Sarnies, Telok Ayer Street

 This place has been stuck in my mind for months and we've never quite found the time to come by. Believe it or not, a good sandwich in Singapore is really hard to come by, so when I heard of this amazing sandwich place in town ... I had to give it a go.

 First things first, this place is in dire need of a proper sign. Ten points if you can spot the word "Sarnies" in the photo above! You'll probably have no problems finding it by day as I hear it's jam-packed catering to locals and westerners alike. But by night, the place is dimly lit with no sign, and the confusing numbering system along Telok Ayer Street left us no choice but to phone them. Just FYI, it's two buildings down from the right of the temple (facing the temple).

 It kinda looked like a shady bar in a shady area when coming at night - I'd be so curious to see how it looked like in the day! And (extremely sadly!!!!) their titular Sarnies was only available for lunch! Come night, it turns into a bar serving ciders and bruschettas.

{ Apple Cider ($10) and Pear Cider ($12) }

 Sometimes they have leftover Sarnies from lunch, and all they had that night was a boring-sounding turkey ham sandwich which I had anyway. We ordered another bruschetta to share, and well, since we're here, some ciders. The apple cider wasn't chilled so I had it served with ice, and the flavour didn't come through very well once you add ice to it (though Somersby still holds a special place in my heart). The pear cider was a lot sweeter, though the bottle looked like it had been sitting on the shelf for months.

{ Chargrilled aubergine, feta and hummus bruschetta ($13.90) }

 We were pleasantly surprised when this came : six thick slices of crusty bread, fat piece of aubergine on each with generous splatterings of hummus, feta, grilled tomatoes, olive oil and pepper served on a wooden paddle. Besides the moreish vegetarian combination, the homemade bread really stole the show - crusty, chewy and rich in flavour as it soaked up all the goodness.

{ Turkey Ham Sarnie ($13.90) }

 And well, this poor-photo-quality, boring-looking, run-of-the-mill turkey ham sandwich ... might easily be the best god damn turkey ham sandwich I've had in my life. The turkey ham was COMPLETELY DIFFERENT from all those fake hams I've had over christmas dinners and in subway sandwiches. Might be psychological, but the ham accented with this godly mystery-mayo gave it this deep, rich, meaty sweetness. And the dense, chewy bread held it together all too well. This is how bread should be, not that cotton-soft, poor excuse of a bread known as white bread - fit only for toothless humans. This is the bread ... that we deserve.

If you work nearby, do yourself a favour and get yourself a god damn Sarnie for lunch today. After having their turkey ham sandwich, I can only imagine how their special steak Sarnie will taste like. It's open on weekends as well for brunch - so no regular workday Sarnies - but self-cured-bacon sandwiches is fine by me too!

Sarnies

136 Telok Ayer Street


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HGW Link (94% recommended at time of posting) : http://www.hungrygowhere.com/singapore/Sarnies/
Main website : http://www.sarnies.com.sg/
Rating (out of 4):

Senor Taco, Star Vista

Ah Star Vista ... armed to the teeth with restaurants, this relatively new mall is, just awesome - you'll just be spoilt for choice coming here for a meal. Riccioti for some lovely pasta, Menya Musashi for that heavy ramen, Morganfields for a good slab of ribs, Triple O's for that poutine/burger goodness (our next stop!) ... well we kinda felt like Mexican today.

 We stood outside Senor Taco and literally flipped a coin to choose between Senor Taco and Morganfields - just cos Morganfields seemed like a safe choice - but fate would have us eat tacos today. Awkwardly placed, you either have to walk past 20 restaurants to get there, or straight up from the outside which would be a problem if it rained.

Food here wasn't cheap surprisingly, Mexican food has never struck me as expensive, not that I've had any in Singapore (or anywhere else, besides Chipotlé in the states). We ordered the stereotypical tacos and burrito, then I later decided I wanted to try the nachos as well.

{ Super Burro ($21.90) }

12" wheat tortilla, super burro filled with all the goodies (steak (+$1), chicken or veggies)

 The burrito ... was just alright. Slightly crispy-ed on the outside, your usual suspects on the inside (chicken, rice, veg - the works) but somehow I expected a lot more for that price! Granted my only point of reference besides an everyday-wrap was Chipotlé, which was roughly half the price and almost twice the burrito density, and that was in Manhattan! Whether Chipotle was authentic or not, it was  multi-fold better than this.

{ Tacos Al Pastor ($14.90) }

Pork or Chicken - The most famous and sought-after tacos in Mexico. First and only in Singapore (order of five in 4" corn tortilla)

 This famous, sought-after, first-and-only-in-Singapore tacos were ... they were pretty nice. We were a littlleee disappointed that it wasn't the crispy shell variety (our bad for not knowing our tacos) but the flavour in the chicken was good, the combination of the pineapple, onions and lime were pretty delish. But again somehow it felt lacking, and it wasn't too special.

{ Nachos ($12.90?) }

Nachos with cheese, beans, peppers and guacamole

 Probably the worst choice I made. The portion was pretty large but the cheese wasn't melted properly, the beans tasted canned, and it had this overall bland taste, even with the guac dip.

As I was paying the bill one of the servers who was Mexican was a little surprised that we appeared nonchalant about the food, and assured me that the food here was genuinely, authentically Mexican - which I felt a lil hard to believe. He did recommend the Chicken Molé and the Enmoladas, so if you do come here probably give the burritos and tacos a miss.

Senor Taco

#02-22 The Star Vista

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HGW Link (50% recommended at time of posting) : http://www.hungrygowhere.com/singapore/senor-taco-the-star-vista-buona-vista/
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/SenorTaco.MexicanTaqueria
Rating (out of 4) :

Tomi Sushi, Parco @ Millenia

 I've been wanting to check out Tomi Sushi for quite a while now -  as been here previously for their lunch sets (which are quite value for money) but we decided to come for dinner in the end.

Located snugly in Parco @ Millenia 3rd floor ( among Keisuke / Ma-Maison / Nantsuttei ), both of us ended up leaving work early on New Year's Eve, so we reached at 6pm just as they were opening for dinner.

 The menu was pretty focused and the decor (and Japanese chefs) were all pretty authentically Japanese. We were pleasantly surprised that the majority of clients were Japanese - definitely a very good sign!

We ordered a Sushi Gozen Set which comes with sushi, sashimi and a bento of sorts to share, and ordered Toro Salmon / Mekajiki sushi on the side.

Sushi Gozen Set ($54) : { Tai, Aji, Maguro Sashimi }

 The sashimi came first - nicely presented, and the real wasabi was a little treat! Been quite a while (well, since our Japan trip anyway) to have real wasabi instead that sorry-excuse-for-wasabi paste. Sashimi itself was really good quality and a good cut - we're generally not a big fan of Tai and Aji but these were really fresh, soft and sweet!

The place has different soy sauces for sashimi and sushi, but honestly we couldn't really tell the difference.

{ Toro Salmon ($8) and Mekajiki ($8) Sushi }

 Founded in Niigata, Tomi Sushi is well known for its Koshihikari rice - and yes, the rice used here was awesome - cooked just right, grainy and subtly sweet and just the right amount of 'stick'. Nigiri was great - fresh and good cuts on the fatty salmon belly and the slight crunch on the swordfish. $8 for two pieces is not cheap but definitely not the most I've paid!

Sushi Gozen Set ($54) : { Maguro Chuutoro, Tai, Amaebi, Tsubu, Ikura, Tekka * 6 }

 As part of the set came a selection of sushi including a piece of Chuutoro. I'm not too big a fan of Chuutoro - which is kinda midway between the glorious Ootoro and a sweet firm Maguro. All nigiri were fresh and sushi made right with the right ratios - just lovely!

Sushi Gozen Set ($54) { Hijiki, Gindara Teriyaki, Assorted Tempura,
Chawanmushi, Miso Shiro and Fruit }

 We ended with the main set which had a delicious grilled cod with crispy skin, tempura that wasn't overly oily and just a light batter, and both the chawanmushi and miso soup were great.

While a little more pricey than average, the food here definitely did not disappoint. Highly recommended, and following Japanese restaurant tradition, come for their lunch sets for a good deal!

Tomi Sushi

9 Raffles Boulevard
#P3-04 Millenia Walk


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Main website: http://www.tomisushi.asia/
HGW Link (91% recommended at time of posting): http://www.hungrygowhere.com/singapore/tomi_sushi_parco_marina_bay/
Rating (out of 4) : 

Asia Grand, Odeon Towers

Here we have a joint birthday celebration of sorts and of course Peking duck is in order! Asia Grand can be found at Odeon Towers, a skip away from City Hall MRT.

 Made a reservation for 12.30pm on a Saturday and would highly recommend booking a table in advance.

We got a table right under the air con vent near the entrance. I was offered a red shawl by a waitress when we couldn't swap places to be further away from the blast of cool air - brownie points for service!

{ Baked BBQ Pork Puff ($4.20) }

 Char siew sou was nice - flaky, slightly buttery and salty exterior with the sweet char siew filling makes for a great start to a dim sum lunch.

 The main highlight of the meal: Peking Duck! We ordered a whole bird, which is carved by your table and made into little crispy-skin pancakes served with crackers. For an additional $10 I believe we got the rest of the duck meat to be fried up with rice.

{ Peking Duck ($38 on offer) }

 These are really good! The crunch of the crispy skin and cucumber within the soft eggy pancake is just so moreish. To our delight there is plenty to go around between the 4 of us :)

{ Duck Meat Fried Rice }

 I also really liked the generous chunks of duck meat in the fried rice, which was very fragrant and well wok-fried. Grains of the rice were completely separated.

{ Steamed Cheong-Fun with Shredded Chicken & Preserved Egg ($5.80) }

 We ordered Chee cheong fun with century egg just because it sounded quite unusual. To me it didn't taste that special though!

{ Fried Shrimp Roll with Mango ($5.20) }

 I enjoyed the combination of the mango shrimp with sesame. It goes quite nicely together but I thought the flavour could have been more balanced towards the savoury side as the mango is quite strong.

{ Bamboo clams ($22?) }

 Bamboo clams - don't think I've seen/eaten these kind of clams before! This was pretty good too, with the straw mushrooms, garlic and XO sauce.

  I can't remember the price but I remember it was pretty pricey! Never eaten this before but it was actually really good!

{ Gui-Hua (Osmanthus) Jelly Cake ($4) }

  Not a fan of this at all but it was pretty nice - the texture was firm and just mildly sweet and strong in flowery-ness.

{ Steamed Custard Bun ($4.20) }

 We were looking forward to trying the custard bun and when it came like this I was a bit puzzled and distracted by the swirly pattern. I don't think it's a different flavour though I could be wrong!

 The moment of truth: upon opening the bun we just knew this wasn't quite up to mark.. The filling inside just wasn't as fragrant and as 'kao' as the (very good) ones we had at Mouth Restaurant (which will now be the benchmark for all other liu sha baos!)

  Sorely disappointed! The custard was creamy but honestly, it was tasteless compared to others we've had. While I do like the craftmanship on the bun itself, the custard wasn't great.

All in all, the peking duck is the real winner here - $38 + $10 is really quite cheap, and while it's on 'offer price', it's been at that price for quite a while, so go fast before it ends! The dim sum is reasonably priced and most we ordered were hits, which explains how this was packed to the brim on a Saturday afternoon. Definitely call way in advance to place your reservation.

Asia Grand
331 North Bridge Road
#01-02 Odeon Towers

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Main website : http://asiagrandrestaurant.weebly.com/about-us.html
HGW Link (75% at time of posting) : http://www.hungrygowhere.com/singapore/asia_grand_restaurant_odeon_towers/
Rating (out of 4) :