L'Entrecote Singapore

On a recent meet-up with a couple of dear friends, we decided on treating ourselves to dine in L'entrecote.. For those of you unfamiliar with its background, originally a French Bistro based in Paris, it has set out to take the world with restaurants popping around the globe's famous cities like New York, London and here in Singapore as well!

It's famed for it's hearty 2 servings of steak with their secret sauce and a free flow of fries! This is their only main course, so the only choices you need to make are your appetisers and desserts.

L'Entrecote Singapore is beautifully located in one the several old peranakan buildings and amongst the pre-war Shophouses in Duxton Road. With it's European interiors and impeccable service, the entire experience was lovely!

The high glass ceiling of the restaurant [right above our table!] and lightbulbs in whisks lighting adds a whimsical touch.

We picked a couple of appetisers to share... or rather my friends shared the Escargots and I shared the Duck Foie Gras Terrine.

What was the most loveliest touch [in my opinion] was the welcome complimentary drink! I didn't exactly catch what it was - I think it was Vodka something... Although they did charge us an extortionate $9++ for still water.... always feel the charge for water in any place is an arrogant and obnoxious business tactic... but felt like it could be forgiven considering the $29++ for their perfectly  cooked medium rare steaks in large portions with free flow of fries were worth the total expenses.

All in all a wonderful restaurant, good food great service wonderful friends... Check them out!


Cheers,
E.L.

Piedra Negra ~ Great Mexican food

Ever since my cousin brought me to eat at Piedra Negra, I've gone back several times... It's sooo good! Very sinful and unhealthy, considering most of the things I always order are the fried stuff...

But so yummy! Located at the end of Haji Lane, map here.

My cousin's office is at Haji Lane, so she goes to it so often that the chef knows her, and of course he's apparently a real mexican.
Prices range from SGD$10-$20 for food. Alcoholic beverages are also available.

The BF & I went this Saturday, and it was raining badly, so if you've been to Haji Lane, you will know that the shop houses are small and campy, and the restaurant is in one of them, so when we sat on the outside by the road, it got a little wet...

My favourite is the Chile Rolleno, which is basically a stuffed green pepper with cheese and it's coated with bread crumbs and then deep fried. So it's served with jalapeno and tomato-based sauce and black beans, and when you cut into it, the cheese just oozes out... so it's crispy outside and gooey-cheese inside... drool..

Ok the BF's favourite is the Garlic Cod, which I've tasted and it's really good and a much healthier option to the other fried choices on the menu.

So even the BF finds the guacamole they serve with their nachos not too bad, but of course, him being the good Panamanian grandson, he still feels his grandma's better! [well actually I must admit that too.. and nothing beats his gran's salsa]

I love love the colourful decor of the restaurant and the whole mexican theme, it also blends nicely with the rest of Haji Lane's quirky and colourful look - the shop houses in the rain are so whimsical..
Love the mexican tiles accent..

Other great stuff to try on the menu, that I personally love but unable to consume at one time in one meal, are the fish tacos and the flautas.

So even if you are going to be a tourist in Singapore, do come down and check out the place! Great place to just hang out.

Cheers,
E.L.

Good Morning Brekkie! ~ Simply Bread

Firstly, before I forget again.. Happy Chinese New Year! 新年快乐!

I don't celebrate it much anymore, thus the reason for the major posts, been at home vegging out in front of the telly... 

Anyway, I want to share with you a great place that I have been going to with the BF for breakfast! Of course this is based in Singapore for all the international readers out there! So if any of you are planning a visit to our little cosmopolitan island, maybe you can check out these recommendations!

Simply Bread at Guthrie House on Sixth Ave is a lovely place to have a satisfactory wholesome breakfast. Much better option than MacDonalds... click here for the map.

It's also a bakery that bakes all these yummy wholewheat breads and sweet baked goodies, and it's always freshly out of the ovens in the morning. Usually by late afternoon they'll be running low on the breads as everyone in the neighbourhood probably pops by every morning and leaves with a loaf under their arms. It's also a very family-oriented place, weekend mornings will have the place packed with parents and their kids.

The breakfast they serve are all fresh too, using their own breads and all cooked fresh, none of the pre-heat stuff that fast food places have.

They also serve lunch, which are usually the selections of sandwiches, but I think they have sandwich specials everyday too.

The cinnamon roll isn't bad... I love love cinnamon rolll... very hard to find in Singapore these days.. 

The menu.. click to enlarge and see it clearer..

I usually get the eggs.. you can add things to it.. this was an omelet with shitake mushrooms... and roast peppers draped on top because they forgot it and served it on the side for me instead.. hahaha

So if you ever do get up early on a weekend morning and looking for a pretty good fresh brekkie, head down to Simply Bread! 

Cheers,

E.L.

The Medz at Orchard Central

The basement in Orchard Central is almost complete, and the theme is the Mediterranean, the entire basement floor is decorated in its theme, with the region inspired colours and mosaic tiles. The theme also extends to the retail shops selling Moroccan lamps, jewellery etc. and even Mediterranean food. Food Junction opened a restaurant, The Medz that has the same style as Marche but serving Mediterranean food.

So I had lunch there few days ago, after its much awaited opening - the entire basement took a long time to be ready for customers. There are quite a range of food choices, from tajines to kebabs etc. I had the lamb and prunes tajine with couscous. It wasn't bad and neither is it tooting fantabulous, it was ok. The tajine tasted alot like oxtail soup, which I don't think it should, but still edible and not a bad taste. The couscous was rather plain, with just a scatter of raisins on the top. All I can say is that I've had better, but this is still passable - may not be as worth the $13 it cost.

Then I had desert, the bread pudding was fantastic, it was not too sweet and gelak (where you eat till you feel really heavy and pukey) it was not so eggy, I've had other bread puddings before that tasted like you're eating sweet tofu, but this doesn't. And the vanilla cream was not overpowering either, it complimented the pudding well.

So other than the food, the stores around the area was fun. I found a jewellery store that sold raw gemstones and got excited as they were really low priced and got inspired for making jewellery. So look out for them soon!

Cheers,
E.L.

Fosters Steakhouse - The English Rose Cafe

A great place to go for tea is Fosters English Rose Cafe at Holland Village.
I usually go for their tea sets, it is served daily during 3-6pm for about $10, which consists of a choice of tea in a pot, 2 scones, finger sandwiches and a slice of fruit cake. They allow changes to the sets, such as I changed the sandwiches to another scone, and my boyfriend changed the cake to another scone. And this is because their scones are awesome! Unlike The Tea Party though, they only have raisin scones, but still good even for non-raisin lovers like me. It's moist and fluffy, served with strawberry jam that tastes home-made, butter and cream.

 If you don't fancy a pot of tea, you can always get normal coffee, or even swap it for a Latte - there are no extra charges for any changes.

There is indoor seats in the nice cosy cafe, or you can opt for an outdoor seat on the terrace. Of course other than tea sets, there is a complete menu for dinners and lunch, but so far I've only tried their tea so that's my two cents worth!

 

To visit Fosters Steakhouse - The English Rose Cafe

277 Holland Ave Holland Village Singapore 278994

Tel: 6466-8939

Email:

fosters8@singnet.com.sg

Cheers,

E.L. 

The Tea Party at Sixth Avenue

If you're looking for a really good-hearty-warm-sweet-cold desert, then I would suggest the Desert Bowl at The Tea Party!

It is a bowl full of warm syrupy gooey apples and raisins at the bottom with a crumbly crust and then topped up with heaps of vanilla ice-cream! It is to me the best desert that's worth its price! Only for $6.70 it is the size of a soup bowl and it can easily feed 2 people, although I would rather not share... yummm

The Tea Party has other deserts, the other popular choice is their scones, they come in quite a few flavors, a favourite is the chocolate chip one, and there are others like cranberries etc. other deserts also includes cakes.  All of them are baked at the cafe itself, and so you can be assured that your muffins are fresh and not the dry stale sorts you get from some cafes that order from factories.

They've also got a selection of food, but as their cafe's name suggests, they have quite a list of teas that can be hot or cold - although not as extensive as TWG which is on a completely different level anyway. There are stacks of old magazines and old board games for diners' entertainment, however do expect that some of the board games are so old that it does have missing pieces. As for the food, it is reasonably priced, where their lunch set which starts from 11am - 4pm goes for a selection of main dish with an iced tea for around $6.50,  then the all day set meal goes for around $9.90 which includes a selection of main dish with iced tea and their soup of the day. I really like their prawn aglio, which doesn't seem like much but the simplicity of it is really flavourful! They're generous with their garlic fried in olive oil, then tossed with chopped parsley and peppered with chili padi it gives the dish a tiny little kick, they used to put more chili but I think it was too much for some of their customers [like my boyfriend] that they cut back on it.

So do drop by for a chillout session at The Tea Party, don't mind the old couches that are falling apart, it kind of adds to atmosphere of being laid back.

Address: 805 Bukit Timah Road #01-07 Sixth Avenue Centre, 279883
Mon - Thurs:11:30-00:00 Fri - Sat:11:30-01:30 Sun:11:30-00:00 Email: theteaparty@live.com Phone: 6462 3563 Cheers, E.L.