Tapas Wine Bistro - A great place to eat, drink and be merry!

I was very priviledged to be able to join a group of very nice and fun people for this food tasting session at Tapas Wine Bistro on this day.
Many thanks to Kenneth, HGW for this wonderful dinner and the group of other reviews that made this evening a very pleasant and enjoyable one.

1. Spanish Olives
First up was a "cupful" of green and black olives for our eager taste-buds. The olives were very fresh and serves as a good start to whet our already big appetities.

2. Cream Of Tomato
Nicely laid out on a smallish plate, the soup is served in a "cappucino-ish" cup accompanied by a heap of tomato cubes on the side. The soup is creamy and decimated by bits of tomato puree. I enjoy the soup quite a bit.

3. Pimentos, Seafood Gazpacho and Salmon Salad (3 types)
Salads...hmm...Salad is just salad so unless u are a health freak or on a veggie diet, I suggest u go for the other stuff as Taps Wine have lots more to offer u.

4. Garlic Bread
This is one finger-licking garlic bread. Thickly cut pieces of grilled bread, dosed with generous amount of garlic is really addictive. This came with some spicy, sweet dip that u can eat ur bread with but I prefer it just as it is.

5. Tuna Tataki
Pan-seared tuna served with raddish. The lightly seared tuna is melt-in-ur-mouth tender and even for a non-tuna fan, I find this very enjoyable and cannot stop myself to 2nd helpings of this.

6. Prosciutto di Parma wrapped Cantaloupe
This received many praises from the table but I find this rather normal. Essentially rock melon wrapped in parma ham.

7. Oyster Shooters
Now, this is a really innovative dish. Served in 2 shot glasses are oysters topped with a tomato sauce in 1 and vodka lined with tabasco at the bottom in another. They are meant to be downed in 2 mouthfuls - 1 shot glass each mouth. The oysters were fresh and the tomato did the trick for this tomato lover. However, only order this if u are a oyster lover or vodka addict. The vodka proved to be too strong for me and I only took a small sip.

8. Stir Fried Wild Mushroom
This is served together with sourdough bread and quail eggs. Simply grab a piece of sourdough bread, top it with lots of mushroom and quail egg and pop it into ur mouth. Fantastic combination! I did find myself enjoying this dish.

9. Escargot Champignon
Escargot lined with mushroom. Order this only if u r an escargot person.

10. Tortilla Espanola - with smoked salmon
This is another dish that I like. Fried onion adds fragrance and potato adds bite to the omelette. Slapped with lots of sour cream and pieces of smoked salmon, it is an explosive mixture of flavours - all of which I enjoy very much.

11. Angus Beef Cubes
This is one of the signature dish of Tapas Wine. Little cubes of premium grade beef competently grilled resulted in very tender pieces of good tasting meat.

12. Tiger Prawn - Bacon-ed
This is one of my favourite dish for the night. Imagine big pieces of tiger prawns wrapped with bacon, grilled to perfection. Each bite is bursting with flavours from the juicy prawn and crispy streaky bacon. Do try this one if u are in Tapas Wine.

After all this food, one would have thought that we are done. But we were then told by Kenneth that we are now ready to move onto our Main Course.
Can u believe that all that we ate are just "apetizers"?
Most of us are too full by now to eat more than a few mouthful of each of the main course which is really a shame as they have some really nice food esp pastas.

Arroz Ala Marinera & Arroz Negro - these 2 are spanish rice entrees, one cooked with seafood based stock and the other squid ink. I find that the flavours of rice somewhat lacking and a little tough to chew on. They were however both served with very generous amount of seafood - mussels, prawns and scallops.
The pastas are generally quite good. My favourites include the carbonara(I am quite based when it comes to cream based pasta) and surprisingly bolognese, something that I usually dismissed as a commonly found pasta dish. To be honest, if not for this tasting session I don't think i'll ever order this. The bolognese sauce is very flavouful and packed a punch together with the plentiful chunks of delicious beef, pure enjoyment. Spicy Cho1zo Pasta leave little impression on me though.

After stuffing in all this food, we have finally arrived at desserts. I can't believe I am saying this - we are actually at the point of rejecting food. We pleaded with Kenneth to reduce the desserts in an attempt to prevent our shirts from bursting. LOL

1. Lemon Gelato - the tanginess of the lemon came through, interwined with sweetness is very refreshing change after all the heavy duty meats and flavours. It is served in an empty lemon zest.

2. Coppa Tartufo - I missed this as I had to visit the toilet (too much drinks) and by the time I got back, it is gone so I guess this must have been pretty good?

3. Double Chocolate Shots - A sinful concoction of white and dark chocolate in liquid form. A sweet end to the fantastic fare this evening.

In short, Tapas Wine Bistro have some really good food to offer, together with a chic environment and extensive drink list. A good choice for chilling out with friends after a long day of work.

Must Tries: Grilled Bread with Garlic Infused Butter, Tortilla Espanola, Tiger Prawn - Bacon-ed, Bolognese, Carbonara, Tuna Tataki, Angus Beef Tenderloin Cubes

Manhatten Fish Mart - Fishy Biz

My buddy will be jetting off to UK for a year come Sept08 so I promised her that we'll meet up more before her departure.
So yesterday we made plans to meet up for lunch with another good friend of ours.
Apparently all of us have a very bad concept of time and ended up meeting at 1245 instead of the arranged 1220. But anyway, after some quick brain stoming, we settled at the Manhatten Fish Mart for lunch and gossip.

Settling into a comfy sofa bench, we leisurely glanced thru the menu and decided to order the Seafood Platter meal to share after checking that it comes with 3 sets of soup and drinks.
One of the girls wanted the Clam Chowder after being seduced by the delicious looking picture on the menu so we checked and were told that we can top up a dollar for that as the "soup of the day" was originally cream of mushroom which was wat we did.

The soup and drink ( we all had peach tea by the way) came pretty fast. The clam chower came with fair amounts of baby clams but tasted just like those from the cans, extremely ordinary.
After waiting for about 20 mins, our platter came.
Here. See that whole fish?

That took me a little by surprise as I was expecting a fried fish fillet like those from Fish and Chips. And calamaris were missing too, replaced by fried ikan bilis. I felt a little cheated.

But well, we were famished and made no delays tucking into our food. The mussels were the first to make it's way into our growling tummy due to it's strategic location. Topped with buttery sauce, they were ok. Then I discovered everything else is topped on some like of buttery sauce, be it the rice, prawns, mussels, fries or veggies. So needless to say, everything tasted just like the other. However, the butter sauce was quite good so that in a way is a plus and the fish was quite fresh. So overall, the platter was ok.
The rice and butter sauce was a good combi and I kept feeding myself one mouthful after another with that. The fries was crispy but would be better if it was hotter and a little spicy.

I would rate this place as average and unless u are looking for butter sauce, not somewhere I would be in a hurry to return.

Bloogie's Roadhouse - Nothing Fantastic

Had to take my customers out for lunch again but can't go too far from their workplace.

After some initial brain storming, decided on Blooie's Roadhouse as I had lunch there once (at the Science Park outlet) and the burger was pretty nice.
The staff were just getting ready for lunch when I arrived, I was the first customer of the day but no special discount for that though.

For starters, we ordered
1. Mixed sausages - This comes with 3 big sausages and fat fries. They are pretty juicy and tasty. Fries are seasoned with some chili powder and taste good.
2. Sauteed mushrooms - Small portion and mushroom relatively salty and peppery.

I had the cajun chicken for my main course. When the chicken was presented to me, I was a little put off by the appearance. The chicken looked black probably due to the cajun-ing and it was VERY oily. It was also quite salty. I did not enjoy it.

I also had the cake of the day which is oreo cheesecake. Not enough cheese for a cheese cake.

Nothing to rave about for this visit.

Bloogie's Roadhouse
426/428 Upper Bukit Timah Road,
The Rail Mall,
Singapore

Bliss Waterfront Dining & Bar - Not the place for dessert

It was a Tuesday night and we are feeling bored after dinner.
Usually this spells either ice-cream or cake or both.

SIL suggested going to Bliss@Punggol.
Onz ah! I like to explore new places esp for dessert.

Nice waterfront setting in Punggol Park.
It was night time for us but I can imagine the reflection of the setting sun with fleet of ducks wadding in the pond.
Picture perfect for romancing couples.

Back to reality.
Flipping thru the menu, the range of dessert appears to be quite limited.
There were a few cakes left on display - chocolate fudge, chocolate truffle, white coca cakes.
We placed orders for
1. Chocolate truffle
2. Chocolate fudge
3. Chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream
4. Vanilla milkshake
5. Oreo milkshake
6. Chicken nuggets

The cakes simply fail to make the cut, tasted mass-produced. No chocolate taste and very dry. Same goes for the brownie. Both the milkshakes are far too sweet.
As is the ice-cream. In short, dessert cannot make it.

The only decent thing that night was the chicken nugget. Perhaps one day, I'll go back to try their main course and hopefully it will be in a different league as the dessert.

Bliss Waterfront Dining & Bar
Hougang Avenue 8, Punggol Park, Singapore

Astons Express - Bang for Bucks

I would recommend this place for the following reasons.
1. Value for $$
2. Good quality mains

Me and Mr HB went back for lunch 2 days in a row. We had the rib eye($11.90), new york strip ($13.90) fried fish ($5.90) and some beef burger ($5.50).

All the items mentioned comes with a choice of 2 sides except the burger. The beef is nicely cooked to specification (in this case medium), pink in the middle but not too bloody. Juicy and succulent.
Fried fish is tender on the inside and not too oily.

The only let down was the side can be better. The onion rings were cold and soft. Mashed potato and coleslaw was decent. I heard that the potato salad is good, so this will be something I'll be having on my next visit.

Found in a little corner coffee shop in Serangoon Garden, it can get pretty crowded during peak hours (read meal times).
So you have to have a little patience if you choose to dine there.

Must Tries: Everything

Astons Express
56 Serangoon Garden Way, Singapore

Hooked! - Truly a Fish Place

The original plan was to visit Ramen3 but it was out of action due to some renovation work.

Mr HB was hungry and wanted food fast, so we settled for Hooked after taking a brief look at the menu.
Being the first customers for the night, we get to have the freedom to sit wherever we please.

Flipping thru the menu, I realised that they have a wide variety of food to choose.
For fish, you can choose between sea bass, grouper, snapper, mackarel, salmon, dory....etc...and they also cook them in many different ways - fried, steam, cajun, grilled....
For non- fish lovers, they have chicken, lamb. beef stew and vegetarian stuff. We were spolit for choice.

After going thru a difficult decision making process, I had seabass and Mr HB had the snapper.

The serving of fish was pretty generous and very fresh. Mine came with linguine and Mr HB's came with some herbed rice. Both tasted good.

The only disappointment was that there was no dessert to finish off the meal. My order of waffle fantasia (waffle with strawberry jam, ice cream and fresh fruits) was no available as waffles are sold out. :(

Hooked!
390 Upper Bukit Timah Road,
The Rail Mall,
Singapore

Jacob's Cafe - Shall we do a "quick" lunch?

This is a place where I come for a "quick" lunch when I have visitors from overseas as it is pretty close to where I work.

This is also one of the favourite lunch hangout of the expatriates in my company.

Jacob's serve a rather extensive range of food ranging from the classic western food like pork culet, chicken cutlet, steak to German sausages and very English food like pies, quiches, goulash stew.

I am pleased to announce that so fat the food that I have eaten in Jacob's have yet to disappoint.

Worthy of mention are the quiche lorraine and shepherd pie which I find very tasty and filling. Stew is always a safe bet and comes with a drink, I particularly like the beef stew.

Recent promotion is the stuffed roasted chicken which is done to the right "crispyness" of the skin with generous fillings in the chicken - rice, chestnuts...etc...Yummy....Comes with 2 drinks and 2 soup. They split the chicken into half for sharing (meant for 2 pax unless you are in "battle mode").

Only drawback is waiting time for food can get pretty long and service crew's attention gets divided when there is big lunch crowd.

Must Tries: Quiche lorraine, shepherd's pie, beef stew

Jacob's Cafe
Blk 5 Changi Village Road, #01-2049 , Singapore

Bernie's - Good Food; Loopsided Service

I've eaten @ Bernie's many times but this is the first time I am writing a review on this place.

This used to be a favourite with my expat colleagues before one of the founders decide to depart to form "Botak Jones" and the prices of food were sent north.

I would say that the quality of food here is quite good and the portions are quite well-sized.
So far, I have had burgers, fish and chicken which are all well executed.
Their appetizers and salads are also pretty tasty.
Located just opposite the Changi prison, the setting and decor of Bernie's is cozy and relatively american.
If you were to visit after office hours, couple of beers with their appetizers and/or snacks would really complete the day.

However, I do notice that the service is rather geared towards Caucasians which I find hugely disappointing.

Bernie's
961A Upper Changi Road North, Changi Garden, Singapore

Mingles - Money not enuf? Eat here!

This review is written after eating here 3 days in a row.
Does this mean that the food here is fantastic?
Hmm....for the moolah that I have to fork out, I'd say yes.

A little rundown on the value meals.
You get to choose a main course from a list PLUS a drink (coffee, tea or soft drink; top up $1 to get a float) PLUS a dessert/soup with bread roll.
And it is not just any dessert, it is New Zealand Natural ice-cream (1 scoop with waffle or a 2 scoop sundae) all for the price of $11.90 to $15.90.

How can I not go back again and again?

OK, now onto how the food actually taste.

On day 1, I ordered the mushroom chicken fillet.
It's like chicken chop topped with cheese and mushroom.
The combination is chewy due to the mushroom and tangy due to the cheese.
Completed with mashed potato. Decent dish.

On day 2 and 3, I ordered the rosti with 8" sausage.
The fact that I ordered this 2 days in a roll basically means that I prefer this over the chicken. The rosti is ....just rosti but the sausage is very yummy.
You get to choose from a choice of 8 (i think) types of sauages. Sausages and rosti are pan-fried to a good "doneness".

No further introduction needs to be done to the New Zealand Natural ice-cream since I believe almost everyone out on the streets have tried it before.
The waffle is a little tough in my opinion and the sundae is definately a very economical choice for ice-cream lovers.

Mingles
238 Thomson Road,
#02-78/79 Velocity @ Novena Square,
Singapore

Vanilla Pod - Refreshign Ambience

Been here a couple of times, mostly on biz. I was introduced to this place by my customer on one occassion and it has since developed to a "convenient" biz lunch spot for me.

It is a small restaurant located at the entrance of an orchid garden in the middle of Mandai. Imagine a large green house (with air-con of course) overlooking an orchid garden while you dine - that, in essence is Vanilla Pod.

To date, I've tried the fish
1. Black cod
2. Salmon
Both the fish are reasonably tasty for the kind of $$ we have to pay - $26 and $28 respectively. Fresh enuf but not those "melt-in-your-mouth" freshness and a little oily for a fish dish in my opinion.

Meat wise, I've had the
1. Beef stampede - all time favourite with me. Tender and juicy to the bite.
2. Lamb shank - for the hungry brothers and sisters out there. This big piece of well executed meat will satify the carnivore in you. Do give it a try if you are a lamb lover and you will not regret.

Worthy of mention is the mushroom soup which is packed with flavour and full of real mushroom chunks. Not to be missed if you are a soup lover. Comes in generous portion too, do share this if you want to reserve some space for dessert.

Personally, the tiramisu and chocolate truffle are my preferred desserts with this eatery. Creamy and give you a high on sugar rush.
Enjoy....

Must Tries: Beef stampede, lamb shank

Vanilla Pod
200 Mandai Lake Road,
Singapore

Iggy's - Truffles?

This is my first brush with degustation menu.
It was an interesting experience for me to be dining in a restaurant that is voted one of the world's top 100 best restaurant. I had high expectations for the night. True enough, service is impeccable and detailed. No complains here.

Choosing what to eat was simple.
You are either a carnivore in which case you will choose the tasting menu or a herbivore which will land you with the vegetarian menu.

Since this was my first visit and being a non vegatarian, I promptly made up my mind for the tasting menu.At one look, there appears to be many courses but all the portions of each course is petite to enable you to complete the entire menu.

Let the show begin!

Canape
Egg custurd with marinated Ikura ,Pan fried shirako with green curry foam, Pan fried foie gras on apple rice
The egg custurd is delicious and an interesting combination with ikura. The green curry foam is too provoking and I did not finish. Foie gras on apple rice is surprisingly normal.

Caviar
Slow cooked ocean trout with potato mousseline and avruga caviar.
This is one of the dish that I especially liked that night. The ocean trout is very fresh and melts in your mouth. My first encounter with caviar is somewhat disappointing, it sort of taste like Salmon roe to me. But the combination of trout, caviar and potato mousseline complements each other very well.

Cappellini
Chilled Cappellini with scallop tartare, tomato jelly and konbu
OK I am no pasta expert but I definately like my pasta hot. So this dish did not score well with me. However, the scallop tartare oozes freshness which is expected in a place like Iggy's.

Pork
Braised kurobuta pork cheek with onion confit and shaved chinese black truffle.
All I can say is this is a very small pig as I was given a very small piece of pork cheek. This dish did not tickle my taste buds either.

Quail
Charcoal-grilled quail with japanese sweet corn, polenta and rosemary oil.
Hmm...I was told that this is actually the main course. It's quite daunting to think of all the food presented before this are just.....appetizers. The quail is well executed with the skin crispy and meat tender.

Brie
Triple cream brie with black chinese truffle and truffle salsa.
I absolutely hate this dish. Tasted like wood to me. I can only conclude that me and truffles do not mix. After the dinner I was told that truffles are very valuable and highly sought after edible species of fungi. *faint* I literally left this this untouched.

Ice cream
Can't really recall the dessert but it is some mango coconut jelly in pastry with coconut ice-cream.1 word - goodah!

Chocolate
3 types of chocolate but I cannot recall what they are. Nontheless, they all tasted excellent.

Overall, the food is very innovative and all the ingredients are top-notched.
But being a fine dining restaurant, I would take this to be a given. I was expecting a mind-blowing experience which did not happen.

Iggy's
1 Cuscaden Road,
#03-00 The Regent,
Singapore

Morton's - My favourite Steak Place

This place is as nostalgic to me as "Moon River" is to my parents (ok, a little over done here). I've been to this place a couple of times and I can still recall the first time I was here when I first walked in, how I was charmed by the ambience.
The whole place has a certain charm that really captivates me, it could be the lighting, furniture or just the soft music that fills the air.
I was young then, still in college and I was here with my then beau and his entire family, that was my first brush with fine dining.

The 2nd time I was here, I'd just started working and I was here celebrating Mr HB (my then boyfriend)'s birthday for him.

The 3rd time I was here, it was with the entire family celebrating my MIL's birthday.

The 4th time was after I clinched a big deal for my company and my boss wanted to reward me by giving me the "go-ahead" to have a good dinner with my husband anywhere I wanted to.So well, everytime I step into Morton's, it is sort of like a flashback of my life.

Ok, enuf of me and my past and back to Morton's and the steaks.

The service is always prompt and courteous, they usually whip you to your seats once u show up at the door if you have a reservation (which I usually do).

After being seated, the famous Onion loaf will follow. Personally, I enjoy the onion loaf immensely. It is served warm and very very addictive as it iterally melts in your mouth, the freshness and delightful taste....*drools*....I can eat this everyday!
But life have to go on.

As what the other reviewers have mentioned, the wait staff usually comes round with a trolley of raw ingredients to introduce to you the food that Morton's can offer and yes, they rattle on and on without really giving u a chance to digest the contents of the speech. After a few visits, I have yet to really grasp what they are saying. But well, having a menu does wonder in telling you what is being offered.

Let us begin with the apetizers

1. Lobster Bisque
This is a generous portion that is good for 2. If you let the wait staff know that you are sharing, the good people of Morton's will help you to split it. The bisque is delicious and reeks of flavour. Goes very well with the onion loaf.
2. Jumbo Lump Crab cake
This was always recommended when we visit, but I do not really find this facinating. The taste just does not register in my mind.
3. Oysters
Really fresh and melts in ur mouth.The mains in Morton's does not come with any side dishes. These comes as additional orders (which means more moolah)But I must mention the mashed potato, this is the best mashed potato I have in my entire life - really creamy and bursting with flavour with everybite. But this comes with a hefty price tag of ~20 bucks. Not cheap for a potato. I've had the asparagus and wild mushrooms as well, they are ok but nothing to scream about.

So far, for the mains I have tried the
1. Porterhouse steaks
I had a shock when the food was delivered, I was thinking "this must be a really BIG cow". This portion is definately good for 2, even big eaters. But I did not have a good experience for this order. I ordered Medium for my steak and it was way too bloody for me.
2. Filet Mignon
This was a really juicy and succulent piece of meat. Nicely charred on the outside and retaining the tenderness of the food.
3. Whole Baked Maine Lobster
This was quite creamy and chewy but I gathered is not really worth blowing 180 bucks for something that is not extraordinary. Not that this dish is not good, I guess lobster just doesn't go too well for me.
4. Ribeye
This was good as well but the filet Mignon is preferred.
5. Yellow fin Tuna
The fish was fresh and juicy (but this is expected in a place like Morton's).

By the time we get to this point of the meal, we usually have to loosen our belts. That's why to date, i have only tried the Morton's Legendary Hot Chocolate Cake and the Upside down Appie Pie.

What I am about to say may not really do justice to these desserts but I am usually so full that I am not really able to appreciate how they taste....The appie pie is relatively normal and I cannot relly recall how the hot chocolate cake taste.

After that, we usually tumble out of the restaurant with our tummies touching the ground.The review is making me think of a visit real soon.....

Must Tries: filet mignon, onion loaf

Morton's, The Steakhouse
5 Raffles Avenue,
4F The Oriental Singapore,
Singapore

Kenny Rogers (Sunway Pyramid) - Not Up to Standard

One of the main activities when 1 go for a holiday is definately eating, which also explains why people generally put on weight when they do go for one.I think on average, we are eating every 3 hours for a full meal and now, both MR HB and I are trying to put the blame on each other for getting the other party to down so many calories (we have both piled on weight after this brief trip).

Anyways, Kenny Rogers is pretty well known in most part of the world as a chicken place.
This day, we both ordered a 1/4 chicken which comes with 3 sides (I believe we are having 2 in SG) and a muffin. You actually get to choose what flavour of muffin you want. So I chose banana among the other choices of vanilla and chocolate (i would normally have chocolate as I am a fan but I was suffering from chocolate overdose after 2 straight nights of chocolate waffles with ice-cream and chocolate cinnamon roll).
The muffins were served first and at first look, they are smaller than those that we usually have in SG. The look of the muffin does not really appeal and the taste is also lacking. (Just a note on KR muffins, I do have a real liking for the KR muffins that I have on several ordered 1/2 dozen of muffin for my personal consumption) So this was a real disappointment as I was looking forward to sinking my teeth into the warm and fluffy well-know muffin.

Shortly after, the chicken and side dishes followed.
First on the chicken, they have definately shrunk in size as all it took was just 5 mouthful for us to polish off the 1/4 chicken. The taste is also less flavourful compared to those that I've had in SG. We were counting on the side dishes to fill the remaining space in our tummies thinking that there are 3 instead of 2 which we are familiar with.

We had
1. marcaroni and cheese (the cheese is really diluted and the marcaroni is also different, there was no enjoyment from this dish at all)
2. corn and carrot (this is relatively ok as the corn and carrots are quite sweet)
3. colslaw (just normal)
4. potato salad (the salad dressing is thin compared to the others that we've had and the potato cut in a longish manner which seems kinda weird)
5. fruit salad (just normal, if anyone can screw up with a fruit salad, then something is seriously wrong)
6. mashed potato (just normal)

All in all, this meal was quite disappointing in the sense that the food standard was much lower than what we are used to and both of us are feeling very unsatisfied so we had to continue our 2nd part of dinner in "Waffle World (pls see other review)"

Kenny Rogers (Sunway Pyramid)
3 Jalan PJS 11/15
F2.29 Sunway Pyramid Bandar Sunway,
Petaling Jaya,
Petaling