OK Dinner @ Brasseries les Saveurs on 4Aug2016

Posted on August 8, 2016 by chefquak

amuse bouche – crabmeat wrap

went with wife for dinner at brasserie les saveurs at st regis on 4.8.2016. ^^

1st time coming here since amex love dining (palate) now included this restaurant.

brasserie les saveurs @ st regis

though it is a brasserie the ambience is quite grand with double volume high ceiling.

a bit like the clifford at fullerton bay w/o the seaview.

brasserie les saveurs @ st regis

quite nice la…

brasserie les saveurs connoisseur dinner semi-buffet

we looked at the dinner menu.

there was a connoisseur dinner semi-buffet.

the hors de eouvres buffet items quite limited, not even as good as the below par equinox i recently visited where the spread was like halved.

the main courses though looked better than equinox, and i was eyeing the prime ribs.

the captain advised that the prime rib for the semi-buffet was about 2/3 the serving c/w ala carte (S$76), but if one were taking that then might as well have the semi-buffet (S$73).

i may come back for this, but for this evening, i didn’t want the buffet so we did ala carte.

amuse bouche – crabmeat wrap

amuse bouche was a crabmeat wrap. ok nothing special but certainly a plus if they offer amuse bouche for regular ala carte orders. 🙂

bread

bread though was poor, as in not bad but not the standard of this outfit.

oysters platter S$32

the oyster platter was good.

oysters platter S$32

nice sweet juicy oysters, and a good price at 50% love dining discount for 2pax.

lobster bisque

lobster bisque looked good, tasted ok, indeed velvety, quite a bit of crabmeat but not that sweet. actually quite an average dish for me…

pan fried scallops S$26

pan fried scallops were dry & below par. felt old, not fresh not gummy texture. i think very poor for a good restaurant standard.

even my own pan-seared hokkaido scallops was better than this!

we were a bit the non complaining type. the scallops were not spoilt or bad. but actually it would be better if i told the restaurant immediately whether they replaced it or not. it’s better to feedback to them.

tajima wagyu skirt steak S$58

fortunately the skirt steak was very good.

very flavoruful & tender enough, though some parts just slightly tendonous.

the mash, herb butter were good too. 🙂

tajima wagyu skirt steak S$58

this audtralian wagyu with jap name & a secondary cut so i was wondering how they prepare the steak as it would be tough with connective tissues. the captain couldn’t really explain or he didn’t understand the question, but anyway steak was good which was all that mattered.

dinner was S$161 for 2 after 50% discounts. the glass of wine wife had was expensive. i think S$29 no discounts. at this price even with discounts dinner was ok not great & could get much better value elsewhere.

but i will still come back for the prime ribs, and maybe also the tajima steak & oysters w/o the other items.

c.h.e.f andy

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Monday-Sunday	6:30AM–10PM

Wonderful Matsutake Autumn Bento @ Mikuni on 20Sep2015

Posted on September 20, 2015 by chefquak

mikuni autumn matsutake bento

mikuni a favourite destination for me.

mikuni’s chirashi don is still the best in singapore for me.

matsutake lunch special bento

i wanted to try the autumn matsutake bento set, so today 3 of us came for lunch on 20.9.2015. ^^

it’s F1 race day, so many roads were closed. i googled and saw that bras basah road entrance to raffles city was open & also i could returned by beach road in the direction to middle road which was also opened.

i drove through orchard road with some traffic, but overall it was perfect. & carpark was empty.

matsutake (pine mushrooms) otoshi

it’s a pine mushroom set, so every dish had some matsutake. 🙂

matsutake (pine mushrooms) otoshi

it was ok.

excellent sashimi=chutoro, hotate, kampachi, uni

sashimi was excellent! chutoro & hotate were fantastic cuts.

excellent sashimi=chutoro, hotate, kampachi, uni

chutoro really melt in the mouth & hotate had incredible bite. kampachi were very sweet too. wish they gave more uni, haha! 🙂

tempura

tempura was lovely. chestnut really nice.

tempura

matsutake has a bit of woody? mushroom flavour. daughter didn’t like it so much.

sea bream teppanyaki & snow crab legs

teppanyaki sea bream seemed to be the dry treated type like many japanese fish including salmon & cod. you get them in japan a lot, in bentos, restaurants, supermarts.

i liked it but not so favourite for wife & daughter.

sea bream teppanyaki & snow crab legs

the snow crab legs were excellent.

kagoshima wagyu

& the kagoshima wagyu was sublime! ^^

kagoshima wagyu

there’s some mustard seeds/sauce. i put a bit of wasabi on the beef also. just so wonderful. 🙂

kagoshima wagyu

it felt like not the very chargrilled preparation. wonder if i can do this. google a bit & see.

ikura kamameshi(釜飯)

i normally don’t particularly fancy kamameshi as i used to think they tasted average until i had very good tasty kamameshi at sun with moon @ wheelock.

ikura kamameshi(釜飯)

this one here though was very average.

panna cotta

panna cotta was very good! great texture & bite.

panna cotta

daughter though was still thinking of the panna cotta at pizzeria balognett at tremezzo lake como, but i think this was very good already. 🙂

with amex FAR (feed at raffles) privileges, the 7-course set was S$60++pax, very good deal i feel!

c.h.e.f andy

Gourmet Carnival Atmosphere @ Savour 2015 on 28Mar2015

Posted on April 17, 2015 by chefquak

entry queue at savour (26-29mar2015)

my wife’s friend bought us a pair entry tickets to savour 2015 on 28mar2015.

there was a queue at the entrance at 6pm. the entrance tickets were S$69 for each person and had S$30 stored-value on each ticket. i guess that means entrance fee was S$39. i think we topped up another S$60 each.

i guess i had read about savour but never really paid attention. now that we were going, i kind of read up on the participating restaurants, decided on a few to try.

ku de ta’s duck + angus beef S$18

one of the restaurant stalls we were interested was ku de ta.

wife not interested in belly pork (which is so common these days in fine dining), so we picked the sous vide duck + angus beef plate for S$18.

ku de ta’s angus beef

beef ok but then we can do anytime. no attraction.

ku de ta kiosk

ku de ta’s duck

duck pretty good too. again you can buy smoked duck from ntuc, mmmm, even qoo10.

ku de ta kiosk

certainly competent. no great motivation to go sky high & pay sky high.

crowd at stellar’s kiosk

the other restaurant stall we wanted to try was stellar at 1-altitutde. used to be on amex palate but seems that no more. i wouldn’t really go there w/o palate discounts.

there was a good crowd. we were early at about 6pm. later the crowd & queue were longer & we did not have enough interest to stand in queue for other food.

stellar’s wagyu burger

i thought stellar’s wagyu burger was quite good, and S$18 price was quite fine too. when i was in the queue, a young mother was just ahead of me. she had bought 1 already & was ordering 2 more & telling the server she wanted it more cooked as her young child could not take the medium rare.

bought 1 & ordered 2 more. that gave me some confidence haha!^^

stellar’s wagyu burger

wagyu & onions were tasty with simple seasoning. the brioche also quite nice. 1 of my wife’s friend couple came so we shared & had a quarter each. 🙂

stellar’s kiosk

i quite liked this wagyu burger. it’s something that worked for me.^^

savour 2015 ambience

we were at the open space in front of the F1 pit building.

the flyer in the background.

savour 2015 ambience

great ambience & vibes!

pea veloute – UK’s 2 michelin midsummer house

we decided to try another stall. this time we picked midsummer house, a UK 2 michelin star restaurant.

pea veloute – UK’s 2 michelin midsummer house

the pea veloute was pretty ok. i think it was S$12. always like pea soup.

UK’s 2 michelin midsummer house

that was our last tasting as we were not attracted to the other food, and the crowd & queue built up after that. 🙂

savour 26-29mar2015

view of the stalls below from level 2 of the F1 pit building where the sake & gourmet grocery stalls were located.

japanese yuzu

we bought some japanese yuzu. later, i used the skin from 1 yuzu to make a yuzu pepper. very nice!^^

japanese strawberries

gourmet vegetables?

so we didn’t spend much of the S$90 each, and used up all the money buying groceries, like japanese strawberries, yuzu, italian iberico ham etc.

would i come for this again? for myself, probably not. don’t think my wife interested either. with some friends, not so hot but don’t mind doing too. there were other food we could try. 🙂

c.h.e.f andy

Our Favourite Yakiniku @ Aburiya on 6Oct2014

Posted on October 7, 2014 by chefquak

ohmi wagyu beef set – S$39.95

went to aburiya for dinner with wife & daughter on 6.10.2014. 🙂

i had an excellent dinner here last on 19.3.2014. today was just as good! 🙂

yakiniku

aburiya yakiniku

sake

kimchi chigae – S$11.90

bibimen – S$12.90

we ordered our usuals – kimchi chigae & bibimen. i love both these dishes.

kimchi chigae always so tasty, with some slices of thin belly pork. i love the kurobuta kimchi nabe at shirokiya @ cuppage terrace but for a simple small helping of kimchi chigae, aburiya’s is the best.

bibimen is something i come to like because my wife prefers it to bibimbap. now i get to like everything about it, flavours, texture. 🙂

ohmi wagyu beef set – S$39.90

we decided to order the ohmi wagyu beef set (above & top photo). it looked marbled, tasted good, but somehow not quite matching our expectations of the intense marbled flavours of 1 of the 3 best kuroge wagyu (黑毛和牛) in japan, along with kobe & matsuzaka. somehow the last time we had the cheaper hokkaido wagyu here on 19.3.2014, it left a more lasting impression. maybe it’s better just to order karubi or jo-karubi than to have the tokumori mixed set.

for me tajimaya@vivocity’s wagyu was pricy but good too only if there is amex 50% discount, but they did not have the kimchi chigae & bibimen we liked here, so the enjoyment was not the same. 🙂

jo karubi negi (prime short ribs with leek)

karubi negi (short ribs with leek) – S$11.90

we had the cheap australian angus karubi negi (short ribs with leek). it was quite ok. anyway we had always liked it before we started trying the wagyu here.

kurobuta & iberia pork set – S$25

we tried the kurobuta & iberia pork set this time. it was really good. certainly better than the karubi. i think overall our enjoyment of the pork was more than even the ohmi tokumori set, not that the ohmi was poor.

the bill

the bill came to S$143 nett for 3pax including a bottle of sake. quite ok for a very enjoyable dinner. 🙂

c.h.e.f andy

Good 3pax Yakiniku Dinner @ Tajimaya Vivocity on 20Jul2014

Posted on July 20, 2014 by chefquak

yakiniku @ tajimaya vivocity

we had always gone to aburiya. maybe it was familiarity & convenience, even though we knew that tajimaya by the creative eateries group had amex discounts.

this the first time we were dining here. amex offer was 1person off, so 33% discounts for 3pax alacarte exclude drinks. 🙂

looking at the menu we felt the prices were kind of expensive. another negative point was they did not serve tap water. so only 2 options – pay S$5.90++ for 1litre bottled water OR S$3++pax for tea (refillable). we ordered 3 tea, but if i go again, i am quite prepared to go w/o water during the meal. 🙂

i am ok with restaurants charging for water. however i think it should be like S$0.30 or S$0.50 or max S$1 & refillable, NOT S$5.90 for 1 litre water (bottled or tap).

kuroge wagyu karubi – S$54.90

we added the wagyu towards the end decided that since we were there, might as well gave it a try. the kuroge wagyu (黑毛和牛) karubi (short ribs) was good. not sure if worth money even with 33% discounts but it was good. 🙂

ribeye 120g – S$25.90++

karubi 120g – S$25.90++

kurobuta pork jowl – S$18.90

our first orders were the USA ribeye & karubi, and the kurobuta pork jowl. all were good though my wife preferred the beef shio (just salt) so we late had the wagyu order shio.

for me, both beef were good, and the kurobuta was best. 🙂

yakiniku @ tajimaya vivocity

beef ishiyaki don – S$15.90

belly pork ishiyaki don – S$13.90

we had the beef ishiyaki don. we must be hungry as we added also the pork ishiyaki don.

how did tajimaya match up with aburiya. we missed our favourite kimchi chigae & the bibimen (cold spicy noodles) at aburiya. the ishiyaki don here i would rate as better than aburiya’s bibimbab as it had a lot more ingredients – quite substantial beef & pork. meat wise my wife still preferred aburiya. i am ok with both.

our dinner was S$186nett for 3pax after discounts. that though included the expensive wagyu & also S$30++ for sake & S$9++ for 3 tea.

for me, tajimaya was too ex w/o discounts. with discount, it was an alternative to aburiya though I preferred aburiya also for the kimchi chigae & bibimen. 🙂

c.h.e.f andy

Good Value Lunch (with Amex Vouchers) @ Chui Huay Lim on 25Jun2014

Posted on June 27, 2014 by chefquak

ter kar tan – S$10

jumbo group have an ongoing amex promotion giving out voucher booklets for every S$120nett spend by amex card. i was given a booklet expiring 30jun2014, and 5 of us arranged to have lunch at chui huay lim on 25.6.2014. 🙂

i find chui huay lim kind of on the expensive side, but when there were substantive discounts like the good lunch we had on 4.11.2013, then it was pretty worth it.

for this time, we were using 1 S$60 voucher which require a total bill of S$150nett or above. i ordered the usual pig trotter jelly, hae chor & cold crab. also ordered 1/2 braised duck, 2 vege & a seafood meesua & ended with orh nee. including tea, bill came to S$111 for 5pax after the S$60 discount. & since we could get another voucher booklet if the net bills was S$120, we ordered 2 more ah bo ning (mochi dumplings) at S$4each. 🙂

#1 ter kar tan (pig trotter jelly) always good here.

hae chor – S$10

#2 hae chor good too, very crisp.

teochew cold crab – S$30

#3 cold crab was sweet, among the better ones.

1/2 teochew braised duck – S$28

#4 the teochew braised duck was also good, flavour, tender, moist. 🙂

kai lan with ti poh- S$14

#5 kailan with ti poh pretty ok, i guess kind of standard.

#6 i ordered another spinach also S$14 (no photo).

seafood mee sua – S$18

#7 seafood meesua quite ok, also standard issue.

orh nee – S$4.50

#8 the orh nee was much better than i expected, very smooth, not too sweet & nicely presented. better than ah orh which served a good orh nee too.

overall, though we did not order too many dishes or expensive ones, it was quite a good lunch for 5pax at only S$121nett & we took back a new voucher booklet include another S$60 voucher for chui huay lim. not bad la! 🙂

c.h.e.f andy

P.S. photo credits to my good friend, 1 of the diners as i did not take any photo.

Good Teochew Dishes @ Chui Huay Lim on 4Nov2013

Posted on November 6, 2013 by chefquak

a friend & fundonate partner bought 5pax lunch @ chui huay lim restaurant on 4.11.2013.

chui huay lim is a club with history – all 168years! it has been called a “teochew gentlemen club” or to us a teochew towkay club. 🙂

anyway the restaurant is part of the jumbo group, which has also acquired ng ah sio bakuteh (黄亚细肉骨茶), which now has an aircon branch located on level 1, which chui huay lim restaurant is also located. 🙂 i tried a few very good set dinner promotions in the rooms with karaoke set in 2012 not long after the restaurant started, they had chefs & servers from shantou. the food was generally good though not better than the other good teochew restaurants in singapore.

teochew braised goose

crispy sea cucumber in brown sauce

steamed red garoupa with chye poh

we had the ter ka tan (猪脚冻) pork trotter jelly – top photo. it was good here as usual – flavourful, nicely set & presented. i had not been here for maybe 1 year, it used to be harder to get braised goose (i had duck the last few times here), however this time there was no problem & my friend ordered the goose. i must say it was “underwhelming”. i prefer braised duck or goose to be served with little sauce & not drenched in them & most important is the “pang” flavour. this goose was to me quite average, & the few times i cooked braised duck (though i was not 100% consistent & made mistakes), my duck was more “pang” than this “wet” goose.

the crispy cucumber with mushroom & brocoli was excellent, both taste & texture with excellent brown braising sauce. it was not better than what i had at tunglok signature @ central though. the prawn rolls & liver rolls were ok, i guess competent (ordinary?).

the red garoupa (very large one almost 1 kg) with chye poh (salted dried radish) was excellent! very fresh, tasty, great sauce & chye poh condiments. 🙂

jumbo was having an amex promotion where you get a S$50 voucher for every S$100 spent, and a S$50 voucher can be redeemed next round for every S$100 spent. the bill came to S$230, so my friend was able to redeem S$100 & paid S$130. w/o voucher redemption lunch was S$46pax net. i guess it was not too ex but not cheap either. i will probably come again as i have the jumbo card & some jumbo $ to redeem before they expire. 🙂

c.h.e.f andy

Pleasant Dinner @ Balzac Brasserie on 30Jul2013

Posted on August 7, 2013 by chefquak

beef tartar (S$32)

today we decided to try Balzac , a French bistro at Rendezvous Hotel, another palate outlet. Balzac was located at the hotel lobby level 1. it had a pleasant indoor alfresco area. i did not bring my camera & the setting was a bit dark for my poor photography & dying Samsung S2, so photo quality was bad. 🙂

bread basket

we had a bread basket. so-so.

lobster bisque (S$16)

we ordered a lobster bisque to share. it had the usual intense shellfish flavour (good enough) & was nicely “foamed” too..though for me lobster bisque must come with some lobster chunks (this one didn’t!). 🙂

escargot (S$14)

the escargot was entirely forgettable. so far the best escargot i had was still the one at Dozo which had 3 cheese gratin version matched with a single herb garlic version. 🙂

we ordered also the cold meat platter. this came with 2 salami cut, parma ham, duck rillette & baguette. it was very good & quite large for 2pax. 🙂

for the mains we ordered a beef tartar (there was no usual appetizer portion). this was a bit different from the usual chopped version but a bit chunky streaks of tenderloin with the usual onions & mustards w/o anchovies. it was good! 🙂

we also had ribeye steak. the 200g steak looked aged & was very flavourful better than what i do at home & worth every cent, 🙂 the very slim fries were ok but a bit salty.

in all we paid S$70nett after 50% palate discounts for 2pax, excluding wine. the food was not overwhelming but good enough for the discounted price. will be back. 🙂

c.h.e.f andy

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c.h.e.f

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Tag Archives: amex

OK Dinner @ Brasseries les Saveurs on 4Aug2016

Wonderful Matsutake Autumn Bento @ Mikuni on 20Sep2015

Gourmet Carnival Atmosphere @ Savour 2015 on 28Mar2015

Our Favourite Yakiniku @ Aburiya on 6Oct2014

Good 3pax Yakiniku Dinner @ Tajimaya Vivocity on 20Jul2014

Good Value Lunch (with Amex Vouchers) @ Chui Huay Lim on 25Jun2014

Good Teochew Dishes @ Chui Huay Lim on 4Nov2013

Pleasant Dinner @ Balzac Brasserie on 30Jul2013

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