Guccio Ristorante by Chef Marco @ 20 Gemmill Lane

Am a supporter of Restaurant Week organised by DiningCity for a while now and recently made reservations for their Chef's Signature event at Guccio. It is actually within 2 minutes walking distance from The Clan Hotel, which I was staying for that weekend. Events such as this, would be a nice opportunity to try new places without having to think too much about what to choose as the set menu is usually pretty limited choice and is meant to showcase the specialty cuisine of the selected restaurant.

I arrived on time for the 1.30pm slot, which I think would be pretty late for lunch? A quick look revealed that most diners were nearing the end of their meal.

Was given a choice of sparkling or still, but I am with Bernice and the choice is clear, because why pay for still when you could get sparkling? Hahaa!

sparkling @$10++

Chef's Signature Lunch Menu

Wendy arrived shortly after I had quenched my thirst, with refreshing taste of sparkling with a slice of lemon.

Bread was served after we placed our orders. Requested for balsamic as it was not offered by default. The bread was cold when served.

Was happy when our appetizer was appeared. The Calamari, came looking colourful and succulent. The olive coloured blobs were actually eggplant puree. The poached baby calamari was tasty and soft but not mushy. Each component on the dish played a part but the star of the dish was still the unassuming yet flavourful calamari.

Calamari

  

Next, was the Gamberi - New Zealand prawns 'tartare'. I think this would be my first time having any prawns 'tartare'. The sprouts on it was rather cute. The green pea puree was fragrant (because I do like green peas~). Not sure why but there was a light hint of citrus on this dish and it was a refreshing taste with mild sweetness.

Didn't enjoy the trout roe as much because it was of an awkward size. Was bothersome (for me, not sure if anyone else shared the same sentiment) because it was not big enough to 'pop' nor was it small enough to ignore and swallow.

Gamberi (supplement $10++)

Next, was our main course. Pork and fish.

Salmone

The pan-fried Norwegian salmon was Wendy's choice. The blobs of red that I thought was tomato, was actually beetroot cream. The seasonal greens on the plate was tasty. Fish was good although we would have preferred it to be slightly more pink.

Salmone - side view

I had the Maialino, slow-cooked Spanish suckling pig belly. Lovely plating. There's red apple compote and berry sauce.

Maialino (supplement $10++)

lovely layers

The skin was not of the crispy crackling kind, but the meat inside was lovely. The downside, was that the meat had stronger flavours of pork, hence a glass of wine would help. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the flavourful meat with lovely textured layers of lean and fats.

And then, we were at dessert. The choice was obvious. Of course, we got to try Chef Marco's mom's signature Tiramisu.

Tiramisu

Just be careful not to inhale while trying to get that spoonful in. I was careless and choked a bit on the cocoa powder. Both of us thoroughly enjoyed the tiramisu.

The Chef's Signature event menu is a good way to try some of the signature dishes on their regular menu without doing too much damage to the wallet. Guccio's Set Lunch Menu @$38++ had similar mains offered as well.

The Chef's Signature lunch set was good value and portions were adequate. Compliments to Chef Marco and his team.

Spent about $68 per pax.

Guccio Ristorante 

Address: 20 Gemmill Ln, Singapore 069256

Website: https://www.guccioristorante.com/

Contact: 6224 1684

Business Hours:

Tues to Sun: 11:30am–2:30pm, 5:30–11pm

Closed on Mondays

Fujian Cuisine - Beng Thin Hoon Kee Restaurant 茗珍奋记菜馆 @ OCBC Centre Chulia Street

After we had checked out from The Clan Hotel, it was time for lunch. We love to try older restaurants, and Beng Thin Hoon Kee seemed to fulfil this criteria plus, nearby the hotel. Founded in 1949, means since 72 years ago. Yup, excited to try!

So we walked, and to my surprise, the restaurant is located smack on a building's carpark, surrounded by neighbouring high rise.

restaurant's entrance

our table

a bit of history

As usual, Hence and Tracy had visited before, so we did asked which are the dishes that they liked. One of their recommendation was the Duck Salad. For our table of 4 pax, most of the dishes would be medium sized.

Beng Thin Duck Salad 鸭丝冷盘 @$32 (medium)

colourful

let's start

mix well and enjoy!

The Duck Salad was visually appealing for its colour and, those are really fruit slices and cucumber slices If not wrong, there's rock melon, honeydew and cucumber. The lucky ones will catch some duck skin, and that's a good part for its savoury roasted flavours, duck oil and sweet refreshing fruits. Loved the jelly fish for the contrast in texture. My first time experiencing such a Duck Salad!

Crabmeat Scrambled Eggs with Lettuce 炒桂花蟹 @$30.50 (medium)

closer view

The Crabmeat Scrambled Eggs with Lettuce was a good dish that encourages us to have more greens. Simply take a piece of lettuce and topped it with the scrambled eggs, lightly wrap and enjoy. So good!

is this too greedy?

We ate two dinners that were mainly meats, so I think we tried to compensate by having more vegetables here. Hahaa!

Spinach 波菜 @$18.50 (medium)

Is braised pork belly bun (扣肉花包), a staple in Fujian cuisine? We ordered this as a comparison to the other version that we had tried in another Hokkien-cuisine restaurant.

Braised Pork Bun - 6PC 扣肉花包 @$15.50

fatty enough

Usually, I'll try to limit the number of dishes that we order, should just be equal or less than the number of pax plus minus like one. This applies to regular sized plates (not tapas).

So, our last and fifth dish was a carb. The Fujian Noodles.

Fujian-styled Fried Noodles 福建炒面 @$24 (medium)

noodle lift

But, while the noodles were loaded with ingredients, I felt something was missing and not quite satisfied. No kick.

So, decided to break the 'rule' and ordered our final dish, the Oyster Omelette.

Oyster Omelette @$30.50

Wah, was glad that we ordered this. It was good! Thin, crispy layer that gave a satisfying crunch and plump oysters that had been glazed with sauce. It was sweet, with umami. Not spicy at all.

Thank you Hence, Tracy and Ivan for being such accommodating makan kakis and fellow staycationers!

Beng Thin Hoon Kee Restaurant 茗珍奋记菜馆

Address:  65 Chulia St, #05-02 OCBC Centre, Singapore 049513

Website: https://bengthin.com/

Contact: 6533 7708

Business Hours:

Daily: 11:30am–3pm, 6–10pm

Meatsmith @ Telok Ayer

It was deja vu, all over again. The thing about eating out at Telok Ayer on weekends at popular places like this one, could only mean one thing. One needa queue even when there is a reservation. Our 8pm reservation saw us queueing till an hour later and that was because we were lucky for the previous party had kindly vacated their table after an hour of dining. We know, because we were there when the food was served to their table, to the time that they left.

alfresco dining

Kona Big Wave Golden Ale @$12++

bacon wrapped cheese

Meat Platter for 2 @$90++

Our order was plenty. There's starters and meat platters plus additional ala-carte order of beef short ribs and hangar steak.  The meat platter consists of brisket, pork ribs, brisket springrolls, buffalo wings, pastrami burnt ends and pork belly burnt ends. Plus, it came with corn bread!

Pork Ribs

Pastrami Burnt Ends

Brisket

Whoa, the meat platter sure was strongly flavoured. Not that I wasn't expecting it but still, I was somewhat caught surprised by the pork ribs. Possibly due to the sauce, me thinks.

I liked the springroll brisket more than the brisket itself. The pastrami burnt ends was nice to nibble on. The corn bread was my favourite! The pickles were lovely too and it helped to take off some of the greasiness. Well, ice cold beer works too!

Corn Bread with smoked butter

Next, we enjoyed the Hangar Steak. Loved the salad that came along as well. This meat had an enjoyable chew to it and tasted of its natural flavours.

300g F1 Wagyu Hangar Steak @$38++

tender with a chew

Best meat of the night? The vote went to Beef Short Ribs, hands down. It was just wow. Right up my alley, this one.

Beef Short Rib @$48++

can't wait to get some

Fork tender, with some fats and tasted so good with that sauce. What was that sauce again? 

big bites, big love

The staff are friendly and ice water was topped up whenever we needed a refill.

MeatSmith Telok Ayer

Address: 167-169 Telok Ayer St, Singapore 068620

Website: https://www.meatsmith.com.sg/

Contact: 6221 2262

Business Hours:

Daily 11:30am–11:45pm

YinJi Singapore 银记肠粉店 @ Far East Square

Snacking on chee cheong fun? Keke, it certainly was interesting! As part of our foodie adventures 'coz we stayed nearby at The Clan , this shop was just a few steps away from our hotel. 

I think it was like tea-break because we went there at about 3.40pm. And, we had a feeling that our dinner will be around like supper time as per the night before. Read more about the long wait for the previous night's dinner at GO! K-BBQ.

big signboard

alfreso dining

not just chee cheong fun

but we were here for the chee cheong fun though

As usual, I left the ordering to the cute couple and Ivan. Ahh, now I remembered saying that I wanted to try the beef chee cheong fun with egg.

our choice

Salted Pepper Chicken @$5

Fresh Prawns Egg Roll @$7.50

Am amused that a plate of chee cheong fun costs more than a plate of fried chicken cutlet. Hehe.

Tender Beef Egg Roll @$7.50

tender beef, that's true!

I liked the tender beef egg roll. Wished there were more pieces of the meat but its texture was as expected. Smooth and tender. The chee cheong fun was slippery smooth and the sauce was strongly flavoured.

prawn egg roll (closer view)

The one with the fried dough, was a surprise. I thought the fried dough fritters would be crispy but it was not. Slight chewy and the skin of the rice roll was only 1 layer, so it was just a thin sheet wrapped around the dough.

Fried Dough Roll @$4.50

The more I chew the fried dough and the cheong fun, the more tasty it seemed? Hahhaha! But my favourite from this shop is still the tender beef egg roll.

Interesting to eat cheong fun when it is not breakfast time.

YinJi Singapore 银记肠粉店

Address: #01-01, 133 Amoy St, Singapore 049962

Contact: 6443 3875

Business Hours:

Sun: Closed

Mon:  9:30am – 4pm

Tues - Sat:  9:30am – 7pm