Happened to be at Raffles at dinner time and we decided to go into this restaurant as it doesn't seems to be too crowded. Indeed, we are the 2nd table of customers in the restaurant.
Deco seems rather pleasing with the theme based on "new China" style.
However we were disappointed looking at the menu as the number of dishes is really very very limited. Luckily we were hungry and our main aim wasn't on trying things.
We ordered "蜜汁鸡" which seems to be a rather common dish. We also ordered "牛腩“ and “春" noodles and red dates longan drink.
The chicken, indeed though tender and well cooked, the sauce is quite normal of soya sauce oyster sauce.
The beef dish is not bad with good cuts of the beef though the noodles seems to be lacking in texture.
My spring noodles is actually 4 types of vegetables toufu. The taste is just normal though I do like it that they do not overcook the vegetables.
The price whether expensive or not depends on whether we feel the food is valued for money. For us, we feel that the price is a bit on the high side.
Went there extremely hungry and tired .. had a very very small lunch and spent a few hours practicing and performing. We went to this restaurant situated at a corner of a block of flats. Personally I don't like orange so the deco in the restaurant which was mostly orange, gave me a headache. We ordered Mixed grill, oven baked chicken (should be called over baked), Seafood pasta (I think), Chocolate Truffle, Brownie and Beef Lasagna.
Upsized the meal to include soup and drinks at a mere $3. The soup was great ... (I think was leek) with smooth and deep taste and not just diluted cambell soup. However the ice lemon tea, though big in size, was too sweet.
The overall verdict of the food there was : Overcooked
with tough chicken and beef in my oven baked chicken and the lasagna, dry, grainy and hard texture of our choc truffle and brownie
the steak and mixed grill seems not bad too, with the meat being very tender and the portion valued for money
Si bon - the upmarket Japanese restaurant at Sentosa that specialises in kushiage, a form of Japanese cooking that involves coating a variety of ingredients with egg and bread crumbs and deep fried. Helmed by Chef Seiichiro Arakawa, Si bon promises a refined kushiage experience equal to what you would experience in Japan itself.
Hidden in a reclusive recess within the Amara Sanctuary Resort at Sentosa, Si Bon occupies a small restored colonial chapel that once housed a nursery (It happens to be the oldest chapel on Sentosa by the way). Seats are scarce, with the counter seating only 13 diners indoors and the charming al fresco area, complete with a water feature and bamboo garden, allowing for only another 10. The interior of the place exudes olden charm stemming from its soaring pointed ceiling and exposed unevenly laid brick walls - a reference to the building's historic origins.
Appetiser - Personally I thought that the appetisers were great. The miso beans were very savoury and complimented the crunchy and bland radish slices very well. On the other hand, the fish pieces were dipped in a salty yet sweet sauce that made got my appetite going.
Prawn - Served with a dollop of what looked like ketchup (someone please tell me what is it cause I have no idea), the prawns were fresh and crunchy with a light and crisp batter coating that didn't threaten to overwhelm or held any oily residue aftertaste.
Scallop - One of my personal favourites of the meal, the scallop was nothing short of excellent. Huge and bursting with flavour (sweet and salty all at once) while the batter came across as light and crisp. A pity it was only 1 piece.
Eel - I'm not exactly a big fan of eel and this one wasn't exactly outstanding. Served with a dash of wasabi atop, the eel came across as rather tasteless and had to be eaten with soya sauce, which just made it, well, salty. I must comment that the wasabi was rather strong though.
Pork Loin - In my excitement to taste the food, I forgot to take a picture of the pork loin before I started eating so please bear with the shot of my half eaten piece of loin. That said, the loin came served with a piece of mint leaf and had to be eaten with mustard sauce. The pork was succulent and juicy with a somewhat moderate tinge of mint taste from the leaf. Nice and refreshing.
Lotus Root - Interestingly, the lotus root had japanese curry powder and chicken thrown along with it - all nicely wrapped up in a light batter casing. Eaten with black sauce, this dish was crunchy and crispy with hints of curry powder. Not exactly my cup of tea though but something different I must admit.
Egg Plant - I usually baulk at the taste of egg plant, but not this one. Topped with white miso and eaten with no sauce, the egg plant was seriously good. Nice and smooth with a tinge of sweetness from the white miso paste.
Enoki Mushroom - Another most interesting concoction, the enoki mushroom was deep fried together with cream cheese and came served with a slice of parma ham atop and drizzled with lemon juice to jazz things up a little. The cream cheese sang in harmonious symphony with the mushroom, resulting in a smooth, creamy and an ever so light sourish aftertaste. I couldn't quite make out the taste of the parma ham in the equation though.
Wagyu Beef - I personally swear by this and I am nothing short of amazed by how wonderful the wagyu beef turned out. Expect nothing less then the best Australian wagyu beef with its excellent marbling and tenderness, dusted with the lightest batter and deep fried till an even crisp. Very full of flavour I must say. Please note that this was an additional order outside of the set and cost a seemingly exorbitant $18 /stick.
Udon - The udon came as an option on the set menu and although I'm not fan of udon, I have to say that it had me hooked. Full of bite and accompanied by slices of chicken, scallop and a stick of snow crab, the udon came across as nice and light on the palate.
Nigiri Sushi - One of the other options in the set besides udon/soba and steamed sushi, the nigiri sushi required a top up of $20 , which netted me a plate of 5 sushi pieces. I can't say I enjoyed this very much because I'm not exactly big on raw stuff but hey I made it through. Everything was very fresh so no complaints.
Grapefruit Sorbet - This is the first time I'm eating something like this and its somewhat intriguing. The sorbet had grapefruit pulp in it and overall the palate cleanser cum dessert was sweet and sour with a bitter tinge.
$174 for a 2 person lunch is definitely a high price to pay, especially when you are eating satay sticks lookalike. But the quality of food is apparent and the experience, eye opening. Top that with excellent customer service and an out of the country ambience and you have a top notch restaurant that is worth many revisits (provided you have the money of course). From what I understand from the chef, Si bon flies in its ingredients from Japan, except the wagyu, but that is about to change next year when Singapore lifts its restriction on Kobe beef. Till then, I'll be patiently awaiting.
We walked along the narrow street, wondering where was our destination. The road seems so distant, the future so vague. Just like the route we took, there’s much hurdle to be clear. At long last, we arrived, Dim joy.
Culture of all walks of life, our very own roots. Dim Joy offers a perspective much more than just eating dim sum. Its about the art of appreciating dim sum, the approach in understanding our culture. I like the small details they look into, like how they have tiny notes on the teapot to teach people about the correct method of teapot refill, like how they print their own manuals on the chopstick cover to educate about chopstick etiquette. Small little things like these, make a whole lot of differences.
Nestled in a shop house on neil road, the restaurant quaint and tranquil environment made me feel at home upon entering. There wasn’t much people on a weekday lunch, we had the whole lovely place to ourselves. This is just a place where you can seat down and chill for the whole day.
The simplistic approach to the chief, King shrimp har gao ($4). The whole taste was very subtle, the prawns were fresh, but the skin was again, too thick. While it wasn’t fantastic, dim sum just isn’t dim sum without har gao.
There wasn’t much difference with the Barbecued pork & celery in rice rolls ($5) too. It was way too short if i were to compare it with elsewhere. There was also the option of having the rice rolls in claypot, but i dismissed it as gimmick. I wanted a good steamed and savoury rice roll in light sauce.
There were bits of char siew which could passed off as bacon strips. And we were wondering how cool it’ll be if there’s bacon rice rolls. Nonetheless, the taste was again, very subtle and tame if i may just use the word. I didn’t quite enjoy the celery within too.
I was eagerly anticipating the Honey-syrup char siew bun ($3). With such a sweet name, we were like bees attracted to the beauty of the honey pot. The white pillowry bun was soft and fluffy, very good! But the char siew fillings could be better. While its sweet with honey-syrup infused, the fillings were too little, and i’ll preferred it to be more moist, like their char siew sou.
There is also Siew mai ($3.50 for 4), another dim sum staple. Chewy, shrimpy and not too oily. Value for money definitely, and its the only one that comes two by two. The ratio of shrimp to pork outnumbers greatly, with only a small portion of lean pork meat.
I always choose Pan-fried radish cake ($3) over its steamed cousins. I love the slightly charred surface of the carrot cake, but this one wasn’t charred enough. Well unlike most carrot cakes which are very filling, this one wasn’t very starchy, and had a different taste from the ones which i tried before. The jury’s out on this, you need to make your judgement.
Personally, i ain’t a big fan of the beancurd skin roll ($4.50) but my companion wanted to try this, so here we go. Instead of the typical prawn fillings, this one was all about mushrooms. The skin was a bit raw, and taste almost like beancurd, well it’s made from beancurd after all. The wholesome, vegetarian fillings within the beancurd skin roll didn’t work for me. But my companion rather enjoyed her helpings.
Now, my choice. The char siew so ($3.50) bears a great resemblance to our festive pineapple tarts. Golden brown in colour, with the buttery egg-graze taste on the pastry. While it didn’t come in the form of my favourite flaky skin, Dim Joy’s rendition was unique in its own right.
This time, the sweet honey infuse char siew fillings were more generous, and it was very moist within the pastry. But the char siew did lacked certain texture, and given time to improve, it’ll be better.
We were half-decided on ordering the Custard bun ($3) since we heard it wasn’t that good. But we decided to try for ourselves, taste after all is a very subjective thing. The vital factor for a good custard bun, the oozing out of the golden custard fillings. This one did, the molten custards flowed out of the bun, just like the lava erupted from a volcano. The salty egg yolk taste wasn’t strong enough, the bun was soft but, there’s some fine particles which we guessed was course sugar not dissolved properly. I had the best, and the worst before, this one would be good given some minor tweaks.
While i know Lingnan is an area in China, i couldn’t see the link what the place got to do with the Lingnan egg tart ($3.50 for 4). The best part about Dim Joy during weekend was there wasn’t much people around, so everything was made freshly, rather than pre-made. We waited 25 minutes just for the egg tarts to come out freshly baked. The egg fillings were nice and wet, but the pastry lacked the buttery undertone.
Total bill was $42.35 for 2 person. I must say, with 9 dim sum between us, the prices are fairly reasonable given the standards of the dim sum. I’ll definitely make a perennial visit again, and for that, See you there! And just for some background information, Michelle Saram’s the partner behind Dim Joy.
It also helped that Dim Joy served dim sum throughout the day, even during dinner. Most places don’t serve dim sum at night, so it’s a nice place if you are craving for dim sum after the sun set. I heard they are packed during weekend, so avoid the crowd come on the weekdays instead.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
I was consider the 1st batch of customers on its opening day.
My husband has been working for a Japanese MNC for 10years, and has been travelling frequently to japan.
We were rather disappointed when our food was served. It was just rice with curry and meat that's it served on a white plate. It wasn't anything japanese at all. It's look just like mixed veg rice in hawker centre.
Thou my husband did say here's not japan but if you want to serve japanese food, please serve it as how it should be served in the japanese style.
It's food content is not worth the value too. Never step in again.
If you get into an accident, i hope they don't send you there.
I feel VERY disappointed with TTSH.
My boyfriend got hit by a car in October at Novena, so naturally, the ambulance brought him there. I received a call and i rushed down to the hospital, but when i got there, i realized i had no idea where the A&E was since i hadn't had any chances to go there before.
I went to the reception/information counter, but the lady was on the phone! I even waved at her frantically to get her attention to ask for directions to the A&E, but i was COMPLETELY IGNORED!! It was ridiculous. Another passing doctor told me how to get to the A&E at basement 1.
When i got to basement 1, i couldn't immediately locate the A&E, so i asked another random hospital stuff for directions. Guess what? The guy said, "Erm.... I don't know... I don't think we have that...."
A hospital that doesn't have an A&E. RIGHT. I was utterly furious at the hospital by then. Why are the staff so poorly educated on the hospital facilities?? I really expected that all the staff at least know where the A&E would be! The receptionist was horribly rude too! Not doing her job at all.
We waited for about 5hours until they saw my boyfriend. The nurse who was supposed to take down the condition of my boyfriend did a very bad job too. While asking questions, she kept fiddling with the printer and trying to change the paper, therefore wasn't listening to anything we said. She ended up asking questions more than once, and i got very impatient and told her off. She even DARED to glare at me! Obviously i glared back because SHE WAS IN THE WRONG.
My boyfriend was warded from 11.30pm to 12noon the next day, and rightfully, he should be able to claim the hospital stay from Medisave, but TTSH sent him the bill and stated that he was admitted at 10am and discharged at 12noon, therefore not qualifying for Medisave coverage as it was under 8hours, and they didn't hesitate to charge him for breakfast and lunch too. That was SO DESPICABLE of TTSH! I can't believe they would go to this extent to earn that little bit of money!!
I am THOROUGHLY UNIMPRESSED at TTSH and i suggest you all transfer your check ups or follow ups to another hospital.
Television often play an important part in our life, and definitely have great influence on many people. But the debates on whether it is a good thing or not continues to rage on. Many certainly thinks that Television’s one of the greatest inventions, while some in the other camp believe that it is a bad influence on children, especially so when they get addicted to watching TV programmes. Did you ever hear a parent telling her kid to watch more TV shows?
Recently, we have a television show on Channel 8, “Buffet Buffet” which has garnered much interest among the young and the old. And its hard not to see why, food-related programmes have always been a hit with the audience, not to mention this one introduce all kinds of buffets in Singapore. I saw Penang place restaurant on one of the episodes, and since the price is reasonably cheap and near to my place, why not?
If you just watch the crowd in the place without knowing where is it, you’ll never guess its located within the International Business park (IBP) at Jurong. Perhaps that’s exactly the reason why the owner set up shop there, since there’s so many hungry white collar workers in all the offices around. The atrium building is just beside Creative, so its pretty easy to find, and there’s shutter bus from Jurong East mrt station.
Penang place oozes a sense of tranquil with its simple furnitures, and the water settings just beside the restaurant. It was fully packed when we visited on a weekday lunch, Singaporeans do love their buffets!
The selections actually is pretty decent given its reasonable pricing of $19.80 for weekday buffet lunch.
The Penang laksa actually comes in the form of Assam laksa, sour and spicy in taste, which differed greatly from our local version. The katong-laksa purist might not take quite well to this, which is more like a mix between tom-yam soup and laksa, with the sourish taste dominating the taste bud. But that’s the authentic Penang laksa for you.
I was rather impressed with the seafood soup, well for one it tasted like shark fin soup (even though there’s no shark fin of course), and secondly, i felt that it was similar to my mom’s home-made soup, and that’s a compliment!
What do you think of when I mentioned Penang? The name synonymous with the city is definitely Char Koay Teow. And if you didn’t notice, even the spelling differs slightly from ours. Well, there’s also Assam laksa, wonton mee and hokkien mee too, but Char Koay Teow certainly is the one which leave most people with memorable memories of Penang. Their rendition comes slightly spicy, not too oily and with a generous serving of ingredients. And the best part? Penang Place actually replenished their char koay teow in small portions very often, since it’s like the most popular dish there. While Char koay teow has a reputation for being unhealthy, and even though i had eaten it twice that week, i couldn’t help myself to second helpings. My sinful food.
The Nasi Lemak is served simple and nice with the fragnant rice, crunchy ikan billies, crispy peanut with cooling cucumbers. There are some other common dishes like curry chicken, fried food, but one dish which i found it good was the Batu Uban Ayam Panggang, which was seasoned grilled chicken with peanut sauce. A pity it was gone when i wanted to take a shot of it.
Glutinous rice is often use in the Asian context, and its no surprise to see the Kueh Salat here. Basically steamed glutinous rice topped with a layer of pandan flavoured custard. Well, i didn’t know if it’s just me or what, but i didn’t really enjoy glutinous rice done this way. The taste was rather weird for my liking, and i guessed i still prefer the Chinese dim sum glutinous rice in lotus leaf.
One of my personal favourites, the Kueh Dardan was actually pandan flavoured pancakes filled with sweetened coconut shavings. The pancakes were very soft and nice, with the coconut shavings coming not too heavy. Easily finished a few of them even thought we were full from the buffet.
Another dessert, or rather kueh that i enjoyed was the Kueh Talam. Essentially a pandan flavoured cake topped with a savoury coconut milk layer, the pandan cake was very fragnant indeed.
Total bill was $69.90 for 3 person at their weekday lunch buffet. I must say, for $23 per head after taxes and service charges, its rather reasonable for the amount of food served. Note, i didn’t say its excellent, but for the price, its rather acceptable since i find it hard to name another place serving buffet in the 20 dollar range which is good. I guess the money will be worth it if you eat more of their Char Koay teow which will cost $8.90 if you order a plate a la carte.
The location might be a tad difficult, since its within the International Business Park, people wouldn’t travel all the way there just for their buffet, but i did. Well for the rest of you lucky souls who are working in the area, i’ll say this is one place to check out for lunch when you are in the mood for a longer lunch.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
I couldn’t forget you, no, not after what happen last time.
The two sided face of you. You were rich and good to me before.
But you showed me your cold side now.
I know we couldn’t be together.
But i can’t stop thinking of you.
Until we meet again, my duck.
The scones ($2.50) from Caffe Beviamo was soft and fluffy, with a buttery undertone.There wasn’t any “wow” from the strawberry jam, but it was enough to compliment the warm scones. If i may say so in my humble opinion, the ones here are better than the legendary Royal Copenhagen scones.
When you run out of names for your desserts, why not try some creative ones which can attract others attention? That’s exactly what Beviamo did. The hummingbird cake ($3.50) had was pineapple, banana and coconut involved, definitely no bird or what so ever. I love to eat pineapple and banana on its own, but to have them in cake is completely a different story all together. Banana cakes are just not for me, some things just can’t be forced.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
Was told by my colleague that this places serves relatively good ala cart buffet at reasonable prices, coupled with good spread of sushi sashimi. Therefore decided to pay a vist on Xmas day itself. The place was quite decorated and the seats were quite well spread out.
My gf and I orderd a lot of stuff such as Sashimi Moriwase, California maki,Kabocha korokke(pumpkin croquette), Moyashi itame (teppanyaki beansprouts), Fukahire chawanmushi and Pumpkin chawanmushi, Tori karaage, Gyuniku shogatayaki (beef with special sauce), Nankotsu karaage (chicken cartilage), Sunagimo Shio (Chicken Gizzard), Ika Karaage (Baby Cuttlefish), Unagi Kebayaki.
I msut say that the quality of the food is definitely much better than that of Hanabi's. In addition, the spread of food is also much more in variety. The few nicer ones i like especially are Pumpkin chawanmushi, Nankotsu karaage Sunagimo Shio and of course the main dish, the Sashimi Moriwase. As for the price wise, its not much diifferent than that of Hanabi or Honjin. Therefore, I think that in future, this will likely be my 1st choice for nice Japanese ala-carte buffet. (till I find a next better one that is. haha)
Only one small disappointing is the slighly sluggish service of the waiters and waitresses. I requested for a cup and it took me three times asking 3 different people b4 I got what i want.
1=SGD 0.0587
Happened to be at Raffles at dinner time and we decided to go into this restaurant as it doesn't seems to be too crowded. Indeed, we are the 2nd table of customers in the restaurant.
Deco seems rather pleasing with the theme based on "new China" style.
However we were disappointed looking at the menu as the number of dishes is really very very limited. Luckily we were hungry and our main aim wasn't on trying things.
We ordered "蜜汁鸡" which seems to be a rather common dish. We also ordered "牛腩“ and “春" noodles and red dates longan drink.
The chicken, indeed though tender and well cooked, the sauce is quite normal of soya sauce oyster sauce.
The beef dish is not bad with good cuts of the beef though the noodles seems to be lacking in texture.
My spring noodles is actually 4 types of vegetables toufu.
The taste is just normal though I do like it that they do not overcook the vegetables.
The price whether expensive or not depends on whether we feel the food is valued for money. For us, we feel that the price is a bit on the high side.
Rating given:
Went there extremely hungry and tired .. had a very very small lunch and spent a few hours practicing and performing. We went to this restaurant situated at a corner of a block of flats. Personally I don't like orange so the deco in the restaurant which was mostly orange, gave me a headache. We ordered Mixed grill, oven baked chicken (should be called over baked), Seafood pasta (I think), Chocolate Truffle, Brownie and Beef Lasagna.
Upsized the meal to include soup and drinks at a mere $3.
The soup was great ... (I think was leek) with smooth and deep taste and not just diluted cambell soup. However the ice lemon tea, though big in size, was too sweet.
The overall verdict of the food there was : Overcooked
with tough chicken and beef in my oven baked chicken and the lasagna, dry, grainy and hard texture of our choc truffle and brownie
the steak and mixed grill seems not bad too, with the meat being very tender and the portion valued for money
Just try the steak when you visit.
Rating given:
Si bon - the upmarket Japanese restaurant at Sentosa that specialises in kushiage, a form of Japanese cooking that involves coating a variety of ingredients with egg and bread crumbs and deep fried. Helmed by Chef Seiichiro Arakawa, Si bon promises a refined kushiage experience equal to what you would experience in Japan itself.
Hidden in a reclusive recess within the Amara Sanctuary Resort at Sentosa, Si Bon occupies a small restored colonial chapel that once housed a nursery (It happens to be the oldest chapel on Sentosa by the way). Seats are scarce, with the counter seating only 13 diners indoors and the charming al fresco area, complete with a water feature and bamboo garden, allowing for only another 10. The interior of the place exudes olden charm stemming from its soaring pointed ceiling and exposed unevenly laid brick walls - a reference to the building's historic origins.
Appetiser - Personally I thought that the appetisers were great. The miso beans were very savoury and complimented the crunchy and bland radish slices very well. On the other hand, the fish pieces were dipped in a salty yet sweet sauce that made got my appetite going.
Prawn - Served with a dollop of what looked like ketchup (someone please tell me what is it cause I have no idea), the prawns were fresh and crunchy with a light and crisp batter coating that didn't threaten to overwhelm or held any oily residue aftertaste.
Scallop - One of my personal favourites of the meal, the scallop was nothing short of excellent. Huge and bursting with flavour (sweet and salty all at once) while the batter came across as light and crisp. A pity it was only 1 piece.
Eel - I'm not exactly a big fan of eel and this one wasn't exactly outstanding. Served with a dash of wasabi atop, the eel came across as rather tasteless and had to be eaten with soya sauce, which just made it, well, salty. I must comment that the wasabi was rather strong though.
Pork Loin - In my excitement to taste the food, I forgot to take a picture of the pork loin before I started eating so please bear with the shot of my half eaten piece of loin. That said, the loin came served with a piece of mint leaf and had to be eaten with mustard sauce. The pork was succulent and juicy with a somewhat moderate tinge of mint taste from the leaf. Nice and refreshing.
Lotus Root - Interestingly, the lotus root had japanese curry powder and chicken thrown along with it - all nicely wrapped up in a light batter casing. Eaten with black sauce, this dish was crunchy and crispy with hints of curry powder. Not exactly my cup of tea though but something different I must admit.
Egg Plant - I usually baulk at the taste of egg plant, but not this one. Topped with white miso and eaten with no sauce, the egg plant was seriously good. Nice and smooth with a tinge of sweetness from the white miso paste.
Enoki Mushroom - Another most interesting concoction, the enoki mushroom was deep fried together with cream cheese and came served with a slice of parma ham atop and drizzled with lemon juice to jazz things up a little. The cream cheese sang in harmonious symphony with the mushroom, resulting in a smooth, creamy and an ever so light sourish aftertaste. I couldn't quite make out the taste of the parma ham in the equation though.
Wagyu Beef - I personally swear by this and I am nothing short of amazed by how wonderful the wagyu beef turned out. Expect nothing less then the best Australian wagyu beef with its excellent marbling and tenderness, dusted with the lightest batter and deep fried till an even crisp. Very full of flavour I must say. Please note that this was an additional order outside of the set and cost a seemingly exorbitant $18 /stick.
Udon - The udon came as an option on the set menu and although I'm not fan of udon, I have to say that it had me hooked. Full of bite and accompanied by slices of chicken, scallop and a stick of snow crab, the udon came across as nice and light on the palate.
Nigiri Sushi - One of the other options in the set besides udon/soba and steamed sushi, the nigiri sushi required a top up of $20 , which netted me a plate of 5 sushi pieces. I can't say I enjoyed this very much because I'm not exactly big on raw stuff but hey I made it through. Everything was very fresh so no complaints.
Grapefruit Sorbet - This is the first time I'm eating something like this and its somewhat intriguing. The sorbet had grapefruit pulp in it and overall the palate cleanser cum dessert was sweet and sour with a bitter tinge.
$174 for a 2 person lunch is definitely a high price to pay, especially when you are eating satay sticks lookalike. But the quality of food is apparent and the experience, eye opening. Top that with excellent customer service and an out of the country ambience and you have a top notch restaurant that is worth many revisits (provided you have the money of course). From what I understand from the chef, Si bon flies in its ingredients from Japan, except the wagyu, but that is about to change next year when Singapore lifts its restriction on Kobe beef. Till then, I'll be patiently awaiting.
See all my pictures here.
Rating given:
We walked along the narrow street, wondering where was our destination. The road seems so distant, the future so vague. Just like the route we took, there’s much hurdle to be clear. At long last, we arrived, Dim joy.
Culture of all walks of life, our very own roots. Dim Joy offers a perspective much more than just eating dim sum. Its about the art of appreciating dim sum, the approach in understanding our culture. I like the small details they look into, like how they have tiny notes on the teapot to teach people about the correct method of teapot refill, like how they print their own manuals on the chopstick cover to educate about chopstick etiquette. Small little things like these, make a whole lot of differences.
Nestled in a shop house on neil road, the restaurant quaint and tranquil environment made me feel at home upon entering. There wasn’t much people on a weekday lunch, we had the whole lovely place to ourselves. This is just a place where you can seat down and chill for the whole day.
The simplistic approach to the chief, King shrimp har gao ($4). The whole taste was very subtle, the prawns were fresh, but the skin was again, too thick. While it wasn’t fantastic, dim sum just isn’t dim sum without har gao.
There wasn’t much difference with the Barbecued pork & celery in rice rolls ($5) too. It was way too short if i were to compare it with elsewhere. There was also the option of having the rice rolls in claypot, but i dismissed it as gimmick. I wanted a good steamed and savoury rice roll in light sauce.
There were bits of char siew which could passed off as bacon strips. And we were wondering how cool it’ll be if there’s bacon rice rolls. Nonetheless, the taste was again, very subtle and tame if i may just use the word. I didn’t quite enjoy the celery within too.
I was eagerly anticipating the Honey-syrup char siew bun ($3). With such a sweet name, we were like bees attracted to the beauty of the honey pot. The white pillowry bun was soft and fluffy, very good! But the char siew fillings could be better. While its sweet with honey-syrup infused, the fillings were too little, and i’ll preferred it to be more moist, like their char siew sou.
There is also Siew mai ($3.50 for 4), another dim sum staple. Chewy, shrimpy and not too oily. Value for money definitely, and its the only one that comes two by two. The ratio of shrimp to pork outnumbers greatly, with only a small portion of lean pork meat.
I always choose Pan-fried radish cake ($3) over its steamed cousins. I love the slightly charred surface of the carrot cake, but this one wasn’t charred enough. Well unlike most carrot cakes which are very filling, this one wasn’t very starchy, and had a different taste from the ones which i tried before. The jury’s out on this, you need to make your judgement.
Personally, i ain’t a big fan of the beancurd skin roll ($4.50) but my companion wanted to try this, so here we go. Instead of the typical prawn fillings, this one was all about mushrooms. The skin was a bit raw, and taste almost like beancurd, well it’s made from beancurd after all. The wholesome, vegetarian fillings within the beancurd skin roll didn’t work for me. But my companion rather enjoyed her helpings.
Now, my choice. The char siew so ($3.50) bears a great resemblance to our festive pineapple tarts. Golden brown in colour, with the buttery egg-graze taste on the pastry. While it didn’t come in the form of my favourite flaky skin, Dim Joy’s rendition was unique in its own right.
This time, the sweet honey infuse char siew fillings were more generous, and it was very moist within the pastry. But the char siew did lacked certain texture, and given time to improve, it’ll be better.
We were half-decided on ordering the Custard bun ($3) since we heard it wasn’t that good. But we decided to try for ourselves, taste after all is a very subjective thing. The vital factor for a good custard bun, the oozing out of the golden custard fillings. This one did, the molten custards flowed out of the bun, just like the lava erupted from a volcano. The salty egg yolk taste wasn’t strong enough, the bun was soft but, there’s some fine particles which we guessed was course sugar not dissolved properly. I had the best, and the worst before, this one would be good given some minor tweaks.
While i know Lingnan is an area in China, i couldn’t see the link what the place got to do with the Lingnan egg tart ($3.50 for 4). The best part about Dim Joy during weekend was there wasn’t much people around, so everything was made freshly, rather than pre-made. We waited 25 minutes just for the egg tarts to come out freshly baked. The egg fillings were nice and wet, but the pastry lacked the buttery undertone.
Total bill was $42.35 for 2 person. I must say, with 9 dim sum between us, the prices are fairly reasonable given the standards of the dim sum. I’ll definitely make a perennial visit again, and for that, See you there! And just for some background information, Michelle Saram’s the partner behind Dim Joy.
It also helped that Dim Joy served dim sum throughout the day, even during dinner. Most places don’t serve dim sum at night, so it’s a nice place if you are craving for dim sum after the sun set. I heard they are packed during weekend, so avoid the crowd come on the weekdays instead.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
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I was consider the 1st batch of customers on its opening day.
My husband has been working for a Japanese MNC for 10years, and has been travelling frequently to japan.
We were rather disappointed when our food was served. It was just rice with curry and meat that's it served on a white plate. It wasn't anything japanese at all. It's look just like mixed veg rice in hawker centre.
Thou my husband did say here's not japan but if you want to serve japanese food, please serve it as how it should be served in the japanese style.
It's food content is not worth the value too. Never step in again.
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Went for breakfast at the newly opened outlet at Punggol Plaza.
Was v disappointed with the breakfast. I ordered a wafer set that comes with 2wafer, scrambled egg, a honey bisuit with tea.
The wafer and biscuit was hard and the egg was bland. I didn't finish it and no more 2nd time having KFC's breakfast.
I pay $5 just drink my tea.
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If you get into an accident, i hope they don't send you there.
I feel VERY disappointed with TTSH.
My boyfriend got hit by a car in October at Novena, so naturally, the ambulance brought him there. I received a call and i rushed down to the hospital, but when i got there, i realized i had no idea where the A&E was since i hadn't had any chances to go there before.
I went to the reception/information counter, but the lady was on the phone! I even waved at her frantically to get her attention to ask for directions to the A&E, but i was COMPLETELY IGNORED!! It was ridiculous. Another passing doctor told me how to get to the A&E at basement 1.
When i got to basement 1, i couldn't immediately locate the A&E, so i asked another random hospital stuff for directions. Guess what? The guy said, "Erm.... I don't know... I don't think we have that...."
A hospital that doesn't have an A&E. RIGHT. I was utterly furious at the hospital by then. Why are the staff so poorly educated on the hospital facilities?? I really expected that all the staff at least know where the A&E would be! The receptionist was horribly rude too! Not doing her job at all.
We waited for about 5hours until they saw my boyfriend. The nurse who was supposed to take down the condition of my boyfriend did a very bad job too. While asking questions, she kept fiddling with the printer and trying to change the paper, therefore wasn't listening to anything we said. She ended up asking questions more than once, and i got very impatient and told her off. She even DARED to glare at me! Obviously i glared back because SHE WAS IN THE WRONG.
My boyfriend was warded from 11.30pm to 12noon the next day, and rightfully, he should be able to claim the hospital stay from Medisave, but TTSH sent him the bill and stated that he was admitted at 10am and discharged at 12noon, therefore not qualifying for Medisave coverage as it was under 8hours, and they didn't hesitate to charge him for breakfast and lunch too. That was SO DESPICABLE of TTSH! I can't believe they would go to this extent to earn that little bit of money!!
I am THOROUGHLY UNIMPRESSED at TTSH and i suggest you all transfer your check ups or follow ups to another hospital.
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Television often play an important part in our life, and definitely have great influence on many people. But the debates on whether it is a good thing or not continues to rage on. Many certainly thinks that Television’s one of the greatest inventions, while some in the other camp believe that it is a bad influence on children, especially so when they get addicted to watching TV programmes. Did you ever hear a parent telling her kid to watch more TV shows?
Recently, we have a television show on Channel 8, “Buffet Buffet” which has garnered much interest among the young and the old. And its hard not to see why, food-related programmes have always been a hit with the audience, not to mention this one introduce all kinds of buffets in Singapore. I saw Penang place restaurant on one of the episodes, and since the price is reasonably cheap and near to my place, why not?
If you just watch the crowd in the place without knowing where is it, you’ll never guess its located within the International Business park (IBP) at Jurong. Perhaps that’s exactly the reason why the owner set up shop there, since there’s so many hungry white collar workers in all the offices around. The atrium building is just beside Creative, so its pretty easy to find, and there’s shutter bus from Jurong East mrt station.
Penang place oozes a sense of tranquil with its simple furnitures, and the water settings just beside the restaurant. It was fully packed when we visited on a weekday lunch, Singaporeans do love their buffets!
The selections actually is pretty decent given its reasonable pricing of $19.80 for weekday buffet lunch.
The Penang laksa actually comes in the form of Assam laksa, sour and spicy in taste, which differed greatly from our local version. The katong-laksa purist might not take quite well to this, which is more like a mix between tom-yam soup and laksa, with the sourish taste dominating the taste bud. But that’s the authentic Penang laksa for you.
I was rather impressed with the seafood soup, well for one it tasted like shark fin soup (even though there’s no shark fin of course), and secondly, i felt that it was similar to my mom’s home-made soup, and that’s a compliment!
What do you think of when I mentioned Penang? The name synonymous with the city is definitely Char Koay Teow. And if you didn’t notice, even the spelling differs slightly from ours. Well, there’s also Assam laksa, wonton mee and hokkien mee too, but Char Koay Teow certainly is the one which leave most people with memorable memories of Penang. Their rendition comes slightly spicy, not too oily and with a generous serving of ingredients. And the best part? Penang Place actually replenished their char koay teow in small portions very often, since it’s like the most popular dish there. While Char koay teow has a reputation for being unhealthy, and even though i had eaten it twice that week, i couldn’t help myself to second helpings. My sinful food.
The Nasi Lemak is served simple and nice with the fragnant rice, crunchy ikan billies, crispy peanut with cooling cucumbers. There are some other common dishes like curry chicken, fried food, but one dish which i found it good was the Batu Uban Ayam Panggang, which was seasoned grilled chicken with peanut sauce. A pity it was gone when i wanted to take a shot of it.
Glutinous rice is often use in the Asian context, and its no surprise to see the Kueh Salat here. Basically steamed glutinous rice topped with a layer of pandan flavoured custard. Well, i didn’t know if it’s just me or what, but i didn’t really enjoy glutinous rice done this way. The taste was rather weird for my liking, and i guessed i still prefer the Chinese dim sum glutinous rice in lotus leaf.
One of my personal favourites, the Kueh Dardan was actually pandan flavoured pancakes filled with sweetened coconut shavings. The pancakes were very soft and nice, with the coconut shavings coming not too heavy. Easily finished a few of them even thought we were full from the buffet.
Another dessert, or rather kueh that i enjoyed was the Kueh Talam. Essentially a pandan flavoured cake topped with a savoury coconut milk layer, the pandan cake was very fragnant indeed.
Total bill was $69.90 for 3 person at their weekday lunch buffet. I must say, for $23 per head after taxes and service charges, its rather reasonable for the amount of food served. Note, i didn’t say its excellent, but for the price, its rather acceptable since i find it hard to name another place serving buffet in the 20 dollar range which is good. I guess the money will be worth it if you eat more of their Char Koay teow which will cost $8.90 if you order a plate a la carte.
The location might be a tad difficult, since its within the International Business Park, people wouldn’t travel all the way there just for their buffet, but i did. Well for the rest of you lucky souls who are working in the area, i’ll say this is one place to check out for lunch when you are in the mood for a longer lunch.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
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Love is just like raindrops.
They evaporate, and leave stains behind.
I couldn’t forget you, no, not after what happen last time.
The two sided face of you.
You were rich and good to me before.
But you showed me your cold side now.
I know we couldn’t be together.
But i can’t stop thinking of you.
Until we meet again, my duck.
The scones ($2.50) from Caffe Beviamo was soft and fluffy, with a buttery undertone.There wasn’t any “wow” from the strawberry jam, but it was enough to compliment the warm scones. If i may say so in my humble opinion, the ones here are better than the legendary Royal Copenhagen scones.
When you run out of names for your desserts, why not try some creative ones which can attract others attention? That’s exactly what Beviamo did. The hummingbird cake ($3.50) had was pineapple, banana and coconut involved, definitely no bird or what so ever. I love to eat pineapple and banana on its own, but to have them in cake is completely a different story all together. Banana cakes are just not for me, some things just can’t be forced.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
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Was told by my colleague that this places serves relatively good ala cart buffet at reasonable prices, coupled with good spread of sushi sashimi. Therefore decided to pay a vist on Xmas day itself. The place was quite decorated and the seats were quite well spread out.
My gf and I orderd a lot of stuff such as Sashimi Moriwase, California maki,Kabocha korokke(pumpkin croquette), Moyashi itame (teppanyaki beansprouts), Fukahire chawanmushi and Pumpkin chawanmushi, Tori karaage, Gyuniku shogatayaki (beef with special sauce), Nankotsu karaage (chicken cartilage), Sunagimo Shio (Chicken Gizzard), Ika Karaage (Baby Cuttlefish), Unagi Kebayaki.
I msut say that the quality of the food is definitely much better than that of Hanabi's. In addition, the spread of food is also much more in variety. The few nicer ones i like especially are Pumpkin chawanmushi, Nankotsu karaage Sunagimo Shio and of course the main dish, the Sashimi Moriwase. As for the price wise, its not much diifferent than that of Hanabi or Honjin. Therefore, I think that in future, this will likely be my 1st choice for nice Japanese ala-carte buffet. (till I find a next better one that is. haha)
Only one small disappointing is the slighly sluggish service of the waiters and waitresses. I requested for a cup and it took me three times asking 3 different people b4 I got what i want.
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