Comments by a Foodie: The Belljar

I was thinking of a post title - and I couldn't bring myself to label it as a "Food Review" because I don't consider myself a food connoisseur. I think I am more of a foodie, which Google defines as

But Google's definition aside, to me, a foodie is basically someone who loves to eat! And try new food. Always on the lookout for good food. Or the best of a kind. Someone who LIVES to eat. I'm just describing me. Hahaha. In fact, my main motivation for exercising is to eat. To have my french fries and ice cream and pratas and carrot cake and waffles (the list goes on) without feeling guilty. Anyway.

I met up with two ex-colleagues today who are both foodies too, and we tried a new restaurant near my workplace. (I meant new, as in all three of us have not tried the place. Not that they opened recently.)

As much as we are foodies, we are also cheapos, so we only agreed to try out the unheard of (or in singaporean teams: ulu) place as Eatigo was offering 50% off if we could make it at 11:30am. (#truebluesingaporeans) In case you haven't heard of Eatigo, it's an app which can get you discounts for various restaurants if you don't mind eating at odd timings! When I was first introduced to Eatigo, I thought it was pretty ingenious - it's a win-win situation for both the restaurant and the consumers: you improve the restaurant's traffic during lull times, and consumers get to save money. Plus, people will be more willing to try new (undiscovered) places they've never been (aka cheapos like us), with the guarantee of discounted prices. So, to the Belljar we went. 

The Belljar is located along North Canal Road, where there are many bars and pubs, so it's not a surprise to see that they offer liquor too. From what I see on the menu, they offer fusion food with a wide selection of small plates (sides) and big plates (mains).

There are about 10 small plates to choose from, from the usual fries and wings, to more interesting sides, like Matcha Mochi Bacon Soldiers. I didn't try this but it certainly caught my attention - it's apparently a slack of uber thick-cut bacon stacked on a lightly-sweetened slab of Matcha Mochi Cake and topped with a passionfruit curd (obviously copied this from their menu), $12++. Would have loved to order it just for the novelty of it but it would have been too much food so we gave it a miss.

Just to name a few other small plates, they also offer Tau Yew Bak in Handmade Tortillas (tender braised pork belly in a spiced soy reduction served with a garden of fresh greens and homemade tortilla wraps, $10++) and Dark Chocolate Beef Rendang (traditional beef rendang with a twist of dark chocolate that adds a creamy, slightly bitter richness, served with fried mantou, $18++). Very very interesting sides!

Not wanting to be disappointed, we ordered the chef's recommended dish - the Wagyu Beef Tataki with Watermelon Sorbet.



I LOVED IT. Possibly my favourite dish among the 2 sides and 2 mains we had. The watermelon sorbet was refreshing and it paired really well with the beef. The slices of wagyu beef was cooked to perfection. It was tender and flavourful. I would definitely order this again if I go back to The Belljar!

The other side we ordered was recommended by the waitress: Har Cheong Siew Yoke.

As intriguing as the name sounds... it's basically crackling roast pork. And how crackling it was. You could hear the crunch with every bite. I personally thought the pork could have been better marinated but I think I just have higher standards for pork (because my mum, who is a butcher, can cook pork very very well). My friends quite enjoyed it.

Let's move on to the mains: the Miso Pork Barley Risotto & the Gochujang Pasta.



The Miso Pork Barley Risotto was also a chef recommendation and the description was promising - Barley Risotto, cooked in a rich shiro miso gula melaka pork broth, and topped with chunks of pork belly, shitake and spring onions. Unfortunately, we weren't very impressed with this dish. No hints of gula melaka was present in the barley risotto (I actually forgot it was supposed to be there, until I was typing out the description), and I found maybe two small pieces of shitake mushrooms in it. The barley risotto was done al dente style so it's slightly hard and chewy, not the kind of texture you'll expect from normal risottos. But it's not all too bad, the pork was pretty good.




The Gochujang Pasta was a very interesting fusion dish. When I took the first mouth, I was a little taken aback because I was expecting the usual tomato based pasta sauce, I kind of forgot it was a korean based pasta. But it was a pleasant surprise! The pasta was cooked well (I definitely see myself trying their other pasta dish next time) and the korean sauce was rather creamy and tasty. I preferred this over the barley risotto!

Overall, it was a good food experience at The Belljar with interesting fusion options for those who are tired of the usual dishes. I would give it 3.5/5 stars! Definitely give it a try if there are discounts, if not, you can go for the $15++ lunch sets too. You can take a look at some other promos in the photo below.



Oh, happy belated birthday GPS!!



Just some Comments by a Foodie, from me.
Till my next random post x