KSuites, Orchard Parade Hotel (Singapore)

Was pretty excited to try out the new KSuites by KBox. Had thought these guys only opened up at one place, but seems like the expansion is going pretty quick. Anyhow, seeing that their focus is in entertainment, it would be unfair to expect mindblowing food. These did well enough to sustain us till a proper meal.

Verdict? My favorites were the nachos (hard to go wrong when you pour all the stuff out of a bottle/packet) and the quesadillas (meat and cheese in a toasted pita bread- always a winner in my book!).

Fat Burger, Venetian (Macau)

Maybe I should have played it safe and ordered a beef burger. This chicken burger was ordinary and dry. It could have been from any random burger joint- even one from a hawker center.

Verdict? Plenty of other food here; I'll give this one a miss.

Jangara Kyushu Ramen, Tokyo (Japan)

This bowl with everything in it certainly lived up to expectations. Tasty, springy... lucky me the wait wasnt too long when I got here. What I love about them is the hot pickled greens they have on the tables. Spicy goodness!

Verdict? It is evidently very unhealthy, judging from the amount of oil in this thing but boy, occasionally consumed, this is worth every drop.

KPO (Singapore)

A greasy sausage pizza with a white garlic base, topped with basil. It wasnt mind-blowing but certainly hit the spot. They make a pretty good mojito too.

Verdict? One of them reliable chill watering holes with decent grub.

Royal China, Raffles Hotel (Singapore)

How fairly low key this weekday lunch promotion at Royal China has been! They are offering a $48 set lunch menu for 4 persons. When I first heard about this promotion, I had to clarify (twice!) that it wasn't really $48 PER person. So, we had to troop down to find out 1) if this is indeed real, and 2) if the food was good!

Naturally, the set offered cheaper ingredients e.g. soya sauce chicken instead of roast duck, fried rice with cucumber (supposed to be with olive vegetable but this was few and far between) etc., but the food did maintain its good quality. My favorites were the crispy beancurd skin dim sum item (with a wonton soup dip), watercress soup and stewed sea perch in stone bowl (did not like the fumes though- will not be good to go back to work smelling like fish in bean paste).

Verdict? Promotion is real; food is good for the price. I will come back for the promotional menu!

Cedele, Various (Singapore)

My favorite place for cakes. And really pretty much the only place I now eat cakes. Never anything too sweet and cloying and made with only the freshest of ingredients. Cedele is also home to my favorite carrot cake ever.

On this trip, having OD-ed on it barely the day before, I decided to try something else. The chocolate cake with espresso-chocolate cream and banana, topped with oats and walnuts was heavenly. Its got all the ingredients I love all rolled into one. Now I know where to go to for a chocolate cake when the urge kicks in! I also tried the orange apricot cake- this was a nice variation of the classic carrot cake: vanilla sponge, candied orange slices, an apricot cream cheese and slices toasted almond. Smooth and light, it was perfect with my pot of mulberry tea.

Verdict? Cake heaven. And its healthy!

Heart Bistro, Palais Renaissance (Singapore)

I am never one to plug healthy eating but this place really blows my mind. I love it so much for so many reasons. 1) The food is ridiculously tasty. 2) After a meal here, I am actually really full and satisfied but not in a 'ugh-i-feel-gross' way. 3) The service is fantastic- certainly very, very rare in Singapore.

I had been here for a high-tea cum fashion show event previously, had a tasting menu of sorts (in another post) and been suitable impressed, enough for me to return. The green mango salad with crispy snapper is perfectly refreshing, with the perfect hint of spice. I will definitely have to order this again and again on future visits. My grilled baby snapper burger with wasabi mayo came with a good sized portion of salad. The wasabi mayo was definitely the winning factor in this seaweed encased snapper, topped with sprouts. I love the sunflower and seasame seeded bun- that the bun was toasted is a plus in my book. We also had a roasted black cod with baby spinach and shimeji mushroom in ginger soy broth. The fish was flakey and fresh. My favorite part of this dish was the small bowl of brown rice topped with those japanese rice toppings that I love.

Verdict? I have to make sure to come back soon. And you should too! It would be a shame if this place were to shut because of low traffic.

Marutama Ramen, Liang Court (Singapore)

Had apprehensions about this because it is a chicken broth rather than my usual favorite pork-based one but any nagging doubt of mine was quickly squared away. This broth is so light and yet incredibly flavorful. I opted for the spicy broth and unlike all the 429826471 ramen joints purporting a spicy ramen, this did not involve dumping some kimchi/spicy paste into the broth. The bowl came looking just as a regular non-spicy bowl did, with no hint of spice until you peer closely and see tiny speckles of chili flakes. The spice is mild but it's definitely there. I also ordered an extra topping- the pork belly which was really the epitome of 'melt-in-your-mouth'.

Verdict? I will be coming back for more.

Let's go!

Nothing makes me realize that I'm such a big procrastinator than taking forever to get this going! I already have a backlog of places to review, so let's get started!