photos and more here: http://andmorefood.wordpress.com/2013/04/08/north-border-bar-grill-buona-vista/

done up with a bar, al fresco dining areas and two floors of sitting, this place has food you want to eat when you think of american chains like TGIF and billy bombers, but at standards those places aspire to. not revolutionary food, but very much well worth returning to – singapore doesn’t have many restaurants that do a large american menu well, and the surroundings are gorgeous.

I think in general I would rather head to handlebar for good american dining – the flavours there are more outstanding, though the portions here are competitive and it’s far more accessible.

prices here are on the high side, but on par with many restaurants about town – the charm here lies in your surroundings: the al fresco area is very pleasant to dine in, there’s a large bar on the ground floor of the refurbished colonial building they’re housed in, and the rochester area does promote lingering over a meal with friends. graze is just next door too, so you might want to head there for dessert if you’re so inclined.

photos and more here: http://andmorefood.wordpress.com/2013/04/07/blackball-singapore-katong/

this place is pretty awesome. their specialty is smooth, silky grass jelly – a black, translucent jelly without much discernible taste, usually served in large cubes for dessert or thin slivers in syrup as a drink – as a bed for other toppings: starches such as taro balls, beans cooked in sugar, and various other accoutrements.

I had mine with milk, two types of sugared beans – adzuki and kidney, as well as nata de coco (a chewy coconut water jelly). so simple, and beautifully good – you get them in four temperatures spanning the hot-to-very-cold spectrum, and the icy version was a refreshing post-dinner dessert.