Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Coca Restaurant (Taka)

Mothers' day dinner

My parents are not very adventurous people. So when it comes to food, they often prefer traditional or at least chinese-esque cuisine. Steamboat is the perfect solution. A good hearty meal round a hot pot is exactly what my mum would like.
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I like it that the chicken stock doesn't start out too salty. As the dinner progresses, the meat and vegetables introduced flavours that made the soup just about perfect.

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I have to say the menu list is not very extensive but at least the items available are all fresh and tasty. Some of the favourites would be their special wanton, fish glue and sliced beef. For those who do not take beef, they have sliced pork which is just as tasty.

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Meat-wise, I think Coca provides enough to satisfy your craving. But for a seafood lover like me, i feel they do not offer enough choices in this category. Crabs, prawn, fish, cockles are what you have to be contented with. I was expecting better prawns and crabs but only to be disappointed with crabs that weren't fleshy and prawns that are a tad too small for my liking. I think my demands are reasonable considering the price per pax for the steamboat buffet.  

We ate the pork sukiyaki style, dipping them in egg after lifting them out of the hot pot.
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Despite the lack of seafood, I still had quite a hearty meal. No complains about the freshness of the food. Service was pretty efficient. They served the items quite quickly after receiving the order forms. I would say Mothers' day dinner was a success.

391 Orchard Road 
#04-22 Ngee Ann CitySingapore 238874 
11am to 10pm

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Love, X

X's rating of Coca : 6.5/10

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Maison Ikkoku

X brought me here for brunch on our first anniversary. Very unromantic... Hahaha but well, it doesn't matter where we spend it, as long as we spend it together! Hehe I'm so sweet.

Okay so anyway we parked at the public carpark a distance away and walked to Kandahar Street. It was a Sunday so the whole area was pretty crowded. Maison Ikkoku was packed. We were pretty lucky as we grabbed the top spot on the waiting list.

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They have a shop upstairs that carries accessories and apparel and so we went to take a look while waiting for our turn

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Outdoor seating that nobody wanted to take because it was SO HOT.

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White walls and cement floor

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Vintage furniture

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Equipment to make coffee

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Cute cups sitting in the cupboard

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Iced Mocha - $6.50
The coffee was strong and this drink was bitter with a slightly sweet aftertaste. Perfect example of bittersweet! X really liked it haha

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Hot Chocolate - $6
This was rich and good! Definitely one of the better hot chocolates!

We waited about 40 minutes for our food to arrive.
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Break of Dawn - $18.90
Port bratwurst, crispy smoked bacon, truss cherry tomatoes, sauteed asparagus, sunny side up, mixed greens with japanese peanut vinaigrette.

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served with sourdough toast

The portion is quite huge. X couldn't stop praising the vegetables. He said "the veggie is really good!" at least three times. Haha I guess the peanut vinaigrette made it really delicious. The yolks of the sunny side-ups were runny and it was simple joy spreading the yolk over the buttered sour dough bread. I liked the pork bratwurst. It was tasty and juicy. However, the bacon was too hard and too crispy that it tasted a little burnt. It was like eating crackers. The bacon was left pretty untouched. Everything else went into our happy stomachs!

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Salmon Florentine - $16.90
Toasted English muffins, Norwegian smoked salmon, poached eggs, home made hollandaise, sauteed asparagus.

See the smiley face? Haha

The hollandaise had a little chilli powder sprinkled on them. This made the hollandaise a little spicy, and tastier. The hollandaise was thick and full of flavour. The eggs were perfect and together with the yummy hollandaise, fresh salmon and toasted muffin, this dish was a winner! X said the asparagus was super nice like at least three times too. Hahaha. He's in love with their veggie.

We wanted to try their kong bak bao but they were out of it at around 12 plus. Must be really good!

We also wanted to try their dessert but we saved our stomachs for a buffet. Although food takes a little too long to be served but the staff took effort to inform us about the status of our food and they were pretty warm and nice. Haha we'll definitely be back for more! I really wanna try the kong bak bao haha

20 Kandahar Street
Mon - Thu: 9am - 9pm
Fri, Sat & PH Eve: 9am - 11pm
Sun & PH: 9am - 7pm

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Love, K

K's rating of Maison Ikkoku: 8/10

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

The Lawn

X brought me here for dinner after my exam since it was nearby. Located at Biopolis, it is not exactly easy to locate The Lawn as there are so many buildings there. Parking is available in the building itself.

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This is how it works. You first choose your serving size before proceeding to choose the grills, toppings and dressings.
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Toppings you can choose from.

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Meat your greens

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Peach cider
The cider was quite bitter.

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Pot serving with olive rice -$10.90  (I opted for olive rice instead of 6 toppings)
2 grills : chargrilled garlic prawns, aceto balsamic beef cuts

The portion was HUGE! They were so generous with the prawns and beef. The prawns were really fresh, fragrant and delicious. The beef cuts were juicy, soft and packed with flavour. I really loved the prawns and beef! So yummy, we couldn't get enough of them! The olive rice wasn't very impressive next to the outstanding grills. Oh, and the honey ball dressing was good!

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Pot serving with 6 toppings
2 grills: portobello mushoom, grilled chicken breast with maple infusion

Photobucket Once again, the portion is ginormous. Look how big the bowl is!! (don't mind X's ugly fingers HAHA)
There was so much vegetables inside the bowl haha.
The chicken was sweet and extremely tender. Who said chicken breast is always hard? The portobello mushroom was soft and tasty too!

We could hardly finish our food but we sure were full and happy. The prawns, beef, chicken and mushroom were really pretty damn awesome! I know we'll be back again for the meat haha. Service was efficient and the staff were friendly. The boss took time to recommend the grills and dressings to us and chatted with us for awhile. Very pleasant dinner!

31 Biopolis Way, #01-07 Nanos
Mon - Fri: 09:30- 2100
  

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Love, K

K's rating of The Lawn : 8/10

Saturday, May 12, 2012

(CLOSED) Onion Restaurant & Bar

Onion is a new restaurant that sits comfortably and conveniently along Bukit Timah Road. It is within walking distance from Guthrie House. Parking is available right outside the restaurant but there are limited lots. So, we decided to park at Guthrie to save ourselves the hassle of getting a lot here.

And so here we were!
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The tiffany blue walls got me excited hahaha. I love tiffany blue

The restaurant has 2 levels so we chose to dine on the second level! There was nobody around so we had the entire level to ourselves. There seemed to be some event or food tasting session going on on level 1 so it was pretty noisy. We were glad that the second level was empty and quiet.

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Oooooh Tiffany Blue

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Low ceiling and simple colours.

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View of level 1 from upstairs.

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Pierre Henri Chardonnay 2010

We got the tasting menu - $23.80
-We could choose 3 items from Tapas menu (in tasting portion)
-A glass of house red/white wine

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Complimentary starter.
The squid might have been cooked sometime ago as it was no longer crispy and a little soft and soggy. We liked the sauce though! Sour and refreshing

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Tasting menu - 3 tapas
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Duck confit on Mushroom Stew (original price for full portion is $14.80)

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Served with pita bread

The duck confit was pretty average. It went well with the pita bread but it tasted pretty similar to the Chinese style braised duck.

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Oyster with cava (original price for 2 oysters is $12.80)
Seasonal oyster in sparkling wine served in oyster shells with red onion dressing

This was really good! The red onion dressing was delicious and not to mention, the oyster was extremely fresh!

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Cold steamed king prawn with mango salsa (original price for full portion is $12.80)
Served with spring salad and balsamic vinaigrette

The prawn was really fresh and the mango salsa was packed with sharp flavours that leave a tingling aftertaste. We really liked it!

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Creamy fettuccine with seafood and lumpfish caviar - $17.80
Greenland shrimp, flower squid, salmon slice, silverfish, fresh herb, black and green olive and parmesan cheese

The 2 pieces of fried onion were sweet and yummy! This dish had quite alot of seafood and they were all really fresh and delectable. The cream sauce was not too overwhelming and you wouldn't feel sick of it. The fettuccine was nicely cooked, springy and just the right texture. The portion might be a little small for some but after the tasting menu, this portion was just right for me!

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Spicy crabmeat spaghetti with caviar - $16.80
Sweet and spicy tomato sauce with egg white topped with crab meat and black caviar.

The sauce was both sweet and spicy and it was quite a good combination of flavours. The sauce was too spicy for me so X had to finish this haha.


After tasting for ourselves that their strength lies in seafood and oysters, we decided to get half a dozen of oysters. However, the one we wanted was sold out so we took a pair of these instead.

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Fin De Claire No. 3- $13.20
If you get half a dozen of oysters, you'll receive a complimentary glass of house white wine.
SO OBVIOUSLY, X wanted half a dozen. Hahaha. But we decided to be thrifty and order, just a pair.

The Fin De Claire oysters were amazing. They were SUPER fresh and really gratifying. The sauce that comes with the oysters was distinctly sour and leaves an aftertaste that lingers for a really long time. The oyster left a deep impression on us and it really left us craving for more.
So good.

The place's simple but charming. The second level can get extremely noisy as the sounds kinda echo through the level. A large group arrived when we were almost done with dinner and we could hardly hear ourselves as their conversations swallowed us up so we left shortly after. However, when it was just us, the place was quiet and pleasant.

The service was pretty efficient and the staff were courteous. And the most important thing is, the food's pretty awesome.

If you're a fan of seafood, and especially oysters, you've gotta visit Onion.


791 Bukit Timah Road
#01-01

Sun–Thu: 5.30pm – 10pm
Fri–Sat: 5.30pm – 10.30pm
(Closed on Mon)

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Love, K

K's rating of Onion: 8/10