KPO Cafe Bar

Outta nowhere, blogger suddenly started working again. Pure randomness. Grr.

Time to catch up on old posts... I've actually gotten quite a bit behind, and tried a few new places recently (due to the seemingly never-ending birthday feasting :).

A suggested trying this place out for dinner pretty soon after it first opened. This place got a bit of publicity in the news - part of the old Killiney Road Post Office got converted into this bar / cafe. Apparently it's called KPO not because its at the Killiney Post Office, but because its at the corner of Killiney, Penang and Orchard!

Anyways, I got there pretty early so it was no problem getting a seat. It was very unusual coz the post office and the cafe are actually connected so I was watching people buy stamps while waiting for A to arrive :) The outdoor area looked very chic and perfect for chilling out and having drinks, but it was a warm day and aircon seemed like a much better option...

And now for the food. The menu had a strange combination of normal pub grub as well as local favourites (roti john and hokkien mee). I decided to try the Steak Sandwich :


It was pretty ok - the bread is actually french loaf with a slice of steak in-between. What was really really yums was the potato chips... so we ordered another portion to share.


It's fried thinly sliced potatoes - we could not stop eating it and it took tremendous self control not to order another portion :)

A tried the Breakfast set -


which was pretty normal.

The service was relatively attentive but like many restaurants, they had non-English speaking staff who had to get their English speaking colleagues over when we tried to order something from them.

It was a pretty nice place to chill out, I'm sure it's quite nice to chill out at the outdoor area too. Just don't come here expecting good food - it's mostly a bar after all...


KPO Cafe Bar
1 Killiney Road
Killiney Post Office
Tel : 6733 3648

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

Coastes

Is it just me or is it raining nearly everyday? Totally missing the sun and it reminded me that I haven't done this outdated post. Wait a minute, all my posts are outdated :D

Audrey and I used to come here regularly to chill out by the beach, and we haven't done it in a while so decided to come here again to soak in some sun - but with tons of sunblock and erm, under the shade :D

But what fun is chilling out beach side without some food?

We always order the Mixed Sausage Platter when we come here - perfect to eat coz it's in little pieces... and as everyone knows, I do love my processed meat :) We also ordered a Caesar's Salad for some semblance of a balanced diet...


We normally order a jug of ice lemon tea to share but it was so hot that day that we also ordered some icy cold drinks - don't they look yummy? :)


Waiting for a day of sunshine so we can go to Coastes again!


Coastes
50 Siloso Beach Walk
#01-05/06 Sentosa
Tel: 6274 9668

Foo House Bar & Café

My sister kept asking me to check out this place - it's opened by her husband's friend, Sam and some of his family members. Recently made two trips here and enjoyed the food on both occasions.

The place is located in a quiet Bedok neighbourhood but gets its share of regulars. It's a cafe in the day and pub by night (with soccer being shown on the big screen TV). The chef here (Sam's uncle) used to be the Executive Sous Chef at the Grand Hyatt so besides your usual pub grub, you also get hotel-standard food at café prices.

One of their Signature Main Courses is the Roast Duck $14.90+ :


I was a bit hesitant when the dish first arrived - it's served with potato chips! But loved it on the very first bite... it's tender and flavourful. There was not enough gravy but Sam brought over more gravy before I could even think to ask for it. Apparently the very same dish costs 3 times the price at Mezza9 so this is a real bargain. And the portion is generous too - it's more than enough for one person.

I also tried another one of their Signature Main Courses - Hainanese Pork Chop $9.80+ :


Being a Hainanese family, they had to have this on the menu :D And it was pretty authentic too! The tangy tomato sauce brought back memories of the pork chops I had when I was young...

On another trip, I tried the Irish Stew $8.90+ :


At first, I thought that the portion was kinda small... but I ended up having a hard time finishing it :S This is perfect comfort food for a cold, rainy day - hot steaming soup and tender chunks of meat and carrots.

I've seen Fried Mars Bars at a few other places but ordered it here on a particularly adventurous day - Fried Mars Bar $4.50+ :


The deep fried Mars Bar is a little package of sin - it's full of calories and fat... try not to think of the dental bills you will incur soon! But it is sinfully good... but so sweet that you really can't have too much of it at one go. Order this to share!

The other thing I loved here - the Iced Lemon Tea $3.00+ :


My sister loves this drink here and insisted we each order a glass. This iced tea is mixed with orange juice, some fruits and well-shaken before being served. Seeing how most other places charge you even more for iced tea that comes from a dispenser (yuck!), this is good value, and really tasty too!

Service here can be a bit spotty as the wait staff (part-timers) are mostly students, but their enthusiasm more than makes up for it. Come here to chill out, and have some good food at very reasonable prices.


Foo House Bar & Café
6 Jalan Pari Burong
Picardy Garden
S488672
Tel : 6445 3110

Oosh

I put this post under 'pub grub' as I couldn't think of how else to categorise this place. It's not a pub at all - rather it's an alfresco bar and restaurant. Besides the fine dining Japanese Restaurant on the second floor, the main area also serves an extensive menu of finger food and main meals.

Thanks to the fact that we had a pretty big group, we managed to get a taste of quite a few things. We ordered :

Prosciutto Ham-wrapped Asparagus $10+++



Baked Escargot in White Button Mushroom Shell $11+++



Crispy Potato Wedges with Tartar Sauce $6+++



Shrimp-paste and Cilantro Chicken Wing $10+++



and Tofu Fritters with Thai Peanut Butter Sauce $7+++


All the dishes were just ok. What I found pretty tasty was the Tofu Fritters. The sauce was a surprising mix of flavours that I later discovered to contain peanut butter! So it turns out I *do* like absolutely anything that has peanut butter in it...

For those who needed to have their carbs, we ordered two pizzas :

Seafood Mania (with marinated scallop, prawn, dory fish, squid ring & baby clam) $18+++



and the Mushroom-lover Pizza (with shimeji, shitake, white button, portobello and enoki musrooms) $15+++


I didn't like the pizzas much - mainly because the tomato sauce they used tasted like it came out of a bottle. Either they made a batch of not very tasty tomato sauce or they took the easy way out and really used tomato sauce from a bottle...

What I do like about this place is how it's so huge and sprawling that it never gets very crowded. With different areas having a different feel and ambience - whether you want to sit amongst the lush greenery and waterfall or the busy "place to be seen" bar area - this is surely a good place to chill out with friends.


Oosh
Block 22 Dempsey Road
S249679
Opening Hours : Sun - Fri 6pm to 1am, Sundays & Saturday 6pm to 2am
Tel : 6475 0002

Muddy Murphy's Irish Pub

Read about the Sunday Roast Lunch here many times and finally had the chance to try it during one of the F1 races... actually, this post is a culmination of two separate visits here. Once was in the evening and we only had bar food, and another time was for the Sunday Roast Lunch.

The Sunday Roast Lunch $20++ consists of 3 courses:

A Starter which you get a choice between a soup and a salad...


Your choice of a Main Course - either Lamb...


Or Roast Beef with Yorkshire Pudding...


And your choice of Dessert - a Brownie...


Or Apple Crumble.


The soup and starter were ok... as you can see from the pictures of the Roast Beef and Lamb, they both had the same non-descript brown sauce. The Lamb was a bit fatty though... The brownie was HOR-RI-BLE. It kinda tasted like particle board... either the cook had an off-day or they have a very different idea of what brownies should taste like. Didn't think the Sunday Roast Lunch was that great, but the price is pretty reasonable.

The two things we tried from the Barfood Menu were really good! The Whitebait $11++ was sprinkled with a spicy Cajun-type seasoning. Just could not stop popping them into our mouths and before we knew it the bowl was empty! We tried to order another serving but was told it was sold out :( And on the day we had Sunday Roast Lunch, we were told Barfood is only served after lunch and by that time we were just way too full...

The Lamb with Mint Sauce was also really yummy... dunk the huge chunks of lamb in the mint sauce - perfect bar food! The couple sitting next to us were eyeing our food and asked us about the lamb and we gave such rave reviews that they proceeded to order it too!

This place was mentioned in last Sunday's LIFE! as a place to have authentic English (or should it be Irish?!) pub grub... which would explain the preponderance of English men hanging out here. One of the better places to watch F1 so I'll probably be back here once the season starts up again next year...


Muddy Murphy's Irish Pub
#B1-01/05
Orchard Hotel Shopping Arcade
S238879
Tel : 6735 0400
www.muddymurphys.com