During our visit to Meat and Chill, my friend and I ordered the quesadilla, pork ribs with butter corn and chili cheese fries as sides and angus beef steak with fries and corn bread as sides.
The quesadilla was lightly grilled on the outside and generously filled with ground meat and a cheesy sauce on the inside. A simple dish that would please any cheese lover.
The BBQ pork ribs that came in their original hickory BBQ sauce was tender and well seasoned. The meat tears away from the bone with relative ease and the sauce does not overpower the flavor of the meat. It is also a pretty big meal that will easily satisfy any patron with a big appetite.
The beef angus came with rich and pungent truffle oil. We ordered the steak medium rare and it was pretty spot on. The meat was tender and juicy and accompanied with a thin yet flavorful enriching layer of fat that was not too chewy unlike the other steaks I’ve encountered elsewhere.
Just like the role players that helped King James win his fourth ring, the sides in this meal did not disappoint. The thick cut steak fries were crispy in the edges and rich with potato goodness on the inside. Having the chili cheese fries just complemented the fries even more. 10 out of 10 would recommend getting the fries. The butter corn is a classic for me that can never go wrong and the butter corn at Meat and Chill proved that to me once again. Sweet corn and melted butter, need I say more? The corn bread was a little strange in the texture department as it felt like there were tiny rocks in the bread when I ate them. But the flavor was good so try them out at your own risk.
Not the typical Japanese restaurant that sells sushi and ramen. Shukuu Izakaya serves primarily Japanese grilled food like grilled mushroom and meat skewers which are both well-seasoned and cooked to perfection. The meat was slightly charred on the outside and juicy on the inside.
I also had the mentaiko grilled scallops which were fresh and sweet, without the mentaiko sauce being too over powering. The shabu shabu beef was a cold dish that caught me by surprise, but a pleasant surprise as the beef is still tasty and flavorful. Overall a great dining experience and would definitely recommend people to give Shukuu Izakaya a try.
During my visit to Elixir my girlfriend and I ordered The Breakfast Works and the Brulee French Toast. The Breakfast Works really gave us the works. The plate was brimmed, full of classic breakfast goodness. From tasty smoked salmon to juicy and fresh grilled tomatoes, fluffy toasts, succulent and juicy sausages, well-seasoned potato wedges, crispy bacon and creamy and frothy scrambled eggs that Gordon Ramsay would probably approve of. There was no weak link in the dish. Everything was perfect in their own right and came together to make the perfect breakfast platter. if you're at the Elixir I highly recommend you get the Breakfast Works, but I warn you, best come with a big appetite, it isn't for small eaters. The Brulee French Toast was a sweet treat to the eyes as much as it was a treat for the mouth. The French toast was so beautifully plated with an assortment of berries and cream on the side. The toast itself was something I have never seen before. Traditionally the bread was coated with eggs and goes into the pan. The Brulee French toast, as the same suggest, has a special layer of hardened, caramelised coating similar to the toppings on a crème Brule which gave the toast an extra texture element to it in addition to the fragrant egg coating that French toast had. It was so unique and tasted so good. Kudos to whoever thought of such a dish as French Brulee!
Not on any foodie or influencer's radar at all (but should be) is Meat And Green, a nondescript bar slash restaurant that's primarily a watering hole for the CBD crowd on weekdays, but I'll be damned, the food is good. The owner used to work as a chef in Dubai, and his unconventional take on healthy salads and wraps with a local twist can rival or even surpass the likes of more established players such as Daily Cut and Grain Traders.
Using ingredients and techniques more befitting of upmarket cafes, the dishes are both creative and delicious. A prime example would be this off-the-menu “bak chor”(minced pork) salad bowl which sees a generous amount of baby spinach, zucchini, broccoli, cherry tomato, quinoa and beetroot topped with mouth-watering cuts of sous vide pork loin and saucy minced pork laden with chilli, garlic and braised mushrooms. This, paired together with a herbaceous green chilli and parsley salsa verde doesn’t seem to make sense at first, but everything comes together beautifully once you taste it. Not to mention, you can get this in wrap form as well.
Taste: 3.5/5
On the day my girlfriend and I order their Denver steak cooked medium rare with charred broccolini and mushroom for sides. The meal ended with tiramisu for desserts. First the beef. We both ordered our beef medium rare and it was tender, juicy and salted to perfection. As we were seated with the full view of the open kitchen, we could tell that the beef was cooked and prepared in the simplest of manners, with just a little bit of butter coating, sliced and salt. Simple, nothing over the top, yet very delicious. Next, the sides. The charred broccolini lives up to its name. They were just broccolis with longer stems and tasted slightly burnt/charred. A very unique taste personally. Certainly a very special way to have your greens. The sautéed mushrooms was a tasty dish that used fresh mushrooms and not those canned butter mushroom served in other restaurants. Seasoned with garlic, onions and thyme makes the dish a very enjoyable and full of flavors. Lastly, the tiramisu. A perfect ending to what was already a perfect meal. The tiramisu was moist, not too sweet and does not have too strong a coffee taste. Overall, a wonderful dining experience that doesn’t break the bank. Highly recommend and I know I’ll be going back there again for sure.
So I went to Ramen Nagi and ordered their normal flavored ramen with the “chef recommendation” option. The good thing about Ramen Nagi was the customizability of their ramen. Patrons have a choice of different noodle textures, spice levels, amount of seasoning, amount of garlic in their ramen, different toppings etc. Personally I think it’s great that they allowed customers to do that and it’s not a things you see in most ramen stores. When it came to the ramen the first thing that caught my attention was the glistening pork broth. The broth was thick and really rich with flavor. The noodles were the traditional ramen noodles that you have in most places. A good accompaniment with the flavorful broth. The charsiew was tasty and goes so well with the noodles and broth as well. Overall a delicious dish to all ramen fans.
When I was at The Wine and Gourmet Friends, I ordered the mentaiko French fries, seafood chowder, truffle mash chicken with foie gras and roasted pork belly. The fries was served in such a generous portion that one might very well mistaken it for a main course. Tasty fries and a good portion of classic mentaiko sauce never disappoints. The seafood chowder was an oddity for me. Perhaps it just wasn’t my cup of tea as it was a little too salty for my taste that made me wishing the restaurant added some sort of bread to accompany the chowder. Overall a decent dish with fresh ingredients that could need some fine tuning. Truffle chicken with foie gras is a great choice for truffle lovers. The chicken was juicy and tender, garnished with a generous amount of shaved truffle. The chicken was not too fat and the foie gras was delicious as well. Finally, leaving the best for the last, the roast pork, what was quite easily my favorite dish of the evening. What more can I say. It has everything you would want in a roast pork belly. Juicy, tender and well marinated meat, topped off with a crispy skin. Sandwiched between the two, the right amount of fats to seal in the flavor and to deliver mouthwatering bite-sized roasted pork belly.
