Featured on HDB Tai Tai sometime last month, September, piggy ole me was once again influenced into trying out a commercially reviewed joint for its food. Quite simply, the tv artists raved about its food and value for money. I was there to discover if what they touted was indeed true. (On a side note, the real reason i wanted to go was due to its cheap shark's fin noodles which really intrigued me to no end.)
We arrived on a rather awkward timing since it was a weekday afternoon but there was already quite a crowd within. Seats were aplenty though as this happens to be the biggest in its chain of restaurants in Singapore thus far. The interior was spacious and cozy with a very friendly male waiter who took the liberty of introducing us to his favorite and generally more expensive items. Established in 2004, simply enter their website to see them tout in bold letters "The Most Highly Recommended Hong Kong Cafe" How much of it is true? I'm not able to say yet.
Random ramblings. Why do they need a piece of paper to tick our orders and later follow up with 3 pieces of paper to note down the exact same orders? And all it does is lay on the table to be thrown away later. I've not seen a worst use of paper since....ever. Bad practice, really bad practice.
Mango King ($5.50) - The menu states: "Special blended mango juice with fresh mangoes and mango ice-cream" and thats exactly what it is. And truth be told, its probably the best item we had that day. Mango pieces were clearly visible but were sour and in actuality, the amount given was quite stingy. The mango ice cream was great however, lightly sweet with a soft mango and vanilla fragrance. The ice blended portion needed more work and the mango syrup simply wasn't good. At $5.50, i'd say they are pirates.
HK Fried Carrot Cake with XO sauce ($5.50) - The first that hits you is how small the portion is. You can practically count the number of carrot cake cubes. Portion aside, the dish came smelling heavenly. Taste wise though, the oil took up a huge part of it and where's the XO sauce? The carrot cake was firm and soft at the same time which made eating it a breeze but still, despite its generally sweet and soft texture, the residue of oil it leaves behind won't leave a good taste in your mouth.
Gold Medal Macau Baked ($14.80) - My gf had this. Let me explain the process involved in preparing this. Firstly, get ready made pasta, dip it in hot water and later cold water, lay a chicken chop, porkchop and some prawns and squid. Then separately put three different sauces, tomato, cream and curry sauce on the respective items and finally, add a layer of mozeralla cheese. Bake for about 5 minutes and serve the customer. Sounds decent right? However, they did not thaw the chicken and pork chop well enough, the also skimped on the baking process to speed things up and the pasta was not cooked properly. In its defense, the tomato base tasted good and the serving of meat is decent.
HK Street Shark's Fin Soup La Mian ($10.80) - This was what i came here for and this is the reason why i will not be back. The serving on television showed entire pieces of shark's fin which is obviously absent here. What was served was minuscule and insufficient. Worse, the La Mian was horrendously overcooked till it tastes soggy and the soup base was bland and tasteless. I don't know how they dared to feature this on television, this is plain bad.
An unsatisfying meal came up to $39.20 dollars without GST.
Disappointment stabbed at me as i left the place. I had high hopes for it since watching it on television but as usual, commercial reviews seem to overate these places at times. Maybe its because they get the food for free, or maybe they are paid to eat which thus skews their perception, but a paying customer like myself will tell you to stay away from this place. The pricing is ridiculous and the food laughable.
Looking for a dress for wedding or prom? Looking for something different and that has a low possibility of someone else having? Try Strut!
I got to know of Strut at the Yebber Fashion Fusion2 and I must say I was super excited! A pity I didn't have any upcoming event to shop for.. The dresses were so beautiful! Dresses at Strut are the-best for special ocassions, but some of them would be good for casual wear too.
I find that the designs at Strut are rather unique. Girls, that's important right? You don't wanna go to your prom and see another girl in the same dress as you. These dresses are design by a local designer and I find it really impressive!
However, I do find the dresses a little expensive. Unless I have a particular event to attend, I don't think I'd be shopping for dresses here. They are about 129 and 199 for the around-knee-length dresses and 299 for the super long dresses! Though they're really expensive, I do think that their long dresses are really elegant and short dresses really sweet!
When the time comes, I'd be searching for my prom dress at Strut!
(Their dresses can be found at CK Tangs or at Vivo Tangs!)
To be honest, I found the place pretty small when I first stepped in. Perhaps it was the impression formed from the empty space on the layout on paper that made me feel that the place was going to be much bigger. I did hear quite a few people complaining that the place was rather small, but as a customer, I actually felt it was good that at least there was ample space to walk! (Ok, other than when people who just enter decide to all stop at the same place to see the same stuff haha.)
I liked the variety of items that was provided to us. There were shoes, clothes and accessories, and that's basically all a girl needs! (Though I guess it would have attracted more crowd if there were more guys' stuff? Haha. But I think it's a trend or something, that it's always girls' stuff at bazaars like that.) If the items at one shop doesn't appeal to you, you can always go to another! I really liked that I had a few choices even for the same sort of stuff. Plus, I did find that the different price range was good in catering to different people. I noticed that some of the things there were pretty expensive. No doubt it was nice, but I could only browse most of the time. Some things were really expensive for a student who's out shopping on their own with friends, and as I noticed, there were many students who turned up. Fortunately, there were stalls like Dainty Damsels who provided these people with an alternative.
But one thing I'm definitely grateful for this FF2 is that I did most of my Christmas shopping there! Settled a few items in a day, at a really good price, on top of that, with another 15% discount! FF2 was like an avenue for nice and unique stuff that I could get for my friends without having to worry that it could be too common or something.. (or my friends won't accidentally stubble upon the shop and find out how much their gift costs.)
On the whole, I did enjoy myself at FF2! And it is definitely an improvement from the first event! In terms of location, I felt that Suntec was a good place because it's rather convenient to go. But I though having it in the room actually reduced the potential of bringing in more people. But at least there was air-con! I think that's good for both vendors and shoppers! :D I can't wait to attend the next Fashion Fusion!! :)
I am a big fan of toastbox's soft bun. Haa... Vivocity outlet is one of the outlets that I usually would go to. Its location is good, once step out of the underpass, it can been seen. Therefore explains the large crowd as well.
The price is generally lower than other places.
I usually will go for the softbun set. They would toast the soft bun unitl it is crispy outside and inside is soft. Together with their kaya, and thick slices of butter. The combination of these 3 things make their soft bun simply heavenly!
The eggs came intact, so you have to break the eggs on your own. It is kind of fun to do it as well.
The tea that I usually have comes thick with full of tea and milk flavour.
They also sell other food like nasi lemak, mee siam, cup cakes etc. They also got a lot of different toast, kaya toast or thick toasts as well.
The service of the crew is fast and they also clean up fast as well.
The place always serves a good snack place if I happen to walk pass one.
Passed this place a few times and always find it packed. So happen to find empty seats so decided to pop in for a drink. It got both outdoor and indoor seats. The indoor seats have serval plush and posh big sofa seats and have to say that they are very comfortable to sit and relax. Have to say that the coffee aroma is very tempting as well.
They got a huge varity of drinks and I decided to have a nice cup of Hazelnut milk. It turn out to be a pretty good steamed milk I have there. I loved it. Hang out there for a few hours chit chatting before heading home.
It is a nice place to sit, relax and people watch there, while enjoying their drinks there. If you got the sofa seats, count yourself lucky ok! Hee....
Changi Village, one mention and what comes to mind will probably be seafood, nightlife and maybe sights and sounds of a different kind. Breakfast however, may be dominated by mentions of Nasi Lemak and maybe the Mee Pok or peanut pancake. Here's something a little less known for people who wants something a little different from an old location.
Located on the right hand corner of a coffeeshop, Le Xuan is quite easy to locate and very visible especially in the morning since its practically the few shops open at the coffeeshop and customers who know about it flock there for breakfast. Dim sum is prepared fresh and by hand to ensure it tastes its best.
Prices range from $2.50 to $3 for each item which seems to be the norm for this kind of cuisine.
Har Gao (Steamed Shrimp Dumplings) ($2.50), Fresh Shrimp Chee Cheong Fun ($2.50), Crispy Salad Spring Roll ($2.50), Crystal Dumpling ($2.20), Siew Mai ($2.20), Deep Fried Shrimp Dumpling ($3) and Traditional Egg Tarts ($2.50) - General impressions of the food here is simple. Nice, crunchy and sweet tasting shrimps which applies to everything from the steamed and fried shrimp dumplings to the Chee Cheong Fun. Of special mention is the sweet tasting soy sauce that comes with the Chee Cheong Fun which does a great job of enhancing the taste. Crispy salad spring roll was nicely crunchy and flaky on the outside with a sweet, fragrant yet fishy taste on the inside which were thankfully neutralized by the salad dip. Crystal dumpling was a first for a kampong guy like me but i honestly can't quite take to the item due to its overly strong meaty taste. Siew Mai's were too small and had a pasty texture to meat making it taste like eating fish ball. And finally, the egg tarts are baked with too much crust pastry which masks the egg filling unfortunately.
The offerings were a mixed bag of good, just passes and downright fails. It is however, safe to say that the items with shrimp are probably the better offerings in store. So if you come for a meal, order anything with shrimp for a safe bet. For the rest, take your own chances but it'll be your prerogative.
Known for the nice bread that is free flow. Crispy crust and very very soft inner portion. Real nice.
Cons: Poor customer service. Slow in serving. Even a basket of fries takes 30 mins. My friend made her order and its only after 10 mins that someone came over to tell her its not available. Since the waiting time for that period is 30mins, she have to wait extra long just to eat something. No response from the waiters there and when finally we got a person's attention, she gave us a blank look when we ask for plain water. She proceeded to clear the table and we proceeded to get our own plain water refills!
Edited on 01/05/08
went for the 2nd time today as we decided to give this place another chance. Well, we won't be going for the 3rd time as this place totally disappointed us.
We ordered Peppered Fish Linguine, Grilled chick, Sirloin Steak completed with set meals and the chicken Salad.
Peppered Fish: Well, I didn't taste any pepper in the fish and fish consisted of thick flour coated dory. As can be seen from the pics, oil seems to stand for most of the ingredients.
Sirloin Steak and grilled chicken: Meat were tender but lacking in the natural taste. Sauce served with the meat didn't seem to go well with them. Carrots that were served with the meat tasted like they were cooked in sugared water.
Salad: Chicken is well done, marinated and tender. In comparison, the vegetables were not fresh enough to taste good.
A private hair salon at Bugis Village. Personalised service as there is at most 2 customers at a time. Yuki goes by word of mouth and appointment only. She not only does your hair well, she also gives reviews of hair products when you ask her for opinion. She based her work more on your likes and dislikes and from there, helps you with what look best on you. Does free lance make up and hairdo. Great quality too~ She did hair and make up for my wedding dinner and I've received only compliments for it. Gives privildge cards to regular customers
Pro:
Website looks clean and neat. Easy to navigate.
Has got the latest sprees update on the main page. clear photos and description. Fast respond to emails queries.
Offers membership discounts as well as presentation of a nicely printed membership card and member code on first purchase. Very accomodating web owner
Excellent site with handpicked, handcarried bags, cufflinks, mirrors and other accessories.
Although a tad to the expensive side, the items are unique and not seen on other blog stores.
Excellent customer service as the owner/co owner would answer questions promptly, bring you your item (purchased) as well as 3 other items that you are interested in for your review. No obligations at all.
Discounts when you help them advertise.
Cons:
Lack of descriptions on the website and detailed pictures. Too many graphics that makes the site looks cluttered.
1=SGD 0.0587
Featured on HDB Tai Tai sometime last month, September, piggy ole me was once again influenced into trying out a commercially reviewed joint for its food. Quite simply, the tv artists raved about its food and value for money. I was there to discover if what they touted was indeed true. (On a side note, the real reason i wanted to go was due to its cheap shark's fin noodles which really intrigued me to no end.)
We arrived on a rather awkward timing since it was a weekday afternoon but there was already quite a crowd within. Seats were aplenty though as this happens to be the biggest in its chain of restaurants in Singapore thus far. The interior was spacious and cozy with a very friendly male waiter who took the liberty of introducing us to his favorite and generally more expensive items. Established in 2004, simply enter their website to see them tout in bold letters "The Most Highly Recommended Hong Kong Cafe" How much of it is true? I'm not able to say yet.
Random ramblings. Why do they need a piece of paper to tick our orders and later follow up with 3 pieces of paper to note down the exact same orders? And all it does is lay on the table to be thrown away later. I've not seen a worst use of paper since....ever. Bad practice, really bad practice.
Mango King ($5.50) - The menu states: "Special blended mango juice with fresh mangoes and mango ice-cream" and thats exactly what it is. And truth be told, its probably the best item we had that day. Mango pieces were clearly visible but were sour and in actuality, the amount given was quite stingy. The mango ice cream was great however, lightly sweet with a soft mango and vanilla fragrance. The ice blended portion needed more work and the mango syrup simply wasn't good. At $5.50, i'd say they are pirates.
HK Fried Carrot Cake with XO sauce ($5.50) - The first that hits you is how small the portion is. You can practically count the number of carrot cake cubes. Portion aside, the dish came smelling heavenly. Taste wise though, the oil took up a huge part of it and where's the XO sauce? The carrot cake was firm and soft at the same time which made eating it a breeze but still, despite its generally sweet and soft texture, the residue of oil it leaves behind won't leave a good taste in your mouth.
Gold Medal Macau Baked ($14.80) - My gf had this. Let me explain the process involved in preparing this. Firstly, get ready made pasta, dip it in hot water and later cold water, lay a chicken chop, porkchop and some prawns and squid. Then separately put three different sauces, tomato, cream and curry sauce on the respective items and finally, add a layer of mozeralla cheese. Bake for about 5 minutes and serve the customer. Sounds decent right? However, they did not thaw the chicken and pork chop well enough, the also skimped on the baking process to speed things up and the pasta was not cooked properly. In its defense, the tomato base tasted good and the serving of meat is decent.
HK Street Shark's Fin Soup La Mian ($10.80) - This was what i came here for and this is the reason why i will not be back. The serving on television showed entire pieces of shark's fin which is obviously absent here. What was served was minuscule and insufficient. Worse, the La Mian was horrendously overcooked till it tastes soggy and the soup base was bland and tasteless. I don't know how they dared to feature this on television, this is plain bad.
An unsatisfying meal came up to $39.20 dollars without GST.
Disappointment stabbed at me as i left the place. I had high hopes for it since watching it on television but as usual, commercial reviews seem to overate these places at times. Maybe its because they get the food for free, or maybe they are paid to eat which thus skews their perception, but a paying customer like myself will tell you to stay away from this place. The pricing is ridiculous and the food laughable.
Rating given:
Looking for a dress for wedding or prom? Looking for something different and that has a low possibility of someone else having? Try Strut!
I got to know of Strut at the Yebber Fashion Fusion2 and I must say I was super excited! A pity I didn't have any upcoming event to shop for.. The dresses were so beautiful! Dresses at Strut are the-best for special ocassions, but some of them would be good for casual wear too.
I find that the designs at Strut are rather unique. Girls, that's important right? You don't wanna go to your prom and see another girl in the same dress as you. These dresses are design by a local designer and I find it really impressive!
However, I do find the dresses a little expensive. Unless I have a particular event to attend, I don't think I'd be shopping for dresses here. They are about 129 and 199 for the around-knee-length dresses and 299 for the super long dresses! Though they're really expensive, I do think that their long dresses are really elegant and short dresses really sweet!
When the time comes, I'd be searching for my prom dress at Strut!
(Their dresses can be found at CK Tangs or at Vivo Tangs!)
Rating given:
Fashion Fusion 2 at Suntec!
To be honest, I found the place pretty small when I first stepped in. Perhaps it was the impression formed from the empty space on the layout on paper that made me feel that the place was going to be much bigger. I did hear quite a few people complaining that the place was rather small, but as a customer, I actually felt it was good that at least there was ample space to walk! (Ok, other than when people who just enter decide to all stop at the same place to see the same stuff haha.)
I liked the variety of items that was provided to us. There were shoes, clothes and accessories, and that's basically all a girl needs! (Though I guess it would have attracted more crowd if there were more guys' stuff? Haha. But I think it's a trend or something, that it's always girls' stuff at bazaars like that.) If the items at one shop doesn't appeal to you, you can always go to another! I really liked that I had a few choices even for the same sort of stuff. Plus, I did find that the different price range was good in catering to different people. I noticed that some of the things there were pretty expensive. No doubt it was nice, but I could only browse most of the time. Some things were really expensive for a student who's out shopping on their own with friends, and as I noticed, there were many students who turned up. Fortunately, there were stalls like Dainty Damsels who provided these people with an alternative.
But one thing I'm definitely grateful for this FF2 is that I did most of my Christmas shopping there! Settled a few items in a day, at a really good price, on top of that, with another 15% discount! FF2 was like an avenue for nice and unique stuff that I could get for my friends without having to worry that it could be too common or something.. (or my friends won't accidentally stubble upon the shop and find out how much their gift costs.)
On the whole, I did enjoy myself at FF2! And it is definitely an improvement from the first event! In terms of location, I felt that Suntec was a good place because it's rather convenient to go. But I though having it in the room actually reduced the potential of bringing in more people. But at least there was air-con! I think that's good for both vendors and shoppers! :D I can't wait to attend the next Fashion Fusion!! :)
Rating given:
I am a big fan of toastbox's soft bun. Haa... Vivocity outlet is one of the outlets that I usually would go to. Its location is good, once step out of the underpass, it can been seen. Therefore explains the large crowd as well.
The price is generally lower than other places.
I usually will go for the softbun set. They would toast the soft bun unitl it is crispy outside and inside is soft. Together with their kaya, and thick slices of butter. The combination of these 3 things make their soft bun simply heavenly!
The eggs came intact, so you have to break the eggs on your own. It is kind of fun to do it as well.
The tea that I usually have comes thick with full of tea and milk flavour.
They also sell other food like nasi lemak, mee siam, cup cakes etc. They also got a lot of different toast, kaya toast or thick toasts as well.
The service of the crew is fast and they also clean up fast as well.
The place always serves a good snack place if I happen to walk pass one.
Rating given:
Passed this place a few times and always find it packed. So happen to find empty seats so decided to pop in for a drink. It got both outdoor and indoor seats. The indoor seats have serval plush and posh big sofa seats and have to say that they are very comfortable to sit and relax. Have to say that the coffee aroma is very tempting as well.
They got a huge varity of drinks and I decided to have a nice cup of Hazelnut milk. It turn out to be a pretty good steamed milk I have there. I loved it. Hang out there for a few hours chit chatting before heading home.
It is a nice place to sit, relax and people watch there, while enjoying their drinks there. If you got the sofa seats, count yourself lucky ok! Hee....
Rating given:
Changi Village, one mention and what comes to mind will probably be seafood, nightlife and maybe sights and sounds of a different kind. Breakfast however, may be dominated by mentions of Nasi Lemak and maybe the Mee Pok or peanut pancake. Here's something a little less known for people who wants something a little different from an old location.
Located on the right hand corner of a coffeeshop, Le Xuan is quite easy to locate and very visible especially in the morning since its practically the few shops open at the coffeeshop and customers who know about it flock there for breakfast. Dim sum is prepared fresh and by hand to ensure it tastes its best.
Prices range from $2.50 to $3 for each item which seems to be the norm for this kind of cuisine.
Har Gao (Steamed Shrimp Dumplings) ($2.50), Fresh Shrimp Chee Cheong Fun ($2.50), Crispy Salad Spring Roll ($2.50), Crystal Dumpling ($2.20), Siew Mai ($2.20), Deep Fried Shrimp Dumpling ($3) and Traditional Egg Tarts ($2.50) - General impressions of the food here is simple. Nice, crunchy and sweet tasting shrimps which applies to everything from the steamed and fried shrimp dumplings to the Chee Cheong Fun. Of special mention is the sweet tasting soy sauce that comes with the Chee Cheong Fun which does a great job of enhancing the taste. Crispy salad spring roll was nicely crunchy and flaky on the outside with a sweet, fragrant yet fishy taste on the inside which were thankfully neutralized by the salad dip. Crystal dumpling was a first for a kampong guy like me but i honestly can't quite take to the item due to its overly strong meaty taste. Siew Mai's were too small and had a pasty texture to meat making it taste like eating fish ball. And finally, the egg tarts are baked with too much crust pastry which masks the egg filling unfortunately.
The offerings were a mixed bag of good, just passes and downright fails. It is however, safe to say that the items with shrimp are probably the better offerings in store. So if you come for a meal, order anything with shrimp for a safe bet. For the rest, take your own chances but it'll be your prerogative.
Rating given:
Pros:
Known for the nice bread that is free flow. Crispy crust and very very soft inner portion. Real nice.
Cons:
Poor customer service. Slow in serving. Even a basket of fries takes 30 mins. My friend made her order and its only after 10 mins that someone came over to tell her its not available. Since the waiting time for that period is 30mins, she have to wait extra long just to eat something. No response from the waiters there and when finally we got a person's attention, she gave us a blank look when we ask for plain water. She proceeded to clear the table and we proceeded to get our own plain water refills!
Edited on 01/05/08
went for the 2nd time today as we decided to give this place another chance. Well, we won't be going for the 3rd time as this place totally disappointed us.
We ordered Peppered Fish Linguine, Grilled chick, Sirloin Steak completed with set meals and the chicken Salad.
Peppered Fish: Well, I didn't taste any pepper in the fish and fish consisted of thick flour coated dory. As can be seen from the pics, oil seems to stand for most of the ingredients.
Sirloin Steak and grilled chicken: Meat were tender but lacking in the natural taste. Sauce served with the meat didn't seem to go well with them. Carrots that were served with the meat tasted like they were cooked in sugared water.
Salad: Chicken is well done, marinated and tender. In comparison, the vegetables were not fresh enough to taste good.
Rating given:
Pros:
A private hair salon at Bugis Village. Personalised service as there is at most 2 customers at a time. Yuki goes by word of mouth and appointment only. She not only does your hair well, she also gives reviews of hair products when you ask her for opinion. She based her work more on your likes and dislikes and from there, helps you with what look best on you. Does free lance make up and hairdo. Great quality too~ She did hair and make up for my wedding dinner and I've received only compliments for it. Gives privildge cards to regular customers
Cons:
Place difficult to find. Only cash payments
Moved to Tanjong Pagar In Nov 08
Rating given:
Pro:
Website looks clean and neat. Easy to navigate.
Has got the latest sprees update on the main page. clear photos and description. Fast respond to emails queries.
Offers membership discounts as well as presentation of a nicely printed membership card and member code on first purchase. Very accomodating web owner
Con:
Photos not big enough.
Rating given:
Pros:
Excellent site with handpicked, handcarried bags, cufflinks, mirrors and other accessories.
Although a tad to the expensive side, the items are unique and not seen on other blog stores.
Excellent customer service as the owner/co owner would answer questions promptly, bring you your item (purchased) as well as 3 other items that you are interested in for your review. No obligations at all.
Discounts when you help them advertise.
Cons:
Lack of descriptions on the website and detailed pictures. Too many graphics that makes the site looks cluttered.
Rating given: