Friday, January 25, 2013

Han @ Odeon Towers


Located at Odeon Towers, Han is a high-end Japanese restaurant. And this restaurant specializes in one thing which is seldom found in Singapore - Kushikatsu, which is skewers of seafood, vegetable or meat coated with breadcrumbs and deep fried till crispy.

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Started our dinner with Appetizer (S$15) : Grilled fish with vinegar, pickle with cheese, kohada sushi, black bean, octopus and daikon. They are all seasonal ingredients.

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Ordered the Kushi Omakase (S$160 per person), plus so extras which I have indicated their ala carte prices. Sitting along the counter allows you to see the chef in action.

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AS the menu put it, the dishes here have influences from Osaka (Japan), Korea and China. It's basically a fusion of East Asia tastes.

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Ohmi beef 近江牛 carpaccio (S$55) - Really superb quality beef.

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Had our fresh sashimi platter: Flounder, amberjack, salmon, tuna, pan shell (Sashimi Ikoma - S$45)

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Now, we get ready for our freshly fried skewers. Here are the sauces for Kushikatsu

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FIrst up are the Angel prawn and snow crab

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Lotus root and scallop

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Chef is preparing more Kushikatsu Sea eel & shellfish. We really like the taste of the kushikatsu, as who doesn't like fried food? And the best part is that it is not oily.

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Look how beautiful this dish is: Red breams boiled in soya sauce (Kinmedai Nitsuke - S$25)

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Cha soba

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Grilled amberjack ( Kanpachi Shioyaki - S$25)

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We were served so many skewers, that we lost count of what is what. But safe to say that everything was excellent.

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Smelt fish, tomato with cream cheese and dried tomato paste

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With so much fried food, it is best to order a soupy dish to balance it. Here we have the Yosenabe (S$35)

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Ended our dinner with Black sesame ice Monaka (S$6)

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and also the refreshing Yuzu sorbet


Han
331 North Bridge Road
#01-04
Odeon Towers


Tuesday, January 22, 2013

SunnyHills @ Raffles Hotel Arcade


For those who have been to Taiwan and has been dreaming about their Taiwan version of pineapple tarts, you can now get it here at Raffles Hotel, at a shop named SunnyHills. The pineapple tarts are all made in Taiwan, and flown in daily to Singapore.

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The shop has been here for like 1 to 2 years, and they used some of the top ingredients (like Pineapple from a mountain in Taiwan, and New Zealand pure butter) to make their giant pineapple tart, which weights almost 50g per piece.

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Most of their clients are Japanese.

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Each piece of the pineapple tart (S$13.80 for 6) is packed in a cute packaging. The shop serves a cup of organic oolong tea.

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As you can see, the pineapple are not your usual pineapple jam kind, but real pineapple "meat" stuffed inside the buttery pastry crust. Something to consider for the looming Lunar New Year.


SunnyHills
328 North Bridge Road
#03-05
Raffles Hotel Arcade

Sunday, January 20, 2013

DB Bistro Moderne @ The Shoppes Marina Bay Sands


Weekday nights are usually quiet nights at the Marina Bay Sands, and it is easy to get a table at one of its restaurants without any bookings.

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Made my way to the DB Bistro Moderne. Restaurant was quite packed, but still there were seats available for walk ins. Assorted warm bread rolls were served at each table.

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Flipping through the menu, deciding what to eat.

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Had the Monsieur Agave (S$25) - Don Julio Tequila, fresh orange & lemon juice shaken with cane syrup topped with late bottled vintage Port

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Started off with a pair of oysters - Creuse & Royal oysters (S$17)

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Condiments for oysters

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Wanted something warm due to the cold weather, and had the Patta Negra Jamon Consommé (S$25) - Artichoke & foie gras ravioli, root vegetables, black truffle

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For mains, I had the Roasted Nantucket Bay scallop (S$42) - Truffle pomme purée, roasted Bluefoot mushroom, crispy leek, chicken jus. Enjoyed the mashed potatoes.
 
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Saw this unique dessert, and decided to try it. Nougat Madarin (S$15) - Nougat mousse, pistachios, white chocolate foam, mandarin sorbet

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No meal at DB Bistro Moderne is complete without trying their wonderful Freshly baked Madeline. It usually comes complimentary during dinner time, and I like how crisp it is on the outside, and warm and fluffy in the inside.


DB Bistro Moderne
10 Bayfront Avenue
#B1-48
The Shoppes Marina Bay Sands


Friday, January 18, 2013

Hai Tien Lo Cantonese Restaurant @ Pan Pacific Singapore


Over the weekends, visited the newly revampled Pac Pacific Hotel over at Marina Square area. The hotel has been revamped, including the Hai Tien Lo restaurant.

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The renovation was done up nicely at Pan Pacific.

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The iconic revolving Chinese restaurant at top floor has been relocated to 3rd floor. Too bad. No more nice Marina Bay view

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Guests can now wait here at this lounge area while their tables are being prepared.

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You can see the interior of the hotel from the restaurant.

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First up was the Baked chicken and mushroom with mango tart (S$5.20). Crust was buttery.

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Deep fried prawn fritter with wasabi mayo sauce (S$5.20)

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We ordered the Steamed prawn dumpling with coriander (S$6.20). Not bad.

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Char Siew buns (S$2.80)

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Steamed pork dumpling with black caviar (S$6.20) - By now, Siew Mai with caviar is quite a norm in many restaurants.
 
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Soup of the day : Black fungus, pork ribs, chicken and Japanese yam (S$12 per person)

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For our mains, we had seafood and pork. First was the Fillet of sea perch steamed with green minced ginger and wolfberries (S$18 per person)

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and the Sea perch fillet : Japanese style BBQ with honey (S$18 per person)

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For the pork ribs, we ordered the Deep Fried Spare Ribs with Chef's special sauce (S$10 per person).

Overall, we find the food here rather average.


Hai Tien Lo Cantonese Restaurant
Pan Pacific Singapore
Level 3
7 Raffles Boulevard

Friday, January 11, 2013

Oriole Coffee Roasters @ Jiak Chuan Road


After our brunch at Keong Saik Snacks, we ventured further up to Jiak Chuan Road, and found this really cool looking cafe called Oriole Coffee Roasters.

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We were pleasantly surprised when we entered the cafe.

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It was like a trip back to the 80s. Although the coffee here were made with high tech equipment, but the buzz and feel here is rather 80s.

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I am sure most locals would have seen or used these things during those days.

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We had the Nutella Toasts (S$2.50), and it was easily one of the best toasts we had in recent times. The bread used was really soft and was toasted till crispy in the outside, and moist in the inside. They were also very generous with the nutella.

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We were attracted by the weird name - Fizzy Bandung (S$3). It turned out to be a great choice. It was basically sparkling bandung, but was rather milky.

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Unfortunately, we were disappointed with the Banana Walnut Teacake (S$2.50). Perhaps they should warm it up before serving. But we love the plates, and I am sure most people would have seen this design before.

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One of their signature coffee drink here - Taisho Milk with Ice (S$6.50). The staffs told us that the coffee beans had to go through some special process to extract the coffee flavours,

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A selection of retro style cup cakes on sale in the cafe.


Oriole Coffee Roasters
10 Jiak Chuan Road