Rose Citron

Elsa's childcare is closed for a couple of days. I find that when Elsa is with me, I tend to go out a lot more as she loves going out. Going out= better behaved Elsa.

I took a walk with her in our neighborhood and went into one of my favourite shops in the area.

This shop is an early entrant in this hip area being here for about 6 years. 

They sell beautiful home ware, bags and children clothes. They also do upholstery with lovely fabric. 

Do take a look at their website that also has an online shop. 

Website: http://www.rosecitron.com.sg/

Address: 23 Keong Siak Rd

Opening Hours: Mon- Fri 10am - 6pm; Sat 11am- 6pm; Sun &PH 10am - 4pm

COntact Number: 63231368

The Wine Gallery

Wine Gallery- 4/5 stars

Range

A very good range of wines from all over the world with prices of every kind. They could improve by intorducing a better range of rose and sherries.

Price

Prices are very competitive and it is not hard to find a good bottle at a attractive price. Wines such as Coldstream Hills and Leeuwin Cabernet Sauvignon are sold at reasonable prices.

Staff Knowledge and Service

When asked about what wine to go with a dish, the staff recommended a unoaked chardonnay from mendoza. The choice was not wrong but it would have been good to see the staff ask questions about how the dish was cooked and explain in what way the wine selected would have gone well with the dish. The staff also had very good knowledge of what wines were available in the shop.

Store Layout

Very good layout but they could do better to separate the wines by region or grape varietal. Lighting was fantastic and there was a board on the wall that explained technical wine terms. This is a comfortable place for tasting

Website: http://www.thewinegallery.com.sg/

Location: 33  Keong Saik Rd

Contact Number: 64795406

Look at my other post Wine shops in Tanjong Pagar for other wine shops in area

Love Mi

This is a newly opened clothes shop on Keong Saik Road.

The clothes are priced between $20- $40. Most of them are one size fit all. I don't think the quality of the fabrics and cut are great and some designs are generic but it is hard to find buys these days at such prices. Especially if it is not mass produced so this is a nice find. 

Some Clothes I thought were quite nice:

Pretty mustard frock $28

White jacket with gold metal rim $45

Pink top with full zipper behind $26

Website: http://www.lovemishop.com/

Location: 14 Keong Saik Road

Opening Hours: Mon- Fri 1030am- 7pm; Sat 11am- 7pm; Sun closed

Contact Number: 62212962

Nicolas Le Restaurant (Moved)

Nicolas Le Restaurant is situated at Keong Saik Road a few doors down from Pasta Inc. and Taratata Bistrot. 

My husband and I went down there for a set meal lunch. The place accepts babies in prams, this was a relief.

The three course lunch plus some extras on the house is $42+. Some mains have an additional charge.

My husband ordered a glass of Shiraz. The Shiraz was quite ordinary. It tasted pleasant but did not have depth in complexity and length that a good wine has. At $19, I would consider it expensive and don't think I will be ordering wine here again.

However, the food at this place was very good. In fact, even though Nicholas can be considered fine dining, it has an unpretentious feel in the place and the food matches up to the prices (even for dinner). The dinner degustation without wine is $98+ and in Singapore for the standard, this is very reasonable.

Duck Rillettes on toast

This was a free starter. Rillettes is similar to pate. It is usually cooked in low heat and blended in fat to form a rustic paste. The rillettes were rich on the mouth and smooth. With the crusty toast, it created complementary textures.

Egg with truffle oil and smoked eel

The eggshell top was removed to create this beautiful presentation. My guess is that the egg was steamed to a stage where the whites and yolks are still semi runny. This was topped with truffle oil. Eggs and truffles are a classic combination that always go well together. The surprise of this dish was the addition of smoked eel. It added another dimension of flavor to the dish. The smoked eel was almost like a piece of meat in texture and taste. It's pretty hard to describe why this dish works as I would have never thought that it could. It's a bit different from any combination I have eaten and a real surprise.

Ravioli with garlic cream & marjoram , morel mushroom emulsion and tomato confit

This was extremely good. The pillows of ravioli were soft but packed with garlic cream. This is what a true ravioli should be like. The tomato confit provided acidity and sweetness to the slightly earthy morel emulsion. 

Hokkaido Scallop, caponata, chorizo, clams infused with saffron emulsion and scallop chips

The hokkaido scallop was partly cooked so it was really sweet. Chorizo, saffron, clams, scallops are always a fantastic combination. I don't think one can really go wrong with this. The only thing I'm not sure was necessary was the caponata. I'm not sure if it added much value to the dish. Perhaps just using red peppers to sweeten the dish will be enough. The scallop chips were excellent. I would love to find out how it is done. 

Slow cooked pigeon and leg confit

Pigeon isn't commonly seen in many restaurant menus in Singapore. But it's coming close to Christmas and some places do serve it during this season. I liked the pigeon leg confit as it was browned and quite crispy on the outside. The slow cooked pigeon was very well done but not mind blowing. I felt like the sauce could be richer because pigeon tends to have quite a strong gamey flavour and needs a strong sauce to pair it with.

Tasmania lamb

My husband's lamb dish was really good. If you can see from the pictures, the lamb is cooked to pink perfection. It was browned outside and tender inside. The Jus that went with it was more flavourful. You can see this just from the darker colour of the sauce in the photos.

Trio of desserts- chocolate fondant, creme caramel, yogurt ice cream

This was a bit of a let down after all the great courses. The fondant was like a mousse with just a cake like topping. The creme caramel was a bit weak. The best of the three was the yogurt ice cream which was smooth and creamy. 

Chef Nicolas seems to succeed where a lot of fine dining chefs fail in that he is able to achieve the complexity of layering flavors and seasoning each dish well. I'm surprised that I haven't heard more about this talented chef. The only downside to his food is the dessert. Most fine dining establishments hire a dessert chef as it is very hard to be excellent in both savoury and sweet. Both require quite different techniques. I'm not sure if Nicolas has a dessert chef.

The service had some drawbacks like taking a long time to serve water. However, the wait staff were knowledgeable enough about the food. This is better than most fine dining restaurants where the wait staff often have no idea on where the food or wine come from.

I'm definitely going back.

Website: http://www.restaurantnicolas.com/therestaurant.html
Location: 31 Keong Saik Road
Opening Hours: Tues- Fri 12pm- 2pm; Tues- Sat 6:30pm- 10pm; Closed on Mon & Sun
Contact Number: 62242404
Prices: About $50- $60 for lunch for the basic set

Pasta Inc.

Pasta Inc is situated along Keong Saik Street.

I have passed the place a few times but have never tried it in my 2 years living in Tanjong Pagar. The sign Pasta Inc in black and white seems to always beckon me in.

So I decided to walk through its doors to see what was really on the other side and if it proved its allure. 

Glass room where we dined

On first sight, the decor seems inviting. We were led into a glass room. Having a dining place in glass room within a room seems a bit strange. I'm not sure what is the reason behind this design but it has a fish bowl feel.

However, I'm only a tad bit concerned about the ambience of any place. For me, its the food that really brings me back.

Since this place is called Pasta Inc., I expect pasta to be the speciality. So, I asked the waiter if the pastas were freshly made. The waiter told us that only 2 sorts of pastas were handmade- Ravioli and angel hair. Fresh pasta isn't always the best. Dry pasta can be as good if not better than fresh pasta but only if done by a expert producer. However, it is strange that a place named Pasta Inc. will only have limited fresh pasta and say very little about their dried pasta.

Bread basket

The bread came to the table. It wasn't bad but it was pretty unimpressive. With Taratata Bistrot just next door, I was starting to salivate at the thought of Taratata's warm crusty bread and wondered if I had made the right choice by stepping into Pasta Inc. 

Mushroom ravioli with tomato sauce

The above was the main course I ordered. Our eyes tell us a lot about food served before we even taste it. Although it may not be apparent from my sub standard photo above, the color of the tomato sauce told me that too much tomato paste was probably added to the sauce. Upon tasting it, the sauce was too tomatoey. The flavors were not clean and certainly did not feel fresh. There was no depth in the sauce.     The mushroom ravioli wasn't bad but the ravioli did not feel full with mushroom. The texture of the ravioli felt a bit too chewy. It was clearly freshly made but felt like it was made by a home cook rather than an expert. 

Angel hair pasta with crayfish

The angel hair was chosen by my friend. The angel hair came en papillote style. I think this was be a very difficult way of cooking pasta as it must be hard to cook it perfectly. The pasta was overcooked and as a result too soft. The crayfish had no flavor. Like my pasta, my friend said that her pasta had too many garlic slices. 

Gorgonzola ravioli with cream sauce

The cream sauce for the pasta above was the best among the three. This should have gone with the mushroom ravioli. The gorgonzola ravioli was too salty for my liking.

After the pasta, I had some room for dessert. But the 3 dishes were disappointing and we decided that we were better off going to Taratata next door for dessert. Which we did.

My personal opinion is that for the same sort of value in the area, Etna is a better deal.

Website : http://www.pastainc.sg/
Location: 35 Keong Saik Road
Opening Hours: noon - 2pm, 6pm - 10pm
Contact Number: 62977515/ 62241501
Prices: About $20-$35 for mains

Taratata Bistrot

1st Recorded Visit

A girlfriend of mine came back from Germany. So I thought that it would be a good opportunity to try a nice place around my area.

Taratata Bistrot is a French cafe styled restaurant. This was my second time at this place. I had a good first experience to want to go back. Plus 3 course set lunches on weekdays are $32++ which sounded pretty good.

The bread in this place is excellent. The bread comes warm and crusty. Its pretty hard to find good bread in Singapore. I think i almost had 5 pieces. Ok, it was good but I was also starving!

Beetroot, potato and mushroom with vinaigrette

My friend had a starter of beetroot, potato and mushroom carpaccio style. It doesn't sound great on the menu but the taste was excellent. This simple dish was lifted by a simple vinaigrette. The presentation is beautiful with salad leaves in the middle that give the dish some visual height.

Escargots with mushrooms

My starter was escargots with mushrooms. The buttery mix with crunchy textures went wonderfully with crusty bread.

Fish with prawns, fennel and potatoes in seafood broth.

We both had the fish dish as our main. The broth was infused with good rich shellfish flavor and had a smooth buttery texture. Prawns were plump and juicy. Its a classic dish that was well executed.

Chocolate cake with lavender ice cream

I was so full when I got to dessert. But I had to have at least a few mouthfuls of molten chocolate cake. The cake was moist and warm. Lavender ice cream was smooth, creamy and floral. Its a nice touch to the cake compared to the normal vanilla.

We even had a complimentary cup of tea or coffee. For such good food, I find lunch a steal at $32++.  Dinner is more costly at about $70 per head if one wants wine.

What I like about the place is that the atmosphere is quite relaxed. The food is classical and similar to what some other places in singapore do but with a twist and much more packed with flavor and texture.

The lady who oversees the front of the house has really excellent service.  She is warm and friendly and understands her food and wine. This alone is unusual in Singapore where most of the time one has no idea who even is in charge of the service. However, I think her other staff need to be trained better and be more observant.

2nd Recorded Visit


My husband, a friend and I decided to drop by after a mediocre main course dinner at Pasta Inc next door. I needed some cheering up after the dinner.

We shared the the Chocolate cake with lavender ice cream and the profiteroles.
The chocolate cake was as good as it was during lunch only in a larger serve. This is to be expected as lunch was a terribly good deal. The same dessert at dinner price was $18.

Profiteroles with vanilla Ice cream and chocolate sauce

The profiteroles had a nice texture but were not as full blown as I would have liked it.

Almonds, Chocolate sauce and vanilla ice cream all complete this classic dish. I must say I like the profiteroles at L'entrecote better. There is a more generous helping of sauce here which I prefer. But the profiteroles in L' entrecote were bite sized and easier to eat. This dessert was also $18. 

I was glad that we ordered only 2 desserts to share as both portions were good sized serves and we were stuffed at the end of it. 

Website: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Taratata-Bistrot/195664423805025
Location: 35A Keong Saik Road (Ground Floor), Singapore, Singapore 089142
Opening Hours: 

Mon - Thu:	11:30 am	-	2:30 pm
	6:00 pm	-	10:30 pm
Fri:	11:30 am	-	2:30 pm
	6:00 pm	-	1:00 am
Sat:	5:30 pm	-	1:00 am

Contact number: 62214506
Prices: $32++ for lunch weekdays 3 course, about $70- 80 per head for dinner