The Chop House [Closed]

The talk of the town: Jamie's Oliver was along the stretch where The Chop House is located in Vivocity. To avoid the friday crowd, I had make a reservation about a week in advance. Reservation was made easy through the internet and process was rather customer orientated such that they had actually called me a day in advanced to confirm my booking and on the actual day again to check if I like alfresco dining or the indoors.

The Chop House

While stepping into the restaurant, I felt so welcomed the warmly lit cosy environment with chic designs and sturdy furnishings around. To the left where our drinks were all prepared and where the bar tenders do their mixing was pretty attractive with its racks filled with bottles of Alcoholic drinks as well as wine glasses.

Bar Counter

Environment

Interior Dining

It's kinda of scary to see a chopper on your table instead of the kitchen. Luckily, the bevel chopper on the menu was just an illustration. The real chopper is still in the kitchen.

The Chop House Menu

Even the coaster was printed with "The Chop House " and the chopper.

The Drinks Menu was on a separated board, pinned and one can flipped them upwards just like flipping a traditional calendar.

Drinks Menu

We requested for Hot Water and they were served in the artistic red cups.

Hot Water

Our Beverages for the night was nothing alcohol to goes together with our main course. Drinks were pretty standard but I can say the pear juice was great, the drink was filled with the pear pulps.

Pear Juice - $8, Iced Lemon Tea - $5

A choice of chicken or beef. Claimed the best quesadillas in town. There were 4 slices, each with tomatoes and jack's cheddar cheese and they were folded into a bread tortilla. 3 kinds of sauce, guacamole, sour cream and salsa pico de gallo was served together. A good starter to go especially when its cheese is melted and tortilla is crispy.

Quesadillas - Chicken $15

It's burger time! Each of us ordered a set of burger which comes with tater tots (fried slices of potatoes or mini harsh-browns) in a steel basket.  These bite sized harsh-browns were fried to crisp golden brown and gave off a loud crunch when chewed.

Patty were homemade and every meal was served in a wooden chop board. The Chop House Pork Burger being one of the recommended dishes was filled with homemade pork patty with an asian twist.

The Chop House Pork Burger $22

The buns had sandwiched chilli, apple-wood smoked bacon, ginger, pickles and coriander.

A Close Up of the The Chop House Pork Burger

 The patty melt comes with a half pound beef patty smothered with sauteed onions and Irish Cheddar Cheese. YUms!

Patty Melt - $20

 Featuring the beef patty, crisp bacon, sharp cheddar cheese and the chop house BBQ sauce! The sauce tasted rather salty and was rather "biting" to my lips towards the end. The buns, however, was toasted and spread with a layer of butter. Together with the fragrance from the butter and crunch of the toast, it had given another level of texture to the burger.

BBQ Beef, Bacon and Cheddar Burger $25

All in all, their service, though friendly , it was lacking from the way a common diner would have expected. A little more attention to customers would be better like promptly clearing of emptied dishes and topping up of drinking water. Serving of drinks could be alot faster after ordering.

Food wise, perhaps the starring portion was its home-made patty and its overall presentation of serving on a heavy wooden chop-board with a silver basket of tater tots. It's a good experience for burger to be serving in such way instead of the conventional wrapped up burgers we got from fast food chains. However if you want cheaper version and free flowing of drinks, in my opinion, Carl's Junior will be the budget friendly alternative.

My adventure for the Chop House will not just stop at burgers and Quesidillas, I will be back for more, hopefully a better service rendered during the next round!

Overall Rating: 3.5 / 5

The Chop House

Location: VivoCity, 1 Harbourfront Walk #01-161/162, Singapore 098585
Opening Hours:  Mon-Thurs: 12pm to 11:00pm
                              Fri, Sat and Eve of Public Holidays: 12pm to 12am
                              Sun and Public Holidays: 11am to 11pm

Website

Mei Fong Roasted Chicken

Mei Fong Roasted Chicken Rice is located in West Coast Market Square (Market and food Centre) with its stall facing the main road and also 30 seconds away from the nearest bus stop. Mei Fong is manned by 4 helpers to cater its busiest hour during meal hours. Everytime without fail, we can see a long queue lined up in front of their stall.

Mei Fong Roasted Chicken Rice

Chicken noodle which costs $2.50 is divine. Chicken meat was juicy and tender as compared to most of the roasted chicken stalls. Moreover, it was sweet tasting with great fragrance. The noodles are placed onto their special special sauce at the bottom of the plate and lends a springy sensation when you bite them. It was never too oily and surprisingly good.

Shredded Chicken Noodle with soup - $2.50 (Small)

Unfortunately its self service and be prepared to queue for about 10 - 15 minutes at times. However, the turnover rate is quite fast, so dont worry.

Tender white meat

If you are looking for a roasted fix, Mei Fong Roasted Chicken Rice Stall may fit the bill for its reasonable pricing and quality food.

Rating: 4 / 5

Mei Fong Roasted Chicken Rice
Location: Blk 726 Clementi West Street 2, #01-181, Singapore 120726
Opening: Mon.-Sun. 10:00 - 20:30

Professor Brawn Cafe

I find it quite meaningful when Professor Brawn Cafe's Business has a cause which is we are actually helping by supporting Social Enterprises to fulfill a social mission of providing employment & social integration opportunities to Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) when we dine.



The founders of the cafe are parents and friends who want to make a difference to the special needs community by giving them a suitable job, showcase their talents, also to raise awareness to people around and getting contributions to support the cause. The character of professor brawn was actually created by a children with learning disability. The superhero, professor brawn had characters who is 'smart, kind and strong'.

Professor Brawn Cafe

The decors of the cafe had amused me with its welcoming and colourful chalk written wordings on the wall. Not only that, its interior was filled with lively bright colours such that everyone who walked pass will turn their head towards Professor Brawn Cafe.

The set dinner (6pm to 9pm) comes with Main course, soup of the day and House Drink. Soup of the day was Calm Chowder. It was served warm, cream based with calm bits and chopped celery (vegetables).

Soup of the Day - Calm Chowder

The server had gave us a bonus by offering us mushroom soup so that we do not have a repeat in our dinner menu. He was so thoughtful.

I like the mushroom soup as they were purely blended with tiny bits of mushroom filled throughout the soup which lends a good mushroom fragrance from every spoonful unlike most of the restaurant, they could have used the premixed powder in preparation of the soup.

Cream of mushroom

Drinks was part of the meal and tasted rather standard from the typical syrup mixture with water. They were served in a tall hour glass glass.
 

Orange & Lime Juice

This was one of the popular Main course for the night beside the enormous Fish & Chips. One glance through the restaurant and you will notice that many had grilled chicken thigh laid on their table. The grilled chicken was cooked to crisp golden brown with some burnt patches. Meat was tender enough and tasted refreshingly sweet with Orange marmalade. The grilled yummy thigh were stacked up on a bed of fluffy mashed potatoes while having salad as the appetizer, dressed sparsely with vinegar.

Grilled Orange Marmalade Chicken - $18.90

 A close up on the chicken leg. Woot Woot! How can I resist?

Grilled Chicken Leg

Although I would prefer its rosti to be darker in color than its current faint yellow as seen, the first bite of it had took my taste buds! I thought Marche had the best rosti so far but I was wrong. Their sour cream was lighter, refreshing and left a tangy taste on my buds. The rosti was cramped into a rectangle size, about 1cm in thickness. Yummy!

Gourmet Sausage with Rosti - $16.90

For sausage, there were a few types we can choose from and I had the Swiss Cheese Pork Sausage. I had tried the pork version as I thought it is hard to come by such meat in a westernized cafe when most of them are halal certified. Well, how the taste? It was pleasant, long in length and had a textural bite.

Have some privacy dining at a cosy corner in the semi sphere like environment. Just too bad I came to realise this place after I had done with my dinner. Looks like somewhere great to romance a date in a mall after office hours. Ha! What else can I say?

Alternative dining area away from the shop

The overview of the alternative dinning area

Having dined in Professor Brawn Cafe was a killing two birds in one stone matter. It's food is reasonable and had "substance" while service was better than average, thoughtful and polite. It's also good to know that we are helping the needies by dining in Professor Brawn Cafe. Do lend your mouth by helping them to achieve this mission.

Rating: 4 / 5 

Professor Brawn Cafe
Location: Novena Square, 238 Thomson Road #02-78/79 Singapore 307683
Opening Hours: 11am to 10pm Mon to Fri
Closed on Saturdays, Sundays and Public Holidays

Website

Coffee Bean All Day Breakfast

Looks like coffee bean had recently changed their business models! They were seen serving pasta and all day breakfast in their outlet. Perhaps its the recent Coffee Trends that triggered the soars in Coffee Business. Everyone is introducing new 'injections' to the cups of beverages. While cafes are sprouting out everywhere thesedays, the coffee scenes are much more interesting with Latte Arts, not just the old boring brew and foam which was used to be. What's more these explosion of Chic Modern Ambiance designed cafes perhaps were seen a threat or rather a challenge to our Pioneers chain of Tea and Coffee cafe.

Back of The Coffee Bean Receipt

A dollar top up for the meal to upgrade the hot cup of beverage "Kopi O" to Kopi O Peng (Ice). We were given a number tag and had waited for our dinner patiently for about 20 minutes.

Beverages

The cream that Coffee Bean used was lighter in taste with shredded cheese, pieces of ham cooked with Fettuccine.It had nothing in spectacular. It was also quite an unusual sight to have a toast served together with pasta.

Cabonara Fettuccine Set - $12.60

Cream was light and was rather bland in taste.

Close up of the pasta

Ultimate Breakfast was stomach filling, it was rather meaty with bacon, beef patties and sausages accompanied by warldof salad, scrambled egg and toast.

Ultimate Breakfast - $11.90

There are a number of choices of eateries for customer to choose from if they are going for pasta and similar items. Coffeebean maybe one of the choices, but places like Ambush and Bakerzin's service is  definitely preferred.

Rating: 3 / 5

The Coffee Bean and Tea
 Location: Jurong Point, 1 Jurong West Central 2 #01-16E, Singapore 648886
Business Hours: Fri to Sun: 0800 - 2300
                             Sat & PH: 0800 - 0000 

Hee Kee Desserts

Hee Kee Desserts has been in operations recently after a long renovation period. Ever since her novelty (a few days back), it had been drawing curious consumers' attention like me. Thus, I quickly fixed a date with my pals to check out his Hong Kong desserts together.

Hee Kee Store Front

Her interior design had displayed the style of a modern dessert cafe where you can find in Hong Kong. Steamed Milk & bird-nest were seen as well, featuring those popular Hong kong Desserts.

Interior Environment

Specializing in Hong Kong dessert, I would say that their variety is way lesser than its competitor which is located about 100m away, Ji De Chi (记得吃). Perhaps the only starring item they had over them is its Custard Egg Yolk Rice Balls and Bird Nest Menu, other than that, the desserts items were very typical.

Menu

Sesame paste was a total letdown. Firstly it was not warm enough then it was not that smooth and was rather watery. A vast difference from what we had expected. In the end we had almost the whole bowl left untouched. This had caught the person In-Charge's attention and she had confronted us to take our feedback. Service wise is still average and she had offered us for another bowl of dessert but we rejected.

Sesame Paste - $3.80

Mango sago with pamelo is top in my dessert list whenever I see them in the menu. It was kind of disappointing when the pulps of pomelo tasted bitter and mango tasted raw. Sweet taste is very lacking, it did not give the right punch into the stomach to someone who love such dessert.

Mango Sago with Pomelo - $4.50

The difference between this and the former is perhaps its cost which was additional of $2 for the mango sorbet that topped the bowl of dessert.

Mango Sago with Pomelo and mango - $6.50

One of its signature desserts, Custard Egg Yolk Rice Ball in Osmanthus Soup. Soup was not really warm with hints of ginger and Osmanthus smell was not very obvious or close to none.

Liu Sha Tang Yuen in Osmanthus Soup (Hot) - $3.80

The combination of the mushiness from glutinous rice balls with the sandy texture of Custard Egg Yolk did not appeal to me.

Custard and Salted Egg Yolk Fillings

Perhaps this had marked my first and also the last trip to Hee Kee. The replacement of Lucky Dessert Stall to Hee Kee doesn't really turn things out well. Little Moo is going back to patronise Ji De Chi.

Rating: 2.5 / 5

Hee Kee Desserts 囍記
Location: Jurong Point, 1 Jurong West Central 2 #03-54/55(JP2), Singapore 648886

Heng Heng Boneless Duck Rice

The sprawling queues at Heng Heng Boneless Duck Rice during lunch times has spoken.

Heng Heng Boneless Duck Rice.Noodle.Kway Chap Stall

To assist customers with their orders, Heng Heng even offered duck kway chap. Just check this out and let them know the your choice on the menu.

Menu

The Duck Kway Tiao Dry, served in S$2.50 (Small) or S$3.00 (Big) are great. Slices of braised duck meat were placed on top of the kway tiao. These duck meats are fork tender and chewy without too much of fats seen.



Generous amount of oil together with Kway Teow Kia (Kway Teow that is smaller in width ) was used, lending an unctuous essence to the dish, my colleagues and I had a hard time grabbing them up with our chopsticks as they were silky smooth. I love their "Lor" (Braised Gravy) as it was sweet and watery typ, giving the unami taste.

Braised Duck Kway Teow with Herbal Soup - $2.50 (Small)

Duck Rice Set - $3.50

Kway Chap - $3

There is only 2 Braised Duck Stall located in Clementi West Market and Food Centre, personally I prefer Heng Heng's as their soup is not as peppery. Although the queue is long but the wait is worthwhile.

Rating: 4 / 5

Heng Heng Boneless Duck Rice
Location: Clementi West Market and Food Centre, Blk 726 Clementi West Street 2 #01-171,Singapore 120726

Business Hours: (Tue - Sun) 06:00 - 15:00

Richie's Crispy Puff

Richie's Cripsy Puff which is located in Jurong East operates around the clock. Yes! 24 hrs and I'm not kidding. They offer an interesting spread of variety ranging from the traditional chicken curry puff to durian.

Stall Front

Their puff comes in a standard size different from the typical ones (half an oval shape), like those from Old Chang Kee. The crust was fried to perfection brown and was very crispy. Sold for $2.40 for 2, customer can feel free to match any 2 flavours at the pricing. The selling point of Richie's puff is its delicate handmade craftwork on each and every puff. With such method, they have more control over the quality, thus its crispiness is of a different levels unlike the others.

Chicken Curry Puff - 2 for $2.40

The fillings comprised of egg, noticeable chicken chunks, mixed well in the fragrant curry flavou. The curry was a little big mild for me, for those who do not like too much spice, this may fit the bill.

Fillings of Chicken Curry Puff

Muslims pal out there, no worries, this stall is Halal Certified. What's more this is a good place to look out for snack when hunger pangs in the middle of the night where most eateries are already closed for the day. Perfect for Morning shifts or night shifts workers too!

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Richie's Curry Puff
Location: Blk 349, Jurong East Ave 1 #01-1201 Singapore 63455225