Wednesday, December 12, 2012

(CLOSED) Backyard@Dempsey

Invited Food Tasting

X and I were really honoured to be invited by the happy people behind Backyard@Dempsey to try out their festive menu. We were really excited!

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Parking lots are aplenty right outside the restaurant. Also, Backyard is located pretty near the main road and it's just a few minutes walk from the nearest bus stop

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$10.80 weekday lunch sets.
Comes with a soup/salad, a main course and soft drink.
That's insanely affordable!!

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Daily promotions!

When we first took our seats, we were handed a heavy menu to select our beverages. As we browsed through the menu, we realised that they have so much to offer! For an indecisive person like me, I'll definitely take a long time to decide what I want to eat because too many items are too tempting!

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Iced Lemon Tea - $3.80

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Apple Juice - $4.80

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The festive menu is only available from 21st December to 25th December. 
Do book now so that you can enjoy an early bird discount of 20% off lunch and 10% off dinner!

There are four different festive sets that you can choose from. They each come with either the French Onion Soup or Mediterranean Chicken Salad, Creme Brulee or Tiramisu and a glass of Carlsberg or Pierre-Jean(Chardonnay or Merlot)

The four different sets are
1) Chicken Ballotine Set - $39
2) Guinness Battered Fish & Chips Set -$34
3) Pork Roulade Set - $42
4) Black Angus Ribeye Set - $52

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Chicken Mediterranean Salad

This dish was refreshing and I particularly liked the chicken cubes! They're well-seasoned and tender

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French Onion Soup

The French Onion Soup was tasty but it was a little too salty and it would be better if there were more caramelized onions.


As night falls,
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Chicken Ballotine 

The people behind Backyard came up with their own rendition of a stuffed turkey for Christmas. What do you think of their idea? De-boned chicken thigh stuffed with garlic shitake mushroom, served with grilled potato and mixed vegetables. I bet you're already salivating just reading the description, aren't you!

The chicken thigh was tender and juicy, and was a delight when paired with the sauce and juicy shitake mushrooms. The grilled potatoes could be alot better done though. They were slightly dry and hard on the inside. But the chicken was really yummy!

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Guinness Battered Fish & Chips

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Their Kronenberg Battered Fish & Chips is one of their bestsellers! So I was really excited to try this because Guinness was said to be the best beer for fish & chips! Even though I'm not a fan of Guinness and the thought of Guinness and fish together is a little scary haha but I assure you, this will change your life! Hahaha. The fish is darker in colour and is not your usual light golden brown. It's not as goodlooking as the Kronenberg battered fish but it's really awesome. The fish is extremely crispy, fresh, tender and juicy. Really really good. The fries could be more crispy and warm though! X and I both really liked the fish!

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Cream of Shitake Mushroom - $6.30
(not in the festive menu but we got to try it!)

This was creamy, flavourful and filled with juicy mushrooms! However, it carried too strong a peppery aftertaste and it might be a little too creamy for some.

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Lychee Freeze - $7.80
My second drink of the night. It's optimally sweet and was packed with the taste of lychee!
Highly recommended!

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Pork Roulade
Pork tenderloin rolled with spinach and mushroom mince then grilled, sliced and served on a bed of mash.

This dish was incredibly savory! The combination of pork and mushroom mince was very palatable! Every bite of it was brimming with flavours. As a carnivore, I really adored this dish! Not only so, the mashed potato was very appetizing! We could have used a little more sauce though

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Black Angus Ribeye
Served with a side of cheese baked potato and coleslaw

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It's tough deciding which dish was my favourite of the night but I think its the Black Angus Ribeye. Grilled to perfection, the succulent beef won my heart. The ribeye is served with mushroom sauce which complemented the steak. The cheese baked potato was also, a great side to have! Thick melted cheese atop a serving of potato. Sounds good doesn't it? I'm drooling right now just looking at the picture of the steak... So good.

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Tiramisu

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The Tiramisu does not contain liqueur and is suitable for kids! If you're a fan of cheese, you'll surely love this as it's very cheesy! Unfortunately, the tiramisu lacks the taste of coffee. Other than that, it's moist, and has a great texture!

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The Creme Brulee was pretty disappointing. The caramelized sugar top was soft and the texture of the custard base was eggy. The taste was alright though.


We had an awesome time at Backyard. The laid-back vibe really appealed to us. Definitely one of my top places for a drink and a relaxing time with my peers. X and I also had the opportunity to meet fellow food bloggers and to meet the happy people behind Backyard. They're crazy friendly and super nice! Can't wait to head back there soon [: We've heard much about their burgers, steaks and hotdogs!

Do try out their festive sets and let us know what you think! Book early!

We'll like to thank Valerie and Hans for having us, for the scrumptious food and for such an enjoyable evening [:

130E Minden Road
Daily : 11am - 12am

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Love, K

Monday, December 10, 2012

Symmetry

One of our favourite things : Sunday Brunch

Haha X and I decided to head to Symmetry for brunch one Sunday afternoon. We had a pretty hard time finding a parking lot as the whole area was very crowded and all the lots were taken. So we parked opposite the main road beside a field.

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It's a good thing that we checked the address of the place before we came here, or we'd have totally missed Symmetry because there isn't a signboard
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We were greeted warmly by them haha

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A cafe with a rustic charm. Totally love the brick walls and big windows.
A modern touch to a cottage-feel

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Decorated ceiling

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Old school name tag thingy

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Iced Latte - $5.50

The coffee was fragrant and good!

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Cute bottle of sugar syrup!

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Affogato - $6
Fragrant coffee paired with a scoop of yummy vanilla icecream. Definitely one of the nicer affogatos around!

I wanted to get the croissant with smoked salmon and scrambled eggs but decided to try their Eggs Benedict instead.
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Eggs Benedict - $20
Poached eggs, aged cheddar, smoked bacon, onion hollandaise

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The eggs were not very well prepared. They were more like soft boiled eggs than poached eggs. The egg white was too runny. I really liked the sweetness of the caramelized onions. The sweet onions with the hollandaise kind of masked the taste of the other ingredients though. Also, the presence of aged cheddar made the dish more tasty but I kinda got quite sick of it towards the end. The dish comes with a crispy piece of hash potato and a portion of salad. It was definitely quite filling for me.

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Big Breakfast - $24
Eggs - overeasy, maple glazed bacon, tomatoes, chicken cheese sausage, hash potato, mushrooms, jam and toast

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The best items of this dish have gotta be the jam and toast. The toast was crisp and the butter carried a really yummy sweetness to it! I could just have the bread and butter on its own! The mushrooms and bacon were pretty average but the chicken sausage was a letdown. The sausage was huge but it wasn't tasty at all and it had the plasticky feeling when we tried to cut into it.

We enjoyed the ambience and vibe here and the service was good. The staff were attentive and efficient. Prices are slightly steep though.

I'll return for the jam and toast anytime. They should have a special jam and toast set!

9 Jalan Kubor
Tue - Thu: 11:00 - 23:00
Fri - Sat: 11:00 - 00:00
Sun: 11:00 - 19:00
 
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Love, K
 
K's rating of Symmetry : 7.5/10