Five & Dime

We paid a spontaneous visit to Five & Dime for dinner, bringing along three buddies! We've been here a couple of times for brunch and have loved their Eggs Benny. And now, its time to give their dinner a try!






Fish & Chips - $22
I felt that this was best eaten with your hands! The size of the pieces of crispy fish was perfect for your fingers to pick them up and dip them into the sweet ketchup and yummy tartare sauce. The tartare sauce was really special. It was really tasty I cleaned up the whole serving of tartare sauce!


The chips were crispy and really yummy too. The buddies were saying that the chips were unique and good. Sister N who ordered Fish & Chips too also praised the dish! Being one with a tiny stomach, she had great difficulty finishing this. I couldn't finish my fish and chips too and had to seek help from the other three pigs haha.

Fresh fish, great sauce, crispy chips and delicious on the whole!


Mac & Cheese - $16
This mac and cheese looks simple but as they say, looks are deceiving. Infused with creamy lobster sauce, this dish was tasty and contrary to popular belief, not the least bit "ger-lat". I was secretly jealous of XM who ordered this... HAHA. Three types of cheese make up the thick layer of fragrant cheese. So good! Might be a little small on the portion side for some though


Cajun Chicken - $18
Grilled chicken maryland with mashed potato, corn and tangy tomato sauce.
The mashed potato is hidden under the slab of chicken. Brother Z couldn't stop praising the mashed potato.. HAHA. Excuse me the highlight is the chicken maybe? Haha the chicken was tender and well-cooked! In Brother Z's words, this dish was "sick" and the mashed potato was "too sick" haha


The Burger - $23
As you can see, this is pretty huge. Haha and X said the burger was not bad

Our buddies were really pleased with dinner and we were really glad they liked it! I'm gonna get the mac and cheese the next time I go there. Hahaha. We wanted to try the youtiao churros but that wasn't on their menu anymore. Does anyone know if they removed it? We wanted to try the pork belly and the beef but they were out of it. Must be good! Will try them when we return the next time round!

Service was efficient and the waitress was very attentive and cheerful. I really like such people. They really make the whole dining experience better. 

297 River Valley Road
Weekdays -12 noon to 12 midnight (Closed on Tuesdays)
Saturday - 10 am to 12 midnight
Sunday - 10 am to 10 pm
Last orders for lunch at 230 pm. Last orders for dinner is 930 pm.


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Love, K

K's rating of Five & Dime: 8/10

The Sailors

Have you heard of The Sailors before?

This is the second time that X and I were here. We knew about this place because one of X's friend told him that you can get $1 oysters here on Monday nights.

We thought it was too good to be true but we were impressed the first time round. The $1 oysters were actually not bad! That being a year ago haha. And this time round, we brought along 3 other friends to see if this awesome promotion was still on. We've already had our dinner and we were at Robertson Quay in search of desserts when we remembered about the $1 oysters!

Located at Robertson Quay. The Sailors is within walking distance from Bella Pizza. Parking is readily available in the underground carparks. 






$1 oysters but still pretty quiet..

And we know why it was so quiet.

So much for FRESH oysters. The oysters didn't taste fresh and they had quite a strong "stench" (the weird taste) After finishing about 3 oysters each, everyone was complaining about the aftertaste and queasiness in their stomachs.

You may say that it's $1 and we shouldn't expect too much. Well, we'd certainly pay more to get better oysters. Everyone knows that oysters that aren't fresh will probably give you the runs. We weren't here to grab a cheap deal and end up feeling sick.

To purchase these oysters at $1 each, you'll have to order an item from their menu. It can be either food or beverage. The previous time we were here, I ordered seafood marinara and the portion was insanely huge but it tasted just alright.

The best part of this visit was probably the friendly manager who chatted with us.

If you're a fan of oysters and are interested to have an oyster night, you can head down to The Sailors on Mondays. Maybe their oysters will be fresher then.

By the way, speaking of oysters.
If you're heading to Lawry's, you've to try their oysters. TOO GOOD.

15 Merbau Road, Robertson Quay
Mon–Thu: 5.30pm – 1am
Fri–Sat: 5.30pm – 2am
Sun: 5.30pm – 12am

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Love, K

K's rating of Sailors : 5/10

Brunetti

It's been a long time since we've gone dessert hunting. It was a Sunday night and I was supposed to decide where to have dinner. I decided on Brunetti because I thought we could have dinner and desserts there.

When we got there, we took a long hard look at their menu for dinner. There were only a few choices and there was nothing really attractive so we ate at the food court before coming back here for desserts.








Outdoor seats


Sandwiches and pizzas


Chocolates


Pastries and "mini" desserts.
All the cakes/tarts shown here are miniature versions. The original sized ones are available too!
If you wanna try a number of desserts or do not want such a big piece of cake/tart, these will be ideal for you


Cookies, cakes and tarts.
Here are the tarts and cakes in their original sizes


Macarons and cakes


Gelato. Too many flavours to choose from




Flourless Chocolate souffle-$8

This was rich and just about the right level of sweetness. I'd recommend this for sharing as one might get a little sick of it after awhile




Lemon Tart Mignon- $2.75

The lemon curd had a pretty tough and rubbery exterior and wasn't exactly what we expected. Also the curd tasted artificial and strange. I had wanted the original sized one actually. Luckily, X convinced me otherwise


Seasalt caramel macaron and Chocolate macaron - $2.25

The macarons were definitely the highlight. The seasalt caramel one was awesome! It's a little chewy and everything was just oh-so-good! X didn't like it as much as the chocolate one because he said it was too chewy. Haha. The chocolate macaron was pretty damn good too! The ganache was smooth and delicious. I'll definitely return for their macarons!



Pear and cheese crumble- $10

We didn't think that this was very good. Firstly, there were too few pieces of pear. Secondly, the cheese and pear were too distinctly separated. The top layer consists of pieces of pear and blackberry jam while what lies underneath is a cheesecake with no presence of pear at all. Thirdly, the crust was neither crunchy or hard enough, nor was it soft. It felt more like it was soggy. Apart from all that, X liked the hint of blackberry which spiced up the taste of the pear. Also, the cheese was light and melted in our mouths.

A self-service system is employed in Brunetti. You order what you want, pay on the spot and carry them back to your table. For water, you've gotta ask for them at the counter too.

Brunetti was not as good as we had expected. Perhaps we should have tried their hot chocolate which is highly raved about. We've taken a look at their brunch menu and I guess we'll be back to try their truffle scrambled eggs. We'll try their hot chocolate then I guess!

#01-35, Tanglin Mall
Sun–Wed: 8am – 9pm
Thu–Sat: 8am – 10pm

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Love, K

K's rating of Brunetti : 6.5/10

Coca Restaurant (Taka)

Mothers' day dinner

My parents are not very adventurous people. So when it comes to food, they often prefer traditional or at least chinese-esque cuisine. Steamboat is the perfect solution. A good hearty meal round a hot pot is exactly what my mum would like.



I like it that the chicken stock doesn't start out too salty. As the dinner progresses, the meat and vegetables introduced flavours that made the soup just about perfect.


I have to say the menu list is not very extensive but at least the items available are all fresh and tasty. Some of the favourites would be their special wanton, fish glue and sliced beef. For those who do not take beef, they have sliced pork which is just as tasty.




Meat-wise, I think Coca provides enough to satisfy your craving. But for a seafood lover like me, i feel they do not offer enough choices in this category. Crabs, prawn, fish, cockles are what you have to be contented with. I was expecting better prawns and crabs but only to be disappointed with crabs that weren't fleshy and prawns that are a tad too small for my liking. I think my demands are reasonable considering the price per pax for the steamboat buffet.  

We ate the pork sukiyaki style, dipping them in egg after lifting them out of the hot pot.

Despite the lack of seafood, I still had quite a hearty meal. No complains about the freshness of the food. Service was pretty efficient. They served the items quite quickly after receiving the order forms. I would say Mothers' day dinner was a success.

391 Orchard Road 
#04-22 Ngee Ann CitySingapore 238874 
11am to 10pm

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Love, X

X's rating of Coca : 6.5/10

(CLOSED) Maison Ikkoku

X brought me here for brunch on our first anniversary. Very unromantic... Hahaha but well, it doesn't matter where we spend it, as long as we spend it together! Hehe I'm so sweet.

Okay so anyway we parked at the public carpark a distance away and walked to Kandahar Street. It was a Sunday so the whole area was pretty crowded. Maison Ikkoku was packed. We were pretty lucky as we grabbed the top spot on the waiting list.

 






They have a shop upstairs that carries accessories and apparel and so we went to take a look while waiting for our turn


Outdoor seating that nobody wanted to take because it was SO HOT.


White walls and cement floor








Vintage furniture


Equipment to make coffee


Cute cups sitting in the cupboard






Iced Mocha - $6.50
The coffee was strong and this drink was bitter with a slightly sweet aftertaste. Perfect example of bittersweet! X really liked it haha


Hot Chocolate - $6
This was rich and good! Definitely one of the better hot chocolates!

We waited about 40 minutes for our food to arrive.

Break of Dawn - $18.90
Port bratwurst, crispy smoked bacon, truss cherry tomatoes, sauteed asparagus, sunny side up, mixed greens with japanese peanut vinaigrette.


served with sourdough toast

The portion is quite huge. X couldn't stop praising the vegetables. He said "the veggie is really good!" at least three times. Haha I guess the peanut vinaigrette made it really delicious. The yolks of the sunny side-ups were runny and it was simple joy spreading the yolk over the buttered sour dough bread. I liked the pork bratwurst. It was tasty and juicy. However, the bacon was too hard and too crispy that it tasted a little burnt. It was like eating crackers. The bacon was left pretty untouched. Everything else went into our happy stomachs!


Salmon Florentine - $16.90
Toasted English muffins, Norwegian smoked salmon, poached eggs, home made hollandaise, sauteed asparagus.

See the smiley face? Haha

The hollandaise had a little chilli powder sprinkled on them. This made the hollandaise a little spicy, and tastier. The hollandaise was thick and full of flavour. The eggs were perfect and together with the yummy hollandaise, fresh salmon and toasted muffin, this dish was a winner! X said the asparagus was super nice like at least three times too. Hahaha. He's in love with their veggie.

We wanted to try their kong bak bao but they were out of it at around 12 plus. Must be really good!

We also wanted to try their dessert but we saved our stomachs for a buffet. Although food takes a little too long to be served but the staff took effort to inform us about the status of our food and they were pretty warm and nice. Haha we'll definitely be back for more! I really wanna try the kong bak bao haha

20 Kandahar Street

Mon - Thu: 9am - 9pm

Fri, Sat & PH Eve: 9am - 11pm

Sun & PH: 9am - 7pm

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Love, K

K's rating of Maison Ikkoku: 8/10