More lunch at Garibaldi

Garibaldi has of recent months(?) upped their cost for lunch. It used to be $29++ and now it's $32++. I'm not sure about a $3 increment in experience though. The deal for the lunch is still the same as before, 3 courses plus coffee or tea. This lunch was done with a reader whom has responded to and old post from last year. It's dated, but what the heck. It's usually interesting to meet new people and perspective. Especially people who enjoy a good meal.

I wasn't expecting any noticeable changes in the food quality as it wasn't that long back since I last ate here. I will try to remember to come back for dinner instead. It'll be more interesting than lunch and you'll get to see something else other than pasta (which is btw, always an excellent al dente in hot sauce). ;)

crostini di polenta con funghi e fonduta de taleggio
penne alla carbonara I

penne alla carbonara II

penne alla carbonara III

chocolate and a forgotten flavour

Some photos from Morton's

This was a belated dinner treat that was a long time in coming. :) Morton's of Chicago has so far not disappointed. From the warm bustling ambience to the perceptive spontaneity in service, the restaurant made visible effort to justify what one pays for eating here. Sure the prices are hefty but it would also be otherwise difficult to find a place that does better steak and service together.

This was the first time I am having their crab cakes. I have to say that they were $35 good. The same went for the excellent lobster bisque which I admit to being slightly skeptical towards initially. It was a rich, hot and creamy lobster soup with a hint of brandy just on the edge and in my books, it could be the best one around.

the evil onion loaf

jumbo lump crab cake

lobster bisque

boneless prime rib

bone in ribeye

grilled asparagus in balsamic glaze

chocolate cake

to be continued...maybe....perhaps.....someday....possibly

Highlander Bar, Clark Quay

Decided to check out this place after seeing it mentioned in a blog. Highlander Bar ( #01-11, The Foundry) is located near the central junction of Clark Quay just beside Pump Room. This could be the first and probably for a long time, the only Scottish themed place. There aren't any others around that I know of. The "al fresco" seats at the bar/restaurant made use of pretty eye catching cross section tree trunk table tops which while was interesting to examine, didn't really function that effectively as a table.

Highlander serves Scottish ales/larger from the tab and a small selection of other bottled beers. Not forgetting also, a selection of whiskeys which can be had pretty steep looking prices. A bottle of Baileys here costs $210. We opted for an all entree dinner which featured some outlandish/highlandish sounding items.


haggis - This stuff was surprisingly addictive. Haggis is suppose to be a traditional Scottish dish that is made up of minced innards of sheep mixed with onion, oatmeal, spices, salt and stock. The result is a pudding that has a texture akin to minced meat and tastes a lot like pate and oats. Came with a cream based sauce and a scoop each of mashed carrots (although it says turnips on the menu) and potatoes. This was probably the most interesting item in the starters section of the menu. Definitely worth a try. The ingredients were probably not too far off from what sausages are made of anyways.


grampian stovies - which was essentially pan fried herbed beef with potato and onion cake. It was quite bland with mashed potatoes (real mashed potatoes) being the most recognisable ingredient along with tiny bits of beef. That was pretty much all there was.


scotch eggs - I've never tried scotch egg before. For $10 you get 2 hard boiled eggs encased in minced beef, breaded and deep fried. Chris thinks that this would make an excellent all in one option for breakfast. The carbs, meat and egg, all in one package. I don't disagree and as a hot snack was great with beer.


tattie scones - the menu describe these as potato patties. They tasted like fried tapioca cakes, albeit one that was not sweet. Another unremarkable dish which is saved solely by the cheese dip on the side.


smoked kipper toasties - this was nice. Fragrant and crispy cheese toasted with some fish. I couldn't get any texture of fish meat in there, but the flavours were definitely present. Salty and went well with drinks.

A random ayam penyet from Chong Pang

This chicken didn't look smashed to me. I was thinking splintered bones but apparently, all the smashing did was to break the meat (tenderised?!) and made them easily removable from the bones.

Aside from being "smashed", the ayam penyet tasted like the regular fried chicken from Muslim chicken rice stores. The only difference was the sambal spruced flavours by quite a bit. That sambal was not bad. This stall in Swee Sian Yuen Eating House located at Chong Pang central claimed to be a branch of the original that hails from Changi Village where the ayam penyet rose to fame as a dish. I wonder how it stacks here versus the original. For Malay fried chicken rice, this was decent stuff. 

Noodle House Ken, Orchard Plaza

I first stumbled upon this shop along the side of the Orchard Plaza a few years back. Noticed that most of the people eating here were Japanese so the natural and logical conclusion that one would arrive at would be that the food here was probably as close as it can get to without being in Japan. Thought it would be a good idea to check out their ramen. The setup did look promising. Subsequently, I have revisited a couple of other times. Until this visit, I realized that I have never paid attention to the name of the shop. 

This was the Noodle House Ken (Orchard Plaza, 150 Orchard Road #01-17/18) that I've heard people talking about. Talk about being oblivious to my surroundings.

char siew ramen

My last visit to this place was some time ago, so I can't remember much of their ramen. This visit could be construed as a clean slate in getting re-acquainted with the food here. But the first thoughts were that I recalled it being better. More delicious. Then memory can be a fickle mistress while taste and expectations do evolve. I'm not complaining about the noodles. At $12 a bowl, I thought it was fair in this part of town. For additional $2, I got the top up options of a stewed egg. Rather expensive for an egg but it was delicious. I wished that they had those straight noodles like the ones Ajisen does though.

Brotzeit, Vivo City

I didn't know what to expect of Brotzeit German Bier Bar and Restaurant (#01-149-151) which was opened towards the end of October 2006 in Vivo City. There hasn't been much that is notable about German cuisine on this sunny island beyond the pork knuckle and larger variety of sausage offerings (which I was sure is but a scratch on the surface compared to what's available in Germany). So I came here not wanting for very much except good beer

First impression of the place is that service was very spotty and almost, dare I say....... atrocious? After having been opened for about half of a year, I would assume that teething issues should have been more or less have been ironed out. Reservations were poorly handled and I'm still not quite sure if it was allowed for the outdoor seats. There seemed to be disagreement between different staff about this matter. To top it off, I was faced with a really sad attempt at a joke from the serving staff about getting me to share a table that has already been occupied by 3 ladies. I didn't think it was funny at all. Not a tiny bit. I've never been a proponent of numbered ratings for anything because quantifiability is subjective and three dimensional. But here's a 3 out of 10 for service.

The redeeming quality of Brotzeit was probably the food and drinks. The variety is comparatively, larger than Paulaners which actually did not have that much to choose from. Food portions were local sized. Not that I was expectig bigger. Speaking of which, Brotzeit serves Paulaner's brews so I don't know if there's any relation between the two.

The pork knuckles had a fragrant crispy skin and meat that wasn't excessively fatty. Apart from the beers and sausages we also had the fladen which were the German pizzas. I don't really know what about the pizzas here that makes them German. I'm quite sure I can find similar pizzas. It tasted quite mundane, making them pretty boring in comparison with what Magma offered in the way of cream cheese instead of the regular tomato base.


I don't mind coming back for the food. There's also the appeal from the selection of drinks on tap. The service crew needs some work but otherwise, here's not bad for a hangout after work.