Remember my suggestion to have Seafood for your Chinese New Year dinner?

Since there’s still a few more days before Chinese New Year ends, if you are still looking for a restaurant to toss Yu Sheng, Palm Beach Seafood restaurant at One Fullerton might just be the place. Instead of the typical salmon yusheng, we had the Alaskan King Crab Yu Sheng (S$58 or S$88).

My weekdays, by and large, are similar to the weekends of most people. I had a fabulous dinner on Monday night, attended my friend’s big night on Tuesday, and now we have a seafood feast on Wednesday. It’s probably going to be Japanese cuisine tomorrow, and Russian food on Friday. Okay, I am muttering to myself.

Anyway, a seafood feast sounds pretty good right? Chili crabs, sashimi, lobster, seafood platter. Have I got your attention? Good. Make yourself comfortable.

Lets try again: air-flown Hokkaido scallop, huge gleaming oysters, live poached prawns, fresh salmon sashimi, and the gigantic bamboo clam. That’s better. I could vaguely recall the oysters that I had, unprocessed and fresh. A wedge of lemon is all you need for the perfect oyster.

I don’t know about you, but I’d definitely order the Seafood Deluxe Combination ($23.00 per person) with a selection of five seafood items.

I don’t know if there’s anything special about Palm Beach’s signature Chili Crab ($4.50 per 100g), but I absolutely love it! My feelings for the Singapore famous dish very much depends on two things: a) thick and spicy-sweet chili gravy, and b) deep fried mantou.

The pincers were long gone by the time I was done with the deep fried buns. It’s easy to choose between crabs and mantou (with gravy) – I’d go for the latter anytime.

The award winning Double Baked Cheese Crab ($4.50 per 100g) reminded me of the baked cheese lobster that I’ve before, with its strong cheesy taste. Baked parmesan cheese and crab? Sounds like a winner! If you do not want to get your hands dirty, ask for help from the staff. Catherine got her crab de-shell the easy way.

I first had lobsters when I was a very young boy. Back then, I had no idea how much a lobster was worth. To me, it looked like a GIANT prawn. But what mattered then, was that it tasted good. As I grew up, I realized that lobsters are very expensive seafood, and they can be prepared in many different ways; baked, steamed, fried, sashimi, salad – whichever ways it pleases your palates.

The one that we had was very different from the ones I’ve before. Usually I’d go for either baked or salad lobsters, but we couldn’t miss out on Palm Beach’s awarding winning Coco Lobo – Australian Lobster with Vermicelli in Superior Stock ($16.80 per 100g). It came piping hot in individual claypot, with the lobster meat and vermicelli absorbing the essence of the flavorful stock.

Sweet and tangy, intense yet refreshing. It’s also not too spicy. The Honey Tangy Marble Goby ($7.50 per 100g) is fried till golden-brown: crispy and soft and appetizing, drizzled with just enough of the terrific sauce. Ju had the blissful look after she finished the dish – it was awesome!

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This is the third part of a series that I’m doing on the waterfront restaurants in One Fullerton. I’ll like to thank Fullerton Heritage, Karin of Palm Beach Seafood and Gail for arranging and hosting this dinner.

From what we observed, most Singaporeans seem to dine in the comfort of the air-condition, while the tourists prefer the al fresco area with the waterfront view. Will you dine indoors or outside at the al fresco area?

Restaurant Review
Palm Beach Seafood Restaurant
1 Fullerton Road
#01-09 One Fullerton
Tel: +65 6227 2332

I love a good restaurant. But if there’s one thing I like even more, it’s having good company for dinner together. Dining in a fine-dining restaurant is very nice, but it really depends on the people around you to make it even better. Sometimes we get lucky, it’s an extra bonus when we are dining with nice people, and it happens to be a very romantic restaurant.

Many people always ask me to recommend a romantic restaurant in Singapore, I’d like to tell them: so long you are with your other half, everywhere is romantic. But I can’t possibly do that can I? You want to know a romantic place for your first date, a romantic restaurant for birthday parties, a romantic restaurant for that special occasion, and like today, a romantic restaurant for Valentine’s day; it’s all about the ambiance.

I’m very pleased to ‘stumble upon’ Boathouse, a newly opened Modern European restaurant at Fullerton Water Boat House. Chic decorations that exudes a laid-back and homely feel, gorgeous view that overlooks the Marina Bay area, elegant and simple furniture, oh I love this place.

Fish Chowder Sea Bass Carpaccio ($15)

I had Wagyu beef on a couple of occasions before, but this was the first time that I actually had a Wagyu Beef Ribs. The first bite? It tasted just like pork ribs. The second bite? It’s definitely a lot better than the normal pork ribs. It’s a superior version, no it’s  wrong to even compared it with pork ribs. My dear, you are looking at the Wagyu Beef Ribs with Aged Red Wine Jus ($33).

The meat was so tender that it falls off the bone and melts in your mouth splendidly. Placed together in a plate, the wagyu beef ribs absorbed the aged red wine jus, and in turn the latter captured the essence from the long braising process. How good was it? Catherine wiped the plate clean with bread.

Ju had the Atlantic Pink Snapper ($25) instead of the Wagyu beef ribs. She mentioned that the fish was fabulously fresh, firm, sweet, and didn’t want to share it with us. An excuse to return? I’d think so!

I seems to be having a lot of pasta recently. Boy I’m glad all of them were good quality ones, and the Tagliatelle Wild Mushroom in Truffle Sauce (S$19) was no exception. Every slurp of the tagliatelle was intense, and so flavorful. Some might find it to be too salty and overpowering, but I thought that it was pretty well done.

The Caramel Apple tartlets ($15) were small. Fine, they were tiny. Initially the restaurant told us it was tasting portions, but after confirmation from a few friends who went there for dinner, they were still serve the mini apple tartlets for the full price.

Fifteen bucks for three mini tartlets and ice cream? I wouldn’t pay for this, and neither should you. Please do not order the apple tartlets until the restaurant made changes to it.

The mind is a funny thing. It always play tricks on you, and subconsciously conjured images of things that you wouldn’t want other people to see. Halfway through the meal, my mind decided to play a game with me. Like as though there was a remote control, it pressed the ‘play’ button, and memories of a very good semifreddo that I’ve before started to flash.

Reason #1 why the pastry chef here does not have a sweet tooth.

With the sourish fruit compote to compliment the White Chocolate Semifreddo ($15), it gave the impression of an anti-sweet establishment. Desserts, are after all, meant to be sweet. I tried the semifreddo on it’s own, and it was so good. In order to see the reasoning behind the inclusion of the fruit compote, I reluctantly had a taste of the semifreddo with the tart berries – well it wasn’t so bad, but I’d obviously prefer dessert to be sweet.

In my opinion, a good Panna cotta must have a firm yet wobbly-like texture. This one here was fairly competent, but under the limelight of the excellent semifreddo and creme brulee, the Panna Cotta did not make a statement.

Reason #2 why the pastry chef here does not have a sweet tooth.

The presence of the licorice reduction, with the Creme Brulee. I was told that the evil licorice was planning on taking over the dessert world, in a test-tube-like container.  Okay I exaggerated. You know, the guys (& some girls) who raise their eyebrow at the slightest mention of desserts? The licorice reduction would be perfect for them since it literally reduced the sweetness level, making me wondered why anyone would do that.

Oh well, that aside, I enjoyed the creme brulee very much.

Torched to a magnificent golden-brown, the underlying custard was naturally sweet. The contrasting layer of the cranky caramelized sugar with the beautiful custard: I’m in love with the creme brulee.

My middle name is dessert: apple tart with ice cream, creme brulee, panna cotta, and white chocolate semifreddo.

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This is the second part of a series that I’m doing on the waterfront restaurants in One Fullerton. I’ll like to thank Fullerton Heritage, Sophia and Kannan of Boathouse for arranging and hosting this dinner.

BoatHouse is definitely one of my favorite restaurant now, and I will not be surprised if they are one of the best new restaurants in 2010. There’s a separate rooftop bar on the third floor called Prelude. Stunning, stunning place with an awesome view of the Esplanade and Marina Bay.

Prices range from $20s for pasta to $30s for a main course. For the superb location and wonderful ambiance, Boathouse is offering a very value set lunch; the 2 course set lunch is $22++, while I’d go for their 3 course set lunch at $29++. Most of the items on their set lunches are from the main ala carte menu which make it extremely tempting.

See you at the Boathouse Fullerton.

Restaurant Review
BoatHouse
#03-01 The Fullerton Waterboat House
3 Fullerton Road
Singapore 029415
Tel: +65 6538 9038

Boathouse is listed as one of ladyironchef’s favorite restaurants in Singapore.

Our very special night with DBS Foodster started with the limo fetching us to The Queen & Mangosteen. Cheerful staff greeted us, the smoothing sea breeze, with the relaxing ambience, the stage was set for a wonderful dinner.

We started off by ordering from the Nibbles menu. The portion of the Fish & Chips ($15) was more than enough to be served as an entrée, three pieces of fish with a big bucket of fries. Mind you, it’s not just the usual side fries, it’s a whole bucket of tasty potatoes! I would prefer them to come in thicker wedge with some green peas by the side – the traditional British good O’ fish & chips. But still, it’s good enough.

And oh yes, I forgot to mention about the special curry tartare sauce. It was awesome! Indian cuisine has always been a big influence on the Brits, the sauce provided another different dimension which we never had before.

The shredded slow-braised duck with crusty bread ($13) was ordered out of curiosity, and the staff did warn us it could be an acquired taste, but we went ahead anyway. The taste was quite close to a pate, but somehow it reminded me of the tuna spread that I put on my bread.

Following on the adventurous tone that has been set, we went for the Spicy minced beef ($14). There wasn’t anything spectacular when we had the minced beef or corn chips separately. But it was a hit when we spread a generous layer of minced beef on top of the chips and drizzled some sour cream together.

Love comes in all shapes and sizes, the Mini hamburgers & chips ($18 for 3 mini burgers) were not only cute but also pleasing to the palate. I didn’t think much of it initially, but after taking a bite, the small beef patty was delicious! And just like the fish & chips, it came with a big bucket of fries too.

Just in case you were wondering, no we’ve not started on our main courses yet, all those you seen thus far are all just appetisers. At The Queen & Mangosteen, they offered a wide range of its signature craft brews including old favourites like Archipelago Straits Pale to pair with the food.

We wanted to order everything from their menu; the wild mushroom risotto is totally my kind of dish, the clayfish cooked in beer and fisherman’s pie are crowd-pleaser, roasted rack of lamb is music to the ears of a carnivore, but there was just too many to choose from so in the end we didn’t have all of them.

The rope-grown blue mussels ($28) came highly recommended and it did not disappoint. Using a fork to pitch the shell, we slurped down each mussel which was cooked in chilli, with delight.

I always wanted to try Bangers & mash ($26) which was quintessentially three sausages – pork, lamb and beef with mashed potatoes served with caramelised onion gravy. The lamb sausage had a very distinct and gamy taste that might be too much for non-lamb eaters, and the beef was fairly good too. But it was the pork sausage that grabbed our attention!

Bea’s a big fan of beef, so naturally we ordered the rib-eye of beef ($38). Steak with thick cut chips, yorkshine pudding and a choice of wild mushroom sauce, thyme jus or caramelised shallot pepper sauce. We chose the latter with the steak done medium rare.

“It’s one of the better steaks that I’ve!” She exclaimed. I like the thick cut chips, while the chewy texture of the Yorkshire pudding sort of tasted like choux pastry.

The Cambridge Burnt cream ($10) or affectionately known as Creme Brulee was our favourite dessert. Beneath the beautifully burnt caramelized sugar, was a rich custard base. We dug in, and finished every bite of it.

“Whoa“, and “Ooh” were heard when the Mango coconut truffle ($12) arrived on our table. Our first impression: was it ketchup? There was a generous amount of berries and mango within the layers; the strong mango taste hit us first, with a subtle hint of coconut.

Between you and me, this shall be fondly remember as the ketchup soap.

It was one of those desserts that you didn’t know how they manage to make it this way, which you just keep on eating, and eating until it’s gone. I totally enjoyed the White chocolate & Cassis cake ($12). Interestingly, the triple chocolate ice cream on top of the cake took very long to melt. The white chocolate cassis cake was sweet, the girls found it too sweet, and so I had most of it to myself!

* * *

While the menu doesn’t have a wide variety of selection, there’s some pretty good selections for sharing and the portions were substantial too. My appreciation to Lynda from DBS, Cherylene & Seema from Eurorscg, and the folks at The Queen & Mangosteen for making the dinner a blast!

I will be going to different restaurants for three consecutive Saturdays with DBS Foodster, find out more information about the DBS Indulge Series here and you can also watch a video which I took in the restaurant here. I’m definitely looking forward to the next dinner at Umani this coming Saturday!

The Queen & Mangosteen
1 Harbourfront walk
#01-106 Vivocity
Tel: 6376 9380

It’s a love-hate relationship with Dempsey; you either rave about the place, or you hate it being overcrowded, over hyped, and over priced. I used to be the latter, but that was before I paid a visit to Dempsey, and you ought to admit, despite the crowds there, there’s still plenty of places to check out, and who could resist the lush atmosphere?

The first dish is always of utmost importance; how the meal will eventually turn out – depends on this humble appetiser. You may think its not a big deal, but according to scientific researches done by Dr. Bradley, the first dish will usually dictates the mood for the upcoming dishes; humans are emotional creatures. Almost everybody else felt that the Rock shrimp tempura ($15) was ordinary, but I on the other hand, totally love it! It was a shrimp rendition of my favourite sweet & sour pork, and I wiped the whole plate clean since everybody was saving their stomach for the rest of the food.

Without further ado, let me introduce to the one-that-you-have-been-waiting-for, Sashimi of course, Mango sashimi ($29) to be precise. There was mango, avocado wrapped together with three kinds of fish in thin rice paper.

The Carpaccio ($25) was delicious. Thinly sliced, laid in the pool of savoury yuzu sauce; it was squeaky-fresh – it seemed to be swimming in the plate.

When we dine out, people usually want to try out some of the restaurant’s signature dishes. And the Tuna pizza ($22) was one of them at Zento. If skinny pizzas are your kind of thing, then this would be it. Raw fresh tuna on top of the oh-so-thin dough, crunch, crunch, the pizzas were gone!

I always have a thing for prawns, especially deep-fried ones. Naturally, I like the Volcano ($25) pretty much, with the focus in the middle of the futomaki. But some didn’t take quite well to it as they felt that the freshness was gone after the deep-frying process. Alongside the shrimp tempura, there was smoked salmon, avocado and crabstick too.

The combination of seven skewers ($48) was the perfect showcase of the different ingredients, and of course, it’s for sharing! Most of them were pretty decent, but if I were to choose one, I’ll go for the separate tasty foie gras ($15) instead.

The sushi rolls had fascinating names like fantasy, rainbow, and even monkey roll. But we had the Green river ($30) instead. Toro, eel, avocado and plum paste, with seaweed powder on the outside.

After the rounds of appetisers, yes, all the food you saw were just starters to warm us up. The first main course was the Roasted marinated duck breast ($48), and it was indisputably the best. The first impression of the duck was from a conversation when we saw the photo of it in the menu.

“Ah! they served char siew rice here too!”

The photo of the duck in the menu looked exactly like char siew rice! Anyway not many places serve duck, and do it well; the duck meat was done just nice, retaining the tinge of pink beneath the charred skin.

I love prawns, baby! Big, big prawny prawns. The Jumbo shrimp tempura ($42) was dazzled with the sweet and slightly sour pineapple sauce, and there was wasabi fried rice alongside too. Jumbo in size, great in taste, and a huge hole in the pocket too!

We weren’t expecting any surprises from the chicken since it’s a done-to-death item. And the Roasted spring chicken ($38) turned out to be what we expected, just chicken.

Besides the duck breast, I also enjoyed the Chilean seabass ($45). The miso-infused flavour was subtle, bordering on bland, but it actually enabled us to taste the sweetness of the fish.

I could almost hear the cat say, “purrfect!”

Every main course at Zento is paired with different types of rice, the same goes for the Rack of lamb ($45) which comes with almond raisin rice. Lets just put it this way, for the price, we’ve had better elsewhere.

We pointed to “the most expensive main course” on the menu, the Wagyu stripped loin ($75). We had it done medium, but it came slightly more at medium rare.

“Do you have stomach for more?”

It was towards the end that this simple question was posed to us,  Well we were glad that we did, otherwise we would have miss out on the amazing Crunchy spicy tuna handroll ($12). It was O-M-G. Instead of the typical seaweed roll, they used soy paper as a substitute, maybe we shouldn’t call it a substitute because it’s definitely a better option than seaweed. The soy paper simply dissolved when it touched our mouth; every bite was so good!

Most of the folks were stuffed by now, but how can we say no to desserts? So another dessert-holic and me tried most of the ones available; we started with the Coffee parfait ($12). It was frozen custard made with cream, with ice-cream texture minus the melting part.

We lamented about the quality of the chocolate within the Chocolate lava cake ($16). It could/should have been better. Nonetheless, you can’t go wrong when there’s icy cold vanilla ice cream together with the warm chocolate lava.

Dyana, the co-owner of Zento advised us against ordering the Green tea creme brulee ($12) but we decided to try it anyway. The taste was, forgettable, which explained why I couldn’t recall how it tasted like.

There was a period of time long long ago where the fried ice cream at the old Tiong Bahru food centre was in the rage. They called it the Tri colour fuzzes bomb ($14) here. and rightfully so. Underneath the crispy fried skin was cold ice cream. I was fascinated by the fact that the ice cream didn’t melt during the frying process.

* * *

Zento was quite unlike any other Japanese restaurants that I went to before, stepping inside you probably won’t know it’s a Japanese restaurant until you see the menu. Contemporary and chic design, with bold and innovative creations in their menu. My appreciation to Hungrygowhere.com for the invitation to the food tasting session, and Dyana for her warm hospitality.

Zento Asian Global cuisine & Sushi Bar
18B Dempsey road
Tel: 6474 0378

Somehow the name langkawi remains me of kawaii, not that they have anything in common. It is with the same cheerful tone that we stepped ashore at the beautiful island; you can’t be too upset when the scenery around is so magnificent.

There ought to be a bug inside my stomach. If not how do we explain the fact that it is constantly growling? The never-ending-of-food going down to it.

Among the seven sins of Mankind, gluttony must surely be my greatest peccadillo. Dear whoever-it-may-concern (since I don’t believe in God), I have sinned. I’m a glutton, I eat too much and I’m constantly harbouring secret thoughts of eating even more. I think of lunch when I just started breakfast, and lust after dinner when I’m with lunch. I also missed supper when I goes out with dinner.

I envisage a life living in the kelong, just the two of us, away from this world. Waking up beside you every morning, to see the beautiful sun-rise, you look fabulous like the morning dew. We sat there locking into each others eyes, wishing this moment would hold still.

We would walk down the pristine white beach against the backdrop of Tiffany blue, hands in hands, with the tiny sands slipping through our toes. The ocean breeze blows your long silky tresses afloat. We watched the amazing sunset on this exact spot, and we repeat it, everyday, until the end of the end.

And how can we come to Langkawi without having seafood? It’s like going to Beijing without climbing the Great World of China. And we feasted. The seafood was so good, and unbelievably dirt-cheap!

My initial plan was to get salted-egg prawns since I had good memories of anything-cook-in-salted-egg. But it was foiled as the restaurant mysteriously did not have that dish even though it was stated perfectly clear on the menu. Nonetheless, the sambal prawn (RM16 for 200g) was a worthy substitute, and for once I actually thought that it wasn’t spicy enough!

I know it must be boring to see my cze-char posts since we always had the same dishes. But we love sambal kangkong (RM8), and here it is!

I love, love chilli crab (RM45 for 1kg). And my affection isn’t for the crustacean creatures; the chilli gravy was the one I’m after. Thick, spicy with a hint of sweetness, eggy chilli gravy, it was so, so good. I dipped the mantou in it, I poured it over the white rice, I had it with all the food that’s on the table.

Sweet and sour pork was supposed to be in this frame, but since I was the only one who was interested in that, the Thai-sauce chicken (RM10) made the appearance instead. And it was good! The fried chicken was drenched in sweet and slightly spicy; the Thai-influence sauce was very refreshing!

And since everything was so bloody cheap here, we had a snapper (RM45). Steamed Teochew style, the fish was very fresh and sweet, but it was a little too bland; I dipped it into the chilli gravy and finished every bit of it!

I bided you farewell here, send me no further, for I will not be able to let go. I know we will meet each other, one day.

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Read the other stories of The City Kid here.

Hands up if you always ordered unagi when you stepped into a Japanese restaurant! I know there are many suckers, okay, fans of the unagi, so how about Unagi maki ($8)? You are aroused already.

The trio of appetisers that we started with, namely; Kawa ebi karaage ($8), Fugu Mirin Boshi ($10), and the Renkon chips ($4) from top to down. There are times where you don’t feel hungry, nor do you feel full; you just need something to bite, your mouth just feels itchy, popped a mouthful of the deep-fried river shrimps, done and done.

I enjoyed the dried puffer fish the most, I mean how often do you get to eat puffer fish, in Singapore? It was chewy and I just finished up the whole plate while nobody’s looking. I would order this again.

The fanciful name of Renkon chips actually referred to the lotus roots, pardon my ignorance, I just Goggled on it. Well I was never a big fan of lotus roots since we usually met when my mom prepared lotus root soup; the soup was delicious, but the lotus root was bland and tasteless. But here, they deep-fried the thinly-sliced lotus root, giving it a extremely crispy and fragile texture. Instead of potato chips, why don’t you have some Renkon chips?

Yay if you are a big fan of sashimi! The dream starter for all the sashimi fans out there; to begin with some greens and have your favourite sashimi to go along with. We sprinkled the wafu dressing on top of the garden salad with sashimi ($9.80), but who cares about the healthy greens when there are sashimi?

Lemon wedges are a god-sent item which should always be present on every table. With a squeeze of the wedges, the precious drops of lemon fell onto the fish hire ($14.50) and watch the transformation; the beautiful lemon dew came into contact with the golden-brown crispy crust and sank into it, with the fillet fully absorbing everything until death-brings-us-apart.

And oh did I mentioned this was the new-kid-on-the-block.

We used to have the rosu katsu(it is still available). Now we have the cheese katsu roll ($16.50) instead. Hello, are you reading? Creamy, melted cheese with crispy fried katsu, who wouldn’t want it? And they added in carrots and asparagaus to make it “healthier“. But if you asked me, give me more cheese, more cheese! Heck the eat-healthy-approach, we are here to feast, to gain calories and put on weight.

A whole fricking fish. You wouldn’t believe it, I didn’t. The fish was big, no huge, no gigantic! Okay, I’m exaggerating, but still, it was quite big. As much as I don’t really fancy Japanese food, but I like their soya sauce; it’s like a completely different level from the normal ones we had.

When I was young as a kid, my mom would always tell everybody I LOVE fish, well I like steamed fish, but to the extent of loving it, I like to associate myself with the more dangerous creatures like chicken and duck. Oh yes, the name – Tai Kabutoni which was boiled red snapper head with sweet soya sauce ($28).

This was fantastic. The Yaki Niku or the beef tenderloin ($16), if I may, had the melted-in-the-mouth consistency that you wouldn’t believe. I put one into my mouth, and it was melted away, so I kept on putting more slices and more slices in until everything was gone.

The sacred ritual was performed first; we bowed to the green wasabi signalling our intent to eat it, and mixed it with the finest soya sauce you can find on Japan-land. Stirred until there’s a milky brown appearance, and we are done. Carefully picking up a slice of that oh-so-thick salmon sashimi, we dipped it into the sacred sauce, and placed it into the mouth. My dear, this is what they called, Sashimi.

It’s a waste to dip the crispy crust of the katsu into the curry since everything will turn soft and soggy. But the one-fascinating-aspect of the Japanese curry – it was sweet, not spicy, not spicy at all. And you know I sweat when there’s intake of chilli into my body system. The katsu curry rice ($16.50) was the perfect solution for people like me who want to eat curry but don’t want to sweat.

I LOVE this.

I know there’s nothing special, but it’s always the simplest things that make us the happiest isn’t it? Hire Katsu sando ($5.80), I always think that sandwiches and burgers are the same, except sandwichs always come with the healthy-tame ingredients like tuna, eggs, while burgers come with the meaty beef, chicken. Since this was a breaded pork loin enveloped between bread, I proclaimed this as the katsu burger!

Ice cream always makes me happy, just the sight of it was enough to give my spirits a much-needed lift. And what’s more we have not one, but three different handmade fruit sherbet ($4.80).

The good thing: the strawberry sherbet was handmade, but the yuzu ice cream’s not. Still, the Yuzu ice cream on strawberry sherbet ($5.80) did nothing wrong with its pairing; the slightly sour and tangy yuzu flavour going well with the sweet strawberry sherbet.

* * *

My appreciation to Racheal for the invitation to the food tasting session, and I tried sake for the very-first-time! The new and improved menu was definitely a sign of good things to come; the enormous menu with colourful display of the photos made it much easier for making a decision.

Read about my previous visits to Tetsu here, here, and here.

The beautiful, each piece: Oh-so-dainty, Oh-so-refine. Almost like art, delicately crafted.

O’ my dear, I love you so. Never in my heart, I stopped thinking of you. Miss sushi, and Miss tapas: both seemed to  be more popular than you, but I will always put you in the first place.

It was big, no, huge! This was, one of the many, different renditions of har gau we would see today. Essentially a har gau without the skin; the crab meat dumpling. It was prawny, with a nice bite – but crabby (no pun intended) it was not, well who cares?

Rather than an-overly-thick-skin, give me a dumpling without skin.

The well-admired Steamed Prawn Dumplings had an injection of carrot purée which only served to beautify the appearance of the har gau skin.

“We protested! We protested!”

The purist camp did a demonstration on the streets, crying for the restoration of the conventional har gau which they were so used to. But for the ladies; the boost in vitamin A. What was missing however, was the carrot taste.

The novelty. The inclusion of preserved vegetables was a brilliant stroke of art; the saltiness enhanced the flavour of the pork, which brought us to the question: why didn’t anybody thought of this before? Steamed pork dumpling with preserved vegetables, siew mai.

Now this was a not-so-simple bun that was bound to turn heads. Served piping hot, the bun seemed quite insignificant until you took a bite at it. Immediately, you would realize that you just had something very special. The bun itself was soft, fluffy and light as a feather while the fillings were so, so sweet and juicy. The Steamed kurobuta char siew pork fluffy bao, was the winner for the day.

The humble har gau did an open-faced sandwich; with shark’s fin on top. Luxury, it was, wealth, it symbolized, and prestige, it presented. Sorry sharky! Steamed shark’s fin dumplings with dried scallops and shrimp.

The tinge of pink, at the top of the tri-top; pretty and so pretty. Another piece of art we seen, at the gallery of Cherry Garden. However, the Scallop and spinach crystal dumpling did came across as slightly dry.

Truffled Essence Crystal Dumplings stuffed with Assorted Fresh Mushrooms. This, was a beauty; the translucent skin, the jelly texture, the array of mushrooms, almost perfect – but it was too large!

Prawn was the main lead, and mango was the second lead. There was the accompany of the green, hot wasabi! Netted rice crispy turnover. I held you, in my arms, into the late wee wee hour: without the wasabi! My dear, the netted rice crispy turnover.

And there was the famous XLB. The voluptuous folds, the goodness of the soup stock, everything, gushing out.

Like a peacock spreading his feathers, the netted rice crispy did a peacock effect: it caught everybody’s attention. Oh my, so beautiful, was this meant to be eaten?

And oh wait, there’s something hiding below the feathers; the netted rice crispy I meant. Ah, that’s the pan-fried chives and chicken dumplings!

Unfortunately, I was not a big fan of chives – I would leave the taste of the dumpling to your own imagination. This was, a piece of art! Why don’t we turn it upside down?

This was the umpteenth time we had a make-over of the har gau, they called it, Steamed Chinese spinach dumplings. The spinach, provided the lovely lines, just like how a painting adorned the wall. The egg yolk, provided the oomph, so, so good.

This, was a poisonous pear, for snow white. The wicked witch threw in some pumpkin, a pinch of jicama, stirred stirred, mixed mixed, and finally, some vegetarian ham.

Poof! With a wave of her wand, the deep-fried potato “pear” appeared. Crispy texture checked, mesmerizing appearance checked, vegetarian (snow white is on a diet) checked. Sticky innards (to stick the mouth together) checked. Everything was present, and OH, where’s the poison?

And we took a plunge, into the deep, deep blue sea. From the land to the sea, the Symphony of live pacific grouper prepared in three different ways. The first: we have a soup, grouper fish broth with ginger, onion and Silken tofu.

Steamed grouper crystal fish dumpling.  Was this a dim sum, or was this a fish? It was both, with a twist. Brilliant it was, bravo we shouted. Grouper fish meat inside a dumpling of the fish skin. It was beautiful, too beautiful to eat.

It was not all smooth-sailing, nothing was. As much as I loved the creativity, there was a snag. The use of fish skin, for the translucent was great for the eyes, but not for the mouth. It was chewy, and slightly fishy: non fish lovers, would say, no no!

Prawn and pork, were absent. I give you fish, fish for dim sum. The very first, I believed. Let there be more, say fish siew mai? This, surely, would be a great day for all the fish lovers.

One price, one fish, for the value of three. Worthy, indeed. Sautéed grouper fillet with asparagus, no parts of the fish were wasted, from the meat, to the skin.

I have always wanted to go to Cherry Garden. And I’m glad I finally did. It was a feast, for the visual senses. The dim sum, so delicately craft piece by piece, was an art, for all to enjoyed. Creativity was certainly in the air, the adventurous use of different ingredients, the details to attention for the tiniest things, the emphasize of making it look as good as it tasted. I’m sold. Praises, have to be reserved for the savvy and charismatic executive Chinese chef, Mr Hiew Gun Khong.

Cherry Garden has the weekend dim sum ala carte buffet at $45++ per head, which has a selections of 20 over dim sum, and other Chinese food as well. My appreciation to Kelly, the PR relations manager for hosting us, and Cuisine & Wine Asia for the invitation.

Read my fellow food blogger review:
Catherine @ Camemberu here
Leslie @ ieatishootipost here
Julia @ Aromacookery here
Leroy @ Hungrycow here

Cherry Garden
5 Raffles Avenue
5F Mandarian Oriental
Tel: 6885 3538

Cherry Garden is listed as one of ladyironchef’s favorite restaurants in Singapore

60. The number could refer to almost anything; age, weight, people, money, time – Si Chuan Dou Hua restaurant on the sixty level of UOB plaza. 100 – a century figure of dishes at weekend lunch, offering dim sum, tea and Szechuan cuisine. 38.8 – the unbeatable price of under forty dollars. Numbers are magic: they tell a thousand things too.

Salted Duck Gizzard

The kidney, I have to say, was lovely: chewy and pinkish-coloured, swelled-looking, with the clever use of spices covered the porky smell which made so many people avoided the delicious pig kidney.

The question of authenticity popped up during the tasting session, and Linda the director of SCDH was quick to point out although there were some minor tweaks of the dishes to suit local palates, the Chilled chicken in spicy bean paste was done exactly like the Szechuan favourite. The spicy bean paste caused a storm; hot, fiery, and simply so Szechuan!

SCDH served us many cold dishes for starters, and the Sliced beef and tripe in chilli sauce was one of them.

Chilled preserved cucumber with garlic and peppercorn

Century egg and mushroom in ginger sauce

Asparagus with sea moss

Abalone mushroom in sesame oil

At first glance, it was not difficult to mistaken the Sliced duck in Teow chew style for the more commonly seen drunken chicken. Thinly sliced, I could never resist duck meat!

This one caught me by surprise – the crispy chicken puff. I wasn’t expecting something so, small and tiny, to be so good. The crispy fried skin had chicken within: it was a reminiscent of cream puff, except the pastry was fried instead of baked, and the fillings were chicken instead of cream.

Perfect. One of the best carrot cake I’ve had; every bite was flavourful with radish. The only correct thing to make a good carrot cake is to just add more radish, it’s so simple, yet many fail to get the gist of it.

The purist would protest at the sight of the Steamed siew mai with quill egg. The additional of quill egg was an innovation, and credits had to be given to the chefs for experimenting with different ingredients.

Glutinous rice roll with pork floss wrapped in banana leaf

No, it definitely wasn’t St Valentine’s the last time I checked. Nonetheless, the heart shape was pretty enough to gorge at -  Pan-fried shredded yam pancake with waxed meat.

I ain’t a big fan of mince meat balls, but the Steamed beef balls with seasonal vegetables won me over with the chewy and bouncy texture.

I eyed the golden dumpling, not knowing what to do. Should I, or should I not? I took up my pair of chopsticks, and dove right in, secretly praying in my heart: Sharky, rest in peace, you’d not die in vain. Steamed shark’s fin and chicken dumpling.

Steamed onion roll with butter

Si Chuan chilled noodles: hot & spicy

Despite the scary-looking-thick-oily-layer of chilli, the Dumpling with chilli oil was surprisingly, not that spicy. I had called the fire brigade to be prepared to put out any fire, and after one tiny nibble of the dumpling, it was safe. And I ate some more, of the thick and generous filling, which almost busted out of the dumpling skin.

This one was interesting. The Pan-fried fish pancake with parsley, the crispy firm pastry-like texture was evident, but I couldn’t quite make out what actually constituted in the fish pancake.

For the best creative award, I presented to you the, Pan-fried sweet corn pancake. The inclusion of sweet corn in a dim sum was a first for me: needless to say, it worked. The sweet corn, like its name, enhanced the sweetness of the pancake.

Steamed mushroom and vegetable bun

Pan-fried minced prawns roll with seaweed

The Steamed prawn dumpling, or Har gau, had fresh succulent prawns, but I found the skin slightly too thick from what I had in mind.

Instead of the streetfood in Szechuan, SCDH decided to upmarket the Fried pumpkin cake by scoring on presentation and refining it. The delicate-lovely-looking miniature pumpkin; it was too pretty to eat.

Sour and spicy Beancurd

If there was one memorable dish I had to choose from SCDH, it had to be the Steamed lotus paste bun with egg yolk.  The egg yolk within the lotus bun, oh my. It was indescribable. The combination of lotus paste and egg yolk, was akin to mooncake, with a bun skin.

Braised beef noodle soup

There was the omnipresent fish roe on the Siew mai, the dim sum staple.

Fish balls porridge

Balancing my chopsticks, I took a glance at the noodles. This should be easy, I thought. I grabbed some noodles using my less-than-perfect chopstick skills, and slurped the tan tan noodle. The world seemed to froze in time; I took another mouthful of noodles, putting in as much as my mouth would fit. The noodles, how should I put it: bouncy, springy, smooth, well it seems my vocabulary would be exhausted soon. It was good!

Homemade beancurd with wolfberries

We had the following desserts: herbal jelly, mango & pamelo cream, glutinous rice with coconut milk, almond cream with fungus, chilled strawberry jelly, chilled coconut & jackfruit cream, red bean paste with lotus seed, and yam paste with ginko nuts.

The special pairing of different tea and exquisite dim sum has long been a forte of Si Chuan Dou Hua.

Si Chuan Dou Hua has certainly opened up my narrow view of Szechuan cuisine; the impression of only hot and spicy food is wrong, there are many more variety available. Linda, the director of SCDH, who hosted us for the tasting session. And I have to conclude that Linda was the best host among the 4 restaurants which we had went to; her passion for food, and her warm & friendly smile, made our meal more enjoyable.

The 40 items which we tried for the tasting session were part of their weekend lunch which had a mind-blowing 100 items, priced at another unbelievable figure $38.8. My appreciation to Linda for hosting us, and Cuisine & Wine Asia for the invitation.

Read my fellow food blogger review:
Catherine @ Camemberu here
Leslie @ ieatishootipost here
Julia @ Aromacookery here

Si Chuan Dou Hua restaurant
80 Raffles place
#60-01 UOB Plaza
Tel: 65356006

ps: I think this is one of my longest post ever, can anyone tell me which other post is longer than this?

The first of the many to come, Wan Hao Chinese restaurant at Marriott hotel.

Now what can I say? I totally love roast pork belly! The dish is often an indicator of the standard of a Chinese restaurant; Wan Hao’s rendition was nicely done – crispy top with a thin-and-nice layer of fats. “One cube definitely wasn’t enough”, I protested! But hey, there’s still thirty more dish to go!

Although I couldn’t exactly tasted which seven spices were use, but the combination was seductive to the palate, the Seven spices sea perch fillet.

And just before you are thinking Chinese restaurants are boring and served the usual-you-know-what food, the Hokkigai and salmon sashimi would certainly prove you wrong! Just look at the thickly-and-generous slices of the fresh sashimi. It-is-to-die-for.

For the tasting at Wan Hao, only Catherine of Camemberu fame and myself was present among the five of us. And she absolutely loved the Jelly fish with cucumber. Tangy and Q, it was a refreshing appetiser.

Like the no-smoking campaign slogon which asked you to say ‘No‘ to cigarettes, I could never say no to roast duck. My interpretation of a good roast duck: crispy skin with a layer of fats and tasty duck meat. This one had it all, and say it with me, Oomph-la-la!

Vermicelli with pork fillet. There wasn’t anything spectacular but this is just one, good, comfort food, which stood out among the delicacies we tried.

Beef tendon with white radish

In my humble opinion, Wan Hao has the best Ha Gau among the four places that we tried. All of them used top-quality fresh prawns, but what made the one here stood out was the the skin; some places would do it too thick, and some too thin – it was done perfectly here. Bravo!

I actually preferred the spring roll filled with smoked duck meat to the roasted duck. The smoked duck meat lived up to its name – the very smoky taste within the crispy spring roll.

While some people found that the addition of fish roe to the top only served as an adornment; I thought that it’s fine so long the tiny orange eggs wasn’t in excessive to overwhelm the taste of the siew mai.

I ain’t a big fan of asparagus – the word alone put me off; but I had to try this translucent pretty-looking asparagus dumpling, which tasted decent.

The sea perch fillet with garlic appeared squeaky-fresh; it seemed to be flipping on my plate! The golden mushrooms and tofu were integrated with the sea perch, and I love it!

I knew it was close. I could smell it. The strong alcohol scent. You can smell it from far away. The drunken prawns were as suspected, very strong in liqueur taste; the prawns were big and fresh. I must emphasized, the quality and freshness of the ingredients at Wan Hao was really what set them aside.

Bean curd sheet filled with shrimps

The presentation of the Scallop and asparagus with spicy XO sauce was faultless. Succulent and juicy scallop.

The mere presence of duck shreds greatly enhanced the flavour of the congee. And not to mention there’s sliced fish maw, squid too! All the natural goodness in the bowl of Congee.

It was sensational. Tender, let me tell you, the whole experience: the chewing and swallowing, we couldn’t speak. There was a lump stuck in my throat; I just allowed myself to quietly finished the meat, and inside I was secretly hoping there was more of this.

I was struck in awe of the flavour and texture of the meat, this was certainly my most memorable and favourite dish of the meal. And I couldn’t bear to speak of its name, Kurabuta pork, all the way from Americaaa!

The meal was a late boomer. Just when I thought that the few dishes in front were all good, it got better and better. Or maybe they were saving the best for the last, either way, the Chilli prawns with crispy buns had the “made in Singapore” brand stamped all over it. Spicy, fresh, with the mini mantao bun to dip in to the sauce, it was a superb interpretation of prawns done in our local favourite Chilli crab. A Singapore classic.

I could not, believe how tender the meat actually was. It literally melted in my mouth – I know this phase sounded exaggerating and often over-used, but trust me, it’s true for the Beef tenderloin with black peppercorns. Oh my! I would gladly go back another time just for the kurobuta pork, chilli prawns, and the beef tenderloin alone.

All right, back to the basics. Not many places can do a mean version of the Ee-fu noodles. All of us agreed that this one was just right in terms of the oilyness and bite. Not too oily, not too dry, just exactly how we liked it.

For the first time, I was actually sorry to see the desserts coming – for it signalled the end of the wonderful meal. But Wan Hao dessert did not disappoint as well, the first to arrive, the Lemongrass jelly with lime sherbet was equally pleasing in aesthetic senses. Very refreshing, and a fine finish for us.

There was a big fan of the mango pudding among us, and he was right! I took a nibble without adding in any milk for the original taste; even eaten alone the smooth and creamy texture of the aroma mango was evident.

If you know me, you must know that I’m an anti-durian person. For the sake of sharing with everybody, I popped one durian mochi inside – the mochi was very sticky, the smell of the fabled durian king of the fruits wasn’t very apparent until I took a bite of it, and that’s when I say, Shit!

I love egg tarts, and I always questioned the fact why Chinese restaurants always do their egg tarts in mini sizes. And like the manager of Wan Hao put it, the small bite was just right, anything bigger it would be too much. Crisp golden brown pastry with equally good egg fillings.

* * *

I must admit, I’m impressed with Wan Hao Chinese restaurant. The freshness in the quality ingredients, with the management’s emphasis on this, plus the service of the staff, were all top-notch. I’m not talking about their good service because it was a tasting session, after we finished our meal, we went down to their bakery; the staff was very knowledgeable about their bakes and was very professional.

The 31 items which we tried for this tasting session was half of their weekend brunch buffet which had 70 items, priced at $55 per head. For the sheer quality and variety, the sum is fair, will I be back? Definitely, See you there!

I entered the Marriott hotel on an empty stomach, and I left with a full one; I’m a happy man. My appreciation to the folks from Wan Hao for hosting us, and Cuisine & Wine Asia for the invitation.

Read Catherine’s review on Wanhao here

Wan Hao Chinese restaurant
320 Orchard road
3F Marriott hotel
Tel: 6831 4615

Wan Hao is listed as one of ladyironchef’s favorite restaurants in Singapore

Slumdog millionaire made an big impact on me; millions of people living in poverty while here we are, fretting about the hot weather, how long the bus took to arrive. I, want to learn more about their culture. I, want to visit the Taj Mahal. I, want to experience their food; their cuisine which has stood against the test of time.

With a glass of mango lassi, we toasted to the world, to good health, and to the glorious food. The sea. The sea. Facing the calm and still of the blue, we feasted. We ate, and ate; a feast for the king.

And so, my adventure with Indian cuisine started. The first to arrive was the Lamb Kakori Malai kebab ($20). And frankly speaking, it looked more like otah to me – but it tasted much better than that. The sensational melt-in-the-mouth-lamb was enough for me to dig several times.

It’s all about prawn, prawn, prawn, daddy-o. You like prawn? You’ll love the Prawns with garlic butter ($24). The distinct garlic butter taste, the teppanyaki style, oh my. But it was slightly salty, more lemon would have solve the problem. But then again, the tone-down version wouldn’t be the real deal, so I say, keep it that way!

And besides the prawn, we have a fish as well. If there was a dish which piped my curiosity, it ought to be the Fish three pepper ($22). With its unique name, and the exotic Indian herbs & spices, I enjoyed every bite, it was good.

Street-food. Read: what the locals eat. Crisp papris topped with chopped potatoes, the crust was awesome; crunch, crunch. One of my favourite, Aloo Papri Delhi Chat ($10).

Slightly sourish, with Indian spices filled within the semolina baked cups. I preferred the Aloo Papri Delhi Chat to the Raj Kachori Chat ($10). , but I enjoyed using my spoon to break down the potato crust; destroyed the wall, and the Indian prince conquered the city!

And how can we not have biryani when eating Indian food; rice is a staple for us Asians after all. We had two different types of biryani, the dum biryani lamb and the Hyderabadi chicken biryani ($18). The chunks of chicken bites were good, but to shelve out eighteen bucks for a bowl of rice? I don’t think so.

Tangy, creamy coconut sauce, with crab patties. Massala crab cake ($24)

The Indian bread, Garlic Nann ($7). It was my first time trying it of course, and the nann was good to go with almost all the dishes; a bite of nann, a mouth of meat. Or simply dipped the nann into the curries!

This was another of my favourite! Compared with the lamb Kakori Malai kebab, the Lagan Ke lamb ($14) was better seasoned with the spices; which resulted in a less gamy taste.

The Lalla Mussa Dal ($18) was Black lentil, speciality of the house. But it wasn’t my type; I’m just not that into you.

By and large I couldn’t remember the Dum Methi prawn ($24) much. It was prawns tossed wth methi, cashew nut onion paste. But somehow after I noticed its presense on our elongated table, there wasn’t a single prawn in sight. Everybody finished it – without even leaving a prawn for me!

As much as I appreciated that the restaurant provided some sweets to complete the meal, but the Tutti Frutti ($10) didn’t pretty much fit into what I had in mind for Indian desserts.

Neither was the Hot chocolate brownie ($8), which was not made in-house.

But luckily there was the Kulfis ($10) – traditional pistachio Indian ice cream to save the day! There’s always a first time for everything, and it’s my first time trying Indian ice cream. The texture was very different; solid and dense – it took forever to melt.

It was, oh-my-god, so sweet. I did not bother to ask what is it; it is enough, to taste it. But I wasn’t about to let Cinderella leave without asking for her name, just before the clock struck twelve, Garam Gulab Jamun ($8).

* * *

I’ll like to thank Hungrygowhere.com for inviting me to the food tasting session. I always wanted to try other cuisines other than the-usual-western-Jap-Chinese-food. Having taken the first step out of my comfort zone, it’s time to try more exotic food, and this meal has certainly aroused me to try some of the other Indian places that I’ve heard so much of.

Go India
1 Harbourfront Walk
#01-152 Vivocity
Tel: 63769644

The-sight-of-it is enough to excite me. The flowing chocolate – like water plunging down from a magnificent waterfall: wonderful, sweet. The cute white marshmallows beckon to me. The puffs – baked for the sole reunion with the delicious chocolate. The big juicy strawberries, oh my. What’s there not to like about a chocolate fondue? I love it!

Now, I don’t really like buffets. When I see food laying out, exposed, I think they are not exactly very tasteful. The food left out in the open air becomes unprotected from the passing fancies of everybody. BUT, but, the current Citibank credit card 50% promotion for 10 @ Claymore is simply too good a deal to miss, so I decided to go for it after all.

How does $29++ for buffet lunch sounds? On top of it with a 1-for-1 promotion, and we are talking about Pan Pacific Hotel, not some dubious twenties-odd range buffet (you-know-where-I-am-referring-to). Given, the variety here cannot compare with other international buffets who have more spread, but what I like about 10 @ Claymore is the focus.

Instead of giving a lot items to choose from, they decided to give just enough. For those who inherited our Singapore-kiasu-genes, my apologies. But this is one buffet where I actually don’t feel guilty trying to gorge myself silly. I ate a bit of everything, and rushed to have my desserts.

Chicken & Seabass in lemon sauce

Lamb & Beef

Seafood Saffron

The chocolate truffle was terrific – sweet, smooth, refined, yet unbelievably simple. I had mutiple helpings of it, until my stomach decided to do a red-shirt-alike-protest to me.

I love the chocolate tarts too; each nicely craft and so delicate. One bite, it’s gone.

Total bill was $34 for 2 person after the citibank credit card promotion. The current good deal last until 30 April, 2 person are entitled to a 50% discount. For $17 bucks per person, buffet lunch at a classy environment, enough said! And oh yes, I forgot to mention that the service was top-notch; the staffs were attentive and always happy to help out when you need anything.

10 @ Claymore
10 Claymore road
2F Pan Pacfic Orchard
Tel: 6831 6686

It was supposed to be January, but it is almost April soon! Well, like they say, better late than never! Forty-four was the magical number this time, and I’m glad to see many of my regulars, and of course our new friends.

Salt & Pepper Calamari

We started with the simple appetiser, but I was too busy running from table to table that the calamari turned cold by the time I returned!

Chicken & Cheese Quesadillas

Dallas signature Quesadillas was one of the dish which I remembered from my previous visit. Tasting almost like a Mexican taco, there was chicken bits soaked with tomato in chicken broth.

Shredded Pork Tacos

Baby Back Pork ribs

There was some confusion when the ribs were served. The three different flavours of Fiery, Alabama & Smoked Hickory BBQ were too alike! Because we did everything in tasting portions, the pork ribs had to be cut and served this way, otherwise we were be there until four.

Dallas Wings

There was some feedback that the wings were too dry and lacked marination.

Tempura Barramundi

Corn & crab fritters

Beef Fajitas with Guacamole & sour cream

Breaded mushrooms

The “twin” brother which looked almost identical to the Corn & Crab Fritters.

***

A total number of 44 people turned up for this LIC food outing, thank you everyone! Like I’ve mentioned, there will be no date announced yet for the next lic food outing, I will try to organise it soon, so see you next time! I’ll also like to thank Jason, the owner for Dallas for hosting us.

I will be adding the group photos to my Facebook page later. Do add me there to see the photos!

Read about my previous visit to Dallas here.
And Catherine @ Camemberu
Julia @ AromaCookery
Fen @ Sgdessert
Keropok man @ Singapuradailymakanphoto

Dallas Restaurant & Bar
31 Boat Quay
Boat Quay Conservation area
Tel: 6532 2131
Website: http://www.dallas.sg/

Alighting at EW XV, red dot was at the rear, and I passed by amoy. Stanley, Stanley where were you? I looked high, I searched far. Lo & behold, there you are. I hold you dear in my heart, Sweet Indulgence a year ago.

Gone were the white, in came the yellow. With a touch of blue, everything lingers fondly deep inside. Memories. This is the stuff that life is made of. I want to hold onto this moment forever.

The hot and the fury. What was supposed to be a routine simple appetiser ended up in the fast lane instead. We were too ambitious, and nodded when the manager smiled at us and asked innocently, extra spicy? Boy. This, was one hot chick. Only for the daredevil, Chicken wing in spicy sauce ($9.50).

A bit of everything from Nature’s best, garlic, basil, pesto with a variety of mushrooms. The result, a delicious comfort food. Sauté mushrooms ($9.50)

The Seafood platter ($19.50) was an assembly of seafood sauté in a white wine herb reduction, which came on the recommendation of the manager.

The problem, with not reading the fine print of the menu, meant that we were surprised when the platter arrived, completely opposite of the usual Fish & Co style. Overcoming our initial reaction, we dug in and found ourselves with mussel, scallop, clam, fish, squid and prawns.

Skinny seems to be the In-thing at the moment. 10 inch thin crust Siciliana pizza ($22). Home-made with a spicy element. With bratwurst sausages, roasted capsicum, onions and semi-dried tomatoes. Personally I felt that it wasn’t cheesy enough, but it garnered enough support from my mates to overrule me.

Call me ignorant, but I did not remember seeing crayfish served with pasta very often. It was usually the limelight of its more popular cousin, lobster instead. Much as I was tempted to go with the salmon pasta which I always have, a adventure was on the cards. And hence the pick, Crayfish linguine ($25) I liked the fact that everything was executed very nicely. The flavours were delicate and did not overwhelm.

We did not want to have everything from the land, so it was a tough fight between the baked salmon fillet, and the Pan-fried seabass ($26.50). The latter won of course. On paper, a pan-fried seabass served with mashed potato, daily vegetables was as safe as anything could be. But it was not to be. The fish was slightly over-aged, and I wouldn’t exactly use fresh to describe it. It wasn’t all over, the unique taste of orange based salsa was the saving grace.

The most expensive item on the menu, the lamb rack ($40.50). With portobello mushroom, daily vegetables, mashed potatoes and the beautifully grilled rack of lamb certainly looked enticing. But there was a snag. The proportion of fats to meat was equally balanced, which did not go well with the ladies.

The portobello mushroom made its second appearance with the Beef Tenderloin ($37.50). It was another tough decision to choose between the pork rack or the steak, but we were glad to have this. The roasted baby potatoes were snapped up in two seconds, the steak was the best among the three mains we had.

Desserts were done in-house by the chef, and we had the New York Cheesecake ($11). For such a hefty price tag, we were expecting a lot more, but sad to say it wasn’t good enough. The dessert lacked the dense and creamy aspect and somehow was sticky and crumbled easily.

The Warm Chocolate Lava Indulgence ($13) made up for the previous mistake.  Like all warm chocolate pudding, the melted dark chocolate oozed out and this sight never fails to excite me. Also impressive was the use of vanilla bean ice cream. My dining mates found it too light, but anything with warm chocolate and cold ice cream couldn’t possibly go wrong with my sweet tooth. We agreed it was slightly better than Bakerzin’s rendition.

I had a sweet memory of the tiramisu I had a year ago. At this very place, Sweet Indulgence’s tiramisu ($13). The coffee and liquer taste was very subtle, but that was exactly what I liked about you. The dessert was very smoothing to the palate, and if you do not think of it as a tiramisu, it is actually very good. But if you are expecting a typical strong coffee & liquer rendition, then you are just not that into her.

***

Photographs are the best memories keepers, and I have added more sweet memories with this. I’ll like to thank Chris for inviting me for this food-tasting session. There was some hits and misses, but Sweet Indulgence remains a nice place for couples to have a romantic dinner without any disturbance. I did find the prices to be rather steep, there is a current promotion of 1 free dessert with any 2 main courses or pastas.

Read my previous visit here

Sweet Indulgence
2 Stanley Street
Tel: 6223 7707

Two complete strangers, brought together by something call fate. Friends we are, brothers we have become, and partners we will be. It is amazing how much our bond has grown. The girls call this bff, or bestie. But for us, there is no need to say anything. That’s because everything is clear in our heart.

Discussing a serious topic in such a whimsical place does seem inappropriate. But hey, we can talk about anything, anywhere. The truth always hurts, but I’m glad to hear of it. Because only true friends dare to speak the truth.

We are bound to have disagreements, I hope we will understand each other for everything we do. No matter what happens in the future, or whatever decision we make, our mutual support will carry us, through everything.

You are the one who see this started from nothing to what it is today. You, are the only one besides me, who can exactly summaries all that had happened. You, are the one who always remind me to stay true and keep me grounded.

I know you will always be there for me, just like how I will for you. That is because, we are the best of friends.

***

Much as I cannot differentiate the taste of a Kurobuta and a normal pork, just the name of the Kurobuta alone is enough to excite me. Slow roasted crisped Kurobuta pork belly ($26 before 50% discount). When we say crisp, it really meant business. The crisp-cracking sound when I took a bite into the top of the pork belly, oh my. Slightly thin layer of fats was the real deal, almost divine. Well, the picture might look just like the normal sio bak to you, it is. But a divine one.

We have something from the sea to go along with our previous dish from the land. This time, the Chilean Cod ($26 before 50% discount). With the smooth and silky fish meat, there is a layer of crusted skin. We mistook the tomato fondue as chilli at first sight, but it complimented the fresh cod very well.

Portions were a tad small for the two hungry eaters. So we ordered the four cheese pizza ($17 before 50% discount), with gorgonzola, mozzarella, pecorino & talleggio cheese. Like I always say, I’m no food critic. Among the four cheese, I cannot tell which is which. But I do know the combination of the four, resulted in a very strong cheesy taste. We thought we like cheese, but apparently, it was slightly too strong for us. Only for the cheese lovers!

Total bill was $44, for three mains and a drink, with a 50% discount from Citibank credit card. The current promotion is available at Oomphatico’s for dinner during Monday to Thurday only. It is a fantastic deal, because among the many places Citibank offer for the 50% offer when 2 dines, Oomphatico’s is one of the few that do this promotion during weekday dinner, most of them are weekday lunch. I’m very much tempted to go back again before the current promotions end, to try the rest of the dishes.

Read my previous visit to Oomphatico’s here.

Oomphatico’s
163 Tanglin Road
#01-35 Tanglin Mall
Tel: 6733 9088

Oomphatico’s is listed as one of ladyironchef’s favorite restaurants in Singapore

Ryan Giggs dribbled down the left flank, just like how he consistently did it for Man U over the years. He took a glimpse and passed it centre to Scholes, who stopped and played with the defender. After which, Scholes spotted Cristiano Ronaldo roaming in from the right wing, and he sent a perfect through ball in, the Portuguese winger took his chance and dutifully converted. Goal!

This is not a scene at Old Trafford, although all Manchester United fans would die to visit the place at least once in his lifetime. For the next closest thing, we have Manchester United Cafe Bar.

The breezy al fresco area overlooks the Singapore River, with the picturesque Singapore Flyer in the settings. I was surprised by the coolness of the place on a hot afternoon.

Manchester United Café Bar (MUCB) should not be a stranger to those who frequented Boat Quay, or the soccer fanatics. Opening shop in November last year, the place is the Devils new home ground taking over the now defunct Reds cafe @ Devil’s Bar.

For the true devil only. Vodka, tequila, kuas, whisky, brandy are some of the liqueur mixed with juice to create this Red Devil drink. I took a few sips, not that I always drink during the day-time, and there seem to be stars flying all over. All right, I’m just joking about the stars!

Their highly acclaimed Crispy soft-shell crab ($15.0) started our tasting session. Lightly battered soft-shell crab topped with cucumber salad and a special ginger flower dressing. You know, the problem with food-blogging is we tend to take a long time trying for a perfect shot of the food. By the time we tried this, the soft-shell crab was a tad soft and soggy from the sauce already. But i love the refreshing cucumber salad which complimented the crispy crab very well.

There’s the devils’ wing. There’s devils on horseback. There’s beef short rib. And there’s onion rings. A bit of everything. The Manchester Combo Platter ($28.0). There wasn’t anything spectacular about the devils’ wing, just crispy chicken wings accompanied with sweet and sour hot sauce. The peculiar-sounding name of devils on horseback did piped my curiosity, which was deep fried veal sausages wrapped with chicken bacon. The beef short rib also caught me by surprise since my first impression of it was pork ribs instead of beef.

Named after Europe’s top club trophy which Manchester United won last year, for the third time. The Champions Burger ($16.90), how befitting. Freshly ground ribeye beef patty done medium-rare, topped with caramelised onion, chicken bacon, and mushroom. However, I lamented the fact that there wasn’t enough cheese, and it wasn’t melted enough to give the Oomph impact.The fries were generous and pretty decent.

The fish & chips ($17.90) came with two slice of the battered fillet of fish, with golden fries and greens. If you are looking at a typical fish & chips in Singapore, this passed the test, but it lacked the connection to the English food, which a Manchester United café should have.

My meal can never be completed without any sweets. I asked for the in-house dessert, which turned out to be Red Devil’s Pudding ($7.90). Homemade chocolate pudding served with hazelnut and ice cream. This is one dessert which can never go wrong, with chocolate lava oozing out from the pudding, eaten with the cold chilly ice cream, you are in heaven, my dear. I did felt that the $7.90 tag is slightly steep considering a place which does not specialise in desserts. But if you are like me who need sweets to end off a meal, here you go.

Be at the top of the world controlling your favourite club, transferring and buying your favourite players. That’s what Football Manager (FM) brags about. Something better, sit at the dugout in the midst of a match!

More than just a sports bar, MUCB hopes to portray the image that there can be good food with your drinks too. I think it is good for Boat Quay on a whole, to shake off the sleezy image which so many people perceive it to be.

MUCB offers food with reasonable pricing, but my only qualm was the lack of identity of the cafe. The food although it was above average, lacks the connection with Manchester United the football club. The place, although it has lots of Manchester United stuff, lacked the distinctiveness.

Maybe it was due to the afternoon visit, I’m sure the atmosphere will be very different on a match day. Whatever it is, MUCB does provides a new option for lunch if you are working in the vicinity. And for the Manchester United fans out there, what are ya waiting for?!?

I will like to thank Shawal from Asiaprwerkz who invited me for this food tasting session, and Mr Andy Yun, CEO of Manchester United Food & Beverage Asia, who hosted us and gave an interesting insight about his vision for MUCB.

Manchester United Café Bar
Boat Quay (Next to Dallas)
Tel: 65335880

Strolling down the Singapore River, we found ourselves mesmerised by the scenery, the cool evening air, the group of angmohs enjoying some beer before the sun sets, and the occasional harass from a few of the “eateries” which touted free drinks to entice us.

History has it that this beautiful watershed was the place where the myths and legends conjured up memories of the lighters, bumboats, tongkangs with their painted eyes to see the danger ahead and sampans of yesteryear. This is the place where the Chinese, Malay, and Indian once lived. This is the the place where Sir Stamford Raffles once sailed through to land on Singapore.

The charming Boat quay offers a magnificent view of the Singapore River, with the Fullerton hotel as the backdrop, and the towering skyscrapers in the buzzing CDB just behind. Since the area is famous for its vibrant night life, one will certainly not associate the place with food, I had the same impression, that is, until I visited Dallas restaurant.

Entering the second level, it was a complete stunner as we experienced the hundred & eighty change in environment. From the blasting pub, we stepped into a room befitting of a semi-formal dining restaurant. With nice furnitures, carpeting, and  the natural lighting from the windows, this room was ideal for a quiet and romantic dinner.

And if you think that is the end, you are in for a surprise. The bar and restaurant concept was fully displayed in the third level of Dallas. With a slightly tone down attitude compared with the second level, this one was all about the causal and relax approach for a hearty dinner. And the smoothing lounge music overhead certainly helps too.

To begin the long dinner which we realised in the aftermaths, lasting almost three hours, we started off with the Dallas platter ($12 for 2 person). The succulent mushroom immediately made an impact as the juices gushed out when we took a bite.

Chicken wings, and the Cheese Quesedillas completes the platter. There wasn’t anything extraordinary about the wings, but the garlic mayonnaise that came along was everything about garlic. On the other hand, the popular cheese quesedillas fared reasonably on my score sheet. Tasting almost like a Mexican taco, there was chicken bits soaked with tomato in chicken broth, but I lamented the fact that it wasn’t cheesy enough.

My dining companion is a big fan of prawns, and the Salad of green mango & prawns ($16) definitely worked its magic. While I felt prices did seem slightly steep for a bowl of greens, but there was a generous portions of the fresh & juicy prawns. And the crisp, tart green mango reminded me of the refreshing Thai-style salad.

Our first main course was the BBQ Barramunudi fillet ($20), one of Dallas’s signature dish. The watercress that accompanied the dish caught my attention, since it wasn’t that common to see this vegetable as a choice of green for salad.

Gigantic, huge, enormous are probably some of the terms you will link the baby back ribs ($22 for 1/2 rack, $28 for full rack) with. I’m a sucker for pork ribs, and the sight of this ginormous baby aroused the carnivore in me. Man, I can still clearly recalled the sweet and juiciness of the ribs now, and if it wasn’t for the fact that we had other food after this, I’ll gladly go for the full ribs instead.

I could only stared at the Tenderloin with shitake mushroom sauce ($28) when it arrived. Being almost full by the previous ribs, the thickness of the steak did shocked me for a bit. While some people would insist on medium well to prevent seeing red, I felt that it would not do any justice to the piece of tender meat.

Medium rare it is.

By the time the Roast chicken and Penne pasta ($16) navigated its way to our table, we were completely stuffed by the multi course dinner. Nonetheless, we did a sampling, and since I’m not a fan of penne, maybe it wouldn’t be a completely fair comment. I found the pasta pretty plain in taste, but the restaurant manager Kenneth, told us that it was a favourite among his angmoh customers, Acquired taste perhaps. And not to forget the roast chicken did wonders for me, it was akin to our roast pork, or more affectionately known as, sio bak.

We were told frankly by the manager that Dallas is still working on their desserts, and there was nothing to rave about. But being the dessert enthusiats we were, a meal wouldn’t be complete without any sweets, so we decided to go for the Dallas Cheesecake ($8). It could be due to the fact that we had zero expectations, the cheesecake actually didn’t turn out to be as bad as we thought. We couldn’t resist the rich and cheesy dessert. But for the price, I wouldn’t exactly recommend trying the desserts, just get another appetiser!

Dallas Restaurant & Bar stands out as one of the few gems among the food outlets in Boat Quay. I certainly changed my mind about the impression I had of the area, and Dallas proves that there can be a good place for you to dine and drink at the same time. Their set lunches are pulling in all the office crowds, with the 2 course lunch at $18++, and 3 course dinner at $28++.

I would like to thank Rayner from creative partner for inviting me for this food tasting session, and Kenneth the restaurant manager for hosting us for dinner. And oh yes, for you guys who are looking for a venue to have your birthday bash, or a group outing, Dallas has their function room on the third level with a private bar, and a balcony for this. For more information, email to events@dallas.sg

Dallas Restaurant & Bar
31 Boat Quay
Boat Quay Conservation area
Tel: 6532 2131
Website: http://www.dallas.sg/

I read on the Sunday Times that Fish & Co is coming out with Fish & Co Express, and I must admit the revelation of the news hit me. Much as I don’t like Fish & Co (too commercialise), they are still a restaurant to me. But with the idea of having fast-food associating together with them, I will definitely think twice before dining there again. While it’s good for businesses to diversify, it can be a double-edge sword if not handle properly.

And this brings us to Aston Riding on the popularity of Aston specialist, the owner introduced Aston Prime which offered finer and of course pricer meats. And Aston express, the coffee-shop version, into the local heartlands. The result, immediate success, given the number of express outlets springing up all over Singapore.

The fisherman’s pride. Grill fish with herb ($6.50), of which we chose tasty rice and house salad. Express or no express, the standard in quality wasn’t really apparent. But given my last visit to Aston Specialist was over a year ago, my failing memory might not be a good judge. And quite unlike the name, the tasty rice wasn’t very tasty. I called it the fried-rice-without-eggs. And i love eggs, so it was a no-no for me.

You are right about this, we should have got two servings of this instead.

Tempted as I was to get the beefy jack burger, I ended up with the char-grilled chicken ($5.90) instead since the latter came with two side dishes, and the former none. The French fries were all about ordinary Joe & plain June. With the onion rings proving to be better. Given the price, I thought that the char-grilled chicken was pretty good.

Total bill was $13.2 for two mains. While it really depends on what you are comparing with. With hawker-fare or restaurant/cafe food? Given the accessibility of Aston Express, and the shallowness of my pockets, I dare say you will be seeing this post again. Although i’ll have no qualms revisiting them, but I seriously doubt anybody will spend $59.90 on the burgundy roast beef from their menu.

Aston Express
Beside 8 Sixth Avenue

The Singapore Flyer is touted as the world’s largest observation wheel, even higher than London Eye. Our nation’s pride. Minor breakdowns before were already ominous signals that a catastrophe will happen one day. Alas, the dreadful thing finally struck. How the mighty has fallen. The management should have already looked into and made backup plans, but it failed anyway. Now, time for us to do some self-reflections and damage-recovery.

While the flyer remains closed for investigations, the ones to suffer the backslash are the restaurants and other tenents. Senso Bistro, is coming up with a 50% promotion off all their a la carte menu from now until the flyer starts operating (date unknown yet).

The natural vibe of the restaurant, with its simple layout and decorations, provided a good place for either a causal lunch, or nice dinner without burning a hole in the pocket.

Not to mention there’s also al fresco dining, which would be ideal for dinner, with the sea breeze and eating under the stars making it a romantic affair.

The waiter kindly asked us whether we’ll like some garlic bread ($4) while waiting, but he failed to mention it’s not free. Naturally when he offered us bread i thought it was complimentary. There’s no free lunch in this world. All right, it’s not so much about the money, we are talking about principle, like shouldn’t they at least inform us the bread wasn’t complimentary? Next time, don’t be shy, ask!

With ten selections to choose from the Pizze menu, we were spoilt for choices. To be on the safe side, we went for the popular Hawaiian ($18 before 50% discount). The paper-thin pizza was huge, with eight slices easily filling up the four of us. The ingredients of pineapple, cooked ham were very generous. The only gripe? I lamented the fact that the pizza did not have enough mozzarella cheese. Still, with the promotion, it’s definitely a steal at just under ten bucks. It made the one I’ve at Galbiati looked pathetic.

Grilled tuna loin coated in fresh herbs. The Tonno ($24 before 50% discount) was a disappointment really. The fish was over-cooked, making the meat too dry and hard. I liked the side vegetables that came with it, lightly stir-fried, the greens were crunchy and fresh.

When asked to choose between the T-bone steak and veal loin, the manager recommended the latter for the delicate taste and tender texture. Veal loin is the meat of calves, and at Bistro Senso, the pan-fried veal loin scaloppine ($24 before discount) can be done in three different methods. Ours were ‘alla Pizzaiola’ with tomato and mozzarella cheese. The whole taste was like having a steak-pizza. A refreshing combination, but the meat was not tender enough, and came across as too tough. And since we had pizza already, now i’m wishing i chose the other method of breaded and golden crispy instead.

And how can we not have any pasta from an Italian bistro? The Ravioli ($18 before 50% discount) was essentially lobster and crab pasta served with assorted seafood ragout in tomato and basil sauce. This was actually my first time having a ravioli pasta. The tomato and basil sauce was flavourful and strong in taste. The prawns and squids were fresh, but to be frank, I didn’t quite enjoy ravioli. I still preferred my pasta to be spaghetti or linguine. Personal taste.

I was eagerly anticipating the desserts, well most people would find tiramisu ($8 before 50% discount) boring and chose some other interesting options. But there was no way I’m going to miss out trying the popular Italian dessert from an Italiano joint. The mascarpone cream was too light, and the espresso taste was not strong.

Another famous Italian dessert, Pannacotta ($8 before 50% discount). The bouncy texture was evident, but i couldn’t figure out what’s in the double cream flan. The raspberry coulis did provided a contrast with the pannacotta.

The last one, Creme brulee ($8 before 50% discount). The oven-baked egg custard of the Italian dessert did taste rather like our Chinese egg tarts. The caramelised sugar on top of the dessert wasn’t burned enough, and lacked the torched burnt taste.

Total bill was $65.91 for 4 person after a 50% discount. Although i wasn’t very impressed with the food, but with the promotional prices, the food is really cheap! The pizzas and pastas are like 9 bucks each, and the main course 12 bucks. The soothing ambience with the inexpensive price means that you should visit Senso Bistro before the Singapore Flyer reopens. Talk about patriotism, and national pride.

Senso Bistro
30 Raffles Avenue
#01-03 Singapore Flyer
Tel: 63388550
ps: Call to check whether the 50% promotion still exist before going down.

Cuisines like European, French, Italian food are always popular choices when we dine out. But have you heard of Aussie cuisine? And how exactly do you classified that? There’s a great influence by traditional British cooking brought to Australia by the first settlers. Consisting of pies, roasted cut of meats, grilled steaks and chops, and other form of meat generally accompanied by vegetables.

Mad Jack restaurant started back in 2005, with their original branch at Jalan Kayu a familiar sight with patrons to the area. Within a short span of 2-3 years, they have expanded with another 3 branches, with the newest located right in town, Paradiz centre.

The restaurant owner, Jack who have stayed in Australia for some years, decided to bring the Aussie cuisine back to Singapore. But if you make it into a fine-dining setting, not many people will have be able to try the food, therefore he came up with a causal dining cafe, serving his definition of good Aussie food at affordable prices. The steaks and chops are all air-flown from Australia/NZ, and it is their style of cooking that made the term, Aussie cuisine.

I was invited for a food tasting session at their new outlet, Paradiz centre. A 5 minutes walk from Dhoby Ghaut mrt station, the restaurant is right within distance in town, so who says there isn’t cheap and good food in Orchard?

Mad Jack’s interior consisted mainly of white furnitures, which gave a sleek and clean look to the whole restaurant. Coupled with the transparent glass which invited the sunlight in, the whole area was brightly lit up.

We started with their doctor juices. Therapeutic juices made of 100% fruits and vegetables with “healing powers”. Mad Jack actually did their research, and experimented with different combinations of fruits and vegetables to produce different effects. There’s cholesterol buster (in green), complexion enhancer, blood pressure reducer, sports energy booster (in yellow), just to name a few.

I had the cholesterol buster ($4), which like the name implied, was meant to bust cholesterol. Green apple, celery, capsicum and cucumber. The taste was very “healthy”, and although I didn’t really like celery, but well for the sake of busting some cholesterol.

The other drink we had was the sports energy booster ($4). The ingredients were much less exotic, and pretty much the fruits you eat everytime, lemon, organge. pineapple and apple.

There was crispy butter, fresh juicy & chunky fish fillet which made the taste so good. Crispy on the outside, fluffy and soft on the inside. And the apple peach salad also gave the fish & chips ($8.90) a healthier tune. I had this before at PK xpress which is also under the Mad Jack group.

Mad Jack’s menu is very comprehensive, with so many variety that we actually didn’t know what to order. In the end, we decided to settle for the common and simple chicken chop, like they say, food taste good when they are simple.

But to be frank, other than the generous portion of the chicken and the sides, i thought there was nothing special about the grilled chicken in black pepper sauce ($7.90). Nonetheless at $8, there’s nothing like a safer option if you want some familiar food in town.

And how can you say that you have eaten Aussie food when you haven’t try their steaks? Air-flown from Australia, the Rib eye steak ($13.90) was big in size, tender in meat and juicy on the inside. One meat, three vegetables, like the usual way.

If you are going in a large group, the cheesy mix fries ($6.90) is definitely a good option to order for sharing. Mixture of spicy and plain fries topped with cheese sauce and mayo, it reminded me of the cheese fries at KFC, with a bigger serving.

Now, get ready for the highlight of the show. The desserts column was the one that i was looking forward to, since they had quite a variety of choices available. Triple shots of espresso sponge sandwiched between freshly whipped cream, sponge, and chocolate flakes, i give you the tiraMADsu ($4.50).

All the desserts creation came from Jack’s wife, you could get them at slices, or as a whole cake (reservation one day in advance). While some preferred their tiramisu to have a strong liquor and espresso taste, i like Mad Jack’s rendition for their light, and not-so-overwhelming flavour. The big slice was also an bonus.

Another dessert which would give you the sugar-rush, the OZ brown ($4.90). Like most brownies, when eaten alone they might come across as overly-sweet, but when you had an scoop of ice cream to go along, it’s a completely different story. The chocolate walnut brownie had bits of walnuts to give the crunchy bite. Warm sweet brownie & cold ice cream, a prefect blend.

Overall, Mad Jack served their take on Aussie cuisines at real affordable prices. Being in town, it further provided an additional incentive. Otherwise, if you dare to jump around like a Kangaroo at the counter (just for laughs), they will be more than willing to give you a free dessert on the house.

To be honest, their food didn’t exactly “wow” me, but given their reasonable pricing and accessible location, i’ll probably revisit them again. And not to mention there’s quite a few other desserts worth noting too!

Mad Jack
1 Selegie road
Paradiz centre #01-04
Tel: 6338 9771
Open: 11.30am-12 Midnight daily
Disclaimer: This was an invited review

What determine whether a dish is good? There are several factors, the freshness of the ingredients itself, the skill of the chef, and of course the sauces that are used in cooking the food. Sauces are vital to the overall taste of the dish, in simple terms, they helped to “colour up” and enhanced the food.

What will you say if chili crabs are served without the thick and spicy gravy sauce, or how about your burger without any mayo sauce? These are some simple examples, but i’m sure you got the idea. Village Wok Restaurant is a showroom for The Village Wok sauce room. Their core business is actually being a sauce distributor, and the restaurant itself is the place for their customers to sample the sauces.

Village Wok restaurant is located at Far East Square, Telok Ayer Street. I had the chance for a food tasting session there organised by Yebber, courtesy of Village Wok’s owner Miss Dawn. A table of 10, consisting of long-time yebbers and some new faces join us for this meal. The Central Business District (CBD) is virtually a ghost town on weekends, and when we went for lunch during a Sunday, there wasn’t anybody around, and we had the whole restaurant to ourselves.

Although the restaurant isn’t their main business, that doesn’t mean that the food there isn’t good, in fact it has to be good so that their customers get to taste their excellent sauce with the good food. The food at Village Wok has a large part to do with their sauces, so i thought it will be appropriate to introduce some of the sauces that we had.

I sweared by their sweet and spicy chili dip (top picture), like the name implies, the sauce is spicy with a hint of semi-sweet, excellent to go along with finger food like chicken wings and fries. There’s also the chili dip (right) which can be use for all kinds of dishes, but go especially well with chicken rice.

Popiah DIY $20++/set

We started off our meal having some hands-on experience with the popiah DIY set. Now there isn’t much places which actually allow their customers to do-it-yourself (DIY) with popiah, and i have to admit the process’s very much fun and all of us enjoyed “playing” with the popiah. From what i understand, each popiah set can serve 6 people, personally i felt that the price was rather steep but for the experience of doing our own popiah, its rather worth it.

The restaurant prepared the ingredients like shrimp, lettuces, cucumbers, and the turnips (bangkuang), the popiah skin, and the sauces needed for the popiah.

Everything was done in an orderly manner, you’ll just need to put all the sauces, and ingredients onto the popiah skin.

Our fellow Yebber busy wrapping her popiah.

And there we have it, our very own DIY popiah. Please don’t be deceived by the ugly appearance of the popiah, i guess our popiah-making skills aren’t up to the mark yet, some of us managed to do the popiah quite decently, while some were out of shape and doesn’t resemble  a popiah at all. Nevertheless, the popiah fillings were fresh, and the sauces used greatly enhanced the flavor of the popiah, not to mention that it’s made from our very own hands.

Chilled crab with special vinegrette sauce ($30++ per crab)

The chilled crab on its own was fresh, but eaten with Village Wok’s special vinegrette sauce it did really compliment the meat very well. Their vinegrette sauce was made from top grade vinegrette with their special recipe of course, and it taste slightly sweeter than your normal sourish vinegrette. Having said that, i’m neither a fan of crab nor vinegrette.

Fried Brinjal with crispy squid in BXO sauce ($15)

Unfortunately, the next dish wasn’t my favorite neither, i also didn’t like bringal. But for food tasting sake, i gave the fried bringal a try and to my surprise it doesn’t taste as bad as i had expected bringal to be. The purple vegetable was fried with crispy squid using their special BXO sauce, and it wasn’t as brinjal-ish as i thought. The crispy squid added some extra crunch to the dish, but overall it wasn’t to my personal liking.

The Phoenix soars ($21++)

Very nice name indeed, the phoenix soar is quintessentially roast and white boneless chicken. Both chicken tasted as nice, so we were having a debate as to which one was nicer. Some preferred the roasted chicken, while some found the white chicken tastier.

The yin-yang chicken came with lettuces wrap, together with some cucumbers, tomatoes provided it with some healthy touch. And of course chilli and garlic sauce, this made an excellent dish which we couldn’t get enough of, the chicken was gone in a flash.

Black pepper ham leg ($23++)

The black pepper ham leg or pig trotters was really one dish that lingered in my mind even after the meal. Usually I didn’t really fancy eating pig trotters because of the thick layer of fatty meat, but this one was exceptionally good. Under the skin was a layer of fats, the meat below was lean to eat. And it came with Village Wok’s black pepper sauce.

For those health conscious eaters, simply remove the layer of fats below the skin. We lamented the fact that we took too long taking photos of this, which resulted in the crispy skin being a tad soft when we started eating.

Village Wok Celebration Parade ($22++)

A combination of Village Wok mustard roast pork and BBQ pork char siew. Again we couldn’t agree on whether the roast pork or the char siew was better. The char siew was tender, juicy and fulsome with the BBQ sauce. Another thing to note, Village Wok didn’t use any colouring, so the char siew here wasn’t red in colour which was evident in the usual ones.

But I always favoured roast pork over the char siew counterpart, the mustard roast pork did not disappoint, crispy layer with really tender meat. The portion of fats to meat was well balanced, not too fatty and not too lean.The roast pork, or sio bak, was really one to die for.

Steamed Pating fish with preserved vegetables ($44++)

I always had the belief that fresh water reared fish won’t be as nice and fresh as seawater fish, but the pating fish here proved that there’s always an exception to everything. According to Miss Dawn, Village Wok actually had their own fish farm to rear the fishes, so freshness was definitely guaranteed.

They used preserved vegetables, or chye poh to steam the fish. It wasn’t came out to be as salty as i had expected because they had specially soaked the chye poh in water to reduce the saltiness of the preserved vegetables. Nevertheless, i preferred my fish to steam with either salted soy bean, salted vegetables, or light sauce.

Smiling fortune noodle ($8++)

The smiling fortune noodle was Village Wok’s rendition of prawn noodles. Tangy noodles harmonised with delectable fresh prawn essence, topped with big fresh prawns. The stock base was no doubt tasty, but too salty for our liking. There was a rush for water after finishing the noodle.

Home-made Nonya Kaya with bread

We had a plesant surprise when they served bread with nonya kaya for our first dessert. The Nonya kaya was home-made from Miss Dawn’s grandmother recipe.The kaya was made without any flour, and was very eggy in taste. I liked it, but i did find the kaya flavor a tad strong, nonetheless we generously spread our thin slice of bread with super thick layer of kaya!

Black glutinous rice with coconut ice cream ($4.50)

I did not find the glutinous rice with coconut ice cream that special since i didn’t really like black glutinous rice. But the rest unanimously agreed that this was the must-have dessert.

Lemongrass ice cream

The lemongrass ice cream was another mystery to me as i couldn’t figure out the flavor of the ice cream initially until somebody pointed out it was lemongrass. I guess its due to the fact that Thai cuisine isn’t really on my radar often, but like what the others mentioned, the lemongrass flavor was very evident, and if you like the scent of lemongrass, this will do it for you.

All in all, Village Wok Restaurant did a great job matching the food with their speciality sauce, there was a different sauce for every dish, and it complimented each other very well. Prices are generally slightly higher, but given the comparison with other Chinese restaurants, they are still considered within range.

I heard that they are very crowded during weekday lunch as the office working crowd like to frequent the place, so do make reservations in advance before going. Once again, i’ll like to thank Yebber, and Miss Dawn for the food tasting session.

Village Wok Restaurant
80 Telok Ayer Street
#01-01 Far East Square
Tel: 6743 9743
Disclaimer: This was an invited review