Came back to try out their sandwiches and they didn't disappoint! Lovely service and food from this quaint cafe, as always. The cafe menu has 2 more sando options compared to the one uploaded on Burpple; they are Smoked Chicken Sando and Luncheon Tamagoyaki Sando.
We ordered the latter—the sandwich is an appetising combination of sweet and savory of spam and Japanese omelette, with some tomato and mayo thinly spread between the bread. Toast was crispy and a lovely texture contrast to it's softer, fluffy egg and spam.
Not pictured is a chocolate cake slice we ordered. This month, their usual cakes on the menu are unavailable and switched out for cakes from their collab with Edith Patisserie. There are 4 flavors including Classic Chocolate Cake, Earl Gray Lavender & Lemon Passionfruit (the last one I can't RMB) at $8.50 each. They are however, still available under the Burpple Beyond deal. I am not usually a fan of chocolate cake but the rest of the flavours were out of stock, and in the end I must say this one was a nice treat! The cream was rich chocolate layered between moist sponge cake topped off with a piece of fudge, and wasn't overwhelmingly sweet.
Highly recommend this cafe. I feel like they are underrated or just off the radar due to their obscure location; shared this with a chatgroup with my neighbors who live nearby in walkable distance at Serangoon because this is a place I would vouch for:)
Clear Chicken Broth Ramen which came with a large drumstick!
Read more: https://www.misstamchiak.com/shinjitsu-ramen/
I usually go for their Mala broth but wasn't feeling like spicy food today, so I tried their pork bone broth which was interestingly reminiscent of steam boat soup. Would recommend if you are feeling like having something lighter!
We settled for this ramen restaurant and tried their signature ramen served with 3 types of pork ($14.90). Meat servings were generous but the noodles seemed a bit thin for what we are used to for ramen.
Had both the garlic and spicy broth. Garlic was light but fragrant, whilst the spicy broth had a slight numbing kick to it, but lacked flavor.
Topped up $4 to make it a set with crispy gyoza and iced lemon tea, both which weren't impressionable.
Had their Tiramisu Souffle Pancakes which were soft and easy to eat with just a spoon. The staff informed that the wait for pancakes or 15 mins but it takes slightly longer. However pancakes were not warm and more room temperature, which made it a lot less satisfying as there was no temperature contrast of hot pancakes against ice cream.
It was fun to waddle in their ball pit and sit in it, though.
A small quaint space in Funan, mostly with tables for two.
Ice Cream sandwiches came in 3 flavors— dark chocolate, milk chocolate and sea salt butterscotch.
We had the milk chocolate and sea salt butterscotch and preferred the latter. Ice Cream is on the lighter side and the cookie is chewy and easy to cut and eat; wasn't messy at all. Milk Chocolate was alright but not the best!
I had dinner here once years back when YardBird first opened, but never came back. The environment was a bit too noisy and rowdy to be enjoyable for intimate gatherings. Gave it another go and whilst still super noisy, we really enjoyed the food!
The only chicken we managed to order were chicken wings as the truffle hen main course I wanted was oos. The wings were crispy, but a little too heavily seasoned. We also had the burger, pasta and lobster Mac and cheese. All of these 3 main courses were outstanding. Since pasta isn't their speciality, I definitely didn't expect it to be that good! We had a salad served together which was a great idea as the food is heavy in flavor, and the salad was refreshing to have.
Special mention to the lobster Mac and cheese as it's the best one I ever had. The Mac and cheese comes with 7 types of cheese achieving this rich, full-bodied taste.
Two of the mains did take extremely long to come but arrived soon after we asked about them; it felt like they forgot our orders so it might be good to check sometimes.
All in all I think they might be my family's favourite restaurant at MBS now!
I have dined at LAVO on both occasions, and due to its prime location on the 57th floor of Marina Bay Sands Hotel, it is quite difficult to get a reservation on any day unless you book at least a week in advance. The concept of the restaurant is slightly confusing. It wavers somewhere between casual and fine-dining. The setting and the way the restaurant is furnished, together with the uniformed staff and price makes it appear more fine-dining, but they don't have basic things like placemats. Cutlery is set on the table and when you ask for new plates the waiter literally sets the cutlery onto the table with no napkin below, which is strange.
Beyond that, they seemed to be well staffed, but everyone is politely rude. Both experiences here with different company, it was extremely difficult to get the attention of a server to come take your order. Or even present the bill. Many staff would pass by but walk really quickly and pretend not to see you. Food also took extremely long to serve. 30 mins long after we finished our appetiser, the mains were nowhere to be seen. We had to check in on our orders again. They also didn't offer to change our used plates or cutlery and had to be asked to do so. And no, I tend to have dinner late so both times I was here during off-peak hours, meaning it's quieter than actual dinner service hours so no excuses.
Food is generally quite consistent and good. Pizza is made in an Italian wood-fired oven which is always good. Gnocchi is great, and so were the pastas I have tried thus far. I didn't enjoy their ravioli, though.
Unfortunately after my last dinner with them I have decided the food isn't worth the need for super advance reservations, the service and the long waiting time. I have tried doing takeaway service with them but most of the courses on their menu taste pretty bad cold. The restaurant also offers no scenic view from the 57th floor, unless you decide to have drinks and are lucky enough to get one of the few outdoor tables along the glass panels. Even so, the outdoor music is quite noisy and enjoyable only for groups in my opinion!
I've been wanting to try this as it's a signature appetiser dish at LAVO. Was it huge? Yes. Will I have it again? No.
Whilst I can appreciate that this meatball was big and cooked thoroughly without being overcooked, the meat was quite plain if had without the tomato dressing—in which I might add, was served quite sparingly. The meatball itself wasn't very flavorful and in fact quite plain, and the texture was really mushy. This dish simply lacked layers and everything was so soft and mush that the luxurious scoop of ricotta cheese on top couldn't salvage this dish.
I had this via takeaway and although not great, the ingredients used for their menu are nutritious and healthy. Rosti was stacked under and more on the soggier side, but the rest of the food was quite decent!
We tried their signature crab broth available at this branch. It was good, but wasn't satisfactory since the soup was cold before I was halfway through because it was served lukewarm. Been noticing this trend of ramen shops serving noodles in barely warm soup and it's a lot less acceptable from a restaurant than an eatery. Otherwise, food was good.
We had our dinner there on a weekend and it wasn't too crowded. Beer was good; I was surprised to learn that they brew their own beer since the place didn't look much like a bar! Asked the staff for a recommendation and tried a light, malty beer. Side of spam fries was great as well, but the mains we ordered could be better.
Both rice bowls had very hard, dehydrated rice, as if it has been kept and reheated for a few days.
Girl: The Spicy Mentaiko Salmon bowl came with pickled vegetables and edamame which was a nice touch, but Mentaiko was a bit too sour and light for my liking, missing the creamy, full-bodied flavor of Mentaiko.
Boy: Chix and Cheez felt overbaked, as the layer of cheese was quite hard when served.
I think it's a nice place to grab some beers with friends, but the food has room for improvement.
