Sunday, April 26, 2009

Tin Hill Bistro Winebar @ Bukit Timah

Tin Hill was our place for April. Was supposed to go Valentino's but..it was fully booked. Apparently 1 week in advance is not enough.

Tin Hill is a pretty shophouse located near 6th Avenue. Very catchy to the eye everytime we drive pass it. From reading the intro on the menu, Tin Hill is the literal translation of 'Bukit Timah'. Interesting. Never knew. Ha!
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Erm... whoever's car is that I apologise.

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Took me 5 secs to realise how to view the menu. Haha!

We order some small side dishes while waiting for the group to arrive. Some fried fish snacks, fried portobello mushrooms and potato wedges. The size of the sides is really small and we finished it pretty. Love the wedges. Fried Fish was ok. But the crust of the fried portobellow mushroom was too thick. We din quite like it.

For the mains, as it was our first time there, we pretty much ordered everything on the menu, except fish and chips and Wagyu burger to share among us.
You can check out the menu here (http://www.tinhill.com.sg/dining.htm)
While waiting, we were served pork belly in white chocolate, complimentary of the chef. Wat can i say? The roasted pork belly itself was ok on its own, so is the white chocolate sauce on its own. But the combination... too wierd for me! bleahz...
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was getting abit disappointed. However, the service there was really endearing. They confirmed with us if we were sharing and then naturally aligned the dishes in the middle and gave a empty plate for each of us. As the place was really dark and the table was really long, I did not take a pic of all the food but I can still rem most of the item really well.

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Prawn Tagliatelle tomato, chili, lemongrass
I thot this pasta was very normal. Nothing fantastic.

Miso Cod Aglio Olio pesto, shimieji mushroom
This pasta was absolutely yummy. Pity I only managed a small bite. The fish was nicely pan-fried. Yumz.. and I dun even like cod fish. I will order the next time if i come back again! haha!

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Roast Chicken with mushroom & smoked chicken pithiver, beurre blanc
The skin was nice and crispy and the meat was juicy and tender. Tats about it.

Fish Pie smoked cod, prawns, leeks, parsley
Woo! Love this! Crispy crust and yummy tomato based fillings!

Ocean Trout corn, herbs, seaweed
Hmm... din leave an impression on me! haha

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Grilled Pork Chop bacon, fennel, apple
err.. yumz? haha

Braised Lambshank ragu, mash
Absolutely tender and nicely done. No "lamb smell"

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Bistro Steak Frite hand cut chips, béarnaise sauce
This was the best dish! Very tender and not over done.

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We had an additional pizza cause the mains din seem to fill us up. But the pizza end up to be too little for the 8 of us! The toppings were heavenly, generous with the cheese and mushrooms. Pity, we found the crust abit too soggy.

For desserts.. it was kinda scary. Not sure wat to order. So the waitress recommend told us she will bring us one of each like the mains. Regrets.. it was too much!!!

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My Fav! The Crumble of the Day was apple and pear! The apple and pear was nicely done and not overly sweet. And the crispy crumble top and the combination with the ice cream on top! Heaven!

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Such a clear pic. But we did not exactly fancy the cupcake. normal.

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Pavlova strawberries, passion fruit, mascarpone
As good as it looks! love the blueberry floss.

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Cheese cake was nice and creamy.

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Sticky Date Pudding vanilla ice cream, butterscotch sauce

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Brownie
no "wow" factor.

The set dinner seem really worth it at 38++ since the mains are cost nearly to 30. Nice ambience and great service. Some really good items which I dun mind going back for.

Prego @ Fairmont Singapore

Tried out Prego at Fairmont on my Hen's night (http://www.fairmont.com/singapore/GuestServices/Restaurants/Prego.htm). I cant remember the exact things we had as it has been more than 2 months ago. I can vaguely recall we were stuffing ourselves with the free bread with olive oil and basimic vinegar as we were really hungry.

We shared 2 pizzas, 1 risotto and 2 pasta items among the 7 of us!

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I remembered we really loved 1 of the pizza. Cant rem which!

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O! I remembered loving this pasta the most! cause my puke (due to after dinner events.. :p) smelt alot like it . Never eat pasta before drinking.. cause the puke stinks like hell!

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Eh.. cant rem much!

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And we ended the dinner with absolutely yummy creamy tiramisu!!!

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My beautiful and wonderful friends who contributed to the FUN and FUND of my hen's night! And to my lovely bridesmaid, thank you for all the planning!

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Buffets to try...

Saw some buffets less than $30 from food and travel magazine which i love to try....


Jade (Fullerton Hotel)
Things to expect: xiao long baos, crystal crab meat dumplings, abalone siew mais, steamed sharks fin dumplings and scaalop dumpling!
Weekend Dim Sum buffet: S$28++ per person. 11.30am to 2.30pm
Link: http://www.fullertonhotel.com/main.html#/dining/jade/
Me: the food list sounds damn exciting right! The dim sum looks so intricate and beautiful in the magazine!! Hope it tastes as good as it looks!

Parkway Thai (Centrepoint)
Things to expect: tom yum soup, mango salad, satay, chilli and black pepper crab, claypot crab with tang hoon!
Buffet Lunch: S21.90 nett from 11.30-3.oopm on weekdays and s$23.90 nett on weekends and PH.
Me: I remember how much my friends and I love the parkway thai tomyum soup during our sec sch days. Only my indo frn rich enough to frequent there often.
Link: http://www.parkwayrestaurants.com/Parkway%20Thai%20Website/CompanyProfile.html

Pete's Place (Grand Hyatt)
Things to expect: Wood-fried oven pizzas to fresh pastas, piping hot soups, salad bar, bread counter.
Italian Buffet lunch: S$28++ (adult) from Monday to Saturday, 12pm -2.30pm (inclusive of coffee and tea)
Soup, Salad, Dessert Buffet Lunch: S$21++, from Monday to Saturday, 12pm -2.30pm
Link:http://www.restaurants.singapore.hyatt.com/petes/petes_intro.html
Me: My frn used to mention about this place for relative quite yummy food. But it was many years ago and till now, I have not visited it. Price seems reasonable for me to try it anytime.

This will be a good reference for me in future when i run out of ideas!

Monday, April 13, 2009

Picnic @ Marina Barrage!

In times of recession, we decided that birthday celebrations this year shall be simple. Mine was a potluck at Mel's place. And now, for Mel's celebration, she suggested having a picnic at Marina Barrage. Good idea as some of us, including me, have never been there before. We did a similar picnic for her at Bontanical Gardens last year.

Unfortunately for us, we were greeted with heavy rain at around 3plus 4. Our picnic was suppose to start at 4pm. We postponed it to 5. The weather was still gloomy when we arrived at the barrage. The sky was sort of clearing up but the guard there did not allow us anyone to go out in the open. Think he was afraid that we get struck by lightning. Anyway, we got tired from waiting and decided to have our picnic on the concrete ground where we were standing.

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The gloomy skies that greeted us when we arrived.

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Happy in our little corner

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Our spread:
- Crabmeat & Prawn Roe, Tuna & Egg Mayo with baguette
- Sidedishes from Astons: Potato Salad, Coleslaw, Pasta salad
- Luncheon Meat Sandwiches
- Big Ben's Pies
- Sausages! All kinds!
- Homemade Healthy Chicken Patties

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Tiramisu lovingly made by Sherrie!

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Happy Birthday Mel!

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Digging in to our alcohol soaked tiramisu!

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