White Dog Cafe

Date : 12 May 2012 

Address : Vivo city, 1 Harbour front Walk, #02-131/132 

Opening Hours : Daily 11:30 am - 9:45 pm

Nearest MRT : Harbour Front station 

I've visited this cafe before, quite a number of years ago. Since my friends and I were heading to this place for lunch i thought i'd do a post about it. It's one of those places that are never really too crowded, but the food's not EXTREMELY good. To make up for it, they have set lunches that are very very reasonably priced (Given the quality of the food and the location of the restaurant) 

All 6 of us ordered set lunches and each set includes a soup, a salad and a main course. 

You can choose between potato & leek soup or white dory. If you fancy a prawn bisque or pumpkin soup you'll have to add S$4++ for it. For S$10.90 ++ I wouldn't say no to visiting this place a second time, though it wouldn't necessarily be my first choice since Vivo has so many other better places. 

The Soups

Leek & potato broth. Mild and slightly bland to be honest. 

The salad was not fresh so i hardly touched it. And the garlic bread was too hard. 

White Dory soup - Nicer than the Leek & potato one. Maybe cos i don't really like onions. And the white dory was more tasty, though slightly too salty. 

Prawn bisque. Average. I really don't have much to say about this, except that I probably wouldn't pay an extra 4 bucks for it. 

The Mains 

Most of the mains come with raisin butter rice and sauteed vegetables. Don't expect much from the rice but the vegetables were nice. 

Beef Stroganoff with Black Pepper sauce.

My friend, Nut, who was very eagerly giving me feedback about her dish said that the dish wasn't warm enough. I actually really liked her dish because it just reminded me of home cooked food (which I love). I grow up in a family that eat out everyday so home cooked food to me is the best. But once again, don't expect anything good out of the rice. It was probably served just to fill up space on the plate. 

Pan-fried salmon with whole grained mustard sauce. For this you have to top up 2++. 

This was my favorite dish out of the 5 we ordered. I usually prefer raw salmon to cooked salmon but this was so nicely done I wish I'd ordered this instead. Because mine was rather disappointing. 

I ordered the Beef Goulash which was basically a kind of beef stew. 

I didn't really like the sauce cos it was abit too salty and perhaps abit too sweet too. Would have preferred if it was a different stew base but my other friend who had this too liked it. So i guess it depends on what your preferences are. 

Dory Fish Fillet with Blue Cheese Cream sauce. Not bad. The fish was just nice, a little small but for 10.90 it's acceptable. The sauce was light and nice, too bad it wasn't very warm as well. 

Chicken Sausage carbonara pasta. 

Pasta was alright, but the sauce was bland, not salty enough. I think I would also have preferred if there was pork in it cos I've always thought carbonara sauces taste best with bacon. 

So there, these were the few dishes that we tried at White Dog. 

I would recommend this to students and groups of 5 because you can choose from their wide range of set lunches. The place is rather spacious and service was acceptable. Waiters and waitresses greet you when you enter and exit so that was pleasant. 

You'll have to compromise on your taste buds though! So if you're on a budget and you just want a place to sit with a group of friends to chat and fill your stomachs, this is a good location.

Heart of House (CLOSED)

Date : 6th February 2012
Address : 4 Kim Tian Road 169245
Opening hours: Daily 11am -12am
Nearest MRT station : Tiong Bahru
Phone Number : 62747448

This is a place I would highly recommend. I myself will probably be a regular customer. 

Just before you scroll down, i should point out that they don't have Gst & Service charges, which makes the food even more reasonably priced.

The place has a warm setting with rather high ceilings and simple wooden furniture. I assume the boss left the old flooring as it is and i give him credit because it gives people a nostalgic 60's feeling. There aren't many seats, it's a small place but it's suitable for nice get together with old school mates or family.
I would recommend always giving them a call to make reservations, even if it's a weekday night.  

What's also special about them is they have unique beers on tap, I haven't tried them but I will in time to come.  

I had a taste of these 2 ciders, one from UK (Thatcher's) and the other from Sweden (Kopparberg) I really liked the latter cos the pear flavor made it sweet, different from thatcher's cos it's slightly bitter. 

The highlight of HOH will probably be the fact that they import a wide range of beers/ciders, 40-50 of brands from different countries. Ranging from: 

Belgium 

Sweden

Taiwan

UK 

The boss was very nice to let me take photographs even thought it was full house on a weekday night. 

THE FOOD 

Vegetarian Pasta : 

Cooked in Aglio Olio style, I was thinking it'd be bland by the looks of it but it was pleasantly tasteful and very refreshing. S$16 

Calamari was so-so but cheap! S$5.00

Nachos was good! But as usual, you'll have to eat it quickly cos when the chips turn soggy they lose their flavor. Reasonable portion for S$12 

Chimichanga!!!! I love chimichanga, and thought this was a good version of it. I asked to have no rice in it though because I don't fancy mexican rice. I had it with minced beef, along with bell peppers, jalapenos, tomatoes and mixed cheese. This was served with salsa, sour cream and corn chips. S$16 

Fajitas with Beef : Portion was big and very delicious. Served with bell peppers, the beef was cooked with mexican herbs & spices, accompanied with a generous portion of flour tortillas, shredded lettuce, re-fried beans, salsa, sour cream, corn chips and home-made guacamole.  

S$20

Heart of House Special Pasta S$16 

It looks plain but it surprised me with a strong flavor of bacon in the noodles (which were just right, not too dry and not too oily). In the dish were sauteed onions, garlic, bacon, mushroom topped with chilli flakes, black pepper and finished off with an egg.  I usually avoid having Aglio Olio pasta cos im afraid it'll turn out too oily, but this was balanced well. This pasta is one of those dishes when you can't stop eating it, bite after bite. It wasn't mine so i had to consciously refrain from stealing my friend's dinner haha. 

I definitely wanna try their breakfast one day!!! Let's see if they are "all-rounded" 

  

Plus Rogue Chocolate Stout sounds interesting, shall try that the next time. 

I like this place, it's one of those comfort restaurants where you can sit with a few friends and just try everything on the menu because not having gst and svc charge makes it feel so reasonable. Plus it's near central city area, so it's a convenient place to set.