Colbar

I remember the first time we were here. It was a Saturday night and we brought Waffles here for dinner. It was my first time at Wessex Village and I fell in love with the serenity and quiet beauty of this hidden gem.

Parking is readily available in the estate(but Wessex gets especially crowded on weekends so you might have to wait for a lot) and it will take you about 3 minutes to walk to Colbar from your car. It's easy to spot so don't worry about not being able to find it!

This was our second visit, after 8 months, and we brought Waffles again! No pictures of him though because he was busy playing with other diners haha










There's a rustic charm about Colbar that we really like


My pork chop with wedges and mushrooms - $10

The wedges were crispy and the mushrooms were juicy. The pork chop was not bad but it was a tad too small for me.


Chicken with wedges and mushrooms - $10

The chicken was really good! The skin was super crispy you can hear the sound of crispiness as you cut it. It was juicy too! Haha The sides were simple but great to have. The sauce is unique, unpretentious and yummy. It might be a little bland for some but throw in a little ketchup or chilli and it's all good. The portion of the chicken was pretty small though, X had to eat the wedges and mushrooms off my plate as he was still hungry

On our first visit, we both had steak and we liked them too!

The service staff at Colbar were friendly on both our visits, stopping by our table to play with attention-seeking Waffles. Haha. They serve ice water or you can get a can of soda at $1.70. Many love to come here for beer and I can understand why. It's a great place to just kick back and relax, with a few bottles of beer and great friends, your night is bound is to be awesome.

If you're one who loves a simple yet charming place, I'm sure you'll like Colbar. Nothing fancy but it sure has a great ambience.


9A Whitchurch Road, Wessex Estate
Tue–Sun: 11am – 8.30pm
(Closed on Mon) - I think they do open later on weekends because we were there till around 9 on Saturday!

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Love, K

K's rating of Colbar: 7.5/10

The Tastings Room

When we first saw pictures of TTR which were in black and white on Delished's website, we thought that the place was really pretty. We saw the brunch promotion that Delished was offering and we were deciding between The Merry Men and TTR, and I decided on TTR because the choices were more appealing.

Little did we know that we were in for an utter disappointment.

The design of the place was really ugly. The weird combination of decorations, red light, giant silver balls dangling in the air and visible vents running across the ceiling did not appeal to us. X is and has always been very particular about the design of places that we go to. Even if the food is known to be good but the place does not look nice to him, he will refuse to visit the place. We were deceived by the pictures we saw.

(Pardon us for the red tint in the photos, we were sitting directly under a red light.)




However, I was still hopeful about the food even though I was disappointed with the place.

Our iced cappuccino and iced latte.
The coffee was of lousy quality.
It was really bland.


Mushroom soup with truffle foam. Not impressive at all.




Eggs Royale -15.90
The eggs were slightly overcooked and I did not like the hollandaise. There was too much butter and it was not tasty enough. The salmon was okay.


Eggs Benedict -15.90

The poached eggs were way overcooked. The best part about this was probably the bacon which was just average.


X also had the tomato soup which I couldn't get a proper photo of and didn't bother putting it up but well, he didn't like the tomato soup.

We were thankful that we visited TTR because there was a promotion and we paid about $32 for this meal. Had we have to pay $15.90 for each of those egg dishes, and probably around $25 for the coffee and the two bowls of soup, I might have strangled someone. It was an extremely disappointing experience and I will never return.

Marina Square #01-08
They have really odd opening hours so do check them out on their website or something if you're heading there

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Love, K

K's rating of TTR : 2.5/10

Casa Verde

Situated in the greenery of Botanics is Casa Verde(which means Green House in Italian). They're under the Les Amis Group which also owns Peperoni Pizzeria. This of course, made me think that the pizzas at Casa Verde will be as good as or even better than Peperoni Pizzeria's. Thus, I was keen to bring my family there for dinner(knowing how much they love pizza) and also because they allow dogs in their alfresco area. So we decided to have dinner there one Sunday evening. Casa Verde is located right at the visitor centre, which is nearer to the Nassim Gate entrance of Botanics. There is a sheltered parking area which is connected to a walkway which leads to Casa Verde.

It was raining really heavily as X and I were making our way there. It was pretty sad because that meant that we couldn't bring Waffles on a walk around Botanics.

So anyway, we reserved a table at Casa Verde beforehand as we were afraid of the Sunday dinner crowd. It wasn't as crowded as I had expected it to be when we arrived. It might be due to the rain. Their staff were really friendly towards Waffles. Waffles is extremely outgoing and he stands up to greet every human that passes by. Haha. The waiters did not shun him or look at him in disgust but they smiled and even asked about him. I like people who like my dog haha








Superdog!!



Okay, lets get to the food.


Pizza Rustica - tomato salsa, streaky bacon, asparagus, sunny side up - $23

I thought this was pretty good! The crust was of the right thickness and the ingredients tasted really good together. But X felt that it was just alright. I like all pizzas with a sunny side up in the middle. Haha


Sfilatino Casa Verde - mozzarella, ham and mushroom(spring roll style), served with tomato salsa dip- $24

This was their specialty.
However, we all thought that it was just average and there was nothing special about it. In fact, it was a little hard to eat as the crust was too hard. We were pretty disappointed as this was supposed to be their specialty.



My mummy has a weird habit of ordering fries everywhere..
So here's a basket of fries.
They were really crispy!


Calamari Fritti - served with arrabbiata sauce and tartar - $14
We liked the calamari! They went extremely well with the arrabbiata sauce(which actually tasted like the tomato salsa dip from the sfilatino )

Overall, we felt that the pizzas were pretty average. The best item was probably the calamari. Service crew members were attentive, friendly and efficient. They all wore smiles as they attend to us, whether it was the refilling of our glasses or the taking of our orders. We had quite an enjoyable time there.


Visitors Centre, Singapore Botanics Garden
Cluny Road

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Love, K

K's rating of Casa Verde : 6.5/10

(CLOSED)L'etoile

L'etoile which means The Star in French sits right at a cross junction. It catches your eye immediately with the huge words painted on the pillars. We decided to head to L'etoile for brunch on a Sunday, with stomachs empty of food but full of expectations.





L'etoile has two levels. Here's the first!

Cozy area with a strange guy...













Selection of cakes and sandwiches









The first level was more minimalistic and simple. Quiet and calming to the soul.


The toilet


Up to the second level




LOVED THE DESIGN OF THE ENTIRE SECOND LEVEL.


Cute vintage decorations and furniture


Isn't it beautiful?










So pretty


A corner for kids


That's the sewing table, used as a dining table here.

When I stepped into the second level, I went "WOW" It was amazing. The whole place was so delightfully pieced together with carefully selected furniture and decorations. I really liked the wall decals. A whimsically beautiful place it sure was.

Now, to the food.
We were utterly disappointed at the few options we had. There were around 5 types of sandwiches on the menu. And that was it. We were hoping for some delicious pasta or eggs or any other breakfasty items. But nah.

Looking for more? Desserts and drinks are just about everything else that is available.

We sure had a difficult time choosing from the limited options we were presented with.


Raisin Scone - $2.90
X said that the taste of raisins was too strong and you could hardly taste the scone. 


Ciabatta with apricot roast chicken. - $6.90
X didn't like it but I thought that the apricot roast chicken had an interesting taste. It was too dry though.


Ciabatta with smoked duck -$6.90


Oh smoked duck, how can smoked duck go wrong?
Yes it can, when it's engulfed by extremely strong pepper. I couldn't even taste the duck..

Needless to say, X wasn't happy with my choice of brunch location. And I wasn't happy either. The sandwiches are all pre-packed and wrapped up in cling wrap. They just lay in the fridge waiting for someone to order them and they are warmed up and served. I thought we should have left the place when we saw the menu but I wanted to give them a chance. Guess the only saving grace is the pretty second level and the absence of gst and service charge.

160 Owen Road
Tue–Sun: 9am – 8pm

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Love, K

K's rating of L'etoile's food : 3/10
rating of the place : 8/10

15% off total bill at Jimmy Monkey!

Hi fans! You guys should know how much we adore Jimmy Monkey by now. To share our love for Jimmy Monkey with you guys, we're proud and thrilled to present to you, our dear readers, a 15% discount at Jimmy Monkey on weekday nights! Awesome coffee, great food, unique setting and a 15% discount! How much better can it get? (:

Here's how our discount voucher looks like!



To be entitled to the discount, all you have to do is complete a few simple steps!

1)   Like Strictly Ours on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Strictly-Ours/12116944463932

2)   Like and share our post about this discount on your facebook page with the caption "Jimmy Monkey!" 

3)   Take a screenshot of the newsfeed as it appears on your facebook page and email it to strictlyours@hotmail.com (so we know that you've completed the simple steps and have your email address to send the discount voucher to!)

4) You'll receive a discount voucher with an unique discount code from us

5) Print it out

6) Head to Jimmy Monkey for an awesome night!

Trust us, Jimmy Monkey will make your weekday nights SO MUCH BETTER!

With all the love, 

X and K