relish by wildrocket @ Cluny Court

Last Saturday a bunch of us went to Relish @ Cluny Court to celebrate the tennis stars' birthdays. "Tennis stars" because they used to be, gasp!, national players?! I think. Anyway. It was a rainy morning but we still managed to get ourselves out of bed and met there at, 1.15pm. More like lunch. All of us had heard of this place before, but never been here. We had our virgin experience together.

While trying to locate this place at Cluny Court, I came across several interesting cafes on the first floor - another potential brunch place, a cupcake cafe, Awfully Chocolate, Marble Slab Creamery, and what we would later find out, 3-Inch Sin! And Cold Storage. Next to this mini shopping centre is Botanic Gardens. This place has everything you need on a weekend! 

Thankfully we had a reservation, because the place was packed with families, couples, friends, expats... 

Blue Cheese Beef Burger with Rucola, Poached Pear & Walnut Butter ($19) -

Beef burger with pears?! Walnut butter? Blue cheese?? An experimental recipe that would go awry, or be awesome? 

Verdict: Simply, awesome. Two thumbs up! We had it medium done. The pears added a refreshing and delightful taste to the burger and left my taste buds wanting for more, and same goes for the walnut butter, which tasted more like peanut butter. Beef burger with pears and peanut-butter, hm, sounds like an unmixable mix, but they surprisingly well together. I couldn't really taste the blue cheese unless I scoop it out, but Pineapple, whom I shared this with, insisted the taste was very strong. Either my taste buds doesn't work well or I'm not adverse to blue cheese. 

 The Englishman had a Pauwel Kwak (a kind of Belgian Beer) to go along with his Steak Sandwich, and it came in an interesting-looking beer glass and wooden stand. Very authentic, I must say. The Peach Beer and Honeydew Beer sounded interesting as well but sadly, no one ordered them.

Eggs Royale   - 

It wasn't on the menu but Ms Soprano requested for the ham to be changed to smoked salmon instead, with an additional charge.

Smoked Salmon, Scrambled Eggs and Cream Cheese Bagel - 

The eggs was good, but the smoked salmon was too fishy and the bagel too hard. Wrong choice, unfortunately. Pineapple shot daggers at me because I kinda forced her to share this with me. 

 Crabmeat Linguine 

This tasted pretty good for the first few twirls, but it could be too much for your palate if you were having this on your own. Food taste best when shared IMO :)
Because it wasn't my main and the grass is always greener on the other side, I stole quite a few forkfuls from TY, teehee.
Real crabmeat with generous servings. After a while it tasted like Chili Crab Pasta - East meets West. Which starts to taste strange after you have half of the dish..

 For desserts (which we placed candles at the side and on top of the dessert cup), we had the Signature Cheesecake ($9), which surprised me when it came in a cup (no photos) with ice cream, strawberries, cream cheese, and crumble. It wasn't fantastic, but it might be because I'm not a fan of cheesecake and sour stuff (strawberries). 


Now this was good - Lava cake with ice cream. Look at the volcano of molten chocolate oozing out! Yummy.

It was a good meal - the restaurant was packed but it wasn't too noisy, which some restaurants could be when they have that amount of people. The ambience was laid-back and the atmosphere casual, sunlight streaming in from the side window after a rainy morning, company of friends who enjoy a good meal with you, what's not to like?


How much was spent per pax: $26 - $33 (I can't remember!)
Would I come back here?: Definitely!

501 Bukit timah road
#02-01 Cluny court
Tel: 6763 1547

126 Eating House (Wan Dou Sek 搵到食) @ Sims Ave, Geylang

Being a food lover, I found it appalling that I only knew of this place recently, after Ah Chow and BF brought me here one fine night for supper. Even before we finished the meal, I told myself I must go there again soon! Cheap and good and a delighting variety. So when Miss Doc and Drumstick were planning a trip here, I begged pleaded requested to tag along. 

Located at the red-light district of Singapore, this no-frills eatery ("hole in the wall") is easy to pass by at 7pm on a Monday night. On weekends or later in the night when crowds pick up, the chairs and tables will appear outside the shop and you will recognize the place by the throngs of customers.

"搵到食" (Wan Dou Sek) is Cantonese which can be loosely translated into "found something to eat!". Ok I added the exclamation mark myself. "126" is a clever pun on the Cantonese name which I thought very witty. 

Old-school Hong Kong-style eatery:

 

Service is practically non-existent and I felt like an invisible being there. But I'm not complaining, because the food tickles my taste buds and the prices will not break the bank. 

Sorry, the camera was slower than the hungry birds: Deep Fried Carrot Cake 

 Chee Cheong Fun: With a very special sauce that I never tasted else where... Topped with fragrant shallots and spring onions

 No names and prices for all these I'm afraid - I was pretty much caught up with eating.

 The Siew Mai and Har Gao were not fantastic but the quality suffices and the other items make up for it.

The hugest variety of Eastern tapas you can find there - they even have crabs and noodles! Too many things to try and I shall return soon one day.



How much was spent per pax: $13 per pax
Would I go back again? Definitely!

126 Sims Ave
Singapore 387449
(between Geylang Lor 15 and 17)

Ramen Keisuke Tonkotsu King @ Orchid Hotel, Tanjong Pagar

Met up with Drumstick one Friday evening after work and she highly recommended that we go to this newly-opened ramen place. We reached at around 7pm and there was a queue forming, partly because the place was small and could seat only around 20. But more importantly, these people were there for the awesome ramen and soup broth. We waited around 20-30 minutes for our turn, half the time staring into the restaurant and willing the customers inside to finish their meal quickly so that we could savour the noodles as well.

I forgot to snap a photo of the order form, but when you're queuing up, the waitress will hand you an order form, which you are to fill up:

i) Which type of soup base you want: Tonkotsu, Black Spicy Tonkotsu or Red Spicy Tonkotsu (yes, they only have 3 types)
ii) Texture of noodle: Hard, Normal or Soft
iii) Taste of the soup: Light, Normal or Strong
iv) With seaweed, with egg or with both
v) Chicken oil: Less oil, Normal or More 

One of my weird habits is that I like to fill in survey forms so I liked this questionnaire-like form. I chose Red Spicy Tonkotsu Ramen, less oil, normal texture and with all toppings!  

Small place for a quick meal - do not expect to take your time here. You'll be stressed out by the queue outside anyway. Cozy, Japanese-like setting. Chefs and most wait staff were Japanese, and I like the vintage Japanese posters on the wall. 

Free eggs and pickled beansprouts! 

You could also grind your own sesame seeds while waiting for your noodles to arrive. 

 Red Spicy Tonkotsu Ramen with Seaweed and Egg ($15.80) - The broth was flavorful and hearty, the noodles al dente, the chasyuu pieces generous and lean. One reason why the broth was so tasty because besides the chicken oil, pork lard was floating around as well. I tried to be health-conscious but couldn't resist slurping up the soup anyway.
 

Giant piece of seaweed

Their stewed egg is the kind with a runny egg yolk, which I absolutely adore.

I need to have a ramen fix every now and then and this is definitely one of the places I would return to.

How much was spent per pax: Around $18 per pax
Would I come back again? Yes!

Address: 1 Tras Link #01-19
Orchid Hotel
Singapore 078867
Tel: 6636 0855

Opening hours: 1130am-3pm, 6pm-10.30pm

Aroy Dee @ Sunshine Plaza

 Ah Loy Thai has always been a favourite haunt to satisfy those occasional Thai food cravings, but I heard Sunshine Plaza has a few Thai restaurants that serve some pretty mean Thai food as well, so off I went one evening after work. 

It was a humid evening, so we were looking for some air-conditioned comfort. Not keen to sit by the roadside to be fed by the exhaust fumes and have our food garnished with dust, we headed inside the eatery - perhaps even stuffier. We wondered if the air-con was spoiled, or were they saving electricity?

 

A truly well-used menu 

How could you not order Phad Thai in a Thai restaurant?  To test out the standard, a Phad Thai ($5) is a must.

It was slightly watery, unlike the usual dry one that we eat. It wasn't particularly fragrant, and in fact on the bland side. We were disappointed.

Tom Yam Soup is a safe choice. There were loads of ingredients in it, spices, mushrooms, fish slices, prawns... 

Claypot Vermicelli with Prawns - We liked this, but 2 of us sharing these 3 dishes was simply too much for us. They were generous with the prawns for all the dishes, so each of us had around 10 prawns each until we really couldn't stomach any further prawns. This dish is too much for 2 persons if you order other dishes as well.

All in all, we weren't too impressed with Aroy Dee. There were 1 or 2 more Thai eateries just next door, so we'll probably try those the next time round. Till then, I'm still faithful to Ah Loy Thai.

How much spent per pax: $10-$12 per pax
Would I come back again? I don't think so.



91 Bencoolen Street
#01-12 Sunshine Plaza Singapore
Tel: +65 6336 8852
 

Shimbashi Soba @ Nex

After choir a few Sundays ago, I met the Sister at Nex for dinner and some shopping. I know there are a lot of restaurants in Nex but nothing that I was really craving for and dying to try. Found our way to the Japanese enclave and the Sister felt like having some soba so we settled for Shimbashi Soba. 

Shimbashi Soba is the only place I order soba to eat because I don't really trust the soba elsewhere and believe that Shimbashi Soba should offer the best soba. I am assured that the soba here is handmade, and al dente. The soba I eat elsewhere always taste mediocre, plastic-ky and not up to standards. However, this restaurant is slightly on the pricey side so I don't dine here often. 

Chawanmushi almost always a must - This was as appetizing as it looked. Plain, and uninspiring. No prawns, no garnishing, no nothing. Only 2 pathetic mushroom pieces on top.

Salmon sashimi was fairly decent. 

 Grilled unagi - 4 pieces for $8.90 Done pretty well. 

And my main course - soba. The sauce was too salty though. I prefer the sauce that comes with the noodles if you order the set.

The Sister ordered one of the sets. They used to have a set that includes salmon sashimi, grilled unagi and agedashi tofu, all our favourites - but I don't know if that's taken off the menu, or the branch here doesn't have that set. This set was pretty good as well - house special beef, grilled salmon (more like aburi (lightly seared) salmon), and deep fried soba with tuna/potato salad. The deep fried soba tasted like chips and rather addictive. Although the waitress said the soba I ordered and the soba in the set are the same, the sauce wasn't. The noodles in the set meal also includes seaweed, tempura chips and japanese fish cakes.

Dessert that came with the set - matcha tiramisu. 

 How much spent per pax: $35
Would I come back again? Maybe.

#B1-02 nex
23 Serangoon Central
Tel: 6634 4786
Daily: 11:00am -10:00pm