Exquisite Cantonese Cuisine in Business-Lunch Worthy Surroundings
I organised a lunch for the associates and junior partners in my firm, and lucky for us, I made reservations early enough to secure a private dining room. The view of the cityscape in the room is stunning. Love the service here as well, when I called to make pre-orders, they would caution me if they thought I was ordering too much.
1) Har Gow ($4.80 for a steamer of 3 pieces): This was yummy, a whole crunchy prawn wrapped in a thin translucent skin. The skin was done just right, it was thin without being too filmsy or too thick.
2) Siew Mai ($4.80 for a steamer of 3 pieces): One of their bestsellers. Minced pork and crunchy prawns, and topped with another prawn for posterity, this was huge and juicy.
3) Prawns Wrapped in Beancurd Skin and Seaweed ($1.40 for one piece): Another must-try, the seaweed is an unusual touch and adds that extra umami-ness.
4) Roasted Pork ($8). This was decadent but wonderfully aromatic.
5) Fried Carrot Cake with XO Sauce ($8). This had a delightfully "wok hei" taste.
6) Steamed Carrot Cake ($3.60), this was just so-so, largely because compared to the fried version, there was no contest. Wah Lok does a much better version.
7) Prawns/Char Siew in Rice Roll ($4.50): Both were just as good.
8) Peking Ducks ($60 each). This was perfection. The flour pancakes were a little too thick for my liking though.
9) Prawns Sauteed with Salted Egg Yolk ($60 for 20 prawns), deshelled of course. Jumbo fresh prawns crusted with golden sandy salted egg yolk, this was immediately loved by all who had it for the first time.
10) Bai Cai Miao with Braised Bai Ling Mushroom ($36): This dish came slathered with opulent gravy infused with earthy tones from the mushroom.
11) Assorted Seafood Soup in Melon ($12): Strips of dried scallops (conpoy), diced prawns, sliced dried sea cucumber, chunks of fresh crab meat, fish maw and sweet wolfberries in a clear seafood based soup were served in a hollowed-out melon.
12) Shredded Abalone with 8 Treasures Soup ($15): This was full of umami flavours of the sea.
13) Mango Pomelo with Sago dessert ($4.50): This was cooling and refreshing.
You can check it out at http://thehungrybunnie.blogspot.com/2009/11/peach-garden-executives-club.html
This Paragon branch is the 3rd outlet of the chain of Grandma's Restaurants, the pioneer being the one at Orchard Parade Hotel.
1) Nasi Bukhari ($14), savoury pilaf rice with fried chicken thigh, half a boiled egg, and sides of beef rendang and prawns with sweet onions. The chicken thigh was fried very well, crisp on the outside but retaining its juiciness on the inside.
2) Ipoh Kway Teow in clear broth with shredded chicken and prawns ($8.80), The soup was predominantly very light. I love the smoothness of the kway teow.
3) Claypot Beancurd ($8.80), braised deep fried egg beancurd with squid, prawns, pork slices, cauliflower, snowpeas, and garlic. This had a homecooked taste to it.
4) Chendol (promo price of only $0.60): This was slurpalicious. Green jelly, red beans, coconut milk, atap seed, and bits of sago, slathered in rich and sweet gula melaka.
5) Sago Gula Melaka ($3.80), pearl sago drenched in coconut milk and gula melaka. This was served cold. Very yummy.
Check out the pics at http://thehungrybunnie.blogspot.com
Noble House is really near my office so it's become the default go-to place for lunches with the colleagues.
1) Deep Fried Mango Roll ($7.50 for 5 pieces), crunchy prawns and sweet mango wrapped in flaky pastry and deep fried. We all felt this was a little too oily.
2) Pork and Century Egg Congee ($9 for 2 bowls). I personally don't eat century egg, but I tried a spoonful of the congee. It was smooth, thick and fairly well-flavoured.
3) Steamed Bbq Pork Buns ($6 for 5 pieces). I liked this, the pork was sweet, smoky and fatty and the buns was soft and fluffy
4) Yam Puff Pastry with Minced Chicken ($7.50 for 5 pieces). We also agreed that this was a little too oily.
5) Pan Fried Turnip Cake with Preserved Meat ($6 for 5 pieces): It was very bland.
6) Steamed Beancurd Skin with Pork and Prawns ($6.75 for 5 pieces). I took a liking to this. There were julienned black fungus and bamboo shoots for texture and crunch.
7) Steamed Rice Roll with Bbq Pork ($5). The layers were a little too thick for my liking and there weren't enough bbq pork
8) Fish Maw Thick Soup with Seafood ($12 for an individual portion). The soup was bright yellow and came filled with enoki mushrooms (golden mushrooms), conpoy (dried scallops), thick chunks of crabmeat, diced prawns, diced fresh scallop and silvers of fish maw. I liked this.
9) Black Chicken Soup with Red Dates ($38): Healthy and nourishing.
10) Hairy Crab ($48) lightly steamed so the clean, fresh flavours of the creamy golden roe came bursting through every bite
11) Steamed Garoupa Fish, Hongkong style ($72). The fish was light, clean and sweet.
12) Broccoli doused with Crab Meat Sauce ($38): okay only
Read more about it at http://thehungrybunnie.blogspot.com/2009/11/noble-house-tung-lok-group.html
We popped into Ayam Penyet Ria at Lucky Plaza because I wanted Malay-style chicken soup. Plus, the food here is cheap.
1) Soto Ayam ($5): The soup was chock full of ingredients, shredded chicken pieces, julienned cabbage, a boiled egg and clear vermicelli, and garnished with sliced fried garlic for extra pungency. This was delectable and easily one of the better versions of soto ayam that I've tried.
2) Ayam Penyet ($6.50): Smashed fried chicken thigh served with blanched kangkong, cucumbers, lettuce, a piece of fried beancurd, soyabean cake and loaded with bits of crunchy chicken batter drippings for extra texture. The chicken was tender and juicy, and we mopped up every last bit of the chicken batter drippings. This came with a kickass sambal chili.
3) Fried Chicken Wings ($6): The chicken wings (3 of them in a portion) were finger-licking good, especially with the sambal
You can view the pictures at http://thehungrybunnie.blogspot.com
Cantonese Food Even Fussy Grandmothers Would Love
Wah Lok's one of my favourite restaurants for dim sum, especially for Sunday brunches where I can afford eat leisurely and stuff my face to my heart's content. We made reservations at 11.30am, the earliest timeslot available for lunch. Please note that reservations for weekend lunches are a must, to avoid waiting or travelling in vain.
1) Steamed Carrot Cake ($4.50 each). Although fried carrot cake is ubiquitous in almost every dim sum restaurant, the steamed version is its more unusual sibling. We love love love Wah Lok's version. Julienned radish mixed in rice flour, and steamed with dried shrimp and chopped char siew (bbq pork), drizzled with light soya for taste and spring onions.
2) Glutinous Rice Wrapped in Lotus Leaves ($5.40). There were bits of char siew (bbq pork), Chinese black mushrooms, a quarter of a salted egg yolk, and diced meat stuffed between the 2 layers of soft glutinous rice. Delicious.
3) You Tiao Cheong Fun ($6.50), deep fried dough fritters wrapped in rice rolls and steamed. The version we had that day was a little disappointing, the dough fritter was too hard and I felt like I was biting into rock candy. Maybe it's because it was left in the fryer too long. We had to dunk the rice roll into the soya dipping sauce to make it a little soggy first before eating.
4) Char Siew Cheong Fun ($6.50), diced bbq pork wrapped in a rice roll and steamed. Thin, translucent layers rice rolls envelope diced sweet bbq pork were drizzled with light soya for taste. Also very good.
5) Siew Mai ($5.60), steamed pork dumplings with prawns and topped with diced salted egg yolk. This was juicy and the prawns were fresh and crunchy. I loved the salted egg yolk topping.
6) Old Cucumber Soup with Pork ($6.80). The flavour and essence of pork bones is boiled out to flavour the soup base and old cucumber is added for that nutritious cooling goodness. Comforting and familiar.
You can view the photos at http://thehungrybunnie.blogspot.com
I organised a lunch for the associates and junior partners in my firm, and lucky for us, I made reservations early enough to secure a private dining room. The view of the cityscape in the room is stunning. Love the service here as well, when I called to make pre-orders, they would caution me if they thought I was ordering too much.
1) Har Gow ($4.80 for a steamer of 3 pieces): This was yummy, a whole crunchy prawn wrapped in a thin translucent skin. The skin was done just right, it was thin without being too filmsy or too thick.
2) Siew Mai ($4.80 for a steamer of 3 pieces): One of their bestsellers. Minced pork and crunchy prawns, and topped with another prawn for posterity, this was huge and juicy.
3) Prawns Wrapped in Beancurd Skin and Seaweed ($1.40 for one piece): Another must-try, the seaweed is an unusual touch and adds that extra umami-ness.
4) Roasted Pork ($8). This was decadent but wonderfully aromatic.
5) Fried Carrot Cake with XO Sauce ($8). This had a delightfully "wok hei" taste.
6) Steamed Carrot Cake ($3.60), this was just so-so, largely because compared to the fried version, there was no contest. Wah Lok does a much better version.
7) Prawns/Char Siew in Rice Roll ($4.50): Both were just as good.
8) Peking Ducks ($60 each). This was perfection. The flour pancakes were a little too thick for my liking though.
9) Prawns Sauteed with Salted Egg Yolk ($60 for 20 prawns), deshelled of course. Jumbo fresh prawns crusted with golden sandy salted egg yolk, this was immediately loved by all who had it for the first time.
10) Bai Cai Miao with Braised Bai Ling Mushroom ($36): This dish came slathered with opulent gravy infused with earthy tones from the mushroom.
11) Assorted Seafood Soup in Melon ($12): Strips of dried scallops (conpoy), diced prawns, sliced dried sea cucumber, chunks of fresh crab meat, fish maw and sweet wolfberries in a clear seafood based soup were served in a hollowed-out melon.
12) Shredded Abalone with 8 Treasures Soup ($15): This was full of umami flavours of the sea.
13) Mango Pomelo with Sago dessert ($4.50): This was cooling and refreshing.
You can check it out at http://thehungrybunnie.blogspot.com/2009/11/peach-garden-executives-club.html
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This Paragon branch is the 3rd outlet of the chain of Grandma's Restaurants, the pioneer being the one at Orchard Parade Hotel.
1) Nasi Bukhari ($14), savoury pilaf rice with fried chicken thigh, half a boiled egg, and sides of beef rendang and prawns with sweet onions. The chicken thigh was fried very well, crisp on the outside but retaining its juiciness on the inside.
2) Ipoh Kway Teow in clear broth with shredded chicken and prawns ($8.80), The soup was predominantly very light. I love the smoothness of the kway teow.
3) Claypot Beancurd ($8.80), braised deep fried egg beancurd with squid, prawns, pork slices, cauliflower, snowpeas, and garlic. This had a homecooked taste to it.
4) Chendol (promo price of only $0.60): This was slurpalicious. Green jelly, red beans, coconut milk, atap seed, and bits of sago, slathered in rich and sweet gula melaka.
5) Sago Gula Melaka ($3.80), pearl sago drenched in coconut milk and gula melaka. This was served cold. Very yummy.
Check out the pics at http://thehungrybunnie.blogspot.com
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!
Noble House is really near my office so it's become the default go-to place for lunches with the colleagues.
1) Deep Fried Mango Roll ($7.50 for 5 pieces), crunchy prawns and sweet mango wrapped in flaky pastry and deep fried. We all felt this was a little too oily.
2) Pork and Century Egg Congee ($9 for 2 bowls). I personally don't eat century egg, but I tried a spoonful of the congee. It was smooth, thick and fairly well-flavoured.
3) Steamed Bbq Pork Buns ($6 for 5 pieces). I liked this, the pork was sweet, smoky and fatty and the buns was soft and fluffy
4) Yam Puff Pastry with Minced Chicken ($7.50 for 5 pieces). We also agreed that this was a little too oily.
5) Pan Fried Turnip Cake with Preserved Meat ($6 for 5 pieces): It was very bland.
6) Steamed Beancurd Skin with Pork and Prawns ($6.75 for 5 pieces). I took a liking to this. There were julienned black fungus and bamboo shoots for texture and crunch.
7) Steamed Rice Roll with Bbq Pork ($5). The layers were a little too thick for my liking and there weren't enough bbq pork
8) Fish Maw Thick Soup with Seafood ($12 for an individual portion). The soup was bright yellow and came filled with enoki mushrooms (golden mushrooms), conpoy (dried scallops), thick chunks of crabmeat, diced prawns, diced fresh scallop and silvers of fish maw. I liked this.
9) Black Chicken Soup with Red Dates ($38): Healthy and nourishing.
10) Hairy Crab ($48) lightly steamed so the clean, fresh flavours of the creamy golden roe came bursting through every bite
11) Steamed Garoupa Fish, Hongkong style ($72). The fish was light, clean and sweet.
12) Broccoli doused with Crab Meat Sauce ($38): okay only
Read more about it at http://thehungrybunnie.blogspot.com/2009/11/noble-house-tung-lok-group.html
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!
We popped into Ayam Penyet Ria at Lucky Plaza because I wanted Malay-style chicken soup. Plus, the food here is cheap.
1) Soto Ayam ($5): The soup was chock full of ingredients, shredded chicken pieces, julienned cabbage, a boiled egg and clear vermicelli, and garnished with sliced fried garlic for extra pungency. This was delectable and easily one of the better versions of soto ayam that I've tried.
2) Ayam Penyet ($6.50): Smashed fried chicken thigh served with blanched kangkong, cucumbers, lettuce, a piece of fried beancurd, soyabean cake and loaded with bits of crunchy chicken batter drippings for extra texture. The chicken was tender and juicy, and we mopped up every last bit of the chicken batter drippings. This came with a kickass sambal chili.
3) Fried Chicken Wings ($6): The chicken wings (3 of them in a portion) were finger-licking good, especially with the sambal
You can view the pictures at http://thehungrybunnie.blogspot.com
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!
Wah Lok's one of my favourite restaurants for dim sum, especially for Sunday brunches where I can afford eat leisurely and stuff my face to my heart's content. We made reservations at 11.30am, the earliest timeslot available for lunch. Please note that reservations for weekend lunches are a must, to avoid waiting or travelling in vain.
1) Steamed Carrot Cake ($4.50 each). Although fried carrot cake is ubiquitous in almost every dim sum restaurant, the steamed version is its more unusual sibling. We love love love Wah Lok's version. Julienned radish mixed in rice flour, and steamed with dried shrimp and chopped char siew (bbq pork), drizzled with light soya for taste and spring onions.
2) Glutinous Rice Wrapped in Lotus Leaves ($5.40). There were bits of char siew (bbq pork), Chinese black mushrooms, a quarter of a salted egg yolk, and diced meat stuffed between the 2 layers of soft glutinous rice. Delicious.
3) You Tiao Cheong Fun ($6.50), deep fried dough fritters wrapped in rice rolls and steamed. The version we had that day was a little disappointing, the dough fritter was too hard and I felt like I was biting into rock candy. Maybe it's because it was left in the fryer too long. We had to dunk the rice roll into the soya dipping sauce to make it a little soggy first before eating.
4) Char Siew Cheong Fun ($6.50), diced bbq pork wrapped in a rice roll and steamed. Thin, translucent layers rice rolls envelope diced sweet bbq pork were drizzled with light soya for taste. Also very good.
5) Siew Mai ($5.60), steamed pork dumplings with prawns and topped with diced salted egg yolk. This was juicy and the prawns were fresh and crunchy. I loved the salted egg yolk topping.
6) Old Cucumber Soup with Pork ($6.80). The flavour and essence of pork bones is boiled out to flavour the soup base and old cucumber is added for that nutritious cooling goodness. Comforting and familiar.
You can view the photos at http://thehungrybunnie.blogspot.com
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!