Yes! Your QUEENS Majesty

Ever since the boardwalk from Vivocity to Sentosa had been completed, i wanted to take a walk to see how this bridge had been transformed and so one fine evening, i took a walk along the boardwalk towards Sentosa. The walk was refreshing especially during the evening time. It used to be just a stone bridge without much to see 10 years ago and no one would walk on the bridge unless absolutely necessary. This bridge certainly has changed a lot. Halfway to Sentosa, is a restaurant called Queens. I decided to give this restaurant a try.

Since I didnt start off the trip as a eating trip, i didnt bring my camera, so no pictures for this blog entry.

Queens and The King Louis in Vivocity belongs to the same company. Queens provide a windy alfresco sitting area along the boardwalk and overlooking the 'Straits of Sentosa'. It has a very nice ambience. When you dine in the alfresco area, I feel as if I am sitting in one of those restaurants along Darling Harbour in Australia. There are live singing by Queens invited singer. This is certainly a good place for dating or chill out.

I had ordered the set menu which cost $25++ and the set menu consists of English Salad, Mushroom Soup, Provençal Pork Loin with Mixed Berries Sauce, 1 scoop of Ice Cream and 1 cup of Sir Thomas Kenyan Highland Tea.

English Salad
The English Salad consist of Lettuce, fried bacon bits, croutons  and about 1/2 a hard-boiled egg mixed in Italian sauce. The portion of the salad is just good enough for 1 person. It is a normal salad that anyone can make at home. Just mixed the above ingredients together. The lettuce is quite fresh.

Mushroom Soup
The soup comes in a cup and with a toasted slice of garlic bread as a side compliment. In the soup, I can feel the bits of mushroom and the soup is not too creamy. Overall it is quite a nice mushroom soup that i enjoyed.

Provençal Pork Loin with Mixed Berries Sauce
There are 4 pieces of pork loin meat with mixed berries sauce on top of the meat. French beans and half a seared apricot are placed beneath the 4 pieces of meat. The portion of this main course is a huge portion.
The sauce is sweet and has a slight tinge of sour taste. The sauce together with the meat taste just nice. However the berries are a bit sour and the meat should be taken with the sauce and not the berries as the sour taste of the berries would overpower the sweetness of the sauce and the pork. The meat is tender but is slightly over to the dry side, still I can feel the juiciness of the meat.
The greens (french beans) are undercooked and it still have the raw green taste.

Ice Cream
The ice cream is maize ice cream which is something that i have not tasted since my primary school years. The ice cream is very normal and I probably wont remember it.

Service
The waitress that served me are very friendly and is able to accomdate my needs. The set menu comes with an english breakfast tea, but the waitress granted my wish to change it to the Kenyan Highland tea instead. However i am still having mixed reviews about their service, reason being that some of the servers do not put your dish in front of you, instead they put my dish some distance from me even though the space in front of me is empty and thus i need to bring the dish to myself.

Ratings
Food Presentation: 2.5/5
Food Taste: 3.5/5
Service: 2.5/5
Cleanliness: 3/5
Ambience: 5/5
Value for Money: 4.5/5


RECOMMENDED

Food Review: Pound the Chicken Escalope

Went to Alexis at The Gardens. This is my second visit and for the 1st visit, the food was so nice that i ate quite a lot. For my 2nd visit, I ordered Chicken Escalope and Pollo Pizza for as my main dish and Strawberry Mascarpone and Chocolate Berries Meringue for my dessert.

Food
Chicken Escalope (RM35.00)
Crispy Breaded Fried with Flattened Minched Chicken Meat.

Presentation
The piece of chicken is quite large about the size of a 6 inch pizza. It comes with some pan-fried tomatoes on top of the meat. There are also a side salad and a slice of lemon to add flavour to the chicken meat.

A bit of a lesson here: Escalopes originate from France and are pieces of boneless meat which have been thinned out using a mallet, rolling pin or beaten with the handle of a knife.That is why the piece of chicken is so flat.


Taste
The cruumps are mixed with different spices, distinctly indian spices. The chicken is deep fried till quite crispy, and the texture of the chicken is smooth and nice, even though the layer of meat is relatively thin. The smoothness is usually obtained from the pounding of the meat into this flat layer. However the taste of the chicken is slightly bland even with the indian spices. Just add a little salt and pepper and squish the lemon slice and it would taste wonderful.
The salad is very fresh and is mixed well using olive oil and lemon.
The pan-fried tomatoes are just nicely cooked.


RECOMMENDED
Even though the dish may look quite plain with just the chicken, salad and the lemon. I enjoyed this piece of chicken meat, done just right.

Caramel Pudding

Who dont have a second stomach for dessert? Dessert is a must. Now for the desserts that we ordered in Kissaten.


The other items that we ordered

1. Grilled Saba Fish Set
2. Japanese Curry Pizza
3. Caramel Pudding
4. Banana Cheesecake

1st dessert that comes to us. Caramel Pudding.



Food
Caramel Pudding (RM 4.90)

Presentation
The pudding is rather plain. The pudding is like a fortress surrounded by the caramel sauce.

Taste
The pudding texture is very smooth. The pudding wobbles like a piece of soft tofu about to collapse but still remains intact. Caramel taste is strong but it is very refreshing.

RECOMMENDED

This dessert is a must try especially if it is a hot sunny afternoon. This will definitely perk you up.

Pizza with Japanese Curry

From Kissaten, we also ordered a Japanese Curry Pizza. You can read about the other items that we ordered here.

1. Grilled Saba Fish Set
2. Japanese Curry Pizza
3. Caramel Pudding
4. Banana Cheesecake

Food
Japanese Curry Pizza (RM17.90)

Presentation
The pizza is about 9 to 10 inch wide. It is a japanese curry pizza topped with egg plant and mozzarella cheese. The egg plants are well spaced out but otherwise, it is quite plan looking.

Taste
The curry taste is not strong. It is a light flavour pizza, which the egg plant blends nicely with the japanese curry. Cheese volume is slightly lacking. I find that there are not enough cheese on top of the pizza. It is also possibly because of the lack of cheese that the egg plant blends with the cheese. I have not imagined that egg plant can be used on pizza and with japanese curry. A very interesting dish i would say.

RECOMMENDED

It is ok to give this pizza a try if you have not taken any japanese pizza before. However the chances of re-ordering this again would be very low, as there could be other dishes that is worth more of my attention.

Fusion of Western and Jap Food - Kissaten

Met up with my friend on a Saturday when i was in KL for a dinner meal. One of the party wants to eat Tonkatsu and so we decided to head to a nearby Jap and western fusion restaurant near our place. Kissaten @ Jaya One.

Kissaten, 喫茶店, in Japanese means Japanese-style coffee shop, those older and smaller establishment. Though it is a coffee shop, it does not have the cosiness of those smaller establishment. It is more of a restaurant then a coffee shop. They offer al-fresco dining experience as well.

The 'coffee shop' is quite a popular place for family outing. Most of the tables were taken and there were some big families dining in the restaurant. There were quite a number of tables and in some of the locations where the tables were placed, it seemed quite out of place. Imagine putting a table with 4 chairs in a cross junction between the exit from the kitchen, the main entrance to the  restaurant and the entrance to the restaurant from the stairs from level 1. It comes across to me that they are really making full use of the space that they are neglecting the safety of the diners.

We had ordered quite a few items to fill our stomach.

1. Grilled Saba Fish Set
2. Japanese Curry Pizza
3. Caramel Pudding
4. Banana Cheesecake

Apple Strudel from Modesto @ Vivocity

Following the main dish of pasta, I ordered an apple strudel as my dessert. Read the pasta review here.

Strudel Di Melee Con Gelato Alla Vaniglia ($13.00)
Home Made Apple Strudel, served warm and topped with Vanilla Ice-Cream

Presentation
This dessert comes with a scope of vanilla ice-cream on top of the golden brown baked apple strudel. Cocoa powder and icing sugar were sprinkled around the plate to give it a simple decoration.

Taste
I started eating from the crust of the strudel, but found that the crust is not crispy. It would be a lot better if the crust is crispy. Even though the crust is not cripsy, I can still find a fragrant butter taste used for making the crust and making the crust golden brown. It contains caramelised pine nuts, raisins, walnuts and a few slices of apple.
There is nothing special about the ice-cream which can be found almost anywhere. However having the hot studel and the cold ice-cream both in the mouth at the same time gives a very contradictory feeling, which some people may not like. I like this feeling, which feels like a tug of war happening on my tongue.

Ratings
Presentation: 3/5
Taste: 3.5/5
Value for money: 3/5

NOT RECOMMENDED

This is not a dessert that i will go back for, at least not at Modesto. I think there could be other places that do the strudel better than they do.

Pasta from Modesto's @ Vivocity

Modesto, a place that i had been to 3 times before with my love one but this time i went alone after my fashion shoot. Modesto in Italian means shy, modest and humble.

This branch has a rustic interior of old Italy and Tuscan brickwork. In the evening, the interior has a warm feeling and with the yellow lights, makes the place rather romantic. The tables are spaced quite far away which makes private talk ok.

It also an outdoor area that overlooks the bay and be able to see Sentosa and Resort World Singapore. Once the Resort World has fully completed the iconic Crane Dance and the Maritime Xperiential Museum, it would pack a view to behold, especially if there are fireworks. This view would be fantastic.

Modesto serves quite a number of Italian dishes. The menu items are all in Italian but the description of the dish is in English. This is to cater to the local crowd. Modesto specialises in their Pasta and also the traditional wood-fried pizza with thin, crisp crust. I had tried their pizza before and indeed they are quite good, but this time i tried their pasta instead.

Food

Tagliolini Aglio Olio Di Nocciola E Peperoncino Con Aragostine ($29.00)

Fresh home made pasta with baby lobster meat, slices of fresh chilli, garlic and hazelnut oil

Have a look around the Roof Terrace

In a most unlikely place to find a nice ambience restaurant, is one that brings you out of Singapore and it is located at the top of an old shopping centre in Holland Village. I believe most people will have heard of this place called 211 Roof Terrace in Holland Village. Out of the 10 i spoke to about this place, 8 told me they heard of it.

211 Roof Terrace has both indoor and outdoor dining. The indoor dining area is relatively small and does not provide any special dining experience. Their outdoor area is on the contrast a much better place to be. It has a very nice surrounding, adding to it are the easy listening music that are playing in the background, loud enough to be heard but not intrusive. One damper though is that HDB flats can be seen. If not for these high rise concrete forest, it could easily be forgotten that you are in the busy Singapore city.

A surprising realisation is that I did not hear the hustle and bustle of the busy street activity even though it is located right next to a busy street, that is always full of cars and business activities. This would be a perfect place to spend a cooling afternoon with friends to chat over a couple of beers or drinks.

Food
Baby Back Ribs (S$24.00)
Hickory BBQ sauce over baby backed ribs served with chunky chips and tossed salad

Presentation:
This dish comes with tossed salad mixed in olive oil and a dash of balsamic vinegar. The Ribs comes covered with Hickory BBQ sauce. The portion of the ribs are huge and it already fills me when i am 3/4 done with it. There are about 10-11 ribs when combined the 2 racks together, which is a commercially acceptable size for the ribs.

Taste:
The ribs are not too dry, but could be a bit more juicier. The fats portion are still attached, though not overwhelming, and this is the reason why the ribs are taste juicy. However towards the side of the ribs, the meat turns slightly dryer.
The meat is easily separated from the ribs and this made it easy to extract the ribs out from the meat. A big taboo in cooking ribs is to undercook the meat causing it to stick to the bone, or overcook the meat till it becomes like a jerky.
The BBQ sauce is just nice, not too salty nor too sweet. A lot of BBQ sauce will cause the palate to itch or even numb due to the saltiness of the bbq sauce towards the end of the meal, but i am still able to feel my palate being active after the whole meal.
It is a acceptable standard ribs and given the big portion, it would be better that this is s shared dish.

Recommended Dish


Peach Fantasia (S$8.00)
A classic blend of yellow peach fruit and peach liqueur with traditional gelato and Chocolate centre, dipped in natural coloured chocolate and hand painted

Presentation
The dessert is a little over decorated with the strawberry and melted white choc. The whole peach 'fruit' looks likes more like an apple than a peach, even though the outer layer of choc is hand painted to look like one. At certain angle, it does look like a peach especially the transition areas from red to yellow colour. You may have to zoom right into the peach and ignore the other parts and it will look entirely like that part of the peach.
The peach itself consist of 4 parts, the peach choc outer shell, the peach gelato internal, the chocolate stem and the chocolate core.

Taste
The outer shell is a peach flavoured which chocolate. This shell takes some time to crack as it is very hard when it was served, due to the freezing temperature that this dessert was placed in. The 1st moment this outer layer enters the mouth, it gave me a very refreshing, fragrant peach flavour. The peach fragrance fills your mouth and it feels as if you are walking in peach farm with slight cool breeze blowing the fragrant towards you.
The gelato inside is not too sweet and although it is also made with peach liqueur, there are no taste of any alchol but only a slightl taste of peach, so parents can be assured it is children friendly. As with any gelato, it do not freeze and has a smooth texture once it enters the mouth.
As you chip your way down to the center of the peach, you will find that there is a twist to the peach. The core is a chocolate. This core is the spoiler of the whole dessert. It is Ferraro Roche, and Ferraro Roche chocolates are not supposed to be eaten with the chocolate frozen. The 3rd layer of Ferraro Roche has become so hard that it takes some effort to bite thru it.
I love this dessert. It is light and has a very refreshing taste. However, the Chocolate core can be given up as it definitely spoils the dessert. It made the whole ending very unbalanced.

Recommended Dessert(Skip the choc core)


211 Roof Terrace Service Attitude
The staff were quite relaxed when i visited them. This could be because of the off-peak time that i went in. Not much recommendations and interactions were made. The staff were also not available when i needed them, possibily due to the fact that they were decorating the X'mas tree, which was about 4 taboles behind me. These 2 staff could be more alert and attentive.

211 Roof Terrace Cleanliness
Cleanliness is as expected in any restaurant, seats and utensils were clean. Not much comments can be made.

Ratings
Food Presentation: 3/5
Food Taste: 3.5/5
Service Attitude: 3/5
Cleanliness: 3.5/5
Ambience: 4/5
Value for Money: 3.5/5
Roof Terrace is a good place to chill out with some acceptable food. If you want to skip the hustle and bustle of Singapore, while not forgetting that you are still within Singapore, this is a good place to be at. Do note that it is not advisable to go at about 2 to 3pm in a hot and sunny weather, you could be getting a sun tan if the tables under the shade/shelter are not available.

The Queen wants a Mangosteen

Queen and Mangosteen, has a huge impressive board just outside of their restaurant. I was attracted by this board when they were first opened. They do have quite a impressive entrance. In fact i was awed by it.

Queen and Mangosteen offers both indoor and alfresco dining. The ambience was quite cosy. The usage of quite warm lightings let the diners free themselves and can talk more freely.


Food
Roasted Rack of Lamb with Rosemary Potatoes, Grilled Asparagus and Mint Yoghurt (S$35 inclusive of a Straits Beer)

Presentation:
The dish has been arranged very nicely and it definitely looks to be waiting for me to jump in to start eating. It looks so appetising. The lamb that i ordered was to be done medium rare and it retains the pinkish colour of the meat when it was sliced. There were also grounded pepper which i believe was sprinkled on top by the waitress before serving to me.

Taste:
First, the lamb was medium rare and the meat was tender on the outside while juicy on the inside. The meat itself is already full of flavours, even without the mint yoghurt. The medium rare was done just nice. The amount of fats is also just nice in proportion. The gamy taste of the lamb has been successfully removed, and only a little can be tasted at the fats portion.
The asparagus is young and so it has the sweetness, is soft and retains a little of the crunchiness. The asparagus is boiled and so the freshness is maintained. I would say that even for one that do not like asparagus, such as I, has also finished them.
As for the potatoes, there is only a tint of the rosemary taste. However, the potatoes had the taste of burnt spices, which i believe, comes from the rosemary.
It can be said that this dish is a really good dish and i enjoyed it very much. A highly recommended dish, if only they do not let the rosemary get burnt.


Service Attitude
The staff were very friendly and they also gave recommendations. The waitress that took my order even told me that for one of the dish, i will have to do the de-shelling of crayfish, and all thanks to her, that i ordered the rack of lamb. She even took the initiative to put together the beer that i ordered into a set which will save me some money. Kudos to the service.

Cleanliness
There wasnt much that i can complain about the cleanliness as i was seated at the bar counter and was able to see the bartender prepare and serve the drinks. The seat given to me was clean and all was good.

Ratings
Presentation: 4/5
Taste: 4/5 (0.5 deducted for the burnt smell)
Service: 4/5
Cleanliness: 4/5
Value for money: 3/5
This is a good place to chill out, even if not going for the food. There are quite a few strength of beer to choose from, while not discounting the other alcoholic drinks, including wines. The cosy ambience allows patrons to really let down their hair and enjoy the night.

Recommended

Aerins Duck Leg Confit

Aerins, located at the basement of Raffles City next to the fountain, provides quite a good ambience for dinner and talk over some drinks.

Food
Duck Leg Confit:

Presentation:
The duck leg confit comes with mashed potatoes, preserved onions and fig. These are all encircled by thick blasmatic vinegar. The portion is on the small side. It would be more worth the value if the portion of is bigger.

Taste:
Considering that it is a preserved duck leg, the saltish meat is normal. The outer skin of the duck leg is pan fried till crispy while the inner meat still retains the juiciness of the duck meat. The blasmatic vinegar covers the saltish meat, adding a twist of sweet vinegary taste to the meat. The mash potatoes are cooked just right.

Aerins Service Attitude:
Their attitude is typical of those that you will encounter in Singapore restaurants. Once taken your order, and gotten your meal delivered to your table, there will not be anymore interactions between the diners and the staff till you request for something.

Aerins Cleanliness:
Nothing worth to mention about the cleanliness. Locating in one of singapores prime shopping center, their cleanliness is expected to be of a certain standard.

Ratings:
Presentation: 3.5/5
Taste: 3.5/5
Service Attitude: 3/5
Cleanliness: 3/5
Value for Money: 2.5/5
It is a good place to sit down, grab a dinner, have a talk while listening to the splashes of the fountain. The portions are on the whole small for the amount of money that is forked out. Taste of the food is generally acceptable but not fantastic.

Changing Appetites

It was after my national fireworks shooting and people were trying to rush home. I wanted to avoid that so i decided to walk around Marina Square area for food. Everywhere was packed with people.

I saw this restaurant with its huge letters "Changing Appetites" and with words "The All American & Dessert Cafe". I like dessert and so decided to give it a try.

Since i am alone, i managed to get a seat very quickly.

The menu looks good and i took some time before being able to decide what i want. The choices were quite a lot with explaination on each one.
Finally, I ordered a Honey Grilled BBQ steak and a Frankenstein Mudpie, both of which were recommended on the menu.

FOOD:
Honey Grilled BBQ Steak:



Presentation:
Nice and quite appetising, there were nachos crackers, onion carrots and cucumber salad, a piece of pineapple on top of the steak, a small cup of bbq sauce and a scoop of mash potatoes.

Taste:
Lets start off with the salad. I skipped the onions as i dont like them. The carrots were hard and cold, but luckily not old, else it would have tasted even more terrible.

The steak is totally bland in taste, even with the sauce on the outer layer fails to cover the bland taste. The bbq sauce porvided did little to add to the taste.
The whole steak is full of veins and i really had a hard time cutting it even with the steak knife provided. With all these veins, I also had a hard time chewing the pieces that i put in my mouth.
The pineapple is one of the best in the whole dish.

The nanchos were those that can be bought from supermarkets, so there isnt anything special except they gave your the bbq sauce which you can dip in.

The scoop of mash potatoes has got 2 layers, the outer layer are the mashed potatoes, which the texture is neither smooth nor coarse. The inner layer contains slim slices of potatoes that gave a different texture. This is either deliberate or they didnt do a clean job. It is also lacking the faint taste of milk.

Frankenstein Mudpie:



Presentation:
The mudpie has oreo on top of the mudpie together with choc sauce dripping down from the side of the mudpie. The small choc dots on the green layer are choc chips which there are plentiful of them. The colour combination together with the dripping dark choc sauce makes it look like a frankenstein. (You will have to use a bit of imagination here).
However what i cannot tolerate is the use a (mee rebus) plastic plate for the dessert, squishing the bottom of the mudpie. Dessert deserves better presentation which can be achieved by using a simple broadbase square plate.

Taste:
The green layer is essentially full of mint flavour and the choc layer is choc ice cream. The choc chips gave a different texture to the ice cream and it is fun pick each one out to crunch on them. The choc sauce and oreo couldn't give much additional flavours to the mudpie. In the mudpie that were 2 pieces of mashmallows which has been compressed and is quite smooth and melts in the mouth.


CA's Service attitude:
CA's service is quite horrendous.

1. Firstly, I was given a discriminating face by the captain when i told him 1 pax at the entrance. Well even though i am just 1 person, i am still a paying one. That doesn't give him the right to give me that kind of face.
   
   
2. Secondly, their own staff are quite impatient to each other. One staff was passing the dish to another and told her the table number but the receiving staff couldn't hear it and asked it again. The tone and face that came out wasn't friendly and it was almost a scream. This happened right in front of me, and this kind of incident should have been kept hidden from the customer.
   
   
3. Thirdly, the moment i put my fork down after eating my dessert, the captain immediately bring me the bill and stood there waiting for me to pay up. What kind of service is this. I have not even wiped my mouth. I told him to come back later without even looking at him.
   

CA's Cleanliness:
I witness this:
One waiter accidentally dropped some clean plastic spoons on the floor. THe next moment, he picked it up and put it back into the drawer. These plastic spoons are for the jar drinks which are on the menu, so i dont think i will be ordering any of that if i were to go back.

Ratings:
Food Presentation: 2.5/5
Food Taste: 2/5
Service: 1/5
Cleanliness: 1.5/5
I am definitely not going back given the type of discriminating service and poor cleanliness. The food is also not exceptionally good. I think my money is better spend elsewhere.