Archive for the ‘Area: Buona Vista’ Category
Morganfield’s @ The Star Vista: Must Try Spare Ribs!
Have you guys been to The Star Vista? It’s situated just next to Buona Vista MRT Station (and hence the name) so whoever’s working around the area will have another lunch place to go to now! Since its opening on 17 September, misterchewy and I had been there twice in a span of two weeks. We wanted to try Morganfield’s the first weekend we were there but were told that we had to wait for at least an hour because we didn’t make reservations.
I guess we got lucky the second time when we swung by after work. We wanted to have a simple and casual celebration for our 26th dating monthsary so Morganfield’s it was! Yup we still celebrate monthsaries other than ‘bigger’ occasions like our wedding anniversary. Something to look forward to every month! :) Anyway, here’s another shot of The Star Vista. It is Singapore’s first naturally cooled mall but we were kinda thankful that the shops are air-conditioned. LOL.
We didn’t manage to get an indoor seating :( The tables were small and chairs were quite high. Didn’t really feel comfortable. Remember to make reservations if you wanna try Morganfield’s! Anyway we weren’t quite happy with Morganfield’s service standards. Most of the wait staff are foreigners and although they could speak English, they had trouble understanding us and we too had trouble communicating with them.
We wanted to order the pork ribs, seafood platter, German sausages, chilli cheese fries, Tequila spiked chicken etc! Of course we would end up suffering from food coma but the ribs sealed the deal for us when we were told that we could enjoy half-slab for free if we order a full one, as part of their opening special :D
I chose the Smoked Peppercorn Spare Ribs because I have always been a fan of anything and everything black pepper! The ribs were slowly cooked till soft and fork tender. Served with red skin mashed potatoes and garden veggies, this is one very hearty dinner!
On the other hand, the Hickory Wood-Smoked Ribs ($36.90) had a more intense smoked flavor and was also slightly sweeter but we also got tired of it much sooner thtan the smoked peppercorn one!
They have some other promotions going on right now, so be sure to check Morganfield’s out soon! :)
Morganfield’s SingaporeThe Star Vista
1 Vista Exchange Green
#02-23
Singapore 138617
Tel: 6694 3635
Opening Hours:
Mon to Thu
12 – 3pm
6 – 10.30pm
Fri
12 – 3pm
6 – 12 midnight
Sat
12pm – 12 midnight
Sun
12 – 10.30pm
The Lawn @ Biopolis: Customize Your Salad with Grilled Meats!
Salads. Salads. Salads. Hoo boy whoever said salads are plain and boring are so so wrong. To be honest, I was one myself. I could never imagine myself having a salad for lunch or dinner but thanks to The Lawn Grill & Salad Café, now I can! I don’t like to call myself a meat person but I have to stop living in self-denial because yours truly can’t survive more than 24 hours without meat! At The Lawn, the idea of creating your own salad with delicious grilled cuts such as chicken breast with herb infusion, salsa duck, garlic prawns, and many more, is simply too irresistable. As The Lawn puts it, “meat your greens”! :D :D :D
Launched in November 2011 at Biopolis, The Lawn is the latest addition to the salad scene in Singapore. Catering to busy working professionals, students and anyone who wants a more delicious alternative to healthy food, The Lawn has a steady and ever increasing flow of customers, most of whom are regular patrons!
When owner Jonathan Lim was working in California, he chanced upon a place with a huge barbecue grill in front of the shop and assumed that it was a grilled meats shop. To his surprise, it turned out to be a salad place that paired grilled meat with salad and he was left impressed because he didn’t know that salads could taste so good. He then brought back the concept to Singapore and set up The Lawn together with business partner Sarah Ang. She believes that The Lawn is the only salad cafe in Singapore to offer fresh premium grilled meat as part of the standard order package.
Placing your order at the counter is easy once you get the hang of it after the first time! Basically there are two serving sizes to choose from – Pot – 2 Grills + 6 Toppings + Greens ($10.90) or Bowl – 1 Grill + 4 Toppings + Greens ($8.90). Next you choose your grills from either the Classic or Premium range. Each of the premium grills are an additional $1 or $2 which is still very much worth the price. Now comes the interesting part, selecting your toppings and dressings! If you think ordering at Subway is difficult, wait till you try The Lawn. Their range of toppings is incredibly wide! Broccoli, tofu, raisins, fusilli pasta, eggs, cherry tomatoes, goat cheese, bacon bits and the list goes on.
Derrick jio-ed invited us to join him for a tasting and here we are, all eager to try out the grills, and not forgetting the greens! Of course, photos first! :P
Pictured above is the bowl serving. We had the Char-grilled Garlic Prawns which were deliciously juicy and they gave a crunch with every bite. As for the toppings, we opted for fusilli pasta for that extra carbo boost, broccoli, cherry tomatoes and a hard boiled egg. Red Island is one of their recommended dressings which I found very creamy and zesty!
I strongly urge you to go for the pot serving if you have a vivacious appetite. Otherwise, you can always share your food with a friend. The enhanced menu had just been put in place when we were there, so we took this opportunity to try the Grilled Salsa Duck and Butter Seared Pacific Dory with Parsley Rub, both of which were moist and tender! Again, we chose fusilli pasta amongst other toppings such as baby potatoes and parmesan cheese. I particularly liked the Me So Spicy dressing which gave a slight fiery sensation lingering at the tip of my tongue. Wasabi lovers should try the Wasahonie which is a mild, sweetened version of wasabi itself. I’m in love with The Lawn’s salads! You should seriously give it a try soon! :D
Thank you The Lawn for giving us the opportunity to meat our greens!
The Lawn
31 Biopolis Way
Nanos
#01-07
Singapore 138869
Tel: +65 64789739
Opening Hours:
Mon to Fri
9am – 9pm
A Day of Fun With Friends Along The Circle Line! :)
A couple of weeks before the Circle Line opened on 8 October, Derrick from sgfoodonfoot had this idea of ‘eating along the circle line’! It elicited a great response from most of us! Hehehe.. First time wearing a Julius Monkey top! I like to tease the husband that this must be my 聘金 (betrothal gift) because he presented me a big paperbag containing two tops and a set of pyjamas from Paul Frank two weeks before our solemnization, much to my amusement! Being the nice wife that I am, I ironed his clothes and styled his hair before setting off to meet our friends at Ghim Moh Food Centre! Oh actually we went for dim sum with the in-laws too :P But still, after much queuing and laying out all the delicious food, we got hungry hungry hungry! Many people treated us as food directory leh. “Excuse me, where did you buy the Putu Maryam?” “小妹， 你这个去哪里买？” I simply pointed at Derrick. LOL. Anyway my favorites were the Indian food from Heaven’s Indian Curry, assortment of roasted meat from Jiu Jiang Shao La and char kway teow from Guan Kee Fried Kway Teow. You can read Maureen’s post and also Ellena’s for a more comprehensive review.
After the yummy hawker spread, we hopped onto the circle line and our next stop was Holland Village! One of my favorite hangouts :D Excited to be present on the day of the opening! :P
Look who’s excited too? Little Rey! Glad to have such a cutie with us that day! ;)
We headed straight for The Daily Scoop upon reaching Holland Village station! BB Chew and I agreed on sharing a double scoop portion so that we can try different flavors. We ended up eating only our own choice – Utterly Avocado for me and Salted Mr Brown for him! >_<
We wanted to relieve our childhood memories at Haw Par Villa! Visited this place quite a number of times when I was still very young. Didn’t quite like it because of the gruesome depictions of hell which was kinda horrifying for a little girl. *shudders* I think it should have been rated like NC-16 or M-18! Haha. However, everything seemed pretty mild when we walked the entire trail. Hehe 长大了！
Photo courtesy of Lobster
It was a good way to spend the Saturday with a group of like-minded friends and foodies! :D
Verve Pizzeria: Modern Italian Fare @ One-North
As I’m busy typing away, my brother is undergoing overseas training in Brunei as part of his army stint. We decided to settle for lunch somewhere in the west before seeing him off at the airport and Verve Pizzeria came to mind. It’s located right next to the Ministry of Education (MOE) headquarters at Buona Vista.
Love the brick walls which gave a very warm and cosy feeling.
Duck Confit Carbonara ($26)
We came across some online (and offline) reviews on the duck confit pasta at Verve. It wasn’t stated anywhere in the menu and we finally found ourselves asking the waiter in a meek voice, “Ummm.. Do you have.. umm.. duck confit pasta?” Imagine our excitement! It’s like, the duck confit pasta is exclusive only to those who know about its existence! :P We were expecting a whole duck leg but the duck came in shreds. Think 鸭丝面. The one thing I didn’t like was that the linguine was unusually thick. The duck meat was flavorful in itself and blended harmoniously with the creamy carbonara sauce which had a fairly distinctive eggy taste. Overall, very satisfying, very nice, very carbo-loading!
Chilli Crab Pasta ($28)
No crab pincer ah? Wishful thinking on our part. Haha! I think BB Chew ordered the chilli crab pasta out of curiosity. I mean, I would but I already have my duck confit pasta :P Guess what we did? We swopped when we were half done with our own! Ok one third for me. As seen in the photo, the crab meat came in chunks. The semi-thick chilli crab sauce was much sweeter than spicy. Didn’t really suit my tastebuds. Also, at $28, I could do with more crab meat.
Prawn, Zucchini & Arugula Linguine ($24)
If you prefer to go ‘sauce-less’, you can try the prawn, zucchini & arugula linguine. My dad claimed that it was not bad and very filling. Just look at that heap of linguine! :P
Enzo Pizza ($26)
Since seafood pizzas are readily available almost everywhere and anywhere, we decided to get the enzo pizza which is essentially Peking duck slices topped with crunchy fresh Japanese cucumber and spring onions. The result is a mouth-watering sweet & savoury pizza with an undeniably thin crust! If you are on the lookout for pizzas with an Asian twist, this is it.
Jiayou bro! We are looking forward to you return. More makan and ktv sessions soon! :D
Verve Pizzeria
11 Slim Barracks Rise
One North (NTU Alumni Club Level 1)
Singapore 138664
Tel: 6776 0665
Opening Hours:
Mon to Sun
11am – 11pm
Penang Place Restaurant Lunch + Wessex Estate Photowalk
Photo credit: Maureen Ow
We had another one of our monthly makan sessions on a beautiful Saturday and a total of 9 hungry souls turned up! Derrick from sgfoodonfoot suggested that we try out the newly opened Penang Place Restaurant at Connexis, along Fusionopolis Way. It was previously located at International Business Park. Penang Place Restaurant’s current location is just two bus stops from Buona Vista mrt station! There’s also a shuttle bus service. Very convenient right? Say yes!
Reopened on 4 July 2011, this authentic Penang buffet features over 30 Penang favorites prepared by 6 Penang chefs. Expect the best here!
Photo credit: Maureen Ow
Hehehe misterchewy and missuschewy looking all smiley but actually, we were deprived of sleep! >_< We reached NUS at about 9.30am so that we could take photos with my good friend whose convocation was held that very same day. If we were to meet her after the ceremony, we would be late for lunch :( Yeah but anyway, the food was worth the sacrifice :P
Nasi Lemak with prawns, stingray, beef rendang and vegetables
Hmm I really enjoyed every mouthful of the nasi lemak. It was sheer pleasure eating the rice which was very fragrant. And how often do you get to eat nasi lemak with prawns and stingray? Now you can!
Penang Prawn Noodle
Slightly sweet and spicy with a hint of sambal belachan, the prawn noodle broth definitely packed a punch!
Penang Laksa
If you have not tried penang laksa, please be informed that it’s nothing like the usual laksa. It is spicy and sourish which really whets the appetite!
Penang Char Kway Teow and Rojak
Char Kway Teow without lard? Before you shake your head in disapproval, you gotta believe me that it tasted as good as one prepared with lard! Maybe even better! Loved the kway teow that was thin and had a springy QQ texture! A bonus was that the overall dish was less oily. As for the rojak, it was a mixture of crunchy juicy cut fruits. I still prefer my rojak with cuttlefish.
Some light bites – spring roll, lor bak, etc.
Penang Bubur Cha Cha
After all that food, it’s time for a nice sweet bowl of bubur cha cha!
Red Bean Soup
I would go for a hot bowl of red bean soup anytime!
Fried Cempedak Fritters
Ooh these are really best eaten piping hot. Jackfruit coated in batter and deep fried till it was crispy and golden brown. The sweetness lingers in your mouth and is very addictive!
DIY Chendol
Yup DIY Chendol! It sure was fun making our own bowls of chendol but mine turned out disastrous and it wasn’t sweet enough for my liking. (The one above was the best looking but wasn’t made by us.) So sad I just have to try harder but my stomach can only contain this much :( Hehe.
Photo credit: Lob Ster
Here’s a happy group photo after our stomachs were filled :) The neon green lights had been switched off because the place was closed in preparation for dinner.
We made our way to Wessex Estate after lunch as part of a photowalk since all of us had our cameras with us. We were walking past some houses and spotted a car tyre hanging from a branch of a huge tree. At that point, I was thinking, “Hey, nice swing! Uhhhh.. Stable one or not?” And then Chewy Charles wanted to do levitation shots because he had read about it in mypaper我报.
After doing leviation and jump shots, I can’t remember who suggested planking on the car tyre swing. It was ridiculously funny. Kai got stuck but at least he could get out without us having to call Civil Defence.
This is what I call, a case of over-planking! Chewy Charles managed to squirm and squeeze his way through the tyre. Amazingly, he could maintain a nice horizontal position perpendicular to the ground. Hahaha but after a while, he began to tip headwards! Thank goodness he could balance himself pretty well and avoided falling flat on his face :P
It’s the KTM railway track! It will be gone before you know it.. *sniff sniff* :(
It was really funny that Yan Cai was so eager to plank on the track but he jumped up very quickly because it was extremely hot! He tried to stay there for a few seconds because we all wanted to take a photo of him.
Maureen to Kai: “Dear Dear! Let’s take a kissing shot!”
and then points at us: “Later your turn!”
Photo credit: Celes
Haha it’s ok because we are also exhibitionists. LOL!
Photo credit: Lob Ster
Lob Ster’s caption on fb totally made me LOL! — Zhi Hao: “啊! 狗仔!!! 别拍了! 别拍了!!!”
Hahaha! But I think we looked more amused than shocked or outraged here!
I really wanna kowtow to Lob Ster, Celes and Maureen! The track was sizzling hot but these three brave ladies plonked themselves (or rather planked) onto the track without hesitation! Too bad I was wearing a dress; I would love to plank together with them! Yeah right.
LOL it was really funny when the guys started planking on the track too when the girls started egging them on. And all three yelled “Sio ah! Sio ah!” Chewy Charles was spared because he successfully planked on the tyre. But I’d still say, well done guys! Really look like three lifeless bodies. Hahaha!
Penang Place Restaurant
1 Fusionopolis Way
Connexis
#B1-20/24
Singapore 138632
Tel: 6467 7003, 6467 7008, 6899 9446
Opening Hours:
Mon to Sat
11.30am – 2.30pm (Lunch)
6pm – 9.30pm (Dinner)
(Closed on Sundays)
HD 40 Food House at Holland Drive: Hokkien Mee & Oyster Omelette
This stall at Block 40 Holland Drive, HD 40 Food Court might not serve the best Hokkien Mee that I have tasted all these years but in my own opinion, it’s good enough to be featured in my blog :) I didn’t like Hokkien Mee in my childhood days. I vividly remember I had a really tough time eating that plate of Hokkien Mee my maid bought for me at a hawker centre near the place where I used to reside. Looking back, it’s kinda funny that a foreigner actually knew how to appreciate our local fare while I struggled and yet, barely managed a few mouthfuls. People change, taste buds change as well. Now, I’m a diehard fan of Hokkien Mee!
I ate this a few times and liked it so much that I had Chewy Charles to share a large plate of Hokkien Mee ($5) with me recently. $3 for a regular and $4 for a medium one. Apart from getting more carbo, there are more prawns and they are larger too. There are two types of Hokkien Mee – dry and wet. I prefer the latter and over here, the Hokkien Mee had just enough gravy so it was not too wet. The thickness of the beehoon was in between the very thin kind of beehoon and the thick one. It’s like a thick thin beehoon or a thin thick beehoon? I liked that the beehoon absorbed the flavors and goodness of the sweet-tasting gravy. I noticed that the bits of egg and yellow noodles had little charred brown bits and also a good hint of that wok hei texture and smell. Tiny black specks were spotted all over the noodles and I’m half sure that those are pepper. The only thing I didn’t like was the prawns. It’s the same thing each time I eat from this stall. The prawns were quite tasteless and I’m guessing that they were cooked separately. Nevertheless, the noodles on its own is good enough reason for me to keep going back whenever the craving beckons.
Oyster omelette can come with starch or without starch. Oh-Nerng is the one without starch but I prefer its starchy counterpart. I quite liked the Oh-Luak ($4) from the same stall because its quite well-executed with crispy bits around the sticky and starchy parts. The oysters are also very big and juicy and the chili sauce was just shiok. Not forgetting that the omelette was thick and fluffy! I only eat this once in a blue moon because it’s really sinful.
So where’s your favorite Hokkien Mee and Oyster Omelette at? :)
Block 40 Holland Drive
#01-39
HD 40 Food House
missuschewy
misterchewy
