Saturday, January 30, 2010

Dessert monster encountered at Benten Café

Having a huge sweet tooth (which inadvertently leads to a lot of toothaches), I’ve always had a soft spot for desserts, especially the incredibly sinful kind filled with ice cream and other sugary ingredients.

Despite all my dessert-chomping experiences though, nothing prepared me for the monster I faced at Benten Café, which serves up gargantuan desserts that are definitely not for the faint-hearted (nor the diet-watchers).

The ambiry babiru (if I remember the name correctly) is a huge, fishbowl worth of sweet delights, with just about anything imaginable thrown in. Amongst the immense mess (and mass) of the dish you can find cakes, fruits (cut in amazingly intricate patterns), whipped cream, biscuits and pudding, topped off with a copious load of corn flakes and ice cream.

Although the babiru looked messy and kinda disgusting, it is a godsend for those who crave something sugary after a meal (and be sure to make it a light one to leave space for this!). The fruits are ripe, the cake is tasty, the biscuits add a more solid crunch to the bite and the mixture of ice cream and cereal (flooded with chocolate and strawberry fudge) is amazingly addictive.

Of course, this Godzilla of a dessert is only meant for about four to five people to share, a fact which is reflected in its price - S$40 for a bowl. Despite the fact that it would set each person back about $10 though, it does provide immense satisfaction (followed by immense guilt, of course) and holds it own against similarly-priced desserts at other restaurants.

For smaller groups, the cafe does offer smaller servings (with proportionately fewer ingredients), in beer jugs for three people and even in individual cups for those on a solo binge.

Although it might a few months before I’d even contemplate tackling such a huge bowl of fat again (and I had it with three other friends), it was definitely worth my $10. Perfect for the sweet-lovers.

Rating: 4 of 5

Benten Café, #03 -20/20A
Jurong Point Shopping Centre
Tel: 6791 0882
Opening Hours: 11.30am - 10.00pm

(There seems to be another outlet at Iluma at Bugis. The Web site is down so I can’t confirm)

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Queensway 328 Laksa: Hidden Treasure

I’m usually not a fan of spicy food. I have almost no threshold for anything remotely tongue-tingling and just am not a fan of the taste of chilli. Still, like every other Singaporean, I do enjoy an occasional bowl of laksa, of the strong-taste-but-no-spice variety, of course.

While many head to more established outlets across the island for their laksa fix, I get mine at a discreet little stall in the heart of Queensway Shopping Centre.

The first thing one would notice about the laksa sold here would be that it’s entire devoid of spiciness. Of course, you’re free to ask for scoops of sambal chilli (and even then, I’ve heard that it isn’t too much to handle), but the plain dish itself is totally chilli-free and leaves its real taste wide out in the open to experience.

And a fantastic taste it is.

The laksa noodles (or whatever they’re called) are cooked to just the right amount of softness and have a fantastic texture. The cockles, while sparsely distributed, are chewy and delicious, without having an overwhelming fishy taste (which was my gripe with several outlets I’ve tried). Of course, the main star of the dish would be the gravy, which is thick and creamy and packs a huge oomph that left me lapping it all up to the last drop after even I had polished off the ingredients.

At $3 for a small bowl, it’s slightly pricey and probably won’t be filling enough for a whole meal. Still, for a mid-shopping-trip snack (for those of you East-dwellers, Queensway Shopping Centre is a veritable treasure trove for affordable sportswear, most notably shoes), it is fantastic and, coupled with a glass of ice cold sugarcane juice, is the perfect note to end off a trip there with.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

ps. Just be sure to read the sign for the stall properly. There’re two competing laksa stalls on the first floor of Queensway Shopping Centre and the other’s offering is a pale offering of this one.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Hidden treasure at Khansama Tandoori Castle

Hidden in the farthest corner of Biopolis, which is a veritable maze of clean, futuristic buildings, Khansama Tandoori Castle is a relatively unknown, hard to reach eating place that serves up excellent food and great service at affordable prices.

Reaching the place at slightly after dinner time on a weekday, we were one of only two groups at the restaurant, a place that looked like it could sit a respectable crowd (which it could possibly get during lunch hour, attracting the office workers around who’re too lazy to take the 15 min hike out of Biopolis). Despite the lack of a crowd, however, we soldiered on, not only because we had read some very encouraging reviews online, but also because we had walked for over 20 minutes to get there and weren’t to be denied our treasure.

And treasure it was that we found.

While we were initially overwhelmed by the sheer number of choices in the menu, with some help from the service staff, we picked out a few dishes to share, choosing a selection of meats, vegetables and staple foods.

The aloo tikki chaat, which was a mashed potato patty filled with cottage cheese, green peas and gram daal was tasty, with loads of spices and a tangy zesty taste, and made for a terrific appetizer.

For meat, we shared a chicken tikka masala dish, which was boneless roasted chicken cooked with onion, tomatoes and simmered in a pan with light curry and tomato sauces. I liked the fact that the curry wasn’t spicy (in fact none of the dishes had me, a chilli-phobe, grasping for a drink at all). The chicken was not only soft and tender yet packing a strong punch, it also went well with the naan basket we ordered, which consisted of plain, butter, garlic and cheese and tandoori breads.

The naan were crispy and freshly baked and could, as the Gardenia tagline constantly, even have been eaten on their own. Unlike the cheap, tasteless naan I’ve eaten at other decidedly more hawker-styled eating places, the breads here weren’t greasy or oily and provided a satisfying and filling, but not overwhelming, staple.

The biggest surprise of the night came in the form of the navrattan korma, an assortment of fresh garden vegetables cooked in mild butter and cream sauce. While it didn’t look like much, the mixture had gastronomical oomph, with a thick, full, creamy taste infused with the essence of its ingredients. Upon tasting it, my friend commented that it was “glorious”.

The sole disappointment of the meal was the mutton kathi kebab, which had mutton slices and salad wrapped in roti. While not bad per se, it was unremarkable and turned cold (and consequently, tough) pretty fast.

My friends washed down their meal with mango and strawberry lassi (yoghurt drinks), which were lipsmacking and refreshing while I had a jal jeera, an odd concoction of cumin powder, tamarind, lime juice, mint, salt and sugar that my friend commented tasted like sprite with sour plum (which it really did). It was strange at first, but gradually grew on me.

For such a hugely satisfying meal (don’t let the small dishes fool you, the servings we had bloated us all up immensely), each of us only paid $20, which was a reasonable amount considering the quality of the food. Plus, the restaurant doesn’t charge the usual GST and service charge. (And for those looking for a hearty lunch time fix, apparently the restaurant offers a lunch buffet at around $10 per person)

With such great food, friendly service, low prices and an authentic ambience to the outlet, it’s no wonder that the restaurant garnered great reviews online (from the few people who’d been to it) and I’d definitely return with more friends. By far the best restaurant I’ve eaten at in months.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Khansama Tandoori Castle
8A Biomedical Grove
Immunos Building, Biopolis (opposite Buona Vista MRT station)
Tel: 6774 0300

Saturday, January 09, 2010

Rubber chicken at the Handburger

There are some restaurants which you just want so much for it to be good. It could be the promising menu, interesting ambience, friendly staff or even just the photos of yummy dishes. Whatever it is, you just wish for the outlet to live up to expectations.

The Handburger, at the newly-opened 313@Somerset, was one of those for me. The cheerful, spunky staff, interesting menu and the fact that their burger buns were freshly made in their own bakery, got me psyched up even before I took my seat.

I had the chicken caesar burger, which came with an unbelievably large chicken patty, bacon strips, mozzarella cheese and their home-baked buns. While the first few bites were tasty, the toughness of the patty eventually got to me. It took me way longer to cut it than to actually eat the whole thing.

Plus, since I never know how to eat huge burgers at swanky outlets (well...swankier than your neighbourhood MacDonalds) and just copied what everyone else seemed to be doing (eating the parts separately with utensils as though it was steak instead of just grabbing the entire burger with the hands), finishing the burger proved to be a messy affair.

The meal came with square cut fries which, while made from distinctly higher-quality potatoes than thosee of fast food joints and had a more solid, less greasy taste, were unremarkable.

My friends’ burgers - The Works (basically a mashup of onion rings, patties and other assorted meat cuts lumped together into a sinfully oily pile) and the tandoori chicken burger - were also disappointing, with a lack of cohesion in the ingredients and providing an underwhelming gastronomical experience.

To top it off, our shared plate of calamari didn’t live up to standards too. While less greasy than those in some other restaurants, they were utterly forgettable and nothing to write about.

It wasn’t all bad though. The sweet potato fries (which you can order instead of the usual potatoes) were grease-free and tasty and the nutella marshmallow milkshake (with three roasted marshmallows) was delightful.

Still, for all the promise the outlet showed, not to mention their impressive food presentation and cozy ambience (with bench seats, no less), The Handburger faltered at the most important part - the patty in the burger.

Eating at The Handburger was disappointing and, for the price we paid ($25 per person), I’m sure we would have gotten better at one of the many other burger outlets popping up all over Orchard Road.

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

The Handburger, 313@Somerset, B2-17/18/19
Tel: 65096214

Opening hours: Daily 11.30am - 10pm

Friday, January 01, 2010

Resolutions for 2010

Happy new year, everyone!

As always, it’s come the time to start laying down resolutions for the new year. While I’ll agree with most people that resolutions are mostly forgotten by April and that they’re notoriously hard to keep, I’ve always felt that, even if we don’t follow the letter, we can follow the spirit of the resolutions.

After all, even if we don’t achieve exactly what we said we would by the end of the year, at least we would have used them (when we remembered) as motivators and guides throughout the months.

My main resolution for 2010 would be to get a silver for my IPPT.

Ask any ORD-ed NSman and he’d tell you that health and fitness mostly goes down after leaving national service. Studies, work and other aspects of life often clog up our time and, without enforced and disciplined exercise, we wouldn’t have time to keep fit.

Thus, I’m going to set that goal for myself, not only so I can fulfill my IPPT requirement of the year and not have to go for remedial training (not to mention the cash incentive, which would be lovely to a poor student like me), but so that I would force myself to consistently exercise throughout my school term and try to keep fit.

Why not gold, then, you ask? Well, I know my limits and, after all, resolutions have to be tough but achievable right? I was never even close to getting a gold during my full-time NS and, now that I’m in school and have less time to train, I’d be glad to be able to hit my silver requirements.

Of course, being a university student, I’d also resolve to do well in my studies and try to get on the Dean’s List, which seems an increasingly phenomenal task.

What are your resolutions for 2010?