Mimolette Restaurant & Bar

Hello!

The weather's been really erratic of late - it rained the entire day yesterday and now it's sweltering hot! I would be pretty happy with the sunny weather if I were heading outdoors for an excursion but I just came home from lunch and buying some stuff for school so no outdoor activities for me today!

Today, I shall share my experience at Mimolette Restaurant and Bar. Mimolette is situated at 55 Fairways Drive, which is somewhere along Eng Neo, near the old turf club! I've been wanting to go to Mimolette since our last visit to Rider's Cafe so I was pretty thrilled when Jeffrey agreed to have lunch there!
While Riders Cafe may be the more popular restaurant out of the two, I feel that Mimolette may not necessarily be 'worse' than Riders Cafe in terms of quality of service and food. One reason why I think Riders Cafe has more customers is because it has a more family-oriented setting whereas Mimolette gives off the posh/ 'atas' vibe. Other than that, people who prefer to have a more 'authentic farm-dining' experience may also opt for Riders Cafe, for it is non-airconditioned and extremely woody, whereas Mimolette has an indoor airconditioned area as well as an outdoor alfresco dining area.

As the weather on the day of our visit was comparable to today's, we opted for indoor seating. Unfortunately, the temperature was slightly too cold for our liking and we requested for a change of table just so that we could get slightly further away from the aircon!

I am starting to realise that I've a HUGE softspot for breakfast & brunch items! (: Somehow everything on breakfast and brunch menus look good to me and I always experience trouble trying to decide on the few things that I would like to order! Mimolette's breakfast and brunch menu offers a wide variety of food and I'm sure everyone who visits this place will be able to find something that they would like to have!

We each had a cup of hot chocolate ($6), which tasted pretty normal. Frankly speaking, I can't tell what a good cuppa hot chocolate should taste like. The best hot chocolate I've ever had was at Angelina's but NOTHING has come close to that. As such, I've decided to take Angelina's hot chocolate off the charts and am trying to devise a more realistic benchmark for hot chocolates. Will keep trying and giving feedback!

Jeffrey's Farmer's Breakfast ($20) which consisted of baked beans, crushed bacon bits, two sunny side-ups and slices of ham. This, in my opinion, is probably the most sparing breakfast set that we've ever seen/ had! I don't think all the items on this plate cost half the price we were charged but I guess they have to find some means to survive, hence the paltry portions =( The individual items on his plate weren't spectacularly good as well so I guess we should give this a miss next time!

Thankfully, my eggs florentine ($16) was MUCH better than the farmers breakfast. I'd two nicely poached eggs with spinach and smoked salmon on top of two pieces of muffin! The hollandaise sauce was thick and creamy and it suited my liking! I was overjoyed when I first tasted my eggs florentine because they were nothing short of perfect! I saw many other customers ordering eggs benedict/ eggs florentine so I guess this is one of Mimolette's more popular breakfast/ brunch items.

As Jeffrey wasn't full from his meagre breakfast set, we decided to order two desserts to share. Speaking of desserts, their breakfast/ brunch dessert range is quite limited so if you've a sweet tooth like me, you may find yourself hoping that their dessert range was just a little wider. Anyhow, we chose to have waffle with vanilla icecream, whipped cream and some fruits ($12), which was decent but not fantastic as well as

a chocolate muffin with fruits ($3). I felt that the chocolate muffin with fruits was definitely more worth it compared to the waffle not only because it was cheaper but also because it tasted much better! I also realised that I like marmalade jam with muffin/ toast! It beats strawberry jam/ blueberry jam hands down!

I think Mimolette's a nice place for people who want to have a slow and relaxed brunch/ afternoon tea with the comfort of airconditioning. Also, you can take a stroll around the area and look at horses after you've had your meal (: Would love to go back there again some time in the near future! Maybe I'll bring my entire family along next time.

Alright that's all for now! Have a great weekend! (:

Food for Thought

Hello.

I decided to post an entry about my recent visit to Food for Thought before I head to bed because I think it'll make me feel slightly less cluttered. I feel like there's a lot going on and I need to focus my mind and energy on things that matter. In the mean time, I can always rely on food for comfort!

Years ago, I visited the Food for Thought outlet that is situated across the street from the national library. I remember it being a small and cosy place that serves cafe-type food. When I heard that there's a larger and newer outlet had opened at Queen Street, I knew I had to give it a go because it has been way too long since I revisited Food for Thought.

Bright block colours and a gigantic rabbit make Food for Thought stand out from its surroundings.

As Food for Thought has a no-reservations system, we went there for an earlier-than-usual lunch on Saturday and managed to get a table without waiting for a long time. The menu at the Queen Street outlet is definitely more extensive than the one opposite the national library and we'd some trouble picking the dishes that we want to try! Everything looked so good! In the end, we decided to skip the starter and settled for two mains and two desserts.

Interesting paper table mats with some information regarding poverty and how the people at Food for Thought are planning to help the less fortunate out.

We decided to have a cup of hot thick milk chocolate ($5 per cup) each instead of orange juice and it proved to be a wise choice because their hot chocolate was well-blended and it wasn't too milky!

A shallow plate with a massive amount of gula granola ($8). This came with milk which I skipped because I am not a fan of it. We ordered the large portion because we wanted to share! Jeffrey doesn't really like granola so I ate most of it! This plate of granola is probably the sweetest and most flavourful I've ever had because of the large portions of apricots, raisins and prunes! It's a delight to have especially if you're looking for something that packs a punch!

Jeffrey opted for the Full Works ($18), which consisted of some vegetables, sauteed mushrooms, some bacon slices, baked beans, cut-up sausages, potato balls as well as scrambled eggs. It was a typically comforting breakfast set and Jeffrey liked it a lot - especially the cut-up sausages!

For dessert, I just couldn't resist ordering their signature Red Velvet Cake ($6), which tasted like relatively hard sponge cake with layers of cream that has the consistency of cream cheese. Personally, I didn't like the raspberry sauce that was sprinkled over the cake but other than that, the cake was pretty fine! It's a definite must-try if you aren't a chocolate lover and you want something not-so-heavy to end off your meal.

Our other dessert was the ferrer rocher cake ($7), which apparently is one of their bestsellers. This cake was rich, sinful and gratifying for the chocolate-desirous soul. It was absolutely divine and I was completely blown away by it! I was already quite full from eating most of the red velvet cake but I polished this cake off too because it was too good to be wasted! You really should try it if you, like me, love chocolate!

Food for Thought is definitely a restaurant which I am keen to return to! Do visit Food For Thougt: Good Food for a Good Cause if you are around the area or if you want to have good and reasonably priced food.

Alright it's time to pack and get ready for bed. Goodnight everyone. Have a great week ahead! (:

Aglio Olio Bistro

Hello!

It's finally the weekend again! I'm starting to think that it may be a good idea to have a 4.5day work week so that we can have slightly more time to rest. Just met up with a couple of people whom I hold dear from for lunch just now and I realised that it's important to take a day off each week at least to rest and maintain one's sanity. This will help to prevent burn out as well. I strongly believe in having a healthy work-life balance so I hope that I'll be able to keep to taking 1 day off each week to do non-school stuff!

One other thing I've realised after joining the work force is that it's pretty difficult to meet up with friends because there's just so much to do! Thankfully, I've a few close friends who, despite being equally busy or even busier than I am, take the effort to make time to meet up. To these precious friends out there (you know who you are), thank you! (:

Since we're on the topic of meeting up with friends, let me share my experience at Aglio Olio Bistro with you! A group of friends and I went to Aglio Olio Bistro to celebrate a friend's birthday. The reason why we chose to have dinner at this restaurant was because we had to go for a talk after our meal and that talk was held at one of the buildings in this area!

Because I have never heard of this place nor did I read up on what was good, Jeffrey and I decided to go for the dinner set ($32.90) - which consists of two bowls of soup, a basket of garlic bread and two plates of spaghetti/ pasta. Personally, I felt that the price was very reasonable considering the number of 'courses' and the portion sizes! It's definitely a place that you would want to visit for relatively cheap Italian food.

Garlic bread - I think this tasted very good because it was warm and there was just enough garlic paste on each slice of bread. I love garlic bread that have slightly crispy edges and Aglio Olio's garlice bread was like that (:

Soup of the day was corn and chicken soup if I'm not wrong. This didn't leave much of an impression on me.

A plate of chicken wings! The chicken wings were pretty yummy! The birthday girl ate quite a few wings! Then again she's known to adore chicken wings/ drums so it's no surprise that she could eat that many wings! =)

For my main course, I chose to have vegetable and mushroom spaghetti with tomato sauce with medium spiciness. I clearly overestimated my ability to take spicy food/ underestimated their level of spiciness because this plate of spaghetti proved too spicy for my liking! I should have gone with 'mild'. I was too busy battling flames in my mouth that I didn't really appreciate the dish so I can't tell if it's good.

Jeffrey decided to go for cabonara with 'mild spiciness'. His tolerance for spicy food is lower than mine so it was only natural that he opted for 'mild'. However, he also gave feedback saying that his carbonara was too spicy! Other than that, he said the cream sauce was just nice because it wasn't too thick/ creamy.

I think the food at Aglio Olio will suit people who love spicy food and it'll probably not appeal to people who can't take much spiciness! On hindsight, I think we should have asked them if it's possible to have non-spicy spaghetti/ pasta. Perhaps we'll do that if we go back there again in future.

Alright I've to log off now! Will update again soon! (:

Toast

Hello!

It's already Saturday NIGHT! My precious weekend is slipping by too quickly for my liking! I seriously need to learn the ropes fastER and be MORE efficient so that I can have more time for other (non-work) things!

Anyhow, I've GOOD NEWS for Toast lovers! Toast at Takashimaya has reopened! (: I dropped by Toast about a month ago and it has a spanking new layout which looks pretty but compromises on seating capacity! One thing I dislike about the new layout is the overusage of mirrors! I guess the idea was to use the mirrors to make the space look bigger but it makes diners like me feel odd because I don't wish to see my reflection when I'm eating! The good thing is that the quality of food is still the same which is good! Jeffrey and I made the effort to try new dishes during our visit there a month or so ago and here are some photos of what we had:

A not-so-new dish: Classic caesar salad (it comes with a sandwich/ wrap as part of a set)

I was being exceptionally greedy that day so I opted for a combination of 3 salads ($9.80) - roast pumpkin with tofu, rocket and red onion (right), roasted sweet potato with red kidney beans, fine beans, baby spinach with maple mustard dressing (left) and wild rice salad with granny smith and golden raisins (centre back). I must say that this was a really fulfilling platter of food! I loved every single salad item! (: I'm starting to think that I should alternate between my favourite egg cress wrap and salad combo when I drop by Toast.

Jeffrey's BLT sandwich which is made up of crispy bacon, iceberg lettuce and tomato on panini ($8.50). It was much thinner than expected but he said that it was good. Somehow I still feel that a meat-ier sandwich would have been more filling.

For dessert, we had a chocolate deluxe cupcake ($4.50) which was pure decadence. Everyone should try this for some endorphins!

We also had a Geisha - buttermilk and pandan cupcake with green tea and coconut frosting ($4.50). This didn't taste as sinful as the chocolate cupcake but it nevertheless gave enough kick for a dessert (: This is indeed a good compliment to the chocolate cupcake! I'm thankful I heeded the waitress' advice to order this instead of the nutella cupcake or we would have suffered death by chocolate.

If you're interested to find out what other kinds of food Toast serves, please click here. Alternatively, you can simply head down town to have a meal or to have tea there. It's a lovely place but please be warned that you may not be able to get a table during rush hour/ meal times.

Bon Appetit!

The Square @Furama

Hello! (:

It's a bright & sunny morning! I woke up slightly later than expected because I was up doing work! Yesterday was a pretty fulfilling day because I had not one but TWO great meals which I will probably be blogging about when I've time. I forsee myself not being able to blog as often as I did in the past but I will try my best to keep this blog alive! (:

Anyhow, my family went to The Square at Furama Hotel to celebrate one of my sister's birthday! (: There aren't many restaurants serving dinner buffets at an affordable price so we were overjoyed when we found out that The Square has a one-for-one dinner promotion! (: Called The Square up, made a reservation and down we went for a celebratory dinner!

To my surprise, the dinner spread was pretty impressive! (: There was a soup and bread bar, cold dish corner, the usual warm food display, a special drunken prawns section and a dessert corner. Everything tasted average or better than average except the desserts! =( As I'm a dessert fan, I couldn't help but feel slightly dissatisfied that the range and quality of desserts offered were not up to my expectations.

Here are some snapshots of the food that Jeffrey and I had (the place was dark and it was difficult to take photos so these are the ones that didn't turn out too badly):

A bowl of vegetable soup (I can't remember whether it's broccoli or cauliflower or something else) which was GOOD! It looked slightly diluted but it tasted great!

Cold dish platter (from left in clockwise direction): apple salad, cold spaghetti and sashimi (which was unexpectedly fresh!)

Tasting palette: chinese-style calamari (yummy!), green vegetables, sushi and salmon

A mix of everything: sushi, cold spaghetti, pork ribs(?), salmon sashimi, tuna sashimi

Some greens and some noodles: lettuce, apple salad, stirfried noodles (one of the best dishes that night!)

A piece of fish fillet at the far corner, cauliflower with cheese (not bad!), stirfried noodles

Dessert platter: mango jelly, chocolate cake (probably the best thing on the plate), strawberry mousse cake

One scoop of vanilla icecream (it was okay)

Chocolate fondue! (: There weren't strawberries for the fondue so we sneakily went over to the cake section and took some fresh strawberries off the cakes and covered them with chocolate sauce! Heavenly!

Highlight of the meal: My sister's birthday cake! (: She didn't want us to get her a big cake because she wanted ALL of us to learn the meaning of SHARING (actually she was just hoping that my father would give her the money that was meant for her birthday cake so that she'll get more birthday money). I decided to fulfil her birthday 'wish' of cutting a slice of cake into many little portions and she was pretty pleased (: The cake tasted pretty decent so I don't regret not getting a proper cake for her.

The meal came up to about $20+/ pax (after one-for-one discount) so it was pretty value for money! I think my family wouldn't mind going back to The Square again in future because of its above-average food as well as its family friendly setting.

Okay that's all I've to share for now! Have a great Sunday everyone! (:

Relish

Hello! (:

Apologies for not updating this blog as often as I would like to. A brand new term has begun and I'm busy adjusting to my new workload as well as trying to juggle my new responsibilities! Honestly, I don't think I've felt this overwhelmed in a long time! Guess I'll just have to process the new barrage of information as quickly as possible, learn new things and stay afloat! The second half of the year is going to zoom by but I'm gonna make the best of it! =) Right now, I'm hoping that I'll settle down quickly and comfortably so that I can carry out my responsibilities without being trailed by a haze of flusteredness.

Alright, enough rambling about work, let's move onto FOOD! I've been slightly ill the past week so food didn't taste as good as they used to be/ should but being ill doesn't prevent me from eating!

During the holidays, Jeffrey and I met up with my good friend, Joanne, at Relish, a relatively famous burger place at Cluny Court. Jeffrey and I had been to Relish before and our impression of it was pretty favourable. Hence, when Joanne expressed interest in dining at Relish, we jumped at the opportunity to re-visit this restaurant! (:

Relish is famous for their (rather costly) burgers. If I'm not wrong, I came to know Relish through a review of its char siew burger. We proposed going to Relish for family dinner once but our parents thought that paying more than $10 for a burger was insane so we gave Relish a miss. It was only after a while that Jeffrey and I dropped by for our taste of their burgers.

Hand-cut onion rings ($8). To date, this is THE BEST batch of onion rings I've ever tasted. Unlike normal fried onion rings that have little or no real onions in them, the main bulk of the onion rings at Relish were made up of fresh onions! (: Surprisingly, the onion smell wasn't pungent and it made a superb starter!

Joanne chose the blue cheese and pear burger with rocket salad ($16.50). I can't remember her comments but I don't think it was a disappointment.

Jeffrey chose to have a bacon & cheese burger with rocket salad ($15.50). He has tried quite a number of beef burgers so I think he should be able to distinguish a good burger from an ordinary one. He liked his burger quite a lot so I'm guessing that it's pretty good. Though the patty was thick, it was evenly cooked so that is a relief. I am terrified of eating uncooked items which are meant to be cooked.

I chose to have the portobello tofu burger with rocket salad ($17.50) because I remember that it tasted pretty decent (: I thought that the tofu and mushroom slices were thick and juicy but I didn't like the melted cheese on my burger. If you are someone who likes your burger to have a wholesome taste, I wouldn't suggest ordering this because the contents of the burger had discrete tastes and they didn't (at least for me) come together to give an overall oomph. Nevertheless, because I am quite a fan of tofu, this dish sat well with me (:

We decided to order two desserts to share because we were pretty stuffed from our mains. The first dessert that we picked was strawberry cheesecake ($9) because it was recommended by the waitress. When our strawberry cheesecake was sent to our table, I simply stared at it because I've never seen such a deconstructed cheesecake in my life! It got me really excited because I could FINALLY taste the different components that made up a regular cheesecake! I think Joanne and I agreed that this was a definite must-try at Relish simply because of its uniqueness!

Knowing that Jeffrey doesn't like strawberries, we ordered chocoalte gateau with icecream ($12) for our second dessert. I think I've mentioned it before but I shall mention it again - I honestly think it's quite difficult for a molten chocolate/ lava cake to go wrong so it's a pretty safe choice if you don't know what else to order! Relish's chocolate gateau was above average and chocolate lovers should give it a go!

All in all, we'd a good and filling meal at Relish and we would definitely pop by again in future when we feel like we need some burger pampering!

I hope that everyone had a great weekend! (: enjoy whatever's that's left and have an awesome week ahead! (: