Five Guys, ION Orchard

Haven't had Five Guys in quite a while. This was our first time at the ION branch (B3-24/25/26 ION Orchard, 2 Orchard Turn). Seems like one can make their burgers a meal these days. See that? They're finally assimilating. Just remember that it starts from $25.50 and doesn't necessary cost just $25.50. I had to top up for the shake.

The small portions of fries are still large. Not complaining here. They oversalted today.

So I found out you can ask for hot sauce from them on the side. Now I know what else is good with the fries.

Banana and bacon shake was too sweet. I wonder if it's just this time. Also not tasting the bacon oils anymore, just the bacon bits.

More beef kut teh from Wolfgang's Steakhouse

Back at Wolfgang's Steakhouse for more of their beef kut teh. Since this was available only for this month, we wanted to have it one more time before it's no longer around.

Each order of this is entitled to one free refill of the broth. Which we took advantage of today.

Plentiful fall off the bone tenderness on the rib.

Our vegetables of the day came in the form of their tasty creamed spinach. There's a flavour in those that reminded us of anchovies.

We got an additional portion of rice. Didn't expect that to be so big.

But we made short work of it folded with butter, creamed spinach and dark soya sauce. 👍🏼

We swapped the coconut ice cream with their mango sorbet today. It's ok but not great. The citrus wasn't coming through enough to be impressive. Now we know.

Our SG60 lunch at Wolfgang's Steakhouse

This happened on National Day......SG60 is a good reason as any to celebrate with a nice lunch at Wolfgang's Steakhouse.

Got ourselves shrimp cocktail again. Big assed and meaty.

The Taste of New York set for lunch included their dry aged sirloin with creamed spinach, mashed potatoes and cheesecake. Meat's not bad. Mashed potatoes were addictive and that creamed spinach was another kind of delicious. Loads of actual spinach flavour in all that butter (or cream?). I liked that their cheesecake was frills free and unloaded with all the extras that many cafes/restaurants tend to include to make up for their inadequacy.

Highlight of the lunch was Wolfgang's beef kut teh. Made for SG60 obviously, this was a rendition of bak kut teh that was made with USDA Prime Black Angus short rib. Only for August they said. Broth was beefy, garlicky and a little herbal. Not a bad remake of the original if I might say so. That 500g short rib was tender, meaty and substantial. The kitchen even offered chilli padi as option with the dark soya sauce. 

Too bad about the coconut ice cream. Did not like it.

Pizza bread sandwich from Roberta's Pizza

Roberta's Pizza has something called pizza bread sandwiches as part of their weekday lunch specials. Not so different from the folded pizza from Paninoteca by d.o.c. There's a few fillings to choose from. This was the Italian combo with slices of spicy salami, prosciutto, Mortadella, stracciatella, some giardineira spread and radicchio. I liked it. Would have liked it more if it were bigger. Love the crisp chewy bread and how the prosciutto's flavour stood out with some heat from the oils of the salami.

The Hamburger from Shake Shack

<RANT>Shack Shack, you need to do better with your declining service. 👎🏼 Even for fast food standards, it's a low. I paid for my food, screen on the kiosk got stuck at the 'printing receipt' screen and we approached the staff at the counter who came back with the response telling me that the order didn't go through. And she left it at that. 

What the flying fuck do you expect me to do here with this response? As it turned out, I had to get back to her about the problem before SHE pushed the issue to a colleague who had just arrived. SHE looked very reluctant in trying to get the order fulfilment resolved. This experience is obviously an echo of Shake Shack's management's lackadaisical attitude.

How else would it be that a business has staff thinking it's fully acceptable not fulfilling an order that has already been paid for.</RANT>

I came across the mention of the Hamburger in Shake Shack's menu recently and was naturally convinced by the argument that without the distractions of the other items in their burger, one could get the full flavour from the meat. We got the double and weren't disappointed. That burger was delicious in it's simple beefiness. That being said, I'm equally happy with the extra plot in their Shackburger too.

That mandarin lemonade tasted like regular lemonade so that was just gimmicky without actual value. Why bother with this flavour failure? Also curious why my ShackMeister fries had the cheese sauce separated when every order had them on the fries. What's going on here?

Shake Shack, Jewel Changi Airport

Double Shackburger from the first Shake Shack in Singapore (#02-256 Jewel Changi Airport, 78 Airport Boulevard). Extra pickles, lettuce, onions and tomatoes. Extra plot. I'm still loving it. 

The Chairman at Black Tap with a red beer

Back at Black Tap (一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六).

The recent burger of the month was The Chairman. While it doesn't look apparent in the picture, beef patty's layered with Mortadella and melted Provolone and topped with crunchy pickled vegetables. It's not bad tasting but pretty salty.

Beer of the month's a rosella lager. Hibiscus flavoured so it's a little sour red beer. 

Shrimps, steak and apple pie at Luke's Oyster Bar & Chop House

It's been a while since we were last here (一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八, 九). The restaurant has upheld their standards for good quality food.

The prices have gone up to commensurate that preserved standard. We were here for lunch. The lunch menu is for some reasons never available online.

Corn bread which has been good from the first time we've had them.

It started with $39, then $48 and now it's $54. Yes it's jumbo shrimp cocktails which we've of late taken interest in for some reasons. This one at Luke's featured big shrimps which were gently sweet, deveined and meaty. What's impressive was their cocktail sauce which packed a Tabasco styled vinegary heat, some brininess if I hadn't imagined it and that's paired with the traditional tangy sweetness. 👍🏼👍🏼

I have missed this!

Today, I discovered that their accompanying mustard on the side is a house mixture. There's some form of salt in it and maybe other stuff and I like it with their tenderloin au poivre. Just like how I "discovered" their Béarnaise the last time. So now it's between salt flakes, Béarnaise and their house mustard. First world problems much?

Dessert was their Grandma's apple pie. Nice cinnamon infused slices of cooked apple nestled within a fried pastry (yes, tasted fried like our favourite fast food, not baked) topped with maple pecan ice cream and julienned green apple sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. Nice!

Brunching at Wolfgang's Steakhouse

We were here today to check out some of what Wolfgang's Steakhouse has for their lunch menu.

What happens when there's no more rye? 😏 Baguette. That's what. Kinda hard and chewy but they're my vehicle for butter and they're not that bad so I'll leave it as that. I much prefer the rye they previously had.

The jumbo shrimp cocktail wasn't one of those lunch menu stuff I mentioned earlier. 😂 They're from the regular menu. Of recent times, I've been curious about them and since we've just had one from Wooloomooloo not long back, we could compare. Just to get that comparison out of the way, this one was also memorable in its own way. Yes, I enjoyed both. 😬

Shrimp here seemed bigger for one. I had initially mistaken their cocktail sauce, one that's less fancy more traditional than Wooloo's, to be ketchup. I'll be damned if it was. That sauce was tomato-y, vinegary and a lot more lively than I imagined. Less sweet than their Wolfgang's steak sauce which also works with these shrimps. Enjoyed it and while enjoying it, I got reminded about a remark I've heard about these things being out of the remarker's tax bracket. I can relate. 

Thick cut sizzling bacon was as good as it looked. Smokey, meaty and salty just like it was intended to be.

This trio of cuts was from the lunch menu featuring their USDA Prime dry aged Black Angus New Rork striploin, tenderloin and ribeye. <- That's the sequence they were plated and my preference in order of flavour was from right to left. Ribeye's has great flavour and I love the texture of the tenderloin. Striploin's pretty lean-ish. A pretty penny here for a sampler which I was hoping would be in bigger portions.

Finally got to try their loco moco from the lunch menu. I had initially thought that there was too little sauce to go around but it turned out to be an appropriate amount. This plate is comfort food - beef patty, egg and rice with sauce and mushrooms. The idea isn't that different from what Jollibee does. 😂 The patty for this one was a little more fine minced than I imagined and also much lacking in beef fat and its flavour. So while I enjoyed this, it definitely could have been a better thing.

Ahem...not as nice as I remember it for some reasons.

Coffee to end.