Halia (Botanic Gardens)

We had passed by Halia on many occasions when visiting Botanic Gardens but only decided to have a meal there recently to celebrate an occasion. 

We ordered the Broken Baguette Bruschetta ($10) to nibble on while waiting for our main course. Usually, bruschetta is served as grilled bread topped with garlic and ingredients such as tomato. Here, they separate the garlic, the tomato and the bread. What you get is a very fragrant garlic confit and a chilled tomato compote to spread on the little pieces of baguette. 

As mains, I ordered Halia's Singapore-style chilli crab Spaghettini ($26). Spicy and tangy, the generous portion of crab meat and pasta was satisfying.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Die Die Must Have Chocolate ($12). This was a nice portion for two to share. Chocolate-orange, chocolate-raspberry, basically chocolate-anything makes for a heavenly combination.

The two main ingredients in the dessert are chocolate and raspberry. The interplay between the contrasting flavours resulted in a delectable dessert- think sour and sweet versus rich and slightly bitter.

Besides the flavour, the texture of the ingredients were well thought out as well. Crispy pieces of cocoa nib tuiles, and raspberry and chocolate bits, were put against the pillowy chocolate marshmallows and smooth raspberry ice cream.

Service here was warm and helpful.

If there was one thing that stood out (besides the quality of food and great service), it was the ambience of sitting in the midst of lush greenery, while enjoying the live music by their resident band. I enjoyed myself so much listening to the live band rendering well-executed jazz classics.

Halia
Singapore Botanic Gardens
1 Cluny Road
Tel No: 6 476 6711 

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The Dunearn

We wanted to celebrate a friend's birthday today so we headed down The Dunearn. We sat outside and there was plenty of greenery (Botanic Gardens), which is really a beautiful sight, provided that there's some wind. Otherwise, all that will be running through your mind during your meal is when it can end so that you can escape indoors. 

Before our dishes came, we were served some foccacia bread. Can't emphasise enough how much I love foccacia. It was served hot and it was crispy on the outside, soft in the inside. However, my friend who loves butter stopped eating butter after a while because apparently it tasted weird. 

Anyway, I ordered the Mediterranean Chicken and Crab Meat Gumbo. New word learnt today- Gumbo! Yes, I've been living under a stone, but I just realised that gumbo is a stew or soup that originates from southern Louisiana. Anyway, it was a pretty good soup with moderate flavours, with a few chunks of chicken and minute shreds of crab meat. 

I also had the Baked Marinated Prawns on Bed of Balsamic Tomato Salsa served with Roasted Asparagus. The prawns were chewy and fresh, and the balsamic tomato salsa was served on a pie crust.

Overall, the food here is not bad. BUT, and here's a huge BUT for you, unless you can enter into the restaurant looking like you earn a five k figure a month, you might probably get served the same way as us. Served the same way? Yes, served like second class citizens just because we looked like we would run away after the meal was over. Admittedly, one friend was wearing slippers and that infringes the smart casual dress code. So, that resulted in two waitresses in the restaurant, huddling close together, and pointing at her slippers. Very polite, I see.

In the first place, we didn't even step foot into the restaurant and were seated outside instead. Secondly, even if you had politely walked out of the indoor restaurant to tell us that such footwear is not allowed, we would have accepted that it's our friend's failure to adhere to the dress code and went somewhere else instead. But, why do you point repeatedly at the slippers when it just looks so rude?

The waiter who served us told us initially that there was only finger food. We told him, we wanted lunch. And he was like "yeah, but our last order is at 245 pm". Okay, and it was 210pm when we entered the restaurant... so why couldn't you have just allowed us to order our lunch? After getting our way with the lunch (deservedly so), when we were eating, my friend signalled for him to refill her glass of water. So, he came, and walked away, without refilling the other empty glasses. Lots of initiative indeed.

In all, dress up like you're worth a million dollars if you want to enjoy good service. I won't want to go back again because I don't like being judged and treated like a second class citizen.

The Dunearn 
Bukit Timah Guild House (NUSS Graduate Club)

1F Cluny Road,

Tel: +65 6586 3260

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Noo Cheng Adam Road Prawn Noodle

I went to Adam Road for lunch because I was in the vicinity. Seeing that the queue for nasi lemak was ridiculously long, I settled for the prawn noodles, which I haven't eaten in two years.

(photo credit: The Hungry Cow)

While excitedly waiting for my prawn noodles, I made a horrible mistake- I read reviews on my phone. Tonnes of negative reviews with a odd positive review sticking out like a sore thumb. But since my memory of it wasn't too bad the last time round, I persisted in eating the prawn mee.

Luckily it didn't disappoint, even after 2 years. Indeed, $5 for a bowl of prawn mee is pretty expensive, considering that it's hawker fare. But think of the number of prawns you get, the slurp-worthy soup, and maybe you would willingly fish that $5 out of your pocket.

The thing I hate most about eating prawn noodles is that it's very troublesome to remove the prawn head. Here they remove it for you leaving the tail. Oh, but I would love it even better if they could clear the intestines of the prawn instead of leaving it there- nothing harmful, just unsightly. Prawns weren't wonderfully fresh but it's fine. The soup is sweet, albeit too little. The pork rib in the soup was so tender then it almost snatched the limelight from the prawns and the soup. The kway teow (I don't really like the usual yellow noodles) was fine too. And for the healthy, you get added vegetables as bonus for visiting their store!

Yes, $5 might be a little steep for prawn mee although I found that it was worth every dollar. However, don't take my words for real because I eat prawn mee only occasionally so I don't know whether this stall is better than the rest. Prawn mee experts, please give your take!

Noo Cheng Adam Road Prawn Noodle 
2 Adam Road Stall 27
Adam Road Food Centre
Singapore
Tel: +65 9693 7961

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Selera Rasa Nasi Lemak

This stall at Adam Road, Selera Rasa Nasi Lemak, is where the Sultan of Brunei goes to, when he comes to Singapore. (The Business Times, 6 Feb 2010) Food fit for royalty! Anyway, there are different sets of nasi lemak sold at this store which have fancy names such as Full House and Royal Flush, and that's because Mr Hassan, the owner of stall "like[s] wrestling and gambling."

The queue was long and it took around 25-30 minutes to get the food. But after I had two mouths of the nasi lemak, I found the nasi lemak really good. The stall owner attributes this to the top-grade ingredients, such as the chillies which are imported from India and high quality basmati rice.

I liked the rice the most. Some people may find that there's nothing special about the basmati rice, but I think the well separated texture gives it a more defined taste, along with the coconut aroma. As for the ikan billis and egg, they were pretty ordinary although the egg is fully cooked which I prefer over runny yolks. The chicken was crispy and hot. I also liked the chilli because it was very mildly spicy and mostly sweet. It would have been better if it were more spicy.  While I liked the sweetness of the chilli, my friend prefers his chilli not to be so sweet.

For $3.50, it's pretty worth it- only if you have the time to queue. Otherwise, just settle for something else. Also, many people have crowned this stall the best nasi lemak in Singapore. While I think it's not bad, I think that there are other stalls that can compare or are better than Selara Rasa Nasi Lemak.

Selera Rasa Nasi Lemak

Adam Road Food Centre
2 Adam Road
Stall 2 

Tel: 9843 4509

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