Had intended to try out HK Kim Gary at Vivo City, but threw the idea out of the window when we saw the ridiculously long queue. Actually there were long queues at most, if not all of the food outlets at Vivo City. Pure madness. So we drove to Orchard and after wandering aimlessly for a bit, settled for Lei Garden at Orchard Shopping Centre. The lift opens up to the reception area of Lei Garden and first looks, it hardly resembled a Chinese restaurant, with the exception of the wooden chairs. The brick linings in the walls were very evident and the low ceiling finished with wooden frames gave the whole place a very cottage feel. Add on a couple of Christmas decorations and lights and viola, you have a very pretty cottage dining area.
Since we got there at about 9pm, alot of stuff were sold out, like the soup of the day and the smoked duck. So we had to settle for some recommendations by the captain. Namely, Double Boiled Fish's Bone with "Tian Ma", Deep Fried Prawns Coated with Salted Egg Yolk and Stewed Chicken with Young Ginger in Honey Sauce. We rounded up the meal with Durian Pudding and Glutinous Rice Balls with sesame filling.
Lei Garden is well known for its double boiled soups and I never fail to order at least a serving every time I patronise. As such, I had high expectations for the Double Boiled Fish's Bone with "Tian Ma" and it didn't disappoint. The soup was sweet and light with a hint of rawness. However, I did get a little sick of drinking the soup after the first bowl mainly because the slight fishy taste made me queasy. So too much of a good thing isn't always good. Just a little nugget of information, this soup is supposed to relieve dizziness and calm the mind. How true? I have no idea.
The Deep Fried Prawns Coated with Salted Egg Yolk was a delicacy in the making. The egg yolk gave the prawns a slight salty taste and the flavours were evident throughout. The prawns were also very fresh and biting into one is akin to eating Cereal Prawns - You just pop the whole thing into your mouth and enjoy the crunching sounds. However, I say that this dish is a delicacy still in the making because there is room for improvement. For one, the frying batter was uneven. Some prawns had more batter on the front, some had more on the back. This made the overall taste non homogeneous, with some parts being saltier than others.
The Stewed Chicken with Young Ginger in Honey Sauce sounded interesting, but it was no more than Sweet and Sour Chicken, at least that was what it tasted like. Yes, the chicken meat was definitely more tender than the usual stuff you get outside and the sauce was decidedly lighter and less pronounced than the normal ones outside that threaten to overpower the taste of everything else. I liked this dish and so did my gf. Funny that there was no ginger taste though.
Desserts have never really been a forte for Lei Garden and their desserts speak for themselves. My Durian Pudding tasted rather artificial although there were significant chunks of Durian meat in it. The Gelatine was in excess and gave the pudding a very creamy yet mashed up texture. My gf's Glutinous Rice Balls with sesame filling was rather tasteless. The rice balls were coated with ground peanuts, which made them fragrant. However, the sesame filling could do with more flavour.
Dinner blew us away at about $110/-. We certainly didn't expect the bill to be so high, especially since our dishes weren't exactly expensive stuff. Nevertheless, the food quality is there and it is certainly quite refined. No one said good food comes cheap right? Service was good as well, so that kind of eased the pain when I saw the bill.
Hanging around Marina with a bunch of friends who were feeling hungry, we somehow settled down here for dinner. It was more of a 'go and test' experience, and it turned out rather well.
The place was done up pretty nicely and the seating was quite comfortable. Service was pretty up to standard too, and the food didn't take long to come.
Food portions were quite ok, partly because we were a hungry bunch, but taste-wise, it is nothing to shout about. Quite a variety to choose from (we really took some time to decide), but nothing very special that caught my attention.
Drinks are quite good though. Quite alot of refreshing flavours to choose from, and the serving's pretty huge. Only thing is that it comes at a relatively hefty price.
Overall, prices are a little steep for the quality of food. Other than that, the dining experience's quite good, and I guess it's still worth a try if you have not eaten there before.
The location of this outlet might be a little bit of a trouble for some, but for someone who lives just 5 minutes away by foot, this is heaven!
Botak Jones is a MUST-TRY. You just cannot miss out on their big, juicy burgers which comes served with a huge - and I do mean HUGE - portion of fries. Their fries are good, not too dry, just crispy. And oh, do try out their jalapeno peppers stuffed with cheese. It's really quite good.
Prices are decent over at Botak Jones. You can totally fill yourself up with about $10. If you happen to have a huge appetite, just get more fries, or throw in an extra side dish. Granted, it's slightly expensive for a 'coffee-shop stall', but the food definitely is way above any kopitiam-stall standard.
The Toa Payoh outlet is located in a rather spacious place, but it gets really crowded during lunch and dinner hours, so try to get there earlier if you don't want to wait too long.
I think I might just go back there again next week.
Clothes are in-stock and in good quality. Reaction fast, emails came like within 1 day of queries or ordering. Very accommodating as they allow bank transfer by various banks and even when I used UOB bank to transfer to their DBS and took 3 days, they are fine with it. (Do inform them first) Clothes are unique and shown big on the blogshop together with the descriptions. Pleasing blog design makes browsing through loads of photos easy on the eye. There is also a discount area where they sell over stocks at big discounts.
Cons:
Too many photos makes loading slow. Lack of categorization of clothes hence got to look through all the items to find what you wanted. A tad expensive though their items are mostly unique. Clothes are sold out at fast speed so I have to go and browse through fast whenever I receive their update notification.
A friend of mine recommended this brand of ice cream to me. He said he simply love the Ferrero flavor. Being curious, I decided to give it a try.
Disappointed! I ordered Rum and Raisin and Dark Choc with M&Ms. Well, I'm not sure whether it was the blend but it does not taste appetizing at all. The taste was well... under the line... not up to it.... or the Chinese explanation : 不到味
Cold Rock wins, by having unique ice cream toppings, flavor and giving customers the thrill of watching their ice cream being blended (ouch) however, blending makes the ice cream flavors mixed up and sometimes cancel out each other. Further, blended ice cream does not look good at all. (As per my photo)
For ice cream of that pricing, I will rather go to Hagaan Daz right opposite or Scoopz which up till now is my favorite.
I found the fillings of the Paus rather normal, but the Da Bao didn't have ginger inside, which I personally prefer because I simply dislike ginger. The Pau skin was soft and not too thick, with lots of bite. Its really a cut above the rest. Little wonder about the long queues. Try it!
Went to my friend's wedding dinner at Hilton Grand Ballroom. Never went there before and was thinking the place, food and class should be very impressive. However, we are quite disappointed as the food was so so. The only item on the menu I liked was the 佛提飘香or whatever that was one of the photos. Crispy outer rim of yam and well cooked vegetables in the center.
There was nothing special about the decoration of the ballroom and the place was quite cramped. As for service, I won't be able to give a fair comment as we were served by someone new. The person keep mixing up our drinks order like my neighbor wanted white wine and the person gave him red wine. Another wanted Sprite and I wanted no drinks but I was given the Sprite and she wasn't given anything. Other things like spraying me with coke while he served my husband's drinks.
Beautifully decorated with big screens, nice stage and crystal chandeliers. Service crew are polite and react fast to request. Service crew is 1 per 2 table. Food is above average, ingredients fresh and unique in terms of menu. Their fish dishes are delicious. Very suitable for family dinner outing and wedding dinner. Ballroom and restaurant are pillar-less and size is customizable by their sound proof wall panel according to the size of your event. Sound system is great though you will need to bring your laptop for the wedding dinner as their computer is only use for their own lighting. Open to negotiation. Clean environment.
Cons:
Difficult for planning and communication if you are the type who needs to take charge of your wedding dinner. The restaurant goes by the "last minute" policy and the lady boss Suzanna encourages people not to check things with them too early a date. Questions asked and things decided are not taken down. There is nobody assigned to our event and instead whoever is available will do it. (I had to explain myself so many times) Small bridal room for brides to do make up in.
Flower bouquets and gifts are categorized by flower type, budget range and occasions. Pictures of bouquets are large and sharp hence its easier to choose what you would like to purchase. Fast and efficient customer service which reply your email and orders withing 24 hours. Wide range of flowers, gifts and plants to choose from and many of them are designed to be something unique. They even provide a summary of the meaning of the flowers as well as the number of flowers chosen. I ordered some for a friend's birthday and it was received on time. So far, I'm very satisfied with their services.
Con:
Colour of website should be of neutral colour and not dull pink. Hence colour of the flowers are unable to show out well in the pictures.
Farewell meetings and dinners are usually bittersweet affairs where affected parties are more or less torn between feelings of delight for having great friends and feelings of sadness of having to leave the hard earned connections behind to reach for the future. Nonetheless, its always wonderful to have a good meal with all these people who have been a big part of my life. The location was introduced by Emma who recommended the place to no end for its value for money and supposedly good food.
The interior is nothing to shout about but comfortable to be in with its soft lighting and open ambiance. The air conditioning is very powerful though, probably to diminish the discomfort of having a hot stove in front of you but unfortunately, we opted for the kitchen to cook for us, which made us end up feeling extremely cold.
Refillable Korean Side Dishes - These dishes are refillable and comes in small portions. Each refill is random and contains different sample dishes to excite your taste buds. Each is nicely done but some, like the bean sprouts and kimchi ended up being the main attractions in this selection. The problem with the refills is, it came too slowly and the serving staff had alot of problems attending to our needs. Their frustration is apparent as they struggled to keep pace with our speed of eating and the small but heavy bowls did not help their job one bit. Add the fact that the set menu for 8 is a first for them as nobody has ordered it before and you got a huge headache in terms of service.
Seafood Pancake with Spring Onion - This is very good. Fragrant, crispy and strangely juicy (its not because of the oil though), this dish gained sounds of "Oooo's" and "yums" from the all members of the group. Who would have figured beaten eggs with prawns, squid and fish cake thrown into the mix along with spring onions could make a pancake taste this good. Its available on ala carte and very much worth a try.
BBQ Beef?, BBQ Beef Short Rib? - The '?' you see behind both names are not there by accident. They are there because i can't tell which is which since they taste almost exactly the same. If not for the slight beef taste each dish contained, this could have been venison or pork and we wouldn't have been any the wiser. That said, both dishes tasted mediocre despite the tender and chewy beef pieces. Not recommended.
BBQ Chicken and BBQ Pork Collar - After tasting these 2, i'm beginning to feel they marinated everything and cooked everything in the exact same way because it sure doesn't taste any different from each other. Both were sweet, spicy and even had almost the same texture with the small difference of chicken meat being tougher and harder (that's not good by the way).
Authentic Ginseng Chicken Soup - Another mediocre dish. This started out with much promise as we noticed on ala carte, its costs between $3-5 for a refill of the ginseng stock. A sign of good things to come? Sadly, that is not to be. The ginseng soup tastes like it was only just prepared and was very bland, with only slight hints that ginseng had been used in the soup. The chicken was nothing spectacular but tore easily as it was very tender but not recommended.
Boiled Sliced Pork With Cabbage - Simple as this dish may seem, it actually tastes pretty good. The pork was firm and springy which contrasted with the cold crunchiness of the cabbage which is further enhanced by the sour balachan chilli. Nicely done but too bad about the portion size though, which was rather small.
Sauteed Vermicelli with Pork - Another nicely done dish. The vermicelli packed lots of taste and was very pleasing to consume with aromatic sesame sprinkled all over it and traces of pork spread throughout the dish. I can't quite describe why its good but it is, try it to find out.
Stone Bowl Rice - Served in a piping hot stone bowl and mixed by the customers themselves, this is an interesting and authentic Korean dish. As you can see, the bowl consists of a lone egg surrounded by bean sprouts, carrots, cabbage, sliced mushrooms, rice and minced pork. The trick is to mix the dish quickly before serving. So is this any good? For me, i liked it but i liked the cold rice version better, where everything was cold and somehow, it tasted better. This is still decent though.
Seafood and Vegetable in Claypot - Another simple yet nicely done dish. The seafood was fresh and added a dimension of sweetness to the seafood broth which tasted like seafood soup without too much salt like other offerings elsewhere. The ingredients include, mushrooms, fresh prawns, carrots, shittakes, bean curd and even scallops which we fought to have. There were even some clams thrown in for good measure. Good stuff.
Sauteed Crab Korean Style - First impressions was that the crab was small and subsequent tastes did not improve upon that impression. The sauce it was cooked in is a form of chilli which resembles kimchi and turned out overly salty. The crab meat was also minimal and not sweet nor firm which points questions at its freshness. This is something i won't try again.
Seafood Fried Rice - Simplicity is the best policy and this is apparent when this dish came out very well done yet again. Generous servings of squid and shrimp were given with its fragrant and very tasty egg fried rice. On a side note however, i myself can actually do a one up on their fried rice so maybe they should hire me instead?
Complimentary Fruit - Looks can be deceiving as these pieces of fruit turned out to be very sweet and satisfying which i'm sure you'll agree that it simply is a huge contrast between the picture and the actual taste.
The total bill came up to $296.25 for a bittersweet hit and miss farewell dinner.
For a place with lots of service blunders, i've given them a benefit of the doubt since they admitted upfront that this was the first time anyone has ordered the set meal for 8 people. And food wise, like i've said, there are hits and misses on a pretty much 50-50 basis. I do however, recommend trying the hits on their own to see if you like it but deter on ordering via set menus. Try at your own risk because Korean food is an acquired taste and it certainly doesn't come cheap. To the people who turned up for the meal. Thank you for all the good times we've had and for turning up. Hopefully we'll get together again soon. Cheers and all the best!
1=SGD 0.0587
Had intended to try out HK Kim Gary at Vivo City, but threw the idea out of the window when we saw the ridiculously long queue. Actually there were long queues at most, if not all of the food outlets at Vivo City. Pure madness. So we drove to Orchard and after wandering aimlessly for a bit, settled for Lei Garden at Orchard Shopping Centre. The lift opens up to the reception area of Lei Garden and first looks, it hardly resembled a Chinese restaurant, with the exception of the wooden chairs. The brick linings in the walls were very evident and the low ceiling finished with wooden frames gave the whole place a very cottage feel. Add on a couple of Christmas decorations and lights and viola, you have a very pretty cottage dining area.
Since we got there at about 9pm, alot of stuff were sold out, like the soup of the day and the smoked duck. So we had to settle for some recommendations by the captain. Namely, Double Boiled Fish's Bone with "Tian Ma", Deep Fried Prawns Coated with Salted Egg Yolk and Stewed Chicken with Young Ginger in Honey Sauce. We rounded up the meal with Durian Pudding and Glutinous Rice Balls with sesame filling.
Lei Garden is well known for its double boiled soups and I never fail to order at least a serving every time I patronise. As such, I had high expectations for the Double Boiled Fish's Bone with "Tian Ma" and it didn't disappoint. The soup was sweet and light with a hint of rawness. However, I did get a little sick of drinking the soup after the first bowl mainly because the slight fishy taste made me queasy. So too much of a good thing isn't always good. Just a little nugget of information, this soup is supposed to relieve dizziness and calm the mind. How true? I have no idea.
The Deep Fried Prawns Coated with Salted Egg Yolk was a delicacy in the making. The egg yolk gave the prawns a slight salty taste and the flavours were evident throughout. The prawns were also very fresh and biting into one is akin to eating Cereal Prawns - You just pop the whole thing into your mouth and enjoy the crunching sounds. However, I say that this dish is a delicacy still in the making because there is room for improvement. For one, the frying batter was uneven. Some prawns had more batter on the front, some had more on the back. This made the overall taste non homogeneous, with some parts being saltier than others.
The Stewed Chicken with Young Ginger in Honey Sauce sounded interesting, but it was no more than Sweet and Sour Chicken, at least that was what it tasted like. Yes, the chicken meat was definitely more tender than the usual stuff you get outside and the sauce was decidedly lighter and less pronounced than the normal ones outside that threaten to overpower the taste of everything else. I liked this dish and so did my gf. Funny that there was no ginger taste though.
Desserts have never really been a forte for Lei Garden and their desserts speak for themselves. My Durian Pudding tasted rather artificial although there were significant chunks of Durian meat in it. The Gelatine was in excess and gave the pudding a very creamy yet mashed up texture. My gf's Glutinous Rice Balls with sesame filling was rather tasteless. The rice balls were coated with ground peanuts, which made them fragrant. However, the sesame filling could do with more flavour.
Dinner blew us away at about $110/-. We certainly didn't expect the bill to be so high, especially since our dishes weren't exactly expensive stuff. Nevertheless, the food quality is there and it is certainly quite refined. No one said good food comes cheap right? Service was good as well, so that kind of eased the pain when I saw the bill.
See all my pictures here.
Rating given:
Hanging around Marina with a bunch of friends who were feeling hungry, we somehow settled down here for dinner. It was more of a 'go and test' experience, and it turned out rather well.
The place was done up pretty nicely and the seating was quite comfortable. Service was pretty up to standard too, and the food didn't take long to come.
Food portions were quite ok, partly because we were a hungry bunch, but taste-wise, it is nothing to shout about. Quite a variety to choose from (we really took some time to decide), but nothing very special that caught my attention.
Drinks are quite good though. Quite alot of refreshing flavours to choose from, and the serving's pretty huge. Only thing is that it comes at a relatively hefty price.
Overall, prices are a little steep for the quality of food. Other than that, the dining experience's quite good, and I guess it's still worth a try if you have not eaten there before.
Rating given:
The location of this outlet might be a little bit of a trouble for some, but for someone who lives just 5 minutes away by foot, this is heaven!
Botak Jones is a MUST-TRY. You just cannot miss out on their big, juicy burgers which comes served with a huge - and I do mean HUGE - portion of fries. Their fries are good, not too dry, just crispy. And oh, do try out their jalapeno peppers stuffed with cheese. It's really quite good.
Prices are decent over at Botak Jones. You can totally fill yourself up with about $10. If you happen to have a huge appetite, just get more fries, or throw in an extra side dish. Granted, it's slightly expensive for a 'coffee-shop stall', but the food definitely is way above any kopitiam-stall standard.
The Toa Payoh outlet is located in a rather spacious place, but it gets really crowded during lunch and dinner hours, so try to get there earlier if you don't want to wait too long.
I think I might just go back there again next week.
Rating given:
Personally bought some clothes from them.
Pros:
Clothes are in-stock and in good quality. Reaction fast, emails came like within 1 day of queries or ordering. Very accommodating as they allow bank transfer by various banks and even when I used UOB bank to transfer to their DBS and took 3 days, they are fine with it. (Do inform them first) Clothes are unique and shown big on the blogshop together with the descriptions. Pleasing blog design makes browsing through loads of photos easy on the eye. There is also a discount area where they sell over stocks at big discounts.
Cons:
Too many photos makes loading slow. Lack of categorization of clothes hence got to look through all the items to find what you wanted. A tad expensive though their items are mostly unique. Clothes are sold out at fast speed so I have to go and browse through fast whenever I receive their update notification.
Rating given:
A friend of mine recommended this brand of ice cream to me. He said he simply love the Ferrero flavor. Being curious, I decided to give it a try.
Disappointed! I ordered Rum and Raisin and Dark Choc with M&Ms. Well, I'm not sure whether it was the blend but it does not taste appetizing at all. The taste was well... under the line... not up to it.... or the Chinese explanation : 不到味
Cold Rock wins, by having unique ice cream toppings, flavor and giving customers the thrill of watching their ice cream being blended (ouch) however, blending makes the ice cream flavors mixed up and sometimes cancel out each other. Further, blended ice cream does not look good at all. (As per my photo)
For ice cream of that pricing, I will rather go to Hagaan Daz right opposite or Scoopz which up till now is my favorite.
Rating given:
I found the fillings of the Paus rather normal, but the Da Bao didn't have ginger inside, which I personally prefer because I simply dislike ginger. The Pau skin was soft and not too thick, with lots of bite. Its really a cut above the rest. Little wonder about the long queues. Try it!
Rating given:
Went to my friend's wedding dinner at Hilton Grand Ballroom.
Never went there before and was thinking the place, food and class should be very impressive. However, we are quite disappointed as the food was so so. The only item on the menu I liked was the 佛提飘香or whatever that was one of the photos. Crispy outer rim of yam and well cooked vegetables in the center.
There was nothing special about the decoration of the ballroom and the place was quite cramped.
As for service, I won't be able to give a fair comment as we were served by someone new. The person keep mixing up our drinks order like my neighbor wanted white wine and the person gave him red wine. Another wanted Sprite and I wanted no drinks but I was given the Sprite and she wasn't given anything. Other things like spraying me with coke while he served my husband's drinks.
Rating given:
Pros:
Beautifully decorated with big screens, nice stage and crystal chandeliers. Service crew are polite and react fast to request. Service crew is 1 per 2 table. Food is above average, ingredients fresh and unique in terms of menu. Their fish dishes are delicious. Very suitable for family dinner outing and wedding dinner. Ballroom and restaurant are pillar-less and size is customizable by their sound proof wall panel according to the size of your event. Sound system is great though you will need to bring your laptop for the wedding dinner as their computer is only use for their own lighting. Open to negotiation. Clean environment.
Cons:
Difficult for planning and communication if you are the type who needs to take charge of your wedding dinner. The restaurant goes by the "last minute" policy and the lady boss Suzanna encourages people not to check things with them too early a date. Questions asked and things decided are not taken down. There is nobody assigned to our event and instead whoever is available will do it. (I had to explain myself so many times) Small bridal room for brides to do make up in.
Rating given:
Pros:
Flower bouquets and gifts are categorized by flower type, budget range and occasions. Pictures of bouquets are large and sharp hence its easier to choose what you would like to purchase. Fast and efficient customer service which reply your email and orders withing 24 hours. Wide range of flowers, gifts and plants to choose from and many of them are designed to be something unique. They even provide a summary of the meaning of the flowers as well as the number of flowers chosen. I ordered some for a friend's birthday and it was received on time. So far, I'm very satisfied with their services.
Con:
Colour of website should be of neutral colour and not dull pink. Hence colour of the flowers are unable to show out well in the pictures.
Rating given:
Farewell meetings and dinners are usually bittersweet affairs where affected parties are more or less torn between feelings of delight for having great friends and feelings of sadness of having to leave the hard earned connections behind to reach for the future. Nonetheless, its always wonderful to have a good meal with all these people who have been a big part of my life. The location was introduced by Emma who recommended the place to no end for its value for money and supposedly good food.
The interior is nothing to shout about but comfortable to be in with its soft lighting and open ambiance. The air conditioning is very powerful though, probably to diminish the discomfort of having a hot stove in front of you but unfortunately, we opted for the kitchen to cook for us, which made us end up feeling extremely cold.
Refillable Korean Side Dishes - These dishes are refillable and comes in small portions. Each refill is random and contains different sample dishes to excite your taste buds. Each is nicely done but some, like the bean sprouts and kimchi ended up being the main attractions in this selection. The problem with the refills is, it came too slowly and the serving staff had alot of problems attending to our needs. Their frustration is apparent as they struggled to keep pace with our speed of eating and the small but heavy bowls did not help their job one bit. Add the fact that the set menu for 8 is a first for them as nobody has ordered it before and you got a huge headache in terms of service.
Seafood Pancake with Spring Onion - This is very good. Fragrant, crispy and strangely juicy (its not because of the oil though), this dish gained sounds of "Oooo's" and "yums" from the all members of the group. Who would have figured beaten eggs with prawns, squid and fish cake thrown into the mix along with spring onions could make a pancake taste this good. Its available on ala carte and very much worth a try.
BBQ Beef?, BBQ Beef Short Rib? - The '?' you see behind both names are not there by accident. They are there because i can't tell which is which since they taste almost exactly the same. If not for the slight beef taste each dish contained, this could have been venison or pork and we wouldn't have been any the wiser. That said, both dishes tasted mediocre despite the tender and chewy beef pieces. Not recommended.
BBQ Chicken and BBQ Pork Collar - After tasting these 2, i'm beginning to feel they marinated everything and cooked everything in the exact same way because it sure doesn't taste any different from each other. Both were sweet, spicy and even had almost the same texture with the small difference of chicken meat being tougher and harder (that's not good by the way).
Authentic Ginseng Chicken Soup - Another mediocre dish. This started out with much promise as we noticed on ala carte, its costs between $3-5 for a refill of the ginseng stock. A sign of good things to come? Sadly, that is not to be. The ginseng soup tastes like it was only just prepared and was very bland, with only slight hints that ginseng had been used in the soup. The chicken was nothing spectacular but tore easily as it was very tender but not recommended.
Boiled Sliced Pork With Cabbage - Simple as this dish may seem, it actually tastes pretty good. The pork was firm and springy which contrasted with the cold crunchiness of the cabbage which is further enhanced by the sour balachan chilli. Nicely done but too bad about the portion size though, which was rather small.
Sauteed Vermicelli with Pork - Another nicely done dish. The vermicelli packed lots of taste and was very pleasing to consume with aromatic sesame sprinkled all over it and traces of pork spread throughout the dish. I can't quite describe why its good but it is, try it to find out.
Stone Bowl Rice - Served in a piping hot stone bowl and mixed by the customers themselves, this is an interesting and authentic Korean dish. As you can see, the bowl consists of a lone egg surrounded by bean sprouts, carrots, cabbage, sliced mushrooms, rice and minced pork. The trick is to mix the dish quickly before serving. So is this any good? For me, i liked it but i liked the cold rice version better, where everything was cold and somehow, it tasted better. This is still decent though.
Seafood and Vegetable in Claypot - Another simple yet nicely done dish. The seafood was fresh and added a dimension of sweetness to the seafood broth which tasted like seafood soup without too much salt like other offerings elsewhere. The ingredients include, mushrooms, fresh prawns, carrots, shittakes, bean curd and even scallops which we fought to have. There were even some clams thrown in for good measure. Good stuff.
Sauteed Crab Korean Style - First impressions was that the crab was small and subsequent tastes did not improve upon that impression. The sauce it was cooked in is a form of chilli which resembles kimchi and turned out overly salty. The crab meat was also minimal and not sweet nor firm which points questions at its freshness. This is something i won't try again.
Seafood Fried Rice - Simplicity is the best policy and this is apparent when this dish came out very well done yet again. Generous servings of squid and shrimp were given with its fragrant and very tasty egg fried rice. On a side note however, i myself can actually do a one up on their fried rice so maybe they should hire me instead?
Complimentary Fruit -
Looks can be deceiving as these pieces of fruit turned out to be very sweet and satisfying which i'm sure you'll agree that it simply is a huge contrast between the picture and the actual taste.
The total bill came up to $296.25 for a bittersweet hit and miss farewell dinner.
For a place with lots of service blunders, i've given them a benefit of the doubt since they admitted upfront that this was the first time anyone has ordered the set meal for 8 people. And food wise, like i've said, there are hits and misses on a pretty much 50-50 basis. I do however, recommend trying the hits on their own to see if you like it but deter on ordering via set menus. Try at your own risk because Korean food is an acquired taste and it certainly doesn't come cheap.
To the people who turned up for the meal. Thank you for all the good times we've had and for turning up. Hopefully we'll get together again soon. Cheers and all the best!
Rating given: