Hand in Hand Beijing Restaurant, Jalan Besar

Arbite, Serangoon Garden Way

 We were headed to NEX to watch the movie "Flight" (god knows why it only shows at Shaw) and since we had the car we decided to try some harder-to-get-to areas in the Serangoon area for brunch and dessert. Arbite turned up quite highly in the brunch department so we decided to give it a try.

 We parked our car semi conveniently at a private housing estate across the road, through the drizzle was a hassle. This brunch spot was located on the second floor amongst a row of shops just next to Chomp Chomp.

{ Long Black and Flat White }

 It was packed and we were lucky we made a reservation when we did (though we still arrived earlier) - a queue started to form not long after we sat down. We started with coffee after ordering our brunch. The black for me was just regular, not much depth and a little thin for my liking - could it be I just don't like Avanti? *shrugs*

{ Croque Madam ($15.90) }

Toasted Foccacia sandwich with a parma ham, brie cheese and truffle mayo filling topped with a poached egg

 Now this was just ... wow. What a shame.  had this. Firstly I have to say I didn't think this particular foccacia fitted the sandwich right. There was too little ham, or cheese, and I thought the egg wasn't quite poached right either (a sunny-side fitted it better too). All in all the flavour was there but the plate was badly plated and the portion small for that price. Not quite the croque madam we had in mind.

{ Arbite Breakfast ($15.90) }

Scrambled eggs, bacon, baked beans, grilled tomato, veal bratwurst, sautéed mushrooms, toasted brioche and pomme noisettes

 This was just alright. Again I felt the brioche was a poor complement - it was too sweet and buttery (though nice) but didn't quite go with the rest of the plate. I thought the bratwurst was a little undercooked (skin was tough and insides still creamy) but everything else was ok. Comparing portion alone you could see what a let down the croque madam was!

As we left hurriedly in lieu of the queue we both were rather puzzled about why this place seemed so popular. The place was cramped and totally enclosed which meant the discussions and laughter at other tables just seemed deafening. Coffee wasn't great and the food wasn't either. I'd take my money and my time elsewhere.

Arbite

66A Serangoon Garden Way

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Main website : http://arbite.com.sg/

HGW Link (88% recommended at time of posting) : http://www.hungrygowhere.com/singapore/arbite/

Rating (out of 4) : 

Spagio Pizzeria, Liang Seah Street

The accepted consensus between the two of us when it comes to buying Groupon or like vouchers, is that it's a lot safer to get cash value vouchers ($15 for $30 value etc.) rather than a set menu voucher ($15 for 3 course meal!). Besides the obvious issue of flexibility, many a times we've been conned into a really, really, really mediocre (some crap) 3 course meals, most likely a minimum-cost specially-prepared set for coupon abusers.

 The latest in our coupon list was Spagio Pizzeria, and this small pizza shop tucked at the tail end of Liang Seah Street (Shaw Towers side) is definitely not in the best of spots for human traffic.

{ Caprese Salad ($8.50) }

Slice of fresh mozzarella and tomato seasoned with olive oil and fresh basil

 We opted for the caprese salad ... the tomatoes came pale (appears red only cos of color correction) and greens yellow-y and wilting - not a good impression at all. Thankfully (!!!), the cheese was lovely - 5 thick and creamy slices of mozzarella, and the basil-ed oil gave it a wonderful lift. Just please, take better care of the vegetable colors!

{ Manzo (12" for $18) }

Tomato, mozzarella, thin slice beef, rocket salad and shaved parmesan cheese

 Instead of the regular prosciutto we opted for something slightly different ... in fact I'm not sure if we got the right pizza.

(1) The waiter uttered some other name, and we said we ordered Manzo, and he was like "that's right ..." and plopped it down. Hmm.
(2) I'm no expert, but that's baby spinach and not rocket. And we didn't even realize it until the next day as we had forgotten what was written on the menu. Damn!

So ... yes. Mystery pizza. Even so, the crust was good, thin and crisp. The thin slice beef, however, looks (and tasted) remarkably like cured ham. Shaved parmesan cheese ... at 3 paltry thin slices it shouldn't even be on the description. And after the fat chunks of mozzarella in the salad, this barely had enough to cover the dough.  

{ Tiramisu ($6) }

Layers in mascarpone, flavoured with aromatic coffee and kahlua

 Not quite sure what this was but it wasn't quite tiramisu. We couldn't quite taste the mascarpone, coffee OR the kahlua, it was just a mushy soft cake, and totally butchery but overdose of Hershey's chocolate and strawberry drizzle.

All in all, nothing great, and the tiramisu was sadly butchered. If you're looking for a decent pizzeria, do check out either Spizza or Etna for no disappointments.

Spagio Pizzeria

2 Liang Seah Street

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HGW Link (no rating at time of posting) : http://www.hungrygowhere.com/singapore/spagio-pizzeria-bugis/
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) :

Bay Sushi, Marina Bay Sands

Ah yes, MBS. Any affordable food to be had here before our Avenue Q show at 2pm? Bay sushi turned up multiple times from my searches - popular and highly recommended for their selection of funky sushi rolls - and their quoted prices here seems just above Sushi Tei which is great!

 Tucked in the opposite end of the food court, it's at B2 directly below the MBFC-side entrance or a short walk left after exiting the Bayfront MRT station. Todai next door was squeezing Gangnam Style for customers - not sure how that turned out.

 Decor was semi-posh - complete with private dining rooms and wine lists. Some wine with my sushi? Mmm ... not quite.

{ Aburi Salmon Belly ($4) }

 We ordered two rolls (more on that later) and 3 plates of nigiri which came first. We're the boring kind - salmon belly and mekajiki please! Twas pretty good - well aburi-ed with something citrus-y as a pairing. To me I felt like the balance was a little off - there was not enough rice (for balance) and the salmon was a cut a little thin. But overall was still pretty good!

{ Salmon Belly ($4) }

 Again I felt similarly about the balance - the onions were ok (though the slight piquance distracts) but I felt the dollop of mayo took the focus away from the salmon instead of providing a compliment.

{ Mekajiki ($4) }

 Nice slab of swordfish - sweet and al dente as we like it! The fermented bean though, again felt like it was distracting the flavour instead of complimenting it.

 Ok, now about the rolls. Good thing  - they have a huge selection of rolls (think Dragon Roll from Sushi Tei but like 20+ kinds!). Bad thing - we have no frickin idea what they all were. PLEASE ADD A DESCRIPTION. Of course you can ask the waiter, but you're not going to be asking them one by one. Also given the number of ingredients in each roll, customers should be able to see the ingredient list just so they don't order something they don't or can't eat. That really rustled my jimmies.

It also doesn't say how many pieces there were - for both the rolls we ordered we were expecting 3 - 4 pieces each (as shown in the photo), turns out both rolls had 8 pieces. We stuffed ourselves silly.

{ Angry Salmon Lv17 Roll ($15) }
Spicy Salmon, Chilli Sauce, Negi, Sesame Seed, rice wrapped with Aburi Salmon

 This popped up more than once when I read up about this place previously so we got it. The ingredient list sounds good on paper, but it was so wet. Wet sushi tastes strange. The first piece I had was overpowering, the sheer amount of sauce - sweet and spicy - completely distracted from any salmon taste whatsoever. Though I grew to like it somewhat after the 3rd and 4th piece, the sauce was just too overbearing and does not really go well with salmon, or sushi for that matter.

{ Jekyll and Hyde Roll ($15) }
Spicy Salmon, Cucumber, rice wrapped with Mekajiki topped with chilli sauce and pickle

 While you can hazard a wild guess as to what an 'Angry Salmon' roll could be, trying to figure this one out is not as easy. We had a waiter explain to us that the outside bit is swordfish and nestled inside is spicy salmon. Now this all sounds like a good and is even pretty a smart idea, and we went for it. It looks really nice too, presented on a single long plate. Taste-wise this was equally if not more confusing than the Enraged Salmon. I think the chilli/spiciness is a bit too overwhelming that you eventually forget what you're eating. We may have made an error of ordering 2 spicy rolls.. it's like a party gone wrong in your mouth, lol.

 Might as have been spicy tuna instead of salmon, but with the amount of sauce it really didn't matter! 

 After lunch we made the following conclusion:
- We much prefer our sushi the simple and traditional way, with all focus on the flavour and freshness of the fish and rice, i.e. no sauce please
- Come here for the rolls only - they are really quite unique (their names are anyway) and there's a variety to choose from
- Don't get more than 1 roll that has some element of spiciness in it

 Even the regular nigiri, I feel like the chef was trying too hard to add things to complement it and make it better. And I don't necessarily agree - I think ultimate simplicity is the highest art form when it comes to sushi [the JIRO way]. If you don't like the taste of fresh raw fish ... this place is perfect for you, as there are so many flavours that distract you from it. But if you're a true lover of sushi ... I would stay away.

Bay Sushi

Marina Bay Sands, #B2-01B
Bayfront station (don't think you need a map)

Discounts : 10% with DBS / POSB credit cards
Main website : http://www.baysushi.com.sg/
HGW Link (88% recommended at time of writing) : http://www.hungrygowhere.com/singapore/Bay_Sushi/
Rating (out of 4) :