The opening of the Bukit Timah Guild House (BTGH) marks historic return to the Bukit Timah campus some three decades after they moved out from the Evans Road Guild House.

Conveniently located in the heart of Singapore, BTGH and its facilities are housed in a quaint, beautifully restored colonial bungalow. While the other 3 guildhouses are only opened to the NUSS alumni members, the bukit timah guildhouse is opened to the Public.

Steeped in rich heritage and nestled amidst the lush foliage of the Singapore Botanic Gardens, BTGH springs a relaxed tranquil atmosphere with an enchanting garden offering members respite from the bustling city.The Guildhouse has a vintage-looking decor, it looks like an old bungalow to me. Seats were available at the restaurant itself or alfresco-dining (magnificiant view at night).

The restaurant introduced set lunch and dinner and the menu changes monthly. The 3 of us were hesistating whether to go for the ala-carte or the set dinner. The set-dinner looks promising, 5 course meal ( cold appetitizers, soup, warm appetitizers, choice of main course, dessert and choice of coffee/tea). The set dinner is priced at $39.80++ which I felt was quite reasonable for the generous portion they served.

The cold appetitizer- Aubergine Parcel with bull tomatoes & mozarella cheese


The greenish liquid is actually Basil pesto sauce which I love it. The black-coloured liquid that surrounds it was the balsamic reduction and I thought it was chocolate syrup. The aubergine slices were nicely grilled and there were tomato slices wrapped in it. Harris was curious why was the dish called aubergine parcel and I explained to him that the tomato slices were wrapped in the aubergine slices and resemble a parcel. The mozarella cheese that was melted at the top of the parcel hardened thus it did not fare well.


Mixed seafood veloute with Tomato

The soup comes with the set menu. The comments was ” Fruity essence and creamy” while . The prawns were unfresh.

The dish serves as a good start, light and refreshing, preparing us for the main course that is to be served soon.

The warm appetitzer- Roasted sea bass on a bed of Crispy Parmesan IntermezzoI was not a fan of sea bass due to the muddy taste but I was quite satisfied with the grilled sea bass that was served. It was nicely-grilled, the texture of the fish is smooth and tender. The fillet is served with some sauce which we could not figure out what was it.

Braised Australian Reg grouper with lemongrass broth & seasonal mixed vegetables

This was my ala-carte order. Since there is only 3 choices of fish on the menu, I decided to have the Grouper fish. The fish requires a longer time to braise thus it was served pretty late. It looks delectable, with the colouful mixes of vegetables and a huge piece of fillet ”sitting ”on top of the mixed vegetables. The fish was over-cooked, resulting a rough and tough texture. Fish normally do not require a long time to cook and since it was braised, it was a wrong method of cooking. However, I love the lemongrass broth and the mixed vegetables. The lemongrass broth taste like tom yam soup minus the spicyness and sourness. It was a little creamy and I can taste a little milky flavour in it. The mixed vegetables include zucchini, squash, aubergines, capsicums…etc. They were diced into little cubes and served together with the lemongrass broth. It was not only colourful but also flavourful! Divine!

I used to visit P.S Cafe for it’s desserts – The chocolate doorstep crunch cake & Double chocolate black-out. P.S Cafe has now become one of my favourite places for brunch. The outlet at Harding Road is very popular for it’s weekend brunches & reservations are needed. Thus, I decided to visit the Palais branch instead.

Palais Renaissance is an irresistible destination along the world-famous Orchard Road for the who’s who of the local and expatriate community in Singapore, as well as well-heeled travelers with a discerning taste for high fashion and class.The ambience of P.S cafe adopts an American feel. Well, most of the patrons here are the Americans and especially when the chain is owned and operated by Project Shop Blood Brothers.

The menu offers the popular eggs benedicts and other favourite brunches.



P.S Breakfast Stack ($22++)

Tomato coddled egg on Homemade Zucchini & Parmesan Bread with roaste portobello & chargrilled asparagus, hollandaise sauce & wild rockets.

Wow! I was so excited when I saw my Breakfast Stack and the coodled egg sitting on the tomato. The food is well-presented & too pretty to even touch it.The Wild rockets were mixed with light lemon vingrette, some black pepper & diced tomatoes, very refreshing to start off.The Aspapragus were well grilled, it is soft, a little charred and has a smoky flavour.The Portobello mushroom, juicy and infused with herbs and black pepper.The Homemade Zucchini & Parmesan Bread, is soft and fragrant. The bread has a crispy crust and it is eggy but not soggy. There are some mixed zucchini , mashed parmesan cheese and herbs mixed together in the bread. I simply love this!

The Tomato coddled Egg, a unique idea to coddle an egg in a tomato. The egg is coddled perfectly, the runny egg yolk oozes out and soaked the bread, simply divine! The hollandaise sauce which accompanied the egg has a tinge of sourness and savoury butter in it. It is one of the best hollandaise sauce I have tried so far.

The service here is efficent and friendly. Although the restaurant is rather busy, they are fast to sit the customers and prompt in taking orders refilling water. I would definately came back again for brunch!

Vis a Vis means ”face to face” in English but here I am not teaching or translating French language into English but to recommend a French Fine Dining Restaurant. Vis a Vis is located at Chun Tin road and in case you are wondering where is it, it is just opposite Bukit Timah Shopping Centre and along the row of shophouses. I was working around that area for more than a year and did not realise there is actually a French restaurant.



Vis a Vis has merged with Sursip Thai Restaurant and therefore, they do serve Thai cuisine besides French.


The interior has a elegant-looking style. Awards and accolades were being displayed and visible the moment you stepped into the restaurant.

The menu offers a selection of french dishes but rather on a pricey side. I would suggest to order the set lunch priced at $21.80 ++ or perhaps the 3 course chef’s menu priced at $58++. Appetitizers are priced ranging from $17 – $30 onwards,Mains $30 ++ onwards and desserts , $15 ++ onwards.

I took the Chef’s menu as it seems more reasonable for 3 course.



Avacado & Crabmeat Au gratin

The avacado au gratin appeared to be my starter instead of ”The Vis a Vis House Salad”.

Baked in the oven, forming a browned crust, the avacado and crabmeat were mixed and blended together . Au gratin dishes are normally baked with cheese or breadcrumbs as toppings and this Avacado & Crabmeat version was very creamy . I can see the mashed avacado but crabmeat was not in sight.I know they mixed the carbmeat in as there were some bits of crabshells in the gratin.



Grilled Black cod dusted with garlic chips laced with tangy passionfruit coulis

The mains was a choice of The Black cod / medallion of Emu (Ostrich). I had the former as I have no idea what is Emu until I goggle searched on the net.

I was very pleased with my Grilled black cod. Deepfried minced garlic topped on the tender and melting black cod fillets. The minced garlic added a nice fragrance to the fish too.

I was a little surpised that they served a small little puff pastry filled with creamy mushroom ragout. Indeed, the puff pastry is very flaky and the creamy mushroom ragout were superb!

Ratatouille is worth mentioning as well as the vegetables were crunchy and appetitizing.
The passionfruit coulis is slightly creamy and it provides a tangy and refreshing flavour to the dish.



”Vis a Vis House Salad”


I thought salads are usually served as the first course but they served it to me right at the last dish, becoming a dessert instead.

The salad was served beautifully in a glass plate. Mesclun salad leaves with diced pears , strawberries, tomatoes, almond flakes tossed in a home-made dressing. I like the dressing which is quite different as the chef added some minced garlic to the salad as well. I enjoy the pears and strawberries as they were crunchy and sweet.

Overall: Good food but the service totally sucks to the max. The moment I enter the restaurant, they handed me the menu and before I could ask anything or order, the waiter seemed to be very kan chiong and snatched away the menu from me. It was the first time I encounter this which is kinda rude ??? They seemed to be having a grumpy face and purposely made noises using the untensils which I felt was rather fustrating and on top of that, the moment I finished my last morsel of the salad, they quickly asked me ,” You want the bill?” Of course I would gladly foot the bill but it’s kinda rushing me …

I am very pleased with the food in terms of taste ,presetation and quality. My favourite would be the Grilled black cod which is so tender and melts in my mouth in every bite. I would strongly encourage them to improve their service to avoid losing customers … Of course I would love to make a re-visit as the food was superb!

You would probably heard of Corriander Leaf Cooking School but Screening Room Bistro might be the first time you heard of it’s name. It is a posh bistro as well as movie threatre on the second floor. The restaurant is a Mediterrean sequel to owner local Celebrity Chef, Samia Ahad’s blockbuster Persian-Asian Original, Corriander Leaf in Clarke Quay. It is just opposite Kki sweets and beside ”The Patissier”, perhaps you might want to have lunch here before grabbing some desserts.

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Screeing Room has 5 floors:

1. The Roof top: The Terrace

Fantastic position to overlook Chinatown, with alfresco area for gatherings and probably have some wines.

2. The Film Theatre:

Film and private bars showing films from all over the world. Private screeings can be organized by making bookings.

3. The Studio

It’s highly customizable facilities and mini-studio allows you to hold a conference, private cocktails and dinners and even fashion shows!

4. The Restaurant

Modern Asian menu is served by Culinary Director of Corriander Leaf Group, Samia Ahad.

5. Malt Vault (bar)

Showcases some of the world’s sought-after single malts and place for Whiskey lovers.


Expect Fusion food to be served here and the menu is 70% similar to the Corriander Leaf Bistro. Screening Room offers a 3 course set lunch priced at $28.50++ and menu changes weekly. Ala-carte available as well because on the pricey side. They offer ”bar-bites” where they serve some of the appetizers in small portion which allows you to sample various dishes.




Chilled prawn with quail egg, cucumber & herb mayo

The amuse bouche was a chilled prawn topped with a quail egg with some fish caviar. The prawn was really fresh and sweet. I like the herb mayo which goes well with the small slice of cucumber and prawn.


Mesclun salad ($8++)


A simple mesclun salad to start off. The radish (in pink) taste like wasabi which has a slight bitter taste.



Crabcakes in homemade tomato chutney – bar-bites portion ($12++)


They offers quite a variety of bar-bites items which I faced some difficulties in choosing what to order. I narrowed down the choices from the hummus to the lamb-kebabs. The staff recommended the Crab-cakes to be one of the popular bar-bites item.

They offer 3 pieces of crabcakes for bar-bites portion and 5 pieces for ala-carte. The crabcakes coquettes were very crispy and filled with generous crabmeat, onions, capsicums, corriander leaves and some other stuff which I am unsure and of course , a dash of Indian spice.

The Tomato chutney that is served along with the crabcakes has a strong aroma of Indian spices and it was a little spicy . The chef added some black mustard seeds, indian spices together along with tomatoes. Those who are not used to spicy and indian food should are advised to drink more water!



Roasted cod with tomato & red pepper fondue & flamed roasted provence vegatable skewer ($33++)



Surprisingly, the roasted cod is the only fish item being offered as the Mains. The roasted cod is served in a tomato-based fondue, alongside with a vegetable skewer.

The cod is roasted and has a crispy skin and silken and fish meat. The cod is topped with red capsicum relish that has the soft texture of Jelly. Every bite melts in my mouth and it is that delicious.

The tomato fondue has a tangy taste and the taste reminds me of tomato-based food in Indian cuisine due to the addition of onions and herbs.


The vegetables - Zucchini, squash, eggplants and tomatoes are lightly sprinkled with some sea-salt and roasted. Just look at the burnt edges, I probably had to skip that. The roasted vegetables were slightly burnt, resulting in a bitter taste.

Overall verdict: The restaurant is very quiet and ideal for a quiet and relaxed lunch. The food served here focuses more on fusion thus some of us might not be able to get used to the taste eg. Pakistan and Indian food. Screening Room is popular for it’s movie screening and now it is another excuse for me to go back again for food!

I need some ice-cream therapy, especially after my lunch. The weather is so warm today (even though it was raining heavily ytd) and nothing beats having a scoop of ice-cream to ‘‘cool” myself down.

Anyway, it has been a long time since I had Haato ice-cream. I remembered the last time I had it was probably 3-4 yrs ago when the outlet at Wheelock place is still there.


The flavour of the month for Liang court is the ISOTONIC SORBET. I tried a little and it taste something like sprite/ 7 up…. energy boost!



Small cup = $3

Medium cup = $4

Large (fit 2 scoops) =$ 5

Waffles and ice-cream cone available too.



Rum & Raisin + Strawberry ($5)


I love anything with liquer! That explains my favourtitism towards Rum & raisin ice-cream.
The rum & raisin flavour was rich in rum and they were generous with the raisins as well. I thought the gelato is a little on the sticky side,

Strawberry flavour was not too bad, not too sweet and has bits of strawberries in it.


Tea-time set (2-5 pm) : cake of the day + coffee/tea = $5