CUT by Wolfgang Puck (Singapore)

Celebrating a very good friends' milestone birthday, we headed to CUT at Marina Bay Sands.  This Austrian celebrity chef opened the restaurant Spago on the Sunset Strip in the US in 1982. Fifteen years later, in 1997, Puck opened the award-winning Spago in Beverly Hills, which has been recognized as one of the Top 40 Restaurants in the U.S. since 2004.

We got there for our 7.30pm dinner and was seated promptly as we had a reservation.  The ambience of the place was great. It is a fine dining restaurant but not one of those too quiet where you can hear a pin drop.  Everyone around seems to be having a great time without being too noisy or intrusive.

We were given the menu and they showed us the various cuts on the trolley that's available for the day.  We decided to order a few starters to share as we were quite afraid that we would be too full to finish our mains.

The cheese breadstick, which I think is parmesan was fabulous.

There were about five choices of bread.  I had the onion bread that was very good.  There's just the right hint of onion without tasting too "oniony" :)

The crabmeat salad was really good too.  It was light, tasty and refreshing and I think the presentation's great too.

We ordered a few starters that we think is different from any other restaurants that we had been to.   Why order the same stuff as what you can get at other places right? This is the veal tongue.  I know it does not sound appetising but we thought, heck why not.  It was tender and it was not slimy or sticky.  It tastes almost like meat but lighter.  The dressing that went with it was also very good.  Even my teenage daughter likes it.

The carpaccio- style raw scallops were excellent!  Light and the wonderfully tasty dressing with a touch of fish roe really enhances the flavour of the scallops.  I enjoyed this very much.

This is my Japanese wagyu sirloin.  It was delicious! We ordered sweetcorn, wild mushrooms and broccoli as our sides.  The meat was done just right although I find the seasoning just a tad salty but then again, that's relative as I do not take a lot of salt.  However, another friend said that it's just right for her.  The sweetcorn was good and if I am not wrong, there's a slight lime flavour to it.  The wild mushrooms was fabulous too.  The brocolli was ok and I feel it was just slightly overdone for brocolli.  Another one of us ordered the USDA filet mignon and it was an excellent choice as well.  She said it melts in her mouth and it was tender, succulent and fabulous.  We ordered three different sauce to go with our steaks as well.  I had a cream horseradish sauce, it was fab.

Since I am not really a dessert person, I ordered a scoop of sorbet for dessert.  I LOVE sorbets :P.  It is good but then again, a restaurant of this standard should not go wrong with sorbets.

The service staff who was serving our table was excellent.  He had been working in other fine steak restaurants before and so he knows what he is talking about.  He also has a great personality and a good sense of humour which is refreshing.  With bad service, even the fabulous food could not make up for the bad experience.  We had a lovely time with great food, fabulous company, wonderful service and the superb ambience  All in all, it was a fantastic birthday celebration with my JJCM kaki.  I would definitely visit them again.

Ratings:

Crabmeat Salad: 9.5/10
Veal Tongue: 9.5/10
Raw Scallops: 10/10
Japanese Wagyu Sirloin Steak: 9.5/10
Fillet Mignon: 9/10
Sides
Brocolli: 7/10
Sweetcorn: 8/10
Wild Mushrooms: 9/10

Marina Bay Sands Hotel Singapore
10 Bayfront Avenue
Singapore
Tel: +65 6688 8517

Sakuraya Fish Dining Mart (Parkway Parade outlet)

You can shop and/ or dine when you visit this casual Japanese eatery.  The various fresh fishes on display are available for salt-grilled, deep fry or sashimi.  You can buy them home or get them to prepare it for you to dine there.

We ordered the soft shell crab sushi and kappa maki to start.  It was very good.

The tuna sashimi was really fresh.  We picked it from the counter and they prepared it for us.  It was delicious.

My chawanmushi was very nice.  It was tasty and came with a mushroom and a slice of Japanese fishcake.  Alas, I only remembered to take a shot after I had stirred it... Lol

The Shishamo yaki was really nice too.  We requested for them to grill it slightly longer when we ordered and it was perfect!

The prawn tempura batter was crispy and light.  It was also not too oily either. 

Again, we requested for the Saba Shioyaki to be grilled slightly longer when we placed our order.  It was very good.  The other two dishes that we had was the grilled salmon head and the fresh scallops sashimi.  I had forgotten to take shots of both.  The salmon head was excellent!  The flesh was tender and juicy and not dry at all even though it was grilled.  The fresh scallops were really fresh too.

I would definitely visit this eatery again.  Everything was fresh and fabulous.  However, be prepared to queue as they do get a lot of customers and not too many tables.

Ratings:
Softshell crab sushi  8.5
Kappa Maki 8.5
Tuna Sashimi 9
Scallop Sashimi 9
Chawanmushi 8.5
Shishamo yaki 9
Tempura 8.5
Saba Shioyaki 9
Grilled salmon head 9.5

80 Marine Parade Road
#B1-84D
Parkway Parade
Singapore 449269

TEL 6345 4714
FAX 6346 5924

Razack's Kitchen Halal Hong Kong Noodles and Rice

This coffeeshop is located in an old shophouse and the owners were originally from Hong Kong.  My friend and I were not hungry as we had lunch about a couple of hours ago.  We were talking about food as usual and I remembered this eatery as it was featured in a television "makan" programme.  My friend googled and we found it.

We did not order a lot so we decided to share a Mee Hongkong (my fave, btw) and just a couple of dim sum dishes.  The noodles were good, not too salty, rather tasty and the consistency of the sauce was just right.  I am sure fans of Mee Hongkong will agree that it is now difficult to find a good one nowadays.

Next, we had the Crispy Beancurd Skin stuff with chicken and prawns.  It was piping hot and very good.  Excellent as a snack.

The other one we ordered was the shark's fin dumpling.  It was not as tasty as I expected it to be.   

I would definitely come back again to try out other dishes.  The elderly couple who owns this modest eatery are also very friendly.  They are apparently known for their Bak Chang as well.  Perhaps I will try that next time.

Ratings:

Mee Hong Kong  7/10

Crispy Beancurd Skin 8/10

Shark's fin dumpling 5/10

Changi Road, just after the junction of Telok Kurau.

If you are coming from Bedok, keep left at the junction and veer into

the carpark area immediately after the traffic light to the first row of shophouses you see on the left.

Sarang (Korean Cuisine)

Hi friends!  Been a while since I updated my blog.  Partly because I've been rather busy and partly due to not discovering new "makan" places that's worth mentioning.

Anyway, I found one recently that I would like to share with you.  One of my BFFs suggested we have a Korean food appreciation evening and the rest of us thought what an excellent idea!  We headed to Sarang at Orchard Central.

We were greeted by their friendly staff and I left the ordering to my friends as I am no connoisseur of Korean cuisine.

We started with the Ojingeo Bokeum.  It was a tad spicy for me but it was very nice.  It's baby squid cooked in the chef's special sauce.  It's slightly tangy and has a good balance of sweet, sour and spicy combination.

Ojingue Bokeum ($9.80)

As we are meat lovers, we decided to focus on the meat dishes.  The Bulgogi ($16.80), marinated beef slices, Galbi Sal (19.80), marinated short ribs slices and the Dak Galbi ($16.80), marinated chicken slices.  I must say, it is all delish!  The meat was tender and marinated with just the right amount of sauce.  I lost count how many portions we ordered as we kept asking for more!

Uncooked marinated beef and chicken

You do your own cooking with this hot pot in front of you.  So, it is up to you how you would prefer the doneness of your meat.  It's served with lettuce and other condiments but I prefer mine straight up :)
 

The accompaniment to our meal was Makgeoli, a milky rice wine and of course Soju.  Unfortunately, I had forgotten to take any photos.  Soju is traditionally made from rice but it can be from potatoes, barley, wheat or other starch.  It tastes slightly like vodka but a little sweeter.

We were really stuffed to have any dessert but we relented as we decided to share.  The Pappa Pancake or Hotteok was superb!  The filling was not too sweet and the pastry was delightful.  It's a sweet cinnamon pancake and it's rather thin.  So, it was just right for us.

Hotteuk $5.80

We also decided to try the plum wine Bokbunja.  It's almost like a lighter version of port wine.  It's slightly sweet and very easy to drink.  Like the Soju, it's consumed neat.

We had a lovely evening and it helps when you are with friends who know more about Korean food than you do.  This family friendly venue is worth checking out if you would like to try or fancy a Korean (the food, I mean :).  Gun Bae!

Ratings:

Ojingue Bokeum: 8/10
Bulgogi: 9/10
Dak Galbi: 8/10
Galbi Sal: 9/10
Hotteuk:  9/10

Sarang

181 Orchard Central #07-01
Orchard Central Singapore 238896 

Reservations: +65 6773 1322

ask@sarang.com.sg

Sarang's Opening Hours
12pm - 10pm on Sunday to Thursday
12pm - 11pm on Friday and Saturday

 

The Ship

This casual restaurant is always full.  While killing time before going to see a movie in Nex, we popped into The Ship for something to eat. 

I ordered the set lunch that came with soup, main course and ice cream.  The soup of the day was carrot soup.  To be honest, I did not have any expectation.  Surprisingly, it was not bad at all.  It was seasoned well and the consistency was neither too thick nor too runny.  I thought it was pretty decent.

Carrot Soup

My friend ordered the fish noodles.  I had a taste and thought it was good.  The broth was tasty without being overpowering.  The fish was served on the side and it was crispy.  I will order this the next time.

My sirloin steak came with fries, carrots, corn with mushroom sauce.  I asked for medium and it was just right.  The steak was quite good too.

The Ship is a casual steakhouse.  They have two outlets.  The other is in Shaw Centre.  On the whole, I enjoyed my meal (but then again, it could be the company :)) and I will return if I am looking for somewhere casual to have a meal...

Ratings:
Carrot Soup 7.5/10
Sirloin  7.5/10
Fish Noodles 8.5/10

23 Serangoon Central, nex #01-61/62 Singapore 556083

Tel: 6834 3833

1 Scotts Road, Shaw Centre #04-34/36 Singapore 228208 Tel: 6235 8189

BERGS- Gourmet Burger

I love burgers.  Hence, my JJCM3 (jalan-jalan cari makan, minum, massage) kaki thought I should try this gourmet burger joint.  We went to the Changi Business Park outlet and got there around 12pm.  There was a rather long queue.  He wanted the fish burger and I thought I will try the lamb burger that they had listed on the board.  I grabbed a seat while he ordered.

Chips ($5.50)

They delivered the burgers to us in brown bags and the chips came in paper (see chips photo).  I think you can also count how many pieces there were.  No tray, no plate, no cutlery, no napkin.  The server who delivered the burgers just plonked it on our table with no smile either.

Lamb burger ($13.50)

Lamb burger

As my lamb burger description didn't mention tandoori marinated, I was surprised that it was.  I feel they should be more specific in their description on their board menu that was handwritten.   However, on the menu on their website (while writing this), I noticed they did mentioned that it was garam masala marinated.  Tastewise it was decent.  However, I was expecting something a little bit more with a wow factor since it's supposed to be a gourmet burger and I do think the patty was slightly on the thin side.

Fish Burger ($14.50)

My friend's fish burger tasted fine.  As you can see, the burger is with the standard lettuce, tomatoes, mayo-ish spread.  Personally, I think it looks ordinary.  I guess it's gourmet as they use proper lamb and fish ( I hope).  However, in terms of looks, I think you would agree with me that it does not look like gourmet burger and for what it is, I think it is pretty pricey but they are packed with the office lunch crowd.

Lamb Burger  6/10
Fish Burger 7/10

BERGS @ Changi Biz Park.
#02-21 Plaza 8 @ CBP
1 Changi Business Park Crescent
Singapore

Far East Square                             
137 Amoy St,                              
 #01-01 Far East Square, 

Mandarin Court Chinese Restaurant

I love Peking Duck.  Felt like having one and thought I gave Mandarin Court a try.  We arrived for dinner at around 6.45pm and was greeted as soon as we entered the restaurant.

The peking duck arrived at the table sliced.  It was nice and crispy.  The pancakes were warm though I think it would have been better if it was a tad warmer.

 
Beef cubes ($28) were delicious!  It was tender and the meat was juicy.  It was well cooked and the sauce on the beef was yummy!  All of us enjoyed that very much.  This is not a good photo as it is not very clear.

When I was going through the menu, this vege dish caught my eye.  It is spinach and poached with 3 eggs: salted, century and normal ($20).  It is different and I rather like it.  The different taste and texture of the eggs with the slight crunchiness of the spinach makes the dish rather interesting.

We tried a different style this time with the duck meat.  This one was deep fried with spices.  It was crunchy, crispy and lovely.  It was hot and just the way how it should be served.

Crabmeat Fried Rice ($12) was delicious too.  You can see bits of crabmeat and roe.  I think this is a fabulous dish.  The portion is very small so it is enough for one person only.

All of us enjoyed the food very much.  The service was excellent.  They were very observant and helpful.  The location of the restaurant is also superb.  It is on the 34th level of the Mandarin Hotel so you get a fabulous view.  Ask for a window table (unless you are afraid of heights) and reservations are recommended.

Peking Duck: 8/10
Saute Beef Cubes: 9/10
Spinach with 3 poached eggs: 8/10
Fried Duck Meat: 8/10
Fried Rice with Crabmeat and Roe: 9/10

Mandarin Court Chinese Restaurant
Mandarin Orchard Singapore
Level 34
333 Orchard Road
Singapore (238867)
Tel: (65) 6737 4411