[Media Invite] Sparkling Christmas @ Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel (Early Bird for Reservations Before 15 December 2019 )

Tis the season to sparkle! Executive Chef, Jackie Zhang and his dedicated culinary team has prepared a gastronomic feasts for guests. What's new this season at Food Capital? Be amazed by how tender and juicy the har jeong 虾酱 (prawn paste) turkey is, enjoy the tender smokey flavours of the barbecue beef short-ribs, dig into the classics of honey baked gammon ham, and slow down to savour dessert such as fruit hazelnut crunch yule log with yuzu cream, Christmas star cranberry banana log cake, fruit cake and festive stollen just to name a few.

Food Capital Festive Buffet

M Wine

Prawn Paste Turkey

barbecue beef short-ribs

honey baked gammon ham

Loved the Christmas roasts. The turkey was moist and tender with mild flavours of the savoury prawn paste. Chef Jackie revealed that the process of cooking the turkey took 48 hours. The meat was good without any sauce as it was well marinated. For those who wants to kick-up the flavours a few notches upwards, do remember to have the turkey with the handcrafted chili sauce. Chicken rice without the rice and without chicken (because we had turkey instead!).

carve me some salmon wellington

Oh, don't forget to have some of those roasted tomatoes on vines. So sweet and intense.

Prawn Paste Turkey

honey baked gammon ham and salmon

How can a meal be complete without the festive drinks? Tempo Bar has crafted two drinks for Christmas; Fairytale and Amaretto Sour. I enjoyed the Fairytale. Concocted with gin, elderflower,
cucumber and tonic. Refreshing and my kind of sweet drink. The Amaretto Sour is made of  amaretto, cognac, sours, gomme, egg white and bitters.

Fairytale and Amaretto Sour

Tried the log cakes and enjoyed every bit of it. My favourite trio would be the hazelnut crunch yule log, Christmas Star cranberry banana log cake and double chocolate pound cake.

Christmas Star Cranberry Banana Cake

Hazelnut Crunch Yuzu Log Cake

Double Chocolate Pound Cake

Festive Buffet 

2 to 30 December 2019 (excluding 24 & 25 December 2019)
Buffet Lunch: $68++
Buffet Dinner: $88++ 

Christmas Eve 24 December 2019 

Buffet Lunch: $68++
Buffet Dinner: $98++ (includes free flow of juices)

Christmas Day 25 December 2019 

Buffet Lunch & Dinner: $98++ (includes free flow of juices)

New Year’s Eve 31 December 2019 

Buffet Lunch: $68++
Buffet Dinner: $98++ (includes free flow of juices)

New Year’s Day 1 January 2020 

Buffet Lunch: $68++
Buffet Dinner: $78++ (includes free flow of juices)

Complete your buffet experience with free flow of house pour wine and beer at $35 and with
Prosecco at $40.

Make your reservations before 15 December 2019 to enjoy 20% early bird discount and a
complimentary bottle of wine.

OPENING HOURS 

Lunch: 12pm to 2.30pm (Mondays to Sundays) 
Dinner: 6.30pm to 10.30pm (Mondays to Sundays) 
*Buffet menus are on a rotational basis.

Grissini - Exquisite Italian Festive Set Menu 

Prepared by Chef Mirko and team, one could enjoy an authentic Italian meal for Christmas at Grissini.

Highlights from the festive menu include bresaola carpaccio, Sardinian fregola, sea bass milanese and panetone.

bresaola carpaccio

For the uninitiated like myself, bresaola is an Italian dry-cured lean meat (beef). It doesn't have a strong beefy taste and it was like a drier version of prosciuto. The plate has black truffle paste, arugula, mustard dressing and chestnut. The meat goes well with M Wine Red. Cheers to everytime that I say this. Haha!

Sardinian fregola

The Sardinian Fregola is definitely one for the cheese lovers. A good sized baked goat cheese, served with fregola in roasted pumpkin puree. The goat cheese had a tart flavour with a punch. The flavour spreads in the mouth. Fregola texture was like small boba and mild sweetness from the pumpkin puree.

Milanese Breaded Seabass Fillet

The green on the Milanese breaded seabass was striking. First time having Milanese breaded seabass instead of veal.

seabass fillet 

For dessert, we tried the Panetone Cup. This dessert is reminiscent of tiramisu. It was pretty heavy with the thick layer of pistachio crumble (top) and chocolate mousse (bottom) and interspersed with vanilla custard.

Panetone Cup

2 December 2019 to 1 January 2020 

3-Course Festive Set Menu: $72++ per person
4-Course Festive Set Menu: $88++ per person

OPENING HOURS 

Lunch: 12pm to 2.30pm (Mondays to Sundays) 
Dinner: 6.30pm to 10.30pm (Mondays to Sundays)

For  more information/reservations:

Contact: 6233 1100
Email: dining.gcw@millenniumhotels.com
Website: www.celebrateatgcw.com/xmas2019


Thank you Gilbert and Ji Cheng for the invite, Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel for hosting the dinner and special thanks to Chef Jackie and Chef Mirko and teams for the preparation of the festive eats.

[Media Invite] Yuletide Treats at Beast & Butterflies from 1 Dec to 31 Dec 2019 @ MSocial Singapore

It is that time of the year again. Yes, head on to the chic comfy space of Beast & Butterflies to celebrate the festivities with your loves and enjoy the specially prepared Festive 2-Course Menu @$65++ per person. Choose from the 3 selected yuletide treats, and it comes with a mini log cake for dessert, plus a glass of M Wine. Ho Ho Ho~

Fillet Mignon  served with foie gras

Cod with jet-black purée

Roasted Chicken thigh stuffed with pesto and asparagus

handcrafted mini log cake

M Wine Red (cabernet sauvignon)

There was a choice of beef, fish or chicken for our enjoyment. Personally, I felt the fillet mignon offered the best value and paired best with my favourite red!

look at this beauty

If you are ever at the Bar, say hi to Vlad. Ask for "Some Like It Hot". This flavourful warm drink is not for the kids. ;)

Vlad preparing the Yuletide Special Drink

Apart from the Festive 2-Course Menu, one could opt for the ala-carte Yuletide Treats suitable for private events during December festive period. Here are the photos of some of those goodies.

tuna tartare

potato gratin

vegetable millefeuille

Thank you Gilbert for the invite, and Chef Shahnaaz, team Beast & Butterflies and MSocial Singapore for the preview of the delectable yuletide treats.

ready to party!

Beast & Butterflies

Address: M Social Singapore 90 Robertson Quay Singapore 238259
Website: https://www.millenniumhotels.com/en/singapore/m-social-singapore/beast-and-butterflies/
Contact: +65 6657 0018

Reservations: https://www.millenniumhotels.com/en/destinations/asia/singapore/m-social-singapore/dining/beast-and-butterflies/bnb-reserve-a-table/

[Japan-Kyoto] Exploring Kyoto in Autumn - Spring Valley Brewery Kyoto (SVB) | Sotetsu-Fresa Inn Kyoto Shijo Karasuma

After enjoying Nagoya (and Takayama), I arrived in Kyoto on a weekend. If you ever intended to visit Nishiki Market on a weekend, hmmm, please think twice unless you don't mind jostling with other tourists. It was so packed that I turned back after looking in from the outside of the market entrance! Hahaa, no worries as I had a few days in Kyoto, hence decided to visit Nishiki on a weekday instead.

Booked a couple of nights stay at Sotetsu Fresa Inn Kyoto Shijo Karasuma and it was about 12 minutes walk to Nishiki Market.

Famished and was looking for a place to have late lunch. Walked around the area and stumbled upon a place that looked like a machiya and it sign says, "Spring Valley Brewery".

facade and entrance

The place looked super duper cool, and after a quick browse of the menu, decided to lunch at SVB. The service staff was welcoming despite I was a solo diner.

weekend lunch set menu

Was surprised by how reasonably priced its Weekend Lunch Set was. One could have a meal there for about ¥1500 to ¥1800 and it comes with a small glass of craft beer! Wow!

beer list

Guess what I had chosen for lunch. It was the roast beef bowl!

interior

looking out from the inside

The place was pretty relaxed on a Sunday, but that's maybe because it was way past lunch hour when I was there. The other table had two young adults that probably had completed their meal and looked like they were learning about beer brewing from the staff at the bar.

The roast beef don was to be paired with "Afterdark" but they can change it to something else based on your preference. I was hot from all the walking and wanted something more refreshing. The staff was able to converse in English, so ordering was not an issue. Moreover, the menu had English text on it as well.

I went for "Copeland" beer and it tasted hoppy, mild sweetness and not too bitter. Cold beer on a hot day. So good.

Copeland 5.5% ABV

Then, the salad was served. Ooh, this was a pleasant surprise as I thought there'd only be beef bowl and then the small glass of beer. Oh wow, the salad came loaded with flavours. Loved the mild dressing (tasted of olive oil and balsamic), the walnuts, croutons and cheese toppings. Enjoyed the salad and while I was halfway through, the roast beef bowl was served.

salad (part of the set)

Roast Beef Bowl Set

Such a pretty looking bowl with a wobbly yolk sitting ontop, just waiting for the moment to burst out of its membrane.

golden moments

Beneath the slices of pink roast beef, was a mound of rice drizzled with shoyu and wasabi. Mix it well with the golden yolk for a glorious mouthfeel. Tasty too. Kudos to SVB for being so generous with its customers. There were enough slices of roast beef to cover the ratio of rice.

like a roast beef sushi

After I was done with my meal, the staff came over and asked if I'd like coffee. I'd say yes to that!

after meal coffee

For just ¥1500 (less than SGD20), there was the main dish of roast beef bowl, a side of salad, a small glass of beer and a coffee. Definitely value for money! Highly satisfied and would recommend for a visit when you're in the vicinity.

The Sotetsu-Fresa Inn Shijo Karasuma hotel had one of the nicest facade/walkway that I've ever come across in 3 to 3.5-star hotel thus far. Classy. Like any other Sotetsu-Fresa Inn hotel, the hotel lobby had other complimentary amenities such as ladies/gents pack that guests could help themselves to if required.

entrance to Sotetsu-Fresa Inn Shijo Karasuma

nice walkway, like walking into an onsen or high class restaurant

home sweet home

hotel breakfast

loved the eggs and the cold somen

I tried the hotel breakfast and there weren't many varieties. However, they do serve some special item such as croquette and cold somen. The dashi for the noodles was quite good. I'm good as long as they have scrambled eggs or omelette.

Spring Valley Brewery Kyoto

Location: 587–2 Takamiyacho, Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto, 604-8056, Japan
Website: https://www.springvalleybrewery.jp/pub/kyoto/
Contact: +81 75-231-4960
Business Hours:
Mon-Sat: 11am to 11pm
Sun: 11am to 10pm

Sotetsu-Fresa Inn Kyoto Shijo Karasuma

Location: 60番地 Dojishacho, Shimogyo Ward, Kyoto, 600-8421, Japan
Website: https://fresa-inn.jp/en/karasuma/
Contact: +81 75-284-2031