District 10 - My first and My Last


Yes, their expressions says it all. It's a scorching Saturday afternoon and already first impressions are marred as we step into the poorly ventilated bistro. The heat and the food left much to be desired and I probably speak for everyone at the table that we would probably not be returning for encores.

The salmon pate was bad, with a capital B. Fishy pate should just not be one of those things that a restaurant decides to serve generously.

It's hard to go wrong with deep fried calamari. I suppose any good restaurant shouldn't get this wrong. Thankfully the batter was light and the calamari wasn't too greasy.

The home-style ribs probably saved the meal, albeit it's pretty boring. The meat was tender, well marinated and served in a generous hearty portion.

The duck confit was one of the few dishes recommended but I felt the meat was a little too dry and it wasn't as impressive as I had hoped for it to be.

The wagyu meatballs unfortunately sounded much nicer within the menu than in picture.

The 2 pizzas we ordered were also pretty decent at least.

The crust was wafer thin and the greens were fresh while the ham - tasty.
Although we normally almost never stay for dessert in a bad restaurant, we thought we should because the chocolate sundae had quite a few dazzling reviews.

Ok, I'll admit the sundae is pretty yummy, chokeful of freshly roasted almonds and generous scoops of ice cream laced richly with luscious chocolate.. it's almost a shame I am not a choco-lunatic. The profiteroles were not to bad either.

All in all, the food was just borderline average. Needless to say I was very much disappointed since this was suppose to be the latest establishment from the Bonta group. I had been so eager to get the lunch reservation. Sadly an hour and a half later, I had almost wished we didn't....

District 10 Bistro
10 Winstedt Road
#01-17
Tel: +65 6738 4788

Grayden and Simba Mini @ Brunch


It's yet another barrage of Graydie's photos as a proud and gushing mummy goes trigger happy every time the little runt learns a new trick or achieves another milestone.

4 months in and I forget the days he had the ugly baby acne and freaky cradle cap. He's got such envious porcelain fair skin (pregger mommies out there, bird's nest fortnightly works), I so want to steal back my youth!

We're back at Marmalade Pantry for brunch before lunch @ District 10 with Auntie and Uncle B. Grayden's showing off his new talk as he discovers he's got lips...

and that he can illicit laughs from mummy with his goofy expressions...

and a loyal friend in Simba Mini. :)

4 Month Old Graydie

Itacho @ Ion Orchard


Ok, I won't claim it's fantabulous sushi, but it's pretty reasonable and decent quality Japanese fare for the price you pay and for the location it's at. Plonked at one of the hotspots within the Ion, Itacho adds up to the several Japanese food outlets within the Ion that will certainly draw crowds streaming from Isetan, or intercept the trendy young kids MRT commuters passing by for a Dunkin donut or on their way to Borders or Sakae Sushi at the Wheelock.

The menu is perpetually flooded with chef recommendations, specials and promotion. The sushi offerings are abundant and they are priced as per piece. That's good for single diners or for greedy foodies such as ourselves who want to try everything. But it's naturally confusing for regular Sakae and Sushi Tei diners who think the prices indicated are standard for 2 pieces of sushi per plate.

Of course I had to have my otoro - one of every kind, with tendon, with less tendon and aburi. All of which I would say is pretty decent.

The single servings for sushi worked out well for Hubby who loves an occasional Ebi sushi.

It's rare to find pumpkin tempura in a Japanese menu. The cubes of pumpkin were soft and piping hot within, light and crispy on the outside. I would have liked the pumpkin a little naturally sweeter.

The soy sauce salmon was interesting, but I guess I am only ever really interested in otoro in any Japanese Sushi menu. :)



Although this is the first time I saw wagyu beef - raw and aburi being offered. Raw wagyu beef is a little too hardcore for me so I took the aburi while Hubby went for the raw. The beef was indeed tender and marbling was visible, but it was disappointingly bland and lacked the punch of a good wagyu.




The jumbo scallop sushi was yumy and so was the unagi which came in a pretty generous portion. Unagi is normally too sweet and 'boney' for my liking, but Itacho served it well - lightly seasoned so that the sweetness doesn't overpower the fresh natural sweetness.

We had sweet potato endings while Grayden polished off his dinner. This was utterly disappointing, any donut from Dunkin donuts next door would have satisfied my sweet tooth instead of this. I expected it to come warm but instead it came stone cold and the potatoes had turned hard. I would recommend to skip dessert. You can get your sweet fix at the Marmalade pantry or even bread society next door.


Itacho Sushi (ION Orcahrd)
2 Orchard Turn
#B2-18 Ion Orchard
Tel: +65 6509 8911

Grayden's 4th Month New Talk


It's month 4 for Graydie and the little runt's mastered a new talk!
Hee Hee, he's starting to teeth and he's discovered his lips and tongue. :)
Put that all together and we hear the funniest sounds!
Check out the little shiver at the end (according to reliable sources - it's cause he peed!) Haha

Free Hugs! Who wants one?!

Come and Taste Paradise at ION!

Did I tell you that I have fallen in love with the ION? It is officially my favourite mall. And now with Taste paradise and Marmalade Pantry both open and offering new delectable yummies, I am loving it even more.
On a saturday afternoon, Taste Paradise is already packed with hungry patrons as early as 12noon when they open doors for business.
Melvin, an old friend and the manager boasts that the dim sum is only freshly made as orders from tables pour in. Nothing is prepared overnight. This attention to dedication and detail can be felt, and in this case, very much tasted in their custard buns.

I don't normally fancy this traditional sweet dim sum. But here, I always order 2 servings! The pipping hot custard flows out richly with the first bite, threatening to burn the most delicate of tongues. Yet this rich yellow filling is not as sweet as it appears. The salted egg yolk sedates the sweetness and makes every bite such a yummy delight.

The egg tarts are my second favourite. It's hard to find a good egg tart nowadays. The tart is thin and crisp, and the egg custard is so freshly out of the oven, it's almost molten liquid!

The roast pork isn't as good as Peach Garden or Crystal Jade. A little too salty and not as crispy as I would have liked it. But it's got a good amount of meat and fat.

As the rest of the dim sum arrive on the table, we are lost in a sea of good traditional streamed dumplings, and new interesting fried items. I won't bother to pen down the names of the variety we tried, you can probably guess from the pictures. We did make it a point not to try the usual siew mai and chicken feet, etc, and we were definitely not disappointed.














We tried the foie gras xiao long bao since it had been strongly recommended by several other foodies. But we were rather disappointed. We could barely taste even a hint of foie gras. It tasted pretty similar to their regular xiao long bao.
But a passing complaint to Melvin and the next order came bursting with foie gras! Now that was more like it! *drool*


We also wanted to try some of their new signatures just to ensure that the quality of their flagship at Mosque street was not lost in transition. And I am only too happy to shift my alliance to the Ion branch. Parking is easier, shopping is certainly more accessible for after-meal digestions and the food is definitely up one notch.

The carrot cake is still offered in the Ion and rightfully it should. Their XO carrot cake is pillowy soft and fragrant still.

We also tried their baked kurobuta pork, flavoured with tang gui. The herb provides the unique fushion without any of the medicinal stigma that comes with dishes cooked with herbs. The pork is soft and baked to perfection.

The sister had to have her wasabi prawns and its nice to see some familiar classics on the table.

We always ordered the baked lamb rack whenever we come to taste but we heard they had a new signature. This is better since the lamb rack had seen better days and has some how dropped in standard in the last few orderings. But I won't say I was extremely 'wow-ed'.

From the seafood, we ordered one from the new and one from the old. The chef recipe for the cod fish has always been a must. And we also ordered a new item - salted egg york crusted scallop on a bed of avocado and sweet corn. The fish never fails. Even when we bring guests here, never once has the fish failed to garner solid superb praise. This was no exception.
The scallop on the contrary doesn't give good first impressions. But as you continue with each bite, the flavours grown on you and the avocado and sweet corn adds a light and interesting new dimension.

By this time we probably should have stopped. :) But being the greedy people we are, we also had to fill up on the carbs. We got the usual fried rice and tried the lobster noodles. No complaints for either. The lobster noodles was excellent. My only complaint - we shouldn't have order it last.



All in all, it was a superb leisurely Saturday lunch. Taste Paradise definitely ranks one of the top best restaurants in my books. Now with them open and look set to stay in the Ion, I'll probably be succumbing to temptation fairly often now!


Taste Paradise at ION Orchard
ION Orchard #04-07
No. 2 Orchard Turn
Singapore238801

Tel: 6226 2959

Opening Hours
Mon – Fri
11.30am- 3.00pm (last order at 2.30pm)
6.00pm - 11pm (last order at 10.00pm)

Sat, Sun & PH
11.00am – 5.00pm (last order at 10.30pm)
6.00pm - 11.00pm (last order at 10.00pm)