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fin1710's Reviews

       22 Jan 2008 at 10:47 am
    feizhu feizhu says:

    Had dinner at Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao at Jurong Point with my gf as we were too lazy to go anywhere far for dinner.

    There are actually many Crystal Jade variations around with La Mian Xiao Long Bao being one of them. The Jurong Point outlet was packed to the brim when we dropped by, just like all of the food outlets in the mall (whats new?). We had the set menu for 2, which included a side dish, a rice/noodle, a dim sum item and a cooked dish, all of which must be selected from a preset menu.

    Crispy Beancurd Skin Roll - This dish was actually quite decent, with the beancurd skin crispy and not too oily. The filling of flour was a little chewy, tasting and looking very much like small cubes of mushroom. But beware, consuming too much of it will make you sick really fast because of the starch. This dish is best consumed with the accompanying zesty soya sauce.

    Fried Rice with Prawn, Chicken & Ham - I would say that the fried rice was surprisingly quite good. Homogeneously fried with a generous serving of prawns, chicken and ham. The only thing that was lacking was the "Wok Hei" taste which was a pity really.

    Sauteed Egg White with Fish Meat & Conpoy - As mentioned in a few of my earlier reviews, Prima serves a kick ass rendition of this dish and unfortunately, Crystal Jade's offering is nowhere in sight. Sure, its eggy from all that egg white and a little raw from the fish meat, but it just didn't manage to gel the flavours together like the one from Prima. However, this is still one very palatable dish and I will not hesitate to order it if I do go to Crystal Jade again.

    Shanghai Steamed Pork Dumpling - A forte of Crystal Jade, the Shanghai Steamed Pork Dumplings or Xiao Long Baos (XLBs) were just a wee bit short of fantastic, owing to the minimally thicker than usual skin. Everything else was the same though, nice lean meat with lots of juice encapsuled within the skin and gushing out as the skin was breached.

    Souffle Egg White Ball -
    The only other place that I know that sells such a dessert is Cheng Li Yuan, which also happens to do up a meaner version of it. Crystal Jade's rendition utilises a lot of icing sugar to make it sweet and the pastry is comparatively not as tasty or fluffy. But then again, Crystal Jade is closer to home.

    A hearty meal for 2 stood at about $37, which isn't really too expensive. I must say that of all the Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao outlets I've tried in Singapore (I believe I've tried all of them), Jurong Point's outlet is comparatively better than the rest in terms of food quality. You can read my writeup on the Takashimaya outlet here. However, service is another matter altogether. Though not rude or unfriendly , service was slow and spotty and I could spot quite a few aggrieved customers.

    See all my pictures here


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

       21 Jan 2008 at 1:29 am
    Category: Coffee Shops
    feizhu feizhu says:

    Having breakfast at Ng Ah Sio was a case of third time lucky. The first time my gf and I visited, it was a Monday and the shop was closed. The second time, it was closed for Chinese New Year. Third time round, our perseverance finally paid off. For those not in the know, Ng Ah Sio is the infamous Bak Kut Teh stall which turned down Hong Kong's Chief Executive, Donald Tseng, when he wanted to visit for a late night meal.

    $5.50 gets you a relatively average sized bowl with 3 pieces of meat which are a little too dry and tough as compared to the one at Founder. The soup was the clear winner though, with its extremely heavy dosage of pepper and garlic. Very flavourful and guaranteed to make your nose run. I guess the word "Shiok" would be most apt in describing the feeling.

    Please note that Ng Ah Sio opens early (6am) and closes early too (2pm) and its usually attracts quite a crowd whenever its open.

    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

    883. Pow Sing Restaurant   
       21 Jan 2008 at 1:25 am
    feizhu feizhu says:

    Had a go at Pow Sing Restaurant near my house last night as both my gf and I were ravenous and too lazy to travel. Chomp chomp was out as it was madly crowded. The place was packed to the brim when we got there at about 2030hrs. We ordered 2 plates of chicken rice and a Nonya Tofu to share. The dishes came pretty fast and service was efficient but not really friendly. The chicken was average and portion size was adequate. I particularly liked the Nonya tofu, which was a little crispy on the outside and soft and smooth on the inside due to it being deep fried.

    Bill came to about $18 for 2 pax, which was quite affordable I guess. All in all, a good place to fill your stomach in an air conditioned environment minus the exorbitant prices.

    See all my pictures here


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

    884. Wild Rocket   
       20 Jan 2008 at 8:17 pm
    Category: American, Fusion
    ladyironchef ladyironchef says:

    A backpack hotel seems an unlikely place to find a swanky restaurant serving international fusion, but that is exactly where Wild Rocket is located. Lawyer turned sous chef, Wilin serves contemporary western cuisine with a Singaporean twist. Having heard good things about Wild Rocket @ Mount Emily (the name also rouses my curiosity), my mind begin to sub-consiously tell me “go to Wild Rocket…”

    Wild rocket @ Mount Emily is definitely quite a romantic place to bring your date to impress. Prior to this visit, i have totally no idea that Singapore have two ‘Mounts’ in town, lest to mention Orchard Road. But thats where the two Mount are at, Mount Sohpia and Mount Emily behind Plaza Singapura. Having said this, i hope you understand we are talking about Mount, eh you know Mount Faber?

    Ahh.. finally get the idea right? Mayb you’ll say Singapore where got Mountains? The highest is Bukit Timah Hill what? Nevertheless, Wild Rocket is on the very top of Mount Emily. And to get there, public transport i.e buses and trains are a Big No No. Only cars and cabs, unless you’ll prefer to walk up Mount Emily with your date and arriving in fashionable stinky sweat-smell. Go only car and cab, but when you finish your meal, it might be quite nice to stroll down Mount Emily with your date : )

    One of the corner of Wild Rocket. My companion mention that it will be quite a good place to hold a birthday party or a mini gathering of the spacious corner. The lighting is a bit dark on this side though, which makes photo-taking not nice. But the comfy of the seats definitely make up for it.

    The other side of the restaurant. The place is quite small though, at a rough estimate i’ll say mayb 30 seaters or less? And it can be quite cram when it gets crowded, so please make sure you make your reservations before you go. Recommended for lunch, and necessary for dinner. The car park was also very limited, only around 5-6 parking lots? And there is barely any space outside the hostel for parking, as the area is all private estates.

    We browse through the menu, the first page was their 3 course Set lunch. A starter, a main course and a dessert, all at the price of $25 which i though was rather cheap when i saw that their A la carte mains are mostly in the 30s and 40s range of pricing. But then we didn’t have lunch there as we just had dim sum for brunch at Red Star. Despite being quite full, we braced our stomaches for the desserts. It will be a pity not to have anything after coming all the way here.

    Oh yes, before coming to Wild Rocket @ Mount Emily, we went to Old School @ Mount Sophia (that will be the next review coming up). Mount Sophia is beside Mount Emily, at first we didn’t plan to come to Wild Rocket because we didn’t know where Mount Emily is at. But after coming down from Mount Sophia, i saw the road Wilkie road, and the name sounds a bell in my head, i gesture excitedly to my companion that i conjuncted this is the place where Wild Rocket is located. Poof, less than 30 seconds, we drove up Wilkie road and found ourselves facing Mount Emily Park, and further up is hang out @ Mount Emily. Cheers!

    Oreo cheesecake with fudge & hazelnut ice cream ($9.5)

    Astonishment is the word to describe us when the waitress serves us our desserts. The Oreo Cheesecake is de-constructed and instead of the slide of cakes you will normally see in all restaurants, Wild Rocket went one step up and reassembled the cheesecake in a tall martini glass. Kudos to the chef for being so creative and creating a winner dessert. Normally i will feel the pinch in my pocket if i have to pay close to ten bucks for a slice of cake. But not at Wild Rocket, i was immerse in the indulgence of the cake that no pain is felt. Presentation-wise score full marks, and the taste of the cake also won me over. A strong hint of cheese covering the top, with the cake and hazelnut ice cream in the middle, oreo cookie smashed filling the bottom.

    Kueh buloh Tiramisu with espresso ice cream ($9.0)

    The first question is what the heck is Kueh buloh? But then after the first bite of the cake, it doesn’t really matters. My companion a self-proclaimed Pro in baking Tiramisu, when he took the first taste of the cake, he gave me a strange look, without saying anything he took a second bite. After which he annouced, “not too bad, got my standard!” Indeed, the Tiramisu is good, and similarly it does not comes in the usual form of a cake. Deconstruction and reassembled is the way desserts go @ Wild Rocket, at least that applies for this two desserts.

    I’ll definitely come back to Wild Rocket @ Mount Emily for their Main course, and of course more desserts. Some may say the place is over-rated, over-priced, or inaccessible, i gave it a thumbs up. While not in the fine-dining league, its unquestionably a good restaurant with the ambience you want to bring a date to.

    The price isn’t that expensive when you account in the feel-good factors, and the creativity of the chef. The dining industry in Singapore definitely can do with more chef like Wilin who produce top-notch food. The brunch menu is also quite comprehensive. My evil-twin took a snap-shot of the brunch menu, anyone interested can tell me to send it to you. Anybody wants to go with me to Wild Rocket for my next visit?? *Raise hand* *Waving* *ME!* *ME!*

    You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )

    ” Deconstruction and reassemble with creativity “


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

       20 Jan 2008 at 5:05 pm
    Category: American
    ladyironchef ladyironchef says:

    Swensen's the name that all are us are familiar with, the place that is famous for its ice cream. Swensen’s a household name in Singapore, the trademark tiffany lamps for relaxing meal comes into mind when we used to think of Swensen’s. Nowadays, we are always hearing people say how Swensen’s food has decline and was not as good as before, but I decided to give a Swensen’s a try because the promise of its newly launch menu, which Swensen’s claim that it is their biggest & tasiest menu ever, with a additional 27 new dishes added, and 21 ice cream sundae and drinks. Oh boy was i proved right by what people say, Swensen’s really on the decline.

    Went to Swensen’s Cafe Restaurant @ West Mall with my bro since i just wanted a quick and simple lunch. Upon reaching the place, we waited a while outside for someone to attend to us, but none came. So we took our own initiative to enter the place, then a waiter finally “notice” us and bring us to a table. We browse through the “new” menu and made our orders

    Swensen’s all time favourite, Fish & Chips ($12.90) I though this was quite ordinary here, nothing special about the fish nor chips, and at that price, i guess i will be better off having a fish & chips at a hawker centre. 2 out of 5

    BBQ Half Chicken ($13.90) the portion doesn’t really look like it is a half chicken, the chicken was okay really, but thats not really what you will except to find it at a restaurant with the price tag and the portion. 2 out of 5

    Well, you can’t say you have been to Swensen’s if you didn’t have ice-cream can you? Swensen’s Banana Spilt ($7.60) - strawberry, chocolate, vanilla ice cream drenched with chocolate fudge, strawberry and pineapple toppings, fresh banana slices and almonds. The ice cream was pretty decent i guess, maybe Swensen’s should stick to what they are best at, doing ice cream. 3 out of 5

    Total damage was $40.49 for 2 person. In conclusion, for all the things that Swensen’s new menu promise, it doesn’t work. I’ll be hard-pressed to find the positives of Swensen’s , lets see, convenient with 20 branches around island-wide? Nah, thats not the main reason for dining in a restaurant, cosy and comfortable booth seats? Their seats are’nt really cosy, and besides most of the restaurants nowadays are trying to make their place as cosy and comfortable as possible. Good for ice-cream? Mayb, but then again, more and more ice-cream places are coming up, think Ben & Jerry, Island Creamery and many more. Thus i won’t be going back to Swensen for the foreseeable future, unless someone is giving a treat : )

    You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )


    Rating given:Rating: 2 out of 5Rating: 2 out of 5Rating: 2 out of 5Rating: 2 out of 5Rating: 2 out of 5

       20 Jan 2008 at 5:00 pm
    Category: American
    ladyironchef ladyironchef says:

    Botak Jones offer authentic American style, restaurant quality food. The food quality is the same or better as any full sevice restaurant. Saying this, it also takes the same amount of time a restaurant takes to prepare your food as all of our food is cooked to order. This means your meat doesn’t hit the grill, your fish isn’t fried and your salad isn’t tossed until you placed your order… “

    Quoted from the botak jones menu (a long list of menu typed-print in yellow papers). Mister Ang, Mister Ong and me reached the place at around 130pm, not really a long Q, but can see that most of the people in the coffee shop is eating botak jones. Actually we wanted to visit Botak quite a long time ago, but just didn’t had the opportunity, was always going to some other places for meal. We waited for about 20 mins or so for the food to come.

    Botak Jones most popular item, or so they claimed. Premium pacific dory ($6) not the cheap cream one (also claimed by them), season the fish and bread it with japanese bread crumb. The servings are generous, with lots of fries and big piece of fish. 4 out of 5

    Rosemary lamb chop - medium well ($11) Ordered this because the rest order the other two already, so i though i try something different. The lamb chop was quite good i suppose, tender, fatty, juicy and delicious. But the price was rather on the high side 4 out of 5

    Cajun Chicken ($7) Second most popular item (claimed by Botak), chicken breast grilled with cheese and toppled with spicy cajun sauce. I though this was pretty good, but then i don’t really fancy chicken breast meat, prefer the thigh : ) 3.5 out of 5

    In conclusion, Botak Jones is the western type of restaurant found in our daily coffee shop, comparing it to restaurant, you will find the price reasonable cheap, considering it with coffee shop, you will find the price expensive. Restaurant or coffee shop? Your choice, your call.

    You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )


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

    887. Seafood Station   
       20 Jan 2008 at 4:56 pm
    Category: Seafood
    ladyironchef ladyironchef says:

    07/07/07 a special day which occurs once a century. On this special day, we went to Seafood Station at East Coast Siglap to celebrate (celebrate is a excuse, just want to find a reason to go out spend money to boost our Singapore economy) Wanted to try different place for crabs because everytime go NoSignBoard and Jumbo , mom saw this advertisement on newspaper on Seafood Station so we went there to have a try. Met Aunty Geraldine downstairs so we sit her car go together.

    Seafood Station, okay lets go straight to the point, the food is rather good but i wont go back again. Why? Poor service, price rather expensive relative to its small servings. But the main reason is the poor service which makes me think twice about going back. Anyway, when we reach the place at 730pm, the inside was full so we had to make do with the outer area. I did make a reservation prior going, but it was for 3 person, aunty geraldine family join us last min. The outside area had a lot insects flying around, so we was saying even if the insect drop into our food we also won’t know. O well, we saw a lot celebrity photos with the boss, so we thought the place must be quite good, but the dinner end up in a way we did not expect. Clearly fame does not shows anything.

    Pepper crab was suppose to be Seafood Station Signature dish, but to our disappointment, the crab here was totally in a different league as compared to NoSignBoard or Jumbo, nowhere the standards to the other two. The meat was not firm, when we complain to the manager, he did show his goodwill by compensating us with abalone (the relative cousin not the real one) Any guesses how much this crab cost? A whooping $98! They claimed the crab was 2.8kg, but seriously there are only two crab, and we felt then that the crab was quite small and here they are telling us the crab was big? Come on man. For anyone who will like to try the true-blue singapore pepper crab, just go to NoSignBoard or Jumbo. 2 out of 5

    Deep Fried Baby Sotong ($8), although tried this dish a few times at different place, but can’t really tell the difference, all taste about the same 3 out of 5

    Golden Vegetables ($10) 3.5 out of 5

    Golden Crab Meat Fried Rice ($15 for Medium) This fried rice is good, i would say it is one of the better fried rice that i have tasted so far, but at $15 for the small servings i would think twice about ordering it again. It is just normal fried rice with a few slices of crab meal and taa-da a premium price is charged. 3.5 out of 5

    Fried Seafood Mee Swa ($12) this one is also quite good, but you-know-what? Due to the poor service which the manager cited as mix-up in the kitchen, we waited one hour plus for this dish to appear. By the time the Mee Swa came, we were already full with anger. Need i say more? 3 out of 5

    Craypot Crab Bee Hoon ($31.50) We ordered this as a last add-on, so it came rather late also, i think compared to the pepper crab, the price for this crab is reasonable. The soup for the Bee Hoon was not too bad. But we were too piss off to really enjoy this dish 3.5 out of 5

    All in all, i confirm guarantee plus chop that i WILL NOT BE going back for Seafood, if someone wants to treat me there i will have to consider. The food can be not too bad, but with the service that i got, i wont consider going back.

    When we ask the manager why our food hasn’t arrive, he took the bill and ask us which one hasn’t arrive. I mean as a manager shouldn’t you all know which dishes have arrive and which have not?

    This is a serious sign of poor service. Although one of the manager tried to show his goodwill by giving us the fake abalone, the other manager was nonchalant about us, when we asked about the long delay in food served, he just went to check without really giving us a proper explanation.

    Come on, being a restaurant, the least you can do is to make sure the dishes arrive promptly, saturday for restaurants are considered peak periods, can’t they handle their peak period properly? Total damage was $ 220.10 for 6 person, 10% goes to service charge when they did not provide us with any service. Heed my advice, avoid this place, steer clear of it!

    You are always welcome to visit Ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )


    Rating given:Rating: 1 out of 5Rating: 1 out of 5Rating: 1 out of 5Rating: 1 out of 5Rating: 1 out of 5

       20 Jan 2008 at 4:48 pm
    ladyironchef ladyironchef says:

    Wake up early early on a Sunday Morning to have breakfast with Mister Ang and Mister Ong. Cos mister ang say he long time never wake up early to have breakfast liao, and also i seldom got wake up early to have breakfast with mates one. So here we go, at first wanted to have dim-sum, but in the end we chose Bak Ku Teh. Mister Ang say there are two more famous one in Singapore, one being in Balestier (which S.H.E frequents when they come Singapore), and the other one which we went Ng Ah Sio at Rangoon road, which is the one that appears in the news last time because it refuse/cannot serve the HK Chief Executive, Donald Tseng at night.

    True to its name, when we arrived at 9am, it was close to full house already. But luckily for us, we got a table immediately and start ordering. While waiting for the food to come, we started experimenting with the teapot. Although we got eat Bak Ku Teh before, but none of us actually know the correct way to make the tea (usually other people do it for us). So we put in the tea leave and mister ong start pouring the water. But later we find out the correct way should be rinse the teapot with hotwater once first, den put in the tea leave? O well, since we are not very particular about tea, no harms done!

    The main charactor of the day, Pork Ribs ($5.50)!! Now, i am not a expert in Bak Ku Tea, according to Mister Ang & Ong who had been to the Balestier one, the one here soup is different, must be the ingredients different, the pork ribs and the soup are better than the Balestier one (quote them not me) 4.5 out of 5

    Pork legs. Mister Ong and me don’t really like eating pork legs because got fat fat skin, but Mister ang likes so we ordered one plate and it turns out to be quite good! Not really a lot fat meat, except for the skin. But if compared to the Balestier Bak Ku Teh, they say the pork legs there are better than here. Your judgement, your call. Its good n’uff for me 4 out of 5

    We also had peanuts and you tiao. Total bill was $32 for 3 person, is it expensive? A bit i guess, considering we had it for breakfast, but once in a while its ok. The place at Rangoon road off Serangoon road was quite inacessible if you are not driving, a 10min walk from farrer park mrt i think. Also, free-flow of soup, you can always “top-up” yr pork rib soup if not n’uff!

    You are always welcome to visit Ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )


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

       20 Jan 2008 at 4:42 pm
    ladyironchef ladyironchef says:

    Okay now first for the benefit of people who do not know what is Xiao Long Bao (doubt got people don't know), but anyway, Xiao Long Bao also known as soup dumpling, is a type of bao (bread or bun-like) origins from Shanghai. They are usually steamed in Bamboo shoots, hence the name.

    The fillings for Xiao Long Bao are traditonally soup and meat, but as people taste bud gets more & more powerful, demands for new variation are made, and smart restaurants have came up with new variety like seafood, vegetarian, crab egg as fillings.

    But do you know the origins in Shanghai? That is the founder of Xiao Long Bao. The Shanghai version of Xiao Long Bao is said to origin from a town called Nanxiang, a suburb of Shanghai. I just came back from Shanghai, and there i tried the authentic Xiao Long Bao from Nanxiang Mantou Dian. To see more about the authentic Xiao Long Bao,

    You are always welcome to visit Ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )


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

    890. Ah Chew’s Desserts   
       20 Jan 2008 at 9:37 am
    Category: Desserts
    Bobo Bobo says:

    Sick and tired of cakes and ice cream all the time? It's nice to have more traditional desserts. Ah Chew's is one of the places where I love to have desserts. After 7, it constantly full. The place isn't very big, it seats about 25 people at max.

    Parking here is really a headache too. Even if you choose to park slightly further at Parco you might have to wait.

    That said the ambience in this place is simple and it looks like a traditional Chinese stall 店铺. The people here are relatively friendly but everyone's usually too busy to chat more.

    My two favourites here are the Mi Gua Xi Mi Lu (Honeydew Sago) and the Gui Ling Gao (Herbal Jelly). Both are the cooling sort of desserts. I'm never a fan of hot desserts.

    My friends are always having the hot pastes. :)

    Despite me liking this place so much, I have to give it 4 stars only. It's not really a place to chill with your friends as there will be people breathing down your neck cos they need a seat. :P But come try!!


    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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