We had another foodie indulgence at the Grapevine cafe/restaurant/bar next to the crocodile farm around Upper Serangoon Road. I'd wanted to try that for quite some time and Dearie promised not to be stinky, so off we went :) On to the food!
(From left to right) Tropical Kiwi, and Mango Smoothie! I love the kiwi, just the right amount of sweetness and tartness for me. The mango one Dearie had was a tad too sweet for my taste, and a little thick as well. Extra points for the cute mug though. Looks like a glass jar with a handle attached. I want!! :D
Taiwanese-style Fried Chicken - part of the appetisers menu. Little bite-sized (sometimes bigger) pieces of chicken freshly fried in batter. It's great for making it last haha, because there is more of it. It was a little chewy instead of crisp, but still was yummy! Chilli sauce accompanies it.
BBQ Bacon Rolls! Ooh man we both loved this so much! Chewy bacon with some crunchy veggie rolled inside, basted with BBQ sauce! Yummy! We wanted to order it again after dinner instead of the Taiwanese chicken, but decided on the chicken instead because it wouldn't be gone in a few bites and would last longer as a result.
Dearie's Oriental Chicken Thigh, served with butter rice. To me, the chicken was pretty alright, nothing too fantastic, but yummy nonetheless. I can't discern the marinade, but it was nice nonetheless. The butter rice was nothing to shout about though. We expected it to be more flavourful but there was little more than a hint of buttery fragrance, not much taste.
Oxtail stew served with butter rice (choice of rice, spaghetti or mashed potatoes) Oxtail stew done just right is lovely. The meat is firm enough that it clings to the bone yet tender enough that it absorbs the surrounding gravy, and with the little bits of fat, almost melt in your mouth. Did I mention? The gravy was yummy too :)Verdict: We both enjoyed dinner at the Grapevine (and managed to linger there for 3 hours!) The steaks look quite value for money the next time we come - as I'm pretty sure we will come again in future. P/s, I love the lighting, sofa seats and the big hanging snowflakes in the restaurant/cafe side of the establishment. The dessert menu seemed a bit sparse though, for a cafe. Only about 5 or 6 choices. But actual food-wise, and atmosphere (even on the bar side) is more than satisfactory.
I'm back with another pig-out entry. It's been some time since the last one :) Dearie and I were having an indulgence day in addition to accumulating receipts to amount to $88 to apply for the TCC membership card. So here we are: pics galore! :D
The 3 main courses! Hot and freshly made!
Smoked Salmon Linguine Thermidor. I thought it was a little dry - I'm used to pastas with more sauce. But it certainly is fragrant, and the smoked salmon is plentiful. More than needed for the pasta really :) And the shaved Parmesan (shaved!! Not powdered!!) was a nice touch too.
Beef Mozza-Tofu. We were a little hesitant about ordering this at first, but no regrets! The beef and smooth tofu mixed really well with the sukiyaki sauce, and the thick layer of mozzarella cheese on top was perfect. It tasted great with the papadums (snitched from the sandwich platter)
tcc TMH Sandwich. Really thick, crusty toast..Normally I don't like the crust all that much, but this one is done just right - crisp, yet not to the point of a scrapped palate. The sandwich contains tomato slices, mango slices and ham (and some veggie, I forgot what) Sour, sweet and salty blended together well, I thought. Plus mango, almost always good :)
Peach Melba tea. Very fragrant. After all the rich food, we could hardly discern any taste, but the hot drink was very welcome since the air-conditioner was very cold. Towards the end, as it got more concentrated, a slight fruity taste (slightly sour and acidic) could be found. Refreshing :)
Devil's Chocolate Cake. Ooh! My new favourite there (it used to be Dark Devotion)! It's rich, it's decadent, and oh-so-yummy! The rich bitter chocolate mousse blends well with the cake-y bottom layer and is offset a little by the thin layer of berries in the middle. Simply sinful, but I'm in love with it already.
And the prettiest of them all: Light Strawberry Mousseline. It was great after all the richness of the food above. It was light, fluffy and definitely not cloyingly sweet. Indeed, there was even a touch of sourness to it that I liked. Little thin slivers of strawberries in the cup to go with the bottom few mouthfuls. And enough fruit and chocolate to go with every mouthful of the mousse. And the presentation is so pretty! I'd love it even just for that. Luckily there was no need to - it tasted as good as it looked! :)*Missing from the pictures: Mint-choc frappe, which was a little dilute, with hardly any mint taste. Not something I would order again*Verdict: We enjoyed this meal a lot, truly. The pasta could have been better, as could have been the Mint-choc frappe we ordered but didn't take a photo of, but other than that, we were happy and satisfied lil' piggies :)
Went out with the parents and brother to try some place Mom had heard about before. Apparently there's quite some hype about this place, so since we were all free, why not? The place is open till 2am on weekends. 
Their honey-glazed chicken wings. The brother and his girlfriend obviously like it - he recommended it to us, but the rest of us found they tasted a little odd. Far too tenderised, and very heavy on the dark soy sauce when they were marinating it. The taste of it is at odds with the honey used later on.
(From left to right: Cookies and Cream, and Ice Mocha)The brother said the Cookies and Cream was a disappointment as it tasted as though they'd blended Oreos with ice. Personally I didn't taste it and so can't comment. The Ice Mocha tasted pretty good though. Rich and thick, with the right blend of coffee and chocolate. 
The root beer float was yet another disappointment. The root beer felt like it had lost it's fizz, and wasn't even sweet enough. Bleagh.
I saved the best for last. The chocolate fondue tasted like a mix between dark and milk chocolate, but it was good nonetheless. Chunks of banana, strawberries, marshmallows and waffles to dip, with a little dish of crushed nuts. The fruits were good and fresh, and the waffles were toasted, so that it absorbed the chocolate but still remained crisp. A plus would be that the fondue is affordable too, at $10 for 2 people.Verdict: In general the food and drink didn't seem too satisfactory this trip. And yet their dessert buffet (or so they call it) seems to offer a far more diverse (and worthwhile) offering for the same price that we paid. Maybe I'll get Dear to go with me and try it before reaching a definite conclusion. But I'm not too impressed with this trip.
Only 2 pictures today, because Dear and I ordered the same thing ^_^ Went to the revamped Delifrance Bistro next to the Toa Payoh Library for lunch because I wanted to try the lasagne.
Traditional French onion soup! The soup was quite fragrant and flavourful. Lots of onions cooked till soft at the bottom of the soup-cup too. Only drawback is that it was suppose to have cheese gratin. I so didn't taste any cheese apart from the Parmesan I felt obliged to add into the soup after tasting it.
Beef bolognese! Dear likes this one, but I think I'm going into Munchie-Monkey-lasagne withdrawal because I feel this does not match up. In that respect, I think my opinion may be biased and skewed towards Munchie. Still, extra points awarded for the cheesiness of it all, and because the edges have been baked till it's slightly harder but a lot more flavourful.Verdict: The food is pretty good, but the place doesn't have the appeal that Cafe Cartel or Sizzler's has. Sad to say, despite the similar price, I would rather go to the latter two in future.
We made a whole array of Japanese food for lunch today!! So exciting!
Lunch from a birds' eye view (minus chawanmushi!)From top to bottom, left to right: Soba dipping sauce, cold soba and cha soba mix, 2 bowls and 2 pairs of chopsticks, tempura dipping sauce, tempura and grilled unagi
Cold soba ( I think you still can see a few little cubes of ice nestled in the noodles if you look hard enough). A mix of zaru soba (normal soba??) and cha soba (green tea soba, much nicer in my opinion)
Grilled unagi bought from Cold Storage that I just heated up in the microwave. Don't knock it, k? It tastes great nonetheless!
Check out the little cups of chawanmushi steaming in the wok. Mix in egg and chicken stock, a dash of soy sauce and sugar, and then strain. Steam covered with clingwrap, and you have chawanmushi worthy of any Japanese restaurant. I should know. I made it :P
Assorted tempura: lotus root slices, okra, brinjal and prawns. Need to tweak the batter though. It tasted good but refused to fluff up like tempura was supposed to.
Verdict: A little points taken off for the refusal of the batter to fluff up, but all else tasted fantastic for a home effort. Next time, the toss up between going to a Japanese restaurant and slaving in the kitchen to create the same (but very very doable) results will have a close fight :P
The day of homemade tacos. Very few pictures because we were too busy pigging out. Pictures, nevertheless, there are. 
Bought a taco-making kit from the supermarket at Paragon and it contains the works: taco shells, taco sauce (tastes and looks like a small packet of salsa to me), and a packet of taco seasoning to cook the meat in. I accidentally put in too much water at first, but simmered it till the liquid reduced, and the results were satisfactory :) Pack the taco shell with meat, add nacho cheese, shreds of lettuce, and taco sauce/salsa, and you've got a fat taco waiting to be devoured..Mmm..
Dear's concoction: topping a nacho with taco sauce and cheese. We had one more, where we put scrambled eggs on nachos, but failed to take a picture of that.
This isn't really food-related. But this is how we look like when we've been fed: Happy :PVerdict: Taco Bell still wins hands down, but for homemade, this is pretty darn good! (Am I very ego?? :P)
I met the girlfriend, Sya, for lunch at Secret Recipe near Tanjong Pagar (I forgot where exactly) during her lunch hour. Since we rarely meet up, it's a great chance to chat and catch up, in ways that MSN just cannot fill. But since this is a food blog, I shall leave that for my personal blog ^_^
This is what I had: Prawn penne, in this creamy sauce. In all honesty, the penne was alright at best. Al dente, but the sauce wasn't that great. Not much ingredients too - a few slivers of mushroom, a couple of shrimp. Not something I would order again.
Sya's pan-fried catch fared better. Fish, with a tasty sauce and I'm a happy girl. I'm a sauce kind of girl. Sauces, gravies etc are very important to what I eat, so have a good sauce, and even if the food is just mediocre, I'll be happy :) Crinkle-cut fries and celery and carrot slices top everything off.
From left to right: Banana chocolate cake, brownie with ice cream. The highlight of the meal, I'd say! The chocolate banana I've tried before once at cheerleading training, but it always, always hits the spot :D:D Creamy chocolate mouse sandwiching thin slivers of chocolate cake and layers of sliced banana, with a rich chocolate coating..Mmmm...The chocolate brownie, as you can see, is coated with a layer of gooey fudge and a large scoop of vanilla ice cream. Simple dessert, but one that has never failed as yet..Verdict: I wouldn't quite recommend the prawn penne again. The only reason why I tried it was because I wanted to try something different - I'd previously tried the lamb-something which I liked. The pan-fried catch was alright though :) But if you do go to Secret Recipe, do try the desserts. I'm on a sugar high now! :D
(From left to right) Tropical Kiwi, and Mango Smoothie! I love the kiwi, just the right amount of sweetness and tartness for me. The mango one Dearie had was a tad too sweet for my taste, and a little thick as well. Extra points for the cute mug though. Looks like a glass jar with a handle attached. I want!! :D
Taiwanese-style Fried Chicken - part of the appetisers menu. Little bite-sized (sometimes bigger) pieces of chicken freshly fried in batter. It's great for making it last haha, because there is more of it. It was a little chewy instead of crisp, but still was yummy! Chilli sauce accompanies it.
BBQ Bacon Rolls! Ooh man we both loved this so much! Chewy bacon with some crunchy veggie rolled inside, basted with BBQ sauce! Yummy! We wanted to order it again after dinner instead of the Taiwanese chicken, but decided on the chicken instead because it wouldn't be gone in a few bites and would last longer as a result.
Dearie's Oriental Chicken Thigh, served with butter rice. To me, the chicken was pretty alright, nothing too fantastic, but yummy nonetheless. I can't discern the marinade, but it was nice nonetheless. The butter rice was nothing to shout about though. We expected it to be more flavourful but there was little more than a hint of buttery fragrance, not much taste.
Oxtail stew served with butter rice (choice of rice, spaghetti or mashed potatoes) Oxtail stew done just right is lovely. The meat is firm enough that it clings to the bone yet tender enough that it absorbs the surrounding gravy, and with the little bits of fat, almost melt in your mouth. Did I mention? The gravy was yummy too :)
