Super Loco

Celebrating my birthday with Joanne today and she told me she's bringing me to Super Loco! I love it when people plan a place to bring me! 

Super Loco is located at The Quayside!

She made reservations! Despite being an open area, they have huge fans so I'm glad it wasn't too warm.

My nails match the place!!

Stealing a taco first while waiting for jo to arrive and it was good! It got me hopeful for the rest of the items!

I had the chicken taco and it was flavorful with a generous portion of the chicken.

As soon as jo got here, we started with drinks! 

I had the watermelon basil drink...

It was really refreshing, not overly sweet. In fact, it doesn't taste like the watermelon pulp. Tasted more like the skin but not in a bad way.

Jo's frozen margarita!

For starters, we had a mango ceviche. It's apparently fish cured in lim juice. In the case of our order, it's snapper and with mango.....

I'm not a mango lover but this is good! Very refreshing and appetizing! The snapper fish had a good texture and goes very well with the shallots, lime, mango! We loved it!

Next was the tuna tartare with plantain crips....

The tuna tartare was not bad but the plantain crips did not have much of a taste. Ok, to be perfectly honest, I don't even know what's plantain as I'm blogging this (hehehe). It looked like banana but didn't taste like it. But coz it's pain it went pretty well with the nicely seasoned tuna. 

Next up was the crab tortillas...

This was good! Crab with mayo and avocado bites! Moist and juicy across the crispy tortillas! Yummy!

Chicken wings!

The chicken wings were really flavorful! Believe many will like it! It was a little too spicy for me (I'm lousy at spice) but I believe many will like this.

Chorizo and lamb taco...

I was too full by then. The chorizo taco felt too saltish and I don't take lamb. 

Nachos with guacamole...

The guacamole was good and the nachos was good too!

Aura

My birthday treat from Meixin today! She suggested Aura at National Gallery. It's my first visit to the new national gallery and the place looks like it's got so much to offer! Be it the exhibitions, the dining places and photography spots!

Aura is another restaurant under chef beppe. After the great experience at Osteria Art, I am hopeful to try out Aura!

The restaurant setting is classy and the ambience is good. 

The complimentary bread...

Missing the octopus from Esquina, we went for the octopus and it was really good! 

Importantly, portion was also bigger than Esquina! Haha 

Comes with a fried poached egg in the middle, it's super good!

Foie gras!

Pasta...

The roast beef...




The beef is very good, melts in your mouth!

The Coffee Academics

It was a quick coffee session at the Coffee Academics....

 

I don't know when they opened up at Raffles City but it had a rather nice interior. 

The Coffee...

 

I had the one infused with Pandan. I think it's called Java? It's not bad.

We shared a dessert and the server recommended the gypsy...

 

It's actually French toast with caramel/butter scotch. The caramel was so so fragrant. I can understand why the server recommended this! 

Esquina

I have been missing Esquina since my last visit! It's one of those places which got ticks on almost every dish! 

There was a slight screw up on my reservations via Chope. I had requested for level 1 bar counter seats but somehow the reservations reflected at Esquina side reflected as level 1 smoking seats - to which I tried to explain to the server how unlikely I would make such a request as both of us are non smokers plus I am damn scared of heat. 

The server brought us upstairs to a corner seat which was so damn hot. When asked if we could be changed to a level 1 bar seat, the server said he would check which shortly after we got it. 

To be honest, while the server did eventually managed to get is the bar counter seats, he wasn't the most patient or did he appear that keen to 'assist'. He appeared pretty cold and disinterested when I tried to explain the situation. In fact, to the extent of looking annoyed when he directed us to our seats which was ??!!?? Even the patrons who were seated me at level 2 gave me a look of empathy. 

But aside from him, the rest of all the service team were really thumbs up! Even the chef! 

The menu...

The beauty of this place is also the counter seats where you can see the chefs in action...

It really is a joy! Watching them prepare the item by item. As the crowd slowly got in and the orders increased, the pace of the food preparations also got more intense and there was great teamwork and synergy flowing around in the kitchen!

The female server with us was also full of energy in recommending dishes to us.

I remember really really liking this dish. It's minced cod fish and above it is roasted bell pepper. Served chilled...

The cod fish texture makes the whole thing so smooth and as it is popped into the mouth, it's just so awesome! I had 2 of it!

The Spanish omelette....

The Spanish omelette looks different from the usual ones I had! My friend really liked it too!

Pork jowl...

The pork jowl was so tender! Nested above a tangy sauce.

And next up is my favourite cauliflower!!! It's roasted cauliflower with crispy bacon like Parma ham! And cheese!

Another of my favourite dish here!

The grilled octopus is also super awesome!

It's so good I wish they gave bigger portions! The texture is a firm and so good on every bite!

The croquette like bite....

The beef and pork cannoli....

This was also so good! With truffle pieces above and foie gras mixed in the meat, it was so flavorful!

The last time I came, the suckling pig was out. Luckily, they have it today!

The suckling pig is boneless! The skin was crispy and upon cutting it, you already can tell this is a good piece of meat. It tears apart so easily!

Oh so yummy!!

One of their daily special is their foie gras...

Also oh so good!

At the end, the chef offered us complimentary happy endings! Chocolate ice cream...

Beauty In A Pot

A 2am supper thought after watching Charlene Choi eat steamboat, it was Beauty In A Pot! 

The previous restaurant manager redeemed himself by giving us the final last rock melon...

 

Beauty pot steamboat is one of our favourite! Be it soup or the selection of meat and their sweet rock melon!

+Sixty Six

We found the fluffiest egg omelette today! Over at +Sixty Six located at 1A Short Street...

 

It's located very near to the Rochor Beancurd, if you know where.

But sadly, as we enjoyed the egg and the rest of the food (which all was good!) and couldn't resist giving our compliments to the owner, we were informed that due to a slow down in business, they might have to fold soon. That is so very sad! We are hoping that they will shift instead of fold because this is by far the most authentic Thai place after that favourite street food stall in Thailand closed down too. 

This place is very small, a very cosy little place. The prices are also very reasonable. For lunch, they have lunch sets at $9.90 which includes things like a green curry with white rice and a drink!

Their ala carte drinks like Thai milk tea etc is $3.50, as my friend Purple would quote, it's even cheaper than pasar malam! 

Anyway, this is the amazing egg omelette with rice...

 

It was so fluffy and super yummy! With minced meat inside...

 

This was only $6! And the prices here are all nett, no service or gst charges!

We also ordered a fish maw soup which was going at $19.90...

 

The fish maw soup was really good. Although this wouldn't be something that I'd typically order, it was surprisingly very good. The thickness of the soup was just right and the soup was really tasty. Not a lot of fish maw but ok for the price.

This is one of my favourite here! It's their green curry fried rice!!

 

It tastes great! Slightly spicy and has that slight green curry taste. Portion is huge, good for sharing!

Their green curry...

 

Great in taste, generous in the amount of meat and reasonable in terms of prices!

Another dish that we ordered that proved to be super good was this salted egg fried 四季豆！

 

It was quite special! With the salted egg 'sandy' texture and the usual haybe hiam kinda taste, it's really good!

I really hope they don't chup lup but shift instead!