5 posts tagged “western”
It gives me great and immense pleasure to be finally able to write about Iggy's.
SO MUCH have been said about this restaurant. Top 100 in the world, a personal favourite of Chubbyhubby (the food blogger) and ranked No. 1 in Singapore. Les Amis and My Humble House used to be in the top 100 for last year too. And we tried Les Amis in 2007 and some dishes are still unforgettable. The head chef for Les Amis has since changed and went on to open his own restaurant in Purvis Street (stay tuned for that!!! :D )
Back to Iggy's. Even its name looks great by itself!
That's the entrance of the resturant and even its name in bold, strong and golden letters are showing you a glimpse of the gastronomical heaven that you will go into.
I've read countless reviews about this place. It seems that the counter seats are highly coveted for and by sitting at the counter, you can see the chefs themselves in action, creating your lovely food. For more privacy, we sat at the proper tables and chairs area instead where we were in a separate section with about 4 or 5 tables which were spaced at a very comfortable distance apart. There were even built in book shelves which hold plenty of food books like "Fast Food Nation", a book by Gordon Ramsey and food guides for countries like Japan etc. This section exudes a very homely feel and you'll feel relaxed, comfortable and happy to be served with their food.
Their complimentary bread was the best I ever ate. When it arrived, it was warm and when you spread butter on it, the butter will melt and lovingly cover the bread. The crust was done very well and according to some foreign expert reviewer, their bread is as good as some excellent fine dining French restaurants.
Lunch at Iggy's is a very affordable affair. It's $55++ for a three course meal and $75++ for a four course meal. If you choose to have wagyu striploin, it will be $95++ and $110++ respectively.
Their appetisers are crazy. Every single one sounds so good. We tried the following:
1. QUAIL (Galantine of quail and foie gras with frisee salad and fig coulis)
- Foie gras will never be wrong! Average dish.
2. GNOCCHI (Home- made potato gnocchi with truffle salsa and soft-boiled eggs)
- The egg yolk sitting in the middle of the gnocchi looks so ready to erupt. The dish was kind of salty though. But interesting.
3. RISOTTO (Squid ink risotto with charcoal- grilled baby octopus)
4. PAPPARDELLE (Pappardelle with mushrooms and Kurobuta pork cheek)
Its tough to exactly describe the taste of every appetiser because each one brings a totally different flavour to it. Each one was a totally exciting sight to behold but the best out of the four was the Risotto. The risotto (rice) was fantabulous and just wait till you place the baby octopus into your mouth and sink your teeth into it. Oooh... The char-grilled flavour comes out immediately and the meat is just tender enough. Just thinking of this dish makes me go ahhhhhh.
The pappardelle with the Kurobuta pork cheek (the equivalent of kobe beef on the pork hierarchy) was savoury and nicely done. Pappardelle is a type of pasta. The pork meat was very flavourful and the combination of the pappardelle with the pasta is very well done.
Moving on to the acclaimed and most famous dish at Iggy's. Every table ordered at least one for main course. It's the Iggy's burger!! (I am not posting the photo because its best to let your imagination run wild) I love the wagyu beef patty! The beef is minced and some people may not like that, but I think its great. I'm not very sure on how to describe the most delicious beef patty I've tried. Juicy, it is. Flavoursome, it is too. Even at the very least, this burger is above average. Its damn good to me though. Its a mini burger so don't expect it to be huge or anything.
Dessert time, we had GRAND MARNIER (Grand marnier souffle with home-made Java vanilla ice cream) and CHEESE CAKE (Cheese cake with berry compote and strawberry shortcake).
Cheese cake was ok but I didn't think the base was good enough. The strawberry shortcake was smooth and yogurt-y. Doesn't seem sinful to me which is good!
The souffle was not exactly all puff and nothing great. But this was the only second time I tried souffle and I have no experience in judging how good it really is. I'd say its good and there were some custard. I like it better when I put a bit of vanilla ice cream onto my spoon of souffle and eat it like that.
Overall, it was a wonderful journey into the world of Iggy's. Lunch moved at a relax pace of about 1.5 hours for a four course meal and I'd like to go back again =)
Iggy's
The Regent Singapore
Level 3, 1 Cuscaden Road
Singapore 249715
Tel: 6732 2234
Opening hours: LUNCH: Mon - Fri (12pm to 2pm), DINNER: Mon - Sun (7pm to 930)
Bukit Timah has lots of swanky joints. Relish is an outlet opened by the same people behind Wild Rocket at Mt Emily (Have not been there though) and focuses on burgers.
Their most reviewed and talked about burger is undisputedly the Wild Rocket burger. The beef patty is described as thick and juicy. Check it out below.
The burger is tall and one will wonder which is the best way to eat it - with hands or with the fork and knife? Nonetheless, when you cut into the beef patty, its scrumptious juice will ooze out. The beef patty looks so thick and yummy that I can still vividly see it in my mind. According to Chubbyhubby, this is the next best burger after his no. 1, which is Iggy's wagyu beef burger. Anyhow, the fries are pretty good and if you think that the burger will not fill up your stomach, the fries will. Oh yeah, ask for their mustard sauce. There's no other better way to eat the fries than dipping it in mustard. $15 only.
We tried their Seafood Burger with Lemon Mayo. What's in the seafood package? Crab, squid, fish and prawn. I particularly like their lemon mayo which is another great pairing with the seafood burger. The seafood patty is great. I could see bits and pieces of the 4 kinds of seafood in it when I bite into it.
What I like about Relish is that visually, their patties are thick, wholesome and juicy. I will definitely be back if I ever want to have burgers. This costs $19.
They serve all their burgers with specially selected beers. And from the way the burgers turn out, they should definitely know what they are they doing and I bet the beers will indeed be excellently paired up.
Relish
501 Bukit Timah Road
#02-01 Cluny Court
Singapore 259760
Tel: 67631547
http://www.wildrocket.com.sg/relish.htm
Opening hours: Mon - Fri: Noon - 3pm, 6pm - 11pm, Weekends: Noon - 11pm
Love Fish n Co?
Hate Fish n Co?
Sick of Fish n Co?
Here's your prescription for your diagnosis! Manhattan Fish Market!
The concept is about the same - seafood, fries, fried stuff, buttered rice.
Conclusion? It's nicer than Fish n Co!
We ordered their "Seafood platter for two/ three" (Fish n Co terms) which was their Fishermen's Giant Fried Platter. I love the selection! Fried fish, fried fries (duh), fried mushroom (juicy!), fried prawns (sweet!), fried calamari rings and butter rice. Not a lot maybe but the portion is definitely enough for 3.
The calamari rings tasted less like the ones you get from their rival or even Swensens. I think its the spices they used... The fries were good, the fish meat was soft enough and like previously mentioned, the prawn meat was sweet! The prawns' heads didn't escape the deep pits of our stomachs too! Which means that technically, every single thing on the plate should be polished off. Yummy.
We tried one of the appetisers too - Mussels in Louisiana Shrimp Sauce.
It's not bad... The mussels are ok, the sauce was nice and thick. Fantabulous to dip the pieces of bread into. Oh, and I like to slurp the sauce off the mussel's shell after eating the meat ;)
All in all, its a great place! The bill only came up to slightly more than $50 for 3 persons and its definitely worth every single cent. We went to the outlet at Central Mall and the ambience for the outdoor seating was great. The indoor seating was a bit noisy with the people's chatter being trapped in. But the outdoor one was airy, windy, and romantic with the changing coloured lights and view of Clarke Quay.
Here's their website which is very good by the way http://www.manhattanfishmarket.com/
You can check their outlets and opening hours etc there. They have another one in Plaza Singapura.
Famous American Brand doughnuts! Even the box for the doughnuts looks so nice already! After looking at it, I finally get a glimpse into why caucasians (especially Americans) love to eat doughnuts so much. Everyone knows their policemen can't stop eating them with hot coffee inside their patrol cars. And also accidentally spilling the hot beverage onto their pants everytime. Another famous doughnut eater/ gulper/ "killer" is Homer Simpsons!
The following pictures below are for your viewing (and some envying) pleasure. Haha.
Pretty pretty glazed doughnuts.
The colourful one looks just like the one Homer eats. Haha.
If you're wondering whether its nice, IT IS NICE! When you see such lovely things, your mind will suddenly switch off and you'll forget its sweet and fattening! The doughnut wasn't too thick with dough and was just the right amount of fluffy-ness. The chocolate coated parts were great. Extremely delicious. And I love it when I burp a little even a few hours later, I could still smell the doughnuts. Haha. Disgusting. I know.
Got all these from Indonesia though. But so what? It was good still. Maybe in America it is even nicer. *drools
Yes, this is the eatery that Xiaxue was advertising for on her blog. All photos are from her blog.
On the day that I went, the place was surprising (ok, maybe not that surprising since Xiaxue has a huge readership) full with reservations. Maybe it is because the number of seats in the restaurant is limited too. So yeah.
We ordered the following - Deep fried Camembert Cheese with Berry Compote, Breaded White Button Mushrooms with Garlic Mayo, All Berry Bang Smoothie, Lobster Bisque and Portobello Burger.
Every table there ordered this. Xiaxue did an excellent job in making the readers drool over this! When you bite into it, it is supposed to do this.
And when I tried it for myself, it really does become like that, but I am sorry. This is seriously and disappointingly nothing great. Yes, the cheese flows out. But it does so in a way slower than a grandmother with a walking stick at a zebra crossing. The cheese is nothing to cheer about. It just taste average, even a tad below average. The berry compote is quite nice and it goes quite well with the cheese. Unfortunately, the deep fried cheese really do reek of oil. When it goes into your mouth, the oil smell is there and therefore, it is a bit of a let down. Conclusion for this - not good enough. The search for the best melt in my mouth cheese still goes on.
Next, we had the breaded mushroom, which looked very good on her blog. She was saying it oozes with juice when she bit into it. And its true. But! Seriously, the juice looks suspiciously like oil instead and the mushrooms are medium sized and even though it did not look shrivelled, it looks as if we were cheated of our money. AND! The oil taste was lurking in there as well!
The soup was good. Haha. For those who like the version at Jack's Place, the version here will beat that hands down. The bowl-plate thing which they served in was big. It is the same as the one in the picture, just that their serving is small! But every spoonful of the soup was rich with that lobster taste and the soup is not too thin or thick.
We ordered the Portobello Burger because it IS interesting. Two portobello mushroom with chicken patty in the middle. No bread. Haha. It sounds healthy I suppose. The white white thing was mashed potato and I didn't know it until I read the entry on Xiaxue's blog again that it has truffles in it. Sigh. As before, the mash potato is nothing great and what truffle are u talking about? Unless truffles are meant to be tasteless because I really didn't taste anything special in it. The portobello mushroom was not too bad and it was juicy (which means when you cut into it, juice or oil oozes out) and the chicken patty was nice. It was quite soft and at first taste, it reminded me of the fantastic Ramly burger chicken patty in KL. But they are still different nonetheless. When you cut into the chicken patty, it is a little wet. I didn't thought much of it till later when I realised it was oil!! Therefore, to cut a long review short, the "burger" was oil, oil and oil all over. If I have to finish this whole main dish myself, I think I will be quite sick with the oil taste.
The berry smoothie was quite nice on first try, not too thick or sweet. However, after leaving it on its own, it became a bit diluted and became a bit thin.
Overall, not really a very good place. Maybe they have other nicer and better stuff with no oil waiting to burst out with every mouth, but most of their stuff have that oil taste. Only the lobster bisque is good for another visit I think. Out of all the dishes I tried. And guess what? All of these cost $63. A bit steep for oily food. I could have bought a bottle of oil and poured it over my food and it would have been cheaper.
Oh well, I don't regret going to try out this place (cheese search!) but I do not imaging myself going back soon. Or maybe in the near future or future- future. Or yeah, you get what I mean.
Indulgz is next to the DHL balloon at Bugis. I am not bothering to put their address here because I do not think they are worth the money.
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