Ssikkek Korean BBQ, Tampines One

Oh dear, having BBQ for two consecutive weeks is hardly my idea of a healthy diet and is making me feel so   "heaty". In fact I was feeling so heaty that I went over to Tampines Mall immediately after my dinner at Ssikkek and bought some chrysanthemum herbal tea!

I came to Ssikkek Korean BBQ at Tampines One with high hopes because I was absolutely in love with their Novena branch. Ssikkek at Novena was still using the traditional grill and aluminium foil the last time I visited but the meat was so well marinated and so fresh. I always end up sitting outdoors when I visit the Novena branch and it was hot and sticky, but I had always enjoyed my meals there.

Ssikkek at Tampines One was slightly different. It was fully air-conditioned and every table was fitted with the new smokeless BBQ grill. The only similarity was the long queue outside which meant that we had to wait quite a while before getting our seats. We had a group of 10 and we waited approximately 15 to 20 minutes before getting our seats. Not bad for such a large group and better yet that they did not insist for all of us to be present before letting us in. 

Prices are shown above. Pretty reasonable for a BBQ buffet, if you ask me. Each customer has one free bottle of mineral water and all other drinks will be charged accordingly. I wasn't aware initially but apparently every group only had two hours in the restaurant and your relevant time is noted on the receipt which they left on the table. I find two hours rather reasonable though I can imagine some people being unhappy that they aren't allow to hang out longer with their friends and families.

Now the selection. The selection of meat, cold dishes, seafood and mushroom was decent. To say there was a spread would be a lie. For some reason I feel that there are less choices here as compared to Novena, but another small voice in my head refuted that thought. So frankly, I am unsure. 

What I am sure, though, was the quality of the food. The pork belly was not marinated at all and was really bland. The chicken was pretty well marinated and I liked the chicken. The bacon was by far the best which was the main reason why I had more than ten strips of bacon with golden mushrooms over the course of the meal.

You could get the waiters to change the grill for you when the charred bits become too thick and they usually get it done pretty fast. But frankly, service was mediocre. They were quick to get things done but they did not seem like they really wanted to do the work. Our grill was leaking and quickly forming a puddle around my feet so I informed the waiter about the leak when he came around to change the grill. He did not even so much as look at me when I told him nicely about the leak. My boyfriend thought he did not hear so he repeated my comment. The waiter then lifted his head and snapped that he knows about the leak and proceeded to walk away. The good thing was that he eventually returned with a mop to clean up the puddle.

I guess if I wanted to have Korean BBQ in future, I would make the trip to Novena instead. 

#04-22 Tampines 1 

Earshot, Arts House

It was a large group of us for lunch one week day and we wanted a place where we could find seats easily so someone suggested Earshot and off we went to discover some place new! It was an awesome place. Isolated, quiet, a really quaint little cafe tucked away in Arts House. The interior was dimly lit, with shelves of books and a mini stage at the back. Tables and chairs were arranged haphazardly, like they didn't really bother where you sat or if you sat at all and merely wandered around the cafe. It was just so cool. I love such places, lack of arrangement, lack of of planning, just so... lackadaisical. It's like they don't know what they want to do with a place and simply converted it into a bookstore, music store and cafe all rolled into one. 

There were three set lunches for the day and each comes with free flow salad and soup, dessert, and drink at a price of $13.90. I chose the Roasted Chicken with Rosemary Sauce and Mashed Potatoes.

The salad came first. It was a generous portion of greens with a sauce which was slightly sour and spicy. The salad tasted great but I would still prefer the usual Italian dressing or vinaigrette.

A simple soup with cabbage slices, tofu and some fried onion within. The soup was a little heavy and oily, probably because of the fried onion bits in it. Wasn't able to finish the bowl as it was getting a bit queasy so I finished the cabbage and tofu instead. 

I really liked the Roasted Chicken with Rosemary Sauce and Mashed Potatoes though! The chicken was very well roasted, the skin was crispy and delicious and the meat was tender and juicy. The rosemary sauce was sweet and tangy, which goes very well with the meat. The mashed potatoes was nice and buttery, the way I like it. 

I forgot to take a picture of the dessert but the dessert was basically sago seeds in a sweet syrup. Nothing fanciful but quite tasty! The set comes with either tea or coffee but I chose to top up $0.70 and ordered a Coke instead as the weather was really hot and I was not too intent on having a cup of hot drink. 

Another good place for lunch around the area! 

1 Old Parliament Lane

Art House

Mookata Thai Bbq, Katong

This place has been along the Katong stretch since as long as I remember, and I always recall walking by when I meet my friends for dinner in the area. We have always wanted to try Mookata but there was always some reason that we were unable to do so, mostly because I was having a sore throat or something along those lines. Ended work late last Friday night and met up with the boyfriend much later than usual. We were deliberating where to head to for dinner and I suggested Mookata Thai Bbq at Katong because I did not want to travel too far.

We parked at Odeon Katong as we couldn't find any parking nearer to Mookata and took a quick stroll over. Mookata is opposite the relatively new I12 Katong, a few doors away from Astons. Despite the late hour, there was still a queue in front of the shop but we decided to join the queue anyway. Mostly because we were so hungry, we weren't hungry anymore so we were pretty all right with a short wait.

While we were in the queue, the waitress handed us a sheet and a pencil and told us to tick what we wanted. This was our first time here so we were unsure what to expect so we simply selected what we wanted. We did end up choosing quite a few items though, more than enough for two. 

The place was warm and stuffy as the heat from the charcoal pot filled the shop. You could practically feel the oil in the air and everything was kind of oily, from the table to the chair. Mookata did fix an exhaust above each table so that the oil can be rapidly removed but it did not help too much I guess.

After waiting a long while, we were served. The charcoal pot had a metal grill in the center surrounded by a moat of clear soup. This arrangement is really interesting because the oil and essence from the grilled meat simply flowed into the soup below. This made the soup very tasty but also very oily towards the end. We ordered lots of mushrooms, vegetables, pork belly, chicken thigh, fish and streaky bacon. I would highly recommend the pork belly because it was so well marinated and tender. The chicken thigh was really good too, soft and juicy. Grilling food over charcoal is indeed different from the usual electric grill because the charcoal just makes the food taste so much better!

Service was a little slow but a lady came by and apologized profusely about the slow pace halfway through our meal. Apparently her managers were not working that day, so they were a little short handed and everything was moving slower. 

Mookata was not exactly the cheapest option and we spent more than $60 for our selection of food. The food was good though so I did not really mind. We left the shop feeling really oily and sticky though so if you do intend to try Mookata, make sure you are not heading somewhere else after your meal and go straight home to bathe. 

103 East Coast Road

Katanashi, Boat Quay

I've heard many good things about Katanashi and I really wanted to see for myself how the place was like. Katanashi is one of the first few restaurants along Boat Quay if you are walking over from Parliament House. The restaurant was cozy and very quaint, with dark mahogany furnishing and cute little posters on the wall. We were ushered to a table at the back where we had a nice long table and some privacy to ourselves. 

The lunch menu where everything is $10.20! Reasonably priced set lunches with so much variety! I was completely sold and had a hard time trying to decide what to order. Eventually I went with the Boiled Drumsticks with soft boiled egg. As you can see from the menu below, all the sets come with a mini salad, miso soup, rice and Japanese pickles. 

The bowl of mini salad with fresh greens and a very light tasty dressing. I'm beginning to appreciate salads more these days even though a bowl of salad for lunch is still completely incapable of sustaining me throughout the day.

My sweet and sour drumsticks with soft boiled egg! I was in such a hurry to try the drumsticks that the first thing I did when my dish was served was to break the egg yolk accidentally. What a bummer! I was intending to have the egg yolk with my rice but oh well, half of what there was went into the sauce and I was super busy trying to salvage the rest. But still, the drum sticks tasted super good! It was not exactly sour and tasted more like braised chicken drum sticks instead. There were 5 drum sticks, rather generous portions!

The only sad part of this yummy lunch was when the waiter accidentally spilled a bowl of miso soup on my new dress! It stained more than half my dress and I had to wash my dress hurriedly to remove the distinct smell of miso soup. Thankfully my dress was coral and the stain was not obvious at all. Furthermore, the waiter looked so apologetic I did not have the heart to hold it against him anyway. Other than this little incident, service was impeccable. 

Come here for lunch one day if you work in the area! 

77 Boat Quay

Bene Spaghetti, Circular Road

Finally, finally a dinner where all four of us can make it! The stars weren't aligned previously and we couldn't arrange a date where all of us were available in the past few months. We finally managed to fix a date this week and I'm thankful that they were so understanding about having to eat around my office. Was getting worried that it was going to be another late day and I did not want to leave them hanging high and dry again, so I suggested that we meet around my office. I went around asking for recommendations for nice dinner places near my office and one of my sweet colleagues recommended Bene Spaghetti at Circular Road!

Now Circular Road is an awesome place for lunch, second probably only to Hong Lim Food Centre, but I've never actually explored that area during dinner. So I was totally excited about checking out Bene Spaghetti for some Japanese-Italian food. The restaurant is situated pretty near to to the start of Circular Road, and the eye-catching deco and the large flag of Italy are pretty hard to miss.

Greeted by a super cheerful waitress who brought us to our seats and handed us a couple of frozen towels to wipe ourselves with. We were quite amused by the frozen towels because they really were frozen and so stiff! The waitress also handed us a "clapper" - this tool which we could shake when we wanted to get their attention. We focused on the dinner sets because they were so value for money. After much deliberation, we decided to order three dinner sets to share namely the Clam and Mussels with Tomato Sauce Risotto, Smoked Pork and Blue Cream Cheese Pasta Dinner Set, and Shrimp and Squid with Aurora Sauce Gratin Dinner Set.  

The green salad, focaccia and antipasto came first but I was so distracted by everything that I only remembered to take pictures of the salad. The salad was nice and refreshing, the focaccia was fluffy and warm, and the antipasto was a few bowls of potato salad, egg plant, and sauteed fish which tasted great!

This is the Smoked Pork with Blue Cream Cheese Sauce Pasta Dinner Set. This was set on our table for 5 minutes while the pasta was steamed within and small puffs of smoke floated out through the small hole at the top. When 5 minutes was up, the bell rang crazily and the waitress came over and lifted the lid. The pasta was in a thick blue cream cheese sauce with thick slices of smoked pork, mushrooms and vegetables. The sauce did not have the pungent taste of blue cream cheese. In fact, it tasted like normal pasta in cream sauce. However, the pasta was still very tasty and the smoked pork was nice and tender.

The Shrimp and Squid with Aurora Sauce Gratin came next. The sauce was nice and rich with a large amount of yummy cheese on top. The Gnocchi Gratin was nice and chewy, going very well with the sauce.

I love the Clam and Mussel Risotto best!!! It was marvelous. The clams were fresh and juicy, the risotto soaked up the tomato sauce to perfection and the sauce was super yummy. The dish came with basil leaves and some chicken soup. They advised us to grind and mix them up and pour them into the risotto if we wished. However, I prefer the taste of the risotto without the basil leaves and chicken soup.

We ended the meal with a Bamboo White Wine which came with bits of grape fruit within. The white wine was light and sweet, totally yummy with the chewy bits of grape fruit within. 

The service at Bene Spaghetti was perfect. They were attentive from the start to the end and were always quick to respond to our requests. The Japanese waiter and waitress even ran after us while we were leaving to hand each of us half a loaf of focaccia bread for breakfast the next day! However, the restaurant is a bit noisy as the vibe of the restaurant is a cheerful noisy place. Not a problem if you are a bunch of friends looking to catch up over food, but perhaps not too ideal if you are trying to get to know somebody on a first date.

I would highly recommend this place to everyone, especially those who work around the area!

83 Circular Road

Symmetry at Jalan Kubor, Arab Street

This week had been really tiring and I really needed a break over the weekend. Am immensely glad that Stef could make it for brunch on Sunday so I suggested Symmetry because I've heard so many good things about it. Totally needed to try it for myself.

Symmetry is located at Jalan Kubor, right beside Santa Grand Hotel. I hopped onto bus number 2 opposite Kallang MRT station and reached the bus stop in front of the cafe in about ten minutes. The cafe is just a short walk from the bus stop with a sign that is so small, you might actually miss it at first glance. I loved the deco of the place. It felt rugged, cozy and whimsical all at once. It's hard to describe, but I certainly do love the feel of this place. 

We were ushered into seats along the wall as all the tables were reserved. Not a problem for us and we settled down quickly enough before staring intently at the menu. The brunch menu was very impressive. They have a wide range of starts, mains and desserts, with a separate drinks menu. Both of us ordered Eggs Benedict.

The eggs were surrounded by crispy bacon which was so sweet and yummy, accompanied by a slice of ripe tomato sitting on a piece of hash brown. I love the bacon, the tomato and the hash brown! I was especially fond of the large serving of rocket leaves with a light tangy dressing. My only grouse was that the egg white was a tad too runny, and reminded me too much of soft boiled eggs instead. But overall this dish was a winner.

Service was impeccable. They came around a couple of times to check if everything was fine and ask about the food. I like the personal touch in Symmetry, and the constant smile on the faces of the waitresses. We ordered drinks next from their extensive drinks menu. I had Berries Smoothie which was basically yoghurt with a large variety of berries while Stef had strawberry lemonade.

The Berries Smoothie was a rich yoghurt drink, filled with bits of berries in it. It was sour in the usual yoghurt sort of way and sweet because of the berries. Love the drink! Even though I would have preferred it if the drink came with a long spoon so that I can scoop the bits inside easily. Was having some trouble with the thin straw and the larger bits of berries. 

Well worth a trip on a lazy Sunday!

9 Jalan Kubor

Boss BarBQ at Clarke Quay

We bought a coupon for set lunch around the Clarke Quay area and Boss BarBQ was one of the participating outlets so we came by for lunch one day. Clarke Quay was rather quiet and deserted in the day and we hardly saw anyone in the area which would spring to life at night. We found Boss BarBQ easily enough. It is behind the taxi stand and opposite Mad For Garlic. If my memory serves me well, Yellow Jello used to be here with its retro music and pop-art design. 

We entered an empty restaurant which was eerily quiet. Feels weird to have lunch in a restaurant which was completely vacant but the tranquility meant that we could chat and catch up at ease. There is a large screen at the back of the restaurant showing various Korean Kpop music videos which was quite fun to watch while we ate and chat.

We ordered the Pork Bulgogi Set for 2 and the Boss BarBQ Chicken Set for 2 to share. The side dishes came first and they were pretty ordinary. Nothing much to shout about.

Each set came with a Kimchi Soup. They were very generous with the kimchi slices and the soup was full of juicy crunchy kimchi. The soup base was quite good as well. It was not thick and robust like the ones I have tried elsewhere but it was definitely better than the food court kimchi soup you might have tasted before.

The first thing that crossed my mind when the Pork Bulgogi Set was served was "That is certainly a very small portion for two people!" Even two ladies would certainly eat more than this for lunch. Or perhaps I should say, even two of me would eat more than this for lunch. The pork bulgogi was very ordinary. Skip it if you are here.

This was supposed to be their signature dish - Boss BarBQ Chicken Set. I say supposed because it was anything but. The sauce was thick and cloying and the chicken was not fresh. When i tried to pry a piece of meat off the bone, it was practically impossible. The meat was just stuck onto the bone which meant that either the chicken was not fresh or the frozen chicken was not thawed properly before it was cooked. Either way, it meant that I will never try this dish again.

All in all, Boss BarBQ was a huge disappointment. Thank goodness I came here using the coupon! I can't imagine my grief if I were to fork out cash for this place.

#01-04 Clarke Quay

Poulet Restaurant at Bugis+

The parents and I were trying very hard to decide between Poulet Restaurant or Yayoiken at Bugis+ (formerly Illuma). My dad eventually dug a coin out of his pocket, flipped it and the coin decided on Poulet Restaurant for us. So that was where we went for some French food.

The queue in front of Poulet was always amazingly long, so I was very thankful to find out that there was no queue that particular evening. Or rather, the queue had not started forming yet because shortly after we settled down and ordered, we glimpsed a queue of about 8 people beginning to form outside the restaurant.

Poulet's specialty is definitely the Poulet Roti (roast chicken) so that was the first thing we ordered. We took a full chicken for good measure as we were uncertain about the size of the portions. We also ordered the Iberico Pork Belly as another main course to share, the salad de Paris, sauteed wild mushrooms, fries and mash potatoes as sides. 

Salad de Paris was pretty decent, with some crunchy nuts tossed within. I like the salad dressing as it was tasty and light. 

The fries were all right. Nothing to rave about, but nothing to complain about either. They were just decent thick fries.

The sauteed wild mushrooms were chewy and tasty at first and the hard boiled egg with a soft yolk gave the dish an interesting twist. However, after a few bites, I realized that the dish was really very oily. The last few mushrooms at the bottom of the plate were sitting in a pool of uninviting oil, and it became so bad that I had to squeeze the oil out of the mushrooms. I wouldn't recommend this dish, not even if you like mushrooms like I do.

Finally the main course - Poulet Roti. The chicken was quite tender at certain parts but rather dry and tough at others. The cream sauce at the bottom of the bowl was tasty but the taste does not grow on you. In fact, after dipping my chicken in the sauce a few times, I began to feel that the sauce was just too creamy.

I forgot to take a picture of the Iberico Pork Belly but I have to say, the pork belly was pretty good! It was obviously slightly fatty but the fats do melt in your mouth and the meat was really tender.

To be fair, I was quite disappointed with my meal at Poulet. With the constant crowd milling around the restaurant, I would have thought that the food would be more inviting. 

Level 4 Bugis+