For more photos, please visit Rubbish Eat Rubbish Grow: http://rubbisheatrubbishgrow.wordpress.com/2011/11/24/boomarang-bistro-bar-robertson-quay/

Mr NGFL and I, slaves, just finished work at 10 pm ON A FRIDAY and agreed to eat at Boomarang, an Australian eatery that hosts a trivial quiz night on Tuesdays. The winning table gets the bar tab on the house.I had a Kangaroo Loin ($30) and Mr NGFL had a Spring Chicken ($30). Tasting a bit of the Spring Chicken, I think it was very tender and superb but my Kangaroo Loin is da bomb! The mashed sweet potato was SO AWESOME. I hate sweet potato because I was brought up into thinking that only during wartime, when there are no other options, then we eat sweet potato. It’s the last resort. But this one was very savory and sweet and creamy and smooth! The distinctive taste of kangaroo meat is that it is a little bitter but the sour cream covered the bitterness in this case–tender and succulent!

Ambience: Several areas having different ambience. (1) Outdoor smoking with the ubiquitous aluminum chairs and tables. (2) Indoor dining with eco-friendly recycled decor. (3) relaxing lounge sofas along the corridors. The TVs were playing sports channel. Why can’t they play Kylie MTVs? She’s Australian!

Service: All Filipinos here. Mixed service here. A very gorgeous Pinay was very attentive and helpful but in general, the Pinoys were distracted, unfocussed and you’ve to repeat your order a few times, or you need to ask for a fork a few times before he gets it to you. But they were nice and polite. And although there is no closing time, meaning they are open until the last guest leaves, the servers looked tired and eager to end work. (I can’t blame them for wanting to go home. They probably had been standing for hours.) They actually closed off sections, covered the lounge sofas with tarpaulins–which was a pretty strong hint?

Great food, but slightly overpriced. ($71 for two.) Nice relaxing ambience and average service. Recommended. Should be coming back here again.

For photos, please visit Rubbish Eat Rubbish Grow: http://rubbisheatrubbishgrow.wordpress.com/2011/11/22/brasserie-les-saveurs-st-regis-orchard/

I’m still shopping for where to have Xmas dinner so we test-drived (drove?) Brasserie Les Saveurs’s Champagne Brunch (see below for Xmas menu). Has anyone watched the best drama on TV, Downton Abbey? It’s about the habits of an aristocrat family in the 20th century. How an aristocrat eats for breakfast: it is buffet-style with a butler on standby because everyone wakes up at different times. Brasserie Les Saveurs is exactly like Downton Abbey. Eating here makes me feel like a duke.

The free-flow champagne buffet brunch costs $170++ per person, but it also includes wines and cocktails. Without alcohol, $138++. Children from 4-12 years old: $75++. Here are some reasons to justify the cost:

See how luxurious and ducal the decor is? Floral-and-vine motif carpet of thistle color with matching beige and deep crimson plush armchairs. Three elaborate chandeliers. Tall ceiling. French windows four-storeys high, showing a view of the swimming pool with the most gigantic drawn laurel-green curtains you’d ever see. If you sit by the window, you exist in a world of your own but there is sunlight beaming in – Fann Wong and Edward Cullum from Twilight will avoid UV. There are also private rooms available. A jazz band played awesomely in the background–Mom! I found my wedding singers! Now I’ll just have to find a partner! and it is the easy part. A reservation is a must – seats were almost taken up.

The service was impeccable. The utensils were changed regularly. All the servers were very friendly and cheerful and thoughtful. The angmoh maitre-d looks exactly like the handsome, villainous footman in Downton Abbey. He was carving slices of parma ham off something that looked like a huge decorative log. The helpful assistant maitre-d, Leila, talked to me and told me that the chef, who was making his rounds, saying hi, worked in a top restaurant in France. He came to Singapore six years ago, wanting to teach culinary arts, but realized his passion is still in cooking. But among all the service staff, my favorite has to be a Chinese middle-aged man. He reminds me of the butler in Downton Abbey, very no-nonsense, respectable, responsible, but underneath the strict facade, very caring. For instance, I told him my throat itched after drinking the complimentary freshly squeezed orange juice and asked if I could get honey. He immediately got a very tiny bottle of honey for me to add in my TWG tea. I was a hug away from calling him dad!

One last thing I want to mention is the clientele. I recently went to a buffet in another hotel, that costs about $80. My scoop was slow-mo moving in on the ice cream tub when all of a sudden, a morbidly obese Singaporean swooped in and edged me out!! I stared at him in shock, and he said, “Soli ah” and continued scooping his ice cream. You’ll NEVER find such kiasu Singaporeans here. The elegance of the place was so pervasive that it seeped into the bones of the patrons. Everyone was courteous and polite. I’d love to live in a society like this.

Let the feasting begin! The cuisine is mostly French-style. Although the range of the food wasn’t extensive, there was depth. On the buffet table, there were varieties of ham, bread, salad and cheese. For example, there were various types of salad: cucumber salad, potato salad, caesar salad, nicoise salad (with beef), grilled vegetables, asparagus, etc. The angmohs usually eat cheese for desserts, but hey, eat however you want it. Cheese with bread? Go ahead! But we skipped this because we’re typical Singaporeans, we go for the expensive stuff! The butter, with “St Regis” embossed on it, was pretty cool.

On the cold dish side, there were smoked salmon, salmon sashimi, three types of freshly shucked oysters, and crabs. Look at how ginormous the claw of the crab was!

What is brunch without eggs cooked to your liking? We had eggs benedict, which is a poached egg with a slice of ham and hollandaise sauce (my favorite sauce!).

There are two cooking stations serving pan-fried foie gras and black pepper lobster. We didn’t like this perhaps because the junior chefs were in charge of cooking very complicated dishes The foie gras was too hard and the lobster was chokingly spicy.

My other petty grouse for this buffet is there ought to be more hot food. Some of the food are prepared in the kitchen first and then served to each table. The portions are tiny, but these are super delicious. I wish they could be readily available on the buffet table as hot food. Some of the outstanding ones are: (1) Foie Gras Creme brulee with red onion compote and compressed apple – super original! (2) lobster bisque – warm, warming to the body, and bursting with wholesome flavors! (3) Artichoke risotto with aged parmesan cheese – Chiobu hated this but I loved it! You have to appreciate smelly cheese, which is an acquired taste, to like this.For the buffet brunch, each person is entitled to a choice of one main course from 11 choices. The Black Angus Beef Tartare, raw seasoned beef served in a small cake form, was zesty, onion-y, and black-peppery. Very tasty but for those who are unaccustomed eating beef raw, you may want to skip this. I ordered the roasted lamb rack (medium-rare). Well-executed without the stench of mutton. Chiobu loved how fine the mashed potato was – but the portion could be bigger.

I vowed to eat all the desserts! But I failed. Can you see the mountains of desserts?!! I doubt it’s humanly possible to try everything. Our favorites are the macaroons, a mango lime eclair with a very surprising burst of lemongrass!, and the chocolate tart with the St Regis Sail on it.

6- and 7-course set menu dinners are available for Xmas Eve ($178+) and New Year Eve ($188++), including a glass of champagne.

The buffets on Christmas and New Year at $158+ (without alcohol) and $188+ (with free flow of alcohol) have special festive menus.

Xmas Hampers ($510+) and roasts are available too: Turkey ($148 , 5kg), ham ($188, 5kg), leg of lamb ($178, 5kg) prime ribs ($388, 5kg) and log cakes ($48 onwards, ok, this one is not a roast, you know right?)

All in all, our experience at Brasserie Les Saveurs at St Regis’s lobby was leisurely and enjoyable. The ambience and service were tops. As for the food, it is different from our usual Singaporean buffets which have a wide range but no depth. A European, or a person who has lived in Europe for an extended time or a well-travelled person would appreciate the delicacy and intricacy of the food. Of course, if you can hold your alcohol, this buffet is not to be missed.

For photos, please visit Rubbish Eat Rubbish Grow: http://rubbisheatrubbishgrow.wordpress.com/2011/11/18/lolivier-telok-ayer-st/

Hell-ow everybady, Ms Atas is back from her Europe tour! Check out my facebook constant updates from Effiel Tower, Leaning tower, etc. My Australian Boyfriend came for a visit and I wanted to bling him to a high crass place but I wanna be considerate too, and go for lunch, cheaper. I’m considerate, not cheap oooook? I iz Ms Atas, got $$. So did some prelim research on HGW and found this restaurant with high approval rate, not 100% approval but good enough, not everyone can have 100% approval rating like me.

When I was there, I was shocked. Gasp! I put my limp-wristed hand on my real boobs to clam myself down. The restaurant is situated at Singapore Hokkien Association and I thought all dialect associations are in dingy shophouses. This one so modern and so bright! Brighter than the moon moon moon. Hokkiens are as atas as Ms Atas? I don’t dink so!

The second shock I had was the decor of the restaurant. Expensive restaurants are suppose to be dark and sexy and the outside people cannot look in but this one is open concept with full-pane glass panels. OMG, I need more makeup!

The 3-course set lunch ($25++) is awwwfully limited. Appetizer: choice of soup or salad; Main: choice of fish or beef; and fixed dessert. Naturally, my Australian Boyfriend and I picked the same things because our two hearts are one.Aiyo, cannot, this simply cannot do. The mushroom soup had a thick film of oil floating on it – and its color was green. The 150days grainfed angus beef fillet was wayyyy overcooked–i requested for medium-rare–and tasted more pan-fried than grilled. The profiteroles were forgettable.

The service wasn’t top-notched. We hadn’t even finished our soup yet and the beef came. You know lah, I iz Ms Atas, got tiny mouth.

We spent $60 but there are other places which could serve better food at the same price.

For photos, please visit Rubbish Eat Rubbish Grow: http://rubbisheatrubbishgrow.wordpress.com/2011/11/17/ying-yang-rooftop-bar-ann-siang-hill/

If you see my record of bars, you’d know I love rooftop bars. Ying Yang has a surprisingly good view, given that its building is so short. The view is the surrounding towering skyscrapers built by capitalist pigs but ooh, the office lights of the late-night workers-slaves are so pretty. The ambience is great too, very relaxing, with lounge sofas, feeling like it’s by the beach. (Use imagination lah.)

The service within the bar itself was like the ambience–indolent and lazy but I didn’t care because in such a mood, everything could be slow. There was no rush for time. Besides, at least the wait staff were nice. However, the service of the Club Hotel was mixed. The first time, the hotel receptionist buzzed us up the lift (you need a hotel card to use the lift). The second time, the receptionist told us to climb the 3 or 4 storeys up and by the time we were up, we were panting.

Drinks are at cut-throat cost, $20 or so for a drink, but you pay for the atmosphere. The second time we were there, there were a group of gay angmohs with a Sarong Party Gay. Gay people are cool and cool people hang around here. So you know the price of the cocktails is justifiable.

For more photos, please visit Rubbish Eat Rubbish Grow: http://rubbisheatrubbishgrow.wordpress.com/2011/11/16/zaffron-kitchen-east-coast-road

Q: Did Zac Efron open Zaffron Kitchen?
A: No, he didn’t but he might as well have. The restaurant is as pretty as him.

When I stepped in, I was taken aback at how gorgeous the decor is. It has a very Parisian feel to it, with French jazz playing in the background. The modern chic decor is very similar to the French restaurant, Cocotte, except Zaffron uses more colors (orange, grey, brown) boldly. It’s contemporary Indian food in a Parisian setting – why hasn’t anyone think of it earlier?? The decor allows friends to gather at the communal table; lovers in cosy corners and families–there is a play area for children. The decor is classy without being pretentious.

Unlike Zac Efron, Zaffron has looks and substance.

For starters, we had some papadum ($4) and Papdi Chaat (pictured above, $6). My tall, dark, handsome and RICH–most important factor according to Chiobu–date preferred the non-oily papadum, which comes with two delicious dips (mint and mango chutney) and also comes in two flavors, normal and with black pepper. The black pepper one was fiery, man. However, I preferred the more complex papdi chaat, a North Indian street food, with a potato-chip-like base topped with murukku, sweet yoghurt, mint and tamarind. So it was crispy and soft, sweet and sour and tart. Super appetizing! I felt like I could eat 10 million papdi chaat.

Mains: The dum chicken briyani ($11) was extremely exciting. The dish of spiced chicken thigh and hard boiled egg with basmati rice is sealed by a thin layer of prata. Merry Christmas! Unwrap your present. At the side is yogurt and curry underneath the papadum.

This dish was both visually and orally pleasing. The chicken thigh was so tender. Drizzle the fierce curry over the rice – all the spices burst in the mouth!

To add some protein to our meal, we had the tandoori mixed grill ($25) consisting of (in order of the photo) chicken tikka, chicken malai tikka, fish tikka and seekh mutton kebab, good for 4 persons to share. Each tasted distinctly from the other in a wonderful way but it was mixed feelings for us. The two types of chicken were very tender. We both enjoyed the chicken tikka which really had the punch of the gingery tumeric and hot paprika. But my favorite had to be the malai tikka, which my hot date disliked. Malai tikka is marinated with cottage cheese, coriander and yoghurt, giving it a very earthy and charcoal-ly taste. It’s like eating very good BBQ chicken wings, the kind that slightly chars at the edges. AWESOME right?? The fish tikka was too light in spices for me but my date liked it. We both didn’t take to the unique taste of seekh mutton kebab–it was overwhelming for us.

Kadhai Jhinga ($15), shrimps in onion tomato masala, was too salty for us but the Khatti Meethi Gobi ($8.50), cauliflower cooked with about 10 million spices, was fabulous. (Note the trend here? I only like intricate, complicated food with million spices.. like my love life.) It tasted almost like mashed potato with spiced tomato sauce on it, slightly sweet, slightly tomatoy-sour. I’m salivating as I am typing this.

We ordered two naans to go with the above dishes. The selection of naans is innovative. Aside from the plain, butter, garlic, cheese naans, there are masala kulcha (with vegetables and carrots), keema (a thin layer of mutton inside the naan), and kashmiri. We had the cheese naan ($5), made of mozzarella cheese!, so it’s like the Indian version of pizza. We also tried the kashmiri ($6.50), which is the Indian version of nut and raisin bread. Very tasty, I ate it on its own.My philosophy is no meal is complete without desserts. Moong Dal Halwa ($9). Shan, the manager, told us that the dessert is made from moong dal lentil, a variety of lentil. I heard “moon-dial.” So romantic right?

Does anyone know what lentil is? I don’t. Sorry, very suaku. Wikipedia says it’s a legume family, so it’s pea-like? Moong dal halwa is cooked with milk, sugar and butter. To me, it tasted like fried fish skin but to my RICH date, it tasted like coconut bits soaked in milk.

The honesty of the restaurant is very endearing. Unlike other eateries that dish out lies and manufactured ice cream pretending that they made their own ice cream, Zaffron’s menu clearly states that moong dal halwa is served with Ben & Jerry ice cream. How refreshing is that! Not only is Zaffron Kitchen honest, the chef from India tries to make the ice cream his own–like a rendition of an American Idol song–by sprinkling some unprocessed lentil (I think it’s lentil) on the ice cream and the cooked lentil. Full marks for effort and thoughtfulness.

Speaking of thoughfulness, the concept of the restaurant pays so much attention to details. On the napkins and the aprons of the servers, there are slogans like “the devil wears prata,” “your food is cumin,” “thyme for curry,” and “I clove Indian food.”

The service was good too, especially by our knowledgable manager, Shan. And when I wanted something, I just looked in the eyes of another female server, and waved. Eye contact is so important for service.

Vegetarian options and wine and beer available. A Malay couple sat next to us, so I think it should be halal too.

Last words: I think Indian food will never be the same again after Zaffron Kitchen. There is authentic Indian food here but there is also contemporary Indian food that tries to surprise the customers. Lots of thought is put in. And bringing delicious and very affordable Indian food in such a chic restaurant–that’s just brilliant! Why didn’t I think of that?! I wish more places could put in more effort like Zaffron.