Don Quijote

To celebrate a close childhood friend's birthday, we had to accommodate to whatever strange cravings she had and she apparently wanted to eat Spanish food. WHAT A PREDICAMENT. Besides a previous place that both, Eve and I had worked at, I didn't have much Spanish restaurants in my arsenal. So you can imagine, trying to find a good place, was a bitch.

Eventually, my sister managed to stumble on a very beautiful promotion which was well within our poor budgets.

I present to you, Don Quijote.

It was a Tapas Brunch Buffet which was around S$30++/pax. It was a promotion then, so right now, I'm not sure.

The whole Spanish cuisine has been sidelined in Singapore, I've worked with Spanish cuisines before, it was painful. These types of promotions are necessary.

Don Quijote interior. Quaint. The bar is well stocked.

They provide a choice of either free flow of fruit juices or free flow of alcohol. Logically, you have to pay more if you chose the latter.

Buffet has free flow of sangrias with freshly cut fruits. Oho. Ho. Ho. Ho.

PRESENTING THE TAPAS!!!

Alitas de Pollo al Ajilo con Salsa Picante

Croquetas con Jamon

Spanish cuisine lesson 101(2):
Jamon: Pronounced as HA-MON. A rather expensive prosciutto made from (USUALLY) these Iberian Black Pigs.
Jamon usually has less fats compared to Prosciutto de Parma.
Chorizo: Sausage. Spanish chorizo has a deep red colour from peppers (eg paprika, but not always!). So expect it to be slightly spicy. (I forgot to take photo of the chorizo, obviously.)

Patatas Bravas

Calamares Fritos

Pudin de pan y Mantequilla (aka Bread and Butter Pudding)

Gazpacho. Cold tomato based soup. Sour stuff.

I LOVE SUPER SOFT EGGPLANTS.

Gambas de Ajillo and Berenjenas al Horno. (Garlic fried prawns and Eggplant casserole)

Rollitos de Esparragos y Beicon 

Anyone interested can check out the following link for their promotion:
http://www.don-quijote-restaurants.com/promotions.html

Don Quijote
Block 7 Dempsey Road #01-02
Tel: 6476 2811

Flor & Glace

I'm not one with a sweet tooth, but I can't live my life without my fix of sweets now and then, especially chocolate and cakes. Flor and Glace are two Japanese Sweets Shop introduced to me by a pastry chef I had (in my best fortune) worked with. Japanese Sweets are usually lighter and fluffier as compared to the western counterpart hence it fits me to the bone! (I really hate creamy and heavy cakes.)

First Visit to Flor:
I prefer the Waguri Millefeuille to the Berry Berries since I am not a huge fan of whipped cream. Both were really light and I think one cake per person isn't really sufficient. I will go for three different cakes, alone.

Waguri Millefeuille

Berry Berries

Second Visit:
We had to take away because they were closing :( Since we are going to La Maison Fatien for dinner, we decided to just go for one cake.

,

Napoleon, one of their bestseller

Nothing too fanciful or special. The cakes we had on our first visit was nicer. Or maybe because we had a rather unique cake from Glace just hours ago.

First Visit to Glace:
Theoretically, this should be our second visit to Glace. It was closed the first time we went :( Anyway, long story cut short, we decided to head to the branch Marina Bay Link Mall for some awesome cake. 

Display Chiller- Left

Display Chiller- Right

Because it is a take-away shop..

Banaan Chocolat

See that fresh, ripe banana!

I love it! It wasn't your normal swiss roll though it certainly looked like one. The chewy texture and crispy layer got us hooked. Pity I can't devour the entire cake by myself because J is there. (J: Excuse me?) I wish I could try more cakes from Glace but we were heading down to Flor then La Maison Fatien......

Flor Patisserie
#01-01, 2 Duxton Hill
Singapore 089588
Tel: 62238628

Glace Patisserie
Main Store:
12 Gopeng Street #01-33/34
Icon Village
Singapore 078877
Tel: 64000247

Branch:
Marina Bay Link Mall
8A Marina Boulevard #B2-65
Singapore 018984
Tel: 66349839

Chinatown Plaza
34 Craig Road #01-10
Sinapore 089673
Tel: 66491557

Wild Honey

Honestly, this is one of those obligatory post if you have a food blog in Singapore. I've been there so many times, I think I've tried more than half of the breakfast menus.

In any case, let's just jump right in. 

European Set. My virgin set at Wild Honey.

NO NUT Brownie. I hate nutted brownies. >:(

I'm not a huge fan of ciabatta cause it's hard. I think you may switch to your preferred choice of bread. I stupidly didn't.

Corsican Set. The eggs are sweet. Very simple set compared to the others. So-so to me.

I really like the thick toasted brioche from Wild Honey. However, Brioche makes my sister sleepy. She said it has too much wheat or something. Um.

English Breakfast. 

I Love NY is supposed to come with a bagel. But I'm lazy to chew on bagels. I switched breads this time.

I Love New York Set. I kinda love this set. Only cause of the cream cheese.

Tunisian Set. Has Chorizo. We had a lesson about this in the previous post.

I'll probably love the Basque set more if it was Jamon Iberico. But then I'll have to pay $10 more. Which, I think... No.

Basque Set. This is my favourite so far. Hello thick prosciutto and piquillo!

I think I've had my fill of Wild Honey now. I need to go to another breakfast place. Give me a couple of years before I come back.

Wild Honey
333a Orchard Road, 3rd Floor (Mandrin Gallery)
Tel: 6235 3900 (No reservations)

OR

6 Scott's Road, 3rd Floor
Tel: 6636 1816 (Takes reservations)
The second branch seems to have branched out on their menu too. Or am I just remembering wrongly?

Pizzeria Mozza

Nowadays people usually get so caught up with their work they often neglect their other half. We all need special reason to go on date now, I'm no exception. This is a bad habit, let's learn how not to take our loved ones for granted and treasure them while we still can.

Seeing a need to fix some things, B decided to bring me out for dinner at Marina Bay Sands, Pizzeria Mozza. It was actually recommended by his chef, so naturally I went with a high expectation.

First thing you see on the table

Menu

Iced water and some savoury snack was served promptly. My apologies, I did not asked what exactly it is because I was not really impressed by that. It was savoury, really crispy with a very strong hint of burnt aftertaste. Not my cup of tea, but could be yours.

Something that is on the house. Savoury, crispy...

The waitress (who was actually very nice and polite) recommended their special of the day. I must say she did not let me down. Not so perfectly poached quail eggs and mushroom that went so well with that garlic lemony bruschetta drowned with olive oil. My.... every bite was heaven.

Antipasti Special of the Day. Poached Quail Eggs with Garlic Lemon Bruschetta

Mint Basil Lemon Soda and Raspberry Mint Soda

Only had one pizza because I am pretty sure I can't fit more into my stomach (working is taking a toll on me). It was my off day but I had to go back to work :( ). Such is the life of an FnB employee.

In short, you can call this the meat lover pizza. Their pizza crust was really good! And I love the spices they used. It was really salty though, don't say I did not warn you.

Bacon, salumi, fennel sausage, pancetta, tomato and mozzarella

Same as above

Our dessert was a mistake. Again, maybe the problem lies in me, so you might like it.

Butterscotch Budino, Maldon Sea Salt and Rosemary Pine Nut Cookie

Pizzeria Mozza
10 Bayfront Avenue Singapore 018956
Tel: +65 6688 8522

The Things Customers Say.....

A new list of things that customers have actually said that has either amused us or pissed us off.
All of these are:

Legend:
Customers
Waiter

 "This carrot soup tastes like blended carrots mush" (What did you expect? Potato? Cucumbers?)

"I bought your mooncake and I don't really like it."

"Did you try a sample before buying?"

"No."

"I would like a black coffee with warm milk at the side" - (I'm gonna charge you for a Flat White. You cheapskate.)

 "I'd like a decaf Americano"

"A Mocha with low fat milk"

"What dish/drink does your chef/barista/bartender make best?" - (If we can't make more than 1 dish/drink well, we would have been fired)

"Do you do anything for birthdays here?" - (Thankfully, most places in Singapore doesn't do such stuff, or I had the stroke of luck that my workplaces never do this)


(About a French Vietnamese cuisine restaurant) - "So is it a fusion or is the restaurant just confused?"

"Affogato means 'drowning' in Italian. I wonder if they meant the ice cream's drowning in the coffee or the coffee is drowning in the ice cream" 


(At a cocktail bar) - "You all don't serve mocktails? That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard"

"Why does your dishes look different from the pictures in the menu?" - (You think we are robots?)

(Pointing to an obviously enlarged sized picture in the menu) - "Why is the size of my waffle smaller as compared to this?

"Your mushroom soup don't taste like the real stuff. It's different from the Campbell Cream of Mushroom."

"The garlic taste is too strong." - (SIR/MDM, YOU ORDERED A GARLIC FLAVOURED CHIPS.)

"I want a black tea."

"Ok Sir, We have a few black tea, which one do you want?"

"I just want a black tea."

"We have English Breakfast, Earl Grey or Ceylon. Which would you like to have?"

"A black tea."

"I want a whisky."

"Okay, we have 80 different kinds of whisky, which would you like"

"I don't care, I'm Indian and I want whisky"

"Can I have pineapple juice with a little bit of milk" (what?)

(Same pineapple juice with milk customer) "Why are all your colleagues looking at me and laughing?"
"Oh no no, they just heard a joke that's all. Not laughing at you." (Complete BS, we were laughing at her)


(when the place is running full house) "We've been waiting for 15mins!"

"Can I get some water?"

"Water is self service, it's over there"

"Do you have service charge?"

"Yes."

"Then YOU get me some water" (If you don't see what's wrong with this picture, please don't eat out and spare us the agony)

"I'm having a flu/stomach ache/headache/hangover what's the best thing for me to order?"(A visit to the doctor or a bed rest.)

(Semi-Regular customer) -"Did you see my friend where is my friend?"
"She left already."
"What?! What time?!"
"Maybe half an hour ago?"
"How could she leave? I was only an hour late!"

 (On a side note, the both of us hate tardiness. We are major impatient people)



(when any plate/cup drops and breaks at the customer's table) - "It dropped on it's own!"
OR "It broke on it's own!"
(By the way, I hope you all know that if you break anything you are expected to pay. A customer has argued with me about paying. Where did you get the notion that it's okay to break our dishes?)

(When the place is obviously full house)
"A table for 2"
"Do you have any reservations"
"No."

"I'm sorry, as you can see we're full"

"How about that table? It's empty" - gesturing to a table with a RESERVED sign on it

"I'm sorry it's reserved."

"We'll be quick."
"Sorry. No." - I'm going to defend myself here by saying that I have let people take reserved tables before when the reservation party wasn't here yet. Most of the time, you all will take so long to clear off the table that our reservation party has to wait. Once, we got yelled at by the reservation party.
"I called today and you said no reservations!"
"We're fully booked by Tuesdays or Wednesdays. So you have to call earlier"
"Yeah whatever"

(I'm a real strong believer of reservations. When you make a reservation it tells me that "Hey, I'm having a night out and I plan to have it at your restaurant/bar/cafe".  It means you checked us out and you have an idea of what you're getting into. Instantly, the I will feel more obliged to give you better service, cause I wouldn't want to let you down. Since you put in some effort, I should too. When you do a walk-in, it kind of says "I walked past and it looked nice". Doesn't sound as sincere, does it?)



--End--

Whether it irritates me or it makes me laugh, I love talking to customers, especially when it's about food. So when your server seems nice, talk to them! If they're like me, we're gonna be good friends. :)

La Maison Fatien

J and I decided to head to 'La Maison Fatien' for dinner after some long meaningless consideration (both of us suck at making decision on where we should go for meals. We could spend days discussing and only making the decision because it's time to meet).

La Maison Fatien is a cosy, rustic bistro that's tucked away in between rows of shophouses and pubs along Duxton Hill. The exterior may not look like much, but this is one of those 'never judge a book by it's cover' restaurants. What La Maison Fatien offers inside, is so much more than your eyes can see.
La Maison is only 5 months old, and it has so much potential to live up to.

We made a reservation and got a nice quiet corner table to enjoy ourselves at. We were probably 45mins early for our reservation. Besides being indecisive, we also have a bad sense of time.... Or maybe it's just J.

 

View from our secluded table

A very simple menu.

Nice, romantic ambiance

When the Sun set and the candles lighted

Our Moscat Wine

The bistro provides free flow of warm toasted bread, but don't be too greedy, save some space for the entrées!

Bread Basket. Innovative way of serving the butter. Lovely presentation.

Their salad dressing is amazing (E: I could eat just the salad and enjoyed myself the same). The potato wedges are better.

J's Medium Rare Steak au poivre

E's Côte de porc “Charcutière"

Fondant au chocolat

Long story short, the whole Bistro knew we had a sweet tooth and offered us a apple tart on the house! The tartness from the apple went down really well with the smooth creme fraiche. This dessert was not on the menu if I'm not wrong! Or did I missed it?

Apple Tart with Crème Fraiche

They own their own vineyard in France, as such, the Asst Manager gave us some house wines to try. They are potent. The green one especially. It's not absinthe, in case you're wondering. (I am already missing the heat rush when I down about 10cc of that green stuff. Craving for more.... )

Wine and Alcohol Tasting

Bottom line, if you're looking for a nice romantic place out, this would be it. For such a setting, it's also relatively cheap and the service went beyond the call of duty. We'll go back soon!

La Maison Fatien
76 Duxton Hill
Tel: 6220 3822
http://www.lamaisonfatien.com/

The F&B Language

If you work long enough, you'll tend to start saying things unconsciously that normal people don't usually say. This is the lingo!

85 - 1 left
86 - No more. Also means, get rid of. 
Closing - Shutting down operations and wiping the place down
Dine and Dash - Running off without paying for the bill. 
Dutch - Split evenly. Usually only used on bills.
Dying - When a dish is becoming 'unservable'. Eg, when your hot latte becomes cold, or your ice cream melts. This term is only usable before we serve it to the customers. 
Floor - The service and seating area of the establishment. Floor staffs would include: Host, waiter, cashier, busser
FiFo - Acronym for First in First out. All restaurants/cafes/bars live and die by this rule. What ever is stocked first, has to be used first.
Jammed - (Usually used in the kitchen) When the orders start to accumulate and you cannot handle the volume. That is also the time customers start asking for their food.
Opening - What we have do to get a place ready to run it's operations. Eg, switching on the machines, heating up the coffee machine. 
Operation - The period where we prepare customer's food and drinks

Plating - The action chefs take to decorate/design how a dish looks on a plate.
Pre-closing - Start Closing before actual closing time. Usually shutting down lesser used machineries.
Slammed - aka In the weeds. The period when you have so many things to do and not enough time to complete or you have more things to do than your brain/entire being can handle. Leads to stress.  
Prep Work - Things that we need to do before we start cooking/making drinks as to ensure quicker operation flow. Such include; pre-squeezing juices, peeling potatoes, cutting mushrooms.
PT/FT - Acronym for Part Time/Full Time. 
Push - To try and sell a product out to customers.
Regular - Short for "Regular Customer"
Send - To deliver the dish to it's respective table. Eg, "Send the beef to table 12".
Service - To provide assistance to a customer.
Split Shift - Usually happens at places which close in the middle of the day and have 2 separate operation hours. Most restaurants near the CBD are like this. We, The Talking Menu, generally do not like to work at such places.
Turn over - The rate customers come and go
       High Turn over - Customers leave once they finish their food, tables then taken over immediately by a new customer
       Low Turn over - Customers stay longer than they should(also known as campers), no tables for new customers. Or no crowd.
Walk-in - Customers with no reservations.

These are the usual ones you would hear when you work in cafes/restaurants around Singapore.
Have any of your own to add? Do leave us comments!

Buffet at Ritz

Fancy a buffet at a fancy buffet? I'm fortunate to have a friend working there, so I could enjoy the best out of this buffet. We went during crab night, so lots of the dishes were crab-centric which I'm not complaining about.

It is expensive of course! Hotel buffet, what did you expect? Ladies have a 1 for 1 night on Wednesdays.

First plate for the day. Pork belly, crab cakes and oysters.

All the seafood are fresh. The hotel doesn't reuse their leftovers.

Roast Duck, Quiche and sashimi

How could it be a crab buffet in Singapore without Chilli Crab?

A huge display of seafood. Hello Hepatitis B.

It takes them 10mins to clear everything during closing. I find that amusing and amazing. My friend said that if you want to go home, you'd clear that fast too. Touché.

 I wonder if that huge crab can be eaten...

Seafood plate. The soup was a little bland. Maybe cause I didn't put vinegar. It was crab soup not shark's fin.

I didn't take the sushi. Never eat starch such as rice/potatoes/bread during a buffet. Wastes space. However, I do sometimes break that rule when their bread looks good.

Fresh cold sashimi.

Dessert! The cakes were good. Most of the time asking which were the ones my friend made.

A chef comes by to make waffles for you, but you have to be quick! He goes as fast as he comes. But other than that, the service by the entire staff in general is great!

Waffle condiments counter

Each ice cream is individually scooped to look like this.

I enjoyed myself through and through; Stuff yourself with so much food that when you leave your stomach is 1cm away from bursting open. I love buffets.