Sunday, May 4, 2008

5 toasts to a happy birthday.

just last fri, my mates and i were out to celebrate lyn's birthday. as we were at robertson walk, the star-of-the-night decided to go for italian fare, so we popped by at cugini.



the restaurant was quiet, apart from us, there's only one couple and another group. however, there were also 2 or 3 groups of people drinking outside the restaurant. just some pictos to fill you in how it looks like inside.



first up, the chef served us this pasta, which jac felt that it was floury-except this is with cheese as its filling. as for the mushroom, all of us couldnt appreciate it; xw was the only one who managed to finish it.



then the main courses came, i had some pasta with bacon

i thought it was pretty chinese, salty and all - too salty to our liking. as you chew, you realize there's this stinging effect on the tongue, and i cant quite figure whether it's the spice or the salt that's the cause of it.

xw also had some pasta.

her pasta was in the form of wontons. i cant quite remember what filling it has though, some kind of meat.

the rest had some tuna.

for someone like me who hates tuna to the core, this was really good stuff, especially since i find myself picking more from their plates.

how can birthdays be complete without cakes? so for deserts, we first had chocolate cake.

when the server told us that it would take 20min to bake the cake, all of us expected a bigger cake. but nonetheless, the cake was scrumptious! when you cut through the cake, you can see the hot chocolate oozing out, and as you put the cake into your mouth, it was almost heavenly.




not satisfied by that small little cake, lyn and i went to order tiramisu.

sad to say, it wasnt that great. especially after the delicious choc cake we had.

from the photos, it's easy to tell that the portions are very small. quoting jenny, "this is almost like exquisite food." the bill (4 mains plus 2 desserts) came up to almost $200 - citi and uob cardmembers would be entitled to 15% discount. as much as we enjoy the warm hospitality by the female hostess of cugini, i highly doubt that ill come by here, maybe my palettes for italian fare has been accustomed by the sillyporeans remake version.

cugini restaurant & lounge bar
11 unity street
#01-27/28 robertson walk
singapore 237995

opening hours:
(restaurant)
lunch: 11.30am to 2pm daily
dinner: 6pm - 1030pm daily

once again, happy bday lynette and may all your wishes come true!
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*credits to lyn for some of the pictos!*

-tfc-

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Thursday, May 1, 2008

out from period dramas.

on the eve of labour day, joy and jo suggested that we go back to the old chinese days and decided to head dian xiao er for dinner. according to joy, dian xiao er is famous for its duck.


being the first one to reach, joy called everyone up, just cos we missed our queue number!


the late(st)comer! (and jo looks really happy that bruce finally reached!)


the food looks really nice...

and bruce looks ready to attack, full force!

VERDICT!
we had the jia-chang-bian-fan set, that has about 8 dishes (including the white rice, dessert and soup) for 4 pax, and we ordered an extra plate of fried rice, just to try it out. the three of them love the food, but as for myself, i found it too salty to my liking. i guess it could also be a matter of preference, since im more into bland food lately. the portions were good, just nice for the 4 of us, as we managed to CLEAR the plates.

as for the service. i thought it's pretty good. hearing the accent of the servers, i would assume that most of them came from northern parts of china. after being in bj 3 months, i can safely assure you that the service we got were way better than those we recvd there. though it's kinda jarring to the ears to have the server apologising whenever she brings the dish to our table. oh boy, the speed at each dish was served was astoundingly fast!

the interior design of dian xiao er mimics those of ke zhan - those eating places you watch from the period dramas. it was interesting that even the concept of the menu follows through, since it was in the form of mi ji - the manuals that were supposedly the answer to the invincible swordplay. and in $$$ sense, the price was also alright since our bill came up to about 100bucks.



fyi, the dian xiao er that we went to was located at Marina Square #02-203/204.

opening hours:
11.30am-2.30pm daily
5.30pm-9.30pm daily

next up, the gluttons were just being greedy and decided to go for desserts, after joy started chanting for apple struddel - that woman claims that swensens serves the best apple struddel in sg. ha, but we settled for andersen's instead!

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bruce got so engrossed into playing tourist and his iphone - anything but joy.

so that woman got bored...


and i played along with her.


till jo finally came into the picture.


before i get too carried away, check out our desserts!


jo and i demonstrate the steps to eating ice-cream!







so tell us, who's the better demonstrator?

okay, let's play it fair lest anyone gets intimidated by jo's stern expression!

now, who's the better demonstrator?

- tfc-
*credits to jo for some of the pictos!*

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Saturday, April 26, 2008

Gimme some lovin' - italiano style.

We are bored, yet we are not. Lives of fresh grads consist of part slacking, part eagerly looking for jobs. Amidst all that action - or lack of, the Fad people met up to plan the next stage of Fad development (we are seeing some truly exciting times ahead), as well as to savour some good food.

My recent foodie-crush is Da Paolo. Ever since I visited the Da Paolo Gastronomia outlet at Paragon, I have not stopped raving about the food. So we hit Holland V in search for Da Paolo's Pizza Bar.






Business was good, so we gotta wait... which is always frustrating, especially when you're famished!









We hung out at the "waiting area", flipped the menu and fantasized about what we would order.




While waiting, the extensive wine collection caught my eyes. I must say the decor of the restaurant is quite cool.



Then the drinks arrived. A godsend on this hot hottttt night.


The Fad boy had his beer, which is probably water to him. I wanted to try the Prosecco. Prosecco is a sparkling wine. I had my first taste of this bubbly in Venice. It's quite like champagne.

Finally we were seated - al fresco. A big no-no if you can't stand the heat.


BUT WE WERE HUNGRY, so...



The Fad chick had beef lasagne. It was delish, although I would complain about the petite serving if you compare that with our mammoth pizzas!


Both the Fad boy and I had pizzas. I was just suddenly craving it.
the Fad boy had seafood pizza with tomato sauce, and it was one of the best I've ever had. I would seriously recommend that.


The seafood (consisting of fish, smoked salmon, squid, mussels and prawns) was so fresh. I love the mussels, so fat and juicy!

I had a cheesy pizza. I think I was searching for an entirely italian experience. The pizza had both Mozzarella and Gorgonzola cheese topped with Parma ham, all medallions of classic Italian cuisine.


If you love cheese, that's the pie for you, although I was half dead half way through and had to force the Fad boy and the Fad chick to help me finish the huge pizza.


If you're going with friends, one pizza is more than enough for two persons. You can share that and order something else.

So it's another night of good food and good time, chatting, catching up and some business talk. The bill came up to under a hundred, which, for the food and drinks we had, was quite all right.

I wonder where we would head next, but I know Da Paolo is already in my "List".

da paolo pizza bar
44, Jalan Merah Saga,
#01-46, Chip Bee Gardens, Holland Village.
Tel: 6479 6059


- the Fad girl

Thursday, April 10, 2008

theFadboy visits The Mussel Guys @ Vivo City

Looks good.. Taste good???
Lets start this off without putting anyone hopes to high...

PLEASE dun go there... I can give u a few reasons not to...



1. The food.. (yes, the food!).. the servings were small, the sauce (for the pasta) was not thick and the seafood not fresh (or so i heard..)

2. The Service.. err what service???

- the waitress could not understand english very well, dun get me wrong, i am fine with hiring chinese nationals but at least hire one that can take our orders properly??? We had a difficult (frustrating, argonizing) time trying to describe a fresh potato and a mash potato...

The Tomato Pasta that tasted like it didnt have Tomato
- they were too eager to serve us our food... before we were done with soup, the main course came.. before we were done with the main, the coffee came...

- it was difficult to get anyones attention! HELLO!! ATTENTION pls MISS WAITRESS!! Not only when i wan to foot the BILL!!

3. There are much nicer places at Vivo... better view at a cheaper price.. (maybe not the cheaper price part) but still at least better food and service?



So what can i say, A nice, interesting and cheeky name does not mean anything at all! but if u really wan to give them a try..


Its not good, but dun kill me!!!

The Mussel Guys (not Muscle!) is located at

VivoCity 1 Harbourfront Walk
#02-123 Singapore 09858

Thefadboy visited and sacrificed his taste buds for this post!

Monday, March 24, 2008

KAZU

Been lotsa coverage on jap food lately, and I'm just about to add one more to the Fad gourmet collection.

My sis and I went to KAZU SUMI-YAKI Restaurant for grilled japanese fare recently. You can jolly well say its the jap-ish satay haven for yaki lovers.



The food was superb and the restaurant setting was cosy (small and packed like a typical jap eating house). It was a surprise because being tucked away in an obscure corner of Cuppage Plaza, I almost ran off even before taking the escalator to level 4 where Kazu was found.



The reason being Cuppage Plaza seemed abandoned, cold and deserted with Japanese KTV lounges and restaurant weaving the corridors like a movie about to go wrong...

But I'm glad I forged on!

There were some rather interesting starters. Cold jelly containing crab meat, roe and egg - that's unique. And cabbage with a sweet sauce for all - that can get addictive.



I loved all the artery-clogging stuff:
the grilled duck, pork with apple - you gotta order that, foie gras, oyster wrapped in bacon and the top shell that is as big as one's face!





Apparently KAZU attracts not only locals, expats, jap-drama-serial-esque businessmen and tai-tais, it also garners a loyal celeb following. I saw Lim Kay Tong sitting three tables away from me - and that's not all. The cashier counter had all the photos of actors who have patronised this authentic jap restaurant.

While it might seem inexpensive to order stick after stick of these japanese grilled meats, the bill could amount to alot, so be careful there.

Also, eat your fill if you so want to, but do not waste your money on desserts there. I guess if you specialise in grilled meats, you can't possibly ace your tiramisu department as well.



All in all, KAZU is a can-go and must-go for treating yourselves to a sumptious Jap yaki meal! A word of advice, please call to rsvp or you risk not getting a table. Seriously.


KAZU SUMI-YAKI RESTAURANT
No. 5 Koek Road
#04-05 Cuppage Plaza
S228796

- the Fad girl