Good But Expensive Dinner @ Stellar at 1-Altitude on 9Nov2015

king crab uni & sakuri ebi capellini

king crab uni & sakura ebi capellini

celebrating an occasion & went with wife for dinner at stellar at 1-altitude on 9.11.2015. ^^

marina skyline

marina skyline

there was a roof top bar like at me @ oue & also at zafferano (1-altitude is much higher floor).

marina skyline, the panoramic view were of course fabulous.

stellar at 1-altitude rooftop

stellar at 1-altitude rooftop

nice place to have a drink, but it was a bit hazy this evening.

stellar at 1-altitude

stellar at 1-altitude

we were there at 6.30pm first seating, it was 1/2 full for the evening.

amuse bouche

amuse bouche

we were deciding between the regular S$95++ 3-course menu (full portion) or the 6,7,8-course autumn gastronomic (1/2 portions). wife decided to have the 3-course & i was advised that if i took the S$120++ 6-course menu alone i would have 2 desserts.

so we both took the 3-course. wife had 2 appetizers & i ordered a dessert.

amuse bouche

amuse bouche

we were served only 1 amuse bouche. so we missed the mushroom tea which other reviewers raved about.

this amuse bouche was ok but forgettable.

how i missed the incredible mushroom tea amuse bouche we enjoyed at jaan previously.

fin de claire & some pacific oysters

fin de claire & some pacific oysters

wife ordered the oysters. there were 4 in 1 order.

fin de claire & some pacific oysters

fin de claire & some pacific oysters

again it was ok but not those very creamy ones. we had better S$3 oysters at tess bar & of course the superb ones at the prime society (only S$2.50ea after palate 50% discounts).

diver scallops. parmesan. bacon. carbonara style

diver scallops. parmesan. bacon. carbonara style

i ordered the diver scallops carbonara style.

diver scallops. parmesan. bacon. carbonara style

diver scallops. parmesan. bacon. carbonara style

the scallops were wonderful, large, plump, tasty, & still have the slightly gummy sashimi bite. i loved the scallops.

but as an entire dish with the carbonara sauce, it was simply outclassed by the excellent scallops at the disgruntled chef 100gourmet dinner we had recently (above photo).

pan seared scallops in prawn vegetable veloute

pan seared scallops in prawn vegetable veloute

i decided to create a dish myself with my usual pan-seared scallops using a prawn vegetable veloute. my scallops were very good but not really comparable, however my veloute was excellent & the overall experience was much better, though just as outclassed by the scallop dish at the disgruntled chef 100gourmet.

gazpacho in 2 styles

gazpacho in 2 styles

wife ordered the gazpacho in 2 styles.

gazpacho in 2 styles

gazpacho in 2 styles

the cold soup was light, refreshing, tasty.

white cucumber & red tomato gazpacho

white cucumber & red tomato gazpacho

this was such a wonderful soup, i went home & recreate one myself, and a pretty good one at that. not quite stellar’s top standard, but pretty good la. 🙂

the main courses

the main courses

we ordered the king crab, uni, sakura ebi pasta & the rack of lamb.

king crab uni & sakuri ebi capellini

king crab uni & sakura ebi capellini

the pasta was tasty & i liked it.

wife though was not impressed. somehow the uni sauce tasted cheesy (same saltiness?). it was good but not great.

prawn capellini

prawn capellini

i went back & recreated a very tasty prawn capellini myself in the same style.

victorian lamb rack

victorian lamb rack

the lamb rack was i guess mediocre, at best above average.

it was done medium according to the server’s recommendations.

array of sauces & dips

array of sauces & dips

there was a nice array of sauces & dips, mustard, bearnaise etc& a butter which was very nice with the lamb.

victorian lamb rack

victorian lamb rack

the sides were good.

but actually for the lamb, though it was ok, it was also quite mediocre. there are countless restaurants here that does this better, and much better!

i would prefer my own pistachio crusted lamb to this.

almond croquant

almond croquant

overall, food was good, ambience was fabulous.

the dinner though was quite underwhelming for the price, quite below our expectations. purely on the matter of food enjoyment, we had much better at cheaper places like foc & tess bar.

wife was saying basically we were paying for the view. i guess we were.

c.h.e.f andy

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Protected: RI G20 15pax Dinner Great Food & Ambience @ Kith Cafe Park Mall on 30Jun2015

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Great Food & Ambience @ Kith Cafe Park Mall on 30Jun2015

crabmeat linguine in tomato sauce

crabmeat linguine in tomato sauce

a RI friend is a proprietor of kith cafe at park mall & sentosa cove (kith has another outlet at robertson quay). kith does all day breakfast (till 5pm) and seems like a good coffee place too.

after our may G20 dinner at peach garden @ metropolis on 26.5.2015, we all agreed we should be young again & be spotted at kith. so this friend volunteered or was volunteered to organise the june dinner at kith cafe @ park mall on 30.6.2015. 🙂

we had 15pax. 🙂

i didn’t know if kith meant anything in particular, but after googling i found out that kith was like kin or kindred or –

acquaintances, friends, neighbors, or the like; persons living in thesame general locality and forming a more or less cohesive group

a cafe for friends – good name!

a few friends went early & took a short walk at fort canning park. the rest of us got a tour of our friend’s high end office chairs & system furniture shop adjacent to kith cafe.

watermelon & lychee smoothie

watermelon & lychee smoothie

the friend ordered watermelon & lychee smoothie for a few of us. it was good, refreshing, quenching, not too sweet. not particularly a favourite for me though.

some ordered ABC – apple, beetroot & carrots me think…sounds healthy. i will try that one next time.

sweet corn soup

sweet corn soup

couple friends ordered a soup. think it was the soup of the day, maybe a sweet corn soup. looked ok.

calamari

calamari

my friend ordered some calamari & 2 pizza to share, and each ordered our own pasta dish.

calamari was good. squid was very slightly tough, batter was good.

calamari

calamari

this a common dish in many restaurants, and it’s quite competent here. 🙂

gong bao pizza

gong bao chicken pizza

the gong bao chicken pizza was better than i expected. we all liked the thin crust pizza.

gong bao pizza

gong bao chicken pizza

gong bao chicken may have sounded cheesy & chinatown like but it was actually good – no sticky sauce, taste was not too sweet & combined quite well with the pizza. 🙂

parma ham pizza

parma ham pizza

parma ham pizza was competent also. pretty ok. 🙂

parma ham pizza

parma ham pizza

pizza not particularly my favourite but it is an excellent dish for communal dining & i do enjoy a slice of good pizza (i shared 1/2 gong bao chicken & 1/2 parma ham pizza with a friend) to start the dinner.

spaghetti alio olio

spaghetti alio olio

the spaghetti alio olio was good!

good helping, very flavourful, good garlic flavours & lots of shiitake mushrooms. I shared 1/2 of it with a friend who shared 1/2 of my squid ink pasta. not a usual dish i would order as i like meat or seafood. 🙂

linguine gamberini (garlic prawn)

linguine gamberini (garlic prawn)

the linguine gamberini (garlic prawn) looked good. i will order that next time.

carbonara

carbonara

carbonara. looked ok. somehow looked a bit like hokkien mee. egg was mixed in the pasta. i think it would taste good as most pasta here were good. though i am more used to the look/colour of carbonara at alfresco gusto.

bolognese

bolognese

i had a try of the bolognese, and the tomato sauce was good. meat sauce/ragout preparation not my favourite but this was good.

vongole

vongole

did not try the vongole. it looked fine. 🙂

vongole

vongole

they said vongole is a test of a pasta chef. the lala (littleneck clams) have a distinctive shellfish taste & if the linguine is done al dente the combination is quite excellent. my own vongole linguine here.

veal spinach tortellini in tomato sauce

veal spinach tortellini in tomato sauce

the veal spinach tortellini looked interesting.

veal spinach tortellini in tomato sauce

veal spinach tortellini in tomato sauce

& looked yummy! i must try that next time. 🙂

squid ink spaghetti with seafood alio olio

squid ink spaghetti with seafood alio olio

my friend the proprietor ordered the day’s special, a squid ink spaghetti with seafood alio olio.

i tasted. it was good.

squid ink pasta

squid ink pasta

i liked my own squid ink sauce pasta better though. it was more intense & flavourful, though my immediate reaction was it was a bit salty. my own squid ink seafood spaghetti here.

the friend who shared 1/2 my squid ink thought it was very salty, and that the alio olio was also salty. i was good with the alio olio, & salt does bring out the flavours (though too much would kill it).

my friend the proprietor ordered 2 more pizza – a duck & mushroom ragout & a special – with sausage.

my phone died so i did not have photos. duck ragout was good & had some meat pieces. i liked the sausage special pizza a bit more, sausage very flavourful.

yuzu cheese cake

yuzu cheese cake

the pastry chef among us went to select the dessert.

i didn’t think much of the yuzu cheese cake nor the biscuit base. probably i was programmed to think anything yuzu must be specially good. this was average so-so to me.

tiramisu

tiramisu

didn’t think much of the tiramisu either. i had a small teaspoon scoop near the top, somehow thought it felt like penna cotta.

tiramisu

tiramisu

that did not prepare me for interrogation by our pastry chef. she asked if i tasted the lady finger biscuits. seemed that i didn’t (i guess that’s why i thought it tasted like penna cotta – soft, light w/o the tiramisu texture) nor did i tasted coffee or liquor.

our pastry chef thought it was good, and she said there was liquor at the bottom & she didn’t take coffee anyway, so that suited her. guess i have to defer to pastry chef!^^

anyway my palate a bit hesitant, not very sharp like my daughter…give me excuse to try a few more times.^^

lemongrass chocolate cake

lemongrass chocolate cake

the lemongrass chocolate cake looked really pretty, but it’s not my thing.

lemongrass chocolate cake

lemongrass chocolate cake

my least preferred of the 3 dessert.

i had a flat white afterwards. it was good. but didn’t feel that it was in the chye seng huat, dutch colony, or the assembly coffee category.

it was really enjoyable evening. company was super fun, outdoor ambience was cool & nice open space, & food was great. i will probably come back with my family. 🙂

c.h.e.f andy

Great Pasta Lunch @ Alfresco Gusto at Ion Orchard on 17Feb2013

20130217_131710

linguine carbonara – S$22

I bought some deal.com vouchers for Alfresco Gusto @ Ion Orchard & the family decided to go for Sunday lunch. Ion Orchard happens also to be a convenient location for other members of the family for after lunch shopping..haha. 🙂

the Alfresco Gusto vouchers were S$10 for S$20 & you can redeem unlimited number of vouchers, so effectively (nearly) it was quite close to a 50% discount, so relatively a good deal if the food & prices were good. 🙂 We don’t do Italian out so much as the ala carte main courses are quite expensive in the good restaurants and both my wife & I as well as our domestic help do quite good pasta dishes ourselves, but we do visit from time to time a few like Al Borgo (update –  i had excellent dinner there recently on 22.11.2013), Valentino, Spizzico, Covelli, Ochre & a good cheaper place like Capri. 🙂

tuna salad - S$20

tuna salad – S$20

We ordered the tuna salad. It was well plated, looked pretty. The mesclun salad with olives was great, the tuna was very average (kind of tasteless) though.

antipasti platter - S$26

antipasti platter – S$26

We also had the antipasti platter which had parma ham, beef, salami & sun-dried tomatoes, olives & baguette. It was good & S$26 was ok but Capri served a much better version at S$18, so w/o the near 50% discount Capri would do better on this item.

I was never much into carbonara. My son actually taught himself to cook a pretty good one, but the one here was really good – creamy & flavourful & looked amazing (top photo), the best among all the good dishes. 🙂

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veal ragout – S$24

I would put the veal ragout as the second best item. It was creamy, savoury and nicely sprinkled with chopped parsley & grated cheese & sun-dried tomatoes. 🙂

prawn linguine in tomato sauce - S$30

prawn linguine in tomato sauce – S$30

The prawn linguine in tomato sauce came with very good helping of large prawns – my daughter counted 7! it was good too but I guessed more towards the ordinary & boring – something we could do at home with equally fresh ingredients almost equally well. 🙂

crabmeat risotto - S$32

crabmeat risotto – S$32

the last item we ordered was the crab meat risotto. It was good as well but I distinctly remembered that I had tried the funghi risotto here once before a while back & that was the best I had for that meal & this crab meat version was not near as good even though it cost S$10 more.

all in all, the 6 dishes for our 5pax lunch cost S$101 nett using the vouchers which was really a very good deal considering the quality of the dishes. without the vouchers it would cost S$181 nett or about S$31++pax. as ala carte order it would not be overly expensive however there were many good lunch set places & better deals to be had elsewhere, so I would do this but not often w/o the discounts.

c.h.e.f andy