denise tan blogs

This relatively new-kid-on the block describes itself as a “Convivial bar and eatery”, and indeed it is! Packed on weekends for the drinks and all-day-breakfasts, this place calls to mind bar-cafes in New York or Melbourne, all high ceilings, brick walls, wood and glass. Classy, yet warm! If you prefer a little more peace and quiet, try going early on a weekday to nurse your drink, indulge in an all-day brekkie or surf the www (or get some work done) with their free wifi!
Welcome to Club Street Social, which serves up fresh, mouth-watering Italian-inspired food, coffees, cocktails and a heaping does of friendly on the side.

I’ve been there twice now if you like a bustling crowd and lots of noisy atmosphere, go on a Friday night and try their unique cocktails. Nothing girly and embarrasing here, nothing comes served with a paper umbrella! It’s all very grown-up and innovative! Above: The #1 tequila, maraschino, cucumber, yuzu. Refreshing and STRONG! With an unusual after-taste, not unlike Pocari!
Below: The #7 cognac, bacon, date, walnut – OMG! It’s a thick, heady concoction that could be served frozen as dessert! They had me at bacon. Tangy, salty, sweet – all around delicious!

My friend really enjoyed his Number Two cocktail: yamazaki (Japanese whisky), madeira, apricot, lime. And next time I go, I have to try the intriguing
#4: rye, italian vermouth, vegemite. VEGEMITE, folks!! If cocktails aren’t your thing, they so bubblies, red and white wines as well as beers, teas and coffees. Alrighty, let’s talk food next…

PLATTERS TO SHARE: cheese and cured meats with crisp toasted bread and quince paste. Also to share on the menu: Ciabatta and dips, mmm!

From plain bread to decorated bread…

Crostini! All come in portions of 3 or 5 pieces. Above: duck rillette, green apple & fig compote. The tangy apple helps cut the delectable fatty richness of the duck and the fig gives an otherwise salty dish a hint of sweetness.
Below: anchovy, ricotta, citrus salt . Beautiful combination of flavours – I could eat the pretty, silvery, salty-zingy anchovies all day! The mild creaminess of the cheese works really well with the acids in this dish.

On to more bread. Now, this is BREAD!!!

Panini – I don’t know what they do to these carby creations, but they are THE BEST I’ve ever had. Light, super-crispy-crunchy, piping hot and packed with interesting flavours. These are MUST-TRIES.

Above: grilled ribeye, caramelized garlic, fontina. Absolutely fanatstic! And consistently delicious both times I went. The beef was seared perfectly juicy and pink inside. My favourite thing to eat on their menu.
Below: confit duck, roast portobello, thyme. Lovely fatty duck, a huge slice of  earthy mushroom and lots of my favourite fresh herb. Delish!


Aww… Open up the panini and it’s heart shaped! I <3 Duck & Fungi & Thyme!

Also very worth trying is the pan-seared lobster, avocado, yuzu mayo Panini – we gobbled this one so quick, I didn’t even think to snap a shot of it. So you’ll just have to take my word for it!
Ok, we over-ordered! Stuffed to the gills, we had to ask for a doggie-bag – I like the brown lunch bad and sticker – such a sucker for packaging!
Pity we had no room left in our greedy guts, cos they also serve salads, cold, soft sandwiches and an appealing all-day breakfast, which includes delectables like bacon, egg and maple butter panini, ciabatta toast with mascarpone cream & fruit preserves, as well as truffled egg toast.
As if that isn’t enough, they do desserts too – but I haven’t tried any. YET. 3 that sound good to me: affogato, lemon tart & strawberry nutella panini.
All in all, a wonderful place to go with friends to unwind over good food & drinks plus great service from the very friendly owner & staff.

CLUB STREET SOCIAL
5 Gemmill Lane (just off club street)
+65 6225 5043 (reservations only for parties of 8 and above)
Mon – Sat: 9:00 am – 10:30 pm
Sun: 9:00 am – 9:00 pm
Bar stays open till midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.

www.clubstreetsocial.com

If you love artisanal coffees, tasty snacks and a unique environment in which to indulge, this is a lovely respite from the hustle and bustle if you have a few hours in the afternoon to spare. Maison Ikkoku is a boutique-bar-cafe that operates on a quiet end of Kandahar Street, in the vibrant Arab Street area. The day I went, the café, which centers itself on quality coffee, was deliciously quiet, the perfect calm after a stormy (literally & figuratively) day. The coffees are strong, the nibbles yummy, the decor eclectic and unusual. Behold!



Repurposed furniture – a door-turned-tabletop in their little shopfront alfresco deck area.

Inside, the repurposing continues… My table top was also once a door of some sorts.


View from the main entrance: Look up! There are cabinets and cupboards suspended from the ceiling!


Service area – where you can order your drinks and pick out your snacks.


Copper piping + bulbs = lighting system

Love the tufted leather benches! But on to the food & bev…

Home-made cakes include Carrot Cake – rich and moist, redolent with spice, full of grated carrot and toasted walnuts, this cake has a savoury-sweet flavour that goes perfectly with tangy cream cheese frosting. The cute frosted carrot makes eating so much more fun! Look at the chunky texure – you can actually see the carrot and walnuts!

Other recommended sweet treats include their dramatically bright Red Velvet Cake, topped with creamy white frosting.
Other must-tries? The Pumpkin Cheesecake which combines New York style cheesecake with pumpkin puree. It’s smooth and velvety, with the sweetness and texture of the added pumpkin.
For a double dose of chocolate, the Chocolate Valrhona cake is all about moist chocolate cake smothered in a rich and creamy chocolate ganache.
Not in the mood for sweets? Their savouries are scrummy. I tried their beef gourmet sandwich:

Hot, juicy sliced beef striploin, gruyere cheese, creamy horseradish dressing, rocket, fresh tomatoes, caramelized onions – ’nuff said. Absolutely delicious, filling, comforting and exactly you want between pillowy whole-grain toasted bread. The bread alone was full of flavour and texture, I would have been just as happy with a roll and some butter!

But look at this baby – a well-composed, complete portable meal!


As if the lovely, fresh tomatoes and peppery rocket in the sandwich weren’t enough, the side salad was gorgeous as well! Dressed with the Maison Ikkoku Japanese-style house vinaigrette, this richly fragrant, peanutty sauce lightly coated each leaf with full flavour. They have other delicious salads on the menu, including the Caesar & Caprese.

That’s all I had room for, but do stop by, especially on a lasy weekday afternoon and try their other goodies, like the house specialties – the Maison Ikkoku Kong Bak Bao (steamed bun with home made stewed pork belly) and the Mi Musubi (fat sushi roll using Japanese short grain rice with seasonings & SPAM!). On weekends, they also serve all-day breakfasts, including CROQUE MADAME (Honey glazed ham, gruyere, home-made béchamel, fried egg on toasted sourdough), MORNING B.L.T. SALAD (Wild rocket, cherry tomatoes, avocado, crispy bacon, home-made dijon vinaigrette, shaved parmesan) and BANANA PARFAIT (Crunchy cereal of honey oat & pecan, low fat vanilla yoghurt, fresh bananas – YUMMMM!).

Drinks-wise, Coffees are the way to go. Besides selections from their specialty brew bar, the classics are all there on the menu. These are the Iced Americano & Iced Latte. Yes, BOTH are mine!

Not into coffee? they also do hot chocolate and gourmet teas.
Don’t forget to play their chic men’s boutique and cocktail bar as the sun sets! The 3rd floor drinks space serves up  coffee-cocktail concoctions and light bites.

Maison Ikkoku
20 Kandahar Street Singapore 198885
Mon – Thu: 9am – 9pm
Fri, Sat & PH Eve: 9am – 11pm
Sun & PH: 9am – 7pm
www.maison-ikkoku.net

There’s something to be said about Chinese restaurants – you know, the kind that serves Cantonese cuisine, boasts brisk, highly-efficient waitstaff and brings to mind weekend family gatherings? Now, every family has their favourite, go-to restaurant and maybe that’s why I’ve never tried the food at Peach Garden before – my family simply never went there. Till now. After a very pleasant, delicious meal with my parents at one of their arguably swankier outlets (33rd level of OCBC Centre), Peach Garden has endeared itself to my family (and probably yours too)!

Here’s a round up of my favourite dishes:

Spiced chilled jelly fish – a staple starter! Nice and springy.

Steamed white chicken with spicy Sze Chuan chilli sauce. Ohhhhh… the sauce! They should bottle and sell the stuff. Piquant, pungent with aromatics and full-flavoured spices, it was the perfect foil for the cool, clean taste of the boneless chicken.

Bittergourd with salted egg yolk – another thrilling contrast in taste and texture! The firm, yet tender greens had a bitter-sweetness that held up really well to the unctuous, creamy, salty egg coating. Wonderful!


Collagen-rich fish maw, bamboo pith and wolf berry soup. Lip-smackingly thick, it just tastes nourishing!


Roast Duck – tender and juicy with a crisp skin – what more could you ask for? Goes so well with a Burgundy!

Highly-recommended by Angela Ho, our lovely lady-in-charge, this stir-fried vermicelli dish was another flavour bomb! Boldly seasoned with black beans and spices, the noodles were beautifully cooked, with coveted crisp bits we fought over. The fish was generously portioned, very fresh and perfectly cooked too. This dish usually comes with bittergourd, but because we had the egg-yolked starter, we switched the bittergourd for aubergine and that was a brilliant choice! The eggplant gives a meaty richness to the dish and also soaks up all the delicious juices for an extra punch of flavour. So, so good!
Other must-tries: Roasted whole lamb leg – sinfully rich, not too pungent, perfectly pink and seasoned! (Sorry no picture, I wasn’t there the third time my family went, but I got to savour their left-overs (Thank God for doggy bags!)

Peach Garden 桃苑
65 Chulia Street
#33-01
OCBC Centre
Tel: 6535 7833
Open Mon–Sat: 11.30am – 2.30pm, 6pm – 10pm
Sun & PH: 10.30am – 3pm, 6pm – 10pm
For info and other outlets, check peachgarden.com.sg

In the mood for a happy ending to your meal? Liang Seah Street is the place that can’t be beat! The sheer number of dessert shops that have sprung up along this lively thoroughfare will leave you reeling to make a decision. Lucky for you, I’ve done the homework – quite by accident (it was the only store whose staff went to lengths to make room for us, despite already being heaving with customers), I discovered DESSERT FIRST…

Dessert First is a no-frills cafe serving up savouries like dim sum and homemade waffles, but living up to their name, sweet treats are priority here – with more than 62 items to choose from their extensive menu, you’ll be in dessert heaven! They serve up everything from tang yuan (Glutinuous Rice Balls), to grass jelly, shaved ice, snow ice, ice blended drinks, double boiled desserts, to hot and cold beverage concoctions.
However, in my humble opinion, these are the stars of their menu, especially on a sweltering day. This ain’t your average shaved ice dessert ala ice kacang – there’s something completely different about the texture of this icy treat. Snow ice tastes exactly as it sounds – like freshly fallen snow. It’s feather-light, fluffy and melt-on-your-tongue refreshing! The fruity flavours infused into the delicate sheets of snow ice beautifully complement the real fruit toppings, like strawberry, durian (the real fruit, not just flavourings!), honey dew melon and mango.

Mango and Nata de Coco


Honey Dew!

Awesome, pungent durian – look at that mojntain of real fruit puree!

Their tang yuan are also lovely – soft, smooth and come with fillings like peanut, sesame, chocolate and red bean, perfect to go with almond cream soup or a  clear, spicy-sweet ginger broth.

Other goodies I need to try next time: their signature beancurd served in a special wooden bucket-barrel! The silky-smooth, no-sugar-added tofu is a healthy choice, since the sugar syrup and orange sugar  are served separately. You can also add toppings for a little extra.

DESSERT FIRST
8, Liang Seah Street
#01-04
Tues-Sun: 12pm – 11.30pm
Tel: 6333 0428
www.dessertfirst.com.sg

This is where you can find THE BEST ROAST CHICKEN in town, folks! The unusual location of this charming French-rustic eatery was a big sell for me – I adore restaurants in surprising places! A juxtaposition of luxe and seedy, Cocotte at the Wanderlust Hotel in Little India is an irresistible discovery. Cocotte is THE go-to place for relaxed, yet refined dining in a hip, quirky setting. They may serve hearty, rustic French cuisine, but let me tell you that there is a level of sophistication to food that makes dining there an absolute pleasure.


Cocotte’s been dishing out delightful, critically-acclaimed meals for just under 2 years now and it’s with more than a little sheepishness I admit that I’ve only just now paid it a visit. Don’t make the same mistake I did – please go check it out if you haven’t already! The food’s really, really, REALLY good! The staff are friendly and efficient and on weekends, they have live entertainment that’s light and breezy, so it doesn’t disrupt the enjoyment of your meal.

Octopus light over their huge, round communal table.

Fresh and hot from the oven – crisp on the outside, fluffy on the inside bread rolls. No-carb rule be damned! These little beautiful are the perfect receptacles for melting blobs of French butter!


Cute coaster

The appetisers have ARRIVED! L-R: Deep-fried, breaded tripe, Seafood in cream sauce with truffle fries.

One of Cocotte’s signatures: Fried Tripe! Yes, I adore cow stomach!!! Slow cooked till tender & coated in crisp breadcrumbs, this is a contrast in textures – springy, yet tender pungent meat and crunchy coating.

FRUITS DE MER À LA NORMANDE – Air-flown live Norwegian Blue Mussels, crab, lobster and clams, cooked in a light apple cider cream.

Sweet, succulent LOBSTER!

The sauce is so addictive, especially when you use the fries to soak it up. These fries are crisp outside, fluffy inside, perfectly seasoned and given a decadent hit of truffle oil. Use them as mini straws to slurp up that apple cider cream sauce – I dare you!


POULET ROTI – Whole hormone-free chicken, marinated for 2 days & roasted with fresh herb butter. Served with gravy, roasted baby potatoes & spring vegetables.



OH. MY. GAAAAAWWWSH. Soooooooo good! Tip top, #1, super delicious, 100% recommended! This roast chicken is out of this world! You cannot visit Cocotte without ordering this beautiful platter that is testament to quality ingredients, excellent cooking technique and bold flavours! This is the perfect party food, one for communal eating – you just dive in with your fingers and pick your fave part. And with a whole chicken, there’s gonna be a part you’ll like. I enjoy wings and breast meat and I had free reign with these parts. Have to say the chicken breast (notorious for being dry) was beautifully cooked, moist, and succulent, no hint of dryness in sight! So imagine, if the breast was juicy, ’nuff said about the thighs and drums!

New potatoes, crisp garlicky beans, peas and carrots, a lovely addition of caramelised, halved fennel bulbs.


Graaavy is grooovy! The chicken holds up on its own without gravy, but this boasts deep chicken flavour and makes a thick and unctious topping for the chicken breast and for dipping your taters and veggies in. Plus, if you have truffle fries left over, dunk ‘em in the chicken gravy for an extra sinful indulgence!

Rock Melon sorbet – tastes just like the real thing! Nothing artificial about this palate refresher!

Pretty, pale green Apple sorbet, elevated with Calvados an apple brandy from the French région of Basse-Normandie. It’s like alcoholic apple snow fell and they made snowballs for us to eat! Light, fluffy and full of intense apple flavour, this sorbet gets my thumbs (and toes) up!

Classic Crepe Suzette with a heady hit of flaming Grand Marnier!

Just remember to bring your wallet, or you’ll end up doing this! Haha.

All too soon, this evening of tastebud magic was over – but there are still so many delectable things to try off Cocotte’s menu. I hear their Pork Collar is awesome and I can’t wait to try their steak tartare, Duck Confit, Chicken liver mousse and pork rillettes.
Thank you, Tony & Aly – chefs extraordinaire and consummate hosts! Remember, I will wash dishes for food!

Cocotte
Communal-Restaurant-Bar
2 Dickson Road
Lunch:
Mondays to Saturdays
1200hrs – 1430hrs
Sundays
1200hrs – 1500hrs

Dinner:
Mondays to Thursdays
1830hrs – 2230hrs
Fridays to Saturdays
1830hrs – 2300hrs
Closed on Sundays

Check out Cocotte online for full menu, map and reservations.

I love visiting open houses with a buffet worth shouting about and this one is a new discovery I made at a family friend’s place during Chinese New Year. So for all foodies like me who enjoy Nasi Padang, try Mansor D’Cafe – luckily for us, not only do they cater for parties, they also have a restaurant conveniently located near Orchard! Here’s a little sampling of what tastebud-tickling deliciousness they do:

Ayam Goreng – BEEEST!!! Love the texture and the super crispy skin!

Also famous for their super-crispy, super sedap deep-fried tempeh – addictive!
Their potato bergedils were fluffy and generously portioned with great seasoning, and their fish cakes in a spicy-sweet sambal was also tip-top delish!

Extra Pedas Chicken thighs – look at the colour and you know it’s gonna be sweat-and-tear-inducing! But it’s balanced out with a sweetness that lingers after the heat disappears.

Creamy, mild curry ikan.

Balancing things out: Stir-fired sayur and spicy tau kwa cubes with long beans.

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)

If you love the smokey flavour of barbequed food, but hate sweating (and stinking) over hot coals, this is a lovely family place to enjoy a buffet of grilled delights, already done for you!
The Grand Hyatt Singapore’s poolside restaurant, Oasis, is the lush, relaxed setting for a weekly alfresco BBQ buffet dinner with an open bar. It’s an all-you-can-eat extravaganza of salads, gourmet BBQ favourites and sweet treats, with the added bonus of it all being prepared for you. Plus, you get to stay cool and enjoy the free flow of beers, wines and margaritas. It’s a fuss-free, win-win situation!

Clockwise from top left:

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.

Glass Noodle salad with seafood – packed with tons of flavour – salty, sour and spicy!

A rich, fragrant Tom Yum soup.

Chicken with basil – best with rice!

“Green” omelette, packed with veggies and served with an incredible, pungent chilli dipping sauce.

Sambal Kang Kong.

Olive Rice with a good, nutty flavour and cooked perfectly firm-to-the-bite. Lots of heat from the chillies and lots of texture from the cashews and crunchy cucumber.

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

Dine alfresco in the shopfront’s five-foot way!


This is a delightful art cafe in Tiong Bahru that boasts white walls adorned with art you can buy, teak floors and a relaxing, chilled-out atmosphere. It’s quite a sprawling space with little nooks and crannies in which to hide and savour a cuppa. There’s a  main front area facing the street, where you can order and sit, then there’s another inner area and corridor with tables chairs and sofa, leading to the shaded backyard.




The Orange Thimble serves nibbles like sandwiches, cakes and ice-creams, but really, you’d go there for the great coffee & the lovely vibe. It’s nice and quiet on a weekday afternoon, but gets hectic on weekends, when they serve all-day breakfasts, like the full English breakfast with eggs, sausages, bacon, sauteed mushroom & tomatoes with toast. Other menu items include Shepherd’s Pie, Portabello mushroom sandwiches, and English Breakfast Burger. Everything is served on cute and kitschy vintage crockery, which adds to the overall charm of the cafe.

Bacon Sarnie



However, I’d save my stomach for lots of their addictive, locally roasted coffees paired with darling pastries like buttered brioche or chocolate cake. I loved my Piccolo Latte so much I had to have it twice! Love that their hot bevs come with the retro iced-gem biscuits of my childhood! If you prefer, they do freshly squeezed juices too. This is one place that simply invites you to kick off your shoes, sink into a chair, pick up one of their many magazines or newspapers, and just while away a lazy afternoon.



The Orange Thimble
56 Eng Hoon Street #01-68
Tel: +65 6223 8068
Closed Mondays

You might recall my visit to a humble Peranakan hawker stall in Tiong Bahru, that’s run by my friend, actress & Dim Sum Dolly Selena Tan’s family? Well, the good news is, if you prefer not to sweat it out in a hawker centre but still want to enjoy Daisy’s Peranakan & local delights, they’ve opened an air-conditioned family restaurant in the West Coast. I went there last night with a group of friends to check it all out:

Peeking through the service window into the kitchen – that’s Selena’s Mother Daisy and her younger brother Ray in purple!

Delicious, deep-fried appetisers hot from the wok! Daisy’s wildly popular Ngoh Hiang (juicy little pork and prawn balls with lots of garlic and crunchy water chestnut). Sedap with her special bright orange chilli dipping sauce!


Crispy-fried, well-seasoned chicken wings – MORE please!


Otak-otak. Smooth, spicy and fragrant from the charcoal grill!

After washing down the goreng goodness with lime juice (look at that gorgeous green colour!), we moved on to soups…

Bakwan Kepiting (pork and crab balls soup with bamboo shoots) – this one is savoury and nourishing, while the other soup, Pork Rib and Lotus Root, was more sweet with a beautiful natural flavout coming from the peanuts.



Sambal kangkong – nice and crunchy, fresh, not limp or overcooked. Lots of the hae bee flavour!

Lagi best! Sambal Petai with ikan billis. Soooo tasty, with lots of texture.

This dish gets the thumbs up from almost every customer – Assam curry chicken.

Assam is also used very liberally in this unique squid dish. The tangy, earthy Black Ink Sotong!



Another big favourite – the deep-fried Ikan Selar stuffed with Sambal Belacan. OH MY GOODNESS GRACIOUS!!!! So addictive – big, bold flavours of the stuffing mingling with the crispy skin and firm meat of the fish, I was in heaven!


And look, a special treat for us – deep-fried fish roe! Rich, salty and sinful, these were little nuggets of ocean gold!



Instead of the usual Ayam Buah Keluak, Daisy’s serves Babi Buah Keluak – meat that is fall-off-the-bone tender, a thick rich gravy and the jewelled casings hugging a smooth, nutty, bitter-sweet-spicy, salty filling that we dug out gleefully and mixed with the killer lime sambal belachan and white rice!



With Selena’s lovely mummy and chef extraordinaire, Auntie Daisy!

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!