Korat Thai Cafe

I have not been updating this blog for quite a while as I've been really busy.  So, to my friends who kept asking "where is that chicken skin place?", here it is...

I don't usually go to Orchard Towers but I must say you must try out the food here.  A good friend recommended an authentic Thai cafe with Thai chef and all.  So, I thought, why not?  Actually, I had dinner but my friend insisted that I had a taste :P

We started with the crispy chicken skin.  LOVE it!  It is deep fried till it is crispy like "keropok" (crackers).  It was awesome! 

Next is the Garlic Beef.  It has the fab taste of black pepper and garlic.  It is superbly tasty and morish!

The Fish dish (Cu Ci Pla, if I am not mistaken) was also delicious.  The sauce was slightly spicy, but full of flavour.  I think I could detect galangal, chilli, turmeric, lime leaves, lemongrass and a hint of coconut milk.    This is also a "must-order".

This is just an ordinary cafe but I must say the food is excellent!  They are open only after 6pm onwards.  After dinner, we went to Naughty Girl on the 2nd level to listen to a Singaporean band, who plays every Sunday, from 10.30pm onwards.  I must say, it was a different experience but I thoroughly enjoyed my evening... chicken skin and all... :D

Chicken Skin: 9.5/10
Garlic Beef: 9/10
Fish dish: 9/10

3rd Floor,
Orchard Towers

Kashmir (East Coast)

I noticed there are now many eateries around Katong and Joo Chiat area.  I checked out this North Indian restaurant as I noticed they had quite a number of customers who looked clearly like they were enjoying their food.... and I felt like having a snack. :)

We were recommended a fish appetiser, and I agreed to try it out.  The burst of flavour from the spices were fabulous but it was not too overpowering.  Only that I find it a tad too salty for me, if they had tune the salt just a notch down it would have been perfect.

The fish was fresh and it was in chunks.  It was tender and moist and so flavourful.  I will order this again but I will request for less salt.  It is a little like fish and chips, only that, this is much better :)

I ordered my favourite Rogan Gosht  but the waiter recommended the Boneless Lamb Gosht and I thought why not?  Again, it was fabulous.  The lamb was tender and the gravy delicious!

When we were ordering the chicken dish, we asked the waiter for suggestions and he came up with this dish that I don't know the name.  Nevertheless, it was very very good.  It was a little sweet for me but it was very nice.  Again, the chicken was tender and moist and the spices were well put together.

The garlic and butter naan that we ordered was also freshly made and it was still lovely and hot when served.  The service was very good too.  They were extremely observant when we needed service although we were sitting outside.  They were also extremely polite.

I will definitely go back to try out other dishes with my other makan friends. :)

Ratings:
Fish with spices (appetiser) 9.5/10
Boneless Lamb Gosht 9/10
Chicken dish 9/10
Garlic and Butter Naan 9.5/10

Service: Excellent

19 East Coast Road (beside Odeon Katong)
Tel: 6344 9163

Haig Road Putu Piring

This is a traditional Malay kuih (cake) that is rather difficult to find nowadays.  I think as it has to be made fresh on the spot.

My good friend been raving about it and since my daughter never tried it before,  we decided to head to the one in Haig Road.  They are located in a coffeeshop just beside the Haig Road Market.  When we got there, there was a long queue, which reminded me of people buying 4D! Lol.

Putu Piring

This kuih is made from rice flour that has been roasted with pandan leaves.  It is served with desiccated coconut that has been seasoned with a little salt.  The Putu Piring is filled with palm sugar.  When it is steamed, the rice flour feels soft and slightly powdery.  The palm sugar inside melts just to the right texture.  The fragrant of the pandan leaves (most times also shredded with the coconut) permeates the air when you unfold the banana leave that serves as a packaging to the Putu Piring.  When you sink your teeth in one, it is simply yummy!

Long queue

The one here is simply delicious.  You can have at least 6-9 pcs, no problem.  Be prepared for a long queue.  It goes for $1 for 3 small pieces.  Must try!

Putu Piring
Coffeeshop, beside Haig Road Market

Rating:  9.5/10

Cocotte

This restaurant reminds me of a rustic French countryside kitchen.  One of my friends suggested the place and I thought why not?

I was very late for my lunch appointment as traffic was a nightmare on that Saturday afternoon.  I hate to be late.  As soon as I arrived, we quickly placed our orders.

Fried Tripe

The Fried Tripe was coated with bread crumbs.  Taste wise was ok as it was a pretty straight forward appetiser.  It reminds me more of tapas where you pick and snack.

Chicken Liver Mousse

 The Chicken Liver Mousse was done well.  It was creamy and smooth in consistency.   It was served with mesclun, cornichons and tomato coulis.  The portion was decent and tastewise, it was good.

Escargots Gougeres

The Escargot Gougeres was also rather interesting as the escargot was served in a pastry, instead of the usual style.  The parsley cream gave it some extra flavour to the escargots.  The tomato coulis was served again with this dish.

Navarin D' Agneau Printanier $37

 The stewed grass fed lamb shoulder was extremely tasty and tender.  It was served with baby carrots, pearl onions, fava beans, peas and new potatoes.  We all agreed that this dish was done well.  The sauce was not overpowering and it has just enough flavours and seasoning.

Sole Meuniere

One simply must try the sole meuniere when in a french restaurant as well.  This was done very well, cooked to perfection.  The fish was tender and juicy on the inside and the skin lightly crisp.  The brown butter sauce was good too.  Again, it was well seasoned without being heavy handed.  I really enjoyed this dish very much and even more so when I had a whole row of roe in my sole :)

Basque Cake

This is a traditional cake from the Basque region, we thought we should try this to share as we were stuffed.  I must say the cake was excellent...  each morsel was delightful, moist, creamy, not too sweet and taste like how a cake should be.  We thought it was good too.

Ratings:

Fried tripe:  6.5/10
Chicken Liver Mousse: 8/10
Escargots Gougeres: 7.5/10
Navarin: 8.5/10
Sole Meuniere: 9/10
Basque Cake: 8.5/10


No. 2 Dickson Road
Singapore 209494

Opening Hours:

Lunch:
Mondays to Saturdays
1200hrs – 1430hrs
(Last order 1400hrs)
Sundays
1200hrs – 1500hrs
(Last order 1430hrs)
Dinner:
Mondays to Thursdays
1830hrs – 2230hrs
(Last order 2200hrs)
Fridays to Saturdays
1830hrs – 2300hrs
(Last order 2230hrs)
Closed on Sundays

Bar Hours:

Mondays to Thursdays
1200hrs – 2300hrs
Fridays to Saturdays
1200hrs – 0000hrs
Sundays
1200hrs – 1500hrs

http://restaurantcocotte.com/

Garibaldi Italian Restaurant and Bar

I've always like this restaurant.  My friends and I decided to go there for lunch and I have not been here for quite a while.  It was Restaurant Week when we were there and they had a set menu.  As usual, the staff was very polite and service was good.  We were greeted and our orders were taken promptly.

The first course was a veal tongue salad.  One of my friends did not quite like it as he did not like the texture as he said it was slightly slimy.  My girlfriend and I thought taste wise it was ok but not outstanding.

For the main, I picked the Seafood Soup dish and my friends ordered the duck pasta dish.  One of them thought the pasta was fine while the other one said it was disappointing.  So I had a taste and I must say while it was not bad but it was not exceptional.  It could have been tastier but we all agreed that the texture of the pasta was good.

 

Fortunately, I ordered the Seafood Soup.  It looked good and tasted good.  It had just the right seasoning and the flavours are from the natural juices of the seafood.  With such dishes, it is best to season ligthtly to enhance the natural juices without overpowering the dish, which they did.  So I was rather happy with mine.  The only thing is that the toasts that came with it could be a tad crispier.

My two friends were very happy with their choice of dessert.  Actually, they mentioned it was their best course! Lol!  It was basically a chocolate cake but I could not remember it's fancy name.  It was super tasty without being too sweet.  Even I thought it was good...

I picked the white chocolate dessert.  The outer layer texture reminded me of jelly but once you cut into it, it is soft and creamy.  It's delicious and the fruit pieces in it cuts the richness of the dessert.  The pastry at the bottom adds the necessary crunchiness to this sweet delight.

I somehow feel that the food was not as good as the few previous times I was there.  Perhaps, they were full but I don't see that as a good reason.  Service is always good here.  The staff are helpful and friendly without being intrusive.  I will just go back there one more time to try their food again to confirm whether I should still include Garibaldi as one of my favourite restaurants...  but then again, who cares what I think.. :D

Veal tongue salad:  7/10
Duck pasta dish:  7/10
Seafood Soup: 8.5/10
Chocolate cake: 9/10
White chocolate dessert: 9/10

Service:  9/10

Garibaldi Italian Restaurant & Bar

36 Purvis Street #01-02
Singapore 188613
Tel: (65) 6837 1468 Fax: (65) 6337 3770
Email: garibaldi@garibaldi.com.sg

Ling Zhi Vegetarian Restaurant by Tung Lok

A very good friend suggested Ling Zhi for lunch as she had not been there for ages.  As for me, I have never been there at all so it was a good idea.

My girlfriend was the one who ordered the dishes and she mentioned luckily we like mushrooms as there's mushrooms in every dish :)


The first course was the salad.  The staff came with salad in a bottle, shaking it to coat the dressing evenly.  There was a bit of a showmanship there...

I had forgotten to take a shot of the salad as I was hungry.  The next course is supposed to be shark fin soup, only that it is from a melon, according to my friend.  It gives almost the same texture as the real thing.  It looks similar too and it was tasty.  Nowadays, I avoid having the real shark fin soup after finding out how they were treated...

Vegetarian shark fin soup

The next dish was spinach with truffles.  I thought the mushrooms on top look slightly like abalone.  Again, it's tasty with just the right seasoning.

 

Ah, the next dish is one of my favourite dish, though I had never had the vegetarian version, Kung Pao Chicken.  It looks similar to the real thing with the cashews and all.  The sauce was good.  Couldn't remember though what the "chicken" was made from but it was good.

The fried rice came and by now we were full.  It was ok but not outstanding.  I also had forgotten to take a shot of the ultra thin pancakes made to look like duck skin.  I guess we were too busy eating and talking :D

Generally, I think it was all very good and I may visit this restaurant again.  My only concern is that I suspect that there's some MSG as my body could feel when there's any.  However, I think it's an excellent choice for vegetarians.

"Kung Pao Chicken"   8/10
Spinach dish                8.5/10
"Sharkfin Soup"          8.5/10
Fried Rice                    7/10

Service:                       8.5/10

Lingzhi Vegetarian Restaurant
541 Orchard Road
#05-01 Liat Towers
Tel: (65) 6734 3788
Opening hours daily: 11.30am-3pm, 6pm -10pm

Nakhon Kitchen

Every time I passed this place, I could see it is always full of customers.  One lunchtime, I dragged a girlfriend of mine to try it out.

We were there at about 1pm and most of the tables were taken.  We decided to order the usual thai fare that we are familiar with.  There were some confusion on the two white steamed rice that we ordered.  The Thai girl by the cashier was almost shouting across the tables when she was talking to us, not that she understood us in the first place.  Most of the staff are Thai, so this looks promising.

Seafood To Yam

When the food came, it was piping hot.  The clear Seafood Tom Yam was excellent.  It is not at all like the normal version I usually find in Singapore.  This is authentic and extremely tasty.  This version is the sort that I could have for breakfast everyday, which I did when I was in Thailand before.  It is not too spicy and the sour taste came from the squeezed fresh lime.  The squid and other bits were nicely cooked and not chewy.  It only came with one prawn though...

Thai style mince beef

The mince beef was good as well.  A tad spicy but it is meant to be spicy.  The herbs flavour was also just right.  Only that, we find that the beef is not tender enough, it was slightly chewy.  Again, authentic and tasty.

Pandan Chicken

The Pandan Chicken was fabulously hot when it came...  We were struggling to take it out of the pandan casings to take a shot :) but it was really good too.  The chicken was tender and flavourful.  I must say it was done just right.

We finished everything that we ordered and we would go there again.  All the three dishes cost us about $24.  However, don't expect too much from the service.

Tom Yam Seafood (clear): 8.5/10
Mince Beef: 8/10
Pandan Chicken: 8/10

Blk 136 Bedok North Avenue 3
#01-166
Singapore

Tel: +65 6245 5548

Satay Warisan Wak Dargo

Delish Chicken Satay

I was in that area one afternoon and felt like having a snack.  A friend had told me that the satays here are worth a try.  When we got there, the man himself and his wife was busy preparing the satays themselves (for those who are not aware, most shops get their satays from the factory).  So it was really interesting to see that there are still shops making their own satays!

Only the chicken satay was ready when I got there at around 4pm, so we ordered 10 sticks.  The old man himself was barbecuing the satays to perfection.  I was observing as his hands moved swiftly grilling the satays, obviously an expert.  There's an art to it and to me, it is a wonderful sight :)

Expert hands

When I sank my teeth into one, it was really fabulous!  It was succulent, moist, tender and just the right taste of spices.  It wasn't too sweet nor too salty.  The chicken chunks were substantial and absolutely delish!  The sauce that came with it was nice too but I could taste a hint of dried prawns.  My friend likes it but I would have prefer without it.  The satays were good enough on its' own that we ordered another 10 sticks and we just had a huge lunch prior to this!

I think you can place an order if you can see the number

The ice lemon tea that I ordered was fresh and homemade.  It was really refreshing. I would suggest you try that too.

Must try ice lemon tea

It's quite difficult to park around that area.  There are coupon parking lots along the street but they can be full.  Alternatively, you can park at Kembangan Plaza and take a short walk.  FYI, it is on a one way street and you will pass the coffee shop with Mon An Vietnamese noodles from my one of my July postings first.  This one is located right at the the T junction after the first coffee shop.

Ratings:

Chicken Satay: 9/10
Ice Lemon Tea: 9/10

Along Jalan Masjid (not sure of the address)
Near Kembangan Plaza

Prive

I have not been updating my blog for the past month as I had other priorities for the past month. 

When one of my friends suggested Prive one Friday evening, we thought it was a good idea.

The view

I had been there before for a friends' wedding cocktail and I think it's a nice chill out outdoor place with good view.  When we got there, it was full so we were lucky that we managed to get a table.

Full house on a Friday night

We placed our order and was told that it would take at least 30 minutes for the food to come.  Since it was going to take that long, the waitress asked if we would like to order some appetisers while waiting for the mains.  So we did.  To cut the story short, we still did not get our appetisers after 45 mins.  We asked the waitress and it then arrived about 10 minutes later.

I had forgotten to take the appetiser shots as we were really hungry. Very shortly after, my salmon was also served, so I started with my main course.  One grilled chicken arrived 5 minutes later, so we asked where's the other grilled chicken as we had ordered two of each.  They said it was coming.  About 25 minutes later, there were still no chicken.  We then called for the manager as we were about to finish our dinner while a friend of ours was just watching us as his chicken was nowhere in sight!  The manager came and apologised and told us that "their chef is rather moody" which we thought was a strange thing to say.  Anyway, eventually after about 10 more minutes, it finally arrived.

One of the appetisers but I didn't have any of this

The salmon was a safe bet.  It was well seasoned though I wished they had given a bit more vegetables.

Grilled Salmon

The grilled chicken was well cooked, taste- wise it was acceptable but not wow.

Grilled Chicken

 We then ordered two desserts to share just for taste.  The desserts were rather decent.

Prive is nice to go for sunset drinks and to chill out with friends.  However, it does get crowded over the weekends so service is not great.

I would prefer that all of us could have enjoyed our meal at the same time otherwise all of us should just have stayed at our own home and eat separately...

Grilled Salmon: 7.5/10
Grilled Chicken: 7/10
Desserts: 7.5/10

No. 2 Keppel Bay Vista
Marina At Keppel Bay
Singapore 098 382
Tel: +65 6776 0777

Le Parisien Bistro (2nd review)

Foie Gras

Second Review

This restaurant has introduced foie gras to its menu.  Naturally, I had to try it.  The foie gras was well cooked on the inside, smooth and buttery.  The apricots that came with it was lovely to cut the richness flavour from the foie gras.  Personally, I would like the foie gras to be more seared on the outside but it was fine.

Veal

The veal came in a generous portion.  It was tender and cooked very well.  The gravy was rich and tasty though the veal should be seasoned just a little more.  Though it's better to be slightly under than over salty. 

Creme brulee

I tried the creme brulee and definitely has improved on the texture since I was there the last time.  It is soft but firm, just the right texture.  It's tasty, creamy and what I like most is that I could see the tiny vanilla pods in it, delicious...

Ratings:
Foie gras 8/10
Veal: 8/10
Creme Brulee: 9/10

10 Haji Lane

Tel: 6396-6383

Opening Hours:
Tue-Sun 11am-11pm

Mon An Vietnamese Muslim Corner

My friends were talking and posting about this Vietnamese noodles on Facebook and they were saying how wonderful it is.  I decided to try it for myself...

I rushed there on a Monday afternoon at 3.30pm as they close at around 4pm.  I was lucky.

When the piping hot beef noodles came, I quickly had a taste of the soup.  It was extremely tasty and delicious.  The soup tasted of the beef broth and full of flavour.  I think it's being brewed with lemongrass and galangal as I could smell the subtle fragrance.  They were loads of beef pieces and it was tender. 

The Vietnamese spring rolls were good and the prawns were fresh.  It was packed with vegetables and herbs and extremely refreshing.

Vietnamese Spring Rolls

I enjoyed it very much and I will definitely be back...:)

Jalan Masjid (Kembangan Area)
first coffee shop on the left.

*Please note they have moved to another coffeeshop in Jalan Masjid, now located at the last coffeeshop on the left since around May 2012

Ratings:
Beef Noodles: 8.5/10
Spring Rolls: 8.5/10

Monday -Saturday till 4pm