Food and Fotography → Little Diner & Bukit Timah Saddle Club & Riders Cafe

Little Diner

Address: 789 Bukit Timah Road
Singapore 269763

Click-To-Call: 64664088

Lunch <Tues – Fri>: 1130 – 1430
Brunch <Sat – Sun>: 1100 – 1500
Dinner <Tues – Thurs and Sun>: 1800 – 2200
<Fri - Sat>: 1800 - 2230
Last orders half an hour before closing time

If you are in search of some authentic yummy American diner food - then Little Diner is the place to be. Chef Michael Quinn is the executive chef - and is originally from Ireland and then lived in New York City for 12 years, so the food here is a fusion of Irish and American tastes. Little Diner also has a pretty good range of premium beers, ciders, wines and spirits. The service here is really good.

The interior is minimalist with grey cemented walls - notched trowelled deep groove cladding.

Lots of menu boards with daily specials and desserts. So sad they didn't offer the famous red velvet pancakes today )': But we shall return on a weekend to savour these !

Starter

Lafayette Crab Cakes
Light and fluffy Golden Crab Cake Pillows accompanied by an orange pinkish sauce called Chipotle Aioli. The crab cakes themselves were very good but try coating it with the Chipotle sauce, it just makes it taste so much better. Chipotle means "smoked chili" and is a smoke-dried jalapeño. 

Main Courses

Roast Beef Sammie
Is a hand carved roast prime rib, topped with Swiss cheese, caramelized onions in a toasted Ciabatta bread with hand cut fries on the side. The handcut fries are prepared fresh daily, free from preservatives and never frozen so they look darker than your regular MacDonald fries.

I love the Roast Beef sandwich. Is soft and juicy. The staff were so generous to give us an additional serving of smoked Chipotle sauce so - buttering the sammie with delicious chipotle made my day. If you ever come here, ask for more Chipotle sauce hahahah.

Version 2.0 Baked Mac & Cheese Royale

This is a huge serving of Mac & Cheese with Truffle Oil, Wild Enoki (Chinese jin zhen gu) and Shimeji Mushrooms. Baked to perfection, browned and crispy on the top, it's full of yummy cheese and generous servings of mushrooms and less of the pasta (which is the way we like it). Loved the burnt taste of browned cheese and soft mushrooms.

The servings at Little Diner are large and really worth the $ spent. I wanted to try their desserts but I couldn't eat anymore.

This Little Diner is Big Big on our "to return again list". 
Thank You !

Bukit Timah Saddle Club & Riders Cafe

Address: 51 Fairways Drive
Singapore 286965 

Click-To-Call: 64669819 

Operating Hours: Sunday – Thursday 8am – 9pm
Friday & Saturday 8am - 10pm
Closed on Monday

Is a great place for anyone who wants to do photo shoots. Natural and untouched beauty - paddocks, whitewashed trail fences, lots of little hills, old aged trees, acres of lush greenery and a tropical forest background for your selfie. [You can even hire a horse for your photoshoot but this will set u back $300]

Dessert

 

Tea Scones with Clotted Cream, Preserves & Butter
Tea Scones and Earl Grey for instagramming lol.

Thanks for reading. Love Jia Jia 

 Click on photo to follow JiaJia on Instagram

Food → Akanoya Robatayaki

Akanoya Robatayaki

1 Tanglin Road #01-01

Orchard Parade Hotel Singapore

Click-To-Call: 67321866

 

Operating Hours: Daily 18:30 - 01:30

 

Price: Expensive – like 150$ each pax (but is those kind of place that people should go to – at least once in a life time). All ingredients are freshly imported from Japan – and I am so excited to be here as this is really the first date that my bf is taking me out on …

 

What is robatayaki? In Japanese cuisine, robatayaki (炉端焼き, literally "fireside-cooking"), often shortened to just robata (ろばた in hiragana), refers to a method of cooking, similar to barbecue, in which items of food on skewers are slow-grilled over hot charcoal. Many Japanese restaurants, both in Japan and abroad, specialize in this style of food preparation. Traditionally, the food consists of a combination of morsels of seafood and vegetables, but other kinds of food that are suitable for grilling over charcoal may also be offered.

 

Most Japanese restaurants in Singapore have a quiet, peaceful, zen-like ambience. If you like quiet and tranquil, then go to those, because Akanoya is an immersive Japanese experience. Imagine it as a noisy market place. The waiter welcomes you in loud cheery exuberant Japanese announcements the moment you enter. The other waiters repeat the announcements in unison. In addition, for every item that you order, your waiter shouts it out loud with approving echoes from the others in tandem. You really feel you are in Japan.

Another word that seems to appear a lot in conjunction with these types of restaurants is "Inakaya". Before you continue reading, take a quick look at these videos of Inakaya restaurants around the world. Your experience at Singapore's Akanoya Robatayaki will be similar.

• Inakaya (New York Times Square)
• Inakaya Robatayaki (Tokyo Roppongi)



Sauces & Starters

Three chef stations - where the fireside cooking is done.

You would have thought the food is fake. BUT NO NO, is all fresh food in vibrant colors. To order, you point to the food, following which the chef will collect the the fresh ingredients from before your very eyes and proceed to cook them.

BBQ right in front of you !

My chef of the day ! *damn handsome* hahaha

Chefs deliver the food using these long wooden paddles. Every dish is such a surprise.

Grilled veges (egg plants & bell peppers)

Chef is preparing a fish and skewering it for grilling

All kind of mushrooms

Grilled garlic in a miso paste

This is our all time favourite. Tastes yummy.

The best dish of the day ! Scallops ! (you can taste the ocean, heavenly OYISHII~) 

A nicely presented sweet potato dish.

Grilled onions



Kobe beef ! This is awesomely tender & juicy. It just melts in your mouth. Is damn expensive but for once in a life time, this is a must try.

The highlight of the night is around 830pm, when all the chefs and waiters stop serving for a moment, and break out into a traditional Japanese song and chorus ! Everyone follows along and claps and cheers. If you are coming to Akanoya, time your dinner to start around 7-730pm, then by 830pm or so - you will get to enjoy this traditional chorus ! An example of the ritual is found in this video from Inakaya Tokyo Roppongi.