Small Potatoes Make The Steak Look Bigger

Having tried the grade 5/6 wagyu at Aston previously, I thought it would be good to check out their regular steaks. I've never actually had anything else before and the word is that the place is pretty good and the prices are quite unbeatable for the offerings. The extra cut ribeye is a larger cut of the ribeye than usual and it weighs at 300g. Which to me is a decent weight for a steak. I would think that anything smaller is quite tiny. At $15.90, I'll have to agree that it is probably the cheapest around for something of that size and standards. That being said, I found it also quite unsatisfying on the overall. There are no complains here on the meat or the cooking. Anyplace that manages successful medium rare steaks properly takes their cooking serious enough. The taste of the beef while present, was just too flat and unflavorful. Which reminds me of the ieat burger with its fairly tasteless dry patty.

Glancing back in retrospect at the past 365 days, it looks a-pretty-mazing how much I have eaten and how fast time has quietly slipped by beneath my attention most of the time. This blog began with honestly, very humble and personal intentions to serve as a personal food diary and place of perspectives. That means that, apart from the literal meanings of the name of this site, it is also a metaphorical expression for perspective. Bet most of you never knew that. You might have noted that it's grown to much more than that. Change after all is the only never changing constant. I cannot really say what's more to come except that this blog will thrive on as far as I can help it. It's always more exciting to trudge into the unknown sometimes. Stay tuned as always.

I work late sometimes and eat only when I'm back home. So occasionally, I stock the larder with things that I can whip up in short order for dinner. Usually it will be just pasta because they're easily available and probably next most convenient to instant noodles to prepare. I prefer the soft pasta in vacuum packs because they cook faster than the common dried ones. Also they're probably the next best to the freshly made ones. This will of course limit what you can buy or where you can buy them. Buitoni which I'm using can be found in Marketplace or selected Cold Storage supermarkets. As the title of this post suggests, it has four cheese stuffings.


The sauce that I use for it is the tomato and mascapone which I discovered a year or so back at Marks & Spencers. They tomato flavor in this sauce is more subdued than the standard ones because of the mascapone. That's really fine with be since I'm not big on tomato bases sauces and it probably has to be really fresh and well made to be good. That means that generally, they aren't great. That's my reason for avoiding them. I don't dislike tomatos. Although the label on the bottle says that it's perfect for creamy pasta, the sauce is really not that creamy. Appearances can be deceiving.


The first step would of course to bring a pot of water with a bit of salt and oil to boil. When the water starts boiling, you can add in the pasta. These raviolis are recommended by the instructions to be cooked for about 6 minutes or so, but I did them in a bit lesser time. I don't like them to soft and soggy.


The raviolis will expand abit as they soak in the boiling water.


The next step is optional, but I like them firm so the raviolis take a bath in a bowl of ice water. Having done this, the sauce that is to be used should be heated. Since the pasta is no longer hot, it is important for the sauce to be so unless you like everything cold. What I do is to just heat a portion which is about 2/3 of the jar in the microwave for about 2 minutes for about 2/3 of the pack of raviolis.


Add any garnishing that you fancy and here goes your pasta dinner that can be done in about 20 minutes with minimal cooking skills involved. You probably would have to estimate the cooking time for the pasta if you're picky about the consistency like I am. It should be easy after a couple of tries.

Sunday brunches tend to be an uncommon event for me. I'm either tired out from fatigue and dehydration the night before (read high, dry and almost wasted) or that I find it a Herculean effort to peel myself off the bed just to head out someplace. A day without work is the only time I get to forgo the regimental reminder of my alarm clock and since there is precious little of that going around, I would usually prefer to lounge the morning off in bed or just at home. I'm just back from a mind numbing obligatory cruise, courtesy of work so the early check out hours meant that I'm wide awake on my normally lazy Sunday morning. And since I'm up, there's no reason not to make the best out of it. Yep, it's a brunch, not a jog or a walk in the park.

Wine Garage (30 Merchant Road, Riverside Point, #01-07), a presentably and slightly upmarket restaurant opened by the group that does Brewerkz just next door does a very tasty brunch offering which I've never had the opportunity of having because of my usual indoor Sundays. A selection of wines are available at a noticeable discounted price along with an array of modern European culinary offerings. Alright, that's enough introduction from me at this point. The short of what I want to convey, is that the food is good and it comes coupled with a matching service. Wait a minute......I think that last statement didn't sound quite the way I wanted to say it. I had meant that service at the restaurant was great.






I didn't really know what to expect out of zucchini fritters before this arrived and I had imagined that they might be battered and fried whole zucchinis. Much like goreng pisang. Lol. This however was a flour based patty like tapioca cakes, made with mashed zucchini and it turns out pretty damn good. The medium done smoked salmon bits with crumbled feta cheese tops really well on the zucchini fritters with their sourish, smoky zest.




This burger is awesome. I mean, it's going to be on the tops in this blog. Here's a little description I shall plagiarise from the forums of Makansutra by a poster who claims to have received it from Wine Garage's chef Travis Masiero

"160 gr. freshly hand ground chuck (pre-salted the night before), homemade sesame bun, aged Irish cheddar, homemade zucchini pickles, French's mustard, Best mayo, dill pickle relish, shredded cos lettuce, and diced red onion.
They griddle the burgers in american diner fashion to "crust" the outside, lightly toast the bun, and use only whole chuck they grind themselves (never frozen).
That's the standard burger and it costs S$21 and come with a side order of hand cut fries which have been double fried with sage leaves and sea salt.
For $4 extra you can add homemade bacon, which is homecured Kurobuta (Black Pig) Pork that has been cured for seven days and then smoked over hickory chips."

The description alone, I found was tempting enough, so I really had to try it myself. Here's a burger that is excellent with an E. The waiter had made mention of a slow cook process for the patty to preserve the juice in the meat which was also tender enough. This is a world from the poor, bland and /or crumbly attempts like my home made ones, and comes with enough of a bite to satiate beef-lust. I went without the Kurobuta pork bacon option since I'm not so sure that baconized Kurobuta was how it was intended to be eaten. And I like my burgers beefy. This is truly, a good one. And one of the best.

No, the name of this is not crazy fried chicken burger. But the size of the meat in the bread is pretty crazy. Changing Appetites at Marina Square has a small selection of huge double burgers. This one is the fried chicken option which comes with 2 large pieces of battered and fried chicken that even old man Sanders doesn't have. The chicken is encased in a semi-spicy batter and fried so this comes quite like the spicy crispy option at KFC. I didn't actually order this as a burger since I couldn't eat it like one, but I felt like having fried chicken and this actually doubles up well with generous drips of Tabasco sauce.

Actually, I've been back here a couple of other times. I didn't take any photos of those occasions and thus didn't write anything up. This time round, I have some better pictures than the first visit. So far, out of about four visits to this place, this would be the first where the service was actually adequate. The previous occasions as I remember were pitiful attempts at waiting topped with unasked for mediocre attempts at jest which I felt was totally uncalled for and definitely not appreciated. I think the management needs to really prioritize in the correct sequence and get the staff to hone the waiting skills up to edge before trying at lame jokes with the customers. That aside, I kinda like this place for the salty food and beer.


The Obatzda comes under the bread section which is basically a plate of multigrained (and sourdough?) bread that comes accompanying with a bowl of Bavarian cheese based dip, caraway seeds and paprika. The dip on the whole wasn't anything remarkable, but the accompanying warm bread is pretty good and would have been better if it came in more generous portions. There's a lot more of the cheese spread/dip than there is bread to go around. This is one of those things that I would qualify as nice bar snacks.


I do not remember the name of this salad, but I was told that it translates directly into seafood salad in German which is basically what it is. I don't know if this is atypical of German salads or if seafood salads are common in Germany. The interesting thing about the salad was the inclusion seared tuna which seems to be a trend in many restaurants. Gone are the days of cheap shredded tuna in salads. I've certainly no complains about that since I'm one who enjoys them, but I find it quite unexpected in something like this. The other plus point for me were the sundried tomatoes, however there was really nothing else very much of distinction.


And this is goose liver sausage with accompanying sides of spätzle and boiled red cabbage which a Dutch friend claims to be better than what they do in Holland. That was just with reference to the red cabblage if anyone was wondering. The spätzle is actually pretty good coming in smaller size than the ones that I had at Paulaners Bräuhaus. The ones here tasted eggy and the accompanying cheese was definitely more fragrant and salty. Both the spätzle and the sausages are good with the cranberry sauce. Again, the portions are what I felt to be a tad too small for a regular hungry person.



This wild mushroom stew with white wine sauce is probably the best substitute for any mushroom soup I've ever come across. I generally view mushroom soups with suspicion, but this stew is quite good and flavorful with generous amount of mushrooms. Anyone who enjoys good mushroom soup shouldn't give this a pass. The white chunks on the top are what is described on the menu as napkin dumplings and are basically bread like things made of cheese, egg and flour that makes up the filler for this stew. A note on this dish is that it comes quite salty.

Previously when I last visited Taman Serasi Food Garden (1 Cluny Road), I saw that the Indian store offered crab murtabak and I thought that it might be something good since Yummy Crab was in the place. Up till now, I'm not really sure if there's any connection between the crab that's being used for both stores, but I've finally tried the crab murtabak and it was a major letdown. That certainly was quite disappointing, considering that I have not seen any place else that offers crab meat options and this very first one decided that they were okay with doing a extra unremarkable version of it. I could have seen how this might have turned out to be quite unique and a superb option.


The person in the stall that was making the prata actually told me that crab meat was expensive and not to expect too much out of it. Comparing to the $18 fried rice at Yummy Crab, this crab murtabak at $6 doesn't quite even have, a third of the crab that you get from the fried rice. On top of that, the crab meat is of the shredded variety. With the handful of the meat thrown in to a murtabak that contains some shredded cheese, fresh green chilli slices and loaded with raw onions, you can just imagine that, I couldn't really taste any crab in the end result. It was mostly cheese an onions. And it was really unspectacular. This store took a long time to work on food orders and gave an attitude that said that they didn't really care if you weren't happy for the long wait. I did unfortunately ordered a serving of indian rojak and requested for a re-fry to get the food heated. When I did get it, I was positive that nothing was fried, but the stall owner claimed that it had been and that I took too long to come back for the collection. Seriously, that is one uber lame service and I'll be damned if I had waited that long that the food had turned cold. I know I didn't. This is where I'll say, I'll be back - not!

Are food bloggers pest to be stomped under a boot or do you think we deserve to continue our opportunities to present you the voyeuristic world of our eating trips? Why are certain people so tight assed about photography in their premises? Privacy is mostly bullshit. There is little of it preserved in the first place since restaurants are open to all in the public. What's the uproar really about on some little pictorial tokens of a visit?

Come in and share your love.

It's been some time since my last visit, and this one gave me very much the same impressions as it did the last time, which I think is still a good thing. It is good because there is consistency in the experience. Twice over months might be a premature judgement, but hey, I don't come here regularly and it only needs to happen when I am around to make me believe that things are kept at the same level. It is still good also because the menu is kinda small and I'll probably get bored if I ever come a couple of more times.

This time round, I managed to get better photos of the Mezze plate and the Bosco misto. Which I've tried previously and they're still good. I'm still quite amazed tofu patties on the latter can be made to taste like that.


I didn't manage to figure out what made the dips on the mezze plate. This time round, I found out. What you get is a plate of dips which are hummus, yoghurt mint, a pumpkin & carrot mash with some seeds and pureed eggplant with garlic and lemon juice. The pita is served hot and is excellent with the dips. I had to ask for more servings of the pita since there was much more dips than the bread could hold.



I'm quite taken in by the magic mushroom which features a portabello mushroom filled with a creamy ricotta cheese and spinach mix, and topped with tomato basil sauce and pine nuts. The magic in this for me was the ricotta cheese which is pretty much the bulk of the filling on top of the portabello cap. It's also pretty filling for something that comes up on the starters section of the menu. I know that this is definitely something that I'll want to have again if I ever come back. Magic mushroom did it's magic.

It's not often that I shovel a spoonful of tiramisu into my mouth and I get that "wow, this is good stuff". The most memorable was probably the first time. 17 years ago at Pasta Fresca. Throughout the next 17 till today, there have been good ones, bad ones and mixed feeling ones and my general take is that everywhere has their standards and some taste better to certain people than another. This dessert is almost upon receiving the award of the most ubiquitous non-local desserts of this past decade and it's something that in recent years I've gotten jaded with and pushed down the preferential ladder.

Last night, after dinner, we stopped by Da Paolo's Gastronomia to check out what culinary goodies was left a little less than an hour before it closed and decided to pick up a box of tiramisu along with some cheesecake. I remember one of the staff in the stall who happed to be nearby saying "You can't go wrong with that". Boy was she right.

What made this tiramisu stand out is the excellent and almost viscous soft marscapone fillings which does not appear in most tiramisu elsewhere. I don't know how pervasive is that since I do not go around eating that dessert at every opportunity, but this comes quite close to the traditional method of how they are made. In comparison with the poorer clones that comes with hard cream fillings or dry without the slightest hint of liquor which, this is almost.....ALMOST divine. Also this tiramisu comes blanketed with fine cocoa flakes instead of the regular cocoa powder. Does help reduce the choke factor when you eat them fast. There're probably other good ones around that are equally as good. For now, I know where to find one if I need to.

Seeing that there is some interest generated in this topic, I've decided to bring things up front so that you can have your say about what you think about tipping. Let's stay civil with this and keep the conversation trail contained in that link here instead.

Noodle Place Restaurant (#01-53/56, Centrepoint) has been around in the secluded back section of the first floor at Centrepoint for many years. Its a place that tends to be overlooked by many because of its location, but that is however not a deterrant against generating queues of knowing diners, waiting for seats in this Hong Kong styled noodle restaurant which serves mouth watering roast meats.


As mentioned, one of the highlights of this restaurant is the selection of roast meats which includes roasted chicken, steamed chicken, roasted duck, soy sauce chicken, roasted pork belly, barbecued ribs and char siew. The tastiness of the mixed roast meats are evidented by the number of tables that order it in some combination or another of differing meats. I generally enjoy the duck, pork belly and char siew that comes to abit fat which goes very well with the rest of the fragrant crisps of the skins, especially the sweetened charred bits of the char siew.


Anothing dish I find enjoyable from this place is the crispy fried cod which is available in the plain version or this one which is done with egg white and teriyaki sauce. It's the kind that comes crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. The egg white and starch based gravy doesn't particularly enhance the dish much, but it's just one of the uncommon instances of those chinese starchy sauces which I enjoy and it's probably because of the egg.


In accordance with the trend that is in practice by many Chinese restaurants in recent years, the mayo wasabi prawns are in the menu. This dish is simply battered and fried prawns that are coated in a sauce that is essentially a mix of mayonnaise and wasabi paste. This one is quite decent going by the prawns, but the mayo wasabi cream comes quite mild, leaning more towards the sweet side. I would think that a bit more of the wasabi flavor would be good, but this is purely preferential. That makes the ones I tried at Peach Garden a notch better on the overall. Even the ebiko garnishes there helped, albeit just a little.


These beef brisket noodles from this restaurnt are pretty good, especially when you compare them with the portions of the beef that are served at Crystal Jade. While succulent and tender, the portions of the briskets here are noticeably bigger and the generosity is something I appreciate, especially when the noodles in both places are of similar standards. That means that I'll probably pick this over the latter location out of merit of the servings on most occasions.

If anyone wants to know how I spent the hours of the national day parade this year, it's in this Irish pub. Interestingly, a Dutch friend who's in town (and also with me in this place) mentioned that Molly Malone's is in Holland too. And while I have my doubts about how authentically Irish the food here might be, I've to comment that the portions are rather generous without being overly expensive. If not anything else, chow here is definitely filling from the piping hot fish & chips to the Calgary stampede burger, which I thought was kinda strange an idea for a burger here. What does Canada have to do with this Irish bar? The food of this place works towards being hearty rather than being sophisticated. Expect not the subliminal layers of complexity. It's the simple fried fare that's good with beer here. Yes! There is Strongbow.

There's a fairly new diner in town just across the road from the National Library at Bras Brasah and it's call Food for Thought. It's a site that proclaims interesting ideas despite their small menu and excruciating slow wait when the place is crowded. The place really doesn't have much of floor estate for seats and it's a tad crowded even to walk when there're lots of people. I didn't really eat there, but tried a sandwich which was noticeably different from what many places offers.


This is a pretty decent slow roasted pulled pork sandwich ($7.50) which I thought wasn't bad at all. The filling of pulled pork (whatever it means) tastes very much like meat from pork knuckles and is packed together with sliced soft sweet potatoes. I'm not sure if many people do sweet potatoes in sandwiches here, but really, it's not bad. The really nice factor on the sandwich is that the focaccia that was used for the bread was a warm moist one. Speaking for this particular sandwich, I think it's something better than what O'Briens offers at their places at a similar cost. One little peeve though, it doesn't come as described from their menu.

I must say that this is an excellent discovery for Indian food. I first found out about this place some months back while I was lunching in the vicinity. I told myself that I'll be back to check out what this place is about and though it was a few months before I found myself back in Race Course Rd, I'm pretty glad I did. Mustard specialises, it seems, in Bengali and Punjabi cuisine and the differences between the two offerings are highlight in their menu through the use of color codes. The interior is dressed in light warm colors which reminds me more than a little of Banoo.

The offerings here are noticeably different from the commonly seen North Indian places. The same can be said for the taste of the food and certainly, some of the dishes which are available elsewhere were quite a different thing here in Mustard. Amidst the differences, some were definitely better in my opinion.


These kebab rolls which are served hot are pretty damn good and they're under the "trailblazers" section of the menu, which are, the starters. What they essentially are, is some sort of flatbread rolls that are packed with meat, onions, crunchy green peppers and some very tasty pepper-ish sauce and seriously, make very excellent snacks. There are options of various fillings like mutton, chicken with eggs or even cheese. You could just eat a couple of these things and be filled. This is how street food should be like.



The kolkatta shingara is a really delicious and non spicey pyramid shaped vegetable puff. The skin is akin to those found on curry puffs and the interior is filled with cauliflowers, potatoes and whole peanuts. The bite texture of this puff is pretty interesting in comparison with regular puffs of similar types like the regular curry puffs or samosas because of the peanuts which offers a more distinguished crunch. The taste department comes a little bland, but it seems that quite a few of the dishes here come with little salt. Like the kebab rolls above, these puffs can get quite filling.


Palek paneer (cottage cheese in puree-ed spinach) is something that I'll usually go for in Indian restaurants. This one is probably one of the not so tasty ones for me because of the bits of ginger in the spinach puree and it's definitely the first time I've encountered ginger in them.




The cheese naans here aren't too special in comparison with other places I've tried. You might have guessed that they're probably not cheesy enough. And you're right about that. Still they come hot and freshly made.


This coconut curry with shrimps is apparently a signature dish from the restaurant and it's good stuff. The curry as you can see is colored similarly to oatmeal instead of the regular yellow and reddish hues. The taste of the curry as you may have surmised is thick with coconut and the hint of some other spices which I couldn't really identify. The overall flavor is quite rich, but not spicy like regular curries. The coconut comes with its flesh on the insides which you can scrape out with spoons and this also means that the fruit as a bowl, isn't recycled. The shrimps look to have been cooked in the curry for some time and is a tad flat in texture, so we're definitely not looking at crunchy ones. On the overall, this comes recommended and is definitely good with rice.


The rossomlai is basically cottage cheese in some sweet milk. Again, I detected ginger in the milk and it wasn't something that I was expecting. The cottage cheese here tasted like a wet dense bread of sorts instead of cottage cheese. Well, it's not something I'll be having again.

This is an ad hoc decision for dinner at Central. Did I mention having good memories of this place? Yeah, I think I did. I also grabbed the opportunity to check out the jumbo hamburger steak which is essentially just a beef patty. The jumbo size at 300g felt kinda small really. In fact, I wasn't all that sure it was really at 300. I was sure I could still eat more after I was done with it. So my conclusion is, 300g of beef patty doesn't fill as much as 300g of prime rib which doesn't fill as much as 300g of other cuts of steak. Lol. That explains why I can do a Diamond Jim Brady while the Texas burger at Seah Street almost did me in. Lol. The menu here has a relatively small selection and I haven't actually had most of their offerings since I have the tendency to want to order stuff that has meat or looks like it has alot of meat. Prices here are quite reasonable and nothing in the menu cost even $30.



The main draw of the hamburger steaks here is probably the sauce which is claimed to have been stewed for 28 days. Hmmmm.....28 Days Later eh? I really don't know. The resultant sauce becomes what I would describe to be a Worcestershire sauce and red wine reduction of sorts which tastes not too bad and also, it isn't that much special considering that a lot of effort seemed to have gone into it. I'm not going to mention caesar's salad since everyone has their rendition of it and I don't even know what's the original like. The scallop carpaccios are quite tasty though they really aren't carpaccios. Firstly they aren't raw and also, they're sliced far too thickly. The edges of the scallops are lightly seared and the whole is topped with a chilled and sourish ebiko & radish/onion mix which is pretty damn good. It's something I wouldn't mind ordering again if I return.

This stylish & contemporary Japanese restaurant brings back memories of the first time I visited a couple of years back at the outlet in Wheelock Place. It's been quite some time since then, when this blog was not born and the idea of blogging has not even been conceived by me. The impression as I recall from that first visit, seems quite different from today. Again, as I have said before, memory can be a fickle mistress. Since then, the menu seems to have changed a little with addition items which I do not remember seeing previously. The reason one should eat in a place like this is when one expects honestly, contemporary dining in Japanese food as what should be expected from places like Sushi Tei or Waraku. The traditional items of sushi and sashimi isn't something I would consider to be their forte and the quality here cannot be compared to those other places. Still, it does not deter me to try out what they can offer in those terms.


The sashimi served here is quite decent. There isn't anything remarkable about the fish though. You can see that the sushi chefs here obviously do not put in enough skill points into their knife mastery as does a certain Kaise Phua from the lack of clean-ness on the edges of the cuts. The presentation is a tad fanciful for a few pieces of meat and really, style is over substance here.


I'm not normally big on makis. I just generally don't find them very interesting. Occasionally, I make exceptions and that usually depends on what is in the filling. The usual ones are quite boring. This dragon roll however sounded a bit more promising because avocado and cheese means that I can expect this to taste quite creamy. I was right about it and this is pretty good with very noticeable cream cheese at the centre. Cheese usually does it for me. The other filling inside is unagi which was pretty ordinary.


The rainbow roll contains crab fillings at the centre. I was actually thinking of sinews of crab meat, however what really comes is some finely minced crab meat in mayo mix which I thought was really mundane. The ebiko at the top was more interesting than the crab mayo.


Do not order this here. It's not good at all and it actually cost more than Akashi. That is all I have to say of the uni.

The foie gras here is broiled, not char grilled or pan fried, so doesn't come with the crispy or toasted surface. Still, foie gras is foe gras. This one is just not so creamy.

This prawn and scallop dish is pretty good. The scallops have quite a bit of char fragrance from the pan fry which makes them quite tasty. Prawns are undeniably crunchy. My only complain is that they portions are a tad small.

This is something that I've had before the first time I was here. I think they are grilled, with black pepper. These pork cheeks are just like bacon, minus the fat. Salty, slightly chewy and a bit dry. Again, portions aren't generous.

This gyu foie gras grill is simply foie gras on top of some medium rare grilled beef. I like the idea of this dish, but the execution really doesn't go well with me since the entire thing is drenched in that sweet teriyaki sauce which is not bad, but really drowns out all the natural flavor of the beef making it quite unidentifiable as beef. That is just something I don't really like about how cows are done. The eggplant blanketed foie gras here that sits on apple slices is also not of the crispy surface variety. My beef is with the beef, so it's something that I probably will never order again if I do come back.

The tofu cheesecake seems to be rather popular here. I can understand why. I personally think it's pretty good. The texture leans towards tofu rather than cheesecake, but just isn't as soft as real beancurd. This cake itself is quite light in flavor, yet retains enough of the cheesecake taste so it makes a pretty good dessert that isn't too heavy or overwhelmingly sweet.

This comes up as a very pleasant surprise. The desserts of this place are interesting at the least (from what I've had). Most of the sweet potato flavor comes from the purple yarn like surface which houses whipped cream and a few chestnuts (that's the yellowish ball at the top too!) inside. Again, this dessert is not excessively sweet and I found this to be unexpectedly pleasant. If you like sweet potatos and chestnut, this is quite good stuff.

Carrot creme brulees aren't the run of the mill creme brulees for sure. Which is why I just had to try it. As I mentioned, desserts here are interesting. This one is interesting too in flavor in a pleasant way. The carrot flavoring is quite mild and non intrusive. But noticeable the same. The custard is however not robust in flavor and the caramel top should have been more charred.

This place is one of the good showcases of contemporary Chinese (Cantonese) food. By that, I mean that the dishes are crafted with a difference from the very standard Chinese fare which is ubiquitous across all the other restaurants, by the choice of ingredients, presentation and the style of delivery. The trend towards this modern style of Chinese dining is noted to be spreading, but many of the places that are doing it are adopting them through change rather than having a menu that is designed in that manner. The food here can be a little pricey, dependent on what you order. As with any other Chinese places, the items that will really add to the cost are the regular treasures from the sea like shark's fin, lobsters and for this place, geoduck clam. But the whole experiences I felt is padded by very prompt and efficient service staff. This is the kind of Chinese restaurant I like really. And I'm pretty sure I will be back again to pursue their extensive menu. Now I wonder why is this one labelled "Dining In"...

Here's a simple cheating 4 step method of doing a cheesy pizza. Since I don't normally cook and it's a first time trying, there's really no need to get so authentic about the preparation. I'm quite sure I will fail at making the dough for the base anyway, so to save the time, most of the ingredients are already purchased for use and definitely not of top notch freshness. Also I'm making this (and then eating) in between blogging the last 2 entries, so I don't really have that much time to prepare it via traditional means. That's how this entry came about actually, lol. Since the four cheese ones are rather common, we'll take it up to another level. 7 cheeses. Firstly, get yourself one of those frozen pizzas from the supermarket that comes in quattro formaggi. I would recommend Dr. Oetker which is easily available at Cold Storage or Carrefour. They don't have a thick crust.

So there you go, the magnificent 7 of mozzarella, emmental, edam, blue, cheddar, feta and parmesan with the last 3 being the addtional ones I've heaped on top of the original frozen pizza. And it rocks. I thought it was much better than the triple cheese from the Pizza Place. If I ever get to do this again, I'll probably top it up with an egg.

This place does feel like Garibaldi after all. I mean apart from the servers who do not behave like programmed flesh automatons, the style of the decor does somewhat relay the same clean looks and the dining experience bears a close semblence. Speaking of which, I will digress and mention that the new French place by the Garibaldi group at Purvis Street, Gunther's seems to have opened. The digression ends here.


The food at Bontá (#01-61, UE Square) is expectedly tame in the sense that nothing is really very different from the usual. The variables do not cause much of a stir. The menu items look very much the same after a while (angelhair pasta with lobster anyone?), but I'm not sure if the consistency of the template is a good thing. It tends to get a tad boring. But this is an early claim to things, since this is the first time I've visited and if the restaurant perseveres, changes are bound to roll in. I think.

The most impressive dinner item was actually the bread. Impressive as it kinda wowed me. And no, dinner was not that bad. It was okay actually. One has to factor the law of diminishing returns in the area of satisfaction on the due course of progress. The bread was so good, I asked for seconds which really almost did it for me after the starters of the Ocean Trout Crab Meat Rolls. But it was good bread, and worthy of space in my gut. The bread arrives hot in a cup much like a cupcake with a ceramic base. Beneath the skin lies bits of walnuts and in the middle, feta cheese. It is seriously, good stuff. With or without the olive oil and grated olive dip.


The starter of Ocean Trout Crab Meat Rolls isn't really much to speak about. The trout rolls along with the smooth creamy crab meat felt really contemporary Japanese. Apart from a tiny handful of avocados and cherry tomatoes, and an unidentifiable blood orange sauce there isn't really much more to this dish and I really didn't think much of it in the department of flavor.



The homemade goose liver ravioli is one of those things that is heart stopping. For one, it's full of cheese from the parmesan cheeses sauce to the scarmoza cheese melted over the top. The menu describes the scarmoza to be smoked, but I'm quite positive that none of the bites smoked. The other obvious heart clogging factor was of course the goose liver that spilled oil as you cut into the ravioli. It's on the whole, quite enjoyable and I'm quite glad it didn't come in larger portions.

For first visits, Bontá doesn't come across as impressive. We're definitely not talking about mediocre standards. It's definitely above that level, however fails to provide the satisfaction that one would generally look towards. Service and ambience aside, I would think that for a restaurant to provide that kind of satisfaction, the taste of the fare has to be either awesome, or , hearty. This is neither really here nor there.

If you're going by the post labels of fusion/modern, this might not be really what you will expect if you haven't heard of Essential Brew (269 Holland Ave, Holland Village) which has actually been around for some years. It is a fusion of sorts where the food here is fused with tea and flowers. I personally don't think that all of it is a success in the department of flavor, but with that being said, the food here isn't too bad if you know what to expect. In fact, I wouldn't mind eating here again if I had to. Some of the little surprises here are pretty good if you look past the expectations that you are wont to have from some of the little fancy names. Or maybe, I really came here expecting very little. It's all pre-conceived notions and occasionally, I can be wrong about places. Judging by how long this establishment has been around, I also think that this place is probably one of the early adopters of such tea and flower food fusion places. The only other location that I can think of is actually Helio Cafe (which does good desserts) and her sister establishment Eden Cafe.