Sabroso Tapas Wine Bar, the latest Tapas wine bar at Holland Village. Sabroso is officially opened on 1 st October, which is just 3 days ago. Sabroso means delicious, flavourful and tasty and they hoped to offer delicious Spanish Tapas with an Asian Twist .

The Menu
They offer light spanish tapas but they are still in the mist of updating their menu therefore some of the tapas listed in the menu are not ready and there aren’t much selections . According to the chef, they would be introducing new tapas gradually to the menu.

Garlic prawns ($11+)
6 succulent prawns marinated with some spices and lightly sauteed with bits of garlic. The garlic bits were lightly burnt and infused with sweetness of brown sugar. The bits of garlic complement very well with the prawns.


Pan Broiled Scallops ($10+)
The scallops were bouncy and juicy, bursting with flavours in each bite. There were strong flavours of coriander and spring onions due to the garnishes on the scallops. The sauce were infused with white wine and it goes well with the scallops. Thumps up!


Verdict: Prices are reasonable and they absorb the 7% GST for these 2 weeks. Bring along a friend for buffet dinner & get a complimentary bottle of wine ( promotion ends 31 Oct).

So it happens that my dear buddy has decided to pull me along for dinner at Kichi Kichi, located at Ngee Ann City. A restaurant serving hotpot (mini steamboat), the first look from the outside gave me the impression of a typical “Japanese sushi on conveyor belt” restaurant. The overall ambience is very pleasant and best of all it is air conditioned, so it was my first steamboat without perspiring madly. We sat on the counter seats along the conveyor belt, which had a small table area, so it gets a little crammed up when you get plates piled up.

We each could choose a flavor of soup base for ourselves, and for my own I got the chicken soup, which tasted quite average. We could take a variety of ingredients directly off the belt and cook it in our hotpot. The initial excitement of exploring the types of food available quickly wore out when we saw the same ingredients rotating on the belt after some time. The shop was quite crowded then, so I wasn’t surprised when I didn’t get to see any meat or prawns left on the belt by the time it got to us. The service crew was really helpful though, by noting down the ingredients we wanted and serving it to us straight from the kitchen. We had the chocolate hotpot for dessert, and it was really a delight to have, with the chocolate being delicious and not too sweet to the taste.

I have this strong love and respect for Korean food =)))

My favourite!!! Seafood Silken Toufu
The most delicious and yummy seafood soup I've ever tasted! It looks horribly red and spicy but it really isnt. The taste is so unique, naturally sweet and awfully flavourful.

A Hearty Chicken and Mushrooms HotPot for 2 is a must try!
I love the chicken! It is so well marinated it was absolutely tasty and yum yum. The most impressive experience about this hotpot is, it looks like a normal steamboat with all the vegetables and meat dumped in it and left to boil... I didn't think it would taste anything near nice. But I was proven so wrong!!! This is WAYYYYY better than your steamboat. I don't know how and why but well, you have to try it to believe it.

After you have finished the vegetables and meat in the hotpot, the leftover soup was used to cook a Special Porridge. Rice, Seaweed, Spring Onions and an Egg was mixed thoroughly. I was doubtful about this porridge because I personally hate the taste of Spring Onions...

I cleared the entire pot.... Unbelievably delicious!!!

The bill for 3 came up to about $80. I'm definitely going back again..
This time to try their Charcoal Grill =)

Now this should wake me up. Having the freaking expensive Iced Milk Tea in a typical plastic jug fashion for $3 at an open-concept Cantonese cafe called Streets located in middle of the first floor of IMM on a Monday.

That’s about the only decent item at this restaurant with dirty yellow cushion sofas, black pillars with chinese words and antique Chinese lights out of all the other dishes we had.

For starters we had the Hong Kong Fried Carrot Cake With XO Sauce (which was a chef recommendation and yet we had to take it upon ourselves to request for more XO sauce because there was barely any, and tofu was way too dry) and for the main course we had the Sliced Beef Stone Rice (a wannabe Bibimbap that destroyed the Korean dish's signature taste with the addition of green peppers and black fungus) and Chicken Salted Fish with Chinese Sausage Claypot Rice ($6.80).

Service was bearable with staff was not very well-versed with the food. You order by writing the items on a form in typical Hong Kong cafe style. Actually, now that I've come to think of it, I didn't need that Ice Milk Tea to wake me up (which I normally require for digestion because I tend to have a heavy lunch) because I didn’t finish anything (well if you don’t count the drinks). If it wasn't because of the lack of queue during office lunch hours compared to other places like Swensen's and Pepper Lunch located very near it (and now I know the reason behind why this is so), I wouldn't have checked out this place in the first. Now that I did, I'll rather go to Coffee Club which was constructed to seem like an extension of this place, but boy, does the food taste a ton better. And nope, they don't have a crazy lunch queue either.

It’s been so long since I first wanted to try Ember that I had almost forgotten about it! When the occasion presented itself, we decided to head down the narrow lanes of Chinatown to Keong Saik Road and give this restaurant, located on the ground floor of the boutique hotel Hotel 1929, a shot.

We were there to try their set lunch, priced at $38++ for a 3-course lunch plus coffee, tea, or a “welcome drink” which would be a specially concocted fizzy drink of sorts.

It took quite some time for our complimentary bread to be served (it about about the same time as our starter), but when it hit the table, I realised the reason for the wait and any misgivings completely vanished. The Sundried Tomato Focaccia is hot out of the oven – and I mean hot. The bread must have been baked freshly upon our arrival! And the bread was addictively good, throughly aromatic, with a crusty exterior and pillow-y soft insides. One of the best complimentary breads around. Gosh I could polish off another loaf!

My appetizer for the day was the Pan Seared Foie Gras with caramelised apple and clove, port and raspberry glaze (additional charge of $6). A healthy (or should I say, very unhealthy) sized slab of foie gras, though it did not meet expectations. The foie gras was a tad overcooked, leading to a rubbery texture instead of the meltingly wobbly one I love. There was also a number of stringy bits that shouldn’t be there! Ruined the texture and delight of the foie gras.

My partner’s choice was the Pan Seared Foie Gras with fresh orange segment, orange and passionfruit reduction (additional charge of $6). Now this one was completely up to par! As opposed to my slab, this was everything you want our of your foie gras – crispy exterior, wobbly, buttery innards that just melt in your mouth. Perhaps it was due to the part of the liver that we got – his was thicker, while mine was wider (which may be more difficult to avoid overcooking). I loved the candied orangie strips on the top that were little nibbles of sweetness.

To be fair, no fault can be found with either preperation fo the foie gras – both were excellent, I just wish my slab was better cooked.

I chose the Marinated Cod with Black Miso, accompanied by sweet peas and herbed potatoes. Would you look at that hunk of beauty? A good-sized, thick piece of cod was served, and completely covered in the miso paste. The waitress asked “do you like sweet things?” when I ordered this. True enough, this is really for those who don’t mind a sweet main course – the beautifully laquered cod was sweet with miso, that worked almost like a teriyaki sauce coating the buttery, fresh fish. I enjoyed it for sure.

The partner’s Yam Crusted Vealloin with selected dips, Japanese salsa, and miso vinaigrette was a star in its own right – think perfect tonkatsu, with its crispy batter that distinctly tasted of yam, and the medium done veallion inside that was so tender and juicy. It’s blushing pink! I’ve never quite been a fan of breaded, deep fried cutlets since so much can go wrong – often overcooked and dry, took much breading to too little meat etc, but this is delish.

For dessert, we first had the Sticky Date Pudding, which wasn’t on the menu but the waitress recommended to us as a new item. The warm cake is not too sweet, and full of the distinct flavours of dates, ginger, and other spices. Unlike others which drench their cake with a bucket-full of toffee sauce, that component is not overwhelming here. The Grand Marnier ice cream pairs surprisingly well with it. Personally, I still prefer my sticky date at Boomerang Cafe, but that has to do with my extra sweet tooth

The Warm Valrhona Chocolate Cake with Vanilla bean ice cream was brilliant. Served hot, I was delighted when the flood of molten chocolate came pouring out the moment we dug into it. Put it on too many dismal experiences with molten chocolate cakes that simply aren’t molten, or aren’t even warm. While I’d like to see a crispy exterior, the thin wall of sponge was good too. Thick chocolate-y goodness! The speckled vanilla bean ice cream just lended the much needed cold note to this hot cake and ended the meal well.

Generally excellent food and friendly service, I don’t know why it took me so long to get here, but I’ll be back (soon, hopefully!). The great thing is the surprising variety of choices one has for the set lunch - there’s at least 8 different options for appetizers, mains and desserts, which means that you can come over and over again and not have to eat the same thing/combination twice!