Proper Restaurant Review

The 1925

Wasabi Fries and a half-pint of Yellow Van

I have different friends to fulfill different needs.

I’ve got my super intellectual/shopping enabler best friend.

I’ve got my best bro with whom I discuss movies and shit.

I’ve got my soulmates from high school I still Whatsapp and Skype furiously with.

And… I’ve got my gurlfriends.

Chatting about boys, clothes, our careers and gossiping might not feature very prominently on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs but can I just say – talking shit is cathartic.

Which is why when Mel booked a table at The 1925 to get together our group of girly-friends, I was thrilled because I know it meant good times and maybe… good food? Coz I didn’t know shit about The 1925. Nobody I knew had eaten there and all Mel said was that it looked cool and the food looked “tasty.” Sure.

So this 1925 place is fashioned as a brewery slash brunch place. I didn’t know what to expect, especially since most of the restos in Jalan Besar fashion themselves as these industrial-hipster hangouts where people wear lots of hats. I’m not into hats – worn indoors. In Singapore. Because why.

When we arrived Amy was tucking into Wasabi fries (picture above) which was just as you would expect – tangy and the right consistency. Not too crispy and comfortingly dense.

I got the Yellow Van to drink and really enjoyed it (our very helpful waiter advised me to go with that since it was the girliest of the beers they had – not disappointed!) The girls had the darker and more bitter beers and they were, in their own words “bitter.”

Food was a mixed bag, Mel was exited about eating the Aglio Olio with crispy egg, which she thought would be a soft boiled egg that was deep fried. Alas it came with flyaway crispy egg bits and the dish tasted more like not very good mee hoon than aglio olio.

Amy went for the chicken that came with potatoes and ratatouille and said it was passable.

I ate this. I know what you’re thinking, fish fillet? It’s so boring and safe and plain. Well maybe it’s a boring choice but goddamn it was good. Perfectly seared, with perfectly seasoned rice and an accompaniment of ratatouille. I was impressed and happy.

So it just goes to show – the safe choice is probably the best one.

We also had a salad (not on the menu) with a yummy wasabi-balsamic reduction dressing and a Hawaiian pizza (crust deemed too thin).

Overall the beer was good, service was great, food was so-so and the ambience was nice. Would I go back? Probably, just to test out their brunch items and then walk over to Chye Seng Huat Hardware for a coffee.

The 1925
369 Jalan Besar
Singapore 208997
+65 6294 9215

Joo Bar

Yucha maekgolli slush — Yucha makgeolli slush

I am a GREAT friend.

When Alex was visiting from Kabul and I couldn’t make his birthday party I decided I would be super selfless and take him to a restaurant that we would both totally enjoy that I’ve been wanting to go to for ages.

BESTFRIENDEVER.

It’s Korean. It’s hip. And I wanted to go.

The bar itself is in Bugis and sits at the end of Tan Quee Lan street past all the legit Korean BBQ places, as this cool-ish, industrial-ish, Korean-ish bar.

There’s a table hanging from the ceiling outside and the color palette is grey, black and white. It’s borderline depressing BUT they have funny comics on the wall inside.

Once there, I ordered makgeolli, a rice alcohol beverage that is native to Korea. Or at least that is what Wikipedia told me.

I ordered the most non-alcohol tasting version that included shaved ice and yucha, which is really just yuzu. It tasted of happiness and made me feel like a princess. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Alex and I seriously got down to business and decided that we needed this chicken. I can’t remember the actual name of these babies but to be honest, they were only ok. Next time I would opt for their wings.

While we looked forward to this dish the most, it was really very lacklustre. The tofu was cold and the kimchi lacked kick. The spam was great because I love spam. Don’t judge me.

The humble japchae was honestly the best thing we had. Alex consumed huge amounts of it. Ok, honestly, he had like two servings because the guy cannot eat. But it was filling, flavorful and goooood.

I loved these sliders which honestly just tasted like Alabama style ribs in a bun. Very sweet but again, goooood.

My verdict is that this place doesn’t actually live up to the hype. The food really did lack that Korean punch, and no matter what all the other reviews say, that is a problem.

Too bad because I liked that yummy rice alcohol slush.

Joo Bar
5 Tan Quee Lan Street
188094

Wild Honey at Scotts Square

Ahh, Wild Honey.

The enclave of yuppies, tai-tais and expats in Singapore since 2010.

When my girlfriends and I were planning a long overdue catch-up and wanted it to be in an indulgent setting (because we’re worth it), we decided to do it at Wild Honey. It’s convenient location meant we could launch directly into a completely unnecessary shopping spree right after in ALL THE MALLS on Orchard Road.

So we, ok fine, I prepped myself by wearing a the uniform of the female Singapore weekender. The maxi dress. Just the right degree of chic and what, this old thing?

Wild Honey serves breakfast all day, err day and it’s expensive. Like over 20 bucks per dish (for the most part, at least).

The breakfasts are named after the countries they are supposedly served in and the portions are not huge, but large enough to make you regret you eating the whole thing.

This time around I went for the “English,” which I regretted because really I had my eye on the “Santa Fe” as soon as I saw the menu. Word of advice, if you ask for your server’s recommendation, you generally have to take it or you look like an asshole. So don’t ask for their recommendation.

The “English” was hearty but ordinary – and I found myself craving my homemade version of Ayam brand baked beans, chicken sausages and regular sliced bread.

Mel had the very photogenic “Californian” which was eggs scrambled with tofu/veggies and I wanna say, ciabatta.

Hoi opted to go the sandwich route and hers was a delicious ham and cheese ciabatta thingy.

Amy, the last girlfriend standing, chose the “Tunisian” which was shaksuka.

Coffee was generally great and the ambiance was comfortably snobby.

All in all, Wild Honey is what I call a black hole of brunch. A somewhat unnecessary experience you keep getting sucked into.

Wild Honey at Scotts Square
333A Orchard Rd
238897
6235 3900

P.S. Cafe at Harding Road

P.S. Cafe is one of those places that you’re supposed to hate.

It’s pretentious, it’s expensive, it’s full of expatriates and you always feel slightly uncool when you’re there.

But the thing is – I don’t hate it.

In fact I kinda love it.

Why? Because the food is good, you always feel like it’s a special experience when you’re there and the cakes.

P.S. Cafe at Harding Road is arguable the P.S. Cafe. Forget Ann Siang, forget the teeny-tiny Paragon branch and puhlease, those P.S. Petit branches seriously don’t count. Harding Road is where it’s at.

This is because this branch sits in the cocooned enclave of Dempsey chi-chi/atas restaurants. Where wearing billowy chic caftans and acting super casual about paying SGD8 for a coffee is necessary to fit in.

So obviously when I visited I was totally at home in my New Look distressed jeans and flea market black t-shirt. TOTES.

I visited P.S. Cafe on a bustling Wednesday for lunch. It was PACKED. Don’t people have jobs?

Onto the food.

The first thing they tell you to order at P.S. Cafe are the truffle fries. So of course my table ordered truffle fries.

I don’t even like thin fries but these are great. The truffle scent was aromatic and yummy and the parmesan shavings just amp the whole experience up. Definitely order the truffle fries.

For the main course my boss and I shared the Spicy King Prawn Aglio Olio and the Chargrilled Portobello Salad (not pictured). The salad was dense and interesting, a sweeter dressing than I usually like but it worked. The Pasta was classic fusion – mamak mee/pad thai pretending to be fancy – but who cares when it’s actually good?

Chocolate blackout cake and carrot cake — Chocolate blackout cake (can’t actually remember the name) and carrot cake

And then the cakes… oh the cakes. Please excuse how hideous the picture is above. But that cake, oh god that blackout cake. You eat it and it hits you and then you just keep going. It’s intense. The carrot cake and key lime pie (not pictured) were good but that chocolate cake was something else. It’s like a high class version of the Celine from Nickels (Canada shoutout, skip if you’ve never been there).

But, but, but the best was the pudding we ordered right at the very end. The sticky date pudding was ooey, gooey and three shades shy of being an Indian dessert. It was basically perfect. Mmm.

The seven of us paid SGD470. Like I said, it’s expensive but we ate well and I’m pretty sure all of us loved it.

Stop hating and embrace the atas-ness. It’s delicious.

P.S. Cafe at Harding Road
28b Harding Road
Singapore 249549
+65 9070 8782

Candlenut

Last week was Restaurant Week. Now if you don’t know what that is, I can’t help you.

J/K! It’s a week in Singapore, where these fancy and semi-fancy restaurants offer a three course meal at a reasonable price of SGD25-45++ for lunch and SGD35-55++ for dinner.

To be honest I kinda found out about this late. And so many of the “hot” tables were basically gone. Like a spot at Salt was completely out of the question and a reservation at WOLF? Only if you were willing to eat at 10:30pm.

Thankfully my dining mate and friend, Yuka, and I both wanted something a little different. We wanted peranakan, which – though tasty, isn’t exactly hip. So we easily got an 8 o’clock reservation for Friday night dinner and can I say – we we not disappointed, at all.

Ok so we went in there, and it’s in the Dorsett which you’d think would be fancy but the restaurant itself is sort of all glass, and kind of ethnic-y coffee shop chairs.

So, basically, zero points for ambience.

But the wait staff are so polite and demure, despite looking like stage-hands in black jeans and t-shirts, that we were like ALRIGHT.

The surprise menu turned out to be a selection of starters a choice of beef/pork/barramundi/somethingelseicantremember for the main and what can only be described as coconut delight and their signature coconut custard. Reviews are below the dishes.

Roti jala with chicken, pulut with some type of filling, tamarind chawanmushi (I think) and foie gras something

The roti jala with chicken was great, though not very heavily spiced. Kinda roti-jala lite but still had us licking our lips. The tamarind chawanmushi was a tad weird, but I’m into tamarind so I knocked that back. The pulut had a super, I wanna say shrimp floss? filling and it was lovely. The foie gras was great, really fatty, but then I did feel bad after I ate it. All in all the starters deserved a 4/5.

This is their super famous Buah Keluak main. The meat was beef cheek. And ok, it was succulent and all but if you don’t already know, buah keluak tastes WEIRD man. Like SO weird. Anyway we didn’t know and ok we got used to it but honestly no. For those who like the taste this dish is easily 5/5, for us it was more like a 3/5.

This was so good, SO GOOD. I mean perfectly grilled barramundi with a sambal that was piquant but not too spicy or sweet. Can I say we found a winner? 5/5 easily.

Chendol Cream - Signature coconut custard, gula melaka sauce with pandan jelly — Chendol Cream – Signature coconut custard, gula melaka sauce with pandan jelly

This was basically the best thing we ate. We both ordered it and it was like coconutty and asian and sweet and perfect. And there wasn’t too much even though I kinda wanted there to be too much? 5/5 EVERYDAMNDAY.

This whole place probably deserves 4/5 on account of the venue and some misses in the appetizers. But it was totes worth the 35++ price tag for Restaurant Week and I would even go back there when it’s normal price. Possibly.

Candlenut
Dorsett Residences
331 New Bridge Road
#01-03
Singapore 088764
+65 8121 4107

p.s. Sorry about all the shadows. I promise to learn how to stand properly to avoid shadows or learn how to properly photoshop. One or the other.