Founder Bak Kut Teh @ Rangoon Road

Located at 154 Rangoon Road, this shop was easily recognisable with its big signboard as well as the many pictures plastered on its wall.

menu

Found ourselves a seat pretty fast, and service was quite efficient. We ordered their signature bak kut teh, pig's kidney, choy sim with oyster sauce, rice and two drinks.

lime juice (@$1.80+)

from top, clockwise: Founder Bak Kut Teh, choy sim and pig kidney soup

The Found Bak Kut Teh (@$7+) comprises of one prime rib and two meat bones. The pepper soup was pretty mild. The meat wasn't fall-off the bone kind, but not too chewy as well. The kidney soup arrived with blood still oozing out of the kidney. Kind of scary, come to think of it! The choy sim (chye sim) was quite a big plate (@$4+). However, it was too bad that the deep fried lard wasn't crispy. The vege themselves were ok. Nicely blanched and retained a little crunch.

dark sauce with chilies, a must have dip for the meats

cute logo of founder holding onto, prime ribs?

Our meal costs $24 for two pax.

Omakase Burger @ The Grandstand (Turf City), Bukit Timah

Located at 200 Turf Club Road. Ample parking spaces. This burger joint can't be seen from the carpark, so go on inside and look for Giant Supermarket and you'll find the shop.

'outdoor' seats

omakase ~ let the chef decide

order from the counter

The burgers here are kind of pricey. Single patty burgers starts from $13.90. Just for the burger. To make it a meal (with fries and soft drink), that'll cost another $5.90. Nevertheless, we came to try the newest patty on the burger block, and so we did.

Between three people with normal appetite and one who just wanted to snack, we ordered a deluxe cheeseburger, two omakase cheese burgers and made one a meal plus changed the soft drink to root beer float, and the normal fries to cheese fries. Total damage for this combo? About $53+.

To order, simply saunter up to the bright and cheery looking cashier counter where it is currently helmed by Mr Cheng (senior). After making the payment and collecting the receipts, you'll get a buzzer that'll vibrate when either drinks/food are ready for collection.

buzzer

saw quite a lot of root beer floats getting ordered

Our burgers were ready in about ten minutes or less. First impression? Whoa, these are baby burgers! Hahaa, cute.

Omakase Cheeseburgers

Don't mind the look of the cheeseburger. I had them cut into half for easier sharing, although Mr Cheng Senior had warned that it wouldn't look as nice.

juicy beef patty of a special blend

artisanal bun, cheese and special sauce, beef patty, tomatoes and lettuce

special blend smashed beef patty, yums!

The star of the burger, was no doubt, its proprietry blended USDA Choice-grade beef patty. Its texture was akin to wagyu-like burger patties. Soft, juicy and with that last bit of bite of not too finely ground beef. The special sauce was supposed to be tangy and spicy but maybe because it had mixed in with the melted cheese, it tasted more salty and slight tangy than spicy. Would've preferred if the bun had its underside charred, but then again, that wouldn't be 'omakase' style already, right?

Feel free to take the sauces (chili, tomato, and mustard) from its dispenser. There's also pickles, if you'd like some.

young pickles

Here's a picture of the cheese fries (as part of a set meal), so probably the smaller sized version.

cheese fries

closer view

Not quite the taste that I had conjured up for cheese fries. Maybe I had it when its a tad too cold. But was pleasantly surprised to find one fries that tasted of truffle. That was nice (truffle + cheese + fries = yums!).

Also tried the AdstraGold (Golden Ale) draft beer (@$8.90). This has a slight metallic aftertaste to it, and the beer doesn't seem to be cold enough. Not sure.

AdstraGold beer

golden coloured

RedDot BrewHouse @ Dempsey

Located at Block 25A Dempsey Road, one can easily find this place. Within walking distance from the bus stop too.

menu

outdoor seats

What to order at a brewhouse? Beer, of course. Had a jug of lime wheat (@$26++) and some finger food.

nice coaster

frosted glass

cold beer, cheers!

Lime wheat beer, has a distinctive lime taste. Not too strong of a wheat-y aftertaste.

where's our food? Hungry...

bruschetta (@$12++)

tasty bread

The bruschetta came plated with greens that has been drizzled with balsamic vinegar. The leaves were somewhat dry, but otherwise tasty with the vinegar. First bite of the baguette, you'll get the crunch. Then, the jaw gets a workout chewing through the rest of the bread.

deep fried baby squid coated in salted egg yolk (@$11++)

closer view of baby squid

Kind of regretted the baby squid order. If you're thinking of nice salted egg yolk kind of taste, it was none of that. It tasted just like normal deep fried baby squids. The salted egg yolk coating was so thin and mild that it's quite unnoticeable.

When the night draws on, it gets pretty dark...

follow the balloon to RedDot

Skyve Elementary Bistro & Bar @ 10 Windstedt Road (Part III)

Had a bottle of Riesling from Misha's Vineyard called "Limelight" (Central Otago, New Zealand). Vintage, should be 2010.

Misha's Vineyard "Limelight" Riesling (NZ)

nice colour

The wine has an attractive light yellow colour, and is categorized as medium-dry. Fruity, refreshing and mildly sweet. Easy on the palate.

yummy

Ordered truffle fries to snack along with the wine. The fries were better this time round, and not as oily as first visit.

truffle fries (aka "Busy Rooting")

salted, crispy and hot

Bronte @ Greenwood Avenue

Located at 8 Greenwood Avenue, along the stretch of many other restaurants. Walked in on a Friday evening sans reservation at about 8+pm, and it had looked as though we couldn't get a table but alas, the friendly staff managed to find us one. Kudos to them.

we were here

My friend had a desire for risotto and Bronte has it. In fact, its menu has only one risotto dish, which is the risotto of the day. Ahhh.. a surprise risotto? And, the risotto for that night was "Mushroom Risotto with Truffle". Did our server mentioned truffle or truffle oil? Either way, we're having it.

While waiting for our mains to arrive, complimentary bread was served.

warm bread

for our dipping pleasure

Warm soft bread, with a nice crust. Good to line the hungry tum tums.

soft

The risotto's arrival was preceeded by the nice truffle accented smell.

mushroom risotto with truffle (oil)

closer view of risotto

The texture of the rice was quite likeable. Not undercooked and not too soft. Also liked that it was served piping hot. Was happy with the chopped greens (was it asparagus?) that provided a nice crunch and sweetness to the rice. Nicely fragrant and just about the right amount of starchiness.

yummy

Feeling carnivorous (as always), we also opted for a meat dish. The braised beef cheeks. Served with mash, spinach, mushrooms and red wine jus.

braised beef cheeks

can't wait to sink our teeth into this one

The braised beef cheeks was a good sized meat, served ontop a bed of spinach and mash, with mushrooms. Mash was nicely creamy, and the spinach was soft and tasty but albeit a little bitter sometimes. But the star, undeniably, was the fork tender beef. My friend commented that the sauce for the beef cheeks was a tad too salty though.
 

gorgeous meat

The prices for mains are between twenty-ish towards the higher range of thirty-ish to forty-ish (especially for meats like beef).

Enjoyable food with good portions.

Joli Creer (Autumn Hokkaido Fair) @ Takashimaya

Puddings. Had wanted to get the one that was advertised in the Takashimaya flyer, but it was very small and pricey. So got these from Joli Creer instead. Each bottle was about 70gms in weight and costs $6 each.

puddings from Joli Creer

green tea flavour

looks abit like tofu

soft and nice

The green tea flavour was rather intense. The deeper the spoon goes, the dryer and more intense the green tea flavour was.

drying up

The tiramisu one was interesting.

tiramisu, with plastic spoon

coffee jelly

wobbly soft, almost mousse-like

The tiramisu pudding basically has a coffee jelly ontop and the usual soft pudding for its body. All the way down of the bottle towards the bottom, there's a thin layer of cake.

cake in the pudding

My bro had the rea-chizu (real cheese?) bottle, so didn't have any pictures of that one.