Lunch at The Butcher's Kitchen @ Suntec City

3 Temasek Boulevard #02-472 Suntec City,  Tower 1 & 2, Singapore 038988

Tel: 9616 0111

Website: https://www.thebutcherskitchen.sg

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thebutcherskitchensg

The Butcher's Kitchen is a very spacious restaurant at Suntec City, with the motto of "Eat Well, Live Well; Be Happy". It is a casual dining restaurant serving quality cuts of meats, good food crafted by hand and prepared using a variety of different cuisine - be prepared to find steaks, pizzas, Thai Moo-ping (barbecued pork skewers), Kimchi pasta, Miso Onsen Eggs and seafood here.

Meat lovers would go crazy over this place - where fine cuts of beef, lamb, pork, chicken and sausages are served. The menu changes quarterly with weekly set lunch specials. Their fresh meats are proudly displayed at the glass chillers at the front of the restaurant. Its owner Mr. Lee Kok Lam believes in taking responsibility for their food and therefore works with recognised suppliers to ensure strict quality control, safety and reliability.

The current trend are their Flaming Beef Bowls. If you are lucky, you get to try their Flaming Hokkaido Beef Bowl (SGD$23.90) using Hokkaido-imported Wagyu beef. Even the Japanese rice is seasoned with Furikake (dried fish, seaweed, sesame seeds etc). However, this has limited servings every day and we didn't get to eat it even at 11.30am on a weekday morning!

So we settled for The Butcher's Flaming Beef Bowl (SGD$15.90) using Australian Wagyu instead of Japanese one. The thin and tender slices of beef are also with Cognac concoction; the bowl is topped with The Butcher's signature housemade sauce. This made for an utterly delectable meal.

The Butcher's Flaming Dice with Truffle Bowl (SGD$15.90) - Cognac-infused Wagyu beef cubes deliciously charred for that smokey hints amidst truffle's earthly aroma. One can have the choice of choosing rice or mashed potatoes - my friend chose rice for sustenance.

Overall dining experience here was not bad - quiet, spacious settings with quality food; the flaming of the beef bowls was pretty entertaining to watch as well.

Dinner at Dazzling Cafe @ Orchard Gateway

277 Orchard Road, #01-12 / 15 Orchard Gateway, Singapore 238858

Tel: 6385 3639

Website: http://dazzlingcafe.sg

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dazzlingcafesg

Having tried Dazzling Cafe at Capitol Piazza before (review here), we decided to head for their newer outlet at Orchard Gateway for dinner.

The decor here is more lavish - at least the racks and carousel of displays. Not sweet horses, but beautiful accessories and mini carousels for sale. The theme is not Tiffany Blue as well - it's pale pink; though the chairs with rabbit ears prevail.

Service was decent enough. We did not like their estimation of time to serve our food though. Ordered mains each, and a dessert to share - we asked the guy how long would oour mains take, and would dessert (toast) be faster. He informed us that serving time for food would be 20 to 30 minutes "because it is crowded now" (there were only about 6 small tables filled btw), and "dessert will definitely be faster", so we said to bring dessert first while we waited for mains. To our utter horror, everything came within 15 minutes together, fighting for space on our tiny tabletop.

Never mind that.

A MountainFresh Fruit Juice started the meal, made up of Grape, Blueberry and Apple Juice. Pretty refreshing, immersed in sweet and sour notes.

The Mentaiko Spaghetti with Cream Sauce (SGD $18.90) was al dente in texture, richly creamed over with bites from the tiny mentaiko grains.

Seared Scallops with Parma Ham (SGD $15.90) was a beautiful composition of bouncy scallops sweet in its naturality, and crispy parma ham slices crackling between the teeth. The palate high was brought down to earth with Cous-cous offering the tiny speckles melting in the mouth, that I so enjoyed.

Finally, Gula Melaka Honey Toast (SGD $18.90), a tall crispy cube of toasted bread topped with ice-cream and buttered bread squares. The smear of melted butter made the toast exceedingly aromatic; sauce were served on the side for us to douse according to our own level of sweet tolerance.

Overall dining experience was not bad; food was palatable and desserts delightful.

[Media Invite] Buffet Dinner at Sea and Blue @ Marina Bay Sands

Photo Source: Sea and Blue website

2 Bayfront Avenue, #02-01 / 01A. Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore 018972

Tel: 6688 7165

Website: https://www.seanblue.com.sg

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SeaNBlueRestaurant
Reservation: https://reservations.hungrygowhere.com/sea-blue-marina-south/?s=arwoibw

Prices

Lunch (Weekdays):  Adults SGD$42.00 / Child SGD$22.00

Lunch (Weekends): Adults SGD$64.00 / Child SGD$26.00

Dinner (Weekdays): Adults SGD$58.00 / Child SGD$26.00

Dinner (Weekends): Adults SGD$68.00 / Child SGD$26.00

Sea and Blue has taken over the famous spot where Todai International Buffet (review here) used to be, holding its own strongly, with over 100 delectable food items, mainly Korean and Seafood, with some Western delights as well as huge Japanese station.

A mandatory stroll around the restaurant led to a better understanding of the exact offerings - starting from the Seafood cum Japanese counter - where one could find King Crabs, Snow Crabs, Oysters, Mussels, Shrimps, Salmon Sashimi, Tuna Sashimi, Clams, etc, as well as an assortment of Sushi.

For the healthier ones, or those who prefer to start light, the Salad section also appeals - with delectable salad selection such as Smoked Duck Salad, Tomato Salad, Greek Salad, Chicken Salad, Kiwi Orange Salad, Mandarine Salad, and Broccoli & Cauliflower Salad.

The Italian counter consists of Four Seasons Pizza, Seafood Spaghetti with Squid Ink Sauce, Four Cheese Pizza, Hawaiian Pizza and Carbonara.  Sometimes the variety changes, like how we had the Bulgogi Chicken Pizza tonight - thin crust, crispy and delicious.

Not to be missed of course, is the Korean Food station - made up of items such as Braised Spicy Chicken, Grilled Back Ribs, Korean Pancake, Japchae, BiBimbap, Soy Sauce Tteok-Bokkl, Spicy Sauce Tteok-Bokkl and Beef Bulgogi.

Asian Food lovers should keep a lookout for this section too - choosing among Chilli Crab, Crabmeat Soup, Salted Egg Prawn, Roast Duck, Roast Pork Belly, Sambal Prawns, Sweet Sour Prawns, and Stir-fry Prawns with Oyster Sauce.

There is also the Western Food counter, comprising X.O. Butter Scallops, Oven Roasted Leg of Lamb with peppermint jus, Pork Rack, and Wagyu Ribeye.

Finally, the station I will never miss out on - Desserts! There was a decent assortment such as Korean Rice Cake, Waffle, Yuzu Cheesecake, Apple Tart, Lemon Tart, Chocolate Feuilletine, Dark Chocolate Brownie, White Chocolate Brownie, Assorted Donuts,  Tiramisu and Lemon Mousse Cake. Fondue was also a lovely treat for us, made with the largest strawberries I have seen. Finally, a DIY Bingsu (Korean shaved ice dessert) machine!

Overall, the variety of food was good, but quality was decent. If you have a small appetite, I would suggest raiding the Seafood section, Italian section and Korean section first.

Thank you Sea and Blue for hosting us; and thank you Hungrygowhere for the invite!

Afternoon Tea at Boyle's Coffee @ Bukit Timah Plaza

1 Jalan Anak Bukit, L1-CS1 (outside), Bukit Timah Plaza, Singapore 588996

Tel: none supplied
Website: http://en.boylescoffee.com

Boyle's Coffee is under UTB Coffee, known for its world-class quality water drip coffee, slowly gaining traction around the world. We visited their outlet at Bukit Timah Plaza today, a small glasshouse kiosk situated outside level one (outside DBS bank).

The interior is small but tastefully decorated by their pretty cakes, dreamy swirls of macaroons and vases of faux flowers mainly in purple and fuchsia tones. Service is friendly and personable, complete with lots of smiles and sound recommendations. Menus comprise light bites such as sandwiches, an assortment of cakes and lots of coffee (main categories being the Dutch Coffee series, Nitro Coffee series, Espresso series and Special Origins series).

We started with some of those huge and pretty Macarons (SGD$2.70 each) in swirls of pastel colors. The pink ones are Strawberry Cream flavoured; sweet with strawberry aroma but not cloying. The ones with blue swirls contain Elderflower, and were very easy on the palate. Finally, the ones that look like sunset in their cheery orange and yellow hues - contain yuzu, a refreshing touch of zesty delight within the sweetness.

The Dutch Coffee looked very pretty and almost crystalline in their clarity. The feedback was that the "mild" selection was very light, that perhaps the "original" one might have boosted a more prominent flavour.

Dutch Flag White (SGD$6.50) was an abstract art in itself, punctuated by a single large white dot in the middle, looking formal yet enigmatic in its simple elegance.

The Nitro Iced Coffee (SGD$8.00) was darkly beautiful, looking like a tall glass of Stout beer; flavour was laced with bitterness as well, with a smooth finish.

My Yuzu Latte (SGD$6.50) came with pretty latte art, and citrusy notes to boost, a little like drinking coffee with sour notes, only nicer. At the bottom of the coffee were yuzu peel, which offered me a good bite and made me decide that I liked my beverage a lot more.

Overall afternoon tea experience here at Boyle's Coffee was pretty stellar, with good vibes and coffee forming the bases of a quality chillout session. If I had stomach for more, I would have tried one of their delectable looking cakes (probably cheesecake or rainbow cake) - next time, probably.