my awesome cafe, tanjong pagar

I think it takes guts to use an adjective like awesome in one’s name – especially because it invites comparison where there might not have been any.

like, do I usually give cafes concessions for serving not-nearly-up-to-the-mark food? yes – because they pander to the hipster and the cool, and so sometimes the food gets overlooked for the decor or the drinks. but when a place calls itself awesome, it sets up expectations that might be difficult to fulfil.

but that’s not to say that the food here is bad, because it isn’t: it’s hearty and quite filling and rather delicious, BUT the name just makes me wonder if I’d have naturally said that it was awesome (or would anyone, unless they had lived as a or was stuck in the persona of a teenager in 90’s america).

parathai, onekm

I am being a bad blogger – work is catching up and I’m flying off to the US on friday (!!) – but I bring you a good one, and I hope you forgive me.

this is the paradise group’s venture into thai food, and it is a laudable effort. modern interpretations of dishes that still retain a distinctly thai feel (although you might detect a fusion of other cultures in some of the dishes), this is weekday dining at its best. located in the relatively new onekm mall, the restaurant enjoys bustling business without too much queue, and is currently one of my favorite new places.

especially this dish here, of vegetable fritters and a delicious sauce that I can’t identify. utterly delicious.

california pizza kitchen, the forum shopping mall

decent-ish american pizza place – very much a comfort food sort of thing (if you grew up on american-type food), and not necessarily the best in execution.

I would likely recommend modestos or brewerkz if you wanted something a little higher on the quality, but this is the sort of relaxed american diner that sometimes is exactly what you want on a post-work weeknight.

and big portions – which quite positively is a reason to like this place.

kilo, orchard central

I really like kilo. I don’t visit it nearly as often as I’d like, but I think very often of visiting it, which has to be the best indication of a good restaurant (cafe is more accurate here).

I’m not sure there’s a better accolade I can give it – it goes beyond the tasty food to the minimalistic, concrete-slathered space (hipster, but not irritatingly so) that’s brightly sun-filled on weekend mornings – it’s sort of what you’d expect brunch and lunch out in an (australian/ american, take your pick) town would feel like, but with air-conditioning (a definite must).

cedele, orchard paragon

I recently had a delicious salad at cedele – which I think is an overlooked stalwart of our cafe scene. the food is pretty consistently good, and so are the drinks – and truly, the prices are more than reasonable for the portions that you get.

and the best part of its mellowed-after-the-hype maturity is the relaxing, family atmosphere you get at most of its cafes – none of that frantic, frenetic too-coolness of new places.

back to the salad – it’s really a modern rift on our traditional tauhu salads, with generous triangles of firm tofu deep-fried, topped with golden garlic chips and a pleasing bit of coriander to provide some interest with the sweet-sour dressing.

it’s a good metaphor for singapore too – a modern take on our heritage, with elements of other countries thrown in, tossed with a sauce that ties everything together.

here’s to being philosophical (and well-fed) on a sunday morning!
x

&made burger bistro, pacific plaza

I am back! I’m going to pretend you are just about excited about this as I am – it’s possibly the longest hiatus between posts on this blog, and I feel a vengeance. you never know how obsessive connected you are to your electronics until you’re separated.

we’ll start the engine up with a set of rather out-of-the-ordinary photos taken at this okay cafe at pacific plaza. I’ve been here before (how has it been two years since!) – and it maintains its rather meh-but-edible status.

the waterfall, shangri-la hotel singapore

wholesome, chichi, yummy-mummy-abound buffet of antipasti and salads at this cafe in the rather-tough-to-get-to shangri-la hotel (they serve up some fantastic mains too). I have finally made my way to this place, and it couldn’t be sooner – the food is light and clean (on the palate; hygiene here taken for granted) and varied in both flavor and color, and there’s a relaxing vibe to this place that lends itself to lazy weekend brunches.

great service too, and reasonable prices given the quality and type of food served – it’s worth the drive/ trek.

chopsuey cafe, martin road

fantastic, fantastic space, and really good food – chopsuey at martin road is a jewel in the p.s. cafe’s trove of consistent-though-expensive restaurants, and is one of my new favorite restaurants.

the place revolves around a menu that supposedly dishes up the american take on chinese food – and I say supposedly, because while that class of cuisine comes with gloppy sauces, overcooked meats, and rather tastes overwhelmingly of orange and sesame (I admit though, that panda express can be pretty good in the right situation), chopsuey instead serves a refined version without all those rather overwhelming characteristics.

the food is well-executed (chopsuey is like the asian take on the american take on asian, and we are asian, after all), the portions are surprisingly big, and the space lends itself to more than a little bantering with friends. very, very, very well-done.

canele patisserie chocolaterie, paragon orchard

great casual eating at the paragon. the last time I did a review of this place, I was pretty much fixated on their delicious chocolate cake – this time, I managed a more indicative meal, and it was pretty good too (even though the chocolate cake still makes the most compelling reason for a revisit).

(this chocolate confection makes for a pretty compelling argument, too).

kith cafe, park mall

I have to say, I was all prepared to give this place a rather meh sort of review and leave it at that, but bernie-the-hungry-bunny has just given it a thumbs up (after a first thumbs-down review), and so I’m willing to give it a more forgiving second-verdict-pending prognosis for now.