Don Quijote Weekend Brunch Buffet

Hello!

Semester 1 is officially over! Phew. This sem seemed extremely long and it was probably so because of an 'extra' week of school at the start of the year. I'm quite sure we all deserve a good break this June (: Though I still have to go back to school next week (and the last week of June hols), I'm thankful that I can sleep a little later than usual and need not wake up before day breaks every single day! Poof.

This semester is slightly different from the others because I actually have a few friends-cum-colleagues leaving our school for other places and till now, I'm not quite sure how to process the information. My mind knows that they are leaving yet I don't feel anything about it.. not for now anyway. I hope that I will somehow/ slowly accept their departure rather than it being a slap in the face when reality hits.

Anyhow, I told them about my trip to Don Quijote last weekend and they were quite keen to make a trip to this place for our farewell meal.

Matty and I went for the free flow juices & soft drinks brunch buffet, which costs about  $36++/pax (the total sum will come up to about $42/pax). There were so many dishes on the menu and I think we only managed to try half of them because we couldn't possibly have tried so many dishes anyway! This only means that we should make a trip down again some day to try out the other dishes (or perhaps the entire spread!) with our friends.

We started off with warm bread rolls with some butter and they were perfect because we were starving!

I had sprite and he had orange juice and I was overjoyed that I didn't have to pay extra for sprite! (: Woot!

Sopas

Gazpacho - Cold vegetable soup. This wasn't my favourite soup because I generally dislike cold soup, but for what it is worth, it was pretty easy to drink so it shouldn't be too difficult to take in. 

Crema de Calabaza y Puerros - Cream of pumpkin and leek. I loved this bowl of warm, hearty soup! I realised that I love thick pumpkin soup and Don Quijote's managed to hit the mark! Would have this again the next time I go back! 

Tapas

Aguacate con Cangrejo - Crab, scallop and avocado meats, made into a dip. This was quite a light dish and it would be perfect for sharing when there are more people. 

Calamares Fritos - Fried battered squid, served with house sauce. Fried to perfection and they complemented the 'house sauce' perfectly! Wonderful combination! 

 Alitas de Pollo al Ajillo con Salsa Picante - Chicken wings in garlic-and-chilli-sauce. Matty said that the chilli sauce is spicy so those who can't take spicy food, please avoid this dish!

Gambas al Ajillo - Garlic fried shrimp. This was actually very nicely cooked - the garlic made the prawns very fragrant! (: Best eaten warm.

Revuelto de Esparragos y Gambas - Scrambled eggs with asparagus and shrimp. This wasn't very nice actually because I don't like my scrambled eggs to be too 'wet' and mushy. The taste wasn't very distinctive or memorable. 

Setas al Ajillo - Garlic fried mushrooms. These were perfect too (: Just enough for two people to share. 

Rollitos de Esparragos y Beicon - Asparagus rolled in bacon. I didn't try this but Matty said these were 'super good'! haha I guess bacon lovers will definitely have this! I know that my siblings will love this (: 

Pastas 

Pasta con Ternera y Setas en Salsa de Nata - Beef and mushroom pasta in cream sauce. A tad too heavy for my liking and I tried very hard to finish eating this (thankfully I did!) but I think this dish is best served when there are 3 or more people at the table.

 Postres 

Pudin de Pan y Mantequilla - Bread and butter pudding. Not the best bread & butter pudding that I've had but this was good enough! (: Even Matty, who is not a bread & butter pudding fan, complimented this dish so it is worth trying!  

 Pastel de Naranja y Queso - Orange cheesecake. This gave a good balance to the bread & butter pudding as this is slightly denser and richer, yet at the same time I think the orange bits made a difference as the cheese cake didn't taste overly cheesy. 

All in all, the meal was extremely satisfying and the cherry on top of the cake is that the restaurant wasn't very crowded at 1.45pm on a Sunday afternoon. I am looking forward to checking into this restaurant earlier next time so that we can have more time talking to each other without fearing that we will have to shout over our voices.

Alright I am dead beat. Shall retire to bed now. Goodnight & happy holidays! (:

My Little Spanish Place

Hello everyone!

It was scorching today and so to avoid the heat, I spent most of my afternoon indoors in bed, getting back my rest after a week of late days and now I'm feeling great! (:

Before I scoot off for dinner, I thought I'd do a quick post on My Little Spanish Place, which I'm thankful is still around today! (: I was afraid that it might close down because not many people frequent this lovely small restaurant but I guess my fears were unfounded.

Matty and I visited My Little Spanish Place just after Christmas, just before the start of 2013, and it was still beautifully decorated with Christmas lights (: The walls were coloured orange and I think that warm colour, along with the rest of the wooden furniture, helped to give the place a very cosy feel. 

Since we were at a Spanish place, we thought to try their White Wine Sangria ($12) and Red Wine Sangria ($12) [pardon the slight dip in volume for the red wine sangria - it came first and hence we tried it before this photo was taken!]. Both were refreshing and light and deceptively impotent because I broke out in rash after this =( I shall not attempt to fool my body in future because it reacts badly to alcohol =( But I think these two drinks were worth trying because they were sweet and did not contain strong alcoholic smell. 

We started off by having bread with spreads ($5). We chose to have garlic mayo and chopped olives and I think the chopped olives were slightly better tasting because I personally don't like mayo very much. The bread wasn't as warm as I thought it should be but the slices were chewy and gave a nice bite so I didn't mind a lot (:

 The tortilla de patata con alioli ($7) was one of my favourite dishes! I like how compacted the potatoes were and how there were little bits of vegetables included in the potato 'paste'. It was flavourful!

The other favourite dish would be the champinones al ajillo ($15), which are stacked grilled mushrooms with melted cheese on a small slice of bread and this was HEAVENLY! (: The mushrooms were succulent and juicy and there was just enough cheese to spread on all three mushrooms to give it added flavour. I loved this dish! Beware of the latent heat in the mushroom though! You might scald your tongue if you aren't careful.

This was perhaps the most disappointing and most not-worth-it dish of the day: Pimentos ($7), which are grilled cherry pepper slices on bread. The cherry peper slices were soft and cold and the bread was equally cold =( I felt disappointed because I was looking forward to warm toasts with nicely grilled veggies! I guess now I know better and I shall not order this dish again in future.

The calamares caramelised onions ($19), was splendid! (: It was cooked to perfection because every slice was nicely cooked and they weren't rubbery or hard. I think the marinate was the thing that gave it the 'kick'. Yummy!

We couldn't resist ordering one dessert to share though we were already quite stuffed from having the spread above so we had the crema catalana ($7), which tasted a bit like creme brulee with a tad more custard. It was an unexpectedly nice touch to end the meal and I totally recommend having this even though I'm not a big creme brulee fan (: You won't regret it!

Alright that's all for now (: Hope to update again soon! (: Have a good weekend! (: Bye bye!

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! (:

Bodega Y Tapas

Hello everyone (:

It's another cool and comfortable Friday afternoon (: Jade & I left school early to come home to lunch & rest because we've both had quite a long week! Am glad that I managed to survive the two longest Thursdays of the year without much difficulty! Just need to catch up on sleep if possible during the weekend.  

Today I shall blog about Bodega Y Tapas, which is located at Orchard Hotel. I wanted to go to this restaurant because my friend in school highly recommended their tapas and he said that this restaurant serves the best tapas in Singapore!

We went to Bodega Y Tapas for lunch on a Saturday afternoon and thankfully the restaurant wasn't very crowded. I loved the interior decor of the restaurant because there were splashes of bright colours everywhere and the place looked vibrant and welcoming! It does help their walls are nicely painted as well:

We chose to sit indoors and we managed to get ourselves a bright red high table! Just by looking at the table setting, I think one is able to tell that this is a tapas restaurant (just in case you don't know, you should be looking at the tooth-pick like things which you can use to poke your tapas!)

Table setting at Bodega Y Tapas

 This was their special traditional lunch set menu and both of us decided to get a set each! Each set costs about $35++ and it comes 3 types of tapas and a complimentary shot of alcohol (which I absolutely didn't like but more on that later).

 Jeffrey ordered a lime margarita ($6.80) since it was on offer and it tasted pretty good! Nothing too bitter or too strong.

 I ordered sprite as usual ($5) - I love how the glass is ribbed as it makes it easier for holding!

There were six tapas choices so naturally, we decided to get one of each since we could choose six:

 Cold cod fish salad with orange strips and some vegetables - this was one of the rare salads that I've ever eaten and I was very grateful that it tasted good so I didn't develop an aversion to fish-salads!

 Meatballs in stew with bread. Jeffrey loved the meatballs so he didn't have problems finishing them all! I shared the bread slices with him - they're quite tasty when you dip the bread into the sauce!

 Squid-ink squid! I think this was my least favourite dish partially because I am not used to eating relatively large/ whole parts of squid (the squid that I usually eat have already been sliced into rings) so I felt slightly weird having to eat such large pieces of squid! But to be fair, the squid ink tasted authentic and I think people who like squids should order this!

 Perhaps our favourite Spanish dish by far probably because it resembles fried/ scrambled eggs and it is tasty! If you are a conservative eater, please go ahead and order this!

 One of the best dishes that day: prawns drenched in olive tree and spice. The prawns were extremely warm and tender and the flavouring was stronger than usual, which made it nice to taste and eat.

 Last but not least, there's aspaaragus soup with one poached egg and bacon. The soup was quite delicious though I felt that they could have served this at the start of the meal?

 Finally, a picture of the infamous shot of alcohol (which smells like mouth wash/ listerine)  that was served to us =( I know better than to accept this complimentary drink in future!

Because the complimentary drink was so repulsive, we'd to order a tiramisu ($10) to wash down the horrible taste as well as to give our meal a proper ending. I think this tiramisu is slightly above average and the thing that I like most about is its presentation! (: It looks as if I've to dig into an earthen jar just to have some tiramisu!

I would agree that Bodega Y Tapas serves good quality tapas at reasonable prices so if you ever are in a mood for something exotic, please visit this restaurant to get your tastebuds a good pampering!

Alright that's all for now. Have a good weekend everyone! (: