See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2015/04/28/some-interesting-fares-io-italian-osteria-on-15apr2015/
daughter arranged a 6pax family dinner at io italian osteria at hillv2 on 15.4.2015.^^

she is now our f&b compass, bringing us to different happening dining places & chic cafes.

we had a bruschetta, like a panini sandwich with ham & tomatoes. it was good!^^

the italian version of seafood bouillabaisse was very good standard – flavourful soup, good ingredients for S$14.

beef carpaccio was ok. beef was sweet, good cheese & rockets. i guess a boring dish.

calamari (our “sotong”) was not so good, squid was a bit tough. nothing like the calamari fritto i had recently at la braceria, but that cost a ridiculous 2.5x price!

the crispy rice stuffed with mozzarella was quite ok too…errr…like lots of carbs..

ravioli was good standard but expensive. i think it was like S$28.

porchetta with fennel was great dish for S$9. too big for 1 pax, just nice to share among 3 or 4pax. we had 6pax.

lamb rack was to me below par, and expensive. not that it was expensive here, but these things are expensive in restaurants. 3 large pieces, but really i do a much better lamb!

youngest daughter wanted to have key lime pie, it was not too bad but not my kind of dessert.

i will certainly come back for the seafood bouillabaisse, bruschetta, porchetta, and don’t mind the crispy rice too.

See my full reviews & photos at =
http://chefquak.com/2015/04/23/excellent-modern-vegetarian-for-13pax-ri-g20-dinner-sufood-on-30mar2015/
we had an interesting italian-inspired modern vegetarian dinner for 13pax RI G20 get-together at Sufood on 30.3.2015. a very good choice by the organiser. ^^ founded in 2010, sufood is the first meat-free concept restaurant under WOWPRIME GROUP, the largest F&B operator in taiwan. this raffles city restaurant opened in May2014 is it’s first in singapore. one of the friends used the phone apps to make a mosaic food picture (top photo). very nice! we had the italian bread sticks with mustard & berries dip. both were ok. i liked the mustard better.
a refreshing start.^^ the healthy ones went for the fruit salad. a few of us, myself included, took the mushroom salad, a popular dish. it was good. another took the summer salad. & the classic garden salad with a choice of sesame sauce or caesar dressing.for the soup, cream of pumpkin was a popular choice. i had the pea soup with oyster mushroom cubes at the bottom. maybe this was the healthy version so it was not an intense cream of pea soup, texture combination was great, with the crunchy mushrooms. it was the same also with the pumpkin soup, not intense & flavourful. a friend & i both thought we could do a better tasting soup than these 2.
some had the root soup, and the most healthy among us went for the cabbage & sweet potato stew.
the calzone came highly recommended. calzone looked like a huge curry puff. the dough was more akin to pizza dough. i must say after trying a few, i was in total agreement that calzone was the best dish/main course. i picked the pita pocket though. many of the main courses came with plastic gloves, if you wanted to share your food.^^ the mock meatballs were pretty ok but it was not as tasty & satisfying as the calzone. don’t really know how the porcini pasta tasted like, but generally the food quality was competent, pretty ok for vegetarian dishes though not spectacular. i would rate the squid ink as the second best after the calzone. the mushrooms were shaped to look like squid rings. but of course we are not really comparing these vegetarian dishes say with the creamy squid ink pasta at valentino or la braceria.certainly my own squid ink dish is much more intense & flavourful.
i tried the star pizza. didn’t think much of it. i had the black sesame penn a cotta. smooth, quite good. i had the penn a cotta with a healthy ashitaba drink. not sure what to make of it. at least it not bitter like wheatgrass. it wasn’t too sweet so it was ok. the company & dinner were very enjoyable. these gatherings came about quite naturally, a desire to spend time with friends & share views & experiences.^^ & wine was marvellous of course. :-) the food was good especially for the new experience, and it was good quality at a good price – 8 “courses” for S$29.80++. doesn’t blow me away for sure, but equally it is a place i am happy to come back a few times.

See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2015/04/18/enjoyable-dinner-at-il-lido-on-12apr2015/
had delightful 2pax dinner with wife at il lido on 12.4.2015.^^
had not been to il lido like 5yrs maybe? recently daughter was here & shared photos on family whatsapp, so we decided to come try ourselves after so long.
we came just before sundown & sat outdoor. not so humid this evening & really pleasant terrace ambience & wonderful dinner.^^
we were served 2 amuse bouche.
first was a mushroom cappuccino/foam. there were mushroom bits at the bottom & some balsamic cream & some barley etc on top. taste was intense, fabulous. texture combination excellent too.
wife said what the server liked to hear, that this was better than jaan’s.
for me though, nothing beats jaan’s cepes mushroom tea amuse bouche. but since jaan’s was taken out of feed at raffles, and i am never going to pay full price for the degustation dinner at jaan, this would be the next best thing, i guess! & its close too!^^
second amuse bouche – crispy cheese risotto…quite ok i guess, but no impressions vs the mushroom foam.
quite good bread basket.
we ordered a grilled octopus to share.
it’s pretty good really. octopus was tender (like sous vide). there were some sausages.
for the mains, we basically go with the restaurant favourites & there server’s recommendations, and ordered the scampi & sea urchin taglioni & the black cod, asparagus & sea urchin. both were featured in the degustation set menu.
the scampi & uni tagliolini was tasty, not intense but subtle & pleasing. tagliolini though was too soft NOT al dente.
it had expensive ingredients like uni but overall taste & experience wise, i would not consider it better than most pastas i do myself.
black cod was great!
will try the other signature dish, the bone marrow crusted angus beef tenderloin next time.
we had a passionfruit sorbet & a coconut gelato to share. sorbet was tangy & excellent, gelato no coconut flavours nothing like the delicious coconut ice cream on 雪中情怀mango pomelo dessert we had at tunglok.
dinner cost S$100nett include 1 glass of white.
it’s really quite excellent ambience & food for a couples dinner.

See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2015/04/19/pleasant-dinner-tete-a-tete-la-braceria-on-18apr2015/
a friend bought dinner this evening at la braceria on 17.4.2015.^^

years ago, la braceria was located at ming teck park area, close to my place. after that the chef has moved to different places a few times.

this friend last joined my home dinners more than 1/2 year ago. this time, he wanted just to buy dinner & have a tete a tete. 

we ordered 1 antipasti & 2 pastas to share, and my friend wanted to share a choc lava cake.

the calamari was good! batter was not crispy & yet it was very nice overall, and with a touch of mayonnaise. ^^

the wagyu & porcini fettucine was “must try for meat lovers”, according to the menu. & YES!! must try! pasta was very good indeed. very tasty & savoury.

we also had the seafood squidink linguine. there was quite a bit of scallops & squid. again very tasty. this i can make myself though, and my version of seafood squid ink linguine is almost as good.^^

i am impressed with the flamed lava cake. the flavour was very good. texture was better than my lava cake, a lot more lava, anyway i will adjust my lava cake a bit & see if i can produce more lava. the lava texture is an important contributor to the overall experience.

See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2015/04/18/great-value-tasty-food-shinyeh-on-17apr2015/
had great tasty food in grey ambience at shinyeh with wife on 17.4.2015.

not been to shinyeh for a while. used to frequent here quite a bit because of palate discounts before i started blogging & recording (which is why i blog) in mar2013.

last time i came here was when a RI friend organised a 20pax G20 monthly dinner here. nice ambience & we were seated next to the fountain near the front.^^

chives dumplings looked gorgeous. tasted gorgeous too! yum!^^

taiwanese restaurant got to try luroufan卤肉饭la.^^ years ago, when i visited taipei, alone & also with wife, we had the most wonderful luroumian卤肉面at 度小月.

shinyeh’s luroufan卤肉饭 was good. egg was really tasty. braised pork quite good also. i must try this at home. for comparison though, the hong kong steamed chicken feet pork ribs rice, especially at timhowan shamshuipo still better.

wife like this yam pastry. had not taken for many years. still enjoyed it. yam was very good, the pastry though was not crisp & a bit rubbery, so not quite good enough overall.
we had never ordered oysters in black bean sauce. probably new menu too. and it was very good. the distinct oyster flavours (& they had loads of them) was excellent balanced by the slight salty sauce & scallions. this would be easy to do at home, can use yellow onions too.

& the dried sole with chinese cabbage was a great find. menu said 扁鱼sole, so it’s some kind of flat fish. should be able to do this dish at home too, get some proxy for the 扁鱼sole.

the almost stewed chinese cabbage made the soup dish very sweet & tasty. the dried sole texture was like a fluffy gluten, interesting, good texture, some sweetness not much of special taste.

overall it was an excellent dinner. service was also very good, polite, attentive, friendly.
and it only cost S$33 net after amex palate 50% discounts for 2pax. would have been lower but apparently the S$4.20 chives dumplings (a cardboard menu on the table) was not included in the palate discounts. not really right as the restaurant did not state that there were menu items & palate discounts applies to all ala carte items. anyway, chives dumpling was very good, it was just few $ & we were happy with the price for the food we gotten, restaurant also have to make some money la.^^