juniem's Profile

For those not familiar with the location, this eatery is not exactly easy to find. But if you made it a point to find out where the Association of Automobile, Singapore (AA) is, the eatery is just across AA, nestled amongst the row of heritage shophouses there. And it's exactly the location, I find, that gives this place an out-of-Singapore feel. Well, think sidewalk cafes with modern interior designs in European cities or hippy clean-lines cafes lining Melbourne's Chapel Street, and you'll get the picture.It was noon, but we were there for breakfast on a lazy Sunday. Yes, they serve all-day breakfast. The menu is extensive for breakfast items but not country-specific like Wild Honey. Traditional (but modernised by them?) English platter, pancakes (savoury or sweet), waffles, toast and both Croques make decision-making a while longer.And when the items came, I found them to be plesantly sunny in arrangement and presentation, salad leaves are fresh, and servings good for sharing. The counter and serving staff are young, and so are the patrons (who are youngish if you include me).Even though I'm not used to forking out nearly $20 plus taxes minus drink (I asked for free tap water) for breakfast, I find it a good place for a catch-up with friends instead of the usual pb crawl or late suppers. It's an occasional splurge, but on breakfast, that should be well worth it. Afterall, there's a saying: "Breakfast is golden."…Read More

The location is strategic - right smack in your face when you cross the traffic light from the Outram bus interchange. We tried out 2 products in as many days. The first time there, we had something light - the acclaimed Hokkaido roll cakes. Something I vaguely remembered to have read somewhere but forgot where. Magazine maybe. Anyway, being a cake lover, what's there not to like about a rolled cake?The owner-baker at the counter assured us that only natural ingredients are used in their products, but stopped short of organic ingredients as he explained that there isn't much difference in using it. And we did tasted freshness in the mocha roll and mango roll. The mocha tasted more flavourful to me as in the cake itself had a tint of coffee. The cream in the centre was non-cloying too. The mango roll is a bit mild to me, though it did contained chunky mango bits. If we weren't in a hurry, we would settle down for a cup of hot tea or coffee each.Anyway, on Christmas eve, just before we headed on to Parsley & Thyme at the other end of the row of shophouses, we took a gamble to see if there were any cakes left to be purchased. We struck jackpot with a 500g pure Trovana cake.This verion is a true chocolate fudge cake with visible 3 layers of sponges and cream when sliced. Being made of natural ingredients, ie, no preservatives or additives, it is a kind of cake that can adjust to room temperature pretty quickly. Hence, suitable for freezing.There are other variations of thier signature Trovana cake: banana and blueberry. Both of which are rather popular choices.The Trovana Pure that we took home is chocolatey and not too sweet. For a 500g, it's possible to yield 8 servings, which is just the right portion to taste.Nonetheless, our tasting won't stop here. Next target: banana Trovana and green tea roll.btw, father of owner-chef at Parsley & Thyme highly recommends the breads from Chef Icon. Another time, another excuse to go there, I guess.…Read More

This Christmas eve, we had to visit a dear one at the hospital and we had been making rounds around the shophouses opposite the SGH. We decided to try out Parsley & Thyme as the menu posted on the outside looked interesting to us. That night, we had the premium set, which is value-for-money.Starter: Mushroom soupMain: Seafood stew with sides of rosemary roasted potatoes and various peppers and zucchinisDessert: Blueberry pinacota with almond brittleCoffee/teaThe mushroom soup is competently prepared and better than most places plying this dish. Though not as chunky as I would have liked, but the taste is just right. At other places, the soup would have simply fall short by being too watery, or with a tad too much flour added, or with not enough seasoning. But not the one at Parsley & Thyme. The truffle oil sets it off nicely too.We both chose seafood stew so can't comment on the other choice of main of a ribeye steak. The stew is of tomato-base, which explains the side of a cooked salad mixture of various peppers, zuuchini, onion, chopped mushroom and eggplant. The idea is to add this salad to the stew sauce and voila! you have ratatouille.I also considered the seafood portion to be generous enough with fish, squid rings, mussels and shelled shrimps. Grilled cherry tomatoes add texture and differing taste to the dish and also completes the ratatouille concept.Nice touch on the rosemary roasted new potatoes, though I felt that the rosemary aroma didn't come through strongly enough, but that's just me.The pincota surprised me as I'm not partial on this dessert. The blueberry compote cake base adds balance to the silky milk jelly as with the blueberry sauce and strawberry deco at the side. The almond brittle adds bite and it was un to snack on.Young chef-owner Daryl does a competent job as he's the only person preparing everything from A-Z of the menu. But he could definitely do with some help as the restaurant picks up steam and reputation, so he can concentrate on creating more menu items. The last I heard, they are still looking.It's a pity that I'm not staying near enough to this restaurant, else I'm likely a serious regular there.…Read More

What first attracted me was the poster on easel stand outside the restaurant shouting '20% discount'. This outlet has just opened and so the discount is for a limited time only. However, it's only for hotpot set meals. I didn't mind a hotpot set meal then so in I went.It was lunchtime and the place was relatively empty? I should have noted this warning sign, but I stayed on to give it a try. I selected a sliced salmon set, which was changed to a prawn set as the salmon was unavailable. This place actually specialises in tea related drinks. Alcoholic tea cocktails anyone?After waiting for 25 mins with nary any food item on my table, I made my impatience known to the wait staff. Turned out that the kitchen was short of gas and the gas supplier was late in delivering the tanks.I chose a pork bone soup base but was given bak kut teh soup. The brown rice took another 5 mins as the staff needs to steam it hot before serving me, but it begs the question of why didn't they do it while I was waiting for my hotpot?It was a bad enough experience for a restaurant opening, but I can see that the staff tried their best. I had to dispense some advice on customer service as it seems that they have no clue. Food-wise, not the best-tasting hotpot, but go there for an air-conditioned place to enjoy a hot broth. The hotpot soup is enough for two, though the ingredients in it may not. However, I am likely not willing to pay $5-6 just for the soup and another $12-15 for the meat portion to dunk in the soup. To me, I'll be happier to go on a steamboat buffet at the same price, but of course, the ambience is different.…Read More

I responded to a SuperDeals offer and bought 2 vouchers at $50. So it was already a $25 each investment of a 3-course meal. However, drinks are separate charges and so is the service charge. Luckily GST was included in the voucher price. We both had a salad and for mains and desserts, we had:MainsConfit of Pork Collar - confit of pork collar with fruit relish served on roasted potatoes & assorted vegetablesBaked Miso Salmon - baked miso salmon served on roasted potatoes w creamy spinach & carrot pureeDessertsChocolate Igloo - crunchy chocolate meringue covered with caramelised almonds filled with chocolate praline ganache, served with vanilla ice creamDome - smooth dark chocolate ganache richness on crispy filo pastry in a cream of orange confit poolCompliments on the pork, but the salmon was a tad under-cooked at the skin side as you can even see a fingerprint on the miso coating. Otherwise, the sides went well with the meats.Chocolate Igloo looked nice concept-wise, but tires you out fast with its over-richness and sweetness overload. Dome started off well but left a bad impression as well as a bad taste in the mouth as the filo pastry at the bottom was totally burnt! Yet the chef had the cheek to serve it and at the place where all things sweet are their specialty! They tried to hide the burnt pastry under the chocolate ganache and the orange sauce, but they certainly didn't know who they were dealing with here. I undercovered the no-no and brought it out for display.I'm discouraged to purchase any more of such voucher deals as it's seems rather ridiculous to have to pay for additional service charges outside the voucher. Such that in the end, you wouldn't have saved much if you's just walk in and order a set menu. Plus, the service would have been better. They just seem to give you sub-par service if you produce a voucher.…Read More

Nice, breezy European ambience with Italian pictures. Bright, cheery place for a meal. The service was a little slow at first, but attentive towards the end. But we'd appreciate a glass of water with the mixed roasted nuts appetiser. It was a value appetiser, considering it contains pecans and macademia (the pricer of nuts) amongst the cashews and sunflower seeds.Our bread basket arrived next, much ahead of the mains, where it was stated in the menu that mains come with bread and salads.The mushroom soup was slightly watery, though flavourful. But my preference is still soup with lots of small bits of mushrooms, like you hand-blended them in.The pork ribs passed muster as the dish is comparable to those elsewhere. But it was the fish and chips that scored the most points with me:Thin savoury batter - 9.8 Flaky fish - 9.4Handmade tartar that is non-cloying like those off jars - 9.5Potato wedges - 8.1 (could have been crispier, but scored points on the garlic bits)At last, the dessert, which was something we shouldn't have bothered with. Amongst choices of creme brulee, pina cotta, gelato, and tiramisu, we decided to share the last option as we simply didn't like the rest. And for gelato, we'd already have our favourite outlet.It was a super sweet ending that called for a hot cup of coffee which the waiter recommended, but we did not order as we were already struggling to finish our juices. The tiramisu really should have just stuck to the basics of cream cheese, cake and cocoa powder (if chocolate flakes has been too much to ask for).…Read More