It is mentioned somewhere that CHEF Eric Guilbert made all his male cooks shave bald the minute they showed up for work. Guests can easily check out the cooks’ botak heads by peering through the 'open concept' kitchen, although all of them still have their hats on - hee hee.
There’s a touch of perfectionist in the fare, but it seems more western/continental den your average standard French dish.
The dishes are classy but yet non fussy, and quite approachable - such as a duet of pan-seared scallops.
The presentation of the grilled beef tenderloin was mesmerising - a very tender, juicy thick steak, smack by a moat of creamy celery puree - DIVINE!
Some of the chef’s signature dishes, includes a seven-hour slowcooked leg of lamb served with a truffle potato puree. Entrees are roughly $30 and $40, and main courses are between $40 and $60.
In terms of decor, Cassis is loud with a touch of eclecticism: ’sunken’ outdoor seating surrounded by shimmering ‘pools’; a glass-covered patio with creepers trailing up on curved ladders; and a swanky indoor double-storey dining area complete with ornate modern chandeliers. This is surely one of those places to bring a girl if you wish to impress her.
This is probably the most famous club in Singapore and I would dare to say all clubbers have entered this place at least once. It is also this place where a certain famous "Mambo Jumbo" dance culture is popularise (Every Wed Night) - so much so that this culture is exported to many parts of the world where there is a Singaporean presence.
Not only would you get to experience synchronised dancing using mostly the upper torso of your body, one would probably bump in many NS boys and teens during one of these Mambo Nights.
The thing I love most in Zouk is their drinks - Vodka Ribena and Long Island Tea. Try it and you will know the difference.
Oh 1st 300 Citybank members get to enter for free!
This is my faithful partner I bring along whenever I am in the toilet - My life will never be the same without it. All my daily dosage of information from around the world comes from here.
Sections of it that I particularly look forward to are:
Life Section - Here is where I get all the juicy gossip news of celebrities, and all the relevant cinema timings.
Sports - EPL, Champions League, NBA, F1, S-League (ok not exactly in the same class, but you get my drift)
Money - Investment tips, oil prices, market and stocks movement
Urban - Latest fashion tips on what's hot and what's not. Sometimes you get good tips on what to get for your female species.
Job Classified (Saturdays especially) - Looking for a job? Nothing beats this edition where you find out which industry is actively looking for people.
To end it off, nothing beats a copy of Straits Time on board the plane every time I travel back from overseas. AHhh... the familiarity of having the world under my feet.
Dim sum frenzy or just a simple case of food loving brought 8 people together to celebrate Bobo's birthday one fine day. And we're pretty much determined to try all dim sum offerings at least once to have a feel for the best dim sum Singapore can offer. Thus far, we lag behind Hong Kong in terms of quality and value for money but hopefully one day, we'll find something that is at least on par. On a side note, Happy Belated Birthday Bobo! Sorry we turned your birthday into a blogging session but hey, thats what we do. Cheers!
The restaurant is sparsely decorated with a nice view of the CBD district if you can get the window seat. It is highly recommended to call in advance to book your seats so that you can get the window view. Otherwise, the location is unexciting and rather bland.
Cordyceps and Cucumber ($3) - When i saw this appetizer, it took my appetite away literally. Looking at the little worms on a plate with cucumbers are enough to scare many away. However, it proved quite harmless once you take the first leap to try it. Both the Cordyceps and the cucumber are sourish and surprisingly crunchy which was rather interesting.
Egg Tarts ($10.40 for 8) - Mini egg tarts they are called and mini egg tarts they are. Thin, flaky and crusty, the egg tarts actually lacked much taste which more or less disqualifies it from an order in future. At $1.30 a piece, "expensive" is the final verdict for this item.
Char Siew Pastry ($7.80 for 6) - The char siew pastry is sweet and succulent but came across as too sweet for me. The crust is also crispy and flaky which seems to be the main impression from the restaurants pastries but they lacked the same buttery fragrance from Yan Ting's pastries. Decent but could be better.
Xo Carrot Cake ($8) - The XO carrot cake here had a nice fragrance about it and was not oily but the portion size was extremely small and some felt that it was too salty.
Yolk Cream Bun ($9.60) - The yolk cream bun turned out rather well with a watery layer on the inside accompanied by firm custard yolk. The watery yolk flows out once broken open and emits a strong yolk taste once it is popped into your mouth. We did find the bun to be too thick and they could have stuffed the bun with more custard though. All in all, i wouldn't mind ordering this again.
Prawn and Pork Rice Roll ($4.50 each) - The rice roll came in 2 flavors, the BBQ pork flavor and the prawn stuffings. Both of the stuffings were rather inadequate in my opinion as we ended tasting more rice roll then the stuffings. That would have been acceptable if the rice roll was good but even that failed to live up to the test as the rice roll turned out a tad too thick and difficult to break.
Siew Mai ($11.20 for 7) - There's a general dispute on this particular dish because it was supposed to be pork dumplings. However, it turned out to taste very much like Har Gao due to the overwhelming presence of the prawn which is clearly visible here. That is either a good thing or a bad thing depending on whether you can accept its taste. For what its worth, the prawns were big, fresh, crunchy and succulent enough to be praised but it definitely doesn't taste like siew mai so take your chances and decide yourself.
Century Egg Porridge ($15.20 for 4) - The century porridge is simply too salty to warrant a taste. In fact, the porridge itself lacked much taste apart from the aforementioned saltiness. Skip this if you are here.
Xiao Long Bao ($9.10 for 7) - Xiao Long Bao's are a mixed bag to most as there will be discrepancies on accounts depending on preferences. However, most of us agreed that the XLB here was rather disappointing due to the thick skin and rather simple soup within. Its saving grace lie in the fact that the pork scent within was mild instead of being too strong in others which we've tasted before.
BBQ Pork Bun ($7.20) - The BBQ pork bun was sweet as this seems to be the characteristic of the restaurant. My main complaint on this only lie in the thick fluffiness of the bun which some liked but isn't to my taste.
Shrimp Dumplings ($12.80 for 8) - The Prawn dumplings were done rather well and were bigger then average. Within each dumpling is at least 2 prawns worth of meat and all were crunchy, succulent and fresh enough to be recommended. Try this.
BBQ Pork Rib ($49 for 7) - The meal rounded off with a go at the BBQ pork ribs introduced by FZ. In all fairness, the ribs were done rather well, crispy on the outside and succulently juicy on the inside. The BBQ sauce is sweet but acceptably so and the ribs exude a satisfying aroma. My gripe is that the serving size is not uniform as some ended up with bigger portions while others got much smaller servings. Otherwise, this is pretty good.
The bill came up to $178.20 for 8 people which is manageable but felt too expensive as it wasn't very satisfying.
The experience is generally ok apart from the fact that the meal was served with irritating speed once ordered. The service from the waitress was terrible and she had a black face throughout which didn't help matters. The food was average but price wise is redeemed since it wasn't too expensive to begin with.
Carrefour has to be one of the better supermarkets around if not the best. Its main competitors will be home grown NTUC Fairprice and Giant which have slowly caught up to the fact that big supermarkets with huge selections are more or less the craze nowadays.
Catering to the audience that no longer finds small supermarkets sufficient, Carrefour attempts to be an all in one department store with everything thrown in for good measure. Spanning 2 levels of Suntec, Carrefour provides everything from computers, to electronics, televsions, washing machines, food, wines, clothes and even cutting tools.
The brands and selection there is also excellent, having many that will be hard pressed to find in places outside of Carrefour.
Apart from that, the Japanese food selection there is mind boggling and fresh which more or less satisfies many people's hunger for the coveted culinary experience.
Above a certain limit of purchases, Carrefour also provides delivery services and from what i've heard from my relatives, their service thus far has been impeccable with only minor hitches here and there.
All in all, i'd say Carrefour is an excellent place to shop to find that elusive ingredient or wine.
The downside will be the premium prices they charge for most of their items so weigh your choices properly before committing.
The daily paper and holy grail of information. At least in Singapore, The Straits Times paper has been around for a rather long time, pretty much as old as Singapore itself. Now, this wouldn't be a big deal if the paper has not evolved throughout the years and basically, despite the information revolution and the internet, The Straits Times remains as relevant as ever.
The paper itself is seperated into multiple sections for easy reading. This basically seperates the paper into sections with Asean news, world news, Singapore, leisure and classifieds. All in all, its a wonderfully simple segregation which ultimately works well.
In particular interest to me will be the Money section, Life and the classifieds which more or less qualifies under the "actionable" category as opposed to the other sections which are mainly for information only.
Despite talks of the internet evolving the world into a paperless society, the Straits Times perservered and remains as ever, a necessity when having a nice cup of coffee in the morning.
Nestled inside a shop called Eclectic Attic, that sells all things vintage sorts of collectibles, antiques and clothes and accessories to furniture and knick-knacks, you will find Tea Cosy. At first glance, one may miss Tea Cosy as the whole shop décor here is intentionally messy, making the place feel like an attic. A little crammed and cluttered, the cafe area is barely noticeable amidst all the objects in the place. But when one takes the trouble to peer inside, you will realise that they had place settings at the tables. You will be astound to realise that everything in the cafe is for sale besides the food you dine – from the decorations on the table, including the bell to ring for service (and it doesn’t come cheap mind you), to the wooden chairs that we were sitting on – talk about experiential home furnish shopping!
Starter was the Home-made Creamy Mushroom Soup. Every spoonful comes with generous bits of mushrooms although I rather prefer them in thick and big slices – quality for quantity. Soup was also slightly on the salty side. Surprisingly what I felt was better was the piece of toast that went along with it. It was toasted with Mayonnaise that gave it a sweet creamy taste, something different from the normal toast that comes with soup.
The Decadent Salad consists of Foie Gras, Prawns and Eggs. One of Tea Cosy’s reputed dishes – my expectation of it was heightened – although it didn’t wow me, expectations of a salad was met. The vegetables were fresh and the dressing was a good compliment to it, but the prawns could have been juicier and foie gras bigger.
Not sinfully satisfied, I opted for the Signatured Pan-fried Foie Gras as the main. Topped with pineapples and aragula leaves and with what tasted like orange marmalade on the side, the foie gras goes well with the juices from the pineapple and aragula to create a bittersweet combination, but on its own, the oily aftertaste wasn’t exactly pleasant. This is not the best rendition I have tasted but Tea Cosy is the cheaper option if one does not have a big pocket to burn but still crave for some sinful delight.
Not filling enough, we ordered an extra serving of Laksa Pesto to share that comes with quite a few prawns, and is said to be of reminiscent to Wild Rockets rendition – amidst more watery. Coming to the end of the dish however, one will probably find the gravy extremely salty due to the residues of the dried shrimps used for it. To be honest I wasn’t impressed with this dish.
We wrapped up the night with some desserts that I felt the portion was more suitable for their High Tea – petite. They were nothing extraordinary, and probably the only thing that impresses me was the name used for the chocolate brownie with ice-cream combi – Ebony and Ivory.
You can view more photos and other reviews @ His Food Blog.
I went to Pasta de Waraku with some colleagues some months back. It was my first time there as I generally prefer Italian pasta though.
Apparently, every order of a pasta dish here entitles you to a small bowl of salad. It was tossed in a Wafu dressing, which was very all right.
I order a Wafu Scallop & Asparagus Spaghetti (S$12.80). It was not too bad. Although the spaghetti was not al dente enough, this was nonetheless not too bad for a Japanese pasta dish.
This is worth a visit if one just wish to try out a Japanese interpretation of an Italian staple, but otherwise I would prefer to stick to the italians.
The distinguishing feature of Din Tai Fung's dumplings is that the chefs would make 18 folds to seal the dumplings.
A cautionary note about eating Xiao Long Bao is that the soup is usually so hot that an unsuspecting consumer might scald the tongue and throat if he/she popped the entire dumpling into the mouth without first allowing it to cool down a little.
The Xiao Long Bao at Din Tai Fung were tasty and didn't have a strong porky odour (unlike the ones that I had at another popular establishment). In short, it met my expectations since my last visit to one of their outlets. I think its likely that the flagship at Paragon branch churns out better dumplings than the branches at Wisma Atria and Raffles City.
Surprisingly, the Fried Rice with Pork Chop is just as good - try it and you will be convince!
The extended wing of Centrepoint Shopping Centre has a basement lined with food stalls and restaurants. But it's like a maze quietly tucked away in the madness of Orchard Road. And out of this maze, I discovered Sumi Yakitori by pure luck.
The light dinner started off with a plate of raw veggies ($1/person including towels). I eat salad but shudder at the raw thick cabbage leaf. The dipping sauce, in which the waitress instructed us to squeeze the lemon into, was like a dark miso-shoyu paste- salty and savoury.
The Tonkutsu Ramen ($8) unfortunately brought a very comforting feel. It was so familiar - Uncannily like Chu Qian Yi Ding instant noodles with the aromatic sesame oil. But I would have preferred a richer broth and the ramen itself was too cooked for my liking.
Sumi seems more like a Japanese grill kind of place instead of ramen house. So we decided to order a few grilled items to see what it offers.
The Fresh Tiger Prawn ($3.50) had blackened legs but fortunately the flesh was protected by its shell. The flesh was sweet and firm but a tad too dry.
The saving grace was the Sweet Corn ($2.50)! Each kernel was plump and burst with sweet juices upon nibbling. The nice smokey aroma by the grilling was evident and complemented the natural sweetness of the corn well.
In a nutshell, don't expect ultra fine Japanese food here. It's more like a budget ramen place with a few stars from the yakitori menu. To put things in perspective, it almost felt like paying food court prices at a restaurant for the ramen.
1=SGD 0.0587
It is mentioned somewhere that CHEF Eric Guilbert made all his male cooks shave bald the minute they showed up for work. Guests can easily check out the cooks’ botak heads by peering through the 'open concept' kitchen, although all of them still have their hats on - hee hee.
There’s a touch of perfectionist in the fare, but it seems more western/continental den your average standard French dish.
The dishes are classy but yet non fussy, and quite approachable - such as a duet of pan-seared scallops.
The presentation of the grilled beef tenderloin was mesmerising - a very tender, juicy thick steak, smack by a moat of creamy celery puree - DIVINE!
Some of the chef’s signature dishes, includes a seven-hour slowcooked leg of lamb served with a truffle potato puree. Entrees are roughly $30 and $40, and main courses are between $40 and $60.
In terms of decor, Cassis is loud with a touch of eclecticism: ’sunken’ outdoor seating surrounded by shimmering ‘pools’; a glass-covered patio with creepers trailing up on curved ladders; and a swanky indoor double-storey dining area complete with ornate modern chandeliers. This is surely one of those places to bring a girl if you wish to impress her.
Rating given:
This is probably the most famous club in Singapore and I would dare to say all clubbers have entered this place at least once. It is also this place where a certain famous "Mambo Jumbo" dance culture is popularise (Every Wed Night) - so much so that this culture is exported to many parts of the world where there is a Singaporean presence.
Not only would you get to experience synchronised dancing using mostly the upper torso of your body, one would probably bump in many NS boys and teens during one of these Mambo Nights.
The thing I love most in Zouk is their drinks - Vodka Ribena and Long Island Tea. Try it and you will know the difference.
Oh 1st 300 Citybank members get to enter for free!
Rating given:
This is my faithful partner I bring along whenever I am in the toilet - My life will never be the same without it. All my daily dosage of information from around the world comes from here.
Sections of it that I particularly look forward to are:
Life Section - Here is where I get all the juicy gossip news of celebrities, and all the relevant cinema timings.
Sports - EPL, Champions League, NBA, F1, S-League (ok not exactly in the same class, but you get my drift)
Money - Investment tips, oil prices, market and stocks movement
Urban - Latest fashion tips on what's hot and what's not. Sometimes you get good tips on what to get for your female species.
Job Classified (Saturdays especially) - Looking for a job? Nothing beats this edition where you find out which industry is actively looking for people.
To end it off, nothing beats a copy of Straits Time on board the plane every time I travel back from overseas. AHhh... the familiarity of having the world under my feet.
Rating given:
Dim sum frenzy or just a simple case of food loving brought 8 people together to celebrate Bobo's birthday one fine day. And we're pretty much determined to try all dim sum offerings at least once to have a feel for the best dim sum Singapore can offer. Thus far, we lag behind Hong Kong in terms of quality and value for money but hopefully one day, we'll find something that is at least on par. On a side note, Happy Belated Birthday Bobo! Sorry we turned your birthday into a blogging session but hey, thats what we do. Cheers!
The restaurant is sparsely decorated with a nice view of the CBD district if you can get the window seat. It is highly recommended to call in advance to book your seats so that you can get the window view. Otherwise, the location is unexciting and rather bland.
Cordyceps and Cucumber ($3) - When i saw this appetizer, it took my appetite away literally. Looking at the little worms on a plate with cucumbers are enough to scare many away. However, it proved quite harmless once you take the first leap to try it. Both the Cordyceps and the cucumber are sourish and surprisingly crunchy which was rather interesting.
Egg Tarts ($10.40 for 8) - Mini egg tarts they are called and mini egg tarts they are. Thin, flaky and crusty, the egg tarts actually lacked much taste which more or less disqualifies it from an order in future. At $1.30 a piece, "expensive" is the final verdict for this item.
Char Siew Pastry ($7.80 for 6) - The char siew pastry is sweet and succulent but came across as too sweet for me. The crust is also crispy and flaky which seems to be the main impression from the restaurants pastries but they lacked the same buttery fragrance from Yan Ting's pastries. Decent but could be better.
Xo Carrot Cake ($8) - The XO carrot cake here had a nice fragrance about it and was not oily but the portion size was extremely small and some felt that it was too salty.
Yolk Cream Bun ($9.60) - The yolk cream bun turned out rather well with a watery layer on the inside accompanied by firm custard yolk. The watery yolk flows out once broken open and emits a strong yolk taste once it is popped into your mouth. We did find the bun to be too thick and they could have stuffed the bun with more custard though. All in all, i wouldn't mind ordering this again.
Prawn and Pork Rice Roll ($4.50 each) - The rice roll came in 2 flavors, the BBQ pork flavor and the prawn stuffings. Both of the stuffings were rather inadequate in my opinion as we ended tasting more rice roll then the stuffings. That would have been acceptable if the rice roll was good but even that failed to live up to the test as the rice roll turned out a tad too thick and difficult to break.
Siew Mai ($11.20 for 7) - There's a general dispute on this particular dish because it was supposed to be pork dumplings. However, it turned out to taste very much like Har Gao due to the overwhelming presence of the prawn which is clearly visible here. That is either a good thing or a bad thing depending on whether you can accept its taste. For what its worth, the prawns were big, fresh, crunchy and succulent enough to be praised but it definitely doesn't taste like siew mai so take your chances and decide yourself.
Century Egg Porridge ($15.20 for 4) - The century porridge is simply too salty to warrant a taste. In fact, the porridge itself lacked much taste apart from the aforementioned saltiness. Skip this if you are here.
Xiao Long Bao ($9.10 for 7) - Xiao Long Bao's are a mixed bag to most as there will be discrepancies on accounts depending on preferences. However, most of us agreed that the XLB here was rather disappointing due to the thick skin and rather simple soup within. Its saving grace lie in the fact that the pork scent within was mild instead of being too strong in others which we've tasted before.
BBQ Pork Bun ($7.20) - The BBQ pork bun was sweet as this seems to be the characteristic of the restaurant. My main complaint on this only lie in the thick fluffiness of the bun which some liked but isn't to my taste.
Shrimp Dumplings ($12.80 for 8) - The Prawn dumplings were done rather well and were bigger then average. Within each dumpling is at least 2 prawns worth of meat and all were crunchy, succulent and fresh enough to be recommended. Try this.
BBQ Pork Rib ($49 for 7) - The meal rounded off with a go at the BBQ pork ribs introduced by FZ. In all fairness, the ribs were done rather well, crispy on the outside and succulently juicy on the inside. The BBQ sauce is sweet but acceptably so and the ribs exude a satisfying aroma. My gripe is that the serving size is not uniform as some ended up with bigger portions while others got much smaller servings. Otherwise, this is pretty good.
The bill came up to $178.20 for 8 people which is manageable but felt too expensive as it wasn't very satisfying.
The experience is generally ok apart from the fact that the meal was served with irritating speed once ordered. The service from the waitress was terrible and she had a black face throughout which didn't help matters. The food was average but price wise is redeemed since it wasn't too expensive to begin with.
Rating given:
Carrefour has to be one of the better supermarkets around if not the best. Its main competitors will be home grown NTUC Fairprice and Giant which have slowly caught up to the fact that big supermarkets with huge selections are more or less the craze nowadays.
Catering to the audience that no longer finds small supermarkets sufficient, Carrefour attempts to be an all in one department store with everything thrown in for good measure. Spanning 2 levels of Suntec, Carrefour provides everything from computers, to electronics, televsions, washing machines, food, wines, clothes and even cutting tools.
The brands and selection there is also excellent, having many that will be hard pressed to find in places outside of Carrefour.
Apart from that, the Japanese food selection there is mind boggling and fresh which more or less satisfies many people's hunger for the coveted culinary experience.
Above a certain limit of purchases, Carrefour also provides delivery services and from what i've heard from my relatives, their service thus far has been impeccable with only minor hitches here and there.
All in all, i'd say Carrefour is an excellent place to shop to find that elusive ingredient or wine.
The downside will be the premium prices they charge for most of their items so weigh your choices properly before committing.
Rating given:
The daily paper and holy grail of information. At least in Singapore, The Straits Times paper has been around for a rather long time, pretty much as old as Singapore itself. Now, this wouldn't be a big deal if the paper has not evolved throughout the years and basically, despite the information revolution and the internet, The Straits Times remains as relevant as ever.
The paper itself is seperated into multiple sections for easy reading. This basically seperates the paper into sections with Asean news, world news, Singapore, leisure and classifieds. All in all, its a wonderfully simple segregation which ultimately works well.
In particular interest to me will be the Money section, Life and the classifieds which more or less qualifies under the "actionable" category as opposed to the other sections which are mainly for information only.
Despite talks of the internet evolving the world into a paperless society, the Straits Times perservered and remains as ever, a necessity when having a nice cup of coffee in the morning.
Well done.
Rating given:
Nestled inside a shop called Eclectic Attic, that sells all things vintage sorts of collectibles, antiques and clothes and accessories to furniture and knick-knacks, you will find Tea Cosy. At first glance, one may miss Tea Cosy as the whole shop décor here is intentionally messy, making the place feel like an attic. A little crammed and cluttered, the cafe area is barely noticeable amidst all the objects in the place. But when one takes the trouble to peer inside, you will realise that they had place settings at the tables. You will be astound to realise that everything in the cafe is for sale besides the food you dine – from the decorations on the table, including the bell to ring for service (and it doesn’t come cheap mind you), to the wooden chairs that we were sitting on – talk about experiential home furnish shopping!
Starter was the Home-made Creamy Mushroom Soup. Every spoonful comes with generous bits of mushrooms although I rather prefer them in thick and big slices – quality for quantity. Soup was also slightly on the salty side. Surprisingly what I felt was better was the piece of toast that went along with it. It was toasted with Mayonnaise that gave it a sweet creamy taste, something different from the normal toast that comes with soup.
The Decadent Salad consists of Foie Gras, Prawns and Eggs. One of Tea Cosy’s reputed dishes – my expectation of it was heightened – although it didn’t wow me, expectations of a salad was met. The vegetables were fresh and the dressing was a good compliment to it, but the prawns could have been juicier and foie gras bigger.
Not sinfully satisfied, I opted for the Signatured Pan-fried Foie Gras as the main. Topped with pineapples and aragula leaves and with what tasted like orange marmalade on the side, the foie gras goes well with the juices from the pineapple and aragula to create a bittersweet combination, but on its own, the oily aftertaste wasn’t exactly pleasant. This is not the best rendition I have tasted but Tea Cosy is the cheaper option if one does not have a big pocket to burn but still crave for some sinful delight.
Not filling enough, we ordered an extra serving of Laksa Pesto to share that comes with quite a few prawns, and is said to be of reminiscent to Wild Rockets rendition – amidst more watery. Coming to the end of the dish however, one will probably find the gravy extremely salty due to the residues of the dried shrimps used for it. To be honest I wasn’t impressed with this dish.
We wrapped up the night with some desserts that I felt the portion was more suitable for their High Tea – petite. They were nothing extraordinary, and probably the only thing that impresses me was the name used for the chocolate brownie with ice-cream combi – Ebony and Ivory.
You can view more photos and other reviews @ His Food Blog.
Rating given:
I went to Pasta de Waraku with some colleagues some months back. It was my first time there as I generally prefer Italian pasta though.
Apparently, every order of a pasta dish here entitles you to a small bowl of salad. It was tossed in a Wafu dressing, which was very all right.
I order a Wafu Scallop & Asparagus Spaghetti (S$12.80). It was not too bad. Although the spaghetti was not al dente enough, this was nonetheless not too bad for a Japanese pasta dish.
This is worth a visit if one just wish to try out a Japanese interpretation of an Italian staple, but otherwise I would prefer to stick to the italians.
Rating given:
The distinguishing feature of Din Tai Fung's dumplings is that the chefs would make 18 folds to seal the dumplings.
A cautionary note about eating Xiao Long Bao is that the soup is usually so hot that an unsuspecting consumer might scald the tongue and throat if he/she popped the entire dumpling into the mouth without first allowing it to cool down a little.
The Xiao Long Bao at Din Tai Fung were tasty and didn't have a strong porky odour (unlike the ones that I had at another popular establishment). In short, it met my expectations since my last visit to one of their outlets. I think its likely that the flagship at Paragon branch churns out better dumplings than the branches at Wisma Atria and Raffles City.
Surprisingly, the Fried Rice with Pork Chop is just as good - try it and you will be convince!
Rating given:
The extended wing of Centrepoint Shopping Centre has a basement lined with food stalls and restaurants. But it's like a maze quietly tucked away in the madness of Orchard Road. And out of this maze, I discovered Sumi Yakitori by pure luck.
The light dinner started off with a plate of raw veggies ($1/person including towels). I eat salad but shudder at the raw thick cabbage leaf. The dipping sauce, in which the waitress instructed us to squeeze the lemon into, was like a dark miso-shoyu paste- salty and savoury.
The Tonkutsu Ramen ($8) unfortunately brought a very comforting feel. It was so familiar - Uncannily like Chu Qian Yi Ding instant noodles with the aromatic sesame oil. But I would have preferred a richer broth and the ramen itself was too cooked for my liking.
Sumi seems more like a Japanese grill kind of place instead of ramen house. So we decided to order a few grilled items to see what it offers.
The Fresh Tiger Prawn ($3.50) had blackened legs but fortunately the flesh was protected by its shell. The flesh was sweet and firm but a tad too dry.
The saving grace was the Sweet Corn ($2.50)! Each kernel was plump and burst with sweet juices upon nibbling. The nice smokey aroma by the grilling was evident and complemented the natural sweetness of the corn well.
In a nutshell, don't expect ultra fine Japanese food here. It's more like a budget ramen place with a few stars from the yakitori menu. To put things in perspective, it almost felt like paying food court prices at a restaurant for the ramen.
Rating given: