Farm to Table

We were on our way to Flor to get a strawberry cake for YJ birthday. Our initial intention of eating lunch at a small Japanese restaurant in that area was thwarted, when we found that we were out for so late a lunch the restaurant had already closed for the lunch session. So we were roaming around aimlessly looking for an alternative lunch place and the words "ALL-DAY BREAKFAST" caught our eye. So in to Farm to Table we went.

Because it was so late (about 2 plus pm maybe), we pretty much had the whole place to ourselves. The menu isn't huge, but enough selections to spoil us for choices already. After much deliberation, we settled for these: Truffle fries, Gourmet croissant, Breakfast plate, Chicken pie.

The truffle fries were amazing. Super fragrant from the truffle, nicely crisp. Even had some herbs tossed in. We love. So much more effort put in to these fries than those superficial ones that just dump on some truffle salt and leave it at that.

Truffle fries

J had the gourmet croissant. Scrambled eggs and a gourmet sausage sandwiched within a croissant. J liked it very much. The eggs were done nicely, the sausage beautifully criss-crossed and charred.

Gourmet croissant

FQ, as usual went for the breakfast plate, with his eggs scrambled. The creamy scrambled eggs and the crisp bacon were so ooooooh inducing. Plus the bacon wasn't too salty, a huge plus!

Breakfast plate with scrambled eggs

I went for the chicken pie, and I totally didn't regret it. It was soooooo yummy! The crust was browned beautifully. And the filling. Hmmm... Generous portions of chicken, and the seasoning was perfect. Warm, crusty pastry with the warm, oozy, yummy chicken filling. It was comfort food at its best. I think this is one of the best chicken pies I've eaten in Singapore. I love love love it. I can imagine how comforting it will be on a rainy day.

Chicken pie

Look at all the chicken spilling out of my pie!

J and FQ loved the pie too, after I gave them a mouthful each to sample. FQ was having a bad cough, so no chicken for him. But I gave him a piece with the gravy alone, and that was enough to make him love it. I now remember this joint as the place with the very nice chicken pie. Maybe I'm biased. I do love pies, but I don't eat a whole lot of them to make myself a world expert on pies. But really, this one really hits the spot for me. 

Birthday edition dinner: Equinox

Oh dear... I'm getting more and more behind at blogging. But ignoring my usual preference for chronological order, let me slot in Lynn's birthday dinner before I resume my catching up.

As you will know from the previous post, we went Shima for a teppanyaki buffet lunch. We must be completely mad. How did we think that we can handle a buffet lunch followed by the typical huge birthday dinners we always have? So after lunch, we tried to walk off as much of lunch as possible by shopping in Takashimaya. Then we rested in Breeks for a drink and to eat the Hello Kitty cake I baked for her (goodness!). Yes, it was a small cake. But it still took up space nonetheless. So you can imagine how 'not hungry' we are when we arrived at Equinox for dinner.

And still not knowing when to draw the line, we took FOUR types of breads to share between us... Anyhow, on with the food critique. We had onion and cheese bread, French baguette, black olive, and I couldn't catch the last one. These were served with seaweed, as well as, regular butter. We only liked the onion, the rest were pretty umimpressive. And both agreed that it was a pity the bread weren't warm.

Bread and butter

The bread was followed by a complimentary canapé. Baked raisin with mascarpone. It was sweet and savoury at the same time, though we couldn't quite place what the savoury portion is. Since I hate raisins, I only ate a few small raisin-free scoops before I pushed what's left to Lynn. It was nice and creamy.

Complimentary Canapé

And our madness continue. We were soooo tempted by soooo many items on the menu, we decided to go for THREE starters and one main course, and Lynn super craved mac and cheese so we ordered that too. Then after we painstakingly shortlisted three out of so many tempting starters and placed our orders, we were told that to utilize the Amex Platinum card discount (50% for two pax, yo!), we had to order two main courses. So... we actually placed order for one more main course! Remember, we weren't hungry!!

So here's our madness in detail. Pan seared foie gras. It wasn't as blissful as we wished for, but still was a nice huge piece. It was aromatic and livery and buttery, sure. Just wasn't melt-in-the-mouth enough.

Pan seared foie gras

Next up is my newest favourite cheese since Valentino. Burrata cheese. Theirs was served with a nice mixed salad. The cheese was creamy and yummy and I love love love it. Then came along our all time favourite. Lobster bisque. Theirs seems to have a little too much cognac. It was a little too bitter. But we dig the chunks of lobster in it.

Burrata cheese

Lobster bisque

Then came along our mains and the side. Black truffle mac n cheese. YUM! It was rich, it was velvety, it was fragrant with the aroma of truffle, it was everything you can ask for in a mac n cheese. Only problem? I didn't have the stomach space for something this rich. I managed two mouths, and Lynn picked through half of it, and I think that was the furthest we went. Poor mac n cheese, it really wasn't its fault.

Black truffle mac n cheese

The mains. The black cod was lovely. It was nicely done, delicate and milky, the way cod fish should be. But by now, my stomach was overflowing. Cod being an oily fish, I was unable to fully enjoy it. I felt sorry for the fish. Lynn helped me with half my piece. The sour pickled vegetables that were served with it was great at cutting my 'gelatness'.

Black cod

Finally, our beef. Wagyu ribeye steak. It wasn't very Wagyu in the sense it didn't have that strong aroma that usually comes with Wagyu. Moreover, it was a little too salty. But overall, we liked the char and the flavor. This I managed to finish without help from Lynn.

Wagyu ribeye steak

The service at Equinox is impeccable, as expected. The food is actually very nice too, if not for our incredibly full states, we would have enjoyed it more. I actually forgot to take picture of the complimentary slice of cake that the waitress brought us for Lynn's birthday celebration. That was only managed after a few cups of tea each, and needed more tea to wash it down. Price-wise, it's expected that Equinox pricing is pretty steep. Come on, where else in Singapore can you dine with that kind of view from the 71st floor? (Maybe Ku De Ta, but that's another story.) But thanks to Amex, that meal was made affordable for a special occasion. Still, I doubt it's the kind of place I will come without the Amex discount.

Equinox Restaurant

2 Stamford Road

Singapore 178882
Phone: +65 6837 3322
Email: reservations@equinoxcomplex.com

Birthday edition lunch: Shima

Lynn have gone to Shima several times with her family before. She's been wanting to bring me for ages, but their dinner ala carte menu is pretty pricey. She found out that they have a buffet lunch, and we've been talking about going, but never got around to it. Finally, I decided to take half day leave on her birthday to try it out.

Shima is essentially a teppanyaki restaurant. The lunch buffet runs from 12 noon to 2.30pm, and last order is at 2pm. Upon seating, without the need to order, they automatically serve you the entire lunch menu one time. From there, you can decide which ones you like best and reorder from there. I made reservations at 1pm, thinking that will give us ample time to eat. Alas, it was pouring that day, and the birthday girl couldn't get a cab. Although I reached earlier, it appeared that they were not going to start my teppanyaki until she arrives. But they did serve me the sushi and sashimi first. The sashimi was forgettable, but the kani maki was actually pretty good. The vinegar rice had just the right tinge of sourness, and the rice was fragrant.

The tempura arrived soon after the birthday girl did, which was a very late 1.40pm. That left us 20 minutes to try everything before last order! Only after she arrived did the chef bring out the food and start cooking. I don't know if it was intentional so that all parties get to eat food hot from the grill, or was it coincidence that the events occurred at the pace it did. The tempura prawn was nice, crispy and juicy. The shishamo was a tad oily, so I didn't enjoy it that much and we both knew it won't go into our second order.

The happiness started once our teppanyaki started being served. First up, prawns. It was soooo yummy! Cooked to perfection, it was crunchy from its freshness, no hint of the fake crunch from bicarbonate of soda treatment. It was juicy, and the sauces and flavoring perfect. I was in prawn heaven.

Next came the salmon. Cooked just right, it was soft and flaky and moist. The sauce it was sitting in completely complemented the fish.

Next came the oysters, which we were highly anticipating. Partly because we read in some blog that it was very good, and partly because we had been eyeing the plump juicy oysters on the grill. Oooooooh myyyyyyyy goooooooodnnesssss, it was A-MA-ZING. We were blown away by how the exterior was grilled to a crusty perfection, but the inside was still plump and juicy. No hint of fishiness, just the sublime briney flavor of the sea. This needed no sauce. It was perfect the way it was. I was almost tempted to ask them to fry eggs with the oysters ala oyster omelette style. But that idea came during our second round of food, so it was scraped pretty quickly, as I will explain later.

The vegetables was a nice precursor and balance to the meats that were to follow. They were done such that they were still crisp, but 'burnt' enough such that the sweetness of the vegetables came through. One of the sauces provided was for the vegetables, but I had absolutely no idea how to dip a bunch of loose veggies in the sesame sauce. Lynn used the sauce for her meats, anyway.

The garlic rice was a disappointment. Lynn say the standard dropped from her previous visit. I pointed out that since it's lunch buffet and by default everyone will be served one round inclusive of the garlic rice, maybe it's a mass production thing. It had that 'rice cooker fried rice' feel, ie, fried in a huge batch, and stored in a rice cooker and scooped as and when a new patron arrive.

Then came the meat. Our beef we asked for medium. I loved it. Like love love love it. Juicy cubes of beef, just the right amount of seasoning, perfect chew. I'm drooling now thinking about it. The chicken came soon after. Tender morsels of well-flavored chicken, with just the right amount of char. 

By the time all these were served, it was 2pm. So despite the fact that we hadn't finished our first round of food, we went ahead and ordered a second round of all the teppanyaki items. And we completely enjoyed the second round of seafood too. Unfortunately, by the time the meat and veggies were served, we were quite full. We did well though, and finished more than half of the veggies, the chicken and the beef, before we had to call it quits. We didn't even have space for ice cream, and needless to say, we were the last to leave the restaurant. So I learnt, when I come back, I WILL come earlier to more fully enjoy the food instead of eating in a rush. And I WILL be back. Definitely. Buffet priced at $49.90++ for weekday and $59.90++ for weekend.

Chapter 55

This is a new western restaurant that opened up at what we called a jinxed location at Tiong Bahru. It's predecessors were mostly overpriced, lousy food and dodgy-ly decorated food places that we didn't bother giving a second chance. And all of them closed down for obvious reasons. So we were quite curious to see the renovations going on for Chapter 55. And even more excited to see the sign that says "one-for-one weekday lunch". =)

So on day 2 of opening, we went to check out the lunch. To be clear to readers, the one-for-one does not apply to the entire menu. But quite a decent selection of the menu falls under the one-for-one deal. And as expected, its the cheapest items that you get free. So if you chose 4 dishes, the 2 cheapest comes free. And the eligible items are not limited to main courses. It is applicable to some appetisers too. But bear in mind since appetisers are generally cheaper than main courses, if you want to be really 'worth it' about it, may not be the best option.

The truffle fries does not fall under the one-for-one, but we decided to order it anyway. They are pretty good fries! Crispy shoe string fries with fluffy centre, I loved them! Down side is the truffle oil are not mixed in very evenly, so you get that occasional fry that is uber fragrant, the rest are just regular very nice fries.

Truffle fries

Their pastas were served pretty quickly. The vongole smelled amazing when it arrived. E thoroughly enjoyed it. J found her mushroom Aglio Olio a tiny bit on the bland side, but she still liked it anyway.

Vongole

Mushroom aglio olio

The non pasta mains. Goodness. 30 minutes after ordering, no sign of FQ and my food! After several times badgering the waiter, we finally got our food a good 45-50 minutes after ordering. Bad! But I chalked it up as teething problem on the kitchen's part. It's day 2 of operation after all. My sea bass was very nicely done and the mash potato puree was an interesting touch.

Sea bass

We didn't really liked their coffee. It was too bitter, and J said that was over burnt coffee. Not that I know anything about coffee...

Latte

The most impressive thing about them? The gelato counter. Their flavors are interesting enough, and seems to change often enough for you to want to sample quite frequently. It's so nice to have a gelato place within walking distance from work for horribly hot days!

Gelato!

We went back on a separate occasion one week later, because S wanted to go. This time round I thought the kitchen should have sorted out its teething problem. And initially, I was impressed by my beef lasagne that arrived 10 minutes after ordering. But wait. We ordered TWO beef lasagne. And the second one didn't arrive til more than 30 minutes later. Guess the first one was a wrong delivery from another table. Oops. So needless to say, by the time the others' food arrived, I had long finished my lasagne. But timing aside, the lasagne IS very nice. The tomato sauce was perfect, only complain is the serving size is a little on the small side. NOT ENOUGH!!

Beef lasagne

We tried their buffalo wings this time round. Pretty good. Unfortunately my wing was slightly pink near the bone, something I feedback to the lady boss. She took the feedback very good-naturedly.

Buffalo wings

We also got fried calamari this time. Nice! The batter is not overly thick, and the squid cooked just right. Not too soft, not to chewy. Perfect.

Calamari

E tried the breaded pork ribs. It turned out just to be a deep fried pork cutlet. Nothing amazing. And if I didn't remember wrongly, it could do with a little more seasoning. But this was 5 months ago. I may have remembered wrongly. Hahaha

Breaded pork ribs

Overall I do like their food. It's the waiting times that is keeping me away. JK have been back twice for their dinner now, and both his wife and him loved it. He swears by their pizzas, which I haven't try. Maybe 5 months on, their kitchen speed have improved. Maybe it's time to give them another chance one fine day. For now, I'm quite happy to stop by occasionally for gelato. =D They're always quite full when I drop by, so I think this joint is here to stay and break that chain of 'unlucky' eateries to occupy that 'cursed' space. 

Chapter 55

55 Tiong Bahru Road, #01-37,
Singapore
Tel: 6221 2219

The Dough Shoppe

This new sandwich joint opened recently, and we saw it when we walked pass to go to another place for lunch. J subsequently told us she had tried it, and the sandwiches were nice, and the set lunch is pretty worth it. So one fine day, JK, FQ and me went to try it out. The set lunch is $10.90 for a sandwich with side salad or chips, a soup of the day, and a drink. Considering some of the sandwiches cost as much as $10, the set meal is definitely a good deal.

JK went for the pulled pork ciabatta. He loved it! The pulled pork was flavourful and juicy (look at the dots of juices that escaped). Their ciabatta was home made, and had the right soft, chewy texture, without the annoying, overwhelming layer of flour that some ciabatta have on their surface (for some unknown reason). He opted to have them with chips. Those were black pepper chips, which I spied from subsequent visits to be Kettle's.

Pulled pork ciabatta

As for me, the beef fan, I went for the corned beef. I have tried their multi-cereal bread before when J bought it for my breakfast once. So I opted to swap the ciabatta (because I haven't tried their ciabatta then and was expecting the powdery ones) for the multi-cereal bread. The sandwich contain a pretty sizeable portion of corned beef, topped with a nicely fried egg. Add all the veggies in, it makes for a juicy and tasty package. Best thing is, the corned beef isn't too salty, which suits my palate to a T. I had this with a side salad that was drizzled lightly with a balsamic vinaigrette.

Corned beef sandwich, with ciabatta changed to multi-cereal bread

View of the beef and egg

We tried their truffle fries. The fries themselves are nice thick cut fries. However, I found the truffle flavor pretty weak, so I would recommend just getting regular fries if you're here.

Truffle fries

FQ, our breakfast king, went for the DIY breakfast platter. No set meal for this, but since he's not exactly a huge beverage drinker, it works fine for him. He chose scrambled eggs and pork sausage for his platter. This platter was served with a bread basket with 3 breads: a multi-cereal, a cranberry walnut bread, and a rainbow colored bread of some sorts that I can't quite figure out. The most interesting thing about the platter is the pork sausage. It came split down the centre, which meant there was more charred surface. FQ usually de-case his sausages, but in this case, the case wasn't so tough that he actually didn't mind it and finished the entire sausage. He loved the eggs (Of course. He love eggs no matter where.). The baked potatoes were nice too! He couldn't actually finish his bread basket, and the staff very kindly gave us a paper bag for him to take away the last piece of bread for his tea break!

DIY breakfast platter with scrambled egg and pork sausage

We've been back a few times since. And J also occasionally buy bread or sandwiches from them for our breakfast. We love their breads and sandwiches. Did I mention they make a decent chocolate cake too? I have yet to try their signature red velvet cake because they rarely have a whole cake available on the days I have sudden needs to buy birthday cakes for the lab.


The Dough Shoppe
61 Kampong Bahru Rd
#01-01 Singapore 169368
Tel:6423 9936
enquiry@thedoughshoppe.com

Nabehide

I just got my new Amex card that came with the complimentary Palate Dining membership, so we were thrilled to try it out. Scanning through the list of places we can get 50% off, we found this Japanese Shabu joint at Anchorpoint. The picture used for the restaurant on the Palate website was a gorgeously marbled plate of beef. Call us weak if you will, we were tempted by the picture and ended up there for dinner.

The restaurant was actually pretty empty. And upon the server's explanation of what I have to order to qualify for the discount, I was a little miffed. On the Palate website, it was just stated that I have to order a minimum of 2 main course to qualify for the discount applicable for 2 pax. Only at the restaurant was I shown a separate menu from which I have to order a minimum of 2 items, afterwhich the discount will also apply to all other items I order off the ala carte menu. Lynn was a little late, running to Ikea before joining me to get the big bad wolf plushie she's been wanting for a long time. While waiting for her, I observed that per item on the Palate specific menu actually consist of 2 servings of meat plus one serving of veggie off the ala carte menu. So effectively, to use the discount, I was forced to order 4 servings of meat and 2 servings of veggies. Moreover, even after I qualify for the discount, the fine print was that the discount will not apply for item on the ala carte menu which cost less than $5. Almost all the side dishes costed $4.90. Highly annoying isn't it?

But anyway, the per serving of meat turned out to be pretty little, so even if we hadn't been forced to order 4 servings, we WOULD have ordered that much anyway. And we were tempted by their shabu salad, so we ordered that, thinking that it'll be nice to have something to munch on while our food cooks. The salad of shabu beef with sesame sauce was pretty nice. Perfectly cooked shabu beef slices on a bed of lettuce, drenched in sesame sauce and topped with crispy garlic slices. It hits the spot for our hungry bellies right away.

Shabu salad

When they came with the hot charcoals, we were initially excited. Charcoal steamboat, sound yummy. If I didn't remember wrongly, the soup base costed less than $5 too, and didn't qualify for the discount. Annoying. We went for Shoyu if I'm not wrong. And it seems like the charcoal wasn't quite hot enough. The server told us once the soup starts boiling, we can start adding our stuff. We waited and waited. The soup never reached a boil. It just steam more and more, but never boiled. We got tired of waiting, and started to put stuff in anyway. They do cook, just that we never see the rolling boil we usually see with hotpot.

Hot charcoal

The soup that never boils...

Greens

Potatoes asparagus and corn

Beef

Pork

The pictures shows the '2 servings' of each meat. Small servings isn't it? So we werent' quite satisfied and very quickly started flipping through the ala carte menu to see what extras we can get. And found the seafood mentaiko pasta. We both like mentaiko, so we went for it. Turned out to be a very creamy pasta, but it wasn't very 'roe-y'. So much for mentaiko. It was just a very rich creamy seafood pasta. Just so-so.

Seafood mentaiko pasta

We weren't super impressed by the food. Couldn't help comparing it to Shabuya. For similar prices, I get a whole lot more variety, wagyu beef and FREE-FLOW! I honestly think Shabuya have killed most shabu places for me. Spoilt the market. Lol...

AOne Claypot House (Causeway Point)

This was a random discover that I ended up liking. The hubby and I were at Causeway Point to get something from Metro. Looking around for dinner places, we spotted a few vegetarian options in AOne Claypot House's menu. Partly because of a mistake on my part. I had assumed that they serve all claypot rice, and seeing the mushroom and tofu I had imagined a vegetarian version of our standard chicken claypot rice. It was only after we were seated that I realise its just mushroom and tofu, no rice. Hubby was fine with it though, so we stayed.

So yes, we ended up ordering the claypot mushoom and tofu. Plus a few more dishes that the hubby can eat. He went for rice, I spotted a congee option so I ordered that. The server seemed shocked that we want rice on top of congee. I was surprised by her shock, but I stuck to it, because the congee contained silverfish and scallop so the hubby can't eat. He's not a very congee person anyway. It was only upon serving that I understood her shock. When I saw the congee option, I had thought it was just one bowl. Turned out it was one pot. And its a pot comfortable to be shared by 2, thus explaining the server's shock. Because we ordered one pot of congee plus TWO bowls of rice (for him).

Silverfish and scallop congee

But anyway, I loved the congee. The consistency is perfect. It was a thick and silky congee, yet the rice are still visibly whole not disintegrated. The pot kept the congee hot the whole time, and despite the duanting thus of having to finish the entire pot alone, I did it. This congee alone makes this place go to my 'like' list. Especially when I'm sick, or having a bad stomach, or on a rainy day. I love congee during any of those scenarios. Oh wait. I love congee any time actually.

Claypot mushroom and tofu

The claypot mushroom and tofu that tricked us into going in the restaurant in the first place is very normal braised tofu and mushroom with some veggies. It wasn't amazing, but wasn't bad either. The Caipo egg was done nicely. A good brown to the outside, salty preserved radish mixed into the egg. What can possibly go wrong with caipo egg right?

Caipo egg

The three egg spinach ended up with a small unexpected topping that I had to clear before the hubby can eat. They sprinkled silverfish on top. So I picked off all of them before he tucked in. We always liked this rendition of spinach so it was finished off quite quickly.

Three egg spinach

I subsequently dragged my colleague to the Chinatown Point branch because I wanted to eat congee for lunch. We tried the ginger onion frog leg, which was overcooked and a little too tough. But the sauce was very nice to go along with congee. This time round we went for the congee with more stuff cooked into them. Very nice!!

Onion ginger frog leg

A wasn't into congee so he opted for hotplate noodles. The mushroom pork noodles actually looked not bad.

Mushroom pork noodle

I'm biased because of the congee consistency. But subsequently went to the Junction 8 branch with the hubby and found all the vegetarian options disappeared from the menu. Whether it was a branch specific menu, or was it a general reduction in menu across all branches, I haven't checked it out. Lynn rarely have congee craving, she's more a fried rice kind of gal. So I haven't been back to AOne despite me liking it so much. Moreover, there are more tempting things at Chinatown Point such as Laiyulai, haaa. That said, I will still love to go back there to enjoy their thick yummy congee. Maybe alone.