Fika @ Arab St

Sorry! I first have to apologize that I didn’t record the prices for the individual dishes. Neither did I take down the final bill. But iirc, each dish is priced at about $15-$20. Slightly on the high side, but I am more than willing to pay because Fika’s ingredients are excellent!

Plus, their portions are large too. So definitely worth the money (:

Grilled Chicken & Cheese & Tomatoes Crepe

Smoked Salmon Sandwich
(smoked salmon, alfafa, sliced onions & dill mustard)

Grilled Chicken
(boneless chicken thigh served with parsley potatoes & black pepper sauce)

Swedish Meatballs
(meatballs served with home-made cream sauce, parsley potatoes & lingonberry jam)

Creamy Mushroom Pasta – special order without leek
(pasta with sliced mushrooms in creamy white sauce, additional chicken)

I have nothing but praises for this wonderful dinner at Fika. The dishes came piping hot and were uber delicious. Damn good!

Food 8/10
Ambience 7/10
Value 7/10
Service 5/10 (They were very hesitant about letting us put the birthday cake in their fridge claiming their restaurant is halal, but so was our cake! They finally relented.)

Tao’s Restaurant @ PoMo

Whole group of us went for dinner at Tao’s Restaurant at PoMo (formerly Paradiz Center). All my ex-colleagues to celebrate one of the girl’s birthday.

We had the 7-course set dinner which costs S$29.80++ per pax. I’m not sure if there’s any ala carte available there but the set dinner was super yummy!! 😀

Anyway, just to clarify, one of my friend’s friend opened this restaurant, hence we were given more privileges. Hehe. So please do not take it that they offer so much free stuff 😛

Free flow chinese tea; birthday girl ordered orange juice while we were waiting for the guys (this was given to us free!); sorbet (orange juice with crushed ice).

Starter – Bacon & Mushroom Gratin (my fav!); salad – Prawn Roll with Pork Floss; salad – Top Shell Salad with Cold Japanese Noodles; salad – Farmboy Splendour.

Grilled King Oyster Mushroom.

Soups – Cream of Mushroom; soup – Japanese Fish Consomme.

Main entrees – Slow Cooked Pork Back Ribs; main entrees – Baked Atlantic Flounder with Cheese; main entrees – Tao’s Oven Roasted Steak; main entrees – Grilled Snapper with Japanese Sauce.

Desserts – Brownie with Ice Cream; we found a staple in the brownie; desserts – Creme Brule; desserts – Tiramisu.

We could’ve made a big fuss out of that staple in the brownie, but we decided not to. After all, we were having a good time with the good food, and the manager on duty apologised and gave us 10% of total bill.

Omg love their fruit tea ttm! 😀 Really refreshing! Even comes with mini cups for you to pour out. And a fork to eat the little fruit pieces! We had – Iced Rose Apple, Summer Peach (fav!), Tropical Grapefruit.

Total bill: $29.80 x 6 = $178.80
10% disc = 160.92 + 10% + 7% = 189.40

Food 8/10
Ambience 8/10 (VIP room)
Value 8/10 (cheap for 7-course)
Service 8/10

Dian Xiao Er @ Jurong Point

the 4 of us decided to dine here before going for D’s concert. my first time trying! 😀

Peanut
Price: $2.00++

already placed on the table for the customers so in a way i guess this is like forcing us to pay for it?

Dou Miao
Price: $8.00++

taste is normal (:

Chinese Wine Mushroom
Price: $10.80++

this is nice! i think they used a variety of mushrooms. but imho, a good housewife would have cooked this well too. heh.

Ten Wonder Duck
Price: $12.80++

i think this is like a must order dish cos the 3 of them insisted to get this. it was indeed the best dish we’ve ordered. the sauce is kinda sweet. i’ve never tasted sweet duck before but this was good!

the rest of the stuff we ordered (no pics!)

Plain Rice x 3
Price: $0.70++ each

Barley
Price: $2.20++

Chrysanthemum
Price: $2.20++

Towel
Price: $0.30++ each
again, this is like ‘compulsory’ item. i’m not sure if we could return this at the cashier but then again it’s only like 30 cents each -.-

total bill $44.10 + 7% = $47.10
i deducted the service charge cos we had 10% early bird discount. we dined at around 5plus.

Food ★★★☆☆
Ambience ★★★☆☆
Value ★★☆☆☆

Sizzler’s @ Toa Payoh

i remembered having a good time at Sizzlers a while back so i decided to go again. this time, at a different outlet. seriously, the salad bar is more than enough to make you full cos there’s a wide variety ranging from veggies to meat to fruits to ice-cream. however, i felt that the standard has dropped (compared to Suntec outlet). highly likely that i won’t be coming back any time soon (:

Salad Bar Meal
Price: $16.99++

this complimentary cheesy french toast is good!! it came piping hot! (:

Teriyaki Chicken & Dory
Price: $26.99++

also ordered this set meal to share (comes with salad bar). but we agreed it was too much!

total bill $43.98 + 10% + 7% = $51.75

Food ★★★☆☆
Ambience ★★★☆☆
Value ★★☆☆☆

Earle Swensen’s @ Terminal 3

each main course comes with a FOC salad (from the salad bar). a pity K doesn’t eat veggie though, cos the salad’s quite good 😀

the items vary everyday, so sometimes you might get really delicious stuff like pepperoni slices or something!

from left: brinjal, sweet corn, thai vermicelli, crabstick mayo, sweet & sour tofu, long bean & baby corn, lotus root slices, kidney beans, button mushrooms.

from left: croutons, egg mayo, crackers, button mushrooms, cucumber.

Fish & Chips
Price: $17.90++

Cottage Pie
Price: $18.90++

Smoked Chicken
Price: $19.90++

Fried Chicken
Price: $18.90++

Cajun Chicken
Price: $18.90++

we couldn’t finish the chicken so guess what we did! we made chicken caesar salad! ingenious right 😀 and i think it looks so good; it can be sold!

if you’re a small eater, you can just come here for the salad!

total bill $94.50 + 10% + 7% = $111.23

Food ★★★☆☆
Ambience ★★★☆☆
Value ★★★☆☆

The Soup Spoon @ Raffles City

first time trying The Soup Spoon because the people i hang out with dislike soup. M suggested to lunch at this fabulous place after some bday gift shopping.

Mushroom Str (Regular) Price: $6.70

Tuna Mayo Sandwich Price: $7.30

love soupy stuff so i totally love this place! can’t wait to try other soups 😀

totoal bill $13.08 + 7% = $14.00
no service charge!

Food ★★★★☆
Ambience ★★★☆☆
Value ★★★★☆

Say Cheeze @ Tampines 1

it’s nearly lunchtime when i entered this restaurant to find it empty o.O nevertheless, i went in cos i saw Student’s Promotion which was those typical less-than-$10 meals.

but it was only after i settled down and look at the menu properly that i realised the limited set meals on offer weren’t very tempting. R & i decided on ala carte instead.

so here’s our order:

starters – Mushroom Soup
$4.90++

sad to say, this is the best dish for the entire meal. you will read later on why. the soup has real mushroom bits which i love! but this is not the best i’ve had.

drink – Farmer Special
$3.00++ (this comes with the soup as a combo. usual price much higher)

wayyyy to sweet!

appetizer – Brus Platter
$8.90++

i was fooled by the pretty pics on the menu! i thought it was quite worth it. considering there are 2 of each flavour but they taste so bad ): from left, tomatoes, smoked salmon, mushroom cheese. the first was tasteless, and the next 2 were super salty! it’s as if they don’t know how to get it right, so just add lotsa salt. ugh.

R says we can DIY this at home anytime and i quite agree.

salad – Wild Sicily
$8.90++

omg, is this how this veg tastes like? there’s a strong bitter after taste that we both dislike. but the pine nuts inside were good though. i hate pine nuts but this is good (: the mango and chicken pieces were too few!!

main dish – Teriyaki Rice
$11.90++

i must say this is kinda new to me. it’s baked rice, Jap style. but tastes so-so only.

total bill with gst is $44.26. considered expensive for lousy food. i’m quite sure i won’t go back. lol.

Food ★☆☆☆☆
Ambience ★★★☆☆
Value ★★☆☆☆

Red Dot Brewhouse @ Dempsey

7 of us met up for brunch this Sunday morning. and also to celebrate S’ bday.

we ordered our hearty brunch-es. its so filling you can consider it br-unch-ner (breakfast + lunch + dinner). i’m truly amazed at the huge servings. the people at Red Dot are certainly not stingy with their ingredients ^^

Monster Green Lager – $4
Brewed and lagered with European-manufactured spirulina to give it a unique colour and a whiff of fresh fragrance.

Onion Rings – $6.50
super super oily but delicious nonetheless! they really use real onion rings and not those mashed ones.

Waffle – $15
Served with ham, cheese, sunny side up egg, french fries & mesclun salad (choice of maple syrup or honey)
waffles with maple syrup rock my Sunday morning!

Omelette – $15
Mushroom & Cheese Stuffing with ham. Served with french fries, baked beans, baked tomato, sauteed mushroom & mesclun salad.
mushroom cooked to perfection, damn fragrant and tasty!

Tagliatelle Prosciutto e Fungi – $15
Cream based pasta sauteed with assorted mushrooms and ham, topped with shaved parmesan cheese.
cream was a little too thick but i love how they served the cheese freshly shredded (pic not taken)

Red Dot Beef Burger – $18
Homemade succulent ground minced beef, diced porcini mushroom, diced onion pattie, topped with onion rings, sliced tomato & lettuce with truffle salsa.
omg thick beef patty! it’s about (or even more than) 1 inch.

Omelette – $15
Cherry Tomato & Cheese Stuffing with sausage. Served with french fries, baked beans, baked tomato, sauteed mushroom & mesclun salad.
best sausage ever!

Cinnamon French Toast – $15
A sunny side up egg in the hole, served with prosciutto di parma, french fries & mesclun salad (choice of maple syrup or honey)
i like the way they creatively place an egg in the toast in this manner. so cute and appetising! i wonder how they did it!

simply delectable!

all of us were brimming full but we really wanted to get a cake for S. so we requested for a doughnuts kid’s meal. unfortunately we couldn’t have that because it’s “for kids only”. i thought they should make an exception /: we settled for the BIG doughnut in the end.

pretty right! (;

commendable service: they provide free candles!

the doughnut is gooooood. not oily and deep-fried like the usuals. in fact, i think it tasted abit like cake. LOL.

the thing about being in the outdoors and being surrounded by trees & ponds & algae & dragonflies is that there’s a tendency of creepy crawlies. most girls hate them! so we didn’t stay long after our tummies were filled. M drove us to Ion Orchard, which was only a 10-minute drive away?

Food ★★★★★
Ambience ★★☆☆☆
Value ★★★☆☆