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Beauty & Wellness
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1=SGD 0.0587
Asia Grand Restaurant has reopened with much fanfare at the former premises of Chef Chan at Oden Towers. Formerly from Asia Grand Hotel, Asia Grand Restaurant was set up by the original owners of the popular Tsui Hang chain of restaurants, which has since closed down.
A brightly lighted interior greets you as you step into the rather cramp restaurant, which incidentally, was packed with people. Floor to ceiling windows offer a clear view of passers by at ground level, seperated only by thin veiled curtains. The lack of privacy is further enhanced by the closely placed tables which makes it hard not to eavesdrop.
The appetizer was a mixture of Capsicum, fish cakes and bell peppers, which was rather intriguing given that I've never tried anything like it. The fishcake cubes took on a slight tinge of the bell pepper taste and proved to be a nice way to start dinner rolling.
Braised Shark's Fin Soup with Shredded Chicken & Bamboo Pith -
Honestly, for a restaurant such as Asia Grand, I would have expected better shark's fin soup. Not just quality of fins wise, but overall preparation of the soup as well. The soup was way too starchy and oily by any measure. The fins were of rather inferior quality but portions were still decent. Overall an average dish and no more.
Peking Duck - Our unanimous star of the evening - the humble Peking duck. With crackling crispy skin thats almost fat free wrapped in thin yet chewy egg crepes, you will be hard pressed to find any substitutes with similar quality at such a low price of $28 a duck (ongoing promotion).
Baked Lobster with Egg Yolk - The lobster got me all excited and was one of the reasons why we chose to order the set menu instead of going ala carte. My hopes shattered when I saw the size of the lobsters. They were tiny, weighing in at most the size of a huge prawn. The meat was barely a spoonful, which was absolutely pathetic. Berates aside, I must admit that the lobster was quite tasty, with the saltiness from the egg yolk complementing the slightly sweet lobster flesh. However, the egg yolk could have been saltier to further bring out the contrast.
Duck Fried Rice - Wondering what happened to the meat from the Peking duck? Well, you have your answer. The rice was moist and rather well fried together with the fibrous yet tender duck meat. However, it did get rather bland after a while. I mean, how tasty can it get when its just diced duck with rice and egg with no gravy whatsoever?
Steamed Pa Ting fish with Olive, Chilli & Garlic - A most forgettable dish - steamed fish at its most uninspiring. The fish was fresh but not particularly sweet. It didn't help that the fish was rather small as well.
Sauteed Fresh Scallop with Assorted Mushroom - The scallops were supposed to be the main focal point in this dish, but ironically I preferred the mushrooms better. Tasty, juicy and the direct opposite of the scallops, which were a tad too soft without much bite and rather bland. Portions are pathetic as well and we had to limit everyone to 2 scallops each. Talk about rationing.
$61.50/pax is rather expensive for such an average repertoire of food, the Peking duck withstanding. Service is excellent and all of the wait staff are attentive and friendly. After doing my math, I reckon I'll be back just for the $28 Peking duck. No more, no less.
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The tour of trying out far flung food places continues with a visit to Villa Seafood Galleria. As with Made In China and Pier Eleven, Villa Seafood Galleria is owned and operated by the Singapore Explorer group, which has a knack for sourcing out isolated places to set up restaurants. I mean that as a compliment by the way.
Sitting pretty at the top of Labrador nature reserve overlooking the sea, Villa Seafood Galleria is a little paradise all by itself, shrouded in greenery. The private dining room was set amongst a pool and oozed pure class through its fall to ceiling windows. The air conditioned common dining room, however, didn't impress that much but was spacious and comfortable with yes, floor to ceiling windows as well.
less than interesting name, a less than interesting dish. The Crispy Almond Chicken was essentially chicken coated with almond on the skin and baked. The skin was nice and crunchy from all the almonds but the meat was a little on the dry side. Ironically, for a name like Almond Chicken, there wasn't the faintest taste of almond at all, at least not that I could detect. However, the biggest gripe about this dish was that some pieces of chicken had a slight oil residue, which is a big no no.
Fish noodles usually come in soup so this variation of Fried Noodle with Seafood came as something new to me. Not that I'm complaining though. The noodles were slimmer and more springy, with the extra bite evident. However, I did find it a little too oily though, which made it almost unpalatable when cold. On a positive note, the toppings of prawns and scallops were plentiful, making the dish all the more enjoyable.
You can't really go wrong with vegetables and the Kailan with Scallops and Crab Meat was well, simple yet tasty. Fresh and crunchy, the vegetables were topped with generous servings of crab meat and gravy.
Huge prawns which were a little crisp along the edges yet succulent and full of bite topped with a thin layer of wasabi and mayonnaise. Now who wouldn't like that? The wasabi sauce honestly didn't look like much but it got really strong after a while. The small slices of cut fruit, though nothing fantastic, were a nice complement to the prawns.
Another first for me, the pumpkin sago was smooth yet not too starchy. Coming across as sweet and refreshing with the fruits and grass jelly in it, it was a little small for the price though. It helped that the sago was served really chilled as well.
I would say that the food at Villa Seafood Galleria tends towards the finer side as compared to its sister restaurant, Made In China, but of course prices are steeper and portions are smaller as well. $113 for 2 pax does seem a little on the high side but the ambience and service more than makes up for it. If you have a big group (10-20pax), you must go for the private dining room by the poolside.
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I went there for lunch the other and it was AWESOME.. Though the ambience is just so so, but i love the food they dish out.
I had seafood for one and my friend had Fish and Chips. We shared the food and i simply love the rice. Well flavoured yellow rice with bits or raisin all over. It was simply delectable and very appetizing. I love the hints of spices invading my tastebuds as i chew on the rice slowly in my mouth. The fries were great also, especially sizzled with spicy powders, it sure did ZEST things up. Prawns and fish is ok, fresh with no seafood stench and the fried calemari was FAB.... I love it with extra tar tar sauce.... whom which the waiter gladly provided us.
You must also try the passion fruit soda. I love the funcky popping taste with the glamourous passion fruit. It was indeed a fabulous lunch, perhaps too heavy for lunch but i'm sure its good for dinner.
The ambience is so so, not glam but casual. They have the alfresco sits as well, but it faces the road and fumes from the industrial park in tuas makes it not so nice.... The waiters gave us pretty good attention, though as it happens to most waiters and waitresses, We really wonder if they are overly concerned over lizards on the ceiling or zealous with their own shoes. They seemed to look up into the ceiling or look down to their shoes but never to the custiomers asking for bill, more water or to order........
Its indeed a pretty nice place to bring your family along though this outlet is not too huge, you could call first to reserve a table. Also avoid sitting near to the side railings unless you wanna pissed the shoppers using the escalators with your OH SO DELECTABLE food and throw them a prawn head or two.. heh heh!
While making payment, they gave us some candy.... and GOODNESS GRACIOUS ME... the candy was so so so so sooo........ YUMMY....... and so watching me go all ecstatic over the small white candy the waitress kindly mentioned that they do sell it if i want. AND i went home happily with ONE KG of that delectable CANDY.... AND ITS made in AFRICA....
Why is it white candy? Hm............
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Happened to be at Bugis Junction with my gf and chanced upon this Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant. Actually it was the only restaurant that didn't have a queue at 730pm on a weekday evening. They are supposedly a very well known outfit in Shanghai, so expectations were rather high.
The interior was rather cramp, evidently with the restaurant trying to squeeze as many tables as possible in the relatively small room, resulting in a less than comfortable boxy looking dining area. I could easily overhear the adjourning table's conversation, not that I wanted to though. I guess that gives you an idea how close the tables were.
Have you ever tried pork rib noodles that were sweet? I for one, have not. Thats why Nanxiang's rendition came as quite a surprise (or was it shock?). The broth was sweet, not the MSG kind of sweet but literally sugar sweet. The pork ribs were sweet as well, which was rather weird, considering that I had expected the entire dish to be salty. The noodles were rather springy though and appeared to be the only thing that was "normal". Sorry but sweet broth and pork ribs just don't cut it for me.
For $8.50, I had expected better. The Yang Zhou Fried Rice was a joke and I'm not kidding. Served in a rounded symmetrical form, the rice looked like it had been pre-prepared and scooped from a container using a bowl (I'm just guessing). The de facto Char Siew was replaced by luncheon meat which is a poor substitute in my humble opinion. The rice lacked taste and came across as rather bland. Probably the only thing that I liked about this dish was the homogeneity of colours.
The Fried Prawns with Salted Egg came piping hot, with the gravy still bubbling and frothing. The relatively fresh prawns were of average size and overall tasted decent with the gravy buttery and a little coarse, probably due to the bits of egg yolk. However, this dish is best eaten hot as the gravy tends to harden as it cools and things get really gross from there.
The baked mini puffs looked like your normal curry puff, but break it open to find pork, mushroom and bamboo. Supposedly of course. Truth is, I only found pathetic bits of mushroom in it with what seemed to be scrap morsels of minced meat. It was like eating the pastry more than anything else. Not that it tasted good by the way.
Steamed Soup Bun with Crab Roe and Pork Filling - Purportedly Nanxiang's signature dish - the Xiao Long Bao (XLB). I honestly wasn't the least bit impressed. The skin was way too thick and I had to literally tear it apart before I could take a snapshot of the filling. And there is something about the QC of their XLB. Some had loads of fluids contained within, some had minimal. Talk about consistency.
I have never tried Pan Fried Pumpkin Cake before and I don't think I ever want to try it again, at least not at Nanxiang. The cake was soaking in oil but tasted decent though, a little sweet and crispy on the outside.
$59 for such mediocre quality food is plain absurd. The only redeeming factor was the reasonably good service but I don't think thats enough to make me go back.
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Had a leisurely set lunch with LSD at Jaan, one of the few well known French restaurants in Singapore. Perched at the peak of Raffles City Tower on the 70th floor, it is one level above the much talked about, but totally undeserving Equinox Restaurant. Reservations were a breeze, but the person on the other line sounded rather fake with her inclination to vary her voice pitch.
Take the ear popping but rather cheaply finished lift up to the 69th floor and walk the remaining flight of steps up to the 70th floor where you are ushered into a small dining area aka Jaan. And here you are in for a big surprise. The pictures of Jaan in food magazines show grandeur and finesse. What greets you is a tiny room which seats probably about 30 pax and done up with cheap looking wavy lights that scream bad taste. Well to be fair, the lights do look a lot better at night, almost mysterious. But in the day, they are better left off. View wise, its better I leave the talking to the photos. This is definitely Jaan's trump card and words just do not do any justification.
I had gotten this starter because I was sick of eating the scallops which I usually have when I go to Jaan. I guess bad choice sums it all up. The Crabmeat and Shrimps Ceviche was pretty normal but the Bloody Mary Granite was a total disaster. When was the last time you tried a tomato which was extremely salty yet cold? I'm sorry, but I just can't accept ice which tastes like tomato and yet be so salty. I was literally grimacing in my futile attempts to finish it.
The Red Port Jus was a recommended sauce for my medium rare steak and kudos to the waitress for the great recommendation. It hinted subtly of red wine without being artificially sweet. The steak came almost medium well, but still packed in a punch with its tenderness, juiciness and sweetness. A pity about the size of it though. It can hardly feed a 12 year old kid, much less a greedy slob like me. Probably a comparison is in order between this and Buko Nero's offering. No prizes for guessing which was the better of the two.
Jivara Mille-Feuille - Poached Rhubarb In Sangria, Chestnut Ice Cream - Now with such an interesting name, one would expect an equally interesting dish to go along with it. Sadly, that wasn't the case. The Chestnut Ice Cream didn't quite taste like Chestnut. I can't really put a finger to what it actually tastes like, but it wasn't very sweet and left a pleasant aftertaste. Not bad actually. What can I say about poached rhubarb except that it tastes like soft apple? The tiered chocolate piece by the side (I don't think it appears in the name of the dish) was chocolate mousse and the only good thing about it that I can think of is its light and not too sweet. Again, portions are smaller than small. Oh and one interesting thing to note. Sangria is a Spanish recipe, so whats it doing in a French dessert?
We went to Jaan hungry and left hungry(at least for myself). And it didn't come cheap at about $82 for 2 pax. I had to resort to eating MacDonalds after that, so imagine that. The only draw of this place, to me at least, is the respectable mains and panoramic view. Service, though reasonably good, seems rather biased towards Caucasians and well dressed customers and serving time is slow. I might probably do lunch again, but only lunch. Dinner is criminally expensive and I would be better off eating elsewhere.
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This is the fast food place that I will go, as it serves only the freshest sandwich around.
Below are the steps when ordering your sandwhich:
1. First you got to choose your bread. They got lots of bread to choose from! I loved Hearty Italian bread! So much so that if they ran out of the bread, I will move off tot he next branch. Of cos there are still others like Italian, Wheat, Parmesan Oregano, Honey Oat.
2. Next you got to choose, you wanna 6 inch or a foot long sandwich!
3. Choose which sub you wanna to go for. There are sandwiches which only have 6 gram of fats or the normal tuna, steak, chicken etc. Tons of choices to choose from. My fav will be Turkey Breast, Ham and Subway Melt.
4. Choose if you wanna to toast ur bread. (Toast it! Melted chesse taste nicer. Hee....)
5. Choose what veges you wanna. They are very generous with their vege. So much so that in the end, you will not see the meat but only vege in the sandwich. I like! Hee....
6. Dressing. Again a few dressing to choose from. Even they match certain dressing to certain sandwich. My fav is always Sweet onion sauce for all sandwiches.
7. Choose if you wanna to upgrade a meal, means to complete your subway sandwich with a drink and either cookies / chips. Go for the cookies. My fav will be white chocolate mac nut cookie!
8. Lastly, enjoy ur sandwich!
For service wise most of the sandwich artists (Yes they are called sandwich artist! Nice right!) are very friendly also. They are also fast with their hands as well
They also got membership card where you can get it from the website FOC! They got promotions and discounts from time to time!
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I'm pretty sure everyone knows Killiney Kopitiam. They have a few outlets around Singapore and most people would have been to one or the other.
Anyway this particular one in Siglap is always busy. They are never empty and I wonder why.
Coffee at Killiney's ain't different from the 70 cents one you find at your regular coffeeshop. not to mention it's more expensive here. In fact, it's more diluted if they're really busy. It's a little wierd since they supposedly make each cup as they are ordered.
They also have local foodfare like Mee siam and Nasi Lemak. Taste-wise is pretty average. Nothing special, thus it doesn't quite justify that $1 or $2 more....
I like the toast though, but again it's nothing extraordinary.
Nonetheless this small outlet is always bustling. Only try if you really have no other place to go for breakfast.
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Recently they had some renovation and change their image to a more modern look. What did not change is the food, of course good food no need to change.
I always like a few things from them mainly:
1. Chicken
2. Colesaw
3. Macaroni and Cheese
4. Corn nibblets
5. Corn muffins (My FAV!)
Even though there is one incident where a customer found a cockroach inside the colesaw (I think), but I think they will be more caution from then now, so it did not stop me from going. Also with the new look, they looked more brighter and cleaner now as well.
Should go and try the few things that I mentioned about especially the corn muffins! Simple great! Soft and fluffy inside yet crispy outside.
The price is average and the sets are worth its price as well. The portions that they give are also huge.
The service there is prompt as well, eve though it is self service. The queue tends to built up when someone is there standing and thinking what side dish he/she wants. I hate it when it happens!
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Hmm... I got a bad experience once there. I was waiting to watch a midnight show so decided to hang out there before the show starts.
Once seated, the waiter took the order and at the point they serve the food, he mentioned that they are closing in 10 mins time. So we got to leave in 10 mins time!
How come they cannot say this out when they brought us to our seats or when taking our order? Felt so cheated!
So service bad..... so bad that I dun wanna to back again!
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To me this place serves decent pratas but there are other places that serves better pratas.
The last time I went, I went with my colleagues. I ordered one plain prata and one one egg with onion prata. Both came fresh and hot. However I find the plain one tasted a bit plain. The egg with onion one slightly better. The egg and onion is well distributed within the prata itself.
Then I also order a banana prata to taste. It is good. Thin and crispy crust with slices of banana on it! A bit on the sweet side though.
It is open 24 hrs so it is also a good place to go and la kopi if got nothing to do at night.
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