DB Bistro Moderne

Lunch venue for the day: DB Bistro Moderne - A contemporary French-American restaurant, it tweaks traditional French dishes to fit the American market. Hmm I know.. Another restaurant at Marina Bay Sands. Well, to be honest, I am a little sick of the place, but it's a pretty convenient place for us in terms of distance, parking and well.. space.

Overall food was not bad, but service was a little slow, needed a couple of reminders for our forgotten orders.

First up, introducing our new "reviewer" - glutTAN baby no. 1 Barnaby!  - He takes his role very seriously. 

I love this photo of him! He did end up drawing all over my book though, but cute nonetheless.

For appetizers, we ordered Royal Oysters that cost an exorbitant $9SGD a piece!  Poor fatty was a little left out again cause she can't have any. 

The oysters tasted pretty nice on first taste, but left a bad after taste - slightly metallic and unpleasant. It could be that we ordered the wrong type but generally we prefer the creamy oysters.

 Jason was our photographer for the day! There are no pictures of him so click here if you want to put a face to him. 

He had the Homemade Potato Gnocchi ($34SGD) for his main.

Braised Endive, Fourme D'Ambert, Baby Spinach, Walnuts

"The serving is miserably small for a main. Delectable by itself, but hardly complimentary to the sauce that accompanies." It looked so small I wondered if it was an appetizer. Guys should never order this as a main!

glutTAN No. 4 Jane had a medium rare Steak Minute ($26SGD).

Sunny side up egg, Breakfast Potatoes, Sauce au Polvre 

 "A small piece tends to cook more quickly and so it wasn't as tender but it was nicely grilled and the meat was flavourful. It came with a nice aroma and was accompanied with a tasty sauce. A nice surprise was the diced accompanying potatoes bites - soft and moist on the inside. Sunny side up had a nice runny yolk too. Not bad."

Personally, as compared to the meat from Steak Frites (photo is missing! Think in the chaos we left it out), the meat tasted better, but wasn't as tender and meaty. The steak that came with my medium rare order was pink on the inside and very juicy and tender, though a little too much salt was added. Comes with fries that did not disappoint - crisp and yummy!

Barney was getting a little impatient because he couldn't eat his fries.

 glutTAN No. 1+1 Teng Chuan (B's Dad) had The Original bd Burger ($38SGD)

Sirloin burger filled with braised short ribs & Foie gras, served on a Parmesan bun.

"A decent dish, but a tad dry. I liked the short-rib stuffing, but pretty stingy with the foie gras. Bun was nice too."

glutTAN gong gong had The Frenchie Burger ($26SGD) - pic on left

Beef patty topped with confit pork belly, caramelized onions, Morbier cheese, Arugula, Cornichons. Served on a black pepper bun.

Hmm.. shall ask him what he thought abt it later.

Butternut Squash Soup ($15SGD)

Cranberry Coulis, Pumpkin Oil

The soup was creamy, sweet and wasn't too thick. Came with small pumpkin bits that Jane likes. Got a thumbs up from glutTAN 1+1 too!

 

glutTAN po po and glutTAN No.1 Adelene had Poached Eggs Benedict ($24SGD)

Ham, spinach, Hollandaise sauce, English muffin

"It was good, the accompanying potato bites were tasty. Though the hollandaise sauce is a little on the salty side."

The kids usually get a little restless and this is when we try to finish up asap and take turns to feed/entertain them/take them for walks.

The ever patient glutTAN No.3 feeding B while he's engrossed with the iphone.

glutTAN No. 2 Soo Lin had both the Lobster Salad and Fried Eggs Lyonnaises.

Lobster Salad ($36SGD)

Avocado, Endive, Grape Tomatoes, Green beans, Artichoke Hearts, Pesto dressing

"Not impressed, it looks a lot better than it taste. A little stingy with the Lobster."

Fried Eggs Lyonnaises ($21SGD)

Duck confit, Potatoes, Mushrooms, Mesclun Salad

"If you are a duck lover, you will love this, it's rich and flavourful. All the ingredients came very well together, though it got a little jelat after a while." 

All of us at the table. Everyone seems to be busy with something.

Pot De Yogurt ($15SGD)

Homemade Yogurt, Mixed Berries, Beignets

 "Comes with 2 ball doughnuts with a bit of raspberry sauce. Doughnut balls were not too sweet, just right. The yogurt taste good, like Meiji Vanilla yogurt."

Annie seems a little confused, probably cause she's never eaten doughnuts before. 

Well... she doesn't know what she's missing out on.

 Cute snippets of the kids.


With love from the Tan Family.

Till our next adventure!

Imperial Treasure Fine Chinese Cuisine

I was pretty surprised that a restaurant the glutTANs frequent had such a dismal rating on hungrygowhere.com. Just 2 stars?? How is that possible! There have been hits and misses with them, but 2 stars is definitely too little. I clicked on it and while it had 16 votes, there were only 7 reviews - all 6 and 7 except for one 4, probably an isolated unhappy patron.

 My parents like Chinese food a lot so we've been to Imperial Treasure Fine Chinese Cuisine many times. Regardless of whether it's lunch or dinner you're planning on having, please make a reservation as they're usually packed. The decor is modern, making good use of glass and light. If there is anything I do not like about the restaurant, it has to be the noise when all the tables are filled. But it's something you learn to tolerate with Chinese restaurants.

3 seating areas.

1. The main dining hall

2. Booth tables - Big leather seats. Just next to the main dining hall

 3. Private rooms, some with views of the shopping area
This photo was taken from a previous visit

While waiting for the rest to arrive, we started with some Roast Pork.

The roast pork here is usually pretty normal but for some reason, it was pretty soft and succulent today. The lean meat was tender, and the fat was juicy. The crackling on top was crisp, but a little too hard. 

glutTAN B didn't like it though (except for the crisp top - but kids never refuse fried food).

Century Egg Porridge

A tad disappointing coming from a Cantonese restaurant.  The century egg came in pieces that were too big; the porridge wasn't very smooth. Still pretty good though.

glutTAN No.3 Eunice: "The fried you tiao is very nice."

XO Sauce Fried Carrot Cake

This was nicely pan fried. Crisp on the outside, soft and moist on the inside. Nice big pieces and very flavourful too. A favourite of mine! :)

I've always loved Fried Prawn Dumplings 明虾角! Deep fried fatty goodness paired with mayo.

Barbecued Pork Pastry - Char Siew Sou

Meat was sweet and tender, and the pastry was not too dry or oily.

By this point Annie was getting a little bored cause she had finished her (boring) porridge and had nothing to do/eat.

#fatcheeks

I absolutely love Drunken Prawns! Always make sure we get an extra large portion so everyone gets enough prawns. The prawns were very fresh and sweet. My only complaint - it does not come with any soup at all! I love the herbal soup of the drunken prawns. This one comes with no soup, and the soup on the plate does not carry the taste of wine. It's in fact a little bitter.

L: glutTAN B with his favourite Aunt glutTAN No. 3, R: glutTAN No. 4 happy with her peeled prawn (with tail intact)

The Peking Duck is a must try! It's super oily and you should take a look at the amount of oil dripping when the chef cuts the duck up. Skin is nice and crisp, and it's flavour is brought out with some sugar it almost melts in your mouth!

As for the duck meat, I do like it a lot better when it's wrapped up as compared to eating it on it's own. The wrapper skin is a little on the thick side, though still acceptable.

Claypot Eggplant with minced meat is another dish we usually order. Mildly spicy. The eggplant turns soft and soggy, yet not mashy. Good mix of textures with the minced meat and eggplant. Probably good for pairing with rice so the sauce is put to good use, otherwise it's usually left behind after everyone picks out all the eggplant and meat.

We probably ordered a little too much and took too long to eat.

glutTAN A was getting really cranky from being too bored and tired.

Super grumpy baby finally pacified with food and stuffing herself silly.

Happy Sunday lunch :) All the glutTANs left with happy tummies.

Imperial Treasure Fine Chinese Cuisine

LOCATION: L2-04 CASINO LEVEL 2. ACCESS VIA BAY LEVEL (L1) LIFTS AT UOB AND GRAND COLONNADE NORTH, AS WELL AS FROM CASINO.

TELEPHONE: +65 6688 7788

OPERATING HOURS:

MONDAY TO SATURDAY 11:30AM TO 10:30PM 

DIM SUM AVAILABLE FROM 11:30AM TO 4PM

SUNDAY 11AM TO 11:30PM

DIM SUM AVAILABLE FROM 11AM TO 4PM

WEBSITE: MBS@IMPERIALTREASURE.COM

Fine Palette

Was introduced to this place by a friend of mine and was talking to my sister, Adelene, when she told me she had been there before too. So we decided to bring the glutTAN family there for brunch. I am a little reluctant to share this place because it's such a nice hidden gem and I would hate for it to become another crowded Sunday brunch hangout!

Fine Palette started out as a gourmet catering company more than 20 years ago and strives to make your parties as stress free as possible for you as a host by taking the task of food preparation and presentation away from you, thus freeing up time for you to actually mingle and entertain your guest. If you've hosted a party of some sort, I'm sure you're no stranger to so-stressed-with-food-you-want-to-pull-out-your-hair kinda situations. They've also catered for many corporate events, so I'm won't be surprised if you've actually had their food before.

The finally expanded (in a perfect spot if I may say) their business to allow people like us to enjoy such artful food (everything is made from scratch!) without having to cater! What I liked was the fact that the food was fresh and not processed in some central kitchen. It really made a difference to the taste of the food!

Here's some potato goodness baking in the oven

 The place is separated into 3 sections - the catering kitchen (out of sight mostly), the presentation showroom, and the cafe itself that extends out into a covered walkway/corridor and this is definitely my favourite part! I loves the interior (a mix of modern and raw industrial) and the overall feel of the place. It was nice, quiet, quaint, comfortable and very homely.

Starters to share

Spring Rolls

Spring rolls are a favourite of  glutTAN No.3 Eunice. These came is pretite bite sizes, and was gobbled up pretty quickly. Kinda easy to order lots of food when there are so many of us.

Ham and Cheese croquets
I am not really a fan of croquet so no brilliant reviews of it. This was nicely fried - crisp on the outside, leaving the insides moist and warm.

This is how our brunch table typically looks like - grandparents in between the 2 kids to perform their "lunch duties" of feeding them. A little chaotic with so many people, but fun and yummy meals always make you forget about the mess.
Tea from TWG is also served by the pot (SGD$6) and is refillable.

Mains

Looks pretty good!

Salmon Benedict
 Salmon gravlax, hollandaise sauce and rocket salad. Served on an English muffin.
Very well done. Organic eggs were used and they were very very nicely poached - runny and very fresh. I also liked that they had 2 different choices - Eggs benedict that comes with double smoked ham, and this that comes with salmon.

Breakfast Cook up
Two eggs any style, bacon, apple and sage sausage, mushrooms, vine cherry tomato, brunch potatoes and wholemeal toast
glutTAN No. 4 - Jane seems to always go for the "healthier" choice by making sure there are tomatoes or some fruits in her food choices. Something unhealthy made to look healthy.

Debut contribution by my bro-in-law - glutTAN No. 1 + 1
Steak and Eggs
Sirloin steak, egg any style, mushroom, brunch potatoes, tomato chutney and wholemeal toast
Steak was surprisingly good. Tender but tasty. It was nicely done, pink and cool to the touch in the middle, but well-charred on the outside.

I actually do not remember what this is.

Such happy babies :)

The food was good and the atmosphere was very comfy. I liked how homely everything felt.

I think we all enjoyed brunch very much.