Located in the CBD, Boruto is a Japanese bar that serves up fusion Jap-mod dishes, tapas style. The place has a good collection of sakes, and they pride themselves on their collection of it in a 'vault' that has a cute set of old security boxes, left behind by the previous bank occupant serving as decor. This made sense then, because 'Boruto' means vault in Japanese.
On the menu is a mix of hot and cold tapas, as well as a good selection of sakes.
Saga Gyu Tataki with Saffron
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| Saga Beef Tataki ($28.8) |
The beef slices are seared on the outside while remaining rare on the inside. The end-result is tender and savoury with the right touches of umami. Some may find it a little conventional out of all the fusion mod dishes, but this worked well for me.
Ahi Tataki
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| Ahi Tataki ($12.80) |
The Ahi Tataki is a dish of seared ahi tuna. The spicy kick brought by the sauce gave this dish something different. It can be an option if you like your fish tatakis and the wasabi Yuzu dressing elevated the dish to make it refreshing.
Crispy Rice Cracker Tacos
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| Crispy Rice Cracker Tacos |
I liked the mushiness of the pulled pork against the creamy background of the guacamole. The crispy rice cracker added a contrasting crunch and the chilli salsa gave a good kick to the end. Altogether, this has to be my favourite dish in the tasting
The Tori Take Roll is a chicken roulade stuffed with shiitake jam. It is drizzled with a Chinese-style vinaigrette which comprises of sesame, chilli, soy sauce and black vinegar. The shiitake jam is really delicious, but the flavouring of this dish is more suitable for the chinese palate.
Uni Pasta v1.1
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| Uni Truffle Pasta ($35.8) |
It is version 1.1 as the chef has reinterpreted the signature from the previous chef by adding his own
touch of uni to it. The fishiness of the uni was a little too overpowering for us. Not for everyone.
Dessert - Warabi Mochi, Souffle cake, Truffle Creme Brulee
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| From Top Clockwise: Warabi Mochi ($6.80), Chocolate Souffle Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream ($8.80) and Truffle Creme Brulee ($12.80) |
The Warabi Mochi was chewy and bouncy. Decent but the one from Shirokiya (review here) remains one up.
As for the souffle cake, it came as promised with a richly oozy molten chocolate centre. The whole combination of soft cake with the melted chocolate was a delight. My favourite dessert of the three, this was a crowd-pleaser.
The creme brulee had a whiff of truffle in every spoonful of the slightly watery creme. Again, not for everyone, simply because the truffle and milky creme may not be a combination to everyone's palate. There were lovers, as well as those less enthusiastic in our crowd.
It is a good place for knocking back a few glasses, especially if you are into sakes and the food here doesn't lack in quality, though some unconventional flavours may not appeal to everyone. You will need deeper pockets though.
Many thanks to Openrice for the tasting invite!
http://sg.openrice.com/singapore/restaurant/boruto-clarke-quay/117126)
Boruto Singapore
80 S Bridge Rd, #01-01 Golden Castle Building
Singapore 058710
Open from Mon - Sat: Tapas Bar 6pm-11pm (first level), Sake Bar 4.30pm-12 midnight (Upper level)
Last order 30 minutes before closing
Located at a central location yet still remaining pretty much hidden, this bakery bistro bar serves quite a variety of items on its menu. It has brunch items such as Eggs Benedict and mains that include sandwiches and pizzas.
I came to this place as part of a restaurant-hunting activity that my school organised. First up was the bread-tasting platter.
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| Artisan Bread Basket with marmalade, jam and butter. |
The breads here are provided by head baker Audrey Tan from Freshly Baked at Killiney Road (which I have yet to but will visit one day). You can never go wrong with the simple bread and butter, but the marmalade and jam here provides an alternative if you want a different taste. Me being the carbs-lover me, I tried the bread with a bit of each. The rustic quality of the breads also appealed to me. For those with a smaller appetite though, it is best to share with a friend so that you have space for the entrees and dessert.
The restaurant's Hot Reuben is one of the highly-recommended items on the menu from my research. For the uninitiated, Hot Reuben is apparently a sandwich consisting of the 'standard' make-up of corned beef, swiss cheese, Russian dressing and sauerkraut (fermented cabbage). The saltiness of the corned beef coupled with the melted cheese makes it a very savory dish and very filling as the portion size was big. The bread used here is the Asahi Kuronama beer bread.
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| Hot Reuben - $18 |
My friend ordered their Spicy Huevos Benedict. What differentiated this from your usual Eggs Benedict is the inclusion of spanish jalapenos peppers and Spanish chorizo (pork sausage smoked with red peppers), which added a zing of spicy to the dish. The eggs were poached rightly, with the yolks flowing out smoothly when cut. The flavor of the chorizo added a different dimension to the dish, though I must say the taste of the chorizo may need to be acquired for some people who haven't tried it before. The texture of the chorizo came across as rubbery and took us a little more effort chewing.
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| Spicy Huevos Benedict - $20 |
Our choices for dessert were the Pear Cheddar Crumble and Brownie Parfait. The Pear Cheddar crumble is a good blend of sweet (pear) and salty (cheddar crumble) that was made all the better by the warmth of the crumble contrasted with the cold of the ice-cream.The dessert could do with a little less pear though. This is my preferred out of the 2 desserts.
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| Pear Cheddar Crumble - $9 |
The Brownie Parfait came with a salted caramel sauce, caramelised cornflakes and peanuts. A choice that would go with chocolate and salted caramel lovers.
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| Brownie Parfait - $10 |
- Nassim Hill Bakery Bistro Bar
- #01-03,
- Tanglin Post Office,
- 56 Tanglin Road
Dropped by Max Brenner Chocolate Bar (Vivocity Branch) after dinner with my group of 6 sisters (missing one) for dessert. This has been one of the top places on my list of to-visits for quite a while for its churros, so you can imagine how glad I was to be finally here. The place was crowded, as expected for a Friday night. We had to wait for about 15 minutes in line before it was our turn, even though the service crew did try to help us get a table faster by attempting to shift some tables' orientation. Though it didn't work out in the end, it is commendable that they did try for us. (:
We decided on the Tutti Fruitti Waffles ($18.90) and Crystal Sugar Churros Fondue ($15.90).
The Tutti Fruitti Waffles came beautifully in presentation. The texture of the waffle was fluffy and slightly chewy, with the exterior crisp. In my opinion, a pretty decent waffle. The other items on the plate could do no wrong - strawberries, mixed berries, and vanilla ice cream. It all came together well, and I especially liked the berries sauce and milk chocolate sauce coupled with the waffles. Overall, a choice you can definitely consider ordering when you are there!
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| Tutti Fruitti Waffles: mixed berries, crumbled vanilla ice cream, milk chocolate ganache and Choco-pops. |
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| Crystal Sugar Churros Fondue: muddled raspberries, warm toffee sauce and white chocolate and dark chocolate fondue for dipping. |
Now, for the item I was anticipating most: Max Brenner's Crystal Sugar Churros Fondue. You have a choice of 2 kinds of fondue dips between options of milk, white and dark chocolate. Sad to say, I was underwhelmed by this.The churros were lukewarm at best and were pretty dry and slightly hard. There was only a little bit of crisp left to it, perhaps the result of leaving it on the counter for too long or frying it way too early before it was served to us. It was honestly, quite disappointing, though the fondues and accompanying raspberry and toffee sauces were good. Then again, it is hard to go wrong on the chocolate fondues. The supposed star of the plate- the lukewarm churros really dragged it down. The bite was unsatisfying, lacking in chewiness and the expected fluffiness and warmth. This platter left much to be desired.
Max Brenner does deliver in quality of its chocolate, though we had a hit and a miss for our order choices during our visit. There are many other choices of desserts, ranging from chocolate beverages to crepes, ice creams and waffles. The pricing may be on the high side, but it is still worth a try just for the sheer quality of its ingredients, even if the culinary side may be lacking, if the churros are anything to go by. The ambience is also good for a relaxing get-together over dessert. I will probably go back again for its other offerings, and maybe, a second chance for the churros?
