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!


*credits to lyn for some of the pictos!*

-tfc-

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!


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!*

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

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!

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

Nihon Mura (The Cathay)

A few weeks ago, theFadpeople visited Nihon Mura (日本村) at The Cathay.

The restaurant has an interesting way of ordering the food.

First u go to the "food" section where there are many different ice cream sticks that represents the food available. You take the sticks you want, place it at the counter and go back to your seat and wait to be served. The only difference was that the sushi was on the rotating table. Sushi's were going for an amazing 99cents. Unfortunately, they didnt look very appetizing at all.

If you are looking for good and authentic japanese cruisine, than Nihon Mura is definitely not the place for you.

For the cheap price that was paid, the food can be considered to be of "acceptable" standards.

Personally I would only recommend having the Salmon Sashimi because nothing else that day tasted good to me.

TheFadchick had some Don (which i do not remember but i think it was Unagi) but I do not think she was impressed by it as well.

And the Cha Soba, pls... do not even order it... It was blend and hard... Must be the worst cold noodles i have ever tried.

TheFadgirl had salmon head soup. It looked impressive but didnt taste that good as well. U see 1 fish head but u only get half.. cos the other side of the fishhead is cut off and maybe being served on another table. Haha...

To sum things up, the 3 of us decided never to patronised the place again (unless we were really broke and craving for japanese).

Nihon Mura is located at

The Cathay
2 Handy Road
#B1-K2 to B1-07

Once again, theFadboy says hi with his post!

Shokudo - Pasta with a Japanese Twist...

There seems to be a sudden craze over japanese pasta and theFadboy decided to check out Shokudo @ Citylink... where they serve both Japanese Pasta and Pizza.


The decor of the place was not anything to shout about but the waiter and waitresses are very friendly and helpful. Our waitress seems like she jumped out of a Japanese comic, so eager to please and so willing to recommend.


I ordered the salmon/salmon roe pasta, I felt that it was too dry. Although the salmon was big and tasty, i just didnt feel the "japanese" in this pasta...

With a japanese style deep-fried calamari (that came with a wasabi mayo sauce), well, this was a disaster... the calamari felt like rubber and was difficult to chew... and for a few miserable pieces it was like 8bucks.. definitely not worth the money...

and my date had a bacon japanese pasta... as for the this, it really tasted like any carbonara that from pasta mania. There was nothing special about it, except for its name..

I must say that it was a really disappointing trip. Apart from the excellent service that was provided, there is nothing left to praise about the place. Perhaps the next time I should try Waraku Pasta instead.

In case i was being bias, this is another review that i got from Yum.sg.

I might sound really mean but i felt that the $55 that i paid would have been better donated to NKF. I do not recommend that anyone visits this place, unless you wish to be proven wrong..

This not recommended place was visited by theFadboy (don't sue me!)

dolphins' tavern

i was reading lifestyle on sunday, and i realised that for mother's day, dolphins' tavern is having a promotion for citibank cardmembers where moms get to dine for free. since ive been there before, thought i could share my experience there and some pictos!



i went with corina and doreen, 2 of my best mates from the sixsomes. rina went there for her cousin's bday and decided to share the joy and brought the 2 of us there!


we ordered a set dinner and 2 mains, as it would be more value for money that way.

for the set dinner, the starters...

we had some bread, salad and mushroom soup. the girls speculated that the soup came freshly out of campbell cans.

and reenie looks ready to dig in.


following shortly, the mains came along.

rina and i ordered the ribeye steak. the steak was delicious, and the meat was tender. the portion was pretty decent too!



reenie ordered seafood pasta - with prawns and mussels. likewise, the portion was so huge that reenie couldnt finish it.



after we finished the mains, the dessert was served as the third-parter of the set dinner, which was vanilla ice-cream - which i didnt take any picto, since everyone knows what vanilla ice-cream is.

the place is quiet, it's prolly cos we went there on a weekday night. however, i guess one reason could also be its location - jalan selaseh? i havent heard of that before. its pretty inaccessible if you dont have a car and its pretty well-hidden in the estates. who would have imagined that there would be a western restaurant inside the estate? but i must say the interior is pretty cosy and also, the servers are helpful.

the price is pretty reasonable - with 1set dinner and 2 mains - the bill came up to 95bucks. hope this helps some of you to consider where to bring your lovely moms for mother's day!

dolphins' tavern
22 jalan selaseh
opening hours: 11am to 11pm daily

-tfc-

Shokudo

Facing the rest of the world at the end of the newly added wing of Raffles City basement is Shokudo.

Shokudo. The name itself vaguely sounds like "Shiok-udo", hence from the first moment, might have already appealed to the palettes of many jap-food-aficionados here in Singapore.

Think Marché, think Vila'ge, then think about the glorious world of fresh Japanese sushis and sashimis we often see portrayed on blogs and tvs. "No artificial flawourin. All fresh-o," screamed the intimidating chef in the typical wooden hut restaurant, with a towel tied around his head, single-mindedly moulding his sea urchin rice ball.

This, ladies and gentlemen, might be a sin to many orthodox Jap-food-connoisseurs, but to the avid Katsu curry and Yakitori fans, this has to be marriage made in fast food heaven! You queue for your food, they swipe your card, and you will wait for the chefs to whip up your dinner right there and then. And the waiters will swoop down on you the moment you finish your meal - and clean the table.



Design of the eatery is just like the many types of food being offered - the word is "Assortment". Like a funfair with many stations for one to play games and sit on rides, this is your playground. There are many sitting areas with various themes from modern chic to traditional wooden hut setting.





What should we eat?



Well the Fad boy will tell you that $5 for 5 gyozas is too expensive. And there's nothing spectacular about it anymore than you going to Cold Storage and buying a pre-packed frozen version.

My katsu curry was just so-so, but it was hearty and the sweet curry sauce is not too salty. The crepe was more like pancake and it was too thin. The banana-chocolate (What chocolate??) toppings totally overwhelmed the crepe.

What a small world!
It was a day of serendipity. Not only did I bump into an old time buddy, Peiyong, I'd also met a bunch of sec school/JC mates who were all in the school Judo team, Mingli, Caroline, Hui xian and one of my good friends, Xinyi. We are actually all connected, from Peiyong to Xinyi and I'd leave you to wonder what the connection is :)



We asked the girls if they like Shokudo, and they did. The concept was good for gatherings, and they like the food.



As usual the Fad people had our own fun while munching away, either sneaking a shot at one another, or self-posing in front of the cam. (But we were working hard, okay!)

At the end of the day, I was glad there's a Marche concept, express Jap food eating house where I can add to my potential gathering list. But the thought of paying some exorbitant price (relatively speaking) for not so supreme quality Jap fare might take a little coaxing of my wallet and the sceptical mind for me to make Shokudo a frequent hang out.



Shokudo Japanese Food Bazaar

Raffles City Shopping Centre
252 North Bridge Road #B1-44E
Ring-ring: (65) 6837 3793

- the Fad girl

crepe it up!

last fri, finally got down to check out the creperie restaurant, creperie des arts, as recommended by my french teacher who proclaimed the authenticity of french crepes. the food was amazing, the service was outstanding and the ambience - i love it! quaint little stores always work for me. so everything was simply too good to be true.



it happened that i managed to be on time, but my 2 other mates were late, and i was getting annoyed. to my great surprise, she suddenly got me a cup of apple cider, and told me "this is on the house, you can drink it while waiting for your friends." when that cup of cider is selling at 7bucks! i thought it was a very friendly gesture, but thefadboy was telling me over the phone that i should check my bill later. pfft.

the shop has 2 sitting areas, i chose to sit indoor as i thought it was going to rain. inside the restaurant, it's rather small, i guess the shop could only house at most 3 groups of people dining inside. the interior was decorated in such a way that almost mimics the interior of a ship, or even the home of a seaman, or fisherman. on one side of the walls, there are nets sprawling over the wall, with paintings and fake crabs, and the other side, you could see there is one painting with a ship and a ship model on a drawer.



the chef went around talking to the customers, and asking how's the food. this is totally random, if you had seen the kit kat ad by jwt france, "take a break to outer space", the chef would be the life size version of the pixar-like animated lead. it's not difficult to tell that the chef is french, given his heavy accented english.



my friends finally arrived after a long wait that seem like a century had past. we ordered 3 crepes, aiguebelette, yvette and polvem. the filling for aiguebelette includes cheese and bacon, yvette's - mushroom and prawns, whereas polvem's - smokedsalmon. when the crepes were served, our 5 senses were almost immediately captivated by the smell of the piping hot crepes and the presentation was rather unique to me- it was rather different from the crepes at vilage or marche. as we were just chatting away after devouring our food, to our pleasant surprise, the chef actually came out with keroch - a crepe dessert with caramel on it, and spoke with us. this again was on the house!

aiguebelette

the 3 crepes

keroch

all in all, our bill of 3 crepes, one coke and one orange juice came to $86. (yes, they did not charge the apple cider and the keroch.) with reasonable servings, great service attitude, great food and plenty of surprises, what's there not to love!

get down to creperie des arts and check out for yourself!

creperie des arts is located at 44 prinsep street.

opening hours:
weekdays: 5-11pm
weekends: 12-2pm; 5-11pm
/Closed Mondays

lunches upon reservation
tel: 6333 5330

-tfc