Osia @ Resorts World Sentosa

After our impressive visit to Osia a few months back, Osia has made quite a name for itself in Sentosa for offering high quality Aussie style cuisines and steaks at quite an acceptable fine-dining price range.



We are back for more, and our expectations were raised even higher this time round.



We requested to be seated at the bar counter, which allowed us to see the chefs at work. The kitchen here was very clean, and this time round we could see the huge stonehearth oven burning right infront of our eyes.



Our dinner began with the Burnt Potato Broth (S$19) - Black Angus Beef and Mushroom Tartare, Chive. We saw the chef pouring over boiling hot sauce over the tartare, giving the beef a quick "shower".



This is no alcohol, but the Vine Plum Tomato Cocktail (S$16) - Compressed pickled watermelon, Soy milk curd, Kalamata Olive Soil, Calamansi Bubble. It's actually like a cold soup. Refreshingly light and tangy.



Osia Champagne based cocktail



We like varieties, so requested the service staff to give us half-half of the bread. Half of Black Olive Rosemary Stonehearth Flat Bread and half of Roasted Garlic Butter Stonehearth Flat Bread (S$9) served with extra virgin olive oil, butter and Osia dip. There is something unique about the stonehearth oven, which makes the bread so fluffy yet retains the flavours.



The chef sliced our next appetizer infront of us.



It's the extremely sweet Pertuna Ocean Trout (S$28) cured with sea salt and vinegar with green apple puree + vinegar gel. As it's not smoked, the very delicate sweet flavours of the ocean trout was brought out by the sea salt.



We only had 1 mains as we had too many appetizers. Our choice of main was the Long Island Duck Breast and Leg (S$40) - Roasted breast, Leg confit 'brix', Grilled Balsamic Radicchio, Polenta Brie Rissole, Mutharie Berry Jus. The Grilled Balsamic Radicchio stole the show from the duck. Sweet, sourish and crunchy. The popiah looking item was stuffed with juicy duck meat, just like a Peking Duck roll.



This is the 2nd time we are having this Seafood Ice Experience (S$28). In random orders, the test tubes contained:

Pineapple Lemongrass Ice + Blue Fin Tuna,
Quandong Orange Ice + Amaebi Shrimp,
Calamansi "Mojito" Ice + Sea Scallop,
Lychee Martini Ice + Oyster,
Watermelon Lillipilli Ice + Maine Lobster,
Apple Celery Ice + Tasmanian Salmon.

My favourite is the Lychee + Oyster, and Pineapple Lemongrass Ice + Blue Fin Tuna.




We were very surprised by our simple side dish of Baby Carrots (S$6) with Honeyed Tarragon Butter Glaze . The carrots were so tender, and so sweet. In fact, there was no need to add the honey glaze to it. We could just snack on these baby carrots for the whole night.



Baby Spinach (S$8) , Sauteed and Creamed. The spinahc added some bitterness to our meal. Not that I dislike it, in fact it was quite a change of flavours for us.

Once again, Osia showed that not only it has great food (and good service), but it was able to maintain its standards for nearly half a year since it opened. I guess they deserve a pat on their back.


Osia
8 Sentosa Gateway
Festive Walk
Resorts World Sentosa

All That Fudge: The Cornish Candy Shoppe

During the weekend, we dropped by St Ives, a highly popular beach town in Cornwall. We took the train here because parking is apparently extremely difficult because of the crowd. And it's not difficult to see why, considering how pretty the coastline was, and the

While it can't compare to the congested streets of cities, St Ives was definitely the most crowded place I had been to in Cornwall.

Naturally, fudge shops were aplenty here.

There was no way I could walk past this shop without giving their colorful shopfront a second look.

Stepping inside, my eyes were lured to the boxes of assorted fudges.

I'm always game for variety. I could just imagine my family and I sitting at a table, portioning out the small blocks of fudge and sampling the different flavors!

In comparison with the fudge which I had previously tried, the Cornish Candy Shoppe's fudge was the freshest and the smoothest. It was also not excessively sweet. Though fudge is meant to be very rich and creamy, the fruit-flavored versions from the Cornish Candy Shoppe's version was less so. Not that I minded its lighter consistency!

First row, from left: Chocolate Orange, ?, Cherry, Lemon Meringue

Second row: Blueberry Cheesecake, Chocolate Peppermint, Strawberry & Cream, Coconut Ice

Although flavoring was, unsurprisingly, used in every flavor save for the Blueberry Cheesecake, all the flavors were likeable! Buttermilk Confections' clotted cream fudge edges out the non-fruit-flavored fudge selections in the box with its more luxuriously rich consistency though.

My favorite flavor was the Chocolate Peppermint, whose cool minty taste made a good complement to the creaminess of the fudge. The Lemon Meringue flavor was pretty refreshing as well.

Coconut Ice isn't fudge but I certainly didn't mind having it in the box as well. It's essentially a brittle block of sweetened and slightly chewy dessicated coconut, I liked this just as much as the Chocolate Peppermint fudge. If only I could find coconut ice in Singapore! I realized that it probably won't keep well in our climate though- the last of it, devored a month after returning to Singapore, was found to be less than fresh but still enjoyable nonetheless.

Applebee's $10 Weekday Lunch

Sorry for the lack of post. Life has been busy with work and work that sometimes dining out seems to be a luxury.





We decided to go to Applebee's at Somerset Triple One for lunch on a weekday last week after seeing their DBS $10 weekday lunch promotion.



With additional $3 one can get a serving of soup of the day, with a choice of Mushroom Soup and Cream of Broccoli then.

I picked their Mushroom Soup. Even though I'm a mushroom lover, I didn't quite like the bitter aftertaste it left on my tastebud.



Three Cheese Chicken Penne is on the menu every Friday for the promotion. Order it any other day you will have to folk out $12.80 more.

Loaded with Mozzarella, Provolone and Parmesan cheeses, the penne pasta was a little too creamy and heavy for me. Fortunately the fresh tangy tomatoes helped to cleanse my palate before the next bite.



Shrimp Fettuccine Alfredo Bowl was not my main course, but I liked it a lot. This pasta dish was relatively lighter, thanks to the presence of veggie and the choice of the creamy sauce. The shrimps were plump and bouncy, another plus point for this deletable dish.



If not for the weekday lunch promotion, the prices of the food here are quite steep, as a simple main course could easily cost $20 over. And the portions of the food are quite big, as expected for American Cuisine. After this meal, I became more convinced that these American fares are just not my cup of tea. But if you like ribs, be there on a Tuesday to enjoy their signature honey BBQ rib for $10.


Applebee's
#01-11/12 Somerset TripleOne
6735 9671

Eat for a good cause ♥

A friend of mine, a member of Project Heartbeat, is organizing a charity dinner at Heart Bistro. Located at Palais Renaissance, Heart Bistro aims to serve up wholesome, healthful food without compromising on flavor. Here, healthier cooking methods are used, along with controlled amounts of sodium and sugar.

The dinner will be on 8 August, Sunday, at 7pm. The price is $50/pax, and all profits go to the Singapore Heart Foundation. Do help to spread the word about this dinner! After all, what's better than good food for a good cause?

The menu is as follows:

Starters: A Medley of Marinated Salmon Sashimi Poke (pronounced pok-ay, salmon sashimi poke is basically marinated salmon sashimi) + Crabshrimp cake

Mains: A Medley of Roasted Chicken stuffed with forest mushrooms + Roasted cod with a stewed onion gravy

Dessert: Chilled cream of double-boiled milk with berries

For advance bookings or enquires, contact projectheartbeat2010@gmail.com.

Hope that you'll join Project Heartbeat in this charity dinner! Your support is much appreciated (:

A British student's lunchbox: a pictorial

In England, about half the student population will bring lunchboxes from home for lunch. Our hosts prepared packed lunches for us on the days we went touring.

Thank you J, for the lovely lunches!

Eaten @ Eden Project

Eaten @ Truro

Yum I like cake bars.

Eaten @ Pendennis Castle

Cherries are considerably cheaper over in England... I snagged a great deal at Tesco while I was there: a ~250g box of cherries for 75p!

A hearty-sized one devoured on the five-hour-long train ride to London (;

For those curious, mini Peperami is a smoked pork salami sausage. It's quite salty but it's small in size, so you probably won't be overloaded by the sodium. One of my friends loves them, but another didn't quite like it. I found it to be alright.

I was puzzled over why Sodium 5' ribonucleotide was one of the ingredients. (Ribonucleotides are the building blocks of RNA, which encodes genetic informtion.) A quick Google search revealed that they are flavor enhancers which produce an umami sensation.

I miss England... how I wish I could be transported back in time by exactly a month ago, till when I had just landed on British ground.

Gordon Grill @ Goodwood Park Hotel

We are back at Gordon Grill for the 2nd time. It's a pity that this restaurant is usually not in the radar of most diners, because they serve really good western food with good service too.




After taking this photo, then I noticed that the bar outside actually has a name.




The rather grand lobby. It's quite crowded during the weekends as they hold their English High Teat at the lobby. From the looks of it, the English High Tea's spread looks limited as compared to their Local High Tea spread.



A glass of Medoc to start off our lunch.




The breads were warm and good. I like the Onion Roll.




Ice-Water is also served here at no extra charge.



(From left to right) Marinated Dublin prawn tartar with tomatoes and virgin mary sorbet, Cold Japanese noodles with king crab and farm caviar and truffle oil, Wagyu beef carpaccio with celeriac remoulade and parmesan cheese shavings. Out of these 3, I like the prawn tartar the most.



Braised escargots with red wine fus and garlic puree and melted parsley butter, Hokkaido scallops with Spanish ham and green asparagus with black truffle dressing, Roasted duck Foie Gras with poached pear and raspberry vinegar sorbet. These 3 appetizers were good too.



I like how the soup is served in small cups, so you get to taste 3 flavours in one sitting. Here we have Poultry Comsomme, Lobster Bisque and Mushroom cappuccino.




French Onion Soup, Lobster Bisque, "Soupe du Jour"




The Glazed Yorkshire pork loin with potato fondant, melted spinach and Puy lentil Ragout was good, but the pork was a bit dry for us.




But the U.S. beef fillet with braised cheek in Bourdelaise sauce and seasonal mushrooms will please even the most picky steak lover.



Done medium rare, it was juicy and tender.



Ended the meal with a glass of white Chateau.



Dessert was Arctic roll (an old favourite among many Singaporeans) of vanilla bean ice-cream with marinated red berries



But the best for me was the Pistachio creme brulee with almond crust . It was both creamy, sweet and had some nutty crunch.



I also like the Chocolate and hazelnut tart with a light orange ice-cream.




Silky coconut panna panna cotta with tropical fruit minestrone




Ended the lunch with a cup of hot Coffee with brown sugar crystals.



Gordon Grill
22 Scotts Road
Ground Floor
Goodwood Park Hotel

Bar Bar Black Sheep @ Robertson Blue

If it is not enough for condos to be outfitted with infinity pool and other amenities, the newer ones along Robertson Quay now comes with restaurants and shops.




The 2nd Bar Bar Black Sheep (1st at Bukit Timah) is located at the new Robertson Blue condo, which is opposite of River View Hotel along the river.




There is al-fresco are which is pretty cooling and balmy during a cloudy afternoon...




... and also a sheltered indoor restaurants with a huge industrial fan spinning on top of the exceptionally high ceiling.




There are 3 "food stalls" here selling food - Thai, Western and Indian. The Thai stall was formerly at Farrer Road Market (don't really know where).



White Russian (S$11) and Fruit Punch (S$3.50). The sweet White Russian is made from Kahlua, Vodka and Cream.



I like the Thai Green Curry (S$13.50), not too spicy yet flavourful and creamy. Pity the white rice (S$1.50) was a bit on the expensive side.



The Sambal Olek Chicken Spaghetti (S$11.90) was okay. Guess anyone could have whipped this up in their kitchen.




A nice watering hole along the rather quiet river at Robertson area. Average food, but great location.



Bar Bar Black Sheep
86 Robertson Quay
#01-04
Robertson Blue