Salt Tapas is an Italian dining place and bar, serving Italian specialities and alcoholic drinks.
You would have to expect the prices here a little expensive and high though! But to be honest, though the prices of the food here is pretty expensive, but their standard are really high and above average.

To read a detailed review with more food, visit:
http://chiamhuiy.blogspot.com/2013/01/salt-tapas-bar-review.htmlLook at the menu and you'll see many items' prices kickstarting from $20, and cost as high as $30.Roasted Garlic Flat Bread
$6

Have you tried a flat garlic bread before? At least not for me. I don't usually spend on appetizer but this is definitely something I will not regret ordering. The bread is crunchy on its surface but extremely soft and chewable, it really beats many garlic bread out there! Some garlic breads out there just simply add garlic paste in the middle of the bread, but for this, I don't get an overwhelming taste of garlic out of nowhere. They taste of it was very delicately spread across the whole piece. Crispy soft shell prawns with chili and garlic aioli
$15

This was indeed a very special dish I've ever had. Serves as a very good appetizer! We could eat the prawns with its shell!
Quite an amazing dish! It comes with zesty mayonnaise for you to dip your prawn in it, and it really tastes soooo good. Just a little downside of it was that I wasn't really used to chewing the shells with it. But overall, a very interesting dish! The mini prawns were very fresh as well. Confit Pork Belly, puy lentils, chorizo
$27

Lentils is a unique kind of bean that we don't usually see in our dish. So here's a unique point of this dish!
Other than that, the star of this dish is definitely none other than the pork belly with a crispy top layer. I must really say the pork belly meat was beyond words to describe. The meat is the most succulent meat I've ever tasted and if I'm back here again, I will recommend my friends to get it. A small minor down side about this dish is that the portion could be a little small for its price, but SUPER worth every penny! Moroccan spiced baby chicken, celeriac, buttered spinach
$28

Another very well-prepared dish that I would recommend.
Also, another dish with very juicy meat, but not as juicy as the pork belly. I guess the apparent reason why the pork belly's meat is juicier is because of the fats in it.. oh well fats.

But still, the meat for this baby chicken is almost equally good, and you must definitely eat with the skin because some of the spices and taste are on the skin as well. Don't waste it please. I don't usually eat chicken skins but for this, I don't mind another running session.

Overall, this place is more for working adults who can afford such dinners on a frequent basis. But for students, it doesn't mean you can't afford. I think it's fair for us to indulge in such little treats for us after a long fight in the war of university/poly. The bar (obviously) serves alcohol drinks which I am not really interested in, which is why I didn't order them. But it seems that every diners ordered an alcohol drinks here. The ambience here is a little rowdy, so do not expect a serene ambience. But it's exactly that slight rowdiness in a bar which attracts people to come because they can speak freely in the bar afraid of being judged! Hehe. I guess diners here look for a place to catch up with friends with a cup of alcohol by their side too. Working adults usually do that, don't they?

The services here are very good as well because the waitresses are always near you, and would come in a minute when you called for them! They are very polite as well and would ask how do we find our meals. Good job!

Hope you liked my review!
Hui Yan-

Do you know Astons at Cathay has undergone a huge renovation?

Check out the review on my blog:
http://chiamhuiy.blogspot.com/2013/01/catching-up-with-friends-at-astons.html

When I first reached, I was pretty shocked myself too! I knew it was renovating but I didn't expect such a huge change. Basically, what they did was to really extend the indoors seatings more than by around 50%? I swear! I think they must have bought or rented another store next to them and linked both up. Astons is much much extended and spacious now! Though there is still queue, but it is no longer as long as the usual queue you would see in a weekend. A queue in the past can make you wait as long as 15-20 minutes, but now, worry no more! Their menu.
Do you know Astons do not charge GST and service charge? So whatever price on the menu is NETT PRICE. And it's mostly below $10!!
I think it's pretty worth it to dine at astons because the portion they provide are really sufficient to stuff yourself freaking full. If you have a big appetite, you can go for the Double Up Chicken at $11.90, which gives you two pieces of chicken! Still cheap please.

Three of us ordered snapple, but here's the two different flavours we had: Mango Madness and Pink Lemonade
$2.80 each

I think this is a little retarded here... but Mango Madness snapple basically has a very strong mango taste, while my Pink Lemonade's sour taste isn't exactly the intolerable sour, and it has this after taste which makes my mouth pretty dry. BUT! I still like it. I think I would order Kiwi Strawberry next time too, it's nice as well.

My friend ordered the IBC Root beer! You know there IS a difference between the normal rootbeer and IBC rootbeer. If you are unaware of it, try it. To me, it does taste different! More authentic and fizzy I guess? But then again, what's considered authentic? Haha. Up to your tastebud to decide! Lemon Lime Chicken
with Fries and Mash Potato
$7.90 (nett)

I ordered the Lemon Lime Chicken, with the two side dishes. If stated on the menu, chicken dishes usually has two complimentary side dishes for you to pair it with your main chicken, without additional charge of course! I usually ordered fries because they taste pretty good.

Their mash potato is soft and tender as well, but one bad thing is they usually give very little mushroom sauce, as you can see from the photo. So usually I will ask for additional mushroom sauce and they are more than willing to give it to you. Talk about service! Chicken (Teriyaki) and Sausage Combo
With Marconi cheese and corn on the cob!
$12.90 (nett)

If you order this, you have a choice to choose any type of chicken from the menu for your combo. My friend ordered the Teriyaki chicken. Their sausage looks a little though, so it might not be very worth it.
But since my friend doesn't mind having these, he got it! For me, if I have a big appetite, I will go for the Double up Chicken.

Overall, Astons at the Cathay has greatly changed for a better good! They are now so spacious, clean and newly revamped! I really like their change and would definitely wish to come back again. They have now provided me a better reason to come back again!

Since they are now bigger, you can easily come with a group of friends to have a very very affordable meal together and catch up with each other, just like what I did!

Furthermore, the price of their food is extremely affordable and below average restaurant prices! What's the best is that they do not charge service charge and GST at all. With their low prices on the menu, they don't even charge all these. I only paid a total $11 for my dinner, which I though was really worthy.

We came at 7pm, and left at 9pm. Two hours spent here with all the catching up and chit-chatting, Astons is great for gatherings and chill out session with your friends as well. Sorry for repeating but since Astons is now bigger and better, you now have another choice for outings or lunch with friend!
^_^

Hope you liked my review!

Hui Yan-
http://chiamhuiy.blogspot.sg

To view a full detailed review with more photos, do vist:
http://chiamhuiy.blogspot.com/2013/01/covelli-italy-bistro-wine-bar-review.htmlMy boyfriend and I went over to Covelli Italian Bistro to celebrate my birthday!

We went on a Sunday afternoon and surprisingly, there was not much people. But the waitress just had to allocate us to a table right next to a couple when there is so many more other seats. (not happy)

This Italian Bistro is located right at the basement of Orchard Central, at an isolated corner beside the lifts. There is also an open-kitchen separated by a walkway from the main dining area. You can actually see how the chefs prepare your dishes.

The ambience here is really serene, and especially silent.
The bistro plays classical music to promote the tranquil atmosphere for the diners to enjoy the dishes as well. I love the ambience here. Aragosta la Pasta
$26

Unfortunately, I didn't quite enjoy this dish, albeit a chef's recommendation. In fact, I did not even finish it like how I usually would! Not saying this doesn't taste good, but I guess I am just not a fan of angel hair pasta.

This Angel hair pasta is served with lobster in their homemade tomato sauce, topped with black Tobiko Caviar.

This pasta would be perfect if it happen to be served with linguine or spaghetti. I'm sure there's a reason for the chef to use angel hair, but as the diner myself, I really didn't enjoy the slimy and cluttered spoonful of the angel hair pasta in my mouth. The texture and feeling of it just wasn't sensational. In fact, the tomato sauce was nothing remarkable.But good thing is the lobster meat was fresh and tender. It was not hard to retrieve the meat out of the shell too. Aglio olio
$16

Add: Prawn $20
Add: Crabmeat & baby spinach $22

I thought coupling with the additional options would serve as an average-priced spgahetti out there at most restaurants, but my bf doesn't like both prawn and crabmeat, so no to both!

I got to try a bit of this, and I thought the standard is just slightly above average.
It may look spicy here but it was not. There's a hint of black pepper and garlic slices in this dish, prepared with extra virgin olive oil and basil & italian parsley. The chef used linguine for this aglio olio.The experience at the Covelli Bistro was overall a relaxing and satisfied one. The service provided by the waitresses was swift and polite. I enjoyed myself at this Bistro quietly hidden at a corner at the basement of Orchard Central, hiding away from the bustling crowd.

I would actually say the price here is slightly above average, but no harm coming here once in a life time.

Hui Yan-
http://chiamhuiy.blogspot.com/

I went with a group of friends on a saturday afternoon, but there was no one!
To view a full review with many more photos, do visit:
http://chiamhuiy.blogspot.sg/2013/01/raindrops-cafe-review.htmlThis is the promotion they have now!!! Chef's Salad
Price varies ($10 for photo above)

The portion was overall quite small and there were a little amount of berries only! So depressing to have this at $10, way overpriced. Fish N Chips
$15

I didn't get to try the fish, but the fries tasted normal. I guess there's nothing much special we can expect from FishNChips?

Ok here's mine!!Seafood Cherry Tomato with Penne
$17

For the price of $17, I guess it's just two dollars more than usual averaged priced spaghetti. Perhaps the only thing worthwhile about this dish was the seafood that they've included in. Two mussels and very few clams. Not that great either.

What was then displeasing about, was the toughness of the penne.

It was really tough, at least to me. I'm not sure if penne are supposed to be prepared like this, but I'm sure as a consumer myself, I wouldn't like the texture of the penne to be hard. Salmon Steak
$18

My friend commented that this was good. But you can see that the portion of it isn't very big. But I guess this is pretty good enough for the price you are paying for! Definitely not enough for a man who has a huge appetite though. ;) I also found out something interesting about the cafe!
They served iced water with strawberries in it! No wonder the iced water tasted a little better and sweeter than the usual iced water we usually drink. If lemons are included, I understand it's to kill the germs. But strawberries... why?

The ambience at the cafe
Since I do not have a photo of how the cafe looks like, let me try to describe it to you.
A small petite sized cafe located at the corner of Scape (orchard), level 2 (on the level same as gongcha and toast box).
There's very limited seats in the cafe it has, I think I can count it - roughly 6 x 4seaters table. There are roughly 3 tables outdoors only.

I went with my friends in a group of 8 and the cafe was so secluded and quiet such that we're the only people at the cafe. We indeed had the whole cafe to ourselves! It's definitely a good place to come with your other half or good friends (smaller group) because since it's very quiet here, you can have a relaxing time here, chit-chatting and enjoy the strawberry-flavoured iced water. Haha.

About the service
There were only 2 waitress, one chef.
Imagine the speed of the food served.
The food were served one, by, one. Which means if your friends have the habit of waiting everyone's food to be served before tucking in, the first dish served will definitely turned cold by the time the last is served. So one bad thing about coming in a big group ya!

Okay hope you liked my review!
http://chiamhuiy.blogspot.sg

Detailed review with more photos at:

http://chiamhuiy.blogspot.com/2013/01/everything-with-fries-review.html

Met up with my group of friends in uni. We head over to Holland Village instead, and settled down at Everything With Fries. Many probably have been here before since the price are very affordable and it seems to be well-liked by students and young adults. But it was my first time here, I just couldn't find a time to visit there for a meal. This is on a saturday, 2pm. Quite crowded.

The ambience here isn't as great because of many reasons. First, the air conditioning was not strong enough and I still feel hot and uncomfortable sitting in the restaurant. It might be due to the sunny weather. Second, the place was a little cramp (definitely not their fault to have such a small space), but this affects my mood with regards to the restaurant too. Last, everyone here spoke so loud like a coffeeshop, which makes me feel irritated. Creamy Salmon in a Cup
$11.90

You know what's amazing about the soup? It has a slight alcoholic taste! My friend who had this dish is a malay so we had to ask what was in it, and to our surprise, there was no alcohol haha.

Nonetheless, the soup didn't turn out great.
But there were plenty thick salmon slices inside the soup. Tandoori Chicken Sandwich
$11.90

The taste of the chicken sandwiched between the toast was very tender and juicy. I really hate dry chicken, so I thought the tandoori was alright. The sour creamy sauce that went along with it made the sandwich more appetizing and I like it!

My fries was sour cream and onion. Grilled pork chop
$13.90


About their service: Oh yes, I forgot to mention, one of their waitress (there were two) was very rude! When we called for her, she just gave a hand sign telling us to wait while she finish off her task on hand. I mean, if you don't have the time now, let us know politely because after all you are here to provide service to the customer, and not your black face. There is a walking distance from the holland v mrt station to this cafe, so you might want to check out the address first.
Overall, I thought this is considered quite a good place to chill out with your friends. What's best is the affordable price which most students can probably afford. Everythingwithfries is just like another restaurant which serves western food and thus there is nothing much special about it, at least that's what I thought. A small bad point is that it's not very accessible. Perhaps going to their other outlets!

Hope you like my review!

Hui Yan-
http://chiamhuiy.blogspot.com