Category Archives: Anniversary

ROADHOUSE @ DEMPSEY

23 August 2012 5 comments

Roadhouse
13 Dempsey Road, #01-07
Singapore
PRICE: $$$$
RATING: ★★★★-

Chris and I had a very quiet and chill 3rd wedding anniversary. Not surprising since our anniversary is on 8 August, and Carter’s birth was 5 August. We went out for a quiet dinner a few days prior, for some precious alone-time since it’s now few and far between now that we have 2 kids.

We decided to try out Roadhouse, because they serve All-American food.. one of my all time favourite ‘cuisines’.

And I wasn’t disappointed :)

Roadhouse at Dempsey

The casual-dining interior

The Bacon Marinated Burger was a heart-stopping $23 and I was quite shocked to see it so small.. though the patty was (fortunately) satisfyingly thick. It boasts a wagyu patty, though I personally can’t tell the difference between that and a normal one (unless I eat them side-by-side). The patty, however, was perfectly done and full of flavour. The burger was topped off with melted gorgonzola, streaky bacon, caramelized onions, garlic mayonnaise & sauteed mushrooms. It was DELICIOUS, but also got pretty cloying at the end, because there’s no fresh lettuce or tomato in the burger. It’s served with a coleslaw, but that’s also super creamy.. I think I’d have preferred a garden salad to temper against the calorie-hit of the burger.

The amount of fries served with the burger was pretty staggering. I suppose that’s to keep you quiet if you complain the burger is a bit small ;) The fries were not much to shout about – they were a bit dry on the outside and a bit too deep-fried and salty for me.

Bacon Marinated Burger – 170g Josper-grilled wagyu patty, homemadebun, melted gorgonzola, streaky bacon, caramelizedonions, garlic mayonnaise & sauteed mushrooms ($23)

The half-rack / 500g of BBQ U.S. Spare Ribs was AWESOME. Hands down the best ribs we’ve had in Singapore and right up there alongside Hurricanes in Australia. The half-rack was a big portion (yayyyyyy!!!) and definitely enough for someone with a healthy appetite. The meat was superbly tender but with enough bite, so flavourful, and very good with their homemade BBQ sauce.

The crispy cajun onion rings that came with the dish were absolutely gigantic, almost a meal in itself! The batter was actually quite doughy.. which I thought was weird, but it actually worked and the onion rings were pretty good.

BBQ U.S. Spare Ribs with crispy cajun onion rings & special BBQ sauce (half rack, 500g) ($26)

I desperately wanted dessert afterwards, but after the strong tastes of our main meals and all the deep-fried goodness… we just couldn’t stomach dessert. A real shame! Next time I’m there with Chris or a friend, I would get 1 appetizer, 1 rack of ribs, and 2 desserts – that combination would be perfect IMHO.

But if you’re a rib kinda person, definitely check out Roadhouse. You won’t be disappointed!

EUROTRIP: 1ST YEAR ANNIVERSARY DINNER

12 August 2010 74 comments

Hard to believe it’s been a year since we created our wedding website.. seems like only yesterday we were writing the content and happily putting up the site as preparation for our wedding! How time flies :)

We celebrated our 1st Year Wedding Anniversary dinner by splashing out for a degustation meal at the famous L’atelier Joel Robuchon that has been awarded 2 Michelin Stars (yay!).

It’s set up Japanese style, with dining around the counter. We loved it because it meant we could sticky-beak at all the people running around in the open-kitchen, cooking and putting the dishes together. We were amazed no one crashed into each other, considering the quiet but frantic activity in there!

The meal was flat out amazing. We adore degustation meals and this didn’t disappoint. Each dish came out so artfully decorated, and the ingredients were really fresh and blended well together. Everything was divine but I loved the desserts the best. They were beautiful! And a gorgeous array of flavours in both the dessert dishes.

A totally stunning meal. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves :) Thank you Chris for the wonderful anniversary dinner!

L’atelier @ Joel Robuchon

Gorgeous Japanese-style dining

Pretty flowers and greenery

A glass of white Pinot

Big basket of baguette!

L’amuse bouche – orange and carrot gazpacho with cumin crisp
This tasted exactly like the description, lol

Le Caviar – sur une pomme de terre a l’anguille fumee, fleurette au raifort
Outstanding! Who knew something so simple like caviar and potato would taste so good..

Les Tomates – anciennes relevees de sumac a l’huille provencale
At first I didn’t like the idea of eating just tomatoes, but these were sooo sweet

Le Foie Gras – de canard chaud, aux cerises et amandes fraiches
LUSCIOUS. Adored this :)

La Langoustine – en ravioli truffle a l’etuvee de chou vert
Great bite to the ravioli, and I adored the truffle sauce.. mmm..

L’oeuf – cocotte a la creme legere de girolies
Like a super-upper-class version of soft boiled eggs ;)

Le Rouget – aux aromates, releve d’une vierge a l’huile de pistache condimentee
Loved the red snapper fish, as it was perfectly cooked. The decoration – too cute!

La Caille – farcie de foie gras et caramelisee avec une pomme puree a la truffle d’ete
Pigeon stuffed with foie gras, with truffle mash potatoes. How can that possibly go wrong?!

L’agneau de Lait – encotelettes a la fleur de thym
Super tender lamb…. mmmm…

Les Fraises Des Bois – sur une gelee au limoncello et son sorbet acidule au fromage blanc
I normally don’t like fruit desserts, but this was PERFECT

Le Chocolate Tendance – ganache onctueuse au chocolate araguani, glace au grue de cacao, biscuit oreo
My favourite by far. The presentation was enough to make me squeal!

As was the dish itself.. a creamy chocolatey concoction of AWESOMENESS.

Little soft caramels to finish off the meal

Anniversary bliss :)

EUROTRIP: SIGHTSEEING

11 August 2010 56 comments

After our lazy lunch at L’obe @ Crillon Hotel, we wandered over to the nearby Jardin du Tuileries since the weather was spot-on PERFECT. I think I may be in love with Paris’ clear skies and sunny weather.. if only Shanghai was like this all year round!

We wandered around, then found some empty chairs (love how they put out heaps of chairs for people to lounge on) and relaxed there and fell asleep in the warm sun. We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around some more around the touristy places. Just a very chill afternoon enjoying each other’s company… and taking it easy before our MEGA anniversary dinner later at night :)

At the Jardin du Tuileries

Beautiful weather!

Lazing about on the chairs

Our view :)

A very relaxed pregnant lady, LOL

Walking towards the Louvre

Looking like a fairytale, doncha think?

The famous Louvre

Majestic against the fluffy white clouds

Heading towards Notre Dame

There’s this little monument in Paris….

Tourist shot!

Very proud of this photo I took :P

EUROTRIP: 1ST YEAR ANNIVERSARY LUNCHEON

10 August 2010 40 comments

Our 1st year Wedding Anniversary lunch was at the Crillon Hotel. It was intially meant to be in the main restaurant area, which my friend recommended highly. But they’re shut all of August (argh) so we decided to go to their L’obe brasserie instead.

The hotel is exquisite. All marble and opulence, it’s quiet and luxurious inside, so we had to make sure to behave ourselves ;) There weren’t many people in L’obe so the service was incredibly attentive. We adored the complimentary bread (it’s true, bread really does taste better in France!!) and all the dishes were lovely. The only downside was that it was a GORGEOUS day outside, and the restaurant is all indoors… but fortunately we spent the rest of the day afterwards wandering around in the gardens enjoying the sunshine, so that made up for it :)

Entering the Crillon Hotel

The lobby

Very quiet corridors

L’obe Restaurant

The cute DIY-looking menu

Cheese breadsticks and a glass of 2008 Alsace Riesling

Fanastic bread and luscious salted butter (man, we couldn’t get enough of this)

Sauteed foie gras with Melon in Amaretto jelly

Happy as a clam

Whiting with breadcrumbs and mashed potatoes

This was OUTSTANDING! The fish was so flakey and moist, and potatoes so creamy..

Saddle of lamb roasted with aubergine caviar

Extremely creamy dark chocolate petit fours

Bourbon vanilla millefeuille (so sweet of them to remember our anniversary!)
BEST millefeuille we have ever eaten…. BY FAR.

EUROTRIP: RICHARD LENOIR MARKETS

10 August 2010 60 comments

A very sweet card from Mum and Dad :)

8 August…. our 1st year Wedding Anniversary. It also marks out 10th year Dating Anniversary, if we were still counting that :P Pretty momentous.

So much as happened in just one year.. we spent our anniversary reminiscing at various times during the day, thinking “Ooooh.. what were we doing THIS time last year at our wedding?”

We’ve come so far, yet it seems we’ve only just started. And, we now (well, very soon!) will have our own proper little family.. :) We used the Doppler (a little handheld device that enables you to hear the heartbeat of your baby) last night after our Anniversary dinner and the little munchkin was wriggling & dancing all over the place! We’d hear the heartbeat strong and loud, then after a few seconds it’d shift over and we’d have to hunt for it on my belly again. It’s like the baby was doing a little celebratory anniversary dance in me :P

We spent the day traipsing around Paris, because what better way to celebrate than celebrate in the City of Love? :) After a relaxed morning lazing about, we went to the Richard Lenoir markets (at Bastille metro) close to the Le Marais area where we live. It’s an outdoor markets that’s teeming with people, produce, and all sorts of little things. Wandering around outdoor markets is something Chris and I ADORE… we used to do it ALL the time back in Australia – hunting down these beautiful outdoor markets and spending a lazy weekend there. We’ve been doing it ever since we started dating, and stopped when we moved to Shanghai (they don’t really have these, and the dirt and people shoving/spitting away don’t quite lend to the same ambience), so it was lovely to go to these ones.

It was much larger than we thought, with a ton of stalls selling everything from kitchenware to fruits to meats. Our favourites were, of course, all the cheese stalls and the pate/foie gras stalls ;) Wish we could’ve bought a ton of stuff but 1) we’re not cooking, and 2) we didn’t want to lug everything around for the rest of the day. An awesome trip though… and a nice way to kick off our Anniversary day :)

Taking the metro to the Richard Lenoir markets, a mere 2 min ride away