Friends - The Food and Wine People

After more than 4 years being together, we finally get to sit down as friends once again... nah, just joking. What we did was sat down inside Friends - The Food and Wine People.

We found the prominent location further beyond holland road and along the main road which branches out where the landed properties lie. Friends @ Jelita, somewhat near sixth avenue. The restaurant can be seen from outside with its windows facing the main road, and from there it looked like a cosy dining place for the night.

We were definitely expecting to see rich people there and so we tried to act rich as well. But I was wearing slippers, berms and tee - perfectly ill mannered attire. So we hesistated and carefully creeped close to the sides and see how's the situation inside. To our delightful horror, I am not alone. I guess, what really matters is whether we have the card to pay afterall. So we better continued to act like super rich.

We had the Italian set dinner each and had ordered all the different combinations we could have. The sad thing is we could not have the Lamb Shank. Apparently, it was so popular that it ran ur of stock. You can try it and tell us how tasty it is when you have time!



Now all the names of the dishes are so super long, and we are going to really try to write them down here. The starters consists of the (get ready:) Fresh Roma Tomatoes and Mozzarella Cheese with Mesclun (above) and Sweet Melon with Parma Ham "Proscuitto" And Marinated Vegetable (below). Only half of the words makes sense to us actually, they also sounded like a lot for starters. But when they came, the food occupied less than half the space on the giant white plates.



They were very delicate dishes and very pleasing to both sight and taste. The ingredients were fresh and of high quality. The "parma ham" was something new for us because it was cold and raw but smooth and tender at the same time. Eating it with the melon is quite a clever idea, like eating fruits (other than pineapple) and rawish meat together, it's special.



In order to appear richer than we are, we need to show some bit of indulgence. So the ala carte Burgundy Snail was picked. And, me was shocked when it came: the whole chunk you see in the photo above is only about 7cm by 4cm right in the middle of the really big serving plate. I don't know what or where is "Burgundy", but this not-so-tasty-snail(s) cost $15. I would rather pay for the escargots in Jack's Place.



Roasted "Sakura" Chicken Breast is one of the main dishes. It's like a simple piece of chicken meat, laid on top of some capsicum and finally brought alive by the sweet garlic sauce poured over it. But that's not all, we found a pleasant surprise hidden underneath he chicken - whipped potatoes. So the popular joke was realized:

Waiter: "How did you find the potatoes, sir?"
Us: "We moved the chicken and it was there".

We like cheese, and so Risotto with Seafood and Parmesan Cheese was the better of the main dishes. It's like baked rice but more well mixed with the Cheese and looks like fried-rice style of cooking. We love it because it also has 4 big juicy and crunchy prawns buried in the cheesy mesh.



We noted that they were also particularly generous in dessert portion because they gave both coffee/tea and the actual dessert itself. Some places we went allowed us to only choose the drink or the dessert. So after the sumptous meal we were able to enjoy a truly fulfulling dessert experience with the Amaretto And Chocolate Flan.

Name: Friends @ Jelita
Venue: 293 Holland Road #02-04

Sun with Moon Japanese Dining and Cafe

This day we went with my uncles who are also very in love with luxury dining to the extent of visiting restaurants every week end. Once, we went "Top of the M" and spent about $200 per set meal for each of the four of us! That was so unbelievable for us who only earn measly salaries.

Initially we thought the reservation at Sun with Moon was for only the few of us. But when we reached there, we saw all other relatives. However, 16 was already far too many people for their indoor seating area and we almost filled the entire place. We later found out that the reservation was made on the condition that we order at least $50 per person! Needless to say, that bill was easily over $800 (which of course is still cheaper than "Top of the M").

Nevertheless, it was not that difficult to order $50 per person. I last read a review that commented on the limited choice they offer though there were protestors as well. But now we sort of understand that it was the prices that drove us into the corner because the depicted photographs certainly don't look very value-for-money. In fact I would describe the menu as creative and exotic. Imagine fried fish BONES costs $12.90 (as I recalled correctly/incorrectly). So they charged restaurant prices when they don't (I would say) fit the restaurant category (they call themselves "cafe").

We had A LOT of food, but we ony managed to take a few because the rest behaved like scavengers leaving us no chance to shoot! So here are the remnants:



This sashimi platter occupied a full page on the menu, and fortunately it lived up to expectations.



See what I mean by "creative". I don't understand - the cage is completely pointless! Furthermore, it's broken! I hope it's an intentional
"design", otherwise, they had better buy more cages! But, cage aside, the tofu cheese cake itself is really nice!



Nothing more, just yet another [tiny] waffle plus ice cream.



Buckwheat crepe! Yucks! We don't know about you but we really don't like buckwheat and we totally regretted it. Should have ordered more tofu cheese cake!

Name: Sun with Moon Japanese Dining and Cafe
Venue: The Central #01-170/71/72