I'm not a big fan of buffets. It brings out the worst in people, especially Singaporeans.

So it was with some trepidation that I joined my friends at The Line for dinner. Some standard $68++ deal.

It was my first time at The Line and maybe going there on a Saturday was a bad move in itself. Driving was a nightmare coz there was a wedding and many insistent people decided they'd rather wait half an hour to move a car length than valet. Grrr...

We had reservations and were shown to our table by a well-spoken Pinoy lady. First impressions? MADNESS! Hardly any vacant seats, families by the truckloads and large parties (like us)...a veritable zoo!

The food spread is standard ho-hum. Nothing noteworthy. AT ALL. Sure, they had the usual seafood, Jap, Chinese, Indian, Italian, dessert fare...but everything tasted buffet-y, to coin a non-descript blah word to sum up the selection.

And honestly, what in blazers is the Singaporean obsession with oysters and prawns as a 'make it worth my while' at a buffet?? Advertising/marketing people should give themselves a pat coz along with conning Singaporeans into al fresco dining in HOT/HUMID Singapore, they have managed to up the appeal of tasteless food like oysters, mussels etc. I saw almost everyone piling their plates with oysters...many of them then loading the freaking things with tobasco sauce AND making eeky faces whenever they swallowed one then loading on more tobasco followed by more eeky faces. It looked like no one was really enjoying the seafood...BUT they just had to get their money's worth. The same could be said about the piling of ANY food, half eating it...bitching and moaning about it. Mannn, and WE make fun of PRCs being low-end!

K, here's the group's low down on the food.

1) No carvery...guess Singaporeans would have eaten Shang out of house and home if that had been included.
2) Indian fare was passable.
3) Chinese stuff, pretty standard...coffeeshops do it wayyy better. Tim sum also, so-so.
4) No yellow tail at Jap corner
5) Dessert, fancy and again the spread masks the ho-hum factor.

The only item that got sooome kudos (sparingly again I must add) was the satay and its peanut sauce.

Imagine, a so-called delectable spread and all we could kinda agree on was the satay. Sigh.

The service was a pretty good for a Saturday night. There were easily 10 big parties (one group was a noisy bunch of college kids celebrating someone's b'day - they get good pocket money ah, these kids!) and the glasses were refilled promptly, tea, coffee served quickly etc.

Despite that I'm definitely NEVER going back coz there's better food out there and certainly to be enjoyed while NOT being reminded of how Singaporeans have a looong way to go in the holy grail of graciousness.

What a grrr way to spend a Saturday night! I apologise for my first real negative review.

Btw, for fellow whiskey buffs, the lounge bar serves up a treat with even the 50-year Macallan on offer. $59 a peg though. Wallet ouch!

Well, I succeeded.

I 'encouraged' my colleagues to do our annual Deepavali lunch at Spice Junction (mini yay). They were planning on Go India but I did the smart thing of pointing them to some of the Go India reviews here, especially about the buffet and my job was done. (Oh no, what if they read my 'I'll get my colleagues to Spice Junction' review! Argh!)

Anyhoo, we are a group of 18 so we made reservations early and even got out of the office early to make our 12.30 slot. The restaurant was fairly full but we pretty much took up one whole section. The standard long table, except it looked reeaallly long.

Everyone HAD to wear something Indian and the girls, actually, babes really turned it on. The Indian colleagues looked...well, like they had just arrived from India while the Chinese gals really looked the business. Very pwetty in their shawls, Indian tops, bindis, cleavage...Ha.

Nice.

We settled down, got some drinks going...everything from strawberry lassi to India's beer, Kingfisher. All good.

Then the mega orders started. We pretty much ordered the house. Everything from Chicken 65, Butter Chicken, Mutton Vindaloo, Vegetable stew, Fish curry, some Prawn sambal thingy, to Pepper Paneer (hey, where did that come from? Heh) with briyani rice, normal white rice and prata.

The food arrived soon and EVERYONE couldn't get enough of almost everything. The girls who do the usual bird like eating were like going from 'Who wants to share a prata?' to 'I want a prata for myself!'. It was quite a sight. And by the end of lunch, we had pretty much licked dry some of the plates/dishes. I kid you not.

There was a smoke break of sorts (more babes than boys smoke in our office - sigh) before we started on desserts.

Again, we had everything and this time while most agreed that Indian desserts should come with an insulin jab or a heart monitor, everything disappeared magically yet again.

While the general consensus was that lunch was a mega success, the top 5 rated items were as follows:

1) Mutton Vindaloo - spicy shiok feeling with tender mutton pieces
2) The prawn sambal thingy (didnt check the name, it's the most expensive prawn item on the menu)
3) Butter Chicken - standard Indian fare done without the jelak feeling
4) Pepper Paneer - second time around and still like first love
5) Chicken 65 - would make for a great beer snack...we ordered like 7 plates of this!

We were still singing the praises (in-between spice burbs) as we made our way back to the office. And you won't believe this! The girls actually ordered a huge Old Changkee takeaway less than an hour later for tea! What the..!!!

I had a blast (er, might feel a blast when I go to the loo this morning). A thoroughly enjoyable lunch at what must be one of my favourite restaurants along Race Course Road now. Heightened by Indian-garbed colleagues who served up great eye candy along with some good 'ol fashioned Indian-like gossip *wink*

Yappy Deepavali indeed!

No long story here. Just a simple but wonderful dinner.

We had their fish curry, deep fried chicken and pepper paneer (goat cheese for the uninitiated) with butter naan.

The curry was very different to what you'd get at a Banana Leaf/Muthu's and even had a touch of sourness which made it ooh-so-delectable.

The deep fried chicken marinated in some amazing spices was juicy and, if I may borrow, finger lickin' good.

The pepper paneer...SPICY but in a 'oh-my-but-I-want-more' way.

Butter naan...can't go wrong yeah.

We had coffee and the payasam (yummy Indian version of er, milk cereal maybe) for desserts (I'm a dessert freak in case you haven't noticed) and both were competent. Meaning, we didn't have any room to complain.

The service was attentive coz my friend kept asking for itty bitty stuff and the gentleman who was waiting on us obliged every step of the way.

I think I'm gonna suggest that our company goes to Spice Junction for our annual Deepavali lunch.

Honestly, I'm only thinking of the rest. Heheh!

One of my best friends turns 40 today (18 Oct). He's a simple man, the type to be content with his beef kway teow and beer. The wife and I decided to buy him and his wife dinner and make him do what he rarely does - dress up.

I shortlisted 3 restaurants to mark the occasion (the dressing up more than him turning 40) - Ember, Garibaldi and Gordon's Grill - and consulted the wife. She suggested Garibaldi. Her reasoning being my friend would appreciate a lil spot of luxury/extravagance...and more importantly, that she had never been there.

I made reservations the day before, told them it's my buddy's 40th etc. The lady on the phone sounded pleasant and explained that there is a dress code, there's valet service, there'll be a tiramisu with a candle etc Okay, off to a good start then.

I picked up friend + wife and rocked up to the restaurant at 8pm (reservations were for 8.15). My wife, starved of any meaningful outings, had gone to style her hair etc and met us there straight. In fact, she had already ordered a drink (bitter lemon cos she is nursing) when we walked in. The lady I had spoken to on the phone greeted us and suggested that we can have drinks and move into the dinning room when we are ready. Me, friend + wife commented what a sharp-looking employee she was BUT the wife had issues...she said the woman was 'efficient' with Asians and all ambassadorial with the ang-mohs. (Maybe the colonial hangover is strong coz Raffles Hotel was just a street away.)

We had a drink and moved to our table. Think the whole 40th birthday thang was working like a charm...we had a nice corner table and there were two very pleasant Indian gents who looked after us very well the whole night through.

The food orders were as follows:

Wife: Foie gras to start. Angel hair pasta with lobster for mains.
Friend's wife: Scallops to start. Veal ravioli for mains.
Friend: Foie gras as well to start. Lamb rack for mains.
Me: Wagyu beef carpaccio to start. Veal shank for mains on the recommendation of the waiter.

We were also tempted by the escargot on the menu and ordered that as an extra starter to share. Yeah, real pigs we were.

We had champagne to toast the birthday boy and I picked a decent Abruzzo to accompany us through the mains (the wine list is intimidating price-wise...actually quite unrealistic to be honest. $1400 for ANY Aussie wine deserves the tag of 'a fool and his money')

The restaurant was full and the waiters were constantly on their feet. Filling up olive oil/balsamic, earning their keep selling 'sparkling or still' water, providing recommendations to newbies and chatting up regulars. And while our two Indian waiters were very attentive to us I did notice that one or two of the waiters had the 'atas' attitude with other diners...where do these dimwits get off having an attitude!?!

Anyhoo, the starters arrived and everyone had a bite of everyone else's and this is how everything got ranked.

1) My wagyu beef carpaccio (I almost did a victory lap...but had to settle for arms raised in a 'V' - the beef came off the plate like tissue and when paired with the cheese, mannnn....awesome).
2) Scallops (two big juicy Dolly Parton-esque scallops presented as such btw)
3) Foie Gras (the wife commented immediately after her first bite that the foie gras at Vis-a-Vis was better and my friend...well, he liked his foie gras, think it took his mind totally off his beef kway teow)
4) Escargot (waste time, don't bother)

Special mention must be given at this point to the Trebbiano Abruzzo we had ordered. A 2000 vintage, it was outstanding from nose to palate to finish. Highly highly recommended.

K, back to food. The mains arrived and this is how they fared:

1) My friend's lamb rack - it came off the bone and was just so delicious...so much so I even set aside my Mary had a lil Lamb issues. EVERYONE agreed that this was the winner.
2) My wife's angel hair pasta with lobster - simple with just a dash of spice for a flavourful dish. Great choice.
3) My friend's wife's veal ravioli - not bad but I think she would have cheated on it for the lamb rack in a heartbeat.
4) My grrr veal shank on saffron risotto - in a word, blah. Probably made worse by the fact that the presentation was such eye candy.

So, haiz, winner on starters, loser on mains. Life of a foodie turns in a course.

The desserts were up next and the girls picked the very predicatable molten chocolate cake. The friend got his tiramisu with candle and I opted for the almond parfait with coconut meringue.

The waiters wanted to sing for my friend but we said 'no thanks...we'll embarrass him ourselves'. Which we did...slightly I think. He was touched in any case and again, we all traded desserts. And this time, I was back with a vengeance baby. My almond parfait had everyone drooling (woohoo) while the molten cake got the usual 'okay lah'. The tiramisu was not bad...must have been the spit from my friend as he was blowing out the candle.

I have heard from friends and read here at HGW about how inconsistent Garibaldi is...and I can see why that may be so.

The food was good but at 4 (lamb rack, angel hair pasta, beef carpaccio and almond parfait) out of 11 dishes getting our thumbs up, guess it could be more consistent. At the listed prices especially.

And while the service was good at our table, seeing how snooty an attitude some waiters took with other (local) diners plus the wife's comment about the ang-moh friendly lady at the door, again the place could do with more consistency.

I'm sure I'd go back for the 4 dishes I mentioned (and the lovely Abruzzo)and am probably willing to gloss over the flaws of Garibaldi for one simple reason - my beef kway teow loving friend had a wonderful evening. Doesn't that beat any ratings game?

Happy Birthday Mike!

This is a new establishment...under 3 weeks in the market I've been told.

I've been there twice. Once with colleagues for a celebratory meal. And the other a more sedate dinner for two with a friend in crisis. So between the two dinners I have had quite a run through of the menu.

The appetizers are not bad. Tuna, not bad. Artichoke soup, interesting.

Mains - beef so so. Suckling pig, good (but very very unhealthy). Chicken, waste time. Fish, not bad. Risotto, good. Pasta, so so also.

Desserts - mostly yummy. The lemon meringue is quite spot on. Fig ice cream-whatever not bad either.

The service is pretty good but that's coz they are new and need to please I feel.

The wine selection is pretty good and we had superb wines on both occasions.

The decor...yes, for once NOT the boring cookie-cutter Marmalade look. Thank God! The chairs could be comfier but overall, nice.

Costs wise...the colleagues dinner was about $1000 for 7 of us. And for the sedate dinner, around $250 for two. Both occasions with wines and even champagne included.

Don't think the big restaurants would be quaking in their boots just yet but maybe the spot will grow its own following. Just watch out for the damn traffic lights from the main road....they get in your eye.

It's been a month plus since our second one arrived and the wife has been itching to get some time out, especially on Saturday nights. So I decided that perhaps she should re-join the restaurant circuit starting at Forlina. It was to be my first time there as well.

I called on Friday night and got one of the last tables for two. The Italian-accented lady on the other end was kind enough to tell me which lifts to take and that the restaurant is a bit of a walk etc

Well, her 'directions' proved true and it WAS a bit of a winding walk to Forlina. The decor at the entrance and up the stairs looked like we were in some English manor with stag heads on walls BUT the restaurant decor was the predictable minimalist yadayada (this cookie cutter restaurant look is a pet peeve of mine).

We were greeted with enthusiasm by the staff and shown to our table...we got a window seat (mini yay). The side chair for me wife's bag got the 'I'm impressed' from the wife (her bar is low given her confinement maybe). The table, however, was big so no chance of a romantic couple holding hands/canoodling etc from across the table.

We ordered the fare that has been getting the rave reviews and sat back with some expectations.

The meal was kicked off with a chef's complimentary dish - deep fried anchovy with cherry tomatoes. I know, sounds off BUT it was yums. No overpowering fishy smell whatsoever. The famous pizza bread was served up along with it. My wife finished it and was eyeing my portion as well. I was okay with mine. But nice touch though.

For starters the wife had the scallops and I opted for the bone marrow risotto.

Scallops - wow! Light sauce so bulk of the work was done by the scallops themselves. My wife looked visibly annoyed cutting me a piece.

My bone marrow risotto was quite good but...I've had better. At Prive. So wife won the appetisers round.

For mains, coz we are rabbit-averse (I had 7 pet rabbits growing up so...) the staff suggested we try momma's famous breaded lamb chops. So we decided we'll go with the recommendation.

I'm not a big lamb fan (Blue Basil is one of the few places where the lamb shank has impressed me) so as much as I had ordered it, I was feeling like I'm gonna regret ordering it. My wife, on the other hand, loves lamb.

Our breaded lamb chops arrived. My wife's face lit up with a mega watt smile as soon as the first piece cleared her lips. She was mighty impressed. I took a deep breath and tried mine. Maybe I just don't 'get' lamb...maybe I liked Mary had a little lamb too much as a child...the lamb was ooookay to me and I know I invite Momma Forlina's wrath by saying this - I struggled to finish even two of the three chops ('No Momma, NOT the rolling pin!).

So the main round, again, went to the wife. She decided to retire a champion by staying clear of desserts. But still it was no walkover. I checked the desserts and picked a raspberry tart with Moscato sauce (fans of the Italian wine would know it to be a sweet treat). And it did not disappoint. In fact, it was the highlight of my dinner. Fabulous stuff. I'd go back just for that.

The coffee (super strong with warm milk (cultured people these Italians) was good. The wife had peppermint tea which was a tea bag derivative so no big shakes.

The people watching factor is high at Forlina...corporate and richie types. The table next to us was a couple on a date and we chatted in-between courses. Was an older girl (30-something) taking out a younger guy (late 20-something) and she was educating him about wine, Italian food etc. She was hot so I'd pay attention as well. Heh. They said they weren't bowled over by their starters - some ham thing and some salad - but she gave the thumbs up to the pasta with duck ragout and foie gras and her date approved of the veal. (Mental note to myself.)

The view is not bad (will look fab when all the construction is done)...if the winds outside were a little colder we could get the Sydney Harbour feel.

The bill came up to $260...and we didn't even drink a drop of booze so I figured I'm only gonna do this again on the company tab.

Wife went home super satisfied with the meal. That's worth the price of entry as new/once again dads would tell ya.

The verry pregnant Mrs had a craving for Italian food. So I did a check on hungrygowhere and decided on da Mario.

Didn't regret it one bit.

Not much of a swanky place but service was attentive and good. And food...was agreeably good.

The warm salad IS a great starter. Big button mushrooms, sundried tomatoes, lots of salad leaves with a not heavy cheese in the center.

For pasta, I had the angel hair/crab meat/artichokes while the Mrs had the ravioli.

Mine was declared the better of the two...it was light, flavourful and was fuss-free. None of the overdone whatever with tonnes of anything/everything.

And actually, the ravioli wasnt bad either. Maybe just a wee bit jelak coz it was so creamy cheesy. The ham strips were very generous. And I'd say if shared between two people, could be quite satisfying.

I saw the two tables next to me doing a piranha on their pizzas.

So that shall be the next thing to try when I return. Which I surely will.

:)

K, this is a one-off recommendation for one item on the menu.

I'm not a big fan of Seah Street Deli - salads close to $20??? What the... - but no choice business lunch ended up being there.

Sooo in-between sneering at the over-priced menu, I decided to go with the Tuna Melt. I'm a big tuna fan (Jap, canned, whatever except the dolphin kind)so I'd say I have sooome standards lah.

AND I was pretty impressed with what they served up. The standard brown bread that was smothered with tuna melt (you could hardly even see the sides of the slice) and boy was it flavourful.

I was smacking my lips and eating it slowly to prolong the pleasure. Yuuummmmy!!!

AND get this, there was so much tuna melt left after the brown slice was gone that I started dipping me fries in it.

So so goood.

I'm salivating as I'm signing off....*slurp*


P.S. - The place was too too noisy so lunch ambience is basically sucky...and service was the usual Singapore sub-par. There were at least two tables that were super pissed with the delayed service...one table of four had two parties almost finishing their food when the other two got served. NOT COOL! My business associate didn't enjoy his lunch - club sandwich and chocolate milkshake which was basically, no big shakes. Sooo...be focussed. Suffer everything for the shiok shiok tuna melt. As the lil kid in the Macs ad said 'tomorrow going you know'. Woohoo!!!

*more slurp*

As a meat lover, one of my guilty pleasures is doing the occasional Brazilian (not THAT Brazilian) churrascaria.

Having done almost all the churras joints in town (even the pathetic excuse for a meat joint at Katong), the only one I hadn't tried was the Carnivore at Vivo. Two previous attempts to dine there scuppered by reservations issues (we didn't make any and thought we could do the 'don't you know who I am?' They didn't. Swines.). So you could imagine how eager I was when my fellow meat buddy (you lah, Jas, don't eat beef...grrr) made reservations and just sms-ed 'Get your defibibrilator ready'.

We rocked up to the restaurant at 8 and were shown to our table. But we sensed trouble immediately coz they were entertaining 5 huge tables of Americans (some incentive trip for a group of 50). And the salad bar had a loooong queue.

We decided 'no choice' coz we were hungry and joined the queue. We were doing the typical Singaporean thing of making fun of their dumb-ass comments as the queue inched forward ('Man, I saw like roasted chickens and ducks hung up by their necks. People eat that??' Did I say 'dumbasses'?). We got to the salad bar (eventually) and being people on the wrong side of 40, we *cough* watch what we eat and piled our plates with vegetables - sauteed this and that, fried brinjals, cherry tomatoes, interesting ladies finger and get this, minced kailan (eww to look at and eww to the taste).

We were so hungry that we polised off the salad serving in like 10 minutes...and that's when the 'dumbasses bit' kicked in. Because the restaurant was busy serving the group of 50, EVERYONE else was basically meat less. Coz the freaking skewers didn't even make it past one half of teh 5 American tables.

So, we waited...and waited...and waited.

I was getting a tat annoyed. My friend, well-schooled in the art of bitchy comments, was absolutely pissed. And she let rip to the manager. (She's quite chio so the bitchiness comes with a melting smile - heheh!).

The manager promised that we'd be served asap...and again...not meat.

More bitchy comments with mega watt smile. More promises. No meat again.

Third time's a charm and we did get our meat...like almost half hour later. (That ewww minced kailan was sure looking good by then!).

And the meat...frankly, can't hold a candle to the original Brazil Churrascaria at Sixth Ave. Or even Vibe at the former Negara Hotel.

It could have been coz they were overworked that night with the 50 George Bushites...but still...

The fish was too fishy in smell. The chicken kinda bland. Only one beef out of three was acceptable. The lamb...actually it wasn't too bad and I'm NOT a lamb/mutton person. The sausages...average. The saving grace was whatever wrapped in bacon was - as usual - yummy. Salty and stuff.

The best part of the meal - the caramelised pineapples.

So nett nett...arteries got blocked on so-so meat. Haiz.

My friend said that they used to have a chocolate fondue previously for dessert but had obviously wised up and removed it.

So we had to adjourn elsewhere for mint tea and whatnot.

As a meat lover, I left the joint very disappointed.

I didn't appreciate the hurried atmosphere of Vibe at the former Negara Hotel BUT the meat was gooood.

Here the Americans ruined the mood...and the meat was just about better than the pathetic Katong joint.

So sad. Salads for the next week. Mannnn.....

I'm quite the beef lover and have been wanting to check out Prime Society for a while. Opportunity presented itself when I had to buy a birthday lunch for a friend who's a fellow beef lover. (Yayyy!)

We made reservations for today (23rd Jan) and walked into an almost empty restaurant. The waiter did a Forrest Gump when he saw me and my friend as if 'What the freak are you here for?'. When he recoverd he sat us down and allowed us to yak for a good 15-20 mins before coming around to take our orders. (No freebie bread amidst the yakking in case you were wondering.)

My friend decided on the rib eye coz she likes marbled fat. I choose the Fillet Mignon. Both done to medium rare. We decided to NOT do the same-o same-o of going with pepper sauce and asked the server for his recommendations. He suggested blue cheese avocado for me friend and the red wine sauce for me.

We picked the Prime caesar salad to share as a starter and cinammon mint iced tea for our parched non-stop yakking throats.

The salad arrived rather quickly. My friend, watching her weight, had asked for the dressing on the side but the server, probably thrown off by the mad rush of 3 new patrons, forgot and served it mixed in. He apologised. At least that's what I thought he did. Could'nt make head or tail amidst our incessant yakking.

The salad was not bad at all. Light dressing, lots of bacon bits, crunchy leaves and soft yolk...which was so tempting but we decided to save the arteries and left it be. And oh yes, just nice for two.

The beef arrived soon after and the presentation felt like an updated Jack's place...lots of fries, sauteed vegetables and the reason-for-being, the juicy chunk of meat.

My friend liked her ribeye BUT did regret not getting the pepper sauce. She found the blue cheese avocado too rich ( I agreed upon trying). Other than that she had no complaints. I liked my fillet mignon and while I, too, wondered how it would have tasted with pepper sauce, felt it was fine with the red wine sauce. We both shared each other's cuts and we liked the other person's better. Ha. (The grass that the cows chew on is greener I suppose.) The vegetables were decent and the fries....seemed to never end.

We ended the meal with the usual lattes. Oookay lah. No big shakes.

Overall verdict? I'd be back for sure. But my friend, like most women who aren't easily satisfied (ha) said she'll bring me to two other places where 'they have the BEST beef'.

Holy cow indeed!