Walk into the world of aromatic freshly baked pastries... Before you could see and taste these delightful bakes, your nose, savoring the aromatic scent inspires your stomach to growl and your mouth salivates. The bakes at Swissbake is indeed very near to perfection.
In these cute little clear plastic display boxes, one can find many interesting pastries, those that are not usually found in our local pastries. These are some that I tried:
1) Chocolate Roll: The puffy skin is crispy and soft on the inside, chocolate feeling is drier then expected however the sweetness and bitterness of the cocoa is well balanced
2) Chocolate Pretzel: Crispy pretzel that is not too oily and very crunchy. Love the chopped nuts on top
3) Maple & Pecan Plait: This reminds me of pigtails :) The pastry is puffy and crispy however the inside is a little chewy. Love the sweet maple glazing on top and the pecans are generous. Its very tasty this one
4) Raisin Scones: This is to die for. I never tasted scones so buttery and nice like this one. Its just soft on the inside, buttery and crumbly and the taste is just amazing. The cafe also do carry a set with butter, jam and whipped cream on the side accompanied by a cuppa pipping hot coffee... Perfect Tea Break
5) Honey Baked Ham Kraftkorn: Dining in this cafe has got its pluses. Instead of just bakery stuffs you get sandwiches, soups, salad and coffee... This sandwich is one of the best I've ever had. The Kraftkorn is a german styled bread baked with many nutritious ingredients such as flax seed, sesame, etc. The sandwich packs a good nutritional value and is filling. Extremely worth every penny spent.
I love the cafe, their german style bakes especially their sandwiches. The entire environment is casual and great for lunch dates. They also do have a very good takeaway menu and products nicely packed. I even found yogurt and muesli for take away at the cold counter. Though service could be better and more smile could be plastered on the staff's face, i find the food portion to be good and the menu exciting and healthy. Premium ingredients are used so if it cost just a teeny bit more then regular cafes, its money well spent.
Oh yar. they could do well with more sitting space and of course more SMILEs...
Passed by this handmade lollypop joint last sunday... Its very much like Sticky where they do live demonstration on pulling candies, making them into the desired shape, flavor and sizes. Customization is available and of course large lollypops too.
I find the shop to be fun looking with its happy orange hue and the candies kinda taste a little more fruity. They have these cute anime statues aka the lollypop boy and anime graffiti all over the wall of the shop attracted not only me but many other kids as well. Their specialities are lollypops and I love the way they are bringing back the lolly sucking trend.
Service is great and you can browse as you delight. They are also generous with their samples and the prices well, I must say pretty reasonable. The one I like most will be the $1.30 all size lollypops.. The sizing is great, you could finish in a day and I won't deny myself of the HUGE LOLLYPOP, those that every kid's greatest wish is to wanna own one and leave it in the fridge for months...
Villa Halia, a Malay word for Ginger neatly tucked away in the midst of the Ginger Garden in the Singapore Botanical Garden is an exquisite place to bring your loved ones or for a much awaited quiet dinner. Its not a very big place however it will make a memorable dinner date.
Before dinner, we manage to stroll around the park for some photos and to enjoy the environment. The setting sun cast a beautiful orange hue in the sky and makes the entire place weirdly sensual. This is also the time where the worker bugs go home and meet their families awaiting another day of survival, you could hear them calling and these sounds of nature is like music to my ears.
Halia is a beautiful glass hut set in the midst of the park. The glass facades makes us feel like we are surrounded by the lush nature yet basking in a nice cool temperature of 28 degrees with no bug irritation. They also do have al-fresco dining however we decided it might just be too warm for a luxurious dinner date such as this. The menu was small however it held a good spread of interesting dishes and some signature Halia cuisines.
For drinks, I've decided on their specialty:
Ice Halia Infusion ($10) which is a concoction of sun-dried ginger & wild mountain honey. It tasted sweet and tangy with bits of ginger, refreshing and interesting after taste of sweet spicy ginger.
Starters we had the Baked Hokkaido scallop soufflé on puff pastry with Hollandaise sauce and Madeira reduction ($32). The pastry tasted crispy and scallop juicy placed on a bed of fresh salad leaves. Love the way the food was being presented and I could taste the freshness of the sea and the bitterness of the salad goes well with the sauce.
For mains we had:
1) Cape Grim grass-fed eye of rib fillet, 150 gm
with buttered baby leek, basil and tomato concasse( $58)
I love it medium done so that the outside is crispy and inside juicy and full of flavor. The beef is yummy and fresh and I love the buttered baby leeks, not soggy or too hard, properly cooked with the crunch and easy to chew on. They even put a flower on my mash which I ain't too sure if I can eat the flower too! The dish is amazing and presentation perfect, however the serving size is tiny.
2) Roasted New Zealand rack of lamb marinated in
Javanese spice, with ratatouille, purple potato puree
and lamb jus. ($55)
The rack of lamb is marinated with a good concoction of seasoning and is well prepared. It tasted crunchy and juicy, full of flavor and took away enough of the musky sent of the lamb to make savoring it comfortable. Love the purple potato puree though it tasted much like normal mash it had a hint of sweetness and is great on the looks.
We also had a bottle of Torbreck Old Vine GSM which is a full bodied easy drinking Red wine. Interestingly, GSM stands for a mixture of Grenache - Shiraz - Mourvedre grapes.
Location: 3/5 (Its romantic and beautiful but hard to get to even when we drove)
Ambiance: 4.5/5 (The park is romantic, setting fantastic and love the glass windows however the furniture could be more exotic)
Food: 4/5
Price: 3/5 (Ingredients used are pretty fresh however we love to see more excitement in the menu. There just too many similar restaurants around these days.)
Meal Portion: 3/5 (My tummy says not so satisfactory)
Will I come again: For special occasions or when i feel especially indulgent.
Will I bring my friends: Overseas Visitors perhaps with the exquisite setting and historical value of the location.
At the club suite, 48 levels high with a magnificent view of the Gardens by the bay and the Singapore Coastal waters littered with tiny boats and ships, I must say this is one of the most memorable times in my life.
The club suite is a room with many functional facilities, privileges and comfort. The space was huge, good enough to hold a party of 20 judging by the sheer size of the living area, small balcony that overlooks the great view (Max Pax 5), study area that comes complete with All in One printer for all my work requirements, ample sockets and Nespresso Coffee Machine for morning PERK UPS.
The huge and comfy bedding with fluffy robes are a bliss to have not to mention the beautiful egg shaped tub, glass shower facilities and dual sinks that took pampering to the next level. The platter of fruits sitting on the living table was delightful and the fruits were exotic, I had a few yellow fleshed kiwis, a aromatic mango and pears that tasted too sweet.
The entire stay was excellent and the facilities of the room were ample, it was however to my dismay that the all in one printer is not as useful as it sounds. It keeps malfunctioning and upon a phone call, the repair guy came twice yet the printer is still not working. Other then that, service was excellent.
We are served breakfast, tea breaks and other food and beverages at the club room, which is pretty luxurious and the infinity pool which is suppose to be the highlight of the entire hotel is nothing but crowded. Though the view was excellent and the pool is really infinitely long, nothing beats the fact that you are swimming in the middle of the sky and hard land... Swimming up there really is different.
I guess its worth the stay judging by the quality of the facilities, service, room comfort and all that nitty gritty stuffs that made us happy.
Its an occasional treat or sometimes a work perk however I would consider this as the prime location for my Staycation, not forgetting we could always party away at AVALON just steps downstairs.
Twas the weekend before Mother's day so we decided to beat the crowds (not to mention the ridiculously priced menus) and celebrate beforehand. A decision was made to try out Majestic Restaurant this year and honestly, my expectations were high as many people have raved about it.
The place wasn't big and the interior leaned towards western influences rather than Chinese, with a huge open kitchen and booth seats. We had a corner booth to ourselves which was pretty nice and cosy although I must say that the air conditioning that evening was underwhelming.
Wasabi Chips - Things got off to a good start with the wasabi chips - lightly salted, thin and crisp chips with a mild wasabi kick. Pretty addictive.
Pan Seared Foie Gras - Served up on a slice of watermelon, the foie gras's crisp, well seared exterior belied a soft quivery composition whose sweetness was complemented by that of the watermelon. One of the best foie gras dishes I've ever eaten in a Chinese restaurant.
Double Boiled Sea Treasures with Superior Shark's Fin and Black Truffle - I thought that the soup was deliciously sweet yet light. It definitely helped that there was a plethora of ingredients, from baby abalone to sea cucumber, fish maw, dried scallops, chicken etc. I'm usually not much of a soup person but this was one soup that had me yearning for more. One question though, where is the truffle taste?
Deep Fried Brinjal with Pork Floss - I actually dislike brinjal but this dish was surprisingly quite palatable, with a crisp coating of flour and pork floss, very much like tempura. What I didn't quite take to was the oil content though.
Scallops Wrapped with Bacon - Looks can be deceiving and the scallops wrapped with bacon was one prime example of that. The scallops were huge and the bacon looked like it had nice charred bits along the edges. Alas, the scallops weren't sweet and had a flour like texture whilst the bacon came across as soft and limp. Seriously seriously disappointing.
Salted Egg Yolk Prawn - A seemingly common dish in most Chinese restaurants these days, Majestic's variation came with slices of watermelon and chopped mango. The prawns were quite a size but I couldn't make out any taste or texture of egg yolk. Decent but there are probably loads of restaurants that do this dish better.
Zhejiang Spare Ribs - This was another disappointing dish, with the meat coming across as too hard. But at least the zhejiang vinegar was nicely tart with a hint of sweetness.
Signature Stewed Mee Sua with Baby Abalone - As much as I would like to understand the hype behind this signature dish, I am afraid I fail to comprehend. For starters, the baby abalone was, well, tiny and the soup base wasn't flavourful enough nor was the Mee Sua (面线) silky enough. Overall, a rather average dish in my humble opinion.
Signature Claypot Chicken Rice - Another signature dish from Majestic - the Claypot Chicken Rice. I can't say that I was wowed by it as it was evidently high class chicken rice. Sure, the rice was more fragrant than usual and less oily while the chicken was tender and reasonably plentiful. But seriously?
Durian Paste - We opted for the Mao Shan Wang (猫山王) durian paste to end off our meal and whilst rich, it didn't taste any different from eating straight out of the fruit as the gula melaka taste was non existent. Maybe I should have gone for the fried durian ice cream instead.
One word. Overrated. Dinner was a case of more misses than hits and wasn't cheap by any yardstick, standing at about $577 for 6 pax ($96/pax). Service was very good but I don't think that justifies the high price tag and less than stellar quality of food. I am pretty sure with $96/pax, I can get seriously better food elsewhere. Also, the choice of music played in the restaurant is pretty weird. Why would you play English pop music in a Chinese restaurant?
I got the best shoe deals at Payless.... This outlet is slightly larger then the Suntec one, however the shoes are one of the finest somebody could find for similar price range.
I love the heels, though they are high, they are extremely stable and comfortable to wear. The styles are pretty much european styles with some common brands from USA and Australia.
If you would notice, the shoes are stacked high, arranged according to their sizes and you may find half sizes as well as wide toes (those with a W eg. 8W) for large toed girls like me.
The soles of the shoes are made of pretty good materials and is non-slip while the inside is well cushioned. I must say the materials used and the make of the shoe is of a pretty good quality. I like the fact that the shoes are displayed in pairs for us to try on, ample seats as well as shoe mirrors to view them.
Service is pretty good too, the helpful staff is friendly and has got good knowledge of their shoes while they give me alot of space to do whatever i want before i call on them to get me a new pair. The sales are also good. Be sure to flip over the price tags to see if they are on discount.
The also do sell bags, sport shoes, men's shoes though limited in design, socks and accessories which I do not find as attractive as their main stream shoes :)
Great shopping experience, great products and value for money!
One of the decent places i could get a lunch without having to elbow anybody amongst the crowd... You cannot imagine the amount of consumers crowding this exhibition hall.... Its as if half of Singapore turned up for these special fairs such as the IT Show or the computer shows or the vacation fairs...
Well though they have many choices of food and the Changi Point Shopping mall within a 5 minutes walk, I am unable to make the 200 meters walk with my aching legs. Yes I have been standing and talking, rushing around to entertain my customers for the last 4 hours with hardly a break and during my short and rushy lunch hour, i just wish i could easily find a seat and enjoy my whopper in peace. I would prefer burger king to many other restaurants and even the food court as I find it more reasonably priced, food comes quick... icy cold pepsi seats perfectly with my sore throat and french fries always makes me happie. Oh well my set also does comes with a mini sundae... we always need dessert to end a meal proper!!! Service is quick and prompt, the indoor seating is comfy with the air-con pumping out nice cool wind against the hot sunny singapore weather and tables pretty clean. Ample space for me to seat and enjoy my much needed lunch... :)
My favorite location for printing of stuffs... The price is reasonable, production is fast and reliable. I've been to many printers in my course of work and could always never find one that is fast with reasonable prices until POSTER CONNECTION.
They do printing for name cards, phamplets, brochures, posters, pull up banners, decals, stickers and everything and anything else you can think of. Printing is fast and with a well equipped workstation like theirs, you are almost guaranteed super fast collection. Service is pretty good, matter of fact I find the retail supervisor Chun Hao very helpful and he even gave me a friendly ring on my mobile to clarify the logo details which i emailed him.
Experienced, Helpful, Reliable, Reasonably priced and Good work quality. What more do you ask for in a printer?
I'm not usually a vegetarian and I believe in beef, pork and the varied delicacies living in the ocean, however this restaurant changed my concept of vegetarian cuisine totally.
The reason why I denied having vegetarian meals is because of the MOCK chicken, Mock liver, Mock whatever that is made using flour and gluten based products, made to have the texture and flavor of meat. I always wondered the act of consumption of MOCK MEAT and deemed it ironical or to a certain extent oxymoronic. However, here in MiaoYi... the dishes are not totally made of gluten based products that taste almost the same. Each dish tasted distinctive and different from the regular meat dishes yet with its own vegetarian character.
1) Ginger Rice - Its nice, aromatic and delicious, though it reminded me a little of chicken rice.
2) Vegetarian Peking Duck - Its actually the mock duck (which is made by deep frying tofu and tofu skin) wrapped in fresh lettuce and cucumber with sweet sauce. Its yummy and crunchy and weirdly refreshing.
3) Vegetarian Seafood Soup - Which is an egg soup with plentiful of mushroom and more tofu. This one is regular for me.
4) Stewed mushroom - which is to mimic some internal organs of animal is actually braised mushroom of 2 kinds. Its smooth and very tasty. Great to go with rice and I must say healthy.
5) Fried Dumplings - Its a concoction of mushroom with black fungus and plentiful of vegetables, a very healthy combination.
6) Lastly we had sweet n sour pork - which is a deep fried balls of tofu skin wrapped with vegetables, mushroom and fungus in a sweet and sour sauce.. Though its not as hard as the real sweet and sour pork, I love this version a little bit more as its very chewable and healthy.
The presentation was fantastic and I like the part that alot of fresh vegetables were used in the dishes. Ingredients are fresh and most of the dishes are not deep fried. Occasional meals in this vegetarian restaurant could be an interesting change from the regular mundane meaty meals. It is very different from the other similar vegetarian restaurants and I must say defintely BETTER :)
Thumbs up for the good service and creative cuisines :)
We heard that this restaurant used to be so famous and well-liked by many older generations, so we decided to have dinner here.
The location is pretty hard to find partly because the entire Toa Payoh Central / Hub or whatever name you have for it is just so large. But this place is near to the Toa Payoh Library, right in between the Macdonalds and SHOP & SAVE. Walk through the glass door and straight ahead.. you will find a pretty nostalgia looking entrance greeting you. The restaurant is big with many tables for a simple family of four all the way to big families like 10 or 12 and with the option of having a privacy space all to yourself. I think you could also have functions or even wedding at this restaurant. It has the setting and space for smaller scale functions.
I spotted an interesting poster on the wall that has four squares at the corners of a large square in chinese calligraphy. we asked for the meaning and the helpful staff named ROSE... told use the meaning. Will post the picture for you to guess okay.
The table setting is one that speaks of traditional chinese food with peanuts as starters. We ordered some of their more famous dishes and this is our verdict.
1. Scallop with spinach - Scallop is of a good size and packs a good bouncy texture. Spinach well blanched and looked really green and yummy.
2. Treasures in a pot - Good mix of ingredients and healthy to eat. Its not oily, taste is balanced, not too salty and contains a good array of seafood such as crunchy prawns, fresh squid, smooth fish fillets and mixed vegetables.
3. Hokkien style fried noodles - This is suppose to be their winning dish as the restaurant is suppose to be famous for their hokkien style cuisines, however the fried noodles is a little disappointing for me. The noodles are a little overcooked and sticky, tasted a little too salty for my liking and no distinctive flavour. Just tasted like regular not so yummy fried noodles.
Overall, I expected more wow factor and I find the restaurant pretty overrated. There is not much of an ambiance except that its really old school and the service is also old school attention. Food is okay only, no WOW factor. Theres not much a crowd though I was there Friday evening about 7pm for dinner, there were only about 5 other tables of small families dining there not including us. Portion is good, ingredients used are fresh and the only thing I like is the old school feel of the place. You can't get many of these in Singapore anymore.. so we should treasure these little spots that represents whats left of our diminishing culture and social identity.
1=SGD 0.0587
Walk into the world of aromatic freshly baked pastries... Before you could see and taste these delightful bakes, your nose, savoring the aromatic scent inspires your stomach to growl and your mouth salivates. The bakes at Swissbake is indeed very near to perfection.
In these cute little clear plastic display boxes, one can find many interesting pastries, those that are not usually found in our local pastries. These are some that I tried:
1) Chocolate Roll: The puffy skin is crispy and soft on the inside, chocolate feeling is drier then expected however the sweetness and bitterness of the cocoa is well balanced
2) Chocolate Pretzel: Crispy pretzel that is not too oily and very crunchy. Love the chopped nuts on top
3) Maple & Pecan Plait: This reminds me of pigtails :) The pastry is puffy and crispy however the inside is a little chewy. Love the sweet maple glazing on top and the pecans are generous. Its very tasty this one
4) Raisin Scones: This is to die for. I never tasted scones so buttery and nice like this one. Its just soft on the inside, buttery and crumbly and the taste is just amazing. The cafe also do carry a set with butter, jam and whipped cream on the side accompanied by a cuppa pipping hot coffee... Perfect Tea Break
5) Honey Baked Ham Kraftkorn: Dining in this cafe has got its pluses. Instead of just bakery stuffs you get sandwiches, soups, salad and coffee... This sandwich is one of the best I've ever had. The Kraftkorn is a german styled bread baked with many nutritious ingredients such as flax seed, sesame, etc. The sandwich packs a good nutritional value and is filling. Extremely worth every penny spent.
I love the cafe, their german style bakes especially their sandwiches. The entire environment is casual and great for lunch dates. They also do have a very good takeaway menu and products nicely packed. I even found yogurt and muesli for take away at the cold counter. Though service could be better and more smile could be plastered on the staff's face, i find the food portion to be good and the menu exciting and healthy. Premium ingredients are used so if it cost just a teeny bit more then regular cafes, its money well spent.
Oh yar. they could do well with more sitting space and of course more SMILEs...
Rating given:
Passed by this handmade lollypop joint last sunday... Its very much like Sticky where they do live demonstration on pulling candies, making them into the desired shape, flavor and sizes. Customization is available and of course large lollypops too.
I find the shop to be fun looking with its happy orange hue and the candies kinda taste a little more fruity. They have these cute anime statues aka the lollypop boy and anime graffiti all over the wall of the shop attracted not only me but many other kids as well. Their specialities are lollypops and I love the way they are bringing back the lolly sucking trend.
Service is great and you can browse as you delight. They are also generous with their samples and the prices well, I must say pretty reasonable. The one I like most will be the $1.30 all size lollypops.. The sizing is great, you could finish in a day and I won't deny myself of the HUGE LOLLYPOP, those that every kid's greatest wish is to wanna own one and leave it in the fridge for months...
Great shop great idea and left me wanting more.
Rating given:
Villa Halia, a Malay word for Ginger neatly tucked away in the midst of the Ginger Garden in the Singapore Botanical Garden is an exquisite place to bring your loved ones or for a much awaited quiet dinner. Its not a very big place however it will make a memorable dinner date.
Before dinner, we manage to stroll around the park for some photos and to enjoy the environment. The setting sun cast a beautiful orange hue in the sky and makes the entire place weirdly sensual. This is also the time where the worker bugs go home and meet their families awaiting another day of survival, you could hear them calling and these sounds of nature is like music to my ears.
Halia is a beautiful glass hut set in the midst of the park. The glass facades makes us feel like we are surrounded by the lush nature yet basking in a nice cool temperature of 28 degrees with no bug irritation. They also do have al-fresco dining however we decided it might just be too warm for a luxurious dinner date such as this. The menu was small however it held a good spread of interesting dishes and some signature Halia cuisines.
For drinks, I've decided on their specialty:
Ice Halia Infusion ($10) which is a concoction of sun-dried ginger & wild mountain honey. It tasted sweet and tangy with bits of ginger, refreshing and interesting after taste of sweet spicy ginger.
Starters we had the Baked Hokkaido scallop soufflé on puff pastry with Hollandaise sauce and Madeira reduction ($32). The pastry tasted crispy and scallop juicy placed on a bed of fresh salad leaves. Love the way the food was being presented and I could taste the freshness of the sea and the bitterness of the salad goes well with the sauce.
For mains we had:
1) Cape Grim grass-fed eye of rib fillet, 150 gm
with buttered baby leek, basil and tomato concasse( $58)
I love it medium done so that the outside is crispy and inside juicy and full of flavor. The beef is yummy and fresh and I love the buttered baby leeks, not soggy or too hard, properly cooked with the crunch and easy to chew on. They even put a flower on my mash which I ain't too sure if I can eat the flower too! The dish is amazing and presentation perfect, however the serving size is tiny.
2) Roasted New Zealand rack of lamb marinated in
Javanese spice, with ratatouille, purple potato puree
and lamb jus. ($55)
The rack of lamb is marinated with a good concoction of seasoning and is well prepared. It tasted crunchy and juicy, full of flavor and took away enough of the musky sent of the lamb to make savoring it comfortable. Love the purple potato puree though it tasted much like normal mash it had a hint of sweetness and is great on the looks.
We also had a bottle of Torbreck Old Vine GSM which is a full bodied easy drinking Red wine. Interestingly, GSM stands for a mixture of Grenache - Shiraz - Mourvedre grapes.
Location: 3/5 (Its romantic and beautiful but hard to get to even when we drove)
Ambiance: 4.5/5 (The park is romantic, setting fantastic and love the glass windows however the furniture could be more exotic)
Food: 4/5
Price: 3/5 (Ingredients used are pretty fresh however we love to see more excitement in the menu. There just too many similar restaurants around these days.)
Meal Portion: 3/5 (My tummy says not so satisfactory)
Will I come again: For special occasions or when i feel especially indulgent.
Will I bring my friends: Overseas Visitors perhaps with the exquisite setting and historical value of the location.
Rating given:
At the club suite, 48 levels high with a magnificent view of the Gardens by the bay and the Singapore Coastal waters littered with tiny boats and ships, I must say this is one of the most memorable times in my life.
The club suite is a room with many functional facilities, privileges and comfort. The space was huge, good enough to hold a party of 20 judging by the sheer size of the living area, small balcony that overlooks the great view (Max Pax 5), study area that comes complete with All in One printer for all my work requirements, ample sockets and Nespresso Coffee Machine for morning PERK UPS.
The huge and comfy bedding with fluffy robes are a bliss to have not to mention the beautiful egg shaped tub, glass shower facilities and dual sinks that took pampering to the next level. The platter of fruits sitting on the living table was delightful and the fruits were exotic, I had a few yellow fleshed kiwis, a aromatic mango and pears that tasted too sweet.
The entire stay was excellent and the facilities of the room were ample, it was however to my dismay that the all in one printer is not as useful as it sounds. It keeps malfunctioning and upon a phone call, the repair guy came twice yet the printer is still not working. Other then that, service was excellent.
We are served breakfast, tea breaks and other food and beverages at the club room, which is pretty luxurious and the infinity pool which is suppose to be the highlight of the entire hotel is nothing but crowded. Though the view was excellent and the pool is really infinitely long, nothing beats the fact that you are swimming in the middle of the sky and hard land... Swimming up there really is different.
I guess its worth the stay judging by the quality of the facilities, service, room comfort and all that nitty gritty stuffs that made us happy.
Its an occasional treat or sometimes a work perk however I would consider this as the prime location for my Staycation, not forgetting we could always party away at AVALON just steps downstairs.
Rating given:
Twas the weekend before Mother's day so we decided to beat the crowds (not to mention the ridiculously priced menus) and celebrate beforehand. A decision was made to try out Majestic Restaurant this year and honestly, my expectations were high as many people have raved about it.
The place wasn't big and the interior leaned towards western influences rather than Chinese, with a huge open kitchen and booth seats. We had a corner booth to ourselves which was pretty nice and cosy although I must say that the air conditioning that evening was underwhelming.
Wasabi Chips - Things got off to a good start with the wasabi chips - lightly salted, thin and crisp chips with a mild wasabi kick. Pretty addictive.
Pan Seared Foie Gras - Served up on a slice of watermelon, the foie gras's crisp, well seared exterior belied a soft quivery composition whose sweetness was complemented by that of the watermelon. One of the best foie gras dishes I've ever eaten in a Chinese restaurant.
Double Boiled Sea Treasures with Superior Shark's Fin and Black Truffle - I thought that the soup was deliciously sweet yet light. It definitely helped that there was a plethora of ingredients, from baby abalone to sea cucumber, fish maw, dried scallops, chicken etc. I'm usually not much of a soup person but this was one soup that had me yearning for more. One question though, where is the truffle taste?
Deep Fried Brinjal with Pork Floss - I actually dislike brinjal but this dish was surprisingly quite palatable, with a crisp coating of flour and pork floss, very much like tempura. What I didn't quite take to was the oil content though.
Scallops Wrapped with Bacon - Looks can be deceiving and the scallops wrapped with bacon was one prime example of that. The scallops were huge and the bacon looked like it had nice charred bits along the edges. Alas, the scallops weren't sweet and had a flour like texture whilst the bacon came across as soft and limp. Seriously seriously disappointing.
Salted Egg Yolk Prawn - A seemingly common dish in most Chinese restaurants these days, Majestic's variation came with slices of watermelon and chopped mango. The prawns were quite a size but I couldn't make out any taste or texture of egg yolk. Decent but there are probably loads of restaurants that do this dish better.
Zhejiang Spare Ribs - This was another disappointing dish, with the meat coming across as too hard. But at least the zhejiang vinegar was nicely tart with a hint of sweetness.
Signature Stewed Mee Sua with Baby Abalone - As much as I would like to understand the hype behind this signature dish, I am afraid I fail to comprehend. For starters, the baby abalone was, well, tiny and the soup base wasn't flavourful enough nor was the Mee Sua (面线) silky enough. Overall, a rather average dish in my humble opinion.
Signature Claypot Chicken Rice - Another signature dish from Majestic - the Claypot Chicken Rice. I can't say that I was wowed by it as it was evidently high class chicken rice. Sure, the rice was more fragrant than usual and less oily while the chicken was tender and reasonably plentiful. But seriously?
Durian Paste - We opted for the Mao Shan Wang (猫山王) durian paste to end off our meal and whilst rich, it didn't taste any different from eating straight out of the fruit as the gula melaka taste was non existent. Maybe I should have gone for the fried durian ice cream instead.
One word. Overrated. Dinner was a case of more misses than hits and wasn't cheap by any yardstick, standing at about $577 for 6 pax ($96/pax). Service was very good but I don't think that justifies the high price tag and less than stellar quality of food. I am pretty sure with $96/pax, I can get seriously better food elsewhere. Also, the choice of music played in the restaurant is pretty weird. Why would you play English pop music in a Chinese restaurant?
See my entire review here.
Rating given:
I got the best shoe deals at Payless.... This outlet is slightly larger then the Suntec one, however the shoes are one of the finest somebody could find for similar price range.
I love the heels, though they are high, they are extremely stable and comfortable to wear. The styles are pretty much european styles with some common brands from USA and Australia.
If you would notice, the shoes are stacked high, arranged according to their sizes and you may find half sizes as well as wide toes (those with a W eg. 8W) for large toed girls like me.
The soles of the shoes are made of pretty good materials and is non-slip while the inside is well cushioned. I must say the materials used and the make of the shoe is of a pretty good quality. I like the fact that the shoes are displayed in pairs for us to try on, ample seats as well as shoe mirrors to view them.
Service is pretty good too, the helpful staff is friendly and has got good knowledge of their shoes while they give me alot of space to do whatever i want before i call on them to get me a new pair. The sales are also good. Be sure to flip over the price tags to see if they are on discount.
The also do sell bags, sport shoes, men's shoes though limited in design, socks and accessories which I do not find as attractive as their main stream shoes :)
Great shopping experience, great products and value for money!
Rating given:
One of the decent places i could get a lunch without having to elbow anybody amongst the crowd... You cannot imagine the amount of consumers crowding this exhibition hall.... Its as if half of Singapore turned up for these special fairs such as the IT Show or the computer shows or the vacation fairs...
Well though they have many choices of food and the Changi Point Shopping mall within a 5 minutes walk, I am unable to make the 200 meters walk with my aching legs. Yes I have been standing and talking, rushing around to entertain my customers for the last 4 hours with hardly a break and during my short and rushy lunch hour, i just wish i could easily find a seat and enjoy my whopper in peace. I would prefer burger king to many other restaurants and even the food court as I find it more reasonably priced, food comes quick... icy cold pepsi seats perfectly with my sore throat and french fries always makes me happie. Oh well my set also does comes with a mini sundae... we always need dessert to end a meal proper!!! Service is quick and prompt, the indoor seating is comfy with the air-con pumping out nice cool wind against the hot sunny singapore weather and tables pretty clean. Ample space for me to seat and enjoy my much needed lunch... :)
Seriously nothing beats the Whopper....
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My favorite location for printing of stuffs... The price is reasonable, production is fast and reliable. I've been to many printers in my course of work and could always never find one that is fast with reasonable prices until POSTER CONNECTION.
They do printing for name cards, phamplets, brochures, posters, pull up banners, decals, stickers and everything and anything else you can think of. Printing is fast and with a well equipped workstation like theirs, you are almost guaranteed super fast collection. Service is pretty good, matter of fact I find the retail supervisor Chun Hao very helpful and he even gave me a friendly ring on my mobile to clarify the logo details which i emailed him.
Experienced, Helpful, Reliable, Reasonably priced and Good work quality. What more do you ask for in a printer?
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I'm not usually a vegetarian and I believe in beef, pork and the varied delicacies living in the ocean, however this restaurant changed my concept of vegetarian cuisine totally.
The reason why I denied having vegetarian meals is because of the MOCK chicken, Mock liver, Mock whatever that is made using flour and gluten based products, made to have the texture and flavor of meat. I always wondered the act of consumption of MOCK MEAT and deemed it ironical or to a certain extent oxymoronic. However, here in MiaoYi... the dishes are not totally made of gluten based products that taste almost the same. Each dish tasted distinctive and different from the regular meat dishes yet with its own vegetarian character.
1) Ginger Rice - Its nice, aromatic and delicious, though it reminded me a little of chicken rice.
2) Vegetarian Peking Duck - Its actually the mock duck (which is made by deep frying tofu and tofu skin) wrapped in fresh lettuce and cucumber with sweet sauce. Its yummy and crunchy and weirdly refreshing.
3) Vegetarian Seafood Soup - Which is an egg soup with plentiful of mushroom and more tofu. This one is regular for me.
4) Stewed mushroom - which is to mimic some internal organs of animal is actually braised mushroom of 2 kinds. Its smooth and very tasty. Great to go with rice and I must say healthy.
5) Fried Dumplings - Its a concoction of mushroom with black fungus and plentiful of vegetables, a very healthy combination.
6) Lastly we had sweet n sour pork - which is a deep fried balls of tofu skin wrapped with vegetables, mushroom and fungus in a sweet and sour sauce.. Though its not as hard as the real sweet and sour pork, I love this version a little bit more as its very chewable and healthy.
The presentation was fantastic and I like the part that alot of fresh vegetables were used in the dishes. Ingredients are fresh and most of the dishes are not deep fried. Occasional meals in this vegetarian restaurant could be an interesting change from the regular mundane meaty meals. It is very different from the other similar vegetarian restaurants and I must say defintely BETTER :)
Thumbs up for the good service and creative cuisines :)
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We heard that this restaurant used to be so famous and well-liked by many older generations, so we decided to have dinner here.
The location is pretty hard to find partly because the entire Toa Payoh Central / Hub or whatever name you have for it is just so large. But this place is near to the Toa Payoh Library, right in between the Macdonalds and SHOP & SAVE. Walk through the glass door and straight ahead.. you will find a pretty nostalgia looking entrance greeting you. The restaurant is big with many tables for a simple family of four all the way to big families like 10 or 12 and with the option of having a privacy space all to yourself. I think you could also have functions or even wedding at this restaurant. It has the setting and space for smaller scale functions.
I spotted an interesting poster on the wall that has four squares at the corners of a large square in chinese calligraphy. we asked for the meaning and the helpful staff named ROSE... told use the meaning. Will post the picture for you to guess okay.
The table setting is one that speaks of traditional chinese food with peanuts as starters. We ordered some of their more famous dishes and this is our verdict.
1. Scallop with spinach - Scallop is of a good size and packs a good bouncy texture. Spinach well blanched and looked really green and yummy.
2. Treasures in a pot - Good mix of ingredients and healthy to eat. Its not oily, taste is balanced, not too salty and contains a good array of seafood such as crunchy prawns, fresh squid, smooth fish fillets and mixed vegetables.
3. Hokkien style fried noodles - This is suppose to be their winning dish as the restaurant is suppose to be famous for their hokkien style cuisines, however the fried noodles is a little disappointing for me. The noodles are a little overcooked and sticky, tasted a little too salty for my liking and no distinctive flavour. Just tasted like regular not so yummy fried noodles.
Overall, I expected more wow factor and I find the restaurant pretty overrated. There is not much of an ambiance except that its really old school and the service is also old school attention. Food is okay only, no WOW factor. Theres not much a crowd though I was there Friday evening about 7pm for dinner, there were only about 5 other tables of small families dining there not including us. Portion is good, ingredients used are fresh and the only thing I like is the old school feel of the place. You can't get many of these in Singapore anymore.. so we should treasure these little spots that represents whats left of our diminishing culture and social identity.
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