Tag Archives: Restaurants in Singapore

Backyard@Dempsey: Casual and Laid-back Dining in the Woods!

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Are you looking for an ideal and unpretentious getaway from the everyday hustle and bustle of Singapore? Look no further because Backyard@Dempsey is your answer to a casual and laid-back dining in the woods, nestled in the lush and mature greenery off the very hip Dempsey catchment of F&B restaurants!

Backyard@Dempsey Map

Here’s a map so that you know how to navigate your way there 😛

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Backyard@Dempsey is all about being casual and comfortable, and more importantly, letting your hair down after a long hard day at work. Oh hey, there is ample free gravelled parking lots which is a bonus. Tuck into delicious comfort fare and knock down a few glasses of beer too!

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Enjoy awesome live music on Friday nights! Both misterchewy and I have a thing for live bands, and I have every intention to revisit Backyard@Dempsey with him soon! 😀

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Was invited down for dinner and I extended my invitation to my tennis partner, YP. She’s a foodie too! 😀

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Backyard’s drinks list is really extensive! I reckon it’s always safe to stick to something that’s named after its very own F&B establishment. The Backyard Jungle Juice ($11 till 7.30pm, $14 after 7.30pm) is concocted with gin, pomegranate and mango, resulting in a very cool and refreshing drink!

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YP ordered the Backyard Nookie ($11 till 7.30pm, $14 after 7.30pm) which does sound alot more alcoholic with vodka, frangelico, kahlua, baileys and milk.

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I admit that I have kinda high expectations for mushroom soups and am always afraid of being disappointed whenever I try one. However, I’m glad to say that Backyard’s Cream of Shitake Mushroom ($6.30) tasted really splendid to me! The earthy taste of mushrooms was evident yet not too overpowering. What a pleasant start to our dinner!

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I liked the generous chunks of lobster meat found in the Lobster Bisque ($7.30) but it was a little watered down for my liking. A thicker lobster bisque would have packed a punch.

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It’s always good to share some light bites, especially with a glass of beer in hand. The Ayam Goreng Kunyit ($2.10 each, minimum 3 per order) are your good ol’ kampong style fried chicken wings marinated in turmeric and cumin. Squeeze some lemon over them for some finger lickin’ goodness!

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“Not all fries need to be made from potatoes.” Wise words indeed by the folks of Backyard@Dempsey. People who love luncheon meat would definitely know how to appreciate the Spam Fries ($9.80). These luncheon meat slices were not over fried and they went extremely well with the wasabi mayo dip!

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Not for me but I reckon the health conscious would love the Spinach Salad with Marinated Chick Peas & Feta with Grilled Chicken ($14.30)! It’s something that’s very wholesome.

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I highly recommend the Kronenbourg Beer Battered Fish & Chips ($14.30) as this was extremely well executed! The batter was light, crisp and airy, while retaining the fish’s moisture within. The fruity overtones of the Kronenbourg beer were clearly discernible and I really enjoyed this dish.

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If you favor pasta over everything else, I suggest that you try Backyard’s Pomodoro Sausage Linguine ($12.80). Nothing could possibly go wrong when you can have a plate of linguini with sliced chicken sausage in a light cream herbed pomodoro sauce. For just a dollar more, you can have the spicy Italian pork sausage version instead!

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I’m a cream-based pasta fan and the idea of a pasta with light Cajun cream sauce sprinkled with diced jalapenos seemed like a brilliant idea. The Grilled Chicken Spaghetti ($12.80) had the right amount of creaminess but the grilled chicken with cajun spice mix was definitely too tough.

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Backyard has a range of yummy hot dogs and the most interesting one would be the Dressed Up Dog with a Sunny Side Up Egg ($14.80). Eating a giant chicken/beef frank wrapped with streaky bacon and topped with melted cheddar cheese is a messy but exhilarating affair. No doubts about that!

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Instead of ending your meal with a cup of hot coffee, have an Affogato ($7.30)! A shot of espresso served over a scoop of clotted cream ice cream is guaranteed to satisfy your sweet tooth cravings.

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Another dessert which I would recommend is the Blueberry Panna Cotta ($7.30) which was light, creamy and silky-smooth. Also available with a choice of honey walnut.

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YP and I had a glass of Nuts Over Nuts ($11 till 7.30pm, $14 after 7.30pm) which is a blended drink consisting of hazelnut liquor, chocolate, walnuts, oats, milk and ice Cream. This is so so so goooood!

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All of us also had the classic Grasshopper ($11 till 7.30pm, $14 after 7.30pm). With crème de menthe, cream de caco and milk, this makes a very popular after-dinner drink!

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We thank Han and Valerie, owners of Backyard@Dempsey, and also Jerome , Creative Director of Ideas Incubator for the kind invitation and for the wonderful hospitality.

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I have fallen in love with Backyard@Dempsey! Its off the beaten track location, unpretentious atmosphere, wallet-friendly prices and live music are good enough factors for me to revisit real soon! 😀

Backyard@Dempsey
130E Minden Road
Singapore 248819
Tel: 6479 0388

Opening Hours:
Daily
11am – 12midnight

Hai Siang Joo Seafood Restaurant with the Food Bloggers!

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Group photo
Photo credit: Maureen

I must say that I’m glad to be part of this close-knit bunch of food blogger friends who.. well, share the same hobby as misterchewy and I! Eating! Despite our busy schedules, we try to meet up once a month or every two months on average. Recently, some of us went to check out Lisa’s dad’s Hai Siang Joo Seafood Restaurant at Tuas! To many, if not all of us, the place is extremely ulu! We split up into groups of 3 and took a cab from Boon Lay. While travelling along Tuas, it felt as though we were on our way to Malaysia lor! Haha 😛

Fish Maw Soup @ $4/bowl

First up was a bowl of Fish Maw Soup ($4) to warm the tummy and whet our appetite for the yummy dishes to come! Anyway, I was really glad that this isn’t shark’s fin soup. This soup with fish maw, prawns, mushroom and bean sprouts tasted fantastic with a dash of vinegar!

XO Sauce Seafood Crystal Kway Teow @ $8, $12, $16

Because of my post-surgery dietary restriction, I wasn’t able to eat most dishes such as prawns and crab. Therefore, I shall now proclaim that the XO Sauce Seafood Crystal Kway Teow ($8, $12, $16) is my favoritest (haha) dish! This translucent kway teow, otherwise known as 粉皮 or bean flour sheet, has a slightly chewy texture and nice bite. There’s a hint of wok hei fragrance and the XO sauce made the dish very savoury and addictive. When I revisit in future, I think I can just eat this on its own, without prawns! 😀

Sweet & Sour Shell-less Prawns @ $24, $30, $40

I didn’t eat the Sweet & Sour Shell-less Prawns ($24, $30, $40) so please read Celes’ and Maureen’s reviews to find out more.

Braised Pork Ribs

Flat Buns

Special Braised Pork Ribs with Flat Buns @ $12, $24

Ummm I think most ladies will scream (silently inside) and (try not to) run away at the sight of this Special Braised Pork Ribs with Flat Buns ($12, $24). Not for us and definitely not for me! I’ve been living on pork fats since young. Hurhur. I even help misterchewy eat them when we order kway chap. So when I saw this, I was thrilled! The pork ribs are braised for 4 hours and there is no way it can be anything faster than that. So rest assured that you will get a very tender and flavorful chunk of pork rib to go with a piece of flat bun! My second favorite dish at Hai Siang Joo.

Kung Pao Shell-less Prawns @ $24, $30, $40

The Kung Pao Shell-less Prawns ($24, $30) looked very tempting but uh-uh, I’m disciplined. Again, please read the ladies’ reviews!

Steamed Pomfret with Nonya Sauce @ $6 per 100 grams

I didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry when I saw the Steamed Pomfret with Nonya Sauce ($16 per 100grams). I love steamed pomfret but I wasn’t supposed to eat that kinda sauce yet. *sigh* But but but, misterchewy scraped off the sauce for me so that I could still eat the fish. Play cheat a bit la. 😛

Stir-fried Dou Miao $12, $18, $24

Honestly, I didn’t know that dou miao could look like this too! These are from Taiwan! I like the simple taste and slightly crunchy texture of the Stir-fried Dou Miao ($12, $18, $24).

Black Pepper Crab @ $4.50 per 100 grams

OMG I think I suffered from a mild case of depression just by watching the rest stuff their faces into the Black Pepper Crab ($4.50 per 100grams). The fragrance was enough to make me go crazy. 🙁

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Cupcake from Ugly Cake Shop

To end the night, I had a very delicious Dark Chocolate and Nutella cupcake baked by Lisa from The Ugly Cake Shop! It was pure decadence! 😀

Hai Siang Joo Seafood Restaurant
29 Tuas West Avenue
Pioneer Food Village
Singapore 638427
Tel: 6863 3615/2

Opening Hours
Daily
11am – 2.30pm
5pm – 10pm

Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition & Pizzeria Mozza @ MBS

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Helloooo my dear friends! I managed to squeeze some time out to do this short and a little outdated (oops!) post. It’s still worth reading ok! 😛 So, here we go! Sometime in April, misterchewy and I went to check out Titantic: The Artifact Exhibition at Marina Bay Sands! I should have blogged about this earlier because the exhibition ended on 29 April but I was really busy 🙁 The tickets were priced at $20 each for Singaporeans but I managed to get them at a slightly cheaper rate because of corporate discount 😀

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We didn’t have to queue to buy the tickets because they were issued to us beforehand. But, we had to be part of the freaking long queue to enter the exhibition area! I’m holding up our boarding passes! 🙂

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OMG I swear my face fell the moment I saw that we were being issued Third Class Cabin passes! D: D: D: And no, we weren’t travelling together. Haha. I’m a middle-aged Mrs Williams Coutts who was travelling with her two young sons. LOL misterchewy was supposed to be an agricultural inspector! Anyway, Mrs Coutts and her sons survived!

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Ummm these are the only few photos that we took outside. Photography is strictly prohibited inside the exhibition so yeah, we were being very obedient 😛 There were two photo-stops, but we weren’t allowed to use our own cameras. One ‘photographer’ was stationed at each stop to take our photos and it is up to us whether we want to buy them.

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Hubby Chewy and I enjoyed ourselves tremendously! Our favorite part of the exhibit was at the deck where there was a fake canopy of twinkling stars and when you peered down, it seemed as if the deep blue waters were moving gently. It was there and then where misterchewy and I stole a kiss 😛 The entire setup was amazingly romantic! <3

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It was around 10pm but we hadn’t had dinner! Hungry us found ourselves at Pizzeria Mozza! Thank goodness last order’s at 11pm.

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Haha misterchewy was overjoyed because this was one of the places that he had shortlisted to celebrate one of our monthsaries. I had rejected him back then because I didn’t feel like eating pizza 😛 LOL I’m very fussy so he has been conditioned to make many backup plans!

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Our cutlery were kept in an envelope! Very interesting right? In the background was our paper bag of bread sticks.

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Initially we only ordered this Bacon, Salami, Fennel sausage, Pancetta, Tomato & Mozzarella Pizza ($37) to share. Don’t let the puffy crust fool you, our pizza ain’t that big! Sorry, couldn’t help but sulk over its size because we were starving! It was cut up into 6 slices and I let misterchewy have 4. The pizza was actually quite yummy and savory!

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We were still hungry and ordered some chicken wings with hot mustard which cost us $18. Guess what? There were only 3 wings! :O Sorry no pics because we couldn’t be bothered. Hungry beyond words! Ok, to be fair, they were really splendid! But still, $18 is kinda steep.

The Chewys at Titantic Grand Staircase

Ending the post with this photo that misterchewy and I took at the iconic Grand Staircase of Titanic! :))

Carousel @ Royal Plaza on Scotts: Birthday Treat Pictorial

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Self-shot

Hello all! This is misterchewy doing some simple updates for a long overdue pictorial post on behalf of the missus. On a Saturday evening in March, we had a family gathering with the wifey’s family, before BIL’s NS overseas training and also to celebrate the MIL’s birthday. Thanks to them, I finally had the chance to try out Carousel, award-winning buffet restaurant at Royal Plaza on Scotts!

Us @ Staircase

We took some photos outside the restaurant. Got the grand staircase feel from Titanic. Haha.

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The seafood station featured Atlantic Salmon, Alaska King Crab (weekends only), fresh oysters, mussels, boiled tiger prawns (weekends only), Pacific lobsters etc.

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An international buffet is not complete without the Sashimi and Sushi station. Ingredients were fresh and we could not stop going back for more servings. There was also a live station for Somen cold noodles to cater to people who enjoy the Japanese style cooked noodles.

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Moving on to the main courses.

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The Carousel has a reasonable selection of desserts for diners to indulge in after a hearty meal. From local hot desserts to western pastries to chocolate fondue, there’s something for everyone.

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Here’s Bertrand who is already back from his month-long overseas training. Haha.

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The missus and I sprang a surprise for the mom-in-law by requesting the Carousel to prepare a small cupcake for the her. The staff were all very willing and they even sang a birthday song.

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The total bill came up to about $400. Thank you Daddy for the awesome treat at Carousel!

Carousel
Royal Plaza on Scotts
25 Scotts Road, Singapore 228220
Tel: (65) 6737 7966

Opening Hours:
Daily
Breakfast: 6.30am – 10am
Lunch: 12pm – 2pm
High Tea: 3.30pm – 5.30pm
Dinner: 6.30pm – 10.30pm

Weekdays
Meal
Breakfast S$33.00++ (Adult) S$20.00++ (Child)
Lunch S$46.00++ (Adult) S$28.00++ (Child)
High Tea S$33.00++ (Adult) S$20.00++ (Child)
Dinner S$62.00++ (Adult) S$37.00++ (Child)

Weekends
Meal
Breakfast S$33.00++ (Adult) S$20.00++ (Child)
Lunch S$50.00++ (Adult) S$32.00++ (Child)
High Tea S$38.00++ (Adult) S$24.00++ (Child)
Dinner S$75.00++ (Adult) S$42.00++ (Child)

Marmalade Pantry at the Stables: A Dose of Countryside Romance

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As a newly married young couple, my husband and I are constantly looking out for restaurants that offer romantic atmosphere. Sometimes, especially on special occasions, it’s gonna be more than just cheap and good food. The perfect ambience matters a lot to us and I must say that Marmalade Pantry at the Stables fits the bill. It’s tucked away in the lush greenery of Bukit Timah Saddle Club and you might even catch a glimpse of the horses if you swing by for brunch! As for the food, there were some hits and misses but the overall dining experience was a great one.

Sweet Red Pepper and Tomato Soup, $10

We had a few starters for sharing. Just by taking a whiff of the Sweet Red Pepper and Tomato Soup ($10) is enough to whet one’s appetite. I quite liked the strong, tangy flavors.

Pan Seared Haloumi, $21

Mildly salty cheese cubes in this Pan Seared Haloumi ($21) dish went well with the tomato slices. This is not your everyday starter! Highly recommended for cheese lovers.

Mexican Chicken Salad, $22

This doesn’t look like salad, does it? With crispy tortilla and chicken bits drizzled in salsa sauce, I’m sure most of us would love this Mexican Chicken Salad ($22)!

Crab Caesar, $22

This plate of Crab Caesar ($22) turned out to be my favorite starter of the night! Chunks of crab meat sweetened the deal for this dish.

Basque Chicken, $30

The Basque Chicken ($30) proved to be well marinated given its tender, juicy texture accompanied by somewhat strong flavours coming through.

Pan Roasted Red Snapper, $28

I personally found the Pan Roasted Red Snapper ($28) to be mediocre. Something that will fill your stomach but will not leave you impressed.

Fish and Chips

Same goes for the Fish and Chips. In fact, the breading was a little thick for my liking.

Spaghetti Carbonara, $24

Definitely the star of the night, the Spaghetti Cabonara ($24) was like a godsend just before desserts were served. Coming from a cream-based pasta fan, I might sound biased but I reckon everyone enjoyed this as much as I did! Al dente spaghetti and savoury bacon strips tossed in thick creamy sauce, this is one hell of a dish that everyone must go for.

Granny Smith and Stem Ginger Pudding, $13

What I liked most about the Granny Smith and Stem Ginger Pudding ($13) was the salted caramel ice cream!

Sea Salt Caramel Cheese Cake, $8

I didn’t really fancy the Sea Salt Caramel Cheese Cake ($8). Probably would have appreciated it if it was more moist.

Sticky Date and Toffee Pudding, $12

I have always had a thing for sticky date pudding! The Sticky Date and Toffee Pudding ($12) gets my vote. It was light, slightly spongy with a chewy kueh-like texture and not exceedingly sweet!

Cupcakes

If you don’t already know, Marmalade Pantry’s cupcakes sell like hot (cup)cakes in Singapore!

Red Velvet ($4.50) and Rum & Raisin ($4.80)

Psst.. Give the legendary Red Velvet ($4.50) a try, will you? Can’t stomach all that after dinner? You can choose to takeaway these cupcakes! Makes a good breakfast or afternoon snack with tea!

Group Photo

Thank you FoodNews and Marmalade Pantry for the invite.

Pantry at the Stables
55 Fairways Drive
Singapore 286848
Tel: 6467 7748

Opening Hours
Daily
10am – 10pm