Seeking a quieter area to chill and enjoy the breeze? How about all of those plus delicious food paired with reasonably priced drinks? Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel Alfresco Dining offers all that, and more.
Alfresco Dining at Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel
Was invited for a sneak peak recently to experience the Alfresco Dining at Grand Copthorne Waterfront, and good news! For all readers of Purple Taste, you'll get to enjoy the first round of drinks on the house when you dine-in at the alfresco with any purchase from the food menu (T&C applies). Just show them this blog post or quote "purpletastealfresco". Reservations via dining.gcw@millenniumhotels.com or call 6233 1100 or visit http://www.celebrateatgcw.com
The Daily Special offers good deal to the discerning diner. Imagine going there on a Monday where one could order a small Canadian lobster, grilled with garlic butter for just $9.90! Or, on Wednesdays, one could get Snow Crab Leg at $1 per piece! Alcoholic beverages are reasonably priced from $8 onwards during Happy Hour.
check out the Daily Specials!
A bottle of M Wine (my favourite red) for just $18 with any purchase of Josper Grill Combo? Perfect with a small group and wallet friendly too!
Monday Special - Lobster
Lobster @$9.90 on Mondays
Wednesday Special - Snow Crab Leg
Snow Crab Leg @$1 per piece on Wednesdays
Friday Special
Josper Grill Combo A @$68
Combo A: Duck Leg Confit, Baby Spring Chicken, Pork Bratwurst, USA Angus Beef Striploin
Josper Grill Combo B (Seafood combo) @$68
Mediterranean Octopus Tentacles
Crispy Calamari
Norwegian Salmon, Jumbo Tiger Prawns
colourful eats
Weekends & PH - Seafood Mountain
photo credit: Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel
Excuse me, while I sip on a Gimlet... Happy Hour you know, so need to be happy. The magical hour happens daily from 4pm to 8pm.
Gimlet @$10 (HH)
If you prefer to have lighter bites, I'd recommend the pork satay and the deep fried wings. For the wings, you might want to go easy on the sauce as the wings were juicy and tasty on its own.
Grilled Satay (6 pieces) @$12
Deep Fried Sesame Chicken Wings @$12
For those who adores spam fries, I'd recommend the Carne Meat Luncheon Fries. A healthier version for its usage of leaner meat.
Carne Meat Luncheon Fries @$12
When night falls, and you want to enjoy a little romantic date night with your loved one, here's a homemade pasta dish that remained light on the palate (and stomach), with comforting feels. Pretty too!
Spinach Fettucine Aglio Olio with Ocean Prawns @$18
And, do not leave without trying the Baked Alaska for dessert! Serves two (if you're having just a 2-course meal, but I think this serves 4 comfortably as a 3-course meal dessert). Flambé with rum and the blue light was a spectacle to behold!
Chocolate Baked Alaska @$16
Here's a short video of the 'action':
tasted of fluffy marshmallow, chocolate ice-cream and rum~
Thank you Gilbert and JC for arranging the preview and Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel, Chef Magdalene and team for feeding us. Thank you and stay safe!
For all readers of Purple Taste, you'll get to enjoy the first round of drinks on the house when you dine-in at the alfresco with any purchase from the food menu (T&C applies). Just show them this blog post or quote "purpletastealfresco". Reservations via dining.gcw@millenniumhotels.com or call 6233 1100 or visit http://www.celebrateatgcw.com
Received the Perfect Earth Pasta from my friends at Forever Young Enterprise, a well-known and established Organic and Natural Health Food provider in the industry. I was most impressed that the Perfect Earth Pasta is a range of gluten-free, allergen-free, gmo-free, suitable for vegan and is also Kosher certified product. Wow!
Perfect Earth Pasta
Now, let's do the taste test. I'm not much of a cook and the last I had cooked any pasta was, hmm...possibly right after my university days and during share house period? Like, about more than 10 years ago? Hahaha, I'm usually a ramyeon person more than a pasta lover. However, am excited to try Perfect Earth Pasta because I didn't know that know there's such a wide range of pasta available made of the various rice like organic range of black rice, red rice and brown rice, plus there's another range with chia seeds!
Randomly chose one to try, and decided on the Perfect Earth Organic Chia Pasta Brown Rice. Going to do a kimchi chicken bulgogi sauce for the pasta.
let's try this
Here are the ingredients for the sauce
1. One pack of kimchi - I used Bibigo stir-fried kimchi pack (80g)
2. Two large cloves of garlic - chopped
3. One small slim carrot - chopped
4. One big yellow onion - sliced
5. One pack of chicken bulgogi - about 330g
At home, the stove is not working, so most of the time, I can only do cooking in the pot or in the toaster. For this experiment, I used the rice cooker to cook the meat and the sauce, while the soup pot is used to boil the pasta.
stir-fried kimchi pack
To cook the chicken
1. Heat up the oil in the rice-cooker
2. Placed in the chopped garlic and brown it till fragrant
3. Placed in the onions and carrots. Fry till onions are soft.
4. Add in the chicken bulgogi and brown it for about 5 minutes
5. Pour in the kimchi. Add water to the sauce in the kimchi pack and put it together with the meat
6. Simmer for another 10 mins
kimchi chicken bulgogi
To cook the pasta
1. Put salt into the water and wait till it boils
2. Drop in the pasta sticks (2 handfuls for 2 pax)
3. Cook for about 5 minutes and it should have softened but still al-dente
4. Drain the pasta and move the pasta into the chicken pot
5. Toss well and simmer for about a minute will do
Perfect Earth Organic Chia Pasta Brown Rice - cooked
I liked the texture of the cooked pasta which is not too al-dente and not too soft too. The chia seeds gave it a lovely texture, much like toasted sesame.
kimchi chicken bulgogi pasta
lovely bite and texture
Easy to cook, healthy and reasonably priced! Let's stock up some of these in the food cupboard, shall we?
Thank you Hence and Tracy for the introduction to Perfect Earth Pasta!
Nearest MRT would be Telok Ayer, and the restaurant is within 5 minutes walk from the station. Botan prides itself in using premium ingredients from Japan and serves authentic and traditional Japanese cuisine. Helmed by Executive Chef Thomas Kok, he is one of the first few local chefs who introduced Japanese food to Singapore in the early 1980s. Thanks to chefs like Chef Thomas, there are now an abundance of options for Japanese food in Singapore.
Thank you Jennifer from JY Consultancy for the invite to the tasting, special thanks to Chef Thomas Kok for the delicious meal and Botan for hosting the dinner.
restaurant interior
The experience begins once the customer is seated and an oshobori is presented. Wipe your hands on the hot towel before eating. Lovely Japanese hospitality.
おしぼり
For the discerning diners, one could start with the appetiser of pidan tofu, or the delectable onsen tamago with Hokkaido shoyu ikura, or the mirin fugu. I spied the board outside the shop where drinks such as highball and Asahi beer (draft) are going for just $5.80++ and $6.20++. WoOHooO! Excited much? For teetotallers, don't worry as there's the good 'ol ocha. I had mine cold.
iced green tea
pitan tofu 皮蛋豆腐 @$6++
Let's see how wobbly and bouncy the tofu is.
Overall, the pitan tofu had a balanced flavour where all the ingredients are in harmony without outshining the other. Palate tingled but anticipating for more.
Next, we had the fugu mirin which is the grilled marinated dried pufferfish glazed with mirin. I thought it tasted like bak kwa! Sweet, and a good snack with alcohol.
fugu mirin 河豚味醂 @$15++
Next, I tried the ankimo. Never had this before, so didn't know what to expect. Monkfish liver wasn't as rich in flavour as say, foie gras and it definitely wasn't gamey. Its texture was smooth and rather delicate.
ankimo 鮟肝 @$18++
For another light appetiser, one could opt for the ikura onsen tamago with Hokkaido shoyu ikura, served room temperature. No further sauce is required as the ikura had been marinated in shoyu (soy sauce). Served in a pretty little bowl, I actually hesitated for a while as to whether to break the yolk or not.
ikura onsen @$15++
Eventually I did, and made it into a short clip. For those who likes to see yolk swirls. Hahaa!
Next up, we enjoyed a selection of sashimi with premium ingredients; salmon belly, scallop and aburi otoro. Enjoyed the natural sweetness of fresh ingredients.
sashimi trio; 鮭, 帆立貝, 大とろ @$48++
so good!
They say good things come in threes. Indeed, we had good sushi at Botan. No other sauces are needed with the sushi. Each piece was a favourite!
Sushi 寿司 @$24++
pretty from all angles
Hirame (flounder)
going for the next one, kanpachi!
botan ebi ぼたんえび
If you crave for A5 Miyazaki Wagyu Beef, try it at Botan. The beef cubes are served with beef fats and garlic crisps. The wagyu beef itself was tender and with good oily mouthfeel. There's a sprinkling of salt if you need that extra seasoning. I used it for the tomato instead. Such sweet tomato! I was pleasantly surprised by the burst of flavours from the beef fats!
A5 Miyazaki Wagyu Beef @$80++ (100g)
mesmerized by the glistening oil
For friends who doesn't take beef, you could try the Japanese pork instead. Braised till tender and with good ratio of fats for the almost melt in your mouth feels. Looks good and tasted fantastic but I won't trade my A5 Miyazaki wagyu beef, nope.
Hokkaido Pork Honey Black Pepper Yaki @$18++
Another first for me, is the Kuruma Ebi. Eh, it's actually Japanese Tiger Prawns. The prawn is of a good size and grilled with mentaiko sauce. Guaranteed flavourful! This has been elevated to one of my favourite dish at Botan.
Kuruma Ebi 車海老 @$18++
Here's a short video of the fleshy prawn.
To end, let's have a plate of hot noodles. Ramen? Nah, that's too mainstream. Let's go for a Nagasaki Sara Udon. Interestingly, sara udon means 'plate noodles'. Here's the link to wiki on the noodles.
Nagasaki Sara Udon 長崎皿うどん @16++
This plate of noodles tasted homely, and it was almost as though I'm eating at a mom and pop shop. Plenty of vegetables in the plate. There's much feels to this. Served hot, the noodles tasted like our
"生面" or sang mien (crispy noodles).
For dessert, we had the yuzu sorbet. Loved the candied peels in the ice-cream.
yuzu sorbet @$7++
Once again, thank you Jennifer for the invite and Chef Thomas and Botan for the food. ごちそうさまでした!
Posts
