For full review, please visit http://makeyourcaloriescount.blogspot.sg/2012/10/sg-basement.html

Extremely reasonably priced for decent brunch food, it's a place that I'll definitely visit again. Great place to beat the lunch crowd for those whose offices are nearby, with quick service and value-for-money dishes. One of their recommended dishes, a classic must-try for any brunch cafes I go to. This is the cheapest plate of eggs ben I've found in Singapore so far. And honestly, I would say that the quality hasn't been compromised at all despite its price point. Costing a minimum of around $12 elsewhere, this was done above average. I was quite surprised with the portion served, with their own concoction of potato salad and garden salad for the sides.

The egg was just a little overcooked but it was still a good rendition with a good blend of their own hollandaise sauce. It wasn't the sourish kind, and was just right in the level of creaminess and richness such that it didn't feel jelat at all. The amount of salmon served was also just appropriate, so it gave the slight savory touch to it, yet not overpowering with the sliminess you usually associate with smoked salmon. I loved the toasted bread, it was done just right. With a slight crisp on the outside and warm soft insides, it was a great complement to the dish. Perhaps just one downside to it, I would have preferred it a little warmer though.

For the sides, you would find that the potato salad isn't the typical kind you find that's laden with mayonnaise. The mix has been specially concocted by their chef, with a combination of several herbs and more, giving its own unique blend to it. It was quite a refreshing twist, reminding me of Nando's potato salad, but on a milder note which went better with me. This was a memorable one that woke me up instantly. With a strong shot of their own house brew of espresso, the sponge layers in between was a refreshing call for me. Topped with light cream cheese that was slightly sweet, I liked how the tastes were well complemented. Apparently, there was also Baileys added in the making of it, but it wasn't exactly very distinct. Nonetheless, I thought it was an outstanding cup of tiramisu that I'd definitely return for! (Not for those who aren't keen in strong coffee-flavoured versions though!)This was quite a huge slice that I wasn't able to finish hence had it for takeaway. It's actually my first time trying carrot cake, and it turned out to be surprisingly good for me. I've never liked the idea of carrot cakes as I'm always afraid of the carrot taste in it, since I'm pretty much anti-vegetables. Decided to give it a shot finally since carrot cakes aren't very commonly found. To my surprise, it didn't have a tinge of the raw carrot taste that I was afraid of! Seeing the carrot pieces finely grated and mixed into the cake, it made me feel a bit healthier since carrots are supposed to be good. I found the cinnamon just a tad too strong and might have overpowered the taste of the cake, but then again, I'm no expert in this. I liked how it was just slightly moist, and the walnut bits at the side were a great bonus!

Opposite the Geylang Serai Market, this place is more often known for its traditional putu piring. Popping by for lunch, we tried some of the other stalls around and were surprised to find good food that managed to satisfy our tummies during the otherwise boring usual lunch haunts!Initially I thought this referred to the chicken that had been fried, but was told later on that it actually meant 'smashed fried chicken' for a literal translation. The chicken is smashed to make it softer, hence different from the usual fried chicken where you get some tough meat after frying.

Not expecting much from it as the highlight of our trip was supposed to be the putu piring, I was pleasantly surprised after tasting it and thought it was one of the better ones I've tried so far. Unlike most that I've tried which focuses on the chicken itself, this stall left no details uncovered.

Even the accompanying serving of rice was well taken care of, with chicken rice served instead of plain rice and I must say it was one that matched my palate perfectly! It was cooked for just the right amount of time, soft and warm when served and didn't have any trace of the oil that you'd usually find in chicken rice. Lightly flavoured, it didn't make me feel jelat at all and in fact it was the one that caught my attention at first taste.

The chicken itself wasn't the most fantastic but it was still quite a decent one nonetheless! Though slightly dry and tough from probably overcooking, I liked the thin layer of crispiness, well accompanied by the sambal. Best part of the dish? Instead of the usual fried bits drizzled over, they had a full piece of the crispy part that seemed so ordinary but created fireworks after tasting! Crispy like a cracker, it packed alot of crunch in it, and was flavourful enough that got me addicted.

It would have been perfect if the chicken was soft and tender, but I'm happy enough with this. Plus point for big eaters, they have such big portions to make for a filling and satisfying meal!What better drink to order under the sweltering hot sun and with an entire coffee shop named after it? I thought this was probably one of their signature drinks and indeed, it didn't disappoint at all. With a strong tea flavour, it wasn't diluted at all even when the ice cubes melted and wasn't too sweet (at least for me). Scored well with me for sure!This is perhaps what drew most people here in the first place, myself included. Freshly made when you order, expect to wait for a while just as they perfect their craft. A fan of gula melaka, I was elated to find a generous amount of it tucked in the soft and slightly moist steamed rice cake. Best to eat it on the spot, where you can taste the melted gula melaka with the piping hot steamed cake. Topped with fresh coconut shavings, some say it tastes better with it. But for me, I'm contented enough with the main star of the dish and would prefer not to be distracted.

A pretty unconventional place for people to visit unless you happen to be working/staying nearby, it's quite a gem found! Satisfied with all that I've tried within a meal, I'll most probably be heading back there soon!

Quiet weekend brunch - a luxury you might say? Especially given the popular brunch culture now, it's almost hard or impossible to enjoy a meal without first having to queue even at the oddest hours. We were thus pleasantly surprised by this hidden gem in the vibrant estate of Keong Saik, hosting a cosy space for some relaxing weekend brunch time.
A catchy name that always gets a double take when it comes up in food talk, The Study was previously known as Keong Saik Snacks, with a revamp of its menu to include a different and wider variety of offerings. Serving good ol' British classics, it's part brainchild of Michelin Star Chef Jason Atherton, offering comfort food in an unpretentious setting.

Foie Gras Iberico Scotch Eggs ($17++)
with pickled beetroot, capers, honey mustard dressingGreeted with a vibrance of colours bound to cheer up any meal, this was a good combination of textures from the soft wobbly yolk to the crisp outer layer paired with the crunch of pickled beetroot.

The Big English ($19++)
Three eggs, three slices of bacon, two cumberland sausages, grilled tomatoes, beans, toast, potato onion hash, sautéed mushroomA sumptuous serving packed within, it was classic goodness done right. Fit to its name, it was indeed a very filling portion with interesting addition of potato onion hash and perfectly toasted bread to go with anything in this combination!

Coconut & Ricotta Pancakes ($19++)
with mango and mint salsa, lime creme fraicheA fan of anything coconut-based, this was a must-order when I first saw it on the menu. I liked how the coconut fragrance came through strongly in every mouthful of the fluffy pancakes, well paired with the ricotta, lightly sweetened by the mango cubes.

Fried Salt and Pepper Squid ($17++)
with green chili, coriander and garlic mayoAn addictive starter that was well-marinated, I loved the chewiness of the baby squids that were crisp and good on its own. Pity that this was only available on its ala carte menu, that's served only when brunch isn't available.

Warm Vanilla Rice Pudding ($14++)
with mango sorbet, mint and mango dressingA comforting warm bowl of creamy rice, it is one to be shared especially after a sumptuous meal like we had. With a strong mango flavour, I liked how it wasn't too sweet and the rice helped to add another dimension of texture to the dish.

Doughnuts ($15++)
with cinnamon sugar and caramel creamIf there's one thing that will bring me back to The Study, this would be it. I was never a fan of cream, but this was so light and fluffy that the first dip is a vicious cycle leading to an addictive pairing that drew me back repeatedly. An unassuming duo of cinnamon doughnuts, dipped into the caramel cream, a perfect sweet ending to any meal!It's almost easy to miss it if you're not on the lookout, it's simply opposite Potato Head Folk, with a dark-tinted entrance to the cosy space. We loved the laid-back ambience that felt very homely and welcoming, with attentive service staff who'd been very prompt in responding to our requests and refilling of drinks. A comfortable space perfect for cosy gatherings, savour a relaxing meal within while the world passes by.Complementing its studious counterpart, The Library, next door with the not-so-secretive speakeasy bar, it was interesting to see how the two were connected via an unassuming door and if you're there dining on a Friday/ Saturday evening, be pleasantly surprised by the unveiling of the secret hideout!

For original review, please refer to http://www.makeyourcaloriescount.com/2014/11/the-study-singapore.html

When it comes to contemporary cuisine, I always have a lingering question mark of how the chef can transform conventional comfort food into yet another palatable creation. In this case, it was heart. Holding the fort at SET is Chef Erick Chun who endeavours to cook for his guests the way he cooks for his family.
With more than a decade of culinary experience, Chef Erick started his culinary career by helping out at his uncle's chicken rice stall at a humble coffee shop. Passion and interest got the better of him as he refined his skills and grew with kitchen experiences at Tung Lok Signatures, Senso Ristorante & Bar and Feedlot Steakhouse. He is consistently seeking for new ways to improve and experiment with new techniques, which resulted in the contemporary spin to his dishes.

While Chef Erick managed to impress his grandmother with his cooking, can he similarly draw approval from his guests? Let us find out!
The uniqueness of the menu at SET stems from the fact that only set menus are available. That means no ala carte dishes but one would enjoy the flexibility of choosing an item each from a choice of four to five for each course. For lunch menu, SET presently offers a five-course meal at S$28.80/++ while the dinner is offered in the form of a six-course meal at S$38.80/++. The key difference between the sets is the additional side dish, which we later learnt that is a must-try!

Chef Starter | Bacon and Mushroom Cheese Gratin
A dish that is almost impossible to resist, fresh toast was served alongside a bowl of bacon and cheese gratin. While this was a simple dish, it was by large a hearty starter with titillating flavours of savouriness from the melted cheese and bacon to match the crispness of the toast.

Cold Dish | Tomato Caprese

 

Quite easily, this was my favourite cold dish amongst the few tried as the fresh mozzarella beautifully rested on a slice of tomato. While it was almost melt-in-your-mouth, the sparingly bits of sea salt had the effect of an added dimension of texture with its grittiness. It not only provided texture but also isolated the freshness of the mozzarella, which was rich yet balanced by a mild level of acidity.If you are looking for an interesting choice for your cold dish, the huai san caparccio could just be your pick. More commonly known as wild yam or Chinese yam, it is an ingredient believed to have medical functions such as improving one's digestive system, lower blood sugar and blood pressure. While the common types of huai san are the processed dried versions, it was rather unusual to try a fresh rendition on this occasion which carried a delectable crunch to each bite. Sliced thinly and uniformly, this has to be a highlight amongst the cold dishes.

Cold Dish | Smoked Duck Breast
Another dish which drew contemporary twists was the smoked duck breast. The smoking process was done in house, which left the red meat robust with flavours only to be cleansed by the light dressing with a citrus tangy dressing to harmoniously bring the dish together.

Cold Dish | Salmon GravlaxInterestingly, after trying a Chinese inspired cold dish such as the huai san, we were presented with something from the Scandinavian as gravlax is a classic Nordic dish comprising raw salmon cured in salt, sugar and dill. While this is a dish usually accompanied by some carbohydrates such as bread or potatoes, it was served on its alone, which allowed the brine to distinguish.

Side Dish | Grilled King Oyster MushroomAvailable only for the 6-course set menu, I personally felt that this is a must-try! The mushrooms were cooked perfectly, retaining moisture with the right level of firmness. Drizzled with teriyaki sauce and mayonnaise, the supplementing white truffle foam made all the difference. While the teriyaki sauce provided the mild sweetness, the truffle foam added richness in flavours and scent with its distinctive aroma. What I enjoyed about the dish was the slightly charred bits to the mushroom which may or may not go too favourably for those who are critical about their food.

Soup | Mushroom Veloute with Peanut Butter

 

While this photograph does not come across as the most photogenic, it surely compensated with its robust flavours. If you are after some bold tastes, do give this a try as the mushroom soup received a boost in richness with a distinct peanut butter after taste. This surely added some twist to the conventional mushroom soup but as we are all subjective people, much left to be said about how palatable the soup was. While it did not suit my appetite, I felt that it would make a worthy try for the adventurous.

Soup | Roasted pumpkin with Truffle

 

Compared to the mushroom soup, the flavours of this soup was milder though the richness still more than made up for it. It was a pity that the aroma and flavours of the truffle were masked by the pumpkin, which added a desired level of sweetness to the soup.

Soup | Miso Soup with Sake

 

While I enjoyed the presentation of the soup, served just like how sake is typically served to diners at Japanese restaurants, I felt that the salinity of the miso soup masked the essence of sake, letting the latter down. As a result, it came across more like a good shot of miso soup, which ticked all the right boxes such as the depth of the broth, richness and flavours.

Soup | Double-boiled Herbal Chicken

 

Tasting the chicken broth for the first time just made everyone at the dining table reminisce about good old home-cooked soup which our mums or grandmas would tastefully prepare. Double-boiled just like how most authentic Cantonese soups should be, the ingredients rich soup was a clear favourite with just the right balance in sweetness and savouriness.

Mains | Baby Pork Back Ribs

 

One of the signatures on the mains, one could hardly go wrong with the baby back ribs which were tender and fell-off-the-bone. Well marinated, there was a beautiful level of caramelisation that gave the lightly crisp crust coating the surface. On the inside, the meat was succulent and what I was really looking for at this point was some white rice to go with it!

Mains | Roasted Chicken Pullet

 

Elegantly presented, the roasted chicken pullet was in fact a young hen, typically less than a year old, neatly tucked with stuffing on the inside. The roast was spot-on, leaving the inside moist and tender while giving the surface a thin layer of crispness to please. It came with the bold mushroom sauce, largely similar to that of the mushroom soup tried earlier, to complete the dish.

Mains | Roasted Beef Tenderloin

 

Like most of the other dishes served, the red meat was presented elegantly and that was indeed something quite unexpected as such plating would be more common for high-end fine dining restaurants rather than one which offers a casual ambience such as SET. While it was slightly above medium rare, which would be my preference, it was done medium and retained much of that pinkness. It was a beautiful cut which was tender and the brown gravy sent the dish home together with some beautiful roasted cloves which added an additional punch in flavours.

Mains | Grilled Snapper with Salsa

 

Individually portioned like the other mains, I loved the salsa relish that accompanied the grilled snapper! It imparted flavours and caramelised sweetness from the relish to the plainly grilled fish which remained succulent. No outright surprises but it was surely a comfort dish that could not quite possibly go wrong.
Among the mains, we were also served the marinated rack of lamb which I avoided due to allergy issues but it seemed to go quite well with the other diners at the table!
Dessert | Home-made Cake of the Day

 

I found the chocolate-base cake to be quite standard though the desiccated coconut added a different dimension to it. Overall, a simple cake that would go well for most people.

Dessert | Espresso Creme Brulee

 

This fondly reminded me of my first espresso creme brulee tried at JBM and while I was half-expecting the same explosion of espresso shot, I was assured that the rendition here is not quite the same. The distinctly bold flavours of caffeine were infused into the velvety creme brulee which similarly brought joys to the guests. With a cup of long black coffee to go along, this was surely decadence in its simplest form.

Dessert | Poached Pear with Gelato

 

Having watched enough Masterchef series, you would learn that poached pear is one of the simplest looking yet difficult dessert to master. Poached with red wine, I gingerly sliced through the fruit to check its texture and on this occasion, it was spot on. It was soft but not overly mashy, hence retaining the desired level of firmness. While the gelato was decent, it was more of an accompaniment to the fruit that took centrepiece for this dish.

Dessert | Huai San Jello

 

While we were scratching our heads trying to figure out what was the best way to describe this dessert of oriental influence, cheng tng jelly came to mind! Indeed, for the Singaporeans who know their local desserts well, this was a very close resemblance of jellified cheng tng and you would even expect Chinese ingredients such as white fungus, etc.With a large dining hall, I like that the setting is classy yet not overly elaborate, allowing someone in his or her casual wear to still feel comfortable and not out of place. Perfect for a quiet date or even to impress your business associates, SET also offers private dining area at no minimum surcharge.If you are looking to host a small private family event for celebrations or just an intimate evening session, SET surely has something to offer. On the other side of the restaurant, it also has a private dining room for up to 10 pax with a slightly more elaborate decoration such as chandelier lightings.
Overall, I felt that the dining experience at SET was complete, starting from customer service, ambience to the quality of food. For the various price points (S$28.80/++ for lunch and S$38.80/++ for dinner), it was surely value for money for considering each of the courses was calories-worthy, not to mention generous in portion size. If you are in the area, would be worth checking out SET!

For original review, please refer to http://www.makeyourcaloriescount.com/2014/10/sg-set-contemporary-cuisine-affordable.html

For those who worship everything Korean or have been to South Korea should have heard of Yoogane. They are one of the most popular and best Chicken Galbi restaurants in Korea, owning more than 130 outlets located over the region. The Singapore folks were lucky enough to obtain a franchise license from them in order to bring the joy of eating chicken galbi to our shores!
After opening for more than a month, there is still quite a hype about the place and we would suggest visiting during non peak hours or before 6pm on weekdays to beat the massive queue!Once the receptionist ushered us to our table, we saw two nicely folded aprons sitting on the table. The aprons were specially prepared for diners to avoid having the sauces staining our clothes while the staffs prepare and cook the dish in front of us. Very thoughtful indeed!Probably the staffs were too busy with the crowd, no one had informed us that there was a freeflow salad bar at the back of the restaurant. Unfortunately, we only realised this on our way out to pay the bill. So if you are intending to visit, be sure to look out for the salad bar and grab some peppers, kimchi or radish with their pink dressing to complement your mains.We faced some issues when it came to ordering as there were only two of us. The signature chicken galbi dish needed a minimum of 2 persons to order, so we requested if we could have a single portion in order to try other mains for variety but were turned down. The owner who stepped forward to serve us then explained that this is the Korean culture where they usually share the same food and eat together. With much reluctance and disappointment, we ordered Seafood with Chicken Galbi (S$48.90 for 2 pax).About five minutes after placing our orders, the server came to our table with this pan of ingredients (including their signature marinated chicken, prawn, mussel, rice cake and cabbage) and put it on the hob in front of us. The serving size might look tiny, but trust me after adding the mouth-watering mozerella cheese or the carbohydrates such as fried rice, noodle and rice cake, it would be more than enough to feed two!The squid was set aside on a plate as to add in later in the cooking process due to the shorter cooking time needed.The high cylinder kind of wall was placed outside of the pan, to prevent the hot sauce flying all over the table in the process of cooking.We further requested if we could get hands on the cooking process, the staff nicely told us again that it is the Korean culture that we should be happily served and waited just like how Koreans can't pour drinks for themselves.About 15 minutes or so, the dish was almost done as you can see the juices of the seafood oozing out!Thereafter, you could add in your preferred carbohydrates be it rice, rice cake or the recommended Korean instant noodles which came with a complementary homemade sauce specially imported from Korea.Dadah! Couldn't wait to start digging in!A very nice pan of goodies indeed, the limelight was the unique sauce and seasoning that has been imported from the main restaurant in Korea. Also, the seafood was fresher than expected and chicken was well marinated as well. However, we felt that the chicken galbi was slightly overcooked but still it was juicy and decent. We loved the balance in spiciness and flavours of the sauce that was infused into the ingredients, making the dish highly enjoyable and addictive.

The restaurant should notice that staff is another key player to maintain the quality apart from the original ingredients. Therefore, proper training is needed especially in the control of cooking time. The staffs were friendly and approachable though everyone seemed to be perpetually busy. I would definitely come back for their Marinated Chicken Galbi Fried Rice on a bed of cheese, how could a cheese lover skip it yeah?
Spotting a casual dining ambience, Yoogane surely found the right fit among the younger generation in the heart of Bugis Junction.