[Tasting] New Items @ Birds of a Feather (and re-introducing some of my favourite classics)

Happy to have the opportunity to try the newly launched menu items at Birds of a Feather recently. Glad to see familiar faces upon arrival and warm greetings exchanged with staff.

menu

Service was prompt and friendly as usual. Was offered a choice of iced or warm water as soon as I sat down. Felt welcomed through these actions. 

But of course, since it is a Friday night, let's get some iced cold beer! And if you're there before 7pm on a weekday, there's Happy Hour pricing. 

Sapporo draft @$12

If you're curious about their cocktails, here's an Oriental Negroni for reference, adorned with Mandarin orange sorbet for bursts of citrussy sweetness.

Oriental Negroni @$28

Beginning

Osmanthus Salmon

Osmanthus Salmon @$16 (2 pieces)

closer view

The very crispy brioche toast was loaded with generous amount of salmon mousse, dotted with smoked bamboo shoots, with bits of osmanthus gel, and beautifully topped with a sleek looking piece of osmanthus cured salmon. First bite and the salmon mousse bursts out onto the palm of my hand. And, I thought I could eat this somewhat elegantly...

The contrast of crispy (toast) and soft (mousse/salmon) was nice, with osmanthus fragrance floated to the fore subtly, and the slightly burnt savoury flavour from bamboo shoots, creamy salmon mousse were enjoyable. A slightly sweet-savoury combo.

Perhaps can consider serving this as 2-halves, so that one could eat it as bite-sized?

Argentina Shrimp Crudo

Argentina Shrimp Crudo @$24

Crudo refers to dish of raw fish/seafood typically dressed with olive oil, salt, citrus juice and vinegar. 

The ginger pineapple syrup, pineapple chili salsa, with coriander puree and red oil dressing, works well for this dish at BOAF. Refreshingly good and whets the appetite for more.

Burnt Chili Baby Squid 

Burnt Chili Baby Squid @$21

closer view

One gets hint of smokey spiciness when you bite into the tender part of the baby squid stuffed with mentai burnt chili. The furikake chips provided some umami savouriness and should be eaten quickly, otherwise it turned into seaweed strips after soaking too long in the sauce. Those small cubes of pickled sichuan vegetable gave it a familiar homely feels. I sincerely thought those were edamame but turns out to be fava beans. Tasted similar.

Find the Chicken in the Chilies

Find the Chicken in the Chilies @$19

It is still a must-order dish for me everytime when I dine at Birds of a Feather. Served hot, spicy and savoury. Loved the right-sized chicken bites, plenty of cashews and garlic. Just yums.

OnGoing

Duo Scallop and Daikon

Duo Scallop and Daikon @$48

Layered dish with the pretty (and tasty) chives tuille, medallions of scallops raw and seared, braised daikon served ontop a bed of cous cous and lentils, and bubu arare (Japanese rice crackers of tiny baked glutinous rice balls). At the center of the dish, there's cauliflower blanc manger and jamon iberico.

Barramundi Chazuke

Barramundi Chazuke @$36

One of the classic dish at BOAF for that warm, comforting feels and a strong touch of tangy and spicy!

Apportion

Whole French Chicken in 2 Seasons

Chicken done two ways, and served with a side of summer salad. Priced at $88 and good for sharing amongst 3-4 pax.

Firstly, a plate of beautifully roasted chicken breast. Chef came over to add the finishing touches to the plate with the 4 peppers dressing.

chicken breast - 4 peppers roasted crown

finishing touch with 4 peppers dressing

Subtle flavours from the firm tender meat, and recommended to have it with skin on. The dressing was rather light and allowed the natural flavours of the chicken to shine.

summer salad with 4 peppers dressing

The summer salad came in the form of watermelon cubes, cherry tomatoes, crushed olive emulsion, and some greens. More please!

Lastly, the second serving of the chicken. Whole leg deboned and done up in roulade style and braised in albufera sauce. Served with ratte potatoes, sweet baby carrots, trumpet mushrooms and renkon chips.

spiced braised whole legs

The braised chicken meat had a creamy, rounded refined flavour and some gentle overall sweetness. Loved the salted chips for contrast. 

Finale

If you asked me, which dessert fits the summer vibe. I'd say "Citrus Block". If you asked me which dessert is my favourite, I'd say "Glutinous Rice Cake Rock"

We asked Elle and Tiara to decide and these were their choice. 

Jujube & Strawberry

From the top, there's strawberry leather with strawberry compote, fresh strawberry slices sitting prettily ontop of mascarpone cremeux. Jujube cake at the bottom and sprinkling of almond sable/flakes all round.

Jujube & Strawberry @$18

Glutinous Rice Cake Rock

The table might have been influenced to get this but hey, I think it was a good time to taste it again. Eat it while it is still warm.

Loved the pomegranate bits together with the warm glutinous rice, dabbed with soy bean powder and eaten with the ice-cream. 

Glutinous Rice Cake Rock @$18

Thank you Chef Eugene See for your kind hospitality and team Birds of a Feather for taking care of our table that evening. Special thanks for Ivan and Kris to gather up our smallish group of 5 for a short catch-up. Great meeting everyone again!

Birds of a Feather

Address: 115 Amoy St, #01-01, Singapore 069935

Website: https://www.birdsofafeather.com.sg/

Contact: +65 9755 7115

Business Hours:

Mon-Sat: 12–3 PM, 6 PM–12 AM

Sun: 12–3 PM, 6–10 PM

[Staycation] One Night @ Pan Pacific Singapore

The last stay was at in 2024 and it was time for a revisit. The staff looked super busy and all three check-in counters at the lobby seemed to be engaged. I had forgotten that they have a separate one for GHA Discovery members. Haha. Took about 10 minutes before the staff was available to process for the next guest. Got upgraded to the Executive Marina Bay room at level 20.

Executive Marina Bay Room

Guests staying at the Executive Marina Bay room have access to Studio26, a self-serve place for non-alcoholic refreshments. But since it was located at Level 26, I didn't use this. Was happy with the mini-bar in the room.

Executive Marina Bay room (46sqm)

view from small balcony

coffee, tea

Intenso was my fav

drop it in

cups, glasses

mini bar

Mini bar was well stocked with drinks. Had accidentally kept the 'Do not disturb' sign on and that prevented housekeeping from coming into the room to restock the mini bar at about 340pm. Didn't see the note that they slipped in either till the next morning. Oops!

bath things

rainshower, handheld and fixed

bathroom

This room doesn't have a bathtub and the bathroom was rather smallish in comparison with the rest of the space.

narrow compartment for bathrobes

open space for hanging clothes

lovely SG60 box

macarons~

I enjoyed that box of macarons, thanks to Pan Pacific and GHA Discovery. But I think there was supposed to be a note from Discovery. Hmm.

day time, cloudy view

night view

day time, good weather view

Breakfast at The Edge

Breakfast on a weekend was a hectic affair. Went down for breakfast at about 830am and noticed that the place gets super busy at about 9 to 930am. 

I loved to have eggs in the morning, so made my way to the scrambled/omelette station. 

cooking up the omelette

The omelette was ready in less than 5 minutes. Went on to add some sausages, baked baby potato, blanched spinach and even a kaya toast, to complete the meal. This plate has everything from proteins, carbs, and vegetables.

balanced breakfast plate

 

Coffee machine was just right in-front of my table, so it was convenient to get one on my own. 

Since there wasn't any signage on the table that one could indicate if the guest was still occupying the table or had just roamed off to the buffet counters to get more food, I was curious. Like how would the staff know and don't accidentally reassign the table out to someone else while the guest was away at the food counters... Hmm...

The experience at the noodles station was... interesting. Chef was making my bowl when another guest came by and asked for two bowls of fishballs, without noodles. She gave him 4 fishballs while mine had only one... hmmm, was it because I had noodles and hence, only gets 1 fishball? No idea... didn't ask.

But this kway teow soup was good! Fishball or no fishball, the entire bowl was yummy. I added condiments like the spring onions, shallots, garlic oil and some chili padi. Best pairing of flavours.

fishball kway teow soup

And then, it was time for desserts.

waffles, pancake, bread butter pudding with vanilla sauce

The bread and butter pudding was good! Normally I wouldn't take it as it would be too filling, but decided to try some and it was good! Fluffier than I thought and all round, good flavours with the vanilla sauce. Not too sweet.

The waffles was well cooked with crisp outer. Had mine with salted butter and jams. Loved the  blueberry and strawberry jams!

Was intrigued by the masala teapot at the Indian food counter, and stood there for like 30 seconds. Chef saw me and asked if I would like a masala thosai that she just took off from the grill. Ok, how can I reject the offer...

masala thosai with chutney, and masala tea

The masala tea was unsweetened, and I only took abit out of curiosity. Never tried before and I think I had reconfirmed that spices in tea is well, not my cup of tea...

closer view

The thosai was good. Cute even. But I was so full after that. 

Went off to get my last cup of fruit juice and came back to my table already being 'reset' for the next guest. Hahaa, well, that was kind of expected, I guess? Hmm...

Pan Pacific Singapore 

Address: 7 Raffles Blvd, Singapore 039595

Website: https://www.panpacific.com/en/

[Travel] In the Heart of Bangkok - UNOMAS - Spanish Restaurant & Bar @ Centara Grand Central World

Had the opportunity to dine at UNOMAS, located at the 54th floor of Centara Grand Central World. Thank you Hence for the invitation.

As we were led to our table, I noticed how spacious the interior is. Plus, the restaurant has a good view of the city and boasts plenty of tables for that romantic sunset view. 

sunset view

We went up to explore Red Sky Bar and Restaurant on the 56th floor, and yes, great panoramic views! 

tables at Red Sky Bar

let's scale to greater heights~

on top of the world~

Alright, we enjoyed the skyline view so let's go back to our table at UNOMAS. "Uno Mas" in Spanish means "one more". Play us one more song DJ! Yes, they do have a resident DJ spinning lively music with a playful vibe.

Thirsty? Let's order a drink!

Amber Roof Top @฿290++

Green Punch @฿290++

White Sangria @฿490++

Plenty of options for beverages and my table selected mocktails and cocktails as our preferred drink for the night. With a drink in hand, we are now ready for food.

The bread basket, oh wait... that's a wooden block carved out. Pretty cool, I must say. The breads at UNOMAS is a pretty little selection of assorted bakes. 

bread basket for a table of 4

Salads

Spinach Salad @฿410++

Never thought I'd say this but the salad tasted delicious. Healthy greens quotient for the day, checked!

Tapas

Gambas "Pil Pil" @฿720++

I have no idea what "Pil Pil" means but those prawns were of a good size. Firm and succulent. 

closer view of the gambas

Iberico Presa Pork @฿840++

The black ink crust on the pork was visually interesting. Crust was crisp and pork was incredibly tender. Tasted premium. The Presa cut comes from the area where the shoulder and loin meet, near the head of the loin. A prized cut, if you like.

closer view of the pork

Next, we had a plate of baked octopus as well. 

Baked Octopus @฿890++

The bottom were lined up with sliced potato and these were yummy too! The octopus, didn't disappoint. Superbly tender. 

Paella

Arroz Negro @฿1690++

It has been so long since I've last tasted a paella. The Arroz Negro at UNO MAS with the addition of snow fish and those little dots of aioli, were a nice contrast in terms of visuals. Buttery snow fish, with strong umami flavours in the black ink rice, deliciosa! 

Mains

Suckling Pig "Chochinillo" @฿1990++

We can't resist the half-roasted Segovian style suckling pig. Staff asked if anyone of us would like to 'cut' the pig with the plate, and all of us politely declined. He smiled and proceeded with the task.

easy does it

One could see how tender the suckling pig was, as it took probably about 5 minutes, for the staff to complete the task.

Then the plate would be handed back to the guest to smash it, of course into a prepared container. 

perfectly roasted, perfectly tender

sauces (top to bottom); gravy, green mojo, nam jim jaew

The suckling pig was good on its own. It was fun to dab a bit of the sauces just to see how each would taste like with the meat.

Desserts

UNOMAS Cheesecake "Tarta de Queso" @฿350++

For desserts, my wish came true as we ordered the Basque Cheesecake. Can't say no to cheesecake!

savoring each bite

Keke, the churros were presented cutely. Almost wanted to play 'tic-tac-toe' with it. Classic fried dough with sweet sugar sprinkles to be dipped into the thick Valhorna chocolate sauce. 

Churros @฿350++

The next dessert was unusual, the Brazo Gitano. It's sponge cake and ice-cream. But, I must say that I was impressed with its presentation.

Brazo Gitano @฿350

The most unexpected, was the Spanish Style French Toast. It came with gold foil! Other than that, it looked ordinary but tasted so good. The combination of warm and cold (bread and ice-cream), and the sauce was just right. A comforting dessert.

Torrijas Spanish Style French Toast @฿350++

Overall, we enjoyed the bold strong flavours of the dishes, the nice ambiance and fun vibes at UNOMAS. Kudos to Chef Borja Terry and UNOMAS team. 

ps: I think Chef was quite impressed we managed to finish 4 desserts after all the food.

UNOMAS - Spanish Restaurant & Bar อูโนมาส เซ็นทาราแกรนด์ฯ เซ็นทรัลเวิลด์

Address: 999, โรงแรมเซ็นทาราแกรนด์ฯ เซ็นทรัลเวิลด์ 99 Rama I Rd, Pathum Wan, Bangkok 10330, Thailand

Website: https://unomasbangkok.com

Business Hours:

Daily: 12–11 PM