Full review is on http://www.nahmj.com/2016/01/31/food-rebel-telok-ayer-singapore/
Food Rebel is an eat clean cafe in the Business District Area offering organic and healthy eating food at Stanley Road.Interior is fairly simple. No theme spotted, only homogenously brown coloured furniture throughout the cafe. Environment is nothing but casual and relax.Mondays are Meat Free Monday. So you won’t expect to find meat on any of the sandwiches and salad or even top up. Tuesday Through To Thursday (TTT) Menu, hooray, I start to see meat at least on its Top It Up section. As such, it has similar offering as the Meat Free Monday. I tried the Flavoursome Scarlet Quinoa. This was found on both the Meat Free Monday and Tuesday Through To Thursday menu. As the name suggested, the quinoa is scarlet coloured and indeed flavoursome with some herb and sourish. It was appetising. As I needed some meat, I Top It Up with Oven Baked Chicken and my favourite Baked Pumpkin. It was a delish and wholesome meal.Finally, last day of the work week, Food Rebel thinks it is time for some indulgence with Feed Me Up Friday. On this day, there are 2 Hot Friday Special with meat!! I tried the Towering Thomas comprises of a sesame bun, a chicken patty with chop pasley and spring onion which enhanced the flavours, a sunny side up. There are 2 other, in my opinion, secret weapon in this burger making it so fabulous. The salsa sauce on top of the chicken patty and the pumpkin mash on the bottom of the bun. The sourish from the salsa and the sweet from the pumpkin seriously helps to flavour-up the chicken patty. It is really a pity that one could only get the Towering Thomas on only Friday. I have to endure any craving till Friday! Oh no!Over at Food Rebel, the cafe offered Organic Green and Functional Teas, Tripod Coffe, Power Smoothies and Boosters. I tried the Yellow Fellow Power Smoothies ($9), a concoction of Coconut, pineapple and dragon fruit. I admit that the colour of the drink is disgusting but lucky, it tasted so much better than the look. It is a sweet and sourish drink which I could savour the pineapple and dragon fruit flavour. It was the amazing coconut that augmented the taste of the drink.I ordered a Flat White ($6) as there isn’t Cappuccino in the cafe. I was a little disappointed. I didn’t appreciate the Flat White as the coffee aroma was almost nil, instead, I kept tasting coconut oil. I am wondering if they have given me theBulletproof ($6.50) instead of Flat White.I visited Food Rebel twice; once takeaway and the other dine-in.

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Original review was posted at http://www.nahmj.com/2016/02/28/grazie-italian-cum-western-offering-serangoon-gardens-singapore/

Grazie serves delish, authentic Italian food at the less known Serangoon Gardens Food Centre. Most of us might not even notice this food centre much less to mention spotting this hidden gem. At the Serangoon Gardens vicinity, most might have known about Chomp Chomp. Though it is not as prominent as Chomp Chomp, this other food centre is along Serangoon Gardens Way, nearer to the end of Serangoon Gardens Circus. Since it is less visited by most, as such it is quieter and cleaner.Grazie occupied stall 1 at Serangoon Gardens Food Centre which is easily spotted on the left as one entered the food centre. This humble looking stall is helmed by a 25 year old chef, Clarence Tan, who learned the trade and skills from the previous owner of Grazie through on the job training. He then took the stall over from him and now he is the new boss of Grazie.

At Grazie, menu is kept simple with a focus on Pasta in Aglio Olio, Tomato Sauce, Cream Sauce, Tomato Cream Sauce and Cream Pepper Sauce. Cream Pepper Sauce is a highlight at Grazie which was self-created by Chef Clarence Tan. He highly recommends as a must try at Grazie. This sauce is also used on the Grilled Chicken Thigh ($8.80). Other mains include the Grilled Dory Fish with Mushroom Sauce ($8.80), Chicken Parmigiano ($12) and Grilled Ribeye Steak with Mushroom Sauce ($13.80).All seafood and meat ingredients served on the day were sourced fresh from the market by Chef Tan himself. All the sauces were also made from scratch. He strongly believes in serving quality, fresh food that are non-frozen and with no MSG and preservatives to his diners.We started our meal with the handmade Mushroom Soup with garlic bread ($5.50). It was such a thick bowl of soup filled with lots of chopped mushroom. I could savour the mushroom bites at each mouthful. Soup was creamy and no doubt tasty. When the garlic bread was dipped into the soup, it absorbed all the essence. What a comforting way to enjoy the soup.When we were served the plate of Seafood Aglio Olio ($8), we were shocked to see the size and the amount of prawns, clams and squid. The amount of seafood for a plate at $8 was insane. We couldn’t believe our eyes. Not only the size was reasonably big but was certainly fresh and not over cooked. Even the squid rings were still tender. Pasta was al dente as well, no doubt.Grilled Chicken Thigh with Cream Pepper Sauce ($8.80) is a signature item at Grazie. The Cream Pepper Sauce is the pride of Chef cum Owner Clarence Tan. The dish was served with 2 sides; the truffle fries dusted with Parmesan cheese and salad with chick pea. The Truffle Fries was filled with truffle scent not only strong enough for the nose but for the tastebud too. What I like about the dish is that Grazie uses Chicken Thigh and not Chicken Breast. But personally, I find the cream pepper sauce a little too sweet for my liking. Should Grazie allow, I would swap it for the Mushroom sauce.

Grazie serves food with a quality and it is value for money too. Though some may lament that there isn’t air-conditioned or free Wifi. If you look beyond these but on the food alone, it is worthwhile popping by for a meal or maybe takeaway. Go for the Seafood Pasta with your preferred sauce is highly recommended at Grazie. Grilled Chicken Thigh with Cream Pepper Sauce is equally good if you don’t mind the sweetish cream pepper sauce. If you like soup, do start your meal with the Mushroom Soup.

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After knowing about Humpback Sunday Brunch, I decided to pop by with my Mom to check them out at Bukit Pasoh. The unit where Humpback is located was previously occupied by The Clan. Now that The Clan has shifted, the design of the ground floor was revamped into a more casual dinning spot with only bar tables which I never preferred.On Humpback Sunday Brunch menu, 7 categories were offered; namely Oysters, Snacks, Garden, Egg, Seafood, Meat and Dessert.I was glad to catch sight of oysters on its menu. 4 types of oysters offered. All were from Washington, USA, priced at $3 each. I tried the Eld Inlet and Kumamoto. Lemon, specially concocted vinegar and freshly grated horse radish were served with the oysters. Kumamoto was lighter in oyster pungent as compared Eld Inlet. As such Kumamoto was smoother on the palate. But personally I prefer the Eld Inlet as I like that pungent.Kale Salad ($14) was our picked. Besides kale, the main greens, pear, pecan nuts, buttermilk, topped with kale chips and dusted with a good amount of grated parmesan cheese was in this salad. My mom didn’t appreciate it initially but felt it tasted fabulous after ingesting more of them. Personally, I felt it was like having Cesar Salad, instead of Romaine Lettuce, Kale was replaced.Out of the 4 eggs, we chose the most boring one, Scrambled Egg ($10/18) with Prosciutto, asparagus on sourdough. All except the Omelette has it in either small or big plate. Personally, I would go for either the fried egg ($14/24)with octopus or omelette ($18) with oysters.The scrambled egg has a soft a soft curd texture and was creamy. As lots of chopped parsley (I think they were), resulted in more aroma in the dish.
It was their Lobster Roll ($39) that prompted me the visit to Humpback. Chunky lobster with cream, tobiko in the roll and frisee and fries by the side. We enjoyed Humpback Lobster Roll.At the meat section, either Buttermilk Fried Chicken or Pork Rib ($14) was available. We ordered the latter. The pork rib was extremely tender. With only the fork, the meat was detached from the bone. Again, a pity, the marinate did not get meat-deep.Since Humpback is part of Jigger and Pony establishment, expect a good range of cocktails and wine. Alternatively, one could customize their very own Bloody Mary.
It has limited non-alcoholic drinks though. One of them is the Iced Tea Soda ($6) which we opted to try. Practically, almost like soda.We enjoyed the food offerred at Humpback Sunday Brunch. Though the food weren’t any special but it was well executed. At least the food we ordered were delish.

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For original post, visit http://www.nahmj.com/2016/03/02/humpback-sunday-brunch-menu-bukit-pasoh-outram-park-singapore/

Aura occupied a unit on the fifth as the restaurant while directly above is the sky lounge. I thought it could be a great place for brunch with my mom on a Sunday. I tried making a reservation via the website twice but failed as it requires 24 hours lead time to reply. As such, on my second failed attempt, I decided to take the risk and walk-in early. Indeed, either go early, as early as 12 pm when it opens or make sure a reservation is made if after 1 pm.Both the restaurant and the sky lounge offer different dinning experience with unsimilar ambience. The feel of the restaurant is more slanted to the fine dinning arena while the sky lounge offer an elegant, relaxed and casual dinning atmosphere. A reservation with tables next to the glass at the sky lounge would be a perfect dinning experience.

Sky Lounge

On weekdays, at the sky lounge, it offers Salad Buffet of roasted vegetables, salads and homemade breads.When weekends arrived, an Ala Carte Menu is offered instead with as much as 12 selection, ranging from eggs, salad, sandwiches to pasta and sweets.


Restaurant

Over at the Aura Restaurant, the weekends Brunch Menu is available. I thought the Brunch Menu was a good way to try as many food as possible. It is priced at $48 per person for food only. If diners prefer to have free flow of Prosecco and Bellini, it is priced at $98 per person.Swiftly the complimentary Focaccia bread was served once order was completed.We were served with the pastas before the remaining apperitzer, I decided to start with Stracci with Duck Ragu. We were mesmerized by its taste immediately.Next, was the Trofie with Truffle Pesto and Prawns. This isn’t for my mom at all. She tried and never turned to it for more. I was neutral though not exactly enjoying it. This surely isn’t for everyone due to the strong aroma from both the truffle and pesto resulting in some kind of acquired pungent flavour. Both the Stracci and Troffie were well made; smooth and soft to the chew.Next, the Parma Ham with Musk Melon and Stracciatella & Tomato Bruschetta, Calarmari and Crab Crostini were served. Nothing outstanding about these. But the soft to the chew calamari is still worth highlighting.3 choices for Mains with Sirloin with Asparagus and Red Wine Sauce and Hokkaido Scallops with Porcini and Beetroot as our order. The third was Black Cod with Tomato and Herb Crust.Luckily, I agreed to Medium Rare for the Sirloin with Asparagus and Red Wine Sauce, otherwise, it would prove a challenge for my jaw. My mom doesn’t usually prefer beef actually wanted more after her first small piece.Hokkaido Scallops with Porcini and Beetroot has good pairing of ingredients. As long as seafood is fresh, it can’t go too wrong.We have both the Bailey’s & Hazelnut Feuillantine and Chestnut Pannacotta with Mandarin Coulis. I started with the former. Hazelnut flavour was strong while bailey was weak to savour. Moving to the latter, we were surprised by how the citrusy zest of orange could be in perfect harmony with the nuttiness chestnut. I was blown away by this dessert. As I have no expectation for it since I don't have good prior experience on anything chestnut.Coffee and Tea were part of the Brunch. I have my usual Cappucino. I like the low acidity, full body and nutty cuppa.Aura Restaurant has a classy dinning environment though it gets noisy when the restaurant was at 80% capacity. The service staff that attended our table was warm, chatty and certainly professional; introducing us the menu and making recommendation to us to help the decision process. Coming to food, we felt they were fresh. Most of which leaned towards our preference except for the more adventurous Triofe with Truffle Pesto and Prawns.

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Within a stone throw from the serene lushy Bedok Reservoir is home to a modest cafe, the Burp Kitchen And Bar. It isn't close to any MRT station (as in within walking distance) though several bus routes serve the area. Fortunately, the area is surrounded with residential in Bedok and the close by Tampines. And perhaps after an evening walk around the reservoir, one could pop by to chillout at Burp Kitchen And Bar.The cafe is basically dressed in brown shade and warm lighting with a L-shaped area housing the dining area and bar. Both bar tables and normal dinning tables are available for diners to choose from. Nothing fanciful in the cafe with minimalist.At Burp Kitchen And Bar since alcohol is served, Bar Grub is certainly essential. To complement the Bar Grub selection, burgers and Tacos were added to the menu. As all cafe, Brunch selection is not be to missing from the menu too. As such, it is offered. The food served are mainly Mexican with some touch of American and Filipino.

Bar Grub
First, we started with 4 Bar Grubs. There are 6 other Bar Grub as selection. We kick-off the dinner with Salted Egg Tofu Fries ($8). Generous amount of salted egg sauce was layered over the made in-house Tofu Fries. Personally, I didn't enjoy the dish as I didn't find Tofu and salted egg complemented well. In addition, it is quite salty. And moreover, Tofu isn't quite my kind of food.As an alternative, diner could opt for Wasabi sauce instead. This is one of the 3 vegetarian Bar Grub. The other 2 being Flavoured Popcorn ($6) and Tortilla Corn Chips ($7).One of the common Bar Grub, is the chicken Wings. At Burp Kitchen And Bar, 3 options were provided; Burp Kitchen Wings ($10), Salted Egg Wings ($14) and Spicy Buffalo Wings ($14). We tried 2 out of the 3. Good good news to less once guilt while indulging; the Chicken Wings are Air Fry.Burp Chicken Wings ($10) uses the special Philippines Adobo sauce giving it a tangy and sweet flavour. It is certainly great to wash it down with some beer. A pity the flavouring did not get beyond the skin, hence the chicken flesh was rather bland.With the salted egg craze hitting our shore, salted egg sauce on wings are also available at Burp Kitchen And Bar. Using the same salted egg sauces that was used for the Tofu Fries, the Salted Egg Wings ($14) was born.The last Bar Grub of the night was the Chicken Quesadilla ($9). A tortilla warp filled with Mozzarella and Cheddar cheese and slowed cooked shredded chicken making it a rich cheesy dish. It will be a hit among cheese lovers. Most of felt savoured mainly the cheese and didn't even realise the chicken was in it.
Other selections of Bar Grub include the Nachos ($11) in either BBQ Pulled Pork or Beef Chilli and Sasage Fest ($14).

Burgers
Burgers easily find favour with most. I am one who likes my burgers. 6 creations of burgers are offered at Burp Kitchen And Bar. We tried 2 out of 6.First and foremost, the Burp's Beef Burger ($16). When the burger was served to the table, immediately, I could smell the dou miao (a vegetable that I like a lot). I thought this was a creative great idea. The beef patty was well marinated and fresh. Brioche bun was as fluffy as it should be. I enjoyed the totality of the taste profile. But I suspect some may not quite enjoy it with the pea sprout as it gives off a raw green taste, though, this is what I enjoy. Acquired taste, I suppose.The Crabby Patty Burger ($18) was with an entire fried soft shell crab. You could figure it out from the obvious shape. It is sandwiched with again the salted egg, lettuce in between a squid ink bun which I mistaken it as a charcoal bun. I was glad the bun didn't result in any strong seafood flavour and it is fluffy.
Burp is also very considerate towards vegetarian, you will find The Vegetarian Burger ($10) on its menu too. The remaining 3 non-vegetarian options are Chicken Rendang Burger ($12), Curried Pork Burger ($14) and Ultimate Burp Burger ($20).

Tacos
Finally, the last (but not least) dish of the night, presenting the Tacos. 6 dishes to choose from, namely, Citrus & Miso Tofu ($10) a vegetarian dish, Baja Fish, All Taco dishes come in 2 servings of 6" tacos and corn chips.Baja Fish Tacos ($12) has battered fish, coleslaw, salsa fresca with spicy mayo on the 6" wrap. Most of us like the fish as it was lightly battered and not overly flavoured.Pork Carnitas Tacos ($12) is with the slow cooked BBQ pulled pork. The rest of the ingredients are the same as the Baja Fish Tacos. The distinct taste of this dish is sweet. The flavour reminded me of the narcissus brand canned food, Spiced Pork Cubes.
At this tasting, we tried none of the 11 dishes under the Brunch selection.
Generally, the food served at Burp Kitchen are all right but it is certainly too salty. What I truly appreciate about Burp Kitchen And Bar is the thoughtfulness by providing Vegetarian options at all categories of their menu.