Paulaner Bräuhaus, Singapore

A meet up with a couple of friends brought me to Paulaner Bräuhaus in Millenia Walk. I haven't actually bumped into this bar/restaurant before and wasn't exactly excited about visiting Paulaner because of my recent change in diet. I didn't wanna trouble my friends to change the venue because of picky me so we went ahead anyway. German food equates to meat and lots and lots of meat, but lucky for me I found something worth going back for - good wine.

We were there on a Thursday night, surprisingly there weren't many people in the restaurant. When we left though, the bar was so so so packed. There was a live band as well, which we could hardly hear from where we were (restaurant is located on the second level), which is another excuse to be back there.

Shortly after we placed our orders, we were breads of various grains together with two spreads. Regrettable, I only remembered the pinkish looking spread was liver spread. Since I'm a wheat-free diet, I skipped the bread but I'm pretty sure the friends enjoyed it anyway because there was none left after a while.

The food took quite a while to come, but first served was the crispy pork knuckle with sauerkraut and bread dumpling (S$29.50). My friend who suggested this restaurant recommended the pork knuckles to share and said he loved them. Well, I guess pork knuckles shouldn't go wrong in a German restaurant, can it? The pork skins were tough and crisp but they make eating them really tiring too. The pork meat is well marinated and it was so juicy! Yeah I caved in, away from my vegetarian diet (as least I'm still slightly wheat-free?) but I skipped the bread loaf since bread seems to be my nemesis. I had a couple of pieces, and thought this was probably the best you can get in Singapore, though I still preferred what I had at Löwenbräu Keller in Sydney. 

Because of my special needs, we ordered a fish to share as well. What looked the most appetizing on the menu had to be the Atlantic salmon fillet on iceberg lettuce salad with lemon dressing (S$28). The salmon was fresh, the salad was tangy with the lemon dressing and there were alfafa sprouts in the salad! It's probably the only thing I remembered of what my friend said - alfafa can prevent high blood pressure. But well, I wouldn't order the salmon again, not because it wasn't nice, but a German restaurant is better off with red meat over white.

The last main we ordered to share was the Paulaner sausage pan (S$25), which included 5 different sausages on sauerkraut Thüringer, cheese sausage, debreziner, pork sausage and spicy Kolbazi sausage. I had no choice but to cave in again, the friends rave of the sausages - yummy, juicy and omg it's German sausages! I'm a weak-minded vegetarian to be :| I tried them, they're really good. Chewy, juicy, you really don't taste any artificial processed meat in them even though they could be. I could have this again.

And if I ever return, I'll definitely have Pinot Noir from Germany - Medium bodied bouquet of soft raspberry and cherries glides on the palate. Pleasant if slightly chilled for a hot summer. It's a really pleasant red wine that is the easiest I ever had. My reason to return.

9 Raffles Boulevard

#01-01

Millenia Walk

Singapore 039596

Website

La Petite Cuisine, Singapore

I was in Singapore for a month during my winter break, but stayed indoors most days because it was way too hot. I haven't got much to share about Singapore this time, but definitely have a couple of food places worth sharing :) Here's one to begin my entries on Singapore.

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Unpretentious was what I read about La Petite Cuisine along Upp Thomson Road.

I was looking for a nearby restaurant because Mom wanted to give us all a treat and she suggested having French since we always have Asian/Chinese/Japanese. After looking up hungrygowhere, I found La Petite Cuisine to be the best option we had for that night. Lucky, I managed to get reservations for us (total of 9 adults + 1 baby) via the phone that very same day.

We almost couldn't find the restaurant, not that it was hidden away or was at some particular corner, but it almost didn't look like a French restaurant. It's a relatively small restaurant, the inside of it wouldn't have accommodated more than 30 people with outside seating for only approx 10 people. Unfortunately for our big group, we were seated outside the clinic that was beside the restaurant and had much awkward stares from other patrons and other passerby. But I wouldn't say this is a result of bad service, probably just isn't big group friendly.

We started with bread rolls, served with butter. 

Then we ordered a couple of entrées to share. First served among those was this fresh salmon half cook served with baby spinach in french vinaigrette dressing (S$14). The salmon was more than half cooked though but it was really fresh and well marinated. The accompany baby spinach were pretty crunchy along with the dressing. I would have this if I visit again.

We also had green salad in french dressing (S$5). Plus point, no rotten/rotten-looking leaves in the salad.

Foie gras panfried with orange confit served with salad (S$18.50), which explains itself pretty well. It was a pretty small serving, so we ordered two of it to share among all of us. We all know the expensive price tags of foie gras, so this isn't really pricey at all. Some parts of the foie gras that I had were burnt, but the other parts were really yummy. To make the dish less unimpressive, there's quite a bit of salad to finish off. Totally worth having it! 

It took quite a while for our mains to come and it was also difficult to get the attention of the staff. First up was a popular dory with white wine butter and rice (S$12.50). The marinate and sauce balanced with the bland dory fish and the rice, oh my gosh, the rice was so so yummy! I would totally go back just for the rice because I'm such a rice fanatic. It could just be rice infused with herbs, but rice oh rice :)

Men being men, they love to have red meat. We had two of the sirloin steak with french fries and salad (S$16.50), one for Dad and the other for my bil. I didn't have a go at this, but the men seemed to have enjoyed it very well. 

What I ordered wasn't disappointing as well - seared tuna steak with onion marmalade (S$14.50). The tuna was well marinated, but it was a little too tough and dry. Perhaps if they didn't use tuna steak, the outcome would be more enjoyable. The onion marmalade was interesting and was much needed together with the dry steak. And again, the rice is similar to the one with dory fish and it was, needless to say, extremely yummy! We had couple of other mains as well, such as assorted fresh sausages (lamb, beef and pork) served with fries and salad (S$14), saute of fresh sea prawns with spaghetti in olive oil (S$14) and fillet of chicken with cepes and butter rice (S$13), but I couldn't capture the photos in time before the famished family started on them :( But I reckon they were pretty satisfied with their meals, even though the portion seemed really small.  

We also ordered four meals with additional top up of S$3.50. The upgrades come with either soup, desserts or tea/coffee, we picked desserts so all of us could have a go at the cakes they offer. We weren't exactly told which cakes were served, but I reckon I could guess what they were by tasting it (it was also too dark to even look at what were in the cakes :/). 

Pear chocolate mousse "Belle Helene" layer cake (usual price S$4). The combination of pear and chocolate mousse was good, but it would have been better if they used sweeter or sour pears to bring out the refreshing taste in the cake. 

I guessed this was opera cake with chocolate sauce (usual price S$4), but of course without the chocolate sauce. 

This was the hard one, neither did the fruits taste like passion fruit (which was offered on the menu) nor mango, so I don't quite know what it is. It tasted similar to black forest cake though, but it wasn't on the menu. Oh well. 

Lastly, we had creme caramel (usual price S$4). I would probably have something more exotic next time, this creme caramel was pretty ordinary I reckon. 

La Petite Cuisine 
227 Upper Thomson Road 
Singapore 
Tel: +65 6459 0553

Pictorial record of my winter holiday

I have been way too lazy with blogging, but of course I'm still around. It had been a good winter break back at home (in July, that's eons ago!), and I'm here to share some snippets just to make this blog slightly alive. I have several things that I wanna blog/record so I'll definitely make time after my last mid semester exam tomorrow. Public finance is seriously not easy, 40mcqs in 60mins is a killer.

Reminiscing on my winter break brings me instant warmth. I'm so glad I was back at home, if not it will definitely be something regretful. What some people swear by, never regret what you do, only regret what you don't.

One of my favourite family on earth - Apple :) I love sneaking up on her when she's asleep, you can tell how alert yet sleepy she is at the same time. Absolutely adorable.

My other favourite family - Snoozle. They make best partners together, despite always squibbling and biting on each other. He's definitely the scaredy one ;)

The thing she love to do while she's really sleepy -- Eating! She's definitely one greedy bun :)

He's recently learnt to listen to my neighbours' dogs bark, maybe some sort of defence that rabbits learn? He now stands up whenever the dogs bark, awfully cute with his very tiny front paws hanging in the mid air :P

My favourite drink from Starbucks - Java Chip Frap. I order this everytime I go to Starbucks, other than the seasonal Chrissy Toffee Nut Frap that they offer too! I love this sorta coffee drinks that doesn't get me feeling bitter all over, but I know they aren't real good coffee. 

Look at her sticking out her cotton-like tail :)

He's such a pretty boy :]

If you noticed, he's triple coloured now even though he was double coloured when he was very little! He's a grown up rabbit now :)

One of the best drinks you can ever get is freshly squeezed/blended juices. I love them. More to come about this cafe :)

Rabbits eat carrots. Well, according to my vet carrots can be quite harmful for rabbits. They can't have too much because they cause diarrhea which can be fatal :(

I never liked tofu pudding, or commonly known as tau huay in Singapore. But ever since I tried this, I'm in love. I especially liked the almond one, smooth with a strong almond taste albeit the almond being artificial flavouring. Our first try at this store in Old Airport Road Hawker Centre, queued for 45mins (I honestly wonder why he even queued for so long) and bought 15 tubs for family to share! 

A rare photo of Truffle sitting still. It is so difficult to get her to stop moving, must be her playful nature acting up! 

I had two rounds of this coloured xiao long baos till I was so sick and never wanted them again. Review to come on soon!

A Hainanese steamboat feast for 11 people. It was a full table of food and chattering, I miss home :(

The reason why we shouldn't have queued for such a long time previously. We bought 20 tubs within 5 mins? No queue and it was just as good :)

Quaint cosy cafe I had lunch at. I like how they presented their food, but not so much of the food. More to come later!

The poodle mix at the pet shop where we bought Truffle at. She's a very pretty show dog and she was doing hair treatment in this photo! 

Roasted duck rice, oh so yummy. Food at home is definitely cheap and good :)

My new favourite obsession -- Salted Egg Crabs! I'll never have any other forms of crabs anymore, this is the best!

Another of my favourite. This could be eeky for those who don't fancy large pig intestines, but I love them (if they're clean enough). With extra duck meat and fish bites, yummylicious! 

That's all for now, gotta get back to Public Finance. Hope your weekend has been great! 

xx

Apologies, again!

I think the most frequent thing I do on my blog is to apologise. Recently, I have been too involved with spending time with myself and dreaming about my new baby in the family. Well, she's gonna be just one of the two new babies -- more to come soon.

Here's a little snapshot of my new baby, taken using an iPhone4. Therefore, pardon the grainy mashy resolution of it.

We haven't quite given her a name yet (there are many choices but most of them are denied by my sister :() and she's not home either. She's too little to come home yet, only 7 weeks this week! And she also stinks up to the sky because she hasn't showered either. Apparently pups aren't quite allowed to be showered because they might fall ill. But they'll be able to do so after their second vaccination, or that's what we're told. 

Oh my, she's so adorable but she's so black she looks like a boy! Can't wait to visit her later and take more videos of her barking and whining nonstop. She's such a baby :)

I'm returning to Sydney soon, hopefully I get more time on my hands to blog! x

A visit to the sinseh.

My bad for being missing for so many days! I went travelling, alright not quite so, and am adjusting to time and weather at the same time :( Hello from Singapore! :D

I'll be here for a month to visit my family and my lovely bunnies. Also, we will be welcoming a couple more new members into my family and I just can't wait for them to happen! I'll try to get some posts up and running and also, I am thinking of blogging from two different hosts! But a note, the content would be exactly identical. I'm still trying to figure things out, hopefully I'll have the motivation to keep things going (hooray!).

Another note. I am so clumsy. I fell from the stairs last Thursday and haven't been able to walk normally without feeling an ache. It was sad because I missed having to buy more stuff for family and wasn't able to enjoy my post exam days in Sydney :( I've finally seen a sinseh (traditional Chinese physician) yesterday to look at my sprained and swollen ankle, and the treatment I went was something I never expected.

I went with the image that he/she was gonna just twist my ankle back to how it would be like, well that's what we see in shows on tv. But no, she said she was gonna poke the needle in the swollen areas to let the blood flow out and there and then, she just went ahead with it. I didn't really understand what went on, all I needed was just get my foot back into its normal skin colour! The area near my toes are currently still blackish and I feel like I've lost heaps of blood from that treatment. What I liked is, she bandaged my foot really nicely and I can finally limp around without having people stare at me :)

I'm still watching my foot, the black areas are not disappearing but it does look lighter! Maybe I'll be good and visit the chiropractic for another sort of treatment. 

Hmm, maybe a few outfit pictures to end it off? Taken during my last visit to Klang in Malaysia! This is way overdue, but the hot weather in Singapore reminds me of my last summer holiday! I snatched my little brother's cone from Baskin' Robbins just to snap a photo ;) The deal was to help me take a couple of shots and he'll get his cone back, having brothers is lovely :P

Top: Supre

Bottom (Khaki scallop hems shorts): Robot Ninjas

Bag: Glassons

Shoes (Oxford flats): Big W

I haven't showed faces of myself on this blog yet, forgive me if I'm not how you've imagined me to be.. This is what I would actually wear for a hot weather. I'm digging out some clothes from my current wardrobe to clear, hopefully I'll find more treasures before salvation army gets to keep them! 

Less words, more photos next time! X