Tanjong Pagar Road Shophouses

Some pics that Jaz took of the Tanjong Pagar Shophouses while she was here on holidays.

Cafe L' Operetta

Cafe L'Operetta sits below Berjaya hotel in Duxton Road.

It is part of the L'Opera group chain that includes Enoteca L'Operetta sitting at the end of Boat Quay. 

Cafe L' Operetta is a more toned down than Enoteca L' Operetta. Being on maternity leave pre baby, I dropped in for the set lunch.

The set lunches include a pre main buffet spread, a cold drink, a main course and a coffee/tea.

Pre main buffet spread

Salad and soup from buffet

The buffet spread is nicely laid out in style. Items include salads, cold ham, antipasti of semi sundried tomato and mushrooms, pumpkin soup etc. Spread was reasonable but not fantastic. Still, it is nice to have a selection to choose before the main course.

Squid Ink Pasta

I selected Squid Ink Pasta as the main. This was quite nice and came with pieces of squid. I think it had a sort of tomato base as it was slightly tangy and the sauce showed signs of being a bit reddish. Though, the squid ink hides almost everything. The pasta was cooked quite nicely al dente. This was good but it was not the best squid ink pasta I had eaten. 

Desserts- not part of buffet

After tea, they asked me if I wanted dessert. I was too full having gorged on the buffet. The wait staff suggested that I still take a look as real visuals were more powerful than the menu. Even though I was too full, I was glad they suggested it. The available desserts look wonderful as you can see. There is a specialized pastry chef who does this.

Cafe L'Operetta is open for high tea and I will be going back to try their desserts.

Website: http://www.operetta.sg/?page_id=74
Location: 83 Duxton Road, Hotel Berjaya Lobby
Contact Number: 62244298

Opening Hours:

Breakfast: Tue-Sun 7:00am-11:00am, Lunch: Tue-Sun 12:00pm-3:00pm , High Tea: Fri- Sun 3:00pm- 5:00pm, Dinner: Tue-Sun 6:00pm-10:30pm
Prices: Set Lunch is about $30- $40 

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

Hair Bliss Indulgence Spa

Tanjong Pagar Plaza has plenty of hair salons, massage services and nail places. They service a lot of the lunch time office crowd in the CBD region.

This hair Spa is tucked in one corner in Tanjong Pagar point block 7. It doesn't offer any other hair service except for the application of Origin Hair Spa Products.  The products are to help promote hair growth and improve the quality of the hair. The products are made of chinese herbs that turn white hair to the natural reddish dye of the herbs over time.

The shop is owned by 2 sisters and their mum who have used the Origin products for over 10 years. The owners have a hereditary issue of having white hair from a relatively young age. They were dyeing their hair regularly and the chemicals from the dye affected the quality of their hair. When they discovered Origin Products, it allowed them to dye their hair and maintain good hair quality.

The sisters have other jobs so their mother runs the spa. The Spa isn't really run to make massive profits as their entire family use it for treatment. This is true considering the price of the treatments and the rental costs in Tanjong Pagar. Hence, the treatment prices are reasonable from about $30 to $50 depending on your length of hair for 1.5 hours treatment. This is also reflected from the fact that the owners have never tried to push their products on me unlike many other spa places. The general treatment consists of application of herbs, steam, wash and massage, drying of hair and application of hair oil/ cream.

Simple and Comfortable facilities

The place looks basic but it is clean and comfortable.

I have been going to the place for about a year before and during my pregnancy. My hair always feels luxurious for at least a week after treatment, it has helped to reduce my hair loss and stem my oily scalp problem. My mum who has been going with me for about the same period of time has also seen results in better hair quality. Her hair is clearly stronger and not as dry. 

Location: Tanjong Pagar Plaza Blk 7 #02-109
Opening Hours: Mon - Fri 11am - 7pm, Sat 9:30 am - 4:30pm

Contact Number: 62721683

Prices: About $30 to $50

Salta

I know I sound extremely negative. But I have never eaten a single good meal at the Icon village and this is no exception. I went to Kumo next to Salta when it first opened. I paid for an overpriced meal feeling very cheated. So why why why did I even try this place. I'm not sure if I have any rational answers.

Salta is an Argentinian grill place where all the meats are roasted on a large grill at high intense heat producing a charring effect to the meats. When done to good effect, it tastes great. 

The food in Salta isn't horrible. But the problem is that it isn't good. At the moment, Singapore  has plenty of good food places mushrooming compared to 2 years ago. This makes the competition keen. I can think of at least 4-5 places within a 5-10 mins radius that is much better (just look into my blog on Duxton Hill or Road).

About the food now...

Bread rolls

The Bread rolls look cheap even to the undiscerning eye. No wonder they gave us a whole basket. Just look at what Taratata Bistrot gives for lunch. Is there even any comparison? If my eyes didn't tell the story, my taste buds did. The bread was cold and hard. No marks for this one. They could easily buy bread rolls from carrefour and heat it up.The Carrefour bread rolls are actually pretty good. 

Empanadas

This sounds fancy but it is in fact like a curry puff. Now, I have eaten some good curry puffs in my time that are really worth paying for. Empanadas can be good if some thought is given into the filling. These taste flat and feel like Kopi Tiam curry puffs. They tried fancy fillings like blue cheese  but it just didn't work. The quality of the pastry was not flaky enough and the fillings felt like mash. I have no idea what the chef is doing here. I can get puff pastry from cold storage and do something similar. 

Side dipping sauces

These look ungenerous and unappetizing. I went to a grill place in Cordoba, Spain with similar sauces. It was far superior to this one and they gave me a whole jug of sauce. Pesto (the green sauce) when done well is complimentary to the meat and lifts the meat up. The freshness of the pesto should come through. These sauces feel like they have been prepared a few days ago. Being pregnant, I actually started to worry about the food preparation. 

Skirt Steak with porcini mushroom butter (on right side)

This steak was pretty decent quality. The problem again was the preparation. If you see the plate, the blood is seeping out of a steak. This indicates that the steak has not been rested well hence when cut through a lot of blood is lost and not retained in the steak. Also I asked for medium rare not rare. The steak was more rare than medium rare. 

The porcini butter was fairly tasty but was too hard. Meaning that it was frozen in advanced instead of being done that day and fridge-rated. I paid an extra $3 for this butter.

The plate also included 2 sad looking potatoes and one lonesome tomato.

Roasted potatoes

This was a side we paid $5 for. It is not terrible but worth $5? I will let you guys discern.

I have read different reviews for this place and some people actually like it. However, my overall experience was not satisfactory. I will let you guys judge this for yourself. Do post me comments after you have tried. I'm curious to see if you will have a better experience than I did.

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

Location: Icon Village 12 Gopeng Street #01-56

Opening Hours: Mon - Sat 11:30am – 2:30pm, 6:30pm – 10:30pm 

Contact number: 62258443

Prices: About $15 for Entree and $35 for Main

Chef Icon

Chef Icon is another gem in Kampong Bahru.
I only discovered it through a friend who bought me the cheesecake for my baby shower. We all raved about the cheesecake and I decided that I had to check it out. Especially since it is still considered to be in the vicinity of Tanjong Pagar.

I had a chance to speak to the owner of the bakery who has worked in the industry for 20 over years. He is passionate about his craft and natural baking techniques. Hence, his products do not have chemicals or preservatives unlike most bakeries.
This isn't necessarily commercially productive but having tasted his products I can say that it creates premium products.
Being an artisan bakery, they only do a certain amount a day so I suggest that if you want to try these cakes and breads, go in earlier in the day.

Baskets of bread

This place only has a few dozen bread rolls in a day. This is a pity as they really do make good bread rolls that are crusty on the outside and soft within. There is texture to this bread and none of the terrible oily flavor that cheap bread shops use. I would love to be able to order this for a party but they simply don't do this to maintain the quality. The only thing I would like in this bread is a bit more sweetness to it but perhaps this is hard to achieve through natural baking techniques.

Hokkaido cake with Mocha centre

This is a wonderfully simple and delicious cake. The owner said that the difficulty of baking a good cake is to make a cake moist and yet firm enough to have texture and bite. A lot of cakes I have eaten have problems in balancing the two. This one is very good. The flavor is also not too sweet. A lot of sweetness comes from the cream in the centre that is eaten with the cake.

Iced Tea

There are iced teas, coffees and sandwiches in the shop that one can have. The sandwiches are really good as they use the bread baked in house- clubman bread.

I love this shop and wish that it was even closer to my house so I could frequent it more often.

Website: http://www.cheficon.com/cakes.html
Location: 5 Kampung Bahru Road
Opening Hours: Mon - Sat 8am- 8pm, closed on Sun and PH
Contact Number: 9337 3900
Prices: About $6.5 per slice of cake

Highlander Coffee

Highlander coffee is another decent coffee place around the Tanjong Pagar area. In fact, I would say its one of the earlier pioneers of decent coffee in Singapore

This place is actually situated at the fringes of Tanjong Pagar in Kampong Bahru, which are the conservation houses across SGH.

The place has a coffee academy at the back of the cafe.

Latte with a cookie

You can see from the latte above that the coffee frothing looks decent. Decent frothing doesn't have plenty of holes and the froth is not thin but has shape and texture. Looks like a marshmallow top.

Coffee was a good temperature and was quite smooth.

The food here is practically non existent though. I understand if coffee needs to be the focus but I think its a waste of money having unappetizing wraps in the glass counter. 

Its a good place to go to after you have lunch in the area. 

Website: http://highlandercoffee.com/

Location: 49 Kampung Bahru Road

Opening Hours: Mon - Sat 9am - 6pm
Prices: About $4 for a cup of coffee