best Singapore restaurants Archives - Between Bites - Bites of Food, Travel and Lifestyle

12/10 Restaurant in Guijo Makati

May 19, 2015 by Janey

Last December (and because I never get to blog these days, this post is 5 months late), I was on the hunt for good eats and Ace was my willing cohort to explore the nondescript neighborhood of Guijo Street in Makati. Joy was in my heart tummy when I found out that the couple behind The Girl + The Bull restaurant opened a new baby nearer than Paranaque.

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The Girl + The Bull

Location is in a small house converted into an Izakaya-concept restaurant with modern industrial-type interiors decorated with paintings, paper art and other forms of expression. Same as Girl + Bull, it breathes art both on the interior and on the plate. The beautiful bar with gorgeous display shelves of liquors greeted us as we entered the crowded locale.

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Izakaya joints mostly offer dishes served on small plates, thus portions are more personal serving than for sharing. Aligned with their intent, 12/10 wanted it akin to a degustation experience.

You can see from the 12/10 menu that focus is on seafood as most dishes are from the jewels of the sea. If you’re wondering about the numbers, 12/10 refers to their anniversary date of 10^th of December. Like Girl + Bull, everything at 12/10 is anything but traditional.

On the Table

Mackerel Ceviche Php 195

Sriracha, Coconut, Coriander Oil, Radish

Since they source ingredients locally, dishes are easy to run out. Half of the menu was out by the time we settled in. Knowing it’s an Izakaya… okay, the truth is, I know MY appetite so we got 2-3 orders of almost everything available in the menu.

I noticed that most restaurants like using Sriracha in the last year or so. I think Your Local, Nomama, Mecha Uma, to name a few. This dish had a dollop of what looked like a Sriracha-based cream.

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Your Local

Nomama

Mecha Uma

This starter was visually stunning, the mackerel ceviche was light, but had this slightly flaky to mushy texture with crunches of the radish discs in between, and pickled in the coriander oil. Dip it into the lumps of srirachi that’s faintly spicy and garlicky and flavors will start rappelling on your palate.

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Bellini’s Italian Restaurant, Cubao Expo

September 15, 2014 by Janey

I used to frequent Bellini’s a lot from 2003-2006 with my birthday-mate Paolo G, who also loves a good food trip. That habit continued 2007 onwards since Bellini’s was one of my favorite Italian restaurants in the Metro, alongside Café Caruso, L’Opera, the old Amici in Don Bosco, and Segafredo.

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Bellini’s who opened its doors in 1999 is already an institution in the Cubao Expo compound, also known as the Marikina Shoe Expo. They have also branched out and opened another one in Marikina. It’s been a long while since I last dined there.

I occasionally stop over to grab a couple of bottles of their in-house sweet wine but it’s been years since I actually tried their dishes. Over the weekend, I was in the area and decided to revisit the old favorite. At Bellini’s, the meal usually starts with complimentary bread sticks but the wait staff will also offer you their focaccia bread (P100) with a serving of olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dipping.

On the Table

Fettuccine Tartufo Funghi con Prosciuto P400

Instead of fettucine, I had it changed to Linguini. Request for fresh pasta (additional P40) as it can be a world of difference in texture and taste. I love love love truffle, even if it’s just truffle essence. There’s something about it that really draws me in. My favorite is still Mamou’s Lorenzo Pasta, while Chef Du Partie’s tartufo pasta comes very very close second (and you know why), and Cellar’s, Locale’s, and Amoroma (which actually includes black truffle shavings) a good third.

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Red Crab Alimango House, Eastwood

September 9, 2014 by Janey

Last Saturday night was a family night out. After taking a road trip to Pinto Art Museum during the day and making another pit stop at 14 Four Café in Marikina, the evening was set to be spent with family. I scheduled a dinner and bowling night for the crazy fam.

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I asked Ma if she had any food preference that evening and she said crabs… and specifically said, not with sotanghon, which was how we usually order crabs (or fried with salt and pepper) in Chinese restaurants. With that said, I’ve scratched out basically all Chinese restaurants we go to in our neighborhood, King Crab, Annapolis Seafood and Hai Kang.

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Red Panda Presents Chef Philip Goulding

August 27, 2014 by Janey

A couple of Fridays ago, I visited Red Panda again and dinner was made a little more special with Chef Goulding at the helm of the kitchen. It was a ticketed dinner presenting Red Panda menu from Chef Philip Goulding and paired with Manny O wines.

This dining event hosted by Red Panda aimed to transfer knowledge from expert practitioners in the hospitality industry to young and aspiring practitioners of French cuisine. It was also a fund raising event for the DEYTT (Disciples of Escoffier Young Talent Trophy) 2014 at the Restaurant and Bar Show in Hong Kong which will have Philippine delegates.

Red Panda’s Head Chef Donnah Elizalde assisted Chef Philip John Golding during this dinner.

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Chef Philip’s inspiration came from the concept of Red Panda, which is East Meets West where both sides of the world are being celebrated. He designed the menu with the use of Chinese and local ingredients with the application of French technique of cooking.

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The Girl + The Bull

August 26, 2014 by Janey

As most of us would like to escape the dreary repetition of day-to-day routine, I flee to find great encounters of food as a diversion. After a short trip to Tagaytay for some breath of fresh air, the route back to Manila presented an opportunity to explore what BF Homes restaurants have to offer. I’ve been meaning to visit The Girl + The Bull since it has been making the rounds of foodie conversations in the past few months.

It took several turns and a phone call to finally get a landmark and find the place. If you’re traversing Aguirre Ave. from President’s Ave, keep going straight until you go past a traffic light and see a low-rise white building on your right named Casa Alfonso Bed and Breakfast. There is no restaurant signage but printed on the glass door are the words, “Yep, you’ve found us.” You have reached your destination.

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The dining interior of The Girl and the Bull is a living glam rock space of art mainly in black and white motif with checkered flooring. No humdrum moments here as every corner has a modern or creative installation that attacks the visual… which later on I find continuous and uninterrupted on the plate.

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Food Bite: Persia Grill Kapitolyo’s Chicken Tikka Biryani

August 26, 2014 by Janey

A comfort food it has become, I crave for Persia Grill’s Chelo Kebab Combination (P285), 2 skewers that combine their chicken tikka and chicken morg. You can opt to change one for Kubideh or beef but I find their chicken meat the most flavorful and particularly juicy. The grilled chicken breast fillets are marinated with Persian spices and herb.

The spikes of light heat from the marinade are beautiful and complimentary tamed with their garlic yogurt sauce. It comes with a small serving of grilled eggplant that’s smoky and delicious.

Change your long grain rice to Biryani (P40) with deep fried onions for added height of flavor. I love creaming it all up with the garlic yogurt sauce, too much that Edward McCullen will finally be able to resist my beauty.

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Red Panda Bistro, Kapitolyo Pasig

June 26, 2014 by Janey

After consecutive Sundays attending the 9am CCF service with my sister and my nephew, my sister finally chose to sleep in last Sunday morning after getting a few sleepless nights. I aimed to attend the 9am still but was 15 minutes late for it so I decided to just catch the 12nn. I know my college friend Ace has been attending it the past 2 weeks with his Ultimate friends so I asked if I could go with them. After Service, we planned to eat at Gostoso Piri Piri for some healthy grilled and tasty peri peri chicken. The newly opened Red Panda Bistro caught our eye and we detoured.

Red Panda Bistro in Kapitolyo is a two-storey restaurant that offers Chinese and French cuisine. A little strange mix of East meets West huh? The concept was apparently inspired by a New York bistro. Walking in the restaurant, the dining area’s interior design is simple, modern, yet impressive. They have an open kitchen where you can see cooks hard at work in their huge stage. We dined at the second floor that can serve as function rooms for private dining, celebrations or business functions.

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The menu offered a lot of Chinese and French dishes from appetizers, entrées, dessert, drinks. Wish the menu had a better layout / sectioning and fixed prices (different menus with different prices on same items) since it could get a bit overwhelming or confusing.

On the Table

Crispy Chicken Mango Salad P217

Deep fried breaded chicken strips, romaine, green lettuce, ripe mango, and grape tidbits in mango dressing

Chinese Platter (Medium) P270

Slices of pork asado, century egg, beef kimchi, seaweed kimchi, and white chicken, served with ketchup manis sauce

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Tricolor Ravioli P314

Truffled roast duck stuffed raviolis.

This was one of the orders I chose. Freshly made tri-colored raviolis stuffed with truffled roasted duck meat, served in truffle cream sauce, with fresh basil leaves, and grated 18^th month Parmesan cheese.

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1 Comment Filed Under: Inside Dish: A BITE of Food Tagged With: 2013 list of restaurants, 2013 restaurant, 2014 new list, 2014 restaurant, best, best chilli crab, best date places, best European restaurant manila, best food blog in Philippines, best Italian restaurant, best lifestyle blog, best ramen place, best restaurants, best Singapore restaurants, best Singaporean, bestseller, Between Bites, betweenbites, cheap, chilli crab, Chinese French, contact number, deal coupon, deals, dinner dates, directions, discount, Filipino food blogger, food blog, food blogger, food photo, food review, Fort Bonifacio, global city, happiness in food, how to get there, list, location, Makati, Map, menu, Metro Manila, new, NEW kapitolyo restaurants 2014, new mall restaurants, new restaurant Ortigas area, open, operation hours, photos, pinoy, price, promos, proposal, Quezon City, Ramen Bar, recipe, Red House Seafood Restaurant location, Red House Seafood Restaurant photos, Red Panda Bistro bestseller, Red Panda Bistro branches, Red Panda Bistro food photos, Red Panda Bistro location, Red Panda Bistro Restaurant food blog, Red Panda Bistro Restaurant menu, Red Panda Bistro Restaurant menu price, Red Panda Bistro Restaurant review, Red Panda review, San Juan, Singapore best restaurants top ten, top ten best chilli crab seafood restaurant, Trinoma mall restaurants, where, where to park, www.janedchua.com

Red House Seafood Restaurant, Singapore

June 26, 2014 by Janey

Although I’ve exhausted sites to visit having gone to Singapore many times, I haven’t exhausted my love for Chili crabs and all of the other wonderful dishes available in Singapore. Singapore Chili Crabs is a must not miss dish when you are in the Lion City. If I must relent to my desires, I’d order chili crab AND black pepper crab – I absolutely love them both.

We were invited to dinner that Thursday night and they made the choice of where to go rest on my shoulder. I mouthed Jumbo Seafood Restaurant in Clarke Quay. I visited the restaurant during my 2^nd trip to Singapore. The 1^st one was a sponsored trip to attend a regional blog awards so itinerary was completely out of my hands. Since there were first-timers traveling with me, I wanted them to try Jumbo but when they called to reserve, the restaurant was fully booked until 1am! We hit the next best thing, if not the best according to some, as per Franny’s suggestion, which was at Robertson Quay.

Known for their seafood power, and using the freshest ingredients sourced globally, Red House Seafood’s signature dishes have been loved over the years, including iconic Singaporean dishes like Crab in its signature Red House Chili Stew.

On the Table

Red House Chili Crab

This was our main target. There was a choice of Sri Lankan Crab, Scottish Brown Crab or Alaskan King Crab. No price is indicated so you have to ask the Service Staff for the respective Market Price. And believe me, ASK.

Even if I’m not the one picking up the tab, I’m still very cautious at ordering dishes with steep prices. I dissuaded Thaddy to order the Alaskan King Crab when I started computing in my head how much it would cost – at the very least, P23K. That’s like eating an iPad Mini 32gb with wifi and 3G.

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db Moderne Bistro, Singapore

June 25, 2014 by Janey

It’s Danny’s last 2 days in Singapore before flying out to Canada and he opted to spend Thursday lunch with me. Julian of HBO joined us and we couldn’t help but discuss business, but also happy to spend some personal time with Danny and catch-up. They initially invited to dine at Imperial Treasure but since that was where I had lunch the day before, they decided to go Western and brought me to db Moderne Bistro.

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Imperial Treasure Fine Chinese

Sprigs Bistro

DB stands for Daniel Boulud, a French chef born in Saint-Pierre de Chandieu, France whose Dinex Group has restaurants in New York City, Las Vegas, Palm Beach, Miami, Montreal, Toronto, London and its only Asian presence, Singapore.

He is best known for Daniel, his eponymous, Michelin 3-star restaurant in the Big Apple. In February 2011, Boulud opened a db Bistro Moderne at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore.

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Imperial Treasure Fine Chinese Cuisine, Singapore

June 24, 2014 by Janey

“As you unwind in the contemporary textured wood and glass interior, our highly trained staffs are attuned to your every need. The restaurant overlooks the glittering casino floor at Marina Bay Sands, with private rooms that offer stunning views of the Marina Bay Waterfront and the Esplanade. Delight in the company of your loved ones or business partners as you feast.” This is the promise of Imperial Treasure group, to satisfy our palates in fine Chinese cuisine in a relaxing ambiance.

Imperial Treasure has several restaurants in Singapore but also spanning to Hong Kong. Same as Crystal Jade that births different concept restaurants around Chinese cuisine with different names, Imperial Treasure also has numerous incarnations like Imperial Treasure Cantonese, Imperial Treasure Teochew, Imperial Treasure Nan Bei, Imperial Treasure Super Peking Duck, Imperial Treasure La Mian Xiao Long Bao, and Imperial Treasure Noodle and Congee.

The one we dined at for lunch is Imperial Treasure Fine Chinese Cuisine. When I checked online how much the set menu is per person, I could literally faint.

On the Table

1^st Course – Egg White with Crab Meat and Truffle Oil

2^nd Course – Sharks Fin Soup

I felt conflicted about this second course. I’ve seen a documentary on Nat Geo on how these are harvested. Is there a way to tell if authentic or artificial?

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3^rd Course – Duck Wrap

4^th Course – Fried Oyster in a Half Shell (Turtle Power!)

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Sprigs Bistro, Singapore

June 23, 2014 by Janey

Second night in Singapore, ADTH treated us out to dinner. They picked this quaint polished restaurant at the Burgis area. It sort of reminds me of this bar-restaurant I went to in Milan. White tiled walls, a small hallway for the dining area and the bar immediately at your left as you enter the door. Staff was friendly and very efficient, service was fantastic. With conversation on travel, food and Manila, and continuous laughter flowing, it was one beautiful dinner.

Thank you Michael Day and family! 🙂

Sprigs is a modern European Bistro that highlights French and Italian cuisine. Since we couldn’t decide which one to get and the selection is very limited, our host decided to get all three bottles available and kept the reds flowing. You can’t go wrong when there are only three kinds. The menu looked like it was well-curated.

Chateau Malmaison, Baronne Nadine de Rothschild, Moulis en Medoc (SGD 62 per bottle)

This was the first bottle. Our host, a Taiwanese-Chinese family from Atlanta, Georgia, led by Michael Day (oh don’t I wish it was Michael Bay but I’m happy with a Mr. Day who can laugh out loud at my jokes, probably just being very polite), decided to start with medium dry. The wine tasted earthy with a mellow fruitiness.

Chateau D’Agassac, L’Agassant, D’Agassac, Haut-Medoc (SGD 82 per bottle)

The second bottle served was my favorite. I like sweet / dessert wines, the more fruity kind for a fruity me. This had prune jam scents with a smooth finish bearing berry-tasting qualities. I was trying to sip slowly but they kept asking me to keep up and before I knew, I had three glasses. This wine could easily be my excuse for my abysmal humor.

Clos Marsalette, Pessac-Leognan (SGD 96 per bottle)

If I’m not mistaken, since I can’t remember if this was the first or 3^rd bottle served to us, this was my least favorite. I am in no way a wine connoisseur. I like wines but I don’t know a pip about them. For some strange reason, this one smelled like spam or sausage to me. It tasted ok but I smelled Spam.

On the Table

Salmon Carpaccio SGD

Light, fresh, lovely.