The Hungry Bunny

Prego 's got a new chef in town, and his name is Chef Samuele Boudiono. To tie in with the chef's rustic Tuscan cooking style, the chic restaurant has also been transformed into a bustling Sunday market, Italian countryside-style. A very enticing 4-course Set Dinner, exhibiting the best of Chef Samuele's creations, costs only $55 so we opted to have that and order another main off the ala carte menu. Instead of the usual bread basket, a thick wedge of Ciabatta is now individually served alongside a ricotta cheese and olive tapenade in olive oil emulsion. I particularly loved the medley of flavours in this emulsion, with aromatic olive oil, mild ricotta and rich piquant mashed green olives balancing out each other beautifully. For starters, we chose the Forest Mushroom & Parmesan Soup with White Truffle Oil over the arugula salad.  We couldn't quite taste the truffle oil, but this had a very wholesome, earthy, homestyled appeal to it. For the Pasta c

Update September 2016: Jane Thai has moved east to 41 East Coast Road, at 6966 5187, open Mons to Sat from 11.30am to 2.30pm; 5.30pm to 10.30pm Of all my best men, Long is the most difficult to catch up with because he works the longest hours. And also because he's the hardest worker lah . So as soon as he gets a little free time, I'll make room for him in my schedule to meet up. This time round, the Fiance came along to have dinner with us, and we brought Long to have Thai food at Orchard Towers. It's cheap, authentic and always such a "colourful" experience eating at the populated-with-katoeys-and-American-military-men and filled-with-go-go-bars-and-massage-parlours shopping centre. As usual, we tried ordering the Pandan Chicken ($10), which is seldom available (the menu does state that you need to check for availability of this popular dish). And today of all days, it was!  Juicy morsels of tender flavoursome chicken, lightly spiced for a bit of kic

The good thing about the Bukit Room is that the service here is exceptional although there's no service charge. It's also really quiet on weekdays so it's really relaxing and peaceful to dine here after hitting the gym. Plus, it's about the only place we can indulge in sharks fin soup without burning a hole through our pockets. We were obviously in a seafood mood, so we first had Live Prawns Drunken with Herbs ($28). Prawns were fresh and sweet, but the herbal soup wasn't that great. It was just lacking in that wholesome fragrance and depth that Jumbo's version is so famous for . But at only $28, we couldn't really complain. We also had the Wok-Fried Homemade Beancurd ($15), smooth custard-like plain beancurd slathered in a luxuriously rich gooey oyster sauce gravy flavoured by Honshimeiji Mushrooms and Dried Scallops. We also got a Steamed Soon Hock ($56) Hong Kong Style. Fish was fresh and steamed just right, so it was still moist and soft, and

No stayover at the Mandarin Oriental would be complete without having breakfast at their award-winning buffet restaurant, Melt The World Cafe ($48+). To be perfectly honest, all I really wanted was my scrambled eggs and bacon. But at Melt, we got more than just eggs and bacon. We liked most items, though, admittedly, it really wasn't that difficult to like classic breakfast fare like breads, cereal, sausages, eggs and bacon. So, unless I've commented that the food wasn't up to par, you can assume that it was good. Or at the very least, ordinary. The fare was extensive, but not the most comprehensive I've seen. Still, the breakfast was one of the better ones around, in terms of quality and variety. We started off with the Cold Cuts and Cheeses section. My fave cold cut was of course the Parma Ham , with its silky smooth ribbon-ish texture and mild salty flavour. The Fiance's fave was the Honey Baked Ham Beef Salami Chicken and Mushroom Ham