Wheeler’s Estate - Wheeling Good Times

Since I started to have a liking to chilling at alfresco restaurants with live bands, I decided to go to Wheeler's Estate, which is pretty near to my lair, to possibly add an restaurant to my list of favourite restaurants with live bands. After a visit, yes, this restaurant goes into the list! And this place is one of the few places where I can get to via direct bus, so this is now my top choice for dining with live bands.

I had said it before in another post that listening to live bands feels so different. The lively vibe, the real time interaction, the vibration of the music, the presence of the performers make it so much more immersive than listening to the jukebox.

The food here has good variety from pizzas, pastas, mains to appetizers, and all these feature crowd-pleasing, hearty tastes that we all enjoy.

Purple Rain showcases that slightly tangy Cranberry Juice can actually tastes smooth and floral due to the Mint Leaves and Lychee Syrup added. This is good!

A5 Wagyu Beef Skewer with Garlic Chips, Shaved Red Onion, and Lemon Wedge is da bomb of the night. Each piece is so juicy and tender, completed with meaty sweetness and a hint of char. Higher price tag, but totally worth it.

I have to admit that after savouring the skewers, the Ribeye Beef tastes very ordinary and its tougher in texture. Still can be enjoyed, but after the A5 Wagyu skewers.

Galiciana Queen Scallops is Salt Baked Zamburina Scallops soaked in Garlic Herbed Butter, completed with Pickled Pepper at the side. So briny sweet, so zesty, so savoury, these scallops are packed with good robust flavours.

Grilled Octopus is also briny sweet, laced with balanced robust flavours of Chimichurri, Lemon Capers and Butter Sauce. Another hearty treat.

Thoughts: Absolutely Cool Place to Chill, Dine and Enjoy Live Music

2 Park Lane

Gochu - Exciting Korean Dining

The cavern-like walls of a hot new restaurant, Gochu, definitely caught my attention, and the fact that the signature dish of Gochu is Gochu, crispy chilli stuffed with meat, seemed to promise an unique experience at this restaurant. And so I decided to transverse through the quiet part of Singapore, which is the far off end of Yishun, to get to this quaint restaurant that is nested within the Orchid Country Club Golf area.

Well, despite the secluded location, this restaurant is so full on a weekend that I have to wait for an hour for a table. But the wait is actually pretty okay since there is a nice built-in wooden bench outside to sit on where I can look at the people practising golf. After the wait, it actually feels so refreshing to step into this cool space furbished with black interior, cave-like stone walls and full panel windows overlooking the greenery outside.

And the menu looks good, with plenty of options for different cuts of beef and pork, Korean side dishes, the usual favourites like Seafood Pancake and unique traditional Korean dishes, such as Gochu. Usually, the meats of Korean BBQ are usually tough due to the thick cuts. But the meats are tender and juicy, so I'm really impressed. In addition, I like it that the friendly staff will barbecue the meats on the grill stove in front of the patrons. The taste of the food is very tasty and hearty. Definitely a good choice for Korean fare.

The complimentary Deep fried White Bait is crispy on the outside and succulent on the inside. A delicious snack to much on.

Gochu hits all the points of the taste spectrum from savoury, sweet, spicy, tangy meaty to vegetal. It is pure excitement on the tastebuds.

The ribs, well-marinated, is perfectly cooked by the staff to retain the meaty juiciness with a touch of char for the extra sweetness. This is a must-try here.

Another cut of beef, being more lightly seasoned, and is delicious too due to the juiciness.

Yummy Complimentary Side Dishes.

Thoughts: Good, Hearty Korean Food

1 Orchid Road

Orchard Country Club

Fuel Up - Yishun's Secret Watering Hole

Located in an industrial area of Yishun, this is like Yishun’s cool little secret, where the chill vibe and huge variety of delicious Thai fusion food win me over. And the price here is very kind to the wallets. Great place to have gatherings. 

Nice Seafood Pineapple Fried Rice. The taste is good, and I like the generous amount of pineapple, seafood and cashew nuts added.

Tom Yum Spaghetti is spicily good! And look at the amount of seafood added! Love this!

Thoughts: Great place to chill and relax while enjoying good food

15 Yishun Industrial Street 1

#01-20

So Pho - Nice Place to satisfy my craving for Vietnamese Food

Actually, Vietnamese food can be a hit or miss with my palates. The ones that impressed me create this perpetual impression that Vietnamese food is full of flavours and is distinctive in taste while others just lacks the fine details to render the food memorable. So I patronise So Pho with both anticipation and unsureness. I miss Vietnamese food but I'm not sure if the food here will be good.

Well, the food here caters very well to local palates while fulfilling the need to enjoy shiok-tasting food. I enjoy eating them, and yes, it is very shiok, in the earthy style of basil and Vietnamese Fish Sauce.

Vietnamese Spring Rolls is packed with lots of ingredients, such as Vietnamese vermicelli, prawns, peppers and fresh raw veggies. While tastes plain on its own, it becomes yummy when dipped in the tangy, spicy Vietnamese sauce. Worth a try.

The Deep-Fried Calamari has a lovely crispy exterior, peppered with Vietnamese herbs. The taste is unique and I like it. Will be even better if the squid is more tender.

Bun Noodle with Softshell Crab features more simulating flavours. The bun noodle, which is a bit like Chinese thick rice noodles, taste very good when drenched in the zesty, spicy sauce provided.

Thoughts: Nice place to enjoy Vietnamese Food

Nearest MRT: Yishun

Wildseed Café at The Summerhouse - Awesome and Idyllic Place to Chill and Enjoy Food

After the wonderful experience at Au Balcon, I got all curious about its sister cafe, Wildseed Café, both of which are situated in The Summerhouse. And I love the idyllic, scenic setting of The Summerhouse, a bungalow surrounded stretches of lush greenery, without any high-rise building in sight. I feel like I'm dining at a beautiful countryside.

The food here, ranging from brunch items, pasta and pizza to desserts, is great, with a very good variety to cater to various palates. The service is very friendly and helpful. Especially the lady at the reception who remembers me from my last visit to Au Balcon, awwwwww, so nice 😊. And the guy who wear spectacles and has super curly hair.

I absolutely love this pretty glass of Strawberry Yoghurt Shake. Full of the goodness of real strawberries, this shake is refreshing and creamy with hints of tang.

Calamari is a nice snack to munch on since the battered squid rings is so tender, contrasting nicely with the lovely crispiness of the deep fried batter wrapped around each ring. Sriracha Maonnaise is creamy with tangy and spicy notes, going so well with calamari.

I like the linguine of Soft-Shell Chilli Crab Linguine. It is smooth and flavourful, full of the tang and sweetness of tomatoes. The chilli added makes the taste even more exciting. The Soft-Shell Crab is crispy, is good on its own, but does not really elevate the taste of linguine. Still quite a pretty nice dish overall.

Odeh Odeh Cake is so fluffy and light, packed with the nutty flavour of coconut and sweet aroma of pandan. The cream is very light too. This is one awesome cake.

There are so many pretty sights here to take photos of. Dining in the midst of nature is such an enjoyable experience. This is one of the places where having a meal outdoors can be awesome. There is an indoor corner for dining, but best to come earlier to snag a table in here. Otherwise, just enjoy the outdoors and the awesome scenery.

Thoughts: Super Nice Café!

3 Park Lane

Nearest MRT: Punggol

A Dinner at Sushi Tei - Nice

Sushi Tei is one of the commercial chains I will patronise every now and then, especially for some quick nice comfort food. Not all meals have to be out-of-this-world and elaborate, a meal at a nice decent restaurant like Sushi Tei can make a bon viviant happy too. The service is good and the nice yellow light at the comfy place is soothing–I need this after a day of hard work. And I like it that this restaurant always come out with seasonal new dishes to keep things interesting.

Succulent huge prawns coated with deep fried breadcrumbs, sushi rice and avocado, this is pretty luxurious and so yummy.

Negitoro Temaki to satisfy my craving for negitoro.

Two very interesting sushi: Pork Belly Sushi and Spicy Hotate Sushi. They are actually very nice.

I like the strawberry bits and natural taste in this Millefeuille Strawberry Ice-Cream. Would be better if there are puff pastry bits added.

After all these years and with the expansion, Sushi Tei still maintains the standard of decent good food. It is a great place for casual meal.

Au Balcon - Ultimate Bon Viviant's Dream

Dempsey Hill of the North ... and it's right at Park Lane in Seletar! I had always heard about this place, but never got around to come here, until I know about Au Balcon. The menu here looks very attractive to me and so here I am. I'm totally wowed by the surroundings of this place. Coming here is like walking into an exclusive estate where the classy bungalow house is surrounded by lawns and stretches of lush greenery with no high rise buildings in sight. And with the good food here, this is really a bon viviant's dream come true where one just simply enjoys the finer things in life. This place is totally instagram-worthy.

Housed above Wildseed Cafe on the second floor, Au Balcon is an enclosed space that feels more like an open area due to the whole stretch of large windows lining most of the perimeter of the dining room. So a bon viviant can enjoy the comforts of air-condition and still indulge in the feel of dining outdoors, being surrounded by the greenery with lots of natural light. The place is classy with a homely touch due to the whitewashed walls, hanging plants, classic wooden table tops, and white wooden chairs with lovely floral print cushions.

To complete the experience, service is very good, being friendly and efficient. Definitely a place I will recommend to enjoy a moment of life away from the buzz and bustle of urban city.

Mudcrab Omelette looks so beautiful, with the flowers and herbs adorning the perfectly prepared omelette that is solid on the outside to hold all the goodies within and runny on the inside. So the runny egg throughly coats the briny sweet mud crab, and with pungent spring onion and the stretchy, slightly gooey Gruyere cheese mixed in, this is pure delight on the palates.

Nice light, sweet white wine recommended by the friendly service staff.

Grilled prawns features super huge, succulent, meaty kelong prawns. The shells are so thin and nicely cooked to crispy consistency that I easily eat them along with the sweet flesh. The smoky aroma of the slightly charred surface of the meat makes it all the more better. Ah, eating this is enjoyment ...

I totally love the Yoghurt Sorbet here because it is super refreshing in taste. And it looks very pretty too. The yoghurt is creamy yet light on the palates, going so well with the mint jelly. The honeycomb crispy yoghurt gives a nice variation in texture. I love this so much.

Entrance to Au Balcon inside Wildseed Cafe.

Inner Dinning hall, which is more cosy. I came in at the earliest time so I could walk around happily to snap pictures lol

Staircase leading to Au Balcon.

This place is so good for spending a lazy afternoon, or gatherings with friends and family at night due to the perfect ambience. I saw the LED lights setup outside the restaurant, so I figured it will look very pretty at night too. The food is very good too, being pleasing to most palates. Most of the items on the menu are well-catered to local tastes. Now, I want so much to bring my loved ones or friends to here to just enjoy some relaxing time here.

Thoughts: Enjoying Life!

3 Park Ln

Nearest MRT: Punggol