It seems like many people are very excited about the arrival of Caffebene, a South Korean cafe chain, in Singapore, considering the number of times I've been seeing pictures of the food and drinks there on various social media platforms. Pardon me for being ignorant but even though I've heard of the brand before, I've never tried it in South Korea so I don't feel the hype or get what it is all about. Nor am I a fan of bingsu (similar to our local ice-kacang in a sense) which is said to be one of the biggest selling points of Caffebene. It certainly does look appealing but the portion size is indeed daunting for a person to finish especially in this season when it rains almost every afternoon. Last but not least, as for the coffee which Caffebene takes great pride in, it will probably never win me over because of the fact that I don't drink coffee at all.

So why did I go there anyway if there was no strong pull factor in the first place? Well, let's just say that I was being curious. Hearing people rave all about it, I thought that it was only right to pop in for a visit and see if it really is as good as it seems. Knowing that it will probably be a long wait on weekends, I deliberately chose a weekday afternoon to visit the first outlet at Vivocity. Much as I would expect the place to be crowded as it is the school holidays now, about 95% full on a weekday afternoon with office workers, tai-tais, families with kids and teenagers forming the bulk of the customers is really not my idea of a chill-out cafe.

Before I visited the cafe, I did some research online to see what kind of items it offers on its menu. In the food department, there are waffles, honeybread, gelato and bingsu while for drinks, there are coffee, frappeno and non-alcoholic cocktails to choose from. However, when I was at the cafe, there were also cakes and sandwiches that were not mentioned on the site so I'm not sure if these will be offered all the time. Based on the selection so far, this looks like a place which I'll probably swing by for desserts after the main meal rather than have a full course meal at.Currently, there is a promotional discount of 20% off for beverages to celebrate the opening of the cafe. I chose the cold peppermint tea which was rather refreshing and not too sweet to go with the dessert.

As for the dessert, I chose the walnut-base waffle with Korean rice cake which came with some walnuts and a generous portion of soybean powder sprinkled over the waffle along with some almonds and walnuts. The aroma of the waffle was very noticeable from the moment it was handed over at the counter and further accentuated by the soybean powder. Much as I don't really like the thick and dense waffle, I thought it was still done pretty nicely and tasted good without the usual accompanying syrup or ice cream. The rice cake had a red bean filling and due to the heat from the waffle, became really soft and easy to chew. Surprisingly, the rice cake went well with the waffle despite being vastly different types of desserts. My only grouse is that the soybean powder kept falling onto my clothes with each mouthful of this dessert so be sure to shake the excess powder off to prevent this from happening.

In conclusion, would I go back to this cafe again? Well, the crowds can be rather intimidating and I certainly don't fancy sitting in a noisy cafe to relax. Having said that, I thought that they had a few items which I'm pretty interested in so I may just return for the sake of trying them out on a day when the hype has sort of settled and I won't have to jostle for space with the other customers. The issue is, going by the crowds I saw, it doesn't look like it will happen anytime soon which is definitely good news for the cafe.

Was looking for a place to grab a quick bite in the forever crowded Orchard area and happened to see that there was no queue outside of Menya Musashi (it was about 20 minutes to 6pm on a Saturday evening). Wanting to satisfy our hunger quickly, we headed in and ordered the usual fare we would have in ramen places.First up was the gyoza which was juicy and lightly grilled on one side. I think the volume of the filling and the size of the gyoza was just nice. One thing which needs improvement should be that it needs a bit more time on the grilled side to make it more crispy.As for the white tora ramen, the noodles were OK but the soup was a little too salty and oily to my liking. The char siew was pretty big but then it didn't feel as tender as I would have wanted it to be.

I've not tried the other Menya Musashi outlets but just purely based on what I've tasted, I think the ramen here is decent but I probably would not want to queue up for it. I may return only if the restaurant is not jam-packed.

I usually walk by this place and see people enjoying their food and drinks in the alfresco setting but I didn't really like the idea of being subjected to the fumes from the heavy traffic along Orchard Road while baking in the heat. During one Saturday evening, a friend suggested eating here since other places seem to be having very long queues so we ended up here and managed to grab one of the last few tables or else we had to queue again.

First up was the shellfish bisque which was full of seafood freshness and flavours but not to the extent of being overwhelming. I have tasted versions which tend to be a bit strong on the fishy taste so this should be quite acceptable to most people.The lychee smoothie was good in the sense that it took away the heat felt due to the lack of aircon and wasn't too sweet.As for the honey glazed chicken, there isn't a lot to say about it since I felt that it was just so-so. I couldn't taste which part of it was "honey glazed" and the chicken felt a bit dry so this wasn't very satisfactory in my opinion.

For a detailed review with more photos, please visit here: http://shokushisouseikatsu.blogspot.sg/2013/01/chiso-zanmai-central.html

Chiso Zanmai offers a Japanese buffet where the spread is changed monthly and usually focuses on a specific place or region of Japan. If I remember correctly, the theme was Okinawa when I visited the restaurant. On the whole, this is a good place to taste local delicacies of various regions in Japan at a pretty low price. On the other hand, it was a series of hits and misses for me as I found that some items were lacking while some did impress me. It pretty much depends on your personal preferences and expectations as to whether you would enjoy your meal here.

We needed to find a place to grab a quick bite before class but since it was a Saturday evening, queues were forming outside almost every restaurant. It just so happened that we happened to spot some empty tables inside of Domani and thought we might be able to finish dinner there quickly. Unfortunately, this is definitely not the place you want to be at when you are rushing for time. Service started off a bit slower than expected when plain water was not served even asking for it three times. I can understand if the restaurant was packed but it wasn't when we were there so it was obvious that the staff seemed a bit overwhelmed.

My first dish was a Spanish tapas which I had tasted before in Barcelona and really liked but sad to say, Domani's version was a disappointment. The prawns were not as fresh as I thought and the seasoning really paled in comparison. Fortunately, the seafood linguine was slightly better and helped Domani redeem itself. The linguine was nicely cooked but the sauce felt a tad too sourish due to the tomatoes so it affected how the seafood tasted.

In all, my conclusion is, if you are in a rush, this place is not for you since you might get frustrated by the waiting time for your food. Prices felt a bit steep compared to the level of service and quality of food I got. If you manage to visit this place at a not-so-busy time and can afford to sit around for a while, I think you might enjoy Domani better than I did.