Had dinner with a couple of friends at Seasons Bistro, an American styled bistro that has garnered pretty good reviews since its opening a couple of months back.
Located on the ground floor of Triple One Somerset (the former PUB building) and playing neighbour to Imperial Treasure Windows of Hong Kong and Imperial Treasure Steamboat (which I personally don't find that great), Seasons features a down to earth wooden interior with huge wall to ceiling glass panels for a view of the exterior pedestrian walkway.
Season's Poutine ($10 ) - I love my poutine and even though Season's poutine was specifically recommended in quite a few reviews, it was quite a let down in my humble opinion. Sure, the fries were moist but where was the lightly crisp skin? Also, the gravy was a tad too bland and the Stripey Jack cheese came in cubes, not mildly gooey curds, which is one of the hallmarks of poutine. I will take gladly take Triple O's version over this anytime.
Buttermilk Fried Chicken ($22 ) - After a rather disappointing start, this Southern dish of buttermilk fried chicken perked things up a little though it did look rather dry on the outside. Thankfully the meat was flavourful and juicy with a nice crunch from the skin. 3 rather small pieces, served with a side of corn salad.
Banana Split ($12 ) - Season's deconstructed banana split. Done to an almost perfect disaster. 1 rock hard scoop of vanilla bean ice cream coupled with a dash of nutella and 2 pieces of caramalised bananas (goreng pisang) that came coated with a limp layer of flour and lacked any sweetness or taste for that matter. The granola nut crumbs gave this dish a slightly chewy taste which I personally didn't like; Crushed nuts would have suited better in my humble opinion.
1 poutine, 1 chicken and 1 dessert cost me about $52 nett. Expensive? Quantitatively speaking, not really. But qualitatively, yes. General food quality was average at best and definitely not worth the price paid. Service was pretty decent though and the restaurant offers a relatively quiet place to catch up with friends in Orchard road over dinner but unfortunately that's just not enough.
I'm always amazed when I visit the blogshop clearance sales bazaar at the Suntec Convention center level 3 concourse, well need not say but good convenient location with many other bustling activities always brings a good buying crowd.
Its was a mixture of excitement and fun as the flea vendors always manage to surprise me. Every time i visit this flea, i meet new friends and am for sure to grab some great buys, though I was always looking for that special non-regular items.
The vendors are many but every booth is arranged with ample browsing space, neatly stacked goods, comfy sitting and hanging space at each booth and properly stored packing materials. The flea was neat and well flea like as haggling and laughters were widely heard amidst the latin back ground music.
I said hi to some of the more regularly seen vendors, especially long hair MIKE from the ever so funky t-shirt stall that I always love to grab a few pieces for my casual days and not forgetting the ever so popular nail stickers that I've never got tired buying, always a new design for a new date :)
I spotted some new vendors with really interesting merchandises and services, one of which is a wedding/event flora service that can customize your events with generous floral layouts, pretty accessories for sales (ladies crowd around these booths), pretty dresses from famous blogshops, infant/children wears, collectable toys (men crowd around these) and not forgetting a booth that sells this nice flora printed multi-functional purses which now houses my mobile, tissue, wallet, some loose change and small knick knacks... Loving it with a strip for lunch time craziness.
The flea was fun and I look forward to the next one to grab some good deals... I'm impressed... vendors in SG... your creativity in bringing in some really awesome merchandises and bold entrepreneur spirits...
I Salute.... and please bring in more nice stuffs :)
The Royal Mail had been around for about 2 years but it was never on our to dine at list for one reason or another. We finally decided to give it a shot one Friday evening before the wife took off for an extended work trip to Korea.
Occupying a spot in Ascott Raffles Place, the restaurant's name is inspired by its location, where a former British post office once stood. And it serves up "modern British cuisine" of course.
The restaurant is situated on the second floor, up a flight of stairs that open up right into the oddly shaped dining area whilst the bar takes up a small corner on the first floor. If you value your privacy, it might be a good idea to request for seats further in and not along the stairway, especially on a busy night.
Complimentary Bread - Puff pastry with brie cheese - Now that's something you don't get very often. Soft and moist with a nice cheesy nuance. I did find it a wee bit too oily though.
Amuse Bouche - The amuse bouche was a classic duck rillette on toast; nice but not creamy enough with a mildly spicy kick. Still a good start nonetheless!
The Royal Mail Caesar Salad - Our quintessential greens for the evening, the humble Caesar salad. Spiced up with bacon strips, a nicely poached egg, strips of cheese and toasted bread. Nothing too fancy but it kept the positive momentum going.
Sous-Vide Half Maine Lobster - That's a pretty small lobster if you ask me but it was good. Crunchy meat cooked to a perfect consistency and served with a shard of crisp ibérico ham and a slice of mildly sweet Japanese pumpkin, sitting in a pool of rich emulsified butter sauce.
Roasted Whole Chicken - The roasted chicken needed quite a fair bit of work, coming across as bland and uninspiring. The accompanying chermoula sauce was just plan oily and we had a hard time finishing the chicken, small as it was.
Roast Prime Rib - A signature of the restaurant, we had the classic cut (280g), which came served with delicious sauteed Brussels sprouts topped with pine nuts and blue cheese, a roasted whole garlic and Yorkshire pudding. Done up medium well instead of medium as per my request, the prime rib was quite good; Thickly cut, succulent and tasty. I didn't quite fancy the Yorkshire pudding though, which was neither crisp nor hot.
Truffle Risotto - The side of truffle risotto was al dente and beautifully creamy and fragrant with chunks of mushroom in it. Delicious!
Chocolate Fondant - Nicely moist fondant with a molten chocolate center and served with a scoop of lacklustre vanilla bean ice cream and deliciously crunchy chocolate soil with freeze dried raspberries atop. I personally loved the texture and tartness that the chocolate soil, dried raspberries combination brought to this dessert.
Banoffee Tart - A pretty decent rendition of one of my favourite western desserts (I have many by the way), the banoffee tart sported a crisp tart shell with a filling of banana, crumble and toffee, topped with a dollop of cream and dusted with cocoa powder. The salted caramel sauce could have featured a little more prominently and the bananas could have been a little more moist whilst the tart would have been better with a little more baking in my humble opinion.
With a 50% discount, the bill for the both of us came up to a mere $105, which is a rather good deal considering the very decent quality and quantity of food (with the exception of the chicken). Service was excellent; Personal without coming across as overbearing. At such a price point and quality, I'll be hard pressed to find an excuse not to revisit.
Hungry for a taste of Nostalgia? Go to the RoofTop @ City Square Mall and be amazed by the huge array of seen that, had that and almost got my fingers crushed by that old school cupboard, yet now the everyday objects of yesteryears brought back many fun childhood memories.
"Let's go to the flea market opposite the food court!" my friend exclaimed as we took our step of the upward riding escalator and at one glance it did look like small stores selling titter tatters yet as we approached we realised its a huge open space departmental store that sold anything from retro styled dresses to everyday lifestyle goods.
While we admired the pretty little old things that brought our memories back to childhood, we cannot but post for a few pictures and wonder if this cupboard is for sale, that green wooden couch is for sale, how about these retro pop coloured accessories. There is plenty to buy for a lady as almost half the space was dedicated to pretty geometrical shape design blouses and dresses, pop coloured accessories, hats of various shape and skin care products that my granny still uses.
The other half are mostly lifestyle products. We picked up a chicken door bell for $33 and a wooden wind vane in the shape of an airplane. We also spotted huge retro looking shades and black round plastic switches that every household used to have. It was amazing and there is so much to buy, however as our original plan is to street shop in little india, we bought whatever we could to be placed into our bags. Our hearts are not satisfied and we are sure to come back for more...
Goodbye sales lady in retro dresses... next time we hope we could pose together with you for a selfie :)
I entered the restaurant like a Royal, yes it made me feel that way with its luxurious designs which kind of reminded me of some up-class Five Star hotel dining. Its glamorously good looking, lavishly decorated in mirror black, silver and gold.
Plush cushioned chairs with lightly embroidered table cloths and napkins in warm lighting makes the entire dining atmosphere warm and welcoming. Chinese styled round tables, spacious enough for stretching your legs with temperatures kept at a cool crisp 25 degrees away from the warm afternoon heat outside. Interestingly, almost every table is placed a fish bowl with live guppies and water ferns, keeping the entire atmosphere relaxed and close to nature while I spotted a calm looking Empurau fish in a huge tank in the middle of the dining hall.
Lift to level 2 opens up to a huge hall with special VIP rooms, chic decorations and large round dining tables with TV and i suspect a karaoke system. Sound insulation was good as we could hardly hear the merciless chit-chatting from the outside, though we could still spot some laughters and the noisy road beneath was pretty much silent.
The dishes arrived pretty nicely decorated with a little bit of surprises here and there and service was more than excellent and my personal dining portion of the table always kept promptly clean. There were a few wows factors for some of the dishes but i'm gonna just talk about the " MUST HAVES"
1) Appetizer: Fried Soft Shell Crab with Chicken Floss and Curry Leaves - Crispy and fluffy that is overwhelmed with aromatic turmeric and curry leaves that left a nice fragrant after taste. Crab was fresh and juicy while the chicken floss adds on the texture to the dish.
2) Appetizer: Crispy roast pork belly was exceptionally good. Served in half slabs, the proportion of the crispy skin and the juicy tender savoury meat had a great balance. Pretty much suffice for one mouthful each piece, extremely well executed and was not oily at all.
3) Appetizer: Honey Glazed Barbecued Pork loin or some calls it CharSiew could just be one of the more uniquely delicious BBQ Pork i've ever had. The glossy shine of the crispy caramelized crust that covered the soft juicy interiors made this dish look extremely yummy. At the first bite, i could feel the crackle of the sweet skin letting out the savoury juice of fresh pork and while i chew on i was surprised with the tenderness of BBQ pork and the texture of the sugar coating was just right which gave a good crunch.
4) Seafood: Stir-Fried Scallop with lily bulbs and gingko nut in "Si Chuan" style: I was just amazed by the green, crunchy and beautiful kailan stalk that looked like little green flowers on my plate. They tasted just of the right rawness and paired well with the lily bulb and scallop. Lily bulb looked kinda like onion but had a texture of garlic with a very light taste. The dish was refreshing and interesting.
5) Baked Silver Cod with spicy lemongrass infuse was one of our friend Eric's favourite. Travelled and tasted many Michelin chef with food reviews on Foodolicious, Eric has got what we deem exquisite taste for food and this is his absolute favourite. The fish was well prepared, seasoned with a yummy tasting sweetish sauce, served in a good portion and had a little surprise. The cherry tomatoes, though skinned tasted like PLUM.. I had a shock when it burst in my mouth as though i juiced a tangy sweetish plum. It was well paired with the fish, balanced my palette or more like gave me a pleasant shock.
6) Dessert was our (Tian Mi Mi) ending with Refreshing green apple jelly served with lime sorbet and a Lui Sha pau from the dim sum menu.
The Liu Sha pau was the absolute favourite of our good friend Rina from Rinaloveslife.com. Being a cafe-hopper and reviewer, she's got a good eye for whats good and whats not to savour.. and she loved the Liu Sha pau... The skin was yummy, not too floury and the pipping hot liquid custard and salted egg yolk was drooling and steaming while we break open its cover. The fillings was generous with a right balance in taste. It was very well made...
The overall experience was very good, venue nice and amenities ample. The restaurant is swanky, warm and welcoming which is great for casual dining and official events. Service is attentive, nimble and staff friendly with a good knowledge of the menu and ingredients. Ingredients used were fresh and dish display is outstanding. The variety of food choices though mostly Cantonese styled was plentiful with choices of dim sum for tea time, everyday staples at economical prices as well as lavish dishes for high end dining such as the Empurau fish that i heard goes for S$888 and must be reserved a couple days earlier. For sure I will come again and will bring my friends as I enjoyed myself tremendously...
This spanking new shoe shop carries a good range of footwear for ladies and gentlemen alike. I was pleasantly surprise to find such a large boutique (2 shop outlets) at the heart of the CBD in the new One Raffles Place shopping mall.
At one glance I could see some really handsome looking leather Oxfords, Boots and a good range of leather loafers in a good hue of colours. Accessories in a standing case, ladies leather bags in chic designs, ladies pumps, heels, stilettos and flats. The brands they carry were many and I spotted some in-house brands. I love the colours and the textures not forgetting the comfort insoles built into their house brand.
I tried on a few pairs and loved the comfort of the extra padding while some imported brands gave me wobbly heels, the house brands were sleek and sturdy. Designs were trendy in a chic fashion, great for serious meetings and long time standing manning exhibition booths as well as for that hot date after working hours.
Well, we ought to have bags to match our shoes and here at Carl & Oak, they do also carry a good range of bags and my personal favourite.. the draw string.
Similarly, I tried this place for a cut wash and blow during their Anniversary promotion which ended in Sept 2014. Their wash and blow was going for an incredible $8, and I added the hair cut which was $18. Total bill was $26!!
The wash and blow was enjoyable and the products they used smelt fresh and minty. The hair cut was by a stylist named Kelvin, and he was quite chatty and nice during the process. The entire experience lasted for about 1 hour.
A nice place for a quiet cut or wash but without the promotion the prices rival those of fellow salons.
I was attracted to this place because of their anniversary promotion which ended in Sept 2014. The deal of $38 for a facial / gua sha was tempting and I decided to check it out with my friend in tow.
We both opted for the facial and arrived on a Sunday afternoon where there was no crowd at all. The lady receptionist who welcomed us was very friendly and assisted us with the formalities of filling in a form etc. We had the choice of a the type of facial to have and I opted for a diamond chemical peel which supposed cleans up the face very nicely but 'vacumning' the dirt from your pores and basically gives your skin a fresh glow as the peel removes a very thin layer of your skin - usually the dead, tired, and dirty layer.
The room I was brought into was clean and functional. The therapist asked me to change into the facial robe, then she left, and I was left alone for 15mins before I got a little annoyed and walked outside in the robe to ask the receptionist what's happening. She explained that they are a little overbooked and the therapist is trying to finish up the previous customer before attending to me - I am fine with unexpectedly delays like this but at least let me know?
The treatment itself was comfortable but I didnt fall asleep.The diamond peel was alright and it felt like a tiny vacumn cleaner working on your face. Also, they do extractions but without steaming your face. Strange.
Thankfully there were no hardselling of packages after the treatment, just a cup of tea waiting for us.
An okay experience but not nice enough for me to want to return.
I was fortunate enough to try Seasonal Tastes multiple times, some on leisure while other times on business.
I loved the property because it is central but yet remains relatively peaceful and offers a luxurious respite from the maddening CBD crowd. I also liked the fact that they have clean toilets :p
Now on to the place and the food.
Seasonal Tastes is a huge place that offers awesome views with equally terrific seatings. Very child friendly because of the space to run around in too. It is a pity that they decided to upp the price of their buffet lunches and dinners since they opened as keeping to those prices would have made dining here an unbeatable deal. Now lunches are $42 (previously $35) and dinners are $68 (previously $55).
I wont go into details but the offerings are of excellent quality and quantity. Seafood, sashimi, sushi, pasta, noodles, meats, starters, ham, bread, cheeses, desserts - you name it they have it. The avocado sorbet is quite heavenly!
Service is cool, but this is yet again one of the SPG restaurants that do not credit your SPG points until you email the reciept / credit voucher to the SPG customer care team.
It was our monthly dinner again and we decided to have some cze char for a change. Being the pampered strawberry generation (草莓族) aka Gen Y we were, an air-conditioning prerequisite was thrown into the equation. And we finally settled on Orchid Live Seafood or OLS for short.
We opted for the outlet at Jalan Kelulut, in the sleepy Seletar estate just off Yio Chu Kang Road on a hectic weekday evening. Parking posed a problem as the parking lot in front was rather small and there were quite a fair bit of vehicles but we managed. The interior of the place is like any typical heartland Chinese restaurant with just the basic decor and pictures of the food adorning the walls.
Deep Fried Baby Squid - This was an additional order on top of our set menu and got us off to a decent start. A rather miniscule portion of extremely crispy squid mixed in with tons of onions made it more of a snack than a main in my humble opinion. And it honestly tasted very similar to the packets of dried squid snack that are sold in supermarkets.
Smoked Duck - The smoked duck was a tad too thinly sliced and rather lacking in chewy fats. The meat also lacked a certain smokiness that made this dish pale in comparison to that of Wo Peng.
Mixed Vegetables - Our quintessential greens for the evening; Decently stir fried mixed vegetables with a tinge of wok hei.
Steamed Patin Fish - The fish was fresh but the meat wasn't really sweet. Decently executed but doesn't really stand out.
Lobster Porridge - And the undisputed star of the evening, the lobster porridge. The broth was watery yet tasty with the individual grains of rice still visible. Cooking the lobster in the broth infused a crustacean sweetness to the latter and made for a very homely and delicious porridge. Only small gripe I had was that we had 1kg of lobster to share between the 5 of us but as lobsters have pretty heavy shells, neither of us got much meat.
Dinner for 5 pax coupled with a couple of drinks cost us just shy of $230, which wasn't really expensive per se but food quality, for the most part, hovered around average (save for the lobster porridge). Service was decent but I'm not sure if I'll return, especially with other air conditioned cze char places offering better quality cooking at around the same price point. Unless I develop a craving for lobster porridge of course.
1=SGD 0.0587
Had dinner with a couple of friends at Seasons Bistro, an American styled bistro that has garnered pretty good reviews since its opening a couple of months back.
Located on the ground floor of Triple One Somerset (the former PUB building) and playing neighbour to Imperial Treasure Windows of Hong Kong and Imperial Treasure Steamboat (which I personally don't find that great), Seasons features a down to earth wooden interior with huge wall to ceiling glass panels for a view of the exterior pedestrian walkway.
Season's Poutine ($10 ) - I love my poutine and even though Season's poutine was specifically recommended in quite a few reviews, it was quite a let down in my humble opinion. Sure, the fries were moist but where was the lightly crisp skin? Also, the gravy was a tad too bland and the Stripey Jack cheese came in cubes, not mildly gooey curds, which is one of the hallmarks of poutine. I will take gladly take Triple O's version over this anytime.
Buttermilk Fried Chicken ($22 ) - After a rather disappointing start, this Southern dish of buttermilk fried chicken perked things up a little though it did look rather dry on the outside. Thankfully the meat was flavourful and juicy with a nice crunch from the skin. 3 rather small pieces, served with a side of corn salad.
Banana Split ($12 ) - Season's deconstructed banana split. Done to an almost perfect disaster. 1 rock hard scoop of vanilla bean ice cream coupled with a dash of nutella and 2 pieces of caramalised bananas (goreng pisang) that came coated with a limp layer of flour and lacked any sweetness or taste for that matter. The granola nut crumbs gave this dish a slightly chewy taste which I personally didn't like; Crushed nuts would have suited better in my humble opinion.
1 poutine, 1 chicken and 1 dessert cost me about $52 nett. Expensive? Quantitatively speaking, not really. But qualitatively, yes. General food quality was average at best and definitely not worth the price paid. Service was pretty decent though and the restaurant offers a relatively quiet place to catch up with friends in Orchard road over dinner but unfortunately that's just not enough.
See all my pictures here.
Rating given:
I'm always amazed when I visit the blogshop clearance sales bazaar at the Suntec Convention center level 3 concourse, well need not say but good convenient location with many other bustling activities always brings a good buying crowd.
Its was a mixture of excitement and fun as the flea vendors always manage to surprise me. Every time i visit this flea, i meet new friends and am for sure to grab some great buys, though I was always looking for that special non-regular items.
The vendors are many but every booth is arranged with ample browsing space, neatly stacked goods, comfy sitting and hanging space at each booth and properly stored packing materials. The flea was neat and well flea like as haggling and laughters were widely heard amidst the latin back ground music.
I said hi to some of the more regularly seen vendors, especially long hair MIKE from the ever so funky t-shirt stall that I always love to grab a few pieces for my casual days and not forgetting the ever so popular nail stickers that I've never got tired buying, always a new design for a new date :)
I spotted some new vendors with really interesting merchandises and services, one of which is a wedding/event flora service that can customize your events with generous floral layouts, pretty accessories for sales (ladies crowd around these booths), pretty dresses from famous blogshops, infant/children wears, collectable toys (men crowd around these) and not forgetting a booth that sells this nice flora printed multi-functional purses which now houses my mobile, tissue, wallet, some loose change and small knick knacks... Loving it with a strip for lunch time craziness.
The flea was fun and I look forward to the next one to grab some good deals... I'm impressed... vendors in SG... your creativity in bringing in some really awesome merchandises and bold entrepreneur spirits...
I Salute.... and please bring in more nice stuffs :)
Rating given:
The Royal Mail had been around for about 2 years but it was never on our to dine at list for one reason or another. We finally decided to give it a shot one Friday evening before the wife took off for an extended work trip to Korea.
Occupying a spot in Ascott Raffles Place, the restaurant's name is inspired by its location, where a former British post office once stood. And it serves up "modern British cuisine" of course.
The restaurant is situated on the second floor, up a flight of stairs that open up right into the oddly shaped dining area whilst the bar takes up a small corner on the first floor. If you value your privacy, it might be a good idea to request for seats further in and not along the stairway, especially on a busy night.
Complimentary Bread - Puff pastry with brie cheese - Now that's something you don't get very often. Soft and moist with a nice cheesy nuance. I did find it a wee bit too oily though.
Amuse Bouche - The amuse bouche was a classic duck rillette on toast; nice but not creamy enough with a mildly spicy kick. Still a good start nonetheless!
The Royal Mail Caesar Salad - Our quintessential greens for the evening, the humble Caesar salad. Spiced up with bacon strips, a nicely poached egg, strips of cheese and toasted bread. Nothing too fancy but it kept the positive momentum going.
Sous-Vide Half Maine Lobster - That's a pretty small lobster if you ask me but it was good. Crunchy meat cooked to a perfect consistency and served with a shard of crisp ibérico ham and a slice of mildly sweet Japanese pumpkin, sitting in a pool of rich emulsified butter sauce.
Roasted Whole Chicken - The roasted chicken needed quite a fair bit of work, coming across as bland and uninspiring. The accompanying chermoula sauce was just plan oily and we had a hard time finishing the chicken, small as it was.
Roast Prime Rib - A signature of the restaurant, we had the classic cut (280g), which came served with delicious sauteed Brussels sprouts topped with pine nuts and blue cheese, a roasted whole garlic and Yorkshire pudding. Done up medium well instead of medium as per my request, the prime rib was quite good; Thickly cut, succulent and tasty. I didn't quite fancy the Yorkshire pudding though, which was neither crisp nor hot.
Truffle Risotto - The side of truffle risotto was al dente and beautifully creamy and fragrant with chunks of mushroom in it. Delicious!
Chocolate Fondant - Nicely moist fondant with a molten chocolate center and served with a scoop of lacklustre vanilla bean ice cream and deliciously crunchy chocolate soil with freeze dried raspberries atop. I personally loved the texture and tartness that the chocolate soil, dried raspberries combination brought to this dessert.
Banoffee Tart - A pretty decent rendition of one of my favourite western desserts (I have many by the way), the banoffee tart sported a crisp tart shell with a filling of banana, crumble and toffee, topped with a dollop of cream and dusted with cocoa powder. The salted caramel sauce could have featured a little more prominently and the bananas could have been a little more moist whilst the tart would have been better with a little more baking in my humble opinion.
With a 50% discount, the bill for the both of us came up to a mere $105, which is a rather good deal considering the very decent quality and quantity of food (with the exception of the chicken). Service was excellent; Personal without coming across as overbearing. At such a price point and quality, I'll be hard pressed to find an excuse not to revisit.
See all my pictures here.
Rating given:
Hungry for a taste of Nostalgia? Go to the RoofTop @ City Square Mall and be amazed by the huge array of seen that, had that and almost got my fingers crushed by that old school cupboard, yet now the everyday objects of yesteryears brought back many fun childhood memories.
"Let's go to the flea market opposite the food court!" my friend exclaimed as we took our step of the upward riding escalator and at one glance it did look like small stores selling titter tatters yet as we approached we realised its a huge open space departmental store that sold anything from retro styled dresses to everyday lifestyle goods.
While we admired the pretty little old things that brought our memories back to childhood, we cannot but post for a few pictures and wonder if this cupboard is for sale, that green wooden couch is for sale, how about these retro pop coloured accessories. There is plenty to buy for a lady as almost half the space was dedicated to pretty geometrical shape design blouses and dresses, pop coloured accessories, hats of various shape and skin care products that my granny still uses.
The other half are mostly lifestyle products. We picked up a chicken door bell for $33 and a wooden wind vane in the shape of an airplane. We also spotted huge retro looking shades and black round plastic switches that every household used to have. It was amazing and there is so much to buy, however as our original plan is to street shop in little india, we bought whatever we could to be placed into our bags. Our hearts are not satisfied and we are sure to come back for more...
Goodbye sales lady in retro dresses... next time we hope we could pose together with you for a selfie :)
Rating given:
I entered the restaurant like a Royal, yes it made me feel that way with its luxurious designs which kind of reminded me of some up-class Five Star hotel dining. Its glamorously good looking, lavishly decorated in mirror black, silver and gold.
Plush cushioned chairs with lightly embroidered table cloths and napkins in warm lighting makes the entire dining atmosphere warm and welcoming. Chinese styled round tables, spacious enough for stretching your legs with temperatures kept at a cool crisp 25 degrees away from the warm afternoon heat outside. Interestingly, almost every table is placed a fish bowl with live guppies and water ferns, keeping the entire atmosphere relaxed and close to nature while I spotted a calm looking Empurau fish in a huge tank in the middle of the dining hall.
Lift to level 2 opens up to a huge hall with special VIP rooms, chic decorations and large round dining tables with TV and i suspect a karaoke system. Sound insulation was good as we could hardly hear the merciless chit-chatting from the outside, though we could still spot some laughters and the noisy road beneath was pretty much silent.
The dishes arrived pretty nicely decorated with a little bit of surprises here and there and service was more than excellent and my personal dining portion of the table always kept promptly clean. There were a few wows factors for some of the dishes but i'm gonna just talk about the " MUST HAVES"
1) Appetizer: Fried Soft Shell Crab with Chicken Floss and Curry Leaves - Crispy and fluffy that is overwhelmed with aromatic turmeric and curry leaves that left a nice fragrant after taste. Crab was fresh and juicy while the chicken floss adds on the texture to the dish.
2) Appetizer: Crispy roast pork belly was exceptionally good. Served in half slabs, the proportion of the crispy skin and the juicy tender savoury meat had a great balance. Pretty much suffice for one mouthful each piece, extremely well executed and was not oily at all.
3) Appetizer: Honey Glazed Barbecued Pork loin or some calls it CharSiew could just be one of the more uniquely delicious BBQ Pork i've ever had. The glossy shine of the crispy caramelized crust that covered the soft juicy interiors made this dish look extremely yummy. At the first bite, i could feel the crackle of the sweet skin letting out the savoury juice of fresh pork and while i chew on i was surprised with the tenderness of BBQ pork and the texture of the sugar coating was just right which gave a good crunch.
4) Seafood: Stir-Fried Scallop with lily bulbs and gingko nut in "Si Chuan" style: I was just amazed by the green, crunchy and beautiful kailan stalk that looked like little green flowers on my plate. They tasted just of the right rawness and paired well with the lily bulb and scallop. Lily bulb looked kinda like onion but had a texture of garlic with a very light taste. The dish was refreshing and interesting.
5) Baked Silver Cod with spicy lemongrass infuse was one of our friend Eric's favourite. Travelled and tasted many Michelin chef with food reviews on Foodolicious, Eric has got what we deem exquisite taste for food and this is his absolute favourite. The fish was well prepared, seasoned with a yummy tasting sweetish sauce, served in a good portion and had a little surprise. The cherry tomatoes, though skinned tasted like PLUM.. I had a shock when it burst in my mouth as though i juiced a tangy sweetish plum. It was well paired with the fish, balanced my palette or more like gave me a pleasant shock.
6) Dessert was our (Tian Mi Mi) ending with Refreshing green apple jelly served with lime sorbet and a Lui Sha pau from the dim sum menu.
The Liu Sha pau was the absolute favourite of our good friend Rina from Rinaloveslife.com. Being a cafe-hopper and reviewer, she's got a good eye for whats good and whats not to savour.. and she loved the Liu Sha pau... The skin was yummy, not too floury and the pipping hot liquid custard and salted egg yolk was drooling and steaming while we break open its cover. The fillings was generous with a right balance in taste. It was very well made...
The overall experience was very good, venue nice and amenities ample. The restaurant is swanky, warm and welcoming which is great for casual dining and official events. Service is attentive, nimble and staff friendly with a good knowledge of the menu and ingredients. Ingredients used were fresh and dish display is outstanding. The variety of food choices though mostly Cantonese styled was plentiful with choices of dim sum for tea time, everyday staples at economical prices as well as lavish dishes for high end dining such as the Empurau fish that i heard goes for S$888 and must be reserved a couple days earlier. For sure I will come again and will bring my friends as I enjoyed myself tremendously...
Rating given:
This spanking new shoe shop carries a good range of footwear for ladies and gentlemen alike. I was pleasantly surprise to find such a large boutique (2 shop outlets) at the heart of the CBD in the new One Raffles Place shopping mall.
At one glance I could see some really handsome looking leather Oxfords, Boots and a good range of leather loafers in a good hue of colours. Accessories in a standing case, ladies leather bags in chic designs, ladies pumps, heels, stilettos and flats. The brands they carry were many and I spotted some in-house brands. I love the colours and the textures not forgetting the comfort insoles built into their house brand.
I tried on a few pairs and loved the comfort of the extra padding while some imported brands gave me wobbly heels, the house brands were sleek and sturdy. Designs were trendy in a chic fashion, great for serious meetings and long time standing manning exhibition booths as well as for that hot date after working hours.
Well, we ought to have bags to match our shoes and here at Carl & Oak, they do also carry a good range of bags and my personal favourite.. the draw string.
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Similarly, I tried this place for a cut wash and blow during their Anniversary promotion which ended in Sept 2014. Their wash and blow was going for an incredible $8, and I added the hair cut which was $18. Total bill was $26!!
The wash and blow was enjoyable and the products they used smelt fresh and minty. The hair cut was by a stylist named Kelvin, and he was quite chatty and nice during the process. The entire experience lasted for about 1 hour.
A nice place for a quiet cut or wash but without the promotion the prices rival those of fellow salons.
I'll leave it up to you if you want to try :))
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I was attracted to this place because of their anniversary promotion which ended in Sept 2014. The deal of $38 for a facial / gua sha was tempting and I decided to check it out with my friend in tow.
We both opted for the facial and arrived on a Sunday afternoon where there was no crowd at all. The lady receptionist who welcomed us was very friendly and assisted us with the formalities of filling in a form etc. We had the choice of a the type of facial to have and I opted for a diamond chemical peel which supposed cleans up the face very nicely but 'vacumning' the dirt from your pores and basically gives your skin a fresh glow as the peel removes a very thin layer of your skin - usually the dead, tired, and dirty layer.
The room I was brought into was clean and functional. The therapist asked me to change into the facial robe, then she left, and I was left alone for 15mins before I got a little annoyed and walked outside in the robe to ask the receptionist what's happening. She explained that they are a little overbooked and the therapist is trying to finish up the previous customer before attending to me - I am fine with unexpectedly delays like this but at least let me know?
The treatment itself was comfortable but I didnt fall asleep.The diamond peel was alright and it felt like a tiny vacumn cleaner working on your face. Also, they do extractions but without steaming your face. Strange.
Thankfully there were no hardselling of packages after the treatment, just a cup of tea waiting for us.
An okay experience but not nice enough for me to want to return.
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I was fortunate enough to try Seasonal Tastes multiple times, some on leisure while other times on business.
I loved the property because it is central but yet remains relatively peaceful and offers a luxurious respite from the maddening CBD crowd. I also liked the fact that they have clean toilets :p
Now on to the place and the food.
Seasonal Tastes is a huge place that offers awesome views with equally terrific seatings. Very child friendly because of the space to run around in too. It is a pity that they decided to upp the price of their buffet lunches and dinners since they opened as keeping to those prices would have made dining here an unbeatable deal. Now lunches are $42 (previously $35) and dinners are $68 (previously $55).
I wont go into details but the offerings are of excellent quality and quantity. Seafood, sashimi, sushi, pasta, noodles, meats, starters, ham, bread, cheeses, desserts - you name it they have it. The avocado sorbet is quite heavenly!
Service is cool, but this is yet again one of the SPG restaurants that do not credit your SPG points until you email the reciept / credit voucher to the SPG customer care team.
Come try at least once :))
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It was our monthly dinner again and we decided to have some cze char for a change. Being the pampered strawberry generation (草莓族) aka Gen Y we were, an air-conditioning prerequisite was thrown into the equation. And we finally settled on Orchid Live Seafood or OLS for short.
We opted for the outlet at Jalan Kelulut, in the sleepy Seletar estate just off Yio Chu Kang Road on a hectic weekday evening. Parking posed a problem as the parking lot in front was rather small and there were quite a fair bit of vehicles but we managed. The interior of the place is like any typical heartland Chinese restaurant with just the basic decor and pictures of the food adorning the walls.
Deep Fried Baby Squid - This was an additional order on top of our set menu and got us off to a decent start. A rather miniscule portion of extremely crispy squid mixed in with tons of onions made it more of a snack than a main in my humble opinion. And it honestly tasted very similar to the packets of dried squid snack that are sold in supermarkets.
Smoked Duck - The smoked duck was a tad too thinly sliced and rather lacking in chewy fats. The meat also lacked a certain smokiness that made this dish pale in comparison to that of Wo Peng.
Mixed Vegetables - Our quintessential greens for the evening; Decently stir fried mixed vegetables with a tinge of wok hei.
Steamed Patin Fish - The fish was fresh but the meat wasn't really sweet. Decently executed but doesn't really stand out.
Lobster Porridge - And the undisputed star of the evening, the lobster porridge. The broth was watery yet tasty with the individual grains of rice still visible. Cooking the lobster in the broth infused a crustacean sweetness to the latter and made for a very homely and delicious porridge. Only small gripe I had was that we had 1kg of lobster to share between the 5 of us but as lobsters have pretty heavy shells, neither of us got much meat.
Dinner for 5 pax coupled with a couple of drinks cost us just shy of $230, which wasn't really expensive per se but food quality, for the most part, hovered around average (save for the lobster porridge). Service was decent but I'm not sure if I'll return, especially with other air conditioned cze char places offering better quality cooking at around the same price point. Unless I develop a craving for lobster porridge of course.
See all my pictures here.
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