(CLOSED) East 8 New York Fusion Tapas + Bar

The name East 8, represents the 8th Street of East Village in New York.

East 8 is the brainchild of 2 talented graphic designers, Emil and Steven, who resided in New York for about 5 years. Having fallen in love with everything in the City of Dreams, they decided to bring New York to Singapore. Armed with impressive skills in designing, you won't be surprised how delicately intricate East 8's design is. Every single detail was carefully thought of and creatively constructed.


The Mezzanine area. 

Located at Grand Park Hotel City Hall, and sitting conveniently near the main road and directly opposite the Armenian Church, East 8 is not difficult to locate at all. Parking is readily available in the shopping malls surrounding the Hotel and beside the Peranakan Museum. 




This is the alfresco area, which is designed to resemble the Highline Park in New York. That's why there's like a lawn here!


Can you see the pretty lights? They're supposed to resemble the birds that perch up high. The lights are of different shapes and sizes.




This photo does not fully capture the metal bars across the ceiling but it's supposed to resemble the Manhattan Bridge and gives diners a sense of dining under it!


The indoor seating is designed such that diners will feel like they are in a New York City loft looking out the windows



Needless to say, X and I were wowed over by how much effort was put into the design of this 50-seater restaurant. Cleverly juxtaposing different textures and materials, East 8 is a charming composition of vintage and modernity.

We met Monica, who told us all about East 8 and recommended the dishes that we should try!


The menus come in 3 different designs and even the menus carry a taste of New York.


East 8 is an Asian fusion restaurant which only serves tapas at night. They do have a lunch menu which consists of burgers and such but when night falls, their tapas are allowed to shine.


East Village Cocktail (A pair) - $18
Sparkling Jelly Sake

East 8's focus is not a wide range of alcoholic beverages but a few signature cocktails, making sure they are all perfect. Being an Asian-fusion restaurant, East 8 uses much sake in their alcoholic beverages.

The East Village cocktail was sweet, sparkling and full of chewy jelly. It didn't carry much of the harsh taste of sake, but instead was a playful mix of textures and flavours. I really liked it! Do note that this is not meant to be a shot! It's supposed to be savoured slowly!

It's Ladies Night on every Wednesday, and ladies can get 1 for 1 cocktails! Also, Sake Bomb night is on Fridays and Sake Bombs will be going at $10 instead of the usual $18! How awesome is that!


Buffalo Cheese and Prosciutto - $18
Mozzarella cheese, prosciutto ham, topped with truffle mayo

To be honest, I'm not a fan of cheese. I'm afraid of the overwhelming and lingering taste and I do find cheese stinky. However, this kinda turned my life around. Savory large pieces of ham drizzled with smooth truffle mayo, and complemented with chewy buffalo mozzarella. Yum. I was really skeptical about the cheese but I'm glad I gave it a shot! The ham was very salty but the cheese kinda evens the taste out! They go really well together! This was X's favourite dish!

To emphasize on the Asian element in the dining experience here, diners are given chopsticks instead of forks and spoons. But fret not if you aren't able to use chopsticks, because they have forks and spoons too haha


Soy Yuzu Beef - $20
Soy yuzu infused torched Argentine Ribeye

When I was asked which was my favourite dish, I had a really hard time choosing because honestly, everything was so good. And this was probably the first time that we praised every single dish. HAHA. Totally not exaggerating here.

But anyway, I love love love beef so I decided that this was my favourite! The slices of Argentine beef were of fantastic quality. They were just lightly torched and seasoned afterwards. The beef was absolutely tender, succulent, and bursting with flavours. As X said "what's not to like?" It's so true. There was a reservation for a huge gathering the same evening we were there and the table had ordered like 7 plates of this!

Really, really good. 


Hamachi & Caviar - $15
Fresh yellowtail with sesame, soy dressing and black caviar

X and I love raw fish so we were really excited about this! It surely did not disappoint. The hamachi was super fresh, tender and the soy dressing really brought out the taste of the hamachi. The black caviar added a hint of saltiness to the hamachi and this dish really won our hearts!


Chilean Seabass - $23
Marinated seabass in miso and wine

The most popular item in the house. The famous Chilean Seabass that diners cannot get enough of. Many returning customers head back for this dish. Monica told us that she's not a fish person and most people actually prefer meat to fish but this was her favourite out of the lot. I couldn't agree more. I'm a meat person too. And after hearing what she said about the seabass, I couldn't help but expect it to be really good. And trust me, it was!


The fish was so soft and so juicy and it really melted in our mouths! It was so well-cooked and the fish was so fresh! The mushrooms were a delight too! I was secretly smiling when I savoured the first bite of the fish. I expected it to be good, but not THAT good. I could totally understand why people would come back just for this!


Chocolate Pot - $12
Rich chocolate and macerated berries

The Chocolate Pot is a must-try for chocolate lovers. Unlike your usual chocolate desserts, the chocolate is not overly thick or rich and it does not make you sick of it. It's quite a huge portion and X and I thought it would be ideal for 4 to share but Monica told us that it is usually shared and finished by 2 people! Well, X and I finished it too and it can certainly be done!


I'm quite amazed at how it's chocolately but not overwhelmingly so. X usually does not finish his chocolate if the portion is too big haha. But I guess the taste of smooth chocolate melting in his mouth, brightened by the taste of berries won him over haha


Salted Caramel Brownies
The brownies are gluten free and are made of rice flour and different gluten-free flours. They are incredibly soft, moist and topped with a thin crunchy layer. The caramel was salty, and it was not too thick or sticky. Quite the ideal brownie!

East 8 has a tea-time promotion on weekdays from 3-5 pm where diners can enjoy the selection of Cakes Of The Day for just $4 or $8.80 with a cup of gourmet coffee!


As night fell, the amber lights came to life.

East 8 is a place where you can chill out, have good food and alcohol and really enjoy yourselves. For a restaurant that's only 1.5 months old, they have really earned a reputation! They have special promotions every night and be sure to check them out! There's student special and yakitori night etc! You can also hold your parties and events here!


X and I have never been to New York, but we are sure that people who have will definitely appreciate East 8 alot more that we do!

Also, East 8 emphasizes alot on great service. Their staff are not only friendly but are really warm and cheerful too! Don't be surprised if they strike up a conversation with you!


10 Coleman Street
#01-21/22

Mon - Fri: 12:00 - 00:00

Sat: 18:00 - 00:00

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Love, K 

K's rating of East 8 : 8.5/10

Table Manners

After an afternoon of fun at Lek Lim Nonya Confectionery, we headed to a mystery place for dinner. We had gone to Bedok 85, initially, for the famous bar chor mee but it wasn't open. So while I was in the washroom, X came up with a secret plan with our 2 friends and soon, I was on a journey to I-don't-know-where. We finally arrived at Changi Business Park, after a 10-15 minute drive and X was wearing this smug smile because I didn't know where we were going... So I was trying to guess and all but every wrong guess only made his smug smile widen hahaha


So anyway, here we were! At Table Manners. Not like I've never heard of this place before, just that I didn't know it was here what. So smug for what haha

 




















Apricot Peach Cocktail - $13

Their cocktails are from Bar Stories so alcoholic X decided to give the Apricot Peach a try.
it was happy hour so the cocktail was $13 instead of $16. Unfortunately, we all really disliked the cocktail. It tasted like medicine and had an extremely strong and overwhelming artificial taste. So X gulped it down to end his misery


Beer- $4.80


Iced Latte - $6
When my eyes saw "Coffee by Papa Palheta", my eyes lit up. Time for a good cuppa coffee!
I don't know if I was oversensitive or what, but I felt that this coffee isn't as good as the one I had at Papa Palheta itself, or at The White Rabbit.


Mushroom risotto balls - $7.50
This was really bad. I took a bite of it and abandoned it. Nobody wanted another one after finishing one of it. We couldn't figure out why this item was recommended on the menu. The name of the dish does sound appetizing but really, try something else.


Aglio Olio - $15
Spaghetti with grilled pork sausage, bacon bits and chilli with parmesan cheese

The spaghetti was well cooked and carried a spicy aftertaste. The pork sausage was pretty huge but the overall taste was quite average.


Spaghetti Bolognaise - $15
Spaghetti tossed with minced beef in tomato sauce with grated parmesan cheese

The portion was big but you can hardly taste the beef in the dish.


Fish and Chips - $16
Beer battered fish and truffle fries

The fish was pretty good. It was juicy and had a sweetness to it but the batter was a bit too thick. Also, the portion was huge! Two big pieces of fish!


Angus Ribeye Steak - $23
New Zealand Angus Ribeye steak with truffle fries and side vegetables

I changed my vegetables to more fries! I was really surprised by the huge slab of beef! It's a very generous portion for its price. I always have my beef medium but this was too rare for me. The taste of truffle oil in the fries was hardly detectable too. Also, they do not have steak knives..


If you're looking for decent affordable fare, do give Table Manners a shot. We thought the food was just average but they were reasonably priced. We also fancied the interior design of the place and it seems that TM is pretty popular as the seats outdoors at the pavilion were all fully reserved when we got there. If you're in the area and looking to get a drink, do check out their happy hour promotions!


5 Changi Business Park Central 1
#01-68/69

Mon - Sun: 11:00 - 00:00

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Love, K

K's rating of TM: 6.5/10

Omakase Burger

X and I first went to The Grandstand in October and we returned every fortnightly to do work at one of the coffee joints there. We have had many chances to dine at Omakase Burger but we just didn't try it. It wasn't till a couple of months later when we've read many positive reviews about the place when we finally gave it a shot! Something good was right in front of us all that while but we didn't know it haha. X loves burgers so Omakase was a must-try for us.

We really like going to The Grandstand because it's not so crowded plus there's free parking! And there are really alot of food places coming up there.













Root Beer Float - $5.50
Good old root beer with a scoop of soft serve instead of your usual vanilla. It was surprisingly nice! The soft serve was sweet and wasn't too milky


Affogato - $4.90
Espresso with soft serve. I was like "huh, this one also soft serve?" I guess we're used to the creamy and milky vanilla icecream we get in our affogatos that we were quite skeptical about this. Haha, but again, it surprised us!


Omakase Cheeseburger - $13.90
Handground beef patty, toasted artisanal buns, melted American cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and secret Omakase sauce.

The buns were soft and buttery and the patty was tender, beefy and juicy. Every bite was bursting with flavour and goodness. Completed with melted cheese, I couldn't help but really like the burger! It's pretty damn good! The only downside was that the portion was a little small but you can always double your burger!


Ultimate Cheeseburger - $17.50
It's like the Omakase burger with bacon, onions and mushrooms

Like the Omakase burger, this was fantastic but also a tad too small on the portion side. We could have used a small side of fries! The presentation of the burger made it look even smaller as it comes in a basket. The burger looked lonely, and the basket looked pretty empty without an accompanying side.


Truffle fries - $6.90
We were still hungry so we decided to get truffle fries.

The truffle fries came in a small glass container that can be held in your palm. So it's really quite small. For a small portion of fries with hardly enough truffle taste, this was pretty expensive. However, the fries were crisp, not over-fried and were very soft on the inside.

I've seen many newspaper cuttings in the eatery saying that the best burgers in Singapore might be from Omakase. I don't know if they do have the best burgers, but they certainly do have really awesome ones!

200 Turf Club Road

#01-05 The Grandstand

Mon - Thu: 11:30 - 15:30
Mon - Thu: 17:00 - 21:30
Fri - Sun: 11:00 - 22:00

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Love, K

K's rating of Omakase Burger: 8/10

Hoshino Coffee

Located in the extended wing of Plaza Singapore, Hoshino Coffee has been attracting many patrons. The restaurant was packed, as expected, on a Saturday evening and we waited for about 20 minutes before we got a table for four.












Cute container for sugar


Iced Royal Milk Tea - $7.50
This is different from their iced milk tea but the waitress wasn't able to convey to us what the difference was.


The milk tea comes with a scoop of cream but the milk tea was diluted, and very bland. At $7.50, this is severely overpriced.


Iced Cafe Latte - $7.50
For a small cup of coffee, this cup has more ice than coffee. It was diluted before long and wasn't enjoyable. Once again, it's a very pricey and below average cup of coffee.

We also ordered a mango smoothie - $7. I didn't get a picture of it. But it tasted so raw, and it was practically sugarless. We asked for it to be changed because it tasted so bad. But it came back, almost the same. The drinks were extremely disappointing.


Tomato Omu - $15
The tomato cream sauce was savory and tasty. It goes very well with the rice and eggs. However, the portion of seafood is quite pathetic.


Pescatora Seafood Pasta - $15
The pasta was nicely done and well-cooked.


Fuwa Fuwa - $15.80
This looks really interesting and we just knew that we had to get it. Its very fluffy and eggy and there's rice, cuttlefish and mushrooms underneath the fluffy cloud of egg. It was pretty yummy


Pancake with chocolate banana and soft serve - $13.50
A single thick fluffy pancake coupled with only a few slices of bananas and a much melted side of soft serve. This dessert was less than satisfactory and definitely expensive. The pancake was too dry and tasted more like bread. Also, there were too few pieces of bananas.

Vanilla Souffle - $9.80
The vanilla souffle was very eggy and we got quite sick of it after awhile. There's nothing really worth mentioning.

It was quite a disappointing experience at Hoshino. The drinks and desserts are overpriced but their main courses are worth a try. Also, it was difficult to get the attention of the staff and service wasn't really up to mark.

#03-84 Plaza Singapura

Mon - Sun: 11:30 - 22:00

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Love, K

K's rating of Hoshino Coffee: 6/10