Oriole

It has been a few years since I last visited Oriole. I finally dined there again, trying the set lunch menu. 

For $19++ you get a choice of starter, main and an iced coffee. Pretty good deal. The selection is not huge but they are sufficient and decent.

I decided on the seared beef with arugula  for my starter and it was excellent. The beef was tender and juicy. It went very well with the greens. 

The grilled chicken leg with sweet potato fries paled in comparison. The chicken was ok. The sweet potato fries were delicious. I could actually smell it when it was served. 

I know Oriole is known for its coffee but the iced version was not very good. Maybe the hot version will be better. 

The Assembly Ground

I have decided to try blogging again now that I've installed the app again. One reason I stopped blogging is because it was a hassle to transfer photos from phone to computer and work from there. Maybe after much refinements to the app this may be better and easier. 

A new challenge I'm giving myself is to try to go to as many of the new cafés which keep sporting up, like mushrooms or weeds. 

The Assembly Cafe, at level one of The Cathay, serves coffee and food. The main thing is coffee though. Pretty nice place to hang out with friends. Chairs are wire mesh style, so you will definitely get the pattern imprints on your upper thighs if you're wearing shorts or shorter skirts. 

Interior of the place. It is much more spacious than this pic. There are bicycles on the wall further in. 

Roast beef with Caramelized onions and cheddar gravy, Parmesan cheese and token salad. Fries are good. Sandwich can be better. Too little meat that it is all bread. 

Flat white is good. Sugar is from Mauritius and unrefined cane sugar. 

It is still not that busy on week day lunch time. So this is quite a good place to pop by if you're free on weekdays and want to work or chill. It is much bigger than other cafés with just a few tables.

Loaf cakes and regular cakes are available. Would like to try the earl grey and Thai milk tea loaf cakes in future. 

Oh there is no additional charges. Service is friendly and prompt. Place your order at the counter when ready. Free iced water at the small counter together with conditions. Reminds me of Maison Ikkoku set up. 

Artisan Bread by Bakerzin, Serangoon Gardens

Chocolate Chip Muffin

I went to Serangoon Gardens Village recently and was quite enthralled by how much the area has changed. I used to go there every weekend growing up as my piano teacher lived there. Plus my maternal grandmother and various uncles and aunts used to live in the big house there before they sold the place many years back.

I remembered the old bus interchange in the gardens before it became just a bus stop and then with part of it converted into a parking lot. Some things remained the same while others had evolved. So the mini mall was finally built and with it came with several eateries such as Relish, Da Paolo Gastronomia, Udders and Bakerzin Artisan Bakery to name a few.

The breads and buns looked attractive and just slightly different from other bakeries. I was keen to try the muffin as it had a real proper muffin top. It could be quite hard to find a muffin with the huge overhang as most looked more like cupcakes in Singapore.

Taste-wise, it was average. The sides were slightly crispy and it was full of chocolate chips. The muffin was a bit crumbly and dry when kept for the next day. I guessed I still missed the muffins from Mmmuffins in Canada. That was still my ultimate muffin treat, especially the banana nut and butterscotch pecan. Yumz.

The House of Robert Timms, Orchard Shopping Centre

This was my first visit to The House of Robert Timms over at Orchard Shopping Centre and the food was still decent.

The mussels in white wine sauce was not that great due to the strong stench of the mussels. Not sure if they were not cleaned properly or it was the season catch. Not my favorite.

The pasta with asparagus and mushrooms was wholesome and toothsome. I liked it, especially for days when I want to have no meat.

I was craving for something more creamy and ordered the carbonara. It was really yummy with the cream sauce and mushroom and bacon. It was also heavy, so not an everyday affair.

The girls ended the meal with the sticky date pudding with ice cream. I did not try it as I was not really a fan of sticky date pudding. It looked good though.

Brunch at Canele, Shaw Centre

Isn't that a lovely sight for sore eyes? Somehow when I want to have brunch, there simply needs to have an egg dish, even better when it is poached or sunny side up so that I can taste the burst of runny gooey egg yolk oozing in my mouth.

I decided to order the crepe with Paris ham, emmental cheese and egg. This was the first time I tried the crepe at Canele and it did not disappoint. The crepe was lightly browned and the leafy veggies made a perfect foil against the savory egg, ham and cheese. Really nice!

I also ordered the corn and crab chowder which came with a basket of toast and butter. The creamy soup was tasty and filled with lots of crab meat and corn.

It was the perfect way to start the day. It was still so quiet at 11am that we were the only patrons sitting at the outdoor area. A treat to enjoy the peace and quiet before the streets come alive again.

EwF @ Orchard Central

I have read about EwF (Everything with Fries) in the papers and passed by it a few times, and only got to try the food today. I was amazed by the burger. It sure exceeded my expectation.

I chose the meal ~ super burger + curry fries + diet coke. Then I added a nutella slice. I liked that they offered chili sauce, ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise as condiments. It was pretty cute to have the food served on a small tray, almost like a bento box. The curry fries were cooked after I ordered and was hot but it cooled down really fast. I did not particularly like the curry fries (curry powder). Maybe I should just ordered the salt and vinegar version which was the other popular choice.

The container for the burger which looked like a take-out box. I guessed this is quite in line with Awfully Chocolate's container for their ice cream. EwF is opened by the people who own Awfully Chocolate.

Voila! The sweet bun with a glossy buttery shine. It was also only cooked after I placed my order. I was not sure if that was the norm or it was because I went there around 1.20pm and it was not very crowded.

A simple burger with cheese, sweet onions, ketchup and mustard over the 130 grams of beef patty.
I so loved the burger. The bun was soft and fluffy. The beef patty was warm and juicy. You could see the thickness of the patty and how the beef was not overly packed together and hard like the usual patty from the various fast food.

My dessert ~ nutella slice. It was warmed up in the microwave so that chocolate would melt into a gooey mess.

As with Awfully Chocolate, the nutella slice was not overly sweet at all. In fact I wondered if there was any sugar. The crust was nice and crunchy. The body of the slice tasted like a non-sweet pudding or flourless cake and topped with chocolate sauce which had a hint of bittersweet to it. In fact, I could hardly taste the nutella hazelnut.

I would love to go back again and try the milkshake and have the burger again. This is so much better than the sliders served at so many other places.

Skinny Pizza, Wheelock Place

After so many months of walking past the Skinny Pizza over at Wheelock Place, I finally made it there for a super late lunch. We decided to try the truffle mushroom pizza. The crust is so skinny that I felt I was eating a very thin piece of cracker. It was spread with truffle and topped with rings of onion, rocket leaves and mushrooms. Wonderfully yummy with the juicy mushrooms and crispy leaves and crunchy onions.

We also ordered a plate of sliders to share. Two mini beef burgers with choice of toppings and sides of sweet potato and potato fries.
The order was wrong. We ordered blue cheese and bacon, but the server heard it as regular cheese and bacon. We sent the burgers back.
Now the beef burger with bacon and blue cheese. Unfortunately the beef was overdone. We requested for medium well. I wondered if they had to re-heat the patty when they changed the cheese. The bacon was a disappointment, not crispy at all.

The other highlight was the chips. The fries were doused with truffle oil. Very nice. Crispy hot and filled with soft potatoes. The sweet potato was dusted with sugar which was a bit redundant as it made the chips a bit too sweet. Maybe not all the sweet potato was naturally sweet?

This was surprisingly filling as I was not hungry for the rest of the night after this meal at 2.30pm. To be fair, I did have a cup of coffee at 5pm and then a piece of small beef rendang at 630pm.

Afternoon Tea at TCC, Suntec City Mall

TCC over at Suntec City Mall offers a tea set special in the afternoon. It is pretty good as you get a pot of tea with scones, open faced sandwiches and fruit tarts.

Unfortunately I only like the open faced sandwiches. The other stuff didn't impress me much. Still, it is nice to sit down with a book and enjoy some tea and nibbles when you have an afternoon to while away.

A good way to spend a couple of hours. The outlet at Suntec City Mall is usually quiet as it is not very crowded on a weekday.

Coffee Club Breakfast, Wheelock Place

When the Coffee Club outside Wheelock Place started advertising their breakfast fare offering late 2009, it was like a beacon to me. I guessed the pictures worked as I sure was tempted to wake up early just so I could have breakfast there before heading into the office.

I finally had the opportunity to do that when I did wake up early to go see the GP (she is based in town area) before work. The menu offered choices such as pancakes, waffles, American breakfast, muffin, sandwiches, etc.

I decided on the pancake stack with wild blueberry compote. Alas, the promotional picture looked so much better than what was served. The pancake stack looked sad and compressed, not huge and fluffy. The blueberry compote looked like red bean paste (but it did taste like blueberry). The saving grace was probably the syrup. I had to request for butter to go with the pancakes.

The breakfast came with complimentary coffee or tea. Good thing the coffee was palatable, otherwise I would have regretted getting up early to try its breakfast items.

Spinelli's Lunch

I had a pretty good lunch at Spinelli's. Chicken stew with 3 slices of toast to mop up the gravy. The chicken pieces were tender and the stew was full of potatoes, carrots and onions. Very nice. I loved how the toast were sprinkled with herbs which made it all the more fragrant. The only gripe with the stew was the need to check it was fully heated up. I guessed the stew was frozen and probably transported from the central kitchen to be served to customers, so sometimes the center part was still cold.

I finished the meal with iced chocolate drink and a slice of the strawberry cheese tart. The iced chocolate was decadently rich and yummy as usual.

The strawberry cheese tart was quite average to me. I loved the huge sweet strawberries but the cheese tart was not really fantastic. It was similar to the Japanese cheesecake, not too cheesy and yet not fluffy light either. It was just not quite there.

Belated Birthday Celebration @ Prive Bakery Cafe

I thought it will be nice to just have a relaxing place to have brunch/lunch for my belated birthday celebration with the girls this year. It certainly is different from the usual since it is on CNY and everyone is busy with the visiting. It is a nice change to be able to choose a non-Asian restaurant too.

As I am in the mood for a waterfront location, Prive sounds like a good bet. The weather was good, not too sunny or hot. Plus it was not so crowded that day.

Birthday presents from the girls. Love every single one of them :) Thank you!
And the cute little notebook with the pen which came with it.
Cappuccino was yummy. Strong and I could take it with just 1 stick of sugar. They did a heart shape art on it.
The blue swimmer crab and prawn wrap which was very nice.
It looked like an appetizer portion but according to DW who ordered it, it was very filling. We tried some and it was so good. Creamy with real crabmeat in it.
Eggs Benedict. Seriously, it seemed like every cafe-restaurant would have this on its menu now. LG said the version from Choupinette was better because of the sauce.
The highly recommended LA Burger which garnered lots of "oohs" and "ahhhs". It was medium wagyu patty with monterey jack, fried egg, aioli, avocado, bacon, lettuce and tomato. The fries were soooo good too. We also ordered a side of fries with truffle oil to share. Comparing the two types of fries, I much prefer the regular fries which were already so tasty on its own.
A close up of the burger patty with the droolicious avocado and meaty patty. The burger was juicy and fell apart when I tried to slice it in half since I was sharing that.
Eggs Royale which was with smoked salmon instead of the bacon/ham. This was nice.
I loved how the yolk just oozed out.
The boring looking organic mushroom linguine with parma ham. Looks are definitely deceiving for this dish. Made with white wine, mushroom liquer, garlic and mycofarm mushrooms, this tasted heavenly on the tastebuds.

We were so full that we did not finish the entire burger. So SL made an open-faced burger with the leftover of rocket leaves, fried egg and bun with the fries for CL who came late.
Dessert - banana macadamia crumble with vanilla ice cream. This was quite good. Crunchy crispy bits with warm bananas underneath and topped with icy cool vanilla ice cream.

Surprisingly all the dishes we ordered were excellent. I did not remember it as being that great the last time I was there late at night. Maybe it was the company which made it all the more delicious.

AN went again the next day and thought the food was not that great then. So maybe it depends on the chef or the quality is just not consistent at all?

Location

Prive Bakery Cafe

Keppel Bay Marina

Breakfast at Spruce

I was back at Spruce for breakfast over the weekend and it was already crowded at 11am, with many tables being reserved.

One thing I don't really fancy about Spruce is the service/attitude of the staff. They are just not very friendly at all. The food is decent, view is the norm (green grass and trees are about the same everywhere to me), price is quite typical of other such places, location is not that convenient. The washroom is pretty run down now, with dead or withered flowers still in the vase inside the bathroom cubicle and broken locks still attached.

I ordered the Spruce Brekkie and half the time, I was wishing I was at Hediard having the XL Breakfast. It did not come with butter or jam at all. I had to request for them. The sausage was good. The bacon was ok, then again I preferred a crispy bacon. The toast was actually buttered so that probably explained why they did not bring out the butter. I asked for over-easy eggs and they were done not too shabby.

I went to Spruce again because another friend has not been there and thought it would be good for her to try. I doubt I will be back again in a hurry. One thing I don't like is the fact that they do not provide bag stand/chair. If they are trying to compete for market share, they should think of how they can make it a better dining experience for their customers.

Do remember to make reservations as it is always packed on weekends. I have seen how the "door bitch" spoke to other customers who went without reservations. It was not very nice at all. Even with reservations, she still looked at you like you lied about having a reservation. Seriously, the mood is already spoiled when you encountered such service staff who made you feel like a pariah instead of a welcomed guest.

Le Tanglin Boulangerie Cafe, Tanglin Mall

I decided to try the lunch set at the Le Tanglin Boulangerie Cafe (what a name!) over at Tanglin Mall last month. It has been years since I last had a meal there. It was quite a mistake as this was not very good at all.

The pumpkin soup did not really taste of pumpkin at all and was a bit watery. The duck wrap was barely palatable and the salad was average. Maybe I should have just stick with ordering the ham and cheese toasties which was what I remembered liking previously.

On another visit, I ordered the baked potato with cheese and broccoli. That was a disaster as well. Maybe to be fair, I was expecting the baked potato to be done like it was served at the Wendy's in Canada. Huge baked potato in its jacket topped with really creamy processed cheesey cheese (like those cheese dip with nachos you get in the cinemas or similar to the mac & cheese from Kenny Rogers) and bits of broccoli. I felt so "cheated" when I saw a slice of barely melted cheddar cheese on the potato with broccoli and sour cream and bacon bits. What a disappointment.

Sigh...it is just so hard to find really nice baked potatoes served with all the works. Sinful but oh so delicious. Butter, sour cream, chives and bacon bits. Yummy.

On the other hand, the sugar donuts from the bakery side are really nice if you are hankering for the old school traditional donut (i.e. not those light as air glazed donuts from Donut Factory).

Steeples Deli, Tanglin Shopping Centre

Steeples Deli, tucked away in a corner on Level 2 of Tanglin Shopping Centre, has been around for years. Its unassuming decor with the faux bricks and menu chalkboards and a long counter was reminiscent of a sandwich place in North America.

It is a place you go and order a sandwich to go or eat in its premises. However, speed is not a priority at Steeples, so this is not a place to grab a quick bite. Avoid this place if you are in a hurry as you can wait for 20-30mins (during peak period) or 10-15 mins (during non-peak) for your order.

They serve sandwiches, burgers, fish and chips, milkshakes, cakes and other beverages.

I wanted the pastrami sandwich but it was already sold out when I got there around 1.30pm (it was also sold out the 2nd time I was there at 2pm), so I settled for a roast beef on rye sandwich. It was really a very average sandwich with fresh veggies and cold coleslaw on the side. I felt it was the typical sandwiches you had back in the 80s or so when the other current sandwich places such as Toast and Cedele were not yet in existence.

Another rave I heard from others was the milkshake. I ordered the chocolate milkshake and it was of the thick shake variety. At $5.90, it came in a huge tall glass like those of the 80s. Very old-school and charming. They were generous with the scoops of ice cream to make the shake and was pretty decent. I do love the way the cakes were displayed behind the glass counter.

It is a nice place to pop into for a spot of lunch when you are tired of the cookie-cutter cafes serving similar things in almost identical settings. This seemed to be a small family run place with a small and homely feel to it.

Just be warned that peak lunch period is very crowded and ventilation is not its strong suit. I had to go outside and wait when they were preparing my burger (on my 2nd visit) as the grease and smoke just got to me.