[Media Invite] Apolo Bistro @ Little India Arcade

Am sure you must know The Banana Leaf Apolo Restaurant at Race Course Road, and for the older generations, am assuming that the there's a high chance that you have tried the fish head curry from Banana Leaf? For the young-ones, no worries. Banana Leaf Apolo has been around since 1974 (older than me!) and is no stranger to the Indian food scene in Singapore. But we may not be aware that there is an Apolo Bistro that was just opened in April 2016.

Little India Arcade is about 12 minutes walk from Little India Station. From Rochor Station, it seemed nearer and just about half the time. That is, if you had gone the right way. For some of us, we went one whole big round and ended up spending as much time to both directions. But that's how life is. Some would have taken the short and straight path while some might have taken one big detour but ended up in the same destination.

bistro signage

Apolo Bistro offers a modern and fuss-free comfortable dining space with ample choices for drinks (alcohol and non-alcoholic) and a wide variety of cuisine that was reinterpreted by their native chefs. Besides ala-carte, they do lunch buffet as well and for just $19.90 nett per pax. Buffet menu goes through major change once every month and the items on the menu changes on a daily basis.

current promo

lunch buffet menu for August 2016

Walk up the stairs as the bistro is at Level 2 and turn left. There is a big basin in front of its entrance. Inside, there is one main hall for dining, an alfresco area allowing diners a view of the streets and a quieter area to enjoy pre and post dinner drinks.

indoor seats

alfresco seats overlooking the street

pre and post dinner drinks area

A quick peruse of its menu revealed a pretty ecletic ensemble. To start, would you like to have some Chicken Long Fung Soup or Avocado Crab Soup? Some examples for main course include Red Thai Curry with Pineapple rice, Tandoori Platter and Honey Lemon Chicken with egg. They've got noodles too. Like Teochew Seafood Mee Goreng. Now, tell me that aint fusion. Expectantly, the House favourites are still the Fish Head Curry, Masala Chicken and Mysore Mutton.

menu in a tablet

Chicken Long Fung Soup has gotten me pretty curious. Googled and here is what it says about Long Fung Soup (龍鳳湯):

Lung fung soup (龍鳳湯; pinyin: lóng fèng tāng), or Dragon phoenix soup, is a thick seafood or gou rou soup made with lemon, chili peppers, chicken, snake, and Chinese vegetables.

Wait...rewind. Double-take and rub eyes. Yes, it said 'snake'. The 龍 (dragon) refers to the snake while 鳳 refers to the chicken. Not sure whether the version here uses two of the ingredients or just one. Should have ordered the soup! Hahaha. So excited to see such curious stuffs on the menu.

 Let's see what we tried from Apolo Bistro. We got four items (out of 6) from the starters menu; Turkey Bacon wrapped Prawns, Smoked Duck on Garlic Toast, Deep-fried Devil's Eggs and Buffalo Wings.

Deep Fried Devil's Eggs @ $8++

Turkey Bacon wrapped Prawns @$14.90++

The Devil's eggs (devilled eggs) refers to stuffed eggs where it is basically hard boiled egg with its yolk taken out, seasoned and mixed with mayo, mustard etc. The version here uses a smaller sized eggs, so it was an easy to eat in one bite. Mild tasting and bouncy texture.

Enjoyed the spice marinade in the prawns and Chef revealed that the prawns were marinated with spices first before wrapping it up with turkey bacon and deep fried till turkey bacon turned crisp.

Smoked Duck on Garlic Toast @$12++

Bite into crunchy airy toast but unfortunately, it didn't have much garlic taste. The Smoked Duck on Garlic Toast looked pretty.

Buffalo Wings 1/2 dozen @$15.90++

For about the same price as the prawn starters, one could get the buffalo wings. Meaty and marinated in secret spices, this was a new interpretation of buffalo wings marinade. Good with a beer. Happy Hour till 6pm where house draft (Heineken and Tiger) are on 1-for-1.

For mains, there are Red Thai Curry with Pineapple Rice and Green Curry with Basil Rice. Must say that this dish was rather photegenic. The white rice was served in a pineapple so extra points for presentation effort. Liked the achar served.

Red Thai Curry with Pineapple Rice @$16.90++

The Green Curry on the other hand...was rather concerned with the shade of green in its curry. It was also unfortunately heavily salted. Has an intense coconut milk lemakness to it. The rice tasted of just normal basmati rice.

Apolo's resident Chef has worked in Bangkok prior and hence, the Thai-influenced items in the menu.

Green Curry with Basil Rice@$15.90++

Next, we ordered items that Apolo excels at. Fish Head curry, Palak Paneer, Rogan Josh, Yellow Daal and naans.

favourites

The Fish Head Curry (small) was actually large enough to feed an army. Ok, kidding. It feeds 4-5 pax. The curry was tangy and whets the appetite. Spice level was probably just 2 out of 5. Fish head was good and fresh. Yums!

Fish Head Curry (S) @$22++

Next, the tandoori chicken. The full portion has about 8 pieces of chicken to it. Found the flavours a tad too mild though.

Tandoori Chicken @$20++

If you like chewy naans, then the version here would suit your taste. Quite QQ in my opinion. Ate my naans with the trio of Rogan Josh (not spicy), yellow daal (@$8++) and palak paneer (@$10++). The Rogan Josh was surprisingly not spicy.

garlic naan @$3.50++ per piece (plain naan @$3 per piece) (pictured 2 pieces portion)

Rogan Josh (@$15++)

Oh, how about desserts? Yes, we did try some. Traditional Indian sweets as well as the usual bistro fare. The chocolate fondant tasted of the usual. Rasmalai was a tad too interesting for me. Wiki'ed it up and discovered that the yellow curd/cheese looking like flat balls is believed to have originated from West Bengal. The head Chef at Apolo Bistro is from Bangalore. Perhaps, a homage to his hometown?

Chocolate Fondant @$8++

Rasmalai @$6++

In Hindi, ras means juice and malai means cream. Indeed this flattened yellow balls are juicy and has cottage-like kinda spongy creamy. But, it is an acquired taste. Sorry, but this one is not for me.

Now, kulfi is quite lovely. Nicely cold and sweet but not overly sweet. However, the mango taste eluded me in this mango kulfi.

Mango Kulfi @$6++

Apolo Bistro offers not just Indian food but there is something for everyone. You'd like a Yamazaki whisky or some wine with the fragrantly spiced food? Not a problem, the option is available.

Thank you Apolo Bistro for hosting the dinner and HGW for the invite. Glad to know that there is such a cosy place where one could enjoy a wide variety of options in food and drinks menu.

Harry's Bar @ Novena

Harry's has a set lunch promotion where one could get a main course (choose one from 10 choices) and  a drink for just $15++. Drinks could be coffee, tea or juices.

Set Lunch menu

We ordered Chicken Masala, Harry's Jazz Burger, Prawn Star and Crabmeat Spaghettini.

Crabmeat Spaghettini and Harry's Jazz Burger (served with chips and spicy slaw)

Chicken Masala

The Chicken Masala was served with charcoal bread. Kinda novel to eat black bread. Unfortunately, the chicken masala was rather salty and the chicken meat was so tough. Ugh.

Prawn Star

For the lunch sets, just get the pasta. Lovely al-dente Prawn Star and if you like your noodles slightly softer, then go for the Crabmeat Spaghettini.

The place is usually relaxed during lunch hour, so if you're looking for a place with high chances of getting a table during weekday lunch time, then head on here. The lunch set is reasonably priced.

Morganfield's Singapore - Weekend Ribs Buffet @ Star Vista

For pork ribs lovers, you can indulge in Morganfield's Weekend Ribs Buffet that is currently available every weekend on Saturday, Sundays and Public Holidays from 11am to 4pm at $40++ per pax. Unlimited servings of delicious tender tasty sticky bones! Plus, there are some sides to provide a bit of distraction from the ribs.

Also, don't worry if drinks is not inclusive in the buffet as $11++ could get you a pint of Asahi or Kronenbourg draft. How about your children, you're asking? Kids below 6 years old eat for free with their paying adult. Maximum of two kids per table redemption. What about if there is an adult in the party who doesn't want to get the buffet? No problem too as ala-carte dishes are still available. Good to know that there is no requirements for all in the party to get the buffet as long as the buffet food is not shared to non-buffet person.

Morganfield's need no further introduction and I've been there multiple times, with most visit to Star Vista outlet. Noticed that their weekday set lunch deals (comes with a drink and a soup with the main course) menu had expanded a little over the years. Now, besides the grilled and half-rack sticky bones, there are sandwiches and salads too.

window seat

For Weekend Ribs Buffet, simply indicate into the order chit your order and the quantity. One portion of the buffet ala-carte stickby bones is a quarter of a slab and that translates to two bones.

indicate your order

The good thing about the ribs buffet, was that it allowed the customer to try more than 1 flavour in one sitting. We tried quarter slab of each flavour just to see which one we liked more.

all four flavours please

And what better to accompany the smokey, sauce slathered sticky bones? Beer, of course. There might be on-going craft beer (bottled) promotions, so do enquire from staff.

American craft

I prefer my Asahi, while bro got his Kronenbourg Lager. Refreshing on a warm day.

Asahi glass seemed bigger!

I think I ordered garden veggies, and was expecting some green leaves but it turned out to be hardy vegetables instead. Should've gotten coleslaw instead!

garden veggies

Was quite impressed with the plate of sticky bones. Quarter slab of each flavour. Very long and big bones, yay!

quarter slab sticky bones (right to left): Hickory BBQ, Smoked Peppercorn, Spicy Asian, Garlic BBQ

We started from mild to strong flavours. The Hickory BBQ which is their original sticky bones. Lovely meat, fork tender while retaining some bite. Loved the fatty charred bits. The smoked peppercorn has a tinge of spice to it but still pleasantly mild.
 

Garlic BBQ - close up

Next, the Spicy Asian seemed to have that soy based flavour and although there's a dried chili pepper adorning that quarter, it wasn't as spicy as it looked. Lovely char. Next, was what my bro called the tastiest of the lot, the Garlic BBQ. Indeed, it was also the strongest in flavour. Goes well with beer and loved the crunchy garlic bits.

yummy tender meat

[Media Invite] The Quarters - Inspired Singapore Cuisine @ Icon Village

The Quarters is located at Icon Village and near Matchaya and Cold Storage. The Quarters serves local inspired flavours, executing the dish with a whole lot of passion and presenting it to diners in a comfortable cafe-bistro like setting. Was invited by Kris to join fellow foodie gang to have a taste of Chef Chung Deming's creations.


But of course, the direction-less me managed to get myself lost. But that's only because I didn't realise that The Quarters is located in Icon Village itself...so, here's a short video showing to to get there when you're at Icon Village doorstep.




Ok, the place is cosy and there are some on-going promotion for the month of August. Like the 1-for-1 main course (3 selected mains; Ma Jie Indulgence (chili crab pasta), Fish & Chips and Satay Burger), or get The Real McCoy (salted eggyolk chicken burger) with a dessert for just $20.

promotion board

coffee, beer or...

So what exactly do they serve here at The Quarters? Let's have a look at their menu board.

you're welcome

Ok, the names in the menu can be quite a mouthful. Let's have some starters while taking enough time to decide on the mains.
 

Shioks Fries aka Shoestring (double-fried of course!) Fries Half&Half in Salted Egg Yolk and Chili Crab Sauce @$14

Pricey fries, but oh so good. Real crab meat is included. Loved the way the mildly sweet spicy chili crab cuts away some of the richness of the creamy salted eggyolk sauce. The enjoyment is only possible because the fries were good. Still managed to retain its crispiness amidst being doused in double-sauce. As Tiara puts it, once you start...you can't stop.

If you have a beer/cider on hand, how about some har cheong popcorn gai (chicken) with power belachan dip? Liked the level of spice in the power belachan but together with the well marinated har cheong gai, the combo could come across as a tad too salty if it was eaten on its own without some soda or beer.

Har Cheong Gai @$9.50

Having tasted the appetisers, now let's proceed to main course.

First up, The Real McCoy. Imagine crispy oat battered chicken thigh meat that has been marinated for 24-hours in buttermilk and 'secret' spices. And coat this with lots of golden sandy velvety salted eggyolk sauce. The smell of the sauce was quite strong but its taste was interestingly balanced. Chef Chung shared that this was to allow all the three major components of chicken marinade, crispy oats and salted eggyolk sauce to be showcased.

The Real McCoy @ $14 (usual price: $16)

The Real McCoy was quite a substantial burger and we used the remaining fries to mop up the salted eggyolk sauce. Don't waste.

lunch crowd can opt for local flavoured donburis

The other burger we tried, was The Satay Burger. What's so difficult about a satay burger? Just slap on some peanut sauce and turmeric, onions, and lemongrass marinated grilled chicken meat lor. Hmm, not so fast and not so easy. Perhaps there's an easier way but Chef Chung has his own methodology of doing things due to his passion in delivering a dish that's not only packed with locally inspired flavours but made with heart.

The Satay Burger @$17

The Satay Burger came with Chef's choice of charred rice patties that's smokey and crisp on the outside and chewy on the insides. In between, we have well marinated chicken thigh and a small jar of Javanese peanut sauce. Assemble the julienned cucumbers and onions into the burger and that completes the satay experience when one bites into it. Right flavours but need a bigger portion of this. Upsize?

Or, get a dessert?

You have heard all about duriancanboleh created by Chef Chung. Why, here's a website dedicated to the pud: http://www.dcbcravings.com/

So we tried a different flavour, the passionfruit creme brulee. Soft and creamy.

Passionfruit creme brulee @$8.50

Or, try their Wonderffle topped with Lemongrass and Pandan ice-creams topped with gula melaka glaze. Quite lovely.

Wonderffle @$12.80

handmade ice-creams

Thank you The Quarters and Chef Chung Deming for hosting us and Kris for the invite. Plus, the enjoyable company of fellow foodies.

You can also get the Salted Eggyolk Chili Crab Fries and The Real McCoy from their outlet at Timbre+.

If you enjoyed their sauces, you can purchase their bottled sauces and recreate the local flavours at home.

bottled power belachan and salted eggyolk aioli

Empire State Restaurant @ Causeway Point

Was there recently for late lunch. Causeway Point sure is crowded on a Sunday! Empire State has ongoing promotions where senior citizens aged 55 and above can do a buy 1 get 1 free. Or choose the $19.90++ pasta combo set where one can choose salmon & prawn pasta combo or glazed ribs and ribeye pasta combo and includes drink and soup. Am just going to use my Entertainer App.

restaurant

Ordered 4 main courses to share. Tried the BBQ Pork Ribs, Fish & Chips, Herb Chicken and Squid Ink Pasta.

Herb Chicken @$13.90++

Fish & Chips @$15.90++

The chicken had a mild herb flavour, possibly rosemary. Chicken was alright, and not too dry. The fries needed improvement as it tasted limp.

The fish & chips was a single big slab of crispy battered fish. I think it was dory fish. The slaw was enjoyable although a tad too watery.

BBQ Pork Ribs @$17.90++

Squid Ink Pasta @$15.90++

The pork ribs was a tad too tough but tasty enough. The surprise find was the squid ink pasta which everyone thoroughly enjoyed. Strongly flavoured and tasted good. The prawns and squid was rather limited edition though.

This place is suitable for family and the ongoing promotions made it viable for a family of 6 pax to dine there for about $10 per pax.