[Media Invite] Lin "林" Rooftop Bar @ Link Hotel Tiong Bahru

Was invited by fellow makan kaki, Hence, to try Lin Rooftop Bar at Link Hotel located in Tiong Bahru. Never been there before, so went online to search for some information and of course, to get directions to the place. The only other rooftop bar that I've been to, was way back in 2014. Read about it here.

at level "R" of Link Hotel

 

all the specials

Happy Hours are from 5pm to 8pm daily, where their Asian cocktails go for $12 nett per glass and a half pint of draught beer goes for $6 nett. Ladies night happens on Thursdays where one could enjoy daiquiri or margarita just $10 nett.

terracotta in da house

table for two

Went to check out its bar, and ordered a drink to accompany the food. Was quite intrigued by Spirited Away (vodka, strawberry liquer and lychee syrup) but Roy recommended Rustic Sky as one of Lin's popular choice. Ok, can do too.

bar

But first, he made an off-menu drink; a mocktail that tasted like lemon tea but with a twist.

Asian Lemon Tea mocktail

Rustic Sky, coming right up!

(right to left) Asian Lemon Tea and Rustic Sky (rum, sour plum, lime juice)

I like sour plum, so quite liked the Rustic Sky cocktail. Get it for $12 nett during Happy Hour, otherwise $18++. Not strong on the onset, but gradually hits you when it was almost towards the end of the glass.

When in a bar, eat bar food. Yup, how about a basket of beer battered luncheon meat with cheese center? Hot from the fryer and served with a honey mustard dip. Did not feel too greasy, and luncheon meat was somewhat moist but not much of cheese flavour though. A nice snack to start.

Lin "林" Dynasty @$10.80++

Also tried the Wu Xiang Pop, which was really popcorn chicken bites tossed with five-spiced powder, deep fried till crisp and served with Sriracha sauce. Quite addictive to pop one after the other into the mouth. Thought it would be awesome with pork belly version.

Wu Xiang Pop @$9.80++

For more substantial food, order the mains. Ever heard of Juicy Lucy? Beef burger served with a huge mound of shoestring fries (seasoned with five-spiced powder) and coleslaw.

Juicy Lucy Beef Burger @$18.80++

streaky bacon, melted cheddar cheese, caramelized onions, some rockets

homemade juicy beef patty

The burger has all the essential ingredients but it was a tad too salty for my liking, unfortunately. The five spice in the fries was too mild to be detected. Wondered if curry would work better?

The pasta was enjoyable, with the spaghetti done al-dente, tossed with lots of black pepper and some chilies and has a slightly sweetish sauce to it.  The sauce did scream Asian flavours! The slices of smoked duck was more than generous.

Asian Smoked Duck Pasta @$14.80++

Thought the food prices are rather reasonable and of good portions. Drinks prices are quite attractive during Happy Hours. Nice place to unwind, and not too crowded on Thursdays. Didn't get to try their marinated pork belly or also known as "Babe", as this item is usually prepared in limited portions. Just our luck that this was already sold out on our day of visit.

Thank you Roy, Lin Rooftop Bar for hosting us, and the friendly crew for your service.Thank you Hence for the invite!

Here are some sources of information on Lin:
Website: http://www.lin.com.sg/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/linrooftopbar/
Instagram: @linrooftopbar

[Media Invite] ChokChai Mookata 泰式火锅铁板烧 @ Blk 340 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1

Mookata in the heartlands. Want to have mookata in your neighbourhood coffeeshop? Now you can. ChokChai Mookata is currently nestled deep in the Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1 neighbourhood. About 15 minutes walk from Ang Mo Kio MRT. We headed towards AMK Hub, and then crossed the road towards the HDB blocks. Cut through the blocks and you will pass by one or two coffeeshops before arriving at the destination.

menu

The place is a brightly lit coffeeshop. On our night of visit, we spied that there were about two other tables that were enjoying mookata as well. Otherwise, one could opt to have prata as the other stalls seemed to be closed.

If you are a family of four adults and two children, the $45 set menu should be sufficient. If more food is needed, there are ala-carte options as well. The meat options starts from $3/$6 per portion, while vegetable portions are priced at $1.50 each. If you don't feel like having the fixed items in the set, then you can go on full ala-carte options with a minimum order of $15.

ready

ChokChai Mookata $45 Set Menu

Our group of 6 adults (5 ladies and one guy) had the $45 set menu comfortably, with some additional items such as liver, Thai instant noodle and cheese tofu.

Thai instant noodles @$1

cheese tofu @$2.50

The set includes Thai black pepper chicken, Thai garlic lean meat, pork belly, prawn, sotong, scallop, pork balls, fish balls, crabsticks, hotdogs, xiao bai cai, cabbage, golden mushroom, sweet corn, carrot, tang hoon and egg.

meaty affair

ChokChai Mookata takes pride in their mookata broth and chili dips. According to Mr Len Wang, owner of ChokChai Mookata, the broth is boiled from pork bones, pandan leaves and other ingredients, while the chilies were imported from Thailand.

golden pork broth

ChokChai Mookata green and red chili dips

Both the red and green chili dips were rather spicy with the red being the spiciest of the two. I'd dare say that the red was of two notches in spice level above the green. The green chili is named as seafood chili and is more tangy savoury salty while the red is slightly sweet and more spicy. Joy, one of the native Thai service staff, recommends to dip the sauce separately to get its full taste, but I think the mixed version was rather nice too.

First step in mookata dining (after turning up the fire, of course), is to oil the hotplate. Pieces of lard were utilized for this purpose. Reminded me of  ジンギスカン.

oil the hotplate naturally

Then, just pile the meats onto the hot grill and the rest of the hardy vegetables and meatballs into the soup.

let it sizzle, let it boil

While waiting for the food to cook, one could order up a plate of prawn som tam as appetiser. Be warned that this plate could be rather spicy for some. Lovely salad and we were ready for the grilled stuffs.

ส้มตำ (som tam goong) @$5

almost done

Communal dining, cooking your own food, cooking for your family/buddies, were all part of the experience. We became somewhat loud, boisterous and basically, had fun.

let's eat

Marinated meats were tasty and I particularly liked the garlic pork. Slightly sweet but tasted so good with the chili dips. The pork liver was fresh and cooked easily. The cabbage was really sweet and after having our fill of the expertly sliced thin liver cooked in the broth, the broth became almost like the bak chor mee soup. So robust and tasty!

more soup please

Used to think that mookata was difficult to manage. The meats would usually slip into the broth due to the dome shaped grill. Glad to report that we didn't have that problem at ChokChai Mookata. However, wished that the circular section could have more depth and slightly wider to cook our vegetables and noodles.

Am of the opinion that mookata could be quite popular with families dining out on weekends. My neighbourhood foodcourt used to have one and it gained popularity after some time. The smell and sound of meat sizzling was the main draw.

Thank you Len and ChokChai Mookata for hosting the dinner, and Hence (@chubbybotakkoala) for the invite. To my makan kakis; Kris (@msginginly), Jennifer (@jellylovesfats), Melissa (@cptslowyeo) and Tiara (@tiara_star), you guys are fun to be with! Thank you and let's meet again!

ChokChai Mookata

Location: Blk 340 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1, Singapore 560340
Contact: 9778 3942 or email: chokchaimookata@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chokchaimookata/
Instagram: @chokchai_mookata
Business Hours:
Mon-Sun: 17:00 - 23:00

Ma Maison Restaurant @ The Central Clarke Quay

It has been a long while, Ma Maison @ The Central. Last visited in 2011, and recently had a chance to get re-acquainted with the place and the food, once more. Sourcing for a place to dine, and had wanted to try newer places (say, aren't that what we are doing nowadays?) but eventually, decided to drop by Ma Maison. Had always liked its cosy ambiance.

country-styled Japanese interior

nice shade

There were 3 of us, so we got ourselves an appetiser, a soup, 3 mains and a fruit tart to share. Service was quick and friendly.

clam chowder soup @$6.30++

chockful of clams

The clam chowder soup was rather enjoyable. Warm soup to start is always a good idea.

Noted that Ma Maison's cocktails are priced reasonably at less than $10, so got myself a Sangria to try. The bottom of the glass had some kind of syrup (am guessing is fruit syrup), so one got to stir the stuffs in. Sweeter than the usual Sangrias but still nice to sip. Quite good to pair with the fried cheese fritters!

Sangria @$9.50++

cheese fritter @$9.80++

camembert cheese

The cheese fritters were like comfort-food. Familiar like our local fried fritters yet, has the element of western cheese. Served with a honey dip, which we made full-use of. The taste was enhanced when a little honey was applied.

The karubi don arrived in its cast pan, and looked pretty good to eat. Bottom most of the pan consist of rice, layered on top with slices of beef karubi and sauced. Then, topped with various vegetables such as baby corn, asparagus, broccoli, and carrots. Pinched some to eat and the sauce was rather salty. The beef slices were good though. Tender with a slight chew.

カルビ丼 @$24.80++

Another friend ordered the Tonkatsu ala-carte and it arrived looking good. The pork cutlet was of a good sized and served with a small mound of potato salad and a huge pile of shredded cabbage. The cutlet was fried to a golden brown and has quite a good crunch on the crumbed crust.

豚カツ @$16.80++ (ala-carte)

looking rosy

Think this should be the normal loin cut and the meat was rather lean. Has a good firm meat texture and those bits that had some fats, were so good!

I had the Omu Tonteki, which was essentially egg-wrapped fried rice with grilled pork loin slices. The egg was nicely wobbly and soft but unfortunately, the pork was a letdown in terms of texture. It was too tough. Taste wise, it was enjoyable.

トンテキオムライス@$19.80++

Lastly, ended the night with something sweet; a mixed fruit tart. Depending on availability on that day.

all the best to MH!

On Mondays, all ladies will get to enjoy 20% off for ala-carte orders. However, there are many items that do not fall under this ala-carte category, hence, you might want to clarify with the service staff first.

bring this to the cashier to make payment

Expect to spend about $40 per pax for a 2-course meal with a shared dessert.

Kacyo 花蝶 @ 46 Bukit Pasoh Road | Restaurant Week March 2016

Kacyo serves Washoku (和食) which quintessentially means Japanese cuisine with Japanese ingredients. Kacyo was found in 1927, Ginza Kabuki-cho. Since February 2016, it has a branch in Singapore at 46 Bukit Pasoh, where its neighbours include Restaurant Andre and Majestic. Chose Kacyo as one of the restaurants to try for Singapore Restaurant Week 2016, March edition. If you are driving, you may want to consider utilizing the valet services around this area. Nearest MRT would be Outram.

The restaurant exudes elegance, with private dining room, and the inner sections catering to larger groups of diners.

beautiful chopstick holder

My dining companion was ultra late for our dinner, so I was just sitting around inconspicously while the junior waitstaff would come by every so often to refill the tea. There seemed to be some event happening that night at the inner sections. Perhaps, a company function. The private room was also occupied. For counter seats, most of the dining parties would order a bottle or two of sake, or a glass of wine to have with their dinner.

The Japanese chef brought out the appetisers to our table. "Egg pudding, pumpkin soup and tofu with sesame sauce." He said. Then, he repeated, "In Japanese, this is chawanmushi, kabocha and goma tofu." Such a cute chef, he was.

かぼちゃスップ、ちゃわんむし、ごま豆腐

Ah, forgot to ask which one to start with. Never mind, I would go with the cold items first. The pumpkin soup. Tasted natural and mild. Pleasant. The tofu was the most interesting. Its texture was more 'sticky' or 'Q' than all the tofu's that I had eaten thus far. That bit of ikura and wasabi on it, completed the tofu and the sesame sauce was really appetising. Chawanmushi was smooth and tasty and had lots of sprout-like ingredients in it that added some healthy crunch to the smooth egg custard.

interesting texture, overall good taste - おもしろいですね！

Next, was the fried items; tempura. Chef did not make his appearance here. This plate was brought out by the other service staff. Mostly vegetable items for the tempura consisting of eggplant, pumpkin and shishito pepper. Liked the prawn and shishito pepper (獅子唐辛子) the most. The style here is without sauce and instead, one could eat it with a bit of the seaweed salt. It was unfortunate that the pumpkin tempura tasted a tad undercooked.

天ぷら

At this point in time, our hot sake arrived. Ordered a warm sake and chose the recommended Shochikubai (Hanjozo). The hot sake tasted pleasant and deceptively mild, as the alcohol would not hit you till you are almost at the end of the bottle.

Shochikubai (Hanjozo) sake (warm) @$24++ per 300ml bottle

For mains, we ordered one of each; Japanese beef steak and grilled Japanese eel. Only when Chef brought out the dishes, did we know that the beef and eel were from the Kagoshima prefecture. 

Was dissappointed that the eel portion was so tiny. Kagoshima is said to be the biggest producers of farmed eel in Japan, and if this plate is of the farmed version, then the beef steak would offer a better value for money.

Grilled Kagoshima Eel

Kagoshima Beef Steak - medium rare

As expected, the Kagoshima beef steak was good, though I only had a slice. The accompanying greens included asparagus, broccolini, carrot and mushroom that was quite tasty as well.

Then, we were served the next course, of 5-piece assorted sushi served with a bowl of miso soup. The sushi was ordinary but it did its job to fill us up. After copious cups of sake, there was still a bit left. It had, by then, turned cold. The sake had a flowery fragrance that became very apparent, the moment its temperature went down. Interesting.

salmon ikura, hotate, prawn, hamachi and white fish

For desserts, we were served the Kacyo Original Ice-cream which was matcha flavoured. Found it to be creamy and quite milky. Nice.

Kacyo Original Ice-cream

The last surprise came, when the last cup of our green tea was exchanged with a hot one, and it turned out to be savoury! Wooo! Tasted like clear soup, but visually still looked like green tea. Magic.

Lovely place, and service was great. Expect to spend between $80 - $100 per pax for dinner.