Ivan Teh - RunningMan

COCA Restaurant 2015

COCA Restaurant 2015
391 Orchard Road
#04-23 Ngee Ann City

5 Stadium Walk
#02-01 Leisure Park Kallang

3 Temasek Boulevard
#02-440 Suntec City

https://coca.com.sg/

A Taste Of Tradition At This Thai Steamboat

(Ratings: On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 = Worst and 10 = Best)
Overall: 8
Ambience & Setting: 8
Food & Beverage: 8
Service: 8
Value for Money: 7
Spent about SGD $48 per person.

.....

For more Google Virtual Tours, contact The Red Marker

.....

Founded way back in 1957, along the Soi Dejo road of Bangkok, Thailand, COCA Restaurant is a Thai hot pot / steamboat restaurant franchise that has since gone international. COCA Restaurant first opened its doors in Singapore in 1987, and now, over 2 decades later, is still holding its place as the premier high-end Thai steamboat / hot pot restaurant.

There is a luxurious, yet casual, elegance to COCA Restaurant. Colour themes of gold, brown, and black mix to lend a sense of sophistication, while lanterns and spotlights directly over each table draw attention to the centerpiece steamboat. Furniture is comfortable, and the layout is designed such that there is still some sense of privacy despite the open communal dining area. I particulary like that ventilation in COCA Restaurant is excellent, you don't come away with the smell of food sticking to your clothing.

There is some semblance of an upper end dining to the service standard at COCA Restaurant, but not quite fine dining yet. Staff are friendly, offering greetings, and can converse in both English and Mandarin. They're able to offer recommendations if you decide to go ala-carte, and will assist with placing food into the steamboat if you decide on the buffet. I also like that COCA Restaurant staff showed proactiveness several times in topping up drinks, though only during non peak periods when they're more free.

There is a choice of either ala-carte, or buffet steamboat at COCA Restaurant, though most diners opt for the buffet. The ala-carte menu is distinctly Thai Chinese, with medium sized portions designed for sharing. The buffet is much more value for money here, at about SGD $48 per person, for a free flow of food, though serving sizes are small. COCA Restaurant actually recommends starting with several ala-carte appetizers, then continuing with the buffet, though I think you should only do this if you're willing to splurge, and can eat a lot!

.....

A huge plus point here is the great ventilation, so that the smell of cooking doesn't stick to you after you leave! There is a luxurious, expensive feel to the place. Both the COCA Restaurant ala-carte menu and buffet menu is rather limited in the variety / options of food, but at least the food has a certain quality to it!

COCA Restaurant Seating

COCA Restaurant Steamboat Buffet Menu

They're known internationally for their COCA Restaurant Special Dipping Sauce, which is a legendary in-house recipe, made the same way at all outlets worldwide. I'm told it contains coriander, Thai sweet chili, fish sauce, sugar, and a few other secret ingredients. The sauce is addictive, at once sweet, sour, savoury, and mildly spicy, semi thick in consistency, and absolutely tasty!

COCA Restaurant Special Dipping Sauce

The default soup base for the steamboat here is Soup Chicken & Soup Tom Yum, separated by a divider in the middle of the steamboat. The Soup Chicken is light, very light in fact, with not much taste, though the addition of vegetables and other ingredients does sweeten it. I actually prefer the Soup Tom Yum, with its sour, mildly spicy taste, and while not as fragrant as regular Tom Yum soup, I found this to be quite good!

Soup Chicken & Soup Tom Yum

Soup Chicken

Soup Tom Yum

Cooking 01

Cooking 02

There are over 30 ingredients on the steamboat / hot pot buffet menu. Standouts for me include the fresh Tang O Chrysanthemum Leaf, which lends a hint of sweetness to the soup; the various meat balls (Cuttlefish Ball, Fortune Fish Ball, Special Pork Ball, Chicken Ball, Beef Ball, Special Shrimp Ball), which are hand made and bouncy in texture with good flavour; the fresh, plump Oysters and Fresh Squid. The house special Fish Glue was highly recommended, but I thought it was only average at best.

Tang O Chrysanthemum Leaf, Chinese Cabbage, Golden Mushroom, Fish Glue

Cuttlefish Ball, Fortune Fish Ball, Special Pork Ball

Beef Fillet, Thin Sliced Beef, Thin Sliced Pork, Carrot, Fish Fillet, Fresh Squid

Chicken Ball, Beef Ball, Prawn, Pork Fillet, Shimeji Mushroom, Chicken Fillet

Osyters, Special Shrimp Ball, Winter Melon

Egg

The East Meet West (SGD $8) is a Thai / Malay / Western style fusion dessert, made with sago pearls in a Gula Melaka / palm sugar syrup, topped by a generous scoop of creamy coconut ice cream. Extremely satisfiying and lovely, and quite unstoppable when eating!

East Meet West

.....

Reserve a table now @ COCA Restaurant - Ngee Ann City

Reserve a table now @ COCA Restaurant - Leisure Park Kallang

Reserve a table now @ COCA Restaurant - Resorts World Sentosa

For more Google Virtual Tours, contact The Red Marker

.....

Butter Studio

Butter Studio
147 Jalan Besar

391 Orchard Road
#B2 Ngee Ann City

11 Tanjong Katong Road
#B1-K13 One KM

https://www.facebook.com/butterstudio

Tasty, Hand Crafted Cupcakes & Cakes

(Ratings: On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 = Worst and 10 = Best)
Overall: 7
Ambience & Setting: 7
Food & Beverage: 8
Service: 6
Value for Money: 7
Spent about SGD $25 per person.

.....

Founded in 2011 by owner Shannon Lua, Butter Studio has since gained a name for its excellent bakes - cupcakes, cakes, and tarts. Ever since it expanded from a takeaway kiosk to its own cafe in 2013, Butter Studio has still been drawing in folks who love a good cupcake, brightening the eclectic atmosphere of Jalan Besar.

Ambience at Butter Studio is rather nostalgic and quirky. Repurposed from the family's old photo studio, the warm, inviting space is lined with mismatched but comfortable furniture, and the walls are decorated with items ranging from kitchen baking tools, to quirky quotes, to retro gadgets. The kitchen, situated behind, perfumes the place with the wonderful fragrance of fresh bakes.

Service at Butter Studio is partial self-service, where ordering and payment is done over the counter, though staff serve orders to your table. I find staff to be rather knowledgable on the various cupcakes and menu items, able to answer basic questions. They're friendly enough, though they don't offer greetings when you enter / exit, and you're also supposed to seat yourself.

Food at Butter Studio is halal certified, and revolves around a small menu of main courses, and their fantastic bakes. The main courses are quite filling, and mostly American or British inspired dishes. Taste is mostly decent, with some misses. But the standout items here are their cakes, cupcakes, and tarts, I like that it's not as sweet as other pastries from elsewhere. Prices are reasonablely lower too, budget about SGD $25 for a 2 course meal here.

.....

The cheery atmosphere is a burst of freshness in this area, and the wonderful aroma of baking is so intoxicating!

Butter Studio Signage

Butter Studio Exterior

Butter Studio Interior

Live Laugh Love

The Mocha (SGD $5.50) is good, with a nice, full bodied flavour and solid chocolate taste. The chocolate stands out more than the coffee though.

Mocha (SGD $5.50)

The Lemonade Original (SGD $6) is a great thirst quencher, with a good sour strength, yet isn't too overwhelming. Very refreshing and easy to drink, I only wish they would chill it slightly more so it's colder! The Lemonade Green Apple (SGD $6) is just as refreshing, but with a sweeter taste of green apple, blending well with the sourness of the lemonade.

Lemonade Original (SGD $6)

Lemonade Green Apple (SGD $6)

The Norwegian Royale (SGD 16.50) is served with fragrant buttery toasted bagels, slices of sad looking limp smoked salmon, and perfectly poached runny eggs, covered in a weird wasabi hollandaise sauce, which is too creamy in texture and not as spicy as I would have liked. A hit and miss dish.

Norwegian Royale (SGD 16.50)

The Eggs Neptune (SGD $18.50) is served with hand formed, house special crab cakes, on thin, toasted English muffins, topped with perfectly poached runny eggs, and a creamy hollandaise sauce. Love the tasty deshelled crab cakes, which aren't dry, and the combination of runny egg yolks with the muffins! A delightful dish!

Eggs Neptune (SGD $18.50)

Eggs Neptune

The highlight of The Godfather Burger (SGD $15) is the thick, round, hand formed, full flavoured, juicy beef patty. Fragrant with rosemary, sage, and salt, the beef patty is juicy all the way through despite its size, and very tasty, though it's also a tad too salty. The toasted sesame seeds burger buns are buttery and fragrant, tearing apart easily. However, the turkey bacon strips were quite limp, and the garden salad on the side was dry without any vinaigrette. Worth ordering for the burger though.

The Godfather Burger (SGD $15)

The Godfather Burger

Added on these gourmet cupcakes (SGD $2 each). The Classic Red Velvet Cupcake (SGD $3.50) has a tasty raspberry vanilla cupcake topped with fresh, thick cream cheese frosting, very lovely, not too sweet or heavy. The Panda Cupcake (SGD $3.50) features a rich chocolate cupcake topped with fresh, thick cream cheese, and studded with luscious dark chocolate pieces, very satisfiying. The Salted Gula Melaka Cupcake (SGD $3.50) is like a cupcake version of the Malay Onde-Onde Kueh, with a sweet Gula Melaka / palm sugar filling within a fragrant pandan / screwpine leaf cupcake, topped with salted Gula Melaka / palm sugar, dessicated coconut, and a luscious cream cheese.

Cupcakes On A Plate

Classic Red Velvet Cupcake (SGD $3.50)

The Panda Cupcake (SGD $3.50)

Salted Gula Melaka Cupcake (SGD $3.50)

Salted Gula Melaka Cupcake

Ordered 2 slices of cake for takeaway, as it was a promotion (SGD $12). The Sea Salt Red Velvet Cake (SGD $7.90) is very good, with a semi-dry, sweet raspberry vanilla cake, topped with a salted caramel sauce. Tasty and light, though I wish the cake could be a little more moist. The Milk & Cookies Cake (SGD $7.90) is rich and creamy, a luscious buttermilk vanilla cake with good cookie flavour, but feels a little heavy if you eat too much of it. Still pretty tasty though.

Sea Salt Red Velvet Cake (SGD $7.90)

Milk & Cookies Cake (SGD $7.90)

Ordered 2 of the tarts for takeaway, as it was a promotion (SGD $12). The Belgian Chocolate Tart (SGD $6.90) has a rich, luscious, chocolate filling, almost fudge-like in texture, and a crumbly, buttery tart base, it was so good! The Sea Salt Nutella Tart (SGD $6.90), I felt was even better, with a creamy hazelnut filling on a fragrant buttery almond tart base, cut through with sea salt sprinkles, sweet balanced by salty. This was so comforting and yet felt decadent, because it was so good I couldn't stop at 1 mouthful!

Belgian Chocolate Tart (SGD $6.90)

Sea Salt Nutella Tart (SGD $6.90)

.....

Update Nov-2016: Happened to be nearby, so paid Butter Studio a visit and ran into an old friend. Now more than 1 year on, Butter Studio is doing better than ever, having expanded with more outlets across Singapore, as well as having gone into the overseas market. They still retain a strong following due to their tasty, halal certified products. At their original outlet, ambience remains largely the same, comfortable, casual, and welcoming. The service remains friendly and courteous, though it's still partial self-service. The food remains largely focused on dessert cakes, cupcakes, and pastries, with the regular popular items still featuring heavily. The main courses and brunch menu remains the same, with not much change. Prices have remained constant, which is good.

The Salted Caramel Red Velvet Cake (SGD $7.90) features a large, moist slice of chocolate vanilla sponge cake, layered with classic cream cheese, straight forward and delicious. Not overly sweet, which I like. The house made salted caramel sauce, which uses sea salt, is rich and luscious, featuring a nice balance of salty and sweet. Good!

Salted Caramel Red Velvet Cake (SGD $7.90)

Salted Caramel Red Velvet Cake

Loved the tasty Speculoos Ondeh Cake (SGD $7.90), with its large, soft, moist texture to the sponge cake, made with cold-pressed, fresh pandan / screwpine leaf juice. Topped with cookie crumbs and speculoos / speculaas cream frosting, which is a sweet, nutty, spiced shortcrust biscuit frosting. Nice balance of flavour, not too sweet, and not too rich, easy to eat. Lovely!

Speculoos Ondeh Cake (SGD $7.90)

Speculoos Ondeh Cake

The Sea Salt Nutella Tart (SGD $6.90) remains as good as ever! The creamy hazelnut filling on a fragrant buttery almond tart base, cut through with sea salt sprinkles, sweet balanced by salty, incredibly good. Our friends finished this in double quick time, it was so good! Highly recommended!

Sea Salt Nutella Tart (SGD $6.90)

Sea Salt Nutella Tart

The Kueh Bangkit (SGD $22.80 / 300g) are traditional Peranakan / Malay Chinese cookies that have a melt-in-the-mouth texture. These flour cookies are made with water, sago flour, and icing sugar, then infused with coconut cream and pandan / screwpine leaf. This gives it a sweet floral earthy flavour, with a chalky crumbly texture that just melts the minute it touches your mouth. The version they have is excellent, well crafted and so tasty!

Kueh Bangkit (SGD $22.80 / 300g)

Kueh Bangkit

The Sea Salt Almond Cookies (SGD $26.80 / 400g) are delicious. Made with water, all-purpose flour, butter, sugar, baking powder, almonds, eggs, and natural sea salt, these cookies have a crumbly, buttery texture. Taste is layered, you get the nutty sweet flavours, followed by a salty savoury touch. Really tasty. Good!

Sea Salt Almond Cookies (SGD $26.80 / 400g)

Sea Salt Almond Cookies

.....

Arnold's Fried Chicken

Arnold's Fried Chicken
810 Geylang Road
#02-99 City Plaza

51 Yishun Central 1
#01-04 Yishun 10 Cineplex

21 Hougang Street 51
#01-49 Hougang Green Shopping Mall

60 Jurong West Central 3
#01-05 The Frontier Community Club

215 Bedok North Street 1 #01-83

https://arnoldsfriedchicken.com/

Hey, Arnold's! A Singaporean Fried Chicken Legacy

(Ratings: On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 = Worst and 10 = Best)
Overall: 7
Ambience & Setting: 5
Food & Beverage: 8
Service: 3
Value for Money: 8
Spent about SGD $9 / $14 per person.

.....

Arnold's Fried Chicken is a home grown, Singaporean legacy brand that specialises in 1 thing, and 1 thing only; excellent fried chicken. For over 30 years, this halal certified fast food joint has been pulling in crowds day after day, getting even more popular each year. Queues at Arnold's Fried Chicken during peak period meal times can still take up to 1 hour! I first dined at Arnold's Fried Chicken way back in 2007, but have only recently realised that I never got around to blogging about it!

Ambience at Arnold's Fried Chicken still remains more or less the same after all this time. Functional, wide tables laid out neatly within the small, cramped interior, whose walls are a garish mix of white against primary colours. It's usually noisy here, and there is also usually some minor uncleanliness similar to other fast food franchises, with tiny bits of food on the tables or floors.

Service at Arnold's Fried Chicken resembles other fast food franchises as well, it's all self-service. Ordering and payment is done outside the shop, and then you take your place in the queue. Once you get a table, a buzzer will let you know when you can collect your order. And while you're encouraged to clear your own table, staff do assist in this regard. Possibly the only interaction you'll have with staff is when placing, or collecting, your order.

Food at Arnold's Fried Chicken is focused, with the only main dish on the menu being fried chicken. The fried chicken is fantastic, with a thin, crisp, savoury skin, and juicy, tender chicken meat, served piping hot. Arnold's Fried Chicken uses fresh chickens, never frozen, which is evident in the taste. They also offer a range of side dishes and drinks. Portions are nicely sized, and prices are similar, or slightly lower, than other fast food places, budget about SGD $9 per person for a meal here.

.....

The place looks just as garish after all these years, and the almost constant queue outside is a testament to its tasty food and good value for money.

Arnold's Fried Chicken Exterior

Arnold's Fried Chicken Interior

Arnold's Fried Chicken Menu

The Bandung (SGD $2.10) is well mixed, not too sweet or too milky, you can still taste the floral rose syrup and the smooth creamy condensed milk.

Bandung

A standard 2 Piece Meal (SGD $6.60) is served with coleslaw, fries, and 2 pieces of fried chicken. The coleslaw here differs from elsewhere because it's lighter on sauce, thus, you actually get more of the freshness and crunch of the diced vegetables. The thick cut fries have solid potato flavour, and aren't salty. The fried chicken is the star here, no matter which part you get, the meat is always juicy, tender, and piping hot. The skin is thin but crisp, pulling off easily, though the chicken fat is still present. Extremely satisfiying!

2 Piece Meal (SGD $6.60)

2 Piece Meal

2 Piece Meal

.....

Update Jun-2018: Having dined at Arnold's Fried Chicken several more times over the years, I'm glad to say they've maintained a consistent standard, even as they've expanded across Singapore with more outlets. Ambience remains plain, simple and functional, the harsh fluorescent lighting illuminating the primary colours of the sturdy furniture. Service is still self-service, though staff do sometimes interact with diners, and are efficient at clearing empty / dirty tables. Food is still of consistently good standard, their fried chicken is still among the best in Singapore, and the quality of the side dishes have improved slightly. Prices have risen though, budget about SGD $14 per person for a meal here.

Platter Of Fried Chicken

The 3 Person Combo Meal (SGD $41.20) is a good choice when dining in a group, and is sufficient even for the hungry (or the hangry). Good value for money with this meal. It includes a regular drink, such as Apple Soda; a vegetal sweet sour Coleslaw consisting of fresh, crunchy cabbage, carrots, and mayonnaise; a creamy smooth Mashed Potato covered in salty savoury chicken gravy; a soft and chewy Fried Bun with delicate bready flavour; thick cut Fries with good potato flavour; and a variety of Fried Chicken parts, such as Fried Chicken Wing, sufficient enough for each person to have 3 pieces. The chicken remains delicious and yummy, served piping hot, juicy and tender chicken meat with sweet savoury flavour, crispy salty savoury chicken skin that crunches lightly. Not too greasy or oily, just nice. Shiok.