[Media Invite] A Lavish Christmas Brunch @ Roots Mediterranean

Here's another idea on where to celebrate the festivities, and where one could be spoilt for choice because Roots Mediterranean does Italian, Spanish, Greek and Levantine cuisines! We had a sneak peak into Roots' Christmas Brunch menu and boy, what a treat it was. Thank you Jennifer from JY Consultancy for the invite and Roots Mediterranean for hosting the brunch tasting.

awaiting for the feast... I mean for other guests to arrive

assorted breads and pastry

Started with an assortment of breads and I was besotted with this one. Not sure what it's name was, but it sure was delicious! Crispy puff with a dusting of icing sugar. There was a thin layer of custard in it.

favourite pastry

Tried the Octopus Gallego Carpaccio from the "Tapas, Mezze and Antipasti" selection. It was a beautiful plate. Thinly sliced flattened octopus, and drizzled with olive oil, lemon juice and with a scattering of herbs. Its texture was tender and only required a gentle chew. An interesting plate.

looks like art

look, how thinly sliced this was

One could walk around the stations setup inside the restaurant and pick-out your favourite cheeses, salads, or more mezze!

hi there!

my plate

From the Carving Station, one could get the Wellington Fillet and the Roasted Lamb Leg. For any roasted/baked items, the outer layer would be slightly more cooked than the center. Meat was rather lean for both the lamb and beef.

Roasted Lamb Leg, Wellington Fillet

Wellington Fillet Center view

slicing done

Wellington Fillet (beef)

slicing the lamb

There are also items served to your table during the Christmas Brunch, such as Oysters with Cava, Pizza Lobster and Prawns and Roasted Wild Range French Yellow Chicken.

oysters

Cava

Roasted Wild Range French Yellow Chicken

I must say that the roasted wild range French yellow chicken was my favourite meat for that day. Natural flavours with some super tender meat and lovely aroma from the skin. The skin was lightly brushed with truffle butter. The roasted potatoes was a crowd favourite and I particularly liked its wrinkled skin.

look at those juicy flesh

Take a break from all the meats and hear the oohs and ahhs, when the Pizza Lobster and Prawns is served. Succulent and well cooked prawns and lobster meat on pizza integlia alla romana.

Pizza Lobster and Prawns

front view

And, of course there would be dessert. The festivities would not be complete without some Panettone!

cheese for dessert

dessert galore

lemon cake

chocolate tart, yoghurt cake and berries cake

The chocolate tart was excellent with its rich dark chocolate flavour on light crust. The yoghurt cake was surprisingly good too and best paired with a cup of coffee.

The Deal

The Christmas Brunch: $78+ with soft drinks and $98+ with Prosecco and Chianti. 

Kids aged 8 to 12 enjoy the special price of $35+. Kids below the age of 8 years dine free. 

The Promo

For my dear readers, remember to quote "Purple Taste" when making your reservations for Christmas Brunch at Roots and you'll receive a complimentary bottle of Prosecco to take home. Cheers!

quote "Purple Taste" when making your reservation!

For reservations, please call +65 6463 4206 or email info@therootsrestaurants.com.

Roots Mediterranean

Address: 2 Greenwood Avenue, Singapore (289189)

Contact: 6463 4206

Reservation: Hungrygowhere

Business Hours:

Mon-Thu: 11:30am-2:30pm, 5-10:30pm

Fri-Sun: 11:30am-10:30pm

[Media Invite] Have a Merry Season @ FrapasBar By Saveur at The Cathay (Festive Sets available from 20th December – 25th December 2019)

Regardless if you're a 2-pax or 4-pax party, FrapasBar has got you covered for the festive season. We had a jolly good time at FrapasBar previewing their Christmas Feast menu. Party of 6? No problem, just order up the 2-pax and 4-pax sets and we're good to go!

Let's start slow with fried food. The Crab Croquette came looking good with the snow white toppings of coconut and mayo. Tasty but we were so ready for something more substantial.

Crab Croquette

Duck Breast

The next plate was duck breast. Pan seared french duck breast, served with roasted potato, a side of greens and glazed with bigarade sauce. The piece of meat that I had, had this annoying tendon and that made it tough to chew.

Burrata Tomato

To balance the meat, the festive set for 4 pax included Burrata Tomato in pesto sauce. The burrata was rather firm and the pesto sauce was mildly refreshing.

Garlic Prawns (4 pax set)

Garlic prawns could be one of my favourite dishes at FrapasBar! Look at those colours, so vibrant so eat-able! But wait till you break off a chunk of that bread (looked a bit chao tar but its flavours was yum!) and roll it around in the sauce before popping this flavoursome piece into your mouth. Love love the smokey flavours.

Foie Gras

Foie Gras has been a staple at Saveur since its beginning, along with duck confit and Saveur pasta. It delivers and pretty consistently too. Wobbly, rich and creamy.

foie gras up-close

The 2-pax set came with grilled scallops. It came looking like a pearl from the sea, sitting gracefully in its shell.

Scallops

sweet sweet scallops

The other croquette that we tried was the Truffle Potato croquette. Nothing beats a freshly fried croquette. Don't leave it out for too long!

Truffle Potato Croquette

good flavour and texture

For Christmas, let's enjoy some traditional turkey breast and ham. Slices of turkey breast (skin on) and ham, plated with brussel sprouts, heirloom carrots, stuffings and cranberry jam. This felt like a traditional festive plate. I actually enjoyed the turkey breast as it was not dry and had each small bites with the jam, stuffings and sprouts. Yummy.

Turkey Breast and Ham (2 pax portion)

For the meal, I had a glass of mojito. It is less sweet here and it was served in a nice big mug. Tiara and Rachelle had Sangria and it was a rather large glass! Impressive.

Mojito @$12++

Sangria @$14++

The next dish that we had, was stuffed squid with French Onion rice. I'm guessing that this dish as french onion soup inspired. Ikameshi! Mild seasoning on the squid. Squid itself was tender with a lovely smokiness.

Stuffed Squid

pretty looking

If you hanker after a little carbs, you'll be happy to see the Saveur Pasta, an all time favourite dish of capellini, sakura ebi, pork sauce, chive, shallots and truffle oil. Another of my favourite dish here.

Saveur Pasta

The most impressive looking item in the Christmas Feast menu has gotta be the Beef en Croute. If you are like me and wonders about the difference between Beef Welling and Boeuf en Croute, here is the wiki link to it.

Beef en Croute

ta-dah!

A whole piece of beef fillet wrapped up in some sort of vegetable leaves with morels/porcini minced/paste and then encased in pastry and baked, resulting in meat with a very pink center. Can't be help that the outer sides of the beef were more cooked than its center but overall, happy to report that the meat was tender and natural tasting!

beautiful

Thank you Kris for the invite and FrapasBar for hosting the tasting. It was a hearty meal! The place gets very busy during TGIF and weekends, hence do make your reservations prior.

Christmas Feast @ FrapasBar

Set for 2 pax @$85++ (5 dishes)

• Turkey Breast & Ham
• Duck Breast
• Beef en Croute
• Hokkaido Scallops
• Truffle Potato Croquette

Set for 4 pax @$190++ (8 dishes)

• Turkey Breast & Ham
• Duck Breast
• Stuffed Squid
• Beef en Croute
• Foie Gras
• Garlic Prawns
• Burrata Tomato
• Crab Croquette

FrapasBar @ The Cathay

Address: 2 Handy Road, #01-11/12 S229233
Website: https://www.frapasbar.sg
Contact: 6735 1141
Business Hours:
Sun-Thur 12pm - 1am
Fri & Sat 12pm - 2am
(Food last order 9.30pm)

[Media Invite] Sparkling Christmas @ Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel (Early Bird for Reservations Before 15 December 2019 )

Tis the season to sparkle! Executive Chef, Jackie Zhang and his dedicated culinary team has prepared a gastronomic feasts for guests. What's new this season at Food Capital? Be amazed by how tender and juicy the har jeong 虾酱 (prawn paste) turkey is, enjoy the tender smokey flavours of the barbecue beef short-ribs, dig into the classics of honey baked gammon ham, and slow down to savour dessert such as fruit hazelnut crunch yule log with yuzu cream, Christmas star cranberry banana log cake, fruit cake and festive stollen just to name a few.

Food Capital Festive Buffet

M Wine

Prawn Paste Turkey

barbecue beef short-ribs

honey baked gammon ham

Loved the Christmas roasts. The turkey was moist and tender with mild flavours of the savoury prawn paste. Chef Jackie revealed that the process of cooking the turkey took 48 hours. The meat was good without any sauce as it was well marinated. For those who wants to kick-up the flavours a few notches upwards, do remember to have the turkey with the handcrafted chili sauce. Chicken rice without the rice and without chicken (because we had turkey instead!).

carve me some salmon wellington

Oh, don't forget to have some of those roasted tomatoes on vines. So sweet and intense.

Prawn Paste Turkey

honey baked gammon ham and salmon

How can a meal be complete without the festive drinks? Tempo Bar has crafted two drinks for Christmas; Fairytale and Amaretto Sour. I enjoyed the Fairytale. Concocted with gin, elderflower,
cucumber and tonic. Refreshing and my kind of sweet drink. The Amaretto Sour is made of  amaretto, cognac, sours, gomme, egg white and bitters.

Fairytale and Amaretto Sour

Tried the log cakes and enjoyed every bit of it. My favourite trio would be the hazelnut crunch yule log, Christmas Star cranberry banana log cake and double chocolate pound cake.

Christmas Star Cranberry Banana Cake

Hazelnut Crunch Yuzu Log Cake

Double Chocolate Pound Cake

Festive Buffet 

2 to 30 December 2019 (excluding 24 & 25 December 2019)
Buffet Lunch: $68++
Buffet Dinner: $88++ 

Christmas Eve 24 December 2019 

Buffet Lunch: $68++
Buffet Dinner: $98++ (includes free flow of juices)

Christmas Day 25 December 2019 

Buffet Lunch & Dinner: $98++ (includes free flow of juices)

New Year’s Eve 31 December 2019 

Buffet Lunch: $68++
Buffet Dinner: $98++ (includes free flow of juices)

New Year’s Day 1 January 2020 

Buffet Lunch: $68++
Buffet Dinner: $78++ (includes free flow of juices)

Complete your buffet experience with free flow of house pour wine and beer at $35 and with
Prosecco at $40.

Make your reservations before 15 December 2019 to enjoy 20% early bird discount and a
complimentary bottle of wine.

OPENING HOURS 

Lunch: 12pm to 2.30pm (Mondays to Sundays) 
Dinner: 6.30pm to 10.30pm (Mondays to Sundays) 
*Buffet menus are on a rotational basis.

Grissini - Exquisite Italian Festive Set Menu 

Prepared by Chef Mirko and team, one could enjoy an authentic Italian meal for Christmas at Grissini.

Highlights from the festive menu include bresaola carpaccio, Sardinian fregola, sea bass milanese and panetone.

bresaola carpaccio

For the uninitiated like myself, bresaola is an Italian dry-cured lean meat (beef). It doesn't have a strong beefy taste and it was like a drier version of prosciuto. The plate has black truffle paste, arugula, mustard dressing and chestnut. The meat goes well with M Wine Red. Cheers to everytime that I say this. Haha!

Sardinian fregola

The Sardinian Fregola is definitely one for the cheese lovers. A good sized baked goat cheese, served with fregola in roasted pumpkin puree. The goat cheese had a tart flavour with a punch. The flavour spreads in the mouth. Fregola texture was like small boba and mild sweetness from the pumpkin puree.

Milanese Breaded Seabass Fillet

The green on the Milanese breaded seabass was striking. First time having Milanese breaded seabass instead of veal.

seabass fillet 

For dessert, we tried the Panetone Cup. This dessert is reminiscent of tiramisu. It was pretty heavy with the thick layer of pistachio crumble (top) and chocolate mousse (bottom) and interspersed with vanilla custard.

Panetone Cup

2 December 2019 to 1 January 2020 

3-Course Festive Set Menu: $72++ per person
4-Course Festive Set Menu: $88++ per person

OPENING HOURS 

Lunch: 12pm to 2.30pm (Mondays to Sundays) 
Dinner: 6.30pm to 10.30pm (Mondays to Sundays)

For  more information/reservations:

Contact: 6233 1100
Email: dining.gcw@millenniumhotels.com
Website: www.celebrateatgcw.com/xmas2019


Thank you Gilbert and Ji Cheng for the invite, Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel for hosting the dinner and special thanks to Chef Jackie and Chef Mirko and teams for the preparation of the festive eats.