So anywayyy. Philips held a media event yesterday for the launch of their MyKitchen website, a comprehensive online recipe resource where people can visit to find recipes for every occassion. There are 11 search parameters so you can easily search by type of ingredient/style of cooking/dietary needs/theme etc.

Just wanted to post up this super cute cupcake that the chefs at So EZ Cooking Playground taught the media attendees to make. I totally feel inspired to go out and buy some cookie cutters and make some of my own baked goodies. Mmm!

If you have an upcoming party and want to whip up something special (and homemade), do visit the Philips MyKitchen website for some tips Or you can also get the recipe for the Chocolate Cherries Cupcake with a tinge of rum, and topped with a Honey Cinnamon Cookie that’s shown above from there!

Anyway, I’ve decided to blog more here from now on, so more reviews will be coming up soon (Forlino, Forty Hands, Strictly Pancakes and some others).

I love food!

The standard offering

So I went to Les Bouchons about 2 months back, after wanting to sample their steak for the longest time. Have heard lots of good (and bad) things about the place, but went there with an open mind.

And man, the steak is GOOD. Juicy, succulent and flavourful, it certainly did not disappoint – I feel that a steak is considered an awesome one when it oozes with flavour and natural meaty juices when you bite into a piece, and is firm but not too chewy. The herb butter on the top just made it that much more delicious. Oh how I love steak. The portion was also quite generous; and if you’re a huge eater, have no fear because the crispy-on-the-outside-soft-on-the-inside free flow fries will definitely fill you up.

Almost forgot to say, because I thought it would be pretty obvious, but I ordered mine medium rare (that is THE only way steak should be eaten, imho).  And was very pleased when my steak was not overcooked (many restaurants do that, sigh), and was beautifully pink inside… that makes me so very happy!

Aren't the pink insides just GORGEOUS?

I believe the standard steak frites costs about SGD$32.90++.

The bf and some other friends ordered the mega version, which was about SGD$45++ I think, which was of a better grade / cut, and it was so huge that it filled the whole plate!

Mega steak

All steak orders also come with a salad as an appetizer – perhaps to neutralise all that meat? The salad was nice, but normal.

The greens

Service was very standard – didn’t notice anything particularly good or bad about it. The riverside ambience was pretty delightful.

Anyway, the point is, I really enjoyed the steak. Très satisfying!

*Added: By the way, there is another outlet at Ann Siang Hill too. Both are not very large, so do try to make reservations to guarantee yourselves a table!

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Les Bouchons Rive Gauche
41 Robertson Quay #01-01
Singapore Tyler Print Institute
Tel: 6733 4414

Have recently also taken to cooking, and so might post up some of my humble creations in time to come.

Well okay, here’s one – a simple salmon with black pepper and herbs with roasted vegetables and mashed potatoes.

Pan-fried salmon with black pepper and mixed herbs

Also, going to Forlino tomorrow, hope that turns out well (:

More reviews to come soon, when I find the time, yay!

Our very own private room!

And they were so kind as to give us our own little room (at our request, but still). Since I was early, I was sitting by myself, twiddling my thumbs. The wait staff were really nice about it, coming in regularly to check on me, ask if the temperature was alright, and give me cute snacks and tea.

Yes, these were the 'cute snacks'

They were really nice, crunchy and addictive to munch on – a good distraction. The restaurant also gave us a complimentary shot of refreshing plum sorbet.

And then my friends finally arrived, and we proceeded to have our 6 course meal. We started with the Chef’s Seasonal Assorted Platter, which consisted of a serving of smoked salmon and some sort of cream, grilled scallop with asparagus and some sort of emulsion, and foie gras. Pretty good, but found the scallop a tad bland.

The seasonal platter

It seems that it is a practice of the restaurant to describe each dish – it might be a little annoying for the impatient, hungry person who just wants to eat, but it was fine with me as it was quite interesting.

And then on to starters. I had the Foie Gras Chawanmushi Topped with Black Truffle Slice… sounds strange but was actually really good! The foie gras was blended into the smooth egg and the taste was evenly distributed throughout the dish. Yummyyyyyy.

Foie Gras Chawanmushi...!

My friend's Steamed Bamboo Clams

Next course, soup. I had the Infusion of Cepes Mushroom and Truffle, which was GOOOOD. Essentially it was just cream of mushroom, but they were generous with the mushrooms, so the soup was thick and rich with mushroomy goodness. And truffle is just great with anything, really. Mmm.

The infusion of cepes and truffle

And now, finally, we moved to the main dish. I chose the Pork Cheek Crusted with Herbs – it was not bad, but I had been looking forward to the juicy, succulent, melt-in-your-mouth pork which I was told about…. so it was a slight disappointment. Still pretty good, though. But after having the most awesome caramelized pork breast in a Michelin starred restaurant in France (okay only 1, but still), it’s kind of hard to match up.

The Pork Main

Beef Tenderloin on 'Pu-Ye' and Granite Hot Stone (a favourite there)

Baked Atlantic Cod Fillet

Oven Baked (but looks fried...?) Hamachi Fillets

My friends’ comments on their food was something along the line of ‘not bad!’, I think.

Time for dessert! Hard to go wrong with warm chocolate cake, and the cake itself was pretty decent, with dark chocolate which flowed out happily when cut. Maybe it’s personal preference, but how can they not use vanilla bean ice cream?! Minus points for that, tsk. Ended the meal with a refreshing fruity drink. They have a few other choices for this too but I went with the mixed fruits one. Good for cleansing the palette!

Warm Chocolate Cake...

The Iced Fruity Refresher

The restaurant definitely has a multitude of selections for each course, and one can be seriously confounded by the number of choices presented. That said, it presents one with a happy problem, and it actually feels kind of nice to have many courses to enjoy. Quality of the food is good too, hence making the many courses worth the time (and the stomach space).

I’d say try it; with great tasting food, value for money and attentive service, this place is definitely worth trying. I’d probably go back again sometime when there’s an occasion!

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Dozo Restaurant
491 River Valley Road
#02-02/03, Valley Point
Singapore 248371
Tel: 6838 6966
Website: http://dozo.com.sg/index.html

The interior

So we decided to have the lunch set ($35++).

The amuse bouche was a piece of smoked salmon with herbs – tasty but not fantastic.

Amuse bouche

For starters, he had the Roast Beef Carpaccio and I had the Soup of the Day (Cream of Broccoli). The carpaccio was quite delightful – savoury with the taste of meat and with a tangy kind of sauce on it. The soup was not too creamy and retained the essence of the broccoli.

Roast Beef Carpaccio

Cream of Broccoli

So far, it was overall a nice pleasant lunch, with good service and quality food, but somehow, wasn’t too impressed with the taste yet. I did really appreciate the home-made bread which they gave generously, from a basket many varieties displayed. Almost as good as a cheese trolley… almost.

Fresh homemade bread!

And on to the main courses; he had the Roast Chicken Stuffed with Peppers and I had the Sea Bass – for which unfortunately, I have forgotten the style of cooking. Seems to me it was braised / steamed / broiled though!

Roast Chicken with Peppers

Sea Bass

I think the food was pretty well done, giving off the kind of ‘cooked for just the right amount of time, using good ingredients’ kind of feel. Chicken not too dry, fish not too crumbly.

Desserts were ice cream and blue cheese panna cotta, the latter being a TOTAL AND COMPLETE MISTAKE. I think only fans of blue cheese would appreciate it, and me being a total moron, thought I’d try the exciting looking item, only to be absolutely horrified upon the first spoonful I happily stuck into my mouth. Shudder. It has put me off blue cheese, more or less for good.

Chocolate and Pistachio Ice Cream

Gorgonzola Panna Cotta

All in all, I’d say that the quality is just what you would expect from a fine dining establishment – good service and food. However, I think it was good, but not great. Didn’t feel like super happy after eating there, the feeling that some places do induce.

But maybe because it was just the lunch set, and not representative of the restaurant as a whole. Worth a try though!

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Otto Ristorante
28 Maxwell Road, #01-02
Red Dot Traffic Building
Singapore 069120
Tel: 6227 6819
Website: http://www.ottoristorante.com.sg/

My first impression was – wow, there are SO many flavours to choose from!

Strawberry, Mint and Dark Chocolate

So the first time I went there, I had Strawberry (Fragola), Mint (Menta), and Dark Chocolate (Cioccolato). It was so hard to choose; there were TONS of flavours, ranging from the wacky ones (Black Rice?!) to the classic (Plain Yoghurt). Having been to Italy and possibly eaten my weight’s worth in gelato over the 5 days I was there (okay fine, I probably exaggerate, but it was at least like 4 scoops a day or something), I wasn’t really expecting a fantastic experience. Because hey, what can beat gelato in Italy, right?

And drumroll…… yeah, it couldn’t beat Italy’s fresh, creamy, tongue-orgasm gelatos. But, I do think that it is pretty good for Singapore standards (compared to all the other gelatos here), and that I would definitely go back there for more. And at S$5.90 for 3 pretty generous scoops of gelato, I think that’s quite reasonable. Though if you’re a small eater, that might be a problem because that’s the smallest size available.

But anyway, I’ve digressed enough, and on to the taste.

White Wine, Tiramisu and Mango

The gelato was rich and flavourful – the Mango especially, was delicious – it had the taste of fresh mangoes and was not too sweet or powdery, the way synthetic mango syrups tend to be. The White Wine and Tiramisu were absolutely satisfying as well, creamy and true to its flavour, which made me savour these tastes in my mouth. It was like an explosion of icy cold heaven. But anyway, for the Strawberry, Mint and Dark Chocolate, the latter 2 were yummy but very normal, and the strawberry was… kind of strange.

The nice counter staff also let me taste a whole range of flavours and was really helpful, as I couldn’t decide which flavour to choose. I must say, Black Rice actually tastes much better than it sounds, and on the opposite end, Pecans+Brownie doesn’t taste as good as it sounds.

But anyway, it’s worth a try. And the outdoor atmosphere is pretty nice too – good for a chill, relaxing session with friends, over some gelato, or coffee!

I’ll probably go back sometime for more gelato, or perhaps, try the food.

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Gusttimmo di Roma
2 Orchard Road
#1-15 ION Orchard
Tel: +65 6509 9380
Website: http://www.gusttimo.com.sg/

First up is – Food for Thought (http://www.foodforthought.com.sg).

Slow-Roasted Pulled Pork Sandwich

Honey Mustard Smoked Duck Salad

The contenders are – the Slow-Roasted Pulled Pork Sandwich, the Honey Mustard Smoked Duck Salad, and the Watermelon Mint and Lychee Sage Freezes. I must say the smoked duck salad was probably the winner for me. Having heard great things about the pulled pork, it somehow didn’t really do it for me. Not enough oomph? I guess I like pork to have more sauce/juice. But then, it was good in the sense that it was light and not over sauced or overbearing, and the pumpkins in it helped to add to that as well.

The smoked duck tasted strangely like ham, but was nice and tasty and went really well with the honey mustard and I love that they put capsicum and fresh orange pieces in the salad. And the watermelon mint freeze was just delightful! Refreshing and minty, mmm. Can’t say the same for the lychee sage though – the sweet canned lychee flavour was too strong in this one, and couldn’t really taste the sage.

One thing I must commend them for though, is the great service and the cosy atmosphere. We sat at the counter, so we were right in front of the kitchen. The chef came up to us to ask us how the food was, took our feedback with a smile (even though I was telling them the lychee freeze was too sweet), and was just really nice and polite and friendly.

To me, that is really what differentiates normal restaurants – if the food is pretty good all round, I’ll pick the one with better service because at least I’ll leave happy! Not that atas restaurants with fantastic food ought to give bad service, even though people will probably still go if the food is great, anyway. But I digress.

And I love that Food for Thought is somewhat of a small, indie eatery which aims to be a social enterprise of sorts. Just check out the website (address above), and you’ll know what I mean!

Approximately $15/person.

Next – Men-Tei Ramen, 61 Robinson Road

Tonkotsu Ramen

Actually there isn’t much to say on this – it’s just pretty good/decent ramen and the only pretty good/decent one in Shenton Way, so we went there to eat. The soup base for this one boils for approximately 9 hours with pork bones and spices before serving, so supposed to be like really awesome, lol. But ok, must admit it was quite nice – light but tasty, and not too heavy.

Approximately $14-$16 nett a bowl.

Finally, P.S. Cafe, Palais Renaissance (this is shaping up to be a rather long post haha)

Pan Seared Hokkaido Scallops with Leeks

Caesar Salad with Grilled King Prawns

Simply put, everything was Yummy with a capital Y, but gosh is that place pricey :/ the scallops, an appetizer, was $22, and the salad, $28. So good though – the scallops were plump and juicy, on a bed of leeks and green jelly-like Japanese seaweed and covered with some sort of fish floss of sorts. With some sort of tasty Japanese sauce too. So good.

The caesar salad had a gorgeous poached egg in it, and I liked that the croutons were really big and crunchy, and that they used proper shavings of parmesan cheese (not processed ones which come in tiny rectangle pieces). The prawn juice kind of added to the tastiness of the salad too. My friend’s Japanese-type tuna salad with tofu and some other stuff looked really delicious too – had a bite of the semi-raw tuna and it was heaven.

But yes, only on days when you feel in the red.

Man is this a long post. But need to give my food blog some love!

Caesar Salad with Grilled King Prawns

Don’t have many pictures of the food, as I neglected to bring my camera there the last few times.

Grilled chicken salad with lemongrass sambal

This above is the Chicken Masak Merah Salad.

Cedele has a variety of grilled salad meals where meat/seafood/vegetables are grilled and then paired with a generous helping of mixed salad leaves and sunflower/pumpkin seeds, and herb/vinaigrette type dressings. If you are the type who likes the fruity or summery variety then I guess this is not really very suitable.

But I like all types, and so far they have not disappointed. Prawn + avocado + citrus vinaigrette + mesclun = absolutely delicious!

And the lemongrass sambal they use in the masak merah items in the menu is really tasty as well – the lemongrass taste isn’t that strong, and the sambal not too spicy; it gives just the right kick of spice and concentrates more on the savoury.

Mmmm...

The blueberry pancakes a friend had there were pretty yummy too!

I guess places like these with a large variety of ‘wholesome’ type foods just make me happy. Brunch/lunch there on a Sunday/public holiday afternoon and then coffee afterwards at a cafe is so relaxing and chill… wish I could do this more often!

Cosy restaurant

To celebrate my bf’s birthday, I decided to take him to Bistro Petit Salut, a cosy little French restaurant at the Chip Bee stretch behind Holland Village. The sister (or poorer cousin?) of the classier (and more expensive) Au Petit Salut, it was surprisingly good, with prompt, polite and friendly service, and delicious, reasonably-priced food.

The lobster starter mmm

The consomme

The starters were a lobster and beetroot salad thing (Citibank set meal promo), and a lobster consomme (normal set meal). Found the lobster to be fairly fresh and tasty – not powdery – and while I don’t really eat beetroot, I decided that the taste went well with the lobster. The consomme was normal, but good at that point because I was feeling a bit queasy. It came with a cute little ravioli thing which I think was filled with lobster and tomato – savoury and tasty.

Mussels!

The Citibank set came with 2 entrées, the second being mussels cooked in white wine and Provençal herbs. At first the sauce tasted kinda funny, but as we ate, it kinda grew on us. Ended up scooping the sauce to drink after the mussels were long gone, lol. Reminds me of France, seriously.

Angus steak

My yummy sirloin steak

Being the carnivores we were, both of us had steak. Had a bite of the bf’s angus steak – thought it was alright, not too bad, but I’m really not a fan of medium done steaks, so. He thought it was a bit salty. On the other hand, I was completely in love with my steak! Lovely, red, juicy steak with caramelized onions and bearnaise sauce; it was so tender and flavourful such that I savoured every bite. MMM!

Dessert

Profiteroles

His chocolate mousse (I think) cake with berries and lemon sorbet was rather nice – the sorbet lent a refreshing taste to the moist and slightly bittersweet chocolate. My choux buns with vanilla ice cream, warm chocolate sauce and sliced almonds were splendid – a sweet, cold and crunchy end to the meal. So totally wonderful.

T’was a great experience and I would definitely go back! At $48++ and $38++ for the Citibank and normal sets respectively, it’s really quite reasonable and value for money. Must also once again commend them for the good service – it’s getting kind of rare in Singapore these days.

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Bistro Petit Salut (Chip Bee Gardens)
#01-54, 44 Jalan Merah Saga
Singapore 278116
Tel: 6474 9788
Website: http://www.aupetitsalut.com/bps/aboutus.html

I really should eat at hawker centres more often. Lol.