Don't know why the Vivo City and Raffles City outlets have not been listed but that's why I am writing this under the Orchard Central outlet.
5 girls and 1 guy on a 5pm weekday means the place was not too packed for our big group. We were greedy and ordered 5 tarts ($6.50 per tart) to share with drinks of course:
Strawberry mont blanc - The mont blanc could have been more, although the taste blended very well with the berries. The taste of the nut did not come through as being very obvious admist all the cream.
Blueberry - Topped off with real blueberries and blueberry jelly cubes. The jelly were a nice touch and something different to the otherwise boring tart.
Chocolate banana - Anything chocolate must be more popular than the rest of the flavours. The banana slices were thankfully not too mushy and the chocolate actually provided a but more flavour than the rest of our choices. A good match I think!
Mango - A little too stingy with the mango cubes and slices.
Mixed fruit - mixed fruit is well, mixed fruit. Some mango, kiwi, banana, strawberry, blueberry.
It did feel like it was not too sinful a dessert break, maybe becasue of the very light Japanese cream. But after a while, they all started to taste the same except for the chocolate banana. I liked the tart base too, very fresh and light.
My earl grey was okay, but they dont serve honey, only sugar syrup. And I think having wrong orders is really not forgivable when we were the 2nd occupied table. But for girls, this is an outlet to feel like having your cake and eating it too. Literally.
With drinks, the total bill for 5 tarts and drinks came up to $78 which I didnt expect. But I guess it could have been alot more expenseive than say canele.
It was dinner at Miyabi again. We didn't have a reservation but as they had just opened for business, we managed to snag a table in the main dining hall without much difficulty. The interior was quite simply done up with 2 side stalls for teppanyaki and the rest of the area for ala carte dining. Nothing too spectacular.
Chawamushi - The chawamushi was not very smooth, leaning towards a firm custard like texture instead. Flavour wise, the egg taste was apparent but did seem a little bland overall. Still decent though.
Sushi & Tempura Combo - I can't deny the aesthetic attractiveness of the sushi but found the rice to be rather loose and lacking in vinegar. The relative freshness of the raw seafood made it more bearable though but probably not something I would order again. The tempura batter was a little too frilly for my liking but on the upside, it wasn't overbearingly thick and the prawns were sizeable. Decent enough.
Apparently there was a promotion going on for the sirloin, which could be done either teppanyaki style or grilled with teriyaki. We chose the former and opted for it to be done medium. Although the meat came a little overcooked, it was still tender and juicy, which was rather surprising. That said, it wasn't sweet and I could only make out the strong taste of the garlic. Rather disappointing.
Food quality was average but definitely better than the likes of Sake Sushi. However, pricing is slightly steeper as well, at about $120 for the 3 of us. I definitely won't be back in a hurry.
Came here for a leisure weekday lunch and it was not packed at all, with a few tables looking like business lunches and corporate partners instead of your usual family crowd. Thus place was nice and quiet, and probably felt more upmarket than its counterparts at Central and Wheelock.
The place can be quite hard to find for 1st timers: its not visible from the main courtyard. You'll have to access it by climbing up a fleet of stairs near Insomnia, right smack in the middle of Chijmes.
Gyoza - 6 compact pieces of the dumplings decorated with a veg on top, all on a hot plate. Very nicely grilled and served very hot, although I though the gyozas could have a but more bite than just all meat. The slightly tart sauce that came with it perked up the dish though.
Salmon roll - Cute presentation of the rolls, and salmon was very fresh although nothing excellent. Quite a mouthful for me though, but some people call it value for money.
Deep fried squid - this is on their seasonal menu, although I couldnt figure out why squid was seasonal. Small portion of bite-sized squid (note: not the rings) nicely batetred and deep-fried. A very morish snack to accompany the meal.
Hotpot rice set (seafood) - My weakness for seafood made me order this. The set came with chawamushi, miso soup, pickles, salmon sashimi, fruits, and green tea ice cream. The chawamushi was studded with ednamame peas and had ginko nuts and chicken in it. Quite heavy for me compared to normal steam egg. I had expected the hot pot to give the rice some fragrance but it did not, disappointingly. There seem to be also not much taste, except for the soya sauce that was mixed into the rice.
The seafood had half a prawn, fish roe, fish, scallops, and salmon. It looks like a luxurious combi but somehow I felt the seafood and the rice didnt gel together and tasted like they were separate components instead. The scallops and salmon was not cooked although the idea was for them to cook themselves within the heat of the pot; and I had to send it back to get them to grill it again. I can understand if salmon was not cooked thoroughly, but scallops???
Green tea ice cream - This was part of the set and was the highlight of the lunch for me. Served very chilled in a chilled porcelain bowl, it was one of the better ones I've tried so far. Smooth with just the right amount of 'grainy' feel to taste home-made and very macha than commercial green tea.
Green tea - Probably made from the same green tea leaves or mix, but I had to highlight that they apparently make their own blend for the tea, and it did taste so.
Service was not too bad, perhaps given that there were plenty of staff to handle the half occupied place. Requests for tea refill, side plates were answered quite quickly.
I actually didnt know how much was the bill as it was a treat, the amount spent is an estimate based on what I remember from the menu. The quality I think can still be improved, but because I like the place, I'll return to try their other stuff.
My first visit to MBS and I was quite excited to try what they are capable of in terms of food. It was a casual business lunch so buffet at Rise sounded like the best option to suit everyone's tastes.
Rise is located right smack in the middle of the high-ceiling Marina Bay Sands hotel lobby and very open-concept, so much so that you may walk right past it thinking it was the hotel lounge. Seatings are elevated and plenty of lush to also provide a sense of privacy from the lobby traffic. Remember to ask the cab to stop at the hotel lobby if applicable as it can be a fair walk if they drop you off at the Casino lobby instead.
Staff was eager to please although a bit clueless. We arrived early at 11:45am and asked if the buffet is ready. Staff said oh the buffet starts at 11:30am, to which we asked if it means we can go get the food already. He then said he needed to re-confirm the timing and come back to us. Huh??
The set up and variety looked promising, but unfortunately, the key word was 'looked'.
Soup & Bread - 3 varieties: tomato, mushroom, beef. I only tried the mushroom and found it quite good; I could taste actual chunks of mushrooms in it but after a few spoonfuls it started to be a little salty.
Cheese - A suprisingly better than expected selection of cheese, something I dont see alot at buffet lunches. The few I tried tasted too strong for me but taste is subjective of course.
Starters - normal items like salad leaves, potato mayo, sausage and potato salad etc.
Seafood - 4 varities: prawns, crabs, scallops, mussels (which I didnt try). The small-medium prawns were not chilled enough although it was buried under ice, and came without the heads. It did not have that sweet crunch of really fresh prawns either and was really just okay. The crabs had the same problem. I was quite disappointed as I had expected more out of MBS quality. The only plus point is when a staff saw me struggling with the crab claw, he offered to take it away to crack it for me.
Sashimi - I only tried the salmon but it too was served not chilled enough. I wonder if its the ice they are using????
Hot food - Nothing wow thus I didnt try alot. It was more common fare like dim sum, noodles cooked to order, pasta, sweet sour chicken, mushrooms, kailan etc.
Desserts - A big selection and I tried a few but was not wowed. Fruit tarts, chocolate cakes and mousses, bread butter pudding, biscotti, madelines, and mango pomelo dessert. Plenty of fruits though.
Coffee and tea is included in the buffet and you can take your pick of earl grey, english breakfast etc. We asked if only normal coffee is included or can we have cuppucino lattes etc; and they needed to check again. Turned out to be only normal coffee, FYI.
Ambience is nice and airy with a very alfresco feel, and although it is situated in the hotel lobby, it wasn't too noisy. You can spot business guys in suits or families on a weekday leisure post-casino meal.
I had expected better from MBS actually. I do agree that variety is good but sometimes I prefer quality more than quantity. And none of the items stood out. The host paid for all of us which was good, as this is one buffet I will not pay to return to. For the same price, there are definitely better buffet options out there.
Have heard about the long queue at the outlet at Central so was quite curious to try and new outlet at Cuppage. Having the 1-4-1 coupon from 8Days helped of course.
They don't take reservations so had to leave my name at 7pm on a weekday evening for an indoor seating. Small seating as well so the place fills up quite quickly.
Tonkusen Toroniku ($16.80) - this came with 3 choices of soup base: shio (salt), miso, or spicy. I picked the shio after reading up prior to my visit and found it very nicely balanced, with just the right amount of fragrant but not overbearing milky porky broth. Didnt taste like there was an overkill of salt as well.
The ramen itself was a bit thinner than most but had the right amount of spring in it and thankfully not overcooked.
The supposedly highlight of the dish was the pork cheeks which came on a side plate, as with all the garnishes. Clever of them. It was the first time I had pork cheeks and my first piece tasted wonderfully tender and rich. But the salt quantum and fatty bits took a toll on me a few pieces later, with me carefully scrapping off the fats for the last few and ultimately not finishing it.
I had a taste of the spicy base also, which I thought was quite good as it had the fragrance of the bean paste. Nice.
Despite the pork cheeks being overly salty, I will still pick this over Ippudo in general. Better soup and better ramen :D
Was stolling along the crowded Bugis street, and my friend and i just couldn't decide on what to have for our lunch ...
as we were taking escalator up to second level of the bugis junction, we saw this chinese restaurant of Nanxiang.
With curiousity of their design, we took a look at their menu and find that the pricing is quite affortable. Furthermore, we couldn't stand the grumbling sound from our stomach so 4 of us just walk into the restautant. THanks goodness, it was around 4 to 5pm there is no crowd or queue :)
As we flipped through the menu thoroughly, our conclusion is that rice is more worth it to order hence my friend and i ordered the golden fried rice - the plate that has the floss meats on top .
and subsequently , another of my friend ordered the chicken cultet fried rice and another one ordered the fried noodles..
our conclusion is that only the GOLDEN FRIE D RICE is recommended, while the noodles is in a very small portion and quite oily too...
whereas, for the chicken cutlet fried rice, only the chicken cutlet is nice. the rice don't worth $8 ...since is quite normal in taste.
Finally finally finally had the chance to be around the area at 530pm on a weekday! Tropped up, saw no queue, and so so inside we went.
Shrimp cake spring roll ($6) - this really didnt have any 'cake' as in 'crab cake' but was more of prawn paste in deep fried spring roll. Nicely fried, and the spring roll was lighter than typical, which was a bonus. It could have came with a better sauce than bottled chilli sauce though, as I felt as the run of the mill sauce destroyed the dish.
Karakamen ($17) egg ($2) - "Spicy Tonkotsu Ramen served with minced pork and spicy paste". Tried the soup, and it tasted like dan dan mian. The egg that cost $2 was also overcooked; the yolk was not runny at all. Disappointing.
Shiromaru Classic ($15) - "Original recipe tonkotsu soup served with thin noodles, Rosu chashu (Pork Loin), cabbage, kikurage & scallions". Ordered this because it was the classic dish. Didnt realise it came with ginger too, I had to take it all out because I'm not a ginger person. The broth was alot creamier than expected, with a delicate but obvious porky taste; a tad more salt and I would have found it too salty. The creamy texture made the soup quite je lart for me, and I couldnt finish it, although it was probably bursting with collagen. Luckily the thin noodles was not overcooked. The chashu was also mostly lean with a tiny bit of fat trimmings.
I thought the visit would explain the hoo-haa and the neverending long queues on nights and weekends, but I didnt quite get it. Perhaps the hype surrounding this place is too big for their own good, as I went to expect a drama moment when I took my 1st spoonful of the broth. It was not that bad, but it is not something I will brave the queue for either.
Service was typical Jap polite service and smily staff, so bonus points for them. But still not going to be on my return visit list anytime soon.
Had a sudden craving for dim sum on a Sunday afternoon and didnt want to fight with the Crystal Jade crowd so headed towards Hai Tien Lo for some nice quiet dim sum. It was surprisingly not packed at 1pm and we were given a table with a view~
Service was good, but perhaps it was the small crowd as well. Orders were taken swiftly, and staff hurried to offer to refill our tea when they spotted my picking up the tea pot. Nice quiet crowd with some business guys and young families allowed for some peace and quiet. It was also quite nice to just space out at the view sporadically too.
All except the porridge, shark's fin dumpling, and rice flour roll came in 3 pieces:
Shark's fin dumpling in a broth ($13 per pax) - I only tried the broth and liked it quite a bit. It was a very light chicken broth with what I think was the sweetnss of scallops (?). I wished there was more broth so I can drink it as a soup.
Steam crystal dumplings with vegetables ($3.90) - This was disappointingly normal, with the usual crunch of meat and some veg. Presentation can be better too.
Pan fried rice flour rolls with crispy conpoy ($3.90) - Good. The plain rolls came pan-fried excellently and the conpoy added a nice touch of fragrance. The accompanying sauce was some form of bean sauce I think, savoury but too gluey for my liking. Rather eat it plain.
Poached Beijing dumplings stuffed with chicken and prawns in chilli vinegar sauce ($4.20) - The highlight was the sauce itself: very good. It enhanced the sweetness of the dumplings and helped to avoid any typical dim sum 'crunch fatigue' syndrome. The chilli and vinegar was mixed in the correct proportion, and was so good that we ended up dipping most of our other dim sum in it.
Deep fried sea perch wrapped with vermicelli ($5.40) - Was glad we ordered this. Fish was deep fried so to be honest the sweetness of it wasn't apparent, but the vermicelli was freshly fried without the stale oil taste which I am very sensitive to. It wasquite skillfully done and presented, with some roe dotting the top of the pieces.
Century egg porridge ($3.90) - Disappointingly bland and too watery for my liking. It didnt have the fragrance of the century egg as I think they used another variety of century egg which was golden organge hued. Pepper did not manage to lift the taste.
Rose Pu Er ($6 per pax) - Nice fragrant choice, although I personally think $6 is too pricey. I mean how much tea can one drink?
The host who greeted us asked for my name even though I did not make a reservation and I wondered why. Then realized its because she wanted to say goodbye when we left addressing me by name. How nice!
I was quite plesantly surprised by the prices. I'd pick this over Crystal Jade for almost the same pricing with a less noisy / hurried crowd. The varity of dim sum is small though, so expect to be bored after your 3rd visit.
Finally dropped by this place as have seen many a times the long queues outside this new outlet. It was an early dinner about 5:30pm and about just in time as a queue formed soon after that.
Shio Ramen Gyoza Set ($12.80) - I think they must have tamed down the amount of salt after feedback from the Ion outlet as I actually found the soup base quite nice. The soup is apparently cooked for 7 hours before it reaches your table, and an extra puny portion of it will set you back another $2. I have no idea what is 'shio' but it was a refreshing change from Ajisen, which to me tasted like it came with a good handful of MSG. I think it was pork bones stock amongst other stuff, not your cloudy typical and light enough for me to want to drink it without panting for water. It was to me value worth too as the ramen, althought with an egg and only 1 piece of cha shu, came with 3 pieces of gyoza. Decent portion for a normal dinner. Gyozas were nicely pan-fried too.
Agedashi Tofu ($4.80) - Normal fried tofu, although I liked the fact that it didnt come drowned in the sauce which usually ends up making you eat really soggy tofu.
Tako Tempura ($6.80) - Batter was abit too thick for me, and the squid could have been in smaller pieces. Really chewy as well. But the accompanying sauce helped cut the richness of the batter.
Hokkaido Salad ($6.80) - this was a very nice surprise because of the portion and ingredients in the salad. Fresh lettuce, strips of carrot, corn, potato cubes, tomato, baby asparagus, and even scallops. All nice and fresh with a japanese vinegrette sauce. Good!
Service was typical, although there was an irritating fly that keeps wanting to land on our food. Food didnt take too long to arrive too, which was a plus point too.
I remember patronising Miss Clarity Cafe when it was still a small obscure cafe at Purvis Street back in 2005/2006. What drew me to this cafe was the reasonably priced set meals (for its location). Fast forward 4-5 years and the eatery has expanded to include an outlet along Upper Thomson Road.
The interior at the Thomson outlet is reminiscent of the original shop at Purvis, with its predominantly pink theme and girlish intonations. Even the menu is pink! And for all the eatery's success, it was empty on a Saturday evening (maybe standards have dropped or the crowds are limited to the outlet at Purvis).
Chicken Ballotine - One of the apparently popular and signature dish of the eatery, the Chicken Ballotine was essentially boneless thigh meat stuffed with mushrooms and roasted. Personally I thought the idea was good but the execution was terrible. For starters, the meat was very dry and rubbery. I could make out the mushrooms but the chicken itself didn't have much inherent taste. Disappointing as compared to what I had many years back.
Soft Shell Crab Linguine - If my Chicken Ballotine was bad, the soft shell crab linguine was a total disaster. Limp pasta swimming in artificial tasting cream based sauce and topped with crisp but flour laden soft shell crab pieces. This is as bad as it gets.
Blueberry Pie - Any hopes of dessert salvaging the meal was torn to shreds as soon as I had the first bite of the blueberry pie. First please allow me to qualify that I personally am not used to having warm blueberry pies. I prefer my blueberry pies chilled. So it came as quite a bummer when mine came served warm with a gooey, seemingly mass produced blueberry filling, sandwiched between 2 layers of hard, dry and tasteless biscuit. The sad fact of the matter is, even Han's blueberry pie, at just over 2 bucks for a slice, enjoys a better standing in my books.
A ruined dinner for 2 wasn't expensive, at almost $27. But seriously, I'll rather stuff myself with 3 big mac meals than step foot into Miss Clarity ever again. Did I mention that I have a weakness for fast food? ;)
Don't know why the Vivo City and Raffles City outlets have not been listed but that's why I am writing this under the Orchard Central outlet.
5 girls and 1 guy on a 5pm weekday means the place was not too packed for our big group. We were greedy and ordered 5 tarts ($6.50 per tart) to share with drinks of course:
Strawberry mont blanc - The mont blanc could have been more, although the taste blended very well with the berries. The taste of the nut did not come through as being very obvious admist all the cream.
Blueberry - Topped off with real blueberries and blueberry jelly cubes. The jelly were a nice touch and something different to the otherwise boring tart.
Chocolate banana - Anything chocolate must be more popular than the rest of the flavours. The banana slices were thankfully not too mushy and the chocolate actually provided a but more flavour than the rest of our choices. A good match I think!
Mango - A little too stingy with the mango cubes and slices.
Mixed fruit - mixed fruit is well, mixed fruit. Some mango, kiwi, banana, strawberry, blueberry.
It did feel like it was not too sinful a dessert break, maybe becasue of the very light Japanese cream. But after a while, they all started to taste the same except for the chocolate banana. I liked the tart base too, very fresh and light.
My earl grey was okay, but they dont serve honey, only sugar syrup. And I think having wrong orders is really not forgivable when we were the 2nd occupied table. But for girls, this is an outlet to feel like having your cake and eating it too. Literally.
With drinks, the total bill for 5 tarts and drinks came up to $78 which I didnt expect. But I guess it could have been alot more expenseive than say canele.
Rating given:
It was dinner at Miyabi again. We didn't have a reservation but as they had just opened for business, we managed to snag a table in the main dining hall without much difficulty. The interior was quite simply done up with 2 side stalls for teppanyaki and the rest of the area for ala carte dining. Nothing too spectacular.
Chawamushi - The chawamushi was not very smooth, leaning towards a firm custard like texture instead. Flavour wise, the egg taste was apparent but did seem a little bland overall. Still decent though.
Sushi & Tempura Combo - I can't deny the aesthetic attractiveness of the sushi but found the rice to be rather loose and lacking in vinegar. The relative freshness of the raw seafood made it more bearable though but probably not something I would order again.
The tempura batter was a little too frilly for my liking but on the upside, it wasn't overbearingly thick and the prawns were sizeable. Decent enough.
Apparently there was a promotion going on for the sirloin, which could be done either teppanyaki style or grilled with teriyaki. We chose the former and opted for it to be done medium. Although the meat came a little overcooked, it was still tender and juicy, which was rather surprising. That said, it wasn't sweet and I could only make out the strong taste of the garlic. Rather disappointing.
Food quality was average but definitely better than the likes of Sake Sushi. However, pricing is slightly steeper as well, at about $120 for the 3 of us. I definitely won't be back in a hurry.
See all my pictures here.
Rating given:
Came here for a leisure weekday lunch and it was not packed at all, with a few tables looking like business lunches and corporate partners instead of your usual family crowd. Thus place was nice and quiet, and probably felt more upmarket than its counterparts at Central and Wheelock.
The place can be quite hard to find for 1st timers: its not visible from the main courtyard. You'll have to access it by climbing up a fleet of stairs near Insomnia, right smack in the middle of Chijmes.
Gyoza - 6 compact pieces of the dumplings decorated with a veg on top, all on a hot plate. Very nicely grilled and served very hot, although I though the gyozas could have a but more bite than just all meat. The slightly tart sauce that came with it perked up the dish though.
Salmon roll - Cute presentation of the rolls, and salmon was very fresh although nothing excellent. Quite a mouthful for me though, but some people call it value for money.
Deep fried squid - this is on their seasonal menu, although I couldnt figure out why squid was seasonal. Small portion of bite-sized squid (note: not the rings) nicely batetred and deep-fried. A very morish snack to accompany the meal.
Hotpot rice set (seafood) - My weakness for seafood made me order this. The set came with chawamushi, miso soup, pickles, salmon sashimi, fruits, and green tea ice cream. The chawamushi was studded with ednamame peas and had ginko nuts and chicken in it. Quite heavy for me compared to normal steam egg. I had expected the hot pot to give the rice some fragrance but it did not, disappointingly. There seem to be also not much taste, except for the soya sauce that was mixed into the rice.
The seafood had half a prawn, fish roe, fish, scallops, and salmon. It looks like a luxurious combi but somehow I felt the seafood and the rice didnt gel together and tasted like they were separate components instead. The scallops and salmon was not cooked although the idea was for them to cook themselves within the heat of the pot; and I had to send it back to get them to grill it again. I can understand if salmon was not cooked thoroughly, but scallops???
Green tea ice cream - This was part of the set and was the highlight of the lunch for me. Served very chilled in a chilled porcelain bowl, it was one of the better ones I've tried so far. Smooth with just the right amount of 'grainy' feel to taste home-made and very macha than commercial green tea.
Green tea - Probably made from the same green tea leaves or mix, but I had to highlight that they apparently make their own blend for the tea, and it did taste so.
Service was not too bad, perhaps given that there were plenty of staff to handle the half occupied place. Requests for tea refill, side plates were answered quite quickly.
I actually didnt know how much was the bill as it was a treat, the amount spent is an estimate based on what I remember from the menu. The quality I think can still be improved, but because I like the place, I'll return to try their other stuff.
Rating given:
Not a buffet I would pay to return to
My first visit to MBS and I was quite excited to try what they are capable of in terms of food. It was a casual business lunch so buffet at Rise sounded like the best option to suit everyone's tastes.
Rise is located right smack in the middle of the high-ceiling Marina Bay Sands hotel lobby and very open-concept, so much so that you may walk right past it thinking it was the hotel lounge. Seatings are elevated and plenty of lush to also provide a sense of privacy from the lobby traffic. Remember to ask the cab to stop at the hotel lobby if applicable as it can be a fair walk if they drop you off at the Casino lobby instead.
Staff was eager to please although a bit clueless. We arrived early at 11:45am and asked if the buffet is ready. Staff said oh the buffet starts at 11:30am, to which we asked if it means we can go get the food already. He then said he needed to re-confirm the timing and come back to us. Huh??
The set up and variety looked promising, but unfortunately, the key word was 'looked'.
Soup & Bread - 3 varieties: tomato, mushroom, beef. I only tried the mushroom and found it quite good; I could taste actual chunks of mushrooms in it but after a few spoonfuls it started to be a little salty.
Cheese - A suprisingly better than expected selection of cheese, something I dont see alot at buffet lunches. The few I tried tasted too strong for me but taste is subjective of course.
Starters - normal items like salad leaves, potato mayo, sausage and potato salad etc.
Seafood - 4 varities: prawns, crabs, scallops, mussels (which I didnt try). The small-medium prawns were not chilled enough although it was buried under ice, and came without the heads. It did not have that sweet crunch of really fresh prawns either and was really just okay. The crabs had the same problem. I was quite disappointed as I had expected more out of MBS quality. The only plus point is when a staff saw me struggling with the crab claw, he offered to take it away to crack it for me.
Sashimi - I only tried the salmon but it too was served not chilled enough. I wonder if its the ice they are using????
Hot food - Nothing wow thus I didnt try alot. It was more common fare like dim sum, noodles cooked to order, pasta, sweet sour chicken, mushrooms, kailan etc.
Desserts - A big selection and I tried a few but was not wowed. Fruit tarts, chocolate cakes and mousses, bread butter pudding, biscotti, madelines, and mango pomelo dessert. Plenty of fruits though.
Coffee and tea is included in the buffet and you can take your pick of earl grey, english breakfast etc. We asked if only normal coffee is included or can we have cuppucino lattes etc; and they needed to check again. Turned out to be only normal coffee, FYI.
Ambience is nice and airy with a very alfresco feel, and although it is situated in the hotel lobby, it wasn't too noisy. You can spot business guys in suits or families on a weekday leisure post-casino meal.
I had expected better from MBS actually. I do agree that variety is good but sometimes I prefer quality more than quantity. And none of the items stood out. The host paid for all of us which was good, as this is one buffet I will not pay to return to. For the same price, there are definitely better buffet options out there.
Rating given:
Have heard about the long queue at the outlet at Central so was quite curious to try and new outlet at Cuppage. Having the 1-4-1 coupon from 8Days helped of course.
They don't take reservations so had to leave my name at 7pm on a weekday evening for an indoor seating. Small seating as well so the place fills up quite quickly.
Tonkusen Toroniku ($16.80) - this came with 3 choices of soup base: shio (salt), miso, or spicy. I picked the shio after reading up prior to my visit and found it very nicely balanced, with just the right amount of fragrant but not overbearing milky porky broth. Didnt taste like there was an overkill of salt as well.
The ramen itself was a bit thinner than most but had the right amount of spring in it and thankfully not overcooked.
The supposedly highlight of the dish was the pork cheeks which came on a side plate, as with all the garnishes. Clever of them. It was the first time I had pork cheeks and my first piece tasted wonderfully tender and rich. But the salt quantum and fatty bits took a toll on me a few pieces later, with me carefully scrapping off the fats for the last few and ultimately not finishing it.
I had a taste of the spicy base also, which I thought was quite good as it had the fragrance of the bean paste. Nice.
Despite the pork cheeks being overly salty, I will still pick this over Ippudo in general. Better soup and better ramen :D
Rating given:
Was stolling along the crowded Bugis street, and my friend and i just couldn't decide on what to have for our lunch ...
as we were taking escalator up to second level of the bugis junction, we saw this chinese restaurant of Nanxiang.
With curiousity of their design, we took a look at their menu and find that the pricing is quite affortable. Furthermore, we couldn't stand the grumbling sound from our stomach so 4 of us just walk into the restautant. THanks goodness, it was around 4 to 5pm there is no crowd or queue :)
As we flipped through the menu thoroughly, our conclusion is that rice is more worth it to order hence my friend and i ordered the golden fried rice - the plate that has the floss meats on top .
and subsequently , another of my friend ordered the chicken cultet fried rice and another one ordered the fried noodles..
our conclusion is that only the GOLDEN FRIE
D RICE is recommended, while the noodles is in a very small portion and quite oily too...
whereas, for the chicken cutlet fried rice, only the chicken cutlet is nice. the rice don't worth $8 ...since is quite normal in taste.
Rating given:
Finally finally finally had the chance to be around the area at 530pm on a weekday! Tropped up, saw no queue, and so so inside we went.
Shrimp cake spring roll ($6) - this really didnt have any 'cake' as in 'crab cake' but was more of prawn paste in deep fried spring roll. Nicely fried, and the spring roll was lighter than typical, which was a bonus. It could have came with a better sauce than bottled chilli sauce though, as I felt as the run of the mill sauce destroyed the dish.
Karakamen ($17) egg ($2) - "Spicy Tonkotsu Ramen served with minced pork and spicy paste". Tried the soup, and it tasted like dan dan mian. The egg that cost $2 was also overcooked; the yolk was not runny at all. Disappointing.
Shiromaru Classic ($15) - "Original recipe tonkotsu soup served with thin noodles, Rosu chashu (Pork Loin), cabbage, kikurage & scallions". Ordered this because it was the classic dish. Didnt realise it came with ginger too, I had to take it all out because I'm not a ginger person. The broth was alot creamier than expected, with a delicate but obvious porky taste; a tad more salt and I would have found it too salty. The creamy texture made the soup quite je lart for me, and I couldnt finish it, although it was probably bursting with collagen. Luckily the thin noodles was not overcooked. The chashu was also mostly lean with a tiny bit of fat trimmings.
I thought the visit would explain the hoo-haa and the neverending long queues on nights and weekends, but I didnt quite get it. Perhaps the hype surrounding this place is too big for their own good, as I went to expect a drama moment when I took my 1st spoonful of the broth. It was not that bad, but it is not something I will brave the queue for either.
Service was typical Jap polite service and smily staff, so bonus points for them. But still not going to be on my return visit list anytime soon.
Rating given:
Nice dim sum with nice crowd ~
Had a sudden craving for dim sum on a Sunday afternoon and didnt want to fight with the Crystal Jade crowd so headed towards Hai Tien Lo for some nice quiet dim sum. It was surprisingly not packed at 1pm and we were given a table with a view~
Service was good, but perhaps it was the small crowd as well. Orders were taken swiftly, and staff hurried to offer to refill our tea when they spotted my picking up the tea pot. Nice quiet crowd with some business guys and young families allowed for some peace and quiet. It was also quite nice to just space out at the view sporadically too.
All except the porridge, shark's fin dumpling, and rice flour roll came in 3 pieces:
Shark's fin dumpling in a broth ($13 per pax) - I only tried the broth and liked it quite a bit. It was a very light chicken broth with what I think was the sweetnss of scallops (?). I wished there was more broth so I can drink it as a soup.
Steam crystal dumplings with vegetables ($3.90) - This was disappointingly normal, with the usual crunch of meat and some veg. Presentation can be better too.
Pan fried rice flour rolls with crispy conpoy ($3.90) - Good. The plain rolls came pan-fried excellently and the conpoy added a nice touch of fragrance. The accompanying sauce was some form of bean sauce I think, savoury but too gluey for my liking. Rather eat it plain.
Poached Beijing dumplings stuffed with chicken and prawns in chilli vinegar sauce ($4.20) - The highlight was the sauce itself: very good. It enhanced the sweetness of the dumplings and helped to avoid any typical dim sum 'crunch fatigue' syndrome. The chilli and vinegar was mixed in the correct proportion, and was so good that we ended up dipping most of our other dim sum in it.
Deep fried sea perch wrapped with vermicelli ($5.40) - Was glad we ordered this. Fish was deep fried so to be honest the sweetness of it wasn't apparent, but the vermicelli was freshly fried without the stale oil taste which I am very sensitive to. It wasquite skillfully done and presented, with some roe dotting the top of the pieces.
Century egg porridge ($3.90) - Disappointingly bland and too watery for my liking. It didnt have the fragrance of the century egg as I think they used another variety of century egg which was golden organge hued. Pepper did not manage to lift the taste.
Rose Pu Er ($6 per pax) - Nice fragrant choice, although I personally think $6 is too pricey. I mean how much tea can one drink?
The host who greeted us asked for my name even though I did not make a reservation and I wondered why. Then realized its because she wanted to say goodbye when we left addressing me by name. How nice!
I was quite plesantly surprised by the prices. I'd pick this over Crystal Jade for almost the same pricing with a less noisy / hurried crowd. The varity of dim sum is small though, so expect to be bored after your 3rd visit.
Rating given:
Better than Ajisen~
Finally dropped by this place as have seen many a times the long queues outside this new outlet. It was an early dinner about 5:30pm and about just in time as a queue formed soon after that.
Shio Ramen Gyoza Set ($12.80) - I think they must have tamed down the amount of salt after feedback from the Ion outlet as I actually found the soup base quite nice. The soup is apparently cooked for 7 hours before it reaches your table, and an extra puny portion of it will set you back another $2. I have no idea what is 'shio' but it was a refreshing change from Ajisen, which to me tasted like it came with a good handful of MSG. I think it was pork bones stock amongst other stuff, not your cloudy typical and light enough for me to want to drink it without panting for water. It was to me value worth too as the ramen, althought with an egg and only 1 piece of cha shu, came with 3 pieces of gyoza. Decent portion for a normal dinner. Gyozas were nicely pan-fried too.
Agedashi Tofu ($4.80) - Normal fried tofu, although I liked the fact that it didnt come drowned in the sauce which usually ends up making you eat really soggy tofu.
Tako Tempura ($6.80) - Batter was abit too thick for me, and the squid could have been in smaller pieces. Really chewy as well. But the accompanying sauce helped cut the richness of the batter.
Hokkaido Salad ($6.80) - this was a very nice surprise because of the portion and ingredients in the salad. Fresh lettuce, strips of carrot, corn, potato cubes, tomato, baby asparagus, and even scallops. All nice and fresh with a japanese vinegrette sauce. Good!
Service was typical, although there was an irritating fly that keeps wanting to land on our food. Food didnt take too long to arrive too, which was a plus point too.
Rating given:
I remember patronising Miss Clarity Cafe when it was still a small obscure cafe at Purvis Street back in 2005/2006. What drew me to this cafe was the reasonably priced set meals (for its location). Fast forward 4-5 years and the eatery has expanded to include an outlet along Upper Thomson Road.
The interior at the Thomson outlet is reminiscent of the original shop at Purvis, with its predominantly pink theme and girlish intonations. Even the menu is pink! And for all the eatery's success, it was empty on a Saturday evening (maybe standards have dropped or the crowds are limited to the outlet at Purvis).
Chicken Ballotine - One of the apparently popular and signature dish of the eatery, the Chicken Ballotine was essentially boneless thigh meat stuffed with mushrooms and roasted. Personally I thought the idea was good but the execution was terrible. For starters, the meat was very dry and rubbery. I could make out the mushrooms but the chicken itself didn't have much inherent taste. Disappointing as compared to what I had many years back.
Soft Shell Crab Linguine - If my Chicken Ballotine was bad, the soft shell crab linguine was a total disaster. Limp pasta swimming in artificial tasting cream based sauce and topped with crisp but flour laden soft shell crab pieces. This is as bad as it gets.
Blueberry Pie - Any hopes of dessert salvaging the meal was torn to shreds as soon as I had the first bite of the blueberry pie. First please allow me to qualify that I personally am not used to having warm blueberry pies. I prefer my blueberry pies chilled. So it came as quite a bummer when mine came served warm with a gooey, seemingly mass produced blueberry filling, sandwiched between 2 layers of hard, dry and tasteless biscuit. The sad fact of the matter is, even Han's blueberry pie, at just over 2 bucks for a slice, enjoys a better standing in my books.
A ruined dinner for 2 wasn't expensive, at almost $27. But seriously, I'll rather stuff myself with 3 big mac meals than step foot into Miss Clarity ever again. Did I mention that I have a weakness for fast food? ;)
See all my pictures here.
Rating given: