Another birthday celebration with fellow evil sista, who chose to dine at Forest 森 restaurant at Equarius hotel. Forest 森, named after celeb chef Sam Leong's wife, serves up Thai/Chinese contemporary dishes with western style presentation. Inline with this dining concept, the fine dining restaurant is designed to impress with majestic tree-like pillars shooting up the roof with branches sprawling across the ceiling. The dining area is brightly lit with natural sunlight flooding in through the full length glass windows.The restaurant also features an open concept kitchen with unobstructed view of the culinary team crafting out dishes to evoke the diners' senses.We all ordered the Special Sunday set lunch Discover Sam Leong’s Finest Creations at Forest 森 $68++, an 8 course set lunch consisting of 13 appetizer portion dishes made with premium ingredients. This menu is only available for Sunday lunch and the menu items are updated monthly. They also serve a 4 course Kids menu at $32++ per pax.Lemongrass Drink with Basil Seeds, available with every set meal for additional $5.00++. A refreshing way to kick start the meal.Soup of the Day was Winter Melon soup with wolfberries. Very nicely brewed soup that was packed with flavors...warms up the soul pronto!First up, Tuna Tartar marinated w/ Fresh Mango and Baby Abalone in Thai Style sauce. The tuna tartar was served in a charcoal waffle cone, fish was fresh and juicy with a hint of mango sweetness. The baby abalone sitting on a tiny bed of Thai mango salad tasted really good with a nice bouncy texture.Pan-seared Hokkaido Scallop in Black Bean Sauce and Vietnamese Roll w/ Sliced Lobster in X.O. Chili Sauce. The jumbo scallop was plump and succulent, and the Viet summer roll was mildly spicy...both were rather tasty.Deep-fried Prawn w/ Crispy Cereal and Chawanmushi w/ Crab meat & Flying fish roe. I love the silky smooth chawanmushi and its savory crab meat and tobiko toppings. The cereal prawn was well executed too.Steamed Cod Fillet w/ Yunnan Ham & minced Ginger, the cod fish was fresh and tender which tasted great with the rich and aromatic ginger sauce, extremely delish!Wok-Fried Cubes of Beef Tenderloin in Black Pepper Sauce & Pan-seared Foie Gras. A luxurious dish that is not just pretty to look at but tasted wonderful too, beef was really tender and goose liver uber creamy and fragrant.For diners who don't take beef, they served the Grilled Teriyaki Chicken Thigh w/ Foie Gras. The chicken thigh was nicely marinated and juicy in texture, and pleasantly complimented by the creamy foie gras.Japanese 'Ramen' w/ Crab Meat & Shredded Chicken in Chicken Broth and Wok-fried Japanese Pearl Rice w/ Smoke Duck & X.O. sausage. The ramen is actually mee sua cooked in chicken soup, the broth was sweet and flavorful...not bad. The fried rice was good though, has powerful wok hei aroma and the lup cheong was splendid.Last but not least, the final course Forest Delight, the chef's special dessert of the day. We had Pandan Kaya cake and Mango Pomelo in Shot glass. Both were fabulous, ending the meal on a sweet note.As this was a birthday celebration, the restaurant had prepared a complimentary slice of birthday cake with candle, completed with elaborate plating. My sista was a happy girl!We enjoyed our lunch at Forest restaurant immensely. The ambiance here is lovely, food and service quality is definitely top of the line. It is worthy of an occasional splurge. For price conscious diners, their Sunday set lunch is great value for money!

For full review: http://midas400.blogspot.sg/2014/07/sunday-lunch-at-forest-equarius-rws.html

Lola's cafe, a hidden gem nestled in the heartland of Kovan area, has been making its way onto foodie's good books serving delicious food at pocket friendly prices. I've finally found an opportunity to check it out.I arrived at the entrance of this cafe at around 5.30pm on a Friday evening, it was already 80% full. The friendly staffs quickly ushered me to an available table. This tiny eatery is decorated with mixture of nostalgic and modern furniture and accessories. Several tables here are made with retro sewing machines.There is an iPad queuing system near the entrance. If the cafe is full, patrons can enter their contact details and get a call when a table is available, no need to physically queue up here.Our tiny table and the food & drinks menu. Everything here are priced below 20 bucks and there is no GST and Service charges...cool!Hubby and I ordered a drink and a main course each, and one side dish for sharing. My Mocha $5.50, comes with a lovely coffee art, the coffee was smooth and robust...pretty good!We had one of the cafe's most popular sides, Honey Paprika Crispy Wings $10. The spices and honey sauce was really delish, chicken meat was tender and juicy too.My Chicken Burger $14, toasted sesame buns with marinated chicken leg served with spicy aioli sauce and potato fries. The chunky chicken leg was very tender and tasted good with the spicy aioli. I loved the crispy fries that comes with the burger!Hubby's Coastal Seafood Spaghetti $14, served with prawns, mussels, squid in white wine tomato sauce. The seafood was fresh and the pasta well executed, and the sauce was pretty awesome too. At only 14 bucks, its a steal!We had a wonderful meal at the Lola's cafe, food is of good quality and prices are very affordable. Best part is they have 5 serving staffs providing prompt and friendly service and it didn't cost us 10% extra to enjoy that! This is one place worthy of multiple visits.

For full review - http://midas400.blogspot.sg/2014/06/dinner-at-lolas-cafe.html

The Ajisen Gourmet Town at level 3 has recently gone through a facelift and re-opened with the popular franchise brand Osaka Ohsho 大阪王将, the Gyoza King from Osaka. Other than gyoza, this place also serves up Jap style Chinese cuisine.Value for money set meals and new enticing food replicas on display.I arrived before 6.30pm on a Friday evening and managed to beat the queue and get seated in less than 5mins.They are now using the iPad electronic ordering system. Just tab on whatever you wanna order and click 'Send Order', and the food will be served in a couple of mins.Hubby's Mapo Tofu & Double Cooked Pork set $14.90++. The Mapo Tofu is not spicy at all, such a big difference from the yummy Mapo Tofu we had in Osaka! The Double cooked pork 回鍋肉 was just so so only, nothing to rave about. Hubby also didn't find the gyoza special.My Chicken Tenshin Han set $13.90++, is a fancier variant of the Signature Fuwatoro 天津飯 set $12.90++. It was a thick omelette egg wrapped fried rice with roast chicken cubes.This dish was indeed rather yummy. The thick omelette was light and fluffy with a texture of smooth steamed egg. The fried Koshihikari rice with roast chicken meat was flavorful and tasted good with the thickened clear gravy. I enjoyed this dish as there is no comparison with anything I've eaten in Osaka.
The gyoza was good but not great, however at the price of $3.90++ for 6pcs and $7.80++ for a dozen I don't mind eating this again. The skin was quite well made with good resiliency but I would've prefer the pork filling to be more moist and juicy. Overall, it was a decent dish.

The egg and carrot soup that comes with every set meal was forgettable.Overall, I'm not too impressed with the food served here at Osaka Ohsho. I would save the 10% service charge for something else and just buy takeaways from now on.

For full review - http://midas400.blogspot.sg/2014/03/dinner-at-osaka-ohsho-nex-ajisen.html

For full review - http://midas400.blogspot.sg/2014/06/hatter-street-cafe-waffles-four-seasons.html
I had an impromptu coffee session with one of my sista who stays just across the street from Hatter Street cafe. We were there at around 5pm on a Friday evening and the cafe is about 70% full.The tiny cafe has a whimsical decor theme which sets it apart from the usual industrial themed decor of similar indie cafes. The cafe's name Hatter is derived from The Hatter, a character from the story Alice in Wonderland, who loves having tea parties in the magical wonderland. The menu is written on the whimsical wall murals, no physical menu will be presented at the table.This cafe is self service style, just walk in, pick a seat and place order at the cashier counter. We ordered 2 of their specialty waffles and ice drinks to beat the late afternoon heat.My Whoaffe with Pandan ice cream & Gula Melaka sauce $8.90. Whoa...the waffle smelt great when it arrived at our table. I was totally blown away by the crispy crust and soft fluffy center of the waffle, and the homemade pandan ice cream tasted heavenly with a very authentic pandan aroma. Thumbs up!My sista's Whoaffle with Chocolate ice cream & Chocolate sauce $8.90. She was raving about the yummy chocolaty ice cream and crispy crusted waffle too!Please do not be deceived by the seeming small portion of the waffles in the pictures. The waffles was really quite big piece, probably the bigger scoop of ice cream contributed to the false impression.

Our drinks Ice Mocha $6.50 and Root beer Float $4.50. They both tasted average, nothing to shout about.Hatter Street cafe is a nice little place to chill with small group of friends over simple desserts and drinks. They do not serve any sort of savory food or snacks, and no gourmet coffee available here...just really good desserts and regular drinks. Seating space is really tight, so my advice is to avoid weekends peak, and don't come in groups of more than 4pax!

Chef Yamashita, the co-owner of the popular bakery Flor Pâtisserie, has left the joint venture and started his very own bakery. I got the news of this move from posts of follow foodies on FB. His new shop is located in the nostalgic heartland of Tanjong Pagar Plaza.Situated in a quiet corner with a modern minimalist decor theme, Chef Yamashita Japanese Artisan Bakery stood out like a sore thumb among all the old school shops on level 2.Mrs Yamashita, who was manning the shop welcomed us with a sunny smile and Japanese's enthusiasm to serve. At around 4pm, most of the popular pastries were already sold out! I had to make my choice with what's left for the day. I managed to grab the last two pieces of Banana Caramel luna wrap and a few other Petit Gâteau (small cakes).Banana Caramel Luna Wrap $5.90 and Ichigo Luna Wrap $5.90, looked exactly like the ones sold in Japan bakeries. They do not just look good but taste super as well. The vanilla sponge cake was fluffy and light as air, and pairs perfectly with the fresh cream and the generous serving of sweet tasting cut fruits.Thumbs up!Rikyu 利休 $6.80, a Matcha flavored cake with green tea cream atop of green tea meringue roll with fresh cream & azuki bean filling, sprinkled with chopped Japanese chestnuts. This cake is a Matcha fan's dream come true, it has aromatic matcha flavor oozing from inside out.Chocola Hill $6.80, dark chocolate brownie with walnuts topped with chocolate cream and chocolate tuile. The brownie turned out a bit hard to chew after leaving in the fridge overnight, overall passable but no wow factor.Darkcherry Tart $6.80, a cream cheese tart with dark cherry compote topping. Hubby ate this one, he said it was yummy.Do note that all their pastries are freshly made every morning with no added preservatives, and must be refrigerated asap if not consumed within 30-45mins after purchase.


For full review - http://midas400.blogspot.sg/2014/06/chef-yamashita-japanese-artisan-bakery.html