2nd Kitchen @ Balestier Road

The food blogger-sphere is already raving about 2nd Kitchen at Balestier Road.

Not wanting to be left out, I decided to venture into Balestier, a place I hardly venture in.



Very difficult to find a carpark space. Managed to squeeze into a slot next to a half completed condo.

It is located below Value Hotel, which is owned by the Hotel 81 group. From the looks of the customers at Value Hotel, I don't think it is a sleazy hotel. More of a family oriented budget hotel.



2nd Kitchen is famous for its Giant Grouper. On the menu, there are news reports of how the owner of Seafood City (which owns 2nd Kitchen) managed to catch these giant grouper near the seas of Sabah and Sarawak. The owner was from Batam, and former Indonesian President Suharto and Habibi (the red dot guy) were fans of his.



We had this Signature Winged Bean With Sambal (S$12). Winged Bean is a common dish in Malaysia, and this was my 1st time tasting it. It was good. The winged bean was crunchy (and very fresh), and the sambal was top notch.


Next come the secret dish which till now, no blogger dares (I think...) to name it on their blog. Even though it is served only to their regulars, I had to persuade the aunty to let me try it.

Me: Aunty, can I order this special meat dish you all have?

Aunty: Wah, how you know? U came here before?

Me: No la, I know of people who ate here, and they raved about this secret meat dish.

Aunty: Ermmm...

Me: Can?


So here comes the secret dish:



Gosh. This is my 1st time trying this meat. It is soooo tender and so full of flavour. The aunty recommend us to cook the meat wiht ginger and spring onion, and indeed it was a great choice. MUST ORDER!



Also ordered the steam pectoral fins of the Giant Grouper. The meat is very fresh, sweet and tender.



Finally, another soup dish which many bloggers raved about - The photophores soup. Cooked with different chinese herbs and the photophores (those light emitting skins on a fish to attract food) of the giant grouper for many many hours, it reminded me of the shark cartilage soup with it's milky texture. Some may not like the soup due to it's fish taste, but I love every drop of the soup.

The eatery only has a small air con seating place which is always fully reserved. So do come here in the evening where it is cooler as there are more seats outside along Balestier Road and behind the hotel.


2nd Kitchen
592 Balestier Road
#01-03

Marutama Ra-men @ Liang Court

Marutama was one of the 1st ramen shop to open in Singapore when Central Clark Quay 1st opened last year. Back then, long queues form outside their restaurant.



With more ramen choices now, the lines have died down, but the restaurant was still full when we visited at their 2nd outlet at Liang Court Level 2. Marutama is famous for its chicken stock ramen, which is different from all it's pork-base soup counterparts.



Marutama Ramen at Liang Court bought in this automated ramen cooking machine. Uncooked ramen is added into this strainer, and the strainer is dipped into boiling water with the touch of a button. After a few minute, the alarm sounds off and the chef comes back to shake the ramen before dipping it back in the hot water and then emptying the contents into a bowl. The stock and ingredients are then added into the bowl.



I orderd the Nama Karashi Ra-men (S$23), which is spicy chicken soup ramen with a piece of char siew, lot's of spring onions and Aosa (seaweed). Added the half boiled season egg for an addition of S$1.

The soup was good, but please give me pork based stock anytime. Noodles is springly, much like our Mee-Kia. Still think I prefer the noodles at Miharu.


Marutama Ra-men
177 River Valley Road
#02-01
Liang Court

Jones The Grocer @ Dempsey Road

I wasn't aware Jones The Grocer came from Australia, until a few weeks ago when I saw a review in a food magazine introducing food shops in Australia.


Jones the Grocer opened in Dempsey Road, and is here in Dempsey that they have the widest selection of food stuffs and offer the best value because their competitor Culina is just next door.



Jones the Grocer also serves food throughout the day in its shop, made from everything you can find in the shop.

Each table has 2 bottles of salt flakes from different places.



The tables are situated behind pillars, so you won't feel weird eating inside while people are walking around the shop.



Had their milkshakes. Very creamy and not too sweet.



Grilled grainfed ribeye (200g) with moredough kitchen premium veal reduction, setaro farfella pasta & cheese, wild rocket salad with modena balsamic dressing + grated parmigiano reggiano.



Close up of the setaro farfella pasta & cheese



For me, I had the grainfed longford lamb kebabs marinated with jones moroccon spices with couscous rice + yougurt dressing. There is this small juicy fruits bits in the rice which tasted as though they are plucked at their very best season. Still figuring out what that fruit is. Lamb is tender and juicy. Will order this again next time.



Plus shared a dessert.


Jones The Grocer
Blk 9 #01–12
Dempsey Road

Sabai Authentic Fine Thai Cuisine @ Ngee Ann City

According to information, the current owner of Sabai were previously from Thanying at Amara. Armed with this information, we decided to make our 1st visit to Sabai, which is located next to Coca restaurant at Ngee Ann City.



Some people may feel overwhelmed by all the red colour in the restaurant. I do not know why this colour was chosen, perhaps to add a sense of royalty or class to the place?



Colours aside, special wooden sculptures of the boats used by the Thai Royal family adorn the walls.



Our 1st soup was the Tom Yam Soup (milky). It was not too spicy, and yet flavourful with lot's of seafood inside.



The crispy dried beef (aka Deep Fried Beef Bak Kwa). I find the beef too oily. But it was crispy and quite flavourful.



Stuffed chicken wings recommended by Wong Ah Yoke. The wings were crispy on the outside and juicy in the inside, but perhaps they could go easy on the garlic powder.



2 dipping sauces were given for the wings. The one with the chilli seeds was very very spicy.



Roast Duck curry. The signature dish at Sabai, and it surely deserves the title of the best Thai Duck Curry in Singapore. The roast duck were flavourful and very tender, curry was quite lemak but very very fragrant, and there were lychees inside the curry which worked well with the entire curry dish. Next time, can just order a bowl of Roast Duck curry and white rice, and is a satisfying meal by itself!



Crispy tofu. We asked the waiter to seperate the Thai chilli sauce so that the dish would not be too spicy. Frankly speaking, it tasted like the crispy vegetarian roast goose.



Dessert was Red Ruby. Crunchy water-chestnuts with creamy coconut cream.



Plus a glass of wine.



Will definitely come back for the Roast Duck Curry with lychee. It is on par with the equally delicious Green Chicke Curry at Thai Thai over at Mandarin Gallery, which is just a stone's throw away.


Sabai Authentic Fine Thai Cuisine
391B Orchard Rd,
#04-23 Takashimaya S.C.
Ngee Ann City

Hog's Breath Café @ Chijmes

Even though Hog's Breath has been in Singapore for years, I have never tried it before till today.

I guess it's the logo which turns me off...



Recently heard some good reviews on Hog's Breath, and so decided to check them out at their main restaurant over at Chijmes.



Not much decoration. Just a practical place to enjoy steaks.



Over at HungryGoWhere, it was mentioned a few times that diners should only stick to their steaks and nothing else. So we decided to share the Mega blackened prime rib steak which weigh a whopping 400g.



Also had the classic Mojito.




Here comes the steak. It is HUGE. Both on the thickness and the size. It's like eating a roast chicken. We had fries and salad for sides. First, let's talk about the fries. They are one of the BEST fries. It's crunchy and very very flavourful. If you come here, do order their fries as their sides. You will not regret it.



This is how a Medium Done steak should look like. Some Cajun spices were added to the steak, and every mouthful if so juicy.

In fact, the amazing part is those grilled fatty parts taste exactly like Roast Pork! Amazing but true.



The steak and fries were so good, we decided to... order another one to share! This time, we had the Regular (200g) steak topped with avocado and Bearnaisé sauce. It's good, but I prefer the blackened version.

Now, I know where I can get good steaks in Singapore. Heard the Chijmes main store serves the best steak, so best to stick with the Chijmes outlet.



Hog's Breath Café
30 Victoria Street
#01-26/27 Chijmes

Sabar Menanti

Located in the realms of Arab Street, the numerous newspaper articles plastering the interior of this shophouse caught my eye. The tables on the first floor were all occupied, so we dined on the second floor. To our delight, the second floor was air-conditioned!

Clockwise from left: Ikan Bakar, jackfruit curry, Ayam Opor

I've eaten boiled jackfruit seeds before (they taste like roasted chestnuts!), but the jackfruit curry was something new to me. I'm not too sure which part of the fruit was used, but the flesh was soft and its texture was somewhat similar to cooked pumpkin. While I thought the dish tasted okay, my mom disliked this.

Ikan Bakar was recommended to me as one of the restaurant's signature dishes. Topped with lots of raw onions, the charcoal-grilled fish was immersed in an addictive black sauce that perfectly paired the fragrant nasi lemak rice.

My mom loved the Ayam Opor gravy. Actually, I had no idea what Ayam Opor was when I ordered it, but a Google search revealed that it's chicken cooked in coconut milk. The chicken wings were tender enough, but I still preferred the Ikan Bakar sauce to the gravy.

We also had a cup of bandung and teh tarik which were just average.

The meal cost $16.

Sabar Menanti
48/50 Kandahar Street
8.30am-6pm daily

Kohi Ten (CLOSED)

Instead of falling back on the common chill-out places after a dinner at Orchard Central, we decided to go for some variety, Kohi Ten thus became our obvious choice.

コーヒー or kou-hii is how the Japanese pronounce 'coffee'. Apart from coffee beverages, its menu also carries a variety of milkshakes, smoothies, juices and desserts.


Matcha Cheesecake - $4.90
The bitter green tea flavour offset the otherwise rich cheesecake texture. I will come back again just for this lovely beauty.


Chocolate Brownie Parfait - $8.90
One line to put it - Banana split in a glass with a twist of brownie.


Coffee Parfait - $7.90
Gummy coffee jelly cubes with cappuccino and vanilla ice cream. The cappuccino ice cream carries a strong coffee flavour, the coffee jelly though light in taste, somehow made it less overwhelmingly coffee-ly . Too bad I didn't get that generous scoop of coffee ice cream like Camemberu. Or was it just my angle of shooting?



The waitress who attended to us was friendly and patient though a little clueless (probably new). While coffee enthusiasts may prefer more robust coffee elsewhere, the cozy ambience here makes it a great destination for chill-out. If you are here at Cuppage for the Japanese fare, Kohi Ten will no doubt take your Japanese experience one step further.

Settle your bill with Amex card and get 10% off with min spending of $30. Other promotions include 1-for-1 main course at $14.90++ during dinner time.

Now I have another Japanese dessert place to recommend to my friends.


コーヒー店
19 Cuppage Road
Cuppage Terrace
Business Hours: Mon-Thu, 8.30am - 11pm
Fri-Sun, 9am - 11.30pm
Tel: 6732 8083

L'Angelus @ Club Street

Even though I have been back from Paris for almost 2 weeks, but I still miss the charm of France. To pacify myself, decided to have dinner at L'Angelus which serves rustic French food.



Many diners love to admire the French movie posters on the wall of L'Angelus. These pictures and posters do make one feel as though you are eating in Paris.



Guess what these pigeon holes are for? They are actually engraved with the names of their regular customers, so a set of their regular cutlery will be kept in these pigeon holes for these regulars. I think this is the 1st time I see this in Singapore!



We were served slices of salami with white bread and pickles while browsing through the menu.



Don't you adore these cute little candle lamps on the tables? Our lamp was in the design of Cupid. Other lamps featured the scenes in Paris.



I like the bread and butter. They were very generous with the butter, and it was so creamy and not too salty. The bread was slightly warm too.



Ordered Salade Grande Ferme after reading this highly recommended salad from Gastronomic Ruminations blog. Indeed, this is a very good salad with crisp salad leaves, crispy but not oily bacon a bit salty though) and blue cheese (which some people may not be able to accept the strong cheese taste). I like how all the flavours compliment one another. And the portion is huge, perhaps best to be shared.



The very generous foie gras, which was panfried. 3 huge pieces of foie gras which definitely must be shared among at least 3 to 4 diners. Foie Gras lover will be in heaven when they order this dish.



Main course was panfried seabass. The fish was fresh but this dish was not outstandingly good.



And again, another highly recommended food from the Gastronomic Ruminations blog - Cassoulet. While in Paris, I regretted not ordering the pot of stew rabbit. So now, I ordered this French version of baked beans with various kinds of sausages and meats cooked in Staub's La Cocotte which is a cast iron pot and it can really retain heat for a long long time, maybe even better than our claypots?



The Cassoulet contain one big duck drumstick, big pieces of chicken meat and various sausages. Again, the serving is huge and this pot of baked beans is best shared among a few diners.



This is a good place for a queit French food dinner in town. But best to avoid during the Chinese New Year season as roads outside will be full of people and cars.


L'Angelus
85 Club Street