Cocotte a 2 year old French restaurant located at the lobby of Wanderlust Hotel, is located in between Bugis and Little India MRT stations along 2 Dickson Road. I took about 15 minutes to walk over from Bugis MRT station cutting through Rochor Centre. The restaurant managed by Head Chef Anthony Yeoh was recently named as one of the top 500 restaurants in the 2013 edition of the Miele Guide.

Cocotte had a unique environment. An assortment of chairs with different colours and rustic timbre tables of brown and white colour. It gave a bight cheerful and country style ambience. Cocotte has recently opened a Pastry Counter and will be serving Brunch everyday. The Pastry Counter will be opened from Monday to Saturday from 12pm to 10pm and on Sunday from 12pm to 3pm. The Pastry Counter offers a wide variety of choices with its prices displayed clearly next to it.Our table dining table, I like the brown timbre table. The Shredded Pork Confit Sandwich - Confited Free Range Australian Pork Shoulder, Wholegrain Mustard Dressing, Fresh Tarragon, Parsley & Cucumber with Toasted Country Baguette. The filling in the sandwich were delicious. However, the downside was that the toasted country baguette was too hard compared to the tender soft fillings. The shredded pork confit deserved a special mentioned. Coming from the pork shoulder, it was tasty, moist and incredibly soft and tender. In addition, the cucumber provided a nice crunch. The French inspired French Onion "Soup" Sandwich blew me away. It consisted of Caramelised Onion Confit, Melted Gruyere Cheese, Thyme Leaves and Toasted Country Baguette. Instead of a soup, you get the dry version which is probably grilled with gruyere cheese on top so that it melts. I believe that gruyere cheese was used not only because it is 'the' cheese which is traditionally used in French Onion Soup but also because of its rich, creamy, slightly smokey and nutty taste. If you are a fan of French Onion Soup, you have got to try this! The Grilled Boneless Chicken Leg was served with Garlic Roasted Potatoes and French Beans. As the whole the dish was well executed. The boneless chicken leg was grilled perfectly. Crisp cracking chicken skin with juicy tender meat. The partner and I also particularly like the roasted potato. At $12, it is cheaper in price than most of restaurants and I would consider this quite value for money considering the quality! For desserts, we tried the Chocolate Tart, Pistachio Creme Brulee, Nectarine Tart and Citron Lemon Tart.

The Citron Lemon Tart was their best seller. On the first bite, it had a tangy sour taste that was too strong for my liking. The main reason was because this was made from lemon. However, I started to like it from the second bite downwards It is a light dessert and is the type that the more you dig into it, the more you will like it. Among the four, this was our favourite. This is best accompanied by a cup of hot tea!

The Chocolate Tart was made of 72% Valrhona - dark chocolate. Chocolate fans will love as it is made of intense thick dark chocolate; not diluted. The bitterness of the chocolate is followed by a slight hint of sweetness. Best to share this!

Overall, I enjoyed the dining ambience at Cocotte. Quiet and cozy, Cocotte is a good place for a chat among friends or for a date. Foodwise, the quality of food was top notch. I am still thinking (craving) of the French Onion "Soup" Sandwich.

For full review and more photos, please visit http://foodiefc.blogspot.sg/2013/04/cocotte-at-wanderlust-hotel-little-india.html

*Edited: Good Morning Nanyang Cafe at Sembawang Shopping Centre has closed*

It has been almost one and a half years since I came back to Good Morning Nanyang Cafe. Good Morning Nanyang Cafe has a similar business model to Toast Box, Killiney and Ya kun, specialising in breakfast sets such as kaya toast, coffee, tea and half-boiled eggs. In addition, they also ventured into serving Local Delights such as Laksa, Mee Siam, Egg Noodles and Mee Rebus. A smart move as they not only capture the breakfast crowd but also ensure that they capture the lunch and dinner crowd with these piping hot dishes. As usual we visited its branch at Sembawang Shopping Centre on Saturday at 9am in the morning. The cafe was full of customers. We had to wait a short while before we could get a table. Although Good Morning Nanyang Cafe was not big in terms of floor area, they had many tables and chairs position systematically in rows. Coupled with the fact that the turnover was fast, I noticed that most customers did not have to wait more than 5 minutes for a table. The process to order and collect orders are similiar to their competitors (i.e. Ya Kun, Toast Box). Customers will be required to proceed to the counter to queue and make their orders. After that they would be required to collect their drinks, half boiled eggs and a queue tag number. The queue tag number is used by the serving staff to identify the customers who have ordered toasts and/or local delights items (items that would require sometime to prepare). Good Morning Nanyang Cafe decoration is simple with a rustic feel.The Toast Sets.Local Delights.

I ordered Set C - Orange Ciabatta Toast which is priced at $5.20. I was served with two half-boiled eggs, Orange Ciabatta Toast and a cup of coffee or tea. Ya Kun's half boiled eggs are still the best. They are always big and perfectly cooked. In this case, I felt that Good Morning Nanyang Cafe's version is slightly undercooked as some of the egg white were still transparent. Nevertheless, this was still quite well-executed and delicious. I have encountered much worse off half boiled eggs. The main issue I have with Good Morning Nanyang Cafe's eggs were that I wish the staff would crack the eggs for us like Ya Kun instead of requiring customers to do it themselves. The Orange Ciabatta Toast was the highlight. This was the reason why we came back to Good Morning Nanyang Cafe.

Ciabatta is an Italian white bread made from yeast and flour, normally elongated in shape. In this case, it was flat and baked into a square shape. In addition, as it's name suggested, it was infused with orange flavour which is likely from to have come from orange peel. The Orange Ciabatta Toast was served with butter and kaya spread sandwiching two pieces of toast. The kaya is freshly made daily. It had a more aromatic compared to Ya Kun's with more coconut flavour. Shiok! This is a must try when you are at Good Morning Nanyang Cafe.The coffee was much better than the tea I had during my previous visit. In addition, it was aromatic.

If you are interested to read about my review on their Laksa and Mee Rebus, you may click here for my previous post.

I would strongly recommend Good Morning Nanyang Cafe's Orange Ciabatta Toast. It will be an entirely different foodie experience compared to Ya Kun's toast.

Jack's Place specialises in serving western cuisine has been around in Singapore for a long long time; 1966 to be exact! Today, there are 14 outlets island wide. Over the years, Jack's Place has evolved to include several concept restaurants such as Eatzi Gourmet, Seafood Harvest, Brewbaker's Kitchen & Bar, Hoshigaoka and Jack's Place under the JP Pepperdine Group.

I still remember several years ago, Jack's Place Woodlands Branch used to be situated in Causeway Point. Ever since Causeway Point started its renovation, Jack's Place has shifted to Woodlands Civic Centre just across the road. If Woodlands Civic Centre rings a bell, well.. that is where the Woodlands Regional Library is.

If you are a regular, you will notice that the interior of all Jack's Place restaurants are similar. Signature white and green checkered tablecloth.

The New Zealand Feast Promotion is back again for the month of April 2012 at Jack's Place, Eatzi Gourmet and Brewbaker's Kitchen & Bar. The New Zealand main courses includes Chunky Beef Shepherds Pie (Stewed Beef Chunkys with Peppercorn & Mushroom and topped with mashed potato and Assorted Green Salad), N.Z. Silver Fern Farms Lamb Shank (Slowly braised with Shiitake Mushroom Sauce, served with mashed potato), N.Z. Silver Fern Farms Beef Carpetbag Steak (N.Z. Beef Tenderloin stuffed with N.Z. Oyster) and N.Z Sliver Fern Farms Fillet Mignon with Creamy Green Peppercorn Sauce (Served with Baked Potato & Seasonal Vegetable).

Customers can choose to top up:
a) Set Meal: $4.80 to the main course price to include Soup of the Day, Day's Dessert & Coffee / Tea
b) Big Saver Meal: $8.80 to the main course price to include a la carte Soup, choice from 3 daily Pastry / Dessert & Coffee / Tea

We ordered 2 main course (1 Set Meal, 1 Big Saver Meal) along with an Appetiser.

Wish that the garlic and butter flavour was more intense.The Soup of the Day was Leek & Potato Soup. Tasty and flavourful with chunks of potato and leek in it. Very satisfying bowl of soup.Lobster Bisque Soup, was creamy, smooth and rich in flavour. There are pieces of lobster meat in it. It was delicious! No wonder it is their house speciality. The Kiwi Fruits & Prawns Topped with Feta Cheese was unique. So many different flavours to excite the taste buds. The Kiwi and Tomatoes were sweet and not sour. The cubes of Feta Cheese that helped enhanced the taste was rich and creamy. Underneath, there were lots of lettuce. N.Z. Silver Fern Farms Beef Carpetbag Steak (N.Z. Beef Tenderloin stuffed with N.Z. Oyster served with Baked Potato & Seasonal Vegetable) served in a sizzling hot plate. The Beef Tenderloin is the tenderest part of the beef as this part of the muscle does very little work. I ordered medium-well done for this piece of steak. It was topped with Asian Butter as seen in the close-up photo. Let it melt into the beef and savour it. It was very tender with no fats. In the middle, it was stuffed with oyster and mushrooms!

The Baked Potato did not disappoint. It was not dry or powdery, topped with sour cream, chicken bacon bits and spring onions. Yes, I did not type wrongly, it is chicken bacon bits not pork! The seasonal vegetable consist of carrots, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, corn and onion. Healthy greens with no oil!N.Z Sliver Fern Farms Fillet Mignon with Creamy Green Peppercorn Sauce (Served with Baked Potato & Seasonal Vegetable) was served in a sizzling hot plate too. The Fillet Mignon situated at the smaller end of the tenderloin is considered an expensive tender cut of the beef. My partner ordered well-done for her steak. Despite this, the Fillet Mignon was extremely tender and soft with no fats in it; literally melt-in-the-mouth. If you are observant, you may notice that there is something wrapped around the Fillet Mignon. Well, it is Chicken Bacon! Taste like bacon! This is the first time I heard of chicken bacon. Any one heard of this before or knows how it is made?

The green peppercorn sauce was savoury and aromatic. It was so nice that she had to ask for extra sauce! According to her, the best way to eat this is to cut the Fillet Mignon, add the green peppercorn sauce with a green peppercorn on top and enjoy! I tried this and it totally blew me away. Superb!

The Day's Dessert was the Strawberry Cake. Too much cream and too little cake.Looks mouth-watering?

You will be spoilt for choice when deciding on the Pastry or Dessert. After pondering for a while the partner decided to order the Oreo Cheesecake. She made the right choice! It was awesome! The cheese was very forgiving. Generous amount of Oreo cookies crumbles on the top and in the cheese. Moreover, below there was a layer of crispy Oreo crust base. What a way to end off the meal! If you know me, I am not a fan of cheesecake. Even I myself was surprised that I find Oreo Cheesecake great! Credit to the partner for ordering this.

I am glad / lucky that we had the opportunity to try the New Zealand Feast. It was an amazing meal and interesting learning experience for us. The service provided by the team was wonderful. Drinks were refilled promptly and utensils were also cleared efficiently (not only for my table, but the surrounding tables too).

Try the New Zealand Feast before it ends! You will never know what you are missing till you try it. In addition, customers will be entitled to take part in the New Zealand Grand Lucky Draw with any purchase of the New Zealand Feast Main Course. Prizes include Complimentary Roasted Beef on Wagon (worth $480) or Tickets to Universal Studios Singapore!

Thank you Evelyn (JP Pepperdine) and Felicia (Jack's Place Woodlands) for invite and having us.

Detailed review and photos: http://foodiefc.blogspot.sg/2012/04/jacks-place-new-zealand-feast-promotion.html

Ordered Domino's Pizza, delivered to my home for dinner for the two of us.

Domino's Pizza made a comeback in Singapore in 2010 after a 10 year absence. Domino's Pizza first came to Singapore in 1992 and exited in 2000. Currently, there are 13 outlets in Singapore and has a 30 minute delivery guarantee. No more having to wait 1 hour for your pizzas. Furthermore, Domino's Pizza is Halal Certified.Furthermore, with their GPS tracker, you can now track the stage where your pizza is.

Domino's Pizza has many different types of meals such as the Cheese Overload Meal ($39.80), Prawn Sensation Meal ($39.80), Cheese Burst Meal ($39.80), Sweet Sensation Meal ($43.80), Party Meal ($99.80), Value Meal ($29.80, $49.80, $34.80) and their monthly specials. For more details, click here. (Please note, I am not linked to Domino's Pizza nor am I paid to promote their menu. Just want to give full information to readers). Oh yes, did I mentioned that the prices are nett? No other hidden charges such as ERP. Well done!

We ordered the Cheese Burst Meal for $39.80 which consist of a 1 Regular Cheese Burst Pizza, 1 Regular Pizza, 1 Chocolate Lava cake and one Breadstick or Twisty Bread or Cinnastix. In addition, they had a promotion and this meal comes along with free Garlic Cheese Onion Rings.

The meal was delivered to us within 25 minutes! Ours should be from the outlet in Sembawang.Mozzarella cheese with smoked chicken breast, turkey ham and pineapple, you can never go wrong with Hawaiian pizzas. Always one of my favourite pizzas.

Apologies for the unclear picture. In fact, some of the photos in this post are taken quite badly as I was too hungry.The Extravaganzza pizza consist of mozzarella cheese with beef pepperoni, grounded beef, green pepper, onions, mushrooms and olives. So many ingredients. Very flavourful and fragrant.The Cinnastix was soft and fluffy sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. Quite interesting and unique. But way too much flour/dough for a meal.One thing I am certain is that I could not taste any hint of cheese or garlic. Which is not necessary a bad thing. Thought that this was just average.With such a large amount of food for the two of us, we kept this for the next day. Sinful molten chocolate will start oozing out once you break through the layer of cake. Quite nice.

Overall, quite like Domino's Pizza. With its fast delivery time, nett prices and delicious pizzas I am won over already. One thing that I learnt too was that this is way too much for two person to share! We could not finish the chocolate lava cake, two slices of the Extravaganzza pizza and the four pieces of cinnastix.

Detailed review: http://foodiefc.blogspot.sg/2011/11/dominos-pizza-delivery.html

Back to Jack's Place again. Jack's Place a restaurant chain specialises in serving affordable western cuisine such as steaks. The restaurant first start back in 1966 and now has 15 outlets in Singapore and evolved to include restaurants with other concepts such as Eatzi Gourmet, Seafood Harvest, Brewbaker's Kitchen & Bar, Hoshigaoka and Jack's Place under the JP Pepperdine Group. It's newest concept restaurant is the Kkongdon Korea BBQ, that offers Korean BBQ cuisine. The exterior of Jack's Place restaurant at Marina Square. All their outlets have the same similar exterior with the same corporate colours. Even the interior is consistent. Same type of furnishing decoration. Classy modern furnishing and ambience with its signature white and green table cloth. Nostalgic!

Kudos to their marketing and branding team for keeping a consistent image at all 15 outlets. Makes me feel so comfortable despite being at a different outlet. Spotted something new among their decorations. Nice touch. Cute design of animal cut outs in their corporate colour.

Before we stepped in, we already know what we would be ordering. Its the N.Z. Ribeye Steak with Brown Sauce ($16) from the Executive Set Lunch which comes along with Soup of the Day, Garlic Bread, Day's Dessert and Coffee/Tea.

Two slices of Garlic Bread, one for each of us. The Soup of the Day was carrot, potato, leek and chicken soup. It came piping hot. The soup was filled with the natural flavours of the ingredients. The chunks of potatoes, carrots and leeks were well cooked; soft yet retaining the flavours. The chicken chunks in it was surprisingly tender. Souperlicious Soup of the Day! The steaks at Jack's Place are served sizzling on a hot plate. Hence, whenever we hear the sizzling sound coming out from the kitchen, we will turn and keep a look out (anticipating) for ours.

As expected, the piping hot sizzling NZ Ribeye Steak with Brown Sauce was served on the hot plate with seasonal vegetables and a baked potato. Do note, the hot plate is well... hot, touch the wooden parts instead if you need to shift the plate. I requested for my steak to be cooked 'medium' so that it will be soft and somewhat firm. The brown sauce was 'darn' good and complemented the steak perfectly.

The seasonal vegetables served consisted of slices of carrots, radish and french beans. The carrots and radish were soft but the french beans were a tad too hard. A healthy side dish as no oil was used. I believed they were blanched and cooked in hot water. Baked Potato topped with Sour Cream sauce, Chicken Bacon bits and Spring Onions. I like how Jack's Place executed this as the potato was moist and soft on the inside. Moreover, the chicken bits were fragrant. If I did not know, I would have thought that this was pork bacon bits. Concluded the meal with Day's Dessert and tea.

Overall, a fulfilling and satisfying meal. Still my favourite place for an affordable and decent steak. In terms of service, the waiter and waitress were prompt. In addition, one of the staff came over and asked if the steak was cooked to our expectations. I did feedback to her that the steak was to our liking and that the french beans were a tad too hard. A little softer would have been ideal. Furthermore, feedback to her that it was a great meal thus far. I noticed that she also did the like wise for other customers. It was a nice gesture and I was impressed with her service.

ps: I always ask for extra brown sauce. It comes with no extra charge! Yummy!