Category: Seafood

Some restaurants only specialise in this without the attribute of a country.

Segar Restaurant, Singapore

This is quite a late post from my trip to Singapore. Segar Seafood restaurant is sitting at the heart of Chinatown in Singapore.

They had quite a simple menu of assorted seafood and non-seafood dishes at quite an affordable price. If you feel a bit adventurous, you should try their special: Curry Fish Head!

Hotplate Chicken with Dried Chilli – $12

This is for your friends who don’t eat seafood…

Long Beans with Prawns – $10.80

Long bean with shrimp paste and prawns? This is the only way I know how to eat my veggies!

Salted Egg Prawns – $14

Anything salted egg is why I eat so much every time I go to Singapore. So, when I saw this dish at Segar restaurant, I couldn’t help but order.

I love the combination of crunchy deep-fried prawn and the salty/savory taste of the salted egg. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Assam Curry Fish Head – $20

I know most people in Australia wouldn’t even consider eating fish heads. However, the curry fish head could be considered a delicacy in South East Asian countries.

I love the challenge of going through each part of the fish head. The best thing about it was that the part was always so juicy!

One of the key factors that we chose this restaurant was that the halal certification that they had.

The final verdict for Segar Restaurant:

Segar Restaurant is a quick and affordable restaurant that served pretty nice food.

Do you think I should go?

Getting a halal restaurant in Singapore can be quite challenging. Segar is one of them.

Rating:

Segar Restaurant

7.0 / 10

Taste: 7.0 / 10

Price: $12 – $20 per main dish

Place: 6.5 / 10

Details:

B2-39/40/41, 133 New Bridge Road, Chinatown Point, Singapore 059413

+65 6444 1778

Segar Restaurant on facebook

Nov 6, 2019
Restaurant Nouri – Crossroads Cooking

When I was working in Singapore last week, I managed to have dinner at one of the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants. Sitting at #39, Restaurant Nouri has only been opened for a couple of years. However, they have already had a Michelin star under their belt.

Chef Ivan Brehm and his team gave us this very interesting dining concept called ‘crossroads cooking’. The dining room is also where the chef prepared all of our meals.

They served four pre-dining dishes. They also advised that we could re-order sourdough bread as many times as we want. This is a very good idea as you would want to soak up all of those nice sauce!

The first two that came with the bread was their rendition of silken tofu and vegetable broth. The tofu was more like a dipping sauce for the bread!

The next two was cold kimchi made from abalone with daikon and nashi pear and Chinese bitter gourd salad. I can understand why the two had to be consumed side-by-side as the bitter gourd was really bitter. It accentuated the kimchi cold and sour taste.

The 7-course ‘Omakase’ from Restaurant Nouri

They had an option of 5- or 7- course menu as well as set or omakase. I could see some of the omakase menu was pretty similar to the set menu.

The first course was Hamachi sashimi with caviar and chilled onion consomme. It was a nice and fresh sashimi with very nice vinaigrette… the reason why you should keep asking for bread!

The second course was their rendition of prawn bouillabaisse with saffron jelly. They used the reduction from the prawn head to make the thick soup.

Their rendition of cheong fun (or rice noodles) was one of my favourites on the night. Not only they used black truffle, underneath that green cheong fun there was Alaskan snow crab! Even the foamy bit was very nice!

The second last main dish was kimedai fish with scales and black pepper sauce. Yes, they prepared the fish with its scaled. The scales were very crunchy and almost like crackers The fish was perfectly cooked and went really well with slightly hot black pepper sauce.

I wouldn’t blame you if you think this next dish as a chocolate cake with truffle. They did incorporate chocolate but only as the powder around the plate.

This dish was actually wagyu rib eye with Mexican’s mole sauce. However, they used the traditional ingredients called ‘keluwak’ to darken the colour.

Desserts at Restaurant Nouri

Before we started with the desserts, there was a bowl of Gooseberry granita with peach and champagne. It was very nice and refreshing!

The first dessert looked quite simple but it was actually pretty sophisticated. The dish was Japanese ichigo with azuki beans, sansho pepper and kinome leaf with strawberry sorbet.

The dish was sweet, sour, cold, crunchy… and hot! Every now and then there was this kick from the sansho pepper that made the dish very lively.

The last dish was 48-hour baked orange with assam tea ice cream, cream and some jelly that tasted quite bitter.

I have never tasted something quite like this before.

The final verdict for Restaurant Nouri

Restaurant Nouri clearly deserved its Michelin star and the #39 spot in the Asia’s Best 50 restaurants. They have a unique table arrangement and impeccable service.

Do you think I should go?

Definitely! Chef Ivan will surely treat you well!

Rating:

Nouri

9.5 / 10

Taste: 9.5 / 10

Price: $225 pp for 7-course Omakase

Place: 10.0 / 10

Details:

72 Amoy Street, Singapore 069891

+65 6221 4148

http://nouri.com.sg/

Aug 1, 2019
Ellenborough Market Cafe

Ellenborough Market Cafe Review:

When I went to Singapore last month, we went to a buffet restaurant called Ellenborough Market Cafe in Swissotel Merchant Court. The dining area was nicely decorated with a little pool of water in the middle. We also could see a couple of chefs hand-rolling our dumplings. It was a very nice first impression to the restaurant.

Before I start talking about the food, I just want to say that the review below did not include every available menu on offer at the restaurant. There were just too many of them!

Bain-Marie

The list was quite extensive in the bain-marie section as it tries to cater to almost every demographics in Singapore. The ones in the slide below are: lobster (however it looked more of a Balmain bug in Sydney), otak-otak ( a traditional dish from the region), and babi pongteh (slow braised pork).

Seafood

The seafood options were very extensive. It is probably even more than some Japanese restaurants in Sydney. You can find 2 different sashimi, 4 sushi, baby octopus, seaweed. There are also cold seafood dishes like prawn, crab, mussels and escargot. In addition to the fresh seafood area, they also provided hot and cooked versions.

Others

There is a dish that I’m not familiar about but sit at a very prominent location. The dish is called Kueh Pie Tee. It was more of a DIY station than a complete set. They also have the roast meat section, cheese and salad.

Desserts

One of the most amazing things about this restaurant is the availability of (not just one, but) two durian dishes! I always thought you could not bring durian into the hotel. But then again, the durian in the restaurant wasn’t exuding that lovely (or horrible, depending on whether you are team durian or not) smell.

One was more on a creamy side and the other, deep fried!

If durian is not your thing, they also have a whole display full of desserts.

The Final Verdict for Ellenborough Market Cafe:

All you can eat lobster and durian? and did you also see that sashimi and fresh snails? I’m sure you know what my verdict is.

Do you think I should go?

When you are ever in Singapore and are in needs of a buffet, Ellenborough Market Cafe will be a good fit for you!

Rating:

8.5 / 10

Taste: 8.5 / 10

Price: S$68 dinner buffet

Place: 8.5 / 10

Details:

20 Merchant Road, Level 1 Swissotel Merchant Court 058281

+65 6239 1847

Ellenborough Market Cafe at Swissotel

Jun 3, 2019
Stonegrill at The Builders

Stonegrill at The Builders Review:

We had a bit of a drive to South Coast during the Easter Holidays and ended up in Wollongong to stay for the night. When searching for one of the better meals in Wollongong, we ended up in a restaurant called Stonegrill. The restaurant is located at the Illawarra Master Builders Club.

Stonegrill is a steakhouse where the steak is cooked on a hot stone in front of you. This way, you can control how cooked you want your steak to be.

Truffle and Parsley Bread – $8 – Homestyle bread topped with truffle and parsley butter

It’s a nice few slices of bread to start off the night with a little side of greens and cheese.

Grainge Rump Steak – $31 – 500gr Grainge Angus Beef originates from the fertile Riverina region of NSW, where specially-selected Black Angus cattle are fed a grain-based diet for an average of 120 days

There are quite a few cuts that are better than rump steak on the menu. However, rump steak has always been a personal favourite of mine. The steak came with one side and a choice of 5 sauces. On this occasion, I chose Diane sauce.

The waitperson told us that if we wanted to cook the steak much quicker, we should slice it into thinner pieces. It was actually a great advice – unless you want your steak blue rare.

If 500 gr is a bit too much for you, they also have the smaller portion.

Mixed Grill – $36 – A juicy selection of rump steak, lamb cutlets, chicken breast, and seasoned Roma tomato

When I posted the image on one of my bloggers’ facebook group, there were many squeamish faces. Especially when they looked at the raw chicken being cooked together in the stonegrill.

We are used to all-you-can-eat-style grill, so I’m not quite sure what’s the fuss is about. For the sauce, we chose the creamy mushroom sauce.

The mixed grill has quite a good value for money if you want different cuts of meat… and a curious slice of tomato.

Smash and Crash – $11 – Vanilla gelato served on a frozen-cold stone with your choice of Maltesers, Marshmallow, chocolate flake, cashew nut or mini M&Ms and finished with warm chocolate ganache or butterscotch sauce. Choose two of these extras for you to smash, crash or fold into the gelato on the stone.

This is a dream of probably every kid in the world. You can mix and match basically everything your parents don’t allow you to eat (excessively). Yet, it’s an excessive serving of everything.

Pineapple and Macadamia Steamed Pudding – $9 – Steamed pudding enriched with caramelised pineapple and macadamia nuts topped with an indulgence of butterscotch sauce and served with coconut gelato

I’m not quite sure why we ordered this after all of those things above. It was a pretty nice steamed pudding with a consistency that resembles more of a cake.

Ingoldby Cabernet Sauvignon – $7 – McLaren Vale, SA

The final verdict for Stonegrill at The Builders

The quality of meat in Stonegrill was very good. The smash and crash desserts also did not last that long on the table.

Do you think I should go?
I’ve had a few stonegrill dinners over the years and so far I have been enjoying it. It goes without saying that if you don’t cook your own steak, then it’s probably not for you.

Rating for Stonegrill at The Builders:

8.0 / 10

Taste: 8.0 / 10

Price: $100 for two

Place: 7.0 / 10

Details:

Illawarra Master Builders Club
61 Church Street, Wollongong 2500

+61 2 4229 6466

https://www.thebuilders.com.au/dining

Apr 17, 2018
5 All-You-Can-Eat in Sydney That You Must Try

Restaurants, all-you-can-eat in Sydney, and I are like two peas in a pod. I have enjoyed eating in all-you-can-eat restaurants for as long as I can remember. We are inseparable!

I have tried quite a lot of all-you-can-eat restaurants in Sydney for the last decade and I have seen some come and go. However, there are a handful restaurants that I have frequented throughout the years. Here they are (in alphabetical order)…

5 all-you-can-eat in Sydney that you must try

Braza

When I think about Braza, I can imagine their great meat quality. They also have the perfect way to rotate your meat options (you will less likely encounter the same cuts unless you specifically ask for it). The Braza in Darling Harbour also has Brazilian dancers on the weekend.

Braza on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brazadh/

Churrasco

Churrasco is my first ever foray into the Brazilian all-you-can-eat scene. I have been going to this restaurant since they only had one restaurant in Coogee. They started off as pure meat all-you-can-eat with vegetables as an optional extra. However, they have added the vegetables as part of the package since then.

We usually ask for buckets of the chimichurri sauce and tomato salsa as they go really well with the meat.

Website: http://www.churrasco.com.au/

Feast

Feast at Sheraton on The Park is like the high-end version of all-you-can-eat. It is located in a prime real estate in Sydney, facing Hyde Park!

Feast is known for their massive range of cold seafood. When you arrive at the restaurant, you will be greeted by assortments of crabs, oysters, and prawns. Their desserts range is also second to none.

Website: http://www.feastsydney.com.au/

Suminoya

Suminoya used to be the undisputed favourite of ours. However, in the last 8 years, the price has gone up 150% and they took away the charcoal and replaced it with electric BBQ.

They still have the best options for all-you-can-eat. You can have wagyu beef, sashimi and other assortments of Japanese food. They are also the most technologically-advanced with touch screen ordering system… not having to explain what you need and just have food delivered to you is a very nice perk to have!

Website: https://www.facebook.com/SUMINOYA.BBQ/

Wagyu House

In terms of quality, wagyu house will not be able to compete against the other four. However, this Korean BBQ restaurant costs less than half of most restaurants on this list. It doesn’t have many seafood options but it has a massive range of Korean side dishes.

Wagyu House on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ilovewagyuhouse/

Jan 29, 2018
Seed Greek Kouzina

Seed Greek Kouzina Review:

We saw an ad board for Seed Greek Kouzina as we walked down a small road in Petersham towards the main New Canterbury Road. It read ‘6-course for $35 every Tuesday and Wednesday’. If you like eating out, I’m sure you agree with me that a 6-course meal for $35 is a very good bargain… oh I forgot to mention: you also get a glass of wine for that price!

Surely enough, we are at the restaurant this week to try this menu out! They officially called it: Tuesday and Wednesday Mid-Week Banquet – $35 pp. The courses were predominantly seafood with only one exception, the salad.

Warm bread + taramasalata

There is nothing more perfect than starting your dinner at a Greek restaurant with warm bread and taramasalata. FYI, taramasalata is a Greek small dish (called meze) made out of fish roe.

GF Crisp fried baby seafood, lemon aioli

Our second course was a shared plate of deep fried small prawns with lemon aioli. The great thing about crunchy prawns is that you don’t need to spend hours peeling off their shells.

Krokettes – smoked mackerel croquettes

Almost at the same time of the second course, they also served smoked mackerel croquettes. It was a nicely done croquette!

Marinated grilled fish of the day (barbounia or red mullet)

From the display perspective, the main course was a tad underwhelming. You got four red mullets to be shared by three people.

Talking about the taste tho… oh boy, it was very delicious!

Lahanosalata (greek slaw) – cabbage and walnut salad

A salad is usually not my best friend. However, their salad was quite filling and decent.

Rizogalo (rice pudding), mango puree, macadamia nuts, vanilla ice cream

They have quite an interesting dessert by Australian standard. Not many people would think rice as a dessert. Personally, I think the rice pudding was nice, especially with the added crunch of macadamia nuts and the cooling vanilla ice cream.

Calamari and Chips – $12

The restaurant does not mind if children share your meal at no extra cost. However, they also serve kids meal if you wish to do so.

The final verdict for Seed Greek Kouzina

I don’t think anyone would argue that $35 for a 6-course meal was a bargain. Seed Greek Kouzina managed to deliver that with quite a decent quality of food.

Do you think I should go?
The banquet was only available on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. If you are able to come to Petersham, it’s a very good option to have for a hump day dinner.

Rating for Seed Greek Kouzina:

8.0 / 10

Taste: 8.0 / 10

Price: $35 for 6-course meal + one glass of wine/beer/softdrinks

Place: 7.5 / 10

Details:

88 Audley Street, Petersham 2049

+61 2 95607798

http://seedgreekrestaurant.com.au/

Dec 5, 2017