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Wednesday, July 24, 2013

The Landing Point Afternoon Tea

I've been wanting to try this for the longest time, since hearing about the awesome lobster cone and the free flow refills! 

We booked this quite a few week in advance cos we were alr sure of our date so do make sure you make reservations! They are usually full! Pardon picture qualities cos they were taken with my iPhone!


You get pretty views of the "marina" from where you sit (this is not the view from Landing Point) and the whole place is surrounded by glass windows so lotsa natural light (Y)


Table setting

Tea menu - it uses TWG teas and you can choose 2 teas I think? Or unlimited choices and refillable too! Tea choices not very wide, about 10-15 or so?



3 tier refillable afternoon tea set!

This is a tier for 2 people so everything is x2
Top tier: tarts (read below)

Middle: savories
from L-R
Cucumber sandwich: very normal + ikura but it was kinda deflated alr so doesnt really do much
Egg truffle sandwich, jamon bagel: read below
Smoked salmon sandwich: all of us liked this!
Cracker w brie & fruit jelly: cant really taste the brie, didnt stand uot
Lobster cone: read below
Quiche: forgettable
Duck crepe (or sth like that): not bad!

Bottom: sweets
Lemon tart: read below
Kueh Lapis: didnt try this
Eclair: choux pastry too dry + cream wasnt good & too little
Canale: quite dry


Top tier

Chocolate sea salt caramel tart:


This was sinfully good especially if you like caramel! The sea salt provided a nice contrast. Rich and chocolatey! Can get a bit jialat after awhile though


Creme brulee tart in chocolate crust

This was yummy! Not overly sweet. But oddly there's some liquid that'll flow outta the tart so be careful when eating it!


Plain scone, raisin scone

It was served rather hot, and we had jam + cream on our table. The scones were okay, not fluffy enough for me though!


Egg truffle sandwich

This is comfort food done right! Asked for more of this!


Lobster cone

This lived up to the hype and we really liked this one! Asked for more of this haha it was light and refreshing!! V addictive too with the crunchy texture from the cone and lobster. 


I quite like the parma ham + cheese in this bagel but some of my friends dont! Depends on you really :)

 

Lemon tart

This was tart and super delicious!!! I like the lemon curd + the crust. Asked for more of this too!


We were celebrating my friend's bday and in my reservation with them I told them about this so they very kindly prepared a cake for us! The correspondent asked me for my friend's name cos she said they were gonna include it in the msg but alas they didnt. We were so stuffed from the afternoon tea but we managed to finish this cake! Why? Cos it was good! Rich thick smooth chocolate ganache atop a crunchy base! This combi always works :) 

Our group of friends stayed there till super late, like 9+pm haha and the wait staff KEPT looking at us as if to ask us to leave quickly. Service was also splotchy, not efficient enough as they forgot some stuff we told them to bring over/took v long. Level of friendliness was acceptable. Tea wasnt constantly refilled for us, in fact we refilled it most times on our own. 

The refill works by the staff carrying trays of the food and going arnd to ask if you want refills of the items on the tray. You can ask for the refill from any staff but usually it'll take some time to come. 

Overall, it has nice ambience, below average-average service, okayish food, so I dont think I'll be back soon considering the many other places I've yet to try!

The Landing Point
Fullerton Bay Hotel
Afternoon Tea 3pm-5.30pm
$43++ per pax
Complimentary parking only if you spend >$100 in a single receipt

Friday, July 19, 2013

Food Tasting: New Menu at Stranger's Reunion!

Hi!

Thanks to Nuffnang, I was invited to taste Stranger's Reunion's new menu! I've never been to Strangers previously but have heard lots about it. They've recently expanded but according to a few of the bloggers there with me that day, the new area is less cosy/homely, more minimalistic and they didnt really like that feel! 

Anyhow, here are some photos and a review of the food!


The exterior

Some interior shots below:









Too full that night to try their cakes but they look gooooooood! Melissa says that the carrot cake is quite good!





The new improvised menu! Sorry if its unclear! Some of the food portions below I believe are smaller portions of the actual size but the price I put there is the price of the actual sizing! I'll also put in brackets the 'category' the dish comes under!


Lotus Root Chips
with spicy aioli
(light bites)
$12.90

We had 2 tables of food tasters so 2 bowls of this and the taste + texture for both bowls were different!
Bowl 1: saltier + crispier
Bowl 2: less salty but more chewy & less crispy

So quality isnt consistent! They're really addictive though. Best if they can achieve crispy + less salty! But the texture + salt level differs from person to person. Some are okay w the salt level, some like the chewy one more, so it really depends man. The aioli isnt spicy at all! 3.7/5





Green tea
$8

Very light green tea fragrance


Iced latte (5.90)/mocha (6.90)


Egg Net Tempura Soft Shell Crab
with spicy kewpie mayo & corn in a brioche bun
(all day breakfast)
$21


The egg net tempura is basically fried egg! We felt that the soft shell crab wasnt crispy enough? It could possibly be due to us taking photos of the food then it becoming a lil soggy. Once again the mayo isnt spicy although it says so in the description but of course the mayo goes wonderfully well with the burger and just binds the tastes together I feel. The flavours are quite refreshing and doesnt feel oily despite the fried interior. Bun is rather fluffy though could be slightly more toasted for me. 

Rockets are q dangerous cos many ppl dont like them! 3.6/5


Corn & Zucchini Fritters
with avocado, poached egg & spicy tomato relish
(all day breakfast)
$18 ($21.50 if you add bacon)

This photo is how the dish will look like if you order it (portion wise I am not sure)


But this was what we got instead for tasting! So I dont really know how it'll taste w the bacon + poached egg! You cant really taste zucchini in the fritter, more of the corn dominating. The tomato relish went q well with it and if you're afraid of avocados, the taste is somehow masked in this dish. This was an average dish imo 3.4/5

Crispy Pork Belly
with truffled mash, ginger beer, apple & date chutney
(from noon till late)
$24.90

This is their signature dish! And I think manyyyy of the bloggers + nuffnang staff agree!! All I could hear after they ate the pork skin was "mmmmm the skinnnnnnnnn" and people wanted more of the skin!!! Super crispy super fragrant :) The meat is tender and juicy, very flavourful too. This is a dish done well! 

Didnt really taste dates in the chutney though, more like apple! Which I think went really well with the pork cos green apple is sour so I really like the contrast in taste! Perhaps a bit more green apple would be good :) 

Truffled mash was not bad too! But pork totally overshadows it haha 4.4/5


And girls listen up!!! The guy said that they force out all the fats from the meat so dont worry about it! 


THE SKIN


Za'atar-spiced Eggplant Fritters
with lemon yogurt
(light bites)
$12.90

Some people dislike the taste of eggplants but fret not, you absolutely cannot taste eggplant in this dish haha which is kind of a bad thing in my dictionary cos you dk what you're eating! All you taste is some spice that reminds you of Indian food and a bit of creaminess from the yogurt which doesnt taste of lemon. 2.8/5


12-hour Braised Lamb Shoulder Flat Bread
with quinoa tabouli & hummus
$19.50

I really liked this dish! Very middle eastern in concept and even after eating so much previously, I finished this dish! The lamb doesnt have the smelly lamb taste dont worry and it was tender + juicy and the spices wasnt too heavy. But I think a bit more ingredients for a wrap that size would be good! Again not sure the portions for the actual dish! 4.5/5


Truffle fries 
with truffle aioli & parmesan cheese
$12.90

The girls at my table really loved the truffle fries!!! I thought the truffle taste could be a bit stronger though. 4.3/5


Buttermilk Waffles
with artisan greek yogurt & fresh fruit
$11.50

What most people come here for!!! The waffles were a little bit crispy at the edges but got soggy super fast! Didnt enjoy it as much as Wimbly Lu's but I finished it anyway, talk about being a pig! The greek yogurt is not as tart as the ones I've tried commercially. Wouldnt pay 11.50 for this though! 3.5/5


Buttermilk Waffles
with vanilla ice-cream & fresh fruit
$11.50

The vanilla ice cream is a little artificial tasting so I didnt really like it :/


Homemade jam

They made jam for us! I apologise but I have yet to try the jam but it was freshly made! Like it was still hot when they first put it out!

Service: I cant say anything about service cos it was just us two tables and it was an invited tasting. But the people there are friendly!!

Ambience: I think its okayish but not very cosy like what the other bloggers mentioned

Once again, thank you nuffnang!!! If not for nuffnang I wouldnt have been able to go for this tasting and wouldnt have met so many nice bloggers that night and made new friends! :)

Strangers Reunion
37 Kampong Bahru Road
Mon: 9am-10pm
Wed-Sun: 9am-10pm
CLOSED ON TUES
62224869

Parking: there's some parking around the restaurant but its limited
MRT: take to outram mrt, get out at exit G (the one to police cantonement complex!) and turn right then walk through/past the police complex then just continue walking straight till you see neil road and like spot the okb sign to your front left, diagonally. Then just crossover to okb and continue walking down the stretch of shophouses till you see what I posted above! 

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Basilico Sunday Brunch Visit 4 or 5

My last post on Basilico was in June 2012 (go to this post for more in depth review) and exactly a year later, I'm back again to post about it! See Basilico holds kinda a special place in me + the boy's hearts. This is the 3rd time we've been there tgt and it was our craving for good quality unlimited servings of foie gras that led us back once again + the good quality desserts (for me). 

I've heard some comments about the standards dropping, so did it really? Here's my review.


First up - cold seafood

Now this time the lobsters werent too frozen, just nice and were a little sweet! The crayfish was seasoned and was not bad. Generally, seafood was average, nothing particularly stood out but we werent surprised cos this wasnt really our focus! Note though that towards the end the lobsters didnt include this kind anymore but just the pincer part! So do take 'em early!


Tomatoes -  once again, big spread (in buffet standards) of tomato and I love trying the diff kinds
Iberico ham x melon - that day's melon wasnt sweet!
Foccacia with Mascarpone Cheese + Truffle - this is still THE BOMB please please try this and you'll go to heaven haha. Only if you like cheese + truffle! Mmmm this is good! But too many servings of it will make you sick of it so restrain yourself!
Mushrooms, grilled - done well
Cod fish - not bad


CLOSE UP OF HEAVEN


Foie gras

Now in the past it used to be made to order but now they already have a whole lineup of foie gras alr seared and when you order, they just heat it up. I guess its to do with the long queues + many orders of foie gras but this way the quality drops imo. The boy thinks so too. This time the foie we got were huge pieces (of course we were really happy abt it at first) and came w an apple compote that's a new addition. However the interior of the foie was still cold/lukewarm which made eating it quite undigestible unless accompanied w the tart green apple compote! Needless to say we had a hard time finishing it and didnt go back for more. We also agreed that we will not be back anytime soon as this was the MAIN reason why we wanted to come back! 


Seafood barley risotto

Nice clean flavours, not overdone, fragrant


Seafood stew - could be a bit thicker but very flavourful!


Cheese platter | saffron bread


Desserts were all a disappointment this time round!
Mille feuille (puff pastry w raspberries) was soggy and hard to cut into
Cheesecake (foreground) - too dense for my liking
Pear tart (the one w golden tinge) - didnt taste like pear
Lemon tart - too sweet for my liking, the curd
Plum tart - really liked this as always!
That twirly puff pastry was okay

Overall - the food quality is still not bad but we wont be returning anytime soon cos of the foie gras standards and dessert. Mains are still q good! Perhaps we will be back a year later to see if there's any improvements on the foie gras!
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