&Made is the brain child of Chef Bruno Ménard, a 3-star Michelin Star Chef with Olivier Bendel, founder and CEO of Deliciae Hospitality Management Pte Ltd. The hospitality group responsible for F&B concept such as L'Entrecôte, Forlino, Sabio and 83 Club Street. At &Made, you can see informal food such as salad and burger, however do expect Chef Bruno to pay special attention to the ingredients use and homemade condiments straight from Chef Bruno recipe book which are made daily. Our friend G has a sudden burger cravings. So after scouring the web for artisan burger in Singapore, &Made name keep popping up. To be honest, this is our second choice, however as the first choice establishment closes on Sunday, we move on next on the list. As &Made does not take reservation, we decided to come in early, just in case there are a queue. Luckily, there was no queue and we were seated immediately. G & I decided to order The 3 Little Pigs ($23), Little Devil ordered The Rossini ($28), G's hubby, 'H' ordered The 'B' Burger Lunch Set and Little C have Mini Beef Cheeseburger($10).

The 3 Little Pigs are made from combination of pork fillet, bacon and chorizo patty. Inspired by Japanese flavour, it is topped with spicy yuzu-kosho mayonnaise, shitake and cabbage. The patty is tender, juicy and quite generous in size. While the spicy yuzu mayonnaise give a subtle kick when you bite into the burger. The brioche bun has the nice texture and flavour to complement the burger. This pork burger is definitely comparable the beef counterpart. Each of the burger come with fries and homemade BBQ Sauce. LD's Rossini is actually in a different class compare to ours. The dry aged beef patties are topped with French pan seared foie gras. It might look very simple but when you bit into it, the perfectly cooked foie gras just melts in your mouth and become the delicious creamy sauce for the beef patties. A definite must try, Yummy!!! For the set lunch, it came with salad and sundae. The salad is quite a simple garden salad with a vinaigrette dressing. The comment from H about his burger is quite good, while little C enjoyed her Mini Cheeseburger. The sundaes are delicious, as both sundaes are polished clean by the father and daughter. While the burgers are delicious and a must try, there are consistency need to be address. We actually send back two of the fries as it were overcooked. Taste wise, it is quite ordinary and lose its crispiness before the end of our meal. The &made BBQ sauce does help on enhance the flavour though.

The drinks can be on the pricey side, however the taste is quite good especially on the &Made Lemonade ($8) and Iced Choco Coffee ($8).The service side needed some improvement. Although the service staff are polite, it seems they are out of their depth and inexperienced. When we want to change the drink in the set menu, different staff give different answer on the additional charge that we need to pay. When we asked for ketchup from one of the service staff that deliver the burger, he answered “we don't serve ketchup, we only have homemade tomato sauce!” A very informative answer but might lead to a misunderstanding such as putting down the customer.

Ambiance of the restaurant is French, bright, fun and playful. My first impression remind me of one of the scene from the Movie Moulin Rouge (starring Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor). There are the options of indoor and outdoor seating as well. Overall, we really enjoy our dining experience with Chef Bruno burgers creation. We just hope that it can be more consistent in its delivery and service. We look forward to our next visit here to try his other creation such as his waffle and desserts. Cheers!!

For the complete Chubby Botak Koala dining experience, click / copy the below link to your browser:
http://www.chubbybotakkoala.com/2014/02/by-bruno-menard-every-day-food-gourmet.html

Tuesday & Thursday Night buffet at The Line is one of the most salivating event in the Singaporean Buffet Lover diary. We frequented The Line a few times in the past, specially savour their popular generous servings of Harvest from the Sea, on special occasion such as friends' birthday, gathering or Christmas Party. However, we have not been here more more than 1.5 years.

As per normal, we started with the line-up for the fresh seafood. The main attraction is basically the huge oysters that are freshly shuck (open) in front of you, the lobsters, crabs and prawns. These crustaceans are fresh and solid, while the prawns are juicy and bouncy as well. The mussels and scallops come second in terms of freshness and size compare to the oyster and lobster. Confession, I went back 3 times for the oyster, lobster, lobster claw. Next come the sashimi section, in which we feast on the salmon, yellow tail, scallops, tuna and octopus. The sashimi is fresh, especially the scallops, however the tuna and salmon is quite small in size and not to the best quality. You can say that it is quite limited, I miss my swordfish and Little Devil ('LD') miss her sea urchin. For the antipasti and salads section, we were looking for our favourite dish of prosciutto with rock melon, to our disappointment, it was not available. Shaved beef with rock melon was on offer menu tonight. Sadly, the shaved beef did not pair well with the rock melon. Taste quite odd actually. Keeping up with the Marine Harvest Buffet theme, they have Seafood Bouillabaisse as the centre piece of the cook food section. (Normally they have roast beef or lamb, which I loved here) This seafood stew filled with fresh scallops, prawns, mussels and fish. Unfortunately not many people appreciate this dish that night, but it got my seal of approval. They provide bread on the side for you to soak up the rich broth with a distinctive saffron flavour, and although this dish was left outside quite long, the seafood was not overcooked. So two thumbs up for them. Moving on, I decided to sample some of their International, Asian and Local dishes. The pizza here normally has a good standard. Tonight they serve salami pizza, with they portion it to a very small slices so we can have more space for other food. The crust is thin, fillings are generous, salami and cheese is just delicious with a subtle spicy kick. The local dishes like the Tandoori Prawn, Tandoori Fish and Fried Kway Teow are very average. The prawn and fish is well seasoned but overcooked. Making it taste a bit though. While the Fried Kway Teow surprisingly has Wok Hei (breath of the wok) and flavourful, quite good for buffet standard.

At this point, Chubby Botak Koala food tank is 90% full, but the I just can resist the temptation of a good roast pork. So decided to check out the noodle and roast meat section. Ordered a plate of Roast pork and roast duck combination. Again, turns out to be average. The roast pork although it is not to fat, it lacks the crispiness bite into it. The roast duck is meat is slightly dry, but it is flavourful. A little disappointing. To end the meal, I was served a surprise (my first for the many to come) birthday cake, arrange by G&H with the complement of The Line. A very nice solid chocolate cake. I had a tiny slice of it, since it is my birthday cake, and at the end it is the best desserts for the night. To accompany this, I have the wonderful smooth, milky and airy Kopi Tarik from The Line Barista. It is impossible to try all the dishes in The Line, as their variety are in abundance. Located at Level 1 (Lobby is at Level 2), the place is always packed all year around weather it is with hotel guests or just people coming in for the food. The one thing I like the most here in terms of seating is the space between tables. They do not squeeze the seating until you need to bump to each other to get in and out of your table.

Service speed when clearing the dirty plates can be slow at time, especially when it is full house. However when you order your drinks or when you manage to get the service staff attention, they always serve with a smile.

Overall, it has been a while since our last visit to The Line more than a year ago, I personally feel the quality of the food is slipping. The desserts and Asian food is just average and let just say I expect them to be above average. I just wish that The Line team can look into this and make the necessary adjustment. Thank you very much to our best friends G&H for arranging the dinner and delicious birthday cake. Cheers!!

For the complete Chubby Botak Koala dining experience, click / copy the link below to your browser:
http://www.chubbybotakkoala.com/2013/12/2013-bday-episode-1-line-marine-harvest.html

River South (Hoe Nam) Prawn Noodle ('RSPN') is one of the most highly rated Prawn Noodle / Mee place in Singapore. A quick google will find that there are lots of glowing reviews of this establishment. This place can be consider as an 'almost' 24 hours eatery. The reason being that it is run in 2 shifts. The morning/afternoon shift is run by the sisters from the stall in middle part of the coffee shop, while at night to the wee hours in the morning, the brother run the front stall. Quite a unique arrangement. On our first visit, we went during the day around 1PM. Although it was raining, the coffee shop was packed. We need to wait a while for a table to be available. There are two ladies in the store calling the shots. One of them responsible for taking the order and the other to check if the order is completed properly. Little Devil ('LD') ordered for me the Prawn Noodle with Clams ($7), while she had the medium size Big Prawn Noodle ($5). Normally I would prefer pork ribs, but they run out of it that day. The broth looks light in colour with a slight cloudiness. First sip of the broth, you can taste the sweetness of the prawns and pork bones. The prawns are fresh while the yellow noodle is still crunchy. We normally like to mix the noodle with bee hoon, as bee hoon is better in absorbing the broth. The clams on mine is sweet, springy and resilient. Although we find the prawn noodle is good, we don't think that it is that fantastic as reviewed by many bloggers. The broth seems to be diluted, not robust enough. Some of the prawns are overcooked. We are puzzled on where the hype is coming from.Unsatisfied with the previous tasting and unfulfilled Prawn Mee cravings, LD decided we need to give it another try. This time around we went there for supper. The stall are run by all male crew. We had Big Prawn & Sliced Pork ($7); and Abalone Clams, Prawn, Pork Ribs, Pig Tails and Intestines ($12). From the first sight, the soup looks similar. Clear with a slight cloudiness in it. For the taste part, it is so much better, very robust and full of flavour. The prawns are fresh although it is still overcooked, the pork ribs and tails are tender and the small intestines are clean. For the noodles, we combine the yellow noodle with bee hoon. The bee hoon absorbs the broth better and carry it well with every slurp of the noodle. We actually very tempted to ask for a top up of the broth. Yummyy!As this is coffee shop and self service, we won't comment would say no more about those service topics.

Overall, we find the Prawn Noodle at night is better compare to the morning version. The broth in the evening is just more robust. You can tell that the Prawn Mee has a lot of similarity, however this time around the execution in the evening is just much better. Cheers!!!

Food: 7/10 (morning), 9/10 (evening)

For the complete Chubby Botak Koala dining experience, click / copy the link below to your browser:
http://www.chubbybotakkoala.com/2013/12/river-south-hoe-nam-prawn-noodle-two.html

Little Pancakes is a popular establishment along Upper Thomson Road that specialised in mini pancakes. The name of the shop itself already describe what they are making inside. Minions... ooopss I meant mini pancakes. We visited this place after a friend's birthday dinner in an Indian Restaurant nearby. Filled with curry, naan and basmanti rice, we decided we want something sweet and a cuppa just to settle the tummy. The pancakes menu can be divided into three categories: Sweet, Savoury and Asian. For the ice cream they use the brand 'New Zealand Ice Cream'.If this is the first time you are here (just like us), this photo should be able to help you.I ordered Going Nutella For You ($8.20), which have about 10 mini pancakes, Nutella, chocolate ice cream, chocolate chips, wafer cubes, butter and maple syrup. The plating is creative and gorgeous, all the components look fun and appetizing. The mini pancakes are about bite size, and goes well with nutella, ice-cream and light clear maple syrup. Little Devil ('LD') ordered Simple and Sweet ($6.50). A classic way to enjoy pancakes, with butter, maple syrup and icing sugar.Although the pancakes are delicious, we do think that there are some areas that can be improved. The texture of the pancakes need to be more consistent, as some of them are quite dry and make it hard to swallow. They can be more generous with the portion maple syrup. We paid extra for the maple syrup, but it wasn't even filled up to the brim.For coffee lover like myself, you will like the artisanal coffee here. I was actually attracted by their funky coffee machine before I decided on the latte. The latte is smooth, bold but with slight acidity after taste. A good coffee indeed. The décor of the place can look simple, however it is all about having fun at this place. Service is minimal, it is all about DIY here starting from placing your order, getting water and cutlery, with the exception for making the pancakes and drinks.Overall, if you are looking for pancakes, do give Little Pancake a try. They might not be the best, but their fun atmosphere here is just so refreshing. Pricing is very reasonable. Cheers!

For full review and more photos, please visit
http://www.chubbybotakkoala.com/2013/12/little-pancakes-cute-mini-and-chubby.html

Benvenuto! (Welcome in Italian.) The motto of Peperoni Pizzeria, from Les Amis Group. Peperoni @ Frankel is the third branch of Peperoni when they expand their dough kneading adventure to the east side of Singapore.

This is actually our first visit to the east branch. We were looking for a place to catch up with our friends D&C, and after shortlisting a few restaurants, we decided on Peperoni. As it was on Monday night, we manage to find parking at the roadside with ease. Once we start chatting, D&C told us that they had Peperoni at Suntec the night before with their family, however, since the pizza is good, they don't mind to have another round.

Peperoni @ Frankel looks very casual and Italian. The colours of Italian national flags of green, white and red are well represented in the establishment. The entrance is painted in green, the walls are painted in white, while the chairs and wood fire oven are red. Both the chairs and wood fire oven are so eye catching, you won't miss them.For starters, we decided on Prosciutto Crudo di Parma & Melone ($18), Mozzarella Fasciatta Con Prosciutto ($18), and Wedges ($8). Prosciutto Crudo di Parma & Melone is the traditional pairing of Prosciutto di parma and rock melon. The combination of salty and sweet from these two ingredients are just irresistible. The Prosciutto flavour is just intense, multi layer but the best part it just melts in your mouth. The rock melon is a bit small in size though. Mozzarella Fasciatta Con Prosciutto is pan fried mozzarella wrapped with Parma ham. The prosciutto is cover the chewy but soft mozzarella nicely and has a crispy texture from the pan fried. The glaze of balsamic vinegar on top of it, just seal the deal. It helps to counter the intense saltiness from prosciutto while bind the whole ingredients together, especially with the rocket salad. Big thumb-up from LD.The wedges has a crispy texture on coating, with a nice seasoning and soft on the inside. Served with mayonnaise as a dipping sauce although sour cream will taste better with it. Actually a good food for the little ones if they don't like pizza.For the pizzas, we ordered 2 large pizzas of half and half ($24 each). The first combination is Fungi & Margerita - Button, shitake & porcini mushrooms; Mozzarella 'di bufala', cherry tomatoes, basil and oregano. The pizza base is thin and crispy. The toppings are generous combine with cheese and tomato sauce is just create a juicy toppings. The fungi and margerita pizza just allow its natural ingredients to speak for it self. The second combination is Pancetta & Prosciutto Crudo di Parma - cured bacon, sliced tomatoes and egg; Parma ham and rocket salad. This pizza has more intense salty flavour because of the cured meat. The egg and rocket salad on each size of the pizza helps to counter the saltiness, but this combination just 'scream' meat, cured meat & meat; and I simply love it. Satisfied with the mains, we took our time before we move to desserts. Creme Brulee ($9) and Tortino al Cioccolato ($13) - rich molten valrhona chocolate cake served with strawberry ice cream.

The crème brulee has a nice thin layer of caramelized sugar. The custard however is more dense in texture which constrain us to taste full taste of the custard. For the Tortino, it is actually suppose to come with vanilla ice cream, however they are kind enough to switch ours to strawberry. The molten chocolate cake is overcook, no chocolate ooze out when we cut through the cake. Meanwhile, the strawberry ice cream with the walnut crust was just superb to compensate the disappointing chocolate cake. If you are looking for a non alcoholic drink, give Gunner ($7) a try. The combination of Ginger Ale, Ginger Beer and Agostura Bitter is just refreshing.

Considering this is a Les Amis group establishment, there are works needed to be done on their the service side. During the dinner we were served by two service staff, one of them is very friendly and attentive, while the other was just grumpy with a don't care attitude. Hopefully, they can deliver more consistent service standard. After all, they are the Les Amis Group.

Overall, when it come to Entrees and Pizzas, they are almost faultless. This has been the case in their other establishment as well. The desserts need some fine tuning, but the ice cream is just great. All we can say, if you are looking for a good pizza, Peperoni is one of the place. Saluti! Cheers!

For the complete Chubby Botak Koala Dining experience, click / copy the link below to your browser:
http://www.chubbybotakkoala.com/2013/11/peperoni-all-they-knead-is-love.html