Shaslik truly lived up to my expectation of being a old-fashioned hainanese style western restaurant according to much reading and research done on the internet before hand. I do not mean to mislead, but Shaslik is a Russian restaurant. As we arrived at the side door, there was a sign indicating a dress code that no slippers, shorts was allowed! In this day and age, people just don't care what they wear... Me and my companions, being functions of the modern 21st century looked at each other with a 'wow' look. We were greeted by the scents of the 80s or maybe even the 70s as we pushed the door into the restaurant. [Ok. I have never been in to the 70s...] Being one of the earlier patrons, we had the option of a table by the window. Lookin out, it was a stark juxtaposition of the modern highrise chic orchard road apartments and the nostalgic retro feel and smell of Shashlik.


Anyway, we were there to celebrate Mingli's birthday. It being her 4th and last celebration this month, I hope it was memorable for her since she likes or should I use the word EMBRACES AND ADORES retro and vintage things.


We ordered Escargots for a starter, and I had a Borsch soup, while Serena settled for a Mushroom Soup. I really liked my Borsch soup as it was rich with vegetables... hmm cabbage. I love the taste of cabbage. The waitress, a middle-age lady suggested I add Sour Cream into the soup and stir it in so that "it is smoother"... I gamely agreed although I wanted pure Borsch and Borsch only. After some experimenting, and since I didnt stir it all in, I decided to just leave the Sour Cream alone. Hiaks.

For mains, Mingli's really interesting. It reminded me of the Paper-wrapped chicken we have in Tze Char stalls... except that this was Paper wrapped fish. And the fish really tasted quite fresh and good! yummy. Peishi's was interesting too... An Ikan Kurau with Chicken... hmm. Basically the fish was slabbed on top of a piece of chicken, and there was buttery sauce around. Serena had a Shashlik of Chicken. Now. what's a Shashlik? Kinda like a kebab, and it was interesting how the wait staff pushed creaky wooden trolleys to our table with the kebab, then put it onto the hot plate immediately then served. so0 coollll! For me I had a Chicken Pozarsky. I have to have something that sounds different and interesting. Wanted a Chicken a la Kiev at first but they ran out of it. Basically my dish was a slab of chicken cutlet, that tasted really nice, I have no idea what it was marinated with, but the taste was just right - not too salty and bland. In fact, it reminds me a bit of pork chops. I like pork chops. Hahaha.

ラベル: Food

Had a nice evening at Brown Sugar Bistro on friday with my colleagues. Fortunately the location was not hard to find, just at Institution Hill along River Valley Road.


To start with, what impressed me the most was one of the starters/soup that my colleague had. So much so that I ordered one immediately. A Cappucino of Porcini Mushrooms, Herb Garlic Crostini. hmmmm.... and it tasted really good to my liking. Not too salty, not too thick, not too creamy. Most of the time I get Mushroom soup that is over creamy. Oh well, and despite being chopped or should I say minced so thinly and finely, I can still taste the mushrooms and bite into its cruchiness. At $10 - I would say it is pricey, but definitely worth a try.


My main was a little disappointing though.... we had pre-ordered the day before because it is a rather small set-up and because brown sugar bistro was expecting quite a crowd on weekends, they asked if the 10 over of us could pre-order first. Sure, not a problem... I ordered a Baby-spinach stuffed boneless Chicken Leg, Spaghetti Puttanesca. ($17)_Sounded really good to me, but I expected the spinach to be stuffed much more in the chicken leg but the spinach was falling out... haha... I dont mean to pick on vegetables here...

What my colleague had tasted really quite good. The Portabello Mushroom Burger, Mozzarella, Organic Cherry Tomatoes, Mesclun Salad, French Fries. I liked the way the portabello mushroom burger tasted with the bread... just felt right, and though it looked ordinary, tasted really good.






Next came the sin of the evening because we each already had a slice of Mango Cheesecake from Intercontinental... The desserts!!!


Molten 100% Varlhona Chocolate Cake with Rasberry Coulis, Vanilla Bean Ice Cream ($12) According to one of my colleague who is a foodie, Varlhona is the top grade or most expensive chocolates around. To me, a non-chocolate fan, I dont really bother but this chocolate really tasted good! The moment the fork sank into the pudding shaped chocolate cake, the chocolate was oozing out like lava from the side.... whooooozzzzeeeee....... To quote another colleague, "If we are going to put on weight eating chocolates, might as well eat the best!" Haha.. i like this...


Another colleague ordered the Sticky Date Pudding with Brown Sugar Butterscotch, Vanilla Bean Ice Cream ($12). I've never had sticky date pudding but judging from the very fact that the pudding truly tasted of dates, and was not too overpowering, I pretty much liked it too.


Overall, the ambience was also good. Despite being small, it was cozy and though there werent many wait staff, they attended to our requests straight away as well. Not too bad, only thing is, I would suggest revising some of the prices, especially the mains, mainly based on the proportion of the food on the plate... i did expect a bit more :)

ラベル: Food