I have never eaten at Marmalade Pantry before, but I had heard good things about their desserts. However, when my colleagues suggested that we go there for lunch, I was a little skeptical- I believe that good dessert places probably don't do good mains.

Anyway! We were given the menu to peruse, and I felt the pinch in my wallet. Don't get me wrong, the prices weren't sky high, but I felt that $24 for pasta (which was what I paid) was a little much for a cafe setting? In any case, I settled for the scallop pasta in prawn bisque because a) it was cheaper than the other options, and b) it sounded not bad. When it came, I felt mildly comforted, mostly because it looked not bad and smelt really good. There was a strong prawn-y aroma which told me the bisque/broth was flavourful and likely to be very yummy. After my colleagues' food came, we dug in.I'm not sure if its evident from the picture, but the linguine was very good- al dente texture that wasn't soggy despite the abundant broth and also not undercooked. There was also plenty of hebi (small prawns) buried in the pasta. I realised that that was what gave it such a strong aroma, and while it was slightly unerving to eat at first- I don't like fusion foods- I got used to it and it was actually a very comforting flavour that reminded me of homecooked food. I soon found myself scooping up every bit of broth and wishing there was more heh.

The meal was really yummy, and I was very happy with my pasta. However, the thought of $24 for noodles with hebi and 2 pieces of big prawn and scallops each didn't feel very satisfying. I guess this would be one of those places to go once in a while. If you want somewhere for a date or a nice place to talk with friends and feel slightly more high-class though, I thoroughly recommend Marmalade Pantry!

(I didn't get to try their desserts, but the table beside us were eating and it looked really good!)

I had heard ALOT over the years about this little korean gem tucked away in the basement of Concorde Hotel, and I decided to try it finally heh. One weekday afternoon my colleague and I walked over for lunch and got to filling our hungry tummies.

The set up of the place was not bad, its was a food court setting, but they had their own seating area and the cooking/service area was hugeeeeee. An old korean? lady took our order and we paid, then stood to a side to wait for our food. Efficient and rather fast, our food was soon ready for collection.Tada! I chose the kimchi chigae (I always do haha) set, which came with a banchan (side dish) of either pickled cucumber, kimchi, or ikan bilis. Not a fan of ikan bilis and already having kimchi in my stew, I settled for the cucumber. After taking the requisite photos, we quickly tucked in. The broth was tangy and sour and spicy all at the same time, very yummy! I sampled a piece of kimchi, firm and crunchy, it wasn't as soft as I would have liked, and certain pieces (nearer to the heart of the cabbage) was a little too sour. Close up shot of my stew ^^ My colleague commented that no matter what angle you take kimchi chigae from, it always turns out bad -.- Either way, it was not bad. Eaten with the rice, the broth, which was a little too salty on its own, was balanced out nicely. My only peeve is probably that there was REALLY little meat in the stew. But then again, the whole set was $5.50, so no complains I guess.We also shared rice stew, dokbukki, between the two of us. I had high expectations of this, as it's one of my favourite things to order at dongdaemun. However, I felt that while the rice was sufficiently chewy, the sauce tasted like chee cheong fun sauce- thick sweet sauce. I really disliked it as I was expecting something more akin to my stew, tangy and spicy, with bits of kimchi in it. Oh well

Overall, the meal wasn't a bad one. Obviously it was not the best korean food I've had, but again, for the price, it was pretty not bad.

A few colleagues and I had recently discovered this new addition to the Orchard Road belt, and so decided to come here for lunch one day. Triple O is like a fast food burger place, but when we looked at the prices, they weren't very cheap- burger sets started from $9.90 and went up to $14.90. With such prices, we had rather high expectations in mind.

I ordered a Chicken Supreme Combo, with had a grilled chicken burger, a drink and fries, which I upgraded to poutine- a Canadian dish of fries topped with gravy and cheese. They gave me a little disc that would vibrate when my food's done, so we went to find some seats first.

Soon after, my disc vibrated and I went to collect my burger. Here's how it looks- a pretty standard fast food kind of set. The poutine didn't look as exciting as I had expected though, and neither did it taste as exciting. The fries were substandard (I like mac's crispy shoestring fries, and these were fatter and soggier) and the gravy was just the mashed potato gravy that could be dispensed from 7/11s all over Singapore. As for the cheese, there were several clumps of melted cheese but it was too little to add any flavour.

The burger though, was quiteeeeee okay. Here's a close up.My colleagues were complaining that their patties (which were beef patties) weren't juicy, but mine was pretty good I feel; perhaps it was because my patty was a grilled chicken patty. The honey mustard sauce was just nice too, such that each bite was flavourful and juicy. My only qualm i guess, is that my burger didn't come with a pickle The pickles here are quite cool, its a long slice from a dill pickle, and its laid on top of the burger, so I was quite looking forward to it. I guess they figured that only beef burgers should have pickles though, but oh well.

Overall, I think the food was okay? It's probably not worth $10 (about $12 if you count the poutine top up)though, seeing as I can get better burgers and free-flow drinks for about the same price at Carls Junior. Maybe if I get a really bad burger craving and there's nowhere else around the area heh.

I had heard good things about Ootoya, and after checking a few blogs to be sure of its quality, I decided to visit it. I went on a Thursday night and I was rather worried that it would be full, but thank goodness, it wasn't too crowded. The set up consists of a 'bar area' where customers could sit in a large square on the floor - a little open concept I guess - and a normal booth area. I was directed to the booth area, where I settled myself.

Ootoya had a set menu concept, where all its items were set items which came with refillable rice and miso soup. It seemed simple enough, and I got a Katsu nabe set- basically a pork cultet with egg on top set in a light soup broth- that came with rice, miso soup and a small pickled dish.How my katsu set looked like, it was quite a large portion and smelt really good!A close up heh. The pork cutlet was really flavourful and the breadcrumbs were nicely fried, although they soon got a little soggy because of the broth/gravy, but that was fine. I think my dish was quite good actually, but what irritated me quite a bit was the saltiness of the broth. It was so salty, I had to eat every piece of meat with a lot of rice, because the meat had soaked up quite a bit of gravy. In the end, I ate almost two bowls of rice -.-The chawanmushi also came with the set, and was really small Other than that though, it was fine. Although it wasn't anything to rave about, it wasn't bad either, so I was fine with that.

I think the food is not bad, and at a price of $21 I think it's quite reasonable. The only peeve that I had was the saltiness of the broth, but other than that, not bad. Will I come back? I might, but I definitely wouldn't get the nabe set again.

My friend and I were on our way to Harry's at Boat Quay and decided to grab a quick dinner first. Hearing the good reviews about Suzuki, we decided to give it a try. Walking in, it seemed nice enough, there was a bar area where people eating alone could sit and slurp up a bowl of noodles, and also tables for patrons. The crowd moved relatively quickly and we could tell it was a place for office execs to grab lunch or dinner. When we sat down, a few things struck me. Firstly, there were bowls of eggs on our table, and the menus came with a sort of form with a lot of options. We were seriously lost, so we asked a waiter what to do.

His instructions were to look at the menu provided and choose what ramen we wanted. Then, we could use the form to customise our ramen- how flavourful we wanted it, how springy the noodles, whether we wanted extra toppings etc. He also explained to us that the eggs were hard-boiled and free-flow for customers, together with rice and shredded cabbage, which were on a table at the side of the restaurant. We were very amused with this and rather impressed, and we immediately went to work on a few eggs heh. A plus point, the eggs were still warm! (They must change them regularly/ only put them out when there are customers)

After all the admin work of ordering was done, we sat back and relaxed. A waitress placed a jug of cold tea on our table, this was rather nice of them as it was complimentary, and would come in very useful later on.My ramen, which came quite promptly, was the signature original ramen, smelled really good. I also ordered tamago, which was an extra, but to my dismay, it was too cooked While the texture and that sweet flavour was still there, the yolk didn't ooze when I bit into it. On the other hand, the ramen noodles were just the way I liked them, springy and al dente. The soup was really flavourful as well, I really liked it, but after a few slurps, I realised that perhaps I shouldn't have opted for the extra-flavourful option; it was too salty :/ I ended up having to drink quite a few cups of tea to combat the saltiness.MY friend ordered the squid ink ramen, and it smelled really good when it arrived ^^ I tasted some of her soup, and it was good- there was a slight seafood flavour and a saltiness, but because she had not opted for the extra-flavourful option, it didn't become too salty. From the way she was gobbling up her ramen, I could tell it was delicious!

Suziki ramen bar has ticked all the mandatory boxes, good flavourful ramen, nice japanese bar-ish ambience/setup, and good service. They even tried to differentiate themselves with the free eggs, which adds points to them. However, I do feel that perhaps their ramen might be a little too salty. But oh well, other than that, it was great, and I still would come back again!