Kohaku

I spent my weekend taking fun shots at the Alive Museum! It's closing end of May and prices are going at 50% discount now, so if you are looking for something different to do over weekends, this might be the thing for you.

Prior to our 1 hour of vanity, we spent 1 hour queuing for this Tendon Bowl at Kohaku. I quite like the occasional impromptu dinners because I try places I otherwise might not have tried. Tendon bowls in Singapore has been quite a rising hype with people willing to spend over an hour waiting for food. Even at 5plus on a Saturday evening, the waiting time was close to 60mins. According to Fat Fat, 6 plus on a weekday only requires 15mins queue time. So please go on a weekday...

We tried the Kohaku Tendon Non Spicy and Spicy versions ($15 each). I give it to them that the servings were more generous than the other Tendon bowl I tried at Tanjong Pagar called Tendon. The spicy version carries with it more oomph that makes the whole meal more enjoyable. I felt that the level of crispiness in the Tempura was decent but not fantastic. Tendon at Tanjong Pagar felt more authentic.

Will I come back again? Well, there's hits and misses. For a start, after queuing an hour to go in, we had to wait another 45mins for our food because apparently they missed our order. I felt that the waitress taking our orders didn't have any passion in her work because she was near our table twice over the course of our waiting and didn't find it odd that we weren't served our food despite acknowledging our presence. On the other hand, the waitress who served us after we feedback that our orders were forgotten was polite, made an effort to check and follow through, ensuring we got our food. Says a lot about some people's working attitude and lack of initiative.

Kohaku is located at Suntec City mall has the advantage of convenience in terms of transportation and activities. At $15, it's pretty inexpensive. Even though I wasn't wowed by the food, its accessbility more than makes up for it. I wouldn't mind dining here again after the queue dies down.

Kohaku
3 Temasek Boulevard #03-310/311 Suntec City, 038983

Non Entree Desserts

These couple of weeks post Rome, I had the luxury to 'jiak ho liao' more often than usual. Been eating at a number of interesting places that I haven't had the opportunity to share them all. To avoid missing out on the food I eat, you might follow me on instagram @bluntandfussyeater. For this week itself, I feel a lot less guilty thanks to my 2 hour badminton session. Felt like I burnt all my calories away!

Vain Pot commented that I hardly feature desserts so this week, I picked Non Entree Desserts from my selection of bloggable food. The unique thing about this place is their instagrammable food which are all very artistic and taste remarkable as well. This entry is made up of 2 visits, one was last year and the other was yesterday. The food featured though are all part of their present menu.

 

This Chocolate Avalanche ($13.90) created quite a hype along with the Matcha Avalanche last year because of its popular videos on instagram showing the lava spilling into the bottom half of the dessert. The top is a valrhona chocolate lava cake and the bottom is a chocolate soil decorated with crunchy almond nougatine with orange infused vanilla ice cream. Not only is it aesthetically awesome, the taste was fantastic as well. For a chocolate lover like me, I found the chocolate rich and bitter enough with the fluffy cake providing a good balance. I also enjoyed how the biscuit went well with the chocolate cake and ice cream. Smashing indulgence for both our taste buds and camera.

Another dessert we tried last year was the Rubber Ducky ($12.90) which was surprisingly good. The ingredients are creme fraiche pudding, fresh mango puree, sago pearls, exotic ducky sorbet set atop a lemongrass cloud. Trust me, even if the ingredients sound weird enough, I enjoyed the exotic dance between the flavours of sour sorbet and sweetness of the mango puree eaten together with a very light lemongrass interlude. I'm also impressed with the dessert master for getting the flavours so right without compromising on the outlook.

And to prove that they aren't a one hit wonder, we went back yesterday and tried their seasonal menu. We picked the Ike ($17.90) from their theme menu. The theme right now is Urban Garden. Ike means pond in Japanese. It's another amazing winner for Non Entree Desserts because the art piece is definitely pleasing to the eyes and fascinating to watch (I uploaded a video of me pouring the hand roasted sencha with age sake into the bowl on instagram). It taste really good too! The Goma gelato coated in soya flour went extremely well with the sesame brittle and matcha mochi pebble. I liked it so much I wanted to order another mochi, sesame, gelato combo (they don't sell it separate)! It'll be nice if the leaves in the bowl are made of chocolate but nevertheless, it's worth the priciness and the calories.

Will I come back again? It's a resounding yes! I'll always think of Non Entree Desserts when I wish to impress a friend with sweet tooth. I don't recall ever praising a food establishment with such zest for eye-catching food that is also good to eat!

Non Entree Desserts
204 Rangoon Road, Hong Building, S218451

Food in Rome, Italy

I never expected my first long haul flight is to Italy, Rome. Thanks to my company for sponsoring my short little holiday, I get the luxury of sharing some of the food I tried over there. It's a tour so there's hits and misses but overall, it's a good experience and I enjoyed myself.

One of the key highlight dinner of the first night was the visit to 1 Star Michelin Restaurant, Antonella Colonna. The venue presented a romantic ambiance complete with a musician playing the Harp. Food wise, I believed that this menu is special to my company but we can assess the skill of the chef from the quality of food. It's definitely not catered to an Asian palette so those used to Asian food might find difficulty appreciating the fine dining offered. I found the food to be technically astute. It's however, nothing out of this world in terms of flavour, neither was it memorable. The foie gras was well prepared, flavoured and goes very well with the pan brioche with the appropriate textures. I found the seabass fresh and soft but the chips were a mixture of crispy and non crispy. The risotto which everyone has much to complain about had fat plump rice grains but it was a little too hard. So even if the the creamy balance was just right, it made it hard to finish... 1 michelin star for ambiance perhaps?

Antonella Colonna 
Via Milano, 9a, 00184 Roma Italy

My company arranged a pizza making session at iL Pomodorino with its in-house pizza master. The experience was kinda fun. Besides being able to eat the pizza we made, we were treated to a seafood feast of fried calamari & shrimp, seafood salad, sliced bruschetta with salmon and sliced pizza for starters. I like the appetizers, guess you can't go too wrong with fried food. Italian bread all seems hard like rocks but this is a consistent fixture so it's probably cultural. For mains, we had chicken escalope with lemon cream and spaghetti with clams. Both were lightly flavoured but they are generally well cooked. My favourite of the day was the Millefoglie with chantilly cream and hot chocolate sauce. The dessert was flaky, crispy and flavour was just right. I appreciated the cold dessert mixed with hot chocolate and I liked it that it didn't feel like eating a lump of sugar unlike some unskilled desserts I've tried in Rome. This is one of my more enjoyable tour food.

iL Pomodorino
Via Campania, 45E, 00187 Roma, Italy

Tre Scalini was my favourite restaurant organised by the tour. Apart from good food, it also has a strong history being the oldest restaurant in Piazza Navona, since the 1950s. The history stretches beyond its vintage but also its location. It overlooks Bernini's Fountain of Four Rivers, one of Europe's leading sculptors at that time. The risotto which I recalled as the mark of good Italian food was executed perfectly here. The rice  was just right, the broth wasn't too creamy, yet rich in flavour and made the entire meal easy to eat. This is the place to go if you want to know how the right texture of risotto should taste like. The spicy penne pasta in tomato sauce was great too with the pasta cooked till al dente and the spiciness coming out right after you bite into the food. I didn't enjoy the chicken breast served with asparagus cream too much because the chicken was a tad overcooked. It's worth noting that I enjoy how Italians prepare the vegetables with it being boiled till soft and easy to eat. We also tried the trademark Tartufo which is bascially chocolate ice cream truffle. It's rich in chocolate and gelato smoothness made entirely from 13 different types of Swiss chocolates. No regrets putting on the calories at all!

Tre Scalini
Piazza Navona, 30-35, 00186 Roma, Italy

Berzitello Ristorante is a restaurant I shortlisted on my own. This apparently is where the locals frequent and away from the tourist spots. The meal apparently brought out satisfaction from my companions as well as it's far more authentic Italian food and much better quality control. I enjoyed my Fettucini with Shrimp which was cooked till al dente. It also debunked the belief that Italians like to cook their pasta slightly harder than home... it's just those earlier restaurants besides Tre Scalini which have this weird habit. This one felt very much at home. The flavour was rich and the taste lingered in my mouth long after I finished which is a mark of good food. I also heard my colleague 'who eats to live' praise her fish dish which she felt was flavourful, tender and fresh. The pizza texture was just right, but generally, I don't think pizzas can go too wrong in Italy. This excellent meal cost only 55 Euros, who says you need to spend a bomb for good food?

Berzitello Ristorante
Via Delle Quattro Fontane, 32, 00184 Roma, Italy

One thing bad about a tour schedule is the rush. I was planning to go to more than 1 shortlisted restaurants but the lack of time prevented us from hunting for more quality food. I do agree that the occasional spontaneous hop in to random restaurants will yield their own interesting finds. Doveralu Cafe is one such place. The giant seabass you see in the photo was fresh and delicious that my boss ordered 1 more. The ravioli with spinach was very generously prepared and I appreciated that the cream sauce complemented the dish well. I found the pizza very interesting because half was meat and half was veggie. Just like the one at Berzitello Ristorante, I find it faultless. Pasta again debunked the theory that Italian pastas are cooked harder... I particularly enjoyed the mushroom infused flavour that came with the shrimp and tiger prawns. While the food isn't out of this world, it's a much better representation of Italian food.

My advice to tourists in Rome, to visit restaurants packed with people during meal times and off peak hours. Those are the safe bets and where locals eat. You save on your pocket and you pamper your stomach.

Doveralu
Via Nazionale, 215, 00184 Roma, Italy 

Montana Singapore

It's been one crazy month... I've been preoccupied with a lot of work events including a work trip coming up really soon. I'll be heading to Rome next week so won't be sharing any food here but perhaps on my instagram @bluntandfussyeater.

I met up with Bak Bak and Bak Bak 2 this week and brought them to Montana Singapore because Bak Bak wanted western cuisine and desserts. Montana started out as Montana Brew Bar, a semi bar and waffle place. Some of the original dishes included the popular Mac and Cheese Waffle and the red velvet waffle stack. They have since revamped their menu a number of times. This is my second visit, the first was with Ms MooMoo.

We kicked off the meal with Mac and Cheese Fritters with Tomato Relish ($11). Bak Bak as her name suggest wants to try everything on the menu. I found this side to be pretty good! I like it that it was fried till crispy without as residue oil left in the bowl. The mixture of mac and cheese with an added spiciness also appeals to my taste buds. Going with the tomato relish, it makes for a great opening dish. 

For mains, Bak Bak 2 had the Crab Aglio Olio ($20.80). It comes with loads of chunky crab meat tossed inside the Aglio Olio. The pasta was cooked till al dente with the garlic flavour just right. The crab meat is probably one of the most generous servings I've seen in an Aglio Olio dish and probably made the dish very much value for money.

Bak Bak settled for the Signature Mac and Cheese Waffle ($13.80) on my recommendation. I'm disappointed to say that the standard dropped from my very first visit. One of the most intriguing aspects of this dish is the wonderment of where the Mac and Cheese is. It's actually inside the waffle and taste will be apparent when you cut it up. It's also the signature dish of Montana Singapore so for this dish to fail in quality, makes me wonder if Montana Singapore is starting to lose their identity. The waffle is still baked till crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. The issue here is the generosity in the Mac and Cheese serving. The taste was totally missing, it felt like an empty waffle. In fact, it felt like eating plain waffles with tomato relish. What's the point of expanding their menu and compromising on the quality of signature dishes? It pisses me off further because I brought my friends there after having a positive experience a year ago.

Rant aside, I decided to try something new and picked the Southern Fried Chicken Waffle ($14). This one is a mixed review with Bak Bak finding the chicken to be tasty and well marinated with the sous-vide southern spice batter. I on the other hand found the dish difficult to finish. While the waffle was crispy and fluffy, I found it a tad dry going with the southern spice marinated chicken. I agree that I found the chicken tasty on the initial bites but had difficulty finishing because it became a 'jelat' experience subsequently. It's probably not a bad dish to share but it's a little overwhelming if it's a dish for 1.

Finally for desserts, it's a struggle between the waffle stack or the new instagram worthy cakes they just added. Bak Bak chose the cake and we settled for the Smokey Nutella ($14.80). It's not a very big cake but it's enough for 3 people to share. I'm almost ashamed to say that I went against my better judgement to choose the waffle stack because I gave in to my weakness for picture worthy desserts. The cake was very ordinary. It's probably a decent cake but nothing out of this world. Enough said.

Will I be back again? Maybe not. I am very much unforgiving when it comes to poor execution of signature food. I mean, com'on, if the very thing that made you known in the first place is presented badly, how do you expect to retain the trust of any customers? People are bound to order the signature dishes and it's almost a sure-fire way to keep customers away in double quick time. To be fair, Montana Singapore has a very interesting concept and I'm not sure if it's the chef's off day for my experience. If you aren't too fussy with food and would like to give their waffles a chance, it's probably a novel experience at the heart of town.

Montana Singapore
1 Selegie Road #02-25 Pomo Singapore 188306

Epiphyte

This weekend, I really ate a lot. It's the mother's birthday and my family celebrated at Hotel Jen's J65 buffet. My sentiments of that buffet experience is summed up by the fact that I'll only eat there again if it's for free... Aside from that, I spent my long weekend feasting at both the Soup Restaurant and Epiphyte.

The trip to Epiphyte is long overdue for various reasons. There's simply too many cafes to visit and deciding which one to go is one of the good problems I have to solve each week. Also, there's pretty much mix reviews on the food. Some say taste nice, some say nice for camera only... in any case, Vain Pot and I mutually decided to give this place a go. Epiphyte is in a way a garden themed cafe. A step inside the cafe will showcase a display of different types of plants into different pots and containers around the cafes. The shop decor provides a very relaxing feeling with lush greenery all around you. It's interesting to watch the staff preparing more of their plants while waiting to serve customers.

For mains, Vain Pot and I shared the Pink Risotto ($22) and Seafood Cartoccio ($26). The pink risotto is one of the better renditions of risottos that I've tried. The pink colour is made through roasted beetroot cooked with risotto creating a natural pink. Along with pan-seared scallops and parmigiana, we found the balance of the dish to be just right. I like it that the creaminess is not too overwhelming you get tired of eating after awhile and that the beetroot taste isn't overpowering. I also liked it that the rice is fat, plump and easy to swallow.

The Seafood Cartoccio has a strong laksa taste in the sauce which I found to go very well with the bread that comes with it. It is actually coconut prawn broth with daun kesom (Vietnamese coriander). I've nothing much to complain about the ingredients, found the entire dish to be generally enjoyable but not particularly stand-out. A safe choice I guess.

For desserts, Vain Pot ate the Terrarium ($13) which is the green looking thing in a glass container. It's basically pistachio siphon sponge with a little bit of mint leaves, croustillant, plum konnyaku, diplomat and flowers. The peach liquer sauce comes on the side and goes well to add moisture to the sponge making the entire dish enjoyable. I don't take mint so I merely took a bite. I found the sponge with cream and cookie crumbs to be highly addictive and if they could remove the mint leaves, I would have devoured the entire thing on my own.

My choice of Twilight ($10) is superficially with the intent of taking nice Instagram photos. That said, it turned out to be an enjoyable dessert. It's made of dark chocolate mousse, cointreau orange curd and light chocolate sponge. I enjoyed the milkiness of the chocolate mousse and the orange curd gave the added sourish zest that balanced out the sweetness.

On the whole, I found my entire experience at Epiphyte to be satisfying. It's definitely a very refreshing way to dine away from the typical brunch food or standard mains I'm used to having. In fact, I would say this is one of my more adventurous experience. I like the colours, I like the common food made different, I like how camera friendly the food look and I like it that the food doesn't suck. I think this is the kind of place to bring someone you wish to impress without the pretense of posh and glamour.

Epiphyte
47 Neil Road, S088827
(Please check the operating hours before you go, it usually opens at 4pm but has exceptions on certain special occasions and weekends)

Honolulu Cafe

This entire month I am overwhelmed with work, in particular this weekend. Didn't have any time to have a complete meal with friends worthy to write about till Sunday. Through a stroke of luck, I happened to be in Jurong East for work. So finally managed to try Honolulu Cafe after putting it off for months.

Honolulu Cafe originated from Hong Kong, and is known as a Cha Chan Teng (coffee place) back in its homeland. It opened its first outlet in Singapore Centre Point and Westgate is its second outlet. Their typical food highlights are its traditional Cha Chan Teng Hong Kong food like tomato spaghetti, luncheon meat and pork chop rice and even dishes that is cooked with instant noodles. I guess the most popular dish in Honolulu Cafe is their egg tarts. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to try it this time round. It is usually sold out by early afternoon and they only start selling it at 12.30pm. 

This visit is spread out over lunch and dinner. Too many dishes to try and not often in Jurong. For starters, Jurong doesn't seem to have much interesting noteworthy mains. In fact, I noted that Jurong East seems to have more interesting desserts like Lab Made, another made in Hong Kong product and the latest one is Doufu.

In any case, I tried the Baked Chicken in Tomato Spaghetti ($9.50) and my colleague settled for Luncheon Meat with Double Egg with Rice ($7.80). I think to judge the food by how much it 'wow' me would be unfair because that's not what Cha Chan Teng type cafes are about. It's more of comfort food. I like the richness of the tomato sauce in my baked chicken spaghetti meal and my colleague had a really runny egg that went really well with his warm rice. It's really just the kind of food to start your day right. I couldn't try the egg tarts because I had my lunch at 11am and egg tarts were only ready at 12.30pm :(

By dinner time egg tarts have sold out. In fact, their bakery was empty when I arrived. I settled for Instant Noodles with Pork Chop and added an additional Chicken Steak ($5.50 + $1.50) to my meal. Greediness overload! Again, it's comfort food at its best. While it's nothing spectacular, the meal made me very happy. The pork chop and chicken steak had the right kind of grilled taste that I expected from Hong Kong food and the noodles were Q and cooked till just right. If this was spaghetti, I'll called it al dente!

I'll definitely be back to dine here again. Honolulu Cafe serves my kind of comfort food. Explains why I love travelling to Hong Kong so much. It's definitely the place to eat if you are a fan of HK just like me.

Honolulu Cafe
#02-06 Westgate Mall, 3 Gateway Dr, S608532

Blend It Up!

It's weekends again and it's going to be a helluva busy month. I told myself, I'll try my best to do something I really like each day and that includes satisfying food cravings. I mean, busy or not, still need to eat right?

This week, given I'm so busy, it's the brother's recommendation. He was telling me that there's very interesting food in the Tai Seng area and one of which he tried was this little Italian Restaurant operated by Chef Peter Neo. In a way, Chef Neo is considered a mini celebrity chef having appeared in Mediacorp's cooking shows before. It's probably also one of the more affordable Italian food you can find in Singapore to satisfy any cravings.

To kick start the meal, a typical Italian Restaurant would offer complimentary bread. I was presently surprised that a neighbourhood establishment with affordable pricing would also offer complimentary bread.

Being not too hungry, we dived straight into the mains. I ordered the Spaghetti Prawn Paste Aglio Olio ($19). The dried prawn paste did gave me a sense of satisfaction when devouring the dish. It's sufficiently spicy but not overwhelming and had a distinct prawn taste that made the entire dish flavourful. Pasta of course was al dente. I also found the dish particularly value for money given that the chef added dory fish slices along with generous portion of prawns. How often you get such a competently executed dish at $19?

My brother chose the Crabmeat and Lobster Ravioli ($22). Frankly, up till now, I haven't really tasted excellently produced Ravioli and this one feels equally ordinary. I didn't find the crabmeat or lobster distinct in the dish and found the tomato sauce to be relatively ordinary. Of course, this opinion is limited because I hardly order Ravioli dishes and much less been impressed with one. I'm heading to Rome at the end of the month, maybe after trying some authentic Italian food, I might be able to give a fairer assessment.

Finally for desserts, we shared a Pistachio Lava Cake with Vanilla Gelato ($11.80). I observed that the lava cake was leaking lava the moment it was served. We wanted to cut it up for a nice lava flowing effect for photos unfortunately, the cake gave way from the bottom with the top still intact when we tried to cut through! That aside, tastewise it was good. The lava cake was nutty, cake was fluffy and pistachio flavour distinct. I wished the cake was warmer when served because the coldness of the gelato overshadowed the flavours of the lukewarm cake. There's probably room for improvement but I'm not complaining much given the affordable pricing.

They gave me a $10 voucher so I'll be back again to try their pizzas which I heard is pretty good too! Blend It Up certainty exceeds my expectation given its price range and food presentation. The food quality is definitely above average and despite the small issues, it's a place I'll go whenever I want an Italian fix without blowing a hole in my wallet.

Blend It Up
325 Upper Paya Lebar Road S534946 
(You can ask the staff at Blend It Up to remove the tyres they use to chop parking for their restaurant guest, limited lots)