Restaurant Sela @ Seah Street

It was only in January this year, that I was at this same restaurant. However, since July, SELA is now helmed by celebrity chef, Benson Tong. Here's a link to a show that he had appeared in, way back in 2008.

SELA started as a restaurant offering modern European items in its menu. Now, with Chef Benson's culinary direction, it will steer more towards modern Asian creations with an European twist. By and large, you may not notice much difference. Restaurant decor is pretty much the same. Its ala-carte menu will look highly familiar. However, the largest single change would be its weekend brunch menu items. Where else can we find things like Roti Prata Burrito, Soft boiled Egg Benedict with Mantou, and Huat Kueh with Ice Cream in a brunch menu in a European looking restaurant? Probably only at SELA, probably...

menu

interior

our table, right infront of the kitchen

For starters, we sampled the Prosciutto Ham with Melon and the Pan Seared US Scallop. The rock melon was compressed, while the beetroot had undergone marination prior, so both sweetness were intensified while the earthy undertones of the beets were slightly reduced.

Prosciutto Ham & Melon @$16+

Pan Seared US Scallops @$16

The scallops were of a good size, and it was served sitting ontop a bed of forbidden rice (pulut hitam) with salted egg cream ontop. Sweet scallop, salty egg cream and slightly sticky purple rice. The saltiness was pretty intense for this dish. Suitable to have with drinks. Speaking of which, heard that the restaurant will be offering cocktails made with Ukrainian version of flavoured vodka.

Mernaya - Honey & Pepper

Had a taste of the Mernaya neat. For the Honey & Pepper flavour, the alcohol does shoot right up very quickly, followed by spiciness and an underlying tinge of mellowed sweetness.

For mains, we sampled the Miso Chilean Seabass, with shimeji mushroom, wilted arugula in lemon dashi broth. Actually, Chilean Seabass is not even a bass variant. It refers to Patagonian Toothfish. Its texture is more oily than a seabass.

Miso Chilean Seabass @$32+ ala-carte

closer view

For the next main course sampler, Chef Benson introduces the Kakuni Style Pork Cheek. Sounds like a Japanese-Chinese kind of dish. I'm a beef cheek kind of person, so while this dish was tasty, I still prefers the soft stewed braised beef cheek texture. However, I must say that the portion of pork cheek was generous and this is for those that liked their meat lean.  Beautifully plated too.

Kakuni Style Pork Cheek @$20+

Most of the savoury dishes would be perfectly at home with a bowl of hot steamed rice.

Chef Benson introducing his modern Asian menu

The desserts served were made in-house by their dessert chef. We sampled the Semolina Cake and the Dehydrated Pineapple Pavlova.

Semolina Cake @$12+

Dehydrated Pineapple Pavlova @$10+

Semolina refers to course middling of durum wheat. It has a grainy texture and can be cooked sweet or savoury. In our parts of the world, sometimes we hear the term 'sugee' flour, and that too refers to semolina. I remembered my late-grandma, whom used to heat up the wok with oil before adding curry leaves, and to 'fry' the sugee flour in it, then added some sugar, salt and some water. The result was some very tasty savoury sweet treat.

For SELA, it turned semolina into a sweet dessert cake. Looks pretty and for those that like interesting textures in their cakes. For me, I fell for the Pavlova. First without knowing the ingredients, can't really tell what was the taste of the dehydrated pineapple. Just knew that the flavour was from dried fruit. The vanilla ice-cream, a touch of paprika and thyme and salted caramel sauce worked well and my favourite, was that merringue shell. So good and melted in-your-mouth kind. A bit like space food.

SELA does offer a tasting menu at reasonable prices. A 5-course dinner tasting menu is priced at $40+ while a 7-course dinner tasting menu is priced at $50+. The difference is one additional starter and main course for the 7-course dinner tasting menu. Kindly note that the tasting menu portions are smaller than ala-carte portions. Oh, it comes with a glass of housepour too.

If you are around the Seah Street area for lunch, happy to say that they do Executive Lunch sets for just $15.90+. The set comes with a starter, a main course and a dessert.

Special thanks to Chef Benson and Restaurant SELA for hosting us. Thank you to Alvin and Malcolm for the invite. Looking forward to the next #foodiemigup experience! Click here to learn more about migme.

Fun Games
1. Dine at Restaurant Sela and take pictures of the food (and yourself) to post to instagram with #restaurantsela and tag @rain498 (or anyone that had recommended you to the restaurant)
2. The picture with most likes, will stand a chance to win a full course dinner for 2 pax in your own home, prepared by Chef Benson and his team.

Restaurant SELA

Location: 32 Seah Street, Singapore 188388
Website: www.restaurantsela.com.sg
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/selarestaurant
Reservation:  www.chope.co or https://www.quandoo.sg/restaurant-sela-7547

Greendot @ Paya Lebar Square

My colleague, whom does not eat meat by choice, had mentioned Greendot before. She liked the food there. That piqued my interest to find out more on what Greendot offers. There are currently two branches; one at Westgate and another at Paya Lebar Square. Convenient for both Westies and Easties. From what I know, the outlet at Westgate sees queues of customers on a daily basis. Quite popular!

healthy balanced meal

Greendot uses quality fresh ingredients and wants to make eating "green" fun, accessibile and affordable. "Eat Green, Feel Good" is its motto. In Singapore, it is heartening to see that there are now more meatless options available. Together with other foodies, we were invited to its Paya Lebar Square outlet to try out the dishes.

open-area seats

order through this

For lunch, I understand that customers would usually go for its customised healthy bento rice sets. From five types of rice, simply choose one and then choose 3 dishes to go with the rice.

choose the dishes to go along with rice

Greendot has a quite a good selection of drinks to choose from. How about some tea, lovingly handpicked from the highlands of Taiwan; the Alisan tea served in a pot. Or, the refreshing and thirst quenching White Peach tea? We enjoyed both.

The Passion Dragon Fruit Green Tea (@$5.50) was so pretty and very likeably sweet. This one was served ala bubble tea style, which was packed sealed to-go.

Alisan Oolong tea (in a pot) and white peach tea (sweetened)

For single pax diner, if you don't feel like having bento rice set, there are other options available. For example, the surprisingly good chicken, err, Lion's Mane Mushroom burger. The texture was right, and it tasted good. Will opt without the fries.

Lion's Mane Mushroom Burger @$8.90 ala-carte (or, $11.80 set with fries and salad)

If you'd like something more Asian, no worries. Try its Signature Rendang Rice Bowl. Plenty of greens (julienned cucumber and carrots), lettuce and broccoli, and one can't go wrong with mushrooms (sauteed and rendang). That rendang sauce, is something that I'd go back for. Again, the 'meat' in the rendang is the lion's mane mushroom. Delicious indeed.

Signature Rendang Rice Bowl @$9.50

Did you say that you prefer noodles? How about a bowl of laksa? The experience was complete as the laksa noodles tasted like it should, with all its 'lemakness' glory! It's one of those Chef's Recommended dishes. Couldn't agree more!

Laksa Noodles @$5.90

For those whom preferred a non-spicy noodles, Greendot also offers Herbal Noodles. Heard that it is one of its popular noodle dishes too! The soup has a strong herbal taste that's fragrant. Very soothing bowl of soup. The mock 'fishballs' and 'prawns' had interesting textures and that made it felt somewhat more 'authentic'.

Herbal Noodles @$7.90

If you are in a group of 4, then you may want to try Greendot's Mushroom Pot for 4 pax. In this set, one could choose two soup base options, comes with plenty of greens and mushrooms, plus that yummy side dish; that included a small portion of lion mane's rendang, fruits and a pot of tea. Oh, don't forget about rice. Each one gets one bowl of rice and one could choose out of 5 rice options. Spoilt for choice, indeed.

Mushroom Pot for 4 pax @$59.90

Loved the laksa pot. Liked my rice doused with laksa soup! The dried beancurd cooked till soft in laksa soup was so yums! That pile of greens would certainly boost our daily required servings of vegetables.

my love for laksa soup kept bubbling over~

Emperor Rice, Sesame Rice and Five Treasure Rice - which is your favourite?

For desserts, we sampled the Osmanthus Jelly. By far, this was the most Q osmanthus jelly that I've came across. Filled with dried osmanthus flakes and quality wolfberries (goji berries) that has subtle sweetness in them.

Osmanthus Jelly @$3.50

All in all, had enjoyed our Greendot experience where simple delicious food is made with quality ingredients, with care. Expect fresh greens, mushrooms, soya products, konnyaku; cooked fresh into homely tasty meals for customers to enjoy.

Special thanks to Greendot for hosting the dinner, and to Shannon and Hence, for the invite. Thank you Justin, Yong Hong and the crew of Greendot for taking care of us.

Greendot @ Paya Lebar Square

Location: 60 Paya Lebar Road, #02-15/16/17 Paya Lebar Square, Singapore 409051
Telephone: +65 67022221
Website: http://www.greendot.sg
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greendotsg

Dinata & Hvala Waffle Bar @ 313 Somerset

The last two stops in Tring 313 Food Trail 2015 adventures at 313 Somerset. Held in a single-day where 10 bloggers ate their way through 313 Somerset with 7 food stops in 5 hours. As Dinata and Hvala are both kiosk styled shops, will write about them in the same post.

shop front

pastries

sweets

Dinata is a shop that specializes in Portuguese pastries. Lots of interesting stuffs such as Cornucopia and coconut bread.

(front) chicken "drumstick", hazelnut cornucopia, (back) egg tart and doughnut

On the other hand, if you have a craving for waffles but do not want to eat the whole lot, then Hvala Waffle Bar would be perfect for situations as such. Oh, they do have soft-serve as well in case you want some ice-cream.

shop front

menu

apple waffle, tiramisu and original plus soft serves at the back

The tiramisu waffle was so nice. Chewy on its outside but soft inside. Loved it. I'd have the entire waffle to myself. Not gonna share.

tiramisu

let's dig in!

Dinata

Location: 313 Somerset #B3-42
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Dinatasg

Hvala Waffle Bar

Location: #B3-50, 313 Orchard Road Singapore 238895
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HvalaWaffleBar


With that, we concluded our Tring 313 Food Trail 2015. Once again, many thanks to the hosts; 313 Somerset, Tring 313 app, and owner/manager/PRs/staff of the respective shops (Soup Stock Tokyo, Chabuton, O'my Spoon, Pie Face, Chir Chir Chicken, Dinata and Hvala). To my fellow foodies and bloggers, it was a pleasure meeting with you guys. Take care and see you next time.

Chir Chir Chicken Fusion Factory @ 313 Somerset

Korean Fried Chicken seemed to have taken Singaporean's tastebuds by storm. Chir Chir Chicken requires no further introduction and its relentless queues during weekends are testaments to its popularity amongst the diners. I'd think it's safe to say that the demographics of diners here ranges from the tweens to young working adults and the occasional families. Whichever demographic group that you belong to, one thing is for sure. Bring your friends along. Chir Chir Chicken serving portions are really meant for 2-3 pax. If you intend to order more than one mains, then 5 to 6 pax would be ideal.

let's all queue

Don't know what to order? Just browse through instagram or do a quick search in the internet. Loads of pictures and write-ups! The main draw for me, was obviously the chickens. The group managed to sample a variety and the amount of food that we had, could have fed 15 pax of big eaters!

Nest Snow @$32.90

The Nest Snow would be the most interesting looking ones, with that huge dollop of cream nested ontop plus the white sauce that was deceptively spicy. The boneless chicken tenders were more tender that I had imagined it to be. Enjoyable but watch out for that sudden spike in heat.

Speaking of which, there are some cool drinks or rather mocktails that one could order. For example the Tok Tok drinks (blue or yellow). Which was fizzy soda infused with flavoured drinks. Likeable.

the fizz infusor

Yellow Tok Tok (non-alcoholic) @$14.90

Coconut Milktail @$12.90

Coconut Milktail Redgizer (with Red bull) - for wakeup call?

On to the food. The original or just crispy fried chicken wings had quite a good crisp on its skin and still juicy insides. The salsa was fantastically tangy and refreshing. The garlic chicken wings didn't have much garlic taste and ended up tasting pretty similar to original fried wings. The Rosemary chicken looked a tad healthier as it was not deep fried but baked. Tasted of herbs and nicely tender. All the chickens be it deep fried or baked, had the non-greasy feel to it. Nice.

Crispy fried wings @$26.90 with mustard dip and salsa

Rosemary Chicken @$29.90 with baked potatoes and salsa

I saw what you're doing

The best drink for fried chicken, of course would be beer. Chimaek for the win! Here, one could order the Chir Cream Beer for that cream beer 'kiss'. I'd just get a Cass, 'coz no likey with cream.

Chir Cream Beer meet the pints - one (left) and half (right)

Speaking of cream, and if you want something sweet and termed as 'salad', do try the Honey Grape Salad. Mix the whole thing together and scoop up those yummy grapes with the honey drizzled pastry. The combo was so good!

Honey Grape Salad

Haven't had enough chicken? Here are some more.

Spicy Wings @$28.90 (sorry, we ate some already, not the full basket in pic)

What a feast to be shared amongst friends! The place was super packed when we visited on a weekend, and the chicken were good. Personal favourite would be the spicy wings. Yums. The spice level was enjoyable.

Chir Chir Chicken feast - good for 15 pax

Chir Chir Chicken Fusion Factory

Location: #B3-04/05/06, 313 @ Somerset, 313 Orchard Road, 238895
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Chir-Chir-Singapore/1551584908411319


Read about the experience at Soup Stock Tokyo, Chabuton, O'ma Spoon Korean Dessert Cafe, Pie Face, Dinata & Hvala Waffle Bar.

Pie Face @ 313 Somerset

Many would have seen those pies with smiley faces on various social media platform by now. Pie Face originated from Bondi Beach Australia since 2003 and came to our shore in 2014. Currently, there are 3 outlets in Singapore and we visited the one in Somerset 313 as part of our Tring 313 Food Trail 2015, and was our fourth food stop.

shop front

Pies are baked fresh, and those smiley cheeky faces are hand-piped. There are 8 flavours for savouries and about 10 for sweet pies. Just pick your favourites and grab a drink. There are some limited seats inside the shop.

steak pies are crowd favourite

here are the sweet mousse pies

non-pies

Amongst the savouries sampled, were the Chunky Steak, Chicken + Mushroom and Spicy Chicken. It was actually quite apt. The Spicy Chicken indeed will nett you a surprised look. It was indeed spicy!

let's bring out the savouries

the sweet pies

The chunky steak was very likeable and pleasant but I think the spicy chicken was interesting. For those who love spicy stuffs.

For the sweet pies, I like the almond frangipane pie as its sweetness was just right. The other sweet pies were smaller in size, and I preferred the butterscotch flavoured one. The coffee mousse pie was also quite nice. Other flavours included green tea with red bean pie, raspberry pie, chocolate pie and apple crumble.

Pie Face

Location: #B3-10 313@Somerset, Singapore 238895
Website: http://pieface.com.sg/


Read about the experience at Soup Stock Tokyo, Chabuton, O'ma Spoon Korean Dessert Cafe