different types of wagyu beef, from different parts of the cow i guess? it was absolutely decadent and meaty, but it was balanced out well by the other items in the set! (: we tried the wagyu fillet steak, wagyu karubi and wagyu rump cap. the marbling of the meat was beautiful, it is grade 8 or 9 (out of 12) if i remember correctly. really good quality meat. each kind of wagyu had a different texture. some were slightly springier, while others were softer, but they all melted in my mouth. ooooooooh (: (:

it's really interesting how the food is served here! i really learnt a lot. like the difference between japanese and korean bbq is that for koreans, they often season the meat copiously and leave it to marinade for quite some time before it is cooked. in contrast, the japanese prefer to be able to taste the original flavour of the meat which is why they don't season it much beforehand. also, i learnt that the technique to grilling is to not turn it too many times!!! cos the juices will ooze out, and turning it too many times will cause the juice to be lost and it will lose flavour as well. and you shouldn't press the meat to the grill cos likewise, it will squeeze out all the juices.

we had a few dipping sauces for the beef. not that it was really needed, since the beef was so perfectly flavoured in itself, but they added a nice touch to it. what i liked was the pink sea salt that complemented the beef just nicely! the saltiness helped to bring out the flavour even further.

beides beef, we had other meats like the kurobuta pork collar which was simply sizzling with fats. crispy and slightly charred on the edges, yet with meltingly tender meat, it was delicious. also popular was the french duck breast which came with a sauce that matched the flavours of the duck wonderfully.

the horenso salad is one of the signature salads of gyu kaku and it was a real favourite at our table! i loved the different textures and flavours from the veggies, mushroom and other little bits of stuff inside, plus the sauce. oh so yummy! (:

we ended off our meal with one of the most wonderful desserts i've ever tasted!!! it was a silky smooth milk pudding that was topped with a layer of...chocolate sauce? and sprinkled with soya powder. the powder lent an interesting texture to the dessert, and this was a unanimous favourite. we were scrambling to spoon it into our mouths! it was absolutely delicious. if you're feeling bloated from all the meat, try the yuzu sorbet which is a refreshing chilled dessert that will cleanse your palate after the meal.

Gyu Kaku Japanese BBQ Restaurant

30 Victoria Street, Chijmes #01-01/03

Te.: +65 6333 4001

Lunch (Fri, Sat, Sun) 12pm-3pm

Dinner (Mon-Sat) 5.30pm-11.30pm

Dinner (Sun) 5.30pm-11pm

Fine Palate

there are some places where you can walk past a million times and not know that they exist! it is unbelievable! i have no idea how i can do things like this tskkkk. sounds like 12 grimmauld place in harry potter haha. but no, don't worry, fine palate is NOTHING like that. it is a beautiful place which is perfect for any special occasion! (: photos are from steph! (:

we were served a complimentary plate of crispy, lightly seasoned bread with an accompanying mayo-ish kind of dressing. i actually liked the bread without the dressing! it was tasty on its own (:

the tuna and capellini was a really delicious and healthy looking pasta! (: look at the amount of veggies, so yummy! the tuna sashimi was delicious - tender, with some bite to it and so fresh. even steph who HATES sashimi said it was not bad! which means it had to be really good xD the capellini was smooth and al dente, simply wonderful.

the pepperoni pizza was a contrast to the spaghetti. it was meaty. just carnivorous xD it was beautifully seasoned with herbs that complemented the strong flavour of the pepperoni and the chilis added a fiery kick to the dish. the bread was nicely crispy and thin, so that it wasn't too filling.

finally, we had the char-grilled sirloin steak wrap. this was simply oozing with juice from the beetroot then went perfectly with the medium-rare steak. the meat was really tender and delicious. and don't get me started on the fries! i nearly polished off the entire pile single mouthed-ly :P haha i just invented my own word. anyway, it was all thanks to the wasabi mayo that came with it. absolutely yummmmmmy.

this placestarted off as a catering company and they decided to expand into a restaurant next to their kitchen in a central area of town so that they could showcase their food. and the result is gourmet-quality food in a quaint, peaceful setting. as kevin said, perfect for a date ;) hehe.

Fine Palate Cafe

51 Waterloo Street #01-04/05

Tel.: +65 6336 5120

Tue-Sun 11am - 6pm

Wah Lok Cantonese Restaurant

ohmygosh. this must be one of the most decadent chinese lunches i've ever eaten!! hahaha. i felt like i was eating some sort of wedding dinner-esque kind of lunch. no need for introductions here. it is WAH LOK CANTONESE RESTAURANT in carlton hotel. okay fine, i should probably introduce it a little since they were so nice to us (: (: wah lok is one of the pioneers to introduce authentic cantonese cuisine into singapore! the plush opulent interior can be likened to stepping into one of those grand chinese palace dining rooms. we felt like royalty! the restaurant is famous for its cantonese dim sum and quintessential, authentic cantonese cuisine.

we started off with the bo lo bao, which is one of my favourite dim sum dishes. the bun was soft and fluffy with a thin delicately sweet crusty top which broke easily when we bit into it. the charsiew inside was simply delicious, very soft, with just the right amount of fat and lovely sauce, such that it melted in the mouth.

the next dish, braised shark's fin wrapped with egg white dumpling in superior soup was probably the most interesting sharks fin dish i've ever tasted! for the first time, the shark's fin wasn't found inside the soup itself! the soup was a heartwarming thick chicken broth that was fragrant and tasty. the shark's fin was encased in the thin egg white dumpling, and mind you, it was a very generous amount of shark's fin!

the baked cod fish wrapped in banana leaf with chef's sauce is one of the best fish i've ever eaten!!!! :D save for the fact that it had a ton of bones in it (i would have definitely preferred a fillet), the fish was delicious. it had a slightly smoky flavour from the baking, and the sauce seemed kinda caramelized, which added a lovely taste to the fish, which was really soft and perfectly done (:

the braised homemade beancurd with vegetables was a very simple and homely dish which i loved. i tried it in another restaurant (which i didn't review...argh! kill me xP) and it was equally lovely (:

the fried rice with diced preserved meat was so fragrant, that once it arrived at my seat, the flavour just wooshed into my olfactory senses! haha i'm trying to sound cheem, but i think i just failed. anywayyy, it tasted as good as it smelled. every mouthful of rice was full of the lovely aroma and flavour. it was just delicious!

we ended off the meal with the baked custard pastry and osmanthus cake. i liked the crusty pastry with the smooth custard inside. and the osmanthus cake had a really interesting flowery flavour that ended off meal perfectly with on a lightly sweet note (:

JUST AWESOME. :D

Wah Lok Cantonese Restaurant

Carlton Hotel, Level 2

Tel.: +65 6311 8188/ 8189

Mon-Fri 11.30am - 2.30pm

6.30pm - 10.30pm

Sat, Sun & PH 11am - 2.30pm

6.30pm - 10.30pm

I'm FREE! or am I?

yup since school started i've been relatively free. or maybe i'm just kinda oblivious to what is going on around me! :P lol. school work is starting to get CRAZYYY. it's sad how now when i want to go out with my family on weekends, i realise, 'oh no, i have a ton of work to do'. yucks. not a nice feeling huh. but the first few weeks of school has been fun anyway! :)

yay in the first week of school, still quite free and had the chance to meet up with MAN exco :) :) celebrated monica's birthday with a surprise fruit tart!

ballare buffet to celebrate after BIC :D yummy food!

freshmen bash at zouk! :) crashed bel's ftb group cos i hardly knew anyone there :P and some of the starring people came too! :D

celebrated SK's birthday with lots of balloons! :):)

went for the univantage bbq over the weekend :) it was SUPER FUN! although i had a ton of studying + other work to do, it was just great to relax :) just for awhile.

now...back to work!

1-Caramel

1-caramel has a sort of special significance for me, and it just brought back feelings of nostalgia when i visited it again last week. this time, it was at a different location though. i got an invite to attend a food tasting at the outlet at Rochester Park :) sadly the one at Handy Road has since closed down >.<

anyway, it was a really interesting experience for me to attend this food tasting! and i got the chance to sample quite a wide array of the selection of desserts there.

\1-Caramel's focus is on DESSERTS, and thus doesnt have much lunch/dinner options. the brunch menu is fairly extensive though! and i got to try my favourite brunch dish - eggs benedict :D with smoked salmon ($14). i felt that the hollandaise sauce here was especially fragrant and i loved how it complemented the beautiful wobbly poached egg sitting atop a toasted English muffin. the exquisite arrangement of roe on top of the egg (literally) added a burst of flavour as they popped in my mouth :D so cute! and i have to rave about the fried potatoes that came with this dish!!! they were fried till they were slightly crumbly (i really loved the texture!) falling apart easily in my mouth and the seasoning for the potato was really unique and delicious.

we also had the posh platter ($22) which is a selection of canapes including a smoked salmon tart with creme fraiche and ocean trout caviar, asparagus wrapped in basil and prosciutto and truffled brie & cherry tomatoes on a toasted brioche. my favourite out of the three was the tart! as always, i really adore pastries and i was completely intrigued by the combination of flavours of the smoked salmon, caviar and creme fraiche. :) and the asparagus felt SO HEALTHY haha despite the prosciutto! but this is something i can eat again and again without feeling too guilty ;)

on to desserts! we had a stream of souffles ($14) parading down our table! haha it was fascinating. the ones we tried were the hazelnut souffle with chocolate ice cream, miso souffle with yuzu ice cream and passionfruit souffle with banana-passion sorbet.

yes you saw right, MISO souffle! haha it was super interesting!!! and i have to say that it was my favourite out of the bunch! i really enjoyed the slightly savoury taste of the souffle, it didn't feel out of place at all, despite the fact that souffles are typically sweet. the yuzu sorbet was citrus-y and refreshing! i also liked the hazelnut souffle - the moment i put it into my mouth, the first thing that came to my mind was FERRERO ROCHER! :D hahaha. love it to bits. it was wonderfully spongy yet soft, great texture! and the chocolate ice cream that came with it had to be one of the richest, most decadent chocolate ice-creams i've eaten. mummy would have loved it. it was not too sweet! ;) the passionfruit souffle didn't really appeal to me much though.

and we had the chance to try the 1-Caramel Assiette which was a really gorgeous platter of 5 desserts ($24)! it was certainly a feast for the eyes. you wouldn't be able to resist it.

it is a sharing platter of petite-sized portions of 1-Caramel's signature desserts, and the ones which were on our platter were the earl grey creme brulee, raspberry lychee rose panacotta, midori macaron, baked alaska, tropical vodka trifle and death by chocolate ($14 each for the original portion) - the most gorgeous array of desserts ever! :O

i especially liked the raspberry lychee rose panacotta which was a super light wobbly pudding with a subtle hint of the lychee rose flavour. i liked how the lightness of the textures and flavour were such a perfect match for each other!

the intensity of the earl grey struck me the moment i took a mouth of the creme brulee. it was wonderful how each flavour of the desserts in the assiette platter were so clearly distinct from one another, each providing a different experience altogether when i sampled each of them.

the death by chocolate was a dense rich spongy cake with a full-bodied chocolate flavour. i was just a tad disappointed though as i expected the 'chocolate lava' to flow out of the cake, but it didn't.

the baked alaska was one of the most interesting desserts i had! we all thought the white dome on top would be some hard biscuit-like kind of thing, instead it gave easily when we dug our spoons into it. the brownie underneath was pure delight! :) and the strawberry sauce went perfectly with it.

the last dessert was the tropical vodka trifle which was a refreshing mix that helped to cleanse my palate at the end of all the desserts :) the pineapple gazpacho jelly and sponge cubes, together with the coconut sorbet just made this feel like a super healthy dessert - the perfect way to end a meal :)

for drinks, i had the mango strawberry ice blend ($8.90) which was a delightful combination strawberries and fresh pureed mangoes. a surprisingly delicious combination that was utterly pleasing :D

Many thanks to Yen, from  1-Rochester, for the invitation :)

1 Caramel

1 Rochester Park, Level 2

Tel.: +65 6774 1302

Mon-Fri 11.30am-10.30pm

Sat-Sun 10am-10.30pm (brunch 10am-4pm)

Fiesta

okay i have a serious backlog of posts!!! omg. i haven't even finished editing the pictures. yikes!!!

anyway, during that period, i had been eating so many buffets that it was insane. honjin the day before, then fiesta. at resorts world!!! :D that's the best part of it. haha i love going there! it just feels so surreal haha. and the buffet was goooood. i think it's really worth it. cos it's a semi-buffet, where you order a main course, and it comes with the appetizer & dessert buffet. or, you can just order the buffet without the main course for $19++ which is damn worth it. i was half-full after the appetizers already haha.

i really enjoyed the salad bar!!!! omg this must be the most gorgeous array of salad that i have ever seen. of course i wasn't attracted to the veggies :P lol. it was the condiments that came with it which i had a whole lot of fun exploring!!

i'm so proud of my plate of salad okay. i loved it :D a pile of veggies with toppings like croutons, pine nuts, walnuts, chickpeas, almond flakes (basically all the nuts haha) and cheese, and drizzled (or rather drenched, if you know me :P) with italian, french and balsamic dressing. haha. i am so greedy. i can never just have one type of sauce on my food, i want everything!! like when i order subway, it is always dripping because i ask for way too many sauces. hahahaha.

other offerings on the appetizer buffet were the sashimi, grilled asparagus and this interesting honeydew wrapped in parma ham. unfortunately i dont really like honeydew, so i just plucked off the parma ham and gave the fruit to my sister haha. there were also different kinds of pre-made salads. i particularly liked the apple salad, which was very refreshing with is slightly tangy flavour.

there was also corn soup (yikes i don't like) and this lovely warm crusty bread which was DELICIOUS.

for my main course, i ordered the pan roasted salmon steak ($38). im glad i ordered it cos it felt kinda healthy in comparison to all the other meats on offer! it was rubbed with spices and came with a Guasca sauce (no idea what that is!) which i loved (:

zhen, who always seems to order all-in-one dishes haha, ordered the brazilian mix ($36) which included the Linguica sausage, Rib eye steak and Spring chicken with lime and garlic. looking at the size of the chicken, this was definitely a meal worthy of mention.

papa's marinated rib eye ($32) was a traditional steak dish that was beautifully done. tender and with a robust flavour.

the pineapple pork ribs ($32) sounded like a really interesting dish! i might say that it sounds more interesting that it actually is, although it might be because my expectations for this dish were kind of high. the meat was tender enough, but the pineapple taste was too insignificant i guess?

finally the desserts!!! i was so full by then :( i couldnt enjoy them properly, but i still thought they were really well done. i loved the variety of cakes and trio of shooters. every single one of them impressed me, even though i was full to bursting. the fondue was great too - i especially liked oreos dipped in chocolate!!! oh the revelation! it was so delicious xD

overall, a very good meal. great buffet, and good mains, at a reasonable price (:

Fiesta

Resorts World Sentosa, Festive Hotel Level 3

Tel.: +65 6577 8899

Breakfast: 7:30am – 10:30am

Lunch (Ala Carte Menu): 12:00pm – 2:30pm (Saturday & Sunday)

Semi-Buffet Dinner: 6:30pm – 10:30pm (Sunday – Thursday) Price range from $25++ to $38++

BBQ Dinner Buffet: 6:30pm – 11:00pm (Friday, Saturday, Eve of Public Holidays & Public Holidays)