Modesto's, Orchard Parade Hotel

I have mixed feelings about Modesto's. After eating here, I'm not sure if it's a place which I liked or not. Probably have to come back again since the selection on the menu was large and there were some items which I found compelling. Hindsight impressed on me that the food wasn't all that great. I was thinking that certain things could have been done better. The service however was friendly and great despite the bustling crowd and agonizing waiting time. Over the course of an hour of wait for the food, the waiting staff had without prompt walked over to reassure that the food is in order and that they're doing their best for a busy Friday evening.

Bread served was pretty bad. Tasted like a dry herb focaccia which didn't taste fresh. Needed generous dips of olive oil and vinegar despite being hungry and having to go through a long wait for the food to arrive.

The starter of the antipasto italiano wasn't what I had expected. While quite palatable, the food felt limp. The grilled vegetables were a tad too cold, Mozzarella cheese felt crumbly from the caprese and there was noticeably little Parma ham that draped on the rock melons. 

The calamari fritti was second starter. Maybe because I like soggy fries, I had no complains with the soft batter that coated the squids which was actually quite enjoyable with the chew.

Was mulling over a few of the pastas and eventually ended up with the ravioloni di pesce al pomodoro.  Its fillings of supposed minced prawn and crab meat turned out to be quite disappointing. There was some creamy 'things' in the filling where neither the prawn nor crab were barely discernible. Whatever little of it was drowned out in the tomato sauce. The portions and doneness of the ravioli was good and if the stuffings were better, it might have actually been enjoyable.

Anatolia Turkish Restaurant, Far East Plaza

This was a Turkish shop that has been operating in their current premise (Far East Plaza #02-58/59) for a while. Had always thought of coming by to try their food and never really did until now. Anatolia as the name might suggest, does Turkish food. Aside from the vertical spits where the meats are carved, the shop also featured a small and single serving salad bar and a corner for Turkish ice cream. The menu consisted of a list of the usual kebabs, wraps, a small selection of sides and salad. Orders are taken over at the counter and payment is made before one heads to the seating area to wait for the orders to be served.


Dinner was a mixed kebab which featured grilled chicken, lamb and beef heaped over some salad and a portion of rice. It was described be something meant for sharing but the portion looked to be enough just one. The lamb koobidehs from the platter had a dose of chilli which upped the spiciness. Banoo and Persepolis didn't do theirs with chilli. The egg omelette which we had to go along was just a regular pan fried omelette with paprika. Tried the apple tea which I had initially assumed to be a freshly brewed beverage. It actually came in a teabag and was surprisingly not bad. There was quite a bit of of apple flavour in that tea.

Ox liver and pork cutlet from Colbar

I've been curious about this ox liver after hearing about it from the hungry cow that took a bite out of the liver of his own kin. I knew that I had to order it to see what it's about now that I've managed to head down to Colbar again. Initially, I wasn't sure if I could eat so much liver at a go. Never had them in such quantities. It happened. In retrospect, this stuff was pretty good. What I liked was that the livers weren't sliced too thickly and was treated with a very hot pan fry - evidenced from the char mark and the small bit of bloodiness in the middle. Turned out to be more enjoyable than I had expected. There was less of the "livery" taste than the usual overly cooked chicken/pork livers.

The pork cutlet on the other hand was much less memorable. The meat was dry and chewy. Not much else to speak of.

Brownie with cheese

This did not taste too bad. The chocolate and cheese combo did feel wholesomely heart clogging coupled with a healthy dose of sugar rush. The salty cheese sauce tasted much like Cheez Whiz in jars - something I cannot seem to find anymore in supermarkets. Brownie was also loaded with bits of macadamia nuts. 

In retrospect, the cheese brownie looked like something I would throw together at home than restaurant food. I also thought that it needed to stay in the oven longer before being served because a hot brownie tastes better than a lukewarm one. If anyone was wondering, it's from Breeks (#05-29, Ngee Ann City).

Stiff Chilli, Jalan Besar

"when a chilli is stiff, it's dead" ~ Ah Teo

I had a bit of difficulty trying to locate this place at 279 Jalan Besar from the map on Streetdirectory.com. It's actually 2 or 3 bus stops from Sim Lim Square in the direction away from town. The restaurant was an old-ish and modern/quaint little place nested in a row of dilapidated looking shophouse with crumbling whitewash. From what I've read, this place was run by an Italian-Australian chef Rodney Holt who had opened four other Stiff Chilli outlets in Bali. From the way things were looking, this place looked like it was doing pretty good. This was one of those times I walked out of the restaurant feeling happy about the dinner. The question I had was - if it were to be successful as an eatery in this country, would it be able to gracefully meet the challenge of compromise and not bow to mediocrity as many others have.


One of the signature dishes here was Burrata which was essentially a cream filled ball of mozzarella cheese heaped over with rockets, Parma ham, some cherry tomatoes and then drizzled generously with olive oil and vinegar. The cheese was of a soft and smooth texture, light on flavours and has the consistency akin to a portobello mushroom cap. In spite of the size, wasn't overwhelming or heavy. This stuff was definitely worth a try. Came in two options of either parma ham ($22) or grilled vegetables ($18).


The bruschetta here were limited to two or three different toppings but I thought that their mozzarella e rucola ($6) which featured tomatoes, basil, little pieces of bocconcini cheese and roasted garlic (what a pleasant surprise!) was a pretty good starter. For me, the best part of the bruschetta was the addition of the soft roasted garlic and I definitely wished that there were more of it. That would have in my books made it great!


The speck pizza ($18) which featured, according to the menu, double smoked mountain ham (what's this?!) and blue cheese was something that I thought I shouldn't pass up on. This turned out to be something that I found myself liking quite a bit. I thought that a little more generosity with the blue cheese was in order and I'm not sure what's the deal with that salty double smoked mountain ham which tasted almost like Parma ham. The pizza came with an excellent thin crust that was really crispy at the edges and a bottom that did not turn soggy because of the toppings.


There was a variety of pastas to pick from. There was a cannelloni which I spied on the menu, but I had unfortunately limited space. We managed to decide on the ravioli di zucca ($8.50) which was pumpkin filled raviolis cooked in butter and sage. The ravioli was decent in a light buttery broth which I would have preferred to be more buttery. The only thing the sage did for me was to provide a little dimension to the taste.


Interesting thing about their chocolate ice cream was that there were actually flecks of chilli inside. The effect of which was a subtle chilli flavour which doesn't change the chocolate ice cream, but rather sits above it. There was only a very mild spiciness that can be felt and left a ticklish sensation in the throat. The taste was honestly not bizarre or weird. Just different.

I would probably want to come back again to check out other things on the menu. I liked this place enough with first impressions.

Beer Butt Chicken from Blooie's Roadhouse

This turned out to be a little gimmicky. The beer butt chicken which required pre-order from Blooie's (21 Science Park Road #01-01, The Aquarius, Science Park II) was something that had caught my attention a some time back when I first visited them. Been wanting to try it out now that I've finally had it, I'd say it's expensive for a chicken ($38) without any special taste to boot.

The restaurant explained that the the bird needed a day of marination from the pre-order. An opened can of beer was inserted up the behind before it's cooked in line with the logic that the beer would actually evaporate and infuse the meat in the chicken with its flavour. After the chicken was cooked, the kitchen brought it out for display before chopping up the bird a bowl along with cajun fries. They used Kilkenny. We ended up with a pretty decent roasted chicken without any beer flavour. The salty and slightly spicy marinate was quite flavourful. Especially so for the skin. I tried a couple of the pieces of the meat sans skin to see if there was any difference from regular roasted chicken. There wasn't. Because I had been given heads up by a friend prior to this not to expect much out of it, I wasn't actually disappointed at the outcome. I just needed to convince myself by eating it.