[Media Invite] Roosevelt's Diner & Bar @ New Bridge Road

Located at New Bridge Road, conveniently within 2 minutes walk from Exit H of Outram MRT station. Of course, the directionless me took the wrong exit and ended up having to walk for about 8 minutes to get there. Roosevelt is just round the corner of Dorsett Residences. Can't miss it, and easily recognizable by the neon lighted Teddy in a suit that smokes a cigar.

entrance to the diner

Roosevelt's Diner offers a comfortable space suitable for small and large groups alike. It also offers brunch menu whole day long everyday till 6pm. So, if you have any brunch items cravings, there isn't a need to wait till weekends! Just pop by Roosevelt's to satisfy those cravings.

interior

there's a vespa in da house!

Let's have a look at what's available in the brunch menu.

menu

no kidding, brunch menu available everyday till 6pm

What's the first thing that came to mind, when someone says "American Diner"? For me, that'll be milkshake, burgers, pies and jukebox. Yes, I watched a tad too much TV.

Here, we had a chance to sample 3 flavours out of the 7 available milkshakes; Signature Salted Caramel, Strawberry Cheesecake and Oreo. In terms of flavours that stood out, it was the Signature Salted Caramel with its gloriously sweet and salty smooth concoction. The granola bar crumblies in the milkshake added a bite to the creamy smooth texture.

Signature Salted Caramel Milkshake @$10++

But my personal favourite, was the Strawberry Cheesecake. A lady's drink, if you may. Liked the milder fruity flavour of strawberries. Yummy.

Strawberry Cheesecake Milkshake @$12++

For food, we had a taste preview of an appetiser from the Dinner menu; the Pan Seared Hokkaido Scallops. Plump, juicy seared scallops served with housemade yuzu mustard ricotta, lovingly drizzled with umami'ish seaweed brown butter and topped with toasted hazelnut and ebiko. The contrast of textures between soft, firm and crunchy worked well and loved the flavours of chopped hazelnut.

Was actually looking for some bread to mop up the seaweed brown butter. So delish! But have to restrain self. Too much of a good thing, may not be good after all.

Pan Seared Hokkaido Scallops @ $24++

Next up, we got to try some wholesome salad bowls. For some Mexican flavours, one could opt for the Charred Corn Quinoa and should you prefer Asian'ish flavours, go for the Shitake Sesame Salmon.

Charred Corn Quinoa @$17++

pouring some hot sauce yoghurt over the Charred Corn Quinoa

Quinoa is a healthier alternative to rice. The hot sauce is really not spicy, so overall, this bowl has adequate greens, pickled cabbage and lovely crunchy prawns in a good mix of pico de gallo (salsa, typicall made of fresh tomato, onion, and jalapeno) and sliced avocado.

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Shitake Sesame Salmon @$18++

The Shitake Sesame Salmon bowl offers a taste closer to Asians with its sesame dressing. There's tofu, shitake mushroom slices, pomegranate, mixed greens, soba and edamame at the base, and a square of tender sous-vide salmon at the top, garnished with plenty of seaweed strips. Simply lovely.

But for those that loves your carbs, how about a well crafted mozarella steak sandwich? Roosevelt takes pride in curating the most suited bread to match with its tender sous-vide sliced beef chuck cooked to allow natural flavours of the meat to shine through. The wholemeal bread was toasted to a lovely crisp brown and melted mozarella over beef slices that exuded beefy flavours when chewed.

Mozarella Steak Sandwich @$16++

look at this lovely steak sandwich

how about some housepour wine to go along with steak sandwich?

For drinks, one could go for bottled craft, or Kronenbourg on tap. If you prefer wine, there are a few housepours with starting price of $8++ per glass (75ml). Or, coffee if you are like me. Mocha was my choice for the day.

coffee and latte art

Usually, brunch food will involve some eggs action. Similarly, one could get plenty of that at Roosevelt's.

If you have a big appetite, or just want to get the most variety, then you may want to order the Big Breakfast that has spiced potatoes, scrambled eggs, chipolata, bacon, shitake mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, greens and a croissant. Am inclined to think that this feeds two.

Big Breakfast @$28++

However, am excited to introduce two personal favourites from the Brunch menu. First up, a simple looking Beef Cheek on Potato Pancake. Three patties of shredded potato, lovingly stacked ontop of creamy cayenne buttermilk, topped with tender flavourful slow-braised beef cheek and on it, one perfectly poached wobbly free-range egg.

Beef Cheek on Potato Pancake @$22++

lovely side profile

What did I like about this dish? The way its flavours just come through together and the way one could still taste the flavours of the potato.

looking at delicious

Another brunch item that you need to try at Roosevelt's, is the Truffle Potato Foam with Croissant. Have never tried potato foam before, have you?

Truffle Potato Foam with Croissant @$21++

The truffle oil smell was strong, and the surprise find when one digs in. On top, one gets panko or toasted breadcrumbs, torched parmesan, then hidden inside was the free-range poached eggs and bacon bits.

so good, eat while it is hot!

For desserts, we tried the Churros Waffle with chocolate sauce. This is the good old buttermilk waffle with cinnamon spiced sugar. Served with vanilla ice-cream.

Churros Waffle @$12++

Thank you Ying and Roosevelt's for hosting the brunch preview and thank you Kris for the invite.
Click here for Roosevelt's FB page.

[Media Invite] Cucina Italian Restaurant @ Aperia Mall Kallang

Aperia Mall is some 10 minutes distance away from the Kallang MRT. I was lost and ended up having to ask for directions from the good people at 7-Eleven.

Aperia Mall, as seen from across the road

Aperia Mall is actually a huge space with plenty of dining options. If you're looking for restaurants that has plenty of seats and able to accommodate large groups, can consider the restaurants in Aperia Mall. Quiet on weekday nights too.

First time at Aperia Mall and first time trying Cucina Italian Restaurant. Click on the links to check-out Cucina's current promotions at Groupon as well as Hungrygowhere.

set meals are available

what shall we eat?

If you are around the area during lunch hour, you may want to try their lunch pasta special at just $8.90++. Otherwise, there's also an All Day Special Meal @$12.90++.

Lunch Special

more options for All Day Special Meals

Was there for dinner, so we tried quite a bit of starters and main courses. What would be your wine of choice when having Italian food? At Cucina, had a glass of housepour red of Cabernet Sauvignon from Chile. Usually, am not for Chilean wine but found the Cabernet Sauvignon at Cucina pretty drinkable.

housepour red

If you prefer Italian wine, there's only one choice at the moment.

Italian wine

For starters, we had bruschetta, soups, pumpkin salad, rolled parma ham and sauteed vongole.

Zuppa di mare (fresh seafood soup) @$12.90++

Gil Involtini di Proscuitto di Parma (rolled parma ham stuffed with rocket leaves) @$15.90++

Saute Vongole @$15.90++

Pumpkin Salad @$13.90++

Sauteed mushrooms @$10.90++

Of all the appetisers, am favouring the rolled parma ham stuffed with rocket leaves and mascarpone cheese dressed with balsamico. Also liked the bruschetta al Pomodoro, the pumpkin salad and sauteed mushrooms.

Tried the Quattro Stagioni where one gets four flavours in a pizza. Perfect for the undecided. Thin crust, and plenty of cheese. Expect strong flavours. The mushrooms topping was quite lovely.

Pizza Quattro Stagioni - mushroom, seafood with tomatoes, parma ham and pepperoni @$27.90++

Also sampled a risotto and a pasta dish before we proceeded with the meats. Both were pleasant.

Seafood Risotto @$28.90++

Aglio Olio e Peperoncino con Granchi (crabmeat pasta with garlic, olive oil) @$30.90++

Then, of course the meats. Who would've thought that an Italian place would have duck confit? If you're not sure of which meats to get, then perhaps get a platter with 3 types of meats; lamb, ribeye and chicken.

Duck Confit @$32.90++

Primo e base de carne with red wine sauce @$42.90++

Would recommend the lamb cutlet. Good stuff as it was very tender and not too gamey. Seasoned perfectly too. The chicken was good too but tasted a tad too Asian'ish. Would have preferred medium rare for the ribeye as medium doneness was rather chewy.

The favourite for the table, was the grilled barramundi in safron cream sauce. Sounds like fusion but it sure tasted good! Fish was firm and well cooked with a hint of sweetness.

Grilled Barramundi in saffron cream @$28.90++

And, we ended with tiramisu. Don't we always order tiramisu in every Italian restaurant in Singapore?

Tiramisu @$11.90++

Thank you Cucina Italian Restaurant for hosting the dinner and the good folks of HGW for the invite.

Travel | Bangkok 15 to 17 May 2016 | Daeng Seafood

We did our touristy stuff on a Monday by going to the Damnoen Saduak Floating Market. Since the floating market is around Mae Klong area, decided to vist Daeng Seafood as Tracy and Hence, have had this before and they liked it quite a bit. Our driver was not familiar with the area so it took some time before we found this hidden gem. Actually, we thought it was hidden, but there's plenty of reviews on Tripadvisor!

outside of the restaurant

walk right in, turn right

The place feels pretty old school but thankfully, there's airconditioned dining area. We reached before 12pm and a large group of diners had just finished their meal.

interior

drinks, self-service

order chit - all written in Thai

None of us could converse in Thai, and none of the staff could converse in English. But they tried. A younger staff got roped in or rather got sabo'ed by his colleagues (he looked like a university student) to talk to us in English. It was still pretty much point and sign language but luckily, they brought out a dual-language menu with pictures!

with this, we shall order!

Our table ordered up a storm, or rather, we didn't practice any restraint. It was a feast, a buffet of seafood! Not in an actual sense, but we ate to our hearts' content. So shioks!

To start, we had the Tom Yum Goong to whet our appetites. A big steel pot with charcoal fire. The soup was spicy, tangy and sharp. Just the way we liked it. Be careful that as it kept bubbling, the water evaporates and the flavours intensified to a level that's just a bit too salty for us. Best to drink it before it boils too much.

tom yum goong ต้มยำกุ้ง @ ฿300

huge huge prawns

Then, dishes after dishes started to arrive. 

The fried rice with shrimp looked more like tomato prawns with a bit of rice. The plate that we ordered was supposed to be small, but it looked more like a medium sized plate to me! Amazingly packed with many 'shrimps' that were quite a good size, attractive reddish hue and good flavours. Would have eaten more of this, if weren't for the fact that there were many more dishes on the table.

fried rice with shrimp @ ฿150 (small)

Another popular dish to eat in Thailand, the fried crab meat with curry. It was heavenly and so convenient to eat! Again, the 'small' plate looks kind of huge! Was getting my mind blown by every 'small' sized dish that appeared.

fried crab meat with curry @ ฿450 (small)

The crab meat in curry was not very curry-like and was somewhat sweet and thoroughly enjoyable. The sweet fresh taste of the crab meat was quite apparent. It was just spoonfuls after spoonfuls of crab meat and sauce into the mouth. Yums.

Got crabs, got prawns and now squid came along. Accompanied by garlic 'puffs'. Cooked whole garlic cloves maketh the puff? Looks like a simple dish and tasted fresh and good. The cooked garlic was not pungent and actually more chestnut-ty than garlicky.

garlic puff squid @ ฿200

fried snapper garlic @ ฿350 (small)

Here's another picture to put into perspective of how small is defined at Daeng Seafood. Size aside, the fish is meaty and firm. Preferred it with sauce, as it was abit too dry for me. But a good price for one whole fish, at just SGD14.

good size, good price

steamed crabs (1kg @ ฿1,400)

enjoying our seafood together

It was a very good meal for 4 adults. It could have easily fed up to 6 pax.Thankful to have the opportunity to be able to experience and to enjoy fresh seafood at a fraction of the cost as compared to in SG.

Thank you Tracy (and your local friend) for recommending this place and the dishes to order.

Daeng Seafood

Address: Mae Klong, Mueang Samut Songkhram District, Samut Songkhram, Thailand

Phone: +66 89 918 6836

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dang-Seafood-Maeklong/795334313928229