Risotto with seafood & lobster bisque from Menotti

This was quite good and filling. I counted 7 or 8 clams, a generous portion of squid and nice crunchy prawns. One could tell that the rice was cooked the proper way from ironically, the slight inconsistency in the doneness.

A few glimpses of Glutton Bay

Glutton Bay (Esplanade Mall) emerged after Glutton Square (Orchard Road) was closed and the premise is suppose to be representation of Asian food or popular local street food at its better. After a tryout, I was far from being impressed. To be fair, I did not manage to eat everything. But I do know of more than a handful of people who are able to recommend better players for most of the food representation. I wouldn't be too sure about Makansutra's term "top hawkers" which was definitely a very loose and superficial reference. It's a gathering spot for tourists to experience some local eats though. It's also tourist prices here anyway. Avoid the horrible sambal squid.

Muddy pub grub

Irish themed ale tavern/pub that has chunky chilli crab dip for chips. That's something to say about Muddy Murphy (442 Orchard Road #B1-01/01-06, Orchard Hotel Shopping Arcade). Well, maybe not so unusual here. I generally like Irish themed pubs because they normally do Strongbow on tap and I can find a couple of other reasons come back. Their bar snacks while was not amazing were things that I didn't mind . We had chips with chilli crab dip and green lip mussels tonight.

The chilli crab dip tasted like what one could expect from regular chilli crab sauce. It probably isn't as spicy, but it did taste the local and not just an attempt do a western rendition of the sauce. Don't expect Chinese restaurant standards. Those mussels we got were pretty fresh tasting, large and chewy - chewy in a good way that's full of bite. Something that the sweeter smaller varieties from Norway that Brussels Sprouts serve, doesn't have.

Marmalade Pantry, Palai Renaissance

Marmalade Pantry (Palai Renaissance, B1-08/11, Orchard Road) is a spiffy tai tai canteen secluded in the basement of a building laden with branded boutiques. I learnt of the ultimate beef burger and came here to try it. I had soup too. Service here on Saturday was pretty bad and the entire place looks pretty understaffed with only half the seats filled

The parsnip sweep potato and butternut soup was a bad call on my part. I didn't like it. For some reasons, I was expecting something like a butternut squash soup. It tasted more like a carrot flavoured dahl. Not something I enjoyed except for the cheese filled loaf on the side.

   

I thought their burger might have been better without the mayo but I'm not complaining. This was a serious heavyweight beef burger with a firm and thick patty accompanied by slices of gherkins. Made holding the burger together a tad slippery. Juice were dripping out of the patties as I ate. Quite impressive. The thick looking buns were also much softer than they looked and it was actually not bad. Though a bit pricey at $19.

Quarter chicken lunch at Kenny Rogers

We live in a world where commercial fast food restaurant chickens are sold by aged country singers and even long dead colonels. Kenny Rogers is but, another of those that used to have better tasting roasted chickens in the past, but has seen declining standards on their quality of food, very much like many other restaurants. It seems that all commercial food businesses are condemned somehow into a slow downward spiral which is a sad thing.


The chicken here is still edible actually if you asked me. The portions are however wildly inconsistent and very much dependent on the "luck of the draw". Sometimes, the portions can be just pathetic. The lack of consistency for that is a major drawback for me. Also, the signature roast chicken doesn't get into the lunch deals which offers the option of some chicken filet instead. I had to get the regular quarter chicken ($13.55 with tax) off the menu. Where's the deal here really? The people that decided on the menu of their lunch packages obviously didn't not care so much about what people come to this place for as opposed to how to sell meal boxes that cost less to produce. How much more obvious can that get when you throw in shitty lunch deals that make people not want to come back again after having them one time? So said my new Israeli colleague.

The side of macaroni with cheese and corn muffin fortunately still delivers.

Miss Clarity Smoked Gnocchi

Wow, this was probably the cheapest place I've encountered gnocchi so far. Am pleasantly surprised that Miss Clarity is making inroads with not so commonly available pasta. At $9.80 and no service charge, there's probably no one else with a lower price. It's almost three times more across the road at Garibaldi. This particular plate came with a smoky cream sauce topped with artichokes, sun dried tomatoes and real bacon. The cooking was done with good timing as none of them looked like they were about to disintergrate.