Friday, July 1, 2022

[Tasting] Guriru グリル @ 2 College Road

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Guriru (or 'grill') is neatly tucked inside 2 College Road. It offers diners an alfresco dining ambiance complete with swimming pool view, perfect for us to unwind after a hard day's work. Some may even say that this place has the vacation vibes!

follow the sign

dining by the pool


view from our table

Guriru is a charcoal-grilled seafood concept by Chef Teppei Yamashita . Its menu is inspired by the Japanese Hamayaki (浜焼き). In the traditional sense, Hamayaki usually have freshly caught seafood broiled at a beach. While it isn't an exact match, the relaxed and happy vibes of Hamayaki are carried over to Guriru, and the restaurant do receive fresh locally caught seafood as well as importing some other premium seafood from Japan, such as the oysters and beef.


To order, simply scan the QR code that from the slip of paper placed on your table.


How about we start off the meal with some oysters from Hyogo? Raw oysters served with homemade ponzu sauce. Our friendly service staff, Berna brought out the tabasco sauce for us even without us asking for it.

Hyogo Oysters @ $19 (half dozen)



White wine works well with seafood, but of course, feel free to select your tipple of choice. While there is no Happy Hour implemented at Guriru, the current prices of the drinks are reasonable.


White Wine (Gold Trees Sauvignon Blanc) @$12, or Sake (Nambujin Tokubetsu Junmai) @$15 per glass

Yuzu Highball @$15

Aki-Momiji (lychee, lime, soda) @$8

One can never get enough of oysters, so we got the grilled oysters as well. One could opt for butter garlic, or simply shoyu sauce for the grilled oysters.

grilled Hyogo oysters

grilled Hyogo oysters (garlic butter, shoyu)

If you prefer something more substantial, meaning with carbs, and you still love Hyogo oysters, I'd say... go for the Guriru Oyster Rice. Portion is enough to be comfortably shared amongst 4 pax to savor its flavours. Slow-cooked japanese rice with special sauce and topped with Hyogo oysters. Good wholesome savoury flavours. Very likeable but do leave some stomach space for other items!


Guriru Oyster Rice @$18

For typical Japanese izakaya snacks, we tried the recommendations from Berna.

Crispy Salmon Skin @$9

Eihire (dried stingray fin) @$12


Fugu Mirin Boshi (marinated puffer fish slices) @$14


Kawa Ebi (tossed in seasoning) @$10

Salmon skin was served warm and it was indeed crispy as its name implied. Quite shioks to hear the crunch when you munch on it. The fried small prawns (kawa ebi) was addictive as well. One can't help but to continuously pop one after another into the mouth.

The eihire and fugu mirin boshi at Guriru, is not those super crisp types. It felt 'meatier', with strong flavours and goes well with the drinks.

favourite snack of the night


Let's get more food from the Hamayaki Live Charcoal Grill! How about some good sized black tiger prawns, shishamo, whole squid and kurobuta pork belly? Yes please.


Black Tiger Prawns @$6.50 (1 piece) / $25 (5 pieces)


Shishamo @$9 (5 pieces)

Whole Squid @$16

Kurobuta Pork Belly @$12

All the grill items were done beautifully. My favourites are the Whole Squid and Kurobuta Pork Belly. The squid flavours was subtle and mild, with tender texture. None of those rubbery nonsense. 

The pork belly did not disappoint. We learnt that the meat was slow-cooked for 4 hours before getting its time on the grill. The meat was wonderfully tender was yet still holds firm when picked-up with the chopsticks. Must try.

closer view of deliciousness

There's pizza on the menu too!

Prosciutto Pizza @$21

thin crust pizza

We also sampled some special items prepared by Chef Teppei; Grilled Hitachi Beef and Foie Gras ice-cream.

Hitachi Beef

The beef texture was so soft, and tender. Such delicate texture. The sauce is strongly flavoured so a tiny dab of it will do. Seems like the sauce has some spicy element to it.

To complete the meal, we enjoyed the hot and cold, savoury and sweet combination of foie gras vanilla cinnamon ice-cream. Do eat it right after it is served as it melts pretty quickly. Unusual and interesting. Could be something that you either will like or will hate it.

Foie Gras Ice-Cream

Overall, the food was enjoyable and service was excellent with staff always moving about to top-up the water, to clear off empty plates or simply to enquire if diners need to add any other orders.

Alfresco dining has its plus points as well as downside. For me, if the day gets too hot, I do prefer air-conditioned dining. I suppose an ice-cold beer would be of some help? Hahaa! But on cooler days, it is pretty nice to dine with the pool view. Feels like a staycation, well...almost.

Thank you Hence for the invite and Eunice for hosting the tasting. Special thanks to Chef Teppei for feeding us with delicious food and not forgetting the lovely staff of Guriru.


Guriru グリル 

Address: 2 College Rd, Level 1, Singapore 169850

Websitehttps://www.guriru.sg/

Reservationhttps://www.chope.co/singapore-restaurants/restaurant/guriru

Contact: 9010 7020

Business Hours:

Closed on Sundays.

Mon - Thur: 12–10:30pm

Fri - Sat: 12-11:30pm



Sunday, June 19, 2022

Beast and Butterflies - 2022 @ 90 Robertson Quay

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Not a stranger to this place, read more from this post. Went back there in May 2022 with Tracy, Hence and Ivan. Our visit was more memorable as Fiona really made sure we had a good time there. Thank you!

It is quite obvious that my favourites there are the Hokkien Mee and Pork Knuckles. This time round, I wanted to try the lamb rack, so we got that too. Also took the chance to enjoy their weekend 2 hours free-flow cocktail with top-up of $25++. You could select the Mimosa, Aperol or Sangria. I tried the Sangria and I do agree with Fiona that the concoction is delicious!


Claypot Hokkien Mee @$14


Crispy Pork Knuckle @$22 (half portion)


Is it just me or the portion of the pork knuckles seemed to have decreased? Hahaa, I think I could do a full portion next time! Crackly skin and moist meat. Hokkien mee is as flavourful as I remembered it albeit it had lesser crispy pork lard but I am sure if you request for more, it will likely be acceded.

Lamb Rack (300gm) @$48


Lamb Rack was the most expensive item but it was pretty good and we liked it for its succulent texture. Well seasoned too, so each bite was precious. No additional sauce was required.

We were kept happy with our cocktail. Mood was light and jovial with a touch of sweetness, and Fiona did check on us to see if there's anything else that we needed.

Sangria


Of course, we ended our meal with dessert. Not just one or two, but four!

(from left to right) Molten Chocolate Cake, Apple Pie, Lemon Tart 


Pandan Panna Cotta @$12


The Pandan Panna Cotta has that distinctive pandan fragrance and the rich sweetness from the gula melaka sauce. It was wobbly and not too dense.

The Molten Chocolate Cake, I just love digging into all the chocolatey gooey goodness for that decadent bite. 

Molten Chocolate Cake @$17



For the apple pie, I liked the version here because it is not too sweet. Lovely to enjoy by yourself or with friends.

Apple Pie @$10



The lemon tart was lovely too with some tart/tangy/sweetness from the lemon flavours and to be honest, I think you can find something that you will like.

Lemon Tart @$8


Thank you Tracy, Hence and Ivan for the birthday treat. Am glad to have all of you in my life to enjoy the delicious food and our adventurous impromptu travels. 

Special shoutout to Fiona and team at Beast and Butterflies.

Beast and Butterflies

Address: M Social Singapore 90 Robertson Quay Singapore 238259
Contact: 9183 9420

Saturday, June 4, 2022

Afternoon Tea @ 1864 The Bar, Sofitel Singapore City Centre

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Since we were staying at Sofitel City Centre, it made sense to also try their Afternoon Tea, served at 1864 The Bar, which is located at the hotel reception area.

1864 The Bar


The most distinguishable characteristic of 1864, is the huge teddy bear laying on the sofa for each table. Comes in different colours too! Ours was white.


Afternoon Tea 

Available from 2:00pm to 5:00pm, and because it was the weekend, we paid $118++ for two pax.



tea for you


coffee for me


I guess solo guest will not be able to enjoy the Afternoon Tea since it comes as a set for two pax.

box cover


The cakes and pastries were served in a box and it can be nicely pulled out to reveal the upper deck and lower deck. The top deck held the sweets while the lower deck had all the savouries! In the event that you need to 'dabao', can just conveniently take the entire box back to the room. Ingenious idea.

the sweets

the savouries



Hmm, I guess scones are considered as savoury? What do you usually start off with? My friends were aghast when I started with scone. I just wanted to eat it while it is warm.


enjoying the plain scone


The colours for the Duo Salmon on Brioche was really intriguing, what with the purple coloured bread!

Duo Salmon on Brioche


I was alternating between sweets and savoury and that worked quite well. 

Montblanc

yummy

Top-shell kue pie tee


Mozzarella Cheese Croquette with Truffle Aioli


mozzarella cheese worked well with jam too!


The truffle aioli was really good but it was just a small blob. Very tasty. The mozzarella was a tad firm and dense, so I dabbed it with a bit of jam and voila, it was actually nice!


And, when you think of a macaron, you'd think that it would be sweet but let's see how a foie gras macaron tasted. Hmmm, I didn't like it. Still pretty sweet.

foie gras macaron

hmm, still tasted sweet!


Mango Tart Tartin




I have 3 favorites from the sweets section; Montblanc, Mango Tart Tartin and Honey Cheesecake! The sweetest out of this lot was the Honey Cheesecake. Mango Tart tasted of real mangoes and its texture was softer than expected.

Honey Cheesecake

soft and sweet


By now, I realised I couldn't finish the rest of the sweets which are mainly the chocolate stuffs. I did have them later, and the chocolate was really good as well.

It is impossible to leave this place, feeling hungry.

Lovely tea break with Tracy, Hence and Ivan.

Special thanks to the staff who attended to us that day.

1864 The Bar

Address: 9 Wallich St, #5th Floor Sofitel Singapore City Centre, Singapore 078885
Contact: 6428 5000
 
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