See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2015/11/25/good-value-wine-dinner-greenwood-fish-bistro-on-19nov2015/
a friend arranged a wine dinner at greenwood fish bistro on 19.11.2015. 8 of us attended. ^^
the same friend arranged fun wine dinners at (1) zaffereno & (2) halia previously
this evening we had a S$69pax 5-course dinner w/o dessert & coffee.
as i don’t drink i look only at the food menu whether i want to pay that just for the food.
the restaurant was kind enough to offer juice etc.
i took the wine. prosecco was good. i liked the white after this best.
reds were quite good too. the restaurant gave me a cranberry drink afterwards too, a great gesture.
first course were some smoked canapes. these were very good!the smoked salmon & mussels were excellent…how to describe? smokey i guess, very flavourful.
the smoked trout (the server said cold smoked) was so-so, not so tasty.the second course cured salmon with avocado also very nice. it was though nothing special.
the 3rd course barramundi was excellent!
not sure if barramundi is farmed in singapore like the smaller local seabass. this one the meat is firmer, not so “hu” like falling apart.
however 2 of my friends complained that the meat was soft. the rest of us were ok…maybe they got the local seabass instead? just kidding.
the 4th course was a duck confit?
it was a huge disaster! meat was tough & not edible!
actually the server said it was sous vide then cooked in oven (maybe the server got it wrong, just don’t sound right!)..
firstly of course duck confit is cooked in duck fat..while the word confit is used loosely to mean slow braise like say pineapple confit or belly pork confit, for duck confit it usually mean strictly duck confit. & i’m not sure you can roast in oven after sous vide.
my own 5hr sous vide crispy skin canard a l’orange
i would think a cold pan method of rendering out the fat & crisping the skin w/o overcooking the meat makes a lot more sense (above photo)…notice the fat had rendered out..
restaurant was great to do a service recovery.
they replaced the dish with a octopus.
it was competent dish, not the best but i guess good enough.
you could say a fish bistro would do an octopus dish better than a duck dish?
but then for the last course they served a really “kick-a**” belly pork.this was one of the best i have taken! ^^
not really smoked but just a hint of a flavourful ham, very tender & delicious.
i have a tea brined belly pork in the fridge now. planning to sous vide then pan-charred the skin. see if i can get anyway close or similar to this excellent piece. :-)
thanks to our friend, we had many fun evenings trying out different wine dinners & spending great time together.
i am not sure how their service is on normal days but for this evening, i think service was really quite exemplary & they really tried their best (from offering non alcoholic drinks to replacing the 4th course – even though they did not have much choice with the duck being such a quite monumental failure).

My good friends & mei mei arranged a dinner for my wife & i at imperial court restaurant at the grassroots club on 5.11.2015. ^^
i have wanted to try the gimtim group of restaurants but have not done yet, so this suited.
they have a 1/2 suckling pig set for 6. we had 7pax so my friend ordered 2 additional dishes.
the #1 half suckling pig was a large helping. it was much larger than what i had at ah yat & other places like hung kang & summer gardens.
i thought ah yat’s suckling pig was very good but this was equal or better & much bigger portions by comparison.
it was extremely good, very crispy skin & very flavourful, tasty meat. it seemed to be a combination of the 片皮 & 南乳 styles. usually the 片皮 style came with wraps & the 南乳 comes with the meat. my wife & i prefer the 南乳 style.
the next dish #2 (quite poor) fish maw soup though was quite poor.
no comparison like the one at beng thin.
my friend ordered 2 additional dishes=#9 addition sanpei chicken 三杯鸡 dish & ＃10 additional beef dish.
sanpei chicken 三杯鸡 was so-so, maybe below par. the beef was pretty ok, not the very tenderised chinese style beef which i don’t like.
the #3deepfried seabass in thai sauce was very good.
the sauce was not the usual thai sweet sauce (best for deep-fried chicken wings) but a bit tangy.
a very good fish dish by my reckoning.
the #4 abalones with broccoli dish was the usual good standard, with nice broccoli & mushrooms.
i love #5 the steamed scallops. i think they were the best! ^^
usually i prefer steamed razor clams to steamed scallops because usually steamed scallops get overdone (i don’t know why?).
these ones were very tender & sweet & tasty. excellent is the word!
the #6 prawns were nicely done, fresh, tasty & crisp.
i don’t like the sauce though, just overly sweet.
the #7 braised seafood beehoon was very tasty.
& with good ingredients.
reminded me of my own crabless beehoon!
the simple dessert of the day = #8 fruit cocktail dessert with ice shavings was very refreshing.
overall an excellent dinner. i liked the suckling pig & the steamed scallops.
i estimate the dinner to cost about S$350nett, so about S$50nett.
service was very good. the servers took several photos for us & also went digging up a knife & candles for the cake.
it was a really fun evening.a truly wonderful time with close friends & great dinner.

See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2015/11/12/wonderful-dinner-treat-by-our-good-friends-imperial-court-on-5nov2015/

See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2015/09/30/good-value-set-lunch-the-white-rabbit-on-30sep2015/
had lunch today with a long time business associate/friend at the white rabbit at harding road, dempsey on 30.9.2015. ^^
this the first time i dined at the white rabbit. there is free parking & the ambience is nice. the restaurant occupied a nicely refurbished old chapel, bright & airy with high ceiling/columns & stained glass windows.
there is a ongoing uob 1 for 1 set lunch promotion till 31oct2015 (tues to fri).
the set lunch menu included the famous dishes like wagyu carpaccio, seared scallops, alaskan king crab tagliatelle, 60hr mangalica pork belly, 36hr short ribs etc.
we had a complimentary roll & butter to start. quite good. restaurant offered additional bread but we declined.
i had the wagyu carpaccio. it was very good, one of the better ones (or best) i had.
there was shaved parmesan & truffle cream, nice truffle fragrance, sweet, great texture.
my friend had the seared bay scallops.
it looked great & he said it was good.
friend also had the alaskan king crab tagliatelle.
i tried a little. pasta was perfect al dente of course. excellent flavours, nice crab sweetness with a bit of bisque veloute, not creamy. i liked the pasta.
i had the 60hrs pork belly. read one of the reviews about this special mangalica pork. for myself i don’t think it was naywhere near a good kurobuta in terms of the flavours & marbling.
pork was very tender from the slow braise, and the skin was crispy (but if it’s only about crispy skin i would prefer the chinese crackling roast pork over this anytime).
the pork overall quite nice though i not much into the white beans & miso broth. i made a tender tasty slow-braised miso belly pork myself so this dish not so wow for me.
friend had the chocolate fondant. came with macaron & ice cream.
i did not try it. friend said it was good. will try next time the molten caramel.
i had the lemon meringue tart.
also pretty ok, nothing special. but for the uob 1 for 1 promotion, the price difference between 2-course & 3-course was only S$2, so i took the dessert.

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.^^

See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2015/04/01/fresh-pastries-great-coffee-carpenter-cook-on-1apr2015/

my daughter made the arrangements & we managed to find time to go for a 4pax family coffee/snacks at carpenter & cook this afternoon on 1.4.2015.^^ excellent outing this! wonderful food & ambience.

there were price tags on the quaint collections (i spied an old typewriter at S$800!) which included some enamel floral painted plates on the wall, tables & chairs etc.

hence carpenter – we were told by the proprietress shenn, who is a pastry chef who pulls the weights for the other part of the name – cook. ^^

banoffee pie was excellent! there was a coffee infused top. shenn said it was rare. the toffee was freshly made, very mildly sweet & excellent flavours (different form what i learned for the internet boiling a can of condensed milk in water for 3 hrs).

well, shenn told us her bakery was just downstairs at the same premises & all the pastries were own freshly baked & not from a common supplier. ^^

my own banoffee pie was not too bad but this was of course better.

lemon tart was very nice also. very mildly sweet (which we liked) & nicely tangy, & a nice crisp tart base.

both my daughter & i wanted to try the quiche. we picked the bacon quiche. i thought it was really savoury & nice. we all liked it. i tried a mini quiche previously, not too great, maybe i may try it again.

the flat white was smooth & silky, micro foam well blended, & great flavours. it didn’t have the latte art of assembly coffee. well i guess no latte art at all.

taste wise, it was as good as dutch colony & assembly coffee. maybe chye seng huat was better, couldn’t really remember. it was good anyway.