Dinner at Black Sheep Cafe

Had a celebratory dinner at The Black Sheep Cafe in celebration for a good year at work a few weeks back and it was a great evening! There were some hits and misses and we spent about SGD 120 for two. It is a little pricey given the small serving but overall we had a great meal and great fun.

#B1-30, Thomson V Two
11 Sin Ming Road
575629 Singapore

Tel: 6459 5373 (They accept reservation!)

The Black Sheep Cafe was previously located at Mayo Street (near to Little India) and was closed for a while before making a comeback a few months back! When we were there, there were many loyal customers and fans, and the chef came out to chat with their regulars after serving their meals.

Here are some of my reviews on the food served that evening. Other than their food, I love their service! As we were pretty early on a Friday evening and we were their first customer for the evening, the Chef made an exception to serve us their popular Flourless Chocolate Fondant served with Vanilla Ice Cream which was not in their menu! They have a very limited selection in their food menu but there were some great ones in there!

We love their starters, especially the baked brie!

Complimentary warm bread with butter! Yummy! Really good! We almost ask for a second serving!

Baked Brie with Pistachio Crust, Citrus Fruit Salsa (SGD 16). This is really good. I love brie and baking them with pistachio crust is pure perfection! Definitely a hit!

Lobster Bisque laced with Cognac (SGD 16). This is good too, soupy and not too thick, too bad that it is so tiny!

Lamb Rack (SGD 36). This is really really good and very tender but it was so tiny that we polish it off quickly!

Duck Confit on Apple Rosti and Mango Relish. The rosti was fantastic, the mango relish has a little Indian style to it but the duck confit was a little disappointing. It wasn’t as crispy as I would have expected and the meat is too tough and dry. Had better ones before.

Flourless Chocolate Fondant serve with Vanilla Ice Cream (can’t remember the price as it was off the menu). It is good with chocolate oozing out, vanilla ice cream was yummy too with vanilla beans spotted in there.

Kahlau Souffle with Double Chocolate Ice cream (SGD 14). I’ve never tried souffle before and thought this was interesting but I realized I’m not a fan of gooey fluffy desserts. But the Kahlau was nice. Haha.

Lazy Sunday Afternoon at Sentosa Cove, Singapore

A few weekends back, I met up with my university friends at Sentosa Cove for some catching up, lazy lunch and afternoon tea. It was a great time out! Sentosa Cove is the playground of the rich and expats and for once, it is not crowded! We went to Brussels Sprouts for lunch and Kith for some cakes!

At Brussels Sprouts, their most popular dish is their mussels. Their mussels come with free flow of Belgium Fries (thick fries) and their starter size is just right for a lady. I find their mussels a little small though but their sauce is yummilicious.

I ordered their Starter Mussels in Fromage Bleu (SGD 20) and love it! Blue cheese, mushroom and bamboo shoots. Would love it even more if the taste of the blue cheese is a little stronger.

The boys ordered their Ostendaise sauce and it was a heavenly broth cooked from a concoction of fish stock, shrimp and lobster bisque.

Qian ordered Chorizo with Clams and I love the Chorizo with Paprika!

Ian ordered their Fish & Chips and it was “bah” (self define as an expression of moderation close to boredom).

Cat’s fish – cod and mussels – (haha the irony) wasn’t too bad but the portion is tiny for the price at SGD 34.

Val’s baked crab meat was interesting, SGD 28. Haha.

Brussels Sprouts is really family friendly too! Colin kidnaped his friend’s kid from another restaurant and apparently on all weekends and public holidays, kids below 10 eat free! So the little kiddo got herself a little cup of ice cream! There is a play area outside the restaurant too!

Generally Sentosa Cove is also very pets friendly, many dogs big and small hung out with their owner at the alfresco dining area! So friends with pets, here is one place you may want to bring your little kiddo or fur kids out to play!

We then walked over to Kith for some coffee and cakes! It was a great place to just chill out and have a cup of sanity!

I can’t remember what this cake is called but we were being a little too adventurous. This cake is just weird. It is as though you are suppose to eat this layer by layer, you have peanut butter, cherry, cheesecake, chocolate, some random nutty crunchy stuff and other random flavours in there. When you take a bite with all flavours at one go, you go, erm, ooh, ahh, o-kay, and gulped. Yeap, but it tasted great when you slice it up layer by layer. Haha.

Their velvet cake is beautiful, moist and tasty, but I am not a fan of those coconut flakes (or anything coconut) at the side.

Criniti’s at Darling Harbour, Sydney

The problem when traveling with tour group is that meals are all decided and included in the tour package! And that’s not all, all the meals in our package were Asian food! Mainly Chinese and once, Thai. OMG. We were all really annoyed with the meals arrangement. Perhaps because our company gave the tour agency a limited budget and hence the lousy food.

During our last evening, we decided to leave the group and treat ourselves to a good Italian Seafood meal. Nothing like fresh seafood to complete our holiday! If you are in Sydney on a Saturday night, you might want to head down to Darling Harbour!

There are plenty of restaurant to choose from and on most Saturday evening, there will be fireworks by the harbourside! The schedule of the fireworks can be found here!

Can you believe all these are taken by my iPhone 5 camera?!

We found Criniti’s and boy, it was crowded! If you are popping by, I suggest reservations to be made and do get an outdoor seating if the weather permits on a Saturday evening! We waited close to 2 hours on a Saturday night. Boo! But the yummy food more than made up for it.

One of our colleague can’t eat seafood so a wood fire pizza was ordered! I didn’t eat that but I heard that it was really really good.

We ordered two Seafood Platters (AU$ 149.90 each) and a Cozzee Bianco Mussels (AU$24.90) to share.

The mussels were a little too small and even though the white wine sauce is tasty, it wasn’t amazing.

Mussels and crab that came with the platter.

The Seafood Platter was fantastic, even though there were some hits and misses in the platter, most of them were good! With grilled local king prawns, marinated calamari, oysters, scallops, scampi, mussels, clams, octopus, blue swimmer crab, gravlax salmon, lobster and barramundi with gremolata marinade.

You couldn’t ask for more! My personal favourite? The barramundi with gremolata marinade is the best. It is grilled to perfection, fresh and juicy. Crispy on the skin with juicy flesh. It is the best fish that I’ve ever tasted! If I am not wrong, barramundi is actually seabass! You can order the Barramundi fillet as a main on it’s own at AU$39.90. It is really really good. My second favourite, definitely the lobster! So fresh! Yums.

Weekend Brunch at The Marmalade Pantry

The Marmalade Pantry
Unit 03-22 ION Orchard
2 Orchard Turn Singapore 238801
T: +65 6734 2700

This weekend, I spent a lazy late morning at The Marmalade Pantry for brunch and loved every bit of it. Marmalade Pantry has a weekend brunch menu and I picked their Eggs Benedict! Also tried their Pantry Club and it was good too!

Green Tea Sakura. Very fragrant and great scent and taste.

Pantry Club.

Eggs Benedict. Pouched Egg was really good. Muffin was soft and fluffy.

Lemon Brulee Tart. So so good. Never too early for dessert. Love the tangy taste, creamy pudding and yummy tart.

Dining at Marche 313 Somerset

After working hard at Yoga on Sunday, we’ve decided to treat myself to a good meal and go pig out at Marche. It has been a long time since I ate at Marche!

I believe in working out just so I can eat freely without feeling guilty! So yeap, I’ve earn these yummy treats! Especially the rosti! Oh gosh! Yums.

The rosti is still as good but I realized my tolerance for oily food is going down hill. At times I actually felt sick eating fast food or oily food. That sucks! But the rosti is good just a little oily after a while. As for the soup, it was mediocre and the roast chicken was tiny, dry and a little too charred.

The plate of salad and mixed vegetable is quite a diaster. We paid approximately SGD 12 for a large plate and we are allowed to pile us much as we like. So in the end, we mixed salad and cooked vegetables all in one plate. Was it palatable? No. We don’t really know what we are eating at times. This free to pile system also allowed us to witness some ugly Singaporeans! We saw a lady who bought a small plate, a really tiny one but she is armed with a strategy. She laid her small plate on many serviettes and surrounded her plate with tiny saucers for sauces and dressings. She then started piling it really high, allowing the food to tumble down on to serviettes and piling more onto the tiny saucers. It was quite a sight!

Hazelnut Blueberry Cheesecake from Cedele

A simple Hazelnut Blueberry Cheesecake from Cedele to celebrate his big three O! Haha. The cake is absolutely yummy, love cheesecake and Cedele! Cedele’s carrot walnut cake is awfully popular and coming in a close second or probably third is this Hazelnut Blueberry Cheesecake! Love love it. Yums.

Dean & Deluca, Orchard Central

Last Sunday I had some me time again and I had lots of fun pampering myself! I started off with a Yoga session at Real Yoga, a Brazilian IPL (ouch) at Beyond Beauty, dinner at Dean & Deluca at Orchard Central and lastly a round of facial at Spa Symphony! It was the best me time ever! Somerset area is like my third home! Haha. I probably spend at least four to six hours there in a week!

Back to Dean & Deluca at Orchard Central, I tried their American breakfast for dinner and it was a little too oily for my liking. I still love Cedele all day breakfast best! Affordable, hearty and healthy. Dean & Deluca’s food is a little overpriced and for their average service and simple ambience, I don’t think it is worth the bucks.

Their desserts look tempting though.

The potato tower is nice and the egg is yummy too. The bacon is absolutely crispy and yummy but after one or two, it was too oily for me. The sausage is nice but a little oily. Their healthy bread is nice too but also a little too oily / buttery.

Will I ever go back again? Probably just for drinks and desserts to give it another try.

Breakfast at Costa, Vivocity

Was blessed with an opportunity to have a lazy Sunday breakfast before running some errands and we decided to pop by Costa at Vivocity.

I love their decor and ambience, with great music and comfortable environment. Perfect for a lazy morning.

They have a decent food selection but their food and drinks are not something I will rave about. The portion of the wrap is pathetic, the beef pie was yummy but a tat oily, carrot cake was lovely and not too sweet but their hot chocolate is just sad. A little too diluted.

Overall, a pleasant morning but it could be from the great company too. Haha.

Dinner at Ajinomori Holland Village

Ajinomori

17D Lorong Liput
Singapore 277731

Last friday, Yvonne, Alphania and I met up at Ajinomori at Holland Village for dinner and I love the setting of the restaurant, the food and the company!

The restaurant is tucked at a corner and is really cozy and great for catching up. The food was yums but a tat pricey. My unagi dinner set was $29 but it was well worth it for the environment and good service. Alphania’s pick of pan grilled beef is fabulous!

This sweetie also got us cupcakes from Plain Vanilla and we shamelessly ate it there! Haha. Love the simple dinner and catching up!

Maison Ikkoku at Kandahar Street

Maison Ikkoku
20 Kandahar Street Singapore 198885

Many types of coffee for the serious coffee drinker.

Over at Haji Lane and Kampung Glam area, there are many eateries and cafes. One cafe that repeatedly stood out and raved about in the blogosphere is Maison Ikkoku. This cafe is right next to Good and Rich Cake Shop, famous for their Durian and Kaya Swiss roll! Another must try!

Too bad their Durian swiss roll ran out and they close at 5pm!

Kandahar Street is just 3 tiny streets away from Haji lane, and this cafe is perfect for explorers like us to take a break from the sweltering heat!

I tried their Iced Cafe Mocha and Blueberry Cheesecake and it is lovely. Would like to come back for their all day breakfast! I am just glad to be granted a seat to enjoy my cup of coffee.

Curry & Curry Fish Head Curry at Hougang

Curry & Curry
Next to #01-00 on Blk 202 , Hougang Street 21, SINGAPORE 530202

After the conversion of a store, CEO visited and treated us to fish head curry at a store next door. Unknown to many, this little store serves absolutely yummy Nonya Style Fish head curry and other dishes. I tried searching online for it’s actual address but was unable to do so. Anyway, it is just next to FairPrice Finest on the same block.

The longest table set to accomodate 25 of us.

The star. Nonya Fish Head Curry.

Chicken Rendang. Tender and awesome gravy. Yums.

Beef Rendang. Though small in serving size but oh so good.

Prawn paste chicken. Fragrant and cripsy. Yums.

Simple omelette.

Spinach with egg.

Banana Chips from Kerala, India

My staff just got back from India and got me some nice snacks! One of which is this banana chips which I thought was really special! The usual banana snacks that I tried is usually sweet and coated with sugar but the ones she brought back is savoury! Banana chips with spice and salt! Total yums and very addictive. I asked her about the snacks and found out that it is a local snack unique to Kerala!

“Fried banana chips, usually made in the Indian state of Kerala, and known locally as nenthra-kaaya oopperi or upperi, is fried in coconut oil.Both ripe and unripe bananas are used for this variant. Sometimes they are coated with masala or jaggery to form spicy and sweet variants respectively. It is an integral part of the traditional Kerala meal called sadya served during weddings and traditional festivals such as Onam.”

– My trusted Wikipedia

At times a simple stick of indulgence is all you need to complete your day! What is your indulgence?

Dim Sum at East Ocean Teochew Restaurant

East Ocean Teochew Restaurant
391 Orchard Road #05-08/09 Ngee Ann City
Singapore 238872
T: 6235 9088

On Mother’s Day weekend, I brought my family to try East Ocean Teochew Restaurant for some dim sum. They have moved to Ngee Ann City Orchard from previous Shaw House location. It was crazy crowded and we had to wait for 20 mins despite making reservation. That didn’t dampen our spirit and we were glad that despite the crowd, their service staffs are all chirpy and attentive and the food quality is not compromised!

Dim sum is not just the forte of the Cantonese, East Ocean serves delicious dim sums too!Everyone loved their good service, high quality food and affordable price! All the dishes did not disappoint us and my sister, mum and dad are all raving about it while eating them! Here are some pictures of the food we had! I only managed to take half of what we ate before we gobbled them up! Haha.

Char Siew Pao. Very good, fluffly bun that is non sticking to gum and savoury fillings.

Yummy egg tart.

Look at this Liu Sar Bao! The fillings are dripping yummy!

Pig’s Trotter Vinger Stew. I thought this is only for pregnant or mothers who just give birth. Apparently this is also good for skin and joints. My mum loves this while my sister and I winced while trying.

It’s not Father’s Day celebration but my dad gets to pick his favourite dish too!

My mum and dad looked at my sister’s camera instead. Hah.

Foie Gras and Beef at Culina Dempsey

As promised, here are some pictures and information on Foie Gras which I’ve tried at the tasting event. First, I don’t particularly like the taste. I am not a fan of fats and am not attracted to the ducky liver taste and buttery texture. Second, I don’t really like the idea of force feeding or torturing a duck or goose for human consumption, just like I don’t particularly enjoy how sharks died a tormenting manner for their fin soups. Third, it doubt it is healthy. Probably an artery chockfull of fats.

So yap, I wasn’t too happy tasting them but to each his own. Sorry for dissing foie gras fan. Oops.

“Foie gras is a food product made of the liver of a duck or goose that has been specially fattened. By French law,foie gras is defined as the liver of a duck fattened by force feeding corn with a gavage, although outside of France it is occasionally produced using natural feeding.

Foie gras is a popular and well-known delicacy in French cuisine. Its flavor is described as rich, buttery, and delicate, unlike that of an ordinary duck or goose liver. Foie gras is sold whole, or is prepared into mousse, parfait, or pâté, and may also be served as an accompaniment to another food item, such as steak.

Gavage-based foie gras production is controversial due to the force feeding procedure used. A number of countries and other jurisdictions have laws against force feeding or the sale of foie gras.”

Source: Wikipedia

This tasted like squashy luncheon meat and slightly more palatable than the rest.

The truffle mashed potato is yummy. The foie gras is buttery and squashy.

Was looking forward to this but the duck meat was a little too dry.

Still not a fan.

This is the yummiest of the lot. I can’t really taste Foie Gras and the caramelized topping is really interesting. A creative way to turn a savoury ingredient to a sweet treat like that.

A long time back, I was also at Culina Dempsey for a dinner and wine event. Back then, I tried their steak and was in steak heaven. I was busy getting happily drunk while dunking pieces of steak in me while floating in fuzzy steak and wine heaven. Today while I am sober, I asked their manager to point out the piece of awesome meat to me and now I know the source to my happiness. Haha.

I was given Kobe Cusine Wagyu MBS8. No idea what the rating means but I know the high it is, the greater the marbling and the better the meat. Oooh. You can pick the meat at their counter and get them to cook for you. Not sure if there is a fee for the cooking but all I remember is that it was so good.

This is the next best alternative at a much lower rate. Look at the marbling. I love my steak and I’m the kind of girl who eats heartily and unglamorously. Haha.

Inniskillin Icewine

When I heard that I am going for a tasting event at Culina Dempsey for Inniskillin Icewine and Castaing Foie Gras, I almost did a cartwheel! Yes, my job is awesome and I know it! I am not a fan of Foie Gras but oh my gosh, I love Inniskillin Icewine. I call them liquid gold because they are so pure, so rare, so precious, so expensive and oh so good. They are not your ordinary dessert wine, they are pure goodness with the balance of sweetness and acidity. Yums.

If you’ve no idea on the process of making icewine or the reasons why they are so expensive, read the extract below from Wikipedia.

“Ice wine is a type of dessert wine produced from grapes that have been frozen while still on the vine. The sugars and other dissolved solids do not freeze, but the water does, allowing a more concentrated grape must to be pressed from the frozen grapes, resulting in a smaller amount of more concentrated, very sweet wine. With ice wines, the freezing happens before the fermentation, not afterwards. Unlike the grapes from which other dessert wines are made, such as Sauternes (tried and love it!) , Tokaji (tried and love love it!), or Trockenbeerenauslese (tried and love it too! my favourite german Riesling and favourite dessert wine which I can afford!), ice wine grapes (my favourite dessert wine which I can’t afford!) should not be affected by Botrytis cinerea or noble rot, at least not to any great degree. Only healthy grapes keep in good shape until the opportunity arises for an ice wine harvest, which in extreme cases can occur after the New Year, on a northern hemisphere calendar. This gives ice wine its characteristic refreshing sweetness balanced by high acidity. When the grapes are free of Botrytis, they are said to come in “clean”.

Ice wine production is risky (the frost may not come at all before the grapes rot or are otherwise lost) and requires the availability of a large enough labour force to pick the whole crop within a few hours, on a moment’s notice, on the first morning that is cold enough. This results in relatively small amounts of ice wine being made world-wide, making ice wines generally quite expensive.”

– Source: Wikipedia

So, are you ready for the pictures?

I didn’t know Inniskillin also serve Riesling. This gorgeous Late Autumn Riesling is such a baby. Not too sweet, really easy to drink and so smooth and balanced. I love it.

This is what I’m here for. Inniskillin’s Vidal Gold Oak Aged Icewine 2008. Yes 2008. It is pure liquid gold. You cannot imagine how wide my grin was when I took a sip. I was so eager to slurp it all up and declare a major yums! I hate to say this, but I also shamelessly asked for a second serving. I am so going for my Vidal Gold Icewine.

Just look at this. Oh gosh.

They also have it in Cabernet Franc Icewine. Not as mind blowing as Gold Vidal but it was good. I was on perpetual sugar rush after the event. Icewine is made for girls.

You cannot imagine how happy I was today! Haha. Will share more about the Foie Gras later, I’m really not a fan.

My all time favourite childhood snack – traditional Mooncake Crust biscuit, It is basically the crust of mooncake! If you like the crust of pies, you will like this too! There is no filling in them, just plain old mooncake crust like soft biscuit. It comes in the shape of pigs too! What’s your all time favourite childhood snack?

Switch by Timbre

Many of us have heard of Timbre but we may not know of Switch, another brand of restaurant pub under Timbre. They basically serve the same or similar menu of food and drinks. The only difference is that instead of having a live band who sings only English songs, the band switch between Chinese and English songs, and hence the name Switch. Their food is just as good, the vocals of the band is good and it is probably less crowded compared to their other Timbre outlets.

I met up with Mike, Yvonne and Alphania for dinner and drinks at Switch on Friday and had a great time over great food and company.

Love their Roast Duck pizza, Peking Duck Style but I remembered their crust was much thinner in the past. Disappointed that their Tandoori Pizza is not in the menu!

Chef Tony’s Popcorn

Last year, Chef Tony’s hailing from Philippines took the popcorn scene by a storm (ok, maybe not a storm, but a shower) and when I tried it, I declare it better than Garrett. Some may not agree but don’t get me wrong, I like Garrett too. The first few bites are always yummy but after a while, it gets all greasy in the tongue and sick in the stomach. It is just too heavy, too sweet or too oily. Yikes.

But for Chef Tony’s, it is fluffy, light, crunchy, non greasy and so addictive. I bought some and sneak them into cinema while watching Iron Man 3 and before I knew it, half a tub is gone. Poof! You can get them here if you are looking for it. I bought mine at a pushcart stall at Orchard Central.

A smashing good time at The Cajun Kings

The Cajun King
Add: 15-1 Jalan Riang, Serangoon, Singapore 358987
Tel: 6284 4426

Last evening, a group of us went to Cajun King to have a messy seafood dinner. Tucked in the middle of private estate in Serangoon, we made a reservation for seven at 830pm on a Saturday and was given an outdoor seat. Initially we were a little apprehensive about sitting outside because of the heat, but their service was impeccable. They brought out a fan for us and extended our tables after all our food arrived and it got a little cramp. In the end, we enjoyed the privacy outside and it was most interesting to people watch while having a smashing good time pounding the lobster.

The food was literally finger licking good. We were not given cutlery (except for the Gumbo) and were using our fingers throughout dinner. We ordered a lot of food and most of them was stunning but it was incredible pricey too. Let’s take a look of what we ordered.

For starters, we ordered their Garlic Fries (Absolute yums, we ordered a second serving thereafter), King’s Wings (was ok and a tat oily), Fried Calamari (yummy and chewy), Buttermilk Frog leg (my first time having fried frog leg, yums) and 2 servings of Gumbo (slightly disappointing).

After our yummy starters we were really looking forward to our main – The Seafood Boil! There are three different flavours to choose from, their OG Boil (original), King’s Mix (Spicy spice) and Garlic Butter. All of these flavours were really good! All seafood boils came in plastic bags! We were given plastic bips (perfect for messy eater like me!), mallet (for the lobster) and tons of serviettes.

We had one Dungeness Crab (SGD 80 each!), 1 serving of Red Sea Prawn (250g), 1 serving of Blue Mussels (250g) and 1 serving of Bi-color Corn in OG Boil! We wanted two Dungeness Crab but they ran out of them! Spoke to one of the owners and apparently, a lot of those yummy crabs went to China because of their Golden Week. Sad. Their corn is a must have. It was juicy and very sweet!

As for the Garlic Butter, we had the prawn, mussels and corn in them!

Lastly the spicy King’s Mix, we had a Boston Maine Lobster (SGD 77 each!), prawn, mussels and corn in them.

It was all so good! Together with some beer and cider, we raked up the bill to $520 for a group of 7. Wow. It is pricey but we had a really good time!

Great company, great food and great service! What’s there to complain? It is a great place for a group of friends to comfortably devour your seafood unglamorously!