Zaffron Kitchen [Closed]

My calendar in April is packed with awesome gatherings and treats from fellow pals and colleagues. One of the very first was Zaffron Kitchen where I get to enjoy the authentic North and South Indian Cuisine available in Westgate.

Zaffron Kitchen

Having voted the Best Indian Restaurant 2013 by the Restaurant Association of Singapore, Zaffron Kitchen is known in the media with their excellent mixed of North and South Indian Fare.

The environment was very relaxing with chic vintage and modern settings. Not only that they have a nice bar.

Interior Design

Food Menu was no longer presented in booklets form, instead Zaffron had make use of the advancement in technology by using ipad installed with their in house application for ordering. Well, now that they are at our finger tips by pointing on the screen and sending the order to the kitchen. However, if you need miss some human touch, you can still wave your hands for their assistant. When asked, they were all ready to elaborate on the dishes.

Ipad Menu

Even the housing of the ipad blends well into such elegance environment, it was wooden framed, sturdy with their name crafted at the bottom. Though heavy, I will say that the workmanship was pretty well done.

Ipad Housing

 Beverages were first to reach our tables, mango and banana lassi were refreshing.

Mango and banana Lassi - $6 each, Ice Teh - $4.50

For the meat lovers, this Chicken Tikka is one of the chef recommendations. Fire your appetite with these skewered juicy chicken, marinated with spices, yogurt,and baked to juicy goodness in their traditional Tandoor oven served with chutney on a solid wooden board accompanied by refreshing salad. They were acceptable but a tad too salty.

Chicken Tikka - $13

Under the curry section for meat lovers, we had another version of chicken tikka in sizeable fork tender portions. Like the previous dish, Chicken Tikka is marinated with spice mixture and yogurt. The dish was thereafter simmered in rich tomato, cashew nuts, luscious and thick curry gravy accentuated with fenugreek

Butter Chicken - $16

Two other signatures item we had on the Naan List which helps to polishing the curry dishes clean. Naans are known as Indian Favourites, Zaffron had them baked in Tandoor Oven until perfection. Served in buckets, these pieces of naan were pretty decent and satisfying as they were not greasy.

Bucket of Naans

Garlic Naan - $4.50 & Kashmiri Naan - $5.50

The rendition of Indian Classic, Dum Biryani! Enjoy the flavourful basmati rice sealed in tins with a ghee-slicked baked dough drawn over its top.

Dum Mutton Biryani - $15

Flip over the dough and feel a gush of spice-kissed basmasti rice fragrance with succulent mutton and hard boiled egg snug within these fluffy soft grains. Delicious!




No meal is ever complete without having desserts and we had rounded off the meal with them! Moong Dal Halwa is actually a dessert make of lentils, it was rich and buttery with milk, sugar as its main ingredients topped with roasted pistachios. It went pretty well with cooling Movenpick's Vanilla ice cream.

Thankfully the service of Zaffron was friendly and courteous. They handled the feedback seriously and most importantly with a smile.

Moong Dal Halwa - $8 & Double Scoop Ice Cream - $9

If you are craving for some old-fashioned favourites from the tandoor and zesty curries, Zaffron Kitchen will definitely worth one's visit.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Zaffron Kitchen
Location: Westgate, 3 Gateway Drive #01-20 Singapore 608532
Website

Feedlot Steakhouse Bar & Grill

Many thanks to my pal for arranging such a scrumptious Birthday meal over a cool lovely Saturday afternoon in Feedlot.

Some histories on Feedlot Steakhouse Bar & Grill: They are a re-branded name after Swiss Grill which was located in Bukit Timah for about 3 years, back then whose parent company was Swiss Butchery.

Feedlot focuses on comfortable European food taking importance of meat served with an array of 8 home-made sauces as selection. The meat imported were of chilled quality from Swiss Butchery. Let's whet your appetite for more!

Leather-clad menu

We started with the soups: The cream of forest mushroom played a good stomach warmer for a rainy day, featuring an anchor drawn with thicken cream in the blend of portobello, shitake and button mushroom. Simply love the chalky and rough bits texture on every spoonful consumed.

Cream of Forest Mushroom - $10

A great reminisce of what I had in Paris! Nothing beats this classic and traditional bowl of french soup rich in beef taste and accentuated with onions finished off with a sliced chewy cheese and croutons on its top.

Classic French Onion Soup - $14

With only Spaghetti Bolognaise under the kid's Menu, a special request sent to kitchen for a kid's portion of Aglio Olio kitchen with less spice. And they were very accommodating. Spaghetti was cooked to Al Dente Perfection infused in olive oil, garlic and topped with shaved parma ham.

Aglio Olio - $10 (Requested Specially for Kid)

With Jim-beam sauce lending the tender medium ribeye with slight liquor and sweet BBQ sauce enhancing its flavour. Just imagine the juiciness of the tender Angus that comes into your mind as you sink your teeth into its flesh. Perfect!

Ribeye (280g) - $48

The grill set is not completed until we had some sides added on. Look at these glistening sauteed mushrooms that shone under the orange lighting. With minced garlic added to taste, it definitely gave a punch to the main course.

Sides - Sauteed Mushroom - $6

Truffles fries came in thick cut, drizzled with truffle oil and shaved Parmesan cheese.

Truffle Fries - $10

Let's beef up! We had the burger with the lot with medium well doneness. Angus beef patty was both juicy and delish stacked with, sunny side up egg, crispy bacon and aged cheddar cheese accompanied by rocket leaves in vignette and thick cut fries.

Burger with the Lot - $24

The burger buns came with oatmeals clining on its the pillow soft top still packing a fluffy outlook after coming out from the kitchen for long.

Cross Section of Burger from the Lot, Pardon the "mess" of the Egg yolk

Service was good and organized despite that there were events in house, servers were still attentively taking care of us. Everything including food and service came to a memorable dining experience, perhaps the only peeve I had was the bites from the mosquito due to the weather. So do bring some mosquitoes patches if needed.

If you are looking for quality food with a nice ambience, Feedlot is a good choice though its a tad pricy. 

Rating: 4 / 5

The Feedlot Steakhouse
Location: 56 Tanglin Road Singapore 247964
Operating Hours: Mondays to Fridays: 11:30am to 3:00pm, 6:00pm to 10:30pm
Website

Hong Ji Herbs Bak Kue Teh

I first came to know of Hong Ji BKT from Cactus Road and never knew that having BKT can be so heavenly especially when I have a prefer for herby soup over those clear peppery ones. There then, I have benched mark them as the best black version of BKT in Singapore. And not soon after, I learned that the stall was closed and they have a similar name located in Marsiling.

I remembered vividly that I had been here once or twice but didnt left any good impression as I felt that the broth was very different from what I had experienced earlier.

Hong Ji Bak Kue Teh

As starters, we order Cai Buay (Preserved Vegetables) to welcome the incoming claypot meals. It was crunchy and striked a good balance between salty & sweetness.

Cai Buay

The side that I can never go without during my BKT session. Freshness of the You Teow was below par and it tasted like as if it was being placed for a long period of time. Perhaps they will be better to served toasted in such situation like that.

You Tiao

 The claypot liver is one of the best out of all orders.

Braised Pork Liver

Cooked to perfect softness with dark soy sauce infused to every slice. What's more, the ginger slices permeats the sauce and reducing the natural smell of those livers, also elevated the whole claypot dish into another tasty level. On a side note, to enjoy the tenderness in the livers, it is best not to let it "cook" in the claypot for long during serving.

Pork Livers

The plain claypot was brightened up by the lovely fresh greens which topped the dish. No doubt the cloudy soup is filled with herb taste, its standard was a far cry from what I had expected due to that it is diluted. The meat balls, innards were the standards and nothing steal the show. Even with a dab of the meat with chilli padi in black sauce would gave additional kick to the meal. The soup was addictive and one wont stop just after a few spoonfuls but... once the MSG effect kicked in... I was very thirsty.

Bak Kue Teh in Claypot

Though soup is known to be refillable, the service was kind of unresponsive. We had make our request to refill the soups but it was not done initially. And when we approached them again, we were told to self service from the stall with a metal cup.

Hong Ji may be one of the better black version BKT in Singapore but I still find them lacking in terms of service and quality of soup. Since this is a malaysian style BKT, I would say that if you have tried one of those famous ones, this is definitely no fight.

Rating: 3 / 5

Hong Ji Herbs Bak Kue Teh
Location: Blk 19 Marsiling Lane #01-329 Singapore 730019
Operating Hours: 7.30am - 9.30pm

Fan Ji Bittergourd Fish Soup

As I walked from the carpark into Hong Lim Food centre, the amount of heads crowding outside Fan Ji Bittergourd Fish Soup had caught my attention on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

Fan Ji Bittergourd Fish Soup Stall

Bittergourd was thinly sliced and loaded into the soup. Servings was generous and these lime green slices were indeed very crunchy and not as bitter as I thought. Best of all, bittergourd aids in cooling down the body system which serve a good remedy especially for those who has sore throat.

Bittergourd Fish Soup - $4

Slices of fish on the other hand was silky smooth and fresh, immersed in the garlicky soup with fresh julienned ginger. This simple dish is light and yummy!

Sliced Fish

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Fan Ji Bittergourd Fish Soup
Location: Hong Lim Food Centre & Market, 531A, Upper Cross Street #02-70 Singapore 051531
Operating Hours: (Mon to Sun) 0900 - 1400

Ah Meng

Craving for some cheap and traditional Snacks? Try heading down to Hong Lim Food Centre for some speciality made ondeh ondeh as well as tapioca kueh.

Ah Meng Stall

 Every ball was hand rolled by the store keepers and when I was there there was a pot still boiling this orangy sweet potato ondeh ondeh. Just like the traditional style, these box of Ondeh Ondeh was dressed with white fluffy shredded coconut which gave a stronger fragrance to those balls.

Ondeh Ondeh in a box

Becareful as we press and chew on the ondeh ondeh as one may encounter the piping hot fillings from oozing out make up of Gula Melaka (Palm Sugar). These lovely chewy Ondeh Ondeh were not too sweet to taste and were definitely addictive.

Ondeh Ondeh

Another note worthy item is their special made tapioca kueh. Similar to the Ondeh Ondeh, these white shredded coconut clanged onto the rectangular pieces of translucent tapioca kueh.

Tapioca Kueh

Abit firmer than Japanese Mochi but they were as good as the Ondeh Ondeh, simply addictive! They were chewy and satisfying with little sweetness and not too cloying even after having few pieces. Dont judge the book by its cover, such simple and plain looking kuehs are delicious!

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Ah Meng
Location: Hong Lim Food Centre & Market, 531A, Upper Cross Street #02-45 Singapore 051531

Monster Curry - Food Republic

As I walked into the bustling mall in Somerset 313 on a Friday night, I was rather lost as I usually find it quite difficult to secure a seat whenever I dine alone.I decided to give the food court a try and was surprised that there were still a number of seats available, perhaps, I still quite early for dinner.

The usual cuisines from Food Court had bored me till I walked a few rounds in Food Republic, it was until I noticed Monster Curry and decided to walk closer to that area. The bright lited menu and the mock dishes on display had caught my attention, what's more, they had bar counter dining which fit me most as it was hassle free finding another table.

Monster Curry - Tokyo Pasta Mario Ramen Udon Gyoza

Though Monster Curry was lauded for their Japanese curry rice where patrons get to choose the spice level of the curry, I decided to order something else and that was their pasta.

Having glancing through the 4 kinds of pasta categories, namely tomato, Miso cream, Mentaiko and Japanese style based, I had the most traditional choice with the tomato sauce pasta. I did not have too much expectation since the stall main focus / signature dishes was its curry and especially when I saw people carrying mega-sized plates of curry rice around.

Menu at Monster Curry

Upon ordering, customers were given an alarm so that they can return to the counter when the food is ready.

Buzzer / Alarm for Customer

Ingredients used were from Italy and that includes their pasta, tomato, olive oil as well as Italian salt. My portion of sphagetti was served with a big bowl with pasta contained in sunken portion of it.

Chicken, Mushroom & Broccoli Tomato Sauce - $6.80

Surprisingly, the pasta was cooked to Al Dente perfection which totally wiped off the thought that they were only good at Curry. 

Tomato Sauce were consistently spreaded the soften but firm sticks of spaghetti, I was impressed by how well the taste went with chicken, mushroom, broccoli altogether sprinkled with cheese powder. The strong fragrant of its mushroom had raised the standards of the dish.Yums!

Closer look of Spaghetti

Given the chance to dine in two or more, I dont mind trying out their curry in the next round given since I find that the level of spiciness is kind of interesting.

Rating: 4 / 5

Monster Curry - Food Republic
Location: 313@Somerset, 313 Orchard Road #05-01 Singapore 238895
Website

Hoonchite Cooked Food

It was disappointing to learn that the Char Kway Teow Stall of Hoon Chit Cooked Food was no longer available in Teban Market Place. It was taken over by another hawker with a similar name (something close) but this time round its the opposite, they are selling solely selling Lor Mee, not the CKT (Char Kway Teow) anymore.

Hoonchite cooked Food

The typical Lor Mee would have placed fried fish as part of the ingredients but Hoonchite had it replaced with fried fish fillet. What's more, this $2 portion was stomach filling despite of its economical cost.

Lor Mee - $2 (Small)

I had ordered the Kway Teow version and ingredients like beansprouts were put in and critical ingredients like braised pork belly were not bad, at least it was infused with the traditional braised aroma and taste like one.

Lor Mee - Kway Teow Version

Rating: 3 / 5

Hoon Chite Cooked Food
Location: Teban Market Place, Blk 37A Teban Gardens Road, #01-23 s601037