Rose Veranda

Hello! (:

Today has been a really slow and lazy day but I'm loving every bit of it because it's rare to be able to catch up on restful sleep. I say restful sleep because I've been having really tiring dreams of late! I dream almost every single time I sleep and it's tormenting becuase the dreams that I have aren't relaxing or sweet, instead they're always about having to do this mission or having to run from this place to another or trying to solve something before time runs out! It's extremely draining and I often wake up feeling as exhausted as I was before I slept =S Thankfully, there seems to be an invisible time limit for my tiring dreams (at least for now) because I didn't dream the second time I napped today! Whoopee! Yes I know it's awfully piggish of me to do so but I couldn't fight the fatigue!

Okay enough of sleep talk! I shall post an entry on our trip to Rose Verada at Shangri-la! Prior to our visit, we heard from our friends who had been to Rose Veranda that the savoury food isn't that great but their tea is pretty amazing so we went there only having high expectations for their tea. Contrary to what our friends have said, our verdict at the end of our very long meal was that the food wasn't as bad as we had thought it would be - in fact, most of the dishes served were great - and that the tea that was served certainly lived up to its reputation!

We visited Rose Veranda on a Saturday afternoon and the meal costs about $40++/ pax. There are two seatings and we chose the earlier one because we wanted to have lunch instead of tea.

This photo was taken from where we were seated. The restaurant had floor to ceiling glass windows and that definitely helped to brighten up the place. It actually rained while we were eating so we actually weathered a storm that day! =P

This is a photo of Jeffrey's English Breakfast tea. We chose the cheaper high tea set which did not allow a change of tea but if you were to opt for the slightly more expensive high tea set, you will be able to change your choice of tea twice during the meal (: The tea is refillable so you can drink as much tea as you want!

I chose to have iced tea instead (I can't remember if it's a fruit tea). Both our teas had very strong tea taste and I supposed that's why most peoplt (including us) really like it (: If I'm not wrong, Rose Veranda gets their tea from TWG so I suppose TWG serves good tea! Speaking of TWG, we were at Takashimaya this afternoon and we saw the teapot that Rose Veranda uses at the TWG booth so if you really like the teapot and tea at Rose Veranda, you can find these items at TWG (:

Keeping in mind that this buffet at Rose Veranda is meant for high tea and not lunch, I would say that the range of food served is quite large! It's definitely comparable to Goodwood Park's L'espresso (which I'm very fond of!) but I would think that the savoury food at Goodwood taste slightly better. The desserts at both places are of premium quality and they're bound to make any dessert lover happy! =)

Alright here are some snapshots of the food that we had that day! It was one of those rare days that both of us were feeling hungry so our already huge appetites were larger than usual! The end result is that we ate many plates of food and forgot to capture some of them so here are those that we actually remembered to take!

From left in clockwise direction: some lettuce, fresh crabmeat sandwich (yum!), mini spinach quiche

From left in clockwise direction: egg and ham sandwich (not bad!), slices of some kind of meat (turkey?), some lettuce

From left in clockwise direction: plain rice (I wonder why Jeffrey took that!), fried beehoon (surprisingly okay), salami sandwich, smoked salmon

From left in clockwise direction: baked salmon and spinach pie with sauce (YUM!), mini spinach quiche, some vegetables, smoked salmon and some sushi

From left in clockwise direction: fried beehoon, more sandwiches, a strip of chicken, more smoked salmon and two siewmais

From left in clockwise direction: carrots and cauliflower, chilli squid and prawns, fried beehoon, steamed prawd dumpling, crab meat sandwich

Ooh next comes the desserts! Because I'm a dessert monster, I tried MOST of the desserts on display! =) Feeling mighty proud of myself for that! haha Here are some photos!

From left in clockwise direction: a small piece of chocolate, bread and butter pudding (YUM!), eclair with rose filling, scone (MUST TRY!)

Oh my plate ran out of space so I took this on its own: rose creme brulee. Very interesting (: You should try!

From left to right in clockwise direction: sponge cake with lemon meringue top, what I thought was pineapple tart but no, it was some kind of tart with lotus paste filling =( Didn't go very well with me, the absolute winner on this plate: rose macaroon! I tried ALL their macaroons and I still think that this is the best =)

From left in clockwise direction: tiramisu with chocolate top (YUMMY!), strawberry in a chocolate boat filled with custard, strawberry mousse with flakey top and base.

From left in clockwise direction: strawberries covered with chocolate fondue sauce, rose macaroon again (just can't get enough of it) and some fruit cum cheese tart cake.

We were so stuffed at the end of our meal that we had to sit a while before taking a tour around Shangrila! We'll definitely go back again but we probably won't go back too soon because we're hoping to see a slight change in menu the next time we return. Otherwise it's okay with us as well.

Alright that's all for now! (: Hope you'd a good weekend. Bye!

Everything with Fries

Hello!

It's a cold, rainy night! I hope everyone's safe and warm at home! I'm currently waiting for my damp hair to dry so I'll write a little post about my family's visit to Everything with Fries. I've blogged about this place previously but since my family members had ordered different dishes during our visit, I thought I'd blog about this pretty fabulous western food joint located at Holland Village again!

On that day, we were feeling particularly adventurous with drinks so we ordered a strawberry milkshake, a nutella shake as well as a vanilla milkshake ($4.90 each). The photograph above features Everything with Fries' thick vanilla milkshake which was truly enjoyable (: I know some people think that milkshakes are fattening (and I don't deny that they are) but if one were to consume a milkshake, why not drink one that's of superlative quality? Everything with Fries' milkshake reminds me of Once Upon a Milkshake's milkshake, which I'm determined to bring my siblings to try before school reopens!

Tandoori chicken sandwich with caesar salad and original shoestring fries ($10.90). This may look pretty small to you but trust me, it's formidable! I guess the generous chicken portions help to make this dish filling so you won't feel hungry even though this is a 'sandwich' dish. This sandwich is particularly appealing to those who like a slightly indian-y flavour to your chicken! Overall it's quite an enticing dish (:

If you prefer something a little 'safer', you can order the grilled pork chop with coleslaw and original shoestring fries ($13.90). The thing about 'safe' dishes is that they are seldom spectacular, and this particular dish is no anomaly. My mother, who ate this dish, said that it was 'okay only' but the portion was 'just nice'. Try not to order this dish if you want to be wow-ed!

The lamb burger with caesar salad and original shoestring fries ($9.90) took the longest time to arrive! I'm not sure if it's because our order got lost in the kitchen or that the lamb patty takes a long time to put together and be cooked but yes we had to wait a very long time for this to be served! The lamb burger was certainly above average but it wasn't something to scream about. Nevertheless, it's a nice and filling dish to have, especially if you're in the mood for burgers.

We also ordered spaghetti bolognese with coleslaw and straight cut original fries ($10.90). It was our first time seeing and eating Everything with Fries' straightcut fries and we were really surprised to see that the straight cut fries were so thick! Each straight cut fry was at least twice or perhaps even thrice as thick as a normal shoestring fry! If you're a person who doesn't really like much flavouring on your fries, I'd recommend that you order the straightcut fries because the powder to potato ratio is lower for straightcut fries compared to shoestring! I think most people prefer shoestring though - my family tends to like more flavour in our food!

The only dessert that we ordered that day was the famous hot banana bread pudding with vanilla icecream ($5.90). If you are a fan of hot-and-cold desserts, then you'd love this! Otherwise, I'd suggest you go for their other signature desserts like their nutella tart or their mille crepe cake! I personally prefer the latter because it's unexpectedly light and sweet! =) I love it!

Alright that's all for tonight. It's late and I've to go to bed! Shall blog again during the weekend. Have a good Friday and a great weekend! Goodnight! =)

The Marmalade Pantry

Hello!

It's the weekend again! To me, weekends are for languorous brunches, spending time with family members as well as catching up with friends! I've a few favourite/ usual weekend brunch haunts and one of them is The Marmalade Pantry at Ion! =)

I know I've posted about The Marmalade Pantry before but I think I'll do another post on it simply because I think it's an absolutely amazing place to meet up with friends. Despite its slightly overexposed seating area, the restaurant still carries a relatively relaxed and laidback atmosphere which I particularly like.

I am beginning to think that restaurant tables should be lined with some sort of a table mat so that the waiters and waitresses can shorten the time taken to clean up after each table of customers leave. However, I'm also aware that these paper tablemats aren't exactly the most eco-friendly items so maybe some other material should be used instead.

That day we chose to have pomegrante/ apple soda ($8) - which tasted pretty normal. I think the most worth-it soda that I've drunk to date is the soda elephancino at NYDC! You'll get a HUGE cup of soda at around the same price if I'm not wrong.

Jeffrey really loves his eggs any style ($18) because he never fails to order it whenever we're there! We went back to Marmalade Pantry again not too long ago and he ordered the same dish but chose to have his eggs sunny-side-up instead of scrambled! I must admit that it's a wholesome brunch dish to order!

And because I was eyeing a special dessert treat, I chose to stick with eggs florentine ($17) because I know that the portion isn't too big and it'll give me sufficient room for my dessert! Eggs florentine is essentially poached egg with spinach and smoked salmon on half a muffin, covered with creamy hollandaise sauce! =) My good friend, Jo, has successfully learnt to poach an egg and she claims that it isn't too difficult so perhaps I'll try doing it soon!

Finally, the new dessert that Jeffrey and I decided to try that day was the thin slice of chocolate nemesis ($14). Can you believe that this thin slice of chocolate fudge cake cost us $14! I actually asked the waiter if the portion was large because the chocolate nemesis costs nearly twice as much as a slice of cake from Marmalade Pantry but he gave a dubious reply - "it's enough to share". I've now learnt my lesson NOT to order the chocolate nemesis if I'm feeling particularly dessert-greedy because the portion is shockingly small! I guess we're paying for the density of this chocolate cake but I didn't feel that its rich texture warrants a $14 price tag. In the end, we had to order another slice of sea salt caramel cheesecake ($7.80), which was twice the size of the chocolate nemesis and tasted as great or even better! =) I would highly recommend the sea salt caramel cheesecake, especially if you're looking for a cheesecake with something different!

Alright that's all for now (: Enjoy the rest of your Sunday and have a great week ahead!

Original Sin

Hello! (:

After hearing that a particular family with a healthy sense of humour considers chicken 'vegetable', I decided to blog about my favourite vegetarian restaurant in Singapore to date - Original Sin.

I first visited Original Sin early last year and I was completely blown away by the menu because I can eat every single dish that's stated on it! =) I'm what some people call a pescatarian, which means I'm somewhat of a vegetarian who eats fish (and seafood). As a result, I usually am not able to eat at least some dishes in most restaurants that I go to and that also explains why I've never been to 'meat-ier' restaurants!

Recently, Jeffrey and I popped by Original Sin again after watching his school's drama production for a very late dinner and we were, again, pleased with the food that was served!

The must-order dish whenever we visit Original Sin is the Mezze Plate Starter ($20) which consists of warm pita bread, fried vegetable 'nuggets' and different dips such as hummus (my favourite!) and pumpkin! I really like this platter and can probably polish the entire dish off as a main course! Even Jeffrey, who's not a very mediterranean-foodie, liked this so I guess it is pretty palatable!

That night, I chose to have the lagsana ($24), which filled me up very well! The portion may not look like much at first but the generous servings of cheese and mushrooms in the lagsana made the dish very filling! This dish is great for a hungry person like me but I would suggest sharing this with another person if you are not someone who can stomach a lot of cheese/ pasta!

Jeffrey ordered the sicilian pizza ($22), which was surprisingly flavourful even though there was no meat on it! We also thought that it was a good idea to sprinkle some vegetables on the pizza for more colour (and also to provide some fibre!).

We were very satisfied with our late dinner/ supper and we will definitely return for more vegetarian food! (: It's advisable to make a reservation if you are intending to visit Original Sin during dinner time, especially on weekends, because it can get slightly crowded. So far, we've always managed to get a table indoors, which is good because it's much cooler. I hope to continue visiting Original Sin from time to time to try new dishes! =)

Alright that's all for now (: Have a good rest-of-the-week!

House of Sundanese Restaurant

Hello!

The weekend went by faster than usual this week but I'd a good time while it lasted (: I need to get completely well asap so that I can go for my medical check up and immunization jabs and what not before going away for my first ever overseas CIP trip in early December! While I'm pretty excited about it, a little part of me can't help but worry when I try to imagine what the living conditions would be like. Whatever it is, I'll go there with an open mind and make the best out of the trip!

Anyhow, this post is kind of special because instead of posting photos that were taken using Jeffrey's trusty Nikkon camera, I'll be posting photos that were taken using his new handphone - the Palm Pre Plus. It's actually an old model that was released last year in the USA but never made it to Singapore. He had wanted to wait for it to come to Singapore but his current handphone started to become cranky so he had no choice but to buy one off ebay. From what I've observed so far, he's very pleased with his new gadget so that's good news (:

Sometime last week, a few days after Jeffrey received his new handphone in the mail, we went for an impromptu lunch date at a restaurant that we've never been to before - House of Sundanese. It was one of those days when Jeffrey was in a more experimental mood so he was game to try Indonesian food although I warned him that it can be slightly spicy.

Upon arrival, we were served with these plain tasting crackers and a little dish of chilli padi mixed with sweet sauce ($3). The plain crackers were a hit with Jeffrey! I prefer to dip them in a bit of sauce to give them some flavour though.

We looked through the menu and tried to order dishes that don't sound/ look too spicy since we are not sure whether we can take Indonesian-spiciness.

Each table had a little rice basket ($3.80). I think the given portion is just nice for two people but if you're feeling hungrier, you can always ask for more rice.

First dish was spring rolls ($4.80). Someone once said that you can never go wrong with fried stuff and it seems quite right! =) These spring rolls had more filling that the normal spring rolls so I reckon they're worth a try (:

When the waitress found out that we wanted to order fried chicken, she immediately recommended their signature BBQ Chicken ($5.80) instead because she said that we've ordered too many fried items! Jeffrey liked the chicken so I guess her recommendation was pretty sound (:

Our mandatory vegetable dish was sambal kangkong ($5.90), which had a unique taste because this dish was cooked using soy-base and that explains why it isn't as spicy as normal sambal kangkong dishes. This dish is ideal for beginning chilli eaters and for people who like sambal kangkong but cannot really handle the spiciness!

My favourite dish that day was the tahu telor ($6.80). It's basically tofu covered with egg and flour batter and fried till its exterior is golden and crispy! In my opinion, the sweet sauce and vegetable condiments that come with the tofu are as important as the fried tofu itself because they decide the flavour of the dish! I was pleased with House of Sundanese's version of tahu telor and I'll probably order this again the next time I visit.

Oh yes please believe them when they advise you not to order soft drinks in this restaurant becuase it's a complete rip-off! We ordered three glasses of drinks because we were particulary thirsty that day and here is the breakdown of costs: mixed barley and lime juice ($2.80), orange juice ($3.80) and coke ($3.80). I honestly didn't expect them to charge so much for coke! =( Stick to their mixed concotions or fresh fruit juices - they're more worth it anyway (:

On the whole, we liked the food we ate that day but we couldn't help but feel that the entire meal was slightly overpriced. Nevertheless, it was a good experience having Indonesian food together for the first time! We shall continue to work on our chilli-tolerance so that we can expand the range of food that we can eat in future!

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

Mezza9

Hello!

I've been slightly under the weather the past couple of days but I'm feeling much better today - no more body aches and no more incessant-sneezing so I can sit at my desk for a longer period to read emails and other material. Anyhow, I hope the week has been good for you so far (:

Since my school's staff dinner is going to be held at a hotel tomorrow, I decided to blog about my experience at one of the renowned hotel restaurants - Mezza9 at Grand Hyatt - that I had a few weeks ago!
Prior to my visit, I've never been to Mezza9 nor any other restaurant at the Grand Hyatt but Jeffrey had had dinner at Mezza9 with his colleagues before and he only had praises to sing about the food and ambience there, so I was pretty geared up to try their food!

Upon arrival, we were asked if we wanted to have some garlic bread ($6) while we flipped through their menu. The garlic bread on this plate looked slightly different from the usual garlic bread so we agreed to have some. Turns out that the garlic bread was doused with some curry flavouring, which explains the slightly brownish colour of the surface of the garlic bread. It was definitely something new and I thought that the curry flavour light and not too overwhelming - it was a nice pre-appetizer to have.

After looking through the menu, we decided to go for two two-course set meals ($29/ two course set meal) as we (or rather I) wanted to end off the meal with the highly recommended Mezza9 dessert platter! If we had chosen the three-course set meal, we wouldn't be able to change our dessert, hence we chose the former option.

For appetisers, we chose to have a plate of crispy spring rolls, which didn't really look like spring rolls and tasted pretty average

as well as green asparagus- tomato salad, red onions, spring onion, lemon dressing. We chose this particular vegetable dish over the usual caesar salad because we wanted to try something different and this proved to be a great choice! I love the zingy taste of the lemon dressing, which complemented the fresh vegetables superbly well! =) I'm not a fan of tomatoes but these baby tomatoes were sweeter than usual and they were a delight to eat!

For our first main courses, we chose to have assorted sushi rolls, which on hindsight, isn't the best choice because the sushi weren't good! I think we should have chosen two interesting sounding/ fusion-looking type of dishes, especially since Mezza9 is famous for their fusion food.

Thankfully, the second main course - rotisserie chicken, mixed vegetables, mashed potatoes - was much better! Jeffrey loved the well-marinated chicken and I adored their mashed potato! The green vegetables were also very sauteed! This dish was a winner for both of us.

Finally, we were served the famous Mezza9 dessert plate ($36) which consists of (from left to right), a lemon-custart tart, cherries soaked in some kind of alcohol, chocolate fondant cake, 3 scoops of icecream (pistachio, vanilla and sorbet). I literally squealed in glee when I saw this boat of a dessert platter because I'd not expect such well-thought out combination of items to thrill and delight my tastebuds. Because they each have a different taste, I don't think there's a 'best' amongst them - it really depends on what you like!

In short, Mezza9 lived up to my expectations of serving fine and exquisite fusion food at relatively affordable prices (only because we went during lunch time!). Service provided is top-notch and the ambience is relaxed and lovely. I wouldn't mind going back to try their dinner menu but I think we'll probably only do that if we're feeling particularly rich/ indulgent.

Okay that's all for now (: Have a good weekend ahead!

La Villa

Hello!

How's your long weekend coming along? Mine's been pretty good so far though I must admit that I've been experiencing moments of deja-vu, which can be quite unnerving but other than that, life's quite good (: One thing that I hope for is for my mind to take a break when I'm sleeping because I keep having tiring dreams of late! Am slightly annoyed by it because I wake up feeling as if I hadn't had a proper rest. Brr. Hopefully I'll sleep well tonight, especially since the weather's cool and nice!

Today, I'll share my experience at La Villa, an Italian restaurant situated along River Valley Road, which Jeffrey and I went to not too long ago.

La Villa is situated at the corner of a building but it isn't entirely unnoticeable because it occupies a rather large area and there is a big balloon with the words "La Villa" outside the restaurant to let people know where to find the restaurant.

One thing that I really like about La Villa is its family-friendly setting. Not only did the interior of La Villa feel homely, the outdoor play area for kids definitely helped to transform the seemingly run-of-the-mill restaurant into a unique, dine-and-play restaurant! There was a small bouncy-pen that kids can jump on as well as electric mobile vehicles that kids can ride on! Cool! (: I think I'd want to go back to La Villa at night in future so that I can dine al fresco in their outdoor area next to their garden of fun!

A basket containing an assortment of bread and pitas was served almost immediately after we were seated. Jeffrey loved the pitas while I liked the plain, warm bread roll.

For starters, we ordered an antipasto platter ($24) to share. I'm starting to realise that I am quite fond of appetizer/ starter platters because there's usually a spread of food with contrasting flavours to satisfy the curious tastebuds! As you can see from the picture, this antipasto platter will probably sit very well with meat lovers so if you are interested in sampling different types of meat, this is the platter to order!

For my mains, I chose to have the cod fish with asparagus ($28), which is something different for me since I usually go for the signature pasta/ pizza dishes whenever I dine at Italian restaurants. This proved to be an excellent move because the cod fish was done to perfection! I loved how soft and juicy the cod fish tasted and I especially liked the freshness of the entire dish! Would definitely order this again when I go back!

Jeffrey chose to have hawaiian pizza ($22), which was pretty average so there isn't anything to rave about. Their pizzas have thin crusts so I think it's possible for one person to finish the entire pizza on his/ her own. But of course if you're not big eaters like us, then you'd probably want to share your pizza with your dining companion.

To end off our meal, we shared a Tortino ($15), which is essentially chocolate lava cake with a scoop of vanilla icecream. As with all chocolate lava cakes, this also took 20minutes to be served. While the dessert was good, I didn't think it was out of this world. Perhaps I would have felt slightly more contented if the portion were a teeny bit larger but objectively speaking, it was above average.

La Villa is the perfect place for family gatherings or chill-out meals with friends (: I would certainly love to visit it again in the near future.

Have a good Sunday everyone! (:

Greenwood Fish Market

Hello (:

Since this week's a four-day week, I reckon it's time to post my usual mid-week blog entry! =) I think I've reviewed this particular restaurant before but it doesn't harm to revisit good restaurants and try out new dishes!

A few weeks ago, my family and I trooped down to Greenwood Fish Market for dinner! We were given an "outdoor table", which was fine with me but the rest of my dining companions complained that it was too warm halfway through the meal! I would highly recommend that you opt for indoor seating if possible because there are limited fans outdoors and you'll most probably feel very warm after a while.

Thankfully, the food that we ordered that night was pretty good so that helped to lift our moods a little and it made sitting outdoors slightly more bearable (:

If you don't know what to order at Greenwood Fish Market, their House Fish & Chips ($18.95) is always a safe option (: I absolutely love their fat straightcut fries! Their battered fish fillet was also slightly above average and Gumtoo ate it without much complaints.

If you want something light, then perhaps you can go for the spaghetti aglio olio ($16.95), which was perfectly done - not too spicy, not too bland. My sisters appeared to like it a lot because they finished this dish quite quickly!

Alternatively, you may also want to try the spaghetti vongole ($20.95), which had a very palatable and light sauce. It's a dish that you can probably finish on your own since you probably won't get sick of the sauce. Clam lovers will also like the fact that this dish comes with a generous serving of clams!

Next comes the highlight of our dinner: hot seafood platter ($89) for sharing! To be honest we didn't expect the seafood platter to be so big but we received it with glee (: Because the plate was simply too long, we couldn't take a photo of the entitre seafood platter (without standing up) so we split it up into three shots:

There were two fish and vegetable skewers, oysters, lobster, crab...

Squid on greens, clams with nice vongole sauce, buttered king prawns...

Fried calamari and baby scallops in chilli sauce.

I really liked the range of seafood on this seafood platter and I felt that it was worth its relatively hefty-looking price tag! This platter is excellent for sharing and seafood lovers will probably bond well over this splendid spread of food!

Although I was pretty impressed with the quality of seafood/ main dishes served at Greenwood Fish Market, I've to say that their desserts left much to be desired.

Their warm apple crumble ($8.95) was neither warm nor was it crumbly. In fact, it was so hard that chunks of the crust fell off upon cutting! The apple slices weren't particularly nice as well =( In fact, the 'best' thing about this dessert was probably its mediocre scoop of vanilla icecream.

The same can be said for their brownie with icecream ($8.95). My sister gave up eating this rock-of-a-brownie halfway because it was simpy too hard! I felt quite sorry for her because it was painful seeing her struggle to eat her dessert... desserts are meant to be enjoyed! =(

On the whole, I think Greenwood Fish Market is a slightly more expensive alternative to other western restaurants serving seafood like Fish & Co and Manhattan Fish Market but the higher prices are somewhat justified by its apparent authenticity/ less run-of-the-mill type of dishes. Nevertheless, I wish that the quality of their desserts will improve so that I can enjoy a meal complete with my favourite course (desserts!) without having second thoughts about whether I should take the risk in ordering it.

Okay that's all for now! (: Time for bed! Goodnight!