Sunday, July 29

Chums

Hello!

I've been terribly busy of late hence the lack of posts but I thought I should squeeze in an entry tonight before going to bed!

A new cafe called Chums recently started operations so Matty and I decided to head there to try out their food!


Perhaps the thing that strikes me most about Chums is its remarkably relaxed and homely ambience. I think it helps greatly that they play soothing and country-like music because it definitely helps to set one at ease. I personally like their decor as it looks inviting and non-intimidating. They offer indoor and outdoor seating but with the heat these days, most diners usually gravitate towards indoors where there is airconditioning.

A cup of warm cappuccino ($5.50) as well as

a glass of fresh orange juice ($7) to drink while we were waiting for our food to arrive.

Their soup of the day ($9), which was cauliflower and chicken if I'm not wrong and it tasted great! What tasted even better were the slices of toast that accompanied the bread - they were toasted to perfection! Totally loved them!

I opted to have the Veggie Breakie ($15.90) because I could actually eat every single item on this plate! (: Seeing so much food instantly perked me up and made my day! The scrambled eggs were particularly good and I think the choice to give some slices of avocados was ingenious as they gave more texture to the dishes.

Matty chose to have the fish & chips ($16) and it totally blew him away! He was so impressed by this dish that he insisted that I tried a slice of his battered fish & chips and true enough, the fish was tender and juicy and it went so well with the batter! It was a pity that the fries weren't as warm as they could have been. Nevertheless, it's definitely a dish that we will be keen on ordering again if we were to go back!

We didn't have desserts that day because they didn't look too appealing but we might try the next time we visit Chums, which I suspect will be soon.

Alright that's all! Have a great Sunday! (:

Sunday, July 22

Medz

Hello everyone! (:

The weekend's zooming by again so I shall try my best to enjoy and cherish what's left of it! Last weekend was pretty fun because a group of us actually went to Medz at the basement of Orchard Central for dinner on Saturday night! (:



Medz works like Marche (you are given a card upon entry and you use it to order your dishes) except that it serves Mediterranean food! The seating capacity is quite big and the tables aren't packed too closely together so you won't feel claustrophobic!


Unlike Marche, most stations at Medz make use of this buzzer system, which is pretty useful because it allows you to go back to your table to sit down and chat with your friends while waiting for your food to be cooked! The buzzer goes off once your food is ready for collection and you can proceed promptly to the particular station that you ordered from to collect your dish!


I didn't manage to note the prices of all the dishes that we had because we paid separately but I will record what I did manage to get:

Skewered grilled squid, best eaten when warm!

Duck confit, which was pretty alright (:

My first time eating a calzone and I chose to have the Fish & Mushroom Calzone ($11)! It tastes like pita bread with cheese, fish and mushroom filling (: Not too bad for a meal though I think some wouldn't like being filled up with so much carbo/ dough. Very affordable!


Wagyu Rum ($24.90), which I am told is an oxymoron because it's supposed to (based on its name) be both tender and hard at the same time. However, it turned out to be more the latter than the former, which was quite a pity but it was still decent and edible.


Some fish stew dish which didn't meet expectations.  

Not too fantastic paella.

This bowl of golden truffle fries ($9.90) made our day! It was fried to perfection and there was just enough truffle and cheese in my humble opinion.


The churros and chocolate sauce would have tasted better if it were served warm instead of at room temperature! Nevertheless, it provided a nice sweet ending to our meal!


On top of the relatively good food, two of my friends enjoyed the 1-for-1 alcohol promotion! I think it's pretty worth it because you can get 2 bottles of Duvel (apparently it's good quality beer) at $20! Quite a steal considering a bottle usually costs $15? I'm not too familiar with prices of alcoholic drinks because I don't drink but that's what my friends told me.

Alright that's all for now. It's late and it's time to sleep! Goodnight! (:

Thursday, July 19

Bronte

Hello everyone,

I managed to survive three long days in a row so I'm giving myself a little break by allowing myself to blog about Bronte! (: Bronte is a cosy cafe located at Greenwood, which is a stone's throw away from school, and it is a perfect place for a nice, relaxing meal!


I went to Bronte not too long ago with my newfound family members and we had quite a great time eating and bonding!


We chose to sit indoors because it was a relatively sunny day that day and it proved to be a good idea because it was cool and quiet inside. The interior decor of Bronte is simple yet cosy and we felt very much at ease there!


Instead of the usual eggs benedict, I decided to go for something sweeter because I felt like I needed sugar! The banana pancake ($16) was HUGE! It was thick and relatively fluffy and it went welll with the bananas and maple syrup! I had thought that they would put banana bits into the batter and make banana-bread-ish-like-pancakes but I guess this would be an easier way to do it because you can control the batter better. I'm no pancake connoisseur but I think this was pretty well done (: Worth a try if you want something sweet!



Both my loved ones chose to have the Bronte Biggie ($24 each) and if you look closely enough, you'll see that one comes with hashbrown and no spinach and the other comes with spinach but no hashbrown (: Also, there're 2 different types of sausages and the two of them basically traded one sausage for the other so that they could try both pork and chicken sausages.They loved their breakfast sets and I think it's definitely something to try if you're in the mood for some lunch/ brunch! The platter will most likely be sufficient to fill you up!


Unfortunately, none of the desserts seemed appetizing to us so we decided to leave Bronte shortly after our meal.

It definitely was a refreshing change having such a clandestine family outing but it was pretty fun too (: Hope that we'll end up going for more 'family outings' in the near future!

Alright I think this is enough - I need to catch up on rest. Will update again soon! Goodnight! (:

Monday, July 16

Fosters

Hello!

Jade's back! (: Spent the better part of the night at Changi Airport waiting for her to arrive, then we went to Macs drive-thru to get Macs for supper and now we're back home (: It's great to have her back because the limmies are finally together! Perhaps we can watch Spiderman and/ or Batman together as part of our reunion celebration if we can find the time (:


Matty and I have been keeping up with our weekly food dates and we went to Fosters not too long ago because Matty wanted to relive his wonderful steak experience.

I know Fosters has been around for a long while but strangely enough, I've NEVER been there till that fateful day a few weeks ago! I guess it's one of those popular restaurants near my place which I've never gone to try so it's good that I finally made it there because Fosters serve good food!


Breakfast/ brunch/ lunch can never go wrong with a glass of orange juice for starters. This glass of orange juice was part of my Breakfast Set.


Matty went with the Cappuccino ($6) which was more foamy than usual but tasted okay!


Two warm complementary mini baughettes with salted butter! (: Yumyum.


My hearty breakfast set ($22)! The thick slice of toast is actually sitting in the basket at the top of the photo and it was one of the nicest toast I've eaten! I think it's got to do with the thickness of the bread as well as how well it has been toasted.


Matty's Fillet Fantastique ($42), which was a complete pleaser! I loved eating the french beans and carrots! The steak was very well-cooked and there was just enough sauce to go with the meat. I think he felt satiated after that!


We were too full for desserts so we skipped that course. I sense my appetite and food preferences shifting and I'm wondering if it's got to do with iron and blood but whatever it is, I'm definitely glad that I'm enjoying the same kinds of food! (:


Alright it's late and I've to go to bed now! Have a great week ahead everyone! (:

Thursday, July 12

Seb's Bistro

Hello everyone (:

Am taking a short break from work so I'm going to write a post about Seb's Bistro, which possibly is my favourite alfresco bistro to go to because it serves nice food and it's not too warm!



Seb's Bistro is located at Rochester Park and I think we chose the right day to go to Seb's this time round because the weather was actually good! By good I mean cool, which is what we hope to have when we are having outdoor dining! It actually rained halfway through our meal and ended just after we finished our desserts, which was perfect because we could head out and go back home! You don't have to worry too much about the rain (unless it's a thunderstorm) because there are extendable canopies to cover the tables and seats (:



We ordered our drinks: ginger beer ($5.50) for him and orange juice ($8) for myself. As usual, I'm always so taken aback by the cost of fruit juices at restaurants! Well the sprite was also expensive so I hought it'd just go with the orange juice since it was the first thing that caught my attention.


For mains, he chose to have the Grilled Rib Eye Steak ($34), which was nicely cooked (: I think it was rare to see potatoes come in that form but apparently it went quite well with the steak! I loved stealing his carrots and beans and I'm convinced that main courses with a side of greens that isn't made up of lettuce or salad-ish things appeal to me (:


I chose to have the vegetable moussaka ($19), which was a huge let down because firstly, the portion size is way too small and secondly, it didn't taste nice at all! I think the lack of pasta made the entire dish very gooey because there was nothing to hold the sauce and cheese together. Oh well I'll order something else next time!



Thankfully their desserts turned out to be much better than expected! I was contemplating having desserts there because I didn't wish to be disappointed again but the lemon tart ($9) and the warm chocolate cake ($11) were delicious! (: I think the lemon tart deserves special mention because it had enough sour twang yet it wasn't overdone! The chocolate cake came nicely warmed and the chocolate 'lava' actually oozed out after the first cut. Yummy!


I know that I'll be back again in the near future but when I do revisit, I'll remember to stay away from the moussaka and to order desserts!

Alright that's all for now (: Looking forward to tomorrow!

Friday, July 6

Brussel's Sprouts

Hello everyone! (:

This will be a short post because my main purpose is to exclaim TGIF! I honestly need to clear all these other things so that I can do my job properly; these other things are distracting and time-consuming!

Anyhow, here are two photos from our impromptu mid-week date last week! We decided to just push everything aside for a while and make our way to Brussel's Sprouts for some mussels cos Matty had a craving for it.



The best thing about this place is that you get unlimited fries if you order a pot of clams so if you are a fries lover like me, you should definitely make a trip down for this! The fries are pretty good and they taste delicious when they are served piping hot!


I do think that it's nice to take a break from the humdrum once in a while - gives additional motivation to do things after you resume work. Will look forward to doing the more essential things this weekend (:


Have a great Friday and a restful weekend! (:

Thursday, July 5

Shimbashi Soba

Hello (:

I thought I'd do a mid-week reprieve post (: We've been forgetting our camera quite a bit on our food trips recently so the photos below are taken with an iphone (pardon the quality).

We revisited Shimbashi Soba after many years and I think it still tastes the same as the last time I ate there, which is a good thing cos that means standards have not fallen.

This restaurant is perpetually crowded so you'll definitely have to wait for a table during peak hours. We went around 1ish on a Saturday and had to queue for about 20mins! There were Japanese diners amongst us and I think it says a lot about the restaurant when Japanese are willing to eat at a Japanese restaurant.

I ordered a Shoukadou B set ($26.80), which came with the items seen above. It was definitely filling and I was infinitely less grumpy after the meal (I get grumpy when I am hungry.. ha).

Matty chose to have the Shoukadou C Set ($28.80), which had an additional portion of beef if I'm not wrong. Matty said that the soba is definitely a notch above the usual soba that we find at other common Japanese food chains/ outlets so if you are a soba lover, do go to Shimbashi Soba for your soba fix!

You can choose to have either warm or cold soba and I think you should go for the cold soba if you want a more authentic experience. Somehow I feel that udon and ramen taste better warm and soba should be taken cold. I ordered warm soba on that day because I wanted something soupy and it wasn't too bad.

Alright it's late and I've school tomorrow so I'll end here (: Glad we're past the half-way mark this week! Goodnight!

Sunday, July 1

The Lounge at Four Seasons Hotel

Hello everyone (:

It's a beautiful Sunday and I'm feeling pretty pleased that I'm at home and away from the heat outside! This post shall be my final post on HK food for now because I think I need to start keeping track of the places that I've been (re)visiting in Singapore so this shall be it.

It was stormy and rainy on our second last day in HK so we were somewhat limited by places that were accessible only via the MTR underground. Thankfully, HK's MTR system is very advanced and there are many underground walkways to facilitate our commuting from place to place (:

Since we'd such a wonderful time at Peninsula's high tea, we decided to go for yet another high tea but this time, we chose to have it at The Lounge at Four Seasons Hotel! (: It's easily accessible because it's connected to the Central MTR station as well as the famous ifc mall.




Like many other renowned hotels that serve afternoon high tea sets, The Lounge also does NOT take reservations and you will have to start queueing before tea time starts. Alternatively, you can go about 1.5-2hours AFTER tea time starts because that's when the first wave of diners will make their exit and you will be able to get your table without having to wait too long.


We chose to have the high tea set for two which comes with two different pots of tea/ coffee as well as a three tiered tea set (:





Personally, I feel that the scones at The Lounge were better and slightly more buttery than the ones served at Peninsula but the rest were more or less above average (: Special mention has to go to the savoury plate - their sandwiches and other savoury pastries were GOOD! (: Definitely something you should try to finish if you can't stomach the rest of the sweet things!


And lo and behold! We ordered our first bowl of fries at The Lounge! (: I was having a bit of a craving for fries and when I saw these bowl of golden shoots at the table near us, I knew we had to order one of ourselves and I'm glad we did! (:

If I ever go back to HK again in the near future, I would certainly love to try having high tea at other hotels that serve them! To me, having a good and long conversation with a buddy over 'finger' food in a place with top-notch ambience is pure indulgence (:

Alright back to reality.. will update this place again soon! (: