WELCOME TO YEBBER
You can use your Facebook Account to register in Yebber and start reviewing your favourite or least favourite businesses
Please click the login button below and proceed to create a new Yebber ID at the next step.
Food & Beverage
Click here for future month
1=SGD 0.0587
Having spent in excess of $1200 (I am still reeling from the shock from seeing my credit card bill) on food alone in the month of Sep (mind you, this sum only includes what I've charged to my credit card. If you include cash expenditure on food, I should be up by another $400 tops), I decided to go budget a little and give Cafe Vic @ Carlton Hotel a shot given its relatively inexpensive pricing for a weekend high tea ($22 ). With a dining timeslot from 12-5pm, it starts a little early for high tea and ends a little late for lunch, which leaves it somewhere in the middle, or perhaps a combination of both lunch and high tea.
The heavy rains throughout the island on Saturday didn't deter us one bit, although it did make us terribly late for our reservation (45 mins in fact. We got there at 1345hrs instead). Upon arrival, we were seated at a pretty cosy table at one of the corners of the restaurant, which was fine with me except for the fact that the tables surrounding us were occupied by groups of people who were making quite a bit of noise with their loud guffaws and raised voices. That really didn't sit well with me, as I didn't trudge through the heavy rain to listen to people's gossips about the latest games or that secret romance. Maybe I'm being a little cranky here, but try getting your pants all wet with a less then dry gf and having to put up with all that loud chatter. I could barely have a decent conversation with my gf throughout the whole meal. Ok enough of my rambling. The cafe was quite nicely done, with huge paintings adorning the walls and floor to ceilings windows offering a view of the outside world. Capacity would easily be in excess of 100 pax, not that it was needed though, with only about 10 pax throughout the whole course of my meal there.
I did a rough estimate on the number of buffet offerings and it totalled about 40, most of which were common fare like dim sum, sandwiches, salads, Rojak, Ice Kachang, noodles and a splattering of sushi and sashimi, which was still ok, given the price and well, its supposed to be high tea. I made it a point to try everything that Cafe Vic had to offer and two words sum my experience up. PLAIN DISAPPOINTMENT. Everything from the sushi to the desserts, were at best, average. The sushi's rice was cold and dry and the same could be said for the sandwiches. The roast duck was way too salty and the deep fried fishballs tasted rubbery and starchy. Even something as simple as fried noodles was a disaster, with parts of the noodle dry and hard. The selection of salads like the smoked chicken salad and the chicken sausage salad was still ok though. The desserts were average, but I particularly liked the pear pie, which I felt was the only one that shone amongst all the desserts, particularly with its nicely baked crust. Even my gf agrees. However, I must compliment on their service, though not fantastic, was good enough for me.
It cost us about $46 after taxes and a 10% discount with my UOB card, which effectively works out to be $23/pax. Definitely not expensive, but quality of food leaves much to be desired, which I feel is a pity given its simple yet nicely done interior. Also, given my good experiences with Wah Lok, I would have expected more from Cafe Vic. Hence, my stand on Cafe Vic is this. Go for it if you just want to gorge yourself with food for a long period (12-5pm no time limit) and food quality bears little significance to you or if you want to just find a nice place to while the weekend afternoons away with your friends over food at a not too hefty price tag. (Sit in a secluded area though)
See all my pictures here
Rating given:
Had another impromptu dinner last night albeit with a much smaller price tag as compared to the last one when we dined at Morton’s. The venue was Wah Noogee House at Carlton Hotel just across the road from CHIJMES. The younger cousin of the famous Wah Lok is known for whipping up simple yet delicious fare, as evidenced by the multiple newspaper cuttings plastered to the glass. On this particular occasion, it was offering an Ala Carte buffet of 38 dishes at $22 NETT. Being the “kiasu” Singaporeans, we decided to give it a try. Spaces were aplenty when we got there about 2015hrs. Décor was simplistic yet modern, with aesthetically pleasing lights hanging from the high ceiling.
We tried almost everything on the menu. That might seem a little greedy, but trust me when I say this; portions are single servings (read small) and I estimate that we ate about 20 dishes in all. I found everything pretty average, with the deep fried beancurd being slightly above average. It was nicely diced and fried, with a sprinkling of salt and Monosodium Glutamate (MSG). The roast duck had a nice crisp skin, but minimal meat, which was a bummer really. I did like the wantons for their huge and fresh prawns which were tasty and crunchy. But overall, nothing really stood out.
Damage was $22.40/pax, with the 40 cents going to the cost of the wet towels. Not exactly value for money, but it was a pretty satisfying and enjoyable dinner (for me at least). Service was also quite good and the place was nice and quiet. Still it’s not worth the $22 in my opinion. Approximately $15-$17 would have been just right. Having said that, I might just be convinced to try it again because it offers a relaxed environment with decent food at a not too expensive price. (Actually no hotel that I know has a buffet dinner at $22 NETT)
See all my pictures here
Rating given:
t was the second outing for the forum people and this time round we tried The Tent @ Clark Quay, which supposedly served Mongolian food steamboat buffet style. Having never tried Mongolian food, I was pretty enthusiastic about the whole thing. After some wrong turns and confusing streets, we finally made it there at about 1945hrs. First looks, the whole place didn't look Mongolian in any way but the setting was pretty nice I must say. And there weren't many people around when we arrived, which was a good thing. (People started filling in at about 8 though)
How this place works is this. You choose your ingredients(rice, meat, prawns, vegetables etc) and toss them into a big bowl and you place your sauces(Teriyaki, BBQ, green curry etc) into a small bowl, after which you give them to the chef together with a metal token with your table number on it and he will cook your food for you and have it served to your table. In case you are clueless as to how to choose your sauces from the 40 or so varieties available, there are some 20 recipes that the chefs have come up with to simplify things.
Food wise, I can't really judge because they all pretty much tasted the same(the ones I had) and it really depended more on what sauces you add, in what quantity etc. Well all in all, it cost us about $151 for 5 pax. Honestly speaking, it was reminiscent of Seoul Garden, albeit a better but more expensive eatery. The "experience" is also slightly different from what you would get outside. However having said that, I don't think I'll be coming back anytime soon. $26 /pax is just too much to pay for food that is a mix and match of everything. Oh and not forgetting the oil smell left on my shirt.
See all my pictures here
Rating given:
Hidden treasure. Super Pizzas.
This tiny Italian restaurant, hidden behind a bus-stop and set within a rather rundown place, was pretty tricky to find. With the tinted glass doors and windows, if you didn't take notice of the signboards, you'll never that that's a restaurant.
Finalmente only opened recently, couple months ago. The place was nice and simple. However, the people running the place seemed abit cold tonight. Perhaps its due to the high volume of us, a group of 12, chatting and laughing non-stop when we stepped in. Before that, it was very peaceful and quiet.
The menu was printed on an A4 paper on double side. Perhaps they're still revamping it so keeping it simple for now. There wasn't that many choices of food, just mainly, Salads, Pizzas, Pastas, Sandwiches and Focaccia Breads.
The 12 of us ordered total of 10 pizzas to share. Out of the 9 flavors, I tried only 4 as the rest either were gone even before I managed to see it, or contains pork.
All the pizzas were thin and baked to perfection. The thin base makes it light to eat. Once can finish the entire pizza if you're not watching your weight. As the pizzas all comes on the same type of base, I'll just talk about the flavors for each.
Napoli Pizza $8 - Tomatoes, Anchovies, Capers and Black Olives
This was my least favorite out of the 4. The Anchovies was overpowering and too saltish for me (and everyone who tried it).
5 Cheese $12 - Tomatoes, Mozzarella, Gorgonzola, Emmenthal, Fontina, Parmesan
This was my favourite! Love the cheese! Unlike the normal cheese you find on the regular pizzas from elsewhere. The aroma makes one drool and want to grab a piece. These cheese were nicely spread and baked to the right texture. It was so good that we had to order another one! This will be the one that I'll return for more!
Calzone Gourmet $25 - Close pizza filled with Tomatoes, Mozzarella, Ham and Ricotta Cheese, Mushroom and Boiled Egg
Ouch! I just realised that there's ham in this one! But I don't remember tasting any. Perhaps cos I took the corner which only few slices of mushroom were found. This is more like a huge curry puff instead of a pizza. The crust was light and crispy, and the mushrooms were nice. One thing interesting about this is the egg in the center. It's half cooked and so the yolk will spill out when you cut into it. But the mixed was heavenly.
Bosco $27.50 - Mix cheese, Porcini Mushroom, Grill eggplant, Parmesan shave, drizzled with Truffle Oil
I can't really remember the taste of this pizza. So I guess there's nothing quite nice about it. But if you like eggplant, you should give this one a try.
Overall, this place serves pretty nice pizzas. If you're a fan of pizzas, do go give this place a try. Maybe you'll enjoy it more than me. :)
Oh couple more things! They don't serve ice water. When you order ice water, they'll serve you bottled mineral water. So you might want to just order can drinks or wine instead. There's also no service charge nor GST.
Rating given:
Long heard of this famous ice-cream shop but did not have a chance to patronise it. So after finishing our dinner at Greenwood, we head straight to serene centre which was nearby. When we reached the place it was full house, so we waited a while for our seats. Single scoop comes at $2.50 each, while double scoop is $4.00. There is also the 500ml tub at $8.00
We 3 person order double scoop each and share, so each of us can taste 6 flavours instead of 2. Smart right? There are other flavours like black sesame, soursop, and some others which i can’t remember. But we dun have the courage to try them, so we ordered the more popular ones.
One by one, the top two is teh tareh (coffee) and nutella, bottom left is burn cameral and the popular cookies & cream, bottom right is reversO (chocolate) and horlick (see picture from my blog). We judge the popularity by seeing which one finish first. Make a guess? Cookies & cream and nutella tied for first, followed by cameral, ho, coffee and reverO (chocolate). My personal fav is nutella, never tried before. The reversO was too strong in flavour, as in after eating it when we eat the other flavours we cant taste anything. So we leave it for the last. lol
All in all, Island creamery is quite valued for money, there is a similar ice-cream shop called daily scoop at sunset way which offers double scoop for $5. Head there when u have a chance. 4.5 out of 5
You are always welcome to visit Ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
Rating given:
Three of us went to Greenwood. its behind NJC. Quite hard to go if you do not drive.
The external part of the restaurant does not really have the appeal, like the name implies, Greenwood fish market. It is literally a fish market where u can buy their fish, prawn, oyster. But the interior part is diff (see picture) the lights are dim jus nice and its rather small, so make your reservations before going.
Greenwood is quite famous for their fish & chips, many types of diff fish like snapper, sole filet, salmon, barramundi, tusk fish, yellow fin tuna, nz pink snapper and so on. They also had diff style of cooking the fish like pan-seared, baked, steamed, char-chilled, battered or crumbed. Cool huh? haha. So we had quite a dilemma in choosing what fish we wanted. Above picture is battered snapper($19.95) based on recommendation from the enthu staff. Had a hard time understanding the differences between battered and crumbed. Anyway, battered snapper is good and crispy, but have to finish it fast because its not so nice when it get cold unlike the crumbed sole filet. Both fish & chips come with a healthy side serving of chips and vegies. The chips are good, but the vegies are even better. We have no idea what they do to the vegies, but it’s really good and you want to have more. 4.5 out of 5
Next up is crumbed sole filet ($19.95) also on recommendation. By the way, although both chips are diff fish, but i can’t really tell the diff. lol. From what the staff say, you can tell crumbed from battered because crumbed is fried with bread crumb flour. O well, its quite good also, but i think snapper is a tiny bit better than the sole filet. 4 out of 5
Pasta spag soft shell crab with chili crab sauce ($19.95), unlike the pasta at pastamania, The one here is really pasta. Haha. Soft crab is nice, but too small ! O well. 4 out of 5
Overall good place for fresh fish and seafood, highly recommended just that it is hard to access if you are not driving. We did not have any desserts there because we had already decided to head to Island Creamery for ice cream !
You are always welcome to visit Ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
Rating given:
When we reach at 6.30pm, the place was not full, BUT they are all reserved! And the seats available are the outdoor dining area. Wait man, don’t start blaming me that i did not make a reservation. I tried. I called at 4 but no one answer the phone. So we had to make do with the outdoor area, and o boy, it was raining cats and dogs. The waitress even had to carry an umbrella to bring the dishes over.
There are many methods of cooking the lobster, my fav is salad lobster of couse, you can also steam it with soya souce, minced garlic, or stir-fried with ginger & spring onion, braised with superior broth, stired-fried with cheese & butter, and baked with cheese & bacon. Honestly i never had the luxury of trying all types of cooking methods, just had steamed one, deep-fried, and salad lobsters before. And i prefer salad lobster. BUt the baked with cheese & bacon do sounds interesting, mayb i will try that if i got the chance next time. We had the Australian lobster which was $120 for 1KG
Salad lobster is simple Super-licious. Only one word can describe it, Heavenly. The salad lobster had lots of fruits, the thick salad cream and mixed fruit plus the lobster meat, makes it irresistable man! 5 out of 5
Next up, the Singapore famous black pepper crab! Its Sri-Lanka king crab they called it. We had two 1.2KG crab, both crabs in pepper. Hmm the black pepper crab are too not bad, but there are better one out there, that is No Signboard Restaurant! 3.5 out of 5
Mee Goreng! Jumbo is famous for their Mee Goreng i think, its very nice i assure you. Must try if go Jumbo, but at $8 for small serving, its a tad too expensive. Pity the price, if not it will be perfect score. 4.5 out of 5
Crispy Baby Squid. Crispy it is, and a little over burned. I am still feeling thirsty now that i reached home after eating it. Not my cup of squid, at $8 its not really worth your while unless you are a fan of fried squids, i rather spend the $8 on another plate of Mee Goreng. 1.5 out of 5
Thats all folks, i will come to the price now because its a bit complicated. Our lobster which flown specially from Australia for us to savour cost $96, i estimate it to be around 800g, but because we got a special coupon, we got 50% off! Horray! It only cost us $48 for one Lobster, cheap yep? The crab is $33 per Kg, We had two, and it comes up to about $75.90. And the crispy baby squid and Mee Goreng like i say earlier is $8 per plate. So our total bill adds up to $192.10 before discount. We had the 50% for lobster, and another 10% off because we had the Jumbo rewards card
The service, eh is a case of over-enthusiastic against a group of slow diners who want to finish every scrap of food on the plate. I have totally nothing against their service, the waitress keep on changing plates for us, this is good because the crab have lots of shell. But when we haven really finish our lobster and mee goreng, they already want to clear the plates as well. Hello? we want value for money, every scrap of food is important to us. LOL. Besides that i don’t really have or can complaints because they do not have service charge. Except for the calling in of reservation.
All in all, Jumbo is not bad la, its a famous seafood restaurant in Singapore with so many branches. However, we still unanimously agree that No Sign Board Restaurant is a tad higher level than Jumbo for its crab, no complaints about the lobster. I heard the East Coast headquarter produce the best food among its outlets, but we had to go to indoor stadium because the 50% coupon for lobster is not able to use in East coast branch. You can’t get the best of both worlds i guess.
You are always welcome to visit Ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
Rating given:
Went with Mr Tay to far east, end up having dinner at Hans cos he was so late.
Hans is quite ordinary, so a short review should do the trick here.
I had the black pepper pork chop, it cost $8.80 and comes in a set meal with drink, soup, bread, and fruit. Quite value for money i guess, the food is not too bad, but nothing fantastic.
Mr Tay had the black pepper chicken chop.
Overall the food is not too bad, considering the price, better western food can be found in hawker centre. There is the nice restaurant ambience to factor in, but the service of the staff there is not very friendly
You are always welcome to visit Ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
Rating given:
Wouldn't you think that naming a restaurant after some kind of mafia or triad seems kind of weird and inappropriate? The owners of Bosses aka Hei She Hui(secret society) at Vivo City obviously don't think so. Black is the obvious choice of colour in this restaurant and everything from the tables, seats and even the menus are decked out in black. Truly in line with the theme of secret societies. Make your way to the inner reaches of the restaurant and be rewarded with an unobstructed view of Sentosa through the floor to ceiling windows while you dine. One interesting thing about this place. Their menu comes chained to a drawer under the table. Simply pull open the drawer to retrieve it. Something new!
Our first dish was the appetizer of Spring Rolls, Carrot & Cucumber. The spring rolls were very well fried. Crispy with no oily residue and no bad after taste arising from the usage of inferior or dirty oil. The carrots and cucumbers were nice and crunchy. Strangely enough, we didn't order this dish. It came as a standard appetizer to all tables and it certainly wasn't free. Personally, I find that $3.80 for such a meagre portion is outright ridiculous. Even my friend thinks so.
Following suit was the Shanghai Steamed Meat Dumplings aka Xiao Long Bao. I found this to be quite well done with plenty of goodness sealed within the thin and soft skin. Bite into one and the juice literally squirts out and fills your mouth. The meat could do with a little more robust flavour though. The Wagyu Beef Congee was rather average. The beef was too overcooked to really appreciate the goodness of the wagyu beef, if it indeed was wagyu beef. I honestly couldn't taste or see the difference between this and normal beef.
We were intrigued by the Deep Fried Scallion and Pork Floss Pastry which came looking a little like Cinnamon rolls. The pastry was flaky and not too oily, but the fillings were miserable. I had to eat until almost the end to actually even see signs of the filling, which consisted of Scallion and Pork Floss. Not that the filling was that great anyway. Salty and dispersed, it didn't make much of an impact to the whole dish.
With a name like Number One Bun aka Tian Xia Di Yi Bao, the bun must either be really good or the person who came up with the name must really be brazen. I'm inclined to think it is the latter. The exterior is lightly glossed with sweet syrup while the filling of pork is salty, which complements the sweetened exterior. Though nice, it definitely doesn't warrant the title of Number One Bun.
Rounding up our meal were the Souffle Ball with Fresh Durian and Signature Creamy and Flowy Custard Bun. I personally found the Souffle Ball with Fresh Durian quite good as the pastry was soft and fluffy. Dusted in icing sugar, it is sweet, fluffy and with a strong durian taste all at the same time. Only grouse I have is that the durian filling was not the least bit sweet at all. Sure, the icing sugar made up for it, but nothing beats the natural sweetness of durian. The amount of durian filling could also be increased so that it wouldn't feel like eating just plain fried flour. The Signature Creamy and Flowy Custard Bun probably pulled one of the biggest surprises that day. Served looking like cupcakes, they were soft and aromatic and with a filling that oozed into your mouth. Sweet, yet with a tinge of saltiness. Complementation and balance at its very best.
An enjoyable meal for 2 set us back by about $48/-. Not exactly the cheapest place to eat, but certainly not expensive. The quality of food is good and the prices don't seem very expensive. But beware, the everything can add up if you are not careful with what you order. Portions are average sized and service can be better, especially with the charging of service charge. An interesting find at Vivo City, so if you are considering an alternative to Crystal Jade, this is the place.
See all my pictures here
Rating given:
Seems like more and more $4.80/dish air conditioned Cze Char places are popping up all over Singapore to take advantage of people's penchant for bargains. Bai Jia Seafood Restaurant at Kovan is one such new entrant, following in the footsteps of Ding Xian Lou.
Located along the row of shophouses just next to Kovan MRT, Bai Jia is rather popular with the residents of the area, as evident by the long queues almost every evening. The interior is surprisingly modern for such an eatery but rather small, which probably explains the long queues outside.
Black Pepper Beef - The beef portion was small and it was a little too sweet for my liking. The black pepper taste was also overwhelming I couldn't really make out any beef taste. I would have believed it if they had labelled this dish as pork instead! Such was the texture and taste.
Prawn with Minced Garlic - I counted 5 prawns sliced into half to make 10 portions. Gimmicky I should so. The prawns were your average sized prawns and didn't taste sweet at all. The only good thing about this dish was the gravy, which was lightly sweet and garlicky. Oh and they didn't bother to remove the intestines (the black thing on the spine of the prawn), which made it rather gross.
Crispy Chicken with Orange Sauce - This dish seemed to rather interesting as I've never tried chicken with orange sauce before. Alas, it was a let down from the minute I set my eyes on it. For one, portions were tiny, as expected. The orange sauce was a little sticky and had a faint orange taste to it, very much like the sauce that comes in lemon chicken dishes, except that this was a lot weaker. The fried chicken was a little too overcooked, rendering it hard and a little too chewy for my liking.
Kailan with Garlic - A very run off the mill rendition of this dish. You can't really go wrong with something as simple as frying a vegetable with garlic. Its edible but certainly not fantastic. The kailan looked a little weary as well, an indication of not being too fresh.
Braised Beancurd - What can I say? Another disappointing dish. The tofu was waterlogged with the gravy, which was fine, but the gravy itself was rather bland and watery. Palatable, but barely.
The 3 of us spent about $32 for an unsatisfying dinner (we had to adjourn to MacDonalds for more food). My take on this? I can get better food in a non air conditioned environment (aka coffeeshops/hawker centres) anyday, so I definitely won't be back.
See all my pictures here
Rating given: