Modesto's @ Orchard Parade Hotel

We ate once before a few years back at the Modesto's at Vivocity. I'd even forgotten about it until Jian mentioned is whilst we were deciding where to eat, as we actually wanted to eat at Esmirada, but couldn't get a table. I cannot remember what we ate, but he said it was some pizza with scamorza or something or the other.

Anyway, we were seated inside. Now, inside is a far cry from outside. Outside (al fresco) is very casual & a bit haphazard & is really more for people-watching & having a beer or something, but inside is quiet, grand & makes me feel like I'm in a fine dining restaurant. It's great for dates. Hehe. Oh yar, we were on a date mah. Husband & wife dinner date is still a date, you know.


Bread with olive oil. Complimentary, I think? It was plonked on the table soon after we arrived.

Insalata Di Avocado ($16.50). Is yummy.

Penne Alfredo Con Funghi ($21). Don't know why shitake mushrooms & pasta would cost over $16, but oh well. It was nice enough so I guess I shouldn't complain. Well, I'll only complain about the price. I think the portion was quite substantial though. So maybe I won't complain. :9

Verdure Pizza ($19.50). Thin crusted pizza, yummy also. I think I've gone off pepper though, but it's not their fault there are peppers on it. I didn't know I'd gone off peppers yet. I wish there were more mushrooms & eggplant though.

We didn't order any drinks as the drinks didn't seem like such a good deal. Luckily so, as we were STUFFED by the end of the meal. We were actually already full by the time we finished the pasta.

This little stowaway came along to make sure we didn't eat any lamb.

Oh, I must emphasise on their service. All the staff maintain eye contact with you, I noticed. Everytime I said 'Thank you', they would stop, LOOK at you & say 'You're welcome'. At most other places, they just charge off, maybe with a cursory nod of the head or something. It DOES make a difference. Heh.

Picnic by the Poolside @ Dracoholic's

We were in the mood for outdoors, so we prepared food & drinks & toted everything downstairs to the poolside. We even used REAL wine glasses & plates, as opposed to plastic & paper. Well, except for our forks. We used plastic forks.

Satellite prepared a smoked salmon pasta salad with sun dried tomatoes & capers. Served cold.

I prepared the platter using what Dracoholic had in the fridge. Anti-clockwise from left: ham (either breakfast or picnic), cherry tomatoes, cornishorns, smoked duck (yes the same one I used for the Orange & Duck Salad), parmesan cheese, comte cheese, shiraz cheese & goat cheese.

This guacamole is quite good... although we did not make it ourselves...

... This is the packaging it came in & it was not cheap. It's $7+ for this, which includes 2 servings. as you can see, one serving is not a lot.


In future, I really MUST take pictures of our accompanying wine/drinks.

Impromptu Friday Night Dinner at Home for Two!

Jian & I had no plans to go out on Friday night, so I whipped up a meal for two! I wouldn't call it sumptuous; I am just glad that it didn't go awry & send us running to the nearest 24hr McDonald's.

Anyway, I am so proud of this meal because 1) as mentioned, I didn't screw it up horribly & 2) I went to the supermarket at 1830hrs (coming back at around 1945hrs) & we got to eat by around 2200hrs. It's a feat for me, you know.

First up, I prepared the cut vegetable plate. I prepared it first so that it could sit in the fridge. In the meantime, I actually defrosted the frozen smoked duck (good value at Sheng Siong, btw) in the microwave oven & heated it up in between preparing other dishes.

Okay, I didn't do this one. Jian threw it together when he came home, so I guess I can't claim to have done the whole meal ALL BY MYSELF. Olives, sundried tomatoes & Parmigiano Reggiano drizzled with balsamic vinegar.

After the vege plate, I roasted 2 peppers! One would have been sufficient, but I guess I was feeling a bit over-ambitious. The peppers I bought were quite pretty, so I decided to document the process.

Semi-charred already. I forgot to take a picture of the blackened peppers before covering them to let them steam in the own vapours. This loosens the skin & makes it easier to peel off.

Tadah! De-seeded & skinned! Seasoned with olive oil & ...

... Fleur De Sel (salt with a fancy name). Go click on the link to find out about it.

One of the few salads that I do well! Orange & duck salad over butterhead lettuce with an orange, balsamic, olive oil dressing. You can use rocket or spinach leaves as well, if you are entertaining. You can also swap the duck for prawns & avocado. DELICIOUS! A few slices of onions as well, according to taste.

Paprika Lemon Mushrooms. I learnt it from Dracoholic. The recipe in my tapas book actually called for red wine, but I wasn't allowed to open the bottle of red wine as it wasn't ours (another recipe told me to use sherry, but we got no sherry in the house), so I remembered vaguely that she used fresh lemon juice in hers and COPIED.

Fry the garlic for a bit with olive oil first, then throw in the mushrooms & salt.
Stir-fry for a bit & cover.
The mushroom juices will seep out & the mushrooms will cook in the juices.
Add the paprika & lemon juice & stir-fry some more.

I added a tad too much lemon juice, as there was half a lemon in the fridge (it's almost like it was waiting for me), so I WAS squeezing & tasting & it tasted perfectly fine at one point, but since there was a few more squeezes of juice left in my hand, I thought 'Why waste?' & just squeezed the remainder in. It came out a tad too acidic, but was still nice. In future, I will use a bit less lemon juice & trust my instincts a bit more. I added a dash of cayenne pepper too. Just a dash, as even Jian says it's very spicy.

I did not throw the lemon peel out immediately after cooking the mushrooms. I used it to clean up the microwave oven & the stove-top (the acid neutralises the fats). Very green, yes? ;)

So we were bursting by the end of the meal. I figure I could have prepared half the peppers (there was some leftover) & just the duck instead of duck salad. Oops.

Exotic Eats!!

We were invited to be spoilt at my sister's abode again. & SPOILT we were! She came back from Turkey not too long ago & her house-mate came back from France just about a week ago!

Duck pate that took a flight on a non-cargo plane. Delicious, I tell you!

We spread them on Meiji crackers! In our home, Meiji crackers are also THE crackers to be had!

This dish is something my sister proudly discovered but did not do it according to what she had. What she had was melon (or cantaloupe) pureed with youghurt & topped with salmon roe.
So anyway, she cut a slice of cantaloupe & a slice of melon for each person & you eat it together with the salmon roe. We also tried it with sweet yoghurt. I think i prefer it with the fruit, but the rest of them were saying that if the melon was sweeter, it'd be nicer. Sweet & salty.

This here is turkish salad that she learnt from her friend's turkish fiance. They were travelling together, so it DOES count that she learnt it through her travels. Haahaa. It's dressed with pomegranate dressing, so it is special.

The beef she roasted herself with rosemary. NOW, this beef is free-range, grass-fed beef. Supposedly not as tender as grain-fed beef, also stemming from the fact that they are leaner as they get to roam around, but boy oh boy, I don't know if it is that she is a great cook, or something, but TENDER the beef was. I'd have gone for seconds, but my tummy didn't allow me to.

She roasted herbed peppers. Add your own salt. I LOVE ROASTED PEPPERS.

The goat cheese that the house-mate toted back from France & in the background, the BEST TASTING raisins I have ever had!! Had to shave the skin off he cheese as it grew a bit of mold. Don't know why, as these guys are SERIOUS foodies & they know to bung the cheese in the fridge before anything else. Even Jian enjoyed this cheese, as he is normally not a fan of stronger tasting cheeses like goat cheese, blue cheese & the likes, but this was mild enough for him.

The raisins.... I don't know how to describe them. The next time any of my friends go to Turkey, I shall IMPLORE them to get me a big bunch of these, as well as...

... these dried strawberries! Nothing compares to turkish dried fruits!!!

We ended the meal with my home-made french vanilla pod ice cream. Not only did they rave, There were also demands for a bigger tub in future. Haahaaa.

Infuzi

Finally I remembered to take pictures at Infuzi, however, they came out ugly looking.. will try to ask my cousin to pass me the pictures another night.

You can actually ask for a special menu created for you at a higher price if you are particular in what you want to eat ... This picture of the fresh lobster is from another night where I requested to have a boston lobster steamed in a butter sauce ... yum delicious ... perfectly tender and the butter was nicely rich!

For the dinner I had with my cousin, I had a very nice steak ... I didn't order the Pan-Seared AustralianWagyu Rib-eye (Marbling 8+) with Red Wine sauce because when I had it previously, it wasn't what I expected ... when I ate it ... I was thinking ... I can go buy a piece of waygu at mediya and cook it myself ... perhaps the piece of meat was a bit thin for me .. hahahahah

I had the Grilled U.S Angus Rib-eye with Pearl Onion Sauce & Parsley Butter and my cousin had Duo of Kurobuta Pork;Pan-Roasted Rack with Sautéed Cherry Tomatoes with Chorizo, Braised Belly with Mirin & Rice Vinegar Reduction . My cousin greatly enjoyed the dish... I will try to get you a picture of that ... my pictures came out awfully dark and it just looks like a few blocks on a plate.

On a separate occasion, I went and had the set meal ... the newest addition to one of their set meals is a nice prawn pasta in curry sauce; I honestly think that they should include this on their menu as a standard entree.

Carpaccio of Yellow-fin Tunawith Arugula Salad,Anchovy Mayonnaise & Lime
Dressing
Caviar Pan-Fried Duck Liverwith Duck Sausage Confit,Onion Compote & Mesclun Salad
Prawn Pasta tossed inLight Curried Cream & Aged Parmesan
Sorbet
Grilled U.S Angus Tenderloin of Beef with Mushroom & Bacon Sauce
Slow-Baked Chocolate withPeanut Mousse & Berries' Puree
Coffee or Tea

Infuzi has a few good dishes ... the Maine Lobster Pasta with Lobster Oil & Japanese Seaweed, the Seared Hokkaido Scallops, Pan-Roasted Mud Crab Cake, Pan-Fried Duck Liver with Port Reduction

I think Satellite has some photos from Infuzi also ... but I don't think she will ever upload them ...

Hard Rock Cafe - KL

My friend wanted to meet me at Hard Rock Cafe in KL, located at the first floor of the Concorde Hotel, although I don't mind eating western food, I've always been very skeptical about Hard Rock's food because their Quality Control for each branch is horrid! I've been to several and some are good, some are just plain horrible.

Frankly, I went in being skeptical but came out a pretty happy person! However, I did forget that American establishments serve American Sizes.

I should have just ordered the Caesar Salad which impressively I found delicious ... could it have been a lack of veggies in my diet for that trip? But I remember eating malay food and heaping the veggies on in the afternoon ... hmmm



I also had some open faced burger that wasn't impressive, the sauce was way too thick for me... sorry guys my pictures really suck ... was tired and hungry and the place was dark and noisy ... so very bad images!

Da Mario's not so Fantastic

60 Robertson Quay #01-10 The Quayside
Tel: 6235 7623

Recently went down to Da Mario's to see what all the rave is about since so many of my friends asked me to go down ...

My review ... it really is average.

We went there and it was full of people, service was a bit slow and I had to do the help my self stint to get my chilli flakes. I wouldn't say that they are overly attentive ... perhaps it was a busy night ... but when isn't it busy?

Antipasti:

Breaded Mozzarella Sticks - $10 - Deep fried breaded mozzarella sticks with arrabiata sauce. I don't think anyone can go wrong with this ... unless of course the restaurant served it with maybe ketchup or something ... but then of course I think some people who love ketchup would probably love the combination!

We also had the Carpaccio di Manzo - $19 - Thin slices of raw beef tenderloin on a bed of rocket salad seasoned with fresh lemon, extra virgin olive oil and Grana Pando cheese, shaved. I think it would have tasted a bit nicer if they had added some sea salt on it and perhaps some balsamic. Of course that is the way I prefer it!

On we go to our main course - of course I had to have the carbonara - $16 ... I didn't quite like it cause I prefer my cabonara's super rich and tasty, I think it makes a difference if you use cream cheese versus Parmigiano-Reggiano and Pecorino Romano.

We also ordered a Sole Mio Pizza - $22 - Tomato, Cheese, Rocket Salad, Parma Ham and Shaved Parmesan Cheese. We felt that the base of the pizza was way too soft ... The texture kind of tasted like it wasn't fully cooked yet, but when we looked around ... everyone's pizza was just as white! Could be the type of Flour they use or the technique they use to make the dough. But to be fair, they were extremely generous on their toppings! It felt more like a salad with bread, than a pizza.

Dun mind the pictures .. was way too hungry so had to eat first!

The Effort of Three

Sunday night dinner ... we decided to cook up a feast!

Spicy Tomato Soup
Tangy Scallop Salad
Spicy Spaghetti White Wine Clam Sauce
Baked Bread Crumbed Cod with Cheese and Stir fried Zuchinni

Don't remember the recipes ... so please figure it out yourself ... hahahahahah

Spicy Tomato Soup, Tangy Scallop Salad, Spicy Spaghetti White Wine Clam Sauce
Doesn't it look like a set meal from somewhere?

One month ago to date

Late night ah boozing and ah snacking .... heeheehee ... Thanks Satellite for working so hard in the middle of the night to feed us all the time!!!

Tuck Shop - Tanjong Pagar Road

21 Tanjong Pagar Road #01-05
Tel: 6534-9287

A great place for a couple of beers and some bar food ... I must say, it's been awhile since I had a nice steak sandwich in Singapore ... and really if you are craving a nice delicious steak sandwich (only $12.90), Tuck Shop is the place to go!

Actually Lynx was the one who told me about it... she said Draco you gotta go ... you'll like the steak sandwich ... but remember it's not exactly your philly cheese steak ok ... so I went and tried ...

By the way, they have a reasonable happy hour deal, although it ends early!


If you are looking for fine dining ... go some place else cause you are not going to find it here... oh yeah one more thing... the CAESAR SALAD is decent, they don't use that bottled stuff ... I think they actually make it from scratch!!!!!!!!! Lynx also thought so ...


And guess what Lynx had ... she had the fried chicken ... what else ... FRIED FRIED FRIED ... everything FRIED!

The Secret Garden

161 Middle Road next to Waterloo Street
Sun - Thur: 11am - 11pm
Fri and Sat: 11pm - 1am
Public Holiday: 6pm - 11pm
CNY: Closed on 1st and 2nd Day; 3rd Day 6pm - 11pm

Tel: 6337 5338 / 63348334

Yummy and reasonable ... errr wat am I talking about ... I dun remember how much and I didn't pay ... but it is reasonable!!!!

Yes yes, what more can you expect from me, of course I ordered my favorite Caesar Salad! I did enjoy the salad, very rare that I say that these days cause not many people make a decent caesar salad. The price of the Caesar, $12.00.

And yes, as usual I take bad pictures ... I just can't seem to get this camera to work correctly. Probably cause I don't really bother to change the settings and all... anyway it's a camera phone ... what do you expect???

The burger was decent ... I was craving burgers so I had to! Yah I liked it, would I go back again to eat ... definitely! Burger was like $18.00 and it was a decent size.





Again I was too busy gobbling away to take other photos of the other dishes people ordered. Couldn't be bothered! .... That's what happens when you are stuck on hospital food for many days!

Amici Italian Restaurant

275 Holland AvenueHOLLAND VILLAGE Singapore 278993Tel/Hp : 64699989

Went to have dinner there and am not sure whether it was because we were eating on a credit card 1-for-1 promotion, but frankly speaking, we found that Al Dente definitely tasted much better.

I had the spaghetti vongole in white wine sauce, which was unimpressive because the vongole, happened to be too small and missing lots of meat! What a disappointment... I really miss the New York City linguini with white clam sauce ... where they have really nice big Little Neck Clams! Yum delicious!

Of course Reginald, happily ordered the cabonara, which he found unimpressive as it wasn't as rich and thick has he expected ... oh well ... and all he can say is, when will you be making your cabonara Draco!

And last but not least, Vik n Daniel decided to as usual go for the Seafood Marinara, their favorite dish I think! Indeed they were disappointed, they were given 1 prawn, a scallop, a squid ring and a cray fish... the portion was pathetic. Honestly it was good that we had all ordered soups and salads to share before our main course came. Notice the green parsley they have on every dish of pasta?

The only redeeming factor to the meal was the decent smoked salmon caesar salad, yes I am addicted to caesar salad ... just love it when it's done correctly. The mushroom soup and the seafood soup was decent, although the seafood soup again was lacking a bit of seafood.

Basically, we were so unsatisfied that we went over to Tango's to eat their clams in white wine sauce which has never failed our taste bud. Also because they have a pretty good happy hour!