The Hungry Bunny

Imperial Treasure remains one of my fail-safe choices for good ol' Cantonese food. They consistently serve up authentic and quality Cantonese fare at reasonable prices paired with amazingly friendly and efficient service standards. I guess it's because the Imperial Treasure people did break away from the much-lauded Crystal Jade Group, and adopted all of the good business sense imbued in them when they were part of the latter. You're always guaranteed a good and satisfying meal when you dine at Imperial Treasure. It's like going to your Cantonese grandmother's (the kind that wear South Sea pearls and Chanel suits) elegant home for a very refined but homely meal.  We had dinner with Ernie at Imperial Treasure Nan Bei at Takashimaya , the classic Cantonese fine-dining arm of the ever-expanding Imperial Treasure Group. The place was lively and boisterous, the way a busy Cantonese restaurant always is, so yakking away at the top of your voice is part and parcel of, an

Astons serves possibly the cheapest wagyu steaks in town. It could be due to its humble origins in the hawker centres, which is why the prices of this grill eatery are so wallet-friendly. I'm a huge fan of Astons' lovable hawker-boy-made-good story, and really, you could say that the reason for Astons' success is its quality-at-reasonable-prices philosophy. Astons may not be the best when it comes to steak or particularly stand out in the world of western grill, but they do serve pretty decent fare at very-broke-at-the-end-of-the-month prices. That said, the one teensy tiny thing about Astons I can't understand is that I can never seem to find a menu that's not disgustingly oily. I stoleaway for a long-ish lunch with Kang at Astons Specialities at Suntec . He was craving steak but still in-between jobs, so Astons was a natural choice for its very reasonably-priced wagyu steaks. The Wagyu Ribeye Grade 6 Steak ($39.90) done to a perfect medium rare finish, was te

Because the Hubs is so busy at his new-ish job, I've found myself with a lot more free time on my hands. I've consequently increased the frequency of my monthly meet-ups with some friends, namely Kang and Ernie, to weekly meet-ups. I had dinner at Al Dente with Ernie a few weeks ago, and this time, it was Kang I had dinner with while the Hubs was working late. If you've noticed that I've had dinner quite often at Al Dente, it's due to the Palate card, which offers a whopping 50% discount for 2 diners at participating restaurants, including Al Dente. I certainly won't dine Al Dente this often without the Palate card because the food's not that good. But, I've noticed that their starters fare much better than their mains or desserts. We kicked off with the Insalata di Portobello and Porcini on Pomodoro ($18) a wonderfully glorious combination of oven baked juicy portobello and porcini mushrooms on a bed of cherry tomatoes and topped with freshly dres

What's it with brunch places and pretentious fops? I've noticed that brunch spots are typically filled with a whole lot of pretentious, hoity-toity people who are there to see and be seen. Sure, they may be deceptively dressed down, but if you look closely, it's the little things that give them away. From the tiny nondescript handbags with the famous interlocking-C or standalone-H logos, the limited edition leather clad wrist watches that cost the same as the downpayment of a small condo, right down to the immaculately coiffured and pedicured toes, the people who brunch are the people who look at what you're wearing. So, you better make sure you're dressed to the nines, albeit casually, when you brunch. I suppose that's what contributes to the frue-frue, snobby attitude of most brunch spots. I'm not giving up hope yet, here's crossing my fingers that I'll find a brunch spot with a down-to-earth atmosphere, and corresponding down-to-earth patronage.

The good thing about staying so close to Bugis is that we can always get our dessert craving satiated late at night at NYDC . They open till late, and their desserts are super value-for-money, generously portioned, and delicious. We got 2 desserts to share, starting with the Boo Boo ($6.80), a mousse-y chocolate cake that's sweet but not rich, creamy but not cloying, and it managed a lightness of texture that was very refreshing. Although NYDC doesn't have chocolate lava cakes, That Boney Cake ($9.80) is a fabulous substitute, with the yummylicious chocolate Elmer Fudge cake served warm and contrasted against the icy creamy vanilla ice-cream ($3 for the extra scoop). This has gotta be NYDC's best dessert, hands down. It's huge, and memorably delicious, and the bonus is that it's so unbelievably cheap. We also shared an Iced Latte ($5.80), a potent dose of espresso topped with loads of whipped cream, and a dusting of cocoa powder. A bit of a sugar-over

Now that there's a branch of the critically-favored and popular Imperial Treasure restaurant within walking distance from my office, it's so so sooooo convenient when the craving for dim sum hits. I'm really appreciating the development of the Marina Bay area into the newest A-list financial hub of the CBD. There's suddenly an exponential increase in restaurants (of every type and cuisine) set up around the area to cater to the corresponding increase in professionals working and frequenting the area. Dim sum is great when you've got a craving but aren't looking to overeat. Dim sum is served in small portions so you can also indulge even with 2 diners, and the best part is that the bill surprisingly ends up being really wallet-friendly. You'd think that eating at a restaurant like this is reserved for special occasions, but nooooo, I had lunch there last week and only paid about $25 per person. The other good thing about this restaurant is that they are

We felt like a little something sweet to round off dinner at Soup Restaurant . Having been here 3 times in the last month , I have to say that I've never ever seen this place filled. In fact, it's almost empty every time I have dessert here. Which is such a pity. Their molten lava cakes are to-die-for, in a mind-boggling variety of flavours, and really quite value-for-money. Each mini molten lava cake is a well-portioned 3 inches wide, just nice to satisfy a sweet craving but not enough to sicken you. It could be that Millenia Walk is notoriously lacking in foot traffic, and also that this unassuming hole-in-the-wall cafe is lagging behind in the requisite marketing. Today, we had the Bitter Orange Molten Cake ($6.50) with Vanilla Ice-Cream ($3). I don't usually like orange-flavoured desserts, but the tinge of bitterness helped lift the typically intensely sweet orange taste. The inside of the pristine cake reveals a complex mush of devilishly delicious gooey goodn

We were on our way to the gym when we realized that silly ol' me forgot to bring along the Hubs' gym gear. So, after making that close-to-one-hour car ride from the office to the gym, we turned back around and went to Suntec for dinner instead. OMG, I'm such a bumbling mess. It's really all because of work, I tell ya, it's been quite crazy recently. On our way to Suntec, Ernie called to join in on our dinner. We'd originally wanted to go to Crystal Jade Kitchen, but since Ernie said he'd just dined there that very afternoon, we chose Soup Restaurant instead. As you can well see, we're super accommodating to our friends. In any case, Soup Restaurant serves up really comforting and familiar local Chinese cze char fare and we weren't too particular about what we ate anyway. We started off with Soup Restaurant's signature dish, the Samsui Ginger Chicken ($15.90 for small) with delicately poached chicken, served cool and fanned out in a pretty a

Nando's introduced Singapore to the concept of peri-peri chicken. This world famous casual dining chain, with outlets spanning every continent, serves cuisine centered around the deceptively tiny but potent African peri-peri chilli. The peri-peri sauce, comprising different grades of spiciness to cater to every tastebud, is a proprietary concoction of aromatics such as onions, garlic, acids such as lemon juice, citrus peel, herbs such as paprika, bay leaves, tarragon, oregano, basil, pimento, and of course, peri-peri chillis. The distinctive and versatile sauce is an explosive balance of the sweet, sour, piquant and spicy flavours, which complements and never overwhelms the flavour of the dishes. Although the menu isn't that extensive (everything on the menu is chicken, even the burgers, and the sides are a little limited and honestly, quite forgettable), they do their chicken right. Very right. Yums. Also, the restaurant's air-conditioning was way too cold. The food tur

We had Sunday brunch with Ray & Pat here for our monthly meet-up. They both live near Orchard so it was a lot more convenient for them to get to this location than the Chijmes one. Pat's from Hongkong so I was eager to see if she'd approve of the dim sum here. For the record, she did. While lunch with Ernie was a more relaxed affair with relatively unintrusive service, Sunday brunch was a much more bustling atmosphere and felt a little more rushed. Plates were cleared super speedily and dishes arrived in quick succession. After we'd finished our meal and been lingering over tea for a while, service practically shooed us away. They did explain to us and seek our understanding that it was because they had diners waiting outside for available tables though.  The Baked Honey Pork Pastry ($4.80)was buttery, flaky, and generously stuffed with a sweet and savoury barbecued char siew filling. I love the Pan-fried Carrot Cake with Waxed Meat ($4.80) here, soft, moist