My family's hunt for good Teochew food continues with a visit to Swa Garden located along MacPherson road. It is a small reclusive restaurant with no outstanding signage or features. Frilly white curtains from yesteryear don the eatery and shelter diners from the prying eyes of passersby. The interior is sparsely furnished, with tiled walls and foam block ceilings. Although the set menus looked reasonable and interesting, we decided to go ala carte. Ordered the Braised goose, Four Treasures Beancurd, Sea Cucumber with Fish Maw, Ha Zhor (Prawn roll), Stir Fried Kailan and Orh Nee.
The dishes came fast and furious, almost simultaneously. The braised goose was a little too soft for my liking and was nowhere as good as the ones from Guan Hin, Hung Kang or Huat Kee. However the portions are quite substantial, which propels it to the top of the food portions category. Stir fried Kailan was pretty normal. The Ha Zhor was pretty good. Crispy and compact. However the dipping sauce was sweet sauce and not the traditional plum sauce.
I only had a bite of the Fish Maw and found it quite decent, but nothing too outstanding unlike the one I had at Beng Hiang. The Four Treasures beancurd is slightly better than the homemade beancurd I had at Guan Hin. Though made in the same way(I presume so cause both had rough textures), Swa Garden's offering was slightly more robust in texture and flavour. However, having said that, I am still of the opinion that it was not impressive.
Swa Garden's Orh Nee is a little different from the Orh Nees that I have eaten. Firstly, it comes submerged under a layer of syrup. Secondly, it is more watery than the others that I've tried, which isn't a bad thing really. It makes the paste smoother and it just glides down your throat. However, I did find it a little too watery for my liking. My dad liked it though.
$78 for 4 pax isn't really too expensive, but it stops short of being cheap. Not exactly an impressive dinner, but an enjoyable one nevertheless. The set menu for 4 does offer some really good bargains and I'll definitely be back to try it.
I've heard that the steamboat place at Marina Bay will be replaced soon. That means no more steamboat. But no fret! There's always Yuki Yaki!
My first visit to Yuki Yaki gave me the impression that this was very similar to those outdoor steamboat places at Marina Bay. However, what's better is that they are air-conditioned, you have more comfortable seats (though I won't say it's that suitable for big groups), your cooked food are within an arm's length away. Choose from 3 different kinds of soup base for your steamboat - Tom Yam, Chicken and.. one more I forgot.
Also, they have pork, chicken and beef for you to choose from, each done in about 4 different seasonings. Other than that, they have the basic ingredients that you put into your soup during steamboat. Crab stick, sausages, fishball etc. For people who would like to have noodles/ rice to go with your food, it's also provided. Should you need any garnishing such as spring onions, or condiments such as soya sauce/ chilli etc, it's all provided too. Plus, the buffet also includes drinks and limited variety of sushi.
I must say that the sushi was bad. Probably left out too long, it was pretty dry and hard. As for the meat, it wasn't seasoned very well. As everything was pretty much do-it-yourself, there wasn't much service to talk about.
For students who are really big eaters, I would think that this place is worth going. For me, I paid the student price of $16.90 if I'm not wrong. And for adults it's $21.90 . (I think the prices are around here but I can't remember if this is the right price..) This is the lunch buffet. The " " means there's GST too. Didn't quite like the idea of that because there really wasn't much service to begin with. From the day I'm not a student anymore, I will stop considering eating here.
If you like buffet, you could give this place a try. But I personally feel it's just all right, nothing really fantastic...
After a relatively good experience from my previous visit to Pu Tien, I headed back down with my parents for dinner on a busy Sunday evening. Needless to say, parking was a major headache, even to the extent of hazardous with the throngs of foreign workers recklessly heading towards Mustafa.
Salted Pig Trotter with Pepper - We tried Pu Tien's rendition of the pig's trotters for the first time and left rather disappointed. True, the skin was crispy and lightly salted to bring out the balance of flavours. But it was more of soggy crispy rather than crackling crispy and most of it was just fats and minimal meat, which made swallowing a rather difficult task because of the preconceived notions of unhealthiness.
Stir Fried Kailan with Beancurd Skin - This dish was supposed to have more kailan than beancurd skin, but strangely enough, it was vice versa. The beancurd skin was a huge blob and practically covered out whatever small portions of the kailan that was given. And eating too much soft beancurd skin is a sure fire recipe for getting woozy really fast. A rather lacklustre but decently palatable dish overall.
Deep Fried Chicken with Garlic - This time round, the Deep Fried Chicken with Garlic was merely normal. The skin was as crispy as I remembered it to be but the meat came across as a little dry. Also, it tasted rather bland even with the fried garlic atop.
Homemade Beancurd - Undoubtedly the best dish of the evening, the homemade beancurd was soft yet firm and had a nice savoury after taste. I wouldn't go so far as to call it out of this world, but its really a gem. I must say that even my parents were quite impressed with this dish and thats coming from 2 very fussy eaters.
Hing Wa Fried Bee Hoon - As with my previous visit, I didn't find this dish the least bit impressive. The bee hoon was very fine but a little too dry and bland for my liking.
Dinner for 3 stood at about $51, which is in line with my idea of a reasonable dinner given the quality of food. But do not expect top notch food for the price. Its merely comfort food done up with a little more finesse.
Had intended to try out HK Kim Gary at Vivo City, but threw the idea out of the window when we saw the ridiculously long queue. Actually there were long queues at most, if not all of the food outlets at Vivo City. Pure madness. So we drove to Orchard and after wandering aimlessly for a bit, settled for Lei Garden at Orchard Shopping Centre. The lift opens up to the reception area of Lei Garden and first looks, it hardly resembled a Chinese restaurant, with the exception of the wooden chairs. The brick linings in the walls were very evident and the low ceiling finished with wooden frames gave the whole place a very cottage feel. Add on a couple of Christmas decorations and lights and viola, you have a very pretty cottage dining area.
Since we got there at about 9pm, alot of stuff were sold out, like the soup of the day and the smoked duck. So we had to settle for some recommendations by the captain. Namely, Double Boiled Fish's Bone with "Tian Ma", Deep Fried Prawns Coated with Salted Egg Yolk and Stewed Chicken with Young Ginger in Honey Sauce. We rounded up the meal with Durian Pudding and Glutinous Rice Balls with sesame filling.
Lei Garden is well known for its double boiled soups and I never fail to order at least a serving every time I patronise. As such, I had high expectations for the Double Boiled Fish's Bone with "Tian Ma" and it didn't disappoint. The soup was sweet and light with a hint of rawness. However, I did get a little sick of drinking the soup after the first bowl mainly because the slight fishy taste made me queasy. So too much of a good thing isn't always good. Just a little nugget of information, this soup is supposed to relieve dizziness and calm the mind. How true? I have no idea.
The Deep Fried Prawns Coated with Salted Egg Yolk was a delicacy in the making. The egg yolk gave the prawns a slight salty taste and the flavours were evident throughout. The prawns were also very fresh and biting into one is akin to eating Cereal Prawns - You just pop the whole thing into your mouth and enjoy the crunching sounds. However, I say that this dish is a delicacy still in the making because there is room for improvement. For one, the frying batter was uneven. Some prawns had more batter on the front, some had more on the back. This made the overall taste non homogeneous, with some parts being saltier than others.
The Stewed Chicken with Young Ginger in Honey Sauce sounded interesting, but it was no more than Sweet and Sour Chicken, at least that was what it tasted like. Yes, the chicken meat was definitely more tender than the usual stuff you get outside and the sauce was decidedly lighter and less pronounced than the normal ones outside that threaten to overpower the taste of everything else. I liked this dish and so did my gf. Funny that there was no ginger taste though.
Desserts have never really been a forte for Lei Garden and their desserts speak for themselves. My Durian Pudding tasted rather artificial although there were significant chunks of Durian meat in it. The Gelatine was in excess and gave the pudding a very creamy yet mashed up texture. My gf's Glutinous Rice Balls with sesame filling was rather tasteless. The rice balls were coated with ground peanuts, which made them fragrant. However, the sesame filling could do with more flavour.
Dinner blew us away at about $110/-. We certainly didn't expect the bill to be so high, especially since our dishes weren't exactly expensive stuff. Nevertheless, the food quality is there and it is certainly quite refined. No one said good food comes cheap right? Service was good as well, so that kind of eased the pain when I saw the bill.
Hanging around Marina with a bunch of friends who were feeling hungry, we somehow settled down here for dinner. It was more of a 'go and test' experience, and it turned out rather well.
The place was done up pretty nicely and the seating was quite comfortable. Service was pretty up to standard too, and the food didn't take long to come.
Food portions were quite ok, partly because we were a hungry bunch, but taste-wise, it is nothing to shout about. Quite a variety to choose from (we really took some time to decide), but nothing very special that caught my attention.
Drinks are quite good though. Quite alot of refreshing flavours to choose from, and the serving's pretty huge. Only thing is that it comes at a relatively hefty price.
Overall, prices are a little steep for the quality of food. Other than that, the dining experience's quite good, and I guess it's still worth a try if you have not eaten there before.
The location of this outlet might be a little bit of a trouble for some, but for someone who lives just 5 minutes away by foot, this is heaven!
Botak Jones is a MUST-TRY. You just cannot miss out on their big, juicy burgers which comes served with a huge - and I do mean HUGE - portion of fries. Their fries are good, not too dry, just crispy. And oh, do try out their jalapeno peppers stuffed with cheese. It's really quite good.
Prices are decent over at Botak Jones. You can totally fill yourself up with about $10. If you happen to have a huge appetite, just get more fries, or throw in an extra side dish. Granted, it's slightly expensive for a 'coffee-shop stall', but the food definitely is way above any kopitiam-stall standard.
The Toa Payoh outlet is located in a rather spacious place, but it gets really crowded during lunch and dinner hours, so try to get there earlier if you don't want to wait too long.
I think I might just go back there again next week.
Clothes are in-stock and in good quality. Reaction fast, emails came like within 1 day of queries or ordering. Very accommodating as they allow bank transfer by various banks and even when I used UOB bank to transfer to their DBS and took 3 days, they are fine with it. (Do inform them first) Clothes are unique and shown big on the blogshop together with the descriptions. Pleasing blog design makes browsing through loads of photos easy on the eye. There is also a discount area where they sell over stocks at big discounts.
Cons:
Too many photos makes loading slow. Lack of categorization of clothes hence got to look through all the items to find what you wanted. A tad expensive though their items are mostly unique. Clothes are sold out at fast speed so I have to go and browse through fast whenever I receive their update notification.
A friend of mine recommended this brand of ice cream to me. He said he simply love the Ferrero flavor. Being curious, I decided to give it a try.
Disappointed! I ordered Rum and Raisin and Dark Choc with M&Ms. Well, I'm not sure whether it was the blend but it does not taste appetizing at all. The taste was well... under the line... not up to it.... or the Chinese explanation : 不到味
Cold Rock wins, by having unique ice cream toppings, flavor and giving customers the thrill of watching their ice cream being blended (ouch) however, blending makes the ice cream flavors mixed up and sometimes cancel out each other. Further, blended ice cream does not look good at all. (As per my photo)
For ice cream of that pricing, I will rather go to Hagaan Daz right opposite or Scoopz which up till now is my favorite.
I found the fillings of the Paus rather normal, but the Da Bao didn't have ginger inside, which I personally prefer because I simply dislike ginger. The Pau skin was soft and not too thick, with lots of bite. Its really a cut above the rest. Little wonder about the long queues. Try it!
Went to my friend's wedding dinner at Hilton Grand Ballroom. Never went there before and was thinking the place, food and class should be very impressive. However, we are quite disappointed as the food was so so. The only item on the menu I liked was the 佛提飘香or whatever that was one of the photos. Crispy outer rim of yam and well cooked vegetables in the center.
There was nothing special about the decoration of the ballroom and the place was quite cramped. As for service, I won't be able to give a fair comment as we were served by someone new. The person keep mixing up our drinks order like my neighbor wanted white wine and the person gave him red wine. Another wanted Sprite and I wanted no drinks but I was given the Sprite and she wasn't given anything. Other things like spraying me with coke while he served my husband's drinks.
1=SGD 0.0587
My family's hunt for good Teochew food continues with a visit to Swa Garden located along MacPherson road. It is a small reclusive restaurant with no outstanding signage or features. Frilly white curtains from yesteryear don the eatery and shelter diners from the prying eyes of passersby. The interior is sparsely furnished, with tiled walls and foam block ceilings. Although the set menus looked reasonable and interesting, we decided to go ala carte. Ordered the Braised goose, Four Treasures Beancurd, Sea Cucumber with Fish Maw, Ha Zhor (Prawn roll), Stir Fried Kailan and Orh Nee.
The dishes came fast and furious, almost simultaneously. The braised goose was a little too soft for my liking and was nowhere as good as the ones from Guan Hin, Hung Kang or Huat Kee. However the portions are quite substantial, which propels it to the top of the food portions category. Stir fried Kailan was pretty normal. The Ha Zhor was pretty good. Crispy and compact. However the dipping sauce was sweet sauce and not the traditional plum sauce.
I only had a bite of the Fish Maw and found it quite decent, but nothing too outstanding unlike the one I had at Beng Hiang. The Four Treasures beancurd is slightly better than the homemade beancurd I had at Guan Hin. Though made in the same way(I presume so cause both had rough textures), Swa Garden's offering was slightly more robust in texture and flavour. However, having said that, I am still of the opinion that it was not impressive.
Swa Garden's Orh Nee is a little different from the Orh Nees that I have eaten. Firstly, it comes submerged under a layer of syrup. Secondly, it is more watery than the others that I've tried, which isn't a bad thing really. It makes the paste smoother and it just glides down your throat. However, I did find it a little too watery for my liking. My dad liked it though.
$78 for 4 pax isn't really too expensive, but it stops short of being cheap. Not exactly an impressive dinner, but an enjoyable one nevertheless. The set menu for 4 does offer some really good bargains and I'll definitely be back to try it.
See all my pictures here
Rating given:
I've heard that the steamboat place at Marina Bay will be replaced soon. That means no more steamboat. But no fret! There's always Yuki Yaki!
My first visit to Yuki Yaki gave me the impression that this was very similar to those outdoor steamboat places at Marina Bay. However, what's better is that they are air-conditioned, you have more comfortable seats (though I won't say it's that suitable for big groups), your cooked food are within an arm's length away. Choose from 3 different kinds of soup base for your steamboat - Tom Yam, Chicken and.. one more I forgot.
Also, they have pork, chicken and beef for you to choose from, each done in about 4 different seasonings. Other than that, they have the basic ingredients that you put into your soup during steamboat. Crab stick, sausages, fishball etc. For people who would like to have noodles/ rice to go with your food, it's also provided. Should you need any garnishing such as spring onions, or condiments such as soya sauce/ chilli etc, it's all provided too. Plus, the buffet also includes drinks and limited variety of sushi.
I must say that the sushi was bad. Probably left out too long, it was pretty dry and hard. As for the meat, it wasn't seasoned very well. As everything was pretty much do-it-yourself, there wasn't much service to talk about.
For students who are really big eaters, I would think that this place is worth going. For me, I paid the student price of $16.90 if I'm not wrong. And for adults it's $21.90 . (I think the prices are around here but I can't remember if this is the right price..) This is the lunch buffet. The " " means there's GST too. Didn't quite like the idea of that because there really wasn't much service to begin with. From the day I'm not a student anymore, I will stop considering eating here.
If you like buffet, you could give this place a try. But I personally feel it's just all right, nothing really fantastic...
Rating given:
After a relatively good experience from my previous visit to Pu Tien, I headed back down with my parents for dinner on a busy Sunday evening. Needless to say, parking was a major headache, even to the extent of hazardous with the throngs of foreign workers recklessly heading towards Mustafa.
Salted Pig Trotter with Pepper - We tried Pu Tien's rendition of the pig's trotters for the first time and left rather disappointed. True, the skin was crispy and lightly salted to bring out the balance of flavours. But it was more of soggy crispy rather than crackling crispy and most of it was just fats and minimal meat, which made swallowing a rather difficult task because of the preconceived notions of unhealthiness.
Stir Fried Kailan with Beancurd Skin - This dish was supposed to have more kailan than beancurd skin, but strangely enough, it was vice versa. The beancurd skin was a huge blob and practically covered out whatever small portions of the kailan that was given. And eating too much soft beancurd skin is a sure fire recipe for getting woozy really fast. A rather lacklustre but decently palatable dish overall.
Deep Fried Chicken with Garlic - This time round, the Deep Fried Chicken with Garlic was merely normal. The skin was as crispy as I remembered it to be but the meat came across as a little dry. Also, it tasted rather bland even with the fried garlic atop.
Homemade Beancurd - Undoubtedly the best dish of the evening, the homemade beancurd was soft yet firm and had a nice savoury after taste. I wouldn't go so far as to call it out of this world, but its really a gem. I must say that even my parents were quite impressed with this dish and thats coming from 2 very fussy eaters.
Hing Wa Fried Bee Hoon - As with my previous visit, I didn't find this dish the least bit impressive. The bee hoon was very fine but a little too dry and bland for my liking.
Dinner for 3 stood at about $51, which is in line with my idea of a reasonable dinner given the quality of food. But do not expect top notch food for the price. Its merely comfort food done up with a little more finesse.
See all my pictures here
Rating given:
Had intended to try out HK Kim Gary at Vivo City, but threw the idea out of the window when we saw the ridiculously long queue. Actually there were long queues at most, if not all of the food outlets at Vivo City. Pure madness. So we drove to Orchard and after wandering aimlessly for a bit, settled for Lei Garden at Orchard Shopping Centre. The lift opens up to the reception area of Lei Garden and first looks, it hardly resembled a Chinese restaurant, with the exception of the wooden chairs. The brick linings in the walls were very evident and the low ceiling finished with wooden frames gave the whole place a very cottage feel. Add on a couple of Christmas decorations and lights and viola, you have a very pretty cottage dining area.
Since we got there at about 9pm, alot of stuff were sold out, like the soup of the day and the smoked duck. So we had to settle for some recommendations by the captain. Namely, Double Boiled Fish's Bone with "Tian Ma", Deep Fried Prawns Coated with Salted Egg Yolk and Stewed Chicken with Young Ginger in Honey Sauce. We rounded up the meal with Durian Pudding and Glutinous Rice Balls with sesame filling.
Lei Garden is well known for its double boiled soups and I never fail to order at least a serving every time I patronise. As such, I had high expectations for the Double Boiled Fish's Bone with "Tian Ma" and it didn't disappoint. The soup was sweet and light with a hint of rawness. However, I did get a little sick of drinking the soup after the first bowl mainly because the slight fishy taste made me queasy. So too much of a good thing isn't always good. Just a little nugget of information, this soup is supposed to relieve dizziness and calm the mind. How true? I have no idea.
The Deep Fried Prawns Coated with Salted Egg Yolk was a delicacy in the making. The egg yolk gave the prawns a slight salty taste and the flavours were evident throughout. The prawns were also very fresh and biting into one is akin to eating Cereal Prawns - You just pop the whole thing into your mouth and enjoy the crunching sounds. However, I say that this dish is a delicacy still in the making because there is room for improvement. For one, the frying batter was uneven. Some prawns had more batter on the front, some had more on the back. This made the overall taste non homogeneous, with some parts being saltier than others.
The Stewed Chicken with Young Ginger in Honey Sauce sounded interesting, but it was no more than Sweet and Sour Chicken, at least that was what it tasted like. Yes, the chicken meat was definitely more tender than the usual stuff you get outside and the sauce was decidedly lighter and less pronounced than the normal ones outside that threaten to overpower the taste of everything else. I liked this dish and so did my gf. Funny that there was no ginger taste though.
Desserts have never really been a forte for Lei Garden and their desserts speak for themselves. My Durian Pudding tasted rather artificial although there were significant chunks of Durian meat in it. The Gelatine was in excess and gave the pudding a very creamy yet mashed up texture. My gf's Glutinous Rice Balls with sesame filling was rather tasteless. The rice balls were coated with ground peanuts, which made them fragrant. However, the sesame filling could do with more flavour.
Dinner blew us away at about $110/-. We certainly didn't expect the bill to be so high, especially since our dishes weren't exactly expensive stuff. Nevertheless, the food quality is there and it is certainly quite refined. No one said good food comes cheap right? Service was good as well, so that kind of eased the pain when I saw the bill.
See all my pictures here.
Rating given:
Hanging around Marina with a bunch of friends who were feeling hungry, we somehow settled down here for dinner. It was more of a 'go and test' experience, and it turned out rather well.
The place was done up pretty nicely and the seating was quite comfortable. Service was pretty up to standard too, and the food didn't take long to come.
Food portions were quite ok, partly because we were a hungry bunch, but taste-wise, it is nothing to shout about. Quite a variety to choose from (we really took some time to decide), but nothing very special that caught my attention.
Drinks are quite good though. Quite alot of refreshing flavours to choose from, and the serving's pretty huge. Only thing is that it comes at a relatively hefty price.
Overall, prices are a little steep for the quality of food. Other than that, the dining experience's quite good, and I guess it's still worth a try if you have not eaten there before.
Rating given:
The location of this outlet might be a little bit of a trouble for some, but for someone who lives just 5 minutes away by foot, this is heaven!
Botak Jones is a MUST-TRY. You just cannot miss out on their big, juicy burgers which comes served with a huge - and I do mean HUGE - portion of fries. Their fries are good, not too dry, just crispy. And oh, do try out their jalapeno peppers stuffed with cheese. It's really quite good.
Prices are decent over at Botak Jones. You can totally fill yourself up with about $10. If you happen to have a huge appetite, just get more fries, or throw in an extra side dish. Granted, it's slightly expensive for a 'coffee-shop stall', but the food definitely is way above any kopitiam-stall standard.
The Toa Payoh outlet is located in a rather spacious place, but it gets really crowded during lunch and dinner hours, so try to get there earlier if you don't want to wait too long.
I think I might just go back there again next week.
Rating given:
Personally bought some clothes from them.
Pros:
Clothes are in-stock and in good quality. Reaction fast, emails came like within 1 day of queries or ordering. Very accommodating as they allow bank transfer by various banks and even when I used UOB bank to transfer to their DBS and took 3 days, they are fine with it. (Do inform them first) Clothes are unique and shown big on the blogshop together with the descriptions. Pleasing blog design makes browsing through loads of photos easy on the eye. There is also a discount area where they sell over stocks at big discounts.
Cons:
Too many photos makes loading slow. Lack of categorization of clothes hence got to look through all the items to find what you wanted. A tad expensive though their items are mostly unique. Clothes are sold out at fast speed so I have to go and browse through fast whenever I receive their update notification.
Rating given:
A friend of mine recommended this brand of ice cream to me. He said he simply love the Ferrero flavor. Being curious, I decided to give it a try.
Disappointed! I ordered Rum and Raisin and Dark Choc with M&Ms. Well, I'm not sure whether it was the blend but it does not taste appetizing at all. The taste was well... under the line... not up to it.... or the Chinese explanation : 不到味
Cold Rock wins, by having unique ice cream toppings, flavor and giving customers the thrill of watching their ice cream being blended (ouch) however, blending makes the ice cream flavors mixed up and sometimes cancel out each other. Further, blended ice cream does not look good at all. (As per my photo)
For ice cream of that pricing, I will rather go to Hagaan Daz right opposite or Scoopz which up till now is my favorite.
Rating given:
I found the fillings of the Paus rather normal, but the Da Bao didn't have ginger inside, which I personally prefer because I simply dislike ginger. The Pau skin was soft and not too thick, with lots of bite. Its really a cut above the rest. Little wonder about the long queues. Try it!
Rating given:
Went to my friend's wedding dinner at Hilton Grand Ballroom.
Never went there before and was thinking the place, food and class should be very impressive. However, we are quite disappointed as the food was so so. The only item on the menu I liked was the 佛提飘香or whatever that was one of the photos. Crispy outer rim of yam and well cooked vegetables in the center.
There was nothing special about the decoration of the ballroom and the place was quite cramped.
As for service, I won't be able to give a fair comment as we were served by someone new. The person keep mixing up our drinks order like my neighbor wanted white wine and the person gave him red wine. Another wanted Sprite and I wanted no drinks but I was given the Sprite and she wasn't given anything. Other things like spraying me with coke while he served my husband's drinks.
Rating given: