Salt Grill by Luke Mangan

Its the kid's birthday and since he is very big into steak, we decided to go upmarket. After checking out all the reviews, we decided that Salt at Ion was interesting enough. Got quality food, good view and great service. So we went there. Getting to the restaurant itself was already an eye opener. First we had to find our way to an obscure corner of the mall and there was a counter there where we were greeted by a staff and then shown our way to the lift that will take us to the 55 floor where the restaurant is located. And so after a 'long' ride, we reached the place.

We were served throughout by a very attentive Caucasian staff. I not too sure what they call these people in the restaurant (restaurant manager?} but it is rare to see someone take so much pride in his work here in Singapore. He was able to rattle off everything in the menu, told us what each item were and recommend them to us.

Beside the usual bread, we were served a complimentary soup which tasted like tomato soup and which came in a teeny weeny bowl. 

We ordered two starters to share. This weird looking dish is "sashimi of kingfish". Of course it comes with some other stuff. The taste was very unique. Being a country uncle, I especially like the yellowish sauce that they pour over it.

This is the crab omelette. Some egg and crab and enoki mushroom. It was real good. Too bad that like all atas restaurant, all the food comes in small portion not enough for the 3 of us to slurp it down.

The kid and I had our usual steak. This a an Australian restaurant so the steak are Australian steak. Not that I can tell the difference where they come from. A cow is a cow to me. But then again, I quite like my piece of steak. It has some toppings that is not usually found in other restaurant. And the size was big enough for me. Not a tiny little piece. Of course, it didn't exactly come cheap though.

The kid had this "miserable" looking piece that comes with chips. He assured me it wasn't miserable at all even though there was no other sides that comes with it.

M had the barramundi with prawn. She didn't complain either and wolfed down everything. I don't recall her passing me some of the stuff so either she was very hungry or it was real good. 

What is a birthday celebration without a birthday cake? Well since we didn't buy any cake, we decided to make do and ordered something from the dessert menu. We let on that it was the kid's birthday and the ice cream dessert came like this. No cheesy birthday song over the PA system or a group of waiters standing there singing to embarrass the crap out of him. Thank goodness.

We also ordered this Mango and coconut bomb. Why did we ordered this? Because we like that it was called a "bomb".

Overall, it was an expensive, probably the most expensive meal I ever had in one sitting for just 3 person. The staff were so friendly and so helpful. I mean they looked at our appearance but could probably tell we are country bumpkin and gave us the cold shoulder but no, everybody was so nice. When we walked out to the lift, the lady there asked whether we had took in the view and when we said no cos we were too shy to walk, she led us right back in to take in the sights. 

The view was great. The cameraman not so. Unsteady hand, poor lighting and a phone camera make for lousy photo. 

Overall, it was a great experience. Did I said that already? We enjoyed the food. Great service. Great view. But it not a place that we can afford to eat at regularly so I don't think we be back any time soon though. But for those who have some money to splurge and want to impress a date, this got to be The Place. 

The Market Grill

A brand new food outlet opened recently at Amoy Street/Telok Ayer area. Actually, quite a lot of new food outlets but this place caught my attention because of its decor. But since we were there for the food and not for the decor, the photos are of the food we ordered and not the place.

My colleague ordered the Portebello hamburger.

I had some beef thingy. I can't remember what exactly what I ordered and the blurry photos certainly didn't help. This was in early February!

But I did enjoyed the food and the ambience. Price wise it wasn't really that expensive unless we order the Wagyu beef. Nice place to bring a office colleague for a quickie lunch or a office romance sneakaway!

PS: I must really learn to take better pictures with my handphone

New Ubin Seafood

The name Ubin naturally brings to mind Pulau Ubin, the island but this little place called New Ubin Seafood is nowhere near Pulau Ubin. It is not even remotely near any sea or island. It fact it is tucked away in the heart of an industrial park in Sin Ming somewhere in the north. And its most famous dish is not seafood but beef!

But to us that was not a problem. Seafood and beef - 2 of our favourite food! So off we went. Luckily we had the foresight to make a reservation cause it was so packed that those without reservation had to be turned away. Absolutely no waiting.

There was a crab promotion  going on - order 2 crabs and get 1 free so naturally we went with that.

We had the salted egg crab (pardon the blur picture). I still haven't master the art of taking photos with the phone.

Pepper salt crab

 Bee hoon crab

Verdict on the crabs? The typical coffee shop zhi zhar standard. Nothing specially to shout about but really value for money.

Then we had the beef. The serving comes with fried rice and potato wedges and was supposed to be enough for 4.

How to describe the beef? Certainly it wasn't restaurant standard. Neither was it those kopi tiam western food standard. It was a little bit overdone or maybe we left it on the table for too long while we tackle the crabs and it got over cooked.

I liked the fried rice though. Traditional dark soya sauce type of fried rice that nowadays we cannot find outside. Apparently, it is fried with the fats from the above mentioned steak.

Would I go back there again. Probably so since it is not really that expensive but then again the hassle of going all the way there and having to make reservation.........

Bedrock Bar & Grill

The third of the steakhouse (read expensive) adventure following Wooloomooloo, Orche and Salta.

This one only the kid and me went. And we ate up a feast costing $200.00 for the 2 of us.

The open counter

 We walked in and was given the drink menu. Which left us wondering? Was it one of those place without menu and we just order the drinks and we will be served with whatever the Chef dream up? Fortunately no. After we ordered our drinks, the very friendly staff came up with menu proper and we proceeded to place our order.

Then another surprise came. The waiter placed this in front of us,

 

We went like.. err we didn't order this. The waiter laughed and politely told us it was complimentary much like the soft bread that most other establishment served. This was flat bread and it was good so good that we went for second and it was all free. It comes with a butter spread and a garlic spread (top of picture) but tasted just great by itself.

For our side, we ordered a macaroni and cheese recommended by the waiter and it was another great dish. I think the Princess will love this. For a side, the portion was rather big and I think it can serve as the main course itself.

 The kid ordered the Ribeye, 400 gm.  Can't remember whether it was US or Australian. A tad too big for me. Lucky I didn't order that.

For a change, I had the ribs. Portion wasn't big big like those at those ribs specialities so it was just nice.

Overall, I love the service there. But it isn't cheap and unless there is very special ocasion, I doubt I will return any time soon but for those who want to try nice steak and without bursting the budget like at Wooloomooloo or Morton, this place will be great.

Ochre Italian Restaurant

On my third forage in as many month, we went to Ochre Italian Restaurant at the Orchard Central. It was the occasion of the Princess' birthday.

Initially, I was a bit apprehensive about going there. The review on the web all pointed to poor service. There was also some sort of dress code for dining indoor and I wasn't sure the Princess will want to deviate from her usual wardrobe of shorts and sandals. But in the end, encouraged by the thought of a 50% discount on the meal thanks to some UOB vouchers, we decided to go anyway.

Now my dining at Italian restaurant has mainly been confined to pasta and pizza since I don't know nuts about the Italian language and don't understand half of what are written in the menu. I am always reminded of a scene in the Mr Bean's movie when he pointed at the menu and ended up with some weird food. That was a French restaurant but its all the same to me anyway.

Anyway, our fears were unfounded. The service was excellent and the waitress even helped us to take a group photo. The waiter was kind enough to help us to order, food were served promptly in the correct order and the water was replenished regularly.

For the record, we had the Burrata which was highly recommended by everybody on the web. This is some sort of cheese coated salad with tomato over the Parma ham. I must admit this is really shiok especially the ham.

Then we had another appetizer (they called it antipasti) which was recommended by the waiter, a plate of all sort of mixed items comprising of parma ham, caviar on the octopus, mushroom, smoked salmon, honey melon and some "grass". I must said the smoked salmon and the ham were excellent.

For the main, we played safe hoping not to over order and had a pizza to share while the Kid had the Hereford Beef and the Princess had the set meal.

The set meal came with a soup and a desert and cost $55.00, Can't remember what exactly it is but it wasn't too bad. Veal, mushroom and some cheese base.

M had a pasta called the Cappelini Scallop which was pasta cooked aglio style topped with scallop. I loves pasta and this was good. Just the right amount of spiciness and generous serving of scallops.

To round off the meal, I ordered another desert of Hot Chocolate cake which was just heavenly.

The Princess' dessert looks prettier though. Some fruit thingy.

Overall, I enjoyed the meal. We didn't over-order this time round, there was a well balanced selection of food unlike our experience at Salta where it was all meat. Will I go again? Unfortunately, stingy me won't pay too much for a meal and unless there is really some great promotion or another round of voucher from UOB or another credit card company, I don't think I will go again.

Salta Argentine Parrilla

The year end is a time for feasting, not only because of the festive season but because there is a birthday every month at home from December till March. The feasting started at Wooloomooloo last month for the kid 21st birthday.

Then in January we went to another new place, Salta, a Argentine restaurant. The place claim to fame is that they serve beef from cattle reared in open pastures in Argentina. And of course the giantgantic charcoal fired grill called a Parrilla. Thus the second name of the place. 

I not an linguist and I don't speak the language of Argentinians (what exactly do they speak anyway? Spanish?) so we couldn't read the menu and relied on the waiter to recommend what was good.

The meal started off with free bread, probably one of the best free bread I ever tasted

According to what I read on the web, one of the must have is this curry puff like thingy which is called  Empanadas, a pastry filled with vegetables and meat. We had the beef and capsicum and those people on the web were right. It was simply delicious with the pastry being baked to just the right flakiness.

Then we came to the main course. The tv monitor kept running the beautiful scenery of the Argentina country and the cows and they were so beautiful and calm and I almost felt so guilty about eating them. It was almost enough to make me swear off beef!

Anyway, we ordered the following:

I can't remember which is which for the first 2 meat but the last one was the Parrilla or the mixed grill. It was for sharing for 2 but I think it could easily filled 3 persons. There was sausage, chicken, pork, beef and lamb. I shared this with M but we couldn't finish it. Luckily the Kid is still a big eater and finished everything else. Me think the meat is grilled a little bit too long and was rather chewy or is that how it was supposed to be?

Overall, the food here wasn't as expensive as Wooloomooloo but the service was equally good. The place filled up fast and quite a few groups without reservation were turned away while we were there. Still the entire meal cost slightly over $200.00 but thanks to a UOB discount voucher, we paid only 50% of the total bill!

Wooloomooloo Steakhouse

We generally do not go to high class restaurant as I believe there are better ways to spend money than to eat it up and then discharge it the next day but this being the Kid's 21st, it called for a big celebration. While most people will throw a party at home, at chalet or the rich holds a coming of age party at posh hotels, we decided to keep it simple by having a family dinner.

To make up for it, we decided to break the piggy bank and splurge on an atas dinner. Our choice of venue after doing some research was Wooloomooloo Steakhouse at The Swissotel.

Since we do not have much experience in dining at this type of place, we decided to play safe and ordered the food based on what was recommended by bloggers and the staff at the restaurant.

So for starter, having read that this was a must have, we ordered the crab cake. It can the size of a moon cake which we promptly cut into 4 to share. 

The uber friendly waiter recommended the tuna crab cake

The kid asked us to try the ham which he claimed was very different from what we always get from the supermarket.

We were going to order the mushroom but the waiter very politely warned us that we were ordering too much for the 4 of us. That was a pleasant surprise to us. Rare for places like that not to try to earn more.  

And then of course we had the steak which was what we came for. I ordered the ribeye. It was a 80 ounces piece and quite probably the biggest piece of steak I have ever had in my life.

 

Having read that the portion here can be quite big, M and the Princess decided to share the 200 ounces t-bone steak. It certainly was huge

 

And the kid had the Wooloomooloo steak.

 

Having never been to any other similar class joint, I can't really compare the standard of the food, like said to Morton or Ruth Chris. The closest I can compare it to was Angus Steak House and Black Angus Steakhouse but the steak there were cooked slightly differently and it would not be fair to compare them here.

At over $500.00 including a bottle of wine, it was certainly the biggest most expensive meal we ever spent on for only 4 persons but I think we do enjoy the food and the big slab of meat. The staff were so friendly and attentive. We even got a complimentary corn soup or something that looks like baby food to me. I would certainly recommend this place for those who have an occasion to celebrate and want to make a good impression.

Meat & Greed 1 & 2

Ever since I managed to catch the Meat & Greed program on Channel 5, I was captivated by the mouth watering pictures of the food - mainly food and I have been looking for opportunities to visit the outlets featured.

Rabiah Muslim Food at the Whampoa Food Centre is one of the stall features for its many variety of meat dishes. After the show was telecast, I went there four times and all four times I was unable to savor the food as it was either not open or not yet ready. Finally I managed to eat on the fifth attempt!

There was a short queue when I reached there around 12 noon and ordered the fried chicken, assam fish and mixed vegetables. The whole lot with rice and a mean sambal chilli on the side cost $7.20 not exactly cheap but the fish was a pretty big piece. 

From what I could see, the food were more Chinese style cooking than Muslim food which probably explained why there were more Chinese queuing up for the food than Malays. But it was a very satisfying meal worth the $7.20 and the extra calories.

Another place featured was this stall in a coffee shop at Crawford Lane with a very unimaginative name "Happy Chef". I don't know whether the Chef is happy but I certainly was when I located the place one evening and found it opened. 

This is a traditional Hainese western food setup which seems to be going the way of the dodo bird. A lot of people were having the fish and chips. The fish looks fried to a golden perfection but we decided to have the steak instead. 

Was it good? Well, the price certainly was with most item costing an average of $8. The portion were pretty decent with a sizeable piece of meat, a small slice of garlic bread and some coleslaw and fries. Judging from the number of people who turned up at this time forgotten place just to eat this, I think they all agree that this is certainly a value for money and worth the trip there.