Antoinette

Pat says

I have heard of Antoinette before but I have never saw or chance upon the restaurant before so I was curious of where it was actually located. We went to Palais Renaissance to go to P.S cafe for some high tea and when we went up the escalator we looked down and saw a cafe which was nicely decorated in a very french style. So we decided to go down to take a look, since it was our first time at Palais Renaissance. I had a pleasant surprised to see Antoinette! Hence, our impromptu trip to the restaurant. [Key] - had always wanted to try but never got the opportunity but am glad this time I managed to try it!

Antoinette's Breakfast - choice of eggs, grilled bacon, sausage, Pan de Mie toast, basket of viennoiseries and orange juice/coffee/hot chocolate. 

The omelette was nicely done but you had to pay extra $5 for it. Their serving for the sausage was generous and I liked the taste to it! I don't eat bacon so I can't comment much on it. But the toast was awesome! It would go very well just by itself or with some jam. Sadly, they don't serve pure orange juice and it actually comes from a packet. However, I find the orange juice quite nice and not overly sweet. 

Chocolicieux - classic french style thin sweet pancakes with warm chocolate sauce, 66% dark chocolate ice cream, chocolate pieces and vanilla creme chantilly.

I love this desert! The pancake crepe was nicely done and it didn't had the rare flour taste. I would prefer a darker chocolate ice cream though cause I love super dark chocolate. I like the fact that there were chocolate cookies in the desert too. So when you eat a bit of everything together, you can taste the different textures between the crepe, chocolate pieces, ice cream and cookie. Even though this is a very chocolatey desert however one can finish everything without thinking it's too chocolatey! =)

[Key] - the chocolicieux is indeed well done. I had tried some of the other chocolate pancakes / crepes and always find it too sweet but this, this is not too chocolatey or sweet; just nice on the taste bud.

Overall, I would definitely come back to Antoinette to try the rest of their menu. [Key] - agree totally

Website: http://antoinette.com.sg

Address: 390 Orchard Road, Palais Renaissance, B1-08/09/10C, Singapore 238871

Opening Hours:

Mon - Sun: 11am to 10pm

Eighteen Chef

Pat says

Eighteen Chef recently opened at The Cathay! My friend raves about it saying it was very nice so I had to try it when it opened. =D

[Key] - actually Pat and I had eaten Eighteen Chef before (there used to be a branch at Simei East Point) but I guess she have forgotten about it and thus excited to try again, thinking that it's something new that she tried. :p

So I tried to be my own chef and ordered cheese baked rice, with red and white sauce (I have no idea what kind of sauce it is), salmon and chicken sausage. The food arrived quite fast so that was good and they were very generous with the cheese! Due to the nature of the sauce, my dish was a bit sweet and spicy. I liked the randomness of the taste. There were huge portion of salmon and chicken sausages! Though I did find the salmon a bit dry for my liking. 

Overall, the portion was sufficient for a girl however I don't think guys would be full after the dish so it would be better to order other stuff as well to share! =) I don't mind coming back to try the rest of the menu.

Came back on boxing day to eat at Eighteen Chef again! Mostly because it is convenient and we have yet to try their ala carte menu.

Heart Attack Fried Rice ($15.80) -200 grams of New York strip served with a butter garlic fried rice
I ordered medium rare for the New York strip but it came out fairly medium instead. Nevertheless, the texture for the beef was good. Though I find that there were little flavoring for the beef and the fried rice was a bit too dry. The special sauce (we suspect included chili sauce, tomato sauce, chopped garlic and chili slices) was interesting and a bit too hot for me. But Key loved it.

Aglio Olio with Mushroom Chicken ($12.80) -Aglio Olio with grilled chicken topped with mushroom sauce. The chicken was tender however similar to the beef, it had minimal flavoring and the pasta was a bit too tough for me.

We added a Combo C to one of our ala carte dish. They served hot garlic bread! The soup was decent but a bit diluted. Nevertheless, I love the home made lemon tea.

Competitive pricing and quite a decent portion might entices me to come back again. I do hope the food that I order next time would have more flavor though.

Website: http://www.eighteenchefs.com/v2/

Address: The Cathay, No. 2 Handy Road #B1-19/20, Singapore 229233

Opening Hours:

Mon - Sun: 11am to 10.30pm

*They have stores at Cathay Cineleisure Orchard and Tiong Bahru Plaza.

Prive Grill

Pat says

We went to Prive Grill to celebrate my birthday and we tried their set lunch. It was a weekday lunch so it was quite private with only several groups of businessman around.

2-course ($32), 3-course ($35), included house pour add $10. We had the 3-course set lunch with house pour and they served us first with hot bread.

Beef Carpaccio - Shaved Parmesan, Fried Bearnaise, Wild Rocket

I absolutely loved this! My first time trying this dish out and I think they did it in such an excellent way. It does not taste raw at all and the pairings for the beef goes very well with it. I ate finish everything on my plate.

Chilled Prawn Cocktail - Mangoes, Butterhead Lettuce

Nice and refreshing appetiser that one can never really go wrong with prawns and mangos. However the sauce was too much and the sauce taste hence became too over bearing. [Key] - it taste really well during the first few mouth but subsequently, the cocktail sauce is too powering and I became sick of it.

Salt-Baked Sea Bream - Fennel, Basil, Black Olives

I find that the sea bream was a bit too tough and too salty.

Pot- Roasted Chicken - Pancetta, Button Mushroom, Pearl Onions

The chicken was nicely done with thick sauce to accompany with it. I would prefer this dish instead of the sea bream. However it would be even better with a bowl of rice to even the saltiness of the sauce out. [Key] - Once again the first few mouth taste well but eventually the taste will become too overpowering. Definitely will go better with a rice to wash of the taste.

Crepe Souffle - Passioni Fruit Caramel Coulis

Interesting creation of crepe soufflé, which I thought was smooth and light. I didn't like the raw-ness taste of the egg white at times though. The caramelized banana went well with the soufflé. I preferred this then the pear tart. [Key] - very interesting dessert indeed. 

Citrus-Poached Pear Tart - Caramelized Pistachio, Vanilla Cream

This desert seems to be quite dry and hard for me to bite through it.

Overall, the set lunch was a great cost saving deal! There were hits and misses and if I do come back again for a meal, I'll definitely order the beef carpaccio! =D
[Key] - somehow the food are heavy in taste and so though it started delicious, I became sick of it very quickly as well. A bit disappointing considering Prive Cafe is pretty good.

Website: http://www.theprivegroup.com.sg/index.php/prive/menus/prive-grill

Address: 2 Keppel Bay Vista, Singapore 098382

Opening Hours:

Mon - Fri: 11.30am to 3pm, 6.30pm to 11.30pm

Sat & Eve of PH: 6.30pm to 11.30pm

Closed on Sun

ThaiPan Restaurant

Key says

We were going to celebrate our friend's birthday. We were told of the restaurant and after googling it via google maps, we proceed to lead one of our friend there (he's driving us while another group drives there). Unfortunately, there are 2 ThaiPan and we went to the wrong one! Fortunately, both branch isn't too far apart so we eventually reach there just slightly later. Overall the taste and proportion is decent. Since it's more chinese ala carte in style, it would be great if it was a big group that is eating so that you can order different type of dishes to try!

Pat says

We were brought to ThaiPan to celebrate our friend's birthday. It was located in a condominium which I thought was quite different.

Braised Whole Chicken with Dried Scallop and Mushroom

The chicken was very soft and tasty. You can easily remove the meat from the bones. 

Butter Prawns

Loved the sauce and the fresh prawns. 

Thaipan Jade Tofu with Fresh Mango

I find the tofu a bit weird as it had a weird eggy taste for me. 

Thaipan Fried Rice

This was a bit too spicy for me and I find it quite dry too.

Broccoli with Fresh Crabmeat

The broccoli was a bit tough for my liking.

Overall, I'm willing to come back to try other stuff! =)

Website: http://www.thaipan.com.sg

Address: Mandarin Garden Condominium

Opening Hours:

11.30am to 3.30pm, 5.30pm to 10pm

Jamie's Italian

Pat says

Previously we came to Jamie's Italian but we did not get a proper experience as they had a problem with their kitchen and we didn't had time to wait till it was settled and get our mains. So this time, I decided to come here to celebrate my birthday! =D

Wild Truffle Risotto ($16/$24.50) - Finely minced black truffle with butter & Parmesan

Although it looks quite plain but it was flavorful. However it was a bit too hard for my liking. I still preferred the Risotto done by Blackbird cafe.

Jool's Favourite Sicilian Tuna Fusilli ($14/$21) - Albacore tuna slow-cooked with tomatoes, garlic, herbs & cinnamon with crunchy, herby breadcrumbs

This was a delightful and interesting pasta! It was an awesome creation.

Prawn Linguine ($17/$25) - Fried garlicky prawns, shaved fennel, tomatoes, chili & rocket

I find that the pasta was a bit too tough and the sauce was a bit too watery. Compared to the above two dishes, I would rank this the last. 

Veal Flash Steak ($32.50) - Northern River veal pounded with sage, & prosciutto, served with spicy tomato salsa

This is another awesome dish! The veal was done medium rare which was my ideal kind of cooking style plus I loved the vegetables that came with it. Will definitely order this dish again!

Pink Snapper Acqua Pazza ($32) - Pan-fried whole pink snapper with olives, garlic, wine, capers, parsly & the sweetest baby plum tomatoes
The fish was nicely done and quite fresh too. However, I will think twice before ordering this dish again as the portion is quite small for the price.

Grilled Pork Chop ($38.50) - Marinated & cooked under a brick with parsley bagna cauda, apples, kohlrabi, mint, lemon & crackling

Sadly, the pork chop was quite tough and I didn't really like the sauce that came with it.

Crispy Squid ($11.50) - Fried squid, garlicky mayo & lemon

This is a lovely appetizer that my dad and sister loved. One is definitely not enough. Awesome only when it is hot.  

Tiramisu ($11.50) - coffee-flavoured trifle with orange mascapone & chocolate
We didn't really liked this desert. Too spongy and sweet and creamy for me.

Epic Brownie ($11.50) - Warm fudgy brownie with amaretto ice cream & carmelised amaretti popcorn

Compared to the Tiramisu, this was well received. Everyone loves chocolate! the popcorn was an interesting addition as well. 

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

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

Opening Hours:

Sun - Thurs: 12pm to 10pm

Fri - Sat: 12pm to 11pm