Peachy In the Secret Hideout @ North Bridge Rd

Finally! After many recommendations, I actually went to Peachy! Honestly? I was super excited, so I dragged my siblings along to accompany me. I didn't regret anything at all.

I ordered Cheesy chicken cutlet with spaghetti! This dish literally screams my life. I love pasta, I love chicken, I love cheese, I love coleslaw. This plate is so me! When my order arrived, I was super startled looking at the huge portion! The spaghetti was cooked perfectly, it wasn't hard nor mushy. It was incredible. The tomato sauce wasn't as sour unlike some other spaghetti sauce I've tasted. I love it. My chicken cutlet was cooked perfectly, it wasn't dry at all! The topping of the cutlet is a combination of Mozarella and Nacho cheese sauce. It compliments each other and tasted so amazing.

For the sides, we ordered the homemade mushroom soup. First of all, this is the best mushroom soup I have ever tasted before. I know what you're thinking. It's just mushroom soup? Nothing special!

Well, this mushroom soup does not even taste like the ones in your typical restaurant. It's not from the cans but it is literally homemade. This is the first time I have difficulties explaining how great something tastes. You should drop by and taste it. You will be amazed, I swear.

My sister ordered the stunning Black Pepper salmon. 

I love salmon no matter what sauce they got served in. The salmon here is cooked perfectly. It was very light and tender. However, the sauce was a little bland. It took me awhile to realize that it was actually black pepper sauce. And personally, I like my salmon to be separated from the sauce. So as to get the crunchy and crispy feeling of the salmon skin once it's grilled. But when it's drenched in sauce, the skin of the fish will become soggy.

My brother in law ordered the Omu-Rice Cheesy Chicken Chop.

I personally feel the chicken was dry, a bit too overcooked. However, the combination of the two cheeses again, was amazing. The rice inside the omelette was lacking in seasoning but I guess the sauce and the cheese helps to balance the flavor. The coleslaw tasted amazing as well. It felt very light and fresh!

My younger brother ordered the Teriyaki salmon. While the salmon was cooked perfectly, I find the sauce a bit too sweet and watery. And it's not appealing to look at the salmon drowning in the pool of teriyaki sauce. It was sad-looking but definitely yummy.

I know right?! It doesn't get any better than this. The average price for each main dish is less than $10. I mean where else could you get this price for these kind of portions?

While the plating of the main dishes were sloppy and clumsy, it doesn't really affect the greatness of the food here. I was amazed at the humble-ness of the cafe. It was really homey. Some other cafes boasts about how famous their cafe is but in fact, have horrible service and food. However, if you were to come to Peachy, you will be greeted to a friendly and very cosy atmosphere.

I really am impressed with Peachy! I certainly recommend everyone to have their meal here. I would come here every meal of the day if I could. 

Food: 9/10

Service: 10/10

Ambience: 10/10

If you had your meals over at Peachy, tell me all about it! Where should I go next?

Chef Amri's Le Steak @ Jalan Kayu

 For those who knows me, I really don't mind travelling to anywhere just for food.

Last week, I decided to travel from the west, all the way to the north to Chef Amri's Le Steak.

Chef Amri is a celebrity chef, widely known on the malay TV channel, Suria. For him to have his own brand and restaurant is quite a big deal to us foodies. 

And a lot of my friends have been recommending me to have my dinner here so I guess why not?

I don't get what the fuss is all about, so I decided to drop by...

When I arrived, it was crowded and I had to wait for a seat. It's quite disappointing they don't do reservations. And like I said before in my previous entries, I don't really fancy places that don't do reservations. I dislike standing, queuing and waiting for a table to be vacant. 

The location of Le Steak is not really commercialized and getting there is a bit of a hassle. I read some reviews and people recommend couples to have their romantic dinner here. Honestly, nothing romantic at all. 

My choice of drink was Iced Lemon Tea. Super traditional and fresh, unlike the ones that come from the can. I initially ordered for apple juice but it wasn't available? For a menu so minimal, I was a little surprised.

Tada! As predicted, I ordered myself a medium rare Ribeye steak. 

It took me a whole 40 minutes for my steak to be served, Honestly, I wasn't happy. I worked in a restaurant kitchen before, and for the scale of Le Steak, even if it's on a full house, 40 minutes is too long for a food to be ready. I literally can see the chefs laughing to each other, hanging out with the cashier. If the kitchen has that kind of minimal pressure, obviously something is wrong. I have two tables on each side of mine, and they got their food served first when my table was the first to order. I blame the table system settings. The waiter had to walk two rounds around the restaurant with my steak before he got to my table. Not only I was confused, even the staffs were.

When my steak arrived, my fries were already cold. The plating was not impressive. The dish looks clumsy and lazy. However, my steak was grilled perfectly as I want it to be. 

The meat was tender, the blood and juice was pouring out beautifully. I was in love with the steak! The fries were delicious as well. It wasn't the normal frozen fries but these were handmade. The potato skin was still on the fries, giving the fries a different flavour and texture. I love it. 

The steak was also served with a homemade mushroom sauce. It was stunningly delicious! It tasted original, it tasted fresh. Nothing about it tastes like something out of a can. I was drenching my fries with the sauce cause it was super good!

We also ordered a sirloin steak, but served with Mesclun salad and black pepper sauce on the side. While the steak was grilled finely, the salad was bland and bitter, and the black pepper sauce was too overpowering,

I really feel they should revamp the whole look of their entrees. I mean, it looks boring and unappealing. I generally feel steaks should have two side dishes. One starch, which is the potato and also a salad at the same time. Now, it looks empty and unfinished. Like a half-constructed house.

We initially ordered desserts too. I was excited to taste it. However, it took them a whole 20 minutes and to add to the total waiting time, we actually waited for 1 full hour for our food to be ready. So we decided to cancel our desserts and leave. The staffs were polite enough to apologize but I really expect something more out of this restaurant. It was disappointing.

Food:6/10

Service: 4/10

Ambience: 8/10

I never felt so dissatisfied before honestly..

Malaysian Food Street @ Resorts World Sentosa (RWS)

The next food eatery that I went is the first overseas food review that I will feature here on my blog. Okay, I'm kidding. I was not even out of Singapore. I was literally overseas though? I was on a different island, Sentosa. Hahahaha.

So after a day of swimming at Adventure Cove (amazing place by the way!), my friend and I decided to have our lunch over at Malaysian Food Street.

I love how the place was built. It's like an indoor hawker centre. The ceiling was painted black so it was literally night every single time of the day. I am not sure if it's a positive thing? I still can't find the reason for the "night" atmosphere. Does food tastes better during the night? Well.. find out soon.

As an appetizer, we tried the local rojak that everyone loves! The secret to a good rojak is the freshness of the ingredient and the taste of the sauce itself. When we ordered this dish, it didn't came pretty well. In fact, it wasn't pretty. The dish looks clumsy. And the nuts are not supposed to be sprinkled on top of the sauce, it is supposed to be combined with the sauce for a fair mixture. The sauce was super sweet and the vegetables were frozen cold. It felt like I ordered dessert instead of an appetizer. The fried char kway was super hard, hard like crackers. The texture of the char kway was supposed to be fluffy and airy but in this case, it wasn't. It felt like we were eating something out of a display box. Like a wax, fake food.

For the main dish, I ordered the traditional nasi lemak. Honestly, the variety of malay, halal food here is beyond depressing. There was only two food stalls that offers halal food. Mind you, the place is called Malaysian Food Street. It is quite a joke that the variety of halal food is so minimum.

Other than that, the Nasi Lemak was also.. a joke. First of all, what makes a Nasi Lemak stand out is always the sambal. Or the spicy sauce. In this case, the sambal was too salty, and spicy all at the same time. I don't mind sambals to be spicy but in this case, it was super spicy and also salty at once. It was very depresssing. There was no seasoning, no flavour to it.

Rice was gooey and sticky. It wasn't appealing at all. I feel so sad for tourists who dined here thinking that this is actually standard local food. Dear beloved tourists, we have better food I swear!

I knew the nasi lemak would not be fulfilling so I ordered pratas too. Nothing special. The menu for this food stall was also kept to a minimum. I have no idea why? It's either you have an egg prata or a plain one. The curry tasted bland and boring. It was very disappointing.

All and all, the food here was sad, depressing, boring and disappointing. Coming from a place with high standards, I was actually disappointed that Resorts World Sentosa actually agrees on letting this people open up a food business here. It is so embarrassing for tourists to dine here thinking that Singapore is a food paradise but getting served all these lazy dishes.

The food stalls here should step up their game. I know the place is called Malaysian Food Street but you're not in Malaysia, and you are also NOT on the streets.

Food: 0/10

Service: 1/10

Ambience: 2/10

Swensen's @ Sembawang Sun Plaza

First of all, I would like to apologize for not updating my food blog for nearly 2 weeks. I was down with fever and migraine, and still not recovering yet. Pray for me!

Weeks ago, I decided to head down to a very familiar restaurant to all of us, which is Swensen's! A very humble, and perfect place for any kind of occasions. I know what ya'll are thinking! Seriously Swensen's? What's so good about the food in boring, old Swensen's? Well.. if that's what you are thinking, then read on!

So the theme of my review is all about seafood. As for the appetizer, I decided to go for the classic calamari. I love squids! So why not?

The dish was served together with the tartar sauce. Presentation was simple and nice. However, I find the single piece of lettuce was redundant. But it's cute. Ha! 

Coating of the calamari was well seasoned and not too thick. It sticks to the squid magnificently unlike some other calamari rings I've eaten. Sometimes the coating separates itself so easily from the squid, indicating that the batter was too wet while being fried but these ones are perfect. Squid is tender and juicy. Not tough, and not overcooked at all. It was amazing.

For the main dish, I decided to get the Pesto Salmon Saute.

Honestly, I usually don't order fish as my main entree because it doesn't satisfy my hunger. I usually opt for a more fulfilling savoury protein like chicken or beef. However! I was proved wrong after having this wonderful, beautiful dish. I was so full!

First of all, the fish was grilled with finesse! Every bite I took was mesmerizing. The salmon was perfect, and it was not tough at all. It tasted very smooth and delicate. The skin was very crispy, just how I like my salmon done. Seasoning was all perfect, it did not overpower the natural taste of the salmon.  Topped with the amazing sauce, I can't even describe further how amazing the hero of the dish was. 

Corn was cooked thoroughly however there was no crunch to it. I am not sure how the corn were cooked but it was a little too soggy, And also, I prefer the corn to be extracted from the cob for easy consumption. Other than that, the carrots were also cooked perfectly.

My choice of drink for the day was orange juice. A mistake! It totally disrupted the beautiful, natural taste of the dish. The drink I had was too acidic for a very light and delicate dish.

The staffs here were very polite. Everyone was smiling. Always a great pleasure to dine in a place with happy working staffs.

Food: 9/10

Service: 10/10

Ambience: 8/10 (They play great music!)

Date of visit: 9 January 2016 - 4.30pm

Springleaf Prata Place @ Rail Mall (New Outlet!)

I love trying new places for their food and this brings me to a place where the boys and I went after our hectic work schedule. Springleaf is famous for their Murtaburger and if you haven't figure it out yet, it's a combination of both Murtabak and Burger. The dishes that we ordered were:

1. Plaster Blaster

2. Murtaburger

2. Butter Chicken

When I ordered the plaster blaster, I really thought the portion of the dish would be a "blast" but when it came, it was quite a portion too small for me. I felt the dish was a much more of a breakfast food. However, it tasted amazing. It looks amazing. It's like an Indian Egg Benedict with a prata as its base. The creamy cheese sauce tasted amazing! I thought it was gonna be a hollandaise sauce but this was better. The prata was definitely crispy and beautiful too. My palate was happy!

We also ordered the murtaburger (picture above) and while it looks like any other pratas, it actually wasn't. The "prata" is filled with a patty, cheese, mayonnaise and chilli sauce, and I think some other spices too. Wasn't a fan of this dish as I felt it was too fulfilling. In malay, we called it "muak".

I also felt that it was too greasy. I think it's a perfect dish for sharing, and not as a main dish.

The reason why I ordered the Butter chicken was because I thought my plaster blaster was huge and I could eat it with the butter chicken but sadly, it wasn't. Didn't quite like the butter chicken honestly. It didn't taste like butter at all. It's like some weird curry gravy kinda thing. Chicken was overcooked, making the meat very dry and hard. 

The smell of the spices was too overpowering. The chicken was supposed to be the main star of the dish, but in this case, it certainly wasn't. The smell of cengkir or cloves was super overpowering, I had difficulty finishing it. 

My choice of drink was chocolate milkshake. Honestly, I love it so much! I would come back for the milkshake, and not the food frankly. However, the milkshake was served with a normal thin straw. And we all know how hard it is to drink milkshakes with a thin straw. Change to a bigger, bubble-tea straw and everything about the chocolate milkshake will be fine!

Food: 6/10

Service: 9/10

Ambience: 9/10

Eat here with your family or friends, and tell me what do you like the most here!

Spize Restaurant @ Temasek Club

I know! I was super shocked (plus excited) too to know there is Spize located in the west! But this restaurant is like a whole new level of Spize that we always go to! It's more classy, the menu and ambience is much refined. It's like going to an exquisite fine dining restaurant. I was amazed at the architecture and designs of the restaurant.

The view was definitely amazing too. Not that I particularly like seeing people swim (what?) but having a swimming pool in my view is something I amazingly like. If I were to have a house one day I would build myself, I would definitely have my room facing the pool or of course, the ocean. 

Even before going to this restaurant, I have in mind on what I wanna have for lunch. And like I said before, I judge a restaurant by how their steaks are served. Only a well trained chef can grill steaks with finesse. If the steak is perfect, it totally shows how great the chef is.

I like my steaks to be medium rare. I was excited for it to come because I have no idea why but I was expecting the steak to be done perfectly. (Maybe I judge the restaurant by how great it looks.) 

Steaks will taste better when it's paired up with red wine. (Not served here, halal-certified restaurant.) 

But tips to non-alcoholic drinkers: Substitute the wine to a fruit juice that isn't that acidic. Like apple or blackcurrant juice. No to orange juice cause the acidity level is super high.

Honestly, I wasn't really impressed. My steak was much more medium to well done. It felt dry and I couldn't see any juice flowing out of it. I wasn't happy. But I grew up in an environment where food wastage is a no-no, so I had to finish it anyway. However, despite that, the asparagus was cooked perfectly. 

The other dish we ordered is the Royal burger. I have no idea why it's called that when it didn't taste royal-ly at all. The patty was bland, and it was lacking in seasoning and flavor. I feel the patty should be the hero of the dish but in this case, it wasn't.

Finally! Dessert! I was counting on this one. I don't wanna leave the restaurant without any positive remarks. The apple crumble was amazing. I felt the crumble was too sweet for my liking but hey, I'm gonna pass on that. Desserts are supposed to be sweet right? 

My crumble was served with salted caramel ice-cream. It was supposedly to be served with vanilla. But I was told in the last minute that they were out of vanilla flavored ice cream. I love salted caramel ice cream, but I prefer to eat it solo without any accompanying dish. I guess that's why my dessert was too sweet.

Food: 6/10

Service:10/10

Ambience:9/10

All in all, so glad that I've tried the food and I encourage everyone to dine here. However, the journey here was particularly difficult. You have to take a shuttle bus from Clementi MRT, but if you missed it, you have to wait for quite a long time.

Try the food here and tell me what you like about it!

Xoxo, Ally.

Seoul Garden Christmas Buffet 2015 @ JP

I honestly had the best experience here, like ever. Let me get all the time and date listed!

Date of visit: 18th December

Time of Visit: 2pm to 4pm

Outlet: Seoul Garden Jurong Point

I was super busy with my schedule, so on my free day, I decided to bring my younger brother to a buffet. We totally have nothing in common, but one thing for sure, we both love to eat. And to go on a buffet? It's literally heaven!

I've been here countless time and I never had any negative experience. But on this particular day, their great service went a step higher. So I decided to upgrade our table to a premium so that we could enjoy all the fresh premium meats and seafood.. and guess what? I don't regret it at all! If I were to say how nice it's cooked, I'm basically praising myself. Hahaha! But, all the raw ingredients are so fresh, I really wanted to pop in a raw salmon into my mouth. (I did not though.)

I was greeted by their waiters, who were super friendly. I have been a waiter before so I know how a fake smile looks like. But all the staffs here has a genuine, welcoming smile. It was a little crowded, so it was a little noisy. However, the staffs were very prompt and polite.

There was a friendly female manager who taught us basically on how to grill the ingredients. Eat what sauce with what, grill which ingredients first and stuff. The staffs keep on coming over to check with us how we liked our food and so on.. 

It's always important to show customers how their presence are important to you, and the staffs here deliver that. 

Food: 10/10

Ambience: 8/10

Service: 10/10

PS: This post has been forwarded to the headquarters of Seoul Garden Singapore. I believe the hardwork and effort of the staffs on this particular day should be recognized and rewarded.