Friday, March 30, 2012

(CLOSED) Salt Grill & Sky Bar

Restaurant Week

We headed to one of the most famous and popular restaurants in Singapore! Salt! We were really excited that we managed to get a reservation at Salt [:

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Our reservation was from 6-8 and we were pretty excited about being able to experience a change in the ambience of the restaurant as night falls.

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View from Salt. Can you see The Marq? I wanna stay there! Haha

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Yummy raisin, and plain bread with tasty nuts and olive oil [:

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Sea Tasting Plate
This was truly remarkable. The slices of raw fish were bursting with flavours.

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Blue fin tuna with a little mustard.
This was my favourite out of the lot.
Too good, too good.
Wish I could have more.

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Yellowtail king fish from Aussie, carrying a mild fragrance of shallot and ginger and topped with some cheddar cheese
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This was the only warm and cooked item and it was fresh and juicy.

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Maori Lakes Beef Tenderloin - grilled with celeriac puree, beans, and spices
The beef was extremely tender and a true delight!
It had a tinge of sweetness and it was so soft it felt like it was melting in my mouth
The puree was delicious too.
This dish was really pretty damn impressive!
We loved it!

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Barramundi fillet - in coconut broth and sydney spices
The fish was soft and smooth. The coconut broth, however, was too overwhelming. Although the coconut broth was strong, the fish does not lose its own taste.

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Coconut lime sorbet and mango sorbet
X and I both liked the sugar biscuit! Crunchy and sweet, we loved it!
The mango sorbet was thick and good. Although I'm not a fan of mango, I quite liked it
I didn't really eat much of the coconut lime sorbet as its taste was highly similar to the barramundi that I had earlier on.
We felt that the desserts were pretty simple, and nothing impressive

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Looks like an observatory dome right! Haha

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City lights

We really enjoyed our time at Salt. We couldn't stop staring out of the window (Thank God we had a table next to the window!) despite the windows being pretty dirty haha. Service was excellent. Once we took our seats, their staff offered to take pictures for us and they were efficient in providing a basket for my bag and taking our orders. It was a pleasant evening!

2 Orchard Turn, Level 55 and 56 on ION Orchard
All day bites : 11.30am - 5pm
Lunch: 1130am- 2pm
Dinner : 6pm-10pm
Bar: 6pm-1130pm

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Love, K

K's rating of Salt: 8/10

Monday, March 26, 2012

Laurent Bernard Chocolatier(Portsdown)

This is our third visit to Laurent Bernard at Portsdown!
This time round, we were there for an invited food tasting!
We had the privilege and opportunity to learn more about chocolates and taste Laurent Bernard's awesome Easter menu [:

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Alfresco area that we adore

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Appetizers

Informative session on chocolates!
We learnt so much!
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Chef Laurent explaining to us how good chocolates should look and taste like.
He told us that the coating of chocolates should be thin and the ganache should be creamy, smooth and soft.

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He also explained to us the composition of sugar, cocoa beans, and cocoa butter that should be present in good chocolate

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Chocolate hens, for Easter! They have chocolate eggs, and chocolate shells too.
All ready for Easter!

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Looks really good right!
The chocolate at Laurent Bernard are all freshly made on their premises!

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The food bloggers that were invited!

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Seared scallops with cocoa nips, and fennel foam
We loved this! The scallops were fresh and they tasted really good with the chocolate sauce! The cocoa nips provided a crunchy edge to the soft scallops. Chocolate-infused sweetness.
The bacon piece on the scallop gave a savory tinge to this dish.
Oh so good, oh so good.


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Grilled rib-eye steak with cocoa orange sauce
The rib-eye was quite huge!
The cocoa orange sauce was unique. The sweet orange flavour was a twist to the slightly bitter chocolate. Really interesting.
I like the mashed potato haha

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Peruvian Chicken
The chicken was extremely tender and the slightly spicy chocolate sauce was gooooood.


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Chocolate Banana cake
Although the entree and the main course were impressive, my favourite has gotta be the chocolate banana cake.  It is made up of meringue sponge, cripsy hazelnut, caramelized bananas with passionfruit juice, a little bit of ginger and creamy ganache.
There are so many different layers of different textures. The smooth layers that melt in your mouth were a delightful contrast to the crunchy layers.
So much effort and so many ingredients packed into this awesome cake
I loved every bit of it (:

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Chocolate shooter that Chef Laurent bought from overseas!
It's super cool.
First, you put the cocoa powder on the plastic thingy

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Next, when he says "go", breathe in deeply
He'll press down the shooter simultaneously so that you'll breathe in the powder!
You'll be able to "taste" the powder through your nose! Haha super cool right!
X tried it but I didn't dare to haha

It was a really pleasant evening at Laurent Bernard as everyone was so friendly and warm. Morgane is super entertaining, she's really cute and funny haha. We'll like to thank everyone at Laurent Bernard for such a wonderful evening, for the splendid food and the hospitality they extended to us. They really made us feel comfortable and at home (:

You have to try their Easter menu! Especially the chocolate banana cake!! You'll love it too! (:

5B Portsdown Road
Tuesday-Thursday : 10am -10pm
Friday: 10 am - midnight
Saturday : 9am - mightnight
Sunday: 9am-10pm

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Love, K

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

The Line Buffet

We went to The Line at Shangri-La for X's birthday lunch. He was supposed to blog about The Line but well.. 3 months on and here I am, typing this long overdue post.

It was a Saturday and I'd made reservations online 2 weeks before. I decided to bring him to The Line because he loves oysters and having heard much about their oysters, I had to bring him here haha. There's a 15% discount if you reserve seats online! And apparently they have a 40% promotion too. Didn't manage to get that one though. But 15% is good enough! So it was $55++ for each of us [:
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The orange lights were a little too dark

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SASHIMI.
I LOVE SWORDFISH AND SALMON SASHIMI.
Can't remember how many pieces we ate.. But we sure ate alot haha. The sashimi was fresh, and nicely cut. The swordfish was so juicy.. Swordfish sashimi is the best!

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FRESHEST OYSTERS EVER.
The oysters are opened right on the spot and if this is not fresh, I don't know what is. the oysters were really good and very very fresh. They aren't like the ones that are left on the ice waiting for someone to pick them up. They serve a few sauces to go with the oysters and they were delicious! We mixed 2 sauces together and the oysters went extremely well with the sweet and sour mix! If you're a fan of oysters, you have to visit The Line. We ate like at least 20 oysters..? Haha I only ate 4 I think.

The cold prawns were juicy and we ate quite a few of them.

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Iced Teh tarik!
Their teh tarik is made on the spot and it is light and smooth. The tea taste is not too overwhelming. Pretty perfect cup of tehtarik that we each had 2 cups of. Haha

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Pizza, which was quite good! Yum yum I love pizzas
Roasted pork belly with caramelised onions. Tender pork belly with a hint of sweetness hmm
Salmon quiche which I abandoned after 2 mouthfuls because it was pretty tasteless.

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The mushroom ravioli with truffle sauce was tasty and I loved its texture
The breadstix was crispy and fragrant.
The ham was just alright. A little too tough
I think the one on the right is roasted potatoes with rosemary. Didn't really leave an impression on us

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Indian corner. Naan with fish curry.
I'm not really a fan of Indian food so I didn't take much of the available selection.

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THE DUCK WAS SOOO GOOD.
It is soft, and extremely tasty. It was really good.
Can't remember whats that in the middle, sorry!

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Satay! The satays were awesome. They were soft and flavourful and ain't quite like those normal satays you get at the coffeeshops. Well cooked and lovely

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Yorkshire pudding
The yorkshire pudding drizzled in apple sauce didn't quite suit my tastebuds.

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More sashimi and prawns

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And more sashimi

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And more oysters

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And more sashimi HAHAHA

Finally, desserts!
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I have to say that I was disappointed in their desserts. They LOOKED really impressive and appetizing. But they really weren't as great as they looked. I think the creme brulee was probably the best one on this plate

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Banana and caramel crepe.
This was alright. They have really few toppings for their crepes

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The cheesecake was too sour and the tiramisu was too dry

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They have an icecream corner with quite a number of flavours. Here's my chocolate icecream with oreo. Nothing impressive. And again, very few toppings.

Overall, The Line is a good place to visit if you're a fan of sashimi, oysters and duck. But not so good if you're targeting the desserts. They have a Chinese corner that serves noodles and a salad station too. We didn't take any of the chinese food like prawn paste chicken and all. I don't know why too. Haha but all in all, the variety's quite wide! And service was good! The waitress at our section was super attentive, friendly and efficient. Her name's Maria I think! Wanted to write a feedback form for her, but The Line doesn't have feedback forms apparently? Haha. Let us know what you think of The Line!

22 Orange Grove Road
Shangri-La Hotel
Breakfast: 6am – 10.30am (Weekends to 11 am)
Lunch: 12noon – 2.30pm (Weekends and Public Holidays to 3 pm)
Dinner: 6.30pm – 10.30pm (Weekends and Public Holidays start at 6pm)
Supper: 10.30 pm – 6 am

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Love, K

K's rating of The Line : 7/10