Big D's Grill, Holland Drive

I've only found out very recently that Big D's Grill (Block 46 Holland Drive, #01-359, S270046) has moved to a location rather accessible to my current place of work and coincidentally in the same coffeeshop with the XO fish beehoon place down at Holland drive (sadly, their standards have fallen far).

Prices at the stall aren't what one would normally associate with coffeeshop food and this place beats the crap out of even Botak Jones for price ranges that skim the top at $90 for a 200g piece of wagyu steak. They do have a variety of cow options I must say and it's one of the reasons that will bring me back here again. Getting to the meat of the matter, we got a very decent beer battered snapper which was really probably the best fish and chips ever to date to be served in a location like this with their generous portions of fluffly white fish in light crispy batter. A pity about the lack of vinegar.

The oily anchovy pasta with bits of garlic, thinly sliced of more pan fried garlic and bits of parsley was impressive in a way that I didn't quite expect. It was one of the better aglio olio renditions that I've had which is totally unexpected because I ordered anchovy pasta and this wasn't really what I had in mind. Honestly, the pasta was saltish, garlicky and spicy at the same time. One might have surmised, that those flavors really overwhelmed any anchovy-ness that I was hoping for. A treat if you're looking for your garlic and olive oil fix, but at prices that they charge in some Italian restaurants. I didn't quite think it was justified. Dude, where's my anchovies?

Zac Cafe, Jalan Pinang

For someone who has visited Nando's, one cannot be helped but to notice parallels of their Peri Peri sauces to Zac Cafe's (17 Jalan Pinang, tel : 6295 1816) pari pari chicken. Or at least silently snigger at the similarities in the name. In seriousness, this was pretty good. There was a nicely browned half bird with some char on the exterior. Meat was still juicy on the insides accompanied by a slather of spicy sauce on the chicken. The spiciness did pack a punch, albeit, it didn't knock one out by brute force. It crept into potency as one ate along...

The chicken had on the side some toasted "Arabic bread". Those reminded me a little of roti prata.


Their lamb bohari rice featured braised lamb on a bed of spiced rice. Portions were large. We enjoyed it but at the same time felt something was missing. Like perhaps more fragrance from the rice. The meat wasn't as tender as I had hoped for and didn't slide of the bone as easily as I would have liked. What got the nod of approval were the hearty samosas which were stuffed with minced beef. Delicious and relatively inexpensive. They would have been awesome if it weren't the small bits of coriander. The only other samosa I've had that were better than these were the kolkatta shingaras from Mustard.

A beer chilli bowl from Brewerkz

I've been having really lousy food for about 2 weeks now and this is probably my first decent chow since. What do I make out of this spicy bowl of ground beef and bean porridge with a blanket of runny cheese over the top? Not too bad I would say. Not that I've had a whole lot of these beef chilli stuff apart from them being served on fries or burgers. Pretty comforting in the belly at the least on a cold day and otherwise, good to go with a pint or three of their golden ale. I kinda like that crumbly sweet and savory corn bread/cake thingy that they had on top too.

Does anyone know where to get this?

I can't really recall how I landed myself one of these but I like them and I don't remember seeing them around in the supermarkets. Does anyone have any idea?

Crystal's ohn no khao swe

Imagine something along the lines of laksa with a less rich broth. That's would be how I'd describe this tasted like for a start.

From what I had seen, it all began with a cooked chicken - with the bones for the broth along with chopped garlic and coconut milk. The rest of the bird was deboned and has its meat boiled in the said broth which was actually rather mild in flavour on its own. The dried chilli, along with sliced raw onions and a squeeze of some lime helped perk things up noticeably and added some crunch to the slurpy noodles.

Many thanks for the Turkish coffee and delights Crystal.

Bella Pizza, Robertson Quay

Hey, here's one Italian restaurant that serves Hoegaarden. Despite a few kinks at the start, I kinda like Bella Pizza (30 Robertson Quay, #01-14 Riverside View, tel : 6734 0139) enough that I would like to come back again. Service was adequate and polite. The best part of it was snappy yet observant. That and having pizza bianca on the menu helped tipped the scales to my favour.

We started off with some tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella wrapped in thinly sliced Parma ham with the courtesy of just a drizzle of olive oil and freshly ground pepper. Cheese was soft, smooth and basically what I had imagined it to be. Light and enjoyable.

The menu described their home made fettuccine to be done with a touch of cream. It was more than a touch but fortunately not overwhelming The sauce was light that one could still taste the bits of shaven black truffles and morels in them. The burst of flavours came from the bits of salty sausages that tasted home made.

Which brings us to the pizza. I had only one gripe with the pizza cotto which was topped with mozzarella, cooked ham and Gorgonzola. It definitely needed more Gorgonzola. But it was otherwise one of the better ham and cheese based pizza I've had in a while. Nice thin crust that folded under the weight of the generous topping of milky mozzarella and ham. More Gorgonzola!

Usually, ordering desserts kind meant that I generally liked the food. But not ordering them doesn't always mean otherwise. Their crepe alla nutella con banane was a little let down because I had expected more. Crepe with mascarpone and Nutella served with bananas. It taste like the way it looked and was saved by the Nutella. I could have made this myself at home.