Nosh & More

Located a little off Sembawang Rd is a tiny road that leads to this establishment at Green Valley Farms. Disembarking from the car, we were greeted by rustic countryside around and nary any other building in sight. We almost felt like we had been transported back in time, or perhaps, to Malaysia. 

We had one of their set meals for 4-6 pax, which came with their signature Live Lobster Porridge (rice cooked in a tasty lobster broth with lobster on the side), Steven Chicken (the chef’s special fried chicken which none of us could get enough of), their signature Patin Fish, and chill mussels. 

A good meal, and definitely worth another trip back.

“Dinner” as the website explains, is defined as “the main meal of the day, taken either around midday or in the evening.” This explains why yes, it is possible to have lunch at Dinner. Head over to the website to find out exactly why Heston decided to name his restaurant Dinner - very historical.

And indeed, each of his dishes have a historical background as has always been his style - the year each dish was created is inscribed on the menu next to the dish itself.

Dinner offers a £38 set lunch, but one can choose to replace the items on the set with any equivalent off the menu with a corresponding top up.

For starters, I got an item from the main menu itself (top up the difference) - the much lauded Meat Fruit, a chicken liver and foie gras parfait cleverly disguised as a Mandarin. As with Heston - what you see is never what you get. The parfait was silky, but the icing on the cake or ahem, parfait in this case, was the nice zest of orange which went very well with the parfait. The grilled farmhouse bread could perhaps be a little softer, but perhaps it just adds to the rustic charm of the dish.

For the main, something from the set lunch menu - slow cooked pork belly with pease pudding, bacon and mint oil. The pork itself was great - tender, succulent and packed full of flavour. Even better with the pease pudding and the surprising crackling of mint oil. I daresay I enjoyed the latter more than the main itself. 

The dessert of Millionaire Tart was perhaps the only disappointment but only because it was too ordinary. Perhaps it would have been a better choice to opt for the Tipsy cake instead, which came highly recommended. 

Service, as expected, was impeccable. What better way than to relax, soak up the ambience and linger over a pot of rose tea?

There are a slew of small cake shops/cafes along Wardour street - located in a small lane off Oxford Street - making them a good place to stop by for some cake or afternoon tea after a day out shopping. 

Images from top: cake display at L’ETO Caffe, L’ETO Caffe’s much lauded Honey Cake (a must try), Blackcurrent cake at L’ETO, and display case at Hummingbird Bakery with red velvet cupcakes in the foreground

L’ETO Caffe 155 Wardour Street, Soho Multiple locations across London http://letocaffe.co.uk

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A fan of seafood and crustaceans, I knew I had to squeeze in some time to try out Burger and Lobster. 

There are only 3 things on their menu, priced at 20quid each - a whole lobster (serve boiled or grilled), lobster roll, or burger. Naturally, the whole lobster was my pick. And there it is, in all it’s glory - a whole lobster, steamed to perfection with ever so succulent and sweet meat. There was silence as we dug into our lobsters, leaving no shell un-unturned, no claw un-opened. 

Thankfully Singapore now has Pince and Pints and I can look forward to a lobster fix even back home. 

Breakfast Club is supposedly one of the best brunch places in London. So it was on our third day in London that we found ourselves queuing outside their Soho outfit (where it all began) for a seat with the smell of bacon and eggs wafting out each time someone opened the door. 

Alas, the experience was disappointing. There was nothing special about my smoked salmon and frankly I could have done a better job with the scrambled eggs. The sourdough was way too hard and dry. My friend’s big breakfast just looked... sad. 

Despite all the hype, doubt I’ll give this place a try again. 

Yauatcha - an asian fusion restaurant/bar with purportedly great food. Regrettably, we were full from our lunch earlier at Four Seasons and didn’t have space for much food on the menu. Instead, we got a couple of drinks which would do better to have just a tad more alcohol in them. Nevertheless they were interesting enough, as was the dessert we had. 

Some say that Four Seasons serves the best roast duck in London, and even better than whatever you can find in HK simply because the ducks from UK are much fatter than the ones in HK.

Whatever the case, I enjoyed my experience at Four Seasons very much. And yes we polished off all that fatty duck. I am officially spoilt for life. Even the beancurd dish we had was amazing. Best beancurd I have ever had in my life. Possibly the only disappointing dish was the shao rou which was not cripsy enough.

Now that Four Seasons has branched out, the queues are less insane, although according to sources the standard has more or less remained the same and it is still an awesome meal.

One of London’s best known markets, Borough is THE place to go for food, drink, fresh produce, etc. 

We visited on a Saturday and it was literally packed. Had to fight wave upon wave of people just to get to the stores. 

There’s always too much to see, eat and buy in Borough. I’ve always felt one tummy wasn’t enough. And which other market has Prosecco going by the glass? I was tickled by the sight of a sign that proclaimed: “Warning! The consumption of Prosecco may result in instant happiness. We do not take any responsibility for the consequences.”

And don’t forget to have a cup of coffee at Monmouth before you leave, located just beside the market. Check out that insane queue. 

For the full experience, be sure to visit on a day the full market is running. A Friday might be good!

One of my favourite restaurants in Edinburgh, The Grain Store is located on one of the quirkiest streets ever - Victoria St. 2 rows of brightly coloured buildings flank the street as it curves downwards, leading you from off the Royal Mile to the hip Grassmarket area. Always a good photo stop. Even better to spend some time exploring the 2 levels of the street.

During my first visit to Edinburgh in 2011, my friends and I chanced upon this restaurant that was offering good lunch set meals. The experience then was fab, and I knew I had to come back.

Their policy is that they believe in serving only the best of local Scottish produce.

I had their 2 course lunch set for £12.50. For starters, my pick was a home cured salmon with capers, and for the main, a mushroom and leek risotto. The risotto was as creamy as I remembered it to be, but the real star of the meal was the very good glass of chardonnay I had on the side.

The Grain Store remains one of my favourite restaurants in Edinburgh and if I should ever find myself back, I’ll be sure to pop by for a visit. 

One of the many cafes where JK Rowling wrote Harry Potter in. And you can see why - there’s a lovely view of Edinburgh Castle from the sitting room at the back.  Had a light late breakfast since my friend and I had plans for lunch - the food and coffee were pretty standard. But then again we were visiting more for the novelty factor. Hence a visit will not be complete without popping into the toilet to be wowed at the Harry Potter inspired Graffiti that legions of Harry Potter fans have left behind. 

Lovely brunch place along Nicholson St. Good coffee, excellent poached eggs. Why not sit by the windows and watch the world go by? Even better with a good book.

Arguably one of the best steakhouses in Singapore, CUT’s interior oozes elegance. 

We had a starter of Maple Glazed Pork Belly with Fuji Apple-Yali Pear Salad and Sesame-Orange Dressing which came beautifully plated and was pretty good. However the main was disappointing - my friend and I shared the  300 day grain fed Australian Angus Porterhouse 990g. Yes it was tender, yes it was juicy, but it also tasted too ordinary. Definitely not worth the $100+ we shelled out for it.  Perhaps we would have done better to order their USDA or American Wagyu.  Their desserts fared better - I liked my molten chocolate cake, made with varlhona chocolate no less, and my friend’s bombe alaska came with an interesting meringue. 

I really wanted to like CUT. The steak was undeniably good, but for the exorbitant prices, perhaps I felt that it could be better. 

Weekend brunch at one of Tiong Bahru’s hottest cafes, ODP. 

Gets pretty crowded on weekends, so it was a pity we couldn’t enjoy the skylight, although it was pretty cool sitting at the bar too. 

Above: Truffle scrambled organic egg with oyster, shimeji and portobello mushrooms, baby spinach and sourdough. Good combination, albeit pricey as has always been my issue with them. It’s hard to go wrong with truffle, mushrooms and eggs. 

Points for ambience, though!

Carpenter and cook hits all the right notes for a hippie cafe - quirky vintage decor, great coffee, and drool worthy bakes. 

Enjoyed the passion fruit meringue tart. The quiches didn't fare too poorly either. 

They also have a takeaway outlet at Thompson (17 Jasmine Rd) which may be more accessible for the folks living in the central region. 

Been wanting to try this Italian place along Craig road for the longest time, but lately with the insane number of places popping up around, it takes a while to get through the places on the "to-go" list. (And it just keeps getting longer.)

Visited Pasta Brava on a weekday night for a late dinner with a friend. 

Had the Linguini Regina Del Mare - Linguine with prawns, clams, scallops, squid, crayfish, garlic and tomato sauce. Loved generous portion of seafood, which was all very fresh if I might say. Otherwise the tomato sauce was pretty standard fare, nothing exciting there.

The tiramisu was decent - ie. nothing fantastic but not too bad either.

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Pasta Brava was a decent enough experience for both my friend and I. The pasta was decent, the ambience nice, and they do serve up some pretty good wines. Worth a repeat visit if the opportunity ever presents itself.

Waterloo Times is a small, hole-in-wall establishment located along a quiet row of shops in an equally quiet building. Probably a blink and you'll miss it kind of place, really.

Started the meal with mushroom soup with a generous drizzle of truffle oil - decent as far as mushroom soups go. 

Next, one of their specials - oysters served with special toppings, and a raspberry sorbet as a palate cleanser.

Alas the oysters were far from fresh, although I appreciated the refreshing sorbet that it came with.

Foie gras with bread - beautifully plated but a little overcooked, I felt.

Grilled chicken with greens, on a bed of mashed potato. Loved the tender chicken, although I felt that the greens were rather bland. 

Sea Urchin spaghetti, served cold with a generous topping of tobiko.

I actually really liked this dish although it got a little hard to finish at the end, possibly because I was mighty stuffed at this point. 

And because there's always space for dessert, here's their tiramisu, served with biscotti.

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Overall, would have to say that Waterloo Times does serve up pretty decent fare for the pocket friendly prices. Service was friendly enough and the restaurant gives off pretty homely vibes. Not a bad place for big group gatherings. I've heard they do get pretty crowded on Friday nights so reservations may be a good idea. 

66 Maritime has an interesting concept - an open air bar/pub serving pub grub, located by the pier along Hudson River, on a floating barge! With a great view of Brooklyn no less.

To be honest the grub was not that great. I have had much better burgers - this patty was dry and burnt. The finger food was alright, but on the bright side, the drinks were really cheap. 

However, it is a pretty great place to just chill out, watch the sun set, feel the cool sea breeze in your face, and of course enjoy the view across the river.