Ms Skinnyfat

A Food & Travel Blog from Singapore

Can't believe it has been 3 years since Manhattan opened in Regent Hotel Singapore! After serving over 170,000 cocktails and 60,000 plates of gourmet bar bites centered on the New York boroughs, they have now updated their menu which draws inspiration from the five eras of New York. 
From the time of the European Exploration (1520 to 1730s), when Dutch explorers settled at the southern tip of Manhattan and the first settlers of New York developed their native way of life, Manhattan presents the First Voyage ($25).
Made from Mancino Vecchio, Rutte Old Simon Gin, Penfold's Father Port Wine, Luxardo Maraschino and Orange Bitters, this low-abv clay pot-aged cocktail is full-bodied with deep flavours and subtle cherry notes. Left to rest for at least two weeks to heighten smoothness and gain complexity, the drink is a tribute to the history of clay pots being used to store liquids during the time.
Looking for a romantic spot for a date or for an intimate wedding? Consider Lewin Terrace, a Japanese-French fusion restaurant housed in a gorgeous black & white bungalow and nestled amidst the lush greenery of Fort Canning
Take it from the experts, my dining party of bridal publication writers said that Lewin Terrace serves the best food in their category (boutique wedding restaurants i reckon). I definitely agree with the made-in-heaven marriage between Japanese and French cuisine, which was made better by Executive Chef Keisuke Matsumoto and his team of chefs. 
Lewin Terrace’s signature set dinner and seasonal lunch menus change every three months due to its produce-driven philosophy. Here's a look at what we had for their special World Gourmet Summit 2017 menu, along with some wine-sake pairing from their extensive and exclusive wine list. We were lucky to try the dishes prepared by Chef Keisuke Matsumoto and critically-acclaimed pastry chef Kiriko Nakamura from Tirpse for this collaboration.
Snack by Kiriko- A delightful pop of onion, shallots and blue cheese powder on a snappy cracker. We had the 2014 Muscat Bailey A “Seiro” L’Escargot” to start. This Japanese wine smells like lily and i loved the fruity and floral notes that end with honey.
What was once The Forbidden City is now VLV Restaurant, a restaurant- club lounge- courtyard-riverside dining spot. Well let's just focus on their food shall we?  restaurant that focuses on traditional Cantonese flavours.  Executive Head Chef Martin Foo whips up modern plates that take reference from traditional Cantonese flavors in his menu, and the restaurant has launched three new Lunch Sets—‘Creations’ ($48/pax; min 2 pax), ‘Tasting’ ($98/4 pax; max 2 sets/grp), and ‘Signatures’ ($138/4 pax; max 2 sets/grp).
From the Signatures menu, the cold starter Aburi Kagoshima Kurobuta Roll did not impress (a little dry) as much as Calamari Rings. Do not scoff at fried food. With a crunchy batter and thick juicy rings of squid, how can I not fall in love with these golden rings?
The radioactive green Crab Meat Spinach Soup may put you off but it's rich and tasty, and definitely green. 
Steamed to the precise second, the Coral Trout Head & Belly had me going for second third helpings. Fresh and chunky white fish dressed in black garlic and black bean, and garnished with Chinese coriander may be typical of a Cantonese steamed fish, but the charm was the surprise silky sheets of beancurd skin beneath the fish!
A little late here but WELCOME TO THE HOOD Firebake! Can I just say that Firebake Woodfired Bakehouse and Restaurant is my favorite dining spot in the East? I've been waiting with bated breath ever since I heard that Konstantino (or Tino) is gonna open up a place to sell his kickass sourdough bread made. Plus this passionate man was building a full-scale woodfire oven just so that he can bake his breads in (how's that for passion)! Of course, you can expect that I made many rounds around their block so that I can be the first to check them out when they open.
Tino is truly an artisan who is devoted to his craft. From raw ingredients to firewood to water, everything is as non-processed, sustainable, and close to its natural state as possible. Organic flour, natural non-iodised and non-processed salt, water that has been treated using Firebake’s elaborate Nordaq Fresh water filtration system, all these pure ingredients go into the making of a perfect loaf. 
Hump day alert! Because the best way to get through mid week is with some sake and bar bites! We have recently discovered an awesome Choinomi deal for Japanese sake and Otsumami (snack) at IPPUDO. 
Now now, how about a Tokkuri (sake flask) of sake + 1 otsumami for only $9.90? Trust us when we say that the portions are generous (for both). For this promo, beers and highballs are also available if you love to guzzle and rinse. The in-between munch of otsumami include crab fritters, chicken jamban and otsumami menma. Of course there are more choices on the menu but we certainly recommend the above. If one snack is not enough (DUH), go for the otsumami set at $15 that allows you to pick 3 items from the Otsumami menu. Or just go for three Choinomi sets (because 1 tokkuri of sake is never enough).

The Choinomi sets will be available all night long from 5.30pm onwards at the Mohamed Sultan Outlet and 5pm onwards at Shaw Centre Outlet.

Eat. Drink. Repeat.

IPPUDO
207 River Valley Road, #01-55/56, Singapore 238275
1 Scotts Road #04-22/23 Shaw Centre, Singapore 228208

A brand new dining experience has been introduced at Hard Rock Hotel Singapore by Resorts World Sentosa (RWS). Get your savory, sweet, and Masterchef desires satisfied here with their crab and seafood dishes, elaborate patisserie, and cooking classes with their celebrity chefs. 
The highlight here is really the cooking studio, named Cooking Sessions. I don't know about you but i absolutely love cooking classes even though i never cook at home. So don't worry if your cooking skills are less than stellar, you'll be under the good hands of the celebrity chef or the resident culinary expert. Plus there are a variety of cooking programmes - from decorating cupcakes and baking cookies for the little ones (for children four years old and above at $18 nett per child) to a fine-dining 3-hour multi-course menu cook-off competition which makes for an exciting team-building activity (from $120 nett per person).
Chef Forest Leong took us through the preparation of her Fried Fish Slices with Salted Egg Yolk Cream which is served at Forest. Her husband Chef Sam Leong is one of the instructor chefs at Cooking Sessions, along with Chef Douglas Tay from Osia Steak and Seafood Grill, and Chef Yew Eng Tong from Ocean Restaurant by Cat Cora.
Birds of a Feather, one of my favorite restaurant, has added new items to their awesome menu and they have also started their weekend brunch! WHEEEEE! Seriously guys, if you haven't tried their contemporary Western-Sichuan offering, you really should go now. Check out my earlier food review of Birds of a Feather here
While the first launch menu stuck with the more known flavors of Ma (numbing) and La (spicy), the have now introduced more complex sichuan flavors into the dishes! 
Starting with the small plates, how about a chilled Pig Ear Mosaic ($18)? I don't eat pig ears but these braised pig ears served cold with Sichuan red and sour dressing, and arrowroot noodles were pretty tasty, that's if you get past the squeamishness of the ears. My favorite was the chewy cold noodles with the numbing spice (ma la) sauce. 
One of my favorite Sichuan flavors is the salty garlic sauce. The Baby Octopus with Classic Sichuan Garlic Sauce ($18). Instead of the usual sliced pork which may be dryish, a blanched baby octopus is used instead. It's a good cold dish to start with and i loved the crunch from the black fungus.
Trust me, we all need that well-deserved break from weekend retail therapy and there's no better place to rest your legs and pockets at Hilton Singapore! They have just launched their new Endless Saturday High Tea at D9 Cakery
High tea at a cakery? Sounds like sweet stuff. Well there are sufficient savory bites IMO. Though the selection is not wide, i must say they are quality stuff that will satisfy. 
I love the buns here. Definitely the Pulled Pork Sliders (love the good balance of sweetness and tartness of the meat, sandwiched between fluffy buns) and Pork Floss Curry Pork Bun (remember to add on more of chef's house-made curry and more floss).
Hilton does the best hotel satays in Singapore I SWEAR. They are even better than Pan Pacific Edge's. I say it's among the best i've tasted in Singapore too. 
Super chunky, juicy, tender and well flavored!
The Laksa is quite lemak too! The surprise was the Liu Sha Bao (the skin is so fluffy and the tasty salted egg lava flows). Something special from the savory section is the Swiss Raclette that goes on top of your potatoes or focaccia. Honestly i don't get the hype because the cheese coagulates quickly. I'd rather have a selection of cheeses. 
Fall into a sweet coma with the six-meter showcase brimming with a selection of desserts highlighting artisanal cake creations all made using premium imported ingredients. Here, you get the bite size portions of the typical slices sold at D9. I say it's definitely a great way to help you find your favorite bakes! The chocolate fudge was a hit, i enjoyed the banana walnut loaf, and the pralines are great too. Plus there are the famous Hilton cheesecakes in pop size! They also have pretty desserts in jars too. 

Whatever you do, make sure you pop a few more of their macarons. THESE ARE DAMN GOOD. Nice crust (breaks a tad too easily) with dense flavorful ganache fillimg. Absolutely love the salted caramel one, and coffee, and chocolate, and lemon... Sorry no photos because they are all in my tummy!
Afternoon tea is incomplete without freshly baked Vanilla and Raisin scones with clotted cream. I love these perfect bite sized scones that have a nice crust on the outside and sticky density on the inside. Plus that clotted cream is yums!! Definitely one of the better scones around town.
The afternoon tea experience is complete with over ten handpicked selections of TWG tea blends. This Saturdate experience can be enjoyed at $41/pax with free flow coffee and TWG tea. Top up an additional $35 for bottomless rounds of sparkling wine, selected beer, white and red wines.

Hilton Endless Saturday High Tea at D9 Cakery
Lobby Level, Hilton Singapore
581 Orchard Road Singapore 238883
Sat: 12 - 2.30pm, 3 - 5pm 
The word “superfood” has always struck me as a marketing gimmick designed to justify a premium for plain-tasting, strange-looking food. The latest case in point: the Quinoa, a bland, textureless mini-grain that resembles the head of a red ant; at least, (I was told) red ants have quite a complex flavour. Quinoa, on the other hand, does nothing to food except to make it look Instagram-worthy.
I was therefore suitably skeptical when I was recently invited to a tasting session featuring chia seeds. The Chia, like the Quinoa, has all the trappings of an overpriced superfood. It is very bland and looks very, very strange (tadpoles without tails? mini eyeballs?). It also has a supremely weird texture – think slimy multiplied by the number of chia seeds you happen to dump into your mouth. But the session was to be held at Yan and Yan is nice, so I decided to give chia a chance.

The tasting session was hosted by Mr Freddy Yap, boss of home-grown health food label Superior Brand. During the session, he spoke with passion about the importance of eating healthily – something he felt strongly about because of his brush with bad health a few years ago. He introduced us to Superior’s house blend of chia seeds, a formulation of 5 varieties of seeds sourced from Mexico and Peru for their rich nutrient contents and superior health qualities: I have always known that the seeds can reportedly lower cholesterol levels or high blood pressure, or have high fiber content; what I did not know is that they are also a great source of omega-3 fats.

For all their purported qualities, the Superior Brand Chia Seeds ($18/bag) does not stand out for its taste. During the tasting session, the chefs at Yan sprinkled chia seeds onto my main of roasted BBQ spare rib and all over my bowl of rice soup with crab meat. We were also asked to drop a tablespoon of chia seeds into our cups of hot tea. The chia seeds do not improve or affect the taste of the food. What they do, however, is to enhance the nutritional quality of your food. And it is precisely due to its blandness that the chia seeds are versatile enough to be served alongside pretty much whatever one is having.
What about the slimy texture? Mr Yap has that covered. Superior’s chia seeds are processed using a unique micro-slicing method which allows each seed to be cut extra-thin while frozen. The benefits are multifold – none of the nutrients are lost because very little heat is generated during micro-slicing, unlike the milling method typically used for chia seeds. Also, the minute size of the micro-sliced chia seeds enable quick and easy absorption by the body, and in turn, faster delivery of nutrients. Most importantly to me, though, was the fact that the chia seeds had lost the slimy texture I expected after micro-slicing. The finished product looked more like black sesame or pepper than mini-eyeballs, which was a great plus as well.

Mr Yap recommends 2 to 3 teaspoons of chia seeds daily, to be used as a meal replacement or supplement. To ensure quality and freshness, his Superior chia seeds are packed in small, handy packets that come with its own Ziploc. Each bag can last about a month if consumed daily. I am a convert – my new morning ritual is to sprinkle the chia seeds over my morning cereal!
Superior is better known for their Premium Bird’s Nests ($960/200g of dried bird’s nest or $158 for 2 bowls of double-boiled bird’s nest), which came from Superior’s own swiftlet house in Malaysia. I am no expert on bird’s nest, but even I can tell that this was different from the usual stuff that comes in a small glass bottle that one can get from a traditional Chinese herbal shop (or worse, in a tetra-pak). 
For one, the bird’s nest (served with rock sugar syrup) does not have any plastic-like texture that I would associate with unnatural or manufactured products. What I had instead was silky and smooth, with just a bit of bounciness. The bird’s nest also came as long strands, not small broken bits and chunks. What was even more remarkable, though, was the taste. Typically, bird’s nest takes on the flavor of whatever liquid it happens to be cooked with. In this case, the bird’s nest has a subtle and pleasant hint of egg-white, which goes along nicely with the rock-sugar broth. It was certainly a very enjoyable and luxurious bowl of bird’s nest!
To find out more about Superior’s products, do check out http://finestfood.com.sg or #superiorfoodsasia From now till 15 May 2017, get 10% off your online purchase when you key in the code 'super0517' upon checking out your items! Time to get mummy some goodness! 

-Patrick
Ever walked into a whisky bar and got the daylight scared out of you because there are hundreds of bottles to pick from; you don't know what to order; and you happen to the only female in a room full of old men who all seem to know their stuff? Well The Wall at Tanjong Pagar aims to re-orientate the world of whisky drinking in Singapore, by making it friendlier, more accessible, more instantly enjoyable. 
It's a whisky education here at The Wall. A whisky tasting chart, indicating the characteristics of whiskies, from delicate to smoky, from light to rich, helps guide drinkers in selecting the type of flavor profiles that will suit their palates. Top-quality whiskies by the glass are offered on the finely curated list, at very friendly prices starting from $14 per glass, with whisky flights starting at $37. There's no need to invest in a bottle unless you are sure that you like it. 

Even if you are not into the spirit, it's interesting to give it a shot with some Japanese Sumiyaki-Whisky pairing. The Wall serves a comprehensive Sumiyaki menu that can be paired with whisky, unlike other whisky bars that offer limited or no food. So take your baby steps into whisky tasting with some comfort food in tow.
Whisky and sumiyaki pairing sets start from $49, and Chef’s omakase with whisky is priced at $168. We sampled the East Meet West whisky flight ($37) with Sumiyaki pairing at $12. Of the lot, my favorite was Auchentoshan Three Wood ($25/glass) which has a sweet but complex and intense profile. The Les Moissons ($18/glass), a French whisky is a really light drink IMO with grassy and herbal notes. Cinnamon was the highlight in the Yamazaki Distiler's Reserve ($20/glass). If you like spice, the Kavalan Single Malt ($18/glass) will suit you, and it ends with notes of barley, vanila, and tropical fruits.