Le Bistrot Du Sommelier has been making a name for itself by dishing up comfort French food and hearty bistro cuisine associated more with a country kitchen. Although Chef Patrick was previously the executive chef of Au Petit Salut, the menus offered at APS and LBDS are starkly different. While the former showcases classy French fare, the latter is focused on rustic French cooking. Think hearty and heavy.

The waitress recommended the chicken liver pâté with port wine ($12.50++ for 100g) to share. Probably not a good idea when your dining partner refuses to touch it haha. Served with hard crusty baguette, this is enough to fill up more than half the stomach even before the main arrives.

The Belgium endives salad ($14++) with chopped green apples and walnut dressing is very light, slightly tart, and the combination of endives (a.k.a. chicory), Granny Smith and walnuts lends a nice crispy texture to the dish.

Just look at that block of terragon butter sitting on the grilled hapuka ($30++) and imagine it melting, flowing and seeping into the firm and soft fish, infusing it with the fresh taste of herbs and rich flavour of butter! That’s how good this is. Wonderful pairing with the celeriac mash too, mellow and not as heavy as the usual mash potatoes.

Desserts turn out to be good too. The profiteroles ($12++) are gigantic, just slightly bigger than my fist (I have small hands but still). Soft and chewy choux buns stuffed with vanilla ice cream, drenched in warm chocolate sauce and topped with sliced almonds.. I don’t have to spell out how rich this is, do I? =)

If interested, you are welcome to drop by www.myfoodsirens.wordpress.com for more reviews/photos =)

Went back to Ember for another fanta-bulous meal! I pretty much knew what I wanted so ordering was a breeze. Had the crispy tofu with foie gras-mirin sauce and white truffle oil ($16++) again and I’m happy to report that it’s still as uberly delicious as before. Ember should just bottle up that power sauce and make millions from it hah. I’ll be the first in line to buy me some.

A toss-up between the chilean seabass and the black miso cod ($32++), and the latter won just marginally cuz I wanted to compare it with Saint Pierre’s. Coupled with unadorned herbed potatoes and sugar snap peas, Ember’s lusciously rich and buttery cod is ambrosial but the too-strong barbeque-like glaze somewhat covers the natural flavour of the fish so I’m gonna give my vote to SP for creating a milder but no less powerful dish!

I’m kicking myself for saying that Ember’s desserts are weak! They are not, I just picked the wrong ones previously, sheesh.

I really like the nice creamy mouthfeel of the homemade tiramisu ($13++), essentially a spruced up version with lovely rum soaked cherries, mini chocolate balls for texture and topped with a scoop of chocolate sorbet.

Tell me, why why WHY didn’t I order the coconut panna cotta ($13++) the other time?! This has a wonderfully rich but not overwhelming flavour from the coconut, tempered with a fragrant sweetness from the gula melaka, and the crunchy red rubies contrast nicely with the silky smooth texture. A perfect example of an “oohs and ahhs” dessert!

If interested, you are welcome to drop by www.myfoodsirens.wordpress.com for more reviews/photos! =)

I didn’t pay attention to the rustic sun-dried tomato bread since the appetisers were served almost immediately after that, heh.

The pan roasted scallops with spiced pumpkin puree and shellfish vinaigrette($20++) put a big BIG smile on my face. I love scallops and pumpkin so this is a pretty much a dream dish! The fresh and nicely seared scallops tasted so good with a smear of sweet pumpkin puree. Lovely plating too =)

If I thought that the scallops were good, the crispy tofu with foie gras-mirin sauce and white truffle oil ($16++) was even better! I don’t eat foie gras but I reckon a sauce doesn’t count, hah, since I really wanted to try this. The thick and creamy sauce is the magic here, ultra packed with full-on flavour. Don’t expect any sublety from this!

Just thinking about this now makes me sigh with longing…

The excellent starters just heightened my expectation for the main, pan seared chilean seabass with truffle-yuzu butter sauce ($34++), as there are so many raves about it.

Mine was sans the mushroom and smoked bacon ragout and it’s still so awesome! Like the tofu starter, the sauce for this was so flavorful. I mean, how wrong can you go with truffle+yuzu+butter?? Plus, the oily cod was perfectly cooked!

One of the specials for the night was the barramundi with pea puree ($29++) which was decenly safe. I’ve always thought that barramundi is a boring fish and this didn’t change my mind.

This was printed on the menu: “warm banana tart with homemade lavender ice cream” ($13++). But vanilla ice cream was served instead, with no explanation given. I had the best lavender ice cream in Hokkaido so I wanted to see how this measures up but I guess it was not to be, hah.

Anyway, I didn’t like the tart cuz it was too banana-y for me. Or I just don’t like tarts in general =)

A signature dessert of Ember is the warm valrhona chocolate cake with vanilla bean ice cream ($14++). The chocolate shell was cracked so the liquid lava gushed out without any prodding. Which took away all the fun of poking it =(

This was standard stuff, nothing I’d crave for in the middle of the night.

Like Sage the Restaurant, Ember’s desserts are rather weak compared to its orgasmic savoury dishes. I’d definitely skip the desserts for the starters next time. Portions are just nice to have 3 courses without overstuffing myself, or even 4 courses if I’m feeling hungry.

I wouldn’t classify Ember as a fine dining place since it’s quite a casual and informal restaurant with a very relaxed vibe to it. We even spotted an uncle wearing shorts and unglam slippers so no issue on dress code, I guess.

If interested, you are welcome to drop by www.myfoodsirens.wordpress.com for more reviews/photos! =)

Are budget eating and good quality mutually exclusive? Bimi Kaiho proves that that’s a falsehood. It’s a very small Japanese restaurant which has made a loyal group of followers happy for many years. When I was there, the place was packed and there were a few tables of Japanese customers—always a good sign to me.

I came with cha soba and unagi in mind so ordering was a no-brainer. No idea whether it’s a mind trick cuz I miss soba so much, but I find the cold cha soba here really good! Firm texture and wonderfully refreshing. A generous slab of grilled unagi with sweet tamago made up the other half of my simple yet almost-perfect (if only the eel was more tender…) meal ($17++ with rice, otherwise it’s $22++ with soba instead).

There’s many different types of bentos on the menu and the friend made a right choice with the saba/salmon teriyaki bento ($16++) cuz the grilled mackerel was deliciously moist!

With such affordable pricing, I certainly didn’t expect world-class Japanese cuisine and Bimi Kaiho didn’t pretend to serve that either. But for simple, homecooked food with prices that won’t hurt the wallet, Bimi Kaiho will do nicely.

I had my first meal at Iggy's when it was still at Regent Hotel and it was great. Now that it has moved to Hilton Hotel, it's time to see what new tricks does Iggy's have up its sleeve =)

Unfortunately, I think I went expecting too much. Overall, the meal was nice, but nothing fantastic. Since it's priced at a premium, I was hoping for something more but I can't remember any single dish that's outstanding. Perhaps, only the desserts leave a lasting impression on me. The rest, I can't say the same.