Birthday edition 2: Wooloomooloo Steakhouse

Yes, the name's quite a mouthful. We came across this name in an article together with Ruth Chris. Both restaurants were touted as great steakhouses comparable to Morton's and Cut. And we enjoyed Ruth Chris so much on my birthday, we were so excited to try Wooloomooloo for Lynn's birthday. I sourced for their menu online before making reservations, and I was drooling just reading through the menu. They had all of our existing favorites such as crab cakes, iceberg lettuce salad, lobster bisque, and foie gras. On top of that, they had several potentially exciting items such as mushroom soup with truffle oil, beef salad with truffle oil and beef wellington with foie gras! And this was before any recommendations from the servers!

We had discussed and decided on a few items beforehand. We agreed that we'll order the beef salad, since Morton's had sort of spoilt the market for iceberg lettuce salad. Then since there's already truffle oil in that, we'll settle for the lobster bisque. Foie gras is a must, of course, as is the crab cakes. Then we decided that we'll let the server recommend the beef. And for dessert, I've been told beforehand that there'll be a complimentary cheesecake for the birthday girl. So we looked through the menu and finalized on a passionfruit souffle, thinking that the sourness of the passionfruit will be perfect for cutting through the richness of the cheesecake. Sounds like a plan.

Then we arrived at the restaurant, and saw the next table eating gorgeous oysters served on a bed of ice. Lynn said she wanted oysters. Then we looked through the menu and started to wonder if we can finish all that we planned to order, plus the oysters. Then the server came along and made two recommendations for the starters. He recommended the Sauteed Garlic Prawns, served with a dash of lobster bisque (drool), and the Colossal Crab lumps, cold lumps of crab meat served over cold lettuce. Hm... both sounds good. More deliberation to do. And he also recommended the Wooloomooloo steak, which we were quick to agree on.

So after another 10 minutes or so discussion (so much for the beforehand planning), this was our final order: Pan-seared Foie Gras, Colossal Crab Lumps, Lobster Bisque, Wooloomooloo salad, Wooloomooloo Steak and a Passionfruit souffle. We decided against the oysters because it really seemed like too much (on top of the bread). We decided against the crab cakes because we thought we'll try something new, since Morton's had set the benchmark for crab cakes.

The bread was quite passable. We cut it into quarters, and only ate one quarter each. The butter was salty and went well with the bread. One of the few places we actually didn't finish the bread! The foie gras was... a disappointment. It wasn't very melt-in-the-mouth. It wasn't very livery either. At least to me. Lynn thought it was ok. Maybe my craving and deprivation was so huge that it couldn't satisfy. It just wasn't quite blissful enough. We didn't care for the caramelized apple, but we did love the 4 little piles of different salt and pepper served with the foie gras. Lynn tried to keep them on our plates, which was unfortunately cleared away subsequently, much to my amusement and her chagrin.

Onion bread served with whipped butter

Pan-Seared Foie Gras

After the not-so-exciting first two dishes (bread counting as one), came the Crab Lumps. Oh my goodness. Those were to-die-for! Fresh, sweet, juicy lumps of crab meat, served cold on a bed of shredded lettuce. The whole bowl was balanced on a tub of ice to maintain the coldness. A dash of lemon made it perfect by itself. It didn't really need the two dips at the side. But both the Louis dressing and the mustard mayo went well with the crab. I'm really missing the crab now. And it's not just me being seafood deprived post-surgery. Lynn went gaga over it too. I can come back just for this. Really. (And maybe several other things along with it. Haa...)

Colossal Crab Lumps

Then came our soup. The serving is smaller than Morton's, but good and bitter (from the cognac). We loved it. Just wished there was more of it. The salad, on the other hand, was ginormous. I tried to put my fork in the picture to show the size of it, but the picture really doesn't do it justice. Chargrilled filet mignon served on a bed of fresh produce in a mustard vinaigrette and truffle oil dressing. It didn't impress as much as Steakhouse's salad, and the truffle goodness came and went.

Lobster Bisque

Wooloomooloo salad

The Wooloomooloo steak is a 12-ounce ribeye marinated with a Cajun spice. That's roughly 340g. We usually share a steak this size quite comfortably. Their steak was another wow. The meat texture was PURRRRFECT~~ And the spices made it really aromatic. It was a tad bland on the salt, which was easily solved by requesting for some sea salt (to replace those that they cleared away. Haha...). This was served with a row of 4 sauces. Seriously, that was ALOT of sauces. Cajun, pepper, red wine reduction and mushroom (order from the right). I didn't like the pepper, I found it too sweet. I did liked the other three. So between the sauces and the salt, I had a really really good beef dinner.

Wooloomooloo Steak

Sauces for the steak

Finally came our desserts. The passionfruit souffle and the complimentary cheese cake. The souffle was by itself generic flavored. The passionfruit flavor was in the sauce. It was actually very good, tangy sauce. I only wished the flavor was in the souffle itself. Like Laurent Bernard's. The cheesecake was a light version, which was a really good way to end the meal. And it was served with a cheesecake flavored ice cream. Yum. The dessert portions were comfortable, and we managed to finish all our food. Yes!

Passionfruit souffle

Complimentary Wooloomooloo cheesecake

We really really loved the crab. And the beef. The rest were nice too, just not as impressive as these two. And the crab made us think that the oysters will be equally good too. And while we're back here why not try the prawns and get the lobster bisque. And maybe the iceberg lettuce salad will impress. How about the crab cake, seeing how great the crab lumps are. AND they have a crab lump salad! See Lynn, there's no way we can come back here and just order the steak. We're just not capable of it.


Wooloomooloo Steakhouse
2 Stamford Road
Level 3 Swissotel The Stamford Singapore 178882
Tel: 6338 0261

Grand Shanghai 大上海

I had actually visited this restaurant many many years ago in my late teens, when my dad signed up for Copthorne's hotel membership. He had many complimentary food vouchers from the package, and Lynn and me were tasked with utilizing most of them. Yes, we go that far back, the two of us eating together. Back then we thought that the food was pretty good, but seemed pricey. We didn't pay a single cent of course, using the voucher, but didn't look at the menu either. Anyhow, we never returned.

My return this year was on CM's request. She wanted to go and check out that place as a potential wedding venue. So we lumped it together with her birthday dinner and went there for dinner. This restaurant really takes their Shanghai theme seriously. The decor is old school Shanghai with gold chandeliers and red table clothes and carpet. The food is predominantly Shanghainese. The most Shanghai aspect of the restaurant? It's life band. The band plus the Chinese girl decked out in Cheongsam were belting out old Shanghai classics such as 夜来香，忘不了，上海滩 etc. It does bring you to the old school glamour of the old Shanghai era. At least how it is usually portrayed in movies.

W, G and me arrived first. So while waiting, us hungry trio ordered starters to fill our tummies. We ordered Shanghai 小龙包 (steamed pork dumplings). Their version is a pretty big, soup filled one. However, out of the 4 dumplings in the basket, we managed to break the skin of 3 of them, causing the soup to leak out before we can savor them. I don't think it's our poor skills. Maybe the skin just isn't strong enough for the size of the filling. But the flavor was yummy. We subsequently learnt (with CM's arrival and the 2nd basket) that if we roll the dumpling onto our spoon instead of picking them up, we were safe.

小龙包 － Steamed pork dumplings

We also ordered 锅贴 (pan-fried pork dumplings). Also much larger than the usual bite sized ones, these ones took me about 3-4 bites to finish. It was juicy, and flavorful. And I like. We also liked their appetizer - some marinated tofu which was a little spicy and salty. They even have vegetarian 锅贴 and 蒸饺 for my hubby!

锅贴 - pan fried pork dumpling

Appetizer

素锅贴 - Vegetarian pan fried dumplings

素蒸饺 - Vegetarian steamed dumpling

By the time we went through all the gigantic dumplings, we were not that hungry anymore. So for the dinner proper, we only ordered Peking duck, Prawn with salted egg yolk, and braised tofu made vegetarian. The Peking duck skin carved at our table side and served wrapped in egg crepes and sweet sauce, with prawn crackers on the side. The duck meat was subsequently brought back to the kitchen, chopped, and stir fried with some veggies and pine nuts. It was then served in individual portions on a bed of lettuce. I actually liked both variations of the duck and finished all my servings. I do think, however, that the duck skin could have been crispier. However, G barely touched his stir fried meat, and we had an extra serving anyway thanks to hubby. These were cleared away by the waiters because we really couldn't eat more food.

Peking Duck skin

The prawns were succulent, coated with a generous amount of salted egg yolk. Something we all love, and it went so well with rice. The tofu was so-so, and mainly ordered so that hubby had something to go with rice. The rest of us barely touched it, so as to give him more to eat.

Prawn with salted egg yoke

红烧豆腐 - Braised tofu in Brown sauce

I found the food pretty good, and the ambience nice. The service was ok too. And I liked that they have several vegetarian options, although they didn't really a vegetarian main dish. The dim sum prices are actually reasonable ($6++ for 4 gigantic dumplings). The others are not overly pricey. I think it's a nice place to bring parents for a treat once in the while. But make sure they enjoy Shanghai music. The music does tend to be a little loud and occasionally conversations may be a little difficult.


Grand Shanghai
390 Havelock Road
Level 1 King's Centre
Singapore 169662
Tel no: 68366866

Melben Seafood (Ang Mo Kio)

Finally got around to writing this post. Been wanting to do so since the day we ate here, but my neurotic side refused to write things without following chronological order.

It was a belated birthday celebration for L and me, the September babies, as well as E the October baby. Yes, it's stretched across more than a month but September was a bad month and we just couldn't find a common time for all 6 of us to meet. So finally we arranged for dinner. And I said I want crabs. So someone suggested Melben and off we went to Melben.

I had made the assumption that a HDB void deck coffeeshop wouldn't entertain reservations, so I didn't try for a reservation. Thinking that if we reach slightly before dinner time, we may be able to get a seat in a decent amount of time. I was wrong on both counts. They were not the usual void deck coffeeshop but more of a in-between of a coffeeshop and a restaurant, so it seems that they do entertain reservations. And I reached at 5.45, but we only got a table at almost 7pm.

Ok, my main qualms about this place. They really 吊起来买. I can't think a English counterpart for this phrase. Direct translation, it means that one hang oneself up to sell. Generally it means that one makes a big deal of him/herself/one's things to raise the rewards/price. Bad translation, I know. >_< Let's just say they are way too proud.

Queueing for a table was ok. I understand that there's a lot of patrons, and crabs isn't quite something you can rush through. So I dutifully stay in the line for more than an hour. We were given the menu while in the queue, so that we can place order before we get a seat. I was initially impressed. Hey, this means that I can get my food as soon as I sit down right? Wrong. When we placed our order at 6.15pm, all that happened was my order was scribbled onto an order chit, and that chit given to me. Duh. Finally we neared the front of the line at about 6.30pm. So finally, a lady came to get my chit from me at 6.35pm. In return, I got a card saying "Food Waiting time, 6.35 - 8.05", and was told that we placed order at 6.35pm, it means that we are not allowed (seriously??!!) to complain about food not served yet until 1.5 hours later, which is 8.05pm. 1.5 hours wait for my food, are you f***ing kidding me??!!

We got our table 10 minutes or so later, and settled down for our long long wait. Food was eventually served, granted, it was ahead of their cutoff. I believe they had intentionally overestimated the probable time to prevent people from bugging them. But still, it took 50 minutes from my point of order til my first dish was served. I'm not impressed. Yes, it's crowded, but if restaurants like Jumbo or Long Beach can serve up their food within 20 minutes despite their crowds, why can't Melben do the same?

I do not like waiting so long for my food!

Ok, enough about the impossible amount of waiting time. Let's get to the food. First dish that came up, stir fried baby kailan. Normal stir fried vegetables in oyster sauce that you can find in any coffeeshop's tze char stall. This was followed by Gung Pao Chicken - diced chicken fried with spring onion, onions and dried chilli. I found it on the salty side but still manageable. We also ordered a crispy seafood tofu. I think I preferred Ka Soh's.

Stir fried baby kai lan

Gung bao chicken

Fried Seafood tofu

Finally came the star of the night. Crabs. Ok, actually Melben is more well known for their white pepper crab. But I was so craving chilli crabs so we ordered that instead. It's actually pretty good crab. The sauce was a good balance of sweet, salty and sour. The thickness was just right. The crabs themselves were firm. However, another proud thing about Melben: they had a disclaimer in their menu. "No guarantee of the firmness of the crabs". Maybe not quite phrased the same way, but the gist of it is there. So if you get crappy, shrunken crabs, you have no grounds to complain.

Chilli crab

Fried buns to go with the chilli crab

The other signature dish of Melben's is their XO crab bee hoon soup. I do like the soup. It was creamy, with the sweetness from the crabs. But there was ALOT of bee hoon. They told us one serving serves about 4 pax. There were 6 of us, so we ordered additional bee hoon. On a nice note, they actually gave us an extra bowl of soup to go with the extra bee hoon. But the final amount of bee hoon was so much that each of us had to eat two (small) bowls. With all the other food and the buns, we were stuffed.

XO crab bee hoon

Overall, I think their food is decent. But the wait is totally not worth it. If it was a 30 minutes wait, I would say those were fantastic crabs. However, it was almost 2 hours wait in total. I expect ALOT more for 2 hours. As such, I won't return. Not to this branch anyway. They have another outlet in Toa Payoh. I may give that one a chance, and see how bad the wait is.

ToTT Bistro

I love ToTT for all things kitchen. With a large compound categorized into 'Cook', 'Bake' and 'Host', it's every home (and industrial too) cook's heaven. I've been there several times for kitchenware purchases, and this time round was no different, only I dragged Lynn along.

And since we're already there, we thought we'll check out the bistro. Something I've never done before because my hubby ate there once while I shop, and he said the food sucks. But as I looked through the menu this time round, I realized it probably only sucks for him because there is almost no vegetarian options. I have no idea what he ate.

After scanning through the menu boards, we placed order in this mini Ikea-style bistro for the following items. Meltique tenderloin steak medium rare, a pizza, ham Mac and Cheese, nuggets and fries, and a French Onion soup. Soup we got immediately, and was given a number tag for the rest. We actually wanted Corn with Truffle Oil (drool...), but the kid in front of us ordered the last one. Boo...

Payment was made at the cashier, and off we went to get a seat and wait. The French Onion soup was ok. Not fantastic, but the chickeny broth made it ok. At least it wasn't the worst we've had. The nuggets were actually pretty good, the meaty kind as opposed to those that are overly processed and artificial. The fries are crinkle cut fries fried just nice. The pizza was normal and we finished it without much comment. None of us remembered the camera up to this point as these all seemed like very average bistro food not worth blogging about.

Then the Mac and Cheese arrived and we decided we wanted photos for it. It was a pretty little bowl of mac and cheese, with squares of ham mixed into it. The breadcrumbs topping was baked to crunchy perfection. And under this crunch, was a creamy mixture of macaroni and ham. The cheese mixture wasn't overly cloying, and had just the right amount of flavor. We liked it. Alot. It was a really nice side to our mains.

Then our steak arrived. Ok, I have to admit the sauce was a little on salty side, but other than that, I had no complains. The Meltique steak was as promised. Tender (hence the 'melt') and quite flavorful. It had little bits of fats in them, but nothing super aromatic. It was nice enough that Lynn was considering buying the frozen raw meat from ToTT's fine food store home for her parents. But she didn't bring an insulated bag and we wanted to go elsewhere after, so she scrapped the idea. The roasted potatoes on the side are yummy too. But I have a weakness for potatoes, so I'm a bad critic.

Ham Mac n Cheese

Meltique Tenderloin steak

I wouldn't say this bistro is worth anyone making a intentional effort to go there for a meal. But it really is a nice place to get a bite before or after shopping at ToTT. And since I go there frequently, I think I'll be snacking here quite frequently too. =D

Spizzico Ristorante Italiano

Lynn bought this groupon mainly because of it's cover picture. It was a photograph of a steak, with a foie gras on top of it. From the photo, it appears that the foie gras is as large as, if not larger than the steak. So we bought a $20 for $40 worth of food groupon.

It's location at UE square is quite accessible to both of us, but very quiet on a weekday night. The restaurant was relatively quiet with only a few other tables of guest. Service was very good, and the waiter was very attentive, stopping by often to ask us how's the food, taking photos for us, giving us his opinions etc.

We were served very normal bread with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. We finished it, but didn't request for more as we browsed through the menu. Because of the tempting photograph, we knew what one of our main courses will definitely be. So it was a matter of choosing another one, and some sides or starters. They have several dishes that are our usual favorites, so decisions were made pretty quickly.

Bread and vinegar and oil

I have absolutely no memory of how the escargots were. So I guess they weren't fantastic, nor were they horrible. Just pretty average escargots that we didn't rave over nor complained about. The caprese itself was good. The tomatoes were very fresh, as was the mozzarella. The basil dressing went nicely with them. However, we found a few yellow and wilted leaves in the mixed greens at the side. Lynn wasn't very happy about it.

Escargots

Caprese salad

We decided on squid ink risotto, after the very good experience we had at Amici with their squid ink pasta. Spizzico's had a lot of stuff in it. Although everything was black and it took a while to figure out what's what, we found clams, prawns, squid rings and scallops. The squid ink was aromatic, and the risotto cooked just nice. It was a little on the sweet side though, and we agreed that it would have been too cloying if its eaten by one person. Thankfully we shared it.

Squid ink risotto

The main attraction - the tenderloin with foie gras. The foie gras was really as big as the steak. Their tenderloin was a pretty thick cut, and we found the centre of our medium rare steak a little cold. So smart alec Lynn complained to the attentive waiter and asked if we could have it warmed up. They did, and returned with a steak closer to medium well. We got back our respective halves, and as always, found that I ended up with the rarer piece of meat, when actually she's the one who have a greater love for bloody steaks. The foie gras was also a little cold, but given how melty it is, we knew it wouldn't tolerate a reheat. They probably had the plate out for a while before bringing it to us. But the foie gras did hit the spot, giving us several moments of closed eyes blissfulness.

Beef tenderloin with foie gras

We did enjoy the food for most part. But again, it just wasn't impressive enough to warrant a wish to return. But we did take the opportunity to walk to nearby Robertson Quay for some souffles at Laurent Bernard Chocolatier.

Kazu Sumiyaki Restaurant

M had a sumiyaki craving, and I had a foie gras craving. So her suggestion to this place was pretty welcomed to me, since foie gras is on the menu. And I like sumiyaki too. I've visited a small little place in Cuppage before, and I thought maybe it was Kazu but I forgot the name. Since that place was also M's suggestions back then, she's able to tell me that it's a different place. Said place had already closed down, but Kazu is also pretty good. Ok, I'll believe her.

Kazu is really small, and because it was a last minute decision, we weren't able to get reservations for the first seating. As such, we were given the second seating. I was there very early because of some mistiming issues, and wanted to try my luck at getting a seat earlier. I was pretty much ignored after standing at the door for 5 minutes at 6pm. When my presence was finally acknowledged, I was told very briskly by the waitress that reservations are full and I have no chance getting a table that night. So I tried to explain that we have a reservation at 8pm and I'm trying to see what's the earliest time I can get a table (because I was famished). Again was very briskly informed that 8pm reservations also full, no chance. By then I was annoyed because I've already explained that we have a reservation at 8pm. Finally she paused and looked through the list, saw our reservation, and told me to return at 8pm.

Too hungry, I went TCC for a snack while waiting for the rest to arrive. Then we returned to Kazu at 8pm. Because they are so busy, the waiters are bustling around us hurriedly. I remember that it was pretty hard to get their attentions. But after some browsing through the menu, and some discussion, and several attempts at getting their attention, our orders were finally placed.

I've always loved the garlic fried rice served at Japanese places. Kazu's doesn't fail. Fragrant garlic fried with perfect grains of well separated Japanese rice. Very delicious. We were served raw cabbage and a dish of miso dip each. The cabbage leaves went really really well with the miso. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and was contemplating ordering a second portion. But I think it was $5 for a bowl of raw cabbage, so I changed my mind.

Garlic fried rice

Cabbage and miso

Then came all our sumiyakis. Let me try to remember what we ordered. Chicken cartilage, squid, normal pork belly, kurobuta pork belly, beef wrapped enoki mushroom, chicken wing, scallops and of course, foie gras. The chicken cartilage was crunchy and yummy, great recommendation by M. We preferred the kurobuta pork belly to the regular, and so ordered a second serving. The scallops and beef wrapped mushrooms were pretty normal. The chicken wings were sort of dissected, so it was easier to eat. I liked the squid, grilled to crunchy perfection.

Mixed sumiyaki

Chicken wings

Finally it was the star of the night (as far as I'm concerned). A nice skewer of foie gras. The stick that I got was a little burnt at its tip, so that part was a little dry and doesn't have the melt-in-your-mouth feel. But as I ate further into the stick, the bigger pieces were crisp on the outside, and melt-in-your-mouth on the inside. I was blissed out. But truth be told, I personally prefer Shin Kushiya's foie gras. More fatty and artery clogging but oh so heavenly.

Foie gras

We ended the meal with a grilled sweet potato. It was a 45 minute wait, so something you should order at the start. It was perfectly grilled, with a charred skin, but soft interior. You slap on the butter, which melts immediately, and dig in. It was good. But I must warn, it's really expensive for a sweet potato. M wanted to order it, I didn't bother to look at the price, and I must say I was quite shocked when I saw the receipt. I just paid an incredulous amount for a root.

But overall, I do like the food, although the service has much room for improvement. They do stock a huge variety of sumiyakis, some that are not commonly found elsewhere. Ignoring the few outliers (especially the vegetables... $20 for eggplant, for example.), most of the items on the menu are reasonably priced. I think I may return to try more adventurous items.

Amici

This is another Groupon find. There were two options: $20 for $40 worth of food, or $50 for $100 worth of food. Since it's an Italian restaurant, L and me agreed that we can reach $100 easily and bought the second option. Their reservation was done via SMS, and I didn't get a reply, so I wasn't sure we got the reservation. But we went ahead nonetheless.

After being seated, we took out our Groupon and gave it to the staff, who then apologetically informed us that to use the $100 value Groupon, it was minimum of 4 to dine. Apparently it was a fine print I missed. So after some discussion, we decided to return another day with a bigger group. Although there was an ongoing promotion for some credit card, we weren't sure that we'll like the food enough to have a second try. (As in, first try that day using credit card promo, and return again to use the Groupon).

So after arranging with some of my girls to return, we made reservations for 4 pax. This time it was done via the phone and I had a confirmation. Again, after being seated, I was informed that to use the Groupon, I had to order 4 main courses minimum. I argued against this because it wasn't written in the fine print, just 'minimum 4 to dine' (not 4 main courses to dine). Looking at the next table's food, we saw that the serving was quite big. We were tempted by several appetizers and desserts, so 4 main courses meant way too much food for us. Finally the server gave in and we got away with ordering only 3 main courses plus extras.

A and me were there first, and very hungry. So we went ahead and ordered fried calamari first, to stave our hunger while waiting for the rest. Lynn managed to reach before the calamari was served, so she managed to eat piping hot, crispy calamari. Unfortunately M didn't, so she had to live with the cold calamari we set aside for her. Their's are real squid (as opposed to floury, non-squidy rings you find in supermarkets). It was crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside, and so welcomed in my hungry tummy.

Frito ai calamari- Fried calamari

Next up was escargots. Theirs are served by the dozen. Presentation-wise, I have to say it's the worst presented escargots I've ever seen. Instead of the usual specialized dishes with wells for each snail, their escargots were dumped haphazardly on a normal dish. As such, some of the juices have leaked out of the shells. But presentation aside, their escargots were delicious. Perfect texture with just the right amount of chewability, and a great flavor from the garlic butter. Yum! Definitely one of the better ones I've eaten.

Escargots

The Cajun mixed platter was disappointingly small. For it's price ($39.90), I expected a much larger serving. But it turned out to be a small piece of chicken, small piece of fish, and three large prawns. It was a very normal mixed grill, no surprises there at all.

Farina di Combo - Cajun mixed platter

We also ordered a four cheese pizza. The cheese combination was great, and melted perfectly over a flavorful tomato sauce.

Pizza 4 formaggi - Four cheese pizza

Last main course was a squid ink pasta with breaded cod fish. We saw someone eating this at the next table and thought it looked great. The squid ink was so aromatic, and there were generous servings of calamari mixed in the pasta. The breaded cod fish was nice and crisp, and fresh. No overly fishy taste there. Really liked it.

Squid ink pasta with breaded cod fish

Last but not least, tiramisu. How can you visit an Italian restaurant without one? But we were quite full (actually, the two others were but Lynn and me were comfortable. These girls are a lot less greedy than us.), so we ordered one to share. Creamy mascarpone, rich coffee flavor, delicate liquor, and generous cocoa powder. It was a good tiramisu. A, the dessert queen, was a happy girl.

Tiramisu

Overall we really liked the food. Service was pretty good too. But the prices are a little steep. And no complimentary bread unlike the usual Italian restaurants. Without some kind of promotion, it's not very likely for us to return.

The Banana Leaf Apolo (Race Course Road)

We have heard of this eatery quite a while ago, when boss considered it for one of our colleague's farewell. It was passed for a cheaper alternative in the end, but S did mention that it's nice. So when she's leaving for her post-grad studies, we decided to have our own little farewell here. We decided on the branch at Race Course Road. It was during Ramadan that we went, so when we reached about 6 plus, it was still relatively empty. But midway through eating (or while waiting for our food actually), the crowd started swarming in for breaking fast.

We actually weren't sure what to order, and the server wasn't very helpful. So between our mixed understanding of the items on the menu and their sizes, we somehow managed to order what sounded like a decent amount of food for the 6 of us. The drinks came first. I think all of us ordered lassi. Mine was a mango lassi. Sweet, sour and refreshing. I liked it.

Mango lassi and sweet lassi

Gobi 65 was highly recommended by one of our ex-colleague, so we ordered that. It was basically cauliflower coated with some seasoned flour and deep fried. Who doesn't like deep fried food? And deep fried vegetable does seem somewhat healthier than deep fried meats, although it sounds a little sacrilegious. The seasoning was good, and the crunch perfect. Very nice start to the meal.

Gobi 65

When you don't know what to order, a mix platter is always a good starting point. So that was exactly what we ordered - a tandoori mix platter. It had chicken, fish, some otah-like thingy and prawns I think. Overall was pretty yummy, but the otah-like thingy was too spicy for a few of them, so I ate quite a lot of it. It's spicy with a touch of sour, and went well with my rice. Because this was awhile back, I actually don't remember much of the rest of this platter.

Add caption

 This was followed by a series of gravilicious food to go with the naans we ordered, as well as saffron rice. Garlic and butter naans hot out of the kitchen was oh so nice, especially with all the curries and gravies. The mutton masala were bite sized pieces of mutton, tender enough to chew without feeling like I was chewing gum. Its gravy was a mildly spicy curry, flavored with a good amount of Indian herbs and spices. The fish curry was really good. It was very spicy, but very flavorful. Even the ones who didn't like spicy had a good number of servings.

Garlic naan and butter naan

Mutton masala

Fish curry

There was another dish that I absolutely can't remember what it was, even after staring at the picture for a long time. So I really can't comment on it. Midway through we decided we wanted more greens, and ordered something that had '7 vegetables' in its description. It had a creamy gravy, and I didn't actually try to identify 7 types of vegetables in it. But we liked it's flavor, very aromatic, and also goes well with naan. XP and YJ even needed extra white rice to go with all those saucy dishes.

The dish I can't remember

The restaurant got really crowded as the night proceeded, and the servers started clearing our plates as soon as one empties - a signal to us that we should leave. Even after 5 out of 7 of us had left the table to go to washroom, pay at cashier etc, I stubbornly sat there with YJ accompanying me to finish up the remaining food and papadam. Oh yes, I loved their papadam.

I must say that while their food is yummy, it's actually quite similar to other Indian places. And quite pricey too. Ok, at least it's better than Khansama's. The girls say they prefer Anjappar, which I have yet to try. Maybe next outing we'll go there.

自在斋 Zi Zai Vegetarian (Yishun)

This little eatery was found quite by chance. It just so happened years ago that the hubby found an injured pigeon while waiting for me. Being the kind to animal person he is, he brought it back and wanted to bring it to a vet. And it also happened that most vets don't do birds. So after a whole lot of googling and calling, we finally found one at Yishun who is trained with avians. So we brought the pigeon there. To cut a long story short, the poor bird didn't make it through its injury and died in the end. But the gist of this post is not the bird, but the place I found via HungryGoWhere for dinner.

So while we were in Yishun at the vet, I searched HungryGoWhere for a vegetarian place near Yishun. And saw Zi Zai Vegetarian with its pretty good ratings. And it was actually near where we were. So we drove over and had our dinner there. Hubby loved it, because he loves sambal kang kong, and really, not many places serve decent vegetarian versions of it.

And because we got a BTO in Yishun, we're now regulars at this little 小吃店. It's a corner unit below some HDB flats, and serves up good vegetarian zhi char. And another big attraction of this shop is its roti prata. Although the zhi char side comprises of almost entirely Malaysian chinese, the roti prata side is operated by Indians. In fact, I personally think the fat Indian uncle tosses the best prata. The prata here is crispy, fluffy and fragrant, which is already a plus. The second plus is the curry. I'm telling you, their curry beat many of the non-vegetarian ones. Its aromatic, thick, and oh so yummy. I love their prata so much that I usually order one on top of my dinner. And hubby's sister and brother-in-law love it too. They frequently ask us for dinner or breakfast there, since they stay relatively nearby at Sembawang.

The best roti prata - look how fluffy it is!

For dinner we sometimes order things from the ala carte menu, other times we order one-dish meals. For most part, I'll talk mainly about the ala carte menu since it's more 'colorful'. First up, the main reason why we keep coming back, at least as far as the hubs is concerned. The sambal kang kong. Theirs had a good balance of spicy and salty, and the seasoning is just right. And their kang kong are still crisp. I think the secret lies in that they had a good vegetarian sambal. Sambal by default contains dried shrimps, which is why most sambal kang kong aren't vegetarian. Many vegetarian places either use plain chilli, or some weird concoctions that resulted in a completely wrong flavor. Theirs is just right.

Sambal kang kong

Another dish that found its way to our favorites list is the hotplate tofu. Sizzling hotplate with a saucy mixture of tofu, capsicum, chilli and mock minced meat atop a bed of eggs cooked on the hotplate. Its sauce goes really well with rice. The other dish I really like is the preserved vegetables with eggplant. Another saucy dish that goes well with rice. The preserved vegetables lend a nice salty flavor to this dish, and the eggplant are cooked just nice - soft without being mushy. In fact, hubby eats this, even though he hates eggplants!

Hotplate tofu

Preserved vegetables with eggplant

Another dish that we occasionally order is the cereal oyster mushroom (although it says abalone mushroom on the menu). Crispy mushroom coated with cereal. It's nice to have once in a while, but usually gets quite sickening towards the end.

Cereal oyster mushrom

This place had formed a staple in our diet, because of the convenient location for us, and because hubby has a lot of choices here. And I really really really love the prata. Apparently the Tampines branch serves equally good prata too, cos hubby have a vegetarian aunt staying near there and she said so. My colleague staying in Bedok knows about that place too. So for those who go vegetarian occasionally, or just want a change from too much meat once in a while, or just want plain good prata, check out this place at Blk 236 Yishun Ring Road, #01-1000. Or its branch with the same name in Tampines.