Nassim Hill Bakery Bistro Bar @ Tanglin Post Office

Nassim Hill Bakery Bistro Bar has been around for a few years now. Well known for its fresh bakes, especially its Guinness Stout bread and Reuben sandwich, it also offers a casual cosy ambiance for dining. Did you know that its Happy Hour starts from 8am till 8pm? Now you know where to head to, for that early tipple.

say cheers!

interior

if you prefer the outdoors

Was invited to try its menu, so we were there on a weekday evening. The place has a very relaxed vibe. Walk inside, and one shall be greeted by an array of breads and cakes. Heard that brioche sells out pretty fast too.

lovely bakes

come early for greater selection

Look at what I found. It's a sign, which am translating it into: Let's try. With that many of us gathered, we ordered every single one of its Signature Cocktails. Wheee~

Signature cocktails

Here goes. Am listing the main alcohol in each of the cocktails. By the name of the cocktails, its not difficult to know what are the other non-alcoholic ingredients in it. Forgot to take a photo of the sour plum cocktail though. Liked my Raspberry cocktail as it was sweet and fruity, but would have preferred it to be stronger.

Raspberry Lychee Iced Tea - Absolut Elyx Vodka

Yuzu Breeze - Prosecco

Peach Tree Lemonade- Absolut Elyx Vodka

Dirty Sriracha Bloody Mary - Absolut Elyx Vodka

As Guinness Stout bread seemed synonymous with Nassim Hill Bakery, let's have a round of that. Fully agree that this bread was indeed very nice, flavourful and simply a joy to eat. Have it with jams and butter, or pretty much anything else. It's even good on its own.

Guinness Stout Bread - marmalade and strawberry jam, butter

If you like seafood, do ask for its mussels. Listed as "Market Fresh Mussels with a hint of Chili" in its menu under the Shared Plates section. Using imported French Bouchot mussels which is smallish compared to the usual ones that we see in supermarkets, but is said to be sweeter in taste. We tried it and it was uninamously accepted. Was mopping up the sauce with any remaining slices of bread that we could lay our hands on.

Market Fresh Mussels with a Hint of Chili @$25++

that golden sauce

Mussels was good, with just a touch of chili for some heat. It may prudent to request for it during reservation, in order to avoid disappointment as it is only available in limited quantities.

Great to see Kale Caesar available in the menu. Kale has became very popular due to the superfood trends and it is also touted as one of the world's healthiest food. A leafy green that has plenty of vitamins (A, C and K) and minerals (copper, potassium, iron, manganese and phosphorus), high in protein but low in calories. Doesn't that makes us want to rush out and chomp on kale?

At Nassim Hill, you can enjoy kale salad with your friends. A good quantity of greens, paired with hard boiled egg, some prosciutto chip and tasty creamy anchovy dressing. Best part (besides superfood kale, of course) would be the super duper crispy parmesan crumbs. So good.

Kale Caesar @$17++

Or, if you must have meat in your salad, one can opt for the Asian BBQ Chicken salad. Pretty colourful and has variety in a plate. Edamame, fresh greens, capsicum, toasted almonds, sesame seeds, wanton skins, carrots, mandarin oranges and chicken with soy ginger dressing.

Asian BBQ Chicken Salad @$15++

pour it all over

Have not mentioned that there's beer and cider on tap too. Well, it's never too late to mention. They do have Erdinger and Heineken on tap, as well as Strongbow cider.

wanna tap your own?

Heineken and Strongbow buddies

How about some beer food to go with the drinks? Got some popcorn chicken with sriracha aioli. Good old fried chicken bites. Yummy.

Popcorn Chicken Bites @$12++

For something unusual, one could try Sam's favourite; The Gherkin Tempura with Sour Cream and Bacon Dip. Yes, fried pickles. It was interesting but Sam, am not going to fight with you over this one. Keke.

Gherkin Tempura with Sour Cream and Bacon Dip @$9++

If you like Poutine, then good news for you as Nassim Hill Bakery Bistro Bar do have a Poutine in its menu. Fries with Chef's entrecote sauce, lots of minced beef and topped with shredded mozarella cheese. Poutine is a dish that originated from Canada.

Poutine @$13++

look at those strings of cheese~

Am liking the minced beef, brown sauce and cheese combo but not the soggy fries. Still prefers crispy double fried fries. Speaking of crispy, out came the Cheddar Cheese Bacon Waffles, served with a dip of chive sour cream. Liked the chive sour cream with the saltish cheddar cheese waffles. Nice as a snack.

Cheddar Cheese Bacon Waffles @$19++

Time to roll out the main courses. First up, the Singapore-influenced, Chili Crab Pasta. Heard that this Nassim Hill's number one bestselling pasta. Jumbo lump crab meat with spicy chili crab sauce, and a pretty generous amount of sauce too. Enjoyable and be careful with those tiny red hot chilies.

Chili Crab Pasta @$16++ / $25++ (for half or full portion)

Meat lovers are not forgotten. We tried the Tonkatsu and the Grain Fed Angus T-Bone Steak.

Tonkatsu @$21++

break the sous vide egg and let the runny yolk moisten the meat

The Tonkatsu is a panko crusted pork loin, served with a sous vide egg and asian red cabbage slaw. The gochujang sauce gave a Korean flavour to the dish.

That hunk of a T-bone steak looked attractive with its sear. Served simply with arugula and some sea salt. The meat was beefy and requires a good chew. For T-bones, the meat nearing its bone is always the best. Enjoyable with the sea salt. Good with a glass of red wine.

Grain Fed Angus T-bone Steak (500gms House Special) @$65++

the meat is calling

Best way to end a meal? Why, it must be desserts, of course. We had the Pear Cheddar Crumble, Triple X and Carrot Cake.

Everyone has their favourites and mine was the Triple X with Triple Sec. No, it was not because of just the liquor. But gotta admit that the orange flavoured liquor lends a certain moistness to the chocolatey cake. Spongy, fudgy with dark chocolate. Nice.

The Pear Cheddar Crumble was very good too. Who doesn't like ice-cream and those salty cheddar crumble was so good to crunch with the sweet ice-cream. The carrot cake surprises me as well, with its airy cake and delectable nuts and dried fruits. Most importantly, it was not overly heavy with spices. Sweet.

Pear Cheddar Crumble @$11++

Triple X @$9++

Carrot Cake @$8++

Thank you Audrey and Jaime for hosting the dinner. To the friendly and efficient crew of Nassim Hill Bakery Bistro and Bar, thank you too. Also, special thanks to HGW for the invite. To my foodie friends, enjoyed your company, as always.

Till next time, everyone in Singapore a Happy Golden Jubilee and Happy Eating!

Nassim Hill Bakery Bistro Bar 

Location: 56 Tanglin Road, Tanglin Post Office #01-03
Closed on: Mondays
Telephone: 6835-1128
Website: http://www.nassimhill.com.sg/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nassimhill

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