주막 Joomak Restaurant @ Upper Bukit Timah Road

This place is located at Level 4 of Beauty World Centre. Took bus #67 from CCK interchange and dropped right in front of the overhead bridge to Beauty World, and the bridge connects directly to level 4. How convenient is that? We passed by Dulukala Peranakan Restaurant, and this place is right after Pink Candy, another Korean snack shop.

restaurant facade

We went in and seated ourselves. Seemed like the restaurant owners were busy so we had to wait quite a bit for the menu.

menu

FT Island on the wall

hangul characters

I really wanted to try the jajangmyeon (짜장면 / 炸酱面) and fried chicken but jajangmyeon wasn't available that day and my dining companion is absolutely against fried chicken.  Sigh. So we decided to order one ginseng chicken soup (samgyetang 삼계탕) and a seafood pancake (haemul pajeon 해물파전). The price in the menu are all nett prices. Drinks 'menu' is written on the wall. Typically, the diners there are mostly Korean families or couples. There were only one or two tables that were non-natives on our day of visit.

The favourite drink on the table seemed to be makgeolli (막걸리). The content is actually poured into a small kettle and the 'cups' are small roundish shallow bowls of the same material of the kettle. Here's a picture from someone else's site for illustration purposes. My dining companion wasn't keen to drink, so we didn't order any. The Korean family next to our table added Sprite to the concoction. Ooh, probably will try it at home next time!

cold drinking water (free)

Our order of samgyetang arrived first, but the side dishes (banchan 반찬) did not come till much much later.

ginseng chicken soup (삼계탕)

one whole small chicken

flavored salt

Spoons and chopsticks are in a container on the table, so please self-service.

getting ready to eat

The ginseng chicken soup was healthy tasting. In fact, it was rather mild, so the salt came in handy. The chicken stuffing consist of one good sized ginseng, red dates, garlic and glutinous rice. Lots of green onions in the soup as well. Liked the soft glutinous rice that had absorbed all the essence of the chicken and ginseng.

glutinous rice

There were 8 types of side dishes served that day.

banchans (반찬)

The Korean family next to my table was quite amused by me taking pictures of banchans. Probably a little difficulty to understand why someone would want to photograph ordinary side dishes that they've been eating on a daily basis.

Spicy side dishes

I don't know what's this, but it tasted like spicy 金针菇

kimchi

Non-spicy side dishes

steamed egg

beansprouts

anchovies

shitake mushrooms

fishcake strips

Enjoyed all the side dishes but my favourite ones were the fishcake, the unknown spicy one, kimchi and beansprouts.

Mr Kim sajangnim was busy cooking that night. He only came out once in a while to serve the customers.

The haemul pajeon took the longest time to cook. But it was such a pretty plate when it came.

seafood pancake (해물파전)

Aren't these pretty? Reminds me of spring!

Although its name was seafood pancake, the only prevalent ingredients were spring onions and squid. The pancake was also kind of undercooked on its inside. Not sure if that's how it was meant to be?

not sure what's inside this mixture, but recommended to dip the pajeon in this

squid peeking out

We paid $35 for 2 pax and we ate well that night. 잘먹었습니다~

Here's the link to second visit.

Othello's @ Greenwood Avenue

Went over to Othello's for post dinner dessert and drinks.

outside of Othello's

nice font

wine menu

Got ourselves two glasses of white wine; St. Claire (Malborough NZ) and Tyrells Moore's Creek Chardonnay (Australia).

wine by the glass

Fruity, light and mild. The white wine by the glass was priced between $10+ and $13+. We also had an apple crumble to share.

apple crumble with vanilla ice-cream

piping hot baked apple

hot apple with cold ice-cream was nice~

Ended our night with beer. 'Old Speckled Hen' on tap. Hahaa, first time trying this!

nice looking ashtray

Old Speckled Hen with foam

then, it became darker coloured

The beer tasted a tad like Kilkenny, some bitterness and smooth. Should drink it when it's all cloudy and cold. Because towards the very end, it tasted like a hint of soy sauce. Whoops, probably my taste bud went haywire!

Peperoni Pizzeria L'Estaminet @ Greenwood Avenue, Hillcrest Park

Located at 6 Greenwood Avenue, this is a pretty cool neighbourhood bar/restaurant. Parking is free, by the roadside. Went on a Friday evening without reservation and the only seats available were the ones at the out bar counter. It's actually at the courtyard/backyard so it's open roofed. Lucky for us, it didn't rain.

This place seems popular. Young people, middle-aged, families...all seemed to be enjoying themselves. Saw many tables with the XXL (21 inch) pizza. Impressive!

menu

our view for the night

firing up the pasta orders~

good old sturdy high chair

For food, we ordered a medium sized (9 inch) Prosciutto Crudo di Parma (parma ham and rocket leaves) and a Vongole (venus clams in white wine). And drinks, we had iced-water. If you had a chance to look at their online menu, take a look at the price of iced water. The people here do know how to joke!

iced water (free)

loved those thick paper napkins

Food arrived at about 15 minutes later.

pretty looking Prosciutto Crudo di Parma

lovingly drizzled with lots and lots of olive oil

The pizza has a very thin crust, and best to be eaten as soon as it reaches the table. The sides were still crunchy when we bit into it. Beer food!

Vongole

look at those plump Venus clams~

The Vongole was really nice. Noodles done al-dente but not undercooked, not too much oil, not too salty, lots of sliced garlic and many many clams. Yummy~

didn't need any of these

The total bill came up $41 for the 2 mains. Kudos to the lady staff who attended to us. Friendly service, with a sense of humour. Thanks!

PS. Cafe @ Harding Road, Dempsey

The previous time that we wanted to have dessert, it was running on full house. This time round, went on a weekday and could get a table without any fuss. Liked their decor.

There was a smell lingering in the air within the indoor area which I couldn't quite put my finger on. Anyway, we were seated outdoor, and the diners seated indoor didn't look bothered. So probably it was just me.

dinner menu

nice flowers

we were here, and yes they do serve iced water

Wasn't that hungry so we ordered two pots of PS. Blend and a plate of truffle shoestring fries to share. Was quite impressed when the fries arrived. It was like really huge portion!

a mountain of truffle fries (@$15++)

salted, cheese'ed and oiled

The smell of the truffle wasn't overpowering, and it was quite addictive to eat. One after another, again and again while it's still hot. Yums. You could also choose the dips for the fries. I was greedy. I chose all. Well, all the complimentary ones, that is.

from the front moving anti-clockwise: mustard, BBQ, mayo, chili, ketchup

As we reached the bottom of the pile of the fries, the oily-ness really seeped in. No worries, our pot of tea to the rescue.

tea

strained leaves

Didn't really read what was inside the PS. Blend, but probably it has Earl Grey? Sure tasted a hint of that flavour. Overall, it gave a pleasant gentle taste.

sugar sugar

It was easy to sit for a few hours chatting with friends there.

wow...the aftermath...

interesting stuffs on the table

The prices are generally on the high side.

Wine Connection Tapas Bar & Bistro Robertson Walk (Part II)

Visited on a Friday night, and outdoor seating was full. The hostess was helpful in getting us indoor seats instead. As usual, the place was noisy. You'll either have to shout just to talk to someone just right in front of you. Or, couples would lean closely and whisper directly into each other's ears.

bottles and bottles of wine

Ordered a tiramisu and a warm tapas of BBQ sausages to share while waiting for our friends to arrive.

tiny cup of tiramisu

The dessert tasted more like mousse. Didn't detect any alcohol in it though. Only the center (and that's a very very small area) had the layering, due to its narrow container base.

inside view

For drinks, I had Barbar (@$9++).

Barbar makes a sweet thirst quencher

nice hue with 8% alcohol level

Here's the BBQ sausages (@$5++) from the warm tapas selection.

was it the sausages or the sauce that's homemade?

actually, I have no idea what meat went in there...

The sausages were kind of smallish. It didn't taste too bad but just not what I like. The sauce was not much help either.

Probably the outdoor seats were in higher demand as the noise level outside can be considered lower than the indoor area. We were at this place because the Wine Connection Bistro was fully packed and they don't practice waiting list. However, the other place began to ease out when it was over 11pm. The only catch, no more food at Wine Connection Bistro at that hour.