Supply & Demand

This week for Saturyay I finally got to meet Vain Pot after work has kinda overwhelmed us. The month of August hasn't been my favourite month but it also marks the beginning of a new project I've just embarked on... so exciting times ahead! This week, I wanted to go to the National Design Centre to see the lego exhibition there but heard the queue is more than 2 hours! Then there's the Night Festival at the National Museum but I heard it's spilling with human traffic. I think I'll stick to food... seems safer!

Supply & Demand is known for Italian Casual Dining. I've shortlisted them since last year but never got round to trying them out so I'm really glad I finally did! It's also great they have a constant stream of business but their venue is big enough that there's always pockets of seats around which doesn't require much waiting time. On a weekend in the heart of town, it's awesome!

I wanted to order a feast but Vain Pot stopped me. Thankfully she did, I'm really getting rounder. We kicked started our meal with garlic truffle fries ($17) one of their specialties. Truffle seems very popular in this place, the entire place was oozing of truffle aroma. We found the fries to be very generous, sufficiently garlicky with salsa and tartar dips to satisfy you in every way fathomable. The truffle wasn't overwhelming, in fact, some may find it insufficient. I'm not a fan of truffle so I didn't mind. I liked the potato cuts which were chunky and not overly soft or crispy. Just right!

We had a very late lunch thanks to Vain Pot's uber that took an hour to send her over and my work schedule. Hence we tried our best not to over-order. We shared a tasting portion of the Al Granchio ($20) which was made of crab meat, aglio olio, cherry tomatoes, capsicum and white wine. It was very rich in flavour and the portion is just right if you are eating other stuff. I enjoyed the tangy spiciness which wasn't overwhelming and it wasn't too oily unlike some aglio olios. The crab meat flavours gelled well with the white wine making the dish very addictive to eat.

We also ordered the Truffle and Egg Pizza ($21). The pizze is very delicious. The truffle infused taste was distinct and I enjoyed that the black truffle paste spread across the pizza gave the pizza as much flavour as one topped with veggie and meat. I'm impressed by the simplicity of the dish and it's quite a joy to dip the pizza into the soft boiled egg yolk smacked in the middle. Normally, I'll only settle for 2 slices of pizza but with this pan, I see my hands going back for more.

Would I be back? Yes! I think this is an awesome place for gatherings because you can share food and try lots of very good Italian cuisines. It's the perfect kind of place for group outings where you chill, talk and relax over good food and wine. The location is perfect too!

Supply & Demand
277 Orchard Road, #02-13/14 Orchard Gateway, S238858

Arteastiq Signature Teasury

This week is another incredibly busy week at work. I haven't even had time to send my family to the airport. Brother and Mom holidaying in Korea now :) I spent my weekend chilling and catching up with my very good friend at Prive Cafe. While the service, ambiance and drinks are great but the food really needs improvement. Carpark cost $8 for 3 hours. Think I'll only be back when I'm rich enough to play on a yacht.

Since Prive was a disappointing visit, I decided to feature somewhere I went with Supercai a couple of weeks back in our weekday indulgence. Arteastiq Signature Teasury ($48 for 2) makes a decent entry level high tea experience. It's Supercai's first ever high tea so I felt we should start off with somewhere more affordable.

The set comes with 2 specialty teas of our choosing but be warned that it's non-refillable. Alcoholic teas are also excluded. I must say that the quality of the teas are surprisingly refreshing and I kinda like their selection better than TWG teas. The cookies on the side are really good too. Much better than a range of other high teas I've tried.

The bird cage carries the savouries and sweets. The selection is honestly not meant for a full-meal, rather it's more suitable for afternoon snack with a place to chit chat. Supercai was complaining she's still hungry after the meal... whoops.

The Savouries selection consisted of Vol Au Vent, Panini Morsi, Smoked Salmon and Viva Duck. It's delicious and easy to eat. Nothing fancy so if you have been going for higher end high teas please manage your expectations. I'll say the selection here is more suitable for value and an inexpensive introduction to English High-tea.

As for the Sweets, there's matcha cheesecake, pineapple upside down cake, chocolate truffles and macarons. To be honest, it's one of the rare high-teas I finished the sweets portion because it isn't too sweet and filling. I quite enjoyed the experience because I don't have to endure the guilt of wasting food. I really don't like to waste food that doesn't taste horrible.

Summing up my experience at Arteastiq, I would bring friends here to catch up and have some small bites. The ambiance is considerably comfortable. It's surprisingly popular on a weekday. I felt the service has a lot of room for improvement but you pay for what you get. I'll recommend this place if you are looking for somewhere accessible to chillax for 2-3 hours with food and drinks without breaking the bank.

Arteastiq
333A Orchard Road, #04-14/15, Mandarin Gallery
If you need an activity, you can paint there too but you will need to check the available slots and book in advance.

Mitzo

It's weekends again and the start of July! I was kinda looking forward for about two weeks now because of the place I shortlisted for weekend brunch. We are celebrating Vain Pot's promotion and also the start of better things to come for my job! I felt it'll be fitting if we found good food to match the occasion.

I wanted a good dim sum and chanced upon the Mitzo Weekend Brunch menu. Online reviews said that the food was tops and the lead chef, Nicky Ng used to be the Executive Chef de Cuisine in 2011 at Michelin starred restaurant, Hakkasan New York City. So with this in mind, we had certain expectations of the food quality.

The weekend brunch ($68++) is a buffet serving classic Cantonese food. Given that the menu is relatively extensive, we picked only the recommended dishes because our stomachs didn't have room for more. While I am tempted to spam a lot of pictures for the benefit of readers, I think it'll be more useful to highlight my favorite dishes. 

This is the Hokkaido Milk Cheese Tart which came at the beginning of our meal without us requesting for it. It's really as good or even better than Baked cheese tarts at Orchard Ion. The cheese is extremely creamy and pastry was excellent. Must try! 

There're 3 dishes which are limited to 1 per diner. They are bamboo clam, live lobster and abalone cooked 3 ways up to the choice of the customer. I felt the spicy chilli lobster served with bun really reminds me of chilli crab and the rendition was good! While lobster like crayfish has limited meat, it was still very appetizing. 

Since Vain Pot and I make up two persons we managed to try 2/3 of the bamboo clam selection. We went with the traditional steamed bamboo clam with minced garlic in soya and steamed bamboo clam with enoki mushroom in spicy peanut sauce. Both bamboo clam dishes were well executed, tasty and leave you craving for more. 

I believed I complained before that good Cantonese soup is hard to find in Singapore. The double boiled soup of the day was boiled rich in taste despite its simple ingredients of pork and winter melon. Reminds me of Hong Kong.,.

Another unique dish I was happy to try was the escargot cheese puff. Shaped in the form of a snail, it's Instagram worthy and taste was cheese and crispy. I like it that the crust is not oily despite being deep fried and the cheesy escargot made it a delight to eat. 

A key dessert highlight will be these deep-fried chocolate liqueur dumpling. It's unique and I've never eaten anything like that before. The balls were well fried and not oily. The chocolate had a distinct alcohol taste yet blended well with the fried balls. Really one of its kind!

Desserts were generally good but if I were to pick a winner, it'll be this generous Aloe Vera Osmanthus Jelly. The sorbet that was included inside made it a joy to eat. The jelly was light and refreshing, a delightful way to end a rich and hearty meal. 

While I felt really pleased with the food quality and the fact it's not mass produced despite being a buffet, Vain Pot and I had some gripes as well. Firstly, a Chinese dim sum buffet but no complimentary tea?! Yet there's a selection of cocktails?! Just didn't go well with me. Secondly, we weren't exactly satisfied with the service either because the staff seem to have difficulty communicating with us. In their defense, they aren't local. (From hongkong I guess) nevertheless I am less forgiving because I have been to hongkong and gotten served in hotels by English speaking staff there which I had no problem comprehending. Singapore staffs shouldn't be worse if we compare hotel expectation standards. Thirdly, they charged us twice for the tea. I didn't feel like going through the hassle of asking for a new receipt and just paid but felt a bit disappointed by the service experience.

I do however feel that the food is worth going back for. My next visit, I'll try all the non star dishes and maybe some cocktails. I also want to say I like the overall design and furniture of Mitzo.

Mitzo

Level 4, Grand Park Orchard

270 Orchard Road

(Please remember to get a complimentary ticket when you dine there because parking is pretty steep)

Lady M

This will be a short post before I head to work. It's the GSS period and I have been on quite a bit of shopping frenzy. Over the past week of running around, one of the things I really look forward to doing is to sit at a relaxing cafe and enjoy good cakes and coffee. To achieve this, I plotted my visit to Lady M with Vain Pot with this specific purpose!

The first time I dined in at Lady M gave me a feeling I'm enjoying cakes with a friend overseas. It left such a relaxing memory in my head I've always since associated relaxation with Lady M. In the past couple of months, I did try to dine here but didn't have the patience to survive the long queue. Today, with new found determination to reward myself for a wonderful first month in my new job, I braved the queue. The turnover was surprisingly fast, so don't be put off by the long streak you see. 

Having bought takeaways a good number of times, we settled for the unique cakes which requires more skill to produce. Signature Mille Crepes ($9) and Strawberry Mille Feuille ($9). The original Mille Crepe tastes really good with its light texture, perfectly layered paper thin crepes. I like it that the sweetness was just right and you won't feel "jelat" eating it. 

The strawberry feuille was another well made pastry with the layers puff pastry flaky and light. I like it that the strawberry wasn't over-generous, sweet and cream not overly excessive. Everything in balanced proportions taste awesome and this one definitely makes the grade. 

The dine in experience at Lady M with its wonderful white interior and a long glass window that allows you to enjoy the view of orchard road makes it an awesome place to enjoy good coffee and cakes. The attentive staff at Lady M with impeccable service makes the visit even more wonderful. I must say that unlike most cafes I have been to where the staff are a tad too eager to clear the plates, the staff at Lady M are very not intrusive. I'll definitely come back again whenever I want to let my hair down and enjoy some great desserts after a hard week of work. 

Lady M

Orchard Central Shopping Mall, 181 Orchard Road, Orchard Central

#01-27 & #02-07

(Please head to level 2 to start your queue)

Mak's Noodles & Ice Lab

December, January, February has always been intensive months for my stomach every year. There's a lot of feasting due to the festive mix of Christmas, Birthday and Chinese New Year. And thanks to my Hong Kong trip this year, I quite reached my quota with the body insisting on light food like porridge. Hence the trip to Mak's Noodles was done with the intention of having some good authentic porridge like they do in Hong Kong at other Michelin starred wonton mee outlets like Ho Hung Kee. Ironically, I would only return to Ho Hung Kee for their porridge. As it turns out, I went to the Centrepoint outlet and was disappointed to find out that congee is only available at the West Gate outlet.

I have never eaten Mak's Noodles before despite visiting Hong Kong 4 times. Hence this meal is really to find out what all the fuss is really about. Given that Mak's Noodles originated from Hong Kong and that Hong Kong wonton mee is more popular for their soup base version, we pretty much picked all the soup dishes.

We settled for Wonton & Dumpling Noodle Soup ($8.50) and Wonton & Beef Tendon Noodle Soup ($9.50). My conclusion after my third attempt trying Hong Kong wonton mee is that it's not my thing. I still prefer the local dry version tossed with chilli or sweet sauce, garnished with char siew and vegetables. To be fair, the wonton are big and the prawns are fresh and crunchy. The dumplings are also rich in flavour and Mak's Noodles spared no expense on the ingredients. The beef tendons based on fussy pot's feedback is really tender. (I don't really eat beef so I didn't try) Above all, the noodles were springy and crispy. That said, I didn't like the soup base which I feel is an acquired taste. Besides the noodles, we also ordered a double boiled soup with shrimp roe ($3.50). While the soup is light and the shrimp taste is present, I just feel the soup didn't measure up to other type of better tasting soups in Hong Kong. Being a strong advocate that one of the wins Hong Kong have over Singapore is their boiled soup, this one left us thirsty after the meal which leaves me to question how much MSG was added. 

Mak's Noodles is worth a go if you wish to try authentic Hong Kong wonton mee without the aeroplane. I can attest that their rendition is exactly how Hong Kong Michelin star wonton mee taste. While I probably won't be back for wonton mee, I will be sure to pop by Westgate to try authentic Hong Kong congee which I so sorely miss. 

Mak's Noodles

176 Orchard Road Centrepoint #01-63/64

(The Westgate outlet has a wider menu)

Today feels like try foreign food day. Mak's Noodles offer really small portions, so it's almost certain there will be room for desserts. I picked Ice Lab, which is opened by Korean actor Shin Jung Hwan. It was impeccably decorated and you feel like you are in Korea because of the Korean staff serving you. 

We picked Mango Bingsoo ($19.30) as it is one of the recommended flavours and I've eaten Mango Bingsu at Nunsaram at Orchard Central and Snowman Desserts (the one who started my love for Bingsu) at Nex thus it'll be easy to compare. This one is by far the worst! In my view, whether a bingsu tastes great is based on the milkiness of the milk shavings, if the fruits and ice cream blend in with the milk shavings and the sauce that goes with it. The one at Ice Lab tasted like mango ice kachang with kiwi randomly added into the mix. The milk shavings was sweet ice with nothing that give me indication they are milk shavings if I never ate bingsu before. To top it off, the kiwi tasted sour and fussy pot totally didn't touch them after one bite.

I probably won't be back again if I want my bingsu fix. I'd rather walk a few more steps and satisfy my bingsu craving at Nunsaram where I first convinced Fussy Pot what the fuss over bingsu was about. Please please please don't make this your virgin bingsu experience if you haven't eaten Bingsu before. It's not a good representation of good bingsu. 

Ice Lab

#01-01/02 321 Orchard Road