Dozo

After hearing raves about Dozo, we decided to have our Valentine's Day dinner at this restaurant.

Dinner came with a 7 course meal, you may think like: "Wow! 7 course?!?! Am I able to finish it?" In fact after the end of the meal, it didn't made our stomachs explode. The portions are small and we felt merely full. Well, maybe that's the whole idea of "fine dining", People will burn the restaurant down if they were to offer monsterous portions?

 

This is how the menu looks like and that's all you can choose. 5-6 dishes to chose from for each course. Let's see what we chose!

 

 Starter: Chef's Selection of Assorted Platter

From left to right: Salmon - Scallop - Foie gras

All came in small bites that you feel even hungrier after it! It came in just right sizes for mouthful bites.

Refreshing drinks
This is a complimentary drink and its supposed to clear our palates. I guess it's a mixture of pineapple and orange juice with crushed ice. Its a very good idea for them to present in such a creative way with a lavender decorative as they could have just served us 2 glasses of juice instead.


Cold Dish: King Crab Claw Salad drizzled with Sesame Vinaigrette
It's like Japanese cold salad (duh!) with a little taste of wafu sauce. I love Japanese salad because it's very fragant! It has fruit bits, lettuce, cherry tomato and of course king crab claw! The crab claw meat came in one piece, unlike those with just a few shredded crab meat in it. Worth to try!

Cold Dish: Beef Tataki with Shaved Parmesan and Truffle Mayo Mosaic

This is a unique dish that we hardly see outside (or maybe we hardly have fine dining). When we order this, the waiter told us that it was quite raw(or maybe its really raw) to ensure that  we could accept it. Good service! I think the waiter could have just took the order and walked away but he took an effort to remind us.

Let's talk about beef tataki. From the first taste, it's wow! Perfect match with parmesan and the mayo. Must be wondering how it could make it stand like a cone in the center? There's something crispy wrapped inside and covered with the beef tataki. Great presentation, great taste!

Side Dish: Chimichanga serve with Beurre Blanc sauce

When the waiter serve us this dish, it says that it resembles the Singapore Marina Bay Sands. Does it look like? It's like a deep-fried burrito filled with mushroom and prawn. Match it with the garlic at the side and it taste superb. Absolutely beautiful.

Side Dish: Gratinated Escargots topped with Yuzu Butter

There were only 3 escargots in it, The shell on the left was empty and its meant for decorative purpose only.What tasted yummy was the "Yuzu" butter. It was good but it seems that other choices that was in this course could have been more worthwhile to try.

 

Soup: Crab Bisque Cappuccino style

Decided to order this because I think it's rather different from what we can have normally. Don't be mistaken by the crab beside, it's just a display. The soup is quite thick and I personally like it a lot!

Soup: Infusion of Cèpes Mushroom with Truffle

Nothing special about the mushroom. Strong mushroom flavours and it tasted just like "Soup Spoon". But what made it special I think was the tiny mini truffle by the side.

Close up of the tiny mini truffle. Looks like an Oreo crumb.

Main: Kurubuta Pork Cheek with Onion Jam

Yes, pork cheek. Might sound eeeeeeww, but I think is woooooo. I don't quite like it because of the generous amount of toppings on it which made me feel sick after a few mouthfuls. Well, I guess majority will say its very "flavourful" rather than "sickening". This is based on personal opinion as my other one loves it quite a lot.

Main: Beef Tenderloin on Pu-Ye and Granite Hot Stone

This was what I highly recommended him but he doesn't seem to like as much as I anticipated. It tasted nothing special to him but I felt it was tender and good. As the dish name stated, it's on a hot stone so be careful while you have it. Is the "fan" on top of the beef interesting?  It's edible. Tasted like some fried spaghetti (not sure if it's cheese stick or spaghetti).

 

Dessert: Espresso Crème Brulee

Dessert time! Dessert means end of last dish. Must be wondering where is Crème Brulee?! Didn't I type the name wrongly? Nope I didn't. It's under the bubble foam. Nothing special to comment about their dessert.

Dessert: Dozo's Freshly Baked Warm Chocolate

I love chocolate lava cake! I will order soemthing like this whenever I see chocolate cakes in the desert section of the menu! But this.... It's not awful but it's just plain "normal", nothing really special. It looked just like how it tasted.

Drinks: Iced Mallow Apple Melody (Blend of mallow flowers, apple and guava juice)

It's refreshing and nice! No regrets after ordering this drink. It's light and fruity but not too sweet.

Drinks: Infusion of fruit juice (Healthy blend of fresh fruit juice)

Too sweet! Nearly got my legs cut off after drinking this.

Complimentary Valentines cupcake 

Dozo asked me if it was for any particular special occassion when I called them to make my reservation. So I said it was for Valentine's Day. They offered this complimentary at the end. Simple flour cake with nice wordings on the plate.

 

7 course meal $59.80++ per pax, so the bill came up to be about $140. Overall it's an affordable fine dining for young couples to celebrate their special ocassions. The staff were very patient and meticulous. They were very nice and knowledgable to explain each dish and how they were cooked. Two thumbs up for their service.

 

Website: http://www.dozo.com.sg/index.html 

Add: 491 River Valley Road,

        #02-02/03 Valley Point
        Shopping Centre, S 248371

Tel: +65 6838 6966

 

Bell & Ross BR01-92 Carbon

This is the Bell & Ross BR01-92 Carbon watch. I bought this watch about 8 months ago. Although it's still considered new, I have to say that this watch served me very well so far. This is a very big watch. Case diameter measures at 46mm. Has a nice weight to it but it is not thick, so this watch will be able to fit nicely under your sleeves. It has a water resistance of 100m. Ok, let me see what else I can describe…. Just look at the few wrist shots below, I have nothing much to say because it’s so simple! It doesn’t even have a window which displays the date! But this is what I like about it. It doesn’t have small meters which displays altitude, body temperature, blood pressure, weather, alarm, or a hidden self destruct button that makes it explode when you enter some code to it. This watch simply just tells you the TIME!

 

This is a very legible watch. It has big white markers which makes legibility optimal against its black background. Speaking of "black", the watch is coated with Super-luminova which makes reading easy at dark conditions. Also, look how big the hands are. It looks just like a mini wall clock, and when you walk around in the streets, old people can actually read the time on it without their reading glasses on! Haha! And of course, in my opinion, everyone will be able to look at how beautiful this watch is. It also has anti-reflective coating on its scratch resistant sapphire crystal. Well of course some of you might disagree with me thinking that this watch just looks ridiculous. You might think it’s like mounting an iPad mini on your wrist. Well, for this watch, I think its either you like it or you hate it. There’s not much “in between” in opinions.
 

I wear my BR01-92 on a rubber strap. It is wide which matches the lugs on the watch but tapers down towards the end of the strap. When worn on the wrist, some may find that it looked just like a black wrist sweatband. If you don’t like the rubber strap, you can choose to wear it on a leather strap. Bell & Ross also provides a Velcro nylon strap if you want to wear it over your coverall if you are a fighter pilot, or you simply prefer the NATO/ZULU strap look. It is comfortable on the wrist and has good wrist presence.

The watch uses a reliable ETA 2892-2 movement which beats 28,800BPH (8 ticks per second). It has a power reserve of about 40 hours. Timekeeping accuracy is typically at -2seconds/day, but it can vary up to about -5seconds/day if it is not wound up properly. This is a very accurate watch.

The BR01-92 is equipped with a screw-down crown. I particularly like watches with screw-down crowns not only for its water resistant properties, but also, in my opinion, makes the crown sturdier because it takes additional effort to “pull out” or move the crown when it’s screwed down properly. But of course you have to be careful not to over tighten it which may spoil the thread in its mechanism.

The wrist shot below shows you the effectiveness of the anti-reflective coating on its sapphire crystal. It really enhances legibility. Some people don't like the anti-reflective coating on the crystal because if you have a scratch on it (you will probably not scratch it because it is scratch resistant but sometimes bad things happen), the scratch will be very obvious. Also, fingerprints and water stains will be very obvious on the crystal if you do not wipe it clean often. But when its clean, like in the picture below, it will seem as if the watch has no crystal and some will be tempted to touch the crystal just to confirm what they see. (that's when you get back the fingerprints!) Anyway, I like the anti-reflective coating.

 

 

The BR01 line is Bell & Ross’s trademark model. The design is inspired by the cockpits on aircrafts which is the ultimate reference point for legibility.  Some of them have chronograph features (BR01-94) and some comes with a power reserve indicator (BR01-97). They come in different colours and materials. You can have it in Stainless Steel cases, PVD finish cases (Carbon), or Ceramic cases. They also have limited edition models which come in different colours, like models with blue or yellow markers. If you like the design of this watch but feel that it’s way too big, you may want to look at their BR03 models which come in 42mm cases.  Take a look at their website or visit an Authorized Dealer which holds this brand if you are interested in buying one.

 

 

Pilot in the picture is wearing the BR01-94 Carbon (Chronograph model)

For those who are unfamiliar with this brand, Bell & Ross is very much inspired by military watches. With their motto, “the essential is never compromised by the superfluous”, you can have an idea of what kinds of watches they make.  What I know so far is that they make really nice watches on their Aviation, Divers, and Vintage lines. You can take a look in their website for a better understanding of their direction. They have described their “watch making principles” which I very much agree. I agree with it so much that in future when I buy a new timepiece, I will definitely consider my purchase with reference to it.  

1.       Legibility – They aim to make their dials very clear which makes reading very easy. You won't need to use a magnifying glass, do mental calculations in your head, guess, use a ruler, or when you are so fed up you just use the time on your mobile phone.

2.       Reliability – They make watches with accurate timekeeping which will still be useable even in the most rugged or extreme environments.

3.       Functional – They use robust materials in their watches so it will be practical in most situations. They also have chronograph models which some might find it useful.

4.       Water Resistance – Some models have water resistance of up to 1000m.

 

These four principles are very important for military and professional watches. Of course, if you love watches, you would want your watch to be of a make whose name holds sufficient weight to it. I know Casio watches can cost below $100 but the brand says “Casio”. No offense to Casio watches, I know they make very functional watches at very affordable prices. But if you like watches, you’ll understand that there is a huge difference between a Rolex and a Timex in terms of ownership, and of course the prestige which most enjoy.

 

 

Happy New Year!

It's coming to an end of 2012! Hope the bad one goes and good one comes!

Wishes everyone a Happy New Year!