The Connoisseur Concerto (TCC): Food Review

I've been wanting to do a review for the restaurant for a while because it is one of my family's regulars. We found out about this place at Changi Airport (it has closed down) and because of the excellent service and scrumptious food, we decided to become members. However, after the branch at Changi closed down, we started going to the one in Bugis, which was okay but wasn't on par with the one in Changi. However, my latest visit to TCC has changed my opinions on the restaurant (in Bugis).

Do note that this review is only specific to the branch in Bugis.

First of all, the meal felt like a 9 course meal. Not because the food was fancy and high-class, but because they took forever to come. You know when you go out for meals, and usually all the food that you order come at around the same time? Well that was not the case. Furthermore, the restaurant lack workers to an extent that nobody served us menus until we asked them to. 

Other than the long waiting time, the food wasn't up to standards. (as compared to the past)

M.B Beaf Steak

After waiting for many many minutes, the first dish finally arrived. The beef was juicy and was neither overcooked nor undercooked. However, after leaving the dish on the table for about 20-30 minutes, I thought that there was a peculiar plastic taste in a piece of meat. But it could be just me because my mom took a bite and didn't find anything wrong with it.

Eggs Ben

Disappointment plastered on all our faces as this dish was served. One thing I like about eating eggs benedict is bursting the yolk and watching the golden liquid drip down the bratwurst and bread. However, when my knife sank into the little egg pouch, nothing came out; the egg yolk was very overcooked! I would've requested for it to be remade but we didn't want to wait another 20 minutes. I also think that the pretzel toasts given were too small. 

Wagyu Beef Burger

Juicy tender wagyu beef sandwiched between two perfectly toasted charcoal buns, with the accomodation of fresh lettuce leaves and salted prawns. I have to say that the Wagyu burger is one of the best food in the menu. At least there were a couple of good choices made that day, otherwise it would've truly been a disappointing meal. One of the reasons why I like ordering the burgers there is because it is accompanied with truffle fries. Yes!! Actual truffle fries and my sister is crazy over it. I think it's pretty nice too because the truffle taste isn't too overwhelming and it certainly doesn't taste like msg truffle powder (if such a thing exists).

 Tiger Prawn Mentaiko Spaghetti

A Japanese cuisine inspired dish using mentaiko wafu sauce. Thank god this dish was palatable as well. I loved how the sauce has a powerful taste without being too salty. I didn't try the tiger prawns but my sister thought that it was a bit too salty. 

The "C" Wings

And because we weren't filled, we decided to order our regular dish- The 'C" Wings. It comes in different flavours from original to buffalo and to even more exotic tastes such as hot tequila lime. Since we're asians, we ordered asian zing (haha just kidding) which has a subtle sour taste. I've always thought that TCC's chickens were heavenly until taking a bite out of this. The chicken was probably not marinated well because the inside of the chicken was rather bland. 

Molten Cheese Tart

Dessert was ok. The cheese was too wet despite its appealing presentation. I've eaten this before and I remember the cheese being more solid. The waitress told me that it is supposed to be runny because it is a molten cheese tart after all. But I think she just made it up because the cheese was rather wet, almost like the cheesecake batter before placing it in the oven. 

I'd still go back to TCC but maybe not this branch because of its slow service. Just a reminder that this review is only specific to the branch in Bugis.

My Ratings

Service: 5/10

Food: 7/10

Ambience: 8/10

Total: 6.5/10

 http://www.theconnoisseurconcerto.com/

Su Food (Vegetarian Food): Food Review

Vegetarian food- just hearing the phrase is bound to send shivers down a meat-lover's spine. All greens and no ACTUAL food?? Before you close the tab or click on another post, scroll down and you will soon find yourself looking at vegetarian food in another light.

$29.90 for an 8 course meal? It does sound too good to be true.

Starting off the meal with their cute little three-piece-appetizer...

The SUFOOD Appetiser $5.00

From left to right- tomato in jelly, lady's finger bathed in salad dressing and blackcurrant covered Japanese yam. For the best eating experience, remember to eat from right to left, and wash it down with a glass of apple cider!

Rosemary Breadsticks $3.00

Ok so I was really excited for this because I think the bread was freshly baked!! on the spot!! because it was warm but it was soft and fluffy at the same time so I don't think it was microwaved. 

And on to the next course which is the salad

Classic Garden Salad $6.00

This really gave me a shock because i'm not the kind of people that enjoy shoving pure vegetables in my mouth. It was delicious as the vegetables were fresh and sweet and complimented well with the salad dressing.

French Onion and Cheese Soup $6.00

This is probably the best choice out of the four on the menu- Misto Mushroom, Root Soup and Cream of Pumpkin. The onion cheese soup has a relatively richer taste compared to the mushroom and pumpkin soup which was why i liked it. But if you prefer a lighter flavour you should order the misto mushroom soup which tastes similar to japanese miso soup. The pumpkin soup was pretty disappointing because it looks like it was made in heaven but it tastes like satan peed in it. Ok no but it tasted pretty average especially because it wasn't hot.

And finally on to the main course

Curry Cheese Pizza $13.00

Chunks of potatoes and parmesan cheese drizzled with moderately-spicy thick curry, wrapped in a layer of crispy dough and finishing with a piece of vegetable as a reminder that it's vegetarian. This dish was honestly the bomb of the entire meal. I probably had a food orgasm as the spices teased my taste-buds. 

If you're having difficulties eating the middle portion, you can try wrapping it like this so that the fillings don't spill easily.

White Ferula Pasta $14.00

Honestly this beats a lot of pasta restaurants in Singapore and it's pretty cheap for something that tastes this good too! Every bite of the pasta was rich in flavour and taste and it was neither too salty nor bland. Topped with juicy Ferula mushrooms which really complimented the taste of the pasta. This is really dumb but I thought the mushrooms were slices of fake chicken haha.

Rainbow Baked Pasta $14.00

Ok I don't recommend ordering this because it tasted pretty normal. Like it's something that you'll go 'meh' instead of 'wow omg this is so awesome I want another bite'. 

And onto the last meal of the course- Deserts.

Mango Frollino $4.80

Another dish that you should refrain from ordering. The mango thing piece at the top is frozen solid and does not stick to the crumbs in the middle. Not only does the texture sucks, it tasted like someone poured mango smoothie in a mould and shoved it in a freezer.

Rosso e Giallo $4.80

The fanciful name stands for red bean cake and beancurd pudding. My mom claims that the cake was bland and didn't really like it. After trying it myself, I think that it's ok; it's not as bad as the Mango Frollino but it wasn't exactly good either. But the beancurd pudding on the other hand oh my god. It feels like eating clouds because I literally felt the jelly disintegrate in my mouth. It was so satisfactory and I'm definitely going to order this the next time!

Vanilla Ice-Cream with Hot Chocolate $4.80

Who knew that the simplest thing on the desserts menu can taste the nicest. I think the chef must've slipped in a teaspoon of cocaine because after stealing a bite from my dad, I couldn't help but want another bite, and another, and another. Oh god, I'm already aching for it while writing this. 

My Ratings

Service: 10/10

Food: 8/10

Ambience: 8/10

Total: 8.5/10

http://sufood.com.sg/

Raffles City

252 North Bridge Road #02-19

Singapore 179103

+65 6333 5338

Wheelock Place

501 Orchard Road, #B2-01 

Singapore 238880

+65 62388308

Universal Studios Hollywood

During the California trip, my sister and I went to Universal Studios Hollywood. Yes, just us since my parents aren't really a fan of theme parks and they didn't really know the characters there. As far as I can remember, this is the first time I've went to a theme park in another country without my parents so it was definitely a unique experience for me. 

We got the Front-of-the-line passes to make sure we could finish all the rides and shows. Thank god we did as it was Boxing Day and the place was extremely crowded. All the rides except for one kiddy ride had at least a 40 minute wait after 10 am so if you're planning to try out all the attractions in a day, buying the fast passes will be the smarter choice. 

I was really surprised when I saw the park map as I had no idea the park would be so small. I was so psyched for the Marvel rides as I didn't reach the height limits when I was younger. Little did I know that that was in Universal Studios Florida. Disappointing yes I know. 

We started out at the Minions area as we were looking for Starbucks. The only ride there was the 4D stimulator ride that Singapore doesn't have. It was still early when we got there so we barely had to queue. This was how we made our mistake... After the ride, we went around taking photos with mascots, drink coffee at a French Bistro near the Minion ride (don't buy the starbucks from here because they have really limited choices and the coffee wasn't that good either). The 20 minute wait time for the rides became over 40 minutes!

The second ride we went to was the Jurassic World Wet Ride which is located at the Lower Lot. I kinda hate how there's an Upper Lot and a Lower Lot because it takes 4 long escalators from one place to another. It was really inconvenient and a waste of time. Again we decided not to use our fast passes as the waiting time wasn't that long yet, which was pretty dumb of us because we didn't have time for a second round as planned. 

One of the rides was really enjoyable and special. The Studio Tour is a must to go as it is the main attraction of Universal Studios Hollywood. I think that because of their size constraints and the fact that Universal Studios movies are filmed there, the rides are mostly 4D simulators to show off how great their technology and stuff are. So yes, in exchange of exciting adrenaline pumping roller coaster rides, you get to ride on a tram around the sets of many universal studios movies. How exciting!!

I may sound sarcastic but the experience is a lot better than how I just described it. If you don't believe me you can always believe the waiting time of the attraction, which was 75 minutes. It was really an eye opener to learn that the same set could be remodeled to fit different locations in dozens of movies. We also got the chance to watch 360• 4D stimulators for King Kong and Fast and Furious 7. They really went overboard with the water effects because it felt like they dumped a whole pail of unknown liquid on my face. 

The other ride I enjoyed was the Mummy coaster. It is almost the same as the one in Singapore so you must be wondering why I had fun on it. So at the last part of the ride, it was really quite and dark. Just imagine the silent part before a jump scare in a horror movie and you'll get what I mean. During that part, I screamed at my sister and she got scared and what made it even funnier was that I did the same thing when we watched an Egyptian movie a few months back. We planned to ride the Mummy coaster again and I was really looking forward to it because I wanted to scare other people but the queue for the single riders was definitely more than 30 minutes in the evening when we got back to it. After wasting 15 minutes we decided to give up. 

There were other rides/shows that Singapore doesn't have such as the Simpson Ride, Animal Actors and the classic ones like the Transformer 4D Ride and Jurassic Park. 

I think that Animal Actors is a fantastic pet show. Usually pet shows have the usual animals: dogs, cats, pigeons and pigs for some others. I'm quite sure not many pet shows have owls in their cast list. The animals of the shows are actually the animals in Universal Studios movies, one of which is Harry Potter. It was really cool to see how animals are trained to act in movies. What made the show even better was the backstage passes we had due to the front-of-the-line card, allowing us to take pictures with the owl!

And now I shall end of this post with pictures :)