Mykii

It was Gerry's birthday and AO and I decided to celebrate it with her over dinner. It was up to me to suggest a place and while looking around on hungrygowhere, I saw an ad for this place. It seemed to have a Greek and Mediterranean theme and the girls were happy to try it out.

The decor of the place was definitely reminiscent of the Greek islands - not that I've ever been there but it's certainly what I imagined it would look like in the Greek islands, with the white walls and wooden chairs :)

Except for the Mezza Plate, most of the menu was neither Greek nor Mediterranean. None of the main courses sounded that great, and in any case none of us were very hungry so we each ordered a light appetizer instead. I had the Caesar Salad with Fritto Misto $10.80++ :


More Fritto Misto than Caesar Salad but it's hard to complain about lots of huge pieces of calamari. What I can gripe about is the fact that the crispy bowl that was sitting in was a bit hard to eat - breaking it made it pretty messy and a challenge to control.

Gerry had the Pissaladiere (an open-faced provencale tart perfectly dressed with a healthy wholesome selection of roasted capsicums, anchovies, olives and onion jam) $10.80++ :


I had just a bit of it to try and it didn't leave a lasting impression - i.e. I don't remember what it tastes like now :)

AO tried the Grilled Tofu & Pumpkin Stack, Sweet Basil & Tomato Coulis $9.80++ :


We all had the same thought about this dish - while it does look gorgeous (what a wonderful mix of vibrant colours!), we all felt that there was one too many flavours in it which ending up making just a little too much.

For dessert we ordered the Nutella Squares with salted caramel $7.80 ++


and Gula Melaka Creme Brulee with Pineapple $8.80++ to share.


The Nutella Square was just ok - I always have high expectatations for anything with Nutella in it and it never quite turns out as good as I expect. The Gula Melaka Creme Brulee with Pineapple was pretty weird and not in a very good way, an example of fusion not really working out.

The food here is definitely not Greek or Mediterranean in any way, shape or form. There are some items which are not too bad and a few more sound like they are worth trying. I guess the biggest selling point of this place is the decor and ambience. If you sit outdoors, it's quite the perfect place to chill out with friends and for a while, you can imagine that you're in the Greek Islands... just try not to mind the teenagers trying to pass off as waiters :) By the way, the name is pronounced "mee-kai".


Mykii
17d Lorong Liput
Holland Village
Tel: 6468 2838
www.mykii.com.sg

Karma, Kettle & Rhapsody (Dempsey)

Read about this place in various places and decided to suggest it as a venue for a Girl's Night Out - erm, some time back :P

The venue is a bit inaccessible if you don't drive, but there's a number of popular restaurants in the Dempsey area (including Long Beach) so there's a reasonable amount of taxi traffic. If you drive there, parking is available just a short walk away.

There is a nice little path leading up to the restaurant (which was a bit dimly lit and my pregnant friend gingerly made her way along the path). The interior was very quaint and charming, with the antique furniture adding to the colonial theme of the restaurant. We chose to sit indoors but I think a meal outdoors would be very cosy too.

The pictures are very blur - I blame it on the ambient (read : dim) lighting. Hopefully the writing makes up for it :)

The restaurant's website describes their cuisine as "traditional European and colonial". What does that interesting description mean? A quick look at their menu throws up traditional classics like Oxtail Stew and Cottage Pie, as well as innovative twists like Pan Fried Lavender Chicken.

For starters, we had the Mixed Tandoori Platter $23.90++ to share -


The picture is so bad that you can't even tell what's on the plate! There were prawns, chicken, fish and lamb. The fish was the amazing part of this dish - melts in your mouth and chock full of flavour!

I originally wanted to have the Lavender Chicken which was much talked about in earlier reviews about this place, but it wasn't on the menu when we were there so I ordered the next most talked about dish - Pork Vindaloo $18.00++ :


The menu describes vindaloo as Portguese for wine, vinegar and garlic. It had three chillies on the menu but it wasn't spicy at all! Well, not by my standards at least :D It was ok I guess, but not as good as I expected it would be.

What was surprisingly good was the Devilled Crab $20.90++ :


It's described in the menu as "Grilled Squid stuffed with Black Pepper Crab with a Signature Sour Cream sauce". I was hesitant to try it as squid stuffed with crab just seemed weird but someone else ordered it and I had a bit to try and it actually turned out to be a pretty good combination! Of course, eating crab without having to get down and dirty is always a plus too :D

It's practically impossible for a group of females to get together and not have any chocolate involved, and we are definitely not the exception. We ordered the Royal Belgian Chocolate Truffle Cake $7.90++ to share :


Well, this was just ok. Looks better than it tastes and a bit on the expensive side at $7.90 for a slice and it didn't even have ice cream!

All in all, I quite liked the place. The food was good (as long as you didn't go with high expectations) and items were generally reasonably priced (except the deserts!). It also had the perfect ambience for a quiet Girl's Night Out which as exactly what we were looking for. Hmm, time for another visit?...


Karma, Kettle & Rhapsody (Dempsey)
26B Dempsey Road
Tanglin Village (Dempsey Hill Green)
Tel: 6472 0221
www.karmakettle.com

Brotzeit German Bier Bar & Restaurant

It's been forever since I blogged - partly coz there were some personal issues which kept me busy for the last week, partly coz I had (a few weeks ago) already typed this blog and it got lost in the graveyard of cyberspace when I tried to post it. Was annoyed that I have to retype the whole thing so I've been putting it off for the longest time... well, here it is. Again.

Came here to have dinner one evening - it was so crowded that we had to share a table. Oh well, better than waiting I guess...

We ordered two things to share. First up was the Nürnberger (five pieces of original Nürnberger pork bratwurst with sauerkraut and mashed potatoes) $17.50 :


I wanted to try this mostly coz it had sauerkraut. I'm not a big onion fan but I love sauerkraut. Ok, have to admit that I can't remember how the sausage tasted but I remember it went great with the mustard that it was served with :D

The other thing that we ordered was Weisswurst (three pieces of traditional Munich veal and pork sausage served with a brezn) $18.50 :


I was a bit disturbed to see the sausages floating in a bowl of water but it turns out that's how sausages are meant to be cooked (I normally throw them in the oven). The sausages still tasted ok, and as mentioned above, it came with some really good mustard :D Brezn is actually a German bread-y pretzel - it was a bit tough but was good to pick at after the sausages were finished...

The sausages here are reasonably good, and I love the varities of mustard that come with them. Prices are a bit on the higher side though. What I really don't like about this place is the fact that it gets crowded - likely you will need to queue for a seat, and it gets pretty noisy and is not the best place to have a conversation. But then that's the case for most restaurants in Raffles City...


Brotzeit German Bier Bar & Restaurant
252 North Bridge Road
#01-17 Raffles City Shopping Centre
Tel: 6883 1534
www.brotzeit1516.com