X'mas lunching at Spruce

And so, after last night's feast, we headed down to Spruce for an X'mas brunch.

It was packed, but no surprises there, given the good ambience; surrounded by foliage and good ventilation, and hearty fare. There was pleasant chatter all around, and it was a breezy afternoon, which made the place very relaxing to be at. 

When the waitress said the lemonade was freshly made, we decided to give it a go, and it was indeed refreshing. Good recommendation missus!

There were many of us, so there was a lot of variety on the menu, yay!
(In retrospect, it is better to stick to tried & tested choices when it comes to food :p)

1) Crabcakes benny:

Decent, but nothing outstanding. I found the crab meat a tad fishy, and slightly hard. On the whole acceptable, but I wouldn't order it again :/

2) Brioche French toast with mascarpone cream and fruit jam:

I liked it, as it was fluffy and soft. Could be more eggy though. The cream and jam were light, so it made a good combination with the bread. Warning: order and share, otherwise you will definitely get sick of it, given the ginormous serving and the fact that it is ALL bread. (Antoinette has really good french toast btw, will post about it when I go back!)

3) The Spruce Signature burger:

Lives up to its name, with a thick beef patty atop a sweet & pickle-level sour dressing, complete with thick cut crispy fries sprinkled with what seemed like chipotle and salt to me. A very satisfying BLT (Must show off my new foodie vocab cos I just found out what this meant!) that will keep you going for more.

4) Salmon bagel with sour cream cheese:

A classic combination that cannot go wrong, with freshly toasted bagel slices (Who doesn't love these things?! Don't talk to me if you don't.) and thick smoked salmon slices. The onion slices were also juicy, sweet and very pungent, with a strong sting. Certainly woke up after sinking my teeth into one! And Spruce does their salmon well, where it is superb fresh and not fishy at all. And their extra serving of salmon for $6 makes your buck worth, cos we couldn't finish them thick pieces. ps/Seems like this dish is served in slices eh?

5) Grilled chicken with scrambled eggs:

 

Good scrambled eggs, firm yet slightly runny and not too creamy. Chicken was juicy and tasty as well. Perfect for someone who likes his food simple and straightforward. 

6) Banana chocolate pancakes:

Not bad for pancakes, but nothing outstanding. This was the denser and heavier kind, something like MacDonald's hotcakes, where you can get full really fast from the flour. BUT the crumbs surrounding it were good, and helped to refresh the palette. This serving can easily feed 2-3, and I would recommend saving some space for desserts instead of this.

7) Spruce signature salad with goat's cheese and croutons:

Really.... not recommended. The textures of the salad were mostly similar, with too much avocado, sweets dates and cheese. It was a very heavy salad that didn't have much taste, so sad! Maybe I should sell them the Orange Sweet Duck salad recipe hor.

Despite some shioks and buayshioks, I still like Spruce for its ambience and efficient service. Will still be going back, only for its burger, bagel and breakfast sets : D

Spruce Operating hours:
Phoenix Park (Tanglin)

Mon - Fri: 10:30 - 22:30

Sat - Sun: 08:30 - 22:30

Tel no: 68365528

A late post on our X'mas eve cookout!

We decided to come up with a simple X'mas menu, inspired from J.O's cookbook.

Loves how he makes everything look so simple and delicious! We.... are getting there.

So on the menu was:

1) Orange Sweet Duck salad:

A really simple salad to make, because we cheated with a ready made salad pack and added in figs, walnuts, dried mangoes, peeled oranges & smoked duck slices from Sheng Siong. 

Arrange all the ingredients prettily (follow picture).

 Finally, toss it with balsamic vinegar before serving and viola! 

A fresh, crisp, sweet, sour and salty combination with many textures.

Lovely.

2) Pan fried Zucchini and capsicum:

2 cut zucchinis & 1 red cap, put it on the grilled with some butter till you get the grill marks. Top off with some mozzarella cheese if you like, and we are done!

3) Famous Spam ham aglio oglio:

Get 2 cans of Spam ham, dice and set aside. Fry these with chopped garlic, chili padi and mushrooms. 

Now pour in olive oil and mix well with the linguine (already boiled prior) in a pot over low heat.

 Arrange nicely and toss before serving.

4) Homemade pumpkin soup:

This needs a food processor or handheld food blender. 

You can try mashing them but it will take forrrreeeevvvvver. Maybe X'mas over already. 

Chop up 1 1/2 butternut pumpkin and boil them until soft. 

Blend them, or mash them, depending on what you've got.

Add in salt and pepper to taste, and water (if you prefer it more watery). 

Ours was creamy and thick, perfect with Cedele's Sourdough & Multi-grain bread mmm mm. 

Gotta love Cedele!

5) Sauteed Butter mushrooms:

1 bag of portobello mushrooms should suffice. Remove the stems and wash. Fry with butter and serve in the juice. Easy peasy!

6) Turkey and mushroom risotto:

Twas a donation from Vivi, so I don't have the recipe but nice nonetheless :p

7) Thick German sausages:

Delicious juicy stuff, bought from a canteen in SIA. 

Don't have the name though. 

And we were stuffed silly by the end of the 1st sausage, this was how thick it was!

A great cookout I must say, and what a wonderful christmas eve spent indoors with good homemade food & family :)

Do we just need peaceful moments like this? How was your x'mas eve?

Restaurant Ember; affordable fine dining

This place at Keong Siak Road is very popular with the nearby lunch crowd, and we were the youngest there, if I dare make a quick judgment :p

Our second time here since a year ago, and the food was consistent. Best thing? Price still the same yay!

We ordered the Xmas set lunch, and it was all seafood, to make up for a sinful evening of steak at W hotel the night before. Boy, everything was so fresh and sweet.

1) Appetisers:
Fresh Hokkaido Scallops with ponzu and sesame vinaigrette, seasonal cress

It was served sashimi style, where the acidic dressing did the cooking, resulting in a really fresh and luscious dish. I think we ate it too fast for it to be even cooked!

Crab cakes with mustard with hazelnut tuile and crab bisque:

Gotta be one of the best crabcakes we've ever tasted, and my picky bf liked it too, even though he doesn't really eats crabs. The crab flesh was juicy, succulent and very sweet. A perfect tango with the salty bisque that wasn't too fishy and the very crispy tuile.

2) Mains:
The stars of the day have arrived.

Marinated cod with black miso, sweet peas and herbed potatoes:

Sweet mother of fish, how can you taste so fatty, firm and yet saccharine at the same time? 

Ember's chef really made a masterpiece out of this. 

The miso enhanced the sweetness of the cod, and its fatty skin was such a delight to bite into... 

We were fighting for every bite of this fish!

Pan seared Chilean seabass with mushroom and smoked bacon ragout, on a bed of truffle yuzu butter sauce:

I forgot that I ordered this previously, but thank goodness it was still good. Not as fatty as the cod, this was more firm to the bite and less sweet, which made perfect sense as the strong flavours of the ragout and truffle sauce made a great pairing with the fish.

And the cod wins.

3) Desserts:
Frozen nougat with seasonal berries & lychee sorbet:

Trying something different this time, and it was literally frozen nougat ( you know, the kind you can get in NTUC? With original, hazelnut and green tea flavours from Swiss? Yes that kind.) 

It was good and pleasant but I didn't fancy it, although the sorbet is really refreshing.

Warm Valrhona chocolate fondant with vanilla bean ice cream:

ALL TIME FAVE. And ember does it so well, with a light cake and rich velvety dark Valrhona chocolate. Fantastico with their fragrant and smooth vanilla bean ice cream. 

Still can find bits of the bean somemore! Can go off happy now.

Highly recommended place for an affordable lunch, and service is fuss-free, quick and friendly. This waitress came to clear my bf's fork and said: " He is stealing your food right? Let auntie help you!" Girl power... me likey! 

We will be back to try dinner anytime now :)

50 Keong Siak Rd
63471928

Operating hours:
Lunch: 11.30am to 2pm
Dinner: 6.30pm to 10pm

Closed for lunch on Saturdays and Sundays. Closed for dinner on Sundays

A 20122012 birthday

*Warning: Image heavy post, not suitable for vegetarians or those on diet*

**All pictures are taken with a Canon DSLR 600-D, 50mm,1.8 lens, 430 EX-II flash**

Presenting.... 

The awesome Skirt, located at the spanking new W Hotel, tucked in the frontiers of Sentosa Cove.

It was a lovely night for dinner, with the love of my life, a cool sea breeze and starry sky, making this birthday quite unforgettable. Plus it was one day before the apocalyse leh. Lagi unforgettable. 

Entering the place, we were greeted with friendly smiles all around. 

Then a random thought flashed through my mind: 

"Did they know it's my birthday?"

But..... I think too much sometimes. :p

Skirt ages their own beef using the dry method, so the steak turned out really good. 

Did you know there is 2 types of ageing, the dry vs. the wet kind?

Love the open concept kitchen! : D 

 Skirt's very own dry-aged beef waiting to be eaten. YUM.

(Ok... Not so yum yet.)

 An Argentinian Parilla Grill! 

Even the flames produced look beautiful.

 That's our bread grilling there : D 

Again, beautiful flames.

Chef Andrew Nocente looking very serious! 

He also checks all the dishes before they are served. 

Respect.

Then our meal began with a freshly toasted foccacia bread, served with a chili olive oil dip & seaweed dip. 

But the seaweed one was a tad fishy and didn't sit well on our palette.

So cute and fluffy:

We really had a lot of fun playing with the dripper!

 Hot appetiser:

Iberico pork belly and White Bean Cassoulet. 

Shiokness in a bowl.

This ang-moh version of our braised pork was very fragrant, tender and flavorful, 

well married with the light broth, with the latter serving as a palette cleanser after every bite of meat.  

We had many sides, but this was was the clear star:

Sauteed Wild Mushrooms Textures, with thick, juicy pieces of well marinated mushrooms.

After finishing a few fat pieces, we found some black fungus hidden inside, much to our delight!

It certainly wasn't the best looking dish, all orh orh one, but goodness us, were we deceived. 

Coming in 2nd was the Smoked Kipfler potato and Urbani black truffle salad:

Moist, soft potatoes tossed with black truffle, on a bed of truffle cream. 

HOW CAN DON'T LIKE.

Then came the handcut Garlic fries with Saffron mayonnaise.

Then I couldn't decide which was better. 

One bite into the crispy outer skin, aromas of garlic came wafting out and I was weak. 

This beauty of charred Pumpkin with charred sprouts and goat's cheese was sadly unappreciated. 

It was sweet, and had a crunch to it, with good cheese. 

But we were too busy with the above to savour the pumpkin :(

And now, time for the main star to be featured:

The Tajima Australian crossbred Wagyu ribeye, with a fat marbling of 6/10. 

Just look at it, so glorious and magnificent own its own. 

I have never really fancied steak before this, but I was a convert upon my first cut.

Me: "Why so easy to cut one?"

B: "Try it and you will know lor"

MY GOODNESS.

That first bite was filled with an explosion of succulent meat well seasoned with salt & pepper, and a balanced amount of fats that blended nicely, sending us momentarily to foodie paradise. 

It is easy to get gelat after eating fatty meat, but this was done very well, with a good proportion of fats to meat, and the fats do not leave an oily after taste.

The red wine we ordered went well with the meat, and also cleanses the palette after some bites.

However, it would be best to share a portion as I couldn't finish my portion and B had trouble finishing his. 

But he did.

Tajima, glorious medium rare you!

 I am in heaven.  

 And here's the menu for you guys to check out!

Definitely a recommended place, with great ambience and service because.... 

I got a complimentary birthday dessert!

(Much thanks to B)

This is the warm Venezuelan Chocolate Mud, with poached wild strawberry and Tarragon.

An equivalent of the molten choc lava cake, frozen version. 

 A refreshing end to the heavy meal, as it was infused with fruity flavours, and it certainly made me a very happy girl because I am a sucker for cakes.

Birthday cakes that is. :p

Ending off with a chubby me with the golden cushions.

We will be back!