[Seoul] Sulbing 설빙 雪冰 @ Myeongdong

The visit to Sulbing was because of our failed attempt to visit Namsam Tower. The queue to Namsam that day was just crazy. Mission aborted and for us foodies, we decided to find comfort in...food! Jokes aside, we just wanted a place to rest our feet.

interior

This outlet is on the 2nd floor of the building. Lovely space and lucky us, there was a table available. Place your order at the counter. We had no issue ordering. Make the payment and wait for the buzzer to vibrate.

our orders

For me, I had a strawberry latte and a red bean bun. Loved the drink. It has real strawberries inside. Not too sweet and enjoyable.

strawberry latte 딸기 라떼 and red bean bun

red bean bun

Because we were at the dessert cafe, an order or two of bingsu was a must! So we had two types; green tea bingsu and the original injeolmi bingsu. For injeolmi bingsu, I always have a problem eating it. If accidentally inhaled too fast, it'll irritates the throat and makes one cough.

Injeolmi Bingsu 인절미 빙수

green tea bingsu 녹차 빙수

Was impressed by the green tea bingsu. It came with two scoops of green tea ice-cream! Plus, it has green tea syrup to pour over. Wow!

let it flow~

The plus points for the bingsu was because the shaved ice was made of milk and in-between those shaved ice-mounds, there are layers of condensed milk in there. So very good and tasty.

charcoal mochi

our drinks

This place is recommended for the strawberry latte and the bingsu. Staff was also friendly and cute!

[Tasting] Fat Belly x Sugarhaus @ Serene Centre Shopping Centre

Ok, call me suaku. Might have passed by this building a couple of times when travelling via bus 67 but, I don't believe if I've ever alighted at this place! Goodness. Took a cab to Serene Centre from workplace and luckily, the signage for the building name is pretty prominent. Here's a link to Serene Centre's website if you're interested to know more about this building that's been around since the 80's?

Enough of the prelude and let's get into the main. Fat Belly is a speakeasy-style steakhouse that focuses on alternative, less well-known cuts of the beef. But first and foremost, I need to Google-up "speakeasy".  This term referred to an illicit establishment that sells alcoholic beverages, where such establishments came into prominence in the United States during the Prohibition era (1920–1933). Okay, but nowadays, this term is usually associated with a cool, hip establishment (usually with a bar, or the bar itself) that's somewhat 'hidden' and awaiting for discovery.

Steak and Wine

Interestingly, when one do locate Fat Belly when walking in from the inside of Serene Centre, there's no door for one to enter. Fat Belly is accessible via Sugarhaus entrance. The steakhouse comes alive after 6pm daily.

Fat Belly offers counter-seats with high chairs where one could watch the flames (ideally), but usually, it would be the back view of the hardworking young Chefs prepping the order. Steaks are flash-grilled and then sliced right in-front of your eyes while you and your dining companion enjoys a quiet catch up while sipping on a glass of wine.

Cheers!

There are three steak-cuts available on its current menu. The flat iron, the onglet and the short rib. Each of these are served with a side of housemade chimichurri verde sauce and a small serving of salad. But, the sides are to be recommended as well. Choose from sauteed thyme mushrooms, or the crowd favourite creamed kale, or the newly rotated-in spiced roasted sweet potato.

Sauteed Thyme Mushrooms and Creamed Kale @$5 each

Loved the well seasoned juicy mushrooms. Creamed kale was good too (and much raved about) but I liked the sauteed mushrooms more! One bowl of these sides is easily shared amongst 2 pax.

Let's get back to our main focus area, which is on its alternative cuts of beef and we started with the Flat Iron Steak as it is the leanest amongst the lot, at the moment. The notion of tougher meat when the fat is minimal, was not applicable here. Flat Iron Steak had a more pronounced beefy-grassy flavour when in comparison with the other two cuts.

USDA 150day Grain Fed Angus Flat Iron Steak @$22

Next, let's take a look at the Short Rib. The strip had slightly more fat and its ratio is somewhat in-between of the Flat Iron and Onglet. Its meat was bouncy and one need to work the jaw a bit more for this one. This one is definitely for the guys.

USDA Grain Fed Angus Short Rib Steak @$25

Next up, the Wagyu Marble Score 4.5 Onglet Steak is more premium with the best mouthfeel and visuals. Meat that glistened, beckoning to be eaten. A genteel piece of gorgeous looking steak that was a joy to savour. My favourite piece out of the three.

Wagyu Marble Score 4.5 Onglet Steak @$38 (in photo: Alamos Malbec @$12 by the glass and creamed kale @$5)

The end? Nonsense! There's still dessert to try. When in Sugarhaus, one needs to get some sugar into the system to complete the experience. 

Like its meaty and side dishes counterparts, there are three options for plated dessert. The Foie Gras Chocolate Bar that makes one curious about its taste, the safe-sounding Sticky Date Pudding and the Drunk Pear.

Foie Gras Chocolate Bar is basically foie gras ice-cream (did not such a flavour exists!) encased in chocolate shell, decorated with caramel sauce ontop and adorned with a touch of gold. Plate has apple jelly and raspberry sauce.

Foie Gras Chocolate Bar @$12

Curious about foie gras ice-cream? We sliced up the chocolate bar to find out more. Just kidding. Was sharing this with Sihan and Ivan, so needed to cut it to three. Would you be sharing yours?

foie gras ice-cream revealed!

Also tried the Sticky Date Pudding. It was somewhat therapeutic, watching the dessert plate being assembled. The bonus of counter seats. The pudding was smallish, but I was smiling when slicing it to be distributed. It was a ふわふわ (fuwa fuwa) moment. Sooo fluffy!

Sticky Date Pudding @$10

The pudding was served with salted caramel ice-cream ontop of a bed of crushed feuilletine. This french sounding item is a crispy confection made from thin, sweetened crêpes. The next surprise was that the salted caramel ice-cream had a familiar buttery taste to it. It tasted so much like Werther's Original caramel candy! Wow.

Went to try other flavours of the ice-cream and they do have some interesting ones like Hibiscus Yoghurt (but me not a fan of yoghurt though), Gula Melaka Pecan and found my favourite, in the for of Coconut Sorbet. The Honey and Milk was good too!

ice-cream selection

enter through this door

Thank you Sihan for the invite and Fat Belly for hosting the tasting. Special thanks to Stanley and his cheerful crew @fatbellysg and @sugarhaus. An evening with Sihan ((@fundamentally_flawed)) and Ivan (@ivan_teh_runningman).

Fat Belly x Sugarhaus

Address: 10 Jalan Serene #01-04

Singapore

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/fatbellysg

Contact: 6314 2247

Email: hello.sugarhaus@gmail.com

Business hours:

Sundays to Thursdays: 6pm to 10pm (Last order 9.30pm)

Fridays & Saturdays: 6pm to 11pm (Last order 10pm)

Zaffron @ Oasia Hotel

Located at Level 1 of Oasia Hotel, Novena. Lunch buffet on a working day? Yup, that's right. Food coma, thereafter. In terms  of variety, it is lacking but there're still some good eats here.


Asian themed, so one would find roasted chicken/duck, laksa, fried rice, stir fried vege, sweet and sour pork, watercress soup, and a touch of western with baked salmon. Over at the appetisers section, there's kueh pie tee and smoked duck mini buns. Plenty of salads, and some variety for desserts.

let the buffet begins!

Started with some beet salad and small bites. Don't forget to add condiments to your salad, if you'd like. There's olives, seeds, cheese etc.

chicken salad, leaves and beans

mini smoked duck buns

beet salad, DIY kueh pie tee and smoked duck bun

This is the first time I'd eaten beet cubes. As a drink, it was ok. In its solid form, there's a certain rawness and subtle sweetness to it. Kueh pie tee was good. Crispy sweet shell, loaded with tasty turnip shreds, topped with a shrimp with a dash of chili. While stocks last. Come to think of it, how come I only ate one!

There's also a DIY laksa station. It was good. Not spicy but tasted fragrant and luscious with coconut milk.

DIY laksa, with quail egg, sprouts and sliced fish cake

For drinks, it was limited choices of only coffee/tea/water. No juice. I think if there's juice, even bottled ones would address a bit of customer's expectation of a buffet.

the roasts - pork, root vege, duck and chicken

Gosh, just realised that I didn't try the duck. Bummer. But the roasted pork was good. Crispy crackling skin. But too much meat though.

pork and stir fried cauliflower and broccoli

mayonaise deep fried chicken

My dad would approve of the mayo fried chicken. He's into all sorts of mayo now.

chicken fried rice with silver fish

Though there are no standout items, I had enjoyed the watercress soup, roasted pork and baked salmon. Kueh pie tee and laksa are recommended, just a little hassle to put the ingredients together.

stir fried broccoli, salmon, roasted chicken, roasted pork, fried chicken

Time for dessert and coffee.

bread and butter pudding and cakes

Bread and butter pudding was alright, but the cakes were better.

orange mousse-cake with chocolate ganache, and spongecake with cream cheese

The sponge-cake reminded me of both rainbow cake and red velvet.

Price for buffet lunch per adult is about $42 incl. tax.

Melt - The World Cafe @ Mandarin Oriental

Located at Level 4 of Mandarin Oriental at Raffles Blvd, Marina Square. Friend said he wanted to do a research on buffet, hence I got a free meal. Yay!

Buffet for adults are priced @$68++ per pax on weekdays. Lunch is from 1130am to 230pm.

interior

Buffet drinks include juices only. The juice counter is located at the dessert section. There were orange, guava (green and pink), grapefruit, mango and fruit punch.

tiny glasses for juice

As usual, started with cold seafood. No oysters nor crabs though. =(

white fish sashimi, scallop sushi and maguro sashimi

clams, prawns, mussels, small scallops in shell

Enjoyed the prawns. Firm flesh and sweetish meat. Yums.

For bread lovers, no worries. Took some pictures of what's available although bread is not one of the items that I'd take when having buffet.

selection of bread

dips

cold cuts

Next, took some crackers from the Thai food section to munch. Also tried baked salmon, chicken tandoori and lamb skewer.

baked salmon with some tubers, crackers with thai chili sauce, chicken tandoori and lamb

The baked salmon was still pinkish and thankfully, not dried out. The tandoori item was so-so.

baked salmon

crispy fish skin for snacks

There was a section where it has more European influence dishes such as duck confit, lamb stew, oxtail stew and seafood stew.

stews, sauteed vege and soups

Tried the seafood stew which had plenty of mussels and squid. Didn't have the seafood umami and it was rather salty.

Decided to get some salad for the daily greens intake.

cucumber tomato salad (at the back). feta cheese, smoked salmon

my plate of greens, well...sort of

The Thai beef salad was kinda salty (and tasted heavily of fish sauce), cucumber tomato salad was nice, the minced crab with fish roe was really good as well. Smoked salmon was abit too thick.

Can't believe that I only had 2 prawns so went back and took some more.

succulent fresh prawns

Had 3 more of those babies while friend devoured the rest. Service staff was attentive and she brought out a bowl of warm water with lemon for us.Thanks to her, our fingers were lemony and clean after that! =)

Had 4 glasses of juice, and I like orange the best. Grapefruit was good to digest the food as it was sourish.

Desserts for finale.

chocolate fountain with marshmallows and fruit sticks nearby

cakes galore

chestful of sweet delights

My loot.

petit six - blackcurrant macaron, financier, raspberry velvet cake, coconut pandan, tapioca kueh, forgot the name but it was super-sweet dessert

The raspberry red velvet cake and coconut tapioca were really nice. Soft, cakey and not overly sweet.

banana panna cotta

The banana panna cotta has a really strong banana taste. Sweet on its own but its sugary high was evened out with the blueberries.

Service was efficient and the staff would come and clear the plates every so often.

Didn't eat alot but was seriously full after that. Thank you for the lunch treat!