Tetsuya's @ Syndey Australia

Tetsuya's @ Sydney Australia (Score: 4.5 out of 5)

Japanese style degustation. Fine fine dining Japanese. Surreal food. Unbelievable dessert. How do they prepare that again? Can I have seconds? Can you give me more of that signature dish please. 

Your a foodie? You don't mind paying $300 per person? Your in Sydney? Then you must must visit this place. 

 

The Resaurant

Sorry, had to borrow a pic.

The Degustation

Fresh Bread with Truffle Infused Butter

This is yummy. I think I had 6 pieces of bread and 2 cups of butter. The truffle infused butter is just soooo good. i have to learn how to make this.

Coffee? Nope that ladies and gentleman is Chestnut soup.

Pacific Oysters with Ginger and Rice Wine Vinegar

The only problem with this dish is the fact that I had fresh oysters from the Fish Market the day before and those were just better than these (and much cheaper too).

Monbazillac Des Anges

Wifey prefers very sweet white wine and I have to say this was simply just the best sweet white wine that we've had. It blows Sweet Lips away.

Scallop Like Oysters with Roasted Rice Vinaigrette

This is probably the strangest and the least favorite dish from the menu. I just didn't understand what they wanted to serve us. 

Salad of the Sea

Marinated Scampi with Walnut Oil and Egg

This was very good as well. Each dish here was fresh and this is no different. See that yellow patch on the left side? That is an eggyolk. Believe me or not, even that tastes different. (and good different).

Confit of Petuna Ocean Trout with Apple & Endive

Unpasteurized Ocean Trout Caviar

This is Tetsuya's signature dish. It simply is the best piece of fish that you can have. I can eat this over and over and over again and not have enough of it. When you see it, you might say huh? Is this suppose to be special? Trust me, this is special. 

I actually ate this very slowly just to savor each and every single bite.

Snapper with Soy Butter & Nameko Mushrooms

Roast Breast of Duck with Eggplant & Corn

Slow Braised Beef Short Rib and Pickled Mushrooms

The only meat dish in the menu but Tetsuya just did beef ribs justice. It melted in my mouth and just had layers and layers of flavor.

Pear Sorbet

Apple Granita with Mint Ice Cream & Basil Jelly

The pear sorbet and apple granita was a God send as we already had layers and layers of flavor in our palettes by the time it reached this stage. It was refreshing and just cut through a lot of the different fat we've had earlier.

Date and Coffee Brulee

Some restaurants serves creme brulee and then tetsuya serves you creme brulee. They probably shipped the milk from some remote place in Japan cause it was just superb. 

Chocolate and Hazelnut Marquise with Cognac Ice Cream

This is the best dessert (period). It tastes as good as it looks. The chocolate was rich and creamy and simply sinful. 

Coffee

Price and Value

For food, I would say that this is one of the more, if not the most expensive, treat that we have had. We paid about SGD 275 per person. That includes the degustation menu and the wine. 

We did decide to try Tetsuya in Sydney rather than the Singapore restaurant as the branch in Marina Bay Sands charges about 500 per head. Perhaps we will try that in one during our golden anniversary.

Rating:

Food - 4.5

Ambiance - 5

Value - 4

Service - 5

Overall 4.5 of 5

Repeat Factor (No!! No! Yes Yes! Yes!!): 

Yes!!

Restaurant details: 

Website: http://www.tetsuyas.com/

Address: 529 Kent Street, Sydney NSW 2000

Numnef: +61 2 9267 2900

Reservation is a must.

Jamie's Italian @ Vivocity

Jamie's Italian @ Vivocity (Score: 3.5 out of 5)

Jamie Oliver is a very popular chef and restaurateur. His latest business venture? Nothing other than an Italian restaurant in Singapore. So what do we get if we mix a British Chef, serving Italian food, in South East Asia? A good Italian restaurant. Expensive but still good.

The Restaurant

Yes, There is a queue and it'll probably be there for the next 6 months.

There are still the flowers for the opening week.

Freshly made pasta. It may not be traditionally hand made, but it's still fresh.

The Menu

Its quite a simple menu and that is how it should be. Quality over Quantity.

Our Orders

Plank of Meat - $15 per person. Above is one order.

This is Jamie's take on meat cold cuts and had a piece of prosciutto, pistachio mortadella, bresaola, and spicy soppressata. It also had buffalo mozzarella, pecorino (with chilli jam) and beet root salad. This was actually yummy but my only angst was that it should had a bit more. Maybe 2 slices of each item?

Bread Basket - $6.00

I'm a sucker for bread and this mix was good. For $6.00 i'd expect a bit more or at least it should have been served hot or freshly baked. 

Jamie's Italian Burger - $27.50

When my burger arrived, the first question that popped to my head is "How the hell will I eat this?" It was easy, split the bread and eat it layer by layer. Yup not the classic way but I don't want to pig out here. 

In the menu they are selling this as a "wagyu" burger. I've had my share of wagyu burger and even after this I still need to know why restaurants will insist of branding burgers as wagyu. This burger patty didn't melt in my mouth.

Don't get me wrong, this is a damn good burger. I just don't like it being branded as wagyu. The burger is the star of the dish. It was cooked medium and was seasoned very well. I loved the smoked mozarella and pancetta but I would have liked some sides for $27.50. Probably some potato wedges or salad?

Wild Mushroom Ravioli - $16.00

I'm a fan of ravioli and I can say that this is good. But that is the issue, it was only good. I should be saying thinks like fantastic or mind blowing or even original but unfortunately its none of those. 

We should have order the risotto. The other table ordered it and it looked more interesting and appetizing.

Price and Value

We paid $75.00 with everything above and no drinks. That makes it roughly $37.50 per head. I'll probably visit the place again but not for a long time. I think that there are other Italian restaurants in Singapore which is more value for money or probably more special at the same price. 

I should probably look for that Italian Restaurant...

Rating:

Food - 3.5

Ambiance - 4

Value - 3

Service - 3.5

Overall 3.5 of 5

Repeat Factor (No!! No! Yes Yes! Yes!!): 

Yes

Restaurant details: 

Website: http://www.jamieoliver.com/italian/singapore/home

Address: 1 HarbourFront Walk, VivoCity, #1 165-167 Singapore 098585 

Fax: +65 67335500

Chili's @ JCube Mall

Chili's @ JCube Mall (Score: 2.5 out of 5)

When I was still in Manila, one of my favorite restaurant was Chili's. I often went to the branch in Greenhills or Greenbelt. It may not serve authentic dishes like their quesadilla but it didn't matter. The food was abundant, hot, and actually taste good (I've eaten here often enough that I can make a statement that they are not always consistent. I'd say about 1 of every 8 visits will be disappointment).

The Chili's in JCube is probably the worst Chili's I've ever visited. It feels like it will close soon. The staff seemed to be void of emotion though they were attentive. But the unforgivable mistake was the food. It just didn't have the pizazz of the Chili's that I know. 

The Order

Fire Grilled Corn Guacamole - $11.00

BTW - this was what it looked like in the menu. So judge for yourself.

The tortilla was the star of this dish which wasn't suppose to be. It should be the guacamole with toasted corn which was quite bland. The salsa though was how i used to remember it and was actually good.

Wings over Buffalo - $15.00

Wings as advertised.

The wings over buffalo was cooked to dryness.... I love eating chicken wings and this was just over cooked. But I still did enjoy it (but only a bit). 

Fajita Trio - $35.00

As advertised...

Our main course: Fajita Trio. Beef (dry), Chicken (drier), and Shrimp. My angst against this was that it just didn't have enough caramelized onions and pepper. The pepper was actually under cooked and the cut was, as you can see, just too big. Secondly, the beef and chicken was just dry... it won't be surprised if this was cooked last night and just cooked now. And there is definitely something wrong with the beef as it had a grayishness in it. 

Price and Value

All in all we spent around $71.00. I wouldn't mind paying for food but I mind paying for bad food. And this is bad food. Either this place needs to get a refresher on Chili's standards or new management. I hope it does because it leaves a bad taste for Chili's in general. I've tried the branch in RWS and it was good. 

Rating:

Food - 2.5

Ambiance - 3

Value - 2.5

Service - 2.5

Overall 2.5 of 5

Repeat Factor (No!! No! Yes Yes! Yes!!): 

No!

Restaurant details: 

Website: http://www.chilis.sg

Address: 2 Jurong East Central 1, #03-10 JCube, Singapore, 609731

Numnef: +65 66843811

Reservation is available but walk-in also possible.