Sabio

Red and white sangria

Thurs, met all my bosses - submitted irb so had to get signatures, res mid posting, team meeting when things had to be cleared with head. Awful awful. Post nasal drip and forms is trouble, so much so it necessitated stayaway on wed. Nonetheless was really happy to meet up with wans and with V to get the ASM going. brainstormed till 830 ish then while V went for team 1 and 2 drinks, wans and i went to get dinner at Sabio (Duxton Hill). Been a place i've been wanting to try for eons. Almost always packed till it trickles down to the brimish. Even today - we had to settle by the seats plastered to the walls - resulting in a smallish table which couldnt really fit all the food. But eventually we got cosied in, and didnt move to the bar. Plus it resulted in a very pyschedelic photo!
3 in 1 fish salad. For once, a salad with more meat than salad. Cod, Mackerel, anchovies. Even Wans who doesnt like anchovies lapped it up. Good stuff.
Octopus - very flavourful, and yet still crunchy despite absorbin the flavours from the broth.

Scallops in a lovely lobster-bisque like creamy soup. Prob the best dish of the night.

Garlic mushrooms, like tortillas is always a favourite to order. Love this. And its good quantity!

Totally recommend Sabio for the interesting tapas (lots more cold and hot to try) and the vibes, and the chic interior. As much as I love the bar food at 83 as well. It helps thatTapas and bar food is the way to go for me in 2012!

No Menu

Promised ML a treat for arranging all that leave for me;decided to go for the omakase Italian course at No Menu (Boon Tat Street) so that we dont really need to think and decide the dinner... Being adventurous in trusting the chef can be quite liberating.

Ate tons of this crusty bread. Thing about this no menu is that, you dont really know how much to expect - how many courses etc so I kinda ended up loading on the bread first. Well work makes me really hungry. Bread and butter (and olive oil and vinegar) is such comfort food.

Potato salad - somehow it reminds me of sec sch potluck days.

My was a substitute- roast beef (it'd have been parma ham) with honey melon, and more atop the same potato salad must have been a first, with tomato brushetta, buffalo cheese on tomato. Very refreshing I loved this combination.

Prawns and oyster. The cream sauce was super deliciouusss.

Pasta should come in a trio of tasting portions like these. Can try bits of everything and not having to struggle finishing up a pot of pasta and getting all carbo loaded.Risotto, gnocchi, ravioli. My favourite would be of cos the porcini risotto.

Seabass was not as nice as ML's lamb. Too small !

Again, desserts should come in trios! The hazelnut in the vanilla sauce was the most delicious. Meringue is not a fave though. Nice cuppa coffee to top it all.

Thanks ML for the lift up and lift back ;) Your perspective on r'ships is so very warped and so potentially influencing, real food for thought!

Baguette, Twelve Inch Records.

Monday is always best to start with an outing - Met C.O in the am when cheang's gastro c came then when the shuttle looked empty towards Bugis we wanted to take it but by the time slow cheang crawled there it was full and we had to head towards Novena!

So here we were at Baguette- a Viet-inspired deli (Level 2, Square 2) . They sell baguette sandwiches, rice and noodles( at room temperature haha)... Love the crisp airy baguette bread. Very crusty esp nice after getting it toasted. Mine was Tuna baguette and I loved the chilli sauce and the strips of veggies within.

Was very drained out that day and needed a upsized yuan yang to get me thru that day... after delivering the usual milk tea and choc/cran/cheese to dear kels who had a terrible call..again we misst the bus trying to buy gong cha and the queue..exploded!

Hurried to Twelve Inch Records (V Hotel, Lavender). Got lost cos was getting the cake from Chocz.. the tanjong rhu road so doesnt lead to town...it goes all the way to the marina bay golf course only. Found my way really illegally towards V Hotel - thank goodness it has a huge signage. Taking the fireman's lift up to level 4.

When i arrived I had the last bits of the beef. They name all their pizzas after the names of the local bands (I guess the bands either inspired the flavours or they suggested the flavours).

Lamb and Black pepper crab. The lamb was laden with papadum. The crust was crisp and was my favourite part; too bad it was real flat and exposed so it turned cold very fast. Cheese was not steamin' like in Pizza huts ads
Egg and Duck. This crust was like a prata dough, I liked it too. I just like crust and its edges (just like how I like all the edges of the bread). The egg was like the crispy layer of a fried egg.


We actually ordered so much we managed to piece together another whole pizza to dabao. didnt photograph that picture of art;)

Cheese fries.

Chocolate hazelnut truffle cake from Chocz. (Basement 1, Kallang Leisure Park) They loved the dark choc mousse and hazelnuts which seem to be drowned in alcohol. Macaroons kept getting bounced off each other!

Long chat till midnight wondering what happened this year and what we will converse about at this point next year. What a year it has been, woman.

Buyan, Marmalade Pantry at the Stables

Cheese sticks - Buyan

Salmon soup - Buyan

Cheese and mushrooms -Buyan

Double black out cake - PS cafe, Ann Siang Hill

Above and Beyond

Marmalade Pantry - Crabmeat Caesar salad

Marmalade pantry - Burger

Us against the world.

All geared up for Above and Beyond (thanks alot, Matt!! back door man!) we headed to the Duxton area for dinner - I wanted to try either Sabio or Buyan (Qian recommended Buyan's casual restaurant) and since Chongs tried Sabio before we headed to Buyan (Duxton Hill) for dinner. Buyan is a Russian restaurant and has areas for fine dining , casual dining , and the bar. We dined at the casual dining area which is at level 1. Level 2 is the fine dining area. Attracts a predominantly foreign crowd - mostly by the bar having drinks. Surprised the waiter and eventually the boss for not ordering any drinks. Apparently they do have good non alcoholic drinks as well.

We started off with the cheese sticks - half expecting it to be the thick mozarella kind- but no, it was like strips of unadulterated cheese! It was uber long and fun to eat cos it was so chewy and salty. Very savoury and I guess very good together with drinks.

We also had the salmon soup - lotsa carrots within, this was clear, comfort soup.

Also ordered the cheese mushrooms- oily and succulent with a layer of cheese atop. the favourite of J's!

Didnt take a picture of their signature dish - The plov. It was a rice dish with tender slices of lamb within and tasted between a hybrid of bryani and risotto - herbed and spiced, fluffed up grains. very interesting to eat.

We then headed to the Ann Siang area looking for desserts and ended up at PS cafe (Ann Siang Hill)- they were closing but were okay to take desserts. Drowning in the double black out cake - why cant the proportion of ice cream to cake be greater?? love love the ginormous cakes.

To Above and Beyond - parked outside for the night (turned out to be a great idea), and met M before he brought us in through the back, stampless. haha. Was still okay to get around though - Velvet was closed for renovations. Hung around members which was uber uber crowded, and got really sleepy despite! redbull (thanks M....) and took turns asleep at the bend. Then again at the car (no more re-entries through the back :( ).Until 5am when we had enough with the knocks (and unlocked...) and headed to my place to sleep over. Plans for bf at 530am were postponed cos we concussed till brunch time - Headed to Marmalade Pantry at the stables.

Oh boy it was crowded! indoors was definitely full, alfresco was out cos it was drizzling so we were sent to the area facing the carpark (and trees) with the balloon kids. We loved the balloons( i loved the bomb) and the balloon man very politely asked if we wanted any. I shoulda taken the bomb! Ordered the crabmeat caesar salad and the burger. I actually preferred the salad. The burger's patty was really nothing much to shout about.

Then headed to town to shop around Cine/Mandarin Gallery in our shirt/shorts combo until she realised at the very end that gasp! she left her credit card behind at the Stables! It marks the end of the night to day adventure. really misst this spontaenity so so much! age!

Maison Kayser

Cheese for clare, cranberry for me, white chocolate for Jills. (of cos there is never such a clear definition) Xmas eve tea at Maison Kayser ;) baguette next up! costs as much as a piece of the artisanal bread here!