La Barra @ Star Vista, Buona Vista

Located at Level 2 of Star Vista, and it looked like a good place to start my maiden Colombian food experience.

menu

food~

cosy interior

The menu focuses on empanadas and arepas, and thus, that was what we ordered.

beef empanadas (@$10++)

For a small eater, empanadas sounds good. Three choices (chicken, beef or cheese) for its filling but one order can only be that one choice. So if you chose beef, all 3 pieces will be beef. There goes the plan to taste all three! I understand from the service staff that these lovely fritters were handmade by the lady boss.

Served piping hot, and with two sauces; Aji (salsa made from tomatoes, chili and corriander) and a greenish sauce, probably avocado mix.

golden corn fritters

filled with strips of beef

The fritter's skin tasted of slight sweetness as one chewed along. The beef filling was good, savoury tasty but yet, mild.

Aji sauce

avocado sauce?

Had the misconception that the Aji sauce would be spicy, but it was not. Gave a somewhat 'green' (probably from the corriander) taste when eaten with the fritters.

Did someone ask for a drink? Haha, of course. Ordered the ladies drink, a Redd's lime flavoured beer. Liked that it was served out in a glass with salted rim.

beer (@$12++)

Redd's beer, served and ready to be enjoyed

My friend had the Arepa Burger.

Arepa Burger (@$18++), served with plantains

onions, tomato, cheese, beef patty and vege sandwiched between arepa

nicely textured, tasty beef patty

 Not quite used to the arepa. Maybe we left it out for a tad too long while we talked. It was a bit hardened when we got to it. Liked the beef patty, the cheese and everything else in the burger. Nice combo, that tasted just right. Have this with a glass of slightly sweet red wine. Yums.

red wine (@$12++)

The Arepa Burger was served with a side of plantain, which is deep fried banana, lightly salted. Tasted kind of like deep fried tapioca, though.

deep fried plantain

How about some Colombian coffee to end the meal? My friend had the espresso. Tiny tiny cup, cute.

espresso

Juan Valdez, signature Colombian coffee

Service was earnest and friendly. Would like to come back sometime, to try the dessert and coffee.

Tiong Bahru Bakery by Gontran Cherrier @ Raffles City

Was at Raffles City B1, so went over to Tiong Bahru Bakery after lunch to check-out their breads. Well, curiosity got the better of me, so bought home some of their much raved about pastries.

$15+ worth of baked goods

What's in the bag? Kouign Amann (since it is like one of the much raved item), chocolate croissant, a brioche ('coz been looking for one) and a pandan flan (now, this was what caught my eye!).

kouign amann (@$3.50)

round and round it goes, the layers

buttery and very sweet

Hmmm, kouign amann felt like a candy to me. Very sticky, sweet and buttery. Like a treat that one can have, once in a while.

Chocolate croissant was of a large size, and it probably should, since a piece of that, is the same price as a plate of chicken rice.

chocolate croissant (@$3.20)

can you find the chocolate?

The croissant was fragrant after toasting it, but could do with a few more bits of chocolate. It's like a plain croissant that once in a while (make it rare!), you'd stumble onto an accidental choco bit.

natural brioche (@$2.50)

Popped the brioche into a toaster oven for a few minutes prior to serving, and one gets a soft, fluffy buttery roll. Yums. Ate mine with some jam and emmental cheese. Nice.

brioche, the inside story

found this in my fridge!

add some sweetness

topped with emmental cheese

The very truth that attracted me to the bakery that day (besides curiosity about Monsieur Gontran Cherrier's recipe), was this bright yellow looking pie. Turned out to be a pandan flan. It looked huge amongst its neighbouring treats. And packed in a nice yellow box too!

cheery looking box

flaky pastries for crust

pandan flan

The flan smells like tofu and tasted like kaya. Hahaha, that'd how I'd think it was, for me. The pandan fragrance was very faint, and it doesn't have the strong pandan taste. It's texture was softer than it looked. Very likeable!

soft, with just the right sweetness

Cafe Rouge @ Baghdad Street

Located in the area known as Arab Street, this cafe is at #20 Baghdad Street. But the sign posts says Bussorah Street. Hmm. Anyway, just above the cafe, is the newly opened SushiAirways 寿司航空 Sushibar.

decor

The set dinner at $28 was attractive because one can have a soup of the day, feta cheese salad, any main course of your choice plus tea/coffee. The mains are priced between $18 to $32. Sounds good, right? My friends agreed and they all got the set dinner except me.

Can't eat that much, if you'd ask me. So I got myself an $18 main course: boeuf bourguignon. If not wrong, the menu stated that it was wagyu.

This place serves iced water.

mini glass and carafe

boeuf bourguignon

Although there were plenty of good sized beef, but unfortunately most of it were not as tender as anticipated. Not quite the wagyu-like texture!

served with potato slices, carrots and cucumbers

For desserts ($6.50 each), simply go up to the counter and choose. We ordered creme brulee and a slice of chocolate something pear something.

chocolate something pear something

creme brulee

The chocolate dessert with pear was recommended by the service staff when asked about which one is the bestseller.

Both desserts were pretty sweet but creme brulee took the icing as being the sweetest! Oh, and one interesting thing was, the cappucino that my friend received was all foamy and milky white. So we thought the espresso shot was missing and asked for it to be replaced. They did, and we were informed that the second cup was done with double-shot. Then, double-shot it must be, otherwise, you'd be drinking just milk foam!

Service was accommodating and friendly.