The husband was craving for some meat and as we were lazy to travel far, we decided to drop by Jack’s Place for a quick fix.

Unfortunately, nothing seemed to go right that dinner. For starters, the vegetable soup was blend and tasted canned-like. Thankfully, the garlic bread was tasty and made up for the shortfall of the soup. The beef was another disappointment. The doneness was wrong (more of medium well rather than medium rare which the husband ordered), resulting in a tough texture that was hard to swallow. The beef, as with the soup, was blend and lacked the natural flavours of good quality meat. The cream puff fared the worst of all. It was hard, dry and even had a lingering “freezer” taste. For a total of $30.60 (after GST and Service Charge), this was totally not worth it.

We had earlier purchased a deal voucher ($15 for 1-for-1 set lunch) and headed down to Hot Stones, hoping to have a grillin’ good time.

However, the experience was, as with its price tag, no frills dining that is pocket friendly but not tummy friendly. The set consisted of 1) Salad, 2) Choice of Soup/Dessert, 3) Choice of Beef/Salmon/Chicken. The portion of the mains were puny (totally not worth the usual $15/set) and of average quality. Surprisingly, it was the soup and salad that became the stars of the meal.

Mushroom Soup
The mushroom soup was creamy and chunky. Decorated with cream art, the soup was both visually appealing and mouth watering! Salad
Tossed in zesty sesame vinaigrette, this simple salad was tasty and appetizing. Salmon
Four tiny pieces of salmon sprinkled with some herbs, period. The salmon was of average quality (not exactly the freshness level we had anticipated as the menu indicated “sashimi grade”) and tasted pretty light. Beef
The portion of beef was slightly more than the salmon. However, as with the salmon, the quality of the meat was so-so and was a tad too fatty for my liking. A deserted restaurant (we were the only customers) + puny portion of food + mediocre quality of food sums up our first and last visit to Hot Stones.

After browsing through the various offerings from Restaurant Week (Mar 2013), we decided to head to Chef D'Table as their menu selection seemed rather appetizing.

Appetizers
The Smoked Duck with Fresh Orange Salad, laced with Balsaimco Caramel was a great disappointment. There were literally only two-three thin shavings of smoked duck hidden amidst the forest of salad. The salad dressing was average and lacked zest and crunch. The Wasabi and Soy-marinated Salmon with Sesame Oil and Scallion, Chill Cucumber Salad and Caramel Miso Glaze was a much better choice. The salmon was fresh (close to sashimi grade) and melted instantly upon each bite. The sauce was a good enhancement to the overall taste of the dish and we found it quite satisfying. Our only gripe was its smaller-than-average portion.

Mains
The Steamed Dory Fillet in Crab Meat Saffron Broth was the best dish we had that evening. The fish was fresh and succulent. Another worthy mention was the seafood broth which was rich and flavourful and greatly complemented the otherwise light tasting dory fillet. TheFlame-grilled Black Angus Rib-eye, however, paled in comparison. The veal jus did not go well with the steak and somehow made it tasted bitter. Not worth the supplement of $12 at all! Desserts
The Soy Bean Panna Cotta was light and refreshing. However, it somehow felt like an overpriced Lao Ban Beancurd with the addition of the “bells and whistles” of the raspberry compote and mixed crushed nuts. Dessert of the day was Lychee Panna Cotta and like the soy bean panna cotta, was light and creamy. However, we were disappointed that no tea/coffee was served.

Ambience
The restaurant was crowded and noisy, a far cry from what we had expected. The servers were not attentive and we had to signal to them at least a couple of times before they attended to us.

In all, we were quite disappointed with this Restaurant Week experience and will unlikely return the next time round.

Till the next Restaurant Week …

Headed down to Sun Ray Café to redeem a set of Yu Sheng which we won from OpenRice’s recent Yu Sheng Giveaway contest.

Tucked along a quiet street off Serangoon Gardens, this is definitely one of the less travelled roads around the vicinity. The staff greeted us warmly upon entering the café and we were ushered to a quiet cosy corner at the other end of the shop.

We quite like the ambience here as it was pretty serene and tranquil. We couldn’t say the same for the food quality however…

Small Yu Sheng ($10.80++)
This was really one small portion of Yu Sheng! The taste was quite refreshing as it was more of a fusion salad with pomelo bits, raddish, carrots, onions, lettuce, bread croutons, and smoked salmon. Nothing really impressive but this was by far the best dish served. Poached Salmon ($19.90++)
The salmon was overcooked and literally soaked in oil. The salmon was not really fresh but thankfully, the rich buttery aroma managed to mask the taste. Not recommended. Grilled Strip Loin ($23.90++)
As with the salmon, the strip loin was slightly overcooked (more medium than medium rare which the husband ordered) and the quality of the beef was pretty average. The rosemary sauce was nice but somehow didn’t blend well with the beef. Surprisingly, the potato salad – mixed with cheese and cream – was tasted great and was a joy to eat! Personally, I felt that the mains paled in comparison to the sides and appetisers. Not really worth the money and travelling time considering the quality and taste of the food.

It’s been quite some time since our last visit to Botak Jones (BJ) and when the husband received an e-mailer from BJ on a V-day promotion – 2 mains + 2 soups + 1 salad + special V-day cake for only $44.90 nett, – we immediately hopped on the bandwagon and made our trip down to the nearest outlet – Bukit Batok kopitiam.

Alas, BJ had past its heydays and all that were left were pockets of sweet memories to be relished and savoured…

Char-grilled Salmon
The salmon steak was tiny (perhaps only half the size of what we used to have?)and overcooked, resulting in a tough texture that didn’t appeal to the palette. Likewise, the cheese potato had also been downgraded… where’s the humongous portion of sinfully delectable cheesy mash potato back in the good-old-days?! The fries were the only thing that didn’t shrink but guess what, it was cold and hard, as in taken out of the fryer eons ago! Rib-eye Steak
The rich flavours of the rosemary infused steak, thankfully were still pretty much similar as what we used to have. However, the doneness was not right (the husband had ordered medium rare but somehow it turned out more of rare…), resulting in a bloody battle between man and cow. V-Day Cake
Needless to say, the v-day cake was nothing to shout about either. The icing was overly sweet and the chocolate cake, dry and crumbly. Seriously, BJ needs to buck up on their food quality and be more sincere with their promotional menu - not cut corners!