Restaurant Week II: The Glass House

helloooo! i know i'm super laggy with my post but here's my second Restaurant Week experience :)) it was my second day in a row, but really glad that we could make it for this as a family! we booked super last minute, and i was expecting that there would be no available seats at all. but *surprise surprise*, there were! and i guess this wasn't one of the best, i preferred Taratata Bistro, but it was a good experience nonetheless! and course, the company is the most important ^^ haha next Restaurant Week must book earlier already, so that we can get a nicer restaurant ;)

Roasted Pumpkin Salad

Delicious with a smattering of ingredients including spiced pumpkin, couscous, goat cheese, candied walnuts, cherry tomato confit on a bed of romaine lettuce. thank goodness the taste of goat cheese wasn't too strong! in fact, i liked how it added a kick to the flavour of the salad. 

Chili Prawn Bisque

This had a robust flavour, kind of like lobster bisque. but it would have been better if it was creamier/thicker.

Maryland-style Crab Cake
My favourite appetiser out of the three! if only it wasn't so tiny though >.< but i loved the fluffy crab meat within, which was delightfully paired with a refreshing apple salad and remoulade sauce.

Tamarind Braised Pork Belly

Super loved this!!!! In fact, i really liked both the mains :) the braised pork belly was really tasty (though it could definitely have been much more tender!) and the sweet potato touches were simply WOW. beautiful sweet potato mash that was delectably creamy with a natural sweetness, and this contrasted with the crisp sweet potato chips on the side. who knew there were so many uses for sweet potato! (gonna try to re-create this in my kitchen sometime!!) it also came with a yummy apple chill tamarind chutney which was paired really well with the pork :) 

Roasted Garlic Sea Bass
Fragrant with the aroma of garlic, i really liked how all the flavours of this dish came together really well from the fish curry seasoned couscous to the braised sea bass and the orange & shallot salad :)

Tiramisu 

This was pretty normal!

Sticky Toffee Date Cake
Believe it or not, this is my first time trying sticky date cake!! haha xP so sua ku right. but because i've never really liked dates (gosh those in chinese soups are just...ew) so i've never ordered this dessert. ever. but there's always a first - and i've changed my mind! it tastes nothing like the red dates i dislike :P of course, being my first time trying it, i can't really compare it to anything else. but i really liked how this cake was super moist, and sinful, really, but absolutely delicious.

The Glass House
Hotel Fort Canning
Tel.: +65 6559 6760

Artichoke Cafe & Bar + Overdoughs

hihi!! another place that i've been wanting to visit since forever. more specifically, since about 2 years ago when i popped by this place as one of those in the list for Gourmet Club's food guide to eating places around school. now that was such a long time ago. i had so much fun helping out with that publication :) anyway, the last time i went there, i didn't get to try any food, but everything looked so good that i vowed to come back. and i finally did, two years later. gosh. and i'm so glad to announce that it hasn't disappointed at all! ^^

artichoke's brunch menu is a pretty short one, but what makes it so special is its middle eastern influences. now, where else can you find a middle eastern brunch? in singapore, it ain't easy to find one. okay perhaps you can find it at Wild Honey, but i do find that place slightly overrated. anyway, back to our breakfast...

possibly our favourite of the lot had to be the Brunch Mezze ($26). it actually refers to a selection of little things, which i believe changes on a regular basis as you have to refer to a blackboard for the description. not sure whether the price changes accordingly as well. our Mezze consisted of a chickpea and sesame hummus, tzaziki of beetroot with pistachio dukka, terrine of smoked chicken, picked white anchovies and tomatoes, turkish spring cheese, mixed pickles and za'atar toast. now doesn't that sound scrumptious! loved the hummus, which released the essences of middle eastern flavours into our mouths and went perfectly with the toast. the cheeses too, were delicious when paired with the toast. have i mentioned how much i LOVE middle eastern breads? they are always flavoured with incredible spices that make them so tasty on their own, and they go with practically anything on the platter!

the lamb shakshouka ($25) is one of the most popular items on the menu, and even though i don't really eat lamb, i have to say that this was one tasty dish! i was totally drawn by the two runny eggs sizzled in spiced tomato sauce with kashkaval cheese and lamb, with pistachio dukka. and guess what, more toast! dipping the toast into this sizzling mess was simply divine.

a slightly less middle eastern-ish dish we had was the sweet potato and bacon hash ($23) and it was so so so amazingly delicious! gosh, it is actually impossible for me to pick a favourite dish from this place because i enjoyed everything so much! this looks pretty similar to a typical brunch dish, but it really isn't. the bacon was super interesting - my first time ever seeing thick cut bacon, and it was delightfully bouncy and oozed just the right amount of fats to make it juicy, yet not feel too sinful. the sweet potatoes were fried to perfection and this was all topped with sunny side up eggs, and toast with Jim Beam bourbon butter. mouth-watering? you bet it was!

in contrast, the most middle eastern dish we had was the Ful medames ($17), which was an aromatic, hearty egyptian fava bean stew with a dollop of soft egg in the midst of it (i do love their eggs so much too!), with toast to go along with it. again, it was just so gratifying to mop up all the goodness with the delicious slices of toast. so satisfying.

and as if we hadn't had enough, we ordered dessert!! Overdoughs is the sister bakery of Artichoke, and it's located right at the entrance of the restaurant. now look at that picture. this was on display. how on earth could we resist it??!! i was completely stuffed by this point, but being greedy as usual, i helped us order not just one, but TWO desserts :p well my "saving grace" was that i knew mummy would definitely prefer the other dessert, while i was sure we would all like this one, so we had to get both, didn't we? haha. this was a gorgeous oreo cheesecake block with cookie dough, marshmallow and caramel ($4.80). like i said, impossible to resist. it was every bit like the description. luscious and rich, it screamed "eat me!!" and we devoured it within five minutes.

our other dessert, cashew cranberry slice with rose cream ($3.60) sounded so pretty! bathed in a perfume of rose, we ate this dessert daintily (contrasting with our barbaric attack on the former), and we were rewarded with the combination of sweet essences spreading through our mouths. such a happy dessert! :) we loved it so much. 

this has got to be one of my most satisfying brunches ever, and a unique one too! hopefully i'll be back to try their dinner sometime ;)

Artichoke Cafe & Bar

161 Middle Road

Tel.: +65 6336 6949

Tue-Fri 6.30pm-9.45pm

Sat 11.30am-2.45pm, 6.30pm-9.45pm

Sun 11.30am-2.45pm

Tim Ho Wan

helloooooo! guess what, i finally tried Tim Ho Wan!!!! haha you're probably thinking, "what a laggard -.-" yeah ikr :( but the queue is always so long!! :( didn't really want to wait in line for 1 hour plus. so i waited a few months for this, but i am so happy that i finally had the chance to try it, even if only for the yummilicious barbecue pork buns ($4.50 for 3 pcs) ^^ ahhh, just thinking about it makes me feel like eating it already.

my loveee :D 

haha we would have ordered more, if only the rest were as enthusiastic as me!! i ordered one whole plate for myself okay :p which is three pieces. and i do think that it is quite affordable, considering the size of the bun!! normally char siew sou also costs around that price, but it's usually smaller? anyway, this bun is simply unbeatable. previously papa brought it back for us all the way from HK too ^^ and despite hours on the plane, it still tasted so awesome after we toasted it. what more having it fresh?! :O oh yeah, i forgot to mention that i came here at around 9.40am in the morning (when it opens at 10am) just so that we don't have to be delayed in the queue. and it worked!! :D this was the most awesome breakfast to start the week, right before audit class ;) and i'm writing this is one of my worst weeks of the sem x.x boohoo :'(

anyway. these buns. if you haven't tried it yet (i don't know whether there is anyone even slower than me...the whole world seems to have tried it!), please do!!!! oh gosh, even if you aren't a fan of char siew, you will love this bun so much :') it kinda has the bo lo bao kind of texture, but EVEN BETTER than that. a perfectly flaky crust, lightly crumbly, slightly sweet, and one bite gives way to deliciously tasty char siew within it. i want more!!!! :D

the rest of the dishes at Tim Ho Wan are pretty standard, and the quality is alright as well! (: they have four signature dishes called the Big 4 Heavenly Kings. we tried three of them, because the last was a chee cheong fun with pigs liver which we don't really fancy. the pan fried carrot cake ($4.50 for 3 pcs) was quite yummy! (: fried to a crisp, and with little bits of (i think) chinese sausage within it. it was super fragrant! 

the last of the 4 signature dishes was the steamed egg cake $3.80, which is kinda like a huat kueh? spongy, light and fluffy, but i'm not a big fan of it :p it's just a personal thing. haha.

there were dishes like har gow ($5.50 for 4 pcs), chee cheong fun with shrimp ($5.50) and bbq pork ($5.50), chicken feet with black bean sauce ($4) which were quite alright as well.

we liked the congee with lean pork, century egg and salted egg ($4.20) for its subtle flavour, while not being too salty (: i couldn't really taste any of the salted egg though :p

and i really enjoyed our dessert which was yam puree with sago ($3.50)! ^^ give me anything with yam and i'll devour it hehe :D it was a lovely smooth puree that was relatively light (good, especially since we were already so full from the dim sum) and i loved the added texture of the sago inside it! (: 

overall, i would say that Tim Ho Wan is quite un-impressionable other than the BARBECUED PORK BUNS and yam puree (: but i would come back, just for these two items. the good thing is that the dim sum here is still priced reasonably, so there is no reason not to come back ^^ 

Tim Ho Wan

Plaza Singapura #01-29A

Tel.: +65 6251 2000 (no reservations)

Daily 10am-10pm

Itacho & Hopeys! (:

yay okay so in the middle of my travel posts i just randomly decided to slot in one of my #singaporenoms haha ;) i've been wanting to try itacho sushi for quite long! always see the banners in PS advertising their $1 sushi (errr didn't see it anywhere when i was there) and there are always long queues in front of it. 

met up with the hopers last tues cos mel & i were back from exchange! ^^ we came back on the exact same day! so coincidental :D and immediately met up haha. i wanted to try shiock maki actually!!!! (i can't believe i still haven't eaten it after seeing tens of photos of it on instagram zzz) but they said it's not a suitable place for friends to meet. aww. anyway i just wanted to eat asian food in general (MISS IT SO MUCH! the parents were saying next few weeks just eat at hawker centre can already -.- haha okay it's not bad la, just that i'm still not used to this heat >.<). so i was quite excited for itacho, but it was quite disappointing! haha i think we decided that we're not gonna go back there already :p

i think the quality of their food is not bad, just that the portions are really small??? i quite liked my soft shell crab salad. the serving of crab was pretty generous :) but overall the portion was really small! mel's avocado salad was bigger than mine D: haha anyway it's ok, 减肥 :p haha. 

Itacho Sushi

Plaza Singapura $02-35

Tel.: +65 6337 8922

poor dom was especially disappointed with his food. lol!!!! look at those three small portions x.x omgosh...haha i think even i wouldn't feel full after eating it :/

haha the girls and guys were sitting opposite each other, we were saying looks like a match-making session :P so nice catching up with them! :))) but it definitely wasn't enough time for us to talk :( we should meet up again soon ^^ haha so many groups of people to meet now that i'm finally back! haven't really told ppl i'm back yet though :p except the impt people ^^ 

Seki Japanese Restaurant

We were enraptured the moment our chef wielded his knives in front of us, gracefully slicing through a thick piece of sashimi that lay upon the counter. The polish with which our chef handled the food was amazingly impressive and an addictive sight to behold. Every movement was controlled deftly by his skilled fingers, a feathery touch that he used in each step of his action – moulding the wasabi into the beautiful leaf-shape presented on our plates, positioning the sashimi in an attractive arrangement and even picking up the uni (sea urchin) and ikura (salmon roe) with a teaspoon to adorn the sushi.

If you are in the mood to chat, there is plenty of opportunity for interaction with your chef. Sitting at the counter with your food preparation in full view, the service was thoughtfully personalized and seamless. Our chef gently nagged us to hurry with our food, explaining that some foods didn’t taste good if it cooled. When he realised that we couldn’t finish our food that fast, he then proceeded to inform the kitchen to slow down the serving speed, and popped our sashimi back in the fridge to keep it fresh. It’s these little details that make a meal at Seki so enjoyable.

The Seki Kamo Salad (smoked duck salad, $14)) was an interesting and refreshing dish to begin with. Not typically seen in Japanese restaurants, this appetizer was a crunchy blend of Japanese cabbage and smooth smoked duck, generously topped with crispy flakes that provided a mouthful of texture with every bite.

There was quite a range of sashimi to choose from the menu, with 5- and 3-kind options available. We decided to go for the single portions though, to savour the best of our favourites. – the Maguro akami (Bluefin tuna, $22/plate), salmon ($14/plate) and toro (tuna, $50/plate). Succulent, breathtakingly fresh and juicy was what characterized every piece of meat, which practically melted in our mouths.

One does not merely try the “normal” Chawanmushi (steamed egg) at Seki. Be adventurous, splurge a little, and order the Foie Gras Chawanmushi ($15). Balanced atop the wobbly egg is two pieces of the fatty goose delicacy. So smooth that they went down with a slurp, it was so fragrant that it left us wanting more.

The Salmon and Ikura Roll ($18) was a homely dish with a delightful medley of flavours. Watching our chef artfully rolling the maki with the sushi mat excited us for what was to come. Biting into a piece of the maki, each individual grain of rice was distinctly fluffy, scattered with sesame seeds, and gave way to the soft salmon within. The salmon roe was juicy and popped in our mouth with every bite.

the Gindara Mentayaki (grilled cod fish, $35) is one of the most popular dishes on the menu and we could see why immediately! well marinated in its sauces, such that the taste was infused into every smooth mouthful of the tender fish, we thoroughly enjoyed this fish!

the desserts were really interesting! they were slightly spiked with alcohol, which gave it a wonderful flitting flavour that tickled your senses. i particularly liked the shochu ice cream, which tasted delicious!

*This is an article i wrote for reserveit.sg (: Try out their online reservation service, and you can check out more articles there!

Seki Japanese Restaurant

9 Bras Basah Road

#01-02 Rendezvous Gallery

Tel.: +65 6336 3806

Mon-Sun Lunch: 11.45am-3pm

Dinner: 6pm-11pm

Balzac Brasserie

when i found out that the French Kitchen at Central Mall closed down, i was so devastated! okay i've never tried it before, but i've heard that it was really good! luckily the good news is that the chef has moved to another restaurant, Balzac Brasserie in the newly renovated Rendezvous Grand food floor :) so glad that i still get to try his cooking after all!

we decided to try something different this time instead of ordering the typical french onion soup etc. we ordered the charcuterie platter ($22) which was an assortment of various cured meats such as hand carved vintage saucisson sec, parma ham, smoked duck breast, rillittes de canard and salami served on a beautiful stone platter. i loved the bread speckled with nuts that came together on the platter. it provided a nice contrast that muted the saltiness of the meat.

the beef cheeks a la cuillere ($26) was deliciously soft - wagyu beef cheek braised for 48hours, the meat was so tender it practically melted in our mouth. and the taste was au naturale, with the flavours of the beef erupting in our mouths with every bite. we absolutely LOVED the buttery creamy mashed potato that came with it as well!

the roasted scallops ($25) were plump, juicy and seasoned with garlic and parsley, made for a tasty dish. and i loved the fat tomatoes that came with it ;)

i thoroughly (and very surprisingly) enjoyed the duck confit ($26)! somehow i havent had very good experiences with duck confit, but this was REALLY GOOD! it has changed my mindset about this popular french dish completely. barely a hint of oiliness, the skin was crisp, while the duck meat was tender, juicy, and oh-so-flavourful. definitely a must-try :)

we decided to try this super interesting dessert - the riz au lait ($9) was a traditional rice pudding that tasted really like bubor hitam!!! haha i think it was cos of the sweet glutinous rice texture. this was a really SWEET dish to satisfy any sweet tooth, and it came with a caramel sauce that just added on even more! haha. i liked the roasted pistachios that gave it some crunch as well :) it was a pretty good! until....

...the valrhona chocolate moelleux ($12) arrived. and we all abandoned the poor rice pudding to attack this. it was soooo awesome!!!! a poufy souffle-like cover encasing a moist interior with warm molten gooey chocolate. we were all in seventh heaven after one mouth. paired with the cold tahitian vanilla ice cream, this was the PERFECT way to end the meal :D

Balzac Brasserie

01-01 Rendezvous Gallery

9 Bras Basah Rd

Tel.: +65 6336 0797

Lunch: 11.30am-2.30pm (Mon-Fri)

Dinner: 6.30pm-10.30pm (Mon-Sun)

Slice

this little pizza joint is really near school, but we rarely venture far enough to try it! quite a good idea on making pizza palatable for individuals - the pizza here comes in a rectangular SLICE, just nice for one person! instead of worrying about having to share a whole pizza with others, you can just grab-and-go for this.

i suppose i dont have much to say for this place actually haha. i ordered the hawaiian holiday ($6.50) which is your average hawaiian pizza! :) pretty good i would say. i quite liked how the crust was quite thin, but firm and pretty substantial.

they do deliveries as well! for a minimum order of $10.

Slice

PoMo #01-05

Tel.: +65 6333 9100

Sun-Thu: 11am-11pm

Fri & Sat: 11am-1pm

Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant

this place is famous for their xiao long baos! :) need i say more? TRY IT. IT'S GOOD.

they had quite a few versions of xiao long baos here, and we tried a couple of them. this one was the fresh pork filling steam bun ($6 for 6). the skin held the soup in wonderfully, and it slowly oozed out when i bit into it. ooooh so fragrant and delicious :)

but....it turns out that there was an even better one!!! :O when i first saw the description on the menu - vegetable and pork filling steam bun ($6.80 for 6), i was like, "yuck?" hahaha. and i was rather against ordering it. but then, since i wasnt the one paying (hehe :P) so i didn't have a choice. and i'm glad we ordered it!! it was niceeeee! :) i eat my words. it was even nicer than the normal pork filling bun! definitely deserved the 'thumbs up' which indicated the chef's recommendation. haha. according to my friends who dont really like ginger, this version has a less strong ginger taste which would appeal to more people i suppose! and the veggies didn't tarnish the taste of the pork at all. in fact, the pork was even tastier in this version :) delicious!

we were really into ordering chef's recommendations that day haha. the bean sauce minced pork noodle ($7.80) was another recommended dish. however, we felt that it wasnt outstanding as we would have expected a recommended dish to be? it tasted like a significantly muted version of a typical bowl of zha jiang mian you'll eat anywhere else. it was alright, but nothing special.

the golden fried rice ($8.80) on the other hand, was a completely different story! YOU HAVE TO ORDER IT. SERIOUSLY!!!! it was simply mindblowingly awesome! i was completely addicted to it haha. i could have finished it all by myself :P lol. a very fragrant mound of rice, with each piece of rice immersed with flavour, slight spiciness that added a kick to it and crispy pork floss to top it off. it was absolutely yummy :) i wish it was a larger portion! haha.

a quip about this place though would be that their portions are rather small. the rice/noodle dishes were all more like one-person sized and smaller than what other chinese restaurants would serve. and if you ever hear that this place is famous for their king sized buns, you've been lied to!!! dont order it. we tried the king sized nanxiang crab roe steamed soup bun ($6.80). it was mainly just soup inside, flavoured with crab meat. quite tasty, but i actually preferred the broth within the xiaolongbao. and it was small.

like hello? what is this? i felt damn cheated pls. the bao only took up half the bamboo thingy -.- save that $6.80 or spend it on another round of veggie & pork xiao long baos. this is not worth it at all. haha.

Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant

Plaza Singapura #02-01

Tel.: +65 6337 7446

Strictly Pancakes

well, with a name like that, you can bet this place is serious about their pancakes :) and it's really interesting how they have savoury pancakes! it was definitely a must-try when i came to this cute restaurant. the space downstairs is pretty small, so  we sat upstairs, which is a really cute cosy place! :)

if you still don't know, i love having CHOICE. haha as in, i like having lots of options for my food. so fun! :D sooo, i thought it was really nice to get to personalize my pancakes at this restaurant! first, chose the number of pancakes (short stack of 2 pancakes $5.50, medium stack 3 pancakes $7, larges stack 4 pancakes $8.50), chose your favourite type of butter to accompany it (salted, unsalted, garlic+herb, rum+rasin) and for $2.50 each, you can get sides like the bacon and sauteed mushrooms which i did :) the pancakes were not the best i've eaten, but they were still pretty good. i loved the sauteed mushrooms, which were beautifully seasoned with garlic and herbs. i also tried the rum+raisin butter! it was pretty interesting, but probably not the best choice since it was sweet, and didn't go that well with my savoury pancake.

besides the personalised pancakes, you can also get ready-made pancakes like my sweet pancake - apples and cinnamon ($10). the caramelized apples were baked till they were soft, yet still has a slight crunch which made for an interesting combination of textures. served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream (ooh how nice it is so mop up the ice cream with a slice of pancake! :D) and a dash of cinnamon which lent a delicious flavour to the pancake, this was a delight! :)

Strictly Pancaks

44A Prinsep Street

Tel.: +65 6333 4202

Mon 6pm-10pm

Tue - Thu 11.30am-10pm

Fri 11.30am-12am

Sat 10am-12am

Sun 10am-10pm

Timbre

when i say DUCK PIZZA where do you think of? :D timbre of course! i've heard of  their pizza way before i ever stepped into restaurant. but when i asked people what else is nice there, they just give me blank looks -.- i was like, "you mean you've only tried the duck pizza and nothing else??!" lol! anyway, i've finally tried the legendary duck pizza there! (:

the roasted duck pizza ($19) is a paper-thin, ultra crispy pizza that is covered with even more crispy bits of popiah skin that just make it so wonderfully crackly & yummy. there are select slivers of roasted duck breast (i wished for more, but i guess less is more right?) and sauteed shiitake mushrooms with a salty-sweet hoisin sauce that makes this such a lovely fusion dish. i think it was the hoisin sauce that sealed the deal for me xD i really loved how it pulled the whole dish together wonderfully, complementing both the asian duck and the western cheesy pizza.

the french onion soup ($9) was unfortunately, one of the most disappointing onion soups i've ever tried :( firstly, the bowl was quite small, compared to others i've tried. then the onions were not really mashed to a nice gooey pulp, so the taste wasn't really infused into the soup at all. instead, i think to make up for the lack of onion taste, there was a hellish amount of pepper. i took one sip of the soup and starting coughing madly!! omg.

the basil beef with timbre garlic naan ($15) was a dish that i liked & didn't like. ok, i couldn't decide. hmm, i liked the texture of the garlic naan, i guess there is a reason why they called it 'timbre garlic naan' cos it doesnt taste like the garlic naan i usually eat haha, this one is ULTRA crispy, something like the pizza crust, really delicious! (: but there was no garlic taste at all!!!!!! gahh. if they just took the 'garlic' out of the name then it wouldnt be so misleading -.- the beef was quite nice in terms of texture as well, quite soft and tender, but then...!!!! it was super peppery too! :( what's with the copious amount of black pepper in their food omg. yucks.

the baked portabello mushroom ($14) was a dish that was quite nice! (: it was a baked mushroom with herb crust and tomato concasse (whatever that is?? haha) with a generous amount of garlic! yummy! the mushrooms were nice and soft and drizzled with basil pesto.

the sirloin steak (premium grain fed) with onion jam ($20) was a nice traditional dish which i liked as well. it comes with a choice of either garlic mashed potatoes or french fries. the beef was nicely done, very tender and slightly chewy, although it seemed rather rare, when my order was supposed to be 'medium'. and i have no idea why they keep adding the word 'garlic' to their food, when i can't taste the garlic at all!!!! it just leads to dashed expectations. tsk tsk. although i've learnt that it's always best to NOT HAVE EXPECTATIONS (okay i can have a whole post just rambling about this same point over and over, but moving on...), but when it comes to the menu saying something, i do expect the food to somehow match up to it right?? oh wells. haha.

oh and we ordered drinks too (: there was some promotion where you can get a free pizza of the day with 2 glasses of house wine at $27. the pizza of the day was cheesy pizza. didn't sound very appetizing -.- but they let us have the discount for our duck pizza, so that was good! (: i ordered the old school ($15) which was sour plum infused absolut vodka, kalamansi, monin passionfruit syrup and jellies. haha the jellies were an interesting touch! (: yi ordered sex on the beach, and zhen had the lemon lime bitters mocktail.

yupps so that's it for timbre! (: we should have gone later to enjoy the ambience. goodfellas @substation! ok i heard they're good but i've never heard them play before. but i think overall, besides the duck pizza, the food is only so-so and kinda on the expensive side (considering this was a place i wanted to go with friends last time!).

Timbre @ Mount Sophia

11A Mount Sophia #01-05

Tel.: +65 6338 0800