Artichoke Cafe - Not your usual brunch cafe

Really respect their attitude and passion to whip up awesome food for customers without conforming to the norm. Way to go, Artichoke. :)

Coffee was smooth, fragrant and we even takeaway 2 cuppas after our meal.

"dirty fries" with various condiments (pickles, tomatoes, mayo and salsa) is a must to start your stomach.

(in order of appearance)
Soft scrambled eggs with local organic mushrooms + grilled haloumi cheese + za'atar bread/
Bacon & Sweet potato hash - Sunny side-up + Fresh rocket + Turkish toast + bourbon butter/
Mezze Platter - A lil of everything on that day's menu/
Overdoughs' Snickers Tart + Roasted Banana muffin -

Thanks to Doris for the recommendation! Else we will not have walked into this cafe that we passed by so many times before! I love the laid-back atmosphere and the friendly servers who gave really awesome recommendations.

Artichoke Cafe & Bar
161 middle road, Sculpture Square
Tel: 6336 6949

Operating hours: 
Tues to Fri- dinner hours 
Sat- brunch & dinner (close at 4pm and open at 6pm again)
Sun- brunch

Artichoke Cafe & Bar Website

Artichoke Cafe & Bar FB

The Rabbit Stash - private dining boutique

I'm back! :) I hope that you are waiting for some juicy updates because I've got a few places that I highly recommend to you guys!

I need to make a teeny weeny confession- I've never went to a fine dining restaurant and all the dining etiquette skills taught in Poly have been effectively erased from my memory. Hence, I was quite #phail at the usage of the cutlery at this fine dining boutique tucked away at Alexandra Road. I even asked the server if I had been using the wrong cutlery because she had to serve me clean set of the same cutlery after every course! So now I learnt that we need to start using our cutlery from the outside for each course.

This dinner was meant as a surprise for my birthday recently and boy, what a delicious surprise! We ordered the 5-course degustation meal which was so delicious, every course was a treat for my palate.

The smoked eel with mango croissant, granny smith tartare and crunchy radish drizzled with mango sauce was served to whet our appetite for a start.

Lobster Bisque that is not part of the 5-course degustation meal, but delicious nevertheless. It was thick but not too thick to make you feel like it's too much, and you can literally taste the sea with each spoonful.

Even though they serve western food, the chefs are mainly (Singaporean) Chinese and this herbed braised duck was braised for like half a day? It was flavourful and the meat was awesomely tender. I like the braised quail egg too - a nice touch to the dish.

Lightly battered Prawn tempura with Japanese sauce to clear our palate for the next course. The prawn was very crunchy and succulent and the sauce was a perfect complement.

Again, not part of the 5-course meal, but LOOK at the lamb babeh. It screamed JUICY and tender and everything nice. 'Nuff said.

I'm gonna put out an arm and leg to say this, but this black ribeye is the best steak I've ever tasted. You gotta try to know what I'm talking about.

5-Course Degustation Meal - $68++

We ended the course with the classic Tiramisu topped with a birthday candle. :)

I thoroughly enjoyed my meal here because I feel so special and personal with the owners of this cozy restaurant - Donna and Mattew. Donna will actually take the time and effort to introduce and explain about each course to all the customers and her sincerity to dedicate gourmet pleasure in the food is very commendable. They even make a complete change of the menu with every change of season to keep things exciting for the customers! So be sure to eat to your heart's content when you patronize at this place.

This 25-seater private fine dining place is an unpretentious yet classy place for a well-balanced meal that is specially created to entice our taste buds. Just remember to make a reservation first before making your way down!


The Rabbit Stash

354/356 Alexandra Road

#01-07 Alexis

Tel: 98588607
The Rabbit Stash FB page
The Rabbit Stash webpage

Frienzie Bar & Bistro @ Punggol

This is a part of Singapore that I will never set foot on if not for special occasions like company dinners. My impression of Punggol is like general population's impression of Choa Chu Kang. Ok you get the idea. I did not have a high expectation of the food at Frienzie when I first heard of the place, but wow the food turned out to be really good!

Pardon my lacklustre photos, I didn't bring out my normal compact cam, and all were taken with my trusty S3! So we had buffalo wings, nacho chips and deep fried button mushrooms for appetizer.

Venison steak with fres and soft bun

Thin-crust Seafood pizza

Shrimp Aglio Olio - a tad too spicy tho but the shrimp was crunchy and very fresh!

Overall, I thought the food was good for a bistro & bar. Prices for the main courses range from $18 - $30+, so I thought they were pretty reasonable for the portion offered. What I really like was the ambience of the place. Pretty much like a Timbre without a live band, but it's hard to find a serene location to have your meal and just have a casual dinner over beer. So I'll definitely recommend this place to people who want to have big group gatherings. However, do arrive early as the carpark slots are pretty limited. 

I shall leave you with some pictures I took of the river to end of this food post. Have a great weekend! 

Frienzie Bistro & Bar

10 Tebing Lane #01-02

Singapore 828836

Tel: 6441-0966 / 8318 8850 (HP is more responsive, I heard)

Frienzie FB page

The Burger Bar @ Far East Plaza

If you are looking for a hearty burger, look no further than The Burger Bar! I had the famous Omakase burger the day before when I was at Pasarbella, but so not satisfying. Hence, I went back to Burger Bar's custom made burgers the next day. My previous and recent orders had been the same: Honey Oat bread, beef patty, montery jack cheese, caramelized onions, portobello mushrooms and truffle mayo sauce! I don't know if its the truffle mayo, but it really bring out the flavour of the juicy patty and omg, I'm salivating now. When I've burger craving, I'll think of Burger Bar straight away.

So in order to demonstrate the hugeass portobello mushrooms better, I pulled out and took a picture and now on closer inspection, I realised maybe the angle looked a bit wrong.... oops. Anyway, I really like the soft and slightly chewy honey oat buns that help aid in digestion too (I think), which I think goes well with all the meat and extra toppings. 

I just wished there's more minced beef and sauce for the beef chili cheese fries! Otherwise, I think it's not too bad. 

The seating area is a bit small, so I would advise to have the burgers during non-peak hours like Sundays! It's located at level 1, in between Ya Kun & Chippy's. I hope you get to satisfy a hearty craving of a meaty burger soon!

By the way, they have an offer now on deal.com.sg - pay just $5 for $10 worth of burgers!

the burger bar (by fatboy's concepts)
#01-16A/B Far East Plaza
Tel: 6737 3315
Opens daily from 11.30am to 10.00pm

the burger bar FB page

Brunch at Choupinette

On our way to Turf Club to visit PasarBella, we passed by Choupinette that is located just beside Coronation Plaza and I remembered reading a blogger who blogged about the awesome eggs benedict. It looked packed to the brim during the day, so here we are to try a slice of French heaven in the evening.

It seemed like we booked the entire restaurant on a Saturday evening because there's only 2 couples in the restaurant having dinner. Good atmosphere and I love the cosy decor of the place with this air of class. First up, Eggs benedict!

The hollandaise sauce is slightly tangier than others that I have tried before, but I feel that it goes really well with the salty smoked salmon and toast! The zest certainly helped to whet my appetite for more bites. I guess they specialise in pastries and eggs benedict, so the toast at the bottom was quite soft and easy to cut through. The best eggs benedict I've tried so far in Singapore yet.

The chicken sausage was juicy and flavourful and very nicely grilled. I thought that the scrambled eggs was a little too bland and not as buttery as I preferred. But overall it was a hearty meal with grilled tomatoes, brown mushrooms and wholemeal bread.

At $22++ for 1 brunch set that includes a hot drink and a juice, I would say that it's reasonable for the quality of food served here. I read that their pastries are fresh and delectable, and I wished that I had left more space to try the dessert! Good thing that it's located along the main road, so that definitely upped the accessibility to the place.

Choupinette

607 Bukit Timah Road 

Tel: 64660613

Choupinette FB page