Brotzeit German Bier Bar and Restaurant @ Westgate Jurong East

Located at Level 1 of Westgate, next to Paul. Happy Hour till 7pm. And on Sundays, they have four different kinds of Schnitzels with a complimentary side-dish.

menu

still early

At Brotzeit, Radler is my choice of drink. A pint (~0.475 litre) of that goes for $14.50++. Just wished that it had remained chilled for abit longer.

Radler and Dunkel

For carbs, we had Fladen Bayrische (otherwise also known as 'Bavarian Pizza'). Thin crust dark rye bread, topped with bacon, ham, peppers, onions, mushrooms and cheese. Very light flavours.

Fladen Bayrische / Bavarian Pizza

Pork knuckles was pretty popular. Everyone else were ordering it. Maybe next time.

This meal costs $53 for 2 pax.

Pete's Place @ Grand Hyatt Singapore

This italian restaurant is located at the basement level of Grand Hyatt, 10 Scotts Road. Was there to try its Sunday Brunch. Priced at $82++ per pax with free-flow of Guerrieri Rizzardi Prosecco, Querceto Chianti, Ruffino Lumina "Pinot Grigio" and  Tiger draft. There are juice option as well. Non-alcoholic option cost $58++ per pax.

Was easy to make reservations via its website. When the appointed date came, we arrived at about 1145am, and the place was already half-filled.

interior

Prosecco

Informed the service staff that we'll be having the Sunday Prosecco Brunch, and they'll bring the filled to the brim glasses over. Light, slight bitterness, hint of fruit, crisp and dry.

Started with cold seafood. Freshly shucked oysters that most will line up for. Prawns were firm and succulent and the crab was sweet. Not sure why, but the mussels were rather tasteless.

cold seafood selection of mussels, oysters and prawns

And of course, vegetables. Plenty of options, for example tomato salad with cheese, pasta salad and one more that I can't recall whatsitsname. Anyway, one can do their own mix-and-match too.

must eat vege

Now, for the meats. Liked the pork belly, especially at the fattier parts. Felt that the roast beef was abit of a letdown as the piece that I had was particularly stringy and tough to chew. Beef cheeks were alright but thought the texture of the meat tasted more like beef stew. The minced chicken roll was rather nice. Detected a hint of coconut in it.

pork belly, roast beef, and minced chicken

red drum fish, baked fish and beef cheeks

Red drum fish actually tasted somewhat like tuna? Didn't like it though. Prefered the other fish. For the longest time, deep fried calamari was 'out of stock'. So when it was finally available, took some to try.

deep fried calamari, beef carpaccio and smoked salmon with capers

Calamari was soft and its batter crispy. Liked the beef carpaccio and smoked salmon.

a glass of chianti to go with the meats?

How about the pasta? Hmm, there wasn't any gnocchi nor squid ink pasta that day on the buffet line.

ravioli in butter sage

my mini mixed pasta plate of simple pasta, penne with turkey ham (hidden), sweet pea and beef cheek

My brother liked the ravioli, which he said was creamy. The penne with turkey ham was nicely tangy with its tomato based sauce. If you'd like more carbs, perhaps can try the pizza. Thin crust and topped with ample cheese. Yums when eaten hot.

pizza

lovely salads

I think we managed to try most of the desserts. Tiramisu, panna cotta, chocolate, tarts.. all done. Tiramisu was really light and moist. The chocolate tart was really really dense but it was nicely bitter. Yums. Liked the crumble. Has a nice hint of egginess to it.

lovely tiramisu mess

raspberry crumble, panna cotta, chocolate tart, mini tart

hot coffee at the end

A bit of this and a bit of that, all compounded towards the end of the meal. Felt super-full though we didn't eat that much. Drinks, probably just 2 glasses for me. Nevertheless, enjoyed the brunch with my family member.

All in all, cheers to you bro. May all your wishes come true!

Old Hong Kong Kitchen @ Novena Square 2

Located at Level 2 of Novena Square 2. Usually crowded during lunch hours. This place serves dim sum, and was there to have some.

dim sum menu

interior

chrysanthemum tea (@$4.80++ per pot) and cover charge

Actually wanted to order fluffy cha siu bao (叉烧包) but accidentally ticked the bolo cha siu bao instead, without realising it till the order arrived. -_-''

bolo cha siu bao (@$6.80++)

sweet cha siu

The quality had deteriorated. Had this a few months ago at the same place and it was much better. Now, the ratio of bun is very much higher than the fillings plus it was not even warmed up before serving.

rice rolls, deep fried mango prawn and steamed beancurd skin with chicken and fish maw

The chee cheong fun was three thick slab of flour, with honey cha siu, shrimp and scallop fillings.One taste stood out from the chee cheong fun dish. It was sweet. The deep fried mango prawn roll was nicely crunchy but it was tiny.

deep fried breaded mango prawn roll

Colleague said wanted to try the steamed fish maw, chicken, mushroom and pig stomach in beancurd skin.

steamed chicken, fish maw, pig stomach in beancurd skin

Hmm, didn't find any pig stomach in the dish though. Apparently it had been substituted with crabstick instead, and this was done without informing the customer. Tsk tsk.


Also had a basket of salted egg yolk custard bun (流沙奶黄包). The version here is a tiny ball of bao, with thick lava that's full of those salty sweet sandy goodness. Eat it while it's hot.

salted egg yolk custard bun

Prices of dim sum here are averaging from $6 onwards. Very steep. Expect to pay about $18 per pax for ala-carte dim sum, with drinks and cover charges (towel and pickles). If there's any consolation, that price bought me quite a filling dim sum lunch (but am not a big eater anyway). But satisfaction wise...

BangkokJam @ Wheelock Place, Orchard Road

Finding an impromptu dining place around Orchard on a Saturday evening, saw us moving from one spot to another. Queue was too long? Place too expensive? Shop too crowded?

Hence, finally came to a place where we could rest our tired legs. BangkokJam, located at Level 2 of Wheelock Place.

colourful coasters

interior

What's your usual order when doing Thai food? For me, its Thai milk tea.

Thai milk tea (@$4.80++)

The rendition here was quite enjoyable. Iced cold tea on a hot stuffy evening. Not overly sweet and good tea strength.

Another popular drink, would be lemongrass tea.

lemongrass drink (@$4.80++)

Quite surprising that we didn't order any phad thai that night. Instead, we had Stir Fried Egg Noodles with bacon and crabmeat. This plate tasted very similar to Singapore beehoon (新洲米粉).

stir fried egg noodles with bacon and crab meat (@$11.90++)

Another perennial favourite would be the olive fried rice. My friend's choice of carbs.

olive fried rice (@$11++)

seafood in red tomyam soup (@$7.90++)

The sourness of the tomyam soup was just right. However, it could use abit more heat.

Spaghetti in Thai cuisine? Seems like fusion. Prawns with spaghetti in coconut base sauce.  The spaghetti tasted like thick bee hoon and the coconut base sauce was quite yums albeit a little watery. Good for slurping while its still hot~

prawns with spaghetti in coconut base (@$11.90++)

Most of the dishes are non-spicy. Very tamed down version. For sharing, we had a plate of  mixed grill.

Bangkok Mixed Grill (@$23++)

grilled chicken, squid, beef and prawns

The grilled chicken and squid were good and tender. Too bad the beef was overdone and was quite tough. The chili sauce had kick but in general, food here was abit on the high sodium side of things.

For desserts, we had red ruby. Not the usual watery kind with coconut milk. This version had coconut ice cream instead. Pretty good, the ice cream and the rubies. We liked.

red ruby (@$4.50++)

The meal fed the five of us (with 2 not very hungry) and costs about $20 per pax. There's a 10% discount for Stanchart credit card if the total bill (excluding taxes, gst) is above $80.

Spageddies @ Orchard Central

Located at Level 4 of Orchard Central. This place was rather peaceful during weekday lunch hour. Was enticed by its OCBC credit card 1-for-1 main course offer.

One can choose any two main courses and the lower priced one shall be complimentary. After placing our orders, noticed that we had covered everything from land to the sea, and with carbs and vege. Not bad. Not bad at all!

lamb shank

The lamb shank was quite a hunk. Served with broccoli, yellow zuchini and carrots. Mostly tender although there are dried out parts too. Good to share.

tenderloin

The beef tenderloin looked quite nice. Served with small potatoes and grilled vege. But at medium, it was already quite tough. Probably medium rare would fare better?

spaghetti with lobster and chicken

Lobster? Hmm. A small one perhaps? The spaghetti was al-dente but overall, this dish was a tad too dry for me. Not much flavour from the fried chicken breast.

seafood sizzlelini

The seafood sizzlelini boasts of scallops, mussels, prawns and crayfish. Served in spicy neopolitan sauce which was not spicy at all, but tangy and savoury sweetish. Liked the doneness of the pasta here, as the heat helped to soften it further but not till too soggy. Good dish to share.

Hence, for a party of two, the lamb shank and the seafood sizzlelini would probably make a good meal.

Spent about $17 per pax.