Apologies

Apologies to all readers. There will be no posts for a couple of days due to some family issues. I will be right on track as soon as I can.

Cafe Swiss at Swissotel

PRICE: S$23 per person for the semi-buffet

FOOD: Good quality and well-executed

SPECIAL MENTION: 15% discount for AMEX card holders. Beautiful interiors, bright and airy.

Went with Wai Ling to Cafe Swiss at Swissotel recently. Both of us had the semi-buffet (appetizers and desserts). We don't really eat a lot so this was ample food for us. Right from the beginning, the service was impeccable, with the staff being very polite and personable, very unlike the polite and stoic ways of most hotel staff.

Swiss food is particularly interesting because it is an amalgation of cusines from the four major influences providing very varied choices. Meaning that there's something for everyone. There was quite a large variety of appetizers for us to choose from, ranging from warm chicken consomme soup to baby octopus salad. The pork bratwurst on plate 1 of my appetizers was left an impression. It was tender and the cold salad left it juicy.

The slices of smoked salmon were also very good that I had to take two slices of the smoked salmon coated with herbs. It was succulent and fresh. The herbs really brought out the taste of the salmon nicely and gave more dimension to the taste.

Desserts or postres (spanish) are always my favourite part of the meal. The selection at Cafe Swiss was rather narrow for the desserts but the desserts on the line were pretty tasty. I took a special liking to the Toblerone Chocolate Cake. It sounds very unhealthy. Yeah, it probably is unhealthy but it is pure delight when in the buccal cavity.

We were extremely full at the end of the buffet and extremely satisfied. Kudos to swiss cuisine.

Piper's Pies at Raffles City

PRICE: $3 for a small pie

FOOD: Yummy!

Decided to have a light dinner and since my sis and I were always curious about the nosh sold at Piper's Pies, we decided to give it a go. My sister ordered a Spinach Cous-cous pie and I ordered a Piper's pie (chunks of beef with black pepper). The meal came complete with a Lamington.


Above: Piper's Pie

The Piper's Pie was absolutely yummy. It was served piping hot. Look my dear readers, it wasn't merely warm, it was smoking. Usually places serving pies do warm up the pies. However, they don't really heat them to smoking levels because of the fear of burning the puff pastry. Talking about the pastry, it was fluffy and wasn't too thick. I hate it when my pie is all puff and hardly anything within. Thankfully, my Piper's Pie had pieces of chunky beef in it. Tender to the bite, I enjoyed chomping through it.


Above: Half-eaten Piper's Pie

My sister's Spinach Cous-cous pie was a vegetarian pie, with spinach and pumpkin as the main stars of the pie. If you like quiche, you will like this.


Above: Spinach Cous-cous

We completed the meal by sharing a Lamington which, is essentially two layers of sponge cake with chocolate icing and dessicated coconut drizzled on it. On it's own, it would be a little too sweet for my tastebuds. However, we had it after our pies (salty) so it wasn't that bad, rather good in fact.


Above: Lamington

This little Australian pie shop really does serve very authentic pies, reminiscent of the pies I had in Australia. I will definitely want to try their other pies also. It was so good that I bought two for my dad and mom.

Prosperous Kitchen at Thomson Plaza

SUGGESTIONS: Provide veggies to go with the Dongpo Meat because that dish can get a little too heavy on the taste buds.

FOOD: Good

PRICE: about $80 for 4 persons

Prosperous Kitchen is a restaurant that serves up Cantonese food. My family had dinner there today because it was near home. This is perhaps my fourth time visiting this establishment. We ordered Sichuan Sour and Spicy Soup, Double-boiled Green Apple and Corn Soup, Dongpo meat (stewed fatty pork, eaten with buns), Salad Prawns with Fresh Fruit and Pork Floss, Poached Box-thorn with Three Types of Eggs and Braised Beancurd with Golden Mushrooms and Dried Scallops.

First up, it was the Braised Beancurd with Golden Mushrooms and Dried Scallops. It was yummilicious! The braised beancurd had a slight charred taste about it, adding an unique taste to the dish. The tofu was very smooth and just slid down the spoon into my throat. The dish came with spinach but the spinach was more non-descript. The spinach seemed blanched for way too long, leaving it limp and soggy.


Above: Braised Beancurd with Golden Mushroom and Dried Scallops

Next up was the dish of Salad Prawns with Fresh Fruits and Pork Floss. The prawns were so very fresh, there was crunch in every bite. The crunch was almost audible. There were very few pieces of fresh fruits, just a few bits here and there. The prawns were cooked beautifully. However, I am not a big fan of restaurants using canned or jarred Mayonnaise to coat veggies and meats. It was way too sweet for me.


Above: Salad Prawns with Fresh Fruits and Pork Floss

The Double-boiled Green Apple and Corn Soup was yummy. But, I couldn't really taste the green apple very well. There was neither the sweetness nor sourness commonly associated with green apples in the soup. It tasted more of nice homemade corn soup.


Above: Double-boiled Green Apple and Corn Soup

Sichuan Sour and Spicy Soup was extremely appetizing. The thick soup was to my taste, I always like my soups a little thicker with corn flour or starch as the thickener.


Above: Sichuan Sour and Spicy Soup


Above: Buns that came along with the Dongpo meat

My dad loves a good dish of Dongpo meat with buns. Dongpo meat is stewed fatty pork. It is usually the meat from the pork belly, meat with streaks of fat in between. The gravy was kinda sweet and the meats were infused with the taste. But, fatty meat and mere buns can be a little heavy on the stomach. It would have been nicer if they had provided fresh veggies to go with the meats and buns. I just couldn't eat the streaks of fat and had to cut most of it off.


Above: Dongpo Meat

Finally, the Poached Box-Thorn with Three Types of Eggs came to the table. I have tasted this dish at this restaurant and at another restaurant. Today's dish was not of the usual standard of the restaurant. The various flavours of the ingredients were really separate and were not fused together properly. Also, the broth was a little too watery.


Above: Poached Box-Thorn with Three Types of Eggs

Our orders today were rather extreme in standards. Some were really fantastic while others were really just blah. My guess is the restaurant chefs had problems sticking to standards because of the large crowd today due to Fathers' Day. Nonetheless, this shouldn't be an excuse for a restaurant.

Casuarina Prata

SPECIAL MENTION: Very near Lower and Upper Peirce.

PRICE: $0.70 for 'kosong' (plain prata) to $3.50 for something more special like Mushroom Cheese Prata

FOOD: YUMMY!

This is the place where I get my bi-monthly or tri-monthly dose of the horribly unhealthy PRATA! I love Casuarina Prata and am very glad that it is very near my home. My sis and I decided to go there for dinner because we were stranded at home without dinner. We chose to sit outside and not in the outlet because of the grease smell that lingers. We ordered 4 'kosongs', 1 Mushroom Cheese prata and 2 Milo Dinosaurs.


Above: Prata

Personally, my favourite prata is always the good ol' unadulterated prata. The 'kosong' prata at Casuarina has a crispy and flaky edge. Apart from the crispy edge, the center was doughy and chewy. I like it that the ghee smell wasn't very strong. We were provided with fish currry and chicken curry. I preferred the fish curry because the slightly sour taste of the curry went well with the sweeter taste of the prata.


Above: Fish Curry

The Mushroom Cheese Prata is essentially prata with melted cheese with sliced mushrooms folded into the prata. It was yummy! Basically, I love mushrooms with their au naturel MSG. Surprisingly, it was a nice combination. But, definitely not for those who are watching their sodium intake.


Above: Mushroom Cheese Prata

Milo Dinosaur is essentially iced milo with lotsa undissolved milo powder topping the drink. It is a very sweet drink only meant for people with a very sweet tooth, like me! The sweet and milky taste quells the spiciness in the curry.


Above: Milo Dinosaur

Ambush at Takashimaya B2

Miffy Goodfood reporting:

SPECIAL MENTION: Very small dining area so be there early to secure yourself a seat during meal times.

PRICE: about $15 per person

FOOD: Good

Walk all the way past the food court of Takashimaya and you will find yourself amidst a few bistros. Ambush is one of the few there. It was my owner's second visit to this little bistro. Ordered Prawn Fritata with linguine in the style of Aglio Olio, Scallops with Linguine in Cream Fish Roe sauce, Straight Iced Coffee and Lemonade.


Above: Scallops with Linguine in Cream Fish Roe Sauce

My owner's order was the dish of Scallops with Linguine in Cream Fish Roe Sauce. I think the linguine was over-cooked, it was more than al dente, a little too soft for my taste and no longer firm. But, the Cream Fish Roe Sauce was really good, not too thick and had bits of crunchy fish roe in it. The scallops were seared nicely but I'd have liked it better if it were grilled. Grilled scallops always seem to lock in the fresh flavour of scallops.


Above: Straight Iced Coffee

The Straight Iced Coffee is quite acidic, has good aroma but lacks body. I think Iced Coffee should always be chilled to teeth-chattering temperatures. This wasn't the case for the Straight Iced Coffee.


Above: Prawn Fritata with Linguine in Aglio Olio style

Nyonya and Baba Restaurant at Vivo City

SPECIAL MENTION: One of the few conveniently located peranakan restaurants. Rice is free-flow. Rice is important because the food is good! My owner managed to finish her bowl of rice, a rare feat! And my owner's sis had TWO bowls...

SUGGESTIONS: Have set meals with fewer dishes because the set meals really had too many dishes and my family was afraid we wouldn't be able to finish the food.

PRICE: About $20+ per person

FOOD: Sedap!

Had a good evening out with my owner and her family. We went to Nyonya and Baba restaurant at Vivo City and the family went back to their roots. =) My owner happens to be a nyonya. My family ordered Fish Head Curry, Tauhu Titek (Tofu with prawns in gravy), Sambal Kangkong, Ngor Hiang (minced meat with chestnuts rolled within a crispy skin) and Chendol.


Above: Half-eaten Achar

The appetizer of achar opened up the appetite, it was a refreshing mix of vegetables. I liked it here because the vegetables were fresh and crisp. Achar is basically vegetables pickled with vinegar and usually served cold. The mix usually consists of small bits of carrots (my favourite), cucumbers, pineapples and a tiny bit of chilli. It really cleansed my palate.


Above: Sambal Kangkong

Sambal Kangkong and Ngor Hiang were served together. Sambal Kangkong was oh-so-lovely... not as oily as most other restaurants and very flavourful with the strong sambal belacan taste. Nonetheless, I think the level of spiciness could have been kicked up a notch.


Above: Cut-up roll of Ngor Hiang

The Ngor Hiang is always an interesting dish with chestnuts mixed with minced meat rolled in beancurd skin and deep-fried. It is one of my favourite dishes because of the unique texture of the crispy skin with the tender minced meat and crunchy bits of chestnut. It is usually cooked with five-spice powder. Here at the restaurant, the Ngor Hiang was good but could have been better if it were deep-fried to perfection. The skin wasn't crisp enough. I guess the oil wasn't hot enough when they put the roll in for frying. The dish was made more even more lovely with the dipping sauce of ketchup manis, a type of sweet soy sauce. The sweet ketchup manis brought out the taste of the flavours of the ngor hiang well because it contrasted with them.


Above: My owner's bowl of Tauhu Titek

Tauhu Titek is tofu with prawns. It was served in salty gravy. Titek is one type of peranakan paste, made with shrimp paste, chillis, candlenut and shallots. The gravy went well with the plain rice. For me, I think the highlight of this dish was the gravy. The taste of the gravy was distinctive, I really cannot imagine this taste in any other cuisine. Alone, the gravy would have been too salty but with rice, it was purrrrrrfect.


Above: Big pot of Fish-Head Curry

One of the hardest dishes to perfect is the Fish-head Curry because of the stewing time and heat. At Nyonya and Baba, the meat was cooked thoroughly but it was not overcooked. Sedap! The curry was assam curry with plenty of lemongrass and limau perut. Thus, it was sour and spicy. I liked it especially because the meat was infused with the flavour and was not a separate taste. In the words of my owner's sister, "when they opened the lid, it was the moment of truth", haha... The fragrance of assam, spices, lemongrass and smoke really penetrated the air and was a treat for the nose. This is their specialty and rightfully so,

An important part in a peranakan meal is the sambal belacan (toasted chilli with shrimp paste). How it tastes usually depends on the preferences of the chef. At Nyonya and Baba, the sambal belacan had lime juice in it and an additional half a lime on the side to make it even more sour if you should desire it more sour. My owner's parents told me that her grandpa liked sambal belacan cooked with lemongrass and lime juice. I guess what her grandpa liked was the combination of two different types of sour tastes.


Above: Chendol

We washed down our spicy dinner with Chendol, a sweet cold dessert. Chendol here consisted of shaved ice with coconut milk, gula melaka (palm sugar from coconut trees), bits of starch 'noodles' (the green pieces) and kidney beans. Kidney beans aren't usually found in Chendol. Usually, red beans are used. This is definitely only for sweet-toothed people because it is pretty sweet. For me, it was definitely a sweet end to the meal.

Sakuraya Fish Mart at Parkway Parade

MIFFY GOODFOOD reporting:

SPECIAL MENTiON: You have to ask for sushi rice, green tea and miso soup. They are not on the menu because there isn't any menu. You can get various Japanese groceries here too.

PRICE: about $20 for every type of fish you choose

FOOD: YUMMY!

Sashimi is one of my favourite foods. Sakuraya Fish Mart sells some of the freshest sashimi. My lovely ower did the ordering today, she ordered swordfish, tuna, amberjack, salmon and scallops.



Everything was very fresh, totally yummy, no fishy taste at all. Swordfish is my all-time favourite because of the texture of the meat, the meat has more muscles and less fat so every slice has adequate bite to it. The wasabi was really good, not too noxious and really went well with the sashimi.

We ordered sushi rice, gree tea and miso soup as well. The sushi rice was really refreshing and the sweet taste provided a nice contrast to the sashimi slices.

Everyone left with a satisfied tummy filled with sashimi and sushi rice. Miffy enjoyed the food a lot!