Shashlik Restaurant @ Far East Shopping Centre

This restaurant serves Russian cuisine. Story has it that it was actually "set up in 1986 by 9 Hainanse migrants after being laid off at Russian restaurant Troika, the menu remained the same for the past twenty years." (from a HGW review by stargirl).

Walking into the restaurant located at level 6 of Far East Shopping Centre is like turning back the clock. I thought I walked into an old folks home if not for the customers in the restaurant. We have senior citizen waiter/waitress bringing out your food on a wooden trolley and serving at the table side.

Shashlik is famous for its Borsch Soup. The waiter/waitress will push out the wooden trolley with a tureen sitting on it, ladled the soup from it and served at the table. It also came with a scoop of sour cream if you want it. The flavour of the tomato based Borsch Soup ws complex but pretty good. A free soft bun was also served, extra at $0.50. It was warm, fluffy and with some sweetness. It was very good eating it alone with the spread of butter or for cleaning up the plate.

Borsch Soup 4.2/5

The onion soup was quite average and a bit salty. I kind of regret ordering it since I am at a Russian theme restaurant.

Onion Soup 3/5

For the main, I went for the Lamb Shashlik (meat on skewer) which is available in lamb, chicken, beef and pork. Once again, the waiter/waitress pushed the wooden trolley up to the table, removed the meat from the skewer and plated up the meat, fries and garnished it on a sizzling hot plate. Nothing fancy on how the meat is prepared or cooked. It is all down to the marination of the meat. The lamb was really tasty from the marination.

Lamb Shashlik 4/5

Shashlik Restaurant
Far East Shopping Centre
545 Orchard Road
#06-19
Nearest MRT: Orchard (NS Line)

Rock & Ash @ Novena Square 2

This is Rock & Ash third outlet and it is located at the basement of Novena Square 2, conveniently accessible via Novena MRT station. Coincidentally my friends and I were there on their first day of opening. What make Rock & Ash Cafe unique is its specially made to order crispy fries and wide selection of sweet, savoury and spicy homemade dips. The cripsy fries come in 3 sizes at the price of $3.90, $4.90 and $5.90.

I had the Crispy Fries with Power Garlic Mayo dip. The garlic taste from the dip was strong but not over powering.  It actually is a good combination. The fries were good and I can feel that there were thoughts into the size of the fries so that it can be accompanied with the dip.

Crispy Fries with Power Garlic Mayo 4/5

I also like the selection of burgers available at the cafe. After much consideration, I settled for the Minty Yogurt Lamb Burger since I don't usually find lamb burger being sold at most cafe.

The Minty Yogurt Lamb Burger came with fries on the side too. The size of the burger was just right and can be easily handled with both hands. The lamb patty was nice with some yogurt sauce on top of it.

Minty Yogurt Lamb Burger 4/5

My friends had the Fish & Chips and the Grilled Chicken.  The fish was nicely cooked with the golden brown crust. The fish itself was bland in flavour but when eaten with the lemony sauce it was very flavouring. We only wished that there were more sauce as the fish fillet was quite big.

Fish and Chips 3.5/5

The Grilled Chicken came with salad and mashed potato sides. The mashed potato was smooth and good. Unfortunately the black pepper sauce was too salty. Since it was there first day of opening, the kitchen probably still need some fine tuning of their menu.

Grilled Chicken 3.5/5

Rock & Ash
Novena Square 2
10 Sinaran Drive
#B1-105/106/129
Nearest MRT: Novena (NS Line)