Monsoon Travel and Food

Shakey's Pizza - Oishii@ Liang Court 2013: Wednesday Food Trail

2013-07-31T09:45:00.002-07:00

Our second stop for our Oishii food trail was Shakey's Pizza. If not for this food trail, we would have missed this nice restaurant.

Shakey's Pizza is one of the restaurants that offer the most set meal for the Oishii food trail. You can choose from the following

Shakey's Baby Back Ribs (Full Slab, $19.80)
Slim Trim Caesar Salad ($4.80) and Spaghetti Carbonara ($13.80)
Oishii Wasabi Premium Pizza (9-inch, $19.80)
Hula Hawaiian Classic Pizza (9-inch, $18.80)

We ordered the baby back ribs and Oishii Wasabi pizza. The baby back ribs has a nice charred, smoky fragrance. The meat may not be a lot, but is tender and filled with flavourful BBQ sauce. Besides some salad, it also comes with few slices of fried potato which are quite nice as well.

Shakey's Baby Back Ribs
Rating: 4.25/5

Their signature pizza was good. The pizza crust was crispy on the outside and slightly chewy within. We loved the baked cheese on the dough, you can really taste the cheese which is fragrant and add on to the crisp texture of the pizza. There are prawns, scallops, pineapple and watery juice kind of "wrapped" within the pizza. Complementing with the creamy wasabi sauce and topped with lots of bonito flakes, unique and Oishii!

Oishii Easabi Premium Pizza
Rating: 4.5/5

With the coupons, this meal was only $20 nett, super value for money.

I had always associate Japanese food to Liang Court. But maybe sometime I will be back to enjoy the unique pizza again.

Oishii@ Liang Court 2013: Wednesday Food Trail - Shin Yeh

2013-07-24T09:16:00.001-07:00

Shin Yeh 欣葉 @ Liang Court Our first stop for the Oishii@Liang Court 2013 Wednesday food trail is Shin Yeh, a reknown Taiwanese restaurant chain in collaboration with TungLok Group.

Shin Yeh

They are causal on the food serving sequence. The rice with soya sauce lean pork was served before the cold platter. The egg might be a bit dry, the braised pork a bit lean and finely chopped, but dig further into the bowl and you will be delighted. The braise sauce at the bottom was fragrant, flavourful and goes really well with the rice.

Rice with soya sauce lean pork

The restaurant run out of their fried yam prawn. We requested to change to Lean Pork with Bamboo Shoots in Soya Sauce. Do not expect tender, juicy like "Dong Po Rou" for this signature braised pork dish. The braised pork was tougher, leaner with a fatty layer beneath the pork skin.

Lean Pork with Bamboo Shoots in Soya Sauce
欣葉卤肉

Next came the combination Cold Dish Platter - King Oyster Mushrooms with Herbal Sauce, Chilled Fresh Bamboo Shoots Salad and Poached Savoury Kampong Chicken.
Strong herbal and mushroom scent for the king oyster mushroom, snow white crunchy bamboo shoots. Kampong chicken meat being tougher, it taste like duck meat and goes well with the pickles and ginger.

Combination Cold Dish Platter

The best part of this set meal was actually their dessert - Mango and milk over shaved ice. Loved their sweet and smooth mango, wished there were more pieces. The texture of the shaved ice was creamy and taste good too.

Mango and milk over shaved ice

Although not all dishes go well in the set, but we really can't complain much since the set meal is only $10 per pax. Overall, its still a good deal!

177 River Valley Road
Liang Court Shopping Centre, #02-19
Singapore 179030

Tel: +65 6338 7337
Fax: +65 6336 6142

Opening Hours:
Daily
Lunch: 11:30 - 2:30PM
Dinner: 6:00 - 10:30PM

Oiishi@ Liang Court 2013: Wednesday Food Trail & Cooking Workshop

2013-07-21T09:25:00.000-07:00

Happened to pass by Liang Court today and noticed their innovative and interesting marketing event to promote their food & beverages - Oishii Wednesdays' Food Tasting Trail.

With only $30, you can get to sample 3 different set meals at any 12 participating restaurants at Liang Court on Wednesdays (17, 24, 31 Jul & 7 Aug 2013). Do note that the first restaurant is pre-selected and you can't get to choose it when purchase the coupon at the customer service at level 2.

With the $50 spent, you can also get to register and join in a cooking workshop at level 1 for free! Its more than just a cooking demonstration but also a hands-on session where 2 participants get to share a cooking station with induction cooker, pots and pans provided.

Potato Salad (ポテトサラダ)
Sukiyaki Beef Don (すき焼牛丼)
Instant Cucumber Pickles (浅漬け)
Hiyashi-Tauki-Soba (冷やしたぬきそば)

Potato Salad & Sukiyaki Beef Don

Pickles and Soba

And there is a goodie bag for every participant. Besides apron, food magazines, stationary and accessories, most importantly it include the bento and sandwich accessories tool set.

Goodie Bag

Sandwich and Bento Tool Set

Can't wait for Wednesday to come :). Will update on our food trail then.

Food Trail @Chinatown Complex Food Centre, 335 Smith Street

2013-07-15T06:07:00.001-07:00

Every time I am at a hawker centre, I will wonder what are the food not to be missed and which are the stalls that are worth trying?

Decided to start keeping track of good food and best stores by location. Will start with the hawker centre that we like and frequently visit.

Best food / great food at Chinatown!

Chinatown Complex Food Centre @ Blk 335 Smith Street

	[#02-88]Xiu Ji Ikan Bilis Yong Tau Fu 秀记江鱼仔酿豆腐 Cuisines : Chinese Speciality: Ikan Bilis Bee Hoon, Brinjal, fried fish cake Rating : 4.75/5 Remarks : Simplicity at its best! Location : #02-88, Chinatown Complex Food Centre Business Hours: 6:45am - 3pm
	[#02-225] Babas Peranakan 娘惹小吃 Cuisines : Nonya Speciality: Fried Chicken, chilli long bean Rating : 4.25/5 Remarks : Yummy economic rice! Location : #02-225, Chinatown Complex Food Centre Tel : 97229698 (Edwin Tan) Business Hours: 9am - 2pm (closed on Wed)
	[#02-127] Hong Kong Soya Sauce Chicken Rice & Noodles 香港油鸡饭面 Cuisines : Hong Kong Speciality: Soya Sauce Chicken Rating : 4.25/5 Remarks : Cheap and nice chicken, $7 for half chicken. Location : #02-127, Chinatown Complex Food Centre Business Hours: 10am - 8pm (closed on Wed)
	[#02-135] China La Mian Xiao Long Bao 香中国拉面小笼包 Cuisines : Chinese Speciality: Steam dumpling Rating : 4/5 Remarks : Nice broth steamed dumpling 10 pieces for $5. Location : #02-135, Chinatown Complex Food Centre Tel : 9743 5287 Business Hours: 9am-9pm (Sat/Sun), 11am-9pm (Tue-Fri)(Closed on Monday)
	[#02-053] Zhao Ji Clay Pot Rice 钊记砂煲饭 Cuisines : Chinese Speciality: Claypot rice Rating : 4.25/5 Remarks : Very tender Chicken, even for breast meat. Close early in the evening. Location : #02-053, Chinatown Complex Food Centre Business Hours: 12-7pm (closed on Wed)
	[#02-166] Jia Ji Mei Shi 佳记美食 Cuisines : Chinese Speciality: Fried Beehoon, Yam Cake, Dumplings Rating : 4/5 Remarks : Nice simple Chinese carbohydrates. Location : #02-166, Chinatown Complex Food Centre Business Hours: 7:30am - 10pm (closed on Wed)
	[#02-190/191] Cheng Ji 成记驰名酱蒸松鱼头 Cuisines : Chinese Speciality: Steamed fish head Rating : 4/5 Remarks : Cheap steamed fish head with lots of collagen. Location : #02-190/191, Chinatown Complex Food Centre Tel : 6222 8202 Business Hours: 12 - 9pm (closed on Sun)

Do drop a comment if there is any nice stall I've missed out.

Curry Puff

2012-10-03T07:13:00.001-07:00

Happened to pass by Toa Payoh Central recently and was attracted by a signboard "AMK Curry Puff" at a coffee shop near the KFC restaurant.

Curry puffs from the famous Ang Mo Kio Tip Top shop? The one involved with tax evasion issue?
Not sure how this shop or these aunties and uncles are related to the Ang Mo Kio curry puff store, but it definitely seems to worth a try, despite it being $1.30 a piece.

AMK Curry Puff @Toa Payoh

Handmade Curry Puff

We were pleasantly surprise after one bite. The filling for AMK Curry Puff was slightly wet with intense curry flavour without being overly spicy. The skin of the handmade curry puff was still crispy even after a few hours.

AMK Curry Puff
Rating: 4.25/5

AMK curry puff was good that it prompted us - Which is the Best Curry Puff in Singapore?

There were some polls done on the Internet. Below are the shortlisted stalls which I have personally tried and like.

A1 Curry Puffs
AMK Curry Puff
Tip Top Curry Puffs (Ang Mo Kio)
Old Chang Kee Curry Puffs
Polar Puffs & Cakes Curry Puffs

Which is your favourite ?

AMK Curry Puff
Blk 184 Toa Payoh Central
#01-372
Singapore 310184

Lunch Deal @Vintry, Clarke Quay

2012-09-25T09:28:00.001-07:00

A relative introduced us to this good, value for money lunch deal. No coupon, no voucher and no pre-purchase required, just walk in to the restaurant on a weekday during lunch hour.

Vintry offer this nice 5 course set lunch at only $15 nett.

5 Course Set Lunch

We had the whole restaurant to ourselves as we arrived early. The ambience of the restaurant was nice. The restaurant is vintage style decorated with wine bottles, decanters, glasses and filled with bottles and bottles of wine.

Nice Ambience

They have a large collection of wine offered - cabinets of bottled wine near the dining area and a wine cellar at the restaurant. Besides a variety of bottled wine for sale, they also offer a large variety of wine by glasses, ranging from around $3 for 250ml. The wines offered by glasses are well preserved in their state of the art wine vacuum pump and dispenser in a chiller.

Restaurant

Now we come to the food. Fresh mixed Salad. Vegetables to fulfil our daily fibre requirement. Not sure what is the dressing, it was quite strong but was ok.

Fresh Mixed Salad

Soup of the day was Potato soup. The texture of the soup was quite smooth and creamy. You can also taste the potato in the soup. Quite nice.

Potato Soup
Rating: 4/5

We followed the recommendation to try the Tangy Baked Dory Fish in Lemon Caper Cream. It was definitely a right choice - tender dory fish with creamy sauce. The cream was not too rich, with hint of lemon and mild sourness from the capers. The potato wedges were crispy as well. Yummy!

Dory Fish
Rating: 4.25/5

We can't resist ordering a dish which is named after the restaurant - Vintry Caramelized Roast Pork Rice. Even though white rice doesn't seems to fit in to into this western restaurant, this caramelized roast pork house specialty was good. Nicely caramelized pork belly with a mix of fatty and lean meat.

Caramelized Roast Pork
Rating: 4.25/5

Ice cream had never been able to impress me unless its those premium fine ice cream. But the coconut ice cream with gula melaka was quite special and satisfying.

Coconut with Gula Melaka
& Vanilla with Chocolate Sauce

The coffee offered was illy. Illy coffee seems to be a famous brand reputed for quality coffee produced in Trieste, Italy. According to my lunch partner, the coffee was aromatic and quite rich.

Vintry
Blk 3A River Valley Road
#01-01 Clarke Quay
Singapore
Tel: +65 6338 2808
http://www.vintry.com.sg/

Opening Hours
Sun–Thu: 12pm–3pm, 6pm–11.30pm
Fri–Sat: 12pm–2am

Glasses

Buffet Town @Raffles City

2012-09-02T02:47:00.002-07:00

Only realised that Shokudo Japanese Food Bazaar at Raffles City was changed to Buffet Town when we were there for a gathering.

Buffet Town and Japanese Food Bazaar were kind of similar - a variety of themed stations offering different cuisines. The main difference is the payment mode, instead of having a passport and get it stamped whenever you placed an order, Buffet Town is all inclusive, just take or order whatever you fancy for a fixed price.

Fresh seafood station is among the first that we will explore. There were white clams, scallops, chilled prawns, mussels and crayfish. The crayfish was a bit disappointing, the prawn was quite nice and you can taste the freshness with just some lemon.

Seafood Station

Japanese Sushi and Sashimi - Buffet Town was generous for their sashimi as well. To keep them fresh, the sashimi was not on display, you can request Salmon or Tuna sashimi from the chef at the sashimi station. There were also assorted sushi rolls and appetizers at the same station.

Fresh Salmon Sashimi
Rating: 4/5

Italian Pasta and Pizza - Their pasta was quite nice. Pick and choose your ingredients - mushroom, onions, green and black olives and decide on a sauce - Aglio Olio, cream or tomato-base. They also have forrest mushroom, hawaiian and seafood pizzas cut into small pieces, allowing you to savour variety without getting too full.

Teppanyaki and Tobatayaki Kiosk. The usual teppanyaki where the chef will prepare to your choice of vegetables, mushroom and meat. They will provide a number tag if the queue gets long.
There is also beef and pork satay, grilled pineapple. The marinate of the satay was nice too, just that some portion was a bit tough. Well, since its buffet, you can add as much pineapple puree to your satay sauce :).

Pork Satay
Rating: 3.75/5

The gilled chicken wings and shishamo were good as well. The white fungus chicken was good that I had 2 portions.

(clockwise)White fungus chicken soup, grilled Shishamo
Beef stew, Pasta, Sausage

Local Delights were available as well. Our famous chicken rice, laksa and also prawn crackers. A range of beverages were available - homemade soya bean milk, soft drinks, teh and kopi as what you will find in coffee shop.

Local Delights

The dessert spread was not very interesting, but they do have a few dessert worth trying - waffles with ice cream and silky beancurd.

Dessert

Buffet Town - $24.80++ for lunch buffet from Monday to Friday.
Setting was ok, just that the tables were too close to one another, you might need to maneuver to your seat.
Being a themed kiosk concept where not all food are on display as normal buffet, you will need to look out for those small little signs at the counter else you will missed out the goodies hidden behind the counters.

Buffet Town

Buffet Town
Raffles City, #B1-44E
252 North Bridge Road
Tel: (+65) 6837 3793

Operating Hour:
11.30am to 3pm daily
6pm to 10.30pm daily

http://www.buffettown.com.sg/

Tapas Buffet @ Loco Tapas

2012-08-29T09:57:00.000-07:00

$15.90 for a All-You-Can-Eat Tapas Buffet at Loco Tapas Bar. Nice food, centralised location at such an attractive price. it is really the BEST deal ever!!

It was a 55% discount buffet deal to promote the newly opened Loco Tapas bar at Boat Quay, offering tantalising Spanish cuisine.

There were a few dishes that were memorable. Grilled asparagus with bacon was one of them. Fresh asparagus couple with crispy grilled bacon with drops of flavourful oil from the bacon dripping down. They were very generous with the dried bacon, but on the other hand, it can get a bit salty. Sinfully yummy!

Asparagus with Bacon
Rating: 4/5

The bacon prawns were very nice as well. Yes, oily bacon wrapped again. The bacon gives additional flavour to the prawn and add crisp to the dish. Equally yummy!

Bacon Prawns
Rating: 4.25/5

Marinated Salmon cold cut - free flow of marinated salmon that you can eat to your heart's content. The green "pea" like capers that comes with the salmon taste really well with the salmon.

Marinated Salmon
Rating:3.75/5

The buffet also comes with free flow of drinks. Besides salmon, there is also marinated mushroom and Chorizo. Chorizo is spanish pork sausage which get their distinctive smokiness and deep red colour from dried smoked red peppers.

(clockwise)Marinated Mushroom, Lemon Tea, Chorizo

We have also tried their seafood soup, stuffed mushroom, deep fried fish fritters and rack of lamb. Their lamb was nicely pan-fried topped with rosemary and flavourful sauce. A substantial portion as tapas.

(clockwise) Stuffed Mushroom, Seafood Soup,
Deep Fried Fish Fritters and Rack of Lamb

We end the meal with Churros, spanish doughnut. The fried dough pastry topped with cinnamon, was still pipping hot when served. Dipped in the mildly sweet chocolate mixture, the churros were nice!

Churros
Rating: 4/5

Churros by the river

Nice alfresco setting just besides the Singapore river at Boat Quay. Even though it was a bit warm and humid for lunch, we enjoyed ourselves, indulging in nice food and enjoying the nice scenery.

Loco Tapas Bar Pte Ltd
48 Boat Quay
Singapore 049837
Tel: 6535 2841

Business Hours (Mon – Sun)
Lunch: 12pm to 3.30pm
Dinner: 6pm to 10.30pm

Paul Bakery

2012-08-14T09:08:00.000-07:00

PAUL - French bakery company with more than 120 years of savoir-faire. It is touted to be the leader in authentic French pastries offering unmatched quality of sweet patisserie using all real cream made with real butter and milk.

Our expectation was definitely raised after reading about this French Patisserie.

We ordered their cannele and a butter cream pastry for take-away.

Canele @$3.50
Canele is a small cake with dark, thick caramelized crust and soft centre. The name Canele came from the little fluted copper mould in which it is baked.

Canele

This canele is flavoured with vanilla and rum. I would not describe it as soft and tender custard center but something chewy like Nonya kueh Bingka Ubi or Indonesia honeycomb cake.

The rum is quite distinct and the caramelized crust was quite nice as well. However, $3.50 for such a small piece of honeycomb cake like canele is a bit expensive.

Canele

Butter cream pastry
Not sure what's the name of this pastry as the tags were all mixed up. Only get to know that it is some butter cream pastry from the salesperson.

It doesn't taste as good as it looks. Neither soft cake nor fluffy crispy puff, cream was nothing special as well. We didn't continue after 2 bites. Perhaps its just because we kept it overnight in the fridge.

ButterCream Pastry

Maybe we will try some other pastry fresh at the restaurant next time.

Paul Bakery
391A Orchard Road,
#03-16/16A/17 Ngee Ann City Tower A,
Singapore
Tel: +65 6836 5932

Business Hours
Bakery:
Sunday – Thursday: 9am to 9:30pm
Friday & Saturday: 9am to 10:30pm
Restaurant:
Monday – Sunday: 10am – 11pm

Fullerton Cafe Boutique

2012-08-10T08:39:00.000-07:00

Happened to be at Fullerton hotel few days ago. Enjoy the ambience and lavish interior of this 6 stars hotel. There was also live music at the lobby where the musicians played violin and flute at the 2nd storey.

Will definitely find an opportunity to enjoy hi-tea in this relax lavish settings one of these days. For that day, we will just settle for a takeaway.

Fullerton Hotel

The Fullerton Cafe Boutique staff approached us and recommend us to their signature pastries, highlighting that there is 50% discount for their pastries and sliced cakes after 7pm for takeaways.

Sweet Indulgence in our home sweet home.

Fullerton Cheesecake @$9. Creamy rich cheese cake not too sweet. The refreshing strawberry, blueberry and raspberry entice your palate to have more of the rich cheesecake without getting to jelat. Yummy!

Manjari Chocolate Mousse @$9. Bright orange cake with a thick layer of chocolate mousse on top. Manjari chocolate refers to chocolate made with beans from Madagascar which is slightly bitter with hints of soft fruit. Nice :)

Fullerton Hotel
1 Fullerton Square
Singapore 049178
Tel: 67338388

Authentic Hong Kong Dim Sum @Victor's Kitchen

2012-08-08T19:13:00.004-07:00

Was very disappointed in our last visit to Victor's Kitchen, not because of the food but because I realised my flash card was not in the camera only after we finished the meal. Managed to have a few snaps using my phone :)

Long queue and Crowded restaurant during Weekend

We made another visit Victor's Kitchen again, avoiding peak period this time round. As it was weekday and we are slightly early, we managed to get a table without queuing.

After getting a seat, unlike the previous visit, the staff was quite prompt to set the table for us. Knowing the protocol and to beat the crowd, I quickly go and grab an order chit at the counter, write down our table number, note down our orders and pass it to the lady boss at the counter.

Order Chit and Menu

Ordering tip - if you want to enjoy their double-boiled egg white with fresh milk, do order early as it takes 20min to prepare. For Golden egg yolk lava bun, its important to eat it while hot so that you will enjoy a consistent flowing lava. If you intent to enjoy lava buns as savoury dessert after the dim sum, will suggest to submit your lava bun order separately when you are half-way through the meal so that you can eat them while hot.

Scallop, sausage carrot cake with XO Sauce XO酱干贝腊味萝卜糕@$4. One of Victor's Kitchen specialities and authentic Hong Kong's Dim Sum. Soft carrot cake in its simplicity with complimenting black sauce. Slight spiciness and added fragrance of the XO sauce contrasted and brought out the taste of the radish. Quite nice but would be better if there are more chinese sausage or dried prawns. Additional XO sauce at additional $0.50.

Steamed Carrot Cake
Rating: 4/5

Yummy Phoenix Claws 香辣惹味凤爪@$3.50. Slightly spicy chicken feet with chopped garlic. Nothing really that fantastic.

Phoenix Claws
Rating: 3.75/5

Victor's King Prawn Dumpling 超级虾饺皇@ $5. Pure white dumpling skin wrapped with big prawns. The skin is very thin and texture is soft but it tear easily when you try to pick it up. Quite nice and full of prawn flavours.

Victor's King Prawn Dumpling
Rating: 4/5

The filling is not the usual where pork is mixed with prawns. It seems to be just prawns and generous big prawns. Which explains why the price of their prawn dumpling is similar to that offered in up-market restaurants.

Prawn Dumpling Filling

Tasty Queen Size Siew Mai 美味蟹皇烧卖@$4. Their Siew Mai was quite nice, tender pork with a strong fragrance which I believe came from the mushroom.

Tasty Queen Size Siew Mai
Rating: 4/5

Siew Mai Filling

Steamed Chicken with Chinese Wine 花雕杞子蒸鸡@$3. Fragrance Hua Diao wine coupled with tender smooth chicken. The wolf-berries add sweetness to the dish as well.

Steamed Chicken with Chinese Wine
Rating: 4/5

This is why I am back at Victor's Kitchen - Hong Kong Summer Ice Tea 香港夏日冰镇奶茶@$3. One of the best milk tea we had. One of the most "Kao", smooth, tasty and fragrant milk tea.

The thick milk tea was placed in a bowl of ice to keep it cool without diluting the tea. Although it can get a bit messy when the ice melts and the cup starts to floats up as it gets lighter, I still like this gimmick which adds some fun to it.

Hong Kong Summer Ice Tea
Rating: 4.5/5

Chicken and sausage in glutinous rice 干贝蛋黄腊味珍珠鸡@$5. One of their signature dish. The glutinous rice is fragrant and super soft. The watery filling within are some chicken and sausage. Would prefer the egg yolk to be more apparent.

Chicken and sausage in glutinous rice
Rating: 4/5

One of the authentic dish of Hong Kong Dim Sum - YouTiao Cheong Fun or "Za Leong" 香港风情炸两 @$3.50. Instead of wrapping the usual BBQ pork or prawn, the rice roll wraps a you-tiao (fried dough) which gives a contrasting yet complimenting texture. The fried you-tiao here is crispy and still soft, which is much better than those hard ones offered in some restaurants.

YouTiao Cheong Fun
Rating: 4.25/5

Now we come to the desserts. They offered double boiled egg white with fresh milk in 2 flavours - Ginger or Almond 鲜奶炖蛋白@$3.50. Home-made style, soft pudding-like with ginger taste that is not too over-powering. Being traditional "dun dan" 炖蛋, do not expect it to be as smooth as Lao Ban Beancurd :)

Double

Finally, THE dish that make them famous, Golden Egg Yolk Lava Bun 黄金流沙包@$4.0 for 3 buns. Golden savoury egg yolk lava flowing out as you break apart the steamed fluffy bun. Loved the consistency of the lava, not too watery nor too lumpy. The custard combined with fragrant salted egg yolk was simply yummy.

It is important to eat these buns while hot, else your bun might end up like the one in the photo where the lava filling starts to coagulate and oil starts to separate itself from the custard. Ya, the golden egg yolk lava is sinful, you will be surprise on the amount of oil in it. But its definitely worth the calories.

Golden Egg Yolk Lava Bun
Rating: 4.5/5

Total cost S$49.50. The dim sum here is nice but not really the best - Steam carrot cake, I will prefer that from Kam Boat. Porridge? I will prefer the dried vegetable with roast pork porridge in Ritz Carlton Summer Pavalion. But their Golden Egg Yolk Lava Bun and Hong Kong Summer Ice Tea are something that I will definitely return for.

Squeezy small dining area that resembles Hong Kong as well? Be prepared to make way for people while you are eating. Since there is no service charge, be contented that the staffs set the table and bring you your food. Don't expect smile or attention from the busy staffs.

There will some "loud communication" among the working staffs now and then. We went over the counter to settle the bills, highlighting to the lady boss that one Dim Sum was not delivered to us and to be excluded from the bill. In Cantonese to her staff, "Hey, table 32 says you never serve the pan-fried rice roll!", then she turned to me, "How? she says she is cooking it for you already." Ok ok, pack it please.

Victor's Kitchen

91 Bencoolen Street, #01-21
Sunshine Plaza, Singapore
Tel: 9838 2851

Business Hours:
Daily 10.30am – 8pm
(Closed on Mon)

Snack @Poh Cheu, Alexandra

2012-04-08T02:26:00.000-07:00

There is always a long queue at Poh Cheu stall, in a coffee shop next to the Alexandra Village Hawker Centre. The stall seems popular and there are many newspaper cuttings and good food awards all over the stall.

Poh Cheu

Poh Cheu specialised in a variety of handmade kueh keuh - Soon Kueh, Ang Ku Kueh. They also have nice abacus and glutinous rice, which was the reason we were there. We queued for 45 minutes before we managed to buy the "prized" kueh kueh.

Variety of Kueh

The staffs were still busy making kueh at around 2pm. They were still rolling the dough, wrapping the filling red bean paste and peanut paste into the kueh, placing it on a cut banana leaf and arranging the kueh onto the steaming rack to steam.

Kueh Making

Ang Ku Kueh (红龟糕) @$0.70
Ang Ku Kueh are made with glutinous rice flour and shaped like a tortoise to symbolise longevity. Besides the traditional Peanut and Red bean paste fillings, they also offer a variety of other fillings - Black Sesame (new), Durian, Green Bean, Salted Bean, Yam, Coconut, Coffee, Mango and Green Tea. Loved the vibrant colours and enjoyed choosing the different flavours. Maybe that's the reason why it took every customer so long to place their orders.

Ang Ku Kueh are traditionally used to celebrate baby full month. You can order Hong Qian, Hong Yuan and glutinous rice for the traditional baby full celebration snack. Understand from a colleague that according to traditional, round bottom and sharp tip HongYuan is for boys while flat HongQian is for girls. In the olden days where boys were preferred over girls, glutinous rice was privileged for only the baby boys. Nowadays, you can just include whatever to you liking for baby full month.

Noticed that these sticky skin traditional snack is not popular among the kids. Luckily there are still adults who can appreciate the Ang Ku Kueh which we had queued 45 minutes for. Peanut and black sesame are our favourites.

Ang Ku Kueh in Vibrant Colours!

Soon Kueh 笋粿@ $0.70~$1.00
The other speciality is their Soon Kueh with different fillings - Turnip Soon Kueh, Ku Cai Kueh, Bamboo Kueh, Yam Kueh and Rice cake (Peng Kueh). Even though the name 笋粿 literally implied snack made with bamboo shoots, the typical filling in Singapore is turnip, which is my favourite. I personally cannot appreciate the "authentic" bamboo shoot kueh (which is also more expensive) as I can't stand the smell. Do note that Yam Kueh is only available on certain days (Fri & Sat).

Not the best Soon Kueh I had, but still very satisfying, especially with the black sauce and chilli.

Soon Kueh
Rating: 3.75/5

Abacus 客家算盘子@$2
The reason why we were there was not Ang Ku Kueh nor Soon Kueh, but the Hakka dish - Abacus Beads (Suan Pan Zi 算盘子). It is not easy to find this traditional delicacy in Singapore, only know of a few stalls and this is the nearest. They were named as Abacus because the shape and size of these yam balls resemble the beads of a Chinese Abacus (算盤 or counting tray) and symbolises wealth (got $$ to count). They were boiled and then fragrantly sautéed with hei bi (dried shrimp), shredded carrot, mushrooms and some waxed meat. The abacus were garnished with spring onions and deep fried shallots.

Liked the texture of the abacus, slightly chewy without sticking to your teeth. The main drawback is the abacus are pre-packed into a container. The condensed steam seems to make the surface a bit soggy. Believe it will taste much better if eaten immediately after the stir-fry.

Abacus
Rating: 4/5

Glutinous Rice 糯米饭@$1.50
Glutinous rice cooked with mushrooms, waxed meat/sausage, peanuts and small white fish. Fried shallots was sprinkled on top. Same issue as Abacus, its pre-packed and the condensed steam seems to affect the taste. But the container is definitely very convenient for reheat in the microwave.

Glutinous Rice

According to the old folks, glutinous rice and snack are a bit difficult to digest. As it is sticky, oil is often added to prevent them from sticking together. People are getting more health conscious nowadays, these starchy snacks maybe not be suitable for daily consumption but maybe more for occasional indulgence.

Small tips to beat the queue.

Poh Cheu provide call & collect service which allow you to skip the long queue. The condition is the order for each kueh flavour is to come in multiple of 10 only.
If you are only interested in the abacus, glutinous rice and rice cake which are pre-packed, you can just take the number of containers you want and pay directly to the stall owner without having to queue.

Poh Cheu
Address: 127 Bukit Merah Lane 1,
#01-230 Singapore
Time: 8am - 6pm, Closed on Sunday & Public Holidays (Except Friday & Saturday)
Tel: +65 6276 2287
http://www.sbestfood.com/pohcheu.htm

Cheap Abalone and Sharks Fins@Rabbit Brand Seafood Delicacies

2012-04-05T10:37:00.004-07:00

Where can you find a abalone set meal which cost only $12.50+ ?

Around one year ago, we were recommended by a friend to the cheapest Buddha Jump over the wall (佛跳墙) and abalone set meal at Rabbit Brand, Lucky Plaza (level 2).

Recently, there is a Groupon deal, $7.50 for $15 Worth of Chinese Fare at Rabbit Brand Seafood at Circular Road, which worked out to be a 50% discount to this already cheap Chinese food fare. Super value for money!

Rabbit Brand at Circular Road

This old tiny restaurant was decked right at the end of the Circular Road, at the back of the Boat Quay, beside those happening pubs and bars. Not much of a setting to talk about, just a rather cramped place with food court style table and chairs. Well, at least there is air-con in the indoor dining area.

Dining Area

In this inconspicuous tiny place, they offer nice and value for money Chinese set menu starting from $5.50. Each of the set menu will have at least one delicacy in the menu - abalone, sharks' fin, scallop, sea-cucumber or fish-maws.

Braised Whole Abalone with Special Make Spinach Beancurd Set (原粒鲍鱼配特制菠菜豆腐)

We ordered the most expensive set on the menu, which is only $12.50+. The set come with rice, Chinese tea and a dessert that is like Cheng-Teng.

Abalone and Spinach Beancurd Set
Rating: 4/5

Although the abalone was a bit small and you might not notice it among those big size mushrooms, broccoli and crab stick, it is still a whole abalone and quite rich in flavour.

Abalone

The Spinach beancurd was what I liked most, crispy fried with soft inner beancurd, providing different textures and accompanied with the fragrant spinach taste. Simply yummy!

Spinach Toufu

Buddha Jump Over The Wall (迷你佛跳墙)
The other popular set is this All-in-One "soup", Buddha Jump Over The Wall @$6.50, which is one of the most luxurious dish of Chinese food. All the mini delicacies - abalone, fish maw, dried scallop and shark's fins are added together and simmered to give a rich broth. Nice to go with the white rice. A small plate of bean sprout also came with the set.

Buddha Jump Over The Wall
Rating: 3.75/5

Braised Shark's fin in Claypot (红烧煲仔翅)
To make up to $30, we ordered another claypot shark's fins set @$6.50 as there is no à la carte shark's fin on the menu. All set come with rice and Chinese tea. The price is the same even though we forgo the rice.
We were expecting it to be richer and more flavourful. However, the braised Shark's fin was a bit too watery, didn't really taste much of the shark's fins.

Braised Shark's fin in Claypot
Rating: 3.5/5

The 3 set meals and a can of ginseng bird's nest cost $30 before GST, just nice for 2 vouchers. The restaurant is able to offer such delicacies at a cheap price because the company (Yeow Seng) have their own factory for canned abalone, bird's nest and shark's fin.

The food were quite nice. For the price we are paying, do not expect the dishes to be as good or delicate as those high-end restaurants.

There are only one service staff and 2 chefs at the shop. Don't expect much smile on the serving auntie but she will deliver your food and settled the bills promptly.

Rabbit Brand
http://www.rabbitbrand.com.sg/
11 Circular Road
Singapore 049367
Opening Hours: 11:00-22:00 (Mon.-Sun)

Tel: 6557 0874

Fish Soup@Xin Yuan Ji 新源记

2012-04-04T08:36:00.000-07:00

Had always prefer my food flavour to be strong, so fish soup was seldom my choice except for occasions when I am feeling guilty of gluttony.

Fish soup from Xin Yuan Ji is not those bland soup but rich, flavourful, slightly peppery and with a tinge of sweetness. You have a choice of whether to add milk to your fish soup. To have an extra "shiokness", You can add the red chilli provided to the soup. After we finished the soup, we saw some brown powdery sediment which should be grounded dried sole fish which adds flavour to the soup.

Fried fish meat soup @$5.80
Fresh fish slices fried to lovely golden brown in a rich and flavourful broth. Fried batter and shallots further enhanced the taste. Simple but nice.

Fried Fish Meat Soup
Rating: 4/5

Fried red snapper fish head soup @$7.30
Chunks of red snapper fish head fried to taste. It was a leisure to slowly bite and taste the crispy fish head chunk. I ordered the thin version of the bee hoon so that it absorbed the fish soup and is flavourful even on its own.

Fried Red Snapper Fish Head Soup
Rating: 4/5

Felt really homely when they took out a home-style folded paper box for our fish head bones. Simple practical act to avoid the unsightly bones all over the table.

Paper box for fish head bones

They have some homemade drinks with innovative names - Mama (line + plum) and Papa (Barley+lime)@$1.50. However the taste wasn't really to my liking. Their coffee was fragrant and nice.

Drinks - Coffee, Papa drink

Xin Yuan Ji is opposite Bugis Junction at a small alley of Tan Quee Lan street. Simple restaurant with wooden tables and stools, tables sharing are expected during peak hours. Prices are inclusive of GST and there is no service charge. Given this simple food court style eatery, price is slightly pricey.

Xin Yuan Ji

Besides fish soup, this restaurant offered many other dishes as well. Besides the usual Cze Char dishes, their charcoal fish steamboat seems nice as well. Will definitely try it some day.

There is another branch at Bukit Merah Central Hawker centre. This stall only sell fish soup, same nice fish soup at a cheaper price.

31 Tan Quee Lan Street,
#01-01, Singapore 188117
Tel: +65 6334 4086
Operating Hours: 11.00am to 12.30am

Nice coffee @Highlander Coffee Bar

2012-03-25T08:53:00.000-07:00

Decked in the remote stretch of conservation area along Kampong Bahru, it was not easy to locate Highlander Coffee bar. Doubt that we could find this hidden coffee place if not for a colleague to lead the way.

The setting wasn't like the usual coffee place - Starbucks or Coffee Bean, no cozy sofa but uncomfortable stools in a small cramped area. It doesn't matters as we were intending to have take-away.

Highlander Coffee Bar

I ordered a Macadamia latte @$5.50. While they were preparing the coffee, besides the aromatic coffee, there were also traces of macadamia fragrant in the air.

The macadamia latte was very smooth, rich and fragrant. It was with just the right amount of sugar as the coffee was smooth and there wasn't a need to hide bitterness or sourness with more sugar. It was served lukewarm, not too hot and just nice for drinking immediately.

Macadamia latte

Although I am no coffee connoisseur, but I believe the latte I just had is good enough to impress a number of coffee lovers.

Highlander Coffee
http://highlandercoffee.com/
49 Kampong Bahru Road, Singapore
Tel: +65 6223 7102

Chinese Cuisine Fine Dining @TungLok Signatures

2012-03-24T08:59:00.000-07:00

Fine dining can be for Chinese Cuisine as well, TungLok Signatures delivers that. Dishes in Chinese cuisine are to be shared and thus usually comes in bigger portion. To cater for smaller dining group, TungLok offered cuisine by per piece or per portion such that you can still enjoy variety of dishes.

We bought from Groupon $25 worth of TungLok Group dining vouchers at $12.50. Each visit can utilise up to 2 groupons.

Pan-fried French Foie Gras

Pan-fried French Foie Gras and Beancurd Skin served with Pancake 香煎法国鹅肝素方薄饼 ($14.80 per piece). The foie gras and beancurd skin are to be wrapped in the pancake, similar to how we eat peking duck. The foie gras was rich and flavourful. The slightly charred outside and soft fatty fat within were perfectly complimented with a slice of fresh juicy cucumber and a piece of beancurd skin which give the wrap an extra crisp. Simply yummy!

Pan-fried Foie Gras
Rating: 4.5/5

Kurobuta Pork

Pan-fried Japanese Kurobuta Pork 香煎鹿儿岛和豚 ($14.80 per piece)

Although it was a small thin slice of pork, but it was enough to give you the oomphs. Pan-fried bring out the fat from the marbled fat pork to give it a nice slight burnt taste. The tender kurobuta tasted much richer than normal pork and goes really well with rice.

Kurobuta Pork
Rating: 4.5/5

Poach Cabbage

Poached Cabbage with Ham 云肘翠玉 ($6 per portion)

Poached cabbage artistically arranged and served with a piece of Chinese ham (金華火腿). It came with a nice broth as well.

Poach Cabbage
Rating: 3.75/5

Rack of Lamb

Pan-Fried Rack of Lamb with Special Homemade Sauce 香煎澳洲乳羊 ($10 per portion)

We had very high expectation of the lamb as it looked really good from the picture. We were kind of disappointed, its not really tender for a sucking lamb mutton and not as flavourful as the thin slice of Kurobuta pork. Neither the homemade sauce nor the fried ring was a saving grace.

Rack of Lamb
Rating: 3.75/5

The total bill was around S$60. With the 2 groupons, practically we paid S$35 for the meal. Quite a good deal!

TungLok Signatures

http://www.tungloksignatures.com/

VivoCity #01-571 HarbourFront Walk

Singapore 098585

Tel : +65 6376 9555

Opening Hours :

Lunch : 11.30AM – 3.00PM (Mon to Sat)

11.00AM – 3.30PM (Sun & PHs)

Dinner : 6.00PM – 10.30PM (Daily)

Snack @ iLoveTaiMei, Bugis

2012-03-18T05:37:00.004-07:00

Happened to pass by this I Love Taimei 我愛台妹 Taiwanese stall/kiosk at Bugis Junction for the past few weeks. Noticed that business for this stall had started to improve and long queues are formed recently.

I Love Taimei Stall/Kiosk

Finally I got the chance to try this store while waiting for a friend that day. Their marketing strategy of using celebrities on the menu successfully captured attention (at least mine!). Wonder whether there are any copyright/trademark infringement and how the fans feels seeing how their idols are associated to the different snacks.

Celebrity Menu

There are a variety of snacks offered, Selina - BBQ Crispy Chicken, Ella - extra crispy chicken, Hebe - Lemon Crispy Chicken, 小S - Popcorn chicken, 侯佩岑-Taiwan Tempura, 大S - mushroom combo and some other side dish like 七里香 chicken tail and shake2 fries.

I ordered a packet of 大S, fried mushroom combo @$3.50. The "crew" take a packet of mushroom, dip them into the diluted batter with his bare hands and tossed them in a container to coat with flour before frying it. Hygiene can be improved if the staff use some utensil or wear a pair of gloves while handling the food.

The mushroom was served pipping hot which blurred my camera lens when I try to take a picture. Chilli powder will be sprinkled on your order if you requested it to be spicy upon ordering. The mushroom was crispy fried and I love the fragrant peppery salty coating on the mushroom! Its as good as the 椒盐 fried stuffs we had in Taiwan. The mushroom combo consists of the mushroom cap and stalk and they are both juicy and complement the stronger taste crispy batter well. Yummy!

大S Fried Mushroom Combo
Rating: 4.25/5

Will definitely patronize this stall again to try their bubble milk tea with Taro Q, Lemon Ice Jelly with Perl, BBQ crispy chicken and 七里香.

I Love TaiMei
http://www.ilovetaimei.com.sg/
Bugis Junction

Set Lunch @White Dog Cafe

2012-03-17T09:34:00.002-07:00

Cheap and nice 3 course lunch set from $10.90++, include a White Dog Waldorf Salad, a soup and a main course.
White dog cafe offered a variety of choices (~18) for the main course, much more than what is usually offered in other restaurants.

Set Lunch Menu

White dog Waldorf Salad and Soup of your choice
You can choose Veloute of White Dory or Barley Chicken Broth. White dory cream soup sounds fishy and weird initially, but it turn out to be quite ok, quite smooth and not fishy. There is a slice of garlic bread to go with the soup, quite crispy and nice.
Nothing much about the salad, but the walnut did add some contrast to the greens.

Soup and Salad

Grilled Pork Chop with Prune and Apple Salsa
Pork was nicely charred, not too tough and quite fragrant. The prune and apple salsa doesn't look appetizing but it does compliment the pork well and is not too sweet. Portion of the meat was small, but should be sufficient for the average as the mains are served with a small portion of raisin organic brown rice.

Grilled Pork Chop

Beer-battered Pacific Dory with Tartar Sauce
My friend ordered the beer-battered dory, only had a bite and it was quite nice. Although its not as crispy as some of the fish and chips, but it does taste fresh and goes well with the creamy tartar sauce.

Beer-battered Pacific Dory

There is much room for improvement for their service. Never sight a single smile from the gloomy waitresses and it also took quite a while for them to settle the bill.

Nonetheless, will still be back again as the food is relatively cheap.

Great Lunch Deal, cheap lunch deal.

Romantic Dinner - The Cliff @ The Sentosa

2012-02-12T07:37:00.000-08:00

Away from the bustle and hustle of the city, the Cliff restaurant is at a quiet corner of Beaufort Hotel at Sentosa.

Beaufort Hotel

The alfresco dining area is at a balcony platform which overlooks South China Sea, supposed to boast a nice sunset view in the evening while romantic illuminations from the ships during the night. It was cloudy that evening and we only managed to catch a glimpse of sunset skies. As the dining area is besides a lush forest with tall trees, a large portion of the sea view was kind of being blocked.

Scenery from Restaurant

Nonetheless, still liked the casual yet comfortable settings - long wooden tables and benches with back and comfortable cushions, modern rustic settings with ceiling fans ventilating the area. The relaxing settings at the balcony is very different from the formal impression from the posh impressive passage over water at the entrance.

Dining Area

Table Setting

Contemporary European cuisine is served here. Before the meal start, there were some small sized offerings being served. Understand that these are known as amuse-bouche, French term which literally means "mouth amuser". These are complimentary greetings from good restaurant, aimed at exciting dinners' palette and also to showcase chief's creativity. There were some kind of thick creamy soup in the small cups, small toast with paste-like chopped tuna decorated with some rosemary and a jelly.

Amuse-Bouche

Bread is being served as usual. Had always loved bread from western restaurants and always need to constraint myself not to eat too much. There are a variety of bread offered here, however couldn't really appreciate the few we had selected nor the curry powder that is supposed to go with the bread.

Saw lots of fresh oysters in their glass kitchen when we pass by the entrance. Decided to get their Tasting of Oyster with 5 different preparations.

Umami - dashi pearl, oba granite and seaweed
Sour - lapsang souchong vinaigrette and citrus fruits
Bitter - Sorrel juice and salted sago
Salt - smoked ham and shrimp floss
Sweet - Strawberry espuma, coriander and balsamic jelly

Oysters
Rating: 4/5

Each of them was unique in taste. The bitter and sour preparation were quite nice. Have a bit of reservation for the sweet taste initially, but the strawberry foam combined with coriander actually goes well with the oyster. Had high expectation for the salty preparation but it was quite disappointing as the shrimp floss just seems weird with the oyster.

Main course is Tajima Wagyu Beef @$125. Tajima are black cattle originating from the Hyogo prefecture and was described as one of the highest quality beef in the world. The chef recommend medium rare for the steak, slightly charred on the outside and very tender and juicy inside. Usually when beef is a bit rare, it can also get slightly chewy. But this medium rare wagyu beef was very moist and tender. For the first time, I enjoyed the fresh meaty taste of the inner beef more than the strong seared charred taste on the outside.

There were few small pieces of foie gras, soft, creamy texture with rich flavour. But its soft and too small in size that the first few slices just slipped down my throat before I can savour it. The sides were good too, crispy-fired fragrant truffled potato, asparagus, zucchini and carrot.

Tajima Wagyu Beef
Rating: 4.5 / 5

My dining partner ordered a Ibérico Pork @ $62, strip loin, rib roll, apple-sauerkraut purée, potato dumpling and cabbage roll. Black Ibérico pig origin from Iberian Peninsula (Portugal and Spain), usually known as Spanish pig, supposed to be special for its marbled fat like Kobe beef. It wasn't really that amazing but we do like the rib roll. The apple-sauerkraut purée was quite special too. Sauerkraut is pickling process similar to how kimchi are made, the puree is quite refreshing with a tinge of sourness.

Ibérico Pork
Rating: 3.75 / 5

The Cliff Lemon Tart @$20 - textures of lemon, gin and tonic jelly, tonka bean ice cream and yuzu sorbet. The ice cream and yuzu sorbet was nice. The others was quite new to us - meringue, small tiny gin and tonic jelly with gold pieces - interesting but couldn't really appreciate them especially at such a price.

The Cliff Lemon Tart
Rating: 3.5 / 5

It was very kind of them to offer a complimentary cake for our birthday celebration. We wouldn't have ordered the lemon tart if we had know of the complimentary cake earlier.

There is also complimentary shuttle service from the hotel to HabourFront/Vivo, you can just check the timing at the concierge.

The Cliff at The Sentosa,
A Beaufort Hotel
2 Bukit Manis, Sentosa,
Singapore 099891
Tel: (65) 6371 1425
Opening Hours: 6.30pm – 12.00am (last orders at 10pm)
Reservation Recommended: Yes
Dress Code: Smart Casual

China Street Fritters @Maxwell

2012-02-07T08:07:00.000-08:00

China Street Fritters 中国街五香贯肠 at Maxwell Market.

This stall has been around for a long time, offering traditional Ngoh Hiang and Guan Chang
There is not much variety but the standard 7 dishes - sausage, egg slice, meat roll, liver roll, century egg, bean curd and fish ball. They also offer fried bee hoon to complete the meal.

The egg slices ($0.7) are my favorite, every bite is filled with rich egg fragrance and taste. It's even better when you dip it with the starchy sauce provided.

Their sausage or Guan Chang ($2) is also nice. It is usually made with marinated lean pork stuffed into a casting (not sure if its pork intestine or synthetic), boiled and cut into thin slices to serve. Won't describe it as succulent but it's definitely not dry. As you chew further, you will enjoy the meaty taste.

Their liver meat roll ($0.8) is quite unique as well, its liver pieces combined with vegetable wrapped in beancurd skin. The has a rich liver taste, you will like it if you love the taste of liver.

WuXiangGuanChang
Rating: 4/5

The fried Bee Hoon was quite nice, soft rice vermicelli, appropriately seasoned and not too oily. It goes well with the chili provided.

China Fritters are traditional Hokkien Ngoh Hiong. Unlike Teochew Wu Xiang Guan Chang, they do not have the white crispy prawn cracker

Maxwell Road,
#01-64 Maxwell Food Centre,
Singapore
Tel: +65 9239 6464
Opening Hours
12.00pm – 8.00pm
(Closed on Mon)

Lao Ban Soy Beancurd 老伴豆花 @ Maxwell

2012-02-05T10:01:00.001-08:00

After spotting 2 office ladies carrying 10 packed tubs of Lao Ban beancurd under the hot sun and hearing my colleague's description of how good it taste, I had been wanting to try their handmade Tau Huay.

Decided to go to the branch at Maxwell as the main stall at old airport road is a bit out of the way.
Glad that the queue was quite short, maybe because its already late in the evening. However, almond flavour was sold out and we only manage to get the original flavour @$1.50.

Lan Ban Beancurd @Maxwell Market

The chilled Lao Ban beancurd was yummy! Its soft, silky smooth like a jelly or pudding. It is creamier and smoother than the traditional beancurd. Unlike the traditional beancurd which is sweetened with sugar syrup, Lao Ban beancurd itself is already flavourful with the ingredient malt mixture and coffee-mate. The beancurd simply melts in your mouth with soy bean milk bursting out. The taste is more of milky with only slight soy bean taste, it will be perfect if the soy bean taste is richer.

Textures of Beancurd
Pic 1: Slight tension on the surface
Pic 2 : First scoop showing the soft jelly-like center

Yummy Beancurd
Rating: 4.5/5

Lao Ban bencurd is so famous that there are lots of article and information on this tofu custard, you can even find recipes contributed by internet users which claimed to be as good as Lao Ban's.

Lao Ban beancurd had started their chilled beancurd around one and half year ago and created a hype that many other stalls follow. All claimed to be the best, using 100% pure soy bean with no soyabean powder or coffee mate. Will find a chance to try the other stalls like QQ Soya Bean Curd and 51 Soy Bean.

Maxwell Food Centre

Maxwell Road #01-91

Mobile: 8299 8211

51 Old Airport Road
#01-127 Old Airport Road Hawker Centre
Mobile: 81812201

Opening Hours: Mon-Sat 1130am- 800pm (or sold out)
Closed on Sunday

http://www.facebook.com/Laobansoya

Sol Tasca @ Fullerton RiverBoat

2012-02-04T21:58:00.001-08:00

Bought Sol Tasca's festive set lunch deal from BigDeal at $19+ for our gals' gathering.

Getting to the restaurant at Fullerton Waterboat House was difficult, especially under a hot sun.
It's not at the Fullerton Waterboat house main building, but you need to walk down a flight of stairs hidden by the bushes. Took me some time before I managed to find the way to the restaurant at the Esplanade Bridge that link one Fullerton to raffles place.

Sol Tasca @ Esplanade Bridge

Took a while to cool down on the high seat chair with a glass of ice water and slight river breeze. Believe it will be a much cooling and nicer setting especially with the bridge lights and cooler breeze in the evening or night.

Dining Area

SOL Tasca's festive 4 course set lunch

Cream of Wild Mushroom
The soup was ok, it was a bit salty and the scent of truffle oil was a bit overpowering for me. Could have been better if there are less salt and truffle oil.

Cream of Mushroom
Rating: 3.5/5

Rocket Salad with Smoked Duck Breast, Cherries and Hazelnuts Oil Dressing
Quite nice especially for those who loved the rocket salad. The duck breast was not dry, quite succulent with the smoked fragrance.

Smoked Duck Breast Rocket Salad
Rating: 3.75/5

Pan-Seared Turkey Breast with Chestnut Stuffing, accompanied with Roasted Garlic Whipped Potatoes, Seasonal Vegetables And Cranberry Sauce.
Meat being too dry is always my worry for Turkey, but it turned out to be quite juicy and tender. The cranberry sauce also enhanced the flavor of the turkey. As for chestnut stuffing, the portion is quite small that I can't really recall much about it.

Pan-Seared Turkey Breast with Chestnut Stuffing
Rating: 4/5

Almond Crusted Salmon Supreme
My friend ordered their salmon, which is served with crushed potatoes, vegetables and saffron cream sauce. The salmon is very tender and very fresh and nicely crisped on the outside. The almond and cream sauce was good too.

Almond Crusted Salmon Supreme
Rating: 4/5

Warm Chocolate Almond Pudding with Triple Chocolate Ice Cream
The warm chocolate pudding was topped with some crushed almond and it was like a lava cake with soft, gooey semi-liquid chocolate at the center. The ice cream was quite delightful too, wondering if its movenpick ice cream since they have an ice cream freezer selling movenpick ice cream right outside their restaurant.

Dessert
Rating: 4/5

Quite a kind gesture for them to call in the morning to inform us that the salmon was not available that day as their salmon supply is not delivered in time. But its quite disappointing that they are not prepared to provide alternatives to the salmon, especially when the deal menu only have 2 options - turkey or salmon. Luckily their salmon finally managed to arrive in time for our lunch.

Understand that there will be live band performances Wed - Sat, starting from 8pm. Lighting under the bridge, live Spanish music and occasional breeze, think it can be quite an alfresco dining experience at night.

More Deal Reviews at http://monsoondeal.blogspot.com/

3 Fullerton Road,
#01-04 The Fullerton Waterboat House
Opening Hours:
Sunday – Thursday: 10.30am – 11pm
Friday – Saturday: 10.30am – 12am (last order at 11.30pm)
http://sol-group.com.sg/soltasca/

Dessert @ Ah Chew, Bugis

2012-02-03T08:06:00.001-08:00

After lunch at Yu Kee duck rice at Bugis, we walked down the Liang Seah street to Ah Chew for dessert.

They offer a variety of desserts, both traditional and modern, serve hot or cold.

Dessert Bar

We tried their Yam with Sago @$3.20. We can immediately smell the yam fragrance and taste the yam when we only have the sago in the first scoop. You can find generous chunks of yam at the bottom of the bowl. Not too sweet, just nice!

Something that I don't like is the ice cubes added to the dessert if you want it cold. As the ice cube is not fully melted, it kind of affected the texture of the dessert.

Yam with Sago
Rating: 4/5

Service was prompt. Seats are a bit cramp. They have expanded and converted the shop next door to their dining area.

Ah Chew Desserts

1 Liang Seah Street,
#01-11 Liang Seah Place,
Singapore
Tel: +65 6339 8198

Mon–Thu : 12.30pm – 11.30pm
Fri : 12.30pm – 12.30am
Sat–Sun: 1.30pm – 12.30am
Sun : 1:30pm - 11.30pm

The Handburger @ Raffles City

2012-01-29T07:55:00.001-08:00

From the name, thought it's some DIY burger place. The hands they are referring to are theirs, which are used to whip up gourmet burgers.

The burger was served on a wooden platter where you can just use your hand to grab the burger and eat. Knife and fork are available for those who still prefer to keep their hands clean.

We got the recommended super combo - The works @$17.80
The Works include almost everything - crispy bacon, onion rings, sunny side up egg, sauteed pesto mushroom, cheddar cheese and grilled grass-fed prime beef. All these are definitely more than a handful. Their caramelized onion bun was quite nice too.

The Works
Rating: 3.75/5

Happy lamburger @$17.80

Grass-fed lamb patty, sunny side up egg and feta cheese. Did not really like it as the lamb is a bit "gamey".

The Lamburger
Rating: 3.5/5

The burgers come with a choice of side - chunky fries, mushroom soup or salad. Their sides were quite good - fries were crispy and tasty while the mushroom soup was thick and creamy. The soup will definitely be of standard as handburger is under the same group as The Soup Spoon and Soup Broth Asia.

Service was a bit slow. Setting is more of a high-end food court than restaurant.

The HandBurger
Raffles City Shopping Centre
#B1-65/66
Singapore 179103
Tel: +65 6334 4577

Opening Hours

Sun - Thur : 11:30am - 10pm

Fri & Sat : 11:30am - 10:30pm

http://thehandburger.com/

50% off Cheap and Nice Traditional Dim Sum @ Kam boat, Shaw Centre

2012-01-29T05:58:00.001-08:00

Kam Boat offer traditional Cantonese Dim Sum. This is not a place where you will find delicate and exquisite dim sum but tasty simple home-made style dim sum with sentimental appeal to some.

They offer 50% discount for 9 types of Dim Sum, the Dim Sum on offer may differ from month to month. Below are some we have tried.

Steam Pumpkin Dumpling - $3.80 before 50% off
quite unique combination of savory and sweet from the pumpkin.

Steam Pumpkin Dumpling
Rating: 4.25/5

Steamed Chicken Feet - $3.80 before 50% off
Something I will always order. Like the relaxing feel of slowly chewing the chicken feet

Chicken Feet
Rating: 3.75/5

Steamed Pork & Shrimps Dumpling (Siew Mai) - $4.50 before 50% off
although the Siew Mai come in different sizes and heights but they taste just as good as those in up-market restaurant, especially the pork and shrimp filling.

Siew Mai
Rating: 4/5

Glutinous Rice Roll "Teochew" Style - $4 before 50% off
Very traditional snack, something we won't ordered if its not on discount. Thanks for the offer, else we will have missed this fragrance oily rice with peanuts, nice simplicity!

Glutinous Rice Roll
Rating: 4/5

Steamed Carrot Cake - $3.30 before 50% off
Loved this down-to-earth steamed carrot cake with waxed meat in a bowl, sprinkled with spring onions and shallots accompanied with some light sauce.

Steamed Carrot Cake
Rating: 4.25/5

Besides the discounted dim sum, we also ordered the Curry Pig Skin & Fish Ball @$7
Have been wanting to try the Curry Fish Balls as it is always shown in Hong Kong drama series. The fried fish ball is very springy and the fried pig skin absorbed the curry, quite nice. Be careful that this fried curry fish ball dish is quite spicy, which we don't usually expect for Hong Kong cuisine.

Curry Pig Skin & Fish Ball
Rating: 4/5

Setting is typical mid-range chinese restaurant with both square and round tables for different group size and a window to showcase the roast stuffs.

Service is "home-style" as well. "Big sisters" will ensure that you get your food and your tea is refilled. They will also tell you directly that you've ordered too much and remind that packing is not allowed for discounted items.

Kam Boat Chinese Cuisine
1 Scotts Road,
#05-14 Shaw Centre, Singapore
Tel: +65 6732 4675
Opening Hours
Daily: 11.30am–3pm, 6pm–11pm
http://www.kamboat.com.sg/

Yet another review for
Hong Kong Yam-Cha, Lunch Deal, Recommendation for cheap & good, value for money Dim Sum, Hong Kong Chinese Cuisine, Snack on Promotion or offer, Not to be missed deal, Traditional Dian Xin, nice food at orchard :)