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Senso Ristorante & Bar, Club Street’s favorite Italian restaurant turns 14 this year and i must say it's a feat in our dynamic food scene! To celebrate this milestone, a Best of Senso’s Signatures menu is put together for this occasion. From 1 to 31 July only, sample popular dishes from over the years and also taste exclusive dishes from Senso’s international outlets.
The Manzo ($32), Beef Tartare, Roquette & Parmesan, Olive Oil, Chervil and Roasted Potatoes, was a sell-out dish in Crans Montana when it was introduced in 2010. Love the tender and well flavored meat.
The menu also features the Sogliola From Mediterranean, Dover Sole Meuniere with Orange Zest, Rucola and Ripened Tomatoes, a special dish from Senso’s outpost in Geneva. Only the Dover Sole is used, the preferred fish for an authentic Sole Meuniere and also the use of oranges from Sicily for that added authenticity.
We also had a mini olive oil tasting during the meal and that wonderfully aged (12 years) Balsamic vinegar that tasted like honey. It was amazing with the freshly baked breads.
The other dishes are from the Singapore menu. The Green Asparagus and Morels Soup (Singapore 2005) $24 was a light and refined soup, perhaps a little too delicate for my liking.
The Risotto (Singapore, 2006) $36, was probably the favorite dish of the night. The salty and creamy risotto paired simply with sweet and succulent grilled tiger prawns. While fresh zucchini flowers from Italy were used in the dish, i found it doing little to complement the already perfect combination. In fact, the fried flowers tasted oily and a little stale.
Premium NZ Lamb Rack (Singapore, 2011) $44. The lamb was cooked to perfection with a nice pink center and was good on its own. The olive crust came served as a disk by the side instead and was a little too dry and crumbly.
We ended our meal with a deconstructed Tiramisu Revisito (Singapore, 2011) $22. This was specially created by Executive Chef Yves Schmid in 2011. So there's coffee mousse, homemade mascarpone ice-cream with Savoiardi biscotto and coffee milkshake. Good flavors but give me a traditional tiramisu with all that richness anytime.
All dishes on the menu are available a la carte, but diners looking for a heartier meal can opt for the three, four or five course menus that start from $88. Wine pairing is also available.
The Senso experience was lovely as usual and i really love the atrium section where you get to dine under the stars but in comfort. Great place for a romantic date with your significant other.

Kimchi is a brand new Korean restaurant offering authentic flavors along with regional favourites from Busan and Andong. It's guaranteed authentic because Executive Chef Choi Minchul and his all-Korean team of chefs are behind the delicious creations.
Do not expect free side dishes at Kimchi because the cute boss Hayden doesn't want to hide the cost in the price of your meal. The portions are also healthier sized and more affordable than the usual Korean restaurants.
The Andong Jjimdak ($15) was a satisfying hot pot of braised boneless chicken thighs marinated in Korean light soy sauce. This dish is inspired by Chef Choi’s own family recipe. Be careful not to inhale any of the sauce! The fresh green chilli pepper called cheongyang gochu (청양고추) has a ghost chili kinda silent burn that will get to you if you're not careful. The dish also had a nice smoky sesame oil taste as well. Diners can also enjoy this unique dish in the form of a chicken dolsot bap or as a marinated option for Korean barbeque. Must order!
I rather enjoyed the Pork Dolsot Bap ($12), which had a well balanced flavor as they did not add those cloying red sauce to the rice.
The Kimchi Soup ($9.80) was prepared as a jigae instead of a guk which is a thicker broth with a rich, deep flavour. Stir-fried with pork, the kimchi is left to simmer and enrich the accompanying broth. The spicy concoction is very addictive and reminded me of the one i had in Korea.
For a lighter and healthier option, i highly recommend the Ginseng Chicken Juk ($12). Chef Choi prepares chicken stock the day before and selects premium Korean ginseng and Chinese herbs such as dang gui, kamcho (Korean licorice), and red dates to simmer with Korean rice. I love how there is a light sweetness from the dates. S promised to buy this for me every time i fall sick. Yay! Super comfort food i must say.
Kimchi also offers Korean barbeque where built-in electric grills allow diners to grill their food without smelling of smoke. Choose from a selection of premium meats which include the delicious Wagyu short ribs [$29 non-marinated; $29.50 marinated. I'm definitely coming back for this.
From the dessert menu, Kimchi offers a native Busan street snack called Hodduk ($9), a light, fluffy and slightly crisp hotcake stuffed with red bean paste and topped with nuts and Korean black sugar syrup. I couldn't ask for a better end to the meal. Kimchi also serves an afternoon tea set ($16.80) daily from 2 to 5.30pm and it comes together with tea and handmade Korean ice cream.
Kimchi Korean Restaurant is easily my favorite Korean restaurant in Singapore at this point. Yes it has overtaken Togi as my favorite now. Head on down for some really awesome Korean food now.

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OZ is a really (really) small outfit but it provides a wide variety of beans from Brazil, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Indonesia, Thailand etc. Pacamara Coffee Roaster beans are used here.
You know they are serious about their coffee with the arsenal of brewing products on sale. Japanese Kalita home brewing products are available here and other commercial coffee equipment as well.
I had the House Blend latte which had notes of milk chocolate, ripe fruits, roasted nuts with mild floral hints. It's mellow and smooth. Go for this if you want something strong.
Light bites are also on offer, including waffles (from $7) and sandwiches (from $8.50). Their breakfast dishes look run-of-the-mill though. I spied on the next table's scrambled eggs, which seemed runny enough but everything else was just heated/pan friend and thrown in I guess.
What you must definitely have is OZ's Belgium waffles! I swear it was actually a compressed croissant masquerading as a waffle. I died and went to waffle heaven when I bit into the dense buttery pastry (yes I can call it that!). The browned parts had a puff pastry exterior while the inside had the pull of a well made croissant. And that salted caramel was rich and thick without being cloying. Commercially produced New Zealand Natural vanilla ice cream was paired with it but even that didn't take its shine away. Ok NZ Natural isn't that bad I guess (there could be worse).
So go forth and have the insanely delicious waffles with a cuppa. It's the best Belgian waffles I've had so far.

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This new cafe on Neil Road is the offspring of Sarnies, another crazy packed cafe that I've yet to try (ZOMG call myself a food blogger).
Well The Lokal checked off all the boxes on the hipster cafe checklist and they even went as far as to throw in a $40k Slayer machine. Oh that sexy beast took me on an intense ride with his latte ($5.50) and I must say it was all very smooth. And a little nutty too. The beans are from Sarnies and they have their barista consultant, affectionately known as the K Man, who is overseeing the coffee making for now.
Many would go for the signature Veal Schnitzel Burger ($28) served with a tangy grilled pineapple and red slaw but we skipped that because chunky chips weren't available that day! Instead, i opted for the Roast Beef on Rye ($17). The sandwich was a combination of perfectly caramelized onion and thinly sliced sautéed beef. The flavors were a little sweet and could be sharpened with a stronger mustard than the current grain mustard crème fraiche. It was a good roast beef sandwich nonetheless.
The Roast Chicken Panini ($15) was good too. The filling included huge juicy slices of fresh tomato (not the cheapo Malaysian sort), copious amount of avocado mash, crispy pancetta and salty roast chicken meat. The bread was our favorite among the lot of sandwiches we had, partly because it's a little more pillowy and chewy.
A healthier option is the Smashed Avocado with Ricotta Sourdough ($18). The ricotta is made in house, along with their yogurt as well. It was simply topped with some pomelo and almonds, drizzled with olive oil. I liked the separate components of the dish but it came together rather plainly. A touch of honey could make this a better dish in my opinion but that's just my preference.
I was looking forward to the Banana bread with Hokey Pokey ice cream ($12) but was sorely disappointed when I bit into the soggy bread cloyingly soaked by the citrusy syrup. We wondered where the ice cream went to as well (i swear i didn't take forever to grab a shot). Instead we had a sour cream sorta mixture on our dish. I couldn't bear more than a full bite of this one but K had no issue finishing it for us.
Overall, The Lokal is a decent place for a hearty sandwich and it's probably going to be really packed on the weekends. A little bird told me that the Sarnies people are gonna be opening another cafe soon so do watch out for them!

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Sip on the Melbournian Axil Coffee Roaster beans pulled by Sarah Jane (formerly from Immigrants) or E-gene (who pulled his way around MEL). Coffee is little acidic with medium finish. My latte wasn't quite full bodied or milky though. While it's not quite my style, it was sufficient in packing a punch to last me through my afternoon meeting. Coffee is priced between $3 to $6.50.
OMC also stocks B.A.O's pastries. I simply love Christophe's croissants, well the French makes the best croissants! The Chocolate pain is also amazing. Get them to heat it up for that crispy flakiness. Better still, have them with honey ham and melted cheese ($6). Cakes are also available and I was seduced by a Salted Caramel Banana Cake.
For something a little more than sweets, OMC does all-day-breakfast with a lean but mean menu, all of which come out of a pizza oven! Talk about easy to make but delicious food here!
Love the description of the Gashouse Egg aka Toad in hole aka Egg-in-the-bread-with-the-hole-in-the-middle ($10). It's more of a snack I feel. I really do have a monster appetite for breakfast food. The dish is really simple, they really do just make a hole in the fluffy brioche, crack an egg in, top with cheese and into the oven it goes. Almost a croque madame.
Really there's no need to be fancy for brekkie when the ingredients are good (hello ooooozy yolk). What's special is that bacon jam which is smoky, meaty and sweet. I could do with a thick layer of that in the toast anytime. Satisfying flavors, a little dry on the edges, not so satisfying portion but that helps save space for other food.
The Broiche French Toast ($10) is another popular item and it looked freaking amazing with the homemade berry compote, candied walnuts and fresh cream. Of course the dust of sugary white completes the instagram worthy picture.
OMC is a great alternative to the super packed Habitat Coffee which I failed to visit TWICE! Well I guess I'll just have to explore the rest of the Thomson cafés until Habitat becomes less crowded. Anyhoo, great vibe at One Man Coffee but do go early or be prepared to wait as well due to the extremely small space.

For more reviews, visit www.ms-skinnyfat.com