Wine Connection @ Unity Street, Robertson Walk

This is my second visit, and the place seemed more packed than previous.

can sit at the wine bar counter

Tried white wines from Germany and New Zealand this time round. We ordered a bottle of Selbach-Oster Riesling Kabinett (2008 vintage), that scored 91-92 pts according to Wine Advocate and Wine Spectator 2010. To learn more about Selbach-Oster wines, click here.

I like the taste of this wine. It was crisp and light sweetness towards the end. But I didn't really like how it smells... probably because it smelled like minerals.

After our misadventure with goat cheese the previous time, we opted for cow's milk cheese. We chose brie. And the rest of the combo remained the same. But we were still surprised when the food came.

bruschetta, honey ham and brie

why does the ham looked like that??

The ham no longer looked juicy and meaty. Instead, it was collageney and thinly sliced. I think we got the far end of the ham, nearer to the leg....hence, more collagen, less meat. *sobs*

At least, the cheese was 'safe'. Nothing too exciting here. The flavour was rather subtle.

Next, we had a bottle of New Zealand's wine Momo Sauvignon Blanc, 2010 vintage.

Momo

The Momo was more tannic than Kabinett. But it possesses a more fruity note as well. I think I still prefers wine from Germany.

Each of the bottles costs between $44 ~ $46+.

La Villa @ River Valley Road

Located at the old River Valley school, this place is not hard to find. Bus #139 goes there, but if you drive, this place has parking spaces as well.

from outside

Why are we there? Why? To celebrate the birthday of the youngest in our group. That's why! Hehehe =)

secretly making our way to the entrance...

One is greeted by the receptionist right after you swung open the entrance door. Friendly atmosphere? Check. Ambience? Check.

table setting

alfresco dining area outside, viewed from the comfort of indoor (powerful airconditioned) dining

This whole place, screams ambience.

trying to be arty farty with this shot

Once we're seated, the ever smiling service staff came over and asked if we'd like to have sparkling or still water. When we hesitated for that split second, then it was obvious we wanted just regular water, which they do serve ever so gladly and for free as well.

Our birthday girl was held up elsewhere, so we ordered fried calamari for starters. After that, a complimentary basket of bread was served to our table.

righto, buon appetito, yo~

bread basket with warm breads

olive oil and balsamic vinegar

The round breads were warm and fluffy on the insides, with crisp outer crust. The pita bread was very compact and it'll fills you up rather quickly.

Calamari 'Pirata', with Pizzaiola dip (which tasted mainly tomatoes)

the tiny specks on the calamari were paprika

The deep fried calamari was done just nice with crispy batter and fresh squid. The paprika was sprinkled unevenly, so most of the time, we couldn't even taste it. Nice but not outstanding.

Happy hour runs from 6-8pm, and they have Heineken (draft) and sparkling wine (prosecco) on 1-for-1 offer during happy hour.

prosecco during happy hour (@$12)

For food, we ordered Classic Platter for 2, and a plate of Capellini (large) to share amongst the 4 of us.

Classic Platter

lamb on the right, and beef on the right, sausages way at the back

side dishes of salad and baked potatoes

it's called Oven Baked Ratte Potatoes

The Classic Platter of grilled items consist of lamb shoulder rack, chicken breast, pork rack, beef sirloin, pork and lamb sausages. It was rather sad when my friend commented that out of the items in the platter, the only likeable one was the oven baked potatoes.

True. And there were warnings from other blog review about the meat items from this place. Chose to give them the benefit of the doubt (since this place has 'Italian Grill' as part of its name)  but, this is one platter that my table wouldn't want to order again. Unless, if one likes to chew on tough meat. But, we do see a few tables having the meat platter. Well... perhaps there are people who likes chewy meat...

To be fair, I found the chicken breast (though on the dry side) was the most flavourful amongst all the grilled items. It goes quite well with the house spicy ketchup and tartar sauce.

What we (means all four of us) didn't like. The lamb rack was actually thin slices of meat (with bone) that was overly cooked and tough. Like lamb bak kwa. The beef sirloin while not too dry, it still required some work of the jaw muscles for this. The sausages were too funky for our liking. Even the pork sausages... even the pork sausages.. sigh...

Well, the Capellini lifted our mood! Angel hair pasta with lobster ragout 'Sardinia' style. After tasting the pasta, I am liking Sardinia! Hahaa. Well coated with sauce, with noodles fully cooked and if you're lucky, you may find a piece of the lobster meat on your plate!

Capellini

much coveted lobster, heh heh

The large portion can be comfortably shared amongst two pax. It'll be quite 'jelak' for one person to polish it off as the dish has a 'rich' (oily) aftertaste. Seasoning was just right, not too salty, not too sweet. Just nice. Yums!

Another good point about this place was that they allowed us to bring our own cake for birthday celebration.

friendly staff helping to light up birthday cake before joining in to sing birthday song

our half-devoured strawberry shortcake from Flor Patisserie

If you drove to the restaurant and parked there, do tell the staff prior to payment. They will knock-off $2.50 per car from the final bill. Had a pleasant surprise when using Stanchart to pay, as that gave us 15% discount on ala-carte items.

Here's a link to second visit.

Paradise Inn @ Serangoon NEX (Part II)

Second visit to Paradise Inn at NEX. First visit was sometime in April, where we didn't try the soup. So this time round, we ordered a pot whelk soup and a Song fish head for dinner.

the usual table setting and peanuts

must have items if soup is ordered

soup being served by the efficient service staff

whelk soup with pork ribs and huai shan

Whelk soup was tasty and full of flavour. Just a tad oily due to the fats from the super soft pork ribs. Probably effected through boiling the soup for long enough. Yums. What is whelk? According to wiki, whelk is a kind of sea-snail. In my opinion, the whelk in this soup, tasted not unlike abalone. Nice.

Next, came the steamed "Song" fish head. It was rather big!

Song fish head (@$17.50++)

full of omega-3 oil

soft, smooth tender flesh

For people not accustomed to eating fish head, this steamed Song fish head may come across as perhaps a little bit fishy. Perhaps if more spring onions and fresh red chillies (cut in longish) were added for garnishing, it might add a little more colour and variety to the dish. Pair the fish and sauce with a bowl of steaming white rice, it does leave a satisfactory feeling. Just one small complaint though. The fish head still had some scales on it. Cleaning the scales needs to be more thorough.

Service that evening was impeccable. Constantly, there will be someone coming over to check if the soup needed to be scooped out onto our little soup bowl. Kudos to the staff.

Total bill was about $45 for 2 pax.

Teadot @ Serangoon NEX

Located at Level 2 of NEX, this is an open-concept cafe. Serves tea concoction with exotic names. It has clear brew styled tea and blended style (like frappe). Serves coffee too, but since its called Teadot, its only apt to try the tea first, right?

can watch the world go by

Semi-self serviced style. Go up to the counter to order. Took a while 'coz it was kind of hard to look at its exotic names to figure out what it is, so had to read its description as well. Like for example, Yellow Rain. Who knows what tea is in that?! Anyway, I did order that, and it's a oolong/jasmine (I think) frappe style with osmanthus flower.

Then, they'll give you a number tag and you can sit down. They'll serve the drink to you when it is ready.

wait patiently

my friend's order, looks pretty normal

my drink, Yellow Rain

The prices here are quite high. A medium sized drink will set you back by about $6++ (for frappe and non-frappe), hence that influenced my decision to try the frappe version. I know, cheap thrill to get more bang out of the buck! The cashier said, "Would you like to upsize to large instead 'coz it'll just be 50cents more." Sounds like a good idea, only that now the total would be $7++ for a drink.

Liked my drink. Milky, and ice cold! Refreshing taste of osmanthus flower that was thankfully, not too overpowering.

slurps

Fukuichi Japanese Dining @ TripleOne Somerset

Located at Level 2 of TripleOne Somerset. Visited on a Sunday for an early lunch before 12pm. The ground level was teeming with customers while Level 2 seemed quite deserted on our day of visit...

shopfront

Fukuichi has been reviewed by many others, including a photoshoot session organized by ieatishootipost. Various newspaper clippings can be found near wall at the front podium.

The waitress who attended to us, seemed quite dis-interested in serving. Not sure why, probably too early in the day? We were seated near the private room.

view from our seats

menu for lunch and dinner sets

table setting, and a cup of warm green tea

Ordered the sashimi teishoku and my friend had the unagi teishoku. Feeling rather luxurious, we ordered a toro sushi as well. A plate of toro costs $22++ for 2 sushis. At the back of our mind, we had only one thought, "It had better be good!" Hahaa!

The older lady who served us suddenly asked if we're paying by UOB, which we answered in positive. Oooh, it turned out that there is a UOB credit card promo where you get 15% off ala-carte and that will apply to the toro sushi order. Heh heh! And, we also got the century egg kani tofu appetiser for free! 無料です！

century egg tofu appetiser

salty goodness

shredded kani inside

The cold appetiser was rather salty and enjoyable. But I think if it is just tofu, it'll be a nicer contrast to the century egg sauce, as just tofu would be more clean tasting.

Next, toro sushi. We ate it with great anticipation. Its oil glistens and beckoning to be devoured.

toro sushi

It is rich tasting with good oil and fresh but unfortunately, it was quite sinewy which proved to be a bane. Felt a little let down but at least, I've tried toro, yay! Otoro is next target.. but maybe should eat it in its country of origin instead?

sashimi teishoku (bottom) and unagi teishoku (top)

closer view of unagi

What's included in a sashimi teishoku set? Miso soup, salad, chawanmushi, rice and pickles and of course, sashimi.

beansprout miso soup

pickles

salad

sashimi; salmon, maguro, tako and kajiki (2 pieces each)

chawanmushi

I enjoyed the sashimi set. Firm, fresh and thick cut. We were served a small cute pudding (as part of the set) to end our meal.

pudding

Liked the bounciness of the pudding, and it was not too sweet. Enjoyable.

Total bill came up to $33 per pax.

Read about second visit here.