Festive Feasting @ Park Hotel Group : Grand Park Orchard, Park Hotel Clarke Quay

The Park Hotel Group has 3 properties in Singapore. The Grand Park Orchard where most of us will know as Knightsbridge is the most prominent of the Park Hotels in Singapore.  Grand Park City Hall is also been around for sometime and I have been to friend's wedding there. I only recently knew of Park Hotel Clarke Quay. 

This was a recently invited dinner all under 1 roof, where we got to taste the offerings from Grand Park Orchard and Park Hotel Clarke Quay. Something that I have not explored. The spread was held at the Cocobolo Poolside Bar and Grill at Park Hotel Clarke Quay. 

Here's some of the Festive Goodies that we tried that night.


Glazed Five Spice Bone-in Gammon Ham with Orange Cinnamon Sauce. 

Available at "Open House", the main restaurant at Grand Park Orchard. This had been baked on low heat with honey, brown sugar, fresh honey pineapple puree and five spice powder. I remembered it being very tasty that I had seconds.


Asian-flavoured Turkey with Cumin & Ground Hazelnut Sauce.

Looks like the chefs here are using low temperate for their cooking which takes a longer time. The bird had been marinated with cumin and baked at 120C. The hazelnut sauce (they used hazelnut liquor and cream) gives a twist to the familiar satay sauce.

This is also available at Grand Park Orchard.


Whole Garoupa Crusted in Sea Salt with Chive Crème Fraîche.

If you want some fish dressed up in a festive mood, they have a whole garoupa for diners too.
Available at Park Hotel Clarke Quay. This is one of the highlights of thee Christmas Eve dinner at Brizo.




Roasted Australian Beef Prime Ribs with Shallot Sauce. 

If you think these huge Prime Ribs are your kind of paleo / caveman inspired food, go grab some. A friend who is a huge meat eater suddenly comes to mind.

This is available at Grand Park Orchard, for the 'Twas the Night Before Christmas' dinner at Open House.  Looks tempting doesn't it?




Roasted Australian Wagyu Hind Shank with Thyme Jus.

This was something I was quite attracted to. Standing tall and covered with finely chopped chives, it was quite a sight to behold. I was early and had requested the outer crusted layer and it was marvellous. The flavour's all there. Yums.

Available at Grand Park Orchard. If you want to have this, you got to quickly book their "New Year's Eve All-you-can-eat" dinner at Open House.




Spanish Paprika Crispy Pork Belly stuffed with Apricot.

I just found this chunk of meat so beautiful that I am showing 3 photos. I am a porky fan. I had the outer layer that was quite tasty. Another friend who took the middle portions said it was not as flavorful. I guess you can always ask for the more crust with your meat.

Available at Park Hotel Clarke Quay. You can have this at Brizo's New Year's Eve Buffer dinner and join in the countdown party too.

Takeaway Festive Goodies and Hampers
If you want to get some of the above for your meals at home, you can order and collect them at Grand Park Orchard, Grand Park City Hall or Park Hotel Clarke Quay.
The order catalogue and order form is available online at: http://www.parkhotelgroup.com/festive/

Pricing and Listing of Feasts.
There are many different pricing and different feasting menus.
For the most up to date, you can refer to the following restaurant websites.

Open House,  Grand Park Orchard
270 Orchard Road
Singapore 238857
Tel: +65 6603 8855
Pricing and updates: http://www.parkhotelgroup.com/orchard/dining/open-house/

Brizo Bar and Restaurant, Park Hotel Clarke Quay
1 Unity Street
Singapore 237983
Tel: +65 6593 8855
Pricing and updates: http://www.parkhotelgroup.com/clarkequay/dining/brizo-restaurant-n-bar/

Zero.Zero @ The Central

[This was a HungryGoWhere food tasting / review session with the HungryGoWhere folks.]

Zero.Zero, the moment you walk in has a warm cosy feel to it. If you are a woody/brown person the deco here would please you from the start. I like the deco that makes you very comfortable. Probably because I like the earthy tones.



Zero.Zero is by the same people behind Tao's Restaurant. They serve fusion food that's quite reasonably priced and of quite good quality too.



There are a few sections in the restaurant. There are a few private rooms, an open place where you can hold private corporate events and also the above, two long parallel tables where I was told, people hold intimate wedding banquet for close family and friends.



This was the Zero Signature Set that we tried that night.  It's a picked 1 dish from each section style of ordering. 

When you are ordering food, there's a guy who comes with a iPad to take your orders. Take a peep into his iPad like we did. It's quite a cool app that you can view photos of the dishes that you want to order!

Here's the amuse bouche and the 5 courses that I had. 

Amuse Bouche

We started with a shot glass of icy plum juice. It was served on a wooden container that's filled with ice. The slightly sourish taste activates your saliva glands and you can't wait to have your meal!


We had 3 little creations for the Amuse Bouche. What was served to us that night was a potato croquet, mini or shall I say micro toast with foie gras on it and seared scallop on watermelon. The potato was nice, but I could not appreciate the foie gras.


While I did not really like the toast and foie gras because of a personal bias, I really like the seared scallops on watermelon. It has a refreshing feel to it.

Cold Dish

There were 5 choice for the cold dish and I chose the Smoked Duck Breast with Apple Slices. The slightly salty smoked duck goes well with the apple slices that was crunchy and sweet.

I like how the crunchy and sweet apple slices went with the salty tender yet a little chewy duck meat. If you like you could also pour the shot glass of apple puree over it. The slightly acidic puree will cut through the sweetness and saltiness of the dish, but I prefer it just the apple slices and duck.



I borrowed my neighbour's dish to take a photo too. If you don't like duck, try the Maguro Tataki Carpaccio. Looks quite good doesn't it?

Side Dish

For my side dish, I chose the Stewed Beef Tendon. Most of us ordered this because we all heard it's once of the best dishes around.

It is really very good. The tendon had been braised till they just dissolves in your mouth. The braise is very nice too and the 2 bread sticks can be used to soak up the sauce. I would love to have 2 portions of this!


This was also a 'neighbour's dish' that I borrow to photograph.
It's the Grilled Escargot with Cheese.


Someone thought of trying Sake and was introduced this Sakura Sake.

Oooo. This very different indeed. It's fragrant and very sweet!
You might forget this is sake and down the whole bottle!

Soup

For the soup, I had the Japanese Clear Fish Soup. I chose this because I saw on the menu that the rest of the soup were cream based and did not feel like having a heavy soup. The soup was all right. Light and tasty, but a little forgettable. ;-)


The neighbour's Cream of Mushroom Soup with Truffle Oil. He seemed to enjoy it, so I guess it was good.

Main Course

Everyone heard that this was the best, and almost everyone who liked beef ordered it. It's 'Beef Loin on Houba Leaf'.  The beef was placed on the houba leaf and it's on top of a very heated stone. Very hot stone!

Houba or some spell it as Hoba Leaf is a species of Magnolia that's grown in the higher altitude forest in Japan.


The beef is only lightly sprinkled with salt and pepper. One of the reasons why the place is called Zero.zero is that they want you to try dishes as it is, with minimal flavouring.

The beef loin was good! The leaf was slightly crackling all the time, and it also gave a slight burnt aroma while you cook it.  The leaf acted like a 'non stick' layer that prevented the beef from sticking on the stone. Cook the beef according to the done-ness you like.

I would highly recommend you to try this!


If beef is not your thing, maybe you can try what another neighbour tried, this was the Pan Roasted Duck Confit with Mustard Cream.

Dessert

I heard everyone said the Zeromisu was excellent, but I wanted to try their Vanilla Mille Feuille, Zero Style. It was I guess all right.


OK, I confess. I ordered this because it comes with a scoop of ice cream!

It was a good meal and also to meet up with some HungryGoWhere reviewers. The neighbour that I was talking about, he looked so familiar, but both of us can't figure out where and when we met!

I think a 5 course meal for $89.80++ was a good deal. The food's of a certain quality too. It's a nice place to bring your date for a meal with a view (depending on where you are seated). I read of a review by a lone diner (on HungryGoWhere) too that says it's a nice place to eat alone.

Hint: There are a few credit cards that either give you a 1-for-1 or 50% off this set meal. Read other reviews on the HungryGoWhere site for the offer updates. ;-)

Read more reviews of this place at the HungryGoWhere site:
http://www.hungrygowhere.com/singapore/Zero_Zero/


Zero.Zero
6 Eu Tong Sen Street
#04-86 The Central,
Singapore 059817

Tel: 6224 4139
Hours: Daily 11:30 am - 10:00 pm

Ramen Bar Suzuki @ Boat Quay

Singapore's becoming a Ramen island! So many new ramen places opening up, and each getting more and more authentic to the real Japanese flavour. The wife loves ramen, so when we know of one, we will go try it out!

We were discussing about work the other day and somehow ramen was mentioned and a colleague said that there's a new Ramen place at Boat Quay that his friend says is like the one he just had in Japan few weeks ago. It's called Ramen Bar Suzuki.

I told the wife and off we went last Saturday evening! We thought it was probably still new, because there was no queue when we went around 7:45pm. The place was empty too, but halfway through our meal, we realised it was nearly full. Talk about timing!


Compared to Keisuke Tonkotsu King, this place is much cooler (as in temperature) and a little larger too. It sits around 30 or so and there was a table outside the shop too. 


Their grounded sesame seeds, instead of a Suribachi and Surikogi, you grind it using the little plastic apparatus that turns on top. They have garlic flakes here though! Potent ones too!


There's also the free eggs and seasoned bean sprouts which we liked. The sprouts were spicy and very addictive.


The signs says you get free rice if you dine during lunch time.
We were there for dinner, and we don't think we need the rice, it was filling enough!


For those who loves fried pork fats, they have this here!


The Best Way To Eat their noodles.
See the words in red, and the asterisk. ;-)


Just like Tonkotsu King, they White, Black and Red Tonkotsu Ramen.
They call it Pure White, Jet Black and Cardinal Red here. Order using separate sheets for each order.



Pure White Tonkotsu Ramen (Extra chashu, seaweed and flavoured egg version, $15.20)
I like everything so I ordered the works. If not, the price starts from $12.90.

The broth is rich and flavourful. I finished it all up! I shall not compare the broth, every shop have their own variations and we should respect that. The 3 of us at home have 3 difference preferences for ramen, and our own favourites.

The meat slices were not dry here though and quite delicious. Glad I had the extra chashu.
The garlic chips are quite potent! After being re-hydrated with the broth, it is the hot kind which I like.


The noodles are really thin here. Eat it quick before they turn soft and soggy.
You can specify the way you like it, but I just ticked the original Japanese preference on the order chit.


The eggs does not have runny egg yolks, but were really soft though.
Maybe I will leave out the egg in my next order here.

(My mum told us the other day, you all ah pay so much for these eggs, she said she has perfected it. Looks like we should visit her home and try it!)



KopiKosongGirl had the JetBlack Tonkotsu Ramen.
She had only the one with extra chashu at $15.20.

Jet black is based on squid ink and roasted garlic. Squid ink is not my favourite ingredient around, but is the wife's. She liked the broth and also the thin noodles.



Dipped Ramen with Tonkotsu Soup and Fish Powder (with extra flavoured egg) $15.90.

Sis on the other hand after trying Menya Musashi says she is not having any wet version anymore. She liked my dry version previously, so she said she will order the dry version this time.

The dry version has much thicker noodles and chewy!


The broth for dipped noodles are usually more salty. In the menu they say they have home-made fish powder in it. I am not sure what it is, but the soup sure tasted really good. The main ingredient is dried scallops and dried bonito. There seems to be hints of citrus, we think it's probably yuzu or something similar. The soup also had some pickled 'serng buay' taste. There were also huge chunks of delicious pork inside. Unlike the thinly sliced charsiu for the two of us, the meat here are around thumb size and very tender.



Each table has a jug of ice cold oolong tea which is so refreshing.
It's another place where we can come with ramen loving friends. We would probably be back to try other side dishes they have on the menu.

After paying we were given the card that we get a stamp for every bowl of ramen ordered. Every 6 stamps equal to a free bowl of ramen. The lady who served us said, come with 4 friends next time, 1 of you will get to eat free! 


Ramen Bar Suzuki
61 Circular Road
#01-01
Singapore 049415

Maifest @ Clarke Quay (4 and 5 May 2012)

Heard of Maifest?

It's the German Spring Festival and it's the first time it's being celebrated in Singapore on 4th and 5th May 2012 at Clarke Quay Central Fountain Area.

Admission is free too!
You just pay for the beer and food.



The daily event starts at 7pm, and I guess it's only tomorrow left if you want to visit.
I was there a bit early as my office hour's a little shorter than other days :-)




The world's most popular wheat beer, Erdinger Weißbier and Erdinger Dunkel are sold here.
You can get them at $15.

The organisers have also specially brought in the Pikantus if you want to try it!



One of the highlight: One of the best bands in Germany, Ois Easy is here to entertain!

They have been specially flown in to Singapore to perform a repertoire of contemporary chart hits and popular German songs!



KopiKosongGirl and I think they are really really good.
Good voices and the band's superb too. Their energy level is so high despite the Singapore heat!


They also engage the audience very well!
The crowd were on their feet very quickly. You see people standing on the benches and then on the tables too!



One short clip I took with my iPhone. Everyone was up on their feet!



We spotted Elvis too!



One of the dance that they did that looked so tiring and difficult. They are good, aren't they?


Oh yes, how can the Maifest be without German Sausages?
We had a few and some other nibbling food and they were good. There were Spicy Chicken, Chicken Cheese and Beef Special. I love the one with cheese.

If you have nothing to do on Saturday night, head down to Clarke Quay Central Fountain Area for some beer and entertainment. This is the first Maifest and hopefully the organisers will organise it again next year.


Maifest is being organised by Erdinger and Asia Pacific Breweries Singapore.
KopiKosongGirl and I were invited to the event by Word of Mouth Communications.

Brewerkz @ Riverside Point

Oh how we love celebrating birthdays!

It was one of our friend's birthday and we presented him a few options of where to go for his birthday dinner. He picked a place that sells meat and beer - a good combination according to him.

We decided that we would each order our own mains and order some sides to share around.  I did not take photos of all the food we had. The table was long to move around.  Took photos only of the food within reach.




Buffalo Chicken Wings.
Somehow when there's a buffalo wings in any menu, there's a high chance of people ordering it! I think we had the mild version. The sauce was nice, but the chicken was about OK only.





Chicken Cobb Salad.
It's a combination of Greens, grilled chicken breast, bacon, blue cheese, tomatoes, grilled onions, hardboiled egg and sliced avocado. Yup, stinking blue cheese!

Those of us who liked veggies enjoyed it, but we made sure we did not mixed the potent blue cheese when it was served. The moment it was served, the smell.... enough said.




King Brew!
This burger's called the King Brew. The largest burger on the menu. On the menu it says: "Don’t tell your cardiologist—two patties of beef with cheese, bacon, sautéed mushrooms and beer chili".

It is not very very big. The photo above can tells you so. It's big enough and very filling though.
It was tasty too.



Two patties with the mushroom in the middle. The texture of the patty is nice. Not too much other stuff in it. Very beefy. This burger gets the approval from the wife.

The pickles were served the side. I would have preferred it in the burger. I like pickles and I think they should be inside. I know many people don't like pickles, probably why it's on the side.

It's a messy job eating this, but in a good way.




Barbeque Pork Ribs
These tender baby back ribs were quite delicious. The sauce, they call it the brewerkz bbq sauce, was a nice mix. Very flavourful, it's tangy and sweetish. Goes well with the soft ribs.

Just wondering if they had some of the brew in their bbq sauce. Hmm...




A slice of corn bread came with the Ribs. Momo the corn lover and a few others think that this corn bread taste rather good. I am not a huge corn fan, so I think it was OK only.




Crab Linguine.
I think it was all right, it's not that spectacular. Remember it's a beer place. ;-)





The nicest beer that I think we had was this Brothers Strawberry Cider!
It's strawberry infused pear cider.



I can't remember what they were. Everyone had different beer.
I did remember the dark one was not finish because one of the lady friends who ordered it think it was not her style of beer.



It was a great nite out with a few friends to celebrate a birthday.
Happy Birthday Matthew!

Oh ya, to get discounts here, guess what card did we have to present? Not a credit card or usually the Safra card, but the Passion Card! It gave us 15% off the food and beverages. 

Brewerkz
30 Merchant Road
#01-05/06 Riverside Point
Singapore 058282

Tel:  +65 6438 7438
Hours: Mon - Thurs & Sun: 12pm - 12am /  Fri, Sat & Eve of PH: 12pm - 1am