Birthday Treat @ Au Chocolat

With absolutely no plan in mind.

No destination considered.

We hopped onto a train and headed towards the city.

Tapas perhaps?

Two hungry people.

Probably not.

Oh it's about to rain.

Let's just do something indoors and sheltered from the rain.

How about MBS then.

Au Chocolat?

Dinner.

Let's go!

Oh.

A store!

Selling a selection of sweets and treats, a takeaway gelato counter and their adorable mascot.

And chocolate of course!

Truffles.

With generous dustings of cocoa powder.

Train tracks! But there weren't any trains running.

It reminded me of the Macdonalds at the old King Albert Park.

There was an old world charm in the theme of their decorations.

With clocks that displayed different timings.

I didn't pay close attention.

Might've been local and one other time zone?

What should we have for dinner?

Signatures of course.

Duck confit with mash, carrots and poached pears with creamed spinach.

Deep fried instead of pan fried for a confit made it drier than it would've ideally been.

But fork tender and satisfyingly crisp on the outside.

My girlfriend was extremely pleased with the order.

It's the first time I've seen her wipe her plate clean!

Calamari Rings with their special green sauce.

Just looks like tartar with chives perhaps? 

I actually made an order for a chicken mushroom crepe and side of truffle fries.

Till...

My google page decided to load itself.

And the reviews appeared in front of me.

From a few websites.

"Can you check on my order. I'd like to make a switch from crepe to burger, fries to calamari. Since I already have fries on the side."

"Sorry mam, it's already been cooked."

"Well. Would someone else possibly order what I just did?"

"Let me check again."

"Okay. I've voided it and put in your new order."

"Thank you. SO much." :)

I enjoyed it.

We both did. 

She could eat the bacon and portobello mushroom and fries even though she didn't take beef.

MMmmm. 

This is our bestseller for 2012.

The Praline.

It wasn't a top choice for me honestly.

I wanted a chocolate tart.

Or maybe an apple pie.

Hmm.

And just to balance out the sweetness.

We chose a tart White chocolate raspberry cheesecake.

I could taste the white chocolate.

Which was a definite plus.

And the raspberry swirls were refreshingly tart.

But the base?

Soggy and insignificant.

Must've been kept for a bit.

We were stuffed.

But Friday night hey.

We had to be out for some drinks.

Let's do Coast on the MBS Boardwalk.

Lychee mojito.

Upsized.

At $17.

And Australian chillax bar.

They've got support from the Aussie community.

So much so that there's a private dining area located in a level below inside the bar.

How privileged mate!

These might actually be refried.

And full on FAT.

But let's just do it with the works.

Tomato, thai chilli sauce and garlic aioli.

We had additional pots of these sauces.

Deliciously addictive.

And at $9,

decently satisfying portions.

It was a crazy Friday night out with girlfriends.

Thanks for the birthday treat.

Much <3 ed="ed" hey.="hey." p="p">

BURP. 

*hugs :)

Swensen's @ Nex for good food and even better company.

Loads to share.

Fried prawn wantons.

Crispy and full on juicy prawn and minced meat fillings.

Deep fried button mushrooms.

That gritty batter I cannot decide to love or hate.

It's yummy but also gets caught in the most awkward places in my teeth.

Le sigh.

Fish fillet with Apricot Mayo.

Crispy batter and pretty strong tasting apricot mayo. :)

Fruity.

Almost makes one wants to skip dessert.

Classic fish and chips.

Crumbs and bread battered.

Old school yum.

And that piquant tartar sauce just makes me want more!

Meatball bolognaise.

Oh I would love you more if the pasta was not so overcooked till soft.

Ample sauce and baked cheese topping.

Can I also have more meatballs please?

And that's for ONE hungry boy.

Mega burger.ed.

Without addition of vegetables.

*shakes head.

Fried egg.

Cheese slice.

Chicken ham.

Turkey/ Beef bacon

Beef patty

Ham

And bacon.

STACKED meat.

Eat your meats.

Food's always the same at this old school American joint that's less contrived than Billy Bombers.

But the company that we keep is always awesome. :)

Restaurant Week Singapore 2012

A week long gastronomic affair with over 100 participating restaurants offering lunch and dinner at $25*+++ and $35*+++ respectively for this week only.

Organised by diningcity.com, they have an online booking system where reservations, changes and cancellations are to be done solely online.

For every booking made, there'll be a reservation code generated and sent to your email inbox.

A few days prior to your reservation, an email reminder would be automatically sent.

Cancellations made within 24 hours may be liable for a cancellation charge imposed by the restaurant.

That's only fair since they would be preparing ingredients for the special restaurant week menu offered during this period.

Dummy's guide to the online system unnecessary. :)

Nestled behind Jumbo with ample parking space.

Hello Roadhouse.

Their normal daily menu at the restaurant side with indoor seating.

White washed walls,

minimalist but their cosy lighting and cushioned seats along the side of the wall gives a sense of indiscriminate comfort.

Just across from them you'd find Hacienda, their bar and bistro side with chill out style alfresco seating.

That's also where the washrooms are located.

Special menu for the $35+++ dinner for restaurant week.

It was easy.

Two of us and two choices of each.

We'll have everything on the menu please.

This was the first dish to arrive and look at that beauty. :)

Bacon rind is a perfectly edible ziplock for juices.

My case in point.

The juicy chicken encased within crisp bacon rind.

The bit of green jalepenos did wonders to open up an appetite and reduce the effects of sticky sweet honey glaze.

Prawn tostadas.

This was a mouthful of flavours.

The sweetness and light heat of the mango salsa, creamy guacamole and diced prawn with crunch with a melted topping of strong gorgonzola cheese

on a lightly toasted soft tortilla triangle.

Once you pop, you can't stop.

Seated by the windows,

you watch as the darkness of night slowly creeps up on you.

A perfect night out for a slow dinner to be enjoyed.

Why people would chop up wagyu to be used in a patty I fail to comprehend.

170g was the size of a toddler's fist.

For what it lacked in width, it made up in height.

The green apple slices were smothered to death by cinnamon powder, it left a terribly bitter aftertaste that marred the entire eating experience.

The caramelized onions were a caramel color but it did not have the sweet charred taste I was expecting.

Now the thing that me about these tiny gourmet burgers is that they are too tall and too small to be taken in both hands in eaten heartily.

So I was of course, resigned to using the utensils and attempting to deconstruct and eat it with pairings of whichever portions dependent on what can be speared together.

But those fries were a treat.

Tossed in truffle oil?

Crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside.

For a moment I forgot about my first love for soggy fries. :)

Mayonnaise and chilli in squeeze bottles.

Yum!

The use of an artificial light from a Galaxy SII with an unccoperative light crew.

He was suitably embarrassed holding onto the flash light in the cosy restaurant only indulging me in my pictorials because he wouldn't be able to touch this plate otherwise.

Then I realised perhaps my SIII's camera flash would suffice.

The mushrooms were full on with their earthy woody taste.

It overpowered the taste of the steak.

We asked for a medium but it was almost well done but we were too hungry to bother.

This was an ample grammage of meat for a hungry man.

Thick cut and full on juices.

It might have been the comparison with the wagyu beef patty but this was lacking in that beefy taste a carnivore would be looking for.

Sticky date pudding served warm and topped with a generous helping of walnuts covered in butterscotch sauce and a side of vanilla ice cream.

I knew I love you before I sank my spoon into you already.

The vanilla ice cream evident with speckles of vanilla bean in the picture was a disappointment since it did not taste redolent of its essence.

valrhona caramelia chocolate mousse
when served together with the sticky date pudding,

this looked like a sad piece of cake.

and it was.

it didn't live up to its name.

While the chocolate sponge was good,

that which was called a mousse...

tasted like salted caramel which would not be bad thing save for the oily aftertaste left lingering in your mouth.

More misses than hits.

But the service was good. Attentive waitstaff made sure the plates were cleared and water continuously refilled without being intrusive.

Still a good venue for dinner.

But perhaps let's just stick with the regular menu options.

This was a first time participation for Roadhouse in Restaurant Week so I hope they'll work on the menu hey.

Aston's @ Centrepoint

Sizing up the competition.

Pick on someone your own size!

Sadly though, the patty wasn't anywhere near deliciously juicy, the thoughts I was envisioning as I took a bite of this sans huge blooming onion layer.

This was minced beef that was dry and tough to swallow. It didn't have much taste on its own and was made superbly salty by the bacon, cheese and was it barbecue sauce?

This definitely needed the burger buns to counteract the salt levels.

No complaints on the onion though. It reminded me of the blooming onion at Outback. Fried to a crisp on the outside, sweet albeit oil soaked onion pieces encased within. Ask for sour cream to go along with this. Oh yum!

Quantity assured for price but lacking in the quality department.

And the chicken saves the day! Wonderfully marinated.

Provencale spices and herbs infused into this tender piece of chicken breast, skin-on and pan fried. The meat was kept juicy by the fats within the skin.

Served atop my choice of mash and side of baked potato.

For some reason, there wasn't enough chicken to satiate me. Perhaps, it was just too good I wanted more. :)

The other girls had steak that they all thought was good. Nothing fantastic but good. The beer battered fish and chips were a generous portion save for the sides but the batter was uninspiring and quoted as no taste of beer nor the kind of crisp fluff that was supposed to have been due to the action of beer added into the batter.

Prices are inclusive of GST and there's no service charge. Even then, the service staff are always ready with a smile and water is topped up automatically. I am impressed. :)

Even better. They take reservations!

For the birthday of two lovely ladies (kids?) in our group of girlfriends, these were a box of four colourful cupcakes from Designer Bakes, $21 for 4 cupcakes.

And apologetically, this was good to look, terrible to eat.

Thick unyielding fondant that tasted like a mix of marzipan and sickly sweet sugar with loads of colouring.

The cupcake was dry with a dollop of vanilla buttercream/ chocolate cream depending on the flavour of the cupcake. Even a prepacked Sunshine muffin tastes better than this.

Just look.

Take some pictures.

Blow the candles.

Slice it up if you'd like. 

And order dessert somewhere else.

For girls that have been around for more than half my life.

<3

Ntuc BigPlus! Deals

Justa Burger. Not a set. JUSTA Burger.

Usual price $6, with the special QR code? $3.80. :)

This was a larger than normal meat patty, 100% meat and they've managed to retain the juiciness within.
It didn't have a strong flavour of beef which may or may not be a good thing depending on the individual.
A slice of tomato, a lettuce leaf and some chopped onions for that added fresh crunch (I do wish they had options for extra vegetables).
This was a burger vastly different from those served up at your regular fastfood outlets.
I liked it. :)

But this definitely wasn't a proper meal.
Here in Singapore, we've all been spoilt silly by the set meals with added options of sides usually included in the prices.

And never have I felt such a deep sense of loss without fries, potato salad, coleslaw. Maybe even a tiny excuse of a house salad with a few leaves?

And after all that hullabaloo of an emotional rollercoaster ride,

let's just put in an order of medium spicy fries, shall we? :)

This was probably the size of a regular sized side Botak Jones used to serve till they realised that many were leaving those fries behind due to the large serving sizes (oh why oh why!) so to prevent unnecessary food wastage, they adjusted the servings accordingly.

In any case,

the deal has since ended

http://plus.bigdeal.sg/Botak-jones-justa-burger.html/c=maillist&date=2012-02-17&secode=6c5f65abe353bbd6ccc9a0c4a1e514e9

but perhaps, due to popular demand, it might return? :)

A cosy lunch in a quiet coffeeshop on a Saturday afternoon post-swim.

To more weekends like this. :)

Where it's at!

Botak Jones (Non-halal)

Blk 181, Ang Mo Kio Avenue 5

S 560181

delicious @ scotts square

With seven outlets in KL and Penang enjoying homegrown success,

this flagship outlet at Scotts Square in Singapore is the Eastern & Oriental Berhad Group's

first foray of its Delicious cafe into our shores.

The glass enclosed cafe with their robin's blue egg colored namesake sports a brick front facade.

It offers a contemporary dining atmosphere in a soothing turquoise and white themed interior with added quirks like birdcages and stylised trees. Very much like how their cafes are styled in Malaysia.

The menu has an East West fusion that give diners a wide range of choices at affordable prices. We are talking about deep dish pizzas to pastas and local delights like their famous Nasi Kerabu.

A hearty offering of grilled chicken covered with red curry, this savoury dish will leave you wanting more. :) And unfortunately, seems as if it's the -only- reason for a return visit, if ever.

This seriously delicious cheeseburger was seriously generous but definitely not as delicious as its namesake. It looked like an awesome choice. With fresh greens, a thick patty covered with melted cheese slice, side salad and fries. However, the beef patty was dry and tasted more of panko than actual minced beef which would account for its lack of juicy bite. The onion relish was well done but too little for my liking. The house dressing would have been better off served at the side. The shoestring fries were a good accompaniment for munchers, especially when the patty would probably be left unfinished. Hmm.

Now I havent had a terrible carrot cake yet. But this just about takes the cake (pun totally intended).

The cream cheese icing was heavy on butter which has a very oily aftertaste.

The cake was crumbly and way too dry.

This was a disappointment and not my sweet ending.

This sticky date pudding was served warm, separate from the vanilla ice cream and the thick, dense caramel sauce. The ice cream was in first sight, definitely one off the supermarket shelves and leaves me little to speak off. The sticky date pudding was served warm in a ramekin. There were no pieces of dates but probably minced and mixed into the batter. I'd much prefer pieces of dates for that extra bite. The caramel sauce was thick, a little too much for our palates. This was sticky indeed and overly sweet.

The atmosphere was brilliant. Quiet with ample seating in a relaxed atmosphere. But if the standards of their food and cake offerings continue as such, it'll only remain a novelty and will no see repeats in customer visits. At least not for me. Perhaps only for the nasi kerabu though. :) I do hope to see the delicious cafe see through their aim of another two new outlets in Singapore living up to the delicious standards of their namesake.

Antoinette- C'est une affaire de femme

The idea of scones and a pot of tea were what I grew up with, but only found in Enid Blyton books.

It isn't a retro rewind but what I'd personally see as a reprieve of the industrial revolution in the subtlest sense. This Parisian style pâtisserie, salon de thé (tea room) and restaurant does well in recreating the exquisite high tea experience of the French and has clearly distinguished itself from the competition with its elaborate doneness.

There are places for high tea and then there is Antoinette.

This 26 seater was a cozy affair indeed with midnight blue velvet plush seats that make it a perfect venue for a tête-à-tête. There's even a fake fireplace that sits in a corner of the restaurant. Be prepared to wait if you're visiting in more than two. And wait you shall, because who would bear to leave the comforts of the chair and the charmingly muted shades of gold and pastel blue?

This colorful repertoire of Parisian style desserts was just too painful for one as indecisive as I. And there were familiar favourites from Chef's Pang's creations as the former executive pastry chef at the Les Amis Group's Canele. Decisions decisions. Sometimes a man does come in handy. A quick text to a friend and his immediate reply to check out the chocolate desserts helped me cut to the chase and settle on one. Yes, just one. The interior may be excessive but my head was screwed on tight and it told me that my stomach was most definitely not in excess of itself in capacity. :)

Choosing a burger was easier than I thought it would be. Just base it on your choice of meat. :)

We're beefing it up with the Burger Royale. Pretty chargrilled lines that show up on the brioche give it a crisp exterior while maintaining that fluffiness of bread. How did they do that? The aged cheddar was beautifully melted over the thick juicy patty of beef packed full of juicy flavour in each bite.

Watch the juice when you slice into it.

And that's because I haven't seen anyone eat with hands here. There's a certain je nai sais quoi about this place that heightens one's awareness of social graces and table ettiquette.

The tomato relish left a refreshingly clean aftertaste on the palate unlike ketchup. And no, you do not need to ask for sauce. There's enough of all that in the burger for you to want to protect that lovely original mix of flavours.

The petit salad was simply dressed with balsamic vinegar and although I'd have preferred potato wedges/ chips, these crisps served at the side were the thick handcooked variety a la Kettle Chips and are apparently imported from France. Now these, you can use your hands. Don't try spearing these with forks.

Half a serving of this was more substantial than I thought. It might've been because of our choice of beef?

But I could see how this would cater to the men who visit.

The Antoinette ($9) was a layered cake of earl grey-infused milk chocolate mousse, dark chocolate earl grey tea cremeux, earl grey tea crumble and chocolate biscuit. And a ‘bubble’ of raspberry coulis sat atop this beautiful chocolate confection.

Not normally as how the chocolate overtakes every other flavour, the earl grey was distinct in taste and fragrance, giving a slight bitterness that did well to balance out the sweetness of milk chocolate and the tart sourness of the raspberry coulis bubble when burst. Don't greedily pop that into your mouth. You'd be looking like a lemon for a bit. Take a forkful deeper within to cut into the brittle biscuit texture of the hazelnut feullitine which contrasts beautifully with the softness of the mousse. You'll be hardpressed to leave any morsel of this dessert behind. And if you were thinking about it, you really shouldn't be caught licking the plate at this place.

This was more than just a tea patisserie where my expectations were only limited to dainty treats that would hardly line the stomach but here at Antoinette, I've been surprised with well-executed and substantial dishes for more than just a spot of tea, perhaps even a dining place for full meals. The men would be well fed with the food, never mind the interiors that were obviously meant for a feminine affair.

While its ostentatious, over the top furnishings and that check presented in a silver jewel box (!) were a little too much for me to handle at first, I'll soon be back for more. Perhaps at the other outlets next time and well prepared to pay some rather dear prices.

And just a random bit of information, Antoinette is part of the Sugar Daddy Group which also owns and operates American-style bakery Pique Nique at Ngee Ann City. This I walked past on my way to Mandarin Gallery and their pricings were equally extravagant. You're definitely needing a sugar daddy for this if you were making visits on a daily basis.

Antoinette, 333A Orchard Road, Mandarin Gallery, #02-33/34,

+65 6836 9527 

http://www.antoinette.com.sg/