DOMVS, The Italian Restaurant at Sheraton Tower Singapore is showcasing a new menu which plays on the classic Italian flavors. Sure I've been to tea at and dinner at Li Bai (read review here) but I didn't even noticed that there's an Italian restaurant in the hotel! So anyhoo, here is what we tasted.

I liked that the restaurant has ample space between dining tables so that one can dine in peace. There's certainly a posh feel to the restaurant.

Starting with appetizers. I didn't expect much from a grilled squid ($22) dish but was delighted by this one. I maintain that fresh seafood should be done simply and seasoned lightly. And this was really fresh and I loved that char on the tentacles.

The Vongole ($22) was also another favorite seafood dish that night. The best way to eat this white wine clams? Remove all meat and dispose all shells before digging in. Delayed gratification worked extremely well. Make sure you dunk the garlic toast in too. Soo gooood!

I wasn't too impressed with the Wagyu Beef Carpaccio ($25) which was really bland. I couldn't even taste much of the beef.

Lobster Bisque ($28) was a good choice with rich crustacean flavors and chunks of lobster. Gotta say that the freshly baked croissants took some of that limelight away from the seafood stew. 

My favorite main course was the succulent Lamb Chop ($48) doused in a coffee sauce which isn't too overpowering.

Beef Lasagna ($36) had an interesting presentation. Each slice is made individually and baked in a giant pasta sheet which kept the lasagne moist. I thought the dish could do with a more acidic meat sauce. 

The Homemade Basil Tagliatelle ($32) was served al dente atop a delectable bed of fried Eggplant. The homemade pasta was cooked with a slightly piquant Tomato Sauce and topped with salted Ricotta cheese. The dish was kinda bland for me as the basil flavor didn't quite come out. I enjoyed the eggplant the most in this dish.

Duo Seafood ($60) was a motley crew of poached Boston Lobster, battered Red Garoupa and Italian Rice in a Tomato Seafood broth. The presentation confused me and did nothing to enhance the flavors. The garoupa went to waste with that deep frying imo.

We tried 3 desserts, the Salted Crème Caramel ($18), Strawberry Tiramisu ($18) and Banana Strudel ($18), of which only the banana strudel impressed me. Banana isn't my typical choice for a dessert as i thought it to be too heavy but this was surprisingly light, even after all that feasting. The thin and crispy filo pastry is certainly worth a mention. The other desserts were too sweet for me. 

Hits and misses at DOMVS but i guess with the extensive choices, the overall experience wouldn't be too bad. An affordable three-course Executive Set Lunch, priced at $42/pax is also available. 

DOMVS 

Sheraton Towers Singapore

39 Scotts Road Singapore 229230

Tel: +65 6737 6888 

Absolutely loving the cafes popping up in my hood and the latest addition is Sunday Market at Lim Tua Tow Road. This cool spot serves up an Asian-inspired fare of Sirloin Rendang Toast ($15.90), Roasted Duck Pancakes with garlic hoisin sauce ($12.90) which gives diners something other than the usual Eggs Benedict for brunch. 

We had to get ourselves the famous Bangkok Toast ($10.90) which was a cinnamon thick sweet brioche toast with Matcha Green Tea custard, served with Thai milk tea ice-cream. This is the first time i've had Bangkok Toast and i had absolutely no idea what to expect. 

Well, it looked pretty much like a regular french toast. That is until you cut it through and bite into it! 

The fluffy brioche was soaked in a sweet milky liquid (probably condensed milk) which would satisfy any sweet tooth. I love every component of this dish, be it the intense matcha custard or the candied exterior of the toast. It also comes served with a Thai Milk Tea ice cream. Sadly, that was a little more icy than milky. Anyway, LOVE LOVE LOVE this one. 

Another stellar dish was the Pulled Duck Sandwich ($13.90) which is a shredded duck confit paired with creamy slaw, orange brown sauce and crispy duck skin. The serving was damn big and we were stuffed by the end of it. 

Even though the toast looked really heavy and huge, it was actually very airy and i found the meat to bread ratio to be perfect. This brioche is more buttery and savory compared to the Bangkok Toast and the meat was juicy and very savory. Another must try at Sunday Market. 

Other savory dishes that i may consider trying would be the Waffles. They have it with Fried Chicken ($11.90) and also Smoked Salmon and Avocado ($14.90). The latter is served with a cheese ice cream! Interesting hur! 

Sunday Market also does other homemade ice-cream with Asian inspired flavours such as Honey & Fig, Yubari Melon Gelato, Yuzu Sorbet, Kyoho grape, all at $3.50 per scoop. You could do it with waffles too ($6).

Adequate coffee, nothing fantastic. Give their milk tea a shot instead. But whatever you do, make sure you at least get yourself a Bangkok Toast!

Sunday Market

22 Lim Tua Tow Road Singapore 547772
Tel: +65 6287 8880
Weekdays: 1pm - 11pm
Weekends: 11am- 11pm

Super delayed post because i've been caught up with all the other eating and just got reminded by this post sitting in my draft box! So here the delicious Cake Spade which you guys probably all know about already but nevertheless worth a mention because their cakes are so yummeh!

I've been meaning to give them a try for the longest time but every time it comes to my mind, they're usually closed. So i was determined to buy some back when i passed by, even though i had no cake craving whatsoever. The 3 flavors featured here are (from top to bottom), the Strawberry Tofu Cheesecake, The Hummingbird and the Spiced Carrot Cake.

On the much raved about Strawberry Tofu Cheesecake ($5.90), i'd say it's just the regular strawberry hearts from the traditional bakeries. There was a nice graham base but the rest of the cake (could i call it that?) was very gelatinous (think Jell-O consistency). And that imo is not a good thing unless you're 5.
I was surprised by the Hummingbird Cake ($5.90) because i didn't expect to like it so much. It's a banana cake with pineapples and coconut. It may sound really heavy but it wasn't. In fact, it was a moist and light cake with a tinge of banana and a trace of pineapple. The coconut was simply the icing on top.

I liked the Spiced Carrot Cake too but not everyone would take to this really dense and flavor packed cake. Chunks of carrots with nuts and dense moist cake spiked with cinnamon. This tasted of Fall. Mummy thought it was more like a fruit cake though. The layers of vanilla cream cheese made this cake even more so addictive. Yums!

While the cakes did a great job, the brownies were just bleargh. The Oreo Cookie Brownie ($3.20) was really oily and bland. The brown paper bag that carried the brownie was soaked in no time and if you squeeze the slice a bit, you can see the oil oozing out. I only tasted sugar and fats in this one and the chocolate was sorely missing.

Cake Spade is really small so it quite made sense for takeaways. To locate it, well, it's around the corner from the famous Keisuke Ramen (read review here) shop at Orchid Hotel. Cakes are sold by the whole too and are priced $52 onwards. Tarts are also available ($4.20) and they have a small selection of coffee and tea should you choose to dine in.

Cake Spade

1 Tras Link, #01-06
Orchid Hotel, Singapore 078867
Tel: +65 6444 3868
Mon - Thu: 12 - 8pm
Fri - Sat: 12 - 10pm

I could live on sandwiches like the Europeans do. Well, that's if the sandwiches are the hearty types Gæst (pronounced as Guest) makes. This Nordic sandwich shop in CBD is run by Danish owners Kim and Stinne and they serve freshly baked breads daily from 7am and yes, everything is made from scratch.

I wanted to visit Gæst before my Norway trip to get an insight of this Nordic cuisine but that didn't happen. Now that I'm back, I'll give you a comparison report. I've not seen anything remotely close to this awesome brunch I had at Gæst. But if there's anything this standard and this amount, be prepared to give up your arms and legs. The food in Norway is terribly expensive and just really meh.

Back to Gæst. To tackle their sandwiches for a weekday lunch, the strategy is to dress for a picnic and to get out of office before lunch time. The small kitchen churns out limited quantities of bread and you probably gotta wait to dine alfresco while they prep your sandwich (it takes a while). The better alternative is to head there on the weekends like I did and yes they finally decided to open on Sundays as well. Brunch items are served from 9am on weekends and the menu is different from the weekday one.

Thankfully, the signature Pulled Pork Sandwich ($14) is available on the weekends too. One simply has to order this. You gotta screw your diet plan a little or work doubly hard after digging into the roasted pork with crunchy crackling. My favorite part was the refreshing orange marinated red cabbage and with apple slices. The juiciness helped to balance the slightly dry pork that was lacking a little in flavors.

I would have gone for the Scrambled eggs with smoked salmon ($15) but the other Mister C had a different idea so it was the boring Brunch Plate ($20) for sharing.

Well, I guess the supposed highlight of this dish is the Danish style omelette with potatoes and bacon. This is quite like the Spanish Tortilla in terms of concept but turned out to be more homecooked chinese fried potato egg. I enjoyed the sourdough bread on its own with the rhubard compote, brie, caramel sauce (love!!) and cream cheese.

Other weekend items include Muesli ($7) and Potato Sandwich ($14), which I thought would be a great vegetarian option with salt boiled potato, lemon and salt marinated leeks, hazelnut and rye crunch with pea tendrils and smoked mayonnaise.

Coffees are strong and decent enough, though a little on the bitter spectrum. I'd probably give their refreshing elderflower and rosemary soda ($5) a shot next time.  

GAEST

21 McCallum Street, #01-01 

The Clift, Singapore 069047

Tel: +65 6634 0922
Weekdays: 7am - 9.30pm
Weekends: 8.30am - 3.30pm

Finally getting down to doing some travel posts and this is on my Kyushu, Japan trip. I've previously blogged on my SQ business class flight from SIN-FUK SQ656 (read about it here). 

We arrived at Fukuoka at 0825 and was bound for Yufuin, Oita. Most of you probably have no idea where's this and what's there to do here. Well, Yufuin is famous for her hot springs (onsens) and extremely popular with the domestic tourists. It is located beneath Yufu-dake (Mount Yufu is a volcano) and is a really chill town with nothing much to do. Well, the main purpose of this trip was to chill at the ryokans so that's perfect for me.

If time affords, I would highly recommend the scenic JR Yufu No Mori train from the Hakata station to Yufuin (4680¥). It may take some time though as you'll still need to make your way into Fukuoka city center. Well, to save time, we took a bus from the airport to Yufuin which was also cheaper.
Check in for the ryokans is pretty late and we arrived approximately 2h before the 3pm check in time. After dropping our luggage, we headed out to explore the town. The scenery immediately put me in my holiday mode.

One of the main sights, Kinrin-ko aka Golden Scale Lake. It's a nice 15mins stroll from our ryokan, along the main shopping street, to the lake. Well I was expecting it to be bigger but it was just a large pond I guess. Nevertheless, a nice place to have a spot of tea. 

The Yufuin Floral Village felt like a Christmas market with little European houses and they also have a petting zoo on site. I felt like a kid again feeding hungry rabbits and little ponies. So idyllic!

The main shopping street is where most of the action is. Get your souvenirs and snacks along Yunotsubo Kaido. 

Couldn't resist a snack as usual. This potato croquette store seemed pretty famous with all the newspaper clippings hanging around the display. They have quite a number of flavors and we just randomly picked one to try. Nice crunchy crust with a creamy and tasty meat and potato filling.

We then popped into Cucu.Chi cafe which has a lovely outdoor garden with a view.

My guide to eating in Japan is just to leave all guidebooks at home and just wander into any eatery that you fancy. I've honestly never had a bad meal in Japan before and this turned out to be a great meal.

Our Yakiniku (sautéed beef) bento with some Japanese sides like botan shrimp, tamago and some maki. Comes with tea as well. The meat was very well seasoned and tasty.

Of course, sweets are a must. Just look at the presentation of this one!

Cucu.chi also has a candy store right next to the cafe and I went crazy with all the precious and exotic jams! They also have these amazing brown sugar chocolate with nuts that I could not resist. Make sure you grab a thing or 2 from them.

Another place to get some really good sweets at Théo Murata/B-speak. They are housed in the same spot and there is also a ryokan by the same group called Sansou Murata.

B-speak has this really popular Swiss roll which is called a P-roll and they've been serving this since 1999. Sadly it was all sold out at 2pm! Bah! We settled for the vanilla bean pudding (it's probably a panna cotta) with a nice brown sugar syrup at the bottom. Well if you missed tasting the P-roll, there are some bakeries near the train station which sells Swiss rolls and other delicious Yufuin cheesecake as well.

Yufuin is a good spot to chill out for a day or 2. There are some private ryokans that may be open to tourists but I'd certainly choose a ryokan with decent private onsens. We didn't do much after heading back to our ryokan because it was simply too lovely to leave. Will update with my ryokan stay at Ryoso Yufuin Yamadaya soon. :)

xoxo

Travelerintransit 

A japanese food craving had me set out looking for some under the radar joints in Singapore. Thanks to V and her recommendations, I checked out The Flying Squirrel, a hidden laneway restaurant off Amoy Street that does a fusion Japanese cuisine. Oh I shudder at the fusion/mod tag but well no prior judgment. Ultimately it's the taste of the food that matters.
Look out for TFS signboard when you're walking along Amoy Street. You may simply miss the entrance which is in the left fork. The half-a-shophouse space is narrow but cosy. Reservations certainly required as they only sit about 30 diners max. The bar seats didn't look that comfortable and I saw no place for precious bags to be placed. The good thing is that you'd get to see your sushi being prepared behind the counter.

Chef Kannu helms the kitchen and he used to work in a defunct sushi restaurant, Inagiku, at Fairmont hotel. I'm going to do things a little different by showcasing the highlight first because i can't wait to share it NAO. 
Do not leave The Flying Squirrel without eating the TFS Chirashi ($25)! To set expectations right, it's not a true chirashi but more like an Anago don with sashimi sides. Just look at the proportion in comparison to the different sashimi! The anago was one of the better anago I've had in Singers and the pillowy texture with that light sweet sauce was amazing on its own. I also liked the combination of sweet sauce on the heavily vinegared rice but the rice could be more moist on its own though. The other standard sashimi included salmon, maguro, hamachi, octopus, shrimp, hotate, salmon roe and tamago.

There are mains available like Wagyu Burger ($36), Miso Gindara ($26) or Curry rice ($18) but nothing quite like the TFS chirashi.

We also ordered other sides such as the Mini Charcoaled Udon ($6) with soba jelly. Chewy noodles these were but the dipping sauce was on the bland side. I guess all the flavors went into the cool jelly.

The soba jelly paired a lot better with the Onsen Egg ($6), which had an amazing gelatinous and translucent yolk. I do not recommend sharing, you'd thank me for this.

Back to the sushi (well TFS seems to do this better than the cooked items), you have to order at least 3 sushi or sashimi in one order. Again, go for the Anago ($7.90), which IMO is really cheap. We weren't too impressed with the Salmon ($1.50/$2.20) mainly due to the rice (again a little too dry for sushi). Makis ($12 onwards) and handrolls ($5 onwards) are available too or if you wish, sashimi platters ($45) or the omakase ($125/pax).

It's a good thing that we weren't quite impressed with the beer variety at The Flying Squirrel because that led us to the super cool speakeasy bar opened by the Oxwell & Co. dudes, Operation Dagger. More on this hipster cocktail bar in a bit!

Overall, i liked the vibe at The Flying Squirrel and of course their TFS Chirashi. Certainly where i'd head back when a fusion chirashi craving strikes!

The Flying Squirrel
92 Amoy Street #01-02, Singapore
Tel: +65 6226 2203
Mon - Thu: 11am - 11pm
Fri: 11am - 12am
Sat: 3pm - 12am