My Secret Garden

Słowik had a lovely discount voucher to dine at My Secret Garden, a quaint little restaurant tucked away along Middle Road - 161 Middle Road to be exact, so we decided to make reservations and have dinner there tonight. Just a lil warning, the photographs posted here were taken from my iPhone so they may not be the very best of quality ...

Above: Lobster Bisque for me

I had the lobster bisque to start, Słowik ordered the Buffalo Mozzarella with Salad for himself and we ordered a plate of Escargot to share. Am just imagining the food connoisseurs out there are probably fainting at the thought of ordering BOTH hot and cold appetizers at the same time but we're not the sort to follow protocol, we kinda order whatever we feel like ...

Above: Escargot for Hot Appetizer that we shared &
Below: A plate of Buffalo Mozzarella with Salad

The restaurant is not a large one with options to sit outdoors (great when the night is not hot) or inside. We decided to sit inside but it took us a long while to cool down because it was still pretty warm inside. We had to wait some for the food to come even though the restaurant wasn't packed with people but it was worth the wait as the food (most of it) was good.

Above: Candle light flickering at our table

I am not sure if the photographs show this but the portions served are not huge so we were not too stuffed at the end of the meal. For the mains, I decided to go for the lamb rack dish and Słowik went for the tenderloin.

Below: Tenderloin that was done such that it was nice and soft.

Ordering this would cost roughly about $35 per plate (minus the taxes) and again the portions are small but when you order the soup, starters, appetizers, you don't really need huge mains.

Above: Lamb Rack with almond (and pistachios I think) - yummy!

Our mains were done well, both were soft and tender even the tenderloin considering that it was a rather thick piece.

And we still had space for dessert so we went for the tiramisu (for me) and the Hot Date which was a date pudding served with caramel and lovely chewy ice cream.

Below: Ice Cream with Date Pudding covered with Caramel Sauce

For me, I didn't quite enjoy the tiramisu (see photograph below) and probably should have gone with my instinct and ordered the triple choc instead (well, next time maybe). But Słowik enjoyed his dessert and commented that it was one of the nicest date pudding (see photograph above) he has had thus far as it wasn't too sweet and it was nice and soft with general serving of caramel sauce.

Dinner came up to about $150 (before we used our voucher) and we didn't have wine with our meals so do expect to pay quite a bit for the meal there. The ambiance was nice as the restaurant is located central enough to the city but you forget that you're in the city because it is tucked away. The food in general was nice too, expect for the tiramisu that I had. We both felt that the service (that is the waiters & waitresses) could have been a little better. We did have to wait quite a bit when we wanted to make the second order for desserts and we had to ask them to clear some of the empty plates etc when we were done. But in general, it was a nice dinner at My Secret Garden.

Would we go again? Well we have another voucher to use to yes, we will go there again and may bring friends along. But without the voucher, I may not go there again unless I want a really light dinner :o)

Below: A lil My Secret Garden Bookmark as a souvenir for dining there.

Post and Photos by Zilla.

Ichiban Boshi @ Esplanade Mall

When we are at Esplanade, we some how gravitate towards ichiban boshi if we crave for Japanese food. We're went there recently and I realised that we have not blogged about our visits there before. So here goes ...

This eatery is one of the five restaurants (others being ichiban sushi, Men-Ichi, Yakiyakibo and Czzar) that has a combined reward card that allows you to get a stamp for every $20 spent. We completed our card so some of the dishes below were 'free' items that we could claim.

One of my favourite snack is the fried salmon skin below served with a generous dollop of mayonaise. With this dish, there might be times when they are out of salmon skin so I have had my disappointed moments. When I was there last, I was abit worried about ordering because previous visit there, instead of telling us they were out of salmon skin, they served what looked more like salmon chips ... salmon sliced thinly and fried. So send it back if it's not to your liking. Thankfully, this time round, they got it right. Yum.

The seasoned baby octopus came as a complimentary dish and it's also something that I like and easily polished it off all by myself *grins*

Another favourite that we usually get is the salmon maru dish below. It's thin sliced salmon wrapped around some rice, topped with generous amount of mayo and fish roe.

You can get a good selection of handrolls here. The seaweed skin could be a lot more crispy but otherwise, am quite happy with the stuffing. I had fried soft shell crab and Słowik had the tuna belly handroll. Don't wait too long to eat this when it's served because the longer you wait, the 'soggier' it will be. I like my handrolls crispy when I munch into it!

Oooh, the dish below is probably sinful in terms of calories but it is finger-licking good. Why? Probably because of the butter that is used in the sauce that coats the corn. And you have to eat this while it's warm *grins* Am drooling just thinking about this dish. If you worry that eating corn might get a little mess, what is helpful is how the corn is chopped to smaller pieces that makes eating much easier. So don't forget to order this when you're there!

Ika tempura or squid coated with tempura batter is also something that we're fond of having. This comes with a wasabi mayo dip that enhances the flavour of the ika. Another dish that has to be eaten warm.

The gyoza below is lovely when made fresh and make sure you eat it with the sauce. I prefer to have it while it's warm (not hot) so that it's still nice and soft on the inside yet crunchy on the outside.

Ice tempura, I have no idea how they do this. Fry the tempura yet the vanilla ice-cream inside is still in its solid state. The drizzling of strawberry sauce adds a nice sourish taste that goes well with the vanilla ice-cream and tempura coating. The two desserts below were complimentary.

The Japanese Cheese Cake is much lighter and less cheesy compared to the American counterpart. But my preference is still the American Cheese Cake because I love the taste of creamy cheese with each bite I take *grins* But if you want something more subtle, than the Japanese Cheese Cake will suit you better.

If you're planning to head to ichiban boshi, I suggest that you go early because during the peak period (especially during dinner), it gets pretty packed and you will have quite a wait. We usually try and be there by 6pm and another later would mean joining the queue. Also be prepared that when the crowd comes in, service will be affected and you would need to keep getting their attention to top up your drink etc. Otherwise, we have been pretty happy with our visits there and will continue to head there when we're in the area and craving for Japanese food!

Address:
8 Raffles Avenue
#02-14 Esplanade Mall

Tel: +65 6423 1151

Post and Photos by Zilla.

Yummy Shepherd's Pie

A colleague at work recommended this company that makes pretty good sheppard's pie, have quite a variety and for our Muslim friends out there, it's also halal - The Shepherd's Pie.

Let me just share with you the menu that I took off their website. For S$23.90 per tray, you can choose from the following:

• The Lamb Special is richly flavoured ground lamb, mixed vegetables, topped with cheese & mash potatoes.
  
• Then there is the Black Pepper Beef (spicy) with ground beef, mixed vegetables, topped with cheese & mash potatoes.
  
• Next is the Black Pepper Chicken (spicy) with chicken chunks, mixed vegetables, topped with cheese & mash potatoes.
• Classic Beef (traditional) with ground beef, mixed vegetables, topped with cheese & mash potatoes.
• Classic Chicken (traditional) with chicken chunks, mixed vegetables, topped with cheese & mash potatoes.
• Veggie Lovers' Meatless! Simply baked with a natural mix of vegetables, tomatoes, mushrooms, topped with cheese and mash potatoes.
  

Below is a slice of the Lamb Special that I recently had. Thick layer of minced lamb, potatoes, mixed veggies and cheese oozing out. Yum yum!

Post and photo by Zilla.

Carrot Walnut Cake @ Cedele

Do you know where I can get good carrot cake? This is where it gets a bit tricky because locally, we have our own version of carrot cake (dark or white ya *grins*) which is different from the western version. But equally yummy though!

I have tried slices of carrot cake from different places but I tend to find them either too sweet, too dry, too moist ... there's always something or the other that is not right. However, when I do crave for carrot cake, I usually head to Cedele's cuz they have pretty good Carrot Walnut Cake there and a generous slice (as seen below) is about $6.00.

They have a good spread of cakes, even has a flourless cake for those of you who are staying away from gluten for whatever reason. They also have added ice-cream in their list of desserts which I have not tried myself because I tend to stick to what I like best - the Carrot Walnut Cake! Yum!

Post and photo by Zilla.

Fish Soup with Rice ...

When I have an urge to have something fresh and soupy, I tend to crave for fish soup. There are variations to this dish - either fried fish or just sliced fish, with noodles or rice, with milk or without. Truly spoilt for choice. And this dish is easily available at any hawker centre.

But my favourite has to be with rice. And usually I like to have with the sliced fish and clear soup but recently, I had some yummy ones at a makan place across the road from Bras Basah Complex (next to Allson and Victoria Hotel). I managed to take a photo before I tucked in and all this for $3.00!

There's a nice lady who mans the stall alone and I guess she uses fresh ingredients that makes this soupy dish delicious. And of course, you need to have it with chilli (and she uses hot chilli padi) with soya sauce and this will really make you sweat and clears up your system.

If you want the healthier option, skip the milk but for me, am hooked to the milky soup that she serves up!

Post and Photos by Zilla.

Jang Shou Korean BBQ at Esplanade Mall ...

I've walked passed it many a times, commented that we should try the place some day yet took us a long while before we finally tried it today and am glad we did. We finally stepped into Jang Shou Korean Charcoal BBQ outside Esplanade Mall at Colours on the Bay.

You can choose to sit at the area for the BBQ or if you don't want to be covered with smoke by the time you were done, you could choose to sit in another area away from the BBQ mini pit and have ala carte dishes all cooked for you and ready for you to tuck in.

Photo Below: Charcoal for our BBQ at our table.

We ordered too much because we weren't sure what to have. And because we looked so lost asking what was meant to go with what, the waitresses were around on standby to help us out. We had a nice Filipino girl who helped to BBQ the meat for us. What we had below is Grilled Inside Skirt Meat (Beef) or An Chang Sal. You get a basket of lettuce that you can wrap with the meat once cooked together with the heaps of condiments that came with our meal.

Photo Above: An Chang Sal or Grilled Inside Skirt Beef

We were shocked how many condiments that came with the meal. They had to push it all on a trolley and a few minutes were spent arranging the condiments on the table. Up to you how you want to eat these, either on their own or wrapped with the grilled meat and lettuce.

The photograph above shows the spread of condiments that came with the meal. There were so many that they had to push it out on a tray and took a few minutes to arrange them all. And you get everything from kimchi, pickled bamboo shoots and other yummy side dishes.

We also ordered a portion of Boiled Beef Rib Soup or Galbi Tang which I forgot to take a photograph of. It's very tasty soup, with pieces of beef (waitress helped to cut the meat to bite size pieces and served it into two portions), with glass noodles. It comes with a serving of plain rice.

Photo Below: Grilled Beef Rib Meat or Suwom Neobiani

The Grilled Beef Rib Meat or Suwon Neobiani has to be the best order we made. It is soft meat that's barbequed to your preference and it has a sweet marinate that made it so yummy. It's one of those that's highly recommended by the restaurant too. You can eat this with the lettuce together with anything else you fancy. I had it with plain rice and it was sooooo nice.

We also had Rice Mixed with Assortment in Hot Stone Pot or Dol Sot Bi Bim Bab as seen in the photo below. It's rice mixed with an assortment of veggies and egg. I didn't want the bean sprouts in there so they accomodated and served that separately. It was another tasty dish. I had the chilli added separately because my tummy wasn't behaving properly tonight.

We also ordered two drinks each and dinner came up to S$139.00. Yeah, quite a lot but we ordered too much. I reckon the next time we're there, we'll probably just have one order of the lovely meat and mixed rice and we're done. Would come up to half of what we paid for tonight.

Post and pictures (taken on my Song Ericcson mobile) by Zilla.

Equinox Restaurant at Swissotel the Stamford

If you are afraid of heights, then this is not an experience for you. If you love to have the cityscape infront of you as you eat, then you have to try having a meal at Equinox Restaurant, Swissotel The Stamford. You can choose to have lunch or dinner. Currently, they have a lunch buffet special, so keep a look out for their special promotions for a good deal. Also, depends on what's your preference. I personally think the night view is definitely a lot more interesting than the daylight view. So plan carefully, especially if it's for a special occasion.

Some things that you have to take note if you are dining at Equinox.These are some of our take-aways after having dinner at the restaurant over the weekend. Firstly, if you want to sit by the window, the restaurant has a window seat policy. There are two shifts for dinner that you can choose from, either from 6.30pm to 8.30pm or 8.30pm to 11.30pm. You have to call ahead to make reservations so if you're going for lunch, check with them if they have a similar policy.

This window seat policy is a good way for them to make money cuz you get more people by having two shifts. We went for the 6.30pm slot. Also prepare your credit card as you have to give them your credit card details. If you don't turn up, they will charge $40 per pax. And if you're running late, they will hold your table for 15 minutes so do watch the time.

We had a nice table and the view was fantastic. I think the 6.30pm slot is a good one cuz you really see the change in landscape. Each minute I look out, the landscape looks different. So out came my camera and yes, I took pictures. Kinda hard with the glass window and I had reflections in my pictures. And as it got darker, all the pictures turned out blurry. But these are some that I had of the skyscrapers for your viewing pleasure.

Above: View from my seat at 6.47pm.

Above: And this is the last (clear) shot at 7.25pm.

The view is really amazing from that height. As for the food...where do I start. We were served with some bread with butter and olive oil. And pretty cool how they served the basket of bread (see below).

For starters, I had their Bisque of Lobster and Mud Crab soup and found it so so. It looked presentable but taste wise..it was pretty average.

Was pretty dark inside when we started on our dinner. We both ordered their Beef Tenderloin (see below) which was their signature dish. For what we were paying, we really expected something heavenly. Found the meat chewy (gums actually hurt after I was done eating the meat). Was very tiring that dish I must say. Huge disappointment. Had to down alot of water when eating dinner. Oh yes, we had still water (no tap water served of course) and we had three bottles throughout the night and each bottle costs us $10. So savour your Evian please *laughs*

How could we miss dessert ya? I did think about having Cedele's carrot cake but getting all dressed up and since we started already had the main at Equinox, thought we could end with something nice. So we picked the Sweet Temptation (below) that was meant for two. Should have listened to my instincts and gone for the carrot cake at Cedele's. Dessert was no big deal and that was really our last shot to go ooohhh and ahhh over the food but we didn't :o(

What I would suggest to you would be this. Plan your evening carefully. If you're willing to fork out $400 for dinner for two, then please go ahead and have dinner (starter, main meals and dessert with drinks in between) at the Equinox Restaurant. Otherwise, have dinner elsewhere, then head to City Space which is at Level 70 at the same hotel. You get the great view of Singapore cityscape minus the huge hole in your pocket. They have a good singer there and you can just enjoy the drinks as you watch the cityscape.

Post and pictures by Zilla.