[ Serenity Spanish Bar & Restaurant ]
Serenity was located at Vivocity, serving authentic traditional Spanish food in a spacious cosy unit at #01-98. Sitting quieting next to one of the mall's entrance, i don't see much activities inside for so many times I walked passed.
Visiting the restaurant the first time with a few other foodie friends, immediately I realize why the place was so quiet after looking through the menu. Per pax spending is min. $70. We were the only customers that weekday night.
Started off with appetizers, we ordered:(A) Coles Salteado $18.80
- Sauteed Brussels sprouts with bacon bits. These greeny babes are fresh and really crunchy. The garlic and saltiness from bacon bits goes well the vegetable, making the natural bitterness of sprouts very minimal.(B) Chipirones Fritos $18.80
- Fried calamari served with mayo dip. These deep fried creatures are not oily and great choice as a snack, especially when beer is available on the table.(C) Pulpit A La Gallega $19.80
- Octopus slices drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled paprika powder. Initially before I eat it, I thought the meat will be hard and tough. But to my surprise, they were so tender! Yummy!Followed by the mains, we ordered:
(A) Paella Valenciana $53
- Saffron, Chicken, Spanish Chorizo, Tiger prawns, Squid, Mussels and Bomba rice.
(B) Paella Seafood $58
- Saffron, Fish, Tiger prawns, Squid, Mussels and Bomba rice.
For both paella, bomba rice was shimmered till soft. Although so much seafood and meat were cooked together, the saffron infused bomba rice wasn't as tasty nor flavourful which we thought it would be. Only the chorizo gives us the additional flavour. It's kind of disappointing but luckily the seafood portion were generous and fresh. But dear future customers, to avoid the long wait, it's recommended to place order for these paella first as waiting time is at least 30-45mins.The highlight of today's meal is:
(C) Cochinillo Asado $338
- All of us were like "Wah Wah Wah" when this spanish suckling pig was served. Placed on a big wooden tray, this sexy pig was accompanied by roasted potatoes, brown sauce and cinnamon jam. As told by the floor manager, the pig was slow roast for more than 6 hours with many different types of spices, herbs and alcohol.The climax was when the manager uses a ceramic plate to cut the suckling pig into smaller parts. The purpose of using the ceramic plate to cut was to indicate how crispy the crackling skin was. After the cutting ceremony, the ceramic plate was smashed in a wooden box to signifies chasing away the bad luck.
Time to dig in the meat! The skin was so crispy, you can hear the *crack* *crack* *crack* sound when we sink our teeth in it. Flesh was very tender and easily pull off from the bones without needing any strength. So juicy and savoury! Definitely worth the calories!
Come in a group as the whole pig can be shared among 6-8 persons, together with other dishes ordered.Lastly, we had desserts to end the night:
(A) Churros $10
- 6 Golden cinnamon fingers served pippin hot with warm dark chocolate dip. Tastes cakey and nothing to brag about. It's the kind of dessert that you can do without.
Verdict: Overall experience here was pleasant. Staff were really attentive (Probably because we are the only customers) to our needs. Best dish was the suckling pig! But bill wise, the prices was too steep, not suitable for casual dining.

[ The Quarters ]
Location: Icon Village 16 Enggor Street #01-09 S(079717)
Deco: The Quarters gives me the kind of warehouse feel, with Aluminium sheets laid as roofing. Grey concrete walls are accompanied by wooden table & chairs.
The Boss, Deming, tells me about his Singapore Fusion food concept and his confidence to draw crowd with his food to the usual quiet icon village in Enggor street.
Marinates, sauces, food, ice cream are all freshly made daily and made in-house.
(Food served)
Drink:
Quarterade- Fresh lemon juice, mint & dill $6. Very refreshing with minty aftertaste that lingers in mouth.
Starters:
Salted Egg Fries $9- Normal skinny fries with salted egg dipping sauce. Sauce is thick & sandy, can taste the fine s.egg granules. Bottled ones are on sale too.
Calamari $13.80- Eating fried squid alone is bland therefore must go with curry dipping sauce provided. Dip is thick, creamy but with only minimal hint of curry. Quite spicy though.
Har Cheong Gai $9.50- Chicken was well marinated, flavourful and crispy. But I felt the balachan chilli is the limelight here. Fiery, goes well with any other starters too.
Umami babi $10.80- Braised pork marinated with Chinese wine & dark soya sauce. Meat texture is dry, should have served wif gravy. Man tou: How I wish they were deep fried
Samsui Chic salad $12.80- Salad dressing with mashed ginger wasn't strong enough to be named Samsui. Chicken meat is bland. A rather flat salad dish.
Wafu Beef Salad $14.80- As for beef, I couldn't comment because I don't take consume cows.
Mains:
Ma Jie indulgence (chili crab pasta) $18-
Chili crab taste wasn't distinctive enough, too much of heavy tomato base. Ends with sourish sweet aftertaste rather than Chilli crab.
The Great escape $18.80 - Baramudi fish pan fried to a crispy finish on the skin. Fishy freshwater taste still lingers in the mouth probably because fish is only marinated with salt. To enjoy this dish better, fish & sauce definitely has to go together. Lemongrass, ginger flower cream sauce, very creamy with oni little lemongrass/ ginger aftertaste. My suggestion? Has to be bolder.
Satay burger- As told by the boss, marinating ingredients were made from scratch & the meat was marinated for 24hrs to achieve the flavorful, spiced results. Grilled to perfection, this Satay chicken thigh is really tender. Love the crisp part of the rice patty, like tasty 锅巴. Satay sauce was filled with peanut bits but tastes slightly on the sweet side.
Dessert:
Wonderffle $12.80- emongrass ice cream is really yum. The other Pandan ice cream not only smells good, but also creamy & not too sweet. **Ice cream are all made inhouse oh!! Texture of Waffle is slight crisp outside & soft inside (Not my kind of waffle) Probably we poured too much caramel sauce causing it to be overly sweet.
Affogato $8.80- Pandan ice cream blends really well wif the espresso.
Bibik's brownie $10.80- Bibik's brownie- This dessert is rather a surprise to me. "Buah Keluah" that is used in Peranakan dishes is now made into buah keluah ice cream. Rather unique & mind-blowing, good try!! Brownies tasted choco-licious & sinful. Love the slight crisp on the outer surface of the brownies too.
Duriancanboleh $8.50- signature item. Eggy, smooth texture but durian portion can be bolder. Boss tells us, pair this dessert wif white wine, can actually bring out the fruity sweetness of the wine before & after having the brûlée.
Verdict: Food still needs fine-tuning but overall experience is decent. Prices are reasonable too. A great place for colleagues and friends gatherings.

The used-to-be quiet Punggol Jetty has been converted to a busy park, with lots of space for families & couples to hang out with. Part of the area was also built with a two storey building where restaurants & eateries are located. The building is called "The Punggol Settlement".



The Punggol Settlement consists of a few seafood restaurants, bars & bistros, international cuisines, convenient stores & cafes. This trip of mine is to a cafe on the second storey called Wayne's chill-out. I remember dropping by during end july but they're still under renovation & finally they're in full operations now.



Wayne's chill-out has simple interior, other than the pretty chairs in bright orange & sky blue, they don't have much deco. The staff are young teenagers, probably on vacation job. This cafe mainly sells ice cream, waffles, coffee & pizzas. Ice cream selections have about 10. You could try out the flavours before ordering. Quite a number flavours tasted quite yummy. Due to the filling dinner earlier, our tummy can only store ice cream.

I chose Salted caramel in a waffle cone. Other than being a safe ice cream choice, the almond bits inside are so yum too. For my hubby's waffle, he had Cookies & cream ice cream + Coconut ice cream. The Cookies & cream is rather bland, no wow factor. As for the coconut ice cream, the coconut taste was rich & there are shredded coconut inside. Very interesting choice. Lastly, my brother chose another single scoop of Oreos banana... The banana taste was too overwhelming so couldn't taste the Oreo at all. Best if you're a nana-fanatics



Conclusion: A cozy place to chill out, with a number of ice cream choices & waffle that tastes quite good. It is very breezy if you take the alfresco seats outside. My next visit here will definitely be for the pizzas

A new restaurant, Three by table concepts, opened at the new Seletar Mall. Situated just opposite the Foodfare foodcourt, the whole area is buzzling with heavy crowds & noise level is high..

We were brought to our seats fast as restaurant was not filled up. Probably because it's new & lack popularity compared to other familiar big brands within the mall. Menus were presented to us by staff without smile.. Looking round the whole place, rest of staff seems uncertain too, I guessed they're all new & lack experience.

[Three] delivers fusion concept with Thai, French, Japanese cuisines all in 1 place. Menu varieties are wide, many dishes to choose from & all pictures of food make us drool. We quickly ordered our food as the pictures made us feel SooOOo hungry.

Food was served quite slow and the servers kept serving other tables' food to us, not attentive enough. Teamwork was rather bad as we can see servers pushing responsibilties to each other while dishes were served wrongly. We asked for small plates & they gave us bowls.. Lol

In all, We ordered two appetizers & a combo platter to share. First one was the "lemongrass chicken wings". To our disappointment, the wings were burnt & totally 0 lemongrass taste nor smell. Second appetizer was "garlic pork". The pork slices are very dry & tough, not worth to mention about. 

As for our main, we had "family sea & farm" platter. It consists of grilled squid, sausage on mash potato, half roast chicken on pineapple rice, deep fried fish fillet on coleslaw, some greens & thai mango salad. This platter was quite delicious.

Squid texture was soft & not overcooked. Mash potato was creamy & smooth. Roast chicken has a coconut fragrant on the skin. The pineapple rice beneath it was filled with raisins & overpowering lemongrass aftertaste. I like the fish fillet most! So crispy on the outside & fresh on the inside! Yummy! I finished up the thai mango salad too because it's so appetizing with their own recipe of zesty Thai sauce + peanuts + dried shrimps  

Although this first visit wasn't very impressed by their service but I will come back again to try the other dishes on the menu. Hopefully they will be as good as the platter that we enjoyed!

Total spending S$56.95

[ Cha Thai 2nd Visit]
My friend and I stepped into Cha Thai at 11am and were the first customer of the day.
For appetizers, we ordered Creamy crab roll. Mains we had Glass Noodle Salted Egg and Signature Tiger Prawn Panang Curry. As for drinks, we tried out their Iced Salted Plum Juice.
Lunch crowd starts coming in at 11.30am and very soon whole place was filled up.
Creamy crab rolls- Spring roll skins rolled up and deep fried. Accompanied by a creamy seafood coconut dip topped with chunks of crabmeat. The dip was too salty to go with the rolls alone.
Signature Tiger Prawn Panang Curry- 05 huge prawns were swimming in a pool of curry gravy. Curry gravy was too milky and having it too much makes us felt nauseous. Kinda disappointed as prawns were uncooked too. Kitchen replaced us with a new bowl.
Glass Noodle Salted Egg- Noodle texture was rather hard to chew on, too dry. Although it's salted egg glass noodle, but it's not salty and lacks flavour.
Iced Salted Plum Juice- A very refreshing drink that clears away the oiliness in our food. It tastes like Yuzu/ Tangerine tea
Verdict: Cha Thai is rather new and still need fine tuning. Service was very good though. I will probably check back again after awhile to see if there's improvement. But currently, only their desserts are worth a try.