The Marmalade Pantry @ Oasia Hotel

Taking over the space formerly occupied by Zaffron, The Marmalade Pantry (TMP) at Oasia Hotel is a well-liked lunch destination for the corporate crowd.

Was there recently, and got to try a few more items. One complaint though. Why did they make the font on the menu so darn small and the lighting so dim... Woes of turning older.

Ordered a couple of items to share. Let's try the breads; The Marmalade Club Sandwich of honey baked ham, roast chicken, eggs, lettuce, tomatoes and were there dried cranberries or raisins? Served, with sweet potato fries with chili and ketchup dips.

The Marmalade Club Sandwich @ $22++

Those whom had dined at The Marmalade Pantry before, recommends pasta. TMP has six pasta options currently, but only two for risottos.

Seared Scallop and Prawn @ $25++

Truffle Field Mushroom Risotto @ $24++

Spicy Crabmeat @ $24++

The spicy crabmeat pasta was done al-dente with just enough sauce. The flavour was not as intense as the chili crab pasta which was had at another place recently, but I liked the addition of those pine nuts.

At The Marmalade Pantry, the desserts section made up of about half of its menu. Cakes, cupcakes, cookies, tarts, and puddings. Take your pick!

For us, we tried the Dessert Platter which was shared amongst four pax. The platter was made up of five mini items. A normal-sized dessert of the same individual item costs about $14++ each.

Dessert Platter @ $28++

Must try the Pear Bread Pudding, which is a variation of bread and butter pudding. The contrast of flaky buttery pastry, which encased a soft bread-like pudding sitting atop of the sea salt caramel sauce which had just the right amount of sweetness.

mini chocolate pudding close up

Another item which I liked, was the sticky date pudding. Pretty much sweeter than the pear bread pudding, with a bouncy texture with intense dates flavour.

mini lemon brulee tart, mini eton mess and mini sticky date pudding

Actually everything on the dessert platter was very likeable. The right size as a sampler. Downside was that it took quite a while to arrive.

Expect to spend about $50 per pax.

Tsukada Nojo 塚田農場 @ Plaza Singapura

It was on a Monday night, and long queues were forming at hotpot places. Hmm, everyone loves steamboat/hotpot? Or, was it because everyone has a craving for hotpot all of a sudden? *scratch head*

Friend had a craving for beauty pot, so went ahead and stood in-line to queue. At 730pm, the estimated waiting time was about an hour and all parties must be present in order to get a table.

Got seated at 830pm, and started with sparkling sake.

Mio Sparkling Sake 澪 (みお) @$16++ per 300ml bottle

The sparkling sake was very light and easy to drink.

collagen pot

While waiting for the collagen to dissolve into liquid, we had the Maximum Fries (マキシマム・ポテト). Yup, I did a double take. It was regular shoestring fries with sprinkling of secret powder. Japan menu says it's the seasoning spice of Miyazaki.

Apparently, there's a whole range of 'Maximum' family. Like 'Maximum' eggplant and 'Maximum' seasoned cucumber. So cutesy ya. All ended up in our stomach anyways.

was starving, so only had a chance to take picture of dips for the fries

cooked in a flash and gone equally fast - beauty pot ingredients @$25++ per pax

The branch at Plaza Singapura gave two pieces of chicken per pax, and tasted best with the chili and ginger dips. Hmmm, ain't that chicken rice without the rice?

lip smacking collagen soup

Service was friendly but downside was the one hour wait. That's quite a bummer. I think Tsukada Nojo at PS felt more like a touristy place. Table on my left were speaking in Cantonese with Hong Kong accent, while the one on my right were Indonesians. Heh, I'm a tourist too! (well, sort of)

token dessert

Paid $42 per pax for the meal.

Here's the link to Tsukada Nojo @ Westgate.

Ichiban Boshi いちばん ぼし @ JEM

It was a family lunch affair. Celebration over a meal, with many things to be thankful for. With age catching up, the elders wanted somewhere near. Mom wants to eat sashimi, and sis wanted to do grocery after food. Solution? Ichiban Boshi at JEM.

cosy ambiance

didn't get this one as mom doesn't take prawns nor squids, nor crab

おちゃ

Decided fairly quickly and it doesn't take long for food to be served. Liked the ambiance of the restaurant with its cosy lightings.

regular chawan mushi

fried salmon skin

Dad likes his teriyaki chicken don, and the servings here at Ichiban Boshi JEM was quite generous. Mom wants to have her sashimi fix, and was feeling rather hungry, so the bara chirashi worked out nicely with variety of raw fish and rice.

teriyaki chicken don

bara chirashi - colours of spring

Bro ordered the chirashi don and it came with a huge red prawn. He says smaller prawns would be better as this one was not as sweet. A prawn as large as this and to eat it raw, I find that challenging, especially at our this humid temperature.

chirashi don

Since my bro is buying lunch, my order was beef bowl with foie gras (duck liver), which I had wanted to try for the longest time.

tokusen beef and foie gras @$22.90++

closer view

The duck liver was still wobbly with caramelized outer which was nice. However, it has quite a strong gamey taste. The beef strips were nicely chewy and its texture wasn't tough at all. The bowl was tasty at the beginning but it could get heavy with all the richness after a while. The pickled ginger came in handy to cut through the rich taste.

がり

Expect to spend about $25 per pax.