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chefquak
This is chefquak . French, Japanese, Teochew are my favorite cuisines..
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chefquak  Level 4
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Good Ambience, Food So-So OK Sep 11, 2014   
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Categories : Italian | Bars/Lounges | Pasta

I had a 2pax dinner at sopra cucina on 10.9.2014.
sopra cucina & bar had great ambience. the inside was like a large private drawing room with chesterfield deep-buttoned leather seats. it had a charming facade & there was an open patio bar area & live music. 
the bread basket was poor (or like a pizzeria or fast-food serving) & not really consistent with the furnishings & ambience of the restaurant.
we ordered the octopus salad. it was not chef’s recommendations but apparently quite popular with customers. it was quite a large helping. the steamed octopus were ok not tough, like the ones at vicoletti at stresa, but not the standard of the grilled octopus at alle darsene at bellagio. still it was pretty good for an antipasti. 
sopra cucina served sardinia (second largest island in the mediterranean after sicily & before cyprus) cuisine. we ordered the pregola frutti di mare. the prawns were fresh. the scallops & squid were so-so. the tomato flavours were ok but felt more like an average sauce than that from nice fresh tomatoes. the pregolas looked like “barley risotto” but pasta in texture. i would rather have a spaghetti or linguine or fettucine anytime. it’s a personal preference i guess. somehow the dish did not give me the same satisfaction & enjoyment of a good pasta.

See full review at: http://chefquak.com/2014/09/11/so-so-dinner-sopra-cucina-on-10sep2014/

 

 

 

 
 
Recommended Dish(es):  octopus salad – S$18,suckling pig – S$48
 
Table Wait Time: 0 minute(s)


Date of Visit: Sep 10, 2014 

Spending per head: Approximately $28(Dinner)

Other Ratings:
Taste
 3  |  
Environment
 4  |  
Service
 4  |  
Clean
 4  |  
Price
 4

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Marvellous Thai Smile Jul 05, 2013   
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Categories : Thai | Restaurant | Seafood

My wife bought some Creative Eatery vouchers. Our favourite in the group is Patara Fine Cuisine @ Tanglin Mall. They serve one of the best tomyam talay (seafood) and olive rice.

When Patara was part of palate benefits with 1 person dining free, we went there often. For Thai food though, it is harder to order for 2pax to get the 50% discount, so we sometimes went in 3pax & had 33% discounts. The vouchers we used this time were purchased at 50% of the voucher value so it’s a better deal even.

tom yam talay S$23 for 1 pot serving 2-3pax

tom yam talay S$23 for 1 pot serving 2-3pax

 
We loved the tom yam talay here. An earthen pot serving 2-3pax costing S$23 came with 2 plump scallops, 2 large prawns and many pieces of sliced squid, and the flavour was wonderful.

Thai betel nut skewers – S$18

Thai betel nut skewers – S$18

 
My wife liked the betel nut skewers, like a Thai satay. It’s not my favourite but it was a nice dish nonetheless.

olive rice – S$19

olive rice – S$19

 
My other favourite dish here was olive rice, another superb flavourful dish, one of the few carbohydrate dishes I would clean the plate. The other place I would do that at Imperial Treasure with its fried rice.

Thai stuffed chicken wings

Thai stuffed chicken wings

 
Thai Stuffed Chicken Wings was also not my favourite. However this one here was one of the best I had, the chicken was very crispy but NOT dry & the minced chicken stuffing was tasty.

curry NZ sirloin

curry NZ sirloin

 
The best dish par excellence we had this time had to be the curry NZ sirloin (above & top photos). The beef itself was great, tender & done slightly medium rare, and the curry added such a wonderful combination of flavours.

We also had their delightful durian sticky rice dessert. the one here was a touch of class. It came in 2 aperitif glasses, 1 containing the durian sticky rice with coconut milk, the other with a coconut ice cream (regrettably I forgot to take a photo). They were heavenly taken together. It cost S$15 & we shared among the 3 of us.

The lunch of 5 dishes + 1 dessert cost S$150, so it’s S$75 using the vouchers. I do find Patara a bit steep in terms of normal pricing (but I guess no more so than Thanying etc), but with the discounts it was a great deal!

For the full review and more photos, visit http://chefquak.wordpress.com/2013/06/20/marvellous-thai-patara-fine-cuisine-on-19jun2013/.
 
Recommended Dish(es):  tom yam talay,olive rice,curry NZ sirloin
 
Date of Visit: Jun 19, 2013 

Spending per head: Approximately $25(Lunch)

Other Ratings:
Taste
 5  |  
Environment
 4  |  
Service
 4  |  
Clean
 5  |  
Price
 4

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Categories : Multi-Cuisine | Hotel | Desserts and Cakes | Seafood | Buffet

My dining quartet had this sudden spell of interest in hotel buffets. For this round, our hostess selected The Edge @ Pan Pacific Singapore, which had undergone a major renovation last year. Lunch buffet was S$58++/pax and there was an ongoing 1 eat free for 3 paying adults promotion for various credit cards, so the price worked out to S$43.50++/pax.

sashimi station - only kajiki & shake

sashimi station - only kajiki & shake

 

The sashimi section was very limited for lunch. The kajiki (sword fish) sashimi was good, the salmon was just average, similar to other buffets and definitely not the best. I went back for a second helping of kajiki w/o the salmon. Really nice!

There wasn’t much to pick in the sushi section so I just picked 1 maki (one of my friends liked the inari aburaage sushi though). That’s quite similar in other buffets as well. In Equinox I would pick a unagi (eel) & a ika (squid) sushi, and in One Ninety I had smoked duck but that’s about it.

laksa great at chinese station

laksa great at chinese station

 
The Laksa at the Chinese station was very good – gravy was excellent only regrets no “hum” ie cockles. I also took a slice of roast duck (very crispy skin & flavourful), and also 1 slice of roast chicken (good but ordinary, the ginger sauce was good).

I did not take any from the Malay/Peranakan station. There was a beef rendang and my friend thought the steamed rice (basmati) was “super aromatic”. I took 1 stick each of beef & mutton satay (above right photo). One friend thought the mutton satay was very good, but for me, I think it was kind of average. There was no pineapple sauce with the satay gravy.

grilled medallion etc at western station

grilled medallion etc at western station

 
grilled aussie beef tenderloin (medallion) - rare

grilled aussie beef tenderloin (medallion) - rare

 
There was salmon and grilled aussie beef tenderloin (medallion) at the Western station. I asked the station chef who replied that the beef were medium to medium well. I ordered rare & he grilled on the spot for me. It was super (top photo) – very sweet, tender, flavourful, well beyond my expectation of buffet main courses, even though tenderloin not my favourite.

I skipped most of the Italian station – the pasta, pizza & pork rib. My friend who bought lunch thought the rib was good & healthy lean. the other friend thought it was too dry. The 1 item I thought was excellent was the roasted pork. I had 3 slices!

oyster/roast pork very good, scallop good

oyster/roast pork very good, scallop good

 
Not forgetting the cold Entree station. I took 4 oysters (very sweet) & 2 scallops (good). The station chef told my friend the orange ones were female & tasted better than the all-white male ones. :-) I skipped the prawns but took the prawn salad – it was kind of limited selection.

The dessert station was quite ordinary, and included chocolate fountain & nonya cakes. The ambience was great. There was good drinks like calamansi juice with sour plum, very good coffee and also tea selection. It was a fun lunch, food & company as we tried out a new place. At S$43.50pax after 25% discount, would I come back though? regrettably answer is no or very unlikely!

For full review and more photos, visit http://chefquak.wordpress.com/2013/06/25/expensive-average-buffet-the-edge-pan-pacific-singapore-on-24-6-2013/
 
Recommended Dish(es):  oysters,scallop,grilled beef medallion,kajiki (swordfish) sashimi,laksa,roast pork
 
Date of Visit: Jun 24, 2013 

Spending per head: Approximately $51(Lunch)

Other Ratings:
Taste
 4  |  
Environment
 5  |  
Service
 5  |  
Clean
 5  |  
Price
 1

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Shiok! Zi Char Dinner Smile Jun 03, 2016   
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Categories : Coffeeshop | Zi Char

See my full reviews & photos at = https://chefquak.com/2016/06/03/shiok-zi-char-dinner-hup-choon-zi-char-on-2jun2016/
had a very nice zi char dinner at hup choon with some new friends on 2.6.2016. ^^
i had been to hup choon many times in the past but mostly for coffee & bakuteh at the time eons ago, never really around dinner time for zi char.
the hostess ordered several very good dishes. this one of those zi char dinner that i really enjoyed. ^^
fish head curry (with added vegetables) was very good.
it’s different (maybe more chinese version) from my own fish head curry, just as lemak, very enjoyable for me. i guess i ate the most la… lol!
prawn paste chicken mid-wings were tasty.
i not particularly fond of prawn paste chicken, but this i count as a very good fried chicken wing.
seafood treasures pot was good.
this mainly got to do with fresh seafood.
not sure how much it was here, at uncle leong jurong east which was very good it would be S$30 for this serving size.
i think uncle leong used a good stock base, maybe this one no stock, but still a good dish.
cuttlefish kang kong“jill her eng chai” was good too, very competent.
it’s the kind of taste i am more used to than that at forture at old holland road across the other side of dunearn.
hae chor was competent too, crispy, not too oily, good filling. i guess quite good though not my favourite dish.
hor fun was also quite tasty. didn’t feel so much wok hae, maybe it was a large plate & i did not take it immediately. but it was good anyway, competent.
don’t know how much the dinner for 9pax cost. will come back again soon to try it la!

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
Table Wait Time: 0 minute(s)


Date of Visit: Jun 02, 2016 

Other Ratings:
Taste
 4  |  
Environment
 3  |  
Service
 3  |  
Clean
 4  |  
Price
 4

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Fabulous Degustation Dinner  Smile Jun 03, 2016   
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Categories : Multi-Cuisine | Restaurant | Fine Dining

see my full reviews & photos at = https://chefquak.com/2016/06/03/fabulous-degustation-dinner-cornerhouse-in-1jun2016/
my first time to cornerhouse. i had been to au jardin & taken the degustation several times previously but not since cornerhouse took over.
looking at my previous post, the last time we were here was for the new year eve dinner on 12.31.2016.
for this evening we had a 5-course degustation menu at S$188++
i asked for one of the 2 verandah tables seating looking out at the gardens.
it was really nice. the amuse bouche comprises 3 items.
couldn’t really remember…they were all good la! this one quite unique taste.
this a salty fish cracker with tobiko. great!
last a amuse bouche – bitter cucumber terrine. we enjoyed all of the them.
the first course, carabinero prawn, scarlett prawn from mediterranean, was simply awesome!
the variations of seasonal tomatoes, with basil, olive oil & another falvour were sublime.
the prawn was steamed & chilled, very sweet, tasty & firm. told wife the texture felt like lobster. & there was a tomato sorbet, basically a very flavourful gazpacho, at the top, 12 o’clock! ^^
later i saw on naked fins a nice pic.
it was a very large prawn, and in some sites they mentioned it tasted like lobster.
second course was white asparagus with a 24mths comte cheese & ikura.
such an artistic presentation! ^^
the white asparagus (confit maybe?) was par excellence, very tender & sweet. overall while the dish was very tasty & enjoyable, it made less impression than the tomatoes (& prawns).
the 3rd course, maine lobster, was quite sublime, out of this world! ^^
lobster was firm, sweet, tasty, riso (a risotto like pasta) was great & the sauce was just fantastic! (from bottarga the salted fish roe i think?).
the 4th course, japanese toriyama wagyu was like any top jap wagyu, simply fabulous, so much better than australian or USA, & horseradish mash was excellent with the beef.
the last course, chocolate earl grey dessert, was good.
i mean the chocolates were great really, the sorbet too, among the best i guess, not exactly my favourite dessert. wife & i not particularly hot on chocolates & if chocolate i prefer the really dark intense chocolate type rather than just smooth with earl grey flavour etc….
petit four was pretty good.
they charged for coffee. i always felt coffee should be just included in a degustation & green tea too in a japanese kaiseki, a touch of class not to charge extra…anyway just my persona views..
we skipped the coffee.
dinner 2xS$188pax + 2 glasses of wine came to S$513.
it was an excellent dinner very enjoyable so money well spent. looking back at the 2013 au jardin NYE degustation, i think that offerred a bit better value not this time we had lobster. hard to compare i guess.
i still miss jaan, since that they withdrew feed @ raffles benefits, we were unwilling to pay the full fare & also the menu still looked the same after 2 rounds, andre chiang & julien royers having left…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
Table Wait Time: 0 minute(s)


Date of Visit: Jun 01, 2016 

Spending per head: Approximately $255

Other Ratings:
Taste
 5  |  
Environment
 5  |  
Service
 4  |  
Clean
 5  |  
Price
 5

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