Saturday, April 28

Onion

Hello! (:

Sorry for the lack of updates! I have been really busy of late so I have not been updating this space much but I shall take some time out today to blog about a new restaurant near my place which opened not too long ago. It's located near 6th Avenue and it's called Onion!

Onion specialises in tapas and because we went during its opening month, we got to enjoy a one-for-one tapas special promotion, which we were thankful for because honestly we weren't impressed by the food at all! The tapas were beautifully presented but its taste left much to be desired. For its price, we would rather go to other tapas places such as Esmirada instead! Nevertheless, it is a new restaurant so perhaps the chefs need a little more time to get used to preparing the food so if you are adventurous and wouldn't mind splurging on some tapas, you may wish to head down to Onion!

Here are some photos of the food we had that night:

Complimentary starter - some crabmeat salad which tasted okay.


Assorted imported greens ($9.80). We ordered this only because we needed some veggie in our diets and also because we thought the caesar salad would be too heavy. It was pretty normal, something which you can definitely whip up on your own at home!


Crispy squid ($9.80). This was perhaps one of the most flavourful dishes we had (possibly because it was fried) and we enjoyed dipping the fried calamari into the wasabi-tasting sauce. (:  If there's any dish we would ever order again if we were to go back, it would be this!



Iberico bellota ham ($13.50). Possibly just sufficient for ONE person unless you don't mind just having a little slice of ham. Again, nothing very impressive.


Prawn Mango Salsa ($12.80). This would be another dish worth trying because the mango salsa sauce is quite interesting! Would have been better if it were a tad spicier though but that's just my own opinion. It also wouldn't hurt to have more prawns!

Oyster Cava ($12.80). Matty said the oysters weren't fresh, which was pretty surprising considering how this restaurant has "Tapas. Oyster. Wine" under its name. Oh well. Better luck next time I hope?

Spicy Crabmeat Spaghetti ($16.80). We ordered this halfway into our meal when we realised that we probably needed a main course since the serving sizes of our tapas were nothing more than meagre! Thank goodness we did that if not we would have walked out of Onion with our bellies half empty! =( This was pretty alright though it wasn't spicy at at all! The sauce tasted more sweet than spicy and I'm not sure if one person can finish this on his/ her own because the sauce gets a tad too overpowering after a while. Nevertheless, it's good to order a main dish or two if you want to feel full after your meal!


Two glasses of bubbly to end off the meal ($24/ flute). This was possibly the first time I've drunk more than a sip of champagne. In fact, I don't think I've ever tried it in my life! Personally, I don't like drinking alcohol because I dislike the taste so I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the alcohol taste and smell weren't too strong.. so I managed to finish half my flute! (: I guess one nice thing about drinking alcohol is that it makes you feel warm and it helps you sleep better at night so maybe drinking it once in a while (in limited amounts of course!) isn't too bad.

 
I probably will not be boing back to Onion any time soon but if it manages to stay open for a year or two, I might go back there to try their new dishes or to give the dishes on their current menu another try. Till then, have a great weekend ahead! (:

Saturday, April 14

Black Angus Steakhouse

Hello!

This weekend's going to be a pretty tiring one as I've family matters to attend to but I should be able to get sufficient rest - thanks to kind and compassionate bosses at work (: Somehow I can feel the energy draining from everywhere and I feel quite sad that we're constantly trying to keep ourselves away from energy depletion.. which is possibly why I try to make myself feel better by eating (good) food when I can!

If you're looking for standard, solid American-type of food, I'd suggest going to Black Angus! Black Angus reminded me very much of Hard Rock Cafe in terms of ambience and food and in my opinion these two places are great places to meet up with (large group of) friends.





Come to think of it, I've always known that Black Angus Steakhouse existed but somehow I never had the compulsion to try it till recently. I guess I might have been under the wrong impression that since it is a steakhouse, there wouldn't be anything worth eating but my trip to Lawry's had proven me wrong hence I'm more willing to go to meaty places now.


The set came with a bowl of chunky potato soup, which was generally okay. Sufficient to keep hunger pangs at bay (:


If you are a steak person or if you love meat, then perhaps you should try their 10oz Rib-Eye Steak ($42.90), which was so substantial that my friend who ate this remained full for the rest of the day! If there's one that that I absolutely love about Black Angus is that they try to make their meals wholesome and good by serving lots of veggies at the side (REAL veggies, not coleslaw) and I LOVE it! (:


My delight increased immensely when I saw that quite a large serving of a mix of boiled veggies came with my grilled salmon ($26.90)! (: Had a great time fulfilling my greens quota for the day. I also have to mention that the grilled salmon was very well done - it was crispy on the edges but not too overly cooked either. I was particularly appreciative of the measured thickness of the salmon slab because I don't like thick salmon slabs. I would definitely have this again if I were to return in future!


On the whole, my first trip to Black Angus Steakhouse was pleasant (: I would scrutinize the menu slightly more in future to see if there are desserts that appear worthy to try. Was simply too full this time round to have desserts!

Alright that's all for now (: Have a good weekend ahead! Time for me to get going.. bye!

Saturday, April 7

Triple Tree

Hello!


I am still awake at this hour partly because I slept most of the (stormy) day away! I think my body's compensating for the lack of sleep hence the hibernation! Whatever it is, it has done me some good because I definitely feel less cranky now (:


For those who are searching for a nice restaurant to have lunch at tomorrow, I would highly recommend the international lunch buffet ($72++/pax) at Triple Tree, Mandarin Orchard Singapore. Looking at the wide selection of food was enough to make me excited and all I wanted was to try as many dishes as possible! =) On the whole, I felt that the savory dishes were above average, the dimsums fared terribly and the desserts were only so-so. I hope that they'll do something about their rubbery dimsums as well as their uninspiring but generally average-tasting desserts!


Alright enough babbling, I'll just show you the pics taken that day:















Dishes that you MUST try are their signature honey ham, beef and dishes from their Indian food section! (:


What we loved most about Triple Tree is that it wasn't as noisy as other buffet places so we could talk and hear each other without much trouble. I really hate repeating myself when I'm not at work so going to places which are relatively quiet is a plus for me. I also liked the fact that we could top up $6 for free-flow soft drinks! (: Definitely a plus for a sprite-lover like me! (: We would revisit in the near future and hopefully there'll be new desserts (perhaps a chocolate fountain and bread&butter pudding?) for us to try! (:


Have a great weekend everyone! (:

Thursday, April 5

Cedele

Hello everyone!

The week is finally over and boy am I glad for this long weekend! There's loads to do but at least we don't have to go back to school tomorrow so we can all catch up on some much-needed rest!

I shall do a short post on one of my favourite eating places of all times - Cedele! (: I love Cedele because everything on the menu looks so consumable! I think there was a point in time whereby I went to Cedele almost every week because the friends who I chose to meet up with coincidentally picked Cedele as our meet-up venue so I got to taste quite a few of their dishes already. Anyhow, if you like healthy food that has a stronger homemade taste compared to other restaurants, then Cedele is the place to go to!



There are many Cedele branches sprinkled over the island but the ones that I frequent most would be the outlets at Wheelock and Raffles City! (: I took Matty to the Raffles City outlet not too long ago because he has never had a proper meal at Cedele so we simply HAD to dine there!


As soft drinks are not served at Cedele, we chose to have a bottle of Heineken ($8.50) as well as a bottle of Healthy Thirst Elderflower ($5.30). The latter is my replacement for soft drinks whenever I visit Cedele - it's light, refreshing and most importantly, fizzy! (: I absolutely love it!



Cedele's pretty well-known for their yummy soups that used to come with freeflow bread but I don't think bread is free flow anymore because ours came sliced and portioned. We chose to share a large bowl of wild mushroom soup ($9) [which was split into two smaller bowls as featured above] for our starter and we were also served slices of bread with lurpak butter! I only take butter when it's cold and hard so these cold lurpak(s) were simply a delight to eat!


That day, I finally admitted to myself that I am a mushroom lover because not only did I have msuhroom soup for my starter, I also had mixed mushroom risotto ($16.90) for my main! I always believe that risotto is comfort food and I was pleased that I managed to get my risotto fix that day.

 
Matty decided to try the red chilli crab pasta ($16.90) which wasn't too spicy; in fact, it was relatively ketchuppy! I felt that it was okay but I prefer having my risotto!


We wanted to have dessert at another place so we gave desserts a miss this time. Having said that though, I think Cedele's range and quality of cakes are way above average so do hop down to Cedele to try their cakes!


Alright that's all for now (: I hope that you'll have a great weekend ahead!

Sunday, April 1

Loola's

Hello!

It's been a while since I last blogged because life got a little too exciting for my liking over the past week but things have settled down already so I am back to blog! (:



Today, I shall blog about my return visit to Loola's! My previous trip to Loola's left such a great impression that I immediately chose to dine there again when I realised I'd to choose a place at Esplanade to have dinner! This time, we managed to visit Loola's during dinner time and we got to sit outdoors because the tables inside were full! I guess it's wiser to make a reservation especially if you intend to visit Loola's on a Friday night because you might not get a table if you choose to walk-in! Thankfully, the weather wasn't unbearably hot that day so outdoor dining went pretty well (:


We decided to skip starters this time and chose to have dessert for 'starters' instead! (: I knew I HAD to try the huge slice of lemon yogurt cake with vanilla ice cream ($11.21) as it caught my attention the moment I walked in! The cake was pretty dense but the lemon taste was strong! I love lemon cakes so I liked this qutie a bit! The only problem is that the cake got a little too filling to finish so we ate what we could and left some of it after our meal! The vanilla bean icecream was above average.


For my mains, I chose to have The Really Big Breakfast ($24.29) and it was filling and satisfying! I absolutely love all-day breakfast places because I realise that I've a penchant for breakfasty/brunchy food! What I loved most about this breakfast plate is the warm scrambled eggs that went perfectly well with the toast given! (: Would totally have this again!


Matty chose to have the Braised Pork Belly ($26.16), which was tender and generally filling (: I think the crispy lotus slices as well as the rougher-than-usual/chunky mashed potato were extremely palateable too! I kept stealing his mash! haha


I think I should take my family members there in the near future because I suspect that they'll like the food and relaxed ambience quite a bit! I shall suggest going there this Friday to celebrate my sister's birthday in advance! (:

Alright that's all for now! Have a good week ahead! (: