Was shopping at Marina Square and feeling tired, then saw this poster - $2 hot beverages until 9pm. Gloria Jeans. Hmm… it’s just what I need - sit down and sip a cuppa coffee. :D
It’s super crowded. Maybe it’s because of the $2 hot beverages. Alot of pple just sit down there and with a cup of hot beverage on the table. So, I had to go walk another round and come back to try my luck. Yeah, really that Lady Luck was with me. :D
I ordered a cuppa Cafe Latte, while my Dear dear had his usual - English Breakfast and my favourite Blueberries Cheese cake. It’s good. Very thick and smooth. Not too cheesy or sour. But I still like Coffee bean’s. :p
Hmm… another note is that I saw a woman eating secret receipe’s cake and drinking Gloria Jean’s beverage. Horrible right? If I am the baker, I will feel insulted! :x
I like soya sauce chicken. Or I should say, I like braised food. Be it duck, chicken, fishballs, Squid, Pig’s tongue…. Yeah… I like it braised. :p
Been eyeing on this Soya Sauce Chicken eatery in Chinatown for a long time. Always full house. It’s near China Square Central. It has two shops along the same street. Liu Ji Mian Jia (刘记面家). Soya Sauce Chicken Dry Noodles Super addictive. My Dear dear had 2 servings! The noodles are Q-Q. The chicken is tender, the sauce is not too salty but flavourful. However, if you dun like the garnishes taste (raw vege taste) then you might not like it.
The Dumpling soup Normal, common. Not say very fantastic. The soup base has a clear sweet taste, not too strong nor over power flavour.
Saw this new Donuts cafe quite some time ago when the Raffles City Shopping Center opens it’s new wing.
We were not there for donuts, but for coffee & tea. Yeah, we ordered our usual - English Breakfast & Cafe Latte. But the lady who served us screw up our order. She gave me a black coffee instead of latte. Then my Dear dear went to exchange a new cup.
My Dear dear passed me the receipt and I saw something - “Free Glazzy”. I wonder what was that and get my Dear Dear to go ask the donut counter since the beverage counter staff seems blur like ika. Then donut service staff said all hot beverages came with free original glazed donuts but need to claim it at the beverage counter.
Yeap, we got our FREE GLAZZY. Very soft, abit too oily. Not too sweet though. Anyway, I still prefer Krispy Creme!!!!!
My Dear Dear said wanna buy me dinner one day. Heheehee.. this is the place.
It’s something like Marche or Village, only that it uses magnetic chip to record your order.
We ‘chop’ our table using this. But you need to know where you ‘chop’ coz this thing got no number or name.
We ordered alot of things, not becoz it’s my Dear dear’s treat, it’s all the food looks good!!!
Seafood Thin Crust Pizza - Interesting. Not too bad. Not much of fishy taste. I like the crispiness.
Rosti - So-so. Servings a bit small. I still prefer Marche’s. Katsu Curry Rice - My Dear main dish. Not very nice. The Pork Katsu very tough and thin. The rice so-so. The Curry is ok. Unagi Bamboo Rice and Chawanmushi - My main dish is the Unagi Bamboo Rice. Taste a bit funny. Maybe it’s the bamboo smell too strong. The Chawanmushi is very delicious! Very sweet and flavourful! I had two orders! :p
The queue to go in forever long during Meal times. Maybe next time I will try to go at odd hours.
I went to this place when a friend of mine saw a promotion for a personal makeover. That was years ago but the experience was good.
The makeup artiste did the job and the photographer was talking all the while to make us feel comfortable. The final outputs were natural and it didn't look too thick when we first walked out of the studio without washing away the makeup.
So, this time, we tried to get a package to suit us but they were unable to give us what we wanted. They stood by their packages. We have yet to go there a second time due to the package issue.
Bakerzin is a well-known name in the local desserts scenes. Touted for their pastries and desserts, Bakerzin started in 1998 and has since open 4 outlets in our island. Dinner was at the branch at Paragon, the place was rather small but it was packed to the house.
The desserts are all available at the counter, not found in their menus. So you’ll have to come to the counter and make your picks.
Assam Prawns with linguini ($14.80) The owner chef Daniel paired up our local favourites Assam prawns with linguini to create a marriage between east and west. The overall taste of the fusion dish was not too bad.
Braised Pork Belly with Japanese rice ($13.80) This was the fatal mistake of the night. At $13.80 for like six pieces of braised pork belly, the dish is clearly a rip-off. Gods know what my friend was thinking when he ordered this dish. And yes he didn’t finish the dish.
Aglio olio spaghetti with ham & bacon ($11.80) Aglio olio spaghetti sauteed with olive oil, garlic, chili padi. The simple dish was not up to the mark, for a start its not hot enough with the chili padi. There wasn’t much texture in the spaghetti and I struggled to finish off the dish basically sums up everything.
Ham, bacon & mushroom flaky pizza ($12.80) With popular ingredients like ham, bacon and mushroom, I guess nothing can go wrong with the Pizza. Mozzarella cheese spread on thin crispy pizza and the serving is pretty decent.
Warm Chocolate lava cake with scoop of ice cream Complimentary dessert from using Citibank credit card, with spendings above $50. A dip into the warm chocolate lava cake, all the chocolate came rushing out like a volcano. Coupled with the cold vanilla ice-cream, its a delighful combination
For desserts, we also had Sumatra, which is a combination of dark chocolate & white chocolate mousse with Sumatra coffee. And a slice of the cookies & cream cheesecake. Both are $6.50. Unfortunately I didn’t take any photos because my dear friends actually ordered the two cakes while waiting for me.
Total bill was $99.57 for 4 person. We spent a large portion on drinks, around $20 bucks for three drinks, the violet lime ($5.80), ice hazelnut blend ($6.80), and ice latte ($6.80). I always do not like ordering drinks from restaurants as they tend to mark up the price by a very significant amount. And Bakerzin does not serves ice-water.
The experience at Bakerzin was flat, I was quite stunned by the bill when it arrived given the quality of food we had. To be fair the main course isn’t that expensive going in the range of 10s. But the quality of the mains really leave no rooms for desire.
The desserts are all in the $6-$10 repertoire. And i must say they are excellent, if you were to ask me to go back Bakerzin for a meal, i’ll leave a flat no. But if you ask me back for desserts, no problems there.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my genuine feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or biasness. 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 : )
” Just ignore the mains, and get stuck in with the desserts. You have been warned. “
The Brazilian Churrascaria-craze hit our local shores a few years back, and the list of restaurants have spring up quite a few others to have a share of the pie. Think Brazil Churrascaria, Samba Brazil Steakhouse Churrascaria, Vibe Restaurant @ Pan Pacific, Mamma Lucia Brazilian Churrascaria and now we have Rio Brazilian Restaurant
I was rather fascinated by the Brazilian Churrascaria concept. Churrascaria is Portuguese for barbecue restaurant, and it works as buffet style where the passadors (meat waiter) will bring the whole skewer of grilled meat to your table and wield their knife to cut the meat onto your plate.
The main reason for delaying a trip to a Churrascaria restaurant until now was mainly because of the price. I admit the price for Churrascaria are rather on the high side, with lunch going at $30 range, and dinner for $40 range at most Churrascaria restaurants here.
But Rio Brazilian restaurant is having a promotion, and its freaking cheap. $18.90 for its lunch buffet, with 5 churrasco meat, salad bar, soup, hot dishes and desserts. Think $18.90 is cheap already right? Their promotion is 1-for-1, which means $18.90 for two person!
You must thinking whats the catch right? I didn’t found any, but i think the main reason they are able to offer at cheaper rates because their churrasco meat are lesser, the usual standards for lunch will be around 7-8 items, but they have just 5 items.
There’s the al fresco area which was beside a mini-lake. For people who don’t perspire, or for you to sweat it out and enjoy the sun.
The salad bar offers a few types of salad, and they are life-savers, you will need them when you start on the meat. We didn’t bother touching the hot dishes buffet, first thing first they don’t look appealing to us, and better save your stomach for the meats.
Chicken Drumstick There you have it, the passadors (meat waiters) bring the skewer of meat to your table and served. And the number of meat you want is unlimited!
Pork Sausage The pork sausage was not bad too, both of us had a total of 6 sausages.
Honey Baked ham The honey baked ham was too salty, really in excess of salt. We only had 4 slices of the ham, drink lots of water!
Dory Fish The dory fish failed too, a bite into it and thats the end. We took 2 pieces and couldn’t finish it. What do you think?
Beef Hump The beef hump was slightly better, if you love beef then this must be the one for you. We had 8 slices of beef.
Total bill was $22.11 for 2 person, which works out to be around $11 for a person? For the quantity and amount of meat that we had, its definitely value for money. But the quality-wise, not so i guess. The meat wasn’t excellent, but they should suffice in stuffing your stomach up.
One thing to note, all the churrsaco are really salty in taste, we had a lot helpings of the salad bar to quench our thirst. And they don’t served ice water, i suppose another reason why they offer the food so cheap is because they have to earn from the drinks section.
One can of drink cost 4 bucks, we didn’t had any since i “prepared” and brace for the storm since before i went there i found out that they don’t served ice water, so i brought a couple of bottles of water along.
A bit cheapo i guess, but one can of drink at 4 bucks is definitely not enough to quench the thirst. The location is quite ulu if you don’t know the place, its at Queenstown, beside the National Library there’s this golf range. If you need help finding the place, drop me a email [email protected]
And oh ya, i’m not sure whether the promotion still last now, because i went during march, which was like two months ago? Do give them a call before going down.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my genuine feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or biasness. 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 : )
Preceding my previous visit to Chef Chan almost a year back just before it closed to go private, I was back again after its reopening to sample what private dining had to offer. Of course it helped that Chef Chan was offering a promotion which showcased its signature dishes from all 23 years it has been in business.
Located in a nondescript section of the posh and grand National Museum, Chef Chan takes quite a bit of luck to find. There are no signs whatsoever as to where the restaurant is and even the signboard faces inwards into the restaurant. Asking around would probably be a better option. The place is small, filled mainly with antiques Chef Chan has amassed over the years and of course 4 private rooms and a large dining area which seats up to 46 pax by reservations only (No walk in customers are allowed). Honestly I didn't find the rooms too private as we were only seperated from the next table by a peusdo wall partition.
Melon Strips Enlivened with Orange Juice - Probably melon strips soaked with orange juice would be more apt in describing this dish. The melon strips were crunchy but was completely overwhelmed by the excessively sweet orange taste. I would have suspected that the melon strips were dipped into F&N Fanta orange juice if not for the fact that there was visible pulp on the melons.
Prawn Balls Stuffed with Pate and Wine - Each of us had 1 prawn ball to our name and that was insufficient to say the least. The prawn balls were crispy but a tad too salty with a very strong prawn taste which overwhelmed any taste from the pate and probably the wine as well.
Stir Fried Shark's Fin with Eggs, Bean Sprouts and Spring Onion Served in Lettuce Leaves - This dish was actually very similar to what I had at Joo Heng sometime back except that Joo Heng's rendition probably cost much less than this one, with noticeably less shark's fin as well (Not that theres much to start with anyway). Paired up with lettuce, this dish was lightly salty and nice but failed to wow me. I reckon you don't really need much culinary skill to whip up such a dish.
Steamed Lobster with Garlic - Each of us got a lobster probably weighing in at about 300g or so. Fresh and sweet, this should have been one of the highlights of our meal. Unfortunately, the copious amount of garlic over parts of the lobster threatened to kill my tastebuds, rendering me almost immune to whatever succulent sweetness the lobster had to offer.
Steamed Sliced Garoupa in Village Style - The fish was freshly sweet with the flesh firm yet tender. Complementing it was a lightly savoury but a tad too starchy gravy. Portions were ridiculously small and each of us probably got only 4-5 slices of fish.
Sauteed Vegetable with Shredded Mushroom - This dish was greeted with much dismay and comments that anyone could have whipped up such a simple dish. I agree. The vegetables were a little too drenched in the gravy and didn't taste out of the ordinary. I'm pretty sure I've eaten better vegetable dishes at the coffeeshop cze char stall near my place.
Chef Chan's Famous Crispy Roast Chicken - Undisputedly the Pièce de résistance of the entire meal and probably the most well known dish of Chef Chan, the Crispy Roast Chicken. The last time I had it, it was lacking in flavours so I didn't quite get my expectations too high this time round. I don't know if my low expectations were the reason but the chicken blew me away. It was, if I may say, nothing short of excellent. Crispy skin that crackled with every bite coupled with tender, moist and flavourful meat. A gem indeed! The only tiny gripe I had was that the meat tended towards the salty side closer to the bone.
Papaya with White Fungus & Herbal Jelly with Glutinous Rice & Mango - We had the option of 2 desserts, 1 warm and 1 cold. I chose the latter which was the herbal jelly and promptly regretted it. The mango pieces that came with it seemed very unripe, crunchy and sour. It definitely didn't go well with the sweet glutinous rice or the slightly bitter herbal jelly. All in all a total disaster.
I had a taste of the papaya with white fungus and it was quite decent, sweet yet very light on the palate. But nothing fantastic.
The 9 of us chalked up a bill of about $860, which works out to be about $96 per person and the truth is, I wasn't even full after that. Food quality overall was decent with only the chicken shining through. For the price, I had really expected more. Especially when most of the dishes are supposedly Chef Chan's signature dishes and being private dining, most, if not all dishes should be prepared by Chef Chan himself.
I can only take cold comfort in the fact that service was good and we had a 10% discount off the bill. I really cannot fathom paying anymore.
I did my Lasik here after attending a forum. They gave me free eye evaluation and a voucher for $100 off any package. Since I have been reading up it for years, I decided to attend the forum with a friend.
The staff were very friendly and informative. The instructions for caring of the eyes after the operation were given during the eye check and after the operation itself.
As I was nervous during the operation, I talked to Dr Goh, my assigned doctor based on my eye power at that time. He was reassuring me all the time and giving me instructions to focus my eye on the blinking light.
I started to tear a lot after 5 minutes. The nurses were helpful by giving me instructions and directing me to the reception to meet my friend.
The clinic itself is rather full until closing time. It has patients from Japan too. I even saw a few mothers with young kids doing Lasik.
The shoe boutique, which find its new home to 44 Haji Lane, Level 2, moving from its original place at Far East Plaza.
The boutique is done up in a lush, intimate setting, perfect for trying on your shoes in unhurried comfort.
In conceptualising the designs of the shoes, Bianca’s team of designers have came up with effortlessly stylish shoes that are practical for everyday wear, with designs that can take women from work to play.
And if you think only women get to shop here, fear not gentlemen, besides the one-of-a-kind accessories you can get for your girlfriends, watch out for their upcoming launch of men’s label, Jacques, from the designers of Bianca.
1=SGD 0.0587
Was shopping at Marina Square and feeling tired, then saw this poster - $2 hot beverages until 9pm. Gloria Jeans. Hmm… it’s just what I need - sit down and sip a cuppa coffee. :D
It’s super crowded. Maybe it’s because of the $2 hot beverages. Alot of pple just sit down there and with a cup of hot beverage on the table. So, I had to go walk another round and come back to try my luck. Yeah, really that Lady Luck was with me. :D
I ordered a cuppa Cafe Latte, while my Dear dear had his usual - English Breakfast and my favourite Blueberries Cheese cake. It’s good. Very thick and smooth. Not too cheesy or sour. But I still like Coffee bean’s. :p
Hmm… another note is that I saw a woman eating secret receipe’s cake and drinking Gloria Jean’s beverage. Horrible right? If I am the baker, I will feel insulted! :x
Rating given:
I like soya sauce chicken. Or I should say, I like braised food. Be it duck, chicken, fishballs, Squid, Pig’s tongue…. Yeah… I like it braised. :p
Been eyeing on this Soya Sauce Chicken eatery in Chinatown for a long time. Always full house. It’s near China Square Central. It has two shops along the same street. Liu Ji Mian Jia (刘记面家).
Soya Sauce Chicken Dry Noodles
Super addictive. My Dear dear had 2 servings! The noodles are Q-Q. The chicken is tender, the sauce is not too salty but flavourful. However, if you dun like the garnishes taste (raw vege taste) then you might not like it.
The Dumpling soup
Normal, common. Not say very fantastic. The soup base has a clear sweet taste, not too strong nor over power flavour.
I am definitely going back to eat again. :D
Rating given:
Saw this new Donuts cafe quite some time ago when the Raffles City Shopping Center opens it’s new wing.
We were not there for donuts, but for coffee & tea. Yeah, we ordered our usual - English Breakfast & Cafe Latte. But the lady who served us screw up our order. She gave me a black coffee instead of latte. Then my Dear dear went to exchange a new cup.
My Dear dear passed me the receipt and I saw something - “Free Glazzy”. I wonder what was that and get my Dear Dear to go ask the donut counter since the beverage counter staff seems blur like ika. Then donut service staff said all hot beverages came with free original glazed donuts but need to claim it at the beverage counter.
Yeap, we got our FREE GLAZZY. Very soft, abit too oily. Not too sweet though. Anyway, I still prefer Krispy Creme!!!!!
Rating given:
My Dear Dear said wanna buy me dinner one day. Heheehee.. this is the place.
It’s something like Marche or Village, only that it uses magnetic chip to record your order.
We ‘chop’ our table using this. But you need to know where you ‘chop’ coz this thing got no number or name.
We ordered alot of things, not becoz it’s my Dear dear’s treat, it’s all the food looks good!!!
Seafood Thin Crust Pizza - Interesting. Not too bad. Not much of fishy taste. I like the crispiness.
Rosti - So-so. Servings a bit small. I still prefer Marche’s.
Katsu Curry Rice - My Dear main dish. Not very nice. The Pork Katsu very tough and thin. The rice so-so. The Curry is ok.
Unagi Bamboo Rice and Chawanmushi - My main dish is the Unagi Bamboo Rice. Taste a bit funny. Maybe it’s the bamboo smell too strong. The Chawanmushi is very delicious! Very sweet and flavourful! I had two orders! :p
The queue to go in forever long during Meal times. Maybe next time I will try to go at odd hours.
Rating given:
I went to this place when a friend of mine saw a promotion for a personal makeover. That was years ago but the experience was good.
The makeup artiste did the job and the photographer was talking all the while to make us feel comfortable. The final outputs were natural and it didn't look too thick when we first walked out of the studio without washing away the makeup.
So, this time, we tried to get a package to suit us but they were unable to give us what we wanted. They stood by their packages. We have yet to go there a second time due to the package issue.
Rating given:
Bakerzin is a well-known name in the local desserts scenes. Touted for their pastries and desserts, Bakerzin started in 1998 and has since open 4 outlets in our island. Dinner was at the branch at Paragon, the place was rather small but it was packed to the house.
The desserts are all available at the counter, not found in their menus. So you’ll have to come to the counter and make your picks.
Assam Prawns with linguini ($14.80)
The owner chef Daniel paired up our local favourites Assam prawns with linguini to create a marriage between east and west. The overall taste of the fusion dish was not too bad.
Braised Pork Belly with Japanese rice ($13.80)
This was the fatal mistake of the night. At $13.80 for like six pieces of braised pork belly, the dish is clearly a rip-off. Gods know what my friend was thinking when he ordered this dish. And yes he didn’t finish the dish.
Aglio olio spaghetti with ham & bacon ($11.80)
Aglio olio spaghetti sauteed with olive oil, garlic, chili padi. The simple dish was not up to the mark, for a start its not hot enough with the chili padi. There wasn’t much texture in the spaghetti and I struggled to finish off the dish basically sums up everything.
Ham, bacon & mushroom flaky pizza ($12.80)
With popular ingredients like ham, bacon and mushroom, I guess nothing can go wrong with the Pizza. Mozzarella cheese spread on thin crispy pizza and the serving is pretty decent.
Warm Chocolate lava cake with scoop of ice cream
Complimentary dessert from using Citibank credit card, with spendings above $50. A dip into the warm chocolate lava cake, all the chocolate came rushing out like a volcano. Coupled with the cold vanilla ice-cream, its a delighful combination
For desserts, we also had Sumatra, which is a combination of dark chocolate & white chocolate mousse with Sumatra coffee. And a slice of the cookies & cream cheesecake. Both are $6.50. Unfortunately I didn’t take any photos because my dear friends actually ordered the two cakes while waiting for me.
Total bill was $99.57 for 4 person. We spent a large portion on drinks, around $20 bucks for three drinks, the violet lime ($5.80), ice hazelnut blend ($6.80), and ice latte ($6.80). I always do not like ordering drinks from restaurants as they tend to mark up the price by a very significant amount. And Bakerzin does not serves ice-water.
The experience at Bakerzin was flat, I was quite stunned by the bill when it arrived given the quality of food we had. To be fair the main course isn’t that expensive going in the range of 10s. But the quality of the mains really leave no rooms for desire.
The desserts are all in the $6-$10 repertoire. And i must say they are excellent, if you were to ask me to go back Bakerzin for a meal, i’ll leave a flat no. But if you ask me back for desserts, no problems there.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my genuine feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or biasness. 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 : )
” Just ignore the mains, and get stuck in with the desserts. You have been warned. “
Rating given:
The Brazilian Churrascaria-craze hit our local shores a few years back, and the list of restaurants have spring up quite a few others to have a share of the pie. Think Brazil Churrascaria, Samba Brazil Steakhouse Churrascaria, Vibe Restaurant @ Pan Pacific, Mamma Lucia Brazilian Churrascaria and now we have Rio Brazilian Restaurant
I was rather fascinated by the Brazilian Churrascaria concept. Churrascaria is Portuguese for barbecue restaurant, and it works as buffet style where the passadors (meat waiter) will bring the whole skewer of grilled meat to your table and wield their knife to cut the meat onto your plate.
The main reason for delaying a trip to a Churrascaria restaurant until now was mainly because of the price. I admit the price for Churrascaria are rather on the high side, with lunch going at $30 range, and dinner for $40 range at most Churrascaria restaurants here.
But Rio Brazilian restaurant is having a promotion, and its freaking cheap. $18.90 for its lunch buffet, with 5 churrasco meat, salad bar, soup, hot dishes and desserts. Think $18.90 is cheap already right? Their promotion is 1-for-1, which means $18.90 for two person!
You must thinking whats the catch right? I didn’t found any, but i think the main reason they are able to offer at cheaper rates because their churrasco meat are lesser, the usual standards for lunch will be around 7-8 items, but they have just 5 items.
There’s the al fresco area which was beside a mini-lake. For people who don’t perspire, or for you to sweat it out and enjoy the sun.
The salad bar offers a few types of salad, and they are life-savers, you will need them when you start on the meat. We didn’t bother touching the hot dishes buffet, first thing first they don’t look appealing to us, and better save your stomach for the meats.
Chicken Drumstick
There you have it, the passadors (meat waiters) bring the skewer of meat to your table and served. And the number of meat you want is unlimited!
Pork Sausage
The pork sausage was not bad too, both of us had a total of 6 sausages.
Honey Baked ham
The honey baked ham was too salty, really in excess of salt. We only had 4 slices of the ham, drink lots of water!
Dory Fish
The dory fish failed too, a bite into it and thats the end. We took 2 pieces and couldn’t finish it. What do you think?
Beef Hump
The beef hump was slightly better, if you love beef then this must be the one for you. We had 8 slices of beef.
Total bill was $22.11 for 2 person, which works out to be around $11 for a person? For the quantity and amount of meat that we had, its definitely value for money. But the quality-wise, not so i guess. The meat wasn’t excellent, but they should suffice in stuffing your stomach up.
One thing to note, all the churrsaco are really salty in taste, we had a lot helpings of the salad bar to quench our thirst. And they don’t served ice water, i suppose another reason why they offer the food so cheap is because they have to earn from the drinks section.
One can of drink cost 4 bucks, we didn’t had any since i “prepared” and brace for the storm since before i went there i found out that they don’t served ice water, so i brought a couple of bottles of water along.
A bit cheapo i guess, but one can of drink at 4 bucks is definitely not enough to quench the thirst. The location is quite ulu if you don’t know the place, its at Queenstown, beside the National Library there’s this golf range. If you need help finding the place, drop me a email [email protected]
And oh ya, i’m not sure whether the promotion still last now, because i went during march, which was like two months ago? Do give them a call before going down.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my genuine feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or biasness. 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 : )
” Meat, meat and meat “
Rating given:
Preceding my previous visit to Chef Chan almost a year back just before it closed to go private, I was back again after its reopening to sample what private dining had to offer. Of course it helped that Chef Chan was offering a promotion which showcased its signature dishes from all 23 years it has been in business.
Located in a nondescript section of the posh and grand National Museum, Chef Chan takes quite a bit of luck to find. There are no signs whatsoever as to where the restaurant is and even the signboard faces inwards into the restaurant. Asking around would probably be a better option. The place is small, filled mainly with antiques Chef Chan has amassed over the years and of course 4 private rooms and a large dining area which seats up to 46 pax by reservations only (No walk in customers are allowed). Honestly I didn't find the rooms too private as we were only seperated from the next table by a peusdo wall partition.
Melon Strips Enlivened with Orange Juice - Probably melon strips soaked with orange juice would be more apt in describing this dish. The melon strips were crunchy but was completely overwhelmed by the excessively sweet orange taste. I would have suspected that the melon strips were dipped into F&N Fanta orange juice if not for the fact that there was visible pulp on the melons.
Prawn Balls Stuffed with Pate and Wine - Each of us had 1 prawn ball to our name and that was insufficient to say the least. The prawn balls were crispy but a tad too salty with a very strong prawn taste which overwhelmed any taste from the pate and probably the wine as well.
Stir Fried Shark's Fin with Eggs, Bean Sprouts and Spring Onion Served in Lettuce Leaves - This dish was actually very similar to what I had at Joo Heng sometime back except that Joo Heng's rendition probably cost much less than this one, with noticeably less shark's fin as well (Not that theres much to start with anyway). Paired up with lettuce, this dish was lightly salty and nice but failed to wow me. I reckon you don't really need much culinary skill to whip up such a dish.
Steamed Lobster with Garlic - Each of us got a lobster probably weighing in at about 300g or so. Fresh and sweet, this should have been one of the highlights of our meal. Unfortunately, the copious amount of garlic over parts of the lobster threatened to kill my tastebuds, rendering me almost immune to whatever succulent sweetness the lobster had to offer.
Steamed Sliced Garoupa in Village Style - The fish was freshly sweet with the flesh firm yet tender. Complementing it was a lightly savoury but a tad too starchy gravy. Portions were ridiculously small and each of us probably got only 4-5 slices of fish.
Sauteed Vegetable with Shredded Mushroom - This dish was greeted with much dismay and comments that anyone could have whipped up such a simple dish. I agree. The vegetables were a little too drenched in the gravy and didn't taste out of the ordinary. I'm pretty sure I've eaten better vegetable dishes at the coffeeshop cze char stall near my place.
Chef Chan's Famous Crispy Roast Chicken - Undisputedly the Pièce de résistance of the entire meal and probably the most well known dish of Chef Chan, the Crispy Roast Chicken. The last time I had it, it was lacking in flavours so I didn't quite get my expectations too high this time round. I don't know if my low expectations were the reason but the chicken blew me away. It was, if I may say, nothing short of excellent. Crispy skin that crackled with every bite coupled with tender, moist and flavourful meat. A gem indeed! The only tiny gripe I had was that the meat tended towards the salty side closer to the bone.
Papaya with White Fungus & Herbal Jelly with Glutinous Rice & Mango - We had the option of 2 desserts, 1 warm and 1 cold. I chose the latter which was the herbal jelly and promptly regretted it. The mango pieces that came with it seemed very unripe, crunchy and sour. It definitely didn't go well with the sweet glutinous rice or the slightly bitter herbal jelly. All in all a total disaster.
I had a taste of the papaya with white fungus and it was quite decent, sweet yet very light on the palate. But nothing fantastic.
The 9 of us chalked up a bill of about $860, which works out to be about $96 per person and the truth is, I wasn't even full after that. Food quality overall was decent with only the chicken shining through. For the price, I had really expected more. Especially when most of the dishes are supposedly Chef Chan's signature dishes and being private dining, most, if not all dishes should be prepared by Chef Chan himself.
I can only take cold comfort in the fact that service was good and we had a 10% discount off the bill. I really cannot fathom paying anymore.
See all my pictures here.
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I did my Lasik here after attending a forum. They gave me free eye evaluation and a voucher for $100 off any package. Since I have been reading up it for years, I decided to attend the forum with a friend.
The staff were very friendly and informative. The instructions for caring of the eyes after the operation were given during the eye check and after the operation itself.
As I was nervous during the operation, I talked to Dr Goh, my assigned doctor based on my eye power at that time. He was reassuring me all the time and giving me instructions to focus my eye on the blinking light.
I started to tear a lot after 5 minutes. The nurses were helpful by giving me instructions and directing me to the reception to meet my friend.
The clinic itself is rather full until closing time. It has patients from Japan too. I even saw a few mothers with young kids doing Lasik.
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The shoe boutique, which find its new home to 44 Haji Lane, Level 2, moving from its original place at Far East Plaza.
The boutique is done up in a lush, intimate setting, perfect for trying on your shoes in unhurried comfort.
In conceptualising the designs of the shoes, Bianca’s team of designers have came up with effortlessly stylish shoes that are practical for everyday wear, with designs that can take women from work to play.
And if you think only women get to shop here, fear not gentlemen, besides the one-of-a-kind accessories you can get for your girlfriends, watch out for their upcoming launch of men’s label, Jacques, from the designers of Bianca.
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