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fin1710's Reviews

       24 May 2008 at 1:55 am
    ladyironchef ladyironchef says:

    Peach Garden Chinese Restaurant @ OCBC Centre 33rd Floor is co-owned by Angela Ho and Veronica Tan, former managers of the established Hua Ting restaurant. The pair struck out on their own in 2002, and the rest like they say, were history. Peach Garden is now one of the Chinese restaurants on the radar of corporates.

    Located at the 33rd floor, the restaurant offers diners a splendid bird’s eye view of the Singapore River and the city area.

    The modern contemporary Chinese decor will make diner feel right at home.

    It will be highly recommended for customers to make a reservation before going, as the window seats are usually taken up. One of the waitress greeted us at the main lobby on the ground floor, after checking our reservations, we were guided up to 33rd floor.

    Peach Garden is popular for their Cantonese dishes, and dim sum. The selection for dim sum isn’t wide with 23 different types, however for what they lacked in variety, they make it up in quality.

    Most of the dim-sum comes in basket of 3 each, but as we got 8 person, they were flexible to allow us order 8 pieces of dim-sum instead. So i’ll be putting the price for all the dim sum here for per piece rather than per basket.

    Baked BBQ pork pastry ($1.30)
    The baked BBQ pork pastry, or more commonly known as char-siew sou, i find it to be quite all right, but the others didn’t like it because they had better ones at Yan ting @ St Regis before.

    Baked Mini Egg Tart ($1.30)
    The baked mini egg tarts were fine, the skin was crispy, and the egg filling is just nice. However at $1.30 each, they are terribly expensive since i had better and bigger egg tarts at much cheaper price before.

    Steamed Fresh Prawn Dumpling ($1.60)
    The steamed fresh prawn dumpling, or more affectionately known as har-gau. The ones at Peach Garden has a wholesome shrimp wrapped within the skin of the dumpling.

    But at $1.60 for each har-gau, they are priced slightly higher than your normal ones at other places.

    Steamed Siew Mai with Phoenix prawn ($1.60)
    The rendition of siew mai or pork dumpling is redefined at Peach Garden. Whereas your typical siew mai taste mainly of pork, the ones here has a phoenix prawn, which gives the siew mai a prawnier taste.

    Steamed BBQ pork bun ($1.20)
    I always love to eat steamed BBQ pork buns from chinese dim sum restaurant, well because they are not the same as the ones you get from outside.

    The ones in restaurants are usually consist of three parts, i’ll tear off each part and slowly savour the sweet char-siew with the bun.

    Fried Carrot cake with X.O sauce ($8)
    When you read fried carrot cake, please erase off all of whatever memories you had of carrot cake. Now when we are talking about fried carrot cake with X.O sauce here, its not your ordinary black or white char-kway in the hawker centre.

    The carrot cake here is slightly crispy on the outside, and very soft on the inside. But i couldn’t taste much of the X.O sauce, and at $8 per small serving, i find it to be quite on the high side.

    Steamed yolk cream bun ($1.20)
    The signature dim-sum of Peach Garden, its delicious steamed yolk cream bun. The beautiful golden yellow custard filling oozes out when i prise it open.

    Steamed rice roll with prawn ($4.50)
    The steamed rice roll with prawn, or your Chee Cheong Fun is served in two versions, one with prawn at $4.50, and the other steamed rice roll with chicken at $4.

    The Chee Cheong Fun was quite disappointing here, it didn’t taste as well i thought it will, its quite ordinary to tell the truth.

    Boiled porridge with century egg and pork ($3.80)
    The boiled porridge with century egg and pork is one of the disappointment for the meal at Peach Garden. Too salty, we ordered 4 bowls and almost couldn’t finish it.

    Steamed Xiao Long Bao with Conpoy ($1.30)
    I’m not really a big fan of Xiao Long Bao, i guess the ones here are average, a couple of us didn’t really find it to be good.

    Baked Spare Rib with BBQ Sauce ($7 per piece)
    The signature baked spare rib with BBQ sauce comes at a hefty price, at $7 per piece, you can easily have a plate of spare ribs elsewhere.

    But to be fair, the presentation of the spare rib was done nicely, and the rib is bigger than your normal ribs, with the BBQ sauce combining well with spare ribs.

    There were difference in portions of the ribs, so depending on your luck, some of us got slightly bigger ribs with more meat, while some got thinner ribs.

    Total Bill was $178.20 for 8 person, after a 15% credit card discount. The price comes much cheaper than i had expected so it was a surprise, and if you do not included the $7 spare ribs, it will be roughly $16 for person instead of about $22.

    Results were mixed, some like me found it to be quite good, while others find that Peach Garden didn’t match their expectations. I guess everybody has different taste buds, but personally, i find Peach Garden to be quite good, the price may be slightly above average, but given a rationale person taking the menu and not over-ordering, the result is good dim sum at reasonable price.

    Service-wise we also encountered mixed results. The waitress were way too fast in serving the dim-sum. As the table was all food bloggers, all of us were busy taking photos of the food, and before we managed to finish taking the photo of one dim sum, the other dim sum was served.

    I felt that the waitress should have taken note that we were not ready for the serving of the other dim sum, but sad to say they failed to do so. Also, they missed out our order of Xiao Long Bao and the ribs, and also forgot to bring us our additional order of the har-gau.

    But they did slightly make up when they helped us putting the birthday cake (one of us birthday celebration) into a beautiful plate, and they also provide a knife which had remote control to play birthday song music.

    All in all, at 33rd floor offering a wonderful view of the city, the quite reasonable pricing of the dim-sum, it offers me an excuse to revisit Peach Garden again. And Peach Garden has two other outlets at Novena and Thomson Plaza!

    You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or biasness. Feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )

    ” Contemporary Cantonese cuisine, with splendid bird’s eye view of the city “


    Rating given:Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5

       23 May 2008 at 1:27 pm
    Category: Watches
    TrumPat TrumPat says:

    Since my mum is looking for a new watch, we decided to check out the watches here.

    There were a couple of customers but only 1 salesgirl was at the shop then. Nevertheless, our needs were not neglected. The friendly salesgirl approached us after attending to the other customers and was helpful enough to offer a few recommendations of watches to my mum. She was very patient with us, especially my picky mum who could not decide on which watch to get.

    My mum also decided to replace the battery for her present watch. However, upon checking on the battery lifespan, she advised my mum not to replace the battery as its lifespan was not up yet.

    In the end, we didn't get the attery replaced, neither did we purchase any watches from the shop. But we were really pleased with the service provided by the salesgirl.


    Rating given:Rating: 5 out of 5Rating: 5 out of 5Rating: 5 out of 5Rating: 5 out of 5Rating: 5 out of 5

       23 May 2008 at 11:44 am
    Category: Fashion
    TrumPat TrumPat says:

    Even before the start of the Great Singapore Sales, many places have started their pre-GSS already.

    Happened to be around the area so I decided to check out the jeans here as they were having a sales too. Haha

    The shop was really packed with people then. Their sales items have been placed on a shelf and we customers just have to look through the stacks of folded jeans to look for good buys. With so many customers taking out then throwing back the "unwanted" jeans, the salesperson still managed to fold back the jeans quickly and arrange them back onto the shelf neatly. Yes! This definitely makes it much easier for other customers to look for what they want. It's so unlike of most other places where sales equal to looking for things you want through a heap of clothes.

    Yes, thumbs up for their service!


    Rating given:Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5

       23 May 2008 at 11:29 am
    Category: Deli and Cafe, Desserts
    feizhu feizhu says:

    Canele Patisserie Chocolaterie - A high end dessert cafe under the Les Amis group of restaurants and helmed by Executive Pastry Chef Pang, who was an ex member of the Singapore National Culinary Team.

    Located at the picturesque and upmarket Roberston Walk, Canele's flagship outlet is a rather nice place to chill for after dinner desserts or afternoon tea. Takeaways are also available but if you choose to dine in, please be aware that a 10% service charge will be levied.

    Nougatine - Filled with Nutella, Salty Caramel, Caramelized Filos, Nougatine Ice Cream, Vanilla Creme Chantilly - For starters, the Nougatine seemed rather interesting with the addition of salty caramel. However, taken as a whole, it reminded me uncannily of peanut butter with its smooth sticky texture and buttery undertones. I liked the caramelized filos, which are essentially paper thin pastry dough coated with a layer of caramel and left to harden. Flaky yet stick to your teeth.

    Jupiter - A most aesthetically pleasing slice of cake which was bought off the display shelf. Extremely rich and topped with a thin cylindrical shell of chocolate, Jupiter boasted caramel and a layer of wafer in between the spongy cake. Did I mention the dark glistening chocolate that engulfed the entire cake? Overall a very nice but sinful dessert.

    Black Forest 2007 - I cannot comprehend the rationale behind inserting a year into the name of a cake. But that's besides the point. The point is, as pretty and minute a piece as the black forest cake may be, it certainly wasn't outstanding, not even close. The berries were soaked in Kirsch but the amount of cream was too much for me to stomach. And it certainly didn't help that the cake did come across as a little too dense and moist.

    Berry Black & Bushman Brew - Interesting names for the teas but unfortunately rather overpriced for the mediocre quality. And its all because Canele doesn't serve ice water.

    With the prices Canele is charging, I can see why its a high end dessert outfit. I appreciate the creativity and quality behind the desserts but certainly not the prices nor the tiny portions.

    See all my pictures here.


    Rating given:Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5

       22 May 2008 at 10:48 pm
    Category: Supermarkets
    TrumPat TrumPat says:

    I love to go to Carrefour because it has anything & everything! Despite it being a hypermart, all its things are neatly arranged and organised which makes it really an ease to look for things I want.

    I was with my friend looking around for luggage that day and we were really lucky to meet a friendly and helpful salesperson. She assisted us in picking a suitable luggage and offered advices which really helped us in making our decision on the luggage to buy.

    The only complaint that I have is their super long queue at the payment counters. Probably things can be sped up a little faster if they have 2 persons at the counter, 1 cashier & 1 packer.

    Other than that, I really love shopping here! :)


    Rating given:Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5

       22 May 2008 at 4:25 pm
    Category: Fashion
    Bobo Bobo says:

    I was the first to review about Cotton On in Yebber and the first outlet was in Wisma. I had loved it then and was very excited when I saw them having an outlet in Parkway.

    I went the week they opened and also the following week.

    The first time I went the place was rather messy and I forgave them since they had just opened.

    But it was still pretty messy the second time and I was rather upset. Also the prices of the items seem higher now. I guess it's because more people are buying. That aside I still love their long tops.

    There are two major gripes I have about this outlet. One is that the lighting is much too dim to see some colours properly.

    The second is that the customer service people are too busy chatting to each other and they don't tend to the customers very much. This is part of the reason why the place becomes messy as the customers ransack to look for the right size.

    MMmmM I guess I will still pop by if I'm in the area but I wouldn't go there specially to buy. :P


    Rating given:Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5

    597. Bratwurst Shop   
       21 May 2008 at 9:36 pm
    Category: German
    ladyironchef ladyironchef says:

    The newly renovated basement of Plaza Singapura has seen many new tenants providing all sorts of quirky and creative food. Bratwurst Shop is one of the original stores which has been there for quite a long period of time.

    Just in case you have no idea, Bratwurst is a sausage composed of pork, beef and/or veal and the name is from Germany.

    For the sausages, you get to choose from different toppings, the original, bacon & cheese, mushroom& cheese are some of the popular ones.

    After choosing the toppings, you’ll get to choose the type of bratwurst that you fancy, swiss cheese pork, spicy beef & pork, black pepper pork, italian pork, mild beef & pork are all available.

    There are also a wide range of sandwiches available at pretty decent prices.

    I remember the old Bratwurst shop was located on the other side of the basement, nearer to the escalator outside Carrefour, but they have since shift to this corner which provides them with a larger seating area.

    The theme for Bratwurst shop is apparently red, with their furnitures and shop signboard in bright red.

    Swiss cheese pork, original with mustard & sauerkraut ($4.95)
    I had the original with mustard & sauerkraut for my choice of topping, and the swiss cheese pork for the main.

    The sausage was really huge, i must say its quite value for money as one will fill you up if you finish it together with the bun. However i disliked the sauerkraut as i find it to be too salty and sour, and does not compliments the taste of the sausage.

    And just in case you are wondering, sauerkraut is finely sliced cabbage fermented by various lactic acid.

    Tuna Sandwich ($5.50)
    On first sight the tuna sandwich certainly does not looks appealing, the bread looks dry, and the tuna well doesn’t looks attractive to me.

    But my friend say the tuna sandwich actually taste not bad, and at $5.50 i guess you can’t really complain.

    Total bill was $10.45 for two, we didn’t order any drinks because we went to Carrefour to buy mineral water beforehand. Well, we were on a budget, had waffles at Gelare before coming here, and besides mineral water is healthier!

    Drop by Bratwurst shop for a hassle-free, quick bite if you are in Plaza Singapura, and do not want to spend too much money on a meal before going to the theaters!

    You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or biasness. Feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )

    ” Not your normal small sausages “


    Rating given:Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5

    598. Singtel Mio   
       21 May 2008 at 3:17 pm
    Category: IT and Computers
    Bobo Bobo says:

    I had this plan for my "other" home. After much discussion when this plan was introduced, we decided to sign up since the mobile phones, telephone lines and internet were all under Singnet anyway.

    We did save a lot in the long run... but...

    Setting up triggered a lot of problems and we were without our phone lines and internet for 2 weeks. The MIO box gave quite a bit of problems. The repairman had to come 3-4 times and we had the box changed twice. We live in a private estate and were told that things will be fine in our particular estate. After the initial hiccups we were finally able to use the phone lines and the internet.

    BTW you have to purchase a different kind of phone to be used with the MIO system.

    Once we started to use it, we noticed that at times the phone doesn't detect the incoming call. Everything is working (when the repairman came to test it) but it just doesn't ring every single time we call. It would miss a couple of times. And there would be quite a bit of static on the line, which disrupts the call.

    It could possibly be a line connection thing but Singtel should also be responsible for checking our lines when we had them install the system. I guess this one might take some time to settle.

    FYI, Maxonline cannot be installed in my estate, according to their customer service rep.


    Rating given:Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5

       20 May 2008 at 12:36 am
    ladyironchef ladyironchef says:

    Monday everyone have the standard Mondays blue

    Wednesday is for the ladies, party all night long!

    Thursday we have people queuing up to buy Toto

    Friday its one more day to the weekends

    Saturday its finally weekends!

    Sunday 4D 4D & 4D

    So what do we have on Tuesday? Make a guess?!?

    Yep, Tuesdays are Waffles Day!

    For every Tuesday, its waffles day at Gelare, where you get to enjoy 50% discount on their waffles (actually for their plain waffles only, the rest less than 50%).

    But who bothers! Its waffles day, and personally i do think its quite a good sales tactic. I mean even though i have never try Gelare before, but i heard of their promotions before. It works.

    A friend and i went down to Gelare @ Plaza Singapura, 3pm and the place’s almost full house. For every tuesday, plain Waffle with syrup & cream is half price at $3.90, and the single scoop ice cream waffle is $6.90 (original price being $9.90)

    There’s this promotion which they are having for their main course. But after seeing that their pastas are actually those frozen ready-packed one, which they heat up in the microwave, no thanks!

    I was tempted to try their cheesecakes which at $5 a slice seems reasonable. Anyone try before mind letting me know whether it’s good?

    Waffle with single scoop Tiramisu ice cream ($6.90)
    Just stick to what Geláre is good at, waffles. There was a choice whether you want to add on 20 cents to change the waffle to chocolate chip waffles, but we sticked with the normal ones.

    The choice of toppings will be either chocolate sauce or maple syrup, and the option for having cream or no cream.

    I liked my Ti-ra-mi-su ice cream waffles. But its actually quite soft, i’m not sure whether good waffles are meant to be soft, but i have a penchant for crispier waffles, like the one i had at Haato’s

    Waffle with single scoop Pistachio gelare ($6.90)
    The Pistachio gelare here wasn’t to my friend’s liking. Pistachio is a kind of nut just in case you have no idea, like me. My friend like the soft waffles though, i guess everybody has different preference.

    And we concluded that the waffles will taste much nicer without the whipped cream, and the chocolate sauce only hinder the taste of the ice cream.


    Total Bill for 2 waffles is $13.80, on tuesday the waffles single scoop ice cream at $6.90 are considered reasonable i guess, but even the normal price ten bucks for it, i won’t touch it.

    Haato’s waffle with single scoop ice cream is at $6, everyday. I guess thats the place to fulfill my waffles cravings until a better place comes about.

    You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or biasness. Feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )

    ” Only on Tuedays, Waffles day! “


    Rating given:Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5

    600. Brown Sugar   
       19 May 2008 at 11:09 pm
    Category: Deli and Cafe
    feizhu feizhu says:

    Brown Sugar - A tiny little cafe/bistro that opened up in November 2006 and the brainchild of a former fund manager turned chef, Yuan Oeij. Following in the footsteps of yet another local restaurateur, lawyer turned chef Willin Low of Wild Rocket fame, Oeij was a part time chef for hire before deciding to give up his job to open a restaurant.

    Nestled in a nook just off River Valley Road within the StarDus clubhouse premises, Brown Sugar is a small cafe that can probably seat about 30 pax. Its limited capacity means that reservations are highly recommended especially for dinners on Fridays and Saturdays. The decor is kept simple yet cosy through the use of ambient lighting.

    Complimentary Bread - The bread was served warm and interestingly, had a slightly spicy aftertaste. Though crisp, I found it a tad too dry for my liking, which is where the olive oil comes into play.

    Deconstructed Apple Salad - The salad consisted of apple slices, rocket leaves, walnuts and not to forget, cheese, which was cleverly hidden from view between the layers of apple slices. I personally liked this harmonious combination of flavours with the sweetness of the apple complimenting the contrasting flavours of the cheese and the rocket leaves. But its small and its $13.

    Linguine of Organic Mushrooms in Cream Sauce with Sliced Parma Ham - According to the wait staff, the organic mushrooms in this dish are sourced from a local farm which ensures its freshness. True enough, the mushrooms were fresh and plentiful. However, the linguine was a tad too overcooked and the parma ham, though nice, did seem a little too thickly sliced. On the upside, the cream sauce wasn't overwhelming hence you can easily stuff more down without feeling nauseous.

    Hand Chopped Wagyu Burger, Truffled Mushroom Sauce, Salad and Fries - As mentioned in my entry on Iggy's sometime back, its a total waste of good beef if you chop wagyu up and make it into a beef patty. Brown Sugar's rendition wasn't just about to change my view on that. The beef, though evidently hand chopped from the unevenness of the patty, didn't taste much different from other beef patties that I've eaten. It could have been normal beef and I honestly wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Sure, the meat was more tender with more fats but lacked the beefy taste and the texture seemed more more like minced pork than beef. It definitely didn't help that the patty was done medium well instead of medium rare as per my request. All in all a very decent burger but not exactly one to bowl me over. Oh and the fries were a tad dry and overcooked.

    Tarte Tatin of Pears with Honey & Fig Ice Cream - A rather interesting dessert if I may say. The pastry was flaky but did seem a little too hard from the hardened caramel glaze. The pears were firm and not too sweet, providing a nice crunch to the flimsy looking pastry.When paired with the honey and fig ice cream, it was truly enjoyable. Order this before hand because there is a wait time of 15 minutes.

    Molten 100% Valrhona Chocolate Cake, Raspberry Coulis, Vanilla Ice Cream - I think I'm just a sucker for chocolate cakes, especially ones with the word molten chocolate attached to them. Brown Sugar's offering had a rather soft crust which I personally dislike, but the decadent molten chocolate more than made up for it. The vanilla ice cream was made from vanilla beans, not extract, as evident by the black dots on the ice cream. Together with the chocolate cake, it made for a nice and not too sweet ending. Please note that this dessert has a wait time of 15 minutes as well.

    An appetiser, 2 mains and 2 desserts cost something to the tune of $98 which does seem a little high for a cafe hidden in a small government building. Quality of food is of a reasonably high standard and service is quite good. Add the nice homely environment to the mix and Brown Sugar is worth a revisit. For those who wish to experience Brown Sugar for less, there is the set lunch option, at $23 for 2 courses and $27 for 3 courses.

    See all my pictures here.


    Rating given:Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5

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