Sunday, January 11, 2015

Restaurant SELA @ Seah Street

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Located at 32 Seah Street, this place is less than 5 minutes walk from Raffles Hotel. However, for some reason its signage eluded us and was not visible from across the road as compared to its neighbours, so we ended up having to look for #32.

Was there to try its Saturday Brunch where one gets a 3-course set meal with free flow of Prosecco for $48+.


interior

At 11:30am, we had the entire place for ourselves. Other guests started to come in from 12pm onwards.

Saturday Prosecco Brunch menu

After placing our orders, the first glass of Prosecco was poured. Pleasant and crisp. A refreshing start.

cheers
 Of course, warm/cold water is available.

cold water

Bread was served 10 minutes later and it tasted as good as it looked. Cute looking rolls that were served nicely warmed. Breaks open easily to reveal soft texture on its inside.

ciabatta rolls with butter, balsamic & olive oil


For starters, we chose the scallops and the asparagus.

seared scallops with bacon, crushed avocado on thin toast and tobiko

The scallops dish was a letdown, unfortunately. Scallops were cold when it arrived. The bacon was seriously crispy but had a somewhat stale-oil aftertaste to it. What a pity!

Dining companion had the grilled asparagus which was nicely done till soft but not limp. Scrambled eggs and the mushrooms worked well and gave an asian touch to the dish. Liked the tomatoes.

Grilled asparagus with parma ham, scrambled eggs, honshimeji and veal jus

For mains, we had the barramundi and the steak.

Seared barramundi, roasted vegetables, balsamic cream
Brandt tenderloin steak, potatoes and sunny side up egg



If you were like me, and was expecting soft flaky texture from the seared barramundi, then we would be disappointed. The fish was too dry on that day.

tenderloin, medium doneness
Dining companion was having the steak, so he preferred medium doneness while personally, I'd like it at medium rare. At medium doneness, the lean meat was still tender.

Loved the potatoes from the steak dish though. Softened till just right and with good flavours.

I think between two pax, we might have finished a bottle of the Italian Prosecco.

ours

Restaurant manager was a friendly chap who'd drop by ever so often to top up our glasses when it was empty.

Only two choices for the desserts, so we tried one each. If you have a really sweet tooth, then Lemon Tart may work for you. Personally, I'd go for the Gula Melaka Crème Caramel. I like pudding.

Lemon Tart
Gula Melaka Crème Caramel

All in all, the Saturday Prosecco Brunch is still a good deal. A 3-course ala-carte meal (without drinks) here, would have cost around $55 (excluding tax) per pax. For brunch, we spent $56 each and probably had drunk enough Prosecco to make us want to walk from City Hall to Orchard Central.

For ala-carte main course, you may want to utilize The Entertainer App 1-for-1 deal. Yup, SELA is part of the new merchant list for The Entertainer Singapore 2015 app.

Watch out for discount code to purchase The Entertainer 2015 Singapore in upcoming blog post. See ya soon and Happy Eating~

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Sumiya Charcoal Grill Izakaya 炭家 @ Orchard Central

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Wanted to try their anago sushi but unfortunately, was told that it was not available on the day of visit. Hmm...what's plan B? I'll mull over the menu again with an iced cold Asahi draft.

Asahi draft @$5.80++
Decided on a Nama Hon Maguro Toro, bluefin tuna belly.

bluefin tuna belly @$11++

It was indeed fatty and oily, and with a slight chew, melted away in the mouth.

However, needed something more filling, so ordered the fried garlic rice with char siew bits.

fried garlic rice @$8.80++

Can't taste the garlic though. But a hot bowl of fried rice when you're hungry, now that's a good choice.

Thursday, January 1, 2015

Charcoal Thai @ Simon Road

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Located at Simon Road, just next door to the popular Lola's Cafe. It is actually within 6 minutes of walking distance from Kovan MRT.With wet weather nowadays, you'll definitely need an umbrella otherwise, risk getting drenched while awaiting for the traffic light to turn green.

Haven't had a mookata since... well, forever. Last that we had was the one at Dickson Road, and that was a couple of years ago, back in 2011!

Visited on a Friday evening, and indoor lighting was pretty dim.
 
Mookata set @$39.90++
Service was pretty slow that night. Place seemed crowded during dinner hours but had quietened by 9pm.

Wasn't there when my friends ordered ahead but think we had a set for 2 pax. There were sausages, luncheon meat, chicken and pork, crabstick and meatballs. There were few prawns as well. The set came with a small separate basket of chinese cabbage, rice vermicelli (tanghoon) and bok choi.

add-on meat @$11.90++


So we oiled the mookata by frying up the lard cubes and moved it all over the grill. But, the meats still sticks and got burnt. Haha!


Also tried their ala-carte tom yum soup which came in a small clay pot, and loaded with squids and some prawns.

seafood tomyum clear soup @$11.90++

Soup was fantastically hot and with the right sour notes. Good to have on a cold night, but it made us hungrier.

Tried a couple of ala-carte items. Had the minced pork omelette which was quite nice, thai sweet and sour tofu which was enjoyable (but secretly wished that it was sweet and sour pork instead).

The calamari squid actually contained other fried items such as baby corn and onions. Was just average.

calamari squid @$12.90++

Also tried two types of fried rice; Seafood and Olive. Olive fried rice was bland, and lacked the olive fragrance while the seafood fried rice was tasty and flavourful with adequate seafood thrown in. Go for the seafood fried rice, if you must eat rice.

Olive fried rice @$9.90++

Seafood fried rice @$10.90++

There was a Standard Chartered credit card promo then, and we got 10% discount off. Total bill for 6 pax came up to $145.

Happy 2015 everyone!
 
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