Taking advantage of a free Saturday evening, we decided to have dinner at Pierside - a rather well established eatery under the Marmalade group of restaurants.
Just across the shore from the towering Marina Bay Sands, Pierside Kitchen occupies a corner of One Fullerton, playing neighbour to Chinese restaurant, Jing. There is an option of alfresco dining or a rather dim air conditioned interior. We opted for the former as the weather held out fine but it was the view that proved to be the deal clincher.
Complimentary Bread - Served piping hot, the complimentary bread was small but simple. And the butter melted effortlessly, which made for a nice stop gap measure against hunger pangs.
Hokkaido Corn Chowder - Smooth and creamy with a light hint of corn and a dash of pepper to accentuate the flavour, the chowder had bits of sweet corn in it to give it that nice crunchy texture. Pretty decent if you ask me.
Pan Roasted Foie Gras - It's been a while since I've had decent foie gras and Pierside didn't disappoint. While I wouldn't go as far as saying that it was great, the foie gras was respectable by many measures. A little crisp on the outside with a relatively smooth and quivery inside sans the overpowering gamy taste. Best eaten with the accompanying prune.
Crispy Duck Confit with Celeriac Puree - Crisp skin coupled with pinkish, chewy meat - no complaints really. But somehow the duck confit came up short in taste, coming across as a little pedestrian. Still a decent eat nonetheless.
300 Day Grain Fed Braised Beef Cheeks - I personally didn't quite take to the risotto that came alongside the beef cheeks, finding it a little too soft for my liking. The beef cheeks however, were reasonably tender and flavourful, with the only issue lying in the small portion size. The obligatory greens came in the form of a single stalk of asparagus chopped into half and topped with pepper and salt. Overall a decent eat.
Salted Caramel and Peanut Butter Mousse - What I liked about this dessert was the fact that it tasted like one of my favourite snacks, Reese's peanut butter cups! The mousse had a very strong taste of peanut butter (not so much salted caramel) and sat on a crunchy hazelnut base. Accompanying it was a nice dollop of vanilla bean ice cream and a few slices of caramalised bananas. Only recommended for those who really like peanut butter.
Banana Creme Brulee - The banana creme brulee looked different from your regular creme brulee in a bowl/cup. It was rectangular and flat, with the less than quivery custard sandwiched between 2 layers of perfectly torched caramel. Adding weight to the dish were banana slices that were a little charred along the edges and a scoop of mascarpone ice cream. All in all a rather nice dessert!
With dinner for 2 hitting about $190, I wouldn't say it's anywhere near cheap or reasonable. And I am not sure the quality and quantity of food justifies the pricing. For me, it's probably going to be a one time off meal at Pierside.
Enticed by the AMEX 1 for 1 set menu at Tung Lok and the prospect of catching up, a couple of us met up for dinner at The Central's Signatures (TLS for short) outlet for dinner one evening. I've actually never been a fan of Tung Lok as I've yet to experience really good food at any of their outlets, including their much touted Humble House.
Located on the 2nd floor of The Central and immaculately done up to exude an air of oriental poshness, Tung Lok Signatures stands out from the crowd of eateries that crowd the area. Tables are spaced at a relatively comfortable distance and full length windows allow a great view of Clarke Quay and the Singapore river.
Flame Traditional-style Boiled Shark’s Fin Soup with Chicken - Gimmicky flames aside (due to the lighting of wax at the side of the bowl), I thought that the broth was excellent - flavourful yet light on the palate. Fin portions were reasonably substantial with bits of chicken to balance out the texture.
Pan-fried French Foie Gras with Crispy Beancurd Skin served on Pancake - Playing on the concept of Peking Duck, TLS's take on the pan fried foie gras involved serving the foie gras (with a layer of peking duck sauce on top) together with a crackling piece of beancurd skin and wrapped over using a rectangular piece of thick crepe. I honestly thought that it was an interesting concept but I did find the foie gras way too gamy for my liking. And that honestly killed this dish for me.
Steamed Soon Hock Belly with Minced Ginger - The soon hock was fresh but a little lacking in natural sweetness. One other gripe too. Being the belly, it had tons of bones which made it a pain to consume.
Crispy Kurobuta Pork Cartilage in Chili Sauce served with Deep-fried Bun - This dish seemed promisingly at the onset but didn't quite dazzle. The pork cartilage was coated with flour, deep fried and drenched in chilli sauce that was similar to chilli crab gravy, just a lot less spicy. The meat was tender but somehow I couldn't get past my psychological barrier to stomach the gelatinous cartilage. I liked the deep fried bun though.
Braised Japanese Handmade Noodles with Lobster Meat and Vegetable - Alongside the shark's fin soup, this was probably the best dish of the evening. Springy and robust noodles with minimal portions of lobster meat and a nice, savoury gravy. And of course, the obligatory 2 stalks of vegetables.
Chilled Grapefruit Shaven Ice topped with Ice-cream served in Pomelo - I was hoping for a sweet ending to my meal. But what I got was a cold, bitter dessert, which pretty much sums up how we felt at the end of the meal. But to be fair to the grapefruit, I'm just not a fan.
With the AMEX 1 for 1 promotion, 6 of us clocked in at almost $352 for dinner. Service was good but food left much to be desired. Even with the promotion, I'm not sure I would want to fork out almost $60 a head for food of such quality and portions. And with this meal, I have officially closed the chapter on Tung Lok, never to return.
Went to this hotel for Christmas, a retro-themed boutique hotel which is quite fun to visit once in a while for Staycation.
The lobby and lounge is striking with Fushia Pink as the primary colour, the only problem we had was, we were unsure where the queue at the counter was.
Can be quite inaccessible for tourists who are unsure of the bus system. Though the hotel provides shuttle bus, we are not sure of where to board it and had to rely on cabs to and fro places.
Rooms were cleanly and retro-ly decorated (even in the bathrooms!). Smaller than a normal hotel room but extremely clean and well kept. With Star Chinese Movie channel, a basket of complimentary soft drinks and tidbits. Best, with free Wifi.
Went to this restaurant for brunch on Christmas day, the retro themed made our groggy morning/noon brighten up.
Order Laksa, Wings, Sandwiches, Steak, mushroom soup and desserts consisted of Tiramisu and Longan with Grass Jelly.
Laksa smelt nice, not too spicy, with eggs and prawns in it. But the prawns were not that fresh, unpeeled and not washed very cleanly as sand can still be found in the Laksa itself.
Wings were tad too oily and could have been marinated better with a bit of lime.
Steak was ordered as well done and indeed it came well done but not too much so the meat remained tender. The sauce though, was a mixture of black pepper and something VERY salty like soy sauce. Quite disappointing.
Their Tiramisu doesn't use Kahlua, the name of the wine I've forgotten, maybe we are not used to it so the Tiramisu tasted weird to us.
I purchase all my OPIs and China Glaze nail polishes here. Other than the shop office in Ubi, they also sells nail polishes at Flea Market at Scape (Beside Cineleisure) on weekends. Their stall is almost always crowded. :D
If there's a colour you would like them to keep for you to collect at the flea market, just let them know in advance and they will keep it for you. Normally I would purchase online since they provide free normal postage and purchasing more than a certain limit they will even provide free registered post! Any colours you're not sure if it's the same as another just check with them and they will be able to tell you if there's a difference.
Very fast respond to facebook comments regarding inquiries and the best part it's a lot cheaper as compared to departmental shops. :D
Bought a voucher through Streetdeal.sg for Classic Manicure and Pedicure at $22 only! :D
It's easy to locate, very nicely decorated. Chairs are comfortable and staffs are friendly. Spacious and clean feel.
Topped up S$5 for the milky thingy for hands and S$5 for feet. Have to topup for OPI designer range so I picked normal colours. No need to top up for quick dry top coat which is something I'm really pleased with. :D
2 different ladies doing my mani and pedi so I was out in less than an hour. The lady doing manicure for me seems a little distracted as she forgot to put top coat on a few of my nails and cuticle oil but other than that everything is fine. They open 2 sets of fresh tools pack for mani and pedi. Overall satisfied. :)
Skills not too bad it's been 6 days and no signs of chipping yet. :D
Bought a $9.90 voucher through insing.com. Shop closes at 9pm but last appointment at 7pm. Shop location is quite quiet but not that difficult to find.
My first facial gua sha, I heard it's supposed to clear toxins? Paid extra $10 for eye mask. The gua sha is somewhat painful, felt that facial's not really professionally done but I had a nice nap during the mask session though and miraculously my sore throat got better after the nap. :D
Face mask it's those crystal film type, facialist says normally for gua sha there's no extraction but she did a little bit of extraction on my nose cause it's really terrible.. No red marks after facial however I don't feel like I've done a proper facial, as in I don't feel like my skin's really cleaned up after the facial.. :(
Service staff did try to sell package after treatment but didn't hard sell too much though. Could be because I had another appointment after..
Pro: Went to Nirwana Gardens Beach Club (Huts, 2 rooms to 1 hut) for my first trip to Bintan. Rooms are clean and big enough for 2 or 3 pax to stay comfortably in. Toilet and floor are clean. Towels provided are clean. The air con is working very well and seems to be new too. Staff relatively friendly, can speak and understand English. The best thing about this place is, there's a beach attached to it and it's almost deserted most of the 2 days we were there. I believe this is because most of the guests went to the beach at the Nirwana Garden Hotel. The sports centre is very nearby so accessible if you want to play Banana Boat, Ski Jets but you'll need to go to the Hotel area for ATV. The Club is also very accomodating and allowed us to extend our stay by 1.5 hours with no extra charges.
Con: Don't buy anything from the cafe at the beach club. It's about 10 times more expensive than the prices in Singapore. A bottle of 1.5litres mineral water costs $10 and fruit platter at $8. Don't go for the packaged massage sessions offered by the beach club. We went for 1 at SGD 75 each that includes massage, choice between sampan or private beach, ride to shopping area and lunch. In the end, we travelled an hr plus of dizzy and nausating dangerous ride to some other resort. Massage was ok but we weren't given a choice of beach or Sampan, we were directly taken to the Sampan, no notifications at all! Lunch consisted of measly nasi lemak at 4pm! We were also told that the package doesn't include shopping when it actually does. If you want massage, just go to the nearby shopping area where they offer $50 for 2 hours massage.
Popped by Cova Pasticceria for dinner one evening since we were in the vicinity and everywhere else was packed. Started in 1819 in Milan and originally patronised by the crème de la crème of society, Cova has expanded to a few countries in Asia to cater to those who seek "the high life" (albeit if only temporary). And the decor is telling. Dark wood coupled with European style overhanging lamps that throw off warm light and well designed cornices greet you as you step into the cozy space that Cova occupies. Simple yet elegant.
Mushroom Risotto - For $30 , I had expected something more substantial than a miserly thin layer of risotto which I finished in 2 mouthfuls. And to compound matters, the risotto was a little overcooked for my liking.
Seafood Spaghetti - The seafood spaghetti fared a little better though I did think that the spaghetti wasn't al dente. I liked the light tomato based sauce and the fresh seafood but as with the risotto, portions were pathetic.
Lamb Rack - I didn't get to try this but from observation, portions were still small.
Peanut Feuilletine - And for dessert, a tiny piece of peanut feuilletine about a third the size of a regular slice of cake you would get at the likes of Starbucks, Coffeebean etc. To give it credit, the feuillentine was nicely thin and crisp while the chopped peanuts provided a nice crunch to the whole dessert. There wasn't much to go around though.
A miserable meal for 3 cost to the tune of $130, which is ridiculously expensive in my humble opinion. Portions were pathetic and two people with average appetites would have been able to polish off all the dishes with ease (we resorted to MacDonalds after the meal). Food quality hovered around average to slightly above average but the prices (and portion size) definitely do not warrant a revisit. Also, service lacked warmth and I didn't feel invited at times. Maybe we are just the wrong target audience.
Another long overdue post. Caught up with a couple of friends over dinner at Mong Hing, a Teochew restaurant at Keypoint and where I once had a pretty good dinner before.
Prawn Rolls - The heh zhor was decent - Lean meat with pockets of fats and bits of prawn. Crisp but not too oily. Good for many bites, especially with the sweet plum sauce.
Homemade Beancurd - This certainly didn't look like beancurd, not with the circular shaped, golden brown exterior. And honestly it didn't quite taste like tofu. The texture was more like Thai prawn cakes, just a lot less dense and "fluffier" so to speak. Definitely not smooth and silky, the way I like it. The only giveaway was the taste, which had a distinctive beancurd taste. Although I like tofu, this is something I will definitely not order again.
Prawns with Deep Fried Pumpkin - At $24 for 6 prawns and 6 pieces of pumpkin coated with flour and deep fried, this was a joke. The prawns were drenched in sweet and sour sauce, which masked the natural flavour of the prawns. Total waste of prawns. The pumpkin however, were sweet and not too bad as a filler.
Stir Fried HK Kailan - Decent with a tinge of wok hei but lacking in dried sole fish. Wouldn't hurt to give a little more, would it?
Braised Goose - The goose was good - not too dry and well braised with the sauce not coming across as too salty.
We ended the meal with yam paste (orh nee) but I failed to get a shot of it. It was good but could have done with a little more fragrance. The infrequent bits of unevenness made for a nice smooth, yet inconsistent texture.
The 5 of us chalked up a bill of about $133. Not too expensive but quality of food seems to have dropped since my last visit. Maybe I should just stick to the likes of Huat Kee or Liang Kee or maybe I should give Mong Hing another chance.
1=SGD 0.0587
Taking advantage of a free Saturday evening, we decided to have dinner at Pierside - a rather well established eatery under the Marmalade group of restaurants.
Just across the shore from the towering Marina Bay Sands, Pierside Kitchen occupies a corner of One Fullerton, playing neighbour to Chinese restaurant, Jing. There is an option of alfresco dining or a rather dim air conditioned interior. We opted for the former as the weather held out fine but it was the view that proved to be the deal clincher.
Complimentary Bread - Served piping hot, the complimentary bread was small but simple. And the butter melted effortlessly, which made for a nice stop gap measure against hunger pangs.
Hokkaido Corn Chowder - Smooth and creamy with a light hint of corn and a dash of pepper to accentuate the flavour, the chowder had bits of sweet corn in it to give it that nice crunchy texture. Pretty decent if you ask me.
Pan Roasted Foie Gras - It's been a while since I've had decent foie gras and Pierside didn't disappoint. While I wouldn't go as far as saying that it was great, the foie gras was respectable by many measures. A little crisp on the outside with a relatively smooth and quivery inside sans the overpowering gamy taste. Best eaten with the accompanying prune.
Crispy Duck Confit with Celeriac Puree - Crisp skin coupled with pinkish, chewy meat - no complaints really. But somehow the duck confit came up short in taste, coming across as a little pedestrian. Still a decent eat nonetheless.
300 Day Grain Fed Braised Beef Cheeks - I personally didn't quite take to the risotto that came alongside the beef cheeks, finding it a little too soft for my liking. The beef cheeks however, were reasonably tender and flavourful, with the only issue lying in the small portion size. The obligatory greens came in the form of a single stalk of asparagus chopped into half and topped with pepper and salt. Overall a decent eat.
Salted Caramel and Peanut Butter Mousse - What I liked about this dessert was the fact that it tasted like one of my favourite snacks, Reese's peanut butter cups! The mousse had a very strong taste of peanut butter (not so much salted caramel) and sat on a crunchy hazelnut base. Accompanying it was a nice dollop of vanilla bean ice cream and a few slices of caramalised bananas. Only recommended for those who really like peanut butter.
Banana Creme Brulee - The banana creme brulee looked different from your regular creme brulee in a bowl/cup. It was rectangular and flat, with the less than quivery custard sandwiched between 2 layers of perfectly torched caramel. Adding weight to the dish were banana slices that were a little charred along the edges and a scoop of mascarpone ice cream. All in all a rather nice dessert!
With dinner for 2 hitting about $190, I wouldn't say it's anywhere near cheap or reasonable. And I am not sure the quality and quantity of food justifies the pricing. For me, it's probably going to be a one time off meal at Pierside.
See all my pictures here.
Rating given:
Enticed by the AMEX 1 for 1 set menu at Tung Lok and the prospect of catching up, a couple of us met up for dinner at The Central's Signatures (TLS for short) outlet for dinner one evening. I've actually never been a fan of Tung Lok as I've yet to experience really good food at any of their outlets, including their much touted Humble House.
Located on the 2nd floor of The Central and immaculately done up to exude an air of oriental poshness, Tung Lok Signatures stands out from the crowd of eateries that crowd the area. Tables are spaced at a relatively comfortable distance and full length windows allow a great view of Clarke Quay and the Singapore river.
Flame Traditional-style Boiled Shark’s Fin Soup with Chicken - Gimmicky flames aside (due to the lighting of wax at the side of the bowl), I thought that the broth was excellent - flavourful yet light on the palate. Fin portions were reasonably substantial with bits of chicken to balance out the texture.
Pan-fried French Foie Gras with Crispy Beancurd Skin served on Pancake - Playing on the concept of Peking Duck, TLS's take on the pan fried foie gras involved serving the foie gras (with a layer of peking duck sauce on top) together with a crackling piece of beancurd skin and wrapped over using a rectangular piece of thick crepe. I honestly thought that it was an interesting concept but I did find the foie gras way too gamy for my liking. And that honestly killed this dish for me.
Steamed Soon Hock Belly with Minced Ginger - The soon hock was fresh but a little lacking in natural sweetness. One other gripe too. Being the belly, it had tons of bones which made it a pain to consume.
Crispy Kurobuta Pork Cartilage in Chili Sauce served with Deep-fried Bun - This dish seemed promisingly at the onset but didn't quite dazzle. The pork cartilage was coated with flour, deep fried and drenched in chilli sauce that was similar to chilli crab gravy, just a lot less spicy. The meat was tender but somehow I couldn't get past my psychological barrier to stomach the gelatinous cartilage. I liked the deep fried bun though.
Braised Japanese Handmade Noodles with Lobster Meat and Vegetable - Alongside the shark's fin soup, this was probably the best dish of the evening. Springy and robust noodles with minimal portions of lobster meat and a nice, savoury gravy. And of course, the obligatory 2 stalks of vegetables.
Chilled Grapefruit Shaven Ice topped with Ice-cream served in Pomelo - I was hoping for a sweet ending to my meal. But what I got was a cold, bitter dessert, which pretty much sums up how we felt at the end of the meal. But to be fair to the grapefruit, I'm just not a fan.
With the AMEX 1 for 1 promotion, 6 of us clocked in at almost $352 for dinner. Service was good but food left much to be desired. Even with the promotion, I'm not sure I would want to fork out almost $60 a head for food of such quality and portions. And with this meal, I have officially closed the chapter on Tung Lok, never to return.
See all my pictures here.
Rating given:
Went to this hotel for Christmas, a retro-themed boutique hotel which is quite fun to visit once in a while for Staycation.
The lobby and lounge is striking with Fushia Pink as the primary colour, the only problem we had was, we were unsure where the queue at the counter was.
Can be quite inaccessible for tourists who are unsure of the bus system. Though the hotel provides shuttle bus, we are not sure of where to board it and had to rely on cabs to and fro places.
Rooms were cleanly and retro-ly decorated (even in the bathrooms!). Smaller than a normal hotel room but extremely clean and well kept. With Star Chinese Movie channel, a basket of complimentary soft drinks and tidbits. Best, with free Wifi.
Rating given:
Went to this restaurant for brunch on Christmas day, the retro themed made our groggy morning/noon brighten up.
Order Laksa, Wings, Sandwiches, Steak, mushroom soup and desserts consisted of Tiramisu and Longan with Grass Jelly.
Laksa smelt nice, not too spicy, with eggs and prawns in it. But the prawns were not that fresh, unpeeled and not washed very cleanly as sand can still be found in the Laksa itself.
Wings were tad too oily and could have been marinated better with a bit of lime.
Steak was ordered as well done and indeed it came well done but not too much so the meat remained tender. The sauce though, was a mixture of black pepper and something VERY salty like soy sauce. Quite disappointing.
Their Tiramisu doesn't use Kahlua, the name of the wine I've forgotten, maybe we are not used to it so the Tiramisu tasted weird to us.
Rating given:
I purchase all my OPIs and China Glaze nail polishes here. Other than the shop office in Ubi, they also sells nail polishes at Flea Market at Scape (Beside Cineleisure) on weekends. Their stall is almost always crowded. :D
If there's a colour you would like them to keep for you to collect at the flea market, just let them know in advance and they will keep it for you. Normally I would purchase online since they provide free normal postage and purchasing more than a certain limit they will even provide free registered post! Any colours you're not sure if it's the same as another just check with them and they will be able to tell you if there's a difference.
Very fast respond to facebook comments regarding inquiries and the best part it's a lot cheaper as compared to departmental shops. :D
Rating given:
Bought a voucher through Streetdeal.sg for Classic Manicure and Pedicure at $22 only! :D
It's easy to locate, very nicely decorated. Chairs are comfortable and staffs are friendly. Spacious and clean feel.
Topped up S$5 for the milky thingy for hands and S$5 for feet. Have to topup for OPI designer range so I picked normal colours. No need to top up for quick dry top coat which is something I'm really pleased with. :D
2 different ladies doing my mani and pedi so I was out in less than an hour. The lady doing manicure for me seems a little distracted as she forgot to put top coat on a few of my nails and cuticle oil but other than that everything is fine. They open 2 sets of fresh tools pack for mani and pedi. Overall satisfied. :)
Skills not too bad it's been 6 days and no signs of chipping yet. :D
Rating given:
Bought a $9.90 voucher through insing.com. Shop closes at 9pm but last appointment at 7pm. Shop location is quite quiet but not that difficult to find.
My first facial gua sha, I heard it's supposed to clear toxins? Paid extra $10 for eye mask. The gua sha is somewhat painful, felt that facial's not really professionally done but I had a nice nap during the mask session though and miraculously my sore throat got better after the nap. :D
Face mask it's those crystal film type, facialist says normally for gua sha there's no extraction but she did a little bit of extraction on my nose cause it's really terrible.. No red marks after facial however I don't feel like I've done a proper facial, as in I don't feel like my skin's really cleaned up after the facial.. :(
Service staff did try to sell package after treatment but didn't hard sell too much though. Could be because I had another appointment after..
Rating given:
Pro: Went to Nirwana Gardens Beach Club (Huts, 2 rooms to 1 hut) for my first trip to Bintan. Rooms are clean and big enough for 2 or 3 pax to stay comfortably in. Toilet and floor are clean. Towels provided are clean. The air con is working very well and seems to be new too. Staff relatively friendly, can speak and understand English. The best thing about this place is, there's a beach attached to it and it's almost deserted most of the 2 days we were there. I believe this is because most of the guests went to the beach at the Nirwana Garden Hotel. The sports centre is very nearby so accessible if you want to play Banana Boat, Ski Jets but you'll need to go to the Hotel area for ATV. The Club is also very accomodating and allowed us to extend our stay by 1.5 hours with no extra charges.
Con: Don't buy anything from the cafe at the beach club. It's about 10 times more expensive than the prices in Singapore. A bottle of 1.5litres mineral water costs $10 and fruit platter at $8. Don't go for the packaged massage sessions offered by the beach club. We went for 1 at SGD 75 each that includes massage, choice between sampan or private beach, ride to shopping area and lunch. In the end, we travelled an hr plus of dizzy and nausating dangerous ride to some other resort. Massage was ok but we weren't given a choice of beach or Sampan, we were directly taken to the Sampan, no notifications at all! Lunch consisted of measly nasi lemak at 4pm! We were also told that the package doesn't include shopping when it actually does. If you want massage, just go to the nearby shopping area where they offer $50 for 2 hours massage.
Rating given:
Popped by Cova Pasticceria for dinner one evening since we were in the vicinity and everywhere else was packed. Started in 1819 in Milan and originally patronised by the crème de la crème of society, Cova has expanded to a few countries in Asia to cater to those who seek "the high life" (albeit if only temporary).
And the decor is telling. Dark wood coupled with European style overhanging lamps that throw off warm light and well designed cornices greet you as you step into the cozy space that Cova occupies. Simple yet elegant.
Mushroom Risotto - For $30 , I had expected something more substantial than a miserly thin layer of risotto which I finished in 2 mouthfuls. And to compound matters, the risotto was a little overcooked for my liking.
Seafood Spaghetti - The seafood spaghetti fared a little better though I did think that the spaghetti wasn't al dente. I liked the light tomato based sauce and the fresh seafood but as with the risotto, portions were pathetic.
Lamb Rack - I didn't get to try this but from observation, portions were still small.
Peanut Feuilletine - And for dessert, a tiny piece of peanut feuilletine about a third the size of a regular slice of cake you would get at the likes of Starbucks, Coffeebean etc. To give it credit, the feuillentine was nicely thin and crisp while the chopped peanuts provided a nice crunch to the whole dessert. There wasn't much to go around though.
A miserable meal for 3 cost to the tune of $130, which is ridiculously expensive in my humble opinion. Portions were pathetic and two people with average appetites would have been able to polish off all the dishes with ease (we resorted to MacDonalds after the meal). Food quality hovered around average to slightly above average but the prices (and portion size) definitely do not warrant a revisit. Also, service lacked warmth and I didn't feel invited at times. Maybe we are just the wrong target audience.
See all my pictures here.
Rating given:
Another long overdue post. Caught up with a couple of friends over dinner at Mong Hing, a Teochew restaurant at Keypoint and where I once had a pretty good dinner before.
Prawn Rolls - The heh zhor was decent - Lean meat with pockets of fats and bits of prawn. Crisp but not too oily. Good for many bites, especially with the sweet plum sauce.
Homemade Beancurd - This certainly didn't look like beancurd, not with the circular shaped, golden brown exterior. And honestly it didn't quite taste like tofu. The texture was more like Thai prawn cakes, just a lot less dense and "fluffier" so to speak. Definitely not smooth and silky, the way I like it. The only giveaway was the taste, which had a distinctive beancurd taste. Although I like tofu, this is something I will definitely not order again.
Prawns with Deep Fried Pumpkin - At $24 for 6 prawns and 6 pieces of pumpkin coated with flour and deep fried, this was a joke. The prawns were drenched in sweet and sour sauce, which masked the natural flavour of the prawns. Total waste of prawns. The pumpkin however, were sweet and not too bad as a filler.
Stir Fried HK Kailan - Decent with a tinge of wok hei but lacking in dried sole fish. Wouldn't hurt to give a little more, would it?
Braised Goose - The goose was good - not too dry and well braised with the sauce not coming across as too salty.
We ended the meal with yam paste (orh nee) but I failed to get a shot of it. It was good but could have done with a little more fragrance. The infrequent bits of unevenness made for a nice smooth, yet inconsistent texture.
The 5 of us chalked up a bill of about $133. Not too expensive but quality of food seems to have dropped since my last visit. Maybe I should just stick to the likes of Huat Kee or Liang Kee or maybe I should give Mong Hing another chance.
See all my pictures here.
Rating given: