VenusianJ's Profile

I came here on two different occasions, so I am writing the review based on both dinners There are two sides of the restaurant, the bar side with high chairs and the inner dining area. I seated at the bar area both times as I find it more relaxing.The staff was very attentive and knowledgeable of the items on their menu. They changed their menu a bit since they opened as some of the dishes my friend wanted to try is no longer available.Now the food! I collected the photos from the two nights so no.. We didn't eat THAT much.Scallop Tiradito - I liked the idea of raw fish and sour sauce but scallop wasn't fresh enough. A bit disappointed.This is a Trio of Ceviche - - Corvina - Sea Bass, Choclo, Camote, Red Onion and Leche de Tigre- Tuna - with Watermelon, Basil, Tarragon and Orange Leche de Tigre- Mixto - Shrimp, Octopus, Scallops, Squid, Passion fruit, Honey and Ginger Leche de TigreAll of them are very refreshing. The sea bass and tuna are both sashimi. I prefer the Corvina to the other two, but it might just because I am not a fan of tuna sashimi apart from Toro.Soft shell Crab and Beef Taco. They are quite cispy and nothing like the Mexican tacos. There is a lot of cream sauce as can be quite messy to eat.Skewers - I don't particularly liked the beef. I little too dry and not enough meat flavour (too much seasoning).. but Oh My Cod.. that was so good that we ordered twice. Cod has a lot of oil in it, so it's especially juicy when grilled, with the mayo on top, it's devine!Hot Scallop Ceviche - Oh My God.. this was absolutely delicious, and so special. I think the sauce reminded me of lobster bisque.King Fish Tiradito - crispy and rich. Yes, think that's the best way to describe it. It's yum~I usually like starters more than main course and Chicha is no exception. I think this one is Marisco Jugoso - basically seafood served with rice. It's average and I don't remember the taste that much..…Read More

I have been to this place several times for afternoon tea and dinner. I have always wondered why it doesn't have more people as the food is actually quite good. I have tried many of their pasta including:- crab, shrimp and mushroom spaghetti with cream sauce- carbonara with yolk and bacon- Hokkaido cheese cream spaghetti with scallop, corn & potato- a "marguerita" with tomato, basil & mozzarella- shrimp, avocado & fresh herb with Genoese sauce- spaghetti with octopus & squid sautéed with oil and garlic The first one with crab meat in cream sauce is by far my favourite. It's so delicious  that I hate to share it.  If I share, I always order extra portion. My bf's fav is the sautéed one with octopus as he likes dry pasta but I prefer those with sauces. We always order the cold matcha milk (milk with green tea) which is quite rich although some might find it a bit small.Even though it might appear at first that there are many similar dishes with cream sauce, the taste is actually different. Just have to try and see which one you like the most I guess.I'm not a big fan of the tomato based ones as I find the sauce not rich enough. And I am not a fan of jap style pizza, so I can't really comment on them. In terms of prices, I think I usually pay around $100 each but afternoon tea is cheaper and also I think they have promotion on mon to wed where you are 30% off the bill. In terms of service, since the restaurant is not always full, you get seated pretty much straight away and the staff is efficient. The only reason I'm writing a review after so long is that I like this place and I don't think the other reviews do justice to it. I'm afraid it might not survive and I lose a good dining choice. …Read More

I didn't like this place as soon as stepped into the restaurant. It was far too smokey and obviously the ventilation was very poor. There were very little space between table, which made it extra uncomfortable.On the menu (which was greasy to touch), there were meats and organs which ranged from $28 to around $68, and you get to choose salted, marinated or miso (Not available to all dishes). We ordered chicken, pork neck, beef ribs, oxtail and ox tongue (I don't eat organs). We also ordered a curry pot rice with cheese.The meats came first. The dishes were quite small, but considering the dishes we ordered were $28 and $48, I think it was okay. The ribs (marinated) and pork neck (salted) were good, chicken was adequate, oxtail was poor with literally no meat at all.Next was the rice. I was very very disappointed that it came with pork intestines... Either I didn't read carefully or they didn't mention on the menu, but for someone who doesn't eat organs, yuck!!!! I did try the rice though. There were too much curry sauce and was too heavy. I wouldn't have liked it even if it was just with regular meats.The service was okay, but the staff seems quite rushy (maybe it was peak hours).After 40 min, I was already ready to get the bill. I just couldn't wait to get some fresh (well, relatively) air outside.It won't be too much to say that I hate this place.…Read More

The first thought that came to my mind when I walked into the restaurant was, 'This is like a Casa Fina wannabe, but with more meat dishes.' Especially when I saw that they have buy-1-get-1-free offer on selected oysters from Sunday to Thursday.Being quite hungry and couldn't be bothered to listen to all the descriptions, we decided to try all of the 5 types of oysters on offer.As the waiter recommended to us, we tried them in the following order:- Scottish Rock - Colchester- Mont St. Michelle- Ostra Regal- GillardeauAnd in the order from favourite to most dislike:- Gillardeau: Not too creamy, not too salty and I love the sweet after taste of this- Mont St. Michelle: Smoothest one of the five and also the smallest, but I like the creaminess- Colchester: Meaty and quite refreshing- Ostra Regal: Salty and very strong flavored, not my cup of tea- Scottish Rock: Tasted very metallic. I wouldn't order it againAfter oysters, it was our second starter Oyster Soup. The soup is cream based but not as thick the spinach oyster soup at Casa Fina. It's flavoursome, but a bit on the salty side in my opinion. It went will with the bread though.Now the mains. First was the King Prawn Spaghetti Sicilian Style.It was very slightly undercooked, not perfectly al dente. However, the prawn tasted fresh and the tomato sauce with dried squid was very delicious.Second main that we ordered was the Crab Meat Risotto.I am afraid this was a miss. The risotto was dry and lacked the seafood flavors I was after. The crab meat was not as fresh as I expected. The whole dish just tasted very plain.Finally, the dessert - Chocolate Fondant. What a major disappointment! The cake was too dry on the outside and not sweet / almost bitter. The vanilla ice-cream had bits of ice in it and just wasn't smooth at all. It's one of the worst ones I've had.…Read More

The first time I came here was about half a year ago and have been coming back regularly since then for both lunch and dinner. I like the relaxed atmosphere and the food is consistently good. I don't drink beer, but everytime I bring my friends here who do, they are pleasantly surprised by the choice of beer they offer.RecommendedPot of MusselsOne thing that I order almost everytime is the mussel pot. I have tried laska, Provencale, Mariniere and Oriental Style so far and the prior two are my favourites. They all come with a bowl of fries. It's cripsy and slightly salted and goes perfectly with the mayo.Laska Flavour is not as strong creamy as that soup base that you find in laska noodles, but a lighter version but yet flavoursome. ProvencaleConsists of garlic, onion, tomatoes and herbs. It's more traditional way of cooking mussels. Sole Fillet Au GratinIt was offered on the express lunch menu. The fish was seasoned with salt and pepper and place on top of thin slices of potatoes topped with a cream sauce with onion and mushrooms. All the ingredients went well together.Langoustine LinguineI thought this was delicious. Linguine with cream sauce with fish, prawns and mussels. It doesn't have a wow factor, but overall a very decent dish.Try if you really want toBraised Belgioan Endive Au GratinThe ham was not tender enough and the flavours didn't really blend in wellOven Baked Fish of the DayThe fish was baked with Hoegaarden lemon sauce. I think it was slightly overcooked and it's just a personal preference that I prefer the French way of cooking fish.Beef PieDon't remember the exact name of the dish now, but it wasn't the best pie I have had. The pastry was a little too dry for my taste and the meat was not tender enough…Read More

Having read the previous reviews, I had high expectations in this place, but it came out to be a total disappointment! First of all, there are only 7 main courses to choose from because many of the mains are for 'party only' which means you will have to pre-order the day before. We ordered a chicken doner, another chicken dish that tastes exactly like the chicken doner, a scallop dish which takes like the chicken doner again and a vegan dish with tomatoes, onions and eggs. They all taste very bland and doesn't take nearly as good as the ones I tried in Europe before. We also ordered a side fries which was not crispy, but very oily and soggy. Although it says the mains come with a salad, it's basically a few lettuce leaves and 2 slices of tomatoes, halved, making it 4 slices. The tea in the end was the most disappointing. I tried Turkey tea when I visited a Turkish friend before and this one is just not authentic.... maybe it's too diluted and tastes just like cheap Chinese tea that you get at the local chinese fast food places. Also, the portions were small too, so we decided to have a second dinner afterwards (which tasted so much better). Another down side of this place is that the kitchen is right beside where you side and it's an open kitchen, so the place is really stuffy and you can out feeling quite sick and oily. My friends couldn't stand the guy frying the onions and had to go outside to get some fresh air.All in all, it was just a very bad dinning experience. …Read More

We went to chesa for dinner last week. I was quite impressed by the settings - very Swiss-like.We ordered Crêpe au crabe, cappuccino à l’homardine et Armagnaca and Fondue Forestière to start with. The crab pancake was delicious. It was filled with crab meat and the sauce tastes like lobster bisque. Cheese fondue was a bit heavy on the wine. Maybe we should have ordered it with less alcohol in it. I think the one we tried in Swiss Chalet was better (think we had the one with garlic there).For the mains, we ordered Emincé de veau Zurichois and Fondue Chinoise. They knew we were sharing the dishes, so they actually divided the veal onto two plates for us. I think the taste was average. I would have liked it with more mushrooms. For the beef fondue, we had the diced beef instead. The meat was tender, but it lacked the beef flavour. The stock had all the correct ingredients including the herbs, but the stock was too thin. The sauces were not good.Maybe the meal would be good for those who are not used to strong flavours, but for me, having tried and loved the food in Switzerland, this is not the place I would come again.…Read More

We went to Sabatini for lunch buffet today. I liked the atmosphere of the restaurant. It's like one of those restaurants you find in Italian villas. Not trying to be chic and modern, but cozy and relaxing.Back to the food. The waiters offered us sparkling wine or fruit juices as soon as we were seated. The sparkling wine was okay, but I quite liked the orange juice with pulps.There was a starter buffet which consists of the following:Chilled seafood (Lobster, giant prawns, mussels and crab) - They all tasted fresh although the crab was little on the salty side. The prawn however was excellent. Cold cuts - I am not an expert when it comes to cold meats, but my bf who is an expert in this said it was very good.Vegetables (grilled aubergine, sun dried tomatoes, mozzerella and cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, grilled courgettes, stuffed pepper with tuna, articokes, etc) - some of them had the chargrill taste that I really like. Most of them were upto expectation.There were also smoked salmon (I would have preferred slightly more salty), spanish omlette, beef caparcio (tastes a lot better if you add a bit of lemon juice, salt and pepper) and salad leaves (very fresh).Besides the cold starters, there were also tomatoe soup, sashimi toast (absolutely delicious although not very Italian) and pasta. There were either a tomatoe sauce or creamy salmon sauce with linguine or spaghetti. We ordered creamy salmon spaghetti and it was al-dente and very tasty.One thing that I have to mention is the bread basket. I love the long white bread stick. I don't know the name of that type of bread, but it was warm, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.There were a choice of 5 or 6 main dishes (Foie Gras, Pasta, Steak, Grilled Chicken, Cod Fillet, ..) We both ordered the cod fillet which came with capers in tomatoe sauce and wild broccoli. The fish was pan fried - the skin was crispy and the meat was very tender.To finish the meal, there were the dessert buffet and coffee. There was a chocolate mousse wth vanilla mousse. I thought that was the best dessert out of all the ones I tried. I thought the tiramisu was average because I could taste a lot of alcohol at the bottom layer of cake, but none at all at the middle layer. The blueberry cheesecake was just okay. The fruits (blueberries, strawberries, etc) however were very fresh.The coffee was not the best I have tasted but it was okay.Overall, I think the food was excellent and authentic. The service was attentive and friendly. The atmosphere was good. The cost was reasonable.…Read More

Everytime we go there, we order the same thing. It's number 3 on the menu which is a spicy and sour noodle soup with pork belly and tofu skin. We added spring rolls last time which were quite tasty too. It's not really proper spring rolls though. The inside tasted a bit like fish balls or something similar. The soup tends to be on the heavy side, so even though I really like the taste of it, I wouldn't go there too often.I have tried some of their other items on the menu but none were as good. The won ton especially was bad. It tasted the same as the frozen ones I bought from the supermarket. The lemon tea was a bit tasteless.…Read More

Okay. First of all, remember to go to the 5th floor with the black door. Could save you time waiting outside the wrong door under the hot weather.I booked the table two weeks back. They called me the day before and told me what the menu of the night would be. They asked if everything was okay for our tastes. I thought that was the beginning of a great dining experience.My first impression when I walked into the restaurant. It's pretty romatic. The lighting was a little dim and it was mainly black with red table clothes. It could fit roughly 12 people at the main area and there is a private room for around 8 people.We were greeted by the big brother of the Zone D and offered cold / warm water as soon as we were seated. We didn't have to wait long until the bread arrived. I am not a big bread eater but the bread was full of aroma. They provided us butter and balsamic vinegar. I prefer the white bread with vinegar and the brown bread with butter.The first course as a seared tuna salad. It was quite refreshing, They told me that it was pepper tuna but I couldn't taste much of that, but I thought it was better that way as I couldn't have tasted the fish if the dressing was too heavy. It tasted refreshing and was a good choice of starter.The second course was what they called mushroom cappuccino. It was basically a cream of mushroom soup with black truffle. The black truffle was served separately on a spoon and the soup was served in a cup. There were also croutons on the side. I smelt the truffle paste first before mixing with the soup. It was not as aromatic as the one I tasted before but then last time I had it, it was freshly shaved which came with a price. I mixed it lightly with the soup. It was very very light which came to my surprise. I could taste the mushroom first and then the subtle taste of black truffle comes out. It was perfect. Reminds me of Tuscany.The third course was clam spaghetti. I was expecting a pasta with clam and oilve oil, but it was actually came with a creamy clam sauce. There were clams, mushroom and garlic in it. I loved the taste of the garlic. It was very nicely presented on a scallop shell and they used mashed potato to hold the shell in place. My boyfriend thought it was the best dish of the night even though he is more a fan of meaty pasta than a seafood lover.The main course was a choice of two. Pan fried white fish (couldn't remember what the name was but the texture was similar to sea bass) with a vinegar sauce or spring chickn served with baked potatoes. We decided that we wanted to try both since the food had been way above expectation. My fish came first. It was served on mashed potatoes and with tomato puree on top and a black vinegar sauce around the plate. The fish was very smooth and cooked just right. I liked the slightly sour sauce with it that gave me a twist from the creamy tasted from the last two courses. The mashed potatoes was good too. It was lightly seasoned and I liked it less smooth. We had the chicken leg. It was well seasoned and the skin was slightly crispy and not dry. The meat was tender. I didn't get to try the potatoes though.The last course was the dessert obviously. It was creme brulee with strawberries on the side. I could tell that they burnt the sugar just before they brought it to us because the top layer of the creme brulee was warm while the bottom was slighly chilled. I though they could have made the sugar layer a bit thinner, but the custard was good. It was rich and full of egg flavour which was a good match with the slighly sour strawberries.We were both very satisfied with the meal. It was good surprise throughout the meal. I couldn't resist asking about the chef. The one who takes the reservation is the big brother and the chef is the little brother. They are called Lew and Sean. Apparently Sean worked in various hotels and restaurants before opening his own place. The restaurant is called Zone D because that's the same pronounciation as brothers in Mandarin.I am trying to find an excuse to go back sometime soon. I would be exaggerating if I said it was the best Italian place town, but I would have to struggle to find a better place for 300 dollars each.…Read More