New Restaurant: Boca Restaurant (Portugese food)

So Singapore doesn't really have restaurants serving purely Portuguese food and this hole is now filled with Boca Restaurant! 

Boca Restaurant has taken over the space of Oca Grassa and has totally transformed the interior! I have not been to the upper floors as they were not opened to public yet, the first floor has this relaxed bar vibe that seems to be the in thing now and I'm definitely not complaining! I love watching how food is being prepared and watching cocktails being mixed. But that night, N and I had lots to catch up on so we opted for a table instead! 

Being the first two customers of the night, we were very warmly welcomed into the restaurant and were given recommendations as well as notified of the daily specials by the chef herself who was very amiable. The two waiters were also very nice and helpful! More on that later.

Here is the menu:

It starts off with an explanation of the decor of the place, and what black swallows mean to the Portugese, then explains Boca and its concept, then the next page (which is not pictured) tells you about Portugal and its influence on the world!! 

For example, I totally didn't know that 

1) TEMPURA was introduced by Portuguese to the Japanese

2) Tulips, diamonds were introduced by Portugese to the Netherlands

3) Spices/curry to India

When we saw the number of desserts our eyes totally lit up and we were so excited to have dessert! I love a restaurant with a wide range of desserts to choose from that steers away from the usual but comes up with flavours that work and are interesting :)

We ordered white sangria as our meal consists of mainly seafood. I must say this was really refreshing :)

Complimentary Bread

We were served Portuguese olive oil along with the bread and I must say the olive oil is really different from those I've been having. Firstly its more viscous and secondly the taste is a little bit stronger and has a fragrance to it. Sorry my descriptive powers aren't very strong.

This bread was amazing, crispy crust with a chewy to soft consistency inside. N liked it so much that he ate everything haha. The bread is also made by the chef herself.

Octopus salad w red onions, capsicum, cilantro, extra virgin olive oil and vinegar

$21

I thought this was fairly average, similar to octopus salads I've eaten here. This was refreshing, octopus wasn't super chewy, was just the right texture, and the mixture of onions/capsicums/cilantro proved to be a good taste contrast to the octopus. Couldn't really taste any vinegar though 3/5

Grilled sardines with smoke olive oil and roasted peppers

We were recommended to order this dish and were told the bones could be eaten as well. Some parts I really chomped the bones down but it was a little difficult 'cos its only grilled fish not deep fried so the bones aren't really super chewable. Next I thought the sardines were a little too salty for my liking. However the sardine was fresh which made grilling it the best way to enjoy it 3/5

Bread "porridge" with choice of cod/shrimp (chose shrimp), olive oil, fish stock and coriander

$22

We were super intrigued by "bread porridge" and we're so glad we tried!!! This reminded us of mui fan cos everything was so gooey in a perfect way! The bread was extremely soft and there was egg and pieces of crunchy shrimp as well as that stack of coriander! Very flavourful and very comforting dish. Super homey feeling when eating this!!! Esp nowadays when the weather is so cooling, eating this just warms your soul seriously, not exaggerating. 4.4/5

Special of the day: cod w egg/chorizo/potatoes/olives (I think)

Now I don't really know the exact ingredients in this dish and I forgot the price haha but the chef only told us cod + eggs and its a special and we won't regret haha and we really didn't! This was certainly a very interesting dish and something we've never tried before even in our travels! The mash was nicely peppered with the fragrance from fried egg + potatoes, saltiness from the chorizo (I think its chorizo, i'm not 100% sure) and the sweetness from the cod! Oh! And onions too. So this was a really nice combi mixed into one pot :) 4.4/5

Quail Confit with Port wine and grapes

$19

Now we were recommended to order this and told that there was only 1 portion per night!! (D:) since it sounded interesting and being the first customers of the night, we managed to try it! Subsequently another group of guests wanted to order and the waiter told them they only have 1 portion per day :/

The quail wasn't really confit texture to me haha it felt more like a braised quail? The sauce was super super good omg with the plump huge grapes and mushroom (I think!) and the port wine! And knowing that the sauce is great and customers would wanna mop it up, bread comes along for this dish!! The boy finished the bread as well haha. Even though it looks like a small jar, the amount of meat is quite substantial especially after eating so many dishes! I love that they were generous with the plump grapes and mushrooms. 4.4/5

The Real Portugese egg tart

$3.90

Now this was heavennnnnnnn so different from Tong heng egg tarts which are my to-go egg tarts whenever I'm having a craving. I've never been to Portugal so I can't compare and tell you if its really the real Portugese egg tart but I must say this is pretty darn good!!! Pity that 1) its rather expensive 2) it wasn't hot when it arrived :/ we weren't sure whether it was meant to be served at this temperature but we didn't bother asking them to heat it up because we didn't wanna trouble them. Even without heating it up, it was already amazing, I imagine it must be better when heated up! It had quite a few layers in its pastry but not those flakey bite and drop all over kind of layers, somehow the layers stay together and are distinct and nicely crisp. The custard is not too eggy and there's a layer of crispy caramelisation atop that brings this to a new level :) 4.5/5

Chocolate Mousse with hazelnut praline

$10

Now I've seen some photos on instagram of this dessert and it definitely did not look like this. The versions on instagram had more stuff in it and even on the same night when this dessert was served to the other tables, it had blackberries inside which we didn't have :/ wonder what happened?

Anyhow, I thought this was rather normal, majority of it is the mousse. Cant really figure out whats in the white layer tho! We broke the praline into smaller bits so that we can have some in every bite. 3.2/5

Vanilla custard with egg white "clouds" in caramel

$14

We were recommended to get this dessert but again I thought it was average but it was certainly a show to see the chef make the caramel! This had an eggy taste to it that was quite distinct so stay away if you do not like it. Couldn't really taste the caramel under the egg though. 3/5

Chef Lola's apple tart with cheese mousse

$11

This can't really be considered a tart because there wasn't really a tart shell per se and I assume the crumbs in front are to be considered the shell. The cheese was very bland and you virtually only have  a slight bit of saltiness when you eat it with the apple. Nonetheless it was an interesting combi 3/5

In the future I would try the almond egg pudding! 

Overall - N and I both agreed that we really liked the food there because all the dishes were good even though not all stood out! But well its kinda hard to make all dishes stand out primarily because people have different tastes.

Service: the waiters are really polite, especially the Asian guy. And really helpful overall as well! So good service is a good thing!

We are definitely coming back to try the slightly more upmarket food on the first floor when it opens to the public! We really liked the change of cuisine and were glad we got introduced to Portuguese food :) I would say this restaurant definitely has much prospects and is a fresh addition to the global cuisine we already have in Singapore!

Now who thinks there's gonna be a crop of Portuguese restaurants opening soon? ;)

Boca Restaurant

6 Bukit Pasoh Road (parking is a bitch, either go early or ask for valet from the other restaurants nearby) note that it is at the start of Bukit Pasoh road when you turn in from Neil road

Mon-Sat 6pm-12am

 62210132

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New Restaurant: Tess Bar & Kitchen

Following the explosion of cafes in Singapore, the new trend seems to be cocktail + tapas-style food joints! One such place opened recently and with an experienced bartender (ex Bitters & Love), and chef (ex L'Atelier Robuchon), I told the boy "Okay we're eating here this Friday!" and he was like "but there's no menu online and the instagram posts of the food looks q limited!" but I insisted knowing it'll likely be good. Am v happy I did! He was v happy too that dinner turned out to be good :)

We arrived at about 6.30pm and managed to snag a lot along the street outside the restaurant! Its quite difficult to park along that road so I suggest leaving some time for finding parking space. 

They were having happy hour till 7pm and I must say, their happy hour deal is quite attractive! 30% off all house pours, 10% off all alcohol. 

I really love the atmosphere of the place and we were greeted with really awesome hospitality. Very sincere and friendly! Initially I did not want to sit at the low tables (foreground of the picture below) as I do not like having to bend down to eat, and compressing my stomach (damn uncomfortable!?), so we moved to the bar seats. However the bf wanted to sit at the table (cos we usually order a lot and well, its more spacious) so we kept looking over. Then the same staff came over and asked if we changed our minds, then convinced me that its not so bad and gladly told me that she'll give me the corner seat (initially ours was in the middle) with the cute doggie armrest haha. So we moved there and it really wasn't that bad! 

The space at night

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So the staff will explain the drinks + food menu to you upon sitting down and I think this is sorta an added value to the experience! I wouldn't go as far to say that all restaurants should do this cos I know manpower issues and all, but its a good plus point. 

Do note that the tiger prawns for small plates is actually 6 pieces (photo later) -> they're still in the process of tweaking their menu!

Their very interesting cocktail menu!! I remember we were recommended Dawa for sth sour, and scandalous pear for sth sweet! I really like their mix of ingredients for the cocktails and makes me feel like trying 'em all! Cocktail review coming up after the food review below!

Bohemian Vegetables Love
Grilled zucchini, bell peppers wrap in aubergine with pepper coulis 
$9

Basically its grilled veggies served in a wrap form accompanied by a slightly tangy but slightly sweet coulis that was served cold. The grilled veggies were hot of course. So this was quite a good contrast and well its hard to fault these sweet veggies 3.8/5

Triple truffle fries
Yukon, idaho, sweet potatoes, deep fried and seasoned with truffle oil + salt
$10

The boy said this was a little dry and honestly the way they cut it? More of wedges haha except maybe the sweet potato ones. The truffle oil taste wasn't strong. 3/5

Crispy pork belly
Served with spiced Asian dip
$10

Sea bass, Momotaro & Arugula
Seared sea bass slices, momotaro tomatoes sliced and topped with arugula salad
$12

Please do not order this. Its such a waste of money! The fish was dry and unflavourful. Saving grace was the very crispy skin. The tomato, honestly maybe momotaro tomatoes or not in season or sth but this tastes like our regular tomatoes and nothing like the ones I've had at Tatsuya or other Jap restaurants. And if putting a few strands of arugula is considered salad… I have nothing to say. I won't even give a grade for this

Tiger prawns in Herb Garlic Butter
King prawns seared to perfection
$18

This was very very juicy, bursting with flavours. Can really taste the butter in the sauce but the herbs didn't really shine through. 3.6/5

Seared Smoked Duck Breast + Foie Gras
Served with braised lentils & blueberry compote
$18

Really really love how they used lentils as a side dish cos not many places in Singapore use lentils and I love lentils! The Foie gras is on the left and its average at best. Blueberry compote was good, but hard to go wrong. The smoked duck was beautiful. Just a tinge of saltiness, with a rather firm but still a little soft kind of texture, with a mild duck taste. This was quite a good rendition of duck I must say! Not too fatty either :) 3.9/5

Tess Wagyu Cubes & Bone Marrow
Seared wagyu beef cubes on bone marrow glaze with veal jus
$26

This was very good according to the boy! The sauce was very flavourful, the marrow melted in his mouth and went beautifully with the amazing wagyu cubes! You've gotta scoop up the marrow from the bone which adds an element of "fun" to this dish. The wagyu cubes were very soft and bursting with flavours from the sauce. 4.5/5

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We didn't order any desserts because they did not interest us.

Bespoke cocktail - refreshing + no bitter taste

I can't really remember what was in my cocktail but it was refreshing! :) These bespoke cocktails are charged based on the alcoholic base they use and the prices of these "bases" can be found in their menu. You can tell them whatever you want, or don't want and something will be created for you :)

Godfather
Monkey Shoulder scotch whisky, Disaronno amaretto with cigar smoke
$21

We were curious about the cigar smoke! You gotta breathe in deeply + quickly when you open it as the smell dissipates really quickly!

Figticious
Wild Turkey 81 whiskey, home made fives puree, fresh lemon with tonic
$21

Was very intrigued by figs in cocktails as I've never had such a drink before. However there was barely any fig taste in the drink! :/ it was quite refreshing though

Their cocktails are really easy to drink and thats dangerous haha cos you can just keep going on and on like you're not drinking alcohol cos you don't feel any burning in your throat or difficult to swallow or whatever.

Overall

Service: friendly, good, rather prompt

Ambience: bar + tables w seats, industrial kind of decor, quite pretty at night!

Food: above average food

Cocktails: creative! Would like to try more

Tess Bar & Kitchen

38 Seah Street S188394

63377355

Mon- Thurs 1130am-1am

Fri 1130am - 2am

Sat 430pm to 2am

closed Sundays

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Yan Ting Weekend Brunch: Part II (Rest of the menu)

Hello!

This is part 2 of the post. SO sorry I split it into 2, because it is just too image heavy + too long!! In this post, I'll similarly tell you how many portions we ordered 'cos you can tell the wait staff how many portions you want. Do note that some portions are much larger than what you'd think is suitable for 1 so do keep a look out for this!! I'll categorise them according to the headings in the menu in Part 1. (click here for Part 1)

Appetisers:

Deep-fried Whitebait flavoured w Garlic, Salt and Pepper

1 portion

Soggy, tasteless, tasted more like flour 2/5

Cheese Rolls with Crispy Fresh Fruits

1 portion

Nothing special, just cheese, fruits and a crispy batter. Could only taste the batter. 2/5

Stuffed Chicken Wings w Century Egg and Ginger

1 portion 

Tastes faintly of chinese wine, a little bit salty, and there's chinese ham inside as well. Its a cold dish btw. Good cold appetiser. 3.8/5

Char Siew - wasnt good 'cos too lean

Roasted Duck - the boy says not nice but my Mom says its q fragrant and not bad

Roasted Pork Belly - v strong pork smell, not crispy skin, too lean!

Seafood:

Deep-fried Soft Shell Crab

2 portions

Cant really taste the crab, just the batter. Also, all the fried batter taste the same so we got kinda sick of it aft awhile! Quite big piece though! 2.5/5

Poached Cod Fish with Chinese Cabbage in Superior Broth

3 portions

Very very generous w the cod fish!!!!! Cod fish lovers must order this! Steamed nicely though could have been softer & flakier but this is q good alr. The cabbage doesnt really like go well with the cod fish (they wrap the cabbage arnd the fish) cos like when you bite it at first, the cabbage is a bit hard to bite through! Unless you cut w the knife. We ordered many more portions of this! 4.6/5

Deep-fried Prawn with Mayo

1 portion

Batter's a little too thick, prawns v fresh and crunchy like in the dimsum, v big portions too! Mayo dressing is just nice, so you won't feel jia lat. The roe atop makes it more crunchy and a little salty! 

Deep-fried Prawn Coated w Crispy Cereal 

2 portions

This was spicy and cant taste the cereal. More egg shreds than cereal. The same fried batter too! 

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Forgot to take a picture of this dish but it was quite good! Steamed Scallop w Tofu in Szechuan Style. For people who do not take spicy food, you can ask them to just steam it w/o the sauce! It was v light and can taste the sweetness of the scallop! Each portion = one tofu w a scallop on top. Tofu was very soft almost like a cross btwn chinese tofu and egg tofu! We later tried it with the Szechuan sauce and it wasn't v spicy! Quite sour and sweet actually w small hints of spiciness! 4.4/5


Poultry:

Crispy Roasted Duck in Taro Crust

1 portion

Very crispy but there isnt a discernible taste for the duck or the taro, its kinda like mashed tgt! 3/5

Slow-cooked Pork Belly with Golden Crispy Man Tou

1 portion

Lots of fat meat, very soft and juicy. Pure. Decadence. The sauce alone was v good, would be good with rice but the "man tou" didnt go well 'cos it was a little too tough and cant really soak up the sauce. 4.5/5

Steamed Pork w Water Chestnut and Salted Fish

1 portion

The meat was mashed up too soft and everything seems like its "glued" together, cant really feel the "individual balls" of the minced meat. Cant taste the pork or salted fish. Luckily there was the water chestnut to help neutralise things. Wasnt a good dish though. 1.5/5

Honey-glazed Pork Ribs w Garlic

3 portions

Meat was quite tender though from the looks of it it'll be hard! Sauce was nicely done, not too sweet! No strong pork smell. The indiv ribs are q small in portion so can just keep popping them in your mouth! :) 3.6/5

Vegetable: 

Braised Seafood w Mixed Veg in Claypot

Not sure how many portions this is, I just ordered!

There's tang hoon inside and it soaked up the broth here which was sweetened with the myriad of vegetables in it! So it was a v light dish, good source of your fiber!!! Seafood included was like few slices of squid and some dried shrimps + dried scallop. Good to order! 4.6/5

Desserts:

Mini Egg Tart

3 portions

Not very fragrant but passable and quite a joy to eat since its so small. Quite buttery and the egg custard's quite nice! Do note that this is under the dessert section and NOT dimsum so dont fret if you cant find it in the first few pages of the menu!! 3.7/5

Our desserts!

Crispy Red Bean and Banana Fritters
2 portions 

By then my Dad and the boy were too full haha. My dad tried and he says its like goreng pisang! I tried a bit of the red bean paste and it was kinda sweet!

Refreshing Mango and Pomelo Soup w Almond Pudding
1 portion (top left corner)

This was not bad I think!! And it was the coldest amongst the 4 glasses shown here. I think the almond pudding didnt have a strong almond taste and the mango was not bad too!

Refreshing Aloe Vera Jelly w Fresh Fruits
1 portion

I ate like 2 cups full of this cos they were just too full haha. The aloe vera is like small cubes of jelly and a jelly that fills the entire cup too! Am glad they give sour fruits like passionfruit and raspberry! The former being rarer in Chinese desserts but I loved it! Needed something tangy to help digestion :) Mango was sweet and sour so kinda helped too! Overall this was not really refreshing but a q good end to a heavy meal.

Firstly, I said I'll touch on how to make the most value of this weekend buffet brunch, so here are some tips specific to Yan Ting:

1. If you like fried food, just try some of your more fav ones but dont order all 'cos the batter's all the same and they're q mehh~~ (Average, passable) so dont waste your stomach space! Plus it gets q sick after awhile if you order too much fried food
2. Take note of the portion sizing I've given and ask the waiter how big is a portion before ordering! So that y'all dont order too much and then end up wasting food/forcing yourselves to finish it!
3. Take note of those I think are v lackluster and have big portions (Eg the steamed pork w water chestnut), then you might consider not ordering them and trying sth else
4. Order small portions of many dishes, try a bit and see if you like. Then order more!
5. Do order the salmon sashimi early (appetisers) cos when we arrived at like 12.30 they say no more already! The salmon was thickly cut and looked q fresh! We saw a plate of it that's why.
6. The dishes come quite quickly! And the table doesnt really have ample space if you order a lot so it kinda pressures you into eating to free up space for more plates to come!
7. Order the cod fish! Usually cod fish is very expensive, and here they're v generous! Oh yes, the scallops too and whatever seafood you like. Heard the beef is q good too.

Ambience: royal, grand feel to it but the 4-seater tables in the middle are a tiny bit close although you have privacy still. Nice setting overall!

Service: lacking at times 'cos well too many ppl and too shorthanded? Not attentive too. We poured our own tea almost throughout and cleared our own tables many times (ie put the empty plates on the "serving" table behind us). Had to remind them about our orders. They forgot about our soup and when we reminded this waiter abt it he said "uh okay I'll get the kitchen to make again". No apologies, instead it implied that we alr had it but we're just asking for more? But the same waiter was v nice to us later when we ordered the egg tart and it had to wait cos it was being baked at that moment! He kept coming back to tell us it'd be ready soon and sorry for the wait etc :) Sometimes can be q hard to get their attention.

Value: the boy and I both think that its quite value for money!! Even though at first glance, $98++ may seem a lot (its about $115 and some cents aft tax + service charge) however for the ambience and the quality of food + you get to sit there from 11am-3pm for your brunch (which will actually keep you full till dinner so its actually all 3 meals!!!) its worth it! Plus you get complimentary parking when you dine there and the best thing is on Sunday & PH, aft getting the complimentary ticket, you can just park your car there for the whole day for free! Use this chance to go shopping in Orchard!! Its just a short walk and can help digest your food :) 

Phew finally done posting. Sorry it's so long guys :) Hope this info helps!!! Oh and do make reservations early cos it was full that day we went I think!

Yan Ting

St Regis Level 1U

6506 6866