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fin1710's Reviews

    931. Yum Cha Restaurant   
       12 Jan 2008 at 11:43 pm
    ladyironchef ladyironchef says:

    Had Business lunch at Yum Cha restaurant, one of the more commonly recognize Dim-Sum restaurant in Singapore probably due to their TV advertisements. The other one which will come to my mind thinking of dim-sum will be Fortunate Restaurant also because of their TV adverts.

    The menu was done up very nicely and shows colorful, attractive pictures of the dim-sum. The place was quite full, so we had to wait a while before the food was served.

    The Dim-sum taste and looks good, price is reasonable i guess, although u cant compare it with a dim-sum buffet. We had cheong fun, carrot cake, xiaolongbao, glutinous rice in lotus leaf, chicken giant bun, steamed bean curd skin roll, steamed pork ribs, har gao, century egg congee, fried vegetarian spring roll.

    Quite a wide range of dim-sum available, too many for you to taste it all : )


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

       12 Jan 2008 at 11:41 pm
    Category: Deli and Cafe
    ladyironchef ladyironchef says:

    Hmm, came here to "chill out"or rather to have someplace for a drink and chat after we had our dinner at Alaturka.

    We only had drinks there, milo, tea, coffee. Had a quick glance at the menu, quite agree with the previous blurber shu yen that it is quite a rip off. Hot drinks are at $1.20, while ice drinks are at $2.50 and above. I had hot milo, while the ice milo because it has ice cost $1.30 more? Since when did ice become so expensive?

    The menu had quite a variety of Hong Kong cafe food, but the price are rather high. I mean although its a restaurant, but its just selling Hong Kong cafe food which is not really worth that much of a price. Instant noodle with luncheon meat and egg, i can cook that for you at home, i just charge $2? ( : O well, cant really comment on the food because we did not order any


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

    933. Hanoi & Halong Bay   
       12 Jan 2008 at 10:50 pm
    genesis genesis says:

    Melody is right. Halong Bay is nice. Must find the right weather to visit. When we were there, it was raining and slightly misty. If you do decide to go to Halong bay, better to stay one night on the boat like what Melody did. It is a 4 hours journey there and 4 hours back. Total of 8 hours. We were there for a day trip and the traveling time was not the best.

    They bay was calm throughout the journey and along the way we were able to stop by a floating seafood farm to pick out life seafood for lunch. This got everyone excited.

    Another place to visit in Hanoi is Sapa. It is an overnight train trip from Hanoi to Lao Cai and another 1 hour to the mountainous region of Sapa. The train departs at 9pm and arrives in Lao Cai at 5am. it is quite a site to see hundreds of people half awake pulling their luggage off the train, walking in dense darkness across the train tracks. Sort of reminds you of a scene in a movie in Schindler's list or other WWII movie.

    If you do take a train, make sure it is the tourist class train in cabin 2-4 (Livitrans Express). Anything other than that (except the Victorian Express, which is 1st class) is not recommended. Unless you want to experience the WWII feeling. Surprisingly, the train ride was smooth and not as we expected...it was even quieter than the MRT :) That makes it easy to doze off.

    Anyway, the sights in Sapa just makes the train ride worthwhile. The weather was cool (3-10 degrees celcius) and the fresh mountain air was refreshing. If you do visit Sapa, perhaps you should spend at least 3-4 days there to explore the hilly ethnic tribes and visit their homes. Most of the guides bring you to the popular destinations. But if you are the off the beaten track type, you can rent a bike and go exploring.

    The people are generally friendly. Most of the ethnic tribes from Sapa are from the Black Hmong and the Red Hmong. The younger ones speak clear and fluent English, some French and of course Vietnamese. Many European styled houses and food in Sapa, keeping in mind that this town was founded by the French in the 1800s. The Sapa market was bustling with activity with many items imported from China. Yes the Chinese border is just about 30-40km away from Sapa, making it a transit point to Yunnan. Perhaps we will take that road the next time to Dali. But the road trip will be something to contend with.

    Another Market in Sapa is in Bac Ha. Here a different ethnic tribe is dominant, the Flower Hmong. On Sunday mornings, they will dress their best to visit the market where they will buy clothes, household items and food for the week. One word to describe it all - colorful. haha.

    Sapa gave us a different view of Vietnam and Hanoi. The city is one thing but to see the ethnic tribes live in sheer simplicity (with rice as their main source of income) makes you feel that life can be simple and enjoyable. With the influx of many foreigners to the area, the simplicity might be lost one day...and it might come sooner...same with the many other places in China. The tourist dollar is a strong influence.

    The trip was great and the next time who knows, we might be back on our own with a backpack and a map.


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

       12 Jan 2008 at 10:39 pm
    ladyironchef ladyironchef says:

    Well well, we wanted to try something more exotic because was getting a bit bored of eating chinese, western, and jap food. Alaturka serves a sort of combination of turkish and mediterranean cuisine. I had make a reservation in advance, and they saved their best seat for us, which even had a roof that can be open so that we can look at the sky. So rule number one always make reservation before you go. We took a while before we can decide what to order because all of us did not try turkey food before.

    The kofte ($13.00) which was grilled lamb with rice and vege. Turkey really can cook their lamb, or at least at Alaturka they do it well. 4.5 out of 5

    The Etlipide ($11.50) which was baked bread with chicken. Pretty good, i think its quite similar to Italy pizza, but if you had it as main course, its not really filling. 3.5 out of 5

    Adana chicken Kebab ($13.00), it has grilled chicken kebab with rice and vege. 3.5 out of 5

    The Iskender Kebab ($15.00) chicken with yogut. Hmm, it has lots of chicken, but then being the most expensive dish among us, it has no rice, so ordered one rice pilaf at $1.50. Not too bad, but considering it with the other dishes, the price a bit higher. 3.5 out of 5

    The Kuzupirzola ($14.00) which was lamb chop with rice and vege. Although i do not eat lamb often, but the lamb chop here was good enough for me. Alaturka really do their lamb well service. 4.5 out of 5

    All in all, lamb is well done here, the chicken kebabs are also not bad, quite a number of variety of kebab and Ottoman specials they called it. No air-con, but hey come on, for the reasonable price and good food its worth it. If you want something special, Alaturka is the place for you.

    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

    935. Waraku (The Central)   
       12 Jan 2008 at 9:58 pm
    Category: Japanese
    ladyironchef ladyironchef says:

    Waraku Japanese casual pasta & cafe restaurant at Central. First impression the restaurant was quite nicely decorated, the staff was enthu, mayb too-enthu for my delight. They will say welcome loudly to everyone who came. And sometimes out of nothing they will shout some jap greetings. I mean it is good to be polite, but isn’t this a little over? Besides, it is all right to say greetings in jap but at least yr jap have to sound nice? Some waitress jap does not sound too good to the ear. Think the management should ask diners comments on this

    Donald had the Kaminabe Wazen ($19.80), kaminabe sounds like some foul word? haha. Anyway, it has sliced beef & vegetables cook with soup in paper pot, fresh salmon sashimi, and deepfried assortment of vege and prawn, rice The sliced beef and vege in spicy soup, the soup is refreshing to drink, donald (beef lover) say the beef is very nice, so it must be nice. Quite special to put it in paper pot.

    The sliced beef and vege in spicy soup, the soup is refreshing to drink, don(beef lover) say the beef is very nice, so it must be nice. Quite special to put it in paper pot. Fried Prawn and vege, looks and taste nice. Onli one miserable prawn, should have give more. I am not really a sashimi eater so cannot judge whether fresh or not. Overall this dish i would give it 4 out of 5

    I had the TonkatsuWazen ($15.50) which is pork cutlet set meal i guess. It has pork cutlet (obviously), salad, rice, pickles seaweed with soup noodles. The main character, pork cutlet, cripsy is the word to describe. At some places after eating pork cutlet you will feel the after-effect of being thirsty and stuff like that, but this one wont. The cutlet is also fried jus nice, not too bland and not too salty. Plus my fav healthy servings of vege to go along with it. The seaweed with soup noodles, one big bowl of it, two person to finish it, Noodles taste all right. Tonkatsu set (pork cutlet) gets 3.5 out of 5 because i prefer donald set. As simple as that

    Overall the whole restaurant feel, donald say is 3.5, but i think i would give it 4 out of 5, pretty decent price and the food is not too bad, jus that i think the management should improve on the restaurant service, too much shouting around is not music to my ears while i am having my dinner. I had a coupon from them after paying the bill, its gives quite a good discount, BUT, the big but, it is onli limited to 1 coupon per table per bill basis. That means i can use coupon but my friend cant?

    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

    936. Epicurious   
       12 Jan 2008 at 7:14 pm
    Category: Deli and Cafe
    Bobo Bobo says:

    Epicurious is another small eatery along Robertson Quay that I've tried. It's really hard to find! You have to walk all the way to the end, near the bridge. It's facing the river with some seats outside and just 3 tables inside.

    I love the ambience. It's very cosy with warm lights around. There are shelves all filled with little knick knacks from the past. There are also photographs of Singapore in the early days.. It was certainly fun looking through everything. So fun that it distracted me from ordering. Luckily I had a companion who was more focused. The items are for sale but they are expensive.. like $6 for a soup spoon..

    The only thing which was odd about the place was Jay Chou singing loudly from the kitchen. Luckily we did kinda like Jay so it wasn't bad. But it certainly didn't fit in with the place.

    The menu was a little small with few items but apparently they change the items on the menu from time to time so new items will be up for tasting eventually.

    I had the Herb Roasted Half Chicken that day. It was served with baked potatoes and mushrooms. The chicken was well marinated and the meat just tastes of the herbs. It was yummy and I'm still thinking of it. Although I hate having to separate meat from bones but I certainly tried hard that night to get my yummy meat. The serving was definitely more than enough for me.

    I'd have to agree that $55 for 2 mains and a dessert does seem a little ex but I think it's really worth it! I would definitely be back... to try the Muthu's Flourless Chocolate Cake which was sold out that day :)

    Click here for more pics


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

       12 Jan 2008 at 6:45 pm
    Category: French
    Bobo Bobo says:

    Les Bouchons is a quaint little place sitting quietly by the river. When I say little I do mean little as it has about 10 tables only, with 5 outside by the river. At certain times of the day, it might not be such a good idea to dine by the river as the smell can be quite pungent.

    Having walked past this place a couple of times, we decided to drop in for a post-xmas dinner. The interior of the place seemed nice at first glance... but if you took a second look you'll see layers of dust on the shelves which are empty. You could even see that there used to be bottles on the shelves and the bottles were taken away recently but not returned.

    We were pretty surprised by the small menu of 15 items (in total). There was some trouble picking due to the lack of pictures and detailed descriptions. Soup is not served here. Nope it's not available at all, even if you ask the server.

    There was complimentary bread which was a little dry, so it was more disheartening that there wasn't soup to go with it.

    Food Ordered:
    Sirloin Steak with Herbs ($30.80)
    My companion ordered this medium-rare and it came as she wanted it. The steak was quite big but thin. And despite the "with Herbs" I certainly didn't detect the taste or smell of any in this dish. It was quite a disappointing one. The meat was quite tough and was a little lacking in taste.

    Grilled Fillet of Salmon ($30.80)
    Slightly charred on the outside, this was a pretty large (thick) serving of salmon. I don't know to be happy or sad that it was a large serving since it was just average. The texture was just right. There is little taste. After sprinkling the lemon juice over it, all I could really taste was the lemon. It was really just Grilled Salmon.

    Both mains were served with just fries. I loved the fries (the only thing I liked) They were the fat sort and were not oily. They were also free flow. But they already serve a mountain of fries with the mains so unless you think you're going to chill for a long time, I doubt anyone would need another serving of fries.

    The service provided wasn't up to par either. Considering that we were the only ones in the restaurant that early evening, they were pretty slow to notice us when we waved. It is a small place you know.

    The bill came up to about $85 for two of us. We ordered two mains and a drink. For the quality and the variety I would say that it was too expensive and I wouldn't be back. Looks like I have to look elsewhere for my fat fries.


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

    938. Eighteen Chefs   
       12 Jan 2008 at 6:06 pm
    Category: Deli and Cafe
    Bobo Bobo says:

    Benny Se Teo, the only Singaporean to have trained in Jamie Oliver's kitchen "Fifteen", opened this 54-seater restaurant in June 2007. He aimed to help ex-offenders find an alternate path while also delivering good food to the public. With such an interesting story behind this little place, we just had to drop by for a visit.

    We found our own seats. It was early afternoon on a weekday and the place was had just two other tables occupied so it was easy for us to find a seat by the window.

    This place adopts the self-serve system which means you decide what you want, indicate on the little paper they provide at the tables, bring it to the cashier and pay. You also get your own plain water at a station next to the cashier. That's fine by me since there is no service charge.

    Enticed by the option to create your own baked rice, all 3 of us picked Baked Rice for that day.

    Cheese Baked Rice with Tangy Tomato sauce and Chicken slices ($8.90)

    The food came pretty quickly but the serving was pretty small (that said, I didn't finish it.). It tasted much like any other Baked Rice... if anything, I'd say the rice was not soft enough.

    My companions' baked rice looked more delicious with the cream based sauces.

    Eighteen Funky Strawberry - Dessert ($5.80)
    Four scoops of ice cream served with strawberries and hazel nuts and oreo biscuits... Sounds good isn't it? But it wasn't as good as I had hoped. The ice cream wasn't rich enough and the strawberries were sourish. Well what could I expect for $5.80. It was ok though, I just wouldn't order it again.

    After the entire meal, and after drinking 1/2 a glass of water, I noticed that my glass was filthy. Very filthy.

    The total came up to about $33.50 for the three of us, which was a little too much for the quantity and quality of food given. I might still go back as the rest of the items on the menu did look interesting though. :) Well if you're a student you can check out the $5.90 set meals which I think are a good deal :)


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

       12 Jan 2008 at 5:30 pm
    Category: Italian
    Bobo Bobo says:

    MmMM This Pasta Fresca has been there for ages and I've only tried it once many years ago. I do remember that it wasn't a terrible experience so decided to try it again just recently.

    We were nicely greeted when we stepped in. The dim lighting in this restaurant.. was a little TOO dim. It made it a little hard for me to see actually (I have night blindness) But nonetheless dim is always better than bright places. I liked the country decor with Italian style paintings in the panels.

    Food Ordered:

    (please go to the website for descriptions)

    Alfredo Fettuccine $14.70
    I'm not a fan of cream based sauces so I flinched a little when my companion ordered this but then I don't expect to eat much anyway. It wasn't as thick as I had expected and did go down quite well. My worries about it not being finished were unjustified. The pasta was a teeny bit hard though, resulting in more mouth exercise for us.

    Quattro Stagioni $16.90

    The Pizza of four seasons... quite interesting so I ordered it. With lots of ham and mushrooms on a thin (but not too thin) crust, I liked this pizza! It comes in two sizes and we ordered the smaller one. :)

    Mousse Al Cioccolato $6.90

    MMmMM I am one chocolate lover and for $6.90 I'll go for this over Haagen Daz any day.. it's not fantastic... but it's tastes good enough without being too sweet. The texture is just right too. No marks for presentation though.

    Tiramisu $7.30

    Not quite what I expected but it is a reasonable cake. I wouldn't pay to eat this again though.

    All in all I think it was a pretty good visit. I wanted to give it a 3.5... but since there aren't any half-stars... For the relatively good service and great smiles, so 4 it shall be.


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

    940. Founder Bak Kut Teh   
       12 Jan 2008 at 11:23 am
    feizhu feizhu says:

    Founder Bak Kut Teh has been in the Balestier area for many years and has built up its reputation as one of the best Teochew style Bak Kut Teh stalls in Singapore. The multitude of celebrity photographs taken at the store are testament to that and so are the crowds that throng this outfit during its opening hours.

    Just a small nugget of information for those who didn't know, Teochew style Bak Kut Teh is characterised by a clear soup with a peppery base whereas the Hokkien style Bak Kut Teh is darker in colour and heavy on the herbs. As to which tastes better, it boils down to individual preferences. I, for one, prefer the Teochew style. Founder's soup base is very peppery and light, with the pork ribs cooked just right (the meat is slightly reddish). The result is tender pork ribs which exude the tasty goodness of the soup. At $5.50 a bowl, it is slightly on the high side though. But there's air conditioning if you sit inside and the quality is really consistent and good, so I guess its worth the extra money.

    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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