It was meant to be a Chinese New Year dim sum gathering with a couple of my makan kakis at Taste Paradise Ion. Unfortunately, only the ala carte menu was available because it was still within the CNY period. Which was fine with me, considering that I had a great meal at Taste Paradise Mosque Street 2 years back.
It must be posh interior fatigue that I was suffering from because the dim lighted luxurious interior with huge paintings of past Chinese emperors certainly didn't impress me much. But I must say it's definitely nicer than alot of the Chinese restaurants out there.
Crispy Silver Bait - We got off to a great start with the crispy silver bait, as recommended by our waitress. The silver fish was crisp and sweet with a touch of sour. Portion size was quite small so get more to share if you have a big group.
XO Carrot Cake - What used to wow me back then turned out to be sheer disappointment this time round. It was overly soft and I couldn't make out any savoury aftertaste. The only thing I could make out was the spice from the chilli, if you consider that a taste. I reckon your local hawker centre could do a much better job at a less than half the price for the same portion size.
Roasted Pork - This dish of roasted pork takes edibility to a new low and I'm not kidding. Each tiny cube was literally one layer skin, one layer lean meat and two layers of fats. Sure, the skin was crisp but the pork taste was just too overwhelming (they probably didn't blanch it long enough) and they tried to mask it by seasoning it with more salt. Someone commented it was akin to literally biting into a raw pig and I can't help but agree. Gross.
Peking Duck - At least the peking duck didn't suffer the same fate as the roast pork. It was decently crisp but overall could have been better. The crepes were a little too thick and could have done with less sweet sauce. Oh and the crackers that came alongside were just plain bland. We opted to have the meat fried with rice and it was average at best. Rather tasteless and a tad too moist with an evident fowl smell. Poor duck.
Yuan Yang Prawn Ball - Finally a dish that presented a glimmer of hope - the yuan yang prawn ball, comprising of one wasabi prawn and one laksa prawn, served up in a martini glass. While both were big and crunchy, I personally favoured the wasabi prawn over the latter as the laksa seasoning did seem a little bland and lacklustre as compared to the more provocative wasabi.
Garoupa in Two Ways - This was apparently the special for the day and it honestly didn't look or taste as great as what our waitress had described to us. Presentation wise, it looked haphazard at best with the steamed garoupa and asparagus occupying the centre and flanked by fried pieces of garoupa. Generally speaking, the fish meat was fresh but sticky (too much corn flour!) and not very sweet. I couldn't quite make out the delicateness of the fish.
Tofu with Crab Roe - Another bordering on average dish. I appreciated the generous serving of crab meat shreds in the gravy but could have done with a little more flavour. ie. crab taste. Same goes for the tofu as well, which was barely in existence. One interesting/weird thing about the gravy was that it had a sourish overtone that didn't sit too well with either of us.
The bill dealt a $360 blow to the 7 of us. Food quality was average but service was decent. I cannot fathom how an excellent dinner at Taste Paradise Mosque Street could culminate in such a poor showing at the Ion outlet. Looks like I'll be placing my trust elsewhere in future.
I came here almost 4 years ago and never revisited as I actually feel it is a bit pricey for crepes and at that time what I tasted was not spectacular, so the only reason I walked in on a Monday night was because I saw that they are having a 1-for-1 savoury crepes (promo is valid until end Mar from Monday to Thursday).
Tables alongside the fountain are taken up quite quickly, so we were assigned a 2-seater right beside the escalator. Tables are packed quite tightly perhaps to maximise the space, so good for evesdropping. Service was abit haphazard, with blur-ish staff looking spaced out sometimes.
Peking Duck (whole wheat crepe) - although I couldnt understand what 'sambal olek' sauce was and why lychees appeared in the description, it acutally turned out nice! The crepes were packed quite firmly with the meat and the sauce was very distinctively Peking duck without being too salty. My only fault with it was the fatty duck skin in the mix of onions; which I ate without knowing that it was there, then saw my friend painstakingly remove them from her plate.
Seafood (sun dried tomato crepe) - the menu says its spicy youghurt sauce but whatever I tasted was not really spicy but more of a tinge of spice to dress up the sauce itself. Actually I could only taste the prawns and the oranges in the crepes but overall taste was good too.
Each crepe came with a side of salad in a dressing which reminded me of orange vinegrette. Not too bad.
I'll come again for the offer but not without as I still think it is pricey. Quality of the crepes have improved from what I remember, so good for them.
Everything here seems to be done with macha, drinks, shakes, lattes, ice creams, etc. A tad quiet on a Monday night and maybe that's why the air conditioning seemed to be a little too strong for me.
Hot macha latte - friend ordered the unsweetened version for me but maybe it was the wrong choice. It was terribly bitter and consistency was so thick it didnt taste like a 'latte' at all. I added some hot milk to dilute it but didnt turn out too different. Had to add a pack of sugar to make it bearable in the end. Lesson learnt - take the sweetened version.
Macha black saseme ice cream - ordering 2 scoops instead of 1 by 1 was a mistake, even though it was cheaper comparatively. The macha ice cream dissolved into a green puddle too quickly under the black saseme, the black saseme overpowered whatever macha taste I could find. I'm sure they taste great separately.
The place is semi-self service: write your orders on an order chit on the table, bring it to the counter, pay, and wait for your food / drinks. Prices are very reasonable for $6 per person too. For macha lovers~
Most seats are low-back cushy seats but the layout of the seats don't really offer any privacy for chit chatting, unless you're lucky enough to snag 1 of their 2 booth seats, one of which unfortuantely was taken up by ONE lady during my visit. Sigh.
We got hit by a flying piece of porcelain when one of the staff broke something near the kitchen but maybe that's just bad timing for us.
All 7 of us went there happily craving dim sum but there wasn't any. It was the last day of the CNY and they didnt serve dim sum. So we settled for whatever they were offering ala carte.
Deep fried silver fish - I thoght this was the best dish of the day. Crunchy fish tossed with a tangy sauce that reminded me of what you get with a Thai salad. Quite a refreshingbite.
Fried carrot cake - didnt know where this came from as it wasn't on the menu and they said the dim sum dishes are not available. The fragrance was really nice but the taste didnt up to it. Too bland.
Roasted meat - 9 tiny cubes of pork. Warned by lunch mates, I lifted a piece to my nose and make the clever decision not to eat it. It smelt like a whole pig has been condensed into the tiny cube, resulting in a terribly overwhelming porky smell (and taste). Bravo to the 2 gentlemen at the table who ate more than one cube. One spat it out right after putting it into her mouth.
Peking Duck - Very nice presentation but taste didnt match up, again. The skin was not crispy enough and the sauce was overly watery. The crackers that came with it tasted bland too.
Fish done in two ways stired fried with asparagus - We were told this was only available that day. It essentially was garoupa sliced and stired fried, with the more bony parts of the fish deep fried to add to the volumne of the dish. Other than the fact that the fish was fresh, nothing special.
Prawn done in 2 ways - 2 deep fried prawns in wasabi and laksa sauce. Nicely presented in a glass and wasabi was okay, but what laksa????
Tofu with crab meat sauce and brocolli - bland tofu covered in bland roe-colpured crab meat sauce. The only saviour of the dish are the brocolli which added a nice crunch.
Fried rice with duck meat - we chose for the duck meat to be done this way. Was much more flavourful than the previous dishes but couldnt finish the single portion; a tad too oily.
Service was not too bad, although the lady who served us a few times had a perpetual frown on her face. We never found out why. Tea was refilled efficiently. Ambience felt Chinese grandeur in warm brownish tones.
Be warned that some dishes and tea are charged at per pax. Bill came up to $50 per pax, which was really not justified for the quality we got. For the same price we could have had many other options that will result a satisfying lunch. If they deliver this quality of food at their supposedly up-market outlet, I dread to think what the other outlets serve. Oh, and we were not told the fish was $80 which was pricer than the duck at $68.
The conclusion was maybe their dim sum is worth another shot, but I'm not sure.
And my pursuit of a great burger continues, with a visit to Fat Boys, which has recently been voted by "users" as the best burger joint in a popular local food website. I am skeptical about the validity of the data but no harm giving Fat Boys a try anyways, seeing that it's about a 15 min drive from my place and prices seem reasonable enough.
The place is casual and laid back, with bench seats and high bar tables accommodating about 20-30 pax or so. If it's only you and your partner, sharing a table during meal periods might be the norm rather than the exception. The menu is rather simple and the main focus is on the burgers where you can choose from existing options or have your burger customised.
DIY Burger - This burger was customised to include a chicken patty topped with sauteed mushrooms, drizzled with their homemade BBQ sauce on a white sesame bun. First looks, the huge patty oozed appetising with evident grill streaks running the breadth of the patty. Now came the bummer(s). The patty was made up from minced chicken and wasn't the whole piece of meat I was expecting. That meant a loss in texture and taste. The mushrooms were a little dry while the bun was merely average. And to be honest, the BBQ sauce tasted, well, like bottled BBQ sauce.
Fat Bastard - Apparently one of the respresentative dish of Fat Boys, the Fat Bastard was a mean double beef patty with an egg sandwiched between and topped with bacon strips. Greedy me opted for extra sauteed mushrooms with that and the end result was a humongous burger that threatened to burst my belly. That would have been an ideal scenario if the burger had been good. Unfortunately, the converse was true. The beef patty was overcooked but was surprisingly "juicy", which led to the conclusion that it was frozen patty. Also, the texture was very fine, probably machine chopped. Most disappointing!
After a 15% discount, the bill stood at about $23 ($27 before discount). In absolute terms, that price isn't too expensive but factor in quality and there seems to be some disparity. In short, inexpensive but average burgers at best. Service was decent though, if that's any consolation.
The hotel was having a good deal of 2nd night being free so we had a 3d2n staycation over the Hari Raya long weekend. Check in was 2pm but was informed at 3pm that the room was not ready. I had the choice of waiting or 'upgraded' to a shophouse room which was on the 2nd floor; I picked the latter.
It was highlighted that the room was in another wing would be quite a walk, but it turned out to be about 5mins walk which was not too bad. When I entered the room, I wondered if I had really been upgraded.
'Shophouse' meant stark wooden furnishings and non-carpeted floors (I'm a carpet person), definitely not as special as I thought it would be. On closer inspection, the carpet that was in front of the TV set was littered with hair and dust, something the housekeeping had obviously missed out on. The rest of the room was just that, and to be honest, I felt the room was not deserving of 5-star rating at all, even though it is quite spacious (it had plenty of space even after adding 2 extra beds). The 'upgrade' was overhyped; perhaps the normal rooms would be even better?
For some reason the temperare of my room seemed to be stuck at a freezing level and refused to warm up even a little even though I tried to set it at the lowest fan speed and warmest temperature available. We were all absolutely freezing inside. I mentioned to the front desk on my way out and were told the technician will take a look. When I came back, I enquired and was told the technician had gone into and left the room already. I asked if then he mentioned there was anything wrong or did he rectify anything, I was given no answer because " the technician usually doesn't tell us or report to us after checking". So erm, what was the purpose of the visit then?? We decided to freeze our brains for the rest of the stay since the hotel couldnt do anything about it.
Didnt have the chance to try the breakfast, but the high tea at the lobby lounge was pricey at $40 per person but little variety and taste too. Don't go for that.
I came with high expectation because this is a 5-star property but was rather disappointed at how the 'upgrade' turned out to be and the apparent lack of going the extra mile for in-house guests, and maintaince of the property. The outside and common areas of the hotel looks good though so maybe they're just really neglecting the rooms. Will post the pictures when I get them from my friends.
We couldnt resist the excellent offer of having 50% off weekends from their Jan10 sale so it was a stayacation for us from 19-21 Feb (3d2n). It was also nice of the reservation team to offer to upgrade us to the Executive floor after I made some feedback about the room rates, so kudos to that.
Our classic twin-bedded room was on the 30th floor, offering views of Suntec City. The room at 40sm felt smaller than most as the bathroom occupied a sizeable portion of the room. Beddings and furniture were all very well maintained, although am not sure it was because we were on the Executive floor. Bathroom amenities were more than sufficient and the conrad bear was a quite signature touch for guests. The only thing is I didnt quite understand the layout of the TV as it was placed adjacent to the beds, which made watching TV quite tricky. The beds were terribly comfortable too!
Requests for extra bottled water, towels, and ice buckets were met with quickly, and I had 2 pieces of laundry pressed as part of the perks of the Exe floor, which was returned very efficiently as well.
We spent most of our time at the Executive Lounge as the aim of the trip was really to just relax and enjoy. I would recommend anyone to take the Executive floor rooms as the Lounge has complimentary breakfast, afternoon tea from 2:30pm - 5pm, then evening tapas from 5:30pm - 8pm. And its free flow of coffee, tea, soft drinks, wine, and sparkling wine, and housepours all day until 11pm. Basically you can have all your meals there if you want.
Quality of food was also excellent given that it was offered complimentry. I had sandwiches, dim sum, chips, sweets, pralines, cheese platter etc and all were very good. They even have a nespresso machine for you to make your own coffee.
In particular, Roy from the Executive Lounge represented the hotel magnificantly. Throughout my stays and travels, I have never ever experienced such a high level of service from any hotel. He was courteous, attentive without being intrusive, and indeed efficient. He made us feel totally welcomed at the lounge, despite the fact that we were probably one of the youngest group at the lounge. He went out of his way to ensure our needs were met, and always had a smile on his face even during busy periods. We observed that he delivered the same level of service to the other guests at the Lounge.
The above, does also come with a slight comparison to a lady staff at the same Lounge during the stay unfortunately. We might have been mistaken as she may have been in a bad mood that day, but we encountered disdain in her eyes when we first entered the Lounge on 19 Feb, and throughout the afternoon she never served us at all nor smiled. At that time, the Lounge was slightly occupied with a few groups of non-locals, so we were the only local (and younger in age) group that afternoon. Regardless of what was the cause behind her attitude, it should not have happened, especially at the Lounge. And we caught her a few times slouching against the Lounge walls when not serving guests, which looked quite unsightly.
But otherwise, the stay was most enjoyable. Good location for shopping as the hotel is right next to Suntec, Marina Square and Millenia Walk which offers multiple choices. I am watching out for new promotions and am coming back again if so!
What used to be the famous Sin Leong Restaurant is now renamed as Roland Restaurant and apparently its original owner and the god father of current owner Roland Lim, Chef Sin Leong, was one of the "four heavenly kings" in the culinary world who created yusheng as we know it today. And to add to that history, Roland's family was the "founder" of chilli crab as well as the esteemd Palm Beach Seafood Restaurant, which was sold off in the 80's when the family moved to New Zealand for 15 years.
The restaurant is located at the most unlikely of places, on the top floor of a multi story carpark next to Parkway Parade Shopping Centre - reminiscent of another old time restaurant, Red Star, whose owner was also one of the four "heavenly kings". Roland's interior, however, is more modernised and even boasts a water wall feature at the entrance.
Asparagus with Japanese Mushrooms - An excellent first dish augured well for our dinner. The asparagus were crunchy without being undercooked and in the midst of the mushrooms were generous bits of dried shrimp (虾米) that imparted a distinct unami taste. Most delightful! Look out for chopped chilli in the mix though, because it can get quite spicy.
USA Duck - Purportedly one of the signature dishes of Roland, the USA duck was nothing but a let down. Dry and bland meat led to the conclusion/belief that the duck was frozen. Sure, the skin was a little crisp but that's probably the only positive. And the sauce, which tasted a little like plum sauce - sweet with a little sourish contrast, certainly didn't make things any better.
Prawns with Salted Egg - The prawns were a pretty sight - sizeable and coated with tons of egg frills. But when it came down to what mattered most, the taste test, they faltered. For starters, the prawns were huge and crunchy but not sweet (we couldn't make out any taste of prawn actually). Add to the fact that anything coated with too much soft and paste like egg yolk is a sure recipe for nausea, this dish left us feeling queasy after a few bites.
Owing to Chinese New Year, I am presuming the prices have been marked up (the menu stated CNY menu). Nonetheless, $83 for dinner for 3 pax isn't exactly reasonable, considering that it was still a week before CNY when we patronised. Food quality was average at best, saved only by the asparagus. Some people might argue that Roland is best known for their chilli crab, but with such average dishes, I find it hard to justify a return trip for their crabs, or anything else for that matter.
The outlet have a good sized couch area right in front of the band set which wasnt playing when I was there that night. I guess low tables are good for having ice cream and catching up but I found the couch seats rather bad for people who want some privacy chat.
Each scoop costs $5.50 if Im not wrong, and is already more pricey than most brands around. Because there was about 8 of us, the satff cheerfully recommended the Merlionster, which was 6 scoops topped with various stuff like bananas and brownies. It was probably our fault too for not looking too carefully at the prices, but we never thought it will cost $32.90.
Technically, it is still cheaper than if you would have ordered 6 ala carte scoops. BUT they could have done much better than to squash all 6 scoops into a tiny plastic bowl with whatever 'vairious stuff' it was supposed to hold threatening to drop off the edge of it. This was by far the most expensive ice cream I had ever had. I shudder to think how the Vermonster looks like for the charge of $88.00.
And I had the Snapple at $3.90 instead of their signature milkshakes which were $8.90 for a small size cup.
Chose this quiet spot for a company dinner, and ala carte's buffet always a good choice as guests then do not worry about ordering more items and thus adding costs, and there's no need to walk about and disrupting conversations.
The ala carte buffet is a quite comprehensive range of starters, mains, soups, and desserts; including oysters and sashimi, sushi, and shabu shabu. $42 per pax for weekends and $52 for weekdays seem like an odd promo at first but perhaps given that most of the weekend crowd there will not consider this as a dining option, it is a good pull factor.
We had the long booth seat for our big group on the mezzaine level which provided maximum privacy but it meant a difficult task getting the attention of service staff. They also have pull out drawers for your shoes while providing slippers if you like. Nice touch.
Shabu shabu - this is one of rare times I actually like beef. Thinly sliced beef sloshed in stock was very good and indicative of the things to come.
Salmon sashimi - thickly sliced and very fresh. We ordered more than 1 serving of course.
Vegetable spring roll - a little like the Vietnamese spring roll but without the beehoon. Refreshing on the palette and a healthy option against all the meaty stuff.
Deep fried shrimp - the first time I tried is was at Ichibantei at Liang Court and was hooked. The shrimps were deep fried to a nice crunch and was very addicitvely savoury.
Asparagus in blue cheese sauce - Im not a blue cheese fan and found the cheese overpowering. Couldnt actually taste the sweetness of the veg. Strange combination too.
Prawn tempura - sweet crunchy prawns in non-oily batter, done very well.
Eel fried rice - I didnt taste too much eel but was too full by then to take a second bite.
Coconut creme brulee - yes I know, creme brulee in a Jap restaurant? It turned out to be one of their signature dessert and although I dont like creme brulees in general and declined to taste it, I know of ladies who can take 4 servings at one go, after dinner.
Guests can be seated at 6pm and leave at 11pm, so you can basically stuff yourself for all you want and stagger out of the place thereafter. Its probably better for catching up with girl friends than dates or couple's night out though.
1=SGD 0.0587
It was meant to be a Chinese New Year dim sum gathering with a couple of my makan kakis at Taste Paradise Ion. Unfortunately, only the ala carte menu was available because it was still within the CNY period. Which was fine with me, considering that I had a great meal at Taste Paradise Mosque Street 2 years back.
It must be posh interior fatigue that I was suffering from because the dim lighted luxurious interior with huge paintings of past Chinese emperors certainly didn't impress me much. But I must say it's definitely nicer than alot of the Chinese restaurants out there.
Crispy Silver Bait - We got off to a great start with the crispy silver bait, as recommended by our waitress. The silver fish was crisp and sweet with a touch of sour. Portion size was quite small so get more to share if you have a big group.
XO Carrot Cake - What used to wow me back then turned out to be sheer disappointment this time round. It was overly soft and I couldn't make out any savoury aftertaste. The only thing I could make out was the spice from the chilli, if you consider that a taste. I reckon your local hawker centre could do a much better job at a less than half the price for the same portion size.
Roasted Pork - This dish of roasted pork takes edibility to a new low and I'm not kidding. Each tiny cube was literally one layer skin, one layer lean meat and two layers of fats. Sure, the skin was crisp but the pork taste was just too overwhelming (they probably didn't blanch it long enough) and they tried to mask it by seasoning it with more salt. Someone commented it was akin to literally biting into a raw pig and I can't help but agree. Gross.
Peking Duck - At least the peking duck didn't suffer the same fate as the roast pork. It was decently crisp but overall could have been better. The crepes were a little too thick and could have done with less sweet sauce. Oh and the crackers that came alongside were just plain bland.
We opted to have the meat fried with rice and it was average at best. Rather tasteless and a tad too moist with an evident fowl smell. Poor duck.
Yuan Yang Prawn Ball - Finally a dish that presented a glimmer of hope - the yuan yang prawn ball, comprising of one wasabi prawn and one laksa prawn, served up in a martini glass. While both were big and crunchy, I personally favoured the wasabi prawn over the latter as the laksa seasoning did seem a little bland and lacklustre as compared to the more provocative wasabi.
Garoupa in Two Ways - This was apparently the special for the day and it honestly didn't look or taste as great as what our waitress had described to us. Presentation wise, it looked haphazard at best with the steamed garoupa and asparagus occupying the centre and flanked by fried pieces of garoupa. Generally speaking, the fish meat was fresh but sticky (too much corn flour!) and not very sweet. I couldn't quite make out the delicateness of the fish.
Tofu with Crab Roe - Another bordering on average dish. I appreciated the generous serving of crab meat shreds in the gravy but could have done with a little more flavour. ie. crab taste. Same goes for the tofu as well, which was barely in existence. One interesting/weird thing about the gravy was that it had a sourish overtone that didn't sit too well with either of us.
The bill dealt a $360 blow to the 7 of us. Food quality was average but service was decent. I cannot fathom how an excellent dinner at Taste Paradise Mosque Street could culminate in such a poor showing at the Ion outlet. Looks like I'll be placing my trust elsewhere in future.
See all my pictures here.
Rating given:
Improved~
I came here almost 4 years ago and never revisited as I actually feel it is a bit pricey for crepes and at that time what I tasted was not spectacular, so the only reason I walked in on a Monday night was because I saw that they are having a 1-for-1 savoury crepes (promo is valid until end Mar from Monday to Thursday).
Tables alongside the fountain are taken up quite quickly, so we were assigned a 2-seater right beside the escalator. Tables are packed quite tightly perhaps to maximise the space, so good for evesdropping. Service was abit haphazard, with blur-ish staff looking spaced out sometimes.
Peking Duck (whole wheat crepe) - although I couldnt understand what 'sambal olek' sauce was and why lychees appeared in the description, it acutally turned out nice! The crepes were packed quite firmly with the meat and the sauce was very distinctively Peking duck without being too salty. My only fault with it was the fatty duck skin in the mix of onions; which I ate without knowing that it was there, then saw my friend painstakingly remove them from her plate.
Seafood (sun dried tomato crepe) - the menu says its spicy youghurt sauce but whatever I tasted was not really spicy but more of a tinge of spice to dress up the sauce itself. Actually I could only taste the prawns and the oranges in the crepes but overall taste was good too.
Each crepe came with a side of salad in a dressing which reminded me of orange vinegrette. Not too bad.
I'll come again for the offer but not without as I still think it is pricey. Quality of the crepes have improved from what I remember, so good for them.
Rating given:
Everything here seems to be done with macha, drinks, shakes, lattes, ice creams, etc. A tad quiet on a Monday night and maybe that's why the air conditioning seemed to be a little too strong for me.
Hot macha latte - friend ordered the unsweetened version for me but maybe it was the wrong choice. It was terribly bitter and consistency was so thick it didnt taste like a 'latte' at all. I added some hot milk to dilute it but didnt turn out too different. Had to add a pack of sugar to make it bearable in the end. Lesson learnt - take the sweetened version.
Macha black saseme ice cream - ordering 2 scoops instead of 1 by 1 was a mistake, even though it was cheaper comparatively. The macha ice cream dissolved into a green puddle too quickly under the black saseme, the black saseme overpowered whatever macha taste I could find. I'm sure they taste great separately.
The place is semi-self service: write your orders on an order chit on the table, bring it to the counter, pay, and wait for your food / drinks. Prices are very reasonable for $6 per person too.
For macha lovers~
Most seats are low-back cushy seats but the layout of the seats don't really offer any privacy for chit chatting, unless you're lucky enough to snag 1 of their 2 booth seats, one of which unfortuantely was taken up by ONE lady during my visit. Sigh.
We got hit by a flying piece of porcelain when one of the staff broke something near the kitchen but maybe that's just bad timing for us.
Rating given:
Sorely disappointed
All 7 of us went there happily craving dim sum but there wasn't any. It was the last day of the CNY and they didnt serve dim sum. So we settled for whatever they were offering ala carte.
Deep fried silver fish - I thoght this was the best dish of the day. Crunchy fish tossed with a tangy sauce that reminded me of what you get with a Thai salad. Quite a refreshingbite.
Fried carrot cake - didnt know where this came from as it wasn't on the menu and they said the dim sum dishes are not available. The fragrance was really nice but the taste didnt up to it. Too bland.
Roasted meat - 9 tiny cubes of pork. Warned by lunch mates, I lifted a piece to my nose and make the clever decision not to eat it. It smelt like a whole pig has been condensed into the tiny cube, resulting in a terribly overwhelming porky smell (and taste). Bravo to the 2 gentlemen at the table who ate more than one cube. One spat it out right after putting it into her mouth.
Peking Duck - Very nice presentation but taste didnt match up, again. The skin was not crispy enough and the sauce was overly watery. The crackers that came with it tasted bland too.
Fish done in two ways stired fried with asparagus - We were told this was only available that day. It essentially was garoupa sliced and stired fried, with the more bony parts of the fish deep fried to add to the volumne of the dish. Other than the fact that the fish was fresh, nothing special.
Prawn done in 2 ways - 2 deep fried prawns in wasabi and laksa sauce. Nicely presented in a glass and wasabi was okay, but what laksa????
Tofu with crab meat sauce and brocolli - bland tofu covered in bland roe-colpured crab meat sauce. The only saviour of the dish are the brocolli which added a nice crunch.
Fried rice with duck meat - we chose for the duck meat to be done this way. Was much more flavourful than the previous dishes but couldnt finish the single portion; a tad too oily.
Service was not too bad, although the lady who served us a few times had a perpetual frown on her face. We never found out why. Tea was refilled efficiently. Ambience felt Chinese grandeur in warm brownish tones.
Be warned that some dishes and tea are charged at per pax. Bill came up to $50 per pax, which was really not justified for the quality we got. For the same price we could have had many other options that will result a satisfying lunch. If they deliver this quality of food at their supposedly up-market outlet, I dread to think what the other outlets serve. Oh, and we were not told the fish was $80 which was pricer than the duck at $68.
The conclusion was maybe their dim sum is worth another shot, but I'm not sure.
Taste Paradise: please buck up.
Rating given:
And my pursuit of a great burger continues, with a visit to Fat Boys, which has recently been voted by "users" as the best burger joint in a popular local food website. I am skeptical about the validity of the data but no harm giving Fat Boys a try anyways, seeing that it's about a 15 min drive from my place and prices seem reasonable enough.
The place is casual and laid back, with bench seats and high bar tables accommodating about 20-30 pax or so. If it's only you and your partner, sharing a table during meal periods might be the norm rather than the exception. The menu is rather simple and the main focus is on the burgers where you can choose from existing options or have your burger customised.
DIY Burger - This burger was customised to include a chicken patty topped with sauteed mushrooms, drizzled with their homemade BBQ sauce on a white sesame bun. First looks, the huge patty oozed appetising with evident grill streaks running the breadth of the patty. Now came the bummer(s). The patty was made up from minced chicken and wasn't the whole piece of meat I was expecting. That meant a loss in texture and taste. The mushrooms were a little dry while the bun was merely average. And to be honest, the BBQ sauce tasted, well, like bottled BBQ sauce.
Fat Bastard - Apparently one of the respresentative dish of Fat Boys, the Fat Bastard was a mean double beef patty with an egg sandwiched between and topped with bacon strips. Greedy me opted for extra sauteed mushrooms with that and the end result was a humongous burger that threatened to burst my belly. That would have been an ideal scenario if the burger had been good. Unfortunately, the converse was true. The beef patty was overcooked but was surprisingly "juicy", which led to the conclusion that it was frozen patty. Also, the texture was very fine, probably machine chopped. Most disappointing!
After a 15% discount, the bill stood at about $23 ($27 before discount). In absolute terms, that price isn't too expensive but factor in quality and there seems to be some disparity. In short, inexpensive but average burgers at best. Service was decent though, if that's any consolation.
See all my pictures here.
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Dated property and freezing shophouse room
The hotel was having a good deal of 2nd night being free so we had a 3d2n staycation over the Hari Raya long weekend. Check in was 2pm but was informed at 3pm that the room was not ready. I had the choice of waiting or 'upgraded' to a shophouse room which was on the 2nd floor; I picked the latter.
It was highlighted that the room was in another wing would be quite a walk, but it turned out to be about 5mins walk which was not too bad. When I entered the room, I wondered if I had really been upgraded.
'Shophouse' meant stark wooden furnishings and non-carpeted floors (I'm a carpet person), definitely not as special as I thought it would be. On closer inspection, the carpet that was in front of the TV set was littered with hair and dust, something the housekeeping had obviously missed out on. The rest of the room was just that, and to be honest, I felt the room was not deserving of 5-star rating at all, even though it is quite spacious (it had plenty of space even after adding 2 extra beds). The 'upgrade' was overhyped; perhaps the normal rooms would be even better?
For some reason the temperare of my room seemed to be stuck at a freezing level and refused to warm up even a little even though I tried to set it at the lowest fan speed and warmest temperature available. We were all absolutely freezing inside. I mentioned to the front desk on my way out and were told the technician will take a look. When I came back, I enquired and was told the technician had gone into and left the room already. I asked if then he mentioned there was anything wrong or did he rectify anything, I was given no answer because " the technician usually doesn't tell us or report to us after checking". So erm, what was the purpose of the visit then?? We decided to freeze our brains for the rest of the stay since the hotel couldnt do anything about it.
Didnt have the chance to try the breakfast, but the high tea at the lobby lounge was pricey at $40 per person but little variety and taste too. Don't go for that.
I came with high expectation because this is a 5-star property but was rather disappointed at how the 'upgrade' turned out to be and the apparent lack of going the extra mile for in-house guests, and maintaince of the property. The outside and common areas of the hotel looks good though so maybe they're just really neglecting the rooms. Will post the pictures when I get them from my friends.
Rating given:
Mostly enjoyable~
We couldnt resist the excellent offer of having 50% off weekends from their Jan10 sale so it was a stayacation for us from 19-21 Feb (3d2n). It was also nice of the reservation team to offer to upgrade us to the Executive floor after I made some feedback about the room rates, so kudos to that.
Our classic twin-bedded room was on the 30th floor, offering views of Suntec City. The room at 40sm felt smaller than most as the bathroom occupied a sizeable portion of the room. Beddings and furniture were all very well maintained, although am not sure it was because we were on the Executive floor. Bathroom amenities were more than sufficient and the conrad bear was a quite signature touch for guests. The only thing is I didnt quite understand the layout of the TV as it was placed adjacent to the beds, which made watching TV quite tricky. The beds were terribly comfortable too!
Requests for extra bottled water, towels, and ice buckets were met with quickly, and I had 2 pieces of laundry pressed as part of the perks of the Exe floor, which was returned very efficiently as well.
We spent most of our time at the Executive Lounge as the aim of the trip was really to just relax and enjoy. I would recommend anyone to take the Executive floor rooms as the Lounge has complimentary breakfast, afternoon tea from 2:30pm - 5pm, then evening tapas from 5:30pm - 8pm. And its free flow of coffee, tea, soft drinks, wine, and sparkling wine, and housepours all day until 11pm. Basically you can have all your meals there if you want.
Quality of food was also excellent given that it was offered complimentry. I had sandwiches, dim sum, chips, sweets, pralines, cheese platter etc and all were very good. They even have a nespresso machine for you to make your own coffee.
In particular, Roy from the Executive Lounge represented the hotel magnificantly. Throughout my stays and travels, I have never ever experienced such a high level of service from any hotel. He was courteous, attentive without being intrusive, and indeed efficient. He made us feel totally welcomed at the lounge, despite the fact that we were probably one of the youngest group at the lounge. He went out of his way to ensure our needs were met, and always had a smile on his face even during busy periods. We observed that he delivered the same level of service to the other guests at the Lounge.
The above, does also come with a slight comparison to a lady staff at the same Lounge during the stay unfortunately. We might have been mistaken as she may have been in a bad mood that day, but we encountered disdain in her eyes when we first entered the Lounge on 19 Feb, and throughout the afternoon she never served us at all nor smiled. At that time, the Lounge was slightly occupied with a few groups of non-locals, so we were the only local (and younger in age) group that afternoon. Regardless of what was the cause behind her attitude, it should not have happened, especially at the Lounge. And we caught her a few times slouching against the Lounge walls when not serving guests, which looked quite unsightly.
But otherwise, the stay was most enjoyable. Good location for shopping as the hotel is right next to Suntec, Marina Square and Millenia Walk which offers multiple choices. I am watching out for new promotions and am coming back again if so!
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What used to be the famous Sin Leong Restaurant is now renamed as Roland Restaurant and apparently its original owner and the god father of current owner Roland Lim, Chef Sin Leong, was one of the "four heavenly kings" in the culinary world who created yusheng as we know it today. And to add to that history, Roland's family was the "founder" of chilli crab as well as the esteemd Palm Beach Seafood Restaurant, which was sold off in the 80's when the family moved to New Zealand for 15 years.
The restaurant is located at the most unlikely of places, on the top floor of a multi story carpark next to Parkway Parade Shopping Centre - reminiscent of another old time restaurant, Red Star, whose owner was also one of the four "heavenly kings". Roland's interior, however, is more modernised and even boasts a water wall feature at the entrance.
Asparagus with Japanese Mushrooms - An excellent first dish augured well for our dinner. The asparagus were crunchy without being undercooked and in the midst of the mushrooms were generous bits of dried shrimp (虾米) that imparted a distinct unami taste. Most delightful! Look out for chopped chilli in the mix though, because it can get quite spicy.
USA Duck - Purportedly one of the signature dishes of Roland, the USA duck was nothing but a let down. Dry and bland meat led to the conclusion/belief that the duck was frozen. Sure, the skin was a little crisp but that's probably the only positive. And the sauce, which tasted a little like plum sauce - sweet with a little sourish contrast, certainly didn't make things any better.
Prawns with Salted Egg - The prawns were a pretty sight - sizeable and coated with tons of egg frills. But when it came down to what mattered most, the taste test, they faltered. For starters, the prawns were huge and crunchy but not sweet (we couldn't make out any taste of prawn actually). Add to the fact that anything coated with too much soft and paste like egg yolk is a sure recipe for nausea, this dish left us feeling queasy after a few bites.
Owing to Chinese New Year, I am presuming the prices have been marked up (the menu stated CNY menu). Nonetheless, $83 for dinner for 3 pax isn't exactly reasonable, considering that it was still a week before CNY when we patronised. Food quality was average at best, saved only by the asparagus. Some people might argue that Roland is best known for their chilli crab, but with such average dishes, I find it hard to justify a return trip for their crabs, or anything else for that matter.
See all my pictures here.
Rating given:
Terribly overpriced.
The outlet have a good sized couch area right in front of the band set which wasnt playing when I was there that night. I guess low tables are good for having ice cream and catching up but I found the couch seats rather bad for people who want some privacy chat.
Each scoop costs $5.50 if Im not wrong, and is already more pricey than most brands around. Because there was about 8 of us, the satff cheerfully recommended the Merlionster, which was 6 scoops topped with various stuff like bananas and brownies. It was probably our fault too for not looking too carefully at the prices, but we never thought it will cost $32.90.
Technically, it is still cheaper than if you would have ordered 6 ala carte scoops. BUT they could have done much better than to squash all 6 scoops into a tiny plastic bowl with whatever 'vairious stuff' it was supposed to hold threatening to drop off the edge of it. This was by far the most expensive ice cream I had ever had. I shudder to think how the Vermonster looks like for the charge of $88.00.
And I had the Snapple at $3.90 instead of their signature milkshakes which were $8.90 for a small size cup.
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Value for money ala carte buffet
Chose this quiet spot for a company dinner, and ala carte's buffet always a good choice as guests then do not worry about ordering more items and thus adding costs, and there's no need to walk about and disrupting conversations.
The ala carte buffet is a quite comprehensive range of starters, mains, soups, and desserts; including oysters and sashimi, sushi, and shabu shabu. $42 per pax for weekends and $52 for weekdays seem like an odd promo at first but perhaps given that most of the weekend crowd there will not consider this as a dining option, it is a good pull factor.
We had the long booth seat for our big group on the mezzaine level which provided maximum privacy but it meant a difficult task getting the attention of service staff. They also have pull out drawers for your shoes while providing slippers if you like. Nice touch.
Shabu shabu - this is one of rare times I actually like beef. Thinly sliced beef sloshed in stock was very good and indicative of the things to come.
Salmon sashimi - thickly sliced and very fresh. We ordered more than 1 serving of course.
Vegetable spring roll - a little like the Vietnamese spring roll but without the beehoon. Refreshing on the palette and a healthy option against all the meaty stuff.
Deep fried shrimp - the first time I tried is was at Ichibantei at Liang Court and was hooked. The shrimps were deep fried to a nice crunch and was very addicitvely savoury.
Asparagus in blue cheese sauce - Im not a blue cheese fan and found the cheese overpowering. Couldnt actually taste the sweetness of the veg. Strange combination too.
Prawn tempura - sweet crunchy prawns in non-oily batter, done very well.
Eel fried rice - I didnt taste too much eel but was too full by then to take a second bite.
Coconut creme brulee - yes I know, creme brulee in a Jap restaurant? It turned out to be one of their signature dessert and although I dont like creme brulees in general and declined to taste it, I know of ladies who can take 4 servings at one go, after dinner.
Guests can be seated at 6pm and leave at 11pm, so you can basically stuff yourself for all you want and stagger out of the place thereafter. Its probably better for catching up with girl friends than dates or couple's night out though.
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