Charly T's @ 1I2 Katong

I have wanted to eat at Charly T's for a long time, but never got a chance to do so, because the price there is slightly higher than average. So when I came across a Groupon discount, I grabbed the opportunity immediately!

 

The Groupon discount entitles me to order up to S$20.00 for a main course. Anything exceeding I would have to top up. Since I bought two Groupons, we ordered two main courses, but paid extra for drinks. So you can just imagine how much one main course is!

 

I ordered the Garlic Chicken Rotisserie, which is their famous specialty dish, and my revered friend ordered a Sirloin steak. The orders took a while to come though, I was practically starving by the time the food arrived!

 My Garlic Chicken Rotisserie

 

Every main dish comes with a choice of two sides. I chose macaroni and cheese with seasonal vegetables. The chicken is tender and nicely roasted, but I cannot actually taste the garlic.

 



Sirloin Steak with fries and seasonal vegetables

 

The steak looks good actually, although I did not manage to eat any. But it was not really a good experience overall, because for that kind of price and that long waiting time, I would kind of expect the food to be better and tastier. Although the chicken is nice and tender, but it is not that tasty.

 

Perhaps next time I should order something else and see if the food is better!

 

 

Food : 3 out of 5

Price : 2.5 out of 5

Ambience : 3 out of 5

Service : 2.5 out of 5

Dinner And Dance At Hotel Fort Canning

Last night I went for my company's Dinner and Dance, held at the Lavendar Ballroom of the new Hotel Fort Canning, formerly the site of The Legends Country Club. It was a black tie theme hence the whole event was rather classy yet fun and jolly. The food was nice too. It was a four-course Western set. First time I attended a Dinner and Dance with fine dining!

The table decorations

Table setting

The room decoration

The first course (Appetizer) -
Poached Prawns with Buffalo Mozarella Cheese and Tomato Salsa

There were only two morsels of cherry tomatoes which were tasteless. The prawns were small and the cheese was not sour enough. There was hardly any salsa.

The second course (Soup) -
Bread roll with butter with Cream of Mushroom with Roasted Pumpkin

This is one of the best mushroom soup I have ever tasted! Really creamy and of the right texture!

Next up was the main course. Like any other fine dining places lately, there were alternative entrees, which means we could pick which one to take rather than just one course. In this case, there was a fish or beef and I chose beef.

Main course No. 1 -
Pan-fried Fillet of Seabass with Butter Herb Rice, Poached Asparagus
and Ginger Cream Sauce

Main course No. 2 -
Seared Beef Tenderloin with Gratinated Potatoes, Confit of Fennel served in Pepper Gravy

The beef is perfectly medium rare. It is quite hard to find a place that serves good medium rare beef, and this is one of those rare ones where the beef is tender yet of the right cut. The outside is brown, inside pinkish. Perfect!

Dessert - New York Cheese Cake served with Strawberry Coulis

The strawberry and melon piece is sweet, and the cheesecake is just nice, not too tender, not too dry.

It was a great dining experience, since the food is good and the entertainment just as great! Kudos to the organisers for such a wonderful event!

Aston's Specialities (Part 2) @ Suntec City

Singaporeans are quite a predictable bunch. There are only a few kinds of food they like. Besides sushi joints, the most popular Western food is Botak Jones in coffee shops, or for those who prefer air-conditioning comfort, Aston's Specialities.

It was not the first time I ate at Aston's Specialities. I wrote about the Cathay branch some time back, which was quite good. Last night, we ate at the Suntec City branch, and it was not as good. I am not sure if it is because the standard had dropped, or the Suntec branch happened to be a paler comparison to its sister branch.

One thing I do not like about Aston's Specialities is its queuing time. There is always a long queue no matter which branch you go! And we are not allowed to do any reservations since it is on a first-come-first-served basis. To save time, the waiter asked us to pick our food first. Even then, when we finally got a table, the food took so long to be served!

Each of us ordered something different - medium-well lamb loin chops, medium sirloin steak, fried chicken chop, and medium extra cut steak, as well as different sides. When the food arrived, it was a disappointment.

First, according to my friend, the lamb loin chops seem hard to eat. She said she would have much rather stuck to the medium done than to take the medium-well, as she did not see any difference.

Second, the sirloin steak I ordered seemed more medium-rare than medium. When I sliced off a piece, the steak still looked pink. Yet it was a tad tough, as if it was well-done.

Third, the fried chicken chop seemed a bit hard.

Still, despite all these glitches, it was a rather enjoyable dinner. However, if I am to choose, I will still much prefer Aston's Prime any time!

The supposedly medium-well lamb loin chops, with coleslaw and onion rings

The extra cut sirloin steak, with french fries and garden salad

The fried chicken chop, with french fries and fried beans

The supposedly medium sirloin steak, with mashed potato and coleslaw

Smoochie's Bistro & Bar @ Alexandra

Recently I discovered this place called Smoothie's Bistro & Bar, situated at Alexandra opposite PSA Building.

Initially I expected the place to serve just drinks and desserts but the menu looks tempting so we had our dinner there as well.

The interior is cosy, with dim lighting. There is a live band (or rather, a one-person band - a beautiful lady strumming her guitar and singing along). There is a bar counter as well as an alfresco area.

The air-conditioner was spewing ice-cold air. My preference would be to sit alfresco, but it was pouring so we had to sit inside. Just behind our table is a coffee table with two sofas. I felt like sitting and just relaxing on the sofa!

The sofa

Our table

The band area

I ordered a pan-fried Chilean Cod, with a glass of orange juice and a vanilla bean ice cream as dessert. He had a ribeye steak with his favourite Erdinger beer.

My glass of orange juice

The bar counter opening out into the alfresco area

The food exceeded my expectations. I thought it would just be another casual bistro, but the quality and presentation of the food is superb! The main course comes individually-plated, with potatoes, broccoli and coulis.

My Chilean Cod

The fish is pan-fried to perfection! It is soft, smooth, just melts in your mouth, and the honey-glazed marinade is still prominent. Sweet!

His Ribeye Steak, medium rare

From experience, it is very hard to get a steak medium rare. But the steak is perfectly medium rare! Not too tough, not too tender, and the steak was cooked with just the right doneness as evidenced by the little pinkish flesh. Delicious!

My Vanilla Bean ice cream

Even the ice cream looks perfect! One scoop of vanilla bean ice cream with a strawberry on top.

In short, this is one gem I discovered. Good food, nice ambience, great entertainment (we can even request for songs!) and all for the price of $25.00 per person on the average! There is also a 15% discount for Citibank cardholders, hence I find it pretty worthwhile!

Food : 4.5 out of 5
Ambience : 4 out of 5
Service : 3.5 out of 5 (food was a little slow in coming)
Price : 4 out of 5 (depends on what you order though)

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Sapphire At The Jewel Box @ Mount Faber

The group of restaurants on top of Mount Faber, The Jewel Box, is having its annual Christmas show, consisting of the lighting of the world's tallest Christmas tree (as claimed), and a snow and light show. Now that the cable cars are being upgraded, free shuttles are provided at the harbour front up to Mount Faber. So we reserved a table for dinner yesterday.

It took less than ten minutes to reach the top. The exterior of the Jewel Box looks like an underground bunk where the soldiers do battle. I almost thought I could see a cannon in front of it!

Close-up of the entrance of the Jewel Box

However when we stepped in, the interior looked chic and classy. The ground floor consists of a small tea room called The Diamond Chateau, and a private dining room called The Diamond Palace. In between these two rooms is the iconic restroom, so-called because apparently the restroom became the world's best restroom according to one French magazine (as displayed on the walls).

The restaurant we were going was called Sapphire, the alfresco casual dining place of The Jewel Box, where we can dine in open air in candlelight. Next to Sapphire is the more formal glass-enclosed candlelight dining area called Black Opal.

Entrance to the Black Opal

The view from the second floor is spectacular!

Some views of the harbour from the second floor of the Jewel Box

The Sapphire restaurant leads out to a lawn behind the dining area. There is a shed that is the washroom, a decorated tree with thrones and a bell during Christmas and an open area consisting of a pavement and koi pond.

The Sapphire restroom

Decorative tree

The bell and thrones

View of the harbour at sun set

The Sapphire restaurant

Table setting

The Sapphire menu

My Jewel Club Sandwich

His Prawn Aglio Olio

We were there at seven, and the food came around half-past seven. The show started at eight - the lighting up of the tree, thrones and bell, the fake snow falling down, and the lighting up of the world's tallest Christmas tree (which unfortunately we were not able to see it from where we were sitting as it is outside the Jewel Box).

The "snow" falling down

The decorative tree after it was lit up

The thrones at night

The bell at night

The thrones and bell together

We left around half-past eight. Since it was very crowded, we decided to hitch a cab. The staff at the ground floor was very helpful, he helped us call for a cab by texting it, and the cab arrived within five minutes.

While waiting, I took the opportunity to go into the iconic restroom, and I must say, it really does not look like a restroom!

The Christmas tree at the second floor landing

The Jewel Box at night

This is a place I will sure come again, especially since it has a few other nice restaurants there!

Cuisine : Mediterranean
Food : 3.5 out of 5
Ambience : 3 out of 5
Price : 3 out of 5

Colbar @ Portsdown

We chose this place Colbar for two reasons - one, it is rather popular among foreigners and local celebrities, and two, I have always like the design of that place. Besides, Portsdown is one area that has been converted from old colonial houses, and I like to absorb the atmosphere.

Going to that eatery is like stepping thirty or fourty years into time. One never sees those kind of walls, floors and tiles anymore! It is just like a little wooden house that is painted up into a quaint eatery!

The eatery is not originally there. I remember it was further out the area, facing a football field. When our government wanted to get rid of the field and build a highway to link other highways (what's new?), the eatery was affected. But our government recognised it as a "remnants of the past", so thought of building the new highway around the eatery.

However, in the end, it was impossible to build the highway around, and since the highway had to be built, the eatery had to move. Hence, they actually took every wood, panelling and tile, shifted a bit further into the area away from the highway, and rebuilt the whole eatery tile for tile, wood for wood, to where it stands today.

Entrance of Colbar

The place specialises in Western fare, as well as local fare. I ordered bacon sandwich, my brother ordered hor fun and my dear ordered fried rice. We also had root beer and ice cream. There is even a shelf for books donated by customers, which I took back four. Being a place that caters to the Caucasian crowd, the books are of pretty high standard, like Somerset Maugham and P.D. James, even James Hilton, none of those local cheesy books!

Definitely this is a place I like to go again!

Bacon Sandwich

Hor Fun

Fried Rice

The entrance and exit (have not seen this kind of doors for ages!)

Weighing machine near the entrance (definitely a relic from the past!)

Part of the layout of the eatery

Interior of the eatery

The ceiling
(the fan was actually spinning but the photo came out looking like it was stationary)

Dividers dividing the eating area and the counter

The tables and chairs

The counter (see the television and the bottles?)

Food : 3.5 out of 5
Ambience : 4 out of 5
Price : 3.5 out of 5