Straits Cafe- Hotel Rendezvous

The Rendezvous Hotel has been refurbished and my memory of this hotel was the well known Nasi Padang restaurant on the ground floor.

Now, the hotel coffee shop is known for it's Singapore Laksa.  I think most of my friends love Laksa.  I have yet to meet one who doesn't.  I decided to try it out for myself one lunchtime.

Apparently, their laksa is freshly cooked when you place your order.  It comes with a reasonable portion of seafood and sliced chicken and it smells great :).  Surprisingly, the gravy is not as rich or thick as it looks.  Which is fine for me as I do not like the coconut milk taste to be too overpowering.  I think it strikes the right balance of spice and just enough of the coconut milk flavour.

If you would like to go for their lunch and high tea weekend buffet, you have to book early as it is fully booked on most days.  Try it if you are around the area or when you have people in town who would like to try this famous dish.

Rating: 7.5/10

Straits Cafe
Hotel Rendezvous
9 Bras Basah Road
Singapore 189559
Tel: +65 6336 0220

Salt Grill & Sky Bar

Had a lovely lunch with my friend and her daughter one afternoon.  We decided to check out Salt Grill & Sky Bar before deciding should we go for dinner there next time.

Located on the 55th floor of Ion, the view from the restaurant is excellent.  The restaurant is spacious though I personally feel the interior deco should be just a tad up a notch.  Anyway, it is still a good venue for a meal.

I ordered the Carpaccio of blue fin tuna, wasabi avocado, apple and radish salad.  The blue fin tuna was fresh.  The green apple and radish added the extra crunch and cleanse the palette while the wasabi avocado gave it an interesting dimension to the flavours.  I enjoyed it very much.

My friend ordered the ‘glass’ Sydney crab omelette with miso mustard broth.  It was very good too and the crabmeat was tasty and fresh.  Again, the miso mustard broth gave that interesting flavour also adding adequate moisture to the dish.

Both of us had the Crispy skin salmon, char siu mushrooms, bok choy, sesame seed.  My portion was much smaller than the other but since I was not too hungry, it was fine.  Though I think it would not have been sufficient for a guy.  The salmon was done well and the mushrooms were flavourful.  Though I would prefer to have the bok choy served without the stem but that is just me :)

My friend's daughter had the cheese burger from the kids menu.  I did not taste it but I am sure no restaurant should go wrong with a cheese burger.

I took a photo of the restaurant where there's no one being seated.

My friend picked the dessert of chocolate cake with hot dark chocolate oozing next to the cold ice cream.  It was rather fabulous.

I can't remember the name of this dessert but it was good too.

I will visit this restaurant again.  The food was good and offering a great view of Singapore.  I think it's also ideal to bring your visitors.  The staff was also polite and helpful.

Ratings:

Blue fin tuna carpaccio 9/10

Crabmeat omellete  8.5/10

Salmon: 8.5/10

Chocolate dessert: 9/10

Salt grill & Sky bar 

2 Orchard Turn, ION Orchard 

#55-01 & #56-01 

Singapore 238801

Tel: +65 6592 5118

Operating Hours: Monday to Sunday

Restaurant	Sky bar
Lunch	18.00 - 23.30
11.30 - 14.00 (Last Order)	(Drink last order at 23.00)
Dinner
18.00 - 22.00 (Last Order)
Brunch (Weekend)
11:30-14:00 (Last order)

Dress Code: Smart Casual

Al Forno

My friend and I decided to have an Italian lunch around the East Coast area.  We decided to head to Al Forno as she really likes the place and I have not been there in a very long time.

Fortunately, it was a weekday, so we managed to find a parking spot about 200m away.  Otherwise, it's really hard to find a parking area around here.

She ordered the Pescatore but with pasta instead of risotto while I requested to have a Calzone with Bolognese sauce instead.  It wasn't on the menu but they were able to do it, which shouldn't be too hard really.  Anyway, I was happy that they obliged.

We skipped the appetisers as we were not sure if we can finish everything.  When the food arrived, the portions were very decent.  Just say that it would fill up an adult man really well.  The pasta was good.  The tomato was rich and tangy at the same time.  It was tasty and there was a good portion of mussels, squid and prawns.  The seafood was fresh and not overcooked.  My friend who loves her food spicy, added more chilli flakes on it.  For me, it was fine as it is but I put loads of parmesan as I love it that way :)

Spaghetti Pescatore $26

My Calzone looks like a huge Asian curry puff.  It was tasty and there's lots of cheese with the bolognese filling although I would like it even more if they had more beef.  The dough was freshly made and it was really hot when it arrived.  It was flavourful but some parts didn't have any beef in it.  The tomato sauce on it was good too.

Calzone with Bolognese filling ($24)

The staff were polite and the service was good.  There's a smoking table outside but it's on a high chair for those who doesn't mind.  They shut after lunch hours and open again later for dinner.  

Rating:

Spaghetti Pescatore  8/10
Calzone with Bolognese  7/10

400 East Coast Road
Singapore 428996

Tel: +65 6348 8781
Email:
contact@alfornoeastcoast.com.sg

Lunch: 12 pm - 2 pm
Dinner: 6.30 pm – 10.30 pm
Open daily