Not too long ago, I got to know some Korean friends after a leisure trip to Seoul and Jeju and we decided to catch up when they were in town recently. Since they had already tried most of the Singapore delicacies, I decided to bring them to a Korean restaurant around the popular Telok Ayer enclave which is filled with countless Korean restaurants ranging from Bibimbap to Barbeque.We arrived at Star Korean Restaurant which is located at Far East Plaza, just a few doors away from Woo Jung, a popular spot for Korean BBQ among expatriates working here. If you're just happen to be passing by, you will think that is it just another Korean restaurant which doesn't raise an eyebrow. Entering the restaurant, it looks simple yet has a very cozy home-like atmosphere. What I like is that this place doesn't smell as bad like some Korean BBQ restaurants as they serve ala carte and hotpot dishes. Later did I know that this place is owned by a Korean lady boss (who is camera shy) is trained in martial arts and currently holds a black belt (my female friends casually chatted with her.) Better not mess around with Korean ladies, I thought.The friendly restaurant staffs, a mix of Koreans and PRC Chinese seated us comfortably and served us a spread of Korean Banchans (not all pictured) and told us that we can request for free refills. There were a variety from kimchi, pickled vegetables, beansprouts, egg omelette, anchovies and fish cake. They were very refreshing, appetizing and it is free-flow but in Korean culture, please do not waste the food as all these are specially homemade and they value every effort that goes into the preparation process. The centre-piece of our dinner table lies a huge hot-wok (instead of a pot) over a gas stove with the drool-inducing Kimchi Hotpot Stew with Dumplings ($35). It looks like the Korean Army Stew which has ingredients like kimchi, tofu, hotdogs, chilies and on top of that, pork belly and 3 humongous meat dumplings! Although the dumplings are few, the rest of the portion was huge and good for 4-5 adults to share. Delicious, satisfying and of course, SPICY! It is best to eat it along with rice so those chilies won't burn your stomach that badly. Since they don't serve barbeque meat here, they have something very similar just that it has been marinated, boiled and neatly sliced. No oil splattering, no stinky stench, no cooking. All nicely prepared on a platter with fresh vegetables, garlic, onions and chilies accompanied by kimchi and special hot sauce that taste quite similar to assam. Eating this is similar to Korean BBQ. Grab a leafy lettuce, place a slice of pork belly on it accompanied by spices and sauces to season it to your preference. The boiled meat wasn't too salty and retained its moist and succulent texture when bite into. Yummy! Craving for more, we ordered the Korean Popcorn Chicken ($12) which was perfect to go along with some beer and soju. Crispy fried chicken with a nice coating of tangy sweet Korean sauce and sprinkled with white sesame on it. How addictive it is! There goes a saying "once you pop, you can't stop" and this is the case. We wiped out every single bite-size popcorn chicken that's on the dish and we had a delicious good time!

To conclude, the food is excellent and according to my Korean friends, it felt like dining at a Korean restaurant back at their hometown and the hospitality of the lady boss is very warm and friendly, making sure our every request is taken care of. Just in adding additional water, giving us extra serviettes. Although the food can be a little pricey, the quality isn't compromised as the recipes were passed down by the mum of the lady boss. I can feel her insistence on that point and felt sad that not many Singaporeans patronize her restaurant probably due to little publicity and pricey menu.

If you're a fan of true blue authentic Korean cuisine, do lend your support for Star Korean Restaurant!

Gelare recently opened at Star Vista with an interesting outdoor concept and I thought it will be stuffy considering it isn't air-conditioned with alfresco seating. Thankfully, the cafe of about 20 seating capacity is well sheltered and has ceiling fans on the ceiling to cool patrons down. Still feeling warm given the humid tropical Singapore weather, my friends and I decided to order some waffles and ice-cream.We had the Choc Choc Chunk Yogurt on Half Waffle ($8.60) and we regretted it. This chocolate is unlike the taste of chocolate ice-cream as it has a awkward sourish tinge to it which somehow has the pina colada aftertaste. We choice to have the waffles drizzled with maple syrup but when it was served, it was almost non-existential. The texture of the waffles wasn't fluffy as what we have expected too. Feeling dissatisfied, we ordered a Blueberry Cheesecake Ice-cream on Half Waffle ($8.60) and we were surprise that after 10 minutes, it still wasn't served yet. I had to check with the manager to see if they have prepared it yet. Later, he told me that the order wasn't keyed into the system and the staff we ordered from earlier had changed shift. I thought that this service lapse was terrible and really unprofessional. :huff y:He then quickly rush to prepare my orders and have it served.

This time, the waffles was slightly better with a slight crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside. Pretty good I thought and indeed, having an ice-cream tasted so much better compared to yogurt.

Overall, I don't think I'll be returning to this brunch of Gelare again given the poor service unless I have no other choice of desserts available.

It is not easy to find Wood Fired Pizzas around these days as many of the pizza chains sells oven bake pizzas that doesn't have that high-temperature heat to achieve that smoky wood aroma. Since I was craving for pizza, my friend brought me to Peperoni Pizzeria a few days ago at the newly renovated Suntec City food fountain and I couldn't wait to bite into some delicious Italian wood fired pizzas!(Front of the Peperoni Pizza taken at 9.45pm when diners started to leave)
Arriving at the basement of Suntec City Tower 3, Peperoni Pizzeria too huge to be missed. The queue outside the restaurant was very long on a weekend evening and I bet the kitchen staffs were so busy churning out pizzas one after another as the restaurant, even though with a large seating capacity was totally full house.

It was later into the night at about 9pm, they have to close off the queue of the restaurant. Thankfully the crowd outside was well controlled as a staff allow guests to leave their name and number behind for table reservations.Entering the huge restaurant, I have already like the industrial feel of the interior design with stone-like walls, wooden tables and metal chairs. It makes this place felt like a little like those underground Italian pizza bar kinda feel yet retaining that homely atmosphere with the shelves decorated with plants, pasta sauces and vegetables. How creative in making the environment feels so warm and cosy! The staffs were quick to serve us water and pass us the menu for our table. The pizza menu is separate from their standard one with the well-designed menu to resemble a pizza on a wooden pan. The menu consist of classic Italian pizzas like Quattro Formaggi Mozzarella, Margherita and Napoletana which comes in various sizes:- medium, large and XXL as well as a choice of calzone! Besides this, their standard menu has a list of entrees, mains, pastas, dessert and drinks too.Since there were 4 of us, we ordered the XXL 21-inch Pizza - $50 which is good for 4 - 6 paxs to share. When ordering a pizza, we can have the choice of 2 different halves of pizzas. We had half Prosciutto Crudo Di Parma & half Salmone pizza. We waited for quite a while, about 20 minutes for it to be served and it was slightly burnt on 1 side of the pizza but we didn't mind at all. At least we can tell that it was prepared with authentic wood fired!

I enjoyed the Prosciutto Crudo Di Parma pizza because there are 2 of my favourite items, parma ham and rocket salad on it. I would say that this is the best of both worlds combination for me! Topped with feta cheese, it was simply awesome with the thin crisp crust and moist layer of mozzarella cheese. Delicious and yummy, I would say this would be my all-time favourite!

As for the Salmone pizza, it came with chunks of salmon, caramelized onions and capers. Oh boy, the capers added a nice burst of flavour to the salmon and caramelized onions. Nevertheless, it lacked some fresh greens and I still prefer the parma ham pizza.

This restaurant is owned by Les Amis and I was surprise that they DO NOT have GST or Service Charge! All prices on the menu are nett and I have to say kudos to the food, service and ambiance. The staffs were very professional, calm and patient despite having to deal with the crazy dinner crowd. This place is certainly worth a visit again even if there's a long queue!

My previous dining experience at PORN'S Liang Seah street wasn't a memorable one but one evening my friends insisted to have Thai food and since we were near Buona Vista, we headed over to PORN'S which is conveniently situated at The Star Vista for dinner. As it was my second visit to PORN'S, I realize that the interior of the restaurant looks very much different compared to their first outlet at Liang Seah Street. It has a very hip and young feel with striking pop art on the wall, keeping that casual feel of the place yet having a different look altogether.Kicking off the meal with a appetizing soup, ordered the Tom Yum Talay (Seafood Tom Yum) - Large $12.90 and the portion was just nice for the 3 of us to share. It was served in a traditional steamboat which were widely used in the olden days with charcoal. However, it is more for that design for a rustic feel of dining in Bangkok. The Tom Yum soup had a very generous amount of ingredients like fish slices, prawns and squid as well as a variety of vegetables. This Tom Yum isn't as spicy as I thought and it is definitely worth the value of what we are paying for as each of us had a good 2 serving bowls of it. Being guys, we ordered something to nibble on, the Flame Grilled Pork with Homemade Dip ($9.50). As delicious as it seems, the grilled pork was nicely sliced into bite size and it was succulent and tasty to every bite. When eaten with the Homemade Dip, it added a robust flavour with the sweet, spicy and tangy flavour which was very addictive and yummy. Perfect beer snack! Nothing beats a good douse of curry over our steamed rice and so I ordered my favourite Gang Kaew Gai (Green Curry Chicken) - $10.90 which gave off an alluring fragrance in the air when brought to our table. The curry wasn't too diluted or overly rich, perfect to my liking! I can't help but to drench every bit of rice with luscious mouth-watering green curry. Sadly, the tender chicken slices and eggplant were a tad little to go around the 3 of us. Maybe it is just me being my favourite dish and happened to be delicious I guess. Coming to veg, we had the Thai Sambal Kangkong ($7.50) which was nice and crunchy with a good stir-fry flavour of garlic, sambal and dried shrimps. However, some of the thicker parts of the kangkong stem was quite hard to the bite and tasted raw. Perhaps the thicker parts should be cooked a little longer and that would be perfect. Washing down the dinner, I had the popular Homemade Thai Longan Tea ($3.90) which the staff has recommended me. It is an absolute cooling drink to have to clear the spice from the dishes and some longans to chew on. It didn't taste artificially sweet and the logans were really generous, filling up half a glass.

My overall experience at PORN'S was better than my previous visit at Liang Seah street and I have to say the quality of food has improved. However, the service maybe a little slow for some during busy peak hours with the dinner crowd. I'll certainly return again soon to try other dishes on the menu such as their Fried Fish with special Thai sauce!

Eating Korean BBQ can be a pain sometimes when as I do not like ending up perspiring and leaving the place with a stench of unpleasant oil all over. Thank goodness for Kkongdon Barbeque, which is situated at the newly built SAFRA Toa Payoh, those who are craving for Korean BBQ can no longer suffer the fate of the oily stink and drenched clothes.Entering the restaurant was a complete different atmosphere compared to those Korean BBQ located at shophouses of Tanjong Pagar. The entire place was very well ventilated, cool air-conditioning and equipped with smoke suction pipes on every table to absorb every single bit of stench from the enclosed dining area. There are tables fitted to sit 4 paxs as well as tables to sit 8 paxs for couples, families and big groups to enjoy the BBQ together.Upon seated, I realize that the Korean BBQ hot plate was slightly slanted to an angle so to allow the grease from the meat to flow onto the plastic sheet. Equipped with a gas stove under, diners can easily control the temperature of the grill according to their preference. I thought these little details are very thoughtful as people these days are very health-conscious as to eat healthy. Over here, after ordering the raw food from the menu, patrons are free to help themselves to the free flow of Korean banchans (side dishes), at the buffet counter which has a good range of home-style vegetables ranging from kimchi, ikan bilis, bean sprouts and lotus root.Not to forget, crunchy pickled radish and a whole lot of fresh green lettuce to be eaten along with the BBQ meats, exactly the style I love eating Korean BBQ! My colleagues and I had the Short Rib with Black Pepper & Pork Belly Set ($20.80++) BBQ set (for 2 paxs)which comes with Bean Paste Stew with Tofu (choice of chicken/beef),Korean Rice Cake and individual portion of steamed rice. Although I didn't enjoy the Bean Paste Stew and Korean Rice Cafe, from the colour of the Short Ribs, it seems that they had spent a lot of effort to marinate it with black pepper, hence the dark colour.I couldn't wait to place it on the hot grill to savour the juicy succulent meat wrapped with crunchy fresh green lettuce. Indeed, smoke from the grilling was all absorbed by the pipe that's above which is a PLUS POINT because my eyes are easily irritated by grease and smoke. Thankfully I didn't have to tear while enjoying the decadent pork belly and flavoursome short ribs.

Since I kept on filling my table with vegetables and more vegetables, the staffs were very attentive to help me clear the dishes that were stacking up and also topping up on our hot tea. When we asked for more spicy fermented bean sauce which is a MUST to have it on the meat and eaten wrapped in lettuce, they were very quick to give us more of it too. *thumbs up for great service!* I enjoy my dinner very much and before leaving the restaurant, I saw this on the wall with fellow Singapore bloggers recommending Kkongdon Barbeque. After dining here, I can understand why were they raving about and I have to say that you should visit this place for clean, cooling and delicious Korean BBQ that is of good value!

***Korean BBQ Tip***
If you are feeling very "gelat" from the meat and you're not a big fan of spicy food, get some kimchi and grill it on the plate. Take a little of it and eat it along with the meat especially for fatty meat like pork belly. It will not only help to get rid of the "porky" flavour but also taste appetizing too with the pickled sour taste! After grilling, the kimchi won't be as spicy compared to eating it raw.