Group Therapy Cafe, Duxton Hill

 

My second time at the cosy cafe, Group Therapy remains a comfortable place for a casual brunch. They changed some of the items on the menu, which was a pity because I wanted to have a go at the Beef stew, only to realise that it has been taken off the menu.

 

They have four all day Breakfast dishes, namely Organic granola & museli bowl with yoghurt and fruits ($11), Poached eggs on Thick toast with salmon  ($15), Sunny side up on thick toast with parma ham ($16), and Belgian style waffle with Maple syrup ($9).



Poached eggs
Thick toast with smoked salmon, gruyere, hollandaise
$15

The Poached eggs on thick toast was accompanied with smoked salmon, gruyere, and hollandaise sauce. The slab of thick toast was generously slabbed with a huge dollop of hollandaise sauce that completely covered the poached eggs, creating a mess of oozing egg yolks, soft egg whites, and sauce. The bread was well soaked with the goodness and I thought it was pretty awesome.



Chicken and Mushroom pie
$14

The Chicken and Mushroom pie was stuffed with chicken chunks and white button mushrooms in gravy sauce, and baked in shortcrut butter pastry. I did not get to try this but it was reportedly good.

 

Baked Chilli Crab Pie
$16

The Baked Chilli Crab Pie comprises of chunks of crab claw meat cooked in Chilli crab sauce, baked in a sweet shortcrust butter pastry. I loved the how the chilli crab complemented the buttery pastry and the dish remains my favorite on the list.

The menu is rather limited but decent enough for a casual brunch date.

Group Therapy Cafe

49 Duxton Hill

#02-01

Tel: 62222554

 

PODI, Paragon Orchard

We ventured to the newly opened restaurant, Podi, at Paragon for high tea on a Saturday afternoon when we had some time to kill before dinner.  

 

Open concept restaurant

Cakes counter

The cakes selection was not extensive but decent with some interesting selections such as their whoopie pies and some of the cakes like the Rose Dragon lifht cheesecake.



Cinnamon Spiced Cake with Honey & Toasted Hazelnut Frosting

$12/slice or $15 with ice cream

We opted for Cinnamon Spiced Cake with Honey & Toasted Hazelnut Frosting and almond cappuccino ice cream because I wanted something more sponge-cake based than cream-based. The dessert was very rich with its strong flavours of spices and generous serving of nuts. The cake was topped with buttery biscuit crumbs instead of your usual cream frosting. The chef pulled it off well because the cake could have been very dry if the sponge cake was not moist enough. It was interesting but I found it a little too overwhelming as the flavors were very strong. Perhaps a lighter flavoured ice cream, like Vanilla bean, would have complemented the cake better.

Other items on the food menu include dishes such as Seared chilled grass-fed NZ rib eye steak ($32), Lean chicken fillets ($24), Tamarind chilli prawns with brown rice ($26), and Grilled sea bass with brown rice ($26). Breakfast dishes, available from 8am to 12pm, features a smaller selection with items such as Herb omelette wrap with grilled chicken ($20), Poached eggs with spinach on toast ($22), and Black forest pancakes ($17).


Podi, The Food Orchard

290 Orchard Road

#01-20A Paragon

Tel: 68875303

Kith Cafe, Park Mall

With its second outlet conveniently located at Park Mall, you don't have to grapple with the hassle of getting to its first outlet at Rodyk Street. It was fairly crowded on a Saturday morning when we arrived, so do make reservations if you do not want to wait.

 

Indoor seating



Outdoor seating



Iced Latte

No better way to start the meal with a glass of Iced Latte in a hot Saturday afternoon.



Grilled Chicken Salad
$14

The Grilled Chicken Salad comrpises of grilled chicken, wild rocket, green apple, chery tomato, pinenuts and topped with vinaigrette dressing. I had requested for the dressing to be served at the side. The chicken was left over chicken and was tough to chew. I thought the pinenuts were too sparse and the salad components were not assembled in the correct proportions to deliver a balanced flavor- there was too much wild rocket and too little of everything else.




Spaghetti, King Prawn, garlic, chilli, cherry tomato
$19

A daily special on the menu, the King Prawn Spaghetti was flavorsome with its al dente pasta and juicy king prawns. Not the best that we've had, but still satisfying.

I think I still like their breakfast dishes better. It's a fabulous place to chill if you are waiting for your movie to start and you have time to spare.

Kith Cafe
Park Mall
9 Penang Road, Singapore
#01-01E
Tel: +65 6338 8611

K Ki, Ann Siang Hill

K Ki has been on my to-go list since about two years ago when I've read about their desserts online. We finally made our way there on a Saturday afternoon after a hearty brunch session.

 





 

The store was featuring adorable paintings of rabbits on the wall, an exhibition by Yusuke Shimura.

 



The Little Drom Store

I love the assortment of items displayed at The Little Drom Store, painting a psychedelic array of colours that livens the place up.

 

 

The store is shared between K ki and The Little Drom Store, and I was a little suprised at how small the store was. There was only a counter with about 11 types of sliced cakes and a drinks menu. Being our first time there, the staff was very helpful and explained the components in each cake so that we could decide on what we wanted.

 

The Little Red Riding Hood
$9

Our first pick was The Little Red Riding Hood, which comprises of 70% dark Valrhona chocolate mousse cake with a raspberry centre. I thought it was rich yet light and smooth at the same time. This would sit well with chocolate fans. 

Emily
$9

Our second pick was Emily, a champagne mousse cake with a strawberry centre. I was intrigued by its description but disappointed with the actual taste. I felt that the flavours did not really blend well together, leaving a slightly odd after taste on the palates. The mousse was overly soft, which was something I did not really enjoy as well as it felt like I was only having flavored whipped cream.

 



 

A nice place to chill out, but perhaps only once just for the experience. The items failed to impress, perhaps due to the high expectations that were pegged to the place.  

 

 

K Ki

7 Ann Siang Hill
#01-00
Tel: 62256650

 

 

Wrap & Roll, The Star Vista

The Star Vista has recently opened with a string of bustling new eateries, and Wrap & Roll is one of the restaurants on the list. Singapore has seen an increase in the number of Vietnamese eateries in recent years and I was excited to visit the place, being a fan of Vietnamese food. 





The placemat contains instructions that guides you on how to make your own wrap. The table contained a quadruple compartment condiment dish which was definitely under utilised with only two condiments set on every table.



Gỏi ngo sen
Lotus Shoot Salad with Prawns

We ordered a Gỏi ngo sen, Lotus Shoot Salad with Prawns to start our meal. The portion was dismally small, but the salad was wonderfully appetizing with its tangy sweet and sour sauce that gave the assortment of vegetables and prawns a boost in its flavours. You could stack the salad onto the prawn crackers and consume them like tapas, but we had them separately and it worked for us too.

Phở bò xào

The Phở bò xào, Stir Fried ‘Pho’ Noodles with Beef was delish. The rice noodles were large white sheets that were used to for some of the rice rolls, and the texture was a quite different from your usual kway tiao as they were softer and tended to clump together, which worked well when stif-fried with the beef sauce. I would have preferred the beef to be more thinly sliced as some pieces were a little touch, but I enjoyed the additional dose of vegetables thrown in.


Bò cuộn lá lốt

The Bò cuộn lá lốt, Gilled Beef in Vine Leaves is another dish that you must try. The minced beef is neatly wrapped in vine leaves and the dish is served with an assortment of mint leaves, cabbage, star fruit, vermicelli, sauce, and sheets of rice rolls. We had fun putting our own rolls together, although it got a little messy when we piled too much into a roll.


Rolls to wrap the beef



Sauce to dip the rolls

The beef roll was good on its own. The beef was juicy and nicely grilled to give a hearty robust flavour. Definitely something that I would order again.

The menu is rather limited and the portions are rather small, but it's a good place if you want to get a light bite, the food is pretty good.


Wrap & Roll
1 Vista Exchange Green
#B1-11 The Star Vista
Tel: 66944111

Chinois by SuSur Lee, Hotel Michael, RWS

 

A restaurant by a celebrity Chef, SuSur Lee, Chinois is the Chef's first restaurant outside North America. The restaurant had been awarded with a number of accolades and we had expectations on the restaurant.

 

We had a private room, but the room was very small and cramped and could barely fit ten people.  



The mid-range Triumph Menu features a six-course meal at $100 per person.

 

Service was incredibly slow, and the restaurant seemed understaffed. We had to wait for about half an hour before the first course arrived. The chef sent a complementary appetizer dish of cucumbers with sambal chili for the long wait.

 

Cucumbers with Chili

The dish was simple but hit the right notes. Then again, everything would have tasted like paradise for the famished souls.



Char-grilled Japanese Pork Tenderloin with homemade Pita bread in Sesame Peanut Sauce

We were all rather impressed when the first dish, the Char-grilled Japanese Pork Tenderloin with homemade Pita bread in Sesame Peanut Sauce, arrived at the table. The presentation was interesting and visually wonderful. The pita bread was sesame black and a fatty piece of Japanese Pork Tenderloin was placed at the centre with a colourful array of condiments. After the oohs and aahs, we rolled the wrap and consumed it like a roll.

The char-grilled pork tenderloin was a fatty slab of juicey meat decorated with an assortment of colourful condiments. I thought the composition was lovely, however the pita bread was too thick and cold and I felt like I was chewing rubber. The dish would have been a hit if the wrap had been further refined.




Double-boiled Abalone and Superior Shark's Fin with Conpoy Soup

Double-boiled Abalone and Superior Shark's Fin with Conpoy Soup was decent, but I am not advocate of Shark's Fin so we'd leave it as that.



Baked Marinated Cod in Homemade Spicy Sauce

The Baked Marinated Cod in Homemade Spicy Sauce was heavily seasoned and complemented the deep fried aubergine stack that it was resting on. My only grouse was that the portions were too small.



Sauteed Tiger Prawn with Egg White and Dark Vinegar reduction

We were disappointed when the dish arrived. The Sauteed Tiger Prawn with Egg White and Dark Vinegar reduction was as average as it looks. There was nothing outstanding or interesting about the dish, and it elements of the dish were clumsily put together to create the dish.

 



Crabmeat Fried Rice with Silver Fish X.O. sauce and Crispy rice

The Crabmeat Fried Rice with Silver Fish X.O. sauce and Crispy rice was excellent. We loved how the crispy rice added an extra crunch to the grainy beads of rice.



Chinois Delight

The Chinois Delight comprises of Chilled cream of Mango Sago with Pomelo, Chilled Mango Custard with Lime Caramel, Fresh Mango Sorbet. We were very put off with the below average trio of desserts. It was evident that not much thought was put into the dish and I could not finish the dish, despite being a huge dessert lover.

The menus were sloppily planned with little finesse and poor execution. Service was slow and we had to chase the staff for each course. If you are looking for top-grade food by well-known chefs, you'd be better some place else.


Chinois by SuSur Lee
26 Sentosa Gateway
Hotel Michael, Resorts World Sentosa
#02-142/143
Singapore

Latteria Mozzarella, Duxton Hill

Latteria Mozzarella is an Italian restaurant that specialises in cheese, particularly the many variations of Mozzarella, such as Bufala, Bocconcini, and Burrata. But to be honest, I was purely intrigued by their Mac & Cheese, being an avid pumpkin lover.

We almost changed our minds when we were outside the restaurant as L'Entrecote, a French restaurant just a few doors down was packed with diners whereas Latteria Mozzarella was still relatively quiet on a Saturday night at 7pm.

The restuarant's interior revealed a cosy romantic ambience in its dim setting brightened by lighted candles on each table. They had indoor and outdoor seatings, and there were only about three groups seated indoors.



Interior

We were served with complementary bread after our orders. The baguette was crisp on the outside while maintaining a soft and chewy centre.



Complementary bread

I was delighted when my Mac & Cheese arrived. The pasta was served snugly in the middle of a nicely baked pumpkin.



Latteria Mac & Cheese
$25

I loved it. The pumpkin was baked till soft and the pasta was nicely al dente with cheese that was not overpowering. The cheese was subtle and just about right to create a fragrant savoury and sweet combination of pumpkin and cheese.

The Linguine Crab and Mascarpone was quite a disappointment in comparison. I was a little disappointed that the Crab & Mascarpone was referring to the sauce and not actual accompaniments to the pasta. The dish was passable but very forgettable.



Linguine Crab & Mascarpone
$25

Service was rather good, they filled our glasses periodically and the staff was attentive. By the time we left at around 8 plus, the restaurant was about 90% filled.

A nice cosy place for the quiet dinner, we'd try the mozzerella if we ever drop by again.

Latteria Mozzarella
40 Duxton Hill, Singapore

Tel: +65 6866 1988