Babette@Tyrwhitt

I met up with a former colleague for an early dinner at Babette restaurant and bar which is a new establishment at Tyrwhitt Road. Babette is a cosy restaurant with an unpretentious and relaxing atmosphere. It serves French-Japanese fusion cuisine. The style of preparation is French and the style of food presentation is Japanese.

The side and the mains we had were absolutely delicious. The crackling pork belly whose skin was roasted to a crispy, crunchy crackling and its meat still tender was a great start to dinner. 
Our mains, Duck Confit Donburi and Pork and Bacon Hamburg Donburi were amazing in taste and flavour. The meat were tender and the pickles provided piquancy to counter the richness of the meat. The portions for the mains are suitable for us ladies which is in line with Japanese food. :)

My Yuzu Iced Blended and Miso Soup with each main

Crackling Pork Belly with whole grain mustard sauce

Duck Confit Donburi: crispy duck leg confit pan-seared to perfection with pickles

Pork & Bacon Hamburg Donburi: Pork hamgur wrapped in bacon with onsen egg and pickles

The dessert, Matcha Lava Cake was a dream! The gooey matcha white chocolate goodness that flowed out from the cake together with azuki red bean and ice cream was absolutely divine. I think I can go back for this alone. :P

Babette serves delicious food and its atmosphere is conducive for gatherings with friends. :)

Dinner at "English Cottage"

We had dinner at Ma Maison, Marina Bay with its English Cottage decor. It is Japanese-Western fusion cuisine. Half the family had Japanese food  - Juliane the Tonkatsu set and their father the Curry Katsu. The other half had the Western food - Marieann the Spaghetti with Seafood in Cream Sauce and I the Salmon Steak. The dishes weren't too bad but I thought the Tonkatsu was a little on the tough side. What excited the girls and I the most was the dessert - red bean with mochi and ice cream, which came in a bowl made of ice. :)

 

Dozo Please

Dozo means 'Please' in Japanese language and it is also the name of a fine dining Japanese-French-European fusion restaurant in Singapore. We went there a few times before and the girls requested to go there for dinner tonight.

The girls both had the Children set: Mushroom soup, Chicken Teriyaki with Japanese Somen, warm chocolate cake with ice cream and fresh orange juice ($15.80).




For the adults, we had the 7 course set ($59.80).
For Starters, it was the chef's selection of assorted platter: scallop, smoked salmon and foie gras. Bite-size portions but enough to whet the appetite. :) For Drink, we had the Iced Fruity Refresher.


For Cold Dish, I had the King Crab Claw Salad with Sesame Vinaigrette while the girls' father had Sashimi. My crab salad was really fresh and I love the fragrant sesame vinaigrette.



For side dish, I had the Gratinated Escargots with Yuzu Butter and he had the Steamed Bamboo Clam. The clam was fresh and light in taste.



I chose Crab Bisque in Cappuccino style while he had the French Onion Soup. My crab bisque was really creamy and rich in taste. It is refreshing to drink soup in a cup. :)



For Main, it was Crispy Kurubuta Pork Cheek with Onion Jam and Pickled Ramp for me and Sake-infused Grilled Unagi on Hot Stone for him. My pork was really crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. :)



For dessert, I ordered the Japanese Mua-chi with Green Tea Ice Cream and he had the Espresso Creme Brulee.

It is a nice change eating at Dozo. The food is tasty and their service is excellent! No wonder the girls wanted to come here lol.

Dozo Lunch, Family Dinner

Earlier part of today was rainy. I wanted to go to The Central for some Japanese food as we haven't been there for a while. In the end, we went to Dozo at Valley Point, somewhere closer to home lol.

The girls had the kids' meals ($15.80++) which included a mushroom soup, a main course, chef's dessert and orange juice. Juliane had Teriyaki Chicken with Japanese Udon while Marieann had Breaded Dory with Cheesy Rice. The pictures of the girls' meals are shown in a previous post. Today's dessert was different, vanilla ice cream in a chocolate cup.


For the adults' set lunch ($38.80), we were given a starter which consisted of scallop, foie gras and smoked salmon. The taste was just as good as the last time we had it. Again, we were given a mango sorbet drink to prime our palate for our next dishes. Pictures can be seen in the same previous post.

For side dish, the girls' father had Steamed Egg Custard with scallop and foie gras topped with caviar which I had the last time (picture in previous post). I had the Gratinated Escargots with garlic and yuzu butter. I love the cheese and the yuzu butter which brought a refreshing taste to the escargots.


For soup, we both had Seafood Bisque. Still the same taste. :) Again, picture in previous post.

For the main course, the girls' father had Tender Pork rolled in 4 ways on Cus Cus. Unfortunately, I was too busy attacking my prawns that I forgot to ask for a bite. He said the pork was quite tough and it was only okay.


I had Gratinated King Prawn with Risotto. The prawns were big, fresh and cheesy. The risotto was infused with butter and really fragrant. I really love my main course. It was very filling too.


For desserts, the girls' father tried their cheesecake which is going to be on their new menu soon. I had a small bite and I thought the cake was pretty rich and cheesy. But then I love cheese so I didn't mind it.


I had Japanese "mua-chi" with Raspberry ice cream. The mua-chi balls which were rolled in grated peanuts, black and white sesame seeds, were really fragrant and sweet with the sesame and peanut fillings in them. The slight sourish taste of the raspberry ice cream gave balance to the mua-chi balls.


We had the same drinks we ordered the last time: I, the Iced Fruity Refresher and the girls' father, Iced Mallow Apple Melody.

Like the last time, it was a really good lunch. The girls enjoyed their lunch experience too. :)


***
For dinner, I had my cousins over at my place. It has been a while since they were at our place as my parents were away. Now that my parents are back, the lunch gatherings and dinner gatherings have started again lol.

It was great catching up with my cousins again. One of them, my cousin-in-law is due soon in early July. She is pretty excited and nervous at the same time as it is her first child and she asked about my labour experience lol. I guess I am the atypical person to ask about my labour experiences because I hardly had any prolonged labour pains. My first birthing lasted only 3.5 hours from my first contraction to the final push. My second birthing only lasted 1.5 hours! Both times I was without Epidural hahaha. :P Told you, I am not the person to ask. For me, I thought birthing is pretty easy and not that painful HAHAHA.

Ikea and Dozo

* Ikea
I went to Ikea in the morning around 10:30am to run an errand - get some small and medium sized storage boxes. Ikea is a little messy and confusing at the moment because it is under going renovation and sections have been closed off. It was no use following their pamphlet as the map in it is outdated with the current renovation going on. Anyway, I managed to find the boxes. By the time, I got to the check-out point, it was just before 11:15am. Maybe it was still too early in the morning so there were not too many people at the check out counters. I was lucky I managed to find the shortest queue and was done with my purchases by 11:30am. :)

* Dozo
The girls wanted to go to the vending machines outside the video shop at Valley Point. We might as well have lunch there. We went to Dozo since we haven't been there before. Dozo is a Japanese fine dining restaurant which specialises in Japanese-European fusion dishes. It has an ala carte menu as well as degustation menus.

The decor went for European elegance. But it is also dark and loungey. There are plenty of private dining rooms. We were shown into one of the rooms which meant we had our own space and privacy. :)

The girls had the kids' meals ($15.90++) which included a mushroom soup, a main course, chef's dessert and a glass of orange juice. Marieann had Teriyaki Chicken with Japanese Udon while Juliane had Breaded Dory with Cheesy Rice. The mushroom soup was really delicious, creamy and with bite as there were lots of mushroom bits in it. Both the girls' main course were delicious and efforts were also put into the presentation of the kids' dishes. Goes to show they care for the little customers too. For dessert, the girls were given Dozo's Baked Warm Chocolate Cake (FOC!) to go with their vanilla ice cream. That is what I call service! :)





For our 6-course lunch degustation menu ($38.80++), we were given the Seasonal Starter which consisted of a scallop in a light foamy miso cream sauce and asparugus, foie gras on a piece of bread, and raw salmon topped with cream cheese. The scallop was really fresh and succulent and the size of the foie gras was just nice, enough to whet the taste buds. As for the salmon, I don't know how it tasted because I swallowed it in one gulp! I don't take raw fish lol. :P


After the starter, we were all given a mango sorbet drink to prime our palate for the next course. The girls were delighted with the extra drink lol. :)


For Side Dish:
I had the Steamed Egg Custard with scallop and foie gras topped with caviar. It was deliciously light. The foie gras was blended into the egg and steamed. The egg custard was still light but with the taste of foie gras in it which made it rather unique in taste.


The girls' father had the Tempura Battered Soft Shell Crab on galette of mash. The tempura was nice.


For Soup:
I had the Seafood Bisque which had scallops in it. The soup was rich and creamy which I really liked. :)


The girls' father had the Infusion of Cepes Mushroom and Truffle. The soup was similar to the girls' mushroom soup, except that he had a piece of black truffle to go with his soup.


For Main:
I had the Grilled Chicken Roulette with wild mushroom and Baked Apple Risotto. The chicken was a tad tough but it was still very tasty. I really liked the risotto which was baked in an apple. Thus, the risotto was infused with the fragrance and sweetness of the apple, making it refreshingly scrumptious. :)


The girls' father had the Oven Baked Hamachi Kama on bed of Risotto. The yellow tail cheek was really fresh.


For Dessert:
I had the Dozo's Green Tea Creme Brulee. My green tea creme brulee was really nice and the bitterness of green tea complimented the hard caramel layer very well. The girls' father had the Freshly Baked Warm Chocolate Cake with Ice cream.


For Drinks:
I had the Iced Fruity Refresher which was a mix of fruit juices and honey. It was delightfully refreshing.


The girls' father had the Iced Mallow Apple Melody which consisted of mallow flowers, apple and guava juice. I thought the guave juice masked the taste of mallow flowers.

Overall, the lunch was excellent! The portion was just nice and the taste was great. The service was really good! The waiters were friendly, helpful, and most attentive and yet not in your face. They somehow knew when to appear and disappear. :) We definitely enjoyed our lunch today.


PS. I am definitely going back there again. :)

Weekend at Conrad Centennial Hotel: Saturday

Since we haven't brought the girls overseas since 2005, we thought it would be nice to surprise them with a weekend away from home at a local hotel. Truth be told, I also needed a break very badly, lol. We chose Conrad Centennial Hotel because the girls were pretty enthralled by their Teddy Bear Christmas tree, lol.

We checked in at 12:30pm, earlier than the 2pm check-in time and they already have our room ready, actually, our suite ready, lol. Conrad's service is really good, has that extra personal touch. They greeted us, yes even the girls, before we could walk up to the reception area. They didn't neglect the girls at all, made small talks with them and the girls were also each given a little box of cookies to make them feel welcome. I am impressed. But err... how come I don't have the box of cookies? I also want, lol. :P

We stayed on the 18th level at the Centennial Suite. The girls were really excited and exploring the suite, running from living room to bedroom to bathroom and back to living room again, lol. They even managed to play hide-and-seek with each other in the suite, lol. Well, I was pretty excited too, lol. It is almost like going away, hahaha. Yar, yar, I know cheap thrill. :P The suite was really nice. I just love the bathroom, the huge King's size bed and 47 inch LCD screen TV, lol. They also gave us complimentary fruits, chocolate and a Conrad Teddy Bear to make us feel welcome. More personal touches. :)






















We were finally able to drag the girls out of the suite at 1:30pm to have lunch over at Outback Steakhouse, which was across the street from Conrad, lol. By now, the girls and their father have their favourite dish at Outback, lol. The girls again ordered their Chicken Fingers ($10.90) to share, and their father ordered again Ribs on The Barbie ($19.90 half) and our fav appetiser: Bushroom 'Shrooms ($15.90) (all pics in a previous post). I like to try new things so I ordered Queensland Pasta with Chicken ($23.90): pasta tossed in alfredo sauce and steamed veggies, topped with parmesan cheese and a whole piece of chicken fillet. The pasta with the alfredo sauce was great-tasting and the chicken was really tender and juicy. The portion was huge too. When I ordered the pasta with chicken, I expected to see tiny slivers of chicken here and there but NEVER a whole chicken fillet. Order this if you are really hungry, lol. We were given a free dessert so we tried the Sydney's Sinful Sundae ($13.90): vanilla ice cream rolled in toasted coconut and covered in chocolate sauce and topped with whipped cream. Of course, it is sweet and sinful, lol. But I don't fancy the coconut too much.





After lunch around 3pm, we headed back to Conrad for a rest. I also requested for Internet access. While setting up my Internet access, I browsed The Centennial Spa menu. I thought why not have a spa massage while here at Conrad since I never had a spa treatment before, lol. I decided to go for Double Impact (80 minutes, $160). I signed up for my massage session at 9pm. Just nice, after my shopping and come back for a massage, lol. Oh boy, what an experience it was, lol. Will talk about it in another post. :)

We went over to Marina Square at 4:30pm. We walked round the whole mall within 3.5 hours, including having a light dinner at 6pm and trying out some dresses for me, lol. I managed to buy 2 dresses, including an interesting halter-neck piece, lol. Always feel good to get something one can look good in, lol. :P We had dinner at Pasta de Waraku. We didn't order a lot because the girls were still quite full and I shouldn't eat too much before my massage. We had the Half & Half Set ($19.90): came with a corn soup, a salad, a drink and two pastas of our choice. We had the Carbonara Waraku style and Pork Bacon & Cabbage with tomato cream sauce. We thought both pastas were pretty average. Maybe we should have tried other stuff, lol.



We went back to Conrad around 8pm, but not before the girls' father got snacks, e.g. ham and cheese sandwiches, chicken pie for the night, lol. We stopped by the gift shop and borrowed a DVD, compliments from Conrad for hotel guests, Fantastic Four: Silver Surfer. I managed to bathe the girls before going for my massage close to 9pm. (My massage experience in another post, lol). I returned to the suite close to 11pm. Took a long hot shower before joining the family in the living room to watch F4. I was hoping to update my blog while watching F4. Unfortunately, my notebook could only be placed on the study table so I either had to watch the movie through the mirror in front of the study table or watch and blog at an awkward angle. Ended up with headache and aches, gave up updating the blog and just focussed on watching F4, lol.

Being all excited, the girls didn't sleep until 12+ am, which was understandable. The girls' father fell asleep on the couch around 2am. I was still awake at 3am, watching Harry Potter 4 on HBO, lol and updating my Warbook, hahaha. No lah, I couldn't really get to sleep because my neck and shoulder muscles were really aching after the massage. Indication that I should go for more massages to unknot my knotted neck and shoulder muscles, lol. But I think I finally fell asleep at 4 am but thinking I have to get up at dawn to try to catch the sunrise... since I have the view of the sea from my window... zzz... zzZ... zZZ... ZZZ...

Here's some pics of us relaxing, especially for me just after my massage and hot shower, lol.