It’s a huge surprise to see Vienna sporting a full house on a weekday afternoon. So it was a good thing that I had made reservations in advance. Vienna has both in and outdoor seating area. Thanks to my reservation, we got a seat within the restaurant. The restaurant’s interior was brightly lit, no fancy interior with a tinge of “No fuss, just eat” air. Unlike what’s written about the restaurant’s review thread, I thought the service was prompt and good. Upon seated, we had a choice of soft drinks or juices as a welcome drink.

The restaurant boasts a huge variety of food (over 150, so it claims), with cuisines that span across, Chinese, Japanese and Western. Perhaps the restaurant does a menu change from time to time, because I didn’t see the “Deep fried durian” nor the “Satay” displayed. And, although the variety’s great, the executions’ are not fantastic.

Chinese
Be strengthened and ‘tonically-awed’ by their herbalicious soups. I’ve never been a big fan of Chinese herbal soups but their soups were refreshing! They certainly don’t stinge on the herbs and ingredients. I had their double boiled “Buddha Jump over the Wall” (x two), herbal crocodile soup, their herbal jelly and the white fungus papaya dessert. I was already walking out feeling warm and tingly all over, come to think of it, thanks to the herbs; I actually had a restful night of sleep!

Western
Seafood lovers out there this will be your haven. This section perhaps consists of the restaurant’s big ticket items, because they only seem to display a few at a go. The items include: Australian spanner crabs, fresh oysters, smoked salmon, mussels, prawns, crayfish etc. But I have to say, quality is not up for discussion for Vienna. Every seafood dish I had was very fresh and delightful.

Japanese
a. Sashimi
I have to say I didn’t like their sushi at all. What I thought was ok was the Sashimi platter they had displayed - very fresh selection of Salmon, King Fish and Sawfish. What I would have preferred for the sashimi platter, was for the restaurant chef to relook at how each fish is being sliced. Precision slicing and the thickness of each slice would heighten the taste experience of any sashimi fan.

b. Teppanyaki
There was a good selection of teppanyaki choices. I had the sashimo, salmon, mutton, and the beef plus a whole heap of vege. The restaurant had a very good system for this. Each table had table number plate clips, where at the teppanyaki section, all you need to do is to choose what you want, clip your table number clip on the plate and they will serve it to you once it’s ready.

Dessert
There was a great selection of desserts, from jello shots, cakes and kuehs, ice cream, fruits to the chocolate fountain. But I only liked the Durian mousse and the Matcha red bean cake.

I think this place is generally ok for what’s worth. Perhaps I'm quite the fussy eater, so it didn’t impress me enough to have me wanting to go back for more.

I’d like to think that I’m quite an independent individual. I can shop, watch movie or eat alone, but I’d never step into club or enjoy a drink at a bar ALONE. Think it’s too much for a girl… But thanks to my friend whom I was supposed to catch up with at Klee turned up late, thanks to him, it made me realize that I could enjoy my drink and actually be at peace with myself.

To me, this says a lot about the place itself, from its location, ambience, service and finally the product, in my opinion, Klee is a winner. I totally loved the interior of Klee. It is tastefully raw, minimalist, with a classy undertone. Upon entering Klee, I was greeted by the very friendly bartenders aka mixologists and the soothing, soulful vocals of Michaela, I knew I was at “home”. There was a very unpretentious air about the place where you know that people who patronize Klee are there to enjoy great cocktails/martinis and the company of their friends/loved ones, and in my case, the wonderful art of mixology.

Being an avid fan of the show “Mixing with the Best” on Cable’s Travel and Living Network, I knew I was in for a treat. I definitely had to get the best seat in the house, which had a great view of the very experienced mixologists at work. Because the mixologists there are so experienced, there aren’t any menus! For my first drink, I told the very charming man-behind-the-counter (named AJ), to surprise me with something sweet and refreshing to start my evening. So he recommended the “Grape Martini”.

Ok I have to confess. Although I appreciate mixology as an art form, I’ve never been able to appreciate my martinis (I’m a wine fan). But at Klee, when you know the best peeps of the trade are doing your drinks, coupled with the fact that Klee only uses the freshest ingredients for your drink, you better sit up and appreciate your cocktail/martini, my friend!

The Grape Martini to me stood as a very elegant drink which is great order for us ladies – Pretty in pink, sweet, smooth and amazingly refreshing. Every sip was a ‘grapey’ sheer delight, light on the palate and yet depth all the same time.

What you might like to know (heard from a prominent individual from Klee) as well, Klee together with Eu Yan Sang, have recently launched a range of herbal-infused martini concoctions. I was so excited that I absolutely had to have it! So I had the Ginseng Berry Martini and the Bird’s Nest Martini. Speaking of alcohol that’s actually good for you! *hic*

Ginseng Berry Martini
I didn’t like the initial ginseng smell of it, because I’ve never been a ginseng fan. But when I took a sip of this beautiful sexy dark pink liquid, it totally blew my mind! It’s smooth, sweet refreshing and light. But what I really loved about this drink was the fact that they added soda water at the end. This simple touch just brought the sensory appreciation of this martini to the next level!

Bird’s Nest Martini
One word – Mysterious! Beneath that light-yellow colored liquid, there’s just something about this drink that baffled me. It had such an interesting taste that I can’t quite describe. All I knew was that it was just SO GOOD! I know it has some ginger, chrysanthemum and some other stuff.

Had such a great time at Klee that I actually didn’t want to leave. But I also know that there was only so much that my liver and mental state could take for one evening. One thing for sure is that I’ll be back for more, and yes to try more of the herby concoctions!

Tip:
- Please make reservations before going to ensure a seat inside.

The evening was totally surreal!

It pays to plan your evening in advance and make reservations. It’s just a wonderful feeling to walk-in, while everyone else is in queue.

It was my night out with the girls. Service was excellent. Before my seat was warmed I had someone already coming up to me to ask me what I wanted to drink. And throughout the night we had someone on standby to make sure our table was promptly cleared and food/drinks arrived. Maybe we’re just too “charming” to behold. Haha…

Timbre @ Arts House, to me was an excellent choice for a girl’s night out because I knew they were winners both with food and drinks. We also had “Good Fellas” playing for the night which was pretty awesome and were not too loud or head banging.

Our menu for the night:

1. Stuffed Mushrooms
- Quite a small serving. But still very good.

2. Timbre Chicken Wings
- Consistently seasoned and not too oily.

3. Mediterranean Thin Crust Pizza
- An ultimate winner! Very light on the palate.

4. Parma Ham & Rosemary Thin Crust Pizza
- Very savory and must be eaten when hot.

Drinks:
- Too many to recount
- But I have to say they make a mean “Blow Job” (You seriously got to try it!)

In closing, Thank you Timbre for making my night out with the girls such a memorable one! I had a great time!

Brought Mum to celebrate her birthday this evening. My parents are in their 60s and 70s and aren't exactly that adventurous when it comes to food. That said, they were bawled over the location of the restaurant and its ambience. :)

We had excellent service. The guy who served us saw that my parents were elderly, immediately warned us that the initial seating arrangement would be a little chilly, and directed us to another more comfy location instead. I was actually very impressed!

As we weren't really hungry, my parents and I decided to share our portions. Our choices:

1. Black pepper soft shell crab
- Fried to lovely perfection, it almost felt oil-less. I'm not a batter person, but the batter was oh-so-savory and it doesn't taste floury at all.
- Black pepper sauce was not too peppery and complemented the battered soft shell crab really well. (coming from a non-black pepper fan)

2. Duck Confit with Yam cake
- Dad loved it, but mum and I felt it was a tad salty.
- I thought the yam cake complimented the duck quite well.

3. Hae Bee (Dried shrimp) Spaghetti with baby scallops
- Almost tasted like mee goreng with hae bee thrown into it. Very tasty...
- Loved the texture of the pasta, and it was done to al dante.

4. Kueh Boloh Tiramisu with ice cream
- Served in a small rock glass.
- Unlike the traditional kueh boloh, the version found in this tiramisu was lighter and fluffier.
- For a person who's rather particular with her tiramisu, i quite like this version. Somehow everything thrown in there, blended perfectly. I only wish they add a tad more liquor in there.

5. Chocolate Gateau with glazed banana slices (Complimentary bday cake)
- They were really sweet and nice to do this up like a birthday cake. And thanks to Wild Rocket, this was on the house, much to my mum's surprise. :)
- Once you dig into the cake, gooey dark rich choc that's oh-so-rich and oh-so-yummy literally flows out.
- Mum was "oohing" and "Ahing" all the way. (that shd explain alot)

And one more thing that's worth mentioning... the complimentary bread that was served tasted just like "cake", light and fluffy. NO kidding, it felt as though it came straight out of the oven and it literally melted in my mouth. LOVELY...

Overall, we had a splendid experience with Wild Rocket. A literal 'food with a difference'. And i'd like to thank Wild Rocket, chef and team for making this evening a memorable one.

Ps. I'll definitely be back to try the Chillean Sea bass served with chye poh and light congee. :)

Caught up with a friend today for dinner and wanted to chill at a place that is away from the madness of people and noise. Thought coffee club was that perfect choice this eve. Mainly cos of the ambience...(don't typically go there for food, just coffee.)

Tucked away on the 3rd level of Raffles City, it seemed tranquil and inviting. Interior was both hip and chic, interesting though that they also have a 'pseudo alfresco' (quite warm with no air-con) section overlooking Cafe Swiss.

My order for the eve was their newest item on the menu called "Puri Puri Chicken" and a glass of Iced Earl Vanilla.

I would definitely give this outlet a perfect 10 for value. For $13.80, the portion was really big. Essentially it's a plate of penne with nepolitan sauce with 3 medium sized spiced chix thighs. It was nice to also see a generous serve of rocket leaves topping the plate off.

Ok on the whole, this place is NOT the place for food, and certainly not pasta. But i was surprised that the pasta was al dante and the chix was actually nicely marinated with some kind of spice, quite tasty. The only thing that I wish that they weren't so generous was the Oil. Ew... it was so much that it prevented me from tasting the herbiness from the pasta sauce (approx. 0.7cm thick). The only saving grace for the eve was the Ice Earl Vanilla...

That said, this is still the place to go if you wanna get away from people, chill and have... i stress nice COFFEE/TEA with Dessert/cake.

Ps. There's a 10% disc if you've got a Citibank Credit Card.

It's quite delightful to have Big Eater located within the east. It's definitely one place that you can just flip flop aroud in your shorts, tank/tee and slippers. Come to think of it, it's quite homely, definitely a place that you can bring your family wholesale to pig-out.

Upon arrival, you get prompt service. Just a gentle reminder to come early, the tables get snapped up quite quickly with every ticking moment.

We ordered:
1. Spare Ribs
2. French beans with mince
3. Fried beancurd skin with prawns

My verdict:
Dishes tasted somewhat different from the typical chinese zhi cha outlets. Although the dishes were tasty, the food's a tad salty and oily. So much so that i'm feeling a lil nauseous from dinner. That said, i shan't discount this place so quickly. Will definitely give it another shot. Will be back to try the "Salted Egg Yolk Crab"... :)

After a really hard and bad day at work, all I really needed was good comfort food and booze. RELISH came to mind mid-through the day, I haven't tried it but read many reviews about it. Something told me that it will make my day all the better. And boy, am I glad that I trusted my instincts.

Do make reservations in advance because this place is perpetually packed. What I like about the place was bright homely feel and the high ceilings with very raw walls. What I didn't like about this place was the magnified collective banters from the patrons.

I really liked RELISH's concept of pairing burger with beers. But I feel that one can't effectively pair a burger to a beer, it's really not the same as pairing food with wine. That said, it's nice to pair burgers with beers period. As my bf puts it, "What's a burger without the beer." To add to that, i'd say, "What's a burger if the beef patty isn't done right."

Our order for the evening (His & Her's comments):

HIS: Bacon and Cheese (with its recommended beer)
His comments:
- Very good beef patty. It was moist, wasn't overcooked and not overly peppery.
- Really wished for the burger to be a tad bigger.

HERS: Ram-Lee Burger (with its recommended beer)
- I am still dreaming of my first bite - That should say alot about the taste.
- Absolutely adore the inclusion of the egg to my burger.
- The beef patty was excellent (medium done). The patty was tender and beefy. With every chomp, the whole beef mixture was just very fragrant, and was especially enhanced by the little bits of onion in it.

Note: With each burger option, you get a choice of side accompaniments of either fries or salad. And if you'd like to have onion rings, there'll be a 50 cents additional charge.

Overall dining experience, food was just excellent. To me, it's like finally I can order a burger (other than McD or Burger King) and actually finish it. It was my definite comfort food to end a bad day. The only thing I feel that can be improved, RELISH should really consider including salad to the whole burger order and not leave it as an option. Also, RELISH is not a place that I'll just hang around for another beer or two. The magnified banter from the restaurant plus the 'hyena-sounding' lady seated next to us was just giving me a migraine. But for just the burger, I'll definitely pop by another day... :)

Girl celebrated her boyfriend’s birthday at a delightful restaurant, Sage.

Girl called the restaurant only to find them asking her to leave a message or text them for enquires or reservations. Girl text as told and received the reservation confirmation under 5 mins.

Here’s their summary account for the evening:

Ambience: Classy and tasteful interior. The dim lights coupled with the soft jazz playing in the background swirled the subtle hints of romance through the air.

Service: Impeccable. Nothing beats going to a restaurant with friendly, knowledgeable and sensitive professionals attending to you.

Food: Excellent.

Foie Gras
The foie gras was done to sinful perfection, i.e. the kind that melts in your mouth. Just when you think that was ultimate, try blending the roasted apple mille-feuille crusted with walnuts blended in with the foie gras. You will find yourself saying OMG almost immediately. Sage has certainly brought the eating of foie gras to the next level. And if that’s not enough, that was just the teaser, try blending the fig compote together with the earlier combination. Results: Not for the faint-hearted. Explosion of flavours. Be positively warned.

Escargot & Prawns
Don’t ask why but eating this dish makes me think of Van Gogh’s paintings, i.e. colours blending in wonderfully with his perfect brush strokes. The ingredients used in this dish, each with individual flavours blended so beautifully with each other. It was just a delight eating it as much as when it was presented.

Beef Cheek
For this dish, it’s rather acquired, still, it was good. The beef cheek sports a soft texture that almost melts in your mouth. Every bite bursts flavour. Be warned though, if you’ve had the above-mentioned appetizers, you’d need to have a huge appetite in order to finish this main.

Lamb Loin
My boyfriend ordered this dish. All through this dish, he was all smiles. Some of his sound bites (just to name a few):
“OMG, this is awesome!”
“Never tasted lamb this good!”
“Mmmm… tender meat infused with the wonderful lamb aroma.”

Other noteworthy mention: The restaurant was really nice to have given the birthday boy a nice cake with a candle to celebrate his birthday.

Overall Dining Experience: An absolute top-notch!

I received a text from quite a good friend dated exactly 2 yrs ago (that person knows I love crabs). “The life changing crab is at Melben Seafood…(details of the amk branch).” Since then, that “life changing melben crab” hung subconsciously at the back of my mind, but each time I find myself ending up at Jumbo Seafood instead. Till recently, a bunch of my mates decided to visit the rest..ooops… sorry coffeeshop, as part of our annual Christmas gathering.

For starters, I have never experienced the sight of such a wondrously LONG queue at a local Tzhi Cha outlet. It was a good thing that my friend had already made reservations way before hand, so we were standing at the front of the queue. But what was really strange was that, we had to actually order before being seated. With my half-baked mandarin, I left my mate to do the ordering. I also heard from my mate that if we want to order additional dishes half way through our meal, we would need to re-queue to make our additional order. *rolls*

We ordered quite a fair bit of food to be shared amongst 12 of us. Our menu for the night:

1. Baby Kai Lan with garlic and oyster sauce (Qing Chow)
2. Fortune Chicken
3. Crispy Toufu
4. Chilli Crabs
5. Pepper Crabs
6. Butter Crabs
7. Crab Bee Hoon
8. Fried Man Tou

The one thing I really detest about some Tzhi Cha food outlets is the amount of starch they put into their cooking and when they don’t whisk it into their dish well. What am I talking about? The next time you look into your cooked food, you’ll notice these small dollops of transparent balls floating on the sauce. So needless to say, I didn’t enjoy their Fortune chicken and their Chilli crabs, because of what I just mentioned above.

Melben Seafood is primarily known for their Crab Bee Hoon. Almost every table I saw had a claypot of crab bee hoon displayed in its full glory. Did I like it? Let’s just say that the taste is acquired. I personally didn’t like it because I felt that they had too much carnation milk in there. The pincers that I had didn’t taste that fresh.

Their butter crabs had an acquired taste to it as well. It was my first time having buttered crabs, I initially thought that it would be nicely battered as how any restaurant would do on buttered prawns. But Melben’s version of buttered crabs was semi-liquid. Like I said, the taste is acquired, and I would have rather preferred the crabs done in a buttered-dry style.

Their Chilli crabs were quite a let down. Personally, I love chilli crabs and to-date, Jumbo Seafood still tops my chart. Let’s just say, when you eat chilli crabs, the beauty of this dish, apart from having fresh crabs is the chilli gravy. To me, a good chilli crab gravy should have just the right amount of eggs carefully cooked and beaten together with the right amount of sweetness, spiciness and a slight hint of tangy taste to round it all up. And as you take that Man tou to dip it into that lovely gravy, you should have quite a fair bit the gravy soaked into the flour bun with a hefty egg mixture still left hanging on the bun. Alas, that night as I dipped my man tou into the gravy, all I saw on the bun was just transparent starchy gravy. Needless to say, the taste of the chilli gravy was disappointing. As for the Pepper Crab, my partner commented that it was far too peppery.

Oh well perhaps Melben Seafood could not cope with the large crowd of patrons they had that night, hence the quality of food.

In closing, with that two yr old fateful text from my friend and my constant subconscious mental reminders about Melben Seafood, in all honesty, I was waiting to be WOW-ed and have my life CHANGED. Sadly, I left with my taste buds unsatisfied and life un-changed. The only saving grace for that night was that I was with great company, everything else didn’t quite matter anymore.

After reading reviews about da Mario Pizzeria being a place that serves up reasonably priced great Italian fare, I decided to go give it a try. I wasn’t sure if it was going to be crowded, but being a Friday evening, I thought I had better be safe and reserve a table anyways. And boy, I’m glad that I did. I was also worried that the restaurant would be difficult to find, but lo and behold, the moment I came out of the door that was lead from the carpark, the small eatery was smiling back at me.

Looking around at the restaurant, I observed quite a fair bit of Caucasians around. Some dined-in while others dropped by to order take-outs. I noticed some of the patrons were true blue Italians as well. You know they say, if you find authentic Italians in an Italian restaurant, you’d know that the restaurant truly serves up authentic Italian fare.

Ambience: Cosy ambience with Italian music playing in the background. But I suggest you go al fresco if you don’t want to be smelling like food after. Tried and tested, unfortunately.

Service: Prompt and friendly service.

Food/beverage that we ordered:
1. Proscuitto Di Parma Con Melon [Parma Ham and Rock Melon]
- I liked the combination of salty and sweet. I’m not sure, but if you’re into salty food, this dish should rock your world. Personally, I felt that the Parma Ham was a tad salty for my liking. Still both the Parma Ham and rock melon tasted really fresh. So quality of food was pretty good. [Verdict: 3/5]

2. Pizza Sole Mio with the additional topping of Porcini Mushrooms [Tomato, Cheese, Parma Ham, Rocket Salad, and shaved Parmesan Cheese]
- This pizza came highly recommended by the waiter. And being a fungi lover, I just had to have mushrooms in my pizza. I must say, this pizza is delicious and had generous toppings, but I really wish they would go easy on the salt. I’m not sure if it’s typical of Parma hams to be really salty or if it’s typical of western/Italian cooking to load up on the salt. But after two bites into the pizza, my tastebuds were numb to the salt and I started to enjoy every goodness of the pizza. I also liked the fact that the pizza’s crust was thin and light, so much so that can feel as though you can go on eating it forever. That said, is this the best pizza I’ve ever tasted? Let’s just say that it’s not bad but I’ve had better. [Verdict: 3.75/5]

3. House White (Can’t remember where it was from or the name of it):
- Frankly it was bad. I’ve had better house whites. It tasted really young, and rather bland, almost like water. It also felt as though the smell of the restaurant had permeated into the bottle. Perhaps the bottle of house white may have been left untouched for awhile. [Verdict: 2/5]

On a closing note, da Mario Pizzeria serves up quality food. But, I’m not sure if it would be befitting of people who are on a low-salt diet. That said, I would go back to this place again only to try other Italian dishes on the menu. Perhaps I’ll go for the pasta next. Till then…