Big Boys Sizzling - Quality Western Food in Hawker Centre

Big Boys Sizzling caught my attention because someone told me that they are opened by a former chef of Ritz Carlton. They have set up shop at Beauty World Food Centre and is part of the large array of food selection there. So I made this trip to find out more about the food after shedding fats at Bukit Timah Hill.

We asked the chef what were their key highlights and he mentioned to us their best sellers were the steak, cornflake chicken and mentaiko fries. The dish you see here is the Cornflake Chicken with Nacho Cheese Fries ($8.90). The chicken is really fried well. Some people might find the cornflake chicken a little on the dry side but because the exterior is fried till so crispy and the meat fairly juicy I'd say it exceeds expectation for hawker fare. I really like the fries too. I think that the fries batter is similar to what you find at Long John's Silver (my favourite fast food) so if you like Long John's like me, you will enjoy this.

So another friend chose to double his protein and added a dory to go with the cornflake chicken ($11.90). I'll say the fish is pretty normal, in fact I find Dory fish to be not worth the money. Won't recommend ordering it.

Aside from that, there's the Sirloin Steak with Mentaiko fries ($11.40) which according to my friend tastes awesome too. I'll say that the sauces that comes with the fries have successfully made all the fries true to their flavours.

As a whole, it was a pleasurable and indulging meal. For the price, it's definitely value for money. The portions are huge too! Aside from that, I'll say that because the portions are huge, it might be a little 'jelat' for some to finish. I guess the benchmark for good food is really whether I'll be back. Honestly, unless I'm around the area and crave for western, if not I doubt I'll spend there again. While it's definitely competent western fare, I feel it caters to the Beauty World crowd more than anything else. I wish the owner all the best!

Big Boys Sizzling 
144 Upper Bukit Timah Road, #04-25, Beauty World Centre, S588177

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!)

Toby's The Dessert Asylum - Jurong's Hidden Gem

Famous for its sinful dessert indulgences, Toby's The Dessert Asylum caught my attention because of the plethora of dessert selection that seems to be imploring my tummy to try them all. To be fair, this cafe caught my attention about 2 years back but I never got round to try it because of its out of the way location. It's also a saving grace for people residing in the extreme west of Singapore because I really couldn't find an equivalent alternative despite my best googling efforts.

BBQ Baby Ribs has been one of my favourite dishes for the longest time. So perhaps I am a little bias when I saw this on their menu. The BBQ Baby Ribs ($19.90) at Toby's The Dessert Asylum definitely met my expectations. I found the BBQ sauce on point and the meat is very tender. A good pork rib has meat that falls off the bones easily and this one makes the grade. The potato salad on the side is also prepared in my favourite style, potato tossed with mayonnaise and chopped onions.

We also tried the Prawns and Mussels Tagliatelle ($15.90) that is cooked with white wine sauce. This dish reminds me a lot about my stay in Rome. The taste would appeal more to people with a lighter palette preference however the eventual white wine and seafood flavour will grow on you making you crave for the dish more as you eat. The pasta texture also met my palette preference and I would love to come back to have this dish again.

This meal was done prior to a badminton session so I was pretty careful about the quantity of my food intake. The mains experience was so good, we decided to fill our stomachs with desserts anyway and settled for Seek Asylum ($15.90). It is made of macademia and mocha almond ice cream cake with cookie crumbs sprinkled on top and bailey's Irish cream sauce. For its price, I was kinda disappointed with the size. It is however a sinful second stomach indulgence and the bailey's sauce really brought the ice cream to life. Okay la... it's nice but a little too premium for a dessert in my opinion.

As a whole, I totally enjoyed my visit to Toby's The Dessert Asylum. I'm certain I'd like to come back if I ever end up at the extreme end of the west Singapore again. The mains impressed me more than the dessert unexpectedly. Given that the dessert and main selection is so wide, I'm already looking forward to having another go at the food!

Toby's The Dessert Asylum 
Tradehub 21 #01-35, Boon Lay Way, S609964

redpan

This is a throwback post as I was hard at work this weekend. Too many exciting projects on-going and I've a birthday celebration to prepare for next week. Nevertheless, I'm thankful for a restful weekend and had some fun supporting Manchester United in their opening game thrashing West Ham (hope there are no West Ham fans reading!).

redpan is a fusion restaurant. Lately, such cuisines seem to be on the rise but I set my sights on redpan since last year. The overwhelming number of restaurants to try in Singapore had them drop down the pecking order thus only having it now. redpan serves Singaporean-Western fusion cuisines. Personally, I'm not much of a fan of fusion food but I try it every now and then.

Whenever I eat with Fat Fat, I tend to over-order. Actually, I think she's the culprit. We kick started our meal with Char Siew Chilli Fries ($8). It is prepared with house-made char siew ragout, sour cream and jelapeno salsa. The char siew ragout is very tasty and goes really well with the fries providing the right balance. I found that the chilli in the dish to be very tame and mild which might not be pleasing to spicy food lovers but it's never the less a good opening dish!

As we were heading for desserts elsewhere, we simply settled for mains and nothing else. My choice of main was the Prawn & Hae Bi Hiam Pasta ($19) while Fat Fat picked the 'Bak Chor' Foie Gras Pasta ($19). I was telling her, must pick food with stars on the menu since it's our first time there. Not sure if this method makes the selection safer or just a trick by restaurants to get people to pick the pricier dishes. HAHA! In any case, I enjoyed my Prawn & Hae Bi Hiam Pasta which was very very rich in Hae Bi Hiam taste. The tagliatelle soaked up the sauce very well making it extremely flavourful. Pretty much expensive prawn mee pok.

The 'Bak Chor' Foie Gras Pasta however didn't seem to agree with us. The sauce tasted weird although the meat was tender and flavourful. We felt that the choice of tagliatelle didn't go too well with this one and a thinner choice of pasta like linguine or angel-hair might have been more appropriate. It's definitely an interesting dish but with room for improvement.

I actually might come back again to try the other fusion dishes. For instance, I was quite drawn to the Banana Donuts Milo Dinosaur which I didn't try this time round. The ability of the chef for successfully incorporating our local flavours into traditional western cuisines also left me impressed. On most occasions, my experience with fusion food isn't very good but this one left a pretty good impression. If you want somewhere near the train station, with shopping and movie ammenities, with decent food without breaking the bank, come here!

redpan
6, Raffles Boulevard, #02-03/04 Marina Square, 039594

Dallas Restaurant and Bar

This post is slightly delayed because I ate it today on my Birthday. I've a soft spot for meat and I've been craving for baby back ribs. It's birthday week and basically I spent my weekends having a staycation at Quincy Hotel. I must say that the service has been awesome and it's just a little away from Orchard road but definitely within walking distance. The ambiance, coffee machines, and breakfast were all fantastic and I'd like to stay there again.

As the story goes, I had a craving for baby back ribs so I googled "Best Baby Back Ribs in Singapore 2016". A couple of places turned up like Morgansfield and in the end I settled for Dallas Restaurant and Bar because it didn't felt as tedious to drive there. Yes, got own transport but still lazy. Honestly, I'm very excited to dine there because ALL the blogger reviews have been nothing short of awesome.

I had brunch at Refuel Cafe for lunch and had a bad stomach thereafter. So was a little more careful for dinner. Vain Pot and I settled for the Meat Platter ($70 for 2) which consist of braised pork ribs, ribeye, lamb cutlets and rotisserie chicken and sides. It's really fantastic and we both agreed this is totally worth even dollar we spent. It comes with 3 sauces, mushroom, black pepper and mint.

The Pork Ribs totally didn't disappoint which meat that falls off the ribs easily. The meat was cooked till tender and well seasoned. I have a soft spot for ribs and I basically cleared them all. Whoops! The Rotisserie Chicken is another winner dish with very tender meat and goes exceedingly well with both the black pepper and mushroom sauce. Again I polished off most of it.

I found the Lamb Cutlets to be on the tougher side. But I kinda appreciated the chewiness of it and the fact that its flavour comes out of every bite. Vain Pot seems to appreciate them better than me but she did mention she felt the Ribs were ordinary.

I don't take beef so I didn't try the Ribeye. Vain pot who polished them off found they met her expectations and were tender and tasty. The beef apparently was the one which made her felt the platter was money well spent (her treat so whatever she says goes).

I'll definitely be back again because I am totally a meat lover and this platter sure gave my tummy a memorable birthday celebration in its own right. I must add that the dining ambiance is fantastic and is perfect for special occasions. Valentines Day is coming and from their website I noticed a V Day menu. Do check it out!

Dallas Restaurant and Bar
Suntec City Sky Garden
3 Temasek Boulevard #03-302/303