Archive for the ‘1.3 Casual Restaurants’ Category

Tim Ho Wan 添好運 Singapore

May 8th, 2013 365days2play

*Media Invite*

At this point in time, I guess just about any lover of dim sum would have heard of the opening of Tim Ho Wan in Singapore. For the uninitiated, Tim Ho Wan is a Michelin Starred dim sum restaurant in Hong Kong. Since it’s opening on 10 April 2013 in Singapore, if you’ve been in the Plaza Sing / Atrium area, you would undoubtedly have seen the snaking queues of eager customers awaiting their turn to try out Tim Ho Wan’s legendary dim sum. I was lucky to be able to avoid having to line up for my food, however I have heard that the average waiting time is 2 hours, and at one point it got so bad that the queue was even closed to more customers.

So the big question is, is Tim Ho Wan worth the 2 hour wait? Actually, I think no restaurant is worth a 2 hour wait. There is so much good food available in Singapore that to have to “work” for your food invariably means having even higher expectations on the food. There comes a tipping point where it is physically impossible for the quality and taste of the food to exceed expectations. In my opinion, the 2 hour wait is only for people who have a curiosity itch to suppress, and scratch it they must.

I have never been to the Tim Ho Wan in Hong Kong. And to be frank, I am a little disappointed with the dim sum served at the media tasting. I found quite a number of the dishes exceedingly ordinary, especially when taking into account the price charged. But to be fair, there were some dim sum items that were great too.

So, should you find yourself having a table there, here are my recommendations as to what is worth ordering at Tim Ho Wan.

Tim Ho Wan - Deep Fried Bean Curd Skin Roll with Shrimp (4)

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Pet friendly Sun Ray Cafe

May 7th, 2013 365days2play

If you’re living in the Serangoon area, you may be delighted to know that Sun Ray Cafe there welcomes furry guests. Although I presently do not own a dog or a cat, I can well sympathise with pet owners who find it really difficult to travel around with their pets in Singapore, much less find a place to dine with them. While I was in France last week, I was amazed to know that dogs are pretty much allowed anywhere! In the TGV train ride from Lyon to Paris, a dog was snoozing on the train table diagonally from me! No need to leash your dog or hide it in a doggie carrier! I don’t think we’ll be seeing that fairly soon in Singapore, but at least the pet-cafe scene seems to be hotting up.

Sunray Cafe - (27)

Sunray Cafe - (33)

A doggie perusing the daily specials while propping up the owner’s iPad.

Dave Lim (1)

At first glance, Sun Ray Cafe may not look like the typical place to get good 3rd wave coffee. After all, when the place was furnished a few years ago, Sun Ray’s focus was more on food. Now that they’ve gotten the food aspect on cruise control, their next goal is to get the word out that great coffee can be synonymous with Sun Ray Cafe.

In terms of certifications, they have it all as you can see from the picture above. That’s Dave Lim, the owner of Sun Ray Cafe.

Sunray Cafe - Cafe Latte $4

Sunray Cafe - Latte Art (2)

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Bornga BBQ Restaurant at Star Vista

March 20th, 2013 365days2play

*Media Invite*

Recently I was invited to try out Bornga, a Korean BBQ Restaurant at Star Vista. I am no expert when it comes to Korean BBQ, having been to only one other a couple of years back at the Esplanade. Which was why I was quite happy to make the trek to Star Vista, even though I live on the opposite end of Singapore.

Established in 2002, Bornga is a BBQ chain restaurant in Korea, and is the brainchild of Jong Won Paik, one of Korea’s most renown celebrity chefs. The opening of Singapore’s restaurant marks the 1st in Singapore and the 13th outlet outside of Korea. You can now find Bornga in China, Indonesia and even one outlet in USA, as well as 33 others in Korea.

Be warned, I will be inundating you with numerous pictures of raw meat. I sure hope pictures of raw meat turns you on, because I sure am getting hungrier as we speak.

Bornga (4)

Okay let me first start with something less bloody…the side dishes. As you know, all Korean meals are accompanied with a variety of small side dishes. I am in awe of all Korean housewives, how they must slave over the stove having to prepare so many different things.

Bornga - Ggot Sal (unmarinated boneless beef; $38) (2)

 Ggot Sal (unmarinated boneless beef; $38)

First up, the Ggot Sal, which is boneless and tender prime beef cuts served non-marinated so that guests can enjoy its deep beef flavour. Now I often hear people saying “oh this meat is great, the beef flavour is not so strong!” and nothing irks me more than to hear those kinds of statements. I’m like, why did you bother to order the dish if you didn’t want to taste it? Notice the rich marbling, which I’m sure is a huge turn on for anyone who loves his meat.

Bornga - Woo Samgyup (thinly sliced beef with BORNGA's special sauce; $22)

Woo Samgyup (thinly sliced beef brisket with BORNGA’s special sauce; $22)

This is one of the favourite dishes in Bornga. Apparently the recipe is patented as the beef slices are seasoned in Bornga’s secret marinade. Unlike the typical Korean BBQ dish of bulgogi which usually appears dull after marinating for at least half a day in dark-coloured sauce, Bornga’s Woo Samgyup is served shortly after being doused in the dressing that retains the meat’s natural colour, while enhancing the traditional bulgogi taste.
While the meat tasted great, I think they can do away with the pumpkin slices as it just looks weird….don’t you think?

Bornga - Samgyup (thinly sliced beef with BORNGA's special sauce; $22) (2)

This is how the Woo Samgyup looked like after being BBQed. Loved the aroma and flavour of the BBQ meat for both the meat dishes I have featured so far. Certainly, keep your calorie counter at home when dining at a Korean BBQ restaurant but it’s well worth the calories! I’m afraid I was a little too busy wolfing the slices down to really pay attention to what Ivy from FoodNews was saying.

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Cafe Melba

December 15th, 2012 365days2play

I’m always on the look out for new restaurants in the East, and thankfully, it seems that more restaurants have been opening up lately. Mind you, there’s still room for more so I’m still waiting! Today I wanted to have lunch at The Big Sheila tucked away in an obscure part of Siglap (Swan Lake Ave, have you heard of it?). It was 2pm already and I couldn’t get a table! That’s how bad the situation is in the East. Too much demand and too little supply.

Anyway, I want to share with you this new find in the Tanjong Rhu/Mountbatten/Katong area. I think people living in the area all know about it as it faces a busy main road. It’s Cafe Melba, located at where the La Salle Arts School once used to be. I’ve only been once so far, on a Saturday night and it was also full house. It’s a nice place, with a huge al-fresco area. The inside seating isn’t huge though. Dog lovers will love Cafe Melba as it is dog friendly. Also, there is a huge lawn in front of Cafe Melba, which would be great for the kids and the dogs.

Cafe Melba (1)

Not too sure if it would be sweltering in the day time because I went at night.

Cafe Melba - Ham and pineapple (Tomatoes, ham, pineapple, mozzarella) 9 inch $18 (2)

Ham and pineapple pizza (Tomatoes, ham, pineapple, mozzarella) 9 inch $18

They have 3 sizes of pizza to choose from but we took the smallest one at 9 inches. Those who like thin crust pizza would certainly like this one. It’s not so thin that it’s crispy like a biscuit, it does go a little floppy towards the middle. Toppings were nice and on the whole the pizza was quite nice.

Cafe Melba - Melba beef rendang in (Beef in coconut milk, ginger and spices, shoe-string fries and pizza breads) $18 (1)

Melba beef rendang in (Beef in coconut milk, ginger and spices, shoe-string fries and pizza breads) $18

Interesting to find Rendang at a Western bistro and it’s always a risk to order Asian dishes as it takes a really versatile chef to be good with both Western and Asian cuisines. The Rendang tasted quite authentic. It was quite heavy and rich and it was a delight to mop up the Rendang gravy with the pizza breads provided. The beef though was forgettable as it was stringy and slightly tough.

Cafe Melba - Shoestring fries

Crispy Shoestring fries

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Naïve

October 22nd, 2012 365days2play

There are precious few vegetarian restaurants around, much less those which are good. I’m so glad to report that one such vegetarian restaurant exists and it is located in the East, specifically East Coast Road! It’s the row of shophouses just opposite 112 Katong, but for some reason, I always walk past it without noticing it’s there. There are a lot of nice eateries located along that stretch, ranging from Peranakan to Indian, to Vegetarian to even cupcake stores. Bet many of you also know Saveur the French restaurant, it once used to be located at the Ali Baba Eating House at the junction of East Coast Road and Joo Chiat Road!

Anyway, enough of other restaurants. Today I want to just focus on my latest find, Naïve! My mother originally wanted to go to Dann’s Pescetarian Cafe for their fantastic warming fish soup but it closes early at 7pm. Since I’m the food blogger, everyone expects me to be the walking directory. I have this secret weapon called Google but if you try googling “Organic or Vegetarian restaurants in the East, Singapore”, you would probably not find anything useful. We’re really not into the vegetarian mock meats kind of thing either. So I was really so glad when after 10 minutes of searching, I found out about Naïve. I was a little apprehensive since the review was done a few years ago. I called up and luckily the restaurant hadn’t gone kapoot!

Naive Restaurant -

Pretty self explanatory why the restaurant is named so…

Seriously, to cut to the chase, all of us loved the food at Naïve! It’s really a shame that we haven’t chanced upon it earlier! Naive does vegetarian food in Chinese Cze Char style, but in a nice modern looking type of restaurant. They also serve some Western dishes but we didn’t try any. All the Chinese dishes we tried were great! The food was tasty, not oily or greasy like alot of lousy Cze Char places are apt to be, and refreshing tasting! I totally didn’t feel like I wasn’t eating meat. I’ll put a disclaimer up front though, I am more used to not eating meat than the average person because my father is a pescetarian. But I would think that if you’re keen to try out cze char dishes without meat, Naïve is certainly a good restaurant to do so.

Naive Restaurant - Olive Brown Rice $8

Olive Brown Rice $8

I think brown rice has suffered from a bad reputation for quite a long time. I recall 10 to 20 years ago, the only type of brown rice one could get in Singapore would be the rather reddish kind. It had a very rough texture and of course when compared to white rice, wasn’t as nice to eat. These days, there are quite a variety of brown rice available to the consumer. Seriously, if I hadn’t told you so, would you have noticed that this above was brown rice? This dish tasted like olive fried rice. Tasty and fragrant!

Naive Restaurant - Mango Tofu Cake with Thai Sweet & Sour Sauce $11.90

Mango Tofu Cake with Thai Sweet & Sour Sauce $11.90

This tofu cake was fried to a crisp, and was a delight to eat. It was very crispy on the outside, and a little bouncy on the inside as it’s made of folds and folds of Tau Kee. The green shreds above are mango in sweet and sour sauce, which added a tanginess to the tofu. Very delicious.

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