Mushroom lovers unite! Served in truffle oil, Ribs' Grilled Portobello Mushroom came beautifully served. It wasn't exactly a piping hot dish, but eating it at room temperature was good. The portobello mushroom had a certain taste and texture to it, not found in our usual button mushrooms and whatnot.If you're a pasta person, then try their Chef Pasta. I personally didn't fancy much of this dish. It was basically a tomato-based spaghetti pan-fried with Taiwanese sausages, bacon mushrooms and pork croutons. The taste didn't really appeal to me probably because it was a tad too sweet for me. The Rosemary-baked Baby Iberico or in simple layman's term, rosemary-baked baby oink, came in a rather long dish together with baked potatoes and garden vegetables. Honey glazed, the rosemary herbs really brought out its flavour. Pretty good dish if you asked me. Another Rosemary flavoured dish, Ribs by Vintry's Rosemary Baked Chicken was a no frills basic chicken thigh with chanterelle mushroom cream. The chicken thigh is baked to tender perfection, literally melting in our mouth. The Braised Beef Ribs that was served next got me thinking it was lamb instead of beef because it was so tender. Braised and infused with red wine herb sauce, the heavy lamb taste was lesser in this dish, which is a good thing. Vintry's Sakura Pork Steak was a dish not yet in the menu, something I loved to bits. With cut apples on top of the meat, it tasted like any beef steak, but was made from pork instead. I love the fatty parts which went well with the lean portion of the meat.

Our 'appetizer' came in the form of Ribs' signature dish, the Vintry Roast Pork. In fact I was told by my fellow friend that this dish was her favourite dish at Vintry. Roasted and crackled, using their traditional home made recipe, this was indeed a yummy dish. I like the fact the meat wasn't too fat, and had all the trademarks of a good roast pork, crispy on the outside, moist and soft on the inside. My first time having the Beef Carpaccio was a couple of months back, and it hit a note with me. Here at Ribs by Vintry, the Beef Carpaccio tasted as good as it looks. Served with sliced Parmesan cheese, lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil, I found a taste for raw beef that I never thought I had. The Duck Rilettes was good as well, served with baguette slices, these were good cold starters to whet our appetite for more good things to come. Up next was the soup of the day, something I'm told wasn't in the menu yet, the Spicy Chilli Mussel Soup. Now I'm not a very big fan of mussels, hence I just had a try at the soup itself. It was pretty okay, with lots of garlic taste. Spicy, yet not too overbearing, I would think this dish will sit well with mussel lovers

So there I was at Bijan Bar & Restaurant the other day with the good folks from The Entertainer for a night of good food and catch up. I've heard of Bijan before, with a rather good reputation for serving very nice fine Malay cuisine, so when I heard the meet-up would be over dinner here, I was elated. The 3 in 1 platter that served as our appetizers arrived looking really appetizing. I may be biased as I really love satays, and here the beef and chicken satay was done really well without being overcooked, nor too hard. The Cucur Udang wasn't spectacular though, but it came with some nice peanut sauce to dip in.#2 Daging Bungkus Kukus

Being part of the opening appetizer platter, Bijan Restaurant's Daging Bungkus Kukus was a unique dish indeed. When I saw the wrapped dish, my first thoughts were of 'otak otak' or some fish wrapped dish. The Daging Bungkus Kukus however was a welcome change to the usual appetizer, where we had these delicate steamed mince meat and herbs wrapped within a layer of pancake and coconut gravy. A great appetizer dish to whet our appetite for more to come. When the Rusuk Panggang was brought out, I must admit the looks did not do justice to it, as it looked really dark to begin with. One bite into the slice of chargrilled marinated short ribs meat, and everything changed. What started off as being a negative perception due to the dark texture, turned immediately to pleasure, as the meat literally melted in my mouth with a few soft bites. Served with pegedil, sweet soy sauce and sambal belacan, this is a must have at Bijan Bar & Restaurant. Tahi what? Well, again the name deterred me initially from the Pucuk Paku Goreng Tahi Minyak dish. But I can tell you, it tasted really nice, the wild fern blending well with the chilli and caramelized coconut. Served with a good amount of shrimps on top, this dish went really well with our plates of rice. Up next was the Rendang Itik dish, juicy and tender deep fried marinated duck legs topped with the aromatic rendang sauce. It was duck, and like its namesake, the meat was a tad too tough for my liking. The rendang was good, but the meat was just a bit too hard. Another signature dish from Bijan Bar & Restaurant was their Ikan Siakap Masak Asam Pedas. Coming from a nyonya family background, asam pedas dishes were the norm when I was growing up. Here, the seabass was simmered in a tangy chilli and tamarind gravy with okra, or asam pedas for short. I did like the taste here, as it was both sour, and spicy enough to tantalize the taste buds.

So I've heard that one of the first pork burger outlet which I had the chance to savour their fare was relaunched after some renovation works and change of management recently. Invited to their soft launch, where it is now run by new owners who took over the management of Andes BYO Aman Suria. A new look, a new year, so how is the food now? Read on below on my take of the food. The food served were a bit different from what I had previously (Andes BYO Aman Suria ), and from what I hear, they are still finalizing the final menu. As of now, do check out what we had that evening, beginning with the Pigs in Blanket dish shown in the first photo above, one which I really like, a lot. Probably it was due to the combination of pork sausages wrapped in crispy bacon, but I couldn't get enough of these crispy, savoury appetizer.Now I've always liked my Mushroom Soup served thick, and here at the newly launched Andes BYO, they serve really thick mushroom soup. By really thick, I mean you could actually taste these chunks of mushrooms inside, and literally 'eat the soup', so to say. The downside of this is that the soup was a tad too salty for my liking. Feedbacks were given, and hopefully the new iteration of this mushroom soup would retain the chunky feel, minus the saltiness. The Porky Fries were served next, a side dish or so called appetizer to whet our appetite for the mains to come. I've always liked this snack, where I had something almost similar to this in a couple of bars and restaurants before. It was basically ham, deep fried to a crisp, served on a plate. I could feast on this alone, never needing anything else until my stomach got bloated. It was a really good thing that the new management decided to retain Andes Byo's original signature Pork Burgers, as I felt it was good the last time. This time around, served in almost similar fashion, with very thick pork patties, with fries and veggies on the side, the burger was good. I like the fact the patties retained its juiciness without being too dry, coupled with some fried onions on the top, this would be one dish I will order again the next time I come back. The buns however weren't up to mark, being rather flat and cold.

Arriving at The Press Room just in time for dinner, there were some dishes had by other good folks at the table which I did not get the chance to snap. One of it, regretably was what I heard to be very good, their Steak Tartare. What I had though was more to my liking, the Grain-fed Rib Eye Steak Frites. Served with fries and garden vegetables on the side, my medium rare steak came just the way I liked. The steak was indeed very tender, without being overdone. I do love rib eyes for the soft, fattiness of the meat, which went well with my white wine that night. Sorry for jumping the gun and going directly to my steak just now. Coming back to what I had as appetizers, it wasn't bad at all. The Press Room Prawn Cocktail came with lots of huge chunky prawns, all fresh and peeled for our enjoyment. Doused with salad dressing, the plate itself was fairly large, good enough to be shared by two person should the need arise. I think the Roast Turkey with chestnut stuffing was part of Press Room's christmas menu. If you're a turkey lover, then this huge piece of roast turkey thigh will fit right up your alley. It was huge, which can't be really seen from the picture above, but trust me, remember to share this turkey because it is a mouthful to finish up alone. Served with roasted sweet potato and cranberry sauce, the roast turkey was a good meaty dish. For desserts, we were each given our very own Press Room's Chocolate Volcano. Now, I've always loved these type of 'lava volcano' desserts, especially if I can get the chocolate inside to ooze out the moment I cut into it. I personally think this is one of the best Chocolate Volcano dessert I've had, with so much chocolate oozing out, one person could not possibly finish this alone, unless you want to be stuffed to the brim with sweet sweet delight.