Ok, as I said, just a sampling… Can’t wait to go back and try all the other goodies on their extensive menu!

Mansor D’Cafe
Address: #04-34, Far East Plaza, 14 Scotts Road
Tel: 9421 7005
Open Mon–Sat: 11am – 5pm
(Closed on Sun & PH)

Other tasty things to start off with include: Rocket salad with shaved, aged parmesan and Caesar salad with crispy bacon.

A beautifully plump, moist, coral-coloured smoked Atlantic salmon with dill & capers! I had 3 helpings, it was so delicious!



Freshly grilled selections, cooked a la minute on the open-charcoal grill:

Look at the gorgeous, tender yet crunchy grilled asparagus!

Clockwise from top: steak, burger patty, grilled asparagus, lamb chop. chicken wing, Greek salad.

Other yummy sides include baked potato with sour cream, bacon & chives, buttered corn-on-the-cob and coleslaw. Everything was appreciatively washed down with an unlimited supply of frozen margaritas and refreshing white wine, like their Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc.

The dessert buffet, including Fresh local sliced fruit

Mango pudding & Sago Pudding

Doughnut, chocolate sauce

A little bit of everything – fruit, mango pudding, sago pudding, kueh-kueh and those devilishly delicious deep-fried doughnuts drizzled with chocolate sauce.

OASIS
BBQ buffet dinner
5th Level, Terrace Wing, Grand Hyatt Singapore
$78++ per person, inclusive of free-flow, every Friday & Saturday.
For more info, check here.

First Thai
23 Purvis Street
Telephone 63393123
Open Daily noon-2.15pm, 6-9.15pm

DAISY’S DREAM KITCHEN
Peranakan & Local Delights

Family Restaurant: 
Blk 517 West Coast Road #01-571

Hawker Stall:
Tiong Bahru Market, Stall #02-36
30 Seng Poh Road
Opening Hours
Wednesday – Sunday, 10.30am – 2.30pm
See my review on the hawker stall HERE!

Antoinette
30 Penhas Road (off Lavender Street)
Operating Hours:
Monday to Thursday – 11am to 10pm
(Last order 9.30pm)
Friday and eve of public holidays – 11am to 11pm
(Last order 10.30pm)
Saturday – 10am to 11pm
(Last order 10.30pm)
Sunday and public holidays – 10am to 10pm
(Last order 9.30pm)
www.antoinette.com.sg
Also does takeaways and has other locations @ * Mandarin Gallery * Scarlet Hotel * Palai Renaissance *

If you’re watching your waistline, don’t worry it’s not all fat and carbs here, although ironically, don’t let their name fool you, their herbal chicken soup isn’t what people really flock here for.  Try their other Zi Char dishes (rice, noodles, meats and seafood, etc.), which are consistently good and their super-popular, comforting mee sua soup. Each bowl boasts silky (not sticky) noodles, mushrooms & your chosen pig parts floating in an aromatic herbal broth, not unlike bak kut teh. Choose from mee sua with sliced pork or sliced pork with liver or with everything. But if you’re not a “soupy” person, then you’ve gotta try their fried mee sua with crab, which comes wrapped in the fragrant opeh leaf.

Seng Kee Black Herbal Chicken Soup 成基黑鸡补品
467 Changi Road (near Kembagan MRT)
Open 5pm – 4am

Cook/ Eat a Pot of Curry
Netizens came together as one united people to cook, eat & share a pot of curry in what can be called THE Facebook food event of the year and a culinary protest of spicy proportions! I, too, jumped on the bandwagon and whilst I didn’t actually cook, I did indulge in A LOT of curries! Apollo Banana Leaf & Samy’s are old faves, but this year, I tried several Chinese-style fish head curries. Here are my top picks this year:

• Yip Cheong Kee Eating House People’s Park
• The Curry Wok
• Chin Chin Restaurant

Steamboat

• Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao Holland Village (Spicy Szechuan pepper, Mala hotpot)
• Tin Heng (Teochew-style, yummy fresh fish & marbled beef)
• Whampoa Keng (Tasty Fish head steamboat and awesome zi char like hae cho. Speaking of which…)

Zi Char

• Keng Eng Kee Seafood (Ming zhu rolls and tofu, ooh!)
• Roland Restaurant (THE BESTEST Chilli & Pepper Crab in S’pore!)
• Yong Huat Fried Noodles @ Alibaba Kopitiam (Fried mee sua, Hokkien mee & Char Kway Teow. Secret weapon - CLUMPS of crispy, fatty LAAAARD!)

Mee Pok

• Bras Pasah
• Newton

Soups

• Loola’s (Incredible western-style Salted Veg & Duck Soup!)
• Bahrakath Mutton Soup King

Fancy-Schmancy

• Luke’s Oyster Bar & Chop House (Fresh raw oysters, really good steaks and fries – what’s not to love?)
• The Cathay (Modern Cantonese Cuisine with a Western sensibility)

Happy eating y’all and here’s to a 2012 of new food discoveries and full bellies!

This place is found in the so-hip-it-hurts Tiong Bahru area and had already created a bit of a buzz on the www (some of which was not terribly glowing), so while I was keen to try it, I was a little wary. Enter my mini-JC reunion – the perfect opportunity to try out Open Door Policy, which touts “modern bistro fare with a rustic twist”. In other words, from my personal experience, the food has touches of new-fangled molecular gastronomy, like nitro-frozen yogurt, but nothing too fancy or high-brow. It’s modern, accessible food that’s served in a very relaxed style and environment.

Here are some of the delicious things we got to eat:

The Starters
Generously portioned and ideal for sharing. The night we went, there was a seared tuna Nicoise salad on the evolving specials board. It was gorgeous – behold!

Look at the perfectly seared tuna – pink and plump in the middle, and that lovely egg with the creamy yolk!

Flamed tuna carpaccio with radish and yuzu salad
Zingy, refreshing and a perfect balance with the meatiness of the perfectly cooked fish.

Steak tartare with truffle mayo and potato chips
One of the meal’s winners. The truffle oil was headily aromatic and generously slicked over the chips. The raw beef finely chopped and seasoned, balancing between savoury and acidity. The earthy, fresh meat was mixed with finely minced onions, capers and yes, that is a deep-fried sage leaf. It was delicious, scooped up with a chip or slathered atop the grilled bread.

Puff pastry pizzetta, lamb confit and greek salad garnish
The lamb confit was sinfully rich and tender and went tell with the tangy greek-style cucumbers, olives, tomatoes and feta cheese. The rocket gave the dish a peppery, bitter balance and I would’ve loved this as a salad. The pizzetta crust, while crisp and buttery, seemed a tad superfluous. But still, yummers!

Crispy chicken wings with curry, yoghurt and cucumber salad

This was a really interesting dish, with the yoghurt coming in the form of frozen bits like Dippin’ Dots. Unfortunately, not my favourite. It veered too far into dessert territory for me. The curry gel tasted more like it belonged on a glazed donut, very sweet, with the merest hint of curry. Likewise for the shredded cucumber salad, it was very sweet and should have been paired with crispy wings that were more aggressively spiced and seasoned.

This boneless chicken wing tastes like dessert!

Mains & Meats (there are fish dishes, but we’re far too carnivorous!)

Confit of duck leg, puy lentils, sage and smoked bacon
This one rocks!!! Every ingredient went perfectly together to create an umami explosion in my mouth. The portion looked small, but a bite of the dish tells you why. It’s layer upon layer of rich texture, flavour and fat. You don’t need a huge serving to feel satisfied!

48 hour cooked braised beef cheek with mochi potatoes, carrot puree and snow pea tendrils
A must-try menu item. The beef is so tender, one touch from your fork and it comes apart!

Pork belly with parsnip puree, braised quinoa and celery
Sorry, not a pork fan, so didn’t really try it. My dining companions liked it though and the parsnip chips were crunchtastic!

Desserts

Chocolate and pistachio souffle with creme anglaise
The waitress first cuts a slit on the top of the souffle, then pours the beaker of creme anglaise in. Light and fluffy, this was like eating pistachio-scented air through a chocolate cloud!

The ice cream ‘why just sunday’
How can something as plain and simple as ice-cream be so complex and delicious? Served in a heavy granite bowl, the scoop of ice-cream was decorated with choclate and butterscotch, then dressed with melt-in-the-mouth honey comb pieces and a dark chocolate tuille.

Lime panna cotta with coconut sago, cashew nuts and mint
This Italian favourite was given the light touch and a delightful twist with its asian flavours. The sago was wonderful – bigger than normal and al dente, with a pleasant firmess that held up well in the sauce. Overall, delicate and unusual, lovely and light!

White chocolate mousse with a raspberry headache
Amusing name for a dessert, but no, whilst the raspberry flavour was intense, it did not leave us with aching heads! Maybe the chefs are the ones suffering, because I’d imagine this would be a tricky dessert to make. The mousse wasn’t a exactly a mousse, more like NASA-inspired freeze-dried bricks of milky sweetness, liberally dusted with a raspberry powder. It was fun to eat and declared the overall champion of the sweet treats!

The restaurant layout is open-planned with a show kitchen behind a glass wall – see?
They also boast a great bar beverage menu plus gourmet coffees from 40 Hands Café which is just across the street from the restaurant.

Happy, satisfied diners!

Do go for their 3-course tasting menu for under $150, you get what you see above, plus a bottle of sparkling wine. The 2 guys in our party went for the set and we ended up with enough bubbly for all 7 of us. Value for money? You betcha!

Open Door Policy
Open for lunch and dinner on select days, check their website for details.
19 Yong Siak Street (Tiong Bahru)
Singapore 168650

For a delicious meal that won’t break the bank, get thee to…
Loola’s
#02-14 Esplanade Mall