BistrOne36 - Cozy Beers and Western Neighbourhood Dining

The residents of Boon Keng have one more popular establishment added to their selection of awesome dining. This establishment occupies the spot previously housing Oh My Tian, the other project founded by the founders of Hatterstreet. It has proven to be hitting the right notes with the Boon Keng faithful.

I was pretty much there with an objective to chill and have some good food. A chillout night would never be complete without beers. On a Tuesday (the day I'm there), they have 2 for 1 Oranjeboom ($20) on offer so it's perfect!

The Torched Tuna Sashimi Salad ($10.90) ordered by my dining companion should rightfully be my dish. She's the regular at the gym and well.. I'm the one trying to slim down. It's tossed well and the seasoning was good. The torched tuna sashimi is also an excellent way to whet your appetite so it's awesome as an appetizer.

My choice of Seafood Aglio Olio ($16.90) is far more ordinary than the salad. Having said that, the flavours were on point. It's those kinda dish that you cannot find fault with but nothing to shout about as well. I guess I was expecting more given that it's a chef's recommendation.

We topped our night off with truffle fries ($8.90) to accompany our meal and beers. I've got to say I might just order this again if I come by to chill and have beers. Taste wise, it met expectations.

For a neighbourhood cafe, this is definitely satisfactory. While the food doesn't have any spectacular 'wow' effect, I left as a happy customer feeling sated by the food and beer. BistrOne36 feels cozy for a 2 to 3 person catch up location and I even overheard some office executives appraising the food on my way to the washroom. There's a good chance I'll be back!

BistrOne36
34 Whampoa West, #01-79, S330034
(Be warned that the GPS might be a little misleading but I have no idea how to help you with this!)

Bucktile St Cafe

I spent this week journeying to the West literally! Going for a work activity later today at Big Box and was there to try Lab Made, a nitrogen ice cream originating from Hong Kong on a weekday too! I must say that there are more and more interesting food establishments springing up in the West and it's quite refreshing on the occasional visit.

I picked Bucktile St Cafe to visit this weekend because I like the idea of 'eating the Monday blues away'. Located deep inside a landed estate, Bucktile St Cafe is one of those cafes in Singapore you would describe as very ulu. The main highlight of the cafe is their instagrammable blue food that ranges from Blue Cheese Burger, Blue Velvet Cake and their Waffles with Ice cream with Blueberry Syrup.

We kicked off our meal by sharing the Morrisa Blue Cheese Burger ($15.90) which is basically a tandoori chicken burger with slices of yellow cheese topped with blue cheese sauce. The blue cheese sauce is said to have some blue cheese taste albeit a milder version. The meal is accompanied by mini hashbrowns. I found the burger to be really addictive. Taking a bite into the burger, it tasted flavourful, especially liked the good mix of spices on the tandoori burger and the slightly sweet cheesy taste that gave the burger its added oomph. Because I'm trying to lose weight, I agreed to share my burger with Vain Pot but the next time, I'll have the whole burger to myself. The mini hashbrowns on the side tasted really good too. It's fried till crispy and marinated with some spices which agrees with my palette. I almost wanted to order a plate of hashbrowns to eat separately.

After mains, we shared a slice of Blue Velvet Cake ($6). The cake was expected soft and fluffy but a little to the sweet side. I'm someone with a very sweet tooth so I enjoyed the cake. Vain Pot was a little less enthusiastic about the sweetness but she complimented the cake for its light texture.

We didn't order the blue waffles this time round because we forgot to bring our DBS card and we didn't want to pay for something we could have gotten for free otherwise. It should be noted that if you spend $30 on a DBS card, you will be given the waffles for free. I would like to gripe a little about the service. I felt the staff lacked initiative considering the cafe's low traffic. They work with very little enthusiasm, a very different feeling from many other cafes I've been to. We had to help ourselves to the seats and menu even though we had to walk past all of them to enter the cafe. I found the entire experience very queer particularly when they watch in absolute muted fashion when we walked in. I've seen other blog entries related to service experience here and perhaps this explains why the cafe was almost empty when we arrived.

I'll probably come back once more to try the waffles and have the blue cheese chicken tandoori all to myself. I also enjoy the fact that the carpark is near empty on a weekend and that the cafe isn't very crowded.

Bucktile St Cafe
104 Faber Drive
(Parking is free here)