[Tasting] Mischief @ Esplanade Theatres on the Bay

Mischief is about 10 to 15 minutes from its nearest MRT, and that would be either City Hall MRT or Esplanade MRT. Expect American flavours and lots of alcoholic beverages. Lots.

Great place to chill, watch soccer with a beer tower (or two) and your best buddies.

it's a sign

It was a clear Sunday evening, and we opted for the great outdoors. To cool down from the heat, they brought us a beer tower. Yay!

Housepour Tower @$59.90 per tower (Promo: 2 Towers @$99)

here is where the action is

let's clink our glasses and cheers~

Nearby, we could hear musicians rocking it out at the Esplanade outdoor stage. Though we couldn't see the sunset, the air cooled down a bit and it was time to heal our famished tummies.

let's grab some food!

Can you guess what we had? Fried food and burgers? Absolutely, right!

Started with two fries; the Atomic and Truffle Maximus and then realised that, hey....the burgers also came with a side of fries. Thus, we ended up with fries party that night!

Atomic Fries @$14

Truffle Fries Maximus @$18

The Atomic Fries had sriracha sauce but it was really really mild. Its taste was somewhat cheesy rather than spicy. The Truffle Maximus had sauteed mushrooms, shaved parmesan and a large dose of truffle oil. Because of the mushrooms and shaved parmesan, I enjoyed the truffle fries more.

There's sio bak on the menu, and known as Crackling Pork Belly. Served with a side of pickled gherkins and a sauce made of garlic, onion and oregano that's reminiscent of Thai namjin sauce.

Crackling Pork Belly @$12 

Buttered Clams @$18

Enjoy 500g of Korean flower clams, cooked in sauteed garlic, lightly browned in butter with a splash of white wine. Beware of the cracked shells in the buttered clams though.

Delighted to know that Mischief burgers are made using 150g wagyu patties, and served with onion rings (only two rings!) and a side of fries. All burgers are lovingly sandwiched between toasted brioche buns.

Mamacita @$20

The Mamacita has pepper jack cheese, custom roasted chili blend (what was this? Sambal ah?), sriracha mayo sauce, crispy shallots and spring onions. Said to be for serious spice freaks but I thought it was rather mild. More spicy than the Atomic fries but nothing that we can't handle.

look at this beauty

Loved the colours of the Mamacita. So vibrant! The beef patty itself was all of natural flavours and moist. The onion rings was sweet and nicely fried. A tad greasy but so good.

Stomers @$24

Stoners has slow cooked mushrooms with herbs and melted cheese, arugula, extra virgin olive oil and a touch of ketchup. Okay, it's a mushroom cheeseburger! Classic taste and pretty good. But am favouring Mamacita more.

Stoners - an insider view

And then, there were crispy nachos, courtesy of Chicken Farm, a sharing platter comprising of nachos with cheese, guacamole and salsa, popcorn chicken, and chicken wings done two ways; Prawn Paste and Buffalo Wings.

nachos

nachos, guacamole, pickled chilies, sour cream, salsa

The Chicken Farm has enough food on it to feed six full grown adults. Chicken wings, nachos and beer. What more could we ask for?

The Chicken Farm @$48

Still feeling thirsty? Let's try some cocktails. There was Mochatini which tasted of Bailey's, Kahlua and espresso with some cocoa crisps for decoration, the Soju Slushie which tasted of yuzu and soju and my favourite, Coronarita of sweet blended strawberry slushie and Corona beer.

from far left to right to front: Mochatini @$22, Upside Down Soju Slushie @$26, Coronarita @$22

Mochatini for the coffee/milk chocolate lovers

In between of drinks, food and making merry, why not try your hands on the electronic darts machine or have a game of beer pong? Mischief has a corner for these activities.

how to play?

the challenge begins!

For the darts machine, one need to purchase a card for $12 with $10 stored credits for the game. Just inform the staff and you're good to start. Each game of darts is $2 credit and for 2 players, that'll be 2 x $2. Chose the countdown 701 points and we had maximum fun (and some wrist action, hehe).

Eat, drink, play and repeat. We also sampled the Wagyu Beef Brisket and boy, it was good.

Wagyu Beef Brisket @$32

Slow-cooked 24hr wagyu beef that's tender, and properly crusted with black pepper and served with a side of salad and fries. We ate a mountain of fries! The brisket was leaning more on the sweeter note.

yums

Many thanks to Jereme for the invite and Mischief for feeding us and plying us with drinks.

The darts machine was entertaining. Thank you Marc, Rachelle, CK and Tiara for playing.

Mischief

Address: 8 Raffles Ave, #01-10/12, Singapore 039802
Website: https://mischief.sg/
Contact: 6532 0106
Business Hours:
Sunday 5pm to 12mn
Monday 5pm to 11pm
Tues-Thurs 5pm to 1am
Fri/Sat 5pm to 3am

[Tasting] 25 Degrees Burgers and Liquor Bar

Was invited to 25 Degrees Burgers and Liquor Bar recently. While I had been a customer at Ginett (am always lured by the concept of reasonably priced good wine with good food) prior, this was the first time am setting foot at this restaurant just next door to Ginett! Thanks to Jasmine for the invitation.

come on in

The Ambiance

25 Degrees possesses an old Hollywood charm in a casual setting. High ceilings, dark interior and classy American decor.

The Staff

The service staff at 25 Degrees are friendly and ever ready with a response to our queries. 

The Food

We heard that Cheesy Mac Attack is Back! This burger is not on 25 Degrees regular menu but was an earlier favourite, and was brought back due to customers' demand. How cool is that? Thanks to these loyal customers, we got to try this highly popular burger, once more.

Cheesy Mac Attack @$18

Oho, it was actually the perennial favourite of mac & cheese, battered and deep fried to golden brown to form the 'bun' to the burger. I see! Crispy, cheesy and beefy. We had all our burger patties done medium and it was flavourful and with some moisture retained. How does caramelized onions, bacon, nacho cheese, swiss cheese and thousand island sounds to you? If that doesn't scream creamy and  flavours, I don't know what will!

Best part? All of those and that little side of pickled gherkin, tomato slices and lettuce are priced at $18++.

yummy

I loved the Cheesy Mac Attack and can understand why many others do too. Crispy exterior with that familiar cheesy yums of mac and cheese inside the fried 'buns', smothered with thousand island and more melty cheeses along with the flavourful handmade beef patty, it was like having two favourites of mac and cheese and burger all at once!

happy hour, means need happy juice

For the kiddos, how about some milkshake to shake the blues away? We got one from the Classic selection and another that is more adventurous in nature. The Chipster is a vanilla based milkshake topped with potato chips. Think salty sweet mix. It tasted as it is. Milkshake and potato chips. Was happy that the milkshake here were not overly sweet and really enjoyable, if we do not have to care about the calories it packs...

Classic Chocolate Milkshake @$12++

The Chipster Shake @$16++

For some of us, we chose beer to wash down our burgers. One could get beer on tap (Kronenbourg Blanc or Calsberg) or bottled craft beers.

Kronenbourg 1664 Blanc @$16++ (1 pint)

Bevy of beauties @$16++ each

pour me some

Let's get some sides while we are at it. As the burgers does not come with any french fries, one could order a side of filthy/truffle/french or curly fries. We had the filthy fries that was topped with bacon gravy, caramelized onions and cheese.

Filthy Fries @$6++

25 Degrees Wings @$8++

The 25 Degrees Wings were interesting as it came topped with curly fries and had a coating of spicy homemade sauce that tasted like, some say sambal? Only mid-wings were used and these little wings were moist and flavourful. Seasoned pretty good.

The must order for the sides would be the onion rings. mMmmm, so good! The batter was good, the size of the onion rings were huge and outer was crispy while the inner was moist and sweet. Strongly recommended.

onion rings @$5++

so big!

Let's try some more burgers. We heard that Number One, and Number Three are the current crowd favourites while the new kid on the block was the Buttermilk Fried Chicken Burger. The burgers are priced at $14++ and one could opt to switch for gluten free buns at additional cost of $2++. We just got ours with regular buns.

Buttermilk Fried Chicken Burger @$14++

The buttermilk fried chicken thigh was well fried and tasty but it turned soggy with the slather of spicy miso BBQ sauce. Decent but I preferred the beef patty burgers instead.

Let's bring out the beef burgers, shall we?

Contender Number Three would be the jalapenos, chipotle with the mezzo secco jack cheese versus the reigning champion, Contender Number One with its arsenal of caramelised onions, artisanal cheeses of cresenza, prelibato and gorgonzola, topped with bacon and the pepperish bitterish arugula and smacked with thousand island sauce.

Number Three (beef patty, roasted tomatoes, mezzo secco jack, jalapenos, chipotle, avocado)

Number Three unveiled

Number One

Much as I liked Number Three for its attempt at spicy smoky, Number One wins hands down! The combination of all its cheeses and that arugula with delicious beef patty, meant its overall tasty flavours were much more prominent and seriously good to munch on this one. Yums!

irresistible Number One

After all the good times, the one that I will miss the most, is still you; Cheesy Mac Attack. Hurry and get your hands on one before 31 August 2019!

Cheesy Mac Attack

Trivia (Value for $$ Alert!)

Did you know that 25 Degrees Burgers and Liquor Bar has a local breakfast set of kaya toast, poached eggs and free-flow brewed coffee for just $2.50 in the morning? Wah, I'd have to admit that's pretty good value!  It's even cheaper than the set offered at my workplace canteen and that's without the free-flow coffee, yo.

Once again, thank you Jasmine, R&B Lab and Hotel G for the invite and 25 Degrees Burgers and Liquor Bar for hosting the tasting.

Dinner with Kris (@msginginly), Alvin (@o_oican), Shermaine (@littletinysun), and Hence & Tracy (@chubbybotakkoala).

25 Degrees Burgers and Liquor Bar

Address: 200 Middle Rd, Hotel G - Singapore, Singapore 188980

Website: https://www.randblab.com/25degrees-sg

Business hours:

Daily 7am to 3am

[Media Invite] BurgerUP Express @ Northpoint City South Wing #B2-113

Did you know that there is a homegrown label for gourmet burger/sliders? BurgerUP may be familiar to some (especially those who frequents Punggol Waterway) and perhaps to many of us, the name may yet to ring a bell. BurgerUP is a local player in the fast-food market specializing in gourmet burgers/sliders.

So what maketh a gourmet food? Wikipedia defines gourmet as

"a cultural ideal associated with the culinary arts of fine food and drink, or haute cuisine, which is characterised by refined, even elaborate preparations and presentations of aesthetically balanced meals of several contrasting, often quite rich courses. The term and its associated practices are usually used positively to describe people of refined taste and passion. Gourmet food tends to be served in smaller, more expensive, portions."

Smaller portion is definitely correct, and gourmet is often associated with premium ingredients and a somewhat laborious processes in getting the final product.

At $9 and $10 nett respectively, BurgerUP Express at Northpoint City South Wing is serving customers the White/Black Series Value Meal. A single gourmet slider (ala-carte) is priced at $4.80 and $5.50 for the White burgers and Black sliders. Hence, the value meal will get you two sliders (White - Fish/Chicken, or Black - Lamb/Beef), a drink and a fries.

White and Black Series Burgers, with sides of mushroom and fish

Though gourmet, do not expect cutlery like fork and knife and plates for the burger. It is still served in paper boxes typical of burger takeaways. As all sliders are made upon order, so one will need to allow about 15 to 20 minutes of wait time before the order is ready.

ingredients are listed on the sticker

Was excited to see lamb on its menu, and that'll be the first target. The sliders are about 3 inches in diameter while a normal burger would be around 4 to 4.5 inches. Basic ingredients in all of its sliders would include melted cheddar, coral greens and a slice of tomato. For Black series, the handmade buns are charcoal buns while the White series, has handmade sesame buns.

65gms of lamb patty slider (Black series)

lifted to reveal fried emmental cheese

easy handling with one palm

The patty was thick and jus was oozing from the burger. Do eat it while it is hot, as that'll be the best time to get the crisp of the fried emmental cheese contrasting texture with the juicy lamb patty. A hint of bitterness from the fried cheese. Not much gameyness in the patty and that made it tough to discern whether it was lamb! Liked that they had kept the sauce to a minimum, and the flavours in the slider matched well.

thick, juicy lamb patty

If you don't like red meat, how about white meat then? Fish slider that's made out of the best part of the fish (no, not the cheeks as the yield is low) but the mid-part of the fish. Dory that's deep fried to a brown crisp, and one that was able to maintain its crispyness even after 15 minutes. The fish slider is the only slider that does not have the fried emmental cheese.

Fish Slider (55 gms) with sesame bun, mayo, tomato, coral greens, cheddar, tartar sauce

lovely fillet

The chicken patty is made up of minced chicken thigh meat, kneaded with cheese and cooked till a moist juicy center is formed. The chicken patty has an interesting texture and a nice flavour.

Chicken Slider with cheese center

Also tried the sides such as fried mushroom and fried fish bites. Liked the fried mushrooms as it was a huge juicy mushroom goodness!

Fried mushrooms

lovely shrooms

fried fish bites

Last but not least, the beef slider which is said to be the favourite amongst many. Expect nothing but thick meaty patty made of the fine cuts where Chef Alvin has mastered the art of lean to fat ratio. The chuck meat gave it a firm enjoyable bite.

Beef Slider (Black series) with its creator, Chef Alvin in the background

BurgerUP Express counter

The Black and White Value Meal series offers good value. With just $10, one could enjoy not just one gourmet sliders but two! (plus a drink and a side). BurgerUP Waterway is halal certified and BurgerUP Express at Northpoint will be following suit. They are also expanding into our neighbouring country so look forward to BurgerUP overseas!

Thank you Beth and Freda for the invite, and Chef Alvin and BurgerUP Express for hosting the tasting.

BurgerUP Express

Location: Yishun Northpoint City South Wing #B2-113

Website: http://www.burgerup.com.sg/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BurgerUpSG/